001Good evening and welcome to our Pittsburgh Central School District board of education meeting. I'm calling the meeting to order and would you please join us in standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? Second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded that the agenda be approved. All in favor? That carries. Thank you. I've never seen so many people in the room and have it so quiet. First thing I need is people to sit in the front row. They're just saying it's so bad. Like are we that bad? It's like the first day of school. I remember
002you so much. I'm nominating you now. Okay. Well, thank you all for being here tonight. Just in case I forget. Um at the end of our ceremony today, um we're we're going to take pictures in the back with all the recipients. And at that point, you are free to leave. Um or you're free to stay. It's up to you. We are having our budget hearing tonight. Um, if you don't stay, all of our budget stuff is on the website. And our budget uh day, our voting day is next Tuesday. And just a reminder, it's been moved to Caukins Road. So, that's not why you're all here, I'm sure, but you're here for Pittsford Pride. And I want to welcome you all um to our celebration tonight. It's truly one of the the the few times
003during the course of the year where all of us get to celebrate um the wonderful uh some very select wonderful things that are happening in our district and it's the nine recipients tonight. I want to um offer my gratitude towards our administrators, our nominating staff members, our family that are here tonight, our friends, our special guests that are here. And most importantly, I want to thank the recipients um all nine of you for going out of your way to make Pittsver a better place and to make the lives of others uh better. And that's a big reason why you're being celebrated by all of us tonight. Tonight's ceremony will be shared on the district website and on our YouTube channel. This recognition tonight is pretty special. In our district, we have approximately 6,000 students and
004only 27 ultimately will receive this recognition over the course of the year. And so, anyone want to take a stab at a percentage? Really? You're like, you have it. This is the first time someone has really done that. Now, I'll have the answer. She's good math. About 0. 045%. That's the company that you're in. Amazing. Amazing. To give you a sense of how you got here today, every building is tasked with seeking out individuals that they felt exemplified citizenship and then they had to talk about why. Um then then the building level uh committee is convened and selects one candidate uh to be recognized. Beyond tonight's recognition, students will be recognized many different ways based on each building or level. It can range from uh your recognition um being displayed on a bulletin board uh
005in morning announcements. Uh your name may be on a plaque um or working with a principal to decide on a special privilege or a gift. It can range anywhere from free time to a parking pass, spirit wear, being a class helper, being a speaker to other classes. Um, so after tonight we're still going to celebrate you because you're amazing. Uh, that's our job. Parents, small print. If you are an elementary recipient, it is ice cream and dinner of their choice right after this. Middle school, Disney, high school, uh, either a trip or purchase a car. So, K through five parents, congratulations. As far as our process this evening, as each student's name is called, I'm going to ask that you stand up. So, we're going to say your name, who nominated you. We're going to
006ask that you stand up so you can hear all the amazing things um that are being said about you. When all nine recognitions have been read, students will collect their framed certificates and then we'll go behind the board uh and we'll take a bunch of pictures and that and you can take a bunch of pictures as well. Uh the as far as the order goes tonight, we've broken this down into uh three different sections. Our board president, Robin Scott, will read the first three recipients, followed by uh Vice President Sarah Palio, and then I will read the final three. It's now my pleasure to get this party started and introduce our board president, Mr. Robin [Applause] Scott. Thank you, Mr. Piro. And I am delighted to um tell you all about our first nominee, Sullivan
007Brown. And Sullivan is in the seventh grade at Barker Road Middle School. Oh, come in. Come in. We want to see you. Hi. Okay. Hello. So, Sullivan was nominated by Richard Victor and Jason Simone, the vice principal and the principal. And so, we want you all to hear why the why Sullivan was nominated. Sullivan Brown demonstrates all of our Barker Road core principles, but is but it is his kindness that is woven into the very fabric of our school. As Sullivan makes deliveries to different offices in the building, he gives a warm hello and a how are you to everyone he passes and he addresses each person by name. They say hello back to him and ask how he is doing. This short exchange leads to bright smiles for all. Countless staff members look forward
008to talking with Sullivan on his deliveries and we know he looks forward to it as well. Sullivan plays an important role in running the Barker Blend coffee cart. The Barker Blend is a wonderful realworld learning experience for students. The team serves staff members and even district staff members throughout the day. Sullivan always makes a point to give each customer a smile and to do his best in supporting the coffee cart. Even on more challenging days, Sullivan will use his strategies to persevere and to meet his goals for the day. Throughout his time at Barker, Sullivan has made a great deal of academic and social growth. He is often a great model for his peers and he shows them what it means to persevere. During one PE class, Sullivan showed his showed his classmates how to
009do an entire strength training circuit in the fitness room. We are proud of the effort he has put into his work and into the people he has come to know and love. Keep up the great work, Sullivan. Congratulations. The next student we are nominating is Akille Kavatasi. Would you please stand? Here he is. Achille is in grade four at Park Road Elementary School. He was nominated by Robin Pano, Sarah Ingram, Amanda Kirky, and Dan Kaparco. This is the reason they nominated you. It is our absolute pleasure to nominate Ace Kavatasi for the prestigious Pittsburgh Pride Award. Ace's kindness and compassion is quiet. He never wants any acknowledgement or praise. He is a leader among his peers and uses his influence to showcase support and friendship for all students. His quiet demeanor makes it even more
010evident that he leads by example. Ace is willing to work with any student and truly wants to build up his peers so that they can be the best versions of themselves. Ace is a role model, always complying with directives while remaining hardworking and courteous. Earlier this year, a younger student was struggling to get to school. ACE offered to meet with this student every morning to ease the transition into school and make him more comfortable. He met him in the gym for the first 10 minutes of school to teach him some athletic skills, which ACE excels at. He took time out of his day to support this student just because he saw him struggling and wanted to help. This is the type of person Ace is. When a student dropped their lunch in the cafeteria and
011was very upset, Ace quickly went and purchased this student another lunch using his own money. He handed it to the student, comforted them, and went right back to his own lunch. When a teacher mentioned they liked a fidget that he had, the next day he brought one for that adult. These are just a few examples of how Ace goes above and beyond to make the world more positive and inclusive. In PE, Ace sets a great example by always staying positive and demonstrating good sportsmanship. His personality and attitude make him a great role model for his peers and our community as a whole. PE is an area that Ace could be boastful as he excels in lacrosse and soccer, but he remains humble. Ace's ability to always give his best and bring out the best in
012others, even in the face of adversity, is a testament to his resiliency and perseverance. We are so incredibly proud of Ace and all of his accomplishments. He is an exemplary student in so many ways and we are so excited to have an opportunity to celebrate him. We can't think of a more deserving student. Keep up the great work, [Applause] Ace. Next, we are recognizing Matthew Deckman. You please stand. Matthew is in grade four at Menon Center Elementary and he was nominated by Mrs. Kim Hospach. This is the reason Mrs. H. Hospach nominated you. We are pleased to nominate Matthew as Mendes Center Elementary's recipient of the Pittsver Pride Award. Matthew is a remarkable fourth grader at Menon Center Mend Center and exemplifies the core values and principles we strive to instill in our students at
013Pittsford schools. Matthew is a shining example of what it means to be welcoming, caring, compassionate, and inclusive. He consistently demonstrates these qualities, making him not only a great friend, but also a role model and leader among his peers. His willingness to work with all classmates showcases his commitment to fostering a supportive and collaborative environment. One of Matthew's most commendable traits is his bravery. Despite feeling scared, he took a chance and ran for student council this fall, ultimately being elected by his classmates to represent our classroom. This achievement reflects how he is viewed by his peers. As someone who is trustworthy and responsible, Matthew's kindness extends beyond his classmates. He regularly checks in with me, asking if I'm having a good day. Recently, he even expressed gratitude for making the often tedious task of state test
014prep more enjoyable by incorporating games and friendly competitions. His thoughtfulness and consideration for others are truly inspiring. Outside of the classroom, Matthew is an avid fisherman with a wealth of knowledge about all things fish. He has even assisted our science teacher, Mrs. Griffin, in establishing a new fish tank ecosystem by creating a helpful diagram of fish suggestions. Moreover, his dedication to learning is evident in his recent decision to spend part of his spring break taking a safe boating course. Passing the test with flying colors demonstrates his commitment to personal growth and responsibility as he can now pilot a boat independently. We are incredibly proud to have Matthew at Mendon Center. His embodiment of the core values and principles at Pittsburgh schools makes him a deserving res recipient of the Pittsburgh Pride Award. We are so
015happy to celebrate his outstanding contributions to our school community. Congratulations again, Matthew. And the next voice you will hear will be that of our vice president, Sarah Palucio. Okay, up next I have Ruby Elott. Ruby, is Ruby here? Ruby, can you stand up? Oh, you are. Hello. Hello, Ruby. Ruby is a fifth grader at Thornell Road Elementary. And Ruby, you have been nominated by Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Enot, Mrs. ISO, and Mrs. Connors. We enthusiastically nominate Ruby Elicott for the Pittsford Pride Award as she consistently lives the Thornell roadway and makes an impact on our entire school community. We would like to share a few areas at TR that are better because of Ruby. Mrs. Zenot writes, "Ruby Elica is a strong role model inside and outside of our fifth grade classroom. As her fifth grade
016teacher, I have witnessed Ruby welcome everyone into our classroom, respect her peers and teachers, and demonstrate an amazing work ethic. She always puts forth her best effort and wants to help anytime an opportunity occurs where she is able to do so. Ruby brings joy into our classroom every day with a smile and positive attitude that is contagious to her classmates. Mrs. Collins says, "Earlier this year, Ruby offered to help out in my kindergarten classroom at the end of the day, and I am so glad she did. She masterfully reads the room when she arrives and is able to determine where the greatest need is without adult direction. She just jumps right in. She quickly learned our classroom routines and passes out folders and helps students pack up at the end of the day without being
017asked. She demonstrates maturity and recognizes when a kindergarten student may need a gentle reminder to be a kind and cooperative classmate. Every student in my class adores her. Ruby also makes a point of thoroughly organizing the kitchen in our dramatic play area before she leaves, which makes the teachers adore her even more. We all look forward to the days when Ruby visits because she lights up our classroom with her cheerful demeanor and friendly smile. Finally, Mrs. Oo and Miss Connors writes, "As president of student council this year, Ruby has led each meeting in an unassuming yet strong way and exemplifying true leadership for her peers. She has created schoolwide events with a focus on community service. Ruby is a dependable and willing volunteer and approaches everything with a friendly demeanor, patience, and kindness. She is
018an exemp exemplary leader with a very bright future. Ruby is truly a Thornell Road star. Lulu Hess. Hi, Lulu. Lulu is a fourth grader at Jefferson Road. And Lulu, you've been nominated by Evie Castansa and Emily Holde. We are fortunate to have many outstanding, kind-hearted students at Pittsford that are committed to our mission to be your best, do your best, and make a difference in the lives of others. Lulu is someone who not only embodies these characteristics, but stands out in an immensely positive way. Lulu consistently shows up to school ready to learn and with a smile on her face. Every day she greets her classmates in a friendly tone and models our classroom expectations 100% of the time. Lulu is responsible beyond her years. Trustworthy, thoughtful, humble, collaborative, and a strong decision maker. Earlier
019in the school year, she was found in the hallway comforting a classmate when they were feeling sad. Recently during math partner work, a classmate asked if they could join Lulu's group, to which Lulu replied without hesitation, "Of course, come on over." These are just a few examples of how Lulu is inclusive and thinks of others while also promoting independence for herself and others when appropriate. Lulu collaborates well with her peers. In science, she is always adding her thoughts to discussion as well as listening to others. She always asks questions that enrich the learning of the class. She is a role model to other peers. Lulu is a hard worker who always tries her best. She is a strong participant in class, advocates for herself when necessary, and is willing to take calculated risks. To know
020Lulu is to know joy, warmth, and compassion. She truly embodies all that is Pittsford Pride and lives our JRE motto every day. She works hard to be her best, do her best, and make a difference in the lives of others. We are so proud of her. Congratulations, And up next, Maline Krauss. Hi, Meline. Meline is an eighth grader at Caukins Road Middle School and she has been nominated by the blue team teachers and more. We are proudly nominating Maline Krauss for the Pittsford Pride Award for her exceptional citizenship both in and out of Caukins Road Middle School. Mattie science teacher, Mr. Hayes, describes her as one of the kindest and most responsible students I have ever taught. She is the first to class and is always focused on helping anyone she can. She is a
021special student and an even better person. Maddie demonstrates excellence in everything she is involved in. Maddie excels academically, maintaining high honor role while being advanced in science and math. She is also a web leader helping incoming sixth graders, a student council representative for the past three years, and a member of the yearbook club, orchestra, and ski club. Athletically, Maddie excels in sports such as soccer, swimming, field hockey, and lacrosse, and was invited to play on the JB field hockey team. In addition to academic and athletic achievements, Maddie volunteers and helps others, including working with a Challenger baseball team for youth with special needs. In school, she was an office helper for the counseling center last year and a helper in the nurse's office since sixth grade. Her kindness is noted by her ELA teacher, Mrs.
022McFersonson, who says, "While my daughter was sick last year, Meline consistently showed me compassion and care, which some kids have a hard time showing to adults, even when they feel it. She is such a lovely young person and an all-around great kid. Maddie creates an inclusive atmosphere and shows maturity, respect, and compassion in her actions. Mattie's personal model, don't judge a book by its cover, reflects her welcoming attitude toward everyone she meets. She creates an inclusive atmosphere and shows maturity, respect, and compassion in her actions. Maddie exemplifies all of our core core values at CRM, making her highly deserving of this prestigious honor. Congratulations, Maddie. We are so proud of you. And Mr. Perroll will read our last three recipients. Matt, there is small print in here that says you can also get a boat
023instead of a car. So now that you have your boat, this is the first one we talked about voting licenses. So it's an option. So just just remember that he did. Of course. That's great. It's I took the course. Okay, I'll take the course. Next, it's my pleasure to um recognize 12th grader from Menon High School, uh Protecta Mangal Subas Karin. nominated by her counselor, Mr. Vince de Jakamo. Pratika is a talented, caring, creative, and mature person with truly outstanding intellectual ability, character, and judgment. She has many diverse interests, skills, and commitments. Learning, teaching, experimenting, and experiencing life are her top priorities. She is incredibly accomplished and among the most experienced students I have worked with in terms of academic activities, re research, internship and initiative experiences. She has connected with her family's Sri Lankan
024roots by spearheading a massive volunteer community service project in Sri Lanka. In addition, she is teaching the Tamil language at the Hindu temple of Rochester. That's pretty complimentary coming from Mr. to Jakamo when he says the most impressive ever. He's retiring this year. He's old. He's seen he's seen a lot of people come through here. She has been actively involved in research, actually published at the University of Rochester's laser energetics lab. She was offered a position in the highly selective summer program in 2024 and invited back for the 25 some in the summer of 25. In addition, she has completed at least two internships, different local hospitals, each over 80 hours, volunteers at the Red Cross and Highland Hospital. She is an avid and talented dancer, has written, directed, and performed in several plays, writes
025and competes in poetry competitions, has served in the recreational coordinator at the friendly home last year, all while participating in school connected clubs, including debate, French, Model UN, and National Honor Society. One of her most impactful school-related projects was founding the science club at Mend out of her love of teaching. As part of this club, she and a few friends create monthly science related lessons and experiments with elementary students at three different schools. Students love it. Club enrollment and elementary student participation has grown each year with 80 plus elementary students. Honestly, I can go on. The bottom line is that she demonstrates a love of life, genuine desire to help others. She has become a proficient, self-disciplined young researcher. She is an academic powerhouse in one of the most rigorous programs possible at Mend. The
026joy she gets from helping others and contributing to her school community is her motivation and inspiration. Above all, she's funny and personable, kind, humble, and appreciative. A student who is easily one of Mend's best because she continually does best and makes a difference in the lives of others. Congratulations, Pata. What are you doing next year? Yeah. Yeah. That That's great. And if you need a a a job in science, we'll hire you right now. The board's right here. We can wave some of the requirements. Congratulations. It's next my privilege to recognize fifth grader from Allen Creek Elementary, Fiona McCarthy. Fiona was nominated by her teacher, Kate Milton. It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I nominate Fiona for the Pittsford Pride Award. As her fifth grade teacher, I have had the daily privilege of
027witnessing Fiona's outstanding character and the positive influence she has in our school community. Fiona exemplifies the core values of citizenship, accountability, respect, care, and empathy. She goes above and beyond to make her peers feel welcome, always looking out for others, and making sure no one is left out. Whether it's inviting someone to join her group, offering a kind word, or lending a hand to a classmate in need, Fiona helps create a classroom environment where everyone feels seen, valued, and supported. In addition to her kindness towards others, Fiona consistently demonstrates personal responsibility and a strong work ethic. She takes initiative in helping me with classroom tasks, always with a cheerful attitude. Thanks to being a great cheerleader and is dependable in every sense of the word, Fiona's ability to maintain a positive outlook and keep perspective
028even when faced with challenges is truly admirable. She approaches each day with enthusiasm and a willingness to grow and to learn. Fiona is involved in many school activities. Last year, she participated in the student council as a leader and representative for her grade level. This year she's part of our safety patrol, ensuring students are safely getting off the buses and walking in the hallways to their classrooms. In addition, Fiona is a second grade helper three out of the five days a week. She assists her second grader in unpacking, regulating into the classroom and starting morning routines. Fiona is also a fifth grade buddy to not one but two kindergarteners. She loves her time with these students and often can be seen making them pictures or items based on their interests. Fiona is a quiet leader
029whose actions speak volumes. She leads with her with heart, respect, and a genuine care for others. Qualities that reflect the very spirit of Pittsver pride. I can think of no other student more deserving of this honor, and I'm proud to recognize her incredible contributions to our school community. Congratulations, [Applause] And next we have 12th grader from Southerntherland High School, Alexander Woo, nominated by Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Curtis. Alex has established himself as one of our school's most impressive all-around students by excelling in the classroom and in our community. Alex's knack for doing so makes him an ideal candidate for Pittsford Pride. It was with great enthusiasm that Mrs. Keller wrote her recommendation for Alex, who she identified as an exceptional student and an outstanding leader. To use her words, as co-president of our Tri Music
030Honor Society, Alex has proven to be one of the hardest working individuals I've had the pleasure of working with. His leadership was instrumental in the success of our Tri mentor program this year, demonstrating initiative, organization, and a genuine commitment to helping others grow. Alex consistently goes above and beyond in every aspect of his academic and extracurricular life. Balancing a regular a rigorous course load, numerous extracurricular clubs, and extensive musical commitments. He approaches every challenge with determination, curiosity, and integrity. As a consmate musician, Alex earned a coveted place in the Nisma Conference Allstate Ensemble on Elto Sachs, which led to his selection for the All Eastern Honors Ensemble. An extraordinary accomplishment to put this into p perspective. Approximately five students from Pittsford have achieved this honor in the last 29 years. It's amazing. Beyond his achievements,
031what sets Alex apart is his willingness to support others. He is kind, generous with his time, and always eager to lend a hand. His inquisitive nature and strong sense of purpose make him not only a remarkable student, but also a role model with his peers. Mrs. Curtis added that Alex is an extraordinary student because of his many talentes and talents and his humble disposition. He is a leader in the multivariable classroom tackling challenging integrations independently and collaboratively. Alex has shared his musical talents during class on musical Mondays and his insight when the class reflects on quotes from Martin Luther King and mathematicians. She added that he is completely invested in the school community from academics to music, model UN and tennis. He is a leader and a model citizen. We are proud to call Alex
032Woo a Southerntherland Knight. Congratulations, Alex. Okay, at this point, can we have all nine recipients come over and get your plaque and your letter, and we're going to walk around the board section. here. We're going to keep walking down this way. How are we doing? At this point, a professional photographer is what you think,000 pictures and All right. We'll take Here we go. Very nice. [Applause] So at this point at this point if we could just one last time all the words that we heard of leadership and citizenship and empathy and initiative and determination helping others um that's what makes Pittsver so special and they are the ones that make us that way. So, parents, guardians, thanks for all you do. And if we can give all nine of our recipients one more round and
033we will take a brief recess if you'd like to sneak out. If you like As we continue our board meeting tonight, I'd like to begin with a moment of silence in recognition of the passing of Jeff Voke. He was a beloved bus driver for our school's bus 572 and he passed unexpectedly on May 2nd. Thank you. And now we will transition to our um business meeting again um with the principal's report from Jeff Pard of Allen Creek Elementary School. Thank you, Jeff. All right. Thank you. Sorry about my delay. I had to get a couple pictures. That's okay. I'm excited to be here. Well, I've been here a few other times, but last year, thanks for approving me. I was here um at this meeting at the same exact meeting uh for Pittsburgh Pride followed
034by this. I didn't know if all those people were going to stay at that time for the the approval, but clearly they move on. Um but yeah, I just wanted to take you all through some of the things I've learned about Alen Creek in my first year and just some of the amazing experiences that we're providing for kids. Um when I say we, the collaborative effort between parents, families, and um staff. Oh, you want me to come over here? You're good. Okay. Right. So, one of the things that and you could kind of see around the room back here, we every year we um do a collaboration between our PTSA and our student council. We pick a book that goes along with our social emotional learning. This year it was circles around us. So, each
035class received this book. Um the the teachers read it to the students. Uh and we we did an art project in the back. So back in the circle there, there's a um picture from every student at Alen Creek. So through that um we created a acrostic poem here that really just highlights some of the the special parts of Alen Creek that make us unique close-knit community, caring, creative, collaborative culture, and a lot of connections. And during the um presentation today, I'm just going to highlight some of those connections that I've learned about. Another thing that we've uh connected our work to is the culture code as well. Um just to to be connected to the district and aligned talking about safety, vulnerabil vulnerability and purpose. Uh and we haven't read this as a full staff,
036but we've done some different activities with uh PTSA and with um with uh staff. So, just to kind of start, one of the big things that we did this year um that was a little bit different in the past is we created an SEAL team uh that had students involved. So, if you see the picture up top there, you can see actually Mrs. Mil who was here is in there and and some of our student council reps joined the SEAL team and planned uh a lot of our events together. In the bottom corner there, you can see uh Mr. Piro joined us for a meeting uh and he was working alongside the students there. So what what that team has really helped us do is come up with some assemblies like schoolwide assemblies where we're
037highlighting our ACES accepting, cooperative, and empathetic and supportive. And you can see the whole school on the bottom and then up top um studentled skits and the students planned all those skits that went around with that particular one. It was related to being accepting and cooperative. So, another thing that we're doing um that all schools are doing, but that that we wanted to highlight is our connection to student interest with our orchestra, chorus, and band. And we actually have our final uh chorus concerts tomorrow night. And then on Thursday, we're doing the anthem at the Red Wings game. So, busy uh busy week at Alen Creek. And we have our fun run on Friday. So, every day, hopefully it doesn't rain on Friday. And here are some other just um highlights I wanted to point
038out. Um between our PTSA that that our PTSA has planned. Uh up in the left corner um some of our art ambassador projects. Uh in the right the uh our welcome back picnic out on the front lawn and on the bottom left our traditional sock hop that we do over at um Caukins Road Middle School. I was surprised with the outfits. I didn't really know what what to expect when I got there, but everybody was dressed up and it was it was a lot of fun. Uh in the bottom middle there, Red Ribbon Week theme day and and then we uh did a fall fest at P's uh farm market. So, we also have really um we take pride in our cultural uh arts projects and our um afterchool enrichment programs. Uh this year I
039was um we had a PTSA meeting this this week actually and we provided probably 12 additional uh cultural arts assemblies and events on top of our our normal field trips and um about 25 after school enrichment clubs about 70 meetings uh or actually 70 meetings over about 70 school days. So, we're offering kids a lot of those extras and and they're they're short term, so we kind of keep students engaged and um low cost because the parents are volunteering. So, that's just another thing that u we're proud of. Uh what I what I highlighted here are some of the um uh author study. We have our lunar new year parade uh that third grade puts on around the school. Some Irish dancing. Um one of our clubs up in the top right. And on the
040bottom we have a stuffy sleepover. So if you're not sure what that is in the library kids come with their stuffies and they spend the night and we go around take pictures of them and then the kids pick them up the next day. So we get a lot of kids that come and participate in that. And that's just a pile of all the stuffies on the on the back table. So another thing is connecting with the community. So on the on the left side there you can see Mr. Kira in his B outfit um doing a Halloween parade through the friendly home. So we try to uh build a lot of um trying to actually rebuild some connections with the friendly home. I think during COVID some of those stopped uh but we went over
041this year for our parade, our third graders and then we also um started re restarted our a club over there. So our fifth graders go over there and play games with the residents. Um we have about 10 students doing that. Um and it seems like it's a a great activity. um to to teach the the students some of those community service projects. And on the right is the um the Rotarians come and visit and deliver the dictionaries. So that was just another effort along with a lot of our food drives and supporting local families. Um so really just trying to make those connections to the community and teaching those uh community uh service skills. So, and of course, we want to make sure that we're having kids connect with each other. And so, up in
042the top left, just our morning meetings every day. Um, though sometimes there'll be restorative circles, but typically it's just an opportunity for students to either focus on a skill, get to know each other, get to know the kids in class. Um, on the bottom left, we and you could hear a little of that in in Fiona's nomination. Um, having buddies. So each class has like a this is an example of second graders and fourth graders working together. So either once a week or every other week they they'll get together and um either they happen to do a math game here or they might just be helping the kids with some different um activities. In the upper right we have a little hill in the back of Alen Creek if you've never been there and the
043kids slide which was an experience for me. they just they just slide down and sometimes it's like a sheet of ice and we we close the hill but you can see the fifth graders are having a lot of fun and then of course we got a a gaga pit this year which is the new rage and uh in the beginning it was we had to go class by class now the kids have figured out how to how to manage it and they're having a lot of fun out there today we also uh played some whiffle ball today which was a new event out at uh out at recess so it went better than I thought it was going to go so well hopefully that I actually did the pitching but um so I don't know
044if I can sustain that but we'll uh I wanted to just at least model. So again really working on those opportunities for kids to learn those skills um those those social emotional learning skills uh out you know with each other. So and then the other uh connection is just the innovative instructional practices. So you can see on the um far side uh one of our third graders writing and one of the resources that um we've been using in the school is a writing revolution where kids are really um doing some some common learning experiences and some scaffolded learning experiences and that you can see that in a lot of different classes in the school in the middle in the big circle. I know you've all heard of the work we're doing with the science of
045reading. So that's just an example of a teacher with some decodable books. Um so really helping kids connect at their skill level. Uh and then on the right side is uh our kindergarten uh our three kindergarten classes uh piloted Amplify the new uh math program um in the second half of the year here. So again just an image of of that which again is another um exciting uh math program that they're able to share what they've learned with other kindergarten uh teachers around the school. Another picture I didn't put in there, but another innov just another innovative instructional practice. Our fifth grade does a lot of integration and the kids move around. Um they're all teaching the same content, but we just kind of mix the kids up a little bit so they start to
046get, you know, that used to future where they're going to be working with different kids and different classes and different teachers. So it kind of wraps up one of the things I didn't highlight on the first slide. You know, I one of the things I think about with Allen Creek is that, you know, we had that traditional uh outside look, but very innovative inside. So, I think that's something that we're really proud of. Um, you know, that that the the architecture of the building um and the close-knit uh community that we have, but also how we're really being innovative inside. And so, I think that's just, you know, some of the things I wanted to highlight. Uh, and this book really captures, I think, um, what we're going for as a community, uh, culture of
047caring, helping each other. Um, we we I read a book to the students, um, the big umbrella in the beginning of the year really just talking about how, you know, Alen Creek is like this big umbrella. Everybody under here, we're going to help. We might not get along with everybody, but we're going to try to figure those things out and learn from these experiences. So, I don't know if that was too fast or too slow. I wasn't timing it, but but no, it's been uh we've been having a really great year, busy year, and um really proud of the collaborative efforts that you know, working with the teachers and um PTSA in the community. So, thank you so much, Principal Pard. We appreciate you and everything that you're doing for the students at Allen Creek.
048Thank you. That's a fun place to be. Yeah, we can do some board team building with the Yeah, like a tobogen. Tobago. Yeah, like a real one. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And next we will begin our public budget hearing. First, uh before I go up front, uh to formally do the the or start the the hearing process, uh want to just send our thoughts and prayers uh to Mike Vespie, uh who is our assistant superintendent for business. Uh just about two weeks ago, he was diagnosed with um pretty serious form of cancer. uh as we speak, he is off getting a uh opinion, another opinion on different uh types of treatment uh that um may be available to to him. And uh he has certainly a long road ahead of him and um
049we wish him the the best. And just so you know, I spoke with him today. Um I didn't call him. He called me and he reminded he wanted me um to let everyone know this is the first time in 20 years he has not done a budget hearing and he feels really bad. He even asked if there's any way he could take part in it and he really did. Uh so Mike put together uh most of this presentation uh and he's still staying connected to school. Uh our hope um is to have Mike fully recovered um and back working with us uh at some point uh in uh the winter of next year. Each year when Mike starts his presentation, he also always thanks Terry and Rachel uh for their work regarding the budget. With
050Mike out, I have really gotten to know Terry and Rachel um quite a bit. Uh meeting a couple times a week and then stopping in their offices uh and seeing um how committed, how dedicated um how devoted um they are not only with the numbers uh but creating a a culture uh in the business office. That's one that we expect our students to to follow. So um Terry and Rachel, thanks for for all your help and thanks for all your extra extra help. uh the last couple weeks with me. Okay. Into the business. Uh so the purpose of a hearing is to provide uh a summary an overview of our budget guidelines, a summary of the three-part budget which is required by law. Uh to review all revenue sources, including the state aid forecast and
051projected tax levy increase. Uh the what what you'll see in tonight's hearing are the um same numbers we've been using for the projected um uh governor's um budget for aid uh because we just got the second run yesterday and um and it doesn't change things um in any kind of substantial way at all. Uh we will briefly review the concept of a contingency budget and discuss and review all propositions and voting information. Uh our district planning team always um wants our budget to reflect our students and so you can see um that work in our budget as our um our program is the biggest portion of of uh of our school budget. We also um agreed that it's critical um that we continue uh to um allocate resources for high-quality professional learning so that all
052of our staff are learning and growing together. Uh and instead of having a uh cafeteria type selection uh that that years ago was 20 30 40 topics um we have narrowed that down to um the the the specific scope of professional development. We also want to be sensitive to community resources. Uh it's been a crazy year um with uh especially inflation um and unemployment um both kind of all over the place. Uh but I do want to highlight the the work that we've uh continue to do around short and and long-term financial planning. um which led to our overall budget uh this year of um being able to recognize that we have to make some reductions. Um and then we're going to have to make a few more reductions because um our long range plan
053shows that we're not quite there yet. But to date, all of our uh reductions have not resulted uh in job loss uh and they have been um far removed from students. Uh we also talked um quite a bit about um stability now and into the future and specifically uh we had lots of conversation around our reserve uh accounts especially when we know that we're entering a year where we're going to have a deficit and having the conversations of how much reserves do we put against the the the levy um so that we can close the budget gap. um knowing that whatever we take out uh this year isn't necessarily there the following year. And so we made um some adjustments to our reserves this year um and also understanding the importance of all that we
054do to maintain um our highest level of bond rating. when we looked uh in September or actually prior to that around this year's budget uh we had to recognize se several factors many external but knowing that the federal co funds were gone uh so the federal funds um are no longer at our dispose uh we had no idea about where we would land uh with state funding uh which is what prompted much of our advocacy efforts trips to Albany letterw writing campaigns from our community, from our board, uh from our administrators, from our um our different unit members um coming together to really uh try to share our story to um champion um our need for more state aid. We had uh the unexpected uh increase which was significant uh in health insurance costs. And
055then thinking about um the impact our bus driver shortage not only has on uh daily runs um but our need to contract out more uh bus drivers which is is also more costly. Along those lines looking at our vehicle and technology replacement costs uh our infrastructure improvements which uh we are uh starting to break ground already and then additional staffing requests for security, mental health and special programs. And essentially this year as we put the budget together, we asked our uh building leaders uh that if they were to request something uh then we had to take something um of a similar value back uh in order to consider it. So we really tightened up uh the budget this year um and ultimately um made reductions. And then uh the last consideration uh we had the
056March 2023 capital project debt service financing which does have an impact um on the tax cap calculation. Other considerations going in looking forward um we do know as I shared earlier we used a little bit more fund balance and reserves than we normally do uh to balance the budget. Uh we need to be thoughtful about how we use our reserves in the future. We do have some projected deficits that are that are shrunk considerably because of our work this year uh because of um state aid increases and and annually what that's going to look like. Our tax cap projections over the next three to four years are all hovering around that 2% range. So that means we will receive 2% and the challenge is um a simple rollover budget gets us to just over 4%.
057Uh we have a continued minimum wage increase impacting salaries. We need to be cognizant of um uh our health insurance rates um possibly increasing hopefully nothing like we saw last year. And then other benefit uh areas and recognizing that while inflation is over 2% u much of our revenue that's coming in um is around that 2% mark. So, we'll continue to look at reductions, efficiencies, and we'll uh continue our advocacy efforts uh to support our students, um our community, our and our and our budget for sure. Uh so, we're at May 13th right here, which means we're nearing the end. Uh May 20th is our vote at um Caukins Road Middle School. Uh you'll see um a lot of signs out directing people that way, but forever we've had our vote here. Uh so please
058tell your neighbors that it's not a Parker Road, it's a Caukins Road uh middle school. And I'll let you you can see uh visually what we've done up to the state. With that, um it's my pleasure to bring Terry up. Rearranging here. Uh thank you Mr. Pero. Thank you board. Thank you community. uh first time uh speaking in front of uh this board. Uh I'm going to go over some of the some of the numbers here for the for the budget hearing. Uh as Mr. Piro just mentioned about uh Mr. Vespie, I was actually on vacation when I heard the news and the passing of another uh fellow person uh co-orker in the transportation department. I'm afraid my vacations will never be approved again. Uh uh so um up here we have uh a summary
059of the budget overall by u major area in the school um those the each school first and then we go into each of the major departments um summarizing the entire budget into major groups and we've seen this slide in multiple presentations before, so I'm not going to spend too much time on this. Um, as Mr. Appro just mentioned, you can see that the the big number on here is in the undistributed number in the bottom. That's that's the big jump in health and health insurance, which we're going to have to address in the coming years. Um, and a lot of these other numbers are um shifts in salaries. We had some retirements this year. Um, carryover salaries. That's just a lot of the the smaller changes. And then that big number at the bottom. Here's
060another graphic of the exact same numbers. Just if pie charts are your thing and this is an easier way to look at it, a little better graphic. Um not going to spend too much time on these. We've we've shown these slides multiple times. Um this is this this paints the picture uh a little better uh and shows those benefits jumping up with that big number for the health insurance. I do want to point out since we have had the slide we made one slight change. We shifted about $200,000 from contractual down to Bosei services. Um that's gonna um in the technology department we found a few more uh services that we can that we can uh Boseies can assist with and so that will help in future years with Bosey's aid in maximizing revenue. So
061that's a that's a small change since the uh last time we presented this slide. Uh next we're going to go into three-part budget. This is actually the information the new information that we're presenting. Um three-part budget is administrative uh capital and program. Uh this is broken out uh requirement from the state as Mr. Po stated earlier. Um most of it of course is going into as you can see up here the program side of things. That's where we want our dollars going. We want our dollars going towards instruction. Student facing that's where a lot of our co costs are. Um, and a few a description here of the three different parts of it. Uh, administrative, that's that's the oversight and the supervision. Um, that's that's the planning side of things, the principles of the schools.
062Our central office kind of working behind the scenes to make sure that the students get the services they need. And then at the bottom, you can see the capital that's maintaining the facilities, utilities, those kind of things. the necessities of running buildings and our facilities department does a great job at uh maintaining that. Here's a little historical look at the uh three-part budget. Five-year look back um just to show that you know those dollars are going towards the uh program side of things. You can see the big jump there and then administrative and capital kind of trying to hold those steady. Uh major sources of revenue uh Mr. Vespie has touched on this multiple times in the other budget presentations. Most of our uh revenues come from tech uh the tax levy and state aid.
06392 to 3% of our revenue comes from those two sources. Then we have a couple other sources to fill out the budget at the bottom there. I don't want to spend too much time on this. We've seen these slides multiple times. Here's one more time. Here's our tax cap uh limit calculation that we have to complete. The state wants us to complete um from year to year showing the maximum which is comes out to be 2.34 with exemptions in and out from year to year on the capital side of things with building aid and uh debt related to capital projects. Here's a slide for the tax cap inflation factor. Um the state wants us to use this. The uh minimum of these two numbers is what we get to put into the tax cap uh
064calculation. And as you can see uh we either have to use 2% or the uh inflation factor. And we've been forced to use 2% almost every year. And eventually that's the revenues aren't going to equal the expenses as we've said multiple times. Um, so we're going to have to come up with some strategic ways to handle that. Uh, here's an update or a update on foundation aid. Been around since 2007. Um, Governor Hokll wanted to fully fund the foundation aid formula. It has not been funded for quite some years now. And uh we are set to receive uh according to our executive um state aid runs which uh the bottom there 558,000. We received the legislative run. The budget was passed officially. I think yesterday was the uh official day. We just got all that
065information. So we're trying to break that all down. I don't think there's going to be any major there's not going to be any changes to the budget. There's um couple ups and downs. Our foundation aid went number went down a little bit, although some of our other state aid numbers kind of went up some. And I think um our revenue projections are still on target. Here's a detail of that same revenue. You've seen this slide before. Um these numbers are still what we're going to go with. This is based off the executive proposal. We just got the numbers yesterday, so we're going to have to keep looking into those. revenue slide. Same one that we've shown before. No changes. 2.34% on the tax levy and a couple other um miscellaneous revenues. You can see sales
066tax went up a little bit more. We predict that that's going to be a little higher than in prior years. Local revenues, the one that obviously stands out is the uh interest earnings. That's a big jump. We've been, you'll hear uh later today hopefully uh we approve uh to continue to work with uh company 3+1. They've been helping us with investments and maximizing uh interest while also reducing fees and u maximizing that revenue line. Here's a use of um reserves. As we've said multiple times, we're going to uh we are dependent on reserves a little bit more than in prior years, 600,000. This is the breakdown of those reserves. We're going to start utilizing the TRS reserve uh for the first time. That's that's a newer reserve set up by the state that um helps
067to control those costs. And we're going to use that uh reserve in 2026 to help with the budget. Here's a whole picture of the revenue al together. A lot of those slides I just showed all put into one slide here. Uh obviously this is matching the appropriation slide I showed earlier. If pi charts are your thing, this is a little easier way to look at it broken up. Same numbers. Contingent budget. Um contingent budget. What is it? What's the process for it? If the budget uh is not does not pass and we eventually have to uh we have a couple choices and if we eventually have to go to a contingent budget, then um the state controller has a couple rules that we have to follow when we um put forth a contingent budget. And
068one of them, as you can see in the bottom line here, is a 0% tax levy increase, which would result in about a reduction of $2.7 million uh off the proposed budget as of right now. Uh that's the form that we that's the budget notice that'll be going out to the homes uh any day. What is today? The 12th, 13th. It'll be going out tomorrow. Um that's just what we have to also submit to New York State. That's the bottom of it showing what other proposals we have. Purchase of buses and one to one devices. As I just mentioned the uh the additional propositions, that's what we will be voting on. Uh capital reserve bus purchase authorization 14 buses and instructional technology reserve. Those two propositions will uh help with those two items. There's the
069detail on the buses. We've shown this in other presentations. This shouldn't be new news to anybody. Uh it will generate state aid, what's referred to as transportation aid, which is then fed back into the reserve to help purchase future buses and keep that cycle going so we can uh have less repairs on older buses. And you can uh as you buy new buses, you you reduce that maintenance cost and it's it's cost prohibitive to do that. Um there's the numbers on the buses. We've shown the slide before if anybody wants to dig into it. Um there's the proposition. Proposition one for the purchase of buses. Two for the technology one to one devices. And this year, new in the budget, we're going to do a capital outlay project. Uh New York State lets you do
070once a year $100,000 project. It all has to be at one school and we get to do some work outside of a capital project to kind of mitigate those those costs and not have to go through um all of the steps you need to go through for a capital project. That helps uh and then that will generate building aid in the future years. And same kind of concept as the bus reserve. That aid will be fed back in and will help fund the next year's project so that can keep on a cyclical um basis year after year and then we can keep uh keep doing those projects. Uh let's do some fast facts. We started out this budget with about a $ 1.5 million u budget gap. We closed that through many many stages as
071we've uh Mr. has presented in multiple presentations. We maintained all programs for students. We balanced the budget and stayed within the tax cap which is not an easy thing to do. Um as you saw in previous slides, 3.9% overall increase and we stayed fiscally responsible. We reduced margins and we didn't reduce any programs for students. legal requirements that we've gone through. Um, we filed a tax cap with New York State. Um, administrative salary disclosure. Uh, we discussed the ARP funds earlier. Mr. Pero touched on those. And down at the bottom, just another reminder, early voting and absentee ballots. Those are all underway. and to get those into the district clerk by 5:00 on voting day the 20th. Here's some more information about voting day. Uh May 20th, like I just said, uh couple requirements as
072you can read on the screen. [Music] Um, and that's what I've got for the Any questions? Sorry, that was fast and furious. Thank you. Thank you. So all in favor those minutes are approved as presented. So there's the next board action is authorizations of professional service contracts for corporations. I have a motion to accept that. All in favor? Not opposed. That carries. Thank you. From there, we have a request for budgetary transfers up to $75,000. May I have a motion to accept that proposition? Okay. All in favor? un opposed. Thank you. We will have a board of education report from Monroe County School Boards Association meeting from our um legislative chair for mitzvah Sarah Palio. Thank you, Robin. On the legislative front, I'm excited to share that we have several items to be celebrating with
073regards to the state budget. Our work this year in Pittsver and as a county with Monro County School Boards Association has really paid off. In Pittsburgh, our community came together to advocate for an increase in our foundation aid funding and I'm pleased to share that our voices were heard. The final budget guarantees all districts, including PCSD, a minimum 2% increase in foundation aid, which as a whole represents a 6% increase in the current year. Um, it's also just the beginning of what we hope will be more improvements and updates to the foundation aid formula into the future. So, thank you to everyone around the table here and to our community at large, uh, who helped to elevate our cause and affect change. Um through our county legislative committee, we've been advocating for universal school meals,
074an increase in the Bosey's adable salary cap, which will help to support our CTE programming, and reformation of the zero mission bus mandate that makes the transition more feasible for school districts. All of these legislative priorities were included in the final state budget, and it is absolutely worth celebrating. The legislative session runs through the middle of June, so we'll keep an eye on anything further that comes our way. But I'm very excited to see that our hard work is has paid off. So, congratulations to everyone. And then just one final reminder, Wednesday, June 4th, we will have our regents uh Regent Halen, Regent Orwood will be joining us again for a follow-up visit to their um time with us in April. And registration will be out next week for that. It's open to all board
075members. So, thank you. Thank you so much Sarah for all the work that you do with mitzvah and for us. Um next, um we have upcoming dates, exciting dates to remember. May 20th annual budget location. Next on May 29th, thank you. We will have a board visit tour at Menon Center Elementary School. Um the tour starts at 7:30 and the visit is 7:45 by a show of hands. Those who can attend. Okay. All right. No worries. Thank you. And um the next date is our um next regularly scheduled meeting is June 17th. And from there we are going to um request approval of our annual vote and pole workers. May I have a motion to accept that document? Thank you. It's been moved and seconded that we accept that document. All in favor? Thank you.
076None opposed. And now we have the financial report from Terry Hassler. Is that on? Yeah. Testing. Yes. Um, of course, first time I have to do this, I get 15 items. Um, first up is the treasures report. Um, first and foremost every time. Um, no big surprises here. Uh state aid is coming in as anticipated. Um year-end state aid uh spring advancements coming in as expected. So there's no real uh surprises on the revenue side of things. In the general fund, no surprises at all in the general fund that we know about. In the school lunch uh fund, you'll see that uh revenue is up about $10,000 compared to last March. We like to com compare last year kind of see any differences. Uh looks like participation's up about 1.73%. So we like that. Um
077that's compared to last March. So and the number of serving days were the same. So that's a true increase in uh participation. Uh you'll see a little increase in the cost of goods ordered. We're trying to prepare for year end and then they'll kind of use up those those costs as we get towards year end. No real surprise in the treasures report. I'm going to keep moving because I got a lot of items to get through. Okay. Thank you. So, may I have a motion to accept the treasurer's report from March 31, 2025? Okay. All in favor? That motion carries. Thank you. Next is the extra class third quarter activity report. Um there's no surprises here at all. Um the activity seems um pretty regular. Um no no big surprises. Um that's it for the
078extra class report. Unless anybody has any questions. May I have a motion to accept the third quarterly extra classroom activities report? Second. Okay. All in favor? Thank you, Derry. Uh, next is a a tax certary case in the country club of Rochester. Uh, this is a unique one. This is actually four properties combined. Uh, three of them are ours. They're not all on our uh in in our school district boundaries. And so, we've been working with this case for quite some time now. and I it's finally settled and we'd like to put that forward and get that settled. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the tax certiary for Country Club of Rochester? Second. Okay. All in favor? Thank you. Next, we have a budget transfer for health insurance. As you guys just
079heard me a few minutes ago, health insurance costs are increasing. And when it comes to health insurance, the plan runs on a calendar year. So when we get our rates, when we're doing a budget, it's it's really only a rate for six months. And even though we tried to budget conservatively here in 2025, um we're going to need a transfer into there to get through the end of the year. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the budget transfer request for health insurance? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. Carries. Uh next next we have a budget transfer for some work to be done in the middle uh secondary auditoriums. uh the technology department uh we want to upgrade those with uh using some funds that are available from this year to upgrade
080those systems outside of a capital project. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the budget transfer request technology services? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. Uh next we have a budget transfer for the digitalization of business office records. We have uh quite a few records over at the LM building here at district office. And what we'd like to do is we uh right now we have a bid out to um try to if this passes um to bring in a company to try to scan in those documents so we can have them available because uh very often we we reference prior year uh records and to have those scanned in and available and searchable would save time and create a lot of efficiencies as we move forward to the automation of the
081business office. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept budget transfer request for the digitization of business office? Deal with that. All in favor? Thank you. That carries. Uh next we have a capital improvement uh phase 2 commissioning services resolution uh to for testing for HVAC and domestic water heating and lighting control systems for 53,500. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the capital improvement project phase two for commissioning service resolution? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you so much. uh another phase 2 capital project testing services resolution um for uh storm water pollution prevention planning services uh and steel inspections for the capital project for a total of 55,000. Thank you. So, um, I'd like to have a motion to accept the capital improvement project phase 2 testing services resolution, Whit
082Stone Associates. You all in favor? Um, one more, one more construction phase two. Uh, this is for asbesus air monitoring um for $25,000. Um, it's just what it says it is. Uh, for parag environmental services. Thank you. So, may I have a motion to accept the capital improvement project phase 2 testing service resolution paradigm environmental services. Thank you. And all in favor? Yes. Thank you. Next is a secret resolution for the $100,000 project that I spoke about during the public hearing in anticipation of hopefully the approval of the budget. And this is a requirement for that project to uh commence. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the 100,000 um facilities improvement project resolution? Okay. All in favor. Thank you. And um the next resolution is the actual resolution for that work to
083take place. Uh this is HVAC units at Thornell Elementary School for part of the general fund 2026 budget, $100,000 budget. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the 100,000 facilities improvement project resolution? Thank you. All in favor? Next is an RFP for you also heard me mention uh 3+1. uh they're they've been helping us maximize that that interest revenue and and minimizing fees on the banking investment side of things. We want to continue that relationship. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the financial services proposal? All in favor? Um, next we have um an RFP we put out for legal services for bond council. Um, Harris Beach U Martha Attorneys was um the winning firm. This is to help us when it comes to capital projects looking over documents and uh
084helping us navigate that capital project side of things. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the bond council proposal? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. Next, we have an RFP for general legal services. Um we have we'd like to put forth uh two firms actually Bon Shellneck and King and also Ferrer Forenza PC attorneys and counselors um when it comes to legal services uh certain firms specialize in certain areas and we would like to have them both approved so we can uh utilize their specialties and whatever services we may need. Thank you so much. May I have a motion to accept the general legal services proposal? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Thank you very much. Thank you, Terry. So, we will see our the bid awards on the consent agenda. Next,
085we will have our human resources report from Mr. Clark. Thank you and good evening. For your consideration, we have the professional staff report. You'll see two certificated staff appointments, one part-time to probationary appointment, one regular substitute to probationary appointment, three supervisory and technical appointments, one managerial confidential appointment, two school related professional resignations. We have perdm substitute appointments and coaching salary for you as well. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the professional staff report? Thank you. All in favor of post. Thank you. Uh next for your consideration is the support staff report. We have one transportation appointment, four transportation resignations, one transportation resignation for retirement, two custodial and cleaner resignations, and one cleaner resignation for retirement. Thank you. We may have a motion to accept the support staff report. Second. Thank you. All
086in favor of Thank you. Thank you. And we have um three positions for your consideration for abolishment. It's part of our uh planning process for auditing positions and the restructuring that we've done. So the the first is the assistant to the director of food service. Uh so with the hiring of the assistant director, we now have the structure that we need to support schools in a more responsive manner. So as a result, the clerical position is no longer needed. The second position is the middle school library position and we believe that the pair professional support as well as the opportunity for other clericals in the building to assist this position can be reduced. And the last position is the part-time data assessment clerk. And with um the building shifting to computer-based testing, uh that position
087is really no longer needed. Thank you. May I have a motion to accept the abolishment of three positions, assistant to the director of food services, middle school library clerk, and part-time data assessment clerk. Is there a second? Thank you. It was Dave Berg. Okay. All in favor? Not opposed. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, we'll have a special education report. Miss Woods. Good evening. All of the committee recommendations are on the consent agenda. Thank you so much. And next we'll have our superintendence report. Mr. Pero, there will be a need for an executive session to discuss uh uh personnel matter. Thank you. A motion to accept a call for executive session. Thank you. All in favor will be there. Uh just a couple updates. It's um the governor's budget has come kind of fast
088and furious. was certainly late this year and uh details of different bills are starting to um uh trickle in and um we are going to have some um work and thought to do relative to at least two of them in particular. So, uh, one is the universal, uh, meals and, uh, as of right now, uh, we do not participate, uh, in, um, the the state or federal program that allows, um, uh, that that allows us more choice um, in what we serve. So, uh, the purpose of us getting out of that program uh, years ago was because of the waste of food that we were seeing. So, in the um in the state and federal program, when you're in it, um you have to put on a child's um tray, uh a fruit. Uh so,
089let's just say it's an apple, um a milk, and then um the the meal. And what we were seeing a while ago was we found a lot of the fruit and a lot of the milk uh in the garbage area. So, uh, we made a decision to move away from the program, uh, and, uh, fund it ourselves. Now, the state, um, is working in conjunction with the federal government, uh, to, um, allow, uh, school districts and and community members uh, to be reimbursed for um, for all meals. The exact price, I think, we still uh need to coordinate on how much we can spend per per meal, per child. Uh so uh we have um several planning meetings uh that are in the works with our food service director uh some of our business uh
090people and myself. Uh and I'll be providing updates to the board uh along with a a recommendation relative to where where we go from here. Uh I um do feel this is something we need to seriously uh explore and we will share the pros and cons along with the recommendation uh in the near future. The second topic has been uh that we've been waiting for uh has been the governor's uh um plight to have a distractionfree learning environment relative to phone use in K through 12 or all technological uh use. So, I think wearables and phones and all all of that. Um, prior to the governor's um budget being approved and having that distraction-free environment, obviously um the board uh has has met multiple times in workshops and retreats. Um and we were poised um
091for this day. Uh and in order to give the community um a a heads up and an opinion on this, our um uh student service director, Shannon Kataya pulled uh together a um a forum for a power hour uh to explore um what um people's perspectives could be um if we did have a distraction-free environment. So, we were able to receive, I believe, probably around 90 different pieces of feedback um from uh the stakeholders that attended that. It was also a a way to um help the community better understand some of the challenges that we're seeing in school, some of the research around um being connected non-stop, um how it impacts students. Um, and so our next steps now are to uh look at the language in the governor's budget uh and then create policy
092relative to what a distraction-free environment will look like in our schools. Essentially, um it will be uh an environment where where students will have very very very limited access uh to uh their their phones and technology other than uh their uh schoolisssued laptop at at this point. And so our job uh in um most likely I I think we talked about a June retreat date uh where we would uh bring this topic forward to the board and look at um the language in the uh governor's bill um juxtaposed to um the feedback we've received at the power hour and how our board feels and um hopefully be able to bring that back uh early summer um so we can notify y in in due time or prepare our students and families for for what that
093will look like. I don't know if there's any questions there or if I missed anything. Is that okay? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, so there was a gift to the district, of course. We're always thankful, but that's that's on the consent agenda. Um also um there's a policy recommendation first reading um number 5672 information security breach and notification. So next may I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. That carries. Is there any old business? Is there any um new business? So um as far as public comment goes, do we No. Okay. There's no public. Yes. Okay. I'm so sorry. Please come forward. Yes. Thank you and welcome. Good evening everybody. Good evening. I come for you today as a parent of a child in
094the Pittsver school system. Recently, my daughter was choked by another student in the same school. The way Pittsver handled the incident was insulting, wrong, and just biased. There was even a witness to the incident who also questioned when questioned gave a statement consistent with my daughters. The vice principal sent me an email stating, "The reported incident was not captured on video." Lyndon and I talked to the witness and took a statement from him. Based on his statement and your daughter's report, we will begin working with the other student and their family on this issue. At this point, I thought Pittsford would do the right thing. Shortly after the email, my daughter told me that the 11th grader who choked her was not in trouble for the assault. She was extremely emotional, crying. So, I sent
095the principal an email. The principal then sent me an email with the response that read, "The alleged incident was not captured on security camera video." After re after interviewing the students involved and taking into account the totality information available, Southerntherland administration was unable to substantiate a complaint. He refused to answer me when I asked why having a credible witness as evidence was not enough to substantiate a case. I asked him in person if what he is saying is true. If an incident happens somewhere where there is no cameras, like a bathroom, it would never be substantiated. The principal has shown he lacks empathy and does not believe my daughter even though there was a witness, a credible witness who gave the same story. His arrogance and tough guy approach is so apparent and hilarious he
096hides behind his principal title. We have been fighting for our daughter struggles with anxiety against Pittsford school system since fourth grade. Here are a few examples of what we had to fight for during cse. Pittsver refused to put her in a smaller classroom setting during the fourth grade year after seeing her struggle. The principal told me that my daughter was that was not the correct placement for my daughter. Do you remember that, Mr. Clark? The principal also told me that Jefferson Road was a general education school. I reminded him that Jefferson Road was a general education school with special education services. We had to hire an advocate and go to cse to get this approved. Pittsver fought us every step of the way. In fact, Pittsver recommended outside placement for my daughter just two weeks
097after a BIP was put in place. Once my daughter went to a smaller classroom setting like her parents wanted, she excelled all the way through 8th grade where she had some amazing teachers. Thank you. Mr. Pasal Aqua, can you um wind down your comments? The the limit is three minutes. Okay. Thank you. Unfortunately, high school I'm trying to go slow. Would Yes, sir. Okay. Unfortunately, high school has been another story. Another incident happened last year where we exposed a Pittsford school district of lying to us in CSC meeting where a math class should have been offered to students in ninth grade that struggle with algebra. I had a teacher call me after the meeting and tell me I could not take the lies. They are blatantly lying to you. Tell them you want her current
098grade erased. Keep advocating for your daughter. There are many other things that were said, but I don't want to put this person um called this person out. So, you guys may think you know who that person is. After additional class was offered, I had several parents call me and thank me for advocating for all the kids. Remember that, Miss Woods? I also had a friend advocate who was employed by another school district who was with me during my CSC to help me. After the meeting, she walked up to me and said, "These people have no idea what they're doing. They are not following school regulations and policies. This is incredible. Our advocate walked out of the same meeting saying, "Pittsford is absolutely the worst district for kids with mental health issues. They are nasty people.
099Everything is a battle." I also had a staff member who recently left your school district tell me the same thing. So, as you see, our trust in Pittsburgh will ever have my daughter's best interest with mental health issues is zero or any other kid. People issues are more likely victims and perpetrators in the world we live. What I said above proves that Pittsver preaches a lot about equality, but they don't really believe it. In my opinion, I'm requesting an outside evaluation of the assault on my daughter by someone other than Pittsver administration. I believe that they have a vendetta against me and my daughter. I would also like to see better mental health training for teachers in Pittsver. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. Pasal Aqua. At this point, may I have
100a motion for adjournment? All in favor? Thank you so much.