001Good evening. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the board of education. Today is Wednesday, April 8th. Stand for the pledge. >> I pledge algiance 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. I'll commence reading of the mission statement. We are committed to academic achievement and success for all students in a safe environment in partnership with families in our community. Our mission is to promote confidence, inspire a passion for learning, and prepare our students to become responsible global citizens. Uh, now we have an enrollment presentation by Chris Burgerer, Dr. Hassler, and Dr. Morales. Right. Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to present this evening. During the presentation of the recommended personnel
002budget, a question was raised regarding our current enrollment and how it aligns with our staffing recommendations. So, we have put together a presentation that addresses that question. The curriculum and instruction office maintains and closely monitors our enrollment. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Hassler and Dr. somewhere else. >> Okay, so this first graph that we're showing shows the enrollment across two main categories that we track regarding our student population. The first line, the top line is our in district enrollment, which is the number of students that attend each of our seven schools. We tracked it based upon uh that discussion at the last board of education meeting back to the 2122 school year. So it's the 2122 22 23 23 and the current school year the 2526 school year.
003The two categories are as I said the indistrict enrollment as well as the district of residence students enrollment. The district of resident students enrollment includes students that receive a variety of different services from Honor Woodbury, including preschool special education services through our committee on preschool special education, uh, district transportation, district trust textbooks, um, homeschooling supervision, uh, as well as students that receive special education services in out of district placements and students that are parentally placed in non-public schools that get related services from the school district. to give you a a greater idea of what that enrollment breakdown looks like. You can switch to the next slide. In this slide, I have two tables. The first table is the overall enrollment across the seven buildings of the school district tallied across the bottom. Again, this is
004in the same time frame um across those that 5-year span that I mentioned earlier. Uh as well as the bottom table which is uh a further breakdown of our district of resident students. um that the district of resident students category uh is really broken up into two main groups. The first is that out of district population that I spoken about. You also may recall we spoke about that during the uh curriculum and instruction budget presentation um because that includes uh tuition of students the students that receive uh various related services in non-public settings as well as the other district of resident student category which are students who get um transportation from the school district uh textbooks from the school district. Um they're supervised for uh homeschooling. um they they uh as well as the the
005students that receive services through the committee on preschool special education. You'll notice that beginning in the the 21-22 school year, we had a population of 6,300 uh 6,631 students. There was a reduction of about 6.7% about 445 students. Um there was an increase the following year of about 4.1% and then there was reductions of about 1% and about 2.7% through the 2526 school year. However, you'll see in the district of residents population, you'll see uh a steady increase from that 21-22 school year through the 2026 school year. We did receive a question from the board of education uh about how we track enrollment and what exactly that looks like in terms of class sizes across the school district particularly at the elementary level. Um we track enrollment on a weekly basis. Uh we have an
006administrator in the school district who uh runs the weekly attendance uh the weekly enrollment reports across the school district looking at the class sizes across all of our various sections. Um, additionally, especially when it comes to budget time, we're looking at what our um our staffing is. In fact, you'll see uh a demonstration of that later on when we get into the various positions that we're um we're proposing for the next school year. One of the positions in there is a position that was added to the budget after last year's budget development because we were tracking enrollment and that was a special education position. So we are looking at enrollment on a continual basis with regards to the es and flows increases and decreases of enrollment. >> So the next few slides that I want
007to take sorry the next few slides I want to take you through basically to to present you bottom line up front while you will see a decrease in straight enrollment numbers that doesn't tell the whole story of our students and their needs across the whole district. When we look at some of our students, whether they're in a different category or subgroup, our students needs are not decreasing at the same trend or rate as our overall population. So you'll see in the first uh box up there, English as a new language. We started in 2022 at 8% of our total population as English language learners. And again, it's it's important to note that this the numbers that are reflected in the 2026 columns are as of last week. Um, so we're up to 16% of our
008population classified as English language learners. That is a very very rapid and significant increase when you compare us to other districts. We also look at our in district students with IEPs. We are maintaining a steady percentage somewhere in the 17 18 19% as it as there's slight fluctuations each year and again that number for 2026 is as of late March um including students it does not necessarily include all students who will necessarily have cse meetings throughout the rest of the year. While we're talking about these two subgroups, it is important to remember that their services are dictated by the state and mandates as report as aligned with either part 154 for English as a new language or on their IEPs. And go to the next slide. The next one is not necessarily a reported subgroup,
009but it's talking about our students who receive academic intervention services. These numbers here reflect both ELA AIS, English language arts, as well as math AIS. It it would be a whole another presentation to talk you through all of the different models that AIS takes at various grade levels and in different buildings, but it is providing various levels of interventions to to our students who are not meeting grade level expectation. Our AIS numbers in total are not decreasing at the rate of our population. And again, it's March. It is um important to keep in mind that we typically don't necessarily report our kindergarten students at this point in the year. We really give them a bit more time. So I just want to point out that that number if we were to come back to you
010in June the number for the total under 2026 would be higher than where it is now. But more almost more significantly is our number of tier three students. Tier three are the students who are in need of the most intervention. So they're met with on a more frequent basis or in smaller groups with greater teacher contact time, smaller teacher student ratio. Our percentage of students who are in tier three has increased from 2022 to currently in 2026 from 25% to 28%. I just so I I think that these these areas indicate what Mr. Cahill highlighted in a previous meeting where it's not always just a linear correlation from a decrease in enrollment to straight decrease in staffing. >> May I ask quick question? >> The tier three is part of the AIS. >> It is.
011So there's tier two and then students who need even more intervention are then moved into tier three. Thank you. So this brings us to the additional staffing recommendations for the 2627 school year. Again, as just highlighted, these positions are being recommended in order to maintain our current programs, but also to continue meeting the diverse academic, the social, emotional, and learning needs of all students, not just those that were that were previously highlighted. During the personnel budget presentation, I mentioned that eight additional positions were initially being recommended within the teacher budgetary line. Since that time, the curriculum and instruction office worked collaboratively with our directors of special education and they are comfortable at this time moving three special education teaching assistants that were proposed as new positions. they'll still be in new positions, but they will
012be moving back into the special aid fund or those grantf funded sources. Um, so that would then leave us with the number of new positions being recommended for, you know, within the general fund for the 2627 school year at five total positions. So those five total positions include after we remove the three teaching assistant positions into to the grant fund. One JOTC instructor that is at the high school level. Um again it's important to note that 50% of that salary is paid through the US Army. This would be a new program for our students. Uh in fact the students themselves at the high school level were were asking for this. Um so that would be a new program. We are also recommending the additional staffing of a literacy specialist and a math specialist that would
013work with all five elementary buildings to again benefit all students um but also to working with the populations that Dr. Morales presented on as well. As far as special education goes, we are recommending the position of a special education teacher at Pineree Elementary School. This position currently exists this year, but it exists in a temporary fashion. And the reason being because it was not budgeted for at the beginning of this school year. However, due to new enrollment um of students coming into the district with IEPs, again, as the state mandates, you know, Dr. Morales alluded to, required us to open up an additional section. The projections for this upcoming school year suggest that we will need to maintain that current section. So it would be moving from a temporary position that's in place this year.
014We will now officially budget for that position and maintain that special education section for 2627. The the last position is a school psychologist. Um I had mentioned at the last board meeting that this would be in part to help out as an elementary cse chair in a 6 capacity. We do have cse chairs throughout the district at the UPK level and also at the secondary level both uh helping at the middle school level and the high school level. We do not have one at the elementary level. Um so this would then alleviate the director those who are involved with those meetings to help support our our students and staff. The other portion of this position um there is a need to provide counseling services for our students. We talked about the social emotional needs um
015not only for students coming in with this mandated by their IEPs uh but we have other students and populations u of of students that need counseling support. Um so this would help provide some of that social emotional support in the district as well. So that position would be split but it would be covered by a school psychologist. So the total recommendation would be for five positions, three total teachers including the JOTC instructor, a school psychologist, um, and a school psychologist. Any questions? >> I do have a question. Um, what I'm trying to understand is, is there an overlap between ESL and AIS? like are the students being helped like I are these programs completely separate? How much of the overlap do you have in between the two? So there are times it depends on the
016student and we we really do have a collaborative process. There are times where as students acquire as they become more proficient in the English language and our academic intervention services become appropriate then yes there are times where they will receive English as a new language service as well as academic intervention. We are required to provide ENL services through as students test commanding which demonstrates their proficiency but for an additional two years of support afterwards. >> So these are my understanding this is a completely two separate programs right? >> They're two separate programs but there are students who may live in both areas >> and that that's also true for AIS as well that you can have a student who receives English as a new language services as well as academic intervention services. kids can exist
017in both categories >> and in some circumstances special education and ENL as well >> but do we know what percent what is the overlap like what percentage is it >> I don't have that number for you tonight I'd have to get back to you >> I have a question as well so with the rapid growth of our population and how we solve seem to solve the problem with pine tree this year in especially the education background right of temporarily putting someone and then increasing to a permanent position Would it behoove us to build in some flexibility and for an example ask for two pine tree special education specialists so that we have flexibility within other buildings to anticipate that continued growth. Right? So I mean for me my perspective I prefer to give you all
018as much flexibility as possible and the staff flexibility to support our students >> instead of bandating it for a year. you know, I' I'd rather you or at least me, I won't say you have that flexibility. Does that make sense? >> It does. And I unless anybody else wants to jump in, it's not necessarily once it goes from that temporary status to probationary, it's it's then on track to remain in the budget. And what we do at that point is as with every year at each point we look at those weekly enrollment numbers. We look at retirements. We take all of that into account to see what do we truly need? Like what is our net at the end of that review? But I appreciate that. >> And I want to just mention too, I
019don't want you to come away thinking that we were just piecing it together to get through the year. I mean, we hired a special education teacher to be able to fulfill that, you know, responsibility. it was just in a temporary status because we weren't going to budget for it unless we knew that we needed it for the subsequent year based on the the projections. We now know that we're going to need that um to maintain our our current population. So, we would move it from a temporary to a permanent position, but we moved through the hiring process just like we would if we had budgeted for it. We just obviously needed to come up with the funding during the middle of the year. >> Yeah, that that's great. I mean, obviously, we want to all
020pay less taxes. So, I appreciate that that staff work and hard work. Um, but I also want to make sure all of our kids are educated, especially our, you know, including our special education. You know, the requirements for them are clearly more than it is for a general ed student. So, the I always feel the more flexibility, as long as we can do that, the the better. So, as long as we're supporting that, I'm happy. >> I have one more question. So, if I'm doing the math correctly, we we're talking about 27% of children needing academic intervention services and 16% of children being English as a second language. So, we're talking about a 43% of our school population requiring some sort of help >> that we so that goes back to the question you had
021asked about overlap. So, I would have to get back to you with the percentage of students if they're living in both worlds, what that total number is. I wouldn't necessarily like say right now that yes, it's at 43% because we want to see where students are kind of being counted twice. >> All right. So, and when they're in ESL and they're being pulled out of the regular classes, what happens to the volume of the class? Let's say mathematics or English or or whatnot. Does that mean that the class itself gets smaller? So it it depends on the model and it's similar to AIS. Our ENL services and programs look different by grade, by building, by subject area quite honestly and by need of student. So there can be classrooms where we have the ENL teacher
022push in and provide support within the classroom through small groups or we can have opportunities where the students are pulled out. We typically don't necessarily look to do it during a subject like math. We look at other areas where it's more conducive to supporting all of the needs of the student. But at the end of that, at the end of it, yes. So if if it is a pullout service, that teacher is left with a with a smaller number of students in their classroom. >> I don't have any questions. I just want to thank you for the presentation because it gives the clarity I think that was needed for obviously we can all support a headcount increase but we need to know where it's going and this is exactly what it told us. So I
023appreciate the work. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you for the very thorough follow-up presentation. I appreciate it. Next, I'd like to welcome Dr. Norman for a 2026 2027 budget review and the superintendent recommendations. He will be accompanied by Mr. Cahill. While he's setting up, I'll just uh kind of do the uh introduction here. Um Dr. Tracy Norman is superintendent and tonight I'll be presenting the superintendent's budget recommendation and um you've already heard from the different departments uh the directors, the principles. So tonight is more of a uh summary of what you've already heard at a much more global level and we'll work through each slide. Okay. for next year 2026 27. Uh these are our budget focus areas. Uh you see that we're focusing on student staff and the family experience.
024Starting with the uh student experience, we're we want to continue offering high level AP courses to our students. Uh ensuring that our students have access to all of our courses. meaning that if we have to uh expand some you know this this focus would would encompass that. We also want to uh bolster our seals. We're doing great work with our civic seal of readiness seal of bi literacy but I'm happy to say that uh we're going to add an art yield which is a pathway um and then the extracurriculars we um you we're constantly looking at that and we want to provide students experiences beyond the traditional day or classroom and sometimes um depending on what's happening and and what what a need is you know we have to create some of those opportunities and
025then our athletics We always want to maintain our competitive edge and and um give people something to feel proud about. But you can't uh you can't support students if you don't focus on staff. So with the staff experience, we're going to provide optimal professional development and I would say continue because we started that this year for all of our employees. Anyone who touches students, which are all of our employees, kitchen, clerical, custodians, bus drivers, our focus is to provide them optimal professional development. And sometimes that will come in different forms. Sometimes it's virtual, sometimes it's bringing in consultants. As you'll note, we're working with Generation Ready, who has done phenomenal work with our strategic planning committee. Um, we have Dr. Joe Durnney who's uh just a tremendous consultant working directly with our administrators and also
026our Boseis uh reps and their services. Lastly, the family experience. I hope the public is seeing um the work that started with our capital project progress. Uh we are in the process of reconstructing our tennis courts. Uh adding softball lighting to our fields. Uh some people are asking for pickle ball but um and you know we're going to to continue that work into next year. We're going to start u doing work on the fieldhouse or concession stand. You know that will be resurrected next year. Um, and then we have work going on that involves our facilities and school upgrades that might not be as cosmetically appealing, but nevertheless equally important. And this is our HVAC systems, our boilers, um, our roofing and those sorts of things. So, the bottom line is we want people that
027frequent our spaces to feel proud and feel a sense of pride when they're interacting when you're occupying our spaces. Next slide. So what you're seeing here is what New York State calls portrait of a graduate. And New York State has spent the last several years creating this. And I just want to take pause and commend uh Dr. Hasser and his team for the work that he's already began on this. And what that work consists of that the state is saying in each of these areas. uh if you are a graduate of of New York State public school, you are to be competent in each of these areas. So we asked the question here, what does a portrait of a graduate look like for Monroe Woodbury? And Dr. Hassler has began that work and I look
028forward to presenting that to the public here, but he has gained, you know, input from multiple stakeholders and he's still in that process and and we have, you know, a draft of what it does look like for Monroe Woodbury. He's spoken with teachers, administrators, uh students have given input. So from a budget perspective, if you look at the block global citizen, if we are to make students competent in that, that might include looking at existing coursework, we might have to tweak it. We might have to add courses you to meet those needs. But nevertheless, that would come with professional development or some sort of subal cost. Uh I can tell you that one of the pushes is to expose students to local industries. Uh and we want them to partner and give them those experiences
029whether it's volunteering or working co-op directly but that could come with you know accept the cost of maybe transportation or so on and so forth. So but this is important work that we look forward to sharing um in the near future. Next slide. So this is the important slot, the 2026 27 tax cap. What you're looking at, and I I don't want to overwhelm the public here, but these are the steps that are involved in calculating, you know, the the tax cap. In 2011, uh, the state enacted laws that says districts cannot exceed the state imposed tax cap unless we receive 60% plus one voter approval. So the if I can focus you to the middle of the screen maybe the fifth uh fifth or sixth bullet you see allowable growth factor which is 2%.
030Which means that we cannot go beyond 2%. However CPI which is the measurement of inflation is 2.63%. But yet we are capped at an allowable growth factor of 2%. So that's some of the frustrations that uh districts you have had with with trying to manage your the tax cap. So I want to focus you to the bottom right corner last year where you see the tax cap was 3.55%. And at the bottom our tax levy was 1.5%. This year the tax cap is 2.86% which is lower yet we know that inflation has historically risen. We are proposing a tax levy increase of 1.95%. Which is the seventh year in a row that Mro Woodberry has been well below the tax cap. Uh so that is a great thing and I want to point that out
031to the public um that our business department you're doing a great job of of managing these numbers. Next slide. So here you're looking at the state aid and the tax levy. So we are projecting a state aid increase of approximately $5.7 million which uh is driven primarily by the increase in foundation aid you of 3 million. So our recommendation for the tax levy is $135.9 million which again you know is a 1.9 95% uh levy which again is well below the tax cap. Next slide. This is just a graphic for you to uh easily read and follow. Uh you'll note that the majority of our state aid you know is 68% and the second largest category you comes in transportation which is 18%. uh and you can see the other areas where we see where
032we receive state aid which are little less significant but nevertheless important. Next slide. This is our revenue by category. So what I'll point out here is if you look in the green you see the tax levy in 202526 the tax levy you was 56.3% of our revenue we are recommending for this year 55.5% of the revenue. However, if you look to the right and you see the state aid in the blue, last year it was 40% of our revenue. Next year, 2026 27, we're projecting the state aid at 41%. Approximately 10 years ago, the state aid, you know, was 28 to 30% of our revenue. every year has slowly gone up and the tax levy has slowly decreased which is a good thing for our tax level meaning that the more aid that we get
033uh the lesser the burden you for the taxpayers. So we're trending uh in the right direction there and hopefully uh state aid continues to to grow and we can manage you the tax levy through that that process. Next slide. So for proposition one, we're recommending a total general fund budget of $245, million52,94. I will ask Mr. Cahill to speak on proposition two, which involves the Sapphire Elementary School roof replacement. >> Okay. So, uh, yeah. So, this year, uh, we're adding a proposition two, which is a capital project to replace the roof at Sapphire Elementary School. And as I mentioned previously in New York State, capital projects require the, uh, approval authorization of the taxpayers as does the use of a capital reserve fund. So, uh, long story short or bottom line up front, uh, the
034roof at Sapphire is, uh, past its useful life. It was originally included in our 2022 capital referendum. We had to eliminate that uh to shrink decrease the referendum amount. Uh we had a really bad winter as we all know. Uh we've patched the roof numerous times. Uh we continue to have roof leaks and when we eval evaluated it more recently because of our uh current building condition survey, we realized we couldn't wait any longer. It's it's something that needs to happen as soon as possible. And even with a May uh approval date, we still won't be able to do this because of the long lead times involved with New York State Education Department until the summer of 2027. So uh it is a need to have, not a nice to have at this point. The
035the good news about it from a financing standpoint, we're estimating the cost of the project at 2.6 million. Uh we're we're uh intend to use 549,000 of New York State Excel Aid and New York State uh Excel Aid stands for expanding our children's education and learning. It is a one-time capital funding program which was created in 2006. So that is the remaining bit of funding for Monro Woodbury. So we're going to draw that down. uh and we intend to use a little over 2 million of the capital reserve uh to to fund the balance of that. So the capital reserve fund we have about 4 million uh unencumbered which we u we put into the reserve in the at the end of the 2425 year with this literal project in mind. This was one of
036the projects uh that we had in mind to do. Uh originally I was thinking we would seek the authorization next year but as I said new information came to light and we can't wait. So good news is no tax impact uh because we're using existing reserve we're using this Excel money and the other thing I I would point out is although we're using our reserve funds now we will receive almost like a reimbursement or repayment of the reserve over the next 15 years through the building aid program. And I don't want to get too wonky, but the funny part about Excel is you can receive building aid on the Excel aid, which is rare. It's a double dip opportunity. So in essence, depending on where the total cost comes in, we may get 80 to
037100% return of the use of our reserve over over time. So it is the time to do it. Um and uh it's a necessary project. >> Thank you, sir. Thanks. Okay. So, here you're looking at uh a 10-year snapshot of the budget-to-budget percent change dating back to 2017. You'll note uh starting at uh 2021 you see the spike that's near the uh COVID years where inflation jumped and uh the budget year was adjusted to that. But over the past 10 years the the actual budget change has averaged 4.06%. And we are at 3.5% which is below that average for this year. And this is similar to the previous slide. This is a 10-year snapshot of the actual uh tax levy change dating back to 2017. Uh and you see the the spike, you know, on
038the downward spike in 2023. But if you compare the uh average to the past 10 years, believe it or not, it comes out to 1.95% which is exactly what we are proposing as our tax level, meaning that we are within the 10-year average with 1.95%. So I have to uh share this slide. Um it's law but it is the contingent budget rules. Um and what this is saying if this budget does not uh receive voter voter approval then we have to go to contingency budget which means the budget is limits districts to the amount of the prior year tax levy with mandatory budget reductions. So you'll see that number at the top there. Bottom line is if we would we do not receive voter approval for this budget, we would have to make up $2.6
039million. Uh it is is the law. Um so next slide. So we're asking uh the public to get involved. You come out and vote. Uh these are the actual dates. Uh April 21st we have our budget adoption and you see there May 19th here's our annual budget vote at Central Valley Elementary. Subject to your questions this concludes my presentation. questions >> thank you for the presentation. Good job. Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the revised agenda? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. >> Motion to approve the revised 2026 2027 instructional count. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? I. >> Motion so carries. Item 8.1, motion to appoint Candace Novak as chairperson and Caitlyn Simmons as the alternate of the May 19th, 2026 budget vote and election.
040>> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Uh we have questions and comments from interested citizens. Um, the board of education encourages district residents to publicly participate in its meetings and recognizes its responsibility to hear public comments by district residents. We have two speakers each who will be given four minutes for public comment. And our first speaker is uh Daryl McCel. Uh, good evening, Dr. Norman, President Simmons, excuse me, Vice President Donahghue, members of the board and cabinet of Monroberry community. For those who may not know me, my name is Daryl Mroy and I'm the president of the Monroe Berry Teachers Association. I represent about a thousand members including those in the wood employees association and I'm here to speak tonight about staffing and student needs for the up upcoming school year.
041I did want to first acknowledge that April is autism awareness month. Students and staff are engaged in a number of activities to celebrate and include all of our diverse minds and we are grateful to our partnership with the PTA and building administration for planning events for our students. April is also school library month and we are fortunate to have some of the best library media specialists in the county who are working with our students daily to develop reading and writing skills, media literacy skills, research skills, and social emotional skills. It's not just stocking books on shelves as these highly skilled professionals work their magic creating highly highquality learning experiences at all levels. The MWTA and MWA are in support of the budget recommendation and we will encourage our members and the community at large to
042vote yes on May 19th. We're allowed to say that. I felt it was important to share some additional perspective based upon the conversation that was had at the last meeting. Creating a school budget is not an easy task and I appreciate all the work that goes into it as I was once a school board member in Middletown. I also recognize that our budget outlook is much better than in other districts and at the same time that our resources are not infinite. For some, it may be easy to just see this as an exercise in looking at numbers on a balance sheet. However, we are not running a business. We are in a workspace that requires a lot of people who are working with children from UPK through grade 12. And our mission is not solely
043academic in nature. For our students to be successful, we need to meet their needs academically, socially, and emotionally. While some may think fewer students should equal fewer staff members, the reality is that the needs of our students, as noted in the earlier presentation, demonstrate the need for more staff, not less. We would argue that even with this proposal, there aren't enough staff in key positions to ensure the success of our students and staff. Early intervention and smaller class sizes are necessary investments in our students. It should be no surprise to anyone in our school community that we have more students and families that would actually qualify for free and reduced lunch and more students with special needs who need support from related service providers. Our related service providers are stretched too thin. We have elementary
044buildings without full-time social workers. So, the responsibilities of servicing those students falls to the school psychologists as the students do not have access to certified school counselors. Some may believe that these staff are only responsible for their IEP case load. However, they are in reality responsible for all of the students in the building. All students are dealing with significant traumatic issues on a daily basis. And surely we are not suggesting that the social worker or school psychologists tell an 8-year-old that they can't see them because they are not on their case load. So, while the additional school psychologist in the proposal provides a needed support to students and staff, it may not be enough to meet the ever growing needs of our changing student population. When I'm listening to my members, the consistent message they
045share with me is that they need more support in the classroom. Those supports are needed in the core academic program as well as in specials and electives as student needs don't evaporate when they move from ELA and math to art or physical education. At all levels, they they prioritize having more full-time teacher aids and teaching assistance to help deliver instruction and support student instructional goals. In the secondary buildings, they prioritize more security aids and deans to help teachers and the administrative team with student management. We'd also prioritize more clerical support in our offices and in our health offices so that the RNs can do the jobs that they are meant to do dealing with medical needs. We are appreciative also of the foresight in anticipating potential federal funding shortfalls due to the unpredictable nature of
046things going on in Washington. The absolute worst thing would be for there to uh for us to have mid-year budget cuts which would not only impact the students and be harmful to them and their families but to the staff and their families. And we commend Mr. Cahill and Mr. Burgerer for being proactive so that we don't have to be reactive. I would like to thank you all for your time and consideration of this perspective. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership for the continued success of the Monterey School District. >> Thank you, Miss Mc Mr. Mclroy. Our next um public comment is from Casey Caiten. >> Good evening to all. My name is Casey Caiten and I serve as the executive vice president of the MWTA. I'm here tonight to express support for
047the proposed budget and to extend gratitude for everyone involved in the extensive process of its development and presentation. Advocating for our students should never be a point of contention. While we approach our mission from different perspectives, whether as board members representing our community, administrators supporting staff, parents seeking the best for their children, or teachers working directly with students, our shared objective remains the same. The success and well-being of every child. When reviewing these proposals, it's easy to only see figures on a spreadsheet. However, as an educator, I see the faces. I see the faces of students who spend seven to eight hours a day in my classroom. Children who are eager to learn, yet arrive with more complex needs than ever before. I see the student reading two grade levels behind, who require diligent progress
048monitoring and academic intervention services. I see the advanced learner who's hungry for a greater challenge. I see the face of the student whose support is cut short because their teacher aid is not full-time. I see our English language learners, our students with IEPs and 504 plans, and those navigating significant emotional loss. These are not statistics. They are individuals who require differentiated instruction, consistent support, and the opportunity to develop self-regulation skills in a stable environment. Beyond the students, I see the faces of the teachers who are working tirelessly to meet these escalating demands. We know smaller class sizes, consistent support staff, and early intervention are proven best practices. Let's work together to ensure that Monra Woodbury, our incredible district, continues to support our students, educators, staff, and whole community by being the impressive model for others
049to follow. We have the power to take those best practices to new heights and to watch our collective community soar. Thank you to those up on that stage who are making an effort to connect with teachers, who ask us what we need to support our learners, and who are advocating alongside us. As the process moves forward, I urge you to remember that behind every number in this budget is a face and a future. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Caven. Right, back to the agenda. Um, motion to approve items 10.1, Board of Education meeting minutes from March 18th of 2021. Okay. Make a note. >> Okay. Um motion to approve item 10.1 meeting minutes of the board of education from March 18th, 2026. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries.
050Mo item 10.2. Motion to approve the minutes for the board of education meeting on March 26, 2026. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. >> Item 11.1 motion to approve the first reading of the pro. This would make sense to do this now. You're familiar with it. Um so last meeting we had a um citizen comment on a policy in which she had hoped the district would enact. Um we as the policy committee along with Dr. Norman um and director of safety and security Joe Capoto um we did take a look at the district's current policy. Um, we made some updates to ensure that our policy is aligned more closely with ensuring that every member of the every person who visits our district has the appropriate credentials um the appropriate vetting documentation
051to be authorized to enter our schools. Um, and that is the policy that we are voting on for first reading today. All right. Um item 11.1 motion to approve the first reading of the >> following policies. Um policy 8130 school safety plan and teams and policy number 5300.65 visitors to school. >> Motion. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. >> Uh committee reports um from board of education committees audit committee Mr. area. >> Thank you. We have a um audit meeting set up and it is on April 20th at 6 p.m. and uh you're the public is invited to come and we will have that at the um Haramman Center. That's my update. >> Thank you. Uh policy committee vice president Donahan. Um, as you mentioned, as we just voted on
052for the first reading at our last meeting, we discussed school safety plan and teams and the visitor to the school policy. Um, at our next meet, our next meeting is April 17th at 300 p.m. a little earlier this time at the Haramman Center. And again, as always, these meetings are open to the public. Thank you. >> Thank you. visitation and capital project task force. Mr. Reynolds, >> um there's no update on the capital project task force unless Patrick has anything he'd like to add. >> I think the um the big news there was the proposition two which we discussed as part of the budget presentation. >> Great. Which is a great lead into the visitation committee. Um our next location is Sapphire. Imagine that. On Monday at 4:30 um that's open to the public. So,
053we would love to have the public join us to see how bad the roof actually is at Sapphire and uh hopefully gain your vote for approval. >> Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Dr. Santicle Oxbow, >> the next meeting will be April 15th, 7 p.m. at Boseies and the use of generative AI in education has been rescheduled. Sorry. >> The use of generative AI in education has been rescheduled for Monday, April 27th at 7 p.m. at Boseis. >> Thank you, Dr. Santicole. Uh, report by student representative of the board of education, Miss Zoe. Great. Hey guys. Um, good evening. Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone's week has been great. Uh, the last visitation I had was at Central Valley Elementary on Wednesday, March 25th, and I only have a couple of notes from this visit, but the students
054had a lot of good things to say about the school, and we're constantly building off of each other's answers. Um, firstly, I asked them how they felt about field trips, and they came to a conclusion that they are happy with the current amount of field trips they have because it makes field trips feel special when they come around. Um, they were 50/50 on using technology or paper to learn or to do work, but they didn't mind using anyone, nor did they have any preference to either. Um, they all enjoyed learning as just as much as they liked playing and going outside. In terms of topics that they're learning about in classrooms, all the students have different preferences on which ones they like and didn't like. Students said that it wasn't too hard for them to
055make friends or to talk to their classmates, but always having places for students to be able to talk and interact is always a win, especially for the more shy or reserved students. Um, when I asked if they talked or told their teachers about any problems they had, they said that they talked to their teachers specifically about problems at school, but they talked to their parents about problems at home. So, school problems stay in school and home problems stay at home. That's what most of them came to. Um, the two main topics that were brought up were about lunch menus and activities to do during recess, which coincidentally was also brought up at North Main as well for students mainly asking for a variety in their lunches and more things to do during recess. This was
056kindly and very quickly followed up by the administration at Central Valley and also the food services team to incorporate and research some more lunches to add to the 2 to 5 menu. And also some more equipments like jump ropes, sports balls, and chalks were also added recently for students to enjoy during recess. I was also sent a couple cute photos of the students having fun with their new equipment, which is always great. So massive thank you to those teams and administration to support and create such an environment where students voices are truly heard even at those lower levels of 2 to 5. That's it for Central Valley, but I also wanted to take this time to thank Mr. Trapoto, the school's district director of security and emergency preparedness and his team for all the hard
057work and time they spend towards keeping everyone in this district safe and secure. Also, when there is any security issue, it is looked at and handled immediately and in a timely manner. Uh most of the great feedback I hear from students and also staff across all the schools in the district district is how safe and secure they feel being at school. So, thank you for all that you do. Um, that's all for me. Quite short, but my next visitation will be at Pine Tree next week, Monday, April 13th, to talk to the students there. Have a great week, everybody. Thank you as always for the thorough and thoughtful presentation. Motion to approve personnel items 14.1 to 14.14. >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. >> Motion to approve business and financial
058items 15.1 to 15.6. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. >> Motion. Motion to approve committees on special education and preschool special education items 16.1 to 16.5. >> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. Reports by board and central office. Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening. Uh so I'd like to start by congratulating our new hires and welcoming them to our Crusader family. We do have one new hire that was approved tonight in our audience. So, I want to welcome Ashika Jones, who will be working for us as a behaviorist. Very excited for her to join us. She's going to do a fantastic job. Uh and for every person that we celebrate and welcome into our district, we also want to acknowledge and celebrate
059those who are nearing the end of their career and entering retirement and thanking them for the many years of dedication and service to our district. We do have a couple of people who were approved for their upcoming retirements uh this coming summer. I did want to highlight one person uh Frank Tasaldo who has been a custodian in our district for 32 years. Um Frank was literally the first person who welcomed me into this district when I was started as a teacher in Central Valley. He was the person who held open the door for me, unloaded my car, brought everything down to my classroom Labor Day weekend before school started. He was a tremendous help to me and I know that countless others feel the same way. Uh he has been a great support to so
060many in our district and I certainly want to wish him a very welldeserved retirement. So thank you and congratulations again. >> Thank you Mr. Burgerer. You know where I'm going with it. >> Dr. Hassler. >> Um I I have a a bunch of congratulations. Congratulations to Prasad Saha. We we spoke about him in the fall because he was recognized as a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist. However, he is now a National Merit Scholarship winner. Uh we will be having him. Absolutely. That's a huge accomplishment. We we will be having him at a later board of education meeting to recognize him. So, we will we'll get him up here on stage. Uh I also spoke a few months back about two students who have been nominated uh to participate in the Hudson Valley Honor Flight. Uh congratulations
061to Liam Hayes and Mary Ella Kierney who will be traveling on the Hudson Valley Honor Flight this weekend on Saturday to Washington DC accompanying veterans as youth guardians. Um anybody who's available, the sendoff is at 6:30 a.m. at Steuart Airport. I know a bunch of our teams are going to be going to celebrate them. So, I encourage everybody to come out and attend that. Uh, finally, on Tuesday, April 21st, the high school is going to be hosting their annual job fair. This is for students, although they might find an assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum instruction there, nosing around, seeing what else is available out there. Um, so certainly, uh, if you're a small business owner and you're looking for employees, we encourage you to come out, but also certainly our students to please come out
062and explore what opportunities exist for this summer. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Hassler, Trustee Reynolds. >> Thank you for the to the entire enterprise for all the work you do every day. Have a great safe night. >> Thank you, Dr. Morales. Good evening. Um, since the last meeting, I had the privilege of participating in the music boosters interviews as well as attending the North Main Science Fair. And it's just always, it's great to see our students in a different light and actually for us to spend time with students. And I just want to give a preemptive thank you to our administrators and teachers who are gearing up for all things state testing season in the coming weeks that will last us in the coming months. So, thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank
063you, trustee officer. >> Good evening. Thank you for that detailed enrollment summary presentation. It definitely provided some insight and congratulations to our retirees and new hires. Trustee Seriela, >> I want to thank the administrative team for the work that they put into the budget. It's a lot of work. Um the uh enrollment data was important for the public to know. So, and it was very helpful the information. So, I appreciate the work that was done to put that together. And um with that, I just want to wish everyone a greet. >> Dr. Vas, >> this week is the National Assistant Principal Appreciation Week. So, thank you to all of behind the scen heroes uh as an AP. It's not an easy job. So, big shout out to you guys. >> Thank you, Dr. Santa Cool.
064I just want to share that my mom planted a yellow Gerber into the be amazing planter that was gifted to us by in Sapphire. So, thank you very much. It's such a joy to look at every morning. Good night. Thank you, >> Mr. Cahill. >> So, I just like to echo what uh others have said and thank my colleagues for all their work in the budget development process. We're near the finish line here. Uh and with that, I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Sergey Kifman. I wanted to thank uh everyone for their presentations both budget and enrollment uh very uh educational uh to me and uh it's a reminder of how complex our school district's role is and that a large percentage of our kids require more complex
065educational services which was stark reminder of that. Uh thank you. >> Thank you. Um this week the high school is celebrating their diverse mind unified hearts. So that's something students can look forward to. And also quick reminder that this Friday, April 10th, is the deadline for 2026 2027 student rep application. And have a great week. That's all. >> Thank you, Vice President. >> First, I'd like to say I hope everyone had a restful vacation um and enjoyed their time off. I'd like to thank the high school for hosting us this evening and a huge thank you to all the presenters. We know how much work goes into that and we really appreciate you as we appreciate all the assistant principles and all the hard work that they do. Um, I'd like to congratulate and welcome
066Miss Jones to the Monroe Woodbury family and wish good luck to all our retirees and have a nice evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Norman. Good evening. I echo all the sentiments that have been raised and shared here. Um just before the break, I had the privilege of visiting our uh students who are preparing for the Special Olympics. And I want to encourage the uh the public to come out if you can and support them. It's a great event. I think it would be a great show of a crusader spirit. So, if you can, I'm asking that you come out and we'll get those dates on the website. Um, hopefully we can just have our entire community come out. I want to welcome you back from uh your break. Hopefully well rested. I ask that we
067ease our way back into this. Uh we're at the final stretch and job tempo tends to rise as Dr. morale this year with the testing and all the other events and we need you to take it to the end. So, welcome back and pace. Thank you. Good evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Norman. On behalf of the board of education, I want to offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to former assistant superintendent for HR, Lorie Hawk, on the passing of her father, Lewis Hawk. I also want to express our condolences and sympathies to the Pine Tree PTA president Lauren Kelly on the untimely passing of her husband James Kelly. Um, as always, you are in our thoughts and our prayers. Um, Manoir Woodbury family, whether you are current or former, we will always make sure that
068you are in our thoughts and our prayers. We wish you and your families well. I just want to say thank you for the thoughtful and thorough presentations and the way that Dr. Norman and the cabinet, you and your team really put thoughtful decision making into ensuring that the decisions that we make um for this district ensure the best educational outcomes for every single student in this district. I also want to thank the business and financial team for making sure that we are fiscally responsible in making sure that those outcomes are effective and efficient for not only our students but also the community. Uh thank you to the human resources team for making sure that we have the absolute best faculty and staff here at Monroe Woodbury. Uh so thank you for all of the hard
069work that goes into that. Um it would be remiss of me to say that every single member of this district, whether you are a student, a faculty member, administrator, we all play a role in making sure that the technology resources that our children receive, that the buildings that they are in, that the resources that they have for teaching, that the counselors that they have, and that the books that we buy and the things that we do, it is a collaborative approach and yes um the board wants to be a partner in that to ensure that we are supportive but we are also advocates for the community and I want to really express the thanks to the entire team for making sure that the public has the information but also making sure that they're tangible outcomes
070that benefit not only our faculty and our student but our faculty but our students and our community at large. So, I really want to express that public thanks on behalf of the board. Um, I also want to say I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. And with that, I wish you all a good night. Thank you. >> Motion to adjourn the meeting. >> Motion. >> All in favor? I >> meeting adjourned.