001This is actually our last meeting of the school year. New school year starts on July 1st, so this is our last meeting. And as typical with our last meeting, there is a ton of personnel items on it, from appointments to tenures to retirements and things like that. So we will move as efficiently and quickly as we can to make sure that we spend enough time honoring the people who are here. We are sure you're not just here for those snacks. which is nice. I can't hear you. How's that? Okay. So designation of emergency agents, we have one in the back of the room, one on each side of the room. Ms. Carney, would you do roll call? Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Pledge of Allegiance. Dr. Rohrabach, our mission
002and vision statements, please. The mission statement, we provide equitable, engaging, inspiring, and holistic experiences that support success and empowerment for students, families, and the community in a diverse and changing world. Our vision statement, we are a beacon of educational excellence where every individual is inspired and able to achieve their fullest. all right thank you okay moving quickly here we have um the first item is approval of minutes of our uh two approvals from our may 5th meeting and then our budget meeting on may 26th and i have a motion to approve those minutes by mr amalia second by mr wells any questions on those all those in favor okay sawyer soar dr rohrbach i turn it back to you So at this time, we would love to recognize our Board of Education student representative Adriana
003Arguello. Not only did she sit through every single meeting, including all the budget and never left early, not something every 17 or 18 year old might choose, but she really sacrificed her personal time to sit with all and listen to everything that most understand happens in a governance and policy. Additionally, she expanded the role of reporting out not just on recorded out on that we are all. So thank you Adriana for your commitment and your dedication. I just found out because I just asked her. Adriana will be attending Siena to study biology. Okay, public recognition. This is, we have two public recognitions on our agenda. The first one, this one here is if there's anybody who would like to get up and address the board for things that are on the agenda. back to adrienne
004student report songreeds high school congratulations to our story entrepreneurship students who competed in the suny new hall's high school entrepreneurship competition against arlington high school bringing home first place were grace fields and madeline dracula with their product buzz a health wearable designed to help athletes understand their inner rhythm earning second place for selena vale and quinn sclab with their product Lynx Eyewear, which creates visors for women's lacrosse goggles. We would love to recognize our senior high choir for taking the gold on May 12th at NISMA Majors on Level 5. Well done. The Saugerties High School Wind Ensemble and Saugerties High School Concert Band Ensemble performed at the New York State School Music Association Major Ensembles Festival in Wallkill on Thursday, May 14th. Both groups earned special accolades. Commendation from both judges for their discipline and
005appearance as well as choice of music. Way to go, band. Congratulations to the students who presented their work at this year's Science Research Symposium. Your dedication, curiosity, and commitment to the research process were evident in the quality of your presentations. We would like to congratulate all of our students for their hard work and thoughtful participation in this year's presentations of learning. Your ability to reflect on your growth, share your accomplishments, and discuss your goals demonstrates maturity, dedication, and pride in learning. On June 12th, our graduating seniors will participate in a special senior walkthrough at our elementary schools. Dressed in their paps and gowns, seniors will walk the halls where many of their educational journeys began, inspiring our youngest students and celebrating this important milestone. On Tuesday, June 16th at 8 a.m., we will continue with
006our new tradition of Sawyer's On. We will invite seniors down to the auditorium to begin taking group photos to showcase each of their paps. We are inviting students to proudly wear a tie that represents their future plans. Junior High School. Junior High had a successful field day slash Orpheum trip today. We are looking forward to the 8th grade moving up ceremony on Friday afternoon and presentations of learning on June 10th, 17th, and 18th. Junior High students' last full day of class is June 16th and half days for presentations of learning the 17th and 18th. Grantee Morris Elementary. After Friday, all of our students will have participated in their field trips. Our students have enjoyed these adventures and the memories they made. The GDMBLT has designed a three-week geometry challenge after analyzing our building data. Students
007at Morris are being challenged to find 2D and 3D shapes around the building and report where these shapes might be found in the real world as well. We are looking forward to it. To our end of the year celebrations including 6th grade moving up at Morris on June 17th, the Granting Morris Success Parade on June 22nd, and next class visits on June 23rd. Our final PTA meeting of the school year will be tomorrow on June 10th at 6pm. Grand Rounds will begin this week where we will have the opportunity to celebrate our student success and plan as a team for next year. kindergarten screenings are underway at Riccardi and it has been great to meet our youngest and newest Sawyers and their families. We wish them all the best as they start their learning journey.
008Riccardi Grand Rounds starts next week where we celebrate the growth our amazing students our amazing students have made all year and identify supports for students who would benefit from additional opportunities to strengthen their skills. Riccardi's final PTA meeting of the year is tomorrow, Wednesday, June 10th at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria. Our fifth and sixth grade students will compete in the annual Riccardi Lion Bowl on Thursday, June 18th, where students will strive to be the capable champions of the school. On June 1st, we completed our VAM, VM Mathematician Challenge. Similar to PARP, students were encouraged to participate each day. However, instead of reading, they focused on solving math problems. Students took both pre- and post-assessments, and the percentage of growth was measured and reported. Classes at each grade level were recognized for their achievements and
009progress throughout the challenge. Three days of kindergarten screening were completed last week. We look forward to meeting all of our new kindergarten students over the summer at our August meet and greet. Today we held the first of our two field days at the Cowplomb. The beautiful weather provided the perfect backdrop for a day filled with exciting games, friendly competition, and lots of fun. Our final PCA meeting of the year will be June 10th at 4.30 p.m. All right, fantastic, thank you. We have a, although she's not here this evening, we will make sure we get this award to her, the New York State School Board Association Award for three years of service to Carol Calder. I actually have a statement from Carol this would have been her last meeting of her three year tenure. So,
010moving on to the superintendent report. Okay, so good evening again. So tonight I want to begin by saying thank you. I'm deeply humbled and honored to serve as the appointed superintendent of the Saugertay Central School District. I'm grateful for the trust that has been placed in me and excited for what we will continue to accomplish together. I believe wholeheartedly in our future and we have an incredible opportunity to build a strong foundation we already have in place and continue. and continue to make our district known for the innovative learning, meaningful opportunities for students in a culture where every person feels valued, challenged, and inspired to grow. As we continue building our leadership team, we are doing so with purpose, knowing that our work is always collaborative. So as Adriana mentioned, June has been filled with
011moments that remind us why this work matters. Our students have excelled in the classroom, on the stages, in science research and terms of learning and on in spring has been a banner season. 87 students earned also commitment, perseverance, and balance. Tonight we also celebrate dedicated careers have shaped generations, recognize staff, and welcome new members to the Sawyer community. Each milestone reminds us that a great school is built by to invest in. So as we look at, thank you for your extraordinary, please. Thank you, Dr. Roback. Moving to board member remarks. We'll start over here. Mr. Wells. Got me? Can you hear me guys there? All right, good. All right, so I guess I'll start with the departures off the board first. Adriana, I wanted to thank you for your time and energy you put into
012this because you took it from this and made this, which was really awesome. You kind of exploded what we expected of it. You sat here through some pretty tumultuous meetings that, I mean, Dr. Rohrabach said that no 16 or 17 or 18-year-old would want to, no 20, 30, 40, 50-year-old would typically want to as well, as you can tell by the amount of people that ran this past. So I commend you. I thank you for everything that you've given us. You're very elaborate and in-depth. reports on all of the schools so I had a really good understanding of what was happening there. I know it was a lot of time and energy it probably took for you to put that all together and report to us. So I really truly appreciate everything you've done for
013us and I wish you the best at Siena and moving forward even beyond Siena. I hope that you continue to excel and do amazing things. So thank you very much for that. I'd like to acknowledge Carol Kelder for her time on the board. Just having Carol sit on this board has been amazing for me to get different perspectives that I didn't really have. Obviously Carol's been in the district as a teacher, as an administrator, as a principal, so it's been a lot for me to take in and learn from her. I feel like everybody that comes on this board, I pick a little bit off of here and there, and I get better at being a board member. So Carol has been just an immense amount of knowledge and kind of giving me different perspectives
014from the other side, maybe the teacher side or the administrative side, and kind of what happens on the ground a little bit better for me. So that's been huge, and I truly appreciate her time on the board and everything that she gave. I'd like to congratulate the spring sports scholar athletes. That's pretty amazing. First off, all these teams are pretty awesome. And then, I mean, I feel like every spring sport was involved in some sort of section race. And I mean, I went to so many games, whether it was my son's games or other people's games, that it was just a really exciting time to be a sort of sports person. So I really, truly enjoyed that. Congratulations to the band on NISPA. and all the students that competed in science field in the symposium.
015I'll try not to mess that one up. And other aspects that were discussed from Adriana as well. I will say I thank all the voters who voted for me and passed the budget. I truly appreciate that. We're trying to continue to build here, and it's something that's going to be great. Not that we're good, but we need to be great kind of thing. And I think that this is... the first step of that and I think it's just going to continue to get better and better and better from here on out. We've got a very strong leader. I think we've got good people in place behind her and I'm very excited about what is now my third term on the board. So I'm very excited about seeing where that leads us to. Congratulations to all
016the retirees, all the appointments and all the people receiving tenure today. I'm very happy for you guys. Congratulations. And then I'm a little disappointed in honestly the lack of volunteers for the board. I'll say it. I don't know if anybody's going to say it, but there's probably a dozen, maybe two dozen people that have a tendency to like to speak via social media, which is absolutely their right, but they don't want to put their money where their mouth is and step up to the board. I do appreciate the two writing candidates, Mr. Rappaport and Mr. Biggiani. decided to step in and take their positions. I know it's sometimes a very thankless job. Sometimes you can take a little bit of a beating for the better outlook. You know, Carol probably would have said this, that
017we're here for the students and the teachers. We're here to make this a better place. Like, we're not here to make this horrible and get beat up. We're trying our best to do the right things. And I'm not saying I always do the right things. In the six years I've been on the board. But we are trying to do the right thing. We have the best intentions in mind. And we are open to community input via email, phone calls. I think my email and phone is out there if I'm not mistaken. You're more than welcome to call me, email me. I'm open for a discussion. I don't think that maybe throwing it out on social media where I'm not really going to respond to that is the best way to go about it. I think
018there's other avenues where you can have an open discussion between you and I or a group of us can have a discussion. And I think that's, in my eyes, the best way to go about it. That's all I got. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys being here tonight. Thank you, Jim. Mr. Malian. So I think that Mr. Wells read my notes. And you brought up a lot of the things that I wanted to bring up particularly related to the role of the board and the opportunities for the public. So I'll start there and just say one thing a little bit differently. We give the community lots of ways to contribute your thoughts and Not to be the dead horse, but the fact that we so few people coming for public comment is also a
019little bit disappointing We need to hear what is on your minds and I think that this board of all the words I've paid attention to is very very receptive You know, we've tried to be as responsive as we possibly can but we need to actually hear this stuff And I can tell you that I tune out social media. It's not something that's not where I go to get the ideas from the community I want to hear in this room in our emails and so forth. So certainly two out of two of us feel that way and we encourage you to participate. Adriana, thank you for everything that you've done. As we look forward to the student reps for next year, I would like the board to consider encouraging maybe a rotating rotation of students as
020student reps. maybe one from the junior high, one from the senior high, and one from each of the elementary schools. So I knew that that would be five altogether, maybe they could team up and maybe work together, but I would love to see the perspectives of the students, and I think it's very important for them to see the schoolwork process, because as we know, there's a million moving parts, and you can't really understand it unless you're in the boardroom. To Carol, I'm going to miss you. This is the first time we've had the opportunity to work together, and as Tim said, I learned an enormous amount from you, and of course my pleasure with your family. With that, Mr. Riazzi, I am done. All right, thank you. Thank you. I don't want to repeat everything
021that folks have said, but I want to acknowledge both Carol and the service to the board. I think they're genuine assets to the board, and they've used very large shoes to fill. So I thank them for their service. I also want to congratulate those who are achieving tenure. It's a great honor and congratulations and thank you to those who are retiring. Thank you for your service in improving the Sarbanes School District. And then just two quick shout outs. One, there was a choral concert last week which was outstanding if anyone caught it. And I also just wanted to thank Mr. Zalansky who is moving on to another position but I think they did an excellent job of really elevating the music performances here both in the choral as well as in the theatrical performance. And
022lastly just a quick thanks to Sawyer voters who did an after party for the prom. They gave out hundreds of dollars of ice cream to seniors and juniors who attended the prom so thank you for their continued community engagement. Miss Belarosa? Keep playing. comments brief, but I did want to thank Carol for her service for the last three years. Like everyone else, I've learned a tremendous amount from her and her commitment to the board and to the overall Sour Juice community. I really appreciate what I've learned from you and I wish you and your family well. I want to congratulate the retirees who are here this evening. and all that you've done over the years to elevate this district as well. I want to congratulate. We have a lot of students moving up at different
023levels, sixth graders to the junior high, eighth graders to the high school, and the penultimate graduates moving on on June 26th. So I congratulate those seniors into what their next role is going on. And then... This is the last meeting of the year, so I agree, teachers, wish them a restful summer and come back to us in September with renewed energy. So thank you. This here is Eric. A lot of others said I too would like to thank her for her service in the district, culminating with her three years of service at the board. I've learned a tremendous amount from her, and I hope to be able to tell her in person soon. Thank you, Ms. Ardueta, for serving so beautifully in the role as a student board representative. And I wish you much luck
024on this, which will be a very successful future. Congratulations to all the retirees and those moving into new roles and those receiving tenure tonight. Also to all of the seniors soon to be graduating. I'm very excited myself as my old friend is graduating. Feels like just yesterday I went to kindergarten. And just want to wish everyone a very happy Pride to all of our students that the community can celebrate. Dr. Haas. Ditto. Though I do want to say, Carol, it's been a real honor getting to know you, having watched you as a, I don't know that she's on or watching, but as if she is, seeing her as a principal and then you getting into this role and always offering us just useful insight and being... You know, we always try to sort of create
025a safe space so that people can say what they need to say and express what they need to express. And Carol is a great model of somebody who operates in a brave space and really demonstrates her commitment all the time. Anyway, I also want to say thank you to Virginia because Virginia was not here for like the big bonus. you know, job that the district clerk gets in being able to accept the vote and being able to swear in our new members. So you will get that in July, but I really want to thank you because it was a tremendous, not only was putting this budget, this... This agenda together, a tremendous task just this week, but the vote and the work it takes to do a vote and to do a vote well, and
026we talk about strengthening democracy, well, let's just say people like Virginia are the people who are doing that work, and it was tremendous, and it went really well, and I just wanted to thank you that you weren't here last time to do that. Reach out to us. We are here this summer sort of feels like summer everybody's on break Let's just say a lot of work happens in the district in the summer Which was always a surprise to me when I first got on the board Because I was like, okay great we're done until September and that was really not the case And so for all of us who are on the board We've got work to do this summer to really get ready for the new year But I want to encourage all of
027us to rest when we can and to connect with others This has been a really big week and it's only Tuesday and so I just want to really encourage people to rest and connect. So, thank you. Okay, thank you. So, I tend to not repeat what he's hit everything. The one thing I will mention is something Tim said where from our other people on the board to pick things up. That's if you guys look at the background of our board, the people sitting around this table. It is a very diverse group. What we do professionally to our backgrounds. And I think that really lends itself to have discussions about the budget or how we're, you know, different things that come up that we need to discuss. And Carol is somebody who, based on her roles
028in the district, really was never afraid, always spoke her mind. And as she said to me today on the phone, she said, the one thing I always appreciated was... You could have, we could have some really heated debate, but everybody walked out of the room still friendly. Nobody carries it out of those discussions. And she wanted to thank everybody for that. I guess that mindset, being able to have those kind of discussions, and that's really what it takes to be a good board. She wanted me to pass that along. Adriana, thank you. The one thing I will repeat is a thank you to you. I agree with Mr. Wells. You raised the bar. who are gonna step in behind you, definitely have something to find. In addition to that, I know there are a bunch
029of people, I wanna thank the principals, because I know you don't pull that report together just, so I wanna thank each of the principals, Miss Molyneux, who I know leads the effort to go get us a new student representative, but all the principals who will help make Adriana's report as detailed and as good as it is, so thank you. And echoing something Dr. Haas said, Virginia, thank you. Especially with something like tonight. If you guys see my agenda up here, all the notes and things allow me to stay on track. I have stickies. I have little notes over here. It's fantastic. So thank you. So I will, one thing I would, the thing I want to leave everybody with is a note from, I figured I'd use my time to read this. So I'm going
030to try and get it. So good evening. I would like to begin by apologizing for not being able to attend this final meeting of my term. My husband is very ill and at this time I need to remain at home with him as he's in his final days. As I conclude my service on the Board of Education, I want to thank our community for the trust, support, and partnership you have shown throughout my time as a trustee. It has been an honor to serve our students, families, staff, and community. Throughout my career as a teacher, school administrator, and now a board trustee, my goals have remained the same. to support our students, ensure their safety and well-being, and make decisions that are in their best interest both academically and personally. Every vote and every discussion
031was guided by what I believe would help our students learn, grow, and thrive in a safe and supportive environment. I've been fortunate to serve this community in many different roles over the years, and I'm grateful for the relationships, experiences, and opportunities that have come with that service. While my time in these roles must now come to an end, my belief in the potential of our school remains unwavering. Thank you again for your support, your dedication to our children, and the privilege allowing me to serve. I wish the district, its students, staff, and leaders continued success in the years ahead. Thank you, Carol Kelley. Okay, personnel, here we go. We have... Starting off, we have, this is I, personnel, instructional, and non-instructional. First off, we have... You just have to really talk right into it. It
032keeps turning itself off. All right, we have personnel, instructional and non-instructional. First off, we have resignations, which also includes all of our new retirements. So we have resignations. So let me take a step back. Normally what we try to do is break this up. What we're going to do is we're going to run through everything and vote on everything. And then we'll, I'm going to turn it over to Stephen to acknowledge everybody with what we're going to do. So that way we make it. All right. So I have resignations, A through V, resigning from the district, but also some very senior personnel retiring, including our district treasurer, Ms. Wee, and Zortlieb and Ms. Steinmeier. There is also in here, thank you, you will see in here also a resignation from, The lady sitting to my
033left, that is from her previous role. She's not already resigning from her current role. I just want to point that out since people will see her name in there. So I have resignations A through V, leave of absence A through L, appointments A through Q, and then the tenures in here. The appointments in here include all our coaches and everything, and all the paperwork is up to date with the state. All right, so I can I have a motion to accept items I one through four. Dr. Haas seconded by Mr. Wells. Any questions? No questions? No. You guys good? Everybody good? All right. All those in favor? Aye. All right. You're up, Mr. Waller. All right, thank you. We're going to begin with appointments. And so it is my privilege to take a moment to
034recognize the significance of this occasion to recognize our appointments. Every appointment represents a commitment to our students, our families, and our community. It reflects the belief that every child deserves caring, talented, and dedicated professionals who will inspire them to achieve their fullest potential. The individuals we are about to recognize have chosen a profession centered on service to others. They have chosen to invest their knowledge, talents, and hearts in supporting young people and helping them reach their fullest potential. Whether in the classroom, office, counseling center, cafeteria, transportation department, or any other role, each person will play an important part in shaping the Sawyer experience for our students. As we welcome these new members to our school community, we do so with gratitude, confidence, and hope for the future. We look forward to the positive impact it
035will have on the lives of our students, colleagues, families, and the community for years to come. It is now my pleasure to announce the following appointments and welcome you to the team. When I call your name, please come up to shake hands and be welcomed by our Board of Education and district leaders. I would like to begin with... Grace Arcadopani. Grace is going to be a special education elementary teacher and will be reporting to CAHO. Next I would like to recognize Whitney Green who is going to be a special education elementary teacher and reporting to the junior high. Next, let's welcome Sarah Hermantz, who's going to be an elementary teacher at Morse Elementary. We also have Layla Johnson, elementary teacher, heading to Cahill. We also have Jamie Kesik, who is going to be an elementary
036school social worker at Riccardi. Let's welcome Thomas Magnumy, general science teacher, heading to our junior high school. Let's welcome Joanna Sauter, special education elementary teacher, heading to Morse Elementary. Next we have Darby Silver, an Earth and Space Science teacher heading to our senior high school. And lastly we have Allison Tope, Special Education Secondary teacher heading to our junior high. Next I'm going to be heading over to recognize our tenure recipients. It is my privilege to recognize a truly meaningful milestone in the careers of several outstanding educators. Tonight we celebrate the awarding of tenure, which is an honor that reflects consistent excellence, dedication to students, and a deep commitment to our school community. Tenure is not simply a marker of time served, it is a testament to the impact these teachers have made in their classrooms
037and beyond. Through their passion, professionalism, and care, they have helped shape the experiences and futures of our students. We are proud to acknowledge your accomplishments and grateful for the difference that they make each and every day. Please join me in congratulating this exceptional group of educators. When I call your name, please come forward to accept a personalized pen and a certificate to commemorate your tenure. Families who are here are welcome to come forward to take a picture of the recipient. with our Board of Education President, Mr. Riazzi, and our Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Rohrabach. I would like to begin with Lou Denise, PE teacher of K-Mill and U.S.P. course. Next up we have Jacqueline Greco, Math Secondary Teacher here at the high school. Next we have Lee Milikovsky, Secondary Science Teacher here at the high
038school. And we have Erica Warren, Elementary Special Education Teacher from Cahill. Another round of applause for our tenured recipients. And now to honor our retirees. One of the greatest strengths of any school district is its people. The dedicated individuals who invest their time, talent, and passion in service to students, families, and one another. This evening we have the privilege of recognizing a remarkable group of individuals whose careers have left a lasting impact on our schools and our community. Retirement is much more than the conclusion of a career. It is a celebration of years of commitment, countless acts of kindness, and the immeasurable difference made in the lives of others. The individuals that we honor tonight have helped shape futures, overcome challenges, create opportunities, and inspire generations of students to learn, grow, and believe in themselves.
039Throughout their years of service, they have shared their knowledge, dedication, compassion, and professionalism. They have been mentors, problem solvers, role models, teammates, and trusted friends. Their contributions extend far beyond classrooms, the offices, buses, cafeterias, athletic fields, hallways, and the school events. Their influence can be found in the success stories of students. the strength of our schools, and the character of our community. While we will miss their daily presence, we are grateful for the legacy they leave behind. Their work has mattered, their service has made a difference, and their impact will continue to be felt for years to come. As we recognize each retiree this evening, please join me in celebrating their accomplishments, expressing our sincere appreciation and wishing them health, happiness, fulfillment, and many wonderful adventures in the years ahead. It is my honor to
040introduce the retirees of the Saugerties Central School District. When I call your name, please come up to receive a memento. Don't worry, your box won't fall out of the packaging. In recognition of your service, it remained for a picture with our Board of Education President, Mr. Riazzi, and Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Rohrabach. I would like to begin with Katherine Averill, elementary teacher recently at Morse Elementary. With 23 years of experience. Faith Dixon, TA at Morse with 30 years of experience here. Rosanne Douglas, the secretary at Cahill with 22 years of service. And Terry Drews, TA at Riccardi with 28 years of experience. Michelle Griffin, science teacher at the junior high school with 29 years of service. Jacqueline Hayes, business teacher at the senior high school, 28 years of service. Elizabeth Kilmer elementary teacher at Cahill
041with 28 years of service Patricia Klosner monitor at the senior high school with 20 years of service Arlene Parsi, social worker at Ricardi, with 19 years of service. Andrea Perez, food service at the Junior Senior High School, with 10 years of service. Let's try Mark Perpetua, science teacher here at the high school, with 31 years of service. Dennis Scala, science teacher here at the high school, with 29 years of service. Veronica Vorg, reading teacher at the junior high with 32 years of service. And now Nanette Weeks, district treasurer in the business office with 25 years of service. If there are families who want to come up and get a picture, please come on up while they're, if you want a group shot. Another round of applause for our retirees. And now I turn it back
042to Dr. Woroback. Yes, massive agenda. So back to Mr. Riaz. Okay, these are business office recommendations. So these are items business office recommendations items J1 through 16 One thing I do want to make sure the board understands is when you look at in here there are some grants for playgrounds these are not we didn't receive these grants yet part of the process the board has to approve the application forms about who are trying to get these grants for the for the playgrounds that's it I've read perfect okay so and I have a motion for items J 1 through 16 miss Bellarusa seconded by mr. Amalia any questions on anything here all those in favor board action items and here we have some things we want to talk about so we have items k1 one thing
043for the board you guys will see appointment of special legal counsel um as you as everybody knows we are moving to a new law firm for the district of gercio and gercio out of albany this uh appointment of a special legal counsel is simply um a transition period for our existing law firm to be able to work with new law firm over the summer to transfer documents um so it was k1 through promotion for items k1 through 18. amalia seconded by mr wells any questions all those in favor okay now that she's officially appointed i'm going to turn it over to mr uh to dr rohrbach so we officially would like to welcome ms de fino as our new director of curriculum and instruction this role is pivotal in the district because we are in
044the business of teaching and learning and it is certainly my honor and joy to welcome you so miss stephino has been part of the sawyer community since 2021 as both the high school science teacher assistant principal coordinator of the plan pilot and professional developer and basically anything i have ever asked miss she rises to her leadership has helped them take programs such as the science olympiad team And that particular year, unbeknownst to us, they made it to state, we didn't budget it, we figured it out so that our students could compete. Additionally, University of Albany Science Research Program, which has been mentioned a few times this evening, and the planned pilot, grading for equity. And prior to working in Saugertie, she was a teacher leader in the New York City Department of Education, teaching a
045variety of STEM classes, grades 6th and 7th grade math to little kids. with concentration in PBL and authentic STEM. She has also been awarded several prestigious professional learning and research opportunities including Regeneron's STEM Teaching Fellowship, STEM Ed Innovators, NASA's School of Math for America, or in sum, Ms. Chelsea DePino is the instructional leader Saugerties needs right now. Implement the changes. that SCD has issued with the New York State inspires and portrait of a graduate. Her leadership and skills will shine a brighter light on sovereignty. Okay, our committee reports. Audit. To report out that we did have an audit committee meeting earlier this week on June 4th in which... Our internal auditor presented the results of the payroll and personnel audit. We received an overall rating of acceptable. They did have some finding and recommendations in
046their review, and there was a corrective action plan. The report and corrective action plan were part of the agenda tonight and were approved. They will be returning in the fall for their annual risk assessment, which is a much higher level overview. and then determine their next area of focus. We also met with our internal claims auditor. We try to meet with her twice a month, maybe twice a year, just to get an update of how the process is going. She noted some positive working relationship with our new business official and the accounts payable clerk. There are still some vacancies in that office, but overall that office seems to be stabilizing a bit, which is good to hear. She has not denied any claims between January through May as she goes through all the claims every
047week. Mr. Sager also commented on the positive contributions of Alicia Carlson, who's the Accounts Payable Clerk. She has a very strong communication skills and an organizational process that has helped out within that business office. So I do want to recognize that as well. And the external auditors will be commencing their preliminary field work for the 25-26 fiscal year audit. All right. Thank you. Michelle, facilities. We had a very good facilities meeting last week and I would encourage people to attend and participate in those to the extent that you can or are interested. Related to the Ricardi easement, I know that that's a topic of interest, particularly for the people that live in the neighborhood. The next steps on that are that the committee did authorize a wetlands and boundary survey to be performed. The boundary
048and wetland surveys need to be completed in order to determine the buildability and remediation requirements that will happen on that property, so we did authorize that too. proceed. We discussed the fact that we will be revisiting and inviting back the two top construction managers for the capital project that will come up in the next round of when we're available, when we have budget or capital project money available, which I think is 2028, but we need to get back on track with the interview and the construction manager, so we're gonna invite the top two candidates back to regroup on that. Mount Marion. Just wanna make sure that the district understands that while we... Stopped using that Marion as an elementary school that building has still been operable throughout the entire time since we removed elementary school
049services there I know that there's a lot of Comment in public media about the fact that you know, what about all the savings when we close about Marion? Now Marion stopped being used as an elementary school, but it's still been in use We've had tenants in that building. I think right through without without a break and so the operating cost of that building We're not bearing necessarily the instructional cost, but we are absolutely operating that building, which means maintenance, safety, security, all of the things that go along with it. And it's an aging building. And so I want to make sure the public understands there is a significant carrying cost to us still having Mount Marion. And as Jeff likes to say, we are not landlords. And we don't want to be landlords. Once the
050new walker begins after July 1st, one of the things that we will be asking them to help us with in earnest is finding a realtor and appraiser for that building to see what we can do with that. There's also significant insurance premium costs associated with us carrying out Marion. So we do welcome feedback from the public on this, but there is, as Mr. Riazzi announced a few meetings ago, we are intending to dispose of the asset. at their market value, or at least as close to as we can possibly get. But we welcome your comments between now and that period of time. The only other thing I'll just mention is that there was proposed fully electric bus legislation proposed, or I think actually passed at the state level that had effective dates coming up. It
051was going to first require us to begin all replacement buses with electric, and then eventually go our full fleet to electric, I think, by 2035. was the original legislation i think oh it was 2027. well the first the first bus started in 2027 so our next round of bus purchasing would have had to start being electric um that has been delayed all aspects of that legislation has been delayed until 2040 from what i got five years from the original so on the grid and so good meeting facilities join us thank you mr mullion uh dr haas policy uh yeah well i just have a question about facilities how big is the property at uh mount maryland medium. Okay. And then just to piggyback on that change in the law around the buses, right, that makes
052a difference because people were in Albany, people like Mane Sikina and other board members and others and going to talk to their legislators in Albany saying that these are costs that we cannot bear as a district and so it really makes a difference. I know people come out during the budget season and they want to stop us from doing things but really if you want to make a change to what happens in school districts and how budgets are dealt with you need to go to the state and you need to work at that level because as we said many many times when we were developing the budget there are things that are just entirely out of our control but there has been a budget passed and so I am going to a Erie one is
053offering a webinar that I think I sent to everybody on Thursday so that to sort of talk about now that we actually know the numbers from the state how that might impact our budget and I would love to in you know July or August is to have Mr. Steiger talked to us sort of about that so now that we know some of those numbers. Policy committee, we've been meeting and we had an audit done this year and we are working through the items that were identified in the audit. Tonight there were two policies that were approved that were required to have that we now have because we've approved them. One of them we approved as second read tonight and the other one is first read so the second read will come up again in July.
054And then there was a confluence of what was identified in the audit as needing help and then what was identified in the HR audit. Right, which was looking at all of the systems in HR, but they identified I think six or seven policies that Mr. Wilder is with not certainly by himself but with everybody else is going to work through so that we're looking at the end of December as sort of our date for having those policies reviewed and up and voted on so that and then we'll look at the rest of what the audit says. Because it's a lot of work, but it's certainly doable work. And then Virginia and I have been trying to do our due diligence around a new tool. We're using board docs for our meeting documents and our policies.
055And there's now a parent company, Diligent, that has some additional services. And then there's another company we're looking at, Simbly, to both do what we are already having done with our documentation, but also right now, notes for facilities. I don't know where you keep them. Yeah, and and right and in the audit committee we all have Google You know folders and accounts, but when we leave those are attached to our emails, right? And so we either need to figure out a way we're doing that and share driving Google or that we get a system that allows us to have our processes and our products live and live beyond us as individuals. So the board, as we move into sort of a new government season with new governance leaders, I'm really interested in and want to
056sort of clean up those processes as a board so that those systems are in place regardless of who's sitting at this table. So we'll have more of that this summer. That's it. Okay, second public recognition. So this is what we think. If there's anybody still in the audience that would like to discuss anything. Yeah. That probably comes out too, but it's either for you just the whole or. Good evening. Thank you all for everything that you know. As I was going through the agenda, I noticed that we are welcoming an occupational therapist to the district and I'm excited for that. One thing I would like to ask the board and administration to consider is finding a way to bring our occupational therapists into a more permanent role in our district. As an elementary school teacher,
057we've gone through multiple occupational therapists in the last year and a half to two years, which impacts the students quite a bit. Very often, these students receiving occupational therapy sessions build really strong bonds with our occupational therapists, and we've had quite a turnover. And I think a big part of that is because... They're not hired permanently through the district. They're generally consultants. And I know firsthand of two people who left for positions that offered them a better opportunity for their families, whether it be financial or health insurance and that sort of thing. I know there have been some discussions about this, but I think it's really imperative that we're thinking about these students. find a way through administration and maybe some union bargaining of getting these members into our unit, into our district permanently for
058the sake of our students. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. Ms. Mulcahy. Hang on. Ms. Cavalli has a question, so maybe. No, that's fantastic. I appreciate you bringing this up. I've talked to Dr. Kepler about this the other day. Thank you very much for bringing this forth. I don't know a lot about how we currently staff OT in the elementary schools. Can that just be explained to me in the one minute version? So we currently contract out. This originally was in our, we had. lots of iterations of our budget and ideally the goal is for me to bring to the board that we do need OT on our sound we hire them we find good people and then yes they do leave because they need health insurance or they need something else.
059So we work with a contractor. Dr. Kapler, do you want to share anything else? Yeah, we have two contracts. Can you use the mic? So we have two contracts, one for Procare, one for Delta. We have five and a half all together. And that's with our schools and with Stuck Day School and No Way. We have to serve them too. We've lost probably, since you've been here, maybe five. They don't get paid when it's a snow day, and we're pretty lenient about, if you have reports to do, we'll give you hours on those days, but yeah, they don't get health insurance. really don't get we're we're paying the company so they're getting a cut of that right and they're still independent contractors right it's a bit of a racket so the desire is to have
060them on staff Right. And I do know that there have been conversations and there's an awareness. But I just thought seeing it here, it was something on the agenda that I personally have felt it with my students and wanted to just bring it to everyone's attention. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anyone else? Okay. All right. Can I have a motion to recess into executive session? We have a couple of legal items that we need to discuss. By Mr. Meyer, seconded by Mr. Wells. Any questions? All those in favor? So when we come out, everybody, we will simply adjourn. We'll not be voting on anything else after that. All right. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. By Mr. Wells, seconded by Ms. Kermolia. 824. Motion to adjourn. by Miss Sakina, seconded by Dr. Haas.
061All those in favor? Aye. At 8.24, we get the same minutes. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everybody. Have a good night.