BOE Meeting 3/10/26

001flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um that moves us on to item C, a moment of silence. Dr. Manatee, did you want to mark? Thank you. Yes, I I'd ask at this point and just some context for the board and for the members of the community that are with us this evening. Unfortunately, this school year we've had a couple of instances where we've lost staff members or staff members who maybe just recently retired. And such was the case over the course of the last couple of weeks. We've lost three staff members sadly, all of whom worked in our our transportation department. So, I just want to ask that the community join in a moment of

002quiet reflection in honor of Jill Vanemark, who was a driver, Geraldine Swartz, who was a monitor in our transportation department, and Stephen Turowski, who recently retired. All of whom unfortunately passed sometime over the last 2 weeks. Thank you. Mrs. Ladiza, can you please call the roll? Maryann Meeden Here. Maryann Quinn Here. Brian Arnold >> Here. Sophia Bonet Hollis Here. Jennifer Boyd Here. Linda Gaines >> Here. Jeffrey Hayes Here. Donna Logan Here. Eileen Snook Here. Mia Newsom Here. Thank you. Um, item E, the reading of the district mission. Our mission is to empower all students to be self-directed, lifelong learners who willingly contribute to their community and lead passionate, purposeful lives. May I please get a motion for the approval of the agenda? So moved. Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, I'm just going to

003make one comment. I asked Francesca very late in the day, I sent you guys an email to add, we had a second person who's running for the BOCES board. There's two seats on the BOCES board that are open, and today is the last day that we're going to be meeting that we can nominate people. This doesn't mean there's no rush to judgment here. We don't We're not voting today. We're just getting them on the ballot, much like we fill out petitions for ourselves. And, um, some of us are familiar with Judy. She's on the Webutuck board, and she's active in the Dutchess County school boards. So, I just want to highlight that that was added late. I know it and for people who read the agendas at home early, I just want you to know

004that's a that's a revision that came in late this afternoon. Um, can I please get a mo- You I already have my motion my second. Um, all in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention. Motion passes. Thank you. Um, correspondence. Um, I have something related to correspondence, but I'm going to save it for board president remarks. Um, which brings us to board president remarks. So, I just want to thank you. It's nice to have a big crowd here tonight. Thank you for the lovely snacks in the back, and particularly thank you for the lovely tour we had of this facility yesterday. Um, and all the people we We There was a lot of us kind of disturbed as we came in and saw the beautiful work you're doing with our children. So, thank you for that. We felt

005very welcomed, and we learn We always learn a lot when we're in buildings, and we look forward to talking with that for you in a few minutes when we move on to that part of the agenda. Um, I want to thank, um, also I want to thank uh Dr. Bonante, the administration, the teachers, the staff with with their patience with a really tough budget year and the amount of work that's going into it. And I also want to thank our board members who are, you know, working to keep up with the information so we can make sound and important decisions for for what we need to do to to move forward um and maintain the integrity of our of our schools for our community. So, I want to thank everybody for all that work, which

006is continuing and ongoing. Um And then And then finally, um I do have a a quick statement I want to read. Um I'd like to address the topic that has been receiving a lot of attention over the past several days, namely the formation of a politically aligned club at the high school. After due consideration, the club in question was approved by the board at its December 9th, 2025 public meeting as part of the business consent agenda item N. The club has a legal right to form and the board is not reconsidering its approval of the club. All clubs and activities operate under the expectations and consequences set out in the student code of conduct. I'd like to read several excerpts from the code of conduct which you can find in its entirety on our district

007website. The Arlington Central School District Board of Education strives to create a safe, inclusive environment I'm sorry, safe, inclusive environments that support the mental, social, and emotional well-being of all students. The district will foster a sense of belonging by honoring the dignity of each individual and by developing students' abilities to be inclusive and welcoming while affirming students' personal and cultural identities. The district has a long-standing set of expectations for conduct on school property and at school functions. These expectations are based on the principles of safety, civility, mutual respect, citizenship, character, acceptance, inclusiveness, equity, honesty, and integrity. Additionally, our district operates under the New York State Dignity for All Students Act, which seeks to provide state's public and element public elementary and secondary students with a safe and supportive environment free of discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment,

008and bullying. Keeping all that in mind, I have a few other thoughts. Our fundamental task as a community is to prepare our young people for all aspects of life. Our kids have enough examples of intolerance and exclusion. I hope they use this opportunity to learn the value of constructive dialogue and engagement with restraint and respect. I'll go further and say I hope they learn to listen to each other and not immediately ascribe the lowest common denominator to of a group to the intentions of any one individual. We could all use a little bit of grace. Thank you. Um and now that concludes my remarks, uh Dr. Bonat. Thank you, Mrs. Mina. I'm going to provide some remarks on the club as well in a minute here, but I uh didn't want to get out of

009form where I try to acknowledge a few of the great things that are happening throughout our district uh before such. Uh so first a thank you uh to Mrs. Kerr and Mrs. Dillon for hosting our visit to the school. I think it was yesterday. Uh it seems that that's how the days are passing at this point. Uh we had a great visit. And I think part of I know this is a new process for the board, and I think part of my worry on the front end was that we have eight elementary schools. So was board going to go to each elementary school and essentially see the same thing? Uh but I don't think that's been the case at all. We've had very much the visits, particularly to our elementaries, have complemented each other in

010many ways, especially as we're going through the the the buildings at different points in the school year. So, it's been great to see some of the beginning year activities in some of our schools. Now, we're getting right in the thick of, you know, I say the beginning of the end of the year. Although, it may not seem like that and we'll talk more in a few minutes when Claudine more formally welcomes us to the school, but I appreciate that you're here obviously hosting us this evening and that many members of the Vail Farm staff are here as well and thank you again for for hosting us yesterday and hosting us again today. This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend an Eagle Scout recognition and I've through my travels had the opportunity to support

011some Eagle Scouts on their projects and maybe ones in the school or not. I've never been to an Eagle Scout recognition before and I was invited to attend and I was really proud to represent the the school district in in that regard and I shared so Derek Mueller, who is a senior at Arlington High School, has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and and I just thought the the Scouts do a great job of honoring the journey, if you will, that from Cub Scouts all the way through and the types of projects that our Eagle Scouts or I'm sorry that our Scouts are participating in throughout their experience through Scouting America. So, I was really proud of obviously Derek and his family. He did a wonderful job representing his family and some of his mentors

012along the way. He's an Arlington High School senior on to great things next year. We'll be congratulations to him. Last week I had the opportunity to attend both our boys and girls basketball team semi-final games. Unfortunately, it ended there in the semi-finals for both of them at the County Center. I don't recall a time when we had both our boys and our girls playing in the County Center, which is a big accomplishment for our kids in the same season. It's happened in other seasons, but I can't recall a time when both teams were down there at the same time. So, that was great. It was great to see obviously our our kids compete, their families, and many members from our community as well. So, congratulations to both of them. This Friday, our boy boys bowling

013team heads off to defend their state championship. So, there'll be a somewhat of a send-off at the high school. It's a superintendent's conference day. So, I don't know if there'll be too many kids there, but I know the staff at the high school look forward to to sharing in that moment where the boys head off to states and we'll wish them luck. Hopefully, we'll have the chance to have them back at a board meeting like we did last year to celebrate a victory, but we'll see how that plays out over the course of the weekend. And then lastly, again, before my remarks, I wanted to congratulate and thank Mia Chong and Steven Ryan, our band directors at LMS and Union Vale respectively. They collaboratively brought six students from Union Vale and LaGrange to participate in

014the New York State Band Directors Association Middle School Honor Band in Syracuse this weekend. So, I saw some posts related to that. The kids sounded fantastic. Those are wonderful opportunities for our kids from many school districts across New York to come together and one meet each other, but also share in their love of music and perform for one another, and it seems like they did a great job. So, congratulations to to Mia and Steven, thank you for doing that. And one just disclaimer, that field trip is on your agenda tonight. So, I we hadn't typically taken this trip before, so I pulled it from the last agenda just to answer some questions or check check some things out beforehand, not realizing that the trip was last week. So, we still wanted the kids to go

015and you're going to approve it tonight. Thank you for that. The kids had a great time. [laughter] But, just it got a little bit out of order and you know we like to keep things in good order. Maryanne, thank you for your comments and for reiterating the district's values as it relates to student club at Arlington High School. There's a quote that one of my social studies teacher shared with me many years ago that isn't attributed to anyone at least as of yet that democracy is a slow process of stumbling to the right decision instead of going straight forward to the wrong one. And I think it while I have found at times this matter especially when we were deliberating on it or it came to me back in the fall to be conflictive. But

016at the same time through taking the time to speak to our attorneys, to speak to some other school superintendents who have been confronted with similar petitions for similar clubs. I do feel we arrived at the right decision. So first I just want to clarify some things without being too extended in this format that there's obviously been a lot of scrutiny regarding the club and how or why it was accepted within the school. The board I know had similar questions or concerns back in November or December when we initially discussed this or when it landed on a board agenda when the club was originally proposed. And I can reiterate again the club is permitted much as Mrs. Meaden has that our students do have broad protections to assemble through club activity both before and after school.

017Those rights are distinctly different than what may occur during the regular school day. They do not shed that right to assemble their first amendment right when they enter the schoolhouse door. Those rights are allow our students to gather and discuss political affiliations and religious affiliations as well. And even those that we may find personally conflictive. It's neither my responsibility nor the board's responsibility at this point to insert our individual beliefs in deliberating about this matter. Although I will recognize at times it's it is individually conflictive. It's our responsibility to ensure that we're upholding the same standard for all clubs, that we're honoring our students constitutional rights even when their exercise exercise of those rights may conflict again with our personal or even our professional beliefs. A couple of weeks ago I had the great pleasure

018of getting away for a day with my wife to the city, which seems to happen with less frequency these days, uh to go see a show. And and I'll say that as we were making our way from where we parked, uh you know, down towards uh the theater district, I noticed that there was a group of individuals that were protesting right at Columbus Circle there, if you're familiar with New York City. Uh and I don't want to draw a direct parallel between this and what they were protesting was irrelevant, but there were a number of law enforcement officers that were surrounding Columbus Circle protecting them from another group uh that was obviously counter-protesting and potentially ran the risk of of interfering with their ability to protest peacefully. I am certain that of the 100 law

019enforcement officers that were standing there, one or two of them, if not more, perhaps was conflicted personally or professionally with what was being protested uh in Columbus Circle at that point in time. I would liken that to sometimes the role that we play as uh school administrators and school board members. We may be personally conflicting or find a matter personally conflictive, but we have a responsibility uphold other individuals' rights even when they may conflict with our own. So, uh one thing I I will say, uh and I thought you said it past Mary Ann, that we shouldn't project out uh the lowest form of what may occur in any club or activity, but we do retain the authority to maintain order and discipline on school premises. We have a responsibility to do that and to

020protect the well-being of all of our students and faculty. A group affiliating with a political organization does not, independent of any other activity, constitute a material disruption to the educational activities of the school. So, to put that in plain language, just because a group wants to affiliate with a political entity, we cannot, as a school administrator administration, assume that now that constitutes a material disruption to the school. The students have to be given an opportunity to meet at that point after they have their meeting, which I believe they'll follow hopefully the guidelines that we established for them. We can determine at that point if there's any further action for the district to take, but I do believe under the guidance of our school administration that I know is working really hard at this at Arlington

021High School that the students will be able to have a meeting peacefully. That concludes my remarks. Thank you. Um Mia, our ex-officio student board member, do you have a report for us tonight? Yes, I do. Sorry, mine is a bit lengthy, so stay with me. Um as student body president and student member on the Arlington Board of Education, I feel extremely compelled to speak about the Turning Point USA club at Arlington High School. On Thursday, March 5th, I walked into school and everywhere my head turned, I saw flyers for a new club called Turning Point USA. Over the course of the day, I had dozens of students come up to me and express how truly uncomfortable and unsafe they felt by the message behind these flyers. Therefore, I spoke to two different administrators in the

022building on behalf of the student body. By the end of the day, every single flyer had been ripped off the wall by students. Hundreds of flyers gone in just 7 hours. What do you think that type of reaction says about our community's feelings towards this organization? I am not here to state my personal political opinions. I'm here to be the voice for the student body, which is a role I was voted to do and a responsibility that I take very seriously. I would be here voicing the student body's concerns if this was a liberal or conservative club. It's not about politics for me. It's about being a voice for those who feel like they don't have one. Although this is a very tough topic for me to get up and speak about, I owe it

023to the students who feel like they can't. I want to start off by highlighting the fact that I'm a firm believer in freedom of speech, and the goal of what I'm about to say is not to get the club shut down, which is something Arlington legally cannot do. I'm simply trying to spread awareness of why some students feel uneasy about the presence of this club. Students have told me that they have no problem with the club itself. It's the name they have given themselves. The organization Turning Point USA was founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012. Whether you agree with his political opinions or not, you cannot deny the hard facts and quotes of him being extremely racist, homophobic, and sexist on many different occasions. I want to make it very clear that I am not

024suggesting suggesting in any way, shape, or form that the students and staff that are part of the Turning Point USA club at Arlington agree with these quotes made by Charlie Kirk that I'm about to state. I'm certainly not proposing that these students and staff are racist, homophobic, or misogynistic. I'm simply giving examples of how some students could feel uncomfortable by the presence of this club due to its founder. Charlie Kirk said, and I quote, "If I see a If I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified." How do you think black students feel when they walk around the school and see flyers for an organization that was created by the same man who made that racist statement? Additionally, on August 26, 2025, during an episode of the Charlie

025Kirk Show, Charlie Kirk says, "Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge." while engaging in a discussion regarding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement. How do you think young women at Arlington High School feel when they see flyers for an organization that was started by the same man who made this misogynistic misogynistic statement? >> [snorts] >> Moreover, in a video clip posted by Charlie Kirk on his Instagram account, he says, "You need a counselor, not a surgeon." Speaking about transgender youth. How do you think transgender students at Arlington High School feel when they see flyers for an organization that was started by the same man who made that homophobic comment? In the hallway, I had a student say to me, and I quote, "The former leader of this organization has made me

026feel personally attacked just because of who I love." Allowing an organization that is deeply rooted in hatred, racism, homophobia, and misogyny no longer makes Arlington a safe and comfortable learning environment for all students. For most nonprofits, it's a legal necessity to have a statement of non-discrimination. According to public records, there is no published explicit statement of non-discrimination for Turning Point USA. Why is a school with so much diversity and a code of conduct revolving around the consequences of discrimination allowing a partnership with an organization that, oddly enough, has no statement of non-discrimination? You encourage students to file DAS reports when we feel like we're being targeted, but time and time again, Turning Point USA leaders and followers have targeted the many minorities that exist within Arlington High School. According to the Student Bill of Rights

027in the Arlington Code of Conduct, right number five states that students are entitled to be in a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying, and bigotry. Furthermore, the Code of Conduct defines harassment and bullying as the creation of a hostile environment. How is our environment free from discrimination and hostility if the founder of Turning Point USA has discriminated against almost every minority that exists within Arlington? Lastly, I want to emphasize the fact that I do not think any of the students or staff who started this club at the school had bad intentions. I just think the organization name has a lot of negative connotations that can make students feel very uncomfortable. With a school district so diverse, we should be developing a school culture that emphasizes inclusivity, respect, and belonging. And at

028a time where the world is so polarized, Arlington should choose unity instead of further division. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mia. Okay, we have two sections for public comment. Do we have anybody for public comment for agenda items? We do not have anybody for agenda items. >> Okay, great. Thanks. And just heads-up. No. Uh What are you Are do you Did you sign You're signing up for what? Are you signing up for what? I thought you signed up for the second. Hit the button. Can you do me a favor? There's a little red button with person. Hit the person. I'm sorry. I signed up for the second because I didn't review the agenda, but my comments are relevant to um Board of Education President remarks and also Superintendent remarks. >> Those are not

029on the agenda. Oh, they're not on the agenda. Okay. Thanks. I'll be back. >> Sure. Yep. Thanks. Okay. It's really agenda items are things that were posted ahead of time. Because the whole idea is that we get to conduct our business, which is what we're going to do now, and then we're going to conduct the community business, which is what we're going to do next. Okay. So, um reports and discussions. Bell Farm. Yes, so at this point, I'd ask uh thank you, Mrs. Carter, come to the microphone. And again, I know I shared a little bit already, Claudine, but again, thanks uh at risk of being repetitive for facilitating the board visit uh yesterday. I don't even know how many classrooms we had the opportunity to visit, many. Uh, many great things going on. Uh,

030thank you for welcoming us to the school. And then, after a minute, uh, here after your welcome, we'll have the opportunity for board members to share their reflections. Thanks, Claudie. Excellent. Thank you so much. Good evening, Dr. Benante and the members of the Board of Education. On behalf of Vail Farm Elementary School, we welcome you here this evening. Um, it's always a pleasure to welcome you into our building, to share a small glimpse just of the work that we do and that happens here every day. So, at Vail Farm, we are guided by the Arlington Central School District mission to empower all students to be self-directed, lifelong learners who willingly contribute to their community and lead passionate, purposeful lives. The images on the slide highlight just a few of the ways that our students live

031that mission throughout the year. Each November, in the top left there, our school participates in our annual Day of Giving, where every student contributes one food item to support families in our community. Students will proudly parade their donations through to the cafeteria, where they all are all collected and organized for distribution. It is a powerful moment for our students to see how together we can make a difference. We also place a strong emphasis on helping students understand the importance of community and service. During our Veterans Day school meeting, we invite veterans connected to our students and families to join us so that we can recognize and celebrate their service. Our students also engage in experiences that promote exploration, wellness, and hands-on learning. You'll see images from the district's Take a Hike Day, which encourages students

032to connect with the outdoors, as well as examples of students engaged in active, hands-on learning both inside and outside of their classrooms. Acts of kindness are another way our students contribute to their community. Around Valentine's Day, we create cards that are shared with local nursing homes and veterans, reminding them that they are valued and remembered. Together, these experiences help our students understand that learning extends beyond the classroom and that they have the power to positively impact the world around them. I'd like to highlight one of the district's core values, that a community thrives when all members embrace their interdependence with compassion and empathy. This year, our staff has been engaged in a professional book club focused on The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The conversations from this work have helped us reflect on how we

033can support our students in building independence, resilience, and confidence in an increasingly complex world. In addition to the staff book club, we also have launched a parent book club that has been meeting monthly since October. This group is facilitated by two of our teachers, Michelle Malkisher and Scott Adams, and it has created a meaningful opportunity for families and educators to engage in thoughtful conversations together and supporting our children's well-being. One way that we're bringing the ideas to life with our students is through the Let Grow project, where students are encouraged to try something independently outside of school. Whether they're helping at home, learning a new skill, or taking on a responsibility they may not have tried before. When students complete these experiences, they then write them on a leaf that is added to a classroom

034tree, as you see in the picture there. And over the course of a year, that tree continues to grow as students build confidence in themselves and their abilities. One of my favorite examples came from a student who proudly shared with her teacher and all of her classmates that she cooked her own dinner for the first time, chicken and rice in the corner there. Moments like that remind us that independence often grows from small but meaningful experiences. At Vale Farm, we're very proud that our students learn, grow, and support one another each day. I thank you for taking the time to visit our school and for your continued support for our students, staff, and community. I also want to take a moment to thank all of the staff that is here supporting this evening um and

035that do the work every day here in this building um to do what's best for our students and of course our PTA for supplying the snacks who also greatly support our students on a daily basis with all the wonderful activities they provide them. So, thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Kerr. At this point, we'll open it up for board reflections on the visit. Yeah, Linda. Uh thank you, Mrs. Kerr and Ms. Dylan. Um personally, I had a wonderful time. It's like coming home. My youngest son went here. And um uh I was blown away. Quite honestly, with the students, what they're doing in kindergarten and first grade, of course all the students when we went to different grades and um how much they're writing and making paragraphs and writing about books and I wow. Um I

036thought all the teachers were really great with all the students. Um I want to call out Mr. Anastasio. He's here today. Um I loved the gym uh for um our students with different abilities. And uh Mr. uh Colburguso, he's new I guess to this school. Um he graduated my with my son in 2019. Um so, it was so nice to see him here. Um so, thank you so much. I think we're doing wonderful things in this school. Thank you. Thank you. Jeff. To see a second grader using bullet points, preparing to write an essay, whatever he was writing. But, to see them using bullet points in second grade, and it wasn't just one or two students, it was all of them. Like, where our education is going in the future if the kids are being

037that well prepared in second grade, seems like pretty good thing. Thank you. And if I could add just to that, how you organized the visit to see or walk us through kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders writing, so we could truly see the learning progression there. And the second grade work, I you know, to me looked like fourth grade work you know, upon my recollection, but at the same time it was really wonderful to see how the team teams are really working together to define learning expectations for students at each grade level, and then how that culminates year over year when it comes to something like a student's writing unit. So, thank you for that, Clark. You're welcome. Jen. I was I was really impressed on how much the children were actually writing on paper,

038and the white boards on the wall in math, and the amount of teamwork that was involved with the group. It wasn't just one child doing the problem, everyone had some input on it to help out, and they were teaching each other, and it was just wonderful to see. Thank you. Yes, we were Jennifer and I were in a room, they have whiteboards that Jennifer Hammond King had purchased for them, and they were in small groups, and the students had a fraction problem, and then they sort of had to um put that in a different create an equivalent fraction, and they were really working together as groups, and they're drawing, and they [laughter] So. Donna. I just want to say my colleagues made all the great comments, but I just want to say thank you as

039well, and I also really appreciated your the discussion beforehand, and kind of wrapping it up, and and having your your faculty fit us in. I'm sure we were disrupt a bit of a disruption, but I really appreciate it, and I feel like I learned a lot, and was very impressed by the work you're you're doing with the children. Thank you. Marion, do you have something? Yeah. I do. I always have something. >> [laughter] >> My something this year on the tour of 25-26 is community. In every building that we go to, we're getting this beautiful glimpse of each individual building's community and watching the village that gets kids everything they need to flourish, to feel part of a community. Um and as we go through, we we are seeing different snapshots, but I think the

040overriding uh message to all of us sitting at this table is children are thriving, children feel loved, and we are creating magnificent communities, no matter where you are in the district, and eventually we coalesce all into the middle school and then the high school, and I just I'm really loving watching that happen. So, thank you to Vail Farm for their part in that. Thank you. Eileen. Um I'm going to come away from the academics a little bit. Um Get a little closer. Get a little closer. Our friends at home can hear you. >> [laughter] >> Get a little less. Yeah. Um one of the things I loved actually had to do with the book club. Um I'm on I am the board rep at the equity the district equity committee, and so I know that

041many of the schools are doing the same book club. Um but hearing how you are working with the parents and parents are coming up with their own discussions and solutions, that's really the heart of family engagement. And um I just thought that that that was a great way to get that done. Um and then the other thing I wanted to just comment in the room where your teachers do the PLC's and you have the pictures of the people who are important to them and um is the work that you're doing good enough for those people? And I think that's anytime you can make it personal, that's that just is, you know, the home run. Um and I think, you know, for all of us, we're all here for a reason. We may be either had

042children or have children in the school or grandchildren and that becomes personal for us, too, and it's good for us to ask that same question. Is the work that we're doing good enough for those people that we love? So, thank you for that, Libby. You're welcome. I guess that leaves me. Um it was it was a great visit. One is funny, one one little thing, I think we were in first grade that sticks out. Uh the kids were all working on a it was a writing project, but they were at different at some in some of the classes they weren't they were really a different some of them were doing their their research, others were sort of outlining, some were moving on to reading, but this one little boy had his folder out and you

043were explaining to me and what I thought was terrific is inside his folder, which so it's nice that they can work on this over time. It's not like a a pass fail, right? So, they're they're developing their work. But in his little folder, he had a little card that somebody stuck in that was his personal goal. And his personal goal was to write three sentences. And I thought how empowering that is that you can feel a sense of accomplishment on that one day that you've done the thing that you set out to do in a big task cuz we all know that even for adults, big tasks broken down small, that's how you get through them, right? So, I that res I remember that. That stuck out with me and it and of course everything

044everybody mentioned. When you go last, you know, you get >> [laughter] >> but but we felt very welcome and the visits have been very helpful, I think, to our work. So, we appreciate the disruption, you know, we apologize for the disruption, but it really I think um you know, in some ways it hopefully will pay dividends back across the district as we become you know, more more knowledgeable, you know. Absolutely. Yeah, I I you're not a disruption at all. You're welcome anytime. Um and so I think it was, you know, our goal was to try to kind of show you a cross section of you know, of of what we're about. It was important to me in the writing to show you that progression and so it was nice that I was able to kind

045of map it out that way to see this is kindergarten, first grade, second grade and what that looks like. Um to also see, you know, our students with severe disabilities um and you know, what that looks like and how we, you know, do things to try, you know, to include them, but that they are part of our community. Um we have our fourth and fifth grade um that are piloting the teaming. Um and so seeing fourth grade, the two fourth grade math teachers um and then obviously in fifth grade that was their enrichment intervention time and watching the dynamic grouping taking place where they were working on um the claim evidence reason strategy, but um they had grouped the students in a way that um what what was it that they needed um you know,

046within that strategy to kind of hone in on and they were utilizing that time um in those rooms. So, kind of wanted to give you the full gamut. So, hopefully you got kind of a big, you know, picture um you know, K-5 and all of the things um and and the community that we have here. So, I appreciate it. >> It the the room that we went into with the more severely disabled children, you know, I you could the care that was being given to those students individually to for their development and um it it made you feel proud that our school district and and our world and our country has decided that that's that's how we treat each person, that each person gets what they need. I was very pleased to have seen that

047and um and it was edifying. So, thank you. You're welcome. Anybody else? I think then Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Claudine. That moves us on to superintendent's recommended budget and educational plan. Did he give us handouts? Yeah. I have I have some of my own here on papers here. Thanks again, Claudine and Marcia. We'll just give Devin a minute here. And uh Fran, if you don't mind, those green sheets which are copies for the audience if they want to look at any of it as we go along, could we place them maybe in the first couple rows here? Just if folks want to grab them or pass them out. Thanks, Phil, cuz there's no way, right? There's no way that screen. >> No. And Devin, this isn't what we're looking at. There should be a

048presentation in there. It says superintendent recommended budget. All right. While Devin's pulling that up, thank you, Devin. I just want to orient the board to a few things. So, you have in front of you uh the same item that actually Thank you, Mr. Lawler. is handing out. Uh this is uh the we are required by law uh to present the budget to you in a three-component format. Uh we have not done that yet up to this point and actually Kevin would say this is pretty early, uh but it was important for us and me uh as we present the recommended budget that you have at least the draft of the three-part budget format in front of you. That is divided into three sections. Administrative is the first page. Uh the second page contains the program

049component summary and then the beginning of the capital component summary and that extends on to the to the last page. Again, in just orienting you to this, I'm not going to refer to it too much in my presentation. I'm sharing with you our expenses, so what we closed out the school year, starting in the 22-23 school year, all the way through our budget year of this year. That's the year we're in, 25-26, and then our proposed budget for 26-27. The dollar change and the percent change is the last two columns, and those are changes between the 25-26 budget and the 26-27 proposed budget. So again, you can read through that. Uh you can reference that as we go through this evening if you have specific questions. We'll do our best to answer those questions, but

050again, this is uh this is more of an accurate summary, if you will, of what's going in uh to the budget, or what we're proposing next school year. I'm going to highlight a few things in my presentation, but as you know, you've heard quite a few presentations over the course of the last few months uh leading to this. So I'm I'm choosing, obviously, just to highlight a few things as we go along here, uh but there's a lot that goes into budget development. I'll also, just for the community, if you're looking at this, every These are uh there's a uniform accounting system in New York State. So if you were to look at other school districts across the state, they're going to have similar budget codes and functions. Uh that's for our auditors, and then

051there's there's reasons for that. Uh I will say underneath underneath each of these budget functions is a number of lines. We did not include those. If we were to give you the line-by-line budget, which at some point we will, uh this would be a document that's 40 or 50 pages long, uh and you need a microscope to read, but we decided just to highlight the function codes. Uh there's a lot embedded into each of these, uh but I wanted you to have it, obviously, for reference this evening, and again, I'm happy to answer any questions. Also, as backup this evening for the board again, so the orientation here is uh the the community does not yet have this, but the board does. In your executive file content in BoardDocs, you have the class sizes for

052each of our schools and every course that we're currently running throughout our district right now. That came up at some point along the way, a question around class size. We summarized some information for you, I believe, as part of Hillary's presentation a few weeks ago. It led to some questions cuz again, class sizes really range depending on the course that we're running. So, if you go into executive file content at some point along the way here, you can see every course we offer in Arlington, and you will see every class size in every one of those courses. So, it's important to us that we're transparent about that. We try to generalize information for the board. We're a large school district, obviously. We can't walk you through every single class size and why the class is

053loading that way, but we want you to have the information. Check it out. If you have follow-up questions over the next couple weeks, we're happy to answer those for you. The one for sheet that I did want you to have this evening cuz it again, it tends to come up in discussion. May not tonight, but you have it for reference is our elementary sections. So, that again, sorry for the small print. There wasn't an easy way to print this, but again, this is each of our elementary schools, what we project as the cohort size in every grade level across those schools, and what we project in terms of the number of sections that we are going to run at each of those schools. So, as an example, on the top line, Trevor Road School, we're

054projecting kindergarten enrollment. Again, it's a projection. You get that of next year at Trevor Road of 103 students. We're projecting right now to run five sections. That's five full-time equivalents. You could ignore that. That's an average class size of 20 at Trevor Road, 20.6. Okay? So, that's how that chart is set up. Again, you can go through and you can look at each section and each projection at each grade level across our eight elementary schools. So, I just wanted you to be aware of that information so you have it for reference. Again, we're arriving at a moment tonight where I'm going to present a recommended budget to you. Orient the community back at the end that the board now and I have about a month to deliberate further on various elements of the budget. And

055this is to give us adequate time to do so. So, as I shared with you on the front end, I wasn't sure if we would be fully ready by March 10th. We are, but at the same time this gives us about a month's time to go back and forth, if you will. If you want to see different figures or different projections, if you want to see me reduce any lines in the budget or you're curious how that shapes out to a tax levy, I'm happy to do that over the course of the next few weeks. And again, we can talk a little bit about that at the end. I just want to remind the board that we started again at a $12 million deficit. Our goal when we go into budget development is to maintain

056all existing programs for our students. So, we want students like Mia and the other kids that are here this evening. We want them to have generally the same access to the scope of programs that we offer in Arlington next school year. So, that's part of our challenge cuz obviously our costs go up as it relates to a lot of this. And and sometimes our funding that we receive doesn't always go up you know, in a in a consistent way with the various programs that we're offering. But it's something that makes Arlington distinctly unique. That's the benefit of being in a large public school is that we have a lot of great opportunities for our kids that they take advantage of. And we want to maintain that. The only other thing I'll mention before I jump

057in here, simultaneously as we're engaging in budget development, we're also engaging in in educational planning. There are some things in relation to educational planning that just operate on a distinctly different timeline or don't always line up with budget development. I'll give you an example, special education, right? So, we project in special education as best we can at this moment in time. Uh it's a significant budget item in terms of cost. That being said, the annual review process plays out for the remainder of the school year. There are changes that could occur, you know, between now and quite frankly, September 1st of next year and even throughout the year that could really influence our cost. Again, we've had discussions about this. I think the board gets that. Uh but from There's other elements of educational planning.

058We're making the best decision we can here in March or when we're working on various components in February. But at the same time, we're only halfway through the school year uh at that point. Again, I think you get that. So, uh the recommended budget is a best reflection of uh our projections at times, uh but they do shift uh at times. And the board has seen this where we've brought other matters to before you that we didn't really plan for, uh but maybe we have to do. Um so, uh that comes up. So, I just wanted to say those few things as we go along here. Uh in terms of uh my report, I will say that uh my team here uh will join me in answering questions if you have any along the way.

059So, we've done our our best to prep, but uh we've had obviously a lot of other things going on in the district over the last week. So, and and we always do. So, I wanted to make sure that the board's aware that uh we may have some of the um uh cabinet uh present as well in answering those questions. Okay? Uh so, I want to start with uh a quote from Peter Drucker. Peter Drucker is a management uh specialist. He wrote quite a few books back in the '50s and '60s that "It's not business, it's not government, it's the social sector uh that may yet save the society." So, I I try to orient our group that I think the work that we're doing in our schools is incredibly important. And I know in our

060society, we tend to look to to business leaders to uh as an example of what we we need to do or what needs to happen in our country. Sometimes we look to various political figures to uh as a as a means of what we need to do uh to advance our society. Uh I don't. I look to our public schools, and I would encourage us to uh do so as well. Uh we're obviously the the work we're doing is incredibly mission rich. Uh, the way our kids are coming together in their learning experiences in our classroom under guidance of our faculty and staff in conjunction with the influence the positive influence that our families have. I do really think is what shapes our society over time more so than business and and and government does.

061Uh, I as a as a school district and as a social sector organization, we don't measure our outcomes in terms of of finances. We measure our outcomes in terms of how do we deliver on our mission. So, our success quite frankly is is rooted in watching graduates or potential future graduates like Mia like again our classmates that that are here in the back of the room evaluating how effectively did we inspire them to be self-directed lifelong learners who are willingly contributing to their community and who are prepared to lead lives of passion and purpose. That's our mission. So, while yes, we have a fiscal reality that we have to face our success really is measured by how we're delivering on that mission for our kids. So, a few things. First from an educational planning perspective

062that we've highlighted. So, the board may have heard this several times already. The community may not. We currently serve 204 students in our pre-kindergarten pre-kindergarten program. Those programs are located at five site locations across the district. Some good news is that while funding obviously can be an issue at times through the governor's priorities pre-kindergarten funding is set to increase next school year. So, that's been proposed. Obviously as you know the legislature is still working with their one house budget. Our recommended budget if this comes through recommends the addition of two pre-kindergarten classrooms in Arlington schools. These would be Arlington classes where we've contracted out for pre-K in other areas. These would be the first Arlington programs led by Arlington teachers, I should say. And that would bring our total the total number of students who

063we are servicing in pre-K to 241. This if we're able to do it would reflect a 63% increase in pre-kindergarten seats over a 2-year period of time. So, I think that's good news and something we continue to move towards and I've tried to shape uh two parts of this budget more from an economic perspective envisioning a family that may have a child that they want to go into pre-kindergarten. And obviously as a you know, a family member whose kids one day were in pre-kindergarten privately, they certainly are no longer and are well beyond that. The estimated cost of pre-kindergarten really is something if you were to pursue it privately, is something that is cost prohibitive for our families or just our families have to pay a lot of money for. So, depending on the program

064and obviously there's a range in how many days you choose to access and what program you're specifically accessing, the estimated range in terms of pre-K cost for our families is anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000. Quite frankly, there's programs that are more than $15,000 per child. So, the fact that we as a school district can position ourselves to have over 240 seats for pre-K, not only is good for our kids long-term outcome, but is good economically for our families who may be incurring this cost by pursuing private options in the community. So, expanding that program remains a priority for our school district. Second to that, you would have heard John speak more to this a couple of weeks ago. We are now seeking to expand or revisit the way we fund our early college access program.

065So, Mia even shared a little bit about this from her experience that we offer a range of courses college level courses to our students at Arlington High School. Quite frankly, a core function of our high school program really has shifted over the years where a core function was to receive your high school education. Now, part of the function of a high school is now to also offer college access to kids. That that's not just Arlington, that's everywhere. That's a distinct shift from a mindset maybe that existed 20 or 30 years ago when you or I went to high school. So, accessing college courses excuse me, through the high school program. Again, there's an economic benefit to our kids cuz often they're able to do so at reduced tuition. They're able to receive Regents credit concurrently

066to receiving college credit. Again, that can help them in terms of not only being more competitive in their college applications, but depending on the colleges that they apply to, it could result again in those credits transferring to that college and them being able to graduate earlier or offsetting some of the costs that they would incur as full-time students at a university. So, uh, the budget recommendation includes level of funding $384,000 that would cover all of the tuition costs for our students who are accessing college-level courses. That's not just through DCC. We have a couple of other partnerships as well. I'm highlighting Dutchess Community College here, but again, at the same time, we have this would include our relationship with Mount Saint Mary, with the University of Albany, with RIT. There might be one or two

067other as well to cover those tuition costs so our families no longer have to pay those. At the same time now, the way we can fund this is that we will now be reimbursed for a portion of that cost in the following school year. So, this would be the cost to the school district in its first year. We would receive a reimbursement rate in the second year and we believe and I'll just turn to John that that reimbursement rate, which also includes the teacher salaries that are attached to these programs, would pretty much fully cover the cost at that point. If not, we'd become positive where we actually may receive money back on that. So, it's a one-time investment. Again, it's good for our kids. It saves our families money depending on how many courses

068our kids are taking and I think overall is a a win-win and is included in the recommended budget. Some other adjustments that we made along the way, I'll just highlight these. We increased the number of in-district special or we're anticipating an increase to the number of in-district special education programs to accommodate the needs of our kindergarten students. Dr. Pation spoke to this a few weeks ago during her presentation. We are beginning the initial transition year in our elementary staffing. Talked to the board about us not being currently in compliance with the PE requirements in New York State at the elementary level. Our students are required to have 120 minutes of physical education instruction each week in our school. As on the educational planning end of this, we're planning to begin the shift now to including

069PE as a special three times in the six-day cycle at the elementary. And then as we've spoken to both John, myself in an initial presentation and I believe Regina, our budget includes professional learning in the area of universal design for learning to ensure teachers are providing high-quality initial and and supplemental instruction to our kids. On the revenue end, I'm noting here the increase of UPK funding to $10,000 a student. It's important for the board to understand in balancing our budget between our last meeting and now, Kevin and I Kevin and I did include an increase to foundation aid from 1% to 2%. So, we're projecting that although, you know, we only have the same magic ball that you have if you will. We obviously have to attend to the legislature's uh movement on this to

070see if indeed we will receive that increased to foundation aid. That equates to about $650,000 or so. So, in our recommended budget uh we're accounting for a 1% increase to foundation aid. That may not happen and then we'll have to go back and make an adjustment. You know with the state the timeline again for when you have to adopt a budget to when um doesn't always line up with the state's budget, but these are typically things that kind of come together at the end of March beginning of April. So, just something uh that I want to point out and and raise your awareness around. Uh we are using uh $1.2 million from the ERS reserve. Uh Kevin discussed that at one point over the course of the last 2 weeks. Uh and the budget that

071I developed does include a tax levy of 3.51%. That's the maximum allowable limit and I know that'll be a part of our discussion if not tonight certainly in the next couple of weeks and you may want to see some things for me totally expected uh that if we wanted to lower that levy further what potentially would be impacted or how we would do that. I don't have that for you tonight. I would totally expect us you know a discussion around that if you so choose. We have the committee of the whole meeting next week where we'll have some things prepared for you as it relates to that. On the expenditure end I'll speak to a few things. So, these reductions or offsets reflect two moments in time from when we presented the rollover budget to

072you in January to where we are now. So, when we presented the rollover budget to you we were speaking quite a bit about the expected increase to health insurance premiums. Uh that's something that's a figure that has shifted over the last couple of months since that point in time in January. Uh so, this reduction of $3.2 million reflects the difference between what the projected increase to health insurance was in January and then where D Hicks settled on their rate now in in March. So, I was speaking to you in January about a 16% potential increase to health insurance premiums. Kevin projected that in his rollover budget. That ended up being around 9.9%. Kevin, somewhere in that 989, I think. So, that's a $3.2 million difference. So, that's how I'm showing that figure here. Just so

073as you're following along. We also came back going through our contracts, realized that some of our employee groups, their contributions, the employee contribution to health insurance is increasing in the next contract year for them. That's an adjustment of about $135,000 that we are showing here. Breakage is the difference between what we project an employee who's exiting the school district, they're retiring, salary and the salary they're leaving us at versus the salary we're likely to bring in another candidate or a teacher, if you will, the following year. So, obviously, a teacher who's leaving with 30 years experience is being paid a different salary than a teacher who we may be hiring with no experience. So, we are accounting for that in budget development across the range of hiring that we project to do over over the

074summer months and the differences between those salaries of being about $355,000. Difficult conversation, which I'm going to elaborate in a minute. Our budget does propose the equivalent of $2.4 million in staff reductions. That's one of the more sensitive pieces here and I I'll say, and I know the board knows this, when you're working with a $12 million deficit, there's no way you can resolve a $12 million deficit without really looking at your labor costs. And I hate to represent our staff in that way, but that that's what it ends up being, if you will, that we have to reduce staff in order to resolve a budget deficit of that magnitude. Showing a reduction in operations and maintenance equipment, uh furniture line that we had uh is still holding on to in the budget. Uh the

075pre-K funding adjustment, uh I reflected that uh that's in our favor, I should say. I had pre-K funding uh I included in the budget or recommended to you you included in the budget last year to supplement our pre-K funding for sites across our area. I'm now taking that out in anticipation that the governor's proposal it carries through. Um I'm proposing a reduction to summer school uh at the high school. That would uh cut our program essentially in half. I mentioned John's going to be working with the high school uh leaders there or some of our staff and our administration to further shape the scope of that summer school program for this year cuz that's obviously one of the first programs we run. Our fiscal year starts July 1, so summer school starts shortly thereafter. So

076that's something that John's working on right now, but we are showing a reduction of that program. The early college access coaster, that's the cost there on the top line in this adjustment. At some point, I'm going to make the equivalent of about $100,000 in safety and security adjustments. I will just draw your attention if I could uh it's the one thing I want to highlight on your green sheet. Uh it's on the front page. It's about halfway down. Look for number 1622, security services. You'll see our expenses there in '22 '23 were about $1.6 million. And you'll see our projected budget for next year still is holding a line of $2 million. That's definitely a cost that has increased uh over the years. And these are our safety and security staff at the high school

077and our secondary schools that you see. Does include our SRO contract. So again, that's where I I mentioned to you we may want to examine just what behavioral changes we can make there cuz it's not any one event. There's not a significant cost. It's the culmination of events that occur over the course of our school year that really lead to that cost. And that's something that with the administrative team, I I think there's some work we can do to still, again, promote a safe environment for any attendees at events, but also do we have the potential to reduce the equivalent of $100,000 there by just staffing our events differently and examining maybe doing business a little differently. Again, without sacrificing safety and security. If the feeling is no there, depending on where that conversation goes,

078I'd included funding in last year's budget for an additional SRO. Uh the county sheriff's office I mentioned supply uh has not met demand. Uh so, we have not yet received that school resource officer. Uh and we're well into the school year. So, if I have to, um you know, I could also back that salary out of the budget. So, I have a couple of options there or we have a couple of options there in examining that particular line. Clerical subs uh just probably more a signal of just how deep we were going cuz I I know I had some principals say, I didn't even realize I had a clerical substitute line in my budget at the building level. But that being said, we're trying to do our best to offset staff reductions and uh we

079were carrying, if you will, budget lines for for there to be substitute clerical support uh if the building secretary was out or guidance secretary was out. I I don't think in looking at our budget over the last few years that we were really spending to the amount we had budgeted there. So, that being said, we can make an adjustment in the budget on those lines, but still have substitute clerical support in our buildings. So, uh I I'm showing that here, obviously. We were carrying a line for strategic planning. We had been for a few years. Uh we were not spending in that line or hadn't over the last uh three school years. So, Kevin and I made an adjustment there. Uh materials and supplies, uh the Today's Students, Tomorrow's Teachers program really is something that's

080been under-enrolled. Uh great program 10 years ago. I tried to bring this program into Arlington. I was so thrilled when I got here that that we had it. Uh but at the same time, the spirit of that program is for students to come back and teach uh in Arlington. Uh we have some students that are at the college level that are still connected to the program, but we're just not seeing that they're they're pursuing education. So, it's a great program. They're going to go on and be lawyers and doctors and whatnot, but the spirit of that program cost was that they could come back uh to teach ideally in Arlington. They're not obligated to, but they could. So, it's just not again demonstrating that we're getting kids going into the teaching pipeline and coming back

081into the district through that. Uh we're holding on to the fact that I think we're still following five kids, John, if I'm not mistaken. It's around 11. I'm sorry. Thank you, John. Uh 11 students who are in the program. We're committed to that. Um and maybe again one or two of them uh come back to be teachers in Arlington, but uh again, just looking at their majors, um they're going to go on and do great things. I'm just not sure if they're going to uh necessarily be doing great things as educators in our in our school district cuz uh again, looking at their majors, they're just pursuing other other other career paths at this point. Uh lastly, I'm showing a $300,000 reduction on uh BOCES uh or I'm sorry, professional technical services related to special

082education. Uh again, bit of a moving target there, uh but we feel confident in evaluating that line. Uh this is for support that we contract out for coming into the district. Regina and her team have been examining this. Uh quite frankly, in some ways, it's just more cost-effective for us to hire our own people uh than than pay for contracted out support given the volume of services that we're uh we're we're um contracting with and in some cases, we can do so at less cost. So, uh Regina's in her team are are working through that. All right, I just want to call out the staffing reductions. And again, this is probably the toughest element of of our work is working through staff reductions. This is a summary. I think folks can see this. It looks

083like Devin, it looks like maybe we're going to lose this monitor over here. I don't know if there's something we can do. >> snooze. There. Snooze. Don't hit restart. Don't hit restart. Hit snooze or something. Snooze. Yes. Or X. Either. Or Or wait for Devin. Well, let Devin do it. Yeah, if there's one thing we've learned, it's like don't touch it. >> [laughter] >> Devin will take care of that. Thank you, Devin. >> Always love when Devin Gibbs makes a cameo in in in a presentation. So, I don't know if the folks at home can see him, but his presence is felt. So again, most of these reductions are being managed through attrition, but there are staff who are direct There are a few where staff are directly impacted. A couple are positions that just

084currently are vacant, so we're we're not hiring for. I believe at this point the board has asked in the past, "What is the expected number of layoffs?" Hillary, at three? At At this point, we believe we're at three layoffs. Depending again, we And this is just as of today, things can change. Hillary and I, again, not to give any false hope, but we felt for perhaps two of those positions, we were going to have something, again, another position opening up because of an anticipated leave and whatnot, for for two of those positions as of today. Okay. Not easy to see. This is the chart the board is accustomed to seeing at the end of each presentation. I'll just again walk through it. The budget for the 25-26 school year is the first column. We couldn't

085fit all of the iterations uh in this chart for you. Uh so, I'm not showing the rollover budget from January, but I summarized some pretty big details of where we've come from there. Uh the last presentation was on February 24th. As you know, we were around still operating at around a $3 million deficit at that point. Uh shared some things with you today in terms of how we resolve that. So, the 310 column uh is the summary of what I've presented to you tonight. It's also reflects the summary of what's in that green handout uh that we distributed both at your desks and to anybody in the audience who wanted to see it. And again, I'm reflecting here a levy increase of 3.51. Next steps uh for the board, and then we can open up

086to questions. So, we have a committee of the whole meeting next week, and we're uh anticipating just designating that to a budget discussion cuz you're receiving a lot of information this evening. On March 24th, we have a Board of Education meeting at the district office. So, again, assuming that we'll have some discussion next week. Uh the administration may have some work to do between now and that those two moments in time. At the March 24th meeting, we'll have another opportunity to meet again. I I would uh and I think it ideally and and I know sometimes uh I can get a little ahead of myself with goal setting, but I I would love by March 24th to have some agreement in terms of where we are in terms of a levy. Uh that may be

087ambitious. I I have an asterisk here cuz April 14th, the board has to adopt a budget. So, we may need if we need more time, we're going to have to talk about meeting on April 7th uh in between. I I don't think Mary Ann, and excuse me if I'm getting ahead of myself, I don't think the board wants to be at a meeting where it has to adopt the budget where we're still discussing uh potential changes to the budget. You know, that generally happening in the same meeting doesn't doesn't go well. Agreed. All right. Okay. So, if we need the 7th or if we can get there on the 24th, that's great. If we need it, we have April 7th is a Tuesday. It's not scheduled as a board meeting, but I just ask we

088be mindful of that that may be when we have to come back together to meet to discuss depending on how the discussion goes over the next few weeks. All right. So, we all heard that little pencil entry in your calendars, right? Mhm. At this point, if there's any questions. Okay. Thank you so much. I'll hang out here and then the cabinet will join me as necessary. Who would like to start us off? Linda. Okay. Um try to say where you are in the presentation, yeah, if you can. >> Um this is just not even in the presentation. Um are there any administrative positions open? And will they be filled? So, in Anticipating to be filled. >> Yes. So, we currently have and Hillary help me out here. We have an assistant principal position at LaGrange

089Middle School. We have the principalship of the LaGrange Middle School, which I meant to give you an update on today. We have two, three, two assistant principal positions at Arlington High School. Okay. And right now in the budget, the only reduction I'm making is reducing I'm proposing is the reduction of a 12-month position to a 10-month position. I'm not currently I did not recommend reducing any of those assistant principal positions as of this discussion that are currently open. Okay. Um the other question I have, just looking at the staffing reductions and I'm like you said probably due to attrition. Um guidance counselor self-explanatory you know, social studies major major um department foreign language same thing special ed. Um going back to social studies, I don't know how to word this. Um, do you look at

090different departments, let's say, um, due to attrition last year, maybe an English teacher was not uh filled, an English position. Uh, maybe a social studies wasn't filled last year. Um, do you is is there such a thing as like you can mix it up? So, instead of social studies this year, because they lost somebody last year, maybe they hit can go somewhere else. Not that I want anybody to, you know, be affected by this. So, let me make that perfectly clear. Um, is that a consideration? Like, I'm just thinking if one department lost people over the years and another department maybe hasn't, Mhm. can you like what are your thoughts on that? >> Yeah, sure. I'll I'll speak broadly to it and tell me if I I I hit the mark or not. Uh, so,

091one of the things we shared with the coordinators was that simply because someone is retiring uh does not mean that we're going to reduce that position. We do hiring for many positions where there's where where there's retirees. Uh, and I do think uh particularly our teachers who have worked really hard to expand programming uh that uh they may see now as time gets tight uh or in tighter times where that they feel the the clinch, if you will, of that program contracting at all. In this particular we look at all programs. So, uh we look at all content areas, all subject areas, um science, social studies, math, ELA, and then and then several others as well. So, uh that being said, uh you know, we see at times as we're evaluating when we have our

092retirees, can we make a reduction there? Do we need to fill that position? And can we still And if we do, can we still offer the same scope of program that we're offering to our kids. And I can't say that it evens out each year where where it's like rotational where everybody feels okay, you know, every six years, you know, a different department is that that reduction's being made. Sometimes it is in a department where um we've made reductions, you know, several years in a row. Uh that that does happen and that has happened in social studies uh in particular. So, I want to be up front about that. Uh but we make reductions elsewhere even if there's not a retirement. Um quite frankly, we're doing that at the elementary right now where there's going

093to be reductions and that's not completely offset by uh by retirees. So, Obviously, I don't know how that works. Like if somebody is not going to be hired like in a high school position, maybe somebody then needs to go to the middle school. You know, again, I don't know that dynamic, so I'm not going to pretend I do. Does it affect the class size at all? It could. It could. Uh it could. Uh and that's something that's why I wanted you to have all the class size information at least as of now. I I would from the administration's perspective, uh the class size influence uh in this model, and I again, with all due respect to our our teachers cuz they may feel differently, I do not feel that the reductions uh if you will

094had any impact on class size justified not reducing the position given the situation that we're in. I appreciate your answers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sophia. I appreciate the hard work that you and your team have been doing to try to square this thing. And my question is about the future. So, we're going to get over this, right? We're going to close the budget. We have 4 weeks. I appreciate your optimism. >> [laughter] >> How are we going to solve for the future? Yeah. This is mostly, I understand, cost of benefits that have just skyrocketed. That's completely out of our control. More things may happen. So, I don't I don't think we need to answer this, but I would like us to think how we're going to solve this for the future so that our

095teachers continue to be fairly compensated, you continue to have the the the support that the kids need in their different needs and abilities, and that we are not overtaxing or going to the max levy of our neighbors who are pretty vocal about this topic. So, I just want us to be considerate of the hard work that you're doing, but also like next year when we're sitting here and talking about this, how we're going to face this, which could be worse next year. I appreciate that, and I'm not going to answer your question cuz I think that's a it's a rhetorical, right? We need to sit with that. And Kevin and I and the team have really just focused on, okay, we got to get through this year, right? And then we can shift our attention

096towards next year and what what other levers can we pull? You mentioned something, and this would be more for anybody who's watching or listening that I want to point to, is the health insurance cost is that is probably if there was one line, if you will, that most is mo- or one variable that has shifted as compared to previous years that that's influencing the fiscal stress we're experiencing, it's it's employee benefits. It's health insurance. And I've we've talked about this over the last few weeks. As you noted, Sophia, we want our employees to have fair salary increases. Even with that, cuz I think we've had some very favorable settlements of late or fair settlements of late. Um it's still not keeping up with the cost of living increases that our employees are are experiencing. The

097board gets that. I want to be candid about that. Um and it's going to force us if if some of these things don't change into now putting more stress on employee negotiations where you have some control in terms of employee contributions, but you know, you really go in and you want to be fair. Again, knowing that everybody else's costs are increasing. Those are I'd say next year issues, but I do think something fundamentally needs to change with health care. And I'm not saying that's in our control in this country cuz the fact that a premium the premium on a family plan is going to be $50,000 next year. And again, our employees pay a contribution to that. The district play pays a portion of that contribution. That's the plan. And I as a public servant

098and I might obviously I'm biased cuz I I chose to go into public service, you know, 20 plus years ago like many other people in this room. Part of the deal was you were never going to have a great year financially. You know, you you were at the bottom line resulted in a net pay so you don't get that back, you know, but at the same time you were going to have good health care. That that was part of the deal when you sign up to be a teacher or a TA or whatever, you know, position you may have in a public service. If you're a law enforcement officer, all of them. That, you know, the salary's going to be such and and you're going to get these incremental increases over time. You're going to

099have a good life, fair life, access to the middle class, but the the same time you're going to have good health insurance. And that was part of it. So I I respect that obviously. You know, I I that's what I signed up for and I know many of our folks did as well, but the fact that the cost also when I came into teaching, I have no problem saying this, the cost of my HMO plan as an individual at that point was $8,000. Right? As an individual. Now, at a family the cost has increased, but it you know, the family premium at that point it wasn't that much more. >> [laughter] >> And now it's 50 $50,000. It's it's pretty significant. Um just to kind of just on that point. Perhaps it cuz I know

100you post the the these on the website tomorrow for the for the public. Perhaps we could asterisk or footnote the the health insurance number because it and say because it you know, it you have to read it pretty carefully and listen to the thing to hear that it's cuz it looks like a reduction of 3.2 million, but it's a 3. But really what it is it's a reduction from a 16% increase to a Yeah. a 9.89% increase, which is really health care went up. Kevin, help me with the numbers. Yeah, which is There you go. So, um 4 and 1/2 million for people I'll I'll amplify that for him. So, uh I think if we could just asterisk that on this before it goes posting so that people can see what we're talking about. Otherwise,

101it's a little confusing cuz it looks almost like it went down and it absolutely constantly did not go down. I'll be sure to to clarify it. Probably in two different spots. Yeah. What? No. >> If you if we're going to refer to just the green documents Yeah. This is way more complicated than just taking a straight number and and moving it because in a three-part budget, I'm taking percentages between the different components. >> I'm just talking about the numbers. >> at that. Yeah. I I just mean when you post this thing, just asterisk this so it doesn't look like health insurance went down $3.2 million. It looks like health insurance went up and that since but when we first got the news, it was even worse. Yes, but also it's it's more than just an

102increase from the prior year. It takes into account all of the additions and subtractions of all of the individuals that were either breakage or the ones that were were were moving from the system. So, it's it's got all >> insurance? In the health Yeah, cuz cuz health insurance is a major cost for them. So, that's also incorporated in there. So, it's not just a simple last year number multiplied by 9.89 and you get the number. It's not that simple. >> won't hold you to the 9.89. Just something that represents the fact that health insurance went up. A- And whatever you put, we will Kevin and I'll figure that out. Yeah. I So, everyone heard me. We won't hold him to the 9.89. Can I clarify that like for my sake? So, this document we're seeing

103how you got to our current budget. Correct. Like what we reduced for the current budget. That's not that $3.2 million is the reduction of where it was. >> Right. So, that I think that's where the confusion would come in that it's actually up $10 million or $6 million. >> So, that's not that's a negative for this document, not a negative on this document. >> On that line. I I do feel like so yeah, that's and and not and some of these lines aren't aren't blended like that, right? Cuz they didn't go in at one price and come out at a different price. And that makes it a little confusing. Cuz some of these are new Some of these are newly identified [clears throat] costs. >> And again, we're trying our best just to summarize cuz

104it's it's not a conversation that happens one moment in time. It's a conversation that we've been having since January. So, we're trying to keep a format consistent with reductions we've been making cuz we've shown you a few things along the way and just summarize those reductions from the initial conversation we had on January 10th. One thing I would point you to and Kevin, correct me if I'm wrong, on the green sheet, you'll see under each category, each component, employee benefits. Now, that's inclusive of some other benefits that that are in there, but you will see generally a 10% increase on each of those lines. And employee benefits shows up on admin, it shows up on program, and it shows up on capital because there's different employees that are grouped under the administrative category, the program

105category, and the capital category. Right. Um you know, and then just on a more like this accounting kind of a thing, right? Um There's also a blend. I I think I mentioned this last time. There's a blend of of one-time helps and >> Correct. things that really help us to Sophia's point going forward. [snorts] >> Yeah. You know, like like staffing hard that it is, helps us going forward. It It affects our base. The 1.2 from the ERS reserve It's a one-time >> It's a one-time shot. So, next year we start out already trying to find that 1.2 million. So, I think it's good that everybody understands what in here is a one-time thing and what in here is a is a is an actual kind of adjustment to our costs. Right. And um uh

106Now, I appreciate that, Mary, and just since I have it up, I'll speak to a few of this. Obviously, health insurance is its own thing, so we've talked about that, but the staff reduction, that staff that is no longer incorporated into the budget, so it's there or it's not there, if you will. That carries into next school year, that carries in, you know, forever more, if you will, um unless we're adding staff back in, which we may be, uh depending on the time. The equipment, that's one-time, furniture, one-time. Uh again, the pre-K funding adjustment, one-time. Uh so, again, we're doing what we can uh to to again get through uh this budget development. Again, um I feel confident at this level, so you know, going to sell mode, we're maintaining all of the program opportunities

107that we're providing to our kids. So, these are adjustments we're making to keep ourselves in that position. Uh but at the same time, you know, it does reflect these one-time costs help you in in that one year, but they're they're not there now when you go into the next budget developing year. No, and I just I also just say that out of like appreciation of the work that's been done to get us to a balanced budget even at this tax tax levy. Um So, and and also when you see, I would say, and correct me if I'm wrong, but when you see these nods to one-time adjustment, it's also buying us time on sort of our if we need to do any right-sizing through a We've always emphasized doing right-sizing through attrition. All these one-time

108things are not people. Right? They're they're saving >> things, yes. The one-time things are all not people that are helping us balance our budget, which is a philosophy we we we like, you know? So, um Anyway, that's just my two cents. Linda. Um we're currently at 2.74% tax levy for this Coming into this school year, that's we increased to 7.4. >> the staffing reductions on this page are based upon a 3.51 Correct. Okay, so hypothetically, let's say we don't approve a 3.5, let's say we approve a 3.25, okay? Will staffing reductions change? At that level, we would have to you know, say you throw out a number of 3.25. Here's what >> out. >> Here's what I'll I'll frame. For every percent that we want to reduce the levy is $1.6 million, right? So, just

109using that as a benchmark, if we wanted to reduce the levy a half a percent >> Okay. that would be $800,000. I would say at this point, it would be difficult to get to $800,000 in further reductions without further reducing staff. >> Okay. Okay. And just the 8.0 elementary, are those teachers? That's elementary sections that we're reducing. That that Yep, and so again, some of those are attrition, so folks are retiring, uh but we do expect there uh that to be two uh of the areas where we were laying off. I think it were three. Were all elementary? They're all elementary. Okay. Thank you. Moving around, is anybody Donna? I have a question about the UPK. Yes. >> So, the 36 additional spots, is that dependent on the governor having 10K per student? Or if

110that doesn't come through, would we what would it what would happen to the UDK spots? >> whether or not we could make that happen. Uh again, our we potentially could, so just for knowledge, the current reimbursement rate for the state is $5,400. So, we we would anticipate there to be at least no change to that. Uh at $5,400, cuz our labor cost is going to be higher than a third party, if you will, or another vendor. Um so, if if the reimbursement rate for the state were to stay the same at $5,400, we may not be able to make those Arlington classes, you know, with an Arlington teacher. We we may want to expand one of our contracts that we currently have uh with one of our outside providers to to again increase the number

111of seats. So, it's not a an automatic no if that funding doesn't come through. It just may mean we can't make those Arlington classes. When would you like Does that kind of those two are kind of running into each other? Cuz the budget is in Yeah, that'll be late March or late early April. >> when do you have to say, "Okay, boom, this is the number." >> [laughter] >> And, you know, like you're notifying the families, you're hiring staff. >> John would say yesterday, uh but at the same time, it's it's something where we're being deliberate with, and I think we can we can figure it out if we have another month. But right now, and I you might have a pre-K contract on this evening, uh agreement on this evening for action. So, it

112is the time of the year when we start setting this up. Did you have your hand up? I can't decide. Um >> Oh, then Go. No, the time Oh, Jen's got her hand up, so she's sure. We'll go to her. I just had a question about the special education reduction and the teaching assistant reductions. I was just curious, with the anticipation of more kindergarten classes being opened, we have the teachers to staff that with this reduction? Yes, I'll just ask Regina to speak to that a little bit. Regina, did you hear the I believe you heard the question. Oh, I'm sorry. Or below that. >> I could probably speak to that. >> Go for it. Um we have uh we are moving some general education TAs uh to support um I think you said UPK

113and some of our special education programs. So, what was before general education hours um that were not mandated, it was just uh nice support for our students, um those will be moving and so we actually have um our principals were able to find um positions that they um could could manage without and still support our students. Um and so we actually are moving several positions and then 1.75 are the positions that will be reduced that there there are not currently people in those positions. Those are open positions. Um but we are um changing most of those positions to support our UPK and um if it comes to fruition and our special education programs. And I think you had a question. Could you just uh repeat your question on the teacher or was it only TAs?

114It was the teachers and the TAs in special ed. I was just curious how that So, same. So, um I know Dr. Bonante spoke to this. Um we we are moving lots of our um lots of our staff are moving and that happens uh normally every year, but our um we are looking at the movement that our special education teachers would have. Um we anticipate I as of this moment, that's what um we would have even though we're increasing programs some places, we have uh positions that we can that are either retirements or um are being uh re uh changed in some way and reappointed to um support our new programs. It's possible that we won't end up having that 1.6, but at this moment we we do have that that we think is available.

115Yet, ready? No, I'm good. Actually, I was going to go down that road and I couldn't decide if I wanted to. So, thanks. Um I had a question on the um Well, I admire your optimism on the 2% for the foundation aid. Right. >> You know, actually, I feel more confident about the money for the the pre-K cuz it it's in everybody's budget. It's in the governor's budget. It's in the one house budget, you know, it it's in it's it's in everybody's budget. So, it makes you feel like in reconciliation, they all have that. So, you feel you never know until it's over, but you feel better about that. Um there's controversy, you know, I think that the what the the legislature and the Senate both put forward the 2%, but you know, but that'll

116probably suffer a bit in negotiations maybe with the governor. So, what would we do uh and and the timing is will be off. Very few years have we had it not off. So, um what even if it's half that, right? So, it's not the 643. Say they give us half a percent instead of a full percent. >> 300 >> Yeah, 300 some odd. $20,000 >> Yeah, um how would we pivot after the vote? Like, how would we um have we have we thought about that? So, this is where I think Kevin would say I'm going to turn it over him. The board adopts a budget at a particular amount and sometimes when the state figure comes in afterwards, we have an approved budget at a particular amount. We make the adjustments then thereafter cuz the

117board's approved a budget of of that amount. Is that generally right when that situation arises? Um yeah, we we would most likely run the budget knowing that we we have a deficit in that area like any other estimated revenue. And we would operate accordingly and basically that would drop to the bottom line and you wouldn't have that 300,000 or whatever it is. Okay. >> would run the budget. Okay. >> have the opportunity to increase your Well, you couldn't increase your tax levy because you're already at the cap. Um if you had like last year you could have increased the the taxes which I wouldn't recommend doing but but it is a possibility. But you don't set the tax set the tax levy until actually in August. Correct. Because what the So even though we think

118a lot about the levy number, when we put it out to the voters we're we're we're having them vote on the on the total of the budget. Correct. >> Correct. So what you're saying is if the revenue were to drop, we could do a couple of different things. I do find it very hard to believe that after the vote we would raise the levy. I think Right. I would be The more common thing would be you're just going to drop to the bottom line and you're going to expect $300,000 less than >> So we would just we we would we would work through that pain next year. That would just be part of our full picture for next year. Just like you would in a family budget if something fell off your your your revenue

119stream fell off, you would just figure it out throughout the year. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to think that through. Um See, I have any other questions? Does anybody else have any questions? Jeff. I Or Mary. Go Mary. You got Just Oh, Jeff does? No, I don't I don't Oh, Mary, yeah. >> [laughter] >> The professional development >> Yes. for UDL Mhm. Is that a line item increase somewhere or are we doing in-house PD? Like how's that working? No, we're preparing a contract with someone to support us with that. John, do you recall generally the ballpark cost for that for UDL training? Actually, you're getting trained. Yeah, I I am getting trained. >> [laughter] >> So, it's a blend of both. So, he's going to be our our mentor. >> taking a train-the-trainer course,

120so it's I'm planning on leading the bulk of it, but we are going to we're going to dip our toe in the water next year, so I I don't expect that my current budget, the professional learning budget that I've had every year would cover that. I I don't expect to spend I think a a conservatively high estimate for next year, considering the admin retreat that we're going to bring people in so our administrators get trained, um and then feathering it into our new teacher induction model, which will be the focus of our training next year. I I would be surprised if we were above 30,000, 40 at the highest possible end. Okay, but it's it's a blended you're being trained and then you're going to train our Yeah, we're really trying to build capacity internally

121and lean very little on external support for that. Good. Thank you. And so that's not necessarily it's a because it's on the educational programming side, it's not necessarily it's rolled into your existing professional development budget, it's not necessarily an addition, it's just a reallocation of what you spend it on. Am I hearing that right? Correct. And if if you remember during my presentation, I showed you a couple areas where we had some things falling off. And so it was offsetting the cost of of bringing this in. So, my my line in that area is fairly stable. Okay. Thank you, John. Did you have a question, Jeff? Good. >> [laughter] >> You don't anymore? Sorry. Laugh because he just put a cracker in his mouth and I asked him if he had a question. So, I

122think that's maybe it for this. >> Thank you. All right, thank you very much. I appreciate everybody's work pulling together on this. Um that moves on to the of the agenda related to policy. A, second and final reading with revisions. And we need a motion on this. Can I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. >> Second. Thank you. Um, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Um, second and final readings without revision. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. >> Second. Thank you. Again, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. We move on to our new business section of the agenda. Our new business section of the agenda lists several items for individual resolution approval. Documentation concerning these

123items have been provided to the board members in advance for an extensive and thorough review. Um, let's see. Item B, acknowledgement of the services performed by Michael Lambert, Esquire of Keen and Bean. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um, any discussion? If I may. Yes, please. Uh, one of the um, partners in our law firm, we work with Shaw Perelson, uh, is leaving the firm to join another firm. Uh, Mike has historically worked with us on special education, pupil personnel related matters. We want to maintain that relationship. To change that now, we think would be disruptive not only for us, but for our kids and our families cuz Mike provides consistent guidance uh, through those processes uh, for us. So this agreement allows us to engage with Mike

124uh, now at his new firm, Keen and Bean. Subsequent to this, uh, at a cost, uh, subsequent to this though, uh, at next meeting you will see an adjustment to the Shaw Perelson retainer agreement to lower the cost for their agreement. Uh, that it matches the adjustment or the increased cost that you see here. So I've been working with Mike and David, if you will, respectively, to ensure that there's no additional legal cost to the district for this year. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Item C, buses, vehicles, and equipment bond. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um any discussion? Uh I would just note that we have a a bus and vehicle prop every year. These are typically

125tax-neutral propositions. Your vote tonight allows for that now to be part of the public notice uh and included in the regular budget development process. Great. And this is for the next one, too, right? >> Correct. All of it. Um yeah. Oh, okay. So, um I already had a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Um that moves us to capital reserve fund proposition. Can I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um any discussion? I'll just add so the capital So, we need uh the board's approval and voter authorization to create a capital reserve, which would allow the district, if there were a year where we had excess monies, uh to put it towards a capital reserve, which we typically use to make repairs

126throughout the district, [clears throat] bigger repairs uh if you will um in in in years. It authorizes us, I believe, 20 years to do that or to expend the funds that are included in there. It does not place any funds into the reserve. It just merely establishes approval uh to go ahead and do so if there's an opportunity to. So, we've used these uh a couple of times over the last 10 years or so, I would say, since Kevin's been here. Uh we've done some good work uh over time when uh there's been funding to commit to them, uh but again, it it is not a designation to put any money into it yet. We're not yet in that position. It's just the approval to create it. Right. And how that works is so we're

127creating the bucket, and the voters need to vote again if we want to take money out of the bucket. But they don't need to vote to first put money in the bucket. Is that right? Yeah, they vote to create the bucket. And then they create create to spend money out of the bucket. That makes any sense. But this doesn't move any money. This just creates the bucket. So any other questions on that? Seeing none, all those in favor, I. Opposed, abstention, motion passes. Item E, approval legal notice for the May 19th, 2026 budget vote and board member election. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, I. Opposed, abstention, motion passes. Item F, declaration of emergency central administrative office roofing. Can I

128please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? We've done a lot of roof work throughout the district. We have not done that roof work at the district office and it's leaking. And this would allow us to conduct the repairs in the summer on that roof. If you have any questions about it, I'd say visit the district office, which I know you do. Periodically, you will see the various buckets that we have through the two main hallways and in some of our offices. Ironically, a condensed portion of which sit around our director of facilities office. But we need to do some more roof work and this would allow us to do that. Okay, great. So all those in favor, I. I. Opposed, abstention, motion passes. Nominations for BOCES Board of Education.

129This is the one where I said we've added Judy. Can I please get a motion? So moved. Second. >> Second. Excellent. So both of these people, some of you may know from Um, Mark is on the Rhinebeck um, Board of Education. He's been there for a very long time. Um, Judy is on the Webutuck one. She's been on Webutuck for a very long time. Um, uh, so, uh, I think they they're two good candidates. I don't know if they have any They have two seats open. So, I think Well, we'll see. That'll come in another, I don't know, three or four weeks that we'll vote on who if if um, but right now we just need to get them on the ballot. So, all those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Um,

130item H, the overnight field trip that already happened. Can I please get a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. Thank you. I want no Nobody's opposed. >> [laughter] >> Uh, um, um, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion passes. Um, item I, classified administrative leave. Can I please get a motion? So moved. >> Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. Um, any discussion? Any uh, Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. That brings us to our business consent agenda. Our consent section of the agenda lists several items for approval by a single motion. Documentation concerning these items have been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review. May I please get a motion on the um, consent agenda? Thank you. Second. >> Thank you.

131Um, any comments on the consent agenda? No. Anybody else? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. We zoomed past a lot of pages here. No, yeah. Okay, 22. Or we're actually 21, I guess. Uh, here we go. That brings us up to um, yep, 21. Uh, page 21. Um, future discussion items. We don't have any future discussion items from previous meetings to bring forward. Does anybody have anything they want to discuss today? Seeing none. Um that brings us to public comment for non-agenda items. Um This is This is the second the second of two opportunities for people to address the board. Please state your name and address and keep your um Well, disparaging remarks and concerning specific individuals or positions are prohibited. Um leave your name with our district clerk and

132superintendent and if you have a question, someone will get back to you as soon as possible. I will say if there's anyone who's come in and has not put their name on How many people do we have? I currently have three. Three. If there's anybody who's come in and didn't get their name down in the beginning, I'd be happy to add you to that list. That would be fine. But we're going to start with the three people on the list. If you'd raise your hand if you're not on the list and would like to speak. Okay, thank you. All right, so can you please call the first person? Ms. LaDuca. Just keep an eye on there. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Do I get 3 minutes? 3 minutes, yeah. And you got the big clock right

133there, so Oh, thank you. There it is. Um I just want to thank you for allowing public comment on this. Um I'm talking about the Turning Point USA club. I was unaware that it was even being considered and clearly I'm late to the game. I feel like I've gotten news through two soup cans and a string. Uh just alerted yesterday by a friend that this was happening and I thought it wasn't approved yet, but you listen to your comments and I appreciate the thoughtful, measured response that you have to this group. I was uh you know, called out of my garden watching daffodils yesterday alarmed that this was being allowed or considered even in Arlington High School. My kids came through the high school. They graduated. They had a great experience. They benefited from the

134AP classes, uh great diversity, um and you know, to the They're great kids and I I commend teachers and leadership here because they've always had amazing, welcoming and acceptance. I myself was, you know, brought up in Dutchess County and my first mem- memories of childhood was being bullied by white racists. It's live and well and living in Dutchess County. And so, when I heard this was happening, I thought, "Why would they consider this group?" And so, I just started, you know, trying to lay out my ideas that you to help you not choose this group. But it's, you know, the train has left the station. But that doesn't mean when the train leaves the station that we don't watch the train and and ensure its safety. And we have to be on guard. Um so,

135trains have brakes, you know, train tracks have signal lights, slow down, you know, yield the right of way, change direction, stop. And so, I'm I'm happy that you have these brakes built in and that you're going to have people on board who understand what this group might do, what this group might say, and who they might exclude because they have historically excluded as you, Ms. Newsom, have so beautifully identified. And I I appreciate your leadership and the fact that you identify student groups who might be offended by this group, who might be excluded and wounded by this group. And I appreciate your leadership and you are a testament to the school and to this district. So, I appreciate and applaud you. Um I'm also a Catholic evangelist and I know that this group has ties

136to um a right-wing conservative Christianity, which I find um theologically false and I I I am trying to address students here that if you are looking for faith in this group, that you should Be on guard for false theology. Be on guard that they're using God's word to control and to distract and to try to guide your vote and your allegiance. And I would tell the students to be on guard for that, and the school board as well. I would also say that, um, you know, I I know I'm so happy that you have on your front page the non-discrimination clause, which identifies very clearly the subgroups which Turning Point has historically, um, you know, abused and belittled. And so I'm I'm happy that that's on your page to keep the right in front focus.

137Um, I'm also concerned that this group is, uh, misogynistic. And clearly their leaders have said some misogynistic things. I'm a little over. Um, so I I I will wrap up by saying that if girls, I'm so happy that you talked about girl sports and how great things are that they're winning. But girls, just so you know, women in the generations before mine even, I'm a Gen X, fought for your right to have girl sports, fought for your right to have the vote, to have credit cards, to be able to put your name on legal documents. We fought for that right. And Turning Point wants to draw back the curtain and say, "No, no, no. Women are supposed to be subjugated." And so just be on guard that all those things they've done. And so I'll

138wrap it up and I just say I appreciate your measured response to this. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm sorry we do try to Thank you. Can we please have our next person? Our next person is Mr. Lawler. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, everyone. First of all, I apologize ahead of time. I have to speak and then I have to go. I have my observation at 7:30 tomorrow morning. So, I'm going to go home and get some sleep and get ready for that. So, I want to start by saying I always appreciate it when students want to get civically engaged and want to engage in political discourse and debate. I teach participation in government. I want my students doing that. I'm trying to get them to do that on a daily basis. It's

139really critical that they do it. Ms. Newsom did an amazing job not only tonight, but if you go back and watch the state of the county, you can see that her introduction for the county executive was spectacular. She's engaging. She's right here on the Board of Education, out in public. She's doing what we want our students to do. So, this brings me to Turning Point USA. I have to be very clear. I know that you put in a lot of time and effort and work, and I appreciate everything that you do and are doing. I really know that you're doing everything you can. But, I do want to also make it clear, this is a group that finds half of our student population to be a problem. It's a white Christian nationalist organization that says

140that people who are not white Christian nationalists don't belong. This country is not for them. And they want to clean the country up in their own words. They want to marginalize the students who are in our rooms, the students we teach every day. So, this brings me to that point where I say, again, I appreciate students wanting to get involved, and I appreciate they want to have conversations. I get worried about the idea of an outside group that decides is might try to come on campus. It might try to actually influence. It might try to indoctrinate. That it might actually take that engagement that we're looking for every single day from our students and for our students, and will turn it into their own idea. Will move our students away from what we're trying to

141do. I also have to point out, Turning Point USA is an organization that does not like education. It goes onto college campuses and tries to convince kids that the system is set up against them. That's a really hard thing as a teacher, when we are trying to help kids to be able to navigate the system, identify what they like in the system, what they don't like in the system, all the different avenues in which they can change the system. >> [clears throat] >> They curriculum, political parties, voters and voter behavior, elections, presidential elections, mass media and public opinion. We talk about the idea of state and local government. We want our kids involved. And I appreciate every time, and I will close with this. I will say that there is a part of me that

142wonders what else we might be doing or should be doing that would be really helpful for these kids to be able to engage us in other ways. If they feel they have not been able to engage in other ways, maybe there's something that we should be doing differently. And that's a personal reflection for me as well as a teacher, because I need to do that. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um we I think we have another speaker, but I'm going to ask for a motion to extend the meeting till 9:30. Can I please get a motion? >> So moved. Thank you. Can I get a second? Second. >> Thank you. All those in favor, I. Opposed, abstention. Motion passes. Thank you. That way we don't have to interrupt. Okay, please call the last

143person. Ms. Liz Zich. Hi everyone. Um I just want to thank you for hosting. Vail Farm is my old stomping ground. Um two of my daughters had great experience here from kindergarten to fifth grade. It looks like they're still doing uh great things. Um I am actually commenting on the same thing. I think that this social media um has become one of the greatest downfalls of our generation and modern society. Instead of encouraging conversation, it reinforces only what you already believe. People hear only what they want, they see only what they want, dialogue has been replaced with echo chambers. Tolerance and acceptance is disappearing along the way. Student clubs are actually protected by federal law. The Equal Access Act of 1984 states that if public high schools allow any non-curriculum based clubs, they must allow

144all non-curriculum based clubs. It's federal law, regardless of political, religious, or philosophical affiliation. There's also plenty of case law to back that. Um, Tinker versus Des Moines Independent Community School District of 1969 and the Board of Education of Westside Community Schools versus Morgans 1990 are two of the cases that are most often referenced. It's just really sad to me that First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, freedom to gather, are being questioned. Um, I don't know. I I guess I think um, there has to be a point and a counterpoint. It's a sad state of affairs in the United States of America when we consider disallowing a group simply because we disagree with them. Um, and disagree with their viewpoints. I think schools should be a place where discourse is encouraged. Um I think ideas need

145to be explored, debated, and discussed openly and not censored. I think that's one of the biggest problems in society today. People think what they think and that's what they think and they're in their own worlds and they hear what they want to hear. They're in their echo chamber of social media and that's it. >> [clears throat] >> Again, we have to encourage dialogue rather than shutting down conversations, we should be reopening them. Our students deserve the opportunity to exchange their ideas freely and learn how democracy works through dialogue and not censorship. Thank you. So, that's it, right? We're three. That's correct. Okay, thank you. Um and that brings us to committee reports. Let's see, advocacy. Maryanne. So, just a a quick little footnote on our one house budgets that were put forth today, hot off

146the presses. Um so, now we watch the debate between the one house suggestions and the governor's original proposals. Um and let's hope they can do that in a timely fashion so that we know what we're up against budgetarily before our time expires. Um that's it. Just kind of watching that unfold. Everyone got the email today from um Misbah that gave you the summary, I think. If you didn't, um maybe it did just come to me as the advocacy person. Um but if anybody [clears throat] didn't get it in their inbox today, hit me up and I'll forward my copy to you, but it'll at least give you the idea of kind of what the legislature is thinking. Thank you. >> Okay, audit. Nothing at this time. Okay, thank you. Um Kathy. Believe we are meeting

147on the 25th of April of of March, sorry. At our Thursday meeting. Okay. Um policy. Uh we're meeting tomorrow, 1:00 p.m. There we are, 1:00 p.m. Yes. Um great, that moves us to organization reports. Uh first up is Arlington Education Foundation. Nothing new at this time. Okay. Um Dutchess County School Boards. Um I attended the meeting uh virtually on Thursday. Uh there was a lot of schools represented. Uh the topic was committees. Um how many committees each district has. And it it it ran like from [clears throat] like three committees um to like 11 to 12 committees. Like it was crazy how many committees some of them had. They had a committee for transportation and a committee for just grounds, not building and grounds, just grounds, and all these different committees. Um so it was

148interesting um and we just gave our perspective of what our uh district did. It was very good. >> Okay, thank you. Thanks. Um PTA PTSA Council. I don't know. I I I had a conflict and I couldn't make it and so chop chop, I couldn't come late. It was like Yeah, they're it's a it continues to be the most efficient meeting >> Yes, it really is. Yeah. I was there. I each committee report or each school reported out as they do. I I shared some district happenings and >> Right. talked a little bit about the budget development process, where we were at that moment in time. And they've started to reach out now as well, some of the individual units, and we'll do a presentation for the District Council as well. So, that pretty much

149a lot of great things happening. And it's great to see I won't be too long-winded on it. It's just great to see clearly each year like we kind of move further along that the community events are really well attended at each of the respective schools, which is nice. Yes. Yeah, and they've got some really um new and interesting ideas. And they share with the nice thing about the the council is that they're sharing ideas and they're sharing fundraising ideas. Okay, district health and safety, Jeff. Okay. Um Eileen, district equity. Um the next meeting is the 19th. Nothing new since last time. Okay, great. Um and that brings us to superintendent's closing remarks. I I just wanted to mention two things I forgot earlier. The LMS principal search process is underway. Hillary and a few other

150members of the cabinet have been uh facilitating screenings and uh putting together a slate of candidates to present to uh a district committee first and we expect that to start in about a week and a half or so, Hillary? Does that sound right? Yep. So, that moves along. I I didn't introduce Nicole and I don't know if anybody introduced Nicole. Uh Nicole is a member of Nicole came around and said hello to all of us. She's wonderful. So, yeah, everybody knows who Nicole works at our district office and she'll serve in the event that Fran is unavailable as our clerk pro tem. So, anytime if Fran can't be here as our district clerk, Nicole will serve as the as the backup. So, I just wanted to be sure to acknowledge her and welcome her to

151tonight's meeting now that it's come to pretty close to an end. Which I love because everyone said a blue used to be they'd make, you know, be clerk pro tem, which is just like one too many moving parts. We had a sign in so that everybody first and second and the same person first and second in the whole day. I would have never gotten. So, anyway, thank you very much and I'm glad that you're doing this little training stint. That's great. Um that moves us on to board reflections. Does anybody have any reflections they'd like to share tonight? Jeff I mean, Brian. I just want to bring a point to the home show on Sunday, March 15th. It's going to be our the one chance to see this in the Hudson Valley. The Orange and

152Winter Guard will be performing and their show this year is giving based off the book The Giving Tree. Also, the cadets will be performing. Their their show is called More Than Strings. Also, the winter percussion team will be performing as well as Gates Chili. They have two groups and University of Albany. The doors open at 1:00. That's where the bake sale and basket raffles and doors open at 1:30. And please come out and support. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Sophia. I want to reflect on the topic that has been in our emails and texts and messages on the turning point situation. So, I want to say that the voices that I have heard are of engaged parents, engaged neighbors against teachers. And they're paying attention. And I think that is a very positive characteristic of

153the community. Because when you have a system where there are no voices, where there is no space to have a microphone, an email where you can copy us, that means that that is a repressive system. That you are creating fear in the system. And that is not my experience on what has happened. The voices who are so courageous and so brave that I have heard and read and spoke to give me hope. This may not be the easiest topic by any means of imagination. But what I take from it is that there are very courageous individuals in this community. You are one of those voices, Mia. You have the choice of being neutral and you didn't go there. And I think that should make us proud. I'm I'm >> [applause] >> I'm just super grateful,

154super grateful for everybody who reaches out because as a board we don't have visibility to everything. We're not in the aisles of the school. Those voices who like send an email or a text or a message and they copy us, that gives us that visibility and I am super grateful and I honor that those voices. I really do. I take it very, very seriously and I'm very proud that we have standards to operate by. Some of them are strict and some of them are mandatory and we cannot have the the the decisions that we want to make made for everybody. There is a process, there is a system, there's guidelines. It's hard to live with them, but all this to say I'm really proud of the community. I think I we cannot take those voices

155for granted and as long as we provide the space for that liberty of expression, I think we are all doing a great job. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, seeing none. Can I please get a motion to adjourn? So moved. And a second, thank you. And a second. All those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion passes, meeting adjourned. Thank you.