001um all those in favor I I I opposed extensions motion passes um please can we all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Al States stands Nation indivisible withy andice all Mrs Flyn can you please call the role boy here Linda gain here Jeff hey here Donna Logan here Maran here here Maran Quinn here Mark here 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 purpose full lives um moving on to approval of the agenda I have a couple of just small revisions to the agenda um we have a a gentleman here Bryce Holland who wants to speak to us he's a candidate for the Bose's board instead of having him speak a public comment I'm G
002to insert him as the first item under reports and discussions if anybody that's what we're we're going to vote to amend the agenda to include that that's so that if any board members have any questions for him because we don't usually ask questions during public comments so I think that's a better place for him to talk talk to us um that's one thing the other thing I want to revise also on where is that I think that's on new business under new business where's the one where's the one with the PO nominations uh am I missing it uh new business PE new business be okay oh yeah there it is thank you so um I'm going to have Mrs Flynn Ander there's three lines there but there are four people that we're going to nominate
003tonight and then we'll vote for three people I guess it's in April in a month so the four people that we'll we're not going to vote right this second but the names we're going to insert to vote later under Item B new business are Bryce Holland um Ral Kum uh Chum chento thank you so much um Stanford and Mike Mark flower and we can talk about that when we get there in discussion if anybody has any objections but we're going to start with that in the agenda okay all right great so can I please get a motion to approve the agenda as amended so moved thank you second thank you all those any discussion hearing none all those in favor I I opposed abstentions motion passes okay that brings us over to um I don't
004have any does anybody have any correspondence they'd like to share at this time see none um board pres remarks we are so excited to be back here with the charty board I can't say that right at beakman I I have to say it's a memory we carry forward from year to year so let me know it does not go unappreciated so shout out to the school or the PTA or the families or whoever puts that together but um you have a very appreciative board so um that concludes my comments but welcome to everyone but I don't say shy shy shuty like shuty okay thank you you learn something every day that's what I've learned today well last week was the uh susino hosted the skilled trades fair at Arlington High School so I just wanted
005to thank um our County Executive for offering or for asking if we would host and I think we had seven 80 vendors there I see Mark has the bag up that looks great and I would say hundreds of kids and families that made their way through I know I saw you there uh Mrs Meen and it was a great uh event and uh a lot of interest and a wide array of skilled trades that were represented there uh and I know that our families I had the chance to speak to a few of our families who really appreciated uh that we hosted that and again I wanted to extend my thanks to I keep wanting to say senator Sereno County Executive now uh for um offering us the opportunity to host the fair this year
006you know I'll say I was going to do a reflection later on but if you don't mind I'll just please add that I heard rave reviews from her and from everyone else about our student volunteers at that event really just heard a couple of different people just say how wonderful and responsive and organized the whole thing was so um for those of you who don't wait till the very end for the reflections I'll throw that in there yes they were very appreciative of our kids who played a supporting role in getting set up uh and throughout the the entire event I I wanted to mention or bring the board's attention to the announcement from Dutchess County bosies that Jody Delia uh who's the current dep or who was the deputy superintendent was appointed as the
007district superintendent of the bosis uh I know we look forward to partnering with bosis and you should have received an invite actually Margie you forwarded that on uh to a uh me meet and greet yeah uh um if you choose to attend I know there's a PTSA council meeting that evening so uh I'll probably go to the etsa council meeting but I know all board members are welcome uh to the meet and greet with Jody uh two other notes for me uh in the coming days if you haven't received it already you'll receive an invitation for the Memorial Day commemoration uh in Charlie Johnson tribute uh we're pleased to welcome uh Pat Ryan who will be a keynote as well as Ricky Davis uh uh Ricky has a bit of a history now with Arlington
008and that he's been uh to our schools uh several times over the years so we're pleased to welcome him back uh and we're incredibly gracious that Congressman Ryan uh made the time in his schedule to speak and be the key part of the keynote address at the Charlie Johnson uh tribute as you may recall uh Charlie was recognized with the Medal of Honor uh in January um Congressman Ryan was uh hosted us to to a point welcomed him in his office uh helped uh helped us set us up with Arrangements uh for that day and uh was a part of the ceremony at the White House later that afternoon so we're great uh we we're really pleased that he's going to be back in Arlington uh on that particular day and I know you all
009joined me in Wishing uh our bowling team good luck as they head to States on Friday so state tournament on Friday for a bowl team so we'll wish them well uh that concludes my remarks thank you so much um moving on to public comment for agenda items only Mrs Flynn do we have anyone for public comment tonight no okay oh okay thank you uh moving on to reports and discussions would you like to let's see so um Bryce Holland would you like to join us at the microphone good evening can you hear me well yes fantastic my name is Bryce Holland and I'm seeking your consideration for the election to The Duchess Bose Board of Trustees I am an alumni of the Arlington Central School Districts graduating class of 2021 brush out of col College
010I recently graduated from the University of Virginia where I did a self-designed major I entitled Cradle to Career Education inspired by the famous Harlem Children Zone on March 5th I was nominated for the Bose Board of Trustees by the pipy City School District Board of Education which I have the honor of serving in my employment at the collective impact nonprofit organization the pipy children's crab inet I hope you've heard of us when I was in college I was Soulful and sentimental I knew I wanted to study education for a very long time to help children having been born into poverty in the city of pipy only for my parents to work tirelessly for opportunities that I could have that they didn't I felt I had something to owe to the kids who were just like
011me who may not get to go to college as I did I avidly searched in college for a silver bullet the answer in education so that all kids no matter their backgrounds can grow up to have successful careers and I was constantly thinking about this powerful statistic that 80% of a child's waking hours are spent outside of school in a year I say all that to express firstly that I'm a proud native of the city of pipy and a proud alumni of the Arlington Central School District and resident of Duchess County that's why I'm here for my career secondly it was to explain my personal commitment and belief in the power of the bosis programs such as Career Technical adult education resilience Academy and adult in special education to eliminate opportunity gaps across the county
012I believe the Bose serves a vital role in helping students with diverse learning needs who achieve their goals and ultimately realize this dream this American dream of socioeconomic Mobility for all of our children so to be home on a mission to eliminate opportunity gaps is very purposeful and personal to me in this polarized age where fear and crisis are normalized no solution has ever made more sense to me than the importance of local work like education United communities with the shared understanding that for our children as well as our democracy neighbors must work handin hand against adversity I believe Duchess County can be a model of that and Inspire others to do the same in America where place-based cultures Thrive where each and every person is passionately doing their part in their communities I think
013would be a much Kinder America and one prepared better prepared to face the challenges of our time so to that end I hope you'll consider me for your nomination and vote for the bosies board I'm deeply deeply thankful for my Arlington education that made me who I am today and its opportunities that led me to my passion in education work and local advocacy so it would be my honor to be in service of all of you if you haven't already received my resume and cover our letter please let me know but with that thank you very much pres thank you you thank you thank you very much I don't know if anybody has any questions but this is why we moved into this just so we could give him as much time as he wanted
014to take and and we could ask a question Marian so I first met you last Thursday at the Dutchess County School Board um Zoom so I saw your face um could you just give us a little snapshot again of the um organization that you're working for in the city of pipy I would love to do that I work for the 501c3 called The Kipsy children's cabinet and its mission in the city is to convene local leaders cross sector so our board chairs are the superintendent of schools and the mayor and it brings together the city's local philanthropy youth serving organizations in order to allow strategically towards uh a system of cradle to career opportunities from well birth to Career um so that means including Early Childhood early childhood education and out of school time in
015these larger conversations uh I believe as I was alluding to with this 80% uh statistic that I stated that I think it's important to have these conversations with everybody in the community to realize uh Power powerful outcomes for the futures of our children thanks anybody else okay well thank you so much for joining us tonight we appreciate it thank you very much thank you welcome Chris yes please so with that I we'll transition to Mr Quanto principal of beakman Elementary School uh Mr Quanto thanks for hosting this evening I know we've already uh sung the Praises of the bman PTA I think was responsible for the chuty and the bat but I see that you have many of your staff here this evening as well and you're going to provide an overview of the work
016of the learning community and the building's Focus for this year so thanks for doing that for our board and I'll scoot out of the way so I do have a specific thank you to the PTA but we'll start with that since that started the meeting up uh the PTA is really what makes a lot of things happen at school and when you simply say going we provide Refreshments for the PTA for the board meeting and they turn it into what they turn it into my response was if it was left up to me it probably would have been ships and water PTA um dare I say it welcome spring or spring has sprung we are excited that we are finally outdoors with kids and moving around because in those cold winter months it's really tough
017to keep kids motivated when we're inside so we're excited that the warm weather is upon us good evening members of the Board of Education superintendent cabinet staff students and community members and even those joining us virtually thank you for the opportunity to share with you the incredible work happening at beakman it's an honor to stand before you and highlight the ways in which we are bringing our core value to life a community thrives when all members Embrace their interdependence with compassion and empathy what a perfect presentation right before me to talk about the power of community because that's what we're going to focus this entire presentation on this belief is not just an idea it is a daily practice that shapes how we teach learn and grow together true success is never achieved in isolation
018it is through connection collaboration and a shared purpose that we create an environment where students staff and families feel valued supported and empowered tonight I want to take you on a journey through the ways that we Embrace interdependence in our school starting with our teachers who set the foundation for everything that we do many of which are in person tonight you will also notice that while there are one core value that's highlighted several values would be hit throughout the presentation at the start of the school year we introduced the compass points activity during a faculty meeting as a way to help teachers reflect on their work their work Styles and to help better understand their colleagues PLC Is Not A New Concept to beakman but each year we want to reestablish what those teams look
019like teachers began by taking two quick personality assessments which help them identify which compass point north south east or west best align with their approach to work each of these points represent a distinct way of thinking and collaborating so you'll see in the visual UPF front it's very small font so I'll read some of it to you the north are action-oriented individuals who like to dive into and get things done the south is focused on relationship driven team members who prioritize emotions and personal connections East are big p big picture thinkers who focus on long-term goals and vision and West are detailed oriented planners who ensure that every step is well thought out after identifying their dominant compass point teachers met in groups in this very room where we set those Compass points to the
020True North in the building they discussed their strengths potential challenges and the ways their work Styles influences their interactions with others they then shared insights with the larger faculty reflecting on how these differences shape Team Dynamics this activity was more than just a reflective exercise it became a foundational tool for our collaboration by increasing awareness of each other's perspectives teachers developed a deeper sense of respect and appreciation for their colleagues this understanding has allowed us to approach group work more effectively ensuring that every voice is valued and that our teams function with greater cohesion that leads me to the professional Learning Community work in our school professional learning communities are the foundation of how we continuously improve teaching and learning to ensure that our work is purposeful and impactful we follow the four critical questions
021developed by Rick defor what do we want students to learn how will we know if they have learned it what will we do if they don't learn it and just as important what will we do if they already know it this continuous cycle ensures that every student receives the support that they need to succeed to promote consistency we as Elementary principles often meet we have our own monthly meetings where we develop a lot of this work together we decided to implement a districtwide structure for those PLC meetings those structures look like celebrations business items meeting focus and steps for the next meeting to help teachers in the process to ensure that they are focusing on what they need to focus on so for example the meeting Focus can be an array of things but some
022examples are unit planning identifying essential standards reviewing assessment data Etc in recent sessions teachers analyzed winter I ready data to evaluate student progress and determine flexible grouping for targeted instruction using the data they adjusted their lesson plans created specific interventions and ensured that all students whether they needed additional support or enrichment were receiving instruction tailored to their needs beyond our school beakman staff members have extended their expertise to the entire District by Leading professional development sessions during superintendent conference days Mrs Bo happens to be sitting behind me and Mrs jazer who just a few days ago LED professional development with the entire Elementary district one session focused on literacy strategies equipping teachers with new approaches to strengthen students fluency another session centered on math instruction providing teachers with research-based strategies to prepare Implement and refine
023the math workshop model this commitment to Shared learning demonstrates that when Educators collaborate across the schools everyone benefits even our students by embedding this structured and collaborative approach into our culture we Foster a learning environment where teachers and students alike are constantly growing and growing together that brings me to the next slide there's a lot of data on here there's a lot of small n little pieces of information so I'll do my best to bring it to life for you at beakman data analysis is not a one-time event it's an ongoing process that drives our instruction decisions teachers continuously examine multiple data points to ensure that every student receives support they need one example of this practice amongst many of them is our fifth grade team which regular reviews common Forma assessment data and of
024unit assessments I ready Benchmark data as well as state test results this comprehensive approach does not just inform their core instruction but it also shapes how they utilize Flex time Flex is an intentionally scheduled block of time in the day that is unique to each grade level ensuring that the maximum number of adults are available to support some of these extra adults include ASAS providers which is academic intervention services related service providers otpt speech special Area Teachers are also involved and teaching assistants using the data fifth grade has implemented a system of flexible groupings across the grade level so it's not just their own students they keep as you can see in the visual there's anywhere up of 8 to 10 adults that are servicing kids in small groups based on their needs some of
025which are math groups some of which are literacy groups and there are passion projects in there as well so they take the the entire grade level and divide it up into groups on a cycle and put students in groups that are Best Supporting their needs to the right you'll see example those screenshots that illustrate how multiple Educators meet with small groups daily each targeting a specific area of instruction this model ensures that students are receiving personalized attention and teachers are able to provide instruction that is truly responsive to their needs by making data driven driven decisions in real time we're creating a learning environment where every child has the opportunity to thrive up on the screen you'll see some quotes from some of our fifth graders board members hopefully you can read it from your
026seats uh but it shows that students are getting value out of this work our intervention and enrichment model ensures that every student receives instruction that they need our ASAS and related service providers meet quarterly to work through Logistics as it relates to scheduling based on updated Benchmark data some students enter While others remain the same and those that have shown growth will exit this ensures that students provide necessary services that promote academic and social growth classroom teachers are also creating flexible groupings as I mentioned before you'll see these direct quotes from our fifth grade students sharing their experiences their words highlight the impact of this approach how it has helped them feel more confident in their learning better supported by their teachers and engaged in New Challenges this student feedback reinforces why we continue to
027refine our instructional approach when students feel supported they flourish last year I shared with you our one of our enrichment groups we had a presentation from our music department during enrichment where they did theatrical plays so this year I'm going to spend a little time sharing with you what happens in art enrichment opport ities allow students to explore new interests develop creativity and engage in Innovative experiences on the screen you'll see images of students working with green screen technology and stop motion animation demonstrating how we integrate digital tools into Hands-On learning these projects Inspire students to think critically collaborate and bring their ideas to life in new and exciting ways Additionally you see a quote from Mrs thyberg and the point I really want to make here is her passion for art and art education
028and to another core value her willingness to learn and try new things and continue to learn she continually goes back to school takes classes and finds new ways to approach that with kids at the bottom of the page you'll find a padlet hopefully that link works for you it's a padlet of resources that Mrs thyberg has put together to show not only what happens in the regular art room but also what's happening with these stop motion animation and green screen that students are completing so when you have time please review that it's amazing work at be we also recognize that students learn best when they engage with one another by providing structured opportunities for collaboration across grade levels we help students develop essential academic and social skills while building a strong sense of community our
029fifth grade safety patrollers embody the spirit of interdependence compassion and Leadership each day they take on essential responsibilities from assisting with morning drop off and helping primary classrooms settle in for the day they also are responsible for making sure that they fill in their absences when they're not here so we work on that skill as well advocating for their needs though through their dedication they Foster a culture of support leadership and shared responsibility reinforcing the idea that our community thrives when we lift each other up another way we Foster peer collaboration which got brought back this year thank you to miss Peron is our buddy class program this tradition pairs intermediate level students with younger Learners allowing them to read together complete projects and build meaningful relationships the benefits of these Partnerships extend far beyond
030academics buddy classes enhance literacy skills promote positive social interactions build self-esteem and Leadership skills and Foster a love of learning for school collaboration also extends beyond our building we are fortunate to partner with high school students including members of the Arlington athletic Council and Brother's Keeper these students visit beatman throughout the year to serve as Role Models reading with younger students and engaging in meaningful discussions this year we add an additional layer of partnering with Maris college students in the teacher preparation program work with beakman students specifically in the areas of math and science their presence reinforces the idea that learning is a lifelong journey another core value and that we all play a role in supporting one another these peer-to-peer experiences help shape a school culture rooted in mentorship teamwork and shared learning when
031students connect with and learn from one another they not only strengthen their academic skills but also gain confidence build relationships and develop a deeper sense of belonging within their school Community we also believe that students Thrive when they feel valued appreciated and recognized by their efforts by celebrating their achievements both academically and socially we reinforce the importance of hard work kindness and being a positive role model one way we do this is through our bear pause program which I introduced to you last year students get recognized we stepped it up this year by recognizing students for the whole month so basically each month we have a theme we are in The Bravery month right now students are earning be Paws for being brave and at the end of the month they will be recognized at
032a whole school meeting for embodying that and it's not just one person recommending them this is a collaboration amongst a lot of colleagues and a lot of teachers in the building to the select students that get this recipient of this award and we also put those names on the front uh TV in the main lobby there Beyond individual recognition these programs send a powerful message to students that their actions matter and their contributions to our school are seen and appreciated by fostering a culture of acknowledgement and encouragement we Inspire the students to take pride in their efforts support one another and strive for personal growth we also realize that learning extends well beyond our school by partnering with local organizations and professionals we provide students with valuable opportunities to connect with their Community explore interests
033and Gain real World Knowledge one example of this collaboration is Duchess orthodonics which presents an annual assembly on the importance of oral health students learn about dental hygiene the effect of nutrition on their teeth and proper brushing and flossing techniques this Hands-On learning experiences Empower students to to take responsibility for their health and well-being another impactful event is our annual career day where professionals from various Fields including nurses firefighters Woodworkers heavy equipment operators lawyers and fitness instructors visit our school to share their experience through these engaging presentations students see firsthand the many career Pathways available to them and begin The Envision their Futures in the classroom beyond the classroom a particularly m a experience this year for students was our Veterans Day ceremony featuring a keynote address from Master Sergeant AJ guckian of the New
034York Army National Guard he spoke powerfully about the importance of values drawing a connection between the core values of the US Army and the values we uphold here at beakman he went through each one of these values and aligned it to his experience working with the Army National Guard and connected it for students to see that what they're learning now will apply and help them in their future just as we work with our community and learn from them we want to give back throughout the year our students and staff come together to support meaningful causes reinforcing the value of compassion service and Collective action there's several things that we do but a few are cram the classroom which just completed recently we actually uh last year started a Serial box Domino and raised I think
035182 cial boxes for Duchess Outreach stepped it up from 15 last year while also teaching students that measurement and data can play a role in this and how far can you separate boxes and they don't fall or they do fall we had the entire School in here and we ran it all the way to the back and front again so good experiences for kids to learn that it's fun to do this but we're also providing for our community kickball for life I know Miss Meen joined us last year for kickball for Life kickball for life is the Beloved tra tradition here at beakman it brings together student staff and families for a kickball tournament to raise funds for the American Cancer Society through friendly competition students experience the power of community and teamwork while supporting
036important causes and we also Mr Wright is here behind me Miss Wright is spearheading the Autism Awareness walk each year students and staff participate in a walk to support Autism Speaks raising awareness and demonstrating their commitment to inclusivity and understanding and Mr O every year runs our kids heart challenge students learn what it means to exercise and to increase their heart rate for health while raising money for the American Cancer assoc sorry American Heart Association they do get really excited about the little things they can earn as rewards too though these experiences not only give teach students how to give back but also help them understand their actions no matter how small can make a meaningful impact by engaging in service they develop a stronger sense of empathy responsibility and global citizenship and this is
037the point where I go to the PTA and family engagement as you can see we have a very supportive PTA that is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that things go well a strong Community is built on meaningful connections with families Educators and students our partnership with the PTA and family engagement activities play a vital role in fostering these relationships ensuring that students feel supported both at school and at home our PTA is an inte integral part of our school culture organizing events that bring families together while also providing financial and logistical support for schoolwide activities one of the highlights of this year is our Color Run we raised the largest amount of money and any fundraiser with one event and all those things go back to the things that we do
038with students so we have multiple uh arts and Ed programs that occur so kindergarten has yoga first grade has the sing along second grade does a dance routine third grade has the Japanese culture fourth grade American history plays and fifth grade has the mural project that work that they put in all that work they put in for the Color Run is how we fund a lot of these projects that are currently running right now they also provide a trunk or treat tall and small ball and as you noticed when you entered the main lobby we are in our part month which is pick a reading partner this year's theme is reading gives you superpowers hence the reason for all the superheroes in the main entrance that is spearheaded by a teacher who is also a
039member of the PTA here so all month long activities for students spirit days post school meetings promoting reading at home with your family can be fun too additionally our response to inter intervention system serves as a collaborative space where teachers and families come together to discuss academic and social emotional supports these meetings ensure that parents are involved in decision-making processes while alongside Educators to create a plan for their child success by prioritizing family engagement and fostering a strong PTA partnership we continue to build supportive interconnected School Community where all members students and parents and staff work together with compassion and empathy to help our children thrive on the right you'll see a picture of what we also do as the mystery reader parents can sign up with a teacher coming in on a day their
040child doesn't know about it they pick a book they want to read they come up with an activity that goes alone with that book and it's a surprise the students have to make guesses as to who it might be based on some Clues we are inviting parents in no longer the days of closing the doors or opening it up and letting everybody come in to be a part of our education in closing as we reflect on the ways we work together I want to thank our teachers especially those here tonight staff students families and Community Partners for making beakman a school where collaboration kindness and shared success Define our daily work I would also like to thank the Board of Education Dr bante and the cabinet members for continuing to provide support to our school
041in a variety of ways together we're building a thriving Community one that Embraces interdependence with compassion and empathy thank you thank you so much now I'll take some questions all right Linda has a question thank you for the fabulous presentation and um BTA you set the bar High you better be telling all your other PTA people about this um two questions or one is a um a request the padlet I love padlets um it doesn't seem to open for I don't know if you could send it to us I'll thank the link doesn't work sorry uh Crown the classroom yeah wonderful that you're doing that do you have um a system in in the school if a if a child is food insecure that maybe they could take a backpack home in the uh in
042the weekend for some extra food or uh the family can get some extra food if they need it yeah we don't have a backpack program per se as I've seen in other buildings but our school social worker Miss Marino and Miss Wagner who are school psychologist they're a real help in those and they have done through staff families in need they put a email to the staff and people show up with gift cards and whatever is needed for families um we really rely on those two counselors in our building to know which families need support more than others and there are times where there's a need that was unexpected and they plan for those things there's no specific backpack program but we do keep a pulse on what students need when families need thank you
043so much yeah thank you for so much for doing that oh thank you anybody else have any questions today Jen I just had one on on one of your slides there was an abbreviation and I was just curious what it was I think it was fra on the oh yeah so fifth grade uh Miss Boon who's the fifth grade math teacher she sees all the students for math she put in for a grant it's basically like a fact but with fractions so she's trying it out in fifth grade um to see how it goes then determine if we want to then open this up to the building so it's something new for us this year the fra program it's um there's other versions of it for math fact so that's why they spin with the
044fra it's the fractions but but facts instead thank you for explaining that Donna thank you for the presentation it sounds like you're doing so much to engage the students and really make school a fun place to come I wondered how you're finding you know sort of the attendance at the school like you know how how it's comes postco how are you how are you doing that talk to Mrs Greco and Miss SEO Edney right now it's a little bit of a struggle because of sicknesses um we find that students really engage and like all the events that we're doing this is the tough time of the year because of the sickness so putting that aside students want to be in school and that's why we also have even I didn't put this in the presentation
045but even our counselors have peer mediation and social groups to help kids that are fearful of school and get them to want to come in um it it right now it's not great right um even staff members are getting sick right now so this is not a great gauge right now but generally speaking we're noticing that students coming up leading poll school meetings like we have grade levels that will adopt it for example the kindergarten students I had to missed this one I had a different meeting but they came up and had the kindergarten students present to their peers which takes a lot of Bravery but they were excited to come and their peers are excited to come see them present those things so that's what we're encouraging that school is not just the classroom
046things lots of other things happening U so overall attendance is improving maybe today is not the best day to look at that though thank you anybody else okay thank you so much thank you everyone appreciate it okay moving on to um oh we just want to mention the draft calendar did you yeah so I I think I might be a little bit of a different process than than years past but I we are at the point internally where we're sharing drafts of the calendar with our labor organizations uh and it just seemed appropriate to also have the board uh see the draft as well uh I expect that next month uh we will have a calendar for next school year to present to the board and uh for Action so this is non-action this evening
047it's just as it's floating around and being distributed internally I wanted to be sure that the board saw the draft as well thank you we appreciate that and then next is the budget presentation your presentation moving right along uh one of the things I really appreciated about your presentation uh Chris was how uh you apply the the district's values to the work of the school and uh really when those were developed years ago uh those were meant to be uh means uh to guide our Behavior as a learning community and I think many of the examples you cited this evening certainly reflect that and the work that you're doing with your team here at uh beakman Elementary uh I want to start just by thanking the the board for your feedback o over the course
048of the last few weeks if not few months now as we've worked on budget development I also want to acknowledge our leadership team our cabinet uh the many uh administrators in the district as well as the teacher leaders who've uh been very helpful along the way over these last few months as we've developed a recommendation uh for the school budget for next school year uh that being said this is just another uh stop if you will in the process of adopting a budget to present to the board I'm sorry to present to the community uh so tonight you'll hear the administration's recommendation uh and just to situate you in a broader timeline um the board has now about a month after this evening to uh provide any additional feedback to the administration uh or request
049any additional information that you would like from us uh as you uh consider adopting a budget to present to the community uh so the adoption would occur uh in April and then the budget vote as you know uh so some of what I'm going to go through uh this evening is information you've already seen uh again just in consideration that community members pick up this conversation at various points it's meant to um comprise a you know more of a comprehens of summary of a discussion and the work that we've been engaging in over the last few months one of the things I shared with the board is that as a school uh District we have an identity and I have to consider what makes us unique as a school district that's compared uh to other
050districts in our in our area and no one thing if you will uh makes us unique It's a combination of several things that make us a unique Learning Community our history as a school district is something that's well documented and that we share uh we have uh you know a high level of teacher quality uh in the district as reflected through uh the master teacher uh program as well as the national board certification process we have strong leadership in our school district and when our District's operating uh at its best there's a clear alignment between our Administration our board leadership and our teacher leadership in the in the school uh we have extensive programmatic offerings it's one of the benefits of working as part of a large school system and uh a significant commitment that's
051demonstrated ated through our support staff all of these things and many others when combined make us a very unique learning community and as the administration it's important for us as we go into budget development to keep these things in mind uh so we don't lose our sense of self along the way uh so part of my charge with the rest of the administration is developing a budget that honors uh what makes us unique as a school system I shared with the board early on every superintendent has a framework that they work within to try to assess what where is the district right now uh and and what resources and supports may be necessary uh to continue to accelerate the district's progress uh as I've shared with the board we consider uh that at a base
052level we need our schools to be safe and supportive uh we also need for there to be a collaborative culture within our schools that's foundational to any other work that we want to do in a school system so some of my recommendations this evening uh center around school safety uh in a more physical safety uh perspective but I also want to highlight something that Chris had shared early on in uh or I should say in his presentation which was really highlighting the efforts in developing a collaborative culture at a school level something that Chris also mentioned and alluded to which I think a couple of our other principles have as well is how he's working with the other Elementary principles in developing a vision for this work across the elementary program so as I come
053back into Arlington and think back because you've heard Learning Community those of you who've been a part of the board for some time now you've heard that for a while so what's different about the Learning Community process now than maybe 10 years ago and I would say it's how our our leaders and our teacher leaders are leaning into the collaborative culture element which is foundational uh to this work as compared to to years ago and I'm excited uh by the results that uh we anticipate seeing not only at the end of the school year but in the years to come so we need our schools to be safe and supportive we need there to be a collaborative culture before we can talk about an effective effective teaching occurring in our every classroom if there's a
054feeling that the schools aren't safe community members don't want to talk about effective teaching they want to talk about safety uh and uh so with that I have some uh recommendations that I've made related to that uh so I'll highlight just a few things as it relates to our educational plan first our recommended budget maintains all existing programs and services for students so the great things that are happening in Arlington this school year and in a half for years are maintained in the administration's recommendations uh I am including and recommending additional funding to expand our Athletics programs uh as well as to expand uh programming at Arlington High School uh Mr cring spoke of those athletic programs as well as Mr orchit at our last meeting uh you've heard about the Winter Circle project which
055is a Bose supported program housed at Arlington High School uh that we're including funding for for next school year and I'll call out a few things in addition to everything we're currently doing Under the Umbrella of School Safety and Security I'm recommending the addition of one SRO uh into our schools next school year uh this is part of a a two-year plan uh the first part of which is to include one SRO I uh do believe that we should have two additional sro's uh that are part of our uh School Community uh that being said just there's some constraints on uh budgeting for two for next school year I've also been in communication with the county about uh their ability to provide one school resour one school resource officer excuse me uh next school year
056and have a high level confidence that that's a need that they'll be able to fill uh through their training program I'm also recommending uh that we uh purchase the crg mapping uh software uh this is um uh software that's available to us to develop uh maps of our schools that can be used and accessed uh by emergency responders in the event of an eer on one of our campuses as you can imagine if you're an EMT or a member of a fire uh uh department or a police officer coming into our schools you may have access to our school map uh but I'll I'll use where we were today as an example for our executive session it's pretty hard for a Community member coming in they might see room 26 and then if you don't
057have familiarity with beakman Elementary School figuring out where room 26 is uh can be quite the uh the task uh the crg mapping soft software puts essentially all of your schools on a grid uh that can be accessed uh pretty easily from a a bird's eye view of the school if there's a need to get to room 26 you can just look at the quadrant and go okay that's have a top- down view of the school and know okay it's in that particular corner of the school so it reduces uh in an event of emergency response time by allowing emergency responders to get a quick glimpse of the school and understanding of where they may need to respond to in the event of an emergency uh we also uh I'm also recommending with the leadership
058team here the addition of a safety staff member at Union Bale Middle School our our board is familiar with our safety staff members uh there uh we have a number of them at um our high school as well as at both of our middle schools uh through review and discussion with Dr rolison uh one additional safety staff member would go a long way uh to providing the support that she feels she needs at that particular building uh given um our review of that particular site location Under the Umbrella of school Improvement uh the board has received NE several reports this school year that have focused on our results how our kids are doing and there's plenty of room for improvement in that area uh we have engaged in a relationship with solution tree uh to
059provide professional learning support to our school leaders and to our district leaders as well as some of our teacher leaders uh to examine how our kids are doing and the systems of support we can uh put in place uh for to improve student achievement uh tonight alluded to some of those processes um this is work and that's just scratching the surface we could talk you know quite a bit about this but each of our schools have uh efforts that they're making to improve School Improvement this relationship with solution tree gives our teams access uh to Professionals in the field who have done this work in their school communities um it also connects them with other individuals who are engaging in this work throughout the country uh and provides an accompanying level of uh continued professional
060learning and on-site support throughout the school year uh we do run this through bosis meaning it's a uh it is aable um so the cost is $90,000 approximately per year uh we began this relationship last school year uh we are entering the second year of a three-year commitment uh to this support model and again the results that you'll see from it will continue to be presented at the end of the school year and at the beginning of next school year as our students take the state assessments as they finish their I assess ments uh so we can get a sense of how our student achievement is improving year-over-year the board has made a commitment to the univers previous uh boards have made a commitment to the universal pre kindergarten program uh uh pre kindergarten is
061a great uh option for our community to have available to it we have over we receive funding for pre kindergarten from New York state that is a per student uh funding allocation uh the majority of our student students are housed at Holy Trinity or uh another site that Holy Trinity overseas uh what we have heard from Holy Trinity along the way is that the per pupil funding that we provide them uh does not cover their cost uh the district missed an opportunity unfortunately last school year to pursue what's called a prek expansion Grant which would have provided state level funding to supplement our per pup funding um uh we're not aware at this time of whether whether or not the state is going to make that expansion Grant available to us again that's something that'll
062be determined in the next few months so from a budgeting perspective I'm uh recommending an allocation in this amount $325,000 to be uh prepared to supplement the funding that we have for students who are attending uh uh prek at those site locations um uh my concern is if we don't supplement that funding uh other districts that did pursue uh the expansion grant opportunities quite frankly have more money to offer some of these community- based programs and I do not believe that they will continue to secure us seats in their program at a at a lower uh rate um so this will supplement uh the funding that's uh available uh for Arlington students uh or Rising Arlington students in the program if uh the grant comes through uh for us and we apply for it and
063we receive it uh this is money that could be directed uh elsewhere I do think that uh because I don't think the timeline is going to line up specifically with our uh budget adoption at this point I do think and i' I believe I've been Canon with the board about this we should be thinking longterm about pulling these prek uh seats into the district to the extent that we can uh we don't have space for all of it uh but uh we do have some space at uh different schools uh that we could house a pre-ap program uh and this would be money that would go to supplement uh those uh uh program Spaces Furniture supplies uh of that nature so I do believe uh in the short and long term uh that these are
064funds that we're going to need to support a pre-ap program whether it continue to be out of District or we gradually begin to bring uh a part or whole or the whole of that program in District in the years ahead I am uh recommending a change to the RSP program uh next school year uh the RSP prog progr was created in the 2324 school year uh and this is a program that's designed to provide if you will a break from the regular educ regular education environment uh for students who who may need it we traditionally had relied upon bosis to provide uh this respit if you will you have a student who's in a short-term uh crisis uh maybe there's a medical need uh that needs a a six week break if you will from
065school but still needs to be in an educational setting uh bosis offer support uh for such situations the problem is as with most things in bosis the systems uh become quite stressed that's something that you know maybe Bryce is going to help us out with in the in the years ahead because you know the needs that we experience are being experienced by districts throughout the region and bosis is limited in the amount of spaces that it has uh for these programs so uh we created our own program which I would say is a good idea uh that being said the way the program is staffed uh and the way it's been accessed we've reviewed over the course of this school year and we we've dedicated a lot of Staffing uh to this program we feel
066and we're continuing to work on the shape of the model uh or design but we feel confident that we can adjust the program design uh from going what what is now uh five and a half FTE if I have that right Lisa thank you uh to four uh teachers overseeing the program uh and that would be a reduction of uh one and a half uh staff members so we're still working on the design but we feel pretty confident uh we can scale the program from what is a staff allocation of five and a half to to four uh to provide the support uh that is uh uh necessary for the needs that we've seen over the course of this this school year so again those were a few of the highlights that I wanted to
067make in in educational programming uh I wanted to talk with the board a little bit now about how are we budgeting for all of this because you've heard reports about our budget deficit Uh Kevin and I have talked about how we're working to reduce that deficit and I'll provide a full overview this evening so first uh just there's been significant changes to state and federal funding over the last five years uh and that has influenced our not only our shortterm but should guide us in our long-term budget Outlook uh we received uh an influx of foundation aid over a three-year period of time uh that provided uh monies that were really owed to our schools over the long term uh however we're not likely to see those large increases uh from in Foundation Aid in
068the future uh we did not receive that this school year uh I don't anticipate that we will receive large increases to Foundation Aid in the years ahead so we received about a two and a half% increase to Foundation Aid and you may recall just a couple years ago the district received over a 10% increase in Foundation Aid so we're more likely to see those increases of two to 3% uh in the years ahead we also had received $14 million just north of that in federal pandemic related funding that why has expired um we use that funding to expand Staffing and professional development but they're simply not available to the district anymore so we've scaled back on some of those efforts meaning we've reduced the budget uh where we could um or where we were utilizing
069Federal money or we've had to over the last two school years be prepared uh to account for the staffing uh in uh with our own funds whether that be a combination of our local share or through the state fund funding that the School receives so we as an Administration are going to feel more pressure to control our internal costs salaries benefits how we're expanding programming while maintaining additional Revenue now additional Revenue in the future is going to comes through two uh sources either state aid which is going to uh level now or or taxes uh through the local share and obviously that's the dance that we play uh how do we ra taxes and under and um how do we raise taxes in a way that the community can support this is an overview uh
070for the board uh previous five years what our budget to budget increase has been what our tax levy increase has been in that given year and what our state aid increase had been in that year I'll just highlight 2324 you look at the column all the way to the right the district received a 15% increase or nearly a 15% increase in state 8% the year prior 7% the year prior to that 5% the year prior to that you those were significant increases to state aid uh we did not see that last school year the year that we're in right now I should say um that being said Kevin applied some strategies along with Mr Finch uh to keep the tax levy at 2% um some of those resources are not available to us anymore which
071puts a little more pressure on us to make a recommended tax levy increase of 2.74% and again our state aid as of right now is expected to be 2.57% I like to highlight here I know the budget to- budget increase is something we haven't highlighted in in previous years because it's not a reflection necessarily of what what's it going to cost a Community member and I get that uh but I do think it reflects how the administration is managing the budget budget to budget increase of next year at 1.53% uh that's over overall budget is the lowest budget budget increase in the last 10 years in the school district so while the administration is making every effort to be conservative in how we're budgeting uh again we're feeling more pressure because that state aid is
072not coming to the school district in the manner that it was it puts a little more pressure then to raise the levy part of the recommendation I'll uh or part of the justification you know I'll make in putting the levy at 274 is that that slight that additional Revenue just say that puts us in a better foundation for next school year so if the board uh is interested in maintaining Levy increases of around 2% I think every few years we're going to have to maybe go out and have a a slightly bigger ask uh depending on what else is happening uh or the fiscal environment that we're in um I do feel in talking with Kevin that having the additional Revenue additional Revenue being well what's the difference between what we would receive at a
0732% Levy to a 2 and three quarter percent Levy that's about a million dollars just north of a million dollars uh that million dollars is going to help us now next year as well as we're going through budget development that otherwise wouldn't be there uh so if we've applied uh I'll move forward and then I can speak to this uh the recommended budget again is on under the allowable tax levy as well uh this is the 14th or would be the 14th consecutive year that the budget is under the allowable tax levy so since the tax levy began uh we have uh presented budget and the community has supported a budget uh that has been under the allowable tax levy uh and this one is as well so I'll I'll come back to something in
074a moment I just want to show the adjustments to our expenditure side so we have expenditures then we have Revenue so some of this you're familiar with uh this is more comprehensive now because it's all on one slide uh when we presented the rollover budget uh January 7th uh that was a rollover budget of 20 million uh in the time since uh we've been able to reduce uh our TRS contribution rate we went from an assumption to an actual there um our health insurance again we participate in a Consortium uh for health insurance The Duchess uh Educators health insurance Consortium deip um their rates have been established for next school year so we were aring another assumption of 8% uh that rate's going to be 6% next school year bless you uh the one thing
075that's impacting us deck uh over the course of the school year and i' invite Kevin to speak to this a little bit more if needed um one of the benefits of being part of the uh Consortium is that come the end of the year if there's funding uh excess funding you will get a premium holiday that comes back to the school district that premium holiday for Arlington has been uh just north of $3 million I believe $3.5 million in previous years we are not scheduled uh to receive that premium holiday next school year so we could not incorporate that into our budget that put more stress on budget development so that's something different not just state aid going into next school year uh that um maybe existed in the past but uh won't next school
076year Kevin has gone back through and made adjustments to the employee contribution to health insurance this is an adjustment that every few years uh uh we make uh AED in our favor this year uh we have to budget uh based on our staff and a projection of what health insurance our staff may access uh not everybody chooses family coverage and uh we have a lot of employees so while Kevin May Bud be budgeting a certain number of employees to access family versus uh individual coverage um uh this uh he went back through I'll reexamine that and again that's uh an offset of a million dollars in our favor uh we are recommending a reduction of several uh staff positions teaching and staff positions in the district uh that's uh going to equate to $2.2 million
077we had a Furniture line that we budgeted for with the prospect of um the building projects uh that we're going to encounter um over the next few years um those classrooms are not yet built um we did have a replacement schedule we also were incorporating for uh the classrooms that exist now we felt we could cut that in half the addition of the SRO is here uh the supplemental prek funding uh these are ads now athletic programming Safety and Security at ubms the Winter Circle project that's through bosei so um that is aidable but our initial cost uh we have to be prepared to uh fund this year but the aid will begin to kick in the following year uh we went through our Bose service requests we made uh over $300,000 in reductions uh
078to Bose services that we had budgeted for uh we also at one point had budgeted a significant amount of money for consultants and contractual support in the district uh Mr Finch began reducing uh re-evaluating those contracts uh last school year the reductions in the budget were not fully realized uh so we're eliminating out no that those now uh into next school year so we started at 272 million with a rollover budget this is a net change of uh $4.8 million uh bringing our expenditure side down to 268 million Mark did you have a question yep yeah uh the bosis aid uh for uh the Winter Circle for solution tree what's the rate of urse reimbursement or discount or whatever you want to call it about 35% generally yeah one of the things about Winter Circle
079that's kind of neat so there's the aid and we assume about a third you're creating a car and we have to buy the car Winter Circle will auction off the car at the end uh and then that money comes back to the district as well to offset the program cost and you ask well what's the what's the price you know that these cars go for it really ranges uh but some of the cars uh auctioned for close to $50,000 so when you consider that um it significantly offsets the cost of the program thank [Music] you all right so the revenue side so we have the expenditures now we have the revenue we have to bring these two things in in Balance I'll say ignore the first line which is the $124 increase in state aid
080which was really just put in for rounding purposes but we'll we'll come back to that the bigger items are below it um uh again we saw an increase in state aid from what we were assuming to the executive proposal uh the one housee budgets were coming out today so we'll see uh how that will shift in the in the weeks ahead um that being said we're confident we won't receive any less Aid uh than what the governor has proposed for the school district Kevin has made an adjustment uh in interest income so it's Revenue uh that's coming into the district based on his initial assumptions there we're budgeting from what was a 2% assumption to a 2.74% assumption on the Lev now based on our last conversation that's $1.1 million uh in additional Revenue to
081the school district Uh Kevin has worked uh in adjusting uh or reexamining um how we could apply building Aid uh for the roving recent roving work that was done at Union bail and Veil Farm uh this is work that Kevin will facilitate between now and the end of the school year which will provide increased building aid from what our initial projection was uh to next school year um back in state aid from the district kev's been busy uh and then we've also made an adjustment to Pilot payments pilot payment in Li of taxes uh we have sever several pilot Arrangements that have been made over the last 10 to 15 years or so uh again in each year you move forward in the pilot Arrangement um there's additional tax revenue that is coming on uh
082from those uh Property Owners um so and looking at those uh we seek to realize about $200,000 in additional payments uh uh that's taxes that are being paid uh as those properties come uh to full value full assessed valuation so the net change from the revenue budget we presented in January 7th again this was all part of the rollover is $ 2.4856 million 25,000 figure uh the additional $124 was just a make those two figures match but we think we're confident we could find the $124 uh if necessary okay so again a high level overview of quite a few things uh and and really in summary of the discussion that we've had over the last two months uh the board adopts an educational plan and budget we have that scheduled for April 8th again that's
083the budget that's going to be presented to the community we have the formal hearing on the 13th budget vote is on the 20th and at this point it'll open it up for questions thank you for that yep we had kind of a robust conversation last time let's see what we have left in the tank okay thank you Eileen um so it looking at the RSP program the reduction of 1.5 right is that in addition to the reductions that we talked about previously through attrition or is that 1.5 included in I think it was seven reductions right it's an addition okay it's an addition so at that time and I think as a whole we are at 9.5 Hillary reduction sta nine that's also includes uh we included in that an administrative position uh just that
084we eliminate we're not filling um this school year so I believe it's eight faculty or teacher positions um we presented seven um there's initial 1.5 here and I may be losing sight of half a position in there an administrative position um as well thank you Mar Maran um so you you answered my upk Holy Trinity question yeah um but just a clarification for are we still involved with cinnamon tree for that or not yeah they are so they didn't have the the price increase that Holy Trinity is projecting so that's why it's all about that cor and there's also I'll not to get ahead on the agenda but there is an agenda item tonight I S that's yeah thank you open to open a relationship with healthy kids which is would be contracted support uh
085healthy kids is another organization that will uh provide Staffing for upk uh you have to provide the space okay uh so they don't provide the space but they can provide uh the Staffing and the program essentially um so there's a proposal uh on an agenda item tonight that would be allow us to enter into a relationship with them uh as well I don't want to further complain this but as this uh matter came up uh I think it's in the district's best interest to begin uh pursuing uh other arrangements or options for upk okay thank the inhouse other contracted support there's an agenda item on tonight that gives us another option yeah the consent agenda letter Q exactly and how we pursue that to be seen but this at least gets us in a position
086where we can begin to explore that with healthy kids okay thank you just following along the perfect time I had a question about the prek as well I think there obviously a lot of interest in prek in the district I was wondering how many current students receive prek and how many would we are we not not enable to have prek this year I'll answer the latter uh first and then John you can provide the actual figure so we actually receive funding for over 400 students to to to participate in preek uh meaning we receive a per pupil amount $5,600 uh for 400 students so it's about $2 million of funding uh we go through an application process we have not had 400 individuals express interest in our our prek program I wish we had but
087we don't yeah so um now some families choose to pursue program private programs that um they just feel is a better fit for their particular child one of the other Dynamics though and the issues with PR and this isn't unique to us this is in the area um that amount of $5,600 is what we can offer a provider um uh we could supplement which I'm recommending we do to a degree here uh but most providers have full programs and they're charging three or four times that cost so they'll look to us and say well we don't need to hold seats for you at that lesser rate uh because we are able to have a full program and charge families you know the net cost $15,000 for our particular seat so uh that limits us in
088our particular area because uh there's many prek uh programs uh in the area uh but it's competitive in their full at at higher amounts um so there's a few programs that we've been able to form a relationship with uh that will accept our funding or we're accepting our funding at that amount uh maybe now they're asking us to supplement um and and then we have just over a 100 seats I believe District why 160 and as a reference point what's our full what's a kindergarten incoming class usually for us 500 500ish yeah yeah okay 549 that's great Maran just to keep going with this conversation I think part of the problem if I'm not mistaken though with the current setup is part of the Holy Trinity program is in Hyde Park it's not and there's
089no busing so therefore it's not exactly easy for a family to say I want to do a upk program that I have to figure out how to get my child back and forth to and and whatnot so another reason to look forward to bringing that program house it eliminates some of those barrier St Tre right yeah that would be my thinking thank you although I don't haven't we always didn't Kevin always warn us about that we can't bust them though we don't that that's a very expensive proposition but their little car seats which is true but I still think if if you had to get a child correct local that you're already exactly Z deal with I think completely agree the transportation still would be great if the state would figure that out for us
090but even that not withstanding I think the current distance that we're asking people to transport a child is is a lot wildly crazy yeah yeah I I'm interested um I don't expect anybody have this this answer right now I would do we collect data on how many of our incoming kindergarteners have had preschool at all and if theyve had one or two years or what they what their what you know what what experience they've had with socialization and learning before they join us so we know that for the kids that are in our fourth grade preschool program but I wonder if we because I wonder if it would strengthen the argument for investment as we see how children you know so you're talking about so so perhaps some families are just opting for a private
091peer kid that fits into their life and has extended care you know what I guess I I guess I'm just wondering if we look at any of that yeah I I think informally we do yeah um formally we know who's in our upk program so that information we have uh I recall at screening we do inquire with families if they're children so if you're right when you're registering your kindergarten uh for school and this would be the the informal part because I don't think it's tracked at the district level so much as the buildings may be aware uh that when you're registering your kindergarten and going through the screening process I recall us asking whether or not your child uh is a part of a prek program you went there the the range of prek
092programs can can really vary uh and that's not information that I recall being shared and and not centralizing in any way but it's a unique question and that's something perhaps that uh we it very well may be at hand U beyond the upk data that we have anybody else have any questions eile I see I looking like a question on a phas bill can you talk about uh the Bose's reduction and where that money is coming from are we reducing Services uh it's not a reduction in Services uh it probably best reflects services that we had accessed at one time in the past uh but we did not uh we were no longer accessing or had not access in the previous three years or had not access to the extent we at one point were
093uh so as part of this process Kevin and I will sit down and we'll look at our spending over the previous uh three or four years uh on every line and with that you can see trends of where our our expenses have really increased uh you could also see Trends where maybe uh Kevin's made adjustments over the years based on an increase or a decrease in in spending we're wary of making any one adjustment based on just what we saw in one year's Moment In Time Kevin does a great job doing an analysis of just looking at where are things trending upwards where are things trending down uh or as Kevin would say another Kevin ISM where do we need to change Behavior because you know behaviors are driving costs uh in in some situations
094so the Bose's adjustments uh as I uh reflect on those were areas in which we just we were still budgeting at a level where um uh uh to to a level where we but we were not our our historical spending did not reflect um that we were utilizing that funding to that to to that extent but it does not result in a reduction in many services for kids thank you on the lines I cited here other areas of bosis where we increase our spending because we need more of that service if they can provide it Maran just one more RSP question y um am I correct that at this past year at least we were doing a secondary and an elementary branch of that that's correct so does the reduction in staff eliminate the elementary
095by no okay so it's no it's just a different model we're going to create so it's not going to look the same actually one of the RSP classes is house here okay um and we may choose not to do that next year uh just in providing more of a school level support uh but we don't have a full plan to present to you this evening which is fine I know said it was still there I just was curious if that was the thinging all but Phill an elementary and a secondary level of access to the program okay thank you and something we we heard along the way just the comment on it was it the program hasn't been the cost of the program and if you consider the cost of five and a half staff
096members is is pretty significant when you think about that that's about $600,000 uh in Staffing um that the number of students we have accessing the program uh does not justify that that cost but we still have the need uh the needs that the children are presenting right so we don't want to just cut the program uh because now what do you do to support students who who have that level of need so we made a commitment uh to this but we think we can provide a comparable level of support uh for the students who are accessing the program through a different model um that does though result in in less of a stop yeah which is great I just again like you've suggested if we thought there was an elementary need I didn't want us
097to have that be something that was being chopped off so speak okay thank you Mark yeah I just want to congratulate the administration Kevin uh Phil and and the rest of the crew for uh the uh way that you've kind of come to the point where we balanced this budget uh that we're going to have a a levy that is less than any other we've had and for the last 22 years the formula the state has allows us uh to tax more than we do and this year is the a good example since we're talking about this year's budget we could go to 3.74 uh and we're not we're we're trying to be mindful of the taxpayers as well as students and the educational process and that this board has always um taken all those
098things into consideration it's not just about the dollars folks it's about the education and uh the difference between what we're talking about and 3.74 I'm assuming was the $7 million we started with yeah so you know we had a $7 million deficit and now we have got a balanced budget and still not that much more uh for our taxpayers to deal with and have the Arlington that they all know so I thank you on that no thank you and we appreciate that Mark and just one point of clarification I think it's the lowest budget increase we thank you uh the tax levy we realize is is is higher perhaps than folks are accustomed to one thing though that I did not clarify but you're giving me the opportunity to Kevin correct me if I'm wrong
099but this I'll say maneuver uh that Kevin has made to increasing the building aid for Veil farm and you BMS that impacts our Levy limit now in the by way of the formula correct so our Levy limit now because of that is actually going to go down I don't know how relevant that is to this discussion because we're still not going to the levy limit but prior to doing that our Levy because the levy limit calculation is Formula base and one of the elements uh or variables in the formula is building Aid so as Kevin uh works on this building Aid adjustment our Levy limit is going to go from 3 . 74 to 3.3 34 thank and that's a done deal that that increased building Aid or it's a reasonably done deal yeah so
100so we are finishing two projects one's at Veil farm and one's at Union Vil uh Veil Farm I Have No Reservations we are virtually close to filing that one today uh the UVS is a little bit more risky uh there is some uh expenses that are still in litigation so that we had a uh a floor that was ruined by rain right and uh that's in a little bit of litigation between um our insurance company and their company so um but I have all the way till December 3 first of this year to get it filed so and it's a risk of a couple hundred thousand I mean I know it's a risk but um I think it's I think it's worth taking and I think it uh balances this budget and without it we're
101going to be cutting something that we don't want to cut so okay uh normally I wouldn't have brought this up I would have just left our our our uh revenues the same and let them go to the bottom line and that way it matches up with what's going on with state but um given given where we are uh I felt like it was a reasonable request thank you I have a kind of an odd question not straight budgeting question on the School Safety and Security to the extent that you could answer I'm curious about the crg mapping program is that something that we buy but it's sort of reposited with the First Responders it's not something like a building principle would use you know where we may not know where building room 26 is but
102you know um but you know where it is but it would be so they would already have it like so it's something that they would have so if they got a call from you that there was a fire in X room they would know exactly where X room was before they got here type of thing and that's part of the process is that the agency that does this uh works with all your local First Responders to provide them with the mapping and to review that mapping with them um so yes they would they would have access to it so the Sheriff's Office peakman fire uh Union Veil fire Etc all of the um emergency responders in the in the Arlington uh attendance Zone uh that that these would be generated for all of them but
103we would still have access to them too as you said I don't know if you know Mr quono is managing an on-site issue he's not going to be able he's not going to need to pull up the crg map uh but he'll still have them because they'll produce them for the building as well as at no additional cost as a followup does it does it require any of these other entities to also invest in this technology no we take the lead okay thank you looking around any more hands I think we've come to the end thank you thank you very much all right uh moving on to new business thank you all for coming and thank you all for your hard work all the time for friends at home our teachers are taking a well-deserved
104break out of here um okay new business the new business section of our of the agenda lists several items for individual resolution approval documentation concerning these items has been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review first up we have Bose's nominations um and at so uh and I revised this before are we all comfortable I added the four name so there are four people running we're nominating everybody and then we'll worry about who we're going to vote for next month okay so there you how that sound okay so um here we are can I get a motion please so moved thank you thank you any discussion seeing none all those in favor I I oppose abstentions motion passes um item C Rick one risk operations center agreement can
105I get a motion please thank thank you the second second thank you um any discussion seeing none all those in favor I opposed extensions motion passes we have second reading of thanks to the policy Committee of quite a few policies tonight can I please get a motion on the second readings move thank you second thank you um any discussion seeing none all those in favor I oppose extensions motion passes um text book adoption um can I get a motion please thank you second thank you um any discussion all those in favor I opposed extensions motion passes um business consent agenda our consent section of the agenda lists several items for approval by a single motion documentation concerning these items has been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review
106may I please get a a motion for the consent agenda so moved thank you second thank you any discussion one comment okay just wanted to draw the board's attention to item p uh and letter item p p okay got it oh thank you yes Mark Hicks is our director of food service is and Mark had shared the story that uh he was approached uh and by a gentleman who wanted to make a donation to the school and he was interested in uh essentially paying any food service debt uh that uh his Local School uh had and Mark provided him with that amount and he said you know I can do something more uh and he asked about a second school and well by the end of their conversation uh Mr face had gone ahead and
107uh paid off all of the outstanding uh food Food Service that uh in the entire District as of that moment in time and and normally we wouldn't uh draw such attention to you know any any item and I know Mr fa doesn't want that attention but I think that was pretty remarkable that on that particular day uh there was no uh lunch uh or breakfast debt uh in the entire Arlington school district so uh there's not too many days of the school year where you can say that uh but on that date in February which is when he initially approached the district uh that was the case so with your support um we'll go ahead and facilitate that transaction yeah what a thoughtful and generous thank you right yes big thank you for that and
108I'm sure there's many families that like to thank him as well um so I have we had a discussion all those in favor I opposed abstentions motion passes I lost my my rhythm there when I the Rhythm forget it okay future discussion items I don't have anything old does anyone have anything new at the moment all right seeing none um I understand we do not have anybody for public comment second session all right so we're moving right along to committee report um advocacy okay um just to draw everybody's attention to your email um um this is the time of year where nisba is doing the resolution survey um you got your original email on March 3 it it says it's from Paul somebody whose last name is with an H so it doesn't just say
109nisba in the tagline in case you glossed over it but they resent it today so you you've got a new one that survey is open um till March 21st um it's pretty easy to go through um you're just deciding whether you think uh nisba moving forward at the business meeting in October would craft resolutions to either support oppose or remain neutral on educational topics um so if you have a minute to go through that before March 21st that would be helpful because that helps um nisba figure out where they're going to go with resolutions for the business meeting so just wanted you guys to know that was in your email um and then Dr bante did mention this um the one house budgets came out today so um we got I don't know if this
110goes just to me at Arlington because of being the advocacy person too but if it's yeah yeah um so it kind of gives you it kind of gives you the flavor of what the Senate is going to go for now that they've seen the executives budget and then what the assembly members are going to go to so I don't know Kev maybe there's like going to be a lot of money that we weren't expecting when they this all goes through but anyway point being those are yeah I I'm trying to be eternally hopeful here that you know we have a month to figure out something here but anyway point being that they have done their initial work now they'll haggle and we'll see if any of the things that they're saying here could come to
111fruition so that's it for advocacy at this moment that's right the next on the exciting part is they right where they duke it out they start deciding but anyway that's that's me for ad thank you thank you audit Finance we are meeting Thursday this Thursday the 13th at 10: am in the PD room uh for our meeting and on to Cathy okay which uh will be meeting On th the first Thursday in April I believe it's the 3 and on my calendar with me right in the moment uh at 10: a.m. as well in the boardroom the first Thursday is the third you're correct you're in April yeah right April April 3rd okay thank you policy we're meeting tomorrow 3 pm we will begin with records no we won't we will be beginning with Transportation
112policies and perhaps records and management records management and we're just reviewing three older policies did I get did I get any stuff did I get a folder or anything no we not doing it oh I wasn't on the I wasn't on the folder list then okay I'll have to cram what I have that folder I don't think I've actually ever gotten a folder you've email me stuff that's fine I'm happy to take it digitally if you want to just send me it digitally that' be great I i' I've actually never I I have a ton of blue folders at home but none of them are from you I recycle them all I'm like everything in my house is a blue folder I need to differentiate a little bit all right I don't have any folders
113my hand out it I definitely got specifically say that you're on the committee you knowly allit all right well then I've eaten it and so I'd love a digital copy that would be great so um maybe it was Henry it was Henry he does love that Henry's my puppy he's a paper fiend he's my paper shredder um moving on we're like how are we doing here we're good organization reports um Education Foundation uh just a reminder that the 5K is April 26th and you are welcome to sign up you can do it online through the Arlington website um and the next meeting is April 2nd excellent uh dutas County School boards met last Thursday um the bosies candidates all had a moment to speak those that are running for the board um we had a
114discussion of uh cell phone bans throughout the districts in the county just to see what people were doing in their various districts and how it was going for the most part it sounded like whatever the district has adopted or is currently trying to put in place is going fairly smoothly so you know Different Different Strokes for different folks right different uh some are using device you know packets and things to lock them away some are you know just giving students rules and regulations for when and how to access their cell phones and you know overall it sounded like things are going pretty well in the various districts um yeah just to interject one thing that surprised me right was when they very almost nobody said they were getting a lot of community push back which
115I thought was interesting from their implementation know that because that's one thing we've been wondering about right yes the somebody maybe at least one District said initially there were some concerns voiced but minimally about being able to access their student if they needed to or something and they told them how that would be happening without a cell phone and it seems to have been okay and of course all districts have um a medical variation you know that if if a student is on an insulin you know something that needs to be monitored by their cell phone then certainly they have access to their cell phone so it's you know nobody had a hard and fast thing for anything medical right that pretty much yeah that's great I didn't mean interrupt you I just that discussion
116that I was like oh that's really good yeah yeah it did seem to be going well um and then we also just discussed each District's um where they were in the budget process for this coming um year and it was interesting to note that no district has put EV buses on their upcoming budget so it's not a budget item on anyone's budget uh for this coming school year um also just the bosis it was a minimal update um Dr bante already mentioned the fact that J uh jod delua has been appointed the superintendent um there is a meet and greet that is April 23rd we all did get an invite in through Margie um for that and ALS so the tours that I mentioned to you last month today was one and then in two
117weeks on the 25th is the last one so if for some reason you would like to do that and you are available between 9:00 a.m. and about noon um to do that tap Margie and she will sign you up for it but it's March 25th at 9:00 am. if anybody wants to do that and hasn't already said it um next meeting is Thursday April 3rd which is how come I knew that date and the topic is student members on the board of ed so that's where we're at with that PTA PTSA Council um I attended the last one uh it was it was pretty well attended and they discussed um sort of the the Wizards going so well the and really what went very well is this is the MST fair right they had for
118kind of um scrambling with a new team this year they did a really great job of executing on that and having a lot of participation they were kind of talking about how they could hopefully you know find some different ways to kind of rejuvenate that as time goes on and get more support and then looking forward to the the the art the art fair which is always great it's usually LMS right um coming up I don't have the date for the art fair my ad sorry I didn't write down but um I think it's in April isn't it I don't know Melissa usually jumps in there so we'll we'll get to that date we'll get to the date for the artfare um District health and safety I've have not been made aware of the next
119meeting okay thank you District Equity uh the next meeting is March 18th Tuesday excellent thank you superintendent's closing remarks well that's me I'm sorry me no I hit this one by this I just want to mention I forgot to mention this at the beginning we had a wonderful superintendent conference day and uh as Chris alluded to with several of our teachers uh LED sessions on that day uh one in which I attended was led by uh Miss Faulk from the high school um also the faculty adviser for the arlingtonian and U Mr McHugh who gave an overview on the history of Arlington and it's amazing the documents that they have going back to when we were just a collection we were in Arlington it was just a collection of one room School houses all the
120way up through the formula for formulation of the district uh some unique uh uh and obscure elements of our history that you would never know I thought there it would be a wonderful opportunity at some point for the board to be able to hear uh their presentation not at a board meeting uh but at something maybe Retreat or as an extension of retreat because it's really uh it's really an interesting history in many ways I would love that and you know there there was a point at which we were trying to find out maybe if they're listening the H 100th year of Arlington is is coming up but there was some controversy as to which exact year it was but we don't want to miss it is it this year you know let's all just
121like we're recognizing we're recognizing it at this year's graduation okay uh but it's the class of uh 1926 this is the hundredth class this the right so they graduate so the 1926 is when the first class graduated but the school district started the previous September in 2025 is that what it is yes in 1925 and it it's my understanding and I don't know if this is true this actually didn't come from Mr McHugh it came from somebody who or miss faul it came from somebody who was in one of their sessions that apparently it's a tradition uh that when the Cornerstone for a building is laid uh that different artifacts are included there's an article on this they have the article on this of what was included in the Cornerstone you're supposed to open it
122um oh really the 100th year so that's new to me but you where is the Cornerstone do we know like what building uh that would well yes each building has one um so here's the Unique Piece the article was for the Traver Road building um however that class graduated from the um Arthur S May uh building so I don't know we'll have to figure something out there but um the old Arthur May building Raymond Avenue Raymond AV yeah they may have already opened that don't know they may have already opened that some excavators they have already dug that up oh this is it this is you know this is they were the loveliest people those people remember with the pilot payments and all that on the so maybe they found a little of our stuff
123in the corner of that building when they were we shall see there that sounds great I'm excited about that that sounds like fun thank you um board Reflections Mark where the camera the skilled trades Fair uh that did my heart good this week this last week uh there 80 some uh tables with all kinds of different trades and information uh I think it's a great thing that they did uh it was well very well put together like you said the students earlier uh were very well uh moving things along things went great out in the parking lot I mean they were they had everything covered to a tea uh all kinds of freebies they were given away uh and to say nothing of the information for many of the students that might take advantage of
124some of these trades I just I I really like the fact you know I've always pushed the trades and push the tech side of that we have a number of different uh pathway projects in prog progress that hopefully will uh this trade Fair will help uh have these students pursue that pathway you I'll I'll just I went to that too and I'll just Pig you back on that I'll be candid I was like blown away it's probably one of the best things I've been to in a really long time and and one of the best things about it was first of all it was very well attended right it was very like organized and attended but the thing I enjoyed the most was um I just feel like over and over again I saw students
125who you could just tell they were seeing possibilities they hadn't seen before the way yeah the way they were sort of captured by these people that had these you know careers that were supporting the family that they were proud of and they were sharing these details and opportunities with these kids I mean and it was just like over and over again you saw this all over the room I I just I really thought it was terrific and so hats off to everybody that worked on that um any other Reflections well I'll throw out there that Donna and I went to Bose's today I was let you throw them so Don and I went on the Bose's visit today and uh you know um they certainly do an awful lot for us they have you almost
126need a chart right of all the different functions that they have they have very practical functions like the networking and Telecommunications and all that kind of stuff and then they have with the coaster and all that kind of stuff and the Arts and Ed and all that then of course they're educating a lot of children there um with very very different needs so I had seen before this new um resilience Academy and we heard a woman spoke about that we we saw the principal at Dutchess County School boards right so she we saw her again today um you know I had been to uh the CTI maybe six years ago when I first well they used to kind of invite us to their annual meeting and they used to have a lunch in an open
127house of the same day and so I went up there a couple of times in my first year on the board and and I have to say I I see a distinct Improvement in the CTI classrooms distinct investment and what they have there and how they've rethought some of that and that wasn't really where the capital dollars went they've been using like whatever money they could script and save and put together or rep prioritizing things so I thought that was interesting but I had never been down to the Salt Point campus to see the younger children and the facilities they have there and what a nice job they're they're doing with those students so that was um that was a great A great experience for me so um you know I'm just interested I have
128to tell though they kept talking about their Capital needs I have to say almost felt I almost like felt perhaps I was on I was on a lobbying trip or something but yeah but um but you know it it it does look beautiful and they do a lot of great stuff there so thank you for them for that opportunity anybody else all right then can I get a motion to adjourn please so moved thank you thank you all those in favor I I opposed extensions motion passes