001All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order. 603. Could we stand? Say the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Thank you. Bridget, would you please do roll call? Evan Doran here. Charlene Hooper here. Sarah Coleman here. Heather Reynolds here. Sue Russell here. Thank you. Please sign on. So, we're going to start with our public budget hearing of proposed 2526 spending plan. smile. Okay, give me just a second. Okay. Uh, so thank you all for being here this evening. Um so I along with uh Hayden will talk about our budget um moving forward a proposed budget. So uh first of all we do have some updates
002for you as far as the New York State budget is concerned. At our last meeting in April we still had not had uh had a budget approved by the state. Um the education portion of the budget has been approved since our last meeting. So just want to talk through a couple of those updates for you. So, uh, if you recall the initial proposal from the governor way back in January, there was a 2% minimum foundation aid increase for all districts. Uh, Bokeet Valley is one of those districts that receives that minimum number. And after uh after all uh the negotiations, that's where they landed was the 2% foundation aid. That is the number we use to to do our uh budget preparations and forecasting. So that's that's the number that you have seen. Um the
003universal free school breakfast and lunch programs uh did also pass. Now again as a district we uh were already getting um free breakfast and lunch through a different federal program. Um but uh if you do hear about this um this is a state level program. This would really only impact us if for some reason that that federal money went away. um the uh increase to the Bosey's Adidable salary cap. So this is this is actually a pretty big deal for us. We've been um advocating for this for for a long time now. Um essentially what happens is if we have if there's a Boseis employee that that has an adable salary um and let's just say for example that they uh have a salary of $50,000. we would only the way that the law currently
004is uh we would only get aid back on the first $30,000 of those $50,000. What uh is proposed in this budget, what has been agreed upon in this budget is that um they're going to phase up to $60,000. So uh this current school year um is still $30,000 in next school year would be 40,000. The year after that 50,000 and then finally 60,000 in 28 29. So that th those are numbers that um that that we are definitely excited about. Now in terms of uh the zero emission buses um they're the the dates that we had previously prior to to this budget 2027 no longer allowed to purchase uh any um gas or diesel powered buses any new purchases had to be electric and then by 2035 the entire fleet had to be turned over.
005there is a 24month extension uh to the new purchase date to that 2027 date. So my understanding is there will be an application process of of some sort um which we would certainly uh certainly apply for uh any extension. Um this expands the justification to also include any other factors outside the control of the district. So for example, say buses just simply weren't available. Um that that would be something outside the control of the district. And there's also an independent battery range estimate process um that that is now a requirement. Um again prior to this uh the bus companies were were uh responsible for um reporting on that range. So having an independent third party uh do that will probably give us a better um estimate of that. Uh and then lastly, I know we've
006talked about this quite a bit, a bell to bell cell phone ban. So, we are still waiting on specific language from the governor exactly what this will look like, but what we know is that it's bell to bell. That's start of the day to the end of the day, K through 12, uh no cell phones uh to be used by students. Um my understanding is that uh again, we haven't seen we haven't seen the total language on this yet. So, it's um you know, based on what we have seen, um we'll need a plan in place by August. So, we're hoping that we do have language pretty soon here that that we're able to uh act upon um and and get that that process in place. We were moving this direction anyway, but if you
007remember, once the governor started talking about this, we held off a little bit because we didn't want to have contradictory uh language to what the governor was proposing. So, we are we are ready to move forward with this. We just wanted to make sure that we were doing that in line with what the uh what the final budget was saying. So those are the updates from um from New York State. So our budget philosophy at Bokeet Valley. So uh we're looking to provide high quality education and improve educational performance. Looking to maintain and expand educational programs and opportunities while minimizing tax impact. looking to stay within the tax cap and looking to plan for the 202526 school year and beyond. As a reminder, so the tax cap legislation um and how that impacts our budget
008for uh for next school year. So in 2012 2013, that's when the tax cap legislation started. Uh and just as a reminder to everyone, the tax cap uh that that 2% is just one of the numbers that goes into the formula. So you will see and as you'll certainly see in the chart I'll have later about all the different tax caps that we've had. Uh we've never been at exactly 2%. Uh it's just one of the numbers that goes into the equation. The tax cap threshold um for this year is 3.06%. So, and I I have this blown up on the next sheet here, uh, so you can see this a little better. Um, but this is, uh, what the local share actually looks like. So, um, if you take a look here going down
009the left hand side, those are the different towns that are in the district. Um, and as we make our way across, the the uh, red boxes um, tend to be the areas that uh, that we focus on the most here. But if you first look at the first red box, the equalization rate. So this has to do with when your town was most recently assessed, those that uh have been most recently assessed, those have a 100% equal equalization rate. And you will see that if you follow all the way over to the second red box, um those then the result of that being at 100 is that those will have the lowest tax rate per thousand. So if you follow Essex, Lewis or Westport all the way over, those are 11.01 um for a tax
010rate per thousand. And then if you look at uh the other towns, for example, if you look at uh Elizabeth Town, for example, the second one down, that has an equalization rate of just under 79%. So that has a um a multiplier uh to the tax rate and that gives a tax rate per thousand of 13.95. Um so I can leave that up for a minute so you can take a look at at uh at your town and see what what that does for the rate. And again um assessments absolutely are going to affect the this rate uh and when your town was assessed most recently. that is what affects your town compared to another town uh that may not have been assessed on the same time frame as yours. Okay. So, how do we
011compare to uh other districts? So, the overall budget increase uh for next year, we are looking at 5.21 uh% budget increase overall. And as a reminder, those of you that have been um to some of the previous meetings, uh we have we're looking to purchase two buses out of the reserve that counts towards the total budget increase. And that's a significant factor in increasing that number. Um and the tax levy increase is at 3.06. So, if you compare to some of the other other districts, uh we do have a couple districts in our region that are um you know, in the sixes, uh some that have chosen to go over the cap, some that are going over the cap for the second or third time in the last few years. Uh and then the tax
012levy percent increase over here again, um we're just over 3%. You'll see some in the high threes, some in the high fours, uh Screen Lake down here in the eights, and then some that that are significantly lower. Tyon Roga about a one. Mariah is just about flat. Um and Shayz is in the negative. Uh and if you are a want to see that in a graph looks like this values here. Um again blue is the percent increase and the red is the tax le. So you can see that we fall in the middle there. So, uh, some of the budget highlights, 2% increase in foundation aid. Um, again, still working under the tax cap limitations. Uh, we're using zero dollars from our unrestricted fund balance. And I say that because this is pretty unusual for
013school districts to be using zero dollars from their unrestricted fund balance. This has to do with the financial um, situation that we're in. We're still in a pretty good spot. A lot of it does absolutely have to do with the merger money. Um it has to do with the operating more efficiently uh um because of that and um we are able to uh we since we merged we've not used any money from from our unrestricted fund balance. So uh pretty happy about that to still be in that uh position. And again as you saw on the previous slide 5.21% increase in the overall spend. And I believe with that I'm going to turn it over to Hayden to talk about the threepart budget here. Um so first I'll start off just by showing I immediately
014a lot of eyes are going to go to that 32% increase which looks a little different than last month. The reason for that is nothing has changed in the actual expenses. The state has told me that they would like to see our bus purchases included in the capital line rather than the programming. Historically student transportation has always gone through programming because it's a direct impact on students. but they would like to see it in the capital just to show that we are taking ownership of a capital asset. So we just moved that over which is why it's looking like such a large increase. If I took that away the increase is much smaller just at um around 3 or 4%. Um so that is the reason for that but very very small increases um for
015program and administrative. A lot of this is due to just different salary obligations, contractual obligations that we have. Um, one of the big pieces that is going up in the administrative line is we are seeing massive increases to um, the district's insurance. Not just us, that is statewide right now. Um, we have a couple districts, we've definitely both that are seeing 40% increases just on their insurance costs for next year. Um, that is being driven. We have two major insurance carriers within the state. They're largely competing with each other. And what we're going to start to see is that competition is just going to rise to those costs. Um, as well as just high claims within the state. We have had a lot of natural disasters. We are seeing high claims within the district. We've
016seen even just within this district, we had quite a few insurance claims over the past year. Um we had a state of emergency back in July. So those all factor into that. Um but overall gives us to that 5.21% increase we had mentioned in previous meetings. If we took away those bus purchases and those uh equipment purchases that are being used that are being purchased out of the reserve, that increase is below 2%. which is very in line with all of our other districts. It just looks like a much larger increase um because we're going to use those reserves to purchase that money. Um should it be passed by the voters, we would use the money from those reserves. Moving on over to um this is just a quick overview line by line. We're going
017to go through this. We'll blow it up each section just so we can see exactly what's going on. Um but starting with the administrative functions, we're seeing a little um kind of up and down. Again, a lot of that is due to just moving um different items around. We look at like Bosey's costs for cafeteria management historically has always been in programming. Now it's being included in administrative costs um because it is an administrative function of the district even though it is affecting the students directly. Um our major items uh a very large increase in tax collection that is not due to anything that has happened. Um is really just due to um more parcels within the district or um the charging more per parcel. That is a a contractual cost that we have. Um
018legal fees going up a little bit too. Just looking at historical spending on legal fees uh where we're tracking this year had to increase that um a little bit. But to make up for that, we did decrease a couple uh different ones, mainly public information services. Last year was about 44,000. Looking at what we're spending this year, it it felt appropriate to decrease that line um a significant amount. Um and then the other larger increase that we're seeing is really due um in the business administration. I just spoke about the cafeteria management that is a business function. So we do um house that cost there and it was moved from a line. So that is really where that increase is being driven. Um contractual obligations within that business administration line are just right in line
019with what we've expect over here. Moving on to I believe craft bill. Yes. Um so we are seeing a massive 21,000% increase in that transportation line. That is just simply due to the uh those buses, the tractor and the van that are um up for vote this year. Um overall though very very similar increases. Um the statuto statutory bond school construction that is going up about 17,000 per 17 to 18%. Every single year we will see that climb until the debt has been paid off. We pay more of a pre or more of our premium every year and less of our interest. So that's why we see that go up. We pay less interest every year but we pay a little bit more on the premium. Um those are debt schedules that are given to
020us uh directly by um our fiscal adviserss RGIs. And then the other larger increase with maintenance of plant that is just simply due to some changes um whether someone is a custodian versus a cleaner or uh boiler maintenance all of those different things. The other piece in there is just some structural upgrades that we're looking at potential for next year. Replacing flooring, cleaning, like all of those things for maintenance. Um, so, uh, a little bit larger of an increase and just preparing for anything that uh, could potentially happen. And then finally, programming. Um, we've really gone through most of this uh, in the past couple meetings, but the uh, we're seeing occupational education go down. That line of CVT, incarcerated youth, any sort of um, hands-on education both charges a 5-year average on that. So,
021if our average dips down, the cost of it goes down. We are not paying per student. We're paying per student based on a 5-year average. So, it's normal to see that fluctuate quite a bit. Um, special schools also decreasing a little bit. We do know we have the ESD grant. Um, and we have gone going for year five. We year five or year four. Year five. Um, so a lot of that summer programming can be included in this grant. So, that is decreasing. Um, health services. This was just due to historically the psychological services that we paid for um were contracted out and that was paid through health services. Now that the district employs school psychologists directly, it moves to school psychology line. Um which is why we're seeing a large increase in the school
022psychology line because historically we did not pay um directly for those services. And then the rest are really just some nominal increases decreasing the school food service budget. The reason for that we are continuing to be a C school as of right now for next year. Um so less money is needed in the out of the general fund to cover that C is doing very very well and this district and every district across our Boseies is loving that program. It really makes the cafeteria a self-sustaining program and we're not having to cut the general fund. Um and then transfer to special aid um is also decreasing. that is um a different fund that we might use to pay for Boseie students that go to a special education program throughout the summer. Um but based on
023historical trends and how the way the way that Boseies charge us that is also decreasing um a little bit. There is also an additional aid incentive now. So we get an additional aid percentage on the student for transportation of those students throughout the summer. Um so it was appropriate to decrease that line knowing that we are going to be um being able to offset those funds. It is also when I talk about special ed services in the summer, it is build back. So the students that are going this summer are not the students that we are paying for this summer. We are actually paying for the students that went last summer. It's always build um in our years the term I'm looking for there. Um so since we had less students last year than previous
024years, it goes down. We may see it increase next year because we had more students go this year. Um, I can also say we have couple special cases when it comes to special education in the summer um with uh placements of students whether they're housed through um the state or the foster care or they're in a group home. It all gets charged differently. Um so that is one of the reasons why we're seeing such a large decrease there. I had uh reserves same reserves. Um board is aware of all of these. We have not used any of those reserves this year. Right. The interest is still performing very very well. You can see on our capital reserve um we have almost $200,000 in interest so far this year. So those reserves are staying where they
025should be. Um collecting interest throughout the year. Um I can tell you when I do my bank wreck every month I love to see those numbers because they get larger and larger. Um and the interest rates are staying very level right now. We do expect in the future those will dip. We all know as soon as CO hit, we saw interest rates go through the roof and slowly we're going to see those go down, but right now um no reason to really move um those funds. You will see us decrease the fund balance assigned incumbrances. This is an incredibly complicated formula that we do with the auditors every year. At the end of the year, I let our auditors know, hey, I don't have my electric bill yet, so I think we need to carry
026over some funds from this year. I haven't gotten my June bill. Um last year, I carried over a little bit more just because was new to the district. didn't know quite what I was going to be getting come July. This year I know exactly where I'm at. So estimating much smaller carryover for next year. I think we will just have to car um cover a couple um utility bills there. And then the unassigned fund balance um going up as we would expect at the end of the year. Um and then potential, you know, that becomes a discussion with the board about potentially allocating to other reserves uh in future board meetings. Next one. Um, yeah. So, um, thank you, Amy. Uh, so this is our budget and tax history. If you take a look, so
027the bottom is 201920. That was year one, uh, of the merger and then see all the way up to the top line where we are budgeting uh, for the 2526 school year. So, our, as I mentioned, um, you know, that tax levy increase, if you go all the way to to the right, um, that's been everywhere from, uh, 0.98% up to 4.15% and, uh, few different spots in between. Uh, so again, that's we were at the cap each of those uh, each of those years. Uh, but just showing that that that number does vary quite a bit based on the other numbers in the formula. Um and then you look at the budget uh increases. Um again uh you know those numbers are also pretty widespread. Uh in um the 202122 school year uh our
028budget um in we actually had our budget went down. Um some smaller increases there. And again you see the 5.21 uh this year. Again a a huge huge portion of that is the buses and the maintenance equipment. Uh and just compare if you compare that to the 2425 with the 0.1 um um percent budget increase. We did not purchase any buses this year. Just uh for a point of comparison um and um yeah so moving on to the so so what what are the propositions actually look like? So proposition one will be to adopt the annual budget of the Bokea Valley Central School District for the fiscal year 2526 and to authorize the requisite portion thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the district. So proposition one is the budget uh
029and sorry that that would be a yes no um for for that uh proposition two you would elect four uh members to the board of education. Three members will have threeyear terms to succeed uh Thomas Broadick, Heather Reynolds, and Sue Russell, and one will have a one-year term to fill uh the seat that Evan George is currently in. And uh ju just to clarify, so it would be that would be the the fourth highest vote getter would take that seat in theory immediately following the reading of the vote. Okay. So, everybody else, the top three wait till July 1st. The fourth would fail immediately following uh the the reading of the [Music] votes. The six people who are running for the four seats, uh Terry Eglefield, uh Megan Ostroski, Thomas Brick, Jason Welch, Paige Carter
030Salult, and Paul Fenton. Okay. And proposition three, uh, to purchase two 65 passenger buses at a maximum of $357,000 using the transportation reserve fund. So again, with this, just as Proposition 4, that money is already in uh those reserve funds. and proposition four to purchase a van a plow truck and a tractor at a maximum of $151,000 using the transportation reserve fund. So those are the four propositions. Uh the budget vote is May 20th uh 12 to 8:00 p.m. and that is at the Lake View campus. So with that uh does anyone have any questions or comments? Yes. Josh, could you go back to the slide where you talked about the information and the trans the reduction in funds on that? Say it again. Could you scroll back to the slide where you discussed the
031public information? You reduced it from 44,000 to 21,000. Uh admin. Yep. You have public information services. Yeah. What does that entail, please? So that is um that that that is all I believe the coser right the the coser um there's also funds allocated if there were to get if we were to get a sizable oil request that required a lot of uh printing or anything like that it would go there but it is mainly the coser is the is the website there too or is that the website would be there website maintenance that would have nothing to do with uhformational mailers to the public or anything along those lines uh informationational mailers so it depends on what it's for. So if we're mailing out like the budget notice that goes to board of education because
032it was the boards. Um but but just used to be a weekly bulletin or monthly bulletin that came out for a period of time and it's been rapidly discussed about the fact that people you know that are not internet savvy have no way of knowing what's going on. I was just wondering what where that fell and would the production even worse in that situation for the public. If it if it the district were to do it, it would go to that. Other questions? Right, we're going to move on to number six. We're going to have a presentation by the executive director of We Are Instrumental, uh, Evan M. Uh, just give me 10 seconds. You want me to click for you or do you want just a Thank you. Hello everyone. Uh my name is
033Dr. Evan Mack. I am a pianist, composer, professor at Skidmore College, most importantly the founder and executive director of We Instrumental. Um I appreciate all of your time here. I want to talk about the exciting things that are not just happening um you know that can affect Hoka Valley but in the entire region. And so um we are an organization. All right. Uh I think you [Laughter] should all right so uh briefly actually we um uh we began in 2020. Uh so our home base is typic New York but we now serve 30 schools in the Anarondic region. Uh it started because of um the demographics that we deal with the anorandic region and because of um geographical and financial barriers to uh students and families, the access to a musical education. Most students are
034playing on instruments that are brutes battered and then tuck the duct tape. The organization actually started when my 10-year-old came home from Tyonova. We moved the area in 2019. My wife is a rural family physician as regards to the area and the I say that because the idea of community medicine isn't just the prescription pad. It's understanding that what connects our community. And so when my 10-year-old came home, I thought I'd telling lies and then you realized because of the infrastructure that we're dealing with with you know the nearest repair shop being you know uh two hours away uh or uh the ability to you know households to not uh rent or own instruments. this is the result when budget fluctuate and all that you have to do with with infrastructure and so we sprang
035into action and so we um dealt with this is our main purpose is to create a more robust musical education in the region so uh essentially we have this process where we address lack of access of instruments we have a process that fix uh collect fix and distribute musicals we have now sustaining musical programs engage with Americans throughout the year we break um uh barriers to musical education in multiple different ways. So to start uh we actually in 2020 had an instrument drive in Saratoga Springs, collected 70 instruments. We valued around anywhere from three to uh excuse me um $40 to $50,000. Since 2020, we've collected almost 600 instruments that have been fully refurbished and donated to over 30 schools uh in the Aderondex free. We just get them fixed into the hands of kids
036because if you want a kid to succeed in school, you give them an instrument. You want higher test scores, give them an instrument. You want better attendance, GPA, SATs, get them in music. That's the key. It's there's studies that show two main things. Regardless of socioeconomic uh conditions, it's access to enrichment that is a determinant of success in education. The other is if they're in lessons or in music and you want them to have the ability uh of the brain function to process a signal within the noise, music is your best ally in that that education. So uh what we do then is with this we we have now for years have processed an inventory collected them and distributed them to schools. Uh we have the benefit in the aderonic region of tripling in population.
037And so we promoted our need to incorporate that while you're bringing up your yacht to the uh level lovely uh lake regions, bring your instruments. And so we actually have grassroot campaigns. We have a high social media presence. Uh that's one of our examples of a a postcard that went to over 750 lake owners uh off of uh Lake George, Tupper Lake, and Lake Champlain. We fix and distribute the instruments. Uh we use the library partner with the library system. So if there's an instrument that uh is in trouble in bokeh, it gets dropped off by one of our lovely music teachers to the nearest library. It gets sent down at Tyonoga, we get it fixed up with our uh people and also if we get instruments and say, "Oh, you need a tuba? Great."
038We drop it off in Tyonoga and it gets to the nearest library and picked up. So uh and no burden to the to the school district. This is ultimately what we are focusing on is breaking down the barriers. So what makes it a sustainable program is instrument repair training. So since 2020, we have actually uh for continuing education credit have trained over 65 teachers uh in basic instrument repair. So if you get a education degree and are plumped in the suburb, no problem. Mom and dad pay for the instrument you rented. If it breaks, mom and dad pay for it, get it fixed. That does not happen here. So you can imagine that schools were facing a six-w weekek sendout. So imagine you're starting a clarinet. Little Sally starts a clarinet in fifth grade. Uh
039the clarinet breaks. It's now six weeks for that to come back. They've just lost whatever progress they've done. Right? So we now uh teachers are reporting in multiple feedback surveys. What used to take six weeks now takes a day for them to fix. There's usually a leaky pad, a little event key, and they have the ability to diagnose uh and uh you know fix. One thing that's very exciting that we're launching this year and I'm hoping that the board will will help us uh or you know uh invite us to your school free of charge is we have a harmony restored program. And so what we're doing is in addition to this we are um we now have the inventory of 30 different school districts and we've used AI to analyze the make, model and
040serial number of every single instrument in the we're going to publish our results in July but we understand the life expectancy of every single instrument and how many of them are living past their death date. And so uh but that's okay because that information can show like oh yeah it's 20 years past it life but it's really like a 1955 board. So that thinks it'll live forever if you do the right maintenance. And so what our harmony restore program is we're going to bring in our master technicians to work with music teacher as well as the students to discovery instrument repair as the dimensionality of their music education. So a little hands-on stuff helps them maintain the instruments. It takes those uh instruments that are maybe uh a little bit more wear and tear. students
041learn to give it a little bit of love and care and they can live for another 20 years. Anything that would take a minor repair or something that would have to bring down that we expect then the teacher to come to our Boseies partnered uh instrument repair training for professional development continuing education credit saves your district thousands and thousands of dollars to make the uh instrument um you know inventory more sustainable throughout the entire region. So hopefully I will be either annoying the music teacher or the administration to say, "Hey, we want to come and work with your students for an hour or two during the school day um to to learn this wonderful passage." And we're building dating myself a little bit, but we're building a digital infrastructure as well. It's a little Mr.
042Wizard style if anyone grew up watching that. And so we actually have videos that students and teachers can see on this maintenance. So through access to our website, any of our partner schools, Bokehead has been a wonderful partner school. And so they have the ability to see these videos as part of their education uh and to help uh maintain these instruments. So we have it in flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. So we are continuing with that work. Um great. Now once you give uh a well-working instrument to students then the potential is limited. So we have a digital lesson program. It started with six students in 2022. We now have 36 students taking lessons in composition, saxophone, flute, clarinet, uh, trumpets, strings, uh, and percussion. And lessons are with college professors. They're virtual, so
043it breaks down the geographical barrier. And they are free to you and your district. So, uh, we will hope that you will continue. We we've done a few lessons on the regular six. Yeah. And so we with the idea of building that in the schedule all it is is a you know uh highspeed internet and the ability to zoom in and the plate spins wonderfully throughout the entire to get 30 lessons for free weekly and right last is with a lot of these professors we have our culmination with a yearly kickoff of our music summit. So this October will be our third uh music summit. It's being hosted in all sable. We really hope that um grades 6 through 12 will come to uh our music summit. We invite 25 worldclass professionals to come in
044and work with our students for the day. Now unlike NISMO which wonderful organization, NISMO will have kids come in and rehearse. There's an audition process. This is unfettered access. Right? So the kid comes with the instrument and they work in a group lesson. That's it. They learn how to breathe. They learn how to work on technique, how to perform, how to present your instrument. All of us in from world-class professionals from all over the United States. Uh so we have professors from Crane, Skidmore, Shannidoa Conservatory, University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Uh even uh last year we had someone from UCLA. So we really bring in uh wonderful people to work with our North Country kids. And this is just some pictures of our wonderful summit, the excitement that they'll have. And they just
045walk away with the ability to work. Also, if you'll notice here, they also have access to instrument repair on those days. And the teachers that come will get continuing education credit for not only instrument repair, but this year we're adding other curricular uh development um and pedigogy um you know classes as well so they can get credit while they're bring their students. Okay, these are wonderful partners that help us and please save the date. Bill Cole is smiling with his ice cream to invite you. This wonderful person sold over the earth that fixed all your instruments. So uh any uh questions for me? I would love to say if you can uh to please follow us on social media. Um two other projects besides our harmony throw I'd like to mention. So please connect what
046we're doing. We're actually um putting out to call we're going to be this year we're piloting we're actually going to send 10 school 10 students to the crane youth music summer camp part of our golden opportunity. And um this past March we had a March bandage challenge and of nine of our schools participated um and we did uh bracket style for practicing. So a minute for listening to music get a point. Uh two points for a minute of practicing your music. Uh three points for site reading and five points for scales. Between the nine schools in the aderonics, they practice over 200,000 minutes. That's the equivalent of 139 days straight or an average mission to the space station and back. So you can imagine the access we had fun videos from uh Super Bowl winners
047to Broadway stars giving them shout outs and they did a little competition and ultimately third place went to Tupper Lake. They got an ice cream party. Peru got ice cream and pizza and brush and Moira won uh with over 50,000 minutes of practicing and they won ice cream, pizza, and they get to see a show of Proctors. So uh we're gonna be offering that again in March. Um and then finally, I'll just, you know, uh leave you with this. Um, we had a student in Tyonderoga, Audrey, one of seven, mom's in jail. Uh, dad's nowhere. Uh, raised by grandma. Uh, she showed a lot of promise in her middle school years playing on this beat up French horn. We were fortunate enough to get a French horn that we restored, a very beautiful uh, con
0488 French horn, silver double valve, gorgeous. We gave it to Audrey, you know, to to tyanoga school. Audrey started practicing more. She entered a lesson program. She auditioned for NISMA at level six, was the first in Titanicoga ever to go to all state. Uh she which was an amazing feat. She made it repeatable the following year and made all state orchestra. We know we don't have an orchestra program. Uh she auditioned for the World Performance Series and got in to perform at Carnegie Hall at London. We sponsored Audrey to go raise all of the money funding funds for her to, you know, have that that golden opportunity, the same golden opportunity we're doing for the 10 kids to camp this summer. Audrey again, one of seven raised by grandma is getting a full ride to
049Dartmouth. So, I know it seems anecdotal, but that power of that one instrument can make a huge difference. So, I know we're in budget season, all that, but you know, understand there are people trying to help. We're here to work with you and I hope you'll consider uh continuing our partnership and again thank you so much for your time. Okay, I learned a projected that's an incredible program. You might have said this but how is it funded? So we Yeah, great. So we uh we are funded through uh multiple uh grants through uh foundational support. We have individual donations as well. Uh so we started originally as um just a concerned father and now we're at a quarter of a million dollar operating budget in terms of grants and and funding. Part of it is
050relying on the partnership. So being a Skidmore professor that helped us give us the seed money to kind of get leverage those things and so now uh we keep growing. The the nicest thing this year was the New York State Council of the Arts gave us a large grant to operate. So, not just the money, but also New York State Council of Arts sort of planting their flag in the North Country and saying, "Hey, we're doing some really cool things with rural rural schools." And so, that's what we're doing. That's awesome. Yeah. Instruments. Yeah. So, absolutely. And so, we have a few string schools in the area. And then, of course, even with string repair, we do that as well. Is there a particular instrument that's kind of in short supply that's harder to get
051than others? Yeah, it's a great question. So, we uh and that's part of what our analysis is. So anything uh the large uh you know so base clarinet bassoon uh Barry Saxes so we actually launched because we have the ability to see regionally we launched an allegro initiative uh last year we raised $45,000 through private donation and foundations and bought 28 large instruments that went to multiple you know multiple schools across the district. So you can imagine a Sable had been trying for they said something like 18 years to get a tuba. So that budget alone to keep the one tuba alive, you know, that was costing them hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year, they walked away with two brand new tubas well manufactured that are going to last 20 or 30 years. So
052that's what our AI research is also showing by looking as a region. We can say, "Oh my goodness, there's going to be a flute crisis in 2026. Let's let's get flues, you know, things like that. So um but yeah, usually the larger ones are the ones that don't necessarily come in our uh donation circle. So those are the first ones we had to procure. But honestly, we get a lot of flutes, clarinets, and saxons. You'd be amazed at some of these instruments that are collecting dust. You'd be amazed how long we've been here. And people five years ago, I never heard about you, but oh, I have this trumpet. And that trumpet is like, you know, a $2,000 trumpet that has just been, you know, and now it's in the hands, you know, of a
053kid playing uh on that. So, yeah. Uh, keep spreading the word. We're a very grassrootsoriented type of organization. So, uh, that all helps because someone might go, "Oh my goodness, I have a bassoon." And that would be just like the the mastadon bone you find. So yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. I'm I'm off to my next one, but thank you all. Appreciate it. Good luck. Okay, moving on. Looking for approval of minutes to the April 10th, 2025 regular board meeting um and special meeting as presented. Can I get a motion? I'll move. Thanks, Sarah. And a second. Second. Thank you, Tom. Um, any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Extensions. Motion passes. We're moving into a public comment. Um, we have two public comment sections tonight. One at the beginning and one at the end. We've
054set aside 15minute period giving anyone in the audience time to share their thoughts with us. Please raise your hand and be acknowledged. When you're called upon, please identify yourself. give your address limiting your comments to three minutes. Opinions, ideas, and concerns that are offered by the public will be considered and taken under advisement. Would anybody like to speak tonight? Yes, Mr. Rice. I'm Ray Rice, 921 Stevenson Road, Westport, New York, 12993. Uh it's uh been brought to my attention that our parent square which is the uh the uh computer assisted out to the out to the public had a huge uh ad in there just before Easter about a pride event that's in Sarinac Lake. Um it's after the school year's over and I've had a lot of people reach out to me. Uh obviously
055it concerns me that our elementary students are are you know obviously it's for the parents but the simple fact of the matter is I feel like um I have a kindergartener. I feel like our elementary students should be worried about cooties and birthday cakes and baseball instead of a pride event. Um, you know, I I feel like uh we ought to, you know, support our our youth and we ought to be doing all these things, but until they're in a high school situation and help class, uh maybe we ought to leave the the uh sex education and the and the uh the demonstrations to somebody else. I don't feel like it should be going out in our in our school system. Um it's, you know, I realize it's out there in the community, but but
056that section of of of life is less than 7%. Um, you know, I'm not here in anger. I've got an older brother that's gay. Uh, and I really don't care. I feel like if I came to the school system and said that I was going to offer a a straight sex parade and I'd like the same um offer of of of advertisement, I think somebody would have a problem with it. Um the same the very same parent square that went out that time had an Easter egg hunt at Ballard Park. Um I feel that's much more appropriate for our elementary use. It was put out as as you know part of the Lake View campus. Uh we've got sixth graders. I don't feel like any of that's appropriate. I felt like um you know I
057don't think anybody in this room would want me having a Bible discussion with their children. And I don't feel like we need to be offering up a pride parade uh for our for our elementary youth. I mean, I just feel like there's other avenues. If you want to pursue that, then then it should be pursued elsewhere rather than our school system. It's supported by our school system and parents. Yeah, it's it's you know, it's it's my job to educate my son and unfortunately I can't homeschool him. I have to have to rely on the community and we're all here to to do things to educate our youth. And I just don't feel, you know, I'm not trying to ostracize anybody or anything like that, but I just feel it's morally wrong. I feel it's wrong.
058No matter what the topic is, we shouldn't be having a topic with our our elementary students about sex. If the parent wants to discuss that with them, and that should be an open discussion, but I don't feel like anybody here or anybody in the school system should be promoting it. I don't know how to make it. I don't know how to say it nicer than that, but that's I just needed to come here and get it off my chest. I've spoken with a lot of lot of parents and a lot of parents are upset, but uh you know, I had to find a sitter for my son tonight so that I could come here. But it's important enough that I feel like I should speak out and I've done that. So, I just want the
059board to consider that that and and the people that are involved here uh to kind of look at what's going out to our youth and what's being used through our school system, which may or may not be appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Rice. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Going once. Going twice. All right, we're going to have a short executive session around 15 minutes specifically to discuss the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or persons and we will be back in hopefully less than 15 minutes. Oh, do I need a motion? Yes, I do. Can I get a motion? Thanks, Darene. Sarah, thank you. Uh, discussion. All in favor? Motion passes. Thank you brother. I'll tell you that. on this one. I think also understandable. All right,
060we're going to reenter regular session at 7:24. Can I have a motion? Thanks, Darlene. I'm going to need a second. Thank you. Um, discussion. All in favor? I post extension. Motion passes. Moving along to number 10, financials A1 through five. Can I get a motion? A motion. Thanks, De. and a second. Second. Thanks, Tom. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Abstensions? Motion passes. Number 11, A and B as presented. Can I get a motion? Move. Thanks, Sarah. And a second. Second. Thanks, Sue. Any discussion? All in favor? I oppose. Absent. Motion passes. Number 12, action items, consent agenda 12 A through D. Can I get a motion? A motion. Thank you, Deb. And a second. Second. Thank you, Darlene. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Extensions. Motion passes. Number 13, we have consent agenda 13
061a through T. We are pulling out K to vote separately on that. Um, so 13 A through T minus K. Can I get a motion? I move. Thank you, Tom. And a second. I second. Thank you, Sue. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed abstensions. Motion passes. And now we're voting on K. Um, can I get a motion? Thank you. And a second. A second. Thank you. All in favor? I oppose extensions. Motion passes. Okay, moving on to policy. We had the second reading to policy number 3311, notification of disclosure of employee disciplinary records. Um, so that will be up for a vote at next meeting. Is that correct? Yep. Okay. So, we have no votes for policy. just um be prepared to vote on that at our June meeting. So our monthly administrative report,
062Miss Dixon Cross could not be here. Um Miss Tyler, do you have anything? I just have a couple quick things to share. Yeah, I'm only sharing because Mix Cross couldn't be here, but I'll share that we completed state testing grades three through eight for math and DLA and science and um a lot of districts statewide had technology problems, but we luckily had no issues and all our students completed the test successfully. Can't believe you said that out loud. I'm sorry. Can't believe you said that out loud. Sorry. Sorry. Next year. You remind him. You said that out loud at a board meeting. Uh you just talked about the you just approved the $10,000 Adonda Foundation grant and I'm really excited. We're going to start uh implementing that now essentially. So, uh two areas of focus
063is putting books in businesses and then uh family literacy nights next school year. One a month open and free and giving away books. Is that local businesses? I'm sorry. Local businesses. Any business in the district. We're gonna put bookshelves up and and put folk at Valley all over it. Get folks in young hands. It's really exciting. And then last week we did a walk and roll event last Wednesday. Wednesday we did it. Uh we met at Ballard Park. We had just under half the school participate. We took up all of the street went up Cisco Street had a fire truck and police car. Um and the feedback I've received from community is let's do more of that. So, we're planning on doing that once a month next school year. Um, we're gonna talk about what
064that looks like in the winter, but we're gonna try to do more of of that walk and roll to school. And it didn't cut into the day. Like, it really didn't. I was thinking, oh, the family started 10 o'clock. It was like 8:40. Yeah. Yeah. It was really brief. And the kids that didn't participate met everybody outside who did and cheered for them. And it was it was really really fun. It was exciting. I heard from local community members that they'd like to know in advance. Yeah. So that they can be out there and cheering it off. I thought was really cool. That's right. Superintendence report. You're on. All right. I just have a couple things actually. Lee, do you want to talk about any grants? Yeah. So, uh, our prepay report is due first.
065We're going to be working on year five ESSE grant that is due Friday and then we're already starting next year's grants for IVA, UB, and ESSA uh for next school year. We're going to be working on those soon. So that's that's it for grants. Great. Thank you. Um so I was asked to talk about chronic absenteeism. So I'm going to do that mine. Can you pass this here? So there's a um report that I'm giving to the board members and most of this information that they're getting is up on the slides, but uh chronic absent chronic absenteeism by definition uh New York State is when a student misses at least 10% of the enrolled instructional days. So 180day school year, that's 18 days. Uh but here's the part that um uh that people tend to
066have a hard time. regardless of whether those absences are excused or unexcused. So, it doesn't matter um why you are out. It could be the greatest reason ever, but uh it counts toward chronic absenteeism. So, nationally, rates have doubled since the pandemic from 16% in 2019 to 33% in 2022. Um hopefully 2022 is the peak of chronic absenteeism. And you know if you think about you know what we were saying that's when we were very actively telling people please don't come to school. You know if you think you may have met someone who was ever had a cold don't come to school right that that that was like the message that we were delivering at that time. Um and so it it is kind of hard to get uh parents and students out of that
067mentality but we are making progress. I'm going to show you that I have a question. What constitutes an absenteeis? And is it half a day or more than half the day or so? It's different at the high school and at the elementary. Um in at the high school it's there's period by period attendance. Um and so for example like let's say that you have um I don't know math first period, right? You could be chronically absent from math but then never miss English ninth period or something. Well, that Yeah, that happens with sports. I've noticed high school sports. Yep. Yep. Like ninth or 10th period, they're often if they play all three sports, there's many times you're missing that throughout the year. So, I was just wondering. Yeah. And then elementary, uh, they really just
068take attendance one once throughout the day. Um, and and uh if you're absent, you're absent. Yeah. Do they count that as absent when it says on the report card how many like so they never used to so now they're telling you okay because it's done period by period um but and then the the last bullet here sorry the the last bullet here right students who are chronically absent significantly more like likely to struggle academically socially and absenteeism disproportionately affects high school students and students from historically underserved communities. So you look at the part that it disproportionately affects high school students. The NISAD data only reports on high school students. So the chronic absenteeism is based on high school. We'll talk about everyone in just a minute here, but if you look at our numbers, so
0692020 2021, we were 24.1%. the 202122 school year, that's where we peaked at 35.5% slightly lower the following year and then we're making a little progress. So if you look at it in um you know as a graph here peaked here and that's what we saw in the national data um and you know slowly um declining here. So uh key takeaway um we're steadily decreasing uh over the last three years. Hopefully we uh continue to do so. um this chart here uh if you take a look and I'm going to tell you what I tried to do here. So if you look at the in the the 67.7% in the top left corner, right, those students were kindergarteners in 2021-22, but the following year they were first grade. So I tried to color code this
070for you and then second grade the next year and third grade the following year. Right? So I tried to do that all the way down. So if you first look at those bands and let's start there just for example, right? 67.7% right? Those of you who have had kindergarteners know that that that isn't necessarily a pandemic number. They are sick that often, right? They seem to always be sick and right. So, you know, you keep them home. Um but uh but they got a little better the following year and then a second grader is a little better. Uh and you know, third. So, I mean this cohort this these are amazing numbers. They are. Yeah. 3%. I mean that that Yeah. That that that's absolutely fantastic. Um, you know, if you look at, you know,
071uh, these other cohorts here, you know, very similar. You know, we're we're in the 50s here. Um, for first and second grade, the the following year, those drop down to about 20% and then, um, drop down here to about uh, 10% here and then, you know, a little bit a little bit lower than that. So, so, so this isn't perfect, right? They don't all drop, but but if you saw before 2019, that number was 16%. So, you know, if you think about 16 as like a baseline, we see a lot of these numbers getting there or approaching that. Of course, even if these were all 16s, I would say we could still do better than that, right? We we we we want the students to be here. Um I'm curious how it correlates to how
072old they were when the pandemic happened. I wonder how other districts if they're if their numbers that way too because if you look at some of the some of the numbers are good now. Yeah. Yeah. Some are not. It seems like to follow Yep. And then, you know, you look um so as the students go from fifth to sixth grade, right? You know, there there seems to be something going on there, you know, as they go fifth to sixth. Um where uh um there tends to be like a little bump here as they went from fifth to six. As this group went from fifth to sixth, may maybe it's a little bit easier to be absent. Maybe, you know, I um I I I think uh I I think this is an okay thing to
073say out loud. I might be a terrible parent, but I think in sixth grade, that's when I let my kids start being home alone sick by themselves. So, it makes it a little bit easier, you know, to to allow that to happen. Um unless that's not okay, then I definitely didn't do that. But I'm amazed if you look at this 24 25 is only 16% their senior year. I mean I hate to say it our high school was very different but yeah and then so so right so if you look at the cohort right we're see across most of the cohorts we're seeing improvement um and then if you look you know even across grade level we're we're seeing improvement you know certainly from the 2021 school year over to the the current school year
074we're seeing improvement also I I think this goes without saying but uh the the current school year that's based on um data as of yesterday. So 10% as of yesterday was 15 days, not 18 days um based on where we are in the school year. Uh but um so so so anyway, so I I think the moral of the story here is are are these numbers all where I want them to be? No, of course not. Right. But we have some cohorts that are just doing an awesome job with attendance. Um you know, I I think any cohort that's under 10, I think, is just doing an absolutely fantastic job. and these uh the cohorts that are under 20 I think they are really trying to get here but we know you know we we
075know where the problem areas are and we're working on it and it's such an individual thing you know it's um and I think this gets into it in the next couple slides is you know what to do right so districts have have definitely found that since co that uh that this cannot be you can't approach this with like a consequence-based approach that's not working for districts So, it needs to be, you know, much more like friendlier approach like how can we get your child to come to school? Um, you know, how can we help? You know, we noticed your child wasn't here today. Is there anything we can do to help make sure they're here tomorrow? Um, or anything we can do to help get them in here for the afternoon, things like that. So,
076how can we help? Um, text messages or parent square messages uh to to try to get them in. And these attendance policy checklist nudges. um you know we so we do this these are letters get sent home um at certain checkpoints throughout the year based on their absences and they're just reminders um for for parents uh you know about getting their students to school and you know the second thing students can and want to come to school. So, we know this, right? None of this is new information, but students who have a more positive relationship at school um have want to be here. Um students that are getting the appropriate supports, they want to be here. And students that feel that that this is connecting to what they want to do after uh after high
077school, they want to be here. So, just making sure that students realize that. And again, we we know this is resonating with some students, but we also know it's not resonating with all our all of our students. So, we're working on it. Um and then you know teachers um understanding their role in student attendance and you know not not to um I don't want this to sound like we're putting more on the teachers but if a teacher calls home and talks to the parent or talks to the student that is more meaningful than the principal or the superintendent or or clerical uh calling home. um it it just is uh there there's a relationship there between the student and and the teacher and the family that just doesn't exist with other members of the school
078district. Um so those are those are what we're f focusing on. Those are what we're trying to uh support. And you know, again, go going back to that chart, we are having a lot of success in some areas and most importantly, um we we know where we're not having su success and trying to uh to develop some strategies specifically with those groups. Um Mr. K, not to put you on the spot here, but uh I know I think you and uh Mrs. Zimmerman, Mrs. Zimmerman took part in that um chronic absenteeism collaborative. Yeah. Can you can you talk about that? Yeah. I mean the biggest take away from that was the nut the nudges from teachers like me said coming from from teachers like cell so much more effective than anything I send home or
079phone calls that I make if I make the phone call home it's perceived as a threat or a warning or disciplinary whereas the teacher is caring and nurturing no matter our intentions and it's just amazing so those phone calls come from the teachers those nudges coming from the teachers are are something we're trying to push and I think this is evidence that it's working for the past two years clarification numbers include both partial absence and full time full l absence. Yep. Yeah. So the absence is progress. So a kid coming in any Yes. So in New York City they're using grandmothers so to speak or like retired people. Um, one of the things I had looked at, one of the programs that they had done, um, to somebody who they feel could reach out to,
080especially to children who are having trouble relating somewhere and things. So, somebody who they feel that and these are people, women, men who are older, like grandmother's age, my age and it was something that I would like to think about. Yeah. That as I retire to do. I like hearing you saying you want to sub at the [Laughter] late now that I am babysitting going I am learning that I am not fit what about um mentoring um national honor society students with some of these students that are chronic they have mentoring program here at the high school campus that students do older kids with younger kids or they mentor they have a mentee and they spend time with them and um I don't know some of these students that are chronically absent. Yeah. Like providing
081them a mentor. Yeah. So I I mean some of that so it's it's so um personal and what I mean by that is if I can go back to where is this? um you know where some of these students are going to want to come to school because they feel that you know that that this is a purpose to what they want to do after right after school for other students they're here because of their friends or the social interactions for others you know it's because they have positive relationships you know so it's it we're I believe we're at the point with the number of students that we have where it's no longer like broadstroke what can we do? It's okay, this one student is absent. What can we do for this one student? So,
082I I do think that that our numbers are low enough where that is our approach going into the the next year is, you know, how can we how can we get this one student to school and be very focused on on that. So, yeah, I mean, if if that is going to resonate with some students, then then I'm I'm all for it. That was going to be my question is kind of what is the percentage of the student body that's driving the overall absenteeism. So, you know, there are obviously there's students that are kind of driving the number, but does that 10% of the student body? Is that 20% of the student body? It's a good question. I I gave it to to the board last month, the chronic absent like the number of students
083that represent that. I I don't remember off hand. Yeah. But I think it's fair to say Ela and I know exactly I can name you those students who have more than 16 absences today and how we are individualizing. It's not cookie cutter for a grade one student grade one or four. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's fair to say we know who those kids are and what they need to get to school. Yeah. What happens to me when I'm chronically absent 10% or 20%. What's the repercussions of it? Yeah. I think it's different for elementary versus middle high school. At middle high school level, you start talking about course credit and seat time. At elementary, it's just the lack of access to education impacting your success. It it's unlikely that we're going to retain you
084because you are at school. It's very unlikely. It's just your your lack of access. Involve outside agencies to help. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. So, we we work with county vsss for preventative services, but a family has to opt into those services. There's families first. There's there's so many options that we sort of flood families with options for as much as like we will come pick up your child or SRO can come pick up your child, I will come like whatever it takes. Yeah. Like we we have those. No, that's great. Um any other absentee questions? Okay. Uh so we have a board meeting on June 12th. Um that is if you remember we talked about this uh at the April meeting that conflicts with the Essex County Senior Awards night. I typically go
085to that. I am okay missing that. It's 12th is the only day that works. Um but uh June 10th but June June 10th is my suggestion. But uh you know I'm I can I'm flexible I guess. Follow me. Okay. Just so you know my daughter's due date for her second child is June 8th and I am the babysitter. So I mark that. There's a little play toy back there. You do not want Chase here. I got it. Um I think so. Okay. So, we will So, how about this? So, so we say tentatively the 10th. We will reach out to board members tomorrow and just confirm that that is going to work for everybody sport. So, in the prek, how many we have the registration's already gone out for that next year or sort of
086open applications. Yeah, it's out. So, how is it going number-wise? I say I we have screening scheduled for May 28th and 29th for kindergarten and some prek, but we don't necessarily screen those days because screening prekers in May to change. So, definitely covered. Um, so I I can get that for you. I was just wondering what our numbers are. Yeah. Thank you. public comment. All right, moving on to our last public comment. This is our second one at the end of the meeting. Um 15 minute period, giving anyone in the audience time to share their thoughts. Uh please raise your hand and be acknowledged when you're called upon, identify yourself, and give your address, limiting your comments to three minutes. Opinions, ideas, and concerns that are offered by the public would be considered and taken
087under advisement. Would anybody like to comment? Going once. Would I just like to say it's been an honor to serve everybody excited here for the next one because I don't know and I really appreciate serving you. Oh, sorry. How many years has it been? At least 15 at least. Yeah, it's a long time. And I just want to acknowledge Evan George who was on our board previously stepped in. um when we had a resignation and came to join us. So we had a full board for the last few months. Appreciate it, Evan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, no comments from the audience then. So we are moving into another executive session. It will be to discuss medical financial credit or appointment history of particular person or persons. Um could I get
088a motion done to executive session? Darling, thank you. Sue, thanks for the second. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposions? Motion passes. There will be no action coming out of the executive session. I think motion motion I do. I