001Good evening. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the board of education. Today is Wednesday, March 4th. I'd like to introduce uh Principal Allison Oriel um to introduce the students to lead us in the pledge. >> Good evening everybody. I have three first graders with me. I have a Ava and Jace. And they're going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty andice for all. Good evening, Board of Education trustees, Superintendent Dr. Norman, cabinet members, and Monroe Woodbury staff and families. My name is Alison Boreello, and I'm proud to serve as the principal of Sapphire Elementary School. On behalf
002of the entire Sapphire community, it is my pleasure to welcome to you this evening. Before we begin, I'd like to thank the many people who helped make tonight possible. Thank you to our custodial staff and technology teams for preparing the space and ensuring that everything is ready. All their work behind the scenes did not go unnoticed tonight. I'd also like to extend a special thank you to our music teacher, Mr. Andrew Fischer, whose dedication and enthusiasm truly brings out the best of our very students here at Sapphire. I'd also like to thank our Sapphire families for bringing their children here this evening and for all their continued support throughout the school year. We are especially excited to have our first grade students here tonight. They've been looking forward to performing for you and you may
003recognize these songs from last spring's kindergarten festival. We are so proud of them and we can't wait for you to enjoy their performance. And now we are excited to share the special performance with you. Please join me in welcoming our first grade students as they sing before our board of education. If you could please join us in the seats in the audience and our first graders will come in. Sing a song to you called Hello. Hello. Hello. Say hello. Hola. Hola. Stay alive.Where hello. Say hello. One more. Follow the rain. Follow the rainbow. Follow the rainbow. Follow the rain to find the Follow the red yellow. Follow the rainbow. Thank you to our students. Um, board of education Dr. Norman, if you wish to come back, our first graders have a small gift they would
004like to present to each of you. So, our students created small pots that they decorated with their thumb prints as a token of appreciation for all that you do to support our schools and our children. So, our first grade students are going to come around and give you their small gift. Thank you. So again, on behalf of our Sapphire community and myself, um, thank you for having us host our board of education meeting at Sapphire tonight. And thank you to all of our students for singing that tremendous song. At this time, parents, if you'd like to meet your child out in the lobby, you can do so at this time. Thank you. Have a good evening. Do you see >> it? All All right. Thank you to the students for that wonderful performance. Uh it's
005a reminder for all of us to be awesome. Um and now I will read the mission statement. We are committed to an 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 to prepare our students to become responsible global citizens. Is there a motion to approve the revised agenda? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. >> Questions or comments from interested citizens? There are none for today's meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from the February 25th, 2026 meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. >> Policy manual update. Second reading and adaptation. Is there a motion? >> Sorry. Did
006you skip number six? >> I did. I'm very sorry. All right. We will go to the budget. The point of today's meeting is for us to have the second half of our budget presentation from the curriculum and instruction team. >> We're okay if you wanted to jump over. >> You have to move just the front. Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you to Dr. Norman and the board of education for the opportunity to be able to present the curriculum and instruction budget being proposed for the 2026 2027 school year. It's a continuation of our series of um budget presentations. Last board meeting was the non-instructional budget. We're continuing with the curriculum budget. Uh before we get started, we just want to give a a quick thank you to the entire administrative team uh as well as
007all of the department chairs, the business office, the curriculum and instruction office. There are a lot of hands that contribute to the development of this budget, uh as well as putting together the presentation. So, thank you very much to everybody for their support in this. Um just a reminder, similar to uh what my colleagues spoke about last time, uh this is kind of a snapshot in time. I believe the final budget recommendation by Dr. Norman is going to be at the April 8th board of education meeting. Um the budget is very much fluid up until that time. So what we're presenting this evening is sort of the current status report of where we are in our budget development. Um and you know the the final budget will be presented by Dr. Norman on April 8th.
008Um you should have received copies of the presentation at your uh at your respective seats. Um, finally, the there was a a question that was posed to us prior to the presentation regarding uh some trends in enrollment. Each of the administrators are going to be speaking about uh the the trends that they're seeing regarding their enrollment, whether their enrollment is up, whether their enrollment is down, and what some of the implications are regarding their um their individual budgets. And then at the end, we'll also be speaking a little bit about some of those enrollment implications on the district-wide budget as well. So, So, we didn't really rehearse that first line too well and he stole my thunder about how we really did have um close collaboration with our building administrators as well as our directors
009of various departments and I too would like to thank them for their contributions throughout the process. Throughout the process, I think it's important to note we maintained a commitment to prioritizing resources that directly impact student learning, ensuring a sustainable and balanced approach to our budget, and providing every building and department with the tools needed to maintain our high standards. Finally, we were linking our spending to our district goals and state mandates. Our goal this evening is to provide to you an overview of the budget lines in a variety of areas. You will hear from our leadership team as we walk through their respective budgets and then Dr. Hassler and I will provide you with the overall curriculum and instruction overview and that will be followed by our completed proposed budget. So, just to kind of
010give some some overarching budget highlights from what you're going to hear this evening, these are sort of common themes that are going to be woven throughout a number of different presentations. First and foremost, obviously that that was a very difficult act for us to follow. However, it's very fitting that we began uh the evening with a with a performance from our students because first and foremost, this budget um is a presentation of all expenses to maintain and support all of our programs, all of our instructional programs across the school district. So, um it's important for us to share that with you at the onset. uh a theme that you've heard in recent years. We we've had a bit of a an uptick in the number of music instruments that we've needed to uh purchase in
011the the previous the recent previous years. We also are um seeing an increase in some maintenance costs related to our music instruments. However, uh one of the things that we are are planning to roll out for the 2627 school year is a partnership with Sullivan Boseies because of that recent uh increase in music instrument purchases. We're doing a lease to own arrangement with the arts and ed program through Sullivan Boseies which will allow us to be able to have our music instrument instrument purchases closer through Boseies and um that that gives us the opportunity to qualify for Bosey's aid on those instruments which is uh an exciting opportunity for us. Uh you've heard me speak about this in past budget presentations. We are investing in career and technical education and that investment is continuing in
012this budget. Uh and finally, we're going to be hearing from some recent trends in special education as well as tuition implications in special education and people personnel services. So with that, up first are our two K1 principles. I'd like to call Dr. Alt and Miss Boreell, please. Good evening, Board President Simmons, Board of Education Trustees, Dr. Norman, and central office administration. Thank you for the opportunity to present Smith's Clothe's proposed budget for the 2026 2027 school year for your consideration. Smith Clobe is currently comprised of 468 beautifully diverse learners, which is a slight decrease in enrollment from this time last year. The proposed budget includes a decrease in our math and ELA lines as text will now be purchased through our curriculum and instruction office. There is a proposed increase to our music budget to
013purchase Quaver music software, which is a wonderful interactive resource for students to support our music curriculum. There's also an increase in our science line due to the increased cost of our science lecturer. You will notice a decrease in the line items where we apply the per people multiplier reflective of our projected decrease in enrollment. For social studies, there is a slight increase due to the increased cost of the magazine subscriptions to Scholastic that we use in library. There's also a slight increase which is for the purchase of new books to replace our very beloved books that need to be taken out of circulation. Overall, our total budget shows just over 60% decrease from last school year. Thank you again for this opportunity to share Smith Clothe's proposed budget. Good evening. I'm Allison Boreello, the principal
014at Sapphire Elementary. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present Sapphire's proposed budget for the 2026 2027 school year. I'd like to begin by sharing some information about our current enrollment. We have 276 students, which is a slight decrease from last year, plus 54 students in our UPK program, which is not included in the numbers I'll be reviewing with our budget tonight. You'll notice a decrease in both ELA and math expenses because the instructional texts are now purchased through our curriculum and instruction department. We have an increase in music which will support our subscription to Quaver music software similar to Smith Clothe. In art, there is an increase to fund necessary consumable materials so that our students have the supplies they need for all of their creative projects. And finally, PE has requested an
015increase to allow for the purchase of new equipment to provide engaging and safe physical education experiences. This slide shows the line by line items for our building budget. You'll notice a decrease in the line items where we apply a per pupil multiplier reflective of our projected decrease of enrollment. Overall, our total school budget shows a 50% decrease from last year. Thank you for allowing me to present Sapphire's budget. >> Up next are 325 principles, Mr. Davis. Dr. Morales is going to be presenting Dr. Hassler, quick question. Did you want us to, if we have questions, do you want us to ask while the principles are at the table or hold all till the end? >> If you have questions specific to the building budgets, you can certainly ask while the principles are up here or
016we have room at the end, too, for general questions. So, that's >> no questions so far. Just wanted to make sure. >> Okay. Yep. >> All right. Unfortunately, Mr. Hermmon could not join us tonight. So uh it is my pleasure to present the pine tree budget proposed budget for the 2627 school year. Currently Pineree is at about at 743 students. They are remaining pretty steady from year to year. There is you will see as each building has discussed a decrease in both the ELA and the math texts as they are now purchased through the curriculum and instruction office. and you will see an increase in the music lines. So as uh Miss Boreelloo and Dr. Arold had shared, you will see um that there is a a minimal increase where we are projecting again a
017minimal increase in student enrollment for Pineree for next year. And those are where we do apply that per pupil multiplier. Good evening. I'm Roger Davis, the building principal at North Main Elementary. Thank you for allowing me to present the North Main proposed budget for the 2627 school year. North Main currently has an enrollment of 522 students, which is a decrease from last school year. Similar to the other buildings, there is a decrease in the ELA and math text lines because those are not purchased through the curriculum instruction office. There's also a decrease in our music line because of last year we had some um big ticket instruments purchased for our students. This slide shows the line by line items for our building budget. You would notice a decrease in the line items that are where
018we use a pup multiplier reflect of our projected decrease in enrollment. Overall, the total budget is going down 44.24%. Thank you for the opportunity to present the proposed budget for the 2627 school year. >> Good evening. I am Michael Baron, the very proud principal at Central Valley Elementary School, and I am certainly most uh thankful for the opportunity to present Central Valley's budget for the 2026 27 school year. Central Valley currently has an enrollment of 386 students, which is a slight increase from last year. Many of the budget lines for the next year remain the same or are close to the amounts as adopted in this year's budget. Budget highlights and requests include a decrease in both ELA and math texts as they are now purchased through the curriculum and instruction office. There's also an
019increase in the music line for instruments through the Bosey's coser process as mentioned by Dr. Hassla previously and an increase in general supply in the general supply line for classroom furniture. This slide shows the line by line items for our building budget. You will notice a slight increase in the line items where we apply a per pupil multiplier reflective of our projected increase of enrollment. Overall, our school total budget shows a 20.2% decrease from last year. And thank you for the opportunity to present Central Valley's budget. >> Quick question for Mr. Davis. Um, regarding the decrease in your PE budget, I know um, my children experienced the the great program at North Main, especially the inter murals. Just wanted to understand a little bit more on that decrease and if it's impacting any programs or
020if that is with the per people multiplier, that's per with the per people multiplier and the decrease is also last year we got some. >> Great. Thanks. >> Thank you. And up next, we'd like to invite Mr. Vasquez and Mr. McElroy, our Milan High School principal. Good evening. I'm Rafa Vasquez, principal at the middle school. Thank you for the opportunity to present our proposed middle school budget for the 2026 2027 school year. Our current middle school enrollment is 1,59 students. We are projecting a slight decrease for next year. Overall, the middle school budget reflects a decrease across most instructional and operational lines. However, we are proposing several targeted increases that align directly with our instructional priorities and student engagement initiatives. There are four key uh areas of increase. The principal general supplies line, the social
021studies line, the art supplies line, and the music line. for the principal supply or for the principal general supplies line. This increase will allowed us to replace essential classroom furniture to ensure to ensure uh functional and supported learning environments. For social studies, there is an increase in this line to fund new digital test books for our seventh and eighth grade students. For the art supplies, we are proposing a slight increase in the art supplies line as we reintroduce the morning show at the middle school and launch a new video production course. And for music, we are proposing a substantial increase in the music budget to support the instructional p purchase plan previously outlined by Dr. Hassford. two lines over here. Uh two two slides. As you can see, there's a 40% 40.93% increase in the
022budget. And as outlined before, most of this is actually because of the music line. Thank you for your continued support of our students. >> Okay. Good evening, Board of Education and cabinet members. My name is Jason McElroy, high school principal, and I thank you for the opportunity to present the 2627 budget on behalf of the high school this year. At the high school, our current enrollment is 2,284 students. Some of the highlights and requests in the high school proposed budget include the following. A decrease in the science request. This is due to a decrease in the curriculum needs for the new chemistry and physics curriculums when compared to the earth and space along with the life science bio needs for this year. Textbook replacement. Our social studies department is looking for an additional additional money
023for a criminal justice text subscription. Musical instruments like the middle school. We are proposing little slight increase for music to to purchase instruments. Uh a decrease in the library media budget. uh library media is looking at a substantial decrease to the completion of the recent renovation at the high school and then an increase in staff in development and conferences as we continue to focus on PD for all faculty and staff at the high school. In the following slides, you'll see the line by line budget requests. Overall, high schools proposing an overall increase of 2.29% for our 2627 budget. Thank you. Next up, we're going to invite Brian Wilson, who's our athletic director, who's going to speak about the athletics budget. There we go. Good evening. Easier. Good evening everybody. I am Brian Wilson, director of
024athletics and PE for the district. Uh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present our budget for next year to you guys. I want to start off with a snapshot of what we have to offer. I am proud that we offer 74 75 athletic teams for next school year. Um, talking to my cohorts in the area, we are the number one school as far as what we have to offer for athletics per program for our district. So that's a good number to have. 74, possibly 75 next year. When you break it down by season, we have 900 994 students in the spring across all three levels. 861 in the fall and 816 in the winter. Uh that's pretty much on par with where we were if you look back last year. So we're on
025target for the amount of students involved in athletics. Uh our two big highlights for this year are for next school year will be first adding a girls modified flag football team. Um our varsity team has about 40 to 50 students trying out. Um and there's a huge interest in the lower levels. So we're looking to add that program in to give them the opportunity to play. And the second one is the potential intercolastic sport of boys volleyball. This will be a varsity team. Uh we are doing an extra mural right now. Uh but the section is looking to put in a section 9 boys varsity volleyball team either next year or the year after. So something that we're looking to put into the budget. So if it does happen, we are prepared for it. And
026breaking it down, our PE budget is pretty much on par with last year. A little bit of a savings. And because of the new programs, our budget did increase by 5.92% for uh athletics from the previous school year. Next, we'd like to invite up Eric Ulow, Randy Connley, and Karen Jordan, who will speak about the special education and PPS budget. >> Good evening. Thank you for Good evening. We'd like to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. We are deeply committed to providing an inclusive and supportive learning environment. Ensuring that every student has the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. Our ability to meet the unique challenges of our students is something we take great pride in. We currently have,443 students with disabilities, which is an overall increase from last year.
027Of that number, 1,192 are educated in the district. Again, an increase from last year. 251 of those students are educated out of the district. Again, an overall increase from last year as well. This evening, we will highlight how our financial planning continues to prioritize, accessibility, support, and tailored services that empower all of our students to thrive. So we have four key areas where there are increases. Um the first is health services but actually within there um health services other professional is seeing a decrease. Um that is due to SNAP now being placed in the Bosey's code. SNAP is the uh software that our nurses use. um health services, other public, we have an increase in the money paid to other schools for health services and we are adjusting for increased actual costs. Um we have
028an increase in special class consultants. This is increases in um outside consultants specifically registered behavior technician cost. This is aidable um because it is a high-cost student and we are also seeing an increase in number of bilingual evaluations that we also have an increase in special class Boseies. These are due to increases in evaluations conducted by Putnham Northern Westchester Boseies and are also primarily for bilingual evaluations. This is also aidable um PPS administration conference. These are Bosey's trainings and they are moving from the CNI budget to this line for PPS staff. So overall, our proposed special education and PPS proposed budget is 5.65% increase. What's most notable is our tuition nonresident. While we see a 17.36% increase, all of that those monies are reimbursable because those are children who are educated within the non-publiclix that
029do not live within Monroe Woodbury and we build back. So that is all 100% coming back to us. In addition, we are at um we no longer have any tuition chapter students and those are students that are in foster care that attended KJ public. So at this point we are proposing a 5.65% 65% increase. >> Great. Thank you. >> So within the sorry within the curriculum and instruction budget you will see core programs. The core programs represent any costs associated with providing instruction in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. The costs include textbooks and supplies. And what is important to keep in mind is that anything coded as textbooks is reimburseable back to the school district up to approximately $500,000. Districtwide programs represent costs associated with providing instruction in areas that are K12, including
030health education, art, music, languages other than English, facts, and technology. at the middle school and high school as well as our gifted and talented program. These costs also include textbooks and supplies. Thank you. The reason why these are grouped in this way is because each of the building budgets that you heard broke these categories down individually. However, the overall budget exists which is also inclusive of districtwide lines that are not included in the individual building reports. Um, an example of that would be physical education and athletics. There are individual physical education lines within each of the seven buildings, but then there are also a number of districtwide physical education lines. Intercolastic athletics line is also a a uh K12 districtwide line. There's also a category called special secondary programs. The special secondary programs includes uh
031business education at the high school level. Uh it includes student activities. Uh it also includes the Boseis occupational education line. Um the instructional support buildings, >> that's me. The instructional support budget represents the cost to operate seven instructional buildings. Principal supervision includes dues and publications, travel allowance, field trips, conferences, costs associated with graduation, and the moving up ceremonies. General supplies includes maintenance of contracted equipment, student desks, furniture, art, tables, filing cabinets, etc. Much of this line is based on a per pupil multiplier. And finally, conferences and meetings. The costs there are associated with conferences providing staff in seven buildings to attend workshops in order to keep them up to date on any curricular changes. The I'm not done. >> Y go ahead. >> Educational support services >> covers costs associated with both our education support
032and instructional support departments. There are costs associated with conferences and publications. They also cover a portion of our AIS academic intervention services and ENL English as a new language and the administrative costs associated with those two programs. The last item is the cost of providing texts for students attending non-public schools. This budget only reflects the portion that the district budgets for these programs and does not include any title funds used to support either AIS or ENL. And this line is also eligible for the textbook aid discussed earlier. >> Um the next series of lines are the instructional management lines. Uh the instructional management lines include the budget for the management of the curriculum instruction office itself uh supplies conferences dues and publications for both Dr. Morales and I. Uh it also call it it also
033includes a number of district-wide lines such as uh various Boseies fees and testing fees. Um, it also includes curriculum development which are costs associated with uh district-wide professional development all lines through Orange Boseies such as lead evaluator trainings, model schools um as well as cross contracts that we have with a number of different BOSEIS for services within the school district. And finally, the last series of budget lines are the special education and people personnel lines. This next slide is a a visualization of the overall curriculum and instruction budget. Uh the se the seven categories that are included here are seven of the eight without the inclusion of special education. Uh core programs represent a little over 10% of the overall curriculum instruction budget. Districtwide programs are about 12 and a half% PE a little bit
034under 10% special secondary about a third. Instructional support is uh just under 20% 19%. Uh education support services AS and ELLL are 7.2 and instructional management the CNI office is about 6.7 overall for 100% of the curriculum instruction budget. On this slide, you'll see that the core programs where we've discussed with each elementary building, you will see a slight reduction there due to consolidating the ELA and math lines to the curriculum and instruction office for ordering of texts. The district-wide programs, as we shared earlier, include all of the music lines that we spoke about. So that increase is inclusive of the purchase of music instruments across the the school district as well as a district-wide inventory system in order to be able to track music instruments. Uh the plan and and the districtwide maintenance line.
035Again, the plan through for those uh music instruments is to go through the Sullivan Bose's arts and education coaster. Uh there's also a number of increases. You heard the building principles speak about art supplies. We're noticing an increase in the actual cost of supplies. Even though the per pupil multiplier is going down because of some of the enrollment decreases, the cost of the actual materials, we're seeing an increase in that. Uh the physical education line is as what was presented by Mr. Wilson. Uh finally, the special secondary program. Uh that increase of $77,000 is for the addition of five additional career and technical education seats at Orange Elbowies. uh in past years you've made heard you may have heard me speak in this presentation about uh our increase in the level of interest of students
036attending CEK at Boseis. So we continue to slowly build incrementally build in the number of seats into our budget. So that increase represents five additional seats to CEK for the 2627 school year. The increase in instructional support that you see is due mostly to the district-wide Boseies increase for our data warehouse now being budgeted in this line and that is also aidable the educational support services that increase is due to the increase in non-public textbooks and in ELLL Bosey's costs which is also aidable and those costs include services such as translations professional devel development and the cost for providing any ENL services for our students who attend Bosey's programs and our instructional management line there is pretty consistent to what it was previously. The final line is the special education and PPS budget as was
037presented earlier. One item that I do want to note, the overall increase in special ed and PPS of 5.65% 65%. That $1 million increase in the resident tuition line, we include in that approximately a 3% year-to-year increase in tuition costs of just moving the budget from one year to the next because of increased tuition. So part of that increase is due to the increased uh number of students who are projecting for next year. But another portion of that increase is purely due to the year-to-year budget-to budget increase in tuition costs questions. >> Yes, >> sure. >> Thank you. >> You want to have the other want to invite everybody else back? Sure. So I I have um two questions that might roll into tomorrow, I'm sure, but can you explain for the public and for
038you know the people listening Adidable um because you know it went up uh education support services is going up 138 and a half thousand but when you say aidable is it really 138,500 or are we getting that back but we have to budget for it so it comes back in the next year. So just >> sure I can I can speak to that. Our budget consists of probably three main areas worth of aid. One is textbook aid similar to what Dr. Morales was speaking about. Textbook aid is dollar for dollar and and we basically qualify I think um Mr. Cahill when he presented last time put up a slide of what the projected textbook aid was going to be for next year. you need to spend it in the current year and then you're reimbursed
039that full amount up to a certain threshold the subsequent year. Another form of aid is Bosey's aid which is not exact but usually comes in roughly in the about 40%ish plus or minus depending upon the >> Yes, that's true. So, but similarly the that aid comes back the following year to the school district. So, you know, when we say that we're purchasing music instruments through Sullivan Boseies, we have to budget for the full amount in the current budget, but then we see that come back to the school district the following year. The last form of aid that's included in our budget is high-cost aid, which relates directly to special education. But again, all three forms of aid come back to the school district the following year. You need to budget for the full amount. what
040is represented in the budget is the full cost of all of these items. >> So for next year, um let's just use the textbook eight because it's 100%, right? Um we could if we don't do a big textbook purchase, we could see that go down budget budget wise possible because the aid will offset it. >> So we we usually don't apply the aid directly to the textbooks. I think that that aid comes back into the general fund. >> Yeah, it does. We So we have I I've shown this graphically before, appropriations, which is the budget, and then revenue. So the the aid that we're talking about, the Bosey's aid, the instructional materials aid, which is textbooks, falls under that, um is revenue. We we generally don't show it netted out, but it's true that up
041to a limit with the textbooks approximately $500,000, we're going to receive full reimbursement uh for expenditures this year, next year. And and um you know, in the budget for next year, we would receive that aid in the following year. >> Okay. >> 27 28. >> However, it's important to note that we're very mindful and calculated in terms of how we budget for textbooks. Basically, we give the buildings the opportunity to be able to put in what their requests are. We run a report district-wide to make sure that what we are projecting for our expenditures aligns with what we anticipate the aid being for the subsequent year. >> Great. Thank you. The other question I have is related to the theater budgets for all the schools that has not moved. Um, I I would like to
042see that tied to some kind of CPI or because um it was non-existent a few years ago and then it got put in, but it's the numbers staying static and we have all of these great shows and support and you talked about art supplies going up and other supplies going up. The cost to put on a production is going up as well. So I I think it would be equitable to apply some kind of numerator, you know, number multiplier to it. >> And I think that we can certainly go back and also just review the expenditures in terms of how they're utilizing those funds. And just to to give that as an example, um, one of the things that the buildings use that those lines for is for the the licensing cost in order to
043be able to do that. So we actually use the Boseis closer arts and education literally trying to maximize that but we can go back and do an analysis of the expenditures and and look at that. >> Sure. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Question. >> So I'm looking across every building there is a decrease in math and science expenditures. >> So can you explain again please the purchases through curriculum and instruction? >> Sure. So at the elementary level the decrease that you will see you'll see in ELA and math specifically previously buildings or placed their own orders for any instructional text or consumables to go to help for instruction in those subject areas. Last year um was our first year with a a new reading program and as each building was ordering their own it
044it it became a little bit cumbersome when things were backordered and who ordered and so to create a more seamless easy to follow kind of navigate the process. All of that will be ordered through the curriculum and instruction line. So that's it's it's being removed from their lines but put into the general >> just shifted correct. It's not a decline. It's it's just a decline when you look at the specific building budget. >> It was budgeted and moved into a different location to add a district >> and that location is the core program you mentioned. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> That's the reason why the core program line overall didn't go down at the same amount that if you combine all of the ELA and math reductions across all of the five elementary buildings, it
045it didn't go down that full amount because the money was moved into the district guideline for that purchase. But the overall is there an overall increase in spending on math and science? >> So science was done through a per pupil multiplier. So that decrease won't seem as significant because that was based on the on the multiplier. >> What the significant difference in the in the building budgets for those subject areas. The cost for the program is not necessarily the program is no cheaper than it was last year. However, we are taking a much Um, we're scrutinizing what our teachers felt as far as different consumables that are available, which ones are the most effective for instructing our students. Uh, last year we we we purchased a lot and in looking into the next few years,
046we don't necessarily need every bell and whistle that's attached to the program. So overall, you will likely see when when everything is done in order, there will likely be a decrease from what that program cost in the prior year. Do we know how much? >> Not yet. We're we're working through because what what's varying by grade level is which grades prefer this supplemental text to go with it. That may not be the same supplemental text. The K1s may prefer something different than what the fourth and fifth grade have to offer. >> So with the current shift in STEM teaching and what's expected, how often do we adjust to it? every two years, every three years. >> I mean, I I would say it's it's annual. So, I think similar to what Dr. Morales is saying
047at the elementary level, last year was year one of using this new reading program and every single component of the entire program was purchased. Much of it is consumables and we want to make sure that we have a return on our investment in terms of what we're spending. You don't want to buy workbooks if if not all of the workbooks are going to be utilized. And I think that that's basically what what Dr. Miles is saying is that we're making sure that the tools that the teachers need are being purchased for them, but at the same time, we don't want to just purchase things that may not necessarily be fully utilized in the program. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. I just want to say that was one of the best budget budget
048presentations um last time and this time and I'm saying it before we go around the table. Um I appreciate the amount of work that goes into that and it was very very efficient with high level numbers. Thank you so much for that. >> Thank you. Thank you. Stole my thunder, Michael. I was about to say bottom line up front, we love short, concise presentations that get us the information that we need, but in a way I say this, lawyers don't do math and I was able to understand that. So, I appreciate you making it easy for us to understand. Um, we understand that there's a lot of work that goes into these presentations. Thank you for caring about each and every student in this district enough to sit and stifle through the numbers to make
049sure that we are squeezing every bit out of this budget that we can to provide the best outcomes for our students. So, thank each and every one of you who presented tonight for doing that every single day. Right. Any questions before we move on from this portion of meeting? And I will try not to skip any more sections. All right. Item seven, motion to approve the February 25th, 2026 meeting minutes. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve the second reading and to adopt the policies as presented for policy number 7500 on memorials. Policy number 8505 on charging meals and other food items. Policy number 8520, free meal services. Policy number 9120.1A, conflict of interest. Is there a motion?
050>> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Reports from board of education committees, audit committee, trustee Serella. >> Yes. Um, I gave a detailed report the last time, but we do have another meeting coming up on Monday, March 9th at 6 PM at the Haramman Center, and public is welcome to attend. >> Thank you. >> Policy Committee Vice President Donahue. >> Good evening. Uh, we have not met since our last board of ed meeting. Our next meeting is on March 27 at 4M at Har and visitation committee and capital project task force trustee Reynolds. >> Um for the capital project no change from our last meeting and for the visitation we did meet at Smith Glove and the Ed Center. Um, so, as I'm sure you all aware, a lot of
051great things going on at Smith Glove, uh, that we got to tour the building. Uh, continuing upgrades with not only capital project, but basically maybe some other small projects comes to playgrounds and things like that. Uh, things that our kids need and the education center is coming along beautifully. Um, the new room auditorium that we will hold these board meetings at at some point, hopefully in June or July, starting um, uh the difference between a 72 Pinto and a Ferrari. We now have a Ferrari. So, which is a great representative of how wonderful our district is um inside and out. So, look for not sure off the top of my head when the next meeting is, but it is on the website that anyone can check. Look forward to visiting that space as well. >>
052Thank you. Uh Orange County School Board Association, uh Dr. Santa. >> Yesterday's meeting was cancelled due to weather and the next meeting will be rescheduled in person at some point. >> Thank you. Report by student representative Zoe. >> Good evening. Happy Wednesday. Um my last elementary this recent Monday, March 2nd, and I had a great group of students from grades 2 to 5 who were excited to be there and answer my questions. >> Zoe, sorry it's very hard to better. >> Oh, yeah. A lot better. Okay. Um, so some key points were they love to see, talk, and play with their friends at school. They like double thank you. Okay, starting from the top, they like they love to see, talk, and play with their friends at school. They like learning in class and really
053like going through their specials which include things like gym art and music. And I wanted to mention just talking to that group of kids. They had a great sense of concept and understanding and just ambiguity just for age group which was fantastic. Um I asked if they like to use technology or paper more to learn and it was about a 50/50 split answer but when I asked which one they like to use most of them said technology. They really like the chicken duckets, pizza, mozzarella sticks at lunchtime, but they asked if they could have more smiley fries, dumplings again, and crispy chicken since it's on the menu, but they'd like to eat it more. They also requested for candy, McDonald's, sushi, and Domino. So, I don't know if we can get that, but um I
054asked them if they would like if they were the principal for the day what they would do, and they gave me a a wide range of answers including canceling school, no math, going home early, but I also got a couple of respon responses where they would make the day balanced with work and fun. Um, they asked if they could have more time for musical things like their instruments and chorus. They liked gym and recess because it's a time for them to run around and exert their energy. In terms of talking to their teacher, not a lot of them felt the need to talk to their teachers because they wanted to keep some things to themselves or they wanted privacy for personal things, but they do in fact know that teachers are trusted adults and they
055could talk to them anytime they need to. A student wanted me to wish everyone to have a good day. So, that was really sweet. Um, they really wanted a soccer post to play with and it was mentioned like four times to get a soccer goal, a soccer net. Um, they also really to go outside and play in the program more and learn outside when the weather gets instead of staying inside all day. They also really wanted a rock climbing wall with a rope. Um, more swings and a giant air fryer. Um, the student mentioned that they wish North Main had some more quiet places to stay unwind when things get overwhelming. They asked for more water fountains and more water bottles at lunchtime. They really like activities with like obviously the mind the play they
056have expand and wish for more of those activities to be able to do therapy. They also said that they really do like going to school but they don't like waking up so early in the morning. Um all in all was a really great place to be in and all the students I had at least raised their hand once and told me something. They're super excited especially since our play was last weekend. So, thank you to Nort, Dr. Davis, and Miss Green for letting me visit. Moving on, my second survey for the second semester was given up to high school students via their Google classrooms. And as of this morning, there's been 42 responses so far, which is pretty great. Um, some changes for since the first semester survey, I think I mentioned this before, is
057that it's no longer anonymous because I realized I couldn't actually reach out to the students and answer their concerns or questions. I could easily So that's and I also prompted the question so that they could explain their reasoning for why they gave their answers because before I got a lot of yes and no. I also plan on sending this out to the middle school students as well in the future. That's all for me. My next invitation will be at Smith Club on Wednesday, March 11th. So super excited for that. Have a great day. >> Thank you Zoe. Is there a motion to approve personnel items 11.1 through 11.6? >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Is there a motion to approve business and financials item 12.1 through 12.5? >> Motion. >>
058Second. >> All in favor? Uh, I have uh just there's a report on there that needs to get updated. So, Patrick said he'll they'll get it posted just for the public's >> awareness. >> Yeah, just I'll mention it. It's the revenue status report. Michael noticed that um there was a one missing from the taxes that have been collected. So, instead of 129 million, it said 29 million, which is, you know, >> and it's an issue with the software we use in exporting the report using a utility called Crystal Reports. strangely dropped the one. We're going to update that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you uh for the flag and thank you for the quick response to it. Uh so is there a motion? >> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries
059with the noted amendment. Is there a motion to approve the committees on special education and preschool special education items 13.1 through 13.4? >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. Reports by board and central office. I'm gonna switch it up today. Mr. Burgerer. >> I was totally prepared for that. >> Good evening. Um, I want to start by thanking Miss Boreello and the Sapphire staff for hosting us this evening. The kids did a great job. It's always the the highlight when we're able to get into buildings and see kids and see the great things that you do here, even walking down the halls and seeing everything in the building. Uh so, great job. Thank you for having us tonight. I want to congratulate the retirees. Uh tonight, we approved six
060more retirements for the end of the school year in a variety of roles. So, uh, once again, thank you for your service and your dedication to our great district and certainly wish you the best as you start to prepare for this exciting new chapter. Um, great job by North Main Drama Club. We saw the Little Mermaid Junior play over the weekend. They did a phenomenal job. Uh again, it's so great to see the talented kids that we have in this district starting at the at the elementary level. So, uh great job to those as well, those students. And lastly, um I wanted to just mention and thank a couple of people earlier today, the HR, the the human re resource office team and I along with uh a couple other staff members. We had Lorraine
061Loaning who is the secretary for in the transportation department and also Lynn Preia who is our director for for food services. We represented the district at a job fair at the U Monroe Library and it went very very well. We had over a hundred people that were signed up that came through. It was great to be able to talk with locals in town. Uh we primarily focused on recruiting for hard to fill substitute positions, um bus drivers, food service workers, teacher aids. There were some that came through though that uh had certifications in certain areas as well. So um it was very productive. Uh hopefully if you're you're listening out there that they access that QR code that we gave them, that is a direct link to apply for some of these positions. and you
062know, we hope to strengthen our our recruitment efforts and and bring some people aboard to to work for our great district. So, uh, but I wanted to thank those who took the time to represent our district there today. They did a great job. Uh, and lastly, good luck to our athletes as they prepare to start spring sports. Hopefully, the weather it's supposed to get a little bit warmer because uh, spring sports are starting. So, good luck to those athletes who are trying out next week. Thanks. Have a good evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Hassler. making sure everybody's awake tonight. >> I agree. Thank you to Sapphire. Uh thank you once again to all the administrators, the directors, building principles, uh department chairs, assistant principles, everyone who was involved in assisting with the budget development. Um
063congratulations. I was at Odyssey the Mine this weekend. Congratulations to all of our OM teams, uh particularly the middle school Mcernney Rivera team, problem two. They're going to be advancing to the state tournament. Congrats to them. Uh, finally, good luck to the middle school this weekend. Into the woods. Into the woods. Uh, the John Productions, I agree, have been great. So, I encourage everybody to come out. Thanks. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Bolino. >> Uh, thank you, Caitlyn. Um, thank you again to Sapphire Elementary Principal Boreello for having us here. Thank you for hosting us. Big thank you to the students that um that came out and participated today. That was great to see. So, thank you very much. Um, thank you to all the presenters today. It's great to hear everything that you got
064to share with us and gives us a lot to uh understand in regarding your budget. So, thank you for for that. Uh, my family and I got to go to The Little Mermaid uh this past weekend. That was great. Um, was amazing production. All the students and the staff involved. They did an outstanding job. I I told my wife who's a director for the for Pine Tree and they're going to be doing uh Finding Nemo soon. I told her to take some notes because they did an outstanding job. Um thank you Zoe for for talking to the students. Um something that most of us don't get to do at any point. So hearing their request helps us to figure out how best to support them. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. trusty know. >>
065I think I've got the pattern now. >> Maybe you do. >> Um, echoing other sentiments, thank you to this whole sapphire community for hosting us tonight and for the lovely um the two songs and this planter. I can't wait to do some spring planting with it. Um, huge congratulations to the North Main um drama team. I mean, The Little Mermaid was was incredible. I was energized from it. But I went Friday night. Looking forward to catching as many of the plays as possible. And um I'm really looking forward to next Thursday, the career day with our eighth graders in the middle school. So can't wait to be a part of that. It will be my third year there and it's always a really fun day. Thank you, >> Dr. Morales. >> Similar to what others
066have said, uh Miss Boriello and Mr. Fischer, thank you so much. Um where are you? There you are. for hosting us tonight. Excellent job, Mr. Davis, Miss Elagio. The excellent job with Little Mermaid. I was able to attend on Saturday and it was definitely the highlight of the day. I look forward to both the middle school and Pine Tree performance. I would not be so bold to tell Miss take notes. I'm sure it will be just as just as wonderful. Uh that is all I have. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Trusty Serial. >> Thank you. Um, I want to thank everyone for the presentations. As I said earlier, I have now I'm finishing up my sixth year on the school board and that by far this last time and today has been the
067best bud budget presentations that I've seen. Um, so kudos to the team, kudos to the directors and everyone who's done all the work on that. It was very efficient and high level but enough detail to really get us to understand it. So, appreciate the fine tuning that's been going on. Um, also loved uh thank you for hosting. Love the two songs. I got to sit right front and center. It was excellent. And again, thank you for hosting because I know it does put a burden on the building when we come, but it I also just love walking into this building because it's a unique building. It's a unique setup. So, um I don't get to come over here. So, this meeting helps to get me here. So, I really appreciate that. Um, I also am
068looking forward to um I'm gonna the Spongebob show at the high school. Um, I have asked for tickets for that. So, we're working on that. And, um, so I'm looking forward to that as well. And, um, keep up the great work. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Trusty. >> Zone defensive. >> It's not hanging out with A-Rod, but um, I absolutely love this building. my children started here. So, it's always great to be back in this building and see it and I hope to join the sneaker club very soon. Um, give you one more try and have a great evening, >> trustee officer. Good evening. Thank you to Sapphire Elementary for hosting us this evening and thank you to our first graders for the lovely planter. It's very fitting for the upcoming
069spring season. It's another event for a week with Old Man Winter. Thank the custodial staff for their continued efforts in ensuring our students were able to safely return to their respective buildings and I look forward to the play that the production this weekend of Into the Woods Jr. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Vayas. >> Thank you Principal Boreal for hosting us. The first graders were amazing. Um, I had a pleasure to see our students at the Odyssey of the Mind. Um, kudos to all the team participated and good luck to the middle school team um, for the next level. >> Dr. Sant, >> thank you Principal Boreello and the Sapphire family for hosting us today. And hola, hello. I love that song. What a beautiful performance by the first graders and their teacher. And
070thank you for this thoughtful gift. On Monday, we went to go visit Smith Clove. Thank you, Dr. Ardle. I'm sorry, don't pronounce it very well. U for the wonderful tour. It's as cozy as I remember it. My kids went through to Smith Clove. And thank you to Dr. Morales, Dr. Hassler, uh the principles, and all the presenters tonight. It was a educational presentation. So, thank you for that. Good evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Cahill. >> Thank you. Uh, I'd like to echo what others have said and I'd like to thank Mrs. Boreello for hosting and the Sapphire community for hosting uh, this evening and all my colleagues for their excellent work in the budget development process. I appreciate that. I know it's a lot. Um, and I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thanks. >>
071Thank you, Dr. Quman. >> Um, thank you to um to Mrs. Bello. Thank you for hosting us. Budget presentation like Mike said was really good, straight to the point. learned a lot. Thank you for answering my questions and I hope everybody is excited about the spring. >> Thank you, Missore. >> All right. Thank you, Sapphire, for having us. Thank you for poting buddies. Super excited for that. So, thank you Congrats to mermaid. I heard that. I'll be going to the middle school into the woods jun this weekend with my best friend because that's one of my top five favorite musicals. So I'm super hyped for that. And that's it. >> Thank you madam vice president. >> Good evening. First of all, thank you to Sapphire and Sporello for hosting us and your students are delightful.
072They really are amazing and thoughtful and these gifts are much appreciated even though I have a poison thumb and I can't play, but I will make sure it ends up with somebody who can. Um, congratulations to all our retirees and new hires and um, I also went to see Little Mermaid, which was amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing Into the Woods, Finding Nemo Jr., and Spongebob. So, in spring. Can I see even Dr. Norman? >> Good evening everyone. I echo all the sentiments that have been shared. But I will add I want to thank the support staff for u getting us here tonight. We were scheduled to be here in December. So this uh this makes twice for you. We want to acknowledge that we know it's not easy but we appreciate you doing it
073and and I think it was worth it. So great job. Um, we've talked about you all the great things that our students are doing. I continue to enjoy the shows, but also want to thank uh the board for acknowledging all the hard work that our people do. What you say does matter. And I kind of alluded to this winter last week, but um the truth of the matter is what I want the public to know is that our people work through these storms around the clock, but then they still come to work the next day because we need them. Um and we've asked a lot of them this winter. And um for you to acknowledge that, you know, I thank you for that. I also want to thank you for supporting me with the Amniscus
074conference that I recently attended this past Sunday. Focused on some topics to include leadership, negotiations, effective uh communication among other topics. So, thank you for your support there. Last, uh just please remember to turn your clocks ahead this upcoming Sunday, March 8th, as we enter daylight saving time. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you. Um, on behalf of the board of education and the administration, we'd like to express our heartfelt condolences to Robert Hermad, the principal at Pineree, on the loss of his father. Our thoughts and our prayers and our sympathies are with you and your family during this very difficult time. Uh, I'd also like to share the sentiments of all of my colleagues and thank Mrs. Borello and the Sapphire team for welcoming us. Um, the first graders are an enjoyment. They are a
075delight. I am going to take the theme of being amazing as the rest of my theme for the spring season. So, thank you for that inspiration and thank you for sharing the talents of your students with us. Um, I also want to give a special shout out to the early 3:00 a.m. morning crew, that is the comm's team, buildings and grounds, safety and security and transportation who have powered through, you know, waking up early to make sure that they do their rounds to make sure that it's safe or not for our students, making sure messaging gets to parents in a timely manner so that they can make important decisions about what to do for their children. Um, so thank you for being morning time warriors. It's not always an easy job and sometimes the behind
076the scenes aren't what is at the forefront, but you are immensely appreciated for the work that you do. So, thank you. Uh, I'd like to thank all of the presenters tonight. As I said previously, um it's not short on us um how much work goes into preparing these presentations to make sure that the public is very well aware of how their tax dollars are being spent and how their children are benefiting from all of the resources that the school has. So, thank you for finding all of the pennies in the couch cushions and for making the most of every dollar that we have to spend to provide the best outcomes to prepare our children for the very vastly changing world that's around them. For giving them opportunities, not only in the instructional space, but in
077the athletic space, in the creative space. It is always very very very appreciated particularly as a parent to know that my children are getting and all of the children of the district are getting such a well-rounded education. So thank each and every one of you for that. Everybody knows that this season is my favorite season. It's like being on Broadway without paying for Broadway. So I also went to see Little Mermaid Jr. with my family and I just want to give a huge shout out to Mr. Davis and Miss Greenblat for being amazing hosts. Miss Fatagio for putting on a phenomenal performance. To know that those are elementary school students. You would not believe it. It was so fantastic. And a little secret, Dr. Hassler, he has a lot of talent in his family. I
078don't know, maybe skip the generation, but his >> it's their mother. Uh, >> but the phenomenal leading lady that was his daughter at the entire show was phenomenal. Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney films and they completely did it justice. A little selfish. My kids are will be in the In the Woods performance this weekend. So, I hope everyone goes out and supports the middle school production of Into the Woods Jr. I am also looking forward to Finding Nemo Jr. and Spongebob. I will also be at career day next week. Uh again, I enjoy this every year to try to talk the next generation of attorneys and law enforcement professionals um into existence. So, I'm definitely looking forward to that. Um and thank you everyone. And I sent the sentiments of Madame VP,
079Father Spring, please come. We are tired of living in a snow globe. And like I said, I'll take this on. So, be awesome for the rest of the week. Have a great night, everybody. Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. Meeting is adjourned.