001I pledge allegiance which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Effective September 1st, 1991, chapter 9 of the laws of 1991 requires that we inform persons other than students who attend meetings within a school of the proper procedures to evacuate a building in an orderly and timely manner in the event of a fire emergency. So, if you must evacuate this room because of an emergency, please use the north exit doors. Walk quickly to the north athletic field. Okay. I'd like to compliment the principal and staff on the excellent condition of the school. And I'd like to also uh thank the PTSA for the refreshments provided for executive session. Thank you. How many? >> Oh, sure. >> Okay. I'd like to open the public hearing right now and that would be
002I'm turning over the meeting to Superintendent Mara. Okay. For our public hearing. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. It's great to see so many uh people attendance, particularly our wonderful students. You look fantastic. Uh the public hearing is really to just update the community on um our district-wide safety plan and some updates that have been applied to that. So, back in our August board of education meeting, the districtwide safety plan was presented to the community. Um, and it was then uploaded to state education department for final approval. Most recently, there's been a change in the requirements, which uh means we have to update our plan again and we want to update the public on that and what those changes were. So um the most recent changes in requirements are related to cardiac emergency response and
003the use of automated external defibrills or AEDs um in our schools. The reason why this law was enacted and changed is because it comes with uh legislation in 2025 to strengthen how schools respond to sudden sudden cardiac arrest. The law builds on existing practices by formally embedding cardiac emergency response procedures into both building level safeties plans and district-wide safety plans. This legislation is closely tied to DESA's law, which was enacted after the tragic passing of DESA, a young student athlete who collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest during athletic activity in the Buffalo School District in 2007. Her passing highlighted the importance of early recognition, immediate CPR, and rapid access to an AED. That's law requires that students show signs of studying card arrest that they be immediately removed from physical activity and that schools educate students,
004parents, and staff on warning signs uh and response protocols. Our district already has AEDs. We've trained staff and we have emerged procedures in place. This law also ensures that those protections are clearly documented, standardized, and aligned with nationally recognized best practices. So, for instance, the AEDs that are in the building have to be inspected regularly. We need to make sure that they're working and they're accessible regularly. So, that's part of the Dash's law, right? Uh we do have ads uh within a certain distance in every building that you could get to them within like a 2-minute, you know, run and run back if you have to. That's part of the regulation. Uh as September 1st, 2025, cardiac emergency response procedures were incorporated into all building level emergency response plans. Additional requirements related to AD maintenance,
005signage, staff, and student training will take effect January 20th, and have already been completed by the district. We have updated our plan back in November and we've completed all the additional regulations. Um, so tonight we're proud to update the community that this has been done and we will update the new plan um on the website as well as to the New York State Education Department uh portal and we thank the community and our student athletes for all you guys do. All right, and always stay safe. That concludes the public hearing on uh the districtwide safety plan enhancements. >> Thank you. >> We'll conclude the public hearing at 811. Okay. Be it resolved, the board of education hereby approves the minutes of the regular board meeting of December 10th, 2025 as presented to the board at
006this meeting. >> So moved. >> Moved by Trustee Dresca, >> seconded by Mr. Smith. Okay. You resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education acknowledges receipt of the treasures report for the month of November 202 as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> So moved by Miss KS, >> seconded by >> Mr. Smith. All in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. Motion carries. >> I'd like to turn the meeting back over to Mr. McN again. Uh so uh before we go on to the business agenda, I am proud to share that tonight we will be highlighting several important recognitions and presentations that reflect the outstanding work of the members of our school community. Um, just look around the room. Let me see who's here. Not here. Let's start with um Dr.
007Gabby Franza, please, if you don't mind coming up. So, I'd like to introduce uh Dr. Franza, who will share an overview of the mock trial experience at our schools. Uh Dr. Franza will call up Mr. Joshua uh Burkstein who we're very excited to invite uh to and welcome to the Bolton School District uh from Nassau County Bar Association um the mentoring program. Correct. >> Correct. You come on too. Um Mr. Do you mind putting on the uh projector? Thank you. Uh so Dr. friends is going to, I said, go over an overview about mock trial experience from K to 12. She's done a fantastic job um having mock trial experiences at the elementary level, middle school level, and the uh high school level. Um and then Mr. Brookstein brought some um accolades for some of
008our students who've been working alongside him, and I'll let them tell you more about that wonderful work um that students had. All right. Thank you. All right. Hello everyone. Um, I'm so excited to be able to share with you about the mock trial experience at Baldwin Schools. So through our government and law academy, we really wanted to ensure really with all of themies, but specifically looking at this one that students are getting the schoolto career experience and opportunity for all of themies starting in elementary school. So in addition to all the amazing experiences that can happen within school programs, we also have three different levels of mock trial experiences that happen for students within clubs and extracurricular programs. So at the elementary level, there's the Nassau County Bar Association's future advocates program, which we have
009been participants in for three years, as well as have this year um student collaborators for curriculum, which I'm going to talk about at the end. Um at the middle school we have the future lawyers pre-academy where our students get additional instruction through that by alternating days and um getting instruction through our own curriculum as well as participating in the middle school program. And at the high school we have the Nassau County Bar Association/New York State high school mock trial program that we've had here for quite some time that is thriving. So um to start we have our future advocates elementary program. So through this um an attorney is paired with a elementary teacher/club advisor and they really develop a partnership for students in grades four through um four through eight. The foundations of the legal
010systems are developed and um they get experiential opportunities. our students are able to visit the court system one on their own just as a kind of to understand what's happening at each level. Um this year we had our elementary school all visit the district courts. Then they get to go and actually witness our high school mock trial program as they are competing. So they get to see what that looks like. And then at the end they actually get to participate in two levels of mock trials. So they're running the mock trial that's read by a real judge and they get the entire experience with some coaching from their lawyers and from their teacher adviserss and um Josh Brookstein here was a major figurehead in implementing that for all of Nassau County and I feel really
011fortunate that we've been able to kind of collaborate on it together. Um and through that we had 86% of students for the whole program in all of NASA county share to which our um the elementary schools that are participating shared um that they had an increased sense of confidence. At the middle school we have our future learners pre-academy. So through this this is open up to eighth graders. It is a year-long program so students get to experience the entire competition experience. um and it's alternating this year is on beat days 9th period. So through that in the beginning um we developed an extensive curriculum where they learn all about um just the basis of mock trial we use fairy tales to start and then they get to also participate in the middle school mock trial
012program which is an offshoot. So they'll have that same experience where they get to visit a different type of courthouse. So the elementary school went to the district court, they went to the county courts, then they also get to see a mock trial and they too will participate against other middle schools in the area. And last, but certainly not least, we have our high school mock trial program. So this is open to grades 9 through 12. And you'll actually get to see that some of our um curriculum collaborators are members of that club. and as a person who gets to be witness to a lot of the amazing work they do. This club is extremely competitive. The students lead almost everything. There is also a lawyer that comes in along with the club this year.
013Two amazing club adviserss. Um but they run the auditions for students who want to play each part. They kind of decide um and go through all the case law themselves. So, we're kind of working from a really scaffolded approach where it's extremely hands-on at the elementary level, at the middle school level, and we take a little bit of the training wheels off, and at the high school, they're really I mean, I would have any of them represent me in any court case. So, um so what that led us to actually was, um through, um me and Mr. Brook science collaboration last year in getting the um club started for us at the elementary schools. Um through this partnership, we shared that maybe having students who are participating in the government and law academy as curriculum
014developers for the program for it to be implemented in Nassau County would be a great idea. So this summer um we had a two team approach at the um elementary school that worked with the um school engagement piece of the NASA Calar Association. So um they developed the videos through our media team of all the introduction videos that are taking place with all these us in NASA county that are participating in the program. And they also wrote a um how long did the curriculum end up being like I think it's now at like 200 pages 400 pages correction sorry doubled as well as a student a student student companion guide workshop. So the entire summer um the students that we're going to call up in about a minute um did that work. So this is
015just uh we're going to play a minute of the video just to kind of share some of the work that they did over the summer to get kids excited. You can stop it there, Mr. Doll. Thank you. All right. So, that's just kind of a taste of some of the work that we did to get kids excited. Um, and really really the theme and kind of the overarching idea of just all of these programs is we want students to not just learn about law and government and the processes, but the term advocate, I think, is the key word there. So to truly advocate for yourselves, to know when to stand up for something, when to know when to fight for something, and knowing how to truly use your voice. So with that, I'm just going
016to introduce or reintroduce um Mr. Brooks, who's our partner, um a in part a leader of the Nassau County Bar Association student engagement team, and um was elected like one of the top 10% of lawyers in um all of the country. So, he's just going to share a little bit and then want to honor our students. >> Well, first, good evening, Madam President, members of the board, superintendent, um, families, and most importantly, my colleagues uh, in this work. Um, it's a real honor to be here this evening to celebrate the tremendous work that um, uh, you've done. Um, I can't emphasize enough the impact that this work is having on the ground. We are in over 30 schools across Nassau County, 24 elementary schools, six middle schools. They are all using and engaged in the
017content and the curriculum that you helped create. Uh, what I can tell you is the feedback has been incredibly incredibly positive. The kids that are participating, fourth and fifth graders, are having a blast. The materials are engaging. They're colorful. They're fun. They are just absolutely having a blast. And parents and guardians are reporting that the youngsters that are participating are effectively negotiating for later bedtimes, more dessert um in a persuasive and respect respectful way, which is what this program is about. It's about building the next generation of advocates, not the next generation of lawyers. It has been complete honor to collaborate and partner with Dr. Franic who's been an unbelievable partner as we continue to uh build this work with our goal of reaching every youngster in Nassau County. So once again, most importantly, thank
018you for your hard work. It was amazing to be on those Zoom calls with you over the summer to hear your ideas, to see your work translated from the screens uh into actual documents and materials that the kids uh all across Nassau County are using. So, thank you so much and it's it's an honor to be here tonight. All right. So, now for the fun part. Um, so when I call your name, please just come and stand here. Please give um Mr. Brookstein um shake his hand and stay up here so we can take a picture at the end. So, Shelley Rivera Amond Pierre, Tyler Johnson, Raheem Jenkins, Brianna Hornet, Tyler Herrera, Sia Howard, John Green, Leila Gentles, Alexander Prrisa, Ariana Foster, Guy, Gilden, Max Ring, Amamira Dresca, Saurin York, Aaron Martin III, And additional
019shout outs who could not be here today because of all county. We have Kennedy Thompson, managuri, Damen Mirage, Samantha de Santos, Somaya Banjo, and Taylor Boyce. Congratulations. Picture. Yes. Okay, stay there for a minute. We're gonna take a picture. Think so. Okay. again. Thank you so much. Uh, next I would like to call up Assemblywoman Griffin, who's going to uh provide a very special proclamation. I'm not going to say anything else other than call Assemblywoman up. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um it's my pleasure to be here and see all of you and it was also great to see all of these students getting these awards and this recognition for participating in a really impressive program. So tonight I'm here to recognize someone amazing that has had 30 years of stellar um community service
020to this school district. I couldn't be prouder and um you know just and more humbled to um award to recognize uh Mary Joe O'Hagen for her 30 years of service to the Baldwin's little Oh, we'll finish the picture after I eat. Okay. So, I don't always read these, but I feel like Mary Joe's service to the district definitely deserve me reading this. So, all right. On behalf of the state assembly and the 140,000 reserve this. So um whereas okay in honor of Mary Joe Hagen for 30 years of outstanding service to the community whereas it is always essential to recognize and honor those members of our community who dedicate their time and effort to ensuring that New York school system is always at its strongest. Mary Joe O'Hagen's long career in public education began with
021years of leadership in the parent teacher association from Brookside Elementary through Baldwin High School. Mary Joe was first elected to the Baldwin board of education in and her service has been marked by her deep commitment to students, families, and the evolving needs of public education. Mary Joe served multiple terms as board president and helped guide the district through several significant initiatives including the transition to full kindergarten regard reorganization of grade levels and repurposing of elementary schools. She played a key role in the creation of Baldwin's careermies, the expanse of dual enrollment college partnerships, and the establishment of nationally recognized wellness centers addressing student mental health. In her discerning leadership, she also supported Baldwin's early adoption of educational educational technology, which allowed for minimal disruption during the COVID 19 pandemic. In 2019, Mary Joe was named
022the winner of the New York State School Boards Association top award for her position, the Everett R. Dyer Award for distinct distinguished school board service. And you received this honor at the New York School Board Association's anno annual convention and education expo in Rochester, New York. In September 2025, Mary Joe stepped down from the Golden Board of Education after helping oversee a voter approved bond to modernize district facilities and the appointment of a new superintendent and outside and outside of her service to the board. Mary Joe worked as a school secretary in Freeport, New York. I didn't know that. Yes. And together with her husband Desmond raised two children and sent them to Goldwood schools. Mary Joe has been a lifelong advocate for civic engagement and continues to encourage community involvement, remaining a proud steward
023of Baldwin's future. Now, therefore, it is that I, Assembly Judy Griffin, do hereby honor and celebrate Mary Joe O'Hagen for over 30 years of dedicated service to the Baldwin Union Free School District. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let me say one thing. >> Oh, sure. Please. >> I just want to say two things. One, Judy, you have always been a friend to Baldwin School specifically and to the education world. So, I am particularly honored that you should be the one presenting this to me. So, I really do appreciate it. And I did not prepare some eloquent speech. So I'm only going to say what I have said before and that is that it has been my pleasure. Every single year I've learned things. I've always worked with people that I loved. I loved my colleagues. I enjoyed
024the people in the administration that became friends. So this has been a wonderful ride for me and I appreciate having had the support of the community for all of those 30 years. So I thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to also mention how grateful I am for the impact not only did she make on the Baldwin schools but really on Long schools on Long Island. Mary Joe has been part of many committees, refit and others on the schoolboard association. And Mary Joe wasn't just at wasn't just at Baldwin schools, she was all over Long Island really making an longl lasting impact that for years to come I think we'll all notice. Thank you. I just want to echo um the sentiments with um Assembly Griffin. Thank you for all your continued support to the B
025schools. Uh we thank you for coming here tonight to honor Mary Joe. Mary Joe, obviously we're speechless and we're in awe of you and all you've done. Um and we will continue to harass you in one way or another for different reasons, but uh of course thank you for your dedicated dedication to Baldwin. All right. Next, another great honor. I'd like to call up um Miss uh Colleen uh Cunns. Please, if you come on up, who's here to speak about one of our outstanding school psychologists. Um but I will let our presenter talk about um our uh recipient. I don't want to get into too many details and spoil the surprise, but >> thank you everyone. Good evening. It is great pleasure to share this night with all of you here. My name is Colleen
026Scalero. It's my maiden name is Kun and I made it I am from the New York Association of School Psychologists. I'm currently the chapter representative for Nassau County. The start of a new year is a time for reflection, gratitude, and renewal. It is also a perfect moment to pause and recognize those whose commitment makes a lasting difference in our school community. Each year, NYAST recognizes school psychologists all over the state for their successes, hard work, and service they provide to their communities. Tonight we are here to recognize Dr. Donna Gorton as this past year she received a prestigious award, the Ruth Steman Chapter School Psychologist of the Year for Nassau County. [applause] Back in November, Dr. Gorton attended the New York Association of School Psychologist Conference in Ithaca and at the awards celebration she was
027uh she received an a certificate award for this amazing accomplishment. But who is Dr. Gorton? Dr. Gorton initially attended University of Rochester receiving a bachelor's of psychology and then went off to Hopster University to study and earn a master of arts with distinction in clinical and school psychology. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gorton continued her education at Hofster University's doctoral program in clinical and school psychology. Dr. Gorton works in private practice and serves as a board member for the Morgan Center, a nonprofit organization providing preschool age children undergoing cancer treatment with a safe environment to interact, socialize, and attain support for their uh development. Dr. Wharton has worked in the Baldwin School District for the past 30 plus years, serving as a school psychologist. Her excellence as a school psychologist is clear to those she has worked
028with. Her colleagues, her interns, her former interns, her administrators, and her family members who are here tonight. Dr. Gorton provides exceptional mental and behavioral support through counseling, crisis intervention, and is committed to equity and family engagement. She is a highly skilled evaluator and collaborates closely with educators through the multi-tered system of supports as a data driven decision-making queen. In addition to her direct service, Dr. Gorton has mentored and supervised numerous interns modeling leadership, care, and professionalism. It is with great pleasure that I honor Dr. Donna Gorton tonight as an outstanding school psychologist and an individual who emulates the most school psychology of the year award. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Donna Gorton. Thank you all so much. I'm really genuinely so honored to receive this award and I just want to say it really
029has been my life's privilege and honor to work with children particularly in Bsman where I feel I was destined to be. Um, you may not know, probably don't, my mother student taught at Plaza Elementary School and her cooperating teacher was Annne Edson and she was pregnant with me. And in 1965, it wasn't really very um acceptable to be pregnant at student teaching. So, she wore two girdles and got through um but but I felt like I was supposed to be here and Plaza was my first placement. So, um it's really been my privilege and honor to be here and I love my job and I love working with the children that I get to um spend time with each day. So, thank you all so much. Thank you. I just want to echo how amazing
030Dr. Gorton is and currently serves two different schools, supports two different communities, staff members, principles, myself. She's absolutely amazing. So, thank you for everything you do for uh Baldwin community. I thought you were going to say that uh Mayor Joe Hagen was somehow connected to your mom that she's been here for 30 years. >> Oh. Um so uh we are grateful for the opportunity to acknowledge these wonderful achievements and I want to thank everyone for being recognized and coming tonight uh for their continued service, leadership, dedication and to our students. Looking forward to all you get to accomplish um over the next couple years. Uh so thank you again to all the recipients. Students, if you want to go home, you could certainly depart now. Thank you for coming and your families. Uh, I'd like
031to call up next Dr. James Robinson who's going to uh provide a presentation on facilities updates and some upcoming wonderful exciting facilities work. Yeah, if you'd like to take a picture with me, I could Okay, we'll get going. Uh, good evening everybody. Thank you very much, Board of Education. Uh, this is just an update on our capital projects districtwide. As you may know, we started uh quite a uh capital initiative with a very sizable uh investment in our own infrastructure. We started the planning for it several years ago. It's had several um evolutions and and versions of it. Um but we've had incredible support. But I want to thank the board of education for all of the vision and the support in terms of the planning and what our objectives were and then certainly to
032the community for supporting uh a sizable bond in the last few years and uh numerous capital reserve allocations that we've done year-over-year. So we want to go over where we are now uh the projects that we're going to be uh uh bidding literally as we speak and then certainly what the next couple of years looks like. Uh so again this is all based on our long range capital planning. So the first question one might ask is how do we do that? Uh so certainly we have our general fund appropriations. So in our regular general fund budget that the voters of you know vote on every year. We have what's called a transfer to capital. Um we've utilized that to do maintenance projects and other infrastructure improvements like adding uh the elevator at the plaza school,
033adding the elevator at steel school. We've done numerous different projects. Um our roofing projects which are currently underway uh planning stages for the middle school and high school and just this past summer we had uh just finished the elementary schools. We're in the punch list phase there. Um we've been fortunate to receive um some sizable grant funding and that's helped us do um a multitude of different projects. Um as I mentioned just a moment ago, the capital reserve funds that's a proposition that gets added to our uh vote, the may vote. Um it has been every year uh over the past uh several years. Uh we've been able to establish reserve funds. You may recall in the aftermath of uh COVID, nobody really wants to talk about that anymore. Uh but we realized with the
034the technology that we had to invest in, we were going to have a replacement cycle that was needed year after year and that would have took a sizable hit on our general fund budget. So we uh very proactively created a technology reserve fund. So, we were able to put some money aside and in that reserve fund, we're able to fund some of the replacement cycle for Chromebooks and laptops and things for our students on a year-by-year basis. Um, in 2024, we had the successful bond referendum that represented um $134.8 million to be exact, and that was really targeted at improving our infrastructure as as the other uh funding sources have. Um, we really took a long look and the reality was really setting in that some of our buildings are either approaching or over a
035hundred years old and it was just time to make sure we kept them up to date. But in all of this, we still have some uncertainty that remains. uh you read about it in the paper almost every day about some uncertainty about state funding and foundation aid is the the formula that uh provides school aid um for our school districts. Um and certainly the conversation at the federal level and some of the concerns that exist. I can tell you um we don't anticipate either of those going away anytime soon. Um, but we'll obviously be mindful of uh what the current events are as we approach our multi-year planning. So, up at the top it says multi-year multifunded capital initiatives. I know Miss O'Hagen will remember many, many times ago, you can see by the expression
036on her face. Um, we're going to talk about that a lot and we're going to continue to talk about that over the next several years because this was really the only way that we were able to do the magnitude of projects that we're embarking on. So over the next several years, we will be in the neighborhood of about $250 million of capital investment just on our infrastructure and that will touch all of our buildings districtwide. So projects recently completed at the high school. We have the wellness center just around the corner by the security desk. Um we are just in the process of little minutia final closeout punch list things. Um and and we're closing out that project. We had a very significant initiative to do an entire fire alarm replacement districtwide. Um, as you
037can probably imagine, the wiring and the integration with our systems and all of that is is uh quite cumbersome, but we are literally after I'm going to say years with an S getting to the point where we can finally close out this project. It has been a tumultuous affair, as they say. Uh, the roof replacements at our elementary schools are in the final punch list. We have some some minor details being completed by the contractor now. Um but that was very successful uh in us com starting that work and completing it um over this past summer and then obviously it took us into the fall but um we did that with I'll say little to no interruption to the school day. Our toilet renovations the the bathroom renovations is really districtwide. We were able to
038reach all of the other buildings that hadn't had renovations done yet. We did that uh this past summer. again uh worked very aggressively and were able to complete those projects prior to the school year starting. Um there were a couple of sleepless nights uh not only by me but by our contractors um because we certainly have some spirited conversations about staying on schedule. Um and of course our athletic complex here at the high school. I know at this point everybody has seen it well aware of it. Um, but it is a slight reminder of what the Baldwin community deserves for its students. Um, it is a state-of-the-art facility. Um, that is the envy of our neighbors, I am sure. So, projects under construction right now. We uh had approved uh lead remediation at the Schubert
039Elementary School. Again, this is an old uh building and the trim work has uh paint that is lead containing. Uh we're in the final stages of coordinating with the contractor. The contract has been awarded, but there are and have been some complications with contractors making sure they have the right insurancees in place, they have the right subcontractors with the right insurance in place. So again, it's an arduous process. Uh but we are just coming to the the final stages where we will be able to uh hopefully uh start and complete that by this summer. uh the electrical service upgrade at the middle school. Um we have that already underway. The complication with any electrical work the these days is when we think of electrical work, we think of running wires and hooking up an outlet
040or something, but there's large transformers that have to be upgraded. There's uh what's called switch gear when we take the power off the pole and it comes down to the building. and all of that equipment are long lead items and literally out um in in the neighborhood of a year in some cases. So, we'll have some work that's being done. I I always I I was a contractor in a previous life and I remember every time you were doing either plumbing or electrical work. Um you know, when the owner came back to look at the project, they'd say, "What you what'd you do all day?" And it's all behind the walls. It's all in underneath the the crawl spaces and everything. So, there's a lot of work going on that will not be ever seen.
041Um, but I assure you, uh, people are very busy. Um, at the, uh, Plaza Elementary, uh, school, we have the kitchen renovation on purpose. We started that, uh, building ahead of the other elementarymentaries, um, solely because the space itself has other other, uh, uses during the day. So we had to start that at a summertime period so that we were ready to have the students back in the space by the school year. We are reaching in terms of the construction itself, we are reaching the point where we'll be substantially completed, but again because of the electrical equipment uh some of that that we need to upgrade, we won't be able to finalize that project for a time. We're still working out the details on when all of that will be done. Uh our next step
042um these are projects that we're either preparing for bid or are in bidding right now. Our uh addition for the athletic center here at the high school. It is phase one of our bond is out on the street as they say. The the bid was published. Um we had a walkth through actually for uh prospective uh contractors today uh at the high school. Uh we anticipate being able to to go through that. We open up the bids. We do what's called scoping meetings to make sure that the contractors have the ability to perform the work. Um, and we would anticipate coming back to the board of education with a recommendation from our construction manager, our um, architectural firm as well as the administration to say uh, recommend the award for contract uh, to start that.
043And then we would plan to have shovels in the ground, a little slogan there, um to start that project by this June. So, uh similar to what we promised with the athletic field, as the students were walking off for graduation, we had the machinist driving on from the other side of the field. It will be very much the same case uh here. That construction is anticipate anticipated to take approximately 18 months. Uh this is just a rendering of the outside. So this would be on the more eastern side of uh the the high school campus. Right where the softball field is, there will be a roadway that goes back to this driveway into the front of the building. And then the inside, this is a rendering we've we've seen in numerous presentations before. Also in
044progress is all of our the rest of the elementary uh kitchens and cafeterias. Uh as you are well aware, we have uh five elementary school buildings and they were never designed to have kids actually eat at the school. So there's a large space that they eat in, but we don't have uh the appropriate kitchen space. U so we're correcting that problem. This was part of a capital reserve initiative. The total was $1.6 $6 million to uh do kitchens and cafeterias at all five of our elementary buildings. Um we anticipate these going out to bid um at the end of this month. Um same thing, the award will be uh anticipated in March and the construction schedule that you see there I'm going to go over uh in just a moment. This is a rendering of
045what will uh what Brookside will look like. And the location of this is around the back side of the building. So when you come into Brookside and you would go through quote unquote the traffic loop to the right of this structure is where the students enter that side of the building. There's a fence there in the side of the building. So this would be in the back side of the building. This is what they call an elevation. So if you look at the lower image, it's a lot easier to see. Um, but this is basically the appendage of what will be the kitchen for uh the Lennox Elementary School. I think I can right there. And we also have uh Meadow and Steel. We do not have all of the final renderings for each one
046of the schools, but uh each one Meadow has an appendage on it as well. Um, however, Steel I do have a rendering here. This is the side where the playgrounds are. Uh you can see um basically an amphitheater like structure. What we talked about in the original designs was making sure we had multiuse strategy for our students. So this not only would be our kitchen cafeteria but an outdoor space um obviously in the appropriate weather but it also gives a learning space outdoor learning space for our students. The next phase that we're preparing for is also uh a roof replacement. The all of the roof replacements have been partial roof replacements. Um it's a little bit different than when you do your roof at your house. You would do the whole thing. Um and you'd
047have a certain number. When we do a roof, we're talking a few million dollars. So to do each one of the or to do the entire thing would be cost prohibitive in one in one um one phase. So we've broken it up into the most uh significant age related and warranty related areas of the building. So uh at the high school and at the middle school. And in addition to uh the middle school, we also have a turf field that will be installed uh at the middle school. Again, we plan to uh put that out to bid towards the end of this month um with the same award in March and the construction anticipated to be completed um by October. One of the strategies in this very large and complicated puzzle is as we do
048the work at the high school, we're going to impact the field that is uh on the eastern side, which is field hockey, uh softball and soccer practice fields. We want to make sure that we have transition space for our students. So, if we complete this um on on time, on schedule, um we would hopefully be able to relocate some of those sports obviously on a temporary basis, but to make sure that the impact on our students is as minimal as possible. This is um a site plan, so it's a little difficult to pick out, but this is the uh the parking lot on the side street there is right there. Um there will be construction fencing that goes around the whole perimeter. This area right here is where the existing track and football field is.
049Uh so that would be how the whole field or the whole complex comes together when it's finished. So projects in design would be our second phase of the bond which would be what we know as the 600 building. Um the schedule and the timing of all of these phases are so that we create our own transition space. When we studied this before everything was fully designed. We wanted to ensure that we weren't spending literally millions of dollars on trailers and temporary classrooms and things. So, um, our objective is to finish a space, be able to use that for the transition space on the next space that we're working on, and that will go through the four phases of what we plan for for the bond uh, initiative. Uh, addition three is the performing arts center
050uh, and a career and technical education uh, center as well. Uh you I'm sure have read in the newspaper uh New York inspires the governor and our commissioner of education have significant initiatives that focus on career and technical education. Baldwin schools wants to be ahead of that curve and making sure we have the appropriate spaces to initiate all of those um uh goals from our leaders in Albany. Uh and then finally, addition four would be uh the other side of this area, the 300 building. So when you're walking in the main entrance of the high school, it would be to your right. That will be demolished and rebuilt um with very creative and far more flexible uh learning spaces. So in summary, by this summer, uh we will have uh approximately 41 new contracts with
051contractors that would be based on bids or the RFP is a request for proposals. Sometimes we can reach contractors that are on an established like uh office of general services, New York State bid and so on. Um but we'll we'll have upwards of 41 projects and contracts going on. Um, it's a busy time in Baldwin schools. This is the timeline that I was referring to. So, this is uh related specifically to the high school projects. I realize that the type is small, but I I put it there just as a reference to to really what it looks like and how we go through what starts and what finishes. So, the items there where you see the yellow here, this is all the planning stages and getting into bidding. And the blue line here is the
052actual construction work and how that pans out. Our strategy when we first designed all of this is not just a strategy of construction work, but it's a strategy of financing to make sure we can um create as um least impactful a financial plan again multi-year multifunded strategy uh for our community. So this is relative to the high school. This takes us out to uh the numbers are very small but yes that does say 2030 and 31 in this area. Uh this is the middle school. Same concept with all of the projects that are going on. Uh the work that is behind those lines um is is fairly enormous. Um a multitude of coordination efforts. We have uh construction two construction managers uh that will be supervising all of the work along with our architect and
053engineering uh firm. So other things that are coming up soon uh they're in design now but at the middle school we'll also be looking at an infrastructure project. It's called repointing. So, when you look at a brick building, over time, the the joints, the mortar joints in the brick starts to crack and degrade. Um, we'll we'll be looking to redo that. That's not uncommon. Um, but it's time certainly for the middle school. And we have the future roof uh replacements. That's what I was referring to earlier. Everything is a partial replacement. So, we do anticipate in the future proposing additional sections. And the same thing goes for our toilet renovations districtwide. We've uh been able to renovate a great deal of them. I I just started thing I wanted to throw out a number, but
054I'm not sure if my number is right, so I'm going to hold back on giving you a number. But um we've we've done a lot of work, but we're not done yet. So, in future uh it won't be this year, but in future um uh school budgets, we will have conversations about doing additional work in that category. So again, our long range planning, uh, this is something we've put a a real exorbitant amount of energy into ensuring that, uh, we can create a sustainable plan and achieve all the objectives that the board had discussed in in many many conversations over the past years. Um, we'll continue to use our capital reserves. Um, but that opportunity is only as good as our ability to fund them, right? It's not an infinite um cash flow. It's it's
055how we are able to fund them based on surpluses in any given school year. Um our long range financial planning and what we monitor both on the investment side and what we can earn in interest as well as the pressures that we have from just the general marketplace is something we look at every day. Uh our project planning the timing and basically the effective implementation of the projects. Um that sequencing is critical as we uh do a project. We have to obviously do the financing for the project. Then we're going to have the debt service that's paying back the loan. And that's a critical piece that we will be talking about numerous times over the course of literally the next few years. Um our objective always is to minimize the disruptions uh for our students.
056um our planning and uh uh the the facilities planning department has really improved uh to a point where I'm almost in a state of disbelief. It used to be almost a year to get something approved. Some of the projects that we've submitted we're seeing in a matter of a month or so. Um so I applaud New York State for staffing the appropriate levels that they need to approve projects on a timely basis. Our state aid and more specifically our building aid. So when we do a project, we have a 71% building aid ratio. That's one, if the state determines it's aidable to begin with. We are having some of those debates now. Uh and two, it really means that for every dollar we spend, we're getting 71 cents back uh in terms of building aid.
057So we have to make sure the timing and receiving that building aid helps offset the expenses in the future. Uh and of course responsive bidding. We've had some challenges with some contractors. That will remain an issue. But I will tell you that we've been unrelenting in our expectations and ensuring that what we have established as a objective for the project is met. So to the board of education, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. >> No, I would just like to say Dr. Robinson, thank you so much for all of your hard work. I know that this is uh very tedious and we appreciate you. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Um I'll just make one final comment. All of our status and our projects um the images as as construct uh construction
058progresses um will be posted on our website. So we invite the community to kind of look and stay in touch with what's happening. Um, of course at our board meetings if any questions come up, we're here to help. >> Dr. Robinson, just one thing. How is there a time frame in which you will keep the public updated? Would you do in-person um presentations? Is that forthcoming? >> Um, actually the superintendent and I have talked about kind of a a a strategy moving forward of um doing walkthroughs. Obviously, we'd have updates at board meetings. Um, that's a a lot of different ideas are flowing around, but our objective is to make sure that the community is informed. I can tell you, we've had numerous conversations. The community has been unbelievably supportive in in everything we've done
059and I believe that's because we've communicated effectively to let people know what the objectives are. Um, I don't think we have any plan on deviating from that. Uh, absolutely. A lot more in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Robinson for the detailed presentation and as he said we will keep the community updated at board meetings and uh through social media on the website and some other strategies also. Um before we move on to the business portion I do want to recognize uh some student athletes. Uh about two weeks ago in the news day, there was a section for top uh athletes for 2025 2026 school year for the winter season. Um Bold was highlighted in top 50 cheerleaders, top 100 boys basketball players, top 100 girls basketball players, top 50 girls indoor track
060on Long Island, top 50 boys indoors track on Long Island. So hopefully you guys saw that. But an outstanding accomplishment from a Brienne Barnett where she earned or is ranked number one in the nation in the 400 meter. I I don't even know how fast that means. Number one in the nation. In addition, she is number seven in the nation for the 300 meter. She's just outstanding uh athlete, student athlete, and I think she's also ranked like 19 right now um out of the class. So, academically excelling, athletically excelling. So, kudos to her. Congratulations to uh uh Brienne and her family. U in addition, Brandon, and I might say the wrong name incorrectly, so I apologize. I believe it's Brandon uh That. Um and the most recent race ranked as seventh fastest in the nation.
061um for the 55 meter hurdles I believe. So congratulations, outstanding program, outstanding uh coaches, athletes. So go Bruins. >> Go Bruins. Uh and that concludes, excuse me, concludes superintendent report. That was a long way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So next on our agenda, we have comments, reports from the board of education. anyone? David. [laughter] David's always David stays ready. He's always prepared. >> That's right. Um coming back from the new year, have two big things to report on. The first of which is the superintendent advisory committee meeting. It was the second one we had and we had it just before the break. um students are focusing now preparing and exposing students to postcolgate experiences and community oriented programs. So in our in our most recent meeting we looked at several themes and
062students are most interested in getting of course ready for life after high school and trying to get involved with the community. So we evaluated those themes and the goal is by the time of our next meeting when we get around to that that students will be offering pitches which will have their own input on what they feel is important. We discussed at the December meeting the idea of adding more AP offerings and more opportunities for post high school opportunities when it comes to getting credit or new classes and a lot of that came from the first meeting that we had and that idea. So I wanted to thank Mr. Mell again for opening the program and having students from all grades provide their input and that's gone very well so far. So we're looking forward
063to the next meeting where that comes through. Um, our student government has established junior executive board and the goal of that is training leaders for student government to work alongside the current executive board. This creates a pool of students that will be eligible and wellprepared for executive board positions in the student government club and also creates an eligible pool of students who may take on a role in a school board in the future. These students are going to be assigned small leadership roles and they'll understand the positions of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer which the current club has. They'll be involved in planning event organizations. So if the student government were to host an event or would they were to be involved with the athletic events that we have or if they were to
064do something on their own, these students who are underassmen in grades 9 and 10 would be able to get a hands-on experience. And this is a big deal as we've talked before about the idea of succeeding positions in the student government and keeping it active as well as the position on the school board. So it's a great thing that we were able to establish on our most recent meeting on Tuesday. Um, so I'd like to thank the executive board, um, consisting of our president, Leila, our vice president, Mia, and our treasurer and secretary, uh, Andia and Avery, because they were able to get them through at the most recent meeting. So, we'll look forward to the results of that in the coming weeks as we look toward our next event. Um, student government will be
065hosting a student section on the 23rd, the basketball game against Academy Charter. So, that'll be during the midterm week. we're going to get through our midterms and then we're going to get to work on that and hopefully from there we'll be able to report more on what's next to come with that next advisory committee meeting. So that's what we have right now. We can't wait to see what happens with the student government and the executive >> uh just a quick question. Can you remind us what is how many students are in the uh superintendent advisory committee? gonna get the exact number for you here. Get that here. Perfect. >> Just 15. >> About 15. Okay, great. Thanks. And then you said the junior executive board. This is something new, correct? Sounds great. >> So they'll
066that's for grade 10 only. Um, it's for >> generally the underassmen. Yes. Cuz right now the exec board for student government is grades 11 and 12, but that's just because any student can run, but the idea of the program is to accelerate them and for next year when the upper classmen leave, they'll be eligible to run for office if they're interested. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks for your report. >> I also just want to quickly say I'm excited about the student sections at our athletic games. I feel like um a lot of the other schools we go to, they have a phenomenal student section. So, we definitely need to step it up with Baldwin. So, I'm excited that you're taking that lead. Um and I also want to say all of the concerts that
067I had the privilege of attending in December, they were phenomenal. Um the children were dressed beautifully. Uh I thought all of the song choices, the performances, it was it was just outstanding like always. But it was good to see some of the concerts where my children don't attend the school still. Um, so you know, definitely kudos to the performing arts uh team here um within the administration building. They did a fantastic job as well as the play. The play was outstanding. [laughter] Anyone else? >> Thank you for that. David, I want to tell you that I received notification that the parents come here just to be informed by your report. So, thank you for that update. Okay, so we are now in the comment section of our um meeting. Okay. So, questions, just a quick
068reminder, questions and comments can be submitted in advance and that's by noon the day of the meeting and you can email our district clerk at baldwinschools.org or in person here at our board of education meeting. And just a gentle reminder, public discussion on matters relating to staff and students at which their reputation, privacy, or right to due process or those of others could in some way be violated is prohibited. So again, we cannot comment on student or um staff um related issues. Okay. All right. So, we're now open to the public comment and that would be a total of a maximum of three minutes per person and right now um we'll ask that we do have a question and comment and I will read it. It's >> Oh, do we have um Dr. Cunningham present?
069Oh, okay. Dr. Cunningham, you can come up and speak and then we just ask that you return back to your seat and that question would be addressed. >> Thank you. I just wanted to follow up. Hi everyone. Um, regarding my question about the usage of the Baldwin High School track for the Baldwin PAL for this spring session and a lot of the athletes that are top right now did run with Baldin PL. Just throw that in there. A little a [laughter] little bit. Yeah. >> Wow. Well, thank you for that and we are aware of that and we do appreciate that uh comment. Uh so the use of facilities um pertaining to track uh it will be granted as per the um facilities policy which we are currently just fine-tuning. Um just wanted to make
070sure all of the details are in order before we approve it and release the um the final contract and policy. Okay. And if you would like to comment more on that, Mr. Mcnella. Sure. >> Um I uh the district is a strong advocate for opportunities for inside and outside the classrooms as you know. We're involved and innovative and recently had some meetings with different groups, but particularly PL um director and we're looking to expand opportunities for elementary students as well to help grow our programs. Um so um something part of the vision. Um so tonight as a second read on the agenda is that facilities policy. Um so when we get to the policies, the board may have a discussion about a couple of those changes and may adopt the policy tonight. So stay tuned.
071>> Okay. Thank you again for coming, following through because we know we saw you at the last meeting, but thank you for the followup. Okay, so we can now move on to our personnel actions report. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the personnel actions report dated January 14th, 2026 as detailed in the Friday mailing. Motion by Mr. Resca. >> Seconded by Mr. Smith. All those in favor? Opposed? Okay. The motion carries. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the recommendations for services of the committee on special education subcsecom and committee on preschool special education for October, November, and December 2025 as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> So moved. >> Moved by Miss Kohl's.
072>> Seconded by Mr. Smith. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the home tutoring and special education service report for this month as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> Moved by Mr. Smith. Second. >> Seconded by Mrs. KS. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. The board of education accepts with gratitude the donation of 3,100 from funds raised by the fifth grade committee at Plaza Elementary School to be used for Plaza's upcoming podcast room for Team Orchid as described as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Smith. >> Seconded by Miss Kohl's. All those in favor? I >> opposed. How could we be oppos?
073Motion carries, but how could we be opposed to that donation? We graciously thank Plaza Schools for that donation. The board of education accepts the following grant award in the amount of 1,000 from the Baldwin Foundation for Education and Inc. to fund the many grants as detailed below. So, we have Baldwin High School. The um is it that Kittywitty boxes and 3D printing accessories for $500. The science teacher is uh Matthew Joseph Baldwin Middle School. We have the Lego Education Spike Prime Kit for coding and circuit pre-academy course and that was 500. And the science teacher is Francesco Ayanucci. >> Yes. Okay. >> Motion. >> So move. >> Okay. Moved by Miss Kohl's, seconded by Mr. Resca. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. And we again >> thank you for that. Okay. The board
074of education accepts with gratitude a donation from the Baldwin Foundation for Education and the amount of 2,300 to be used for the in recognition of excellence dinner, an event that recognizes the accomplishments of students and their teachers. >> Moved by Mr. Resca, second by Mr. Smith. All those in favor? I Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries. And again, we thank BFE for that donation. >> Yes. So, as board president, I'm calling for consideration of a consent agenda for business items 1203 through 1212. Are there any? [laughter] >> Okay. All right. That was quick. All right. Um, moved by Mr. Smith, seconded by Miss Dresca. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries. >> Do I have a motion to approve approve business items 1203 through 1212? Moved by Miss Dresca, seconded by
075Mr. Smith. All those in favor? >> No oppose. Okay, motion carries. And this one. Okay. This one. Got it. Be it resolved that the upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the updated use of facilities report from July 2025, June 2026 as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> Moved by Mr. Smith, seconded >> seconded by Miss. >> All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. And if you'd like, we can just discuss some of the >> elements, right? >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. So, the board of education has a second read and adopts the following policy. 1500 procedures, use of buildings and grounds. >> Now, categories. >> Yeah. the first um >> so there are three categories um in which um we the applicants are um categorized in and
076the first one category one is we have PTAs uh Baldwin PAL which is the police activity league service organizations and governmental um agencies. So, category two would be programs for students sponsored by nonprofit organizations. And then category three of programs sponsored by profitm organizations and all other organizations. Are there any questions about the No, I think based on the categories uh the the the highlights are that in category one the fees there there are not any fees during normal hours of operation for category 1. For category 2 they're pretty much the same. However, there may be additional custodial time or fees assessed based on when they utilize it. And category 3 will be charged a fee. So, um, from a board perspective, I think this is fair. And then the the other change is that
077at least 75% of you you need to have at least 75% of residents Baldwin residents registered for your program in order to be eligible for at definitely category 1 and category 2. Category 3, is that actually still the same case with category 3 since they're they're paying? >> Yes. >> Okay. So for all categories, you need to at least have 75% of Baldwin resident um participation. >> Correct. >> Okay, that's fine with me. I don't know if anyone else has any thoughts or >> So just to clarify, priority will be given based on >> Yeah. >> which one of those groups you fall into. Is that that's correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. If I can just add one more thing too, the first priority is to student athletes and and school functions. So if
078a per is requested that um has a conflict with let's say a soccer game or the track field that priority of course goes to the school. So it might be denied because of that purpose but if it's available it then goes by the priority that we discussed category one two and three. >> Got it. >> Okay. Now, right here it says um would they be able to >> depends on the permit request, what they're doing, what's going on, and whether >> we could have someone available. Correct. >> Yeah. >> That by it's use of cafeteria space, not the actual kitchen itself. So, not turning on the stoves to be clear. It would be using this larger space or cafeteria A for instance, but they're not using the kitchen itself to prepare food. Just to be
079clear when it says cafeter, >> right? Right. Right. Just wanted to put that out there. Right. >> That's a fire safety issue. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Previously, you would have access to just warming up certain items or things for for events. No, >> currently you're not allowed to utilize Currently you're not allowed to utilize any >> kitchen appliances. What has happened is for some activities they used to be able to use warmers but I believe we got rid of that sternos and that's not allowed either. That's why I know at least with PTAs they time >> the arrival of food because the sternos are not allowed. >> Yeah. fire marshall would would not be happy if we had Sternos cleaning up food. Um when we uh if it's like when we do in recognition
080of excellence dinner, our kitchen staff is preparing the food, use the kitchen, bring it out, but that's different. That's our employees. If somebody wanted to use this particular space for a program, um they could utilize this space and depending on what category they're in, there may or may not be a charge, but they cannot use the actual kitchen and they can't heat food up in here because it puts the building potentially at risk. >> Otherwise, >> that's even for like a founders day dinner that the PTAs have. Um I don't think that they're using sternos now to heat anything up but PTA would not have a charge to use the space >> but in terms of heating food up does >> sternos I would have to check with u Mr. Grandad is all of it,
081but sternos to my knowledge are not allowed to be utilized in schools. >> Okay. >> Looking at you. [laughter] >> Yeah. So, just wanted and I brought that out um I brought that up because um that has been a question and you know just wanted to address it >> publicly. Okay. >> I think it's been precedent. know if there's a there's we need to do >> but >> if you don't see something they'll say something >> don't say that >> say something if you see something >> if you see something >> she meant to say say something if you see something yes >> okay >> thank you >> all right um That's your motion. >> Yeah, ex. >> Yes. >> So, >> you you moved it. >> We end discussion and move that we pass
082the new policy. >> Okay. >> Revised policy. All right. So, moved by Mr. Smith, >> seconded by Miss Dresca. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. The motion carries. >> Okay. >> And there will be a copy of this on the website, right? >> Yes. Uh it's digital on board docs. So now it's approved. It'll get updated on board docs >> for the public. >> Uh correct. Board policy. Yep. >> Okay. All right. So, next order of business. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the establishment of the 2026 standard mileage rate as set by the IRS pursuant to the IRS statement released on December 29th, 2025 as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Smith, >> Seconded by
083Miss Kohl's. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. Motion carries. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education approves the resolution for the reporting requirements for elected or appointed officials as detailed in the Friday mailing. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Smith. >> Seconded by Miss Kohl's. All those in favor? I >> I >> Any opposed? >> Okay, motion carries. Okay, if there are no topics to discuss, just wanted to highlight some important dates. Schools will be closed. Well, before that, January 15th, which is tomorrow, >> senior banquet here at the high school, 6 p.m. >> Martin Luther King on Monday. >> Tomorrow's Friday. She's saying tomorrow's the senior bank. >> Tomorrow's the senior bank. >> Oh, she started but then she took a step
084back to >> Yeah. [laughter] took a step back. Uh January 19th, schools will be closed in observance of MLK day, Dr. King Day. Okay. agree with that. >> And 120 to 123, January 20th to the 23rd, high school midterms and regent exams. January 20th through January 30th, kindergarten registration. >> Yes, it begins. Uh and we have end of end of second marking period for the high school and middle school which is January 23rd. Progress reports for K through 5, January 30th and report cards will be published to the portal second marking period at the high school and middle school on February 2nd. All right. The next uh board of education meeting and budget work session will be held at Plaza at 7 PM and that's February 11th again and same day we will have um
085the Baldwin Middle School musical preview at Plaza and that would be 8:00 p.m. So looking forward to that. Yes. >> Okay. So can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:35? >> So moved. >> Okay. Moved by Miss Kohl's. >> Seconded by Miss Dresca. All those in favor. >> Okay. None of us are opposed. [laughter] >> Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful evening and thank you for coming out.