001glasses here. She just needs text. [Music] >> We're streaming. >> We're live now cuz I have to do my chat. So, so we're That's what That's going to be [Music] Good to see you. Can I give you a hug? >> No, >> we're live. Don't talk too loud. Okay, here we go. Mic check. This is the podium mic first. Podium mic. 1 2 3 1 2 podium. Podium. Podium. [Music] Check. One, two, three. One, two, three. Podium link. All right. Microphone number one. Mic number one. Check. Check. One, two. >> Microphone number one. Mic one. Check. One, two, three. I'm not sure how to do something. >> Sorry. >> One, two, three. Check. Check. One, two. Is this better on number one? Mic number two. Mic number two. Two, two, two. Check. Check. >> I'll
002turn two up. This is mic number three. Mic three. One, two, three. One, two, three. >> Mic number four. Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Mic four. Mic five. Mic five. Check. Check. One, two, three. Pop. Mic. Mic five. Little loud. Mic six. Mic six. Got to fix this one. Microphone six. Little tiny. And then this is the last mic uh on a stand. One, two, three, four. Mike on a stand. Not to be confused with jalapeno on a stick. One, two, three. One, two, three. [Music] Okay, adjusting six a little bit. I think that sounds better. This is mic six. Thank you for catching my reference. This is mic five. >> And yeah, I think that's all the mics. Uh the podium again, >> so we should be good. Good to go. All right.
003Going to mute. You probably hear me. Going to mute right now. In three, two, one. chairs [Applause] [Music] river. >> Yeah. [Music] This is right. >> He's going to get the table. Get the table. [Music] Salmon's right there. Right there. [Music] >> I think it might be okay. There's cuz they got a couple more seats over there in the balcony area. Yeah, she felt sorry. [Music] Smell it. [Music] almost [Music] sit table. >> Oh, I love it. Great. >> Simple and perfect. [Music] I thought [Music] I can put the mic right here. [Music] Thank you. Okay, we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order at 7:33. If I can have everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and
004to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Just a couple quick things before we begin. If you can silence your cell phones and pager and the emergency exit will be the door you entered, which is um to my left, your right, and behind you. Um excused tonight from our meeting is Beth Prevalin, board trustee. Um present today is Roger Broker, board trustee. Ashley Dreer, board trustee. Uh Dr. Brian Graham, superintendent of schools. Myself, S Barian, board trustee. Dave Grover, board trustee. Joy Lamarco, board trustee. Dave Roto, board trustee. We have Sienna Sarkees and Charlotte Tower, our um student representatives. John Patrick is here. >> Oh, Barb Marl is here and is here. And um our district clerk, Cheryl, you're behind the poll. Sorry. >>
005All right. If I can get a motion uh for the approval of our agenda this evening. >> A motion >> and a second. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Motion carried. 6. And an approval of our minutes from the August 25th meeting, please. >> A motion >> and a second. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carried. 6. All right. That's right. >> Good news. >> Hello everybody. Great to see all of our students here today. Uh getting those uh government responsibilities taken care of early in the semester. Well done. Smart, smart, smart. I love that. So today we get a chance to hear from Cindy Booker about her leadership here at Eco Island. I know a lot of our students who are here today have been to
006Eagle Island in their elementary days. And Cindy, uh you've been doing some remarkable work. uh maybe you can share with the board uh some statistics and some of the wonderful things that you've done. >> Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. So let's start with the enrollment data. >> Um since the time that I started working here um the first year we had now it says the number of students but it means the number of student visits. So there were some frequent flyers which makes me very happy. I'd love to have the kids coming in. So in the first year that I started working as a um the coordinator here after Dian Titi uh we have 1,124 student visits which was already a very good number to start with um but I have continued
007in that trend um and last year I had over 2,22 student visits and um that involves a lot of planning and coordinating with the um the teachers. I've been also doing a lot of block scheduling. So, what I mean by that is that I would block off a week of time where I could have the third grade uh classes come from the schools and we would have similar field trip agendas, itineraries. And so it makes it a lot easier for setting up and also it allows me the opportunity when I have done like let's say five or six field trips in third grade uh teaching about um owls or owl pellet dissections, I can see which parts work really well and I can start to tweak as I go through and see um what what
008works better for the kids, what's maybe better hands-on u management styles and also also concepts that we talk about. So, um over 2,000 kids, a large portion of them are third grade students. They uh third grade uh classes have been coming in almost once a month at Eco Island. We have some really nice itineraries and I know uh Mrs. Pible is here and she's uh signed up already. She's got all of her forms in and everything and it's wonderful. It really is. Okay. Um, next is that uh for the last couple of years I've been working with a fellow Grand Island uh resident who was a student in the school system. Uh his children went to Grand Island and um one of his children was a a child in my classroom and I found out
009that he is a a professional sign maker. So, he donated his time and talent to make this beautiful Eco Island sign, which I kind of skipped right past, but it's over there and it is absolutely beautiful. >> Um, it's such a nice welcoming area and we're hoping that it can also provide for photo opportunities with the kids. um the the space where the sign used to be just today. Um I've been working with Phil Marino um for buildings and grounds and they are just a wonderful staff. Thank you. Um very uh simply the the garden that was over where the original sign was, I asked if they could remove the stone and the weeds and everything. And I'm going to build some more um like native plants, wild flowers, and maybe even some spring bulbs
010to really get some of those um opportunities for the kids to learn about um the plants and the animals and how they interact with their environment. So really excited about that. But so that's the sign. And also I think that Tom is planning to work on an information piece that's going to go on the back of the sign. So it won't be just one-sided. it'll have someformational um piece to it. In fact, I put this together that I shared with him. So, some of that information I I can give you a copy of that, but it leads into the next slide. So, one of my projects that I worked on uh this year, I was invited by a member of the committee to join the Grand Island Garden Walk this year and I had so
011much fun with that. It was quite the adventure. I started taking workshops. Um I joined the Grand Island Nature Alliance. It's uh stands GINA G I N A and pardon me. Um I went to some workshops and I learned a little bit more about native plants and their importance. So the photographs that I have listed on here are actually from the garden. I renovated the pollinator garden. I it was the butterfly garden. I call it the pollinator garden now. Uh so in in the first picture you see a swamp milkeed. I actually started planting those about two years ago and um this year we had monarch caterpillars on them and a lot of aphids too. I was pointing that out to the the school board members on our tour. But the last the third picture
012over there is an actual chrysalis. And to me, this was the really big moment for me because in all the years that I've learned about butterflies and monarchs and milkweed and that, that's a very special sighting. It's the first time that I've had a chrysalis from a plant that I planted. So, yay. So, um I uh I think that from an educational standpoint, I wanted to include that like, okay, yes, I'm working on this in the summertime, but there is more of an opportunity for kids even in the spring, the late spring, early summer, uh to see some certain things that they might not ordinarily see. So, I'm really wanting to try to create a very um biodiverse environment where I'm having native plants and that'll go into the next slide too. They all segue
013to each other. Um one of the organizations that I joined uh was the Grand Island Nature Alliance and they have this opportunity that I was working on tonight. As a matter of fact, I filled out my application um to become um to have Eco Island become a habitat certified status. And there's certain things that you have to meet as far as criteria and commitment um to things. Um trying to, you know, I don't have to water the lawn. That's great. You know, it's already taken care of. Um but having native plants and really trying to do lots of other things, composting. Um they talked about bee houses. I I bought a bee house kit and so in fact I've got it in the on the foyer. Um I'd have to mail that back. I have
014an organization that's called uh Rent Mason bees and they're in the state of Washington. you um rent a bead block and they send you a mason bee block and a leaf cutter bead block that you can put up at your um at your home or your yard or the far a farm because they're uh for farms too and they will there are cocoons there little uh ca egg cases where the mason bees will emerge and it's very different from honeybees. So, I do I do a a study in lessons, especially in the third grade, about the difference between uh mason bees and honeybees and how they are solitary bees. They're native to the United States. They're not nearly as aggressive or they they won't sting you unless they're provoked. Uh so, they're very different. In
015fact, different from the the little guys that were bugging Mr. Marino today. Those were actually wasps. Even though they're yellow and black, they're they're wasps. They have yellow legs. So, bees tend to have black legs. But anyway, so um I'm working on this habitat certification. And then the last part that I wanted to share with you was something that is near and dear to my heart is really giving the children of Eco Island more of an outdoor experience. I think that this building is absolutely stunning, amazing, and there are so many opportunities for the kids. But I also know that I need to get them outside more. You know, that's where it really is happening. And by creating a biodiverse environment, it also means having some safe trails for the kids to walk on. Um,
016in the first picture that you see, I took a picture of one of the trails at the Nike base, and you see that there are some millings, there's some um, mulch in different areas. They need to have a wider path from which to walk. Um, it's a little bit safer for them, and it also is easier to manage as far as um, what they're wearing on their feet. Of course, they should be wearing boots, but there are some areas of our trail that are a little bit overgrown, and so they really need to have the shrubs kind of cut back. So, in the second picture is a picture of the back of the pond where we were walking. And it is rather narrow. So, usually when I have the kids walk, I say, "Okay, now
017it's time to go into a single file, you know, because I I don't want them to be brushing up against the bushes as much." um not only because there's thorns, but also there's more of a likelihood that they can catch some ticks along the way. So, you know, we're never going to be uh fully away from or free from having ticks. So, I think that it's important to teach children about how to um handle things with certain precautions to reduce the occurrence and also teach the kids what to look for and how to handle themselves. I think that'll help them not only in the classroom, but further on when they're when they go home, when they go outside, when they go out in the fields. So, that is the second picture of the pond area.
018And what I'm hoping to do, this is the entrance to the the path that's on the side that uh I walked with the school board over today uh just tonight. And it's a little bit overgrown on the sides. opens up a little bit more, but then you get to the gate here and the buildings and grounds have been doing a great job of trying to cut back. There are some areas that still need a little bit more work and the millings and all of that when we have the opportunities. Um, this is what I was hoping that we might try to do is achieve like even just starting with one loop. You know, Grand uh Eco Island is a 49 acre site, so we have a lot of room for trails. The trails are already
019there. They were established back in the 1980s. Um, but a lot of them are overgrown and so they just need a little maintenance. Um, the one area that where we stopped, there was a tree that had been felled. Um, I brought Joe Killian from the town parks department. He is uh he's an expert. I I think that Mrs. Marston can probably um speak to that too. um as far as building the trails on Grand Island. And he came out on in March when it was still wintry and icy and snowy and we walked around on the trails and he said even things like trees falling down, you can just take them move them over to the side and it acts like a burm to kind of help cut back on the growth, you know, of
020the trails. So once they get started, there's a little bit in little bit of an investment in the time with putting the millings down and the mulch and that, but it will make it much easier to maintain in the future. So I'm hoping that we can go in that direction. Okay. And let's see, is there any other No, that was the last slide. So thank you. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for coming. >> I just really want to thank you. It was it was really great to see the outside. We've toured the inside many many times over the years and um it was a really a great opportunity for us to see the trails and see of what this facility has outdoors. Um >> it definitely has sparked some interest
021on our end and I'm sure we will have some discussions as we mentioned on the trail out >> while we were out and about. um maybe some volunteer um ideas maybe for some of our um our Boy Scout troops and um some of that millings and stuff. Um our town has millings and mulch and maybe that's something we can discuss with them at our um joint town lower school board meeting. That's usually what in January shoot I it doesn't matter. It's coming up in the next couple months. But that is definitely something we can put on the agenda and maybe they can help us with that too. But um thank you. Does anybody have any questions or comments for um Mr. Booker? >> And also, and if there's any need for community service projects from
022the high schoolers, I'd love to have them come in and help out, maybe make some bird boxes, uh some trail markers. If we if we were able to go in that direction, that would be wonderful. I I just wanted to ask our two students at the end if they had um been to Eco Island when they were younger, their thoughts on it. um questions, comments. You guys normally get you every meeting, right? So, >> yeah, I do remember coming when I was younger and I do I don't remember much, but I do remember enjoying it. But I also have a lot of younger siblings and cousins and they love coming. My brother's in fourth grade now, so he came last year, but he loved it. Just getting out of the classroom and getting to explore
023something, it really it means a lot to them. >> Oh, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, I agree. I also remember coming to Eco Island. Those are some of like my best memories from like when I was younger. Um, and I think adding trails would definitely be a great idea. Definitely allow the kids to get out more and encourage kids to get outside more. >> Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, on to public comment sessions. We didn't have anybody sign up curriculum and instruction. It doesn't look like we have anything for tonight. So, personal instruction. Anybody have any questions? All right. The nine will ask for a motion to approve instructional PI1 through PI5. Please, >> I'll make a motion. >> And a second. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried
0246. Do we have any? >> I don't believe we have any. Thank you. >> Okay. On to personnel non-instructional. Any questions before I ask for a motion? >> All right. Then I will ask for a motion to approve instructional or non-instructional personnel PNI 1 through PNI4. Please motion >> and a second. I'll >> second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carried. 6 under finance. >> Uh so I have uh two items uh item A and item B are uh for action. Um item A is a donation uh for our uh opening day presenter Jay Seni did a phenomenal job. We had four donations for that. Um so thank you to those companies uh Monte Campus Young and Right. And I'm forgetting somebody. >> Hudson Rust. Thank you. Um, so thank you to those companies.
025And then item B is obsolete textbooks. Uh, item C is being switched to information. Uh, so looking for motion or action on items A and B tonight. >> I'll make a motion >> and a second. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Motion carries. six and zero. >> And then uh for item C, we have a presentation. Uh Tyler's here to join us tonight from Cash. Uh I put the presentation materials at your desks there. So I will turn the floor over to Tyler. >> Good evening everybody. My name is Tyler. I'm from 3 plus one. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I was actually at the New York State Association of Counties conference just down the road about 15 minutes today. We have the privilege of serving 31 of New
026York State counties and many more across New York um in terms of school districts, towns, cities, uh villages, and I just wanted to take the opportunity today to show you all what we can help Grand Island Central Schools with. Um, from a cash and investment standpoint, I always like to just start off by what we are not. So, Cashfest is not a bank. We do not take district deposits and we do not make investment decisions on your behalf. Our goal is to really be an extension of your team and aid the finance and treasur's office in making those cash management decisions for the district so that at any point in time, no matter where the marketplace is, no matter where interest rates go, you can confirm that you're doing everything you possibly can to earn
027and save the most possible. Um, our data is really designed to maximize your financial resources and that comes from a few different areas. It means one having a full picture of where your cash is, what financial providers are you using, what bank accounts do you have, what investments do you have? Having an online system to see all of that in one place, a consolidated view of your cash, that is really the bread and butter of where we start our analyses. And then it turns into when we know where our cash is, what can we do with it? So for example, the moment that you collect a dollar in tax revenue to the moment that same dollar needs to be spent, identifying its time horizon. how long is it available for? That way, when you are
028making an investment decision for district's tax funds, you know exactly how long that cash is available. The three um pillars of public finance are safety, liquidity, and yield in that order. So, one, making sure that first your cash is safe and collateralized. two, making sure you have adequate cash on deposit to pay for payroll, pay for accounts payable, cover capital projects, maybe even build some trails right in our backyard here. Um, really we are a third party and we provide objective data to make those decisions with confidence. Um, at the end of the day, we are seeing districts being scrutinized across the state right now, especially from the New York State controller and a lot of the areas that the cash fest program is helping with combat those audits. That includes issuing regular rate quote
029requests, identifying where is the best place to put district taxpayer funds and how long can we safely invest them without sacrificing our ability to operate. It also includes doing forward forecasting. So districts have a very unique cash flow cycle in New York State. You bring in taxes about a month from now and then slowly throughout the year overall balances decline. Our job is to work with you all and collaborate with your financial providers to ensure that any time of the year, no matter how much cash you have, no matter where interest rates are, we're looking under every stone and finding the best opportunities for you all and giving you the confidence to know that you're maximizing your taxpayer resources. We also provide a onetoone guarantee. So, if we cannot identify new revenue or savings opportunities
030that meet or exceed our annual fee, you don't pay for the program. We don't think that's right for the taxpayers and we want to make sure that you're seeing value from it. Um, we also understand though that a lot of the benefit from the program is not necessarily earnings and savings, it's also the time savings as well. Having the confidence that a third party is looking at every single piece of your financial picture and ensuring that you're doing the right thing for the taxpayers. That's a big component. Collaborating with your financial providers and making sure that you have an equitable banking or investment relationship. Looking at every single line item on your statements, every debit, every credit, all of your fee related items. Cashfest aggregates and analyzes all of that for you and we are
031really grateful for the opportunity to serve you and Grand Island Central School. So, welcome any questions that you have, but wanted to keep this short tonight. So, thank you again for the opportunity. >> Um, I have a couple questions. Um, so first of all, um, obviously you would have access to all our financial information. what level of uh confidentiality do you sign? Um and second part, what do you have access to that our finance officer does not? Like everything that you just said we can do. Um so what do you provide that we cannot do ourselves? >> Yeah. Can I hit on your first question? >> Yeah, you can. It's kind of a two-part I know. >> Thank you. So first part obviously safety and security of your data is paramount and the safest and
032most secure way that we can collect your transactional data is through view only access to your banking providers. We're very familiar with the institutions that you all use and view only access only allows us to download bank statements and debit and credit history. So, we can't touch your cash. We can't move it. We can't make investments on your behalf. The only thing that we can do is have read only or view only access to it um to download transactional data, which is in turn what gets put into our online portal, the cash portal. And our analysis is a little bit deeper than just looking at a bank statement. So, if you ever look at a bank statement, you've got your debits, your credits, the dollar amount, the description. Is it a check? Is it an
033a? Is it a wire? We look at all of that for a multi-year history. And our stress test models can identify how long you need a dollar from the moment that you collect it to the moment it needs to be spent. And we're able to identify liquidity levels which show you for each bucket of the district's cash, how long is it available for? and then in turn pairing that with how the marketplace values your cash. It's one thing to just keep all of your cash liquid and available at the bank, but going into a dynamic interest rate environment like we are going into right now, the Federal Reserve is expected to change interest rates on September 17th and having the data to show how long your cash can be invested and where you're going to
034see the best opportunity for it. That is going to enable you to protect your interest revenue line in the budget into the future. Now, that's just one component of the program. Um, it also includes looking at your bank analysis statements. So, you may or may not be paying banking fees directly or indirectly. And we look at those analysis statements, which are typically in the neighborhood of about 60 pages a month. We look at every single line item. What services are you using? What is the cost? Are they appropriate for the district? and collaborating with your financial provider, who by the way is also a financial provider to many of your peers. So, because we work with so many districts across the state, we can see what type of arrangement would be most beneficial for you
035all and if it's equitable based on your provider. Does that help answer your questions? Can can you just touch real quick on the contract or commitment that would be required of the of the district for your services? >> Yeah, thank you. So, it's there's no specific term with the contract. We do ask that if we identify new revenue and savings that exceeds our fee that you allow us to help you implement those recommendations for the first year and then at any time with 30 days notice you can, you know, we can go our separate ways. Um, but beyond that, there's no commitment to the district. >> And what's the fee? It's about $19,750 and it's based on your budget. >> So that's per year, >> correct? >> And when you indicated goes beyond and allowing
036you to implement, is there an additional fee associated to that >> after the first year? >> What you just said, you know, before giving us your fee amount. Um, yes. 19,000. >> Yeah. >> There there's no additional fee beyond that. >> Okay. >> That would be the annual fee that it would be that amount. It be their annual fee is based on a portion of of your budget size. Uh I forget exactly what it is, but with this year's budget, the fee comes out to about >> So, as our budget goes up, our fee goes up. >> Correct. [Applause] And the fee is only based on the amount of our budget, not money raised. >> When you say money raised, do you mean? >> Well, let's just say, you know, so this year on our
037own before we contracted you, we were able to raise a million dollars with moving money around. We're just throwing a number out there. >> Sure. next year with your help with with your company we we exceed the $1 million you I don't know let's say 1.2 million so now we've kind of increased our revenue by that $200,000 do you get a portion of that >> we do not >> uh if I can just add on to to some of Tyler's remarks and why I brought this to the board. So, you know, when I started here a couple years ago, our our most of our money was only being invested in money market accounts at like a 2% interest rate. So, uh the year before I started, I think the interest was about 270,000, but we
038got into revenue. And so, I worked with Rory Bowser, our treasurer, to search out other options. We found nightclass was one option. Um, so we started using them. At the time the interest rate was north of 5% like 5.1 5.2 something like that. Since then it's dropped quite a bit down to four something. Um but we've also invested in treasury bonds. So all of our investments have to be 100% collateralized by cash. There's no risk involved for us. So both the treasury bonds and nightclass are are 100% collateralized by cash. Um, that being said, the reason why we're looking to work with Cashfest is that, uh, you know, Lori Bowser and I have have done a lot to take a look. You know, we we meet pretty much weekly to to discuss our cash on
039hand. When we need to move money, we try to keep as much invested as we can at any given time. Typically, we pull back from those investments as we cover payroll. So, every couple weeks we're taking a look, seeing what's coming out, what's going in, and then we'll pull money back to cover payroll. What cash will allow us to do is is uh two things, well, actually three things really. Number one, it'll allow us to have much tighter margins than what we currently have. So Lori and I kind of have some thresholds on our accounts that we're comfortable with, but we don't have the the computing power that this software has to say, okay, you know, we're we're going to take this down to a half a million balance instead of a million balance. And
040you know, half a million extra per day at a 4% rate is about 50 bucks. So you know, if we have half a million from this account, half a million from this account, we could be making an extra 100 bucks a day. multiply that by 365, you've covered their fee already. Um, other ways that they can help us is they'll help us shop instruments. So, normally the money in nightclass they send us uh well that that has an average daily rate. The treasury bonds uh once those mature uh the gentleman from uh JP Morgan Chase sends me the information on the new bonds uh so we can do one month, two month, three months. So, usually we just select what we think is best. uh based on what we're going to need coming up and
041the rates that are offered and we we reinvest in that. Cashve best will actually help us go out and shop that better. You know, they might be able to get us longer better rates for longer terms rather than, you know, just taking what what he's got for us to, you know, be shopping that on a regular basis. We don't have the manpower in the business office to do that. And and that's what they can help us do. Um, and then the third thing is is looking at the actual fees that the bank charges. So, the bank likes to bury a lot of these fees. So, we don't see them. I' I've asked them a few times. Uh, they're not very forthright with the fees. So, uh, Cash Best actually digs down deep, looks at those
042fees, makes recommendations. Hey, you might want to switch to this type of account because your fee will get better. They'll also help us shop things to get better from the bank. So with those three things, uh that's why I brought it to the board. I'm very confident that they will uh earn earn us or save us what their fee us save us and help us earn that and then some. So um that's really why I brought it to the board for for your consideration. So thank you very much, >> Tyler. I other board members might have questions. I just I I just um you know prior to your arrival the interest rates were a little different and they didn't make sense to do investing like everything you just mentioned has always been done in our
043finance office. Um >> so that's why we're a little >> continue doing what we can do for sure. >> So I have a question um just because I'm not sure how it works in education with our bank accounts. Are they reconciled by an internal bookkeeper on premises, by the district, monthly, quarterly, and I know we've talked about the positive pay system as well to be able to recognize. So, in the private sector, like at my company, we have on-site bookkeepers. And our on-site bookkeepers, they not only deal with positive paying, the checks and all that, but they also um deal with the individual fees that go with the accounts. And those particular fees are then um negotiated with our office with the banks to either reduce them, move them, whatever you have to do. And
044the reason I know the school as a signatory on the account, I'm one of the partners that has to sign off on that. So, a lot of that is taken care of internally and I I can't I don't want to equate the private sector to education, but the way I kind of look at it is how I see it daily is that's something that we do in house. I also took a look at your contract. Um, just briefly, it is a pretty I don't want to say basic, but it it's I would want If we were to vote for this, I would actually want our district attorneys to take a look at this contract. It's in it's in our because your privacy confidentiality has some verbage in there that's a little general for me like
045your sole discretion. Well, you are going to have access to district information. And again, I know with my company, we because we represent banks. So I am a bank attorney also. So we have to have so much security and multifactor authentications. We have to have certain servers. We have to have certain backups to be able to ensure that the bank account information and the loan documents that are coming in for our clients do not accidentally get distributed elsewhere. So when I look at your confidentiality, it is, you know, you're using reasonable efforts and you're using there's verbiage in here at your sole discretion where I would feel more comfortable having our district council take a look at this and scrutinize this a little bit more because of the personal information that you would have if
046that got leaked because of our district funds. So that's my comments on this. I have a question with respect to the percentage of fee and the the right to terminate the relationship right within 30 days. So that fee would be paid um upfront in in full for the school year. >> We typically charge on a quarterly basis. >> A quarterly. >> Okay. >> Except for this year. Your contract says you're going to pay it upfront for the full year and then the subsequent years it would be quarterly. I also didn't see in this contract that we could terminate. So, I don't know where it is. I mean, I just been looking at it, you know, at this point in time, but it's only a four or five page contract. I don't see any termination verbiage
047in here at all. >> Was there anything in the severability section towards the end? >> So, you have they reserved the right to cancel the government without obligation by giving 30 days written notice to another party intent to terminate after the first full calendar year of services. Right? So we have to undergo a first year pay the full 19 where we wouldn't be able to terminate prior to >> you are correct. We only bill the initial one-year fee after we've shown you that the service is going to generate new revenue or savings. >> When is that? So the full year fee. So do we pay that at the end of the full year? >> No, you would pay it up front. >> Up front. Okay. Well, that's what I thought. I was just confused when
048you with this with your response. Um, okay. And then, but what if you don't fulfill your end or what if we're not happy with your end? Then we we're stuck for that year. That's a loss to us. Just to be clear, >> we don't actually send you the invoice until we've shown you that benefit that exceeds the fee. >> Okay. >> Does that make sense? Okay. >> So, in essence, you have to make us $19,750 before you charge us. >> Well, so we can't actually make the money for you. You don't want us to make or find us, >> right? We have to show you that by following the recommendations from the data, it's going to lead to new revenue or savings that exceeds the fee. And until we've shown you that, we don't invoice
049you. What we found is in the past we didn't charge upfront and what would happen is we would show districts what the opportunity was and how to realize them and then they would just do it and then we wouldn't get paid and then we don't have a business. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um, I had one moreformational driver's education. Uh, you want to discuss that at all? >> Yeah, I'm just going to give the board an update. Um, and then Bob, if they have any questions, you might be able to help. But uh working with Bob and Jamie uh we've began to look at uh the past few years and understand uh how often we have run driver's ed, how often we didn't uh the
050number of students that are required to run it and uh layering in the significant increase that would be incurred by following the New York school insurance reciprocals uh recommendation. So to move forward and still keep this as information Um Jamie and I have talked along with Bob and uh Jamie is going to create a needs survey, a needs assessment, send it out to I would assume 11th and 12th grade families to see whether or not there's an interest in pursuing driver's ed here at Grand Island, but while also paying the full amount that is recommended by uh the extra insurance. So, we're not asking for the board uh to take action, but we do want to just survey the community to see if there's interest because it is a significant increase and we're worried that
051it'll be prohibited uh for families to spend $1,300 for driver's ed. But >> it's like what, 1300 with the recommended? >> Yeah. Yeah. It's $1,314 per student. >> Yeah. I mean, you can do private lessons for 400. >> Yeah. So, we want to examine all that. And did we did we put in I'm sorry how many times it has been cancelled. I think the last two summers it's been cancelled. Correct. If we >> Well, I can answer that. So Jamie put together a report. Um I don't I didn't bring the report here, but it looked like it was cancelled. Um I would say it's it has certainly run, but it has been cancelled multiple times. So I don't have the exact number and I didn't want to put Jamie on the spot. Well, I I
052think I think we I mean we we discussed the um the stipen so it didn't run this past summer or it didn't this past time it didn't run and I don't believe it ran last summer because one of my friends her son signed up and she was scrambling to find an option. I that number is really in important right um we it's easy to survey people and say yes yes yes we're going to use it because they don't know what the other options are right so we could survey our 11th and 12th graders but I think it's important to put in that survey what the economics of other options look like right if if people think that's the only option I mean I don't know I just want to make sure that when we're surveying
053they have the whole picture right like I don't know. I mean, 1300 versus 4 or 500, right? And they're private versus three other kids in the car. I mean, I don't want to discourage the program. I mean, it's been it's been around forever, but I I think we need to while we're surveying, make sure that our families and students have the full full picture. I I don't know. Yeah, we haven't put the survey together yet, but we would like to survey the community, make sure that before we make a decision to cancel it, >> right? Because there would be the opposite reaction, right? So we want to be able to look at the data. We'll share the data with the board uh and create a a very transparent survey so that they have as much
054information uh perhaps and I just want to be cautious not recommending certain people in the in >> I'm not saying recommendation but there are you know that there are other services out there in >> Absolutely. And and the difference right but >> yeah because some some people can my son you know we hired somebody and we have his instruction Uh, and I understand that there are five-hour courses that people can take going through private entities. So, I think we can layer that into a survey, but I just want to be cautious before we say we're canceling driver's ed. Uh, >> for sure. It's, you know, but it's also, you know, what happened to a friend of mine, she was signed up and the program didn't go and then she was scrambling, right? So, we don't
055definitely don't want to do that either, right? And that wasn't I don't think that was this last one. I think it might have been the one before. I don't know. Sometimes my concept at the time was a little disagree, but anyways. Yeah. So, but no, I think the survey is a great idea. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. So, Jamie will work in that, share it with Bob and I and Hillary, of course, and then uh we'll push that out, get some data, and bring it back to the board. >> Any questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. On to special education. >> Yeah. Ouch. >> Good evening everybody. Um, if I could have action for my special education CPSC and CSC program recommendations, please. >> Okay. Can I get a motion? >> Motion.
056>> And a second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Say it's 63. >> Thank you. On to superintendent report. >> Yep. There's two items here. Uh, one is an action item. Each year annually, the board of education approves the safety plan which is posted currently on our website. People have had a chance to comment and I stayed late one day in case anybody wanted to talk to me about the plan. Uh so the plan is here of course and um once the board takes action then I share that plan with the state education department so that they have a record uh that that plan has been approved. >> Okay. Anybody have any questions before we make a motion? Okay, then motion to approve superintendent report A. >> A motion >> had a second.
057>> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. 6. All right. >> So, this uh just a little bit of a presentation of the board. As you know, uh we just opened up school and uh it's really been off to a great start. uh as the board knows and assume you were uh present uh we had a great program uh to begin the school year with our faculty and staff. Uh Stephanie Anderson helped our little ones do the pledge of allegiance which was really a special moment and of course our uh students uh sang the national anthem and the Grand Island alma mater which I'm still learning. I I know most of the words. >> You're getting much better. >> Thank you. Um, and uh, we also honored all of the
058art students in our school district uh, who had their art published in the calendar that was printed and delivered to all the families. So, it's really a special moment when your art has been chosen to be in the calendar and to be out uh, in people's homes. 8,000 uh, or more uh, residents receive that calendar. So, it was really a special time to recognize our artists and their teachers. Uh Sue, you did a great job with your presentation, your speech. We also had our union uh leaders speak and we had student leaders speak. So we're very proud of our students who were uh wellspoken and told stories of inspiration and influence and how faculty and staff have led them uh to have a wonderful experience here in our school system. Additionally, uh there's the big
059focus this year is about engagement, empowerment, and belonging for everyone every day. That was uh the big theme of our staff development day. And as uh Bob shared with you earlier, we were able to bring in a keynote speaker, Jay Seni, who not only uh was an engaging speaker, but he weaved in the concepts of engagement, empowerment, and belonging while also interacting with our teachers and faculty. He also happens to be a magician, which I appreciate. So, he did a great job. >> Uh, that program uh wrapped up with our middle school students uh performing a song from a Dr. Seuss musical and uh we can't thank our music teachers enough for preparing them uh to present uh over the summer and to present to our students. Uh all of us, the district office administrators
060had a chance to visit every school. Uh so here are just some beautiful uh images that I took uh in all of our schools uh thanking uh principal Cula and uh for the first day of school students just excited and experiencing joy right away by being in school with their teachers. So these are just uh images that uh represent uh our students and their first day. Uh as you know at the middle school we have the where everybody belongs program. Um many of our eighth graders uh did so much work over the summer connecting with their uh students who are sixth graders or new students and our eighth grade leaders are their mentors. Uh and it's not just a one-day experience. It it continues out throughout the entire year. This is just a group picture
061of all those web leaders being recognized on the first day of school. And then of course uh they do such a great job with music and clapping and even pom poms welcoming the students as they walk into uh school and you can I also captured just some faculty and staff uh being thoroughly engaged uh and excited as they came to school that day. So, there's a little bit of a gauntlet of eighth grade leaders uh on the sidewalk and all the kids entering school are being uh applauded and cheered and recognized by their peers. So, uh going on to Sidway, I want to thank Mark who took some beautiful pictures and uh we saw all of these uh children. Actually, this is still the middle school. Sorry about that. And here we go. So, there
062were some Sidway students coming off the bus and entering school. It was a little rainy, but not too bad. And uh you can see the kids uh really uh happy to come to Sidway, meet their new teachers, meet their new principal. Uh it was a great moment. And of course, as you can imagine, Teresa Lisa Day was there as well, uh making sure everything was running smoothly and safely for the children. Lots of great images there. Kegabine right away I have a chance to see children in physical education uh playing games and having a good time as well. And uh as we move along, you know, some of those precious moments where uh teachers taking a picture of their student and you know being in school for their first day of school just a really
063a beautiful opportunity and I'm sure by the end of the year they will uh compare and contrast the first day with the last day as the kids were coming to school. A lot of smiles, a lot of engagement. Uh, I think this is Mrs. Pete's son right here. He was very happy. And I did capture one uh high school student who's a senior who had 2026 on her jeans and her senior uh t-shirt. She was uh equally excited. This is Jude's daughter who's a teacher and uh she was uh having an opportunity with her kids as they sat in a circle and were sharing with her information about themselves and about the summer. And uh transitioning away from the first day, I do want to pay attention to Alicia Zowski, who's our varsity girls swim
064coach. Take a look at that. There's about 30 to 38 athletes in our women's uh swim program. That I think is the most I've seen in my 10 years. That's a real tribute to uh Alicia and her program. Really excellent. So, um so that's about it. As you know, we have on our website the Viking tip line that any parent or community member can communicate with us if there's an issue. And if anybody in the community wants to email the board, they can do so here. Does the board have any questions about the first days of school. All right. And then additionally, uh, Sienna was on WKBWTV this evening at 5 and 6 o'clock along with Hillary Pretz Harvey and Aiden. And they were part of a story following up about the cell phone uh
065ban and reactions from our students. And she did a fantastic job and so did Aiden. So, just for the board to know that that was on at 5 and 6:00 tonight. >> You want to talk about that a little bit? >> Sure. >> Um, yeah. I honestly I've been really liking the cell phone thing. I feel like it's different for everyone, but me personally, it was an adjustment at first, but I've been really liking it. It's nice having a lot more conversations with my friends, me and my teachers, especially at the end of class and during lunch. It's not like, oh, pull out my phone, just be on it all of lunch. My friends and I talked to each other. Um, my friend Lexi and I brought coloring pages and coloring books to color during
066lunch. >> Um, it's just it's a lot more positive than I thought it was going to be and I really do enjoy it and I think in the long run it's going to have a really good impact. >> Did you want to comment on anything? >> Did you share on it or you don't have to? I don't want to put you on the spot. >> I feel the same way. I definitely think it's >> it was a little bit an adjustment, but I feel like really it has been nice just talking to people and actually like interacting without distraction. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay, public comment session. We didn't have any sign up. So, we'll move on to the committee and poll items and information roundt. We'll start with you, Roger. I just
067want to say welcome back to everybody and uh I'm glad to see that the cell phone initiative is going pretty well and the kids seem to be um you know I'm handling it in my my capacity too. But overall I think it's uh it's a positive thing and um yeah congratulations to uh start of another great start to the year. >> Okay. Just wanted to thank Cindy for the tour. I did not know that was even back there. So really so wonderful back there. Thank you so much for everything you do. >> Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate >> that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cindy. >> Yes. >> Thank you, >> John. Bob, Cheryl, thank you Jude. >> Did I miss anybody? So weirded at the table. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. I just
068add one important thing. This is for everybody at the table and everybody in attendance today. I'm going to say a few words and you can all react or not react to the words I'm going to say. There are four words that I'm going to share with you today and those words are hey >> that's all. Thank you so much. >> Um I just really want to add to uh the opening day. Um I really enjoy attending. I don't necessarily like to speak. Um, but uh it was it's it's it's a great morning. It's great to have everybody gathered together and I really enjoy when the students get up and speak and they talk about their journey and I love that they they bring up their teachers and their people that have influenced them and they
069really reach all the way back to elementary school and it's really a great reminder um of what what we do here and and what is so important. So it's just it's just a great event. I like it. Well, probably not as much as graduation, but um so I thank you for including me in in that in that day. And um yeah, so anyways, I'm going to adjourn because we are all tired because we were all up too late watching Buffalo Bills last night. So uh just one important date, October 6th, we will have our next board meeting and that will be at Sidway. With that, can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:29? >> Motion >> and a second. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carried 6. Thank
070you. Go Bills.