001the unit States Amica 4.01 superintendent Spotlight on the program religion spelling B the religious spelling B Dr bunk thank you president McFarland W Central School District community and all of our phenomenal SPS we want to thank you and your families for being here tonight and we are extremely proud of you and at this point in time I would like to ucer of our directors this J Chanel could you talk a little bit about the spelling be good evening everyone as Dr Bron said I'm here to honor all of our students and families in our audience today that have participated in our spelling bees since 1925 children Across America have participated in classroom Regional School and N national spelling bees again this year each of our elementary schools and junior high schools have taken part in
002this Rich tradition tonight we celebrate the hard work of our students who excelled in their school spelling bees participating in this process challenges students to expand their vocabulary sharpen their skills and it engages them in the excitement of competition these Champions have demonstrated not only the love of words but also the demonstration also determination and perseverance without further Ado I'm excited to announce our building spelling B Champions I'd like to invite the board to come and stand in front and our Champions are going to be coming up to you walk across wherever you prefer there's less wires at the stage but we can do whatever most comfortable perfect I warned the students that the board members sometimes go Rogue and they make their own plans so we're going to walk across the floor instead of
003the stage good so one by one I will call each of you up to the front of the stage you'll walk across and shake your hands and I will hand you your certificate please stay over on this side when you're done and we'll still take our picture here okay our first student is a sixth grade student from Brinkerhoff Anna Kaplan [Applause] next is a fourth grade student from James S Evans Tyler rustenberg fifth grader from Fishkill Elementary violet yuzo fifth grader from fishco Plains Isabella alsoo fourth grader from gayhead elementary Amelia [Applause] [Laughter] Simmons fifth grader from kenry Road Alex Sperling [Laughter] sixth grader from Myers cornner Elementary Amelia Chows sixth grer from Oak glob Elementary jadan duza [Applause] sixth grader from sheer Elementary Jacob fem eighth grader from Van white Junior High School Noah
004Kaplan eighth grader from wers Junior High School amilio sagato Cordova as all of our spellers make their way over to the left I'll invite the board to follow them along for a picture and a quick thank you to all the families for all the support of our students for my got thank you congrat [Laughter] to trip somebody thank you she's like is that good that's that's fine got them into a pretty good triangle shape let's give all these students another round of applause [Laughter] please all right moving right along 5.02 uh 5.01 public comments on the agenda items no no one signed in so we're going to skip the reading for a public agenda move right on to 5.02 Communications announcements received by the Board of Education Peggy yes I had the opportunity to attend
005the project learning uh presentation at gayhead elementary school where fourth graders use their envir Environmental Studies to uh create sto imaginative stories about um Mythic olical characters who fac environmental disasters of one sort or another I they um they had lovely presentations and everybody spoke and they also signed their autograph their books for us uh I also caught the candy bingo in the cafeteria the same time and then I attended the science fair which was uh very nice and I went around to the uh to the different students who explain their projects and I must say the quality of the our entries is goes up every year and I only wish that more students participated because it's a wonderful experience thank you very much trusty Kong trusty Council uh yes I wasn't here last time
006uh due to illness but I wanted to owledge the John J talent show uh that was uh just before it was just over two weeks ago and the level of talent that was there as always the Irish Step dancers were one of the favorites as always and uh our budding rock band that uh came out of the audience definitely wowed the uh student population uh and had them all sharing and then the following day I was able to go to the John J Winter Carnival and I can't say enough about the students over at John J that put it together all the different clubs all the activities it was absolutely outstanding what they did um over the last week or so we've had the royy Ketchum girls basketball team that was able to go to
007sectionals Unfortunately they lost yesterday um heartbreakingly enough uh but I want to congratulate them for such an an outstanding season that they've had along with uh on Wednesday during the semi uh finals down in Westchester for the Ketchum girls that basketball game be halftime they had the John J cheerleading girls and Dylan um recognized for their community service and I just wanted to congratulate them as well because they didn't an amazing job thank you trusty Johnson trusty Nets please there it stay on this time yes this was my first time at the John J Winter Carnival and I really enjoyed it uh trusty Johnson and I were able to have our pictures taken with the prum princes and princesses had a great time there um and caught up with the janja racing team and their
008progress on their car um I was also at the Project based learning event that um trusty Ken mentioned it was a great program and then I rushed over here to um congratulate the students who were inducted into the rck French Honor Society that afternoon and I would also like to congratulate um our English language Learners who traveled to some of whom traveled to Albany this past weekend and uh were awarded medals in a competition trusty Morgan thank you president McFarland I just wanted to acknowledge um uh a great accomplishment by uh the the John J robotics program um much like we talk about um basketball teams um that they lose a lot of seniors and what's the team going to look like uh next year uh the the catch and girls lost a lot of
009seniors last year and made it very far in into the sectional championships uh the John J robotics team graduated a great number of seniors that have gone on to schools like John's Hopkins and Stamford and and lost a lot of um brain power so to speak and and here they are um headed to a uh a world championship event in uh in Texas so congratulations uh to the advisers and the John J robotics CL similarly um I want to congratulate somebody that's uh that's up here on the uh on the stage with us and will be honored this coming summer um at a Hudson Valley Renegades game uh Dr Bon has been uh chosen as a uh community champion um by the Hudson Valley Renegades and and will be honored congratulations Dr [Laughter] Bon thank
010you trusty Morgan uh I just I was invited to the uh French Honor Society new inductees I'd just like to mention some of the new inductees that were enrolled into the French Honor Society Angelina Carol uh zo Levy Jack McCarthy Calin odums and Samantha Santiago so if we can just give them a round of applause for we get we we yeah they they asking me do I speak French I was like not not at all Mr Lumia you have something yeah normally I have lot to say but i' be very brief today we received a uh request from robar club for some type of funding and sincerely hope that we can find money to send them where they have to go thank you trusty Lumia you coming and so far and so far it's a
011French in the past I gave a speech I gave a speech in French I tell you is terrible so I thank God you at this point in time [Music] trusty appreciate the candid thank you you want to shut your mic off now so uh trusty Kellen can have the floor the production of some something rotten at Van white school was uh really so good uh they have a lot of talent going going on to prum at John J thank you TR com I just wanted to add at the French aror society I know trusty Lumia usually gives a poor speech but uh assistant superintendent loka gave an excellent speech at the French aror society he did did he gave us a few words fren yeah and also I attended the combination b k John J
012string concert that was held last week very good thank you TR and thank you Darren chy Morgan um upcoming event or events on both sides of the district there are pyramid concerts coming up where um the the community as well as parents will have the opportunity to hear Elementary uh middle school and high school um ensembles uh perform and those are always really great to see you know the beginners and then what what they become our district has a tremendous uh music program uh both in terms of uh strings and uh and brass and I just like to encourage uh people that may be um attending this evening or or watching online to uh to get out to one of those one of those concerts be it here at Ketchum or over at John J
013thank you again trusty Morgan for the insight anyone else Mr Lumia I just want to remind the public um the reason we're meeting tonight at uh Ry katchen thank you Mr site for allowing us to use your facilities is because Jr is in the Deep throws of getting ready for the first time performed Beetle Juice Jr it's it finally got released to be able to be done and this coming weekend is Beetle Juice and then we also have curtains coming up shortly with John J and Mary popins um for here coming up at the beginning of next month so but uh if you get a chance go and see Beetlejuice this weekend because they were on pdh and they sounded amazing thank you trusty Johnson Mr L just a reminder this Wednesday at 9:30 four
014students at Oak Ro under the direction of that Miller I'm G to try to break the goodness world record by multiplying two numbers 96 by 96 digit numbers again forc to elementary school kids trying to break that record it's incredible so I sincerely hope you come Wednesday at 9:30 Friday that's going to be the ceremony to recognize these kids as well as the other students I hope the community can come and support these kids thank you and it'll wor if they set the record it'll only take you 25 minutes to watch him do it so 25 minutes I fa I'm still on the first count thank you trustees I appreciate it anyone else thank you very much all right moving right along 6.01 superintendent report recommended budget presentation number one fine than dainty pushing sh
015good evening wer Central School District Learning Community I would like to thank you for your attendance this evening uh there will be a few presentations this evening before I start the recommended budget presentation I also need to say thank you to our School social workers now more than ever we need our social workers and last week was National School social workers week so we could have a round of applause please for all our social workers we appreciate you thank you so one of the items that I'll be presenting tonight is the recommended budget number one building our future together this is very very very preliminary so we're going to share with you some it items that we think we're going to be able to move forward on once we realize exactly what our funding will
016be which hopefully will be in early April members of our Board of Education President Michael McFarland vice president Eddie a slower trusty Virgil capillary truste Cheryl mots trusty Marie Johnson trusty John S Morgan trusty Peggy Kell and trusty Keith odms and trusty John C Lumia the individuals the district office senior staff Mr L keima assistant superintendent for administration and information systems Dr Cardwell assistant superintendent curriculum and instruction Miss dainy assistant superintendent of finance and business development who I need to thank for all of your efforts in putting this together Mr zip assistant superintendent student Support Services Miss Harris Executive Director of Human Resources Mr brois director of facilities Miss Pedro District Clerk and secretary to the superintendent so to this point we have had a number of presentations or videos back in November we did
017the first video explaining the budget process February the 10th we did preliminary budget presentation one then we did a video at the end of February the video explaining the budget process and today we're at March 10th where we're going to present the rec amended budget presentation at this point as well as the transportation proposition presentation once again the budget vote May 20th of 2025 and I need to thank the Board of Education the senior staff all of our staff and our community for sending in your suggestions and your priorities to ensure that we provide our students with the services that they both need and deserve what was the budget based on we've talked about this before our core values values and goals of the Board of Education discussion and goals of the senior staff and
018Community input and community means all of our community we appreciate your input as we build our future together so what are the priorities the goal is to maximize the resources that we have to benefit our schools and community in this budget we will maintain our current educational programs by continuing to provide academic supports academic enrichment opportunities I want to talk a little bit about extracurricular activities any of you who have been to board meetings before notice that when the board members speak and they give reports they talk about opportunities they talk about extracurricular activities they talk about more than what we do in the classroom and certainly what we do in the classroom is Paramount but it's also our responsibility to build our students up to build their self-esteem and give them opportunities to identify
019things that they like and things that they want to be involved with and give them an opportunity to be successful and we need to continue now more than ever to provide those types of opportunities professional development is extremely important for our staff now more than ever as we continue to see the everchanging technology that we all work with school safety we've shown a commitment to it we're going to continue that commitment in this budget we've seen the emotional and mental health concerns that our students have experienced especially since returning from covid we're going to continue to provide those Services we want to PR prepare today's students for tomorrow's opportunities and they don't all acquire a 4-year college degree we are involved in a number of programs along with Duchess uh County bosies Duchess Community College
020uh the Council of industry and a number of other uh businesses throughout our region in which we're working on providing training necessary training specifically in the area of the skill trades we have a pte program which is held right here in this building it's countywide we have the majority of the slots those individuals are spending their freshman year here they'll spend their sophomore year here they'll go to Duchess Community College in Fishkill for their junior year and they'll work in the megatronics lab and they'll continue to do that as La as well as learn to be electrical technicians and at the conclusion of four years they'll have a high school diploma and they'll also have an associates degree and they will be certified electricians and we already have businesses that say we will hire them
021starting at about $80,000 a year so we need to continue to remember that our job in terms of preparing students for college remains but not everybody is going to go on to college and for those that don't we need them to go right into a career where they're able to Market themselves be successful support M themselves and raise their families within our community so there's our continued support of Career and Technical education programs and again as I mentioned before we're hoping to get our numbers by April 1st although I would be surprised if we did for those of you that aren't aware of the process the governor comes out with a recommendation it then gets uh debated in the senate in the assembly and they go back and forth and I think think last year
022the budget was a couple weeks late correct so as soon as we have those numbers we will share them with [Music] you special education initiative rightfully so since we have returned from covid our special education population has increased by 4% that goes to show you the types of services and programs that I would students need currently not what they needed four years ago not what they needed 10 years ago but what they need right now so we need to expand the array of services that we offer which obviously means that even though our enrollment at the elementary level is growing slightly we still need to add students for other programs that they need that we don't currently have and in some cases we haven't had expansion of the language based programs it's been extremely successful
023I was hoping to expand it to two more buildings but I just found out the other day I can only expand it to one because I don't have room in the other Elementary School unfortunately this program provides students with severe reading disabilities with multi-sensory reading support which is embedded within the Core Curriculum student ratio 1511 we will add two additional special education teachers and two additional teaching assistants to support the program other special education needs based upon what we've seen to this point we are going to need to add up to six Elementary and secondary special education teachers based upon what we're seeing based on IEPs in student needs that's going to continue that's going to continue for a while we're also looking to add a professional developer for special education added to assist in
024the ongoing training and implementation of program for wcsd teachers as again the programs and services continue to change they're nothing like we've seen before so we need to make sure that we have that professional development going on with our teachers so that they're able to deliver the programs and services needed so that those students are successful instruction it's what we do English is a new language that program continues to expand it will continue to expand even further our population continues to grow in the district we need to add an El teacher a Gad elementary school but guess what after we do that we're not able to add any more classes at that school because we don't have any room so we don't know how long that's going to last at gayhead I suspect based upon
025our demographics that's going to fill up pretty quickly and then we're going to have to make a decision as to where those students are going to go what elementary they're going to go uh school they're going to go to because we need to offer the program to be in compliance and we should be offering the program we talked about Career and Technical education ptech teacher editions more students coming into the field preparing today's students for tomorrow's opportunities and tomorrow's careers we're going to add three additional teachers math science and technology now obviously technology can understand in ptech but not only are they learning technology they're learning your regular math and science and everything else that all of our other students learn as well school safety I've mentioned this many many times we're looking to increase
026the presence from our local law enforcement agencies in all of our schools during the school day and that includes all of our elementary schools school resource officers from Duchess County will be continue to be assigned to Wappingers Junior High School and royc Ketchum High School while officers from East fish Hill will continue to be assigned to Van white and John Jay throughout the school day additional school safety officers will be adding added at royy catching at John J High School this year we added a a school safety officer at Gad and we off we also added one of Myers's Corners because we felt the need it's worked out very well we will continue to advocate for funding not only from New York state but from the federal government for safety related costs the issues that
027we see with safety it's not a Whoppers issue it's not a Duchess County issue it's not a New York State issue it's a federal issue so we're hoping to get some fun to be able to do that to take that burden off of the taxpayers Consumer Price Index 2.95% I believe this is the lowest CPI we've had in four years correct okay so we have a 2.9% CPI since the Consumer Price Index exceeds 2% the district can utilize a 2% in the tax cap formula what is that mean the maximum allowable tax levy increase in the Wappinger Central School District is 1.57% 1.57% well guess what we're going to do better than that because for the fourth consecutive year we're going to recommend a budget to the board that comes in under that cap we
028are going to recommend a budget that comes in no higher than 1.4% % and that's on the tax levy and again for the fourth consecutive year that is below the tax cap so there is your fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers while continuing to provide the necessary services and programs to our students how did we come up with that uh dollar amount we went based upon the information that we received from Governor hok's office as to our initial allocation and as I mentioned that that probably will change somewhat once we know what that is will be able to provide you with more uh accurate and updated information more specific information fiscal responsibility if we go back to 2122 the tax cap was 2.49 the district went right to the tax cap 2.49 2223 a very challenging
029year we don't want to go back and remember 222 3 do we it was just after Co we were anyway we had a tax uh cap increase no higher than 1.38 we came in at 83 we were below the cap 2324 went up slightly 2.05 we came in again below the cap at 1.67 and again this is on the property tax levy it's not a budget to budget increase because a budget to budget increase is inclusive of a lot of money that comes from outside the tax levy that the public votes on every year 2425 last year 4.3 higher number than I think we would have liked so what do we do we decided to come in a percent less at 3.26 I think it was a wise move I think the community does as
030well this year 1.57 coming in preliminary at 1.40 please know that the budgets have never pierced the tax cap in the 12 13 years now that the state has imposed a tax cap and for the fourth consecutive year the budget will be below the tax cap be at 1.17% let's take a look at the tax levy proposal last year was 190 million this year it's going up by 2.6 million 2.6 million it's going from 190 million to 192 million that's a 1.40% change to the tax levy I think that's fairly reasonable especially with some of the prices that we're paying for certain items why are we able to do that because we also get 40% of our funding through grants fund balance which we've been very prudent in deliberately managing to a point where when
031we knew as a community how we wanted to spend that money we would be able to do that well now as we know where we are and what we need since we've come back from covid and we've done our research and evaluation over the past two years we know where to put that money and that's what we're going to do what is the difference between the tax levy increase and the total increase the tax levy increase is what impacts the taxpayer [Music] 1.40 so what we're doing this year is my recommendation is going to be we have money in fund balance it's time to spend the money not all of it but about 50% of the money that we have in fund balance so my recommendation to this board of education is that of the
032fund balance we have we take 12 million of it and we spend it program and take it out of the tax levy and those programs that we're going to spend it on are going to be on the same programs that everybody knows and loves and expects and a few more as I mentioned mental health special education can you hear me safety and support and again instruction and Career and Technical education let's talk about fiscal responsibility because I hear that quite a bit as of last year the per pupil money spent on students in Wappingers was the lowest in Duchess County by about $11,000 or 33% less than the district in this County that's spending the most I think our community is getting good services for our per pupil spending which again is the lowest in
033this County so let's talk about fiscal responsibility that's fiscal responsibility continue to help us build this budget the video is on the district website public comment this evening whenever at board meetings we love the email at budget wcsdny dorg we're going to have some Community forums coming up at each High School we've got that website which Compares and contrasts the last five years at least five years of budget so if you want to go through that certainly have the ability to do that as together we work collaboratively to build our future together for all of our students thank you very much thank you for being here this evening for [Music] I I don't want to intering intermingle the proposition so I want to do one then we'll have questions and I'll do another and then
034we'll have questions that take it from there that's okay [Music] do we have any uh questions on the superintendent's recommended budget number one Mr Lumia first of all I support what you said so far just a quick question there approximately 18 teachers right now they they're retiring the people your PR job I assume going to be reiring those those are what you said about the other teachers would that be above the 18 or what Kristen I think you can speak to that the answer is yes thank you Kristen apprciate good J but the answer is yes thank you mumia any other questions Mr uh Morgan when I get done laughing I've got a comment Dr BN thank you for the for the presentation um and I appreciate um once again um the the per pupil
035spending and that that comparison I think is is an important figure um because we are talking about large numbers um but the the the value um that that we're that we're delivering um on a on a per puper basis the other thing that that I would say and I've I've said it before not only do we rank among or this past year at the lowest in the per pupil spending we are among the highest in graduation rates so it's not like we're we're providing a Bargain Basement education dollar-wise without without delivering quality and and graduating our students but excellent point Mr Mor excellent every once in a while thank you um the comment that I wanted to make is um I I share your disappointment that the um expansion of the language uh based program
036can't be as robust as you would like um I would just encourage even if it doesn't move the percentage of the levy to Levy increase in the tths OR hundreds place in that 1.40 uh stays set I I would encourage that we that that we put that money aside in the hopes that we'll get to use it again rather than find something else to to spend it on here and now [Music] like I I want to be as resp we all possibly can and with that um so I I would agree with you I I would even go a step further and I probably shouldn't do this but if we do get additional money from the state which I'm at this point in time with the [Music] budget to cover what we to cover I
037would take po some of that money po at least a portion of and Contin to I say 1.40 I think that's the high end it's probably going to be last so that would be a conversation that I would want to have with the if you get additional money you want to take that money and you want to put it in fund balance I would not suggest that because the budget that I'm looking to craft with the senior staff and with your support we bring our balance now to about 3.9% the state suggests that you do not exceed 4% so my mind9 under the state requirement it still leaves us with the money that we need to be able to utilize it in the future we can if I could just add one piece of information
038to that Dr Bron so thank you very much for that information when you spoke you said the state recommends 4% we receive management letter comments or a finding for anything over 4% so again it's it's more than a recommendation it's the state's requirement to be at a maximum of 4% fund balance thank you years and I've been very transparent with the board andun because there are a lot of unknowns as to where we should spend it we don't want to spend it for the sake of spending other on say here let's assess where we are with programs and services that we need and we been doing that the last couple of years and I believe we started it last year if we continue it this year definitely continue it next year to be able to
039put it to sustain some of the programs that you all love and expect you don't know what the what the fiscal reality is going to be in the next couple of years don't know what that is it's certainly not a predictor that's why I we on the weather forecast speak the meteorologist every morning that we weather at 3:45 morning Unfortunately they W more so than that but but anyway um I want to make sure that we have those monies available to attempt to sustain the programs that we've been able to put in place for the last four or five years of [Music] thank you thank you superintendent thank youing who else any other questions moving right along to 6.02 vehicle replacement plan for the 2026 not be very long project okay that's up to [Music]
040you thank you she didn't turn the mic on for me I suppos to thank you Miss D how come you didn't turn the mic on for me because I didn't need it see now she's ignoring me Miss AE this is on live stream is there any reason why you didn't deliberately put the microphone on for me I didn't oh thank you and there is something in the way by the way we we do apologize for the technology this evening as you know at whoers Junior High School we have beautiful new screens and Technologies and so on and so forth but as I think trusty Johnson mentioned we here tonight because they're getting ready for a phenomenal performance was it Beetle Juice to be Beetle Juice 2 all right so we're back to the old we're
041back to the old screen and now we're going to talk about the 2526 Transportation proposition we've had a lot of conversations about transportation in this District in particular over the last 5 years and I still maintain that it is at least my goal and I believe the goal of the Board of Education and the senior staff to bring as much of our of our transportation of our students in District and that's going to take time I think we're halfway there from where we started more than halfway there so we've brought a number of roots in but again we're getting to a point now where we're running into capacity issues in a number of areas so we are also by the way purchasing buses for the second consecutive year that are not just replacement buses they're
042actual buses that are going to come in that we're going to be able to take routes that are currently being subcontracted and hand them over to our phenomenal bus drivers so that parents you can be rest assured hopefully in the next few years that all of our students will be transported by Whopper Central School District personnel so where we are 252 Vehicles we continue to be the largest District owned and operated Transportation Department in New York state even though we are the ninth largest school district in New York state all of the districts that are larger than ours subcontracts these Services we want to expand the amount of Transportation that we provide to our students which I believe is probably somewhere in the realm of 80% of our students 82% yes 82 to 85 that's
043great I'll take it we got to get it to 100 and we'll get there eventually so of the 252 Vehicles 154 of those beautiful big yellow buses we have 83 vans we have seven Suburbans and then we have eight wheelchair vans factors to consider safety and Fleet age obviously we need to provide Safe Transportation for our students they must function properly and meet all of the Department of Transportation requirements from New York State we need to make sure that we have qualified personnel which includes our bus driver training program which I believe we started 3 years ago four thank you for the clarification four years ago fiscally diligent we mentioned that before we've got to keep the vehicle maintenance cost stable for our taxpayers and how do we do that it's just like a car
044that you take to the garage to get fixed if you don't take your car and to get the oil changed and get whatever you need to get done every 3 months and you wait two years or three years when your car doesn't start it's going to cost you much more money and you're going to be inconvenience because you're probably not going to be able to use your car for a while so we continue to do that our preventative maintenance aging fleets as you can imagine have significantly higher maintenance and related labor costs and as I mentioned we continue to use Transportation as needed and we are to a point where we have begun a very very robust recruitment program right executive director Harris for bus drivers to make sure that when we get the new
045buses in we actually have people to drive them so this is a concentrated effort that we continue to work on enrollment shifting enrollment evolving student needs so we've had to some agreed declining enrollment in the secondary schools our elementary enrollment has grown ever so slightly and that is expected to continue ever so slightly for the next three years the fleet continues to be adjusted to the proper ratio and again you live in the wer Central School District you live right down the school right down the street from your school you're eligible for District transportation that's something that I'm very proud of and that's something that's been uh in place for a long time I think we all know that our schools when they were built our newest one built in 1969 they weren't necessarily built
046with enough parking or Transportation grid to be able to handle the amount of cars that we see at our schools on a daily basis so that's why that's in there mandates are requirements from New York State different types of vehicles needed as well as Replacements I can tell you that as our special uh needs population increases and our out of District placements increase in the area of special needs students based upon some of the needs that means fewer individuals going to many more places from as far away as Sullivan County on a daily basis because we don't necessarily offer those types of programs at this point yet which means that we have maybe one two three individuals on a van would you say that's true we have several vehicles that have and we have several
047that have one because of the distance because if we wanted to put two or three we'd be out of compliance because we'd have a student on a bus potentially for two hours a day which we would never do that requires again more buses more routs more drivers electric buses New York State compliance we're still evaluating that so there comes a time when a bus has to retire even though it may not want to and be replaced that generally happens with about 126,000 miles I think that's a pretty good run 126,000 miles or a 2009 model which was 16 years ago at 2012 or 2013 they get extensive body wear especially from the amount of salt that needs to be put on the roads here during the icy conditions of our Winters you also have emission
048controls that we need to meet so based upon that 12 new vehicles are going to be replaced are going to be purchased to replace those vehicles that are going to retire in addition to that we're going to add nine new vehicles the net increase in vehicles will address that shifting enrollment and the continuous involvement of student needs if approved our anticipated Fleet will increase to 261 Vehicles eight of those are passenger uh 71 student diesel buses come out about one just under 1.4 million four of those are SUVs for student transport gasoline now those need to be painted yellow and they need to have the proper signs as well as cameras pardon me cameras the cameras as well they may not be painted yellow but they'll definitely have those um the proper signs and everything
049and and lettered on the sides how many students can they have they can fit up to two students with a monitor two with a monitor are you taking notes or are you multiplying 96 uh better you than me 20 passenger vans those are gasoline comes out to a little under half million dollar and then we have uh 21 passenger wheelchair vans gasoline that's over just over $350 million comes out to just over 2.5 million District uses aable fiveyear revolving banss or Bond anticipation notes to finance and purchase of school Vehicles including a bus proposition on the ballot allows for consistency and budgeting for the related principal payments in the general fund as only the change in proposition amount is adjusted in the general fund budget how' I do with that M Dy pretty good okay
050now here's the big part at the end it's a $42,000 savings from last year I your thunder and with that the 2526 bus purchase proposition would result in a net cost of approximately 42,4 starting in the 26 27 school year which is less it's actually gone down down by $5,299 the 2425 year for bus ban payments so we uh are very proud of the bus proposition we are very proud of the preliminary budget we look forward to addressing our community and continuing to receive input from you as to what you as a community believe are the critical programs and services that your children and our students need and deserve thank you very much thank you superintendent Ron did you take care of that everything okay okay turn the heat up in your office open for
051discussion now discussion on the V replacement plan trustee Johnson it's really not a question I I go open for questions uh we go over this every year just so everyone is aware the bus proposition roughly is about the same amount every year this year it's a $42,000 savings um kudos to that um but basically the way it runs is every year one falls off we add one on they they fluctuate anywhere up or down uh around $100,000 usually over the years so the payment stays steady within our budget so even though we're replacing every year it's we're not really changing our budget line item by very much every year it's very very minimal um it stays pretty much relatively the same and this way we can keep the vehicles up to date thank you thank
052you trusty Johnson trusty C Dr Bon assistant superintend D first of all this is an outstanding presentation money managed to be saved at a time when costs are increased across the board especially for vehicles I think a point that should really be emphasized over and over again is the size of this District second I do believe that we should you should all be commended we this District because the more uh we can bring back Services Transportation where we have the direct control over them rather than second and third party contracts I think is a net benefit across the board we want our folks transporting our community so uh just want to say uh excellent job on that because it's not easy thank you trusty kabalar trusty Morgan uh just to Echo what um trust capari
053just uh just said uh the size of the district is approximately somewhere between 100 and 110 95 square miles 95 square miles yes sir what 95 95 yeah I I saw somewhere around 110 square miles but anyway so it's it's a it's a it's a large area um with some remote students to pick up just to to go by the the size comment um additionally I just want to clarify that when you say net benefit um of our folks transporting our students we're really talking about a bottom line benefit because fiscally we will save money for the district and for our taxpayers the the more so when people hear oh you're you're adding to the number of buses you're you're increasing the infrastructure yes we're increasing the infrastructure in order to reduce payments to an
054outside vendor um and uh assistant superintendent danty would be able to to tell us exactly how many runs those nine buses will bring back into the district but that will result in net Savings in addition to the accountability and the training that our own staff um excels at as compared to um an outside vendor and I just wanted to make sure that that was clear so that nobody um that's that's watching and listening tonight says oh gez why are they buying more buses than what than what they're replacing it's in order to over the long run operationally save money thank you thank you good point chy Morgan chy mots yes first I'd like to make a motion to extend discussion for five minutes because Mrs Pedro has held up the warning sign all in favor
055and my my question is I want to clarify for the voters um Mrs dainy because I know that people ask me this all the time the money that's um allocated on the bus proposition if it's approved it is not a figure that the tax tax payers are going to have to pay in addition to the regular tax levy because as is it correct that as the bonds come on to um you are instituted and as they're paid off that's all Incorporated in the regular budget which we are keeping below the tax cap that is absolutely accurate we have a revolving bus band which maintains that level of payment from one year to the next that's why we tried to keep it as level as possible thank you excellent point thank you I'm sorry trusty K
056yes yes uh I think the most important thing of trying to take our Roots back in the in District is not so much the money although of course any savings is uh is beneficial but the safety consideration that we know what drivers are driving we have uh super Vision over them they get our training and the community can feel confident that their children are on buses that we have approved and are supervising thank you thank you piggy 6.03 approval of Transportation proposition resolved that the Board of Education of the wer Central School District authorizes a submission of the following proposition for qualified voters of the district to vote on at the annual district meeting budget vote and election to be held on May 20th 2025 shall the Board of Education of the wer Central School
057District putham and Duchess counties New York District be authorized to purchase student transportation Vehicles including incidental expenses incurred therewith at a maximum estimated sum of 2,660 48 and set amount or so such thereof as shall be necessary shall be raised by the levy of a tax upon the taxable property of the district and collected in annual installments as provided by law and in anticipation of such tax obligations of the district shall be issued motion Mar Johnson second Peggy Kellen all in favor unanimous thank thank you 7.01 consent agenda resolutions anybody want to remove anything from the consent agenda no I see nothing resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the following consent agenda items as stated 7.02 7.03 7.04 4 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 and 7.12 motion Peggy Kellen second
058by Marie Johnson all in favor any opposed so moved 12 new business okay moving right along to 8.01 approval the new club Charter rck science National Honor Society resolved that the board of education does hereby approve the new club Charter for the science National Honor Society at Roy C Ketchum high school as submitted motion trusty Morgan second by trusty cabalero all in favor I unanimous apr02 approv the new club Charter a AV club John J resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the new club Charter for the audio visual Club at John J high school as submitted motion trusty Morgan second by trusty Kellen all in favor unanimous thank you 8.03 approval of renaming of Club new logo W Junior High School drama club so either you'll help me with French or Darren
059Darren can help me with French on this one that's true resolve the board of education does hereby approve the renaming of the Whoppers drama club to the Tabo Tableau Tau theater Collective at the wers junior high school and be it further resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the new Mark representing the Tabo Tableau Tabo Thea Collective TTC created created by a student and recommended by principal Tom as submitted motion Marie Johnson second by trusty Kellen orand favor all in favor Mr Lumia unanimous thank you 8.04 nomination of Bose's Board of Education [Music] nominees first I forgot how we normally do this Miss Pedro I'm sorry right we have to read not right try Morgan Mr calary second it was Mr Lum Lum that presented it all in favor I unanimous thank youbody
060else mumia second by Peggy Rob cro Ralph Ralph no you said you did not say Ralph so Ral chimento did you okay I apologize I apologize so Rao second Mr Morgan all in favor I unanimous any other nominations Marie Johnson uh Mark flash uh flashh Houser I don't have gles on Mark flush hour was nominated second by piggy Kellan all in favor unanimous thank you any other nominees I see none resolve that the walk Central School District Board of Education is hereby nominate Mr rph trento Mr Gully Sanford and Mr Mark fouser FL hour I can't say that name maybe more than one recommend voting on each nomination separately which we've done to serve on the board of education of The Duchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services motion motion Mr Morgan second by Mr
061calary calero all in favor a problem with names tonight unanimous yeah 8.05 approval of change order districtwide Renovations Phase 2 Rock Junior High School main garage resolve that the Board of Education approve change order gw. 2-1 at a total cost of $11,367 and 23 c as per memo dated February 20th 2025 from the school district District's architect to the director of facilities and operations as recommended by the superintendent of schools motion Marie Johnson second by Peggy Kellen all in favor unanimous 6.06 uh 8.06 uh negative declaration resolution John J Capital project where the board of education of the wer Central School District board or district is considering undertaking a proposed Capital Improvement project involving significant Renovations and upgrades to John J Senior High School including alterations and renovations to existing interior spaces and electrical mechanical
062systems building envelope improvements and exterior improvements including addition addition of athletic field lighting conversion of an existing natural turf field into Synthetic Turf renovations to the Press Box concessions building and new parking for approximately 85 cars the proposed action and whereas the proposed action is subject to review under the State Environmental Quality review Act and the regulations prated there under squa 6 nycrr part 617 and whereas the board in accordance with SRA having classified the proposed action as an unlisted action and having declared its intent to serve as lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action circulated part one of the full environmental assessment form fef and other supporting documentation to all known involved interested agencies and afforded the agency's 30 calendar days to respond and whereas having received no objection to the
063board being declared lead agency after circulating part one of the FEA and other supporting documentation through the identified potential involved interested agencies the board is declared the lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action under squa and whereas the board has considered the information and documentation describing the proposed action and its impacts on the environment in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation collectively annexed here to here to as exhibit a and made to part hereof now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wener Central School District One adopts the findings conclusions and rationale related to the probable environmental impacts of the proposed action contained within Parts one and two of the fef and the supporting documentation Incorporated by reference into the feaf and two
064officially makes a determination of non-significance negative declaration in that the proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and that the preparation of an environmental impact statement will not be required for the reason set forth in Parts one and two and the feaf and the supporting documentation and three directs the dist consultant to circulate a copy of the notice of this determination of nonsignificance to the potentially involved and interested agencies to and to file and publish a negative declaration in the environmental notice bulletin EB in accordance with 6 nycrr 61712 one more time I'm gonna go three times motion Johnson second by remind me anyone second the motion Mr Morgan discussion on this all in favor unanimous thank you one more time 8.07 negative declaration resolution for rck Capital project same
065thing just substitute now rck how's that emotion going to work Alberta no a going work I tried wellas the Board of Education of the wer Central School District board or district is considering undertaking a proposed Capital Improvement project involving significant re Renovations and upgrades to royc Ketchum high school campus including alterations and Renovations through existing interior spaces and electrical mechanical systems building envelope improvements I'm reading 807 807 I'm doing high schools first all right I'm doing high schools first and then Junior highs he just wants to hear he he just wants to hear and read it again right sorry broke up your trying to help now I lost my place St from beginning it what's the playback where did I leave off I'm just I'm kidding I'm kidding existing interior spaces and electrical mechanical systems
066building envelope improvements and exterior improvements including addition of athletic field lighting conversion of existing natural turf fields into sign Synthetic Turf and eight new tennis courts the proposed action and whereas the proposed action is subject to review under the state Environmental Quality review Act and the regulations you gay thank you Miss Kellin thereafter Seca 6 nycrr part 617 and whereas the board in accordance with Seca having classified the proposed action as an unlisted action and having declared its intent to serve as leave Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action circulated part one of the full environmental assessment form feaf and other supporting documentation to all known involved interested agencies and afforded the agency's 30 calendar days to respond and whereas having received no objection to the board being declared lead agency after circulating
067part one of the feaf and other supporting documentation through the identified potential involved interested agencies the board is declared the lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed Act under sequa and whereas the board has considered the information and documentation describing the proposed action as it impacts on the environment environment in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation collectively annexed here to to as sorry as exhibit a and made a part hereof now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wainger Central School District One adopts the findings conclusions and rationale related to the probable environmental impacts of the proposed action contained within Parts one and two of the FEA and the supporting documentation Incorporated by reference into the feaf and two officially makes a determination of
068non-significance negative declaration in that the proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and that the preparation of an environmental impact statement will not be required for the reason set forth in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation and three directs The District's consultant to circulate a copy of the notice of this determination of non-significance through the potentially involved and interested agencies and to file and publish a negative declaration in the environmental notice bulletin en NB in accordance with 6 nycrr 61712 motion I read Johnson second by uh Mr Keith odms thank you any discussion all in favor unanimous thank you moving right along to 8.08 negative declaration resolution Van Wick Junior High School capital projects I tell you myy reader this morning was a lot easier
069[Music] PR gate was prate was not it's all right truste uh K will correct me again wellas the board of the Board of Education of the wer Central School District board or district is considering undertaking a proposed Capital Improvement project involving significant Renovations and upgrades to van W junior high school campus including classroom and cafeteria building additions of approximately 25,000 Square fet Alterations and Renovations of existing interior spaces and electrical mechanical systems building envelope improvements and exterior improvements including pavement Replacements athletic upgrades and installation of athletic field lighting and minor Associated site work the proposed action and whereas the proposed action is subject to review under the State Environmental Quality review Act and the regulations prula there under promulgated where were these spelling kids can I bring them back get them back here to read
070this they are under SRA 6 nycrr part 617 and whereas the board in accordance with SRA having classified the proposed action as an unlisted action and having declared its intent to serve as lead Agency for the co ordinated review of the proposed action circulated part one of the full environmental assessment form feaf and other supporting documentation to all known involved interested agencies and afforded the agency's 30 calendar days to respond and whereas having received no objection to the board being declared lead agency after circulating part one of the feaf and other supporting documentation through the identified potential involved interested agencies the boarders the CL the lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action under secra and whereas the board has considered the information and documentation describing the proposed action and its impacts on
071the environmental on the environment in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation collectively annexed here to as exhibit a and made a part thereof now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wener Cal School District One adopts the findings conclusions and rationale related to the probable environmental impacts of the proposed action contained within Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation Incorporated by reference in the feaf and two officially makes a determination of non-significance negative declaration is that the proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and that the preparation of the environmental impact statement will not be required for the reasons set forth in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation and three directs The
072District's consultant to circulate a copy of the notice of this determination of nonsignificance through the potentially involved and interested agencies and to file and publish a negative declaration in the environmental notice bulletin NB in accordance with 6 ncrr 617 one2 motion Marie Johnson second trusty Morgan any discussion all in favor unanimous thank you one more time one more time 8.09 negative declaration resolution Wy Junior High School Capital project whereas the Board of Education of the wer Central School District the board or district is considering undertaking a proposed Capital Improvement project involving significant Renovations and upgrades to the wers junior high school campus including classroom small gymnasium technology and cafeteria building additions of approximately 35,000 square fet alterations and Renovations of existing interior spaces and electrical mechanical system systems building envelope improvements and exterior improvements including
073pavement Replacements athletic upgrades and installation of athletic field lighting a Press Box concession stand and minor Associated site work for proposed action and whereas the proposed action is subject to review under the State Environmental Quality review Act and the regulations everyone all together prated promulgated thank you good good team effort there under sqa 6 nycrr part 617 and whereas the board in accordance with sqa having classified the proposed action as an unlisted action and having declared its intent to serve as lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action circulated part one of the full environmental assessment form feaf and other supporting documentation to all known involved interested agencies and afforded the agencies 30 calendar days to respond and whereas having received no objection to the board being declared lead agency after circulating part
074one of the feaf and other supporting documentation to the identified potential involved interested agencies the board is declared the lead Agency for the coordinated review of the proposed action under squa and whereas the board has considered the information and documentation describing the proposed action and its impacts on the environmental on the en environment in Parts one and two of the FEA and the supporting documentation collectively annexed A2 as exhibit a and made part air of now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wener Central School District One adopts the findings conclusions and rationale relating relating to the probable environmental impacts of the proposed action contained within Parts one and two of the FEA and the supporting documentation Incorporated by reference into the feaf and two officially makes a determination of non-significance
075negative declaration in that the proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and that the preparation of an environmental impact statement will not be required for the reasons set forth in Parts one and two of the feaf and the supporting documentation and three directs The District's consultant to circulate a copy of the notice of this determination of non-significance to the potentially involved and interested agencies and to file and publish a negative declaration in the environmental notice bulletin e NB in accordance with 6 nycrr 61712 do I have a motion trusty Johnson Mr Lum a second any discussion py Kellen has some discussion yeah well just a question uh since the neighboring one of the neighboring properties has suffered flooding from past construction Pro uh projects at this building uh has it
076been carefully assessed whether or not there will be any danger of flooding in this case oh well um the neighboring property has had flooding in the past and uh has attributed it to um construction at the wers junior high uh has that uh issue been uh studied as to whether or not it will be another effect against uh adverse effect on the neighboring property I believe we settled that when we did disruption and we made Improvement yeah well well this additional project okay because I know groundwater can be pretty tricky yeah okay thank you Miss Johnson I'm I'm just I think I understand where you're going are you talking about the flooding in the fields over at w Jr the the main Fields how they they flood out really badly well we've had that situation
077too but I was think because that's actually the village uh drainage system that collapsed that's causing those yes I know issues but what I was speaking of was the residential property next door near the parking garage okay yeah thank you Mr Morgan if if this ass suades you any any further uh trusty Ken from my understanding of the project that that we've reviewed the construction is going to be on the opposite side of the of the property um groundwater concerns are just as you said tricky um but hopefully the the impact that you're addressing because it's on the opposite side of the property um as I understand it will will mitigate any any impacts as well as the the previous improvements that were done yeah yeah I realize it's at the other side but since
078uh the rock formations in this area are very irregular groundwater can show up in a quite a distance away and I was wondering if it had been a assessed yes it has all right thank based on Mr BOS it has been assessed so do we any other discussion on this do we have a motion oh no we didn't vote yet that was a discussion all right all in favor anyone opposed [Music] unanimous 8.10 resolution to declare CL type 2 action Elementary School capital projects wellas the Board of Education of the wer Central School District district proposes a capital Improvement project consisting of Renovations and construction of improvements to the brinklehoff elementary school Fishkill Elementary School Fishkill Plains Elementary School gayhead elementary school James Evans elementary school kenry elementary school Myers Corner Elementary School Oak Grove
079Elementary School sheath Road Elementary School Nasser Road Elementary School and Whopper District service buildings including but not limited to parking lot and sidewalk reconstruction brick repointing roof and ceiling Replacements stair and ramp modifications electric panel and fire alarm Replacements HVAC system upgrades new Plumbing fixtures a kitchen Hood installation and ADA Compliant Renovations such as toilet room updates stage lifts and an elevator installation and incidental improvements and expenses in connection therewith proposed action and whereas said improvements are subject to classification under the State Environmental Quality review act secra and whereas the proposed action consists of cons constitutes a replacement Rehabilitation or reconstruction of existing facilities that require that qualifies as a type two action set forth in 6 ncrr part 6175 and whereas the board has considered the information and documentation which describes the design and
080intent of the proposed action now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wer Central School District based upon the record before it including the general specific and detailed knowledge of the board of the proposed action and under the applicable standards of SEC and six NY crr part 617.980.9025 [Music] vote all in favor I so moved 8.11 approval the capital project Improvement proposition be it resolved that the Board of Education of the wer Central School District Duchess and putham counties New York as follows section one the proposition here and after set forth is hereby authorized to be submitted for approval of the qualified voters at the annual School District meeting and election to be held in said School District on May 20th 2025 section two the school district clerk is hereby authorized
081and directed to include as part of the notice of the annual District meeting and election notice with reference to the submission of said proposition is substantially the following in substantially the following form notice is here by further given that at said annual district meeting and election to be held on May 20th 2025 the following proposition will be submitted Capital Improvements proposition Capital Improvements to school district buildings and Facilities shall the following resolution be adopted to it resolved that the Board of Education of the wer Central School District Duchess and putam counties New York is hereby authorized to construct improvements and additions to and reconstruct School District buildings and Facilities including original Furnishings equipment machinery apparatus and another SAT [Music] Word apperences I got to talk to these attorneys together with site and Athletic Field improvements
082and other incidental improvements and expenses in connections therewith at a maximum estim ated cost of $3,768 th000 and that said amount or so much thereof as many as may be necessary shall be raised by the levy of a tax upon the taxable property of said school district and collected in annual installments as provided by section 416 of the educational law and in anticipation of such tax obligations of such School District shall be issued now the school district has determined the capital project has components which are an unlisted action as well as components which are a type two action pursuant to six nycrr part 6175 c number one 2 and 10 formally 8 of the regulations of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation again with promate PR promulgated I like promulgated what sounds much
083better pursuant to the State Environmental Quality review act squa the implementation of which as proposed the school district has determined will not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts squa compliance materials are on file in the office of the school district clerk where they may be inspected during regular office hours upon appointment section three this resolution shall take effect iMed immediately do I have a motion Marie Johnson second Eddie so sorry about that discussion Marie Johnson I'm gonna try and be really read this as quickly as possible Dr B members of the Board of Education and the entire wer C Central School District community of for the last few weeks and even months I have been a vocal person regarding this Capital project I want to clarify a few things I started on the capital
084committee back in 2016 as a community member over the last nine years I have seen two building condition surveys done I seen costs increase to have these repairs done the first one I saw was about 90 million and we had barely chipped away at of times each year more items can be added those repairs won't show classrooms that are out of date to accom the newer curriculum that we do or the newer programs we have started we just tell our administrator staff we need to make this space work as the Board of Education we are tasked with building and condition tours each year we the board are supposed to report to the community what we observe when I joined the board six years ago everyone went Co hit and we still went in smaller groups
085but we completed the tours since then less and less members are able to go basically because of real life work experiences over the last two years only two board members myself and president McFarland actually completed all 15 buildings I understand our real life work impacts at attendance however I have my little black book right here I have been keeping each year in every single building when we get there the head custodian always greets me with new lists of issues that have come up we check off things that have been done Etc yes it's a running joke between Dr Bon and myself about my little black book but it has come in handy when the capital committee meets starting two years ago to get this project proposal started we looked at my famous book and we
086looked at the condition surveys we had directors of different departments in to discuss needs and challenges we had had several conversations with senior staffs principls Athletics teachers coaches and custodial staff many times during these building tours during these tours we should not be concerned with the curriculum pro programs and how they're doing unless it is regarding the needs of repairs to the spaces or adding classrooms and building which the discussion has happened at lunch on the building tours over the last three years about moving the sixth grade into the middle school and having the new construction planned now one thing that keeps coming up is the money and the taxes this project if approved in May is not going to be in your taxes next year that seems to be a very big thing we
087do not have this added to our taxes until it's fully bonded which the size of this project we're looking at about seven years before it truly hits our taxes also the way it works is that we can only go up to the amount voted on by the taxpayers over the years when we have saved or come in under budget we find other things that need to be repaired because there's always things that need to be repaired we've never left money on the table because there's always something I can say not that we would be in the case that this would happen in this project cost to repair and build will never go down this district has kicked the can before and that is what why these buildings need so much work the last time the
088last time a project was split up was back in 2008 and it failed we didn't get another one until 2012 it was a lot of years in between that things continued to degrade so if you want to split it do we include the cafeteria at Van white in a must do since the school has 800 students and a cafeteria about the size of the smaller cafeteria at either Myers or Gaye head which both have two cafeterias what about the fact that we have to keep the B band and music in the auditorium at wers Junior High School because now we can't have special assemblies because we're using it as an instructional space or the tech rooms that are needed to do our expanding of the programs that we have talked about earlier this evening that
089we are doing with the CTI and more so we're just going to have the two small Wings the two middle schools as a separate prop now for whatever reason that's small one not sure thinking it's going to be about 25 million if we try to op at it is the only one that gets approved well guess what we can only build those two new additions so the boiler of vassor that is 35 40 years old that must get done will no longer possibly work before we can get another one past and there's no heat or the steam pipes that have been repaired over and over at Van white which is the rest of the building that needs they can't be patched anymore or the roof on our second oldest building finally can't be patched up
090over at Jr or the many skylights at several of our elementary schools that are constantly leaking and needing repairs or how about the LGI rooms that we go to for a different honor societies and half the seats are broken they're not even there able to be seated in um the ceilings in every building the splines they need to be fixed half of them we can't even get the ceiling tiles for those size tiles any longer we talk about the 33 classrooms we could free up that can expand our prek in our buildings it can add more ICT settings we could bring back about 60 self-contained students at a savings of about $4.5 million each year if not more that cost goes up every year we would be saving on that $25 million addition that we're
091talking about adding into the whole thing a reimbursable rate of 53 cents on the dollar would be paid in after 4 years of the savings of bringing those specialed students back in District we can actually pay for that not to mention we have roughly 700 plus private and parochial students that we actually take care of and getting them to their schools every day we have the transportation of hundreds of prek that could be in our buildings and for those with special needs we can provide it in a more controlled setting with all of our providers this won't be a hit for the for a couple of years down the road but with over 11,000 kids that I promise to do my best I know much sooner they will feel the effects of this or the
0922,000 plus staff that we promis to make sure they have a safe work environment well the tens of thousands of the community members that we said we would make sure their investment our students and our facilities are well cared for and maintained none of us know what will happen in seven years next year or even tomorrow but we cannot not afford to stop trying for our community for a fear of what ifs my crystal ball is broken but I believe this Administration and committee has done a lot of work and Max effort to make sure that we did the most responsible thing possible bringing this forward it was two years of hard work and dedication and we cut that we could easily have added another hundred million in repairs so I hope you will consider
093that thank you thank you Miss Johnson uh Mr Lumia I understand the well-intentioned desire of our superintendent to have additional programs for our increased special education population as well as the projected programs needed by the increase of the internet population again I repeat I understand the well-intentioned desire of our superintendent to have additional programs for our increased special education student population and as well as project the program needed by the increase in the enl population at the same time as a board member I must be mindful not only the needs of Oppression students but we our community even though our student expenditures less than any other District can afford it in order for the district to come under the the test cap a superintendent recommended that we use almost $12 million from our fund balance
094so we come up under the test cap I'm glad we are fortunate to have have such a fund balance thanks to the premium holiday provided byc and also savings from Co money that was wisely set aside from our superintended how long will di provide premium holidays and is there any other Co money still available now that we have a stay comp now that we stay compliant with the with with with the fund balance using further fund bounds might be a problem next year when the budget will probably properly $341 million for the next five years we'll be approaching School budgets close to $400 million I want each of us to think about the following questions can we assume that the state will continue increasing State funding at the same rate can we assume that the
095state will continue giving us 53 cents on a for building reimbursement what happens to taxpayers such as veterans seniors who might be struggling to pay for these school taxes what happens to school taxes if the stop program is no longer affordable to the state lastly what happens to the school district enrollment if the federal government decides on giving vouches to be used for private schools now we have one Capital proit proposition to vote on on the present cause of approximately $153 million of which approximately $73 million to add a total of 28 classrooms at the two junior high schools does anybody on this table actually believe that the cost of the two addition will be only $73 million three years from now especially when the t is go into effect when I got on the
096board 17 years ago enrollment was close to 13,000 students and were able to service our students with existing facilities today enrollment is 7,500 as indicated from the 2024 25 comprehensive long range study plan enrollment by 2034 will be less than 10,000 since 2008 we've almost had 2500 less students how can we ask the community to approve adding 28 classrooms by building both the junior high school with an additional cost of approximately $73 million as I already stated does any well I'd like to make a motion to extend the meeting of 10 minutes as I already stated does anybody all in favor vote on extending the time 10 minutes additional time all in favor as I already stated does anybody think that this will actually cost three years from now we have been told there will
097be significant building on the Souther tier which will increase your r significantly if and when this happens by how much will enrollment increase at the elementary level has already been stated by the long range planning study by 2034 Elementary as well as overall District enrollment will be less than 10,000 now at the last meeting trusty slash hour and Mr zip made reference that if we bring back some of our students from outside programs would experience savings first of all how many additional teachers must be hired that are well trained to provide services to those students that we send out to get special services moreover will there be real savings in the long run as salaries and benefits increase there some of us who think that we have money now when not use that money to
098foring programs now and why worry about the what the future may bring in my personal life do we plan for ready days or we just live for the moment there's no one sitting on this stage who does not want what is best for our students however must we also be concerned for those that the school district must rely for school taxes as board members we must think what must happen in the long run and not just think what is good for the present as I already stated I believe the taxpayers should be given two prepositions is our taxpayers to and not than none of us who should decide because all taxpayers will ultimately must pay the bills I mve the resolution read by Eddie be amended into two propositions with the amounts determined as follows
099one proposition which deals with the must du projects as identified by the capital Improvement committee one of those of those projects should also include the F house at JN j a second proposition to include the additions at the two junior high schools as well as construction of thir fields and other items identify by the capital improving committee I hope there's a second to that and I prect discussion I second it so we have a motion to make two individual proposals yes to to amend the motion I make the motion johnia piggy Kell second any discussion any discussion on it if I may it's an interesting uh uh position to propose to uh two different uh uh proposition sorry about that the points are Salient as far as uh all of this may be being lumped
100under one giant uh proposition may not be the best uh may not be the best and I kind of leave that open it can go either way uh we do have to be cognizant of the uh taxpayers because at the end at the end of the day it's a We're All in This Together uh I do believe uh trusty Lumia when he says that we're all here with the best interest of the students in mind I think it would be a I think it would be a disservice to the community at large including the schools and all of us if we didn't at least have this discussion further so I'd be remissed if I didn't uh emphasize that point because uh time is of the essence thank you CH thank you CH cabalo yeah yes
101M Kell yeah I'd like to speak uh uh to explain my second of uh Mr lumia's proposal to uh uh break it into two propositions in my 11 years on the board I have supported every single uh budget and proposition set forth by the superintendent I realize that uh Dr bunk sincerely believes that this would be a good thing for the district however we don't know in the next 10 years uh whether they will build any of these uh developments that have been proposed uh predictions for the district population in the past have been very uh frequently um not um not what was predicted I remember when they closed kenry Road school and three years later they had to reopen it uh we had cutbacks with IBM we really don't know the future uh they
102say we'll have more students but there are several reasons why I doubt that uh I can't say one way or the other but there's a lot of Doubt to that first of all the uh the trend now with businesses is to call back people to work in office rather than uh commute and work from home the southern part of the district has a number of people who moved there during the pandemic because they could work from home if they have to do it a hour and a half commute they might well change at least if they don't move back the at least fewer people will be moving up also the federal government is cracking down on illegal immigration I don't know how many of the increased population of English language Learners is a a not
103documented but uh probably at least some of them are also we won't be getting the influx of uh as many new immigrants as we did before finally the uh economy right now is very shaky uh reading on the uh internet uh from responsible uh economic people like the economists and the Wall Street Journal and several other uh they're predicting inflation of greater than we had before the 2.9% inflation right now is likely to go up especially with the tariffs that will mean that the housing cost will increase and there will probably be um these proposed plans uh they often submit them to planning boards but then the projects don't get built if it turns out to be uneconomic uh also our construction costs prop in this proposal will go up so we might well wind
104up as we did with the last proposition not being able to do all of the projects that we uh that we needed uh so I think we should certainly consider uh planning just for the must does in our own h Homes and our lives we plan which things have to be done done which we can maybe do and which ones we'll have to put off if if the uh economy is much better in h a year or two we can come back and uh talk about building additions to the schools uh and right now I think that's a very risky thing uh also some of the economists are predicting a recession and a couple even suggested we might be facing stagflation which means both a a a stalled economy and inflation so I don't know
105whether these predictions will come true but it least that right now we have a very unsettled economic picture thank you try C Larry thank you president rarin thank you trusty Kellen for your comments I think we uh in trying to think about the uh bad uh or multiple proposition I think it would give the taxpayers the ultimate choice at the end of the day to which we're all pent and I think that any opportunity that we can expand choice to them I think is a favorable thing and I would certainly Advocate multiple uh propositions over just one giant one in my humble opinion and I am respect everyone's positions up here I think that one this all get under one uh may seem advantageous in some area but I see it as kind of being
106an a for nothing uh and please let it me known uh you know I want to put this out there for the record where I think we're of the opinion that we need these and that these should be coming about but I think there just needs to be a few more propositions added that's all Trustin migot yes everyone has to interrupt just before you start I just want to make a motion could we extend the conversation let's go for another 10 minutes motion for 10 more minutes all in [Music] favor I think that people have brought forward a lot of valuable points and I think it's good that we're having this discussion in public but I think that we're losing track of what our vote is on tonight we seem to be debating the merits
107of parts of the proposition that's not what we're being asked to do here we're being asked to vote on whether or not to put this before the voters the ultimate choice is made by the voters they are the ones with the power here who will decide what yes or no on the merits my own personal thinking is that the more propos positions we put out there the more we divide it up the more we're going to confuse the voters as to what they're actually voting for on each individual proposition thank you very much Mr uh SLA just a few comments number one if we move forward with building additions that part of the project in all likelihood would not start probably for another three years so things can always be evaluated at that time whether
108we move forward with that or we don't that part of the pro of the uh proposition we can always come back okay and and and revoke and have it done either put it back up for a vote and have that removed number two we're talking about what we need to do now okay what do we need to do now do we need to have art and the cart continue on a staircase and in a hallway do we continue to have faculty and staff have to share classrooms and pack up their things in between and move around buildings because their classroom needs to be utilized for either reading or a meeting do we continue to have csse meetings on a stage or in a hallway do we continue not to provide the services for our special
109education students that we need let's put the let's put the additions to the side okay we currently and believe it or not currently do not have enough space in our buildings to do what we are doing right now we don't have enough space for the curriculum for the pte for the programs we don't have enough space right now forget the additions so what would be the solution what is the solution to the challenge es and the have going on right now that we can't provide our students our faculty and staff the resources that they need and the tools that they need to do their jobs right now we don't things have changed over the years and we're not in a position we try to redistricting didn't work didn't solve all the problems it happened so
110be it things changed we still have numerous challenges that were not solved by the redistricting is that another road we want to go down I don't think we do and whether these um a thousand plus homes between both sides of the districts ever get built that's a challenge and that's something down the road are we going to be proactive or reactive because if they do start building it we're not going to be ready for the influx of students that may come so we have to consider that but bringing it right back we do not have the space to provide the services to General ed students as well okay I don't know about any of you but I talk to some students they're not thrilled about having lunch at 9:30 in the morning third period I
111know I wouldn't want to have lunch at 9:30 in the morning I just got to school and two hours later I'm having lunch we don't have a large enough space at at at Van white you want to talk about ringers Junior High okay they have no room for anything in that school it was built in 1939 you ever go into the auditorium it's a fire hazard I'm surprised we haven't been cited we have things laying around in the aisles they do the best that they can had it they can't as Miss trusty Johnson said why are these kids have are being forced okay not to have a music room and other school has it we're we're not we're not looking at the we should be looking at the problems that exist right now and how
112can we solve the multitude of problems that exist right now for our students and let's remember if this if we move ahead and this passes it's not going to happen in one year it's going to take two or three years just to do some of the minor repairs that are going to come first before we even start considering adding the additions on and thinking about bringing back special education students that we can yes trusty Lumia adding staff it's going to cost money and so forth but again let's look at the numbers would you rather have hire uh additional teachers at x amount of money here or spend 10 times that amount to have to place that student out of District plus Transportation so we can look at numbers all around and compare what's going to
113work best we don't know but we have to have some foresight and think about what the challenges are now what the challenges are five years from now and what the challenges are 10 years from now everything is going up in cost we factored in some escalation costs knowing that we're not going to start this project in three years so there's money that has been built into this hoping that we don't have a tremendous increase in escalation costs if we if if we don't then there's either extra money that'll go back to fund balance or as trusty Johnson said we've got a million other projects that we can do because there is another 50 plus million dollars that are going to come up with so point being just so you all understand we do not borrow
114the 153 million UPF front we only borrow what we use if we wind up only using 102 million that's all we will borrow in the end so you have to remember this is the maximum amount that is possible not a guarantee that that we're going to that height thank you and I just I'll end it because give some some others a chance to speak five minutes I know we have to and the points brought up are excellent points but spending two plus years and 10 plus years on this committee okay and things being pushed pushed aside pushed aside pushed aside okay it it we're not addressing the problems again that exist now the sooner we can fix them the better off everybody will be and then we can see how things go you want to
115wait a year or two years and then do another proposition okay what do you think escalated are going to be because two years from now means that project could be five or six years from now remember dealing with the State education department plus we only have 60 days okay A Summer to do something so even if we put the additions on and we move ahead that's not even going to be ready for for two years and that's not going to start for three or four years so you're talking about those projects five to seven years out okay so those are the things we have to consider and again we're not stuck doing it just because we approve it to put it on the ballot and the taxpayers do it if things change in four years
116an enrollment for some reason is 6,000 or 8,000 or it doesn't make sense to put the additions on then those people in charge will make that decision but again we've laid the foundation and the groundwork for what could happen in the future and not have somebody say what the heck were these people thinking about 56 years ago didn't they realize that this could happen so we need to be proactive and think what is needed for today and doing as best as we can to think about what the needs are going to be for this District five or 10 years from now doesn't matter what gets done unfortunately everything is going to be going up doesn't matter who who's running the administration in Washington or not everything will go up nothing in my lifetime and somebody
117tell me if I'm wrong okay nothing has ever gone down in price and when they say oh I'm going to cut to this or we'll cut the forget it it may come down a couple of dollars honestly you're never going to see a $1.99 eggs again okay it's not going to happen could it be 299 maybe so again I I got a three minute war I'm going I'm done thank you the clerk yes Mr Morgan thank you we're going to need more time can can we get another 10 minutes please motion all in favor thank you I was going to say we're we're minutes away from moving the question one one way or the other um the the thing to keep in mind in in my mind is that I don't think anybody sitting up
118here that's a taxpayer in this district is enthusiastic about the amount of money that's tied up in this proposed proposition I know I'm not um and and well maybe tonight but I need to go lay out medication for my for my parents who live in the district they lie about their age but they're both 93 um wife like your wife no she's she's younger um but the point is I I I get the the the point that trusty unia makes um in in a very impassioned and respect ful way and I appreciate this this conversation because we need to be mindful of what the price tag is and I'm not enthusiastic about spending 153 million uh dollars that said we don't have the space trusty slower just said that uh currently to meet our current
119program um and and that's been been documented and I don't think anybody's really disputing that um I would take account of point is someone has that studied economics and and works in um you know keeping track of economic Trends to a very well constructed point that that trusty Kellen made that because of the cost per student that we have in this District that that was highlighted earlier earlier tonight as the lowest in Duchess County um and the rising cost of construction materials and Home Building I think think that based on the um the positioning of Duchess County in this particular School District within Duchess County that as costs go up the attractiveness of living in this District on a relative basis will actually increase rather than rather than decrease taking taking the numbers and the
120observations that that that you brought into play um and and I think these are things that that we need to keep in mind when saying that the current projections based on birth rate which is really all those projections are are made on which means and and trusting me and I have had this discussion I know he's heard these words comeing out of my mouth I'm not sure those projections are worth the paper that they're that they're printed on so we're talking about having flat enrollment over 10 years going point to point in the middle they're being a bubble so we can't can't fit our programs currently and we've got we've got a bubble moving moving through the system that that we need to account for in some way shape or form how can we account
121for that well we could put much smaller additions on multiple schools which I think would cost more we could as as one trustee mentioned when we were you know throwing around ideas we could build another school property acquisition in and of itself I think makes that a a non-star it'd be nice but I think from an economic standpoint that's a nonstarter um from our um our economic standpoint I think it's important that we make sure that we continue to provide quality education I also think going back to a responsibility to both our taxpayers and our current and future students the idea that our home values represent the quality education that this school district has delivered for for very many years despite as Dr BN pointed out having not built a building having put on additions
122but not having built a building since 1969 in 1969 we built a building and the ninth largest school district in New York state has not built one since so there's no debate that we need to put money into these buildings to maintain them because that hasn't always been done so I feel that from a necessity standpoint we've got building repairs on Old buildings that need to be done and we've got needs of students current and and and future that will not in a position to meet as well as we would like right now and that's why despite the fact that I don't like the price tag anymore than I like the price tag on a lot of things I think we need to move forward with this proposition with thanks and gratitude to the capital
123committee who's been working on it just like when when it comes to the next motion on the agenda I'm going to turn to truste Kellen who chairs the policy committee and ask for her important guidance because I respect the work of that committee thank you for your time thank you trusty Morgan apprciate somebody asked why we having this discussion or we you asked that question in terms of yeah you did you said what are we voting on tonight are we voting on The propositions or we voting just to have one so okay second to put this as two individual propositions so the question is am I think we have to vote on my Amendment first the amendment and see and then vote on the motion so your question does it pertain to that okay Dr
124but do trusty odm do you have anything for us okay Dr do you have anything to add to this before we make a motion we vote on it five minute warning by the way I will be very brief I provided a presentation on doing what has been suggested in the first proposition a month ago in board meeting I believe it lasted about 45 minutes and then there was another 45 minutes of conversation and I attempted to make it very clear with a chart as to programs that we currently have that we're not going to be able continue to have unless we do something that impacts all of our JS with all due respect you indicated trusty Lumia must need must do that might be different for you for trusty Johnson for we all may have
125different ideas as what is a must do what is it that we need to do so I think that if you break it up into what must we do and what may we do I I don't quite understand how you represent all of the people by doing that because there are certain people that value certain things that others may not value I think you have to put it all together to have a proposition that the entire Community can hopefully support and gain whatever it might might be that they feel is in the interest of their child that they feel that they need whether that's the use of an athletic field at the high school where our teams can't use the field because they can't schedule it because we don't have enough of it where our
126community can't use our athletic fields because our teams are always using it where we have issues with art on a cart or we're using Auditorium as classrooms or what I would say from my perspective in the areas where we're currently growing in population which is special education and elll those require a different type of program that we have never provided before based upon the needs of our students so when you site with respect the fact that the population and the enrollment has gone down you're Absol absolutely right but even though that the population and the enrollment has gone down the needs have changed to be more specialized that requires more space so from my perspective I believe I outlined the reasons why I believe that this proposition as one proposition should move forward in that
127realm as opposed to breaking it up because I believe that if you come up with one proposition there's something in it for everybody whereas if you go with separate propositions you're pitting certain people against certain people and certain propositions against certain propositions I don't think that's the pro way to move forward especially with the needs that we have and we've talked about opportunities the board talks about it every meeting that's the majority of the communications are about opportunities if we don't do these types of things if we don't restore athletic fields at the junior high schools if we don't do the work that we need to do with the athletic fields at the high schools or do some of the repairs that we need to do at the elementary schools those opportunities are going to
128diminish and we need those opportunities more than anything else so with respect I appreciate the I appreciate everything that was communicated I just wanted to give my perspective to Super so what have we one last comment from me the must was identified by the capital committee all those project must be done have to be done and it under under my proposition one I'm sorry no no that's okay under my my suggestion proposition proposition one the capital Improvement can identify once again every one of those objects we have a one minute War anyway look I I let let's just vote we want to vote on this amendment can I just make one quick statement Mr you're of time this is you're motion for two minutes no no more motions okay we''ve let wrot on the amendment
129I think I go into the next resolution okay we identified everything as a must do that was that's what came out of committee so that's why we presented the project the way we did yes can we vote on the amendment to the uh to separate the proclamation all in favor to separate them into two any opposed Mr Lumia Kell M Kellen and Mr Odum is separ that's four people want separated and trusty capit and then those yeses no no no to keep it as one proposition no no two separate there's there was a motion by Mr Lumia it was second by uh trusty Kellen the motion was to separate to two propositions the vote on that is right now there are four yeses Mr Lumia Miss Kellen Mr odms Mr capari any opposed and there
130five opposed any extensions I see none so the motion to separate has failed now you have a roll so we're going to take a roll call attendance for the proposition as originally proposed originally written right Virgil calara yes no you're for it yes he's for the proposition Marie Johnson yes she is for the proposition Peggy Kellen no she is against the proposition John Lumia no he is against the proposition Michael mcfallen I vote Yes for the proposition Cheryl mots I vote Yes Cheryl migot votes yes for the proposition John Morgan I in favor of the proposition John Morgan is in favor of the proposition Keith Odum yes Keith Odum votes yes Eddie slosa I'm in favor of the proposition Eddie slosa votes yes so the proposition has been approved so moved 8.12 adopt new version
131of policy 0111 Title 9 and sex discrimination and resend previous policy 0111 and0 111.1 R sexual harassment of student regulations whereas in August 2020 the board revised its policies on sexual harassment to comply with the federal Title 9 regulations in place at the time and whereas in 2014 those regulations were modified I'm sorry yeah wait a minut prate that's said I'm tired from Mystery I told you I apologize whereas in 2024 those regulations were modified and in July 2024 the board adopted a new policy 0111 Title 9 and sex discrimination that complied with the 2024 Title 9 regulations and whereas in January 2025 the 2024 Title 9 regulations were struck down by a federal court and school districts were instructed to revert back to compliance with the 2020 Title 9 regulations now therefore the Board
132of Education hereby resins its current policy 0111 Title 9 and sex discrimination and further one adopts a new version of policy 0111 that complies with the 2020 Title 9 regulations two we s 0.1r sexual harassment of students regulation motion Marie Johnson first Peggy Kellen second all in favor any discussion I'm sorry I'm sorry to put you on the on the spot but as the chair of the policy committee could you just give us a a a summary of the the highlights shorter than our last discussion well uh basically um the Trump Administration the first Trump Administration uh had one set of rules for enforcement and investigation and uh triggers for when you would investigate on title n sex discrimination issues uh the Biden Administration modified those to um include transgender and so forth issues and
133then the Trump new Trump Administration reverted to the old one so basically we're just complying with federal law and regulations whatever they may be at the moment thank you thank you so in favor unanimous so moved 8.13 first reading of policies silent reading if you have any questions from the public please refer them to miss Kellen 9.01 board members May request additional agenda items discussion items or request information Mr Morgan I don't know if I need a motion for this but just as a as a discussion item uh vice president snower read many long motions um and we we Ed that as an opportunity for some comic relief um and I appreciate the good spirit in which he took that in um we we then very rapidly pivoted to an item that the board was
134was divided on uh as evidenced by the the five to four vote on uh trust Mia's um uh proposal um but the the level of discussion on on both sides was serious and respectful and you know sometimes this is a lousy job and it's one that that is it's not always one that I wake up on Tuesday morning and go boy I'm glad I got to do that last night um but I want to thank my fellow Trustees for the seriousness um and civility with which we we disagreed in in public I think that that was a good discussion and and I think when the voters decide they'll know that despite the fact that we took some levity earlier in the meeting that this was a serious decision and they've got both sides of the
135serious um thoughtful arguments to be made laid out for them thank you for your time thank you Mr Morgan we didn't need a motion for that okay 10.01 comments from the public now now it's your turn president M unless you want me to do it you uh we have two people signed up for public comments uh I'm going to read your statement so ladies and gentlemen we are about to listen to public comments although the state law does not require us to hold public comment periods we have chosen to do so because we believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members and their concerns and issues the board is here to listen the public comment period is not designed to be a debate or dialogue so please do not expect the
136board to respond to your concerns requests tonight we take your concerns and requests seriously and want to have significant time to process and research any issues if need be any questions from the public should be submitted through the use of public comment form a form which can be obtained online or at the desk of the district clerk we will have the proper staff member get back to you as soon as possible I also want to point out that under New York State federal privacy laws we are unable to address any comments or questions about specific students School Personnel we would ask that you go through the appropriate Administration channels a total of 30 minutes has been at the beginning of each board me meeting is set aside to allow for public comments on agenda items
137only public comments at the beginning of the meeting is limited only to its items on the agenda persons who wish to participate in the public comment portion of the meeting is asked to provide their name and a specific agenda item about which they wish to speak a sign in sheat is located at the desk of the district clerk individual comments on agenda's items are limited to 3 units and are welcome if you wish to address items related to our school district that cannot be on tonight's agenda another comment period is provided at the end of the meeting for that purpose a second signing sheet is available for non-agenda items in the event of Civility and respect for different points of views clapping booing or any disturbance during the either public comment period or any comment
138period at this time comments are related to agenda items or public comments are welcome so we have Craig Russo is that correct Russo tell I today my name is and he going to my sh hello my name is Lucas Gans and I'll will be reading the remainder of Craig's [Music] statement as mentioned my name Craig and I am a volunteer with a 501c3 nonprofit defense of democracy I am a disabled adult who attended the wers school district as a child I have watched as this District made strong advances to advocate for students with disabilities and I thank you for that effort these days we hear our federal government openly promising to defund our public schools and libraries and they have specifically focused on dismantling our important diversity equity and inclusion efforts that I've heard you
139speak about so often with so much pride I've been at the last few Schoolboard meetings and I've heard several parents speak and request that you issue a statement that will comfort parents of queer students and I've have been disappointed that you have not acknowledged their requests I appeal to the whoers Central School District Board of Education to issue the statement requested regarding our LGBT students and when you craft your statement please do not forget that nearly 7.7 million students about 15% of all public school children receive essential special education services Under the Umbrella IDE a with additional students supported through Section 504 accommodation plans in the 2023 24 school year 18% of our students accessed special education through individualized education programs IEPs in addition to a significant number of students that are benefiting from accommodations
140under their 504 accommodation plans the proposed defunding or dismantling of the Department of Education threatens the stability of these critical services potentially leaving families and our most vulnerable students without the support they depend on denying students the individualized education they're entitled to by law and placing enormous strain on families already navigating the challenges of raising children with disabilities I am one of many people awaiting public assurance that the Whopper school board will fight for Equitable funding and uphold the principle that every child regardless of ability deserves access to a free and appropriate public education that empowers their [Music] future thank you thank you sir Allison County hello um what I wrote is kind of outdated because you all voted um I spoke a month ago about how I used to be so disgusted to be
141here one of the trustees said um tonight that they respected that everyone stayed resp respectful I know there wasn't yelling and shouting and screaming and stamping like 10 years ago but I feel like questions are being asked over and over again um that are just fear-mongering um what the taxes are going to look like what's this going to do in seven years what if the government decides to take away this it's fear-mongering um I live through the fear mongering through redistricting there was a Committee Member um from that committee who was a former PT president she wanted to be here but she can and I can't say why because you'll know who she is um who finds that we're in the same place we kicking the can down the road like there is nothing respectfully
142ceiling tiles are important I've been talking about them for 10 years too a gay head they're brown there were tites coming up Dr Bon's got a picture and the old Mobile's behind Gad but to claim that that's more important than kids getting services in a hallway breaking the law and parents have to have CSE meetings there so everybody can hear them and their their rights and privacy are given away is deplorable to me there are so many Advocates respectfully including myself that haven't filed because we're doing the best that we can but if we're going to sit here and argue on What's a what's a must have breaking the law and keeping the kids safe are both must havs 10 years ago we used to call this WCS day and it didn't stand for sarcastically
143ringer Central School District it used to stand for the would or could have should have and I said this to you a month ago I'm going to say it again when I thought we got a new board and a new superintendent and a great senior admin team that we were done with this it sends a very disgusting message to me as some of you stated you've never voted down a proposition so what exactly are you telling the public when you're not unanimous I'm so sorry I I find it appalling parents don't know what some of you know or some of us know they don't understand the numbers if they don't watch this how many people don't watch you can see how many views so you so we're going to try to separate them and then
144the public going like well this must be not that important because we put it less I I found with all du respect I didn't find it as a respect ful I don't know if all of you really listened and I don't think respectfully all of you are really hands on the ground enough to know some of the questions and implications you asked and to have Dr Bon or the capital committee I've never been on it's one of the few committies i' ever stepped on I've been listening to it over and over and I just felt like you didn't respect I didn't I used to dispute at at board meetings he wanted to save money I wanted to spend money these people have been doing this for 10 years that's just my [Music] opinion thank you
145so if we can move on to 11.01 uh adjourning of our meeting this evening so do I have a motion for that just got to read it res that the Board of Education this Jour the March 10th 2025 Board of Education meeting the time is 10:38 p.m. motion uh Mr ciller Marie Johnson second all in favor unanimous thank you everyone