001Welcome to the Preon Central School uh special budget meeting followed by our regular meeting for Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Uh we begin each meeting with a pledge of >> flag. Please join me. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. So, uh, we need to approve the agenda for the special meeting budget hearing of May 5th, 2026. Uh, could I have a motion, please? >> So, move. >> Thank you, Mr. Marshall. A second. Miss Fora. Um, all in favor? >> I opposed. And we're first going to review the required annual meeting documents. Mr. Morrison, you want to help us out? >> Yes, sure. Um couple of things have to happen every
002year when we do the budget meeting and then we do the budget vote. Uh first thing is an official notice in the papers. Uh this year the legal notice ran more than the four prescribed times. It ran on the 31st of March, April 14th, April 28th, May 5th. Um and it will today and it will also run on May 12th and May 18th because we added the proposition for the term of members. So we are running at an additional time because we made that change. Um aside from that of course we also have the qualifications for voters which I think most people are familiar with. However I will review. Um you must be 18 years of age or older as of the day of the vote. So, if you turn 18 on May 19th, feel
003free to join us if you are um a resident of the community. Um you also must be a resident of the school district uh for 30 days or more on the day of the vote. That's pretty much the only two things you need to do to be a US citizen. And that's that's all you need to know. So, hoping everyone can talk. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, uh, next we're going to hear the presentation of the tenative budget for the 2026 27 school year. I think this is number five presentation. So, number five, >> we know it pretty well. Um, Dr. Zilox and Mr. Fors. >> Yeah. I just wanted to run through a couple things. We added a few slides here based on some questions from the community which I think
004were great. Again, everything that we do in the district um, comes back to mission, vision, core beliefs. really thinking about how we can become our greatest selves. Thinking about how we can be innovative, dynamic, and global in our approach and factoring in these core beliefs that drive our decision- making and behavior. Lately, two have come to the top of um a lot of conversations. One is being student focused and again this idea of communication with positive intent. Um we also as an admin team and a board put together some uh budget principles that have been behind um the thinking and the mindset of the particular discussions around budget. You can see them there. Um we've talked about them several times. Um but just know that these were at the heart of those discussions. Um as
005well beyond mission vision core beliefs. We've also noted again for the fifth time tonight um that um over time in Fredonia there's been some shifts in um our demographics um our population hanging in there even increasing slightly um by 2% over the last five years. Um we've seen an increase in number of students involved in CTE and PEK up about 29%. We've seen an increase in English language learners of about 26% student with disabilities increase 58% economically disadvantaged up 21% and homeless although not something we measured in the past. That's a big number there, but just representing a significant increase over these five years from about five students initially that were identified at some point in the school year as homeless up to 51 um in the current year. So, all of these changes going
006on has shifted our mindset a little bit about the types of adults we've needed to add to the school district. And at the core of who we are, we are doing our best to meet student needs, family needs. Um, and that's really driving some of our budget decisions. Um, if you look at that over the course of several years, you can see a breakdown of each individual year. That brings us to the numbers uh that I just described um above. At the same time, we're really fighting to hang on to the strong academic programs, strong extracurricular programs that we have. Um, a community member reached out and just said, "Remind me of what those things are that we have happening in the district um that we value, that we're looking to keep and maintain and
007make sure the quality is high. There's a number of things we wanted to highlight tonight. Um again for a smaller district we offer um 12 AP courses um which is um for the area um definitely on the higher side. Um we also offer 12 different CTE programs, career technical education programs that students can choose um to go into. Again, we're seeing an increase of students looking to um go into those career fields. And actually the number is a little bit higher but because of scheduling because of what students can fit um a student can um leave Fredonia with about 50 college credits um if they choose to go down that avenue. Again for a school our size pretty impressive. Uh moving beyond these three, um you know, in terms of high school clubs, we have
008about 30 different options students can choose to become involved in during their time at Fredonia High School. And you probably know that uh Spectator, our school newspaper, has done extremely well um over many years. Uh we appreciate the commitment and dedication from our staff as well as our students. um has received first place from the New York Press Association six times in the last eight years. That's in New York State. Um and also the last three years recognized as best newspaper um by Empire State School Press Association. Again, that's taken into account every district um across New York, which is right about 720 school districts. So, nice job by the spectator. Also um thinking about our music program which is certainly a source of pride as well as our musicals. Um across the district um
009we have about 914 students participating in one of our 15 curricular ensembles. We have another 578 in extracurricular ensembles that meet beyond the school day. um which brings us to a total of over 11,000 students in the district that are part of a music class at some point during our school day. So impressive numbers. Thank you to our department. Thank you to all the students who are involved. As you know, we still continue to run a middle school musical and then a high school musical each year. Although it's not on here this year, we had over 300 students um involved combined. that's between the cast crew behind the scenes um musical contributors um so definitely um really wellreceived well attended events that happen each year. Also thinking about athletics we have about 46 athletic teams
010a student could choose to be part of. Again that's varsity JV and modified. Um this year we have a total of just under 800 students participating in athletics. We are very proud to have added three unified teams over the past several years. Um Abachi with about 18 members um bowling 22 members and basketball with 22 members happening right now. We had a great game here last night against Dunkirk. um really fun event and for the fifth consecutive year we have been recognized by um section six as a school of excellence. So we are certainly proud of all that and those are really just some examples of those things that we are fighting to maintain fighting to keep at a high quality and are certainly in our thoughts as we work our way through the budget
011process. So, having said that, a little bit of background about some shifts within the district and those things that we really um value and are proud of. We'll turn the rest of it to Mr. Forbes. Thank you. So, tonight we will review the proposed 2627 budget once again under the regulations of New York State. They require a couple things. One is that you approve the budget to be presented to the voters in April, which you've done. And the second is to have a budget hearing no less no more than 14 days prior to the budget vote which is tonight. And the interesting part of that is that you really can't change a thing from which you've adopted to present to the voters. This is simply an opportunity to review for the community at this point.
012So we do have remaining unknowns within the budget. The equalization rate final assessment um and the tax levy are all generally done in August. We do still have the final Boseies cost up there because it does fluctuate from moment to moment and there's probably other couple of things we could have listed as well but Boseies is a larger ticket number. Also, there's still no final state aid because we don't have a budget. If the state goes past Saturday, it will be the longest duration since 2010 as far as approving the budget and there doesn't really seem to be at least in the things that I've seen any urgency at this point for them to get it done other than their session is ending in four weeks. So that would have been a little bit helpful
013earlier in the process, but at this point we can change that proposed budget summary. Then you're up 3.61% through the course of the four drafts. Leading up to the approval in April, you were at starting point of 8.75 and now back to 3.61% on overall spending. In the expenditure area, the breakdown includes salaries and benefits of 68.79%. If you factor in that the debt service, which is your principal and interest on any borrowings we've had in the past, and also the projection for the 2025 project that's underway, you're looking at 72.74% of your budgets essentially locked in or the remaining 27% of change. You're looking at things such as transportation, utilities, special education, which I mentioned a few moments ago. There are also pretty much a locked in cost of some sort unless you look
014at reducing programs. So there's really not a lot of remaining items that you can look at from moment to moment and say, "Hey, let's take a big cut there or let's change this change that." We did uh reduce over $3 million worth of costs. Some of them were simple things like shift to grants. Some of them were some of them were going back to the administrators and asking them to reduce their billing level budget. Some of them were things that we had put in an estimate at the front end of the process and we're now able to than the actual cost on the back end both up and down. So, kind of a wide variety of things happen there to get you to where you are with this budget proposal. Salary and benefits, you're up
0156.1%. Um, pretty much that's being driven by the group health insurance rate changes from the Chicago County Medical Trust. The rates there went up 16%. It doesn't reflect that in the line item because there's other things that go into the group health insurance line. And also you have to factor in the contributions made by contractual obligations of staff. So it's only at 9.9% but that was a little bit higher than we've seen through the consortium over time. You also have locked in rates for the New York State employees retirement system and teachers retirement system contribution rates on our employees. Next slide is a request of equipment. The two big items there that I want to mention are one the maintenance department. We do have in two replacement of two items. the gator with associated plows
016and things that go along with that and also a one ton dump with a plow to begin replacing our trucks. I think as we've talked about along the way, we don't have huge mileage on our vehicles, but they are used hard because what we're asking to do with plow parking lots. It's just not intended to be a pickup truck kind of situation. So, this is helpful that at least we have that in at this point to try to get a schedule going for replacement. We also have under curriculum $15,000 for musical instruments which is an annual allocation for that department which was a desire of the board of education some time ago now to maintain the music program major impacts materials supplies contractual expense and these services the two big ones are the debt services
017are capital project for the the 25 project 535,000 we did have an offset in last year's budget of 350,000 which was an assignment of funs from reserve. So it's not a full jump to 500,000 but it is an increase in that service area. Also in our most use teaching and occupational PEK area were up both in PEK and the number of slots that were projecting for an extra set 280,000 and change there. The next slide is our debt service summary which is a listing for board information and community information on the principles of interest that we're currently carrying going back from 23 24 through 26 27 and as you can see at the bottom right hand side that is the addition of the 25 project interest on the revenue side. This budget was built in
018using the governor state aid proposal which was quite some time ago going back to early January. Um points that I like to make on this slide typically are a show of the distribution between the tax levy percent and the state aid. And you can see in draft two we were at 47.63% and in this final draft we're 46.11. So it kind of decreased over time and in comparison to the three previous budget years we are lower than we have in any of those years on the amount that's being asked on the tax levy side. Uh how do we close the gap that we had through the first four reviews? We had additional revenue adjustments from adding a second classroom specialized class at wheelock for which we get state aid for that. We also had final
019adjustments on expenditures by not replacing two elementary teachers that had retired plus their associated benefits. We did reduce equipment requests in maintenance custodial elementary and high school. We had a reduction of building loan materials and supplies that I mentioned a moment ago. Thank you to the administrators for that. Uh we did reduce maintenance contractual expenses and materials and supplies and we did have from the third draft to the fourth draft additional budget adjustments of 38 additional budget areas. We're also carrying in this budget a capital outlay project of 100,000. This is going to be for repairs to our tennis court. You are required to do $10,000 worth of inside work if you're doing outside work. So, we'll look at continuing the flooring replacement in the elementary school and there's required near state architects to be
020fe as part of that $100,000 project. Within this budget, uh I mentioned we had a couple retirements that we did not replace. We had seven retirees overall. There were incentives on five of those. So, we've covered that in the budget process. And then I didn't replace two of the elementary positions. The district is in compliance with the tax cap. Current tax cap is 2.44, which is our levy, which is an increase of 426,000. If the budget were to be defeated twice, the district would still have to comply with the administrative cap, which cannot exceed the administrative portion of the prior year's budget, which is 11.5% of the total. Our district is currently $7,500 under that cap. Next slide takes a look at our tax levy limit in comparison to uh what our actual levy was.
021In the 15 years that the tax levy cap has been in effect going back to 201213, we have been at or below in all of those years. In nine years, the district has been below the cap. In two of those years you've been at 0% and in six of those years you've been at 1% or less. Also we like to point out during the course of the budget discussions that we do have a number of shared services which are listed on the screen electric natural gas through the Boseies consortium. We do share a teacher with Forestville. We do have special education programs going both ways between Forestville and the clubs that I have listed there. And the final slide is just a comparison comparison of the comparative budget data showing percentage increases going back to
0221617. The amount of changes that occurred within those years. This slide continues to show other things that we have to do which essentially is to vote on May 19th for two weeks for both the of education members and budget. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Forbes. Any questions from the board for Mr. Forms? Dr. >> Not a question, but I I always like to emphasize on the capital building project for 100,000, how much of that comes back to us in state? >> 82.7%. So, Any other questions? Now this gave us some excellent slides because some new slides put up and they were um >> just showing all the programs that we uh offer here at the school and um I think it's good for us in the in the district to recognize all the programs that
023we do offer. Um, I mean, we're certainly doing our best to retain all these programs. And, uh, I think, you know, an excellent example was in the paper this morning was the trap club, Mr. Kenny, who founded in 2023, who's not here tonight, but um, you know, that that captures a certain demographic that um, would like to do that. And I I'm a firm believer that if there's something at school that you like to do, you might come to school. So, uh, you know, we certainly appreciate our district taxpayers supporting these programs. So, that's my two cents. Um, if there's no further questions, uh, our next is to hear from the public. Uh, the board is allowed this time to hear questions from the public on the proposed 2627 budget. Individuals will be asked to
024limit their comments to five minutes or less, and it this has to be pertaining to the budget, this first commentary period. Any anybody like to speak to uh the budget tonight? Yes. >> Hi. I have a question. Comment really. >> Uh yeah, if you could come over over to the microphone because we're we're taping and uh it's just over there. And if you could state your name and address. Name is Ross Sorsy, 4202 Webster Road, Fonia. And I just have a question on the budget breakdown. We showed labor and benefits and everything. It showed Boseies and contractual obligations. How much of the Boseies and contractual obligations could be considered labor and benefits? >> Dr. that's in your court. So, uh, the contractual piece kind of throws you off because you're feeling like it's a a
025contract labor contract, but all of those things are actually within the benefit section, which would be health insurance, social security, retirement system. >> That's outside of the contractual area. The contractual expenses would be more like transportation, utilities, um, different obligations for copy leases and those kinds of things. >> Okay. What about Boseies? >> Uh, Boseies is all either data uh computer expenses or student programs within that there are charges that are part of those costs that do cover the Bosey's benefits but nothing directly to the district benefit. >> Okay. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> And Mr. Sourcey if you have further questions you you can reach Mr. Forbes at school. So thank thank you for your commentary. Any other uh comments? My name is Kathleen Dennison. I live at 50 Eagle Street in Fredonia.
026And I have a question about the use of fund balance. And I appreciate that the budget has been reduced and is now at the tax cap, but my understanding is that you're still planning to use $750,000 worth of fund balance. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. >> I I would just like to say that I that gives me pause. Um, I should also say I am a council person in the town of Palmrit, but I'm here tonight as a district resident. I do not represent the town of Palrred in my comments. Um, the fund balance for the district, it's it's been publicly stated. It's precariously low and I think the use of fund balance is a problem. As I said, I appreciate the efforts that have been made to bring the budget to the
027tax cap. I have no problem increasing the levy to the tax cap, but I do have a problem with being at the tax cap and still deficit fund spending. I mean, that means the budget is not balanced. And I think there's some opportunities in this budget to reduce expenses to get to a balanced budget. And those areas of opportunities would be first taking another look at the positions that are vacant to include five still five vacant positions in the budget. I have an issue with that. Uh I also have an issue with the positions in the district that are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. Uh I was formerly the budget director for the county of Shiakwa and one of the primary administrators of the ARPA funds for the county and the county made
028a very specific decision to not use any of the ARPA money to fund ongoing expenditures. It was used only for one time improvements and my understanding of the positions that are currently in the budget that there are six that were initiated with ARPA funding. I don't think it's responsible to continue or to even have initiated those positions that are recurring expenses with a revenue stream that's not recurring. So, I would ask you to take a hard look at those positions that are still in the budget. I understand with the vacancies of the retirees and also with the work that's being done by those ARPA funded positions, it's good work. I'm sure it's helped the district, but when you're still in a position of deficit funding with those positions, I I have issue with that. And
029the third area that I would like to comment on would be the use of the weock facility. My understanding is that initially or in years past that facility was not needed and now it's used again. So is there a way to stop using that facility that would decrease the ongoing operation expenses of the district and possibly open up revenue opportunities to rent or sell that space? So in conclusion, I just want to say is again that I appreciate the efforts to come to the tax cap, but I think there are opportunities to close that gap of the fund balance. And again, those opportunities would be reviewing keeping the open positions in the budget, reviewing the ARPA funded positions that were never intended by the United States government to create an ongoing tax obligation for local
030taxpayers. and number three to look at the occupancy of the we lock facility. Thank you. >> Sure. Um just one piece of that I just wanted to um offer some thoughts to um and we did think long and hard about the use of the the COVID funding and um you know beyond these positions there were many things that fell into more that category of an improvement that would continue on but wouldn't have a reoccurring expense. Um and this goes back to that shifting demographics that we're we're seeing um in our population. So within those positions were um a school counselor um a social worker, a speech uh position um two special ed positions and in the moment it was under review like where will this position goes and as we've moved across these five years
031these positions have become more and more critical um and we are trying to rightsize through that attrition to some extent um but Again, we're trying to meet the needs of students and um that is really the justification for how those positions initially remained and have really become an important um service provider for our students and families. So, um I appreciate your comments and thank you both for being here tonight. We all do appreciate it. I just wanted to offer >> some thoughts around that one component. >> Okay, >> good. We always appreciate public comments. We we discuss it long enough. So, thank you. Any other commentary tonight >> on the budget? Yes. >> All right. My name is Katherine Smith and I just wanted to ask I have a transportation concern. Um, transportation is in
032the budget. So, I don't know if you would like me to ask my question now or if you would like me to state it at the end. um >> because it's technically not in it right now, but transportation is in the budget. So, I don't know if you want me to address it now or later. >> Go ahead. Okay. All right. So, my name is Katherine Smith. Um go by Katie um at 352 Temple Street. So, um I am here because I have some ongoing concerns with the transportation and the lack of that we have um at our district. Um, I would just like to read you something um that I sent to the board as well as the superintendent and we've been talking I've been talking to other people. So, I just wanted to
033have an opportunity um to voice my opinion. Okay. Um, hi, my name is Katie Smith and I am a taxpaying community member and a parent of a student within the district. I am writing to address ongoing concerns regarding transportation for field trips, extracurricular activities at Fonia Central School. As you are aware, the district relies on first student bus services to transport students to and from school, sporting events, and other school sponsored activities. However, due to the ongoing staffing shortages, there has been a repeated issue with delays, late arrivals, and in some cases, a complete lack of transportation. This has become a district-wide concern and directly impacts students and families. Over the past several years, there has been a noticeable decline in the reliable transportation for student athletes as well as for academic field trips. Student
034athletes in particular are often left to arrange their own transportation to practices, games, and tournaments. In many cases, students are riding with peers. Parents are forced to leave work early or miss work completely um to provide transportation even on routine practices. I have spoken to multiple coaches and parents um that have shared their concern their their concerns and their confusion as to why this issue persists. A few years ago, I raised a similar concern regarding basketball practices being held at Welock and the lack of transportation between the school buildings. At this time, students were walking, relying on rides from others, and I questioned what would happen if a student were injured while traveling between locations from a school sponsored activity and who would be held reliable. While I did not receive a formal response, transportation
035was eventually arranged through an existing elementary bus route. Although the s although this solution improved safety, it resulted in students still arriving late to practice. Currently, similar situations continue to occur. For example, swimming and diving teams often have to rely on other districts and bands. Wrestling teams have had to arrange their own transportation to tournaments, and golf teams are responsible to getting themselves to practice into some matches. These challenges are not limited to athletes, but also affect other school sponsored events and academic opportunities. From a liability standpoint, this raises important concerns. When students are participating in school sponsored activities and are under school supervision, the district has a duty of care. If the students are required or expected to travel between location without safe provided transportation, the district may be exposed to an increased liability
036risk, particularly if an incident were to occur. Given these ongoing challenges, I would like to ask the district to consider alternate solutions. How many materials are inner office or how are materials and inner office deliveries currently being transported between buildings? Are district staffed um using personal vehicles? And if so, are they being reimbursed? Has a district considered um purchasing or utilizing school-owned passenger vans? According to New York State DOT and Department of Motor Vehicle guidelines, a special license or endorsement is not required to operate a vehicle carrying fewer than 15 passengers. A district-owned van could be used by operating staff to transport students to local events, practices, field trips, as well as inner office needs. This could help reduce the reliance on external bus services, altering schedule issues, and improving overall safety and efficiency. I
037understand that budget concerns are a reality. How it also is also important to consider the potential cost of an inaction. These risks associated of inconsistency and unavailable transportation including safety concerns and potential liability may ultimately outweigh the investment into p practical solutions. It may also be worthwhile to explore alternate funding options such as partnerships, grants, or community support. I hope the district will take these concerns seriously and work towards a solid solution that supports the safety and success of all students. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with any questions um and participate in further conversations including meetings. Um so I also included um an ad from you know things that you could purchase locally obviously it was just an example. I also um provided um in our bylaws on our line online for
038our Fredonia central school manual we have transportation program listed there. Um it also says that Feronia will provide transportation you know not only for sporting events any extra extracurricular activities. Um these are all in here plain as day. Um and again as I'm listening to this um agenda and budget voting I get that transportation is an issue. I went to an extremely small school. I'll admit I went to Pine Valley. We had our own buses. Was never an issue, though. We go to different sporting events. We go to different college events. And students are being transported via van or large SUVs by their coaches or by their teachers or staff. Um last board meeting they had brought up, you know, the school newspaper. They went to this school conference. I wanted to so badly ask
039how they got there so badly, but I didn't. Um, you know, it's just things that I feel like um the district needs to work towards. Um, I have been talking to the superintendent about the issues. To me, again, as a community member and a a parent, um, I don't think it's a first student issue. I think it's a district issue. uh you know whether that be we send less funds to first student whether we send less funds to Boseies you know we have those discussions and maybe we don't need to utilize a humongous >> um you're in seven minutes >> well maybe we don't need to utilize a humongous bus when we're only transporting five to seven or 10 students >> I just think that those things are something that needs to be evaluated and
040taken seriously in >> we we received your email and we saw the response >> absolutely and what that is opening up in a continuing dialogue. >> And I just want to say I would love to I have no problem contacting other districts working with you. If you have a community you want more information, whatever needs to be done to help fix this issue. >> All right. So, thank you. >> Thank you very Thank you. >> Any other comments tonight on the budget? Um okay. So, uh, can we next hear a report on items to be voted upon at this special meeting of voters? Miss Chris Morrison. >> Um, obviously the the first and foremost is the voting on the budget. Um, as we've we've talked about in in several meetings and again today, Mr. Force
041has reviewed that. Um, there is also um something um this time around that's never been on before. That's proposition two and that is for our voters to decide on uh the possible reduction of the term of office for our board of education members. Um that would be a reduction from the current fiveyear stand to three years. Um and that would be effective July one should the voters approve that. Um and then lastly uh the election to the board of education. Uh we currently or will have currently two seats open. We have three candidates running. Maria and Fabiano, Randy Draget Jr., and Ken Sherlock. >> Okay, great. Thanks, Morrison. Now moves us to the budget to approve finally to approve the propositions to be used in the voting machines for the June 627 school year budget
042on May 19, 2026. We have a proposition one and we have a proposition two that was previously alluded to. Um, I have a motion to bring that to the table. >> Thank you. First and second. Uh any questions on these propositions? If not, all in favor? >> I opposed. >> And that leads us to uh not end this meeting, but recess the special district meeting until May 19th, 2026 at 2 p.m. Could I have a motion to recess? >> Thank you. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? meetings recessed at 6:42 I think it says 642. Thank you. Uh so now we're going to move right into our next uh uh meet uh agenda which is the regular agenda. And by the way any uh speakers tonight uh feel free to stay. Uh but if you
043are here to speak about the budget um you can go enjoy yourselves apart from this meeting. Hopefully it stopped raining out there but feel free to if you'd like. Um, but we're going to forego the pledge. We've already done that. And so now we're just moving into our regular meeting and regular meeting is uh we need to approve the agenda for the regular meeting of May 5th, 2026, including personnel but excluding A1 and B1 and consent for all new business. Can I have a motion, please? >> Mr. Marshall, a second. Thank you. Anything that anybody would like pulled from consent? No. Okay. Um if not all in favor >> opposed uh we now have a public commentary uh that pertains to this agenda. Anybody like to speak to this agenda? If not, okay. Well, we'll
044approve the minutes from the regular meeting of April 28th, 2026. I think this is our fourth meeting in a row mistake. Uh do I have a motion, please? >> So move first and second. Thank you. Um, a motion and a second. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. All right. So, financial treasures report. Uh, we need to approve the contracts with outside agencies related to this year's capital outlay project, not the one that Mr. Forbes was referring to, which is in the budget, which is for next year. I have a motion, please. >> So, move. >> Thanks, Miss Hot. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Martin. Dr. Zilcs. anything anything on this or Mr. Forbes? >> Um yeah, just um this was the work that we had agreed upon and worked with
045our facilities um committee around o you know over the last year or so. Um as Mr. Forbes mentioned in the budget presentation, if we do work outside, we have to do at least 10,000 work inside. So, we are continuing with replacement um in the elementary school flooring and uh the rest of that will really focus on the softball field. We'll be happy to have an upgrade, especially in the infield. Um for many years we've had some grass along the um outside part of the infield that over time has sort of um shaped into a cup or a funnel that tends to retain some of the water um which is not helpful especially during a night like tonight when we get a little bit of rain in the spring. So um we look forward to that
046upgrade. We look forward to the improvement in our field and we um you know have this on the agenda for tonight for approval. >> Great. Any questions on that? >> No. All in favor? >> I opposed and certainly hopefully we can get more games in than we do at this point. So that's good. Um let's see. So we move right into uh personnel and uh tonight uh in personnel we have another resignation. >> Got one more. >> Sorry. >> I missed something. >> Yes, the second quote for landscape services. It's split between the two pages. >> One was >> Yes. >> Oh, I see. >> Yeah, I got it. I I see it. Yes. So, we did GP4. >> Yes. Is that correct? Correct. >> Okay. So, we need a motion for uh to approve
047the contract related to capital outlay project for the softball field and the interior. No, just for the softball. >> Um Elders Landscape Services. Have a motion. Thanks. >> You you mentioned this already, right? >> Correct. >> Um if there's no questions, all in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Now we're in the personnel and uh we uh tonight we approve with regret uh the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Linda Kaminsky, early childhood teacher effective July 1st, with sincere thanks and appreciation for 38 years of service to the district. >> Could I have a motion, please? Some moved. >> Okay. I'm sorry. >> Mr. Martin second was correct. >> Dr. Zilak. Yeah. Before I turn it over to Mrs. Piper, I just want to say um you know, always bittersweet to be here with
048a longtime um colleague. um in another recent retirement someone used the term institution and I think Linda um falls in that category as a well-known wellrespected uh professional caring adult within the district. So thank you for every of the uh 38 years. Um when I would go down to Wheelock or when I do go down to Wheelock, it's always a pleasure to stop into Linda's class. Um if you've ever visited her class, a couple things would become very apparent. First of all, that there is a plan, there is routines, there is procedures, and there are protocols. And the students by this time of the year are a welloiled machine. And they are really in their learning mode, their learning routines. Um and it's really impressive to watch, especially coming from a secondary uh teacher most
049of my career. Um, students are active, students are engaged, and students are learning by doing. And I'm always impressed with many of our Weblock teachers who allow those students to make mistakes, allow them to struggle a little bit, allow them to find their way because in moments when they approach me with a problem, sometimes I want to just fix the problem. So, um, again, very impressive to watch. The environment is calm and consistent and things run very smoothly. Um there's a focus on play and also problem solving. Um it's certainly apparent that you see somebody who enjoys what they do. Um and have become a master teacher in their field. So from me to you, Linda, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure these five years to get to know you and see you
050in action. >> Mrs. paper. Say no. I'm trying to do this without crying. I don't know if I can. So, I was thinking of words about Linda. I'm the cry. I can't help it. She's amazing. And the things that came to mind were pillar, rock, strength, kindness, nurturing, empathy, creativity, leader, innovative, sincere, thoughtful, collegial, and fun. I think one of the best memories that I've had in my long career is when we went to Nashville to a national conference a couple years ago. again, Linda. And it was just such pride I had going with this team to with these ladies and and Linda just always stands out and what I continue to learn from her today. I learn from her every single day. All of those words I think about Linda and she's just I
051cannot imagine we luck without you. It's going to be just surreal. Um just thank you. I have so much admiration for you, my friend. We'll miss you. Great. Um, unfortunately we have to approve. Um, so all in favor >> opposed. Um, yeah. Thank you, Miss Kaminsky for everything. Um, you know, brings us, you know, that this moment brings us back to why we volunteer for this, right? It's a people business and you've done an amazing job. So, thank you so much. If you ever feel the urge to subb I did want to have a turn too beyond my no. I was really not looking forward to this evening and I but I wasn't expecting to to get a little cheery but um Miss Kaminsky, you have just been such an important part of this district,
052a part of my family. Um I have four kids that got a beautiful strong foundation in your classroom in kindergarten which I know carries with them still. So you will be very very missed. >> Thank you, Miss Kiski. Uh any words? I mean you don't have to speak. You don't have to, but >> um words and plan words. Um >> that's okay. >> It has been a true pleasure teaching at Fredonia. I went to school at Fredonia and so to be a teacher here at Fredonia, you know, walking down the halls where I was a kindergartener myself. Um being able to teach so many kids and being touched by them, they made me a better person. Um, this year I can say I have Kevin's um, daughter in my class and his wife was in
053my first kindergarten class. So, kind of going full circle. Um, it's been a pleasure. It's been a journey. I've learned a lot and um, not sure what's coming next in my future, but I'm looking forward to it. So, so thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Yeah, it's certainly a rewarding profession. So, thank you for all the time you put in. Thank you. >> Um, and you you also hope we stay for the rest of the meeting if you don't want to because you never know how long this is going to go. But it's ironic that we, you know, as you leave, we're we're hiring somebody in their first year here. So we're moving on to approving the probationary appointment of Emma Brown who holds a pending certification in math 7 through 12
054and 56 extension to a probationary teaching position in the mathematics uh tenure area. I have a motion please. >> So move. >> Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Zox. >> Yeah, I'll say a few words. Turn it over to Mr. Sally if he has any followup. Um so yeah, pleasure to uh meet Emma recently. She did very well in our interview process. Um she has math certification grades 72. Also a 56 extension which is very helpful. Also a computer science um certification in grades K through 12. So some versatility there. Uh she attended UB for both her bachelor's in mathematics and also her master's in mathematics education. Uh she's an Orchard Park grad, currently student teaching in Orchard Park and she has a nice little mix of experiences um beyond straight, you know,
055schooling and student teaching. Um she's been a math tutor um both privately and also attached to um Sunni Buffalo. Uh she was the uh director of the Orchard Park Recreation Department. Um she also has been an afterchool program supervisor and also a camp counselor. So kind of a nice little background um leading up to the beginning of a career in education. We're happy to have her on board with our high school math department. Mr. Dell, anything to add? >> Sure. Yeah. Um so you know anytime we have an interview committee come together we we sit for a few minutes before and just talk about the things that we would love to hear from a candidate before we actually interview them and ask them the questions and um go through that process. And um you know
056the math department in their analytical minds had a list of 35 things they would love to hear from uh a math candidate and in all honesty you know about 10 things that they really wanted to hear about curriculum and homework and their thoughts on um you know what classwork should look like and all those things and um you know you start to interview a person and you know I just I I really don't write anything. kind of sit back and listen to the way that um our candidates answer questions, how comfortable they become so quickly and um very quickly it was apparent she kind of like knocked every question out of the park and hit all the areas that they really wanted to hear. So we were super excited to hear that she accepted this
057position here with us at Fredonia. And um Dr. Dr. Zilc mentioned that she has a computer science um addition to her uh certification. And so that's a really neat um way that we can kind of push into there's a new AP computer science class that's coming out. All kinds of really cool ideas that then start flowing through your head when you get somebody that's kind of pushed themselves in their um college path. Uh and then on top of that, she's worked with the Orchard Park Recck Department for a really long time, ran the swimming program. um one of her references was the the person who runs that and she had glowing remarks about her work ethic and working with kids and all the things over the years. So that was really great. So we're super
058excited to have her on. >> Great. Thanks. Any questions? >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Congratulations to Emma. Um not the easiest position to fill and um you know we're glad to have her on board. Uh let's see. So that takes us out of No, through new business to our second round of public commentary. Any other commentary? Uh, superintendent report, Dr. Zilas. >> Oh, yeah. Fairly short, but a couple things. Um, going back to some of the things in consent. Um, sadly, you see the resignation of our middle school assistant principal, Andrea Marsh, who has been fantastic over the last couple years. um she accepted the job as the secondary principal of Westfield which has been open for a while. So very happy for them that they certainly have a great person to take the
059position but a loss for us. Um we will be going through the interview process here of replacing that position. Um Andrea brought a really strong background around literacy. also um you know some of what she did in Jamestown was um some coaching um work. So um she just brought a really nice skill set and was I think very helpful to Miss Bahamus and her coming into the principal position and they really work together as a team. So um thank you to her. She will absolutely be missed. Um her last day um will be June 12th and uh we will make sure to send her out in style as we typically do in Fredonia. Um you also may have noticed uh that uh Jeff Kubassic also gained his permanent appointment um as a cleaner in the
060district. So thanks to Jeff for his hard work over the last 12 months that have resulted in his permanent um status with the district. So well done there. Also just wanted to touch on briefly that this week is teacher and we broaden it to really education uh educator appreciation week. um on the FTA point of view or our teaching point of view. Certainly, we want to thank everyone for their hard work, dedication, everything that they've done this year, but also every year that they've been employed with us to put our students in the best possible position um to be successful um across the board and also the support they've offered to our families and to each other in moments um as we work together as a group. Um beyond the FTA, again, we recognize all
061the people in the district who help our buildings, our district run smoothly and really just be a positive and productive place for everybody. So, thank you. We certainly want to recognize here uh here tonight um the appreciation week and thank you to our PTO who has done a fantastic job um with uh some gifts of appreciation throughout the week. Our administrators have done some things um at their building level as well and uh our district office has contributed with some muffins and coffee on Monday as well. So, thank you to everybody. We do appreciate um everything you do for us. Beyond that, I just wanted to mention and come back to as Mr. Forbes mentioned um we have our budget vote um coming up on Tuesday, May 19th. Um that's from 2:00 to 9:00 right
062here in our high school cafeteria. Uh we certainly want everyone to have their voices heard. We have a high school concert happening on that night. We have a book fair um at the elementary school happening that night. We also will have our bounce house out. Hopefully a little better weather than tonight um with popcorn. So, if you are a parent who finds it difficult to get in and out of voting uh with your son or daughter, drop them off at the bounce house, go on in and vote, pick them up afterwards. Um our administrator and some volunteers from the high school do a great job kind of overseeing the event and we appreciate that. So, um at the end of the day, come out, have your voice heard, and uh feel free to reach out
063with any questions in the meantime. Other than that, you probably noticed that Miss Paul Heyus is not here or was here but had to leave. She is attending our flag football game um that's happening right about now. Um but she wanted to share that at the middle school state testing is wrapping up this week with the science exams at grade five and grade eight. Um she also wanted to just thank everybody um for their patience, cooperation and overall flexibility um during um the testing window. Um as many of you know we test now on computers and there was a glitch especially one day not a fault of the district uh more at the state level um and that required a little bit of flex in the schedule um amongst our students and our adults. So,
064she wanted to say thank you and also recognize um teacher appreciation week as well. That's all I have this evening unless there's questions or comments. >> Any questions on the report? >> No. >> Um well, that leads us to our announcements. Uh and uh we have a week off. So, two weeks hard to believe. Uh the next regular board of education meeting will be Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 at 6 p.m. here in the high school library and also the annual budget vote and election will be on the same day, Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 uh from 2 to 9:00 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Any other general comments from the board tonight? I know I know we've already touched on it and I I didn't want to go too long, but I just again have
065to thank Linda for her 38 years of service. The reason her daughter is in my is in that class is because um it was important to us. Um you know, she taught my other daughter, she taught my wife, and with much reluctance at three and a half years old, a little bit older than that, we kicked her out the door to prek. um instead of holding her back for a year because we thought between Kaminsky and um Foley that it was more important that she get started before they exit. So, >> it meant a lot. >> Thank you, Mr. >> If no other comments from the board, we'll go around the table. Mr. Tanel, >> yeah, just a couple quick things I'll highlight. So, we've got some music events upcoming. We've got the NISMA majors
066um happening and the music banquet before the um the spring concert which is on the night of the the budget vote. So just kind of keep those in mind. Um we have quite a few field trips going out at this time of of the year. So we have physics day upcoming trips to the Halbright Knox Art Gallery. STEM wars. Our unify teams go to the bison's game. Um and Quest is next week. So it should be about this weather Wednesday Saturday next week as well. And I do want to remind everybody that we have on May 15th our unified game here at 1 o'clock. If you can make that, that would be wonderful. And just happy Mother's Day to all the moms this weekend. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. >> Well, I see your field
067trips and raise you. >> Good. I'm sure >> our hillbilly harmonics are performing at Darren Lane and our kids are performing at the bison's game as well, which is pretty cool. We're going to the Buffalo Harbor Cruise. We're going to the Autobond. We're riding the M of the Mist. going to the Birchfield County Arts Center, Midway Park, the Erie Zoo, Erie State Park, and walking field trips to Russell Joy and down. Wow. That's all I have to >> you know, knowing Mr. Tell you for this week, >> nothing competition. >> Yeah. >> Anything else, Mr. Jones? >> That'll be it. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Bar. >> So, I had some field trip news, too. So, um, Amanda Kent is one of our excellent middle school special ed teachers. She took her class today,
068um, out to the community. So, they took their classroom learning to some locations in Fredonia. They went to the fire department. They had lunch at Thomas. They had some treats at Arctic Bites. And they spent some time at a local playground. And from all reports, everyone had a really wonderful time. So, thank you for that um, opportunity to our students, Amanda. And speaking of Amanda Kent, she has also taken on the lead along with Naomi Pierce, um teacher at the Welock building to help coordinate this year's athletes for the local Special Olympics event that'll be coming up later this month. So we'll have students from Welock Elementary and Middle School participating. It's a competitive, really fun event. It will be Wednesday, May 7th on the campus of Sunni Fredonia. Um Shannon Marsh, one of our
069middle school ENL teachers, is also organizing middle school service learning club students to go along as well. So thanks to all those staff members for their work on this highly anticipated event and congratulations to you. It's the end of a good er >> so I just have to hop on the teacher appreciation week bandwag and thanks for PTO. They're providing some great treats and um recognition for our teachers. So, we thank that. I also want to put a shout out to our leader and me lighthouse team because they've also organized some things to recognize their colleagues on the staff members during teacher appreciation week. So, we're having some fun things happen at WEAC this week. I also want to remind the community, we are registering students who are turning four and five for prek and
070kindergarten. Um please do those registrations as soon as possible. That helps us um create classrooms that are even and um fairly spaced out. So again, if you know of anybody who has a child that age, please uh call us at weak, get a registration packet. We're happy to help them out. Um and I'm speechless. Linda, Dr. >> Thank you. I always feel like I have like the downer stuff to share curriculum. Um but I do want to um say a shout out to all of the teachers and that means not just classroom teachers because when state testing season comes, it impacts everybody. Everybody has to be flexible with moving times and extra hands on deck or maybe supervising a lunch shift because the kids, you know, didn't end at the same time as their peers.
071And um the special ed teachers do an amazing job making sure um as well as the Jenna teachers with the 504s. So there's just a lot that goes into it. And as far as computer-based testing, that is something that was in the initiative of New York State. It wasn't something we chose. So sometimes I know we've gotten some calls asking why can't the students take paper based testing. New York State requires computer-based testing now three through eight. So when we come to New York City testing season that does include um grades three through eight ELA 3 through eight math five and eight science. It also includes for our ENL students they have a yearly exam called the niceel. So shout out to our ENL staff for making sure that those are all being taken care
072of as well. Um, the state requires that we have a certain percentage of students that are actually I think it's either 93 or 95% of your students are actually taking the state tests. So, that's something that I another shout out to our teachers, our administrators that work so hard to explain what these tests are, debunk myths of what they are, not um, and how they are used. So, shout out to all of them. And we're getting ready for AP exams up at the high school. So, there's testing for everybody. Um, so shout out again to Mrs. Cororseski and a huge thank you to Sunni Ferdonia for partnering to find a location for the AP exams. Um so all of that you know is really what is happening amidst the celebrations and amidst the teacher and
073staff appreciation and field trips being planned and all the exciting things. You know I think that that's a remarkable testament to our students and our entire district staff that we can balance those things. We can have the fun. We can work hard. We can perform well. So I think that that's a huge shout out to all of us. Um, and congratulations. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you on curriculum council as instructional leader. I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to work close with you in these five years. Congratulations. >> Great. Thank you, Dr. Mr. Forbes. Anything else, Miss Morrison? >> No. Um, if not, um, we, uh, anticipate the need to enter the executive session to discuss personnel matters. Got a motion, please? >> Thank you. A second. Second. >>
074All in favor? I opposed meeting close at 7:08. Thank you uh for our public speakers for your perspective and commentary tonight and uh Linda and your supporters and students. Anybody up here can sign your