001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. 3.02 uh NISBA champion of change James Warriors. Uh, I'd like to bring Mr. Williams up from Nisburg, please. He needs a microphone. Yeah, he's gonna be Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Uh, my name is uh, Pastor John Williams. Uh, and I'm here to represent uh, NISBA, New York State School Board Association on tonight. Uh, just as a point of information, I also hail from your neighbors over across the river from Middletown. And so, uh, it's I'm excited to be here. So, I I just want to pay respects to all these wonderful board members and, uh, the the team, superintendent and superintendent's team who
002work so diligently every day, uh, to do this great work. And one of the things that I say uh as a board member is is that uh we might be competitors on the field uh on the courts, but when it comes to education, we're not competitors. We're partners. And that's one of the reasons why we're here tonight because uh uh of some of the great work that has been happening in this district. And so I'm here tonight on behalf of NISBA to present uh to the Wingers Central School District and uh to their partners in great work uh the James Warriors. That's I like that. The James Warriors. You know, I I'm here to present to you uh the banners for champions of change. You have done some wonderful work over the last few years.
003All of us have gone through the some of the same struggles, but it really takes uh some love, takes some caring uh to be able to really put aside some of the other things so that we can make sure that the needs of all of our children are being met. And so, it's my profound privilege to be able to be here today to just to celebrate with you in this recognition. Part of that recognition is while we recognize the school district for all of their work, we know that we can't do it without partners. And that's where James Warriors comes in because they have done some great work. Uh and and so I applaud you. All of our children need this. Not just Wingers, not just the areas, but all of our children need this
004kind of work and this kind of support surrounding mental health. And so, uh, if you can if I could have the banners, please. Um, somebody somebody could just hand me the banners and, uh, and if if you all could come up, if J James Warriors, if you could come up, I'll present the banners and I'm going to get out the way. All right. Come, Mr. President. Thank you. Let me have that one first. Firstly, I want to present. Yeah. Come up. All the board members come. All the board members the Thank you. All the board members and the staff. Uh you all are extra uh instrumental in uh all of this work going forward. This first this first banner is awarded Champions of Change Witcher Central School District Board of Education um for your work
005in partnering with James Warriors. I want to present this to the Wingers board. Congratulations. And because nobody can do this alone and no man is an island, uh this is presented the Champion of Change uh award uh to James Warriors. Thank you for your great work and and and it's my I'm a pastor, so I have to say this. Um, I it's my it's my prayer that you be recognized in more places and that you expand and that you grow into so many different areas because we need people like you. So, now now I will I will digress and we will turn it over to who's ever going to speak next. Okay, here you go. Dor, got it. Let's see if I need the glasses. You never know. Wait, I I stopped at the Walmart.
006[ __ ] So on behalf of James' Warriors, we are incredibly honored to receive the Champion of Change banner alongside Winger Central School District. This recognition means so much to our organization as we continue our mission to raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention. Collaborating with Winger Central School District has been powerful and inspiring. We are truly grateful for the opportunity to make a difference together. Thank you to New York State NYSSBBA to celebrate the importance of our work and for recognizing the impact of community and school collaboration in supporting youth mental health. I would also like to extend a heartfelt thanks to WCSD board members, administration, especially Dr. Bon and Mr. Zip for their unwavering support in allowing this program into the district. Special thanks to the following principles for understanding that being proactive is
007the key to prevention. And those would be Terrence Thompson, Dave Cip, Laura D. Stefano, and um Dr. Shukat who retired, but he really was a wonderful uh help for us. We also are so grateful to the staff at the school for their support and most importantly to the students whose openness and respect make all the difference. These are not easy conversations yet the students are eager to talk about mental health. Through a grant we received this year from Duchess County. We had the opportunity to present at Orchard View where we not only shared important information but also created coping kits with the students helping them develop tools to manage mental health challenges. We encourage them to stay into stay in class to understand that mental health diagnosis doesn't define their future and that life can
008still be beautiful. We empa emphasize the importance of taking a pause before making decisions and that suicide is not your only choice. Every time I leave one of these presentations, I walk away with hope. In our presentations, we share James' story. My 19-year-old son, a student who once walked these very halls, a funny, kind kid who who hid the pain he carried inside his mind. He died by suicide in October of 2018. And this is why we started James' Warriors. The second part of our program is led by our clinical partner and psychologist Dr. Arnoff and she talks to the students about the clinical sides, signs and symptoms, and some strategies. We also have Doron Cavacini who works with the students talking about coping kits and how to try to stop negative thoughts and goes
009through our special events because a lot of these students want to come to our events, wear their t-shirts, and be involved because let's be honest, some kids need to be tied to the schools because they didn't make the sports teams. They're not in the committees that other kids are. And so, it's very important for them to feel connected and a part of And then we also have who's not here tonight, we have our new member who's coming in. His name is David Henry and he talks to the children about the importance of exercise and nutrition and how that really does help with some of the mental health diagnosises. In conclusion, my board and I deeply are thankful for our relationship with Winger Central School District and we're absolutely thrilled by this recognition from the New
010York State. I'm going to NESPED School Boards Association. Thank you for seeing the value in this work and honoring the heart that is behind it. Our heartfelt appreciation to all that is in this room. Thank you. Principal Cyp if uh you have an opportunity, if you could come up and talk about the important role that the program has played at Roy C. Ketchum High School and the positive impact it's had on our students, our staff, and our community be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Good evening. Uh it's an honor to to to be here with all of you tonight. So, thank you so much. Uh I've had the privilege of of knowing Mrs. Thomas. her children went through RCK and first and foremost she's just an incredible parent who who loves her children and was always
011there to support them no matter what time or day. So, so just an incredible person and parent uh as a as a presentation as as uh that we've had many times at RCK. Um just a tremendous uh impact that has had our students and staff. Uh Miss Thomas spoke about where she she speaks to the students, but what really we walk away with is is how authentic she is. um how how just incredible she is with her approach and speaking to our students. Um how she gets vulnerable with our students and after every presentation there's a line of students you know wanting to speak to her uh just about the impact that she had on our students. So so just a great program. We're honored every year to have her uh speak to our kids.
012And again, we always talk about just making one difference in every every presentation and and she always does. She always does more than that. Like I said, there's a line uh that that wants to speak to her and um just so grateful for her to come and to share her message and just want to thank the board, our superintendent uh and for her for all her that she does for for our community and our school. So, thank you. [Applause] Just one last thing. Um, I'm here as rep I'm here representing uh all of NISBA, but I'm also here because I happen to have the great privilege of serving as your area 9 director um covering Orange, Olter, Sullivan, Duchess, and Green counties. And so if I can ever be of any service to you, don't
013hesitate to call. I'll be there in a moment. You're gonna see you're gonna see a little bit of me over the over the next year or so. Just popping in just to say hi. Um and and I want to thank Wenters for being such a wonderful member of NISSBA and uh I'm looking forward to uh great collaboration and great growth. We wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Williams. Just a few words about the positive relationship that we have with Donna Thomas James Warriors and other community-based organizations. We can no longer put our head in the sand and say not here. Unfortunately, we have mental illness which has exacerbated since the COVID pandemic. It's real. It's here. And it is one of our goals to provide
014our students with whatever we can to help them improve their self-esteem, provide them with opportunities to be successful. They need opportunities. I believe that success is infectious. So, I want to thank Donna and her team. I want to thank NISBA for recognizing this phenomenal program. And again, you have our commitment that we are committed to the entire child. It's more than what happens in the classroom, although that's extremely important, but it's about building the whole child. And we will continue to focus on those opportunities that give our children the opportunity to be successful in one form or another. So, Donna, I want to thank you and your staff. Phenomenal work. We look forward to continuing the program. Thank you so much. No, I'm I'm going to need it. Yeah, he's going to need it later.
015I'll need it when I do my presentation. I'm the mic backup. You get it? So the thanks again Donna James Warriors and Mr. Williams. Thanks to you and NISMBA for your recognition of these types of programs that are so important to our students. Mr. Williams, looking forward to working with you in the near future. Thank you. Thank you again. As part of the spotlight uh this evening on April the 12th uh Saturday there was a dedication by our whoers crew club and they dedicated a boat in honor of a very beloved missed staff member who I had the phenomenal fortune to work with at John J High School a few years ago. And that staff member is Carrie Roger. And Car's legacy will always live at John J and within the Winger Central School District
016and now it will continue to live as a part of crew and rowing which is something that she was extremely committed to. I want to thank our board president McFarland for attending this and I want to thank the Wingers crew club for honoring Carrie in this very very special way. Thank you. Thank you very much Dr. Mark. Moving on to 4.02 public comments on agenda items. Has anyone signed up for public comments on agenda items? There is no sign up. We will wave the reading. Moving right along to 4.02, communications announcements received by the board of education. Anyone have any communications or announcements? Trustee Johnson. Yes. I was um lucky enough to be able to receive my Jbots world championship uh t-shirt from them going to world championships. They did not win but they did
017place I believe several of them. Um I would like to just express how honored I am to have to meet most of these children. Um these students are outstanding. They were here I believe at our last board meeting trying to get Miss Dr. bonk with a couple of balls. They missed. They missed, but they were close. Um, last year I believe they did hit you though. But that's that's correct. Yes. Yes, we have. It's always on film. Um, but I I wanted to honor them and I brought the I was able to get one of the t-shirts and uh be able to wear it this evening to thank them. Thank you, Trusty Johnson. Anyone else? Trusty Cabalero. Yes. Uh, thank you. And to kind of dovetail on uh Trusty Johnson's comments, uh the Jbots team,
018aside from just their success in placement and uh really embodies uh teamwork at its finest aspect and having been part of different teams throughout my life and career, what we can tell you for sure is that the ability to work together to problem solve is probably one of the most important skills uh individuals can develop in their lives and to see it come together here in form and while they may have been frustrated that the ball didn't exactly land in the bucket their attitude absolutely not Dr. punk. Uh I think a point that's often lost is uh they were still cooperative with one another and even though the end goal may not have gone the way they exactly wanted their attitude, their delivery, teamwork, everything kind of came together in a uh cohesive manner. That
019is really the ingredients for life success. Anything that could be done to kind of replicate and expand these kind of programs, I think benefit us all in the large. Thank you. Anyone else? I see nothing. Okay, moving right along to 5.02 2020 25 I'm sorry. 5.01. I did say that, didn't I? No, then I said 2025 2026 superintendent's recommended budget presentation. You know what I meant, right? [Music] Good evening all. So this evening I will be presenting the recommended budget for 2526 to the board of education for consideration and hopefully approval. Members of our board of education Michael McFarland our president Eddie A. Slowshour vice president Virgil Capalaryi trustee Cheryl Miggots trustee Marie Johnson trustee John S. Morgan trustee Peggy Kalen trustee Keith ODM's trustee and John C. Lumia trustee members of the senior staff
020administration Darren Loka assistant superintendent for administration and information systems Dr. Michelle Cardwell assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and here at the podium Kristen Dainty assistant superintendent of finance and business development Mr. Richard Zip, assistant superintendent, student support services, Renee Harris, executive director of human resources, Ronald Brois, director of facilities, and Alberta Pedro, district clerk and secretary to the superintendent. Proposition one, the budget, just over $321 million. The budget is based on the mission and core values of our school district, the values and goals of the board of education, discussion and goals among senior staff as well as building administration. And when we say community input, that's our entire learning community. That's students, that's staff, that's parents, and that's families who have indicated to us what they believe are their priorities for the budget for
0212526 in which we continue to build our future together. Our priorities, maximize the resources that we have to benefit our schools and our community. This budget maintains our current educational program by providing academic supports, academic enrichment opportunities, and extracurricular activities incorporated with professional development that is needed for staff. As we're looking at an everchanging technological society, we continue our focus on safety as well as the emotional and mental health of our students and staff. We continue to support career and technical education programs as we prepare today's students for tomorrow's careers. New York State aid final aid finalization has yet to be determined. Another extender has been provided. The budget deadline has been extended. From what I'm hearing, at the earliest there may be a budget will be next week. So, where does that put us?
022I'll get to that in a little bit more um as we go through the slides. But what I will tell you is is that we are moving forward with the proposal from the governor because we need to adopt a budget to put before the voters. So, what does this budget include? It continues to include the common themes that you've seen for the last three years that we have all identified as near and dear to all and when I say all I mean all of our students. Special education initiative continues expansion of the language-based programs. Language-based program provides support to students with severe reading disabilities providing multiensory reading support embedded within the core curriculum. The student ratio is 1511. In addition to that, we are going to add two additional special education teachers and two additional
023teaching assistants to support that program. Also in special education, adding teachers at the elementary and secondary schools throughout our district, which right now we believe we'll need to add six teachers for special ed. So right now, if you add those together, you're looking at six and two, you're looking at eight special education teachers. You're going to hear a common theme that not only are we maintaining what we currently have, we are adding to what we currently have because the need is there and the resources are there to be able to do it due to very careful and calculated financial planning over the past few years. also a professional development specialist for special education to assist in the ongoing training and implementation of the program for teachers. We have them in other subject areas. Why not
024special education? Mr. Zip, I believe our special education population is currently about 17 12 to 19% of our student enrollment. 17 and a half. So, do the math.10 10,500 students, 17.5% are special education, that puts you up somewhere close to I think that's a little higher. That's almost 20%. But if you take the 10 500 and you go 17% of that, it puts you up around 18. Am I correct? Yes. No. Maybe. Thank you very much, Trusty Lumi. I'm sure you're graphing it on your uh graphic calculator right now. also an assistant superintendent for special education, which is a change to support all of these students and their needs as our special education program continues to grow. And based on the information we have and the needs of our students, we believe it's going to
025continue to grow. And if that's what our students need, then it should grow. That's our responsibility as a school district. Once again, all students. Another area with a growing population. English is a new language. The ELLL population continues to grow around the district. And based on that, we're adding an additional ELELLL teacher at Gayhead Elementary School. We are also adding reading teachers at the elementary level which we've said before is the foundation of education. That's where it all starts. This is where we need to infuse these types of positions in the elementary school so that it will help our students as they learn and grow and move through our educational system. We have the ability to do that now. I'm recommending we do so. And those additional teachers uh will be at the elementary level
026and they will provide supplemental instruction to identified students, additional reading assistance. We talked about preparing today's students for tomorrow opportunities. our PEK program. We're going to add some teachers to increase the section load as that's increased into the second year of the program. We're going to add three additional teachers, math, English, and social studies. And another area that's very important is we are adding another elementary assistant principle. The need is there. So this will be a shared position to meet the students and the administrative needs of the two larger elementary schools. Not the two largest because they already have them, but this will serve Brinkerhoff and Fishkill Plains. We talked about safety. It's our top priority. When we did assemblies at the schools and I said to the students, what is the top priority of
027the Winger Central School District? I was very pleased to hear safety and security because without it, no one is going to reach their highest potential. We're going to increase the presence of our local law enforcement agencies in all of our schools during the day. As you know, we have school resource officers from Duchess County that will continue to be assigned to Wingers Junior High School and Royce Catchum High School. And we have school resource officers from the East Fishkill Police Department that will be continued uh that will continue to be assigned to Van Wik and John J throughout the school day. Additional school safety officers will be added at Royce Ketchum and John J High School. And the two largest elementary schools, Gay Head and Meyer's Corners, had school safety officers added this past January
028and they are in the budget to remain there next year. We will continue to advocate for state and federal funding for safety related costs. As I've said publicly, we spend nearly $2 million a year for safety and security in all of our schools. I believe it's money well spent and I think the results have shown that we will continue to do that because without safe schools people do not realize their full potential. technology and infrastructure. We're adding a network specialist in technology support services due to the continued need and growth. And we're also replacing outdated telephone equipment districtwide health offices, the addition of two registered nurse positions to assist in the management of the workload for the district's nurses. So now we have two additional nurses who are going to help out and assist with
029coverages. facilities and operations. New York State special project money will remain in the budget for the continued in-house projects that can be completed by the Winger Central School District trade specific staff. So, we're adding these positions, we're adding these programs, and we have a tax cap of 1.57%. We're adding all of these services because people have indicated that they're necessary and important. And for the fourth consecutive year, we are going to put forth a budget that is below the tax cap. This recommendation will be a tax levy increase of 130%. currently using the governor's executive budget proposal which includes the continuation of the foundation aid formula and universal prek funding. Fiscal responsibility is extremely important. And if you take a look at those charts over the last five years, you'll see that that has been
030a priority. And we've been able to do that. And we've still added programs and services. 2122 right to the tax cap 2.49. 2223 tax cap was 1.38. We came in at 83. 2324 2.05. We came in below 1.67. Last year we had a higher tax cap. 4.33. We came in over a percent lower at 3.26. 26 this year 1.57 and we're coming in at 1.30. So when you take a look at the change in the tax levy and the tax levy is the important number because that's the amount that your school taxes go up. People want to talk about a $321 million budget, but in actuality, the tax levy is $192 million, not $321 million because the other $130 million is either coming through grants, fund balance, or state aid. So 190 million to 192
031million, it's a change of a little over $2 million, which comes out to just under 2 million, 1.30%. And we're able to do that, yet we're still able to add to a budget and increase the budget by almost 5%, but yet the tax levy changes 1.30. That's a lot of creative financial planning. We received a fair amount of money during CO and I stood here in front of everyone and said we're not going to spend the money if we don't have a reason to spend it or we don't know where to spend it just because we have to spend it. And for the last three years, we were cited by the controller for having too much money. Well, now when some of our colleagues in districts throughout the county and the region are cutting programs
032and cutting teachers because for whatever reason they didn't want to build up their fund balance, we have the reserves to be able to maintain the programs and services that we have put in for the past four years. I think that's quite an accomplishment, something that I'm very proud of. And I want to thank Miss Dainty for all of her work and continuing to craft these budgets year in and year out. So, as I said, 1.30% tax levy increase. We maintain our existing programs. We add support. Special education. We went through the numbers. Career and technical education, safety and mental health. Again, all within the tax levy increase below the cap at 1.3%. Again, how did we do it? We've built up a fund balance, something that the district has not had for years. We collectively
033as a group, myself, the senior team, and the board of education felt it was wise and prudent so that we wouldn't have a herkyjerky roller coaster year year in and year out. So what are we going to do? We're going to take $12 million of that fund balance and we're going to put it so that it brings down the tax levy. So there's the difference, part of the difference in your tax levy increase and your budget increase. I mentioned before because I think it's important for people to understand. If you go back years, you would see a budget increase that would correlate to a tax levy increase that would be similar to the budget increase because all of the money that was being utilized primarily came out of the tax levy. That's not the case
034now. So the tax levy increases what impacts the taxpayers 1.30%. I mentioned the $12 million that I'm recommending that we use from the fund balance to offset the tax levy. And again, our four areas of priority have not changed over the four years that I've been superintendent. Mental health, special education, safety and support, and instruction and career and technical education, all have been a necessity since I stepped into this role during the COVID pandemic. and I don't see that changing anytime soon. So, if you would like to learn more about the budget, public comment at board of education meetings, budget at wcsdny.org. We read your comments, re read your questions, we read your concerns. It's extremely important. We have community forums at each high school. Monday, May the 5th at John J. That'll be at
0355:30. Monday, May the 12th at Royce Ketchum High School at 5:00. If you haven't checked out our website, please do. Not only does it have the 2526 budget, but it has the last five years of budgets. So, if you want to compare and contrast year-to-year what was in and what was out, you'll see that a lot has been added to what was there four or five years ago. And again, that was done deliberately because there was a need for that and we had the resources to be able to do it. How to vote in the school election in person Tuesday, May the 20th, 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at your designated poll site. Absentee or early mail ballot available to any registered voter? What's the difference? You must provide a reason why you can't vote
036in person on the application for an absentee ballot. No reason is required for an early mail ballot. Applications for absentee and early mail ballots are available online or by contacting the district office alberta.pedro wcsdny.org or and the number is 8452985000 extension 40145. So I would like to thank the board of education. I would like to thank the senior team, all of our building administrators, and our community for providing the input for what I believe is a very, very sound, fiscally responsible budget that provides our students, all of our students, with the programs and services that they need to be successful. And with that, I conclude. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent. That was an excellent presentation on the budget. Thank you. Moving along to 5.02, adoption of the proposed 2025 2026 budget. Resolve that the board
037of education of the Winger Central School District does hereby approve the adoption of the proposed 2025 2026 school year budget in the amount of $321,239,71 to be presented to the district voters as proposition one. Notice is hereby further given that at said annual election to be held on May 20th, 2025, the following proposition will be submitted. Shall a budget for the Winger Central School District for the fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2025 in the amount of $321,239,71 be adopted and the necessary taxes to meet such expenditures be levied and collected? Do I have a motion? Trustee Kellen, second by Marie Johnson. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? I see none. Motion carries. If I may just comment, board of education, I would like to thank you for your support. I would like to thank
038you for your input in putting this budget together. It's greatly appreciated. I'm glad to see that we work here as a team to serve our community. So, I want to thank you all for your support. Thank you very much. 5.03 3 approval of school property tax report card for 2025 2026 resolve that the board of education of the Winger Central School District does hereby approve the adoption of the school property tax report card for 2025 2026 as stated motion uh Trustee Johnson second by Ferg Cabaler All in favor? Any opposed? I see none. So moved 6.01 consent agenda resolution. Does anybody want to remove anything from the consent agenda? Trustee Morgan. I respectfully request that 6.08 be pulled and voted on separately. Thank you, sir. Resolved that the board of education does hereby approve the
039following consent agenda items as stated. 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.09 6.10 6.11 and 6.12. Motion Trusty Kellen, second by Marie Johnson. Any discussion? All in favor? So moved? Resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the following consent agenda item 6.08. Motion, Mr. Lumia. Second, Peggy Kellen. discussion. Mr. Morgan. Thank you, President McFarland. Um I have several several questions uh regarding this this particular item. Are um are you going to have um assistant superintendent assistant superintendent zip answer? Okay. Thank you. Um, is it accurate to state that prior to the 2022 2023 school year, Duchess County bore the majority, if not all, of the financial responsibility for the provision of preschool special education services across Duchess County, including to preschool students within the Winger Central School District? Yes. When the Winger Central
040School District first established or when did the Winger Central School District first established a contract with Duchess County to set up a system through which the district can provide services that Duchess County was not able to provide to future Winger students? Yeah, that was the winter of school year 223 when we first contract with the county. So approximately a little over two years ago. Uh yes. At that time approximately how many preschool students were not receiving services for which a need had been demonstrated and documented? Yeah, if memory serves me correctly, I think upwards of about about a 100. In the middle of the 2022 2023 school year, what was the cost difference per preschool student per service session such as speech therapy between what the district paid the provider and what the county reimbured?
041In other words, what was the cost difference that was absorbing per service session provided? Yes. So the the delta in that question was $20. So I use a typical session of speech services. the uh approved CPS providers would get paid would be reimbured from Nick County $60 for say an individual speed session. I'll use that as a as a good metric. And we we paid our subcontractor ABC80. So there's a $20 differential that was born by the by the district. And just to editorialize a a little bit, at that time, the board of education made the decision that we would rather pay that $20 per student per session and have those 100 students receive speech services rather than um entering kindergarten with a with an even more severe deficit in in speech. Uh as as
042an example, yes. How many preschool students is the district currently providing special education services to that Duchess County um is financially responsible for? Well, right now currently I think our CPSC numbers are over over 400 at at the preschool level. Have the rates changed in any way that impacts that cost difference that you identified as $20 earlier between what the district pays to the provider and what the district receives from Duchess County compared to the it's still 20 $20? Yes, our contract with our subcontractor has remained the same over the last two and a half years. The rate that the district is reimbured is set by the county and that has not changed. So, so the big thing that's changed though is that instead of 100 students, we're now taking that $20 difference and applying
043it across over 400 students times the number of sessions that each student receives potentially. Um, we still we still interface with many of the approved CPSC providers who we do not who we do not directly contract with. So, we only contract with one provider who's a fairly large provider and they they provide a lot of services to the district, but we still interface with most of the other county approved providers because clearly our subcontractor couldn't service all of our students and it's just related services, but they do since the contract was put in place and we are a large school district, they are servicing more and more of our students over the last subsequent two and a half years. So, when we're able to use a county approved provider, Yep. there's no that there's no
044$20 differential. We're only paying that $20 differential is only going to ABC, our only subcontractor, for the provision of preschool services. Okay. But is it fair to say that the number of students to which that $20 difference applies has increased? Yes. um and to a large extent what additional steps in addition to steps already taken such as lobbying state legislature elected officials, lobbying county elected officials and uh trustee Peggy Kellen's role in advocating for the New York State School Board Association to make this particular issue a legislative priority. What what additional things can this board of education uh do? What actions can we take to remedy this situation in which the district finds itself? Namely, that in order to provide needed services to future students, the district is making up the county's funding gap between
045what the county pays for service and the market rate for that service. Sure. So, I mean, I think that the board is doing all they can do by petitioning their local and state legislators. That's the direction they're going. As indicated, the um the county sets the rates for for related services. That would be speech, OT, and PT. The state sets the reimburseable rates for programs that would be a full or half day program, say abilities first or the hospital. Outside of that, the only thing that we could do, and that's would be a board decision, would be to speak to our district attorneys and decide if there was any legal leverage to then address the county and get reimburseed for what we're paying in that delta to ABC because based upon statute, it does indicate
046that the county shall. So that's the only other venue that the district would have to recoup the monies that we're spending uh to basically help provide to offset the posity of service providers in the in in the preschool world. So that's pretty much the options we have. Thank you very much, Assistant Superintendent Zip. Um the only other uh correlary to that last question is um anybody that's here um in this auditorium this this evening um anybody that is watching uh live or uh on tape delay through YouTube um can also uh contact your uh Duchess County uh legislator um or any other county elected official um your state assembly representative um and your uh state senator representative and or the governor um to ask for assistance for something that less than three years ago the
047Winger Central School District spent less than one penny on. Correct. That has now been shifted to be the responsibility of this school district and our taxpayers. Correct. Thank you very much, Mr. Trusty Morgan. Trusty Capillo, I would like to kind of give a thank you, Trusty Morgan, for at least bringing up that final point. It is incumbent upon all those that are watching this and are following it closely that uh as the numbers are expected to increase, so too will be the financial burden perspective component part of it. I thank you uh Dr. Zip for at least uh kind of helping uh uh provide a clear and concise uh uh description of uh exactly how the funding was working. Thank you, Trusty Keeper. Trusty Peggy Kellen. Yes, I have spoken repeatedly with all our state
048legislative representatives and with members of the county government and they all say, "Oh, that's yes, that's a problem." Yes. Yes. However, uh there's a the problem is that the state law uh depends on the county setting the reimbursement rate and Duchess County sets a rate lower than neighboring counties. So if speech therapists or other uh providers, p uh physical therapists, occupational therapists have a choice of going to a neighboring county where they will be paid $20 more per hour and coming to in Duchess County naturally. Uh many of them go out of the county. So that there are limited providers willing to work for $60 an hour since that's the actual time that they're providing the service and the time that they spend traveling to and or preparing the lesson is not reimbursed. Thank you
049very much Trusty Kellen. Anyone else? Any other discussion on this? So, we have a first motion and a second motion. All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Moving along. 6.02 support staff personnel list. I apologize. Okay. 7.01. Approval of the 2025 2026 Boseis administrative budget. Resolve that the board of education of the Winger Central School District cast its one vote to approve the board of cooperative educational services administrative budget in the amount of $6,858,000 and further authorizes the district clerk to certify that a board resolution has been adopted and to complete the ballot by placing an X next to approve indicating how the vote has been cast and by completing the certification contained on the ballot. Motion Peggy Kellen second Marie Johnson. All in favor? So moved. Next we have a uh 7.02 to the vote
050on Bosey's board of education candidates. resolved that the board of education of the Winger Central School District does hereby cast its vote for the following candidates to the Duchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Boseies, and further authorizes the district clerk to certify that a board resolution has been adopted by completing the ballot and placing an X next to the name of the candidates for whom a vote has been cast and further by completing the certification contained ained on the ballot. Okay, just so we know that there are two seats for three-year term beginning 71 2025 and ending in 2028. And there is one seat that's filling a vacancy for the term of 423205 and ending in 6 2026. So I'm going to mention the names the nominee names and then we'll find out who
051do we need a separate motion for each of them? No. Right. Right. She's going to keep a record of that. Right. So, Ralph Clement, do we have anyone that's going to nominate Ralph Clement? We have Peggy Kellen. I mean, vote for um I'm sorry. So, Peggy is going to vote for Ralph Clement. So, everybody that's supporting Ralph should raise their hand. Correct. Yes. So, anybody that's supporting Ralph Clement, raise your hand now. Mark Fleshower. Anybody supporting Mark Fleshower, please raise your hand. Yet, he's out. Bryce Holland, Judy Moran, sorry. And then finally, Gully Stafford. Thank you. 7.03 approval of attended NASPAR policy workshop. Resolve that the board of education does hereby approve trustee Peggy Kelland to attend the NISBA policy workshop student centered policies recent developments on May 7th 2025 live virtual at a cost
052of $140 registration fee which is the member rate uh Marie Johnson second by Virgil Cavaleri. All in favor? Anyone opposed? So moved. Uh 8.01. Are we at right? Yep. Board members may request additional agenda items to be discussed items or request for information. Any board members requesting any items or agendas? No. I see none. Uh 9.01 comments from the public. I see no one signed up for public comments. So we will wave that reading also. Moving right along to 10.01. We're going to request for an adjournment. Resolve that the board of education does hereby adjourn the April 22nd, 2025 board of education meeting. The time is now 8:37 p.m. Motion Trusty Morgan, second by Trusty Cavalero. All in favor? So move. So moved. Mrs. The dancer.