Board of Education Meeting 09/22/2025

001Okay, I got a motion to come out of executive session at 6:34. >> Katie second. >> Angela. All in favor? >> Opposed? 70. Thank you. Okay. We will call to order the Monday, September uh 22nd regular board of ed meeting at 6:34. We will begin with the pledge. And after the pledge, uh, I'm going to ask you to stand, remain standing for a moment of silence for two longtime Valley Central teachers. Um, Frank Walner, who passed away on September 6, taught English at the high school for 22 years and retired in 1990. And, uh, Lawrence Winnham, who passed away on September 18th, taught English at the middle school for 28 years and retired in 1995. So please keep Frank and Lawrence's families in your thoughts and prayers to the flag of the United States of

002America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. Thank you. So, just some housekeeping items. Please take note of the emergency exits on the side behind you. There's no smoking on school property. And if you're planning to address the board, please sign in on the sheet provided on table. And the meeting is being streamed on our district YouTube page. Okay. We will begin uh a very exciting introduction tonight. This is our first meeting for our student reps. So, they'll be reporting later. But in the meantime, if I could just ask you guys to introduce yourselves. >> All right. Uh my name is Omar. >> My name is Madison. >> My name is Isabella. >> In addition to just your name, if you can share what grade you're in and why you

003decided to be a board student rep. Uh, I'm a senior and I decided to be a student board of ed rep so I can like give students a fair voice on here. >> I'm a senior and I decided to be a student representative for experience in later on in my life. >> I'm a junior and I decided to be a senior. >> I'm a junior and I decided to be a student rep uh just to help hear the voices of the students. >> All right. Thank you. All right, we'll begin with correspondence >> uh tonight. None at this time. >> Commendations? >> None at this time either. >> Um how about sharing the strategic plan? That's >> Of course, I could do that for hours. >> No, no, no. Your invitation. Your invitation to share.

004>> Oh, I was going to do that in uh my report. >> Okay, never mind then. Okay. All right. We'll we'll move on to the proposed consent agenda. Uh can I get a motion to approve? >> Katie. Second. >> Diana. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. 70. Thank you. Um okay. One other one other thing I I did forget to mention. Unfortunately, at 7:30 the board is going to have to go back into executive session. So, what we're going to do is we are going to um change the agenda around a little bit so that we can get our students home a little bit earlier and try to get through as much of the agenda as we can by 7:30 to cause the least amount of disruption for everybody here. So,

005what I'm going to do is I think we have some club charters with us tonight. Okay? And we're going to uh ask you guys to present now. All right. And actually we agree that the students will be presenting tonight. So, my name is Prof Montalvo. I am one of the Spanish teachers at uh Valley Central High School and it is my honor to be asked to be the advisor for hopefully what is approved which is the BC dance club. So, um we have um first we have Madison who will talk about our mission statement. Go ahead Madison. Our [Music] mission is to not only inspire creativity but encourage self-expression and celebrate cultural heritage through the art of dance. Our cup goes are to empower students to express themselves and build confidence, celebrate and honor cultural

006diversity through dance traditions, and strengthen school pride and foster community engagement. The idea for the VC dance club originated from the students who directly approached both the principal and myself, the >> advisor. Their excitement reflects a strong desire for a space to showcase their talents and creativity, represent their cultural backgrounds, build a supportive, diverse dance community. Um, we plan to meet once or twice per month as needed. Um after the board approval, we also will need to meet accordingly to rehearsals and any performances or showcases that we're going to have for our peers or our families. Um we also plan to have workshops to explore cultural and contemporary dance styles for other people at our school to learn more about that. Um, we also plan to perform at school assemblies, spirit events, and multicultural celebrations

007just to expand on showcasing our different cultures at the high school and throughout the district. And we hope to present opportunities and represent Valley Central and community events as well. >> Hi everyone, I'm Amelia. I'm the one who came up with the idea to start the dance club. Um the fundraising initiatives is to support our vision. The club charter will organize student driven fundraising efforts which includes student selected fundraisers, potential themed cultural food events, and funds will be used to purchase dance uniforms, costumes, healthy snacks for re for rehearsals and supplies for school. Um, we think that you should approve the VC dance club charter because it's a response to student initiative and enthusiasm. It will encourage creativity, confidence, and cultural appreciation. It will enhance our school pride and community connection, and it will also

008align with Valley Central's values of loyalty, service, and progress. Thank you. Um, the VC dance club will give students a place to truly belong, especially those who may not connect through sports, but still want to be a part of something meaningful. Dance builds confidence, teamwork, and school spirit while celebrating diversity. This club will strengthen our community and give every student pride in saying, "This is where I belong." Thank you. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. >> Questions? Um, is anyone going to be allowed to join this club? Are you going to have tryyouts? How's that going to work? >> There's no triyouts. Everyone is welcome. >> Even if you can't dance. >> Okay. >> Yeah, you can join. They'll teach you. >> I can dance. >> So, I can join? >> Yeah,

009>> you'll teach. >> I can join. >> I can dance. I'm mixing. >> Please stop. Please stop. >> All right. Um, thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have other clubs with us yet? >> I know. Just >> that's it. Okay. That's it. All right. We will move on to our student representatives and they can give their update. >> That's what I thought. That's what I thought. They're here. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Sorry. I am representing the students and also >> Yes. So again, my name is Dean Lo. I'm a middle school art teacher. Um, and this is Autumn, one of our students interested in starting. Um, so our mission is really uh four-fold. We want to uh actually produce plants, grow. We'd like to share those plants

010um with students, staff in the community and uh we'd like to get support from local uh growers. So, including some regional businesses and not for profits. Um and then there are some projects that we are interested in uh developing at the middle school and in the in the greater community. Um we would like to fund it with charter clubs, regular meetings, scheduled growth systems in the classroom and tech greenhouse. Our education would be businesses organization partners native plants and biodiversity life cycle and pragation techniques of various plants. We would support it with Adam's Fair Care Farms, Wildwood Hudson's Valley chapter, Hoffinners Farms, New York Bonnet Tackle Farms, and we would take action with middle school courtyards, pollinator gardens, aquatonic systems, and plant fundraisers. Um and then once the initial that would be the third year

011this year um I should back up we we actually started informally meeting last semester and Autumn was part of that initiative where we did build some of these foundations. Um and we we've been working with the administration at the middle school to work on the courtyard already. So there's some opportunities for us to kind of implement some of these things. Um but we're looking to after year uh one to review and assess what we've done this year and really um have students take take the reigns and see what they want to do and where they want to continue their growth. Uh so some of the potentials could be to do uh regular seasonal practices we did technology um greenhouse or in the classroom setting uh further make connections with different organizations uh potentially get the

012courtyard designated as a pollinator garden which is a national recognition. Um and the overall goal is to really beautify the campus. How many students do you have interested at this point? >> Right now we have 10 students that are interested using their Google classroom as >> Okay. And have you talked to the beautifification club? How are you different from them? >> Yes, we've actually worked with them. Um there is with the courtyard project in particular. They worked on more of the mural um project where we working on some of the plants that space. So theirs is more um I think they tend to my understanding learning is they tend to do more um fundraisers and uh community uh events within the middle school. This would be focused solely on uh growing and and sharing those

013the plants. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> No. Okay. Thank you. >> Cool. Thank you. Who? >> I take the hand out. >> Is this the one? >> Okay. Hi, Dean Delenog again. Um so as the um one of the middle school art teachers uh I started here in January by the way uh last year. So this is my first year. So this is my first year uh full year at Valley Central. And uh we started working with the uh high school just as a department level. And through those conversations um they currently have a national junior art honor society. Sorry, a national art honor society. Um and the it's so the national art honor society is a uh national program uh very similar to an NHS program where there are um standards that students

014uh need to maintain including academic standards, volunteer standards, um community outreach. Uh so the national junior art honor society would be a feeder program to the current art honor society at the high school. So just to give you guys a little bit of background, there is a pledge system similar to the NHS um program. Uh it is arts focused is the designation between the two and these are the mission statements. Go for it. Uh we would like to inspire and recognize those students who have shown outstanding ability in art, foster excellence and a dedicated spirit to the pursuit of art, further creative abilities and talents of the society's members as well as the school's entire student art enrollment. Aid members in working toward the attainment of their highest potential in an art area. bring art

015to the attention of the school and community, increase an awareness of art in relation to other areas of the school curriculum, and further aesthetic awareness in all aspects of the school's total program. Our goals are to make dedicate studio time to show me and explore mediums and create bodies of work to we want to show and prep and advertise and show artwork in community spaces. And we would like to promote our access to the community and explore art spaces. Uh our standards would be some academic excellence which means maintaining a 90 art average and an 80 overall GPA and at least 10 hours of community service in the arts and student directed and initiated programs in government. >> Thank you. Any any questions? All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right.

016We're going to continue with our reports and we'll go into the student representatives. So since the start of the school year, uh we have noticed some challenges with the like the new closer. Anyways, uh we have noticed some challenges like with the new phone policy and all that. Um so the first being is that some students are becoming more comfortable and starting to use their phones again and we think that this is like a difficult adjustment for them without their phones. And then something that we also noticed was that students are not really wearing their IDs as well. And during class, students are like instead of using their phones, you're going on their Chromebooks cuz they're having a difficult time adjusting to the new phone ban. Um, and we think a solution to this would

017be teachers implementing like a more inclusive lesson plan and having all their students engaged. But on the bright side, we have noticed like no physical or verbal altercations between the students and like people are socializing more. And our sports, they're also getting up and going, but our clubs, we haven't really heard anything from them since then. They're still trying to start at later on throughout the year. And that's it on my behalf. Um, for the general atmosphere, we have noticed that many of the students have been interacting way more in hallways and in classes as themselves. Um, we also have seen that the school is a lot more lively than it was before without the cell phones due to students wanting to interact more and there isn't really much to do without their cell phones

018or other outside technology. And through feedback of some teachers, we have found that they are thriving with the no cell phones as they have a lot of their students um attention. Um for student engagement over the few weeks of school, we have noticed that things feel a little more focused because there aren't as many people on their phones and as before students have teachers have expressed to each other that discussions are moving more smoothly. But some students have said that it is a lot harder to focus in class especially with teachers that used to allow them to use music to while they were music while they were doing their work. Um, free peers like lunch in study hall are a lot more loud than last year, but it is noticeable that nobody is really enjoying

019or happy about not being able to have their phones when they're not in technically a real class and would rather want to have a choice of how they spend their free time. Uh possible suggestions that would be helpful is to gather input from students who um have too much free time on top of their hands during lunch even study halls to see what they be to see what to add in order to spend their lunch or study hall not bored. Um we would also like to another one is to organize more student body activities to keep students motivated throughout the weeks um without being able to use their phones. And as clubs are starting up um more students are getting involved especially outside of school. Um, and a way to promote clubs so students can

020get involved is to um make flyers or have people speak about clubs during study halls or lunch in order to find people who are interested in them. And I do believe that's all. >> All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> You did a good job. >> Good job. Good job. All right. You're welcome to stay. If you want to go home and do homework, you can do that as well. >> It's not a check. You can >> All right. Now, we're going to move on to the superintendent of schools for her update. >> So, that also goes for the dance team. You're welcome to stay, but you also may go home if you like. I've had the opportunity to attend open houses and that has allowed me to give updates to the parents

021who attend open house in regard to our strategic plan. We are going on year two in of implementation and it's been a joy to see how many parents come out um and a for able for me to speak to them. So, I just want to thank the parents for taking the time to come out and meet their teachers, go through their student schedule, and see what it's like to to be a student for a couple hours. Um, and I appreciate them um setting that time aside. I've had the opportunity to go to the football and volleyball game, the girls volleyball game, and our home our first home football game, and have continued to visit schools. I visit schools um each school monthly and so had the opportunity to visit schools have some more this week

022to visit in order to meet all of our schools. I'd like to share that I was asked on behalf of Valley Central to present at the superintendent conference um that starts on Sunday. Uh they were very um interested and proud of our strategic plan and the way that we had collaborated to create the plan. the fact that we have made such success in the plan as well as how we implemented all the feedback that we have gotten in the community. So I will be presenting on Monday on behalf of Valley Central. Thank you. [Applause] >> All right. >> Wait, wait, wait. I forgot. I wanted to give an update on cell phones and um we did put new procedures in place and just wanted to tell you how we're doing. So, at the high school,

023there were 114 cases of warnings, which means that a student was just told to put their cell phones away um and given a verbal warning. There were 35 incidents where the students phone was confiscated and the student was allowed to pick it up in the afternoon. And there were 10 incidents where a parent had to come and pick it up. So, I do want to say that the parents have been very cooperative and in supporting their students in this transition. As you heard our students, it has not been easy for them. Um, but with your support, we'll get through it. They have teachers have seen many benefits with the regard that they are um actually speaking to one another and spending time focused on having conversations as opposed to using their fingers. So, it's been

024a really great opportunity for them at school and I anticipate it for continue to grow. At the middle school, there were three warnings only. at at EC there were three warnings and one warning at Walden. So and you know as elementary is very a lot less but it is happening and so I just want to thank all the efforts of our staff as well who has worked really hard not only to create the plan along with the committee that consisted of students and parents but also to on a day-to-day basis to help our students do what's best for them in regard to not having use of their cell phones during the day. All right. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the assistant superintendent for business. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Just a few updates

025tonight. The external audit is complete and um on the agenda for approval tonight. So, um thank you very much to Jackie, especially in the business office and everyone that assists her um for another successful uh and clean audit. Um construction update. contractors are still around the district addressing um some minor uh follow-up items and and completions and punch list items are being addressed. Um next the as I've mentioned before the um request for a traffic light out here in front of um Bur Elementary School on 17K has been made uh to the town of McGomery supervisor as well as our assemblyman Brian Maher. Both have indicated support for it. So um we'll keep you informed as next steps uh go forward on that. And then lastly, um, regarding the upcoming 17K closure on the west

026side of Montgomery, no no update on that yet, but I do see the signs are still up and, um, kind of covered. So, we'll let you know if we hear anything. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. >> Thank you, board president. Thank you to the board as well for tonight. Um, we have many presentations. So, we're excited to have our charters as well as our summer school presentation this evening. Uh, over at CNI, we're also busy finalizing some sessions for October 7th because that we have another professional learning session for our teachers on that day. Uh, we also had our first MTSS meeting last Thursday where as a committee we went section by section rereading the newly passed MTSS plan. really just unpacking that as a committee so

027that we can finalize templates and additional resources to support the school buildings and their processes. I also attended open house at Berea and our DEI committee and and K5 elementary committee are on Thursday and Friday respectively. That's all I have for tonight. >> Thank you. Next is the assistant superintendent for human resources. >> Good evening board members. Uh I have a short update tonight. We have recommended to hire an interim director of data accountability and instructional services uh person for that administrative position tonight. Uh we have also recommended five new parent professionals for hire to our schools on tonight's agenda. And that is all I have. >> All right. Thank you. Uh so we have a couple of endofear reports. Food service and building and grounds. Food service first. No microphone. Oh, thank you. I'm

028gonna put this down though. Okay, >> that's okay. Um, so this is my last report for my for this year and forever. I'm retiring. So, I just wanted Thank you. I regretfully smile. No, the 202425 school year meals, breakfast and lunch, still qualify for the C, community eligibility participation. With this qualifications, all students eat at no cost to them for both breakfast and lunch. This privilege is for four years in which we are in our third year. As of this year, New York State has put another program into place, universal meals, so that all schools in the district of New York State have free meals to all students who do not qualify for C. C is is a percentage of direct certification. So that's um we did our due diligence in getting the C. However,

029after the C is finished, after the four years, I do not see universal meals going away after our four years are up. I believe that C program will roll right over to universal meals, which is a great thing. Here's a quick glance at some data I compiled from New York State Nut Child Nutrition. In a comparison of meals served for both breakfast and lunch for the school year of 2324 versus 2425, the numbers were staggering. 109,153 more meals were served in 202425 or excuse me in 2023 24 than 202425 with the same number of staff and hours from the year before. The staff should be commended for their superhero performance for job well done. Thank you to the nutritional staff for their for feeding our children. The numbers I have put on are in your

030reports. 2023 24 we served 453,919. we served 563,72. This food service department is self- sustained. It does not rely on the school budget or general fund to operate. All expenses including food, payroll, health insurance, uniforms, and kitchen equipment are paid for the depart from the department's revenue. We're able to re we were able to replace outd outdated pieces of equipment this year that needed extensive repair. This will help reduce repair calls in the years to come. I am looking forward to a year of growth both of it both for our staff and the value that it brings to Valley Central each and every day. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions? All right. Thank you. We'll see you next year. >> Good. Good evening, everybody. My name is Ryan Span. I'm the director of facilities

031the school district. I'm in charge of the facilities department for the last eight years. This past year, we accomplished several major capital projects within the this within the six buildings, school buildings, including replacement of the tennis courts and track. The pool filtration system, pool boilers, and skylights. The high school boilers and chiller were replaced. The second floor science rooms were completely renovated from top to bottom, including new furniture and casework and air conditioning. New classroom unit ventilators were installed in the 1989 wing. Secure main entrances were installed in six of our school buildings. Bur Elementary School had two kindergarten classrooms and the main office renovated from top to bottom. Air conditioning is installed in the caftorium. New unit ventilators installed in the new wing uh were replaced along with a water softener at East Cold

032and Ham boilers and a captorium heating and air conditioning unit was replaced. From July 1st of 2024 through August 31st, the Valley Central Maintenance Department has completed 187 work orders. I'm so honored that I have the privilege of working with the school district. My vision moving forth is in is with this community to stay a breast with all our building aesthetics as a as we continue to take pride in our school district. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Questions? All right. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Next, we'll move on to our 2025 summer school presentation. Good afternoon, members of the board, superintendent Aillaa, superintendent. Thank you for having me tonight. I'm excited to present. I served My name is Miss Manson Henry and I served as summer school principal this

033summer and this is my end of program report. Um when I first started off education 10 years ago um I remember hearing this prolific speaker speak and she said every child deserves a champion and it resonated with me. Um an adult that would never give up on them. someone who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be. Um, this summer our goals were plan, practice, patience, and perseverance. And this is what our summer school team led with. Planning, practice, patience, and perseverance. And for every child this summer, we taught like champions. Our middle school courses offered were ELA, math, and science. We had 24 students enrolled in our middle school summer school program, and two were dropped due to our strict um attendance policy. Our middle

034school students engage in rich and rigorous collaboration. As I visited classrooms, I was excited to see students interacting with their teachers in groups, doing activities that were really hands-on. Um, and I'm excited to report that 64 credits were recovered um this summer. And this is just a look at our data. 96.7% of students um met the expectations for passing this summer, but all students were eligible for promotion. So, that was a great celebration. The high school offered the following courses in algebra, PE and health, government and economics, global, global 1, global 2, living environment, and English 9, 10, and 11. We had 106 students in high school that were enrolled in July and 14 students were dropped by the end of August 7th. As you can see, our numbers looked really great. Our students um

035again they worked really hard, they were diligent. Um they had access to AC so everybody was happy. Um nobody complained about heat. Um as you can see our students did really well. Um except in the areas of government and economics which are really rigorous courses. Um and our students pull through at a 89 and 70 79% in economics. So they really worked hard. Um the sum school credits recovered were 136 credits in total. Our Edenum credit recovery program is a self-paced online learning platform and six students during summer school um completed full completion. These students sat in summer school classes and then went to Edenum. Um of course they stopped in the office for snacks. They rated snacks every day, so we had to keep snacks on deck. And these kids were so excited to

036be there. Four of those students made significant progress and are continued um to carry on um hopefully to completion at the end of this fall. We gave out summer school awards. Students were recognized for their hard work um in the categories of kindness, resilience, grit, character, and community. So teachers nominated students that demonstrated these um qualities and they were provided with their awards, a personalized note from their teachers, and a candy or snack of their choice. Of course, um I'd like to thank I'd be remiss if I don't thank the teachers and the staff whom I refer to as the summer school dream team that supported our program, the families, and more importantly our students who put forth an extraordinary amount of effort to successfully complete our program. Thank you for your time. >> Thank

037you. >> All right. So, as I mentioned, um, we have to go into executive session at 7:30. So, we're going to juggle around a little bit. I think some of these presentations might be longer than the time we have right now. So, what we're going to do is we're going to jump down to community participation and then we'll do public comment and then we'll decide what we're going to do after that based on the time left. So, we're we're moving along here. So, I'm going to start with Bob for community participation. So, I was able to go to the uh football game this past Friday or Thursday. >> Thursday. Um, I have to tell you, as somebody who spent years on that field and back behind the high school and many hours, I just uh

038really appreciate the effort that goes into the athletes and the cheer team that was there to uh put on the show that they did. And um just really respect the athletes and the coaches of of all the groups there. They did a good job. >> Really? >> They they did they had a great effort. >> All right, that counts. >> There's one in every group. Fran. >> So, I was able to pop into the middle school open house and uh then walked my way over to the football game and watched the football game. And I just want to say that, you know, it's incredible to see the entire ground being used because as I walked to the football game, I saw that there was swimming going on. Really, the whole entire building felt like it

039was being used and every single parking spot looked like it was being filled. And thank you to all of the crew and the volunteers and the staff that helped to really make that such a um a an easy system um for people to navigate through while there was so much stuff going on at the same time. Um just great experience. I got to see the new gym in the middle school which was lovely. That's it. >> J, >> I have nothing to report. Angela. >> Uh, yes. I went to a couple of volleyball games and I also went to the open house for the high school. And I just want to commend uh the school counselors. They did a great job really engaging the seniors and talking about senior night and also uh the the

040our new interim principal, Mr. A. He really commanded the room and I just wanted to acknowledge um him and how when he spoke it. >> Great. Diana, >> nothing this time. >> Katie, >> nothing this time. >> Okay. I also had the opportunity to attend the uh football game Thursday night. So, that's great. All right. Uh we'll move to public comment. >> J. We're about to begin the 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 designed 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

041as example to our students. We ask that we demonstrate mutual respect. We ask that speakers address their comments to the board directly and we will insist that speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect opposing views. Um, we 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 implication. Please know, however, that we take personnel and student concerns very seriously. On these matters, we ask that you review our board policy and go through appropriate administrative channels. We give each speaker four minutes. Yes. >> To speak tonight. Thank you. >> All right. We have one speaker. Uh Tara Gianani >> Noni. Thank you. >> I'm a little nervous, guys. I'm going to try this. Okay. I can

042take it off. >> Got it. Okay. All right. My name is Tara Jenoni and I'm a resident of the village of Montgomery. I have one son here in seventh grade and another son in 11th grade. I'm here to speak to you about the condition of our athletic fields for our student athletes. Every year I write a check for my school taxes in the amount nearly $8,000. And out of curiosity, I'm wondering what percentage of our school budget goes towards the basic upkeep and maintenance of our athletic fields. I invite each and every one of you to take a walk on our varsity field here at the high school. Be careful not to step in the big hole on the home sideline when you visit. If you're lucky, a cone may still be there to help

043you avoid that safety hazard. As you step onto the main field, you'll notice an overgrown crabrass ridden playing surface. You'll find thick branch-like weeds growing out of the ground. There's even these thorny weeds growing all over it. In between the thick gr crab grass patches, you'll find bald spots with no grass whatsoever, followed by divots and unattended grass that hasn't been consistently cared for for a long time now. Rumor is it's just the rumor. Okay. Rumor is the field has not been mowed since graduation until this past Tuesday, September 16th, prior to the game. The grass was supposed to be cut shorter and unfortunately it wasn't. You cannot even see the boys football cleat in many of the pictures from this past Thursday night's game. Now imagine a soccer ball trying to effectively roll at

044game speed on a field like this. Imagine a football player or a soccer player trying to make a cut to change direction real quickly, but can't effectively do that because their cleat gets caught in like a thick patch of grass or an uneven surface. How can we even tend to a field if we cannot even see it because it's so overgrown? At a JV soccer game last week, a player fell and hit her head on a rock on the game field. Last week, this hits me hard, but last week at our home opener for football, my son broke his leg because his leg locked out planting his foot in one of the crab grass patches here. His season's over. If there's any divot on the plain surface or uneven field conditions for these players, the

045likelihood of an injury vastly increases. I ask you this, who is in charge of making sure all of our facilities are car care carefully tended to? When was the last times our fields were airrated, seated, and treated for these weeds? What about the irrigation system that nobody knew how to turn on last year when the athletes participated on basically a concrete like dust ball? I ask you this. Should the safety of our own student athletes ever be compromised? I am speaking to you tonight not asking for a beautiful turf facility like most surrounding section 9 schools have. I am just merely asking for safe field conditions for all of our student athletes, including those that visit our field. At the end of the day, we all pay a lot of taxes and the least we

046can do is give our kids decent, well-maintained, and above all, safe athletic fields. Thank you for all that you do and giving me this opportunity to speak to you all tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Does anybody want these? >> Oh, yeah. If you could either email a copy or just give me that copy, that'd be great. >> Okay. Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay. >> MTSS. Okay. All right. We're going to jump back up to reports and we're going to do the MTSS committee report Elise is covering for us >> for MTSS. As I said before, um, our committee met on LA last Thursday regarding our new MTSS plan. Actually, what I didn't include in my report, which I'll include now, is that the committee spent quite a lot of time at

047the end of last school year, uh, writing that plan and writing the sections of it. And so, they were able to see that final product. And in regards to unpacking it, it was really just about aligning to the to the vision that they have and making sure Thank you. um making sure that we have next steps for this year and for next year. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, we're moving again. We're going to move up our executive session to 7:20. We're going to go meet with legal counsel. Uh and then after we come out of exe executive session, we'll resume wherever we are on the agenda. Um so can I get a motion to go into executive session at 7:19 to meet with council? >> Katie second. >> Angela. All in favor? >>

048Post. All right. 70. A second. >> Bob. All in favor? >> Opposed? 70. Okay, we're going to continue with our agenda and we are moving on to the CPL presentation. Correct. >> Correct. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Good evening. You guys hear me? Okay. All right. Can I have >> 10 seconds? >> How about now? Good. >> So, I'd like to introduce Greg from CPL um and um also >> I'm Chris. >> Chris Chris um have helped us complete the fleet electrification plan study which is a requirement um from the state that all school districts had to do. So, uh thankfully we are complete on that. So, um, they're going to go over the results of it and, uh, in the coming months, we do have to do a new RFP for the next transportation

049contract, which will be, uh, for another five years. And, um, we currently have an RFP that's out right now looking for a transportation consultant, um, to use to help us come through that process. But one of the questions we will have is how do we want to structure that next contract as far as a full diesel and gas fleet, a mix um or go um full electric. Um but some of this information tonight, which I think you'll find uh very informative, will be used to help us along that process. >> All right. Thank you, Brad. Uh so yeah, my name is Greg Royer. I'm with CPL Architecture and Engineering. Um with me, I've got Chris Leani. >> Yeah, my name is Chris Leani. I'm a local president here for CPI. I work out of the

050New Windsor office. Um I'm an architect and just want to be a familiar face. He's going to lead the charge on this. This is way over my head, but uh so I'm going to support him and again be be a local presence for for Valley Central. I got two kids in the district and they're right in the village. So thanks. Okay. So one correction, this isn't actually a requirement yet, but it's likely going to be next year. So, you're kind of ahead of the curve with getting the FE done, which is really good. It also keeps you in SED's good graces because they are, as you see through the portal every August, uh, looking for feedback and reporting from districts to see where they are in the process. Um, so to start, I'm just going

051to kind of go through some of the data, look at some of the conceptual uh, site plan stuff that we put together. If you have questions, jump in. This is I know it's been a hot topic on what's going to happen. We've got you know we're pretty plugged in with the state and NAERTA. Um so if there's anything you want to ask I may have an answer for you. So feel free to jump in. Uh so the first part of this we collect a lot of data from the district uh routing utility information um power information coming into the the district. And then we've got a couple tools that we've created in house that analyze all the routes and tell us what is the minimum battery sizing needed for the buses and also the chargers.

052uh you do outsource your buses, but we still need to figure out what are the power requirements for that because part of this uh we're looking at what is the potential uh for bringing that in-house uh because there could be some significant cost savings to the district long term and we can talk about that a little more at the end. Um but this these tables here just kind of show us um the existing routes that you have it currently with today's technology there's a 92% feasibility. Um so you know there's a handful of routes that cannot be complete with today's technology. Um so when we look at this we analyze a worst case situation. if you know a longer route comes back to the depot and has to plug in for a midday charge, what's

053the maximum they can get, you know, throughout the day? And there's a few that don't work with maximum charging sizes, battery sizes, all that. So, um, at a point technology will get there, you know, as we get closer to 2035 or 2040 potentially because there's likely going to be an extension to this. Um, but this just kind of breaks down that data. Uh, any questions before I jump ahead? Okay. Uh, the next piece of data that we analyze is the um future power requirement. So, what's probably most important is this chart on the right hand side. So this shows you the orange uh portion of this graph shows what your power requirement is if all the buses are plugged in charging and it jumps you up to about it's hard to see but about 3.8

054megawws of additional power which is pretty significant. And the way that the utility bills KW demand uh is by you know an individual kilowatt and the average rate for that's about 13 bucks. So times that by, you know, a thousand, you've got $13,000 in additional new charges times 3.8. So it's pretty significant. So how we get around that is we look at charge management systems and how to manage the power that's coming to those buses. So this model here just shows you what realistically on a daily basis you're going to be, you know, pulling from a power perspective. Um, so it drops down to about one megawatt, but we can take that further down by looking at battery storage options, you know. So that's something that we've built into the finance model, but not something

055you necessarily have to do. Everybody 100% understand it's it's a lot of data to to cover. I I mean, the report's got so much data we could spend six hours going through it. on that we're purchasing. >> If you were to purchase and bring in house, this is what it would look like. Yeah. So why this is important to have, you know, this this data that you can reference is because if you do decide to continue outsourcing the transportation, um, if your power is going to go up by this much and the costs are going to go, you know, up by a certain amount, imagine how much more they're going to go up through a third party because they're going to have to build the infrastructure if they can even build it. because we have

056some clients now where uh the towns won't allow thirdparty providers to actually build this much infrastructure on the you know specific property. Um the other issue is on a 5-year contract that's a pretty far look ahead with uh utility commodities. So they're going to have to put a significant buffer on that uh you know cost for the for the contract. So, it's all this stuff's going to get very expensive for everyone. And come January 1st, building code changes. So, everything's going to start going electric for for new buildings. Um, so there's there's a lot that's going on and there's a lot behind the scenes with the utilities that, you know, are all kind of playing into this. Okay. So we analyzed two feeders uh at the high school uh sorry the uh middle school. So

057the first feeder um comes from the north side. It's north right. >> Um so if you're looking at that east this is west over here. East is over here. >> Okay. So from the east side uh you're in a unique situation. So, you've got that large parcel next to the the school and there's a sub substation over there. On the east side, there's another substation. Uh, and what we're pointing out here is the east side substation has about 3.8 megawws of available power today. And the way that's that gets constantly updated. So, if you have offtakers, you know, coming onto that feeder, that number is going to shrink. So, that 3.8 8 megawatt power requirement that I showed you. Uh in five years may not work on this feeder. Uh you've also got the the

058feeder or the substation that's on the corner of the middle school property has a a larger uh hosting capacity of about 4.3 megawws. So that you know as it sits seems to me to to be the more viable option. um you know, if you were to to put the buses over on that parcel and you'll understand what I'm talking about with this slide. Um so we've proposed and I have some full size or some larger prints. Um you know, feel free to look at those at some point if you'd like. Um, but next to the the middle school, we have a conceptual drawing of what a potential bus garage could look like where you could park, you know, the the fleet of buses, the drivers, and uh, you know, a maintenance facility. >> So, in

059this case, the buses would be owned by the district. They they could be owned by the district or you can have an arrangement with your provider to park their buses on your property and have space for the drivers. Yeah. So, there's several different different ways you can structure this. Um that might be a better option if you don't want to deal with the human resource component and actually owning the vehicles and maintaining them. Um, >> does that seen that work in other districts? >> Yeah. So, we're um looking to do that with Round Out Valley right now. They won 25 buses through the EPA grant. Um, they're the district I mentioned that is having issues getting permitting um on their provers's property. So, we're looking to put everything on their property and just provide the

060space, the infrastructure to charge the buses and, you know, somewhere for the drivers to kind of call home base. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if I'm thinking about this correctly. Does the neighborhood that's across the street from there, is that pulling power from that substation, too? Like, as that becomes online, it gets bigger, is that going to draw? >> Is that going to be a problem? uh the substation that's on the corner. >> Yeah, it could if if they're developing and adding, you know, more houses and stuff. >> Yeah. I mean, house a residential house pulls a pretty small amount of power, but you know, if you're adding a couple hundred houses, that will eat through it pretty quick. It's not a huge number, but >> you know, maybe a couple hundred KW >>

061for for a house, you know, maybe 15 KW. >> Yeah, it's how residential is measured in kilowatt hours though. Um they don't get build a kilowatt. um uh they're not built on that that rate tariff. It's a different for commercial versus residential. Yeah. >> Now, this is this location or other location? Yeah, we looked at two other locations that weren't really viable because of wetland concerns, but at this stage for what NAERTA covers, um, we can't take it super far. We can through other programs look at this a little deeper. Um, but, you know, we tried to with the budget that we had, you know, do a high level overview to see if other sites would work and this one, you know, seemed to be the best option. just with the the wetland data we

062have is pretty limited unless we do an environmental study. Um so we just didn't for this phase of things we didn't have the the budget to do that. >> This is the edge of the middle school right here. And then we had a couple houses and then before the substation >> and and there's a weird easement here because part of that that one neighbor's property cuts in to the property a little bit. So, one thing to keep in consider too um if if it is the board's um decision to to go down this path long term, uh we still do need to to do some more research, but it will not impact the next five-year contract. Right? By the time we do all the evaluations, the planning, the approvals, I mean, you're you're more than

063five years out. So, um I think what's what's immediately important is to know that this this is an option for us which um we believe is a is a good solid long-term option um to for the district to own and um control that charging equipment which is so so expensive. Um if we do stay with the contracted model, I think it levels the playing field for all contractors. Um, so you will not necessarily have one contractor that's invested all this infrastructure that now essentially controls the Valley Central pricing, right? So if we lease the facility to contractors, it's basically, you know, we're going to give you the, you know, you're just going to bring your buses and your staff. zone essentially. So >> yeah, and it's most relatable to if you break up your transportation

064contract with just providing, you know, the fleet and then the fueling, this really is a fueling contract solution essentially. >> And we really do have a an ideal location on paper as far as the location of the available power nearby at the moment. >> Yeah. >> I as this question earlier about is considering the power. What if we make the power? >> You could make the power. I like that idea actually. Um >> that gets a little tricky though because uh with the latest bill, the one big beautiful bill that came out um solar photovalttaic is being phased out. The so there's a 30% investment tax credit as part of that bill that's that's being eliminated for solar photovoltaic. However, battery energy storage and geothermal are still uh you know in play until 2032. So

065you could look at battery storage options which further reduce how much you pay for the system and it provides the benefit of backup. So if the grid does go down and that system sized correctly, you could energize potentially the high school and middle school, your entire charging equipment for, you know, days, hours, you know, however you you size that system. So there's still some potential there. It doesn't mean solar just goes away. Um, but it makes it a lot harder to, you know, work financially once that tax credit goes away. Okay. >> But it's still something to look at. And then SMRs are are up and coming, which is small modular reactors, but I don't know if that's going to be viable for a school for for a little while. >> Next slide. Is it

066worthwhile to consider looking at solar energy without those tax credits that could generate >> potentially? Yeah, it potentially could work. I mean, if you >> I guess if you do it through a capital project, I mean, you could get state aid reimbursement on it. So, Uh, pretty good size. You probably need about 20 acres roughly. >> Yeah, it's a pretty substantial amount. >> What is the New York state law right now? I mean, it's not actually it >> for the buses. >> Yeah, it's a law. Yeah. >> So July 1st or June June 1st of next uh of 2027 is the first deadline. So they're saying June 1st, 2027, you can't buy fossil fuel buses anymore. However, there's a one-time extension that districts that have completed an FEP can take advantage of. It's not live

067on the portal yet, but it likely will be, you know, sometime early next year. Um, so you can extend to, you know, mid 2029 and then 2035 is the the date when you have to have everything converted. We do, however, think that's going to get kicked out at least five years, but likely they're going to wait until November of 2034 maybe. some they don't want to throw in the towel too quickly. They want districts to start doing this transition before they issue an extension. >> I just want to reiterate this is all informational at this point, right? I don't want anybody at home to think we're like building solar plants on the hooks and >> I I agree. Very very >> just making we're going down some rabbit holes here, man. So >> I think

068we have other priorities we need to address. um first um but you know like you mentioned the 2027 date right now as our our new contract will take uh effect July 1, 2026. We do have one thing to consider is we could replace an entire fleet of diesel and gas buses and that will get us long into this mandate period and allow us time to evaluate our options and and put together a plan going forward. Yeah, I mean there's a lot to it. Obviously, you know, you guys have a larger fleet. There's a lot of infrastructure, you know, items to consider. Um, it's a lot. The state's requiring a lot of school districts to do this. Uh, so we can kind of skip this really. batteries I think you know could be a good way

069as I mentioned to provide a backup source but also further reduce the demand that is required to energize the the chargers. Um so we have two budget tables. This is just for and keep in mind this is rough order of magnitude. Uh it doesn't include the cost of the buses, but the way the incentive program is set up right now, uh it's designed to offset the delta between an electric and a diesel bus so that it's like you would just be purchasing a diesel, you know, same cost roughly. Uh but for the infrastructure, the chargers, some of the electrical work, um you know, you're you're looking at roughly uh with battery storage about 7.3 million, but with today's incentives, that you know cuts it roughly in half. So there are state, federal, other incentives uh

070that help buy down the cost of this. Um, I'm going to jump ahead quick. Uh, so for the charger incentive, because you've completed this fleet electrification plan and you're part of the priority list, it qualifies you for 65 per port. Uh, so typically how we recommend it is purchase dual port chargers that have two ports. So you get 130 grand per charger to help further, you know, how far that incentive money goes. Now, one caveat to this is the state isn't going to let you do like 50 chargers at once. They want it phased in so they can keep replenishing the the pot of, you know, incentive dollars. Okay, so backing up, we also have a firstphase budget. So this is if you were to start with a handful of chargers, add in new transformer,

071you know, do a minimal effort to at least get a few chargers up and running. Um, this does not include a significant amount of site work that would be needed. This would be, you know, we pick, you know, the high school or middle school or one of the elementary schools to add, you know, three or four chargers. We'd need to upgrade the service, put a separate um, you know, service panel in place, transformer, and energize that that set of chargers. Questions? Uh, okay. We can probably skip ahead. Um, really that's pretty much really high level overview of what we looked at. It's obviously a lot more involved. The report's got a lot of information in it. We've spent a fair amount of time with with Brad and Renee going over everything. Um, it's technically not

072approved, but NAERTA told us last week that we should see a formal approval notice either this week or next week. So, it's the comment period's done. Those are all ironed out. It's just a matter of receiving that formal approval notice. Um, but we'll get you the final copy of that. Um, so if you have any questions, let us know. Otherwise, there is another program called Flexte uh which you would qualify for a 75% cost share. So, this is just kind of a budget we put together if you want to explore this further. We can, you know, get more into the weeds on what the viability of all this is, put some schematics together and really kind of take this down a little further. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks everyone. Appreciate it. >>

073Thank you very much. >> All right. Next, we are going to move to the clean energy update. And this is uh I don't know what month it was, but we took a vote on requesting information for solar. So, this is that information. We're not going to make any decisions on this tonight. It's just information and we'll talk about if we want to make any decisions later on. >> This is the night for clean energy. So, um, as you all know, Tom Rosenthaler from CSR, Tom has brought along Brick Null, um, from Blake Engineering. Brick and the team at CSR have worked together on many, many of our capital projects. Um, so I'll turn it over to you >> and I'm going to do the least amount of this presentation because it's really, uh, I'm going

074to stick in my lane. I'm an architect. This is an engineer. So, this is who should be uh guiding the presentation. And we're really going to call this not just solar, but renewable energies, right? There's a many other options than just solar. We just heard a little bit about solar. Um, and I think a megawatt of solar is is a pretty big array. Um, so I'll be curious about that. So, we're going to talk about renewable energy. We're going to talk about clean heating and cooling technologies. Um, and additional programs and incentives. And this is where I depart off to the side. >> Broadick, if you want to pop that microphone out. >> Okay. All right. Um, so going into renewable energy, there's a number of different forms out there from wind energy and hydroelect

075electric and uh probably the most viable for this area for you know school application is uh solar photovoltaic systems. Um so these are the uh silicon panels which absorb the uh energy of the sun to turn it into DC electric power which then goes through inverters which turn it to AC power which is the the type of power that runs through uh buildings. So that then ties into the uh the grid. So there's various different mounting options for the systems. most common for smaller type systems are roof mount. Um, and then there's also ground mount for for larger type systems that you'd see out in fields. You see some of the utility scale out there. Uh, they can also be incorporated into parking structures. Uh, the roof mount systems can go on uh they get

076mounted on racking and they can go on a pitched roof or they could go on a flat roof. The picture here shows on a flat roof. This racking system has feet and there's a it's called a ballasted system. So, it's weighed down with those concrete blocks to minimize how many penetrations you have to make to the roof. Um, obviously you need to take into consideration the age of the roof that you're putting it on and uh what other equipment there is on the roof, what clearances you need to maintain. And then also there's different options for how you interconnect the system to the grid. There's a net metering which is after your connection to the meter. So that essentially whenever it's feeding into your system, you're either using it and then if you're generating excess,

077it's spinning your meter backwards. Um, and then there's also grid connect systems where that would get tied in directly to the utility and would have its own meter. Depending on the size of the system, sometimes you're required to go there. For central Hudson, anything over 500KW, you have to do a direct grid connect. Um, which gives them a spot where they can disconnect you if if they need to in case you're feeding in and they need to be doing work or anything. >> Yep. and a couple other considerations because I think most of us think when we think solar we think put them on the roofs right so um we do have someone that's uh putting together some information about uh some options for rooftop right company's looking at that we didn't have it for

078tonight unfortunately um but along with that each of the roofs has to be structurally evaluated as well remember these are uh ballasted systems so there's not just the weight of the solar panels there's the weight of all the ballast to hold the panels down for wind uplift and all that has to be considered to make sure that we're properly, you know, within the margin of safety for the structural system of the roof itself, right? Uh we can't just assume that we could put it up there. Um and as Brick said, we do have to look at the condition of each of these roofs. I don't know the last time Brad and I were talking about last time that we've done um any kind of um uh infrared assessment of the roof systems. I know we

079had done it uh quite a few years back um to evaluate you know the roof conditions. Now, we've done some roof replacement over time, but uh we'd have to look at that at each of the buildings uh because we want to make sure that if a roof system is coming near its end of life expectancy and we're considering putting solar on it, that has to be considered in the contract, right? um because to I've come across this in a couple of other districts where they put the solar on as part of an EPC um but the roof needed to be replaced within a few years and now we're paying a contractor to remove the solar system off to do the roof replacement then put it back on. It's a significant cost dependent on the size

080of the array. We just did it in one of the new buildings and it was just one wing of the building and it was $150,000 just for the removal and replacement because it's all labor hours. So, you know, you have to either write it in the contract if it's an EPC contract, you have to write it in the contract that you do that as part of the evaluation of the savings so that they know that that's going to have to happen. or you have to just understand that you may have to do the roof replacement first and then do the solar on top of it afterwards. So, we'd have to go through that evaluation process. >> Sorry. Good. And then another part of the evaluation in addition to the roof is looking at what your

081energy usage is right now um over you know the period of the year and then where it might be with any things you have planned to do to the buildings either with adding cooling or electrification with the buses. Um you have to take that into account. Um >> there any consideration of putting um solar over like parking areas? >> That's consideration as well. That's fairly a ground level system and we've seen a lot of districts do that. Um and we have to look at and evaluate the cost and those systems tend to be obviously more money because you have to build it up over let's say your parking area. I see. >> But you never have to move that. >> But you never you never have to move. >> Correct. >> And then as uh

082as far as rebates and incentives for uh solar PV, as Greg mentioned, the uh investment tax credit is starting to get phased out. Um right now it's a 30% um rebate on the total system cost. For taxexempt entities, it's uh available as a direct payment. And the two deadlines right now are uh if construction starts before July 4th of 26, you have four years to place it in service. If the construction starts after that, you have to have it in service by the end of 2027. You can also on top of that incorporate a uh a rebate through NAERTA uh New York State Energy Research and Development. Uh it's a program called New York Sun, which covers uh a rebate per watt, 25 cents per watt, as long as the systems under 750KW. If you

083go over that, then it's uh doesn't qualify. Um but it could be per building. It's not per, you know, the district. So, and then um right now average cost for solar is around uh 200 or $2.50 per watt. Um it's kind of a going rate. Could be a little more, a little less. And that's just for the the solar infrastructure itself, depending on what else you have to do supportwise. could bring that up. Um, so these we just put together some rough numbers of system sizes just based on uh looking at historical electrical data. Um, we we targeted 50% of what your demand is right now. um came up with these. And then getting into some of the uh the clean heating and cooling technologies. Um right now there's uh law that went into effect

084for electrification of new construction. So that's driving a lot of these uh technologies to uh to try and meet those requirements which start in uh 2026 and then will continue to be phased into um into law depending on building size through the next 5 years. So um all of these systems here are all just electric only systems air source heat pumps. um those we're seeing some going to the district right now in some of the spaces for uh the Berea main office uh the spaces for a lot of the um security vestibules and these systems are essentially working like an air conditioning system and then they in the winter they work in reverse. So in the summer they're pulling the heat out of the spaces and they reject them out outdoors. In the winter, they

085do the opposite and they pull the heat from outside and use it to heat the space indoors. Um, these are, you know, becoming increasingly uh efficient and they're working at at lower and lower temperatures outside. Um, which used to be a concern when they first came out years ago. Um the picture there that has the heat pump 1A and 1B, that's from a uh a local library that had a uh boiler plant that was natural gas fired and had a separate air conditioning system and they took that out and went to an all electric uh heating system there. Um and then to go a step beyond that um there are ground source or geothermal heat pumps which reject the heat instead of to the air it rejects it to the ground. Um there's there's various

086different types of systems for how you run the ground loops. the most common are for a commercial application or are vertical ground wells and those provide a uh consistent um pretty consistent temperature for some place to reject and pull heat from. Um whereas you know the air in the winter you might have to pull heat out of zero degree air or you know pull um reject heat to 95 degree air it you know the ground's more around 50 55 so it can operate uh more efficiently. Um and beyond that there's some other opportunities such as thermal energy storage. Here's an example in the bottom right there of some tanks that can be incorporated in with a chiller system. And you operate the chiller um in the evening or during hours of off peak when your

087electricity is less expensive. And you can then create pretty much a thermal battery and you can pull from that um to then cool the building down in the uh daytime when the rates are higher with a without having to run the uh the chiller. And then heat pump water heaters uh work similar to uh to airsource heat pumps. Those are another way to uh generate domestic hot water more efficiently compared to a regular uh electric water heater can operate at around a third of the usage. So that's another uh opportunity there. uh rebates and incentives for these systems. There's a similar tax credit for geothermal systems, 30%. Um has the same option for the direct cash payment. This goes through 2032 and uh covers the cost of the system as a whole. And there are

088also some utility programs out there through Central Hudson and NISAG. There are prescriptive uh rebates where you know you get a a dollar per unit or a dollar per ton of the equipment you're putting in or there are custom where you go through and uh actually show a savings and then get a uh a rebate based on that. Those right now expire at the end of this year and then each year they usually come out with new um incentives and then uh in addition to that there are some programs out there through NAERTA to cover the technical services side to develop the projects. So there's cost share um right now it's 75% to cover energy studies and planning and then to do research into what types of systems could be incorporated into your facilities. Uh

089that's running through 2030. And then there's also a uh cost share program if you wanted to have a uh on-site energy manager which can be a consultant or it can be uh you know sta on in-house staff and um to go through and do benchmarking for the buildings uh where you put in your usage and you compare it to other school buildings and you can track um your energy use intensity and um see as you improve of you know how you bring it down and use that for planning. >> I just wanted to add a couple thoughts. Um and one, you know, the geothermal still is in play and I think a lot of districts now are looking at that understanding kind of some of the new mandates that take effect next year, especially for

090new construction. Uh we're actually doing a couple projects that were given, you know, $5 million grants per building from uh NAERTA. Um and you know, with uh the district's building aid component, uh they were able to we're going to be installing new geothermal systems in two different buildings. Um and so it's it's really been significant cost impact for the district. Um, you know, I know tonight we're not talking about Walden, but as we do the pre-referendum uh review for Walden, leading hopefully at some point to a vote of the community, Walden will need to be all electric. And so that will be a consideration. And so we will be talking about what is the best um system in play for that building because we're going to have to build that into those budgets. So I

091just wanted to kind of thinking thinking I'm thinking I'm just thinking ahead you know so people realize that that if it's new construction it will be it'll be a requirement to be an all electric building. >> So the dollars were >> the dollars were just a guesstimate of the solar doesn't mean the building is a good candidate for it doesn't mean there's not other stuff that needs to be done to accommodate it. Right. Okay. Just really rough order of magnitude. >> Yep. Okay. Okay. All right. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Bonado. >> Okay. So, we're going to uh go to Bonado, but we're getting technology going. So, I'm going to keep going here and I'm going to go down to number four on

092new business because two and three has to do with Bonado. So, I'm going to ask for the approval of an agreement um with the Department of Environmental Conservation. Can I get a motion to approve >> Jane? Second, >> Fran. All in favor? >> Opposed? 70. Thank you. We're just all over the place. All right. Um, I think we need to wait. These other ones might Huh. >> I know. That's why I'm crossing out. But >> NISSBA. That might take a little bit. >> Well, and then job description. >> Well, we're >> So, we're going to do We can do that. >> We can do that. Okay. So >> okay. So so we had a request for um the org chart which is under policy uh 3230-e and then also for job description. So we're going

093to open that up for discussion and vote of the majority. So Jane, I'm going to let you talk. You had requested job description. So if you could just give us an indication of what you're looking for, why you want it and so on. >> Yes. So when I had my onboarding the first time I became became on the board, we got a packet um which had a bunch of information um about the district in it. And one of the pieces was um an organizational chart of you know district and then also um I mean it wasn't I'm not going to say a job description but it was like a list of what each um um director or um um administrator did. So if we had questions about X, Y or Z, we knew who to

094direct those questions to. >> So >> or about or about. Yeah. So >> So I'm just looking to update my >> I mean I think that's totally different than job descriptions. I mean jobs description is >> right. That's why I never Okay. >> I'm sorry if I ever called it a job description. That's not what I was. >> So okay and that's fine. We can we can talk through it. I guess my first my initial reaction is everything we do would go through a vet. So I don't know if we need that level of detail, but that's not for me to decide alone. So So and and what would you do with that and why do you want it? >> I want to update the file that I have at home. That was my original

095board. Um >> okay. >> Uh what do you call it? Um onboarding on boarding information. >> Okay. So may exist. >> Well, I'm thinking it probably does, right? I mean, >> so and and whether it exists or not doesn't doesn't really matter. So, okay. So, then I guess I guess the question is and we can go around whether or not anybody else wants that. >> Was it in your packet? >> Okay. So, Bob, is that something that you would like? >> Uh, yeah, I think so. Fran, >> I would definitely like a summary of each, you know, sort of title like an org chalk, but then with something that explains what that responsibility is like like basically highle major responsibilities, not drill down job description. >> I mean, I can give you a copy of

096what I have. >> Yeah. >> And >> okay, >> just looking for an update to that if any. I mean, might not even have any updates besides >> Angela, is that something you want? I think just for consistency if we've done it before and now we don't have it. >> Okay. I don't want it. I think we're overstepping our boundaries big time. Katie, >> I'm good with the orc chart as is. That >> D. Okay. So, we do have four that want it. So, I think we have to discuss exactly what it is that you want and agree upon that so that they know what to deliver. >> I'll give you the copy of what I have. >> But we have we have to make sure all four people want the same thing. Yeah, just

097said I think having I think seeing what you have and just updating whatever was there previously I think is what I I think that's if I'm understanding you right that's what you want right >> I think that's fine >> okay so then I guess you'll bring a copy of what you have to the next meeting >> I'll scan it and I'll email >> and then at the next meeting we'll have to decide what we have to give them clear direction. So, we have to look at it and decide what it is cuz I don't I don't know what you're referring to. I mean, so you're looking to say the principal has these 20 associates and this is what they do. >> I don't think it was that detailed. No. >> Okay. Well, that's my point

098that So, we're going to have to go through the exercise. So, if you could if you could share that with the board and at the next meeting, we'll review that and see what it is, what level of detail we want. We'll give it to central office. still look at it and and give us some timelines of what it would take to to pull that together. Okay, very good. All right, cross that one off. >> All right, we're ready for Bado. Moving back up now to old business F1. Come on. are the school district's external auditors and have completed our audit of the school district's financial statements for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um, previously this evening, I met with the audit committee and reviewed the uh, audit reports in detail with them. For the

099purpose of tonight's meeting, I'd like to just give a brief overview of the overall results of our audit. Um the the scope of our services, we audit the school district's financial statements, we audit the school district's extra classroom activity funds, and we also perform a uniform guidance audit of your federal program expenditures. The results of the audit are that we will be issuing an unmodified opinion on the school district's financial statements. That is the highest level of assurance we can give on their financial statements. We will also be issuing an unmodified opinion on extra classroom activity um financial statements. With regard to our responsibilities under governmental auditing standards, we did not identify any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the school district's internal controls and there were no instances of non-compliance that were reported. Um

100we'd also like to um give a big thank you to um Brad and Jackie and the rest of the B business office for all their help in getting audit um completed. Uh audit is a collaborative effort and we can't um audit what is not provided. So thank you. Um and then very briefly just a few of the financial highlights um for the year. The general fund, which is your primary operating fund, ended the year with a fund balance, a total fund balance of approximately 30.8 million, of which the unassigned fund balance was approximately 5.3 million, which is within the New York states um 4% of uh your subsequent year budget limitation. Your capital projects fund ended the year with a fund balance of $7.6 million. and your um uh debt service fund had 617,000 and

101the school lunch fund had 754,000. With regard to the results versus the budget, um the general fund is the only fund for which there was a formally adopted budget. Your general fund for the year you had budgeted to use um $7,730,000 of your fund balance. Your fund balance actually grew by 3,822 net of incumbrances of a,ion557. Your um net favorable variance versus the budget was 9,996,000. Um that is the extent of my comments on the audit unless there's any questions from the board. >> Questions from anybody? >> No. Go. >> Seeing none, Alan. Thank you very much for having some patience with us tonight. >> Thank you. >> You too. Bye. Bye. >> Thank you. Bye. >> Wow, that was quicker than I thought. >> Yeah, >> that was great. Great, Alan. Thank you. All

102right, so we are going back down to new business and we're going to do number two. Can I get a motion for the acceptance of the external audit report for fiscal year ending in June 30th, 2025? >> Jane Katy second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Opposed? 70. Thank you. Can I get a motion for the acceptance of correction action plan external audit report for fiscal year ended in June 30th, 2025? >> Fran second. >> Diana. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Opposed? 70. Thank you. Okay. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Uh, now we're going to move on to the NISSBA 2025 proposed resolution discussion. I'm going to turn it over to Angela. And I think we had said we were not going to review every single one. I think there's 30. >> Yes. But

103we would talk about uh any that anybody had concern with. So Andrew, I'm going to give it to you. >> Yes. So I'm gearing up for this five to six hour marathon of voting. It's my fifth year doing it, so I'm a pro at this point. Uh just some observations from the propositions. I felt like a lot of the propositions were more relevant than the fall than the past years. I don't know if you had a chance to go through them. uh some that I thought I don't know if this is a sign of the times but there were quite a few on mergers of districts I don't know if anyone picked up on that and or creating regional schools or sharing of resources those were props 29 and 24 so if you can just

104take a look at those and um they are coming from schools upstate in western New York um so it's not directly in in in our area but I thought that was interesting and I'm sure it's a sign of the times with enrollment going um statewide. >> Um some great props that I um that I read that I think we would all agree with was number four incorporating prek in the state aid formula. >> Uh funding number 10, funding for extreme heat days due to the unfunded mandates. Um 11 I thought was interesting was how to properly how to responsibly incorporate AI into the curriculum. That was different. Um, and this one I thought was interesting too was allowing a set time of daily recess up to 30 minutes to count towards instructional time. So Diane,

105I don't know if you have any comments on that. >> Um, well I have to look at the rationale agree with all of it and you know and especially on the elementary level recess is a very important part of the day. It recharges the kids. It gets them ready for learning. Um, you know, studies have shown, research has shown that kids who don't have recess have more difficulty paying attention, you know, in the afternoon. So, it's very important. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And Yeah. Just the last one was number two. Um, financial literacy is going to become a mandate uh to graduate in a few years. So, this uh Proposition 22 um and we're lucky we have a business department. Not all schools have not all districts have business department. Um but this uh proposition

106states for additional funding to support the implementation. So being that's going to be a mandate. Um I just wanted to bring that up. >> So if there's are if there are any that you feel strongly about or >> so I well I go ahead. Oh, I was going to ask. So, in terms of 14, the recommendation was neutral, but right, >> you're recommending affirming. >> Um, yeah, I mean that I believe the DEI committee um made that recommendation >> Neutral. Um, >> so that's was my question like we do we have to take a vote to say yes or you >> so I I think the way we've done this in the past is that if you had any that you didn't want to support, we would talk through it as a board and then

107pretty much because a lot of them are pretty easy, right? They're kind of no-brainers, right? But if there was any that you didn't want to support, >> just let me know. Yeah. So I have like for example number 30 >> I don't want to support um 30 was a tax exemption for board members. >> And if >> right >> you know >> and yeah that's been brought >> I I just feel like you you're here to support your community. Any other reason is a wrong reason. >> So to me I don't support tax exemptions for board members. >> But that was one that was neutral. They're neutral. >> The DEI community is neutral. >> I don't think it that's just an recommendation. It's not like >> doesn't have any bearing on how >> Right. That's

108Yeah. So I I would vote not to support 30 the tax exemption. >> Yeah. >> Every year they um there's been variation of that proposition. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Okay. Um the other one that and that one I feel strongly about. Um there was another one that I don't really support. I don't know how strong I feel, but it was number eight about the lockdowns, >> uh, the number of drills >> and and like I understand it's a large number of drills, >> but I'd rather my students know what to do >> when something happens because they had too many drills. >> That That's just my thought. And at least recently you've heard news stories of kids things happening in kids saying, "Well, I knew right what to do." >> Yeah. >> Is because

109of a lot of >> those and I get it, right? It's time consuming stuff, but again, I want them to know what >> you're talking more about the trauma. I'm not seeing it. >> That's the approach that was taken. >> But I mean, I did I did highlight this one as one to talk about. >> Yeah. >> I was really wondering what the administration I don't know if they looked at them. They probably >> I don't think they looked at them. >> I didn't see them, but >> requirement is four drills a year. >> It says advocate for the number of lockdown drills to be excuse me reduced from four to two. >> I would say rather them be ready and practice so that it becomes muscle memory for them. Yeah. >> So I would

110vote not to support that one. This came came from Bame. I always see where the source is. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um just as FYI after doing this for long enough. Yeah. >> And then the other one I saw was 26 regarding vaccines. >> Oh, about the exemptions. >> Let me go back here. Yeah, it's number 26. >> 26. Yeah. Let me reread it to see what I didn't like. There's so many. >> No. Yeah, I would say no to that one. >> Yeah, I thought no. >> Yeah, Katie. >> Looks like Long It's mostly Long Island schools and Sullivan West. >> Yeah. So, I don't know. Those those were the ones that I had concern with. >> The others I I was fine with. >> I would agree with the um most of what

111we've said. Um I would be against any of the regional grouping of school districts. Um I think that just limits the parents control over district and kind of dilutes that. So I would be against that. Um, I do want to bring up one that was um recommended not to be adopted, number two. And that one basically says um they don't want any of the resolutions to be filtered by an outside party or reviewed by an outside party. >> So, so that one is actually done already. So, when it has >> not an option to >> Yeah. What happens is we should have told you this. Uh so suns setting what happens is they if something's been up for like a few years and it never gets passed they they just sunset it that they're not

112>> so that's okay. >> Yeah it's not it's not for consideration >> any of the ones with the strings. >> Yeah, but thank you. >> All right. So I don't know. Was there any others? You're good. >> I'm good. >> Okay. All right. Give me one more second. >> Go ahead. Go ahead. Um, oh, uh, resolution number 23, >> 23 >> about having full health clinics in schools. I am I am not for that. I think school should be a school and not a doctor's office. I believe that was a Wasn't that >> at one of our conferences for students? >> Yeah. >> Brought up at one of our conferences. >> So >> that was like >> Yeah. >> I I don't know. Talking about school being able to prescribe prescriptions and medication. >> I

113don't think that's anything. From what I remember from the conference that we did about this, it was in one of our schoolboard conferences. Do you guys remember what I'm talking about? >> Well, I know they're putting more mental health >> and it was provid for like schools upstate >> that they just their doctor's offices were just so far. >> It was rural >> that was and these are all really far upstate >> or western Connecticut western. >> So if we're talking about we're for our district, right? I mean this is why we're >> well even if this passes it doesn't mean this doesn't mean we have to do it. This just allows them the option of doing it allows >> the option and this is really also just for the schoolboard association to present to

114legislators. It doesn't automatically >> right >> happen. I would be opposed to that. I guess that would be my suggestion. >> I'm I'm fine with it because I don't I don't think it impacts >> Okay. >> Yeah. because it helps those other districts. >> All right. >> Any any others? >> No. >> Good. >> Okay. >> All right. So, Greg, thank you. Uh we are going to go back into executive session for the third and final time. We will not take action when we come out. So we will go into executive session and from there we will uh close executive session and close out the meeting. So I will take a motion to go into executive session at 8:47 to discuss personnel. >> Katie second >> Fran all in favor. opposed 70. Greg, thank you.

115And we again we will take no action when we come out.