001I got to go to now behind. Good evening. >> My name is Shrur and I'm president of the city school district of Albany board of education. On behalf of the board, I welcome you to our meeting today. We have our student board member, Miss Carmen Sapona, Mr. Almanavi, Mr. Boston Wolf gang um secretary Alen Crice President Tapa Wilson member Savage and member man with us and we also have the superintendent and members of the cabinet joining us either remotely or in person. Uh this meeting is being livereamed and the instructions to view the meeting as well as a link to the agenda including all the documents we will discuss are available at albonychools.org. It's a good time for me to note that if you're here tonight to speak in public comment, you should sign up
002with our board clerk, Miss Timmons, here to my right. Uh, and with that introduction, we invite those of you who choose to join us as we stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. In addition to the pledge of allegiance, we always focus our meeting by restating the mission of the city school district of Albany, which is to work in partnership with a diverse community and to engage every learner in a robust educational program designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for success. With that, we want to first item, which is our student board report. Member Sona Student government is planning on tableabling in the near future to spread word and garner more interest for our student voice survey to be able to gather more responses and to better service and hear the voices of
003our peers. We also plan on doing this to attract more students to join the student government as a large portion of our group consists of senior students. We plan on attracting more students to be able to ensure the continuation of the success of our club in years to come. As we did before, the student government is hoping to repeat our previous Debate for Change event. Debate for Change is a new event that was started up this year in which students are presented with thoughtprovoking questions regarding our modern-day educational system and given a chance to speak their voice. Through this, students and their voices are elevated to allow for us to gather a greater understanding about what really works and matters in the educational success of our current students. One thing that frequently came up last
004time we did this event was an issue regarding availability. Some students though interested were not able to attend due to our standing due to other standing extracurricular activities or other crucial responsibilities. Though we are still in the process of figuring out the best time to proceed with this, we do hope to follow this through on a day and time in which the most amount of students who are interested in sharing their voice are able to attend. As you know, in the week preceding our most recent break, we held another spirit week at the high school. As as expressed to us, it appears that many students were very satisfied with the roster of days in which they were able to express their falcon pride. As usual, it was wonderful to see students walking around in various
005creative takes throughout the week. In our last student government meeting, we discussed the APAPA or the AsianPacific American Public Affairs as well as it scholarships and its youth leadership academy. This is an organization focused on increasing civic engage engagement among Asian-Pacific and Pacific Islander communities as well as encouraging voting leadership and public service. The organization helps to provide internships, mentorships, and community programs to many. We have made initiatives to inform not only our members but also clubs throughout the school. We plan on getting the word out about the about this further through posters that are soon to be finished. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Subendon, do you have a report for us? >> Sorry, I do. And we'll throw it over to Mr. Leco. Get it started. >> Thank you very much. It
006is our pleasure tonight to welcome Alb High School girls basketball coach Becky Lawson to celebrate his recent coaching milestone. Coach Lawson has become the winningest coach in the history of our girls basketball program. Earlier this season, he surpassed the career mark of 214 wins set by Leslie Beagooki during her amazing coaching career at Albany High. Now in his 13th season, Coach Lawson led the Falcons to the section two championship championship game five times in his first 12 seasons, winning three championships. He also helped lead our new girls flag football team to the section two title game in the sports first two seasons, winning it all last year. And a former Falcon himself, Decki enjoyed a championship season at Alb High as a student athlete as well, leading our boys basketball team to the section two
007title in 1993. Fresh off career win number 220 last night and working toward number 221 on Monday night. Please welcome Decky Lawson and our director of health, physical education, and athletics, Kim Pillow. Good evening everyone. Uh it's been it's great to be here tonight. Um I'm I'm going to share a few of my own thoughts before I turn it over to Decki. Uh Coach Decki, um I want to just talk a little bit about my perspective and what I've seen in the the couple of years that I've been here. Um and as a former basketball coach myself, um my perspective is a little broad um regarding basketball. Uh many times people will say, you know, what Kim, what what makes a great coach? And and while wins are great and people usually use those as
008benchmarks for greatness, what I have witnessed in the two years um of my supervision of of the coaches and of coach Lawson is his ability to connect not only with our our student athletes current that are on his team, but the connection that coach Lawson has in this community, in this city is so far reaching. I am so beyond impressed and just wowed at I I think his name is the name that I hear more than any other name in the city of city school district of Albany is Decki Decki Decki Decki. Um and I think it's just fabulous the work that he does not only with our current kids but the kids that are coming up the ranks his connection to the community partners um with not only with basketball but with flag football
009and and with so many folks families that he knows. Um it's really great to see so many of our um his former athletes that come back. We currently have uh coach uh Ana Jackson who's on staff now that I know um coach Lawson has coached and the the admiration and adoration that so many people have um for coach Lawson. His passion um his willingness to commit his time, his energy, his love goes so beyond the basketball court. It is. It is truly amazing. Um, a couple of weeks ago he sang the national anthem for us. Um, we can send the huddle video because it was um, it was absolutely incredible. I was to tears. He his he can sing. I saw pictures of him and videos of him dunking back in the 90s. So, I
010mean, he he does it all. We are truly blessed to have um Coach Decki as part of our athletic program, as part of our community, as part of our our district. And he is really truly a pioneer um and an advocate for all of our students. And um my hope is is that, you know, his role modeling and his leadership is emulated um for all of our our staff. And so I'm really proud to be here tonight. And uh you know, we built a really close relationship and I absolutely love him. and I'm gonna turn it over to him now. >> Well, I'm uh I'm so blessed and honored to be here tonight. Uh especially what uh what my AD just said. Um same the feeling is mutual here. Um to have someone that you
011can go to at uh any time to talk to about anything is just make your job that much easier. So, I'm very honored to have her by my side as well. And as as you know, uh you can't go nowhere without, you know, having a great woman by your side as well. So, my mom is is back here. My older sister is back here. And uh I didn't see a lot of my uh teammates here, all the girls that I coach. I have a couple of them here. uh Nyrie and uh and Trinity. And I also uh was blessed to have one of the youngest Falcons who's only in the first grade who's playing on my fourth grade team. Uh my granddaughter um she's right here. So, uh this thing is just not uh something
012that just a fly by night type of thing as you know. This is a like she said is a relationship. Um, it's it's something that I really would love to pass down to my kids and my grandkids as, you know, I'm so happy that she picked it up. Um, and and you know, just passing this thing along and and I'm just so honored to be able to support and to be there for for a district that I grew up in as well. You know, I came up in the Albony City School District. Um, it's such an honor just to be here to to be able to help help kids like that was like myself as I was coming up as well. Um, so I had a a teacher back in the day named Miss Gary
013from Gifin Elementary School. Um, who she was very much tuned into the athletics of Albany High. And she saw me playing back then and she said, "You're going to be a coach one day." I'm like, "Yeah, okay." you know, even though my dad was a coach and and you know, my uncles, but when she said it, it something stuck out. It stuck out with me when she said it to me. Um, so I it stuck to me and and I kept it with me. So I I say this to let you know, let us know that, you know, teachers are a great impact of what a kid future, you know, might be. And you know, I'm so grateful to have a teacher that cared about me, uh, cared about what I did in school and
014cared about, you know, my athletics and also my family who, you know, was disciplinary on, you know, everything that I do. Didn't let me hang out late at night and all that, you know, you know, doing what kids do. But, you know, the disciplinary part of of helping me be the person that I am today. So, I'd like to thank the OP city school district board um for having me today and you know, I'm so honored and blessed um that you guys are having this for me today. Thank you very much. And before we take photos, I just wanted to put some of the things that Kim said in uh in a data point for you. Uh on Facebook, a big seller for us is somewhere in the range of 40 or 50,000 views. uh
015the the post about the evening that we celebrated Decky's achievement a few weeks ago is is pushing 100,000 views. So it you know he's so well loved in our community. >> And now we'd like to take some photos. It is now our pleasure to welcome Monatory Magnet School Principal John Powell to tell us about the great things happening at his school this year. Good evening members of the board. Good evening superintendent. This is superintendent representative. John Powell, principal of Monasuri Magnet School, and excited to be joined tonight by Meg Dixon, our now full-time instructional coach at Mon Magnet School. Sounds good. Let's see. I think is it going? There we go. Okay, there we go. chose to highlight some words that really jump out when you look at our vision and mission because as you
016know students at Monasuri embody Oh, we're jumping. Let's go back. >> I'm not sure. >> Let's see. Try to go backwards. >> I think I'm controlling it. Okay, there we go. All right. So, students at Monastery School are self-moted motivated teacher-guided students able to work independently and collaboratively, always respecting themselves and their surroundings. Mutual respect exhibited between teacher and students. They're responsible in their culturally diverse community and the monastery philosophy and method guide all that we do. and just threw a picture in there of Julian who um not so long ago created something in his class where he said, "I am my best self when I am kind." And it was such a really just profound and right on message that it now lives in our hallway as well as some other works of the
017similar sort with other students and so loved to share that. Um, >> I think it's something's skipping it a little bit ahead. So, we'll stay right there. So, as a principal, I am supported greatly by my home school coordinator, Miss Aira Marshall. And as you take a look at the current student body, it's really interesting that over the course of the last five years, you can see how yearbyear our building takes on even more of the look of the greater district. Um, you can see where we have had increases in certain groups, decreases in other groups. And you know, one of the things that I think um has always had Montasur seeming a little bit different doesn't seem to be as much the case. We have increased our number of English language learners. Our ratio
018of black students to white students has shifted and as all other groups have increased. Um it is it is interesting um to take note and to and to recognize something that we celebrate. So sharing the last 5 years as all schools are guided by a SEP monastery is no different and each year we create our SEP with the intention of it being their guide for the school year to come. And one thing that we've enjoyed this year is how true to the SEP we've been able to stay. Um, usually there may be some midcourse corrections, but the original focuses of developing our staff around how to intelligently select shelf work and build in the monastery image. How to plan and make sure that our tier one plan is in support of our students that are
019in most need, but also students that are excelling. has been something supported greatly by the fact that we have our instructional coach with us each day. Our datadriven instruction interventions, we use multiple data sources to inform what we use for shelf work for our small group instruction and then to make decisions around tier one, two, and three to support students academically and behaviorally. and then monitoring through feedback and continuous improvement, classroom visits, walkthroughs, peer observations, and feedback from myself guide PD for all of our staff. And that particular one is one we're going to be highlighting as we continue through. Attendance is rather steady at Monasuri. You will see that we annually fall right around 95% daily attendance. One element worth noting that's just been unique to this year, we've had a real increase in
020the amount of students who have gone overseas for up to two months at a time that has had a bit of an impact on things, but it does seem like it was a period of the year that we're coming coming out of at this point, which makes me think we'll end up at that 95% by the end of the year. But it's something we've worked to navigate and also consider how we can continue to support learning even while students are stepping away from our country for longer times than we have historically seen. So something we consider but of course attendance does matter. And so the standard measures with robocalls and meetings held with our parents and guardians, home visits, tracking our attendance and having weekly conversations as a committee. Um working closely with transportation. We've
021solved some really um sticky I guess situations in terms of attendance with a few families through the collaboration with Mr. miles and he's has been very agreeable to coming to um resolution in in ways that have immediately impacted students. And so um we do these standard measures and seem to have solid results because of good. So something that's really come into this year and I would say has impacted what we do in a significant way is the degree of collaboration between the teachers and staff within the building. In terms of peer visits, at this point, 79% of our teachers in our building have visited other teachers classrooms this year with the guidance of our coach to grow from each other and share best practices. That is a significant statement because to be vulnerable and open
022up your classroom and then collaborate with other people as opposed to staying in your space indicates a lot of important things happening. And to have 79% of our people open to that to this date is something we're very proud of. >> To kind of go along with what um Mr. Powella said about opening their classroom to their colleagues. That's um typically in a smaller group setting. Um but in our second point up here, we've also had eight and it's actually turned to nine teachers because we had one happen today that have put themselves out there to open the entire staff to their to their classroom to show Monastery shelf work to demonstrate some areas that make Monasuri unique in relation to instruction. Um, so we're very excited that not only have 79% of the staff
023engaged in the peer observations and the peer visits, but we've also had now nine teachers open their classrooms to whole staff to do some professional learning in uh in a place together. >> On the Shine side of our house, we enjoy a very successful in-house PD program. It begins each summer with our teacher leaders designing what they want the experience to look like. And as we go through our schedule of collaborative CPT dates or Wednesday PD sessions or teacher-led PD sessions or half-day conference days, we already know as the year starts what the activities are going to be. And that means that we inhouse can develop the inevitable new teachers, new teaching assistants that come into that very high needs program. We're supported by some great resources from the district. But when you have teachers
024and teacher assistants and related support staff that are making that decision and then leading that work with people they're working with all the time. It's a dramatic impact on the program that we're very proud to have within our school, our Shine program. And equally as important to developing the instructional growth of our teachers, it's also important to grow our teacher assistance. So we are engaging in professional development through Monasuri to gain their knowledge around the components of Monasuri learning and we're going to have our third session tomorrow focused on math progressions and using the Monasuri materials to support that in the primary level. So, we're we're not just growing the capacity of our teachers, but we also value the teaching assistance and growing their capacity as well. >> And with Miss Dixon coming in with
025a math background and acquiring the coaching ability on the English language arts side, she's also working quickly through her Montasauri training, which began immediately as she left for a lengthy period of time this past summer. um she engages directly with the teaching assistants through their training all year long to be a partner in that learning and we look forward to next summer um taking the next step in terms of the official training. So um getting up to speed very quickly and demonstrating as a quick learner in terms of the deep and um sometimes slightly confusing but the philosophy of Montasauri so that you can be fluent and be that kind of person who in a Montasuri classroom can support teachers and encourage that open door feel. Just taking a a a few moments to visit
026a few images from our building where you see some traditional pin pricking activities going on that you see in any of our prekk spaces working on their dexterity and their ability to ultimately to write. And so that is where that pencil pinser grasp is developed with activities such as that. You see collaborative math activities happening to the top left and you see our now a staple um trunk or treat huge crowds as um those who have had the ability to be at a monastery event know that you will get 200 people at a monastery event by literally just saying come and hang out and so um trunk or treat has been a huge success. Some additional photos taken from the um holiday season where band director Mr. Fagato will always have students playing in many
027different locations encouraging their comfort with their developing skills and their instruments. Um the evolving turtle pond gets attention constantly in the top right more student collaboration. And as you go to the right and again then you have um in the middle you have at the bottom we have a >> Socratic seminar happening in um Miss Frankie's fourth grade classroom >> and then a group of students who went to the Albany Institute of Art and History and enjoyed a recent field trip and one more this is Monasuri talk a little bit about this one. So going along with one of our with the SE goals that we highlighted and some of the work we've done with peer observations and teacher-led sessions, you can see some of those teacherled sessions in these photos and also some of
028those whole staff collaborative common plannings and things that we do after school to just kind of all work together to grow our capacity not just in silos but with each other. other couple of other interesting photos there. You see in the bottom right you see um new teacher to the monastery Beth Foley >> Britley >> Brit Foley Bri Foley and and Anna Killings in the middle Anna Killings who sat next to me um last year as MCC president now teaching at Monasuri and doing an amazing job in one of our shine classrooms. Monasuri Community Council though led by Anna uh as those who know no supports us in so many different ways. Um the fundraising that happens yes is critical to that. But there also I I I you can see the different events that
029happen. But what has really been important um in the evolution of what MCC brings and means to the school is their sponsorship of various learning opportunities for our families. We have begun the coughing conversations series. We had a session just Tuesday where um parents were able to come into a teacher classroom who opened up her doors for an hour to give really purposeful deep slow demonstration of various Monasuri works where you wouldn't be able to experience that in any other setting where you are living in that space of a student who is who has to demonstrate the patience to watch without much speaking how a work is laid out for the learner. And the parents, they loved it. They were they were so they were they they had eyeopenings that they hadn't had from any
030other thing we've attempted because the way that Miss Clink in this case gave this to them was with the respect that she would give to her students and not just an overview where you kind of rush and summarize. So that's just an example we've been able to provide. We have another session coming up in March which is going to focus on AI at MMS because that's another area that parents have interest in and so we're building that um with our tech department and again sponsored by the M the Moner community council challenges do exist at our school just like any school and I would say that this is largely going to fall in the area of maintaining Monasuri. It is a very um layered effort which includes materials which do not come cheaply. We have
031all of the materials of the district, but we also in each of those classrooms have exceedingly expensive high quality materials that over time definitely do require replenishment and the process of training our staff. We've highlighted some of that, but when trainings can come in at $10,000 per person for a teacher and you bring on five new teachers and you try to stagger the training out so that we can build that into our budget, those are things that we have to get creative with. We are supported by different legs of this um district in terms of MCC and the grants department. uh my regular budget AF helps us in different ways and so and there's an ongoing advocacy from my position with anyone who will listen and might have authority to just see what resources we
032can get to keep our teachers at the level that our parents anticipate and expect that they would be at. So, I figured out notebook LM um enough to make this slide. I think it took me four revisions and we pretty much got there. And so, um but it's not at all about that. It's really something fun to share. This is the state test results for the last four years. Four years ago, and this was nothing to sneeze at, we averaged 59.1% proficiency across our six state tests. In the last four years, we're now up to 72% proficiency across the six state tests for ELA and math. And those are the scores below that or in the middle for last year. 80% was an aspirational number at one point. It is expected and I don't even
033flinch at it anymore that we will achieve 80% and pass it in short order because of the work we're doing at Monasuri. Another indicator of performance um and proficiency on a state test is our local measure of NWA. So these quadrant charts show the most recent data administration for both reading on the left and math on the right. If you look at the quadrant chart where obviously you want to be in the top right hand corner which would be high achievement and high growth. And what that is saying in both of the areas of reading and math, we at every grade level were high achieving and high growth, which doesn't just mean that we're growing students who have larger um gaps in their learning. We're growing everyone at every level. So, we're high achievement, high
034growth in K through five for math and ELA, which is a very good correlation and predictor for proficiency and success on the state test. That's the academic piece and that's what the numbers focus on. But as I've aged in the position, I honestly feel like more than 50% of our job is this. It's really taking care of first order needs in the people that are doing the hard work. And so when you help students learn how to be more secure, functioning, happy, satisfied members of a school society, then we can access their academic growth. But it's the different opportunities that you provide to volunteer, to be heard, to be seen, to be a leader in front of others who haven't gone down the road you have gone down, to be someone who can lead remediation
035with their classmates or students from other grade levels. You're giving them skills, but you're also giving them a true feeling that they have a space, that in whatever their whole story is, when they come through our doors, there's no question that they feel seen and heard. And if they have a struggle, someone's going to put their arms around them. Someone's going to bring them close and help them get through that in the moment. Help them get through that by giving them skills that you get when you are in a place where everyone is working towards that same effort. And so I don't know what the right dividing way to do it is, but I I I definitely feel like this is at least 51% of the purpose for our school is to help grow students
036in this way. And really that happens when staff are all rowing in the same direction in terms of our understanding of our message. Our message is kind of handed to us when you look at it through the Monttoauri lens. But this part of things is not something that just is naturally there. But in order to be what our students deserve for us to be, our staff, our entire team, entire team has to be crystal clear on what we do with our students and how we treat our students. And so shifting our building leadership team to our building equity leadership team, making sure that the members of that team have gone through our CSRE training, making sure that those who did it a while ago are re-upping their commitment to it and then building a SEP
037that not just focuses on data but also on our conversations related to equity and the entirety of our student body from every direction. That has to be there if we're going to be prepared to set our students up for success in that 51% so that that 49% can give you the slides you saw a few before. That's our presentation but oh it went away quick. There it is. Oh, thank you to Abby from communications for putting together a small slideshow of students at Monasuri. Enjoy. Oh, that's starting All right, thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> And that concludes tonight's district highlights. But before I give up the microphone, I just wanted to say I checked in on that post about Decki again. And the last time I looked at it was the end of
038last week and it was in the uh mid to high 80s in terms of views. It actually is at about 107,000 views currently. So 60,000 individual people have seen it. So that's, you know, the equivalent of 60% of our city's population. So obviously a tremendously popular and well-loved person. So >> thank you. And before we move on to the district update, we I just want to recognize we have a couple of uh distinguished guests here today. We have uh Senator Pat Fehee and Assembly Member Gabriella Romero uh who have who are going to come and talk to us. So we invite them to come and join us in the >> always great to have you here. >> And I think I threw off the schedule a little bit. That was me trying to finish up
039a document. So my apologies for uh for the delay. I did bring a quick handout that we can just walk through and we can jump right in if that's great. >> Yeah. And as you're passing that out, Senator, I can I can start as you're as you're moving. Um so we we come with some very good news. Um we'll we'll start with the numbers. Um and uh we can get into some policy concepts. Uh this year in the um executive budget, there's a proposed uh increase of a total $22 million increase uh of in total funding um to the Albany City School District. About $18 million of that is in foundation aid, which is um really positive. Um, one of the most exciting things I would say from this budget is the UPK um, aotment,
040which I know from early adop as early adopters is something that as someone that's new to the um, legislature and I'm sure the senator has been fighting for this literally forever. take all it. >> Um the the actual language is the proposal would increase the per pupil reimbursements to $10,000 or the district's um current uh uh foundation aid, whatever is greater. Apparently, there are some districts that are getting more than $10,000 per pupil. Um and so we are getting the $10,000 per pupil which um is significantly positive for the school district. >> It's been about a eight or 10 year effort here. So it is it is probably my favorite part of the budget. So thank you for your patience and perseverance. It is it's just um it's it's extraordinary news. >> Yeah. >> Finally.
041>> Yeah. Do you want to >> Oh, >> we can popcorn it if you want. >> Sure. Sure. That's that is the biggest news. Um I I passed out a sheet that has that on the the right hand side. Uh I was going to bring copies of our overall budget PowerPoint, but we can we can send that. It's somewhat captured here. Uh most districts, so the controversy this year is that most school districts are only getting 1% uh a 1% increase and I think it's twothirds or something of the district. So uh so it is really great news that there's an 11% plus increase here. Um, and I should add that there is still while the governor's office has said uh no uh foundation formula changes this year, there is still an effort uh and
042advocacy around changing it a little more especially for the ENL um uh uh English as a new language students uh as well as some for the disability those students with disabilities. So it's it's hard to say. there's a lot of interest, but there's also a lot of interest in and anytime you open up a budget. Um, anytime you open up the foundation aid, it just has so many ripple effects. Uh, but obviously there's an interest in getting a number of districts beyond that 1% you you you know doesn't doesn't hit with you. Uh, there's also been a huge the other one that's a big one uh significant increase even in a tough year and it is going to be a tough year um in the uh free lunch and and breakfast. So, that's got an
043acrosstheboard increase as well. You should do okay there either way. I don't know if it uh how much it affects, but those are the couple of things. There is money again uh for the teacher pipeline. I know that's been a huge issue. I know you'd like some separate funds on there. We will have to see. We are uh at the stage right now in the Senate of um where we're going through what we call the workg groupoups and there's a real um effort to try to hold the line because and I should have started with this we started the year we are over $10 billion down because of the big beautiful bill and other funds from co at the national level that have run out. So, nothing beautiful about that bill, but I I do
044need to remind people that um depending on what numbers you're looking at, it was a 10 to$13 billion hit overall for the uh this New York just New York State's budget. Um three over three billion of that uh that amount was just in Medicaid. So, everything is being hit. Uh it remains to be seen as you know Mayor Mandami had another love fest I guess with uh with the president today and I I saw actually as I was coming over they saw the tweet that uh we're going to build in New York. So who knows if that impacts the budget who knows uh did free another um ICE arrest but uh some of that remains to be seen but the bottom line is we are climbing uphill. This year is expected to actually be the
045more manageable one because the stock market did do well. Um, next year is when a lot of the serious ramifications of the big beautiful bill really hit us, particularly on Medicaid. So, so that's again a lot of good news for this district. Um, still a lot of uncertainty overall. I'll I think the accelerated teacher preparation though was a new aotment just to emphasize. So this is um a new program the two or you know 1.9 or 2 million whatever for um the accelerated teacher pathway program. That's a that is a new program which is exciting. I know that is something that we specifically were advocating for for um the program here in the Albany City School District, but that is a grant program that we I'm assuming this school district will apply for when that
046if and when that aotment gets approved in the final budget. >> Not sure if you have I'm not sure if that's been attempted before for some of the statewide funds. >> Yeah, it's a new program though. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Definitely. Um, and uh, I wanted to also just non-education wise because I know it's just on everyone's mind, something that the senator and I have really been pushing is um, certain immigration related proposals that the state is is working on. Um, uh, there is one um, initiative that's in the budget that would create a state cause of action to sue federal officials when they violate our constitutional rights. That is um a bill that we we both support that the governor has has pushed in a separate entity um what's called a program bill outside
047of the budget that she's hoping to to move. Um and that is uh an important an important initiative that actually doesn't exist right now in state court um if federal officials don't um federal officials violate your constitutional rights. There's a myriad of other bills whether it's creating a dashboard to um you know create data um create data to identify when there are um you know constitutional violations or just uh ICE interactions all across New York state or unmasking ICE. we are working um at least you know very strongly in upstate New York to make sure that we are um uh at the forefront of this issue um because it is one that affects our constituents and and you know sometimes people say it's like a downstate thing and we are really um working at the
048forefront of this um in in the capital district but as a voice in upstate New York >> and since it has directly affected a number of your students we know you know this this is not this is a statewide issue. Um uh uh kudos to the governor for reading the tea leaves here and uh proposing a a couple of bills. We there's right now there's over 30 bills pending in both bodies. We we each sponsor some of those and co-sponsor a lot of those. So I more to be continued. Uh uh usually nothing virtually nothing other than repasses uh move before the budget is adopted. We are actually hoping that we can move sooner this year and and we're gearing up for that. Uh but but this is um so uh and I will say
049one of those well there's a few bills related to schools and um uh what schools um and yeah but schools and institutions any sensitive sensitive locations sorry I just look for the word obviously schools there's a number of different bills uh I think we're both co-sponsors of a number of those that is foremost on folks minds and of course today the latest at least high there's many rest, but uh the most high-profile one today was at Columbia University, again, a an academic institution. So, um while that person has been released, um uh it is it is still one we are hoping to legislate further on. >> And I'll just add that right now in the package of bills that the governor has announced outside of the budget, it's called local cops, local crimes act. the
050two additional concepts outside of the creating the state cause of action to sue government officials when they violate our constitutional rights. The other two is the safe locations that actually doesn't include higher education which maybe this would spur it. It includes local schools. It was Oh, it would include um this the Albany City School District. Um it also includes hospitals, houses of worship and homes which need which one would um legally if you know those with legal minds would would understand that you actually case law and law means that you should not be able to enter a home without the legal prerequisite. But there was actually an internal memo circulated by ICE saying that you don't need legal prerequisite to enter home. So now in New York State, we are designated homes designating homes as
051safe spaces that you need the legal prerequisite to enter just like schools, hospitals, and houses of worship. And that specific um bill says that you need a judicial warrant to enter these quote unquote safe spaces. The last one is an ending of 287g agreements for a designated period of time. And what 287g agreements are is that it kind of deputizes local law enforcement to act on behalf of ICE. And this concept is a very simple one that says that ICE and or the federal government needs to do their own job and local law enforcement will do their own work. You know, their their their budgets are are are strained in and of themselves right now. Um and so uh 287 agreements by ending those you're ending the the formal relationship between local law enforcement and
052um ICE in the sense that the local jails will not be able to house ICE detainees anymore. Local law enforcement will no longer be able to be um act as agents of of ICE. Technically that's a technically that's a bigger issue in Renelier not a there's not the formal relationship and I say that with quotes um >> uh um >> types of >> there's yeah there's there's types and there's intergovernmental agreements again there's there's over 30 bills we are trying to uh in the Senate we're trying to combine a number of those but the bottom line is it is very very much on uh many radar screens And I'm really hoping um uh that we will see progress there. And uh and I know the the trauma not just for the families involved but certainly
053for classmates that have seen seen their classmates disappear. So uh the last issue to and happy to take questions and again I appreciate the accommodation with the schedule is absenteeism. Uh some of this started with the horrific shooting last uh July 4th uh with the uh 10 people shot uh particularly when we found out that a couple of those kids have been out of school all year. So uh turns out as I've met with now three dozen superintendent even outside my county, the counties I represent, I have three of them. Um but even in Saratoga, Kenna Jiari and more abs the more you peel this back, absenteeism is a is an issue that has not come back um to uh precoid levels. So uh we are trying to get some funding in the budget for
054a pilot type program to incentivize uh more um working groups based on a model in uh in Connecticut. Also working with state ed. In fact, we have a meeting with them again next week uh about updating the information that is publicly available. I know the the school districts have more um timely information on absenteeism. That is not what's publicly available. We are we are still dealing with information that is now a year and a half old. So, uh so it's two bills that uh we have right now and um to be continued. So, unless there's some I um happy to take questions. Sorry if we are throwing off your agenda. So I we'll both stop there again. We we really do appreciate this time. Makes me think of Neil Brereslin who used to come to
055these and of course John McDonald. So it's just the two of us tonight. Um um but but really appreciate the accommodation on the schedule. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming every time. I mean you know um questions a student board member >> as part of your last year's uh >> That's right. Wonderful to lead with a student. is >> I have no questions at this time, but I would like to say thank you very much for being here. I I really appreciate just being able to see all of the work that you guys do in ensuring to keep our schools running efficiently and just being able to fight for us to be um comfortable. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you for the work you're doing representing students here. Thank you,
056>> member Rkin. Uh yeah, I mean I'm going to echo my student colleagues uh you know sentiment. Thank you Senator Fehee. Thank you Assembly Member Romero. You're both do amazing advocacy for this district. Um I'll never forget having my Assembly member show up to my cross country meets as a kid. So love having you here. Um only one thing I want to bring up and it's not even really a question. Just kind of a reminder. Um our superintendent testified before the assembly. uh probably about a month ago on chronic absenteeism and one thing he brought up uh was the child safety zones. Um they're a very big part of our transportation infrastructure. Um so if you guys can just continue to look into that issue and advocate for that um be greatly appreciated. >> Yeah.
057And I actually I' I've attended that hearing for his testimony and I I think one of the I remember one of the chairs uh Hey took a particular interest actually in in the superintendent's testimony and I have been meaning to connect you to um >> I believe we provided it for him the testimony. No, I just meant I I think he uh the assembly member uh the chairman is um >> I think he he would love to sit down and like kind of learn learn more about specifically our district. He that would be beautiful to kind of sit down and have that more in-depth conversation about these issues. >> Yes. And he's chair of uh the children children and families committee. And um >> and listen, kudos to you. uh you know I don't think
058I actually knew the term until this board brought it to me uh and you were relentless as with many others and uh and it was since uh hundred years ago when I was on this board um we had tried to just expand the the zone to go beyond the the mile and a half to bring it actually at one point down to threequarters of a mile failed um failed to get board full board support to bring it to the voters um and so I really have thought the child safety zones have been a really creative way to address the need and you know was it was Albany that fueled the legislation that took us I don't know how many years to pass. Uh since then I also think I think the city of Buffalo has
059brought it up. So since then there's other there's a number Bingington there's a few that have brought it up. So, so you started it as far and and it's it's really a great because it was really well child safety zones have existed. It was really intended for rural areas and the fact that you made it for um for urban and that we were able to change the change the formula. Kudos to you. So, thank you. >> One of the other architects who was a previous board member who started that is sitting in the back board me past board member Jen Lanch >> Lang. I remember these these things coming up back from those days. >> Yes. Yes. It's it's well it's like prek that has been well first of all it's been almost a 30-year
060effort to fund prek but the fact that this year it's it's the biggest um jump um uh ever and uh and right and we've called it universal prek. So now it will actually the name will finally match the the word. So yes uh thank you Jen. It's it's great great to and and we hope it will get expanded, you know, remains to be seen. >> So, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you both for being here. Um I'm also very pleased with the positive news. Um, sticking with the discussion on the child safety zones, um, I want to just give you guys an insight into things that we've been talking about the last couple years about >> specifically that. And, um, buses, a lot of times we have the money for buses, but then there
061are not enough drivers of the buses. And when you get to something like if we start implementing these child safety zones, we're going to need more buses, which means more drivers. Um, and I know you guys aren't hiring people people, but you could if you could figure out how to make it easier for bus companies to hire people or how to make it a little bit more I guess uh of a fluid action because I can imagine we need 10 more buses and then you know Pipsy needs 10 more buses and um there's already a bus shortage. and bus driver shortage. So, this is great. Um, the child safety zones is going to work, but there's, you know, logistics on that end that also need to be figured out as well. So, just food for
062thought. >> It's it's, as you know, it's been a national problem uh that really like as with so many other shortages as CO was winding down, it's just exploded at the national level. Uh, I have superintendents who have told me in my rural that I have Skenctity and Montgomery County and they have said they end up driving the buses at times like they're they're the backup. Um, it's it's just become such a critical problem and nationally there have been efforts to modify some of the restrictions and I know we did some things with the state. I'm not going to in terms of making it the path a little smoother to get that certification. >> Yeah. this the certification is I I but I'd have to check to see what we've done. It has I it
063as far as I know it has not come up this year but I can check. I'm no longer on the transportation committee so I I could be a little I don't know if it's come up at all with you. Haven't heard it. What has come up is the EV buses and there's been a lot of discussion about the implementation of that and we've we've been in the same meetings with the school districts and um the the superintendent that are um struggling with the implementation of that and the technology is is um not up to not there and and um it's difficult to implement or even start in the winter months etc. But that's that's what I've heard more is the EV bus is not a lot about the >> and and we're hoping to give
064a little more >> relief there. It's um it's and as somebody who had some of that early legislation to help fund the adoption of more EV buses that I think between COVID between the international energy crisis, the technology has not kept up, the infrastructure is not there. It's just frustrating on every level. I don't know if you've had some of the same problems, but we have caught earfuls uh everywhere we go and I have communicated that. I've even handed out copies of you know, Takonic Hills. I don't even represent them. We were at one of their meetings and uh you know, they they did the right thing, bought 10 buses and they were sidelined most of January. So, it's it's really unfortunate. So, it's just it's a multi-pronged problem with drivers, with transportation. I will
065say if it makes you feel a little better, I think Albany is a little ahead of the game because you years ago began to work in an integrated fashion with CDTA. And um and uh you know, that's funding we go to bat for every year. And that really helps the district, the fact that you have that working relationship and um have the uh the tripper buses or whatever uh to it really puts you ahead of ahead of the curve and the problem. So >> yeah, anything that we could you guys could do to strengthen that relationship between, you know, the district and CDTA and make sure that CDTA is >> um flush with the funding that they need. We're trying to get 15% statewide this year. Right now, I think the governor came in with
066half of that, but we or some it's >> half of it. There there's two initiatives to increase CDTA's funding. It's either increasing that percentage of the STOA funds or something or there's actually a um a bill that's carried by um the chair of the transportation committee that would increase the um registration fee to folks that are registering their car. It's already implemented in New York City, but there's a proposal to make it um equal in upstate New York that would add a $25 fee when you're registering your car. It's not the time to be increasing fees because we're already paying so much utility costs and rent, etc. So, it um >> you know who Well, I don't know when is the right time to increase fees, but but CDTA is is experiencing a budget issue.
067Um I know that they've they've cut lines across the district because of their fiscals. And so, um, happy to continue to advocate for that, um, stronger relationship, but >> I mean, essentially, so long as that, um, >> the folks Yeah. the folks are aware that we rely on them greatly, >> right? >> Yeah. >> A lot of people do. It's serious, >> right? It's it's good news that, you know, you're you're in a better position than other districts and Right. But still the tough nose. Thank you >> member man. >> Hello. Um it is not so senator fee assemblywoman Romero. Um I don't have a question. I just have a comment. It is not lost on this board um or or myself how accessible you are and what a champion of um our students and
068our teachers uh a champion of our district. And so I just wanted to just thank you for again and again and again um coming back and um and showing up. So thank you. >> Thank you. And it was great because of my delay. It was great to hear all the encouraging uh news and updates on on Monasuri. So uh so it uh great to hear it goes both ways. Great to hear the encouraging news. >> Member Savage. >> So when I first when I first became a parent in a school district I think this is working. Um, someone told me, "When you talk to a teacher, remember they're the expert on pedagogy, but you're the expert on your own kid, right? And when I talk to you, you are the expert on the state budget,
069but we are the expert on how it impacts us." And I just want to put it all together for you about how these changes have impacted us because your advocacy, >> especially Senator Fehee, over a number of years, and also recently, Assembly Member Romero, and your incredible ability to internalize this new information so quickly and really hit the ground running is very much appreciated. So, I'm going to tell you how it looks from my perspective. In the last few years, the state has fulfilled the promise of foundation aid, returning about $30 million to our budget that we were short every single year for years and years and years. That is a huge change in our ability to function as a district and do what we need to do for our kids. Last year, you fought
070for and received tier four charter aid, which provided a small increase, but still an increase for those of us who are oversaturated with charter school students, which is just a very difficult thing for financial planning for a district when you have a significant percentage of your students in charters. Um, if we had one or two charter schools in Albany, you would never hear us say the word charter school, but we have over 20% of our students in charters, and that does impact our ability to financially plan for our district. So that tier four chartery that you were that you fought for last year makes a difference. Child safety zones, as we've talked about tonight, we hope that we will be passing our first child safety zone sometime later this year and actually putting children on
071buses for the first time. Um which as mentioned Jennifer Lang and I have fought for along with all of you for so many years. We know Pikipsy implemented it last year. this year. They've got kids on buses right now that would not otherwise be on buses because of the work we did together and the work you did to implement child safety zones. So, thank you for fighting for that for us. Um and most recently fair prek funding is something that has been it's really been an abomination the way the district uh the early adopting districts have been mistreated and the fact that you have continued to fight for that for us and we went from 7,000 something to 12,000 something per student is going to keep more childcare providers in business. It's going to provide
072more access to for students to early childhood and it's going to really make a difference in our ability to to serve our students. And when I wrap that all together, here's what it looks like. When I got on this board 12 years ago, more than half of the district budget was paid for by local property taxpayers, which is very unusual in a high needs district like Albany. Buffalo was like at 80% state aid. Rochester was at like 90% state aid and Albany was like 30% state aid. I don't know, it was something like that. We have completely flipped the script on that. And now the local taxpayers as of this past year's budget, the year that we're in, we're we're supporting less than 37% of the b of the budget down from 52% when I
073first got on the board. And that is a credit to the work you're doing. And it's what's allowed us over the last 10 years, we have had an average increase of less than 1% a year on school taxes. >> Over the last five years, I wrote this down, it's been 0.55%. Right? Very few districts are able to maintain that. When you look at our colleague organizations, most of them are looking at 3%, 4%, 2%. We've been able to hold it at 1%. Because of the work you're doing, and that's so critical for our community, which is fundamentally overall a relatively impoverished community. So, the fact that we're able to keep our our school taxes growing very incrementally while still delivering the services we need to for our students is absolutely a credit to the work
074you're doing, which I know was not really a question. It was really a comment, but I had to take the opportunity to thank you for all the work that you've done. Um, and you know, we always want more that we'll still be coming back to you asking for more. Um, but we do see the huge impact of the work that you guys have been doing for us. So, we appreciate you. I I really try not to even it's been so long for me with being off the board, but I do have to mention uh about five or six superintendent ago. Um and now, you know, my very early years on the board, which is right after 911 when the you know, the entire state economy collapsed. And I'll never forget falling off my chair when
075a superintendent said only 29%. I still remember it. I can't remember a number from yesterday. and 29% of the state funds were were um the rest was on the taxpayers. So about 70% was on the Albany taxpayers and and I would be remiss if uh I didn't give a real shout out to John McDonald and and Neil who just this has just been u a real partnership and we still work with him even though he technically no long it's been redistricted out of Albany but we try to be that delegation uh going at these issues. Um, and so I I do appreciate that it has made a difference. And by the way, it's made a difference for a number of uh urban schools as well, including some of the charter school relief um because now
076Long Island has a couple of highly impacted school districts as well. So at that time we were kind of a lone voice. Now we um there's been a real effort uh like um Hemstead and a few others. So So thank you. It means a lot. Yeah, and I'll just shout you out, Ann. Actually, when I first got elected last year, you sat down with me for quite some time to like explain all of these uh funding mechanisms and uh you've been an open door since, especially with all of these and obviously the senator as well. But thank you for taking the time to explain it because it helps me in my advocacy. So, thank you, >> member Cr. Thank you so much, Senator Fehee and Assemblywoman Romero, for the work you're doing supporting our students,
077our and our families. I really I can't say enough about the difference that the prek funding change will make to our system and our budget. And Senator Fe especially, we appreciate your support over the years in getting that done. I will e echo what my colleague said in the suggestion that perhaps the easiest way that you from your your position can move the needle on attendance is by supporting transport making it easier for us to transport our students and I know you have been at the forefront of even increasing transportation for prek students which is wonderful fantastic and then my question again thank you so much is for Assemblywoman Romero and I know you've I know you've have some initiatives regarding uh trauma trauma fund, trauma training for educators that work with immigrant students. Can
078you tell us more about that? >> Yeah, so I carry a bill with Senator Jackson that would require um teachers to be educated in um ACES uh adverse childhood experiences um as it relates to immigrants. Um and uh it is um a timely bill in the sense that there's a lot of uh issues that are going on um in immigrant families that are um affecting the school environment. Um and we know a lot about ACEs in the sense that if they don't go addressed that it affects the childhood experience, it affects the school experience. And um I am you know it's hard to move uh mandatory teacher uh education things like that to higher educ former higher education chair here. Um but I I think it started a conversation around um you know how can
079we make sure that the school environment is comforting uh uh informed and most importantly trauma-informed right and so um you know I I will be candid and that I don't necessarily expect that it will pass um in this session but I I do I have had a lot of like really positive conversations um with school districts about the importance of of having those discussions um with their teachers. Um and I'm hoping that if it's not a mandate there uh at least um schools that will uh have those conversations with their teachers and with their students to um acknowledge the trauma and then resultingly the harm that comes when you don't um acknowledge that immigrant specific ACEs. >> Thank you. I apprec I can really appreciate the work that you're doing into trying to make schools
080a safer space for these students and that's that's really what shows through in that. Again, thank you both so much. Yeah, >> member Wilson. >> Thank you both for your time. Um we are truly fortunate to have both of you fighting for us um for fairness and equity in our funding and giving us resources. Uh many of my colleagues outlined all the things we appreciate so much. Um, and I do feel that something stuck out when you were mentioning um the stock market is doing well and how to me that's no accident that you know funds are flowing from Main Street to Wall Street and absolutely it's so connected and I think um it's something for us all to think about and focus on in the direction we want our society to go and how
081we want our funds to um be invested. Um we lost billions with the way the tariffs were on and now off. Um, but without segueing too much into that, I do want to thank you for everything that you've accomplished and curious if there would be now that we have a budget coming any sort of um reconvening or attention around potentially um diverting students from law interactions and to any extent that they can be possible. I know a crux of the conversation tends to be well accountability and discipline, but I do think there's still ways to introduce consequences, repercussions without it being like a legal um a law thing that feeds them into a system. As we you mentioned, ACES, the earlier you have such an interaction, the worse outcomes you have over time. >> Um
082you know, just just kind of addressing that a little more globally. Um we are in New York seeing some really good results. At one point as you know Albany was a bit of a uh a lagard on the the crime stats uh as well as uh I think it was Yonkers and Newberg. Um but but across the board um we are doing better on a host of of fronts and I I think a big part of that is some of the interdiction efforts as well as some of the prevention efforts through DCJS which is the division of criminal justice services and um this governor to her credit uh things that we used to have to really fight for for years we are now seeing increases uh in such as the give program, um the Snug
083program and the POP, what's the name, the one I'm forgetting the name of. So, you know, that's a little more global, not necessarily in the schools, but um but it it does affect we're we're seeing community groups that were piecing it together with um you know, Scotch tape now now being funded to do some of the the work that is needed. So, I'm I'm encouraged and I think despite some of the cuts that we're going to see in a number of places, you won't see it there because um New York is is a number of those programs are are showing pro promise and they are definitely uh almost all youth focused. Not not all, but but highly targeted to youth. So, it's a a little more broad, but it's it's been very encouraging. and we've
084had conversations with uh DCJS and others. That doesn't mean you have to, you know, have to stay vigilant and it doesn't mean there's not more work to be done on restorative justice and a host of things. You know, there's great pilots out there, but a lot of those are more organic or funded at the at either the district level or at the municipal level. Um, and an exciting new part of the budget, um, backstory, I carry the youth justice innovation fund bill, which would all lot reassign 50 of the 250 million that is, uh, 250 million is for um, raise the age allotted every year. My bill would would reassign 50 of that to give it straight to um, community- based organizations to make sure that when children are arrested, they are inundated with resources.
085And in this budget, for the first time, we're seeing money um uh 30 million that will be um a potential um I don't want to say pilot, but 30 million will be going directly to community- based organizations um for the purpose of preventing recidivism going towards um uh antiviolence type programs. I I I we're we're I don't know if they're calling it youth justice innovation light, but it is um it is a a direct um aotment to try to um re review the way that we give money to CBOS for the purpose of reducing recidivism, preventing violence with with youth. And that's a it's purposefully broad this aotment. Um and like I said, it's it's being um put into the assembly, one house. I'm hoping it's also going to be in the Senate, but um
086>> I should know, but I don't. We haven't conferenced that. >> I'm I'm hoping to speak with the chair. Yeah. >> Um but we'll we'll see. That's kind of how these budget negotiations go is that um we we are going to put it in the one houses. Hopefully, they come to an agreement in the end. But this would be a very positive step forward as it relates to your question on youth recetivism and um you know the the role of community- based organizations in that that um sphere. So I'm hoping to see um deeper conversations about that whether it's with my bill or with this like light version of my bill which could be a really positive movement. >> Thank you. You know, many years ago, I was uh quoted saying that this because this
087is the time that we burn the incense and go pray to our gods and and those prayers are coming true because our gods are finally listen I mean listening to us and have been you know working hard. I mean, Senator Brereslin, uh, Assembly Member Mcnenny, uh, you up and and you know, Gabriella, it's like the things that you guys advocate on our behalf. Uh, we can't even imagine the hours that you spend. We come and cry at your door and when you you voice our fears and our concerns and and amplify it so that the rest of the state can agree that these are problems. And Albany has problems and Aubry has had multiple types of problems and we have a highly disadvantaged community. We have immigrant population. So any which way we have we
088had lots of challenges that other urban districts may not necessarily see. And so we're very very grateful that you listened to us and you've advocated for us and got us the much necessary funding. But money is not just a thing, right? If you look at what has happened to what the district has done with the funding, you know, graduation rate has gone up, chronic absentism going down. So everything that you're doing is is is ultimately proing its value to the people. We are all doing it for our students, right? And we have an incredibly talented staff who are also who also recognize these things and have been doing it their part to help these efforts. Um if you looked at the high school we have we are only one of the very few schools that
089have all these CTE programs and now when you look at the portrait of a graduate student there all these pathways we are ready right so anything that the state wants to implement we are like hey can we be the pilot we have one foot one foot uh already ready to run so thank you thank you so much for taking the time thank you the time for listening to us and advocating on our behalf um if I had to ask for one thing because I can you I burnt the incense If you can think about what has changed with the vaccinations >> um >> because there is apparently there's still some something changed the legisl in in the way our student or or our uh the nurses cannot make appointments for third parties and so that
090has been a challenge especially for our district where we have lots of migrants like we have a lot of ELLL families and so they would have normally had somebody make these appointments for them and if they're not having those made. It's it's it's it's affected the students because we still have some students who are unvaccinated. Six months into school, they're not they can't come to school, right? So, they're missing on the education. We want to be able to help them, too. >> I I know we're holding on the agenda, but we did try to trace that back when after we met, and our understanding is that a lot of that got worked out and that I I think there was a disconnect there that the nurses are able to make those appointments. So not sure
091if there's but we I I thought it was came back that uh most of that had been addressed. >> We currently as of today and there's a memo the board received we I don't believe have any students currently that are um prohibited from coming to school. We have students in the pipeline that are in the 15 or 30 day window that need to get vaccinated but we don't have anyone that's ineligible right now. >> Okay. I I mean and we are happy to >> I mean I like >> because the fact that if they still aren't vaccinated and it's six months into school that's >> okay but I think there was a little bit of a disconnect somewhere there and happy to trace it back again but the nurses should be making that work. I
092mean there there really that should there just should be no excuse for students being out of school and and and I should add um uh in terms of rolling back on requirements despite what's going on nationally I do not see right I do not see New York going backwards here. So um that that I don't see on the horizon that uh it is important for the um the herd >> the herd vaccination that we um uh that we maintained those uh those requirements as you know were very very hard fought years ago. If I could add though, like in the future, let us know when that stuff happens immediately because we we're happy to call on our DO partners and or implement a local bill if needed to do what and has to be done
093for our students and for our children because that is just just right >> just just you know totally um devastating and and alarming that that could even happen that a child would be out of school for something that you know. So, just please to the whole board like let us know when this type of thing comes up so that we can rush to use literally every ounce of power we have to assist with county or state resources. >> And I meant herd immunity if I said herd mentality. Yeah. So, maybe it's a little of both, but uh yes, but thank you. >> Thank you. So, >> can I take a board picture with the >> Sure. And it I just want to say because I think it's important to get on the record. Thank you
094again for the opportunity and I just feel like I would be remiss if I didn't say I remember the hours that each of you put in uh as volunteers and I just think it's so important. I you know I say this every year but you are volunteers. I think it's important to reiterate that for the record um because you do step up to serve not just the school community but the community as a whole. So I I appreciate and and a number of you have certainly lasted longer on the board than I have. So, um, thank you for for staying with it and your your, um, extraordinary commitment. Thank you. >> Yeah. And I'll also say thank you. I think this is the first time I've been here with the student representative and maybe even
095the first time with Austin. I don't know. Um, so it's just really exciting uh to be back. I remember last year, my first time presenting in front of you, I was like nervous. I wasn't sure what to say. Um, and so it's just great to be back again for my second time. I hope to come back many more times as well. Um and it's again Austin so great to see you and um Carmen I I hope to see you many more times as well and and again it can't be um it can't be said enough thank you for the for serving in this role as a student um because this is such a great uh exciting um and really serious role for you too. >> On that note, field trips are always welcome up to
096the capital. Always welcome. district update. >> Okay. Yes, I think it's my turn to talk over here on the microphone. Um, sorry. No, Miss Timmans going to bring this up, but I will get us started. We have a number of updates um to talk about. So, I am going to jump right in. For the second year in a row, um the City School District of Albany and Albany High School uh is working with the New York State Superintendence Council on a two-day workshop. Kicks off uh Saturday morning at 8:30. And uh this is the New York State Leaders of Color for Education. And so they meet uh regularly throughout uh the school year and this is their annual um annual winter conference here in Albany that precedes the state's uh superintendent uh conference in Albany.
097We're very thankful for this partnership with both the leaders of color for education and the school superintendent association. they have widened their net that this is now a tri-state initiative. So, we will have um participants in Albany High School, not only from parts all parts of New York, including Long Island and Buffalo, but also New Jersey and Connecticut. And because of our partnership, we're able to send we have about a dozen of our own school leaders attending and will be a part of the uh uh the two-day conference. And uh I will kick things off uh along with my friend uh Mayor Dr. Dorsey Aleers uh Saturday morning. So we will give a welcome address and the mayor will talk about her vision and um her rise to becoming a historic uh community leader here
098in Albany and we'll talk a little bit I'll have an opportunity to talk about some of our initiatives and successes at the high school. And speaking of the mayor, the mayor and the deputy mayor, um we're at some of our elementary schools. Um, Mayor Appliers was uh actually earlier this week at Monasuri Magnet School and I was able to join her uh for her presentation in Q&A with some third and fifth graders and then she went on a tour of the school. And Deputy Mayor Chris Ellis uh was over at Pine Hills um as well sharing some of his vision for where the city is going and inspiring um our young leaders over there at Pine Hills. I'll turn it over to our HR director to give her monthly update on staffing and hiring and
099then I'll resume my update. >> Thank you. Um I wasn't here at the last board meeting so there's a little bit of a gap since the last time we did this but uh you can see from these numbers that not much has changed since um my January update. Um but I did want to highlight a couple of things. Uh a typical vacancy uh percentage is anything under 10% and you're doing okay. So, for the most part, we're there. Um, the part that's still problematic and that's bringing the number of ABSU vacancies up are the TA vacancies. Um, we're still at 52 TA vacancies. But another number that you that's not reflected here is that we have uh 88 substitute teaching assistants that are active at the moment. So, those 88 substitute teaching assistants are filling
100some of those 52 vacancies. They're just not certified. So, they're still sitting in subline. So, even that number is actually a little bit lower than it looks. And once we can get those folks certified, this number will go down even further. Um, but we did make a little bit of headway in a couple of other positions. Hall monitors, we we have uh fewer vacancies there um than we did last time. And I also think that the teacher vacancies at four and a quarter percent is is really good. So, that's it. >> Thank you. Uh we would like to recognize and ask folks to participate in um helping our own Albany High School band teacher John Hverson. He is one of 10 finalists uh in the region for the prestigious Mary Barry Manalo teacher award. Um
101he is required to attend uh Barry Manalow's farewell show on the 20th. Uh the award is up to $5,000 cash prize and $5,000 uh for instrument and classroom materials and upgrades. And uh there's information here on where you can vote and how you can support Mr. Helvverson's uh candidacy. It was unbeknownst to him. So we're letting uh we did tell him uh we were going to let everyone know how to uh support his candidacy. And speaking of Mr. Helverson. He will be on tour a couple times uh over the next few days. Um he and the jazz band will will be performing at the Hollow from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Uh this is a public show because earlier in the evening he'll be playing a private show for the uh those that are participating in
102the leadership conference earlier at Albany High School. So um he's going to do two shows on Saturday and on Monday. Uh the high school jazz band will be performing from noon to 1 during lunch during the New York State Superintendent Association conference uh down the street from our offices in Academy Park. And to kick things off on Monday morning um Monday morning of the conference, uh the high school string quartet will be performing as well. So it's always nice to uh see our students uh performing out in the public and and getting those real world experiences. It is also time of year uh to send in your nominations for our hall of fame. Uh Hall of Fame nominations run through April 1. You can submit online at the website here. Uh but we want to
103make sure that folks understand the three categories. One, a graduate uh who distinguish distinguish themselves as a student or in their professional civic achievements after high school. a exemplary former district employee or someone uh community member who's gone above and beyond to support our school. So, this is always a a great opportunity to uh recognize folks who are um inducted. That usually takes place in the fall during our homecoming festivities at the high school. And speaking of uh the high school, we have some athletic updates. A name that I feel like I've been saying ever since I took this job, Noah Baer. Uh we'd like to recognize uh Noah for his uh participation uh at the New York State Championships, his fourth straight season. He qualifies for next month's indoor track and field meet. He
104won the 10,000 meters and took second at the 600 uh earlier this month in February. We uh honored Decky Lawson, our girls basketball coach, earlier today. It's uh win 220 yesterday in sectional play over uh Saratoga and they will be um playing across the river at Hudson Valley Community College at 7:30 on Monday night against Shaker. And the boys basketball team will be playing Shannoa on Monday at Hudson Valley. And if you'd like tickets, uh make sure you check out our athletic section of our web page. We have a number of opportunities uh for uh constituents and uh parents and students to uh share their voice and experience with us. We have our family and community partnership survey. Uh we're asking folks to take just a few minutes to um let us know uh how
105they feel we are serving students and wraparound programs and all the all the great things that are happening in our school district and opportunities where we can improve. That survey goes until Friday and we continue to partner with uh Mayor and the city trying to get as many folks uh to participate in the activate Albany survey. The survey has been extended to mid-March, March 15th. Uh I've taken it. It only takes a few minutes. Uh and so we're um co-communicating this with our uh families, our constituents, as well as our students to try to get as um give her and her team as as much credible information as possible as she continues to to outline her uh priorities over her first term. Again, we were reminded it is uh still winter even though it's going
106to be uh unseasonably warm this weekend, but uh we'll continue to uh communicate with folks decisions around winter weather through all of our regular channels and uh to the extent practicable if we can make decisions the night before and in advance. We'll try to do that so we can support family planning. And just so everyone uh understands our snow day scorecard update, we have used two of our three designated days. Uh that was December 2nd and January 26th. So uh because of that, we will be in session on Friday, May 22nd, as well as Wednesday, May 27th. If we need to use a third and what would be a final snow emergency day that we budgeted, then we also would be in session on Tuesday, May 26. So, we'll keep everyone posted with what the
107weather is doing and um how we will manage uh our extended weekend around Memorial Day. And that concludes my update for tonight. Thank you, Superintendent. Board members, in the interest of time, I would say unless you really have a burning question, please hold your comments. Um so, I'm just going to ask if anybody has anything. I have no questions at this time. Thank you. >> I also have no questions. >> All set. Thanks. >> No questions. Thank you. >> Member man. >> No questions. >> Member Savage. Member Wilson. >> I don't have any questions. So, thank you. Now before we move on to our next u part of our agenda which will be public comment I wanted to make a motion to amend our agenda to and move uh policy to next week to the
108next board meeting um second by all in favor. Okay. So we'll move policy and to the next board meeting. Okay. Having made that amendment we want public comment. This is the time we set aside to hear from members of the public. Uh we do invite public members of the public to share their thoughts or decisions we are facing. We accept public comment in person um by voicemail and and through a web-based form. Information about public comment and the contact information is on the district website at achools.org/bee. We set aside about 30 minutes for each meeting to hear from district residents, parents, students, and other members of the community. There are more comments than can be accommodated in 30 minutes which we don't anticipate today. We may choose to extend the meeting. Um we also accept
109comments virtually on the same basis as those in person. We accept comments in writing and by voicemail. And we welcome comments in English or any other language. And we will provide translation when necessary. All comments must include the commenters name and place of residence. We do not accept anonymous comments. All the information about these many ways are available at addressing the board information at albonychools.org. org/bwing. We ask all commenters to keep in mind that information about individual students and specific district staff cannot be shared. Not only is that a violation of privacy, but every student and every staff member deserves to know that concerns about them will not be aired in public. Please keep in mind that public comment is not the best place to first alert the district to a concern you have. We
110ask that you share your concerns first with relevant staff such as teachers or principles. And if you feel the concern is not addressed adequately, you may appeal to the person supervisor up the chain of command if necessary to the superintendent and decisions made by the superintendent may be appealed to the board. Uh today we do have a couple of u email comments. Uh Mr. W member Wolfang will be reading this to us. >> Yes. Uh we have two comments that were submitted via email. Um the first one is from Rachel Pearlman. uh and she said, "I am writing as the parent of two ninth graders and one 12th grader. Overall, AHS provides a great diversity of academic opportunities and highquality teachers, but there is a deficit in AHS's ELA program. The there is no way
111for a student with an interest in ELA to receive any enrichment opportunities in 9th and 10th grade. Instead, all kids are regulated to classes hilariously labeled with an H to read two books most middle school curriculums have already covered. The reading requirements are minimal and the reading requirements are minimal. The writing requirements seemingly non-existent. The kids spend their time preparing for English regions type questions, which is a test they will not take until junior year. and if they are any good at English in the first place, they will pass with flying colors without any prep. It seems that the lowest common denominator, low literacy rates, and ESL concerns have shaped the entirety of the 9th and 10th grade ELA curriculum, and that is where the classes have been set level-wise. For kids who enjoy this
112subject and who seek college readiness in liberal arts subjects, the curriculum is a failure. The only reason these kids are not earning 100s is because they are bored. It is a curriculum, not the teachers. It is the curriculum, not the teachers. It doesn't seem right that every other student offers advanced advancement and enrichment opportunities. History has AP courses and taking them is the only way to learn how to write at an AP level before 11th grade. For science, students can choose to challenge themselves with chemistry and can take AP Chem as soon as sophomore year. Language classes allow movement between levels based on achievement. And math provides both single and double acceleration opportunities. But in ELA, everyone, regardless of proficiency and/or interest, is stuck in the same class. Given that literacy and communication are central
113to every vocation and are also important skills to display to gain college admissions, it makes no sense to me that AHS would not prioritize ELA. Put plainly, what you call English 9H and English 10H are boring and miserable for any student who can perform even slightly above grade level. There is there need there needs to be an alternative as there are in every other subject. Uh and that is the end of the first comment. And then we have a second comment from Judith Wines who said, "Dear BOE, thank you for your time and service. I am writing as the parent of a ninth grader at Albany High. We had heard that the Albany High offers engaging and challenging classes for all for all levels of students and that has largely been our experience. The exception
114has been ELA. The curriculum moves very slowly. There is no assigned reading as they listen to the book in class and the district seems to take a one-sizefits-all approach. I understand and am glad to hear that the district is reconsidering the ELA curriculum, but disappointed that to my knowledge, no change will be implemented implemented until the 202728 year. I hope the board encourages a quicker timeline perhaps by encouraging implement implementation of the proposed heroes journey class for 10th graders. Students who are eager to engage more deeply deeply with ELA would benefit from a scaffolded path pathway before making the significant jump to AP course work in 11th grade. Thank you for your consideration, Judith Wines. And that is the end of our email public comments. >> Thank you, member Austin. Uh we do have people
115signed up for inerson comment today. Uh I have Amy Wilson and Gioani Anastasia. up and take your seats. While I recognize you, please state your name and city of residence. Um, statements are restricted to a maximum of three minutes and our board secretary will preach will give you one minute notice and a 10-second notice and I will notify you if your time has expired. It's a good idea to look up occasionally to to see those notices so you won't be surprised at the end of your three minutes. Also, please notice the board's policy is not to respond during public comment period. If you need a response, please contact us by email, phone or postal mail. Our contact information is available at achools.org/be and president and I will I or one of the other board members
116will respond on behalf of the board. So go ahead. Thank good evening and thank you um for the opportunity to present to the board. I'm Amy Wilson. I'm a retired teacher um special ed from Arbor Hill Elementary School and I'm here now on behalf of the Albany special education parent um advisory council CPAC and as we continue our presentations to share the information about the 11% of our school district population who are served by IEP plans. We would like to speak to you today about the label of multiple disabilities. Currently about 60 Albany students are served under this classification in both in district and out of district classrooms and on home instruction. The multiple disabilities category encompasses difficulties that arise from genetic disorders, brain or spinal cord developmental complications, injuries, premature birth, and chromosomeal abnormalities
117to name a few causes. This category is broad and doesn't specify which disabilities are involved or how many there are. But is understood that the combination of disabilities has a profound impact on the child's development and educational needs. To understand this category better, it is helpful to first consider that there are many students who have more than one disability but who do not receive the multiple disability category. This is because a child can be accommodated in a program designed just for um for one of the impairments. The most impactful disability category is then used. The category of multiple disabilities is thus considered only for the segment of special education population for which the combination of disabilities requires a highly specialized program. um an approach with a very specific instruction and supports that cannot be accommodated
118in the general education classroom or special education programs designed solely for the one or of the impairments. Many of the students with multiple disabilities will have received early intervention services prior to age three and are likely to need support throughout their lives. These students require a multidisciplinary approach from the team of specialists both within the school and the medical community. In school, these students often receive special services from physical, occupational, speech therapists and nurses. They use ex um assisted technology for communicating and doing school work and may require support throughout the school day with positioning, eating, toileting, and general mobility. Classrooms for students with multiple disabilities typically have a high student teacher ratio with numerous teaching assistants to provide for these students educational needs and allow them to be successful. Some students with multiple disabilities
119use wheelchairs or other mobility assisted devices due to conditions like mitochondrial disease, cereopal paly, mult muscular disrophy or severe injury requiring tailored support for classroom access, safety and independence. inclusions inclusion of these students requires accessible environments, specialized equipment, staff training, and whole focus on equity. Um, we thank you for listening to us um speak and and having us um welcoming us. We want to let you know that we are not able to speak at the board meeting on the 12th because we have a program scheduled at the exact same time, but we will be back with on the 26th of March to discuss hearing impairment, deafness, orthopedic impairment, visual impairment, traumatic brain injury, and deaf blindness. Thank you and thank you everyone for all you do. We appreciate it. >> Can I get the next
120two people to come and sit so we'll make this faster? Uh, Giovani Anastasia and Dorian Salah. Let's start with Joan. >> Okay. Sorry. Just give me a second. Okay. Hello. My name is Giovanni Anastasio. I am a student at Tech Valley High School. I'm a senior and I'm here to thank you for the opportunity to attend TVHS. I first heard of DVHS through my computer science teacher back in seventh and eighth grade. Uh we even got to tour it and I was immediately hooked on it as soon as I went in there just seeing how free it was for students. Throughout my years here, I've grown academically and expanded my general knowledge. But I've also learned a lot about people and how to interact and talk to people. I used to be much quieter back
121then. I've also been able to explore career opportunities. Uh, a few such examples was when I got to shadow a assistant librarian at Alb Public Library, which is very fun. And my favorite, which was this year, I got to work as a steward for Mar Hudson Conservancy, and it was extremely fun. I got to go out, I got to do things. It's amazing. And my plans after high school are to follow that land conservation path. And uh without Tech Valley High School, I would have never figured out that I could be doing these things and like what my what my ideal future future is. And I encourage this board to support students from our district, our district to attend TVHS because it's a amazing school. That's it. >> Thank you. >> Can I have Jen
122Lanch also come up? >> Dorian, go ahead. >> Is this It's I can hear it. It's on. Hello, I'm Dorian Soladot. I'm the parent of an eighth grader and a 12th grader. Um, Albany High parents are often baffled to find out that nearly all ninth and tth graders are put in classes called honors English and that there are no classes either for students who struggle with reading or for students who are strong readers and really ready to sink their teeth into challenging books in high school. All students are in the same class together. It is definitely equality. Everyone's getting the same thing. But it is not equity which would be students learning and being supported and challenged at an appropriate level for them. The model was adopted despite concerns in 2019. It was an experiment.
123Now six years later, the data is clear. The model is not working for large numbers of our students and it is time to change directions. As one of the earlier commenters said, the cookie cutter approach in English is especially confusing given what a far cry it is from the district's approach in other departments. And I won't go through the same things, but math starting in seventh grade, AP World History starting in 9th grade. Throughout other departments, we have options that start much earlier. Only in English do we take this one-sizefits-all approach and not begin differentiated class offerings until 11th grade. The data now tells us that this approach is hurting, not helping our struggling students. Our students used to be at or above the statewide proficiency rate for our English regions. In the last three
124years, we've been nine to 15 percentage points below the statewide average. That tells us we're not giving those lower achieving students the support they need to be successful. Some have said maybe that changes because of virtual learning during the pandemic. Maybe that's why the region scores are have been have been farther below. But New York City and other big cities in New York State also had very high rates of virtual learning. And the populations of course of those big cities districts drive the statewide averages. So, it seems to me we can strongly suspect it's the change in how we've been teaching English that is a major cause of why our region's English scores have fallen below the statewide averages. We also have two sources that tell us this model is not working well for our
125higher achieving students. The first is the students themselves, many of whom say they find nth and tth grade English boring and not challenging. They say they're often assigned to read excerpts, not full books, which tells me this is about test prep and not learning. Uh my student would tell me that many class periods were spent with teachers reading the books to the class or listening to audiobooks during class instead of students being expected to read books themselves. That makes sense for students who need that kind of support, but it's a disservice to many of our collegebound students who need to build stamina reading. When my student would compare her classes book list for the year with her friends who attend suburban public schools, she was shocked. And honestly, my kid became very jealous and angry
126and felt like she was being cheated, that she wasn't being given the same opportunities to read great books as her friends in the suburbs. The second thing that tells us the model isn't working for our higher achieving students is how they're doing when they go to college. And I'm gonna let Jen Lang tell you more about that. We understand the English department is currently in the middle of a curriculum review this year and there is some changes planned especially with the changes coming to the regions. We've been told to expect more options for English classes in the years ahead and I'm really glad to hear that. But I urge the district to do something that is hard for us and that is take quick I will wrap up quick and decisive action and add differentiated
127English options for this fall 2026. As the parent of a rising ninth grader, I urge you to improve learning for our students for next year rather than waiting another year in a system that's hurting too many students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Ledge. >> Am I Don't start my time yet because I just want to say thank you for the accolades. That was fun. Um and also when we first went and did our um first advocacy day at the Bit District, Ron, hello. Um, and prek seemed like the easy thing. We are paying getting $3,000. Every school is getting 4,000 5,000. The first year I thought, we got this. This is so easy. And when the budget came through and we didn't, I I shock and I pretty sure I wanted us to sue.
128Remember, I was like, we're suing the state. How can we be reimbursed 3,000 and new districts that are bringing the program in are being redu reimbursed 6,000 7,000 8,000 and the fact that this now you should sue them for the money that you haven't received all those years. I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility. So just if anybody knows me that's how I roll. Um so anyway, so thank you that you did not use those minutes for that. Um so I will start. Hi. It's always great. It's always nice to be back. I too will be speaking about the honors ninth and tth ELA classes. Please know that Dorian and I have had three meetings with admin over the last year. That the board is not the first is not the last stop.
129We did not well I'm sorry that the board is not the last stop. We did not come here first. I was sitting where you were when this proposal was presented. I believe in the 2017 2018 school year. I found some old memos from that time and I know we can still keep the integrity of the district's ENL classes including um but including differentiation both organ this was from the district both organically and by design the academic discord tends to be richer in our honor classes section and since we strive to prioritize student centered learning whenever possible there's ample opportunity for all our students to grow from each other's thinking our performance in the English regions exam is the highest of all the gateway exams at the high school. Nearly 85% of our students are proficient
130by that standard, which is the highest it's ever been. That was from the 2018 2019 test scores. Those kids did not have the honors 9 and 10th curriculum that we have today. Today, our numbers are 66% from the last data from 2024 to 2025. 66 from 85 when the LL curriculum was implemented with understandable integrity. I remember several parents and teachers speaking at the board meeting asking that we not change the pathways for differential learning in ELA classes. They feared that the test scores would decline and that those that needed more intervention would be lost in those honor classes. and those that clearly tested high in ELLL would not be given the regular rigor and instruction needed. And it appears that has happened. Having four children whose those 10 minutes wait what was that one
131minute? Sorry. Having four children within those years, I can say that many students are struggling in ELA at the college level. Several students in college today do not feel as prepared as their university peers and are in some cases taking intervention classes. I hear over and over the AP world was the one of the most challenging ELA classes. Yet for two years at a AHS they are not getting the rigor and challenges needed to be successful in those pathways which is demanding ELA classes at Albany High as well as those pursuing selective universities. It's not just the students, it's the parents at Albany High. This is important for them as a new 10th grade ELA class was presented at the high school team asking that this class be implemented next year. This new class was
132brought by a 20-year-old veteran teacher supported by the English department chair ELA administration guidance counselors and teachers. They researched selective books, drafted a curriculum, yet their proposal was denied this in November. When Dory and I met with the admin to ask why this class was denied, we were told the five-year curriculum review. The state has different region requirements, scheduling, and process. I implore you to not wait. I understand that sometimes time waits too long for implementation. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We appreciate all public comments and we find hearing from community members very valuable. Again, our contact information for both public comment and routine correspondence is also schools.org/pe. We now move to the part of our meeting we call routine consent. During this portion of the meeting, we approve routine matters for the district.
133These include items like contracts, field trips, personnel matters, and the like. Each board member reviews each item carefully, but we vote on them as a group with no discussion. That allows us to use our meeting time more efficiently. Nonetheless, each board member has the option to set aside any routine consent item in order to require a separate discussion and vote on that item. With that introduction, I now entertain a motion to adopt the routine consent agenda. Member man second Wilson. Any set aides? Any set aides? Miss man. >> Okay. So, hearing uh no set aides. Uh all in favor of adopting routine contenders agenda. That's unanimous. Okay. We move on to the next part. Um I don't think we'll be having any other action items. The rest of the items are for discussion. Uh discussion
134on special education department update. I think so. All right, here we go. All right. Good evening, Board of Education, Superintendent Hawk Rider, and Cabinet Kim Kerto, and I thank you for the opportunity to present the special education department program review. The district's vision, mission, and goals are the foundation of our department's work and the guiding principles of our decisionmaking. The purpose of tonight's review is to provide a clear picture of where we are as a department. We'll share our current staffing structure, the programs that we offer, and the services we provide across the district. We'll also highlight areas where we see strong progress and we'll identify areas of need where we will continue to work toward improving outcomes for our students with disabilities. Our department offers a full continuum of programs and services for students
135ages 3 through 21, ranging from the least restrictive to more restrictive environments. This continuum ensures that students can access general education programs while continuing to receive related services and specially designed instruction. This chart depicts the program location for the district stu enrollment of students with disabilities. As you can see, the majority of students are program in our district buildings. Approximately 7% of students attend Boseies or day treatment programs and another 7% of students attend charter schools with 1% of students attending non-public schools. These percentages and the needs of the students served by the district have remained relatively consistent year-to-year. In comparing last year to this year, our department has increased in staffing in which is in response to student evaluations and IEP recommendations. Special education teachers, speech therapists, and TAs represent our greatest area of
136staffing growth. These increases are directly attributed to changes in programming and the individual needs of our students. Additionally, a full-time cse chairperson was added at the elementary level to help support cse meetings and our increasing enrollment. We want to take a moment and thank all of the staff throughout the district for their near daily support of our programs and classrooms as we continue to struggle with hiring and vacancies. Every day, members of all units work together and collaborate and adjust to support our students. Our budget is supported by both the general fund and IDEIDA grants. The department's budget provides for all student programming, including district staffing, out of district tuitions, contracts, materials, and supplies. A thorough breakdown of our budget can be found in our special education pro profile. Um, as previously stated, hiring fluctuations
137remain a challenge, specifically in relation to um, our teaching assistants and the availability of out of district program openings remain limited. This slide is an overview of our special education data. The district classification rate in 2024 25 is pending released by New York State Education Department. In reviewing the three-year trend for initial data, referral data, there has been a slight increase from last year in the number of initial referrals requested. Another important metric is the percentage of students with disabilities accessing the least restrictive environment, which is intended to offer exposure to their general education peers. Last school year, the percentage of students accessing the least restrictive environment for more than 40% of the school day was 62.11%. This represents an increase compared to the prior school year. In regards to the 10 or more day
138suspension rate for students with disabilities, the rate of suspension has remained under the New York State threshold over the last two years. This year, we have strengthened our programs through impactful partnerships and initiatives. Sunni CARD is collaborating with two elementary schools to expand evidence-based autism supports, offering staff professional development, coaching, and consultation. During the extended school year program, we partnered with advanced therapy and special Olympics to deliver the young athletes curriculum, giving students weekly opportunities for physical activity and skill building. At the high school level, students gain vocational and communication experiences through the Falcon Market. Unified Sports continues to grow, engaging our students of all abilities in botchi ball, bowling, and basketball. We hosted our very first Special Olympics event at New Scotland Elementary, bringing together multiple schools and community partners for a successful day
139of inclusion. Our partnership with Bring on the Spectrum provided grant-f funded field trips including access to the sensory gym and community space with a Valley Cats game plan to further enrich student experiences. Additionally, chronic absenteeism has decreased. Our community partnerships connect students and families with vital communi community resources from academic supports to workforce development and enrichment opportunities. These collaborations strengthen our ability to prepare students for independence, career readiness, and lifelong success. The department continues to face challenges with limited preschool program availability, staffing shortages, and space constraints as programs expand. While discipline and suspension rates for students with disabilities are decreasing, attendance rates remain an area of concern. With a slight incre Oh, I'm sorry. With a slight increase compared to general education, we are working closely with human resources, MTSS, and our cse teams to
140address these issues and ensure students receive service and support. This year, the special education department is focusing on four major areas. In teaching and learning, we remain focused on hiring staff to meet IEP requirements, improving outcomes as a targeted intervention district, and strengthening supports at both the high school and Arbor Hill Elementary. We continue to build staff capacity through professional development and behavioral strategies, IEP implementation, and effective instructional practices to ensure consistency and success for students with disabilities. The special education department continues its strong collaboration with CPAC, which meets monthly with information shared on the district website. We also present twice a year and meet quarterly with CPAC officers to address parent and district concerns regarding students with disabilities and programming. Internally, we are focused on monitoring and strengthening our systems with particular attention to
141disproportionality, suspension data, the implementation of the disciplinary change in placement procedures, FBA bips, ensuring the least restrictive environment, and supporting the NISA targeted skills plan. Additionally, we remain committed to maintaining fiscal responsibility through careful oversight of our federal education grants, the general budget, and Medicaid reimbursement. Thank you, Kim. And now I would like to introduce the Albany Special Education Parent Advisory Council, otherwise known as the Albany CPAC, which came into being four years ago. Since then, we've been working collaboratively to support the needs of students with disabilities and are pleased to be able to introduce our district CPAC co-chairs, Becky Zimmerman and Mary Nolan. >> Good evening. Thank you, Elaine. My name is Becky Zimmerman, a parent of a district student with special needs and co-chair of the Albany CPAC and all volunteer organization. I'm
142here tonight with fellow officers Mary Nolan and Amy Wilson. The world of special education is by its nature individualized and complex. It's something that can consume you as a parent and yet which you can't possibly know everything about, but instead you learn as you go. We formed this group to leverage our collective experience and knowledge as parents and educators of children with special needs so that families have some place to turn to for questions and advice. One of the challenges of having a child in special education is that it can be isolating. So we support families in various ways through meetings and providing resources. Tonight we want to highlight two events. This Saturday, we are hosting our first special education family empowerment conference. And this week, we are kicking off our annual heroes awards to
143recognize and celebrate exceptional special education staff. These are some of the ways we build community and collaboration, which you can see on the next slide. Advocacy is another important part of our work. I will now turn this over to Mary to talk to you about our efforts in this area. I'm Mary Nolan. I'm a retired district speech therapist and co-chair of Albony CPAC. First, uh we are very proud to have advocated last year with state senator Pat Fehee for increased preschool special education funding and for CPACs in every school district. CPAC legislation is now pending in both the Senate and the Assembly. And if it passes, our school district will be on the forefront of a statewide movement. Um, as one of only four CPACs right now operating in New York, we are um on
144the district side, we are very pleased that the district has uh decided to move forward with a working group to address the ongoing crisis in staffing for teaching assistance. We believe focused work that includes all stakeholders is needed in order to develop sustainable recommendations for these workers who play such a critical role in the education of our students with special needs. Additionally, we are advocating for the district to consider increased opportunities for the special education department to communicate directly with the cabinet to better serve special education staff and the 11% of students with IEPs. This leads directly into other areas we're advocating for, including increased attention across the district to inclusion of students with disabilities and the need to identify and remediate reading disabilities, among other important topics. We do recognize the we have limited
145time tonight, so we want to thank everyone for allowing us to be here and we look forward to continued collaboration. Thank you. That concludes our presentation. We are ready for any questions you might have. >> Thank you. Member Son, >> I don't have any questions at this time, but I would love to give you props for all of the work you've been doing, especially CPAC in ensuring that you can never be able to. It is so important to make sure that everybody is represented and especially those with special needs and so it is so great to see that you guys are doing everything you are right now to be sure that that's happening. Thank you. >> Wolf Gang >> uh going to echo my colleagues comments. Uh she has a CNA background so she might
146know a lot more about some of the conditions our students deal with but I do not. Um, so I really appreciate CPAC the work you guys do like coming and presenting to us. It's very informative and it's very appreciative. And of course our department all the work you guys do not only getting the students help but then like managing all those intricacies and out of district placements. It's just truly amazing. So uh shout out to all y'all. >> Member Almani. >> Thank you for your work. Um, I really find it fascinating that we're one out of four CPACs in the entire state and that there's legisl I mean learning something new every day that there's legislation that could potentially require every district to have one. So fascinating and good work >> member man. >> It
147was a wonderful presentation. It was a great overview. Um, and I want to talk for a moment about Albany CPAC. Um, in my uh throughout my career, first with kids who were in foster care, a lot of them needed um many of the children and their families needed the services and supports um that special education offers. Um and now in my work with OPWD, I I I I'm hearing from parents who it's because of councils like CPAC that they feel very supported and could not have have gotten their child through navigating alone the special education process. So I just want to to to thank you for um for the work that you do. So that's it. It's my comment. >> Member Savage. I will make it sort of segue one question to the other, but
148I did want to comment on my recollections of the beginnings of the CPAC and many conversations about what would this look like and is a PTA a thing or is a CPAC a thing? What are these things? So, it's great to see the success that you guys have brought to it and the um I know as board member we really have been appreciating your regular inputs. Um, and three minutes at a time is about the mental energy we have at this time of night. So, it's perfect. So, thank you very much for all you've done for the community and for your um extremely collegial approach to working with the district, which is always the way that we can work better is together. Um I wanted to ask a little bit um of the professional staff
149about the increase in the number of referrals because it's pretty sizable when you look back over two years, it's like 20 increase out of a base of 120. That's a pretty sizable increase. And I'm wondering if you have any hypothesis about what's happening there. Um, is it because people feel so the CPAC is so approachable, they're like, "Oh, now I know I need a referral." Or is it something else? >> Um, I think that some of it following COVID, we had a significant dip in the referrals because people were not necessarily um with all the restrictions able to access uh medical services or preschool programs um in the way that they previously had. Uh so within the two years of returning from COVID numbers were relatively low. As things came back, staffing got put back
150into place in preschool programs. you know, doctor's offices kind of opened up their flexibility for getting um you know, their clients in uh we've definitely seen a significant increase and I do think that um over the process of revision of you know medical guidance um the reissuance of the DSM5 and you know various diagnostic materials that are used in the medical world um there's an increased uh awareness of uh the importance of early intervention and so we are definitely seeing those numbers increasing at the preschool level and then feeding into our school age level. Um so I think it's a combination of you know community supports, medical supports and the internet. I mean if you're a parent, you have a question about or a concern you start looking it up and there's often guidance there
151about referring your child for evaluation. So I think just the nature of today's world and the access to information is a critical piece. >> I just want to one quick follow up which isn't really for for you it's so much as it is for us. You know we've often looked at three years of data and that's been sort of our traditional request is let's look at three years. I wonder if we should start asking to also see three years and the pre-COVID baseline because this is at least the second or third time tonight that that question has been raised of like hey here's how we're doing and but if you look at precoid this is how it compares and I think it would be really helpful for those of us who aren't living the life
152you guys are living every day with that sort of intrinsic understanding of what's happening to see that precoid number for any statistic like this. So that's just a thought. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. member Grey, >> thank you for the presentation. It's very helpful and it's really great to see how your presentations have become more holistic over the years and looking at the whole child and just how to keep how to support them academically as well as um one of the questions I had looking through the report is I was looking through some of the state indicators and is it correct that nobody's been nobody with a disability has been suspended so far this year as of December 30th? So our data in the um you must be looking at the data book
153or the program review. So the program review information is a combination of both the information from last year which is like our solidified numbers that get submitted to the state. But our numbers this year we don't necessarily keep them up to date until the end of the year. So you'll see this year's numbers on suspension next year in our report. >> That makes sense. And I just realized that that the state has been embargoed. So, I'm so sorry that I mentioned this data. So, I can see now why it says not available. Um, I would love to see more if there was something in here that I didn't completely understand. I think about the state indicators. Is it like they're not measuring every indicator every year or just they really focus on specific ones? Because
154some of the some of the ones like parental involvement, uh, timely evaluations and postchool outcomes. I would really love to see that information for our system if that's available. So they there are indicators um that are reported on every year uh specifically student data that are tied to um your bed stay and your end of the year bench or your end of the year data um submissions. However, there's also this uh cycling rotation of indicators um which are the ones that you're talking about. So uh indicator 14 the postsecondary outcomes uh that was conducted by POTSM that report should be coming. We haven't received that yet. So they spent all of last year reaching out to families based on information we gave them the year year before. So we should be anticipating that report from
155them this spring. Um indicator seven we uh submit our our information on timeliness of evaluations and preschool outcomes and that goes in in in the form of uh numeric data. So I could certainly pull those reports if if you'd like to see them. And then parental involvement is our current um indicator. And so uh families are uh receiving surveys at CSSE meetings and either doing them electronically or on paper. And please if you get a survey, please submit it because we do have a mandatory number that needs to come in um as a baseline. >> Thank you. That's really interesting. And again, I really applaud the work that CPAC has done. I would really love to see if that some of that can be shared with the board in a district update the post school
156outcomes because I know that was very interesting to me visiting one of the elementary schools and visiting a special ed class talking about what the outcomes were for those students. That'd be really good to know. Thanks. >> You're welcome, >> Miss Wilson. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you to the program side and also thank you for your collaboration with CPAC. Thank you for your efforts to do community outreach and engagement in the community as well as advocacy. Um especially with uh special attention to our staffing and staffing ratios. It's an area of concern for us as well. As you may have heard when we had our representatives here, we are working to build a pipeline and grow our own within our district so we can have that continuous um cycle of students um giving
157back in that same way. So we greatly appreciate your efforts. Thank you for your presentation and more comments rather than questions. Um, you know, when I reflect back on when I started on the board, I mean, issues with with uh for our students with disabilities were always there and the parents were always concerned and floundering, right? And they would come to us with the questions. We didn't know any better. But it's so great to see that this coalition has formed and you formed this organization CPAC that now is a resource outside of the district because this is you know no matter what the district does there's always that that that feeling of us versus them that has sort of changed now I see in the culture that people are working more collaboratively because both sides
158want the best interest of the student right of that child and and I can see that happening so unfortunately I won't be able to make it to a meeting that on that's on Saturday but I in my other conversations I came across somebody else who also is a parent but I had worked at SED and so has some connections in this area so I have given her that information so she will probably be coming to the Iberian Hall and meeting up with you guys um so hopefully you know we you know good things will come out of that um you know friends and family um with with U children with disabilities and and uh that's our most vulnerable population. So we all need to do better in how we can serve them. So I'm so
159grateful for the hard work that you're doing both in the district and as parents from the board's perspective. What is it that we can do to advocate on your behalf? Thank you for that question. Um, we have to think about it. One thing that we are interested in collectively is trying to work with some of the other school districts in the area to think bigger. You know, do we need to go to the legislature? Um, I think there are certain things that are outside the control of school districts and so I think collaborating on strategies that we can use would be helpful. >> Okay, we should definitely talk. >> Thanks. Thanks again. >> Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? Okay, moving on to the next topic for discussion. This is our budget update.
160Good evening. Um, so it's hard to believe that we're kind of going into March already. Um, so it's we're getting deeper and deeper into the budget process. So, as we move along, uh, we always have our district vision, mission, goal in mind as we create the budget with the cabinet and with our members of our district. I'm going to turn over to Superintendent Hot Rider. >> This is a slide that we debuted two weeks ago. And, um, as we uh, begin our budget, as we began our our official budget deliberations two weeks ago, we wanted to share with the board and the community um, through a lens of return on investment. Uh we ask our community to make a significant investment in our schools um through many different many different avenues uh contributing uh certainly
161through uh paying property taxes, supporting children, volunteering, you name it. And so this is a slide that we showed last week. And what we're going to do um each of our uh presentations is add to this so that over the course of our budget deliberations we can tell a story about what's happening in our in our school district. Um highlighting the uh investment tonight that we have made in the arts. And while the previous slide and other data sets that we um have talked about are really um the data sets that get published, they're the ones that um the newspaper finds out about or they're the ones that we're reporting in in regular routine um presentations uh to the board. We want to use this opportunity um with the board and the public to talk
162about just as important uh information that uh sometimes we don't take an opportunity to celebrate. So in music since 2024 we've seen more than a 20% increase in fifth graders participating in music ensembles. since 2024, almost a 33% increase in students uh participating at the middle level. And why is that important? Because we put instruments in students hands as early as third grade. And when kids leave fifth grade and go to sixth grade, they are staying with that investment that they've made and the investment that families have made. Therefore, the investments we have made in buying instruments, supporting staffing, um, as well as lessons, and all of the other opportunities in in music and the fine arts. And as kids get to high school, we have a 30% increase in students staying with their instrument
163in high school. And those are super super critical transition points. We know that there are critical transition points on our best day, but certainly um in many school districts, uh it's those elective areas where those where teachers regardless of whether they're uh in music and the fine arts where sometimes um students make different choices or students are allowed to make different choices. So, uh in our school district, we're not only maintaining our program throughout those transitional years, we're increasing participation. in terms of the fine arts or or music um uh music ensembles. I wanted to touch on this. These are choice ensembles. And what I mean by this is these are ensembles um that oftentimes students have to audition for. Uh they require greater time commitments before school, after school, weekend performances, so on and
164so forth. So since 2024, we have more than a 30% increase in our advanced orchestra at the high school, more than a 40% increase in students that are uh participating and being selected for select choirs at the high school, and and little little selfish for me as a jazz as a jazz afficionado, we now have u in all three middle schools uh functioning jazz groups. And why is that important? um for students to be able to explore music a little bit differently. Uh we celebrated today John Hverson uh and uh being recognized um and hopefully continues to be recognized. But um the the success of our performing arts groups and we could say for athletics and every other area doesn't happen by um doesn't happen by chance. And what uh this board has done and
165what our our music staff has done is make sure that students have access um to more rigorous performing opportunities as identified here in the high school, but also um to be able to explore a little bit too in terms of uh the jazz groups. In terms of the fine arts return on investment since 2024, we have a 20 27% increase in students taking uh media arts courses. again a tip of the cap to u establishing rigorous courses in in elective areas. A 27% increase in students taking advanced placement art. Um that's a a significant achievement uh for any district. U pottery and sculpture has an increase. We have an increase in our dance course. Uh this board knows that um we made a significant infrastructure investment uh in the high school. We have a dance
166studio. That's incredible. Um, and this is a testament to if we build it, they will come. And and more students are taking dance now than back in 2024. And a significant increase in students participating in the theater arts. So, with all of that, next month, uh, as we turn the calendar, is is, uh, music in our schools month, but we want to be able to just give a quick highlight and a reminder of folks of where they can see this investment in action throughout our communities, uh, and throughout the school district. So, uh, at Empire State Plaza, pretty much for the month of March is our K8 art, uh, exhibition. And, um, while that takes place most of the month, on the 12th is the opening reception. We have our our annual high school musical
167uh taking place in a couple weeks and then our three all city concerts all at Albany High School to be able to accommodate uh anticipated large crowds. So uh when we're back with you in a couple weeks, we'll highlight uh different divisions and different departments, but want folks to to understand a little bit about what the what the what returns on investment look like, particularly in areas that don't get reported and and sometimes sadly don't get talked about enough. So with that, I'll turn it over back to Mr. Carris to talk about how the numbers work where we can continue to support these initiatives. >> Thank you. Um so uh as we're building the budget, the districtwide initiatives that we keep focused on are the um focus on the climate culture and retention of our
168staff and our students. Uh we are proud of our high school, the reopening and the community awareness of the high school, how beautiful the campus is, and the growth of our CTE programs. Um it's quite the program that we have here at the district and it's something that we always like to highlight. Um this is a short uh snippet of the budget calendar. Our full calendar is there on that link. Um the key terms and the budget terms I'm sorry for uh our budget uh the rollover budget the fiscal year and estate aid are outlined here. Our budgetary notes for 2627. We would like to continue our existing programs and services. Our we have our contractual obligations, our operations, staffing and benefits and the monitoring of overtime and related work. The staffing I show here
169is a powerful slide that shows our union uh membership and a ratio towards the students enrollment. So you can see the um the trend of the student to adult ratio per the union um is pretty I'm going to say flat if not it's a good ratio for us to have and a good uh number to keep track of. um that is on the bottom of that slide the gross per student ratio it's you see for the last seven years 10 years I got to look back um but as always our 2627 legislative priorities that we we were talking about earlier um as our board members were talking really the equitable prek funding which is something that is a long hard road that our board has fought for that we have now we are still looking
170for a support and teacher pipeline grow our own initiatives that we are trying to make sure that we have a program here. Um the charter school oversaturation and the support for ENL refugee students. Again, there's the presentation from the 124 board meeting is there. So you see our whole um legislative priorities. The nice thing is that most of these priorities have been addressed in the executive budget which we're very proud to say thank you for the actual prek programming or funding that we talked about earlier. Um that is increased to 12,22 per student four year olds. Uh and the current estimate is based on 2425 enrollment. So if we fill more seats we will get more funding. Um the $18.5 million of foundation aid is the largest for the district. And uh the charter school
171transitional aid was increased in 2024 to give us the additional um increase in charter school supplemental transitional aid. So we are a tier four school because we have the extra we have more than 20% of our student population that attend a charter school. So we do like to say thank you to our representatives for that. Uh the budget variables we still have to wait for the nearest state budget to pass. Usually it's early April. We have our collective agreement increases, our contract services. The average is an 8 to 10% increase uh in this upcoming budget. Our health insurance increases about 12%. Our charter school payments, the tuition increased 5% and the estimated uh enrollment is to be increased to 2425 or 2,425 students. our ban and bond payments. We have to finalize actually in the
172next couple days our tax cap uh calculation, our tax levy that we will work with the board to see what um we would like to figure out what our tax levy will be and the impact of retirements. On this slide here, we have our general fund expenditures and the main categories. You can see the biggest categories are our salaries, our benefits, our tuition for charter schools. Um, and creeping up are like our debt service and our contract services. Here is a breakdown of our state aid uh from the executive budget the last two years and the upcoming school year. Uh this slide here has our breakdown of our revenues to see what the difference is between our expected uh expenses from our rollover budget as compared to our projected revenues with the executive budget included.
173It does not have any increase to the property taxes or um any additional use for appropriated fund balance or reserves. Uh we are decreasing the federal aid just by a little bit. um just by the unknowns. Um so our next steps are to review the building requests. We're still working through that. I have a couple more buildings to work with um our assistant superintendents for those areas to meet with the building principles to finalize what their wants and needs are as well as our divisions. Um we want to incorporate the new information as it becomes available as the budget. Um, so our next presentation we would probably have a little bit different numbers for some additional uh expenses that we are looking to put into the budget. Um, and I'm just trying to see if
174there's anything that's like popping right out and we will continue our legislative uh advocacy efforts. So I'm open for questions. >> Okay, Miss Sona, >> I have no questions at this time. Thank you. Mr. Hoffkin, >> um, glad you addressed it. So, just to clarify, the $1 million decrease in federal aid is just like a we don't really we don't really know what's going on. There's nothing like you've seen in the big beautiful bill and executive orders that you're like know that we're going to decrease. >> No, it's more of a trend. So um primarily the expenses we were getting reimbursements for like Medicare Medicaid Mer I'm sorry Medicare Medicaid. So there's unknowns with that. So if I I'd rather underp project to make sure that we get enough revenue than to over project and
175have too little revenue. >> Okay. Um other quick comment. Um we got the letter from Senator Fehee. Not sure if you got a copy. uh her numbers on state aid are a few million off from where you are both for last year and this upcoming year. Um so if you could just try to figure out >> Sure. Explain. So the difference is when I do the state aid, there's UPK is not included in my runs because that's technically a grant. So it's put aside, but then we have the charter school um transitional aid and the supplemental aid that gets included in. So it's taking some of the the aid run and then adding some that isn't necessarily into it. So the UPK is taken out and charter school supplemental and transitional is put in. So
176that's why there's a difference between what the run numbers look like from the state. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Oh, MK Mr. May long day >> kind of um so thank you. I have a very kind of niche question and it's relating to textbooks. Um there's a $115,000 increase in textbooks between this year and last year. And that's a lot of textbook. I mean, where is that all coming from? Why is the why is the price so much different >> from visure to nexture? >> Uh so >> there's um what line what page is this? uh 14 um top chart on general fund expenditures. >> It's for next year. That estimate is for next year, >> right? >> So, >> um it's >> Yeah. >> Right about in different tenses, >> the $14,000 difference in
177textbooks. So, we're looking since they're our literacy program isn't supporting the or they're not moving to the science or reading uh requirement that school districts are supposed to have. So, the elementary school K5 literacy program is changing. We are in the process of the curriculum review so that we could address the needs for the science of reading um curriculum. And right now the I think there's four or five companies or uh curriculum companies that are being reviewed and they're coming in about $2.5 million of an increase. So some of that is in contractual and the rest are in textbooks. So that that there you can see that there's a change in the contractual services line and there's a change in the textbooks line. So there's there's a little bit of bigger jumps in those two
178to address those needs. So just so I'm understanding this clearly, the contract services, those companies give us the estimate of what we're going to be charged for the textbooks for next year. Is that how >> it it's broken out between the initiating a new curriculum for K5 literacy? So there's a contractual >> a lot of new books essentially. >> Well, there's going to be a lot of new books, but there's also PD and then lesson planning and a lot of support that is given to district because it's a whole the science of reading is a whole different mindset of the pathway. I know that we started early on. Um I know uh Miss Hulahan has been working with her group to start the science of reading. It's just that Wonders the company that we are
179currently with are they're not moving that curriculum to that direction. So we're kind of needing >> companies. I think also just to be clear that there was an SBU coming on this whole evaluation of the um ELA because this was this was something that was there was some email traffic on earlier today. So so we're going to get a little more clarity and part of the board's role of course is to approve textbooks. So this would be part of the whole process is to approve the textbook that's ultimately selected. But I think Mr. Caris is baking into the budget whichever one gets selected is going to cost more money. Um and so that's what's baked into the budget. >> Yeah. And if I may, it it it was a timing and sequence matter that the
180ELA curriculum, we have um curriculum cycles. They come on various curriculum cycles or we move cycles up to respond to state ed demands. Um and Miss Savage is right that the the K5 ELA curriculum cycle is up later in the spring. Usually it's presentation in the summer. We wanted to make sure we weren't behind the the eightball. So budgeting money, finishing the process of of which company we come back to the board with that information, but we know it's going to cost some it's going to be an X plus. So budget the X plus we'll send an SBU and then that team will come and present. >> So it's more structural changes than just expensive textbooks. >> Thank you. >> Miss man, >> I have no questions. Miss Savage, >> I just wanted to um
181clarify my understanding that what still what we're seeing today is essentially a rollover budget. >> Yes. Um except with the textbook stuff because that's a it's a required. So >> Okay. So we only have two more board meetings until we're going to need to adopt this budget. There's I think we have a tentative board me meeting if there's a crisis of um New York State budget surprise, right? But I think we only have two more board board meetings before the we start run bumping up against the legal deadlines. Is that right? Um maybe three because the the 45day deadline that we have for child safety zones and building aid is before the final deadline that we have in order to get Ron's printout out. Right. I just want to make sure we know. Sorry, let
182me take a meta step. First of all, I am interested in knowing what the exact date is, but if there is going to be um a enhancement to the budget or change a programmatic change to the budget, I would not like to receive that on the day we need to adopt, right? I want to make sure we have enough time and we're like pretty far along here and we're still looking at a rollover budget and so I'm just trying to understand what the sequencing is going to be to get us to a point where we're finished. So, the hope is that at the next board meeting, you'll have a more the the budget that we're hoping to present and to adopt. Um, because we're still working as a cabinet to figure out exactly what we'd
183like to increase or add to the budget, uh, if there's a need for positions or if a need to structurally change some positions. Um, so hopefully within the next two weeks, we'll have that, incorporate it. That way it changes the ratio slide. It'll change this slide and then the hope is to figure out at that point what the tax cap um is. >> I understand. Okay, that's helpful. Um because I know I think I understated the number of board meetings because we normally have to be submitting to state aid at like the third week in April, right, for the actual budget amount. Um okay. And as part of that, I know that we're going to get another set of runs that is going to show the updated projections for certain kinds of state aid. When
184do we expect to get those? >> So, I'm I'm trying to make sure that I like last year I ran by the projected projections that were given to me through Excel and then at the very last minutes, last year's budget was adopted very late. They actually moved our number down a little bit. So, we had to use a little bit more savings account. >> Yep. So, I get a little nervous to go by the Excel spreadsheet because it could still be moved. I know the one thing that we are going to have an increase in on this is our building aid because our uh all our documents were put in place by the end of December. So hopefully on the next time our Excel spreadsheet comes out, it will show the increase in the building
185aid which will help decrease the difference between our expenditures and our revenue because there's a little bit of a gap right now that we still have to overcome. >> Got it. And I know I asked you about this and I'm hoping it will be on the same schedule. There's the the charter school supplemental aid which we've been projecting sort of the same amount for the last couple of years but when we looked at the actuals we're not we for the 23 24 and 24 25 school year we were not getting anywhere close to what we were projecting like a million dollars off um and so for this year the projection suggests that we're kind of in the ballpark and I'm just confused about why when we look three years out and two years out we're
186way under but then this year which is still not actual it looks more close to what we're projecting for next year. And I just feel I'm feeling a certain level of lack of confidence because I don't know how that those numbers are being calculated. >> So the supplemental is a it it's basically a hold harmless. So they said that we're not going to get less than was previously given to us. So that's the one that's hovering around is 2.2 $2.3 million. >> Yeah. But it was only 1.2 and 1.3 the two prior years. That's why I'm concerned. >> No, I think that's the transitional. That's the one and last year where we got the tier four. So, we'll I'll >> let's look at it together. But no, I'm talking about the one that's been held
187steady in the budget the last three years at 2.310. That's the one that when you sent the actuals didn't the actuals weren't that number. >> Okay. Well, >> we'll look at it. Okay. Um and then as while we're talking about what's actually in the budget, um one of the things that keeps coming up um is um grants that are rolling off in particular for our school improvement grants. And I'm wondering if you have put in anything in this budget at right now that's going to compensate for that or no? >> Not yet. >> Okay. So that's something that I think we're all at least I know I'm sensitive to is that school dis principles were used to having some money in their budget from that that that doesn't exist here. So even to make it
188a rollover budget from the sense of program we need to add here in order to give budget back to principles that they're going to lose through those grants rolling off. Right. and we're trying to figure out how much they're going to lose. >> Okay. >> So, it it's I I could put in the full amount and hope for the best, but usually it's they try to tear it back slow, not >> and when will we know that? >> I will work with uh Dr. with Fred. >> Okay. All right. >> So, but we'll know something more >> closer on that. Yeah. >> And then the other thing that keeps coming up is um swimming instruction, second grade swim and swimming instruction. Do we have a plan for how we're going to fund getting back towards
189that? >> I know that's something that we are talking about. Um so that's something that >> Yes. Um there is a a plan I believe there'll be an SBU coming at a um costneutral um staff neutral um expense. Uh we're also speaking with uh some other districts as well as the city around a certified pool operator. >> All right, great. Um I think those are my key questions. Thanks, >> Miss Cr. >> Thank you. I thought I didn't have any questions and I heard what my colleague said about filming and and uh just wanted to echo that and say yes bring that back literally a matter of life and death and also really really enjoyable uh for a lot of people. So that's really important. It was really one of the things that stood out
190to me the most when I started with this district as a parent saying wow that's really an impressive thing that places don't have. So I think this is something that's definitely a strength we continue to revitalize. Thanks, >> Miss Wilson. >> Thank you for your presentation and um Hassan's question sort of elucidated something I was thinking about which was where were we with the K2 reading and by virtue of you him asking his question I learned where we are in the curriculum review and the um science of reading. So that's interesting. I know. I was thinking that maybe it fell by the wayside because I know that we as a state have shifted to thrive by five and early PK, but it's um fascinating to hear about that. And then also in our highlights portion
191of this presentation, will we be will we be including anything around our social emotional learning as well as PPS and any interventions that we do for our students? >> Yeah. So, uh for each meeting, we're going to have a different theme and we sent those out to our team members for them to work on their data. So yes, they'll be coming. >> It's still too early uh for more concrete questions. Um but hopefully the second runs will come and then we we'll know more in terms of uh programming and what was the question that were asked were good. I do have one question which keeps uh you know you hear in the community and you see your bills and I'm your national grid bills and it's been going up right and so are is that
192affecting our budget as well um in terms of utility costs going up or or have our improvements to uh the um all the improvements that we made in the newer buildings that will save energy paying out that we are not seeing as much of an increase as we normally would have. >> So, the increase isn't as much as um projected. Um especially because we did some of the energy performance contract early on. That was last year. So, we're saving with LED lights the the building envelope so that we're not losing as much uh heating and air conditioning. Um we're trying to do climate control that's programmed. So, the hope is that we would finish up the rest of the buildings soon. and then we would have some more savings. But uh there is still an
193increase. I mean we have 22 buildings uh that are at whole different levels between the lights, the draftiness, the HVAC systems. So the hope is with some more changes we'll we'll have more savings but not so there is an increase just not as much as you probably feel as home because we are trying to be more energy efficient. I hope that answers the question. I mean that's that's I just want to make sure that it wasn't like a big increase in our budget because we have been making some improvements and hopefully they just are paying off to offset >> the otherwise exorbitant cost increases that are happening. >> No um there are other contracts that are bigger uh higher like the health insurance that's just and that's actually lower as compared to some of the
194other districts that have asked. So it's a cost that we cannot control but that's something that is something that we provide. So thank you. Any other questions folks? If not until next time. >> Thank you. Okay. Board committee reports. Yes ma'am. Nothing from audit. >> Audit committee met uh before the last board meeting. So, we'll have another one in a couple weeks. >> Okay. Anything from uh >> perhaps a couple of months. Now, internal claims audit did not make it to routine consent. >> So, I think that we'll have to have that on the next board agenda. >> Thanks. >> Okay. Ad hoc or government relations? >> I don't really have anything major to report out. I will just pass. >> Okay. Uh with regards to government relations, next week we are lobbying with the
195big five. So Tuesday and Wednesday are the two lobby days. Uh facilities. So uh the facilities committee will be having another meeting on the 3rd of March. Then the board will be getting an update on the building condition survey and the five-year plan on the 12th of March. And um apologize I missed one meeting. So there's a meeting on 3326 for the facilities committee meeting and then there's a followup on 31026 um before we bring the update to the board on 312. And uh the plan for the referendum notice is 3:26. So I think we're in good shape. Um the committee members and I have um instructed uh our contractor SEI to provide us with details for essentially all of the projects that can possibly be done. and um hopefully we have some good news
196to bring to the board on the 12th. >> Okay. Policy. >> So policy met recently where we've re we have rescheduled our uh discussions till the next meeting and we're looking at rescheduling the mark March meeting because it does conflict with one of the all cities. So we will uh be in touch with people on the new date for the meeting. Thanks. >> Okay. Any other business items? If not, may I have a motion to adjourn? Mr. Wolfkang, second by Mr. Minovi. All in favor? That's unanimous. Good night, everybody.