001hi everybody before we even start either of our meetings tonight um we have a little bit of a time crunch because we have a a flight football game at 7 our football flag football coach Nick Rando is here tonight and you will see later on not in our first budget hearing meeting but on our regular agenda um we are lucky enough to have Nick who at the end of this school year will be joining us as a PE teacher in the high school and he'll be leaving his post as social studies teacher so either way we still have Nick in the district um which was important to us uh he's definitely a valued member of the ponia school Community does a lot above and beyond um in a lot of different ways for the district
002and I won't get into all of those um but we wanted him to be able to get to his game but I wanted to take a moment here to recognize Nick tonight and this transition that he's going to make and the uh service will continue to provide for the district so so so Nick we're not in a meeting okay and and we're not voting on this before I ask you this question so you're kind of giving a comment not really knowing if we're gonna prove this okay so it might be kind of embarrassing I guess but with that being said um I will will say congratulations any comments just you know first off the last 17 years in social studies has been absolutely amazing at this point in my career I think there's an opportunity
003for me to to impact more lives even more than I I have now I would be honored and humbled to carry on the strong PE tradition here that Fon has while also bringing in kind of the 21st century type skills that students will need and I just I look at it as a great opportunity to literally be the third person to occupy that office since this building has been built carrying on no I mean carrying on the Proud tradition of of Mr you know Larson and obviously Mr Connie and to me this is uh it's it's a dream come true and it's an opportunity to to have more impact on the student body of pron great thank [Applause] you and I told my students they're not allowed to leave early and they have to stay
004enre meeting so just make sure they don't I have thank you guys for your time appreciate everything you thank you Lu at your game that being said welcome to the foni Central School District Board of Education special meeting budget hearing for Tuesday May 7th 2024 we start each meeting with a pledge to the flag and we are lucky enough to have an AB here uh going to come forward over here and lead us in the pl plge Al to the of the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation God indivisible liy andice for a deal you very much thank [Applause] you so we have an agenda for this special uh special meeting budget hearing uh if I could have a motion to approve that agenda Mr ha and M any
005questions all those in favor signify by saying I I I'll oppos uh start out with a review of the required annual meeting documents um everything that has been put out already everyone has seen but just as the quick review uh we give a legal notice that has run um in the Observer up until now three times April 2 April 13th and April 27th on again 11th as well that was approved back in March and then and just the other piece that's important every year to go over is the qualification of the voters um you must be a US citizen you must be at least 18 years of age or older on the day of the vote and as a residency requirement you must have legal residenc 30 days or more in the school district those
006are the only qualifications and any questions okay next we have the uh tenative budget for the 2425 school year uh Mr forbs so the setings of budget hearing and in one of the Courts of New York State changing the law a number of years ago to include the tax caps and the three-part budget requirements is that you have to have a hearing and the quk of it is that you're having a hearing essentially after you adopted a budget so there's really no give or take there's no nothing to change so basically this is same presentation that you adopted at the last meeting SC through it real quick public information so our proposed budget summary right now we a total of 36,42856 increase to spending over the 23 24 school year in the drafts that the
007board saw we started at 6.71 and worked it down to 5.13 over me in terms of our breakdown of expenditures is portion of the bu percentage of the budget you can see the distribution year salaries are 50% benefits are 20% and in general conversation about budget you always assume that salary benefits are somewhere in that 65 to 75% range and we're sitting right at 7 equipment materials and supplies Contra expens poliy services that Ser that service are listed there comprising the other 30% of the budget salary benefits overall we're up 5.78 4.88 in the instructional area and 9.12 in the non instructional area which salary support staff Association adjustment and also the benefits are up 4.59% in this proposal we have five Staffing resignations retirements we've included the positions that were funded by the American
008Rescue plan funds up through this year also includes replacement of for four of the five staff one of them was eligible for incentive that's in there we've increased the music position from4 to 1.0 and Z social worker those are estimated off the contract step six 30 hours of the master the next slide shows the distribution of salary and benefits see the big bump there percentage wise is the employees retirement system 25% but because of the dollar value it looks bigger than it is so about 75 80,000 there uh health insurance they were in the Consortium with Shak County school districts and we're at 5.2% there which includes the raise for the plan and then some adjustments where people picked up family plans where they get sing for that kind of thing so overall 4.6% in
009that category equipment materials and supplies were actually down U this includes everything inst structural and nonstructural across the district 2.46% decrease equipment were down 33,000 but supplies up 9,000 next slide just simp simply list uh the requests across the departmental budgets one of the things I think I had mentioned last time is that we allow the to have a flexibility to move their dollars between textbooks contractual supplies materials and supplies of equipment so in some years looking at this year we l good example you might have a bump in instructional request for equipment or they may have a decrease in the other categories based upon their particular building needs contractual expense in bosei Services overall we're up 4.75% a very slight decrease in Bosey Services which is a reflection of a couple of our high
010cost special students m out of the district and also contract expense worth 11% major changes in bosei Services alternate education in the wave program which is our remote learning we've had an increase this year in the number of students participating at the high school level for that occupational education of votch services we're up from 62 slots current year to 65 projected which is a good thing because we have students going into those type of programs and Central data processing at boses which encompasses our computer services for guidance and Technology up 28,000 there major changes in contractual expense Athletics up 96,000 that's partly due to the increase in the busing through the new contract of first student and also we've add the unified and flag footballs examples where we need additional referees and transportation there out
011of District tuition would be your your high cost or students that have services that we can't provide outside the district and we are for a couple students there so 17,000 contract cleaners is our Middle School cleaning staff have 25,000 there their contract is tied to New York State prevailing wage which is based in part on New York state minimum wage and so there's a bump there as a result of that and our transportation 253,000 which is 2.99% increase over cost from 23 24 Debt Service inter fund transfers this is our interest and principle on our current debt you see we're up very minimally there 4,000 250 as a group actually down 75,000 or 65,000 in the current debt service and then as part of the potential of a project down the road we built in
01275,000 which would be anund transfer to our capital account to handle any frontend debt that may occur because of that next slide is simply a breakdown of the debt service summary for 2021 through the proposal of 20242 you can see the projects broken down to principal interest on the left to right [Applause] on the revenue side uh in any budget the revenue and fund balance needs toal expenditure side so these total up to the same 36 million more 28 $315 budget our distribution here is state aid and our tax levy in the middle column the proposed 2425 column make up the bulk of our Revenue stream 49.1% is State a 4711 is tax levy so the remaining 3 to 4% is local sources and fund balance you can see on the next Slide the distribution
013again of that so sources are 1.5 and B is 2.06 of total maret Big Ticket items uh as I mentioned the addition of the ARP funded teaching positions occupational education mes we had to bring in the I ready genuity Computer Services which um student Improvement um that was ARP fund up to through this year so we have to bring that in mention the retirement system uh Transportation as well and the outo district placements within this budget we do have a capital all project for $100,000 the scope of this would be black top at Wheelock school for every $100,000 project if you're doing outside work $100,000 of inside work so that'll be classroom flooring replacement at we school and there's also required new state arit that tax levy limit uh we were set at 1.71 this
014budget proposal and I missed the decimal again is not 171 it's 1.71 there is one minor change on this slide if you were to go back and compare it to the last slide there was a when I finished the Bose's submissions there was one small amount that I had an administrator that I instructional didn't change anything in the budget didn't change the B's cost didn't change the total but what it did change is our compliance with administrative cap which dropped being 15,000 in change under to 13,000 change next slide is the tax levy limit you can see where we are at in comparison to LY limit in the middle column so 1.71 was our maximum we're at 1.71 our fiveyear tax levy average is 1.34% next slide is just some comparative data on our budget
015going back to 20156 you can see we're at 5.13 increase for 245 the next slide after that is our comparative tax levy and you can see seveny year average increase of 1.17 a threee average increase of 1.9 and finally the projected tax rates and you can see uh the middle column in the right hand column that's the budget vote for the current school year versus the final Levy for the current school year so there is some fluctuation once we get the assessed values and Equalization rates in dollar per thousand in the town of p is 132,000 1% of tax levy is 168,000 and 1% on spending is 364,000 so Mr fors the big Takeaway on this is that the uh we're asking the taxpayers for 1.71% higher taxes this year last year Y and considering
016inflation and taxes going up everywhere else 1.71 1.7 1.71 okay and we're complying with the tax excuse me and we're complying with the tax and we're complying with the tax Gap but 1.71 1.7 okay I think that that's uh thank you any questions from the board okay um 1.71 not 171 1.71 I'm very pleased with that any questions from the audience okay um okay so if there's no comments from the audience uh our basic budget is 36,4 8,315 there will be um an election for two 5e full term uh two excuse me two seats of fiveyear terms full term in office uh Gary Kenny maranne Fabiano and Lisa PA for are running for those positions um if I could have motion to approve the propositions to be used in the voting machines for the 2425
017school year uh budget vote on May 21st so moved Mr Mar and a second any questions on the proposition not all those in favor signify by saying I I I'll oppos uh now if I could ask for a motion to recess uh the special district meeting until May 2st at 2 o' when voting begins any questions on that voting starts at two and voting uh will end at 9:00 and we will be there to Cy the results so if not if there's no questions uh all those in favor signify by9 I'll oppos thank you this meeting is discussed at 624 that is just our Mr pel said you got to stick around guys so uh for the regular meeting we're going to move right into that which is immediately following our previous budget hearing uh
018we have an agenda uh for this meeting um and it's a consent agenda so adoption of the consent agenda on a motion and second affirmative vote by members present approves each and every item so designated um so if I could have a motion to uh approve the agenda plus approve all the items the consent any questions on the agenda does anybody want to pull anything from consent out okay if not all those in favor signify by saying I I I I'll opposed thank you so the board has reserved this time to hear comments from the audience uh those wishing to address the board or ask to stand give their name and address limit their comments to five minutes or less for individual group concerns and comments during this session directly related items listed on the
019proposed agenda for this meeting is there anyone who would like to address the board got a microphone so my name is Justin Sherlock uh six cast steel Drive um my comments relate to the previous Workshop um I don't know if I can comment on that right now or just okay so I just want to address a comment respectfully at the end of the first capital project Workshop where the outdoor athletic fields were ranked not once but twice by a board member um the rankings went as followed baseball softball soccer football I disagree and would just like to offer A New Perspective in terms of rankings and priority starting with safety um there's no sport that plays on a more unsafe field than football the simplest way I can describe it is like running on the
020surface of a golf ball where no two spots are they at the same level I would be pressed to imagine there's another sport in this district with a higher number of documented injuries directly related to the quality of the Athletic Facility on which the sport is played specifically lower body injury iies in our staff short time coaching at fonia I have personally filled out a number of accident reports commenting on the injured athletes assertion that their partial pellar Tenon tear ACL MCL tears and countless high and low ankle sprains resulted from running or quickly changing directions in a low spot on the field in addition to the unsafe state of the field bad weather only EXA exacerbates the unsafe plane conditions all home games during the Spring covid football season needed to be played at
021our competitor's field du the of our field we have even had games delayed multiple times where the visiting team refused to play until holes in the field were filled in those games could not begin until a maintenance worker was able to bring buckets of dirt to the field and fill in the holes as the coach would walk around and point to them the school district has a glaring known liability and is considering an athletic facility that does not include a safe football field and I'm concerned of what happens on the day where a parent decides that the school covering their child's medical cost is not enough is our district putting themselves at risk by continuing to avoid addressing the most dangerous facility even at the most basic level speaking on the numbers our football facility
022currently serves 2011 kids in this district from Lake to Varsity uh you know including flag football finally I'd like to address the facility possibilities and what our district is looking at versus what we need to be looking at the Grand Island facility that this board is pushing for primarily supports baseball and softball needs what will soccer do in in the fall when it starts to get dark earlier the design of Grand Island Fields allows for lighting for baseball and softball but the closest lights are more than 30 yards away there is also no seating for fans Grand Island built their Stadium track soccer and football before they added the multi-use field this board is looking at the soccer football field is used for overflow extra practice space and it's not conducive to an acceptable game
023day experience for athletes and their fans the goal of multi-use fields is to benefit as many athletes as POS Possible having the ability to play baseball and softball at the same time is a preference not a necessity after attending all the meetings with the Architects it has become clear that fonia will have to do long-term planning and the desire of other coaches to have Standalone Fields is not a legitimate possibility the only way to get the best results for our kids is for us coaches to be creative and Cooperative with each other and get a facility that is safe and inclusive for as many athletes as possible what has become clear is the fact that we would need grass fields mainly for practice for for years to come in terms of school districts comparable in
024size we can look at Madina and chaga which have facilities with smaller footprints that are less expensive compared to the Grand Island in heaven as perad football coach who I spoke with yesterday it all comes down to scheduling they stack double headers both Madina and chaga stack double headers on the same day without with their current facilities in summary a shared Athletic Facility and grass practice fields would resolve injury liabilities for hundreds of District students and make the most sense financially I appreciate your time thank you is there anyone else who would like to address [Applause] hey ju just for clarification and I when is it that you ranked you mentioned something about the ranking of sports yeah one board member addressed another one at the very end where she said baseball softball soccer football
025and then she said it again and then repe repeated well that's that's what we heard from you talk about meeting first board meeting I mention the first Workshop oh you going to the first sorry I thought I okay no it's all right that's why we're just asking for clarification I didn't I didn't catch that okay and I don't think that there's consensus there no I I was I was trying to there's an idea there we're looking at ideas no I understand in an early stage of this whole process but thank you for your thoughts I appreciate that um so moving on we have the uh minutes from our last regular meeting of April 23rd uh as submitted could I have a motion to bring those to the Flor miss any questions on those if not
026all those in favor of approving ified by saying I I'll oppos thank you next we have the uh the approval of the revised substitute grades for the remainder of the 2324 school year uh if I could we we talked about these uh at the last meeting but we did not uh approve those uh if I could have a motion to bring those to the floor for Mr and a second second Mr Mar Mr zil yeah so we had a lot going on last meeting it sort of appeared that these were in consent but as we reflected on the meeting they were not um there are no changes here this is the exact same figures that were presented at that last meeting and uh we just felt like we wanted to make sure that they were
027officially approved by the board without any question or confusion any questions on that okay if not all those in favor of accepting the revised rate signify by saying I I I'll opposed thank you next we have the approval of the resolution for the 2425 Services commitment statement I could have a motion to bring that Mr John and a second Mr zil yeah so pretty standard um yearly um resolution here um as you know and as Mr fors was talking through his um budget items tonight A lot of those are connected with bosis we purchase service through through bosis um and this resolution just authorizes us to continue to do so um one of the major advantages of boses is that when we spend money with boses we get Aid back on that money um so
028it's advantageous for us um they also often have services that would be hard for a district to do um or provide individually um so it's a win-win relationship and this just solidifies that we'll be working together again next year any questions all those in favor signify by saying I I'll opposed thank you next uh if I could have a motion to approve the res Mary days uh who has 26 years of service to this District if I could have this is with regret by the way yes Miss G um yeah turn it over to uh Mrs paulus in a minute but I just I appreciated getting to know Mary over the last uh three and a half years I had an opportunity last year to go into her class when I was just stopping by
029one day they were reading the book so I ended up reading the book and then I went back and did a couple activities with the students and uh I really got a sense of who she is as a person and an instructor um and it was just a nice moment uh for her and I to to bond a little bit over um instruction I also wanted to point out that although Mary has 26 uh years in the district she has been in education for 40 years um which either way you look at it is quite an accomplishment on both sides but we do appreciate her service to fonia anything you wanted to add M PA yes as Dr zilak said yes in the profession for 40 years in first grade fourth grade fifth grade she's
030provided opportunities for students to listen to guest speakers one of which being her son who recently graduated from the Naval Academy um field trips to lighthouses very historically significant weekend opportunities for our kids um so certainly impacted countless students um we wish her well in the next Endeavors anything I will say that uh I appreciated her and it is with regret that I see her uh retiring because uh she did have a very big impact on one of my daughters and I appreciate everything she did for for her so uh with that all those in favor of approving the resignation signify by saying I I I'll opposed thank you next we have the approval of appointment of NE to probationary teaching position in the F Ed and health I have a motion to Mr John
031second second Mr Mr zil I know we' addressed this prior to the meeting but just for the record on the meeting yeah just to summarize Mr pan who was here earlier um we recognized him as he was trying to get to a a 7 PM flight football game which he coaches so we appreciate him doing that as well as coaching basketball um a definite asset uh to the district all the way around we are happy and proud to have him continuing with us here in fonia in a slightly different capacity uh PE as opposed to on social studies um either way we're happy to have him and look forward to him continuing to do great things for our district Mr paski anything you want to add about Mr patr yeah um he's certainly going to
032be missing the social studies department but extremely welcome in the PE Department um I'm looking forward to we have two uh very Innovative phet teachers uh that replace two outgoing veteran amazing teachers um but I think going to bring many new things to our fette department that we haven't done in the past I'm looking forward uh they they both actually already have ideas for some things that they're bringing forward uh so I'm looking forward to where it goes U so yeah what a what a a a pleasure to have Mr Brando as a p teacher I think he's going to be perfect for the role questions from board if not all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed thank you next we have the approval of the appointment of joint uh to
033a prary teaching position in the mathematics if I could have a motion to that sove Mr second Mr zilia yeah so um it's always great to bring an experienced teacher um on board new to the district um one of the things about joint that we really appreciate is very positive energy positive attitude enthusiasm for what she does in the classroom um coupled with that 11 years of experience she currently uh teaches at rockon um so it's always tough when neighboring districts are competing for a smaller and smaller pool of candidates however at the end of the day we're looking for the best candidate for fonia um and she fit the bill um in the interview process we look forward all the things that she will do within the math department Mr P anything you'd like
034to add uh really more of the saying I I'm pleased to welcome her to our our district she lives in fonia she she moved relatively close to the school she can walk to school every day um but uh you know bringing bringing that experience is a wonderful thing that um I think since Co is something that we've been able to get a little bit more frequently uh as people move from District to district and and uh bring their experience is with them so it's it's nice to have someone who has 11 years under her belt uh she does have that great enthusiasm and I think she's going to be a great fit with our man Department thank you any questions from theard if not all those in favor signify by saying I I'll oppose thank
035you so uh we're at the end of the meeting already the board has reserved this time to hear comments from the audience uh on any issue is there anyone who would like to address the board on any sure hi I'm BR kman I work for the Observer um this is good I promise um so so you just approved Nick forr switching over to PE and I just wanted to give my perspective um Nick took over as the varsity coach about three weeks after I took over as a sports editor for the Observer I worked very close with him throughout my entire time doing that and I still do when I can get upstairs and cover a game um one thing that I learned when I was running a department is I can teach you anything
036but to care I Can't Make You Care and I think that Nick Brando is probably the coach that I know around here that cares more than anybody and so it's not just that he's qualified you can see on the wall obviously he's qualified to teach you about personal fitness but he's definitely somebody who cares so I think it's a great decision thanks thank you thank you is there anyone else who would like to address the board okay not Mr yeah just a couple quick things from the superintendent reports one of the thing that we continue to work on in the district is long-term planning we have a district planning team that's coming together to process information you might remember uh probably about a month or so ago now we did put out a survey asking
037people what they perceive is the strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats for our district we had about 300 people to respond to that survey and the team has been kind of working through that information and really trying to hone in at what are the topics um that seem to be themes in that information um or Trends in that information and then how can we build a plan around those items um at this point we have narrowed it down to um this is probably too big of a list to include all of this in the plan but we continue to pair down and refine this list but just to give you a little bit of a sense of the topics that we are looking at um again to long-term plan to improve um to really be thoughtful
038about our next steps as a district include communication curriculum review mental healthsocial emotional Learning Community Partners reading instruction facilities which we'll talk about next um assisting struggling students student skills and needs process efficiency diversity equity and inclusion and staff efficiency so typically in a longterm plan you try to not bite off more than you can Che and most of the research says that four to six initiatives um are usually the most manageable I know we have more than four six things on the list um currently so again part of the the job of this group together is to really hone in on what is the priority in the moment at the same time that doesn't mean that we won't make improvements or adjustments um to other things in the district they just might not be
039part of the larger strategic plan um blatantly or overtly so um I just want to update people on where we are um our district our district planning team was supposed to meet um tomorrow but we postpone for a week to give us a little more time to process some of information from our last meeting um we'll probably uh meet two or three more times prior to the end of the school year and it seems like we are on track to have a plan in place either by the end of the school year or earlier into the summer um and at least um some of that group would come here and share this information with the Board of Education um as was mentioned we continue to work also on our facilities um and our Capital project
040um at 4:00 today we met with representatives from Young and wri also um some um of our financial advisers and talked a lot about what we are looking to do as a district while keeping in mind all of this ultimately has some type of cost to our taxpayers and at the end of the day I'm going to summarize and say that we recognize the need for a variety of what is being called the warm safe and dry maintenance items um and really making sure that we're keeping our facilities up to par just at that very basic level um things like roofs um Electric Systems um heaing cooling those types of items but we've also heard again we had another survey that went out we had about 250 people respond to that and we heard about
041needs in our music department we heard about needs in terms of atic fields that includes soccer football softball baseball um as well as our tennis courts um and other uh pieces of the puzzle included in that feedback so what we're grappling with right now is how do we do this in the most responsible way the most thoughtful way how do we bring something forward that addresses as many of these concerns as we can while still keeping in mind that we don't want to overburden our taxpayers I think today we came to a little bit of clarity around what that might look like and how much that might cost and that this conversation will continue I don't know if any board member wants to share anything else about our conversation from four to 603 today just
042that it was productive I think we learned a lot able to actually get some information and numbers that were super helpful and I would say I think the the workshop format the opportunity to really I mean we spent two hours and we're really talking through options getting more information um I think it's really becoming a lot more tangible in terms of what's realistic and and what the options are and you know they were said nine options on the table we had come three I mean this is this is very much know in motion and as we get more information obviously we'll be able to to Really hone in on it but I think it's a great format for us to discuss and engage I agree with all of that and just want to also say
043I know sometimes there are misunderstandings of what the committee may be saying but that we have an open mind no one came into on this board came into this with any kind of preconceived idea of what would be prioritized over something else we are in the gathering information stage and to say anything else would be inaccurate I also appreciate we have some reps from football here tonight and other sports as well we had a couple gentlemen from our music department so um remember that those workshops are open to the public um there is not necessarily any time built in for public comment um but I think just being here and hearing some of the discussion that's happening is helpful and and along with that uh I think that one of the things that we really
044need from the public is feedback and feedback of what's important what isn't uh and and also this this dollar number and if anyone has any ideas uh that they'd like to discuss please approach a board member Mr zil uh we just need more as much feedback from our community as possible to make this successful so and I think that that was one of the recommendations from other superintendents who have gone through capital projects like this is that the more feedback we can get from the community uh the better that we are so appreciate that okay we have a date for next we did not I'll still go back to them I think we meant to do that this evening but a little [Applause] time okay so the next regular Board of Education meeting will be
045May 21st 6 o'clock here in the high school library I believe that will only be executive session um I anticipate that we'll have a few um hiring that I would like to okay off the boat okay so we're not doing anything on the so so okay so um I don't think the okay so the 21st um is the night of the budget vote correct so that would be a six o'clock meeting and I believe that there is a concert those are so so where is the conflict here [Applause] so at one point we had a concert on the books um that was moved to avoid athletic conflicts however now on the rescheduled night there's actually more conflicts than on the original so okay um in a conversation with Mr Bennett today he was looking at
046options and recogniz recognized that he'd like to have a concert on a night with as least conflicts as possible so there might be some adjustments here I I don't know where exactly it'll land okay now if that concert were to occur on the 21st yeah if uh that would be at 7 o'clock our meeting would be at six o'clock we try and get through in my mind in terms of the actual agenda of our meeting would be very brief so PA were you going to be okay with the six o' on the 21st oh yeah I'm okay I I thought I was saying when you were asking about the concert that the concert was not you had concerns and I thought it was you had a conflict no is everybody okay with the 21st yes
047but Mr Aldrich you referenced the 28th we don't have any meetings scheduled for that and that was a mistake on my part because I thought that during the agenda we had discussed the uh yes what happened to that Andy left um okay thank you now I'm all set got and corrected after my mistake here um so question can we move up the meeting to 8:30 or 8:00 instead of having to come at six leave and then come back you may have to wait know I think and I think I guess I just would like to put that on the thought process I mean because it's interuption I understand that's the problem is the concer yeah I felt like Mr Bennett asked for 24 hours today to try to keep Clarity um as you know there's
048no set time for a board meeting the time whenever we want the Friday before so thank you fig Miss do you do you have anything to add to tonight's meeting well I would be remiss if I did not just say that coach ber trando has changed the life of my son um we moved here when he was in seventh grade he's made some wonderful friends some of whom are here tonight and most importantly or as important importantly he joined basketball and Mr Brando has taught him character discipline giving all of your effort more than 100% respect for other people if you're on time you're late it's a little late in my life to be applying that one but just in time for him sometimes the tough lessons it's team over individual and um consequences can
049seem harsh to an overly permissive parent I really appreciate what he does I wish he was the parent to my kids sometimes um and he's been like a surrogate parent and so I just want to say that that because um as my son graduates it's my one opportunity to say we love coach brr thank you Mr mercel I can't tug on the heartstrings like that so uh uh just I'm I'm enjoying the process of of working with the board and the architects um to try to figure out how to how do we service the needs of probably 92% of our students between music and Athletics and do so in a fiscally responsive way to the taxpayers and and and it's it's a process to just to Echo Sheila nobody has any preconceived notions about what
050is more important or less in fact I think if anything to a fa this board puts everybody as the most important so um we are working on that and we're we're trying to make that out it's been I think Steve said 60 years probably of of some need in one way shape or form to our athletic facilities so this this building came in 52 years ago so 52 years of need to our athletic facilities but we're working on so patience and understanding Mr I don't have as much as to say but the C Project's been a fun proess and I look forward to seeing improvements to our district it's all the same I think it's it's a great a great process and it's great to dream and think and you know it will be difficult
051to make decisions I mean same and um to the coaches for sure anyone can come to the Future workshops if anyone was here it's really open conversation and for sure nothing's being prioritized over another so but spread the word get more people here to listen because it's really quite informative and interesting and fun are are you ready tonight yeah I enjo going because usually I go I you go first no this worked out great because great comments by all the board members tonight I really work enjoy working with this government cover team that's all thank you Mr pasy we have resurrected the alumni wall of f uh we took a Hiatus during covid 2020 was not a good year for meeting uh 20122 was kind of on the tail end of the planning that goes
052into it we were unsure of of where we were standing when we were doing the planning so 2024 we're going to celebrate uh a lot more members than normal to kind of I think bring in the 2020 2022 and 2024 together so we're looking at seven inductees um do going a little bit outside of the boxes here normally we do it in June very close to graduation um my personal preference is we not do that because it's a busy time um and it's also a hard time for people to travel we have people coming from all over the place so we're looking at a Friday in July um that it's things have cooled off a little bit we're also changing from doing a venue uh at a restaurant and having a little dinner there and
053a little presentation we're going to use our cafeteria and we're going to dress it up very nicely we're going to have it catered and then we're going to have a little reveal on the wall itself I think that would be a nice touch so just something to look forward to in July um I wanted to give a shout out to Owen Daryl sterback over the weekend uh she she held a coveted position in Western New York of The Soloist for the Buffalo You Youth Orchestra which is the Premier Youth Orchestra of Western New York I mean these These are students going to juliard and Eastman and the best music schools in in really our country uh and she won the only student who's ever done this from fonia the ability to play the solo with
054this uh she received the standing ovation from the huge audience and more flowers than I I've ever seen uh so the conductor actually had to carry all the flowers off the stage with her but it was just a fantastic event we got to go there with 16 or 17 Orchestra members also were able to attend and AP exams are underway right now um we also were selected to do field tests in May so we'll be doing English and social studies field tests which always makes our teachers happy as we're preparing for region exams to lose another class for really a test that just tests out questions for future Regence exams uh and then June 4th is our first region exam we also are selected for that exam to turn in our exams to the state
055right away so our teachers have to give the exam on the fourth grade it right away ship them in because it's the very first uh exam for the new algebra curriculum and uh the state collects several schools exams just to see if all of their thoughts on how the test should go is how it actually went uh so we will be participating in that um decision day we had on Friday uh very well attended by our seniors a fun day we had breakfast together in the morning uh one more quick shout out softball tournament uh our our kids ended up being co-champions of the softball tournament the final game where they could have F battled to be the Champs got R out so the two teams were both Crown co- Champions but kind of cool
056Jordan Lucas one of our seniors she's a pitcher she uh got her 500th career strikeout during the the tournament which was was awesome then just lastly sorry I got a lot today um we had our seven habits uh Workshop uh continuation our day two of seven habits which is amazing what was kind of cool is that we did we did every we as we finished up the seven habits uh we used we used them right at the end we had a short fact meeting afterwards and we had two topics and kind of uh brought in and filtered in the the seven habits to discuss the two two big items uh one of them is we're still looking at at cell phones for next year and how we might be a little bit more prohibitive than
057we have been in the past and uh also looking at changing from our block schedule back to traditional schedule uh something that before covid we spent about four years uh Hing and haing back and forth about it since we've returned from covid we've noticed that more and more kids are struggling with focus and 84 minute classes have been a little bit of a struggle for some of them um so we're moving in that direction as well towards a new schedule that's interesting y Paul yes I would Echo the same sentiment for our professional learning yesterday the seven habits training was very well received among our staff I was glad that you were able to join us for at least a portion of it um but just really thoughtful and productive conversations and um you know
058some mixing of of teachers that don't ordinarily happen so it's just just it was a a great very productive day speaking of testing we have wrapped up State testing for ELA and math and will'll be administering the new Science assessment on Friday to our eighth graders and Monday to our fifth graders so we'll see what that looks like because it's the first year that we've done that in this format um we have Teacher Appreciation Week underway I'm going into day three five5 something you didn't so then they are that's going really well and then we're wrapping up all of the details for our end of the year calendar while we don't have quite as many events as maybe the high school does in preparation for graduation we still have a very busy time between May
059with concerts and um you know just end of year field trips and things like that at the middle school so we're finalizing all of that moving up from eth grade to FR yes yep y y and the transition from fourth to fifth so lots of 50 times Mr Dr so uh it is teacher appreciation week so I just wanted to quickly highlight um teachers from each grade level in the first grade uh we're in middle of a book study uh learning more about the science of reading I think that we have a a good group of teachers in the first grade they want to continue their uh their craft and it's always um inspiring to see teachers who want to continue to grow so I was I'm happy to be a part of that book
060study as well in the second grade they're wrapping up their insect unit it's a big thematic unit we have um paper trees in the buildings we have real insects uh gummy worms and things like that we have a lot of open houses at the end of this month so that's in the second grade uh the third grade they're wrapping up their first year of computer-based testing so that concludes tomorrow um they they were Masters at that the teachers were um it's new and anytime that there's something new there's a little bit of hesitation there but they did a great job and in the fourth grade we're wrapping up our book buddies um program where we readed the first graders and we're very excited to be touring the Middle School in the next couple weeks and
061I also need your help I um I found a time capsule and I want to know when we can open this thing so I was talking to Julie Clark who's retiring and um apparently she planted a lot of trees around the facility whether you know this or not but she planted over 900 BS uh she planted the road to dendrum that are within the inner workings of this complex here and she planted a lot of trees and she said it was like 25 plus years ago when she planted um some form of cherry tree they planted a time capsule with it as well so she couldn't quite remember if it was like 20 years or 25 years when we could open it but if you know anything about it let me know I know where
062it is is um there's no markings on it but I'm really like curious to see what's inside of it so um I'm going to do my research though but if you hear anything about this timec capsule let me know cuz I'm curious to know when I can open it it's buried with the tree with the tree okay so I know we should we wear our pirate I you your uh if we could get a motion uh to enter into executive discussion executive session to discuss uh Personnel so moved time May second questions all those in favor sign by ex s at thank you everyone oh I see we'll just change that grade to an F