October 21st, 2025 - Board of Education Meeting

001Board clerk, will you please take roles? >> Trusty Smith >> here. >> Trusty Jared >> here. >> Trusty Jerome >> here. >> Trusty Mitchell Moral >> here. >> Trusty Goodrich >> here. >> Trusty Kunen >> here. >> Trusty Trusty Bishop here. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Our item number two is our principal's welcome. Our principal Gabriel Bono from Bennett School will welcome the board. Good evening everyone. Um, Gabriel Bono, been a principal. Uh I'm here to let you know that we've been off to a fabulous start. Um on day one in 18 years that I've been at Bennett, we had a record thanks to um the great work of First Student Transportation, uh the secondary administrators and and everyone else to help get children home. Uh I think we're about four minutes late

002on day one, which was unheard of. It's almost on time. So, I just want to give a a great shout out to all those people who made that happen. Um, and on top of the fact that uh with the teachers and the parents, it's been phenomenal, phenomenal start. Um, the PTA kicked off uh a very successful Welcome Back Picnic and they're working very, very hard on the Boo Bash, which is going to be this coming Friday evening. Uh we're gonna have a haunted hike and I believe we're gonna have a bonfire this year. Um the fire department will make a a last minute call, but I believe that we've had enough wetness to uh pull it off. Um speaking about the fire department, they actually volunteered their time this past Friday and uh Shandin Fire

003Department, Phoenicia and Olive all partnered together to come and give a fantastic prevention day this past Friday. Um, and I just want to give a a shout out to all those volunteers who help keep our community safe. Um, I also wanted to recognize Ruth Merende who's a part of the Ashokan Center. She is once again um going to put on a banjo interactive concert for us. We're really excited that the Ashoken Center is uh donating all of their services to um our kids to benefit from what they have to offer in music. Um I have with me uh our two leazison, our math leazison, Liz Coro and Amanda Kovac, who will be presenting. Liz, would you like to come up and start? >> So, good evening. Nice to see everybody. So, I'm Liz Corso, a

004fourth grade teacher at Bennett, also the math leazison for Bennett. Um, so just here to touch upon some math things that are happening at our school. Um, so over the past year, we've seen some major growth in math, especially on the state assessments over the past year. Uh, this progress reflects uh the strong implementation and coaching and um learning that our teachers are going through with the new math curriculum. We've really been working really really hard um understanding um progressing through and working through our new math curriculum. Um and as teachers, our goal this year is is very clear. Um it's to bring every grade level up to or beyond grade level expectations by the end of the school year. Uh we always have that goal. Um but with the success of the state assessments

005last year, I think that goal is um closer in reaching. Um, and now within our Bennett classrooms, math learning is well underway. Um, each grade has been delving deeply into their units of study. Um, since we're almost at the end of the first quarter, most grades have wrapped up unit one or now moving into their uh, unit two. And across classrooms, teachers are emphasizing fluency practice using a great resource that we have in the classroom called Freckle. And they're using other embedded opportunities throughout the day. Um, we've started small groupoup instruction tailored to specific student needs. And, um, we're using hands-on learning and discussion based problem solving to strengthen conceptual understanding for our students. And as teachers, we've also seen thoughtful we've also been using thoughtful adjustments to pacing. Uh, we've been refining and adapting

006the curriculum to best meet the needs of our students. Uh, for example, with talking to the first grade teachers, this is the first year they are completing completing unit three before unit two. I know sounds a little off, but it makes sense to go with their pacing calendar. For example, um, unit three is that the focus is adding and subtracting within 20 where unit two is adding and subtracting using story problems. So they decided to switch the two um giving students a stronger foundation in computation before applying those skills in context using story problems. And they've already seen positive effects with that switch. Now in fourth grade with what I teach um we always start the year with unit four instead of unit one. And unit four revolves around place value and multi-digit addition and

007subtraction. And I just feel that's a much place to start the school year uh because it serves as a good review coming off of the summertime where we usually see a summer regression and it also is a nice way to transition the students back into the school routines and unit one. If we did start with unit one at the beginning of the year that's factors and multiples which is multiplication based. Um, so just having a nice place value foundation at the beginning of the year, it just comes in handy for when we get to those u multi-digit multiplication strategies with factors and multiples. So I've been doing that for the past couple years and I've seen I've seen nice progress with that and a higher success rate. So overall, our teachers collaboration, flexibility, and data-driven

008decision- making continue to drive the strong progress we're seeing in math at Bennett. Thank you. Hello, I'm Amanda Shefflin Kovak and I'm the reading specialist uh one of them at uh Bennett Elementary. Uh one of my passions is really to share the latest research out there with colleagues and students and the enthusiasm that is at Bennett right now is contagious. Uh there's a third grade class right now begging their teacher. There's a co-teer inside and they're just begging to know why. Tell me more about the phonics. Like why? What is that rule? And I think that's just great to see that common language. So at Bennett, how do we continue to advance our student achievement? Like Liz said with math, the growth that we had on state assessments was unbelievable. And we continue to do

009that because we're partnering and and I looked at my notes from last year when we talked about, you know, what are our next steps? And it was talking about we have this data now we need to, you know, review it and we have our MTSS meetings. But I think what we're really owning quarter one already is sharing this important information not only with our colleagues. So if you have a student who's working with, you know, the ENL teacher, the code teacher, special educator, a teaching assistant, and the student, we're all on the same lingo of what that goal is, including the student. And so what I wanted to just show you, but we're not at Bennett, so I'll just kind of maybe show the camera, but students have this visual of a phonics goal, a

010fluency goal, and a comprehension goal. And they're all individualized, and students are choosing them, too. and understanding like for fluency why might I scoop words or do I need to look at punctuation and we have this conversation that they're selecting and owning and the next step would be really to have um parents to know this lingo as well but we it's so important that we want to have that conversation at parent teacher conference too so that they know what this means and so that when their students are going home owning this language of well I need to check the beginning middle and end of this word they know where it's coming from um these goals are fluid too And so, um, right now it's quarter one, we're already launching this and and we're seeing students,

011um, soar. So, um, another thing that's happening in literacy at Bennett is we have Christine Holly, our advancing, uh, literacy coach. She'll be coming in this week and we're going to really dive into phonics a little bit more, K2 and our word study program 35 so that we're meeting the needs of all students because really um I I said this word I feel like at every meeting that zone of proximal development like that is where we are at Bennett and uh that's where the magic of learning and growing is we want to reach all of our students. So, our word, I always choose a word of the year, and it started with joy. And that's how joyabulary came up, my silly website that I do. That's not silly, but you know, it's my hobby. Um,

012my word this year is grit. And I think what's powerful about this word is I've been seeing it everywhere. And I go into Mr. Bono's office and he's like, "You need to buy this book right away." And so I do. Here it is. And we watched this as a faculty the the video of the author and and really what do we want? We want our students to have grit. We want learning to be contagious. We want them challenged enough to grow but supported enough to stay confident and engaged. Thank you. >> We have grit, right? We have grit. We don't quit. >> Cheer. Um, as you can see, the teachers are very enthusiastic and I rely on these two to help me meet the needs of the students. You heard from both of them. We

013set goals. We set goals quarterly, not only with the classroom, not only with the grade level, but even with individual students. And um, we're going to work very hard. We're committed to our students to make sure that they they hit those goals. We're going to do the best we can and and we do it with the help of the parents. um open house was so well attended by the parents and I'm really hoping for the parent teacher conferences. I'm I'm confident we're going to have a lot more parents show up and because we can't do it without the parents. Um with that, that's just a general snapshot of what's been going on at Bennett since September. Does anybody have any questions for me? First, we did celebrate uh with um Assistant Superintendent Laughen the astronomically

014unbelievable test score increases this year. And so I just want to say again out loud how just shockingly amazing that is and kudos to all of the teachers and to you too. And I remember from my wonderful days of being a Bennett parent that there is a cadence of communication home with the parents from the teachers that happens. Can you just remind me of of what that communication cadence is? >> Sure. Um at least once every two weeks uh parents are getting uh some type of update of what's to come in the classroom. Some teachers do it once a week and put out weekly newsletters, but it's what they've achieved, what they're going to be doing. Um, you know, with parent square, there's select teachers that are using that, but um, every single teacher is

015at least using parent square or email to communicate with parents and and partner with them. So, I'm very proud that's still um out there as an expectation. and um the teachers again can't do this without the parents. So, it's really just communicating. Thank you for that. Any other questions? >> No, just again um thank you all for your energy, for your intelligence and your contribution to the students lives. I wish that I had had you for math had a whole different life. Anyways, no, but seriously, thank you. It's really refreshing to see and hear from you. Thanks. >> Thank you all so much. Honestly, what Caroline said about your energy, it really is contagious. And every time uh Principal Bono has uh the two of you come and and speak with us, I feel really

016inspired. Thank you both. >> Thank you all. They are really the glue that connects all six grade levels and and there's been such continuity with with their help and support. So yeah, very grateful to them. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> All right, we are at item 3.01. Um may I have a motion to enter into executive session to discuss Antia negotiations and to meet with our attorney? Uh, Trusty Mitchell Morell first, Trustee Jared second. All in favor? All right. So, we should be back in about 45 minutes. All right, we have returned from executive session. May I have a motion to exit executive session and return to public session? Trusty Jerome second trustee Mitchell Morell. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 4.01

017is acceptance of minutes. The board of education hereby accepts the minutes of the September 30th, 2025, October 7th, 2025, and October 14th, 2025 board meetings. May I have a first? Trusty Jerome. Trustee Jared every time. >> Second. Trusty Kudson, any questions or comments? All right. All in favor? Thank you. That's unanimous. On to item 5.011, Superintendent District News. >> Good evening. Um, as we have discussed before, we invite parents, educators, students, and community members to join our book discussion on the anxious generation. This district district-wide initiative aims to foster dialogue, deepen understanding, and build a stronger partnership between schools and families as we explore the impact of smartphones, social media, and screen time on today's youth. We will meet as a group um starting next week on Monday, October 22nd will be our first meeting.

018Our second meeting will be November 10th and our third meeting will be December 1st. We will be meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. Participants are not required to attend all three sessions. Um, if you would like to join the community book read, the RSVP can be found on our website or on the parent square post that I sent out this afternoon. And we are really excited to start this journey together. Uh, we are also excited because under the direction of Ken Cashez, I'm so sorry. Ken Cashez, our uh the director, uh our middle school students have created a play that they will be performing for our fifth grade students next week. The community is also invited to enjoy this play. It will be performed for the public on Saturday, November 1st at 10 a.m. So,

019many thanks to our director who uh dreamed this up with us and the best of luck to our performers. In terms of parent square, we have had 347 posts so far this month. Uh I'm very grateful to our faculty and administrators for leaning into this new platform. We have a superintendent conference day coming up this Thursday. There are so many meaningful sessions planned for everyone in the district. Uh we have sessions for buildings and ground staff, our transportation staff, teachers, teaching assistants, monitors, so social workers, psychologists, OTP and speech providers, nurses, librarians, literally everyone. Assistant Superintendent Lapen puts an incredible amount of energy into these days so that they are meaningful and a valuable use of our precious time. Some of the topics uh included in the day this week include AI, a practical introduction

020for support staff. Um, lots of focus on the new portrait of a graduate, MTSS and progress monitoring, multilingual learners in the classroom, working um with elementary faculty toward a revised elementary report card, more work with illustrative math, uh, knowledge building to strengthen and deepen comprehension, and uh, in addition, there are even sessions um, running with our school nurses uh, such as chronic condition management. Many of these sessions are in direct response to specific requests from our faculty and staff. And when we receive specific requests, we do feel that it's important to honor them and provide the professional development that our faculty and staff feel will better allow them to serve our students. So many thanks to Assistant Superintendent Laughen and all the administrators who worked together to plan this day. Um, I would be absolutely

021remiss if I didn't mention that our sports teams have been having a really incredible fall season. I can't list them all, so please check out all of their accomplishments on our social media posts. And also, the year has barely begun and already our PTAs and our booster club have been incredibly active in supporting all of our students. So, please um join or support those groups. That's all I have. Thank you very much. Any questions for the superintendent? All right. On to uh board district news. Do any trustees have any district news to report? Trusty Mitchell Morurell. Um it's my favorite time of year at Woodstock Elementary, which is Kidstock. And I am a teacher once again. I'm teaching nature explorers. I really make it up as I go along. But it's going great and they

022love it and they love to be outside right after school. And there's also sound meditation, paper making, songwriting, karate, Lego club. It's amazing and it's the best thing and my favorite thing. And my other favorite thing is next week it's Halloween Fest at Woodstock and they are making like a haunted trail through the garden in the woods. And um because the fifth grade's getting a little old for some of the activities and games, as you mentioned, they're going to see the play here at the high school, which they're excited about. And um yeah, that's just one what's going on. First, I wanted just to ask again, Ken Cashez and the play. Do you know the title and the time on Saturday, November 1st? Because I want to make sure to put it in my calendar.

023It's called The Catskill Witch and it is at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November the 1st, right here in the middle high school auditorium. >> Perfect. Um, and then also just um for fun um yeah, it was I guess it was on um Saturday or something. Anyways, I heard that the the women's soccer team had a a really great comeback in the ninth in the final or whatever the final quarter and it was very exciting and they were down two and then they won and just to say I was pretty pretty proud of my district. So, um yeah, I don't know what we call girls soccer. Anyways, yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to augment the Catskill Witch report a little bit too. I happen to know Mr. Chezz and I spoke with him yesterday and in

024addition to the students, the students in the Catskill Witch devised which means they really wrote the piece themselves. Um they started with a very basic one-page folktale and devised a theater piece out of it. Um but in addition to the the actual performance project, I believe Mr. did acting workshops with the entire Woodstock fifth grade, the entire Bennett fifth grade or maybe he did Bennett fifth grade today and he also did the entire sixth grade and he and they went very well and he said a lot of students were a sentence he heard multiple times was can I do theater too which is really um really wonderful to to uh that our kids are getting exposed to that. I just wanted to mention that. >> I'm so glad that you mentioned the Woodstock Halloween Trustee

025Mitchell Morurell. On that note, um Bennett's Boo Bash is on Friday, which is also near and dear to my heart and changing and growing every year. and also the booster club and the national junior honors society of the middle school is throwing the grave rave on Friday as well at the middle school. The other bit of um board news I had was I was blessed to be borderline hazed in the six-h hour NISPA business meeting last week. Um, but all joking aside, it was six hours, but um I weirdly really enjoyed it and I just wanted to celebrate that the two resolutions that um Anteora shared uh were both added by the committee both affirmed by um NISPA's resolution committee and their DEI committee and which not all about h only half were um of

026all the resolutions proposed by boards from across New York State and both of our resolutions passed with flying colors. Um the resolution Trustee Kudson drafted um trying well asking NISPA to encourage New York State to only withdraw foundation aid by 2% annually. um to just appreciate what a big change that would be passed by over 90% of districts and there were almost there were 300 districts on that Zoom call. um the resolution I drafted about uh creating a red line for rural districts to acknowledge that we have really high transportation costs and um issues with economy of scale that urban and suburban districts don't experience and to keep that in mind with restructuring foundation aid passed by 87. Uh it was interesting that there was definitely a push and pull a bit I could feel

027between more suburban uh densely populated districts who tended to not be as in support of um Bosey's resolution supporting Boseis interestingly and the rural districts were really focused on supporting and growing Boseies and regionalizing different services. But there were also a lot of resolutions passed that are things that our board has been talking about like trustee Mitchell Morell bringing up recess and there was a resolution that got tinkered with at the end that we all weren't sure about but with language added passed um mandating ensuring a certain amount of recess. I'm really interested in um I made a suggestion that our board had wondered if perhaps that could be seen as also um ensuring recess wasn't taken away as a um uh as a way to correct behavior, for example. I think there there was

028a lot that went up that we were really feeling positive about that um that went through. So, I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a lot of that. um become legislation. Let's all hope because there's a lot of really great stuff in there. >> Trusty Mitchell Morell. >> Okay, first of all, it's so funny that the fifth grade took an acting class because my son did not mention that at all. Um but something that my other child mentioned to me was in kindergarten is they did a dance residency which we did approve the teacher Jill Schwarz and it just sounded amazing. and they did dance every day for five days with this woman who's amazing at dance and amazing with children and that sounded really special. This is also just sort of a side note, but

029um Jenny and I toured Woodstock with the rest of the board and we were talking about how separately like DJs from our dances have come up to us and told us our district dances the most. Not self-conscious at all. I did just want to say it's really cool that um theater is coming back to Antiora because last year and also 10th grade there was a bit of a lapse not really 10th grade but there was a bit of a lapse in the theater program especially with us no longer having a lot of Shakespeare plays and as somebody that works stage crew and made a lot of friends doing it. It's really cool to see that other kids are going to get that opportunity. I don't know. Uh I it's you like I'm I'm a little

030lost in our weekly meetings. So we've had so many weekly meetings that I can't remember what we've reported on and what we haven't. I think I remember Trusty Goodrich mentioning to to the public that he was able to go through the Bennett uh lunch line and I think that was in a public meeting but I think since then so we we as a board get to tour each school building once a year as a group and we do it during the day when the kids when the kids are there and it's really a great opportunity to uh to see the buildings and to see children you know and and uh see them in in in action. And uh last week we went to um Woodstock on Tuesday and then on Friday we were here at

031the middle school high school. So it's just really great to uh be able to be in the buildings and see all the improvements that have been um done over the course of a year because it's only one time a year. Um, you know, especially in this building, um, there are some really nicely, uh, redone classrooms. The we got a a sneak peek at the middle school gym, which wasn't completely finished on Friday, um, but it's really looking amazing. Um, the security vestibule, we we were able to to stand inside the security vestibule and kind of get a sense of what that's going to be. It's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. So, uh, we're making a lot of progress and it felt really great. Um, the other thing that I wanted to mention

032was that Superintendent McLaren and I were invited to attend the uh, ribbon cutting ceremony uh, at the new Bosey's Career Academy at IP Park 87. And that was really exciting. uh was great to kind of get a get a look inside that giant cavernous building and get uh an idea of the the vision that um Dr. Shanker has and see the students. Um, one thing that I was particularly proud of was that uh our uh a student that I've known really since preschool in this district was chosen by the Boseis board to be their ex one of the two exeicio student members of their board. His name is Arnaldo Umana and um he and the other student trustee spoke. they were the actually the first two speakers in front of hundreds of people. So, it

033was really great, really exciting to see uh a successful our one of our successful high school students in in that setting. >> I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the middle school gym is now being utilized by students. Um, yeah, there are a few uh minor punch list items that still need to be finished up, but it was opened for use this week. So, that was really wonderful news, especially since the day it was opened, it was raining. >> So, I'm glad you brought up the u the board of education tours of all the schools. So, you know, we always a lot of us talk about numbers, right? And one of the things you can't put a number on is when you're touring these, whether it's Woodstock or Bennett or the middle school

034or the high school and you're getting escorted around by the principal and you see children going up to the principal in the middle of the hallway and very confidently have a discussion with the principal. You cannot put a number on that. That is so beautiful. So, it's great to see Any other board district news? All right, on to our student representative, Jenny Albbright. So, as you guys mentioned, there is a lot of Halloween dances going on at Bennett and the middle school and also apparently Woodstock and um yeah, that's happening which is very exciting. And the high school National Honor Society has started so October. It's where we um put up boxes and say donate your you know donate new clean socks. Um and we are setting up boxes in the high school now. There's

035a box in Woodstock and there is going to be a box in bed. So that's beginning which is really exciting. Um otherwise school is pretty much going as normal. It's free Sunni application week for seniors. So we're all pretty busy but everything is going pretty all right. It's It's business as usual mostly. >> Thanks, Jenny. So, the the soctober you're collecting the socks to raise money for >> probably should have um >> I'm ready. I'm I'm going to go get Do we want footies? Do we want these socks? any sort of >> pretty much any sort of socks and and they get donated to some >> local like for people in need. >> Okay. >> Drive whatever like I don't >> Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. >> Moving on to item 8.01. We will

036be approving the proposition one to create a district-wide K5 elementary school. Be it hereby resolved on recommendation by the superintendent of schools that the board of education of the Antiora Central School District submit the following proposition. Proposition one to create a district-wide K5 elementary school to be included on the ballot at the special district meeting to be held uh to be held on December 10th, 2025. We're not going to read the entire proposition, but it is in the agenda. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich. Second, Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? Trusty Jared. I just want to just in case because there's a lot of words and language. This is the proposition number one language that's going to go on the ballot on December 10. and proposition number one to create a district-wide K

037to5 elementary school. We're able to have that language next to Proposition One there on the ballot to make it clear what that proposition is. That is that's correct, right? Okay. Thank you. >> Yes, that is correct. Other questions or comments about Proposition One? Trusty Jerome. >> And I know to everybody on the board and and probably everybody sitting out there that the the language is very intentional. Um that this proposition is to ensure that our fifth grade doesn't go into the middle school. That's why it's framed to create a district-wide K through five elementary school because um that's what we hope will pass and so we can do that. >> Thank you, Trusty Canudson. >> And the other salient fact about this proposition that distinguishes it from the one we're about to talk about is

038this is the bonded prep uh proposition. This is the one that um the district would borrow for. And the amount that uh is $26,900,000 uh that would uh be borrowed, which is I'll note just uh less than half of the proposition that we put up in May. >> Trusty Goodrich. >> So, some of this information is in the attached PDF file, I guess. Um so could um trustee uhlair uh talk a little bit about the uh the numbers um that's that's in the proposition. So it's I don't know it's like 26 million total but then a third of it 31% is going to be um paid for by the state and then we have a bond but we're actually saving x amount of dollars per year uh with this proposition. Right. So it's almost $2

039million savings annually. >> Yes. So for proposition one um for the borrowing would be um the annual debt payment would be roughly 2.5 million with um approximately $697,000 of aid and $3.2 million of savings. So yes, we would save after save after the debt payment, we would have a savings of close to two billion >> and that uh actually you know with inflation that'll incre those savings will increase every year, right? So so in just a couple years it'll be over two million for sure. And again, just to um repeat that the amount was very intentional um in terms of our hope to get support from the wider community. Um Trustee Kissson mentions it's less than half. We hope that we'll do more bonds in the future when everybody is so impressed and happy with

040our work. But in order to start building this trust with the community and building on these wins that we've been seeing, these various projects on our campuses, these achievements in our classrooms, um we wanted to also again really put together something quite different than what we saw in um earlier this year. uh we've been very intentional in reframing it in a way that we think is going to be received better by the public. >> Yes. And and being that intentional and really um you know being very very careful about the price tag. Um, you know, it it's not that we didn't want to, you know, add a new gym to Bennett. It's not that we don't want to do a turf field or field lights or, you know, the things that, um, we did get

041feedback from our exit polling that were just way too over the top, way too much money. And uh you know um as Trusty Jerome said, we're hoping to really start a culture uh in the district and among school boards in the future um where our community can be called on to vote on a bond more often. It's been 20 years since we asked uh our community to to finance a bond like like we did in May. Um and you know we have received feedback on uh that kind of a process where school districts are encouraged to you know present a bond to their communities more frequently so that it's not such a shock. Um we're we're fortunate to have a um financial uh business department that really does a great job, but we do have

042to start, I think, um you know, asking the community on occasion, not every year certainly, uh to kind of get behind a a capital project. Any other comments? Um, we talked about this last week with the with the architects and the construction team, but I want to do it again because I think there are some people here who weren't well there there weren't there I don't think there was anybody here last week, but um I just want to u just sort of explain the shape of this and some of the benefits that I really see. Um so a lot of it is the Bennett expansion, eight new classrooms, a new art room, a new security vest bule for safety. Um another fact that has come up in recent meetings um is um the new portions

043of Bennett, this new Benediction would have ducted climate control to help with extreme heat days. The rest of Bennett right now only relies entirely on um window units. And on really hot days, sometimes they have to just open the doors to the classrooms to try to get the cold to come out of the rooms into the hallways to to cool down other areas of the building. And then beyond that, it's a lot of sort of critical infrastructure. um new boiler, um getting the buried fuel tank out from under the ground and putting it above ground, which is if you know about environmental issues, buried fossil fuel tanks are bad news. Um and not something you want to have long term. Upgrading the electrical um at Bennett. Um, which means so in in the May proposition

044like um putting in the new gym, which we're not doing now, but if we wanted to do that later, having all this infrastructure, having the fuel tank moved, having the upgraded, beefed up um electrical, will enable those projects to happen at a lower cost because this sort of nuts and bolts work. Another one is a culvert, I think, down by 28 that we really need to do. Um I'm not sure if that's in one or two. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. But um uh we'll look that up. Um it's in one, I think. Yeah, because it's Yeah. So these aren't the kind of um the these aren't the kind of items that typically make people's hearts sing, you know, like, oh, we're we're getting a new boiler, you know, but it's really it's

045super important. It's super important that the sort of the guts of these buildings are in good health. They're sort of the circulatory system, the heartbeat of the buildings. And and I really like that um Proposition One addresses a whole bunch of those issues at once. >> Yeah. If you see the rendering from the architects, uh you can really see the upgrades. Really brings it up to the 21st century. And for our littlest students, they're going to have air conditioning and a new heating and air conditioning system. So, they're going to be very comfortable in there. So, that's I think that part is really really important. So, >> did you mention the um the bus loop? >> I did not. And that's >> so that is yeah the drop off loop which just says drop off

046loop and you if you haven't been following the design process from last year this is something that actually came from the community um uh the goal to decrease to cut off really the whole upper part of the campus where Bennett is where the um new play area would be um cut it off from vehicular traffic during the day uh and um create a whole new traffic pattern um in the morning for drop off. And it's a real safety um improvement um for all the students on this campus, but especially the the littlest ones. Um and it's expensive. It's like I think it's $3.5 million, something like that. Um, but it's uh it's really um will change the feel I think of being on this uh campus uh once uh the vehicles are out and the

047kids can just go out and play black top, green uh grass field, wherever um without having to look over their shoulder um for cars or the teachers having to look over their shoulder for cars. >> So I just want to add to Trusty Kudson's all good points. Uh to add to your other thing uh about u the design. So we designed this much larger campus uh the cafeteria u the gym but all that stuff can be done in the future and that was the advantage really of the 2023 original resolution is everybody said what's going to be the cost? Well we didn't have the design. So, we've designed a big bigger than what we're going to build, but we can always optionally we can always add to it later on. We're not going to be

048tearing down something that we already built. >> I'm just really proud of the process that we all participated in to get here. And I think Proposition One is very fiscally kind to all of our neighbors that we can do what we need to do for our families and kids in perpetuity. Really legitimately keep fifth grade in the elementary configuration. this will do that and principal Bonos assured us that um cafeteria and gym space for now are completely adequate until we would expand. But you know I think that it it really serves in the best way we can all the different parties that have an interest in in what is going to happen and I'm very proud of that and I'm proud of our work we did to get there. Um, again, I very quickly to

049sum up what I view as Proposition One, it's K through five elementary infrastructure updates and safety like that. It's actually very unsexy. It's it's I mean, aside from the the the very good piece of the K through five, but the other things are pretty, you know, you're right. They're but they're very necessary and we need to make sure that our schools are functioning and holding up and are updated. And so that's really how I would sum up in three points. Prop one. >> I love your threepoint summaries. It's it's really helpful. I'm not kidding. It's really helpful. >> Yes. >> Oh, I really wanted to mention this. I'm glad I remembered. I was lucky enough to lend my husband's pickup truck to moving Book Barn for the Woodstock Library over to the new location. And

050I called Trusty Jerome when I left because walking through the new library on Dixon really made me feel so much in reality. What a difference it makes to have a building that's really fresh and bright and feels like it's gonna go for another hundred years. And the Woodstock library that I helped out at library fairs and everything is beautiful and wonderful, but feeling that like dichotomy of like moving the last couple things from the book barn and then getting a tour. And I recommend everybody go to the opening of the new Woodstock Library in November. It's it really it helped me to visualize uh what this could be and it's really inspiring that the town of you know that town created that and I think it shows us that it's possible and it's beautiful. So

051just want to add shall we vote? All right. Trusty Smith >> I. >> Trusty Jared >> I. Trusty Mitchell Morurell. >> I trusty Jerome >> I. >> Trusty Goodrich >> I. >> Trusty Canudson >> I That's unanimous. Thank you. >> Item 8.02 approve proposition number two K12 renovations and infrastructure upgrades. Be it hereby resolved on recommendation by the superintendent of schools that the board of education of the Antiora Central School District submit the following proposition. Proposition two, K12 renovations and infrastructure upgrades to be included on the ballot at this special district meeting to be held on December 10th, 2025. May I have a first? Trusty Jared. Second, Trusty Kudson. Any questions or comments? This I'm really proud of this. I feel like this was a moment that we got to really hear community feedback and

052find a way to integrate what the community was asking us to do by separating out the things that have been on the building facilities list. That's what's here. Um I did see a little maybe confusion about why Bennett work is on this proposition. Shell, do you want me to just read the main things or do do you want to read just the main things that are in here? But the the Bennett windows and exterior wall that's, you know, regardless of whether Proposition One passes, Bennett is an elementary school and it really needs that. It has Clark can tell you exactly how many years it has needed that a long time. So that's everything on this list means these are things that we we did not want. We wanted to honor the community in not bundling

053them together. These are items that we feel if the proposition to expand Bennett for a K to 5 failed and we couldn't put anything up again for a year, these things couldn't wait a year and a half to happen before we started to not have functional buildings and tracks. So, Bennett windows and exterior wall, renovating the music rooms at Bennett, which are completely not soundproofed at all and makes it very difficult for the bandon orchestra to have meaningful learning. Um, the toilet rooms, and we don't need to talk about why toilets need to be renovated. We all know what an unrenovated old toilet is like. The ceiling lights, the the three high school science classrooms, which we have come down from 5 to three. We saw those in person. We feel really good about those

054being essential. Replacing acid waistlines. Again, like Trusty Jerome said, not not super sassy, but really important. The middle school high school nurses suite upgrade. You've heard all of the colorful descriptions of that location. Um the sports field drainage, which our district really, really needs. Our students deserve it. and the resurface of the track instead of the full replacement which apparently will buy us 10 years for only $200,000. Everything on here we really hope the community understands that this is being paid for with savings, the savings we asked to establish and cash. So there's no bond on this proposition. There's no borrowing. money is money that we've all agreed to save and everything on Proposition 2 really is time sensitive to happening. So, it's it's a very clearcut chunk. >> All good points. Uh, Trusty Jared

055and what I what I was going to say was the same thing. So, thank you. So, yeah, just one thing. I mean, these been many of these items here were on the building condition survey report um or survey in 2021, long before we even thought about doing a central campus, right? So, there's just stuff that needs to get done. Um, just wanted to do a small deep dive on another reason, another good reason to do the the um, music rooms at the same time as the Bennett windows is that actually the renovation of those rooms involves actually reshaping those rooms. They're currently hexagons and they want to the improving them would square them out and where they face where that square out faces is where the new windows would go in. So those two projects

056um knit well together. And the other thing I just wanted to speak about is I've seen some um verbiage in the community that people are concerned that we are draining our reserves by spending it on these critical items. But um what people should understand about a capital reserve fund is um two years ago I think was when yeah two years ago the voters approved putting $10 million into a capital reserve fund. What that what the district said to them and what they said to the district is you are going you're putting this aside. You're going to use this on capital improvements within a certain time and if you don't use them within that certain time you have to give it back. Um, so it's not a res it's not like a the capital reserve fund

057is not like a rainy day reserve. Um, it's not something you should be concerned about draining. It's something that you should find good projects for and by spending the money in there, you're fulfilling your promise to the voters that you when you ask them to approve it two years ago at the polls. So, I just want to make that because there is I've seen a bunch of people say talk about it like it's a rainy day thing, but it is not. It is specific funds that are set aside for exactly the kind of things that uh this proposition proposes spending on, >> right? And we have other reserve accounts for other purposes. But the capital reserve is for capital projects. And we also have unappropriated fund balance as we do every year. And that is

058actually our rainy day fund for when something completely unanticipated happens um that we did not budget for. And all school districts are allowed to have that. Assistant Superintendent, can you tell us what the process would be? What would you suggest in terms of establishing a new capital reserve? Because I know we can't read to a capital reserve. We can't take half out and then add two in, right? It's it's funded to nothing, open a new one with voter approval. So, what would that look like? So, what we've done historically is as we've gotten to um to the point where we've filled the capital reserve, we go back out to the voters and say, "Hey, will you allow us to now start saving again a certain amount of money?" And you have to say over how

059many years what the maximum amount you want to save is and the maximum number of years you want to save it for. And then again, we save that money. And then once that's saved, we go to the voters again. Now, will you let us use this money to do this work? So, Shall we vote? Right. Trusty Smith. >> I. >> Trusty Jared. >> I. >> Trusty Mitchell Morell. >> I. >> Trusty Jerome. >> I. >> Trusty Goodrich. >> I. >> Trusty Kenudson. >> I. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 8.03 is approved modified polling location for special vote on December 10th, 2025. The board of education hereby modifies the polling locations and voting times for the special vote taking place on December 10th, 2025. For this special vote only, the polling location shall be changed from

060Bennett and Woodstock elementary schools to the middle school high school wrestling room for all voters. Further, the polls for the special vote will be open at the middle school high school wrestling room from 7:00 a.m. to 900 pm. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich. Second, Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? Just want to repeat something I recently learned, which is there will be early voting for 30 days before and um you can actually get your ballot at Woodstock or Bennett and drop it off at Woodstock or Bennett, which I think will probably make it easier than even voting day of. And I understand that there are I'm sorry. I understand that there are other locations where uh people are going to be able to um receive an application for the early voting ballot. >>

061Yes. Uh I did type up a little blurb that if I could read. Um so I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. So having one central voting location makes a lot more sense for our district currently. Um, so as an example, this past vote in May, we when we had multiple locations, we ran into several challenges. So one location ran short of ballots. So I had to go from one building and deliver them to the other building, but then that building was concerned that they were running low on ballots. So that was that was a little um concerning there. Um, and then there was also an issue with uh pole pads. So we needed to pull a pole pad from one location and bring it to another making that one location have um

062less pole pads. So the lines continued to grow there. Uh the final issue that we had which was the major issue um was one of the machine workers from the board of elections didn't understand how to run a report at the end of the night. Um, so we had to drive to Woodstock Elementary School at 9:30 at night and recount all of the ballots. Um, so that left for a long evening and that would have been fixed uh by being able to help the machine worker shut down the machine. Um, so being able to have all the supplies in one place will help the vote run smoothly, more efficiently, uh, keep the lines shorter, easier to manage, reduce confusion, um, and help u ensure all resources are available when needed. The middle school high school

063wrestling room is easy to find. It has parking close to the entrance and is fully handicap accessible, making it convenient for all voters. Um, for those who prefer to vote um online, uh, there are early voting by mail and absentee voting applications. They're available on our district website. They'll also be available at Woodstock and Bennett Elementary Schools, the Woodstock Town Office, the Woodstock Library, the Olive Free Library, Phoenicia Library, Shandacen Town Office, and the Olivetown Office. Uh voters can start submitting applications and then be issued ballots 30 days prior to the vote which starts on November 10th. Thank you, Amanda. And Amanda, as our uh district clerk, you are in charge of the voting that goes on in the district. >> That is correct. >> Right. and you were you just were trained uh in

064a training on Saturday and um and I believe you're that some of the uh officials from um Olter County Board of Elections are going to be coming out and viewing the uh wrestling room. They'll be talking to you about traffic patterns um and all that. >> Yep. So, they are coming out in November um on our next superintendent conference uh not excuse me, just a day that our district is closed before Thanksgiving. Um and they're going to let us know the the best entrance. Um and and they're going to discuss having stansions available and also more spaces for voters to have. They have standing locations where four voters can vote at once. Uh, so they're really going to evaluate our room and help um ensure that that it moves smoothly so we don't have um

065voters waiting outside in the cold. So we're trying to get all the voters in the building at one time. >> Great. Thank you. I just wanted to to mention that um I understand that in May um because for the May vote we went from um uh voting in Phoenicia and Woodstock to uh voting in I'm sorry Phoenicia Bennett and Woodstock to just voting at Bennett and Woodstock. So some of the folks who um especially people that don't have children who live out in Shandagan or in the Phoenicia area who were used to voting in Phoenicia mistak mistakenly thought that they could go vote at Phoenicia still and went there. The building was closed and then they didn't know where to go vote because they didn't know where Bennett Elementary School was. So, um I think

066having having the uh the voting here on the central campus um in the wrestling room has is a great opportunity first of all to get the word out and to get the word out about uh early voting and also to really be able to carefully and u boldly mark uh the location of voting. So, as people are driving into Boyceville, they'll see um you know, the signs for you know, arrows pointing toward the building where to vote. Uh and it's also a very safe place for people to vote. We have a large parking lot. There'll be plenty of parking. Nobody's going to have to park on the street and walk uh down the down the side of the road to get to uh vote. Can I add something, Cindy? So, another thing that Amanda and

067I looked at was other school districts that have a single polling location. Um, >> again, you know, state law does allow the board to make the guidelines um to determine the number and location. So, in Olter County, we have Rondout, Ellenville, Sarresies, um, and Highland who have a single voting location. And, um, there are probably people thinking, "Yeah, but they're much smaller than we are." Um, so, uh, Long Lake Central School District, 386 square miles, one voting location. Oable Valley Central School District, 309 square miles, one voting location. Indian Lake, 265 square miles, has one voting location, and Randolph Central School District. And those are just the ones that understand we only had a few hours to really look. And then, just as a reminder, we're 287 square miles. So, these are other school districts

068that have Margaretville is also just one um, voting location. other ones near us, Tri Valley, Falls, Roxbury, a lot of the rural skill districts are just one location. >> Thank you, Trusty Jerome, then Trusty Canudson, then Trusty Goodrich. >> Um, if it seems like we're being a little bit uh defensive, it's because we've heard a lot back from the community that we don't want people to vote, and that is tacitly untrue. Um we there's operational efficiencies of course of having one location and we encourage to vote by mail. Um we will drive applications to your house if we need to. We want we want people to vote. Absolutely. We want this to be your choice. And that's why the district clerk has done a great job of explaining just longer hours. That's another thing that

069we heard back about. Crowded safety concerns over parking. Like these are real things. Um so we encourage everybody to be a voice in this extremely important hard vote that we've come to. Uh question. So where's the uh wrestling room? Is it on the tennis court side or the other side? >> It's right by Central. So, um if when you're uh on the sidewalk outside Central, there's a a bank of windows. That's the wrestling room. So, it's directly across the driveway from the central administration parking, >> just so everybody knows. So, it's not the tennis court side? >> Nope. It's on It's on the central administration side. And um we we know that the school is not in session that day. Uh teachers and administrators will be asked to park elsewhere. There will be plenty of

070parking on uh on that side. I think it's that way. On that side of the building that Okay, I'm all mixed up. Whichever. And uh um yeah and and there will be plenty of help um because the central administration staff will also be on hand in the event that there is some kind of an emergency um like whatever if we run out of any of those things that you said we might might run out of. Yeah. So, um, voting in Woodstock, in my personal opinion, would be extremely dangerous because it it would be dark early. And, you know, if you noticed voting there that people were v uh parking on 375 near the golf course and if it's dark, I I I seriously I think that would be extremely dangerous, right? and and like you

071said, you're we can always do mail in. You know, that's much safer than trying to walk across 375 when it's when it's dark. I also want to put uh I appreciate all the work that the pole workers are going to put in. They're going to be there from probably 6 a.m. all the way till 1000 p.m. And that's Amanda's probably one of them. And uh I've as as a fellow pole worker, I can appreciate that. It's a long day. Thank you. Um just wanted to unpack some other uh concerns that I've heard from the community. Um and I wanted to ask you Amanda. Um my understanding is that last year when we had long lines um that the real bottleneck um in terms of moving people through voting was not the machines themselves. It was

072waiting for the privacy screen areas to vote. Is that correct? That's correct. So when we had voting in May, um there was the election as well. Um and then we did have a lot of write in candidates. So it did take longer for the voters to vote um because they were reading all of those propositions along with who to elect um for a board seat and trying to remember which name they wanted to write down. And so they're wear weighing all of those options. So that is where the the line was held up. our um our poll workers were able to check in everyone very quickly. Um there wasn't enough space to be able to to vote. Um and then the machines take two seconds to read a ballot. So very as soon as they're

073up then they can vote and then they're back out the door. So that is where the holdup was was the um amount of voting spaces. >> And the wrestling room allows for a lot. You said there might be standing stansions that four people at once could use. And there will also be more seating positions. We can really I've been in the wrestling room. It's pretty pretty large. >> Yes. So, with Woodstock um last minute while voting was taking place, we we did um call the custodial staff, which is amazing, I have to say. And we did add um we did add more tables last minute as well as getting privacy uh booths from from one of the teachers who I randomly found in the hallway. Um, and that did help the line move. Um, but

074we did not have standing stations there because we didn't have space for them. So, so there will be much more opportunity for for voters to not have to wait. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Can we unpack the December date briefly just because I've just for my own clarity but also there were some wonderful emails from the community asking why we wouldn't postpone beyond December. my understanding because I had expressed concern in our ability to spread this really brand new ideas and information in that short time for me in um and the last two discussion meetings I have to say were so rich and wonderful and if anybody is feeling that anything being discussed tonight is coming out of nowhere I can pretty much guarantee you it's not if you watch the four hours of the

075previous two discussion meetings. But what really drove home for me in addition to New York State's, you know, very concerning fiscal crisis and our desire to get in front of that was that, correct me if I'm wrong, Trusty Bishop, but the cost of our project has already escalated in the time. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. So when um when we right after we had the vote in May, we started looking at ways that we could reduce the the overall cost and reduce the project, you know, reduce the outcome of the project, but also the cost. And when our construction manager presented us with, you know, that first sort of go at it, um, the amount of incidentals and contingency budget was 20%. Within four to six weeks, the amount of the

076contingency and incidentals had already risen to 30%. So, that's an addition on top of, you know, like what we're getting. So, we're I mean, I'm just I'm sorry. I don't know when to embarrass myself about construction, but, you know, we're going to be paying for cement and lumber and steel and all of those kinds of things. And so, on top of the cost of those, we also have to pay for all of the, you know, the the construction workers and all of that. So that's where those incidental costs are rising. And so it's really important to us that we be a that we would be able to get this uh these propositions passed while it's still somewhat affordable. And I know, you know, we're talking about millions of dollars, but uh it's only going to

077get more expensive the longer we wait. And our construction managers are um very conservative by nature and what they really want to deliver is the full scope of the project. So the base cost of each of these line items is much smaller than the projected full cost because they build in contingency for if there is something that um some unanticipated condition that we discover that will then increase the cost with a change order. They build in those contingencies for if there's a tar a new tariff that's going to show up. They have already projected those types of things so that at the end of the day we end up with the project that the voters approve. And I just have a question about so you know what happens when we're asking the voters to approve

078you know for example a 26.9 million bond and we're able to complete the entire project for maybe $25 million. What happens then? So, there is also language um in our materials that will reference other building condition survey items. I'm looking at you, Misslair. Um so that if we do have extra money and there are other items that are necessary on our building condition survey, then we could add them in. It actually referenced the plan. Um and the plan is that spreadsheet and at the bottom of the spreadsheet we added building other building condition survey items as needed at you know and available. So we kind of left that ability for us to do those additional building condition survey items if we do in the end have the funding available. >> And just as a side

079note, so the elevator project we're doing next summer, the funding from that is actually from the $ 8.8 8 million um capital project that the voters approved two years ago. We had money left over. We are able to do that project next summer because of that leftover money. >> Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Trusty Go to Rich. >> Sorry, just to go back to proposition one. Um so what would the bond be for? It's not going to be the 26 million, right? Yeah. So, I mean, you're you're going to have 31% money coming back from from the state. >> So, we would have to borrow the full amount because the 31% comes back over the course of 15 years >> and then the payment on the bond is like an an annual

080mortgage payment. So every year when we come to the table and we work on the budget, the expenditures will be higher because of the debt payment. The revenue will also be higher because of the state aid, but then the other parts of the expenditure budget will come down from the savings of the consolidation. Make sense? >> Trusty Jared. So, so the analogy is, you know, if if you took a $100,000 loan out or mortgage on your house, >> um, >> you got a $100,000 mortgage, but you know, if your grandmother is helping you pay off the 25,000, >> right? Or if you have a second home that you're now you're going to sell that second home because you to you you bought a you got another home and you decided to fix that one up

081and so you're selling the home so you don't have the expenses of that home. So, So the bond payment doesn't go up and down considerably. It's flat and predictable through the life of the bond. So on year one, we're paying that same payment as we are on year four. And that's part of the big savings is that with inflation and everything getting more expensive, is everything we would have been spending on gets more expensive. Our bond payment is staying stable and we are we are saving a lot from not re-upping our transportation contract for all the bus runs we would have with our current configuration or heating two buildings as the years go by. That's part of the growing savings. But our bond payment's not ever going to be like the bank says this year

082it's going up by 8%. Right. >> Nope. Fixed. And I couldn't have said it better myself. So, we've drifted off the topic that we're really supposed to be talking about, which is where the vote is. Um, so just to bring us back. Um, yeah. Um the last the the the last thing I wanted to say is that um this district has never done a vote in December before to my knowledge at least since the the longstanding administration who have been here for 20 years. Um, so we are kind of in new territory here and figuring this out. And it's it is very it is a very different just physical environment uh daylight situation than it is in May. It's really the opposite. May is almost near the summer solstice. December 10th is approaching the winter

083solstice. So, um, you know, I just wanted to say that that it's, um, it's this is a very different, um, from usual event and, um, that's part of why it's the the solution is so different. >> Chelsea Mitchell Morell. Um, I also just want to point out that if you think of our district going from Pine Hill to like Zena Road, um, it's right in the middle pretty much. So, that seems fair. I know there's some conspiracy theories, but if you're really into that, you can always just go to Woodstock to drop off your vote. I do just want to say out loud there is a lot of creative thinking happening and problem solving happening a lot around getting folks mail and ballot applications and creating locations even for them to drop them off in

084not at central administration. There's been like we are thinking out of the box and even we we learned this evening that there are multiple ways that you can get that application back in. You don't even have to put it in the mail. You could fill it out online. You could fill it out by hand, take a picture of your application and email it to Central. And I know we are all really committed to getting the word out. And we welcome all of these super involved community members who are here and who are listening to help. We'll make as much collateral as we can with on postcards, on websites, on Facebook videos to try and show and then every time you share it all, most of us have put our hands up to say give us

085a stack and we'll go and be places that people are and hand them out. We really hear the concerns about possible inclement weather. Although My husband and son would be thrilled if I jinxed it and brought a big snowstorm on December 10th because if you're a skier around here, you know that the odds of skiing on December 10th are pretty low. But but you know, it it could happen still. And um and we we hear that. We acknowledge that. And I think there's no reason why with two months lead time, we cannot get those ballot applications and mail and ballots out to folks and collect them in multiple ways. That really makes it easy for everybody. >> All right. Shall we vote? >> Okay. Trusty Smith. >> I. >> Trusty Jared. >> I. >> Trusty

086Mitchell Morurell. >> Hi. >> Trusty Jerome. >> I. >> Trusty Goodrich. >> I. >> Trusty Kudson. >> I. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 9.01. The board will acknowledge publicly be heard comments from the last meeting. Fedra Daggerman, Adam Snyder, Rebecca Turmo, Urana Kinland, Vicky Haberski, Mattlair, Francis Kudson, Phippe Hyman, Jess Wisnki, Ed McGiddi, Tanzy Michelle, Jen, uh, Jenna Garupa, Simon Hallum, Lori Osmond, Luba Resen Koba, Daniel Alabbertie, Susan Parker, Cara Khibus, Patrick Richardson, Kimber Truit, Jax Denise, Lindseay Shans, Jillian Khan Arudia, and Megan Brener. Public and students may comment on any agenda or non-aggenda item. The board appreciates hearing from the public, including students, on any agenda or non-aggenda item. Please understand that by our adopted parliamentary procedure, the board can't engage in discussion or answer questions during public be heard. Please know that we

087hear you and we take your all your comments into consideration. The board does reserve the right to correct any in inaccuracies or misinformation during public be heard. Uh, I'm sorry I got lost. Um, please limit your comments to three minutes. Be civil and do not name any particular individuals or promote any commercial ventures or products. People wishing to express individual student or personnel concerns can bring them to the superintendent's attention in private. I'd like to also read an addition to that statement that we are um going to be sending to our policy committee for their review. Uh and if the policy committee and the board of ed decides to uh to vote to add that to policy, this next part will be added to policy. We understand that. We understand community members are passionate about

088certain issues. We all want our schoolboard meetings to serve as an example to our students that members of our school board and members of our community can deal with controversial issues in a civil manner and show mutual respect for one another. In that spirit, we ask that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect for the differing views of others. Further, all individuals at board meetings are expected to abide by the rules for public conduct on school property as set forth by the district's code of conduct. At board meetings, speakers and observers may not engage in behavior that disrupts the meeting, such as shouting, interrupting others, blocking the free movement of others, or obstructing the view of others. In the event of such such disruption, the board president will remind those in

089attendance of the rules under this policy. Any board member may request a brief recess of the meeting, which would serve as a cooling down period. The board president may order the removal of those who are a threat to the safety of others or who disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting. Thank you. Our first speaker is Cindy O' Conor. >> Good evening. Thank you. Um I almost don't have to read what I what I wrote because I've been listening to you and um in one respect I feel like you have done everything that I said here and in another respect I feel like you need to need to hear it because the decisions that you have made over the past month with your different board meetings uh have been very very difficult. So I just

090want to u reiterate why I think you're doing what you're doing and it needs to be done. First of all I would like to thank you for your service because I've sat at your seat and I know how difficult it is at times. It's a thankless job. I'm here today to voice my full support for the difficult yet necessary decision to move forward with a plan to consolidate the district and right side rightsize onora which means closing Woodstock Elementary School. I recognize this very, very difficult decision has been made after years of exhaustive study, careful consideration of student needs, and a deep commitment for the long-term fiscal health of the entire district. Over the last several board meetings, I've watched and observed your collaboration and discussion about the process to consolidate the campus. I feel

091I've witnessed a board transition. I feel a different vibe and I watched you and listened to you and feel like you really understand what's needed for the entire district. The choice to consolidate is a testament to the board's commitment to res to to a responsible stewardship. While the emotional ties to a local building are understandable, sound governance requires looking beyond sentiment to financial stat sorry sustainability and maximum educational investment across the entire district. This consolidation allows the district to streamline streamline operation, reduce overhead costs associated with maintaining multiple underutilized facilities and ensure the resources are directed to where they matter most, the classroom and the students. I believe your path forward now is through positive leadership and a unified vision. You need to build a positive culture. More important than the decision itself, the leadership

092you demonstrate now and during this transition, I ask that the board administration continue to lead with transparency, empathy, and a singular focus on all the children, which I believe you really are doing. Lead with a positive vision. Frame this change not as a loss, but as an opportunity. Consolidating our student body offers potential to create larger, more collaborative learning environments and allows a more equitable distribution of enhanced academic resources, specialists, and support staff. Am I old? Is my old mic? Anyway, I want to thank you and I really think you're doing a good job and I know how difficult it was. >> Thank you, Cindy. If you had more to say, would you mind emailing it to the board clerk >> and she'll get it to all of us? >> Thank you, >> Danielle Albertie.

093>> Good evening. Uh my name is Dan Albertie. Uh, first I'd like to say um I was going to be allowed to speak again at this meeting because maybe rules of conduct weren't necess ne necessarily followed last meeting and I was called out during one of the trustees speeches. U and I agree with everybody here. Conduct must be upheld. Everybody needs to act appropriately and peacefully. Um, that said, on May 20th, voters already said no to closing Woodstock Elementary as a contingency upon a bond. I have listened to everything that was said tonight, and I have kept an open mind like I always promised to do for myself. I don't necessarily see how this new bond can solve any issues. I've heard the threat before, as many people have, that if a bond is not

094passed, Woodstock Elementary will be closed and there's more than enough room for all those elementary school kids. And we've also as a community had a problem with transparency and building trust. And I heard that that's being addressed tonight. The issue I have is that without this bond, you're telling us you don't have room for all of the elementary school kids. Thank you for finally admitting the truth. You don't have room. That was false information fed to the people. Not acceptable. Centralizing increases commute times for our littlest kids. As you well know and according to the experts, the experts have also quoted quite a lot quite a lot uh a large increase in construction costs, something that we can ill afford in a terrible community with record high construction costs. I'd ask I'd ask you to

095table this once again and to come up with a better plan. I don't believe half of a proposal for a bond with the promise of another one down the road is necessarily going to take care of fulfilling promises held to people who really held out hope in anticipation of a renovation and expansion nor the people who are against this. Additionally, the special election nobody likes nobody. It's extreme. I'm sorry. Many people do not like the idea of closing Elementary's polling site. This is accessible. Um your example with Phoenicia, people know what to do. They know where to go. Uh this does give the elderly and disabled an opportunity to go where they know and give them the opportunity in the routes that they that they have. My time is about to expire. The last thing

096I would like to say is is that I'm not against progress, but what I am for is transparency, trust, and trying to do our absolute Please vote no on closing Woodstock Elementary as it will not it's okay but I think she got a couple extra seconds as it will not um solve as many problems. >> Thank you Daniel. Thank you Stephanie Bryant. Okay, Stephanie Bryant Woodstock New York. Um a few things. Uh if uh anyone would like to look at the 30 minute uh transportation routes and the cost savings that Nikki, our head of transportation, uh detailed for us all. Uh that's available on YouTube. October 7th is the meeting if you want to take a look at that. Um that's all available to you. I watched the YouTube meetings. Sorry I missed the last

097two uh board meetings. Um, uh, my mother's husband was involved in a a really unfortunate incident with a flatbed truck. So, I've been doing lots of trips to Middletown, Connecticut, where I'm from. I don't like to tell people I'm from Middletown, Connecticut, because people have ideas about Connecticut. And, um, I'm lucky enough that uh, I came from a working-class immigrant diverse community. Uh they had a rough political town much like Woodstock's a rough political town. And um my mom was uh the mayor for uh our city for eight years. And uh she was the longest running Democratic uh served mayor in the state. I think she still holds that title. And the two things that took her out um was she supported uh building a Middletown High School. Uh when I was at Middletown High

098School, uh we were in trailers. Nobody supported public education. That's what we were left with. And part of what uh was her downfall was creating uh a beautiful building for Middletown and for the students for legacies to come. And I don't think I will ever forgive Woodstock for voting down a brand new building for our children. Literally ever. I fought to keep Woodstock open. I came to every board meeting. I listened to everyone on YouTube. I asked questions. And it was the special ed argument and how it would improve special ed services. It was the limited bus runs and the savings. And then when they said we could do this building and it wouldn't cost us anything, we could do this brand new building and it wouldn't cost us anything. And now this board whom

099I love, who I've laid flowers to and appreciation, has sacrificed time with their families, sacrificed Emily Sherry, sacrificed time to her business for this. She put up with me for a year because I was the only one from open who showed up regularly. So I became the face of open. And I just want to thank you all as a board for the sacrifices that you have done and the sausage making. That's what we call legislation. It's making sausage. You want to eat it. You don't want to know how it's made. These people have done the work. And now we don't have a beautiful air conditioned music room. Fine. We have a bond that will support every kid in this district. Thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. Adam Snider, >> good evening. Um, I have heard I

100have heard all the ideas about getting out the vote. Regardless, the only thing that appears with certainty in the language of item 803 is the polling location shall be changed from Bennett and Woodstock elementary schools to the middle high school wrestling room for all voters. That's the only thing that's guaranteed by what you've just voted. Under New York State law, the closing of a polling place can qualify as what is called voter suppression. Section 17202 of the New York Voting Rights Act states, "Policies and practices that burden the right to vote must be narrowly tail tailored to promote a compelling policy justification that must be supported by substantial evidence." In New York State, the penalties for contributing to voter suppression in a schoolboard election can include both criminal and civil actions. and the commissioner of

101education may remove school board members from office for the willful disobedience of a law or decision. Our commissioner's name is Betty A. Rosa. She is being provided with well doumented details of reading recent voting patterns at polling places in our school district. It presents a compelling illustration of why closing the Woodstock polling station for a single special election clearly qualifies as intentional subversion of the election laws of New York State. Thank you. >> Thank you, Francis Kenudson. Hi. Uh, I'd like to talk about what an elementary afterchool program that includes transportation might mean to parents in the community. This would only be possible for elementary students in a central campus. The public elementary school in a different district where my kids grew up had many more kids than Antiora. But I think the structure of

102the afterchool program might still be a model that could be relevant for Antiora. The after-school program was run by the PTA and it was a godsend to working parents on all ends of the economic scale. There was a fee per child per day, but it was affordable uh with a sliding scale. So some parents didn't have to pay anything for enriching child care with free transportation. Most of the afterchool classes were run by teachers. Um, and there were a few external artists or professionals with a specific expertise uh to teach a particular class and that was vetted by the PTA. And the best part were the activities. There was always homework help and the option of nonstructured reading or play, but the program also offered activities like cupcake design, uh, Broadway dance, karate, chess, glee

103club, um, putting on a play. It was a very popular program where uh when my kids went there 15 years ago and it is still going strong today um because it works. So uh my older daughter was Queen of Hearts in a version of Alice and Wonderland and it was frankly a little disturbing how much she enjoyed her line Off with their heads. Uh, and my younger daughter was Audrey in uh, Little Shop of Horrors, and she had a great time. And although the third grader who played her, Seymour, uh, he did conspicuously wipe his hand on his pants after he had to hold her hand on stage, but we all got over it. Um, so I think it's really, really important to invest in arts education of our children and afterchool programs at the

104elementary school level are one way to grow future artists. So, um, you've also mentioned the Catskill Witch. Uh, I encourage everybody here and watching this online afterwards to come out and support the students. It doesn't have a huge cast and so it doesn't have a ready-made audience of parents and grandparents. So, the community really needs to come out and support the students. We really should have a a premier um arts program uh in our district. Um, and it's going to be it sounds really cool. So, and you might be thinking that we don't have enough kids to support all these activities sounds great, but we can't do it. Um, yeah, a much a much larger school would have a lot more choices, but just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we can't do anything.

105More opportunities for enrichment mean we can do more for the kids and in a way that is also good for parents and teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you, Francis. Those are all the speakers who signed up to speak. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak? Yes. Please introduce yourself when you get to the mic. >> Hi. >> Hello. Second. Hi. My name is Ursula Halan. I know some of you. Um I wasn't going to speak about the voting thing, but I'm going to get um I'm going to say a quick thing about that. For some of us that work more than one job, the extended hours are much appreciated so that if you want to vote in person, you don't have to take off from your job quick and try

106to get somewhere. Um, as someone who lives in West Hurley and works in Woodstock, this is fine. This is fine for me. It's easier for me to vote here. And I'm not the only one that feels it's easier to vote here than in Woodstock or wherever else you would go. So, that was just a side thing. The other thing I wanted to do was um thank those of you who answered my email to the board. I really appreciate it. I feel like I'm heard. I feel like this board is responsive. I've been in this district my whole life. I went to Antiora. I graduated here. My husband did. He went to West Turley. I went to Phoenicia. Five kids. We have done every configuration that there is. My oldest daughter is 39. My youngest son

107graduated in 20 2024. So we've from the Princeton plan to everything. Finally, I feel I have a supportive board that wants to centralize this district as should have been done 20 years ago when the whole declining population of this whole area especially our children started happening. So I just want to say thank you for staying the course. There's most of the voters want this. There's a few vocal people that we hear and they should be heard. But by electing the board that is up here on the stage, the people have spoken that the board was trans. I feel the board was very transparent, especially in the last election. They wanted a centralized campus. The candidates said what they wanted. The plans came forward and people voted and they voted in a board that wanted a

108centralized campus and whether after the fact people didn't like that, it's over. This board wants a centralized campus, your voters want a centralized campus, and a lot of the people that we're talking about that are um senior citizens or whatever, they don't have children in school. They're voters, too. So they may not be coming to board meetings to speak of, but we need to remember everybody is the onure community, not one, not this end or that end. And the centralized campus is fair. It treats our um special needs students in a more equitable way. And I just want to thank everybody for going forward with this even though it's incredibly hard because this is the only board the people some of you have been here a long time but that have come together and have

109the courage and strength to do what the district wants. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? All right, thank you all so much. Uh, item 11.01 is a 10-minute break, so we'll be back in about 10 minutes. All right, we are back from our 10-minute break in 10 minutes. Okay. Um, so now we are at item 12.01, 01 discussion and possible action on resolution to establish a K12 central campus by 2028. A prior version of this resolution was on the September 30th, 2025 agenda as item 9.02, at which time the board voted to lay that resolution on the table. The board further discussed that version of the resolution at the October 7th, 2025 and the October 14th, 2025 special meetings. There has been no motion to take from the table item 9.02

110from the September 30th, 2025 agenda. To avoid any ambiguity, item 9.02 02 from the September 30th, 2025 agenda is considered exhausted. Item 12.01 on tonight's meeting agenda, discussion and possible action on resolution to establish a K12 central campus by 2028 is a new resolution and will be considered a new item. May I have a first May I have a motion to approve item 12.01 on tonight's agenda which is a new resolution to establish a K12 central campus by 2028. Trusty Jared second Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? Right. So actually before we do questions and comments just so everyone in the audience and everyone at home understands what this uh resolution says um Trusty Kudson and I will read it. Whereas the board of education of the Antiora Central School District board or district believes

111that the dis that district students will be best educated and the board will be best able to meet its fiscal responsibilities to residents if the district transitions to a K12 central campus by September 2028 with grades reconfigured as follows. Bennett Elementary School, Bees, serving grades K through five, Antiora Middle School, MS, serving grades 6 through 8, and Antiora High School OS to serve grades 9 through 12. And >> whereas while the authority to reconfigure grade levels lies solely with the board, the result of the bond vote on Proposition 1 regarding the expansion of Bennett Elementary School planned for December 2025 will impact how the board proceeds with grade reconfiguration in September 2028 as indicated below. one. If proposition one is approved, a bees will serve grade grades K through five. That's been an elementary school.

112Antiora middle school will serve grades 6 through 8. Antiora High School will serve grades 9 through 12. Two, if proposition one is rejected, Bennett Elementary School will serve g grades K through four. Antiora Middle School will serve grades five through eight. Antiora High School will serve grades 9 through 12. And >> whereas the board has been engaged in extensive long-term planning and discussion regarding a transition to a central campus as summarized in exhibit A, which is attached to this resolution and incorporated herein by reference. And >> whereas the board has discussed that transitioning to a K12 central campus at Boyceville and closing Woodstock Elementary School would provide opportunities to improve educational programming, instructional experiences, and educational outcomes for students, limit transitions between school buildings, maximize staff efficiency and effectiveness, and allow greater alignment of resources

113and practices. Minimize the length of bus rides for the majority of students as well as the number of bus routes for the district. Promote equity of services and enhance student safety, access to afterschool programming and enriched vocal and instrumental experiences. And >> whereas the board has also discussed that the New York State governor and legislature legislature have expressed an intent to revise the foundation aid formula, a position subsequently endorsed by a year-long study of foundation aid by the Rockefeller Institute. And the state calculates that the district is currently overfunded by $7.3 million perom, an amount that if lost could force the board to take drastic and reactionary steps to address the funding shortfall without the benefit of strategic and thoughtful long-term planning. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Antiora

114Central School District hereby determines that Woodstock Elementary School will close at the conclusion of the 2027 2028 school year. And be it further resolved that the board hereby reconfigures grade levels in the district effective September 2028 as follows. One, if proposition one of the planned December 2025 bond vote is approved, then Bennett Elementary School will serve grades K through five, Antiora Middle School will serve grades 6 through 8, and Antiora High School will serve grades 9 through 12. two. If proposition one of the planned uh December 2025 bond vote is rejected, then Bennett Elementary School will serve grades K through 4. Antiora Middle School will serve grades 5 through 8 and Antiora High School will serve grades 9 through 12. And >> be it further resolved that the superintendent of schools is directed to take

115such steps and make such filings with the New York State Education Department as are necessary to effectuate the purposes of this resolution. >> May I have a first trustee Jared? Second, Trusty. I already did that, didn't I? I'm so sorry. Sorry, everyone. Okay. Um, so Trusty Jared was our first and Trusty Smith was our second. Questions and comments. Thank you. Um, so Trusty Bishop, as you were reading, you replaced the word would with could. And to me, it's actually It's I think it's emblematic of the mind shift that we've had to have around this and that's why I think I really wanted to point to it not to disparage you but to say I think that so the sentence was if we lose the 7 million per announce that if lost and Cindy said could

116force the board to take drastic and reactionary steps and I think that's where our district and board was for many years. And I think for me what changed is I think the word that's here is really true, which is that if that money was lost, it would force the board to take drastic and reactionary steps. So to me, this is not uh a strong arm in any way. I was elected by a large number of voters that voted no on the Bennett expansion. Did not want Woodstock to close. And I was told by them personally that they voted for me because they really trusted that I cared about the kids. I got here via PTA. That is what I'm about. That's why I'm here. And I I feel like in our discussion meetings I've said

117this all and I hate to repeat myself, but I would like to say one last time that I think it's a misconception that we have the ultimate choice. I really believe when I take a step back that foundation aid loss is only one of many things that is already happening that will force this to be not our choice. I mean heating is projected to increase by 7.6%. This year, electricity by 4% nationally and the rate of inflation is almost a full point above the Fed's goals. And yesterday, I heard that Bank of America Jamie Diamond said 75% chance of a recession before the end of the year. Any number, just one of those things puts us in a position to have an emergency closure of a building. And that means not only does it guarantee

118our fifth graders go to the middle school and I want to be clear none of us have chosen that that is why this resolution is on the table. We would really really like to see K to 5 stay together. Not everybody in this district feels that way and that's okay. But this board I believe really wants to keep fifth grade with an elementary cohort. And I asked some parents on the Woodstock PTA who are very involved and who I love and trust, if you had to see fifth grade integrated into the middle school because of a loss of any of this funding or transportation costs increasing 14% in 2029 like they did previously. How long would you want to see that process take? And I asked the same question of myself and I asked the

119same question to an administrator in our middle school high school tour last week and amazingly we all had the exact same number in our minds and it was two years because it's not easy and it's not ideal and so for me the most important thing is that fifth grade stay with the elementary cohort. I really believe it's what's best and I believe that this two-year runway that this resolution provides. I'm hopeful that our administration has set us up in a financial place that we have that whole two years even if we were to start to lose funding or have a large increase. This doing it this way is the only way that we can really ask the community to help us guarantee K to 5, which really is what we all believe is best. But

120if it doesn't happen that way, if this proposition is not voted through, then I want a full two years for parents, teachers, administrators, building facility administration to plan this ahead of time so that it is as seamless and positive as possible. The scenario I think is unacceptable is leave everything how it is and wait for the shoe to drop because at that point we don't know what our fiscal standing will be. We don't know what our runway will be and that's putting our fifth graders now and in perpetuity right in the middle of the train tracks. I can't find myself to that to keep Woodstock open another year or two. To me, that that that's not worth that. So, I think it's really important that we all understand that that is why it's this or

121that. It's not a choice. There's only one choice here. The choice that's here is proposition one keeps K to 5 together. That's one scenario. All the other scenarios see fifth grade moving to the middle school. The question is how >> thank you Trusty Jared. Trusty Goodrich just want to say um all good points Trusty Jar. Thank you. Trusty Kudson. >> Yeah. I don't want to say too much because the the um the rationale is something we've been talking about really since I joined the board a year and four months ago. Um, I do want to talk to um there's an early phrase in this resolution that I think is key for many in our community to understand which is um whereas the authority to reconfigure grade levels lies solely with the board. This is something

122that I think there has been a lot of confusion in the community about and um we I've been talking about this since um August of this year that um really the way the process unfolded last year, the resolution from 23 really set up a process where the board was kind of taking a back seat to the community and the administration and Um but the fact is and it's set up this way, education law is set up this way very intentionally um that voters have certain um responsibilities and says in the governance of school districts. It's to appro approve budgets. It is to approve capital projects whether borrowed for or not. And then if a district sets aside money in a capital reserve fund, the voters get to say get to approve the money get getting

123spent a certain way. That's what proposition two is. But it reserves decisions like this about grade configuration and closing buildings for the board. And I think it's it's for very good reasons. the the amount we need to try to wrap our arms around as school board trustees is unbelievable. This I have never done anything in my life that had this broad a pallet of issues that I needed to educate myself on. And uh you know, if you ask me um would I let myself of five years ago vote on this resolution, I would say don't have him vote because he doesn't know enough. Um it's an it's an I described it in an interview on the radio as a burden. I really tonight am feeling that this is a burden on us. um but it's

124what we agreed to do when we sat down in these chairs. And um so the reason I'm talking about this is because I think there are there's a substantial portion of the community that feels like it is their right by voting on capital projects to force a certain decision on grade configuration and building closing. But I just need to be very clear to the community that education law puts that burden on us. And in a way, I think it's freeing to know that that burden is not on the voters. And one of the most unfortunate, I think, uh outcomes in the the public feeling like it was on them to make these tough choices is that it has divided our community. And we have community members fighting with each other on social media and other

125places because they feel like this onus is on them and it's not. It's on us and I just wanted to say that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Trusty Mitchell Morell. Um, I actually sent a letter today to or yesterday to 97 people. Um, a lot of people I had grown up and gone to Woodstock with and um, people who I'm parents with at Woodstock just because it's a certain audience and I sort of wanted to read part of it. Would that make sense? All right, let's do it. Okay. Uh, I'm gonna kind of start midway through because the front end probably wouldn't make sense here. Um, these are sadly the only choices at this point. Renovations with new classrooms and facilities or no renovations and with the fifth grade in the middle

126school high school with where we are financially as a country, the bill passed on July 4th and the overall size of our school. It just feels like we're up against a wall and this is our best chance at this point. It's not just us. This is happening all over. and I linked to the new Pulse article. I'm so sad about it. I'm also coming around to the idea that we could have better programming and this isn't as detrimental to us as I believed for a long time. I think the transition will be hard and heartbreaking at times, but I also think we will come out on the other side happy about our new shiny school nestled in the mountains, our after-school activities, our athletic fields, our music and art rooms, and one day our big

127gym, cafeteria, track, field lights, etc. It is what it is at this point, and it is sadly not a debate. Voting against these propositions for improvements is just willfully misunderstanding what the actually situation is. This is not what I wanted either at all. But sometimes, especially in the terrible conditions of our current world, we have to accept reality and make the best of it. We have to be open to other ideas, paths, often ones we did not picture for ourselves. It definitely took me years to get here, and I didn't fully accept it or understand it until probably two weeks ago. It might take you a while longer, which I understand. I would encourage you to vote for both propositions since they are for very needed improvements at school at at our school and our

128kids at the schools our kids will likely end up at. And voting no will not keep Woodstock open. No one wanted to save Woodstock more than me. It is my beloved town and school where I went and both my kids go and I'm actively involved there. I can't help but think that 30 years ago, Woodstock could have built a town pool, made any infrastructure for affordable housing, a splash pad, done anything and everything to make it a place where families wanted to move and live full-time. I see this as a town failure a long time coming. We are too late now, but this is the situation we inherited. It is the town that will hurt the most, but the kids will be all right. they will be better than all right. With how polarized our

129country is and how much I cannot imagine thinking like the other side right now, I actually take pride in our ability to work through issues and differences and change our mind based on new and changing information. Every time I tour Bennett and Antiora, I leave in a good mood. I know it's not Woodstock. It's not in our town, but these are also good, adorable schools with upstate people. We aren't sending them somewhere crazy and unknown. It's still us and we'll be together there. We'll have the teachers we love. We'll have bingo night and talent show. We'll have sports and music and art and gym and library. We are the lucky ones in so many ways. >> Thank you so much Trusty Mitchell Morurell. That took a lot of courage. Any other comments or questions? Shall

130we vote? Okay. Trusty Smith. >> I. >> Trusty Jared. I. >> Trusty Mitchell Morurell. I trusty Jerome. >> I trusty Goodrich. >> I >> trusty Kennudson. >> I That's unanimous. Thank you all so much. So before we move on to um item I can't even see item 13.01 01. Um when we when we stopped for our for our break for a second, um Trusty Jared came over and asked me why we didn't address uh the comments of one of our public beheard speakers who said that moving to a single voting location was voter suppression. Um, just so everyone understands, the process that we've gone through to to make the decision to move to a single location was done with the support of our legal counsel. Um, not only that, but a lot of research was

131done by our administration. Um our board clerk has been reaching out to um local libraries and other uh common um places in our entire district in the all five or six towns that make up onora. Uh people are um are giving her permission to uh drop the um mail-in ballot applications at local libraries and such. We've stated that we will do anything we can to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to vote. Right before we came back in from our executive session, we were meeting with our attorney and we were able to ask him a few questions about the legality and and he was helping us with the decision- making and he was very very clear. There is no voter suppression here. There is nothing illegal about moving to uh a single voting location.

132As we've stated, it's happening in multiple districts nearby and far away. Uh this is not uh a conspiracy against voting. So, I just wanted to be very very clear about that. Did I forget to say anything about that that any other trustee wants to clarify? >> Just to add because you know we've received emails. I know we were all really wanting to hear and I think that I I do notice that it does seem to come up often that there sometimes is an understandable confusion between New York state voting law and educ New York education voting rules and that they are two different things. and he was very clear that education law clearly allows for this without any stipulations, barriers or boundaries. >> That is correct. >> All right. On to our consent agenda. Item

13313.01. The board hereby approves items number 13.02 02 through 13.12. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich second. Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? I just want to say that I've reviewed schedule U and everything appears to be in order. >> I just wanted to um thank all of the um new volunteers that were approving on this agenda. There are looks like there are about 15 of them and we really truly appreciate their service. Trusty Jared, >> I had a question for the consent agenda. Um the uh the trap team item 13.06 06 uh scholastic trap team which I'm fascinated by and I read the whole thing and then the link off to the league and and everything and I it's it's very interesting. I just noted um perhaps in this first year we could

134track how many students end up in a loaning of a firearm position as opposed it does say students will provide their own firearms. It's clay clay pigeon shooting. Um, and it it says if a student doesn't have one, they can loan one. And I don't know what the policy, although I'm on the policy committee, so I should dig into that, would be on teams. I'm assuming like the ski team provides their own skis, but I just thought it would be responsible maybe since we're partnering uh here in a way with the Wittenberg sportsman's club and that we're you know we're saying it's an onora partnership. I would just love to know how many kids in that first year end up in a loaning position because then perhaps we could talk as a board about, you

135know, mitigating financial boundaries like I think we probably do for for other teams. That's all. >> Sure. And I know we have representatives of the Whittenberg Sportsman Club here tonight, so I'm sure they've taken note of that request and we will certainly work with them to gather any information on to uh yes, Trusty Jerome and I just want to on the consent agenda as well um and I don't know when the appropriate time to do this is, but um I we're approving some overnight trips for the Princeton Model United Nations and the Harvard Model Congress and um also exciting that we're uh there's a chess club and now um which is such great news. But anyways, I'd love to hear more about what those are about and um and so maybe that's something that we

136can add to another times because I don't know if everybody does know what those are about. Um the Princeton model UN conference is actually a Boseies field trip that some of our students are participating in. The Harvard model congress is our students um directly from our club but we can certainly get more information. All right. So we'll vote on the consent agenda. Sorry for that misstep. Trusty Smith >> I. >> Trusty Jared >> I. >> Trusty Mitchell Morell. >> I. >> Trusty Jerome >> I. >> Trusty Goodrich. >> I. >> Trusty Kudson. >> I. >> That's unanimous. Thank you. And now we are on to polic on to uh policy 14.01 is first reading of policy organizational chart. Uh we did review the organizational chart um at the at the last uh regular meeting, but

137there was an um um an error on it and so we needed to add uh a change in the structure of the PPS department and the facilities department. So, um, if you have any questions about that policy, please feel free to ask. And if not, we will see it again, uh, for a second reading and vote on our next regular meeting agenda. Okay. 14.02, first reading of policy 5570, audit committees. 14.03, 03 first reading and of policy 7223 graduation ceremonies and um 14.04 policies reviewed and are okay as is. The board of education hereby accepts policies 5610 5611 and 5620 as reviewed. May I have a first? Trusty Jared. Second. Trusty Jerome. Any questions or comments? >> All right, we'll vote. Trusty Jared >> I. >> Trusty Smith. >> I. >> Trusty Mitch Moral >>

138I. >> Trusty Jerome >> I. >> Trusty Goodrich >> I. >> Trusty Kudson >> I. >> Great. That's unanimous. Thank you. On to committee reports. Are there any committees who have a report for the board? Trusty Jared, I am so excited that Amanda Gates helped us set a date for our first academic achievement ad hoc committee meeting, October 27. Um, and I just wanted to say that out loud because I know we're all really excited to get into that together. And thank you, Assistant Superintendent Laughen, for joining us. Excellent. Any other committees? Go ahead. >> Uh just wanted to say that the communications committee is going to spring into action uh on communicating about these propositions that we um agreed to put on the ballot tonight uh as early as tomorrow. And there will be

139probably an accelerated flurry of communications about what's going on between now and December 10th. And I just encourage everybody in the district to read board briefs, watch the website. We are going to really try to inform everybody to the maximum extent possible about um the upcoming vote in December. >> Trusty Goodrich. So, what's the timing on the newsletters coming out? Will there be one before the vote or >> uh for the vote? It is likely that we will have a vote specific mailing, but we will go over all of that with our Bosey's communications team tomorrow. Any other committee information? old business. And as Trusty Kenson just realized, in many cases, it's called unfinished business, not old business. Where did you read that? I was I was reading about Robert's rules of order and apparently

140this old business is sort of a Robert's rules from many years ago term and it's stayed on a lot of uh agendas through inertia but the contemporary preferred term which we could consider um Amanda is unfinished business. So, is there any unfinished business? >> Yes. I don't know if this qualifies as unfinished or new, but I'm going to lean on unfinished because in our last discussion meeting, there seemed to be consensus, I'm pretty sure, agreeing that the discussion meetings were so helpful and talk of, you know, an interest in finding a cadence that perhaps could see discussion meetings becoming a more regular occurrence. not every week, but uh I just wanted to bring that back out again because I think we also heard from some community members how wonderful it was to hear that I

141believe that the shift in folks suddenly saying I see I understand it feels very transparent now I think is actually because of the discussion meetings where we actually really were getting into things. I'd love to see it continue. I don't know what the process is if maybe the superintendent suggests a cadence and we discuss it, but I would love to keep that ball in the air. I think in the the months where we have two meetings a month, the intent is to have the first meeting be discussion only and the second meeting be action with the idea being the first meeting would be a longer more involved meeting and you would discuss everything that would be contemplated for action at the following meeting. Sometimes that's hard to do because we will have um emergency hiring

142of personnel or some time-sensitive thing come up. But in the meeting in the months where there are two meetings, I think that that started as the intent and we've not been able to um maintain that. But I think this board has really seen the the positive um outcome from that kind of a meeting. So we might want to start looking at that. I think we start with two meetings a month again in is it February? I love that. And I'm wondering if maybe we can think on what the process might be for a trustee or president or vice president or superintendent to suggest adding a discussion meeting if perhaps it is a month with only one meeting but there feels like a topic that needs to be unpacked. So everybody knew what that process was

143and we could access it if if a majority felt it was important. Good idea. Yeah, that's a great plan. Any other unfinished business? New business. So looking forward to this uh academic committee. Um so I guess I have a question. Um when we meet uh is it possible that we could ask people from the public to join the committee or is that how does that work? I'm not sure how it works, but we can definitely find out. Maybe that's an RFI. >> Yeah, I loved that idea, too. And I think in our last full board meeting, Amanda Gates had suggested that that's a topic for us to remember to discuss in our first meeting. Would we like that? How often? Who would they be? So, I love that you've brought it up again to keep

144it fresh. Thank you, Trusty Goodrich. >> Just to refresh my memory, is that an ad hoc committee? Okay. Any other uh new business? A request for information. Would you be able to walk us through what the educational journey at Antiora looks like for a sixth grader who's either excelling or extremely interested in math and also in science? Um what are the opportunities, clubs, courses, etc. How does the administration decide requirements for eligibility in accelerated courses? And how does class size factor into accelerated course offerings? Caroline, could you please email that to Amanda? Thank you. Any other RFIs? >> I just want to strongly second that totally awesome RFI. Thank you, Trusty Jerome. I'm so excited to hear about that. >> Um, could the superintendent update the board? There's a Bosey's AI pilot. Has it started?

145Uh, can we get a progress report on what's happening over there with that at the next meeting? other RFIs. I never heard about the recess thing, but it's still going to happen, right? I just think it's I don't have an RFI, but I just think it's interesting uh as we put this other reconfiguration issue to bed where we can go forward with a lot of new RFI. So, you're probably going to get innovated by new RFIs, >> but the possibilities are endless. >> I just think that's so true. like we've just been spending all our time on this and I think, you know, Caroline and I and I'm sure everyone has been talking about how much there's so many other things we want to think about and talk about and focus on and make happen.

146So, that's a really exciting shoot off of the original thing that I think we're all stoked about. >> Agreed. >> Thank you, Trusty Goodrich. Thank you for acknowledging the shift that has already happened and feels so fresh and vital and exciting. Thank you for that. Any other RFIs? All right. Before we adjourn, I just want to thank you so much really for being such a thoughtful, careful decisionmaking group. I feel like we've come a very long way and I'm very, very proud of this group. Very proud. Our next meeting is scheduled for November 18th, 2025. It'll be here at the middle school high school. May I have a motion to adjourn? Trusty Jared second. Trusty Mitchell Morurell. All in favor? Thank you all.