001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> John, are they all set back there? Andrew, all good? Thumbs up. If we can reconvene our meeting to open session, the board has been in executive session since 6:00 to discuss four legal matters, two discipline student disciplinary issues, and two personnel matters. Uh, if we could 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. >> Uh, introductions. >> Good evening, Jonathan Phillips. >> Dave Hurst. >> Lauren Grasso. >> Mary Squillante. >> Holly Dellenbaugh. >> Jodi Monroe. >> Phil Taubner. >> John Wolsten. >> Catherine Nadel. >> Bruce Foster. >> Laila Gaynor. >> Uh, and Euan McNae is unable to be here this evening.
002Um, do we have any PEG or super students visiting us tonight? Welcome. Thanks for coming. Um, you need to stay until 9:00 or the meeting is over, whichever one comes first, and don't leave without signing out on one of the sign-out sheets that's up here. That way you get credit for being here. Uh first on the agenda is our approval of [snorts] minutes and we have two sets this evening. So first it is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve the minutes from the April 15th, 2026 regular board meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor. >> Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. And then it is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve the minutes [clears throat] from the April 29th, 2026 special
003board meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor. >> Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. Item three, meeting reports and first up is our superintendent's report. >> Sure. Um first I want to recognize one of our seniors, Owen Van Braken. He was a part of a team from Capital Region BOCES and they won the New York State Thruway Cup welding competition this past weekend. Um Owen and his teammates teammates were from Shen, BK Whitney and Middleburg combined their skills and earned the team title which was sponsored by the American Welding Society. So congratulations to to Owen and the team. Um also last week I was able to attend a program that's sponsored by Capital Region BOCES, Elevating Student Voices. Um it's a program where groups of students from 24 districts
004come together several times a year. I'm not going to say much about the program cuz Claire was there and I know she's going to share out about that. Uh but I would like to commend our students who participated and represented the district very well. And I'd also like to thank Liz DeVanzo and Ali Gaston who are faculty and staff who work with the students throughout the year. It's really a great event. Also a reminder, our UPK registration uh the deadline for that was May 1st. Um however, people can still register and if we um have a waiting list, they'll be placed on the waiting list. The lottery is going to be held next week, May 13th, [clears throat] and then parents will be notified uh following uh the lottery. And finally, I wanted to provide
005a board the board with an update on the our IDEA designation. If you recall last year, it was right around this time, uh this was a new des- the IDEA accountability status um is the Individuals with Disabilities Education uh was a new process that the State Education Department was using. Um and there were four categories: meets requirements, needs assistance, needs intervention, and needs substantial intervention. And last spring, we were notified that we were in the needs assistance category. And this year uh we are in the meets requirements. And so, the breakdown, I know uh if you go to the next slide, um it shows this is the different categories that the district is rated on. And the one thing I think that's important to note is that all gains were made in areas of student
006performance. Uh so, the district did earn full points for compliance um in 2025 and 2026. So, we went from a total of 13 out of 22 points to 19 out of 22 points. Uh you know, this is a small group of students generally when we're talking about, for example, graduation rate, but I think that there's been some emphasis on um different things that we've been working on and you can see that um we've made some improvements. So, we're hoping to continue that. So, I just wanted to provide a board the board an update um about that status. Okay. So, we are in the the first category, which is the meats. level. Okay. First one is >> Um and I know we're still in the process right now of undergoing the special education audit in the
007district. Can you just remind us of sort of what the the timeline is [clears throat] and kind of what the where we're at with that? >> Um so the I think most of the interviews have taken place at this point. There were, I know, some of the related service providers were still being uh they were still finishing up. Uh I know that John and provided them with a lot of documentation related to Medicaid and also with transportation. So they're doing some of the the data analysis and the paperwork piece of it. Uh I should be hearing from them for um a time frame of when we'll get a draft report um or some preliminary reports. Uh they did say uh when they were finishing up in the district, they expected they would have a uh
008report to us probably by the end of the school year with a plan to present to the Board of Education in September. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Um and while we're talking um about special ed, and I don't want to jump the gun on the budget recap presentation, but uh I know there've been some questions that have come in um about some of the changes in special ed in the in the um proposed budget um for next year, specifically with respect to um the CSE chair and the special ed teachers. Can you talk a little bit about those the the changes that we're making and why we're making them? >> Sure. Um so as part of the budget process, when we presented the instructional program, uh we were reducing one special ed teacher, uh which
009was basically um due to a retirement, but we proposed adding two reading teachers. And with the shift in that reading teachers would be doing the primary instruction for all students in K through 5 for special education and general education. We added a reading teacher last year as well to support primarily the foundations program at Hammer Grove. So we actually have added FTE in special education over the course. That's actually the only department we've added FTE in because we've been reducing due to the enrollment trends at the high school. So that's the shift. So they actually have more FTE to support uh to support program. >> Okay. >> So with the reading teachers picking up the instructional piece K 5, so they're picking up what special ed teachers have been doing in specialized reading. It was
010called that frees up special ed teachers to pick up [snorts] more DCT or integrated co-teaching or resource rooms. So we didn't need to have uh we had two retirements or two shifts that two that were open. So one was reduced and then we added the reading teachers. In regard to the chairperson, uh years ago, we used to have a 6 through 12 CSE chair position and a K through 5 and the 6 through 12. The nice thing about that it actually provided a lot of continuity between the middle school and high school programs because there's a lot of similarities. So we worked with the principals association and the teachers association uh because the chair uh the CSE chairpersons are actually in the BCTA. >> Okay. >> Um and then the director and assistant director positions
011are in the principals association. So we shifted some of the responsibilities between the current middle school position and the current high school position and >> [clears throat] >> and the director and assistant director are taking on some of those responsibilities. So, for example, the current middle school position one of their other primary responsibilities was UPK or not sorry, not UPK, preschool. Um CSE, and so that is being taken away from that role. And the high school chairperson had been doing the out of district uh placements, and so that was taken away from that position. So, the position will focus on the 6 through 12 program at the middle and high school. And then preschool will be um someone else will be dealing with that. And then the director, the new director and assistant director are
012actually um splitting the out of district placements and also the special program responsibilities. So, >> Okay. >> um that way it balances out the caseload between the K through 5 uh position and then the 6 through 12 position. >> Okay. All right, thank you for for that recap. >> Does anyone have else have questions? >> The only um thing I would say is that's really great to hear about the IDEA designation. Um I would love to go with just like a little more into depth about what those um categories are. And so maybe when we have that um report on the special ed audit and the draft report, when we have that presentation, if they could explain all those categories to us and exactly what those gains came from, what they mean, and and what
013we can do to continue to gain. >> Sure, absolutely. We can do that. >> And as you know, we created the um IDEA dashboard last year, and I did update that, so that has much more detail than what was just presented in the slides. Yeah. >> And that's available >> That's available publicly from our website. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> And is easy to find. >> It is. There's two dashboards, one for our strategic plan, and then one for IDEA specifically. >> Okay. Uh any other questions for Julie? Uh next is our board report um and uh I just had a couple of things. First, [clears throat] I wanted to um remind um everybody and anyone who's listening that the giveaway weekend, which is sponsored in part by the BC Green Team, is coming up
014this weekend, Friday through Sunday. Um and I think there's information available um on that. I think on our website and I know it went out through Parent Square as well. Um I wanted to congratulate uh our middle school students um and cast and crew that were involved with the production of A Wrinkle in Time. Um and uh and the the great job that was done with that. Um and I also wanted to say uh thank you to all of our teachers because this is Teacher Appreciation Week. Um and uh they uh definitely deserve all of the appreciation that we can give give them. So, I'm putting that out there, too. Anybody have anything else they want to add? >> I was able to attend the I think it was 2 weeks ago now, the uh
015girls lacrosse uh senior night. And so, I'll just give a congratulations to all the seniors. I know it's always a big uh moment for the for the parents and [snorts] for the for the kids uh to do that. I assume, you know, although I haven't been to the games, that the other spring sports also are having senior nights. So, I'll just congratulate all of the uh the the students and and and even more their their parents for getting them all the way through. >> Mhm. Um oh, I almost forgot to mention that I love that the Unified uh basketball game was that there was the live stream of it. Yeah. And um that cuz that was a lot of fun. Uh and I hope that we continue to um make those available through live stream
016to get people can watch. Anyone else? >> Next we have our student reports. >> I was actually just going to mention the unified game. I was participating. This is my first year doing unified and I just want to discuss how great of a thing how great of a program it is and it makes me so proud to be part of Bethlehem. I was so happy that everybody came and cheered and was on their feet both for Colony and for Bethlehem. The Guilderland game that we performed at during their school day was similar to that. So I was really happy that Bethlehem showed up in the same way. I think we can definitely continue to do that next year and hopefully for many years. >> Thank you. So for elevating student voices, we held our fourth
017annual youth summit last week and students held a presentation and activity where people can walk around to see how their school makes a supportive community. So what we did for our school is that we did celebrate your difference activity where someone gets like a partner and >> [clears throat] >> write something that they don't know about something that a person might not know about them and then they can take a picture together. And then they can keep it and this kind of shows how although we have differences, we can still celebrate them and be together. We also had one student in our school be a part of the student panel answering questions on challenges but yet also victories we had in our school to make it in a very supportive community and it was great
018talking to different districts about how they make their community inclusive and we're definitely going to use some ideas for next year. And we are really doing we're doing really good. I a lot of our the schools complimented our presentation and our activity. So, I just want to applaud everyone for the Bethlehem community to make the school a better place. >> And I don't know if if they shared it with the other students >> [clears throat] >> at the end, but they're looking to do a middle school program next year. Did they share that with you guys? >> They didn't share that with me. >> Uh like twice So, they're trying to offer an opportunity for middle school students to do it, I think, but only like twice a year come together. >> Yeah. >> Uh
019from logistical and have some of the high school students like you guys um come and work with the middle school students. So, I thought that was a great idea. >> Yeah, that would be great. I would love to see you there. >> I maybe I wasn't supposed to say something about it. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. >> It's okay. >> Um and Claire, I know I want to thank you for your work. I know you've been involved with the um the um the work for the memorial for Madame Atallah. Um and I have had a couple people ask me whether you are still um collecting donations for that. >> Yeah, we're still collecting donations. I think I talked to some people it's like until May 20th of it. And I think from the last I heard,
020we're holding the ceremony like June. >> I think it got pushed back, right? >> It got a little pushed back. But yeah, it's going well. I visited it and it's just it's going really well. I didn't expect it to go that fast. >> Great. Thank you. >> Of course. >> Um and I'm just I don't see anyone from the middle school here, but I'd just like to double check. Uh next this evening is our presentation. Um and first we are having our um We are having a budget hearing presentation from John. >> Good evening, all. Later on in tonight's festivities is a public hearing both on the 26-27 proposed budget as well as the smart bond initiative. So in advance of those public hearings, we're going to provide some background information for those in the
021audience and those watching from home on the 26-27 budget. Where we started, where we are, and where we're planning on going. So the 26-27 budget process started around November-December working with department heads and division heads, uh taking into consideration their wants and needs, understanding that necessarily they're not the same in the same way that I tell my kids that wants are not the same as needs. Uh we took into consideration the following programmatic areas in terms of administrative, uh transportation, technology, operations and maintenance, athletics, the instructional program and student support services. We discussed projected revenues, the challenges uh that we're experiencing there, taking into consideration the tax cap law, as well as where the district's tax levy may be. Uh the board adopted the proposed budget on April 1st. It will be presented to voters
022on May 19th, a few short weeks away. The actual budget vote is going to be held in the high school gym A on Tuesday, May 19th from the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. One of the challenges we talked at length about over the course of the budget process were the same experiences that folks are experiencing at home in terms of inflation. Over the past 4 years, the district has experienced inflation uh approaching 25% uh and that's represented by the black line on the chart. But under the tax cap law, uh the district can only increase the tax levy by no greater than 2%, which over the same time period represents only a 10 and 1/2% increase. So while the district has experienced 25% increase in terms of inflation, the tax cap only provides
023a threshold of 10% for the same time period. That yellow shaded area is the inflationary impact the district had to absorb internally through strategic decision-making and maximizing revenues and limiting expenditures. This [clears throat] is the tale of the tape comparing the 25-26 adopted budget to the 26-27 proposed budget in terms of the major expenditure categories, salaries, fringe benefits. As you can tell by the by the pie graph, those two components representing those that we employ within the district represent more than three quarters of the overall budget. We talked a little bit about debt service at just under $10 million, BOCES and contractual services. Overall, the 26-27 budget is roughly $119.8 million, which represents a $3.1 million increase or 2.7% from the prior year. >> [clears throat] >> Same information just presented somewhat differently in the
024categorical expense expenditures by program area, administrative instructional programs being the largest source of expenditure, fringe benefits following close behind. Again, the district and the community's investment in teacher and staff represent roughly three quarters of the overall budget. In terms of revenue, the district is somewhat limited in terms of the available revenue resources it has at its disposal. The largest is school taxes at it was $73.9 million last year. The proposal that the board adopted back on April 1st called for a tax levy of $75.9 million. The other large source of revenue is state aid and you can see that that was up um from $34.6 to $35.2 million. dollars. Not a significant increase, a nominal increase from from one year to the next, but it you'll see that the pre-proposed budget in terms of revenue
025matches 119.8, which is the same figure that we talked about earlier in terms of our proposed expenditures. Over the course of the past few weeks, we have talked about both additions and reductions to the budget. With regard to additions, we broke those up into four categories, being safety, operational needs, enrollment requirements and needs, as well as program and enhancements. Overall, the board considered and adopted roughly $757,000 in proposed additions to the budget. We'll go just quickly over those drilled out in terms of the the categories. On safety, some various safety recommendations in terms of security cameras, radio replacements, various athletic equipment that is required to maintain student safety at a total of $72,000. On the operational side, roughly $169,000. The one big thing I want to highlight, the the larger ticket item there is the
026removal of the sale of bus revenue at $135,000. We talked about some of the challenges of selling the existing fleet um A from the marketplace, what the market will generate in terms of revenue, because we haven't brought in a significant amount of revenue in the past few years, coupled with maintaining the existing inventory and fleet within transportation as we approach the EV bus mandate. In terms of enrollment needs, the addition of two reading teachers, which we talked about earlier this morning this afternoon, the addition of one ENL teacher and a half-time physical therapist at $365,000. On the [clears throat] program and enhancement side, um um with regard to specials, we we took a a look at what those needs are, adding some additional funds to make sure that not only music but art are fully
027stocked in terms of equipment. Uh at the addition of an elementary instructional coach was a large ticket item. >> [clears throat] >> Sorry. So, overall, the program and enhancements total $151,500. On the reduction side, uh the Board of Education considered a number of reductions. A couple of large ticket items here. There was a revised uh retirement estimate provided by the New York State Controller's office associated with the teachers' retirement. That was uh as a result, we were able to decrease that allocation by $205,000. And the business office uh along with departments and district leadership team really looked at the current um number of positions that were vacant and looked at whether or not those should be reduced to limit the expenditures and bring the budget more in balance. So, we did that. We reduced uh
028bus driver vacancies by five, bus attendants by two, a clerical uh by one. Uh some various um instructional positions between English, math, science, uh library media specialist, aide to student with disabilities. And again, what I want to highlight that these are positions not people, meaning that the positions are vacant. They're not filled, and the only reason that they were available were through attrition, whether um retirements or resignations. Um with regard to foundation aid, the governor's budget included a 1% increase in foundation aid, which amounts to roughly $211,000. The one-house legislative bills currently being considered by both the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate call for an additional 1% in foundation aid, which we added to the budget as additional revenue. The one thing I want to highlight is that we still do
029not have an adopted budget at the state level. If that 1% additional foundation aid does not come to fruition, we'll have to take and review the budget to accommodate that loss of revenue that we're anticipating. We have a few budget neutral items with regard to the smart smart bond initiative. That's roughly $317,000 that we added to the expense. It's fully offset with New York State grant funding. So, that's a wash in terms of budget. And then we had four positions which were associated with a change in tenure area. $208,000 innovative technology teacher. That's swapped out with a social studies teacher and a business teacher. Again, no net impact to the to the budget. >> [clears throat] >> Now, later on tonight, we'll have a public hearing on the Smart Schools Bond Act. Aaron Shivers, the
030chief technology officer in conjunction with the business office, worked hand-in-hand to see how best to utilize the $317,000 in available smart bond money. We took a look at, you may recall, the last phase of the Schools Bond Act upgraded various technology, specifically the Vizio board, similar to what we're watching the presentation on tonight. That's an interactive educational equipment that teachers use. We use um But as part of that replacement, it's not only the actual Vizio board, but various um peripherals including the the Chromebooks and the cabling and the technology behind it. So, we have to equally distribute that money across those school districts within the Bethlehem school district footprint and you'll see that for Bethlehem specifically roughly $307,000 will be allocated to technology upgrades. Saint Thomas around 8,300, Mount Moriah and Bethlehem Children School will
031also get an allocation for a total of $317,000. Again, that's a net neutral proposal to the district budget $317,000 in $317,000 out. With regard to the district's capital outlay program you may recall over the past few budget cycles the district has been investing in various safety and security mechanisms and measures. Um these are door contact systems which advise and notify administrative uh individuals that if a door is left a jar that that door is a jar so someone can go in and make sure that there's not a shoe or a cone or door shock uh keeping that uh door open allowing individuals access to the building. Uh we have already uh implemented this door status monitoring system at both the high school and the middle school. For the 25-26 school year we are rolling that
032initiative out at the Hamagrael Elementary School. We plan for 26-27 rolling it out to Slingerlands and uh to the extent that funding is available we'll roll out to the other elementary schools as part of capital outlay program in future budget cycles. >> [clears throat] >> This bar chart shows the 10-year average annual budget increase of roughly 2.2%. That's on the expenditure side. Uh you'll see that um last year the budget increased by roughly 2.3%. This year The budget is increasing by 2.7%. The 24-25 year sort of sticks out both in terms of percentage and the size of the bar chart. You may recall that in that particular year, we did some restructuring of debt that was offset with state building aid. So, while it shows a 7% increase on the budget, it was a corresponding
033increase on the revenue side to offset that. Similar presentation of information but with regard to the district's tax levy. Um For the past 10 years, the tax levy increase has been roughly 1.7% and we want to highlight that it's been at or below the tax cap threshold for at least 10-plus years. Um for 23-24, 24-25, we spoke at length in the past couple of meetings that while the tax levy increased by 2.3% and 3 and 1/4% for those 2 years respectively, it was a tax levy increase that was actually below the maximum amount of taxes that could have been charged by the district. So, we in those 2 years in particular, we provided some tax relief to the the residents and commercial entities within the district. 25-26 and 26-27, given the inflationary pressures that we
034talked about earlier, the tax levy increase is proposed to be at the maximum amount threshold of the tax cap without requiring an override. So, 25-26 was was a hard year in particular cuz it was only a 1.1% increase given some of the challenges that we're experiencing this year. The tax levy is proposed to be at 2.61% increase. How that translates to folks at home, I want to highlight that these are the preliminary tax rates. >> [clears throat] >> Assuming a tax levy increase of roughly 1.9 million dollars or the 2.61% that we talked about. This is how it translates to both residents in the town of Bethlehem and the town of New Scotland. I do want to highlight that this particular chart has been updated since we last met. At the time of our last
035meeting, I did not have the tentative assessment role. That tentative assessment role is usually made available by town assessors on or about May 1st. I got that information in this week. I quickly updated these charts. It did change the increases both in terms of percentages and dollars for the two towns. Not significantly, but but enough to to warrant an up update to the slide. So, overall, the increase in tax taxes for the town of Bethlehem is just over 2% and the increases in the town of New Scotland is roughly 5.4%. That translates to a $46 increase per $100,000 of assessed value for the town of Bethlehem and a $118,000 increase per $100,000 of assessed value for the town of New Scotland. >> [clears throat] >> What I want to highlight is that these are still
036the tentative rates. The final assessment role will not be available until July 1st. We'll have an updated slide with this information for purposes of our August meeting when we actually set the tax rates. There is some variation between the tentative and final assessment role, but not not too too significant, but there there can be be changes. So, I'm sure there's some questions in terms of like, wait a second, why is Bethlehem only at 2% and the town of New Scotland is at 5.4? Does that mean the town of New Scotland is paying more taxes than their their neighbors across the way? And it sort of looks like that way on the chart, but it's a got to sort of back off to the formula. It's all associated with the changes in assessed value between the
037towns um comparatively to one another as well as the year-to-year changes in that assessed value along with the changes in the equalization rate. So, to to do a side-by-side to show that hey, folks in the town of Bethlehem and the town of New Scotland are actually paying the same amount of taxes for the same assessed value, you can uh this slide does that side-by-side. So, assuming the full market value of a $300,000 home in both the town of uh Bethlehem and the town of New Scotland, you apply the respective equalization rates, gets you to the assessed value for both towns. You apply the tax rates that we talked about on the few slides earlier. You'll see that the total taxes due for either the town of Bethlehem or the town of New Scotland are the
038same. So, um it's always a helpful slide to to show that, you know, during the day of the budget I vote I often get a couple of questions in terms of why am I paying more taxes in New Scotland than I am in the town of Bethlehem. I promise you yeah. Uh a quick history of where the the tax rates were for for the towns for the past 10 years or so based on all the ins and outs in terms of the calculations. Some years it's a decrease, some years it's increase. Sometimes it's a both an increase and the increase or that decrease may actually vary uh between the two towns. But overall, you can see that the what your dollar gets you in the town of Bethlehem compared to Albany County as a whole
039in New York State, overall uh the per pupil spending as of 23-24 was just uh under $24,000 for the town of Bethlehem, $27,700 for Albany County, and around 30,500 for New York New York State. Also on the ballot on May 19th will be a bus purchase proposition. We spent a significant amount of time looking at transportation generally and transportation's fleet, evaluating the EV buses that we have on the lot. You may recall that we have currently 10 EV buses. Bethlehem has been the first out of the gate with regards to EVs, taking on some of the challenges as well as the successes with those initiatives. But given the challenges that we experienced recently with regard to cold weather and charge management, the board ultimately decided to choose nine diesel buses. Those are the large 70-passenger
040buses. Those costs per bus is roughly $181,000, representing a total total ballot proposition of just over $1.6 million. That being said, New York State reimburses the Bethlehem Central School District just under 65% of those costs, which means the actual net impact of the district is around $580,000. That reimbursement from the state aid from state aid takes place over the course of 5 years. >> [clears throat] >> This chart represents the various rainy day funds the district has to offset specific needs or requirements. >> [clears throat] >> Overall, you'll see that as of the fiscal year close for 24-25, we had just under 37.5 million dollars in various reserves. As of March 2026, we had roughly 20.7 million dollars. I I I appreciate that looks like a significant decrease and you're like, John, what did you
041do with roughly 17 million dollars? The reason that decrease is presented in the chart is in earlier in February, the board adopted the 2025 capital project, which was offset in part with 16 and a half million dollars in capital reserve dollars. Given that those dollars are committed, I pulled them off the chart because I can't use them for any other purpose other than the 2025 capital project right now. With regard to the undesignated fund balance, we currently have 6 and a half million dollars in that undesignated fund balance. Under New York State real property tax law, school districts can maintain a fund balance no greater than 4% of its operating budget. That gets you just over about 4 million dollars given some of the challenges we were anticipating and are experiencing, the business office recommended
042to the board to have a undesignated fund balance slightly higher than that 4% to weather those challenges, which we hope to be temporary. As part of the budget on the revenue side to balance the budget, you may recall that last year we allocated roughly 715,000 dollars from that fund balance to balance the budget. We were hoping to to sort of not have to use fund balance for the 2026-2027 budget, but again, given some of the the challenges we're experiencing, the board proposed to use 1.1 million dollars of fund balance, which would come off of that 6 and a half million dollars that we see available as of June 2026. I'm sorry, March 2026. Talked about the capital reserves a little bit that we, you know, allocated and committed roughly 16.6 million dollars from the 22
043capital reserve to offset the 2025 capital project. That leaves a current available balance for any capital reserves at zero. So, the district will have to take careful steps to over the course of the next several years to rebuild those balances so we have some funding to offset future capital projects will which will alleviate the need to issue debt service and the associated interest costs. Also on the ballot, we have three open Board of Education seats. There are four candidates vying for those seats for a term of three years starting July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029. Those individuals are presented there. Becky Von Wedel, Meredith Moriarty, Holly Dellenbaugh, and Sarah Bailey. They're listed in the order in which they will be on the ballot which was randomly selected. So, those are your candidates. There is
044a meet the candidates night on May 13th at 6:30 p.m. in this room here. And it's hosted by the women women League of Women's Voters. >> [clears throat] >> Some summary information in terms of voting. Voting is in person on Tuesday, May 19th again from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the high school gym A. With regard to absentee ballot or early voting, you must complete an application. Those applications must be received by the district clerk no later than 7 days before the election which would be May 12th. If the application is hand delivered to the district must be hand delivered to the district clerk and must be received no later than the day before the election which is May 18th. And all completed ballots must be received by the school district district clerk by
0455:00 p.m. on the day of election which is May 19th. Voter eligibility, you need to be 18 years old, a US citizen, and a resident of the district for at least 30 days prior to the vote. >> And that's the presentation of the budget. >> Any questions? >> I'll just say thank you. I know a lot of this information has been presented before. I appreciate the diligence that you and the rest of the folks have demonstrated in making sure that the information is presented in a clear, you know, digestible way. And so, just thank you to to you and your staff. >> Thank you. Any other comments for John? Thank you. Uh next on the agenda, we will have our 2026-2027 school budget and Smart Schools Bond Act hearing. So, tonight we are holding the
046public hearing on our proposed budget and the Smart Schools Bond Act as required by law. The notice of this hearing was published in the Spotlight and a copy of the proof of publication will be included within the official minutes. At this time, I invite any members of the public to speak who wish to offer comments either for or against on the proposed budget. I ask that you please state your name for the record prior to offering your remarks. Uh so, at this time, I will close the public hearing on the proposed budget and the Smart Schools Bond Act. Uh next, um we have our recognition of visitors. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on an agenda item, uh now would be the time to come up to the microphone,
047um and make your comments and state your name. >> [snorts] >> Hello. My name is Kelly Petrucci Cola, and I want to thank the board and Superintendent Monroe for the information you have provided so far regarding the proposed school budget, specifically regarding the impact special education. Thank you for that. Although he's not here, I want to thank Doug Morrissey for his consistently prompt and thorough responses as well as Superintendent Monroe's prompt response to my email this week. And the numerous SEPTA members who are always [snorts] available to answer questions regarding special ed. There's a lot of good to recognize the formation of a special education PTA, unified sports, which you touched on, which was really cool to see through social media, and the book displays throughout the schools in our community during neurodiversity and autism
048awareness month, just to name a few. If the proposed eliminations are approved, I'm asking for every effort from the board, from the Superintendent Monroe, and the special education department to communicate clearly, freely, and consistently with parents. I'm admittedly unsettled not knowing who will be the chairperson handling my child's meetings, services, etc. If I understand the information I've gathered from the administration, from the detailed slides, from previous meetings, and from conversations, the proposal I did review in the beginning so it's to eliminate the middle school chairperson and leave the CPSE chairperson position vacant and quote incorporate CSE and CPSE chairperson responsibilities into the department's leadership structure in a way that maintains continuity and consistency for students and families. So if this is the outcome, it's a great thing. Our special needs community needs continuity and consistency
049more than most children do. It's not an option. It's essential for their success, for their happiness, and for their overall well-being. Um in the meantime, there are a lot of unknowns, and it feels a little bit um like we're flying the plane while we're building it. Um there are these are two very important roles. Um they're not small positions. Um you know, this is the chairperson for preschool in its entirety and the middle school in its entirety. Um it's interesting to hear that this was a structure from before, so I'm interested to learn how it went when it was the structure prior. If we can effectively eliminate and leave these two positions vacant, and that does create a continuity and consistency, I think it's important for the department and administration to explain how to the
050public. And if this has been provided in previous presentations, I apologize. Um I haven't been able to locate it or speak with someone who understands the how, how it's going to make us confident that it's going to help our students. But I would welcome that data. I would wel- welcome that explanation. Um establishing a strong team for your student with special needs is paramount to ensuring they receive proper and appropriate placements and services. And right now, it at least appears we don't know who will have which responsibilities and who's on our students' team. Um we cannot lose time or have gaps. It hurts our children more than our neurotypical peers. Um just to wrap up, parents >> [snorts] >> should be partners with and assets um to the administration and in the strengthening of our
051in the continued strengthening of our special education department, even if we don't have a direct seat in the closed-door meeting room. Um we live it, and we know our kids best. Um I fully believe that we can make Bethlehem number one in special education. I believe that, and I don't think it has to take much effort if we're truly willing to collaborate and communicate with one another, administration, board, families, and community members. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Uh next, item six, action items. A, finance action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve the following finance action items one through five. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? >> I would just want to um thank um the Young Landscaping's LLC's donation uh regarding
052Madame Nathalie's um garden, and also recognize the scholarship awards, as well. Thank you. >> Uh all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. B, professional personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve the following professional personnel action items one through 11. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. C, support personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve the following support staff action items one through four. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Um any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. Um D, other action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the Board of Education approve
053the following action items one through five. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Any Any opposed? Any abstentions? That carries. Um item seven, recognition of public comment on a non agenda a non agenda item. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on a non agenda item, now would be the time to come up to the microphone. Item eight, future meetings and events. Um on Wednesday, May 13th, uh here in D122 at 6:30 is the meet the candidates night. Um and my understanding is that also is going to be um uh available online as well. Um and um our annual election and budget vote is on Tuesday, May 19th from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Um and then our next board meeting is on
054Wednesday, May 20th. Um anticipating executive session at 6:00 and reconvening to open session at 7:00. Um >> Johnny, um at the at the vote usually is there um music performance or anything that will be happening? >> Yeah, usually some of the different groups are performing in the auditorium across the hall. Usually they start around 6:00 or so and they usually play till about 8:00. Sometimes 8:30. So there should be known that as well. >> So you're saying Beyoncé is going to be there? >> Yes. Yes. >> Come out and >> [clears throat] >> and numerous others that are going to make guest appearances. >> And are we Is there going to be a kids vote this year as well? >> There's a kids vote. They're going to be voting on stickers. >> Stickers? >> Stick
055you know, like stickers for your wall. >> Oh, for your wall. >> Yes. >> I'm not cool enough for those stickers. >> No. >> I see no need to go back into executive session. Could I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh all in favor? >> I. Meeting adjourned. Um and uh PEG Super students, come on up and sign out before you leave. >> Thank you, Captain. So thinking of you a little bit this week. I was thinking of you this week. >> That's cute. What's I doing? >> You weren't You weren't doing anything, probably.