Monroe-Woodbury Board of Education Regular Meeting - February 25, 2026

001I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the board of education. Today is Wednesday, January 25th. >> Like to stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now for the reading of the mission statement. We are committed to academic achieve. 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 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. Uh questions and comments from

002interested citizens. >> There are none. And now we will move on to budget presentations from the respective directors. First up, uh Patrick Go. Okay, good evening everyone. Uh, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Patrick Cahill. I'm the assistant superintendent for business management services here at Conor Woodbury. And tonight we are kicking off the uh public component of the budget development process. and we're going to be talking about uh the I'd say the non-instructional operational components or areas departments of the budget this evening. Um with me tonight is Andre Rudiac the director of buildings and grounds, Joseph Trapoto, the director of safety and security, Jesse Lazar, the director of transportation, and Barav Vas the assistant superintendent for compliance and information systems. And I'll just couch this uh put this in perspective

003to say the budget is still in process. Uh we have not finalized all the numbers. There are components which we're still working on especially those related to staffing and that sort of thing. So things can change but but this is sort of the first blush the first look at some of the uh non-instructional uh departments. So this is our agenda for this evening. We'll be talking about the budget at a high level and talking about some of the issues that are affecting uh next year's budget. We'll be reviewing the tax cap, everyone's favorite part of the presentation. And finally, we'll talk about revenue and state aid. Uh we'll go into buildings and grounds, safety, security, central printing, data processing, computer assisted instruction, library media, and finally wrap up with transportation. So, every year I like

004to kind of go through and talk about some of the uh budget challenges and developments uh that we're encountering. And uh the good news I think this year is that there's nothing dramatic or problematic in this year's budget. Uh the first bullet I have here is the bus bus purchase, the interfund transfer to capital uh which is at the end of the budget and uh that's something we do every year. We have a bus replacement program and uh in in the past we would generally replace I would say 8 to 10 buses each year as part of the the equipment in the bus replacement program. We've scaled that back a little bit uh as we've outsourced certain runs and use contractors or various things. But uh the the challenge if you will or question for

005this upcoming uh budget cycle is the zero emission bus. That's what ZEB stands for, mandate, and the zero mission bus uh transition plan. So, we've talked about that a lot. Uh as the law currently stands, any new bus purchase after July 1st of 2027 should be electric for all intents and purposes, zero emission. Uh so, what does that involve? Well, it involves uh the purchase of relatively more expensive bus. Uh so for instance for our type of bus um we were operating on the assumption it would be about 425,000. A typical bus is more like 200,000. Um we recently got some actual quotes about our would be our first electric vehicle and bus. Uh it was 534,000. Uh we we went through the process of having a fleet electrification study done with in concert with

006our our architect CPL and uh the New York State uh energy research and development authority NAERTA. And uh they it was intended to provide sort of a roadmap for the transition and and you know part of that is a pretty substantial capital investment to essentially reconfigure our entire bus garage like the entire area would be reconfigured to um have charging stations, additional infrastructure for that. Um just the entire layout of the uh area would change. So it's a big deal and and right now we're still this is part of the work in process in the budget. We're still sort of grappling with the big picture budget. How what's the size of the increase in the budget? Uh where where are we changing and how much can we sort of afford in the uh the bus

007purchase area. Another big thing, there's a little more certainty here is the increase in premiums to our health insurance plan. So the district participates with approximately 20 other districts in the Orange Olter school district health plan. So, it's a consortium of school districts and we self-insure rather than purchase uh health insurance product in the open marketplace. We use a provider for a network. We pay claims. Uh and so it's a self- insurance process. And the advantage of self- insurance is there's there's no profit. We're not earning a profit. We can reinvest any profits that a regular insurance company would earn to lower the premiums or enhance the benefits for the uh the membership. So the the U health plan the last few years the rate increases have been relatively modest. I would say somewhere in

008the you know 3 to 4% range we've seen kind of a spike in medical claims and we've seen a even a larger spike in the RX which is the pharmacy component of it and it's largely due to the GLP1 drugs. Um it's one of the theories. uh just to put it into context the I I have up there I won't read it all but the individual health plans about 15,000 a year two person is 33,000 a year family is 39,000 we have a new category a fourth category which is a family of six or more people and again to sort of put it in context um right now the an employee of the district pays you know somewhere between I'd say 12 and 15% you know uh for that and the district picks up the

009remainder of that. So, um although it's it seemed like a relatively large increase, 7% it's it's sort of in line with health inflation rates I think in the economy generally and it's still well below. I have NISHIP that's what the acronym NY SHIP New York State Health Insurance Plan. It's one of the plans that school districts and municipalities use the state uses. So the rates of the OU health plan are still below the NICHA premium. So we're doing well. We're managing the plan well. Uh we're intervening when we can to uh find cost savings. And you know part of the 7% increase is to align the revenues of the health plan with the expenses. So we're seeing the expenses go up and we're trying to avoid a larger spike in premiums down the road. Uh

010special education. So this is non-payroll. So, we're going to talk about payroll in two meetings later in in March. Uh, but we're seeing an increase of about 1.3 million there. Uh, in terms of the retirement systems, the district participates with the teachers retirement system and the state, New York State and local retirement system. So, TRS and ERS. So, there's some good news on the TRS front where we're seeing a a small decrease in the rate. And and just to put it in context again, the employer contribution rate is a contribution we have to make to the retirement system. So for every dollar that a TRS member earns, and TRS would be the teachers and administrators, certificated staff for the current year, we're contributing about 9.6 cents. Uh so that's the good news. We're seeing a

011relatively small decrease. You know, we'll also see salaries go up a little bit next year, so that may be a wash. Um, but we're seeing a small increase in the ERS rates from 18 to 20%. Uh, decreasing interest rates. I put this up there. It's related to the revenue side of the equation. And I'm going to talk later on about appropriations and revenue. You know, two sides to the budget, which should be in balance. So, last few years, we actually reviewed some of these these items in our audit committee. The uh interest rate revenue has been decent. Actually, I think last year was about $4 million. And when you look at it in a historical context, you know, 4 million is is quite high relative to what it was, you know, five or six years

012ago. We're we're seeing uh decreasing inflation and rates in the economy. So, we're projecting revenue to decrease for next year. Uh the transfer to capital, so transfer to capital again is at the end of the budget. And so, there's a transfer to capital for capital projects and that's what I'm talking about here. And there's also a transfer to capital for bus purchases. So here we're talking about adding, which we've done, 500,000 to replace the boiler at the Haramman Center. So the uh I won't go into it too deeply, but but let's just say that we're we're operating on a backup boiler, which is very old. Uh and uh we're going to keep the building and and repurpose the building. It needs to have heat. You know, it's one of the basic elements. You know, we

013talked about this with the capital program. Uh the roof needs to be solid. The heat has to be on. The building components need to be uh functional and operational. So that's part of the budget as well. And I've talked about this in the past. Capital projects in New York State have to have voter approval. So the residents of the community have to approve that. But by including it in the general fund budget and discussing it as we will, we'll talk about it a little bit more as we get further into the process. uh when the voters authorize or approve the general fund budget, they also authorize the capital project. So that's another way to have uh capital projects approved. Um I have up here use of debt service reserves. So the district has uh had

014some funding and 1.2 million is the final part of this in a debt service reserve believe it or not related to the construction of the high school. And so at some point in the distant past, they issued serial bonds. They had money, they borrowed money, and the expense uh was less than what they had borrowed. And what you have to do by law is put that excess into a debt service reserve and then use that reserve to pay down the debt service associated with the capital project. So we're about to pay off the high school, retire the debt associated with that next year. So, we're we're applying the final part of the debt service reserve against that in the budget. So, that's good news that would offset um increases in the budget and and help

015us lower the tax limit. And then the final piece, this is more of aformational element uh is New York State's initiative to expand the UPK program. So, at the state level, it's a funding increase of 53%, 561 million. And the goal is to make UPK truly universal. Uh, and those, I think, are the the governor's words, or not my words, for all four-year-olds, uh, by the start of 2029. And, uh, the the per pupil amount, they're saying it's going to go up to around $10,000. And we're still sort of looking at that. It's a fairly fairly big increase. um to see if that will cover truly cover the full cost of the program. Um but that's something that the state is pushing and um it seems like um you know it will become law. Um

016and again the way this I'll talk a little bit more about this with state aid. The way this works is these are part of the governor's budget proposals, right? And the the final state budget and uh I guess really just the budget is approved and authorized by April 1. So it typically happens later in March. So this is the first sort of blush. Now lately the governor's proposal typically in in pretty similar form uh is what is generally enacted. In other years there was a little bit more of a back and forth between the governor and the state legislature. But you know this year this uh we have you know pretty high confidence most of these things will happen. So that is the big picture budget development challenges cost drivers etc in next year's budget.

017Any questions or anything anybody wants to >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um with the zero emission buses at 534,000 a piece, you're saying that um we have to purchase regular buses before July of next year and then we're supposed to be doing the zero emissions. Uh the law as it stands now, Michael, is that any new buses purchased after July 1st, 2027 must be zero emission electric. So, we still are able to p purchase, you know, internal combustion engine buses. And there's actually um there's actually talk, I think it's actually law, where we can apply for a 2-year exemption, so it pushes the 2027 out to 2029. Now, you have to demonstrate that you've made sort of a good faith effort to comply. And I think there are also some uh some rumblings or some

018things some proposals I've heard to even push it out further like five years from two years to five years. >> Thank you. Um the other thing is how how many years does a typical bus last? Would it why I'm asking that is would it be good to in do a a front-loaded investment while you can if you get a few more years lead time? >> So >> and by that you mean buy more? buy more of the standard ones now. >> Yeah. They typically last about 10 years. >> 10 years. So that that is a strategy. Yes. >> Yeah. Well, as I said, we haven't we haven't finalized the decisions on the uh Okay. >> the bus purchase, >> but I know that that could be an option to just kind of because I know

019the electrical infrastructure is a huge component of that. >> Yes, for sure. >> Good. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. And as I said, everybody's favorite slide, the 2% tax cap. So, so I will be brief on this. Uh, but the two 2% tax cap, hard to say, is a limit on the annual growth in property taxes taxes levied by local governments in New York State. So, it's applicable to counties, towns, cities, uh, villages, and school districts. And we go through this process, this formula to come up with the maximum allowable levy and there is an override mechanism. Uh so for school districts, we have to have 60% uh plus one voter to override the cap. So in other words, if we went through this whole process, it's it's pretty rare when school districts do

020that, but and we said we have to exceed the cap for whatever for whatever reason. You're you're able to do that. uh but you need uh you know a 60% plus one voter um you know authorization to make that happen. There are exclusions. I'll walk through the process. Uh capital is the major exclusion. Capital expenditures net of any uh state aid. So um I I won't go through every step in it because I know this is uh you know a little little tedious but you begin with the prior year tax levy which is current year levy. Uh and I have a typo there. It says 2425. I should say 25 26 we apply the tax base growth factor which is basically a factor that accounts for I would say new construction in the uh in

021the community they don't want to limit that if there's a major factory or mall or something that's constructed they want you to be able to capture that uh that tax base so that's what that tax base growth factor does so ours is about a third of 1% you know um 34% so relatively low last year a little bit higher uh we add the prior year payments in lie of taxes. So that's what the pilot is. We deduct last year's exemptions um which is basically capital levy. We have our adjusted prior year levy and that's when we apply the allowable growth factor the the 2% and and it's 2% or consumer price index whichever is less. So it can never be more than 2%. And I've talked about this in the past. For many years, this

022was in place. Uh, and inflation was very low. You know, we enjoyed relatively low inflation for a long period of time. COVID hit, inflation started to increase and it's been sticky. And and so that's where the 2% cap has been more of a problem. When you have, you know, in inflation that's three or more than 3%, you're limited to a 2% increase on the tax levy. Uh so to continue the formula, we deduct the pilots for the upcoming year. We have our tax levy limit and then we add in the exemptions or exclusions and for us it's about 1.5 million, a little lower than last year and that's again related to our bus purchase program less any transportation aid associated with that. and the debt service um that we have less any building aid and

023so that net number is 1.5 million and there's no carryover. The carryover carryover would be if we had we had carryover actually last year if we levied below the tax levy limit you're able to carry that forward. There is there is none for this year. So our maximum allowable levy is 136.3 million or 2.26%. So about two and a quarter percent is our tax cap for next year. Uh look at the the other column there for um for the current year. The cap was 3.55% but yet our actual levy increase was only 1 and a.5%. And this is the state aid run. You may have heard that expression, the state aid reports that come out with the governor's uh budget proposal and uh you know sort of antiquated looking report and it has every school

024district in New York State and I'll just point to this. So obviously this is Monro Woodbury and the upper half of this column is showing the current year state aid and I pointed I have an arrow pointing to foundation aid which is the primary general form of aid operational aid for the school district. Um, and it the upper half shows the current year and the lower half shows the estimated AIDS for the 26 27 year. And I'm going to go to another slide that shows this a little more clearly. When you look at this though, it it can be a little misleading because currently and in the past they've included uh universal pre kindergarten and uh what they did last year was actually include the maximum amount we could possibly receive if we serviced every

025four-year-old in the district. So it was a little misleading. It still is a little misleading because if you look at the upper half of that column shows UPK as 662, 434 and a,100,000 for next year. So that would be if that that uh UPK initiative that I mentioned on the slide a couple slides before actually was was in effect. And it's also a little misleading because universal prek it's not accounted for in the general fund the way these other aids are. I don't want to get too wonky with the accounting, but it it's accounted for with the other grants. So, it it's really not even part of this, but the state includes it. Um, you know, and I understand why, but we we generally back it out. So, let me just go to the next

026slide. So, this is showing our projection for state aid next year. And you can see uh the foundation aid, as I mentioned, is up about $3 million, uh, which is a good fairly good increase. uh some of the other aids, the Boseis aid, the hardware, technology, software, transportation, those are aids, they're expense-based aids, so they're aids based on what we spend in the current year and we would then receive aid uh there's usually a ratio applied in the subsequent year. So there's some uncertainty with these forms of aid and uh the the actual way it works is the expense-based aids that we see here are based on what we thought at the beginning of this fiscal year as we reported our our results from the prior year what we thought we would spend in this

027year. So I you know you see these newspaper articles you see hey here's the state aid run. It's an estimate and there can be there can be a variance in it and in other years we've made adjustments to that based you know the aid projections the estimates based on variances uh we've done something similar for this year u but as I go down the line re really foundation aid is one of the more stable aids but even that we we noticed a a pretty big deviation from the governor's state aid run to where we are today almost a million dollars so uh I won't go through everything but the the high cost excess cost and private access cost aids. Those are aids related to uh uh special education and there can be a lot of

028variance with those. Sorry about that. Um the hardware and technology software library textbook those are also known as instructional materials aid. So again those are spend it you get it in the next year. Transportation aid is um is related to obviously transportation. We're receiving about 70% back for transportation expenditures. So although we've seen transportation expenses go up in the last I would say five to six years, the upside of that is we're receiving more uh transportation aid. There can be that's a pretty big swing um from 15.3 million to 18.1. We have seen increases in transportation contract transportation. Jesse will talk about that more. Uh but that's one that we you know look at closely because there can be variance. Uh high tax aid that's very static 1.6 million year after year. building aid. Again,

029that's based on capital construction. And as I said, our our um debt service is being retired next year. We're going to bring on some new debt service with our existing capital program, but this building aid will go down, too. And you notice for next year, it's actually decreased by five $512,000. A and then final line here is the MW state aid adjustment. and and I just alluded to that a moment ago. That adjustment literally is a change from the governor's proposal in mid January uh of almost a million dollars. So bottom line, uh the budgettobudget increase in state aid and its budget-to-budget is 5.7 million or about 6.1%. So uh not bad. Um and again, it's a budget-to-budget comparison. go back to that other uh report and and study that. That's actually what we're going

030to receive this year compared to what is we're estimated to receive next year. So, it's a little misleading. So, we always do a budgettobudget comparison. Any questions there? >> Yeah, one question. Looking at the universal PK, how come we getting the least amount of school? >> Can you say that again, sir? I'm sorry. So 2026 27 steady 88 reports uh universal prek I'm looking at the number that we receive as a school district and that number is decimal compared to everybody else. Why is that? >> Did did you say it's different? >> This is minimum. >> Well it has to do with how many students we're serving. You're talking about this uh let's see this report here. So this number >> 662,000 versus >> I mean the size of the school district is second largest.

031>> Yeah. >> And then or the amount of money we get from the UPK is >> well it's it's based on the number of pupils being served right now. >> But don't we always say that we need more? >> Pardon? >> Don't we always say that we need more? >> I'm having a hard time hearing you. Can Can you speak to the microphone? I'm so sorry. Don't we don't we say that we always need more? >> Well, I think I think there are there is a waiting list and uh there are folks that would like to uh participate in the program and I think that's something that we're looking at for next year expanding that especially in the context of the additional uh state aid that may be available. >> Yeah. And so let me

032just chime in with that. We are expanding and yes uh that number what you see does not fully fund UPK. In other words, the money that's allocated is not dollar for dollar. So in order to access that money, in other words, we have to spend money. So it comes with a cost. >> Anything else? >> Okay, >> Patrick, I do have a quick question. Um, where is federal aid stand right now? >> Where does it stand >> from a budget standpoint and producing the budget for this coming year? >> Uh, we have not seen a big change in the the federal grants that we receive. >> Okay. >> You know, based on the political climate at the national level really is nothing nothing dramatic has happened. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else on this slide?

033Okay. Okay. Uh, so I'll speed it up a little bit. I'm going a little longer than I wanted to. I apologize. So, uh, this is the budget triangle and I, uh, Dr. Hassler's favorite slide in in the deck. Uh, so this represents or attempts to represent sort of a graphical picture of a a budget imbalance, right? And the balance uh, the equality is revenue and appropriations. And appropriations is nothing more than a fancy name for our budget. So on the left hand side here we have our revenue. So that was our state aid we just reviewed uh 100.3 million. There's a handful of miscellaneous forms of aid that go into our budget. Uh health services, tuitions we charge others, you know, various fees for facilities use and the like. Uh so that's uh 5.2 million.

034We're using a tax levy here uh 136.3 million. So that's in line with the tax cap that we just looked at 2.2%. So we have total revenues and this is all hypothetical at this point work in process of uh 241.9 million. We go over to our appropriation side. We begin here with the current year budget 236.7 million. We apply again hypothetical budget-to- budget increase of 3 and a.5%. The budget would be the appropriations would be 245.045 million. So in that hypothetical scenario here, it creates a budget gap or or an inequality between the revenues and the uh and the appropriations. And so a gap like this occurs every year uh occurs at the state level. New York City, you know, is grappling or was grappling with something like this. And you close the gap in

035a few ways. Maybe you use every one of the levers. We close the gap by uh using fund balance, assigning fund balance which would occur at the end of this year as surplus monies. Um we could change our revenue projections fund balance. Another type of fund balance is reserves. It's called restricted fund balance. We use reserves and that's the nature of reserves. The rainy day fund. So you use those reserves um you know when you need them when other expenses are up um or by cost cutting to the budget itself. So there's multiple ways to to close that gap and in this hypothetical example we you know probably utilize all those things and that's typically what we do and based on that revenue and the appropriations at the base of the triangle we have our

036instructional program. Um so that is that uh the other thing I like to quickly go through I call this anatomy of a budget code. I know some folks have seen this before. You have uh budget reports in board docs tonight. You're going to get more reports uh as we do more presentations. So this is uh the anatomy of a budget code. It's prescribed by the chart of accounts of New York State. So the first four digits of the budget code deals with the functional area of the budget. And you notice up here I have buildings and grounds is 1620. We're going to hear about that in a moment. Safety security is 1622 and so on. The object code is the next three digits in the budget code and that deals with the the object of

037the expenditure. So any any object code that begins with a one deals with salary. Equipment begins with a two. A Bosei services code is a 490 and so forth. The location code is a two two position code in the budget code and that's specific to the to the district. And so for Monro Woodbury 01 is our high school, two is our middle school and so on. And finally, the program code is the last four digits of a budget code. And that is again specific enables you, for instance, in Monro Woodbury, we have 4200 as math. So I could run a budget report and just have 4200 as the program code. Everything else would be we called it a wild card in DOS, a question mark, and I could see all the budget codes and all

038the numbers associated with math expenditures in the budget. So that's the idea of the program code. So, quick overview, upcoming key budget dates. So, we on March 1, we submit the tax cap information to the Office of State Controller. March 4th, next week, right around the corner, we're going to do another budget presentation dealing with some instructional items, the instructional components of the budget. On the 18th, we have personnel and benefits. Uh, April 8th, superintendent's budget recommendation. The uh projected adoption date by the board would be April 21. And we also uh would be voting on the Bosey's budget on that day. Uh public budget hearing May 6th. We mail a budget notice outformational u pamphlet to residents. And then the important date here is the uh statewide budget vote date. So it's a statewide

039date on May 19th. So any further questions? >> I had a quick question. You just to go back to the buses. Really quick, you mentioned the quote for the electric buses was 534,000 per bus. What is what is the cost of a current bus right now? >> An ordinary Yes. >> Internal combustion engine >> about 210,000 to 230 depending on the equipment that we get with it. So if we have compartment air conditioning vans are a little bit cheaper, but >> a range of 210 to >> 210 to 230 was the answer. And then do we know what the the fuel and maintenance costs over 10 years are for it? >> We haven't run. >> We we we have a study. >> No, I understand. We we uh went through and had a it's a

040fleet electrification plan study and um that was done which goes into the cost to operate. It goes into the financial component, goes into the routing analysis, operational analysis, capital expenditure required. Uh it it goes into the grants and some of the you know the other financing that's available. Like that's literally what makes this even close to what we currently how we currently operate. Um and that is part of it as well. like you know the the the conjecture is you know over time the operating costs would be lower and less right >> and and that in the long run um you know it's it helps the environment and there'll be no cost impact in general school buses are a very good application of this technology because they operate for periods of time and then they

041rest then they're idle and then they operate for periods of time again and they're idle. So, it's actually a good application of the technology. It's not all fully fleshed out. I mean, there's there are so many layers to the problem. One of the things we we got this new newer quote. We compared it to the report that we had. We contacted our architect who did it and and part of that was they assumed a different style of bus than we use. We use is it a D, Jesse? is it's a flat front DB bus and right now the technology is such that they have the the the lowest capacity, the smallest battery. So there's a lot of you know sort of issues to to work through on this but I I I could share that

042report uh actually with you and we could discuss a little further offline. >> Sure. Okay. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Anything else? Okay. Awesome. So, we have a little more. I apologize if I went long. I'm going to turn it over to Andre Rudiac, our director of buildings and grounds. >> Good evening. Uh, thank you for letting me up. >> Good evening. Uh, thank you for letting me present the buildings and ground budget for 2026 2027 school year. I would like to begin with saying thank you to my entire department for going above and beyond every single day for their knowledge for their expertise and the for their support the entire district and myself. So thank you all for wonderful job that you guys all do. Uh going to the department overview with staffing

043currently we have 79 positions in my department and we're not changing that for next year. So we're maintaining the same staff for our department operation and maintenance overview. So, the custodial staff cleans roughly 1 million square feet nightly, which equals to 333,000 square ft houses or six 3,000t houses per staff member with 229 acres maintained by eight ground staff or 29 acres per person in addition to preparing the playing fields for school and community sports. With over $1,260,000 square feet, our maintenance staff preserves the district investment in facilities that helps and contributes to the education mission by ensuring facilities are comfortable, safe and secure, which helps students, teachers and staff to reach their potential. I would like to highlight some projects that we did in this past year 202526. It was a very busy year

044for my department. So, in the high school, we upgrade the high school library with the new carpet, painting, and the furniture. The boys locker room. We replace the lockers, the rubber tiles. We replacing two staircases in the high school from A level all the way down to D. A new scoreboard was installed in the large gym. The new boilers were installed in the high school as well. In the middle school, we the entire middle school campus was paved and restriped. A new gym floor was installed and the walls were painted. New bleachers were installed in the gym. Window screens were installed and window AC units were installed in Central Valley Elementary. The new playground was built. The new lights and projector screen were installed in auditorial stage. Window AC units were installed. New playground section

045was fenced off. U that's part of the dressy part where students will use in the spring and the summer since we took the parking lot off for construction project. Right now, a new security vestibule was built and the new smoke detectors were added to the firearm system. In Pine Tree, the new security vestibule was built, a new playground was built, window AC units were installed, and the new smoke detectors were added to the fire alarm system. At Smith Clove, a new security vestibule was built. A new playground was built. A new handicap ramp behind the building was built. New boilers were installed. New floor was installed in one classroom. Window AC units were installed. Smoke detectors were added to the fire alarm system. In North Main Elementary, the carpet walls were replaced with sheet track.

046A new playground was built, window AC units was installed, the front facade of the building was fixed, and the teacher land was renovated. At Sapphire, a new security vestibule was built, a new playground was built, a new floor in the kitchen was installed, and a window AC units were installed. Three buildings, Michael computer center, bus garage and grounds garage, a new firearm was installed. At the Harman Center, we paint first and second floor. The back parking lot was paved and restriped and the smoke detectors were added to the fire alarm system. At the education center, a smoke detectors were added to the firearm system. The capital project which started in May of 2025 is still in the work in progress. It should be finished and ready for moving in by June of 2026. It looks

047great. I love it. Uh we upgraded BMS system uh of Seamus and Hanwell districtwide. It's a system that is responsible for heating and ventilation in all the buildings we were operating or Niagara software which was from 1990 that software was no longer supported by seammens. Same with Honeywell. So we had to operate. So right now high school and the middle school is completely run by Seammens uh the Ziggo which is a new program. So we finished with that project as well. Uh we continue to oversee our 2526 capital project and are working with the architects and construction managers for the next phase of the capital project. Proposed renovations for this upcoming year at the high school in room 134. We're proposing to replace the cabinets and the countertops in the middle school to replace the

048water softener that is barely functioning. Smith cloth also to replace the water softener at Sapphire classroom 2011 and 202 floor replacement and the front sidewalk to be replaced. Uh going back to buildings and ground 1620 budget code overview um we all see the numbers. I would like to highlight a couple things. So 2000 budget code which is utilities that's where we have natural gas, electric, water, sewer, trash removal, all those in the cold. We're using the company called Epex. They helping us with the projection and estimate of a usage and the cost associated with it. And this year the cost associated with utilities is going up a lot. So it's 8.14% which is dollar change value is $262,53. The second one is the maintenance 1800 code. You see the change of 3.69% which is $76,73.

049The reason in changing that as well, we bought seven brand new boilers which requires preventive maintenance agreement with train company to install the boilers. They will tune the boilers before the season, mid-season and also do the water cleaning for those boilers which is crucial for those boilers to maintain them operational. Overall, the 2627 budget proposed is $6,960,272 which is 2.16% increase and dollar change is $147,256. With that said, our budget goal for 2026 27 is to continue to maintain the high level of cleanness and maintenance in the district facilities, maintain the capital investment in district facilities and the fields and continue to work on the capital project which is really going to ramp up this summer and I I don't even want to think about next summer. Um, with all that said, if there's any

050questions. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, good evening. As Patrick said, my name is Joe Trapoto and uh for those of you who I have not had the pleasure to meet, I am your director of security. On behalf of the district safety department, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present our budget. To give you a little overview overview, I'll start with our staffing and experience. We have uh 59 full and part-time safety officers. Approximately half of them are retired from previous law enforcement careers. Many of our safety officers are bilingual and assist with interpreting. And all of our safety officers are AED and CPR certified. Our key responsibilities, we provide safety officers and a school resource officer at all seven schools as well as assigning

051a safety officer to the education center. Coordinate and supervise student arrival and dismissal procedures. Coordinate with first responders during emergencies. Provide coverage for athletic events both home and away. Extracurricular activities, meetings, summer school, summer crusaders, and the summer spell program. In operational support, we recover missing Chromebooks, handd deliver administrative letters to parents, deposit cafeteria money, and finance department receipts, conduct investigations, wellness checks, and residency verification. And we enhance district situational awareness. Our mission is to promote student achievement through a friendly, safe, orderly, and healthy school environment. On security systems and technology, we operate the visitor management system. management manage the administrative component to anonymous alerts. Monitor, document, save, and export video footage from the district's 369 security cameras. Distribute, manage, and oversee the district's 342 handheld digital radios cover the budgeting and distribution of the

052Yonder pouches. Recent emergency preparedness enhancements. We have completed the CRG mapping which provides us with precise location and identification in all of our schools. These CRG maps are integrated with the Orange County Emergency 911 Center as well as our local first responders. And lastly, some upcoming initiatives. We are presently installing Centix's Crisis Alert, which will provide all of our staff and teachers with a wearable mobile panic button. And one more project will be the uh day our project with day automation which will give us Vicata LPR cameras at our districts. As far as our numbers go, our $816,200 budget is $149,450 less than last year and that's due to the upfront cost to Centiggics and Yonder were covered in our last budget. Most of our other lines remains the same. With that, any questions? No,

053thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Um as our mission statement indicates that the academic achievement and success for all students in safe environment. Um technology plays an integral role in that supporting that mission statement. Um I want to start with um thanking our students, staff, educ uh uh teachers, administrators, board of education and and my colleagues and Dr. Norman to support that technology when it's used right can change the trajectory of our students. Um and it is extremely important to understand that because it has pros and so does the cons. Um what does the technology department functions? Um this chart shows this this graphic shows that there are four integral component of the technology u data network hardware and instructional. Under the data, we support a variety of different tools in terms of

054student information systems, the accountability, the data privacy, backup, data migration, um, and ultimately the EDLA 2D, the network. This is where the majority of sometimes our time goes. cyber security, variety of different hardware support, infrastructure, um, MDM policies, our hardware, continuously improvising what we have, what our students have, keep a trajectory of what is the hardware market looks like in not just today, next three years, next five years, what are the support of the devices that we have, how can we enhance it, enhance that device usage uh without enhancing too much in terms of the financial cost. instructional um New York State uh computer science and digital frequency standards, professional learning activities, um instructional support and ultimately the student support. Overall, the technology budget uh is a cohesive approach working with the teachers, technology committee,

055technology coaches, building administrators, union representation along with my two colleagues of instruction, Dr. Morales and Dr. uh Dr. Hassler and my other colleagues. Um it is a cohesive support. It starts the process starts around November December timeline and it works out way what tools we have how are we using these tools what is the usage of the each educational tools tools looks like um do we need those educational tools um what are the better tools out there the same logic applies in terms of the hardware as well and with the continuous improvement of this process the total budget puts together present to cabinet ultimately to Dr. Orman as a district superintendent and then to you some of the technology initiatives that we are currently working and it will continue um as a part of the

056next year as well. Distraction free learning. This is where the big kudos to our students. Um last year this was um a law actually uh in a way but it started with the interesting initiative and not many of us were sure how it's going to play out but the big shout out to our students parents and our high school and middle school team and their teachers. This is something that we took not knowing how it's going to play out and it's really really working very well. We have a strong partnership with Yonder company. We meet with their consultant frequently. They come on site. They visit our schools. They look at our processes and they actually match our current processes with their best practices. They provide recommendation and kudos to middle school and high school team.

057They implement those recommendation. The big piece also is Mr. Totto and his team also the security officer plays the role. Now if you have a student in a high school and middle school, you have seen them. It's a welloiled machine. That was not the case on day one. We actually had I remember still 27 minutes late the first day. Now it's very normal process for us. So this is a this is when all of us to come together. This is the power of doing it right. We still have some interesting process in place. We are looking to go out on a survey in in April May timeline. We continuously monitor the data. We we work with our student uh um student team that we meet through Dr. Norman and uh my colleagues um they provide

058us the support and and suggestion and feedback and we continuously improvise the process. Um we continue to enhance the steam initiative by adding 3D printers um and and then look at the different usage of that 3D printing. Um we started last a year before last year the do multiffactor authentication. We continue to enhance our cyber security. All our instructional staff and majority of the non-instructional staffs um have the do multiffactor authentication. Board members, you are next. So it's coming soon. Um device replacement, we have a robust replacement cycle plan. We follow that as closely as possible. When we invest in upgrading the device in a timely manner, we gets benefit of providing the latest and greatest technology not to our staff but also to our students. So there is a value to enhance and continuously

059improvise that infrastructure upgrade. All this technology looks good provided that we have a robust infrastructure. Um so we continuously enhance um our wireless access point. This year we replace a variety of different schools. Um middle school, high school, central valley we upgraded to the latest Cisco access point. The next year we are looking to upgrade the Sapphire Smith Clo Pine Tree um and a portion of Northmine. uh that will enhance the the capacity of wireless access point enhances the uh productivity ultimately better connectivity. We also look at the uninter uninterpretable power supplies. Um this is kind of connected to uh to the to the weather as well like what is the uptime of our current infrastructure and how do we enhance the uptime um ultimately when we get the generator that's a different conversation but

060that's really where we are going um to enhance the current capacity to make sure the infrastructure stay up as much as possible. Cyber security we we our strategy is defense in the depth. Um we have a layer of the cyber security approach. So it's not just the one tool or one solution that will catch something. Um we work to the different layer of the approach whether it's a community we uh we follow the variety of different communities um that are are either on the dark web or on the on the right web in terms of what's out there what is the current political environment looks like. Sometimes when the political environment is not light we all of a sudden see an uptick in in some of the attacks. So we continuously monitor that. We also

061monitor best practices. We are a part of a national group called MSI isac um and it's connected to the CISA which is the cyber insurance and infrastructure agencies. We continuously monitor that threat level and then adjust the practice based on the recommendation. Um we enhance our risk management. Um this is our second year of doing uh the the CIS control. Uh this year we have just finished actually the six the the six to 12 CI 7 to two one to six 7 to 14 the CIS controls and this is the second year in a row that we do not have any significant recommendation. So that is the kudos to all of us. Cyber security is not just behind the scene technology responsibility. It is everybody's responsibility. So when you get those pesky fishing campaign email

062that's important to understand and learn that it is a part of your enhancing by identifying and not clicking and inputting your information. Continuous improvement on the network devices and infrastructure. We monitor that what data we give it to our to our third party vendors. What is their sock through compliance? What information that they follow? Are they are they at allow 2D compliant? So this is a continuous improvement. Our purpose always is to identify the gaps and then can we mitigate the gap? If we cannot mitigate the gap, can we buy more insurance um to to support that gap as well? We continue to monitor the data privacy and and adlaw 2D compliance piece. Um we have continuously doing the EDL u disaster recovery and incident response plan. We used to do this every two to

063three years. Now we do every year because cyber security is changing very quickly as the AI infusion is coming along on a positive side. There is always an other side of that as well. So we have seen now seeing the the sophisticated attack um that allows us to to mitigate the attack but also enhances our disaster recovery and incident response plan. We follow the NIST uh cyber security framework um along with their assessment and then recommendation fishing campaign for our students and staff. We are one of the very very few school district who provide the fishing campaign and do the fishing campaign to our students as well. Lot of organization do that for our staff but we are also equally um at the risk if the student click something on that. So even though the

064student fishing u open rate is higher the value is in educating every single person who has pretty much the mailbox. We continue to monitor the mandatory cyber security training for all the staff members including the board members um as well and that help us to enhance the cyber security and and every time we bring the new software or new tool we add that through the data privacy and add law 2D what type of the information that they're collecting where is that information is stored is it onrem is it offsite is it even US is it the data center is in outside the US so we consider all those different perspective before we sign up the paperwork and then start giving them the data. So all this information ultimately support the the four different budget codes

065in technology. So 2630 instructional we have the increase uh in the 3.89%. We are looking to add a couple of solutions in in this one. One of the big one is the passport for good. Um that is going to enhance to tracking the portfolio and the hours for our middle school and high school. We've been piloting it this year. Our go our expectation is our or our goal is to go live come next year. Data processing um it's a 3.94% increase and this is directly related to the increased price of the hardware. Um I'm sure you are aware about not only tariff but there is a shortage of the the hard drives the the memories the CPUs that is a kind of an interesting side well not as interesting is a it is an interesting

066side effect of AI AI um boom. So we are seeing that the the Chromebook that we used to buy just about 250 now it cost 30% more. We are very proactive in in ordering the equipment um and then making sure that we have enough on hand in case of there is any disaster or issues. However eventually this cost is going to catch up. Uh so that cost the increase is directly related to the to the increased hardware cost. Library media um our our library media specialist Kathy uh Gartner she's in the audience as well. Thank you Kathy for your support. They do a really amazing job of making um overall library as the media hub to us. Um there is a 3.0 there is a three 3% increase in that central printing we're doing very

067well. Um we have a fleet of copiers that we monitor. We continuously negotiate with our vendor by looking at the report on monthly and a quarterly basis. We we we see the the usage what are we printing and and sometimes even the cost of the printing is a little bit higher because of the different programs we try to negotiate uh with our vendors because we are a big district and we do enjoy the benefit of that bargaining support from the different vendors. Khan Alta is our uh service provider u and they're doing a really good job to supporting us as well. In fact there is a decrease in in in that line um because of proactive nature of working relationship with with them. Also big shout out to all our teachers who's sending a more

068jobs to central printing not just the local copier. So overall in technology budget it is an increase of 3.46% increase. This slide shows us the technology landscape. I'm not going to read to to you the whole thing but think about the total number of device. We are actually one of the top five network in terms of the size in the orange county. We have just about 10,000 what we call nodes or or the total devices on our network. Um and it's a not too long ago this number was just about 4,000. Um so something significant. We also monitor support um and provide the ultimately the the support to all the different atte uh solutions help desk. So how do we enhance always the the customer support perspective? We try we monitor u and log pretty

069much all the tickets that come through and sometime my my colleagues make a fun about it hey just open a ticket but that's another way for us to enhance is how many tickets are open what is our response time do we see a common theme in terms of number of tickets that are coming and all this helps us to track our own performance but also the customer service perspective that how good or not so good we are in terms of providing support to our students and teachers just the comparison of the the two number last year was 63 and a change similar 64.88 88. Um and then the bottom line shows about the the students and staff high school health desk. This is one of the the flagship approach for us. This is our fifth

070year in terms of providing the support in 202122 school year. This is really where we were going oneonone and and increasing the devices. There is no way for technology department to support all these devices by themselves. So we came up with the thought process about how do we leverage the support and use the our students at the same time enhancing their career college and career readiness as well. The the program is in the fifth year. We have 22 students now uh that are increasing. Um Zoe mentioned few board meetings before about the help desk with the middle school. We are looking the possibility to expand the the the the help desk currently only at the high school. um see what it looks like for middle school and maybe even some outside organization. What it has

071served us is not only helping us in terms of device but this is ultimately supporting the students. They come they learn they master the process and now we are at the stage that they the the current seniors take the interview of the incoming students. So they also learn the how not to just learn the technical skill but they learn how to give the interview but also how to take the interview. So, it's moving really really in the good uh good uh direction. Big shout out to our high school administration uh and our high school librarians to keep supporting this initiative. Library media, our media are are are really the library media centers are the hub. This is where some of the magic happens. This is the one common place in the entire school that every

072student and every single student visit. So, we continuously enhance that our our K12 circulation. We monitor this number um very well um and and it's keep up uh increasing that. Big shout out to all our librarians to to do an amazing job. We empower our students as the creator. We are enhancing our maker space even though we are at the very early stage of that. It's it's the work in progress in that direction. Um and then leading from the library um our librarian u one of the librarian was the the the speaker in a in a in a national conference. Um we have a a strong strong partnership through Dr. Hassler and library media specialist uh with our public libraries. We enhance with the book fairs um world read aloud day. Last time when we

073had a board meeting it was actually readaloud day and then variety of different PTA events um that we support. Before I take any question I have a short video that will give you just a bird's eye view of what does the technology looks like in Monro Woodbury. Hey, hey, hey. Any questions? I do. Um I think as we all know AI is kind of the next wave of technology. How uh are you managing in terms of helping the students along in terms of learning the tech but keeping the parameters in place not only to keep them honest in an educational environment but also on a cyber security. >> It's a great question. Um so we are we this is our third year of of technology robust technology committee through the technology committee we have developed

074a guidelines in fact that should be posted on our websites as well that is an attempt for us to bring the students in the conversation whether we acknowledge or not students are using AI. Our intention always for last two or three years is empowering our students um through the teachers and and last two u school years we have put a lot of emphasis on the AI and a professional development to for our teachers not only our teachers our support staff as well because this is not just instructional tool it enhances the productivity as well however when it comes to the instruction the appropriate path is guiding the students So for example um one of our teacher Mr. Garan he teaches cyber security and computer programming here his first day lesson looks like hey here is

075the guidelines for AI let's go through it let's educate ourselves and taking that that negative connotation out of the conversation AI is not only here it's going to be here and the way this is developing it will be not just the AI it will be AGI and ASI the the super intelligence so the goal is to enhance and support our teachers and then ultimately through them support our students. Um we also did um couple of months before we did a a session for our parents through the middle school PTA and our goal was to bring the parents into this conversation as well because it is this is not just the the students and and it doesn't only contain in the school when the student or child goes home parents can actually have because of the

076appropriate AI ask the appropriate question majority we all are parents how was your day that generally the student would or kid would say good and that would be the end of the conversation >> if you prompt it properly the AI it may ask you or tell you as a parent ask the appropriate question that will improvise the conversation with your child so that's a positive side but we are also very mindful of the the other side as well and then not to get too much into the depth the other layer that we can continue to keep in mind is the data and a cyber security as well so we are a Google for education uh school district and through the Google Gemini that is a 100% ed 2D compliant and and we are one of

077the very few district as an early adopter of the AI. This is three years now. Um and we continue to enhance that. Um I think the goal is to provide the appropriate PD and then through the PD um support our teachers and then support our uh students. I I'll tell you one more thing. So so a couple of years maybe year and a half before Dr. Norman when when he joined us he introduced the Guski model. This is a PD model, a professional development model um that is proven by the scientific research. We continue to take that model and then provide that with a feedback loop. So it's not just when we provide the training and support on a PD day. How are the our teachers are using it? How are the main office secretaries

078who we we have the AI session they join enhancing their workflow in supporting and imply applying what they learn. So there are ways to to enhance. We continue to do that. We're working with my colleague Dr. Morales and Dr. Dr. Hassler. Every time we send out the PD, we have a feedback form and then we provide the better support next time. So in fact, we have one coming up in later this well March 28th. >> Thank you. >> Any other question? Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Jesse Lazar. I'm director of transportation. I want to start by thanking the board tonight for allowing me to present the 2026 2027 budget presentation. I also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. Norman, the cabinet members um for their

079continuing guidance and support. Um, I also want to just take a brief moment to thank um my staff, office staff, mechanics, drivers, monitors, and all of our substitutes. Um, their dedication and hard work make Monroe Woodbury transportation operations possible. So, contract transportation code 5540 cost drivers. So, these are our two main drivers behind our transportation expenses. One, transportation uh transporting resident students to non-public and yeshiva schools. One of our primary cost drivers continues to be transporting resident students to non-public and yeshiva schools. While enrollment in these schools is projected to increase by approximately 5% next year, the rate growth has ste has uh sorry the rate of growth has slowed which suggested we are beginning to see stabilization. Um this is important because the cost of the structure mainly on the daily per student rate

080the overall expense directly reflects enrollment levels. We currently have four vendors to transport approximately 2700 students. The second uh cost driver um for this code is our out of uh district special education placements. For these we use two vendors who provide transportation for approximately 210 students going um they attend about 50 uh programs. We utilize the Boseis coaster um provided through the Orange Oster uh Boseies. With this cooperative service, it allows us to share our high cost transportation for uh for these out of district placements. We continue to rely on outside uh vendor source support. We um we struggled with the coser in the past, but this current vendor um has shown clear improvement with reliability and coordination. As part of our budget oversight, we will continue monitoring performance and overall cost impact. This is

081the breakdown of the uh contract transportation 5540 code. Um we have field trips um at uh 83,000. Um our displaced students is at 180,000. Our athletic trips 457,000. Our nonpublic um our our other non-public is 1,43,000. Our highcost transportation and the coser is approximately $5.1 million. And then our nonpublic yes is approximately eight million. So bringing the total contract transportation budget to approximately 14.9 million. Transportation expenditure code 5510. This does not include um we've seen significant cost increase for parks and supplies. This increase um these increases are mainly due to inflations and tariffs. Um we also added to the consultant code uh 5510449. Um this is for the onbus nursing service for our out of district special education students. By including this expense in the transportation budget, we can maximize our eligible state aid. Our

082year-to-year budget comparison. Um so for the budget code of 5510, last year it was 1.7 million. This year we're looking at approximately 1.8 million. So this 5% increase is due to inflation, tariffs, and the onbus n nursing service. The garage building code 5530. Last year's 305,000. This year's 310,000. This reflects a 1.66 increase. The cost basically is for the utilities and the insurance of increase. Um our contact uh contract transportation budget code 5540. Last year it was 14.8 million. This year approximately 14.9. This is a 1.14 um reflection of increase for our non-public yeshiva students. Overall uh transportation increase for the department last year was 16 million um 848,000. This year is approximately 17.1 million. Um it's a difference of 1.4 54 increase 1.54 increase overall which is $260,000. All right. So, our school bus

083safety poster contest, we host this every year. The students of the district, um, a lot of them do participate. This year's, uh, theme was a safe ride, everyday heroes. So, fasten your seat belts. We have two students that are riding their way to state competition. So, good luck to them and full speed ahead. Did I have Joe beat for the quickest present presentation tonight or was he quicker? >> No. Okay. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> So, thank you so much. That concludes uh our non-instructional budget presentation for this evening and we'll see you next week with the instructional folks. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. All right, moving on. Uh, motion to approve the February 4th meeting. >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so

084carries. Is there a motion to approve the first reading of the policy manual updates? >> Policy 7500, 8520, 8505, and 9120.181. >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve a resolution nominating Martha Bogart and Lawrence Burgerer to the Orange Ulster 2026 20227 board. >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve the 2026 2027 instructional calendar. >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. reports by board of education committee members, policy committee, uh, Vice President Donahghue. >> Good evening. The policy committee met on Friday, February 20th, and as you saw, we have just approved four policies for our first reading. Um, policy number

0858121.2 is being held for review. Um, at our next meeting, we will discuss policy number 8130, which deals with safety plans and teams. Our next meeting will be on Friday, March 27th at 4 PM at the Haramman Center. And once again, all these meetings are open to the public. >> Thank you, Trustee Serella, audit committee. >> Yes. On Monday uh 29, February 9th, we met at 6 PM at the Powerman Center. We met with Noraki Smith uh CPAs and they went over our internal audit reviews. Um they are in process. There are three in process. We discussed a fourth one. Um and it is governance and planning and the committee did unanimously agree to go with a full scope on that one. Um and we did ask that they have it completed this year and

086they agreed that they could do that. Um presentations were also done by the claims auditor Daniel J. Martin. Uh kudos to the finance team at the uh at the district because uh he gave them high regards and high marks for the quality of the work that comes out of their department. Um so that was really great to hear that he reviews invoices and payments before processing. Uh so that was uh very reassuring for the committee to hear and we do have an interim meeting that we're planning but we don't yet have a date. Um so you'll hear more about that when it comes up and that was my update. >> Thank you very much. Visitation committee and capital project task force trustee Reynolds. >> Um we have not had meetings in both since the last

087board meeting we had. Our next visitation meeting is Monday, March 2nd, um at 4:30, Smith Glove School. So, we're excited to go see our teammates there. And then the capital project, I don't think we have one on the docket, Patrick. Right. >> We do not have anything scheduled, but we had talked about something in April, >> right? >> May time frame. >> That's about it. >> Thank you. Orange County School Board Association. Dr. Santa, >> thank you. I'm a little late with this report. This there was a meeting on February 3rd on Tuesday. It was a virtual meeting. There was a wonderful presentation by a remarkable speaker speaker Colonel Christopher Hullshack. His message was community service makes a good citizen which makes for a good community. And he said it starts at home. An example

088he gave was kids should make their bed because that's a service to their mom if they don't in my house on the TV 247. Um, two sites were shared, uh, Orange County American Legion and National Service Ride Project. There are so many opportunities for our youths to, um, teach the message of service. And I was particularly touched by the Hudson Valley Honor Flight Youth Guardian. You have to be 17 or older. You ex escort a Vietnam era veteran veteran on a Honor Flight to Washington DC in the fall and the spring. You get firsthand stories gaining understanding and meaning of um, service and sacrifice. So, I thought that was really cool. There's also an opportunity for a high school student at Senator Scoopfist's office as a office intern and I guess that information was emailed

089to us um through the district and March 3rd is the next meeting and it it is in person in perfect timing. The topic is the use of generative AI in education. Thank you. >> Thank you. Report by student representative of the board of education, Mrs. Obby I report. >> All right. Good evening. Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone's week has been great so far and also safe because of all the snow out there. Um, the last visitation I had was with the middle school last Thursday, February 19th. I had a pretty small group of students and they were pretty quiet and calm, but they did a great job on letting me know what it's like to actually be a student at the middle school cuz it's been like four years since I was there. Some key

090points from that visitation were that the students taught that a lot of the teachers and staff were very welcoming and nice to have a chaplet. Um they found that they did care more for their core classes they took. So classes like math, English, science, history and stuff like that rather than their actual elective classes, so computers, arts, uh facts, and those types of electives. And their core classes did help them challenge them academically in a positive way. um they requested for more breaks throughout their schedule because sixth graders have a specific class called flex which is basically a study hall but it's only for sixth graders and only sixth graders. As a seventh to eighth grader if you don't have any study halls the only free period they have is lunch and specifically at my

091visitation the seven eighth graders stated that the lack of a free period is a bit stressful for them. So implementing something like flex for seventh and eighth graders would help them out a bunch. Um the last visitation I had in the middle school, there were some complaints about the lunch lines and also just lunch in general. Uh this topic was brought up again with this group of completely different students and they express that during lunch things are usually pretty strict and that they do avoid going on certain lunch lines because one line treats them nicely than the others. Um, sometimes there are a bunch of students running to and from lunch while sometimes there are. So that could be kind of pixie. In terms of yonder pouches, they say that yonder pouches feel like a

092normal everyday thing now. They don't think twice when using their yonder pouches, opening up, closing it. But there are a couple students still trying to access their phone throughout the day. But all the students that I'm aware of do know the consequences consequences of that. and the consequences are pretty fair. Um, they did ask for more activities and sports to be able to do during gym class instead of the couple regular rotations of sports that they do have. They asked for more options during lunchtime to eat. Not that their options weren't the best, but just more varieties of things. Um, the sixth grader mentioned that they like how in middle school they have a lot more feed freedom in the middle school than elementary school after they just came up last year. An eighth grader

093mentioned that they like how lunch in general have more activities. Um, they mentioned that they pied the dean in the face before and asked if they could pie again another administration in the face. That's something that they really want. Um, another student mentioned that they like the music program the district has and really enjoyed playing their instrument. And most of the kids in that group either did chorus, band, or orchestra. A couple students, not all of them, but they mentioned that they would like like to go a bit outside more for classes now that it's nice outside when it's nice outside of course and not like when there's 100 inches of snow on the ground. Um, for recess, they asked for more equipments to be able to play with, like more balls, hula hoops, drum

094jump drum rope, stuff like that. They expressed that they wish their teachers made them do more work in class rather to have them do that classwork and then homework both at home. And a particular eighth grader mentioned that he did sports and he wouldn't get home till pretty late at night and then he had to do all of that work. So, he wouldn't be able to get as much sleep as he wanted. Um, they thought security was really good and they felt really safe actually being in the building. Um, all in all, the middle schoolers really like the freedom they have and the activities they get to do after school. And that's all from me today. It was pretty short and sweet. My next visitation will be at Nort Elementary on Monday, March 2nd. Thank

095you and have a great day. >> Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve personnel items 12.1 through 12.1? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve business and financial items 13.1 through 13.4. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve committees on special education and preschool special education items 14.1 through 14.5. >> Motion second. >> All in favor? Motion so carries. >> Finally, is there a motion to adjourn to executive session to discuss personnel matters? >> Oh, say we skipped reports. >> Reports. It's been a long week. I'm very sorry. >> All right. Reports by board and central office. Dr. H. >> So, real quickly, just to follow up on Dr. Septical's comments. We've had students in

096the past who've been selected to be youth guardians for the Honor Flight and we actually have two students that have been nominated and we're waiting to hear if they've been selected for the April 11th trip down to DC. So I concur that that is an amazing amazing organization and um event that they that they host. Uh congratulations to all the retirees particularly congratulations to Mike Baron. I had the privilege of working with Mike for five years at CV. I'd like to wish you the best uh and a very happy, well-deserved retirement. Uh winter concerts have been amazing. Congratulations to the high school and middle school, particularly the kaleidoscope concert and the prison concert were once again phenomenal this year. Uh good luck to Odyssey the Mind this weekend. Um in the middle of drama season,

097Piggy uh Elephant and Piggy at CV was great. I also had the privilege of reading at CV. Uh, and finally, thank you to the high school for hosting an amazing transition curriculum night for the incoming eighth graders and new families regarding all the amazing programs at the high school. Thank you, >> Miss Novc. >> Um, just wanted to say thank you to all the presenters. It's great to get a look behind the scenes once a year to see um all the everything that our tax dollars and the public tax dollars support in this school. Um there's a great deal of value that's been shown. So, thank you for that presentation and that peak behind the scenes. Thank you to the high school for hosting us. Um and everyone have a good evening. >> Thank you,

098Dr. Morales. >> I would also like to congratulate all of the retirees, but also um Mike Baron. It has been a privilege to work alongside of you in recent years. Well, a lot of years um but especially recently in this role. uh what you've done for the families whether at the high school or at CV is invaluable. So you will be greatly missed and congratulations. Also good luck to Odyssey of the Mind and uh the CV musical. Also kudos Baron and your team. Um that was a great show. Have a good night. >> Thank you Trusty Seriela. >> Thank you so much. Um I want to thank Central Valley Elementary for um the read for fun program. I read to the second graders on 212. It was fantastic. They were so energetic and so positive.

099Uh it's always nice to see their smiles. I also want to thank everyone for the presentations tonight. They were very well done, very detailed, but u moved along pretty uh smoothly. So I appreciate that. Uh and I know how much work goes into those type of budget presentations. So thank you for that. Um I also want to call out Michael Baron. um one of I can say this now because my kids aren't in the schools anymore. Um one of my favorite uh my kids favorite admins that they've ever experienced u Michael Baron wore a tutu one year after losing a challenge and my son couldn't imagine he he just was beside himself with joy. So um wishing you a very very happy retirement and thank you for impacting our kids' lives. Thank you. Thank you,

100Trustee Serella. Dr. Santa Cool. >> Thank you. We'll miss you, Mr. Bau. My kids enjoyed their time at CV. So, thank you very much. I would also like to thank you for all the presentations tonight, all the behind the work that all behind the scene works that go into it. I know it does take a lot to do that. And thank you for your investment into our children. Uh I especially like the high school student tech help desk. anything any project that we can empower our kids or give them a skill set I think is amazing and I come from a background of gratitude service and empathy so I just want to give a shout out to all the volunteers within our school system whether it's a PTA or sport all the wreck coaches I

101really appreciate that and thank you for their your time invested into our children thank you >> thank you Miss Zoe >> oh I'm going off script All right. Um, I had the pleasure of watching Elephant and Piggy at Central Valley Elementary and it was really cool and impressive. There was a scene where he did like a bunch of splits and stuff and like flipped and it was really crazy, really cool. Um, Prism was last night at the high school. So, congrats to all the students with that. That was really impressive. A couple weeks ago at the high school was actually the eighth grade visits to the high school. I had the chance to monitor and for some eighth graders. So, I'm really excited for a bunch of new faces coming in next year. Um, it's

102currently musical season, so I encourage everyone to please and go watch a musical as a theater kitten myself. Um, watch that. All the students are super talented. And I also want to end with thank you for all the snow days. That was really nice. Like two days back to back in the three-hour delay today was fantastic. Thank you. >> Dr. Kifman. Um, thank you u to all the presenters today. Like Mike said, it takes a lot of work. Thank you to the high school for hosting us. Uh, congratulations to the retirees. Mr. Baron enjoy it um throughout the years in this kind of work. You may not have uh perhaps experienced the immediate gratification and appreciation for what you do. But uh judging by the comments today and all the children that were educated by

103you uh the gratitude and appreciation is there. Thank you. >> Have a great evening guys. >> Thank you Mr. Kah. >> Uh so I just like to echo what others have said uh this evening and sincerely thank our building grounds and transportation staff for the snow cleanup uh this weekend. It's like dja vu again. Uh so big thank you for their efforts and I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thanks. >> Thank you, Dr. Ryas. >> Mr. Baron, so you'll certainly be missed whether it's the wearing the tutu or having the uh the serial box challenge. You are always fully in. I wasn't going to bring it up, but you Mr. S open the the door. Um you are always supportive of at least from a technology perspective and whatever it takes to support our

104students. So thank you for all the actually 20 years of service. Um and looking forward to the interviews from the middle school drama club. Thank you, trustee officer. Good evening. I would like to thank the board for your confidence in electing me. I look forward to working with each of you. Um, I'm honored to serve and I'm committed to supporting our students and our community. On February 5th, Caitlyn and I attended the memorial service for one of our high school students. Um, the resilience displayed by his family during their unimaginable loss was admirable to say the least. Um, we met with his parents and offered our condolences and extended our continued support as a district in any way they may need. Um, next Friday, my daughter and I will attend the school play at North

105Main. Um, the showing will be The Little Mermaid, and we're looking forward to a great show. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Trustee Reynolds. >> U, thank you to the five leaders who presented today. Greatly appreciate all your, um, really leadership, right? So, a lot of hard work as our teammates have said already and all the teams that are underneath you putting together all of that and making our district really run clearly essential parts of our educational system. So, thank you very much. Have a great night, >> Trusty Balina. Uh yeah, thank you very much for uh the time. Thank you for the presentations. They were great. Um some of the the the items that were discussed, especially with Patrick, are things that I'm not necessarily privy to all the time. So your detail makes it

106a lot easier to understand and take in that information. Um and with technology and focus, I I get to learn how the district um goes about just processes from top to bottom. So thank you. Thank you to everybody else that came here as well um to listen to us and have a great night. >> Thank you, Mr. Burker. >> Good evening. I too wanted to thank our transportation and buildings and grounds departments for everything they did to get our schools up and running. Um it is no easy undertaking what they needed to do with all of this terrible weather. Um I consider it terrible. Some people may enjoy it. Um but from my perspective, it's been enough. Um, but I do want to thank transportation and buildings and grounds just for getting our buildings ready

107and for transporting our kids safely to and from school. Good luck to our OM students who are uh competing this weekend. I too uh had the pleasure of going to Central Valley to to see our drama club perform Elephant and Piggy. It was a fantastic show. We're really looking forward to seeing Little Mermaid Jr. this weekend for North Main as well. Um I also wanted to again acknowledge our retirement our retirees and congratulate them on their upcoming retirements as others have stated. Um I'll echo them as special acknowledgement of our central valley principal Michael Baron who has dedicated 20 years of service to our district as an administrator. It is it is not an easy job but uh you made it seem flawless uh with your attitude, the way that you approached your work uh

108the rapport that you built with our students, our our staff, our school community. Uh certainly you will be missed, but we're fortunate that we still get to work with you for another five months or so until that retirement day unless you change your mind. But uh congratulations like well welld deserved and have a great night everyone. Thank you, Vice President Donah. >> I'd like to thank the high school for hosting us and thank our presenters and their teams for all the hard work they put into tonight's presentation. Um, I did get to see Elephant and Piggy. We are in a play Junior and it was delightful. Um, I also got to see the Kaleidoscope concert with my grandson and we both enjoyed it very very much. Um, I read at the at Central Valley to

109the fifth graders. Um, and I'd like to also congratulate all the retirees, especially Mr. Baron. You will be so missed. Thank you to the buildings and ground and transportation crew for all the hard work they put in. And I'm looking forward to seeing Little Mermaid this weekend, this Friday, and into the woods next weekend. And I don't know about anybody else, but I've had enough snow. Have a good evening. Thank you, Superintendent Norman. >> Good evening, everyone. I'll try not to be as redundant. So, to Mr. Baron and all of our retirees, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for your service. Uh to Zoe, you um never cease to to impress me. I'm sure I speak for others as well. the things that you share with us, we take seriously. So, I make it my

110business to say this publicly. Those u I'll call them issues because that's how I'm perceiving them that you raise are going to be addressed and I want this to be a public record because if you're going to advocate for others then and others are willing to share their voices, I want them to know publicly that we've heard it and that we're going to do something about it. So, we'll be talking about the lunchlines among some of the other things that um that you shared. Um also want to just share I'm very excited to speak with our middle schools tomorrow. I have a special presentation on the Montgomery bus boycott and Rosa Parks presentation I'm going to share with eighth graders. So those of you, those families out there of eighth graders, um I want to

111know my grade tomorrow. So when they come home, ask them questions about that event and and uh tell me how I did. So I know that we've briefly talked about um the snow, but I do feel that the public needs to uh hear from me briefly. And I want to start by not just internally but thanking the entire community for your patience and flexibility as we work together. I acknowledge that when snowstorms happen, they are disruptive for all of us. So I want to thank everyone in our community for your patience and flexibility. I definitely want to thank our amazing buildings and grounds crew, custo staff, transportation teams who literally work around the clock. And let me say that again. They literally work around the clock. Um, we've had feet of snow at one time.

112And what's important to note is that we only have the capabilities to plow maybe two to four inches at one time, which means that it's not a one and done. When these storms start, we have to stay in front of it. Meaning that our people have to work around the clock to make sure that these lots and roads and things like that are available the next day. So, thank you. Sincerely, thank you. I shared a message with families and staff today announcing that we have two snow days remaining due to the state of emergency declared by Governor Hokll on February 23rd. We have two remaining as of today. If these snow days continue, we will transition to remote learning. The district has established a remote instruction plan developed with input from teachers, administrators designed to

113meet students needs. Now, if remote instruction becomes available, the building principles are going to share details with the families. I ask that you just bear with us just for a few more weeks. And the good news is is that spring is right around the corner and surely I said that it'll snow in April. Thank you and good night. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Norman. I want to mirror the sentiments of everyone to thank all of the directors for the amazing presentations. It's always a great insight into seeing how innate it is to and intricate it is um in terms of spending the dollars responsibly, making sure that the decisions that you're making are for the benefit and the impact of the students, faculty, and the administration. So, thank you for that. I like to

114mirror the sentiments because it feels like we're living in a snow globe thanks to buildings and grounds and custodians and everyone who has made the district's kind of transition from a snowy snow globe into, you know, back to business as usual. Uh it it never ceases to amaze me when I see those photos of what a lot looked like to what it is and the the hard work of people who do that. Thank you to their families who allow us to to steal them from you for those nights. Um we we appreciate you sharing them with us and we appreciate all that you do for this district. >> Uh congratulations and good luck to all the school bus safety poster uh participants. Um I also enjoyed all of the the spring plays. Elephant and Piggy

115was phenomenal and I'm looking forward to seeing Little Mermaid Jr. this weekend. Um, congratulations, uh, Mr. Baron, on a welldeserved retirement. Um, since the day that I walked into this district as a parent and a board member, every uh, interaction that I've had with you has been welcoming and warm and just very, very pleasant. you are the epitome of what a educator uh should be because I've never walked away from an interaction with you not feeling heard, seen, felt. And I think the testament to your legacy is all of the wonderful stories about the students who appreciated everything that you did and the families as well. So, I wish you a well welldeserved retirement. And given your performance in Elephant and Piggy, I think you have a second career as an actor. So, I'm going

116to be looking out for you on the small or big screen. Uh, just let me know where I can get my autograph because, you know, that's necessary. And I will end with this. As Dr. Santa Cool said, for students and adults, make your beds and say anything, everyone. Um motion to adjourn into exact session to discuss personnot >> second. All in favor? >> Motion so granted. The meeting is adjourned.