001is 45, 2% of the 2025 voting population. Petitions must be submitted to the office of the district clerk no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 20th, 2026. For more information, contact anigley at 6801012. >> All righty then. Okay, we can move to superintendent announcements. >> Good evening everyone. So bunch of things to get through uh before we adjourn to our budget workshop tonight. We also have presentations tonight from our PTA. Uh Laura Schwab from SOES is here as well as from our cabinet members. So recently we had a board of education policy committee meeting. We meet often to review policies and we reviewed uh four policies that we've been working on for a while. They're all up for a first read tonight. Policy 11:30 which is media relations and communications. Policy 1500, which is
002use of facilities. Policy 2160, school district and employee code of ethics, and policy 8636, which is our social media policy. So, thank you to all of you who are on the policy committee. It's a lot of work, and I think we're happy that we have four policies coming up tonight for a first read. We also looked at our current DASA policy, Dignity for All Students Act, and some sample regulations. We're in the process of developing a regulation that will outline what the process is for parents um when an investigation happens uh if there's any kind of a situation in a school and the process that that we follow. Now we do have a policy that is very detailed but the regulation will will go even more in depth and make it very transparent for how
003that process um plays out in the district. So the DASA policy that we currently have is policy 0115. Um we have received some sample regulations from our legal council as well as some other districts and once we uh readopt the policy so that that's a policy will be coming to the policy committee and eventually to the board of ed for any changes once we put the regulation in place then we will send a communication out to all families with these updates um and it'll also include the steps for parents. We also had a transportation committee meeting. So, our transportation committee met for the second time just yesterday and we have parents on that committee um who've been really absolutely helpful um as well as our uh director of transportation and and some of our administrative
004team. So, we talked about the implementation of the Transfinder app. You've heard me talk about um there are actually two applications we're looking at. Um one is called uh Wavefinder and the other is called Stopfinder and they both integrate. We're going to be piloting these on some buses this spring. We also talked about the electric bus mandate um from the state of New York and the plan to be in compliance with that mandate. We talked about the issues that we've had with our youngest children on the buses, especially in the beginning of the year, possibly looking at um monitors, and we have had aids riding the buses this year, but maybe a more formalized process for that. And we're also looking closely at secondary routes and mileage limits, particularly those around Cottage Lane and South
005Orangetown Middle School. Our transportation budget right now is approximately 7 million a year and that number continues to increase and obviously we want to keep those costs at bay so that we can make sure we're not um having to look at other areas. Our social justice club at the high school had a coat drive and they earned $1,000. Um they got a donation from team the empathy equality entrepreneurship mission. That's their partnering organization but one spirit on the pin ridge reservation in South Dakota. The money is going to be donated to helping students of the Lakota nation. So, congratulations to our social justice club. Last Friday night, we had senior night at Tapenzy High School for our basketball games. I had the opportunity to attend and the teams played Lakeland and our teams won. Uh
006we also Friday night had the Valentine's annual dinner dance for our senior citizens. I want to say thank you to the Interact Club, to Jillian Fagan, the club adviser, for hosting this wonderful annual event. They are currently working on setting up a digital photo album from the evening and that will be shared out with the the community once it's done. Our Rocklin County Music Educators Association had 30 student musicians last weekend uh perform at the Rockland County Music Educators Association Junior and Contemporary Jazz AllC County Music Festival and that was held at Pomona Middle School. And on January 24th, we had 26 student musicians from Cottage Lane perform in the Rockland County Music Educators Association Elementary Music Festival, and that was held at Willow Grove Elementary School in North Rockland. Congratulations to all our music
007students for participating in all county. Our science Olympiads team at Tavzy High School joined nearly 100 teams at the Columbia University Science Olympiad competition that was also on January 4th, 24th. And last weekend, the two teams earned ninth and tenth place finishes at the Lower Hudson Valley Science Olympiad New York State Regional Competition, placing both teams in the top 10 out of 27 teams from across the region. So, congratulations to our science olympiad students. Moving on to athletics. In gymnastics, Stella B., Sydney S., and Saab Q qualified to represent section one at the New York State Championships next month. Stella also placed fifth in the allaround at the section 1 championships. Our Tapenzee boys and girls fencing took home the section one championships last weekend and our Tapenzee wrestling was the section one runner up
008at the section one championships last weekend following their league and county championships earlier this season. This Sunday and February 15th and that's an annual thing. It's always on February 15th is school resource officers appreciation day. And even though it's on a Sunday, we want to acknowledge um before we uh finish out the week that we are greatly appreciative of the strong partnership and support of our school resource officers, Officer Drain and Officer Grainy, and the Orangetown Police Department. The ongoing work that they do to keep our students safe is greatly appreciated. And again, we really appreciate our partnership. And now we're going to move on to >> public commentary. >> We have one. >> I should have had it ready. All right. Public commentary protocol for public commentary is as follows. All opinions are heard.
009Everyone should be an active listener. Each person is responsible for his or her behavior. Respect diverse perspectives. Be conscious of your speaking time and tone. A limit of three minutes is an appropriate time frame to state your issue. Speakers may not be given unused time to other speakers. Issues of specific personnel, either positive or negative, cannot be discussed at board meetings. References, comments, or discussion that does or may identify a specific student or students by name or situation, will not be discussed publicly due to FUPA law. Issues pertaining to specific students should be addressed privately with a student's teacher, principal, or school counselor in accordance with policy 1400, public concerns, before bringing the issue to the superintendent's attention. The board reserves a right to close comments on an issue if residents become unruly or disrespectful
010or if the topic is something that the board is legally unable to discuss in public. If an unusual number of people are attending to bring forth a specific issue, the number of speakers could be limited. Depending on the number of people wishing to speak during public commentary, the board reserves the right to reduce the time limit on each speaker until everyone is heard. The sole purpose of public commentary is for the board to actively listen to the community. Meeting protocol requires that questions presented to the board during public commentary will be responded to when possible. At the board's discretion, questions requiring investigations will be referred to the superintendent and will be responded to in a timely fashion through future board meetings, electronic mail, mail, or telephonically. Provided the contact information is supplied on the public
011commentary signup sheet. >> At this time, we ask Heidi Hill to come to the podium. Apologize. I never realized that. Good evening, Dr. Kulat and school board members. Uh, a special congratulations to Tracy and thank you for stepping up to serve. I know you'll be a valuable addition to the board. My name is Heidi Hill and I have lived in the district for approximately 16 years. My daughters are 2019 graduates of Tapenzee, both teachers themselves, and I have been teaching in South Orangetown for 30 years now. As a proud member of ESO, and I serve the district as a special education teacher. I'm here tonight as a resident, but also a member of the Rockland chapter of Mom's Demand Action, um, along with Joan from Moms Demand Action, as well as a member of Teachers
012Unified to End Gun Violence. Moms Demand Action is a national grassroots effort um group of volunteers formed after the Sandy Hook school shooting and includes parents, grandparents, clergies, gun owners, and survivors of gun violence. Moms Demand Action advocates for and educates communities regarding safety measures and legislation that can protect communities from gun violence and preventable tragedies. Teachers Unify, also a grassroots movement of educators across America, also started after the Sandy Hook school shooting by a teacher survivor to stop school shootings and ensure safety for all from gun violence. Our Rocklin County chapter of Volunteers of Mom Demand Action have been present at numerous events throughout the years, bringing awareness to firearm safety and gun violence prevention as part of our B Smart program. In August 2024, our local chapter with the unanimous support of the
013Rockland County Legislature and County Executive Ed Day helped pass and sign into law the firearms warning local law which was eventually signed into state law months after it passed in the county. In August 2024, with yearslong advocacy by Rockland chapter leader Sherie Mau and volunteers of Mom Demand Action attended the Clarkstown School Board meeting to advocate for the passage of a secure storage notification resolution and to thank and thank the district for their attention to the resolution after an unspeakable tragedy of one of their rising seniors. The secure storage law was passed in New York State in 2019, so not so new. It requires that far firearms be locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition when children are present in a home. Last school year, we shared via email a copy of the resolution that passed
014unanimously by the Clarkstown Central School District on August 29th in 2024. In late October 2024, the district released safe storage notification email to district families. We're here tonight to urge this board to consider passing a similar resolution about the existing New York State safe storage law and take the next steps to notify district families to help educate the public about existing laws on gun violence prevention. I've emailed on this issue a number of times and to my knowledge the district has not taken action on this thus far. To date, this has been done in a majority of the Rockland County public schools. I'm actually told every district in Rockland County except for South Orangetown and Suffren. This doesn't cost the district anything. I know you're going into your budget workshop next. and it only requires
015the resolve of this board to help advance this safety measure. Thank you and we hope that this will be given serious consideration. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now we have our PTA president's report. Laura Um, hi. Um, oh, sorry. I'm Laura Sha, uh, SOC's PTA president. Um, I just had a couple updates we wanted to share with everybody. Um, first, we want to congratulate all the students who participated in this year's reflection contest. Um, we had 12 submissions into the Central Hudson level and five of those students have gone on to the state level. We had four from Cottage Lane and one from Schaefer. Um, we're going to be hosting an ice cream party at the end of the year for all students who submitted an entry. Um, and once we hear
016back on the state level, we can share that information as well. Um, we're going to be hosting a family funday at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, May 3rd. Tickets include a $15 uh Yankees food and beverage voucher. Um, tickets need to be purchased by April 5th to attend. Our PARP pick a reading partner program is kicking off after break. Every family will receive a copy of the book along with a reading guide and a list of some local businesses that join in the fun. Um, for families with more than one child, the book will be sent home with the oldest child. I know every year the little ones come home and they wonder where their book is. It's with the older sibling. Um, I don't know how they do it with twins, but it's fine. Um,
017so we're going to again partner with the booster company this year for our fundraiser. This year, both schools are going to participate. We're going to do a dance fit event. Um it's going to take place mid-March during PE classes. Um the overall theme is Star Quest 5 and it's going to cover topics such as curiosity, courage, teamwork, resilience, and humility through short daily videos. Um every student who registers will receive a prize and everyone can participate regardless of fundraising levels. We'll be sending um some more information and a link to register after the break. We've also been gathering some fun experiences like principal for a day, security guard for a day, some teacher playdates um that we're going to raffle off at our March meeting. Order forms for these priceless prizes will go home after
018break and tickets can be purchased via the order form return to school or in person. Um we'll have a table set up at math night before the PTA meeting. Um any fifth grade families, if you haven't done so yet, submit your child's baby photo and purchase your yearbook. The links are on our website. And finally, we have nominations are now open for positions for next year's executive board. Um, you can visit our website for more information or to complete the nomination form. Nominations are due by April 3rd and elections will be held at our May 14th meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. Also, just want to give a plug for our special education PTA. They're having a special presenter tomorrow night. um a disability advocate and his name is Miles Forma talking about um growing
019up with cerebral palsy, finding his voice, school inclusion and independence, challenges, wins and advocacy and a question and answer with students and families. So I know that um Haley, I know you put that out in the communication, but I anyone who's watching or who's here, we definitely uh want to promote that tomorrow night and thank SEPTA for getting this awesome guest speaker who's coming. Yep. All right. So, we're going to move on to our cabinet presentations. We have Dr. Arietta from curriculum and instruction. Uh, Miss Espanel, our assistant superintendent for business and operations, Dr. Lloyd, our assistant superintendent for human resources, Mr. Brady, our assistant superintendent for technology and innovation, and Miss Ginsburg, our director of special education and related services. So, I'll start. You guys have the clicker. Good. You're first, right? >> So,
020just to kick off our uh central office presentation, you've already heard from all of the schools throughout the year. They did their fall presentations. Um, and so this is an opportunity to hear from the office of curriculum and our other central offices. And just to start off with our district goals, which we formally launched earlier this year, and that everything we do always ties back to these goals, which is the development of the profile of the graduate, which you know, we have rubrics across all of our schools. That work has been underway for several years now. Our goal for literacy, which includes reading, financial literacy, and Dr. Ariat is going to talk uh much more in depth about literacy tonight. Responsible use of technology, also a district goal that we take um very seriously. and
021citizenship and character education. >> All right, so I'm uh batting lead off. Uh so we're going to talk about curriculum instruction and Dr. Koul just asked us to uh for the format is really just to kind of talk about some of the highlights from the year, things that we're uh proud of and that are continuing to work on uh that our our budget has supported in the past. Um and then to look at some uh potential budgetary implications uh for the 26 27 school year. Um I've talked many many times about our implementation of IMSC this year uh K through five. Uh right now we're at full implementation uh across William O. Schaefer and Cottage Lane. Um, as I've said many, many times before, this was a huge lift. Um, that could not have happened
022without the the leadership of the uh of both of those buildings and the faculty at both of those buildings. Um, so at this point, everybody is is trained. Uh, IMC lessons are happening. Um, kids are are uh acclimating to the routines. Teachers are getting comfortable with it. uh still learning, you know, going they're not even through the curriculum for the first time uh all the way through, but they are still making uh lots and lots of uh strides uh each and every day. So, it's definitely something that uh both buildings are proud of as is my office. Um another thing that we uh have tried to do over the past couple of years uh which uh is to move away from consultants. For many years, we've used internal expertise um and outside consultants for professional
023development. Uh we made a concerted effort over the past couple of years to really focus more on the internal expertise, our administrators, our teachers, our instructional coaches, our central office staff. Um and that's something that we've been working very hard at. And uh we have a tri-state visit um coming up in March. Um and the focus is on professional development and really uh asking them to give us some feedback about how we're doing uh with that about supporting the professional development of all of our faculty, staff, and administration. um using the resources that we have uh inhouse uh for the most part. Um you're going to hear Dr. Koulot and I talk over the course of the you know the spring and going into next year and Miss Luciano will be a big part of
024this conversation as well as uh the New York State has been changing um and slowly rolling out some you know changes to the graduation pathways. Um, so it's some it's work that has started already at the high school, but we're um as more and more changes come down the the the the road uh from the state, we'll be updating the board on those things. So, this is also exciting work that is happening um at the high school. Um we've talked about our our state testing results um from last year and again uh the product of a lot of hard work uh in all of our classrooms across um grades three through eight. So we're we're very proud of that and the highlights that definitely is a a highlight. You know state testing results are not
025the only measurement of how successful we are doing uh in our classrooms but they are an important metric. Um so it is definitely something that we um have as a highlight and then also just our partnerships with external organizations uh to enhance our enrichment opportunities. One of the things that I think all of our schools take a lot of pride in is partnering with outside organizations, whether it's the PTA, um whether it's uh you know, Tunnel to Towers this fall, whether it's uh Stage Left, our long-standing partnership with Stage Left, um and numbers of of others other organizations, um to really enhance those different experiences that um our students are able to have in four in all of our four buildings. Uh very quickly just some potential, you know, uh impacts on the budget. You
026know, we've talked a lot about the the potential addition of a second up UPK class at William O Schaefer. Um this would be offset uh the majority of it would be offset by our our um our uh grants that we re received from New York State. Um so this is something that we've looked at every single year since we started the first class. Um the demand is there. the parents um the community uh loves the first class. William O'Hafer loves the first class and we would always love to be able to offer a second class. So this is something you you'll hear each and every year from me about the potential addition of that second class. uh continued support of IMSC, you know, so once we uh made the commitment to IMSC as our core
027um our foundational uh program for phonics and word study, there the bulk of the cost has been taken care of with the training and with a lot of the materials, but there are some annual uh costs that we'll have for student materials just to make sure that they have what they need to uh fully access that curriculum. So, that's going to be um a regular part of our, you know, curriculum um curriculum and instruction budget moving forward. Um at the last meeting um during our budget workshop, I I talked about kind of where we are with the review of our ELA curriculum. If you recall, uh last year, we were doing a review of our phonics and word study side by side with a review of our reading and writing curriculum. Um we wanted to
028focus on the phonics and word study program. So we uh put a pause on the ELA curriculum uh so that we could kind of implement IMSSE we could get acclimated to it meaning students teachers um parents of all the different requirements of IMSCE. Uh we're still reviewing our ELA curriculum. That's something that we wanted to pick up this spring. Um and so we actually have some I mentioned this last last meeting we have some uh calls out to other districts to go check out other ELA uh programs. This is something that, you know, if we decide to have it in the budget for next year, it definitely will be a big budget item. Um, so which is why I'm mentioning it. But what I also mentioned last uh meeting was or during the budget workshop,
029I should say, not at the last board meeting. Um, is that this might be something that we continue to to review and to to uh look at as we have implemented IMSC. We've had a lot of success. As I mentioned earlier, our state testing results were were were vastly improved this year. Um, which speaks to a lot of the work that the teachers and the administrators and the coaches were doing for years. Um, getting us to that that that those testing results are not because of IMSE. I think it's very important for us to say that um that it's the result of the work that have been going on um in our buildings uh prior to that. But we still want to look at our ELA curriculum, our reading and writing um programs. So this
030may be something that uh the ELA leadership and the administration recommend or it may not. Uh but we do want to make sure that it's on the board's radar that it is something that we are continuing to uh to look at. Um there's one train of thought which is you know whereas we we're not even a full year through IMSC and IMS is a very much a big part of of what we've been doing. um and you know really trying to give the the faculty uh and the students an opportunity to really kind of get acclimated to IMSC before we throw another uh new program on them. So that's just something I want to make sure that is on everyone's radar that potentially could be um in the budget or something that we continue to
031look at for future years. >> I have a I have a question on that. Sure. So the plan then is to um essentially analyze the ELA program this spring and then spend all of the 2627 year deciding like if we actually want to implement something new and then we wouldn't really put it in place until fall 2027. >> That's one possibility even wanted to do it. >> That just seems like a long time from now. It's a one it's a that's one possibility. Another possibility is we decide this year um that we want we want to do it. Um you know Miss Espanol mentioned at the budget workshop that there is a a mechanism that we could use in order to to make the purchase if we do decide we want to spend as much
032time as possible looking at the programs. Another scenario could be that maybe in between those two. So maybe we decide to pilot some of the programs next year. So to really kind of have some of the programs live in our buildings to see what it looks like um you know married up with IMSC and to give our teachers some experience with it. So I think there's there's a variety of different scenarios that we could end up going with. It's not just imple implementation of a program like that probably would be phased in two over time but to your point it does sound like a long time leadership team has been looking at the LA programs this wouldn't be the first time this spring they had vendors in went through this whole process last year so
033it's not like starting from scratch >> correct >> I would just say because anecdotally I've received like a few emails about that specifically that I felt like maybe some some members of the district feel like maybe only half of a good job with the IMC and that there's a desire to change the ELA portion. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think one they're wondering what how long that would take and then it could I don't have actually a very good answer for them but um >> I think one of the other things you have to consider is that in and again not saying one way or another I think it's to be determined but I think that as you implement one program which is such a big part of the school day in IMSC and then you
034you implement another one let's say in in September um then when you're looking at the data and you're look you're trying to measure the the impact well which one was it? Um, so you almost want to in in one train of thought is to let the IME breathe. Um, give everyone some experience with it before then you have another um program. Just again anecdotally uh one of the things that we've been learning through this review is that a lot and we we saw this last year when we started to look at some of the ELA programs is that so when we're saying ELA, we're talking about reading and writing. Um, and so one of the things that we have heard from other districts and we've seen from other districts is that they have not been
035happy with the writing component of these other programs. So what's ended up happening in some districts, not all, is that some districts have changed their phonics like we have. Then they've gotten one of these new ELA programs, lived in it for a couple of years, and then discovered that this the writing was not up to snuff. It's very much uh prompt based. you know, you they give you a text and you respond to it. Not really looking at all different genres of writing. And so what some districts have done is then they've taken a they've thrown out that re writing component of that ELA curriculum and then added a third writing program. So then the teachers were learning a phonics program one year, the reading and writing, you know, an ELA curriculum the second year,
036and then discovered, you know what, this writing isn't really serving our students, so now let's bring in another writing program. So that's happened in some districts. Um, you know, in other districts have just changed the phonics, other districts have changed both. So there's a variety of different things out there. >> And so then is like is there a decision tree like where we've decided as a district that we want to definitely 100% like binary yes or no? Are we changing ELA or that hasn't even been decided yet? that. No, I think that we want to go through the process and we want to see what fits for South Orangetown >> and given our circumstances. >> Well, that doesn't I mean I mean that decision actually is not necessarily what's out there. It's the deciding if
037we think what we have currently is good enough. >> Correct. >> And if we think it's not good enough, that means the decision is we do want to switch. >> So, >> correct. I would just like to flush that out. I think sooner rather than what I'm so the downside risk that I fear is the um like we do make the decision that we do want to switch it but then we wait too long and then there's those students who didn't benefit from the new program because it took 18 months to 24 months to implement. So that's someone who goes from second grade to fourth grade by the time they get to >> Yeah. I would say I would say also and which is not on here and you know I can certainly provide more
038detail on this. I think one of the things that we're seeing um one of the benefits of IMSC is that now our reading specialists um who are providing those interventions for those students at William O'Hafer and Cottage Lane are speaking the same language as the classroom teacher. Um, and so there's a there's a lot more continuity with for uh students who are receiving tier one instruction in the classroom and then students who need that extra support and pull out. Um, I think you're also touching on a group of students who are now in the later years at Cottage Lane or maybe in the middle school who did not have the benefits of this program that is is doing very well. Uh and so that is something that is on our radar and we've been working
039on um with uh Miss Ginsburg and with the building principles at each building is just to look at how we're providing those interventions as well. So I don't I don't want anyone to take the message of yeah the test scores are are improved and because there's always students who are struggling um we are constantly keeping those students who are struggling on the radar um and looking at better ways to to um address those gaps for students who do have the gaps in in reading. Yeah, >> I would just say if you mentioned the for the budget too is that uh it's one of those weird budget things where like and I'm speaking what I think is you know I'm always the board's always representing the community or um this is one thing that we would
040probably want to spend on right so even if it's 500k I don't know what the number is but like >> uh you know the budget is going to be squeezed higher and higher and there's still the sentiment of like, you know, we're doing well as a district or excuse me, the sentiment is like we're spending a lot of money, but still like overall not too happy with like how the I will say it's fantastic how it's trending in the right direction. I echo you on everyone's effort to improve that. I echo or say, you know, kudos to everyone for putting in the IMSC quickly and I think we should just, you know, while we have the momentum of improvement, keep pushing and show the taxpayer stakeholders that uh we understand it's an important issue for
041them. >> Yep. Agreed. >> Can I just touch on one thing? I also just my experience at the middle school is that at the sixth grade level they implemented these um extra star program or the star programs. So I I understand what you're saying. I think you're saying that there might be a gap for those students that didn't get the IMSC but I think that there are other programs that are in place to try to to try to fill those gaps because I'm I'm seeing it with my kids. So just I don't know >> if you have heard about that >> from a budgetary perspective one time >> and I would just ask that um because I'm definitely concerned with that too um is that when we start working with numbers and and seeing the
042test scores go up um is to is to really keep an eye on the numbers of those kids that are falling a little bit behind and make sure that those numbers in particular are trending up. So whatever if it's the first, you know, 25% of our students, what whatever it is you come up with, I just want to see that those needing the support the most are getting it. So those numbers are becoming less and less as as much as possible. >> Yep. anything else about PLA? And then the the last, you know, potential budgetary impact is just looking at, you know, expansion of uh teacher leadership opportunities. Um, you know, we have team leaders and a variet, you know, a variety of different uh um uh positions. Um and so just looking at other
043ways to give teachers opportunities uh to serve in leadership positions whether it's leading a grade level, a department um those types of things just to um provide more perspective to uh building principles as they're uh doing their work. And that is curriculum and instruction. And we'll turn it over to that's not me >> human resources. Thank you. >> Something I said. >> Just kidding. Thank you, Dr. Ar. Good evening, board of education trustees. Great to see everyone. In recognizing that the district's mission is to aspire to provide children with exceptional personalized experiences, the Department of Human Resources really aspires to identify the staff that connect that mission. And I'm proud to share that we are regularly expanding our sources. Uh we will find ourselves at local, regional, and state level job fairs in person and
044virtual. Um we will use local college visits and list serves as the sources. um and amongst other sources to identify and bring staff members of South Orangetown. As part of our standardized hiring procedures, we also look to regularly update our job descriptions and make sure that the interview questions we're asking our prospective employees align with one another. And we also have added uh an integrated sterling background check process to bolster the New York State fingerprint clearance process such that our our qual our hires are quality. When staff join us in South Orangetown, we want to foster a mindset of growth and accountability. And I'll share an example with you. One thing that our office leads are called um annual triannual performance reviews. And what we like to do is we'll bring our superintendents together, our
045directors together, our principles together, and we'll talk about our probationary teachers, the information that we've gleaned from the observation process. We'll talk about our teachers strengths and those areas that we want to provide them with actionable and specific feedback. again trying to foster that growth and accountability mindset. We also want to retain the amazing staff that we have in South Orangetown um this year new to the district and based on staff feedback uh myself and my personnel assistant are now visiting our schools and we're we're offering what's called HR office hours in the fall and the springtime and we'll we'll visit each of our four buildings for about three hours a pop in the fall and spring uh talking about specific human resource questions. Maybe there's benefit questions that staff have that they just don't
046want to, you know, call me about or come visit me. They want us at their building. So, we'll again, we'll conduct that in the fall and the spring. And we enjoy doing that. Um, we also work to retain our fantastic staff by signaling authentic appreciation. Um, and we do that in a couple different ways. Our office will work with our communication coordinators to signal our milestone members who have been with us for 20, 25, 30 plus years. We'll have ceremony for our tenure recipients in the fall and uh as most of us know in the springtime we'll honor our forthcoming retirees and volunteers across the school district. Now, if you ask Miss Espenol, she would tell you that everyone in this room are budget builders and uh the human resource department certainly would we try
047to do our best to be partners in that process. About several years ago, we worked really closely with our board of education, our teachers unit to realize a retirement notification program. And based on current numbers for the 2627 school year, we believe that we might be able to unlock about 1.5 million in savings. And I'll speak to that particular savings in a few moments. Another thing we look at as an HR department is succession planning. And I'm proud to share that we're currently working with Natalie's office to bring in a second senior payroll clerk who would apprentice and learn from our outgoing and stellar senior payroll clerk. And we've also recently brought in an assistant director of facilities 3 to learn from our outstanding and new director of facilities 3 who's in the room with
048us this evening. Speaking about the teacher retirement notification program, we have about 12 to 13 teachers who we believe will be retiring this school year. We've I think we've resolved on most of these. Right now, what's happening is cabinet is deliberating on these particular openings and we're discussing refilling positions, repurposing positions, and abolishing positions and we're having similar conversations about other units as well. We will continue to keep you apprised of our progress in this work either through board reports or upcoming budget workshops. If the human resources department was asked to self audit itself, we would say we're really excited about the responsiveness that we provide our staff members, but we are a little old-fashioned and we would like to implement a a more streamlined efficient process in regards to our end ofear evaluations by
049making that electronic. Um, so we're looking to bring on the frontline staff evaluation module. Right now in the year 2026, our staff do not have the ability to access their salaries or their benefits. Uh they actually have to call us to get that information and we think there's a better way to do that. So we've been working closely with George Georgia's office and we're looking to implement an Envision employee self-service portal that would enable folks to virtually access their benefits and salaries. And again, it's the year 2026. We think we can do better and we want to do better for our staff. Um the last piece is we're kindly respectfully asking to continue using the Sterling testing services program such that we can conduct background checks for our new staff members. Uh that concludes the
050human resources component of this session and now I'm going to hand it over to my esteemed colleague, Miss Arin Ginsburg, our director of special education and related services. >> Thank you, Dr. Lloyd. Good evening to the board of education. It's wonderful to see you this evening. Um over the past few months, it's really been an honor and a privilege to become immersed in our school community. Um tonight, I'm going to speak to you about the Department of Special Education and Related Services. All that is really grounded in access um in alignment and thoughtful use of our resources as we really strive to meet the unique needs of each of our students throughout the district. Um so you'll see up here um a bit of a graphic that just highlights with the committee of special education
051the continuum of programs and it's there as a visual reminder of what the least restrictive environment means um and providing access to general education for our students. As we think about the portrait of a graduate, when we think about um breeding um creative, innovative thinkers, critical thinkers who are future focused, um the least restrictive environment is really a right place to do this. So, it it behooves us to always think about how we can be inclusive with our students. In terms of recently evaluating and understanding our in-dist programs as well as our students who are out of district and what opportunities there might be to create some alignment in some of our special programs throughout the district and really provide like a vertical experience for a student so that there isn't so much interruption with
052their programming. Um, a highlight since, uh, coming on board is offering expanded assessment and training opportunities for our special education teachers and related service providers. And this is really, um, done with accuracy and efficiency in mind so that databased decisions can be made for our students. Last but not least, very excited to collaborate with Dr. Aretta and with our principles to support the multi-ter system of support framework so that we can provide early intervention and um effective uh progress monitoring for our students. This is just a current snapshot a moment in time of what our current special education enrollment looks like. Um you'll see that we do of course have the majority of our students within district and a segment of of our students who require more intensive out of district options. Um, a huge
053thank you to Lori Graham and to Tom Kan who have really closely followed over time some of our students and really um, despite their out of district placements really understanding our students and understanding the opportunities that we may have to bring some of our students uh, back to district. Looking ahead to 2627, um budget considerations of course are rising costs of out of district programs. Um leading into opportunities for us to really create continuity of program, what opportunities may be available to bring some students back into district. So taking a very close look at that. Um, in terms of the Pearson dolls, the expanded test battery, really wanting to make that a focus of professional growth and development for our teachers and our related service providers. Um, and continuing to make that available to them
054in the upcoming school year. Um, everything that I spoke about tonight really, uh, the budget considerations and priorities really just reflect the commitment to inclusion for our school community. I am going to turn it over to George Brady. >> So, good evening. I'm going to talk a little bit about educational technology um from a highlight standpoint for this past year. Uh there's been a couple of things. They're not sexy, but they're things that needed to actually be accomplished. But the first item I'd like to point out is as part of our capital improvement project, um when we're re renovating the high school 300 wing, we ended up actually placing in secondary monitors in the back of the room. Um I did have the opportunity to talk to uh actually just a teacher last week where
055they commented on how it's really changed the pedagogy for their work during the day. Um so historically we always talked about that sage on the stage. So when you're all focused at the Smartboard in front of the classroom, you're really not utilizing the whole space for learning. So by adding that additional monitor, a it provides flexibility to the teacher to move around and be more interactive, but more importantly, it helps those students that might be on the fringe um that can't necessarily see the the full screen. This now provides them an opportunity to see the same material at the same level as as their peers. uh many of our classrooms have been renovated to be more contemporary with 21st century skills. So no longer are the desks in rows, right? So they're they're actually split
056across little work groups. Um so this really just helps facilitate that. We are looking to increase that again this year. So when we do uh conduct the work in the 300 hallway, I'm sorry this is incorrect. Um we're also going to be doing the same in those rooms as well. From a more logistical organizational standpoint, um we replaced all instructional computers across the district. Um that was approximately 360 computers, uh configured over 500 student Chromebooks, and we upgraded all administrative workstations to Windows 11. Uh one of the things working closely with Dr. Lloyd and his office was automating our network staff account creation process. Uh, one of the things that this is helping us is with any ads moves and changes making that process more efficient uh and speeds up uh the ability to onboard
057new staff members. We also from the back end implemented a new asset and inventory system. uh we've had one that has uh supported us for the last several years, but we're looking to enhance that functionality so that we can actually provide more data back to our buildings regarding the use of technology um and the management of it as well. But what I really wanted to highlight here is much of that work that we're doing over the summer uh would not be possible without our summer student internship program. Uh this year uh it was actually a year that was unlike other ones. We actually had seven student interns. Um, and much of this work would not have been accomplished because while we're doing this work over the summer, it's the same time that our buildings are
058being cleaned, the capital project is in full swing. So, having those additional hands has only made us more successful um as we work to improve our district resources. So, what are some budgetary items to to that we're going to see changes across the year? Um I I said it this in the last meeting. Um it's both increases in capital um and operational expenses. Uh you may have read in in uh your various articles or online news about the global memory shortage. Uh we're seeing that impact now. Uh we're seeing availability of product. Something that we experienced back in COVID that there wasn't enough of products that were available but more importantly the cost. Um so many of the items that we typically purchase, we've seen those costs increase. Um the other thing that that we've
059seen across the board and certainly my peers have also talked to is increases in our vendor licensing and support costs. Um give you an example, Google and Cisco, which are two big ticket items for us. Their pricing has increased and it will only continue to increase. But one thing that really stood out for us is a program that we use and we actually use it pretty effectively is actively learn. That alone increased $11,000. Uh so that that's something I've never seen uh up until this year. So that's we're going to start seeing these types of changes over the next couple years as we move forward. The other big item is you've heard me talk about uh our telefan system. it is outdated, end of life, and it needs to be replaced. Um, so we will
060be looking at some increases in costs. Our system that we currently have is probably over 10 years old. Um, it's being poorly supported by our vendor, but once we bring in a new system, the model has changed. You're now paying a sub yearly subscription cost for the licenses and the maintenance. In the past, you had that one-time purchase. You own those licenses. good through through the use of their product. So that's going to be a change that we haven't seen before. To help offset this, uh we will be migrating the budget from facilities for this type of support over to technology. So you'll see a slight reallocation in the budget to cover some of those costs. So I guess back to the the brass tax, right? Uh this is a budget presentation, so I wanted
061to give you those hard numbers that we're looking at. the replacement of our phone system. It is end of life. That's a huge upfront cost. Um there's no way around it. We've looked at multiple solutions. They're all coming in roughly the same, some a little less, but ideally what we're looking for is a a standardized system that is used across industry that will provide us and meet the needs that we have. But one of the items that will increase is those support costs. The day two, right? So, I talked about the one-time upfront cost. Day two costs would be the support that we receive from Boseies, the lower Hudson Regional Information Center. We'll also need new uh what's called a SIP trunk. So, these are connections out to the internet. So, we can leverage the
062internet as opposed to traditional uh Verizon telephone lines. And then, I talked about this just before, software maintenance. Um so, it's now a subscription. Everybody's changed this subscription model. It's the same thing when you buy a new car. You want those heated seats. Uh you want that remote start. You're paying a monthly subscription uh to have that functionality. The last meeting I did talk about enhancing our cyber security. Uh we're looking at a product that's called a scene. So basically what this does is it's monitoring our network 247 uh to see changes uh in how our network is functioning. So it's the intent is to be proactive to notice if there's new traffic in different types of traffic and also behind the scenes is they'll be able to actually respond to that uh outside of
063normal school hours. Um Dr. Lloyd did talk about our Envision employee portal. It's a nominal increase but I think the real benefit is you know the things that we'll be able to provide back to our staff. The other item uh that you've heard about from our transportation committee and Dr. Koul has talked about are products to enhance our transportation platform. Currently uh we are looking at Wavefinder and Stopfinder. Wavefinder um really interfaces more about the route management and the ability for our bus drivers to take attendance. So that way we'll know in real time who's actually riding those buses. Um, stopfinder is more about the communication with parents. So, a parent will know if their child is on a bus, where that bus is, if there is an issue with the route. So, if there's
064a water mane break, you'll be able to get that communication pushed out to you to your phones as well. So, that really is in a nutshell the items that I've talked about. There are some substantial costs, um, but this is the reality that we're beginning to see. So, thank you. >> All right. So, that concludes our central office budget presentations, and we'll open it up to any questions before we uh move to our consent agenda. Well, one thing that comes to mind when I hear subscription and maintenance fees and is that I hope within the coming years as we start to see this happen more often, maybe school districts will be able to to come together to work together because I know when I call the cable company and I tell them I'm going to
065move, the the maintenance fee is the first thing that they get rid of. So I hope that with some negotiating we'll be able to work on those numbers. >> So some of those items if you noticed on the slide before this year there's a slight forester. So immediately out of the gate just for your elig 53%. So every dollar spent 50 cents back. The problem is you have to allocate that money up front. You do get that money back that goes towards the subsequent year which then will help us offset some cost. Uh the other thing that that benefit we look at this all the time that alternative funding vehicles if you do purchase uh whether it's product or services through the or regional information center we get data on those services as well but
066also likes to to um you know districts that negotiate as a so it really hits that point that we're not just going to Google and say hey you need to reduce your It doesn't mean anything if it's a single district, but having the Ricks and the Bosses across across the state, they do leverage those contracts and we're beginning to see a lot more of that area really does much of the negotiation for the whole state. Um, and we're able to actually >> That's good to hear because there's if they're going to start charging us more, we can find ways to have them charge us less. I do just have one question on um the highlights for the capital improvement with the installation of the 25 um 75 in flat screen panels. Were they like um
067requested by teachers or how was the process uh made for where those are allocated? >> Certainly. Um so this actually goes back to our planning for the actual first. Um during that planning process uh we met as central office and our architects uh with our schools that comprise uh teams to really talk about what were some of those things that they were looking for. Um we did actually start with Jafer and that was one of the immediate requests uh twofold was to have a secondary monitor um that helps build that flexibility in construction but also speakers in the um over time and by the time we actually implemented it um those things were taken out um I believe as false safety measures. Uh however, one of the things working closely with with central office and
068certainly Dr. Koula, we felt that this is something that we do need to continue to provide. Um so part of my budget um is a part of the work that um really ties back to old textbook aid. So um the state years ago allowed you to procure technology. So that's how we're using that uh to use that money to provide those additional things in the classroom which ultimately gar different. >> Thank you. All set. All right. All right. Um, we can move on to Are there any committee reports to share tonight? There's none tonight. Um, we can move on to board discussion on agenda items. I I know Dr. Kul said this already, but I'll just uh reiterate. The policy committee has four policies that have been put up for first read. Policy 11:30, media
069relations and communications. Policy 1500, use of facilities. Policy 2160, school district office and employee code of cond of I'm sorry, code of ethics. Yes. >> Policy 8636 social media. These policies can be found on the board of education website for review. And then >> well, Steve, maybe I would just add there too. I actually attended >> I I attended the policy committee meeting. Um, and there's uh two other policies that we're going to be working on. One's a a conflict of interest policy that we'll roll out, but another is uh also a concern from many district members. We've been getting a lot of emails to revisit and probably strengthen our uh the the bullying policy uh for this for the district. And so it's definitely we hear you on at the board level. Uh obviously
070there is a structured process on how to implement changes or improvements to policies. You can see that in action here. Um so the the people who have been emailing and have are concerned that of this as a growing issue. The policy I did attend the policy committee meeting. It was discussed on how to revisit revisit the bullying policy as well as strengthen and improve it. So, it's it's it your emails have been heard and we're we're working towards that. >> And just to to reiterate, that's that's a policy, Dignity for All Students Act 0115. And we're also looking at a regulation to put into place. >> All right. Um I'll read off the addendums we have and then if we have any further discussion before um we move on to the motion to approve the
071consent agenda. So we have addendum to classified personnel agenda one appointments. It is recommended that the board of education revise the temporary appointment of the following confidential secretary to the superintendent of schools and district clerk for the 2025 2026 school year with with an effective date of October 20th 2025 to April 17, 2026 who will be paid at the contractual rate in effect at the time of their retirement. Kathleen Mscari And then I have the second addendum to the superintendent's office consent agenda 11E. Resolution to appoint impartial hearing officer. Resolve that the board of education hereby appoints Gianne Keefe from the state education department list of individuals who may serve who who may service as part impartial hearing officer effective February 3rd, 2026 for the purpose of conducting an impartial hearing involving case number 675460.
072Also we have item 10 C which is being withdrawn from the business office agenda. So I have a motion to add addendum to the class 5 personnel agenda and to add an addendum to the superintendent's office consent agenda and removal of 10 C from the business office agenda. Do I have a motion? >> I make a motion. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I All right. Is there any any further discussion on any of the consent agenda? >> I just have a question on the logistics for these policies. What hap actually what happens now public comment or >> so this is the first reading. We go through we go through two readings and then we approve it. that gives us time to make changes to listen to the public if they have anything. >>
073And the policies that we review in policy committee are posted on the website. So they're up for review and and we take comments on those >> throughout that whole entire period. So tonight's just first read and the next board meeting we adopt those policies. >> If a member board member has like language changes or suggestions, how do I >> have to come to the committee again or >> No, you could just email us. Yeah, we get that from parents. Sometimes they'll be looking at a policy online, make a suggestion >> and we'll incorporate those. >> Yeah. And at any time if we feel like there's a need, we can we can pull it >> and you know, not >> Yeah. If we want to make further changes, we could go for a third read. >>
074It's we don't ever have to feel rushed, but also we know that we need to get the business done and get get them going if if everyone's in agreement. >> Okay. So I have a motion to approve the amended consent agenda categories 8 through 11. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? Hi. >> All right. >> So, before we adjourn, I just want to comment at our last board meeting, our student board members, Jaywan Chay, who's here, and Miriam George, who couldn't be here tonight, made public comments and really advocated for public funding for not only for South Orangetown, but public schools across New York State. and we've sent those communications up to Albany um and to some of our uh politicians hoping that your voices
075will be heard far beyond uh our school district. So, thanks for sharing that and hopefully we'll get a response from Albany. >> Excellent. >> All right. Um just real fast, is there any new business to discuss before we adjourn to the budget workshop? >> No. All right. Thank you everyone for coming. Motion to adjourn the meeting to a budget workshop at 8:37. Thank you, Katie. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ron. >> All in favor? I >> All right, everyone have a good night. >> We're going to take five minutes and then we're going to start at 8:42.