June 3rd, 2025 - Board of Education Meeting

001Good evening everyone and welcome to the June 3rd um 2025 meeting of the Ontar School Board. We have a tobacco policy in place. There is no smoking within 100 ft of any school building. Please rise for the pledge. Board clerk, will you please call roll? Trusty Ken here. Trusty Jerome. Trusty Goodidge here. Trusty Mitchell Morell here. Trusty Hemingway Lynch here. Trusty Roando here. Trusty Bishop here. Thank you. Thank you. Uh may I have a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment of particular people and the superintendent's evaluation. Trusty Around first, Trusty Kenudson second. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. We will return in about an hour and 15 minutes or around 7:15. We are back from executive session. Um, may I have a a motion to uh exit executive session and

002enter the public public session? Trusty Romano first. Trustee Kudson second. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 3.01. Um, okay. The board president will open the hearing on the 2025 2026 6 districtwide safety plan and safety and emergency plan. Does anyone have any comments about the safety plan? So, uh, the district-wide safety team, uh, met last week, I believe, um, and assistant superintendent Allison was there, as was trustee, um, Goodrich. So, I will let them speak to, um, what the district committee had recommended. Thank you, Superintendent McLaren. So, um, as you had stated, we we did meet as a team to review the draft safety plan, which is on our website for the public to be able to review. Much of the plan remains the same. There are a couple of areas in which

003there will be some changes based on state new state mandates. One was uh that the board will have to adopt a temperature heat standalone policy. So, I know that is something already in the works with the policy committee. The other um change was that there needs to be um new procedures and new signage around our shell procedures, which is pretty much our safety procedures in terms of where we evacuate, um hold in place, things like that. Um there needs to be a statement made before p like sporting events or community events about evacuation and signage for um visitors to be able to see. For instance, if there's a concert in this auditorium and we may have visitors coming, family members, they need to be able to know where our evacuation is. Or if we're, you

004know, using the gym for um parks and recreation, they have to be able to do that. as well as being able to um provide community groups that are using our facilities with information about our shell um planning and uh procedures. So those were the the only kind of changes that we that we are looking at but um in general that was it. So thank you for doing that because I I wasn't taking as many notes as you. So um can you explain what the shell is? So everybody Yeah. So our our shell procedure pretty much just stands for the the different protocols that we use for different emergencies. So, um whether it's sheltering in place like let's um whether it's um so we're we're maybe we're staying where we are, maybe we're in a lockdown

005which means we're barricading ourselves within the space that we're in or a lock out which is we're not letting the outside in come in or evacuating which is just kind of leaving to a designated area outside of our building. So Shell pretty much just stands for that. And so what the state is requiring is that we have a new visual that would be posted around in each of our classrooms as well as um more signage around bigger areas where we may have visitors or um different events and that we're again just stating before a community event or sporting event um this is where you evacuate just so that everyone is aware. It may be different if they're outdoor events certainly, but there may be just some blanket script statements that we're saying um you know

006so that we can don't create chaos if in the event of an emergency. So the only other thing I understand is um I think they said for about two weeks uh New York State had a requirement for air conditioning and certain temperatures and within a couple weeks they uh they got rid of that. So now it's up to us to set a policy, whatever we feel is right. Yes. And New York State School Boards has some recommended policies that I know that um I'm sure our board of ed will be reviewing as part of our policy committee. We reviewed it on Monday uh yesterday. Yeah. Any trustees have any questions or comments about [Music] the plan? Do audience members get to ask questions as well in the uh public hearing? Okay. All right. Trusty Lynch,

007thank you. So I was it's a a dense document and so um I just wanted to understand where our liabilities sort of start and stop um when it comes to the hours in the day. So, for example, with a safety plan, and maybe it's there, and forgive me if I've somehow missed it, but is is there an obligation obviously while students are in the building versus a different type of obligation during after school hours, for example, or weekends, that kind of thing. I didn't feel like it was delineated and I recognize that the that the um protocols and procedures would obviously be quite different given the numbers of personnel on on the campus. I'm not sure I understand your question exactly. So what Miss Allison was saying was we do have to post our procedures

008around the building now so that if there are afterhour events or large gatherings that people understand the procedures. But what specific portion are you? Um so just wondering where um so then it would just be continue. We would have the same liabilities 247 essentially if there's something happening in the school building. The safety plan would extend itself to all things that happen on the campus. It would, but there will be obvious um limitations. You know, after hours often there is only one administrator on hand. So, it would be it would be it will be different. Okay. Okay. So, I guess that's what I was asking and I can focus more and ask in the next meeting my specific questions. But say something were to happen at I don't know after school hours but during sports

009practice for example and there's usually one administrator here sometimes more but not you wouldn't have your full staff. Correct. And so there's different plans and procedures in place and protocols in place. Correct. For that time. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. In other words, each building has its own safety plan and emergency plan. Right. Do any audience members have any questions about the safety and emergency plan? All right, we will close. Oh, I'm sorry. I just want to add one more thing. I I know many years ago, probably more than a decade, maybe 20 years ago, we've actually done a a mass casualty scenario out front with fire trucks right in front of the of the school. And without getting into the details, that would be impossible to do today, you know, but what we could

010do is a tabletop version of that inside a large classroom uh for, you know, with the police with outside fire departments. And uh that may be something we we want to try to do, you know, I don't know, every four years or something like that. I I've gone through those number of times. Um, and it's been very useful. It it helps everybody learn how to communicate. So, that's that's the key. So, that's something I if the you know, if we want to write up policies to try to do one of those tabletop full uh scenarios, that may be something we want to consider. any other I can respond to just that we have a um wonderful consultant that we use for safety um and who was also at our district safety committee is a member

011um and completing tabletop um activities like that is certainly within his realm and certainly something that we can we can spend time uh doing with our building and district emergency response teams. Thank you. All right, we will close the hearing. Uh, moving on to item 4.01. The board of education hereby accepts the minutes of the May 20th, 2025 meeting. May I have a first trust? Second. Trusty Goodrich. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. On to Superintendent's district's news. Good evening. I actually wanted to start by reading um a communication from Principal Fallow. Um she was slated to do the welcome this evening, but she had a family um situation come up, so she was not able to be here. Um, but she provided an update for me to read. Uh,

012and it states, "As we approach the end of the school year, Antior Middle School is wrapping up with a full calendar of meaningful events that reflect both academic achievement and student growth. In the coming weeks, all grade levels will participate in field trips that support hands-on learning and team building, including outdoor education experiences at Frost Valley and a culminating trip for eighth graders to Six Flags. Our music students are also representing the district with performances at Kingston High School, showcasing the hard work they've put into their craft throughout the year. Academically, students will be completing final exams during the last week of school with early dismissals to support a focused and manageable testing environment. Chromebook collection will follow immediately after exams. For our eighth grade students, this is an especially exciting time. They will take

013part in the checkpoint exam for language studies, celebrate their achievements during the moving up ceremony, and officially conclude their time at the middle school. Um, the district will be closed in observance of Junth and the last full day of regular classes will include locker cleanout and final preparations for summer break. The middle school has communicated with families regarding expectations and schedules, including information about final exam makeup procedures and transportation. We appreciate our family's continued support and are committed to ensuring a smooth successful conclusion to the school year for all students. So that was from uh Miss Vow. And then um for my update um summer skills academy, I wanted to mention again we're excited to welcome our elementary students to our summer skills academy. We currently have 58 students registered. There is one additional week

014for registration. The closing date is June 9th. Um, and we do have to close it so that we can then adequately prepare to welcome our students. Um, and I just wanted to note that we recently received a clarifying email from the New York State Education Department reminding all school districts that all of the immunization requirements that are in place for the school year also apply to summer programs. I wanted to ensure that um I took a moment to thank our entire community for coming out and voting and especially for the support for our budget for the 2526 school year. 75% of the voters um who came out approved our budget and we are really extremely grateful for that support. This allows us to continue to serve our students and provide them with all of the

015programs and services that they deserve. Um this afternoon, Miss Laugh and Miss Allison and I participated in the third regionalization meeting um at Oster Boseis. We will continue this work in the fall and the discussions will be broadened to include additional stakeholders. There has been an identification of areas of focus which include expanding career and tech and workforce development opportunities, finding ways to collaborate across the county for professional development, finding additional special education and therapeutic programming um and expanding what is available currently in the county um and um expanding support for alternative education and behavior support. So, I'm sure we will continue to report out as that work continues. Um, as an update on um the request to um review Parent Square as a communication tool, Mr. Rhymer, our director of technology, has uh done

016some more work in the sandbox um that we were provided as a as a sample and um believes that it is a viable pro program and product for us. Um he identified the four tools that we currently have that would possibly be replaced by parent square and also costed out and so it would be an increased cost but it is uh I believe a little bit less than $5,000 for the full year. He feels confident that it will integrate with our student information system as well. So we will be again discussing it with our full cabinet um tomorrow. Just a reminder about our um upcoming book club. Um I will be sending out a parent and family communication tomorrow with information about our community book club um in which we will be reading The Anxious

017Generation. Uh we will be hosting this book club starting in September. So, we will hold an informal meeting uh Monday of next week, June 9th, to hand out copies of the book for anyone interested in joining um who would also like to come and meet other people who are interested in participating in this. Uh everyone in our community is encouraged to um participate, but it is certainly um really encouraged for any families um of children who are approaching the age of 10 where they might be um intending to provide uh electronic devices. Um and then I'm sure we will be talking about uh the outcome of our bond proposition um which failed even even though our budget passed. So, I just wanted to let everyone know that according to um our attorney in terms of

018a timeline, um education law requires that uh if we are going to resubmit a defeated proposition, um it can be resubmitted no more than twice within a 12-month period and provided that the second proposition is not submitted less than 90 days after the same or similar proposition was presented. So, the board could possibly present, not that this is what the board plans to do because we've not had a discussion, but if it were to present the same proposition, it could be at a special district meeting as early as August 18th. We would need to publish a legal notice of the meeting at least four times within a sevenw week period prior to the vote date with the first publication occurring at least 45 days prior to the vote date. Um, and just as a clarifier,

019the board is not required to hold a public hearing for that vote, but it is free to um, absolutely hold that type of a hearing or a community forum at its discretion. And the communications committee did have a brief discussion with Holly Brooker from Olster Boseis who does all of our um, public relations printing and materials. and she felt in her recommendation that um over the summer would not be a a recommended time frame to hold a vote and probably September or October would be the most advantageous. And then the other things to keep in mind um with our district clerk being once we determine how to move forward if the board wants to put up another proposition then those ballots need to be ordered and printed. Voting machines need to be obtained. pole workers

020need to be hired. So, there are just a lot of details that need to be put into that process. I just I have a clarifying question. Um, when you said that we uh could put the bond back out for a vote um no more than twice in a 12-month period, right? Is that the exact same bond or any bond? The language that um is in ed law is that a school board can resubmit a defeated proposition no more than twice within a 12-month period. Sounds like the same proposition. It does sound I can I can absolutely send a a clarifying email. Okay, great. Thank you. Anybody have questions for the superintendent? Trusty Lynch. Yeah, thank you very much. Um, is there a timeline for the language as well that if if it were um a

021different proposition? I remember when we wrote these propositions, we had to have them before March something roughly. Um, sorry, it's a blur, but I was just curious if that that goes into this timeline as well. That was because we needed them to be on the May ballot, right? Okay. Okay. So, we So, if is that would that be this would the same issue apply that for it to be on a ballot in legal ease as it was this time in May, would we have to have that language agreed upon by a certain time? No, that that's not the interpretation that I have. Okay. Thank you, Trusty Mitchell Morell. Then, Trusty Goodrich. Oh, I just want to say how happy I am that the summer academy is back. Last year, people kept being like, "Where's the

022summer academy?" And now I can be like, "Here it is." And free transportation and the fact that it's free is just amazing. I just want to remind people, so if you want to look at the voting results, if you haven't seen it in the paper, you can go to uh the last board meetings minutes, and I believe it's in there. So you can you can go there. It's online in board docs. Trusty Lynch. Sorry. I also just wanted to thank you and uh Mr. Rhyr for taking on the task of looking through Parent Square. I know it's been something I've asked repeatedly and I just find it as a user um a huge opportunity for us to streamline information and communication inform ourselves of what's actually happening in these meetings and well beyond. But most

023importantly to me it's about uh the efficiencies gained from our staff. uh this I have multiple examples and I know every parent here does um of when staff go above and beyond to share information and it it ultimately changes and things change and rehearsals shift and meetings get moved and other things happen and every parent in that classroom 15 to 20 people are asking that teacher for the same information again and again and again and again and we're taking time away from teaching when it can be a very clear communication um uh strategy that we could employ. So, thank you for looking into it. Thank you very much for considering um that added um tool to our toolbox, so to speak. But really um glad that we're looking at at new technology to help bring

024efficiencies to our to our community. Thank you. And improving communication. Any other comments or questions for the superintendent or her report? All right. on to board district news. Um, I'll I'll just start off by saying that I'm I am also very appreciative of all of our community members who came out and voted. Um, I was um, you know, we we have seen some of the exit uh, polling information. So we we do know um a little bit about how people felt and the um the demographics of you know age ranges and and all that information was really interesting to uh to see. um we had uh a very low a much lower number I won't say a very low number much lower number of young people um you know people who we believe are parents

025uh of young children voting and a really much greater number of our greater percentage of um older people and up up all the way up into their 90s which was kind of remarkable. Um uh we're you know we are very disappointed that the uh bond failed. Uh I'll speak for myself. I'm very disappointed that the bond failed but I am you know like I have said I'm not devastated. I do think that uh with some work we can get the bond passed and uh and continue to work toward our my dream uh and many of our dreams of a central campus. Uh I was very happy that the community uh voted for two uh board trustees who are also uh in alignment with our goal of moving toward a central campus. And um and I

026don't say that as in a in a um a way to say central campus versus the folks that are passionate about keeping Woodstock open. I'm saying it from the perspective of somebody who has worked in education pretty much my whole adult life and has worked in Antiora for the end of my uh career as an administrator and has uh and immediately after retiring started serving on the board of ed and just has really done a tremendous amount of studying and um living the life experience of being an administrator especially here um in the only really rural small district that I ever worked in. I I you know prior to that I worked in large much larger districts. So, um I do really appreciate that um that a number of our community members understand the the

027uh positive aspects that could be provided to our students and educational equity that could be provided and a tremendous decrease in um maintenance uh fees and staffing and all of that. uh and still provide an outstanding education. Um, I hope somebody uh will speak about the uh the Bennett Woodstock con uh concert that happened this week that I was unable to attend and I really wish I had because I hear that it was a beautiful event that included uh the third, fourth, and fifth grade uh musicians and singers from both buildings together and that it was really a beautiful event. Um, I think that's all I'll say for now and I'll turn it over to Trusty Mitchell Morurell first and then Trusty Goodrich. I I was at that concert, but we can talk about that

028later. I actually wrote something I wanted to read, gathered my thoughts. I love what you said, too, and I respect it as well. Um, I understand that a community cannot vote on whether or not to close a school, but the helplessness of our constituents combined with the bitter divide we as a board helped create makes me wonder if we approached the process in the right way. I think because Woodstock and West Hurley parents and community members felt so out of control with the potential school closure, voting no on Prop 2 was the only possible way they could feel any control. the only option given to them to voice their opinion. Even if it was seemingly misguided, it was their only chance to have their ver voice heard on this issue. That it came with the

029potential sacrifice of other things they wanted only further shows their desperation. This was probably exactly how Phoenicia parents and community members felt when Caroline Clark and I got elected. They knew their vote might not keep their school open, but they were truly desperate to be heard and seen. And that was the one and only way. Even if it was even if just for a moment, you can please join me in seeing this as a good thing. The fact that people are desperate to keep their community schools open because they love them so much is a reflection of the great work we are doing. People love the schools that we help create the culture of. And to me, this is the greatest compliment. It feels at times that we as a board have put centralization above

030all else, white knuckling it at the expense of other very important things. I reminded of the phrase, "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" Do we desperately want to close Woodstock and fully centralize without renovating our other schools at all costs? or at this exact moment, do we want and need the improvements and renovations more? I feel we need to prioritize the improvements, which I believe the majority of voters want to. The renovations have been put off for far too long and they are being held hostage by the centralization goal and the closing of Woodstock. Let's get the improvements passed as quickly as possible. We have to wonder if there is a way to give kids new athletic fields, outdoor classrooms, and air conditioning without it being contingent on

031the loss, pain, and grief of another part of our own district. Can we not make this v vote a point of connection since the renovations are so widely wanted? There has to be a way to present the board bond that is less expensive and also gives voters in our district more of what they want. With that approach, I feel confident the vote would sail through. The improvements can and will happen and could quickly if we can be flexible. People agree on the renovations. Who does not want a nicer school? If we can temporarily at least take out the parts that are deeply tied to fully centralizing, it will pass. And in creating something amendable to all sides, we will also begin to heal the divide, which I do think we owe the district at this

032point. I cannot imagine going through something similar a second time. I do not think we can handle it. It is detrimental to us and so stressful for all involved parties. Everyone was dying for it to be over. We gave the all-in-one proposition a chance and that vote always felt lose-lose to me and I think we can come up with something so much better. I would argue that part of our job is to make this vote next time a positive thing for our community instead of one rife with conflict and based on pitting the district against itself. Now is the time to try something else. Thank you. So I I also wrote up something here. Um, I gave a lot of thought over the last uh since since the election when I heard Proposition 2 failed,

033my immediate reaction was I personally failed all the students to deliver any significant modern 21st century facility upgrades. I felt there were no winners. The reality is the students got nothing here. Okay. So then a week later I uh I thought some more. So I thought back at what was accomplished. The sixth grade was successfully moved to middle school. Phoenicia school was successfully closed. Anora was no longer the only New York public school with a thousand students with three elementary buildings. That would be awful. Anora will no longer be busing the majority of the Phoenicia students past Bennett. Our architects, engineers, administrators, community forums provided us with the opportunity to dream and envision what a modern centralized school district could look like with one elementary building and the cost of such a plan. We learned

034thanks to Anor administrators that a $55 million 20-year bond could be paid for from the savings by closing Phoenicia and Woodstock. This was a conservative estimate and new information for everybody. If we had this information 15 years ago, how would that have affected the Princeton plan of keeping three elementary buildings open? The board of education voted unanimously in favor of proposition two which provided facility upgrades not just for grades 6 through 12 but also K through five and that's important information provided on Anor website optimizing Antiora a taxeneutral capital project was truly an amazing achievement very informative and transparent given the extremely large voter turnout and exit polling information onto will continue to learn about the views and concerns of the Anora School District voters. We accomplished a lot. I personally want to thank Anora

035Central School Superintendent Victoria McLaren, the administration, the CPL architects, which did a great job, and members of the community that took part in community forums. I also want to thank 2023 board members that passed the May 2023 long-term resolution which made that this journey possible. What a journey it was and still is. And also I want to thank the voters that came out and took the exit poll. I'm optimistic we will take what we've learned to improve student education opportunities, whatever they may be. After all, the students are what it's all about moving forward. The question I asked myself, why is the Anora has such a difficult time upgrading facilities that is most cases are over 60 years old, which is what trustee Emily Mitchell Morell has has said, will have the same old elementary

036K through2 classroom 60 years from now? I just add uh a child born today is going to be 75 in the year 2100 and our school district is almost that old. So where are we going to be in the year 2100? I suggest the board education may need to look at this from a different perspective. Sometimes we got to look at it upside down, sideways and from 100 feet to a,000 ft to 10,000 ft. I suggest the board of education may need to look at this from a different perspective. I ask my fellow board members these questions. What exactly are our goals? What are we trying to accomplish here? I know we've talked about it, but what are our real goals? What are we really trying to achieve and why? Is it optimizing a is

037optimizing and uh centralization a goal or is it a solution to a higher goal? I really think after going through this for the last two years, it's more about what do we got to do to upgrade our facilities. That's the key question. Thank you very much and thanks to both of my colleagues for your thoughtful remarks. Um, I too have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the results and I've actually had the benefit of meeting with a lot of friends in the community. Nice to have bonfires around Memorial Day weekend and really talk to each other as neighbors um understand the data. Thank you um to the administration for sharing it with us. Um and um to our um yeah to the the members of the community who took the time to do

038the exit survey, although there wasn't enough of us who took it. So to be frank, it's not entirely um uh useful, although of course the um the the themes were very useful. Um I basically came down to two conclusions. One is that nobody felt good on May 21st. Nobody did. We felt great about the budget. Thank you. We felt great about electing new involved people to the board. Forgive me, that's not what I meant. But but uh nobody felt good about Prop 2. And I think what I see which is very common right in many elections is that we we didn't look at what's right and prudent for the district. We looked at our own self-interests. What's good for me? What's good for my kid coming into this beautiful, thriving, incredibly perfect, beautiful bucolic school

039um in in Woodstock, New York? What's what am I worried about um in terms of my the assessment letter I just got in the mail? If you live in Olive, how is that going to affect my taxes? Is this truly taxeneutral? I'm not sure. I'm going to to your point, I'm going to exercise my vote in an emotional way, not thinking about the impact for the greater good. And so, we have to get it right. We have to do it again. And we have to do better at talking to each other and communicating because it's important that we understand the greater good and that higher goal. But for three years I've sat on this dis and for three years I've asked for a longterm strategic plan. That is your question which is what is the

040greater goal? Why are we doing this? And we've a lot of information to help support that document. But I agree with you. I think we need it. I think we need the plan and it needs to be communicated and frankly the community needs to take the time to connect and understand it because it's super complex. There's like 14 different reasons for the why. Um but at the end of the day it's the most prudent thing financially and frankly that is our responsibility. We are financial trustees for this district. We want the best for these kids academically and that means all the kids. So when we're spending money unnecessarily because we love our community schools but they could the same work could be done in one building versus maintaining three instead of busing kids to three

041different places. All of those things it's a financially prudent decision so that all of our kids get more. That's the big why. And then there's also a lot of different other W's, but it needs to be documented and better communicated. And I really appreciate that that call to action. Um and I think we also have to be thinking more particularly in this context of regionalization as well as um you know what it means to actually live in a rural community where we have to think differently about the needs of all of these children. There was a few voters who came from Award, Lexington, right? Uh Pine Hill. Um they were, you know, thinking a lot about what's their their own self-interest as well, right? Um and we have to be thoughtful, I think, about that.

042I um unfortunately the reality is that the result of this uh vote means that it it may not be tax neutral and Woodstock could close and there could not be a beautiful elementary school that's big enough to house them. So by voting this way we've actually defeated our self-interests and that's really upsetting. So, I implore everybody to think differently about how you're getting your information and ask anybody at this table, but most importantly the superintendent who's been at this a while to be informed when this comes up again. And it will and it'll hopefully be much better communicated and certainly will be hopefully meeting a lot more people's self-interests. But it's it's incumbent upon us to be an informed citizenry to have a thriving public school. That is the basic responsibility we all have as

043community members. Thank you. So, I didn't write anything, but um I just wanted to respond respectfully to a couple of things that trustee Mitchell Morell said. Um because I do think we are we do have an information ecosystem issue in the district in the terms of the way information gets um disseminated. Uh I think a you know this is true in the whole country a lot of the traditional you know traditional media newspapers things like that just aren't don't have the influence they used to and a lot of this falls on social media which is problematic in tons of ways. Um and what happens I think is that narratives take hold um that are not necessarily true sometimes. And um so I just wanted to res what what I wanted to respond to was um

044Trusty Mitchell Morell's you saying that Prop 2 was the only way on this vote on this ballot that um parents or community members in Woodstock could vote to keep their school open. But that that is not true because I was here, most of us I think were here at meet the candidates um the week before and without naming names, the the candidates that came in third and fourth in the trustee race this year were openly um advocating getting on the board to overturn the resolution and stating that the one candidate who was in meet the candidate said his goal was to overturn the resolution and keep Woodstock open no matter that so voting for him was the only um obvious way to vote for that proposition. And um he and his running mate came in

045third and fourth. And I will point out that it's the second year in a row that the candidates who espouse that position out of four came in third and fourth. And the reason I mention this is that there's narratives that this board is ignoring the voice of the people. But you know, if you look at the policy makers for two years running now that the people have chosen, they were all openly and transparently in favor of centralization as the most sustainable, equitable, financial, fiscally responsible. we've all heard the arguments um way forward for this district um through the coming years and decades. Um and so I think we as a board have to honor that and um continue on the path of centralization because we are listening to the people because this is what the

046people are saying by who they're electing to the board. Um, and uh, the other piece of sort of wonky um, data analysis that I found interesting was I think there were something like 1300 votes against Prop 2. There were also more than 600 um, votes against Prop One, which was the annual budget. And I think that's a higher number than we've had in many years. Monica, can you check me on that? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think last year there were only less than 300 something like that votes against the budget. But anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I do think the other thing we have to look at, and this showed up in the exit polling, too, is that there was a separate no onto contingent that was concerned about the

047price tag. Um and so um I think it would be wrong to interpret all 1300 no on two voters as um we must save Woodstock voters because I don't think that's true either. So, I think we just have to, you know, um see the the vote in its full um scope and and what was voted on and what what propositions did the people of the district at large, what path did they endorse through their votes? Thanks. So, usually I write something, but I didn't. Um, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. I want to thank the voters for showing up and voting. And I want to be clear that when we sit at this table, as Trusty Hemingway Lynch said, we have responsibilities fiduciary to oversee the superintendent and we're working for all families

048and all students, whatever building they're in. and we have to look to maintain a district for the future. And it was incredibly hard after three years of work on the 21st. It was really hard to wake up that day. Um, sorry. Just knowing just knowing what we were still having to work towards, which is okay because that's our job to do the work. Um, and I'm hopeful that we're going to get there and we're going to re-evaluate it together and with our community. And I just implore you to think of your neighbors and not just your neighbors that live next door to you, but the ones that live in this center of this district and those students and the special ed students that get moved and shifted all the time um based on the need

049of the building. and it's just a building. So, I don't know. My time is up in um a couple weeks and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to be here and work for all of you and work together with this team and I'll support whatever moves come next that are in the best interest of everyone. Thank you all so much. One thing that really stood out to me um was uh a part of the exit poll uh information, the folks who voted yes were overwhelmingly more concerned about equity and education for all students. And the folks that voted no were overwhelmingly concerned with keeping Woodstock open. And it kind of hurts me um emo it does hurt me emotionally and hurts me intellectually to to take that in because that's really something to me

050to take that in. Um, you know, like like my colleague here said, and all of our all of my colleagues have said it one way or another, our charge is to be fiscally responsible for the district and to take into consideration every single student, no matter where they live, no matter what their parents do for a living, you know, and and we have to do that. We have to consider all of the kids, every student, whether they're uh an AP honoral student or whether they're a struggling learner who has every sort of support service that we can offer them. Um it's a terrible decision to have to make to close a school. I've said this publicly before. I cried when Phoenicia closed. It was really hard to do. I was I was amazed at the

051way that that community came together and welcomed us as board trustees who had made a decision to close that school and accepted our compassion and our love. It was an amazing experience. And you know, I I consider some of the people that were on that PTA who, you know, stood at the podium and cried and begged us not to close that school. I consider them friends. I consider them role models. Every student in this district matters. And when Trusty Goodrich asked the question, you know, what what is our goal? And uh I think you talked a little bit around that about improve like really making improvements to our buildings and and bringing our buildings up up, you know, into the like the 21st century really, right? Um that's that's not my goal. It's it you

052know if if we could assure that our that our students would have the best education and I think they get their education from their amazing teachers, their amazing parents and all of that. It's it's not really about the building. Although who wouldn't want a beautiful new building and or or beautiful upgrades and and uh new additions, but to me it's about bringing them together so they have so fourth graders are not in classes of 15 where only four of them are girls. And if your best friend gets angry with you, now you get to choose from two other girls. You know, I mean, these are the kinds of things that I think about. These are the kinds of things that that we have to think about. Um, you know, what opportunities are we providing for

053all of our students, every single one of them. um you know and so that's why to me uh and I and I do say I am disappointed with the failure not devastated because I do think that we'll find a way to pass the proposition and to be able to bring all of our students keeping in mind that from kindergarten through grade 12 there are only about a thousand of them in this district together for the best educational opportunity. Um, I encourage the board and the superintendent to take another look at the proposition, like all parts of it really, every every single part of it, and see because we did hear from a number of voters that the price tag was way too high. Um, you know, some people I'm just using the word fancy because

054it's an easy word. Some people felt that it was too fancy, too extravagant, that we were, you know, why did we need an outdoor learning space? Um, you know, why did we have to have an art gallery inside the elementary lobby? So, maybe those are things that can be trimmed away. Um and and maybe we will still be able to provide our students with a beautiful space and an equitable space. My suggestion is that we uh take another look at uh Dr. Kevin Bachman's report if if he is still in the business that we reach out to him. we uh see if we can contract with him to have him update his report to plug in the most updated uh current numbers. Um I know that initially when the board passed the resolution in 2023,

055we were we were criticized because those numbers were not up to date. Well, now they're really not up to date. So, I think that for us to move forward uh and and do it in the most um conscious way that we can and the most precise way that we can, we need that kind of information before we even really start, you know, cutting things out of of the proposition. So, uh I don't know how my colleagues feel about that. Trusty Goodrich, then Trusty Lynch. So I I agree with you. Okay. Um, the thing that I want to ask everybody to think about is when I talked about the facilities, and we haven't really talked about this, is if we felt Woodstock was eventually going to close, maybe 2030, 2035, I don't know, would we make

056any facility upgrades to it? Significant upgrades? Probably not, because we're going to Close that. Hold on. So, so and if we if we didn't do that, would we be able to upgrade Bennett to make it the 21st century elementary school K through five without making any updates to Woodstock? So, how would that look? I don't even know if it's legal. I I just want to say something because that's it's a topic that that has come up so many times, you know, like that we're not really that we're not maintaining our buildings and Woodstock is quite wellmaintained. And I have to say if you compare Woodstock to Bennett at the at the present moment in a high wind, I believe that some of the windows in Bennett actually rattle. Woodstock has upgraded windows. You know, Woodstock

057has a security vestibule. Bennett does not have a security vestibule. Um, you know, and I and I'm just saying we we have maintained like Bennett has needed other kinds of of improvements over the years. Bennett has had an addition built, you know, many many years ago. Um, you know, has had plenty of roof work done, plenty of it. um you know, but the older part, the front part of that building is really old and um you know, students who go to school there also deserve nice windows, but uh yes, Trustee Lynch did Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Maybe when I had a bad example, but um I I turned it around. I mean, let's Could we Is there a way to upgrade significantly upgrade elementary building and not the other. Is that legal? It's certainly

058legal. I think um what we're going to have to then analyze is depending on the upgrades uh whether stateed will find it um as aidable because our building aid is 31%. But that's assuming that the almost all of the project is aidable. Um, so depending on what upgrades you're proposing and one of the reasons that our proposed project was so highly aidable was because we were adding space in one building but eliminating space in other places and that the state really appreciates that because you know they pay us aid based on our expenses in a lot of cases and so the less buildings we have the less expenses we would have. So that would be a conversation we'd have to have with state ed. So it's it's lessable if if they think we're going to

059close it in five years. Thank you. I I felt that you were shifting some of the discussion towards, you know, things to consider um going forward. And I think it'd be important to share among the group if if there are other themes that we need to think about. The three that I talked about that came clearer to me um through the communication was um that people uh voted no because they did not believe that it would be tax neutral that they felt that their taxes would be affected by it. Um, and again, you know, 58% of voters were over the age of 60. Is that correct, Clark? Is that Now that I say that, you're the you're the numbers guy. Yeah. Um, yeah. Right. Over 2,000 people were over the age of 60. Um, so

060this is a very to me a larger constituency that we need to think about how we communicate to particularly around the issue of cost uh and and how it could affect their taxes. The second thing was um that of course as we know people because there was a visible campaign people felt that um they could um uh save Woodstock school which again we know isn't hap we know Woodstock has to close for there for for us to realize um this central campus and the third thing was that there's a lack of trust in the board and in the superintendent and the administration. Um, and so I I I think those were the three big ones that I picked up on and I'm just curious if there are others that we should talk about because I

061think it's important that we are really transparent and clear about what it is we need to address as we bring people along on a second vote or a third vote, which is normal. Again, we we may have to do this more than twice actually, but um but keeping some of those themes in mind, I think, is really important. I agree for sure. I mean, these are all the things that we're going to have to really consider and, you know, break down into very small details. I just want to say about the uh the fact that some people didn't believe it was tax neutral. Um I thought assistant superintendent uh of businesslair did an excellent job trying to explain that but unfortunately that's one of those counterintuitive things that uh a lot of people don't grasp

062and and I understand that and I'll give you an example. It's the uh birthday paradox. You can Google that. So, if there's 23 people in this room, there's a 50% chance that two people are born on the same month and day. And your mind can't grasp that. They say, "That's impossible. How could that be possible?" Right? But if you do the math, 23 people in a room, it's 50% possible. 40 people in a room, it's 90% probable that two people have the same month and day in that room. And most people will never believe that. Okay. Trusty Kudson and Trusty Romano. Yeah. So, I just wanted to say this has been making me think about the book we read, the governance core, right? And the term moral imperative. And um so I've been on other

063boards, you know, throughout my life and often serving on boards is you're dealing with competing interests and managing competing interests. And I have to say my schoolboard service has been really incredibly refreshing because there because there is this moral imperative attached to it which is very clarifying um as you know u and so for me and the reason I'm bringing this up is I think part of the communications and I I I vol I sort of took it upon myself to be on social media a lot in in the runup to this um to this vote which I I probably was on social media more in the month of May and April and May than I was the previous five or ten years like of my life. I'm not a natural creature of of social

064media. But I do have to make an observation and I want to I want to sort of put this out to the community. There are community members here. So the moral imperative for us as trustees, we have a for me it's like you think of Star Trek, right? The prime directive like our prime directive is the educational benefits, the educational outcomes of our students and making sure the district is in good shape long term to keep providing the best educations to the students who reside in this district now, five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. That's number one. And then doing it in a way that doesn't drive taxpayers out of their homes. thinking of the taxpayers, that's sort of one a or two to me. Um, but but the

065educational aspects of this situation that this district finds it in to me is far and away number one. And I have to say to the community, if you're watching there at home, when I was on social media, there was a lot of discussion about property values, business interests, uh, you know, a lot of discussion of issues that are not education and and whenever I would bring the try to bring the discussion around to education on social media the discussion would grind to a halt and that is not a that is not a good place for our community to be I don't think um so I really hope that we as trustees uh figure out a way to engage engage our fellow citizens in this community on education um and and the educational equities that are

066involved here because it was not a it was not a popular topic. Unfortunately, I agree that if Dr. Bachmann is still in service to bring him back and do you know an amended or amendment or to his original um because that way we I know that's a huge thing for some people who say that the data is old and they tend to use that against us. So, it' be good to have updated information so that it's clear moving forward, especially if we're going to create a new resolution and amend the proposition. I do want to just speak to the divisiveness. Um, I don't think that it is anyone's intention here on this board to create divisiveness. Um, we work collaboratively. We attempt to do our best to work collaborative collaboratively with our community and our

067stakeholders. And I just I think that that is a it's a position that's everyone has a chance to wake up in the morning and how you're going to handle a situation as an adult, as a child, doesn't matter. And we might not not always get exactly what we want, but we can behave in a certain way where we're kind to one another and respectful to one another. And I don't personally to hold the burden of our community that I'm dividing you. That's that's a hard pill to swallow. And I work every day to try to not make that the case. So, in my opinion personally, to say that is is a difficult difficult thing for a board member to hear because we're here as a public servant to you. We were voted to these seats

068because of you and then to be told that we're trying to divide you. Um, that's not okay by me. So, and and it's not respectful to anyone else at this table either. Any other board comments? Any questions? Are we all okay with maybe having the superintendent reach out to Dr. Bachmann, see if he's still in the business, and I hope he is. Um Trusty Kusen, is there any possibility of um the AR also meeting with the architects um you know at some point in the next I don't know few weeks that had been uh Trusty Lynch's request as well and I'm happy to and I actually reached out to the architects and the uh construction managers and asked them to hold next week. Um I believe uh Tim Moot who is the technically the engineer

069of our architectural firm is not available but uh Stephanie Wneski and Chris Leon are both and I believe the uh construction managers are also available next meeting. Sorry, sorry. Yes, next meeting. Um it would be great if I could give them some sense of uh what kinds of questions they should be prepared to address if we had sort of an idea of the flow of the discussion or just how they can prepare. Would it be appropriate for us to email you copying the full board and and uh when when we if if if and when we s when we email the superintendent with our you know our topics that we'd like to have them prepared to discuss. Please don't engage in a conversation. Um, you know, we'll we'll let the Yeah, just just send a

070list of questions or a list of topics. Great. All right. Good. So, we can expect that for the next board meeting. Great. Terrific. Are we all good? Does anyone want to say anything else? All right, Olivia, sorry, we've been wordy. Uh on to our student representative Olivia McHugh. Good evening. Um I assure that this will be on a much much more lighter note. Uh it has been very busy at on recently. Um some recent school events include the middle school spring concert um and the high school spring concert. Additionally, the eighth graders recently took a field trip to Ellis Island. And the middle school, uh, I believe today, um, traveled to Frost Valley. And lastly, the theater club had their first interest meeting May 29th. Um, senior festivities have begun. Today, seniors attended the senior

071summit. This past Saturday was prom and we would like to extend a big thank you to the class officers Yogi Johansson, Koko Assada, Alexia Melendez, Riley Fitzgerald, and Natalie Hasty for their involvement in making prom happen. Additionally, thank you to Miss Casey and all the chaperones at prom. And lastly, this Friday will be the senior picnic as well. Spring sports have begun to end. Last night was athletic awards ceremony, a night um in which all students are were recognized for their participation and dedication in their sports. Thank you to the booster club for providing food and drinks. And another big thank you to athletic administrators and coaches for their involvement in athletics. And lastly, in the next following weeks, high school students will begin to um take their final exams. And that's all. Thank you.

072Thank you, Olivia. All right, on to uh public and student comment. 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 hear you and take all of your comments into consideration. The board does reserve the right to correct any inaccuracies or misinformation during public be heard. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Be civil. 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. And we have a few people signed up. Tanzy Mash. Hello. Is it on? Yes. Okay. Um, I wrote something, but I

073also just want I was I I thought of a couple other things while sitting here and listening to all of you um so eloquently talk about what happened on May 20th. Um, first, uh while Rick, I appreciate what you were saying. Obviously, this board is concerned um foremost with the student educa education, the student population here. I think um the implication of that statement though was also implying that people that voted against the prop are not concerned about that. And I think there is a large portion of people who would say that smaller schools are better for the younger kids, the K through three or even K through five children. So, I think there is that consideration to make when thinking about how people voted. Um, also when talking about the exit poll, which I

074hope the data from which will be released to the public, I think there's a lot of people that would uh gain a lot from looking through that. But also when talking about the exit poll, I just have to say it was incredibly frustrating taking that poll. mainly because the multiple choice in the beginning made it so that if you selected that you were concerned about keeping Woodstock open, you were then unable to select any of the other options that came before it. Whereas if you selected the others, you could choose as many as you would like. So that was frustrating. Okay, now I'll read what I wrote. Um, in light of Proposition 2's results at the ballot box, which was voted down by a 10% margin, I urge this board to bring forward a new

075inclusive plan that does two essential things. keeps Woodstock Elementary open to serve K through five children in the eastern part of the district and also proposes a lower cost capital project and thereby a smaller bond that would upgrade the high school, the middle school, and Bennett, but eliminate the costly $15 million components that were the expansion to Bennett, which were only needed to absorb the Woodstock students. This alternative could come at significantly less of a cost than the $70.5 million plan that was voted down while still remaining tax neutral due to the savings that were realized from Phoenicia. Prop 2 was divisive because it forced voters to choose between two priorities. Preserving a community school and upgrading our facilities. But those goals are not mutually exclusive and they never should have been presented that way.

076A new plan that respects and values both sides of the issue can truly unite our community. And I urge the board to bring forward a revised proposal that we may all rally behind. Let's move forward together with a plan that reflects everybody's wishes for this school district and its students. Thank you. Tany just was Jess Wisneski here, parent and resident of Olive Bridge. I wanted to say uh take the opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to the administrators, board members, other staff, and teams of people who prepared and worked hard to offer a way forward for our district last month through the proposition to update toward a central campus. I want to recognize and appreciate your dedication and time spent throughout our multi-town community educating voters and the greater public about the tremendous benefits

077and necessity of updating the Boyceville campus and moving toward a central campus in the years ahead. I think that effort from you and other supporters in the community educated a ton of people about this district's current situation and in a way that had not been done that way quite before. A diverse set of parents and community members from across all of our towns came together to work on this project. And the collective efforts of really everyone on all sides of the vote show the passion and love that many have for these collective communities. Like is often true for school capital improvement projects, the prop didn't pass this first time around. But each new voter I spoke with was so appreciative to actually understand why this is so important for the greater good to move to

078a central campus. Why it's critical for education equity and inclusion for the thousand or so students from every far corner of the district. and why it's important for the fiscal responsible future for so many so families have a better shot at staying here long term. The years of research and grappling, analysis and proposals, community conversation and visioning sessions still point us toward the need for a central campus. And I have all the faith that we can revisit the capital improvement proposal, create a maybe more fiscally leaner version, and still create a sustainable and updated campus for generations to come. I encourage the board to take a look at the plans, propose something, maybe with less of a price tag, if you will, even though it was tax neutral, and put it to another vote. I

079would argue sooner the better so we can stay on a schedule to get things moving for these kids. I have specific suggestions about ways we could do that and I'm happy to share if that's helpful. But for now again I want to say thank you. Thank you for staying the course toward a toward true education equity for our students, fiscal responsibility for our taxpayers. It's a lot easier to tear things down than to build things up. It's easier to keep the status quo versus creating a better future. Thank you for your leadership in these challenging times. Thank you, Jess. Would anyone else like to speak? Yes, please say your name when you get up to the mic. Daniel Suain, uh parent of a Woodstock kindergartener and hopefully another one who will uh get to go

080to school there. She's only two though. Uh I do have a couple things that I want to say, but first I want to react to a few things that the board said. Um so there was uh the sentiment put forward that essentially the people who voted uh for Prop 2 uh had equity in mind and were willing to put their self-interest aside uh for what is better for the community and that those who voted against Prop 2 were only voting in their self-interests. I find that reductive. uh everyone who comes to the voting booth considers their self-interest at least in some way. And it is certainly true that some of the people uh who voted to uh against Prop 2 did so because maybe they want their kids to go to uh school in Woodstock.

081But many of them, and I talked to many of them, are actually more concerned about the impact of closing Woodstock and what it would do to the town in terms of its ability to attract families. And they're interested in that for the long term, not just for themselves, but the future of the town. So I I hope the board will will uh reject that kind of dichotomy that suggests one side of this issue uh has the best interest of the district at heart and the others are only thinking about themselves or their property values. Uh the other thing I wanted to respond to was the suggestion that the only job of the trustees is a financial one. Obviously it's an incre extremely important one. Uh but schools are not factories and kids are not widgets.

082Uh obviously centralization would allow us to produce education if that's the product for less money, but sometimes spending less money may not be the best outcome for all of the community. So again, yes, it might cost more over the long term to keep Woodstock open, which is what a lot of people want, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's not the right way to spend money for the community. Um so I believe that there are very difficult choices and arguments on both sides of this issue. I do not think it is clear-cut and obviously uh neither does the community because many people voted on both sides of it. Uh so it's a very hard choice and you all have a very hard job and I respect that. I I would not be want to be in

083your job. Um uh the board has been for quite some time trying to lead the community towards a vision of centralization. I believe your job is to both lead but also to listen. The voters have spoken and the vision that you all have laid out was not one that they wanted to vote for. You can say that they misunderstood or read too much on social media, but I believe people were quite well informed and they said this is not what I want to see happen. Um, so the community has spoken and I encouraged the board to really uh shift away from leading towards centralization as the only option and listening to what the community has said. Um, I will note and people have brought up the Bachmann report. Uh, there were six options put forward

084in the Bachmann report. It's not as if that report said there is only one way to address the challenges of this community. There are many including the final option which was to keep two schools open. One of them being Woodstock or Phoenicia. So it is a bit frustrating that the way the board talks about it as this as is as if there is only one way to consider this issue which is centralization. There are many ways to consider it and I hope you will take this vote as an opportunity to consider a different direction. Thank you Daniel. Would anyone else like to speak? Come on down. I'm sorry. Did you raise your hand? Did you raise your hand? Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. Ben, you get up here. I'm Stephanie. I am a homeowner in

085Woodstock, New York. I have two kids in the middle school and I'm very grateful for every single one of you. I came here so angry from New York City and listening on the YouTube and then you guys started talking and I was like, we all care so much. Like what a luxury problem. Holy smokes. Okay, I'll be brief. Woodstock's really complicated. I moved here in um 2018 and we have Amitech which manufactures drones and we have peace festivals on our green every week. Um we have Bird Cliff Colony that is a hundredyear-old uh artist colony. I think it was the last affordable housing issue Woodstock ever produced. And that's where I'm going to bring our conversation here. Not to you guys, but to everybody watching the replay. Um, Woodstock is eating itself due to its

086lack of leadership and initiative for people to afford to live there. And I am so angry that all of the kids in Aunta have to suffer because would not Woodstock could not get its act together. And that's what's happening. And I know my dear friend Jess is being polite with equitable. I'm a storyteller. I'm going to tell you what equity means. You guys know I'm going to tell you what equity means. Equity means not chasing around the one dyslexia specialist that can help your kid read because they are shuffled out. Equity means uh you know not having co-teers. Equity means your kid, your Woodstock kid included having the full day services that they need need and deserve. That's what we're talking about with equity. Let's just call it what it is. And if you have

087the luxury of not having to have to advocate for your kid, God bless you. God bless you. But we got kids from Southwest Hurley to Pine Hill and Woodstock included who deserve full day services, who deserve a central campus and Woodstock will be Woodstock. Hopefully one day we can be the place of the musical soundouts again. But it is a place that is the land of Levon helm that is passing a sound ordinance that would literally get me reported if I were outside right now. So that's Woodstock. I love you Woodstock. I hate you. I love you. I hate you. I'm glad to be here. Um please put the bond forward. Every kid in every district, Woodstock included, deserves full day services. Deserves to not have to pick between music and sports. deserves to be

088together in a beautiful building. Thank you and good night. Thank you, Stephanie. Would anyone else like to speak? Jenny Jared, I wasn't going to say anything, but then we didn't talk about the concert and it was so amazing. And I want to thank Miss McKenna so much. She is so incredible. We are going to miss her and Miss Sice and Miss Catalano because I felt like walking into this huge room full full of families and all the seats on the stage full of children was it really brought me back to our Bennett combined school which I know everybody's heard me talk about. It's so magical. The energy is so exciting and seeing the kids. If you didn't see it, you can find it. Thank you, John Rhyr. It's on YouTube and it sounds better than

089my phone. It's great. Um, and you can see the kids in the band, in the orchestra, and they're sitting all they're together, but only half of them play the first song, and then they switch, and the kids from Bennett play the second song, and then the kids from Woodstock play the third song, and like that. And then they all played together two songs every time. And I I had a hard time not crying. And they weren't even my kids. I have a fifth grader in this show. Um, it really demonstrated in real time. I actually think Miss Codalano said this is about district community and it's not a core me, it's a core us. Thank you, Miss Codalano. So, as we move forward together, let's remember Miss Codalano and also the message that we were

090looking at which was like this is about these precious children and how amazing it is when they're all together and we are all here supporting all of them. It's a beautiful thing and um watch it on YouTube. Thank you. Thank you, Jenny. Would anyone else like to speak? Just state your name when you get to the mic. Hi Uh, my name is Ben Flecher. I wasn't gonna speak. Um, I didn't come prepared with something to say. Um, uh, I'm a father of three in the district. Uh, my little one is here. She's going into kindergarten this year. Um, she's on my phone. Um, my other two are in third and fifth. And, um, so I'm here as a concerned parent and I'm I'm from Woodstock. So I'm also here I'm I have a business in

091Woodstock and I'm very much a part of the Woodstock community. Um so I I I know a lot about the the the feelings of the community. I guess that's part of why I'm here. Um I think one important thing I just wanted to note. Um and firstly I didn't say thank you to all of you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate you all the work that you do. It's amazing. Um I did want to point out one thing that um Rick, is that your name? Yes, that you mentioned. I'm sorry. Uh we haven't met before. Um just about the uh the numbers and the vote. And I think it's important to consider that uh the candidate Hawkman was a write in and that because he was a write in I think a lot

092of people just didn't know about him. Uh which is not to say that that's not significant. It's just that it points to It points to that if more people if if the same number of people knew about him, if he was on the ballot, that those numbers would have come equally from uh Jenny Jared and Rory Smith. And so uh that actually would have put Alberte and Hawkman on the ballot. Um so it is to consider like it's all on how you look at some of the numbers. Like I don't think it's as cut and dry as you are interpreting the vote to be. Um, I think what we all want is to make sure that something happens at the school sooner than later. Um, I would I personally propose that we either split the

093bond and get all the high school improvements done right away while we deliberate about what to do next. uh or that we uh continue to keep them together and um put a moratorium on the closing of Woodstock Elementary so we have more time to really I don't know consider whether or not the uh the both the transition of the school if it is transitioned if that's really considered because it wasn't done particularly well with West Hurley that cost the district money in the long run so that's an unfortunate thing and then it's not affordable housing it's not educ education and you know kind of just got sold to the highest bidder which I think is what might happen in Woodstock and I think the board has an opportunity to ensure more safety for the future

094of that building and I think that should be part of how you meet the community's feedback from this vote. So that's my time. Thank you. Thank you Ben. Would anyone else like to speak? Well, thank you all so much for coming and for speaking. On to item 9.01. This is the approval um of the statement of the chair. The board of education hereby approves the statement of the chair of the 2025 budget vote and elections. May I have a first? Trusty Kenson second. Trusty Mitchell Morurell. Any questions or comments? All in favor. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 9.02 02 is continue discussion on uh the new trustee on boarding process we had I I can't remember in what um I think possibly it was an agenda setting where we had a brief conversation about this

095and we wondered and whoever we are and I can't remember who I spoke to honestly because I was in so any meetings recently. Um that perhaps a couple of trustees would uh would sort of just form a committee to uh to work on that piece. We did have some good suggestions at the last board meeting. Um and we have we do have our uh handbook and the NISBA handbook. I'm wondering how people feel about that if anyone's interested in taking on that role. Trusty can trust Kenudson. As the one who suggested it, I will join that committee. I I do have a question though. Um do we think it's important do the other trustees think it's important that we get that in place before July 1st? that seems like a a accelerated time or or

096before the fall or I think I I I don't think that it would be possible to get it uh ready by July 1. Maybe some priority items, you know, with suggestions about how to implement priority items by July 1st, but I think it could potentially be a work in progress. I don't know if anyone else has any thoughts and I also am I a committee of one? I guess so. Um I'll work with you. I'll work with you. Yeah. I think what I would suggest that I do next would be to go go watch the discussion again that we had at the last meeting. We did. Yes. and um and come up maybe I'll just submit to via email a few or we I can send it to you for a committee of two and

097then we'll generate some priority items to send to the board. Maybe we can discuss at the next meeting during new business or something like that. Sound good? Sounds good. I did take notes during that conversation and I have them on the front page of one of the onboarding um manuals that we have. So, I'll I'll I'll email those to you. Great. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other comments about that topic? Trusty Goodrich. I just wonder why our personal on boarding document is larger than the one from New York State. How do we get here? How did we get here from there? I don't know, but it was it was it was drafted it was probably drafted, you know, with the NISSBA um manual and then obviously we added a little a little extra. But

098again, I my my thought in this was not to try to reinvent that document at all, but really just to come up with a short checklist of things that bases that we make sure we touch with the new trustees. Um, guess this is a one-pager. I think it's not it's not a a huge that's partly why I volunteer for No, I'm just kidding. Um, no, no, but I I I think it's it's just a few things we make sure that we don't let slip by the wayside. That's all. Okay, now that I know it's only a one pager, I'm really glad that I volunteered to help. It's my kind of work. All right. Okay, moving on. Do we need a break? H maybe five. What? Yeah, it it will. Okay, we'll power through. Okay. Um,

099so item 11.01 is uh approval of the consent agenda. May I have a um the board hereby approves items number 11.02 through 11.07. May I have a first? Trusty Romano. Second. Trusty Lynch. Any questions or comments? I've reviewed schedule U and everything appears to be in order. All right. All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. Trusty Lynch, did you have a question or comment? Just a comment. Um, I just wanted um to um thank the uh Woodstock Country Club and any other country clubs that are offering um reduced uh offering our athletes an opportunity to compete. Um, many of you may know that we have a um an outstanding girls golf team and it's uh pretty exciting and I just want to thank uh Woodstock Golf Club for their partnership. Thanks for mentioning that. All right,

100all in favoren, go ahead. I was just going to wish her luck in her big it's this coming weekend. Let's all think good thoughts this weekend for the team. Yes. All right. I just want to thank everyone who made donations again this month. Um we do have our senior award ceremony coming up next week on the 11th and this district and the community come together and provide half a million dollars worth of awards and scholarships for our seniors. And it's a testament to how much they care about our students. Thank you. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 12.01, uh, approve all contracts and independent contract retainers. The board hereby approves items number 12.02 through 12.08. May I have a first? Trusty Romano. Second. Trusty Lynch. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's

101unanimous. Thank you. Item 13.01, we have a second reading and adoption of policy 5710, transportation program. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich. Second, Trustee Romano. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 13.02, we have a second reading and adoption of policy 5720, scheduling and routing. May I have a first? Trusty Roando. Second. Trusty Mitchell Morell. Any questions or comments? Trusty Kudson. I just want to point out to any community members that might be watching that this a lot of these policies are resolving an issue that was brought up. Um, a lot of the changes that are being put in are clarifying that these bus trips after school have to be to district um uh after school activities which we learned from the state per state policy. Right. Yeah. So,

102I just wanted to in case anybody was following that thread from previous meetings, um you'll you'll find that it's it's clarified in these policies. Thank you. All in favor? Did I ask for a first and second? Okay. Yes. Okay. All in favor? Great. That's unanimous. Thank you. We have a second reading of uh an adoption of policy 5721 late bus runs. The board hereby adopts policy 5721 as written. May I have a first? Trusty Roando second trusty Kudson. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. We have a second reading and adoption of policy 5730, transportation of students. The board hereby adopts policy 5730 as written. May I have a first? Trusty Mitchell Morurell. Second. Trusty Roando. Any questions or comments? All in [Music] favor? That's unanimous. And we have a second

103reading and adoption of policy 5961, alcohol and drug testing of drivers. The board hereby adopts policy 5961 as written. May I have a first? Trustee Romano. Second, Trusty Canudson. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Trusty Mitchell Morell. Okay, thank you. All right, that's unanimous. Thank you. On to committee reports. Comm uh Trusty Kusen, go ahead. just to report that the audit committee met on um May 19th and we heard from Mike Rossi who um works for the company the uh the auditors that do our external audit and they're preparing they do the audit at the end of the of the year and it will be presented to the audit committee in the fall in September. Um I learned some new acronyms which is always exciting. Um, uh, one that people might be interested in

104is, um, the financial institution. It's a, it's a consortium institution that holds our, um, our reserve accounts. Uh, it used to be two. They're merging. Used to be NLASS and NIAF. Now it's going to be just NICLASS. But it's a it's something that benefits the district because we get um better rates because we join together with other districts to um have this correct, right? Yes. And um also wanted to say that the facilities committee met um jumping over facilities and we learned about um bunch of projects that are that were approved a few years ago that are going to be happening this summer in the middle school high school primarily. Um bunch of room upgrades. Um I think they're going to work on finish the security vestibule at the at the high school and uh

105the couple of projects that are um in development are um repair to the um elevator at the high school which doesn't quite meet currently when it um reaches its destination and also the solar and geothermal study for potential um future upgrades to the boy campus. And there were other trustees at the facility. So I'll turn it over to them if they want to say anything. Before we do that, can I just ask uh either Superintendent McLaren or um or assistant superintendent for businesslair to just explain um why is it that for example like the security vestibial at the high school is is happening that the the construction on that is happening this summer. But the voters approved that um you know in in 2023. Okay. So why what what is that about you know that

106that has come up you know during this bond proposition and you know people say that we we vote yes and nothing ever happens. And I'm just curious about the process. Yeah. So it it's really all about timing. So once once the voters approve it, then the architects design it and then once they design it, they send it up to SED. What happened with the security vestibule that was part of that $ 8.8 million project was there was still a lot of um ARP money left and school districts were itching to spend it and we're pretty much told spend it on things that were nonrecurring because once the money's gone, the money's gone, you're not getting it. So schools did projects and then facilities planning decided to get rid of third-party review at the same time.

107So it really it it prolonged the review process. And if you can't get your project out to bid in the winter months, you don't have enough time to have it turned around to get contracts approved for the work to be done in the summer. So if it can't be done in one summer, then it has to wait until the next summer. So they did bring back thirdparty review. The uh review times have gone down tremendously. They've also hired which has helped. Excellent. Thank you so much for that. Any other committee reports, Chelsea Lynch? Yes. Uh the communications committee has met twice since our last meeting. The first was um uh May 21st. We produced the the content uh reviewed the content for the May board briefs which you all saw and has already gone out.

108And then this second meeting was just this week on Monday and we talked a bit about the um exit polling um some of the lessons we learned from the exit poll uh and um the um May excuse me the June board briefs and the content for that as well. So that is forthcoming. Anything else? Okay, great. Thank you. Were there any other uh committee meetings? I think that's Oh, please. Um, we talked about we did two policies. One was about um cell phones and one was about high temperatures. Yes. And they were both pretty straightforward, I thought. What else should I say? Yeah. And we approved mostly them. We maybe we took out a few sentences, but we liked them. Great. Thank you. All right. on to 15.01 old business. Is there any old business

109to discuss? Trusty Lynch. Yeah, thank you. Um I wasn't aware that the New York state policy around temperature had been rescended. So I'm just curious. Um I had asked about potential like Antiora specific analysis of the state budget. It was late in coming. Um, but I was just curious if we could talk about things like that and specifically about the EV buses because that was something we had concern we had concerns about in this budget that we just approved. But um there was u anticipation that that mandate may language around the mandate may shift andor the timelines. And so I was just curious if we could both understand what did come out of the budget if anything which was not a lot. And um and then what does that mean more importantly for us in

110terms of our planning if it changes anything or not? Um I just something that I think we should keep tabs on. Thank you. Thank you. Any other old business? Jesse Kudson. I was just going to say I think one thing that did come out of the budget was regarding foundation aid which is that they let go of the two finally let go of the 2000 census which is going to be significant for our district because in 2000 we had two and a half times the number of students we had now. Um, so it it doesn't mean that a cut is coming immediately, but that basis that has sort of been tethering us to a higher enrollment past has been cut, I believe. And do we know what census they are going to be using in

111their formula? I do not. Okay. So maybe we can find that out. Hopefully Any other old business? Any new business? Trusty Mitchell Morell. Um, I think this is when I'm supposed to say this. Uh, just maybe somehow releasing the exit polls. I just know a lot of people are wondering about that and I think we need to get it out there. Any other new business? Trusty Goodrich. So, I didn't want to really bring this up um till after the vote. Um have we come up with any kind of a high level plan? What would we do if we lost let's say $5 million in foundation foundation aid on an annual basis? I mean, how what would we do? Uh, when we were being threatened with a significant loss of foundation aid last year, we actually

112created two budgets looking at what cuts we could potentially make. So, we always have that in the back of our heads. Um, but every year that does shift as our actual staffing and programmings evolve. Do do you want to share some of the details of that plan at some point in time or is that if if you'd like? Sure. You know, because I I think going forward we have to be concerned with that possibility. Uh and I and I don't want to ignore it. I think it would be fiscally irresponsible for us to just um ignore that number. That's let's say it's five millions. That's every year. That's that's not a one-time basis. So, it's it's frankly that scares me. Trusty Mitchell Morell, I think maybe we did this like a year ago. There was

113like a presentation on financial aid maybe, but it might be time to do that again or just like go through the scenarios, what could happen, when it could happen because it is pretty confusing and also like ever changing. So, I think that would be helpful because it's sort of this thing hanging over us that we don't, some people, myself included, don't fully understand. Thank you, uh, Trusty Lynch. Trusty Kusen. Yeah. I So, I hope I have this all right. I think I do. But just another thing for us all to be aware of is I believe that the state legislature in in passing this budget gave Governor Hokll uh sweeping power to unilaterally make budget cuts and adjustments. And the reason I bring this up is because our state spends a lot on health care

114and the this congressional bill that is a subject of much debate right now has the potential to really um decimate the funding that goes to our hospitals, our community health centers. um the state could take a real hit and what that might end up resulting in is shells being moved around, you know, to it, you know, um and uh so that that's something else we really need to keep an eye on is both the the federal congressional bu budget bill, how it affects um particularly I think Medicaid in our state because we spend a lot on Medicaid in New York State and and how the governor responds um to that. Thank you. Any other new business? Trusty Goodrich. So, I think um our uh five-year facilities plan might be coming up pretty soon. So, is

115that something that'll be done in the fall or We actually have a calendar year in which to do it. It's not not a f it's not a fiscal year the way our our uh budget is. It's the calendar year. Um and um yeah, so I think it's 20 it's the calendar year of 2026. So, any other new business? Trusty Lynch, just want to thank you for inviting the um architects to our future meeting. I it's a question so I'm sorry if this is an appropriate time to ask but um maybe it's more appropriate as an RFI but I was just wondering there's so much you know math involved with that that and was much improved when we brought in the uh fiscal adviserss as well but would we have enough information for example we know

116that um that um on a $70 million proposition 1.3 million would be aidable um would we be able to do that kind of calculation in a meeting like this. I assume it's a much more time inensive exercise to be able to say we came up with X proposition therefore we know this much would be aidable or if we had to split it then we know only this would be aable this would not that kind of thing. That analysis is something that the uh fiscal advisors does after looking at the components of the proposition. So it if we come up with potential propositions then we would want to send that to Beth Ferguson and have her really analyze it and come up with what the aid rate would be and she wouldn't be able to do

117that here in real time. Any requests for information at this time going once. Okay. All right. Uh our next meeting is June 17th and it will be here at the middle school high school. Uh may I have a motion to adjurnn? Trusty Goodrich. Second. Trusty Arando. All in favor. That's unanimous. Thanks everyone. Great meeting.