001All right, we're going motion. Uh, we did exact. So, we're going to call public session to order. >> We're going to stand up for the pledge pledge allegiance of the stands indivisibley for all. >> I'd like to just take one moment of silence just to have a reflection. Obviously with the community going through what it went through uh over the last month, just want to take a moment of silence. >> Thank you. >> Uh we're going to move quickly on to the superintendence report. >> Good evening everyone. Uh tonight we're going to continue with our budget presentations. our project workshop number two. Uh we are going to be reviewing an update on state aid benefits overview, athletics, buildings and grounds, security, technology and transportation. So we do have quite a few of our colleagues here
002to help with the presentation. Mr. Sto as well as Mr. Herel. And at this time I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent for business, Mr. Oserio, to to start us off. Good evening everyone. As Dr. Sodo mentioned, we are going to be reviewing initially the uh state aid update. Uh we have received the governor's uh budget. So we are going to be comparing with last year and we are going to have a benefits projection. This is an estimate again and after that we will have like some special guest the director of athletics that he's going to be talking about the athletics program and Mrs. Harel that he is going to be talking and telling us like about the facilities and the grounds management and the plans that we have for the future.
003Um so basically um we received our numbers for the governor's uh budget and we have a minimal increase this year. Uh the foundation aid just came shortly like 1% increase. Uh we have a reduction in the building aid uh as well as in the transportation aid. These are like a mild reduction and was expected because we are getting out of some debt in the building aid side of the things. That's why we have to plan in the future to add more capital projects to keep the basically the aid the aid and we can generate more capital exclusions. Um the bonuses aid came a little bit higher as well. This is because we actually are um using more the services with bosses especially in the technology side and the curriculum side. We are going to bosses
004and that's reflecting in the aid for this year. But now when we go to the benefits projections we have an increase in total of 1 million32,000 which represents a 7% decrease. Um this in this is basically related to the ERS, TRS and health benefits which are mandatory incre in increments that we have every year. Um again we don't know the health benefits percentage that is going to be increased next year. We just have an estimate um and we do the best as we can calculating all the salaries with that um regular reviews of these. This is like I said, this is the first estimate and we we are going to keep reviewing over like the next two months to get to the sweet spot when we actually balance our budget. But as like I said,
005our initial projection is like an extra million dollars just in benefits. Now this is the important part as the as the state is like giving us like over state aid increase. We can see in our graphic that we have an increase of $145,000. Meanwhile, we are going to have an expenditure of almost $1.1 million in benefits. Um that's why we actually have to be really careful in like all all all other expenditures in the district and normally this is mandated because of the uh this is because of the health cost that is increasing yearbyear by big margins. You know last year we got hit by 9.7% more in average. So we are like having to do some adjustments in the other programs. Now I'm going to pass the microphone to Mr. Troll. He's going to
006talk about the athletics programs for the past year and the next year. >> Does anybody have any questions based on those first few slides? Oh, and one thing you know like if we can like keep the questions for the end of the presentation so we can address all at once so we don't we stop the flow. >> Yeah, I was asking the board specifically. >> Okay. Audience. >> Okay. >> All right. Good evening. Um want to start we wanted to start off with some highlights. Uh if you look at the the chart over here, these are some of the things that have happened this year. Um as far as uh some repairs and some enhancements. Uh you'll see in the middle is the external cost meaning that if we farmed this out to vendors or
007companies, that's what it would would cost uh or did cost. But if you see uh irrigation clock, the ping, the middle school gym in the locker room, and the press box renovations, we actually did those internally. And so those those those middle uh numbers uh did not take place. We actually saved money on it by doing it internally. And I would be remiss if I did not say that Mr. Herel's expertise and his hand him being hands-on. Uh I foresee not only um more of this, but just overall improvements to our district uh facilities. So I I'm blessed to have him as a colleague and and we've gotten very close and working together. Um so with that being said, uh all of these enhancements I'd like to show and I have not had a chance
008to practice this, but I'd like to show on the video. I just click here, right? >> You click there and then you're just going to open it up too. So you're going to expand into the entire page. So I'm just going to say to the board if you want to sit over there so you could watch the video and the presentation that might be a little more helpful. >> This video outlines key projects and improvements undertaken. We invested in new athletic signage with an external cost of $24,000, enhancing the visibility and recognition of our sports programs. Fencing was installed around the track, softball, and baseball fields at an external cost of $1,500, improving safety and boundation. We upgraded the irrigation. The internal cost was $190 with an external cost of $1,500, showing a difference of
009$1,310. The irrigation pump was replaced with an external cost of $14,000, ensuring proper field maintenance and water conservation. A mobile concession trailer was acquired at an external cost of $25,615, which will support fundraising efforts and improve game day experiences. Painting was completed in the middle school gym and coaches office. This project had an internal cost of $400 and an external cost of $1,500. Further painting updates included the middle school gym and locker room 2, refreshing these critical areas. Press box renovations were undertaken $3,700 internally and $28,000 externally resulting in a difference of $24,300. This provides a better facility for media coverage. We replaced wages in the high school gym at an external cost of $12,000, ensuring the smooth operation of gym equipment. Tennis court repairs were completed for an external $7,500 maintaining safe and optimal
010playing services. Varsity baseball field renovations began with an external cost of $17,000 focusing on essential grounds. These renovations continue to enhance the field, ensuring a high quality environment for our baseball team. >> Let me just Okay. Uh before I move on to the budget request, any questions on these um these repairs and upgrades? >> Um the baseball field renovations, we have a donation for that include >> that's not a Yes, we did. So the overall cost of >> that is correct. >> So the overall quote um to the district was about $28,000. We did receive a $10,000 donation from the foster family that offset the cost. So the ultimate cost of the district was $17,000. >> Any other questions? >> And the tennis court repairs were just like patched up. >> That was that one
011strip you saw in the picture. It was that was fixed. Yes. >> Anybody else? Okay, moving along. So, uh, as far as budget, um, requests, you'll see our coaching, uh, we have, um, 85 coaches, 66 teams. There is a slight increase there. That's just contractual. Please understand that coaching, uh, this coaching line or this budget line is coaching stipens, playoff pay, and intramurals. And we'll cover uh, those things for the next school year. Uh, you'll see there in equipment, there's a request for $10,000 additional. Those costs are strictly two two items or two areas. One would be uh upgrading the fitness room in the weight the the high school gym and uh soccer goals um for the soccer season. Uh so that's those increases. High school supplies and middle school supplies we're keeping flat as
012a request. Those uh those costs are really strictly uniforms and then everyday seasonal supplies like balls and hats and and and things like that that the coaches need on a seasonal basis. Um this will be year three of uniform upgrades. Um I envision majority of the high school and middle school uniforms will be replaced after this year with some going into the following year. Um but that was one of the goals of the last 5 years is to upgrade all of that. Uh you'll see officials that is referees for lack of a better word and that's contractual. There's a high increase at section 11 for those fees but that's strictly referees. uh services, you'll see uh an 18,000 plus uh increase request. I want to point out that this is uh really a board of
013education decision. That $18,000 is really uh uh bringing Huddle back. Uh so this year, so this is really $13,000 isn't really an increase from this budget to next budget. It's just placed into the correct area, which is athletics. So that's the 13,000 if we want to continue with the Huddle program. For those of you who are not familiar, the huddle program is uh videotaping, scouting, uh highlight films for all of our athletes, and it also is expanded to all of our sports. Uh so any of our coaches can use it, any of our kids can use it in all the sports that uh have that have that um have that videotaped. Uh previously, individual teams would either fund raise for it uh which would be a pressure on the parents or the booster club or
014um you know, things like that. So this something we have this year that was in the budget that was found in the budget this year that we're just transferring to the athletic budget for next year. Uh so it's really technically I guess not an increase from budget to budget. Uh addition to that the additional $5,000 or two requests uh that the board can consider. One is um one is if you're if you uh recall we have for the first time competitive cheer uh where they do uh competitive um events at different schools throughout the year. So I've asked for $2,500 to help in choreography. Uh they this past year they fundraised that money. Um so I wanted to try to help if I could do that. And the second part of that request 2500 is
015a consideration of the board to do coaching association dues. This was something that was brought up in the past. Well, it's been brought up many times. So, just so everyone is familiar, uh the co the varsity head coach every year has to pay dues to their coaching association. So, every varsity coach has a dues. It ranges anywhere from $75 to almost $200 depending on the sport. And those dues uh are required in order for to our athletes to get awards at the end of the season like all county, all league, all things because they do plaques. Uh so, that's where that money comes from. So, it's been out of the pocket for coaches um previously. I'm asking for consideration of that to be covered by the district because it's a benefit to our kids. Um
016it's a nominal fee, I think, overall for all of our teams, but that was a request that was brought forward this year to put into the budget. So, again, $18,000 increase um is the increase is is literally huddle if we want to reinstitute that for next year. and the two requests of choreography for cheer and uh coaching association dues uh supervision and I want to thank uh um Mr. Sario for this because uh we went through things that I don't normally go through in my budget from year to year. Two of which being transportation and services and uh the increase really isn't necessarily increase. I guess the money was found in different codes in previous years. This is just again to make it correct but supervision really has to do with uh timekeepers, chain crews,
017shot clock operators, announcers. um it's barebones to just those types of things and the need for supervision at high-profile events like a county championship where we'll have teachers uh in addition to the security go and uh make sure our fans and and everything's working properly as far as uh uh spectators and so forth. So, um that is just a correction of what's accurate uh in the request of a $9,000 increase. Um it's really not that much. It's more of a contractual increase, but we found it to again Mr. Assario doing uh his due diligence and and getting me involved in the process. We we want to ask for the correct amount of money so that it's covered properly. Um so you'll see it a 6% request, but it's really not 6% based on my explanation.
018Uh but those are those are the numbers that we're requesting. >> Any questions on the slides for Jeremy? >> How many sports does cover? >> Oh gosh. off the top of my head, it any indoor sport that's in the gym. I'm sorry. >> Okay. I'm sorry. A couple of questions. Yeah. >> Okay. So, uh any of the indoor sports um in the gym, any of the sports that are using uh the turf because we have they gave us cameras. We paid for cameras, one in the gym, one in the one in on the turf. We have the option or the opportunity to get a portable one which will expand our ability to use that uh say at baseball or softball or whatever else. So, that's something I can explore. Um, so it's really technically any
019sport. Um, but you don't even need the Huddle cameras to have Huddle. You can we can videotape it um any way we want and then you can upload it to Huddle and Huddle does the film breakdown, does the highlight films or whatever else. So any sport technically could use it if they want to. Uh, it's really up to the coach. >> And are parents utilizing this or know about it and how many are using it? >> Right. So it's not a parent thing. It's the co the coach and then the co so the the coach has the opportunity to invite all of the kids on the team to get an account and then the kids can go in and create their videos and and get their highlights and things like that. Um again we just
020started this uh for the winter season so we're well we had it in the fall u and we were able to upload because we didn't have the cameras yet and then we had to get them installed correctly and all that kind of stuff. So, uh, football has traditionally used it, volleyball has used it, basketball has used it, uh, but now we can expand. Wrestling is now using it this year. So, the everything's being recorded that's on the gym on the turf, so anybody can use it. And then, like I said, as we move forward and learn more, we're going to expand it to any sport. And with Huddle, it's our ability to stream for free for for our families. Once that everything is cleared up, we can then have a link directly to our YouTube.
021they can go right on the page or our channel and then families in Florida can watch their kids play sports for free, not subscription based. Any other questions? And then my last slide here is uh requests or enhancements. Uh these are things that um again I want to thank Mr. Herell and uh Mr. Osario and Dr. Sodto. Uh these are things that a lot of things we might be able to do internally. Um or in my conversations with Mr. Herell, his ability to find cheaper ways to do the things that we can do that would cost a lot lot more if we didn't. Um so one of the things if you look into the high school athletic uh hallway, uh we've had that repainted. The floor is black, the the walls are are red. Uh
022and I requested um that enhancement that we do that. That's something we can do internally. High school wall padding. And the fourth one, middle school wall padding. If you go into either of those gyms, you'll see certain pads that are ripped or torn or whatever else. This would be an astronomical cost if we replace them all. Uh but again, Mr. Herell uh said, you know, we don't have to replace them. We can keep the boards and the foam. All we have to do is reupholster. We can save a lot of money. And he got those quotes. So, we can enhance that. As you know, for high school, we use the high school gym for graduation. It looks a little shabby right now. So, this is something that can improve it. um installing storage cages. We
023have very limited storage in the high school or in the district in general. Um this is again a request to install in install metal storage ca uh cages in the spaces that we do have so we can separate things by sport. We can keep it protected from getting damaged and things like that. Um interior gym doors. Again, if you look in the gyms, you'll see them marks and scuff marks and things like this. This is just a again an internal thing that we can do to make things look nicer. Same with the middle school gym and locker room, painting that. Again, an internal thing thanks to Mr. Herell. Uh, very great savings. Um, you'll see replacing the high school folding wall with the curtain. We have a wall in there that breaks few times a
024year. It costs an astronomical amount to service it and to repair it. Uh, we would have like to take that down and put a curtain like we have on one part of the gym or in the middle school. Um, so that's that request. uh replacing the softball back stop and and uh varsity and JV uh back stops. Uh again, if you look at the one as you enter the back parking lot, the the JB ones there, it's rusted. It looks bad. Um so these are again requests to upgrade the the appearance and uh uh make us proud of, you know, all of our facilities. Uh replacing the winches in the middle school gym. As you heard earlier, uh we had um we had replaced the high school winches, which is brings up the baskets. the
025middle school, they have old school ones that use a drill bit. Um, and again, it's only a matter of time be before they um th those break. So, that would be to replace those winches just like the high school. Uh, there's a request to put sound system in Clayton Huey and the middle school gym so that the principles have the ability to use the sound system in either those locations for different events um andor sports. Um and then uh the very last two um requests for enhancements are the weight room renovations and the wrestling room renovations. As many of you know, if you go into our our weight room or our wrestling room, which doubs as a locker room, um they're very small. Uh they're not necessarily attractive. We try to do our best we
026can. Um we're trying to get our kids to use those spaces more. So this would be to expand those rooms into the locker room. uh getting rid of some lockers that we don't necessarily need to make these rooms bigger. That's a big project and that's a big consideration, but um it would enhance the the uh the rooms uh and I think they'd be well used and more strategically used. So, for example, wrestling doesn't have to get kicked out when it's football season or lacrosse season and they have an offseason uh location or we can have a dance room or a yoga room uh for different reasons for curriculum or outside uh use or whatever else. uh and the the the fitness room. It's gaining more and more popularity, but we just don't have the space.
027And we have to break up teams to be in there. We have to break up classes to be in there. Um to have like an area that's largely cardiovascular and then another part that's a resistance training would be ideal. So those are just requests that we have um uh to enhance the facility as well. So those are just a bunch of the things that we would like consideration for at some point. >> Any questions? Everybody's good. That was it. I appreciate your time. Okay. Um and thank you for meeting with everybody to have kind of the request kind of different this year. We asked for administration to really meet, discuss, enhance, talk about, you know, how do we improve what what's in the trenches that you guys need. Um and this is where you're going
028to start to see throughout many of our presentations this kind of come through. So this way we know exactly what people need to succeed. U we are going to continue with our facilities and grounds crew. We are going to invite Mr. Harel for the presentation. >> You want to go back to >> Oh >> yeah. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Come here. >> I will put the video for you. >> Okay. Good. Thanks. Okay. >> If we were to consider only say middle school and not whatever exactly the same price. >> Yeah, that's that's a facilities that would be totally separate. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> Okay. Good evening everybody. I'm Chris Herell, uh, facilities crew leader here. Um, I have a team of 18 people, 11 custodians, three maintenance, uh, personnel, and three grounds guys.
029Um, and my team here this year, what we enhanced and highlighted here for the district, uh, renovated the sport room, uh, deep clean the bleachers and, uh, We uh renovated the lobby at the elementary school, worked on the cafeteria floor. And uh basically to get to the point of uh this is um how much money that uh we saved by doing it inhouse. It cost us $7,150. If we would have done that externally, it would have been $84,000 in change. So, we saved the district by doing all of that work inhouse. Uh $77,000, which uh was uh a lot of savings to the district. Um can I just jump in real quick? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Last year, the board made a a decision to really enhance our facilities. Um previous years, you know,
030our our grounds guys were were trying to keep up, right? And often it doesn't really get received if you're trying to keep up. So, we noticed that last year coming in as a as a group of uh individuals on the board, we decided that we needed to help this out. When you start to look at the internal, the external, and the difference, don't get lost on all three columns. Just notice that there was a monster difference, and that $77,000 savings was the reason of bringing in people internally rather than outsourcing all the time because we can get things done faster. Um, this guy can't be praised more uh I don't even know how to say it. he can't be appraised any more than he's probably has already. He probably goes home and no compliment even
031suffices anymore because it's all done here. Um but that that is a direct correlation to an amazing hire in my opinion um for this district because he walks around this place like it's his like it's his own. So I just wanted to pause for a moment because that doesn't just happen. that that's an employee doing tremendous work going above and beyond to really make us shine. So, thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. >> Can I just echo and uh I don't want to embarrass him, but and I don't know how much the board knows, but when I tell you that he is responsive when I tell you that he goes above and beyond and he has so much pride in the work, it is so refreshing and it is a gem for this district, what
032he does and who he is. Thanks. >> And I will embarrass you at your presentation. >> Okay. So, yeah. >> What's that? >> Okay. Yeah. >> So, we are going to show like um in video the progress that the facilities department has done with the lead of Mr. Hurel. Um the main idea is like we are bringing um custodials and maintenance workers that they know what to do the things and with his knowledge he's sharing with everyone else what what can be done in house. So the video will reflect that again. Welcome to the grounds highlights for the 2025 2026 with data occurred as of February 1st, 2026. Board room renovations cost $1,000 internally and $11,000 externally, resulting in a difference of $10,000. Here you can see the room during and after the renovation. The
033deep clean of exterior bleachers cost $100 internally and $3,500 externally, resulting in a difference of $3,400. Elementary APR renovations had an internal cost of $2,000 and an external cost of $18,000 for a difference of $16,000. For the elementary main lobby renovations, the internal cost was $600 and the external cost was $5,000 with a difference of $4,400. High school cafeteria floor renovations had an internal cost of $360 and an external cost of $3,000 for a $2,640 difference. These images show the removal of the old floor. These images show the continued process of the high school cafeteria floor renovations, including the completed new flooring. High school main offices renovations incurred an external cost of $37,000. The images show the updated flooring and office furniture. These photos continue to showcase the newly renovated high school main offices featuring
034new carpet and office setups. Kindergarten counter installations had an internal cost of $840 and an external cost of $9,600, resulting in a difference of $8,760. Painting of the exterior gym doors had an internal cost of $400 and an external cost of $4,200, making the difference $3,800. You can see the before and after transformation. Secondary display cabinet renovations cost $400 internally and $4,000 externally, resulting in a difference of $3,600. These images show the work in progress. Here are the finished secondary display cabinet renovations now ready to showcase achievements. The resource room renovation had an internal cost of $900 and an external cost of $6,000 for a difference of $5,100. Installation of the water spot at the district office cost $300 internally and $1,500 externally, a $1,200 difference. Next, we will review the projects handled by external
035vendors. The auditorium renovations had an external cost of $1.2 million. The images show the substantial upgrade to the seating and interior. Boiler section replacement at the secondary complex had an external cost of $37,000. These photos illustrate the replacement of the old section. Elementary bathroom renovation work shows significant demolition with an external cost of $300,000. More images of the elementary bathroom renovation show the progress, including new walls, ceilings, and flooring. The next project completed was the elementary walkway. Finally, we completed the removal of the propane tank at the high school. >> All right. If I if I could just say one minute for one second. >> So, we did use AI to produce these um videos and I I think they did really not not a bad job, >> right? I think you have to say
036Dr. Perry. Um but one of the things I do have to correct in the video is that when it says and external, it's not and it's a difference between internal cost versus external cost. Meaning if we went out to get an outside vendor to come in and quote us on these jobs, which we did, that would have been the cost. The difference, the savings is actually $77,000. And this is because of all the work that this is the embarrassing part. I'm sorry, but all the work that Mr. and his team did because when I sit I sit with Mr. almost every single morning and we evaluate the work that we need to do. There is no job that this man ever tells me he cannot do >> this. So this afternoon we had a plumbing
037issue at the elementary school. We had one last night too. I was at the um 9th grade orientation enjoying the presentation. I get a call from Mr. Ro about 7:30. We had a pipe that burst at the elementary. He was here and I was on the phone with him to about 11:30 last night. That's why we're both part pretty tired, but we addressed that. This afternoon, we had another pipe that cracked at the elementary school. He called under the um space and fixed it himself this afternoon before he came here tonight before he went home and he and I I'm assuming you took a shower and you dress >> for the second time. >> He was ready for the second time today. He did the same job. This is the amount of dedication and love
038that this man has for the district. And I have to echo what Mr. Tenny said. By far one of our best hires we've had. And I can't believe I've only known him for 9 months cuz it feels like nine years. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> And I don't think he's used to presenting, so we really threw him for a loop. >> Yeah, that's it. >> I'm good with tools. All right. I think um yeah, so this is um where I go into the uh building repairs. We're going to try to keep it at zero because again, like I said, a lot of stuff we can just try to tackle in house. So, we're going to keep that the same. Uh I am looking for an increase in equipment because uh the the big expense is
039a lawn mower and a drag machine that we need for our baseball field that we just got. And the lawn mower, you know, is so old and antiquated and it just uh and we really do a really nice job. The ground sky is keeping the curb appeal really nice around here. So, I want to make sure they have the right tools to keep that going. Um let's see. the ground services negative and the uh the services the outside vendors that we need you know everything is going up a little but uh we have to keep that going because of different services that we need as far as you know like the cesspool company that I had to have here the stuff that that we can't handle on our own so there was a little increase
040there and the supplies everything's going up little by little but um we have some plans to try to cut back on stuff, you know, and uh let's see. Oh, you have it. Okay. >> Okay. So, all right. So, we want to do some some uh enhancements for the buildings. We try to prioritize and uh do little projects in house. uh the corner projects, the corner protectors in the all of the uh schools, they're terrible. They look really bad. They're beat up. So, for 400 bucks, I feel like we can get all the corners looking really good in shape. You know, we can do that in house. Um the ceiling and the uh lighting, we're going to try to do most of that. I don't know why I don't have an internal course there, but um
041we're not going to be doing all of that work external. A lot of that will get done internal. Uh the bathrooms, we have no choice but to get done outside. It's just too heavy for the crew to deal with. Um the elementary school, the classrooms, we did a bunch of classrooms last year. We're going to continue to do more this summer. over the summer. We'd like to do the uh elementary hallway. We're going to paint and renovate that and bring that up nice. Uh the same thing with the uh main street gym area in that lobby when you first walk in. We want to really make that look good for the public when everybody comes in. And uh we're going to continue with the renovating the classrooms in the 200 wing. We'd like to uh
042you know complete those classrooms. There was work done in them already and I'd like to just keep that going and uh you know repair the walls, take down the old blackboards, put up some nice white boards and corkboards and really spruce the classrooms up. Um we definitely need a playground slide for the children. It's it's pretty bad that they don't have a slide >> in this whole district, but uh I wish that you know it was cheaper, but everything's just so so much money. uh the renovation to the LGI. We're going to take that. Uh we got some quotes to uh do the carpet. What we'd like to do is put the same carpet we put in the auditorium. I think it's going to look really good. Paint it the white just like we did
043the auditorium. It'll kind of mirror it. It's going to look really sharp. Um and the split unit in the auto shop or maintenance shop, whatever you We have no heat in there right now. Uh we have a lot of equipment that we keep in there, paint, a lot of money worth of paint for the fields that we buy. And with no heat, we had to actually relocate everything to another area. And uh I'd like to get that fixed. Uh just make a better work environment for the guys in the shop there and uh to protect our equipment and supplies that we keep in there. Um, a trailer is to me something that this district really could use. Um, we it will help me so I can transport my lift and everything from one building to
044another cuz we have no means of doing that. And uh, if equipment breaks down, we have to literally pay people to come bring it to a shop and stuff like that. If we had our own trail trailer, we can save ourselves some money and just deliver it ourselves. So, uh, that's all I got with that. Any questions? Any questions for >> I guess towards you. Um, for the playground slide, I know a lot of the elementary age kids have been talking or chatting a little bit about potential like fundraising. Dr. Fernandez was interested in it too. I don't know if you heard anything on that. Maybe like um had ideas and talked to the school. Oh yeah, sorry. I just wanted to um bring up the slide because a lot of the elementary kids are
045chatting about the playground slide and like taking initiative and coming up with ideas of fundraising already. And so um I was just saying I you know just briefly um I think when I was with the Girl Scouts I said something to Dr. Fernandez and I didn't know if Clara being our um officio if you had ideas too if you wanted to bring up with the students um um for fundraising as well. >> You want to take this first cl? >> Sure. Uh so recently I met with a group of elementary students. I think it was just fifth graders and it was kind of like what I spoke about last time the student panel. We were just getting ideas about the school and stuff like that and we did talk about the slide. They really are
046excited about getting a slide and they really want a slide. Um, but we didn't mention any ideas about fundraising, but we're going to have meetings in the future and I'm sure I can bring that up and also talk to the principal and vice principal. >> Thank you. >> So, I know that we've been into preliminary conversations with the PTO as well as some student groups to see if fundraising and even if the PTO can kind of offset the cost. We will continue this. We know that this is the $20,000 amount that it would uh take us to in to get and install a slide. So, we put that full amount in. If if other organizations such as the BTO or fundraising can kind of offset that, that would be great, but we can't really rely
047on that. So, that's why we put the $20,000 in. I believe at the last PTO meeting they were they were talking the slide was a hot topic and um I think there was I don't think anything is set in stone but there was talk of doing like um some type of run and raising money through like with the reading challenge they did the cheddar up where you get a sponsor and then you you know rather than reading you would be completing a fun run. Um, so that is definitely in the works, I think, or at least being talked about pretty seriously. >> So that would be airmarked under equipment anyway, right? That would be in the 2000 codes. So which that allows us to to be able to maneuver things around if let's say they
048came up with the money and maybe we enhanced something else for them. >> Um, it's a small token for happiness down a slide. We saw adults just get very happy about the slide. So what what's what's good is that we heard a a young student from the elementary school come forward to us articulate their wish and desire on behalf of students and then Clara was able to then go as Dawn was saying to work with the elementary school students. Um Dr. Fernandez was jumping in. So what's really fun from the community standpoint is everybody really wants a slide. So, so at that point, um, this community does a lot of things really well and getting together to get things done often does happen. So, what's really good is that money isn't adopted yet if you
049think about it, right? So, we have some time if it gets adjusted, but at the end of the day, it's in an equipment code which allows us to at least have the autonomy to be able to help with things. So, great job on your first presentation for us. Thank you Mr. Tro and Mr. Harel for all the information. Now let's let me give you guys a little bit of background of what is going to happen with those requests. Right? Those requests haven't been included in our budget. So we will have to prioritize and see who which ones of those are going to make it to the 26 27 year. This we actually have contemplated all the requests from all the departments. We are going to be doing the same thing for the elementary, for the
050middle school and high school. Um and we are going to work as a team in the future and we will decide which projects will make it to the next year. Um we we already understand about the donations that some groups wants to do it. So that will allow us to basically make other projects possible. That's the main idea. Um in the security um basically we have um employees um from the district and also we hire like a third party company um as noticed there and we have like the three the the elementary the high school and the middle school from what the last year salary was and the next year salary will be um we have a really incre an increase in the security salary that is because of the events that we host. Um
051also you know there's a lot of after hours or like activities that we have and the increase of salaries that is normal um every year we have a total increase of 5.59%. Um we are going to try to have new policies to reduce those costs and that will be that's in the works as well. In the technology overview, we have um interesting proposals for the technology for next year. Um we actually are trying to increase our services with bosses that we do that for many reasons because of education to the law. We are compliant. We know that we guarantee that all of sar and services that we are provided by them they are like under the law and the second thing because we may receive reimbursement. So that's why we are trying to move all
052of so to the bosses or as much as we can. Um the increase that we are pering is at 7.72%. Um in equipment we are keeping the same um rate it will be like just for Mr. an offi to basically replenish the devices that he needs. Um the important part here is like the the that we want to continue with the onetoone initiative. Um this is what the the district decided years ago that they are going to be providing Chromebooks to all the students. So most of the Chromebooks that we bought in the past we need to replenish in the second cycle and that's why we are actually acquiring new computers for the next year. We will be doing this thing year by year like until we basically have this initiative. Um and one of
053the things is like with more technology there is more demand for the services that's why the costs have been increasing. Um we have been working with Mr. And we are saving like um money in so in like the access to the internet and things like this but we still have to invest in all equipment which is the most expensive part in the technology side. >> Yes. Um, I just noticed you are putting a request for an additional person to be hired. >> So, we have again like we have like a request from the >> I'm sorry, >> we're such a small district so we already have two people um on staff here on for technology. So, there's a request for a third. Yes, like I said, we are taking the requests from the departments and
054we are, like I said, we will evaluate all these requests in the future and we will see if they make it to the next uh budget. >> Are we talking full-time, part-time? >> Uh the goal and is included there? Well, it it will be a full-time employee that that will be located in in the elementary like focusing all the the issues that they have to cover there. >> Okay. Um, in the onetoone model, um, did we always have a onetoone model for fourth graders? Because from what I recall with my older children, they had a laptop given to them, I thought in fifth grade and on and my fourth grader came home with a laptop. >> That's a decision that we just made this. >> Yeah, I wasn't happy with that personally. I apologize. And
055I'm speaking outside of the board's voice there. Um, but why did we make that decision? Well, that will be out of my control these um just because that's going to add to the cost. And then my le next question is >> um parents can choose not to use the district laptops and so they can choose to use their own Chromebooks which would then make less of a reliance on district resources. So, I'm just thinking maybe we should communicate that as well because if we're going to give these um these devices to the fourth grade parents now as a decision we're going to increase costs um because those going to going to have to be replaced over time. Sorry, >> it's okay. So, let me let me address all three questions that you had um Dr.
056Perry. The first one was regarding the staffing. These are just preliminary requests that that came to us from the department itself. So, we you are correct. We do have two individuals that do work on networking. Uh Mr. Noi is predominantly the um coordinator for the entire system. He but he is predominantly stationed at the elementary at the secondary complex. We do have a second person a full-time person and we do outsource a technician from core BTS that we pay for. We uh the thought behind the additional person was to free up Mr. to focus more on the server networking side of his responsibilities. This is once again this is something that is part of the of the preliminary budget. I'm not sure that it's going to make in the make it to the final round
057in terms of when we have to balance the budget and look at all the cost expenditures versus our revenue. I don't know if this is going to make it the second. Yes. >> Can I see the JD for that please? >> The what? I'm sorry. Can I see the um the proposed JD for the job description for that? >> Yes, we can. We can. It would it would emulate the person that we have at the secondary complex right now in terms of technician work. Um looking at replacing um toners, addressing minor computer um difficulties that teachers are having, looking at uh smartboards, things like that. not predominantly networkbased job responsibilities but more of the day-to-day functions of maintaining the infrastructure that we have here at the elementary that would be the plan the second question
058you had looked at the onetoone uh device in fourth grade I think the community knows the board is fully aware that we've had a very difficult winter and because of that we had to call one snow day there was a poss possibility that we were going to call an uh a virtual instruction day. So when we began as an administrative team to look at that and the ramp for cases of calling a virtual day, we thought that it would be more advantageous to have fourth graders uh with a device at home because there were equity pieces as well. Not every parent has a device at home that the child can access and do their work from home. So we were trying to start at fourth grade. We were even engaged in the conversation of third
059grade. Uh the conversation regarding our primary grades K to two uh came up and we are still kind of grappling with the fact that whether or not it is the right time for a young student to be able to bring that device back and forth to school. So we kind of looked away from that. And you had mentioned something about the cost factor associated with that initiative. Well, that also when we're communicating the idea that we're not bringing devices like cell phones and watches and you know child's brains like my daughter took home the laptop and >> you know she I don't want her just playing all of the little games on there. So she's still young. So I guess that can come into play with some parents and their concerns. So I just wanted
060to engage stakeholders in that decision before we start handing out devices to kindergarteners and first graders. That's all. So >> and I I don't think that's the plan moving forward. >> Okay. >> Uh generally from the perspective of our administrative team, we do not believe that that might be the path that we're going to follow. We believe that fourth graders and fifth graders are a lot more mature, a lot more responsible. We we believe that they can burden that responsibility and working in concert with the families to ensure that they are using them responsibly for instructional purposes. I think that that would work. And I believe you had a third question. I apologize. >> Oh, it's just the cost because you have to consider the cost factor. The more the younger the children are and
061the more devices you hand out, the more like the higher the cost. So we we did think about that as well because when you and this is one of the rationale as to why we did not make it a homebased onetoone device across the entire district because there is a subpurse of um devices that there's a possibility we may not get back or they may be damaged by going back and forth from home to school. So we know that we would have to factor in a 10% increase in in uh in devices that we would have to purchase from year to year. We are aware of that. Okay. Any other questions? when you take a look at the uh co cost across the board between the contractual work that you're looking at that additional person
062for, can you just let us know what the cost is that we spend currently on the contractual work that we're outsourcing versus what what the cost difference would be by bringing someone in because we've learned obviously bringing stuff internally can actually save us money in the long run. So maybe there's some savings there that end up affording that person. >> We we can look at that. This is something that Mr. Osario and uh Mr. were looking at uh and it's is there's the cost factor that you mentioned, but there's also the amount of I think dedication you get from an internal person versus someone that's coming from an uh an outside vendor that's providing us a service. Even though I think we've been very happy with the individual that is working at the secondary complex
063that is an outsource person, I think he's been doing a great job under the leadership of Mr. and of course Miss George that works at the secondary complex. But that is something that we can consider and do a cost analysis and see what would be it might be offsetting. That's what I'm saying. >> It might be sorry one more question came up with that and maybe Bill would be the person to answer this instead. Sorry to put you on the spot. Um, but this person who could help to support you, is it possible that their job description could do the functions that you're looking for and also potentially help someone like Dr. Botcher with like teacher training. Um, in terms of like like AI education, um, like software support like that mix that we talk
064about in our educational technology committee. Is that like does that sort of um >> so civil service actually controls the job descriptions? >> Okay. There's limitations. >> There are limitations. So the >> when you go district money on >> but when you go to other other positions that may be a little more demanding that might be able to work directly with the teachers to provide direct instruction. >> The rate of pay is going to increase significantly. But instead of outsourcing the PD, I guess just to look at the different >> we we definitely can look at that. But every year that we have a Boseis lease agreement, we get something from Boseis called model schools where we get a certain amount of days per year of free professional development. And we have we have been
065utilizing those days very effectively. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. And the last topic for this night is transportation. Um we have been exploring uh different alternatives for transportation. We have been analyzing road by route by route. Uh trying to see possible possible savings. Um we actually are in capacity. So we are going to keep the same routes and we are just going to add the CPI um index rate for the next year. That will be our increase. Um we have projected that we will have an increase of $166,000 which is a 6.03%. Um that being said, we have the next workshop um on March 25th. um all the principles are going to be presenting um in that workshop. Uh we will have some enrollment projections with Dr. Bacher and the staffing
066projections as well. I just want to say one thing regarding the transportation budget. It is inclusive of every transportation cost that we have. So that is the general education cost, our special education cost as well as athletics. So when you look at that amount of $2.9 million, it it is all of the transportation that is provided to the entire district >> Including athletics earlier is also >> Yes, that is correct. >> Athletics is 8% of the of the cost of the transportation. >> Does anybody have any I just want to make it clear to everyone that the reservation kids have their own transportation contract. We have nothing to do with the school contract. So, we have our own contract that goes straight to Bontalk bus. So, I just so people can understand because you know
067in your head you're going to say, "Oh, well, they're transporting them and they're from here." But it has nothing to do with the district. We have our own. Okay. >> Yeah. our tax. >> No, no, not at all. >> So, uh the Uncle Nation has a separate arrangement with New York State Department of Education. Uh they provide tuition to the district for every student that attends from the Unchuck Nation. They also provide the full cost of transportation. So, this $2.9 million has nothing to do with the Unchuck Nation's uh provided transportation. The only similarity is that they use the same company which is Monttoque bus. Okay. I'm sorry I didn't understand what you were saying. >> Yes, that is correct. Any other questions or comments from the board? Good. >> Clara, do you have any
068questions? It's kind of a fun presentation, right? It really gets interesting as we keep going into this. Um, we'd like to thank you for you guys, you know, for coming out, for your time. Um, the work that went into this is helpful for us so that we can understand the vision of this place. We're just a a blurb on the on the board at the moment, meaning like in five years, some of us here, some of us not, but we want to know that we're doing great work for the future so that people can keep enhancing. Um, so again, thank you guys for coming out. It was a long a long uh time probably in the process, but we don't want to hold you guys up. If you have to get home to your family,
069you're more than welcome to to kind of get out of here. If a pipe breaks, you don't have to go under anything in your suit. >> All right. So, we are up to um committee reports. So, we are uh I'm going to quickly stop at community connections. Uh we haven't had a meeting formally uh in in a last few months. It's been pretty busy. Um last Thursday John and myself went to Boseies. I'm going to let you want to speak a little bit about I thought I'd pass the mic a little. All right. Um passing it over. You got it, John. >> All right. So, uh Mr. Kennedy and I both went to the Boseies open house and looked at all the programs that are offered to our uh juniors and seniors. Um and uh
070we actually ran into I don't know how many students and parents from cinema riches at that open house. There was a lot of interest from the parents. There was a lot of interest from the students. Um it was nice to see um the different programs. I think we divided and conquered. you went to uh one of the buildings, I went to another and then we met up and then we went to two other buildings and I we tried to see as many of the different programs that are offered and we could barely even touch everything that they offered uh to for our students. >> I don't know. >> Yeah. No, that was spot on. I put him on the spot for that, by the way. So, I I don't want to take it all on
071there, but it was it was informative. Um, if you've never been to a Bosei setting, I think it's important for us to understand when we're sending kids there, what services they're getting, what they're getting out of it. The Beacon program that gets them some some college credits. So, that was interesting to learn about what programs had. You learn HVAC, you can get 18 college credits. I never even knew that. Um, so it was just very informative to see the facilities, to see the people that our kids go to. Um, and then the opportunities. The other thing that, uh, Dr. Sodto, myself, and Dr. Botcher went to was the legislative committee on Saturday. Uh that was held at Longwood High School. So even though it wasn't localized community stuff, but it was something that expanded greater
072than us because it brought all the superintendents and the boards together uh into one room within Suffach County. And you had different legislators speaking there. You had different uh students speaking there. One of our students happened to actually be speaking there. He is a eastern SuffK Bose. Is he Eastern Suff or he's eastern SuffK Bosey's uh student. He was there. So that was really nice to see um his growth from junior to senior year in terms of his ability going to that program. So it was overall a nice day. You also start to learn a lot because you start to think about like transportation cost and you go man how does that keep going up? How do we lower that down? What can we do something can we do something together to help us reduce
073cost? You know what what are other schools doing to to enhance certain ways? So it was really good networking piece. Um, so once we get back to that, we will get back to a a regular scheduled agenda for community connections, curriculum and technology. The last meeting was on the 18th. Do you want to speak to >> That was in November. >> I know, but do you want to speak to the IB night? >> Oh, I mean, yes, till tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 11th, we have IB night at the high school. uh 6 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. we're inviting all of our technology and curriculum uh committee members to come and learn about IB. And um then we have our formal our next curriculum and technology committee meeting on the 24th of February right after the
074February break. >> The facilities health and safety the last meeting was January 7th. Do you want to did we brief we briefed on that because it was the 10th. Um, >> yep. The next meeting is March 11th. I will say facilities, health and safety, you can see this presentation, all of that stuff is meaningful. It takes time. Uh, for years, we even have people in the in the audience like Mr. Wagner that has stared at BBS reports for years to try to help us figure that out. Having pieces to the puzzle to really look at the report and then tackle stuff internally is tremendous for us. So, the facilities committee is huge. um health and wellness just before the board meeting on the 10th. So we already >> that was today. >> Does anybody want
075to report? >> All right. Um we talked about the physical education elective possibilities for the upcoming year. Um they shared a lot of good ideas they had going on uh with athletic training. there's a lot of interest in that. Um the unified sports speed and agility and they also were talking about um maybe adding like a coaching and refereeing class which would be a nice um option for some of our students. You know, it's a nice part-time job um to get certified and a lot of the kids are already doing that type of stuff at a youth level anyway. uh talked about mental health initiatives and this week um we're in the midst of PS I love you a lot of stuff going on at all the locations of all the schools um with the
076actual day being celebrated on Friday the 13th and um they just updated us on continued CPR AED training you know we're just working on getting more and more people certified and ready to respond And um a representative from the cafeteria uh food company was not there, but they did talk about, you know, some of the options that they're going to bring back to them, like getting tater tots to go. So, I believe the next meeting is February. Um I could not find the date. >> Not February. April. April. >> April 14th. Next meeting, I believe. That's it. >> The policy was just before this board meeting. We did not get through our ambitious list. Um we made it through two out of the nine. Uh but we're working our way through. I got to say
077policy is um boring and exciting at times, right? But it sets the tone that it could be, you know, it sets the tone for that the future boards and then obviously the systems that get put in place for the school district. It it when we're looking at policies that have been around for 1970 and we're looking at something in 2026, it's kind of nice to know that we're we're tackling certain things. It does take time. The board has to really dive into this stuff. So, just so you know, policy isn't just a simple task. It's pre-ereading before. So, we get homework, too. Um and then we come in and we try to figure out what's best uh fitting and then we go back to the committees if we see something needs to be back. So
078uh that is all of our committees. So now we have up to the questions and comments regarding tonight's agenda only the guidelines for public comment. This is an opportunity for persons who wish to speak or who have written letters to the board regarding topics that are included in this agenda. Speakers are asked to sign in to sign in with the district clerk. Indicate your topic. Keep comments brief and speak for no longer than three minutes. Refrain from discussing matters involving spec specific district personnel or individual students. Please stand and speak into the microphone so that everyone can hear and those joining us on the live stream can hear you clearly. Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak about any topic at the end of the meeting. Does anybody have anything that they
079would like to speak about? Does anybody >> Yep. Um, I just wanted to say something about um some of the things on the agenda just related to college prep that's been um added like SAT. We've been approving things like um SAT prep um work for kids to get help with their essay um like personal statements and things like that. So, I want to say thank you to Dr. Sodto and like uh Dr. Botcher for that work. Um, I've been talking about this for many years, for all three years that I've been here and before I've been on the board as a squeaky wheel. Um, I also kind of want to say like I'm sorry to the class of uh, 2026 that we didn't have something a lot of the stuff in place um, for them.
080Um, we really tried last year. It was a period of transition to do that. Um, but I'm really glad moving forward that we're going to have that. And so I just wanted to say thank you to the administration for putting these things in place and I think um we're going to be setting up our students for success. So I just wanted to say that. >> Anybody else on this agenda? >> All right, we are up to the consent agenda. Be it resolved the motion to approve the consent consent agenda items 9A through 15A. >> Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? Second. >> All in favor? >> Yes. And then we're going to pause for a discussion. >> Yes. So this evening we are accepting the retirement of two amazing individuals
081uh Stacy Lopez and Jennifer Perez Porter. Both educate both educators um that reflect the values and professional attitudes they express early as aspiring educators. During her job interview in 1997, Miss Lopez shared a philosophy of education, a her writing sample. And I I do have to credit uh my secretary, Miss B, for finding this for me. Uh stating that while students come from many different backgrounds, all children have the ability to achieve excellence when educators create an environment for success. Throughout her career, she exemplified this belief through her reliability, involvement in clubs and school activities, and her commitment to mentoring and developing leadership in others. In her writing sample from September 2001, Miss Porter emphasized the importance of flexibility, openness to new ideas, and always placing students best interests first. She dedicated her career to
082serving students in classrooms at the middle school and as a resource room support at Our Lady Queen of Apostle here in Santa Merches while also generously giving our time to chapon school trips, dances, and concerts. Thank you to both Miss Lopez and Miss Porter for their years of service and their lasting contributions to the district. We will miss them and we wish them a relaxing and enjoyable retirement. Does anybody have any? We'd like to thank them. >> I know. I was just making sure that I know I wanted to make sure if anybody had something to say and congratulate them. So, I knew to look right. >> Miss Lopez is my um daughter's fourth grade teacher, so I'm sad, but congratulations. >> And I'm overly excited about Miss Porter because Edward had her for two
083years and he loved her. So, I'm excited that she can get to retire and I'm happy for everything that she's done for him. >> All right, we are on to Did I skip the nonpublic the general comments not on tonight's agenda. The same rules apply as before. I'm not going to go through all of the comments because I learned I didn't have to, but I did repeat them before. Um, does anybody have anything that is not on tonight's agenda that they'd like to bring up from the board or from the public? >> Everybody's good. >> You know, when you sit over here, you learn to pause just enough, do a look around, make sure that you you don't over jump too fast. Um, but we are now at theformational items, the announcements. Um, some some
084good stuff going on here. Our next board of education meeting that should obviously be first as we announce is March 4th. Oh, sorry. I just realized that's my wife's birthday. Um, so March 4th, we're here. Happy birthday. Um, the executive session at 6:00 p.m. Uh, we approximately being here at 7 p.m. Then a policy meeting would be beforehand at 5:30. Right. So, upcoming district and community events. Wednesday is February 11th is IB as Dr. Zachra stated earlier in her curriculum update at 6:00 p.m. Thursday is uh Thursday, February 12th, Red Devil Pride Booster Club meeting in the high school cafeteria. Friday 213 is UPK registration deadline. We have the 13th PSI love you day districtwide and then we are closed for mid- winter recess 216 to 220. Back in session on 223. Come back on
085the 24th. Right at it. We're going to curriculum and technology meeting at 6:00 p.m. Then the high school drama club presents The Sound of Music February 27th from 700 p.m. Saturday the 28th at 7:00 p.m. Sunday 31 at 100 p.m. Tickets are on sale now if I'm not mistaken. I've seen some social media blast that they are pre-selling the tickets. Um the other thing that basically I don't have in front of me right now, but I do know that we are entering the playoff season, the state qualifier seasons. We've had some really good stuff happen. Uh we had uh Leila Cole, I think, made state qualifiers last night. We still didn't hear about the boys from today, but we had uh our basketball team, I think, is playing on this is off the top of
086my head, so bear with me. On the 18th against Amityville, >> right? Um so, you know, we got a lot of great stuff happening. Wrestling. Oh, thank you. >> This is off the top of my head. This is Please help me. Um >> perfect. Uh, so I'm going to go backwards so I don't feel like I missed anybody. Um, state qualifier, boys and girls track. Like I said, Leila Cole has made it to the states as a state qualifier. It was actually a really cool scene to see. Large school, small schools. Uh, the wrestling is this Friday at Shortorum. So that is uh an opportunity for our kids to go in the counties and go against one another. And then on the 18th is the boys basketball in Abonyville. Then when we get back on
087to March 7th and 8th, we have Leila Cole going to Ocean Breeze in Staten Island. So we have a lot of cool stuff going on, not only uh academically, but we have it athletically, we have it within the play. We are pretty much everywhere. Um it at the section 11 event for wrestling. Um >> Yep. I just pass it over. Yeah, I was just going to say that um we have shirts that have been made up with um Josh Guttowsky's name on the back um that the boys will wear to the tournament and in a future fundraiser there'll be shirts available for um students and the community to purchase in honor of him. >> Thank you guys. Uh motion to adjurnn. >> Second. Is there were you racing for the second or something else? Oh
088>> yeah. All in favor?