001Thanks everyone. I'm now going to turn the meeting over to Doctor Mauricio for the superintendents report. Good evening, everyone. Uh, good evening, members of our community, board of trustees, President Valon. Uh, members of our staff. And also to some of our students who are here as well. We welcome you to, uh, Board of Education meeting. And I get the, uh, distinct pleasure of talking about Peekskill Pride and sharing some updates with the community. And then we have a wonderful presentation today. Two wonderful presentations today, uh, one of which will be on our budget. And, um, before that, we will also have Uriah Hill staff and, uh, leadership and staff. And I think there's some staff here. So let's give them a round of applause and welcome them. Thank you for being here. Due to our
002weather, we postponed it. And today's a much better day, uh, to have you here as well. And so first I'd like to begin, um, by sharing that in my Friday letter for our families and staff. You may have read, uh, provided some information related to a, uh, article. You may have also read from the Peekskill Herald, uh, which indicated that, uh, a charter school had interest in coming to Peekskill. And so in my last Friday letter, uh, there was information about, uh, protecting our school district, but there was also information about, uh, uh, where we are at this time in relation to that topic. And then also we pledged to make sure that we communicate and educate the community on this and also, uh, make sure that you are informed as community members, staff members,
003and our students as well, uh, who should have a voice in this, uh, scenario as well. And so we as a board and as a community are, uh, unified in our effort. Uh, we believe we do wonderful things for our students. We believe we provide, um, the Peekskill promise each and every day. You're going to see that today at, uh, in the presentation from your real leadership. And each and every week, I have the pleasure of writing a Friday letter twice a month, I have the opportunity to talk about Peekskill Pride and how we serve our students, how we serve our community. And that is all done collectively as a board of education, as a leadership team superintendent, and our amazing staff as well. So again, uh, tonight we're represented by one of six of
004our amazing staff members at our schools who serve our children each and every day. And we also have pledged support from our parent leadership groups as well, and are having conversations, uh, throughout, uh, to make sure that you are informed as we move forward in this process. But we are we are committed, uh, to continue the Peekskill Promise. And we are committed to standing strong together for our children and our families. And so with that, let's give our administrative team, our staff members, another big round of applause. We thank you for all you do every single day for our children. And so with that. Uh, a few Fridays ago, two Fridays ago, we had the oak side, uh, host a game night for families. I unfortunately missed it, and my daughter missed it as well.
005She wasn't feeling well, so we did not bring her, uh, but this was, uh, great night led by parents and our team at the school. And so I want to thank Jillian Valon. Uh uh uh, the parents, Mrs. Rothschild, other parents, as you see there as well. And, uh, uh, team, I think Mrs. Budds is here. I thought I saw her. Let's give our Mrs. Buds a big round of applause. Mrs. Valon, Mrs. Rothchild, and all of our parents who came to build community that night. And this was a wonderful game night. I did get the opportunity to go to the high school with Doctor Ferris and her teachers and staff who volunteered to have a game night, a movie night, hot chocolate dinner, uh, wonderful activities, uh, for the students. And they got to
006see a movie and be kids at the high school. So, Doctor Ferris, thank you to you and your team for doing that and leading that work as well. Also want to take the opportunity to thank our Saturday Academy team. Uh, Mrs. Hoop, velvet, uh, Doctor Roman, Cynthia Welker, the teachers and staff. Uh, as you know, part of the Peekskill promises to make sure we have family engagement that is fun and frequent in our schools. And this Saturday was no exception to that. Record breaking numbers. Uh, over a thousand people came out, uh, to, uh, engage in this fun, engaging activity for our families. Uh, we did have a visitor from the North Pole who made his way. And you see him there, pictured on the third. Right. We have donations from our community that provided,
007uh, toys for our students. So every every child left with the toy as well. And then we had our PTO there. We had community partners there talking about health and, uh, a variety of different fun and engaging activities. So thank everyone for Sadie Academy. Uh, family engagement. Let's give them a big round of applause and say thank you. Last week, we also had the opportunity to see our middle school concert series begin. They kicked off the, uh, series for us and we are really excited to see the the work that we are doing. If you recall, we began the orchestra in third grade, and each and every year, uh, we add, uh, different instruments all the way up to the high school. And it is wonderful to see how the students progress each and every
008year. And so to our middle school team and our middle school music teachers, let's give them a big round of applause as well. Today. Uriah Hill celebrated the season as well with songs and a concert. And so thank you again. We're going to hear more about, uh, what is happening each and every day. Uh, share with you I speak as a parent, uh, and as a superintendent, the, the wonderful programing that they have, the special nature. And it is it is just fantastic to see, uh, what they provide for our students each and every day. Dedicated pre-K say so. Thank you. Now, the big round of applause for our Uriah Hill staff. As you know, as part of our Peekskill promise, we have committed to supporting our young men of color and young, uh, and
009our students in the high school. Uh, we also have launched. Thank you, Doctor Ferris and Doctor Daniels, the My Sister's Keeper initiative as well. And Mrs. Johnson is part of that. Um, also, and in this case, uh, the Peekskill MLK program attended the Lower Hudson Valley and BC Alliance uh Youth Summit. Uh, and that was held at Suny Westchester. And so I want to thank our students, uh, towards the right hand side. Second to the right is one of our high school students speaking to this, uh, community at the college. Uh, and again, always, uh, uplifting and exemplifying the greatness that happens in our community. Let's give our MBK initiative a big round of applause. And we will bring them here to a, uh, board meeting. But you will see in our Friday letters. Thank
010you, Mrs. Belfiore. And to our administrative team and teachers who are recommending, uh, students, we are congratulating, uh, two of our students, Raquel, uh, Delia, who was part of our championship football team. Let's give him a round of applause. And Lucia Rossi, who is on our swim team, and she's at the high school as well. Let's give her a round of applause. And go ahead and congratulate them when you see them. But we're going to be bringing them to a board meeting tonight. We have a special guest as well, but we're going to bring them to a board meeting to recognize them. And every Friday letter we're going to recognize students and, uh, make sure we share with the community all the wonderful things our scholars do. But in particular, this award is the triple
011AA award. And when I came to Peekskill, I brought it from my, uh, athletic background, uh, in my past and as a high school principal, academics, attendance and attitude, that is what a scholar athlete is. And so they won the triple A award. Another big round of applause for Rocco and Lucia. So it was wonderful to see, uh, my daughter come home and she had, uh, a word written in Mandarin Chinese and started talking about it, was able to speak about it, and lo and behold, in the Hillcrest Leafs uh, program, we have Mandarin back in our program. And this is part of our afterschool initiative, again, part of our Peekskill promise. And this exists at, uh, Hillcrest, our lead program at the middle school and at Oak Side Elementary School. And here our students
012learning and, uh, learning Mandarin. And, uh, let's give our program a big round of applause. And Maria Flores, who leads this effort. Thank you. Uh, President Valon, who, uh, brought this idea to us, but also thank you to our staff, uh, our administrators and some community members as well, who have put together these holiday care packages. And they come with the wrapping paper. Uh, the essentials. What what they need. Uh, they come with toys that were, uh, curated based on what children wanted. We spoke with the parents, and they identified what children, uh, really wanted. And this is, uh, what's unique about this is this is a win for the parent. The parent gets to get the bag with the wrappings in it with the toys, and they get to decide. The student doesn't know
013about it. They get to decide based on their culture and their history and what they would like to do, and be able to say how this gift made its way to the to the home. And they get the win. And so thank you, Miss Valon, for bringing that forward. Thank you to all of our community members and our staff members who are part of this, uh, toy drive. And I went to went to concerts. So. Well in season. Uh, December 17th we have two sessions at Woodside. Uh, December 17th as well. That is the winter concert at the high school. Uh, Woodside also has its grade one concert. Hillcrest and Oak side also having their concerts. This is all in our Friday letters, and we'll continue to make sure we have that information. And thank
014you to our principals for sharing this out with our families. Looking forward to hearing our kids sing, uh, winter as songs as it is upon us at this time. Also, our Septa Special Education Parent Teacher organization has a their basketball skills and drills. They just a few spots available. Uh, for children with special abilities. The high school basketball team varsity players will be there to teach the students skills and drills. And so if you're interested, make sure you look at our last Friday letter. Uh, there's, uh, few spots available for students. And let's give our Septa team a big round of applause. Sun River, which is an amazing partner of the school district. Uh, each and every year they partner with us on a variety of ways. Health care, but also culture as well. I
015think Mr. Morale, uh, afraid of morale is here. Please stand up. Vice president and, uh, sun River, we say thank you. We thank you all for all the support from Sam River. They will be hosting their annual Three Kings Day celebration, uh, right here at our high school, January 10th on Saturday. So please make sure you're part of, uh, coming to learn about this important aspect of our culture in our community. And thank you again, sun River, for all that you do. I just noticed that, uh, Jan Carbo, our PTO president, is here, so let's give her a big round of applause. Say thank you, Jen. We appreciate you. And I also would like to recognize we have some administrators and staff in the building. Administrators, please stand up. Let us recognize you. Thank you
016for being here tonight. We know you had a long day. Thank you for all you do. And we have some teachers and staff. Please stand up. Let us give you a round of applause and say thank you. And Mrs. Dikko. Uh, she is the tea in PTO, the teacher in the PTO, and she is dedicated to being part of the PTO. Thank you so much for being here. And without further ado, I'm going to, uh, talk about Ellen Morrell. I knew her when she was just in elementary school, and here she is at the Board of Education table as one of our Board of Education student members. Big round of applause for Ela. And your parents will remember. I said, she's going to do really big things here in Peekskill. And here you are. Uh,
017but also, she was selected for the very prestigious, highly selective program called the US Senate program will be one of two students. The second student is at a private school. She is the only public school student Peekskill representative going to Congress with the Senate to represent New York State. Ella, thank you for all you do. We appreciate you. We're going to have you come on up. Yeah. Stand up on your feet. This is one of our very own. Thank you. For you. Uh, I'm going to get it for you. Second, you're going to come right here to the center, and we're going to have Marissa and Wilfried. Oh, come on up, board of education members, if you can come forward. Uh, is, uh, Doctor Ferris, doctor Bedi, if you can join us as well. And
018then Miss Kamari is going to bring a certificate that we have for you as well. What I want to. Yeah. Uh uh. And you will hear later because she has the podium and a mic. And so she gets to speak as a student representative who was voted in, uh, in this very important position, one of two. And we will hear from her later, as well as one of our student, uh, ex-officio board members. Another big round of applause for Ella. And Marissa and we'll Fredo teachers. She has been part of the Peekskill city school district. She has shown because you have been there for her administrators and teachers. We say, thank you, thank you, thank you. And what a way to end, uh, Peekskill Pride when I've, uh, very own. And, uh, we say thank
019you again, all of you, for being here at this time. I'm going to turn it back over to the, um, uh, to our board president, and, uh, we will open it up for any public comments. And then we have a presentation as well. Thank you for all that. Um, we'll move on to the hearing of the citizens. The Peekskill Board of Education desires and values the input from the entire school community. For those who wish to address the board, please sign in and state your name, town or city of residence for the record. And please keep your remarks to three minutes or less and no discussion of district personnel. Um, no. That discussion of district personnel is prohibited. Although we do not engage in dialog, we are listening. So please leave your contact information for
020prompt follow up from the board, president or the superintendent. Is there anyone wishing to be heard? Hi, everyone. Um. Thank you. Um, what were the things I needed to say? My name and, uh, city. Okay. Yeah. My name is Camille. Um, Peekskill resident, Peekskill alumni. I have two kids in the district. Um, I just wanted to bring up a concern that I had about, um, the data driven, uh, curriculum that we're doing. As of recently, I have a first grader, um, that has a lot of homework. And it's very concerning, um, how much time that children are now spending on academics, even outside of school. There's no time to be children. But then there's no research that supports that. That's helping them academically. Um, there's actually research that goes against the amount of homework that
021actually doesn't support that. It's helping them learn academically or to improve in testing or any of those things. So I just wanted to bring up my concerns around that, um, for six year olds to be spending that much time doing homework, or they're even coming home concerned about falling behind in zurn or other things in school, and they're getting tested every week, and they're like on computers all day. There's all of these things that are kind of concerning at the moment, and I just wanted to bring that up. Um, yeah, that's about it. Thank you. Thank you for your, uh, input. And we will have, uh, Doctor Vilas Rodriguez reach out to you tomorrow, and, uh, listen to your, uh, concerns. Go dive a little bit deeper into them and then also share some aspects
022about, uh, our engagement with technology. Uh, the purpose and the use of our data, um, that we use to drive our instruction, uh, but also our programing as well. And what I will share with you, um, as well as a parent of a, um, first grader. Uh, we don't get homework done, all of it every night. And so what I'll share with you as parents and as a parent here tonight is that you have to make the best choice for your child. Um, in the end, you have to decide when enough is enough. And sometimes it is 830 at night, and we didn't get through it all. Um, as you can see, I'll be here tonight till 9:00, and we're trying to figure it all out. And sometimes between the viola and the reading and,
023uh, doing some of the computer work and, uh, snuggling up with a book, uh, with her and getting, uh, all the brushing her teeth and getting ready to bed, chasing her around and make sure she goes to bed and giving her water. All of those things. We just don't sometimes get it all done. And you have to know, as a parent, when your child has had enough. And sometimes you just have to say, we're going out for a walk. We're going out to play outside and we're going to, uh, spend family night, play Family Feud or whatever it is you would like to play. So you as a parent, get to make that choice and so want to make sure that you know that. And we will certainly listen to your, uh, concerns and thoughts.
024And, uh, Doctor Vilas Rodriguez will reach out to you. So thank you so much. And thank you for being, uh, Peekskill Pride and, uh, graduate and then staying here with your family. Thank you so much. Could I just address the board? We don't. We don't engage in conversation. And I'm disciplined about it. But I just want to say, um, I've been, um, having other comments from the community, concerns about AI, um, concerns about things of a similar nature. So it sounds like something we may want to have some town halls on and, um, you know, have some back and forth on this. Is there anyone else wishing to be heard? If not, then I'll turn the meeting back over to Zach Ratio for the second part of the superintendent's report. Thank you so much. Uh,
025President Villon, at this time, it's, uh, great pleasure for me to introduce our, um, Uriah Hill principal and and her assistant principal as well, Melissa Russo and Amanda Cardona. Let's give them a big round of applause. They're going to make their way to the microphone. As I shared in my, uh, Peekskill Pride. Uriah Hills, a special place. It's the kind of place where, as a parent, you bring your child and you never want to leave. And then you go to Woodside and you're there with Mrs. Woodley and and their wonderful team, and then you never want to leave there. And then you go to Oak Side and you're there with Anna Buds and her team, and you never want to leave there. But it all starts off at Uriah Hill, and you set the stage
026for the remaining, uh, 13 years of education for our children. And so it's such a special time for us. So let's hear about what's happening at Uriah Hill. Thank you, Doctor Rusia. Good evening everyone. I am very excited to be here tonight and share and really highlight the amazing work that we have here at Uriah Hill. I want to thank the Board of Education, Doctor of Bullets Rodriguez, Doctor Mauricio, for allowing us the opportunity to present um, and really, um, I feel very honored and eager to share all the wonderful things that are happening at Uriah Hill. Uh, thank you to the school and community members that are here tonight or watching from home parents, staff, students. Uh, thank you for being here. And lastly, I want to present my amazing partner, a miss Amanda
027Cardona, who came to us from from Woodside. Uh, we stole her away from Woodside. Thank you, Miss Woodley. Uh, she joined us with that k to one perspective. Um, and we really have loved having her be part of our team. So with that. With that. Let's get started. So we always like to open up with a slide that really beautifully captures the joy that is Uriah Hill. Uh, for many of our students, this is their first experience in school. So we want to make it a memorable and exciting one for them. We want to build that love for learning. Um, and we work very hard. The staff works very hard to make it a memorable and positive experience. And as you can see from this photo, um, it really is such a special place. I
028always tell people when they visit, whether it's within, from within the US, from within the district, or with out of or outside of the district, uh, that they're going to leave with their mouths hurting because they're going to be smiling so much. Today we had our winter concert, and it was really beautiful seeing such a great event and so many parents and family members joining us at Uriah Hill. So this slide really beautifully captures, uh, the joy and, uh, what a special place it is. And with that, we always like to frame our work in everything that we do. All the conversations we have, all the initiatives and the programs we have, is always framed within the pillars of the Peekskill Promise. It really drives our work, our discussions, and you'll see that presented throughout
029our slideshow tonight. Similarly, last year we created alongside of our, uh, two years ago, we created alongside our teachers a vision statement, uh, which is really our why. And it's also framed within the Peekskill Promise. And it reads. Our scholars come from diverse backgrounds. They are capable of achieving success through authentic learning experiences when provided with a safe, nurturing and creative environment. These opportunities can enhance their lives in allowing them to be their true, authentic selves and highlight the personal strengths in order to foster a joy for learning. And again, that joy for learning is always in the forefront of everything that we do. Here reflected on this slide are some of the yearly goals that we hope that our preschool preschool students, um, achieve by the end of the school year, and it's based
030off of the state standards. And so, um, the work that we do that is always driven within these goals in mind, the the data, conversations, the lessons, the centers is all within these yearly goals, um, some of which include in literacy letter naming and, uh, letter identification in math, counting from 0 to 20 and naming shapes, um, in making predictions and exploring technology and in school learning to work collaboratively with peers um and verbally express themselves. So again, within uh, within our data conversations, any time that we are meeting, um, with staff, these are the goals that drive that work. And now I have the privilege of sharing and highlighting, um, some of our literacy initiatives that we have in our in our enrich and enrichment opportunities at Uriah Hill. And so a few that
031we are most proud of is firstly in literacy are thematic units. Um, so these are implemented by teachers in both lessons and in centers in literacy and math. So they will tell you, uh, that they dedicate so much time and effort and energy in making these play based lessons and centers, both developmentally appropriate but also rigorous. And so the children, they really come to life, um, when they're playing in these, in these centers and learning at the same time, they don't even realize that they're learning. Um, another initiative that we're really proud of is our Writers Notebook initiative. Um, a big shout out to Doctor Vilas that for bringing this to the elementary schools last year, and it continues this year, and in the new year, each child will receive a writer's notebook. And so
032they bring this to and from home. And it really is meant to begin to foster a joy for writing and an excitement for writing. Um, and then they have the opportunity to share their writing, drawing scribbles, whatever it is that they do, um, in the classroom with peers. And so that's another great way that we are able to build that love of writing in the classroom and have a connection to the home. Um, and lastly, we have our alignment with Woodside. A huge shout out to doctor, uh, excuse me to miss, uh, Woodley and to Doctor Bills Edwards for orchestrating this with us. In fact, we had Catherine here today, um, at Uriah Hill supporting us with some Arc initiatives. Um, so that way we can really align our practices to kindergarten and prepare them
033for the kindergarten world. And so we're really excited about the end to visitations and that, uh, that alignment in steam, we continue to have our steam lab in our, in our school that the students, um, visit each week. And so also our teacher leader, Miss Yolanda Campos, is really working hard to make sure that that's also aligned with our thematic units so that the learning and the excitement continues in in the Steam lab and enrichment, we have our music in the brain program, which Miss Cardona will speak a little bit more about, uh, later on in the presentation. But then this year, what is new is our art program. So we're always looking for opportunities to continue to enrich, um, to provide enrichment opportunities to our youngest learners. And so this year we implemented an
034art program that the children visit, um, every other week. And so they're learning about different artists of the month and artistic skills, and they really get hands on approach to the art world. In math, similarly to literacy, we have our math stations or our math centers, which are play based but also data driven. So that way, um, we are continuing to support our youngest learners in the areas of needs that they have. Um, these are also aligned with the theme that we have as well, so that learning continues in our math centers and in school. Um, social emotional learning is equally as important, if not more important at the pre-K level. Um, because this is a really pivotal time in their lives. They're learning how to, uh, uh, resolve conflict, how to share, um, how
035to manage their emotions. And so we really dedicate a lot of time to making sure that they feel supported socially and emotionally. And so we are really proud. And I want to thank the board and, um, Doctor Vilas Rodriguez and Doctor Mauricio for supporting us and having a full time social worker, because not only can those full time social worker, uh, Miss Villar, support the staff and the students, but also the teachers and continue to build their understanding of the best ways to implement social emotional learning in the classrooms. Um. One on one support when needed and building their understanding on best practices for social emotional learning. Uh, so that's something that we're really taking pride on this year. Um, and we're excited to continue that work. And now, um, very excited and happy to
036share the data that really brings to life all these programs and initiatives that I just spoke about. Um, so the benchmark data, this is from last year, we like to show you a full year of data. And so this is an assessment that the teachers give at the beginning, middle and end of the school year. And again, aligned to those learning goals you saw on the previous slide. And so as you see here at the beginning of last year, 44% or 83 students, uh, entered Uriah Hill at the tier three level, and only 5% or ten students left Uriah Hill at the tier three level, which means a 39 percentage point decrease in literacy. So I think that deserves a huge round of applause. 35% or 66 students, uh, joined or entered Uriah Hill last
037year in literacy at the tier two level, and 29% or 58 students left Uriah Hill at the tier two level, which is a six percentage point decrease. And then 21% of our students or 41 students entered Uriah Hill at the tier one level, and 60, 66% or 120 students left Uriah Hill at the tier one level, which is 44 percentage point increase. So I want to ask my Uriah Hill staff to stand, because this is all thanks to you. So a huge thank you to the Orion staff. All of their work and efforts and dedication in making learning fun and engaging. But also, um, data driven and supportive for children is reflected in this slide. So thank you so much. And similarly in math, we started the year, um, last year 29% of our students
038were entered Uriah Hill at the tier three level, and only 2% or four students, uh, left Uriah Hill at the tier three level, which is a 27 percentage point decrease. 37% or 70 students entered Uriah Hill last year at the tier two level, and 18% or 33, um, left. Uriah held the tier two level, which is a 19 percentage point decrease. And finally, 34% of students entered. Uriah Hall is year one level and 80%, which is a majority of our students. And um, left Uriah Hill at the tier one level. And so we are very proud of that data. Um, we are very proud of our scholars, our students and our staff, uh, for helping this make this work really come alive in the programs and initiatives that we have. Um, another piece of data
039that we utilize is our Ames web data, which is implemented in the other schools as well. And so this is a piece of data that we're able to use that gives us real time information because the students are progress monitored every few weeks. And so the areas that we that we progress monitor the children in our initial sound letter naming and quantity total, which aligns with the standards, um, that they, that they have at the pre-K level. And so as you see pictured here, um, our staff then take that data as well and can really make sure that their lessons are aligned with what they're seeing in the classroom. If they see a group of students that really need more support in letter naming. That's data that they can utilize in real time as they're
040planning. Uh, the last piece of academic data that I'll leave you with is our AAC reading level data. And so this is the Erle, the initial reading level assessment that was given at the elementary schools to test their reading, uh, their reading readiness. And so by the end of June of last school year, June 2025, these were the children's reading levels. So as you see picture here, 8% of our students, starting from the top left, Uriah Hill at the read to me reading level, which is a pre-K reading level. 15% of students, uh, left Uriah Hill at A1Y reading level. And so that's about the beginning of kindergarten fall time. 34% of students left Uriah Hill at A2Y reading level, which is again beginning of kindergarten reading level. 33% of students left at A3Y reading
041level, which is actually middle of kindergarten reading level right around this time of the school year. And finally, 17% of students left at A1G reading level. And that is, uh, very exciting, because what that means is 50% of our scholars are leaving Uriah Hill at that middle of kindergarten reading level. And so we're also very excited about that information, and to share it with Woodside as well, so that we can prepare them for the K world. And I have one more piece of data for you, and that's our attendance data. And that is for this school year, September to November. And so as you see pictured here, um, the number, the percent of students that are not chronically absent is increasing, which we're happy to see. So starting from September, 45% of our students were
042not chronically absent, followed by October, 58% of our students followed by November, 63% of our students. So of course, when our students are when our children are sick, we want them to stay home and get well. But we're happy to see that because of our attendance initiatives, which I'll speak about shortly. Um, our attendance, um, is increasing and improving each month. And so that's, uh, in big thanks to our, um, attendance initiatives that we have, one of which is our PBIs committee. Shout out to our PBIs team. Um, because they work really hard in implementing monthly assemblies. And during those assemblies, they highlight the class of the month that receive the highest attendance. We have it as a bulletin board. So the kids will walk by the bulletin board and say, well, that's me, that's
043my class. Um, and then they always point out my picture and say, is that you on the bulletin board? And they think I'm famous. And I'm like, it's just the picture on the bulletin board. Uh, and so they get they earn a, um, party to celebrate their attendance. So it's either a pizza party or an ice cream party or a cookies and milk party, uh, pizza party. So it's really popular. Um, and so we get to sit with them in the classroom and celebrate their attendance and talk about how exciting it is to come to school. Um, and so that's one of our initiatives that helps with the attendance rate that you see. And then, of course, our social worker, as well as really able to support with reaching out to families as needed. Um,
044to see if there's any other ways we can support, um, if that's ever needed in terms of attendance. And with that, I'm going to I turn it over to Miss Amanda Cardona, my assist principal. Thank you, Miss Russo, and good evening, everybody. So I have the pleasure of highlighting all the ways in which we work to create a strong sense of community for our staff, for our parents, and for our partners at Uriah Hill. So here, um, as you can see, culturally responsive education is reflected all year long at Uriah. We host a variety of events to celebrate our diversity, as you see. As you can see here, we have our Italian heritage celebration, Hispanic heritage celebration, black history celebration. We had an Irish American heritage celebration with Peaks Gill's own Joe Brady playing bagpipes
045for our students last year. And we also hosted Hanukkah and Santa events. We have created a positive environment for all staff and fostered a strong sense of community with very events, various events that we hold at school. So we have fun and engaging spirit weeks to maintain high morale and good spirits. We hold staff appreciation events where we can all come together and enjoy each other's company. We also highlight each month several staff members for their monthly staff appreciation, which you can see in the top left. They get an announcement with a poster and certificate, shout outs and they get placed in the staff newsletter. We provide school opportunities for our staff as well. We recently did some fun pumpkin painting. Um, that brought a lot of laughs. Um, we also created IAM posters as
046a way to explore and share our identities with one another. These posters stay up in the building all year long, and they help us connect, find commonalities with each other, and learn something new about each other. Our students also take the opportunity to engage in the same activity, which I will discuss later. Are Uriah Hill. Parents have had the opportunity to join us for many wonderful and exciting events throughout the year. For example, we've taken a field trip to the farm. Uh, they had the opportunity to, uh, create IAM posters with their children, and those were also posted in the hallways where families could come in, engage in scavenger hunts, get to know more about the other students in the classroom. And it was just a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come together. We hosted
047a Thanksgiving feast as well, where we had the opportunity to enjoy a meal as a community. We look forward to many more events this school year, such as the Spring Carnival and the very, very popular pre-K prom. That is very exciting. The students are dressed to the nines and they look wonderful and they dance the night away. And we can't possibly help our students achieve and grow without the support of our parents. So we are so grateful for and proud of the partnership we have with our current parent leadership team. And if I call your name and you're here, please stand up. So we want to thank Gail, Kim, Amy, Ariana. Kathleen. Kathryn. Jenny. Lucia. Karen. Devika. Melissa. That round of applause is well-deserved because we can't do what we do without their support. And
048we also have two former parents, Jen and Kevin Suzuki, who continue to support us even though their children have left Uriah. And, um, they support us with, um, the Art Our Garden initiative, as well as an outdoor play initiative. So we're really grateful for them. And I'd like to give them a round of applause as well. Again, our play is so instrumental in the work that we do, and recently they helped us create wonderful, beautifully decorated Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. They were fully stocked, so let's give it up to our PLT for supporting us with that initiative. At Uriah Hill. We also cultivate cultivate strong relationships with families by hosting a variety of workshops. We facilitate those with our in-house um staff, focusing on academics as well as social, emotional, uh, focused workshops
049where we utilize our partnership with JCS. So pictured here is the work of our literacy leader, Miss Maria. Strategize as she provides a year via families with guidance for implementation of writers notebooks at home. So thank you for that and the strategies. Also on the bottom right, we have our JCS, um, partner facilitating a social emotional workshop for our families. We also honor the fact that parents are their child's very first teacher. So with this in mind, we've developed a workshop series to equip parents with the tools and resources they need to promote and enhance their children's literacy development. So this series that we hold is focuses on the Learning Dynamics program. It's a supplemental reading program designed to provide explicit instruction on letter sounds and decoding, or how to read by words by sounding
050them out. So when parents attend this workshop series, they have the opportunity to walk away not only with reading strategies, but access to free digital resources to support their children's learning at home, and alphabet flashcards and decodable books. So that beautiful kit that you see right there is what they have the opportunity to receive. And this series is this is from last year, but it is running again this year. Um, thank you to, uh, Miss Benitez and Miss Campos who facilitated that. Um, we had that held both in English and Spanish sessions, and we had our first of our series happened just last week. So thank you so much for you facilitating. And we're happy to support our families. At Uriah, we've also partnered with various members of the community, local businesses and community based
051organizations to aid us in providing enriching experiences for all of our students. We were very honored to have Mayor Vivian McKenzie join us for our Black History celebration, and we thank her for her continued support. We were also honored to have Deputy Mayor Patricia Riley teach our students about Italian culture at our recent Italian Heritage celebration. We thank Councilman Ramon Fernandez, who joined us for our Hispanic Heritage celebration and for his continued support of our school. We also had a former parent join us for several school celebrations. Um, Miss Melissa Tulio. So we are grateful for her support as well as that of Miss Katrina Harris, who provides us with beautiful décor for our many celebrations, many, many celebrations that we have at Uriah Hill. We also would like to thank the Peekskill Police, fire
052and EMT for bringing our Community Helper unit to life and allowing our students to check out their very cool vehicles. It was a big highlight and we look forward to bringing that back again. Additionally, the Peekskill EMT um, approached us and offered us the opportunity to host a spring egg hunt in our field last spring. So that was very much enjoyed by all of our students and our staff. And so these specific partnerships help our students build strong, lasting relationships with our community helpers, the police, the fire, and the EMT. So we are grateful for that partnership and we look forward to continuing that. We would like to thank Doctor Farris and Patricia Johnson, the high school dance instructor, for allowing the skilled high school dance team to visit and entertain us with amazing dance
053routines for our celebrations. We're also grateful that we had the high school vocal group perform for us as well. We also have an amazing partnership, as was mentioned before with weeks where we gained weekly support in the form of SEO lessons in the classroom to help our students build self-regulation and social emotional skills. Also, Wjxt recently donated toys for us along with United Way so that each student at Uriah Hill will go home with a holiday gift next week. So thank you to them for that support. Our partnership zone in there. We also have a great partnership with Doctor Cohen's dental office to provide dental health presentations to our students. The students loved the little gift bags that they get along with learning more about how to take care of their their teeth. 914 cares
054is an amazing organization that has provided free new books for our students to add to their personal libraries, and we're very grateful for those resources. And our students and staff also thoroughly enjoy the partnership that we have with the center for Environmental Education. Pictured by that nice tortoise on the top right, approaching our students. And, um, they get the opportunity to learn about animals and habitats that they're reading about in class. And that really brings all of the learning to life for them. So that's a wonderful partnership. And we are also quite fortunate to be in year two of our music in the brain program. Thank you, Doctor Rodriguez, for spearheading this for our students. This program is amazing and it offers our students the opportunity to learn music literacy and piano keyboard instruction in
055pre-K. So we also would like to thank the Woodside administration team, Miss Willey and Miss Walker, in helping us facilitate ongoing inter visitation with their music teacher, Miss Goucher. So that partnership, what it's done for us is allow for direct training from both music in the brain and from the Woodside Music Teacher to enable our dedicated staff member, Miss Casada, to strengthen our music program and give our preschoolers an early foundation and piano keyboard skills. So let's give them a round of applause for that. It is truly amazing to see at this young age what our students are doing on the piano keyboard and that exposure and the confidence that is building in them when it comes to music. And now with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Miss Russo. Thank you
056so much. Wow. A lot of great programs, a lot of great initiatives. And so when we say it's a special place, you really can see that, um, from all the wonderful programs that we have. And so we want to end with our Uriah Hill pride. And it's just a few of the many highlights that we're very proud of. Um, to share with you here tonight, one of which is that we have our expanding dual language program we went from a few years ago, zero classrooms to five classrooms that are dual language dedicated in our pre-K program. We have our full time social worker, which you heard all about, all the wonderful work that she's doing, increasing enrichment opportunities, music, keyboard art. Um, we're really excited to continue to bring these experiences to our pre-K learners.
057We have, um, our connection and our alignment with kindergarten, as you heard throughout our presentation. We continue to apply for and secure a $1 million grant, which really allows for these programs to be funded for our youngest learners. We have our sensory room, our Steam lab, and finally, our graduation rate data, which shares that 85% of students who entered pre-K and graduated from the Peekskill High School earned either a Regents Diploma or an Advanced Regents Diploma. And so these are only a few of the many wonderful things that we are very proud of at Uriah Hill. And I'm going to leave you with a very short clip that once again, really shows you the joy and the beauty of this program. Welcome to Uriah Hill. I am Melissa Russo, the proud principal of Uriah Hill.
058On behalf of the Board of Education and our dedicated school staff, I am excited to introduce to you the programs and incentives that we focus on here at Uriah Hill. Our goal is to build a strong foundation for our students that will create lasting memories through their educational journey. Here in our pre-K program is where you'll find our smallest scholars of the Peekskill City School District. We strive to provide a welcoming environment for all students by providing them with culturally relevant learning experiences, experiences that incorporate their cultural gifts that our diverse student body brings to our school. We ensure that the five pillars of the Peekskill Promise are carried out from the moment students walk into our building, and that they are present daily and executed with fidelity. Students are provided with fun, hands on
059activities that are developmentally appropriate as well as rigorous. They are able to speak their curiosity by having the freedom to use a variety of materials at their fingertips. Our new Steam lab provides a multi-sensory approach to learning and incorporates students interests everywhere they turn. Every classroom is equipped with a Promethean board to elevate and enhance our lessons using the latest technology. We make sure we are delivering on the whole child commitment promise by embedding social emotional learning into our instructional day. We provide our students with enriching experiences by taking field trips to learn about the Peekskill community as well as outside of it. We want to show them the magic of exploring different places. We recognize the importance of building and fostering relationships with parents. What motivated me to, uh, pick Uriah Hill for the
060pre-K program was the academic reputation. The understanding that children are involved in the dual language program was definitely my deciding factor. So the first time I came home from school, she came home speaking a new language. I feel like she's benefiting from Uriah Hill by learning a second language and also enhancing in her spelling, her vocabulary, and her writing. The teachers there call them their babies and they are little babies. It made me feel good that they saw them as young people, as little babies, as like our treasures that we were sending in to be cared for. And I felt like it was going to be a safe place. It's going to be a fun place. It made me feel comfortable sitting here. We partner with agencies to ensure we are nourishing our special education
061population with the tools they need to thrive and grow. At Uriah Hill, you keep the Peekskill Promise at the forefront of everything we do. Our students, staff, and community truly embody Peekskill Pride. And with that, I'm going to give it back over to Doctor Mauricio. Thank you, Mrs. Russo. Miss Cardona, another big round of applause for our administrative team, for our staff. Thank you to our staff and our parents, two of our parent leaders here tonight, uh, representing our parents, uh, who are engaged in this school. Uh, want to thank the board. Uh, for those of you who are new to, uh, Uriah. Um, uh, a couple of years ago, the program was a half day program, and some students had a full day opportunity. Dual language did not exist. The, um, the music program
062that Doctor Vilas was able to bring the Steam initiatives in the steam center there, the new playground that is there, all the cultural work that you have been able to bring in, that, uh, of Common Vargas who died before you. All of these things came together to a support and a vision that the board set forth, and that was that every child in Peekskill who wanted access to pre-K had the opportunity to do so without a lottery, without a waiting list, but rather that we would have the opportunity and and a seat in each and every one of our classrooms. And we have met that promise and continue to try to make sure that that is a reality. That is the Peekskill promise. Thank you. Board. Thank you. Board. I just saw, uh, one of
063our visionary leaders, uh, from the board as well, who helped that become a reality. Michael Simpkins, thank you for being a member of the Board of Education for over 20 years. And that takes commitment. And thank you for the leadership team who each year, right, for the million dollar grant that helps fund this. But there's also district dollars. They come from our taxpayers and it is well spent because the data exemplifies what we do when we have dedicated programing, dedicated teachers for pre-K programing, getting them ready for kindergarten. And the data proves that. But you're also having fun. And the play based, uh, instruction, the outdoor learning environment, all that you're able to do brings that whole child approach. And so with that, I turn it over to our board and our board president. But
064thank you again. Another big round of applause for our presenters tonight. Thank you. Um, I'm gonna ask the board if anybody has any questions about the presentation. To just, um. When we. When you spoke about the the AAC data, are we we, um, we only talked about the year end results. We didn't test them in the beginning of the year because I know for the math one, you showed the beginning of the year and you did the end of the year. Are you saying for the benchmark assessment? Yes, we test them beginning, middle and end of the year. So this year we just wrapped up our assessment, um, for this school year. But that data was for last school year. I see an arc. We actually do. It's, um, in January. It's a great question.
065And January 2026, it's a little bit more, um, developmentally appropriate for where they would be. So we actually start testing it in January and then we finish and they're they're testing as they go. You know, if they're seeing that children are moving levels, they're testing throughout the school year from January. And then we take a look at the end of year data, um, to see where they went from January to June. Good to know. And I just have, um, couple comments I like to make. Just, um, I love the parent parent, uh, workshop series, uh, literacy at home. I think that's great. Uh, as parents, um, we're we always want to mimic what they're hearing or doing in school. And so by giving them that, you know, uh, that language and that ability, um, one,
066it makes us, as parents feel a little bit more capable because, you know, our kids tell us we don't know what we're doing. Right. So it's always good to kind of have that. And, um, so, so thank you for that. But also, I love the local field trips, um, you know, letting them know what we have in our community because we do have a lot of things that, you know, we're just a lot of people are not aware of. And and having them get out there and experience all that is, um, is priceless. So thank you. And, um, and I just love this team lab, uh, you know, having the opportunity for them to be, um, to explore, be creative, and use their hands and so forth, that's, you know, especially at an early age
067that just hopefully it opens up their, their mind and their ability to just be, uh, the critical thinkers that we want them to be. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. We love your a [INAUDIBLE]. Looks like you're doing an amazing job with it. Um, what percentage of their assessment time or their regular classroom reading assessment time is, um, done on a screen as opposed to done through physical, like books? Yeah, that's a great question. So we actually, um, are very cognizant of the screen time at this early age. And so in terms of Chromebooks, we don't implement those in the classroom until the second half of the school year. And when we do, it's for about, uh, five minutes at a time. So that way they're getting acclimated to the technology standards
068that we have and to the technology. But it's not, um, too much for their developmental level. Thanks. Yeah. I mean, it looked in the video, uh, like a lot of hands on, and that's really nice. Um, and then my other comment is more for the board and the administration. We've talked about it in the past, but, uh, it would be great if, um, we and our state legislature could ever figure out how to provide bussing because, you know, we have parents who live across town, may not have access to cars. And, you know, there's anything we can do with the county. We talk about it. And I know it's a really big lift, not just financially for the district, but legislatively. Um, there's laws about like, if you provide bussing in a public school at
069one grade level, then you have to ride it to all the private schools that are grade level. It's something I always mention to our legislators when I talk to them, because I just don't want to see any of our families having that obstacle. We were talking about attendance. Um, but, you know, imagine if you live all the way across town. I don't even know if you would register. And, you know, it's such a great advantage to be able to be in this program. Thank you. For, I forget, uh, we do have some vacant seats. Is that correct? We still. We do. Okay. We still have seats open. We welcome community members there. Uh, pre-K age. Uh, please refer them to our school, and Melissa Russo will show mature. And to invite them, show them the
070video and show them what we have. So we do have some vacancies. And we also do have an open house happening in the new year as well for any, um, an interested families for this year or for next year. Thank you, thank you. Um, I wanted to thank you for the presentation. I've had two of my babies go through very real. And I went through your. And before it was my fault. And I was on the board when we opened it back up. So it's one of my favorite buildings in a lot of ways because of the architecture, because of the history. But there's always such, um, there's such a feeling, not just from the students, but from the building itself. When you're there, the happiness is just so infectious. Um, I'm really proud to
071see some of the literacy and the math benchmarks and following them through the year, and to see that grow year to year has been really, um, amazing. And I think it shows fidelity to programing. If we're not changing the way teachers are teaching every year and trusting them to learn the programs that that students can learn from and letting them teach and not have to retrain and um, and learn a new software every single year. It's really helpful in teaching students the skills that they need to move forward. So, um, I'm really excited to see those continue to grow. And you guys are doing an amazing job. And, um, I just wanted to pitch to the community. If anyone wants to reach out to you, right. To help beyond your students, if you have an
072idea, those teachers there love to implement anything as far as visitors, as far as activities. And those kids are a they love everything that that comes their way. Uh, pumpkin painting can be super exciting when you're four, so if you have any ideas, they they are always open. Um, it's a, it's a community partnerships. So, um, it's an amazing building, a great leadership team. They do an amazing job over there. And, um, if you're having a bad day, just, you know, open a video that has those kids on on that. They're super exciting. So thank you so much for presenting to us and for the work that you guys do every day. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate that. President at this time. If we can take a just a two minute
073break so that our families and teachers can get ready for that very important morning. Uh. Um, programing with these wonderful students that we have. Thank you all again. Another big round of applause. Uriah Hill elementary school. Just don't visit in those. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, sometimes my camera focuses and other times I get. No. That's a stupid camera. You trying to? So let us know. Last Christmas, I gave you my. But the very next. You gave it away. To save me from tears. Give it to someone special. You gave it away. I'll give it to someone special. When it's spinning. It doesn't surprise me. Happy Christmas. And it was, you know, saying, I love you. Romance. Now I know where. I fear that if you kiss me now and you fool me again. My.
074You gave it a. Someone to rely on. Was a shoulder to cry on face. We're. Men undercover. Me upright. Uh huh. No. Find a real. Fool me again. I say. And the firing is. Cover that you. What is up, daddy gang in? Okay, everyone. Welcome back. Um. You have another presentation, right? We do. Uh, we have a budget. Are we ready to move on to the budget presentation? Yes. Perfect. Then that's where we'll head. So, miss Reed. Uh, if you can, uh. Already, um. Thank you. Uh, at this time, um, my pleasure to have. Uh, our next presentation, which will be our, uh, budget session. Um, number one is, as you know, as a board and as a school districts very important to make sure that we have the, uh, financial, um, uh, availability to
075make sure that all of the programs that we have from pre-K all the way to grade 12, um, are in place and that we support the Peekskill Promise, we are driven by the Peekskill promise. And so we make sure that, uh, anything that we do, it is aligned with those five pillars. And, uh, Mrs. Hawthorne and her team in the business office, uh, worked diligently all year long. But we are beginning that, uh, we began that budgeting process, um, as early as October and start moving that work forward. And she'll speak about the, uh, first, uh, budget session tonight, and we'll give an overview of where we are and where we are headed. Um, we don't have all of our financial information from the state at this time, but it allows us to provide a
076projection of where we are headed and where we were in the past. And so, uh, with that, I'll turn it over to Mrs. Hawthorne, uh, who will begin this very important part of the presentation, which really fuels the Peekskill problem. So with that, Mrs. Hawthorne. Thank you, Doctor Mauricio. Good evening, President Phelan, board trustees, my fellow Peekskill community. Um, this is our start to the budget season for 2627. And as always, as you heard in our previous presentation from our Uriah Hill staff, everything we do starts with the Peekskill Promise. So we are aligning every part of our budget conversations, every decision we make to honor our Peekskill Promise and the five Pillars. So budget development starts technically in April and May, when the budget is, um, actually adopted and presented and for public vote.
077Once we get to that point, June begins all of the planning purchase orders for the budget. In July, we print out the but, um, purchase orders within the district office. We have different discussions, believe it or not, for even the next year's budget. Um, during the summer, we're closing out our previous year with our audit. We're planning all of our principals, our departments of planning, ordering materials to welcome our students in September. Um, this happens all the way through, and then we start developing our budget calendar in October. Discussions begin with our staff, um, regard, um, different budgeting for the buildings administration. We've already had meetings at every one of our buildings, beginning department meetings now to present the information that we present this evening. Um, as we're planning as well as January, February, we
078start having deeper conversations. Um, people bring ideas to us. We discuss it at the cabinet level, share ideas, and build our budget that we present to the board roughly in about April for them to adopt, leading to our budget vote in May. So it's a nonstop process. Um, the components of our budget. It's broken down into three separate areas. So it's the program component, which is most of the things that touch our students and scholars one on one. So it's teachers, it's staffing, it's, um, supplies. The administrative component is more like the supervision of it. And then a capital and capital component is our building. So it's the staff that cleans and cares for our buildings, maintains our buildings. Um, and those are the three main parts of our budget. As we are bringing our
079budget for approval to the voters, there are different things we have to take into consideration. So it's changes in local assessments and equalization rates that we use, along with the CPI, to come up with what our tax levy is going to be. We have, um, federal mandated state costs. Um, they are requirements of our labor on negotiation negotiations with our units for our staffing. Um, we I think we're in about we have three contracts that are up in June 2026. So we'll be taking those into consideration when we're talking about the budget. Um, we we have we enjoy. Are we um, we we want community input, staffing input, everybody to bring together ideas on what is the best way and what are the best programs for our scholars. Um, they are different state and local
080program changes. We know we hear a lot about what our grants are going to look like. So those are some of the concerns that we are taking into consideration as we build this budget. Some of the considerations are the projected enrollment, staffing needs, contractual obligations. As I mentioned before, we look at the historical spending patterns, um, we try to project out state aid based on known factors that we know, such as building a transportation aid, the non-tax revenues for the upcoming school year, which can be, um, our utilities tax revenue that we receive, there are different, um, miscellaneous revenues that we receive and the projected amount of fund balance and reserves remaining at the end of each school year that we can plan to offset some of the, um, taxpayer burden in the upcoming school
081year. We start with building specific, um, budgets that are developed by the principal in conjunction with um department and team leaders. We allocate money across the buildings based on enrollment. So we are equitable in how we spend the money across the buildings. Um, they're reviewed by administration. Um, we look at them, we discuss. We also give them the opportunity. I give them a one spreadsheet that is stay within our allocation. On the second one, they can put things that they ideas. They may have new requests that we can bring back to the cabinet once we know what our revenues are, if we have enough money to do additions. Um, the non instructional budget, which is things that we really don't have control over, it could be actual, um, contractual obligations, utilities, different various things to
082run the buildings. Um, those are the things that we take into consideration the employee benefits we have to plan, whether it's the New York State retirement through teachers or the um non-teaching staff, as well as health insurance and other benefits that we have to that we offer to our employees. We also look at the debt service based on borrowings that we have made for all of the beautification that we've been bringing to our buildings, as well as projected revenues based on historical, historical and known facts. Excuse me. So all of that, what are the facts? So we start with looking at our budget for our budget for the 2526 school year was $131,740,528. So if we just looked at that increase of 1%, it would be an additional $1,317,405. And then we look at the
083tax levy. The 2526 tax levy was $46,034,517, 1% increase. Of that is $460,345. That's just to give us an idea of where we stand, how much extra tax revenue would bring in. We also are waiting for our state, um, numbers. They usually come out mid January. Um, more recent years. They've been coming out towards the end of January. So we'll have an update for you with those numbers in January at our next presentation. Where do we stand with benefits? So as you see here, we try to keep a rolling, uh, look back of how many, how the, um, percentages have increased. So the teachers retirement system is the portion of earnings that we have to pay to teachers for the the teachers retirement system. We're looking at a range they have not, um, released a
084a final number yet. So it's somewhere between 8.25% and 8.75% on the IRS side, which is non-teaching staff, we're looking at an increase of about 1.1% over last year. So that percentage is 17.6%. The, um, Putnam, the West Chester Health Insurance consortium, we met about two weeks ago and we established a rate of a 5% increase for health insurance. So those are the numbers that I'll be building into the budget for the benefits. Now we'll look at what we know so far regarding the revenue side. So the tax cap factor outlook for the budget year 2627. The tax cap is a calculation. Everybody knows it has a 2% tax cap. But I always try to explain that is actually a calculation based on different factors. And once we we can either use the 1.2 or
085whatever the allowable levy growth factor will be. And it can be that our maximum allowable levy is over the 2%. But everybody knows it as the 2%. So we'll explain that later. But for an example, last year's maximum allowable levy was 4.59% for us. With their help, we came to being able to appropriate some of the fund balance to offset some of the burden on the taxpayers, and we levied a 1.5% interest. I mean, sorry, 1.5% tax levy. The allowable levy growth factor is the consumer price index, or 2%. They use the lesser of the two for the calculation. Right now um CPI is trending a little over 3%. So we're looking at it being about a 1.02 in the calculation. And our tax base growth factor, which comes from the state for the 2627
086year, is 1.0039. So we've been doing, um. We've been very, um, thoughtful and intentional about, um, building our reserve. So this is where we are now. At the end of the 25, 26 year, we were able to increase our capital reserve, which we established about 2 or 3 years ago thanks to the public vote. We're building that up. So in future years, as we're working with some of our capital work, we will not have to come out to the taxpayers, but we will go to the taxpayers for a vote, allowing us to utilize those funds for the different projects that were specified when we voted for it. Our next, um, preliminary budget will be presented on January 27th. Um, well, we will have more numbers. Hopefully we will have more of our revenue numbers, will
087have state aid numbers. Um, be closer to where we'll be with the tax. Um, at least what, the maximum allowable levy. And there will be further discussion amongst cabinet and to the board to decide where that will end up. Thank you everyone. Have a good night. Are there any questions? I do it? Did we have any unassigned, uh, fund balance or is it all assigned? We have unassigned fund balance. Yes. We appropriated for this year's budget $2 million. That's why we were able to keep the, um, tax levy down. Thank you. Um, I have a question regarding the employee benefit factors. Um, I see there's some big fluctuations. How does that get determined? That's by the state. By state centers. Well, like the health insurance, like 21, 22 was like 1.5 and then 22, 23,
088which is 6%. So like I was wondering how like how did that, that big fluctuation get decided? So I happen to sit on the board, um Putnam northern um, Westchester Health insurance Consortium. We have an actuary who comes in. We look at what our trends are. We look at what our expenses have been. The actuary makes a determination what he recommends. And then, um, as the finance committee, we sit and determine, okay, we have a set amount that we want to set as a reserve. So in case we have a bad year and if, uh, the the actuary, I'm just going to throw a number out there, say they recommend 15%. We look at what we actually have in quotes savings and determine where we want to be to have money to help. And then
089we determine the rate. And it's usually actuaries are very, very, very conservative. So we usually try to stay more within um a range where it's not big swings up and down. Because sometimes with health insurance, if you don't have those reserves, um, in savings I say savings, but it's not a savings account. But if you don't have that kind of backup, you can see big swings because we we are self-insured as a consortium. Thank you ma'am. I one more question. Do we have any way of knowing if and when any of our federal funding is going to be cut? Do you when? I don't know when the deadlines are for the federal budget. I can't say for certain. Um, we know that there are some that are being, um, dare I say, threatened? Uh, or,
090you know, they could be considered to be either decreased or can't, you know, ended, but we won't know just yet. Of our programs that would affect. Yeah. Thank you for that question. Uh, so we recently received an email, um, from the state education department, which managed the lead program. And, uh, that is a $1.2 million per year, um, expenditure plus anything we put in as a district, um, providing the programs that, uh, three of our schools and so including summer programing as well. And so that what they indicated in the email is that they will keep us informed as they move forward. But, um, as you know, the education department was, uh, divided up, dismantled and assigned to different uh, departments, Department of Labor and others. And so, uh, they are awaiting any further guidance.
091As soon as we know, we will make sure that, uh, we bring it to the, uh, board in the public as well. Uh, the, the other, um, funding source that we're certainly keeping an eye on is our, uh, school Improvement Grant funding. Title funding, uh, that comes from federal, uh, dollars. And so we constantly, uh, on a weekly, monthly basis monitoring what is happening at the federal level. We know how lucky we've been to have you here with us, that you you gave us such a soft landing when it came to the the Covid funding cliff, um, you and the administrators planned out that funding and, you know, kept in mind when it was going to expire or what we might keep, what we might no longer need. So just appreciate that. And I know
092you have your eye on, um, our programing in the coming year. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Hawthorne, for you all you do and and you I know you speak for the, uh, staff that work for you. Um, behalf of the board and, uh, administrative leadership team. Thank you to all your staff as well for the hard work that they do. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. President Villa, and that concludes our updates to the board. And with that, we'll turn it back over to you. Uh, to you as president. Thank you. Um, is there any old business? Any new business? Okay, moving on to policy meetings. We have the policy reading for the following policies. 1120 ah, which is the school district records regulations. School districts are now required to notify to notify
093employees whenever the district is responding to a request for their disciplinary records pursuant to a Foil, which is the Freedom of Information Act law. Um, and then policy number 9170, which is the meal and refreshments and regulation, uh, any questions or comments? Can I have a motion to approve those policies? Number 1120 are school district records regulations and 9170 meals and refreshments and regulation. So moved. Moved by Brown. One second by Amy. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Accepting of the minutes. Are there any questions or comments? Can I please have a motion for the accepting of the minutes for the business meeting on November 18th, 2025, the business meeting work session December 2nd, 2025, and the retreat that we had on December 6th, 2025. Move by Frank. Second. Second by Allen. All
094in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Consent agenda. Are there any comments, questions or thoughts? Can I please have a motion to accept consent? Consent. Agenda items 11 through 14 a. So moved. Moved by Branwen. Second by Christina. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Are there any committee reports or comments? Can I just let the board know briefly about our, um, our meetings with our legislators this week? So, um, Jillian and Angel and I met with, um, Senator Harckham, state Senator Harckham and Assembly member Levin Berg, uh, this week over zoom briefly to, uh, discuss the potential charter school that has, um, been in contact, I guess, with not with us, but with somebody about perhaps being established here. There's been a Herald article written about it. I wrote a letter to the
095editor, um, expressing a lot of my serious concerns about it. Um, and I personally feel like legislatively, we should start to look at some action as a community, as a county and as a state, because almost every community in the state, when confronted with this, um, wants a say and doesn't have a say in whether a charter is opening in their community. So, um, the legislators, uh, in general seem to be on board with us. So we're moving forward, looking at different legislative paths. And a lot of people in the community have already gotten in touch with us and asked us how they can be in support of that effort because, um, everyone I've heard from wants to keep our school system whole and undiluted and not have an outside business come in and create
096a separate school. So, um, there will be more to come, I believe, after the holidays. Uh, just in terms of targeted efforts, uh, you know, what can be done and what we would all like to see done, because I think if there's enough people, which there seems to be who believe in local control on this issue, um, it doesn't really seem that the law as written was meant for communities like ours. And yet charters are sort of coming in under the door. So, uh, I think we can work together to have that corrected. I think also on the merits, we can be together as a community opposing a charter, come in, in this specific situation. But just as a larger issue, um, I think we're we're going to be moving forward with some efforts on
097that legislatively. Thank you much. Um, there's definitely more to come on that I'm sure. Um, and then I know we have a report from, uh. Thank you. Oh, yes. Perfect. Thank you. Hello, all. Just a little report about the high school, which I absolutely love. Is that MSC. My sister's keeper is going to Woodside on Friday to teach the students a holiday craft. And I honestly thought out of the entire report, I really wanted to say this because it really shows how our schools in the district are trying to merge and be active with each other. I'm personally I'm the president of the Math Honor Society, and we're going on Friday to teach, I believe, Hillcrest students certain math concepts and teaching them fractions with an activity, a holiday activity. And that is one of
098my favorite things in the Science Honor society yearly. We go to Hillcrest and do a science project. My favorite was when we taught them how to make ice cream with little creamer packets. So I know it's an amazing experience for the high schoolers and also the kids in the elementary schools, because we get to see our past selves. I have gone from Uriah Hill all the way to high school, so it's amazing to be able to give those kids just the joy that I would have felt if I were in their position. Getting to see older kids and knowing that you are going to be in their position in the next few years and you get to follow that. Peekskill legacy has been one of my favorite things about Peekskill High School. We also, as
099Doctor Mauricio said, have our concert coming up, and it's been amazing to see how our school has fostered the musical talents of kids. We just had two students, Max Mayer and Leonidas Davis, go to area all state this past week, which is amazing. They worked so hard and I know Max does a music review every single year that he's been trying to form and establish, and all the school has done is help and support the students so that they can grow their musical passion. So many of these kids, those kids are the top kids in my grade. Some of them, and they're wanting to go to conservatories and pursue their musical, their love for music. And I love how our school is just helping them in every way that they can. In the music program
100that we just talked about going into your eye, Hill is only going to further help the kids pursue their passions and know that music is something that they can do. Sometimes people frown upon it, or they think that it's going to be harder in the future, but it shows that as long as you have passion and you have determination, we can and we have the support system at Peekskill to be able to do it with the USS. Why I would not have been able to do it without Doctor Ferris and without all of you guys. No one can do things alone. And I think this school really helps teach us that we need a support system. And pixel, thank you all for being that support system for me and all of these kids in Peekskill
101High School and all of the pixel school districts. So thank you guys. If I might share that is Peekskill Promise at its best. You said it. Well, uh, and we're going to make sure we keep that recorded. Uh, because you absolutely spoke about the trajectory Peekskill Pride and what our promise is all about. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Any other comments or reflections. So I just wanted to share two things. Um. You spoke a lot about, um, uh, the Uriah Hall presentation talks a lot about it, but this, uh, interplay between the buildings and bringing our students together of different ages and that, um, it creates memories. I talk a lot to David. Whenever we have a minute about how it's not necessarily the lessons that the teachers come up with day to
102day that the students remember. But these trips, but these, um, visits that students do, these activities where we can get the older kids teaching younger kids, these are what kids remember. And this is what makes your educational experience so special. And the more we instill that and make that part of our our identity and the Peekskill school system, it it breaks apart that, uh, separation that you can get and the fact that we have a Princeton model and it brings everyone back together while making the memories for everyone who that they can bring through their whole experience. And they can, as adults, use in their career fields or wherever else. And I think that that's an absolutely beautiful thing that we continue to do. So anytime we can bring the kids together, I'm really thankful
103for it and I think it's great. Um, and then second, I know David spoke to it and the Peekskill Pride. I just wanted to thank the, uh, um, families who got involved and our social workers in the social services department as a whole, and everybody who donated time and gifts and everything to make the holiday experience for people who were less fortunate. Um, and these were hand-selected families that needed the help, um, through the social services department. So I'm really thankful that it got off the ground. And I want to continue growing that kind of thing and and trying to get our community to wrap around each other and just be there for each other. It's it's absolutely beautiful. So I want to thank everybody involved for that. Um, and, and definitely being involved with
104the outreach and trying to, to better our community, dividing it doesn't make any sense with how we're continuing to grow as a, as a whole. Um, so if there are no further actions, can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved by Brad, one second, second by Allen. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Good night everyone.