001Good evening and welcome to the July 1st organizational board of education meeting for the Bethlehem Central School District. Uh the board was in executive session prior to this to discuss a personnel m matter and some confidential matters. Um can we please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Introductions Dave Hurst, John Walston, Catherine Natto, you may Jodie Monroe, Britney Barrett, Holly Denbomb, Morardi, Lauren Glass, Robert Tent, John Millers. First item on the agenda tonight is to um do the oath of office for our newly elected or reelected board members. So, we have Robert Teen and John Walston returning for their second three-year term. So at this time
002just in alphabetical order I will give you the oath if you want to stand up. I don't generally win the alphabetical contest. First time for everything. All right. Follow after me. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and I will faithfully discharge according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability the duties of the office of board of education member the duties of the office of board of education member. Congratulations. Thank you. Repeat after me. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly
003swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and I will faithfully discharge according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability the duties of the office of board of education members the duties of the office of board of education members. [Applause] All righty. And I am sitting in the seat because we are currently without a board of education president. So at this time I would request any nominations for the position of board president for the 2025 2026 school year. I would like to nominate Holly Delen to be president uh
004for the upcoming year. I think she's done a wonderful job the last several years. um doing all the extra duties for president including running all the meetings which is a tremendous amount of work and uh responding to a lot of correspondence which I appreciate. Can I have a second for that motion? Um any other nominations for this role? Holly, do you accept the nomination for this? I do accept. I would be honored to do it again. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. Um, we're just going to vote again to make it finalized. Um, it is recommended that the board of education take a vote to nominate Holly Delen for board of education president for the 2526 school year. A motion and a second. Second. Second. Um, all in favor? Um, any any opposed? Any abstensions?
005That carries. Congratulations. Thank you. So, do you have to swear me in? I do have to swear you in. 7. Sorry, just taking my notes. Okay. And then at this time, we will do the oath of office for the board of president position. So, follow after me. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability the duties of the office of board president the duties of the office of board president. Thank you. I'm going to
006vacate take me with stay here. Thank you for your service. Back. Um, okay. So, next we need to elect a board vice president for um our this new school year. Do we have any nominations for that position? I would nominate Meredith Morardi for the role of vice president. Meredith is an experienced and very organized and dedicated board member. We'd love to have her back. Do I have a second? Second. All right. Um, do we have any other nominations? All right. Meredith, do you accept the nomination? I do. Um then to make it official, it is recommended that uh the board vote on the nomination of Meredith Morardi to be board vice president for this next this school year. Can I move? Second. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Congratulations, Mar. Now I
007get to say you win. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability the duties of the office of board vice president the duties of the office of board vice president. Thank you. All right. Um, next on our agenda are our um committees. Um, and you'll notice that the um BCUEA process committee and BCTA process committee are not on there because they um do not um they're they came off with the um uh with the
008new contract that was part of the negotiation. Um and um I would um I would suggest that because some of the committees I know have things that are in progress that um if uh unless there's an objection that we keep the committee membership the same with one exception and that is we could really use another person on the audit committee. Um if nobody wants to volunteer, I'm happy to step up and do it. Um but right now we just have Meredith and Lauren. Um, and it would be great to have another person. So, again, I can do it. I think it only we only have a couple meetings a year, so I can do it. But if somebody else wants to, I don't want to steal it from them. I was going to see if
009there was a position on the policy committee. I've been enjoying reading the policies. I think it might be useful to write some as well. Um, I think it would be great if um for uh Bob and Meredith and I to stay on there because I know we're kind of in the middle of working on some policies. Um, and so I think that in terms of having some continuity, um, I think that would make a lot of sense. But as always, you know, when you read them, um, or if you have suggestions, you know, just send them along, um, because then we can we can bring those, um, to the committee meetings. You sure you don't want to do the audit committee? I did pull. It wasn't particularly fun. Not a specialist. Okay. All right. Um,
010then Britney, you can um, put me on the audit committee. Add me on there. But otherwise, we'll leave them the same and go from there. That way, we'll have some stability going into next year. Uh, next item five, um, other annual appointments and designations. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following other appointment action items one through 17. Second. Uh any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That passes. Uh B 2025 2026 annual district action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following annual contractual action items one and two. Some move. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I Any opposed? Any abstensions? That passes. C. 2025 2026 annual designations. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board
011of education approve the following designation action items 1 through three. Can you split out three? Uh, sure. Um, it is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following designation action items one and two. So moved. Second. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That passes. And then it is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following designation action item number three. So moved. Second. Yeah. So we have a a policy I think even might be up for approval today that says we should wherever possible put our money in local institutions. which I think is really smart and these aren't local institutions. I wonder why why not? Why don't we use you know Broadview for instance? Is there a reason for that? Well, we
012do um have Pioneer Bank which is a more of a local one. Um, in terms of credit unions, credit unions as opposed to banking institutions, uh, we we can certainly look into options of of expending, you know, expanding the district's footprint in terms of lending partners. Um most of our money is actually if not in these banks in terms of transaction purposes. A lot of the district's funds are invested in that class which is a consortium base. So so that's where most of the the district's non immediate cash needs are are kept. But I I'm I'm happy to research with the the district treasurer report back to the board if there's other opportunities to to expand that footprint. Yeah, please. I mean, I think that both my policy, right, we're not really complying with that
013policy, but also I think it's smart just to keep our money local where we can. Any other questions? So, I suggest we table this because I'd like to see a different list with more local institutions. Uh, if I may, we can always expand the listing as well. Okay. Um, so just because we need to have relationships with banking to ensure operations. if we if I could recommend move this presently and then I can report back at a future date with you know what other options there may be. Okay, makes sense. Thank you. Um all in favor I I any opposed? Any abstensions? Um that carries. D 2025 2026 annual authorizations. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following authorization action items 1 through 7. So move second. Any discussion?
014All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries? Um E. Appointment of district officers action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following. Appointment of officers action items one through seven. So move second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Uh F on bonding of personnel. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following. Appointment of bonding of personnel. Action items one through three. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Item um six is our annual policy review. Um and before we get into our annual policy approvals, we need to hold a public hearing on the code of conduct. Um, so I am going to I will open that public
015hearing by saying tonight we are holding the public hearing on our proposed revised code of conduct. Policy number 5300 and parental involvement policy number 1900 is required by education law. And at this time I invite any members of the public to speak who wish to offer offer up comments either for or against on the proposed policy. I ask that you please state your name for the record prior to offering your remarks. And with uh no comments at this time, I hereby close the public hearing and we'll move on to B, our annual policy approvals. Um it is recommended that the board of education approve the following following policy action items one through three. Second. Any discussion? Yeah, sorry. I know. Um John investment why so limited I'm sorry for my own sake you could you
016yes the policy says the school can invest money in and there's a very short list of really boring investments and I would you like more flexibility is the reason we don't have it in Vanguard index funds for instance yeah a lot of this is tied to general municipal law in terms of opportunities that the a school district itself is able to to invest in. Okay. Um, I mean, it's somewhat limited in terms of certificates of deposits, treasuries because they're backed by either, you know, the the federal government or some other local um certain options in terms of stock market because that, you know, if I was even to do an index fund, for example, there's too much um variability and as a matter of law, would I like to do that? That is correct. Okay.
017There's legal restrictions. It doesn't surprise me. Yeah. Um Okay. Um all in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. And item seven, approval of minutes. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the minutes from the June 18th, 2025 regular board meeting. Second. Um any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Abstain. Uh that carries. Um item eight, meeting reports. Uh first is our superintendent report. Thank you. Um few things. Uh one, just to let everyone know that we do still have a few slots left open for UPK. So if there's families who have not registered and still have an interest, I think we have about 8 to 10 spots still available uh either at child time or TSL. So the registration is open for people to do
018that. Um also I did want to let the board know we had a very brief initial meeting with the committee who are reviewing the elementary zones of attendance for the coming year. Uh representatives from Tyler Technology and the consultant was there. Um however it was the day uh it was a one of the very hot days when the power kept going on and off and it was a Microsoft Teams meeting. So um what was scheduled to be a little bit longer was a very short meeting. Uh but uh most of the committee members were able to attend. They met the consultant. We reviewed the time frame for them. I sent proposed dates to Tyler and the consultants for meetings beginning in September with the committee. Those will all be in-person meetings. and then a report
019to the board every month in September, October, November, and December with recommendations to the board for any proposed changes for December. Uh because that will help in our planning for sections and enrollment and registration for the coming year. So, um everyone is aware of the time frame. We'll be working with the consultants over the course of the summer. We already uploaded a lot of documentation they wanted to begin looking at. They're planning a visit here this summer uh to meet with us to go through our buildings, look at the spaces we have. Um we provided them with the maps from the town. So uh that is the plan currently. So again, it was a very short meeting, but we wanted to try and get together at least quickly before the end of the year. So
020more to come on that. And do we have um parent representation on that committee? Yes, we have parents from each of the elementary schools that are attending that. So, and the last thing I wanted to bring to the board's attention has to do with the high school sign out in front of the building. So, if you recall, the board approved an aotment of $70,000 for to put a nice new sign up and Nick did some RFPs to get proposals. The initial proposal was, I think, John, correct me if I'm wrong, over $200,000. He worked with the company. He got it down, but the closest he could get to replace the sign with like brick that matches the building, not digital because we're not allowed to have a digital sign. Um, well, but the dollar amount
021is um almost $130,000 still. So, um, I wanted to bring this up to the board because there's a few options to consider, and I I'm not sure how you want to proceed. We could potentially transfer money from the 2425 budget to cover the cost and pay that amount. We could consider including it in upcoming bond work as part of that the new project or we can consider other options. Um, we could just remove the sign that's out there. I mean, I think everyone agrees it looks pretty bad. Um, not have a sign. We could have a different sign. Try to get something with less money. I I don't know. Um, remind me and maybe anyone who's listening, we're not allowed to have a digital sign. That is a Is that a town? Yes. It's a
022town zoning ordinance in terms of right what type of signage you can have in terms of illumination both lights as well as inter or displaying of electronic signs outward right I mean the the sign I mean intended to be able to provide information to the community we can't get those little tab things anymore the sign itself does not look that good obviously if you could have a digital sign you could update that and provide information. So I don't know if people the town about a variance. I have not variances particularly with regard to electronic signs at the town level have not been successful been as successful as some other variants. I mean we certainly could we could I do I wonder would it be just as expensive or more? I anticip um I don't know
023that question because we we we just didn't simply request that as as a quote. Um okay. Depending on well a lot of the the the cost associated with the quote was associated with the masonry work of the sign. So, the plans called for the sign itself was relatively um simple in terms of design and and wiring for for lighting and and uh the like. It was going to be in the exact same footprint of the existing sign that um was going to be a little bit bigger and a little bit wider, but still within, you know, a few like foot and a half of each. the the issue really was associated with the masonry work because the masonry work was looking to sort of match the masonry work uh associated with the 21 capital project
024where we did the the entrance towards the turf field with those those brick uh pillar posts and the like. That's partly why it came in at close to $200,000 because there was some difficulty working or finding a masonry um mason Nick and Sonia our director of facilities was able to work with the vendor be like hey this is you're overengineering and overd designing your what we're we're looking for here this is what we need they were able to accommodate that with an internal mason within the the contractor which brought it down from 200,000 to about 130,000 but um between materials the actual masonry work. It seems very expensive for a sign that I everyone knows it's the high school. So, I mean, it's kind of if we're not going to have something that provides information,
025I don't know how valuable that spending that time. This might be crazy idea, but I'm wondering whether would it do we have a class or project that might be able to build one components of it or parts of it. I mean I don't know if that's a crazy idea but I mean that have a lot of talent. Yeah, we have a I mean I'm just thinking of now it was on a lot smaller scale. It was a coaster, but I'm thinking back to several years ago. Listen, I admitted it was a smaller scale, but we I got a a very cool coaster and I know they've made picture like they they've made a lot of things. I'm just wondering if we can scale up and make a sign. We might be able to. Do you
026want us to check with the town on a digital option? I think it would be interesting. I think both is a better option. Yeah. Right. Whether it's even just within the school or whe it's a whole Boseies project, this is a thing that people can learn how to do. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, even a digital sign, these numbers, I think, are ridiculous. Even the 70,000 I thought was ridiculous. So, I don't see that, you know, in a tight budget year, we have any use for, okay, maybe there could be a little more information provided if we got a variance with the digital sign. I don't think it's worth the amount of money that we're talking about. Sure. Okay. Agreed. And I I think that the the Bosey's, you know, potential is I mean,
027we might as well explore that. Um it could be even some kids who are in our own programs here. Yeah. Potentially. I'm just thinking how cool would that be to be if we had somebody on the board that knew about construction. That would be great. I mean, that would be really great. And then my second thought if that isn't doesn't work would be whether you know it's required to have stone brick. No it's not I mean we could simplify it. We we could certainly do that too. But I do think it would be if it's if it's possible I don't know how that would be great to have. Yeah we can do this we can look at other options. Good. Build it out of sustainable materials. Bushes that can be make it a new form
028of discipline. Who wants to stand out there with that might be frowned upon, but okay. Sorry. We will not move forward yet. We'll look at other options. Okay. Okay. That's my report for today. Thank you. Does anyone have other questions for Jody on these these items? Okay. Uh, next is the board report. Um, and first I just wanted to um thank everybody who put together um the middle school, the eighth grade moving up ceremony um and worked on the graduation. Both of those events um were terrific to be at and they were everything worked very smoothly. Um, and I heard a number of people comment about graduation in particular that they're like, "This is a tightly run ship. Everything we they got those kids up and out." And um, so kudos to um, the organizers
029in particular. Um, and congratulations again to all of our class of 2025 graduates. Um and um I can also report out that it was um very it was great to see um all of the staff at the U pancake breakfast. Um and um and we had some prize winners um from the raffle um at the end of that who were very good sports to come up and and participate in some fun games. Um there just keep an eye out um in your email. Um, you'll probably be getting some information uh from NISSBA. The convention this year is in New York City again. Um, and it is October 23rd to 25th. Um, and my guess is that the 23rd is probably the um, law conference um, for which there's usually CLE for any of the lawyers
030who are interested. Um, and I know uh registration for that usually opens at some point in August. Um, I'm looking at Britney so she can correct me if I'm wrong. Um, so if you and if you know you are wanting to attend, just let Britney know sooner rather than later because the hotels tend to um tend to sell out very quickly. Um, but I recommend that. Um, and let's see. Uh, and then last, um, if I will put send an email out to all of you, but, um, start thinking about if you have any additional requests for presentations, information you'd like during board meetings um, from Jod in this upcoming year, shoot me an email. I can compile it um, and get it to her so we can get it on our um, our board
031calendar um, for the next year. But I'll send that out by email as well. It's also the NISPA Law Conference in the end of July. It's local if you I just saw that there's um they have it's like a two-day there's a two-day I think leadership of in education event um that I think is at the Desmond Desmond um and the day prior to that they're doing their I think it's July 31st their summer law conference. So um if anyone's interested in that instead again let Britney know and she can get you signed up. Um, anybody have other things that they wanted to share? Just a just a question. This is a more of a discussion than than a item than a report. But going back to the committee assignments, I'm curious, could we have
032four members on a committee? We cannot because then it's a quorum. Okay. Um, if nobody has anything else, next on our agenda is our recognition of public comment on an agenda item. Um, at this time, if we have any visitors who'd like to address the board on an agenda item, now would be the time to come up to the microphone. Um, item 10, action items. A, finance action items. Um and uh before we move ahead with this um item, I would like to pull item number 12 um the approved fee schedule increase for instrument rental. Um uh I think we should um we need some more information um from our new music supervisor about how that program um works. Sure. So, it is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following
033finance action items 1 through 11 and 13 through 24. Second. Uh, any discussion? Yeah. Um, 20 the Tang printing. This is presumably because they would don't allow anybody else to print or why do we have special printing for Tang workbooks? So, it's a um digital platform and you can either purchase the books through them or print them on your own. Mhm. Um and it's cheaper to We do an RFP and we're able to get better pricing printing them on our own locally than having Tang print them and ship them to us. It's the student workbooks. Okay. Yeah. Uh all in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Um 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 seven.
034So moved. Second. Any discussion? Uh all in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? 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 1 through seven. So move. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. D. Other action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action items one through seven. So second. Um any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. And uh item 11. Oh, I think Do we usually do this earlier? Doesn't Britney usually do this part? We We just voted to reappoint. Um Oh, I see. I see. It threw me off for a second. Sorry. So, I'll administer it.
035Okay. All right. Um, I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability the duties of the office of superintendent of schools the duties of the office of superintendent of schools. Thank you. Here we go. Um, item 12, recognition of public comment on a non-aggenda item. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on a non-aggenda item, now's the time to come up. And if you could please state your name for us.
036Hi. Um, my name is Sophia Hamid. I'm currently a student at Woodland Hill Monasuri School and next year I will be in 8th grade. For many years I've thought about high school and where I'll be going. One of those schools is Tech Valley. My mom has worked at Tech Valley since I was 4 years old and since then I've always wondered what it would be like to go there. Last summer I attended summer camp at Tech Valley and really enjoyed the topics we learned and how we learned them. My highest grades in school have been the projects I have created. But Tech Valley is not only about learning how to do projects. It's about learning how to communicate and collaborate with your peers and how to have the agency to complete group projects on time.
037I would love to go to Tech Valley and hope you will consider sending students there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Thank you again for um allowing us to speak. As you know, I've spoken before. My name is Danielle Hamid. Um, as a mom, my most important job is to advocate for what I believe is best for my daughter. Supporting her in her endeavors is something I pride myself on, and this is no different. Sophia has showed interest in attending Tech Valley High School for many years now. Unfortunately, she can't even apply because Bethlehem chooses not to participate with Tech Valley, even though they participate with many other Boseies programs. Just as you were speaking earlier about having your Bosei students come and potentially build um your new sign, that's an amazing opportunity for
038those students. That's a real world um project that those students could be engaged in. And this is exactly what Tech Valley does every day, day in and day out. And it is to me an equity issue that Bethlehem, the number one school district in all of this area, does not participate. your other suburban school districts participate. Our I could go on and on about our special ed students as we saw in our in our previous um presentation. I've worked with Doug Moresy in his um previous place that he worked at. He was amazing to work with. We have a third of our students with IEPs and 504s and we have a 100% graduation rate. 100%. This was not in my speech. I just feel um a little bit more um to like I needed to
039say that um I'm I'm asking you to please please come and visit my school, our school. It is a beautiful place. It it is a place where lots of kids can learn, where lots of kids can be supported and and who they are. And um I really hope that you reconsider the fact um that you could send students there. Um, I really appreciate your time and I I truly hope that I hear from some of you or that you reach out to my principal. Um, she would be happy to to have you there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. [Music] Uh, next item 13, future meetings and events. Um, our next regularly scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, August 13th. um and anticipating executive session at 6:00 and reconvening to open session at 7
040um with the principal topic um of setting the tax rate. Um and then our meeting after that uh will be on Wednesday, September 3rd, again anticipating executive session at 6, reconvening to open session at 7. Um and then on Wednesday, September 11th, um at 6 o'clock, that's the um tenative date for our board retreat. If you can mark your calendars. Um and speaking of that, um if anybody has any particular ideas of topics, um educational or otherwise that they would like for that retreat, then um please feel free to email me. I will just note that it's not possible that Wednesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 11th for both things. You are correct. Um I do not have a calendar in front of me so I cannot um What's that? It's either Wednesday. It's either
041the There's something a miss with the dates there. It would be the third and then the 10th and then the 10th. Okay. Right. Um we do need to go back into executive session to discuss um a confidential student matter. Um, so if I could have a motion to do so. So second. All in favor? I I So we will um go back to the conference room. Britney, do you have to sign this in front of you? That's why you have