001e e e and welcome to the March 5th Board of Education meeting for the Chester Union Free School District is that music please take R yes please reply with present when I call your name thiso presenters present present this Johnson Mrs pen present is present meeting thank you can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible andice all can I have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I I motion passed can I please have a motion to approve board meeting minutes of February 26 2025 I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I motion passed before we move on to
002um presentations we just wanted to officially welcome Brooke Bato as our Junior representative to the Board of Education welcome [Applause] first up for presentations we have Mrs B good evening thanks for having me Board of Education super intendent oara happy to be here tonight our crew is going to set up as quietly as possible as I am presenting to you and then we are definitely in for a treat okay um I'm going to report out on our progress towards our district goals uh District goal one and two PBIS the February PBIS assembly uh was held February 28th um students there during this assembly we recognized 21 new students to enter the Winter Circle recognized 80 students that entered the respectful bucket which if you remember was the challenge and they were up from 66 students
003in January uh 21 students spun the wheel during the assembly uh for prizes uh and five teachers got shout outs um as well uh the March PBIS assembly will be held March 31st uh communication Community engagement the second CES parent advisory meeting was held February 20th at 6:15 The Talk iics covered were based on feedback from the participants in The Advisory panel um after our first meeting and some of the things that they wanted to hear more about were vetting digital programs and resources that house our student information um AI at CES and uh data I invited uh Mr Dan schwarzkoff who is the expert right on presenting about vetting programs um and uh you know he discussed Ed laww 2D with um the participants um as well as Ai and where we're at with
004AI and what that looks like at CES now and what it may look like in the future um I presented on data uh some of the things that I covered was uh what data we collect how we analyze data and what decisions are made with the use of various data sources at CES um the final parent advisory meeting of the school year is uh will be held April 10th and again the the people that part participate we're surveyed um to get an idea of what they're interested in hearing uh more about at the next meeting um we continue to use parents Square as the main way to communicate with families in the community regarding all School happenings including PTA and sepsa news and messages uh data the second I ready diagnostic Assessments in ela and
005math uh are complete I shared some highlevel data points at the last meeting um with you all uh since then parent reports were also sent out February 24th via parent Square so all parents did receive their own student parent report from CES in regards to their I ready diagnostic uh assessments Equity is next uh the Dei committee met in February uh they identified a date for our spring evening Multicultural family event that we are planning uh tentatively the date is set for May 15th uh and the committee will continue to meet and plan and make decisions about what that will look like and start to communicate to families about what they can expect and it the plan is for it to really be um an event where families are coming in and they're doing the
006work they're telling us about their cultures and um we're really looking forward to that um CES progress towards District goal 3 uh fifth grade families met TW uh February 24th to review funds raised for the end of the year fifth grade events some of the student Representatives uh also attended that meeting and the families are going to collaborate with the students on decision-making and have invited them back for the next meeting on April 7th I will be meeting with them before then because they're going to be bringing information to me from that meeting for some decisions to be made and I'll help them poll the remainder of uh the students in their class to get their opinions on some of those things so that's really great that they have that voice um see es broadcast
007team put out their February broadcast uh it was sent to families via parents Square on February 28th if you haven't watched it you should definitely take a look um they've really done an outstanding job and they continue to improve uh with their green screen technology and this last one was really great um and it appeared like they traveled back in time uh to interview uh and meet madam CJ Walker who was the first African-American woman to make a fortune by developing developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women uh in honor of Black History Month uh the broadcast team anchors traveled back in time to interview Miss Walker at her Salon uh it was really impressive effects that they used um I'm really proud of them uh they will
008be joining us in the April meeting to present to you all um so and with Miss Randy um and we're really looking forward to that uh the advisory committee worked collaboratively to plan a February Multicultural spirit week uh which was a success and all of the students and the staff um came to school and they were representing their flags and showing kind uh acts of kindness on acts of kindness day uh they celebrated Black History Month by wearing black history month colors and um we really uh and also had a multicultural show int during that week where kids brought in either information or items um to represent their culture to share with their fellow classmates which was really great too uh we collaborate with the PTA and the sepsa around events in support a parent
009family and School commun uh collaboration the PTA hosted the special someone dance on February 21st uh it was a success the sepsa also simultaneously held a calm room uh for those of us that needed a break uh from the excitement in the dance and uh they had that opportunity to take a break in a quieter setting that was still fun um the PTA is hosting a reading Under the Stars event on March 6th which is the evening of tomorrow which is the evening of our author visit we have been everything reading lately uh we did announce via parents square and I gave you a teaser at the last meeting um the author is Mr Lawrence Pringle uh we are so excited to host him on March 6th for a full day of reading fun Mr
010Pringle will have grade level presentations throughout the entire day and all students at CES will get to participate in a presentation in the CES Library uh there also was an opportunity for students to write a persuasive letter so that they could be chosen to join Mr Pringle for a writer's lunch in so some select students were chosen based on their writing um of why they should be able to attend in grades 3 through five uh they will be having a writer lunch in where they get to interact a little closer with Mr Pringle um again thank you to Miss Amy Corolla for coordinating everything with Mr Pringle and thinking of all the details that hosting and author entails thank you to the PTA for supporting and helping us fund the author visits as well as
011purchasing books written by Mr Pringle for the school um March is music in our school's month and to to kick off the CES rock band is here tonight to perform an original song so they also wrote the song that they're performing tonight so that is really something special um while they're moving into position I will take any questions if you all have them for me because we're going to end my presentation with this excitement instead of me any questions for me wanted to thank you for your report and also wanted to thank you for continuing to do the advisory um I don't think many parents are aware that we're doing the district advisory panel and then also breakout for the buildings and I love that we're pulling feedback from the parents about different areas that
012they find important especially with AI like my second grader and fifth grader are already doing things in their Chromebook that they don't always understand sure so we're really highlighting topics that I think are really important um so thank you for that agreed all right enjoy thank you uh I'd like to introduce Mr Sparkman our CES music teacher and the rock band The Rock Band by the way meets after school uh their rehearsal and all the preparation for this house happens outside of the school day they take the late bus home they're very dedicated musicians and we're excited to have [Applause] them this okay I'm going to talk real fast on this microphone and we're get started this is the Cs rock band but I want to share their true name so they're not just the
013Cs rock band they're called the funny socked chefs they're performing an original song about something that might be true for all of you it's about something they like very dearly you'll figure it out pretty quick uh but this is original song it is a work in progress they we just finished the lyrics like a week and a half ago and we realized uh two days ago it doesn't have a name so it's still work in progress but it's pretty sick so we're just going to make sure everything's working and then uh we're going to get to it so thank you so much [Music] right [Music] you are Pizza youza [Music] tomatoes pepperon so true Allo [Music] I like yes I doow like [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes I do [Music] [Applause] tomato we're about
014to clean up uh while we're cleaning up real fast just to talk about a thing or two about music here at CES is okay um so yeah this is the rock band they're performing at the amphitheater in town uh June 1st that's going to be their big main performance uh at this we'll also have the Jazz Band some other groups um a little plug for the Jazz Band as well they are playing their first gig May 3rd opening for a band at meow Blues Cafe so May 3rd if you want to come on down they're gonna be playing some sick stuff of course our spring concert is uh June 5th as well so we'd love to see tons of you there and um yeah a lot of great things happening but uh we got other
015things to get to so I won't talk anymore thank you so [Applause] much I just want to say thank you again to the CES rock band um I also wanted to mention one more thing and I'll report more details out on it on our next meeting but I want to say uh we had an amazing uh representation of Odyssey of the mind this past weekend we had a primary team we had a division one team and a division 2 team this year so we are growing our Odyssey family which is awesome we haven't had a division two teams since I've been the coordinator um and and it's growing which is great our division our primary team they don't compete for place but they did amazing our division 1 team got second place uh our division
0163 team first time division 3 in Chester in many years and they got third place so that was an excellent representation for Chester at Odyssey and our division team did get invited to the States this year so we will be going to the states with our division one team for the third year in a row which is amazing but I just wanted to make sure um I mentioned that it did just happen but I'll report more about the names of the students um in my April report okay anything about Odyssey we're good okay good evening Mr plan again good evening everybody wow what a I mean I haven't since I've seen van hen the performance like that well done everybody did a great job um thank you everybody for the opportunity to present tonight and
017being here in just a little while I have some special guests as well I'll introduce but I'm not going to take too much time because they're kind of the main event but I want to go through and just kind of go over a couple things and Mrs B just kind of finished off on something I was going to start with our our Odyssey the division 2 Team um finished in third place and we were excited about that it's been a long time since CA had students representing at Odyssey of the mine um so the trophy just came in today so we're going to we're going to call the kids down tomorrow to make sure we get some pictures with it to get it up on the uh on the website which is awesome uh we're
018proud of them they did a great job and and we're excited to have that back and continue to grow the program where that really hasn't been there at that level in a long time so well done to to miss oi and everybody on the team um we had Junior parent information night and and I know some people were there and had an opportunity Mrs sternman Miss beretto are there and they talk about how we prepare for our senior year the college process which is can be a extremely overwhelming and stressful process just to ease people in to realize that we're going to help people get through it it is not a you know it's not something that will swallow anybody whole here it it is something we can guide you along the way students will
019have meetings uh for parents to know that we are available and accessible to answer those questions along the way where they come to working with navian the Common App um questions about schools in general you know every school is different with requirements to get into and I think sometimes we're we're here in New York state some people go out of New York State and there's different requirements and different places so um we always want to help students prepare best by knowing what what path they think they want to go on and we can kind of make sure they're on that path to get that that kind of that top school that that they're aiming for there so um so that's coming up and thank you to miss sternman and miss beretto and everybody that attended
020um I'm excited because I'm going to Disney World so we're very excited about our senior trip is going to Disney World and I just happen to be lucky enough to be along as a chaperon there um it's it's really a such a nice trip and it's a great group of seniors that are going there are 39 students that are attending on the trip this year along with six chaperon uh we're staying at the Cabana Bay Resort at Universal Studios um and we're going to be going around between Universal Studios uh Hollywood Studios at Disney and the Magic Kingdom so we're excited for that trip the students are ready we're going to have a meeting next week virtually with parents and students just to go over all the things you don't think about like you know
021how much luggage can I bring you know um what time are we meeting uh to go on the plane what are some of the rules and regulations because it is a school trip and so we need people to know that all the rules and regulations of the school are always in effect and do apply the code of conduct is still something we follow um but we we're going to have a lot of fun in doing that so um so we'll have more to come and and hopefully at the next uh board meeting I'll have some seniors with me that can then show you the fun stuff that we did down there um a couple of I've been sending out parent squares you know every few days with that information because I know once they come
022if you don't go on that'll get lost in in the email inbox um we have the website that has the information on it the social media sites and uh and the posters around the school your children can take a picture of the poster and it has the uh the QR code on there so we're excited for the Harlem Wizards and Rohan Murphy is going to truly be inspirational for our students you know he is a he's a and I've brought him up before and spoke about it Rohan has had quite a journey in life and he's someone that will will show students there's nothing you can't overcome if you put your mind to it so we're gonna we're going to leave it at there with Rohan and for members of the community that would like
023to come out and see Rohan as well um we're going to be doing an evening assembly at 6 pm and uh our district attorney David hoverer is going to be here as well he's going to speak for a couple of minutes before the uh presentation starts it's always nice to bring the community the county and the uh and the and our speaker together so that we can uh you know I'll just have an opportunity to to really be together and uh and you know see some inspirational motivational things here um I did I did uh send you our results from I ready our I results this this semester we saw some nice growth in different areas but we also have some things that we're looking at um we are currently I met with the seventh
024and eighth grade teams today I met with the sixth grade teams next week and we're talking about a lot of the different areas where we feel like we could use um additional you know additional motivational strategies for our students and you know where we're seeing growth and how we continue that growth and where the areas we're not seeing growth what are some of the areas that we could kind of be um we could kind of be testing out you know one of my concerns I brought up in the last meeting where we had a lot of interruptions with snow we had a you know we had some two-hour delays we had things along the way that were coming into our R ready period so we're already looking at testing periods next year that might be
025a little more feasible that are in the process that we're looking at that might also um you know Co coincide with the times that students take exams around midterm time that might be a little bit of a better fit and a little bit of a better frame of mind for students to be taking those exams so those are all things to come here um and then we right around the corner and Mr Jette is not here but it's hard to believe that spring sports are starting soon so I I know that information will be going out soon if it hasn't gone out already to check um I was about to say passport for good Mr regular family ID thank you Mr regular always saving me here family ID for more information on how to sign
026up for a particular sport that you might be interested in trying out for uh the football team had their meeting today already for next year that's how quickly we're moving through the year the signups for next year and it was really great to see a lot of students from from Chester and Florida school District here today for that meeting um so before I move on to the main event here um I want to open up for any questions Mr FL I just want to confirm you said Rohan will be here at 6 or at 7 he'll be here at 6 I got seven so I got seven from somewhere I got figure out I messed up that could have been my I might have put that I might have put that on my board report
027accidentally he'll be here at 6 p.m. yes I put it on my board report at 7 p.m. so it's 6 it's not the first time I've done that in the past so thank you for checking me on that I be late he'll be here at 6 yes and then the we want to get the kids to bed on time the second thing I wanted to bring up um and thinking about the junior meeting and then thinking about the eth grade meeting you guys had recently and in speaking with um Miss stenham I don't want to mess up her name um I know that in the past there was like a virtual option where parents because I know all parents cannot make it um due to you know many things just to think about and putting
028it on the universe maybe something like a recorded um of the of the presentation or something where parents it is is available in the future so that parents because there was a lot of important information given out during that meeting especially in the college process and the difference you know in tuition and and scores and what schools accept what so just thinking if it's possible to like record those presentations and then have like a link or or something um in addition to the you know in person just so that there is a balance um for those parents who can make it it's just a suggestion to think about no thank you and uh and and if it's not available yet I'll just double check with Mrs sternman that for anyone that didn't make this particular
029meeting the slides should be available I do believe she was going to send them out if not they are okay yeah we we want to make them available that we appreciate that feedback it's something we can definitely look into okay um on on that note I'm going to turn it over to miss scall who's here uh Mrs scall and our voice Ensemble is here and I'm just going to pull up the have a good present oh I lost I had it up and I lost it Miss SC hang on there we go all right here we go and I'm going to slideshow you're there's a teacher you probably know how to do this better than me good evening thank you so much for having us tonight and we are so honored to be here and
030I want to take a moment to thank our Administration all of our Administration and our board of education for all of your support in our music program for the whole District because it's due to your support that our students are able to have the opportunities and the growth that they're able to so we're very very thankful to you all thank you so much um I have a couple pictures and some highlights from this year's program um up here we were really honored to perform for the second year at Radio City Music Hall before the Christmas Spectacular with the rocket so we had an unbelievable experience and our our students really really valued that experience and it's something they will never forget wait oh sorry I think I did something bad oh okay um in the
031past we have had music for humanities um come to our school school they were part of our My Business Partnership um Barry Adelman came in and he did a guitar workshop with my 6th grade students and he taught them a song that he wrote and composed and we were really honored this year um Barry had reached out and he said he selected our Chester Academy with $3 to $4,000 worth of instruments as a wish list and he supp he's going to be supplying our our school and our students with those instruments so we were Beyond surprised and really really grateful he picked a couple schools within Orange County for that program and I think a big support piece there was that he was our um you know he he worked together coming in as a
032business representative and within the community and he was able to see what our program has and how excited our students were and what else they could benefit from so that was really important we had many students this year um who were selected into all count chorus between High School junior high and Elementary and we had several who were selected into area all state which is out of five counties and um area all state and all County are both um the class sizes of all different classes so our students compete against all the different class sizes that there are and we're really proud of our students um for high school here tonight we have Ariana dowy and yamet Lopez Cortez they were part they participated in high school All County Chorus and yamet participated in area
033all state and Jaylen Fernandez was also in area all state I'm having trouble with this um our program has participated in some past music music internships where we had students come in and they were theater internships at the elementary school and we did music the um music therapy there also and we had a therapy dog come in and work with our third graders with recorder that was really interesting but it was a great experience for our students to be a part of those things and this year each year we perform at Glenn ardan residency um usually we go one to two times a year and we bring cards over that one of the elementary clubs creates to give to the residents so it's really nice to spread cheer during that time of the year um
034something super exciting is that our our chorus our choruses are um ocmea Grant recipients for about the 13th year in a row and we won around $2,000 the other day we had Timothy Hughes come to elementary school and he was a Broadway performer and he did a workshop with our students there in Finding Nemo and it was really special on this coming Monday we have uh Steven tberry coming in he played the Phantom in the Phantom of the Opera so he's coming here to work with our vocal students so we're super excited we've had the yal biz Wings come in the past um Germaine Paul was the winner of The Voice in in 2012 um and a lot of other Broadway performers so our students really remember that and they're inspired by that and we
035have students that end up majoring in music education and in vocal performance and this was from last year this was a really special trip that our Middle School chorus um got to see The Outsiders on Broadway and this was super special because the um producers and the writers of the show actually happened to be the audience unknown to us and they got up and performed and it was it was an incredible experience so it's those things that we're so supportive we're we're so appreciative for your support to give our students these opportunity ities and these are some other Elementary show memories of The Lion King kids and Frozen kids and this year the elementary is on finding Neo kids on March 27th and it is a scholarship benefit so part of the proceeds from the
036performance go to the Lori harz Fedor scholarship which goes to a graduating um senior and uh Lori was my teacher so it's a special way for the students to have that performance experience and also to continue her name and in the months of January February um for Holocaust Remembrance Day in the sixth grade General music class we incorporate primary documents from from the Holocaust period um that's a Tim board that's on the second floor of the academy and we're going to be having a holocaust Survivor come in this spring which is something I have wanted to do for a really long time and was able to find a program to have somebody come in and talk to our students this spring we've had students perform at the 911 Ceremony this year we hosted the Red
037Ribbon day ceremony and our voice Ensemble perform there along with other community events and this is a picture from Black History Month of Ride The Chariot which we're going to perform for you tonight and some upcoming music events these are our puppets from Finding Nemo kids um we are so excited for this show it's March 27th so I hope everybody can come it's at 6:30 p.m. and we have um nisma two we're going to two different nisma festivals this year Elementary All County junior high all County Festival of course our concerts and two Broadway show trips so it's a busy year and we appreciate you supporting all of our opportunities for the students thank you I hope you enjoy the performance okay for [Music] going to thei in the morning the in the [Applause] [Music]
038morning are you ready my brother are you ready for the journey do you want to see your Jesus I'm waiting for the Chariot cuz I'm ready to go are you ready my sister are you ready for the journey do you want to see Jesus [Music] thei in the for [Applause] [Music] Jud in thei to see [Music] for the [Applause] Jud my Lord the CH in the morning the in the morning I'm going toide to [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you everybody The Voice Ensemble produced by Mrs scall and that's my presentation list anyone has any other questions thanks thank so much thank you everyone thank you for coming guys um at this time we were so grateful that our students came but if they would like to exit and head home to do homework we have
039no objective and thank you again for coming this is the Highlight always of our more me when students come good evening Mr good evening um I'm going to ask for a pass this evening cuz it's going to be really tough to go after the kids uh again just phenomenal phenomenal outstanding um I am proud again because I I continue to share the great news about our kids uh in my report that you have here um I shared with you um the monthly recap regarding cell phones and and I'm very proud again that we continue working together um especially especially our faculty and staff uh the administration uh Mr Flanigan myself our support staff most of all the parents uh it is greatly appreciated um and then we talk about our students I'm happy to report
040again this past month I've seen several examples of our hambos helping hambos it it it's great to sit down and talk to our students but I'd like to give a shout out to our safe School ambassadors two of our safe School ambassadors came to me and reported a situation where they shared some information that they were able to obtain and uh in talking to them uh I was happy to share with them that I was already on it and that we're taking care of the situation but for them to listen to sit down and talk to our students regarding the situation and sharing that information to school information us sharing uh that information it builds the trust but most of all the respect so I'm very happy with our safe School ambassadors uh I would
041like to you know give them a shout out but I know I can't but I will share with you that it was greatly appreciated uh in speaking to our kids we had another situation where our a shout out to our uh 8th grade students uh my seniors of the Middle School uh Donovan AA and uh Matthew Jimenez uh they saw that uh one of their classmates just wasn't having a good day they reached out invited that young uh student classmate to have lunch with them and to shoot a couple of Hoops um I did speak to that young man and that young man took the time out and shared with me Mr aore I just want to tell you Donovan and Matthew came and checked on me and I think they should deserve a shout
042out of thanks because they didn't have to do that but they did um the encouragement of looking out for one another it's just a great example again of our kids um and again what was great is that it was organic it was pure um so again a shout out to to Matthew and to uh Donovan the second quarter completed and uh again I'd like to recognize Sawyer meloy Khloe goette goai uh Maya Fernandez uh Alyssa roas Taylor aella Miss Brook Bata who was joining us this evening Ava Pano Cameron choian Juliana Duran those students were number one for the second quarter on their grade point average of course uh for the high honor role they represented their grades so grades 6 through 12 and this included ctec they were number one for the second quarter
043uh again we uh recognized them I sent them a digital card to their parents and themselves and also that we have it on display uh tomorrow we will be celebrating uh our kids for the high honor rooll and honor rooll celebration tomorrow period 9ine it's something that we do every quarter uh it's just a nice way of recognizing our kids for the academic achievement for the quarter we have the opportunity again to gather together as a as a school um cuadro JoJo oie Kuan uh JoJo by his friends uh and just an amazing young man uh was Champion section 9 uh wrestling uh winner um he qualified to go to the states up in Albany to represent Chester Academy we had the opportunity to send them off as we've done in the past for quite
044some time it was just amazing to have our students gathered together and back at the school and wish them well um representing Chester Academy uh it was fantastic and and it was great to see because I I got to hear uh one student in the crowd said he touched my hand so it it was just uh phenomenal and again it's just the Feelgood and and recognition for this young man because again if you know JoJo he has done a lot very involved with our uh uh drum line um with uh The Varsity Club with wrestling with football um just a great example of Chester Academy and he he's phenomenal and we're glad that we were happy to do this for him um in my last report I shared with you how valuable it is with
045the seven mindsets how our students see the importance of it that they are involved so we use the examples that we've been doing since the beginning of the year how we've had our faculty and staff nominated our students uh on every mindset uh this past month we talked about 100% accountable I showed I I I gave you several examples of uh instances from our pep rally um we took photos and posters of our students just giving the examples of the seven mindsets so this past month we had kaen MOS Jojo and Ashley Griffin uh to represent the mindsets here and this is something that we do every month I wanted to make sure that they were highlighted this past month um and again I want to thank Miss Vio for organizing putting it together but
046again it it's uh it's a great Buy in especially again when it comes from the students so uh you know we want to recognize our kids thank you any any questions questions again thank you for always taking the time to you know recognize um with all aspects whether it's Athletics academics um you know the mindset we be appreciated thank you at this point we're going to hear from Miss O'Hara and missusa good evening everyone uh tonight brings forth our first budget presentation and with that and there it is right on the screen for you all going to take a moment and uh ensure that it's up on the screen okay so for this evening the first presentation it is an overview of budget priorities inclusive of enrollment Staffing projections the maximum allowable tax levy and
047revenue projections uh the next presentation on March 19th goes into more specific detail on instructional program student support services and technology so our budget priorities are investing in educational EX and that is supported by our district vision and Mission it also is reflective of what we hope our graduates uh leave Chester as so a portrait of a Chester graduate effective communicators Dynamic collaborators Innovative problem solvers digital strategists ethical citizens and empowered Learners so in terms of investing in excellence and the Budget prior prorities focus on three key components right three key priorities distri wide strategic Investments and education programs and Staffing and we have here this evening a very clear example of excellence and Staffing as Mr John Magie is being considered for tenure when we get to the consent agenda so strategic investments in
048education programs and Staffing enhancing student learning opportunity and achievement second strengthening Community engagement progressing communication platforms and Community collaboration and third advancing safety security and infrastructure and that's expanding facilities improvements for security Energy Efficiency and student opportunities this presentation again is an overview and it will be available for you on the district website under the board of education budget as will all budget presentations so you can certainly tune in and watch it live uh you can watch it following the Board of Education meeting and you can also look at the presentations on our website so in regard to these three key three key areas in terms of uh Investments and education programs and Staffing really looking at advancing instructional uh instructional Excellence right that's what we're here for strengthening our New York NextGen line programs
049which we have uh continually continually progressing through our piloted programs enhancing professional development which is key in all programs and initiatives and taking teacher input into consideration uh in prot uh professional development utilizing data driven strategies our March 7th professional development which is this Friday is focused on that um and that is to maximize student achievement secondly expanding Innovative and engaging learning experiences providing career connected learning opportunities if we didn't just see a key example of that in our music programs uh it was mentioned on uh Broadway performances are little ones uh performing in the community this is what we're talking about it's not just words on a page it's examples in education that impact our students um promoting that creativity CR critical thinking to support our Learners and future Readiness and then third investing
050in Strategic Staffing for instruction strengthening educator support maintaining our small class sizes which makes Chester unique and is so important and impactful in individualized learning for our students um it also supports student connections and of course academic success and then fourth empowering students right empowering students to take ownership supporting their growth and their well-being promoting that collaborative environment districtwide are welcoming an inclusive environment that supports students social emotional growth student responsibility resilience and personal success those four key areas will be uh discussed in more detail at the next uh Board of Education meeting on March 19th when we go into further detail uh specific to Chester Elementary School and Chester Academy instructional program Staffing technology so the second key area for Budget pre uh priorities strengthening Community engagement and we've really uh worked hard to
051reinforce that this is our third year um this is our first year specifically with parents um in advancing our communication for families um and the budget also supports communic uh communication platforms that include our district website social media continuation of the monthly budget newsletter uh next year the budget would support parents Square shifting to support teacher and family communication as our second phase of use of parents Square uh parents Square also allows us to broaden our commity community outreach where School messenger only was specific to parents uh with students in the school parents Square allows all community members if they so choose to take part in communication we have many uh community members who do not have uh students in the district that have asked and are a part of uh getting the information on
052parents sare when we send those monthly newsletters uh second uh priority in uh regard to strengthening Community engagement upgrading District ed student information system so the budget would support shifting from our current uh student sis system that's a student information system from school tools to Synergy um and that is a quite a shift um but it is an extensive platform that supports uh parent student staff access from information uh in particular to student grades Athletics our MTS systems um for indivi individualized student support and it also um has a component which is unique to Synergy uh with regard to enhancing safety account accountability reunification uh and of course District efficiency and third on expanding and strengthening Community engagement expanding our parent and Community collaboration So currently we're in our third year of the cfsd parent
053advisory panel as Mr Flanigan and Mrs B mentioned we have uh expanded based on parent input though the district panel to building specific meetings uh we have also uh brought in beyond the cfsd parent ad advisory panel we have seen increased attendance in our family Academy our family instructional Academy and then lastly we have brought in the Athletics advisory panel uh where our parents who are um have students in the Athletics program are able to give their input in with regard to opportunities for continuous Improvement so we look to expand those into next year here and then also mentioned this evening uh specifically by Mrs scall the importance of strengthening School business and Community Partnerships making learning for our students relevant and meaningful so expanding our workplace learning internship uh opportunities for students career exploration
054opportunities so whether they're going out and actually seeing for example uh Broadway shows or as Mrs SC happened to mention uh we have experts coming in uh which John I will make reference to um has done a phenomenal job in having uh experts come in from the community to share uh relevant information on a given career or Community experience uh for students and then the last uh overall budget priority is of course advancing safety security and infrastructure so expanding our facilities improvements for security Energy Efficiency and student opportunity so uh three General uh supported areas uh for advancing safety security and infrastructure the first enhancing school security and emergency preparedness every single year we're continuing to progress our initiatives and improvement with regard to Safety and Security so strengthening Partnerships um with our investment and
055contracts with the Town of Chester police department Atlas security ensured uh contined dedicated Presence at both the elementary school and Chester Academy uh improving our surveillance continuation of joint safety drills which we always have follow-up meetings after that to identify areas for improvement maintaining on-site daily security and additional personnel which we'll speak to in later later presentations to ensure comprehensive safety coverage in all areas uh second strengthening emergency response and coordination so that becomes the focus on professional development in addition to our drills so St staff training on crisis uh excuse me crisis response CPR certification uh emergency preparedness we have started this year and will continue uh training especially with our Bert teams building emergency response teams is uh what that stands for enhancing collaboration with our First Responders for incident command system training
056which has been a huge component of our improvements this year uh which will continue into next year through uh the budget um it does include emergency drills and certainly ongoing District safety planning and and when we uh initiate our district safety plans that's through the collaboration of local law enforcement and uh risk management expertise across the county and lastly uh investing in infrastructure Energy effic Efficiency uh this room in particular uh earlier this year obviously previous to the 2526 budget the investment in uh new lighting but that that effort would continue uh which is actually a district savings it's a savings to our taxers in the budget uh it's so important to have that continued investment but it does also include upgrading our facilities um also um enhancing student opportunities through modernizing our learning environments
057we have evidence of that in our maker spaces both at the elementary school and at the Academy but also looking at uh continued needs so uh we would expect future presentations on potential Athletics facilities um but all of those are dependent upon um where we are in the budget and um other implications that with future information to come so again those are the general key budget priorities investing in excellence and education for our students um we're going to go into further detail with regard to enrollment and Staffing projections I'll just make note that in Chester Elementary School um and this is truly based on preliminary registration figures we expect a slight increase in enrollment the 2526 budget does support a necessary increase in teacher aids for our kindergarten classes um at the academy uh enrollment
058is anticipated to remain steady for the 25 26 school year and the budget certainly supports maintaining Staffing levels uh to support all of the programs uh many of which you heard about this evening uh throughout the the district and all levels uh Mrs Tusa uh our assistant superintendent for business uh is going to address the challenges for the 2526 budget and then uh provide some information on the maximum allowable tax levy and an overview of revenue for the district thank you miss oara you are most welcome um good evening everyone so first I want to speak about the ongoing challenge um that's always a challenge in any budget development process um costs continue to rise and at the same time we try to maintain all educational programs with that uh the cost of inflation it
059varies each year and it has come down over the past few years this year it's at 2.95% however there is a tax cap of 2% um so even though inflation is higher than our cap we cannot keep up with the rate of our expenses um as I mentioned the tax levy increase is capped at 2% and the related measure inflation is 2.95 this is the fourth year in a row that inflation has been higher than the tax cap so it has come down tremendously but it's still above the tax cap um some of our increases include contractual increases Insurance special education transportation and utilities and an additional anticipated increase for next year's budget um we're anticipating increases in transportation and Rising educational costs as construction progresses in the greens development okay I want to talk
060about the 2% cap that I'm sure a lot of us have heard about I think it's a little misleading the 2% cap is one part of the calculation to calculating the allowable tax levy which means the amount we can collect in property taxes it's a calculation and it limits what we can increase the tax levy by however it's only one part of the calculation so in the next slide I will review all the other factors that go into calculating the tax levy so first we have our tax based growth factor which reflects the growth in a school district's taxable property value from one year to the next this is provided to us by the office of um real property tax and this year our growth factor is 1.02 which is a little above average but
061not not that much of an increase the next is our allowable growth factor which is the 2% cap that I spoke of however it is the lesser of CPI or 2% as I mentioned CPI this year is 2.95% so we have to use the 2% cap however if next year inflation is 1.7 that's that would be the cap so we would use the lesser of the two um next we have our pilot agreements which are payment in Li of taxes these are outside of the tax levy so so they are excluded and then the LA all the factors that I just mentioned are actually out of our control they are actually information that is provided to us and we cannot change the pilots are agreements we have with businesses in the district however they are
062actual agreements we need to abide by so the only one that is a little in our control is our Capital Levy exclusion which you'll see in the next slide once I get there um this is an offset to the tax levy we can add back in and what it is is all our Capital debt related to our um voter approved capital projects minus our building Aid and the debt also includes the debt for the Bose's capital projects so here is how the big calculation and I wanted to just walk through it and this is factoring in all the the factors we just spoke about so you start the formula with the prior year tax levy so for the 20 Milli 741 is what we currently levied this year um then you multiply that tax based
063growth factor from there you add in our prior year Pilots which were 94 480 and then you subtract out our prior year exclusions which is the capital Levy for prior year that gives you your adjusted prior year Levy and then you multiply that times the allowable growth factor which in this case is 2% from there you subtract out our current pilots and when I say current Pilots those are for next year 25 26 and as you see we have a small increase um and then you add in those Capital exclusions so the 636,000 is all our Capital debt including the Bose Capital project minus projected building Aid so that's the exclusion that we get to add back in and adds to the tax levy so our maximum allowable tax levy for next year is the
06421328 which is a 2.83% increase so as you see it's higher than the 2% as everybody thinks 2% is the cap but in reality it's one portion of the formul next slide okay so as far as our state aid goes the governor's budget proposal included adjustments to the foundation Aid formula last year Foundation Aid was a big topic of discussion and what they decided to do was take a million dollars out of the budget and dedicate that to studying the formula so the Rockefeller Institute did do that and they did recommend a handful of changes of which the governor took some of those recommendations um and as a result our foundation Aid is slightly increasing based on these changes but these are not set in stone because this is just her budget so we need
065to wait for the legislative to come back with the final budget um which is not due until April 1st so this these Revenue projections are based on the governor's budget okay so um some of our other Revenue items is the Day School tuition which represents the Greenwood Lake students um there is a a pretty big increase with this line and it's due to the newly contracted rates um interest and earnings is another line that will actually decrease due to anticipated interest rates are you know supposed to be decreasing okay so here we have our preliminary Revenue projections um the first line You'll see is the real property tax levy so that's the maximum allowable tax levy I showed you in the prior slides um that's the max we could raise so I just put that
066into our Revenue projections for now you see our pilot agreements have increased as I mentioned um interest and penalties on tax payments I increase that that's more in line with what we have been receiving in Prior years so I figured it'd be right to correct that there um what else admissions line you see a big decrease uh we've been the $2,000 is more in line with what we're expected to get so that's accurate reflection of that line Day School tuition you see the big increase of $375,000 that's the Greenwood Lake students um what else interest in earnings you see has gone down just airing on the side of caution because we don't know where the interest rates are going to be we don't want to over project um what else you can go to the
067next slide okay trying to see the big ones to point now our state aid as a whole is is going up and again these are preliminary they're going to change so these numbers can increase or possibly decrease in some areas um so we're just going off the governor's proposal for now uh one thing I want to highlight is the appropriated fund balance last year was $900,000 and what that means is out of this year's remaining budget at year end what are we going to take out of our budget or savings account fund balance to put towards our next year's Revenue I did increase it uh in anticipation that we're going to need that money for next year we're working through the expenditure piece as you'll see in future presentations but I'm pretty sure we're going
068to need that but that number could change these are just preliminary so here we have everything summarized for you as you see our real property tax items take up the the biggest part of our Revenue which is 57% our state aid is at about at about 37% we have under other non-property tax items at 3% and appropriated fund balance at 3% then as mentioned thank you so much U sistera um as mentioned previously we have several we actually have additional presentations this year uh and they are broken down uh for your review so this is the upcoming budget presentations it's already it's also outlined in the budget presentation calendar with as mentioned earlier our NE our next presentation providing more details when we spoke about an overview of instruction and programs so you'll have more
069specifics of the March 19th meeting spe uh regarding Chester Academy and Chester Elementary School student Support Services technology and the remaining presentations as as stated on the slide which is available for your your review uh the budget calendar also reail available for your review all presentations will be available on the district website and you certainly can go in at any point in time and review uh the budget presentation live as well um a huge thanks to Mr oara and Mr Souza um as we all know putting a fiscally responsible budget to the public um is probably one of our largest undertakings um and the board sincerely appreciates um walking us through it breaking it down um over the next several weeks in a very um systematic way that makes sense and gives it a story
070and makes it um real and understandable so thank you for all your hard work that moves us to our first public comment anyone is welcome to come um share any thoughts that brings us to uh Round Table discussion do think for Round Table just real brief um because I'm excited about what's happening in the consent agenda um just as a reminder there's no school on Friday March 7th and that's for our full day of professional development H for our staff also on March 7th we have Chester Academy host the quanas club's uh annual fish and chips dinner and so that's a great uh event for our community members and we appreciate all the efforts of Chester quanis in putting this uh event together and certainly for their support of our students and community and lastly
071our February newsletter will be published this week it does give a highlight once again of the upcoming budget presentations um in the uh what used to be uh we would send the budget newsletter right so and and that will again be sent this year but addition to that we now have monthly newsletters that provide both our parents and community members who opt in to learn information about our programs districtwide specific and also specific to the elementary school and to the academy so in the budget newsletter that goes out to families there will be uh make mention of the monthly newsletter and also again inviting our community members who don't have students in the district to uh that they are welcome to join and um receive that information on a monthly basis uh to get the
072uh additional highlights Beyond just the budget newsletter so um that's all I have to share this evening yes I have a quick update on Orange County School boards um the Orange County school board meeting for the month of March was unfortunately scheduled for this evening which conflicts with our meeting um the goal for this evening's meeting through Orange County School Board was to provide updates on the advocacy efforts uh that were made to the state legislators during Lobby day on February 12th uh another focus of their meeting this evening was to review the process for including student Representatives onto the Board of Education which not all School District dists do at this point but will now be uh a law requiring districts to do this by July 1st um so we are very lucky not
073just to have Ariana with us as a senior representative but also to welcome Brook so thank you again for the time that you guys volunteer uh to do this it's so helpful for us to have you part of the panel and especially for those of us who don't have students in the academy it's such a great way for us to stay connected and to hear about what's going on on the day-to-day things that happen um in the building so thank you for that um Orange County School Board will also be pulling together information to create a training for student Representatives um with the goal of onboarding them over the summer so if you guys ever have any feedback or questions you can just pass them along to me and I can forward them over to
074Orange County as they're in the process of developing that training that's it well thank you Ariana do you have anything to share yes if you don't mind I do thank you again so much for having me um unfortunately there are not too many that I need to speak about due to the meeting last week but there are a few things that I can share today so it is music in our school's month as you are aware and I hope you all enjoyed the performances today we are diligently preparing for our concert in May so thank you to everyone in the music department who makes that possible our band notably has 35 students participating in nisma this year this is the highest number that it has been in a while and we are so excited to
075have so many eager musicians dedicated to something that is challenging them um because of the High interest we each have a specialized lesson plan made by Mrs husi for each student so that we get uninterrupted time for lessons before the performances in late April and early May the Key Club has finally started our sneaker drive and we will be collecting the boxes at the end of the month three businesses are hosting our boxes and we are excited to get this going this is also a major step in the future of our Key Club because we now have a definitive list of several businesses who are willing to host item drives in the future um so we only needed three businesses for this one but we have around 10 businesses within 5 miles of the school
076that would be interested in helping us out in the future so we are very grateful to have this data now um the Key Club also had its new officer election so our candidates will be sealed for the upcoming year I am very very hopeful in the future of this club and I know they will do great things under new leadership and as Mrs O'Hara said we have the fish fry this Friday and Brooke and I are both volunteering at that so that is going to be very exciting similarly the National Honor Society is working hard on ironing out sior projects and our second blood drive of this year which will be taking place on March 11th here in the auditorium our goal is to have 40 people donate which was really close to last time
077which was around 39 people um the bible discussion Club was mentioned last week so I followed up with them to see how they are performing as a generally new group um they meet regularly to discuss topics regarding biblical interpretations focusing on a new theme each week which can include Notions like why we follow Jesus what brought us to Jesus and how to share God's love they are gaining a following and they deserve it because they are so lovely and organized for such a new group yearbook Club has started working on the spring activities of the yearbook Pages the yearbook is now available for pre-order until the first week of April so we are excited to start putting out Sales Early to keep the cost down and this yearbook is looking so good guys please buy
078the yearbook um senior shirts are on sale as well and the last day to purchase them is this Friday March 7th we created the design ourselves and anyone is allowed to buy them so that is all that I have for the week between meetings and I would also like to congratulate my teacher Mr maie for being considered for tenure Mr maie is a very Wells spoken and influential teacher of mine and he's also the adviser of Youth in government and everything that this man does is pretty great so he is definitely an admirable candidate for for this role so thank you guys again so much and thank you for welcoming Brooke as well it's always lovely to have another student here with me because I'm usually the youngest person here so um I'm excited and
079Brooke will be presenting with me at the next meeting and every meeting after that so thank you thank you for your very thorough and again welcome Brook thank you so much anybody else that brings us to consent agenda I would like to make a motion to pull out agenda item 5.1 and yield the floor to Mr Flanigan not working okay I'm gonna I can walk and talk with the microphone here thank you of where we can really honor the accomplishments that our instilled in our school over a successful period we switching again okay and in this case to earn and when I I use that term I say earn because it is truly earning the right of tenure um I've known John Magie since 2005 when John started out as a student teacher at Washingtonville
080and I happen to be a teacher there in the building and got a chance to know him and you know since that time I could tell that he is one of the kindest people I've ever met in education uh truly student centered uh respectful and and is so well liked and appreciated by his students and not only just his students just students around the building students that don't even have him I think people just enjoy seeing Mr Magie um enjoy interacting with him he's been asked to be a part of talent shows to judge to uh to to come to events he's done Harlem Wizards he's uh been involved in in the youth and government program here at at Chester Academy prior to coming back here as a 10e track teacher a few years ago
081uh many years ago he had subbed here and was involved in our track program he's he's done a lot here um he's an excellent global history and government and economics teacher and when you teach government and economics and it's kind of a a unique Club here I used to do it myself you are you are teaching those seniors that are getting ready to graduate and you are motivating to get them across the finish line and to turn in every project and to contact those parents with a big smile and say hey we got that one last thing to turn in here and and he does it with such professionalism and it is so well respective um he's very involved in our community he's Innovative in his classroom and extremely helpful uh to to just about
082everybody in the building so uh it was very easy for me to write a recommendation to miss oara to share uh to the Board of Education that I recommend that John Magie received tenure here at Chester Academy in the Chester Union pres School District I I have to add uh so on a serious note tenure is more than a milestone it's a recognition of dedication instructional excellence and commitment to students in Chester earning tenure also reflects an Educator's ability to shape a student center cered future focus and team-driven learning environment it signifies investment in teachers who go beyond instruction those who Foster curiosity Inspire critical thinking and prepare students for life beyond the classroom John Magie exemplifies this standard tenure in Chester is also about building strong relationships adapting to students needs and continuously involving
083to improve learning outcomes it's not just an achievement it's a responsibility promise that our educators will continue to elevate their crafts support their colleagues and most importantly make a lasting difference in students lives which clearly Mr Magie does on The Daily tonight I'm thrilled to recognize John Magie recommend John Magie as he earns as we expect this well-deserved distinction his commitment to real world meaningful career connected learning is evident in every lesson he teaches in my conversations with John this year he just exudes passion um for making whatever he teaches meaningful for preparing students and for constantly pivoting based on what's going on in the world um not to mention John's taking on financial literacy this year which is such an impactful and important course to offer our students and you took the lead on
084that and you continue to do so and have so much interest in that for obvious reasons for students whether uh you are bringing in community experts which seems to literally be every week uh to enrich our students uh learning experiences or uh again as I mentioned uh spear hitting the financial literacy course John ensures that education is relevant engaging and purposeful helping students to develop the skills they need for the future what truly sets John apart which Mr flan uh already mentioned is who he is as a person always smiling always positive always kind his energy uplifts those around him and he somehow makes even the most challenging days a little bit lighter and brighter for those in his company certainly his students and speaking of Team driven I will add his wife Trisha Magie
085is equally an outstanding educator proving that great teaching might just be a competitive sport in their household so uh if we had a most likely to brighten your day award John maie would win it and if there were a teacher power couple trophy the maie would take home the gold so uh with that we recommend collectively to the Board of Education uh that Mr John Magie received tenure before we vote on this do we have any comments from the board um on behalf of Board of Education I realized as mrar was talking that you have three tenear teachers sitting as board members so we know firsthand um the rigor that is involved it is it is not for the light of heart um on behalf of the Board of Education um we are immensely proud
086um this is one of the um having students come perform confirming tenure um are some of the highlights um I I'm I'm not sure if I'm the only board member who's had the privilege as a parent to have had um my children to have had you um to have had both the magies um so truly is a power couple of uh that's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying so um we thank you immensely for your commitment not only to the children here in Chester but to the community so on um that said can I please have a motion to approve the tenure of Mr Magie for the Chester Union Preschool dist I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] congratulations token I would like to make a
087motion to adopt consent agenda items 5.2 through 5.7 I'll make that motion a second all in favor I consent agenda passes that moves us on to our second public comments see that we have no one else for public comments I'd like to make a motion to adjourn I'll second all in favor I thank you for those who have tuned in at home and our next board meeting will be two weeks from tonight March 19th March 19th thank you and have a good night