001Oh, I'm sorry. I'd like to call to order the May 7th meeting of the Carle Place Board of Education. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Hand on your heart. I pledge allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing as we begin our meeting invocation. In a spirit of fostering an atmosphere of unity and purpose, we seek a harmonious existence for all members of our community and strive to bring humanity to our deliberations and our work. Please be seated. Welcome to the April 28th meeting of the Carle Place Board of Education. We will start off the meeting with comments from the board, and I will take the lead. Good evening, everyone.
002Good evening. Tonight is Meet the Candidates. So after this meeting, please stay and you can meet who will be running for the board re-election. I am one. I'd also like to congratulate the boys varsity tennis team on qualifying for the Section Eight Boys Tennis School Division, second playoff brackets. Congratulations. I'd also like to congratulate Thomas Montefour. He was selected to participate in the 18th annual LIU Post Band Festival, marking the first time a Carle Place student earned this distinction. Out of an estimated 300 nominated students from nearly 50 high schools, only 120 were selected, making this an outstanding achievement. Congratulations. I'd also like to thank all the district-wide staff for the May 8th Appreciation Day, as well as, I'll echo from last week, thank the teachers, because it was also the Teachers Appreciation Day the
003other day. And now I'll turn it over to Vice President Byrd. Good evening, everybody, and thank you for coming to tonight's meeting. I think some of you all have been here before. Congratulations to Alexa Mislin. I think it's Mislin, who was named New York State's Top Performer for Girls Softball. Good luck to our amazing middle school students who are participating in "Beetlejuice" this weekend and to everyone who helped this production to life. Your hard work and creativity truly shine. I now hand it off to Trustee Duncan. Thank you. Good evening. I want to recognize that this is Teacher Appreciation Week and offer a sincere thank you to our teachers and staff across the district. As I sat down at the end of the school day today, thinking about what I wanted to say tonight, I
004found myself feeling that familiar exhaustion. We know that exhaustion that can hit after the students leave the building and things finally get quiet. Let's face it, they never get quiet. They never really leave. As we can see in the lobby just now, Alan Jacobs knows very well. I think part of that feeling comes from the unique rhythm of a school day. Teachers and staff spend hours at a time in front of students, constantly reading the room, responding in real time, adjusting lessons, encouraging, redirecting, solving problems, and helping young people navigate both academics and life. During the day, momentum and responsibility keep everything moving. Then, once the hall is empty and the noise settles, the body and mind finally catch up to just how much energy it takes to sustain that level of focus, patience, and
005care throughout the day. I feel that. I know that. I'm looking at the administration. I know you feel the same way, and we know that teachers across this district and everywhere feel the same way. It made me think about how much energy our teachers and staff give every single day that people may not fully see. From the moment students arrive in the morning until long after the final bell rings, our teachers and staff are constantly teaching, encouraging, supporting, planning, managing emotions, helping students grow. Many of them move from one role to another throughout the day without even thinking about it. Teacher, coach, advisor, counselor, mentor, problem solver, sometimes simply the steady adult a child may need that day. They carry difficult stories home with them at times, worrying about a student who may be struggling,
006while also carrying the excitement and responsibility that comes with seeing a student begin to rise toward their potential, and wanting to help make sure they keep going. So much of what makes a school feel safe, active, supportive, and alive comes from the people inside of it, carrying that responsibility all day long. One thing that makes Carle Place special is that we continue to broaden the definition of excellence for our students. Excellence can be found in the classroom, on the stage, on the field, through creativity, proposals, leadership service, and many different ways students discover who they are and what they love. Our teachers and staff help make those opportunities possible every day, and our community is better because of it.So thank you teachers, staff, everybody, teachers this week especially, for everything you do for all of
007our kids and our families. That's it. Good evening, everyone. For the high school, AP testing has officially begun and will continue throughout this week and next week, which will then mark the conclusion of our AP curriculum. This week is Staff Appreciation Week. On behalf of the student body, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of our teachers and staff members for their continued support and dedication to our students. I would also like to recognize our PTAs across all three schools for organizing events to celebrate and appreciate our staff throughout the district. On another note, there is also a new day of service event for students in the high school this year. It will take place on May 26th, and will provide students with an opportunity to go out for the day
008and give back to their community in a meaningful and positive way. On the athletic side, we'll be hosting a home varsity lacrosse game tomorrow night at 7:15 PM. We encourage everyone to come out and show their support. The theme for the game will be white out. Additionally, high school senior signing day for our student athletes, taking the next step, will be held on May 15th at 3:15 PM in the multipurpose room. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. We will now hear comments from Dr. Panella. Thank you, Madam President. So, as we said, this is Teacher Appreciation Week this week, appreciation for all of our staff, our nurses, everyone who makes this work for those students possible. And Luca, thank you very much for recognizing PTA, because PTA goes to great lengths to make that a special
009time here at school, and we're grateful for that. There are multiple senior games happening in this week and next week, baseball and lacrosse tomorrow night, Mr. Block? Yep. So that's a really exciting thing if you can come out and support seniors at that. Our softball team pulled out a really great win this week. There's a lot of good stuff. Tennis happened this week. Keep on supporting Frog sports. Beetlejuice tomorrow night and Saturday night. We'll see you Saturday night if you're going to be there. I happen to be on the Nassau County Safety Committee, and that is a multitude of superintendents from around Nassau County. And we work with the Nassau County Police Department on issues particular to school. And when I was at the meeting this morning, Inspector Connolly asked all of us who were
010in attendance to please remind our communities of a few important things. Electric bikes and scooters are not allowed on public streets, and the Nassau County PD takes that very, very seriously. Can I remind parents who might be watching at home to please not let their children ride electric bikes or scooters to school. And parents and kids, the battery from those vehicles should never, ever come inside of school because they are highly flammable. The vehicles outside are police department issue. Batteries inside are our issue. Please, please do not bring them into the building. Also, there is something out there all across the country called Senior Assassins, and it has to do with kids zapping each other with water guns, and it's a widespread game. The police department asked us also to please remind parents at home
011that while it's meant in good fun, it can actually become a dangerous thing. If a police officer witnesses a student playing, they have to make that quick decision on, is that a firearm or is it a toy? And I know I wouldn't want my own child to be in the face of that. So again, Nassau County PD asked that we say that today, and it's being said all over Nassau County, not just with us. I am really, really looking forward to all of our moving up ceremonies. I got to watch the second graders practicing for their moving up ceremony yesterday. It was a really emotional thing just seeing the rehearsal. Seeing for Rushmore and for the middle school, Inter UK, very much looking forward to our final exams. And as Luca said, AP exams come
012first, Regents exams come first, your finals and your final projects across all of the grades. Moms and dads at home, kids at home, keep your foot on the pedal. Keep studying. This is where it all pays off. Make sure you go to extra help because we've got lots of extra help available for you. Last thing is a note on our recent New York State three through eight exams for ELA and mathematics. Each year at the student achievement report time, we report on our achievement levels one through four. We also talk about opt-out. I had said that I would give a little bit of opt-out information tonight, and that is to say that we have essentially been flat year to year. A little bit up in some grades, a little bit down in other grades. We
013had slightly more students take the test this year. About 13 more students took the test. We also had a 1% tick up in ELA, 25% from 24. In mathematics, we had a dozen more kids take the test as a total number. The opt-out rate also went up 1.23% last year, 24% this year, essentially flat. Stay tuned for the student achievement report in the late fall, and you'll get all of the details on that. Thank you, Madam President. Okay. I'd like to welcome Anna Maroozi. She is our per diem substitute teacher. Please stand and welcome. You will like our district. I already do. Thank you. Okay. Before we have public comments on the agenda, Vice President Riordan will read the public comment disclaimer. Thank you. The Board of Education allows time at the conclusion of its
014regular meetings for comments from residents in attendance. Please note that any person wishing to speak during this time should comply with all provisions of board policy. Although a total of 30 minutes is allowed for comments, the board president has discretion to adjust the total time. We remind you to keep your comments to three minutes and to conduct yourself in a respectful manner. Please address school matters only and refrain from addressing topics related to personnel matters or individual students. Such concerns should be discussed privately with the superintendent or administrator at an appropriate time. The board is here to listen and cannot provide immediate feedback or engage in open dialogue. Any necessary follow-up will be noted and provided at a later date. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Riordan. Are there any public comments regarding the agenda?
015Please come to the podium and state your name and address. Okay, we will now continue with the presentation for tonight. Joanna will present the budget hearing presentation. All right. Thanks everybody for coming tonight. This is our budget hearing. We're just going to briefly review what we're going to be voting on in less than two weeks now. Most of this budget cycle is a review, but there's one new piece of information I want to mention. Of course, we started by providing opportunities for our stakeholders to share their priorities. We communicated the alignment of our initiatives to district goals and to your feedback. We've shared the proposed budget through a series of budget presentations, and all along we reviewed and refined the budget, to arrive at our adopted budget. And soon we will have vote day. And
016this year, because we have invested a lot in developing our portrait of graduate, I thought we should also have a portrait of a voter. When you think about it, all of the portrait of a graduate competencies that we deemed important instill agency in our students, and one of the best ways to exercise your agency or your voice is to vote. So, there will be a very brief exit survey on vote day that'll give us some information to help inform next year's budget cycle and make sure that what the community feels makes a good voter is what we're focusing on with our portrait of a graduate. It'll be anonymous. We're not asking any information on how anyone voted. It'll be available both in digital and print format. And again, very brief. What's your role in the
017community? Which of the characteristics make a good voter? So please consider participating when you come to vote. If you're sick of hearing this, I've done my job. Our proposed, and adopted now, budget for '26, '27 is $60,127,845. It's a 2.45% increase over the '25, '26 budget. The levy to support that budget is $48,893,575. It's a 2.32% levy increase. That's equal to our maximum allowable levy for this year. When you come to vote, there'll be three propositions on the ballot. The first one, of course, is the budget. The second proposition is permission to establish a capital reserve, that'll be used as we fund it from savings on expenditures or excess revenue in any given year to fund our capital improvement plan to keep improving our facilities. The establishment of the reserve itself carries no tax impact.
018And then finally, there'll be to elect three board members, two for a three-year term starting July 1st, 2026, and one for a two-year term starting on May 19th. If you want to know more, please check out our website. All of our presentations and handouts from this budget cycle are there. You can always email us, and now you can drop by excuse me, any school building library or the Westbury Public Library if you want to see a hard copy of all the budget documents. And please come out and vote on May 19th, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. here at the high school in the multipurpose room. If you're registered to vote for general elections, you're eligible to vote for the budget. And if you need additional information on voting, it's on our website. Thank you very
019much. Thank you, Joanna. We will now solicit any comments or feedback from the public or other board members regarding the budget. Please come to the podium. Okay, I will continue conducting the business meeting. May I have a motion to approve the Board of Education business meeting minutes on April 28th, 2026? So moved. May I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. The minutes from April 28th are approved. Now to the approval of the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I'll make the motion. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. The consent agenda is approved. Are there any questions or comments from the public? Please come to the podium and state your name and address. Okay, I'm going to close the public session. Can I have a motion to close
020the public session? I'll make the motion. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Okay. We are adjourned. We will now start meet the candidates at eight o'clock, and that will be the second portion of this evening. Thank you very much. Welcome.