001[Music] good evening everyone I know it's crowded tonight please um uh silence your phones or put them to vibrate before we start happy New Year everyone good to see you all happy Year hope you all had a wonderful New Year and a have a really happy healthy year and with that Welcome to our regular board preemptive pledge oh Scott Welcome to our regular Board of Education meeting please stand and join us in the pledge I pleased Al to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation godible Liberty jce for love that picture it's cute the mission of the white the wish the mission of the White Plains Public Schools is to educate and inspire all students while nurturing their dreams so they learn continually think critically
002pursue their aspirations and contribute to a diver diverse and dynamic World good evening if I could ask uh you join me in a moment of Silent reflection in memory of rosn Wier who worked in various roles within the school district as clerk senior Clerk and secretary to the director of special education from 1985 until she retired in June of 2009 thank you thank you next we'll move into um any announcements do we have any announcements I'm back yes that is an announcement um you are back Charlie and we did miss you but we we're glad you've recuperated and now the everything seems right in the world now I have one very quick and just minor uh minor comment I was able to um attend the csca holiday party um and just really thank all of
003them for what they do for all of us every day um in the district for our our students um and um that was about it we good I have a few things so can we keep it yeah I'll try keep it brief um so I attended the special education coffee on Zoom uh which was well attended and uh certainly appreciated um you know by the families um it really is a an opportunity for them to to you know talk about things that are on their mind and and here directly you know from Deo Garden so thank you for doing that um I uh attended I dropped into the Ed house holiday lunch which thank you for everyone in Ed house and for everything that you all and they all do um some really good food
004and clearly a lot of fun going on um and uh I attended the Little Theater production uh this past Saturday um that they did a few vignettes including um a couple of sketches from The Twilight Zone um and so that was that was really fun um I had the opportunity to attend a Dei um Workshop through southern Westchester um Bose's Dei leadership Network and um I've shared the information uh with Deb hand with the curriculum committee with emry Davis I sent some of the the specific information and the links um but it was really interesting it it's an anti-racism curriculum project um and they shared lesson plans that focused on grades um four and eight um and in the context of Westchester County and um slavery that occurred here they had all sorts of primary
005sources and it was really really in interesting and it's a very inquiry based curriculum so um I'm I'm hoping that maybe you know we can look at it and see how it could possibly be incorporated into some of the work we do in social studies um the the lower Hudson education Coalition um had a legislative panel and our Joe ricka was one of the facilitators um and so we had um um our local legislators um who heard from um our leadership board leadership all over the region um having to do with um Foundation formula prek mental health concerns school safety and cyber security uh special act school districts Staffing and climate resiliency um so yeah I think that covered the topics Keenan Bean did a webinar on transgender student issues and updates on um the
006the State education Department's guidelines um so I listened in on that um and I I guess this this afternoon I uh listened in on small cities webinar um they meet monthly with uh with commissioner Rosa so they talked about some of the things that they were concerned about and at the end of the month I'll be attending the national school boards Association um Equity symposium an advocacy Institute so I look forward to bringing back information to the board on that any anything else the only thing um the only thing I would add is that um uh Frank stefanelli and Ron valz officially retired and I was able to um you know just express our thanks to them on behalf of the board it's you know they' they've been pillars and and uh just wanted to
007make sure that um uh I saw them and uh on behalf of the board that we saw them and um and they know how much we are we are thankful for what they did and they next we have the superintendent report well thank you madam president and again uh good evening everybody and happy New Year um here we are again in in January and in just a few short moments we're going to start taking a look at our our long range plan update um but first I I wanted to um just let you know that our uh student liaison uh liaison dilia and Freda both had planned to be here this evening um but they did have to send their regrets and they did um reach out to miss blendz and and let let us
008know unfortunately um one is under the weather and the other got delayed in travel um so they will be back and they will share their updates uh next month with us but they did uh send their regrets um also wanted to just let you know and let everybody know this evening uh that of course we are in cold flu RSV covid neuro virus all all of those communicable illnesses Seasons um and so do do what we can um to make sure that we're looking after our own physical health and wellness and certainly if we're not feeling well um please make sure we're staying home until we feel better um rule of thumb again again 24 hours fever free uh unmedicated before coming back to school go a long way to helping to make sure that
009we're keeping everybody as best we can um safe and and healthy uh of course winter weather we had some over the weekend um and uh we are looking at another adverse event uh tomorrow evening I think though heavy rain and wind um we're going to keep our eye on and and as we always do make sure that we communicate early as early as we possibly can with our community um related to any potential schedule changes um I also want to just address because I know it's it's probably on the top of folks Minds specifically uh uh folks who pay attention to inter Scholastic Athletics um there was a a situation where anti-semitic commentary um was uh was or took place U at a at a a basketball contest in in a neighboring uh Community or
010neighboring communities um and and uh I I did want to share with the Board of Education in our community that section one has taken um the steps to make sure that we do have a policy in place uh related to any type of uh U racist anti-semitic um any type of of biased behavior um in athletics and and there is a a very uh heavy consequence uh when those situations do occur I do also want you to know that Mr Cameron reached out as soon as he had heard about it reached out to both Mr Martinez and myself um let us know uh and we are also the the superintendents in the region going to be discussing this with section one um to make sure that everybody's on the same page with regard to what
011our expectations are for inter Scholastic play and and decorum I I uh read section one's response actually they issued um a well articulated strong statement yeah good yeah and and and there is no place for it and um and frankly when it when and we had said this years ago if and when it did occur uh when our our students were part of a contest that we would we wouldn't we wouldn't participate in the contest any longer um so you we have to we we as a community a larger Community need to make sure that we are saying no this is not okay and we're not going to allow it um so that everybody understands uh that that these types of sentiments have no place whatsoever in our schools on our courts in our pools
012whatever the case may be um and and we're going to root them out the 2425 calendar uh is is going to be under review now uh hopefully to as is our timeline get that out um for our community in the next uh two months or so month really um and uh and we are of course looking at holidays uh as you know um we're always uh considering holidays and how they fall and how they impact our students uh and our families um and uh we're we're making sure that we're doing our very best uh to take take into consideration all feedback that we get throughout our community um as as we establish the calendar and we are also under constraints um there there are constraints with regard to the number of school days uh that
013that we hours per week that we must achieve um and uh we'll do our very best and have a draft calendar out uh for review from the Board of Education in the next few weeks uh we have a number of policies on the agenda this evening and thanks to the policy committee uh appreciate that uh I won't go into it further but yeah busy it's a first reading it's a first first reading it's a first reading take your [Laughter] time of course um the governor is going to be giving the State of the State update tomorrow uh one o'clock um she has been giving uh insight into the the major topics of course education is one of those um folks in White Plains of course when they heard her talk about literacy um probably felt
014very good in that these are the conversations that we've been having in White Plains for a long time now how do we leverage what we know about literacy um about uh acquisition um over the course of the last 50 or so years Dr hand will tell you um and use that information in those data points to create a program that are going to meet the needs of all Learners um so that all children can become literate and learn uh appropriately regardless of uh individualized circumstances so um we're going to be right in line with that work and uh and we we'll hear what else the governor has to say tomorrow as well and that leaves me and and uh Dr Viara t to the next portion of well the bulk of this evening's update and
015that is the long range plan I'm just gonna just say yes yes I'm so sorry you can go ahead I just wanted to say I'm sitting here and I I'm looking at Jessica Buck I also wanted to um thank our PTA Council I was able to go to that holiday gathering and thank them for all of their hard work that they also do um for our students and to make white plans a special place so thank you um to the PTA Council and thank you Jessica what I'd like to do first a couple of things first I'd like to say thank you uh because coming together uh with the update to the long range the annual update to the longrange plan is a big job um and every single person in the school district is
016part of it um because what we do is we take all of the feedback that we possibly can can gather um and Incorporated it into our planning processes for the future and it's not just next year um but the next several years as we begin to plan and of course all of this dovetails dovetails with our work uh in crafting each Year's fiscal plan so the district has benefited greatly uh over the years from having these road maps in place and while they they truly are living they change um so what you're going to see up here this evening doesn't necessarily mean it's going to materialize next year but it is on the radar in terms of our programming and what we'd like to see for our children moving forward um this is again a
017very very fluid process this is not a budget presentation and as the board of education has had a a long time to see this in various iterations leading up to tonight I'm not going to read slides to you which because I think they're about 75 or so I'm sure you'll 56 oh we cut it down okay only 56 but I'm not going to read them to you what I am going to do is give you the highlights you know that they are all going to be available and for folks who are watching at home right now they're all available on the district's website all about budget longrange plan and we're going to keep coming back to this as we we make our way toward um the annual budget uh election and Board of Education vote
018in May U so that's sort of the the the the Preamble here um again I want to thank Dr viaro T her Team U the cabinet as well as all of our building level uh administrators all of our coordinators directors everybody who has worked um to to help us begin the process and and put it together this evening every year we we talk about um why it's important we lay out the cycle of planning did you like that little or you want to see it again we talk about the cycle of planning that begins really every year with our iic planning um our Board of Education goals and objectives I me you know best practices every single time you look at it um we follow these annually to come each year um to our proposed
019budget so that everything is linked all of the the resources that we put forward in the school district are all connected to the Strategic plan and to our annual goals and objectives it is important for a myriad of reasons everything impacts a school system we are an open system and we all know this if something occurs I just I just made mention of a situation that occurred that wasn't directly related to to the white PL City School District yet does have an impact um we know that the school all school systems are open and so we need to try to account for all the different variables that we might encounter every single day let alone every single year it also makes sure that we are finding efficiencies that we're being as effective as we possibly
020can with the resources that we're allocating and that we're shifting resources when need be instead of necessarily adding or even uh cutting um from from the organization making sure that we're going to stay healthy fiscally annually and are able to weather the types of turbulences that com and go each fiscal year uh we want to make sure that we're maintaining our program for our students we never want our students to feel or lose because of some type of a fiscal instability that we really don't have any control of and we always recognize that the decisions that we make today have an impact into the future so the good decisions that we make today are going to have positive impact in the future shortcomings that we have today uh could potentially impact us negatively into the
021future as well again what's in the longrange plan everything um every single thing within the organization is is all part of the longrange plan and we take everything into equal consideration when we're putting our plan together beginning again with with our strategic plan uh making sure that we're staying true to our vision mission and core beliefs as well as our goals each year to educate support and partner and make sure that our children and their families are having the best possible experience that we can provide to them is it perfect no we recognize that and we are always on a plan a path for continuous Improvement so when we get that feedback where we can improve we want to make sure that we're doing that we're optimizing everybody's experience and possible and in a school
022system when you're dealing with every single person is a unique individual right so thousands and thousands and thousands of of unique Learners that means that we're going to get feedback all the time to help us refine our practice Ann loves this slide it it triggers in me I I think more sort of PTSD um because it's really it it's almost a demarcation of of the time that I became superintendent um 2008 2009 2009 was the first year that I ever served as superintendent and the my career has been punctuated with challenges all the way through um so whether or not you're talking about the Great Recession in 2008 2009 whether you're talking about the tax cap and the challenges with The Gap elimination adjustment whether or not you're talking about the struggle for to fund
023fully fund Foundation Aid um pandemic years all of those types of things um they're all in here but the reason it's important an important slide is because it shows you that the planning process and having that solid planning has allowed us to move through these really difficult challenging situations and preserve the instructional program for our children and that's a huge credit to the board of education and to the white plan City School District Community this is a you want to yep I know you I know you like this one good evening um so this is really taking a look at the economic Outlook and looking at the tax levy cap because um as you know school districts are limited to the lesser of the Consumer Price Index um or 2% um and for this year
024we're projecting that the 12- Monon change in December that will land at about 4.12% for CPI um so therefore the calculation for the tax levy will be limited to 2% but what does that mean um our salaries or our goods and services or utilities are all outpacing that 2% so we will have to look for other means to close those gaps um with those contractual increases we also look at our enrollment and we think about our enroll projection over the years and when you look at this graph initially you might say w that's a pretty precipitous decline but it's it's not really it's just sort of the way um the graph the graph shows yes there there is a decline in a in the 10 10year number of students but I'm going to show you
025a slide a little bit down the road these are projections and so we had a projection of a decline um last year um and of course coming in this year with real numbers it's not as precipitous as that initial projection was so this is going to change and we know that but we still do every year a demographic study to make sure that we're getting a sense of where we might be an I I want you I definitely want you to do that because no you know because it's a big credit to to to the work that well I think it's credit to the entire organization that we're constantly looking for ways to find efficiencies and when we do and have Savings in any given Year we're turning those monies back to our taxpayers um
026whether it be through red reduction of the tax levy from what we can raise 21 million over the past 7 years or funding capital projects um without having to raise debt 68 million um supporting our debt service Reserve almost 14 million um self-funded for tax SAR claims who those commercial properties that are seeking um refunds on their property taxes of 18.5 million over the past 17 years all by not raising taxes um and so in total um and funding onetime only expenses which is another big item of $19 million but in total over the past s years really returning back to the taxpayer $145 million that were not raised in taxes that um is not built in or baked into the annual budget that we're able to to fund those expenses directly and again you
027know credit to the Board of Education the finance audit committee all all of the work that folks been doing we really have looked to structure the the district's finances in a way that's going to be sustainable um provide our children with an extraordinary experience and at the same time be fiscally conservative to the extent that we're able um not just taxing to tax you know the years where uh we we we didn't have a tax in that's we didn't have a tax increase that's forever savings um and so you know we try to capitalize on that and and that was what was nice about that history picture that goes back in time is that that really showed in the years when we got the infusion of additional Foundation Aid state aid of 14.1 million the
028the district was able to then turn around and make additional reductions to the tax levy each year and as I had mentioned always looking to improve never saying we're good enough uh never saying no uh we we we we do that already we we already know uh we've never taken that approach um and I and again like to thank the board for supporting us to be vulnerable and open and to constant ly learn uh how we can do better and how we can be a better customer service based organization that's focused on student achievement um so whether it's curricular um whether it's our overall academic achievement whether it's expanding extracurricular activities and Athletics for our kids um programming before school after school weekend Summers we're looking to be able to do all of those things
029Staffing and services um increasing the helping professionals making sure that we had uh the the need the needed folks in in our schools where be psychologist socialists uh social workers um I know I almost social workers School social worker substance abuse awareness coordinator whatever whatever you could possibly think of folks who would be in those helping roles for our students having that Staffing there um and also thinking about the future right are those ads are those ads going to be sustainable now you've probably heard folks uh talking about and really concerned with the American Rescue plan funds dropping off for some school districts that are now going to lose person Personnel who were coming in to support their their student body that's not going to happen in White Plains we didn't do that we made
030sure that we were utilizing funding that was going to be available into the future for these critical roles um and and again always looking for ways that we can continue to improve we want to make sure we're protecting our programming we're evaluating what's working what's not working making changes where we need to preserving our students experiences finding efficiencies where we're always looking um to to you know make sure that if we can um we get uh we can stretch our dollars even further delaying program impact which we've done over the years and you'll see that um even this tonight when we're talking about potential um increases uh and then reducing and restructuring rather than cutting we don't want to eliminate um opportunities for our students we want to think about the future um and those
031decisions and how they're going to impact the future as well all right Revenue assumptions here we go here we go so uh the major component of our Revenue sources of course is tax levy um that we raise and in this calculation complex as it is there's four major components um the tax tax-based growth factor which comes from New York state finance um tax office that really gives us a percentage of what physical properties are added to the property tax roles and every year we have some percentage where we're able to have additional um tax levy Monies um because of the additional uh properties to the rols but for 2425 um the tax-based growth factors coming in at at 0% you know no increase um so that actually represents a $2.5 million loss in tax levy
032Revenue um over the prior year projections the other component to the calculation is the allowable growth factor and that's what we talked about on the previous Slide the we're only allowed to um have a tax uh increase of 2% or the lesser of CPI or 2% of the adjusted tax levy then the other component is payment in lie of taxes um these are agreements with our commercial property owners um with Westchester County Ida and the City of White Plains and for 2425 we have three new pilot agreements coming on board for a million dollars that we won't get those revenues any longer through the tax levy they'll come direct um um from those uh Property Owners to the city to us um but in actuality the value of the pilots um from one year to
033the next is going up 1.9 million and that is probably the reason why we have a zero increase in our tax based growth factor is because those properties are coming off the tax rols and an we still don't have a seat at the table right as a school district in helping to inform these kinds of pilot agreements I know that that's something that's being considered correct correct and there was also legislation um that was put before the governor to allow the property assessments associated with Pilots to remain in the calculation for the tax based growth factor but that was vetoed um so we're still advocating um you know I'm going up to Albany at the end of the month to um to do some effort with um The Association of school business officials and trying
034to advocate for these things that are really becoming increasingly difficult and you can see that the the pilots increase you know to next year 2425 that's a million n of more dollars that are coming direct to us and not through the um tax levy process and it goes up each year and then the last component of the calculation is the capital exclusion which is our principal and interest um on Capital Construction less our building Aid that we would get um on Capital Construction and then any monies that we're able to use to buy down that exclusion or the tax levy uh from our debt service Reserve um for 2425 we're looking to use 2.4 million um to reduce that exclusion reduce taxes you know to a level of 4.4 million each year so the actual
035calculation right it's it's complex um but if you look at the Golden Rod column you're starting with the the prior tax levy and that you apply you know any new properties then we would have gotten a percentage of that but like I said it's flat so there's no additional Levy uh for the current year for that and so then it goes through adjusting it so it adds back the prior pilots and it also re um you know removes the prior Capital exclusion to come up with an adjusted tax levy and that then gets the 2% the lesser of CPI or 2% and you know as I said we're projecting 2% for this year and future years and then the 6.7 million in Pilots That's not coming through the tax levy process comes backs off and
036we're down to a levy before our allowable exclusions of 98.7 million Which is less by 900,000 from the prior year so really a result of of that tax-based growth factor um and the increase in the pilots so then um for this year we haven't seen this I don't think since 2011 12 or 12 13 a pension contribution exclusion small um exclusion that really says that our pension contribution for employees retirement system is going up more than two percentage points um so anything above those two percentage points this happens to be 0.1 of a percent can be added back to the levy and then our um Capital exclusion is added as well at the 4.4 million so this results in a projected Levy that that still is under much discussion of 203 million um 2.1 million
037increase or 1.06% um if we did not utilize the 2.4 million from The Debt Service reserve the maximum allowable tax levy is 2.26 uh percent um and so that would yield additional dollars um as part of the tax levy and allow us up to 205 million5 million 205.50 so for further discussion you know expense driven Aid is you know our building Aid our Bose's Aid Transportation excess cost Aid instructional materials which is reimbursed based on our expenses of the prior year uh the allowable amount and and ratios that the state sets as part of the state budget um so those have been reflected our local resources interest earnings tuition sales and use tax we've left that at a you know the current Year's budget levels and we know that you know in subsequent years it's
038likely we'll have additional revenues that will will come through but to be conservative you know we're leaving things flat for these projections and uh again thank you and again mentioned you know looking at enrollment making sure that we're keeping an eye an eye on our our enrollment as as we're looking into the out years as well you'll see um that we do we do anticipate a small reduction in in the in the number of of students enrolled but again on an annual basis we'll revisit those numbers and look at the actual numbers and see where we are we're making assumptions it's very early it this is very very preliminary um and so you know we're looking at assumptions that include you know for our staffing levels our current Staffing levels based on our existing bargaining
039unit agreements and that has been projected um as I was talking about before Pension Plan contributions so for our teachers retirement system that's for certificated licensed um professional staff teachers administrators the pening contribution for that is going up 5% um the employees retirement system our civil service folks primarily that's where the big increase is and that's going up 16% health insurance has been set at 11% and we've projected subsequent years at 10% so that is a growing number um that uh means significant dollars as an impact to this this uh budget plan Workers Compensation Insurance also um increasing at 10% um and and we reflected a similar amount for the for the subsequent years now tax SE refunds the district is self-funded so we have a reserve that we maintain and legal council has indicated
040that it should be stable at the same amount as it was last year about 64 million they're going to be updating um their analysis for that for us in January so we'll have that ready for um budget um and you know projections for March we are estimating about 4.4 million in actual tax refunds for this current year I'm sorry on the health insurance those were increases right yes as opposed to rates the rate is increasing by 11% by okay so it's in um I want to say it's in excess of 2.6 million um as far as an impact to our overall expenses and which which is important and it's still better than if we were in Nicha right oh Swiss ship rates you know that's the Consortium that we're in their their premium rates are
041still lower significantly so than N Ship um but it's it's what you're seeing ni ships increases are much higher than this but it's what you're seeing now um as a reaction to this economic climate that we've been in um and that's why we even got additional state aid this year is because of the inflationary increases we're you know hovering at 8% there for a while yeah um our Debt Service as I mentioned before principal and interest in debt service 9.9 million um and you know um based on our fiscal advisers um recommendations to you know use our debt service funds to level out the um Capital exclusion as part of the tax levy um so contributing 2.4 million to offset that Debt Service in 2425 3.22 million in 2526 and then just 155,000 in 2728
042um utilities we know that story um plus we also are lucky to have all our buildings who will be HVAC come next year so we've been forecasting for this increase and having that included in our plans all along um so we know that we'll have an uptick in those expenses um as well as a rate increase um we have you know gas and W gas projected at 2% um order at 10% that's what it's been trending and then property insurance has been trending you know again it's it's based you know on what's happening in our in our region and um as far as um losses and how that's impacting everyone's insurance and other contractual increases we've estimated at 1 to 3% and we still are maintaining the capital project transfer every year we do a
043little bit out of our operating fund over to capital projects a million5 and then our our furniture replacement so overall taking into account those assumptions and what you're going to see in the next slides as far as the long range plan instructional and operational asks you know you know Dr R had said that this is all about just trying to guide decision making and to really have a sense of you know what we do and how it's going to impact the out years so we do acknowledge that right now based on these assumptions and the ask that expenses are exceeding revenues um and so we're going to have to look hard at each at next year's um budget development that we're starting now uh how we're going to close that Gap and that means looking
044at our Revenue estimates looking at our expense estimates really looking to see if there's other ways that we can find resources to reallocate to take care of some of those priority needs that are being identified now we do project that we'll have a positive outcome for 23 24 where we'll be able to do one time only expenses um you know which is reflected here 2.3 million um so the work begins thank you an you'll see never ends never ends never and and you know as an example you'll see in in a in a subsequent slide thinking about the HVAC as an example we said talking about finding efficiencies or looking at Way new and Innovative innovative ways to reduce expenditures one of the slides you're going to see when we get to operations is uh
045energy performance and and looking at ways that we might be able to uh to recapture dollars within in the school district to offset energy costs and we also participate in a Consortium right when it comes to like gas rates and how we purchase um so that's worked out really well for us as it has those estimates have come in and and we also participate with Nipa as far as our electric and just again as we're in those preliminary planning stages you might look at that and might say oh my goodness a deficit what does that that means there needs to be cuts and that's not the case um and that's exactly why we do what we do um it could just be re reallocation restructuring um putting those putting those expenditures down the line a
046bit um there are all different types of things that we can look at um and are looking at to to minimize and reduce that potential impact there so curriculum instruction at Dr hand uh and and Sarten we're going to come back and we're GNA we're going to go into this deeper when we come to the curriculum instruction or the instructional portion of of the proposed budget um but to give you a sense of of things that we're looking at right now uh again strategic planning takes place every year um in our elementary schools we are constantly looking at at ways that we can serve our students better and increase their outcomes in in a more holistic uh manner as well as provide the best possible tools for our colleagues in the classroom to be able
047to measure student progress and then utilize those data in real time to inform instructional practices so you're going to see you know again as you go through I'm not going to read all this to you um but but as you go through here you're going to see we're focusing on um programs and platforms that really do assist faculty members and support staff members as well as parents and Guardians um in in identifying student progress and then making adjustments where needed so that they can reinforce um students learning many of these by the way are budget neutral uh and you're also going to you're going to see parenthetically Dr hand uh even even if they're smaller dollar amounts um we did add them so that you could get a sense of what that potential cost will
048be again thinking about things like nwaa and map um which we're implementing now um already beginning to show us and provide us a road map for the trajectory of student performance um and then and then there's a predict Ive um value to that as well in terms of how students will um continue to fa as they move through the Academic Year and then into later years as well um again always focusing on curriculum revision and refinement um building that into the long into this longrange plan as well strengthening core literacy again uh I talked about that just a little while ago um and here you also see there's an addition of a05 uh FTE at Mas um and that will bring Mas in line with all the other main offices and School District as well
049when we're moving up into the Middle School uh again you're going to see many of those those same supports um academically um for our Middle School age children but we are also focusing on some new new things like the Seal of Civic Readiness and you know we we've been focusing on this at the high school level as well we want every one of our Tigers who graduate from the White Plain City School District to be to to have the Seal of Civic Readiness what does that mean it means they are going to be prepared to enter into um our communities and and participate um productively in our Democratic Society and that's really really important um we're also evaluating our mathematics uh uh uh our mathematics work at the middle school level um embedded uh ongoing
050job embedded professional learning opportunities um for for our faculty and staff members professional development um and developing extended day opportunities to accelerate learning for students as well but again looking at many of these you're going to see that they are budget neutral I think what I'd like to to pull out here um again we're making sure that we're focusing on all of the goals in the Strategic plan so you have your academic you have your community uh your your home school relationships you have your school uh Community climate and culture within the schools all of these areas are being attended to um to make sure that holistically our children are getting the best possible experience that we can provide for them um and yes even when you talk about uh health and wellness uh you'll
051see one time increases to the the fitness rooms at Highlands East viiew and you're going to see a little bit later at Rambo as well White Plains High School Rambo Alternative High School uh attendance liaison making sure that we're connecting with the families uh U of our children who are having difficulty coming to school you might say to yourself what do you mean having difficulty coming to school one of the things that we've experienced as as many may know um following the pandemic is school avoidance um and difficulty reintegrating back into um the structure of a of a school day now that's not for that's not everywhere that's not it's it's not necessarily endemic it's not a a huge huge problem but I will say that if we have one student who's experiencing it it's
052a problem um so we want to make sure that we're focusing those efforts and those resources to be able to establish those relationships with the home to help make sure children are getting to school regularly they need to be in school we also want to expand on our business education offerings we want our students who are interested in learning about business to be able to engage in it at a very early level and then transition those skills as they think about College and Career engineering as well expanding upon the work that's already been taking place um as well as digital electronics and and computer integrated manufacturing and of course the Arts as we've always focused on here in White Plains uh we want to expand the Arts and and part of that is building a
053dance program that we've been talking about so we're looking at that as well um and then I did mention that ties into our new facility it absolutely does it ties into the new facilities and the in the Career Technical education uh plan that we are we're focusing on uh right now as well again ongoing professional development and support um shifting away uh really to a universal or shifting toward a Universal Design uh for learning again making sure that we're really focusing on the individual student and how we can fashion their learning experi experience to be as unique as what their needs are NWA a map assessment again also at the secondary level seal of Civic Readiness um we have a director of secondary teaching and learning that will be there to support the work that
054the curriculum and instruction office is doing under the leadership of Dr hand um and then liaising with Southern Westchester bosis uh and and New York State education department as we talk about Career Technical education and the future here in White Plains and Southern Westchester bosis has uh as many of the bosis do have a great track record of offering Career Technical education experiences as over the last 20 years maybe even more um school districts sort sort of saw those programs Fall Away um at the at the local level um and now we are seeing those programs Again Begin to reur as more students more and more and more students are interested in learning um Career and Technical uh vocational skills while they're still in school special education and pupil Services um increases related to the
055needs at the elementary level uh again we have a we have an additional special education clerical position that funded through existing resources already no additional cost there um as well as uh directors of special education again funding U that's already within the budget now this is important because the amount of of effort that uh that goes in annually to annual reviews and making sure that that time and attention is is given that needs to be given um to the uh the csse and the cpse annually um making sure that we are using our resources as smart as we possibly can reducing maybe expenditures related to uh expanding the the job and scope of of existing of existing professionals who are filling those roles now over the summer months um and then freeing them up so
056that they could actually get a break uh and and also uh making sure that we have folks who are going to be able to step in in and and keep those processes rolling some little intermission to lude pictures and then in our operation departments um again not going to read everything to you but you know we have a great deal going on in our athletic departments we've been expanding um and and it's and it's shown uh we've had more students who have been identified as scholar athletes we've had more students participating in athle I mean we have 80 80 kids on the wrestling team this year um that's an enormous number and and again the this is reflective of all of of our our teams um constantly grelling because our students are are are enjoying
057it and they're be they're able to participate here which is great um working again uh to to expand the the summer sports academy for more opportunities for our students to engage over the summer that's both Athletics and academics and you don't have to necessarily be a varsity athlete to participate which is great because it's for for all kids um recruiting and retaining highest quality coaches expanding emerging sports like girls wrestling boys volleyball girls flag football and Unified sports um you are all very familiar with the the rebranding that's been taking place all throughout the district over the last number of years and that's happening right now field 12 is is getting a a beautiful facelift it's going to be amazing and they were working on that even uh over the weekend right before the snowstorm
058getting uh getting those rocks pulled out of the ground uh or also um continuing to do that all throughout the school district in terms of our our branding uh working with fno for our uh attending to our Master facilities plan projects as well as the onetime only projects like things in the pool uh Lane lines scoring tables making sure that our um timer systems are working uh appropriately looking at floor mats and and volleyball covering so all all the things um that our student athletes need moving forward that's one time only the Olympic size olympic size swimming pool you'll be part of the BCS that's part of the yeah um and again looking forward to uh continuing our capital projects always something happening throughout the the school district and we're really proud of that um
059we're really proud that when you walk into the buildings uh they look beautiful and that's because of our team members who are taking care of these buildings like their their own houses uh I mean it I just can't say enough or be thankful enough um to all the effort that goes into supporting the facilities in the physical plant throughout the school district we do have some transition that's taking place um and and we're ready to to address that of course this evening U Javier is going to be is on the agenda this evening and we and as president Eller mentioned we saw the transition of Mr stefanelli into his retirement wishing him well um and we're moving forward with that process right now we're planning for energy challenges in the future again um looking to
060continue uh to to claw back as many of those resources as we can whether it be through uh Energy Management systems or continuing to partner with with other utility providers to uh recapture funds says it all I mean you can see the amount first of all it's a great picture um but you can see the amount of work that goes into the an organization this size it it really is extraordinary um and our team members I mean they are constantly constantly looking to do everything they possibly can as soon as somebody says they need it um which is really you know it's Unique and we're blessed but but really just what we already said that with the um addition of the HVAC coming AC um into all the buildings um across the district and the
061new addition there are additional costs um that have been forecasted already in our plan and we keep updating them for utilities and Manpower and that's that's really what this is representing that we we have some um we have 2 point 2.1 million or two 2 million being added to our electrical costs along with the the increase in the rates but then we also have some staffing that we're going to um add in um as far as helping with HVAC additional custodian and electrician for the new building um and now we're also based on an assessment that we had with um core I think two years ago um doing a whole analysis of our facility and operation program have made some recommendations from for some Staffing changes there as well so that's what this reflects it's
062a beautiful organizational chart um shows that Dr Leia had had made mention we're gonna we're going to make sure we utilize this same and and the coloring too I think right K very very appealing we have onetime only projects again as as have been mentioned um all really important uh and the again when we think about our facilities the 100y old buildings that still look amazing and it's because the Board of Education and previous Boards of Education have always looked at these buildings for exactly what they are they're the people's buildings and they've attended to them in such a way as to keep them prein um and and to be able to continue to grow in them um and even retrofit where needed um to to to be able to enhance um the overall use
063and our buildings are always in use always um you know whether it be over breaks uh whether it be over the summer even holidays I mean just over the the last couple of weeks when we when we had the the winter recess for for the holidays buildings were open um and we had programming in there for our students um who who were coming in on a daily basis and that's great and that's what they should be um and we're able to do it because we're attending to uh the needs on an annual basis and the smart use of onetime only funds I mean can't emphasize that that enough can't emphasize that enough right using those one time only funds to be able to invest without having to increase um overall tax burden on on the
064community Safety and Security is something that is always on our mind uh I can tell you it's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning about our children and usually the last thing I think about before I go to sleep um because our responsibility is to make sure that our children are safe and secure at all times as well as every member of the educational community and that means we have to try to predict every possible thing that could go and I'm not talking about you know even catastrophic I'm just anything right anything um you know you may think about uh a small patch of ice well those are the kinds of things that we're looking for all the time so we can get rid of that small patch of
065ice that there's not a chance someone could twist an ankle um and but you you have to look everywhere and you have to be thinking about everything and we try um and our Safety and Security efforts over the years have I think have demonstrated um that Comm commitment we have expanded um the our ability to serve our community and we continue to look for Best Practices to to enhance our reach um without necessarily um detracting from the warm and welcoming environment sure there have been changes um we have instituted changes uh but but we don't think they've detracted from the openness and the welcoming of our schools we think that they've provided a sense of of security um to our children to our school communities and to our parents and Guardians and that's important and
066we're going to continue to do that um so again not with running through all of these uh slides but I will tell you um we continue to look toward increasing the number of SRO in our buildings and that's something that we want to continue to work on annually in conjunction and partnership with with the uh the city um we're always looking to Leverage The the latest technology to keep our buildings safe and secure without U becoming you know burdensome on on uh on on the population in the buildings um and training constantly training and working with our emergency uh First Responders so that they can train in our facilities and we can work directly with them and we've had great partnership with Al terce uh as you know uh who have helped us learn um
067and continue to stay on The Cutting Edge but it it's an ongoing process and we'll continue to be committed to that food nutrition again making sure our kids are healthy and well um and we've done a lot in the White Plain City School District and we're really proud of it um offering our our students a variety of meals first of all as we all know breakfast and lunch for every child in the white plan City School District comes without an extra cost that's really special um very proud of that also very proud that that our Our Food Services Department is in-house it's scratch cooking um you can see what the ingredients are that are in the food that the children are eating uh you can even select different types of dietary uh choices based on
068unique dietary needs and maybe restrictions and we're constantly looking to expand that as well I think it's exciting too to have the local New York State agricultural products being utilized on our menus far right exactly coming right from you know going Farm to T yeah it it it's great and when we get the feedback from students to tell us that they like the food yeah they like it that's that's really that's really uh something that's that's very important breakfast lunch kiosks uh you know looking at ways that we can make engaging in in in food with Food Services um efficient and fun high top tables you know things things that that would create an environment for students that's welcoming um and enjoyable um we see it in participation the number of students who are participating
069in our food services program is skyrocketed um over the last couple of years which is really fantastic so we'll continue working there registered dietitian consultant making you know how how are we getting we all know know this those of us who are parents work with kids and you know my daughter if she could have chicken Nets and french fries every night she would um she would uh but you know the reality is we have to try to make sure we're getting those those important foods those nutrients and our kids as well and uh and and looking at ways to do that um while also making it delicious it's fantastic it also uh we want to stay ahead of the curve um we want to constantly be pushing the The Horizon how we can leverage technology
070to enhance education we don't want to be afraid of it you know people were asking me last December we were talking about you know AI coming on the scene that wasn't it wasn't just coming we we all know this it wasn't coming on the scene just happened to get picked up in New York Times chat chat GPT but you know the reality is there are all different types of technological levers that we can pull on to enhance educational experiences for students to extend to enrich to support and we're looking to do that in every possible way um we've also been able to get into a cycle in a system where we are constantly looking to replace on a regular basis um so that we're not getting caught short uh in terms of devices and access
071to devices cyber security and testing our own systems to make sure that we're um as strong as we can be uh you have to be right all the time uh but we're always looking for for for new ways to be able to test our systems and to and to work um to keep our overall data uh and and information technology Universe secure another transition uh as we had mentioned with Mr valz and uh we are we are excited and looking forward to um working with our next CIO uh and again continuing to build on the successes that we've had in the past as an example of some onetime only projects that moving forward uh in in the regular replacement cycle and I just you know I when we were talking with the the finance and
072audit committee I I drew attention to classroom phones we have telephones in every one of our classrooms every single classroom has the ability to notify of an emergency to call a lockdown a hold in place I mean these are really important um tools that that can be used by anybody in the school Community that's a big deal and that's something that we've had in in White Plains for a number of years now and we are replacing those phones and making sure that they're all operational and you know ready ready to to use in a moment's notice Pupil Transportation is a big portion a big component of of the work that we do on a daily basis we transport thousands of of children on a daily basis um we are very happy that we're moving forward
073with the stop arm camera program it's really um in process right now with the city and also with national Express we also know that we're getting ready to issue a request for proposals um uh for transport ation in the future uh as our contract expires um and that could bring change and uh we'll we'll see and and cross that bridge when we get to it uh we're looking for ways to become attractive as well in terms of offering areas for parking of of the buses that we use as well as a as a Department of Transportation garage we don't necessarily want to get back into the transportation business ourselves um that is a very very costly process as you know um and requires a great deal of of uh Legacy costs that go along with
074it as well zero emissions remains on the horizon uh we know that the governor as part of her overall initiative has looked to I think the year's it is 20 2035 um for all student uh buses to transition to electric vehicles we'll see if that timeline or Runway extends or changes um I think based on the infrastructure needs alone it's likely that that's going to get pushed out um there is a lot that go that needs to be considered as we think about transitioning to a fully electric um transportation system um from an infrastructure standpoint alone uh that's something we need to consider as a state not just by Place Health Services uh always again supportive of of our school Community from top to bottom uh we're looking again to uh utilize onetime only funds
075to replace all of our AED automatic defibrillators throughout the district excuse me um CPR equipment and resources uh as again liasing working directly with food nutrition making sure allergies and student needs are taken into consideration in all of our facilities and uh always looking at our protocols and making sure that we're using best practices in our health services department to meet the needs of our children all throughout the district so in the business office um they have some vacant positions that they're working with the city to fill um through the city uh personnel office where they continue to provide professional development and cross trainining all the positions we're updating our procedures manual and we've been working this year um in conjunction with the finance committee uh with our investment advisor so that we're continually uh
076maximizing our earnings and a lot of work that goes on in the the back office to manage the almost $108 million in capital projects in terms of reporting and filing um filings with the New York State and just the record keeping and they're also going through um you know some mandated reporting that has to change um with the employees retirement system for the gold star transition working in conjunction with um Human Resources what is that the gold star uh transition it's it's really about how we report our retirement um earnings to New York State um so that's uniform and and the coding and and the in within the financial software and that mechanism is all consistent and the same across across the state so it just you know helps that process but it it means
077revamping an awful lot behind the scenes um the purchasing department um which encompasses uh many things they continue um to have purchasing uh procedures and um policy meetings to kind of teach best practices and update the policies they're they're uh putting online ordering into our financial software they continue to work with our attorneys to update our contracts our bids and our requests for proposal templates uh and also working through those kind of uh National cooperatives that we're allowed to uh purchase off off of making sure that that's in compliance um they're looking to uh take their part-time position and U make it full-time in order to really you know make sure that they're complying with all the insurance requirements with contracts which would uh be done through reallocation resources um and looking to purchase one
078time only contract management software to help with the creation and routing of contracts they also um are continuing that department in um digitizing our our records you know the focus this coming year is going to be digitizing our Student Records um so that folks in the buildings can just simply go onto the computer and look things up and not have to be digging around for the files um um you know a continual training you know for all the offices on how to pack up and you know Mark your permanent records um so that it's in accordance with New York State guidelines for disposal and they're also looking at the um print shop and seeing if there's equipment and things that can be purchased in order to create some additional efficiencies really is there's so much
079that goes on on the behind the scenes in terms of operating the organization um it it really once as you all know um once you see it it's it it's it's quite astounding especially also considering the amount of Regulation um and Reporting requirements that also go into effect in in a public school district family information center we're going to continue to offer our our newest Tigers they're welcome gift which I think is really cool and you're what is it a T-shirt and and a water bottle um but you know it's special because it's kind of your first little bit of of white PLS Pride coming in as a as a 5-year-old um again also making sure that availability is there to to liaz and assist uh parents and Guardians as they transition in and out
080of the school district uh in Human Resources um tons and tons and tons again happening all the time in Human Resources all throughout the organization um one of the things folks don't think about is sometimes I think is that even after folks retire from the School District um they continue to interface with human resources for things that they may need in retirement so you have thousands of people who are who are looking um sometimes for answers and Human Resources is there to support as well so uh one time FTE um and onetime FTE and 25 26 are our projections right now you did it um so after this evening thank you very much everybody after this even instructional budget February 12th non-instructional on the 26th um preliminary budget to the finance committee March 4th and
081then preliminary budget to the board of education on March 11th I know it's like March but yeah it's right around the corner um and we are very excited uh at at the continued process now somebody might be thinking okay that you just said a lot of things um within the tax count yes we we are all as we have in the past um are always looking uh to make sure that we are well within the tax cap with any recommended budget to the board of education so um thank you again to the board thanks to the finance and audit committee and thank you everybody for indulging us this evening any questions as always budget wpcsd us or you could just call me or an at any time thanks everybody thank you you Joe I don't
082have a question just have a comment I just want to say um and we've heard this a few times in different committee meetings in the presentation um and just I appreciate the pictures of the kids that are interpers throughout the presentation because it like it brings it back to like why we're doing this right we're engaging this long-term planning for the kids and as I sit here and look at 27 28 I'll have a graduate a senior and a 10th grader that that year so it's it's you know it's interesting and I just appreciate the thoughtfulness and and it's just so large of an organization that we sometimes forget when we sit in our own committees just it's nutrition it's it's technology it's the budget it's it's it's huge so I appreciate you taking it
083and putting it in 56 slides that we can understand and digest so thank you thank you it's the enormity of it all that realiz with all the moving pieces yeah yeah all righty next um next we will move to public participation will there be any public participation tonight okie dokie so we will move forward we'll move to our summary action items we have summary action items 4 through 8 may I have a motion sorry second questions um I just have a request if we could uh move item 8i for architect services off the consent agenda okay if I can make that motion make an individual action and make that an individual action yes yes yes can I second that or motion so yeah we need a um a motion to move item 8i off of
084the uh consent agenda and have it stand on its own as an individual item I have a motion so moved I'll second all in favor so we have action summary action items 4 through 8 excluding item 8 I may have a motion so move any questions all in favor oh yes and I read it right there I had it right I know you've been listening to me talk for a long time but I do want to uh just draw your attention and and thank um are are very generous benefactors for for this month's donations of a color printer and paper donation to East Middle School from Recca uh AMZ uh of um meritz Global events 15 gy mats for Mas from Faith zimel Of The Sawmill Club East a $400 donation from the White Plains
085High School PTA for the calculus luncheon which is held at the high school and $6,100 donation from the friends of the White Plains Public Schools for the the following grants $500 to fund the Innocence Project program at Rambo $500 to support a trip to Ellis Island and the Statute of Liberty for White Plains High School students $2,100 to support heart song music and art therapy sessions at White Plains High School and a $3,000 donation to support a trip uh to a Broadway show and meeting with the cast members for the White Plains High School students and they're still determining which trip that's going to be I know which show it's going to be let's bring that back when you find out that's wonderful thank you very much uh to to everybody thank you all in
086favor I I next we'll go to um item 8i um we have the recommended um approval of the authorization of additional architect services for various proposals um these are are architectural and Engineering Services may I have a motion second second second um questions if I I mean I asked this to come off consent so I just think I want to share with with the board my concerns uh this is just a contract with the vendor that we started with in 2018 uh we have had some uh good work with them uh moving forward I've I've shared concerns I continue to share those concerns and um I think we're again I I I just I'm just not comfortable moving forward at this time and I feel that uh you know moving forward I I know we're
087working through a capital plan and I hope uh we move forward into a clean uh RFP in the in the future when we clear the project thank you but I won't be supporting this this amendment thank you any other comments questions join Jim and we vote okay all in favor um I post post I okay thanks thank you thank you next we'll move on to individual um action items we have the recommended action of the authorization for the authorization of the board president to execute employment amendments to employment agreements may I have a motion move second questions all in favor I next we have the recommended approval of the superintendent of school's contract January 1st 20124 through December 31st 2028 may I have a motion second questions or just a comment this is an extension
088for Dr Rick is contract um and I and I think again as as a board um one of our greatest responsibilities is to hire a superintendent uh to do what's best for our students and uh for the for the best of our school district so um thank you Dr R for uh for being here the last few years obviously and I think as a board this is a decision again uh for for that continued employment so thank you still Pi the stack of res and I was the one who said we shouldn't interview him because it's only one7 you wow you're not listening to but this means you can't pick up the phone all in favor okay moving right along yes I I just I I want to say um from the bottom of my
089heart thank you the bottom of your throat out of my throat it it is an extraordinary pleasure to to serve our community and I think over the years uh one of the things that has struck me is that this is a really special place and when we come to board meetings we talk about kids and when I talk to you on the phone or when I see you at events all the time events it's all about kids and I share that with folks who have not experienced white planes and I share it with folks who have only exper experience white ples um because it really is something that we should just preserve and and and fight for with everything that we have and to be able to do this again uh for this period of
090time for your confidence in me for the community's confidence in me and knowing that I'm not perfect um I'm grateful you know I I I really I really am I'm I'm grateful and it's it's a great love of my life and so thank you thank you thank Youk thank you can't believe you weren't going to interview me don't let all the secret welcome back Charlie gotta love them um next we have um the recommended approval of a stipulation for um case two one um may I have a motion second questions it's it's just stipulation agreement standard all in favor I next we move on to our policy um the first reading of a number of policies you we know you will can I keep you busy so I mean to yeah I guess a motion
091for the first reading I mean yeah we don't need yeah we don't need to do that yeah okay check homework asss oh so now we'll move on to um board discussion um yeah yeah yes sorry sorry no no no no not at all I do want to just make mention and formally recognize and congratulate yes Mr Hernandez Delgado who was with us this evening congratulations thank you very much um and and you know wait a minute right yeah it was part it was part of consent no I know it was but I I I was wondering who I didn't see yeah yeah I didn't see how how there I was like who is who is Mr her yeah yeah so officially congrats and you know having had the ability to work together over the last
092three years has been really fantastic um we did connect over the weekend already talking about snow and um thank you very much and and congratulations and tomorrow evening we'll talk about rain and then next Tuesday we'll talk about snow yeah oh good and then I'll call you with anything I find on the facilities yeah congratulations thank you congratulations again next we'll um we'll go on to board discussion um the the discussion on you know on on what Dr ricka presented was what was presented at our finance committee as well as curriculum and curriculum special at special we won't waste so yeah so it's it's you know it's it's been properly um you know presented and discussed so thank you thank you thank you again thank you thank you again um we met um in HR
093and as you know those are confidential um we also got to speak to aier um um any other things you got [Music] special okay so we're at the time where I can recog recognize um John Shephard and John um Mavish thank you for what you do uh getting our um broadcast out to our community happy New Year stay safe dry and careful congratulations again um to you um the great thing is that you're you're really not new you've already been a part of the family so that that's the great thing we can hit the ground running and and yeah sprinting and I wanted to say hello to everyone here thank you for here thank you thank you thank you thank you and anything else that you want to mention without all without any further Ado
094may I have a motion New Year a motion to adjourn our meeting all in favor thank you [Music] everyone [Music]