001mber, December, January, and that's good. That's good to know. Uh so again, uh be patient. Uh we're still kind of combing through the budget. So um you know certainly uh we base uh all of our numbers on current enrollment you know but as we we've talked about really it's almost count it's really countywide almost statewide you know our you know regular ed are you know some our numbers are decreasing but certain our special ed numbers are increasing and that's really uh not that's pretty typical of all districts. Um, we are going to will be proposing that we're going to a vote under capital project planning. Our facilities committee is meeting and we are hopefully going to a vote next December for a capital project and then to talk about the future of this building and
002certainly our main goal is to maintain fiscal stability. That's always been the goal. That's the board goal that was adopted uh back over the summer. uh to maintain that fiscal stability, you know, and we're going to be talking about it later in the presentation, you know, uh we be very careful with fund balance. We're going to be reviewing over, you know, kind of the history of the fund balance we've used and you have to be very careful not to use too much fund balance and of course staying within the tax levy cap. That changes, that is still changing based on the numbers from the governor. Right now, it's about 4.1%. Okay, >> so some of our budget considerations and challenges that we're facing. Every year we have state aid and this year they're looking at
003so far we have a 1% increase in the foundation aid from the governor's proposal and this just is not enough to sustain our district. We have increases in our budget that are much higher than this 1% increase. Our tax levy cap is also a consideration. Budget increases that we've been seeing in the past few years make it very difficult to stay within the tax levy cap. CPI um is projected to be 2.7 to 2.9%. Again, we're seeing increasing uh expenditures because of that. And our enrollment, as you know, has been declining historically in the past few years. Staffing and benefits make up 80% of our district budget as well as other budgets throughout the state and we have limited control over this section of the budget. So that also is a challenge and we have
004Bosey's expenditures just as we have increasing costs so to Boseies and they those costs are passed on to all the participating districts curriculum and programs. We'll talk about that more when we do the instructional side of the budget in March and as well as the special education. But as Mr. Bonjovi mentioned, we continue to see growing needs in this area of our budget. Our facilities are in need of a large capital project to upgrade our facilities and get work completed. Technology, we want to continue to replace our technology every five years. And for debt service, um, this year we're actually proposing, uh, bus funds to purchase five new buses, and we'll talk about that further on in the slideshow. And of course, the, uh, favorite unfunded mandates. We don't know what is going to come
005up. So, the non-instructional section of the budget is made up of eight sections. They're listed up above. The board of education areas where we've defined the expenses for the board such as board doc software and also the annual vote costs are also included in the board section. Central administration is where you'll find all the expenditures for the superintendent and his administrative assistant. And then for finance we have business office auditors the financial advisors and all the expenditures for the office. Staff and personnel is where you'll have the human resources department and under staff is where you'll find the legal expenses for the school district and our communications expenses. Central services is actually our courier and our data which includes our servers and our data person in the central office and our buildings and crowns department.
006Special items. We have a few things that fall under special items. You have the district-wide insurance which covers theft, liability, and fire insurance dues. These are district dues. That would be like for example the Mid Hudson School Study Council dues that we pay. And then you have your judgments and tax refunds that we must pay out based on tax certaries and that liability. And then our Boseies have men capital and rent fees. These are considered under special items rather than you'll see in the budget we have all the other Boseies kind of sprinkled throughout depending on what type of expenditure it is. So but these in particular always under special items and then we have our pupil transportation and then undistributed includes employee benefits such as workers compensation, your retirement, your health and your dental
007insurance and FICA. Debt service is self-explanatory, all your bond principles and interest. And then interfund transfers. Interfund transfers. We have three. We transfer money to the lunch fund to help support the program, but we're also looking at that five-year replacement plan for our equipment. What we don't do in the proposed capital project, we should really look at because we have very old aging equipment that is breaking down. So, we have to have a plan to replace that. So that is where that transfer will most likely go in the future because we are doing well with the free meals for all when we do the reimbursement. We have seen a profit in the lunch fund. So we'll we'll cover that more as we finalize the budget moving forward. Um the federal fund we do transfer about
008$200,000 to the federal fund and that is for the 20% of the costs for our special ed summer program. the state reimbures us for 80% and we have to fund 20% of that. And then last but not least is the third one which is our capital transfer. And next year we're proposing to do some work on the high school roof um that needs replacing. We may end up doing it in two phases if the costs are too high. So I've taken those eight sections of the non-instructional budget and you can see the budget that we currently have this year and the proposal for next year, the dollar change and the percentage change. Most of the lines here include increases based on contractual obligations for salary increases. Other than undistributed, there are um salary inc increases
009throughout. Oh, actually between um special items and undistributed, excuse me. So, in the board of education, there is a 11% change, which sounds high, but $11,000 is dollar amount in a uh $45 million non-instructional budget. That is a small number. What the driver is here is due to the second vote that we will have to have besides your annual vote in May of next year. We also have to um put out the capital project and we are shooting for a goal of December. So in essence our expenditures will be double because of that. Uh central administration uh some contractual items are drive are the drivers in here. Finance we are budgeting for additional fees for our financial advisor because of that capital project. They will be helping us with um determining the amounts of uh
010bonding that we will have to do whether they be bands which are bond anticipation notes or bonds. And we've also proposed to do some work with um ED data and that is a group that does bidding. They'll actually they actually do the bidding for us for a number of items for services and supplies. There's a lot of uh districts throughout the county, multiple counties that are using them and they're seeing a significant savings. So, we're hoping to also reap the rewards of that. I know just with the copy paper alone, I want to say the savings is up to $30,000 a year. And um I'm looking at James because he helped to fund this service for us because we needed to use a vendor in there because they also have services for the rigging um
011different things for stage rigging and whatnot. So there's a long list, but anyway, that's a driver in here. Um for our staffing, the driver here is the bond council. This is remember where your legal fees are. So if we have a capital project that passes, we will need to use the services on council. And then for central services in the contractual line is where you'll see the driver for this. Again, in addition to salary increases throughout the budget, I'm just also focusing on the other drivers. And we will be having a contract with for the CJ Hooker controls which we put in this summer and that would be through train. That is the driver here. Special items. Uh nicer again is projecting an increase of about 12%. So our district-wide insurance will be increasing overall
01212% and then the average is 9%. Pupil transportation in here we do have insurance as well through nicer for our buses and for our building the garage and that is the driver here for the increase for transportation undistributed. Uh for benefits, we're projecting a 7% increase in health insurance right now, but those rates will be finalized in two weeks. So that could go down. I'm hoping I don't anticipate it to go up any further than that, but fingers crossed that it will be going down. Our FICA will increase because our salaries have increased overall. Retirement rates, um we did have some increase in the employees retirement system whereas the teachers retirement system actually the rate decreased there. And then in debt service, our driver here is for the bus bonds should that proposition pass. And
013I'm projecting no increase in inter fund transfers. So overall, our total percentage change is 5.4% or $2.2 million. And if you compare it with the increase, that was $4.8% or $1.9 million. And just looking at the increase for the bus bonds, if you take that away, we're right in line with where our increase would have been without that for last year. And here is a visual of the eight sections of the budget and what makes up the different parts of the budget and percentage. Our undistributed is where the 64% is and that's the largest part and that's due to benefits because benefits makes up the undistributed section of the budget and the most of it. The smallest section is the board of education and that's a quarter of a percent. And then the second largest
014is central services which is 15.9%. I don't know why they're kind of shifted all around. Um, so here's our budget summary by specific codes. Throughout any budget, you'll see different expenditures, and these are the ones you will find in the non-instructional side. When I present the instructional side of the budget, we'll have some other additional items such as textbooks and software and services for students. But this is what you will find in the non-instructional side. And what the drivers here are again the salaries or contractual obligations due to contracts that have already been uh negotiated. But we also are proposing to change one of our custodians. We have a custodian who works six hours per day and isn't able to work for us during the summer. So we would like to increase that to a
015full-time position. So it ends up being 0.25 of a custodian on step one. And overall, that's a $22,000 increase in that position. And it just gives um James and and staff more time to have somebody in the summer working that's a full-time custodian, knows the building, knows what the needs are. It'll help us to streamline and get more things done, especially in the summer. Our equipment, we would like to leave level for next next year with a 0% increase. contractual services. The driver here again is the CJ Hooker controls. Um the contract with train. We also have the legal fees for the bond council and the financial advisor fees. Those two items are both for the proposed capital project. Now those are items that we typically start out in the general fund and if there
016is enough room in the capital project to move that back from the general fund to the capital project, we can do that. or we could just keep them in the general fund because the aid on those items is not as great as the work to be done in buildings. It's a different aid ratio. Supplies, we have a minuscule increase here largely in the uh transportation and the buildings and grounds department. All of the other supplies throughout the budget have been left flat. our Bosei services the drivers here. We do have some increased rates throughout the um different Bosei service requests and costs. Um we do have some new software that we're looking at for um streamlining forms. So we'll have to we can actually reduce the amount of time spent especially on payroll and forms
017she'll have forms this high to process every payroll. If we could do it similar to like our requisitioning system where it goes it's initiated and it goes to the principal or the director and then it goes through the process for approval. It'll make things go a lot smoother and cleaner. And then under other again this driver in here is our benefits the um bus bonds the health insurance benefits and the retirement. And there's the pie chart. know why that does it look like that on your screen too? >> No. >> Okay. >> No. Okay. I heard a no on Okay, good. Okay. Sorry. It It's supposed to show the different percentages and whatnot. >> Okay. So, here's a summary of the major changes in the proposed budget. And we have ERS, that's the employee retirement
018system. The overall increase is 19%. And on the flip side though on the teachers retirement system we have a decrease of 1.3% with an overall change of 4.9%. Decrease. Health insurance again I'm projecting a 7% increase and for Medicare 3%. Medicare is a reimbursement that we make to uh retirees that are on our insurance plan. The tax collection salary we have proposed to u make a change on this. So, I was able to decrease the salary and we'll discuss that further with the board at a later date. District insurance, again, I'm looking at a 12% increase from nicer interest on the bonds. Typically, interest on bonds do decline as you pay them over time. Um, there you have Boseie services, their rates, and some software. Bose services are also declining in other areas like that.
019For instance, last year I projected the Medicaid assistance from uh state aid planning would be closer to $20,000 whereas it's actually 12. So whenever we get that actual number after an estimate, I always either increase or decrease it. And in this case it went down. And then salaries, you know, they're contract contractual obligations as well as the change in the custodian to 0.25 additional FTE. And then the bus purchases which we're proposing to purchase five new buses to replace 15 or greater old buses. >> Okay. >> So the unknown factors in the proposed budget for the non-instructional side as out of as of this date the final tax levby cap that's due on February 27th. So, I'll have a better number for you when we present the instructional side of the budget in March. The
020final state aid numbers, I'm hoping to get another 1% in foundation aid, although it's it's not a great amount, but $210,000 will help. The high school roof replacement cost, the scans are done, but we're waiting for an estimate as to how much that could cost us. Our final health insurance rates, they'll be finalized within the next two weeks. and any potential unfunded mandates that may come out with the finalized state budget. And there's just a summary of the non-instructional budget comparison. And again, last year our change was 4.8%. This year, okay, so we're also proposing some vehicle purchases. So, we want to give you an overview of what we have. So as you can see uh we have uh I won't read through it but you can see the 65 passenger buses and the 20
021to 30 passenger with the wheelchair seven passenger suburban. So we have a total of 90 vehicles with four spare. Now keep in mind um the general rule you know the lifespan of a a bus is 10 years. uh with school buses you there's a very strict DOT uh regulations on these you know and just so the public understands you know if a bus can't have any rust so while you know uh some of our cars might have little showing here and there we get a fixed once there's rust on the bus that's it you can't have rust it's not going to pass DOT so as you can see on the right side there we you know about 26% of our fleet is beyond the 10 years so you can see 114 is 15 buses and
022then there's seven bus that are 15 years or older. Okay. And then still 60 between that time. Also, you know, mileage, you know, sometimes, you know, uh some buses might be newer but have a lot of mileage because these are our trip buses. And again, so it's not an exact science, but usually with mileage, you know, the average life is a bus is maybe 150,000 miles, you know. I'm sure. So we have uh buses with that we have 12 buses kind of all in that cusp uh of the the life. Um just some things to understand. So that that's what we do. We we have a lot of runs. So there's 55 routes that we do a lot of athletic trips. You can see it's fantastic all those field trips that we're taking our students
023on. Um you can see that the number of students we transport regularly 2600 students. um understand. So that's a million miles uh plus each year uh that our buses drive. So that would be the equivalent of driving around the world 41 times in a school year. 41 times around the world uh with with a lot of kids behind you. That would be tough for anyone. our proposition. You can see uh so this lists the bus number, the capacity of those buses and then uh you know what we choose to replace. I wanted to note uh so bus number 247. You can see that bus is a little bit more expensive. That's 164,000. So that's our uh sports trip bus. So that bus has a lot of extra storage on it for all the equipment and
024and whatnot. So that bus is a little bit more money. Then you can see we have two 30 passenger buses that we're currently using. We're going to replace those because those buses are being used for um much smaller amount of students. It's just that's what we have. So we're using them. So we're going to be replacing them with uh seven passenger vehicles. So that's why those last two jumped down to the 61,000. It's tough. You got to keep up on the buses. Uh I know we went a couple years there where we weren't buying vehicles, but again, um when you when you skip years of buying vehicles, it catches up with you and eventually you have to buy vehicles. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I just want to express that this is still a work
025in progress. Um, our projected revenues are based on the governor's budget as well as the maximum tax levy cap, which at this point in time is $4.1%. Our projected budget is $102 million, leaving us with a budget gap of $6.2 million. Now, we can also propose appropriated fund balance and u reductions as well. We don't know what those will be. They are to be determined. Historically, we have used fund balance and >> yes, we talked Yeah. Yep. Uh we talked about this a little bit uh at our first presentation. So again, uh fund balance, you know, optimum, you know, you can I think you can ask any business official, you know, you'd love to be about 950,000 180,000 uh of fund balance. So we were that for a lot of years as you can see.
026So five years prior to 2021 we were at 980 and then you know just it things happened and we you know you can see we were still at 92122 but then we went to 1.2 back to 9 1.1 and then last year 3.7 million. Um that's a lot. I I understand I was not here. I understand why that the board decided to do that but you know just for the board for the public you know that's not sustainable. Uh we do have fund bals but you would we wouldn't be able to uh continue with that large of amount over the next couple of years. >> You want to jump in? >> Okay. So this slide may look familiar to you. We did show it back in October when we did our financial planning um presentation
027and it shows the historical tax levy versus the tax levy cap and the percentage in each year the change of what it was between the prior years. the amount that the tax levy cap was at and the amount of the actual tax levy and that difference and as that difference continues to grow when you don't use or go up to the actual maximum levy. Those are the dollar figures in the last column. That's the cumulative difference over the past 10 years of what was not collected by not going to the cap. and it's uh totaling $6.1 million which does almost come out to the amount of our budget gap at this time. >> Again, we covered this back in the you know, so there's this is going to be a year of some kind of
028some you know tough decision as far as the uh you know going to the cat. So really you know if you just go back to and I'm not you know I'm not laying blame on anyone. This is it is what it is. But you can see 2021 and forward those four years uh we were at 000 and then one and two uh when we could have been much higher. Just those four years generates would have been is $4.7 million um of money that we kind of left on the table. So again this year we're at about 4.1 right now. that's going to fluctuate a little bit and I would say you know >> we have a lot of things that we need we have a lot of things just we need to maintain that you
029know the goal of the board should be you got to go to that tax as always our mission statement I won't read it leave it there for a second and then of course finally if anyone in the public has any questions comments so there's still a lot of time there still, you know, a lot of numbers we don't know, but we're not making these numbers up. We want to be fully transparent just to show board the public this is where we are right now on February 9th, and again, we're not adopting until April. >> Any questions? >> I just have a question about Sure. the insurance rates. So you mentioned especially with transportation that they want to well contributing to $346,000 increase. >> The do we do we know the driver of that or we
030research whether is there different insurance companies? Is there any kind of driver training programs that could help bring that down and what why are we doing it so quickly? >> And and that's throughout the state. It's even at at home. I don't know if you've noticed. I know our homeowners went up. Our car insurance went up, but um with school districts in particular, we have had multiple meetings with nicer and I know UDICA also has had meetings with their districts as well because they're seeing increases. It was because of the law that passed uh I'm not sure how many years ago where um prior students could come and and sue school districts for misconduct per se of um employees. >> I'm just trying to remember what the law was. So, it opened up I want
031to say Pandora's box where a lot of claims came in from many years ago for large amounts of money and they've had to settle and that has just wrecked havoc on the insurance industry as well as the many disasters so to speak that we've had. Um, just thinking about when they had the floods over in Highland Falls and roads were washed out and and all of the things that had to be repaired, not just for the schools, but also, you know, just the surrounding areas as well. Um, those have driven all of the rates of insurance up in general. And we could do an RFP and go out and get new rates. But I am concerned with you get that great rate the first year, but then in the following years, what's going to happen?
032Is it going to go up as high as what we are paying now? That's the problem. So, you know, they can go by our experience rating, which isn't terrible. I know that, but I just know in general, it's not us in particular for the rate increases. throughout the different districts that use this insurance throughout the state. >> Are you able just to maybe put feelers on the other districts to see what they're doing and get a gauge whether it be, you know, >> we have talked about it at business official meetings and they're in the same boat and they're also in the same thought process of not going out to do an RFP because they're afraid of rates going too high the following years like year two, year three. So, you know, we could certainly
033do that next year and give it a try. >> It's an option. Yeah. >> Anything else? >> Thank you very much. a lot of great information. Uh we've come a long way. We still have quite a ways to go. So again, uh you know, stay positive and uh we'll continue to keep great communication with the board of ed and the public. So that is everything on my report. Um I know that uh I want to steal your So I think that was Miss Bamit Lamron's report also. So we can jump right to Dr. Carter. Great. Thank you. All right. Very good. So, we'll pass over that one and Dr. Carter, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, personnel, and technology report. Thank you, Mr. Good evening, everyone. So, I do have a few items for you this
034evening, beginning with UPK regarding registration. So, the registration for UPK did close on Friday the 6th. Currently, we have 74 students registered. We do have a few with some outstanding documentation, but we fully anticipate 74. So, if you recall, we do have a proposal on the table for 54 seats in house. Then we also have a second proposal from the same vendor for an additional up to 54 seats at the the vendor's location. Um, so I thought that I would just mention, of course, we understand what the allocation has been and and what um, as of last month, the anticipated allocation was. However, I know that everyone for the most part is aware of Governor Bogle's messaging according to her most recent budget proposal. You're looking to move that that funding to $10,000 per pupil
035um beginning next school year potentially in the proposal. And so that kind of opens up a different window. However, I don't necessarily know if that's going to happen or not. Just something to be aware of. And I know that we have some further discussion to have regarding which direction we wish to travel for UPK. And so just keep in mind that increase potentially could be from $5,752 to $10,000 per pupil which very well may up the potential for seats potentially to 174 175 or more. So that's just food for thought. Um, also just want to remind everyone that along with the proposal is the idea of a truly universal prek for all beginning in the 2829 school year. Uh, we were very fortunate this evening to have some great presentations, one of which was Kim
036Longo um, regarding the performing arts. So, make sure you put those those magnets on your vehicles and around home or office. Uh, we're very proud of our programs here. I think that's very evident for years and years. We've been very proud. Our students are wonderful. The teachers do a great job. Mrs. Longo, she did mention the the NAM application for the best communities in music education. Uh and so she did assist me with that this year and I wanted to publicly thank her for all of her hard work. It's a very very large document. There's a lot of information and she assisted in gathering all of that. A lot of statistics um and and a lot of talk about exactly what we're doing within the community. Um she had mentioned that it was submitted and
037so it was submitted on the 25th of January and uh she also mentioned that we've been a recipient for as far back as she can remember and so as far back as I found it began in 2017 and we've received the best communities and music education award every year thereafter. So we're hopeful that we'll continue to do so with a wonderful program and I also wanted to thank Mrs. uh and the entire art department for putting together wonderful presentations. Uh I wanted to talk a little bit about Orange Holster Boseies and the portrait of a graduate consortium. So in talking with Dr. Lang and Dr. Lefero at Orange Holster Boseies, they are in the process of putting together a consortium of component districts uh to assist districts in developing curriculum in alignment with the portrait
038of a graduate. And so the idea is that there will be uh an area of focus in professional development and of course the development of inquiry based units uh across the content area. And so regarding the professional development um four areas of focus inquiry based teaching and learning. So more more on the practice side and more on the learning side. Um and then also the development of those inquiry based units which is really important because within those six elements uh of the portrait of a graduate we talk about critical thinking uh and creative innovation and those are two huge components and an inquiry based learning across content areas really lends to to that. And so we also will discuss research based assessments and the use of technology all geared toward culture of a graduate. Just
039want everyone to realize that as it stands today, we're still waiting on more solid guidance from the New York State Education Department regarding the portrait of a graduate, but we're fully aware of uh the anticipated uh implementation guidelines beginning with the financial literacy components. Uh but as I had said, you know, we do have uh we're waiting on more information and we're fully aware that that freshman cohort um 2930 is really the cohort that is fully impacted by the portrait of the graduate stands today. Everything that we're used to by way of graduation measurement stands and we continue our work in preparing for alternative pathways and so on. Um, wanted to mention uh the math committee textbook review. And so I'm working with our principles right now in our K6 buildings. Um, and so obviously
040that's Scotchtown, GIS, and CJ Hooker. Um, to look at putting together a committee of those interested in vetting a couple textbook programs and some curriculum from multiple vendors uh in alignment with NextG Standards for Mathematics. And that's really important to us because if you recall and we do have math and focus the 2020 um edition and so that it is a version of Singapore math but um in my experience with that the the feedback especially by way of professional development um and let's say it being userfriendly the feedback has has not been the best and so with that being a program um with the copyright 2020 I think it's appropriate to look at something that is much more recent um to the tune of 2024 2025. Um there's also a vendor or two with some
041materials uh from maybe 20 um 22 23 that are preparing to um release a new program. And so we're going to take a look at, you know, five or six programs, try to whittle it down and see what may work the best for us and and what we're trying to achieve here, which of course is everything in alignment with standards um focused on student performance in the area of mathematics. Um I will keep you informed all the way through. Right now, as I had said, the administrators are working on equity. Wanted to talk a little bit about the stop DWI Foundation of New York. Um, and so through an application process and the hard work of Mr. Pentleon and his team at GHS, um, we were selected to be a host site of the International
042Save a Life tour this spring. So, this is a really unique opportunity. Of course, um, it's it's it's not something that's given to everyone nationwide. Um, this will provide a hands-on experience with a lot of simulations um, simply to prevent um, driving while under the influence or or while intoxicated, which I think um, in the springtime is really important, especially as we enter Palm season. We've done great events at the high school in the past. I think working with Stop DWI Foundation is going to be a really, really great opportunity for our students. And so, um, we look forward to that and we'll continue to share information as we approach the spring with that award. So, as you know, I've been trying to keep you up to date regarding uh our MTSS training with Education
043Elements, and we've been working with a gentleman by the name of Blake D'Vor and his team at Elements. Uh, and so we are about to um get into some in-person uh work with that at Elements team and our entire MTSS team districtwide uh with some very specific goals that were established during our last meeting last month. And so as we meet in person here in in um in this room, we are working on dates for late February. Uh we're going to continue to work toward identifying tier one resources. So we're really trying to develop that toolbox as we had discussed. Um but we also want to take a look at what we can do uh to have a single screener um K12. So you know we've talked about EXL in the past, we talked about
044Renaissance Star, but we really want to standardize that process moving forward. We also want to move into um you know what what are our system of supports look like in flexible grouping. And so that also lends to, you know, what does that mean for students across the continuum of services by way of of exiting. So that that needs some work in identifying our tier one, tier two, and tier three. What that looks like for our students that have been identified throughout that continuum. And I think if we can standardize that across all of our buildings using standardized toolkit, we're really moving in a great direction. K12. So that will be a large part of what we do. Um, and of course, you know, our number one goal, um, I don't I don't want it to
045sound as though we're just trying to move kids out of the what we're trying to do is to make massive impact as quickly as possible to help them to learn and grow to no longer need that support. It's not about taking it away from them prematurely. It's about moving them to a point where they can say they're proficient in a certain standard or area. So, we'll continue that work uh with that element and I will keep you informed, of course, along the way. Um just your substitute teacher training update. So on the 24th through the 27th we are scheduled for another substitute teacher orientation. Uh unfortunately as it stands today we don't have anyone signed up for that but we're hopeful that we will have some individuals sign up. If you are interested and you're
046out there please contact either Michelle Cerna or Andrea Richardy sign up we'll get you on board. Uh you did have five substitute teachers. We did have five substitute teachers this evening on the consent agenda. Uh and so little by little we are increasing the number of substitutes across the district. Um in alignment with our new teacher seminars and mentor support meetings. Uh Thursday, February 5th, we did have digital portfolios um for those who have to create a portfolio in preparation for tenure. And so all of our new teachers had that se uh seminar on the 5th. and I will have the luxury and the privilege of meeting with our mentors here in this room on the 19th, which really is just an opportunity for us to discuss all of our new teachers, any any problems,
047any recurring issues that we're encountering. Um, and it's just a great opportunity to come up with solutions if in fact there are any issues that have to be dealt with. Most often it's a it's a nice celebration of what our new teachers are doing and bringing to the table. Uh and it gives us an opportunity to talk about what our individual mentors who are extremely experienced bring to the table. Uh so that those mentors and future mentors can add to their toolbox. Kindergarten registration. This is just a heads up. Uh I know that Mrs. Driscoll is working diligently with her team and also um Maria our registar um putting together thatformational flyer and a QR code to get that information regarding kindergarten registration out there. Uh so just keep your eyes open on the website,
048keep your eyes open for um any parent square notifications. Uh we will get that up and running as quickly as possible and start that process and get ready for our incoming kindergarten students. And then finally, um, you know, it's that time of year where we start to prepare for the Odyssey in the mind regional tournaments. And so, uh, February 28th, 8 am over at U Boseies, we've got a potential to have, uh, some more world champions in the making participate, uh, in the competition over there. So, if you have a chance to attend, please do. And we'd like to wish all of our teams the best of luck as they start the uh, the process of becoming champions. That will conclude my report for this meeting. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dr. Carter. Okay,
049moving on. Need a motion to approve the consent agenda. If Senator Billy be resolved, the board of education approved the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor? post. Great. All right. Now, we have I need a motion. >> Yeah, we don't we don't have old business, right? There's no old business here. So, we're just going to need a motion to approve the policy updates. We have Shannon Milly be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, Board of Education. approves the second reading reumbering, renaming, and readdoptions of the policies as presented. Be it further resolved, the board of education based on the recommendations of the district's NISBA policy consultant retires the following policies as the content of these policies are either combined with other new policies, restatements of law, or hold insignificant policy
050guidance. Those are as presented as well. All those in favor? I >> opposed. We need a motion to approve the new business. Bill and Chen resolve upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools. The board of education approves the new business items as presented. All those in favor? >> Great. Okay. Now we have some board member comments open agenda items. I had a few notes here, some items to bring up. Uh earlier in the evening I talked about some things we'll discuss regarding the superintendent search. Before we jump into that, I wanted to just ask Carter moving forward with the UPK. You've provided a lot of feedback about options. We have cost estimates. What direction, if any, do you need from the board at this point in time to keep the planning process moving
051forward? I know that there's some other things coming from the state that are still in flux. >> Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think the most important thing for us right now is to to realize that the maintenance of program is probably um paramount, right? We want to make sure that we continue with our 54 inhouse. Um but we do have to make a decision on potential expansion. You know, even um if it's a few seats or, you know, if it's many seats, I think we should we should probably just have a little bit of a further discussion there. I understand fully that, you know, we're in a in a tight fiscal situation, if you will, and I also understand that we have nothing more than a proposal finances coming in to support UPK, although
052I know that there's a very large push for that. And so hopeful that we will get much more money. Um, I do want to be able to get into a lottery situation to to pull that to secure those spots and to also get that contract signed so that our vendor is fully prepared to offer the services that that we need. And so, I just I just need a little direction. Even if we were to have discussion in the very very near future, that's where we're at. I I can pull the lottery for 54, create the weight list for 20, and then make a decision thereafter if you'd like. And in order to just make sure we're staying ahead of things and get the information out there, what is your timeline to get that lottery up
053and running and to just have that decision made? >> So, I believe um let me just check to see if I have the dates here, if you don't mind. Uh last year, we had the lottery on January 28th. So, we're we're just kind of past what we established as a normal mode of operation. We're not that far past. Um, we also um ran our registration a little bit later this year. Last year, we we kind of ended just before the the third January. So, we have 74 this year. Last year, we had 110 applicants. So, the the applicant pool is a little down. Um, nonetheless, um, you know, I think we just want to stay as close to our timelines as possible so that, you know, it's a good collaborative, um, process between us and
054the vendor or the provider, if you will. >> Yeah, I would recommend we maintain what we have right now, the same number of slots, and then, you know, establish a waiting list, and then you really need to wait to see uh, if anything does come from the governor. understand there's still a cost per student, you know, even though we're getting money. So, that would be my recommendation just to kind of maintain where we are and then kind of wait and see. And you had mentioned that there possibility that there might be more funds allocated on per student basis from the state level. It's an if question, so sorry. When that information comes to us, should we reach the top of that promise? Oh, there's the largest amount that was promised, what does that look like
055from a per student cost on our responsibility? How much does that reduce it per student cost? How much does it reduce? So, another great question. Um right now just for for round figures, you know, we get approximately $5,700 per pupil. Um and the cost um is slightly more than that by way of the contract and proposal. If we were to receive $10,000 per pupil, um that would more than cover the proposed cost from from the provider as it stands today. >> And I have one last question. I'm sorry I'm driving this for the provider. What is our timeline to really be able to engage with them at the latest date where they can still provide that service and make sure that they're meeting our need? Should we be able to pull the trigger on that
056should we get more money from the state that works in our favor? So, I don't have um I don't have a date to share with you as to what would be the provider's latest date. Um, but if I may, I would advise that we act as quickly as possible to secure the tip number regarding the additional seats that may be located in her building. Um, you know, if we choose to to sign on with that that proposal, um, you know, I'm sure that we can have discussion about how how long as a business owner, as a provider, can you wait without filling seats simply because it's from that aspect on the private side, of course, it's a business measure. And so I know that that that individual would prefer to fill those seats as quickly
057as possible. And if there's any wavering, then those seats may go elsewhere says available. I I can work I I certainly have that conversation. >> I I appreciate all that feedback. I think that's that's really helpful to all of us. >> Uh what does everybody feel about Mr. Bonjoby's suggestion? Yes. 54 inhouse. Create the weight list for what did you say 20 more >> initial recommendation possibly? >> Yeah. >> See how and then see how it shakes out with the state. >> I agree with >> agreed. Agreed. >> Okay, great. Perfect. Does that give you a >> gives perfect direction? I can put together the lottery. We can put together a contract with the provider. >> Um, >> great. >> Present it to you for signatures and approval and then move forward with our in-house
058program. >> All right. Fantastic. And I I think it just, you know, goes without saying if there's any type of resolution that needs to pass, you know, being that we have the monthly meeting here, we have a few weeks. if there's something we need in between to ensure we don't miss deadlines, make sure we keep moving, you know, sure we're all willing to get a special meeting on the books as needed. >> So, just make sure we keep So, >> fantastic. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Great. Wonderful. Thank you. Um, moving on to the second item I had noted here to discuss a little bit. I'm going to just turn it over to Billy and Shannon a little bit to maybe give us a little bit of feedback from the meeting you had with
059Boseis. Give us some insight. see if we have any questions. I did reach out to John to see if he had anything that we needed to ask this evening to discuss. So, he's good. And then I think we, you know, have one or two decisions we need to make. So, you guys want to lead us into that? That'll be great. So, uh, we started off and we met with, um, well, we met with two people over at Moses and, uh, I really just kind of talked about our structure and I know you already addressed the timeline and what our timeline would be. Um, so, uh, at this point, we we did have a conversation about a confidential versus non-confidential search. uh it was recommended and and we decided to go that way as far as
060not doing a confidential search. And the reason for is really so we could include stakeholders within the district and when you move to a confidential search uh typically it's just the board meeting with those candidates. Um now while stakeholders that are involved would you know most likely have to you know sign an agreement to to keep those um keep those meetings and interviews private, right? Um it would it would open it up, right? So um so they um they had already been reached out uh from from candidates, you know, far and near and from wherever. So um so I think we made the right decision with um looking at posts. >> Great. >> Yeah, that sounds good. And I know there was you know another point that we wanted to make sure we discussed tonight
061uh regarding the different rounds if I'm correct to recall was three rounds of interview process and then the board's role during that process was something that we wanted to discuss a little bit. Uh right. So so they gave samples um as far as as what they would recommend for over the course of those three interviews. Um and essentially the first round generally is a larger rounds of stakeholders. Um that's identified you know kind of working with the board and so forth. And um and then the second round will be a bit smaller and and then the final round would just be the board of education. Uh through that conversation uh we we both uh felt and you know up for discussion with the rest of the board members um that we should have some level
062of board representation uh during each um each process whether that is you know just simply a presence or an active role. And one of the reasons why we felt this way and and and jumped in, right? uh um was that sometimes when you move from one from one s uh one interview process to another to another, a candidate might present differently and you might miss out on some of those things where a candidate might speak about some really good items um and processes that they would put in place. if we don't have a if we don't have some level of a constant, we might we might end up missing that that might not translate over. So while I fully trust um the team that that we are engaging with, I do think that at some
063level and that could be something that you know we make a determination with uh whether it's bringing uh bringing the team in here to discuss with us in public session or executive session. Uh we could always decide that down the road. um really just allows us to have at least one constant along the hallway. Um and then it also encompasses the stakeholders, you know, at each level. >> Yeah, it just would help to hear other people's points of view and just be a constant like that continuity during the interview process. It's the biggest thing we're going to be doing as a board, the most important thing we're going to be doing as a board. And I think we just felt like we should have somebody should be there even if it's just you know um
064someone listening in and not even being part of asking any questions at that stake but just you know for continuity factors that's what we were comfortable with >> agree that's a great idea >> yeah I I agree with that >> yeah so yes >> surely so yeah let's follow their lead I think you mentioned uh maybe having them come in I think maybe we can you know consider that maybe have them come here to be part of a conversation to maybe we have additional questions we want to ask them or they can talk about whatever um else they may feel would be good to put out there regarding stakeholder groups. Um you talked about the group getting whittleled down. So that's something that they would help us establish as to the wh and then who
065should be those pieces throughout the way. Right. >> Correct. they have like almost like samples of what ideally it could it could look like and then you make it work for what you know for your population but yes they have lots of suggestions about that as well like and I just want to stress to the community too that these are services that are the district is not paying anything additional for this this is all included in what we already subscribe to for Bosei so it's it's wonderful that we're using this as a resource >> getting our money's worth >> I like it great so Yeah, I'm in agreement. >> I'm in agreement. >> We're all in agreement. And if you guys want to continue those conversations and get any feedback from them as to what
066they feel may be important to bring forward, let's we'll keep those communications going in between now and the next meeting and you know get that on the docket if needed. Great. >> All right. Good. So that that covered the conversations with UPK. Anything else anybody has for open agenda items? The only thing that I would ask we had discussions about the safety plan is if we could have a we in the past we've done a round table. >> Yes. >> We've had like pizza rigana we've had the police chief and it's uh was closed for safety reasons but I think it was just still a a good meeting to have and probably do. >> I agree. Great. >> I just like to thank Trailside Treats. uh they've always been very good to our district, very
067generous anytime we asked them for something. So, uh tonight we accepted a donation for the Special Olympics, which is just such fantastic events. I'm looking forward to it and just want to thank them for being such a great community partner. Wonderful. Thank you. All right. Anything else? Nope. All right. We covered a lot. So we'll just need a motion to move into executive session. Scott and Brett being resolved. The board of education will enter into executive session with the intent not to reconvene the business portion of the meeting for discussions relating to the employment history of particular person or persons. Those in favor? All right. Thank you and have a great night.