001Thanks so much. Good for you. [Music] Thank you everybody. Uh apologize for the delay. Uh welcome to the Monday, May 19th, 2025 board of education monthly business meeting. Uh I would invite you all to please stand and join me in reciting the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. The first item up for business here is personnel actions. I would like to pull the vote on the athletic director's um tenure. I think everybody who's voting no, the public should know. We have a motion to separate out um the item uh to separate out the athletic director tenure vote. Uh do we have a second of that motion? We
002have a second. Uh all in favor of that motion to separate that vote, can I have any eyes? I Sorry. Can can can we just raise hands? I want to one, two, three, four. Okay. Um, so we will take that vote first. All in favor of the personnel action uh to accept the superintendent's recommendation to give tenure to our athletic director. I I do I see nine. Okay, we have nine eyes to grant tenure to athletic director Jason Simo. Um, all other personnel actions. Can I have all the eyes to approve our other tenure candidates as well as the other uh personnel actions for the month? I I I think Yeah, we're going to vote on We separated out one item. We're going to vote on the remainder of the item. So, I think there
003was a side conversation. So, yeah. So, we're going to vote. We voted on one person. We're going to vote on the remaining. Forgive me, I don't know the exact number. One person. We voted on that person. I didn't I didn't didn't catch you before. Okay. We're going to I'm sorry. I didn't I didn't catch it. So, we'll have eight. Yes. and one abstain. Right. Yes. Um, Linda and John, if you can reflect that, please. Uh, for the remaining candidates and the remaining personnel actions, all in favor? I. I. Christian, would you like to vote? Okay. Uh, nine nothing on that. Um, so thank you everybody. Um, that is tenure as well as the other personal actions for the month. [Applause] We went a little out of order uh at this meeting. Typically, we start our
004meeting with public comment. Uh as I read the disclaimer before public comment, and I see why most of you are sitting here in this room, you will understand why I moved that vote before public comment. Recognition of visitors for any item on the agenda or for any other concern. The board of education welcomes comments from the public. Each person person wishing to speak is asked to speak into the microphone, identify themselves and respectively limit their comments to three minutes. Two opportunities to speak are available. One early in the meeting which will limit to 30 minutes, one at the end of the meeting. Each speaker may address the board only once at the opening and the beginning. Please remember there will be no cross dialogue between speakers and between members of the board. All speakers are
005to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language, lielless statements, threats of violence statements advocating racial, religious, or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. Persons wishing to discuss matters involving individual district personnel or students should present their comments and/or concerns to the superintendent during regular business hours. So, let me repeat that. Persons wishing to discuss matters involving individual district personnel or students should present their comments and or concerns to the superintendent during regular business hours. So we cannot take individual comments either positive or negative on individual district personnel. I think a lot of you have strong opinions on that which is why we took that action first. Uh we do welcome comments but I will just say that you cannot uh make comments either positive or negative about specific district personnel. With that,
006I open the microphone to public comment. Here we go, David. Thank you, David. John Hines, president of the Cornwall Central Teachers Association. Um, I'd like to take a moment to remind everybody, and I know I have to address my comments to the board, but we have a budget vote tomorrow. If this budget doesn't pass, that's $1.4 million that we might need to possibly look at in our budget. We're already losing four, maybe five teaching positions in this budget. So, I encourage everybody to get out, vote, support our school district, support our students, and support public education going forward. So, please vote yes tomorrow at Cornell Central Middle School. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you for your comment, Mr. Hines. Mr. Ray. My name is Mark Ray. Um, I'm an assistant principal for the last 15 years
007in the district at both the middle school and the high school. I've never spoken to the board at any of these meetings, but I thought it was important tonight to thank you publicly for the support of everybody that received tenure tonight. It's something that all of our employees work hard for. I want to thank the students for coming out and showing the support of all of the people that received tenure tonight. So, thank you to the board for um showing your support for our community, our students, and um making sure that we continue to have great leadership in this district. So, thank you. Thank you uh for that comment, Mr. Ray. Anybody else like to take the microphone for a public comment? All right. Uh, with that, the next item on our agenda are student
008representative reports. I see that Ava is not here. So, Maline, please uh, take it away. Okay. So, we're going to start with the good news from CO. The PTO held its annual talent show on Friday, April 25th. There were 25 acts involving more than 35 students and one teacher performance. Each act was extremely polished and the audience was thoroughly entertained. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Lanstoy for putting the show together. The fourth grade students visited the middle school in person on Thursday, May 1st. The middle school administration and members of the counseling department greeted them with open arms. The students participated in a scavenger hunt that brought them around the building with the current fifth grade students. It was a great introduction to life in the middle school. Thank you to Miss Palumbo and
009her staff. On May 13th, our CO and Willow Avenue fourth graders performed at their spring concert at CCHS. That morning, they traveled to CCHS for their first and only combined rehearsal and then performed for the third graders. That evening, our band, orchestra, and chorus wowed family, friends, and the community again with fantastic playing and singing. Teacher appreciation week was held from May 5th through May 9th. Thank you to the PTO for putting together a theme for each day. For example, on Tuesday, the students were asked to bring in a flower or a picture of a flower to show their appreciation. Needless to say, each classroom had an array of beautiful flowers on display. The week culminated in a wonderful lunchon. On May 9th, the C co PTO hosted their annual spring fling. Fourth grade students
010from all three elementary schools gathered at CO. Despite the weather, the students had a wonderful time dancing to great music and eating awesome snacks. Again, thank you to the PTO's from all three elementary schools for helping with the event. Back in February, two first grade and one second grade teacher partnered with the Cornell Embriology Program. Each classroom was supplied with an incubator, a fertilized chicken egg that were dropped off at CO on April 22nd, 2025. The students learned about the incubation process, and completed learning packets along the way. During the week of May 5th through 9th, the CO classes welcomed 10 baby chicks into the world. The students were able to watch a baby chick hatch from an egg in real time. Some of the names of the chicks included Earl, Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, Oreo,
011Walter, and Pepperoni. Repres representatives from the Cornell Cooperative Extension picked up the young chickens on May 19th, and they will will be distributed to farms in Orange County. Next, we have the Willow Good News for May. We celebrated the teacher appreciation week last week. Willow teachers were shown lots of love and appreciation from our students, families, and PTO. A big thank you for all that they do and to our PTO for making everyone feel so special. The fourth grade spring concert with fourth graders from CO and Willow took place on May 13th. The students wowed us with their musical talents and each ensemble put together an amazing performance. During the month of May, Miss Johnson and Miss Subie will be visiting our third grade music classes across the district to introduce all the band and
012orchestra instruments to the students. In addition, third graders will have the opportunity on Tuesday, June 3rd to attend the instrument petting zoom held at the high school at 7 p.m. There, students can see the instruments up close while learning more about them from our high school band and orchestra helpers. During the rest of June, they will have the opportunity to meet with Miss Johnson and Miss Subie to try various band and orchestra instruments before making their choice of which instrument to play in the fall. Our fourth graders also visited the middle school this month while there went on a scavenger hunt and got to ask some professional middle schoolers all of their questions. They are definitely ready for middle school. Third graders took a walk on the wild side when they went to the Bronx
013Zoo. They explored the zoo and learned about different animals and their habitats. The sensational second grade took a walking trip to the Cornwall Historical Society. Students enjoyed exploring artifacts of Cornwall's history and visiting town hall. We are looking forward to a fun and busy June as we countdown to the last day of school. Next is Lee Road. Good news. What a beautiful month May has been. With warming weather, blooming trees, and fresh air all around, our students have been busy exploring and making lasting memories. As we head into the final stretch of the school year, our fourth graders took a big step as they visited Cormal Central Middle School to get a first look at what's in store for fifth grade. They had a great time meeting meeting Miss Palumbo, touring the building, and asking
014thoughtful questions about the exciting changes ahead. It's clear they're beginning to look forward to this next chapter with confidence and enthusiasm. Our our kindergarteners also took their own adventure held heading to the Bare Mountain Zoo. The trip offered a perfect blend of learning and outdoor fun as students explored native wild life and connected what they've been learning in the classroom to the natural world around them. It was a wonderful opportunity for hands-on discovery and the time spent enjoying nature with friends and teachers. Second graders had a blast attending education day with the Hudson Valley Renegades at Heritage Financial Park. Cheering on the home team while participating in a day built around fun and learning was a real highlight for our students and for the staff who accompanied them. On May 14th, our band, orchestra, and
015chorus students performed musical selections for the spring concert. The fourth graders performed for our staff and students in the morning and then headed to CCHS for the evening show. All of our students, musicians did a fantastic job. As we wrap up the month, we are now looking forward to some of our favorite year-end events. The kindergarten celebration picnic, field days, and of course, the fourth grade moving up ceremony. There's still so much to enjoy and celebrate as we close out another incredible school year. Next is the middle school. Incoming CCH CCM fifth graders had an opportunity to visit the middle school in May. Students were students were matched up with current fifth grade students for a scavenger hunt around the middle school, learned about classes, programs, and activities. The students then had an opportunity to
016meet some professional middle school students and ask them questions about CCMS. Incoming fifth grade parents are welcomed to the middle school with an orientation. Parents learned all about CCMS and adolescent development. Mr. Quick, our school counselor, shared the role of school counselors for our fifth grade students and how they will be assisting our students in their transition to CCMS. Congratulations to all of our scientists who participated in the steam expo. It was an amazing district event. Many thanks to Miss Brooks and Miss Borland for all your hard work putting together this event. Every hallway in the high school was packed with amazing displays and demonstrations. Lastly, we have the high school good news. This year's junior prom was held at Beare Mountain, and it turned out to be a pretty good time. The juniors got
017dressed up and had a night to remember, dancing and hanging out with friends. Big thanks to the junior class council for putting it all together and everyone who showed up to make it a fun night. On May 1st, CCHS celebrated decision day for the class of 2025. Seniors wore their college shirts and gathered to take a photo showing off the next steps in their journey. Dragon Day was a great event, especially for the younger kids. Organized by the Athletic Leadership Council, it was a chance for elementary and middle school students to try out a bunch of different sports. From soccer to tennis, the day was all about getting them active and excited about sports. It was totally studentled, which made it even cooler to see everyone come together to make it happen. Thank you to
018Mr. Msimo and Mr. Deold for letting us do this. Our AP testing has been going on this month, and a lot of students have been hitting the books hard to get ready. The exams can be tough, but it's great to see so many students pushing through to challenge themselves academically. Friday, May 2nd, the brand new Cornwall dance team had their first showcase at the high school. It was filled with amazing performance choreographed by members of the dance team. May 15th was mental health action day and students had the chance to take a break and focus on their well-being. In the lobby, students could stop by to make their own stress balls using balloons and stuffing them with sand. Looking ahead, we've got spring concerts coming up in the next couple of weeks. Our musicians and
019singers have been practicing and it'll be a great way great to see all their hard work pay off. Make sure to come out and support their performances. It's always nice to see what everyone's been working on. The annual string showcase is also happening May 19th where string students from elementary school through high school will come together to perform pieces they've been working on. And then at the end we have the good news from the CCSD music department. Over the past few months, students from Cornwall have been preparing instrumental and vocal solos to be performed for a New York State ad a jukeicator at a NISMA solo festival. CCSD attended festivals at Monroe Woodbury and the Mount Academy over the past month. At the festivals, the students receive an evaluation and score based on their solo
020performances plus scales and site reading. All of our students did extremely well and several of them got perfect scores. There are 14 fourth grader beginner instrumentalists, 16 67 musicians from the middle school, and 52 musicians from the high school. This is an opportunity to go above and beyond in their musical journey, and we couldn't be prouder for these young musicians. Thank you, Meline. Um, I noticed you said in there that the one of the elementary schools went to um the uh minor league ballpark across the river there and had a fun day filled with activities, but I can speak personally and I tell you that one first grader in CO the highlight of his day was the hot dogs. So, um, next item on our business is the superintendent update, Mr. Dade. Uh, in the
021interest of time, I'm going to pass. Next item is the president's update. That would be me. Uh two quick updates. Number one, uh please vote tomorrow, uh 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the middle school. Um next item, just to give a brief update on uh our superintendent search. As you know, uh Mr. Date is leaving us. uh we have uh received proposals from multiple search form firms and we are going to discuss those and choose a firm to search for the next superintendent. Uh next item on our agenda is the consent agenda. Consent agenda permits the board of education to make more effective use of its time by adopting a single motion to cover those relatively routine matters which are included. Any member of the board who wishes to discuss individually a particular piece
022of business on the consent agenda may so indicate and that item will be considered and voted on separately, thus preserving the right of all board members to be heard on any issue. Uh it is recommended that the board of education approve the following consent agenda as submitted by the superintendent of schools items 2 through 12. Uh can I have a motion? So moved and a second. Would anybody like to pull any individual item 2 through 12? Christian, I would like uh number 12. Anybody else? Jim. Yes. I might need because I see the titles but maybe don't understand fully uh on the addendums which one. So, I know I'm pulling one, but I think the numeration has changed since I last looked at it. So, what's the topic? And I'll tell you what it is
023on my paper. Uh, I believe we were district office, but they're making sure. Seven. Number seven. Okay. Then also number seven. Also number seven. Number 12 and number seven. Yes. Anybody else? Okay. Then can I have a vote on items 2 through six and 8 through 11? All in favor? I I I. Any opposed? Any abstains? Carl? Yes. Yeah. I'm sorry. Okay. Uh Christian will take it in numerical order number seven. Uh so so I have a comment on this and um that uh about the rate of growth of central office salaries and as as uh members around here know I think he's I'm not going to talk about any person's name. I think he's making a point about salaries um in general growth in the county versus our district. Over time, nothing to do
024with this year's specific if if I understand where you're going, Christian. You do? Yeah. So, let me start. The New York State Department of Education since the mid9s has collected data and there's administrator dis administrative uh pay disclosures that have been made and part of that was done and why it's done every single year is because the concern as you see often in in the press there's usually a story where it's OMG how much central office administrators are being made in this county or the region and I often feel like it is a bad story because it doesn't appreciate what central office administrators do that they work well beyond the 9 to5 hours that there are many things that they make that are out of view and therefore not appreciated and they they make a
025lot of money because it is a very I'm a hard job if not necessarily a difficult job. The point is about it is it's very the pay is high. But my concern is it's not just the level of what people are paid, but it is the rate of increase. Um, and as I've said to my colleagues on this, that the rate of increase in Cornwall has been significantly faster over the last four budget cycles than uh than pretty much most of the Hudson Valley. And so as I want I just have a short little diagram on this. And I know we have a math teacher in the room and I apologize for my bad bell distribution. So the average increase in the Hudson Valley over the last four uh cycles has been about 2.7%. And
026the median increase has been about 2.5%. in Cornwalls has been significantly higher about 49% higher and if you look at that if you look at the average of 2.8 2.68% 68%. The concern is that the median is lower than the mean, suggesting that overall most are below that average. But in Cornwall, what's disturbing is that not only is it just higher, but there has been no variation over the last few years. That the standard deviation for Cornwall is about 11 times less than the standard deviation for the entire region. And so what you have is a distribution looks like this where the curiosity or the peakness of Cornwall shows that there hasn't been a lot of variation and this is the comment about the board because the board is the makes the decision and this
027shows that there's been little variation over the last four years not simply that it's been high but it hasn't been scrutinized in the way that I think it should be. So what is the difference in terms of what the growth rate of increase is? If you index that over the last four years, you would see that the median district increased by about 10.6 sorry the median district increased by about 10.6%. The average district increased by about 11.1% and in Cornwall it increased by 16.9%. And that means that what happens over that time is effectively a 5.8 8 increase greater than the mean and a 6.34 greater increase than the median of the professional peers. And I'm not sure at some point that becomes important money and it compromises some of our programs and so I'm
028going to be voting no on this. I have a comment, Mr. President. I I would also point out that we've had um well I won't say we've had but I would also point out that we probably most of us at the table recognize that our central office and our district administrators are fewer than many other districts. So the totality perhaps isn't the same maybe an individual positions. I for one would advocate for a deputy position for the assistant um superintendent of instruction. So if we were to increase um our central office, then perhaps we could at some point down the road um have that level be a little more when people aren't doing so much work. Um as you you aptly pointed out, thank you for that uh information, Mr. Brunelli. If I can add
029on to that, Jim, I think the uh put a finer point on what Tiffany just said. Uh our administrators because they're the the uh the headcount in the central administration office is so much lower uh per student than it is in a lot of other districts. They take on responsibilities that sometimes uh fall outside of their uh their job description. But that's not really the point of my comment. I just want to take the opportunity to say that I think that they do an extraordinary job and and have done particularly this year when tasked with one of their uh one of our biggest goals was to settle the CCTA contract uh in time and they did that successfully and I wish that we could give them more than what is being approved tonight but I'd
030be if that's the best that we can do then I'd be happy to offer that. Um, and I think that the message to these uh very important members of our team should be clear that uh we do value their their contributions to this district uh not only over the long term but in this year particularly. Thank you. Brendan Bass, I'll ask you to please just th this conversation could easily go off the rails. Um, we've had three comments that have just let's be mindful that we don't discuss individual personnel contracts. Let's keep it nice and general. Thank you, Jim. Uh, I'm going to abstain uh based on my position of the economic situation uh we're going through right now and based on my vote on the budget, that's going to be no. I indicated that
031from the very beginning. My position from the very beginning on the budget was that uh I appreciate the hard work everybody put uh behind uh presenting the budget but I asked everybody to go back to the drawing board to reshuffle the numbers to make it in a way that would not increase the tax levy and I am going to vote no. Related to that is on this specific resolution. Uh, I'm gonna abstain. Thank you, Bass. Uh, with all proper attribution to former board member Matt Bannon, I will ditto Brendan's comment. Uh, all in favor on item seven. I I One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Uh, all opposed? Christian. All abstensions. Bass. Motion carried. Thank you for that. Uh item 12, approval of superintendent stade's recogn resignation. Uh it is hereby resolved that the
032board of education hereby accepts the resignation of Terry data superintendent of schools effective June 30th, 2025. Christian, most people in education have a clause in their contract which means about notice and how many days notice before you can move and take another job. And I know this because very well personally because I applied for a job and the district held me because contractually that was the obligation. And I went into the hospital when my daughter was born, the employee of one school district and left the hospital, the employee of another school district because they held me to my contract. And the reason for this is because if teachers could leave in the middle of the year, this would put a lot of people in a bad position because classes would not be covered. And what
033would happen is is that you would have classes and curriculums where you start a year with one person and another and that would be a detriment to the students in that class. And Mr. Date's contract, I believe there was a 90-day notice. Mr. Date announced that his final date was June 30th, which was much shorter than 90 days before before requesting that of the board, the board approving that. And I think that just says that contract should be applied to everyone. And I wonder why that was not the case. And that was put out onto district communications before any decision on that. And that's a rhetorical question and that's my comment. May I I'm not going to take the B. I just want to offer um a another perspective as the chief human resource officer
034at a company. There are often times where people do not necessarily have to abide by the contract despite it being a contract because it works for everybody in play. I understand Christian your point that it was announced before perhaps the entire board um heard it but it is not unusual and it is a natural time for a superintendent to leave and it actually is less disruptive and often that's what at least HR teams will look for is what is the least disruptive to an organization. So I hear you. I just want to offer another perspective. Thank you. Uh, all in favor on number 12. I I Any opposed? I guess that was nine. So, no opposed, no abstain. 12 in favor. Thank you. Uh, next item is recognition of visitors. Any takers? Closing comments from
035board members. Richard. All right. Thank you. I'm just going to keep it short tonight cuz it's been a long night already. But I just urge everyone to get out and vote tomorrow. No matter how you vote, just please get out, take a few minutes, and and vote tomorrow. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you, Christian. So, one of the things I've been reflecting on this week is the word idiot. And idiot in the parlance is someone who perhaps lacks an intelligence. But that's not the original meaning of the world word. The word comes from ancient Greek and it meant someone who was selfish or self-centered or someone who was not civically minded. And the reason why it has its common meaning is because an idiot is someone who doesn't understand the basic truth
036that we take care of other people and we consider other people in our decisions. And I think it's an interesting concept because the idea is that the core of let's say lacking knowledge or stupidity is the fact that we don't understand how much we are tied to other people. And public education is one of these things where we get to show that we are not idiots. It shows that we care about what happens to other people. It shows that we, you know, can show that not just simply that we care about education, what we learn in class, but we recognize how we are mutually dependent upon each other. Um about a month ago successfully we voted on the library budget. It had a tax levy increase of over 6%. And I don't think anyone batted
037an eye and it passed with 75 70 or so% of the vote. And I just think that tomorrow we have another chance to kind of make the same statement as a community and I encourage everyone to not be an idiot. I'm good today. Jim, thank you. Carl will pass. Elanora, uh, just remind everyone to get out and vote Brendan, congratulations to all the tenure recipients and 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, it's Cornwall Central Middle School. Bring a buddy. That's it. Tiffany. Yes. Uh, congratulations to all the tenure recipients. Um, what a proud day for you and your families. Um, I commend our board president who had a very difficult job this past week. Won't get into why, but I commend the way he uh handled himself and I commend my fellow board members for
038open, honest um sometimes heated um conversation and debate and u I appreciate each of you and thank you for allowing me to be be a member of this body. Um, I will also say that I was a no on this budget. Um, I support and continue to support the CCTA contracts. Um, all of the contracts with our personnel. Um, I think that the tax levy is too high. Um, I think it's higher than it's been in in many, many, many years. I know people disagree with me, but that's my position. I also would encourage people to vote no on the budget tomorrow and ask for an alternative budget. It doesn't mean the world ends. If you vote no, if this budget doesn't pass, you will be likely be presented with another one. Um, however, um,
039I will also say that we it ended up being that we got more state aid than we anticipated. So, there's actually more money coming to us than we originally thought. So, that would uh, further support my position. Uh but again, congratulations to all of those receiving tenure. Okay. I'd like to uh remind maybe everybody that we're not a private school. Uh private schools collect tuition. Private schools receive endowment. And I'm talking millions. Private schools receive donations. And again, I'm talking millions. We're not private school. We rely on our taxpayers. Uh I want to reiterate that uh something I uh mentioned before even in publication I think you've seen it uh on paper or online that I do represent all of our stakeholders. Uh when you talk about budget uh number one stakeholder to have in
040mind is the taxpayer. Taxpayers fund more than half of our budget. uh 60% I didn't do the math maybe 65%. Number three here uh that uh in my four points I always like to enumerate my points uh is that I did vote yes supporting all the new contracts uh teaching and not teaching staffs. So when I say I'm voting no uh on the budget doesn't mean that I'm not supporting teachers. I already supported the uh uh uh the new contracts for the teachers and for the non-eing staff and uh I was as I mentioned in my in the previous meeting I was like very happy with how fast the negotiation went maybe a record time record it was we reached an agreement I'm in full support of that so uh I wish nobody would make
041that kind of you know uh uh maybe uh uh mistake and assuming that I'm not supporting the teacher. I asked the team who drafted the budget together to go back to the drawing board, reshuffle the numbers. I mentioned kind of, you know, two instances where, for instance, for those who haven't heard me yet talking about it. Uh there's a budget line on the budget giving the board of education $28,000 to go on conferences and to support professional society membership. I don't want that. take that $28,000 and put it somewhere else where it is needed. Right? That's one example. There's another example. I'm not going to keep you the whole night here. Go back to the drawing board and reo your calculations and present us a budget that doesn't increase the tax levy. I want to
042I don't want to go I I wish I can go to zero tax levy increase. I was able to go I mean willing to go to 1.9, right? Uh but that's fine. I'm going to uh finish with this. I would appreciate my community's trust in me and I would definitely appreciate your vote tomorrow. Thank you. Um I'm just digesting that. I I I've I've I've said in the past that our students are like the state champs of everything they go after. Whether that's the arts, the academics, um Bosey's programs, our students really I was going to say something inappropriate. Our students really um shine bright and that doesn't come from nothing. that comes from years of pouring into people of a community that really cares and it doesn't come free. I want to be clear,
043I don't take it lightly that we are seeking an increase, but it is the necessary step to make sure that we stay a vibrant and healthy district. I believe it is a slippery slope. You go and you put yourself in a deficit potentially this year and then you're digging out forever. my early college years, I put myself in a deficit early and I was digging out forever. So, and this is a much bigger budget than I had. Um, and so I I want you to know that as a board member, I don't believe any of my colleagues take it lightly what we're asking, but I want you to know that we have done our due diligence and we do believe those of us that are in favor that it's necessary and it will help prepare
044us to be better positioned in the future. It is not done um with no regard for the community. So, I encourage you to get out and vote tomorrow and I look forward to seeing you there bright and early. [Music] Um yeah, I don't and I'm getting a little spring fever. Just I encourage everyone to get outside and get some sunshine and fresh air. It's good for everyone. Jim, uh just a point of order just um there was a question about are we going back into executive session to discuss the remaining items? Boy, did I hit Aren't we excited? Do we read our mind or No, I was asking what the your plan was. You missed it because it hasn't happened yet, but is about to happen. Um I know we all have executive sessions. After
045my closing comment, I'm going to ask for an executive session to further discuss the issues which we did not have time to do. Uh I don't think it is um I think we can be quick. There are some quick decision points that we need to make regarding process. I don't think we need to make any decisions. I think we need to make some decisions regarding some process points uh as well as try to calendar a special meeting to further discuss. Um before I ask before I make that motion for a special meeting uh which again I want to be very brief um I was not going to make a comment uh because I had my president's comment earlier um and that I thought stood on its own. Um just wanted to read a section here
046since uh we've decided to relitigate the budget which is up for vote tomorrow which we voted on two three meetings ago uh confirmed again at the budget hearing um section 3.25 of the NISBA the New York State School Boards Association uh new student new school board member handbook section 3.25 25. Uh, I think this might be helpful information for our board as a whole and uh, if we have two new board members, might be something that they want to hear. Uh, what if I disagree with a board decision? If you don't agree with the decision the board has made, you may express your position during the meeting. However, even if you disagree with the final outcome of a vote, principles of good governance dictate you should support the board's final decision. The time to disagree
047is during the discussion and through your vote, which is public record. If you are asked about the decision, explain why the board voted the way that it did. You may say why and how you voted. However, you should do it in a way that does not undermine the board's majority decision. As long as your comments remain factual and are not critical of the board's action, you are showing support for the decision. Uh, so just wanted to read that. Obviously, everybody, Mr. president. That's obviously directed at me particularly being directed at the two new members. You see for the two new members who may not know I did my board training two potential aware of it. I disagree with it. I have a first amendment right explain that I disagree with it and I encourage you
048all to vote no for the reasons that I stated and I'll put it on social media. Mr. I know that you're talking about me so I will take that and say I understand and I'm sorry. No, he he already he already said Tiffany ambass. He already said Tiffany ambass Jim. Mr. President, I disagree with you. I disagree with the interpretation of what you read because that is not the intent of what the text you read means. I'm entitled to my first amendment yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I talk whatever I think is right, and I just did that. I urge everybody to vote no on the budget. So, the team that wrote the budget, put the budget together, go back and redo the homework. Is it okay? No. Can I just wanted to say as a
049teacher and as someone who works for the district, I'm encouraging people, my parents, students, teachers, whoever is out there to please vote yes because what we're doing is for the good of the students, for the good of the school district. So, I just wanted to give a different opinion of what's being said. Can I have a mo I will make a motion to go into executive session. No action uh will be taken afterwards. We've concluded all of our business for the night for those of you in the audience. Um can I have a second for an executive session? Second. All in favor of going into executive session? I I Thank you.