001So this time we're going to move into the superintendent report. So I'm going to turn it over to Ricardo. >> Good evening everyone. We're going to start this evening with our first budget presentation. So I'm going to get up and unfortunately I do have to stand by that de by the podium because otherwise the people at home would not be able to hear us. So you guys want to see? >> Yeah. Once the board if you want you can take the first one so you can see it. You do have copies of the presentation and there's also copies of the presentation at this small table if anybody wants to look on if they want a hard copy. Of course, we will put up the presentation on the district website tomorrow morning sometime. But um so
002I have the pleasure of presenting with our new well fairly new. He's been here for a couple months now. Our new assistant superintendent for business, Mr. Fernando Sorio. And as I mentioned a moment ago, this is the first workshop, budget workshop in our series. So tonight we are going to look at a few things and it seems like whenever we start a school year, we begin to plan for the next school year. So this is going to take us to the budgetary process for the 2627 school year. Okay. So there's a couple things we are going to discuss tonight. Oops, very sensitive. Uh, one is the budget development and the current budget status, the fund balance update, and we are also going to look at the projected revenue for the 2627 school year, which will
003include the tax levy, property taxes, and state aid. So when we develop a budget, there's quite a few things that we have to look at. One is the first thing we do which happened on October 8th is that the board of education has to adopt the budget calendar. This is a planning stage in terms of how we are going to present the budget to the community to the board. So that was done on October 8th. Then we begin to analyze the current budget. We begin to look at all of our codes to see where we stand. That has been done. We are still in the process of looking at that. And then the next thing we do is that we look at the revenue projections. As I said a moment ago, there are three primary
004areas that we receive our revenue from. State aid, which you're going to see um towards the end of our presentation is about 42%. Our revenue comes from state aid. Uh the other piece is property taxes. That's about 50% of our revenue comes from um the community and of course the the rest is tuition which is about 7.9%. The projected expenditures meaning how are we spending that funding how do we sustain the district predominantly comes from salaries that's a big bulk of our budget. It's benefits as well in terms of health insurance things of that nature and operating expenses. How do we uh keep the buildings afloat? The other piece that we then look at is growth expendit growth considerations. So we're looking at from every department, every building, what are we trying to do to
005increase the opportunities for students? How are we trying to increase the academic support, extracurricular support, and what do we need to do in terms of filling the gaps, whether it's academically or whether it's within our extracurricular activities that we currently offer to the district. The next thing what we have to look at is that we sit down as an administrative team and as the board of education is we have to balance the budget. So we are going to hear over the next few months uh reports from every department, every building where they stand in terms of their enrollment, in terms of their FTEES, which is full-time equivalent of staff members that we have in each building and what do they want to do to grow the program or to grow their building, grow their department.
006Once we consider that, we have to balance it now because everyone wants something. We all want something. We can't necessarily sustain all of the wants, all of the wishes that everyone has. So we have to balance it. We have to look at what is our expected revenue and what is our expected expenditures and compare that with some of the gross growth items that individuals are presenting to us and of course the cost associated with it and there might be some cuts that we have to make if we can't sustain everything. The next thing that we do is that we propose the balance budget to the community and board of education on April 21st. That is the opportunity for the board of education to adopt the budget. Then we have a public hearing which is May
0076, which gives everyone an opportunity to ask any questions, question why we're putting some expenditure in some areas and not others. And then of course the budget vote is scheduled for May 19th. And we that includes the board of education seats that will be available this year. We have two seats available for two amazing board of education members. We have uh Mrs. Thomasina Herel who is our vice president and one of our trustees Dr. Don de Perry. Uh we then so this year we're doing something somewhat different. So we are trying to increase the level of transparency that we have in our presentations. So instead of giving the community sort of an overview, we are going to give the community and the board a more comprehensive detailed explanation of our budget in terms of how
008the codes are expended. Uh what how is the funding for each building allocated and we're doing that to not only increase transparency but also include some of the department heads. So, at the next meeting, which is scheduled for February 11th, we have individuals that haven't necessarily presented to the community. So, we have our head of facilities, Mr. Christopher Herrell, who I I believe is going to do an amazing job summarizing the things that we've done in the area facilities and the things that we hope to do and of course the budgetary areas as it relates to buildings and grounds. Now, when we do this entire process, there's a there's quite a few things that guide the practice, one is the board of education goals that we've adopted back in August that sort of guides our
009practice. The other thing is community input. So whenever we have conversations with a community member, we have a conversation with a teacher, we have a conversation with anyone from the community and they express a need that we're not aware of, we try to include that to the best of our ability within the budgetary process. The next one is enrollment trends. We see that uh depending what how many kids we are projected to receive in kindergarten and how many kids are going to the middle school, how many eighth graders are going to the ninth graders n I mean to the nth grade to the high school. Those are trends that we have to abide by. We have to look at that and see if we need to shift staffing to accommodate those needs. The other piece
010is SED requirements. That's state education department requirements. There are some things that we just are mandated to do. We are in in the field of education, we use this terminology unfunded mandates. We unfortunately have quite a few of those that we have to abide by. The other thing is programs and services. Meaning, what are the programs and services that we're currently offering to students across the entire district? How do we sustain them? We don't want to necessarily take anything away from students or take anything away from the community. So that's our first priority in terms of sustaining what we currently have in place that we have shown to be effective with students that are impactful. So that is a program analysis that we are in the process of conducting looking at all of our programs
011at the elementary level, middle school as well as the high school to ensure that it's reaching the population that we wanted to reach and to ensure that it is the best program that we can offer to our students. And finally, we look at student achievement data. So we will be looking at regions examination scores. We will be looking at three to eight assessment scores. We will be looking at SAT scores, IB scores to determine if what we are doing in terms of providing uh enrichment programs, the fi um providing intervention services are truly meeting the needs that we have. Those are the things that sort of govern our budgetary process. Right now, we're going to I'm going to turn it over to Miss Oserio who's going to look at more of the granular parts of
012our budget. So, Panetta, >> good evening everyone. Um, we are going to start with the current state of our budget. So in order to determine how is the state of our budget in the business office we do something that is called the fund balance projection. Um the fund balance is a really simple formula. We have our revenues we have our expenditures. We subtract both of them and we will get a fund balance. In theory is a really simple concept but we have to be really careful. We have to project the salaries for the rest of the year. We have to project all the supplies that we are going to be um expending and we have to accommodate until the end of the year. We are taking a really conservative approach this year. We don't want
013to make any mistakes. Uh for that reason, we are actually projecting as cautious as we can the numbers. >> Um we review in the in the in the district in the business office the fund balance monthly. we are actually constantly are working in the fund balance to see and identify if there is any extra expenditure that we don't want. Uh one of the main reasons is like that helps us to project and plan accordingly for the year essentially in the budget season. Um we have some numbers here. Um our presentations now on that are going to be focusing giving some figures to the to the public. Um as you guys can see here we have the total revenues that we are expecting. When I was saying we are taking a really conservative approach as you
014guys can see in in the local revenues we budgeted last year uh 33 millions we are expecting those 33 millions. We are not expecting any accident from that. Um in the state revenues that we are receiving we budget for 21 millions. Um, we are going to be receiving 22 331. That's that's already told by the governor. So, we expect to receive $729,000 more. Um, in the federal there's like we have been using the same figure for over the years. So, we are expecting the same amount. There is no extra revenue in that side. Um, in the expenditures uh this is the this is the place where we have to be really conservative, right? But we have some some situations that h happen already like we have a number of retired people in this year that
015we can consider as a savings in the salaries. You guys can see in the salaries we have a savings of $210,000. Um we have also like um some uh students they in for bosses that they have been declassified so they are savings for the district as well. You can see we have a number here for bosses of $26,000. Um, one of the things that happened this year is the benefit side. Uh, every year we have to project how much we are going to allocate for for benefits. Uh, last year the increase was uh almost 0%. But this year we actually got hit by almost 9.65%. We actually were so close to don't have enough money to cover benefits but thank thankfully we we we got really close and we are able to cover the benefits.
016That being said, the between the basic formula that I was explaining, you know, fund balance is revenues, uh, you subtract expenditures and we have a surplus as of right now about 32.3 million. Um, and if we add the beginning fund balance from last year, we will have like an ending fund balance of 4.5 uh 49 million $4.5 million. What is important with that is like you know when at the end of the year when we have our financial statements we are allowed to save 4% of of that number. Um the goal is to have a little bit more so we can uh reallocate that those funds to like all reserves or reserves is are basically are all savings accounts and that's how we found extra projects in the future. Um that's for the current year.
017Now we are so the rest of the presentation is like or projections for the revenue side for the next year. Basically we have three major um three measures three major funds of revenue. One is our local revenue which is main mainly the property tax from you guys from the stakeholders. Um we will see that's a a calculation that we do. Most of the numbers are set on the stone. We just can modify a little bit of those numbers. Um and that's we have a big limitation that that's like when you guys hear the 2%. You know, our tax cap is 2%. We have make some adjustments but is around that number. Um we have state revenue. The the most important from this one is basically the foundation aid. Um you probably have hearing like in
018the news like that the governor sometimes wants to uh reduce the foundation aid. they want to change the formula. We are still in safe harmless which that means is basically we will receive at least the same amount of state aid that we received the previous years. And the other part that is really important is that like the tuition that we received from external sources you know we have um the indigenous nation like students that they come to our school district. We als we also have his Mauricious students and we hope and we have some other parental place students that they are coming here that we count as a revenue. We have again calculations for the tax levy. Oh, I'm sorry. So why is important is this is basically the t the the amount of contribution
019that the stakeholders will be contribute in the tax next year. Um this is like a pretty standard formula like most of the numbers here are set they are given to us by the state controller like like our takes base growth they they provide us with that information. The only one that really we can actually work with in this calculation is the capital exclusions. The capital exclusions is how much we actually owe and how much projects we are going to be developing in the future. Right now, again, we are taking a really conservative approach and we are expecting to have like a a capital exclusion of $946,000. That with that number in place, we have a a tax levy limit of nine 2.971% for the next year. Um what that means is like you know like
020depending in how is our expenditures we are limited to this number when we go above that number that means that we are piercing the cup and no we don't want to do that that's not the approach of this administration we want to get under that number uh and that's basically the work that Mr. Dr. was explaining you know we have to balance the budget to get to that number. Um we will work really proactively with all the stakeholders and with the administration to get to that number in the next three months um state aid as Dr. Sto was mentioning you know state aid for all school district is around 42%. Um why is the state aid important? As its name indicates, you know, it aids the stakeholders so they don't have to pay more in
021in taxes. Um the state aid is basically calculated by the the governor. They have a budget and they will give us like um basically an allocation accordingly to our CWR that is like or combined well ratio. Um we have like many points uh why is important it supports our programs basically and you know like reduces for the stakeholders reduces the impact in the taxes that's the main idea of the state aid again we are trying to present some numbers um so the governor normally release the his budget at the mid of January as of right Now we don't have a budget. We have some preliminary numbers but also we know that we are going to receive less than the last year. So last year we received $22 million 3318 $874. So it's safe to say
022that we will be receiving the same amount if no a little bit more. Um it's not going to go crazy but you know we are in the safe to say that we will receive that amount of money. The foundation aid is the the bigger portion as you guys can see in the numbers. That's what is calculated with or financial statements and things like these. And the other one is like the building um aid that we receive when we have new constructions when we are basically improving our bu it will come back to us. Um or percentage uh right now it's 69% that I'm sorry 69% when we invest in renovating our buildings we will receive 69% in 15 years. It is important for us to basically keep improving our buildings so we will receive aid
023and we can continue continue with this part of getting better in the facility side of the district. normally like you know we will have like the like I said the governor um budget by the by mid January this year is coming a little bit late and they will have after the leg legislator budget and that's like the numbers that we will receive at the end of the year that's why we have some projections at the beginning at the beginning and they can change over the time until April Um we are showing also some numbers about tuition. Um we we have number of students that they are coming from external sources like Mices the the the nation um we have parented place students but I want to show with this um table that you know the
024amount of money that we receive from the Native American tuition. Um if we see here um we are receiving almost 80%ing of tuition from from the Native American. So it's a a it's a good source of revenue for us. Um I'm sorry how tuition helps to the school district in the same way that state aid you know like we are able to reduce the tax impact for the stakeholders that's one of the the big impacts that we have um also is like a reimbursement for no for students that they don't attend the district you know like we are um we will the the community from center mic is not paying for for external students. they are paying for that and that's important to to notice support pro like you know when we have external tuition
025it supports more programs there is more diversity we can actually afford to implement uh more programs that they alloc they are allocated to all the students and improves the budget stability that is basically the main goal of receiving extra sources of revenue in school districts we have a limitation we don't produce anything that we can sell. We sell ideas, we sell these things, we don't have many sources of revenue. So we have to account for every revenue that we can take. That's why we know we are really ca cautious when we are talking about the state aid about tuition. We try to project number by number when we are using those numbers. Um so this is a pie chart of like how the revenues um are going to be used or how they are distributed
026for the next year. As Dr. Sto was mentioning we have like the property taxes in our school district is 50%. Um the state aid is the second biggest one which is 41.2%. the tuition revenue is close to 8% and we have some miscellaneous um revenues like pilots and other um revenues that we have that they don't have a major impact. Um so with that we conclude like how is our revenue projection? Uh and we have the next steps, the next workshops. Uh we will be talking about every specific um side of our school district like athletics, buildings, the ground technology. We will be giving like an specific details about those programs. In the in the budget workshop number three, we will talking about the building side of the budget like you know elementary, how much
027is the their expenditure um and enrolling enrollment projections which is really important. budget workshop four it will be basically the the budget adoption and on May 6 we will have the budget hearing. Um with that I would like to say thank you and if you have if you guys have any questions >> just asking the sorry I didn't hit the green mic. We were just asking if the board of education has any questions. Thank you, Fernando, for your time. Um, >> it takes a lot of time to to put something like this together. You know, as stated, our goal is to kind of educate while we're being transparent about what and how we move forward within the budget process because sometimes it is a little bit of a different approach that not everyone's used to.
028So, we're trying to do the best we can with that as we move forward. So, we thank you for your time um between Dr. Sodto and yourself. Um we're going to move on to committee reports. Um the audit report uh met just prior to the 108 meeting, so we're going to skip that. Um curriculum, curriculum and technology, the last meeting was 12:16. Um I can go two ways. You want you good? Do you want me to? So curriculum and technology uh meeting, you know, when when we met, a lot of discussions about the report cards went on. Um a lot of discussions about how we can improve and then also moving forward, what directions we were going to be heading uh to help either enhance or uh maneuver through educating our parents about how kids
029are graded um from following up from the the uh responses that were brought to us. Did I miss anything? Dr. Botcher? Good. So that's curriculum and technology. Um now we are on facilities, health and safety. >> All right. So facilities, health and safety met January 7th. Um started out talking about the current projects that are going on in this district. Uh right now there's a lot going on now at Clayton Huey with uh painting uh the APR room. Uh and the best part about this is we're using in-house employees who are on salary. We're not bringing in contractors. So it's saving the district significant amount of money because we're using people that are on salary. Um, winter status. We've had two snows storms. So far so good. I guess to the children's dismay, we have
030just had one delayed opening, not a full closure. So, uh, winter storms are working well. Um, we have a um new truck that was budgeted in last year's budget and it is a great multi-purpose vehicle. You can plow with it. You can use it on the job site. It is been all over this district. I think I saw it yesterday at the high school and then I think 20 minutes later I saw it down to Clayton Huey. So, it's it's been really been used very well. Um, and the staff has really enjoyed using it and this it's really helped them uh make their job uh making this place awesome. Um, let's see. Fire and safety drill updates. As of right now, we're on schedule. We've been uh fire and safety drills have been great. So,
031we are exactly where we're supposed to be with fire and safety drills. And in the next coming months, uh we're going to have Homeland Security come and do a threat assessment and see how we're doing with that, which is again something to get Homeland Security to come and do that is is quite uh an enormous task. So, thanks to security for making this happen. So that is all that I have from that meeting unless you've got anything else Dr. S. >> Um thank you for providing a really good summary uh Mr. Toms of that meeting. The one thing I would like to say is I would like to thank uh Mr. Chris Herell as well as our entire buildings and grounds crew for clearing the snow for those two various snowstorms. I was in con
032myself and Mr. Ozerio was in constant communication with them and it's amazing when you drive through the facilities and they come in at 3, four o'clock in the morning, they begin the process and within eight hours the place has cleared up and they've done an amazing job. So I wanted on behalf of the entire uh community staff extend a warm thank you for them for the work that they've done and their le level of dedication and their level of like happiness even when they're doing it. It's very odd, but um they are happy to do it. They're happy to provide a very safe space for the students and staff. So, thank you to our buildings and grounds crew for the amazing work that they did for the two snowstorms that we've had. >> So, health
033and wellness, their upcoming meeting is February 10th. And then policy, we just had before this meeting, so we went through that review, which you can see on the agenda which policies we went through. I will say we're kind of working nicely through policy. that is um sometimes a little strenuous because we're going through the little details and then we have to get sometimes the legal debates of things that maybe we don't know. So it it does take a lot of time. Policy is a lot of work. Um but we are moving along pretty smoothly. Um so we are at the questions and comments regarding tonight's agenda only. So anything that is on this agenda um I'm going to read the I'm going to read the guidelines uh for public comment. This is the opportunity for
034persons who wish to speak or who have written letters to the board regarding topics that are included on this agenda. Signed speakers are asked to sign in with the district clerk. There is a book in the back of the room prior to approaching the board. Indicate your topic of comment. Keep committee brief. Keep comments brief and speak for no longer than three minutes. Um we will have a timer set for that just to help us out so that we can kind of keep the the meeting going. Refrain from discussing matters involving specific district personnel or individuals, meaning no names. Please stand and speak into the microphone so that everyone can hear you and those joining us on the live stream can hear you clearly. Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak on
035any topic not on the agenda at the end of the meeting. >> Mr. Wagner, >> thank you. Um I have, if appropriate, I have two questions regarding the budget presentation. Um the first about the fund balance, more of an understanding from my edification. Uh doing some quick numbers, it appears that about 4% of our budget is roughly $2.1 million. Um looking at the projection for the end of the year, the fund balance being about 4 and a half, does that mean that we will have 2.3 million to put into the various reserves, ERS, TRS, capital, etc. might understand that roughly? >> Yes, that's our hope. You know, we like I said, this is like a really conservative projection and we are trying to project as much as we can. um we wouldn't know the right
036number until the end of the year when we do our financial statements >> but we want to be a little bit above the 4% so we can distin move that money to our different reserves like TRS unemployment and even like the the bigger one that we are trying to fund is the capital re reserves >> okay and my second question regarding the budget presentation something that you mentioned that stood out to me is that our state aid is has been reduced from 78 to 69% is that accurate I I remember it being 78 or 77 last year. >> I think you're referring to the reimbursement rate. >> So is that that state a reimbursement of 69% is different than like the the auditorium project for example was subject to a seven I I believe it
037was around 78% >> return to us from the state over 15 years. >> Right now actually like I said those numbers are to change as of right now the projection for me is 69. Like I said, we are doing like a really cautious projection. For me, it's like around 69%. So, but those numbers will be issued to us in the very next. >> So, are we locked into what those numbers were last year when we did the auditorium renovations? >> Yes. >> Whatever it was at that time, we're locked into that for 15. >> Yep. >> Got it. Okay. >> That's correct. >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> Yep. You're welcome. >> Anybody else on this agenda? Anyone on the board? Miss Teans, you're good. >> Oh, I just wanted to say that
038um you know, good job to I the um presentation that we gave to East Maritch's kids. So, um speaking about tuition and um presenting our school in a positive light, the video that was done that featured um a couple of our students including Clara, I thought was done really well as well. um hoping that that results in some positive tuition and um and just thank you to everyone who is involved there including the students, the teachers and wonderful to see our new auditorium presented to the Eastman Riches students as well. I know that we had some compliments if you want to elaborate on that to the community because I think it's an important um positive step forward. >> Sure. Thank you Dr. Dear. We um as a team we put a lot of energy into
039our East Maritches visitation that occurred last week. We revamped the presentation as a whole. We did um have the students and teachers produce a it was about a five and a half minute video. Clar Teans did a great job with presenting regarding our international black lawyer program at the high school. uh we had other it was predominantly studentrun but we did guide the process. In addition to that, we did present the students with a litany of informative material regarding the um high school, regarding Camera School District. And from the reports that I received because I was there for the duration of the um presentation and for their visit, it was from what was recorded to me by East Maritch's staff members, it was one of the it was the best presentation we've had that they've
040ever attended. So that was I give all of our teachers our uh I want to really extend a thank you to our assistant superintendent for curriculum uh Dr. Botcha her and I worked really tirelessly on this presentation. I know that she probably had a lot of me because I was constantly revising things and and trying to present the best presentation of Senator Mitches that we could. And from everything I've heard from the various feedback of students and staff and parents, they were very excited about what we did. And from my perspective moving forward, we need to do everything in the same vein. Everything that we do, every presentation, every document that we produce has to be produced in the same level of professionalism, the same level of etiquette that we did for East Merches. that
041is going to be the expectation moving forward for Sen Riches. And it was really nice to see their response and it wasn't just the adults, it was the kids. So after the orientation that we had in the auditorium, we had a expo in the gym where we showcased our clubs, we showcased our academic programs, we showcased uh our athletic program and kids had an opportunity to talk to our teachers, talk to our students that led the tour around the building, have lunch with us. We stayed the entire time. we were paying cornhawk at one point uh and just really engaging in conversation with the kids. So I don't know if that's going to ultimately result in an increased enrollment. That's what our hope would be. But even if it doesn't, we still have to put
042our best foot forward with everything that we do and that is going to be our expectation moving forward. So I was happy with the result and from what I hear everyone was and thank you for bringing up Dr. any other >> Okay. >> Um, just to give a student perspective, kind of going off of what you guys said, I know that me as well as Miss Manonia and a group, a large group of students at the high school worked really hard, like you said, to make it an interactive kind of like an interactive day for them. There was like a scavenger hunt going on where they got to come in and see classes actually running. And like what you said in the gym, it was kind of like almost like a fair. you got to
043go and see everything that our school had to offer. And I think that it was really nice to change it up and be able to show the students everything that's great about center riches. So, >> and one more program that we had that was really, really excellent last week was the college night. >> Do you want to elaborate? >> Sure. So, the college night we had last week, we had Thursday night. It was pretty well attended. Uh, one of the things that we looked at last year is that when we had a college night, unfortunately, it wasn't really well attended. We had about maybe seven or eight parents that attended. Uh, the last week we had about 35 to 37 parents. Uh, the parents, the students were engaged. We we invited a guest speaker, an
044individual by the name of John Dvonte. He is the current principal of Sioset High School. He's written a book on the college application process. and he he led us through a 45minute presentation on the nuances of of developing an application to schools, picking the right school, uh the essay process, um trying to find the right school that's a good fit for the students as well as the family academically as well as socially. He did an amazing job. I think it was well received by the community and it was and I do have to give a lot of credit for someone who's here this evening, our middle school assistant principal who leads our guidance department at the secondary complex, Mr. Dongo Long John, who actually orchestrated this for us and the presenter allowed us to actually
045uh to live stream the event so individuals at home were able to see it, those that were not able to attend. So, like I said, uh Dr. Dwante is well respected across uh Long Island, across New York State. So, it was great to have someone of his caliber, of his expertise, come in and speak to our parents and students. Uh my son attended as well, so I kind of forced him to attend, but uh it was a really nice event. I enjoyed it as a parent, as an administrator, and I think you did a great job. And thank you again, Adango, for the work that you put into organizing it and making sure that he allowed us to live stream the event as well. Thank you. So with the college night stuff, our goal is
046to continuously keep getting better. As we reflected after last year, our goal was to how can we enhance it, right? How can we offer something that keeps growing in front of us, you know, and then also offer for the kids that are currently sitting with us an opportunity to grow further if they're still kind of stuck in the process. So that was open to 9 through 12. You know, last year we noticed was kind of not a we a strong point for us. So our goal was to improve this for this year um so that we're moving forward in a in a direction that ultimately gets better from the feedback not only from the kids but from also from the parents on on how it was for them for the college process which we know
047is not easy. So we are working on it. We are trying to improve. We are evaluating um Dr. Long John or Mr. Long John has done a tremendous job um of coming into something that's new. assistant principles don't typically jump into these roles. Um, but he he came in and he's he's kind of forging forward with with the combination efforts of Dr. Botcher and the principles to try to and the guidance counselors I should say because they were there were they were there present as well um to to try to help our students grow but also that our parents because sometimes it's it's not always what we think. Um, so I applaud the efforts for that and and we thank thank you guys and we also look forward to like moving forward into the other
048components of what it takes to get into college or if not college careers. Um, so I'm going to go into the uh the next section is a donation. So I'm going to separate this one um so that all board members can vote on this one. Um and then I will you'll kind of understand why as I go through. So, it be be resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent schools, the board of education accepts the following donations. Uh, I'm going to start with number two, which is $5,000 for the Pendania family and continued support to be used solely by the center's robotics team. 4458 Inferno, I say Inferno Botox. >> Yep. So, um, do I have a motion to accept the >> $5,000? >> Yes. All in favor? >> Yes. Okay. Okay. So, I'm
049going to backtrack to number one. Um, this one is from one of our board members. Uh, so this is something that, uh, four of us will vote on, but we also want to make sure that she is acknowledged for this. So, be it resolved that upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education accepts the following donations from Dawn and Sal Prairie. It is a scholarship for a senior in the class of 2026. Mo uh, do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Yeah. So, we have one abstain and four in favor of. So, I'm just going to allow you to >> we we want to take a moment to uh acknowledge and thank the Quiti family. This is the second donation that
050they have made to the robotics team. They made another $5,000 donation about a month ago. They're making another $5,000 donation. Very generous family. and we as a district could not do the work that we're doing without these generous um donations. So, thank you once again to the Quiri family. I want to personally thank uh Dr. Deperry and her husband SA for donating um a scholarship in the amount of $1,000 to a a student, a senior at the high school that will be graduating in June of 2026. It takes a lot for a family to go into their own pocket and and donate that kind of money for a student that I believe the criteria will be for someone that will be pursuing engineering technology. Uh so it is something that is in high demand for
051a lot of our students. So it is something that we will be working through the criteria. Uh Dr. Perry uh Deperry will be working with our guidance counselor to structure the scholarship and to put it out to students. But we do thank you Dr. Darian South for this very generous donation. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So now we're going to uh consent agenda uh 9 or 10 through 16. Be resolved. The motion to approve consent agenda items 10 A through 16 C. Consent agenda items are approved via single vote unless they are removed from being a consent agenda item prior to the vote. So, do I have uh a motion? Motion from Trona. Do I have a second? >> Motion from John. And then do I have Feel like I was playing
052poker for a minute there. Uh do I have uh All in favor? >> Yes. If I may, if I can just speak to on the agenda, on the consent agenda, we have two individuals that are retiring from the district. The first individual is uh Miss Jennifer Kleta. She's a high school foreign language teacher. She began her career with the district back in 2008 and earned her tenure two years later 2010. Back then it was a three-year tenure track and she had uh served tenure. She received tenure from another district which reduced it to two years. She has been actively involved with the fire and language honor society and other events at the high school. Her passion for language act instruction, dedication to students and willingness to go above and beyond will be greatly missed. The
053second individual is a PAL professional by the name of Marie Mackey. She began her service in September of 2000 and will retired effective July 31st, 2026. Marie is known for reliability arriving early each day. And when it's interesting when we looked at her personnel uh record uh myself and my secretary, Miss Bar, we noticed that every colleague that evaluated her said the same thing. She arrives to work early. I'm still trying to find out why, but she does. Uh, and her exceptional work for with students who require individualized attention. Her experience across kindergarten and special education has made a lasting impact on our school community. We both thank we thank both Jennifer and Marie for their many years of commitment to the center school district and wish them happiness, good health, and all the best
054in their well-earned retirements. Thank you. Congratulations on their retirements and their retirees. Um the general public comment section uh guidelines for general public comment. Members of the public who desire to address or question the board on any related topic are welcome to do so at this time. Uh kind of the same standing measures, you know, three minutes. Make sure you sign in, identify your name, refrain from discussing any individual names or personnel staff. This way we can kind of keep the identity of anyone under wraps. Please stand and speak into the microphone so that everyone here can hear you. Do we have anyone from the general public? We have two. Good evening the board of education. My name is Joshua Palin and I'm a student here at the center school district. I would like to
055bring to your attention some sort of events that have been happening that I feel like and I've researched that are not in accordance to the New York State Education Law which I feel like should be brought up to the board. I am not asking the board to do anything tonight. I'm just bringing this to your attention. So, this has been happening for about I think three months now since November 18th when it originally started. I've been threatened with trespass by the I'm not going to say names, but trespass by some of the security guards. And I just want to bring to your attention that this should be something that you guys should speak on. Sorry. Um, I was originally suspended for a protest that happened and then I was not permitted back into school after
056the 5-day suspension period until no January 5th after a cse meeting which was brought up and then after it was January 9th that I was threatened trespass on the property by one of the security guards which I which was not legal and the reason they gave was currency. I feel like the board should bring this to their attention and as a report has already been filed continue just to make sure the policies are filed. >> I don't want I didn't want to interrupt you, but you >> No, I'm done. I'm done. >> So, what we'll do is we'll allow our administration to kind of take a look at that and then report back to us. Um, that's kind of how the process goes for us and then from there obviously hopefully everything gets resolved. >>
057Yeah. Hi uh Christina Miratori I'm just curious if you have any update on the workbased learning I know it is a board of ed goal to have implemented for next school year we're talking about budget so just curious on the findings thus far >> you want to take it >> um right now we're in an inquiry phase this year we don't have any plans moving forward into this year. At this point in time, we're focused on the portrait of a graduate and how that what the workbased learning plays into the portrait of a graduate. In addition to that, we've been attending conferences that the state is given through Boseies to understand more about it. So, we're still just in an inquiry phase right now. We'll be able to report to the community once we have
058information that we feel like is tangible um to really implement if there is any. So, is it going to be like in for the budget next year because there is some cost associated with based learning? >> Um, if there would if it would be, we would be discussing that as we talk about the buildings and the programs and the curriculum. Um, but at this point, I don't have hard numbers or any information that I really could say we have concrete um, plans with right now. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other public comments? Um, one one question, uh, what is the status of the regionalization from the NIST point of view? Uh, and then also related to that, has the district spent any of the legal funds that have been allocated towards that last year.
059So in terms of regionalization there is a plan that was submitted to sed state education department by east and suffices for those districts that contributed and decided to be part of the plan. I believe there were 26 out of the 52 that decided to be part of the plan. Um there were quite a few districts that did opt out as we did. When you opt out of the regionalization plan, you you can opt out of it completely and not be part of any of the aspects of the regionalization plan itself, which is what we have chosen in Senate Mes. >> Okay. So, there was no I know there was some money allocated for potential legal um support if needed. Has any of that been used or needed? >> We we have allocated some of the
060funds. I don't have the number right in front of me, Mr. Wagner. I could get you that number at the next meeting. Uh it I believe that the case has been resolved thus far. So I don't I don't foresee any additional funds coming our way. Okay. >> I believe that if there's an appeal that will go then we will have better numbers but it's a it's a minimal amount in terms of what we spent because we shared the cost of legal fees with other districts as well. >> Gotcha. Okay. Uh and one other different topic. What is the best path for students to give feedback about courses and electives they would like to see in the coming years as they move through their their schooling? >> So, right now, Miss >> Oh, yeah. She was
061ready. I like that. >> Um, so currently we have a student panel. Um, I believe Cole is on the student panel. Um, it's a group of students that we brought together to kind of get feedback by the high school as a whole. We have this also for the middle school and we're working on for the elementary school. We have a meeting uh upcoming this month I believe and we are going to dive that's one of the topics we're looking to dive deeper into. So we're kind of kind of we're kind of going to look at all the courses see which ones students like get some feedback from students who have taken them in the past feedback from the teachers and um so if you're looking for more information on the courses I know something we're
062going to create something in the future for students before they make their schedules for next year. >> Great. Thank you. That was pretty good. >> Uh any other public comments or questions? Uh before I forget and uh Jeremy Thode, I just want to mention ran a section 11 leadership meeting uh within the last month uh for the entire Suffach County uh section 11 uh athletic directors and also their schools. If you get a chance, you'll see a lot of PR going on around it. Um there were some pretty impressive people there. It was it was well orchestrated. It was done in the town buildings over um in Holtzville. So, it was definitely something to be a part of. Uh for myself, I I kind of got the double part. I was there as a uh
063coach from my school district and I got to see the other side of the coin, but the amount of work that went into it was tremendous and the impact on the kids and what they got to hear and see was also very impactful. So, just wanted to make sure we didn't forget to mention that one for him. Um, let's see. So,formational items I am up to. The policy committee, the next board meeting is February 11th. Policy committee is at 5:30. Executive session is at 6:00. And then we have the action meeting at 7 p.m. The upcoming district and community events on the 19th. School is closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. on the 20th, which is Tuesday, curriculum technology meeting at 4 p.m. And then there's also the IB night in the
064high school LGI at 6 p.m. Uh we we are trying to there's a lot of stuff going on in terms of what we're doing in this district. We are moving in in many different ways like in in in good ways I should say because that can sound bad at the same time, right? Um so when we're looking at the curriculum committee meeting and we're talking about report cards one minute and then we have to go to the secondary level and we're trying to look at the IB night that's going on. So when she told me I had three minutes, I'm out. Um, so we're trying to encourage people to get to all of this stuff because an informed person makes our job a lot easier. Um, and then you also get to make a decision
065based on what you are hearing, you're learning, you're seeing, you're feeling. The kids are a huge part of this. Uh, you see that they've been included in in many different conversations. I actually just learned about that whole panel of stuff, which is awesome. Um, but please know that that IB night is at six o'clock at the LGI room and then the curriculum is at 4. So, it's a twofold kind of curriculum day, I guess you can say. Um, the IB night is led by the coordinators, I believe, right? So, you you'll get to hear directly from the people that are a part of it. Um, Wednesday the 21st is the PTO meeting at 6:30. The 22nd is the incoming freshman orientation. So, weird to say that we're doing that already because the year is flying,
066right? On the 23rd is the uh PTO game night. On the February 6th, you guys have seen this kind of all over by our PTO. It's the Harlem Wizards night. The tickets are still being sold. The February 10th is the Health and Wellness Committee at 3:00. And then an important one for anyone that doesn't have a kid in the school, I would imagine yet is the UPK registration deadline is 213. Um, so I'm hoping we get some information out to them because I'm sure they're not watching this just yet. But February 13th is that dead that deadline. Um do I have good >> um I just I think I've mentioned this before, but when we have um committee meetings, it'd be nice if we could put the um agenda note the agenda and the notes
067from the meeting on the website. So for those who are interested in the topics that are discussed but cannot attend can see um what was discussed to follow up if they have any questions. um could the agenda potentially be put up before the meeting this way so if the topic that is on the agenda is of interest to the community um they could plan ahead and make their schedules clear to attend um is that like for example the curriculum committee that's coming up um if like IB is something that's discussed for example and it's on the agenda could we put that on the website and say that's part of the agenda and they would know to plan to come and discuss it >> okay Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Yes, I do. Um I
068would like Miss Dr. Boter to give us a little um information on the literacy program in the elementary. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Uh we are are into our second week of the literacy academy at the elementary school and the middle school. Um so we've had a significant amount of students attend um already which has been a a tremendous undertaking for the first time doing this but it's the teachers have been wonderful the parents have been wonderful and the kids are really enjoying themselves. Um so every Tuesday and Thursday from grades first grade to 8th grade we have invited students to come to uh the school or stay at the school for an extra hour of literacy instruction. Um so we have um had about about 65 students in attendance um across uh first grade
069through 8th grade so far. So it's been an exciting couple of weeks and we look forward to we're going to be giving the diagnostic assessment coming up in later in this month at both buildings. So we'll looking forward to seeing what that looks like. Um and it's been great. The principles have really got the machine running. So, um, and I'm just happy to watch it all like come together. And the teachers have been great. We had pre meetings, post meetings. We meet regularly just to get feedback from them and make sure that, um, they have all the resources and the kids have all the resources that they need. >> Thank you, Dr. Bajger. And thank you, Nicole. >> Anybody else? >> Everybody's good. All right. So, we have a motion to adjourn the meeting. >>
070Second. All in favor? >> Yes. >> Everybody have a great night.