001Good evening everybody. Welcome. Call the meeting to order. I pledge allegiance. >> Welcome everybody here. We have a pretty busy agenda tonight. Kevin the speakers off. I'd like to have a motion for item 1.03 approval of the amended regular board meeting agenda. Final recommendation of the superintendent to approve the March 2nd, 2026 amended regular board meeting agenda. >> Any questions on tonight's agenda? Sanders. All in favor? like to ask for a consent motion for item 1.04, approval of the regular board meeting minutes. Finally, recommendation of the superintendent to approve the February 9th, 2026 regular board meeting minutes. Any questions on the minutes of February 9th changes? All in favor? >> I vote. So, >> I'd like to ask for a consent motion for item 1.05, 05 approval of the special board meeting minutes upon the
002recommendation of the superintendent to approve the February 23rd, 2026 special board meeting minutes. Any questions on this special board meeting? All in favor? Okay. Is anybody signed in? No. No. Okay. All right. If no community relations, so turn it over to you. We have an elementary report tonight. Uh today marks our schoolwide event, read across JSU elementary school week. Uh tonight we welcome families to celebrate the power of lettering and storytelling with the help of our reading department, several teachers, and the multi multicultural collective. The week will continue to embrace reading in collaboration with another kinder senior reading event, multicultural fairy tale stories, a magician assembly to celebrate the magic of reading and a lot more. This is the perfect kickoff to our goal blue trait for the month which is leadership and cooperation. Last
003month we focused on bravery and on Friday, February 22nd, we wrapped up with with month with our goal assemblies that highlighted words have power and black history month with students sharing poetry stacks and non-fiction research on influential black citizens over the past century. And just in case you didn't have plans this Friday, be sure to join Miss New, Mr. Really, and a group of teachers and community members as they compete for bragging rights at the annual Hardwood Classic at support of artic. Excellent. Very good. Thank you. Yes. Don't forget Friday night. Appreciate no middle school. >> Mike, are you uh you're online? By the way, Mike is online here and he's off at Miscus this next few days. So, Mike, are you going to be doing the budget presentation now? >> Yeah. Can you hear
004me? Yes. >> Okay. Good. Uh, so Stephanie and I will be tag teaming on that. If John, if you could load that up for us. I'd like to welcome you, board of education this evening from Albany. I apologize if the lighting's not great here as I sit in my hotel room. It's the best I could do. I just wanted to before we get started say it's been a great conference so far. Lots of learning going on and uh some great updates coming from Albany as well. So once again, good evening. Stephanie and I will be taking you through tonight. what is going to be the non-instructional budget presentation. And so we're going to be bringing you some updates on some budgeting numbers and you'll see the different categories as we flip to the new slide
005here. But before we do um Oh yeah. So we'll go with the yep the goals. Let's start with the goals here. And so our goals for the two 2026 27 budget is to maximize uh the use of every dollar spent. So, one of the things that Stephanie and I have been doing uh over the course of the year, and I know Stephanie uh even taking over last year has been really diving in and taking a close look at all of our expenditures and where money is going to look at the most efficient way and to to make sure that we're being fiscal fiscally responsible. And I think Stephanie's done a wonderful job in that area. We also want to maximize the ability to generate state aid for future years. Um, and so the idea there
006is to see how many uh Boseis coasters we can get in um and make sure that we're we are taking advantage of the ability to earn a dollar back um on all of our expenditures. So our Bosey's aid rate is currently 59.5%. So, what that means to the community, if you're not aware, um, so basically for every $100 we spend, we would get $59.50 back if we go through Bosey's coasters. And so, that's really important for us to take a look at that. Enhancements of the school culture and student achievement. I think that speaks for itself. Of course, as we've had some discussions lately looking at our uh um continuum of special education services to see what we need to do to provide the best possible services to our students. Uh we're looking for transportation
007efficiencies as well as uh financial transparency. So those are really our goals for this year. Okay, next slide. So, the areas that we're going to be looking into, I'm going to give you just a summary in just a minute, and then Stephanie is going to take you deeper into the numbers with more of an explanation, but we're going to be looking at maintenance, transportation, technology, uh, superintendent, uh, which is part of district operations, Boseies, debt service, and interfer. So, we're going to be looking closely at each one of these areas. If we could go to the next slide, that's going to give you a summary of all of these. The column that we have right here is from the adopted budget of 202526. Those were uh the monies that were set aside in each one
008of those areas. And the 2026 27 column is going to show you the projected amount. And then of course the change in the last column there. So you can see each one of these there's um been you know there are some increases in each one of these areas. Uh there's a significant decrease in transportation and that's as we're looking at bringing back some of our uh private CNF runs as you know we did this year saving some money and we're also looking at bringing back potentially a couple more runs in the future uh possibly next year. And so Stephanie's going to go through each one of these categories one by one and give you a more in-depth explanation or answer any specific questions. So if you would like, jot those questions down and then at
009the end we'll be happy to take those and we'll open it up for board discussion. Okay, Stephanie, take it away. >> All right, so the first category I'm going to talk about is maintenance. So this is the operation of the plant here. There's only about a $20,000 increase which directly relates to the purchase of a UTB for um the maintenance department as well as transporting uh people that come to our athletic events down to the field. Um it's something that would be new that doesn't smell like gasoline that's a little bit safer for people to ride on. This is just some key things that are in the maintenance budget. As I just said, there is an addition of a UTV. We are also going to continue with our annual capital outlay projects. So, that is
010door replacement and hard hardware replacement throughout the building. A couple other things just to keep on our radar is our roof replacement. The warranty for our roof is up in 2026 27. Um, so it's something we do have to keep on our radar. There's ongoing projects with smart schools and the cops grant. So those are just different funding sources for technology, cameras, different things throughout the building. Um, our PA system is also very old and needs updating. And we also have to keep in consideration the baseball and softball field, the drainage problems that we have out there. Just we got a plan to fix those. The next category is transportation. Um, here you will see a substantial decrease and as Mike mentioned, this relates to our contractual transportation with CNF that we budgeted last year
011that we are no longer budgeting for this year. The next category is technology. Here most of the expenses are driven by enrollment. So the number of students drives how much you are able to spend on hardware and software. Here for software you get about $15 per student. And for hardware it's $24 times your roada. So your fossis aid rate gives you the amount of aid expenses that you are able to buy in each category. The next category is district operations. So that kind of lumps everything together. It's your auditing fees, your legal fees, your printing, your insurance, just kind of everything with the district office, business office. Um, in this category, a major increase is the insurance. They are projecting rates to go up 10% next year. Um, which is pretty substantial. The next category
012is Boseies. Here you'll see there's a fairly large increase in our expenses for next year. The next slide kind of breaks down this Bosey's expense by the different categories of things that you can run through Boseies. Um here a couple things that I like to point out are your central data processing. So those are going to be your edgeitech purchases, your software subscriptions. Another one is the instructional expense. Here we are running a new coser, possibly running a new coser through. It's for the dual credit. So we're able to get aid back on teachers that we are currently paying their salaries for. The next is more Boseies categories. Another one that I'd like to point out here is the special education. Um, we have two additional students with different services that we are planning for
013next year. The cost is pretty substantial for those students. So, that's why you'll see the increase here. BOSI has also increased a majority of their expenses by 5% across the board. The next category is interf transfers. So special aid is going to be your 20% of the ESY special ed program that the general fund is responsible for paying for. And also here is going to be the match that the district has to put up in order to get the cops grant. That dollar amount is 108,000. So that's what's driving this increase. The next category is debt service. So that's all of the district's debt. The increase here relates to the addition of the 2025-26 buses that we purchased as well as bonding out the capital improvement project, the last one along with the EPC project.
014And then this again is just a summary of all of those different categories just kind of totaled up to what the change is. This next slide shows all of those different categories into the three-part budget, which is what you're required to report um every year. >> Yeah, thank you, Stephanie. Well done. Um so, I just want to talk a little bit about uh some of the budget constraints. As you know, uh we're not the only district that's running into this. These are things that are um consistent across the entire state, certainly across the region. Been talking with a lot of my colleagues who are also facing some challenging situations and we all have the same things in common and that is a significant increase to our health insurance premiums. As you know, health insurance is
015going up across the board typically. Uh some consortiums are getting hit higher than others. Um uh in some of the conversations I've been having out here in Albany, I guess we're pretty lucky at 18.5%. I know there's another consortium in our area that went up 30% and I just recently heard yesterday there's a a consortium uh even further to the west in New York that went up 40%. Um so these are pretty significant costs. Um the reason why they're not consistent across the board is because it's based on expenditures within your own consortium. Uh meaning a combination of a bunch of different districts together. So that's one area. We also have our uh employee retirement system contribution increases that were pretty significant. Uh TRS, the teacher retirement system weren't as high. Of course, we know
016uh fuel costs are always a budgetary constraint as well as increase in utility costs. And we're not just seeing it here in Jio. I'm sure you're seeing it in your own home. Um the skyrocketing prices especially uh of electricity. Uh and so as you know, we're doing our best to maintain uh the expenditures that we have in that area as well as trying to cut back on our energy consumption due to that reason. And as you heard Stephanie mention, we have special education services. Um some high need students. Um but just in general, uh to meet the specific needs of some students, um you know, the services become quite expensive. So those are some of the budget constraints that we're going into. Um before we go to the next slide though, what I am going
017to do is um let you know our administrative team's been doing a great job at taking a look at what we can do to be as efficient as possible. We've gone through a long process. Uh this goes back to Stephanie and I setting the the calendar and starting to work through our process back in the fall, even as early as October, working into November. And um so the process has been outlined as uh looking at requests from teachers and staff and just hearing directly from them in in terms of what's needed. So we then took those requests as well as the things from the administrative team that we thought we were going to need to be able to function effectively and efficiently and we made them into a wish list. Uh Stephanie and I also
018met with every department as well as the building principles and taking a look at every single line item in every single department having a discussion about that and seeing if there's anything that we can do along those lines to make sure that we are spending our money effectively. as I had mentioned and certainly fiscally responsible responsibly and um so then from there we get more of uh our numbers that have become solidified. The numbers that have become solidified as I'd mentioned in the um the last presentation that had to do with revenue are the state numbers are obviously always going to fluctuate even after the May vote. sometimes they fluctuate a little bit more, but we have a pretty good idea of where those are coming in. Uh we know our health insurance increases at
019this point. Uh one of the other things that we're not sure quite yet right now is where the fund balance is going to come out, the surplus that we're going to see at the end of the year. Um we did stop all purchasing at this point. Um people were notified and get to, you know, got to put in their last purchases for anything that they would need for this year. Um, and so going forward, uh, in the next couple months, I think we'll we'll we're going to be tracking that on a regular basis, but within the next couple of months, we'll have a pretty good idea of what our fund balance is going to look like. And so, as these numbers come together, um, it is creating a deficit. And, um, if we want to
020flip to that next slide, at this point, uh, our current budget deficit is $1.3 million. Um that includes the levy that you guys as a board approved at the last special meeting on February 23rd. That tax levy of 2.78 is equal to $357,94. Um that so that 357904 is included within that 1.3. If it wasn't included, we'd be looking just north of 1.6. What this does not include are any additions to the budget. As you know, we've been looking um very closely at what we can do to again uh rightsize some of our special education programs. We've been taking a look at um how to efficiently run our all of our offices as well as the some other expenditures. Um this does not include that number. We're just looking at closing the deficit as of
021right now. And the deficit closing options at this current time are we are going to continue to look into further efficiencies. We're going to continue to find out uh what we can do to scale back in some areas. We do believe we're going to be able to close that number further as we go back and take a look at some things. Of course, as I mentioned, we're um likely going to be using some of our fund balance. We don't exactly know what that number is, but we'll be able to solidify that as we get a little bit closer to the finalized budget. Of course, you know, we have reserves and then there is uh the possible idea of further reductions within the budget. And so, uh all those things have to be on the table
022when you're looking at a $1.3 million deficit in a overall budget that's just over 27 million. And so I just want thought it was really important that we put that out to the board um and the community, the public, so everyone realizes where we stand. I will say across the region, we're not the worst. We're certainly not the best. So, um I know there are many districts that are facing multi-million dollar budget deficits and in the same challenging arena as we are in finding ways to um close that deficit while still maintaining the the great programming opportunities and experiences for students. Certainly don't want this to be alarming because uh while we don't have any magic tricks up our sleeve, we do have some ideas on what we can do to narrow this down a
023bit. Okay. So, with that, you want to flip to that next slide. This is going to wrap up for today. Uh before we open it up to any questions, comments, or board discussion, I just want to say that we were going to have our next presentation on March 16th's going to be the instructional budget. It's where we're going to focus on our programming. Um April 6 will be our first budget draft and then of course the final budget on April 20th. Okay. Some other key dates that were listed there. same uh last slide as the last time we had this presentation, but those are the key dates and next presentations that are coming up. So, at this point, I will turn it over to the board for any questions on this presentation, open discussion uh
024that you guys would like to have at this time. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Stephanie. So, I'm going to turn to all of you first before I weigh in financially. >> No, I'll jump in myself. >> Yeah, you can go ahead and jump in. >> Okay, I'll Can you go back to the Boseies budget, please? >> So, I see some pretty significant changes in the Boseies arena. I think we should pay very close attention to some of the the line items in there. I'm not saying they're not warranted, but are they the highest priorities? So, from that standpoint, I would ask that we pay very close attention to that section in particular. Thank you very much for the transportation discussions. That that's good news. That helps a lot from the
025standpoint of where are challenges. Um got a few other areas. I know I've I've submitted some thoughts certainly open to the finance committee and the rest of the board. Any other additional suggestions? Uh my my own perspective on priorities is we protect the classroom and uh I think it's essential that the classroom is our number one priority. What goes on in the classroom is essential. I've said that in prior years. continue to say it again. Uh we look beyond the classroom for any areas of of reductions. So that's my personal view. I don't speak for the entire board just yet when I say that, but from my standpoint, I think that's our our mission. That's our focus and everything on that list right there as well as a couple of others is open for further
026discussion. Yeah, that was uh primarily the discussion that we had in finance committee was you know focusing on you know protecting the instructional portion of the budget that most cost um we also we also had a very lengthy discussion about you know some of the decreases cost and some of the high needs I'm just thinking if there's a if there's a possible way to service it differently because it's a significant amount of money. >> Yes. Yeah. >> What's the difference between curriculum and instructional? >> So curriculum is going to be like your professional development. Instructional relates to the classroom. we get back 59.5%. Correct. And they had a 5% increase. >> $700,000 total. My numbers are correct as we're going through. All right. Any any further discussions? Any any other thoughts? Okay. Thank you very
027much. So Mike, if I Yep. If I could jump back in just for a second, just to let you know as we come back for that instructional budget. Uh at the end of that presentation, I will give you an update on where our deficit is at that point after some uh further microscope work of each line item. Uh as you had mentioned, Boseies, that certainly is an area that we're diving into. You as I mentioned, we're diving into all of them, but there are some heavy expenditures there. Um, it's a double-edged sword because when you buck co when you cut the Boseie services, you're also cutting your state aid uh revenue gen, excuse me, goodness, revenue generating ideas and opportunities. However, um, we definitely want to make sure that we are looking closely because that
028is a significant part of our budget right now. Um so it uh just again to wrap up as we come back on March 16th um it will have we'll be tying we'll do the instructional budget but then we'll be tying back in with all numbers to so you can see a good look at um the three-part budget in full after seeing the instructional part of it and then again we'll give you the update on the deficit and at that point what I would like to do is have a further discussion um it'd be great I'll be in person this is uh definitely not ideal by by any means. Um, and we can have a further discussion on getting some direction from the board on uh what are the the ways that you would like us
029to close those close the gap uh based on the options that we have on the table. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anything else that you would like us to do in the meantime? Uh, please let us know. >> Yep. So, I see there's on the agenda there's no administrative updates. Uh Mike, did you want to jump right into anything else that you >> Yeah, I want to share just a couple of things. Um I did see on the screen before the meeting got started, I saw Mike and Gary there from campus and uh they're there to uh be available to answer any questions later on. As you're going to see on the agenda, we did get the uh letters of recommendation for the bid opening that took place. Uh we so most people know at
030this point we were um meeting for the opening of the bid and so that's quite a process excuse me in which um all the biders come uh we read off all the bids and we are obligated to take the low bid and so they came in favorably. So not great news on the general fund side of things. We got some good news on the capital improve improvement side of things. So, uh, we're very excited. Uh, campus and SEI both did a really great job. Um, so at this point, what we're doing is I know, uh, low biders are being, um, contacted and having some discussions with campus, uh, just making sure that we're locking things in. I believe that's taking place and, um, further we look at the alternatives that the alternates that were that
031were on the, uh, scope of the project. And so, you know, with bids coming in favorable, looks like we're going to be able to do some alternates and we're going to continue to look at how things play out throughout the project. So, as Stephanie mentioned in the presentation, one of the things that we're looking at doing uh with some of that extra money, um, and we'll talk further about this, is we do need to keep a really close eye on that roof. Um, it was all replaced at one time 20 years ago, and as Stephanie mentioned, the warranty is coming up. There's a good chunk of the roof that is getting replaced with this current project. But one of the things we do need to keep in mind is uh making sure that we're keeping
032that up to date because as issues arise, we're going to have to do some patching which could get cost very costly. Uh but then going forward uh we want to make sure that we are staying within warranty as much as we can. So more on that. uh Bosey's capital improvement project. Uh if you may have heard at this point, you know, there were some dates that were up in the air, but at my monthly superintendence meeting just last week, we were informed that Jennese Valley Boseies has targeted a June vote for the capital improvement for their Boseies capital improvement project and uh first payment from the component districts. As you know, we have uh individual obligations to that based on the services that our students receive and that will not be due until the 2728
033school year. So, that positions us quite well to be able to plan for that going forward. Um, as a district, we're going to need to start discussing that thoughtful plan, how we're going to manage that initial payment. One of the other things that's still on the table at this point is um as you know from the presentation that came from Kevin McDonald when he came to the board meeting was that we weren't sure if we're going to have three or four payments because they were looking at the possibility of purchasing that building um or continuing to lease it with the idea of purchasing it at the end of the project. So there's still some things that are up in the air which is going to make a significant impact on the the payments that are
034going to have to take place. And so until that's locked in, we're not sure exactly how those pay the payment structure is going to be spread out. Uh let's see. Athletics, boy, what a great winter season for our athletic teams. Our teams represented GCS very well uh on and out of competition, in and out of competition, I should say. uh they showed great behavior, great character, and certainly representing uh GCS in a way that we want them to. So, we had some great performances across all sports. We had lots of teams made a great run in a postseason. Uh certainly want to wish our boys basketball team good luck as they play Pemrick tonight in Lechworth and then also Matthew Noose is still in the mix as he heads to the state tournament to bowl
035against some of the best across the state. So, congratulations to Matthew who uh made that made the postseason on that. So, fantastic. I think I heard one of the I think it was already stated that the Hardwood Classic's coming up this Friday. Um I think Jonah mentioned that this Friday at 6:30 staff will be taking on the community and it's a great uh fundraiser for our fifth grade whale watching trip to Boston, the annual trip. So, please come out for that. It's uh going to be a fun night. Um, I would have loved to have joined. Unfortunately, I cannot play basketball or the next day my knee will be really swollen and I'll probably be on crutches. I have a bad knee and basketball is just not a sport that that is uh kind to
036it. So, uh, but I'm excited to watch the game. Also, our drama club's excited to perform their production of the Curious Savage the following week on March March 13th and 14th. Please check out our website or latest edition of linkages for the information on obtaining tickets. very excited to see that and know the fall production was fantastic and I'm sure this will be equally as entertaining. Um, our appreciation day is coming up. It is National Social Worker Week. We want to thank all of our mental health team for all they do to support our students through the challenges. Um, as we know, last few years have been some of the most challenging in recent times and they do a fantastic job. So, uh, happy school social worker week. Friday is maintenance worker appreciation day. So
037if you see our facilities guys or maintenance guys, maintenance team um guys and gals, please wish them um a happy maintenance worker appreciation day on Friday. And it's our entire facilities and maintenance crew that keeps our schools safe, clean, and in good order for education to take place. So um with that, I'll turn it back over to you, Mike. Thank you very much. >> Good report. Thank you. I did see Craig has left and he's on his way to Lechward. So, >> yeah, >> said he's gonna drive speed limit. >> I hope so. Go blue. >> Right. Any any questions for Mike? That's good summary. Thank you. >> With that committee reports? >> Yeah. So finance committee met tonight for the meeting. Uh more of the areas should be discussed obviously budget but some ideas
038that we had. Uh the other thing uh that we discussed is kind of exciting. Stephanie is working on a a five-year uh budget plan u which will be presented following the budget. So in addition to all the work she's doing on budget, she's also going to be working that. there is a questionnaire that she would like to complete. If all of the board members have completed, we'll get you right. >> We'll get you a copy of the book questionnaire. Um if if that can be returned to her at the next board meeting. >> Okay, that would be fantastic. Um it's a it's a five questionnaire which will give uh some parameters and outline as to what our what we want to see in the final. All right. Thank you. Kevin, any update on policy? I
039see some on the agenda. >> Yeah, we have six policies for final reading or approval for tonight. They're going to be in the um item 9.06 06 section also to our next meeting for the policy committee review the other six. >> Thank you. >> Megan >> GCEF >> we met last week and so would continue to um approve an array of projects and proposals a lot of field trips and we know this is the busy time of year that we'll see an uptick in those and I sent Jim and Cindy three today that'll be sent out to the committee. So, um, between that and coast, it's a huge support to a lot of end of the year festivities and needs. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> How often do you meet? >> Couple months. >> Yeah,
040but we the email chain is >> Yeah, >> I would say weekly. >> Thank you. All right. You personel personnel like to ask for consent motions for items 8.02 02 through 8.1. Any questions on any of the personnel items? a lot here in terms of coaches, assistant coach, a lot of substitutes, teachers and uh and so want to wish our best to Angelo as he Angelio as he retires for I think about the fourth or fifth or 10th time. >> Yeah. All in favor I post >> section nine under new business I'd like to ask for consent motion for items 9.02 to 9.08 any question on these items. This is where the policies are being policy. All >> favor under section 10 the business office like to ask for a consent motion for items 10.02
04110.0 five 10.08 08. >> Any questions? Anything? Do you want to say thank you to Tennessee Aquinus for their don donation and also to the Charman group, Mike Sherman and Company? Okay, hearing none. All in favor? >> Any oppos? I would like to move to old business. I think we have cleaned up all old business. So there's nothing on our list so far. With that, we'll just uh have a few final time before we close the meeting. Uh or no, I'm sorry. We have >> Where are you? >> That was under new business. >> I'm sorry. that >> I think we have some work to do before you don't. >> All right. But we do have as as Mike mentioned earlier, we have met we have we have the bids. The bids have come in.
042Uh Gary and Mike, I'm going to turn it to you just to make a couple of last minute comments if you'd like. as we kick off this project. >> Sure. Yes. So, since we opened bids on the 19th, we've spent the last week and a half with the architects interviewing the low biders. We've completed that process and and that's what you see in these letters of recommendations tonight. We got a good group of contractors, I think. Um have we have some ones we like to work with and we got we got a bunch of those on this project. Um so, going forward, we're looking at ramping up going into the beginning of April here. So, you see us start taking over in the backyard lot get set up. There is one missing piece on the
043budget summary right now. Um I think believe Wednesday of this week we're going to be bidding the last piece which would be abatement of the old rubber floor that's underneath the wood chain mercury and uh we're want to put that back out to bid to get a a more competitive price for that. So I guess just building on that then we we in front of us are the bids at this point. I guess I feel confident to say we've looked at all the all the bids. We have great confidence that we are within budget from what was approved by the public and we're at least at this stage on schedule. >> How things go as we begin the project. Uh when I say within budget, that is including the statements you just made relative to
044the floor of the gymnasium. That is still outstanding. We we've factored in, I think, a relatively conservative number, so to speak, in terms of what that might come in at. So the way we're showing the numbers right now, u the on the budget summary, there is roughly a little over $3 million construction contingency, >> just under 18% of the total construction cost. That out of that money will come the bid of the abatement of the mercury floor. So that construction contingency will be reduced by the price of that contract. And as Mike said, the contractors we have are solid, really good contractors. So we had very good bid and we had really good results from contractors. They've all been interviewed and vetted. So we're confident that they understand the full scope and depth project and
045the schedule. So we will, as Mike said, we're going to anticipate construction here short starting shortly here in the spring coming up. But we are asking for the board to approve the contracts based on our recommendation. Uh, no special. Well, we're going to just formally approve it in a few minute or so here. >> We got a bit, but I mean from the standpoint of the schedule though, >> uh, I think going forward, the the U communication is going to be critical >> in terms of what's going to get first. So, can you give a little indication at this stage as to what Yeah, we might we might expect in the very near term. >> Yeah. Want to roll with it? >> Sure. Well, in the very near term, uh you're going to see us
046mobilizing onto the site. That's going to take a little bit. Uh between now uh over the next, I'd say two months, even going through April. Um you're we're going to be finalizing the contracts. We're going to be collecting submitts from all the contractors, reviewing all the materials to be used on the project uh before anything is even purchased and shipped to the site. And during that time, you'll see us moving on to the site, setting up a staging area out back, and um contractors also moving outside, getting set up. Uh going into the beginning of couple weeks of April is when we plan on actually getting into the building. Um putting up temporary barriers uh redirecting traffic starting to take over the the gym side of the building over there. >> If I could just
047>> could I just jump in just real quick? Uh I just want to reiterate, I think we had mentioned this in the past that uh campus and SEI when they created their schedule built in buffer time because this isn't an uncommon thing to have to delay bids, you know, write a bunch of addendums and um answer questions, last minute questions from contractors. So the original time frame for us to break ground was right at at the beginning of April, April 1. And because of them building in, you know, having the forethought of building in that buffer time, I want to thank Mike and Gary, uh, and Ted and Kyle from SEI, uh, for working very closely and the rest of the team as well. I know there's a lot of players behind the scenes, too,
048that built in this time frame that we are still scheduled, uh, the last I heard, um, I know Mike and Gary can confirm this, but I believe we are still scheduled to begin on April 1st. And then um now that the bids are closed and things are recommended uh to the board and board has approved it, we're going to be working on an internal and external communication plan. Uh internal communication plan will be working closely with our staff to let them know step by step what's expected, not just the scope of the work. Uh but unfortunately, as we know, capital projects are very inconvenient and we want to put safety at a forefront. So we want to make sure that we're all working collectively to uh make sure that everyone is aware of what could
049take place, what is going to take place and from there that communication will be ongoing throughout the course of the entire project. Externally what we plan to do is bring updates to uh the board to make sure that you guys know exactly uh all the phasing that is scheduled, the time frame of the phasing as well as the work that's being completed as it goes along. And then we'll be uh sending out excuse me communications to the community as well. I've been working with Dan Northup who manages our manages our website to update our capital project website to make sure that someone has a place to go to. So it won't just be information on there, but we'll be updating it with pictures to show progress and the work that's being done as well. Uh
050if the board has any other suggestions or would like something further or additional as we go through the process, please don't hesitate to let us know and we will accommodate. >> Thank you. And yes, we are scheduled to start as Mike said, first of April. >> Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. All right. So, with that, I'll just make a few last minute comments. Well, first off, I want to thank the the entire and there's a lot of people to thank in terms of the capital improvement project. So, it's yeah, certainly campus, certainly SBI, but the admin teams, the faculty, everybody in this entire district, the board and others who have participated pretty much over the last 18 12 to 18 months or so. It's been quite a long road. So, we are here. Um,
051I appreciate all the work that everybody's put into getting us to a point where we feel confident that we are going to actually fulfill what we committed to. And there were a few points over the last year or so where we weren't quite sure about that. But today, I think we can all sit here and say, "Yes, we're on the right track." Um, I think we should hang up some signs that basically say, "Pardon our dust." Well, the education continues. And there will be a lot of dust. I suspect that mostly hel back. Um, thank you to the board and to the administrative teams for the second, I would say, very productive retreat that we had to try to work through some of the budget the goals and and kind of getting the district u
052aligned for the next budget cycle. I know a lot of work is yet to be done. Uh, we saw some of it tonight. I think some good news, some some challenges yet some headwinds certainly face us in that regard. But I feel confident that the team is is really going to work to pull that together. That said, I did attend and uh to what Stephanie is working on the five-year multi-year planning, I did attend a Chibi Bose's uh board presidents and and uh leadership meeting on long range planning. It was put on by Bernie Donigan Associates, I think. Maybe the same. No, you did same different one. >> Different one. >> Okay. All right. This one was by Donigans and and long range financial planning and capital project planning and others. So, we have some
053good information that I'll able to forward over as well. With that, are there any other comments from anybody else? >> Yeah, I I just uh I just want to shout out to our math department. Um yeah, our math team did exceptionally well and eight out of the 10 slots going to regionals are from us. So that is >> kudos to the math. >> Congratulations. Well done math leader. >> Smart kids. >> Great teachers also kids. >> Yes. Well done. Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. Any other comments before we close anybody? >> Good luck. >> Yeah, good luck in all right with that Kevin. >> Yes. All right. I'd like to have consent motion for German at 7:48 p.m. All in favor? Any oppos? >> Thank you everybody. I don't know.