Rome CSD BOE Meeting 6/2/26

001We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. >> I'm sorry. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. At this time, I'd like to introduce Georgia Gonzalez to present our budget. Good evening. Tonight we're going to discuss the revised budget hearing for the 2026 and 27 school year. At the end of this presentation, the public will be invited to ask questions or make comments regarding the budget. So to start with, we're going to have a little conversation about why we have to go through this process of a revised budget. For those of you that are aware, on u May 19th, we had a

002budget vote and that vote was voted down. One sec. There we go. So that gave our board of education an opportunity to make one of three options. They could either go back out with the same budget, they could revise that budget, or they could go directly to a contingent budget. After several conversations, the board did meet and we discussed what we were getting for feedback from the district, from the community members. And one of those things happened to be about affordability. The tax cap was too high. There were some concerns about how some of our community members would be able to afford that. So, the district decided that we would move forward with a revised budget. As such, we started having conversation about how we move forward doing that. In order to revise that budget,

003we wanted to lower the tax levy knowing that some concerns were that the tax cap was too high. We began having conversations about what we could cut out of that budget without impacting student programs. And one of the only things that we really had in that budget at that time that was not student centered was surrounding a um a position for a director. Not that it's not student centered, but out of everything that we have currently in the budget, that was one of the things that really has a large impact on our students. So, as we began going through the processes, we started looking at every single line and how that either had a service to meet all of our students needs, whether that was staffing related, whether it was class size related, whether we

004had something to do with our safety and security. We wanted to preserve all of our field trips, all of our um activities, any enrichment activities. is we didn't want to take away from any of our student centered um afterchool options and we wanted to ensure that we sustained all of our existing academic and student support structures. So with that we cut $173,000 from the budget of which one was a position for a director and one was approximately $16,000 in human resource initiatives. That reduced our overall budget to $165,388,086 for a budget-to-budget change of just over $4.8 million. Most of being foundation aid and state aid that we receive, approximately 800,000 of that being for tax, our tax levy. That was a 2.5% change from the prior um original budget of 2.89%. As you can see

005here, the 157,000 represents the director um that we've been talking about as the workforce liaison, but we ultimately decided on director of career development and fine arts. This includes both their salary and benefits. I would like to reiterate that this is actually a position that has not been created yet. It was an additional position that we were going to add into the budget next year. It's not a position that we've had posted and it's not a position that we had um that's been vacant for a period of time. It's a position that we have not had that we were going to create new for next year. The human resources initiative was $16,000 and that $16,000 represents recruitment practices that we were trying to put into place next year. We still have some of those funds

006available and we will use them as such as long as the budget passes this year. But that $16,000 is really to help offset that 173,000 because the board really thought that 2.5% was a number that would be positive for our district moving forward without us losing programs in the future. So, as you can see, our administrative budget is the only component part of our budget that decreased and that went from approximately 7.54% down to 7.43%. our capital stayed the same and our programming stayed the same. So overall, you can see we still are striving to make sure that our students are getting the programs that they need at almost 81%. As we've been stating all school year long, we really are striving to make sure our students are the center of every decision that we're

007making. And we didn't want this revised budget to be any less than that. We wanted to make sure that we were not impacting students in a negative way with a revised budget. And we wanted to make sure that this would still set us up to have positive programming in the future as we continue into future years because as you're aware, this budget and the tax levy of this year will then play a part into future years budgets. What happens if the vote is not passed on June 16th? We will have to go to a contingency budget. That contingency budget means that we cannot raise taxes at all. That's a 0% increase. That also means that there are various things that we have planned for additions into the budget next year that will need to be

008cut. There are some staff that we were planning on adding next year. Again, they're not vacancies that we currently have. They're positions that we were planning on adding for the betterment of our students. They are security and personnel for security that we were planning on adding for the purpose of helping in our buildings to ensure safety for our students, for our staff, and for those who come into our buildings on a regular basis. We also will be looking at future challenges. As we're aware, in the 2728 year, we've been told by the state already that we will be looking at between a zero and 1% increase in our state aid. We will also only be able to increase our tax levy by between 2.5 and 3%. That's the average for our district based on tax

009growth rates, based on our CPI that's currently in uh place across the federal government. So with that in mind, we will likely only be able to increase our budget in the 2728 year by approximately $2.5 million. When our budget increases by expenses by almost four million, you can see how that puts us in a deficit in the 2728 year unless we continue to maintain that 2.5 to two uh to 3% tax levy every year. If we go to a contingency budget, we will be looking to cut approximately $843,000 more of the budget, more than the $173,000 we've already cut. Go ahead. These are some of the impacts that we will have in the classroom alone. Next year, we were planning to add an AIS math teacher. Again, this is not a position that's been vacant

010that we're looking to fill. This is an additional position that we are looking to add to help with the assistance especially at the high school level for our math students that have struggled especially in algebra. We have noticed that some of our academics regarding math our students struggle. So by having an AIS math teacher that can help provide some of that intervention and be able to help some of our students that struggle. This is that position that we would be looking to cut if we go to a contingency budget. We also have a biology teacher position that we are again looking to add. Not a vacancy that's been open that we're trying to fill. This is an additional biology teacher position that we are looking to add to help our students because we notice that

011in our science classes, we struggle more because we have to have more kids in those types of classrooms. And science is an area when you have labs, they can really only have 16 to 18 students typically in those classrooms. by having an additional biology teacher that allows us to maintain smaller class sizes for especially those science uh type uh classrooms. We also plan to have a teacher assistant at Ridge Mills to assist again with our students that are struggling and Ridgemills is one of our smaller uh smaller schools, but they have more students in that building compared to the size of that building. So, by having an additional teacher assistant in there, they were planning to help assist with making some of our classroom sizes a little smaller and helping to supervise students. Again, if

012we go to a contingent budget, those three items will have to be removed from the budget because they are additions that we were planning on adding, not things that we already have that can just easily be added and then removed. In addition to that, we had heard all year long that one of the biggest concerns in some of our buildings and at stadium support and some of our extracurricular like games, football games, etc. have to do with our security. In this revised budget, we continue to have one of our security personnel people being added. Again, not a position we currently have, but a position that we're looking to add. If we have to go to a contingent budget, one out of the two security personnel members that we were going to add next year will

013need to be cut out of that budget. security equipment such as our window coverings, some of our metal detectors, some of our detectors for putting your purses and your book bags through to ensure there's no weapons in those bags will have to be cut from the budget. The roadway repair that is behind Rome um the Rome Free Academy, that will also not be able to be repaired. um that is approximately a $200 to $250,000 repair and that means we will have to move that defer that into a capital project at a later time. We also will not be able to include the approximately $200,000 of the lease for Rome Catholic School. Now, mind you, we put that into the budget knowing that we had something going to the state that we were expecting to be

014approved. They are expecting to pay somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2 2 million to offset the cost and aid for that building for the next 5 years. If we do not have the local share piece of that, regardless of what the state does, we cannot move forward with moving our prek into that building while we are in the middle of renovating this building to eventually move fifth and sixth grade here. So, if the budget is not passed, then we are forced to stay in this building for UPK. And the renovations to this building now will have to be altered. and when and how we do that. Ultimately, that means more cost to the district long term because we will have to spread this out over a couple of year period. Inflation will occur and because we'll

015have to do it in multiple stages. Again, there's additional time, additional labor costs, and additional material costs that will have to go into this building to do the same amount of work that we were planning on doing by moving into Rome Catholic. So, some of those rippling effects when we vote down the budget this year, if we vote down the budget this year, not only means that there's a hund uh $843,000 that will be cut from the budget, which we just discussed, but it also means that we will face significant pro uh projected gaps in the future. As I discussed a little earlier on in this uh presentation, what that means is between one and a half and three and a uh two and a half million dollars, that is the equivalent of between 20

016and 30 staff positions that we may be facing to have to cut in the 2027 2020 year. We obviously will be looking ahead to see if we need to do those things, but right now that's projected based on the state telling us that they're only going to increase our state aid by 1%. And that's based on the voters next year approving whatever the tax cap may be, which right now I'm averaging somewhere between 2 and a half and 3%. If we have a vote or a budget that we decide is less than that tax cap, we will see a larger significant projected difference, which means there will be additional cuts that we will have to make in the 2728 year. Those things compound into future years. Meaning that the $1 million that we're cutting potentially

017from the budget this year in the 28 29 year will now be one and a half million plus whatever our deficit is and so on and so forth. So you can see how voting down the budget this year has a long lasting impact on our staff which impacts our students. And when we're really here talking about students, we need to remember that if we're cutting our staff, that means the morale of our staff go down, the morale of our students go down. We start seeing some of these issues with behavior in our students. We have less adults here to help supervise those students and so on and so forth. The problem becomes compacted and larger, not reduced or removed. So, I'm asking not only everyone in this room, but I'm asking everyone in this community

018to please come out on June 16th. We will have polls open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. That is 9 hours for you, your friends, your family, anyone that you know of in the community to please come out and vote for our budget at $165 million that is here to help support our students. We have 81% of our budget going to our kids. We do have one change in the words. Every other word one through 10 is the same except word three. Due to the location already being scheduled for that day, we had to make a um decision to use a different location and that will be at the district office which is at 266 West Dominic Street. There will be a space where you can go in and vote the same way that you

019would if you were over at South Rome. Again, I want to reiterate that we um do not have any issues and you're able to register if you're 18 years of age, you're a US citizen and a resident of the school district. You do not need to be someone who owns property here. You just have to be someone who lives within the district and you have registered within the last 30 days. I will now open the floor to anyone who has any questions or would like to make any comments regarding the budget. Sure. Come on up. >> Come on up here. >> You're okay. >> All right. Um Paul Fitzpatrick. I'm a former board member and former board president. Um I just want to know I've asked the question to several people here. Uh do we

020know how many um eligible voters we have in the district? Thank you. >> As of the v vote on May 16th, we had approximately 21,000 that are eligible to vote within the district. It's slightly less than that. It's approx and I'm going off of memory here. It's about 20,800 and something, but just around 21. Anyone else? Please come up, sir. >> Good evening. My name is William Anen. I was born and raised in Rome. I went to Behringer, then Stra, then graduated from RFA with the class of 1974. Then I joined the Air Force and left for a while. But after that, I returned home and worked for St. Elizabeth's Hospital for almost 30 years. I saved my money and paid cash for a fixeruppper. So since I didn't have a mortgage, I received my

021tax bills in the mail. For the last 30 years, I've watched my school tax bill go up and up and up every year. Now I find it hard to believe that as people are struggling to eat and pay bills, you are asking for millions more. Plus, you are putting senior citizens homes at risk. Now I'm almost 70 years old. My fixeruper is done. I'm retired. But now I can't afford to live in the house. I live on a fixed income of $1,245 a month. The Star program saved me for a while, but all those gains have been eaten away by years of constant school tax increases. Every April and October, I have to write you a check for $1,000, and it better be paid on time and in full or they'll put a lean on

022my house. Then the clock starts ticking on having your house taken away. Those months leave me with $245 to live on. Needless to say, I used up my savings and I can no longer rate you checks for $1,000. So now I have only my vote to help me with this. You called for a vote and the voters spoke, but instead of accepting the will of the people, you turn the no votes into try again votes. I know many of the no voters and they have come from people like me that are fighting to stay in their homes. But now we know that our votes don't count. And to add insult to injury, my 70th birthday is on June 16th. So now I have to leave my family on my birthday to come down and vote

023no again. Even though I know that my vote means nothing. Plus, I'm sure that you will rally the troops to get enough yes votes to overcome us. So now I So now all I can do is speak truth to power and be the face of the people you are hurting. If you really want to help people over 65 in on social security, you would put forth a proposal to eliminate them from paying school taxes. The small loss to your budget would be a g big game to ours and help us keep us in our homes. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak? >> Sure. Thank you. >> I have a prepared statement that is pretty short, but before I um before I get to that,

024first of all, every time I address the school board, um I've had it I have it several opportunities over the past 30 years. I thank you for your service. Um, I know how difficult it is and um, it's a it's a huge commitment and we appreciate what you do. So, thank you for that. Um secondly, I've had an opportunity to speak to two former school board members slash pre presidents of the school board and um I got a lesson on how difficult it is to pass a budget to come up with a budget and I don't pretend to understand that process. Okay. So I'm going to get to my uh I'm going to get to my statement. So good evening everyone. My name is Robert Angela Colola. I am a Roman born and raised here

025as well. Uh my parents were immigrants born on Railroad Street in East Rome and this was my school uh when Jerry Kloff was actually the principal here. So I have a lot I have a lot of time and um effort in invested in this community. I have no children in the school district but hope that my grandchildren are able to come here. My comments this evening are not intended and should not be considered as either support or criticism of the school board, the administration, or the voters in the original school board uh vote, the budget vote, I'm sorry. I'm speaking tonight simply as a Roman who cares about the future of Rome and our children. The upcoming vote on June 16th will demonstrate what kind of a community we want to be and what message

026we want to send our children, our families, our community, and potential new residents um about how we feel about our children. Our elected officials, economic development agencies, and businesses are working hard to attract new businesses and investment. And we've been very successful. But to capitalize on fully on these efforts, we need new families to choose Rome, not only as a place to work, but as a place to live, raise children, and build a future. Strong schools are a major part of that equation. I understand that many residents are concerned about taxes, and those concerns are real. Um, many ro many Romans are feeling financial pressure. At the same time, our schools are one of the most important investments we make as a community. And the quality of our schools affects property values, economic development, and

027decisions on whether families see Rome as a place where they want to raise and uh start a family. Attracting new families to live here, supporting our local businesses, opening businesses of their own, and contributing to our tax base is the best way to deal with our tax problems long term. We have a tax problem because we don't have enough people in this city and we are having a problem getting people to come here and move here. They open businesses here. They come and work in our businesses and then they go live in different communities. Um, every time a family makes a decision to live in a surrounding community instead of Rome, there's a negative impact on our community. If we want to attract young families to live here and to contribute, we need properly funded

028schools. Every vote matters. Whether you supported the original budget or not, I encourage everyone to learn about the proposed budget. Consider what is at stake and make sure your voice is heard on June 16th. If you have questions or concerns about the proposed budget or any other education related issues, there's a process. Attend schoolboard meetings and speak up. Mail your school board members or email them, I'm sorry, but please don't vote no to send a message. The only message you send is that we are not committed to our children. This vote is about our children. It's about our community and the future we want for Rome. And I hope everyone will participate uh for our children and our community. And I encourage everyone to vote yes. Thank you. [applause] >> Um good evening. Um, Madame

029President, Madam Superintendent. Um, my name is Jacqueline Nelson and I am a lifelong Roman. I was born in South Rome. I attended Dwit Clinton School. I um grew up in, like I said, in South Rome. I completely understand the struggle. I'm here tonight on behalf of the Rome NAACP. I am the president and the Western region education director. Um, the NACP Rome, New York branch 2174B announces it its support for the proposed school budget and urges community members to vote in favor of this important investment in the students, families, and the future of our community on June 16, 2026. The branch believes that strong public schools are essential to education equity, opportunity, and long-term community well-being. A responsible and adequately adequately funded school budget helps ensure that all students have access to high quality instruction,

030academic support, safe learning environments, transportation, and enrichment opportunities that prepare them for success in school and in life. It also supports the educators and staff whose work is critical to student students achievement and helps districts respond fairly and effectively to the needs of all learners. By supporting this budget, the community affirms its commitment to educational excellence, fairness, and opportunity for every child. Supporting the school budget is about making sure every child has access to resources, support, and opportunities they need to thrive. When we invest in public education and we invest in equity in in achievement and in the future of our entire community, this budget represents a commitment to our children and to the promise of opportunity for all. The NAACP Rome New York branch 2174B in accordance with the mission of the National NAACP

031for public education is committed to achieving equity, educational opportunity, and the well-being of the community through civic engagement, advocacy, and public action in support of fair and inclusive institutions. Hello, my name is Jennifer Roth. Um, as a current parent, I want to talk about um why some parents like myself have chosen not to support this year's school budget, which I don't think has been given enough um consideration. It was not simply about taxes or dollars. It's about trust, accountability, and confidence in the direction of our district. Many voters who rejected this budget did so because they feel it lacks what our schools need most, structure, accountability, and meaningful support for students and staff. We hear goals around improving academic performance, graduation rates, and student outcomes. However, what is missing is a clear, transparent action plan,

032one with measurable steps, timelines, and accountability. Before asking taxpayers to invest more, many residents want to see evidence that current challenges are being addressed effectively. One of the most consistent concerns from parents is student behavior in classrooms. Teachers are doing their best, but too often instructional time is being lost due to ongoing disruptions that are not addressed effectively. Our staff need stronger systems and supports so they can focus on teaching rather than managing repeated behavioral issues day after day. As a parent to a first, second, and fifth grader, I hear firsthand how this impacts our students. My fifth grader comes home regularly talking about the disruptive behaviors in class and has expressed frustration that it makes it difficult for students who want to learn to be able to focus. When children are noticing and commenting

033on this consistently, it reflects a broader issue that cannot be ignored. He has even expressed that he wishes there were separate learning environments for students who want to learn without constant interruptions. Whether or not that is the solution, the fact that a child feels that way should concern everyone here. I also want to address comments that have been shared with parents suggesting that saving one child is top priority. While I understand the intent behind that sentiment, I believe it raises an important concern. Every student matters and every student deserves support. However, that support cannot come at the expense of an entire classroom's ability to learn. We are not serving any student well if we allow repeated disruptions to continue without effective intervention while the rest of the class loses instructional time. Our responsibility is to

034ensure all students, those with behavioral or social emotional needs and those ready to learn have the environment and support they need to succeed. These challenges are not unique to Rome, but acknowledging that other districts face similar issues does not excuse in action here. Parents are no longer willing to accept continued inaction or the absence of clear results. We need leadership, accountability, and a concrete plan to address behavior, support staff, and improve academic outcomes in a measurable way. Tonight, I would ask each board member and district leader to put your position on the record. What is your plan to address these concerns and how will you measure success? The community deserves clear answers and our students deserve better outcomes. If you are looking for us to support your budget proposals, then we need your support. Through

035clear action, transparency, and results, our community can see and trust. Thank you. [applause] >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak? >> Dennis Perfetti, 506 West Thomas Street, Rome, New York. The the last meeting I was at, it was three minutes. You give somebody three minutes to talk and then you don't answer their questions. So, you want me to reach into my pocket, pull out an extra 300 and give it to you. But when I got a question, you don't want to answer it. Let's go around the table. You got 300 I can have. Don't ask why. Just give it to me. Everybody's going to say no. If you want the money, you have to earn the people's trust. I hate to say it. No school board has. We have m We have

036musical superintendent. Oh, we don't like what this one's doing. Gotta go. Don't like what this one's doing. Got to go. Don't like what this one's doing. Got to go. How about stability? How about if we started with a little stability? Probably be something nice, wouldn't it? When you advertise for the next superintendent, you should put right in there. It's a temporary job because we're going to find something we don't like about you and the new board is going to railroad you out of town because that's what you do. We got rid of Peter Blake. We had to pay him out and then we paid the other superintendent to fly his plane to the base for transportation back and forth from his home and you want the community to give you $300 more a month. Tell

037me how insane that sounds. Think about that. You fly somebody in and out and you want >> Okay. And again, nobody can I know. Hurry up because we're Okay. You guys You guys are not transparent one bit. And I'm not talking about the superintendent. I'm talking about the board of education is not transparent. >> This is about the budget. You're asking for money, Sue, that we can't just keep handing out. >> Gas is $4.50 a gallon. Groceries is $200 for four bags in Walmart. And you want the older people to dig in their pocket and just keep throwing $100 bills out like they're confetti at a parade. IT'S GOT TO STOP. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT'S GOT TO stop here. >> [applause] >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak or has questions?

038>> Hi, I wasn't planning to speak tonight, but it's not the first time I've spoken before the board. My name is Kimberly Martin Matthew. I grew up in Rome, New York. I attended this school in elementary school before transferring to Fort Stanwick's Staley, graduated class of RFA in 1988. Raised my children here. They graduated in the class of 2010 and 2013, respectively. Honestly, they're now married with children of their own and looking for a way out because it's not affordable for them to stay here anymore. Property taxes are going up. I have grandchildren in the school district. My kindergarten grandchild in his kindergarten year, he is now in second grade, came home from school and he learned a new word in kindergarten. It was a word that I hadn't heard until I was 18 years

039old and in college because it's not a word that polite people use. Period. It's not a word that any kindergartener should be using at his teacher during reading time. This is the kind of behavior that's been going on in Rome City Schools. You want young families to move here and take a chance on Rome. How do you expect them to do that when the reputation of the school district is in the bottom half of the area? when we are one of the lowest performing districts at the cost of housing. I would totally if I had it to do over again invest in Ariskany, West Merland, New Hartford, any of those places over Rome because what we're being asked to pay in taxes in Rome versus the results that we are getting is ridiculous. If you're

040going to trim a budget and prune a budget, pruning is when you take shears and you make dramatic impact. Pruning is not removing $117,000 and saying, "Look, we made a difference." Because a lot of people in this room are working for pay cuts. Because our 1% a year annual raises don't even begin to take into account the fact that our insurance goes up five or 10%. Our gas bills go up, our utilities go up. I wouldn't mind investing in our children if I actually saw some payoff to that investment. But when I am asked year after year as a taxpayer to give more and I just had to raise the amount that I put in my escrow account every year, every month to cover my tax rates, a good chunk of that being the school

041taxes and we keep consistently scoring as one of the lowest performing districts in this area. Something is dramatically wrong with this picture and it's not inventing new positions. I agree with what Miss Roth said. You need the accountability. If you can't, if these kids are so out of control that it's d disrupting entire classrooms, then those problems need to be addressed somehow some way need to be addressed so that kids that want to learn aren't spending their time hanging out in the hallways having classroom evacuation drills because one child is in the classroom behaving so horrifically that the other kids have to be held shuffled to a hallway for their safety. And if this were anecdotal, it would be one thing, but this is something that multiple kids come home and say that I've heard

042from multiple parents with students in this district. But yet, the answer from the board consistently year after year is more and more and more. More isn't the answer. The answer is get it under control with what we currently give you. Then we might be willing to come up with more. But right now, bankrupting the taxpayers of Rome is not the answer. when you've got people looking to flee to places that are performing better for the same investment amount. So, if you're going to trim a budget, expect this one. And I'm sorry, maybe maybe I'll be wrong, but I fully anticipate we're going to be at a contingency budget stage just because of the atmosphere right now between the district, the performance that we're getting for the money that we're spending, and the current economic conditions

043of this area. And until one of those pieces of that triad moves, there's no more money to give. When everybody in this area is working second jobs and gig work just to pay their bills, you shouldn't have seniors living on $200 a month to pay a tax bill and being asking them for more still again with no end improvement. It's not like the test scores have gone up in the last 10 years. So that's where I'm at with it. Thank you for your time. [applause] First and foremost, I want to thank everybody who spoke tonight. Um, you're the ones that really are making the difference here. I'm not worried about these guys. Uh, so, good evening. My name is Mark Barry. I'm a concerned resident and parent here in the Rome City School District. I

044understand that there are time constraints this evening. I'll do my best to try and keep within those. And uh I am speaking strictly for myself at this point and my views, but everything I'm saying tonight will not be something that's new to anybody in this room. The same [clears throat] issues that I'm going to be speaking about are what caused the first no vote to begin with. It's the administrative costs, the district performance, and the lack of transparency. The revised budget cut, $173,000 from the original proposal. It's onetenth of 1% of the entire budget. It's removing one unfilled administrative position and as it was stated, trimming some internal HR spending. Voters did not reject this budget to see a slightly trimmed version of it. They rejected it as a mandate for a harder look at

045the cracking foundations of what this district has been providing. That has not happened. The community asked about topheavy administration. The budget didn't examine it. The community asked about academic performance running roughly in half the state average across multiple measures. It was not addressed at any point. The committee asked about clear communication and what it got was a newsletter and a 15-minute meeting. I want to be clear, the district keeps responding to this as if it's a financial hardship for our voters. That's not the only reason people are here tonight. Many of the other reasons I've already listed. So, currently, I would say that on 16th, I'm still going to be voting no as I haven't been convinced otherwise. Not because I oppose education, but because I oppose funding a system without first examining how it

046is structured and because trimming a single position and mailing a newsletter or I'm sorry, handing out a newsletter at this meeting does not constitute accountability that the voters asked for two weeks ago. How long is this community expected to fund a system that's yet to deliver improvement to our children without asking and we're not asking for excuses. We're asking for tangible results and a clear path forward. Until we see that, the question remains, how much longer will we be expected to pay more for promises unmet? And to address quickly the the investment in the local community and our schools and something that seems to be a common thread here, we're ranked 9 what 75th out of a thousand707 districts. I highly doubt that investing more in this district at this point is going to bring

047up our property values or fix our problems. So I' I'd like to see actual change come out of this. And I again am voting no. There's a sudden ground swell that I believe will be far more than 24 people that swung the budget this last time. And I expect that the contingency will be something you have to work with going forward. And if you can't operate within that budget, pain will be felt, but it's for a better future. Thank you. [applause] >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak? >> Sure. >> Larry, can you come up here? I was I was going to ask you to answer a question about the 2% bonus. >> George, I was just going to ask you to represent to us what the 2% bonus and foundation aid

048means and where we would be should that have not been given to us. So, first of all, I'd like to explain a little bit about what that 2% bonus is that Larry's referring to. After our budget was not only developed, processed, and even voted on, we then received confirmation from the state that they came out and finalized their budget. In that budget, the new um Rome City School District received approximately 2% additional, which equates to almost $2 million. With those funds, we will still see that 1.5 million to$2.5 million deficit if the budget goes down. Had we not received that additional 2%, we would be facing closer to a three and a half to 4.5 million deficit in the 2728 school year. That means somewhere around 70 to 100 positions would have to be removed

049or we'd be looking at removing extracurricular programs. Sports would start being cut. All of our field trips, even though they're currently through Boseies, would also be cut. We look at additional programming through Boseies that would have to be cut. So, those are all things that we would be looking at within the next year. Now, that being said, thank you, Larry, for bringing that up because that is the direction that the state is going. I understand that the taxpayers are having difficulty and I don't want to diminish that at all. Unfortunately, the state is also in that perpetual state. They are having funding issues as well and they're not going to be here to help uh continue bailing us out and I don't know how else to say it but that's the reality. For several years

050they have been in that process of giving us more money. The art funding during COVID helped to save a lot of our schools, a lot of our districts from 2020 to approximately 2024. But that art funding went away last year. We no longer have that to help save some of these positions, to help our budget, to help supplement what we had going on before. So, we are going to see these hard times coming and I understand what the taxpayers are saying. I definitely do. So, we have to work together and figure out how we're going to resolve that problem so that our students at the end of the day are not the ones that suffer because ultimately those are the pieces that we're looking at. We do understand that taxpayers are facing these issues. We

051all are. Some of those same issues are the same issues that the district is also facing. We will have utility costs that continue to go up at 5, 10, 20, 25%. Those are not things that change just because we're a school district. We are also facing those issues. We are also facing a 13% increase in the 2728 school year. They've already told us flat out to plan for double digits for the next five years after the 2627 school year. So as much as we know that we're going to have these issues, we don't want to go out at a supermajority at any given point in the next five or 10 years. The goal is to stay consistent so that way we don't have these huge swings because we do understand how difficult it is for

052taxpayers to all of a sudden have to come up with an an additional double-digit tax increase which is what that would look like. We've seen other districts this last year because they did not increase taxes for several years in a row to all of a sudden have to go out at 6 and a half% 10% in some districts 15% increases. That is devastating to a taxpayer who is living on a small income. We understand that. So, if we're able to give you any sense of a consistent increase so that you can start planning accordingly as much as possible, that's what we want to do for you folks. We understand that it's not easy and we don't pretend that it is, but we want to work with you to come to a solution for this. Not

053just tell us, you know, that you can't afford it or that we're having issues with the administration side. Let's work together to figure out how to resolve those issues with you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? >> Hi, my name is Christine Jobson. I had no intentions of speaking tonight, but I live it this year. Uh, I celebrated my 50th year as a teacher. I will always be a teacher to my dying day. I do substitute still at age 72. I no longer own a home, a house, could no longer afford it. Uh, you talk about heat. Uh, when I moved to my recent apartment, I was paying $90 a month for my heat, it is now up to $147 a month. Okay, might seem inconsequential, but to be honest, I worked

054hard all those years as a teacher. I still work hard. Children are not suffering. not with the teachers I know again it's the support it's that transparency it's the um structure of the discipline example last Friday I took a half day job for a friend second grade I had to remove five children from that classroom. Anybody that knows me knows that is unbelievable for me because normally it just doesn't happen. But we have the discipline person, we have the vice principal, we have the principal and get on that phone. Hello, I need help. Student removal. Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick. Yeah, there's a lot of them in the classroom. Yes. Do they belong in the classroom with all those other children that wanted to learn? Maybe they

055do deserve an education, but they also deserve to know what discipline is and to earn. Our principal's hands are tied. The morale in the schools is awful. It's the saddest thing I've seen is the last three years. A budget is needed. Yes. I had not heard from one person in this room about a plan for Chobani coming here. We are going to have a multitude of low-income workers in these factories. Do you think for one minute they're going to come to Rome where our we rate so lowly? I just I just am saddened. I grew up here Columbus school all my years including a year I was retained because my mother was smart enough to do so I was a young kid wasn't ready sickly Staley Junior High School Rome for academy class of 72

056made it to college although I was told I'd be lucky if I answered phone in somebody's office but I am one determined chick yeah put that in front of me and I'm going to fight like heck to get there. As I said, I had no thoughts of it. But we must think to the future. But we must also think about these parents who have these children that they love. They're concerned. They're their heart and their soul. I moved my daughter to St. Peter school for two years, grade five and six, because my home school, Gans Elementary, where I taught, had bumped up the classroom sizes to 29 and 30. That's another thing I think there should be a cap. Kindergartens shouldn't be 26, 27, 28 children. It's ridiculous. With behaviors, class size matters so much.

057There are all these little things besides money that make a school district work and be productive and raise scores. We had before school reading programs. We had afterchool reading programs. We had more people in our town. We have less now. And we have more bodies for I mean I don't know any of you probably don't know Sheila Vanderver but she was the one and only when I was hired it was Sheila. I went anywhere it was Sheila. We had one superintendent and we had Sheila Vander. Things have to change in a different way. It's not all about money. I beg you go in. Don't spend 15 minutes. I had one man come in my classroom for two full days back when I was teaching second grade. His wife worked as a reading teacher. Yes. He

058left that second day and he said, "I have to tell you this was such an eyeopener." I said, "Indeed it is because for every time you stop for one child, you're losing contact time." Contact time is the most precious thing that we have as a teacher. So anytime we're missing that contact time, the children are missing it. It is not the extra teachers that these teachers are amazing. Are there some that need to be addressed? Yes. But if the principles weren't so tied up and so afraid of, you know, losing their jobs and not saying the right thing at the right time, they don't know what to do anymore. They need to get back that control so that they could say to that teacher or impress upon that child, "This isn't going to happen." And

059we have to get those parents that don't show their faces to be accountable for their children. It just has to happen. It's not just about money. How am I voting? I'll decide before the 16th. [applause] >> [laughter] >> Thank you for >> uh Paul Fitzpatrick, uh former RFA and Straoud teacher, former board member, former board president. I'd like to get back to the topic and the topic was the budget. The topic was voting on it. Uh I understand the tax issue. It's always been a tax issue. This has been an issue that we've been addressing since and talking about since uh since I've been in Rome since the the the early 1980s. Um, and I understand the issues in the schools. You don't solve the issues in the schools by cutting staff, by going to

060a contingency budget, that will cut staff, that will decrease morale. Uh, that will, if you think we're somewhere near the bottom now, watch watch the race to the bottom when you go to a contingency budget. Okay. Um, as far as uh the people who spoke about the schools and the issues and the discipline, it's always been there. I I know I haven't been in the classroom in 16 years. Um, uh, and I understand it has gotten better. I mean, worse. Uh, but you don't fix that by going to a contingency budget. Voting no at this point is like saying, "Hey, Rome isn't here for you. Rome isn't here for the students. The Rome school district isn't here for anybody. It's a contingency budget. People aren't going to want to come here." Chobani is going to

061look at that and say, "Oh my god, what did I do? What did we do coming here to Rome?" Let's support the community. Please support the community of Rome. This isn't just for the school. This isn't just for the teachers. If you're talking about inflation, the inflation in the school district goes up more every year than the inflation you have at the grocery store, in the gas station. It goes up more. Um, so even holding steady at last year's amount is a is it's it's a it's a kick in the butt. So, please support the budget, support this your school district, support your community, support your students. Keep talking, keep asking the questions, but but don't do this to the to the community. Vote yes. You have to vote yes. Thank you. [applause] >> Anyone

062else who would like to speak? Can I ask a question? >> You have a question about the budget. >> No. Okay. >> We have somebody to speak first after ahead. >> Hi. Um, my name is Marilyn Hawkins. Uh, I am a graduate 1971 graduate of RFA. And I hadn't planned to say anything, but listening to everybody, I have no children. None. Um, my sister and I live here. We have no children. Our taxes, yes, our taxes go up every year. I live on social security. Not very much. But you know, change starts at home. If you're concerned about your children in school, you need to discipline them at home. Teach them manners. That would help the school teachers. It would, believe it or not. But if the teachers don't have any choice, they have to

063take some alternative methods to discipline to control the class. When I was in school, RFA was one of the best schools in the state. And yes, we have lost population here. A lot of things have changed here. But you're to to deny it, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face because the children will be the ones who lose. That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Do we have any other speakers? Go ahead. >> Um, Christina Sturries. Um, I am wearing three hats tonight. I'm the president of the Rome Teachers Association. I am also a proud Roman. Although I'm told that because I was not born in Rome Hospital, but came here as a transplant, I am not a true Roman. I'll take that. I did. I'm a proud Ganzvort Gator, okay,

064for elementary school. Then I went to Stra, graduated from RFA, went on to college, had a very successful um academic career, and I've always been incredibly proud to be a Roman. I get a little emotional when I talk about when I talk about Rome. So, exc um I think part of the reason why I'm getting so emotional is because I'm hearing a lot of uh I'm hearing a lot of truths, but I'm hearing a lot of misconceptions about how to fix it. And um as a teacher in this district, what people are saying is is true in that we do have things we need to do a better job about. We definitely do. There are things related to discipline and such that have to be improved and but that's not news to anybody, right? But

065how we go about doing it, that's that's the key. And I think it's going to take a lot more conversation and engagement and discussion. And I think it's good when people come forward and say, "Hey, here's a problem I see. I'm not satisfied that the problem is being solved the way that I think it needs to be solved or that the resources are maybe not being utilized the way that I think they should be utilized. But I'm here to tell you that voting no on the budget is not going to accomplish anything other than put a greater strangle hold on your teachers and staff, remove the programs for the kids that are in this district. Making a statement with funding about the future of our community and our children, that's not how you get it

066done. And if you're not happy, come forward to the meetings, right? Come to the meetings, talk to board members, make your voice heard, reach out to your children's teacher about things that are going on. The other thing is the children that are causing all of these disruptions, while it can be more significant in certain situations are actually the minority of the students in this district. And when people talk about Rome and here's where we are with our scores, etc., etc., yeah, the numbers are the numbers. Nobody's going to argue that. But the value of some of those numbers and the criteria and the markers that are being used to measure our kids are not 100% valid either. And as someone who works with these kids every single day, I can tell you that many of

067these numbers do not measure the students, the worth of the kids, the worth of the education that they're getting or the worth of this community or this district. Taking away funds from the programs that our kids need is not the answer. It's not going to get it done. And doing a one no vote on a budget because that's the way that you want to make a statement. That's not that's not a solution. That's not a solution. 100%. Nobody asked us, can we we want to raise the price of gas to almost $5 a gallon. What does everybody think? Let's let's take a community vote on whether anyone wants to raise the price of gas. We would have all voted no, right? We have no control over that. Nobody wants to pay more for anything. But

068the school district is not exempt. That this is part of what blows my mind. The school district is not exempt from the increased costs that we're all feeling. The price of eggs, the price of a gallon of gas. The district doesn't live in this magical land of our prices don't increase and so all the costs that are increasing for everyone else is not happening for the district. It's happening for the district too. Another point for three years in this district we had two years of 0% tax increase and then a I think it was 0.2% decrease. Forgive me for not remembering the exact years, but it was three years in a row. Now, at the time, yay us. I was thrilled. I'm a taxpayer in this city. I have no children of my own, but

069my students or my kids. I was thrilled. Yeah, I was thrilled. Except here's the problem. That loss of funds compounds. That's like if someone tells you, "I'm not going to give you a raise for two years in a row, and then the third year, I'm going to cut your pay by 2%." you never make that money back. You're always going to feel the effects of not having made that additional money in your salary. And now we in a district in this day and age are feeling the effects of that for three years. We're suffering from that those decisions right now. And as Dr. Gonzalez said very eloquently, going forward, it's only going to get worse. Liverpool laid off 30 teachers. Camden laid off I think seven. Okay. VVS is laying off 13. Onidita is laying

070off 10 teachers because of the funding problems. Because of this reason that we're here tonight. All of these teachers are being lost. And now what are they going to do? Because their communities didn't have the plan or the resources that we're trying to put forward. Okay. 1,200 people voted for the budget. Out of how many can vote? 21,000. That's not a mandate. 1,200 out of 21,000. That's not a mandate. And if we're making decisions and mandates based on things that we don't like that are happening in the district, then we need to take ownership. And I include myself in this, right? As a teacher, I get frustrated and I want to be part of solving the problem. That's what we do as a community is we talk about how to solve the problem. And as

071far as comparing us to other districts, okay, uh Mr. Buchanan and I just took a group of kids from RFA to the state level environment. Okay. This team of kids beat three years in a row. This year, the year before, and the year before that, they were the champions of Onida County. They defeated Camden, New Hartford, Whitesboro, Onida, Ariskany, first place in the county three years in a row. Okay, that's RFA. That's our students. and we overlook the achievements and all of the wonderful things that we have going on in this district and talk about the minority of students that are causing the problems. And I say again, they're there and some of them cause big problems. And I know cuz I live it, but we can do better. We should do better together. I

072urge you to vote yes. And if you're somebody who didn't come out to vote in the first place, please do. If you're fe if you're still feeling a no vote, you got to do you. Okay? But a financial mandate is not the way to get this done. All that does is take away from the students. It makes the life more difficult for your staff and the individuals who are trying to get things done and trying to make improvements and it minimizes what this community is. If you're a proud Roman, be proud. Do what you need to do to get involved to help solve the problems, but don't hamstring the district and the students and the staff of our district to try to make a point using money. [applause] >> Is there anyone else that would

073like to speak? >> Yeah, I'm I'm going to come over there because I'm doing it as a community member. Okay, I'm on the board, but I'm here as a community member to speak. What was just talked about about the years the district went back and did 0% increases. I have been the Rome City School District's representative on the Boseies board for the last 16 years. One of the years that we're talking about was the year you're talking about behaviors in our schools. One of the years we're talking about with a 0% increase was only brought about because of one thing. Then the superintendent decided to take all of our students out of the alternative education program at Boseies. And the reason he did that was because it saved a huge amount of money to balance

074the budget for that one year because it's an expense-driven aid. So what you spend in one year, you get back the next year. So he took all of Rome out of that program. When you take Rome out of a Boseis program because we are the largest district in our local Boseies that eliminates the program because they can't run the program without Rome. So you took a program Rome took a program at the time and took away all of the alternative things offered to students who were so in need of those services. psychologists, social workers, they were in a different environment, which is where they excelled. All of those students got put back into our general ed system because that's what happens. Boseies no longer had that program anymore. They had to end it right then

075and there. So yes, that's the culmination of something that happens when you opt to take yourself out of a program that's providing students who need an alternative sitting and put them back into a general program. We are working diligently as a district to find social workers, to find psychologists, but if you look in any place in any school district all over New York State, it's one of the fields, it's hard to find them. We are working our HR department. We're out canvasing every single school that offers those kinds of services, graduating those. We're offering internships. But guess what? We're competing with every other school district that's out there, plus the private industry because after COVID, that's the service that every single person needed for our educational systems. Kids needed it and they still do. And

076we're doing every single thing possibly we can do. And again, I'm speaking now not from my seat over there, but from one of you sitting here. We all pay taxes. We all are suffering and we all have to understand our kids deserve the same chances we had all the way through. And that's all we're that's all I am asking today as a citizen of this city who loves my town. I have no more kids here. I had three sons. They all moved away. My grandkids are in other cities. I stayed and I serve on this board because I care. I care seeing every single every single member of our community advance and do well. And yes, you're talking about Chobani. You're talking about Metropolitan moving back here. There's all kinds of things in our city

077going on that we can be proud of as as Romans. You can look around and see it all. RI drive around sometime, see all the houses now that have sold signs on them. And I was recently told by a realtor, a lot of those sold signs are not your lower income houses. And I'm not saying that's anything bad. I'm saying a lot of them are the the $300,000 houses. People are paying cash for them. If you're paying cash for a house in that kind of thing, it means you're moving here from somewhere else normally. So guess what? Our district is growing, which is a fantastic thing. Yeah, we're going to have some traffic problems. Well, isn't that a horrible thing? So, I'm here again just to talk about as a individual who lives here, who

078loves my community, who I'll fight for every single thing to bring it what we can to our kids. And I respect every single person's opinion that's here because we all matter. And I thank everybody from my point now over there coming and speaking tonight. And if anybody else has something to say, you certainly can. We didn't have just a 15minute meeting. That was never what it was intended for, even though it's out there on social media that we only offer 15 minutes, Mr. Barry. No, we do not. That's We had to have a placeholder set as a legal requirement, which is exactly what we did. We're here to understand and hear you, but you need to understand and hear us because guess what? We had budget forums before. We had three of them as a

079district. The first one we had up in the town of Lee, seven people came to. The second one we had at Jervis Public Library, five people came to. The third one we had at Ganszorn Gansenort Elementary School, Mr. Nelson came to. [laughter] So I just want to point out where were people when we were originally coming out? We went since November of last year. Every person here has sat through a budget forum. We have had Miss Dr. Gonzalez report on the whole thing. How many times have any one of you come to one of our meetings, emailed one of us. All of our emails are out there. We have been there for your questions. Where did you come with those? And I'm I'm not placing blame. I'm just trying to point out we are here

080to listen to you but we can't listen to you if you don't come forward. So sorry had to do that. [applause] >> Just say one thing. >> The reason you have nobody at the meetings is because they don't trust the process. They've been hammered and hammered and hammered with taxes. They and it's not personal because I don't have I don't have a dog in a fight but the city can't afford it. And to think that Chobani or Metife is going to change their mind about coming here because we said no to a budget. Come on. >> Has to speak. That's the end of our one more. >> One more. >> Oh my gosh. [laughter] >> I'm sorry I had to do that. He's the last one. >> Yeah. Sometimes when you show up to late

081to things, you you come here and you're you're voted into something. So, I hope that didn't happen. But, uh, but I want to deliver uh three three parts to a message. And and one is um finding solutions within the community. Um, second thing is, uh, I don't like politics. And, uh, the third thing it's it's really not about me. Um, and there's a quote I want to share and that solutions really happen when unions join together with community members on issues that matter. And that that's from American Federation of Teachers President Randy Weine Garden. And and that really rings true with a lot of things that have happened right here in my hometown, Rome. Um we've had great successes in particular as I mentioned a few with um the community schools the inception of that

082has done so many remarkable things and it was a variety of community members coming in to do that. It was a joint effort. Um amazing the the trials and tribulations that that we went through that the community members uh private public uh citizens that were concerned um service this community during co the flood of the century in 2021. We came together, we weathered that storm, the tornado of 2024. And and the point is working together gains resolve. And we're always at uh at odds and impass as life goes. And that certainly happens. And that that brings me to number two, which is I don't enjoy politics, but they're a means to an end. And um the community, this community has faced many hardships a as has across the country. Um in particular, the loss of

083manufacturing jobs, the closure of our our air base, multiple stock market crashes, um the bank housing debacle and ba a bailout, um gross reductions in financial aid. through that it's it's been very difficult for the members who sit there and and and we as community members and we as union members um who stand or sit there and uh the results of all of that was through the tough times um a lot of tough decisions were made and a lot of things that that were not popular. But what we did together is we rolled up our sleeves and and we laced up our boots and we went out there and we made a difference and in unity we weathered those storms and and we certainly have one today because in part the ongoing skyrocketing costs to

084run a household and the members of this community certainly in part I I would say said it's tough to impose that tax on us thing things are difficult out there for us and my opinion is that our superintendent and this board said we heard you and we're going to make an adjustment in part because of your voices. The third thing is it's not about me, it's about we. In February, I went to our superintendent with concern over what this budget might look like. So, one of the things I love to do is go fight for other people. I'm not going to fight hard for myself, but um I was going to go out to Albany and talk to local um legislative leaders and and our superintendent when I asked, "What's the outlook uh seem to

085you in your crystal ball?" And she looked me dead in the eye with conviction and with confidence and said, "Rob, we're going to do what we need to do to support our children and support these programs." And and I was very impressed with that. And we started building, if you will, some partnership. and she went on her way and did many things. I spoke off the cuff off the record to our board superintendent and said, "Gee, what do you think the outlook's going to be?" And uh the the matter of fact answer was we need finan foundation aid because in order to run this place, we need that that aid from the state. So through the activism we obtained some of our goals and we did land the foundation aid and we were fortunate because

086we have locally elected officials in uh in the senate Joe Griffo and in the assembly Marian Buttonshan who share our values and and they did many many things on our behalf because intrinsically they're they're with us and they understand this community. So um I I thank those who who went out and walked the walk. I think by hundreds of thousands of of union members who did the same thing uh and did the right thing, elected officials who share the same value. Um and and to me and I heard the tail end of a couple of speakers, but but the budget vote is is always about our children and I and I know that it impacts us individually um but it impacts the programs. It's going to impact the educational opportunities for the future hopefully community

087leaders, for the future workers, I hope in this community. So, to me, it's about um supporting our neighbors who have children here who who need these supports and thus supporting our neighborhoods. This isn't about me. This isn't about you. It's about we. So, I say vote yes for the kids and vote yes on the budget. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Okay. So, with that being said, I just wanted to bring up a couple quick things. The budget newsletter that was handed out tonight, this has actually been mailed to everyone in the school district as well. So, you should be receiving that sometime in the next week or so. Um, in addition, my information is up on the screen. I welcome any phone calls, questions, concerns that you have regarding

088the budget. I will answer any questions that you have and be able to provide as much information as possible. Again, the next vote is on June 16th. Please double check what wards you're in and um if you have any questions regarding that or if you need an absentee ballot, please reach out to our board clerk Sandy um will be able to help you with any of that. That concludes the budget forum. So if anyone would like to take leave or you want to stay for our meeting, you're more than welcome to. So >> I have a motion to approve the minutes of regular meeting of May 20th, 2026 and the special meeting of May 21st, 2026. So moved. >> Okay. Moved by Kirsten, seconded by >> Nadia. Sorry, didn't couldn't hear who any um any

089>> any >> comments? All in favor? I >> motion's carried. Are there any additions, deletions to the agenda? >> No additions, no deletions. >> Okay. >> Board recognition, achievements, and honors. >> So, I have some I have some honors um here in recognition. Sorry about that. So, every um one of our varsity teams qualifies for sectional play this year for this um spring season, which is awesome. tremendous accomplishments and reflected of the hard work, dedication, and commitment of all of our students and staff. More importantly, our teams did support Rome and sportmanship and professionalism throughout the season. I will say also um as far as sports go, they're really starting to come along and starting to support each other. Um like the a bunch of people came out to Syracuse to and a I'm talking

090kids wise um besides the community um drove to Syracuse for this softball sectional game. They were in the stands. they were there for the first semi-final game and then in the finals. It was great to see um the young kids and the rest of the community and I've been seeing it at other sporting events also that I've been at. So, I think that that's really great. These young kids coming out and seeing their parents support people, you know, other sports and stuff. Hopefully, it'll get the kids, the younger children to come up and play sports once they get to high school. So, girls softball advanced to section 3 championship game and unfortunately fell short to CNS. These following individuals will be representing Rome in track and field and the New York State qualifier on Wednesday,

091June 3 today. >> Tomorrow. >> So these following individuals, [cough] excuse me, uh will be representing Rome track and it is at Cicero North Syracuse. So CNS again, it'll be Devin Brown, Malik Calvin, Jacob Sakone, Jerry Flores, Pachico, Janeir Grimes, I hope I said that right. I apologize if I didn't. Uh Timothy Hill, Devon Lawrence, Nolan Moore, Dalon Pelton, Luke Pelton, Ethan Rushton, Ethan Stoville, and Philip Williams. The following individuals will be representing the girls track at the qualifiers at CNS. We have Kiona Mitchell, Ariel Bortal. Congratulations, our own little Ariel. Uh, Lily Strotz, Levi Martinez, Cruz, Olivia Sharon, Lily Romero, Aubrey, Aubrey Steck, Norah Swan, Isabelle Wood, Sierra Wood, Ally Townsen, and Tory Johnson. Rachel Oor will be competing in the New York State Golf Championship this week at Wildwood Country Club in Rush,

092New York. And lastly, so there are um section 3 always uh recognize um individuals for it. For us, it is the block black R. So once you're in school, as you know, you get your letters, your varsity letters, your JV letters, and then your numbers. Well, there's two outstanding athletes of the year that'll be getting their black Rs. So, not just everyone gets a black R. I don't know what the other schools give them from the, you know, when they get that, but section 3 recognizes them. And we have two. We have um softball player Kennedy Campbell. And then we also have Elijah uh Palmus. So, they will be SC and they are both scholar athletes and they will be be presented that award. So, that's great. Congratulations, kids. Keep doing good. >> All right.

093On a yearly basis, the Onida Madison Herkimer School Boards Institute um allows individuals or school districts to nominate distinguished service. And so this year, I decided to complete the paperwork on behalf of our board clerk, who's also my executive assistant, Sandy Russell. And so though she didn't get the ultimate prize, she got the distinguished service nominee. And so this award is presented to Sandy from Rome City School District Board of Education for your outstanding leadership, service, and dedication to the children of this school district and your school community. So we thank you for your hard work, and we want to present you with [applause] this We have any public comment? >> Okay. Uh Trenton Roth. >> No, >> get it over. Hi, my name is Trenton. I'm a fifth grader from Denty Elementary, and I

094am going to express my feelings about my class. My class was very good at the start of the year, but that slowly faded away as the year went on. behaviors and actions in my class got worse and the same students disrupt our class every single day and making it very hard to learn. It's not fair to students like me who make good choices and want to learn. I think it's getting out of control and needs to stop. And I feel that as someone who has to go through this every day would it would make a bigger impact from you guys listening to someone who has to do this every day. Oh, thank you. >> Okay. Superintendent report. Oh, wait. I have some community report. It's been a minute since we've reported on some positive aspects

095in terms of the various organizations that we collaborate with. Um, one of them as uh the board knows is the YMCA for programs after school program for our students and in particular what has become very popular is doing school breaks. When our students are on breaks and not all of them get an opportunity to travel, they also have opportunities to go to the Y for free to participate in programs. So this year what the budget last year supported for this year is self-defense um for students. There were about 60 students that were served. Lego stream 49 students that were served. Kid Zumba also 69. We had swimming lessons, 58 students participated. For our school break programs, 294 students participated. Um, youth basketball/volleyball, 31 students. And this one was very popular. The 1211 arts and crafts,

096400 students participated. >> Wow. >> Um the tumbling it is about 65 students. Music appreciation 20 and archery 36. So these are all of the programs we have offered through the support of the budget. As you know, the same thing with YMCA. We continue to support that because there are students who are in need of those programs and especially after school and doing school breaks. The other partner that we have as well is Rome connected community schools. I don't think they're called connected community anymore. They just call Rome connected if I remember correctly um that they changed the names. But nevertheless, the impact that they have in all of our schools is significant. So from July 1st, 2025 until April 30th, that was the last report, they have supported families to 2,419 outgoing referrals. Those

097referrals are when a student is struggling in schools. The administrators along with uh support staff work with them. They make a link referral. So through that link referral though a child may be presenting with a a a particular issue, they work with the family to dissect what are other problems or other concerns that the family may be experiencing and therefore sometimes they get reported for one thing and then they uncover there are five different issues that they also help the entire family with. So we are blessed to have community connected schools in our schools and are working in all of our elementary, middle school and high school to support our students. Other significant things that they shared as well, the back- toschool bash, as they do every year through support with the national grid, they

098offered about 2,100 students receive basic needs for schools including but not limited to school supplies valued at over $140,000. They also have another piece called the resilient project which is basically work with Rome and also Camden. So the investment for the resiliency project that they work with us is about over $100,000 a month that is put towards our district and Camden. So they do a lot. There's a lot of volunteers. There's a lot of support. There's a lot of family engagement planning support that they do with our administrators with our schools to make sure that students needs are being met. In addition, um just as a reminder, they have what they called Rome hubs in all of our buildings and they provide basic tangible items from hygiene products to prepared meals, items that students can

099take to afterchool meals to school supplies, clothing items. Chabbani yogurt is very popular also in the hubs, classroom snacks for students who are in need. So, there's a lot of support and they um with all of these tangible items, they equate that to a total of $185,221 worth of tangible items that are delivered to the Rome hub. This is just Rome City School District. So, they are having an impact. Yes, we do have behavioral issues um in our schools. And um if you know, there are MTSS supports that are being put in place right now. The schools are working very closely with Amanda Jones, our director, to really make sure that the gaps that exist for being proactive in supporting our students no longer exists. And those are the type of conversations that we have

100had here concerning the multi-tered systems of support. Some of it existed, but we understand that there are gaps and it was not fully implemented. And that's what the staff is working towards to make sure that we address the needs of our community, the needs of our students. We are microcosm of society and so when things are happening in society it then translates also into schools. So what we need to figure out because since co things have become a little bit more stressful um for a lot of families and therefore we see some of the behaviors with our children and that is one of the reasons why we are working on that multi-ter system of support so that we can proactively support our students because some of the things that we are doing are very reactive

101in nature and so that concludes my report. I do have to say more listening to people around the community and you know even tonight but um I know I personally before didn't really support splitting them up at 56 right but I honestly starting to think the way that things have turned in in the world not just at Rome City School District but so fifth graders are learning more other places right so that's a big impact on younger children um seeing this kind of different behavior. I'm not going to say it's, you know, different learning things that you wouldn't normally learn at a younger age because they are in together from kindergarten to sixth grade. It was different back then when we were all in school. Okay. I and I and I I didn't look at

102it in this these ways, but moving forward, I really think that we need to look into and have them joining and and meeting each other sooner than later. there is a big huge gap there and by the time you're in seventh grade to start and and integrate into something new. I think these are things that we have to keep in our back of our minds when we're going for and thinking about how we're going to move forward with the district because again I was held on against any of it and I will I will admit, you know, I was and I admit when I I see that I may have been wrong. It's a >> Yeah. Well, I'm never going to admit it and Oh, it's on record. So, I mean, I I think I

103was wrong on a lot because I see that now, right? And I see that behavior where maybe you can nip it in the bud, right? Or Johnny isn't going to learn cuz he's, you know, in the next classroom over as a third, fourth grader of seeing how Jen's acting, not how Kirsten's act, how Jen's acting, you know what I mean? And it's a down, but again, I think we need to get a hold and it's everywhere and everything. We need to hold people more accountable. I hear what they're saying and that is heartbreaking. I hear it all the time. We need to hold these kids accountable. We need to hold our staff and teachers also. It's not just the, you know, it's everybody. And I loved that woman. Last thing I'm going to say, it

104starts at home. We have to hold a lot of them accountable. And we have to get them the support and services that they need like you're saying to handle these things so that it's not coming into the school because that's all you hear is that, you know. So, I think that those things are good. Thank you. board member report. Hi guys. >> Okay, so as a student because I mainly heard people talking about the student experience and as to why they're talking about the budget. I just want to explain a little bit of my experience. So as a student, a lot of people were talking about discipline and the actions taken after that and how it's disrupting classes. I highly doubt cutting down budgets and making it so positions aren't available to support teachers and

105support other students in the building is going to make these disciplinary actions decrease. I I don't foresee a teacher being stand alone to 20 kids that has no support and we wanted to add other positions like a teacher's aid or another biology teacher so that the class size are lower that people mentioned multiple times. I don't feel like taking away those positions will decrease the behavioral issues that most of the people tonight were talking about. And that's my experience as a child. Everyone was talking about the children's experience for the children, but as a child, I don't fully 100% agree that cutting down money to get supports is going to be able to increase the supports that we already have. And that was all that's all I have to say. Graduation. I forgot about that.

106[laughter] Um, graduation's coming up. Uh, caps and gowns were shipped in. So, make sure anybody's watching, make sure you come pick up your caps and gowns in the night spot school. Um, very excited for my speech. Um, senior ball. Yes. Thank Sorry, so stressed. Um, senior ball is this weekend. Very excited about that. That's in Breezes in Udica. Everyone's really excited about that. I've heard a lot about it this week. And we also have our senior spirit week this week. >> Um we had anything but a backpack day today. That was very fun. I saw an air fryer. >> Um joyful. >> Yeah. So um we do have that post on the staff Instagram for if anybody's watching or looking at tomorrow. There is tomorrow is dress like a senior citizen day and Thursday is

107yearbook t-shirt day and you sign the t-shirts and then Friday is senior picnic. green lights. So, >> Yes. Very excited. Lots of activities coming. >> Much. Moving on to our consent agenda, which covers pages 2 through eight. Can I have a motion to approve? >> Moved by Kirsten. >> Seconded by Jen. Any discussion? >> All in favor? I. Motion's carried. >> Um, moving on to finance action items. We have a board resolution to accept the treasur's reports. Whereas the treasurer has prepared financial reports for the months uh month of a April 2026. And whereas the board of education has reviewed the treasures report for April 2026. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby accepts and approves the treasures report for April 2026 as presented. Can I have a motion to approve?

108>> Moved by Jonathan, >> second by Nadia. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Motion's carried. Resolution to amend the agreement with CAV for vision services, vision therapy, occupational therapy services. The whereas the district has previously entered into a contract with the central association for the blind and visually impaired, CAVV, and to provide vision services for the 2526 school year. And whereas the district has identified an additional student in need of vision therapy services to be provided by CAV. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves and authorized an amendment to the existing agreement with CAVI to include services for one additional student at a cost not to exceed $375 for a revised total contract amount not to exceed $51,100 for services and mileage for the 2526 school year. Can I

109get a motion to approve? >> Moved by Jonathan, second by Nadia. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motions carried. Our audit committee meeting is next Thursday, June 11th at 3 PM and our finance committee meeting will be immediately following. And I did just want to point out we all received um this board of education conflict of interest disclosure statement that you need to sign. It's part of the audit that we need. So just sign them and >> give give them back to Georgia. >> Um >> when do we need ready for August. >> Oh, okay. Well, I can read. >> Yeah. Yes, absolutely. >> That doesn't say you're done with the board. >> Oh, good. That's fine. Okay. Moving on to human resources. Resolution to accept the memorandum memorandum of agreement. resolved that upon the

110recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves a memorandum of agreement between the Rome City School District and the Rome administrators association for the administrator of the special education extended school year summer school program. I have a motion to approve. >> Moved by Kirsten. >> Seconded by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. Resolution to accept the memorandum of agreement. Resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the memorandum of agreement between the Rome City School District and the CEA local 1000 AFSCME AFL CIO for summer school rate of pay. Can I have a motion to approve? >> Moved by Nadia. >> Seconded by Jonathan. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. policy. >> Okay. No action items for policy

111for today and we are meeting tomorrow for our monthly meeting um at 4:45 at the district office on Dominic Street. >> The question and I well maybe you can answer would know better. So I was looking for a policy and I I mean I know I could have just called you and had you go through your little handy dandy notebook. I know. Um but like so on this is just my opinion on the website, right? It's not >> It's not easy to find. >> Okay, thank you. That's all I was just going to say. >> I didn't know you were working on that. I'm sorry. I didn't know. And I just tried to find something. I was like, well, >> I can try to regurgitate what Sandy has told us that in order to start

112using Board Docs, we have to have like I don't know what the percentage is, X number of policies ready to go in order to upload them all at once to start using it. Once we start using it, then it will be much easier to find. >> Search. So once you search >> something, right, and you go to read about it, some are there, but to find it isn't easy. But then I think what you're saying though, once we get a bunch of them, you could just probably click on it, right? >> Because some you click on they're empty. >> Well, so once we get into board docs, they'll the searching way will be entirely different. they won't be the way you see them on our website now. But in order to get into board docs,

113we have to get the vast majority of our policies updated and into a particular format so that board docs can upload them for us. Um they cannot upload from a PDF which if you look back the majority of our we don't have them in another format. So that's what we're working through is getting them updated and in the proper format so that board docs can upload them for us. >> This is a service that we buy into. >> Correct. They and they are working with us. Um we work through board docs to help us with any of the policies that need to be updated and keeping everything where it needs to be. >> Okay. >> The district had it for years. We just didn't utilize it. Instead, what we were doing is policies as PDFs,

114>> right, >> rather than B docs. And once they upload all of it, most of it, then moving forward, things will be a little bit easier to find. And they will be organized because we move towards NISBA, they will be organized by like the 1000s, the 2000s, the 5000s. So, if you're looking for student policies, student policies are usually under the 5000s. if you're looking for like HR HR is usually like I think in the 700 so they will be organized that way but when we thought because as you know last year that goal for me the PDF files that we have had for years they can't do that so that's why as board tons of possible and even before last year you worked on a a lot of them. We're trying to get as

115many of them done so that they can upload it once cuz they won't upload it twice. They will only upload once. So that's what's holding up the process. But in terms of reviewing our policies and trying to get them up to date every year, we've been on track. So hopefully that answers your question with the three of us. >> Business resolution to approve a combined sports agreement. Whereas the Hamilton Central School District has requested to enter into combined sports agreement with the Rome City School District to allow their students continued participation in the varsity gymnastics program for the 2627 school year. And whereas the proposed combined team will operate in accordance with section three of the New York State Public High School Association, including submission and approval of the appropriate combined team application. Now therefore,

116be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the formation of a combined varsity gymnastics program with Hamilton Central School District for the 2627 school year and authorizes the superintendent of schools or their designate to take all necessary steps to formalize this agreement, including execution of any required documents and coordination with section 3 of New York State Public NYPHsa. Can I get a motion to move? Moved by Kirsten, second. >> Second by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. >> Resolution to approve the amended polling locations for the June 16th, 2026 budget review. Where is the board of education previously established polling locations for the Rome City School District budget revote on June 16th, 2026. And whereas the South Rome Senior Center, which had been designated as a polling location for voters

117residing in the third ward, has notified the district that the facility is unavailable for use on June 16th, 2026. And whereas it is necessary to amend the list of polling location at which voters will cast their ballots for the budget revote. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the amended polling locations for the June 16, 2026 budget revote, replacing the South Rome Senior Center as the polling location for the third ward with the Rome City School District District Office 266 to 268 West Dominic Street. The complete list of polling location is as follows. Words one and two, KF Elementary, Early Childhood, 409 Bell Road. Ward three, Rome City School District District Office, 266268 West Omnic Street. Ward four, Ganszort Elementary School, 758 West Liberty Street. Ward five, Strow Middle School,

118801 Laurel Street. W 6 St. Paul's Church, 1807 Bedford Street. W 7 Copper City Community Connection, 305 East Log Street. WS 8 and 9 Stokes Elementary School, 9095 Turn Road. Ward 10, Western Library, 9172 Main Street, Western. I have a motion to approve. >> Moved by Kirsten. >> Seconded by Jen. Any discussion? >> All in favor? Motion's carried. Resolution authorizing the district clerk to publish legal notices. Resolve that the district clerk be and hereby is authorized to publish a notice of public revote on the 2627 school district budget legal notice as required by law as follows. Once each week for the two weeks of June 1st, 2026 and June 8th, 2026 and the Daily Sentinel, the district clerk is authorized to make updates or edits to the legal notice to comply with legal requirements. Can

119I have a motion to approve? >> Moved by Nadia, >> second by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. And just as a reminder once again, the times have changed to >> 11 to 8. 11 to 8. >> Y >> and it's in the back of the budget newsletter as well that's going to homes this week. >> Okay. Discussion items, upcoming events. We need to RSVP to Sandy. The retirement recognition June 9th at the RFA library at 5:30. Top 10 recognition will be June our next board meeting June 15th at 5:30. Budget revote June 16th from 11 to 8. RFA graduation rehearsal June 26 at 9:00 am >> an RFA graduation ceremony June 26 at 6 pm I just have one question so if it were to rain on June 26 do we

120have a date >> yes it is on the calendar as Saturday >> 10:00 if I recall correctly the time the 27th at 10 a.m. So that is the rain day. >> We're hoping that we don't have a rain date. We want to do it Friday evening so that it gives you Saturday and Sunday for for you know the the a cookout all of that good stuff. Yes. >> Okay. I just wanted to get that out there. >> I have one discussion item. >> Okay. One other thing. Um we as a board have to do as con nurl's contract. We have to review her contract or or not her contract, I'm sorry, do her evaluation as part of her contract once a year. So, I was looking for dates to schedule that. We I have to

121meet on the 17th of June anyway because we have to certify either the vote or a contingency budget could go forward. So, we can either that's a Wednesday. >> So, we have a normal board meeting Monday and then this short meeting >> if we will. Yes. or so I'm trying to get a consensus here of the board so we can either meet to discuss um Nurlan's evaluation on the 17th after we do the confirmation of the vote the 18th was another date or Monday the 22nd I believe what would >> okay >> I recommend the 17th only because we're already >> we're going to be here [snorts] >> I I have to let you know when I go home I have to look at these Jonathan, how about you? >> Never mind over there. >>

122Huh? 17th. >> Paula 17. >> 17th. >> They didn't set the banquet yet. >> And we don't have a date. I mean, a time yet. So, I mean, would you all prefer later in the afternoon then? >> So, if you guys I won't know until this week. I I may not. >> They're doing the banquet for my daughter. >> Okay. So, it's like four dates that they have open. and they don't know yet. So, I'll you do what you got to do. >> So, >> and then I'll try to make it. >> We could we have our meeting for the um to certify the vote at 5. >> Oh, yeah. >> And then we can meet right after that. Is that okay? >> Right. >> Okay. >> Or the 15th. >> 17th. >> Sue. Sorry.

123>> The 17th. The vote is already posted for 5:30. >> Oh, so 5:30. That's fine. >> Yeah. We'll so we'll meet after 5:30 >> 17 at 5:30. Yes. Okay. >> For the certification up there. >> All right. >> I have one more item. Go ahead. Just for the board. >> So, as you all know, uh we had the Gear We were in partnership with MVCC for the Gear program. >> The grant had run out. MVCC decided that they were going to um apply for the grant again. They got it. And so, we're going to be in partnership with them. So here's the opportunity for one board member. On July 19th to the 22nd, Gear Up in general is hosting its annual conference in Washington DC. And because we are a Gear Up grant partner, um

124they can bring GearUp staff and uh I can staff to the professional development that is happening there. So our director of secondary program will be accompanying them as those representing our district. They want that invitation to one board member who might be interested um to attend. So again it is between July 19th to the 22nd in Washington DC and so they would like to know by Monday who would be attending this week. So again be clearenses it my accent comes out sometimes all expenses are paid through grant funds so it is imperative that we know as soon as possible they will also be reaching out to Udica who's also a partner so again just um let us know before next Monday so sometime be at the end Paula would have loved to have done it.

125[laughter] July 19th >> second >> okay so >> just or or Sandy whichever one of us it's just that I need to give them the information so that they can plan accordingly okay >> for all of your hotels your flights So, [laughter] >> how fun is that? >> No, Jen is not going. Melissa, >> no. Our director of secondary programs, Melissa Cisco. >> Okay. >> Else they'd like to bring up. If not, can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> I have a second. Paula, come on. Get your >> Paula, get it in there. >> Uh, what? Second. >> Okay, [laughter] >> Kirsten and Paula, we'll see everybody. >> I'm going to miss you guys when I leave here today. Here, that's my signature. >> We'll take it. I was you all.