March 13, 2025 KLSD Board of Education Meeting

001e e good evening good evening is on okay great good evening it's um Thursday March 13th can someone make a motion please to return to public public session motion by Rory seconded by Marjorie all those in favor I I great thank you um so before we begin why don't we um join and rise for the pledge of Legion to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] right so tonight we're looking forward to a little preview of the klsd 2030 plan um and an overview of the special education review that will be happening and then we're going to return back to the board we've obviously had um two sessions so far with sort of the

002higher level of the board and some granularity into lines but now we have our binders and we have the line by line details so we can certainly look forward to any questions that board members will have um before we begin that I wanted to just run through some board committee reports I don't believe the audit committee has met since the last meeting um Ray would you like to report out on ER JC yes certainly so we met um just earlier in the week and and we were able to go ahead actually we meet in this space and so that team spent a little bit of time that evening looking at in particular the um pillar inside of our KD 2030 moving forward the idea about belongingness and we also started partnering with coutur Proctor who

003works with uh putam Northern Westchester bosis and uh we are looking at uh using our framework here this evening that we're going to spend a little bit of time on but we do a deeper dive next time about as that team comes together and that team identifies what are the look forwards in our school district within our staff and our professionals will be aligning the work back to here so as we move forward we'll be again going ahead and seeing the clear alignment back to the pillars that we had I think about 18 or so folks there that evening some parent me parent members we had some community members and we also had one of our students was able to join us and a few administrators so again very uh strong Rich conversation and so

004looking forward to Contin that so thank you board excellent Mar would you like to report on facilities please sure thank you so at our last meeting on February 27th you'll recall that we passed resolution 13.17 to award the viid for the geothermal project at KES is very exciting and we're in the process of securing insurance bonds and contracts and we hope to get started as quickly as possible just in time for the ground to cooperate with the eager anticipation of spring uh we're looking at maybe April May time frame we also had passed resol resolutions 13.09 to 13.12 to award bids for all trades at KES hooray so that we can can begin the other Capital Improvement projects there and thank you to our Administration for trying to expedite and begin this work as quickly

005as possible we really appreciate that just briefly at increase Miller Construction is going well on the new classrooms and we thought that everybody would be excited to be reminded that we're also installing solar panels on the addition on the new classrooms and working with technology to harness the Energy savings data that can actually be public facing so we can use it for educational purposes too so stay tuned for more on that we're hopeful that the glass for these vestibules is going to be shift at long last in the coming weeks um safe to say and we're looking forward to maybe being able to install the glass over spring break because this will enable us to finally utilize the new vestibules at increas Miller and Meadow Pond in the manner that they were envisioned to be

006utilized and in accordance with v practices so very close and we're eagerly awaiting that class uh here at the high school Construction is ongoing in the b-wing and at uh the Middle School best of Ule construction is also underway and then just finally I wanted to express our gratitude to the administration for preparing information to illuminate the financial impact of direct pay tax credits on klsd Capital Improvement projects including the geothermal project and the EPC for solar installation that we heard about at our January 16th meeting so thank you for partnering with local municipalities and for you know helping us to illuminate the impact uh and our anticipation of needing that money yeah great thank you margerie uh the Le Shady Lane committee has not met since last time um parent Council has met do

007you want to yeah parent Council met uh last Friday actually on the the 7th uh some of the things we covered uh calendar review uh kind of went over what next year's calendar looks like and overwhelmingly positive from that um already also they we had a good discussion about troubleshooting how to get better coverage at after school events and could parents help or could we tap into maybe other students to be leaders because so many people are focused on putting the event and the supervision of the young kids they're playing with their friends they're jumping on things crawling on bleachers and how do we get better hold of those events so it doesn't do any damage or distract from the event itself um oh so Ray brought up talking about the cell phone policy uh

008the New York State uh policy and everything is still kind of unknown and how it can be tailored possibly to different levels of kids and what does that look like so that's a conversation that's going to be ongoing and also Dr Blanch uh kind of gave a quick kind of preview of some of the budget next year and what it looks like a lot of the stuff that will be covered tonight as well um and and how that looks and where that's going to fall and then finally we did have a conversation about uh school buses uh safety what it looks like where the you know kind of what the policies and procedures are right now um and you know metal Pond uh kind of highlighted all the things that they're doing that they're really

009hitting it hard with signage and their video and things like that so it was really great for you know other schools also here kind of hear that and clear uh excuse me and glean from that so was that thanks John appreciate it um margerie back to you for policy thank you thec polic committee met on February 21st and we looked at um a couple of policies that you saw at the last meeting for first reads and they're on our agenda tonight for second reads um policy 2245 this pertains to our ex officio student board member and you're seeing this policy because we'll be reminded that there's new legislation requiring school districts to have an exofficio student board member we of course were fortunate to already be out ahead of the curve uh but there's some

010new language here thanks to nisba and our opport Unity to just bring our minds to bear on the policy a new and then policy 6830 uh pertains to expense reimbursement and if anybody has any questions we can revisit this during consent agenda I just wanted to also mention that on no NOP not November May 7th nisba is hosting a webinar related to exofficio student board members and they're going to be even offering some training for student board members so I just thought that was interesting that you know more will be coming because this is now becoming a Statewide initiative thank you R I know um sustainability met we did sustainability met uh on Friday right before parent Council on March 7th um we had a couple of items on the agenda we spent a bit

011of time talking about the inflation reduction Act and the impact that that might have if those uh monies were not forthcoming we identified two uh major areas where it has potential to impact us one is in the geothermal implementation that Marjorie just spoke to uh the other is in the EPC solar um review that we've been doing with Honeywell uh we spend quite a bit of time just diving into it I think the net net of it is that the geothermal implementation will not be impacted but we had hoped to receive uh IRA funds that we might then distribute to other projects which those funds would now be at risk um regarding the EPC solar we think that it's unlikely that there will that honey well will find a way to make it pay off

012in the a lotted 15 or even 18 years if we were to extend it to 18 years um so that project might be at risk as well so we have to keep an eye on this space uh we also spent a little bit of time talking about um bus electrification it's I think what we heard was that the isera funding was we achieved the isera funding for six electric vans to the tune of about $811,000 sorry five five five electric buses um so that's good so we're going to go ahead and we'll put that in infrastructure in there that was the infrastructure that had originally been allocated to public uh Chargers we're now repurposing that for small buses so we will put the infrastructure in we're going to start thinking about when we can order

013up uh those additional buses now that we have the nice start of funding so that's really good news um let's see we also spent a little bit of time about the upcoming April 22nd uh presentation coincides with Earth Day so the committee is very excited about putting that together I know there's a lot of other work going on I know Julia's got a lot of work going on and we're all very excited to uh hear from and support Earth Day on the 22nd of April the sustainability showcase will be then too and we should know that earlier so we so you last in the past we've been able to kind of come for exec and then go to that so we need to go to that and then go to exec after because it's happening

014earlier in the evening so just be we'll remind you when we get closer thank you um and then one just last thing there's an opportunity which will be at no cost of the district to bring in a company called uh synergistic who are going to review all of the major equipment the boiler equipment and so on and uh give us give us some um advice as to how to how to proceed with those so thanks very much to Ray for identifying synergistic and others who were involved in that so yeah it was a lively 45 minute meeting yeah great yeah and I mean I remember when when Honeywell was here he said that without the incentives it would be very we wouldn't get the pay back couldn't do the we're going to go back and

015re-review and see and we'll we'll consider two different options if we receive the IRA films if we do not you know what what the opportunities though um Marjorie westput did you want to rep on West and I don't know if there I skipped Nisa but I don't think there's really anything no not not anything other than that webinar which is going to cover ex aicio student board members and smartphone free schools so it sounds like a pretty interesting webinar um but for West just uh a reminder if you didn't see it an email went out yesterday actually from the lower Hudson education Coalition it was a I thought a good overview a memo helping us to see what's being proposed in the one housee budgets that just came out from our Senate and assembly um

016we also had a West putut boord meeting last night where I think the general feeling was that from what we could see in that memo and in the on house budgets that our advocacy efforts really actually coalesced and paid off and it really feels as if our legislators were listening very carefully and heard us and there are proposals in the on house budget that that do reflect you know modifications or suggestions that if adopted in the governor's budget would be better for schools um helpful to schools so that was uh just a spirit of hopefulness that came out of uh the information that was shared with the LH from the LC and then in terms of programs coming up a reminder that tomorrow is the next uh installation of Money Talks it's a 1hour webinar

017at noon virtual and then on March 31st for whoever is able to join should be an interesting talk with d'vorah heitner who wrote a book about students smartphones and social media her book I think the subtitle is like growing up in public something to that effect um so for anyone who's available you know March 31st please please join us and um I think you can register online or Kim can help us register and that's it for tonight thank you great thanks right and I don't know if there's any board announcements I did you um i' I've spent the last 10 days reflecting on how lucky we are to be in the district that we are and how I am to our Administration our guidance counselors for all the support that was put in place um

018for the tri to accident that happened last week so just very heartfelt thank you for all of the work that went on behind the scenes and all of the support that our children saw um and I wanted to just say congratulations to all of our winter athletes who have finished their seasons and several whom went to States and had some very excellent results at States um Andy Condon actually came for in first in the 3200 me your Indoor Race and um also congratulations to our two robotics teams who went to States this last weekend um one of whom was in the final you know in the semi-finals and they did really well and um just you know just sort of both ends of the spectrum of um opportunities for kids and congratulations and break a

019leg to our our High School Musical participants who are kicking off this year's musical tonight and hopefully we'll have opportunities to go see them over the weekend so lotss of great things I don't know if anyone else has yeah I have one one uh plug I should have given earlier uh Tuesday night is the showing of screen agers at the Bedford Playhouse uh as of Friday I think tickets were very limited um if people want to go see it but at 6:30 on Tuesday night thank you for the reminder excellent so without further Ado um start thank so I know tonight we'll go through this just a little bit of an orientation to the actual uh 2030 um plan we will look at a little bit more in two weeks we'll spend a little bit

020of time doing a deeper dive so in front of you you should all have a copy of the 2030 Vision there and you also have a sticker you can choose to put on that sticker wherever you want Julie had it actually on her uh jacket earlier today um so it's up to you and then there's some bookmarks there that you can go ahead and have there on the back side of the bookmark you will go ahead and see the profile of a Learner in the district and so go ahead and we'll start as we start getting this um document out into our community and then starting put to action you'll see some more of this works so in the document I'll just start in the front page you will see the um 2030 document there

021and you'll see the idea about empowering all and so that looking at that kind of being our tag line as the district has been Bo and the idea about lighting the path to success so if you want to go ahead and turn that page I'll just uh give you a sense of some of the teams that met with uh to have a conversation at the beginning of the year so board knows basically um early in the fall we had a similar conversation on the right it walks through that uh experience a little bit in general the idea about approaching it through it's identified as the a s approach but looking at our strengths and our opportunities that exist in the district and what are some of the aspirations we have and some of the results

022so then if you go ahead and turn the page from there you will see uh our updated mission and vision statement here and so I'll just read out the mission piece here we the Kona lispo School District we ensure all students learn an inclusive safe and Equitable environment that promotes engaging learning critical thinking and responsible citizenship so again this came through you know not just dozens but really hundreds if not thousands of separate conversations and this is where we're identified so that's our why do we exist and then a little bit of how is that Vision work we try to be a model of Excellence by fostering a compassionate School Community where students Educators and families collaborate to inspire lifelong learning personal growth and leadership in an Ever Changing world and so with that you

023will see hopefully some of the energy now move forward so we'll spend a little more time with those Collective commitments you can see at each one of those sore conversations that basically Clos with the idea about so what are you individually and we collectively committed to do to make this a reality and these are the six areas that came out from fostering student centered education to promoting Equity inclusion to cultivating a positive practive approach there so there's six different areas you can go ahead and see in that one on the next slide this piece here it's it's a switch screen on the uh those folks watching at home and things that on the left hand side you'll look at the pillars of light and so this idea it's these six pillars and you'll see the

024graphic there with the empowering all again statement with the idea about lighting the path to success these are the kind of the ways that we're looking at the processes the systems the structures how we will go ahead and then if you shift to the right the right is the profile of a learner what is the end result what are the learnings what are the experiences and the opportunities we want to have our children's as they go through our school and walk out of the school so the left and the right are partnership but the left is more about systems and structures and ways we make it happen and then the right is what's the result these are the results for the children and so we'll spend a little bit more time on this doc that

025part next year or next year not two weeks oh that fast and then uh I won't we won't dive in too much tonight again we'll spend a little deeper dive next time then you can see it breaking down so now pillar one as you look at that piece there you'll see at the top the idea of Knowledge and Skills that first piece there is basically board Community goal we'll equip our students with relevant devolving skills to seek knowledge and shape a successful future then we describe that a little deeper we go into some of the aspirations that we desire to see in our schools and then the idea about empowerment action so what are some of the things that we will be putting in action to make this a reality and then the right where

026we're some of the evidence that we're moving forward on those different empowerment actions and so if it's in this particular document this is coming more at larger District level and or has a significant impact one school or more we will also be looking a little bit later in the spring and start in the fall where the idea about buildings will have their own empowerment plans with our own building based actions that will support these so there'll be multiple layers that will cut across the oranization all following through those pillars so there is clear alignment and then I'll just shift to the second one again belongingness Foster an inclusive and connected Community where everyone belongs and thrives again you'll see the more detail in that one and then off to our next pillar here this one

027um really I I I did not expect and so a lot of the other things we had before there was energy there and it came still was like an update in a lot of ways this is very clear from our community from our children from everybody that this idea about our students being the leaders and so we will Empower students to take ownership and develop as confident leaders and Learners so that was just cascaded across didn't matter whom you spoke with so that's a very unique thing I think to the the unique districts that we have about this idea about leading in our world in our community uh pillar four sustainability and global citizenship if this didn't show up I don't I don't know what I was doing so as we know uh sustainability and

028being a good Global citizen are keen and kind so the idea by inspiring students to lead as again lead as champ CHS of sustainability and responsible Global Citizens and then off to our fifth pillar here this idea about well-being we will nurture students well-being helping them Thrive both inside and outside the classroom and then on pillar six the idea about collaborative Educators again really we've talked about this since last summer through the year about professional learning communities in suches we will advance professional learning by empowering Educators to collaborate enhance instructional Effectiveness and improve student learning so these are are kind of our six guiding pillars to kind of light the path to empowering all students again thinking about those as structures and systems and then when we look at the your bookmark you'll see that

029that's where we start uh connecting those really uh together and so next time when we meet we will go ahead do some small group activity we'll float around the library a little bit get into the document we'll come back and do some debriefing and share so we'll kind of just do a little bit of a working session and we'll be looking and talking about the things that you're feeling and seeing and and then this will start bringing itself to uh to life and if you think about the profile of a learner report that we started earlier in the year each profile now each pillar will be showing up as we now work on that profile a little bit this spring but next fall we be starting out highlighting those profiles through and then we'll bring

030bring you forth like when we had the principles here earlier hey let's talk about those empowerment plans at the buildings and some of that work so you will see clear connected purposeful work and then you will see as we're speaking about the budget tonight clear direct connection to the work that's taking place in the schools is aligned to the budget conversation so any thoughts I know is really more about the architecture tonight and next time we'll get into a little bit of the design and the components of it all right thank you and thank you I think um I was in a few of the different listening sessions and um work groups around doing the sore exercises and I think it's really nice to see and he in this things that I heard in the

031room and different like it it clearly reflects a lot of those you know the conversations are captured here and I feel really happy and proud that I think anyone who was part of that can see their voice and that's that's really important this is a collective project and we're going to send that out tomorrow just in my Friday note just to the community and just so if they click on there they'll go ahead and get to our flip book on the website so they can take a peek at it if they like to do that and stuff so I'll I'll just say um for me it brings a an element of structure that we haven't had here to before I think we've done many of these things and we've had them branded differently at different

032labels but to see it all in one place and to start to see the connectivity come together is really refreshing and I'm super most excited about the uh curriculum m exercises and ensuring that we have those Curriculum maps in place I know we've done it in the past but to actually documented and to show a clear curriculum map for each one of our subjects that we teach here is going to be wonderful and gamechanging I think for the students and so I think you've put the right structures in place many of them were there already but you've also found the way to help guide students to the ultimate outcome and you've articulated that really nicely in the vision like what is our outcome for the students what are we projecting it's a really nice job

033I'm looking forward to working more with it great thank you thank you no so um the next pie then we'll go ahead and head off uh to Alex and so I'm going to go ahead and slide this down when it gets to Alex I think we're going to shift to the next V here so Alex is going to go ahead and I may drop in here or there but just a a quick um overview of the PCG of kind of work that we're that Alex and the team have started and so go ahead and see if we can get this shifted over to the screen so thanks Kim and then as we go through this piece just a reminder that um where we're starting today it's a pretty it's a very heavy left and as

034Alo speak to it but we have an outside team that's coming on board but our internal team is getting all the data and the information to that group so then when we're ready we anticipate right now and as Alex will go ahead and identify later we're looking at a meeting in June that we'll be able to kind of have that team come they'll be here to they walk to their process and we'll spend some time like getting into that work and then we'll be talking about road map out of that and what our next steps may look like oh that's good timing because I was just about out Alex so I I'll just wait for the slides to be up um so that our viewing audience can see and here we are um thank you

035Rich so um Rich if you want to just go to the next slide that says agenda um so here you'll see we're just going to quickly touch on an overview of who the company is um what the their approach uh to the work is the methodology so how they're going to look at both qualitative and quantitative information um to come to their determinations uh we have some information on ways that all of you can be involved and then um you know just some questions and answers that we'll we'll discuss so um if we go to the next slide you'll see here public Consulting Group uh most notably they have 23 offices across the United States uh they have over, 1600 active contracts so this is work that they're very um in meshed in and that

036they've done uh throughout the country uh in fact about 25% of all students that have IEPs are in a system that has been managed or touched by a PCG review at some point um so that you know more information on them is in the slide if anybody is interested in learning you'll see here their Client List uh so when we met with them and we looked at proposals um most notably in terms of our local area you'll see that they've completed a review in chapaqua they're in an ongoing review with the newer shell School District they've completed a review in halane um another review in the Greenwich Public Schools um and not listed here because they were still in the midst of the work when we contracted with them but they most recently completed a

037review in Bedford this year um so this is just a snapshot of the of some of the districts that they've worked with um so in terms of why now yeah so a part of this as much as we've looked at some of the other things we spoke earlier in the year with our literacy conversation that we're doing that work and then even some of our Safety and Security team coming on board is being a new member of the team it really affords frankly myself and then the rest of the team an opportunity to say okay where are we at in these major you know program areas so then we can start on our next best steps to uh continue with that work so it's the idea of getting to uh a quick sense of a

038really in-depth look at this without having to you know ask the current staff to to try to do all that because we've got a number of people coming on board to help us with this and so to be able to do that then we can start and where Alex will talks for then we'll have kind of a plan where we're looking at kind of the next three and 5 years Road up for here as well as the literacy as well as security look and so it's it's it's that approach is to continue to look at continuous Improvement and then the opportunity to that to on a cyclical basis look at something like this and then as we go through it at the next checkin how do we do from where we were to where we

039are so I again I appreciate the board's opportunity for uh allowing us to do this um in a time where um you know I know it is a little brisk um I know I asked for this up front early but I really appreciate the board support U allowing us to do this so thank you board thanks sure so um if we look at the project approach you'll see that here is in a sense their their theoretical framework so these are the six domains that they consider when looking at the effectiveness of special education programs and you'll see there's leadership human capital uh high expectations systems and structures family and Community engagement as well as learning environment and specialized services so these are the domains that the questions our research questions are embedded in um and

040this is the lens that they're going to review the data that's collected again both quantitative data and qualitative data so on the next slide um this speaks a little bit about how they do their work so you'll see that it talks about a collaborative design in terms of how they um partner with a district to determine what the research questions will be the approach to the work uh it's multi-dimensional in terms of how they consider stakeholder participation what kind of data they request um and how they work with us um in order to really come into our space get a sense of who we are who our programs are what we're doing and then be able to give us some meaningful feedback using that theoretical framework as a backdrop um you'll see here it talks

041about essential questions which we'll go over next which are the questions that they're going to be looking at specifically for us um as the Tona Lewis girl school district um and then the last component here in their approach are those accountable Solutions so this will be the fall back piece um and the back end of it in terms of um how they deliver the next steps and partner with us to ensure that whatever um areas or opportunities for us to grow how we can plan to make that uh those meaningful next steps so here is the first of three research questions and you'll see that this is focused on the learning environment uh it's really looking at our pre-referral interventions that's uh what the multi-tiered system of support which here we refer to as RC

042RTI is um you'll see that they're really looking at uh how we're organizing our Continuum of services to ensure that we're offering those two principles of fape and least restrictive environment um and then really looking at is there a golden thread um that connects students disabilities with how we're supporting them in in the current moment um if we go to the next slide research area two of three you'll see that there are two uh of the different domains reflected here so in terms of uh the high expectations is are we um or how do we Foster a culture that focuses on inclusion and high quality programming and then in terms of our human capital and Leadership so these are two domains combined um how do we organize and utilize our human capital resources so all

043the way from our administrators down to the uh teaching assistance and AIDS how do we organize all of that human capital that we have available to support our students how do we support teachers pedagogy and their professional learning how do we make sure that they're up toate and current um and then the last question is uh to what extent is our department effectively functioning as a unit and a partner to the curriculum and instruction team and this is what Ry alluded to in terms of looking at it multi-dimensionally uh in terms of the literacy security so you know how do we fall in place into that um the next research question again combines two of their domain areas so you'll see in terms of systems and structures it's uh you know what's the district Vision

044so again aligning with the unveiling of our kls 2030 our question to them is how does that really fit in for our special education students um how do our policies and procedures support the needs of students how does budget management occur uh how are we accessing and using our grant funds that are provided to us um and then within that as well is how does our central office staffing structure positively impact outcomes for students with disabilities and then you'll see that uh as part part of this research area we're also looking at uh what extent are the parent children with IEPs satisfied with their children's educational programming so those are our research questions those domains are really going to um inform how they collect the data how they field it and how they look at

045it um if you go to the next slide you'll see in terms of the project methodology it's basically done in four phases our first phase we've already completed and that's the launch so really kind of allowing them to come come in get to know us get to know the superintendent um hear what our questions are we've had weekly project meetings so ensuring that we can kind of organize how we're going to go about getting all the information we need um so you'll see phase two is that data collection phase and as race shared you know we're we're working um kind of around the clock to make sure we get all the information from uh you know our assistant superintendent of business for finance from uh Dr Aliva in terms of a human capital piece so

046it's really you know all hands on deck uh to get that information they'll also be coming in and doing interviews and focus groups uh observing within classrooms they're they're doing uh a review of Select IEPs which will ensure uh don't reveal any um identifying information but that just give them a sense of our our IEPs um you know do they fall in line with the programs and with the supports we say we offer um the next phase will uh take place once we've completed all of those pieces so they will um start to gather review begin to write their analysis they'll come in review that initial finding any questions they might have uh based on what they've uh reviewed would be clarified they'll come back give us a second draft uh and then we anticipate

047uh that in June we'll have that final report to be able to share with the community at large and then that's when action planning would begin um and you know would take place that's why it says June July so the reporting would come out first and then they would come back and work with us to really uh as Dr Blanch shared put those steps in motion and support us in what are the next steps um so you'll see here I'm not going to go to in depth because I've kind of already talked about what that um Foundation is and the project launch and how that's going to work um if in phase two you'll see here um that concept of kind of uh triangulating information so one component will be looking at the stakeholder um

048contributions and how they're going to do that is by using focus groups interviews classroom visits um you'll see in terms of what they're collecting from us as far as our practices any documents that show um our work the PD we've done so all of the things that we provide to them um and then their analysis of the quality of programs you know based on using all of that information um you'll see the next slide speaks to the data collection and this slide does contain the dates of when we anticipate all of these things to take place as far as our focus groups the review of the IEPs the parent um surveys as well as classroom visits and focus groups are all listed here so you'll see that we are um anticipating that this will all

049be completed um within the next few weeks so between March 15th uh and the first week in April we'll have all of those phases of that um stakeholder data collected in the next phase you'll see as I discussed this is really how they draft the report share with us develop that executive summary um and then discuss if there are any revisions based on information we might elaborate on for them the Final Phase um is when they'll submit the report they'll present the findings both to the leadership team uh which when we'll do at a public board session um and then the next steps to that would be facilitating the action planning and then the development of a plan on what is this going to look like and as Dr Bland shared it won't be a

050one year or September it's you know it's going to be a long-term plan with benchmarks um as to how we accomplish the the recommendations so here you'll see ways that you can be involved you can participate in a focus group and or complete the online survey that information has been sent out and it's specific to um parents of children with IEPs so that went out uh this Monday um and then this really was just any questions or answers uh that any of you had we're Ray and I are happy to answer question Alex so the focus groups and Survey already went out to the parents of families with students with IP and what kind of response in terms of are you seeing so far in terms of people wanting to participate in a focus group

051or just responses to the survey so great question so uh Nicole Moore who's one of the facilitators from from PCG is actually the person managing all of the responses the only support we give are for our internal faculty and staff focus groups so we're ensuring that we um provide those that they're within the uh slots so they will actually coordinate and there are caps of 15 to the focus groups for parents um obviously so that it can be meaningful conversation they are going to be facilitated virtually so they feel that that's a number that in a virtual Forum they could be um successful with and and have really meaningful conversation but that's all done through PCG it's also not limited to just 15 parents like each more more right right they'll depending on the response

052they would thank you Julia they will facilitate more sessions but they're really working on um the number of sessions will be determined based on the response got it because I see there's four different dates so potentially you could have as many as 60 represented correct okay um I don't know whether this is an appropriate parallel to draw so pleasee feel free to say that it's not but the process of bringing in this group feels a little bit familiar to the information that was presented to us earlier this year after a Consulting Group came in and conducted focus groups and surveys and a multi-dimensional um assessment of the integration of technology and instructional technology in our classrooms and that work if I understood correctly was a precursor to our next opportunity and requirement to submit a

053technology plan to the state and then that deadline was pushed back a year and that's on a cycle of every however so many years that we're required to do that can you connect the dots if appropriate between our opportunity to have this information made available and klsd next opportunity or requirement to update the state mandated special education plan for the district yes absolutely so certainly any steps um this process helped us to reflect on what we do have and where we are because we have um added several layers of programming over La the last few years so when we do have it's every two years that the plan gets updated um so potentially there would be any feedback or suggestions that they provide to us that then we then begin to implement that would be

054in that next planning thank you thanks so much Alex that was really informative um is it just is it just students with IEPs or does it extend to 504s or orti or so their focus is is specifically to students that are receiving IEPs and that's because um a 504 plan is really accommodations it it doesn't allow you access necessarily to related Services the plan doesn't have goals um so they're really and also the funding is tied to IEPs not necessarily 504 so they really focus only on the parents of classified students that's the experience that they're looking to capture and and can you clarify that PCG is only been engaged through developing an implementation plan are we also going to engage them to support the implementation or we don't know yet so I I don't

055think that we know yet yeah yeah I think that's a safe enough response I I would anticipate that especially as we're getting to know them a little bit better they have some pretty stellar expertise and so I would anticipate that we will continue as them at the at the least is like a thinking partner and saying here's what we're hearing and seeing and this is what we're thinking about doing and just kind of having that outside piece and even if it's just some I know Touchstone Zoom meetings going along the way I would anticipate there'd be something that we would want to keep going forward with it so thank you yeah just one more thing occurred to me Alex and it's so the information went out by email to families yes um and I understand

056that we're only doing a limited subgroup of families but for families that maybe aren't so much on email is it possible for us to get something out saying this is happening and if this applies to you and you want to participate this is what you do so that that there's a sense that there's plenty of information and awareness around this happening and if folks miss the email they still have an opportunity to to find a way to fill out the survey or participate in the in the focus group sure so we you know our septo is is well aware that this is being launched um our building principles have included in in their newsletters um so even though it's not open to All Families because you have to have a classified student the messaging has

057been going out to the the community at large so any special ed family that forever reason missed the email or maybe um that's not a modality that they prefer if they were to reach out either directly to us or a building administrator we would be able uh to connect them with Nicole MOA who is the contact person for us that's doing the focus group and Survey thank you thanks Ellis great thank you so I apologize at the beginning of the meeting I normally sort of walk through the structure of the meeting but just you're aware we um have several presentations and then after the presentations there is an opportunity for public comment which is your opportunity to share any thoughts or ideas with us it's not a back and forth but you certainly have an

058opportunity to share anything that you wanted to bring to us so um we have one more presentation and then that will come after that thank you all right so been waiting all night Lisa chopping at the bit so so uh we'll go ahead and start here um again with the budget piece as Julia mentioned before we've spoken a couple of times about that so the first few slides will actually be going back but fairly quickly forward and walking through this work so I'll go ahead and at Leisa continue thanks Lisa thank you um thank you Dr Blanch and to the board of education and um good evening and thank you for joining us for the presentation of the 2526 budget for the Kona lewisboro School District as the assistant superintendent for business Dr Blanch and

059I are honored to present a budget that upholds the district commitment to academic Excellence fiscal stewardship and ensuring that the needs of all students are met responsibly while adhering to the New York state tax cap this budget has been carefully developed with a focus on support to the klsd 2030 plan student and academic um support Staffing operational efficiencies again being mindful of taxpayers and law long-term Financial s sustainability we have worked diligently to balance the needs of our schools with the constraints of declining state aid revenues which will go into later the economic realities maintaining a fiscally responsible approach while prioritizing educational experience of every student tonight we'll walk through the key components of the budget highlighting how resources are allocated major cost and revenue drivers enrollment class sizes briefly Staffing considerations uh planed infrastructure

060enhan an MS as well as updating on the EPC and we um that will that will support our district goals for the coming year we will also discuss the impact of State funding Staffing enrollment Trends our goal is to provide Clarity and transparency ensuring that our community is informed and engaged throughout the process we welcome your questions and feedback as we work together to build a budget that supports the continued growth and success of the lewisboro school district so thank you and let's get started um the begin beginning slides again as Dr Blanch had mentioned so this again is um you know the Board of Education leadership are their first goal which is leadership the second being the 2030 plan as Dr blanches began to roll out and um and tonight's um primary focus to

061is fiscal stewardship uh this is empowering all and and this is something that um was a driver in in the development processess absolutely as we go through U as we've gone through the process that does be back in like October so it is like we've been excited to present this our again as a just a quick review like the drivers are school programs professional learning enrollment favorable enrollment and class sizes favorable class sizes infrastructure and salary and benefits we do want to um start to discuss a part that um we have gone into already but um in the upcoming 25 26 year our projected state aid is set to decrease notably due to significant ships in assessed value as well as daily attendance or enrollment within our district this has led to reductions in our

062building Aid ratios our bosis Aid ratios Transportation Aid ratios as outlined in this chart notably our building Aid has reached its uh statutory uh minimum level these changes are largely again influenced by assessed value as um enrollment which we do have control over uh as you can see see from this slide while our building Aid may have decreased by 7.2 percentage points is actually a 22% decrease so is a significant decrease as well as our transportation Aid again a 225% decrease in our transportation Aid our um bosis selected Aid ratio bosis actually has a hybrid formula so it and which actually helps it's specialized it's actually specific to our bosis putam Northern Westchester bosis and it does actually it is used to um mitigate it's built to mitigate the wealth ratio that we have in

063Westchester and the fluctuations and um in order to continue to support all students um with Bose's Aid so that we saw a a less of a decline at 9.45% um the facilities portion is 34.2 22% but that's a very small portion of what we pay um to Bose seeds so again and you can see if you want to see the pupil wealth ratio change is um the increases there as well as some of the other ratios and combined wealth ratios that increased that influenced the um state aid Factor another piece that um also was a driver in our revenue is our tax-based growth factor again is something out of our control um and that has to do with any growth in um in buildings in our area and uh in any building in in the

064area and there uh was a decrease there so our actually our um this ratio declined and went from 0.96% to 8% and actually in real numbers that means that it um is 160 almost $179,000 less that we could Levy um in the coming school year so that decline is um that was also significant so those two pieces combined um were actually almost 1.5 million that we saw in a decrease in budget to budget revenues and these are just highlights from both the earlier non-instructional instructional budget presentations um so we just belonging and some the academics and um that's okay uh student supports as well as our enrollment class sizes um and the changes there adding eighth grade teams uh professional learning and and um infrastructure we didn't go into infrastructure um too much in the

065non instructional budget presentation but I just wanted to point out in the budget um there is what we call as our interfund transfer to Capital that is built into our budget every year and that is basically what we use to for ongoing maintenance and repairs and specific projects that we know that need to be completed um we have a number of water remediation projects throughout the district almost in every building um again to in order to have portable water in all of our buildings so that is um something we'll continue to invest in the elevator at Katona Elementary need needs to be replaced um we have already you the board had approved the demolition of Shady Lane but also planning for the ReUse of that space and that's um you know and so that um

066metop Pond can utilize that space as well as the whole district and ongoing maintenance and repairs in our districts another piece that you will see in our budget is increase in our debt payments and that's a different part of the budget and you will see that because um in October of 2022 we approved a $49.5 million budget in June of 2024 we borrowed um 25 million and so this may June we will borrow another 24.5 million so the second trune of that whole um of that borrowing and so um those payments the second these next level of payments will be due in the coming fiscal year so our debt is also increasing an update on EPC and uh again so our our at this time the EPC and that is EPC stands for energy performance

067cont contract um when we went out for the EPC we did not know that our building a was going to decrease and it was actually um our building Aid was as mentioned before almost um 10 percentage points higher so for the 25 26 year our building Aid is decreasing as already mentioned to point uh 25.3% uh we did not receive any prior notice uh the projections that were developed um again were based on this we based it on 25.3% even though our building Aid ratio was 32.5% we just were doing our own projections we didn't have the backup data that the governor is using to build the budget so what we are asking is um we will go into just to um just some important facts with epcs there is no tax impact in the

068EPC that's why actually it doesn't require voter approval epcs are are funded primarily by state aid as well as the savings you see in energy reductions so there is no impact on your taxes um for our APC for solar there's also the inflation reduction act monies generally um prior to the inflation reduction act you did not see so EPC funded solar projects because they weren't it wasn't viable with just state aid and and the Energy savings so our project is built on those those three components state aid which unfortunately we saw a decrease inflation reduction act monies which specifically for us which is direct pay is uh under threat of um being repealed as well as again the savings which is um both savings to the environment as well as savings monetarily to the district

069so um we will be um asking um we are currently as Rory had mentioned earlier we are doing uh energy performance audit honey Wells conducting an energy performance audit we are trying to do that as quickly as possible uh in order to have as much data available um before the vote as well as um we want to get any projects begun early because um it is believed that once the Project's begun that it will be still eligible for the inflation reduction act monies that if it does is repealed it'll be going forward to those projects and not begun so that is um what we are working on as far as the EPC and just the $12 million maximum cost we do not believe it will be $12 million but again it's just we we want

070to make sure that we are projecting high enough we don't want it if we don't project high enough it comes in a higher number the aid is only going to be based on the highest level in that number so again we want to maximize those um Aid our Aid ratios and again it's assuming originally was assuming that 25.3% so the voter what we are putting on the hoping to put on the proposition uh for the voters to approve is actually just the additional 10% Aid because um if you voters approve it we can receive an addition additional 10% of state aid so that is one of the propositions that we will be um asking um recommending that is put on the ballot quickly this is just to show our enrollment Trends we've seen a steep

071enrollment um decline over 12 years but in the last four years it was a 4% drop and actually in the last year it was less than less than half uh one half% so actually we're starting to see that stabilize and flatten out as far as our enrollments and Neil will talk just about some yeah go ahead yeah thank you Lisa before going back to Lisa uh good evening to the board and good evening to the uh Community um this slide it represents our contractually obligated class siiz parameters uh the goal and range and we're happy to report uh throughout the system uh we're within the range K to 12 and and as we reported a couple weeks ago uh we're at goal or right around goal for a lot of our classes and um throughout

072the system so you can actually skip to the next one so proposed Staffing changes um and we'll start with katone Elementary and increase Miller and a total change in FTA of of a recommended a requested addition of three positions uh we'll start with increase Miller uh a couple weeks ago uh we profiled uh the the Staffing and the uh enrollment at each and one of the schools and increased Miller uh we're recommending uh an increase of one additional staff member there and that has to do with the incoming fifth grade class uh right now the current fifth grade class is a little bit on the smaller side um but we're asking for another position there in increase Miller for fifth grade uh for Katona ele um there's a two uh issues there uh one is

073currently in the um incoming third grade for the 2526 year uh we're asking and requesting for one additional FTE due to enrollment and class class size there uh the current uh class there is a little bit smaller but incoming next year in third grade at Kon Elementary uh requires that fourth section uh the Third change in FTE in elementary for those two schools does uh um go back actually budget to budget from KES last year uh where we needed a contingency position late in the spring due to confirmed kindergarten registration numbers so we took one of those contingency uh positions and if you recall uh the community recalls and and many of you here typically we ask for four contingency positions so one of those was used last year at KES and we'll come back

074to that in a moment because we're going to roll uh some a contingency position in uh to this year but I I'll come back to that so what we're asking for from that contingency position from last year is to be part of the general budget uh for this coming year and that's how we arrive at three for Elementary uh for John J middle School uh currently uh there is a 0.5 Ela and 0.5 social studies teacher in 8th grade and uh what we're asking for there is for the completion of eighth grade teams which would be a change in FTE which would uh create that 0.5 Ela and 0.5 social studies um to uh 1.0 and so the change there uh from budget to budget is 1.0 in addition the contingency position as you see

075there is a reduction of one um so from budget to budget we're recommending three for this year knowing that we uh rolled one into one of the elementary positions uh for the 25 26 year or that's our recommendation um where you see that uh four to six reduction that estimate of reductions and we're still uh taking every opportunity we have uh which um is a really good exercise for us as Lisa has profiled um with the state aid uh shortage 're looking at um people who retire people who resign and we're really thinking carefully uh and and really starting to think about the positions and FTE and staying as far away from the classroom as possible and when we we look at some of the reductions that we need we're ending in that um right

076now we're estimating in that 4 to six range at the moment uh which gives us that tentative subtotal of one to three reductions um and we're going to ask uh for to take this spring to continue to kind of fine-tune those numbers as we learn about uh possible more uh resignations uh more retirements that that could come our way and to continue to think about using Staffing as efficient as possible knowing that we also have the the state aid shortage and also just being very mindful uh that we're uh really staying as far away from the classroom as possible yeah can I just ask a very quick question on that because I was going to ask it later but I think this is the opportunity in the books that we received the New York State

077mandated Staffing analysis was intentionally left blank is that the reason that we still haven't finalized the one to three reduction is is that why it's not quite oh maybe this is not the right time ask yes no that was um why as I said because what basically we're looking at is um through attrition not replacing positions but at the same time as the high school is finalizing scheduling and everything like that we need to ensure that we have the proper FTE and the proper classes disciplines Etc so we didn't want to put say we're going to have X in social studies or Ela or math until we're sure that's the FTE that's going to be allocated be premature but at some point we'll see the absolutely thank and then actually just even as late as

078this week we get knowledge that uh an employee is going to be resigning so again it's just we're trying to give ourselves as much time as we possibly can yeah so yeah we're not thinking that any of these these reductions are going to be classroom classroom so any any anticipated classroom pieces I would say we wouldn't say anything k through eight the high school um you may see some staffing but it would not IMPACT program at the high school as Lisa mentioned before about those enrollment numbers it was about four years ago we were about a th kids next year we're going to be less than 900 and so we're trying to watch movement with our employees and so if we do happen to have somebody who is maybe retiring from the high school campus

079look at the enrollment there not looking at the numbers of class Chang but we're already seeing just a little bit less in section so oh last year it tipped into four this year it's three we're really looking at Case by case when it comes forward and say look we can actually maybe just not replace that position that's where we're looking at handling it through attrition in that regard so that's where we think we're going to be able to be right now and even things like you know we've got people um certified in secondary 7 through 12 so again it may be one campus swing to the next and but it's really being really tactical strategic and very uh scalable kind of precision there is what we're asking we just don't have the latitude this year

080and just about a million dollars less Revenue that we did not see coming until after the governor's run so we're looking at every one of those but again not seeing any packed in classroom program for kids the high school in particular seeing but we are seeing a little bit of a drop so we will even go ahead and make that piece where we're looking at continuing the really richness program as well as the board of supported things like exploring like Project Lead the Way at the high school and supporting that professional learning side so it is still moving and doing it some different work it's just a matter of how do we really think about anything that comes up from uh kind of a flexing that position yeah the big the big uh reduction in

081enrollment has been at the high school yes yeah and that's where Elementary is there as we already talked we've got to add a little bit there CU there a just rate the numbers so those are taking place so it's really just about the high school level but it's been first time I think in a long time for district we're below 900 so yeah sure okaya back to you yeah thank you um so yeah so all that we come to our proposed budget and um our current year budget is 1224 m318 762 and we are proposing a $127 m410 469 budget which is a budget to budget increase of $3,917 7 the budget to- budget percent increase is 2.49% with a property Levy increase of 3.29% and that percent actually meets the New York state tax

082cap limit so we're right at the limit can you give us a quick refresher of how the tax cap is calculated because I think that there's always a lot of confusion around that I could I could we could three more slides you get do you want me to skip now when you get okay I I will and I'd be happy to go through the whole for but I know nobody really wants to know no I wouldn't be happy to uh so um just the major budget increases that um that we saw is and these were the key factors that um were driving our budg proposed budget include employee benefits and that's $1.3 million and all of employee benefits contractual obligated increases which is our net salary changes so while you may see decreases in areas

083again and overall our net salaries did increase by over a million dollar even with attrition and retirements and replacing those positions with um individuals who are coming a different place in the uh salary schedule as well as uh 324,000 in Bose's Hardware replacement which is specifically our where iPads and our computers beginning in March of 2020 uh we began a onetoone device program and we use excess funds in that current year budget to um purchase those um devices and we've continued to use excess funds from year to year to purchase those devices as we see our revenues declining and um expenditures outpacing that we want to be we're reluctant to depend on excess funds so and this is a critical portion of our instructional program is ensuring that every student has a device so that's

084why we prioritize building that into the budget proper and again as mentioned earlier uh the debt payment um just The increased uh debt which is um associated with the project that was approved it just has again to do with borrowing over two years the total amount of the $49.5 million so these four items listed on this slide contribute to3 million 8,46 $467 increase and our overall budget to budget increase do you mind going back one slide oh one backward Yes again was 3,9 $9 1,77 so it was uh as a result we had to work diligently to maintain flat you know maintain our flat expenses in some cases cutting back in certain areas to accommodate necessary increases there are many areas in this budget that were reduced um but these are the largest decreases that

085we saw on the next slide again the district again has no control over our state R ratios or tax based growth factors as mentioned earlier these two areas combined um we saw a revenue decline of approximately $1 million year to year Additionally the governor's figures projected an even larger reduction in our state aid expenses our state aid um excuse me revenues we have reviewed the supporting data basically we compared our the budget projections with current year expenditure Trends and developed our own projections based on this year's expenditures and just for clarity so the revenue for expense based and all AIDS are is based on the expenditures and you receive the revenues in the subsequent year so the revenue so the aid we receive next year is based on this year's expenses and then the governor

086is using and as well as um as well as our legislators are using the budget dollars to project so they use budget dollars and some Trends so that's so so we are using um Bas our U actual expenditures the current year regarding the the decrease in rentals our analysis shows that the capital Improvement costs that are required to continue to occupy that space far exceed any potential revenues that we would receive so that is why you see a decline in rentals there and um before I get to the tax cap are there any questions or move on to the just for clarity uh Lisa there's um um an offset that I read about from um our Reserve funds I believe and that is included in the 17 million uh Revenue number for state and local

087Aid right that's where that goes in I just want to make sure I had that clear yes thank you you're welcome so we're talking about a tax cap calculation that is just really important to remember that while for many years it was referred to as the 2% tax cap it is in fact 2% or CPI whichever is lower so um and there are there are additional adjustments that based into that factor such as Community Development Debt Service and state aid so those factors so sometimes so you will see a tax cap that is above the 2% it's just that CPI basically is capped at at 2% and for example this year uh CPI at the time that that this was um was set was 2.95% and again so that factor that was bu built into

088our tax cap which I have the calculation on the next page on the next slide um is capped at 2% and um I won't go through line by line I'll be happy Barbara if you do want me to another time to but it is broken down here um the uh P there's broken down the tax cap calculation and specifically how we we come to this number and the results of the New York state tax cap formula again um is a maximum allowable tax levy um uh of 3 3,48 $3 $316 and an overall tax levy perc increase allowed under this formula is 3.29% and as Barbara had um mentioned that this slide illustrates how we balance our budget against revenues and calculate the actual tax levy the middle two lines indicate other Revenue sources which

089have experienced a net decrease of 391,000 this reduction is due to declines in state St flat projections for interest earnings again um interest earnings are declining but it is based on um actual earnings versus budgeted earnings as well as driving us to um which drove us to have to actually increase our committed reserves prior uh as compared to Prior years these factors help balance the revenue side of the budget and offset increases in tax levy consequently the net decrease in other Revenue sources has led us to recommend pursuing the full Max maximum allowable tax levy and on this slide is actually a breakdown specifically of each of those um Revenue lines most revenue streams are projected based on looking at current years and prior year Revenue patterns we usually start with the governor's projected Aid

090I'd like to point out that under the governor's proposal the overall state aid again was projected to decrease by 1.3 million and as mentioned prior we um actually changed um increas those numbers it's basically our building Aid is based on when we anticipate um submitting our final cost reports and that is when our building Aid on those projects will begin is when the final cost reports are submitted as well as projecting our Bose's Aid as based on the Bas actual expenditures so um that is where but there still is an $839,000 decrease based on these projections as well as um you'll see a new line in our Revenue budget that we haven't had in Prior years and that is day tuition other districts this revenue is derived from tuition that we charge other districts who

091attend our specialized educa special education programs the combination of having available seats in our programs in which other in which other school districts do not have these programs provide us with an opportunity to generate Revenue while meeting the unique needs of students this Revenue stream has plugged a major hole has helped plug a major hole in our Revenue budget caused by decreases in state aid rates ratiosa may ask just a small question on the interest earnings um I see that in the proposed budget the interest and earnings is projected to be the same as what was proposed in last year's budget there had been a comment in the budget memo that next year's interest and earnings will actually be less than what we experienced this year do you know offand like where we're trending or

092how how much was our interest in earnings how far ahead are we of our projection do you have probably will um be at least $500,000 above last year um we actually also had 1.2 million and we actually earned about 1 um $2 million above what was budgeted so again at this year I mean there been declining and for me having worked in 20 years here and seeing interest rates do this and plummet you know within a school year and as well as other things like like state aid being um pulled back and and reduced midyear and things like that I mean we it's it's a very difficult year to project revenues with all the uncertainty both in Albany and DC as well as the other just so um interest earnings again I mean the feds

093have wanted to keep it at 3% to keep it stable but again you know the cover of the newspapers are projecting you know we we don't know what's going to happen so we can only do our you know speak with our our you know financial planners our bankers get the best estimate to analyze and look at our money um that we have um in the bank because we do have reserves and we we put those in specific money markets that um as well as like our band money for example that's in a restricted um money market we cannot use that that's not a part of this interest earnings but it is money that we can keep and reserve and use to help offset future years debt payments so that's all of the different pieces of

094the revenue forecasting thank you and these are just um the projected tax rates that we received from the tax collectors of the townships um that are part of exona lewisboro school district and tax rate is the amount of money you have um multiplied by assess value of your home in order to generate taxes for the budget book um you can view tax rates on the last page of the document again these numbers are projected and our levies get set in July and generally we receive final numbers from the towns in May or June um in this stage of the presentation we would typically present our budget propositions which are currently under review by legal council the first proposition will be the standard budget approval proposition the second prop involves typically involves vehicle replacement um and

095this year we are looking to also modify that to allocate funds necessary for infrastructure upgrades to facilitate the transition to Electric school buses so that will be worded a little differently so we're working with Council on that and finally the third proposition seeks approval for an additional 10% state aid for our energy performance contract again not approving the contract itself but the additional Revenue mechanism to fund the project that could make a reality and again there's no tax impact for energy performance contracts so and I will say thank you and I'll turn it back to Dr BR thanks Lisa so as we just said that to the budget summary piece here again as we looked at the current programming maintaining thinking about where we were starting earlier about empowering you know all of our students

096in all the different uh areas from K through 12 that we're looking at and then also thinking about just the mindfulness of the tax situation that we're working through as Neil spoke a little bit about Staffing and just watching that and just being very particular um when there is an opportunity to maybe be more efficient and or reflex the existing resources will go ahead and take advantage of that and then again as Lisa said there's that just they're not having an impact on the EPC is critical um honestly I don't know why New York does this but I appreciate it it's like just say Yes it we'll give you 10% more I like that on on the piece and stuff but they've done that so if we just ask your community to please can we

097do this with no cost to the community then the state will give us an additional 10% so so um so that's extremely appreciated and then on the last line here again thinking budget to budget again a 2.49% increase there with everything that we're working through especially with the decreases in the revenue um again commend that from the classroom teacher teams that they're all looking at their building uh you know school class budgets to the administration of the building so they're program administrators so um so then really uh we've just kind of got the upcoming uh meeting dates we have uh scheduled there again depending upon how we go don't necessarily anticipate we'll have uh meetings coming fourth in March but they're aail if available and if needed and then we do have some PTO budget

098presentations coming up here in May um at the high school uh theater as well as the Middle School we've got a space there too one evening one during the day so we can go ahead and go ahead and have those conversations with the larger Community um now just kind to open up questions thoughts things here we got a few questions along the way but just wanted to see if there's anything else that the bo had I wanted to teas out a little bit so I I think it will be really important to work with the community to be clear about the third proposition that there's no Financial impact just to we because it if it passes we get more money so I I don't know how we I wish we could just write that like

099if you say yes to this the district will get more money that doesn't cost you anything I don't know that we can do that but um I think just the messaging on that if we can make that as clear as possible that that is a no cost to the district to approve that third proposition and that by approving it it gets us additional Revenue I just like and and last year we made the decision to make um like titles for the propositions and I do think that was very helpful so if we can think about that same naming structure and you know I think maybe even work with our communication stuff to think about what is the naming structure that tells people this costs us nothing and gets us more Revenue yeah also just a

100reminder last year when we had that third proposition parent Council was super helpful in getting the word out and providing even some cool graphics to help people really understand what was being asked so maybe we can enlist their support as well yeah because that's a a really good point because um you know part of the reason is we actually were hoping to purchase more as as Roy had mentioned additional EV buses because we have applied for an EPA Grant and the EPA actually is not even reviewing those grants right now they've put that on pause our bus companies have have told us that our bus the prices are going to increase shortly so we are um you know so my only point is that additional prop that we put forward last year allowed us to

101to purchase additional buses that we would not have been able to purchase by going back and saying we we're not again not asking for any more money but just asking to use this money to in a different way to utilize it in a different way and so thank you again to the public for approving that because we um wouldn't have been able to even get to five buses without that additional funds so I was going to ask a question on that exact topic so last year we had that third proposition which was basically repurposing funds that had already been allocated but because of the nature of the buses we were planning to buy so that's enabling us to purchase the six EVS this year Beal sorry I keep saying six I know that was the

102other day we did that's why and actually the mean I was like wait 65 wait but I um so that does because we um so what we did is we did um appropriate um 450,000 as well as we and utilizing those other dollars so the combination of those two is allowing for us to do five to purchase five buses with the nicer of funding offsetting cost the wording we use this year on the second proposition I think doesn't necess necessitate a a similar proposition as we have last year like we're we're not going to be in this position again next year are we based on the wording of prop two that's what we're that's we're working with Council because in Prior years you know we we want to be very clear and transparent but we

103also know prices change and and and um so as well as we need to Pivot to to uh make things work like in the case with this where it's like we we got this ni start of funding we can reallocate the funds and yes so we're trying to work with Council to be as transparent and clear as poss possible by also allowing giving us some um room to utilize those monies either to purchase the bus or to work on infrastructure or both so right right that Mak sense right well thank you board appreciate it so again we'll kind of um come to the next piece we'll meet at our next scheduled meeting and just a few more pieces will be laid in there there's um really we're we're at a spot where we are we

104know our expenditures have been met where we need don't see anything changing necessary from the state as um Marjorie spoke before if for whatever reason there is something that comes our way more anticipated than not we know that some of the prices we spoke by before like we have some some uh tank uh tanks that were replac them some diesel tanks that's any additional dollars is probably going to help us take care of that and then help preserve some of the other projects we were looking at so if we are fortunate enough to even get a few dollars coming our way those are some things that we know are sitting and waiting there that continue to escalate in cost uh and so that um we will bring that forth but more than likely if there

105is a slight piece we'll be dirting those right to existing projects that are staring us right now that we're trying to get done so thanks everybody thank you I just ask about the next meeting or maybe we're going to cover that now so we have two additional meetings on the calendar one next week on the 20th potentially review additional budget items one on the 27th and at one or other of those The Proposal is that the board would adopt it as the board's budget are we where are we tonight are we comfortable with the budget are we proposing that we adopt the budget at our next meeting and if so do we need both the 20th and the 27th and I'm just curious sort of what the what is this not the appropriate for no

106no I think it's perfect I mean I guess I feel like with what we went through the last two meetings and having the binder and being able to look at the you know the detail I'm comfortable with only having one of those meetings but it's this is for all of us to discuss and decide I mean I think that's what we're saying the the volume of questions was almost zero I thoroughly went through line by line I I used my Saturday as I would have last year and I went through line by line and honestly I mean it's such a it's such a well thought through budget I I mean I really commend everybody who's involved all the way from the teaching staff all the way up it's it's phenomenal there's a couple of things

107here I was going and then I figured it out so I mean my perspective is that this is a really solid budget and do do we need to go through it again next week or is the board ready to sort of adopted at the next meeting I mean we can just sort of yeah we're good so I would say let's just we just got these earlier this week and again they support what we've already seen but it's nice to have them to look at more carefully we are waiting on a little bit more specificity on some of the U potential Staffing changes I think we could probably not meet on the 20th so that you have until the 27th to and then at the 27th meeting if we have any questions that come up from

108anything that's been given to us we can work through those so that we can get to the point of approving the budget and as the board's budget we could prepare the proposition for the 27 yeah and that gives time also to get them back from Council does that work for everyone bill that definitely works for me but when Roy mentioned about the line by line I did have one item I wanted to ra and if we're not going to have the two meetings this like the right to do that was the whole and it's it's really small and I I raised it last year too but I do feel badly that the board's insurance is increasing at such a high rate and I I do think we talked about this last year but I don't

109know whether it's possible to check in with other Schoolboard um you know insurance rates across the region we don't I don't feel like we're particularly risky high risk but and I also will say but I'm sure I'm not reading this it's not correct to make the comparison but on page 21 of the think pages so to speak I noticed that our general liability insurance is also increasing as I would expect but just from a percentage standpoint it's like a tiny fraction of the percentage that the board's own insurance is increasing and it may not be appropriate to compare those two particular percentage increases but they're both they're both Insurance you know so I just wanted to enlist your perspective on this absolutely so all so the board um the board Insurance our liability insurance it

110covers our buildings and everything as well as um our any our um transportation Insurance all go through nicer and uh last year as well as again for for this year well last year they told me for this year as well as for next year to project 16% uh we did we actually have a very low um um we have very low risk on our um losses on our liability insurance so our liability insurance only increased by about 2 and a half% year to year so what you're seeing is while I did build in a 16% again increase it's because I'm basing it on the actual expense versus budget to budget so that's why but the um the emity the insurance that is like the board insurance which protects all of us if you know who

111are public servants and and based on you know um all of that that did have a higher increase has nothing to do with anything the board did so I just put that out there very make that very clear it's just that type of insurance that has seen a larger increase and um as well and and our transportation again we have like a 99% rating through Dot and all these great things so our transportation automobile insurance for our buses is again um we have um a low increase there again because of our loss ratios being low thank you yes and the only followup I'll ask and I'm sorry if I missed this in what you said but is it a competitive Marketplace for Bo oh I didn't answer your second question I apologize the second question

112is and I was transparent with our agent uh we are looking at other um systems you know it's difficult nicer is an offer profit and it is all business officials who actually um and superintendents who governed the board of nyser um and is a Consortium but we are um have met with a local agent and there is really only one other insurance company that would be able to provide the level of insurance that we need as a school district but we have sent them our loss ratios and are doing our due diligence there to ensure that we are you know again having the best most competitive yes awesome thank you Lisa and I think Insurance across the board um just I can tell you from when I got my insurance and I called my insurance

113agent he just said that across the board insurance is increasing everywhere and unfortunately between Health Insurance liability insurance but I think that's the issue for me is that our general liability insurance but Lisa explained why but from a percentage increase standpoint that's minuscule compared to our board liability insurance increase I really appreciate the Insight that you provided into why if you look actual to actual the only actuals we see the increase is actually quite slight so it's the projected actuals based on last year's budget that's causing it to go up yes but actually actually if you actually look at the actuals I think we're probably it's probably lower than we're seeing here in last year's budet right yes and I think it's also it's a relatively smaller number right so it's hundreds of thousands at

114like tens of thousand so it looks I think the increase looks higher than it you know it just appears higher or greater excellent thank you Lisa very much and and all of you for again like I when you think about the fact that we have four items that are increasing the budget by $3 million and the budget's increasing by $3 million that tells me and you can see the effort made to not have other lines increase you know we really didn't have the capacity for much else in the budget to increase and I think you know that really means that you're not doing sort of a simple like oh let's just increase every line for 2% you're having to go through each line to offset the larger increases where they exist so thank you for

115that work can I just say one one last thing yeah you say sorry and I said it at a meeting a couple of weeks ago but I do think it's hyper important the the salary increase is contractual we all know what that number was going to be the purchase of the laptops we know it makes sense to shift that into that we're not sort of allocating leftover funds there the health insurance it's all over the place and I know we keep looking at it and I know we have a study going on but I just can't emphasize how important it is that we try to take the volatility out of that health insurance number it killed us last year it's hurting us this year you know that and obviously the decline in revenues associated with

116the state aid um there's not much we can do about it obviously but if there was anything we can find to just reduce the volatility on the health I think would be par and again unfortunately health insurance volatility is no I know everywhere I know that's such a big number yeah yeah it's crazy I I just want to add that I hope also I just want to acknowledge that that work is done at the bill you know it's our principals our building level leaders our directors our assistant superintendent like it's a collective effort all the folks in the business office providing supporting data to everyone the teachers understanding also when they send their so it is an absolute Collective effort of everyone recognizing this is what we need to do and how can we make

117it happen so I just want to acknowledge everyone that an impa on the classrooms in the education that our kids are receiving so that's it's just an amazing job that you guys have done and also aligning to the 2030 because there's a number of really important initiatives that are going to set us up to grow in so many different ways that we were able to incorporate those uh and still maintain through the the tight um you know framework that you have yeah thanks everybody thank you great so um we are now at item 9.01 which is opportunity for public forum um and there is a signup sheet in the back I don't know if anyone's intending to sign up I don't see anyone signed up um but if you would like to um make a

118comment you're invited to come to the podium we request that you keep your comment to 3 minutes we do have a visible and audio timer for you so the timer is on Kim's desk it will be green for 2 minutes and 30 seconds when you have 30 seconds left it will beep and turn yellow so when you hear the beep you don't have to rush because you do still have 30 seconds left to speak um but we ask that you um identify yourself if you can just let us know um if you have children in the district and um we will be listening and we often don't comment until the following board meeting about what we hear during public comments we have time to listen and and consider it so if you could introduce yourself

119because I I don't see your name here so yeah Sor that's okay hi I'm I have I have a middle schol Elementary schoer and achool will oh can you give her the first mic oh can you introduce yourself again just cuz people who are watching remotely won't be able to hear okay yeah hi hi hi again out there uh I am uh I am Dr Cat Trier I am uh a mom of three kids in the district I have a middle schooler I have a Elementary Schooler and I have a preschooler who will be in kindergarten next year um I I didn't want to make this like an official comment but um again thank you so much for the Strategic plan that you've presented uh one thing that I did notice there were a lot

120of interconnections among the different pillars um and one struck me as interesting uh that I noticed that ethical reasoning and Civic engagement were in a separate pillar from Knowledge and Skills uh and I would just encourage some uh incorporation of things like ethical thinking into stream and other skills and knowledge because we definitely don't want to build knowledge without wisdom especially in this day and age and then I also noticed that and this is great again all of these things are great I'm glad that they're there social and emotional learning soal was in there as well really glad to see that but I did notice it separate from leadership and ethics and to me that's all part of shaping the the learner right so understanding the self- advocacy is inal leadership ethical reasoning all part

121of seal so just thinking about how to incorporate that as one holistic model um especially like considering that collaboration I think it should be in there as well so like you can't be a leader without collaborators you can't be a good collaborator without leadership Etc so thank you and uh I appreciate very much the work that went into building that thank you thanks was anyone else waiting to speak no okay great I'm going to close public comment um and we're going to move to 10.01 on the consent agenda and I do want to recognize that we have some retirements um on the consent agenda and we do on June 5th have a meeting coming up where we will recognize all of our retirees it feels a little um hard to not make note of some

122of the teachers we have um some teachers who have been with the district for a long time have had a long over 25 year career with us who are retiring so just want to wish them all the best and look forward to being able to celebrate them on June 5th and with that would someone like to move the consent agenda move by Loren second by Rory all those in favor 70 just have to turn to the donation okay so item 15.01 is an opportunity to accept a a gift from Eric Wagner it's a monetary donation of a $5,000 contribution to the John High School robotics program um would someone like to move that very generous donation move by Barbara seconded by John all those in favor I 70 this is an opportunity for any board

123dialogue or discussion is there any topics anyone wanted to I just have one quick topic uh it's related to the agenda item 1203 that we all just approved the girls across team is heading off to Denver and that's wonderful um the cost per student is at $1,400 per student it seems like an astronomical cost I know that there's peer pressure on families to include their students I think that this trip is taking place before tryouts so there's obviously a risk that whether you participate or don't participate I'm just pointing out that there's a risk I'm not saying that that that's going to be a factor um I think $1,400 per family is an awful lot of money and I would suppose that at some point we consider putting caps on the amount of money that

124families are being asked to pay and I re understand that the booster club which is not related to klsd that the booster club is proposing that they find ways to support the families and that's wonderful but nevertheless we klsd are asking families to pay $1,400 per student potentially there could be more than one student playing girls across so I just want to highlight that that to me is a little uh Little Rich so having a having a daughter on that team the coaches were very thoughtful about that and we actually had a meeting um couple weeks ago where every cent and eventually trying out Varsity Athlete on the lacrosse team was invited to participate everything was laid out what was entailed um the students have put together a plan for fundraising to offset those accounts

125um yeah so I think you know the we haven't they haven't done a trip think since 2019 but it's a three-day trip as I understand it and it's great that the students are finding ways to sell phone and all that but to put the onus essentially on the family and I know that there's ways to offset the cost but to say we're going to go away for three days your kid who could be an eighth grader is now obliged well maybe not obliged but certainly they feel obliged and there's certainly some peer pressure to spend $1,400 I think that that that we should consider that and consider whether we want to put a cap on that it doesn't have to be three days in Colorado they could go to Harford Connecticut overnight and it would

126have the same experience so I know they reached out to they did reach out to 25 different programs that was the program that could accept and they weren't going to move forward unless um you know the the parents had agreed to move forward so I I hear your concerns it was raised and we it was discussed as a group um you know these kids spend every spring break here while their friends are you know vacationing and they're getting ready for their season so we do hear you and I know that they do have a lot of activities planned um you know they run clinics for the youth program um giving up a lot of their free time my point is not aboutum it's about we should be careful about semi obliging families to spend a

127lot of money on Sports trips uh especially Tri outs but no it's it's after Tri outs oh it is after Tri outs yeah triy outs start um Monday the 17 oh really oh that's early okay yeah I do think though there's an opportunity to think about we and and I have heard this from families in that just the cost of the the spirit packs you know like the sort of the gear that the kids are asked to buy every year used to limit that and even so I just think that that is probably an opportunity for some discussion um might be something Ray that you could work on with the um with the boosters and with the athletic Community I definitely have heard feedback around you know it's between like the sports packs and the

128dinners and the trips becomes quite expensive for families to um participate in sports and I think um for some kids where there's you know even more expensive travel options and that being able to be part of a school team is really the way for them to participate in a less expensive way in sports to then turn that into sort of a mini version of travel is just something that we should be cognizant of and and make sure that we're being thoughtful about that thank you yeah okay um Julia I just had one quick thing which was uh in the process of reading the budget um I was reminded of the various water remediation projects I'm most familiar with one of metal Pond I would just ask that at some point in a future meeting maybe

129we provide an update on the status of the projects and sort of what we expect from the next year yeah that's is as projects get approved um just in specific to me Pond and all of the water our plans have to go through the Department of Health before they can even go to the State education department for those and that is also can be up to a six-month project approval uh Department of Health took over a year to approve our remediation I I think it may even been 18 months it has just recently been approved by the Department of Health and we are working with uh kg& and wsp who is a specific they're the engineers around that um to finalize those spe those plans and then they'll be submitted to SED and again um

130because a lot of it is um engineering versus architecture engineering has a shorter um cue than um than architecture so hopefully that will not take six months as many of our you know projects did our capital projects took to get approved by S so hopefully but um it's just we have to wait for things to be plans to be approved in multiple you know Department of Health as well as State education department have to approve them thank you excellent so I'm going to go to 17 um .01 which is our future meeting so if I'm correct we are not going to have a Board of Education meeting on Thursday March 20th we may have an executive session that that day um or I think we or no okay okay good all right excellent um so

131we'll have an early executive session on the 27th got it I understand um so we will not so um that did have if needed next to it so we're going to say not needed um so we will not be meeting on March 20th but the next Board of Education meeting will be Thursday March 27th here in the library at 7:30 and then the following day on Friday morning there'll be a policy committee meeting at 9:00 in the district office conference room and with that we're turning to you Ray for some superintendent comments yeah uh just for tonight again I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity for us to go through just you know a different process I think our team has been before I I hope it has still been able to

132answer and address any questions you've had along the way giving you know amount enough time to go ahead and process through that work work um and letting our principles and our other folks come and sit at the table just a few times again it let you hopefully see directly what's happening out in the field so I I really appreciate the latitude for allowing us to do that this year um the next piece I had just again the kosd 2030 plan be looking at that a little bit more in depth on the on in two weeks and uh with our community spoke this evening um try to I want us to think about those six pillars as as just as beams of light that really that when all those kind of wavelengths come together it is

133it is one light it's not intended to be separate pieces and that's why trying to look at that graphic really it's it's spreading a a light that does connect across the way so we did try to work diligently to create that um image and then you also did want to say there's focus and yet when all of those kind of pillars come together it does cast this you know kind of one light across the district and with our colors being and gold we thought the light would be pretty good and so we went with the with the gold there a little bit and I think her point was lovely yes there's a there is an intention for overlap and connecting it all across here just like on don't forget your bookmarks on the back side

134of your bookmark you will see the profile of a learner it's not like oh one of those matters it's the collected all those in all of our children and how that step forward so again I think our um Committee Member had a good really strong piece that we concur we agree that yes it is a collective it's not one versus the other they're all equally important and yet they really make the power when they all come together and work so it's that true Synergy of them when 1 + 1 equals 3 and that's what we're talking about here so that's what we're looking at so thank you uh does someone want to make a motion to adjourn motion by John second by Lorraine all those in favor hi great thank you thanks everybody thank you

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