001You just changed it. >> You changed it. Last week. >> I I can get it on my phone but not here. >> Everybody else is good? So, you good? All right. So, welcome to tonight's board meeting. Before we begin, can we stand for the pledge? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. We can conduct our roll call starting down here on the left. >> Good evening. Scott Ashworth, assistant superintendent for human resources. >> Good evening. Kelly Nevin, assistant superintendent for business and operations. >> Good evening. >> Bill Hender, Board Trustee. >> Dr. Cox, Superintendent. >> Gus Scutari, Board President. >> Sue Hamer, Board Vice President. >> Nicole
002Goldstein, Board Trustee. >> Tim Russo, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. >> Debbie Berger, District Clerk. >> Kyla Gruber, Student Ex Officio. >> All right. Again, welcome everybody. Uh before I'm going to turn over to Dr. Cox for the administrative report. >> Thank you, Mr. Huber. So, pretty brief agenda this evening. We're going to start with Kyla uh for our student board member report. Then it'll be followed up uh by Mrs. Nevin, who will do our budget hearing. And then we will open it up to the board for any questions. And that at that point it should conclude our administrative report. So, Kyla, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> You're welcome. So, my report tonight's going to be on my last visit, which was to Commack Middle School. And at the middle
003school, I was able to learn all about their like new enrichment courses that we've heard a lot about here. But I was able to talk to students about it and to see about the classes that they're taking now and the classes that they're looking to take next year. And the really cool thing about these enrichment courses are that they align very closely with the Commack High School Schools of, which they have the business, medicine, education, and all eight schools of that are presented in here. And it's really special that the kids at the middle school have it their enrichment courses presented in this way because at the middle school, they can start trying out new things that they might want to do and then see if it's something they like that they want to continue
004within the Schools of at the high school. So, in talking to students, I was able to talk to one student who was taking currently the sports management class, which falls into the business schools of. And he was able to talk about how he wants to be a data analyst with sports. And this kid is in seventh grade talking about what he possibly wants to do in the future. And that to me is like the whole purpose of this and the most important thing is that it gets kids in the middle school so young thinking about what they might want to do with their future. And they can also see if it's something they might actually want to do or something that they don't like. So, since this year he really liked his business class, sports
005management, cuz he got to see the behind the scenes of sports like the finance and the media, next year he's going to continue in the business enrichment course, the designing your future personal finance for teens. And if that's something he likes at the middle school, then maybe in the high school he'll join the business schools of. And if it's something he doesn't like, then he'll know and maybe he'll try something else. Another student was taking the PLTW Medical Detectives course. And in that class, she was talking about how she's learning about parts of the brain and they even did a sheep brain dissection, which is something I'm currently doing in my college anatomy class. So, in the middle school they're getting to start experimenting with these things now and they're getting a one-up on all
006this education and information. Obviously at a middle school level, but it's cool because the way she explained it to me was like learning about the medical field and seeing if the medical field is something that she might want to go into. So, again, it's just the middle school students starting to connect their classes to their future. And next year their new class that they're adding in the medicine is the wellness in action from first aid to everyday health. And another student there is enrolled for this class next year because she thinks she wants to be a nurse. So, she wants to learn about patient care and mental health and other health related things that she thinks that she'll get out of this class. I'm not going to talk about every student and every class cuz
007that will go on forever. But, another one that I found to be very interesting was there's two kids taking the mock trial course this year and they really liked it cuz they think that they like law and want to pursue a future with law. But, in addition to that, they were able to talk about how they learned about the Bill of Rights, which is also something they heard about in their social studies class. But, they were able to connect it. So, it shows how their enrichment courses really go across all their subjects of learning and how it was able to mean more to them learning about it twice and applying it to the real world. So, it gets rid of the like when am I ever going to use this question that students often ask
008a lot in class cuz they're seeing first hand how they're going to use it in the real world. Um in addition to talking to all the students about these courses, I asked them what they like about it, like why they think it's good. And they said they like how there's so many options. They get to pick what they want to do and they're not just policed into a certain course like where you're required to take math, science, English, social studies. They have all of these options and they can pick what they think they might be interested in to truly see if they are or if they're not. >> Well, thank you so much, Kyla. That was a phenomenal report. And I think, you know, being Let's give Kyla a hand. It It's one thing, you
009know, to have a vision of trying to bring learning to life um through this these authentic learning experiences and um we started with the high school with connect and we and we've been presenting on connecting high school students to future professions because when they get to junior and senior year and they're deciding where they want to go, we want them to be prepared to make the best decision. And it has been a complete transformation to see middle school students start to talk about their education in a way that connects to the high school and that bridges the gap as a continuation of what they're learning in the middle school and watching it come to life. Mrs. Lippenholtz was there with us and we were, you know, half joking when we said the middle school students
010are going to be a little disappointed when they find out they can't select the school of study until the end of 10th grade. Little did we know that the the the middle school students were already making that connection on their own and it's so wonderful to have Kyla there to observe and listen and engage in these conversations and we we can have as I had said, we can have a vision of what we want it to look like, what we think it could look like, but to actually see it in action and come from the students and come to life. And I think a perfect example was how the Bill of Rights that they learned in their mock trial crossed over into social studies and we're finding that through these electives that the middle school
011is offering, it's really taking what they're learning in the classroom, applying it to real life scenarios and bringing that learning to life where it's really going to stick. So, Kyla, thank you so much for your report. Thank you for doing the traveling road show to all of the different buildings and updating the community and the board on all the wonderful things happening from our from a student lens. So, thank you so much. Moving on in our administrative report is our budget hearing. So, I'm going to pass the baton. Oh, it already has been passed. Okay. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Neven. >> Good evening. I just want to take a quick second to say thank you for the board and our administrative team as we have um, navigated this budget season.
012Um, it's been a long road as Dr. Cox has said, um, over the past almost a year now. Um, the process starts very early in the summertime and, um, continues on until the budget vote in May. So, big thank you to everybody who was involved in all the efforts that took place to make this happen and get us to this point today. So, just a quick recap. We've had a handful of budget meetings and workshops, um, starting with our tax levy, um, you know, our priorities for the year. We moved on to, uh, talking about the facilities and capital projects that we have going on and proposing for the the subsequent year. And then, we also talked about all the amazing innovation and technology that our students are getting to experience. Um, we went on
013to looking at the revenues and an overview of our budget, and here we are today, May 7th, for our public hearing. So, to recap, we are proposing and have adopted a budget of 234,638,883. Um, this is inclusive of a property tax cap or property tax levy of a little over $162 million. Um, um, it is important to note that our levy is within the tax cap, um, regulations. It is one of the lowest in the area and also the lowest on Long Island, um, at 2.03%. It's very important to the district, um, that we are cognizant of the community and, um, being responsible with how we are levying taxes, um, for the support of our budget. It's important to talk about revenues. Um, this has been part of the conversation from the beginning. Uh, the
014revenue budget is what really establishes our budget for the year. Um these are the revenue capabilities that we are projecting for 2026-2027. Um as you can see here, uh state aid is going down overall. We did receive a 1% increase on our foundation aid. Um important news to update, it looks like the state budget will be being voted on next week. Um we did receive some updates from some of our organi- organizations that we belong to um saying that they were very close to a budget vote and that um it looked positive. You can see that we are going up a projected 1.6 million dollars, which represents a budgetary increase of 0.69%. Uh it is important that you know that our tax levy is the biggest increase to our revenue budget, um and also that
015we are decreasing our reliance on um applied fi- fund balance and reserves. Uh this is an active um action that the board has been taking over the past couple years to lower that reliance from year to year. New York State requires us to present our budget in a three-part budget format, and that was represented by programmatic, which covers all of our student-facing cost, um capital cost, which is the maintenance of our facilities and buildings, and then our administrative costs, which is an overall um cost that is anything non-instructional and supports the instruction of our students. As you can see here, um it's very important to note the percentages that we have here. The bulk of our budget supports our programmatic um category at 73.7%. This This another representation of that three-part budget, and you can
016see as part of our efforts and our ongoing efforts to create and present a budget to our public, um we have the largest increase going to program and teaching. Um this just further supports that our priorities are being met um of maintaining our low class sizes, offering enhancements at the secondary levels, um some of our new programming that we have at the uh primary levels, and um we do have a decrease in our capital, which is a representation of some debt falling off as well as um a decrease to our budget appropriation to support our capital improvements from year to year. Um and then also a reduction in our administration and general management category. So, just to recap, we do have a proposed tax levy of a 2.03% increase, and that is representative our our
017budget-to-budget increase of 0.69%. So, at this point, we have um gone through our budget multiple times. We've gone through different facets of our budget, um and what we have left is our budget vote on May 19th. So, we hope that the community comes out and votes for our budget. Going to turn it over to Dr. Cox now. >> Thank you, Mrs. Nevin. Questions from the board? Questions? Okay. Yeah. >> Just again, thank you for for all the work. It's It is a lot of work. So, thank you for putting together and making it uh reasonable and to understand and to see all the numbers. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Huber. And our next meeting is scheduled for June, June 4th, where it will be a celebratory meeting, um student achievements, student appreciation, as
018well as recognizing many of our staff members at that June board meeting as well. So, that concludes our administrative report. >> All right. Thank you. All right, I'm going to go to Ms. Hermer here to open up our first public participation. We are board statement. >> Okay. Good evening and welcome. We're so glad you're here with us tonight. Your voice matters and we truly appreciate your involvement and interest in our schools. There are two opportunities for public comment during this meeting. The first is for comments related to items listed on tonight's agenda. The second, which takes place at the end of the meeting, is for comments on any general school district matters. If you'd like to speak on an agenda item, please take a white card. If you'd like to speak during general public participation,
019please take a green card. If you'd like to um the district clerk will call speakers by number. When it's your turn, please come to the microphone, say your name and let us know if you're a resident of the district. Each speaker has up to 3 minutes to speak and we'll kindly notify you when your time is up. Please direct your comments to the board only. These public comment times are for listening and gathering feed bookback. We won't be responding in real time, but if a question is raised that requires follow-up, we'll be sure to get back to you afterwards. To maintain a respectful and welcoming environment, please avoid discussing individual students or making personal remarks, positive or negative, about specific staff members. Lastly, we want to make sure everyone feels heard, so we ask that
020comments remain respectful, focused, and not repetitive or disruptive. Thank you again for being here tonight and for your ongoing support of our students and schools. >> All right, Ms. Vera. >> Okay, this would be for anyone that has a white card. >> No. All right, moving along. Um tonight we have two donations. I need the board to act on. We have the Proto- Protoss family donating a bench in honor of Liz Proto-Solar who was a former Saw Mill reading teacher. It's valued at $1,200. And a second donation is from the Commack retired teachers chapter. It's a donation of $1,000 to the Wood Park library. Can I get a motion to accept these two donations? >> Motion. >> Uh second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. And I need a motion to
021approve the minutes from the April 16th, 2026 Board of Education meeting and the April 21st, 2026 BOCES vote meeting. Can I get a motion? Second? All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Uh and I need a motion to approve tonight's personnel agenda as listed. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Uh there are two items on that uh appointments, right? Two Scott Ocean. >> Good evening, everybody. We're beyond excited to introduce two new administrators to um to Commack. Although they're new administra- well, new to their roles. Um they're not new to Commack. They've been working here for many years. First joining the special education leadership team, congratulations our new CSE chairperson Dr. Erica Rapport. Before we move to our next appointment, I would like to take a moment
022to acknowledge our retiring principal at Saw Mill Intermediate School Ms. Tancredi Zito, thank you for your many years of dedicated service. 20-plus years of service to Saw Mill. The students you'll be you'll be missed greatly. So, thank you, Ms. Tancredi Zito. With that being said, we are delighted to introduce the new principal of Saw Mill Intermediate School. Congratulations to Mrs. Lisa DeRienzo. All right. Congratulations to both of you. Uh we're going to move on here. Motion to approve consent agenda items presented uh or amended 2 through 10. Can I get a motion? >> Second. >> Yep, second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> It's a lot easier on the computer. Sorry. I think we're just Board business. Okay, so we're going to acknowledge receipt of the professional services from Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC
023for the month ending February 28th, 2026 in the amount of $27,207.73 and March 31st, 2026 in the amount of $17,378 and 50 cents. Acknowledge receipt um of the Committee on Special Education recommendations, dates as listed, and acknowledge receipt on the Committee on Preschool Special Education recommendations uh dates as listed. And again, acknowledge the receipt of the March 2026 financial uh reports listed. And acknowledge receipt of the internal claims auditor's monthly update. And the Board of Education of the Comsewogue Union Free School District shall hold its external audit planning meeting on Thursday, May 15th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. The next Board of Education meeting will be on Tuesday, May 19th, immediately following the uh budget election and trustee vote approximately 9:30. The next regular meeting will be Thursday, June 4th, 6:00 p.m. at the Comsewogue High
024School, 1 Scholar Lane, Comsewogue New York. It is anticipated the board will make a motion for the purpose of adjourning into executive session at this time and at 7:00 p.m. the board will reconvene into public session for the purpose of holding its regular business meeting. At this point, I'll defer to Ms. Vergari for a second public participation. >> Okay, this is if you have a green card. Green card number one. Anyone have a green card? No. >> Yeah. You don't like us. Is that what we're we're here? You're number one? Come on up, yes. >> Okay, wow, I got a mic and everything. Um this is my first meeting, so um there is >> your name and that you're resident. >> Yes, my name is Laura Volpe. I'm a resident, which is why I'm here.
025Um I am hearing that there is um cuts to the security guards. Can we talk about that a little bit? Is that true? We're cutting back security guards, the security of our children? >> So, I can speak to that and we did present that at a board meeting. So, we can certainly um if you take if you want to put down your name and number, I can after the meeting share with you the presentation, which is also live streamed and recorded on our website that you can watch. As far as the security, we have close to 70 guards in the district. We were reducing uh six guards in the district and we did have the ability to do so um primarily uh we can't get into the details because for security reasons, it would be
026a breach of security, but if you want to leave your name and number, I can share that information with you. >> please make that make sense. It's a breach of a breach of security, which is what you're cutting back. Right? >> No, it meaning breach of security in in the protocol that we use that we're going to be using. >> But didn't you just present it at the last board? >> Not all those details. >> Not all the details. So, the public is not allowed to be made aware. Privately we can, but >> Well, again, there were public presentations. So, again, if you want to leave your name and number and he'll have a conversation with you. But, we're not going to rehash it again publicly. We just did that already. >> You did that
027already. Okay, so I missed the opportunity to talk about our children's safety. Great. So, um what I'm going to say is that I'm hearing that there is going to be someone cut at the front desk and the security guard will then manage the front desk. Our security guards are getting cut and he's going to manage all of that. >> Okay, again, you're you're probably hearing a lot. >> that to make sense. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> But, the way you're presenting it doesn't make sense. So, I'm I'm going to again refer to you >> I would love that. >> and get the details. Okay. >> Just put your name. And what am I putting down here? My >> Your phone number and we'll reach out to you. >> Okay, thank you. We'll make sure you
028get a phone call. >> All right. Anybody else want to come up with uh public comment? Question? >> No. All right. With that being said, at this point I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Second? All in favor? >> Aye. >> Motion is adjourned.