001good evening everyone today is Thursday October 10th can I please get a motion to come back into public session motion by uh marjerie second by Rory all those in favor I 70 great thank you so good evening everyone thank you so much for being here we always like having the public join us for meetings um tonight we are going to hear from both our internal and our external auditor so we're looking forward to their presentations um and before we begin please join us for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice all so this evening we're going to hear um two presentations our external auditor will be presenting first our internal auditor May um be presenting
002a bit later in the meeting they're presenting at another school district and then coming herea so we may have to run through the meeting and then return back to their presentation so um it is lined up right now to be right after the external auditor but just so people are aware and just in terms of the order of operations for the meeting um we do have our presentations and then prior to our consent agenda we have an opportunity for public comment so um you'll hear the presentations about the Audits and then the opportunity will be available for you so we're going to start um this evening with some committee reports so um audit committee obviously met and reviewed both the external and internal audit uh at the committee level we do a very extensive review
003of the information that they provide what they provide during the board meeting is more summi it's more of a summary so um we had a really thorough audit by both teams and we're really grateful for the work that they did and we'll talk more about we'll introduce them when we get to that um part of the meeting but that's really the report from the audit committee um facilities you R yes uh I do have a report thank you so first thank you so much for the wonderful presentation at the last board meeting I know it feels like a very long time ago but the board last met on September 19th and we were joined by our Architects and our construction managers and thank you to Lisa and Michael Lavoy and to Ray and to the
004entire team for all of the work that went into not just the presentation but the great work that's happening in our buildings we had a full report and that was followed up then last night by an opportunity for facilities committee members to meet at meop Pond and we were able to do a walk through of some of the beautiful new spaces and after visiting Meadow Pond we then Caravan over to increase Miller where similarly we were able to see work in progress um at Meadow Pond we saw an almost completed library and streamlab renovation um we learned a little bit more about the vestibule in progress uh we saw refurbished Wing spaces that are bright and beautiful new lighting everywhere and similarly at increas Miller you know sort of um mirroring the the renovations at
005Meadow Pond the streamlab and the library are a little bit further behind but coming along as well as the new construction on the new classroom so things are looking beautiful a lot of work is already complete and um very exciting also the John J Middle School playground is now officially open in between the last meeting and tonight's meeting and VES vestibule work has begun at johnj middle school as well so very exciting and we're on schedule uh we're on budget and things are going really well so thank you to the team thank you marjerie Bill did you want to report on finance committee sure we met last night um and we start off with a report uh first year on prek uh Alex and Rey went to visit the facility and the kids and everything
006seemed to be going great um I know they have a follow-up meeting coming up uh to maybe try to expand the program uh which would be really exciting there's a lot of lot of interest in that uh more to come uh we also had a very Lively discussion about the uh health insurance uh that we were trying to um look at some options some Alternatives um there's a lot of uh very complicated situation um it is our second largest line item uh we spend $32 million a year um second to the salaries in the district um and so we're going to be looking at you know Gathering data looking at Alternatives um the second charge is our five-year financial plan for 2030 uh we looked at bar Cliff's plan we looked at sr's plan and
007we're going to um work with those get a template get a framework and start to pull stuff stuff together for that um and that's it great excellent um parent councel yes parent councel has had one meeting it was about five weeks ago uh but it was it was Lively it was the first meeting of the year um so everyone was kind of excited about all the the kickoff to everything Ry uh presented kind of the framework for klsd 2030 and kind of what those meetings would look like and how the year would progress on that way and there was a lot of sharing of the calendar as you know the first first month of school uh it seemed like there was an event almost every night by parent Council which was amazing um so and
008then some nuts and bolts things how to bolster attendance at events uh there's some new uh turning in receipts policies things like that that they had to cover and the next meeting will be next Friday morning great thanks policy yes thank you we had our first meeting of the year on September 27th and we took a step back to look at where we are with our policy manual as a whole and talked a little a little bit about the drivers for why and when we update and revise policies um we have a policy on our consent agenda tonight for first read and um stay tuned for some future policies but that's it for tonight thank you great thanks sustainability yeah I'll just share that we our first meeting is next week but we had a
009planning session yesterday um so Bill Barbara and myself met with the cabinet to talk about sort of what's the plan for the year um and we stayed with the main three that you're very familiar with um however we did spend a little bit of time looking at the relatively new three-year plan for the district around sustainability and I think we're very pleased with the way that's coming along it's still kind of in draft mode but we're getting there and so we'll share more after next week when the full committee meet so this was just a preliminary prep session but we went through the whole plan we laid out an agenda for the uh first meeting next week and we're kind of excited to get going again hit the ground rning not a big initiative that's
010great thank you um LS is not we meet on Tuesday on Tuesday um do you want to report out on West P sure yes thank you there have been three advocacy meetings so far there was one in August September October uh we made our way through the nisba resolutions and actually tonight is the meeting of the voting on The nisba resolutions I attended the meeting up until this meeting and it might still be going on after this meeting so I'll jump back on if it's still in Pro progress which it might be and then I mostly wanted to just put in a recommend for a couple of upcoming programs Friday October 18th is the first of three um in a series of what is called money talks and the first one is school budgeting 101
011and this is with two of Lisa hur's colleagues actually from briercliff Manor and dos Ferry John bucato and Ron clamser I thought those names might be familiar and you might enjoy knowing that and they did this money talk Series last year they did an amazing job um this particular one on school budgeting 101 is from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. via Zoom so it's very convenient and if that doesn't work with your schedule I also wanted to recommend a program on Monday October 28th this is in person down at the Bose's Valhalla from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. I'm definitely going to go and I would love it if anybody else wants to join me it's for board members and superintendents for Roundtable talks with board and superintendent counterparts at districts in the region and the topics
012include Community engagement student board members chronic absenteeism student mental health and cell phone policies so I thought I would just mention that here tonight so that there's plenty of time people can look at their calendars and it would be great if we could have a good showing thank you so much it's all right if I can take a second so um as board you've got a few things at your at your table there so as we know the New York State identifies week just with a little different Cadence in our week it's next week as far as recognizing board members or the difference that they make in their local school communities for the children um that are with us today and the ones that are going to come in the future and making those plans
013for that work so just wanted to express my thank you for everything is just coming to be a new to the organization a new member of the family so thank you as you you've greeted me here and then I do believe we also have I think Mavis is here tonight just to say a few words from uh the parent Council and their appreciation and so thank you babes thank you good evening I'm I'm Mavis Wright co-president of the johnj high school PTO and the Katona Lewis bro School District Parent Council uh it's my honor to be here tonight on behalf of the parent Council to express our thanks to the Board of Education members in recognition of this special week um We join the state of New York and our entire community in saluting you
014during this commemorative week especially we recognize the tremendous contributions made by Schoolboard members across our state and particularly you the kls Board of Education members who have the weighty responsibility of leading our schools your outstanding leadership and integrity along with your sincere concern for our children's well-being are the major contributing factors that make Kon Katona lewisboro a leading School District We Salute your ability to bring your own different contributions and perspectives to the table to ultimately arrive at the best possible outcome for our students and our schools all of us are extremely forunate to have such a dedicated group of volunteers leading our school district and looking out for the best interests of our children we want to thank you for your hard work your commitment to our students in our community and your vital
015mission to continually improve the education provided throughout klsd we recognize and appreciate the countless unpaid hours you spend serving our students faculty Administration and staff our sincere thanks and gratitude to every one of you who has stepped up to guide and support outstanding education in our Comm thank you very much we really appreciate it and thank you for our delicious treats that you shared us and our gifts we really appreciate it and you are also a group of volunteers who put in a lot of time and energy and we appreciate all the PTO um presidents and vice presidents and executive committees and all the volunteerism that you do on behalf of students so thank you as well do we have any other board announcements I just have one so juliaan and I had an opportunity
016this was it past last week anyway between the last meetings to attend um officer training at Bose um and it was really uh informative I learned a ton and Rory actually uh there were some talk about our sustainability efforts and how at KSD and how impressed they are with where we are in our goals and they had heard about all the great things so I know you've you know really been involved in that for a long time so thank you it's recognized across the G we connected with them a little bit through green Westchester last year and I think that that it's starting to get out there that we're actually quite a long way ahead of most of the districts ERS that's great that's great to know yeah so ConEd separately on than yeah it
017was great it that was that not much else was said but they are aware of what we're doing right um yeah so and just the nispa annual convention is going to be in New York City October 21st I believe and 20th and uh margorie and I are going to be going down for the day great thank you for doing that appreciate it okay all right without further Ado um we have our presentation from our external auditor I'm sure that Lisa will introduce him but I just if I could for a minute just wanted to name the members of the audit committee our community members um and just thank them for their time and energy so so um bavna bahal Dan imeli Peter jonovic Monty Michael Looper Brian rean and David prasin so thank you to
018them for being a part of that committee and for bringing their expertise in in audit to that group so take it away oh yes thank you Juliet so tonight we're joined by our external Auditors Jeffrey shaver and Caroline cof from pfk pkf OK Conor Davies they will be presenting our external audit which is the audit of our financial financials for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2024 and um I just would like to take the moment also to thank parti all those who participate in the audit specifically in the business office agad suski our district treasur and we had Susan Morgan who also and thank you to the board for allowing us to bring in a sub treasur during that period we didn't have a treasure and that was during audit too so that was
019very helpful um so thank you to Susan Morgan Gail Weiss who's our bond bookkeeper who's also been really a great support to us Karen Carol our purchasing agent Amanda Atley payroll clerk Andy walk who's at our front desk and who's also accounts receivable and Donnie Ganon who does our accounts payable as well as M Jeanie Stein and of course Kim mansen because they're always great supports to us um the external audit begins in April or May with the preliminary work in the business office with further on-site work which happens for a week or so during August um once the draft is um once in draft form the external audit is reviewed by our audit committee and thank you again to those members of our community as well as our Board of Education members Julia Lorraine
020and John and um and as was said so we went over more thoroughly we reviewed it as well as discussion of the corrective action plan of any items that are mentioned in the audit so um we just like again to thank everyone and I will turn it over to Jeff and Caroline thank you Lisa that was the most thorough uction I've ever got thank Lisa for that she said half of what I was just about to say um so I can make this we'll make this a little little quicker because so thank you L very succinct um my name is Jeff shaver I'm a partner with pkf o Conor Davies happy to be here to present the results of the audit for the fiscal year end June 30th 2024 um as Lisa mentioned we were
021back we were here back in August Carolyn kof is the audit manager um I'm going to allow her to take take you through uh some of the pertinent information in the documents uh she was the person in charge uh of the staff we have here kind of directing um making sure everything is is going right and everything um is done properly and I'm kind of uh the overseer on on top of the audit manager uh supervising the entire audit and making sure that um of course everything's done up to our specifications uh in accordance with auditing standards and accounting standards and um with that I'm going to hand this one to Carolyn to to take you through the financial statements good evening everyone and just like Lisa said originally we do come in June for
022the preliminary audit which focuses on internal control testing and then we return in the first week of August to perform the financial statement audit which then we determine what the results are and if the numbers are fairly stated that gets summarized in three audit opinions which are listed in the financial statements the first one is right after the table of contents this is the independent auditor report this year the district received an unmodified opinion which is also known as a clean opinion and the most favorable opinion that the district can get which is great the second opinion is towards the back of the financial statements this is the report on internal control in accordance with government auditing standards if we did find any deficiencies in internal controls this is where it would be listed however
023we did not find any deficiencies that led to any material weaknesses the third opinion follows directly after that which is the report on compliance in accordance with uniform guidance this opinion is necessary when the district exceeds $750,000 of federal monies in a single fiscal year which triggers a single single audit this year the district did have one we audited the special education cluster and you'll see on page 80 of the financial statements that there were no findings for the single audit separately we did Issue a report on extra classroom activities and a report to those charged with governance the report to those charged with governments reiterates the findings in the three opinions and if there was any indications of fraud that we identified they would be listed there there were none for this year to
024jump into the numbers on page 50 of the financial statements which is the schedule of revenues expenditures and changes for the general fund you'll see towards the top that the district had a budgetary surplus of 3.6 million this year the main two components of that are $1.7 million in use of money and property which represents interest due to the high interest rates this year and then secondly you had a 1. $2 million surplus in state aid which is determined by New York state general Aid formula towards the bottom of the page you'll see that the district also had a $1.36 million surplus in expenditures when we combined the two surpluses that brings us to an overall surplus of $5 million this is offset by the anticipated use of fund balance that was established during your
025adopted budget any amendments and it also includes encumbrances from the prior year so that brought us to an overall net income this year of $970,000 the district started the year with a fund balance of $24.5 million so when we add the $970,000 of net income it brought us to a final fund balance of 2.52 million there are different components that make up that fund balance and different restrictions which are outlined on page 49 of the financial statements making up the 25.5 million you have nonspendable fund balance of $114,000 approximately 6.77 million of restricted fund balance $1.23 million of assigned for purchases on order and then when you take the overall fund balance of 25.5 to and you subtract out the restrictions and the assignments that brings us to an unassigned fund balance of 4.95 million
026New York State limits this to be 4% the subsequent Year's budget and the district is currently at 3.99% which is great I'd also like to point out that the different restrictions that the district has are tax ciaries unemployment benefits employee benefit acur liabilities erss TRS liability claims future capital projects debt and Debt Service of these restrictions for also have money set aside for the next year which are $25,000 for the unemployment benefit $238,000 for the employee benefit acred liabilities 477,000 for ERS and 10,000 for Deb service when you add those together it comes to $750,000 which gets added to the designated for subsequent years of 2.45 million for a final designation for the 25 budget of 3.2 million which was the same that the district set aside in 20 24 that really concludes our planned
027points of emphasis does anybody have any questions I I only have a simple question did did you feel like you got all of the cooperation that you needed from the administration and anybody else that you reached out to was there anything that was lacking in any way or was it a fully transparent AA fully transparent the business office is excellent and always responsive and a pleasure to work with and just to add we would there were any significant issues that like like that we would have had to have no there was no blocking or I I wouldn't expect that there was I it's always a question I like to ask of Auditors that it went very smoothly and that you got all the full cooperation you you deserved thank you I noticed that both you
028and our internal auditor uh brought it to our attention that there's going to be a requirement to um indicate compensated absences in the future did you want to say anything else about that or provide some broader context for us so I'm glad you asked I'm going to be putting on a webinar in November members of The Firm um I'll be happy to send you the email I was going to forward it to Lisa and some of the her team members so they could join in there's going to be some changes in in the way municipalities local governments need to calculate the compensated absence is liability just for um background um the district has to calculate always has has to calculate the value of acred sick time and some employees have acred vacation time the value
029of those um amounts to be paid when someone uh leaves the employee of the district the rules surrounding that the accounting rules are changing starting next fiscal year um whereby it does not matter if an employee will get paid for that leave when they leave or not for instance many districts have um caps on what they will pay out uh um say teacher when they retire let's say the sick days are capped at 100 days so the former the way we used to do the acrs or districts used to do the acrs you would you would acrw for 100 days at whatever they were going to get paid at the new standard says well if they've accured 200 days if there's um if it's more likely than that that they're going to use those extra
030100 days and only be paid out the 100 you have to do the acral for the entire 200 so what I'm expecting because most districts that we work with have these we see see a lot of the Caps you know on on sick days especially only 100 days whatever whatever the case may be I'm expecting the liabilities to um to grow because we we won't have those hard caps to consider there's a secondary consideration which I'm sure leis is is thinking about at this moment the employee benefit liability Reserve um which is uh a function of state law will that be tied will that Reserve be tied into the this new accounting standard um I don't know for sure yet but I don't I don't think it will be I think the reserve has to
031be um set aside only for actual payments to be made so I think the the old Reserve The the Reserve that's now will have to be accounted for the same way it has been I I think uh just this compensated absences number um is likely to increase for most for most districts thank you for shining the light on that great got a question uh do we pay for six days upon retirement this District certain staff certain staff depending on the collective bargaining agreement yes okay great any other questions thank you very much and we appreciate appreciate the time you spent with us last week as well and pleasure have a great night thank you thank you thank you so item 8.02 on the agenda is our internal audit and the internal auditor um will not
032be here till 8:35 so um we're going to turn to public comment which is the next item on the agenda and then we'll depending on how long public comment goes we may have to just take a brief recess and we'll come back um we'll do the consent agend and we can come back for the external auditor um report so sorry internal Auditors um so I'm going to turn to uh the list of people who have signed up for public comment public comment is an opportunity for the community to speak to the board and share your thoughts and opinions with us we don't engage in a back and forth during public comment we like to listen and hear what you say um reflect on it and we may talk about it at the next board meeting
033but we don't like to sort of react without having a chance to think about it um you have three minutes to speak we do have a timer here just to help you the timer is lit it will be green until 2 minutes and 30 seconds it turns yellow at when you have 30 seconds left so when it turns yellow you don't have to panic because you still have 30 seconds which is quite a bit of time and then it will beep when 3 minutes is up and um we just ask that you respect the 3 Minute Timer and uh first person to speak is Glen def Faber good evening Gard my name is Glen Faber I'm a 40-year resident I have four kids that went to John J one actually taught here for four years
034I have four grandchildren in the district so I guess my my coming before the board is not over the reason why I'm coming to speak is because I was made aware that during family week there's going to be a book read to kindergarteners called when Aiden became a brother now I don't want to get into whether transsexual stuff is right or wrong but I think for a kindergartener to be read a book I think that's more of a parents responsibility at that age I don't think I want a teacher teaching my grandpar my grandchildren about that I know my granddaughter's in kindergarten now and what she learns on the bus she comes home with and we have to deal with that but I don't think I should be paying tax dollars to have teachers teaching
035her about that that's something a parent should do so I'm not getting into whether it's good or bad and and being that I've been here 40 years I've been through four or five superintendent of schools many boards but there's always been one constant it's seems when a parent one parent wants something done or changed a book or this or that it's always a hard time but it seems that when one parent wants a coach removed it's always very easy so I believe that people are more important than books so let's just revisit that so let the parent do it or an older grade but kindergarteners should not have to deal with that mainly because they're confused normally why do we want to confuse them more thank you thank you [Music] Glenn I hope I pronounced
036your last name properly Brad guak yeah is that correct all right good evening um mine's come going to be somewhat similar to Glenn's here um it's recently come to my attention that there's been books on marriage and sexuality um being read at meop Pond um we need to think about what topics are appropriate for such young kids um as parents we need to be informed what is being taught so that we can have meaningful conversations it's our right as parents um currently the principal and superintendent have indicated that these materials fall under the district's initiative of diversity equity and inclusion and the term inclusion is being used too broadly and it's creating a a catch all pushing an agenda and a narrative at metopon instead we the parents need to be informed and not from
037our kids coming home from school CU that's what's being done right now we're not knowing what's going to be taught in school they come home and they say hey they got questions as little kids do what am I what what is this book about I didn't understand it because I'm a kindergartener or I'm a third grader I mean that's unacceptable it's it's completely unacceptable you know books about marriage gender identity sexuality are not part of New York State's curriculum I looked it up online so you can you guys can do that as well um however metal Pond has has these books being read out loud they're discussed with discussion questions which back and forth who knows what's being discussed and they're also found in our Library um transparency is absolutely critical um we deserve to
038know what's happening in our children's classrooms um you know finally I think it's important to recognize this week I don't know if you guys been reading the news but our neighboring state of Pennsylvania the Supreme Court ruled this week the parents do have this right that we do have the right to understand what is being taught in our school especially about these s sensitive subjects um the court said that that the school cannot provide teachers with unbridled discretion at to teach non-curricular topics and must provide notice and optout rights based on the parents moral and religious beliefs that was directly from the ruling this ruling underscores the importance of collaboration between parents and teachers again it calls for the parents ability to opt their children out of s sensitive topics and more importantly which I'm
039advocating for is to be informed just to be knowing that this is happening you know in closing I I hope you guys take my concerns seriously um we need clear communication about the materials in our classrooms you know right now the principal and the superintendent are telling us that this won't happen as parents that this is just going to be done that's very concerning and to me it's totally unacceptable um I'm asking to be notified before these discussions and books are being read um so lastly you know I just want to work together um so that you know we can balance our children's education with diversity and the values that we hold as families rather than finding out what's being taught when my kid comes home on the bus thank you right thank you uh
040Katie case hello I'm Katie case and I have two children in the Katona lewisboro School District I'm here tonight to ask that social emotional learning be handled with transparency and sensitivity just like we're forewarned of fire alarms and evacuations ahead of time I would ask that we're also made aware of the books and topics on sensitive social issues that are being discussed in class ahead of time the majority of families have absolutely no idea and are shocked to find out that these topics are being taught in elementary school um sorry I've noticed or I've noted from Dr Blanch his response to other families with similar concerns that the teachers are given cart blanch on what books they choose to use in each unit and while I appreciate the autonomy this gives the teachers I dislike
041the lack of power I'm feeling as a parent I've looked up New York guidance on curriculum and saw that is not only is it currently voluntary but also the benchmarks are broader not so specific as what's being taught and what this boils down to for me is that there's a book that's going to be read in kindergarten regarding gender identity it's specifically discusses a child born a girl as a mistake that's what it says in the book and that the parents fix it by giving this child a boy's name and hairstyle and becoming a trans boy while I think this book would be a great resource for a family that's going through this I don't think that the other 99% of kindergarteners need to be thinking about gender fluidity when they're still leaving notes for
042a fairy and anxiously awaiting their Elf on the Shelf to come back they're still in the land of the innocent and they're highly suggestive to ideas that are presented to them particularly by a teacher this is a discussion that I as a parent would like to have when the time is right in the meantime we teach at home acceptance of others that look different act different think different we look to find things we share in common we talk about empathy standing up to bullies dealing with unwanted hugs from classmates or feeling excluded on the playground we talk about calm down breathing and ways to handle big emotions and I feel like the school would be better served to focus on kindness and inclusivity as it plays out on the playground than to put a new
043complicated idea into kids Heads This is uncharted waters and as an adult it's hard to grasp let alone a child I do not think when Aiden becomes a became a brother should be read in early Elementary School School my request is for each teacher to provide a list of planned seal books to the parents in their classroom and for there to be the ability to opt out or teach from home on subjects that parents don't want being taught outside of their homes I'm literally heartbroken to think I'm here as a parent of a 5-year-old thinking about this there needs to be an open communication and a partnership between the parents and the Educators and I think transparency is the first step in the name of inclusivity include me in my child's education thank you I
044apologize if I pronounced this name wrong also Cari cardellino thank you for taking the time to speak after learning that my daughter's kindergarten teacher was planning on reading when Aiden became a brother I have a copy with me here if anyone wants to see it which introduces children to the idea that they can choose to be a boy or girl depending on how they feel in their bodies a topic that is too far over their heads in my opinion my husband and I went in to have a meeting with the principal uh Dr Neil here who was wonderful and her teacher not only did we tell them that many other parents are having anxieties as you can see here over not being aware of the social emotional books that that are being read during the
045family unit choosing to read a book like this and not letting the parents know in an outright manner I found out from her teacher who told me out from a one-on-one conversation during another PTO conversation is quite frankly dangerous as each family has different views on different things further to not have the parents privy to subjects that are going to be talked about in the classroom ahead of time and then called on the phone after the fact that a book might be read if their child has additional questions which is how I was told it would be handled is also not what a parent wants to hear especially when the ideologies of this book don't fall in line with our particular religious beliefs don't get me wrong we we respect everyone and want what anyone
046wants to do with their bodies is their own business and we teach in our homes to respect everyone whether in your you're in a wheelchair you have one arm you're this or that but this doesn't line up with our family morals and through the New York State human rights law after speaking to a family lawyer today who specializes in these manners we are protected and should be granted what are asking so I along with the other parents here and on Zoom are requesting that the book when Aiden becomes a brother not be read or that parents are given opportunity to opt out of their child being present for this reading even if they have to miss a day of school we are also asking for a schedule of the social emotional books and when they
047are being read so that parents can be prepared and also choose to opt out if something is age inappropriate deemed by the parents the teaching of a gender ideology is a deeply personal issue and that personal freedoms of conscience and expression should be fully supported and the integrity and autonomy of religious institutions be respected and that is what we were asking for specific books that we be read during the family unit of Mrs kovach's class can be shared to open up transparency here allowing the parents to be a part of the conversation thank you thank you T Tatiana Gil salero names today okay thank you for having us today um thank good evening everybody I stand before you today as a concerned parent regarding our school dist recent decisions that seem to be made uni
048without sufficient inut from families and metopon we are encountering books that may be confusing for young children categorize under the inclusivity curriculum adopted by the District many parties in our community have consistently soled transparency regarding this curriculum yet I often find out about these choices only after they have been introduced to our children if we truly aim to be exclusive it's vital to allow parents to engage in open conversations with their children about what they are learning in a school like many parents I worry that my inquiries may be perceived as unaccepting when in fact I'm seeing seeing clarity about the social emotional lesson emphasiz in our schools I am particular concerned about the anxiety that children experien due to exposure to complex topics as such as John age especially at they sty to understand
049their own identities and emotions in life oppressing social issu issues such anxiety Stress Management and the need for belonging it appears that meop pan prioritizes this coaches around gender and l lgbtq rights within his curriculum while this these topics are important we must also address a broaded range of subjects that align with New York St standards and meet the needs of the majority of our students both in elementary and beleval in Middle School our our focal should be on fostering kindness and empathy among the students while we often discuss inclusivity is in that the district places significant emphasiz on Pride Celebration such as the large sign display at metopon during Prim month while other cultures celebrations are less highlighted we should also acknowledge and celebrate significant culture events like Hispanic herish month I am Hispanic
050it is crucial to promote a well-rounded understanding of all cultures and social issues to truly embody the spirit of inclusivity I'm seeking support from the board to raise these concerns and Advocate advocate for necessary change that encourage and balance an inclusive approach within our curriculum thank you thank you I don't see anyone else is signed up um to speak but if anyone didn't realize they needed to sign up and wanted to speak we certainly are happy to have you come to the podium okay thank you very much for everyone who spoke tonight we really do appreciate hearing your perspectives and um I'm going to close the public comment session so we can move the consent agenda but I'm going to pull out the internal audit which is what number is it so but we can
051do the external audit right so um how do we know they're on time yeah they texted came you want to just take a recess for 10 minutes and and then do the consent agenda after okay I mean it's I just feel like if we do the consent agenda then we can be done once they're done yeah oh okay no but then we actually we're not we'll still have to vote on so you take care of it I do it all now all let's see it yeah yeah fine thank you very much for coming tonight thank you thank thank you can we do so um so if someone wants to can we do 15 the recognition there's a gifts at 15 no we can and then just do the whole consent agenda after they okay yeah
052let's do that so we'll we'll table the consent agenda so I'm going to do item 15 which is a recognition of uh donations and um we wanted to there's a donation from CLA Aldrich of paint uh for the John J Middle School theater and the value is $150 so someone would like to move that item move by Barbara seconded by Lorraine all those in favor I 70 thank you for that we our sets at the middle school um and we want to does anyone have any board dialogue or discussion no so I'm going to do future meetings um so item 17 is future meetings uh next Tuesday we have an Lees Shady Lane evaluation committee at 6 PM in the district office conference room um next Friday in the morning at 8:15 in the district
053office conference room we have a sustainability committee meeting our next Board of Education meeting is Thursday October 24th at 7:30 here in the library and then the next day on Friday October 25th we have a policy committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the district office conference room just one that's all right I take a break um I I just wanted actually take a second to to uh acknowledge and recognize our transportation team uh over the last you know few weeks I've had an opportunity to I'm not following our buses but I did have an opportunity to follow a few of our buses um one of the things through Co I think we all realize that uh very difficult to get drivers um I was TR frankly surprised at how we do have a full set
054of drivers it's close some days but we're doing a great job our director doing an outstanding job and I I had a vacas to to be behind one of our buses not for nothing our roads are a little tough and I was amazed at how just this driver uh went from a what was a paveed road to surprising to me was not a PVE Road a moment later and uh and sto safely kids are on board kids are off board just just did an outstanding job and I just you know the first people many uh our kids see in the morning are our drivers and at the end of the day they see our drivers and I just it was really it was really something to see and kids waving goodbyes as we getting off
055to the bus to the driver and I just I can be such a job in a position that is not often recognized without that this just hasn't happen and I just wanted to say that I and thank you to all of our drivers and our team that leads there and you look at our vehicles notice that first one it came up you know they're shiny they're taken care of they're looking good and and so there's a lot to be said there's a lot of Pride that exists in that part of the organization so I just want to say thank you through the transportation team so thank you can I just comment on that yes yeah some years ago uh as part of the finance committee we evaluated the cost of Transportation at klsd and we
056did a peer group analysis of how much it was and and actually turned out to be more or less the same about in the middle but as you know we run our own Fleet of buses we have have our own fet of mechanics there are people who clean the buses there are people who do all the logistics it's complicated um and so we were contemplating Outsourcing the fleet at the time and we decided that we would seek Community input about the bus drivers and it was overwhelming then and it probably is the same today the level of support that people in the district feel about our drivers the amount of care that they give to the children and to the parents if the If the parents aren't home for whatever reason it's it's a Lynch
057pin to the way we operate the district and I'm so glad that you call that out these guys I know Norah does a great job leading them but all the way down to the people who the mechanics down at the workshop every single one of them deserves a lot of uh a lot of accolades from the board and the district I mean they just do a phenomenal job and I think the community knows that I really I hope they do great thank you thank you thank you okay so um the internal auditor sent an ETA of 835 so um I'd like to make a motion for a 5 minute recess while we wait for them to arrive want to Second That seconded by Lorraine all those in favor I so 70 thanks four minutes away
058e e e yeah okay great um I'm going to make a motion to return back to public session seconded by John all those in favor 70 and now we are going to go back to item 8.0 something 02 8.02 which is our uh internal audit So Lisa take it away I'd like to introduce uh Chris Sneider who's CPA and Senior manager for from our internal Auditors RS Abrams tonight he will be presenting both our internal cycle audit which was on our stacking processes and procedures as well as our risk assessment update just a quick background stack is a system to track and account for children it's a platform managed by the state Ed Department State education department that helps to track and process claims for services for our students with disabilities um so Chris and
059um Maryanne uh van also were here on October 1st and they met and presented the audits to our audit committee um and which again which we they were able to ask questions and go a little bit more into depth so before I turn over to RS ABS I'd like to also thank some people um just really quickly again for those who participated in the internal audit in addition to those mentioned earlier again I think you know the business office um and you know I want to also acknowledge our former Treasurer Kim parks who did a lot of the work on our on risk assessment because this is all the work that's been gone on for like the last year almost so I just wanted to acknowledge her as well as Alex's special educ special services
060department um Megan Sullivan Christine Dy Monica burmes Shela sufer Lisa farel and as well as um I also just wanted to acknowledge um Chris as far as for the risk assessment Chris Nelson and Paul andell and the technology team also because our last cycle audit was on technology so they go back and check to see and make sure that we've made the updates that we've went to so again so there everyone there's so many people who come in touch with the Auditors and just are supportive and helping us to get everything done so we can ensure that you know our process and procedures are in tiptop shape so with that I'll turn it over to Chris great thank you very much so first off thank you for being flexible I know this was not the
061plan I know it was item number eight of many so there I am at the end but appreciate it very much I just want to Echo that everything you said Lisa before I get started again there's a lot of people inherent to an internal audit we speak to a lot of different people and everyone's tasked with pulling own items and responding to questions so it's definitely a team effort team did well answer a lot of questions so we'll go through those results today again we went through in depth previously a couple weeks back so today will be more of a high level but obviously toop me if you have questions we'll go through whatever questions you might have largely good results to report so again as Lisa alluded to there is both a cycle report
062which is is an in-depth dive into a particular area and then a risk assessment update which is two years ago when we first started and we're appointed as internal Auditors we did an initial risk assessment update which means we do it more of a deep dive into a whole bunch of areas just to get a lay of the land and understand what the risk might be and then we do these risk assessment updates annually you take a couple areas of the many that we looked at we can go into that in a little bit of more detail and then we we choose a couple look into that again at a high level but just looking doing some testing doing some inquiries looking at narratives and processes and procedures and then we'll just give you some
063thoughts here as to what we found what we think could be improved and just where the district should be headed in terms of what we think the internal control structure should look like so I'm going to start with the stack cycle as Lea ltitude so again just as another high level summary this is those reimbursements that you submit to the state to be able to re to be reimbursed for costs related to special education so again there's some guidelines around that there's what we call these submissions so you aggregate the cost that you incur for those students who are eligible for reimbursement you submit that and then based on what's submitted if it's factual and appropriate and has eligible expenditures you're able to be reimbursed for that so this is important for districts to be
064able to recoup those costs again special education cost can be material very much so so you want to be able to get as much Aid on that as you possibly can so in terms of what we did we did inquiries with those involved in those processes you do use Questar bosis to process those applications or the District which is a good thing it just allows those with expertise to excel in an area that definitely is complicated and convoluted and just requires that special hand and people who know what they're doing so that's definitely a good move on the district's part I always a big fan of that in terms of testing that we did we selected a sample of different types of um students both in District and out of District Preschool Etc and just
065look to see that the aggregation of costs that were reported in those stack forms was appropriate we also dealt with do what we call a completeness test where we look at students with IEPs those individualized educational plans to see here some students that we think could be stack eligible and could thus be reimbursed for did the district elect to identify those students and submit stack forms the answer was yes it was appropriate so we have nothing to report other than good things for that particular report so that's great news there's no corrective action plan needed there were no recommendations there so congratulations there so then moving on to the risk assessment update again there's a variety of areas just to give a little bit more background as to what a risk assessment update is again
066across the different operational areas and functions and processes of a school as you all know all too well there's a lot right so it's our job to break these down into subsets and look into the each of them as we see fit and again we can't look at everything all at once other than that initial year so each year we're taking a selection based on what we've seen in Prior years what we think makes sense based on discussions with Lisa and the team based on discussions with all of you and we identify things to do each year so if you have that report handy again there's a there's a matrix on here that summarizes year-over-year our particular control risk that we attribute to each section or each uh sub process and process as well as
067for each year what we did last year and what we did this year so again when I'm speaking to this risk assessment update report just to be fully transparent as to the period that this is covered it covers the period from January 1st 24 through August 31st um January 1st 24 represents the point at which the previous risk assessment update ended and then August is just when we went through this year to be able to come to this meeting so in terms of the areas that we looked at just so everyone's on the same page we looked at governance and planning which includes some sub processes we can get into those in a little bit we looked at Human Resources within our overall process of payroll human resources and benefits I'll get to that a
068little bit more as we talk about what will be doing for the fy2 cycle audits we looked at your Capital assets subprocess we looked at your extra classroom activity subprocess and we looked at Information Technology as Lisa alluded to we had looked at that with our Deep dive cycle previously this is just a risk assessment update so while it includes some of what we might have done in that deep dive it's not at the same level but it does include to her point us following up on items that we might have identified previously to make sure that those are being implemented OB whenever there's recommendations or finding from us external auditor osoc anybody you want to make sure that you're following up on those implementing them as possible and then to the extent that you
069haven't just making sure it's top of mind and that you continue to push forward things that could be advantageous to the district so in terms of the areas I won't go through in detail the particular recommendations but I will speak to some of the areas where we did change our risk determination so again as of last year we have certain control risk determinations as of this year based on what we've done in terms of following up on prior year and some of our current year procedures that I just mentioned with those subes we we either change or keep stable the control risk determination so again of note in the governance and planning processing process that we looked at within governance and control environment we did Elevate that from low to moderate within State a and
070grants which we had done previously as part of that stack cycle amongst other items that we had done we did decrease that from moderate to low within Human Resources we kept we kept that at low as it had been in Prior year based on the procedures we had done for Capital assets we went from being low last year to moderate this year for ex classroom activities we went from low to moderate and for technology we went from low to continuing to being low again also following following up on some of the other prior recommendations last but not least worth mentioning is as part of the risk assessment update we then identify the cycles that we'll do for next year so based on some of our inquiries some discussions with Lisa and the team we have
071identified for next year's cycle audits so for fi25 cycle audits the payroll processing and related expenditures cycle as well as the benefits cycle so with that I'll open it up to any questions if anybody has any great so then just I do have a couple if you don't mind I just uh I read in the stack review that you guys make a point of saying that your procedures are not designed to apply on the internal controls related to the stack process and you therefore didn't provide any input as to whether our internal controls were adequate or not is that just because that's not part of your expertise or is that common for all internal auditing or is that something that external Auditors should be doing it's a little surprising to me that internal controls wasn't
072part of the review sure I don't want to that language is probably standard uh we are looking at the internal controls so when we're looking at that particular cycle we're looking at the internal controls inherent to that process so just for some context that would mean for this particular process the development of IEP so then we're not necessarily covering that in this particular area what we're looking at is more the financial side so you've identified a student with an IEP how is the business office and those in charge of communicating with Questar bosis who again is that third party doing these stack forms for you how are they communicating that information how is that being reviewed how is the district even though you have a third party service providor how are they providing oversight of
073that provider how are they ensuring that that provider has access to whatever they need so I I guess I'll I'll clarify internal control we are looking at internal controls yeah so I think there might just be a it may be just a standard language yes and that's fine thank you correct so I think the most important thing is that we're not providing an opinion necessarily it's different than an external audit which you might have gone through I think you went through today right yeah so an external audit provides an audit opinion you'll see that in the beginning and at the end we're not providing providing an opinion here what we are providing is commentary on observations and then to the extent that there are observations recommendations that that's the Nuance there so that's probably what
074you're did say opinion yeah thank you just with regard to the charters for the extracurricular organizations sure do you work with districts that you could provide to us as exemplars of districts that are doing this yes absolutely so for those who just want some contacts on that question one of the recommendations here is around Charters per s's guidelines they do recommend that you have an annual well few things one when you first develop a club they would like for a charter to be established that Charter would include a variety of information we detail some of that there but top of mind for me would be name of the club the purpose of the club and then on an annual basis you'd want to be approving at these meetings which I know that you do the
075student Treasurer and the representatives of the students as well as the advisers there so I think the idea behind it just interpreting s's guidelines is that you want that Spirit of that club to be very apparent and you want the fundraising activities and activities otherwise that might be inherent to that club to be very apparent because you don't want ever as you know as board members to have anything that the school is doing be either misrepresented or not in the spirit of what you would want students to be doing so by doing that and setting that Foundation it just allows you to have that level of oversight that you would want to have have a Clear Vision for what that club represents so yes there are forms that are available there's some they don't necessarily
076have a form that's in the S pamphlet it's just a voluminous packet that you can all look at if you're ever bored but just wait for me to tell you about it you don't have to read it so um but beyond that yes I have examples from other schools so we can definitely get those to you thank you any other questions great great thank you you very much for making it here I know you had double duty tonight and we really appreciate it okay I was listening to the Yankees game I'm a Mets fan but it's it's entertaining s thank you thank you thank you everybody thank you with that would someone like to make a motion to a j before we sorry so now jul do you mind if I just make one quick
077remark um I just think that we be remiss in not saying thanks so much to Kim and to the administration for these wonderful gifts I know it happens every year we almost take it for granted but it's so lovely to walk into the room full of flowers and I'm sure we have apples and other goodies in here so thank you wonderful and thank you to all you guys we really appreciate it thank it's our pleasure to serve thank you yeah thank you thank you Roy someone like to move the consent agenda move by Barbara seconded by Lorraine all those in favor I I thank you for reminding me now would someone like to make a motion to adjourn motion by Bill second by Barbara all those in favor I 7 Z I'm gonna run outside
078because there's northern lights outside right now