Meet the Candidates, Budget Hearing, and Board of Education Meeting - May 9, 2022

001Good evening everyone and welcome to the 24th annual Student Union's Board of Education Candidates Forum. My name is Alyssa Kornacki and I am the 2021-2022 Lancaster High School Student Union President. To my right is the Student Union President-Elect for the 2022-2023 school year, Elizabeth Kamarowski. Elizabeth will be serving as timekeeper for tonight's question and answer session. The purpose of tonight's program is to allow for each candidate running for trustee of the Lancaster School District Board of Education the opportunity to express his or her personal opinion in response to questions being submitted by members of the Lancaster School District voting community. I have also prepared some questions in advance if they are needed. There are three candidates running for three positions on the Lancaster Board of Education. Board members are elected at large and will serve

002a three-year term from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025. I will now read the short introduction of each candidate in alphabetical order using a short biography. Will each candidate please stand as I introduce you? Mr. Kevin Davenport. Kevin Davenport is excited to seek re-election for the Lancaster Central School District Board of Education after serving for the past three years. Mr. Davenport said, serving the Lancaster District and the children of this community has truly been a highlight of my life. I am so proud to be a part of a collaborative team that is helping foster and create both academic and extracurricular excellence that act as a launchpad for our students to be competitive at the local, national, international stage. During his tenure, Mr. Davenport has also served as chair of the Audit Committee and a

003member of the Food Service Committee. Mr. Davenport has lived in Lancaster since 2007 with his wife, Marta, of 27 years, three sons, Ethan, who attends the University of Massachusetts in Boston, Diego, who attends the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Owen, who is a current sophomore. He has spent the past eight years working in oncology, previously as a director at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and currently at Bristol-Myers Squibb as a senior territorial business manager. Prior to his time in health care, Mr. Davenport spent 18 years in education as a teacher, varsity coach, director of athletics, and principal. Mr. Davenport currently holds five post-secondary degrees, including an associate's, two bachelor's, and two master's degrees from ECC, SUNY Portland, University at Buffalo, Canisius College, and Capella University. The hub and heartbeat of every community lies within the

004growth, innovation, and success of the school community. Mr. Davenport said, as someone that has spent the first half of his professional career in budding education, I'm blown away by the capacity of this school district and the Lancaster community at large to always rise to the occasion in the face of adversity and be the beacon that other districts look to as an example of excellence. Never was that true than through the pandemic. He is also very excited for what the future has to offer. There are so many amazing initiatives and programs happening across the district that are the product of open and ongoing dialogue with parents and community stakeholders to create new and exciting opportunities to engage kids. I look forward to helping foster this growth mindset for the future of our school community. Mr. Dan

005Roebig. Dan Roebig has served in the Lancaster Central School District, has lived in the Lancaster Central School District since 2008. He moved to Lancaster to start a job at Moog and has been a senior program manager for the past four years. He holds a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and a Master's of Engineering Management from South Methodist University. Going from engineering to program management over his 20 plus years of work, he's been able to witness, experience, and overcome many different types of problems. If elected, he believes his background in both the technical and programmatic side of business will help him insight and experience to help the school board navigate difficult decisions and generate positive outcomes for all. He has two daughters, Emily, age 16, and Isabella, whom he calls Pepper,

006is 13. Both are excited to be attending Lancaster High School next year. Emily is looking forward to continuing her Arts Academy classes, and Pepper is excited to be at the high school. Lancaster has provided his girls with an exceptional education, and he wants to help ensure that continues going forward. When his younger daughter was at William Street School, he was a PTO committee board member and co-facilitated the movie night and family friendly. He says, I dare say I had as much fun as the kids during those events, and I miss being active in the community. If elected to the school board, he would be able to give back to the community that has given him and his family so much in a much more serious endeavor than the PTO activities. Mr. John Tallarico. John Tallarico

007is a graduate of Maryvale High School and currently resides in the Lancaster Central School District. As the parent of a Lancaster student, Mr. Tallarico has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the community and serving on the school board over the last three years. Regarding his candidacy for re-election to the Board of Education, Mr. Tallarico said, I would like to make sure that we continue the incredible work that has been done over the past couple of years, including the consistency of the wonderful education. educational programs, clubs and athletics in the school district, all while navigating a very difficult time for everyone in this community. I've been fortunate enough to be involved in upgrading the facilities throughout our different buildings, which I'm especially proud of, and I look forward to working with the administration to ensure Lancaster

008remains a destination district for years to come. Mr. Tallarico is an insurance agency owner in Debut. By having a strong business and analytics background, I believe I will continue to add my private sector experience to offer perspective in situations throughout the district, especially during budget meetings and negotiations, Mr. Tallarico said. Mr. Tallarico has been married for 11 years to his wife, Jennifer, who has been in education for 14 years, first as a mathematics teacher in the Buffalo Public Schools and currently as a professional development specialist. Together they have one daughter, who is currently a second grader at Hilliard Elementary. We are both looking forward to having an active role within the school community and both firmly believe parents play a positive role in a child's life and activities, Mr. Talabico said. Should I be re-elected

009to the school board? I am looking forward to meeting and to help foster this growth mindset for the future of our school community. The questions and answer period will now begin. We will proceed as follows. Attendees of tonight's program who wish to raise a question or comment were asked to submit their question or comment on the cards provided at the tables outside of our auditorium and then handed to one of our student union representatives. Only those who did so will be included in our Q&A this evening, but of course, anyone can contact a candidate directly on their own if their particular issue was not covered tonight. All questions were required to have a name and address included. If a question does not contain the required name and address, it cannot be read. If a submitted

010question card includes more than one question, I will read the first question. I have those cards with me now, and we will ask the questions in random order. We will propose as many questions and comments as time allows, giving the candidates the opportunity to respond to each. Please be respectful of this process as we try to create the most productive opportunity for everyone here to listen to the candidates' positions. Please refrain from raising questions or making comments from your students. If your question is selected, when your name and address is read, please stand so the candidates can address you with their answers. Again, if you have not heard your question or comment addressed, you may of course contact any of the candidates directly. Each candidate will be given a two-minute opportunity to respond to each

011question in a rotating order. Question number one. Do you support the 2022-23 Lancaster Central School District budget? Mr. Kevin Davin. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, John, for being here. And thank you to the community members that took time out of this wonderful day here in Lancaster to come out and listen to the three candidates here kind of speak about what we view for the benefit of children. Our school budget is a well thought out school budget. It is the product of a lot of hard work, a lot of conversations at all levels of the school district. That includes all of your teachers, your administration. They come to us as board members. We, as board members, are giving input from what we're hearing in the community. It allows the district

012to continue to push the educational program forward. It allows for there to be a continuation of all the wonderful programs that are extracurricular and otherwise that help build a cohesiveness around the students here. And by and large, it's very, very fiscally responsible. Year in and year out, Lancaster has been known as one of the most... Fiscally responsible and efficient school districts in the state of New York where we were number one for about ten years running And I think right now we're number two or three That's important because those dollars translate into all of the wonderful things that you see in this community Kids get the opportunity to venture off and go and explore all of the opportunities they want while they're here in school and after, but it also allows them the opportunity to

013be well ingrained into the Lancaster community. And as a taxpayer here, I see the benefits of that every single day on where I live. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Davenport. Once again, the question is, do you support the 2022-23 Lancaster Central School District budget? This is from April Skroba at 14 Branch Way in Lancaster, Newark. Mr. Romig. So thank you for the question. Thank you, Kevin and John, for being here as well as everybody that's in attendance. I do appreciate it. This is my first time being in a school board election. Regarding the... supporting the 22-23 budget. I do have some concerns with it. There's a number of people that have voiced their concerns to me as I was walking around the neighborhoods, one of which is that we're reducing the number of

014library or library hours in the schools. And for me, I'm not really understanding why we would do that because out of the reading, writing, arithmetic, it's at least one and a half of those items, right? You know, the library is where you get to read. By reading, it allows you to fundamentally understand more of how to write. Maybe not so much with arithmetic once you're doing math books and stuff like that. And a number of other people, they don't see the granularity in the budget. I've looked at the budget myself. I'm not saying I don't support it. I'm just saying that I'll understand enough about the budget. I do believe that Lancaster does a good job in the number of programs and processes they have in place. One of the things that I would like

015to do if I get elected to the school board is ask the whys. Why did we do this? Why did we do that? An engineer would call it the five whys of finding a root cause and corrective action of any issue that might be involved. When you ask five whys, you get down to the basic premise of what the cause is happening. And again, I'm not saying that I don't support the budget. What I'm saying is I'm not understanding it enough to whether or not I can say I do or don't. I do appreciate the people that are on the board, and I know it's a difficult position. I know they spend a lot of time in there. That's what I've been told. They probably spend a lot of hours. And I do appreciate their

016time. Thank you much. Thank you, Mr. Homing. Mr. Tavifil. Thank you. Again, I'd just like to echo everybody's sentiments. Really appreciate the community coming out tonight. It's nice to see a lot of faces coming to this type of situation and coming to our meeting. It's nice to see people wanting to take an active role in it, and we appreciate the questions. I will start off by saying I'll give a full-throated yes, I support the budget 100% in this district. The reason being is because I've lived in this district for 12 years now, With my daughter going into elementary school a couple of years ago, now in second grade, I've seen the wonderful programs even at the elementary level that she has access to. Different reading programs, different things for children who might not be on

017level. I can tell you that the school is pushing for 100% literacy and 100% being on level in their next CDET plan coming up. The budget maintains all of the extracurricular activities. Educational programs, most importantly, it maintains teachers, and that's extremely important to me. The Lancaster School District is obviously one of the cornerstones of this community, and with the teachers being so important and our children being so important in this district, to me it was extremely important that the budget reflected that and was able to maintain the same programs in education and the different clubs and athletics as well. So, absolutely, I support the budget this year. Thank you very much, Mr. Talavico. Question number two. A question was asked about terms in office, and not all candidates have served on the board before, so

018we are unable to ask this question. Moving on, we have a question from Patrick Eaton from 7 East Home Road in Lancaster. What does diversity, equity, and inclusion in our schools mean to you? We're going to start off with Mr. Dan Roman. You may begin whenever you're ready. Okay, so I think this term means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I have some concerns with the specific terms, not because of what some people believe the intent is for this term, but when you talk about, if you break down the three different letters, let's start with the first letter, diversity. I'm not against having diversity, having people being able to come in, speak their minds, having different groups of people regardless of your race, religion, culture, creed, or like that. What

019I have trouble with is if we put that ahead of merit. I believe that people should be hired or accepted or brought into a group or hired based on their merit, not because of an attribute that they personally have. Equity is the second letter. So equity is not the same as equality. From my understanding of equity, if you want to do the example of the three board candidates, equity we say that no matter what you vote for, we all get the same number of votes. What I believe in is equality. Everybody is equal and should have the same ability to prosper and do well in society. If they want to work hard, if they want to spend 12 hours or 14 hours on their job, if they want to do those kinds of things like

020that, then they should be able to get ahead. If you're not willing to do that, then unfortunately you're not going to be able to reap the rewards of hard work. And I believe equity means that the person that does 14 hours worth of work or 6 hours worth of work gets the same. benefits in society and I personally believe with the work ethic that I have and people that I'm around that's what makes America great you get rewarded for what you do inclusion I actually totally agree with this one inclusion I think everybody should be allowed to come in be able to be in any organization group and everybody should be should feel welcome in school the classrooms or any activity thank you thank you very much Mr. Romney Mr. John Tallavico. Thank you. Diversity,

021equity, and inclusion are extremely important. Reason being, in my opinion, if you've ever worked in a company, you do not get better, you do not move forward if you do not take the opinions, the backgrounds, the different walks of life of different people into account when you're making decisions. To teach children and to strive for understanding of different backgrounds and diversity is so important, especially in the world. Lancaster is a pretty big community, but compared to the rest of the country, it's tiny. And when the children of Lancaster graduate from the high school and go on to college and go on to their careers, they need to have an understanding that there are people with different backgrounds. Equity, obviously knowing my wife is a teacher, she taught in the Buffalo Public Schools for 10 years,

022and trying to get all students on the same footing so a student with a certain background over another background doesn't have a leg up simply because of where they came from is extremely important. Equity in the classroom means that everybody has the same chance to learn. They have the same chance and the same... ability to have the same excellent education as somebody else. And inclusion, of course, anybody should be included regardless. It doesn't matter where you came from, where you grew up. What your background is, whether both parents are in the home, you come from a family where your parents are divorced, or you have a little bit more money or you don't have a little bit more money. Everyone should be included and given the exact same opportunities to learn and to grow. And

023then when they leave Lancaster, to apply all those things to become a productive member of society. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Tallarico. Mr. Kevin Davenport. So... I have a little bit of a different take on this because it's very personal. My wife, Marta, is a native of Spain. And growing up, when we moved here to Lancaster, there were challenges for us and for our family and for our children. In addition to looking, speaking, and presenting a little bit differently, our son Diego was classified as a special ed student. And so we looked at inclusion, we looked at equity, we looked at diversity. And those words carried a very, very big meaning for our family. We wanted a district that was going to embrace those three terms. We wanted a place where they would

024look at our children, they would look at us as people, and give us the same opportunities that everybody else in this community had, because we were not native to Lancaster. It has been an overwhelming experience for us to live here. We have been taken in by this community. We have seen our children grow. Our son Diego, who was classified as special ed in first grade, ended up getting a scholarship to RIT. That was due to the special ed program here and inclusion and looking at not just his deficiencies, but how they kept him included in the educational programs and provided him opportunities to go. So when I look at all three of these, they're very important. It's part of the fabric of this community, and it's part of where this school community is moving in

025the future. Thank you, Mr. Davenport. Question number three. This is from April Stroka at 14 Branch Way in Lancaster, New York. What role have you had on the Board of Education before, or how active have you been as a citizen in our community? We're going to start off with Mr. John Tallarico. Thanks. Well. Like I said, I've lived in the district for 12 years now, and when I was elected to the school board, it was kind of the perfect timing. My daughter had just gotten into kindergarten at the time. Through my role on the school board for the last three years, I've attended every meeting, which is kind of the table stakes, I would say, for most board members who should come to the meetings. But I've also had the ability to join a bunch

026of different committees to learn just the way that the school works. I'm on the health insurance committee, which is a lot of fun. It gives you a lot of insight about how we insure the teachers and what our insurance program is. My first year on the school board, I was part of the assembly that voted with the... greater New York area for different things that the school boards were trying to get done throughout the entire state with the New York State Assembly and things like that. I truly enjoy being a part of the Lancaster community. I enjoy being on the school board because it gives me a chance to give back. It gives me a chance to have a small part in the education of not only my child, but the 6,000 students that go

027here. You know, I'm not, I've said this a million times, I'm not a politician. I'm not on the school board so I can go and be a town councilman or anything like that. That's not my thing. But the nice thing about the school board is it's kind of the last bastion of a democracy. You get to truly have a hand in students' lives and seeing the programs and the students succeed here is one of my favorite things about being on the school board. So, thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Tarucco. Mr. Cavendavacore? I've been pretty active in the community since we moved here. It started at that point. I was still in the field of education, and I got ingratiated into coaching youth sports. So I was helping out with baseball, wrestling, and... the

028Lancaster to Pew soccer program. I ended up running for the school board because I feel like what greater way to give back to your community? And it's never been about my kids. It's been about the kids of this community and the fabric of this community and being able to see all these kids benefit from experiences that I had that I may be able to shed light on through my role here on the board. I currently chair the audit committee, so I have a keen insight into all the auditing pieces that go on on a year-to-year basis, keeping tabs on those types of things. I sit on the food service committee. We've been to the state school board convention. So always trying to find a way, always going to sports programs, all the extracurriculars, the musicals,

029the concerts, watching all the great things the kids are doing here on a week-to-week basis has really been a joy. Thank you very much, Mr. Davenport. Mr. Romer? Absolutely. What role have you had on the board, or how active have you been as a citizen in the community? Okay, thank you. So I'm not a board member, obviously. I'm a new candidate this year. So for the items that in the community, I was a softball coach for the Ponytails League for two years. My daughters at that time were in the Ponytail Division. The second year, my daughter went up into the Junior's Division, and I was the head coach for that. That was a very interesting time because you had a lot of different kids that were at different... phases of their development for being ability

030they're hitting their fielding Sometimes it was the first time that they ever got it So my biggest thing that I try to impart on them is just do your best I would always tell my girls I say As long as you do your best, I don't care. Just don't pick the grass when you're in the outfield. Because that's what they would do is they'd play in the sand, they'd pick up the grass and stuff like that. So just don't do that. If you don't get the ball, that's okay. And that's what I think is really important is just making sure that you strive to do your best in anything that you do, including education. The second main thing that I did was the PTO. I was one of the board members for the PTO, in

031which I co-ran the William Street School. Family Fun Night and the Movie Night, which was an absolute blast. It's in my bio. It's also a very difficult challenge in a way. Not relative to a lot of other things, obviously, but it's different than your typical thing because there are a lot of different problems you have to run into. Generally, I deal with a lot more engineering items, more higher, I don't want to say higher level because it kind of makes it look bad, but dealing with a lot of kids is a lot of fun for me. It was some of the best times that I had. My daughters enjoyed it. I think they like the fact that dad was actually organizing the events so they could sit up front and get in there early and

032stuff like that. So those are the items that I would do. Thank you very much, Mr. Romay. Question number four. What experiences do you remember from your K-12 education? How will these experiences affect your performance on the Board of Education? We're going to head back to Mr. Cavendam. So my formative years. I grew up in an education household. Both my parents were teachers. My father was a high school phys ed teacher. My mother was an elementary school teacher. We grew up in Faulconer. All of my childhood memories are around the school. All my parents' friends were teachers. Every gathering that we had, there were teachers everywhere. My dad's a Hall of Fame coach in three different Hall of Fames, and the impact that both my parents had on kids in that community made me change

033my career plan from going to med school to going into education originally because I saw the impact that they were having on the lives of kids, and not even just kids, but the community at large. And so I wanted to replicate that. I wanted to give back to that. I spent 18 years in education and loved every minute of it, but I had a calling to go back into medicine and get into oncology. Once I did that, I knew that I wanted to get involved in the school board and still have a hand in having influence and having the ability to help shape where that educational community is going in the future because it meant so much to me as a kid. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Davenport. Mr. Dan Roman. So I

034have two main episodes I'm going to touch on. So first, my schooling was a little bit different. My dad was in the military. He served 26 years in the Air Force before retiring. So I was actually in a lot of different school systems. I was born in Texas, in Fort Worth. We moved to Alaska, then Ohio, then Maryland. He retired. Then we went to Lewistown, Pennsylvania. And then he finally moved over to actually buy a house in Belfort, technically Zion, Pennsylvania. So I've actually been to a lot of different school systems, seen a lot of different areas and stuff like that. I've never really been, when I was K through 12, I was never really into a lot of the school things. I did football and I did the activities, got a lot of honor

035roll systems and stuff like that. Only recently have I really gotten more into wanting to do more into the school system because I have kids. I pretty much want to do this for them. And I do remember a really good... I think I'd read out of his graduation in fourth grade third grade. I'm operating with us like that But we were told that we had to sing the song As from Whitney Houston it was a children our future let them lead the way And to me that's that speaks to me and I was thinking about it a couple weeks ago And that is what this whole thing is about is for our kids And I think the school board should take their interest in mind first and foremost over anything else, over teachers, over parents,

036over anything else. And if we do that, then we can foster them in order to encourage them to grow, get better, because they're the ones that are going to be taking over our spots. They're going to have the jobs that we have now. And they're the ones that they're going to lead. They're going to be the people in charge of things and stuff like that. So the better that we do our jobs here, the better that the teachers do their jobs, the better that everybody's going to be. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Rowling. Mr. Dantelli, we go. When I look back on my K-12 experience, I would say that when I got into high school, I kind of found what I wanted to do. I tried out a bunch of different sports. I

037tried football. I tried wrestling. I golfed. I was on the golf team for four years. And I also did school musicals and things like that. The music program I had in school was one of the most important things in my formative years. The reason I say that is because when I finally found a niche that I loved and I could be a part of, that's when I grew a lot. That's when I found myself. That's when I grew as a person. That's when my personality really started to come out and shine. And I speak to that because at Lancaster, I'm always in awe of the amount of educational programs we have, but I'm also in awe of the amount of different clubs and activities you can do at this school. If you're into numbers, there's

038a finance academy. If you think your calling is possibly getting into hospitality, we have an academy for that as well. If you want to play the steel drums, we have a club where you can play the steel drums. If you can't find something that you want to get into as a student in the Lancaster schools, you're probably not looking hard enough. And the thing that I love the most is that I know that when my daughter gets into the middle school and the high school, she's going to have all the ability to find her niche and grow as a person. That's what I'm so proud of, and that's one of the main reasons that I continue to do the work on the school board. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Tawiko. Question number five.

039In your estimation, what is the biggest challenge that faces the Lancaster School District? If elected, how do you plan to solve this challenge? We're going to start off with Mr. Dan Romney. So I think the biggest challenge to the Lancaster School District, I think, from hearing from a lot of the people that I'm talking to is the communication channels. And I'm not sure if it's the way that it's presented, the way that it's received. Maybe people want it in different media. I'm not sure. Again, I'm kind of getting a lot of anecdotal evidence and stuff like that. I'm not saying that anything in the school board now is not being communicated effectively. But one of the things that I would like to do, like I said, is ask the five whys. A second main thing

040that I would like to do is actually review the... processes and procedures or how you want to look at it to see what we could do. One of the challenges that I see in corporate America is they always say, well, that's what we did last year, so that's what we should be doing this year. And it's very few times do people actually say, well, why did we do that? Because that was 15 years ago, and we don't have to do that anymore because of X, Y, or Z. And so what I'd like to do is actually kind of, I mean, one of the things I like doing is going into the data and engineer by trade. is to dive into either the legalese or the processes and stuff like that in order to see how

041can we change what we're doing in order to more effectively communicate with the people. Because I believe that if we would be able to do that, if I get elected and we're able to do that, we would have a bigger turnout in the school boards. We'd be able to present much more information. So I've been to a school board meeting and different school boards and there's different ways of presenting information and stuff like that and I would think that we would want to try to take the best of the different areas and combine it so that we can make it Lancasterized and try to make sure that we're able to communicate effectively to all the people that are here and who can pay taxes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Roman. Mr. John Tallarico?

042To be honest with you, I think one of the biggest struggles that Lancaster could face is just maintaining the focus on the students. We have to make sure that what we do as a group isn't driven by one type of ideology or anything like that. It's to make sure that the students are put first. You know, as far as Dan's point about communication and, you know, school board meetings and that sort of thing, I mean, you can look back at multiple different meetings. We don't have a ton of people that come. We share a lot of information at our board meetings, and the board meetings are public. And we don't have a lot of people that come. Now to me, I don't necessarily take that as a negative thing because in general, when we're not

043constantly hearing different things and when the places impact, then in general I would assume that the community has our trust. We are doing the right things for the community and we are making sure that, again, this school board puts the students before anything else. That's why... When I look over the community of Lancaster, I see a lot of good people who all want the same thing. They want the school to be strong, they want the students to get the best education, and they want them to have the access that when they graduate from here, they're productive members of society, they go on, they get great jobs, whether that be going to college and getting a job, or going into the trade and getting a job. That's it. Thanks. Thank you very much, Mr. Tawiko. Mr.

044Coffin-Denverport. I think when we look at challenges, we can look at how this district operated in one of the greatest challenges it's faced ever. The past couple years, we've been in the middle of a pandemic, and a pandemic that the world has never quite experienced before, and the school was not immune to that. They had to pivot. They had to get information and use that information to the best of their ability to make decisions very, very quickly, sometimes with limited information from key stakeholders at the state level to make decisions that kept kids in school. And that was a collaboration between the administration, the teachers, the board, this community to garner together, come together. And what you saw was our kids still excel. Our kids still set the standard for excellence in education in this

045area. I can't tell you how many times people came up to me, whether it was at Wegmans, whether it was at a community event. Sometimes there were people that had kids in other districts and said, I wish my kid was in Lancaster. Why was that? Because they saw Lancaster coming together in a time of great crisis. And that's the mark of people that are being able to look at information, communicate, and pivot effectively and move forward. What are the challenges going forward? I think what this has taught us is we don't know what the future holds. We don't know what's going to happen in the fall. We don't know what's going to happen next year. We may have another outbreak. All I know is the historical significance of the last few years has shown us

046that we will come together, we will rise above, and we will do what's right for kids. Thank you so much, Mr. Davenport. Question number six. What is your stance on mental health awareness in Lancaster and how would you take extra steps to improve the social emotional education for Lancaster students? We're going to start off with Mr. John Tallarico. I mean, I think personally, I'm glad that in general mental health awareness is becoming less and less stigmatized. I think that any student that believes that he or she needs to talk to somebody that they feel like they can't just talk to a parent. Maybe they can't talk to a parent, brother, whatever else, or other sister. I think we should keep pushing. We have excellent guidance counselors here. We have an excellent staff of teachers who

047I know are willing to listen and guide different students to different type of mental health. you know, counselors in the area. Our guidance counselors are well-equipped to handle that type of situation as well. That's what they're there for. Overall, again, like I said... I'm glad that it's becoming less and less. I'm glad it's becoming destigmatized because mental health is so important. Over the last two years, I think we all kind of realize that in general. A lot of people spend a lot of time in their home, and all of a sudden you can't go visit your grandparents, you can't go visit your parents. It can be very tough on people. I didn't realize how tough it was on me. I wasn't able to see my mom or my dad for a couple of months during

048the pandemic until things started to calm down. you'd think that as an adult, an adult man, I would be fine with it. But it was tough on me. It was tough on my family. So I think in general, seeking mental health, just different areas or avenues in order to make yourself better mentally is only going to help you as a person. So whatever we can do to push that type of thing forward, I'm all for it. Thank you very much, Mr. Talrico. Mr. Covindabinporn. Mental health conditions have long been, just from a medical side where I was at, long been misunderstood. And over the last few years, there has been a growing push. to better identify it, try to take steps to understand what it is for somebody that is dealing with mental health issues.

049What are those challenges? What does that look like? And we need to learn how to show compassion, how to show empathy, how to put ourselves in the shoes of that person so that we can better understand and help them along that journey. What I've seen here in the school, to reiterate what John said, our counselors here do an amazing job. From K to 12 they are always there. They are always empathetic They are always trying to help identify the teachers identify kids. Oh, we might see this kid is might be Struggling with this this or this and they try to find those pockets and try to help those kids along and connect them with the services that are available That are going to help them identify what the issue is, and then get them the

050requisite interventions that they need to be able to move forward and be productive in society. The worst thing in the world with mental health is isolation. And when kids feel isolated, that's when you start to read about it in newspapers. That's when you start to see some of the rising issues with teen suicide. It's because they feel isolated. And Lancaster does a really good job, but it doesn't mean that we can't continue to push the envelope and find other ways, creative ways, to continue to make a difference for kids. Thank you very much, Mr. Davenport. Mr. Dan Romig. Thank you for the question. So I guess the first thing that came through my head is, you know, who would be against... helping people with mental health issues, I guess that was the first thing that

051kind of came through my head is why would anybody be against that? I have to echo the, I don't know specifically in specific cases because I'm not in the school a lot, but I'll take John and Kevin's word for it. And I know from my daughter's experiences and stuff like that, they may want to talk to teachers, which is like a first-line counselor. I know like where I work in electronics or program management, you always have different levels of severity if you will and I would see the teachers as that first line before you go to the guidance counselor before you go to the next level before you get maybe professional help and stuff like that so I fully would support the mental health awareness helping any student When I was growing up and stuff

052like that, it was a different time and stuff like that. But I know that there was a lot of different issues, especially in the schools that I was in, some of the military schools and stuff like that. There was a lot of things that I don't see. happening in Lancaster here. And I don't think that they have the services that a place like Lancaster would have. And I would believe just like, you know, we're going to be sending these, you know, young adults into adulthood, that we want to give them the best chance for their success and having a right, stable mind. Whether that's, you know, they're confused, they're just needing help, they're overwhelmed, they have too many tasks, they don't know what to do in college. Like my daughters, they kind of struggle. They

053don't know what to do. They don't know if they want to go to college, do a trade. They just want to go open a business, be a YouTuber. So having that ability so that you can kind of settle them down, calm them down a little bit so that they can enter adulthood and their first job successfully is very important. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Rohner. We will now conclude the question and answer session. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions to our candidates. At this time, we will begin to close our forum with each candidate having a one-minute closing statement. We will begin with Mr. Kevin Davenport. Again, Dan and John, thanks for being here tonight. I just want to say that as somebody that always wants to harken back on how I

054was raised, and I mentioned this earlier by my folks, I lost my mom two weeks ago. Yesterday was Mother's Day, our first Mother's Day without my mom, the matriarch of our family. And when I gave her a eulogy, I hit the nail on the head, I think, when I said her life was about service. And she ingrained in me and my brother and my two sisters, service and serving others and serving something bigger than yourself. And so for me, that service translates into what I do every day in my life with my coworkers, with my family, but that extends out into this Lancaster family and this educational family because I believe that the service that I'm able to provide, the background and the experiences are helping to Lend some kind of color to what kids

055are going to be able to get in this school district going forward So I'm asking for your vote next week I'm dedicated to continuing to serve as long as this community will ask me to serve and I appreciate everybody coming out tonight. Thank you very much. Mr. Kavanaugh before next up. We have mr. Dan will make so first off condolences I know family issues make things like the school board very, very minute and stuff like that. It puts things into perspective for sure. I would also like to thank John here as well for being on the school board, as well as everybody here and giving questions, being present for this very important. So one of the big things that I was going to do that I'll reiterate on is ask the five whys as a

056new member of the school board, and they might get annoyed at me. But it's sort of my way of my process of finding kind of what I consider the true answer. And I've seen it work a lot of times in the companies that I've worked at, in which if you ask them why's enough times, it brings out the actual answer. It's the surface level. Again, I'm not saying that the school board is doing the surface level. I'm not saying that they're not communicating. I'm just saying that that's what I would do because that's how I'm built and how I'm wired. The other item is to make sure that we always are doing the best going forward rather than relying on what is in the past. I think the school board should be making sure that

057the kids are number one in everything. The teachers are obviously a part of that because they're the ones that effectuate what happens with the kids. And so as a group between the school board, the teachers, the community, we can all get together and have a long-lasting, wonderful Lancaster. Keep it wonderful, right? Because everybody here believes Lancaster is wonderful, so let's keep it wonderful going forward. Again, I want to thank everybody for being here. I do ask for your vote coming out May 17th. Vote Dan Roman. Thanks. Thank you very much, Mr. Roman. And finally, we have Mr. John Tallarico. Thank you. So I'll start out by saying thank you to everybody for being here. Thank you to Kevin and Dan as well. It takes a lot to run for the school board. It takes a

058lot to serve on the school board. Over the last three years, what I've learned through my service to the community has been there's a lot of really good people. A lot of really good people who make this entire organization run. They care about kids. What I've probably heard... 30, 40, 50 times a week was if we're going to do it, it's got to be good for kids. I'll tell you that every single person who runs in the district office from the superintendent down to the teachers, they care about the students of this district. Learning that and being able to be a small part of the education of so many students has been an absolute honor for me. What I will tell you is If I'm re-elected, I will work just as hard to make sure

059that we continue to push forward, make sure that kids get what they need in order to be successful, and make sure that every student who moves to Lancaster, because again, we're a destination district. People talk about, when they talk about moving, buying houses, Lancaster's absolutely one of the top of the list. And there's a reason for that. It's because of the school, it's because of the community. If re-elected, I will absolutely work to continue to make sure that this remains a destination district, that every student that moves here gets top quality education and has access to all the things that they need in order to be successful once they go on to adulthood. So next Tuesday, I do humbly ask for your vote. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Tallarico. On behalf of the

060Lancaster High School Student Union, I would like to thank the candidates and the attendees for their interest in our school and their future. Our hope is that this evening's forum was informative and helpful. Good luck to all the candidates and please remember to vote on Tuesday, May 17th right here in the Lancaster High School Java Gym from 7am to 9pm. This concludes our program. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. They're going to, they got to go through the presentations and check. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The Lancaster Central School District's annual budget hearing. What a year it's been. Hopefully the Corona coaster ride that we've been on is over. But as you see, for some of us, it's

061not. Either through exposures or getting over the coronavirus, we're following the rules of wearing masks. Trust me, I do not like wearing masks. But we're going to follow the rules and see this to fruition. It certainly has not been a fun ride. And it's took us on some dips and turns and like no other in the history of the school district as other people have mentioned. But each time we've tried to do the right thing. And we've stayed focused laser-like on fulfilling our mission, which is taking care of our kids. I'm proud of everyone, every single individual here, and I want to send a heartfelt thanks to everyone in the school district and the community for all that they've done. So a huge thank you to everyone. This budget, which the Board of Education and

062the district works so hard on, believes in and supports, maintains all instructional programs, student opportunities, student services, and class sizes. Things that the Lancaster community has come to expect and to appreciate. Dr. Grubel, Ms. Phillips, and I will take you through it like we do each year. So let's dive into it. The actual election itself is on Tuesday, May 17th. It's from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. here at Lancaster High School. It is a $122.2 million budget. That is a $4.3 million increase from 2021 to 2023, which represents a $3.69 million budget-to-budget increase. This budget, again, maintains all educational offerings. The budget-to-budget increase is 1% below the inflation rate and accounts for the rising costs like you've experienced in your own homes with costs of supplies, utility rates, gasoline rates, and benefit costs. Now, Jamie

063Phillips. I think this is the first time I've had to do this with a mask on, so I'm not a teacher that you had to use one every day, so please excuse me. The budget is required to be presented in a three-part format, and those three parts are administrative, instructional, and capital components, which I will be walking you through. The administrative component provides for the overall general support and management activities for the district as a whole, including the district office functions, district-wide expenditures, business functions, and building administration. It is the smallest portion of the budget, coming in at 10% of our overall budget. For 2022-2023, for the proposed budget, this portion is increasing overall by 4.9%. Contractually obligated salaries and benefits account for just over 3.5% of that 4.9% increase. $161,000 of this increase is

064attributed to both these services. Services such as the addition of a personnel and registration management software for efficiency, our new mass communication system that was previously paid for out of. our contractual budget and not OCS and all of those expenses will actually garner OCS aid in the following school year. The program portion of the budget is the largest portion of the budget. So it is 74% of our overall budget. This portion contains all of the expenditures directly related to instruction of our students. So that includes classroom instruction, special education, technology, transportation. extracurricular activities, and student support services such as guidance, social workers, psychologists, library, and the health office to name a few. This portion of the budget maintains all current programs, class sizes, and student opportunities. It also includes the addition of one FTE speech

065positions and that's based on our current service level needs for our students. The annual major cost driver in this section of the budget is contractual salaries and benefits for instructional faculty and staff. This portion of the budgeting includes salaries and benefits for 838 out of our 979 staff members, so 86% of our employees. It also includes wages and benefits for our substitute teachers and substitute support staff. Some major increases beyond our employee costs in this section of the budget are supply and contractual increases related to inflation and supply chain cost increases, increased fuel and contract transportation costs for busing. Both these costs attributed to a remote learning program and an increase in our career in tech ed enrollment from 157 to 170 students. And also tuition and BOCES costs related to special education are increasing

066due to enrollment and student needs. There are several expenditure areas in this section of the budget that are also offset by C-8. Textbooks, hardware, software, library materials, special education costs, BOCES costs, and transportation. All of those are which the aid is paid on a one-year lag. So overall, this portion of the budget is increasing by just over 4%. The component increase is 82% of our overall budget to budget increase. So now I'm going to have Dr. Kufel come up and talk to us about some of the instructional programs that we have with our students and our successes. Thank you, Ms. Phillips. In Lancaster, we educate nearly 6,000 students across seven buildings with about 970 professional and support staff. So in comparison to the magnitude of the wonderful organization, I will try to keep it brief.

067Over the past two years, as previously mentioned, our district has maintained a focus on maximizing student, maximizing learning and the student experience. This year, an additional focus has been the return to normal. I'm excited to do this presentation this year because the last few years it's been a little bit different of an angle. That being said, our faculty, staff, and administrative team work together to maximize learning and the student experience to provide our students with an education that is second to none. As you'll see behind me, it's a fantastic team effort. Faculty, staff, administrators working together getting us back to normal. A few of the highlights that span buildings and levels, I'll start with technology. That was certainly a major focus prior to the pandemic. We continue to make that a focus during the pandemic

068and certainly as we are hopefully continuing to move forward beyond the pandemic. We continue to prove what we use and how we use it to prepare our students for the challenges they'll meet in a never-changing society. We have a one-on-one Chromebook initiative in which those nearly 6,000 students have a Chromebook assigned to them. This provides our teachers and students amazing opportunities both in and out of the classroom. Our technology mentors have been invaluable throughout this last two years especially, but certainly each and every day as they support our teachers and students on a daily basis. We continue to look for online efficiencies for families, our students, and the district. Another area in which we span all buildings is our collaboration with the Lancaster Police Department, our school resource officers. We have three school resource officers

069who are absolutely fantastic. They take on leadership roles and are part of the culture of each of our buildings. They focus on topics such as social media awareness, bullying prevention, bike safety, and water safety. And in addition to the wonderful partnership that we have, Family of the Dog is always a huge hit with the kids and adults of all ages. As a large district, we have four K-3 buildings, Como Park, Court Street, Hillview, and Schole. One of our strengths is the size of our district. Our teachers across the buildings work together on committees in English, language arts, math, science, and social studies to align curriculum instruction to benefit our students. We have additional ELA and math specialists this year to support more students in the wake of the pandemic. but to also allow our teachers

070to focus on supporting all students with the district's long-term goals. District-wide special education programs, specifically at the K-3 level, such as integrated and self-contained programs, support our students at all of their levels. Comprehensive classroom libraries of leveled readers support students where they are. STEAM and STEM opportunities for students to understand the engineering and design process. Field trips to build background knowledge and support classroom instruction. At the K-3 level, our teachers strive to provide a learning environment that is conducive to student learning for all students. We have summer programming, as I mentioned earlier, to help those students who are not yet meeting grade level expectations. Our teachers and students at the K-3 level work hard to set the academic and social-emotional foundation to allow all students to achieve success as they move through Lancaster. The faculty,

071staff, and parents also work hard to make the learning experience special, fun, and enjoyable. Some of those things that we have welcomed back this year, walk-a-thons, pumpkin runs and haunted drive-thrus, fun runs, merry-go-shopping, winter-themed and spirit-week dress-up days, the 100th day of school celebrations, book fairs, third-grade choral concerts, field days coming soon, third-grade moving-up ceremonies. numerous service projects and fundraisers, garden clubs, and art nights. And those are just a few of the events, programs, and opportunities provided by the hard work of our faculty, staff, administration, and the wonderful community of parents. At William Street, our 4-6 building, the largest elementary school in New York State, is full of educational opportunities that are second to none. This is the first year of the reconfiguration, meaning how students are scheduled and the physical layout of the building.

072This endeavor is a true testament to the teachers, William Street administrative team, and the district administrative team working together with a long-term vision and plan to create opportunities and a program for all students. At William Street, like the rest of the district, we always are looking for ways to improve and support, improve what we do and how we support our students. The reconfiguration. provides our students more opportunities at the sixth grade level in health, courses such as health, foundations for leadership and success, argumentative writing and debate, and math support for an entire year, whether the students are accelerated, need math lab, a little extra support, or need AIS in terms of remediation to increase some of those skills that may be lacking. In fourth and fifth grade, students get exposure to the leadership and argumentative

073class that I just spoke about. The reconfiguration has provided a community-based field to support students and teachers. The addition of two full-time social workers increases William Street to three full-time social workers, one per grade level, getting to know those students and teachers very well, in addition to working in concert with the same administrator to support our students' social and emotional well-being. For the first time, our students have school-wide leadership opportunities. There is a student council with elections of officers and student representatives at each grade level. Project Lead the Way Launch is a course at the fifth grade level that students get exposed to at the fourth grade level. Creative Writing in fourth grade. For our fifth and sixth grade students, there's an art academy for those who have that as an interest. William Street has

074the largest, most comprehensive four-sixth music program in western New York with eight bands, five choirs, and three orchestras. After school is once again buzzing again with excitement. Our students get their first opportunity to join clubs, organizations, and intramurals that are run by teachers and staff before and after school. There are live morning announcements. The talent show has been virtual the last couple of years, but it's going to be back in person. Field trips to add to the learning experience. A coffee shop run by our special education students to build life skills. In addition to formal mentoring, our teachers and members of our LCTA are supporting our newest teachers by holding monthly meetings in an effort to encourage and support them as they navigate the first few years of their educational journeys or teaching journeys. And

075just like at the K-3s, there's a strong PTO to support our students, teachers, and administration. Easing the transition from Williams Street to the middle school was another major benefit of the reconfiguration. At the middle school, the opportunities to further develop the academic and social skills necessary to become responsible and productive members of society continue and expand. Each year, many of our students take accelerated classes at the middle school. Last year, 210 students took and passed Regents Living Environment in 8th grade, while 157 students took and passed Algebra I in 8th grade. Both are high school courses required for graduation. Our teachers work tirelessly to align curriculum, horizontally and vertically, with the help of experts from both schools. Our students get their first opportunity to apply world language, Spanish, French, German. Our teachers and administrators have

076been planning for the inaugural year of pre-AP, pre-advanced placement, English language arts, which is the self-coming year. We have co-taught math and ELA courses for students who need the additional support. We are always striving to meet the needs of students and to meet them where they are. We have a menu of 10-week offerings at the middle school, which in many ways serve as the introduction to our career-themed academies at the high school. In terms of extracurricular activities, just under 20 teams, which is quite amazing. In the music world, multiple bands, choirs, and orchestras just as with William Street. Some of the non-traditional ones that students have access to are handbell choir, jazz ensemble, and marching band. We have just over 20 clubs and are always looking to add more based on student interest. Yearbook club,

077ski club, STEM club, drama club, school newspaper, diversity club, Minecraft club, current events club, National Junior Honor Society just had the induction ceremony. And a hidden gem, peer-to-peer, which is where students are trained to meet with peers to tutor each other. Student run, morning announcements continue. And then SWIS, Students Working to Improve the School Setting, is an organization in which our students work with the administration and select faculty and staff to improve student life at the middle school. Another leadership opportunity at the middle school is in eighth grade. It's our eighth grade executive board. This was... It's in its first year. Both Swiss and the Executive Board were modeled after Swiss and the Senior Class Executive Board at the high school. Speaking of the high school, Lancaster High School is where all of the years

078of hard work, pre-K through 8, culminate into more opportunities, additional programming, student leadership, and preparation for life after high school. Our graduation rate at Lancaster High School last year was 99.6%. Our advanced regions diploma, 71%, highest in school history. These are things that you may hear over and over. Highest in school history. Next year, this year, it might be even higher. We have 20 AP exams. Last year, AP courses, excuse me. Nearly 700 total AP exams taken by just under 400 students. Nearly 50% of last year's graduating class took at least one AP exam. About three-quarters of all exams score a three or higher, so our students don't just take the class, they earn the credit. We have 31 dual enrollment courses and counting in which students earn high school credit and college credit. The

079high school is once again named the best high school by U.S. News and World Report. We have seven career-themed academies to provide our students with real-life experiences prior to graduation. Roughly 800 students at the high school take advantage of that opportunity. Just under 200 students participate in career and technical education through the Harkness and Potter Road programs, Theory 1 boasters. Student leadership is second to none, as you saw earlier this evening. Once again, the high school earned the National Gold Council of Excellence Award from the National Student Council for the 17th consecutive year. There is a continuation of the world languages at the high school. Nineteen students will receive the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, highest in school history. At the high school in the district, a major theme this year has been overcoming

080adversities and challenges while maintaining normalcy. This is best illustrated by the fact that we have only canceled a small handful of events for our students that were on the calendar. Any barriers students and our advisors have encountered, they've overcome with innovation and creativity. In some cases, they have started new traditions. Just a few. Homecoming was back this year, but under the stars with a New York State Education Department-approved tent, something I never thought I'd say. Mental Health Week was introduced this year to increase awareness about mental health and to support each other. We started a Culture, Climate, and Inclusivity Committee. And this year, the senior dance is going to be, in lieu of the senior dance, there'll be a freshman-sophomore dinner dance. Once again, these are just a few, small few, of the many opportunities

081our 6,000 students have. They're a result of the dedication of students, faculty, and staff. A few last ones, our Alternative Program. We're meeting the needs of all students. Our Alternative Program provides opportunities for at-risk students from an academic and social-emotional standpoint to ensure preparedness for life after high school. There are nearly 60 clubs that students have joined, too numerous to mention. The class of 2021 has earned over $10 million in scholarship monies. Music recognizes one of the best communities for music education for the sixth consecutive year. Our students both at the individual and ensemble levels have earned countless awards. A great example is the High School Musical, Catch Me If You Can, earned nine Kenny nominations. We offer over 75 athletic teams, modified to varsity levels. Recently, our program was ranked 14th in New York

082State by one source. There are achievements in athletics too numerous to mention, but our student-athletes bring excellence to the field of play at the divisional, sectional, regional, and state levels. Individual winners in several sports at the state level, and sectional champs in some cases for the first time in school history at the team level. Over 30 students will continue their collegiate careers next year under the tutelage of our coaches to continue to play at the collegiate level. There's quite a bit there. And as you can see, our faculty, staff, and administrative team are fantastic. The community works together with our staff and is guided by the fundamental principle that everything that we do is done in the best interest of our students. With that, I'll turn it back over to Ms. Phillips. Thank you, Dr.

083Pufel, for shooting from the hip there. So to just bring it back, the instructional portion of the budget is 74% of the budget, even though 90% of the presentation was just given by Dr. Pucall. On to the capital component. The capital component provides for the operating and maintenance of the district's facilities, debt service payments from capital improvements, and transfers to other funds, including $100,000. for a capital outlay project and $100,000 for renovation at the maintenance annex. It represents 16% of our overall budget. This portion of the budget is increasing by 1.21% over the current year budget. That includes contractually obligated salaries and benefits for the maintenance department. It includes something that I know is impacting us all at home, our increased gas and utility prices. So our budget for utilities, for our facilities throughout the

084district has increased dramatically. But however, that is also offset by the reduction of 160,000 in this area of the budget. As we had a one year mandate, well it's every five years, but this year we completed our building conditions survey. And then so we were able to remove it from our budget for next year. Our debt from construction project commits out to be about $67,000 more than this current year. However, on the revenue side, all of our debt expenses are offset by building aid and the use of our debt service reserve. The transfers to other funds include $100,000 for a capital outlay project, which will be LED lighting fixtures and controls at William Street School, $100,000 for work at the maintenance annex, to install an ADA accessible entrance and then transfers to the Special Aid

085Fund and Food Service Program for Summer Special Education Services and meal balances. So overall, just a summary of the expenditures by component. Administration, 10%, program, 74%, and capital, just under 16%. Compared to last year, those are right on target with the same percentages. So the pieces of the budget pie are being virtually unchanged. To look at expenditures in a slightly different way, this is grouped by object, which is kind of grouping them by their type. So as you can see, salary and benefits, it consists of $8.9 million of the $122.3 million budget. 73% of the overall budget is attributed to salaries and benefits. And this is typical compared to past budgets. $2.2 million of the $4.3 million increase is attributed to salaries and benefits, so just over 50%. Salaries are for 979 faculty and staff

086members plus hundreds of substitutes. Our contractual increases are driven by large increases in our utility costs, our gasoline costs for our buses, our contractual transportation, and too much sharing. In the materials and supplies area, the increases are driven by supply chain issues, bid pricing not being honored, and then just the rise of many costs across the board. For example, just reading some paper about double what we were paying for them last year. On the BOCES budget outline, there's about $800,000 increase, and that can be attributed to a remote learning program, which we had this year, but it was not budgeted for last year because it didn't exist yet. And then an increase in our special education programs and services. So on Tuesday, the community will be voting on the overall expenditure budget, but we are

087required to present a balanced budget to you, so to show you the revenues that we will be receiving in order to match the total expenditure budget. As every year, our revenues have really two major revenue sources, which is New York State Aid to Education and then the local property tax levy. with respect to state aid. I used the word unprecedented last year because we did receive an unprecedented state aid package particularly with our overall foundation aid and we received another unprecedented state aid package. So for you for those that have followed school budgets over the last 10 years or really 17 years Foundation aid was introduced in 2008 2009 and it was a new formula to fund all schools equitably And that formula has never been used or funded in full So in last year's

088budget the state made a commitment to over the course of the next three years funding that in full Lancaster has historically been one of the lowest funded in terms of that formula Overall of the years, we were last year at about 75% funded. This year we're at 80% funded. After next year's aid package, we will be 90% funded. And then we expect to get the remaining 10% in the fall. Aside from state aid, we'll discuss property taxes a little bit later. We also have our reserves and appropriated fund balance. So we are using our reserves to the maximum according to their legal usages. And we're appropriating an additional $230,000 from this year's budget. To take a look at revenues in a little bit of a different way to see the proportions, our property tax levy

089is 48.5% of our overall revenue budget. That is down half of a percent from this current year. State aid is at 37%, which is up just over 1.5% from the previous year. And our use of reserves and fund balance is at 6.75%. So the property tax levy side, as I said, that is just under 50% of the overall revenue. We are living under the property tax levy limit cap from New York State. For 2022-23, our maximum allowable levy capital is 4.14% increase. And the estimated levy increase that we're proposing with the budget is 2.58%. So the estimated levy is $902,000 below the maximum allowable levy cap for 2022-2023. We are in our 11th year with the tax cap. So each year we have been within the cap calculation. Ironically, we've had five years that we've

090been higher than this 2.58% that we are estimating for next year, and we've had five years that we've been lower than the 2.58%. Contributing factors to the cap, it's well known as the 2% cap, but there are many factors in the calculation. We are assigned a growth factor each year by New York State, which is specific to each district. We factor in the consumer price index, but that can only max out at 2%. The CPI for 2021 was 4.69%, but the formula only allowed us to factor in a 2% increase there. And then we also have carryover from the previous year. So with the district being within the cap and lower than our cap calculation for 2023, the budget requires just a simple majority to pass. And now I will turn it over to Dr.

091Malley. So to bring it home with the last couple slides, the estimated tax rate increase, remember that these are estimations. You know, the final levy and the rates are set in August, and I think that's important for people to know. So we do this very, very, very conservatively every single year. And just some information here. Last year's estimated rate that was approved by voters last year was $14.34. But the rate itself, when it was set in August, turned out to be $13.98. That's when assessed valuations are taken into consideration, and the final level was set in August by the town. So that means that this year's estimated tax rate is actually one penny more than what the voters approved last year. So I think it's important to continue to bring these things up because that's

092the historical piece. A lot of times we'll go out with a $0.29 per 100,000 rate, for example, and that rate might turn out to be actually $0.07. So we're always conservative in guessing that. Last year, Lancaster voters passed $14.34. This year, it's $14.35 estimate. It's important to mention contingency budget. If the budget were to fail, that would result in a $1.4, well, $1.5 million. And just to be clear, ultimately that would affect reductions to programs, student opportunities, and staffing. This is not the old... In the 90s and early 2000s, 80s, wherever you're from, where the budget goes down and you just go to contingency budget and you can't buy your equipment. It's a whole new set of rules that we've been under, and it means a legitimate cut of almost $1.5 million. It's important to

093mention, too, Proposition 2 is replacement buses. There's seven full-size 65 passenger school buses. This is taken out of a reserve, the bus reserve that we have. And the cost of this proposition is $876,400. We have one year of replacements and you probably read the news and the changes to legislation, the incoming mandate to add change to electric buses. So it's very important for this reserve and this process to be thought about over the next coming years. Proposition three is to authorize a capital reserve fund. All our reserves are voter approved, and they're done in two different ways. Number one, the maximum amount of money that can be placed in there, and also, number two, the time commitment. So right now we're asking to authorize a $15 million capital reserve fund, a 10-year capital reserve. So

094everyone knows the last time this was authorized was 2018 for $10 million in 10 years. In our current reserve balance to transfer is $5.2 million. It's $5.19 million, I believe, to be exact. And when that's transferred over, that counts against the $15 million. So in essence, you're looking at about $10 million to increase that reserve fund. Proposition 4 is the establishment of a bus reserve fund. Again, the existing reserve was authorized in 2018 for $10 million or 10 years. We're nearing the contribution maximum on this one. And while we, like I mentioned, while we wait a lot of information on the electric buses, it'll be extremely important for school districts to be proactive and to really think about this reserve and the transition to electric buses that is mandated. Right now in that reserve, which

095will be transferred over, is $4.49 million. And again, that counts against the $10 million cap. Last slide is, again, remember to come out and vote, please. We need you to come out and vote. The actual vote is, again, May 17th. And not only are we voting on the budget itself, but we're voting to elect the next two candidates for the Board of Education. Ballot 1A is Kevin Davenport, who you met this evening, as well as 1B, John Tallarico, and 1C on the ballot, Dan Roman. So, you know, in conclusion and finally, you heard a lot of people speak tonight, and I just wanted to say that I think Mr. Tallarico hit the nail on the head when he said that this is a destination school district. It wasn't always the case, but it is now.

096And it's very clear from our housing market and everything else that people are choosing to come here in high demand. And those housing values are rising. And make no mistake, a high-quality, respected school system is the bedrock and foundation of a community. And for all that to happen... all the things that we see in our community to happen. So much construction and growth and everything like that. A big correlation to that is our school system and the great things that we together do for our kids. And again, when we talk about that school system, student achievement continues to be the highest in school district history. You can look at any data that you want, but that's a fact. Our graduation rate is number one in Western New York at 99.5% graduation once again. 71% of

097our students not only graduate with a Regents diploma, but a Regents diploma with advanced designation. 71%. That's best in district history. And last year's seniors were awarded over $10 million in scholarships, also the best in school district history. I'd like to thank the thoughtful and proactive Board of Education and of course the community for its capital improvement projects. 2012, 2015, and 2018 capital projects passed by more than three to one. And that sum total is $147 million, the highest in western New York over that period. We have some ways to go, folks. We have a lot of 1954 buildings, 1964 that needed work, and we're working on them every single year. For 10 years consecutively, we've done anywhere from $12 to $17 million. And that investment has resulted in major construction, fixing those buildings. 1946,

098USC, Amy Moeller over there, and so many other buildings that needed work and are getting that. Admittedly, we do have ways to go and there are certainly things we'd love to have. And those will come down the path. Lancaster is second and not with regard to athletics, academics, and music and extracurricular opportunities offered. And this budget that we've just presented here maintains all these programs and opportunities. I believe it's a good budget and I'm hopeful the community will come out and vote for it. You know, come out and vote. And at this time, I'll open it up for any questions. This is where there's a long pause. So going once, twice. Okay, thank you very much. This part of the presentation is over with, and we will probably take a short break and segue to

099a regular Board of Education meeting. Thank you very much for coming out, everyone. Thank you. I just realized I left home today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, how are you? Good to see you. Thank you. I'd like to call the Lancaster Central School District Board of Education meeting to order. In the unlikely event of an emergency, if we have to evacuate the room, please note the locations of the exits. At this time, I ask you to silence your cell phones and rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Remain standing for a moment of silent reflection. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and view the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tonight, we remain standing for Patricia

100Aputo, a cleaner at the high school since May 13, 2008, passed away on April 28, 2022. And for Linda Ringelben, an elementary teacher from 1965 to 1992, who passed away on April 29, 2022. And for Meyer Ryan, a teacher from 1969 through 2002, who passed away on April 30, 2022. And then Mr. Jackson is excused for tonight. All right. And then I would like to thank Karen Howard for joining us for this evening's event. And we really appreciate you coming out and watching our meetings. I think that's really great. We are going to move on to 4.0. We don't have any presentations for tonight's meeting. However, we did have our... budget presentation in our candidates forum earlier this evening. One of my favorite events of the entire year because you get to see it all

101come together and the best thing about it is the students run that event, the candidate forum. So it just highlights all the great things that we've got going on at Lancaster. So I really enjoy that. I enjoy meeting the incoming The president lacked it every year. One of the best things of my calendar year. All right. Moving on to 5.0, we have correspondence, a letter from Paul Friedrich that was received April 21st, 2022. On to 6.0, approval of minutes. 6.1, can I have a motion on the regular session minutes from April 19th, 2022? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 7.0, items from staff organizations. Anyone from the Lancaster Administrative and Supervisory Association? Thank you, Mrs. Wall, and thank you, LASA. On to anyone from the Lancaster Central Teachers Association.

102Good evening. The LCTA just wanted to echo those statements on the budget and that we will be encouraging our members and fellow NYSIP members in the community to come out and support the budget on the 17th. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Abraham. Anyone from the Lancaster Association of Service Personnel? And anyone from the Lancaster Association of Substitute Teachers? On to 8.0, board reports. Does anyone on the board have any reports? And 9.0, superintendent's administrative report. Dr. Bell? Yeah, I have a couple things here, Mr. Sage. First of all... Julie Becerri and her lacrosse team is back at it with the renewed tradition. Me and my guy danced, and that happened just a couple days ago. It became an instant classic when it was started about five or six years ago. It was paused in the

103spring of 2020. But it's a great chance. I know that John Tallarico and Andy Kufel and maybe others here attended. But it's a great chance. to make some memories and for fathers and daughters to spend time like that together. And it's a beautiful event, and I'd like to thank Julie and all those people that come together and pull that thing off every single year. It's always really nice. Unified basketball team began their season against Clarence. It was an exciting game. They went into overtime, and the Legends pulled off a win and started the season strong. It's always a fantastic event and experience for everyone who plays, who goes and watches. And I was so proud of all the players watching. And I never saw so many smiling faces as I do at those Unified games.

104John's shaking his head because that's one of the best things that this board ever did in improving that unified program. So if you haven't seen one, go and check it out. It's an absolute blast. The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts had their senior show and recital. So they had art galleries, black box theater that never looked so spectacular as it did last week. The talents of our graduating students were on full display, not only from an artistic perspective, but actual performance. musical instruments, solos, etc. So it was a really nice culmination of the year in so many different ways. Last week we had the newest members of the National Junior Artists Society. They were inducted in a beautiful ceremony. over at the middle school. I'd like to thank Stephanie Lackey who's here, along with

105Rita Gregory, Lancaster Middle School math teacher and the Junior National Honor Society advisor for coordinating the event. It included special speeches from different current LHS Honor Society members. It was great to have that ceremony in person again. And then Lancaster High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance, GSA, took part in a day of silence. And so everyone knows this is a student-led national event where members of the school community take a vow of silence to protest the harmful effects and harassment of discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools. Faculty and staff together wore ally stickers to demonstrate their support for the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ community and it was well received and a nice opportunity. So thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Valley. On to 10.0, old business. Does anyone have any old business to discuss? On

106to 11.0, new business. 11.1, personnel items. 11.1.1, do I have a motion on the personnel changes? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 11.1.2, can I have a motion on the tenure recommendation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 11.1.3, can I have a motion on the create position under civil service? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 11.2, education items. 11.2.1, can I have a motion on the committee on special education? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.0, business and financial items. 12.1, can I have a motion on the financial items? Second. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.2, policy adoption

1076140, employee medical examinations. Can I have a motion? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.3, this is a policy second reading, 6411, use of email in the school district. This is for information only. We will be voting on that on our next regular session. 12.4, policy second reading 6470, acceptable use policy. This is for information only. We'll be voting on that at our next regular session. 12.5, policy second reading 7316, student use of personal electronic devices. Bring your own device, or BYOD. That is for information only, and we'll vote on that in our next regular session. 12.6, policy second reading 7317, district technology device, student agreement policy. That is also for information only and will be voted on in a regular session. 12.7, can I have a

108motion on the contract with Amherst Central School District? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.8, can I have a motion on the contract with Ketmore Town of Tomalonga Central School District? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.9, can I have a motion on the surplus equipment? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.10, can I have a motion on the contract extension with Ocusar? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.11. Can I have a motion for the Lancaster High School Memorial Grove? Second. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.13. Can I have a motion on the bid award for agenda

109planners? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. I missed 12.12. Going back to 12.12, can I have a motion on the bid extension for waste removal and recycling? So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.14, can I have a motion on the bid awards for the Capital Project Phase 5? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.15, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with Algiera Construction Corporation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.16, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with King Brothers Construction LLC? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.17, can I have a motion on the

110AIA contract for Action Roofing Inc.? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.18, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with Scrufari Construction Company, LLC? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.19, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with MKS Plumbing Corporation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. On to 12.20, 12.20, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with Nary Mechanical LLC? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.21, can I have a motion on the AIA contract with Goodwin Electrical Corporation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.22, can I have a motion on the construction change orders? Any comments or

111questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.23, can I have a motion on the contract with Parent Transportation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.0 is our public hearing. Any person who has notified the district clerk for policy 1514 may speak at this time. Speakers must first be recognized by the president and identify themselves by stating their name and address. The time limit to speak will be limited to five minutes per person. Welcome to all who have come to observe this meeting this evening. This is a time set aside for public hearing, a time when we invite members of the community to share ideas and concerns with us. We welcome this opportunity to hear from you. Each person, again, is given five minutes in order to address

112the board. This is a meeting held in public rather than a public meeting, which means we will not be engaging in any dialogue with the members of the community this evening, but rest assured we are listening carefully and take seriously what you have to say. I would like to ask you to demonstrate respect for us and for one another by speaking to the issues, giving us ideas, and sharing your opinions, but not engaging in any personal attack. Additionally, please note that as a public school district, we are bound by various laws, regulations, and policies regarding the privacy of students and staff, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Moreover, the board policy prohibits public comment on any topic directly or indirectly related to employee personnel information or any topic that may potentially disclose information

113about a particular student. Accordingly, please do not comment on the performance or conduct of any individual staff members and or any specific confidential student-related matters. This policy will be strictly enforced, and anyone violating the policy will be barred from addressing the board in the future. Thank you, as always, for your cooperation with that. We do have one speaker this evening, Kelly Hartwig. Hello. So I know I have five minutes. I have it all written down. I'm going to go fast. Good evening, school board. I come to this meeting on behalf of a good number of parents who have a request for the school board to highly consider creating new and updated existing outdoor recreational facilities for our school. And this request comes from a place of two concerns. First, our kids at William Street and

114Middle School have no outdoor recreational equipment to socialize or exercise on during and after school. With the past two years of kids being quarantined at home or separated by six feet at school due to COVID, peer socialization and health and fitness should be a top priority to the school district. I know I don't need to quote you statistics on the negative effects our kids have had from being home for the past two years, as well as the negative effects computers and video games are having on their overall well-being. There is one distinct difference between Lancaster schools and the many other school districts around us, and that is that the many middle schools are 6th to 8th grade, and they share a space with their high school, thus those kids have access to the high school

115fields and courts. Many elementary schools, which in some cases go up to 5th grade, have playgrounds for their students. Since William Street has grades 4 through 6, they are a hybrid of both middle and elementary schools. We understand that the middle school may not have the outdoor space for a large field, but we do ask that there perhaps could be an opportunity to build at least a basketball court. In 20 years, or forever, as long as the Williams Free School has been here, and as Dr. Kuhnfeld just stated today, it's the state's largest elementary school. Have we ever considered to be a place where the students from both schools could have the ability to play outside and socialize? I was told a playground was fundraised for many years ago, but the teachers at the time

116were not in favor. Today we are asking for another survey to be sent out to the teachers and the parents, and together we can determine what outdoor recreational activities should be offered at the schools. Here are some examples of what other intermediate and middle school age students in this area have. I listed a bunch and I sent them to Dr. Kufel. I'm probably going to share with you three. So as we mentioned a few times today, Lancaster is listed as number 14 in a recent report for athletics. Orchard Park was listed or ranked as number 18. Their middle school, which is 6th through 8th grades, has a project underway to build new tennis courts, a new outdoor basketball court, and a new side athletic field. Clarence, which was the only district locally that beat us

117at number 13, so only by one ranking step, they have four elementary schools, K through 2, that have basketball courts, baseball fields, and playgrounds. Williamsville, which is ranked at 174, again, we're 14. Transit Middle School has two baseball, softball fields, and a soccer slash football field. They share a campus with the high school, which has a $7 million facility. That's one of their middle schools. Mill Middle has an outdoor sports area with an all-weather play surface, and High Middle has an outdoor playground with multiple basketball hoops and lined play surface. Based on these examples, we think at a minimum, William Street should have a baseball diamond, turf would be ideal so that our modified team can come over and have a chance of having at least one home game during this crappy weather season. To

118date, we've had all of our games canceled at home. William Street has room for a softball diamond, which the girls are having a save issue at the high school as well, basketball court, and a playground for the fourth and fifth graders. To be comparable to Williamsville District, which I believe we should be, considering our status in the community as a premium school district, an all-weather play field would be invaluable given the weather we have here in western New York. It would be used by the students, as well as the modified programs like football, soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey. And we have a parent in the district who is a PE teacher and a coach at Transit Middle who would be a great resource to talk to. The second concern we as parents have is that

119many of the existing facilities, let me say some of these existing facilities, that our sports teams at the high school and middle school level have access to are well below standards and not acceptable compared to our surrounding and like school districts. Frankly, we could argue they are below par compared to other school districts that would be considered lower income communities. We pride ourselves on recently being ranked 14th out of the state for our athletic program, so why do our facilities not mirror such status? First and foremost are the baseball and softball diamonds. To date, only two games have been played at home, one boys varsity and one boys JV. The modified freshmen and girls teams have not been able to play outside on their fields for practice or games, and the seasons end in early

120June. A question many of us have is why are these fields not considered to be renovated before or at the same time as the new sod field that's being laid for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, and marching band? While we do believe that those activities do deserve a new field, how was this field prioritized when the baseball and softball fields have been unplayable? What makes one sport, one field, or one program a priority? What also needs to be discussed is the access to the modified and JV field. We know of two examples as to when a child in a wheelchair could not access the field and an elderly man with a walker fell due to the lack of solid pathway. We urge the school district to evaluate all of this. Again, we ask about the baseball

121diamond at William Street School. Why has the school district not cleaned or kept maintenance of this field? Our modified sports players have had... Practice is pushed to late night at the indoor facility due to the outside fields not being playable. We have 12 to 14-year-old kids who are practicing until 9.30 at night, which is hardly ideal for young students who have to get up at 6 in the morning. Based on the above feedback from the parents, it seems like we definitely have an opportunity to grow and build upon the outdoor facilities available at all three schools. So that said, here are some of the questions. Why do we have no outdoor recreational equipment or facilities for the students at the middle school and William Street campuses? In the current budget, why is there only $1

122million, or only 1% of $122 million allocated towards sports? And the line item for equipment is $20,000. Why is there zero dollars in the budget for community recreation? How much money in the school district is reserved, federal reserves, which I think was answered, 5.2 million. So can we as parents see the breakdown of what that money has been used for and will be used for going forward? Can a portion of that money that we have be used for additional outdoor recreational spaces and the cleaning up of the sports fields that we have at the other schools? What's the plan for the baseball and softball diamonds? Do you have a plan to replace or immediately fix the issues that are occurring with drainage? And as my son mentioned on the way to practice today, clean up

123the goose poop that is all over it. How are certain projects prioritized? What gets a project approved and onto the school district's to-do list? Can we create a task force as soon as possible to address the above so we can at least get these projects prioritized in the next school year's budget? So to end, usable, accessible playgrounds, fields, and courts for play are what we need, not want, to get our kids outside and to be social again, just like the good old days. What better way to combat all of the stress, mental, and physical health issues these kids have been dealing with for the past few years, which seems to be getting worse. My kids play sports, but they seem to have the most fun when they're just outside playing with their friends. I want

124to stop having to take my kids to the DePue Fields to play. DePue is ranked number 271 out of athletic programs in New York State. If we're truly a destination school, we should have the facilities that portray that. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Hardwick. And we have no one else to speak tonight. That brings us to 14.0. That's our executive session. That effectively ends the meeting for the public this evening. Before we get to executive session, we do have, again, May 17, 2022 is our annual budget vote and trustee election. That is from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. here at Lancaster High School in the Java gym. Do I have a motion to go into executive session? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. Thank you all for coming out

125this evening.