001all right we will go ahead and get started it is a little after 5:32 on March 24th 2025 and we are here at the district stus to start our regular scheduled board meeting so at this time I'll call the meeting to order and we will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all all right we're going to start off with the approval of our meeting minutes so I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 10th 2025 so move moved by Sue second by Nadia any discussion all in favor I any opposed minutes are approved superintendent ansam many additions or deletions
002to the agenda yes we have one addition under Finance it's an action item it's resolution to establish and fund a capital reserve fund I will make a motion to accept the additional business moved by Paula second second by Kelly all in favor I any opposed so accepted all right and then just just starting out for today we're going to start with some board recognition so just want to congratulate Miley weant uh for being the division one state champion for bowling she had the highest average of all the girls in division one with a 22 22 oh my God 229 average um the composite team she was on finished fourth overall however her individual scores placed her as the best bowler in division one congratulations Miley all right Miss Sandy any public comment all right we
003are cruising right along and back to you superintendent onam all right well my oral information tonight is brief as you can see I do not have a PowerPoint so there are two items that I'd like to remind um the public uh especially parents stay testing because March is marching on and we're near the end State Testing will begin on April 14th starting with the ELA for grades 3 to 8 and so we have dates online we have been encouraging um students to participate if you have seen the students videos they are excited about it and those who did not participate in previous State Testing they said they wish they did because it would have helped them take the regions or have a better time taking the regions because they would have had those practices so
004parents we are encouraging you please have your students participate in the state's testing it is important important not only for them in terms of being able to be clear about which areas that are of strength but also the areas we need to continue to support them in and in addition there was an E news that was sent out last week with all of the budget forums that we have set up in various locations around the city and um in some towns and so we're asking the public if you really want to know about our school budget the uh Board of Education have heard have been hearing about the budget since November we started that process but now this is the culmination of it we really would like you to be informed so we have set
005those up for your attendance the board members will be traveling with us as well through these different sessions but we were very intentional about having some of them in District while at the same time hosting some in the community um and so please please please pay attention to these dates they are online as well if you forget about them and we'll keep pushing them out as the days approach and so this is the end of my report unless you have any questions all right moving on to Miss Grace so stra had their St Patty day semi formal on Friday and then spring Sports have officially started and we're going to have um the Save a Life tour come and teach our students about distracted driving before prom and ball start and then we're very very
006proud of the 45 10th graders who took the PSATs on March 19th thank you for the updates and with that we are going to move on to our recommended budget workshop on on to the CFO Georgia Gonzalez good evening um tonight we're going to discuss the final parts of what goes into any bu and that is actually planning for the future we've discussed um probably over the last three or four meetings what our budget's going to look like for next year we're still awaiting the governor's final run in order to finalize our budget for the 25 26 school year um but as of right now we're still maintaining that 2.56% tax levy and approximately um and we'll see a little later in the the presentation approximately $160 million overall budget so I'm going to go
007into discussing um what our 5-year Financial forecast looks like over the next 5 years and what we're going to do for reserves um and utilizing those reserves um as we move along um so I want to give you a little bit of background about how I went about this forecast because there's a few different methodologies that we could use but I specifically used a methodology of looking at the past five years and using those historical Trends specifically here for Rome to help um plan for the next 5 years I then also took into account any um nuances that may be happening within our country and our world right now and how that may be influencing some growth or inflation rates or those kind of things so you'll see a little bit of mixture of both
008of those but I did try to take into account specifically our local area the purpose of The Five-Year Plan is not only to provide uh fiveyear project uh projections but also to allow us to start planning for our long range management um this includes not only Capital but planning for maybe with that looks like for labor um and we want to make sure that we're always utilizing those three pillars that we put in place earlier this school year as we were planning for next year's budget which includes the program and service alignment fiscal responsibility and our Echo resource distribution that is putting money specifically in the school buildings that need it the most um making sure that we're using the money for things that are necessary and not just always nice um and we also
009want to make sure that with the climate the way that it is currently that we're using all state and local funds to the best of our ability making sure that we're maximizing those funds including any Grant and opportunities that might be out there not just what the federal government always gives us or intends to uh typically give us but other grant opportunities um such as the um current uh OMH grant that we currently have there's some others that we've been applying to um for technology and so forth so we're going to constantly be applying for those things and then of course we want to try to optimize any of our shared services we do a lot with bosis currently but there's other partners that we have within um our community that we want to utilize
010that maybe can provide services better or um less expensively than we can ourselves so I first started looking at what our reserves currently are or what I expect them to be by the end of the school year um as you can see we have a relatively healthy reserve and we did discuss this um probably about four months ago now those numbers have changed slightly as we've built interest and so forth but we have not really put any additional funds um into those accounts at this time but we do have approximately $10 million almost $15 million in restricted fund balance we expect to have approximately $2.5 million that we're going to have in in incumbrances last year it was closer to 3 and5 million but again I looked at prior years and what that kind of
011looked like and on average over the last 5 years it sits right around 2 and a half million so I expect that number to stay we've already discussed that we expect to fill the gap for our budget next year approximately 12 million and so that's where that number comes from and currently um based on our projections through the end of the school year we will have on assigned fund balance of um approximately 7 million which gives us an overall restricted fund balance of 32 million almost 33 million so when we start looking at um then what's unrestricted which is the money that is really available for us to be able to use to put into reserves or to have his access to be able to do some other things with we we're only allowed to
012have 4% based on the governmental rules that are out there currently you can see that this year if everything stays where we're expecting right now we'll have approximately 1.1 million that's over that 4% so some of the questions that I received this year from the board specifically is where are we going to start funding some of our capital reserve from and that would be that number there so if everything goes according to uh the plan in June I would be proposing that we look at approximately 1 .1 million going into into that capital reserve just to let you know what we're doing with our current reserves we have a 2022 um capital reserve that's still sitting out there um and that is to finish the project that we currently have going on with the fields
013and some things going on um here in the spring over the summer with some of our vestibules and safety so 650,000 that's sitting in those reserves is going to go to help pay for the debt on that then we're looking to to establish a reserve of approximately $10 million which you folks will be voting on tonight in order to put the proposition out to voters they will vote on it in May and assuming that um that vote passes then we'll go ahead and establish that Reserve in addition to that we have the as I mentioned before approximately $12 million that we're going to use as unrestricted fund balance to fill the Gap this is something that we'll see probably every year um and it's not any problem or fault of our own it's just the
014way that our budg budget cycle typically is working um with some of our Revenue coming in [Music] later so as I was building these numbers I wanted to make sure you were very well aware of all the assumptions that I made and there are a lot of them because we're not sure what the market is going to look like especially when you're planning out 5 years so I looked at a lot of um different markets out there right now I looked at different economists and what they're kind of predicting um and this will change on a regular basis we will continue to have this as a live document and we will talk about this every year moving forward but we're expecting a growth rate of approximately 2% which is good for our Revenue um that
015means more people will be moving into the area um from an economy standpoint that means that we'll have more people helping to um take on some of that tax burden so that's a positive thing we also expect expect that with that growth rate you'll probably see approximately 2% inflation that's good on the one hand of you know better for our economy in terms of Revenue but it also means because of expenditures and going up we will probably expect a 3% increase you would think it would be 2% and 2% but when we Factor this in you're talking about Labor as well so it's not just materials um and then you have unemployment that's expecting to be right around 3 and a half% again that number may change but that's what we're expecting currently Federal funding
016um it's kind of a wild card but based on everything that I'm seeing everyone is thinking that it's either going to stay flat or possibly decrease slightly so I left that at 0% anything over 0% means that we're in a positive situation at that point um the only Federal funding that is expected to actually go up is upk and that is because a lot of the initiatives not only in New York state but across the country are expecting to be bringing upk into um the elementary schools because they know that that's where the foundation is in order to get students where we need to be salary increases this is across all units and again this is based on a Statewide average this is not just Rome specifically um but I used 4% um they're saying
017anywhere from 3 to 5% so I went middle of the road this could um be different depending on contracts it could be different um depending on how many contracts we have in any one given year but right now that's a pretty solid number um our benefit increases this is specific to healthcare but on average we're expecting that to be 7% and that's the number that you'll see that I kind of flowed with um through all these other documents technology increases just due to the um types of devices that we're going to need more in classrooms with AI with um different smartboards and so forth we're going to see approximately 5% increase especially as um some of the microchips and so forth that are put into those computers are being built more here more people are
018utilizing them um that's that's what the rate is currently Building Maintenance this goes hand inand a little bit with the expenditure increase on inflation you're going to see some of our chemicals and some of our other products that help to maintain our buildings go up slightly in our district specifically we have started an outlay project plan that we will be putting into every year so that will also be part of that 5% that you're going to see um in the country right now there has been a huge increase in mental health um so that goes hand inand with special education so by and large we're seeing approximately 5% increase in all school districts um moving forward un unfunded mandates uh we currently have some of those in place but the state due to things like
019the cell phone ban and so forth more school districts are going to have those things so we did um account for that in this budget planning process of approximately 1% are there any questions on the assumptions yes okay um so just one on the technology um so one of the examples you gave was like increasing technology uses of AI but from a district perspective we are going to have an actual Plan before we see any increase in cost correct so before we're investing in any equipment new technology and this is just an assumption based on you know we're talking five years so it's not just tomorrow it's over a 5-year plan so when we start looking at that there's the opportunities for um individuals to have more than one device depending on the programs and
020the stem pieces it takes into account all technology not just um what we use on a day-to-day basis as Administration but more specifically for our students so you're going to see more and more of that happening as we're taking on um The Project Lead the Way you know um programs as we take on more of um the uh altitude of larger devices that are being used um we have 3D printers that are out there right now it takes into account all of those things again it's just an estimate because we're doing a basic assumption okay I'm going to backtrack us CU I had some other questions I was going to wait for a pause so our assumptions that we've used are based on the last 5 years but what is the risk of using 5
021years worth of data knowing that covid had such a detrimental impact so in years where I thought I think that that mattered the most I actually pulled that piece out of it um so when we're looking at revenue for instance the revenue stayed the same but when we were looking at expenditure pieces I looked specifically at 23 and 24 um 23 24 and then 2425 and used those two years to help um project for the next five and then what I actually did is skipped the covid years and went back those other three so I used 5 years in total and that may be misleading a little bit but that's why this is a working and living document so we'll use our true numbers from the 2425 year when we're looking at these numbers next
022year but we needed to have something in place so that we could start making good decisions about reserves and how we want to utilize um funding moving forward okay and then um one of the slides had talked about kind of Grants so just genuinely care curious for the district what what is our current Grant process as far as like who is directly responsible for kind of identifying and pursuing them sure um so right now it depends on what the grant is we have a lot of what I'm going to call Mini grants and a lot of our teachers right now are doing those that they're like between 500,000 $2,000 um they are pursuing those directly they do contact me to get an EIN number and to you know get some of the information to process
023if they're larger programs it um appears to be mostly our directors that are applying for those types of Grants if they are federal grants that we are I'm going to say entitled to per se like our Title One grants um actually any of our title grants upk grants those are things that are being um given to directors based on a process through the unions do we have like individual like responsibilities built into like individual goals on a yearly basis like if and Jen I'll pick on you CU you're right there right like if there are certain grants under the curriculum umbrella that we we should be pursuing do we bake those into people's kind of performance evaluation to make sure we're staying on top of that to answer that I don't think currently we don't
024have that built into the evaluation piece um really what we do is stick to and adhere to what New York State requires of us and then we also have um a bunch of we have spefic specific people that are assigned to us through the state that actually watch over everything that we're doing and it won't get approved um unless we have those things in order um there are some people that do go for competitive grants and they work closely with the business official uh with those um but currently we are not pursuing at this moment any um particularly that you're looking at with curriculum and instruction because most of it is actually funded through our title grants that we have at the moment um so that's still an option so to your point of asking
025if there is performance uh based goals and those I can defer to superintendent onel to add on to this um response I think you answered it correctly I have not seen I could speak for myself any evidence I know that there are individuals who get stien for completing the paperwork but in terms of how well the paperwork is completed or how well it's been Mis um I know that it's managed by the business department when we received the funds but I I haven't seen that as part of their evaluation okay my brain is just going that like because of everything going on right like grants are going to become increasingly more important to reach out and capture so it would be good to have some sort of goal around attainment I think I'm good especially
026grants in the tech when you're talking about technology that might also be the place where GR grants could very well come into play um there's more and more of them out there I believe all the time but my only question would be under the benefit increase so that would that would in include the TRS and the okay it does yep um and so that's why it's 7% because um we're expecting you know those increases to be somewhere between 10 to 15% but then you you know um average that out with some of the other things such as dental and even our health insurance next year right now is projected to be 4% so you know those things average together um over a 5year period is you know what we're trying to look at so okay
027are there any other questions okay so I started off by looking at the tax levy specifically um in Black that is what has been approved that is what we actually went out at so in 2023 2024 the tax levy was 2.84% in 2425 um which was this current year it was 75% um I have currently in red because it has not been voter approved yet or I'm sorry it has not been approved by the board yet we're expecting to go out at the 2.56% and then the numbers that you're seeing um moving forward those are a rough projection based on what I believe our maximum um are our cap would be um and as you can see I try to make sure um as we're projecting some things that it's relatively stable the last thing
028we want to do is have these really big Dives and then huge increases So based on this this leads to what we're expecting for total revenue so for 2324 our revenue and this is actually received not budgeted we just have a question one of the numbers from last year is not correct it says 0.75 is that correct or is it 2.75 it need to be 2 2.75 for the 20242 that's not what it is on the controller's website we approved the full tax cap okay so I will correct that but that's not what it has on the website um but I will correct that based on what you have um so with that being said well what I mean if that's what the controllers listed what are the implications that we think we approve something
029higher than what's being reported out um well the dollar amounts match so that's what's interesting is the dollar amounts match um so the total tax levy is what really matters to the controller um so I'm not sure maybe they typed it in correctly to the website okay I think two point 75 right mhm I know we went out at the full okay was a full so the so when we get to the ly piece are the dollar amounts that you'll see um when we I don't remember if I have it in the spreadsheet or not um but that's the implication is that as long as that dollar amount is the same which it matched we should be okay okay so these are actual revenues these are not revenues that were budgeted for so our actual
030Revenue in 23 24 was $145 million our actual revenue for this year currently is projected to be 143 million um and then moving forward this is based off of what we put into the budget so our budgeted number is 160 million it's difficult for me to know whether or not we're going to receive that full amount we probably will not um on average it appears to be that we're actually receiving about 9 million less than what our actual revenue is and we're receiving that in subsequent years um so as I did that projection we'll see roughly 160 million then 166 million 172 million 178 million and then 184 184 million um approximately 5 years from now again this is making some assumptions and every year the board has to be able to approve not only
031to the tax levy but the overall budget so um this just kind of gives you an idea of what we expect that projection to be over the next 5 years and then this also goes for the expenditure side so this is actual expenditures not what we budgeted for so what we've seen for the actual um expense in 23 24 was 142 million and then for 2425 was um is approximately going to be 147 million as of right now um next year I expect that to be 153 million based on what our expenditure um his history has been over the last uh 3 years and then 158 164 170 and 177 again some of that may change there may be emergencies that come into play there may be other things that we have to look at
032um depending on um teachers and so forth that we may need to add or other programs that we look to add throughout the process but based on what we have currently in our um programs that's what this the numbers would look like so when you put it all together this is kind of what that look like um for next year those revenues would be approximately 160 million with expenses of approximately 153 million which would give us unrestricted fund balance of approximately 7.3 as you recall on an earlier slide it's approximately 7.4 million so we're not too far off on what we expect that unrestricted balance to be and it it stays pretty consistent year-over-year over the next 5 years what I would draw your attention to though is the fund balance it goes from 4.5%
033down to 4 % over the next 5 years which is not necessarily a bad thing however when we start talking about fiscal stress and so forth the closer you get below 4% then we start having some conversations the government does allow for you to have up to 4% um but as you get down into that 2 and 3% number especially at District R size that means you have less and less money to be able to take care of emergency type situations so that gives us the idea of what we need to start looking at for expenditures and potential increases in Revenue whether it be through grants or whether it be through increasing the um tax levy again doing this every year we'll determine whether or not we actually have to do those things but it
034allows us to start planning accordingly again as you look at the over 4% limit those are the dollars that we can start putting into reserves or we can start using towards other educational programs by and large we would either um give it back to the taxpayer by reducing the tax levy in the following year or my recommendation at this time since we know we have a large Capital project that we're trying to do would be to put it into that capital reserve with the expectation that overall we're going to reduce the tax um impact later on when we get ready to do those larger projects then I just wanted to throw out a reminder um about the three propositions that we're going to put out in May one of them being the 66 passenger bus
035um one of them being the capital reserve and the one about our budget proposition of 2.56% I'm sorry can we go back two slides two slides my brains Yep this one you know this is the hard part sure so in this chart our revenues continue to increase correct how are our revenues increasing MH so revenues increase two ways they're increasing because we have a tax levy that continues to increase every year and they also potentially are increasing due to state aid increases so like this year we had a state increase of approximately 5% so that's how they'll continue to increase every year so if I am you know small small brain here if I am looking at this moving forward through this year we should not unless something drastically changes really set ourselves to ever
036be in a budget deficit correct at this point yep and that's why we start planning for this now so that way as we're seeing um you're really looking at the fund balance column as you're seeing that number decrease lower and lower that's where you're starting to look and when you see those numbers getting closer and closer together um meaning that you have less and less fund balance when you get down to that 3% number that's when we want to start looking at okay there's a potential issue so if we're looking at 5 years from now and that number instead of being 4.02% was closer to 3% we might want to change their trajectory over those 5 years we might want to look at okay maybe we want to start um looking at attrition and how
037we can possibly not fill certain spots if we don't need them possibly looking at putting together some other reserves to help offset some costs like a repair Reserve um possibly using more of our e reserves and so forth to help offset those costs um or again then you can also look at potentially increasing the tax levy which right now I'm only going off of an assumption about what the maximum or the the tax cap would be but my numbers could be slightly off based on a variety of things so by and large the point is whenever we have our tax cap we will want to go out at the tax cap Max or otherwise we could be setting ourselves up for 5 years from now being in a a poorer position and to get to
038this spot just refresh my memory we are dipping into 12 million to offset this year or next year's balance but then moving forward it looks like we have a plan to not so here's what happens with that um unrestricted fund or with the restricted fund balance there is financing that's left over every year and we're going to use that towards next year so you're not dipping into anything per se you're using some of that excess fund balance which is part of that 4% that we're talking about but by using that ahead of time instead of it only being 900 some thousand it really is 8 million but we're U or you know whatever that number is we're actually utilizing that in next year's budget so it doesn't count against us so we're not digging into
039reserves we're not looking at anything like that we're just looking at here's the financing that we still have not expended this year and we're going to help to offset it next year and and it looks like as I've looked past you know the last at least four years we've done that every year last year was approximately 14 million my goal is to reduce that number each year just so that we're not consistently in that process but there will be for at least the next 5 years a piece of that uh um budget that is being filled by that excess fund my only concern is there has been Peaks and valleys in this district for a long time especially if you even just look at the last 10 years so my concern and again I know
040this is a work in process that is just and you put a lot of work into it but my question would be how often is it that we're going to re-evaluate what you have so this is what you're presenting to us now when would you go back because personally state aid is it's a crapshoot I mean you don't know what it's going to be from year to year so we would be looking at it approximately quarterly I'll be looking at itly but by and large the finance committee meetings will include this information on a quarterly basis if there are things that are happening um in our world that propose a potential large variant all at once then we will definitely meet more often on that at the finance committee and if it's a big enough
041issue then we'll definitely bring it to the board of education but by and large that is um what I consider to be a main function of the finance committee and that's where I would bring it to first um but I'll be reviewing this on a monthly basis I currently look at our revenue and our expenditures to make sure that our cash flow is working and that everything looks good on that end so I'm watching this even now even before presenting this to you on a regular basis to make sure we're financially stable and sustainable and my only other thing would be under the fund balance the 4% isn't that what the state is looking at increasing right now that they're talking about they are they are um but I'll be honest they've been looking at
042that for at least 10 years um so you know I would love to say that they're going to do that sometime in the near future but right now the number is 4% and so that's what we're basing the next 5 years off of again if they do change it then that's where we will start looking at um potential changes in our future projections okay anything else okay um so I did put in um when we're going to have those informational forums um I believe we have changed the April 16th time to 4:00 just to give us more time to be able to transition from the town leader meeting into the board meeting that happens um that night at 5:30 but other than that all the other times and dates and locations are all accurate are
043there any other questions about either the budget that we have spoken about for the last probably four months or about the forecast or about Reserve utilization very good thank you so much all right moving on in our agenda uh we move on to consent so resolution to accept consent agenda that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the consent agenda be accepted by the Board of Education I move the resolution second by Paula second any questions all in favor I any opposed resolution passes and we move on to page 11 in our agenda and I will turn it over to sue the action item is the what we had is the additional business yeah the additional business so the first action item is a resolution to establish and fund a capital reserve fund where
044is the Board of Education of the Rome City School District the district wishes to establish and fund a capital reserve fund pursuant to section 3651 of the New York education law and be it resolved by this board of education as follows section one the proposition here and after set forth is hereby authorized to be submitted for the approval of the qualified voters at the annual School district election to be held in said District on May 20th 2025 section two the district clerk is hereby authorized and directed to include as a part of the notice of the annual district meeting and election notice the proposition in substantially the following form notice is hereby given that at said annual election to be held on May 20th 2025 the following proposition will be submitted 2025 capital reserve fund
045shall the Board of Education of the Rome City School District be authorized to establish a capital reserve fund for a 10-year term pursuant to section 3651 of the education law to be titled 225 capital reserve fund and funds such Reserve in an amount not to exceed $10 million inclusive of a ACC crude interest and other investment earnings to be used for construction reconstruction Renovations improvements and additions to all district facilities including purchase of Equipment Technology upgrades classroom equipment Andor School infrastructure equipment site development athletic fields storm and S sanitary sewer driveways and parking lots such Reserve fund to be funded from um a year-end budget surplus funds known as unassigned fund balance as available for the fiscal year end of June 30th 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter for the term of the reserve fund
046transfers of excess monies from Board of Education designated Reserves from budgetary Appropriations from time to time and New York state aid received and made available by the Board of Education from time to time all as permitted by law I moove the resolution I think you keep going oh this second one is part of Okay resolution to establishing fund a capital capital reserve fund continued notice is further given that qualified voters of the district May obtain applications for an absentee T Ballot or an early voting ballot from the office of the clerk of the district completed applications must be received by the clerk of the district no later than 4 p.m. on May 19th 2025 and must be received no later than 4 p.m. on May 13 20125 if the absentee ballot or an early voting
047ballot is to be mailed to the voter completed applications received after 4 p.m. on May 13 2025 will require the voter to personally appear at the office of the Clerk of the district to receive an absentee ballot or an early voting ballot a listing of all persons to whom an absentee ballot or an early voting ballot is issued will be available for inspection by any qualified voter in the office of the clerk of the district between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 400 p.m. during each of the five business days prior to the election notice is further given that military ballots may be applied for by qualified voters by requesting an application from The District Court at 315 338 6521 or S A Russell at R mcsd.org completed applications for military ballots must be received
048by the district clerk no later than 5: p.m on April 25th 2025 in a request for a military B application or ballot the military voter May indicate their preference for receiving the application or ballot by mail for simly transmission or electronic mail section three the clerk of the school district is hereby authorized and directed in the name and on behalf of the district to do all acts and things necessary following the advice and counsel of the district's attorney and the district's bond councel to comply with all applicable laws regulation and executive orders relating to the annual meeting to be held on May 20th 2025 and to do all other acts as may be necessary or in the opinion of the district's attorney and the district's Council desirable or proper to effectuate the purposes of the
049foregoing resolution and to cause compliance by the district with all applicable laws regulations and executive orders relating to the notice of and procedural steps to be taken in connection with such annual meeting section four of this resolution shall take effect immediately I move the resolution second by Jen any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes unanimously all right sure sounds good you want to wrap up Finance I'm sorry oh yes um our audit committee meeting will be April 10th at 2025 and May 15th 2025 at 3: p.m. each and we do have a finance committee meeting to discuss the budget to review the budget that was will be presented on April 7th 2025 at 3:30 p.m. and that's concludes Finance all right go take it away action item number one resolution to approve
050administra Administration leave resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools that a probationary instructional employee be placed on a paid administrative leave until further notice retroactive to March 12th 2025 the superintendent is authorized to return the employee to active duty at her discretion I move the resolution second second Vu any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes action item number two resolution to approve administrative leave resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools that a permanent non-instructional employee be placed on a paid administrative leave until further notice retroactive to February 24th 2025 the superintendent is authorized to return the employee to active duty at her discretion I move the resolution any by Nadia any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes action item number three resolution to
051accept retroactive pay whereas Melissa swis who was hired by the Rome City School District on January 9th 2014 became a member of the CSA clerical unit on April 9th 2018 and was therefore eligible for longevity payments and therefore be it resolved that Melissa Swiss is entitled to longevity retroactive pay of 7,497 33 for the period sorry $747 33 cents for the period of January 1 2020 to June 30th 2024 to account for the Mis longevity payments and the raise on the longevity included on base and it be further resolved that a effective July 1st 2024 Melissa swis deck's new base salary shall be adjusted to $44,100 78 reflecting her entitlement to longevity increases on base is stipulated in the ca clerical unit contract be it further resolved that this resolution shall take effect immediately and
052the required retroactive and salary adjustments shall be processed in accordance with the board of education's payroll and administrative procedures I move the resolution second by Paula any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes action item number four resolution to authorize additional duties for clerical Personnel on a perdm basis where is the r City School District Board of Education recognizes the need for additional support to ensure the effective operation of the school district and whereas Melissa Swiss currently serving as the senior office specialist at gansor elementary schools agreed to to undertake additional responsibilities on a per DM basis in the absence of a regularly assigned school district registar and whereas the Board of Education wishes to compensate Melissa Swiss DEQ for these additional duties at a rate of $746 per day now therefore it
053be resolved that the Board of Education hereby authorizes Melissa Swiss DEQ to perform additional duties on a per DM basis in the absence of the school district registar as a um compensation rate of 7 $469 per day until a school district registar is regularly assigned and we it further resolve that the superintendent or designate is authorized to make any necessary arrangements to process the payment in accordance to the district's budget and procedures I move the resolution seconded by Jen any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes action item number five resolution to accept accept the memorandum of agreement resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Board of Education hereby accept the me me memorandum of agreement between the school district and the Rome administrators Association I move the resolution
054second by Nadia any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes action item number six resolution to accept the me memorandum of agreement resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board of education hereby accepts the memorandum of agreement between the school district and the Rome Teachers Association I move the resolution second by Jen any discussion all in favor I any opposed resolution passes thank you K and on to Jeff okay policy action item number one resolution to accept the first reading of policy IES resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Board of Education hereby approves the first reading of the following policies 4325 academic intervention services 5150 school admissions 5150 d r school admissions regulation 5151 admissions of Resident students 5152 admission of non-resident students 5155
055children experiencing homelessness uh 5420 student health services and 5420 student health services regulation I move to resolution R johen any discussion all in favor I I any opposed resolution passes next uh policy committee me will be April 2nd um at 4:15 here in the building here all right miscellaneous business action item number one resolution to award contracts for the capital construction project whereas the Board of Education of the Rome City School District the Board of Education solicited bids from the prime contractors for construction services in conjunction with its 2022 Capital Improvement project Phase 2 the project and whereas the bids were received and publicly opened on March 4th 2025 and whereas the project architect and project construct manager reviewed the bids and the biders qualifications for the project discussed the project with the lowest responsible
056biders and by letter dated March 20th 2025 recommend Award of contracts as set forth here in and whereas the Board of Education accepts the recommendation of the project architect and construction manager and determines that it is in the best dist best interest of the school district to accept the bids and award contracts as set forth herein now therefore be it now now therefore the board of education hereby resolves to award the following contracts for the project One Prime contract number one General trades work contract to J priori Construction Company Incorporated base bid 1.84 million alternative a-0 55,000 Al alternate d01 24,000 alternate D 02 146,000 alternate z010 contract amount $265,000 oh boy two prime contract number two Roofing work contract to Diamond Roofing Company Incorporated uh as described on page 14 a total contract amount
057of 1,1 111,000 No 1 milon million $1,510 thank you everyone uh action item number three or number three prime contract number three mechanical work contract to HJ Branda Corporation as described on page 14 a total contract amount of $1,312 th000 four Prime contract number four electric work contract to Nap Electric incorporated as described on page 15 for a total contract amount of $568,000 $568,000 4400 okay it's been a long one uh number five Prime contract number five Plumbing work contract HJ brandle as Corporation as described on page 15 for a total contract amount of 104,000 nice and easy uh six the board hereby authorizes its president or the superintendent of schools to execute contracts and related documents in compliance with this resolution with such Provisions other than a material increase in the scope of work
058or approved amount as may be approved by the superintendent of schools which approval shall be conclusively shown by the execution thereof and take all action necessary or convenient to proceed under the contracts in connection with the project and to comply with all applicable laws regulations and executive orders relating to the contracts or the project and to do all other acts as may be necessary or proper to effectuate the purposes of the foregoing resolution seven upon approval of the Board of Education this resolution shall take effect immediately and with all of that I move the resolution second second by Sue all in favor I any opposed resolution passes unanimously all right well now that those are the longest resolutions we've had all year uh we will move to our discussion items uh and first up is
059the budget Forum scheduling um so just a reminder if you have not I'll let you take that one okay okay if you have not already signed up for one of the budget forums I did not get a chance to take a look at the sheet but please be aware of the time change on April 16 16th at 4:00 p.m. if you are scheduled for that um all of us are all of us are yeah because we'll be here for the board meeting because we're going to be with leaders of the community this is their special yes do you want to talk about that sure to the public absolutely absolutely on April 16 I think it's for the first time what we are going to do is invite all Town leaders um city leaders including their
060council members if they would like to bring them to a nice little reception that is being sponsored by the Board of Education and then have an opportunity to present our budget um overall to them so that if in case in their in their towns or the city that their constituents asking a little bit about the budget at least they would have had that preview as well so this is something that we think is very important for the community leaders to hear about and in addition moving forward that will be something that we believe that we will need to continue as a board as well so we'll have light refreshment light Fan Fair and an opportunity to connect with the community leaders as well than you for that flavor uh for the save the dates uh
061so as aind Remer on Friday we have our visit to stra at 9:30 a.m. to get a progress update and get a chance to take a peek at what's going on in that building and I usually travel with you yes but our wonderful Jennifer deero will be traveling with you on that day as well so she knows the school Improvement plan like the back of her hand as well and I know Tracy will show you a good time always gracious host um you want to take the B these ones sure yes there is a Bosey CTE open house on April 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30 it's an opportunity if any of our students and their parents are interested in seeing what bosis has to offer it's a great time to come and see students in
062action and speak with some of the instructors and speak with the students one-on-one and then we have the Bose annual meeting and dinner I think that registration is in and done uh I'm very much looking forward to another year of an amazing meal and those fantastic desserts and seeing some additional uh District board members so uh very excited to see who's coming to that and then Nan do you want to talk about Community design day oh absolutely I'm always excited to talk about our strategic planning process you all know we've been talking about this how our strategic planning process has kicked off well we've had focus groups we've had students work on the Mission Vision and value statement that I can't wait for you all to see um and in addition the steering committee you
063know Jen has been going really well to the point where folks are like saying this is one of the best committees that they've been a part of and they can't wait to come to it and they've asked for more so we added sessions to the steering committee however we have a culminate day coming up so that we can walk the entire Community whoever wants to participate through the process where we are thus far and it gives people one last chance to have a voice and to be able to help make some additional refinements if needed so that Community design day I mean I've participated in one when I tell you it just brings the whole Community together so everyone is invited if you are a resident of Rome City School District you are welcome we
064will be putting a lot of PR out there is going to be on a Saturday so that there's no opportunity for individuals to say you know what I missed that because I was too busy so it's on a Saturday from 8:30 we're going to serve you breakfast we're going to take care of you we're going to have lunch with you but it is important because when we talk about the pillars of this District when we talk about the mission and vision statement of this District we want anyone who lives in Rome if somebody were to ask you what is one thing Rome is working on right now you should be able to speak about it and therefore it is important that you are a part of from the beginning and of course after we put
065our whole strategic plan together we're going to do a presentation right here for the board and the entire Community to see and at the same time I won't ruin the surprise we're going to do lots of stuff behind the scenes to Brand it so that even students can speak speak to what is our four pillars and what is the four what what what four years from now where do we want to see Rome and for other people to also be able to hold us accountable to what we say we want to do because we did it with this community and it's not only going to be Rome City School it's all of our community that's going to be involved in our process that's why we tell people if it's not part of our strategic plan
066you can have a good product going on but it needs to be in alignment with what we say we want this District to go so we're inviting you Saturday we're going to take care of you but please come it is going to be you won't you won't regret it it's going to be fun you know anything I'm involved with is fun so we're going to laugh we're going to have fun but we're going to be serious about the work and complete the work okay is going to be at RFA yes at RFA and the ILO group will be here the consultant will be here yeah great well gez I'm not a morning person but with that passion and conviction I think we'll all be there I get excited all right and we have no further
067public comment so I think in record time for this year I'm going to make a motion to go into an executive session to discuss Collective negotiations matters leading to the employment employment promotion to motion discipline suspension dismissal or removal of a particular person or Corporation and the proposed acquisition sale or lease of real property or real property or of Securities uh but only when publicity would substantially affect the value therein move it move I move the resolution move by Sue second by Nadia all in favor I any opposed all right into executive we go we will not return to a public session everyone have a great evening