001All right, so we're going to start. Welcome to our April 16th Board of Education meeting. Let us rise to 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. Before we begin, I'm going to do a roll call here starting with my left. Introductions. Good evening, Scott Ashwin, assistant superintendent for human resources. Kelly Niven, assistant superintendent for business and operations. Dana Shelps, board trustee. Bill Hender, board trustee. Dr. Cox, superintendent of Comsewogue schools. Gus Siewert, board president. Sue Horton, board vice president. >> Nicole Goldstein, board trustee. Tim Russo, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Kyla Gruber, student ex officio. And Debbie Burgers, our district clerk, uh troubleshooting, but she'll be
002back. All right. Okay. So, we're going to turn it over for a student recognition. Yes, Summer? Yep. So, good evening, everyone. Uh so, just to kick off uh tonight's presentation, we do have on our agenda a report from Kyla, our student board member, and we will also be talking a little bit about the 2026-2027 budget, and then the board will have the opportunity to adopt that budget this evening. But before we start, we do have some student recognition. So, I'm going to invite Dr. Hennessey up to Hennessey up to uh share with us some of our math stars that we're going to be acknowledging tonight. So, I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you. So, I am very excited because we compete every year in the American Mathematics Competition. It's a national exam
003that was started in 1950, and it is it is completed by over 300,000 students every year. And this year we have some students to recognize for their excellence in this exam. So, the first student I would like to call up is Anshuman Gupta, a fifth grade student WHO HAS RECEIVED >> [applause] [applause] >> FOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. SO, HOW many tests did you take this year for the American Mathematics Competition? Do you remember? Uh first one, second one. Yeah. So, he participated in the American Math- Mathematics Competition 8 for eighth graders, 10 for up to 10th graders twice. And on those, he had four accomplishments. He was in the top three for the American Mathematics Competition eighth grade exam. He was a winner for the highest score for one of the 10th grade exams, and he was
004a team member with one of the highest three for the other 10th grade exam. And as a fifth grader, another achievement for scoring over a certain amount on all the exams. So, this is a VERY NICE ACCOMPLISHMENT. >> [applause] >> FOUR FOUR CERTIFICATES FOR YOU, MY DEAR, for each of your accomplishments. And we're going to get a picture. I know you're running away, but you guys want to come up? Yeah, we're going to get your picture. Let's come on up. Four people, maybe we can each hold one. Right, you can't hold all four, so maybe we can each hold one. Right? Maybe you guys want to hold one in the middle. You want to hold one, too? We have got four. Enough to go around. I I was a math leader at one point in
005my life. See your face. We've got four. Shuffle them. Just shuffle them around. Okay, ready in the middle right here. Checkpoint. >> [laughter] [applause] >> Another achievement is for the American Mathematics Competition 8. We had a student who scored almost a perfect score with only one point deduction, which hasn't happened in a while in Comsewogue, so this is another very exciting achievement. So, I would like to call up Zachary Loud. >> [applause] >> Highest score in the district and scored within the top 1% for all participants. So, ANOTHER GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT. >> [applause] [applause] >> AND THEN WE HAVE THE AMERICAN MATH- SORRY. Sorry for the interruption. The American Mathematics 12. We have a student who scored within the top 1% nationally, which then received her invitation to compete in the American Invitational Mathematics Exam, which
006again is the top 1% nationally for all participants, and that is a very exciting accomplishment as well. So, I'm going to invite Penny up here. >> [applause] [applause] >> These are your certificates. Lots of certificates going around. Hold on, Penny. Okay. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> OKAY. THAT WAS PART OF THE BOARD'S NEW FITNESS PROGRAM, getting getting our our snacks in. Yes, now we're ready. Blood's pumping. We're ready to go. Okay, so the next part of our presentation is going to be our ex officio student board member report. So, I'm going to ask Kyla I'm going to actually share with you the the clicker. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi. So, my last visit was to Sawmill Intermediate School, another great visit, and it was super exciting to see the other intermediate school. Um the one that
007I attended, and it was really great to be back and see my old building and all the changes that they made cuz there are so many amazing changes and different rooms and ways for students to get involved now that were not there when I was there, so I was great to see them. Um the entire visit was led by the students and the student council. They talked about student government and how they are really involved in their school and how everything that they do in there, they love it, and the building gives them so many opportunities to explore different interests, and there's different opportunities for everyone, and a bunch of new opportunities as well. One of the rooms that they showed me was their Beaver Lodge, and the Beaver Lodge, which is the middle picture
008on the presentation, is a space where students can go instead of going outside for recess. The students explained to how not everyone likes going outside for recess, and everyone has different interests and different ways that they have fun. So, some students are able to stay inside. They have different games and activities, ability to do arts and crafts, and just hang out with their friends during their recess time in between class. And the students were so happy that were in there. They were having a great time, and it was really amazing room. They also showed me their life skills room, which was another space that was not there when I went to Sawmill. And it's a room where students are able to work on their life skills like cooking and cleaning. And in addition to the
009cooking that I got to see them doing, they're also learning like communication skills and teamwork and following instructions. And they're also applying their math skills that they learn in the classroom when cooking. So, they have they're able to see the real life application of how what they learn in class is used in the real world. And that's a theme throughout all of Sawmill. Everything that they're learning in the classroom, they have so many opportunities and ways to see how they're going to use what they learn in the real world like their life skills and other applications. As we're walking through the building during the tour, I actually got to see students that were making rockets in their enrichment course and they're all talking about how many fins will make it go the farthest and what
010angle is going to be the best and it's a bunch of trial and error using their math skills and their life skills to predict the best outcome. And they were having fun while doing it and just different ways of learning. The last room I got to see was their innovation station and it was actually the first group of students who got to go into the innovation station while I was touring. Similar to the primary school's discovery den, it's a place where students can work on their technological skills using iPads and computers to apply like different ways of learning. They use the Quiver and they had um pixel art on the laptops. And then another thing that I don't know the specific details, but I thought it was really cool to see. They were scanning like
011some cube and in that cube they had all these different like life-like academic lessons. One of them was like the anatomy of the body and different like math things. So it was really cool. It's a way for them to learn and use technology, which is important as obviously technology is advancing and it's becoming a major part of education. Um that was all the rooms I got to see at Saw Mill, but it was really great tour and it was really great to be back in my old school. Thank you. Nice. Thank you for your update, Kyla. >> [applause] >> So Kyla, as always, you're free to stay and um you have things that you need to study for or homework this evening, you're free to go as well. So good evening, everybody. We're going to
012talk a little bit about um our budget tonight as well as as I said on the agenda this evening, um the board has an opportunity to uh adopt the uh budget presentation. So just a quick update on the timeline for our budget process. We've had a number of budget workshops. Um that goes back till March 12th and I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the presentations that we have made that go all the way back till February, but we completed our first budget workshop, which was held March 12th. We had our second budget workshop with which was held on March 26th and today is April 16th and it is the day that the board has the opportunity to adopt the budget. On May 7th at 7:00 p.m. there will be a budget
013hearing and then of course, we hope that everybody comes out to vote on May 19th. So here, this is a slide that for those of you that I see familiar faces in the audience, um you've heard this a little bit before, but for those of you who may be tuning in from home, uh we presented this information on February 12th. We've also presented this information on March 26th and I'd also like to present it again because it sort of paints the picture of what aid looks like coming from the governor's office down to school districts specifically really feeling the challenges this year um here on Long Island. So going back to mid-January is when the governor releases the first runs of the uh state aid um for schools and then in between then, early March
014is when the legislature kind of goes back and forth, presents their proposals with the governor, goes back and forth and the plan is to adopt a final budget on April 1st. As you know, we are well past the April 1st deadline and the governor has still not and they have not adopted and come to agreement. They've extended it to April 20th. It looks like they may not settle by April 20th. Um what we have heard is that the state aid runs that came in in January are uh going to hold true, um but whether or not those increase, we won't have those final determinations at least well after April 20th. And you can see what the challenge is for school districts across the state that are building a a budget without a final um budget
015from the state, um which is again, the April 1st is the deadline, but they keep extending it and it's been extended till April 20th at this point. Um but it doesn't look like they're going to come to a conclusion. I'd like to be optimistic, um but from what I've heard, April 20th is more of a soft deadline than a hard one. Um again, I'm going to reiterate, if you look back over the years, the trend in terms of state aid coming to not only uh Comsewogue School Districts, but I'm sure you've seen in the in the news other districts who their state aid has been trending in a significant decline. You can see it right in that graph below the actual numbers, how quickly that has started to drop off. So there was a time
016when we were seeing well over a million dollars in an increase from year to year um and you can see how it's dropped down for next year's budget. This aid is specific to foundation aid. And the foundation aid is per pupil. So what impacts that? Enrollment is what really impacts that because if you're getting a per pupil allocation and you look at this chart and you've seen that here in Comsewogue, we've gone down close to 1,000 students in the last 10 years. Um that's a significant decline, which ultimately leads to a decline in some of that foundation aid. But what that has always been in the governor's budget was sort of a minimum increase. We're seeing an increase from this year to next year of 1%. We used to see an increase of at least
0173%, sometimes higher. So being that it's at 1% right now, your your revenues are your revenues and I'm going to get into that in a minute. But what we proposed in a number of our workshops, we shared this from workshop number one that this is our budget. Um we're looking to go out at a 2.03 uh percent tax levy to the community. Last year we went out into this year at 2.29. Um so it's coming in lower at 2.03. That's based on a formula. It's part of the tax cap and what it comes in is that's your allowable tax levy. If you choose to go over 2.03, you may be familiar with a phrase where that you hear some districts are talking about piercing the cap. That would be going above 2.03 and then you
018would need a majority of your uh community to vote yes on the budget if you chose to pierce the cap. Here in Comsewogue, we try to be mindful of our community and taxpayers. We try to go out with a reasonable tax levy and if you take the 2.03 and compare it to surrounding districts, we are one of the lower districts in terms of what our allowable tax levy and what our tax levy is for our community. So what is that breakdown? So I had shared with you that the increase in state aid uh foundation aid was $300,000. But if you look at that first line, you look at state aid and we had in this year's in the 25-26 budget $51,884,000 and you look at $51,770,000 in 26-27. You see a decrease of $114,000. So
019you may ask, well, how does that how does that work if we're going up $300,000 in foundation aid, how are we going down overall in aid? How are we seeing an actual decrease in state aid? So part of the state aid runs doesn't just include foundation aid, it's what you get for per pupil, but it also includes it includes other areas like transportation aid, building aid. So if you happen to pay off debt, then the aid that you get because if you've been attending these workshops, you heard me say that a lot of the projects that we do in our district, whether it's through a bond or transfer to capital, we get aid back on that, somewhere around 60% on the dollar. So if you're talking about a million dollar project, you get $640,000 back
020over time in aid. Um so when you pay off debt, so some of those areas, whether it's transportation aid or we paid off some debt, some of those areas went down within the state aid formula, so you'll see that even with that $300,000 increase, overall our state aid has declined. So when you look at our revenues, other areas, tuition-based students, charges for services, use of property uh money and property, some of those have gone down over time. A lot of that is um income that we see from outside organizations utilizing our facilities that we uh that have to pay rent. Um that has gone down a little bit. So we're we're being very transparent showing you where those decreases are. You'll see that the one revenue area that is going up is our tax levy.
021So that 2.03 tax levy equates to a $3.2 million dollar increase in revenue. You'll see in the last uh item, applied fund balance and reserves. These are the reserves that we pledge from our reserves to balance the budget. So you have your expenses, our expenses are $234,638,883. So in order to get to that point, when you look at last year's budget, $233 million, the difference between that budget and next year's budget is $1.6 million dollars that we can go up. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that because I'm going to show you the areas where we went up. I'm going to show you some of the areas that went down. But that when you look at the reserves and that we're making a commitment to reduce our reliance on our reserves, it
022equates to an increase from budget to budget to $1.6 million dollars. So you may have seen this slide before, but you'll see it's a breakdown of where the budget falls. The the the um most of our budget falls into the program teaching and learning, which is where it should fall. It's uh that is most of where um the revenue goes towards our students, program teaching and learning. We have capital cost and operations and we have the smallest part of the budget, which is administration and general management and there's a description that you can see here that explains what are some of those things in each of those areas. So in taking a look at this slide, this is where you can see some of the increases and some of the decreases. So in order to
023get to that increase of 0.69 between budget to budget, which is a total of about $1.6 million, we have to we had we have Okay? So, some of the areas that we scaled back, capital cost of operations, that's areas where we paid off certain debt. We've also reduced our transfer to capital. Um we're still able to do a number of projects in the district with with our transfer to capital. If you saw our budget workshop number two, you will have seen Mr. Palapoli did a great job presenting on some of the things that we're focusing on to make sure that our buildings are safe, that they're heated, um and that we're providing the best experience for our children in the district. Um you'll see that administration and general management is going down 1.4 million. One
024of the things that I want to point out is when you see program and teaching and learning is going up five 4.5 million dollars. One of the adjustments, for those of you that uh were able to take the handout from the last time we presented, there is a line where we moved legal expenses from the administration budget line to program and teaching. It equates to somewhere around $500,000. Um those legal expenses can live in both places. They can live in program teaching and learning. They can live in administration. Um our new business official, Mrs. Nevin, has done a has done a phenomenal job and her experiences as a business official. Um we have allocated in each areas, but I'm going to share that 500,000 of that was moved from administration to general management. But even
025with that said, we still have a $4 million increase in program and teaching and learning. What is that increase? That increase is predominantly uh contractual salaries in the district, benefits. Um we have increased special education costs, transporta- uh um transportation costs are also part of some of those uh some of those increases. Um those are some of the major cost drivers, but when it comes to the program and teaching and learning, it's predominantly contractual salaries, benefits, significant special education increases um for our children to be able to provide those services. So, in order to balance this budget, we had to decrease we had to scale back. And we're not alone in this. Um there are other districts that I'm sure you've seen that have had to scale back. And I'm going to get into, later
026on in this presentation, some of those areas that we scaled back specifically. But one of the things that I want to share is that the integrity of Comax's programs remains intact or enhanced. Although the 2026-27 budget may include efficiencies, attrition, reductions, additions, and or enhancements, the above remains true. Every service and program that we offer our children here in Comac remains intact. So, when you say like you think about those increases, and some in some cases our contractual obligations increase $3 million a year, how do you scale back where you can only increase your budget to budget where your fixed increase in revenues is a little over a million dollars, but you're looking at contractual obligations that are increasing over $3 million, which doesn't include benefits, doesn't include increases in transportation, doesn't include increased cost
027of special education. How do you get to that place? So, we had to scale back. So, how did we scale back? So, I'm going to share with you some of those areas. And I've spoken to these in previous presentations. I have gave examples over the years how we have absorbed certain retirement positions. When you have a thousand students that go down over the course of 10 years, you have less students, you have less classes um that need to be taught, less sections. So, I'm going to start off with the reading. Now, before I get to this, before I go through each one of these, there's a process. As we went through this process, you know, we informed the board of these reductions. Um we met with union leadership several weeks ago to share with them
028what those reductions are. Uh they worked with the district to meet with many of the individuals to share some of those reductions. And what you'll see is uh when it comes to making reductions, we try to excess the least amount of staff possible. So, we're very strategic. So, if I start with reading, you'll see that we went down 0.50 in reading. We we absorbed one retirement and four of those individuals were offered teaching positions in the district. If you're asking where we went down in reading, we went down 0.5 at each primary school, 1.0 at the intermediates, and 1.0 at the middle school. How did we do this and why did we do this? When we did an analysis of the groups for reading, there was a significant number of groups that had two or
029less students in those groups. So, we did have the ability to scale back in the area of reading. We have about 26 reading teachers in the district. So, we were able to scale back. We still have 21 reading teachers in the district, and we're still able to provide the same level of service for those students. I will share we did not decrease the number of students who are receiving reading. It's important to note. If you go back 10 years and you look at the percentage of students who are receiving reading, the just about the same percentage of students are reading now. But we have the same level of staffing. So, that allowed us to be able to scale back. In math and English, those are areas that I I had mentioned. When you have a
030decrease enrollment and you have less students in those classes and less sections, you can you can scale back in those areas. We were fortunate enough to be able to do this without impacting any of our staff members. We absorbed one position in math through retirement. We were absorbed two positions in uh in the in the English department. So, nobody was impacted there. Teaching assistants, we reduced 8.0. We reduced eight non-mandated teaching assistants. Five retirements were absorbed and three were excessed. There are 93.4 teaching assistants in the district. 93.4, we had the ability to scale back eight teaching assistants. Security, security we have close to 70 staff guards in our district. We are reducing by six. Two are through retirements and four we are working with those security guards to move them to transition to call
031in coverage. The coverage of our buildings will not change. When you see next year, parents will see the same level of coverage. I can't get into specific details in terms of where guards will be because that would be a breach of security. If I told you here in public that this guard's going to be here and this guard's going to be there, that is not something that I can say in public for the safety of security. I will say that in our primary schools, the guard in the inside will move to where the greeter's desk is. The greeters have been offered positions in the district um to take. Um many of them have. And uh that is a tribute to some of our district staff members and our union leadership who worked to meet with
032those individuals. Um but at the high school, at the middle school, we have guards that manage those computers. We have um increased technology uh where we added door jar sensors. So, there used to be a time where a guard would have to go from door to door to door every day to check to make sure. Now, they can stand at the console and we have door jar sensors where on that screen guards can see which doors are open and which doors are locked. We still uh one of one parent reached out to me asked about armed security. We still have armed security on every campus. We have close to 70 guards covering nine of our buildings. And that is not in addition to the armed security. They're in addition the armed security is in addition
033to that. Uh if anybody has any questions about the specifics of security, I would be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss it in person or over the phone. So, feel please feel free to reach out. As I had said, I can't share certain things in public, but I'd be more than happy to have that conversation with you. Clerical, we're going down 4.0. One at a building level and three here in central office in the Hubs administration building. Custodial, we're able to absorb two positions. Guidance, we are going to scale back two guidance counselors. The national average, recommended average for counselors, is 250. Counselors at our high school have less than 200 on their caseload. And our middle school have just over 200. If we reduce two counselors, there's a significant savings.
034And we also have the ability to still manage caseloads at just over 200. So, that's what we're going to do with guidance. I will say that in this district, we have a tremendous amount of seasoned staff. And there will be retirements. We have seen over the last few years rolling retirements. So, there is a possibility that over the next couple years or next year, there could be retirements and some of these individuals could come right back. But again, I will share your revenues are fixed. So, think about your house budget. Your you have your revenues. You have your expenses. But now, let's say that income changed and went down. You're getting less income into your house. You have to make adjustments. You have to look at your expenses. And so, we did this. And this
035is these are the areas that we were looking to scale back while still preserving student services and programs. Administration, we have a retirement in administration. We have a high school vice principal and we're going to be absorbing that retirement. And in art, we're going down 0.68. I believe the total art staff in our district is 11.68. Art is a is K through 12. So, when we look at the schedules K through 12, any teacher in art can teach anywhere in K through 12. And when there is certain number of classes where you don't have as many classes and you can scale back, we were able to scale back a 0.68. Folks, these strategic reductions allow us to responsibly balance the budget while preserving all student programs and services with careful consideration to our community and
036taxpayers. I am going to really reiterate, even with these reductions, every service and program is in place here in Commack. I can't say the same for many other districts that are going through these challenges, but we put a lot of thought and effort into these reductions. And everything that we came back to is how do we make reductions with the least impact on our children? In short, what does this mean for the 26-27 budget? We are absolutely committed to small class sizes. So, if you haven't seen uh the presentations, the last presentation, there is a giant slide that shows every elementary school what the average class sizes are. We are so committed in some of those in some of those areas you saw some of those grade levels, they went down in class size because
037we are committed to small class sizes. Mental health supports, lunch and learn, enrichment for all in our intermediate schools, agriculture education, enrichment at the middle school, athletics, movement in the arts, music in the arts. We are We still have everything that's in the 26 I mean, in the 25-26 budget is in the 26-27 budget in terms of services and programs. We did We did this very thoughtfully. Some districts went out and they eliminated sports. They eliminated programs. It was the quickest way for them to balance the budget. We took the approach that there are certain priorities in this district that we are committed to. That's elementary class sizes. That's an enrichment opportunities for our children. Courses, offerings at the secondary levels. Some of the enhancements, even given all of this, real life spaces discovery dens.
038But here's the thing, the discovery dens, and I have said this before, and I know Ms. Polliam has shared this when she presented on the discovery dens, they were computer labs where we were spending thousands of dollars replacing PCs year years after years after years. We were able to take those PCs out of those computer labs, replace it with equipment that costs less than uh than the than the cost of replacing PCs. And I'm not trying to put Kyle on the spot or anything right now, but when we went to do our visits, many of the students, when we asked the question, "What do you love and what would you love more of?" one of the first things that they said was discovery dens. CHS living lab. This is an opportunity because we think about
039every student in our district. Our special needs children are in a have now access to us to a high school living lab where they used to have to travel off campus to get that experience. So, now we have a a high school living lab all done in house by our amazing staff. So, thank you, Mr. Palapoli. The school of medicine lab. This is an additional space. But this is an additional space that's funded from a 2019 bond that was approved. This is one of This is pretty much the last space along with the visual arts lab here in our district and that for the most part closes out our 2019 bond. So, that's where the funds are coming from for those two spaces. K to 5 digit curriculum. Digital innovation group instructional time. Ms. Polliam
040has done an outstanding job creating this with her staff where I when we presented this at a at the largest tech conference in the country, the response was, "Where did you buy this program?" We didn't buy it. It was completely created in house. But it looks so professional that others think that we bought this program. All created in house. Security vestibule at CMS. So, if you're familiar with the high school, you've seen when you walk through the first set of doors, the middle school has a has double set of doors. Now, the middle school this summer is going to have a security vestibule built. Thinking about all of our students in the intermediate levels, we built play playgrounds in our primary schools, brand new playgrounds for our community and for our students in our primary
041buildings. Our playgrounds at the at the intermediate levels are aging. They're rusting. They're still safe. We have uh individuals come and inspect them every single year and approve them, but they're not inclusive for every student in our district. We are building new playgrounds in our intermediate schools that are inclusive for all students. Facilities infrastructure upgrades, aging pipes, boilers, heating pumps. I know the list can go on. We have a long-term plan to update our infrastructure every year. And additional touch screen Chromebooks. All of these space Most of these spaces, the medicine lab, the visual arts lab, the the vestibule, intermediate inclusive playgrounds, infrastructure up date upgrades, all aidable. All one-time cost. The challenge when you're creating a budget and you're looking to scale back, we're still able to do things because these these items that
042I had just mentioned come from a completely different budget line that cannot be spent on salary. It can only be spent on infrastructure. It can only be spent on capital projects. And you get aid back on them as well. And they're a one-time cost. Other costs that we're reducing are costs that are ongoing. They grow every single year. Um these are the challenges that we're facing here on the island. But we have done this in an extremely creative way to be able to maintain every service and program for our students and our children. So, that concludes our April 16th board presentation. Um wanted to provide a little bit more obviously clarification because I know over the last several board meetings I have spoken about how there's going to be challenging decisions. We're going to need
043to scale back. I have said we're scaling back here in Hubs administration and looking at sections at the secondary level and where we can absorb retirements. And we did this very creatively. Um our next meeting is on May 7th. It's our budget hearing. And I can't tell you how to vote, but I can certainly say, "Please come out and vote." Folks, if you're listening tonight, we have some of the lowest turnout in years of voters coming out. Ms. Burger, how many voters do we have registered in the district? 29,000. 29,000 voters in the district. How many come out? About 20 2,000. 2,000. 1,800 >> 1,800 last year. It was bad year. >> So, folks, if you can talk to your neighbors, tell them on May 19th, please come [clears throat] out and vote. And at
044this point, I'm going to turn it back to the board for any questions. Yes, so uh there have been uh conversations back and forth uh during the last week and getting feedback from different constituent groups. Uh so, at this point, I'd like to call upon each board member to share any concerns or questions you might have before we move forward with adopting the budget. So, Ms. Schultz. Um so, I just want to thank you for kind of laying this out in a way that is understandable um to people who may not really understand what like we have to make some cuts includes. So, um I think that this makes it very transparent. So, thank you for putting this together in like [clears throat] 24 hours. I appreciate it. Um I guess my other question is
045just for the legal and how that kind of splits between the administrative legal and the program. Sure. So, you >> moved a lot. Yeah, and that's why I wanted to be very transparent tonight about about that legal fee. So, yeah, the the cost of legal um we can legally keep it in two places, which is program and um and admin. And based on Ms. Nevins' experience as a as a business official when putting together the budget, there is a tremendous amount of the legal expenses that impact our students. You know, without getting into detail of line by line exactly what that is um is spent on. But we can we can put it in two places. But I wanted to be transparent because I certainly didn't want um if we moved a half a million
046dollars from admin to uh program, I wanted to be transparent about that. And part of that is even with that movement, take that and put it in the parking lot for a second, um we're still going down a million dollars in admit in admin. And if you take that half a million if I put it if I put it back in admin, we're still going up 4 million in program. Um and as I had shared uh the examples of what's driving our program, uh what's our cost drivers, major cost drivers in program. Dr. Ender? Thank you. Um First question, Dr. Cox, you mentioned that um some of our reading groups at the uh I believe at some of the levels were two or less students in a group. Um what are the projected numbers for
047reading? And are there any programmatic changes or is it just grouping changes? There there no programmatic changes, they're just grouping changes. So, instead of having two or one student, you have one student in a that's not necessarily a group. That's one-on-one. So, when we're creating these reading groups, they should have more along the lines of three to five students in a group, which is still, in my mind, very reasonable. Great. Thank you. And um so, I just So, programmatically, there would still be Wilson and things such as that offered. Um Correct. Great. Thank you. And then, um I know this is the optimistic thinking, but um what, if any, is the plan if and when the governor does come out with uh their budget and if there is any increase in our state aid, what
048is the plan um to use that money for? So, that's a great question, and we can certainly take into consideration the increase. What what is being projected in terms of the increase is not a significant increase, and I think that any increase that we do see, we have to be mindful of long-term fiscal planning. So, if we were to receive additional aid, it would most likely be in our best interest to reduce our reliance on the applied fund balance. Um you know, I think that the the the picture for Long Island in general, which coming down from the governor's office, is in terms of funding, I don't I don't see, you know, going from 1% to the significant increase next year. I would have been more optimistic being that it's an election year that we
049would have seen a more significant increase in in funding for education here on the island. Um but I think that if we do see additional funding from the from the governor's office, I think it's fiscally responsible to strengthen our position um by reducing our reliance on our reserves. Thank you. But, we can certainly consider that should that come through. Good. Ms. Costi. I just wanted to say thank you. It's It's when it's laid out like that, it's much clearer, and you're able to see each individual area where, you know, cuts have to be made, and it's just it's it's a nicer, clearer picture. So, thank you. Uh thank you. We I I appreciate the feedback because this year's uh budget presentations um we've we've done it year after year, it's been exactly the same. Um
050some of the budget as you budget workshops, for those of you that have been watching, we invited students to share some of the programs and and hear from them some tutorials about some of our instructional programs that we are continuing to maintain. I think when you hear from the students about how some of the programs we put in place are changing their lives, then you know, it reinforces my commitment, our commitment to making these adjustments by me and maintaining all of those programs and services because you get to see and hear firsthand the impact of those. So, thank you. And again, if we were going through next year and there's feedback to change some of the budget workshops, you know, we we believe in continuous review and improvement. So, I appreciate that feedback. Don't want
051to hear from the students and No, no, that we're going to always keep. >> That is an amazing addition, and hearing all these things has been amazing. It's I just when we're saying that we're making cuts and not being like very specific, I think it it it's like ends up being interpreted in different ways, and if people can't see it like laid out and explained as you're laying it out, um it's it's hard to really understand or see what the vision is. Yeah. So, yes, I think it makes it a little bit easier to see the vision and the reason, and I think that that's just important for the community to be able to see that even though these things are happening and we're going down however many reasons teachers, that we're still going to
052maintain this, and if we see that we need more, um we definitely think that we have to adjust what we're doing right now. Correct. >> Right. So, just being able to see that clearly is important. Thank you for that feedback. All right, Ms. Harmon. Questions or comments? All right. So, uh one of the other questions that's >> I just had Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, we're not done with questions. I was ready to go on and tell everybody what our May board meeting is going to be. So, I'm going to rewind back >> One question. So, actually a comment and a question. So, so it was asked at one point in one conversation I had about using uh fund balance and reserves in in a way that can offset some of the the cuts. So,
053I believe, if you looked at this chart maybe four or five years ago, I think we were at $16 million. We would we would borrow $16 million in reserves to try and float a budget. Uh and again, for a homeowner out there, you wouldn't borrow, you wouldn't keep getting home equity loans to float your lifestyle when you're living above that what your your actual income is. You would make adjustments. So, maybe you would have to cancel certain things and reduce things and spend more efficiently. And I think that's where we're moving toward. Uh it's down to a proposal of 12 million. That's a $4 million swing in about four years, I think, five years, whatever. Um so, that would be the reason. It I I personally have a pet peeve about that, um and I
054don't think it's good to keep borrowing money to pay for things that we may be able to do without. Um when you talk about accessing, and again, as a form of principle, I've gone through it with people. I was excessed myself uh back in 1990. Um it's not a pleasant experience. Uh but um the idea of trying to move people into other positions and and save their positions, uh you're talking about someone's livelihood. So, to the degree that you did that, I appreciate that. Um and others, I really am hopeful that people land on their feet. I know many educators who have lost their positions in other districts, and they end up on their on their feet. Um so, again, it it can't prevent us from making sound financial decisions. It just can't. Uh we
055would be held hostage by that every year, and then our borrowing of money to make this float, it's not going to get better. Um it's really not going to get better. You're going to see uh the increases in cost of education um cap in addition to the cap, we're going to be hitting. We're not going to have all the retirements every year to save millions of dollars in in in salaries. So, where do we go then? So, this is sort of a a slight um modifications of what we're looking at, but again, you read the paper, you see other districts in in much more dire need. Uh but I think we have to rethink how we fund education a little bit moving forward and how we um and that's at the state level, too. We
056have to basically, the board has a deadline, I believe, before the 22nd to get our board uh budget approved. And yet, the state doesn't, you know, hold fast to promising the money that we're supposed to be able to plan that budget on. So, you know, they're they're supposed to be the first. We're supposed to be by the 22nd. So, we still have to move forward cuz they're not forgiving us. So, uh so, we do it without those numbers, uh and we do it to the best. So, I I too want to compliment you. It's a very comprehensive. It's a very difficult uh task. Um I believe it is pretty transparent as far as I'm concerned, and maybe I'm just more familiar with budgets, but um I think it's a responsible use of funds. It is
057one of the lowest tax increases in nine years in in the district, and it is one of the lowest in in the region. Um and it guarantees us uh the quality education that we're kind of used to here. So, I want to thank you and your team, the building principals as well for working and giving the feedback uh to all of them. So, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? No. Okay. So, on May 7th is our is our budget hearing. Um and now I'm going to turn it back to Mr. Huber for our regular agenda. Yes, so I think we're going to move right into our public participation uh number one. I'm going to ask Ms. Harmon to read our Oh, no? Oh, what are you doing, Mike? Oh, put the
058thing back. Oh, I thought you were presenting. Oh, no, no, no. No. Okay. >> [laughter] >> You threw me off. I didn't see you on the screen. Yeah. I see you behind me. All right, Ms. Harmon, it's all yours. >> All right. Good evening and welcome. We're so glad you're here with us tonight. Your voice matters, and we truly appreciate your involvement and interests 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, please take a green card.
059The 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 are 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 feedback. 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 afterward. 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 comments remain respectful, focused, and not repetitive or disruptive. Thank
060you again for being here tonight and for your ongoing support of our students and schools. All right. Thank you. Ted. So, this is for anyone that has a white card. White card number one. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Heather Gordon and I have two students in the district, a middle schooler and a student in North Ridge. First, I just want to echo what Dana would Nicole would everyone was saying. Thank you so much for this presentation tonight because I feel by far and away like this was the most detailed and that breakdown that you went through box by box really laid everything out with such clarity that it really helps us as a community to understand what's happening and to feel more comfortable with the choices that are being made for me personally.
061And I'd also like to say thank you because my question was going to be um with regard to the state and how they're pushing back the deadline and kind of piggyback somewhat Dr. Henry said like how do we move ahead planning a budget when we really there is that unknown. So, I wasn't aware that you know, the district had a deadline of the 22nd. Um so, that was helpful as well in trying to understand the whole process. Um and I did just have one question uh with regard to Cedar Road and I know that we serve a very specific population there and that we're so fortunate to have that. Is there any thought to as a source of revenue possibly expanding Cedar Road to taking students from other districts to bring in additional revenue? >>
062So, that's a great question Mrs. Gordon and we do take in guest students that um some of the areas that you see when we talk about revenues like miscellaneous and tuition comes directly from students attending Cedar Road. Perfect. Thank you so much. >> Oh, you're welcome. Oops, let's see. Okay. White card number two. Okay, no one. No more questions? Nothing? Okay. I can remember that. All right. So, we're going to move on with the uh board agenda here. Uh at this point we are going to acknowledge uh correspondence as listed. We are going to make a motion to accept the donation. This is uh Commack Roadrunners Club. There are two pole vault um slide boxes to the boys and girls track and field teams valued at $694.49. Uh can I get a motion to accept
063this? Motion. Uh second? Second. All those in favor? I. Okay. Uh a motion to approve the minutes uh from the March 12th Board of Education meeting and the minutes from the executive session uh special meeting on March 26th, 2026. Can I get a motion? And a second? Second. All in favor? I. And can I get a mo- sorry, moving here. Okay. Uh can I get a motion to approve the personnel agenda as listed? Motion. Uh and a second? Discussion? Any discussion or presentation or I see uh Mr. Matt Keltos on there and uh you know, I know Mrs. Lippenholtz probably uh is shedding a tear right now. Um you know, Matt has always been such an integral part of Commack. I'd feel remiss if I didn't say something here this evening just um you know,
064having him as my 11th grade social studies teacher and you know, just seeing all he's done throughout his career whether it was not only as my 11th grade social studies teacher but he was also at that time moonlighting and uh doing some refereeing for basketball games for the CYO on the side for the Commack Youth League. Um so, you know, I know that he has always been part of Commack and Dr. Cox you have promised that uh Mr. Keltos will not be disappearing. He will be uh >> [laughter] >> still within Commack. Uh I know he bleeds Commack colors. So, um you know, I just want to wish him the best in his retirement and uh it's a profound loss for the district but a well deserved uh retirement at after many, many years in
065this district uh my only um you know, reserve that I said to him was that uh my son enters high school next year and I really wanted him to have uh Matt also. So, uh congratulations to Matt and his family. I shall echo that. I uh I got to know Matt about uh got 18 years ago. Uh Matt and I coached uh PAL football. Our sons he was in Hauppauge. He had a son Hauppauge and we were here in Commack and um we had a great run. We um maybe not victory wise but as far as working with the children we had and Matt being a figure on the field just as he is in the buildings um just a presence, just a joy. It wasn't about the game for Matt. It was always about
066the kids and um so, I think that will be missed. I agree with that. >> like to echo that. I saw I did speak to Mr. Keltos today. He asked he was asking permission if he could have a sideline pass cuz he wants [laughter] to continue to attend uh events. So, we said don't worry. We will get you a sideline pass. So, he's there. He is uh you know, sometimes I joke and they say that uh Mr. Keltos is like the high school mascot and I mean that in a way that when I watch him walk through the hallways and interact with children, he's like a mascot and he is just so good for children. He knows he can sing a country song with one and a rap song with the next and uh uh
067my first experience with Mr. Keltos, he introduced himself and I went to shake his hand and then we snapped our fingers and then we gave a pound and for some reason that was our first handshake and it has stuck for uh all of the years that I've been here in Commack. Um he's a he's a special individual and he definitely will be missed but something tells me uh we will see uh Mr. Keltos a lot in uh in the upcoming years. All right. What am I voting on? Oh, the uh the personnel agenda. Yes, can I get a motion? We motioned. We did motion. Second and all in favor? I. I. I. Okay. Uh and can I get a motion to approve the uh consent agenda items presented um or amended two through 19. Can
068I get a motion? >> Motion. And a second and all those in favor? I. All right. Consent agenda All right. So, I'm going to acknowledge receipt of the February 2026 uh financial reports listed below. Uh we are going to acknowledge receipt of the internal claims audit uh the monthly update as listed. We are going to acknowledge uh the receipt of the Committee on Special Education minutes and along with the Committee on Special Education uh preschool uh minutes as listed. And the Board of Education shall hold a special meeting on Tuesday uh April 21st, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at the Hubs Administration Center, 480 Clay Pitts Road for the purpose of voting on the Western Suffolk BOCES annual budget and for the uh BOCES trustees. The Board of Education shall hold its regular meeting budget hearing
069on Thursday, May 7th at 6:00 p.m. at the Hubs Administration Center, 480 Clay Pitts Road, East Northport, New York. Uh it's anticipated that the board will make a motion for the purpose of adjourning into executive session at this time uh and at 7:00 p.m. the board will reconvene its public session for the purpose of holding its regular business meeting and budget hearing. And at this point I'm going to invite uh people for our second public participation. Okay, this is for green card. Anyone with a green card. No? No. All right. With that said, I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Can I get a motion? Motion. And a second? Second. All those in favor? I. >> I. All right. Thank you all for coming tonight and supporting us.