001Okay, we'll make a motion to come out of executive session at 6:35. Angela. Second. Fran. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? 6-0. Thank you. All right. We'll begin with the pledge, please. Oh, yeah, sorry. Going to call to order the Monday, April 13th regular Board of Ed meeting at 6:36. Sorry, thank you. I don't know much. Okay, now we'll start with the pledge. I 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, some housekeeping. Please take note of the emergency exits on the side and behind you. There's no smoking anywhere on school property. If you're planning to address the board, please sign in on the sheet provided on the table, and the meeting is
002being live-streamed on our district YouTube page. So, we will jump into the agenda, and we will begin with correspondence, please. Good evening, everyone. Montgomery Elementary School school student recognition night is this Tuesday at 7:00 No, excuse me, at 6:00 p.m. High School junior prom is Friday the 17th at 6:00 p.m. The Board of Education special meeting is April 21st at 5:30. BOCES void vote and election and tenure review and mentor presentations will happen at that meeting. High School student recognition night is on Monday, April 27th at 7:00 p.m. Family and community engagement meeting located at the high school is on Wednesday, April 29th at 6:30 p.m. Middle School student recognition night is on Thursday, April 30th at 6:00 p.m. High School senior ball is Friday, May 1st at 7:00 p.m. East Coldenham drama production is
003on May 7th and May 8th, both at 6:00 p.m. And the freshman class dance is on Friday, May 8th at 7:00 p.m. We have invitations that we received for the high school career fair, which is on Wednesday, April 22nd during 5th to 8th period, and high school mock disaster event is on Wednesday, April 29th at 11:45. Thank you. Commendations? The middle school middle school and high school third quarter ends on Friday, April 17th. The high school band and choral concert was on Tuesday is on Tuesday, April 23rd at 7:00 p.m., and 7th and 8th grade Viking Voices concert is on May 5th at 7:00 p.m. Walden Elementary spring concert is on Tuesday, May 7th at 6:30, and 6th grade chamber select chorus, jazz, band concert is on May 6th at 7:00 p.m. Thank you. All
004right. Next, we're very excited to have the middle school here with us, and they're going to do a presentation on the art of light and dark. How'd you know? Yeah, I read it somewhere. All right, good evening, everybody. I'm Jamie Ginn and Baxter, and I'm the principal of the middle school. Um, first I would like to say thank you to all the parents who brought your kids out tonight. I know you guys have busy days, so we appreciate you guys coming um and bringing them to support our presentation today. Number two, I'd like to um also introduce the two teachers that are with us, two newbies who I'm very proud of. Um, not really new to the education world, but new to Valley Central. Alexis Morano and Dean Delano will be presenting with the students,
005so thank you guys for coming. So, one of the things um really short introduction is one of our SIP goals is about increasing student achievement, and the area that we decided to focus on at the middle school was about vocabulary, right? So, if you can't If you don't understand the vocabulary in which you're working with, you're not going to be able to understand the task. So, if I'm an engineer and I don't understand those terms, I'm not really going to understand what I need to accomplish. Same idea in all of our classes, including art class. Um, so where we are going to talk about the art of light and dark. Um, so I'm going to go ahead and turn this over to Dean and Alexis to go ahead and start the introductions with the students,
006and you guys are going to be in the class today and making your own art. So, thank you. And there's a clicker right here. Thank you all so much for having us. Um, we really appreciate the opportunity to um give the students time to really show what they love. So, thank you for for having us. Yes, and I know uh the students are nervous, but I'm super proud of them. Uh, they practiced a few times with some classes and other students, so I'm excited to see how they do today. Do you guys want to introduce yourself? No. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, um Jackie and Sam, do you guys want to begin? And whoever else would like to jump in. Okay, you tell me when you want to go. Go ahead. Uh, these are
007our students from our studio art classes as well, ready to get a high school Okay. >> And Amelia is a rock star 7th grader. Rock star 7th grader. Um, hi. My name is Jackie. Um, so we decided to show you guys today how to do notan, which is um a Japanese-inspired design of concept, which is the placement of high-contrast elements to create balanced light and dark in composition. Oh, oh my god. >> [laughter] >> So, these are your some examples that our students did uh last last Monday uh post-session. So, a positive space is the areas that are objects or the subject, and a negative space are areas around the objects or the subject. Positive space is best described as the areas in a work of art that are the subjects or areas of interest.
008Negative area Negative space is an area around the subjects of areas of interest. Up here from that image, does anyone know like which is the subject in this example? It's basically a trick question. It's actually both. Oh, okay. Yeah, so. I tried to tell you. Yeah. So, what Sam was just saying, um the white part, some people are seeing it as a chess piece, some people are seeing it as another set of face faces, um and then also the black pieces are seeing as faces outlines. Okay, so Bridget and Caitlin are going to hand out some scissors, glue sticks, and a big piece of construction paper, and a small piece of construction paper. Okay, hi. I'm Hazel. Um, I'm going to be teaching you how to do this. Um, so step one is you're going
009to take the small square, and you are going to We have I don't know, do you want Here you go. There are You can have a blank small square you where you can draw a design, or you can get one with designs already made for you. It's your choice. If you just want to swap it out, ask Caitlin or Bridget. Um, but yes. And you are going to think about when you draw this design how it's going to look, and we're going to make symmetry with this. All right. So, after you've drawn your design, you are going to cut it out. All right? So, now Yes. Yeah, go ahead. Do you want to know? Uh, can I Do you want me to I'll talk. Um, I don't know. I don't know. I'm just tagging along
010with y'all today. You can even start searching to see Okay, if they need to be visual. Okay. Yes. All right, let's That's all right. That's all right. So, while you guys are doing that, I'm just going to uh what we're going to be doing. So, I just have a very simple triangle. That's pretty much all I'm going to do so you guys can see what we're doing. So, I'm going to cut the triangle out. What? Oh. So, what we're going to be doing now is we are going to be cutting out the shape, and in notan, what we are trying to make symmetry with positive and negative space as we told you. So, after you cut out your shape, you're going to flip it over so that it creates that symmetry between the light and
011dark. So, see as you can see in this example, when you cut out the triangles, you're going to flip them from where they once were so that the negative space or positive, whatever you want, is now in the square and now the triangle is outside of the square so it creates symmetry. Jackie is up there demoing. Oh. So, yes. You can go. Go. Okay, so once you guys have your pieces cut out, you're going to take that middle piece. It's specifically what you want to start with. So, if you guys are already on gluing, all right, make sure you're gluing your pieces on the actual paper, the smaller one, because if you put glue on the large piece of paper, the glue won't dry clear. It'll dry kind of shiny. Yeah, so we're going to
012put it on the big piece or the smaller pieces. All right, if you are on the gluing stage, remember as Jackie said to glue not on the big piece of paper, but on your cut out shapes or your small piece of paper because we don't want the shiny bits to be showing. So, what's left of your big piece of paper, too, you're going to want to put it in the center so you have room to flip your objects. So, if you're just gluing that first piece down, it'll look something like this. All right. And now when we're gluing it down, we really really want to make sure that we are flipping it and not just moving it out. We So, to demonstrate this best, you should put your shape before you glue it down back
013into where it was cut out from and then you can easily flip it so that it creates And remember, you don't need to be as good as everyone else, but as your paper, it's good enough already. >> [clears throat] >> If you guys have any questions, there are just people walking around, so you can just ask them. So, while you guys are finishing up doing your craft, I'm just going to talk about the beauty of balance. So, your completed No-Tan piece demonstrates the essential relationship between light and dark, positive and negative space. Each element defines Oh, yeah. I'll just restart, I guess. It's all right. So, the beauty of balance, your completed No-Tan piece demonstrates the essential relationship between light and dark, positive and negative space. Each essential Each element defines and enhances the other,
014creating visual harmony through contrast and balance. Recall principle of art, contrast, the arrangement of of opposite elements, light versus dark, rough versus smooth, to create visual entrance interest. Balance, the distribution of visual weight in a work, which can be sym- symmetral, asymmetral, or radical. Radial, same thing. It's a >> [laughter] >> Thank you all for letting us demonstrate No-Tan today and we hope you had a great great time making your own No-Tan pieces and remember sign them because you don't want anyone stealing your great work. >> [laughter] [laughter] [applause] >> All right, thank you very much middle school for your presentation and putting us through the light [applause] and dark about All right, next we'll move on to the proposed consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? Angela. Angela, second. Fran, all in
015favor? Opposed? 6-0, thank you. Okay. So, before we jump into reports, I just want to mention that we we welcome feedback from the community and value transparent open communication. We understand that at times it may not feel like we're commenting or providing updates as soon as some would like. Please know that we're actively working on many of your concerns. The future of Walden, for example, involves a number of moving parts in coordination with legal and other partners. Because of that, we aim to provide updates when they're clear, meaningful, and helpful rather than speaking before we have solid information to share. As always, we encourage anyone with questions or concerns to reach out to the district, which remains the best source of accurate and up-to-date information. In the spirit of open communication, we know there's been
016a great deal of discussion about our fields and in response to your concerns, we will now have a presentation outlining what has been done and what will be done moving forward. So, I'll hand it off to whoever started. Our presentation tonight will um be started by our director of facilities, Ryan Schmidt, and also the maintenance foreman, which is Krista Grove. Uh Teresa Hu- Hulesky will also be joining. She's the athletic director. Myself and also Mr. Conklin will be joining at some point in the presentation. Good evening, everybody. Uh at the end of May, [clears throat] early June, the stadium and practice fields were aerated, overseeded following spring season. Mowing across all fields was limited in July and August due to a drought and construction. Approximately 2 in of rain was received in the in the
017each month of July and August. Uh unfortunately, [clears throat] it was a total of only a couple inches each month. Fields were mowed, lined. Uh athletic practices began in late August. Track resurfacing project delayed the opening of the stadium field until September. After the contractors were complete in September, mowing resumed on the stadium and and prepared the uh for the games for September 18th. >> [clears throat] >> Summer fall of 2025 overview. So, July, you know, mowing and irrigation. August was mowing, field painting, and irrigation. September was mowing, field painting, and irrigation. October was mowing, field painting, irrigation, aeration, overseeding overseeding, and field rest. Novem- November was mowing, field painting, irrigation, aeration, topsoil added select areas, and overseeding. During December, January, and February, no work was conducted. March, field painting, topsoil overseeding, mowing of game
018fields. April, mow- mowing, field painting, overseeding, fertilization, and aeration. This is all recommendations from Cornell and on their schedule. Yeah. Good evening. Uh fall seasonal overview. We contacted Cornell in September to discuss consulting with them on how to enhance our athletic fields and develop an effective maintenance and care program. Multiple walk-throughs were conducted between October 3rd and November 7th. Uh the end of sports and growing season. Excuse me. [clears throat] To continuously assess field conditions and to guide ongoing and future maintenance priorities. Cornell provided the district [clears throat] with a recommended maintenance schedule to follow. Throughout the fall, field improvements were observed, particularly where fertilization, aeration, and overseeding occurred and field what rest was implemented. Drought conditions through the fall continued to impact recovery timelines, grass growth, and field aesthetics. So, the next uh two
019slides are the assessment rating criteria that Cornell uses. So, after we reached out to Cornell, um we did get a visit in person where they provided an assessment of our fields, um and they have rated it in categories uh as shown on this slide from turf turf density, uh percentage of weeds, um firmness of fields, and next slide, please. Uh soil type, fertilizer um frequencies per year, uh field use, uh top from top drive it top dressing, and rest period. And as you'll see on the next two slides, this is the evaluation uh baseline that we received from Cornell and where we um will see improvement going forward based on that. So, next slide, please. So, they they scored it in three kind of categories. The first one is the football the main stadium game
020field, the football practice field, um and then the soccer fields. Uh in this, just to kind of point out, we did have a large percentage of weeds, most uh mostly on the soccer fields. However, the field um was fully covered, so there was no bare soil um shown on the soccer fields at that time. Um 20% uh bare soil on the football practice field. As far as firmness goes, uh the one for firmness on the football field is firm, um and then the fives received on the football practice field and the soccer fields were hard. Next slide, please. Uh on this slide, uh one area where you will see some improvement for our practices going forward is in fertilizer. So, at that time, um fertilizer had not been applied, and that it will be part
021of our practice going forward. Uh field use, which is a an area that Teresa is going to talk a little bit about. Um our our fields do get a tremendous amount of use. Um so, noted there, six or more events uh per week. Next slide. Fall field maintenance performed. For 2-week period, 1/2 of the practice field was put out of service and groomed as per the recommendations received. The practice field improved greatly due to these efforts. Collectively, the decision was made to keep the field out of service for the remainder of the season. After the fall sports seasons completed, all athletics all athletic fields were aerated with a core plug tine aerator. Implemented schedules for aeration, irrigation, seeding, and field rest were implemented. Um fields were overseeded. Field rotation schedules would be implemented to help
022alleviate the pressure on the turf. Strategies for improvement identified in the fall, completed and in progress. Development of digital maintenance tracking systems including electronic mowing log, fertilization log, aeration and overseeding log, irrigation schedule and usage log, field condition documentation system. Creation of a clearly labeled field layout identifying areas such as field A, field B, field C, etc. To support field rotation planning and manage wear patterns. Establishment of clear communication guidelines for athletic teams regarding designated practice locations to support turf recovery and maintenance efforts. Continue overseeding weekly during sports seasons. Implement a consistent twice-a-week mowing schedule. Coordinate long-term needs with construction management and architectural partners. Uh this says exploration of autonomous field painting. We now have implemented uh autonomous field painting technology to support efficiency and consistency. Evaluation of staffing capacity including whether additional personnel are
023needed to maintain expected [clears throat] field standards. Conduct an irrigation audit to ensure appropriate water application amounts are applied. Schedule spring top dressing using screened sand-based material. Exploration of autonomous mowing technology to support efficiency and consistency. We're looking into that as we speak. So, in order to help with lessening the impact, especially on our game fields, uh we designed this map, kind of the number the fields, break it up, spread out practices. Um the stadium field before I got here was a practice field {slash} game field. So, this spring, we've taken the practices off of that field and used it strictly as a a game field for the spring to hopefully give it some recovery time. For example, today and tomorrow, no one is on the stadium field. There's no game, so it gives it
024some time to kind of bounce back from those high-impact sports that are played on there in the spring, such as lacrosse. The darker green areas, 2A and 2B, 3A and 3B, those are generally our game fields. Um 2A and 2B for our modified, and 3A and 3B is for our modified. They're also practice fields just based on spacing, so they do get a lot of impact. We'll also work to put spots out for other uh practices for our modified lacrosse team and our flag football team. This also helps with communication as far as lining, relining, or work that needs to be on the fields uh between myself and the grounds crew. Also, if we need to close down areas to do some maintenance or some seeding, we can communicate with the coaches and the teams
025um as far as which areas are closed and we're working on. So, we've developed like a rotation system in the spring to kind of lessen the impact on our fields where possible. But, you will see in future slides, we do have at least six to seven contests a day on top of practices. So, maintenance schedule. Uh Cornell came up with a a nice schedule that uh lists each month for, you know, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and it's broken out by uh operations for like mowing, uh irrigation, fertilization, cultivation, overseeding, top dressing. And each one of those has a little caption under it for each time of the month, uh amount of times for mowing, you know, amount of times for irrigation. Um July, August, the the mowing heights get raised,
026um and then again in Sep- September, they they get lowered back down again for when uh fall sports start. Uh this image is a screenshot of our maintenance tracking sheet that we just implemented. Um it's got the date, what we did, where we did it, the amount of crew members that actually performed the duties, and how long the duties took to perform. Um what we applied, the percentage of fertilizer, if need be, if it's applicable, and the total amount of product or time the irrigation was ran. So, these images show overseeding and aeration that was done in the fall, just so you can get a visual. So, [clears throat] field maintenance and purchases from July 2025 through February 2026. The categories are topsoil, fertilizer, and sand, and then cost on that. Thanks. The next slide
027um kind of looks at what our budget is for this year for those categories. Uh topsoil, $3,200, seed, $20,000, fertilizer, $5,000, infield mix, $2,200, sand, $750, and miscellaneous, uh almost $2,300. We do have an allocation in the budget for grounds equipment, um $75,000, and um we had a great meeting today with Cornell, and we're going to be looking at some data before we really define on what that purchase will be this year um to help our um overall practices going forward. So, one of the things that we looked at in comparison to other school districts in our area in our section is one of the unique things that we have is our middle school and our high school are on the same campus. Our middle school and high school sports teams are using the same
028fields. You'll find a lot of times in other districts, the middle schools are in a different location, and they have a different set of athletic fields to use. So, it results in less impact on the fields. As you'll see in our maps, our modified teams use what our varsity and JV teams were all kind of out on that back field using the same property. We do have a very large student athlete population, which is really nice. I mean we're moving up into class AAA next fall because of the increased enrollment in our school district and we do have a lot of students who want to take part in our which speaks volumes on our athletic program want to take part in our athletics. Uh we do have heavy reliance on multi-use fields across sports which
029frequent scheduling overlap. You'll see that a lot in the spring where we have a practice followed by the practice we have a game on the same field where we have two games back-to-back on the same field. We do have multiple events per day and seasonal sport overlap. Uh we go from football season right into the winter months and then March 9th this year started spring sports. So gives little recovery time. I just spoke of regular field conversion from one sport to the next just in one given day. Uh having our middle school and high school teams on the same fields it's limited practice space. Um using a lot as much space as we can. We do have high traffic foot traffic not just from athletes but spectators. If you're watching our spectators trying to get
030to fields a lot of that foot traffic also impacts field wear and tear. There's ongoing coordination required for scheduling equipment and daily rotation of our fields. Apparently I have another slide. So talking about our map if you look at the stadium field for example in one given day we have a lacrosse game generally either our JV lacrosse team will play followed by our varsity lacrosse team. Nature of the sport schools across the area it's a high impact sport. Uh just based on how the sport is played. So you have two games on that or you'll have a flag football game. So if we had a lacrosse game today tomorrow we have a flag football game. So we're constantly on our fields. Field two is a practice field and a game field. So there's times like
031last week where our lacrosse teams are practicing followed by a flag football game. On field three same thing that is also a practice field that we convert into a game field. So you'll have a team on there practicing right after school as soon as they get off then it's followed by a game. This is just showing the impact if you looked out anyone that was down on our sports fields today we had six events going on. We had just about every field used. JV softball varsity softball was playing. JV baseball varsity baseball. You had practice going on on field four for our modified lacrosse our field seven sorry modified lacrosse. We had a JV lacrosse game on field three. And then we had a track meet at the stadium field. So generally we usually have
032about six to seven contests in the spring going on each day. So it's constant impact on our fields. That's just an example of one Thursday in April and all the events that we have going on at the same time. So we had snow and pretty heavy winter you know from December 2nd to March 9th we had significant snowfall. Uh fields require time to dry up and firm up after a snow melt before we can even get equipment. Lots of times the fields we try to take equipment out onto the fields they're sinking into the field. So we don't want to do further damage on our fields. So we have to wait for our fields to dry out. Tryouts began March 9th which is a little crazy in the northeast that early March we're already starting
033spring sports. Then followed by the snow melt we had a significant rainfall March 16th to 17th with approximately 1.1 inches of rain. We had a girls lacrosse game already on our schedule that the coach and I spoke about in the winter when we were building our schedule. Coming off being section nine champs not a lot of people want to play you and you want to play top schools because you want so we reached out to Burnt Hills they came from two hours. They uh specifically picked a Saturday because they were coming two hours away. They didn't want to come on a school night. So we have the 21st set. We strategically place games also. So we did not want to cancel this game but we knew we were not going to be able to get
034out on our fields because of the significant rain the fields were still muddy. And we were waiting kind of for what happened this week for it to warm up dry out. So I reached out to Goshen. Goshen used our pool over the winter. They don't have their own pool so they used our pool. Athletic directors all the time always barter and and share different things. You have a pool I'll take your turf. You have this and that. So it's limited cost to the school district. So to keep that game going on schedule we borrowed turf from Goshen and we played that game on schedule March 21st. Then March 31st another major storm with approximate 1.4 inches of rain. Okay I'm Al Roker. This is a snowfall chart. >> [laughter] >> Just depicts the estimated monthly
035snowfall in Montgomery New York. >> [snorts] >> Which as you can tell we had a significant this year a significant amount of snow in December, January and February and then March we're trying to get out there March 9th onto fields as we wait for them to dry out. Rain in Montgomery New York significant as you can see throughout March again trying to wait for our fields to dry out and mother nature had different plans and it rained. That concludes my weather >> [laughter] >> So you know as you know we had reached out to Cornell back in the fall to come down and give us an assessment which they did. However we really wanted to make this a long-term project with Cornell. So we had reached out again about working with them long-term and we
036are in an an agreement to work with them for the year. The cost is is fairly reasonable it's about $1,500. They are able to offset a large chunk of the expense of them working with us during the year through other grant monies that they have available to help with schools. But I I really think it's a a great thing for Valley Central that we have an organization like Cornell and their turf grass program that are here to help us and to really collect some good data going forward. We have a baseline and our goal is to see improvement going forward. So they will conduct four on-site visits for athletic fields this year. We we started with the first official one today. However there was an unofficial one a couple weeks ago when they were going
037through the area and they stopped by just to say hello and take a quick look at the fields. So this will go for the full year through December. Each visit will include an assessment of our field conditions photo documentation of the field surfaces priority areas on-site discussions with field maintenance staff identification of short-term maintenance recommendations based on seasonal conditions and observed field performance. Uh the field assessment and documentation review of our maintenance programs purchasing and product selections. They did help us purchase a higher quality seed and and fertilizer that we now have here available to us. Um field use and capacity assessment. He's getting a lot of great information from Teresa of our field use. Strategic priority identification. We've had conversations about long-term improvement ideas that we have for the area. Equipment inventory and at
038the end of it a final summary summary report. So new practices that are implemented. Practices are no longer taking place on the stadium field. We're resting fields. We're over seeding fields during the game season. We're fertilization. Increasing [clears throat] mowing frequencies. Following defined schedules based on Cornell's recommendations. We're performing soil testing. We're data tracking maintenance and field use and data driven plans on maintenance. So we're taking several things into consideration for the future and not too far in the future. But looking at alternative practice locations besides just our own fields. Um possibly moving sports practices to the elementary schools adding new fields on additional land and that is to give our fields a rest at times which is a recommendation from Cornell. Explore closing and resting fields for the spring and fall season. That is
039for this year we're still looking at those possibilities. We have visited two other the only other two schools in Orange County that have grass fields. Several things that we learned is that many of the other schools and I believe this was said already they have separate fields. They have a field just to play their games and then they have practice fields which helps with the actual maintenance of the fields. Um turf in front of the bench area possibly where it gets a lot of foot traffic right in front of the benches. If you can envision a lacrosse game or a football game right there that the team walks up and down the fields and so do many other the coaches and has a lot of wear and tear that foot traffic. Looking into turf management
040interns, I spoke to our representative from Cornell today and inquired about getting some turf manager interns that could possibly support us. Um looking at sod in particular locations and just really extending our learning and looking at some possibilities for our own professional development um whether it's certification or actual workshops and there are opportunities at Cobleskill, Cornell and Great Lakes Turf School. So the district remains committed to continuous improvement of our athletic fields and to make sure they're they are of quality. Um to be truly informed between maintenance practices, collaboration across departments and here and still research based recommendations. I think that was also said that we're looking at data before we're responding to see how some of the things that we put into place are they working and the recommendations on the experts that that
041can give us next steps. This words reflects our shared responsibility to provide safe, high quality playing services for students and our community members. Looking ahead seeing improvement in field conditions will be slow but noticeable over the next few years. Um achieving a high quality turf experience for student athletes and community use will require coordinated team effort which I believe we have already. Progress will not happen overnight and this is not just me saying that. This is also what is being said about that Cornell has shared with us. As much as we want to go really fast and want to see it overnight, they have reiterated that it does take time. Um and that that we may be influenced by other factors factors outside of our control uh such as weather conditions um as we have
042been in the last two seasons. So at this point, I'll ask if you have any questions. Yeah, go ahead. You go first. That's fine. Um on slide four um you mentioned that during the fall there were um significant field improvements where there was fertilization and aeration. So my question is about the aeration. Um when was that done exactly? A lot of it was done in November. In November? It was end of really when the kids got off the fields was they don't get off till end of October. Ideally, October would be perfect but we're still playing during that time. Okay, so I'm wondering cuz I look looking at the maintenance schedule, I didn't see another aeration date. Was that a recommendation that we continue to aerate the fields like maybe twice a year? The next
043one's going to be in May. Okay, thank you. I'll just well note that um the practice field that we did take out of service in October did receive the a heavy aeration uh and overseeding while it was out of service. So that will be ongoing? It'll be ongoing. I'm sorry, I didn't hear it. It'll be ongoing. Thank you. So [gasps] >> [sighs] >> everybody knows that we had a rough winter and we've had weather issues but the fields the way that they are is not because of that. It's it's years and years of neglect, right? So I guess my question is or my frustration is that we are super reactive and not proactive. Like all the stuff that we've been doing, why weren't we doing all that stuff? And I'm not asking you for an
044answer right now but I'm just saying that this should have been done over years and years and years we wouldn't be in this position. So I have a lot of frustration saying we're going to do this and we've done this but it's only at because people are complaining or because Cornell is in here. Like we need to do better. We definitely need to do better and the other thing that I hate on this presentation is it's going to take a few years for improvement. I don't feel like that's acceptable. I think that there should be more money in the budget at this point as much time has gone by. We need to do something more than putting $100,000 in the budget. I should look at you when I say that. Um particularly as Teresa said
045we're moving up to triple A. We have more student athletes. There needs to be more money funneled in here because this we're a joke and we never ever should should be that way. And I'm not trying to come down on people but I mean I'm as frustrated as as a lot of people in the public. That's all. I'm done. All right, I'll go. So I'll echo what Katie said cuz I look at the maintenance schedule and I don't see anything dazzling in here. I'm not a farmer but I don't see anything in here that is like, "Oh my gosh, why didn't we think of that?" So I guess my question is why didn't we think of that? Um and then didn't look like we did anything over the summer. We mowed and watered. I don't
046I don't know why with the condition of the field why we didn't it was dirt anyway. We should have just put more dirt and at least make it flat, right? We could we could have done that. Um my I have a question around the budget. So for 25 26, we have total cost of 15 eight and then we talk about grounds equipment budget is $75,000. What what does that mean grounds equipment budget? What is that what is grounds equipment? Well, this is last year. So so grounds equipment could be um so for example, a few things that we're discussing with with Cornell's. One is autonomous mowing and is that something that will provide an advantage to the district going forward on on two fronts. One is more frequent cutting. Uh data shows that it helps
047uh the turf establish better. Helps it grow like lateral instead of up. And then being able to track the the time that's actually being spent on mowing, we will be able to after a period of time quantify how many hours are being spent, how many man hours and how much would it save us to shift towards autonomous mowing. Um another example of of uh piece of equipment um we've considered or we've had conversations with is regarding the fertilization. So uh our fields had not been fertilized for for many years um and so while we are going out there with a granular type product um there is data that shows a more frequent liquid applied um fertilization plan does help improve turf and turf quality. So we may um consider purchasing a um for example, a
048piece of spray equipment that it would be something that is either pulled behind a vehicle or it's a self-driving vehicle that would apply um that would apply a very low dose of nitrogen but more frequently. Um another example would be um a piece of equipment that can attach to a a tractor that would be um I think a more uh industrial size overseeding piece of equipment where it would in in kind of in one pass uh either pull a core or um loosen the soil and apply uh seed at the same time. Whereas right now, we have equipment. We have aerating equipment. We have overseeding equipment but it's um less than the width of this table, right? So it takes more paths to do so and um we are looking for some time to go
049by and collect some data before we determine on what that piece of grounds equipment will be that we would like to purchase this year rather than just saying, "Hey um I'll let Ryan talk here for a second but um uh Ryan, you you said it best to me earlier is is buying a piece of equipment that will actually um be meaningful to the district but also used and Yeah, sometimes I mean so purchasing something that only gets used a few times a year, twice a year, you know, and spending you know, possibly 50 or 75,000 dollars on something that might only get used twice uh you know, per year is kind of I don't want to say it's pointless but it's sometimes we can rent something. Maybe we could you know, get together with another
050school district or BOCES and borrow something and utilize it for the same amount of time yearly. If it's a large piece of um you know, you know, we're talking about aeration. We do. We have a like a six foot aerator but to aerate all the fields when the kids are playing in them, they're destroyed. You would have to wait until after the season's over to do a lot of this work. Um ideal time of growing is when kids play. So that's when the best growing for grass takes place is when sports are taking place. So it's we're we're working against mother nature by trying to grow grass when it dries out and we're trying to get you know, it to look perfect when everyone's playing on it. So we're we're it's a fighting battle. It's
051not just I wish it could just be you know, nobody's on it and it it's perfect. If you keep the kids or people off of it for a few weeks, you can make it generate but we we have no fields to put them out somewhere else to rotate them. So just the budget itself we have 108 we have 75,000 for equipment. So autonomous mowers and lines but we don't have grass to mow or line. And then that leaves $33,000 for the rest for repair and remediation. That to me is insane. That that we have $33,000 left over when we're going to spend $75,000 on equipment. So I I think that just doesn't make sense to me. Um and then if if I can be snarky for a minute, we can't say continuous improvement until we
052have improvement. Um so and and I have a question related to Cornell. Um we're mowing these fields and then tomorrow we're playing lacrosse. Why aren't we shutting this field down? Why aren't we shutting this field down right now and doing what we need to do? And and I I am sorry to the lacrosse players that use that big field but what are we doing? We're throwing seed down today and tomorrow we're having a game. Again, I'm not a farmer, but I don't see that growing. Why aren't we shutting that field [clears throat] down? Suck it up, take the hit for whatever time we need to do, seed it, fertilize it, water the crap out of it, and and be done with this issue already. I I don't understand why we continue to use this field.
053So, I I I just want to respond. I mean, you know, right now we don't have another area to put the kids, which is, you know, a lot of other schools have multiple fields. They have a practice field, and they have a designated lacrosse field, or they have a designated football field. I mean, you go to some other other districts that don't have turf right now, they're they've got twice as many fields as we have right now. Twice as many. So, it's not a um hey, listen, if we have if we rotate them, similar to farming, if you rotate the kid the the animals off the pasture, the grass will grow. Well, that's what's going on right here, that we are overgrazing on the fields and beating them down and trying to get them to
054grow. So, it's it's not a um it's it's it's really common how to grow grass. Keep people Keep, you know, the traffic off the field, it'll grow. >> can't believe we can't find a patch of grass in in the in our whole backyard over there that we can't play a lacrosse game on, that we suck it up for a couple months, because we're going to play on it, and then what happens if we have a drought again, and then we have a winter again, and then we're back here again next year? It just seems like we're not I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me. So, Miss Miss Bon, I just want to respond. Um so, we have been in discussion with the athletic director, and in order to do that, we have to
055take into consideration the games that are already scheduled, and what we can use. And so, as as Miss Uhlsky showed today, how many teams were playing, we have to make sure it's also safe, so that if we we just can't like, for example, today we could not have used another field. So, we have to stay within the schedule, and working with section nine to try to find a location if it's not on our fields on my on our practice fields to be able to do that. And so, it also depends on the location of the other games that are playing. So, when I when I said uh further considerations of the spring and fall, that's this spring, and that's this fall that we're looking at are there other places, even if it's some games, that
056we can um be able to reschedule at other locations. >> So, we've gone through the whole schedule, and and we I don't think we have finished yet, cuz I'll let I'll let you speak a little bit. So, so I'm I'm guessing you're speaking of the stadium field. So, when we move teams off the stadium field, we're also going to need a scoreboard, because varsity sports you need a scoreboard. With lacrosse, there's the clocks, the 90-second clocks, and the timing clocks that we also need. So, I did take a ride today around our area to look at different parks and different um locations to try to see if there's a spot that we can go that would have a scoreboard, that would have the 90-second clocks, because if we take them off the stadium field, and
057then we move them to field two or three, that we're going to have to shut those fields down pretty quick, because we'll have three or four games a day on those, because we have our modified teams that play on uh two and three, and then our JV and varsity. So, in our schedule, there's a seeding meeting, there's a cutoff that we have to have all our games done by for the seeding meeting for post-season. So, and this is without any cancellations or anything. We're trying to keep everything going on schedule. And we'll just add that we did we had that little conversation today with the overseeding during the season. It is a recommended practice. They call it cleating in. So, as the seed is out there on the field, it gets cleated in. It does
058pop up. As you continue to play on it, you will lose some of some of it, but it's about maintaining that baseline, so that when we do finish the season, there's already a good amount that's there and established that can take off and help with the recovery time. And, you know, I know you're we're all not farmers in here. We're all not um grass experts, but we we do have some experts that are involved in helping us move this forward, and we are following their plan. Um that's that's all we can say at this point. >> believe we only have $33,000 set aside for these fields for next year. It's just Yeah, just to reiterate that about the budget, that was my question about the uh equipment budget. But also, just to reiterate, you know,
059we owe it to our families and to these kids, that's why we're here in the in the first place, to play in a safe field and that they're proud of. So, I'm in support of anything we can do um to help, you know, help them get there and feel proud of where they're playing. I don't have anything. I think we have to say we want to put more money into the budget. It's us deciding the budget with the recommendation from the central office, but it's really us supporting an increase into this budget, and then communicating that to the community that we are feeling very strongly to increase our budget to support a quicker turnaround, a quicker improvement of the property. I think much more is needed. It sounds to me like much more is needed
060that I think Cornell's recommending. Their recommendation, it sounds like it's over time, and I think we need to be looking at you've hit you've got dirt, you know, with stone. How do we turn this into a golf course, you know? If we had all the money, what would we have to do, and then consider what we could afford, right? And what the community is willing to spend to support that type of a quicker growth. And I hear you, too, about the other fields. So, it may be how do we explore I don't know, different types of uh solutions, reaching out to to parks, reaching out to other schools that may be not using their fields a lot, or not using the land that they have as fields. And maybe we borrow clocks and scoreboards, or,
061you know, find ways to create that opportunity, and that's going to cost money, too. So, I think we have to we have to commit to how much we'd be willing to want to, you know, support in the budget. Yeah. I just want to add that, you know, when a school centralized, this wasn't all the sports that we have now is one is not what we had when it was centralized, also. So, we modified in JV, and you know, if you look back in 1960, what school what sports we have, we we'd have considerably more sports now than we did in 1960. Which is all the more reason to put more money in the budget to support that. >> [clears throat and cough] >> You know, ultimately though, it's making smart financial decisions, and and I
062I'm telling you I'm confident with the amount that's in the budget right now that we need for seed and fertilizer, and we're going to follow the plan that's being recommended. And at the end of the year, we'll have a great we'll have a great data set of how many pounds of seed we actually put down this year. We have an estimate that Cornell has pro- provided for us. We have an amount of fertilizer, and as of right now, in-house, we have everything that we need uh to get us through the fall. So. >> it's not a budget thing, it's we need to do better as far as It's it's yes. It's the it's the practices, right? As we went through on the one slide before, the practices that are in place now, um that will
063help us move forward. So, I've got a lot of opinions on on this. Um I'm not going to share them all right now, but I've thought of maybe one person in this room, I've been on those fields more than anybody here. Like, by a lot. And I'm going to tell you, there is not a section of that field that isn't used if you go out there during practice time. There is no way to get around it. There's not a place to put anybody else unless we're talking bussing kids to a different location, which impacts practice time, which impacts getting home time, um which impacts coaches um managing all of that. And I don't know, I'm not a gardener, I don't know how much money it takes to solve that with the situation and space that
064we have. But, I will say this, I don't believe there's any amount of money that's going to solve this in a year. Um just being out there for so long, I can tell you again, every blade of grass is being used. So, it's a space issue, and like was just said, the the amount of sports teams that are out there is awesome, but it does create this problem. So, as frustrated as we all might be, it it's not going to be a next year fix, no matter how much money we throw at it. So, I just want to put that out there. Okay. So, I just want to go back to the budget aspect again. So, Brad, [clears throat] what you're saying is that budget is based off of Cornell's recommendations and their maintenance schedule,
065and that's how that budget was derived. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions or comments on athletic fields? >> Yes. Go ahead. Turn your mic on, please. I will. I will. I'm just going to say something that I haven't heard yet. Um unfortunately, we can't go back in the past and change you know, we have to work with where we are today. And since we're talking about the budget, I think it's time that we start planning possibly to look into in the future a turf field. Um obviously, we can't think about it now, but it's something that we need to plan for in the budget in the future. And that could save wear and tear on our practice fields, and it could you know, it could be a better solution for our kids,
066but it's something that we need to plan for. Thank you. Okay, any other questions or comments? All right, we're going to move on to our student representatives now. So, our graduates honor society hosted their rent to rain fundraiser where many students rented grad members to help complete their school work. Our Jerry DC vendors bring Krispy Kreme fundraiser. And the French Honor Society is also selling coffee and tea through the Giving Bean. And also the high school's valedictorian and salutatorian were recently announced. The underclassmen recently took a trip to BOCES where many students explored their next steps for their career paths. And lastly, our senior class recently held their spirit week where they ended it with a black and white dance. Spring Spring sports have started and athletes are preparing for their upcoming seasons. The boys
067and girls indoor track team sent many athletes to complete compete at nationals. And the boys won the 4 by 8 team was named second in All Americans. The other athletes put up many strong performances and achieves achieved school records or personal bests. The school's Revelation literary magazine is looking for short stories written by students to be published in our school newspaper. For the animals held a fundraiser where they sold chocolate bunnies and are preparing for an upcoming parade. The girls varsity flag football team won 33 to 0 against Highland in their opening game March 23rd. Cultural Diversity Club held a fair that many people attended and welcomed many multiple cultural dishes and backgrounds. And on April 8th, the Tri-M Music Honor Society held their annual variety show. The crowd was lively and the hosts were
068amazing and was overly well done. And that's all. All right, thank you very much. Next we'll move on to the Superintendent of Schools. On March 24th, we had our first parent athlete coach meeting. So, at the high school, we had all of our teams come together. Parents were there, athletes were there, and coaches were there and we had an opportunity to talk about expectations and the coaches had an opportunity to meet individually in their teams with the parents and students. It was the first time, we'll continue to do that. We got a lot of positive feedback about having that night and we'll continue to do so for each season. I had the pleasure of attending DARE graduation for East Coldenham on March 25th, for Montgomery on March 26th, and for Berea this past Friday. On
069March 27th, I was a reader for third grade, had a wonderful time engaging our third graders in reading a story and having conversations with them. And then the drama production was on April 9th at Walden Elementary School and our students were spectacular with their singing and moves and their acting. So, thank you very much for all of that participation. Okay. Next we'll move on to the Assistant Superintendent for Business. Thank you, Mr. President. Two quick things for me tonight. First is I just draw everybody's attention to some postings for two audit committee members that are on our website. We've had a few vacancies for a number of years and we've been unable to attract any community members that are interested in that. It is a volunteer unpaid position with just a few meetings a year.
070So, if there is any community members that do have a financial background and are not related to any employees of the district, we do invite them to reach out to us. And then two, I just wanted to follow up on my presentation that I gave at the last board meeting on the slide regarding the capital projects, my slide did not mention the curtains or the high school roof. However, they were in CS Arch's uh presentation. So, I just wanted to share that for clarity. Um but it will be noted clearly in the budget newsletter when that goes out um in our communications with um the faculty and staff in the community. So, thank you. That's all I have. Next we'll move on to the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. Good evening. Um I just
071wanted to share today that I did attend New York State personal finance update regarding the embedding of person of sorry, of personal finance into our curriculum starting at next year. Um and that instructional requirement, so more to come as we plan ahead for that. We have most of we have it already embedded, but we want to be a little bit more clear so we can attest the state as well. Um I did attend the DARE graduation for EC and Montgomery. They were both great. I love to see the students as a former elementary principal myself uh and one who had DARE in her school, it's it's nice to still be a part of it even if I'm just in the audience. Um In regards to what's coming up, we are continuing to plan for our
072PD in May and making some finalizations on that agenda as well and uh looking forward to the rest of the school year. Thank you. Next we'll move on to the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. I do not have an update tonight, but I would like to congratulate Daniel Cummings on receiving tenure, a middle school teacher, tonight. >> [clears throat] >> Congratulations, Dan. >> [applause] >> Great. All right, next we'll move on to the Health and Safety Committee. So, the Health and Safety Committee met quite a few topics were were gone over. The biggest one that I thought was most important, at least for me, was arena reunification plan in case there's an incident where we have to evacuate the building and reunify the students with their parents and the district's working on that. Hopefully we'll
073have it completely nailed down for September and follow up with training with the staff and everything. It's super important to have that that squared away. God forbid there's there's something that we need to do that for. Okay. Okay. Great. Next we'll move on to Grading Committee. That is also me. Um we have really gotten to the um the policy of our grading and really going line by line and trying to rewrite that and um bring it a little more up to date from where it was. That's ongoing. All right, great. Okay, no updates on Technology Committee today. So, we're going to move on to Community Participation and we'll begin with Bob. All right, so I'm going to get the date right. March 30th, I went to varsity lacrosse game um boys and it was a
074real scrappy one goal win. They scored a the go-ahead goal with like 12 or 13 seconds left in the game to win the game. Um it was a great effort by the boys and really good job all around. Fran. I had the opportunity with other board members to attend the March 25th BOCES dinner and to take a look at the CTEC program and enjoy a delicious meal um by the culinary students and we have slots in in our district that we have in our budget that are not utilized for CTEC. So, want to get the word out as much as possible to have people consider those positions, those slots and talk to you know, your guidance counselors um and take advantage of the nights that they have to um see the CTEC program up up
075and personal and we'd love to really send more students there. It's great, incredible programs. Um yeah, I attended a couple of girls varsity lacrosse games. I also did my academic visit at East Coldenham. It was good to go back to East Coldenham. And I also attended the BOCES budget presentation dinner. Diana. Um I also attended the BOCES budget presentation dinner and student expo. Um the students did an amazing job. The expo the expo was very interesting with the live demonstrations that they gave to us so we could really see what the programs were that were being utilized over there. Um the dinner itself, it was a culinary delight. I mean, it was amazing. Um I didn't want to cook the next day cuz there was no way it was going to compare to what we
076had that night. Um I always yeah. I also attended um Imagine a Dragon, the student drama presentation at Walden Elementary School. We have very talented students there and they did an amazing job. And I also attended the Community Reader Day at Walden where community members are invited to go into the school and be a surprise reader um to a classroom. So, I read in a couple of classrooms there and enjoyed the experience very much. Um I also went to the BOCES dinner. It's the the dinner is delicious. They the kids do a great job. Um I think one thing I like is you can go and you can see different programs that they have at CTEC and they change them every year. So, all the ones I saw last year, there was new ones this
077year. So, you know, any students who are interested um I know probably all the ones here are juniors or seniors, but if you're sophomores and you want to go check out CTEC, there's a lot there, definitely. Um and then I was also a community reader at Walden. Pretty great. I went to the BOCES dinner as well and echo what Kate has said about the demonstrations. There was uh two students on a flight simulator. Another one was >> Massages. Who? There was a massage and facial treatments. >> Oh, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Well, I know what you're talking about. There was a root canal, massages. Hey. There was The tooth extraction where we volunteered. >> What else? Oh, yeah, there were fine Yeah, so anyway, a lot of a lot of good stuff happening over there.
078Um that definitely definitely worth looking into. Okay. So, we're going to move on to our public comment portion of the meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to begin our public comment portion of our meeting. We have public comment because it's important for us to hear concerns and issues from our community members. Please note that the board is here to listen and public comment is not designated designed, sorry, to be a discussion. If needed, the board or designated staff member will research your concerns and get back to you accordingly. We want our school board meetings to serve as an example to our students, so I ask that we demonstrate mutual respect. We ask the speakers address their comments to the board directly and we will insist that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility
079and respect on opposing views. The board reserves the right to shorten a speaker's time if that speaker violates the board's public comment rules. I also want to point out that under board policy, we do not entertain any comments or questions about specific school personnel or individual students by name or by implication. Please note, however, that we take personnel and student concerns very seriously. On these matters, we ask that you review our board policies and go through the appropriate administrative channels. The board will now entertain public comment for 30 minutes. Each individual speaker is allotted 4 minutes. The individual time limits will be enforced that as many members of the public who wish to speak may be allowed to do so. Okay. Our first speaker is Barney Zipkin. Oh, yeah. First step, what I want [clears
080throat] to thank you for the podium at an angle and the microphone. I do notice that everybody is making an effort to use the microphones and it's very easily heard. I appreciate that. So, I'd like to talk about personal experience. The reason I'm talking about it tonight is I'm very confident that the entire board does not know what happened and certainly I'm interested in the public knowing what happened. So, and and please do not confuse my talk with me wanting my coaching job back. I don't. Okay? So, I've been coaching for 4 years in the school system, about 11 years in addition in youth. And um they're two a lacrosse coach. So, there are two seasons. Well, not really. There's one season. It's in the spring. And then for years, we've been having off-season winter
081workouts, completely voluntary. Voluntary for the coaches, voluntary for the participants. The students, they run from seventh grade up through high school. So, it's just to keep their sticks in their hands, stay familiar with the sport and you know, get to know everybody. It's very informal. Up until now up until this winter workout there's never been an issue about being Board of Ed approved. And there's no policy this year to be Board of Ed approved for off-season workouts. Yet I was let go because I was not Board of Ed approved. On February 3rd there was a request that I submit a letter of of wanting to coach. I'm a volunteer. Each year I'm asked, "Barney, do you want to get paid this year?" No. Take that money and give it to another coach. That's the money
082that the defensive the other coach on the team is getting now is the money I've refused every year. February 3rd, there's a request for my intention or my wanting to coach. February 4th that request is submitted and received. One day later. Now, just 3 days later so if if I got a request to coach, that would mean that person who requested me was interested in me coaching. Wouldn't that make sense? Right? These are all rhetorical. So, February 4th, I I give it. February 7th, 3 days later GUESS WHAT I RECEIVE. "ALL POSITIONS ARE FILLED." FOR VOLUNTEER coaches with 58 years of experience. I've got more experience than all the coaches put together. But all positions are filled for a guy who doesn't ask for any money. He leaves work at 2:00 every day. He buys
083equipment for children on the team who he feels can't afford them. So, I have here, "Really? Question mark. All positions are filled?" Gets better. Let me list some of the other sports that have off-season workouts that have coaches that are not Board of Ed approved. Girls lacrosse, girls and boys wrestling, basketball, softball, flag football, baseball. But somehow on March 6th, again, the lacrosse program is under investigation. Not for the first time. Mr. Zipkin, if I could ask you just to wrap it up, please. You're very uncomfortable, Joe, in hearing what you don't want to hear. So, what Two seniors, one of them's here, came to talk one night about me and they were told that you're not allowed to talk about an employee. Okay, so now I'm considered an employee. >> you can't talk about
084students either, okay? So, I need you to wrap it up, please. Personnel and students are not >> that he had to email. And when he emailed, guess what he was told. "Oh, that's against policy. You can't email about somebody either." Is this the wild, wild west? Do we just make up rules? >> That's not accurate. >> Okay. Thank you. Your time is up. >> I also have evidence that a new coach that a new coach that it was suggested that he be at All right, we're going to take a 5-minute recess. We're going to take a 5-minute recess. You get my point. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next up is Eric and Kim Lockman. Excuse me if you can't hear me that clearly. I just had surgery all afternoon. Anyway, we're here to discuss um No,
085I can't have anything for 4 days, believe it or not. I'm going to be nice and thin this summer. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Don't mind it's a tea bag that they're trying to clock the blood. So, anyway, my husband and I are very concerned about the selection that was used for the National Honor Society in selecting different candidates to be admitted. Um, we are here cuz my son was rejected under the premise that he shows zero character and one out of three leadership. This is a boy since elementary school that has done nothing but show the community work everything. So, a lot of stuff he doesn't want to say because he does it privately. So, it wasn't mentioned. He appealed it. He wrote about it. He doesn't like to talk about himself. But I
086told him it's part of the process. He did. He was denied again. He followed procedure before he told us what was going on. When he was denied again, he went to the interim principal in the high school. He was advised then to go to the advisors. When he spoke with the advisors >> Ma'am, I'm sorry. I just I can't have you speak about personnel, so if you can just speak to the issue without mentioning specific personnel. >> Well, I'm just telling you he followed proper procedure and policy. He spoke with the advisors and they told him it just wasn't enough. Now, this is a boy that has started our snow and ski [snorts] board club here, has spoke at the board many times. He is still running. His signs [snorts] still appear in the high
087school every year that he created. This is also a boy that is doing our community dog park renovation after 17 years, the Paul Junior dog park. He started on it last September. Recently, it got so big um that he turned it into part of his civil service, but he already worked 30 40 hours on it previously on that, and he's working with the government, community, park services, private industry, all donations, not asking for any money. But again, shows no character leadership. >> [snorts] >> He is also volunteers his personal time outside his six national honor societies he belongs to and tutors in. He also donates time or at least once a month he tries at our village library. And he also donates at least once a month at our regional food bank. He also is
088a member for 3 years of the Sons of the American Legion for 3 years, and if anybody doesn't know, that is a upstanding honorable society where they work with young youth, veterans, and American patriotism, where they, you know, put the wreath at Pearl Harbor in the ocean, say words, they do the gun salute, he puts, you know, flags on the cemetery. He does all this for 3 years, but again, on his reply, he shows no character or leadership. Um Oh, he was just recently picked through a interview process to be Boy State, selected one of two males in our whole school district to represent Valley Central School District on honor, character, and leadership. And he's going there to represent our school district. But again, he shows no character or leadership. Um with the Paul Junior,
089he does the Montgomery library. I'm sorry that he What is that you're saying, honey? I'm just so sore. Um he does a lot. I hope all of you received what was said. That was our advisement. Um before we did that, we actually went outside to principals from other school districts that do not know us and our son to review his letter of appeal, and again, they were appalled to see it meets all the standards that he was given in that for leadership and character on his appeal, and again, was denied. He also is a triathlete. Again, he does lacrosse, cross country, track, and right now he's in lacrosse and track. And he just received the New York State um scholar award for his grades and being on um different sports teams. I'm sorry, this is
090falling out of my mouth. >> If you could wrap it up, please. Also, he's doing 24 credits of college by the end of year and 10 Regents exceptional grades, as you guys should know. And um he's also taking three classes on top of that, you know, his physics, US history, and um gym. And um what's he doing? I don't know. Okay. Thank you. >> But it goes on and on of what he does. And um like I said, he's already in six honor society and does all the stuff for that. Um the college Oh, and he has a clean when you check with his guidance counselor, he has a clean disciplinary record. And if you want to see his character and his leadership, all you have to do is tune in to last week's um
091village board meeting as he presented for the dog park Okay. and spoke. >> All right. Thank Thank you. >> would like this looked into further. Sure. And I think we have your contact information. Yes. Okay. Thank Thank you. >> want to make sure everybody at the board understood. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you very much for having us and listening. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is Bonnie Zipkin. I got my timer this time. So we So this time I'd like to speak about the fields. I've been in the business, as you know by my high visibility orange shirts, for 50 years. Okay? And I know Cornell is wonderful, and they give you a lot of data. Okay? And they come down in suits, and they do a lot of stuff. My suggestion,
092if you might want it, is get some people who do it every day, get people, coaches, and stuff. It depends. You know, Miss McKnight said it best. The horse is out of the barn, okay? This takes I I've spoken it on Ryan's behalf previously. You can't redo a field in less than a year. You cannot, and a year is a lot. So, if you want to invest money in that practice field, okay, there are other areas you can line a field, but you just can't do a little spot. A lacrosse field is 110 yards. That's 330 ft, okay? So, in order to practice with two teams, you need the full field. You could prep that field, and you could sod it, okay? It'll need a year. Okay? But poor Ryan here is trying to give
093you every answer. Okay. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm a personal guy. Um You can't you know, everybody's talking about plug in and slice in and reseed and all that stuff. Roots don't take in 2 weeks, and if they do just a tiny bit, they're just ripped right up. And no, you can't do anything in the summer. It's July and August, okay? You can't plant grass. All right? So, you are going to have to take a few steps back, and you're going to have to invest a lot more money than you think you're going to have to, okay, to get any fields that are respectable. Yes, it would be nice if our teams were proud of their fields cuz they're not. Cuz I used to be a coach, so I know what they what they're
094saying. They're embarrassed, okay? So, another opera uh uh thing you could do is you could put a group together who are knowledgeable, coaches, construction people, and you could rearrange the fields you already have, and that would allow for at least two more fields because whoever laid that out didn't do the best job, okay? So, that's another option. So, I think that maybe you need some more people who look like me instead of people who come down for Cornell, and in conjunction, you maybe able to find a solution that is affordable, is time timely, as best as possible. Nothing is happening quickly. So, you got to put that out of your mind. It's just not you're wasting money. As the ex I mean, you're throwing good money after bad. So, that's my suggestion on that. And
095really quick, back at the other, I feel very targeted. I feel very singled out and even discriminated against that I am the only person who was told they couldn't coach because they weren't Board of Ed approved when there's no policy for off-season practices that says you have to be Board of Ed approved. So, I think there's an agenda, and I think because I'm outspoken, maybe I was targeted. Does that make any sense? I think it does. I still have 30 seconds. And when I was interviewed, okay, I wasn't considered an employee then because nobody came to my back for me, and I know if another employee in this school system is interviewed in the way I was, there would be somebody they're called HR people. I'm not identifying anybody, and they would be there for
096that person to make sure he wasn't discriminated against, singled out, or targeted. And where was that person? You call me an employee when you don't want anybody to talk about me, but I'm not an employee when I'm getting interviewed to get thrown out. Thank you. Thank you. Good timing. Okay. Next up is Tom Stoddard. >> [snorts] >> Good evening, board members. Uh I wasn't planning on speaking here today. Um but I'll go into that in a second. Uh with all due respect, Mr. Oaks, I think I have more time on those fields than you do, all right? From from from playing time to coaching now and phys ed and all that, yeah. Um I can tell you those fields are terrible. You guys already know that, right? Um but Mr. Bonn, when you said we
097you got to kind of shut it down, I do agree with you. We do have to shut it down, but to an extent like shut it down and just tell lacrosse to go play on a patch of grass, that's when my phone started blowing up from my seniors saying, "What the heck?" Um so, like I teach them all the time, you got to lead by example. So, up here to tell you, I don't know if you've recognized it yet, we already play on a patch of grass. For four out of our first 5 weeks of the season, we've practiced on a patch of grass. We've played on a 40-yard space for lacrosse. It's impossible. It's impossible to teach what needs to be taught on a 40-yard space. I can't teach something over the midfield line.
098I can't teach clearing. I can't teach riding. I can't teach basics, right? And yet, our lacrosse team is still 4 and 0. But, we won't know that cuz we don't publicize that. We won't know our lacrosse team is 4 and 0. Because I have the greatest group of young men. We have one of the most talented teams in the section, but we treat them like Like I said, we treat them terribly with the way we have these fields. Um so, honestly, playing on patchy grass, by all means, we will be And I text them. I asked them, "Hey, you guys want to go practice elsewhere?" Absolutely. Provide us a bus, we'll go to turf, we'll go on a nice piece of grass, give us back-up nets, we'll go wherever you need to go cuz they're
099still going to win. So, to to say play on a patchy grass kind of an insult cuz that's what we're actually we're playing on patchy dirt. My goalie today says to me, "We're shooting on them. Coach, I can't see the ball." Cuz dirt's blasting up into his eyes. We're shooting We're playing while there's a softball game going on. We're shooting into a live softball game. Not on purpose, we're just getting a scout ready for Red Hook. And they have a lefty that could blast it. So, I have a lefty blasting it and it's going into the softball game hitting the catcher. What do you want me to do? Where's the liability on that? Cuz I know I'm going to be the one that gets yelled at cuz like Like the previous speaker spoke, there seems
100to be an agenda towards the boys lacrosse team for whatever reason. If it's me, I'll make sure to take care of that. But, there seems to be an agenda there for for whatever the reason is. And I don't know if you know this, boys lacrosse team has been around for 25 years. They have two head coaches. This program has over 300 victories. No team's even close to that. So, if we want to keep singling this team out, by all means, keep doing it. I got a great group of young men that are going to step up, all right, and lead by example cuz that's what we do. Hopefully, we can fix the problem here. Thank you. All right. Next, we're going to move on to old business. And this is uh a roll call. So,
101Brad, I'll take a motion for the adoption of the 2026-2027 budget and approval of property tax report card. Motion to adopt. I have a question. Do we do a motion Let's do a motion first and then questions. So, Katie second. Diane. Diane, okay. Discussion? Katie. So, my question is um this budget is up for adoption by the board. Obviously, we've had discussions about money in the budget. >> [clears throat] >> If after your as the beings with Cornell go on, if there's reason to increase the budget for athletic fields, is that something that can be done >> [clears throat] >> within budget lines on an approved budget? Um yes, to to an extent. Um obviously, a a budget is a budget. It's not not an actual. We uh do our best uh to to budget
102as appropriately close as we can. Um there are often times that come up during a year and like here we are in April talking about a budget that goes to June 30th of 2027. Um so, I am I am confident that if something comes up along the way within reason, we would be able to accommodate it. Now, if the board comes, you know, March of next year and says, "Hey, you know, I we want to go ahead and throw out a a brand new side field." Do it. I can't guarantee I can make that happen, but if based on the data that we gather this year and we evaluate those areas after the season is over, if we have to do a small patch of uh side in that area, I'm confident that we can
103do so. All right. Cuz I hear what you're saying that you're confident in what is budgeted and that's your job. So, I'm not questioning that, but I know budgets and I know things change. And being, you know, that you're saying we're being working with Cornell for a year, if stuff comes up that can help us move forward in this journey and make things happen better and quicker, I want to make sure that that's something that we can do. So, thank you. Thank you. I just want to add a little bit to that. It's not increasing the budget, it would be modifying the budget. So, because this budget is going to the taxpayers, they're voting on this budget. So, That's why wiggle room within the budget. Yeah. >> Correct. Any other discussion? Okay. Brad, I'll turn
104it to you for a roll call. Okay. So, Ms. McKnight? Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Oaks? Yes. Ms. Fox-Bizonya? Yes. Mr. Revoir? Yes. Ms. Samuelson? Um absent. Mr. Lovoro? Yes. And Mr. Bond? Yes. Thank you. That motion passes 6-0. All right. Next, we'll move on to new business. Uh first, I'll take a motion for the approval of the agreement with Pennsylvania Western University. I'll Diane. Second. Angela. On favor. I. I. Opposed? 6-0. Thank you. Next, I'll take an approval of resolution for the emergency roof repair at the high school auditorium. Motion to approve. Katie. Katie, second. Bob. Bob, on favor. I. Opposed? 6-0. Thank you. Thank you. And then next is the review procedure for selection of candidates on the ballot. Brad, it's you. Okay. So, as a reminder, petitions are due to the
105district clerk no later than April 20th uh 2026 at 5:00 p.m. The following morning, April 21st at 9:00 a.m., there will be a drawing held here in central office for the candidate order on the ballot. Those that are interested are welcome to attend. Okay. Thank you. All right. That brings us to the end of our agenda. Uh one thing I want to mention, we had talked about dates for our work session. We had a couple dates in April that not everybody could attend. So, I'm pushing that to May. I'm getting dates from our attorney that is going to work with them and then I'll circle back with the board to see I really want a date that works for everybody is is what I'm trying to do. So, uh just wanted to throw that out
106there. Okay. Uh that brings us to our end. Tom, thank you for being with us and broadcasting. And I will take a motion to adjourn at 8:10, please. Fran, second. >> Angela. Angela, all on favor. I. Opposed? 6-0. Thank you. So, Actually, I have a question.