001at 7:36. Motion. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? I Please stand for the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, do anybody have any board announcements? A lot of stuff. Scary. The uh Yeah, we do. Uh Diana, Katie and I attended the uh shooter drill at the high school during the winter break. Winter break, right? Winter. Yeah. Yeah. Uh no, it was a great exercise. We enjoyed watching um our local police department, P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P E PMS, obviously the school administrators, everybody's working together simulating, you know,
002what an active shooter would be like um some different scenarios based on an active shooter versus I think some are just medical emergencies. But either way, I think it was a step in the right direction as far as you know, training everybody in the same sphere so they understand the layout and they know how to react. I mean, nothing's as good as the real thing, but it was still a step in the right direction. I'm glad this, you know, anticipation. Um, I think we all get bigger and better going forward and, uh, yeah, more we train, the better off we'll be, and we'll be able to deal with them in real life. We'll be ready. I agree. And I think we're going to do more moving forward, you said. And I think the more practice
003better was to happen. Like Dave said, I think it was very, it was successful and it definitely made me feel a bit more comfortable with how things were. It's definitely important. Um, one one thing I didn't get to attend, but I know you got to attend, Dave, the uh the night that the PTA put on. Yes, the guilded glamour. I uh I didn't know how extravagant it was going to be. Luckily, I came from work, so I was the suit. Uh, it was very well done. Um, a lot of time and effort went into it. The prizes were incredible. Um, there were dancers at one point that were demonstrating different dance schools, which is very impressive. The food was excellent. I mean, I've never been to a PGA party like that. It's a different level.
004Um, so I I tip my hat to all that for the win. I know it's not easy and whoever put that together, I know they had a lot of help because a lot of moving pieces and I would love to see that. It's very nice. Great time. And and what's great is, you know, along with giving you giving the parents a night out, um, in the end it's all about the kids. It's all about raising money for them and and and for the PTA to be able to support initiatives for our kids. And uh I just want to thank everyone that got to um got to go out that night and and support. Thank I um I am not I attended the uh SEPTA meeting for the presentation and I have to say I was
005a little um disheartened that there wasn't more uh discussion regarding what programs and and how you how they're looking at the programs and what programs like going higher, which ones they'll really like. Um and I think the parents also gave a lot of good feedback because a lot of them were educators and I hope that was taken into consideration in the program that you presenting to us today. So, just to to add on to some of the comments, just thank you Mr. Galino for planning that drill over the mid-inter break. Thank you, Dr. Tessik, uh Mr. Dr. Lavine and several other staff members for participating. I also sent a letter to Orangetown Police and South Orangetown Ambulance thanking them for their participation as well as our school safety agents. So, we will build on it.
006Um I agree it was very um practical uh experience for everybody involved and we'll try to get more staff involved as we move forward. All right, we can move on to super uh superintendent's announcements. All right, so at the top of our agenda at each board meeting, Mr. Ariet has been giving everybody an update about phonics and reading and so he is prepared to share with the board uh where we are in that process. All right. Thank you for uh giving me the opportunity to present. Um so I'm going to walk um the uh board and the audience through the uh the review process that we use to uh select a new phonics and word study program. Um so some of this you've heard before, so I'll go a little Uh so some of this
007you you've heard before um in previous presentations. Um so again, I'll just kind of uh do a quick little review of the process. So the process started with looking at the New York State uh literacy review guide and the sections that were on phonics and word study to assess our current approach. Um then from there we uh asked that each um we asked that our ELA leadership team created a list of non-negotiables um that were values that were important to the Schaefer and College Lane faculty and administration. With both of those first two bullets, um the members of the ELA leadership went back to their grade level teams um and then turnkeyed those conversations with the members of their team so that it wasn't just the members who were on ELA leadership, but there was
008all uh members of specific grade level teams at William O'Haper and Cottage Lane had input. Uh then I visited with uh all of those grade level teams to have conversations about those non-negotiables and those uh traits that they wanted uh in a new program and where they felt that we were lacking in our current approach. Um and so then as we got closer to um uh evaluating the the different programs that were the alternatives uh is that we added members to the team. So we had uh at least three uh teachers um on each grade level. Um one of which was a special ed teacher. Um we also invited uh speech OT obviously our administrators, our ELA coach, our read uh two reading specialists from each building um to join the team. So there's approximately
00930 members of the William O'Hafer and Cottage Lane uh faculty and administration who are on the phonics and word study review team. Um, we looked at five different phonics and/or word study programs which I'll talk a little bit about in more detail uh later in the presentation. Preventing academic failure, the 95% group, foundations, UFly and IMSC um comprehensive plus and morphology. Um, we use a consensus building protocol um to come to a uh a decision. Um, and even at the end of that meeting, I think I shared in my last um, presentation that there was still kind of homework to do and I'll talk about some of those follow-ups that were done after that um, meeting. Um, some of it was listed here followup with we had individual meetings with William O'Hafer and Cottage Lane
010uh, teachers and facult um, faculty and administration who were on those committees. Uh, we had follow-up conversations with vendors with some specific questions that folks had. And then we also reached out to schools throughout Rockland and Westchester about um their implementation process with uh some of these programs um over the course of the last year. So, some of the things that we learned along the way, um, we have learned that while many districts have made adjustments or changes to their phonics programs, uh, fewer have taken a K5 approach, which is what we were attempting to do, um, is that we wanted to look at the phonics at, you know, K through two or K through three, but also we wanted to make sure that we were addressing word study in the upper elementary grades. uh
011conversations that I had with other administrators in um Rockland and Westchester districts is that whilst many have implemented new phonics programs, a lot of them told me, "Oh, the word study piece is next on our on our agenda." Um so they they were there's not a lot of standalone 35 or four five programs out there. Um so we found that there there are not many who have taken this this K5 approach. um they've prioritized the phonics K2 and K3. We also found that because of you know the different grade levels at William O'Shea Schaefer and Cottage Lane, we knew this going in, but it definitely became apparent there's obviously different needs. You know, William O'Shea was much more concerned um with phonics, Cottage Lane, the the word study. So again, that first bullet and the
012second, those two go hand inand we'll talk more about that in a little while. Um also, there was a clear understanding we started the meeting off with that, you know, everyone's not going to get their first choice. people had some clear opinions uh based on either their exposure to different programs um or colleagues that they had in different districts um that they came into with a um uh a perspective coming into the meeting and with you know 30 some odd uh people who are not just representing themselves but representing the faculties of their schools um it was clear and it was made clear that this was not about everyone getting what they wanted. It was about doing what's best for our our students. One of the programs that we did look at um the Institute
013for Multi-ensory Education, IMSCE for short, uh what we found also is that some districts were using them solely for training um they have probably of the groups that we looked at or the programs that we looked at um the most rigorous training. So some districts have taken the IMSC and provided training to their faculty to have an understanding of like the the why and the how we teach phonics and word study. um but they may have incorporated or u implemented different uh curriculum products. So that's going to come up in our conversation um as well. So we had a lot of different options. So, one of the frustrations that we talked about um in the uh the meeting and in our follow-up meetings is that because there were not a lot of standalone 35 programs
014um there were K2 programs, there were K3 programs, there were K5 programs. Um and so we we talked about that that we're not always kind of comparing um apples to apples. So, we kind of had to think about um do we blend different parts? Do we take a really strong K2 and then blend a three, four, five uh component of a different program? The positives is that would definitely address the buildings and kind of getting uh what they want and you know their top program and again we didn't vote but it was became clear in conversations that there definitely were um some programs that were favored by uh the two buildings. However, the drawback is that took us away from our goal of a consistent framework for K5 instruction on ELA foundational skills. So then
015I mentioned the the the uh idea of having because the IMSC has the most rigorous training, maybe we go and we have everyone trained in IMSC and then we do what I just mentioned above. Maybe we get a a K2 program like UFly is a very popular one that's been implemented in a number of districts and then implement the 35 uh component of the IMC morphology program. The positives is that everyone will get the same training um and the training would align with some of our interventions that are done. We have some special ed teachers and some of our reading specialists who are already trained in IMSC. Um but again the drawback is that you have two different programs. So that dis that we really talked a lot about that disconnect between grades two and
016three um of students who are especially students who are struggling uh in second grade and then going to third grade that having a different program waiting for them in third grade was not in the best interest of of the students. So then we talked about uh going with a K5 program. The positives is that alignment that I just spoke about um is that we're all speaking the same language K through five. uh the students are speaking the same language K through five. Um so we have that, you know, that vertical um articulation, but again, the drawback is people aren't going to get their top choice, right? We're going to aim for consensus. And anytime you're you're you're working with a big group, um you know, I believe consensus is is the best way to go
017because again, you're not going to please everybody. So we use a uh consensus building protocol. Um, so we spent some time during the review just to kind of define what consensus uh meant. Um, so consensus means I can live with the decision. I'll support my colleagues in implementing the decision and I won't get in the way of implementing the decision. So what we asked people to do is to is to essentially rank where they were um as we kind of went through the day. So we asked at a level one is I strongly agree that this program is the right choice and I can support it. A level two, I can accept this program and will support the implementation of this choice. Level three is I can live with this program and I'll support the
018implementation. And level four is I have concerns and I cannot support this program. So it was very possible that someone could give multiple programs a level one. It was very possible that someone could give multiple programs a level four. They're not they're not uh restricted to only giving a level one to one program um a level two to another program and so on. So it really was asking them to assess where they felt they were with the um with the program that we were looking at. So the agenda is we reviewed materials in grade level teams. Uh we used the reading league guidelines to facilitate the conversation. Uh that kind of anchored our conversations. So folks were assigned into these grade level teams and they had the the reading league uh guidelines uh for for
019lack of a better word rubric um to really kind of anchor their conversations in uh as they looked at the materials both teacher materials and student materials. Then they debriefed by school. So we we split up. We had all the William O'Her faculty and administration talk about what they had seen by their grade level and by their perspective. Um they talked about strengths, weaknesses, concerns, um areas of agreement and disagreement. And then we did a a consensus check. We asked folks to rate, you know, where they were on that level one through four um with the uh the programs. And we'll show you the results later on. Then they debriefed in small mixed groups and then we mixed them up. So let's say for example um I'm a uh I'm the principal at Cottage Lane.
020Mr. Finn is a a kindergarten teacher at Schaefer. Mr. Sansones, a special ed teacher at Cottage Lane. Uh, and Miss Graino is a speech uh therapist at William O'Hafer. Four different roles, two people per building sharing their perspectives of of the uh uh the the programs that they looked at so they could hear from the other buildings and hear from the other roles. Then we did a second consensus check, see if folks changed, were they moving in one direction or another based on the conversations that we were having. And then after we did the second consensus check, I looked at the results and we were building towards uh a greater and greater consensus. And then we had a whole group conversation of kind of talking about the the the categories I listed above, strengths, weaknesses,
021concerns, and then noted our areas of agreement and disagreement. So these are the four main programs. There was a fifth program. The fifth program scored very low on the consensus. So I did not put up the uh the results. Um the it was level fours for the most part. Um so these are the ones that really uh we were speaking the most about. So the the numbers are percentages. So again level one is this is the choice that I think we should be going with. Um and I can fully support it. Level four is I have serious concerns and then levels two and three are you know getting uh colder or cooler as you go down. So if you look at foundations um after the first round and then into the second round the um
022I'm really paying attention to the level ones and twos also the level fours the level ones and twos didn't really share about 51% um of the folks in the room about 30 people felt good about foundations foundations is a K through three program so then the question was what do we do for four five we look at UFly, you'll see that and here you can start to see where the buildings differed. Uh UFly is a K2 program. So clearly, while we didn't, it was an anonymous uh Google form that we used based on the conversations folks at Schaefer felt very strongly about UFly. Um but you look down there, level four, there's 40.7. Again, based on the conversations, there were no names on these forms. Um but based on the conversation is that cottage lane
023was concerned about that K5 articulation. Um so uh you fly was around 25% were at that level one and level two 95% um so again you're going to see the opposite here. So 95% is a K5 program. So you'll see here that we have about 56% um we're feeling pretty good about 95% but look at the level four 37%. Again, they were not named. Schaefer, especially the younger grades in Schaefer had had uh concerns about some of the uh 95% materials being developmentally appropriate for their students. Um so we were about 55% for um 95 55% for 95% sorry. Um then we look at IMSC. So IMSC level one and two in round one we were about 80%. So 80% of the folks in the room felt strongly that IMC could be a program that
024would meet the needs of our students and address our non-negotiables um on our list. After we did our second vote, it went up to 96%. So as I mentioned before, IMSC and we'll talk about the strengths of IMSC later. Um but what stood out to me also no level fours. No one had serious concerns about IMSC. um IMC ticked a lot of the boxes um that we talked about in our non-negotiables and then of course on the reading league and also on the New York State um literary uh literacy guide. So the strengths of IMSC um it would provide that K5 continuum um as we would use the Orton Gillingham Plus for K2 that's the phonics program and we would use the morphology plus for grades three through five um for our word study program.
025So, it's going to give us that K5 articulation that um uh many members of the committee and many faculty members across the district thought was important. That was definitely a theme that I heard throughout this process, not just on this day, but in the conversations that I had with faculty members. As I mentioned earlier, IMC is is the most rigorous training that we're going to find um in giving our teachers um that professional development about how to uh teach uh phonics and word study. It's 30 hours per teacher. Um, and so we are the goal is to in order to have the teachers implement this program with fidelity is that every single teacher needs to be trained and we're going to prioritize we're going to have a very aggressive uh training schedule uh prioritizing the
026uh general ed teachers, their special ed co-teers. Um and then we're going to make sure many of our reading specialists as I mentioned are al are already trained. Um we'll get them refreshers if they need to be. will eventually train our ENL teachers uh and making sure that every uh teacher who teaches reading in some form or another at William Schaefer and Cottage Lane are trained in this program. I'm taking a very aggressive approach to get this done by June 30th, knowing that we will need some of the summertime to do it. Um but we're going to prioritize and and uh the the time that we have with our teachers until June 30th. As I mentioned, uh, some of our teachers, our special ed teachers and our reading, um, specialists already use IMSC as an
027intervention. Um, so this aligns with our intervention. So, one of the things, one of the next conversations that I spoke about at the SEPTA meeting is really looking at um, our tier one core curriculum and our interventions and really kind of making sure that they align so that uh, kids are not receiving mixed messages uh, and that teachers are having conversations using the same language. Um so IMC that's another strength that they have and it's uh their phonics is multiensory and that was clearly um something that was uh very important to a lot of members of the uh faculty um both at William O'Hafer and Cottage Lane. So next steps is working with the business office. I've had multiple meetings with Miss Espanol to make sure that we can um uh secure the materials and
028set up the training dates. I've had conversations with the folks at IMSC um to start facilitating the training dates. Um we've had conversations starting of conversations with um the administration at William Oafer and Cottage Lane um because obviously getting a teacher trained 30 hours while they're still teaching um is going to be a big lift for the buildings and making sure that they have uh sub coverage and such. So, we want to get this going as soon as possible um so that we can um do this without impacting um the buildings um as much as possible. Um and then we're also u moving forward with our reading program review. Um so this is kind of our first step. We prioritize the phonics and the word study because it's those foundational skills um that are so
029important. Um and we are now moving on to our reading program. We had a day with the same team um last week um last Thursday uh where we had vendors from six different programs come in um and they presented the strengths of their programs and at the end of that day all I asked the team to do is to give me three programs that they would like to hear more about. Um so those programs are uh ARC uh arts and letters and CKLA uh amplify. Um, so on this Friday at superintendent's conference day, the team at William Schaefer and Cottage Lane will be digging into the materials. They didn't really get a chance to look at the materials while the vendors are speaking. It would have been too distracting. So now they're going to look
030at the um we'll develop a protocol for them, give them some things to think about, provide them with the uh New York State uh literacy review guide as a rubric, and they are going to start digging into the teacher materials and the student um materials um on Friday. And then Dr. Mr. Scarf and Miss Beglin um and Dr. Paige and Mr. Gin, they get very upset if I leave them out. Um is they are then going to develop a schedule where the rest of the faculty will have an opportunity to start to look into those uh materials as well. Um and then we'll continue on with our uh review of the reading program. Um so you have a um a resolution to um adopt IMSC as the um ELA foundational skills program for the district.
031uh effective essentially September 1st uh and that will be K through five. Thank you, Mr. Arietta, for a thorough presentation and all the work you've done with the ELA leadership team and the rest of our staff to to get to this point. Uh before I open it up to questions for the board, just a question about the training because it is 30 hours. Are we going to be leveraging superintendent conference days, team times, and the concern is obviously about teachers missing instructional time. Can you speak a little bit more about that? Yeah. Yes to all the above. Uh so what IMSSC does is they so uh Miss Corbel asked for um kind of a plan with the training. Um and so what IMSC does is they kind of lay that plan out for you. There
032are trainings every week from now until the end of June and they give you flexibility on how you implement that. They are you can do five days, you can do you can pick like a Thursday for you know five Thursdays. Um they have a variety of different combinations. Um, so I'll be sitting down with uh Miss Beglin and um Dr. Scarth to set up a schedule using the IMSE um schedule that they provide and the opportunities that they have for training. Um so that's what it'll look like. It's virtual training um that will occur and it's uh again it's it's 30 hours. The soon as a teacher signs up for training, they ship the materials to the teacher u and then the teacher is working with the materials as they are kind of going through
033that that training process. So, we'll be, you know, we'll be leveraging all the structures that we have, but it will be taking up, you know, big chunks of time, which is why we want to get started as quickly as possible so that we're not sending dozens and dozens of teachers at the very end. Um, that we can send a few per week per building to minimize the impact on uh instruction and on on the building's ability to find subs. Thank you. Can I start? How many special education teachers and reading teachers are trained in IMSE? Um, not off the top of my head. I I don't know exactly. Um, but I think there's at least two at William O. Schaefer. I think there's three. Uh, there's one going uh reading teacher who's going. Um, no,
034no, no. I mean, like currently trained, they're giving that are giving IMS to students, right? Yeah, I have to I'll have to ask and find. So Rockland Boseies was offering the Orton Gillingham training over the past few years and a lot of our reading specialists and special ed teachers took advantage. I don't have the number off the top of my head is an intervention. That's the IMSE training that we're talking is a current program that they're implementing for RTI. Some RTI students and special ed students. My question is how many of those teachers are trained at this time? I'll find out. Right. Reading and special ed teachers. Yeah, we'll get you that information. So last Thursday I have one more. Oh, sorry. Well, I'll go to reading if you want if something on the No,
035I have a question. So last Thursday you were you were making plans on discussing the curricul. So last Thursday did you have ISM I can't say is IMS? I can't. So was that already chosen and now you're going to the vendors last Thursday? I don't understand. IMSE was chosen uh to be the phonics program. Okay. And then we looked at different vendors. IMS does not offer a reading program, a reading comprehension program. So it's a different vendor. So when you asked the teachers on Thursday, did they know? I can't I just like just say OG I the I program did they know that the program was follow? No. Uh we we had questions. Uh so we went into Thursday without an answer because one of the questions that I mentioned on the slides was this
036three through five this word study program and so what we found out that some districts do. So a lot of the vendors will tell you they have word study built into their reading comprehension program their reading and writing program. So that was something we told all the vendors we wanted to hear about. We wanted to hear about what their word study looked like at 3 through 5 because that may have answered the question for us. that may have answered the question of we could then would do something K2 uh you fly if there's an integrated uh word study program in one of the reading programs. Uh it wasn't a satisfactory answer that we got. We also followed up with some of the districts that use those programs. Um and it wasn't as a robust of
037a word study program that we used um that we would want that's embedded in those uh reading programs. So when was the whatever? Uh uh Monday I was still talking to different districts over the weekend about their experiences with IMSC uh their experiences with with UFly, some of the districts that were doing kind of combo programs uh and getting their feedback. Um and so then Monday uh I sent an email to the principles and then this morning I sent an email to the team. I have a follow question. You want to go? Uh yeah, I do. Um 30 hours per teacher. Y so obviously we don't know the number of teachers that are already trained that we don't have to train but I'd like a breakdown of how many teachers need to be trained and
038what that is going to look like for our budget. I mean and who we're going to have to pay overtime because once we go after after June 30th we're paying overtime for the summer. Yeah. So that's that's why I said I'm going to have an aggressive schedule to take it take I understand the aggressive schedule. I don't I I mean I don't like the fact that they're creating our schedule for us. I'd like it to just they're not creating the schedule for us. They have a they have a a menu of options. So they offer trainings that are you know next week is what May I mean March 17th. March 17th through March 20th from this time to this time and then their slots available. Okay. So I'd like to know the number of teachers.
039How many are going to be out of the classroom at a at a clip between K through five at this point because we're looking at a lot of subs and a lot of money. Um uh and who will need the sub the summertime hours? how much we're going to be paying out in overtime for the summertime hours after 6:30, but I think once we get those numbers of teachers that are already trained, we'll have a good understanding. I haven't follow up to the reading with you question. What other districts like um how popular is IMS? So, IMS so Pearl River is the is the closest district that uses IMSC? Um I spoke with my counterpart in uh Pearl River. are very happy with where they are uh with it right now. Um so they're the
040one that's that's closest um that uses it, but like other people throughout the state use it too. Other people throughout the state use it. I off the top of my head, I don't know. Um it's one of the, you know, ones that were recommended on the reading league. Um so as far as being embedded into the the uh science of reading and then also having, like I mentioned, the rigorous training. You said Pearl River was out there. How long have they been using it? Uh they're in the second year. No, because they All these all these programs are really in first or second year in these other districts. Well, they also use heard in program, correct? As a um I don't know. I didn't have a conversation about heity one and two use heard as
041like a heard heard a bc as a as a another program that they utilize in their general ed classes. I don't know. I didn't have a conversation about that. I'll find out. I'm sure it wasn't spoken by a parent at a meeting. Can I ask um when you were trying to come to consensus and you had round one and round two, what happened between round one and round two? So uh round one was after the school conversations. So up leading to round one, they had looked at the materials, they had been working in their grade level teams, they had debriefs in their school uh conversations. Then we had round one and then round two uh before round two. So in between round one and round two is they were doing those mixed conversations. So I
042remember I'm from Cottage Lane, you're from Schaefer. So two people from Cottage Lane, two from people from Schaefer kind of sharing out what the buildings were talking about. Um and then they we did another consensus check. Did everyone get to see round one when the results came out? And we looked at it in in live time as we're, you know, uh, round two. As we're having the conversation, I pulled them up and then we could see where we were with round two. And to me, 96% at level one or two is is consensus. Yeah. I'm glad to see not one um, teacher said four. That's Yeah, that stood out to me just as strongly as the 96% at one and two. Yeah. And the K5 alignment is is I think it'll be key. And looking
043and looking at you flying 95% with those high percentages of level four, it would make me question and even at uh level four on foundations that is big enough that it makes me wonder. So yeah, there were different factors that played into it. I think the K5 articulation was definitely a big factor for um UFly and for 95% um and then what the f what our teachers felt developmentally at each level. Um foundations we used to use prior to to me uh um in this position and so I think there were mixed feelings about foundations and the experience with foundations in the in the past. Well, it's nice to know at least they weren't the worst. Do do you know I know I know you it wasn't under your tenure, but what uh why did
044they foundations. Do you know any like like what did the teachers pro provide information by? No, really what they talked about is their experience was that uh they didn't get the training that they felt they needed? Yeah, that was the thing that that came through from a lot of teachers. I had asked how many teachers use foundations and almost every teacher in the room raised their hand and then they also shared that the training that was provided back then wasn't sufficient. Which is why I think when we were having the conversations with the non-negotiables and when I was going to team meetings, that was the that that was probably the one thing that was on every single grade level uh list is that we want something that with a robust training program for all teachers.
045Um so I think that probably informed their experience there for sure. Can I go on to reading? You said there were out of the six different programs there was three. Correct. We got ARC, Arts and Letters. Yep. And what was the last one? Uh, Amplify, CK, LA. And what grade level are those? Those are K5. Those are all K5 reading programs. Some of them have a a middle school component, but we're not looking at that yet. And if I if I might might ask nicely. Um, can we get a breakdown of training what those what that's going to look like and where we're going to be at to make this decision? Who's going to like Yep. as soon as possible? because I mean we're talking about September, right? Um yeah, I mean I ideally um
046right I think it's marrying the two marrying the two things together. I mean we're sending K through5 teachers now we're going to send them to Gillian training but now we're going to send them to reading program training. So yeah. Yeah, just go ahead. By and large um the K through five um it's not as rigorous as the the 30 hours the reading programs. Um, but I'll supply you with the uh each one and that will be a slower roll out and we've talked with other districts. Many have not implemented new reading programs or they're in the beginning stages of that. Do we have Do we know the names of the other districts that haven't rolled anything out? I I put a list in a board report a couple weeks ago. I can put the list
047again in again. Um, I provided a list of the um uh I think it was requested of the top 25 uh districts in New York State as per as by the reading tours. Uh the majority of those districts have not but they're not rockland districts rockland rockland districts many have not implemented a new program either but they've supplementation sub supplementation with phonics programs which has been their priority but the other ones they never changed they already had well that's yeah but we didn't even add we had no implementation with any supporting programs and um what's the what's the plan for uh 5 through 12 do we have any like so the plan for so for 6 through 12 um so 6 through 12 in ELA uh is very much driven by the the New York
048State learning standards uh so it's more departmentalized um it's more actually Dr. I met I had a meeting with Dr. Cory and uh Miss Grace uh yesterday and so they were talking about kind of providing some supplements to support the reading and some of the kind of back to basic stuff um within the the middle school program. Um and then at the high school, the high school is always looking at the the state standards. Um and so again, it's more of your kind of traditional but even the supports for the students that are not on that level. Yeah. So I think that's one of the things I mentioned at the SEPTA meeting. So that's uh kind of a a big conversation that we're going to have about what that looks like for students maybe who
049are beyond the elementary school and who are looking for I thought you were talking about general curriculum. I was talking about Yeah. So as I said at the SEPTA meeting um that will be kind of one of the things on our forefront about what our plan is for the summer and next year about addressing the students who are still uh below grade level in reading um but who are now at the middle school or the high school. So, we'll have a we'll have a plan for that at the end of the year. I know one parent at the SE meeting did um express that her district or their district did um to do like a weekend. I mean, I'm sorry. Yeah, did a weekend program. And I think that's a ideal thing because you know
050I think I think we could put to kid have to lose their is class or their special class because they're going they have to go to reading support instead. I think that's something that we should definitely Yeah. I mean, I think we can certainly throw anything on the table and see what what's there and see if we have the availability to do it. If we have the interest from students, if we interest from teachers um to do it, I think anything can be, you know, on the table as a potential and we're also looking at the summer programming which we do every summer and capturing those students if we can during during the summer in uh reading institutes. But I would, you know, I wouldn't want to speak to what the exact plan is yet
051until we have a chance to talk to the principles and the the teachers. Sorry, surprise. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Rudy. Thank you. Thanks, Rudy. Okay. All right. I'm going to continue on with superintendent's report and just cover some highlights from the past few weeks. So, um, tonight we are going to have a budget workshop. will adjourn to it and uh we'll be talking about our budget outlook for this coming school year. We'll also be taking a look back to last year's budget. Um we had today a re reunification training. Thank you, John Galino, for putting that together and everybody who attended. And the reunification is really just about getting kids home safely and reunifying them with their parents. Um and there are several different reasons why we might need to reunify kids.
052It could just be uh weather related, which we've had. It could be a power failure, which we've had, and sometimes uh it could be a safety incident. Our uh DECA members at the high school advanced to the ICDC after placing first in the financial services category at the regional DECA competition uh in January. So, Tapeny High School Lucas Whitick and Jaywan Chay advanced to compete at DECA at states in Rochester. This was just this past weekend. And I'm happy to report that the team qualified for the DECA International Career Development Conference. Our Tapenzy High School musicians and vocalists performed at the state capital last Friday. We had 40 students from Tapzy High School Corral and Concert Choir and instrumental ensembles travel to Albany and they performed for members of the New York State Assembly under
053direction under the direction of Dr. Wagner uh in the Empire State Plaza at the Capitol. So they had a 45minute program. The kids performed a wide range of styles from classical works by Brahms to traditional folk songs sung in their native languages to popular and Broadway selections including songs from Wicked. Dr. Wagner reported that the students received glowing compliments on their high level of performance and professionalism and have already received an invitation to return next year to perform during music in our schools month. As you know, uh Dr. Dr. Wagner also takes the kids to Radio City Music Hall every year and and they're always invited back to perform there as well. So, we thank him for giving our kids opportunities to perform for authentic audiences in these different uh settings. Our SOS science olympiad
054team, we had 11 students of our science olympiad team compete against 39 teams from Rockland and Westchester and this was at the lower Hudson Valley Regional Tournament and that was held at Scarsdale Middle School. Our team won the best new team award and this is awarded to schools who've not competed in at least three years and earned the highest score among all the teams who've not competed in the last three years. Our students earned eight medals in four events. And the medalists were Ari K and Luke B came in sixth place for optics. Caroline S and Gabby M came in eighth place for Write It Do It. Luke B and Matt B placed ninth for Road Scholar. and Ethan C and Lucas placed 10th for Scrambler. So, congratulations to the entire science Olympiad team at
055SS and to our adviserss Dina Kamarek, Samantha Lavine, and Edith Noak for getting that team back up and running and having them compete so successfully having been on a hiatus for a while. This past weekend, our South Orangetown Sobots team, our robotics team had their uh competition and they made it to the playoffs and that was the Hudson Hudson Valley Regional Competition at Rockland Community College. Our team also won the judges award. Our lead adviser and Tapidsy High School math teacher Karen Connell received the regional 2025 Woody Flowers finalist award. And that prestigious recognition honors uh it honors late MIT professor Woody Flowers and his contribution to engineering education and communication. We're very happy for Miss Connell. She's well deserving of that award. Finalists are automatically qualified to attend the first world championship in Houston
056as individuals for the award selection. In addition, our founding team mentor, Joey Gotautle, who introduced me to a lot of people uh this past weekend at the event, including people at Fizer who are having an upcoming uh career event that we're going to try to get our kids uh access to. He was the recipient of volunteer of the year award for his leadership, personal commitment, and contributions to the team. And Mr. Gotautle spends an inordinate amount of time mentoring our robotics team. He is he is the heart and soul of that team along with our coaches. And so we're really glad that he was recognized at the Hudson Valley Regional last weekend. Moving on again back to music. Uh our RCMEA Intermediate All County Music Festival Music Festival occurred. We had 49 of our youngest
057student musicians perform in the Rockland County Music Educators Association Intermediate All County Music Festival and that was at Clarkstown South High School earlier this month. Selections were based on the students outstanding solo audition scores from last spring's New York State Music Association Solo Evaluation Festival. The festival provides students with opportunities to perform with the best ensembles in the county with notable music professionals from across the United States. Congratulations to Cottage Lane Elementary School Musicians. For band, Kaisy P. Orchestra, Penelopey R. And for chorus, Taylor C, Caitlyn C., Riley L., Violet M, Rachel M, Aria O, Addison Q, Joey R, Mave R, Ava S, and Grace W. And our South Orangetown musicians were for band Christopher B, Gabriel C, Kennyro C, Isla F, Takishi J, Yoni, Yoni K, Aaron L., Kaylee P, Shannon R, Finnegan T,
058Juliana W, and Anna W. For orchestra, we had Veronica C, Angelina F., Olivia F., Ryan K, Olivia L, James P, Brandon R, Moses S, Jeffrey T. Roy Y, Edward Y, and Allison Z. And finally for chorus, we had Celia C, Maggie C, Grace G, Isla H, Willow M, Ryan M, Amalia or Molly M, Elijah P, Grace R, Priscilla R, and Athena T. So, congratulations to all of our young musicians for that great accomplishment. Moving on to athletics, we are incredibly proud to have four section champion teams this season. As you know, our boys fencing team won the section championship in midFebruary. More recently, our girls indoor track and field cheerleading and boys basketball team have won sectional titles. For girls track and field, this is the second consecutive section championship win and a number of
059athletes also won their individual events. For the 55 meter hurdles, Polar Fernandez 600 meters, Bridget Dunn, 1,000 meters, Cassidy Donovan. For the triple jump, Polar Fernandez 4x400 relay, Emma O'Keeffe, Audrey Honchar, Cassidy Donovan, and Polar Fernandez. and the 4x 800 relay was Mia Dleio, Gia Cassidy, Bridget Dunn, and Cassidy Donovan. So, they had an incredible uh season as well as last year. For cheerleading, this is the first ever section title for the high school's program. The team competed at the New York State Championships in Bingmpington last weekend. Mr. Pill uh also went and Ella O Sullivan won the sportsmanship award. This coming Saturday, our boys basketball team, sorry, this past Saturday afternoon, our boys basketball team beat Rye 44 to 32. I was actually having breakfast with the superintendent a little while ago before uh
060the game, so it was a little bit of a rivalry going on there. Um, and in the finals, they won the sectional title. We had senior Xavier Lavell named tournament MVP. I forget how many points he scored, but he led the team. Senior Tommy Lenahan and junior Isaiah Lavell were named the all tournament team. Congratulations to our athletes and coaches. Thank you to the families and friends and community members who support our athletics program. And our boys basketball team is playing uh this weekend, this Saturday in Yorktown Heights against the Long Island team. I'm not sure if we know which team we're playing yet. Um, so we wish them luck and that's the regional finals and hopefully we'll then be moving on to states. All right, so speaking of states, we've had several individual athletes
061advance to compete at the states this season. So for tapenzee gymnastics, Khloe Derso, Sydney Schusterman, and Gabriel Apaya. For Tapenzee wrestling, we had Parker Trento and and Bak Brunage. I hope I pronounced that right. for Tapenzy swimming. Colem Driscoll, Tapenzy girls track and field, Gia Cassidy, Mia Delellio, Bridget Dunn, Cassidy Donovan, Polar Fernandez, Audrey Hchar, and Emma O'Keeffe. And that concludes my superintendent highlights. And I just have to read one thing uh and move on to the library referendum. Thanks, Miss Gary. Okay. So, our public libraries um are seeking a referendum and we have a a frequently asked questions document. But I just want to share with the public that the blvelt free, orangeberg free, Japan free, Palisades free, and uh the Dennis McHugh Piermont public libraries, all located within our school district boundaries have
062requested to put forth a funding referendum that will go up on Tuesday, April 29th, and it is in the amount of $150,000, which shall be raised in addition to the 600,000 which is presently raised annually by our school district, which would total $750,000. This will cost the average homeowner um $14.25 a year or $119 in a a month. Um education law chapter 16 title one article 5 part two 259 authorizes libraries to hold a funding referendum through the school district. So I want to be clear there's no impact on the school district's budget. These funds are separate from and have no impact on the school's budget. The board of education's responsibility is simply to pass a resolution just establishing the date and the locations of the vote. When and where will the vote take place?
063The vote will be held Tuesday, April 29th at all four libraries, Blavvelt, Orangeburg, Palisades, and Tapan. Residents from Gran View, Piermont, and Spark Hill will vote at the Palisades Library, and we'll hold a joint public hearing on Wednesday, April 23rd at 7 PM at the Blibrary. I don't know if you want to add anything. Sorry, that was that was a lot to read. Uh, well, uh, just one thing, if if people remember, there was there was there was no referendum last year. I don't know if if there was one year. So 2022 was the last year they asked for a rent. Um and this year is for 150,000. Okay. All right. All right. That concludes my superintendent report. Thank you. And then we'll see if we have anyone for public commentary. Okay. So, no one
064for public commentary today. Um, so we can move on to board discussion. Uh, any committee reports anyone need to discuss? I have one, but I'll let anyone else. No, she Okay, I'll I'll just start with the facilities committee meeting from Steve. Your honor, I didn't really What? Sorry. Facilities. You said you're doing pas. Yeah. Or are she? I'm good. You can do it. Okay. All right. So, the facilities committee had a meeting on March 5th. Um, so with phase one work at Cottage Lane and William O'Shea for work is ongoing. Uh, the packing plan was provided to the principles on phase two at at the high school. The summer 25 work abatement time frame, spring break. There's two rooms and first two weeks of summer break. Um MC has all of their equipment in stock
065and the packing plan was provided to the principal at the TZ auditorium. The bid documents are being prepared and the post bid. We plan to post a bid in April opening May and awarded in June. TPG and CPL proposed construction June 2026 to December 2026. Regarding phase three, SOS architectural addendum is in progress. And then May 2025 budget vote final recommendations to the board of education are work on the Tapency High School nurses ADA bathroom, the William O. Schaefer classroom um case work, there's eight classrooms, the Tapency High School storefront work, and then additional cameras and other security enhancements. And if there no other committee reports. Okay. Just to to add on to what Mr. Finn shared, there are four projects we identified uh to do in the transfer to capital. The one project we
066are going to try to move as quickly as possible on is the bathroom uh nurses suite at Tapenzy High School and we have come up with a plan to get that work done this summer. Thanks. All right. All right. So, we all have the addendum. I just wanted to read that off for the phonics and word study. Um, so we have a superintendent's office consent agenda addendum resolution to approve new ELA foundational skills program. Whereas in accordance with policy 4511, a South Orange a South Orangetown school selection committee was formed to evaluate a new ELA foundational skills phonics and word study program. Institute for multiensory education comprehensive OG plus and morphology plus. And whereas the committee evaluated several programs based on the following criteria and New York SED literacy curriculum review guide, the reading league
067curriculum evaluation guidelines and the SOCSD non-negotiables list. Furthermore, the committee based on its evaluation has come to consensus on the abovementioned program institute for multiensory education comprehensive OG plus and morphology plus. Therefore, be it resolved that the superintendent recommends that the board of education designate the resources aligned to the program to be used for teaching foundational ELA skills, phonics, and word study. Now therefore based upon the foregoing the board hereby number one authorize the district to purchase curriculum resources from the institute for multiensory education comprehensive OG plus and morphology plus through in accordance with board policy 6700 purchasing and number two authorizes the superintendent andor his designate to take any action in order to expedite and implement ment the terms of this resolution including the transfer of funds that will exceed the threshold of 25,000
068set forth in policy 6150 budget transfers. So I'd like to make a motion to add the addendum to the superintendent's office consent agenda. Motion. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? I I All right. So, we have we have the rest of the consent agenda. I'll put up a motion unless anyone has anything to discuss before I think we'd like to split the agendas. If I can make a motion to split the agendas to vote on everything individually. Okay, she wants to split the agenda so we can go under go over everything individually. So I just have to what I have to make a motion to just pull out or at least just pull one out. Is there a a particular item you you'd want to pull out or
069discuss? I just want to be clear about 12. Yeah, I want to be if we could be providing a clear understanding of what exactly the change means and what it will be. So, did you have a question? Do you want to have a discussion about it? Yeah. I just want to be provided a clearer understanding of what exactly for William O'Her. Does that mean you're gonna pull a grade out of William O'Shea here? Would you explain what what we had to do with the Yeah. So since we added a preschool class to U William O Schaefer, uh we are required by the state just to make it a prek through two school. Um so it's really just for recordeping at the state so they know that we are housing a preschool at William Schaefer. And
070what's the consequence if we do not do it? Uh we would not run preschool next year. I think we're just trying to understand how does it affect us in the long term by changing the grade levels. So it says here that it's going to have to be evaluated and it's going to be changed back to K2 if they don't move forward without having moving forward. So if if we in the future did not run preschool, uh we would just notify the state and we the board would adopt the resolution to change Schaefer back to a K2 school. Yeah. And that's what happened many years ago when we stopped uh running prek. Does that affect the 25 26 school year? Yeah, it'll happen. Yes. Yeah. If we didn't have one, it would be if we don't
071have this resolution, then we would not uh run the preschool at William O'Shea for next year. The state opens the uh opens the portal for these types of changes uh between January and March. Um so that's why the change is happening now. Typically most most of us when I went going into the portal to make the adjustments, most of the questions are for similar situations as happened in the district years ago with um you know uh getting rid of a school or if we were going to uh change and have third grade at William O'Hafer or move fifth grade into the middle school. The state wants to know that. most of the questions that they ask in that um application don't apply to us because they're asking like where are these kids coming from where
072the the teachers going to be that are going to support these uh this this additional grade. So, it's usually for if if you think about like for us with the Princeton model, if we were going to take one of those transition grades and move an entire grade to a different building or if we were going to go to community schools and have, you know, where Schaffefer was a K5 and Cottage Lane was a K5, the state just wants to know that make sure that we're maintaining the same level of services uh for the both the teachers and the students. So, that that's what most of the questions are. um for something like this of adding the preschool, most of the questions don't again don't apply to us, but we are essentially adding a grade. So,
073have we confirmed that we're going to have a UPK class next year? Has that been finalized? Uh yeah, we're going to have the class again. It won't be increased for two. No, it'll be one. Yep. And it's budgeted like we're going to have it. Correct. And we knew this in January that we'd have to switch this over. Yeah, they open up the portal between January and March. You can do it anywhere between January and March. It's really just a a clerical piece for the state so that they're aware that we're servicing preschool students. I'm not against the UPK. I just feel like the students that are currently required to be in school are the ones that we need to take care of. That's I'm just going to say that out loud. So, I I'm going
074to not agree with 12A. Okay. Sorry, can I ask a question? If we if you became next year, the class sizes are remaining the same, are they increasing at all if we continue to have it for next year? Can we can or not? I know that we can't have expected unexpected students that are coming in. But right, I think the unknown with Schaefer always is the kindergarten. Okay. So, as of now, we're under the impression that they no classes will be increasing with size for teachers. Correct. I'd have to look at the projections. I have the projections in front of me. What was the question? I want to make sure that class sizes are not getting larger if we continue to keep UPK. One has nothing to do with the other. UPK UPK class size
075is 18. Sorry. UPK class size is 18 students. How many do we have? Do we know how many students do we have? Do we know how many students we have registered right yet for kindergarten? For kindergarten, as of today, we have 130. So, you're saying if you have a UPK class, it won't impact the kindergarten class size in January. Correct. Yeah. What if we get an actual flood of kindergarten? Yeah. How can you predict that what if we have they just opened it right the they just opened the because we have 18 students in the UPK class that's that's the number the average kindergarten class size sorry I think we don't have like several classes over the 22 that is what you're not up to 22 I'm saying yeah so the UPK class doesn't affect
076the class sizes in K to 5 but it it would affect if it said if we had unpredictable will not come in. Yeah, because they just demonstrate that it actually does matter. I'd like if I may make a motion to table that 12A. I don't know if we have the time to do that, but at this point I that's my motion to table 12A. Nobody agrees with it. That's fine on me. But what is the deadline that you have to um I can communicate with the state that the board hasn't passed the resolution and ask I submitted all the paperwork except for the board resolution. I I'm just curious what is the concern with having a UPK class at William O'Shea in September? One class with 18 students as we did this year. There was
077no concern as long as it remains that kindergarten class sizes don't increase which surely you said it doesn't concern. Correct. Right. Yeah. But there's still a potential that we could have an increase in in registration that we don't know about coming through. But the UPK class would have nothing to do with that. But there's still a classroom being utilized. We're only going to run nine classrooms. Oh, as far as space, we have the space. Even if we don't have the space, the teachers presented that to I'm sorry, the principal presented that to us in in September. Uh, Miss Beglin, do you want to please um clarify for the board what what our space situation is as far as having this class and even if we add a kindergarten class and we have to that you
078would have the room. Correct. So, we do have the space. Um, at our last budget workshop, I spoke about uh wanting to add potentially or being open to adding another UPK class because we do have the space. Currently we have speech teachers who are sharing a space um a classroom space and then we also have our enrichment teacher um has a classroom where she pulls classes into um and that's because we have a space this year. So let's say we had an increase enrollment in kindergarten or another grade and we needed to flex another space. I do have a location. Yep. And so our thought for yet next year if the board was open to adding another DPK class, I would have had that space. Um our enrichment teacher has always pushed into the classroom
079to deliver her um enrichment lessons for first grade and second grade students. So, it's kind of a luxury that we have that this year. Um, as well as for the speech teachers as well. Um, but we do have backup plans for those two spaces um if we need them for classes. But what happens to the speech teachers? We have offices for them. We have open offices for them. So, that one's basically being cut out or being shoved into sharing space. So, so yeah. So, currently like let's say tomorrow we needed another attend kindergarten section. Those two speech teachers could go back to the offices that they used to work in um which become flex spaces. Correct. and our um math enrich is math RTI and our enrichment teacher she does 0.5 she would go back
080to her office space and then she would also push into the classrooms as she has done for several years so I actually have two flex spaces um if needed so that wouldn't upset teachers that's their it's enough space their offices to have the students absolutely y and we're we're not looking to add a second UPK class we're just looking to keep the one that we have at Schaefer for next year and we've started that process of uh parents and applications. That was just my main concern that kindergarten teachers they kindergarters are a lot of work. So just saying that having 30 of them in one class to a teacher I don't want to do that digit the space and contractually in the teachers contract that kindergarten specifically is the only grade level that that dictates
081a cap size for kindergarten. So it's 22 students. So contractually if I get a 23rd student tomorrow they can't go into those classes. We have to figure out another Thank you, Miss Beglin. All right. Um I you know, Diana, I don't know if you still feel like you want to table it. I I feel like we should table it till we have the answers to whether or not we need to when this what the deadline is here. But what what answer is it that that you need? Well, if we decide not to do this, what's the deadline? That's I think the question that was asked, right? When when do we need to know? We would want to let we want to let now in March. We would want to let families know now if we're
082not going to have a UPK class as soon as possible. Yeah. I've met with 60 families thus far and uh told them we were having a one UPK class at William Schaefer next year. Well, I'm just going to abstain to that part or that's okay with everybody else. I just I would like more answers and I don't understand why it's March and we're being told Does the building like having the kindergarters there? Like the prek kids. This is just a matter of us letting the state know that we're going to have that grade in the building. I understand the logistics of it, but it's uh it just and the UPK spot you have remain at 18 18. Yeah. Has to Oh, it's okay. I think the the board is just worried about the fact that
083the the UPK is a different funding source. It's different schedule. It's it's very well that's the word I'm looking for. It's just it's our budget is one thing and then the UPK is like outside the budget. I think that's what concerns us in the long run. We don't want to be locked into a certain pattern of behavior. We have this many UPK. Parents are emotionally invested. They come to expect a certain thing and then all of a sudden we have too many kindergarten classes. That's why we're always concerned every year. We're not against the idea of a UPK. We just want to tread lightly because it's a variable we can't control. So that's why feels like a little bit of a gotcha that there's just like this approval at the 11th hour. Yeah. I mean
084again I can I'll ask the state why they do it at this time of year. I can certainly ask that question. I'm a yes for the I'm a yes more based on principle. Yeah. Saying it's good for the whole vibe there. So my chest has been so she's saying yes. And I just want to make sure that we're not jumping into like, oh, if we do this, it means second class. No, has nothing to do with second class. Well, this discussion January. Sure. Okay. Sure. We would we wouldn't have to revisit this each year. Just so you know. So, basically, this is just saying unless we change unless we Yeah. change the grades. Correct. Yeah. This is a one time. Sorry. Okay. So, um how would we do that if if itself. Well, Diana said
085she wants to obtain. I don't know if Go ahead. I'll vote yes. Everybody's Everybody's happy. I'll vote yes. Well, I just want to make sure you get what you asked for. I don't know. Probably just not for 12. Just note I abstain for 12 A. That's all we got. There we go. So, I will write that right here. 12. Okay. So motion to approve consent agenda categories 8 through 13. Um yes, there's one one more question. Um the cleaning services I keep feel I feel like this comes up. We had an issue with the original bid. We're putting it out for bid again. What happened exactly? I know I asked this question before. Uh what happens now is we put put a a request for bid out again. It includes a lot of the things
086that we need to have for summer construction cleaning. Okay. as well as the amount of hours, some other language we put in. We just want to make sure that when we contract with the cleaning company that we're getting everything that we need, especially given what took place last summer additional like more in in the contract than what we had last year. Yeah. So, I properly we went back and and redid the bid and included a lot of language that we need especially for summer construction cleaning, making sure the cleaners are following the contractors, not waiting until the end of the summer, all all that type of stuff. But we have cleaning services on contract till in contract I'm sorry July 1st. Correct. That's correct. After July. Yep. So we'll get these back. We'll keep you
087informed and hopefully we'll be able to But I have a question. The the construction cleanup is that in this? Yes, it is included. I believe that's what the cleaning company was a little concerned about. They didn't have the manpower to do that because they were never told. But the vermage has changed. you said in the contract this Yeah, I needed to be I need to put more specificity in about what our expectations were. All right. Once once again, motion to approve amended consent agenda categories 8 through 13 with uh Diana abstaining from 12A. Thank you, Dave. Do I have a second? Thank you, Katie. All in favor? I I All right. Um, is there any new business? One thing I wanted to bring up when I I didn't mention what all the other board members
088were saying what they were doing. What I was doing was reading all of budget for the last couple weeks. But, um, in all seriousness, one thing that I wanted to task the superintendent with, I think it's appropriate for him to look at. And I know according one of the biggest budget lines is the transportation line that seems to rise at about I don't know 5% clip per year, maybe even more some years. And that's outside fuel sir charges. And I know through state law that we're obligated to give busing to every individual. Now I have a lot of students in the district. I have I my own kids are in the district and I see long lines of people picking up and dropping off and I see the same people all the time. So I'm
089like I don't think they're using the bus. Um and so we're estimating per if you just divide our transportation numbers by our enrollment numbers, we're looking at like 2,800 a student. I wanted to ask the superintendent, not in right now, but maybe for the next meeting, if there's a legal way to give uh parents or families a a school tax rebate to get them to opt out of busing legally because New York State, we we are legally obligated. So, they must have to sign some waiver. I don't know if our lawyer might just tell us it's a it's a bad idea. Well, there's different there's different types of busing. Am I wrong? You say different types like there's um I know is it forever school district does a different type of system than we do
090like we provide busing for everybody. So there is mandated. Yes. I don't know. Sorry. Got you up early. Um for for elementary there's a certain mandated limit. I have to revisit you know every so often I learn it and then if we do universal transportation it kind of universal I forget the other name. Universal is kind of providing it to everyone. everyone that, you know, hops on the bus, they're given a a stop and the bus, they'll be routed to um to a certain um bus. So, there's mandated limits for secondary and elementary. Um so, that's that's our legal limit. Some school districts then have a policy to provide transportation further, like a closer radius to the schools, and that's um that's within the school's control. And just to add for historical context, we've done
091two transportation studies over the past 15 years. We uh consolidated bus routes twice. Once when we closed Tapsi Elementary School, we went to a two-tiered bus system, but another time we consolidated routes when we weren't closing a school. And we changed some mileage limits and we changed also um some of the door-todoor pickups to have more centralized bus stops. So that that study has been done twice. It's probably a good idea for us to do it again. And then also, if you recall when we did the community survey last fall, the results came back, 35% of our parents told us they don't use the bus. And so the next step now is to find out who those who those parents are. I had shared the story with my own kids. Until I called transportation to
092tell them to stop picking my daughter up, they kept stopping at my house. So we we do have some of that. And then um simultaneously our computer science kids have been working on an app that they're going to come and present to the board either at the next meeting or the one after. They're busy doing uh robotics competitions for the next few weekends. Um and that will hopefully make busing more efficient. I think what Dr. Coleman is is talking about is an idea that we also need to explore because if we're spending 27 or $2,800 per student and they're not using the bus, is there a way for us to but just to use those numbers, find some efficiencies? 30 people 30% of people don't use the bus and 30% and they all opt out.
093Even if we give them a $1,000 tax rebate, we're saving $1,800 per person. That's a $1.8 million savings. Now, of course, there's fixed costs in the from the transportation, but we could actually save a lot of the we could save a lot of money for the district. The people are already making the choice that they're not using the bus. They get a little bit in their pocket, too. And they're not paying for the bus through their taxes on on the back end either. So, it's it's just probably I hear a lot now. I'm a new board member. This isn't how it's done. But I turn the No, you have good ideas. for for me it's I don't mind speaking to the town but from what I know as far as tax um exemptions and and
094things like that you know they al usually fall back on some legal um requirement for filing for a deduction in your taxes. So when we mix public funding for a school and then providing rebates I would caution but we can have conversations with with the right parties to see what they say. But the other the other possibility is that we have less buses, right? We could save money if we don't need all the buses if the kids aren't riding them. Should go down could go it could be either way. So what I'd like to task is see if like legally is it even possible to do we can take baby steps towards okay may maybe there is some legal framework we could do it then let's see see how I think the other part is
095really drilling down and I can work closer with my transportation department because she's she's very good at what she does but just knowing what's the capacity we're using now right so is it a real situation where we have empty seats or are Are the buses full already? You know, and until there's more students hopping on the bus, do we see that there's a concern with space? I mean, on my block, I see the high school bus go back by whatever time it is completely empty every morning. I look out the window there. There's definitely more kids taking elementary than secondary. So, that's a challenge. So the mandates are really the limits as prescribed by the state and then the board has the option to provide it at a closer radius to and from regular school
096is what's mandated and of course um any special needs um transportation is mandated. I mean, if you look at this budget though, you have we have to start thinking creatively because it's going to become unsustainable where some budget lines are increasing by five six% a year and we're only being able to raise the tax cap by 2%. So by like I'm looking at by like 2033, right? The tax cap is just going to go to two budget lines. That's it. Everything else will have to be cut. So, I'll just share some of the concern is with the tax cap calculation and speaking to colleagues in Rockland County and Westchester, they feel like there should be a revisit of the actual calculation and just want to share with you that they feel actually there should be
097a floor instead of a cap to provide at least a minimum level of um funding as it relates and compares to the CPI index. Yeah. Transportation's gone from 4 million to 7 million very quickly. So I I agree. We need to tackle it and it's going up quite a bit from this year to next year. See what this district's legal council says. Something we can do. Absolutely. We'll do a if then yes and then we'll see figure out how to go from there. If they say no, then just wait until uh the electric buses come. Oh yeah. So our architects are actually doing a study on that. So hopefully I'll have more detailed information to share um in a few months. All right. Thank you. All right. Um just one quick thing. I I hear
098Rob, you've taken a liking to the finance committee and you'd like to join that. Sure. All right. All right. Well, we'll make that addition. Thank you. Official. All right. If there is there anything else any All right. Motion to adjourn the meeting to a budget workshop at 8:54 p.m. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. All in favor? I can take just a quick recess. We're going to move some tables.