Board of Education Meeting - 03/23/2026

001Okay. Can I get a motion to come out of executive session at 6:37? Second? Seeing all in favor. Opposed? 7-0, thank you. All right. Call to order the Monday, March 23rd regular Board of Ed meeting at 6:37 and we will begin with the pledge, please. All right, some housekeeping. Please take note of the emergency exits on the side and behind you. There's no smoking anywhere on school property and if you're planning to address the board, please sign in on the sheet provided at the table and this meeting is being streamed on our district YouTube page. And we will go into the agenda and we'll jump into correspondence, please. Good evening. E.S. Coldenham's DARE graduation will take place this Wednesday, March 25th at 2:00 p.m. Montgomery Elementary's DARE graduation will take place on Thursday, March 26th

002at 2:00 p.m. and spring recess begins Monday, March 30th to Sunday, April 5th. Okay, commendations. We have several commendations tonight. First, would I like to start with Valley Central High School is pleased to announce the valedictorian and salutatorian of the class of 2025. The valedictorian is Michael Quintana, Jr. and the salutatorian is Susan Kirk. Congratulations to them both. This is an exciting and happy moment for the high school to identify and recognize these great students who are doing so well. Please give them a round of applause. >> [applause] >> We also are here to celebrate many, many of our athletes who have gone above and beyond and have gone to uh state championships and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Mr. Halski who's here to honor our students. >> [clears throat] >> Okay,

003good evening, everyone. This winter season was an incredible one for our athletes. We're proud of all our teams for their hard work and dedication this season and tonight we would like to give a special recognition to those who advanced to sectionals and states, an exciting accomplishment >> [clears throat] >> that reflects their effort and commitment to athletics. Our girls wrestling team finished fourth in the state helping Section 9 place second overall. We would like our girls wrestling team to stand for an applause. >> [applause] >> If you notice three girls are standing, those three girls went off to the state competition and they finished fourth in New York state. As well as lots of teams in comparison had you know, many more numbers, many more athletes and second place helping the section. So, phenomenal job

004just watching over the day of them getting ready and the day of them wrestling how much hard work and dedication went into that. So, great job, girls. >> [snorts] [applause] >> The boys wrestling team finished seventh in the state contributing to the section earning fifth overall. So, we'd like our boys wrestling team here in the corner just to stay standing for a round of applause. >> [applause] >> We had seven of our boys go off to the state championship. Again, finished seventh in the state and helped Section 9 finish fifth overall. On the individual side, we had several outstanding performances in girls wrestling. Erica Pearson-Leary placed third in states as well as earning the title of Section 9 champion. Erica, can you please come on up? >> [applause] >> Olivia Smith finished fourth in the

005state. Come on up, Olivia. >> [applause and cheering] >> And Riley Kinsley placed fifth in the state. Congratulations again to our girls and our coaches for all your hard work and dedication this season. On the individual side for the boys, Edward Vas Jr. finished fourth in the state as well as earning the title of Section 9 champion. >> [applause] >> Maximus Smith placed sixth in the state. Evan Gomez finished seventh in the state as well as earning title of Section 9 champion. We would also like to recognize and have them come on up, Michael Giannone, Dominic Giannone, Ian Gentiles and Andrew Uszynski for qualifying for the state championships. Congratulations, boys, our boys wrestling team and our coaches for all your hard work and dedication this winter season. >> [applause] >> Our gymnastics team also had

006an outstanding season once again remaining as the reigning Section 9 champions. Do we have our gymnasts here with us tonight? All right. We will recognize them in the uh athletic office. We'll have them come on down. We want to congratulate them on a hard uh work season. They also had five gymnasts earning a trip to the state competition this winter season. >> [applause] >> All right, on the track our athletes continue to shine with many of our athletes attending and placing at both Section 9 and state championships. For the girls on the track, Dana Scott placed sixth among public schools and seventh in the federation in the 55-meter dash. Is Dana here tonight? There were some of our athletes and it may be some of our gymnasts as well. Some of our athletes had something

007going on with the play, so they were double-booked. In our relay, our 4 by 200 relay team of Dana Scott, Emma Quaglietta, Zyliece Mosley and Eva Jones placed sixth amongst public schools and fifth in the federation. Come on up, don't be shy. Congratulations to all our girls indoor track athletes and their hard work, dedication and their coaches. On the boys side, we had Pablo Emilio Avila uh placed third among public schools and fourth in the federation in the 600-meter race. Pablo here? >> [applause] >> We would also recognize Savannah George, Jazlyn Polino, Logan Young, Felix Chen and Everett Peterman for qualifying and attending the state championships. If you're here, come on up. >> [applause] >> So, you are among probably the first to know because the actual public recognition of this award isn't until tomorrow

008night, but I love to embarrass her as much as I can. So, we are proud to recognize our girls wrestling coach, Jennifer Kinsley, who will be honored tomorrow evening as coach of the year by the Friends of Section 9 wrestling at Minisink Valley. Come on up, Jen. I'd like to again uh with Superintendent Leo, give a huge congratulations to all our athletes and coaches on an incredible winter season. We are VC proud. >> [applause] >> All right. Congratulations to all our athletes and coaches. Uh now we're going to have a student presentation from Walden Elementary School. Welcome. >> [applause] >> All right. Good evening, everyone. I'm Greg Heideman, principal of Walden Elementary School. Board of Ed, central office, school community, thank you for this opportunity to showcase our kids. They've been working really hard with

009Ms. Bourdon and Ms. Matisse, who is the village historian here at Walden, in our history club. And our school is turning 100 years old very shortly. Yes, we're excited. And um what a better way to kind of plant some seeds than have our children do some research about the history of Walden Elementary School. I'm very proud of you guys. You're ready. Great job. Here's Ms. Bourdon. Good evening. My name is Kathy Bourdon and I'm a teacher at Walden and the proud advisor of the award-winning Walden Elementary School History Club. Founded by Nancy Phelps and Mary Ellen Matisse, the Village of Walden historian. This year, in addition about the mastodon and the work that was involved in learning the local history about this creature, we also investigated the history of our school in Walden as it

010approaches 100 years of educating the children of Walden. Our club Uh-huh. Sorry. Our club worked together with Ms. Matisse, who helped guide us and provided numerous resources for us in both our mastodon studies and diving into the history of the Walden Grade High School. That is celebrating its 100th year. Some of our history club members were able to be here this evening to share their new knowledge with you. I will have them introduce themselves. Michaela? Hi, my name is Michaela. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 9 years old. Good evening, everyone. My name is Daniel Lee and I'm a fifth grade student. Hello, I'm Elizabeth Barrett and I am a fifth grade student. Hi, my name is Abby. I'm a fourth grader and I'm 10 years old. Good evening. My name is Maddox Wright and

011I'm a fifth grade student at Walden Elementary. Hello, I'm Avery DeJoy. I'm in I am in fifth grade and I'm 11 years old. Hi, my name is Brian Camacho and I am 10 years old and in fifth grade. Hi, my name's Amelia and I'm in fourth grade and 9 years old. I'm so excited to be here tonight. Hi, I'm Delilah. I'm a fifth grader. I go to Walden Elementary School and I'm super excited to be here. Hello, my name is Nolan Sikorski. I am a fourth grader in Walden. Michaela. Let's be Let's begin our journey back in time to 1859 when this little building was built on Orchard Street in Walden to become the first school in the prop in on this property. There were not that many students, so this school was big enough

012for about the next 30 years. In 1888, a new school was built as education became more important to the community. At this time, DeWitt C. Dominick came to Walden to be the principal at the new school building. Under his leadership, the Walden School became a leading school in Orange County and passed under the Regents of the University of the student of the New York. In 1890, graduating its first Regents class of seven students in 1892. Principal Dominick was driving force for education in Walden. He He increased the public's permission of the importance of the school education, even speaking to parents and employers to keep students in school to graduate, despite the pressure to enter the work first in factories and stores. With his efforts, enrollment grew and two additions to the school building were needed

013within the next 20 years. As you can see, we have the original building in the center, an addition on the east side in the back of the picture, and an addition on the west side near the front of the picture. This addition on the west side was located where a playground 12 is currently. As interest in education continued to grow at the leading school in Orange County by the 1920s, another expansion was needed. The community valued the school and voted to build a new school on Orchard Street in January of 1926, as announced by our local local newspaper. During construction, classes were held at different locations in Walden so learning would not be interrupted. This new building was built behind the 1888 building and the east addition, which were eventually torn down. The new Walden

014school had 25 classrooms, a study hall, a small library, a gym, a kitchen, the superintendent's office, a nurse's office, a teachers' room, and a coaches' office. The west wing was not demolished and was used as an intermediate building and eventually had the industrial arts and home economics room with a passageway between the two buildings. Our current school has 23 home rooms, a big library, a gymnasium, a music classroom, a small band room, an art room with a supply closet. We have a big cafeteria and rooms for speech, counseling, OT, PT, technology, reading, math, and specialized supports like our sensory room. In 1908, the west wing addition was eventually torn down and we currently have a big blacktop playground next to our school with two smaller playgrounds at the back of our school building. School life

015in the past was quite a bit different than it is for us today. The Walden Grade High School had some club activities like student government, honor societies, yearbook club, the athletic association, senior leaders club, and many others. Some sports were boys and bas and girls basketball, cheerleading, football, JV basketball, and varsity basketball. These were all for the high school students only. There were no sports or clubs for grade for grades K through 6. Today, there are still many sports and clubs for the secondary students at Valley Central High School. Thankfully, we now have a lot of clubs for elementary students like Boomwhackers, chess, coding, Crazy Eights, drama, ecology, history, homework, math, and student council. We also have band and chorus for fourth and fifth graders. Now it's my turn to finish up. >> [gasps] >>

016Um We We learned so much of this history from a booklet written in 1938 by the students in the Journalism Honor Society and we have an original artifact that we worked from. Well, no, we didn't work from it. We made copies. >> [laughter] >> This was written in 1938 by the students in the Journalism Honor Society called the Nunti Chapter of the Quill and Scroll Society. We had yearbooks from the 1940s and 1950s and collections of articles about our school and community that we did not bring with us. We like learning about the pa- about the past of our school and greatly appreciate Ms. Matisse sharing her expertise with our club. She also made a flyer and we all got buttons. There is so much that we have learned that couldn't be captured in this

017presentation, but we would each like to share one additional highlight with you. Michaela? The first school building was built and was built in 1859. The most interesting fact I have learned about history club is that our school used to be a high school. I thought it was just an elementary school. The only school holidays were on on what for 1 week for Christmas, the 4th of July, and Saturday of each week. The school changed so much between 1859 and 1888. The fact I learned in history club is the school had been remodeled several times since first built. One interesting fact I learned is how they used to call the yearbooks Nadlaw because it is Walden spelled backwards. I have learned that there is girls basketball in history club. I learned that the VC school district

018didn't exist until 1958. I learned that Walden Elementary wasn't always Walden Elementary because kindergarten through 3 cuz it was kindergarten through 12th grade. My favorite fact about my school was seeing my grandma in a yearbook and how they still learned when they were constructing the East Wing in 1888. And the fact that I took away from this is cleared up um a mystery for 30 years. I've taught at Walden Elementary for 30 school for 30 years and we have this enormous black wall safe in our nurse's office. And it is there because that room started out as the superintendent's office when the first school was built in Walden. So we hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about the history of Walden Elementary School. Have a good evening. >> [applause] >> Thank you very much.

019Great job. Okay. Uh next we're going to move on to our proposed consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? Jane, second? Katie, all in favor? Opposed? 7-0. Thank you. All right. Next we'll move on to reports and we'll start with the superintendent of schools. So I've had the pleasure to go around to visit and conduct some site visits along with board members. We were able to visit the middle school on March 10th, Berea on March 13th, ALC on March 17th, and EC on Friday, March 20th. It's an opportunity for board members to visit schools and see what's going on in action during the day. On March On March 11th, I was asked along with our communication person, who is Aaron Johnson, to speak to other people from that same field in regard to

020communication on how we communicate at Valley Central um as well as a model for the communication profession. And that is because we have increased our communication in our community, especially with ParentSquare, and we have put some things in place. We have a communication committee and many other factors. So it was an honor to speak on behalf of Valley Central at the NISPA conference on March 11th and representing our district. It made me very proud that we were asked in the very first place. On March 13th, I had a sneak preview of the Berea drama production and they were outstanding even in that small snippet that I saw. I did also hear that they were fantastic on that Saturday and they were amazing. I had the opportunity to surprise our valedictorian and salutatorian uh last week.

021We don't share with them exactly that they were coming downstairs to be honored as a valedictorian and salutatorian. In fact, we told them something else. So when they come downstairs, there's a group of students waiting for them to honor them and staff members. They had no idea at first and then the principal announced why they were there and they were totally shocked and happy. Their families were there also to congratulate them. So it's an honor to to award those two students um who work extremely hard um to get to that after 4 years of um continually being dedicated to their studies and to the other extra activities that they participate in. On Wednesday, March 18th, I had the opportunity to go to the Rotary Club um and participate in the Rotary activities. And then on

022Friday, I had the opportunity to attend our musical. And as always, I feel like I'm sitting at Broadway um with how professional our students are. They did an outstanding job and I am extremely extremely proud of their outstanding job that they did. So congratulations to a wonderful performance to all the staff members, to all the volunteers who helped. There are many people come back years and years just to help the changing of of costumes and many other things and I just want to thank everyone coming together to support our high school students. Thank you. Next we'll move on to the assistant superintendent for business. Thank you. Good evening. Um so just to um let the board know we're we're dealing with a roof drain issue over the auditorium at high school. We are unsure of

023what the exact cause is. We've notified our insurance company. They have visited. Our own architectural team and engineers have visited as well. And um the insurance company sent us an expert to take a look at it. So we're just basically waiting for some feedback from them as to next next steps. And hopefully by the next meeting we'll be able to provide you an update. But it's a involving the roof drain system on the auditorium. Next um so Superintendent Avila has asked me to provide an update on the field conditions. So as you know, this year we're working with Cornell University Turfgrass program, which is an exciting opportunity for us to have two experts on field and sports turfs not only in the state but across the country working with us this year. So in a

024bit of an unusual year, snow cover from beginning of December to um just up to March 9th was the first time that the snow had melted off the field. Cornell did make an initial visit last week and there's another more comprehensive visit being scheduled for April. Uh as you know, at the last update that Mr. Schmidt and Mr. DeGroat gave, the fields were aerated and overseeded in the fall. We'll be overseeded again. Um the first application of fertilizer is lined up for the week of first week of April. As of right now, the varsity baseball field has been overseeded, the JV baseball field has been overseeded, the softball field has been overseeded, the girls lacrosse field has been overseeded, the boys lacrosse field has been overseeded, the stadium field has been overseeded. And um soil

025work was planned for today. However, that got pushed off because of the rain. Uh although there was a load of topsoil that was delivered today, we just need the weather to cooperate and some warmer temperatures to help get the grass growing. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next we'll move on to the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Good evening. All right. Good evening, everyone. Um I have a short update. I was I had the pleasure of attending the Innovative Schools Summit in the city last at the end of February. I didn't get to share out um last month as I as our last meeting as I had presented. The Innovative Schools Summit really leans on best practices for social emotional learning as well as applying AI and technology. So of course, I went

026to most of the AI in education sessions. I had an opportunity to really work alongside some districts throughout the state and the nation that have utilized AI in the shifts that they've made um as a school district. And as well as most recently, I then attended our McKinney-Vento conference, which is an annual conference through the state, and how to best support and use our grant money to um to support and also to provide opportunities for our displaced students. Um both conferences were enlightening and really allowed me to ground our work once again and also give me hope in regards to how our future is shifting and how AI will begin to continue well will continue to shift education. Thank you. Next we'll move on to the assistant superintendent for human resources. Good evening. I have

027a brief report tonight. We are hiring two teachers. One is set to start tomorrow and the other teacher is set to start in September. That's my report. All right. Thank you. Good report. All right. Next we'll move on to diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. Hello. I am the liaison for the board for this committee and we met uh comes recently. >> [laughter] >> Wasn't that a couple of weeks ago? And um this meeting we looked at creating subcommittees for the work that the committee is doing um and being able to branch out, bring other people from other buildings, you know, to get connected um to the to the goals of the committee. Um even if they don't sit on the committee, they could sit on the subcommittee. And so we broke out into small groups,

028talked about breaking down um the larger committee into subcommittee work in order to be able to move the work forward. All right. Thank you. Next we'll move to the MTSS committee. That's me. Um the MTSS committee, that is the multi-tiered support service committee, met on March 17th. And the discussion was really a um a comparison between the two platforms that were that we're looking at to use to do our MTSS work. Um LinkIt and Branching Minds. So the committee just focused primarily on the pros and cons of each of the platforms to try to make a decision about which direction they would like to go. So in the future, I believe we have a meeting that's planned within the next couple of weeks where the representatives will be coming to us to give some live

029demonstrations so that we will be able to easily make a more informed decision. Okay. Thank you. All right. Next we'll move on to community participation. So we're Bob. I I was able to go to the musical um Newsies yesterday. It was amazing. Everybody, the crew, the uh the cast, the music, the set design, everything was was phenomenal. Um the male and female leads were awesome. Um in particular, I loved the female lead had a a song like around a typewriter room and whatnot was just lights out. It was so good. It was so good. Congratulations to uh everybody involved with that program. They did a great job. Fran? I too attended the musical on uh Sunday and uh also I'm I'm sorry, Friday night. And also uh great um experience always. I agree, it's like

030going to Broadway. In fact, um it's the it's a it's a very inexpensive way to see some incredible talent. And I'm always amazed um on how the community bands together, comes together from, you know, selling refreshments to painting sets to sewing costumes. And the the help and the leadership and teaching of the talent, you know, and bringing out the talent in these students is incredible. I also got a chance to see Shrek the musical. That was on Saturday, the 14th. And um so that first and I was I was watching these young children perform and, you know, have lines and sing. Just incredible really to watch them and their talent and then looking ahead and and seeing that these children are going to be standing on that stage and when they get to high school,

031I'm sure of it. You know, this is where the talent starts and I'm so proud of of a district that puts so much time and support and staff and the um faculty to really help um you know, bring out these the talent in these children and find these sort of extracurricular activities that will be with them for life. Good. Jane? I um attended a um a board uh what do you call them? Um academic walk-through at Walden Elementary School a couple weeks ago. Um I had the privilege of walking through um three different classrooms. Um Each were um um doing the Amplify CKLA program. Different different grades. So I got to see kindergarten, fifth grade, and fourth. Fourth grade, thank you. Um so all different levels. Um The kids seemed to be having a a

032fun time with it. Um it was very interactive. So that was a very very enjoyable to see that. Um and then I also was able to attend the um high school musical yesterday. Um I have been going to see the musical every year for many years. Unfortunately, I didn't have my my daughter with me this year. She always comes with me, but um Anyway, um I yeah, I can't say enough about the talent of the students. Um The ones on the stage, the ones off the stage, um the ones in the um the pit playing the music live. Um it's just a wonderful experience and I was happy to be there. Andrea? Uh Uh I attended and actually went volunteered at the Wizard event. Uh it was a sold-out event. I thought maybe tickets were

033going to get scalped at the end. I mean, people were trying to get in. Um and I just want to publicly thank the PTSA, the high school PTSA. I don't think any the the volume and the the amount of work that they do um to support our high school students. Um and and the teachers and the staff. Um And it was a great event. I also did a uh walk-through on Friday at East Coldenham. And just with those kindergarten teachers, the patience and the work to get those kids on task is just amazing. That's it for me. Great. Diana? I also did a couple of school visits these past couple of weeks. Um went and visited the middle school where we saw some ELA classes and a math class in action. And then last week

034we went and saw the ALC and saw another math class, a social studies class, and all the wonderful um artwork and displays that they had going on in the hallway. And I do want to mention the um the chocolate um treats that they had out. You sampled the treats and the kids had written their reviews um on what they thought of the treats and you had to taste it and you put a sticker according to where you where your taste lied. You thought it was great versus if you thought it tasted like donkey feet as as one essay described the chocolate. It was very amusing. Um but it was just really wonderful to see the interactions going on at at both schools. Um I also was able to see both productions of Shrek at here

035at Berea and also Newsies at the high school. Both amazing, fantastic um performances. I'm just going to reiterate what everybody else has said. I agree. Um I also attended a couple of committee meetings this week, the MTSS and the CNI committee, curriculum instruction committee. Um I also attended and pulled the numbers for the UPK UPK lottery over at East Coldenham. And on Saturday, I attended the mock trial that took place in um in BOCES. Our students This is our third year participating in it and they actually worked on two cases this year. I was able to see the afternoon case, which was their very first um criminal trial where they were trying a young man who was accused of um petty larceny of stealing 120 gallons of cooking oil. Um it was a very interesting

036case. Our kids did an amazing job. I was very impressed um by their especially their closing statements and their questioning of the witnesses. They were thinking on their feet and they came in third place. And so for the first time, they are advancing to the next level. So it's really really good day for Valley Central over there. Okay. Did they convict him? Yes. They were found >> [laughter] >> Yeah, guilty. Um I was able to do a site walk-through of Berea here at Berea. It's very welcoming. It was a good couple [clears throat] hours. Um I was also able to attend Shrek Jr. here at Berea, which was they did a great job, but it I think the best part for me is watching the kids up [clears throat] on stage like laughing and giggling.

037You can tell they're having a really good time even though they're trying to focus on everything. So I I I like to see that. And then um I also saw Newsies. Incredible as everyone else said. Um it's always a little bittersweet [clears throat] because you have the seniors that are graduating. But I got to tell you, there's some ninth and 10th graders that are amazing and I can't wait to see how, you know, they do in the next few years. Great. All right. I went to the DEI meeting and uh so I would say if you're looking to get involved and you and and you want to volunteer, they would love to have you. As they have their committee meetings and try to break down into smaller subcommittees. So definitely good opportunity there. Okay. >>

038[clears throat] >> Uh we're going to move on to the public comment portion. Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our public comment portion of our meeting. We have public comment because it is 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 designed to be a discussion. If needed, the board or designated staff member will research your concerns and get back to you It's up here. We want our school board meetings to serve as an example to our students. So I ask that we demonstrate mutual respect. We We ask that speakers address their comments to the board directly and we will insist that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect on opposing views.

039The 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 know, 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. Individual time limits will be enforced so that as many members of the public who wish to speak may be allowed to do so. All right. We'll begin with Cooper Sherry. All right. Um good evening, board of ed members. My name is Cooper

040Sherry and I'm a captain for the varsity lacrosse team and I'd like to take the time to talk tonight about our field conditions. So we have been told multiple times that our field conditions are going to improve and we haven't seen that yet. Um as a goalie, I'm always dropping to the ground and doing something to make the save and there's like pebbles and rocks on our on our field. So I'm going home with wounds and scrapes and a bunch of stuff and bruises on my legs and it's just it's terrible, honestly, and today we were only able to practice on the parking lot where the buses were still pulling in and it was it was it was really bad. And all of the other teams in our class and section, they all have turf

041fields and honestly, I feel like it's way safer and it's just so much better. So, yeah. That's it. So, thank you for your time. Thank you. >> [applause] >> NEXT IS RYAN LEWIS. GOOD EVENING, LADIES, GENTLEMEN, and people of the board. My name is Ryan Lewis. I'm also a captain of the varsity lacrosse team here at Valley Central. Um today I wanted to talk not only about the field, but also about um Hold on, sorry. determination of one of our coaches. Um first off with the field, we have had many issues with the gravel and with everything that's going on with the field, as well as our first week of practice. One of the most important weeks for us captains, as well as the kids that are trying to learn, hone in the skills, and

042really get to focusing on lacrosse, we were trapped into not trapped, but we were uh forced into the middle school gym and I'd like to have you guys imagine yourselves with 30 other boys running around in a small enclosed gym in a sport where it requires 10 yd to make one decent pass that actually would affect you in the game. But, besides the fields that has already been mentioned, I would like to talk about um determination of a coach. Ryan, I just need to stop you cuz based on our board policy, we we don't uh talk about employees or or students by name or reference. So, you can talk about the field if you'd like, but I can't let you speak about uh the coaching. There's no way I can talk anyway about the >>

043we can talk afterwards or if you want to send an email to the board, you could do that. All right. Um well, then I'll go back to the field. I have many more things to say about that. >> [clears throat] >> Lacrosse is a very physical sport. That's why us uh the male lacrosse team has pads from your waist up guarding you and your body. And often times, you'll find yourself on the ground, whether you're being pushed there, tripped there, fell, or just diving for to make a make a play. Um the gravel on the field and the conditions on the field uh neglects the ability to be able to do that thing. Makes us work around the gravel, makes us work around and alter the drills to where they're not supposed to be. Where

044a drill would have you one-on-one, now you have to go around, you have to instead of a straight line, it's mostly at diagonal lines and crosses. It's just something I would like to bring to you guys' attention. I thank you guys for your time. Thank you. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Okay, next is Anthony Kraglietti, Kraglietta. Good evening, board members. How are we tonight? Um I'm just going to keep reiterating what the uh our students just uh talked about tonight. So, just for our first, thank you for allowing our winter athletes to be acknowledged here for their accomplishments. Um one of my my daughter is one of the athletes that was acknowledged earlier. So, you can imagine how proud I am of her, her teammates, coaches, and other athletes who were honored here tonight. However, other

045another word I'd like to use for the district on certain things is frustration. And one of those things I'm frustrated about right now is the field conditions our spring sport athletes are having to endure. I'm not sure how many of you have seen it. You've just heard from two varsity athletes who are actually on the field that um the fields are not playable and they're unsafe. That's more importantly. These conditions have already caused the first game of the girls varsity lacrosse season to be moved to a different school district with the possibility of more being relocated or even canceled. As sad as it sounds to say, our girls are used to having their home games away from VC. Last season, the varsity girls team earned the opportunity to host the Section 9 playoff game, the

046first time in over 5 years. But again, due to our fields, the girls lost that opportunity to play with their friends and family at VC when their game was moved to the mount. Perhaps that action of moving it to the mount is what actually had you guys do some action, which we do appreciate. Um Mr. Conklin, like you mentioned, I have the article here. You guys had that consultation with the Cornell University uh uh turf specialist. So, this article from the Wallkill Valley Times, December of 2025, Valley Central looks to improve its athletic fields. Now, I'm sure the Cornell consultation wasn't cheap, but if their recommendation was to fill in the field with gravel, I hope we got our money back. Yes, it is gravel. You just heard the boy say it. We're not making

047this up, all right? You guys should be, you know, maybe take a walk out there, see what these fields look like at this point. Uh and it's not just our stadium field, but it's also our practice fields. Now, I know there's a saying, practice like you play, but that I think is a little too literal to have the practice and game field be covered in gravel. Um Mr. Conklin, you quoted in saying, it's not in it's not going to look like Augusta National out there in the spring. We're not looking for it to look like Augusta National. We also don't want it to look like the field from the sandlot. All right? So, this is not just a lacrosse issue. Our ever-growing girls flag football team also plays on this field. So, if you do

048a quick head count, you have JV varsity boys, JV varsity girls, and flag football. That's roughly 100 VC students who have to practice or play on this field, all right? That number doubles cuz we have to take into consideration our visiting teams, all right? So, that's 200 chances of serious injury to one of these athletes, all right? I don't like those odds and I hope you guys don't like it either, all right? Um we appreciate you guys taking time to listen to us and we hope this issue can be resolved immediately cuz we do have games that are coming up that we do not want to be canceled or moved. These kids earned the right to play in front of their fans here at VC. We say we're VC proud, let's act like it. >>

049[applause] >> Thank you. Next is Becky Pierson. Good evening. I haven't been here in a while. Sorry. Um and I see there's a budget update, a capital project, I guess. So, um I was came for one reason, but I would be remiss if I didn't say something about Walden Elementary School and where we might stand with that. I don't know what avenues you've looked at and taken. So, hopefully there'll be some answers soon. I'm not sure where you're headed. I do know there was a a real estate person who was I don't want to say employed, but a appointed by you to look for property, I believe. Um but you know, when one door closes, another opens and at one time you had talked about a kindergarten through third grade school and uh fourth, fifth

050grade or maybe sixth grade, bring sixth grade over to Walden. Um that school could be a possibility with I hate to say to say about the Catholic school closing, but maybe lease that school and have your kindergarten and your other smaller kids there, your pre-K, kindergarten. Keep Walden and update that and keep that as your your next level up. I don't know who in this in this economic climate is going to be able to afford 70, 80, 90, 100 million dollars for a new school. So, for me, um I'm looking at budgets all the time, so I know you are as well. Just that's where I'm coming from. That wasn't going on my uh point to talk about, but I'm here. So, I haven't talked to you about Walden in a long time. Speaking about

051Walden, um they have some wonderful programs there. I know the history club just did their presentation. I'm going to give you this as well that I I gave them tonight. We were going to have them come before our board as well in Walden and give us the same presentation, which would be great. Um but there's also uh April 8th, there's a trout release and there's also Arbor Day coming up by um the 23rd of April. There's so many different things in our community school that happen. There's a history club walk, there's a walk that goes through all the monuments. Um so many things within our community and when you take that away from us, they will not be there any longer. So, let me just talk about what I um came for. Um I just

052gave this certificate of appreciation to the to the Walden Elementary History Club. And I want to give you a copy because I think it's outstanding of of the work that's been done and I applaud all the teachers and everyone who takes the extra time and does extra things for the children and even just the teachers who work every day. The Village of Walden Mayor, Board of Trustees, and the Walden community acknowledge your hard work and research about Walden Elementary School's history. 100 years of continuous education in our community is outstanding and so worth the applause and recognition. Mrs. Phelps started the club in 2025 with the assistance of Ms. Matise, our village historian. Since its inception, the club has won six awards, produced several documentaries, made presentations as the early factory workers in Walden, wrote

053a book about the mill, and held middens and textile afternoons. You, along with Mrs. I I was talking to the children. You, along with Mrs. Bardong and Ms. Matthis, are continuing in Walden's historical research which imparts a feeling of belonging to our community. Thank you to the administration for allowing this club to exist. Thank you to the teachers and volunteers that continue to enrich the educational experience of our village youth by allowing them to explore the history of their community. All of this time and effort researching Walden history promotes intergenerational connection and understanding. The biggest thank you is to all of you which are the students. The students who challenged themselves learn to learn that you should go above and beyond your daily schooling. Stay involved and show others leadership skills you've gained by being

054a part of this club. So, I just wanted to drop this off because we find it very, very important award given to them. So, thank you and please uh keep us abreast of what's happening in Walden. Maybe you'll like my idea. Lisa Catholic School and keep the other school and update it. You maybe have some capital projects you put into Walden this year. That'd be awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next is Mary Ellen Matthisa. Well, I have to correct Becky. She meant 2005. It's 20 years that history club has been going on. Yeah, a long time. For some people. Okay, I'm just do want to talk about the history club project in a minute. Greg asked us after the kids did the mastodon project and I'm going to leave this for you all

055because I am going to talk about the mastodon at Washington's headquarters next Saturday at 1:00 and that's our local mastodon from Montgomery. Um Greg came along and said, "Oh, wouldn't you do the history of the building?" And we had like no weeks left to So, Kathy added all kinds of meetings with the kids and they all stepped up to the plate and it just This was the best group. Unbelievable. Focused, great readers, attentive. And Kathy goes like this and they all shut up. It's amazing. They're amazing. >> [gasps] >> I just wanted to show you this because when Greg asked, I said, "Oh, fine. I'll just call around and I'll get information about the school and we'll put it all together." Every place I called, nobody had any information about the history of the schools

056in Montgomery. Nobody. I called here. I I know that the historical society didn't have anything. The library had nothing. This book is from Mickey Millsbaugh. And in the 1920s, 30s, his father was on the school board and his father saved the programs that are in here, the little booklet that we showed you. We wouldn't have any information about the school at all if it weren't for that little booklet. And that was from 1938. So, I made a couple of copies. Standard size that you all can have. And I've brought this up before about the mastodon and I'm going to bring this up. This is way too big a project, of course, for elementary school. I don't know who would promote it on a high school level. The New York State Archives puts out a booklet

057researching the history of your school. And it is fascinating because how education developed in New York State and then how each you locality developed their schools is different. Um it's It would be possible, maybe, for more work to be done on this by a group of a high school group. Um They told me to call the town clerk that the schools were supposed to register reports with the town clerk. She has nothing. I went to Goshen several times. They're supposed to report There were a couple of reports after World War II. Mostly financial reports from the district once a year of Union Free Montgomery Union Free School District, Walden Union Free School District and they'd have to file a report with the Orange County Clerk. But there's only like three or four reports and that's

058it. It's To me, it's sad that we don't know how education developed in our town. And all the all the different um achievements that we had over the years. Uh certainly the I gave you the information about the Wickland Dominic. Without him coming from this little crossroads in Schoharie County, Gallupville is like a nowhere place. And he put Walden on the map in terms of education. So, I I Do you get this as curriculum? Dean, or should I give it to Eva? >> Oh, you can get you can give it to I thought you meant did I get it from the Maybe you could identify a teacher who would work on this. I would appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Next is Bonnie Zipkin. I seem to find myself up here every time I come.

059I'm not sure why. I can't put my back to these people. They just can't. Okay? So, I came here tonight to talk about the fields. And the two seniors who spoke and another player's dad, you know, we're talking about this situation as if as if it just arrived. I've been here 13 years. It's the same problem, just worse. The fields don't get better on their They're old. They keep adding more sports. So, they need to get used more and more. Okay? And we keep pointing fingers at who's fault this is. But we don't come up with a solution. In order to get a solution for anything, sometimes you have to take a couple steps back. Sometimes you have to be inconvenienced. Sometimes you have to find different times or different You have to do something

060to progress forward. Progressing forward isn't as easy as just doing it. That's why it's so hard and it takes so much work. But it just seems, and not only this, other situations also, we're quick to blame. We're quick to find fault. We're quick to tell it's somebody else's fault. But do we ever look at ourselves, take a step back, and say, "Hey, what part do I play, maybe, in this not getting better?" Cuz everybody here plays a little part. Everybody does. So, my question is, how do we come up with a solution or a plan? It's not going to happen overnight. The last time I stood here, I talked that it takes a minimum of a year to regenerate a field. You can't throw seed down while they're playing on it. It's crazy. There's a

061lot of room there. If And I know your system works different than my system. I run something out of my business. I just hire somebody to get it done. I get that. You guys have to go through different channels. You have to investigate. There grants, there bonds, there I I get all that. But I don't see anything getting done. I see people talking about it and people talking about it more and other people talking about it, but nothing's coming up. It's kind of like, if I might say, the problem with the students going to Dollar General. Okay? We've got a problem. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, somebody lost their job over it. Excuse me. Their job would be senior or something. Excuse. >> Mr. Zipkin. Okay, I didn't I didn't give any names.

062Okay? Name or situation. their problem Name or situation. And there no solutions. The solutions are what we need. So, do we figure out how we can re be uh reconfigure fields? Do we cut trees down, bring in fill, and create new fields? What do we do? We are the only school that I can think of that doesn't have a turf field. And please, don't tell me it's because of money. Being for 50 years. When something needs doing, not having money, using that as a reason is the weakest, worst Money is available if you want to get it done. And guess what? If you got it done, you wouldn't be having all this problem. So, my question to you is, who's the first person who's going to step forward and say we need to get and

063find and create a solution. Who's it going to be? Is it coming from the top? Is it coming from the board? Is it coming from maintenance? Is it coming from an athletic director? WHO'S IT COMING FROM? Because it needs to be done. Can you wrap up, please? I'm wrapped up. All right. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. GOING TO MOVE ON TO OUR NEXT ITEM AGENDA, which is our CS Arch capital project presentation. I'll ask you one more time. I'm sorry. All right. Real quick. >> question for you. If I'm unavailable to speak at this time on how of a situation, how can I bring that to someone's attention of an event where I'm losing someone if I have a coach I've played with for 3 years, my senior year, I can't have him?

064>> If you go to the district website, there's a a link for board of ed and you can send an email to the board of education. Can I ask why it is not that I can talk here in front of you guys and my peers? >> policy to talk about particular employees or students. But if he's no longer an employee Yeah, if he's no longer an employee, how can I speak on that matter if there's no is no >> It's against board policy, but you can send an an email to the board and we'll respond. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Tom? Are we ready? Yes. Great. Good evening. My name is Tom Risko, dollar. I'm an executive principal at CS Arch. Um, I have Deion Miller with me as well, who you may remember gave the

065presentation last time and he's going to give most of the presentation again tonight. Uh, I do want to start by saying I wasn't able to get to see Newsies, but my wife went yesterday and she said it was amazing. Said it was absolutely incredible. Uh, so congratulations to all those young men and women. They did She's a tough critic. They did a great job. So, with that, uh, let's let's begin. So, we're going to go through as as we always do, talk a little bit about the capital planning process, um, and we review this every time in case there's different people that are either at the meeting or streaming in at home. Uh, we're going to talk really about some recommended 2026 capital project work. Um, and then a budget estimate for that work being

066proposed. So, of course, the district has been reviewing their capital 5-year capital plan and looked at other identified facilities needs. A lot of this came out of the building condition survey as we're all hopefully a little more familiar with. Um, and at this time we're we have a capital project proposition to be presented to the voters in conjunction with the budget vote in May. Uh, and the estimate estimated cost including all the financing and contingencies would be just a little bit over 10 million, 10 million 370,000 dollars. So, with that I'm going to turn over to Deion and let him take you through the particulars. All right. Good evening, everybody. Um, so we're going to go through some of the scope that was recommended previously the last board meeting we presented at about a month

067ago. Um, and also provide some updates on some of the feedback received and added into the proposed scope. Uh, so starting here at this building, Berea Elementary School, uh, we proposed last meeting replacement of the existing water storage treatment and supply system for the building to replace the aging infrastructure coming in for the water supply. Um, we looked at the previous capital projects we completed. Um, the 23 capital project looked at, uh, renovation renovating and kind of revamping a lot of the different programs throughout the buildings including the Montgomery Library, which is planned to start this summer. Um, the tech rooms at the middle school again planned to start this summer for renovations. Um, we did the science classroom at the high school last summer. So, um, we kind of shifted gears with this with

068this project and put more focus on the performing arts. So, you'll see this a theme here across a lot of the buildings. So, here starting here at Berea, um, again we're looking to propose cafeteria and auditorium upgrades for stage curtains, lighting, and sound system. We get to grade these old green curtains and replace them with new. Um, that theme carries through to East Coldenham, Montgomery um, as well do those same improvements at those buildings. At the concession stand building, toilet building at the high school, uh, look to add some additional heating upgrades to that building, which will allow those spaces to be utilized earlier in the spring and later in the fall. Um, so we can use those for some of those sporting events that happen at those times. Similar thing with the middle school,

069uh, replacing the stage curtains, si- the the lighting and the sound systems at the auditorium there. >> [clears throat] >> Then we get to the bulk of the scope, which is at the high school. Um, similar to to Berea, um, we're looking to replace the water supply and storage and treatment system. This will likely be its own building out on sites. Um, there's not much room in the building to do um, this the the the uh, uh, treatment that we need to in the building, so we're going to look to do that out sites on site. Um, the middle school is actually actually planned right now. Um, we'll do one on that side of the building as well. >> [clears throat] >> Um, the scope at the high school for the auditorium is a little

070bit larger. Um, it's not just curtains, uh, but also replacing the wood flooring on the stage. Um, improving some of the storage capabilities at that, uh, location as well as repairing some, uh, damaged and uh, deteriorated access doors to the storage below the stage. Um, various [clears throat] improvements to mechanical systems. Um, really two of the that are the major, uh, the two major systems being revamped is the dehumidification system to the main office, guidance, and auditorium. And they an upgrade to provide dedicated pool hot water system. So, currently the high school has to run the boilers all year round long including the summer to dehumidify the auditorium and the guidance and main office. Um, so these upgrades and improvements would prevent having to run your boilers all year long to do so. Um, they'd

071have dedicated loops to them that that would, um, only, um, be used, uh, in the summer [clears throat] to, um, heat those spaces without having to uh, sorry, to cool those spaces down and not actually heat the rest of the building. Um, additionally we did some boiler replacements last year at the high school. Uh, we'll make some modifications to those to, uh, allow some of those boilers to tie into the domestic hot water system for, uh, hand washing and, uh, food prep. Um, couple of the main offices and music classrooms have some deteriorated flooring and wall base that we're looking to replace with this as well. Um, the gym entrance and the girls locker room entrance, um, there's some reported leaks, so we're looking to replace that section of roof. And then, um, some outdoor

072improvements to the jumping areas at the track and field um, uh, area um, including the the pole vault high jump areas. >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Um, just some photos of projects we've done in the past. This is an example of a water treatment building, uh, where we have all the storage and treatment, um, and all the supply, uh, infrastructure um, feeding a a new, uh, or an elementary school building. Some examples of some of the existing conditions at the auditorium. The left being the deteriorated stage flooring at the high school. Um, middle being I believe the curtains and lighting at, uh, Montgomery Elementary School. And on the right is, uh, East Coldenham, um, stage lighting there. Um, and then at the high school there is locations in the main office, music rooms where floors are

073deteriorating, cracking, tiles are lifting, um, and so on. So, the budget estimate we're proposing for the this these improvements um, total 9.8 million. Um, so break this down. Uh, Berea is at 2.3 million. That's the the stage improvements as well as the water treatment building or water treatment system. East Coldenham, Montgomery, the stage curtains, uh, lighting, sound systems. Concession stand toilet building is, um, just the heating upgrades. That's just at two two hundred just under 250,000 dollars. The middle school, the stage improvements a little bit more there because it's a it's a little larger of a space, 200 450,000 dollars there. Um, and then high school has the bulk of the scope with just over 6.1 million proposed. Um, and all in total project costs at 9.8, um, but as we talked about earlier with

074the contingencies and financials, uh, we're looking to put up a 10.3 million dollar bond. That's it. I think for for the board, just so they're, uh, remembering, uh, a bulk of the budget is for those two, uh, water storage, uh, systems replacements, both at the high school and at Berea. And again, this is at the, um, request of the Department of Health given the age of those systems. Uh in the last transfer capital budget, you might remember we uh put the middle school. Um so both the middle school and the high school have uh underground water storage uh facilities that are in in in dire need of replacement. They're significantly aged. Um and so that's that's a bulk of of of the budgets that you see there. Any questions? Question. All right. Thank you. Thank

075you. All right. Next, we'll move on to the 2026-2027 budget presentation. All right. So I'd like to start by grounding us in our mission and our priorities. And so our mission centers on curiosity, high expectations, and empowering every learner to achieve at high levels. And at Valley Central, we champion curiosity and set high expectations. Our mission is to empower every member to achieve high levels and embrace the joy of continuous learning. And every member means staff and students and families as well. And our priorities, we have three priorities that we have focused on in our strategic plan is elevating student success and engagement, community belonging and VC pride, and clear and transparent communication. And our budget is grounded in those those exact priorities and our mission to make sure that we can execute on both.

076And I am now going to turn it over to Mr. Conklin so he can go over the agenda and go over to the details of our budget. Thank you very much. So before we get started on this presentation, I just want to note um that we we do recognize that the uh stage curtains at ALC also are in need of replacement um because there is no capital project work planned at that building. Uh we will plan to do those out of the general funds. So uh it's not forgotten. Next slide. So tonight we're going to look at the superintendent's recommended budget and uh this is kind of a summary of of uh where we're at this point in time. As you know, the state has not fully approved or and has not approved at all

077there uh the state budget, which is due in the beginning of April. Um and uh what we will be asking the board to do is formally adopt the budget at the next meeting on April 13th. Um if there are any changes up the state um before then, uh we will uh let you know, but as of right now, this is going forward with the best information um that we have. So tonight we're going to look at some goals and drivers of the budget. We're going to look at revenue, uh budget summary, and the three-part budget as as we are required and always uh look at it. We'll review the additional propositions this year, which is uh capital project 2026 as well as the establishment of a new capital reserve fund, which we would call capital

078reserve fund 2026. So some major cost drivers in this budget, um obviously transportation. We had talked about that. We we expected that coming into this year because it had been uh 5 years since our rebid. The um world has changed a lot since that time, and we do recognize that we were um getting a pretty good bang for our buck over the last 5 years. So a pretty substantial increase in that area of the budget. Um at the time when we had built the budget, I expected we would have a uh tax cap up close or we would be recommending a tax levy increase up to or near the cap. And I also had anticipated that we may need to throw some fund balance um to help bridge that gap in the first year cuz

079as we talked about, the way that transportation aid flows here, it's your aided on your expenses in the subsequent year. So our our expenses will jump next year and the aid will catch up after that. Uh special education costs continue to rise. Um so you're going to notice a couple lines that we've had to increase for out of district uh as well as our BOCES cost. Health insurance increases as usual. I mean this year um a little bit higher than we had seen in the in the few previous years. And then some operational program costs that we've increased our budget line for substitute um with uh substitutes, we've done a pretty good job, I think, of hiring and and putting them to work. Home tutoring costs have increased as um costs have increased over the

080last year. So we're increasing that area of the budget as well as some technology cost increases. Uh as you know, we buy a lot of Chromebooks every year um on the the cycle, and we're noticing a a pretty substantial increase in those uh costs as well. And then debt service, as you go through the budget, you'll see that our our debt service lines are increasing pretty substantially. However, um I can show you on the revenue side where the anticipated state aid will offset that. So this this slide was a slide that was uh presented in January, and I just kind of want to bring us back to it because I feel like we've done a pretty good job. So our goals at the time were to maintain and strengthen programs, which I feel like we

081have not uh reduced any programs here. We wanted to adhere to the New York state tax cap, um which we are able to recommend a budget that does. Manage our fund balance and reserves uh to ensure long-term fiscal stability. We have done that. I am very proud to say that we are um able to recommend a budget with no additional tax uh fund balance applied um than we had last year, which is uh uh awesome. It's good for us. Um reallocate resources based on enrollments and student needs. Um this is a trend that we have um done over the last few years, and we are able to continue that. Uh protect core instructional programs. Um that is what we've done. Enhance and upgrade our facilities to support safety and learning environment. So in addition to

082the capital uh project, um we are able to maintain that allocation in our budget to continue to replace furniture um as needed. We recognize that that a lot of the furniture is very outdated. Um and also align our spending with some strategic plan priorities. Next, uh so staffing reductions and budget allocations. So staffing changes in this budget fall into three categories. First is reductions, uh positions that were eliminated that result in a net budget savings. Two, personnel reallocations. So in this instance, it would be when positions are filled using existing staff. And number three, salary reallocations. So positions not replaced where salary savings are redirected to cover increased costs in other areas. And I can say this, nobody is losing their job in this budget. There's no pink slips. Um we are able to continue

083to do what we have been doing. We're making um reductions through attrition or reallocating based on uh needs. So in the name of clear and transparent communication as well, we wanted to go through where those offsets are. So first, um physical education teachers, one at the secondary level and one at the elementary level, will be lost through attrition. Um the one at the secondary level has been vacant the entire school year. And the uh one at the elementary level will um not be filled due to a retirement. Reallocation of personnel. So a guidance counselor position can be filled through reallocation. And then the uh there was a secondary special education teacher um budgeted salary this year, the salary has been redirected uh to a new position that was created this year as a 504 chair.

084Uh also, a secondary math teacher um can be replaced by a uh reallocation of an existing secondary math teacher resulting in a savings of one position. And then lastly, uh reallocation of salaries on the special education side of things, there was a budgeted elementary teacher that um we built into the current um budget that we anticipated needing that we ended up not needing. Um as well as a secondary special education teacher uh due to a retirement. And a district of location teacher um that was due to a resignation earlier in the year, and it had not been filled. Uh in addition, there is a need to address um some contracted security needs in the evening hours. Um so through two vacancies on the hall monitor side of things, we would be able to reallocate funds

085um to address those new needs in the evening. Budget additions. So uh on the additions side of things, uh we are budgeting for an E and L teacher based on uh anticipated numbers at this point. Um field trips. Uh this was a priority of the Board of Education. One elementary grade level, and the allocation is about 30 or it is in the budget as $30,000. Uh I believe the third grade class was was the one that we had talked about. Um Further uh on the network security analyst position, so this would um help our network team that not only continues to deal with um bad guys that that like to do bad things through um the cyber side of things, but also help us as we have replaced a lot of HVAC equipment over the

086last few years. Um, that all has network components to it, which requires uh staff to be able to maintain that. Uh in central office, we are recommending the addition of a person in the payroll and benefits office. Um, we say that districts of this size, uh it is common that they do have two people in that office to provide uh overlap and to um make sure all the duties are are are accomplished. We've compared ourselves to other neighboring districts that all have uh two positions there and um we do feel like it is time for us to add that second position. And lastly, there is a speech teacher that is budgeted um uh currently at this time to help us address the need on that side of things. So next, as as I had mentioned

087before, um our tax levy limit this year is 3.44% and the recommended budget includes a tax levy of 2.98%. So 0.44 uh percentage points below the tax cap. Next, um looking at the revenue budget overview, uh you can tell that on the the our biggest increase in revenue next year will be the category of state building aid. And as I mentioned before, that helps offset the increase in debt. So we have approved a lot of projects over the last few years. As that debt comes on, um the state aid uh follows to help offset that. So our property tax income would increase by about 2.1 million dollars based on that um 2.98% tax levy increase. Pilot revenue would also increase about $600,000. Interest and earnings, this is an area where we have continued to outperform

088what has been budgeted. Um many thanks to uh Jackie Clarko and her efforts to make sure that we maximize our investments. She has done very, very well. Um so to kind of help offset some of those costs in the budget without having to um go up to or past the tax levy um cap, we have increased that that budget to 650,000, which would be a $325,000 increase. Um and then on the transfer from debt service, this is this is a number that we get from uh Jason Schwartz and BPD. So over the past few years, we have been budgeting to reduce a balance in our debt service fund by about $125,000 each year. And then there's some capitalized interest that um needs to be budgeted for that's slightly less than it was here last year.

089So um $432,000. So overall, um that brings us to at the the bottom there, uh $139,700,000 is the recommended budget at this time, a $5.9 million increase. So with some information you're used to seeing how the although we have uh taken some efforts to improve our presentations here, um not completely done with AI, but I may have uh asked for some feedback on some new formats. But this looks at our our revenue budget overall for $139.7 million. Um I always like to say, you've heard me say it for the last 7 years, we are a district in this area of the state that is not unlike any other um district where we are funded mostly by our tax levy at 52% of our budget next year uh and state aid at uh 42%. Our budget

090fast facts, uh so overall $139.7 million, a budget to budget increase of 4.41% and a tax levy increase of 2.98%. Next, uh this is the slide you're used to seeing to attempt uh to put this into perspective for a homeowner. I I always caution things end up being way different than what is on this slide. Um even as far as last year, there was huge variability in the district between what taxpayers in in Newburgh um felt versus taxpayers in the town of Montgomery. However, um we're continuing to to show a an estimate um for illustration purposes only um what it could look like. So we usually stay in that that middle row there. So if you are a homeowner with a full value home of $300,000, a senior with star would see an estimated annual

091increase of $85 or $7.08 uh per month. A non-senior homeowner with star would see an increase of approximately $108 for the year or $9 per month. And then lastly, in the far right column, this would be a homeowner with no star uh for $300,000, the annual increase would be about $120 or $10 a month. Next, um the three-part budget summary. So New York State requires us to present the budget in three components, which is capital, administrative, program, and um the increases, as you can see on the right, the increase in capital, $2.3 million, the increase in administrative, $277,000, and the increase in the program area of the budget, $3.3 million. This chart just puts it into perspective for those three-part components. Program uh next year would be 80% of our budget, followed by capital at

09211% and administrative at 9%. So now we get into the exciting uh slide. So I'm I'll draw your attention to some highlights here as as we kind of go through it. As I always say, this information will be on the website. If you do have any questions and you would like to reach out, um we will be happy to answer your questions. So that um that the top line right there, operation of plant, I can tell you of that increase, 60 uh almost $62,000 is for uh gas alone. The uh increase in the security of plant, that $102,000 is mostly for contracted security. However, that is the budget area where our SROs come out of. And then as you notice, those serial bonds and bond anticipation note rows, they're near the bottom. Um those increases

093are approximately $1.9 million and um that would be offset by the uh additional state building aid that we would get. So state building aid um about of about $2.2 million to help us offset that. Moving into the administrative um component of the budget, uh it's hard to find something to draw your attention to here. Um that bottom line, the central data processing, that um that line is increasing by about $83,000. That's an area of the budget where we um purchase a lot of services from BOCES. So for example, Parent Square, BoardDocs, um and also in this area of the budget, we have an allocation built in to replace our current RTI platform, I think, with a with a newer um Pardon me, I'm drawing a blank. Um MTS type. I don't know if you want

094to speak to that at all. We current We currently utilize MTSS Edge. Um we are having a lot of challenges with that um to speak very frankly and not not the best feedback from our staff. So the MTSS committee is looking at other platforms and that is was um allocated within the budget so that we can make that change. It's still within MTSS. Thank you. >> Great job. I'm trying. So um next uh the second slide in the administration component, uh draw your attention to the curriculum development and supervision line. That negative uh $243,000. So last year when we were uh in the process of developing and bringing CKLA on board for the first year, we had budgeted it in this area of the budget. Um this year, now that CKLA is is a thing

095and and all of the kids and teachers love it and it will continue, that has been moved into the instructional area of the budget, um which is more in the program component. So uh that explains that that um reduction here. That uh the line just below is supervision regular school, that would include all of our building administrators as well as the clerical support for the buildings. Insurance, the the top line there, that covers all of our general insurance, our boiler, student accident, and auto insurance. Now moving into the uh program component, and this uh you're used to seeing much more detailed lines. Don't don't worry, they are in this presentation. We just tried to summarize them and so we can hit the highlights before we really get into it. Um programs for student with disabilities,

096this is our special education area of the budget. Uh you will see that that increase there of a $779,000. Of that, uh almost 600,000 is um purely for our students that require out of district placements. And we also have increased about 175,000 for our students that attend out of district BOCES. Lastly, in the program component, the contract transportation line increase of 2.4 million dollars that that was due to the transportation rebid. So next, we're going to go through some slides in a little bit more detail. I'll pull out some highlights and if you have any questions at the end, we can we can go back. This this is the capital component detail. So you see at the bottom there the principal bands and the interest and that's the area of our debt service that is

097increasing. Administration component detail. This clear and transparent communication business office salary lines that that $110,000 increase would be for our regular contractual increases plus that additional payroll support position that we are requesting. I already hit on the BOCES data service BOCES data processing services that $83,000 line here. Next, the 2010 400 line that minus 315 that takes into account CKLA. Also paid out of that line, I believe are some programs called boost reading and M class. I don't know if you at least you want to add some color to that area. Boost reading is a supplemental online program that's specifically aligned to CKLA similar in in I ready in certain ways but is specifically aligned to the literacy curriculum that meets students where they are so that the gap can continue to close for literacy

098specifically. And M class is the assessment suite that is a tied to that which includes our benchmarks and assessments that are given throughout the school year for our K5 as part of CKLA and our full literacy program. So we're very comprehensive in our approach and those are components that add to that comprehension. We didn't plan this by the way. So you're doing great. >> I'm here for you. Anything. >> [laughter] >> Well, lastly, I can bring their attention to the second row from the bottom BOCES staff development where we've increased that area of the budget by about $35,000. In in CNI's audit of BOCES and professional learning specifically, there are some items that needed to be moved to contractual lines over the last two years. And specifically, we have increased number of requests to go

099to BOCES and as we prepare for New York Inspire plan and portrait of a graduate, I anticipate an additional increase in the need to support our staff as well as train them in a consistent manner. And that is the reason for the budget request increase. Thank you. You're welcome. Moving into the program component detail, bring your attention to the second row down from the top. This is our That increase of almost $400,000 would really be attributed to the increase in the SRP contract. That is the the paraprofessional area the budget. You can tell by the 16 if you're a school budget accounting geek. But that paraprofessionals due to the contractual increase due to the contract 392,000 would be for that SRP contract. Down, you'll see ENL that would be the budgeted ENL position that we

100have added there. And then towards the bottom, these would be the the the 580,000 and the 175 would be our increase in our um BOCES special ed and our out of district special ed costs. Increase in the Chromebooks as I mentioned, I didn't catch the the name of this line but this should be called BOCES computer and library services. But that area of the budget is where we purchase our Chromebooks and other technology equipment from so that $136,000 is pretty much attributed to the increase in student Chromebook pricing as well as our new director of technology has been working towards finding a better model of Chromebooks. The models that we have have not been holding up very well. Uh So something he is looking at going into next year. Um but moving forward the the

101second row down from the top here guidance counselor salary so a row going down about $124,000. This would be for the reallocation of a salary and not replacing a retiree. And that sums up the total program component of an increase of $3,301,381. Next, transportation contract. So the the 2026-2027 school year will be the first year of a five-year contract for home to school transportation, field and sports trips and summer school transportation with First Student. Multi-year transportation contracts require voter approval. And passage of the school budget by the voters constitutes the approval of the multi-year transportation contract with First Student. The projected cost over five years is estimated to be $49,804,000. Very important that we note that in these budget presentations and you will see it clearly called out in the budget newsletter when that goes

102out. Next, so proposition two. That would be capital project 2026 which as you know it would be renovation and improvement of school district facilities. This would be a maximum cost not to exceed $10,370,000. We expect to receive approximately 70.4% state aid on eligible expenses. And the funding sources would be $2,250,000 from our capital reserve and $1,490,000 from unappropriated general fund balance to make this project a no additional tax impact on taxpayers. The scope which we did cover in Diane's presentation so I will skip over these two slides of scope. We will go to the Board of Education candidates side. So this year there are two seats open for election for a three-year term commencing July 1, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2029. Nominating petitions are available by contacting the district clerk and nominating petitions are

103due to the district clerk by 5:00 p.m. on April 20th. And before I take your questions timeline, our next board meeting would be on April 13th which we would ask the board to adopt the fiscal year 2027 budget. And then as a reminder the April 20th date shortly after that for the nomination due to the district clerk. So with that, is there any questions that I can take? Questions? Okay. Question? No. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. >> Morris down. Committee slots. Sorry. All right. Next, we'll move on to new business. Can I get a motion for the adoption of resolution capital project as a type two action under SEQRA? Angela. Jan second. All in favor? Opposed? 7-0. Thank you. Motion for the adoption of resolution special proposition for capital project. Diana second.

104Fran all in favor? Opposed? 7-0. Motion for the adoption of resolution establishment of capital reserve fund 2026. Katie second. Jan all in favor? Opposed? 7-0. Next is a roll call for the establishment of the 2026 annual meeting procedures. I'll ask Brad to do that. Sure. So you've had a chance to review the resolution in your pocket or I'm sorry, your packet. So I'm just going to hit on a few um highlights here for the record. So notice is hereby given that there will be a public hearing held on Monday, May 11th, 2026 at the at 6:00 p.m. in the Valley Central School District Administration Building, 944 State Route 17K, Montgomery, New York to solicit public comment for the expenditure of funds and budgeting thereof for school purposes for the fiscal year 2026-2027. Notice is hereby

105given that the annual district election and budget vote will be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. prevailing time in the Valley Central High School at which time the polls will be open to vote by voting machine upon the following items. One, to adopt the annual budget of the school district for the fiscal year 2026-2027 and to authorize the requisite portion thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the district. Two, to elect two board members of the Board of Education as follows. Two for 3-year terms commencing on July 1st, 2026 and expiring June 30th, 2029. Three, questions and propositions that may be submitted to appear on the ballot in accordance with rules and regulations heretofore adopted by the Board of Education pursuant to

106education law 2035 provided a petition in proper form is filed with the school district clerk in and not later than April 20th, 2026 and four, to vote upon the adoption of certain propositions as set forth below. Proposition two would be renovation and improvement of school district facilities. Proposition three would be establishment of a capital reserve 2026. There are a number of other notices here is hereby further given which you've had a chance to review and I believe this has been available on on BoardDocs um publicly. So, with that being said, why don't we ask if there's a motion? I'll make a motion. Motion by Mr. Bond. Second Ms. Fox Bozzonia. Now, we will do the vote. Ms. McKnight. Yes. Ms. Fox Bozzonia. Yes. Mr. Oaks. Yes. Ms. Revora. Yes. Ms. Samuelson. Yes. Ms. Taralavoro. Yes.

107And Mr. Bond. Yes. The motion passes 7-0. Thank you. Next. Yes. One more? All right. So, now the motion for establishment of the 2026 annual meeting procedures, annual district election and budget vote. So, same as before, uh you've had a chance to review the resolution. Um whereas, the Board of Education of Valley Central School District has provided that the 2026 annual district election and budget vote will be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 and whereas, it is now desired to provide for the appointment of a permanent chairperson, inspectors of election and assistant clerk for said 2026 annual district election and budget vote. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Education of the Valley Central School District as follows and here we list the appointment of the permanent chairperson of the 2026 uh vote.

108We also list the names of the inspectors of election and alternate election inspectors. In section three, we list the name of the assistant clerk and in section four, we set the rates. So, is there a motion for this? I'll make a motion. Mr. Bond. Second by Ms. McKnight. Call the vote. Ms. McKnight. Yes. Mr. Oaks. Yes. Ms. Fox Bozzonia. Yes. Ms. Revora. Ms. Samuelson. Yes. Ms. Taralavoro. Yes. And Mr. Bond. Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next, uh I'll take a motion for the adoption of BOCES cooperative purchasing resolution. And second. Jane, all in favor? Opposed? 7-0, thank you. Next, a motion for the approval of the intermunicipal agreement with the Town of Hamptonburg. Jane, second. Katie, all in favor? Opposed? 7-0, thank you. Next, a motion uh of the approval

109of contracts for ComSource. Angela. Diana, second. All in favor? Opposed? 7-0, thank you. All right, next is uh make a motion for the nomination of Orange-Ulster BOCES property board candidates, which is Larry Burger and Martha Bogart. I'll take a motion. Katie, second. Jane, all in favor? Opposed? 7-0, thank you. Okay, so one one additional item that we need to take care of is uh we need to schedule our work session. Um this was to talk about community engagement. So, I have dates that our attorney is available and so I'm going to tell you the dates and then we can talk about what works best for the majority. So, we have and actually, if you can pull up what days of the week they are, that'd be good. Thank you. All right, we have April 7,

1109, 14, and 21. Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Tuesday. 7, 9, 14, or 21. Majority rules. Not seven? 14? Not 21? 14? All right, let's try this again. Okay. Show it How many people can make the seventh? Okay, six can make the seventh. How many can make the ninth? Ninth? You want me to put Okay, so like three or four can make the ninth. 14th? Three? Six? You guys are killing me. 21st? Okay, so it's the seventh or the 14th. And we have six and six. So, let's let's do this. Uh let's confirm with Allison that both of those are available. And then cuz we need a we have another meeting that day. Christina, what do we have? Policy? Okay. All right. So, >> [clears throat] >> these dates from Allison were like from a week ago.

111Let's let's double-check on the seventh and 14th and then we'll have to decide from there. I'll send out an email. If anybody can make one versus the other, let me know. Otherwise, I'll probably flip a coin, honestly. So, okay. Um Okay, that brings us to the end of our regular agenda. I would I would like to just bring up one thing, sure I could. And I was going to bring this up anyway. We had but we had two uh wonderful young men stand up and talk about the field conditions. I wanted to bring that up also. I saw some pictures online today about around the goalie area. Now, that takes that's a special spot for me. My son was a goalie here and I know the amount of time that he spent on the ground

112trying to save balls and the balls that come in get fired at you know, 70, 80, 90 miles an hour hit that ground and rocks can shoot up. Um if those pictures are really showing the rocks that it looks like, um can we get somebody out there to rake those rocks up? I mean, before we get somebody really hurt. That's that's my that's my Yeah. concern. I agree cuz as I was listening, I'm like, "Gravel, really?" So, >> The pictures are looks like gravel. Yeah. Let me comment. Sure. We are going to engage a nobody to do that. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um okay. So, um we are going to go back into executive session to discuss personnel. Um we will take no action when we come out, so we'll just close. I want to

113thank Greg for being with us and uh just board members, there are blue folders in front of Christina over there, so please grab them on your way. So, I will take a motion to go into executive session at 8:24 to discuss personnel. Katie, second. Fran, all in favor? Opposed? 7-0, thank you. All right.