001You all right? Yes. Excellent. You sure? Yes. All right. Here we go. We're calling the meeting to order. If everyone can stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Welcome everybody. We're going to we do not have anyone. All right. And then our fun part will be for me is our good news. All right. We got a couple throwbacks. We can skip right through because we actually got them conveniently or we have throwbacks from Lisa and Tom that were at the same from 2 years ago. So do you scroll ahead here? It's a Lisa's updated one. Maybe I don't know. All right, here we go.
002So we have Lisa Robinson, special education teacher for BHS. She'd like to wish congratulations to the members and contestants of Mr. Batavia. This year Mr. Batavia raised $5,870. Since 2013, $54,383 have been raised. Uh this year's donations went to the Ricky Palermo Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and the Dylan Hall Memorial Scholarship. And then we do have Tom who on March 17th, BHS Model UN Club sent nine delegates to the International Institute of Buffalo Model UN Conference at SUNY at Buffalo. These students collaborate collaborated and negotiated with over 800 other students from 47 area school districts in an effort to solve a variety of global issues. All right, we have our assistant principal, Ms. Cameron from BMS. Our secretary, Heather LaChata, recently joined the team and has been doing a phenomenal job. She creates a welcoming
003and supportive environment for students who come into the office. She handles the constant flow of phone calls with professionalism and care. She's an excellent multitasker, keeps everything running smoothly even during the busiest times of the day. Her organization, positive attitude, and willingness to jump in whenever needed has already made a a big difference. She has been a tremendous help to me and and real asset to our school community. We're very fortunate to have her on our team. And since we have our special ed director here, we're also going to acknowledge one of our special ed teachers. If you go back up one. Yes. Um she'd also like to recognize Emma Easteridge, one of our special education teachers for the outstanding work she's doing with our students. Emma leads a 12 1 1 classroom and cons-
004consistently demonstrates the patience, empathy, and professionalism that are so important in supporting our most valuable learners or vulnerable learners, excuse me. She has built strong, trusting relationships with her students and maintains a well-managed, structured classroom environment that allows them to feel safe and successful. All right. So, now we'll go ahead to the number one of the things there. We have Mrs. Natera, our principal at Jackson, would like to recognize Alyssa Weinman. Alyssa is a very flexible She is very flexible and supportive students in need. She is always willing to help and support where she is needed. Thank you for all you do. We truly appreciate you. Mr. Mettler, our SEL teacher at PHS. Mrs. Warner, multiple students have told me she helped them catch up on work or missed work owed or missed during the
005third quarter. One student said, "She did it without yelling at me or getting frustrated. She just helped me." So, thank you for that, Mrs. Warner. And we also have for the high school, Mr. Mettler would like at the club meeting, a student said, "Mrs. Geitner is so awesome. She makes me love science. Because of her, I I to grow up and work in the field of biology. Thank you for your enthusiasm. And those are also posted on our site as well for you to take a look at. All right. So, let's get into some presentations here. Our first presentation is for our international trip proposal. Hi, I'm Janine Scanio and I lead the travel club here at Octavia High School and we just got back like a week ago from our third international trip. We
006actually went to five different countries. We went to Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and to France. And the kids had an absolutely great time and it's so nice to see the kids grow on these trips. Like some of the kids that were freshmen and were maybe a little immature at the beginning, by the end they understood how they had to behave and what to do and they were really good and they were working really well with the older kids. And a couple of the kids who were very shy and didn't really talk to anybody at the beginning, by the end were friends with everyone and one of the kids like it made me feel so good cuz at the end we had a meeting with our the tour director and went over things and she said,
007"Is there anything anybody would like to add?" And he was the first kid with his hand up and he's like, "I just want to say what a great trip this was and how much I learned and how much I enjoyed it." And for him to speak up in front of our school of kids and the other school that we were with was like a real growing experience for him. So, these trips teach so much more than kids can even learn in a classroom. And so, I had some of the kids who I knew who were interested in traveling and I brought them in and I gave them three different options for trips for next year and overwhelmingly they picked Japan. So, Japanese culture is really big right now even in American culture with like Pokémon
008and different foods and songs and all this stuff. So, if you want to know more about Japan, you can talk to Mr. Smith cuz he's been there twice and he shared that with me how much he liked it. And so, that is one country I've never been to. I've been to at least 21 different countries, but I've never been anywhere in Asia. So, this will be a learning experience for me as well. Um this is a sample itinerary. We fly into Tokyo, the Fuji, I don't even know how to pronounce these names. So, I'll just let you kind of read them and the Haneda region. And then we will be there for a total of 9 days. Um and if you want to go to the next one. So, round trip the student price is
009$5,519. Which is a lot of money. However, I was able to lock this price in before the gas prices went up and before airline prices went up. And um so at that time we didn't know that there would be a war and that all these things would go up, but I had said, "Could you wait until we get back from this trip and can you hold that price?" And they said, "Yes." But, this price is only good until May 1st. So, if you approve that we can do this trip, I'm having a meeting on Thursday with families and I'm going to tell them if you want to sign up, sign up right away. Um they said if we waited till fall nobody would be able to afford it because the prices are going up so
010much they wouldn't be able to afford it. But, within that it includes a round trip airfare, all your hotels, breakfast and dinner every day, full-time tour director that stays with us for the entire time, rides with us on the bus, stays with us at the hotels, local guides in each of the different areas. There's a a specialized local guide that gives us information, and you guys would have been so proud of the kids this year. Um we would quiz them on the bus. So, when we would be driving from country to country, we would like quiz the kids, and they knew all the answers. They knew there's 25,000 different castles in just the uh country of Austria, which is the size of South Carolina. But, all the questions were like, "Wow, they're really paying attention.
011They're really learning this." So, it was really fantastic. Um transportation, uh a lot of times we have like those coach buses. In um Japan, we'll also be taking the bullet train. So, they have these super fast bullet trains that we'll be taking as well. Um travel insurance is included in the price. Um and then all the kids get their EF backpack that they wear around and bring all of their things in. So, the second choice option that the kids picked was for Scandinavia. So, I would also like to see if you would approve our trip for 2028 as well as 2027 because I know this one for Japan, we I already have 42 kids that are very interested in this trip who um whose parents have contacted me, and that trip is going to fill
012fill, hopefully, before May 1st. But, then I won't have any trip for other people to go on like freshmen for next year. So, um if we could approve a trip, I wouldn't do it right away at the beginning of the year, but partway into the year, um then I would be able to offer another trip, and then those kids would have like over a year and a half to pay for the trip so that their payments would be less. So, um that would be the capitals of Scandinavia. So, um and it would fly um into uh Oslo, then down to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and then if we did the extension, we could go to um Helsinki and uh Sweden as well. So, that would be a trip for 2028, but the trip for 2027 would be
013June of 2027. We would leave 2 days after graduation, so right after the kids graduate. So, I had the kids vote on when they would like to go, whether they wanted to go spring break like we did this year or in the summer. And the kids said, "Well, a lot of us have family things that we do over spring break, so we would rather go in the summer." So, one thing that's hard for me is if we do it in the middle of the summer and I haven't seen the kids since the end of school. So, I said, "How about this? What if we did it right after graduation?" So, that I just seen you, we just had our departure meetings, and then 2 days later we can leave. So, that seemed like a really
014good time for all of the kids. So, for the um 2027 trip, that would be leaving June 28th of 2027. I don't know the exact dates for 2028, but it would also probably be right at the end of the school year unless kids voted that they would rather go um over Easter break. So, do you guys have any questions for me? All right. So, I thank you, Janine. You've done a great job with this over the years. Um I'll be honest with you, I get nervous when I have kids traveling anywhere, but especially overseas. And the only nervousness I had this time was that my kids didn't have pictures to post on Facebook. So, you did a great job with it, and the kids I I know some of the kids of mine they had
015a great time. So. Yeah, I agree. I Ava, she booked a trip to Scotland in May. I was like, "Darn Darn that travel club. Now she wants to travel Now she wants to travel all over. That's the same thing that happened to my own children do. So, yeah. >> wonderful. Yeah. Do you anticipate the Scandinavian trip being approximately the same cost as the Japan trip? Um yeah, I think it should be around that same amount, yeah. And I didn't I can't say for sure because Right. all prices going up and everything, so I'm hoping that prices will come down, you know, late before I book that trip. Um and so then it might be a little bit less than that, but we'll we'll see. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Yes.
016Did she leave? Yeah, she did. Yeah. Okay. Wait. So, Carla, can you see if she's still out there? I had a quick question. Huh? I didn't ask if she should be an administrator. I'm just a little worried about approving a trip all the way till 2028. I don't know what are your guys' thoughts on that. Can I approve that that early now? Why are you asking that question? Can it be a conditional Yeah, I mean, should be Well, you know, we always have the I didn't mean Hi. I'm sorry, Janine. I heard there was maybe another question. Yes. So, I'll be honest, I'm a little hesitant on approving something for in 2028, that far in advance, um without having a whole lot of details on it yet. I I mean, especially with everything that's going
017on, I'm completely comfortable with the 2027 one. She's got 42 people interested in that already. With 2028, who knows? I mean, it's a great opportunity for the students, but just seems just a little bit too far in advance for me. Is it Do you have any thoughts on that, or >> Is it possible that we could just like kind of like reapprove it until just because of I I don't know pricing. What am I suggesting? >> I don't know about that. Well, you you don't have any of the details on pricing now. You're just asking I'm not going to actually set it up right now, but I know that sometimes, so like I was supposed to come a month ago, but then they were or "Hey, can we bump you in a month because we're
018really busy?" So, I just thought like, as long as I was here, I could maybe get two approved just be just for your time. You know, I don't mind coming back in the fall to get another one approved, but I just thought that if we did this, then I wouldn't need to come back in front of you again for another one. But, I don't mind you. >> might be um sorry might be to have the more formally approved the trip to um Japan, and then maybe just get some head nods the possible June of 2028 trip, and if they have any questions, you can ask any questions. If they say, "Yes, sounds fine," then come back later on, maybe get the more formal yes vote from the board. I mean, even if you can't come
019in, we can still get it on the agenda to approve for you. Oh, okay. Yeah, sure. I just again, it's it's so far in advance and with everything going on, this trip can come back, we'll approve it, but if this trip's come back that, you know, 10 12,000 dollars, double the amount of cost. I wouldn't I wouldn't do it if it was that much, to be honest, cuz I wouldn't want to do that to families. Like So, are you guys would you guys be okay with approving tonight the the 27 one and then giving a um I guess an informal to bring us the details for that, even if you we can't get you physically in the room. >> Yeah, I mean, she did quote me a price for that one because when I presented
020it to the kids, I had a price, but it was a 2028 price, not a or I'm sorry, a 2027 price, not a 2028 price. But, um if that's all right with you, I like in the fall, I can just have her put on the agenda that we want it approved, and then I don't need to come in and talk to you about it again. The fall also might be too soon for you. Well, then I mean, we're we're in April right now, and we're looking at a trip two years two years down the road. It could be the 50/50 raising so the kids could have more time to raise funds. Is that your intention? Well, that's the thing. If we could set it up um like sometime in the fall, like October, November, then
021families have longer to pay off the trip, so they have smaller monthly payments if you have it set up earlier. Would you have pricing for it now? We would, yeah. What's the sign natural obligation if if the kids put down on the down payment, um is that is that non-refundable? Or is it all >> So, um there's a $100 down payment that everybody puts down. For 7 days you can get your full money back. So, if you are like have buyer's remorse and you're like, "Oh, it seemed like a good idea, but now I don't want to go." In 7 days you can get that $100 back. After that, you can't get the 100 back, but because of the travel insurance and the reason they do travel insurance now, pretty much ever since um COVID
022they've done that, but also Europe now has um requirements that you need to show proof of travel insurance when you get there. So, they could ask you for that when you show your passport. So, all our students had to have a thing saying that they had travel insurance. So, um with your travel insurance you can get your money back if something comes up and you get sick, you break your leg, you move away, something happens, then you can get your money refunded. >> So, I think the other question might be if we postpone this until like later in the school year, um that probably wouldn't be a reason if if the board says yes and then changes their mind cuz something happens, that probably wouldn't be a reason for the kids to get their money
023back if they already paid, right? No, it could be a reason. Yeah, yeah. If So, if um cuz I know that happened with they just changed the location. It was I'm trying to remember the year. It was like 20 2017, I think, I did a trip when I was at a previous school and we went to Italy, but the school that was supposed to go with us was from um New York City and we got there and there was no other school and they're like, "Oh, their board at the last minute wouldn't approve any travel to Europe." And so, they went to Costa Rica instead. So, they just switched their trip. But if Yeah, so if the school district said, "We're going to halt um travel right now." they could get their money back and
024that would be a legitimate reason to do that. Yeah. So, if you don't mind that and again the rest of the board chime in, but I I would like to just see it back on the agenda a little bit down once you get details finalized for that before we give it a formal approval. Okay. Do we look good for Japan? Japan will look good. All right. And then yeah, so when the fall I'll just submit something for approval with the price and all of that before I put that out to any families. Where you have the the 42 for Japan, is there like a max or minimum that you have a a guideline for in your head? So, usually every year when we go, we're always with another school. I've had a couple of times
025when I wasn't, but we the kids always get along with the other schools. They become friends with kids at the other schools. This year however, the other school in the end our kids became friends with some of those kids, but the other teacher um I don't know. It wasn't the best situation with the other school. She wasn't too nice to our kids at first and there was a little bit of an issue. So, I'm like if if you can get 40 students, you don't have to be with another school. But since this is my 10th tour, um I'm like a gold member status, so I only need 30 students. So, if I can get 30 students, we don't have to get matched up with another school and it can be a Batavia only trip. So,
026I want to get at least 30 so that we can have a Batavia only trip. >> But if all of them wanted to go, they could. Yes. Yeah. I don't want to put a limit on it because if if there are kids that want to go and it's a great opportunity, I don't want to limit it. So. Thank you. All right. Sorry, I started to leave and I wasn't finished yet. Any other questions? >> Sounds good. Okay, that sounds great. Thank you. So, we're going to do the uh vote on that now for the trip for the June uh Japan trip. So, I need a motion to approve that. So approved. By Jen. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Corrine. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All right. So, that's approved. All right.
027And then if you want to make a note uh For that. >> Yeah. If if you know she can't make it in for presentation you have to just let us know. Just have a follow-up gentleman so let both of us know. All right. Next up we have Kelly Marciano, our director of special ed, to give us an update on that. All right. I'll hand out for everyone. You're welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. So, we'll start this with introductions. Again, Kelly Marciano, director of special education. I'm Melissa Elliott, the assistant director of special education. Sorry. All right. First, it was great to hear all the good news. Um so many of those people were special education teachers or special education support staff. So, thank you for acknowledging all of them. All right.
028So, first thing um that I'm just going to go over is where our current numbers are. So, we send our data up to the state every year. Our data is always kind of a year behind of what we're looking at. So, last year our students we had 15% of students with disabilities both in Batavia, so we had 310 total students, and then in the region we also saw an increase from the year before uh 14% up to 15% across the board. So, again, similar trends that we saw last year to this year is that we're still seeing an increase in that mental health need, higher level of classification of other health impairment. We're also seeing more students classified with an emotional disability, um and seeing that that level of need of mental health is really
029out there. More behavior challenges, um and needing more specialized programs for our students. We're also starting to see a larger gap with our students coming to us also that have um a more of an academic gap than we've seen in the past too. So, we're also seeing students needing more of that academic-based self-contained classroom. Um we watch this number. We don't want to go over 15%. We want to stay around that 15% as close as possible, but then also looking at what our least restrictive um classification rate is as well. So, right now we have about 30% of our students who are in a more specialized program. We really want to get somewhere between 15 and 20 is what the state looks at. So, we are on the trend of seeing higher level of need,
030needing more specialized supports, but then how do we come back and talk about getting them in their least restrictive environment, which is typically more with gen ed peers as much as possible. Um so, that's the numbers that we're constantly looking at. Um I'm going to let Ally kind of talk about her role. Um before she does, I just want to thank all of you for approving this role this year. It's been a tremendous support having Ally helping me uh this year. She's learned a lot, so she'll go over those pieces with her. Um but we definitely are in a much better place this year than we've been in the last 4 years since I've been here. So, I appreciate all of your support with that. I'm going to let you do it. All right. So,
031my responsibilities include the CSE chairperson training. So, now I can run the CSE and 504 meetings. Um I also process all of the new referrals and transfer students and coordinate those services. Um I also support the MTSS teams in the different buildings, mostly at Robert Morris and Jackson at this time. Um I also lead professional learning teams, and um I've developed an IEP guide that I'll talk a little bit more about later. And then one thing that's not on there is that I have been conducting teacher observations, which is one of my favorite things of the job because I love to see all the hard work that our teachers are doing and especially our related service providers because that's something that I didn't get to see when I was teaching. What Ali didn't say though
032is that she's also really helped us streamline a lot of our processes and she'll show we'll show an example of some of the work that she's done as well later on. Um but her technological side is beyond anyone. I thought I used to be techy but nothing compared to her so that's been a huge support for us. Um this year we've had the following goals. So we had professional learning teams for the self-contained classrooms. We continued our work with related services this year but really kind of put a focus on self-contained so our 611 and our 1211 classrooms. We're working on building programming with current staffing and supports. Consistency and clarity around the IEP development and writing. And then we've had a couple of targeted skills groups that are mandated by the state for us
033to take part in and we'll talk about each of those individually. And this year our PLTs our professional learning teams have been meeting monthly. So typical professional learning community we want them meeting on a cycle but because they're in different buildings we've been able to pull them together monthly which is more than they've been able to in the past. We're still trying to figure out that sweet spot though to get them in together more often. Um the IEP guide Ali will talk about in a little bit and we continue to work a lot with the principals creating more succinct continuum throughout the entire district. All right. So this slide shows how our self-contained teams and related service providers are engaging in professional learning teams. The 1211 classrooms both the academic and life skills started with
034a focus on reading and trying to align the reading instruction across the grade levels. Um the 611 classroom, which is a behavior classroom, focused on um different behaviors and explicitly teaching those behavioral skills. Now, we have combined the life skills classroom and the behavioral classroom to um learn about Unique, which is a digital platform that will help with streamlining that curriculum across the different grade levels, especially in the classrooms that are in multi-age there's more than one grade level in each classroom. And then our related service providers, so that's speech, PT, and OT, they have aligned their work by um clearly defining the entry and exit criteria for services, strengthening communication with families, and they've created service-specific handbooks to ensure consistency. All right, so the handouts that we passed out um makes the continuum slide
035bigger for for you cuz it's very hard to see on the PowerPoint. So, when you look at that, there's um two different versions. There's our current continuum, which has 25 26 at the top. And what you see that's yellow, those are what we were able to adjust or add to our programming for this school year. Um so, one thing that we did change at Robert Morris last school year into this one was reducing our integrated classroom at the preschool level, and we created a 1211. The reason we did that was due to overall cost of that one classroom that was integrated cuz we were paying the cost for a full-time general education teacher and a special education teacher. By going to a 1211 model, we were able to reduce that to one teacher instead. Um
036and then also seeing the regional need of what our students needed, a 1211 seemed to align better. We were able to focus more on academics for that cohort. At Jackson, we had a 611 behavior classroom that we switched to an 813 this year, so eight students, one teacher, three aides in the classroom supporting. And the reason we made that change is we were seeing less at that level, the um emotional disability type of students, maybe physical aggression, and we're seeing more of a profile that was working more on social pragmatic and had more of that autism based um classification. So, we changed that to support that student need. And then in November, um we had made a proposal to Mr. Smith about opening a 612 classroom because we had these students who were coming in
037that were not in early intervention, were not in the CPSE process, um that came in to register mid beginning September mid-September that had a more significant need than what we could uh accommodate within our um current classifications, our current settings. And we found that that would be cheaper for us in the long run to have those students within our district. So, again, I appreciate all of your support in opening that classroom. Uh we've been able to support five to six students consistently in that classroom, and we're seeing huge growth out of all of them. So, some of them next year will actually transition to a 1211, some will need that level support still in our 812, which I'll talk about in a minute, um but we're seeing with them having that level of support now
038that they've been able to really grow. And then in the high school this year, we were able to add a 1211, so a self-contained setting, so 12 teacher or 12 students, one teacher, one aide in both ELA and algebra. And we had to co-seat that class this year, so meaning our ninth graders and 10th graders were together in that class. Um we're seeing that's a bit of a struggle, so we have some plans for next year, but we were able to service all of those students at max number of 12 students right now who have been in there all year long. At 10th grade, we added the integrated co-teaching model, so different between consultant teacher, consultant teacher comes in, supports the student, may only be there for a part of a period, um really modifying
039just the materials, whether it's making sure that they have their test run to them, really making sure that what's on their IEP is supported in the classroom. An integrated co-teacher is truly team teaching with this general education teacher. They may be doing smaller groups, they may be pulling students to focus just on the essential skills and standards versus giving them the modifications and accommodations that they need. So, we were able to roll that up to 10th grade. So, that was this year. And then for next year, you can see the yellow. Again, we're able to make some adjustments based on our needs. So, we are reducing for the preschool, removing the 12 1 1. We are looking at doing more half-day programs for our students, again based on the need and then also the cost
040of the program. At kindergarten, we're going to change that 6 1 2 to an 8 1 2 to cover the kindergarten and first graders that need that level of support. Similar profile, low cognitive scores, low communication needs. The teacher and I have talked about, can we handle eight students with that type of profile? And yes, with the need of kindergarten first grade. So, it currently is first and second graders, so it's a little bit different. When we look down at the middle school, we're able to shift our models as well from going from an enrichment model, which before was students going to meet with their special education teachers working on homework, working on classwork. But, what they ended up doing is a lot of re-teaching and pre-teaching, which is truly the resource room model. So,
041we're switching to really put that on the IEP so that we're showing exactly what the students are getting. Couple of reasons for that switch too that we're doing all the way from middle school to high school is really one to meet the needs of the students, to really show the services that they're getting. Resource room counts as time out of the regular education classroom, which we need that for state reporting, where enrichment was not getting caught in our state reporting. And then also our students can be transient at times, so when they move to another district, we want to make sure that they're getting that level of support as well if they were to leave us. At sixth grade, with the reconfiguration, we're able to have one of our special education teachers who previously taught
042a 12:1:1 state and teach a 6:1:1, which is going to help our behavior concerns. So, we have a group of five or six students slotted for that class right now. And then at ninth grade, we're rolling up self-contained. We'll have a true ninth grade self-contained for ELA, math, and social studies. And then as you see, we go up each year, so ninth and 10th grade will have the same level of supports. 11th grade we're adding in the integrated co-teaching and resource room, and then 12th grade to resource room. I did the IEPs that I created that we discussed. So, this was to support consistent IEP writing across buildings and grade levels. There are different tabs for different things such as the timelines of when things are due and when certain things need to be done
043before the annual review, the meeting expectations, the guide and resources to writing the IEP, a pre-CSE meeting checklist, the different programs and the minutes and frequency of each program, the testing accommodations, and then some other resources and supports. So, one of the key focuses was to clarify the testing accommodations, specifically identifying student profiles, and who qualifies for each type of accommodation so that accommodations are intentionally aligned to student needs. All right. So, this year we engaged in a targeted skills group led by some folks from not from our BOCES, but from the They're called the RCS task, so they kind of work through the state. They're kind of like the next funnel down, so the state says, "You need to work on this area." They come in and support us through professional development, through meetings.
044So, the first one we had was New York State Alternative Assessment Group. So, those are our students who do not take a New York State 3 through 8 assessment or a Regents, and that they graduate with a certificate, not a diploma. Um so, there's a lot of criteria that you have to go through on determining if a student does qualify for that, and that's the last handout that I have for you is the decision-making guide. So, we um had to participate because our percentage in the area of science, so students can be alternatively assessed in ELA, math, and science, and science was at 2.95%. The state wants us to be at 1%, but if you're above 2.5%, that's when you have to engage in the targeted skills group. So, with us having that target in
045science, there's a couple of reasons for that. One is the students don't have to take science every year. They only take it twice within their academic career of 3 through 12th grade. It's ELA and math that's every year, so we have a larger population at that point. Um so, when you look at the individuals, how many for science, you're really looking at 10-ish students, but that's going to increase our rate cuz we have a bigger cohort in 8th grade taking that exam. Um so, one thing that we looked at is overall our practices of how are we identifying students to be alternatively assessed, what are the resources we're giving parents. So, the activities that we have to do is a list with BOCES representation. One of them was using the decision-making tool, which I handed
046out to you. And then we're also providing parents a resource, so that's what this little pamphlet is here. There's a parent guide that's from New York State. We have to use New York State-approved resources that explains to the parents in a bit of more user-friendly terms than what their regulations say of what does it truly mean when your student is alternatively assessed? What's the difference between a certificate and a diploma? And how does that impact them post-secondary? So, we've been working a lot on communicating that with our families and then we're also engaging with professional development for our staff so that they're truly understanding when we're making these recommendations of our third graders, our fourth graders, how that can impact them once they're 22 and they exit us. And then we're also working on adding
047in training for our families with the support of they're called the FACE Center. They have um Right FACE? FACE Center. Yes. The acronym I can't remember exactly what it stands for, but they work with all of the resources to get them to our parents. We're also part of the targeted skills group for literacy, which we joined based on the 2023-2024 um grades four and eight ELA state assessment data. So, the purpose of this work is to improve reading outcomes for students with disabilities through explicit, systematic instruction, and targeted re-teaching. In order to do this, we created two task force teams. One of them we call test read. So, the test read group um is currently examining students who get the accommodation of having their test read allowed to them, um but they continue to struggle.
048So, they're focusing on strengthening instruction around understanding texts and answering questions using evidence. And then we also have our foundational skills task force group, which is focusing on grades K through two, and they're identifying essential early literacy skills and aligning them vertically across the different grade levels. So, overall, our outcome that we want is to have consistent instruction that improves the foundational skills, fluency, and comprehension. And this group, too, really has evolved over time. So, we started off with meeting um a group of us of special education teachers, um administrators, Dr. Corey's part of that, and some principals. And we've been able with these two task force to bring in also the reading teachers, the coaches, and so it's really a multi-disciplinary approach to reading. So, it's not just this is the special education teachers
049domain, you're working on this in reading over here. We're really starting to collaborate together, um which I think long term is going to show great growth for our students. All right. And our third one is state performance plan 13. So, this is looking at one of the um data points that I have to send to the state every couple of years is what is transition planning look like on the IEP. So, the first one uh for this is really looking at ultimately, what are we doing to support our students for post-secondary when they exit us at 18 and or 22 to get them ready to be in the workforce, go to college, and what are their goals. So, we're doing a lot of future planning with them, and it has to be explicitly stated on
050the IEP. Um so, our our teachers did a great job. They joined um some professional learning development within the district, and then also at BOCES. We're having a lot of conversations to determine truly what are our goals for our students, and then what is it that we need to make sure on the IEP to support our students to get to that point. Um so, an example of this might be that instead of an IEP stating that the student just wants to be employed, that's their ultimate goal, the state wants us to be more specific. So, what does that mean for them? What type of a field do they want? So, instead we're switching it to um if a student says that they want to work in the music industry, we're making sure they're also taking
051music classes, and that that's aligned on their schedules because we don't want to say, you want to Some of our students will say, "I want to be a YouTuber." is one of their favorites right now. And we say, "Is that realistic? Maybe, maybe not, right? But what class could you take? Could you take a tech class right now? Could you go to BOCES um and take one of the classes over there to get you ready to understand computers and all of those pieces. So, we want them to have big goals, but we also try and bring it realistic and then what do they need to do to accomplish that goal? And then last year our Special Olympics event was great. Um I don't think I stopped like smiling and just interacting with all the families,
052the students. Um they really did a great job last year. We're continuing to partner with the New York State School for the Blind, Genesee Valley BOCES, and then this year Elba and Byron-Bergen is actually going to join us. So, we keep expanding it. Uh formally when I was in Wayne County, it was huge for us to have Special Olympics. We met as a whole region. So, we're actually us as Batavia and the New York State School for the Blind and then Avon. So, we have two different regions are trying to get it so that cuz we are far apart as a region, right? So, Avon has a cohort and then we're trying to expand our cohort so we can keep going. The director from Avon and I both worked together in Wayne County, so we're
053both like, "Okay, we're going to do this." Um so, this is the date and the time. We do have a rain date which I can share with Mr. Smith to share with you, but hopefully by June 4th we're over this snow, rain, all of it. Um and that it's a great day. So, please come. It's It's just so much joy to watch them and they had a a wonderful time. We're continuing to have our middle school and high school students. Our goal eventually is to expand it all the way down, but for this year with adding more schools, we're trying to just expand slowly as we go. All right. And then our goals, ongoing focus is that we um like I said before, really making sure that we're following what's least restrictive. I want to
054make sure that when um I have to meet in a targeted skills group that I can identify and justify why we're over certain percentages. So, I want to make sure that we have a great system in place. Ally has helped me this year make similar to the um one document that I gave you, of truly looking at students data before we're making a jump from a general education classroom to a self-contained classroom. So, we have some other tools that we're implementing for moving into next year. We'll continue to work around New York State alternative assessments, using protocols and procedures, working in our task forces and our professional learning teams. We want to continue to use our expand our continuum so our students are getting what they need. Um and then again working on those IEP
055compliance and making sure that we're writing quality IEPs. All right. Do you have any questions for us? I do. Yeah. Um how do you keep the um goal of 15% Yeah. that's 15%? Do you obviously have the committees and you must declassify some of the students in certain areas. Yes. And how do you how did you how did the state come to 15%? Yeah, so we want to make sure that our students are getting the multi-tiered system of supports, that they're in the least restrictive environment, and that they have access to their general education curriculum, whether it's a special education student or not. So, when you think of and I think you've all done work on multi-tiered system and that triangle visual, our special education students should be in that top small percentage piece, and
056that we should be seeing. So, if we start to see that 15% is growing, that's an indicator to me that then talk to Dr. Corey of something's happening at that tier one general curriculum that we're missing and we need to fix that there cuz it doesn't mean that all of our students need specialized instruction, it means we're missing something in the general ed. Um but it's always a moving target cuz then there's sometimes where there's a student who comes in and we say, "Ooh, that student is nonverbal, um behavioral, aggressive, we got to do something to support that student and we can't follow that strict process of least restrictive. So, it's a constant like give and take of, "Okay, if I classify this one student, that might put us over. They truly need it. Does
057this student need it or is it like a deeper concern of tier one and making sure we're using tier one?" So, it's a a constant We have lots of post-its in our office and lots of like, "If this, then this, then how do we make sure we're classing at the right times and not declassing too early for students?" Um and then you always have your cohort of graduating seniors that help with that number, too. So, if we have 20 of them leaving, that means I have essentially 20 other spots to keep us at 15%. Now, that I always want to fill those. >> Um but what do you do if family, as you did mention transient students are happening, and they bring in a family full of students that need extra help? Yeah. What happens
058then? So, we have to do exactly what's on their IEP or the right say or as close to it. So, sometimes what we see is other districts offer like a 15:1 instead of a 12, and it's just a different ratio of student. So, I'll call the parent or Ali will call the parent and say, "This is what we have in Batavia." And we have a conversation saying, "Okay, that may still impact our number overall." But then that's data that I use to the state to then say, "We've got this number of students who enrolled, who have IEPs, and that's why our number has gone up. And if we do end up in those targeted skills groups, then we're just saying, "This is why our data looks like this." And we get to the root cause
059of it and how do we support the students? I mean, ultimately, sometimes we're going to go over 15%, especially with seeing the need in the region going up to 15% across everywhere. There's other districts near us who have 16 to 18%. So, it's a lot of work that we're doing as a region to talk about that, too, of how do we support our students? Is there any repercussion from the state if we do go above 15? Like, I guess yes, they're saying, "Okay, hey, don't have 115 kids in that grade." If that's something that in theory you have all these kids and they are unclassifiable or movable, what does one do at that point? >> So, that's when we have those targeted skills groups that come in from the BOCES group who has that contract
060with the state, but they be then have to go through some sort of process. So, the um one that we're doing with the New York State alternate assessment one is probably there's multiple phases. So, the first one is our targeted skills group for literacy. We go to BOCES, we do some PD. The next phase is that they come to us and we look at our actual systems and supports and that's what we're doing with New York State alternate assessments. The next is then the state does a compliance review with us. And so, we don't want to get to that point, but if we had to, I would be able to say confidently we have done what we need to do. We're over 18% and yes, this is accurate and why we need this. So, it's
061having those checks and balances, having those forms that we've created to say >> ourselves. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It is a big balance, though. Well, I guess I look at it this way, I don't ever want to see somebody fall through the cracks and say "Well, because we need to hit this number, we're going to declassify this child when they really shouldn't be because then we have failed that one just to save another one." And I just don't Absolutely. I don't want to see a kid fail because we we made the decision that they shouldn't be classified. >> Yeah, so I've been involved in some of these conversations too, and not once in my whole career, you know, I have known what you're asking and I I know why you're asking it, but we would
062never want to I would never allow that to happen to a kid which is going to declassify a student because we're afraid of For cuz it's the bubble kids that you worry about. So, I mean I mean >> they're on the bubble, oh, they can be declassified. I would hate to see that happen to our kids because there's no reason for that. I recognize the rationale for it. I would never want that to be the reason for us to not Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing too, if they are declassified, they have a declassification plan. So, we still monitor them too, and if we see that that still need that level of support or like, "Ooh, that kid's really not doing well." We come back together and say, "Okay, we need to look at reclassification
063for that student." >> Have we had that happen where we declassify kids to reclassify? Um no, the only time I've ever had that happen is if the student had um the classification of speech or language impairment and no longer needed speech, but needed like learning disability instead. So, now we're going through the multi-tiered system of supports to prove that that student has a learning disability and that it's not lack of potential instruction, things like that. So, it's looking then you can't just move one classification to the other cuz we think they fit they fit that, it's we have to show due diligence that they've actually meet that criteria. So, that's the only time we've had to say you declassify from speech, but now we're looking at learning disability for you. Yeah. Other questions? Is that
064how you come up with whether or not they get a certificate or a diploma, too? Just based on all this all the classification and you guys do all that behind-the-scenes work. And how do how do parents uh are are they hoping that they transition into a diploma, like how does that I personally have really honest conversations with the families because I want them to fully aware what that means the difference. So, it's only our students who have the New York State alternative assessment that can get a certificate versus a diploma. There's a lots of other ways we can get a student to get a diploma. The most um intensive way is if we do a superintendent's determination. So, I say to um Mr. Smith, "The student has sat for this Regents four times. They've improved
065each time. We look at their other Regents scores. The formula shows us we've seen rate of improvement." And he can sign off on that. That's a diploma. Student can go out, typical high school diploma, we're good. The certificate, though, is truly a certificate saying you you have um employability skills that we have taught you in a work-based learning environment. And so, when I talk to parents about that in third grade to eighth grade, really, we talk about this could change anytime, but when we get to ninth grade, that's kind of when we have to make that final almost decision. I say that almost because they could recoup some skills from ninth to 10th grade and then not be credit deficient. So, it's this big formula back and forth, but we also want to be very
066transparent with the parents of what's the difference between a certificate cuz a lot of jobs will look at that and say you don't have a high school diploma. Um so, that's where we're giving them all of those resources and hoping that they ask all the questions. We give them everything. We tell them all of the information, but then we constantly bring it up every year to make sure that they feel fully aware of their decisions, too, cuz it does it impacts them. Yeah. So, I I was at Robert Morris and just saw that first wing in action. It was phenomenal. So, I just want to say thank you for the investment you guys are making into our community and these kids that have these uh challenges. It was for me, I I said it a
067few times already, it was emotional. Um just to see your teachers doing such a phenomenal job with these kids. Yeah. Well, and I appreciate all of your support with that, too, cuz it hasn't gone unnoticed of how difficult it has been with our preschool programs, too, of always looking at student need versus cost cuz that's the reality, too, and making sure that we're meeting our students' needs but also being fiscally responsible. So, I've appreciated all of your support and want to keep making sure that we're opening communication between that and making sure that you're fully aware, too, so that we can continue what we need for our students. Well, I appreciate you saying that, Kelly, cuz that leads right into my question. Yeah. Um and thank you for this update cuz it really does give
068us a lot of information within your department that, you know, we don't see on a regular basis being on the board. Um just kind of comparing your your two charts here on six and seven for for what we have currently this year and next year. Yeah. Am I reading this right that we are eliminating a full day of a 1211 for next year. And if we are, how are we how I how and why and how are we servicing those kids that were in that? Yeah, absolutely. So, that group has all year kind of run less than the 12 maximum that we can have. We've operated at the beginning of the year with three to four students, which then the cost of that is pretty significant. So, what we're able to do for next year
069is instead of having two full-day classrooms of 12, we're actually going to re-change one of the 611 classrooms that's a full day into two half days. So, we'll be able to operate a full-day 611, I'm sorry, a half-day 611 and then the other counterpart will be another 12. So, we still can service the same number of students. It'll be a less time, but it also meets the early intervention need that we see coming in. And I think we've done this every year, too, where we kind of reconfigure what preschool looks like based on what we're getting from early intervention to make sure we're reading meeting those needs. When we started the program, we had integrated classrooms, half-day integrated, full-day integrated. So, every year we've kind of shifted based on what we see coming in so
070that we can meet all of their needs coming in. So, we'll have instead of the full-day 1211, that position was eliminated and we're moving that teacher to the K1 self-contained 813 classroom. And then we're reallocating one of those full-day teachers into having two half-day classrooms. So, that the 813 for kindergarten, I'm showing an 812. >> Yes, sorry, 812. >> Okay. Yes, thank you. But even looking at Jackson this year, isn't there an additional 612 room that I don't see? Only one. Yeah, that's going to be So, that cohort is going to move back to Robert Morris. They'll get the incoming kindergarten students and then some of our first graders will go back to Robert Morris for a year to be a multi-age room and we're changing that room from the 612 to the 812. So
071it's moving that physical classroom over to Robert Morris instead of at Jackson. Okay. Would that be half day or full day? Full day. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? All right. Well, thank you all for the opportunity and for being able to speak. All right. Next up, we have Mr. Lang for our final draft budget update. Mr. Lang, the floor is yours, sir. Thank you. All right. Hopefully last presentation on budget this year except for the budget here. Uh so this is going to be the final draft of the budget and I'll just be uh it'll be a summary of the budget. Um we do have a updated budget summary um in board docs as well that was sent earlier uh this week. Um so again timeline-wise uh today we're going to complete
072the review of the finalized budget as well as adopt the budget. Um it's one of the tasks of the board to obviously adopt the general fund budget for next year as well as uh I know there's going to be another um motion on your agenda to approve the the property tax report card. Um that's uh something that we have to send into the into the state every year so that's also on the agenda for approval tonight. Um by May 4th we'll have the budget document available for public review. That's all the budget documents that are required uh by educational law. And we'll have that all together and send to each building for for public review as as needed. And then finally on on the 11th, we'll have a a budget hearing. It's going to be
073here at 6:00. And then finally the 19th is going to be the date for the budget vote and the Board of Education. So on the expenditure side or the revenue side of the budget, not much has changed since the last draft except for the appropriated fund balance in reserves. That's as a result of just the finalizing and overall finalization of the expenditure side of the budget. But as you can see, state sources we're anticipating about 5.4% increase in state aid. Real property taxes, again, $415,817 increase, which is exactly 2% over the prior years. And then as you can see, a 23% almost 24% increase in the amount of appropriated fund balance in reserves that the district is using to balance the budget. So there's there's two things in there. There's about $2.6 million of appropriated
074fund balance and the rest is use of our reserves. We're going to utilize two reserves to balance the budget. One of those is the ERS reserve. That's for all of the district's employer retirement system contribution and TRS reserve. That's the Teachers Retirement System. And then all other all other revenue, we're looking at a slight decrease, just an adjustment, especially based on interest earnings. We have seen those decrease over the years, so we try to make adjustments in in that area as well. Overall, 4.48% increase in revenue, which is a $2,843,767 increase. So in regards to the tax levy, um this is a chart that shows the estimated impact of the uh tax levy increase. So, again, this is a based on a $21,206,867 uh tax levy, which is an increase of uh $415,817. This is
075a two exactly 2% increase. Um as we've gone over over before, again, um the the impact based on my estimated assessments. Again, I am using last year's assessments just so that we can see the real impact, the apples-to-apples impact. Although, uh as we know, as assessments increase, the tax rate will decrease. So, if the assessment increases, we would anticipate that this that this um tax rate would decrease. But, just to show the the actual impact, I'm looking at the prior year's assessments. Um we're looking at for a home valued at um $100,000 is about $33 $33.47 increase. And then, for a home valued at around $200,000 would be about a $66 increase um in taxes. When we just did get all reassessed >> Yeah. Yeah. So, this will go down. The tax rate would would
076would most would most likely go down based on what we have for um initial assessments. Again, this does show the true impact um of the tax levy increase. This is just a uh a chart that shows um the revenue sources. Again, this just highlights the main revenue source the district receives. The two main revenue sources the district receives, state aid, um which is a little over 37 million, and then property taxes, which is a little over 29 million. On the expenditure side of the budget, again, um we've gone over all of these areas before, but just to kind of highlight some of the main areas. Employee benefits, you see that large increase in employee benefits. As we've talked about before, we've had 30% increase in health insurance costs and health insurance rates for next year,
077so that's the large driver of this year's budget as well as the employee benefits portion. Debt service, which we're showing an increase of 34%, but again, that's offset by the amount of building aid we're receiving, so the additional state sources revenue covers the building aid, so there's no impact on the the debt service, so there's no additional tax impact. Um interfund transfer, we have a reduction there, but the interfund transfer is for our $100,000 annual capital outlay project as well as our local support the unaided portion of the district's 4408 for summer school program, specialized summer school program that we're required to pay for. And the $100,000 capital outlay project for next year, we're looking at replacing some flooring in Jackson. There's an old section of tile flooring and we're looking at trying to replace
078that with some of the more resilient flooring. So, that's the project. On the agenda tonight, you'll see a secret resolution as well as a proposal from architects for the design of that project. So, those are on the agenda tonight as well. Uh these are just a couple graphs now showing the breakdown of the major components of the budget. Uh over 56% of the district's budget is directly related to instruction. Um let's see, we have 6% for transportation. Um a large percentage, again, these two are the largest percentages. Employee benefits and instruction are probably the two largest pieces of our budget. So, instruction includes all teaching salaries, portion of of you know, all supplies, materials, equipment related to to instruction. So, in the component analysis we can see that 76.6% of the district's budget are directly
079impacting program. And then 13.1% are capital, so that's all the operational side of things like buildings and grounds, facilities, debt service, all that stuff. And then administrative, this is anything to do with central office, principals, principal's office, those types of things. So as you can see on the chart, you know, 10.3% is administrative, 13.1 is capital, but the lion's share 76.6 is is directly related to program instruction. So just a final summary here, again the general fund budget for the 2026-2027 school year is being proposed at $66,142,875. That's an increase of over 2.8 little over 2.8 million dollars or 4.48% from the prior year. The tax levy to support that budget is $21,206,687. That's a 2% increase or $415,000 over the prior year's tax levy. Again, that is with that is below the maximum allowable
080tax cap. As we mentioned before, the tax cap is calculated right around 2.8% for this year, so I'm going at a 2% is is is lower than that. On the ballot this year, again proposition number one will be the general fund budget, so that'll be the first proposition on the ballot. And then the second proposition will be two Board of Education members will be voted on, so there'll be a list of folks that are running for for Board of Education and select two. That's going to be for a term of between 7/1/26 and 6/30/29, three-year term. Some changes I want to kind of go over and we will be notifying, you know, social media and we'll have some media releases regarding this. Um budget hearing will be May 11th at 6:00 p.m. at the high
081school conference rooms. Um the budget vote will be the 19th. Um one change this year is that the hours will be from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Um in prior years it's been 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. but this year it's going to the polls will close at 8:00 p.m. And then as a result of uh the ongoing capital project, we've had to reconfigure some of our voting areas. So election district one um will now be at John Kennedy Intermediate School. Election district one was uh at Robert Morris, but because of the amount of construction going on there, anyone who used to vote or or in prior years voted at Robert Morris um will be voting at John Kennedy um for this for this election for this year budget vote. Um election district number two
082uh will remain at the high school, so anyone south of Main Street Route 5 um will be voting still at the high school. There's no change to that. All right. Any questions? Is that something you're doing this year as well? Not necessarily towards your budget, uh more to the the board. Um previously for board candidates we did in the past um when I first got on we did a meet the candidate or kind of a a question and answer for any uh board candidates that were running for this year. Is that something you guys are interested in doing again this year to to have a a forum be open to the public, we'll have a mediator ask any couple questions for the candidates? How many do you have running? Uh we'll know once the deadline,
083Carla? Four um next Wednesday. Four four picked up packets and One returned one today. One's returned one today so far, so Uh we'll know we'll know by it's Tuesday or Wednesday next Wednesday. Right. Okay. So, I I I I like participating in it myself. Um, you know, it was it was a I think were you in that one or was it prior to me? No, I think that was the last one. No. I think it'll be good. Um, I think it's good for the public to see who's running and uh, learn a little bit about them as well. So, if we did that, if the board's interested in that, I I would recommend that I could contact a couple um perhaps a community person to like help us facilitate um, to to act as a
084neutral. Um, to act as a You know, I have a couple I have a couple people in mind who I think could do it. The world wide is asking you all like maybe next to have that kind of thing. People turning in the packets, are they aware that they have to do that? Um, I mentioned it as as a possibility to one candidate today. Yeah, I I liked it. I didn't know what it was when I first uh, ran for it. I showed up. I think I was actually late for it. Um, but it was a great opportunity to to listen and talk to hear all the candidates. So you guys are open for it, I think uh it would be good for the community who's interested to come in, meet the candidates, hear what
085they are running for. Yeah, I think we'll be more informed, right? >> Yep. So they can So, um, if Mr. Smith can look at a couple potential people, have him select a date, send it out uh We'll be down here. I was thinking if it's on the 19th, so I was going to do it Um, you got a calendar around there? I would suggest >> Like a week before just uh, beforehand. All right. Sounds good. Perfect. Thank you, guys. Andy, thank you. >> Thank you. We'll be having a board meeting on May 11th, so Okay. You can do that. Yes, yeah. Yeah. All right, Eli. Big presentations for you to follow and I I'm looking at yours now. It looks like I stole your your first point on yours. Yeah, with my good news report.
086Anyway, I'll still say it again. All right, perfect. Mr. Batavia was held on March 27th and set a record for the highest amount of ratings in its 13th year raising $5,870. It also surpassed $50,000 in total. Noah Richmond was crowned Mr. Batavia with Maji Blue and Dominic Evening of Batavia High School's Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo will be participating in the Evening of Jazz on Saturday the 25th at 6:00 p.m. at the City Church in Batavia. Um City Church Generation Center in Batavia. Tickets are $10 and available at the door. Other groups performing are the Fairport Jazz Ensemble, the Adrenaline Jazz Experience, and the Finger Lakes Jazz Ensemble. The Rotary Baseball Tournament will be held Saturday, May 2nd with JV games being held at Williams Park and Varsity being games being held at Dwyer Stadium.
087Uh the participating teams include Batavia, Attica, Notre Dame, and Oakfield Alabama. The Stars of Tomorrow Gala is on May 8th and will feature a performance by the cast of BHS's production of Anastasia in Rochester. Then for those interested, the Batavia Class of 2026 Instagram page is posting senior college decisions. Uh I'd recommend checking it out and seeing where members of our graduating class will be next year. And decision day is May 1st. May 1st. And that's when you tour around the schools. Yep. Excellent. Yeah, I thank you, sir. Yep. I'll make sure I check my report first before I announce anything next month. All right. So, now we have Mr. Smith with our superintendent's report. >> Thank you. I have a couple items. First of all, going back to our capital project, BCSD Reimagined, the
088board and I went on a tour of Robert Morris this uh this evening before the board meeting. Uh couple business items I'm working I've been working with the teachers and teachers association to determine staffing and reassignment. We have, you know, grades moving around, so those are in the process of being set as we speak. Robert Morris classrooms will be ready for kindergarten in June. I don't know if I'm going to move it to September, but the classrooms are on track to be done. Um me myself and our team will come to the middle school faculty meeting in June to update the middle school on their part of the project. Phase three, as you can see out the window, is well on the way uh with the church construction. Uh as the board saw this evening
089this afternoon, Robert Morris, the second half is under construction. And Phase three today, uh their play- playground ribbon cutting ceremony will be on May 14th at 10:00 a.m. Working with Jessica De Cosier and her team on that as well as our construction partners, so that's exciting, moving right along. Uh moving into the instructional realm, uh Dr. Muhammad uh will be here. He's our speaker we had. We're still working with him. Basically, what that slide mentions that he's engaging in a process with our BHS and BMS faculty and staff. Uh he spent time in the district last month interviewing teachers um from different levels of experience. He's looking at assessment data, test data. And then I think next week is going to be the same as Molly. So, Molly's been involved in that a bit more
090than I have. Anything else I want to add to that, Molly? Um he did a comprehensive analysis of each school, and everybody's excited and pleased to hear what he would have to offer them. I walked around and looked at artifacts in the hallways as part of it. And um I'm looking at data and talking to teachers. So uh we're going to meet with him next week with the teacher teams from the high school and the middle school. Looking forward to that. Um for improvement opportunities and then also strengths and it's about in those schools. Uh in the year calendar there's a lot of exciting to talk about um the board I have this for your approval later on tonight. But just to clarify so the public knows that May 22nd will become a holiday. Uh
091we weren't able to do that last year because of the weather. Um but we're happy to do it this year. June 24th that Wednesday would be early release. June 25th would be early release and the last day of school and then the 26th would be the last day for our teachers and our aides. And this would give time for the moves that have to happen for Chad Bliss and his team and our principal and our teachers and aides to get uh reorganized in the new classrooms and the calendar does allow for this and we're complying with um state with state with state expectations. So having uh no questions I'd like the board to consider that when we get to that in the agenda. Our teacher appreciation event will be uh we're lots of things happening
092but Thursday May 7th we sent you invites and emails the board please sign up if you can uh to come to one of our schools to celebrate teacher appreciation. We'll have ice cream there and we'll have the staff there so that has been sent to you. Looking forward to that that week and each school has some some of their own activities planned as well. So You'll be there for that event. And I'll bring the ice cream then. Uh as I just want to compliment our um travel club again. I really I wish I was on the trip but I had fun posting pictures. Um I got pictures from every country. Um so I just want to recognize uh the great job that our students did. I knew know, of the kids on the trip. We
093had several teachers there, and Mrs. Skinner did an exceptional job and not only building enthusiasm, um, but making the trip go you know, so smooth and successful. Um, it is nerve-racking as a superintendent to have the kids so far away, but um, it was really well done, and the feedback I got from the kids is that it was a great trip. So, we're looking forward to the next, um, journey. Is this our third or fourth year doing it? Uh, so we have to appreciate the board's support on behalf of our students. Our music department concert was held last month. Uh, it was a great event to participate in. We recognized numerous groups from each of the schools. You can see some students up there. I think Eli participated in it as well. So, um, that
094was a nice event. Our Miss Batavia, Eli talked about that again. I want to recognize our contestants, our coaches, our advisors, our public support that we received. It was a great night. Um, all the students did a great job. If you didn't see Eli, his talent was, uh, what was your talent, Eli? Tell us what your talent was. I played the Imperial March through the auditorium on the sousaphone. On the sousaphone in a band uniform. So, he did a nice job with that. So, that was a fun event we had. Um, I think we're going to have the, um, press releases for each as far as the photo being in there of the, um, of first, second, and third place. But, honestly, it was a great event, and they all did a great job. Uh,
095this is really exciting. Um, Gus Crawford, for the first time, uh, in the history of the Batavia theater, I got selected as one of the nominees not to go to New York City, but to be you know, selected as a possibility to go to New York City. So, they selected 40 students from the Rochester region, and Gus was one. I thought it was so ceremonial to track him down. Um, it's kind of like kind of like having the opportunity to like you know, to like go to states. It's kind of like that. He hasn't gone yet, but his chances have increased by being one of the 40 to participate. So, we're excited for Gus. Uh, Eli mentioned one of the stars of last Friday May 8th. Yeah, so he'll be one of the 40 competing
096for the opportunity to compete in the Jimmy Awards on Broadway, New York City in June. So Does one get chosen out of 40? I think more than one. I'm not sure. It's not a lot. Um, I would have to I would have to ask Karen for sure. Maybe one or two, I'm not sure. You know, Eli? I don't No. I don't think anybody else knows either. So, I I can I can find out for you. But, we we just want to recognize Gus and Karen and her staff for the exceptional job they did. Athletic Hall of Fame nominations are due at the end of April, so please get those in to Mr. Reed. We're looking forward to that event in the fall around homecoming time. And I'm very excited. I'm going to be at Terry
097Hills, I think, tomorrow night. We're going to recognize Susan Woodruff who received the Youth Worker of the Year Award uh from the Genesee County Youth from the Genesee County Youth Bureau and Devon Polk uh has received one of the volunteer recognitions. If you know Devon, you know a lot Eli? He's everywhere. Uh he's involved in athletics, music, um sports. Uh just a really good kid. He's a student leader. So, we're looking forward to recognizing Devon and Susan at the event tomorrow night at Terry Hills. And upcoming event for the board, I mentioned some of these things already. The teacher appreciation celebration is jazz night on Saturday. First week of May, we have a Rotary baseball tournament at our stadium, track invite at the at Vendetta and then Robert Morris on May 14th at 10:00 a.m.
098So, any questions? Since some of us missed uh Mr. Batavia, I think we should have Eli do his uh talent for us at his last meeting here. I don't know about that. I think it's a great idea. Can we vote on that? They want to vote on that. And on that note, he's Time. Thanks, Eli. Thank you Mr. Smith. All right. So next up we have consent grouping. We need a motion to approve the grouping of consent items after M. Do I have a motion? Mr. Chez, do I have a second? Second. Corrine? Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. It will bring us to our old business. Uh which was our presentation from Mr. Wang. We need to have a motion to approve our 2026-2027 budget approval. Do I have a motion? Motion. By Dan.
099Do I have a second? Second. By Chez. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. Next up is part of Mr. Smith's presentation. It is we need a motion to approve the 2025-2026 BCSD school calendar updated. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Or first was I'm sorry, first was Corrine, second was Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. And last up is an approval for employee holiday schedules. And this will be for the 12-month employees and 10-month employees. Do I have a motion? So moved. By Jen. Do I have a second? Second. By Al Sam. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All right. Brings us down to our new business. Uh that's what also Mr. Wine mentioned during his presentation. We need a motion to approve the property
100tax report card and real property tax exemption reports. Do I have a motion? So moved. By Jen, do I have a second? Second. By Chaz, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Next up is our non-public private school transportation request for the 2026-27 school year. Do I have a motion? So moved. Elshaimy, do I have a second? Second. By Karen, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Moving right along to our 2026-27 GB BOCES annual meeting notice, administrative budget, and board member vote. Do I have a motion? So moved. By Dan, do I have a second? Second. By Jen, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All right. Mr. Speaker, I think you missed one. What's that? You left out Mrs. Carey. Oh, sorry. Let's go back up. I blame Mr. Smith. Of course, he's moving things up
101my agenda. So, we're going to go back up to 2026-27 capital outlay project SEQRA. Do I have a motion? So moved. Chaz, do I have a second? Second. Elshaimy, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All right. Now, our last one as long as Mr. Smith doesn't move anything else on me. We need a motion for policy number 5323 reimbursement for meals and refreshments. Do I have a motion? So moved. Al Sand, do you have a second? Second. Ches? No. Dan, I'm sorry. I'm losing it over here. Uh any discussion? Why are we changing it? Uh we had our attorney look at our last policy and it's a little bit more um aligned with current practices. Um Ches is involved with part of the team. And I think that you know, the old policy didn't have
102enough coverage for us, so it gives us more flexibility to make some decisions with respect to staff development meetings that that take place. Not only you know, every now and It brings clarity to everybody around what's allowed and what's not. Yeah, that's just I just figured I'd mention that. All right, any further discussion? All in favor? I. All right. So we do have our administrative reports from curriculum and instruction and the business office. Um and our other reports listed on our website, so please Yep. Uh if you look at number two from GCC, it's just only worth noting to the board. We do have a good partnership with GCC and the number I received from them just indicates the savings that our students have received over this past year for participating in ACE. So listed
103is listed courses there. Uh listed the um savings. Um so just is worth noting uh that we're proud of the partnership and I want the board to be aware of that as with GCC. So So thanks, Jen. All right. Do we have any board goal updates? Uh I toured um JK um last week. What week? two different classrooms. This is Brown, I believe, and this is Little by Little. Saw Foundations lesson. Pretty cool. That's walk around. Enjoyed it. Kind of saw where the data is coming from. All right. Any other board member comments or relevant points? I think it was great prior taking a tour through Robert Morris before the meeting. Seeing all the updates there. I do want to thank the staff there as our construction project went along and the flexibility that they've
104had. Jason, leadership team for having an extra day for the transition to move things around. Um, the school looks great. I think the kids that playground is amazing. Looking forward to the ribbon cutting for that. Um, we're moving right along with this capital project. The athletic fields, I think every single building is is moving on. Our buildings and grounds, the construction team is keeping us up to date on a regular basis and it seems like everything's going real smoothly and so that's great to see. Uh, anyone else have anything else? >> I have a question. Somewhere after reading the agenda for this evening, one of the things that isn't on the dates is the prom. It's June 19th. June 19th. And where is it being held this year? I wasn't familiar with where it's being
105held. Well, I'm a parent of senior as well and as you know You should ask my wife. Isn't it on the I I can't recall. I'm you know if anybody knows that. I know it's on June 19th. Rough house at the Smithtown Hilton. It's Friday, June 19th. I'm pretty sure of that. >> off of like a Wading River I believe. Yes, the state something, right? Wood Smith State, yeah. Yeah. They've been They've used that venue for the last last several years. I do recognize I know she has an address, I know that. Don't give Don't give the secrets out. Yeah, it is probably the It is probably the venue in May, I would imagine. All right, and you have a date for the graduation and this Graduation will be the last Friday in June, whatever
106day that is, but it's the last Friday in June at the stadium at Van Andel if it rains, it'll be the next morning. What time? 7:00. Yeah, we had it at 8:00 last year cuz I I had to wait an hour cuz of the rain. So, the the normal start time is 7:00 a.m. And if it rains out, what time is it at the stadium in the morning? 10:00 a.m. I think Carol sent an email if I can get all of the board in. The time would be great to have everyone there. Um I I know it's all to all the teachers. It'd be great to see as many teachers as possible we can get as part of that celebration for the students. Good, thank you. I agree. Well, the road request came out a
107long time ago. Yes. Yes, it did come out. All right, so we need a motion to go into executive session, and the call for executive session will be for I move to executive session to discuss matters relating to the collective negotiations pursuant to Article 14 of the Civil Service Law, for the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation. Do I have a motion? So moved. Jen? Second. Dan? And All in favor? Aye. And we will not be coming back in the public session. Great. Thank you very