001Stand for the pledge to the flag of America and to the republic for it stands one nationice for Board presence advise members of the audience that they may address the board regarding agenda items after the superintendence report. Only those members whose names and addresses are listed on the signing sheet available prior to the start of the meeting will be recognized during new business. chairperson will limit discussions of any item by the public to three minutes in order for the court to expeditiously conduct its business. Superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. R. Good evening, everyone. Uh, as you may or may not know, October is uh board of education recognition month. So, I would like to thank our board of education for their ongoing support of our students and our community. Uh, any and all initiatives put
002forth and given thoughtful are given thoughtful serious considerations and the guiding question you consistently ask us is is this good for kids? So, thank you for your concern over the children's progress and success. Uh your dedication to our students and your continued support to both academic and extracurricular programs are deeply appreciated. Uh the positive impact of your leadership is seen every day in opportunities and experiences our students uh deal with on a day-to-day basis. I would also like to recognize and thank our first student representative to the board of education uh for taking the challenge of being the voice of the student body. You have a vital role and a great deal to contribute on behalf of your peers. We are confident that your perspective will enhance our discussions and decisions. Thank you all for
003your selfless service, your commitment and your t tireless efforts in all you do. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Bernard. Thank you, Superintendent Hanzo. Good evening, members of board of board of education. I'm honored to be here tonight on behalf of the entire school community to acknowledge school board recognition week. We want to do something meaningful to show our appreciation for all that you do. We know your hard work often happens behind the scenes with late nights, challen challenging decisions, and an unwavering commitment to students. So tonight we celebrate you. Our district theme this year is better together. This theme represents the heart of who we are as a district. It reflects the power of collaboration among board members, staff, families, and students and the belief that when
004we come together, we can accomplish great things. To honor that spirit, each of our buildings contributed to a special project which is hanging on the wall. We asked students and the art staff from every school in the district to contribute to the crossword display by submitting letters to create the presentation. Students from JFK wrote inspirational messages, words of encouragement and thankfulness for your support and hard work. High school students in our digital imaging and design classes created letters to represent their creativity and inspiration. And a special thanks to Mrs. Gibbons for arranging the letters on display. Equat students utilized a variety of techniques including the creation of polka dots using Q-tips, shading, watercolored fingerprints, and colored hearts. And students from Timber Point colored geometric patterns in their letters and drew depictions of support and helping
005others. They also included grateful messages. RCK students created letters that included messages of thanks, support, and appreciation for all the hard work that you do to keep isol East a great place to learn. Students in the middle school use multi multi multiple media from ripped paper, twist ties, glitter, and the repurposing of p puzzle pieces to create unique letters to show their gratitude. This visual represents your impact on our school community and is a token of our appreciation for all that you do. Is more than just a piece of art, is a reflection of the values you help nurture. It's a collection of unique ideas coming together as one, a true symbol of what it means to be better together. We hope that this artwork serves as a reminder that your work deeply matters deeply
006and that it reaches far beyond policy and paperwork. You help to inspire students to be their best every day. On behalf of the entire school community, thank you for your dedication and leadership and thank you for showing us that we are indeed better together. [Applause] At this time, I would like to invite Morano to the podium. Thank you, Mr. Manzel. Um, we are proud to recognize Patrick Chaka, a freshman here at Eastup High School, for his remarkable achievements as a national youth ambassador for the Tourett Association of America. Patrick has turned personal challenges Tourette's syndrome into strength and purpose, advocating nationally and presenting at the US Capital and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. A dedicated student athlete, Patrick embodies East Icelip's values of perseverance and pride. His leadership and courage inspire our entire community. He
007is here tonight to present to you with some of his work. Congratulations, Patrick. You make East Isa proud. [Applause] Hi everybody. So mostly with the the Tourette's of Long Island, we do we usually take these presentations and school I did in Mr. Pagger's class. I did one of those but mostly the Tourette's association. We mostly talk about like the tip of the iceberg with like the Tourette's, but then it also comes with like along the preps almost like a gift but a negative gift. And then this was sometimes we go to colleges or like the medical students and that was like us when we were up there and there was um some we've made there was some friends there and we've made a lot of good conversation and acknowledging the kids on you know what
008to do or how to look at it's not as like a disability but as an advantage like a new experience almost When I made the Tourette's Associate America, it was like a thing all US and like a hundred of us made it and we went to Capitol Hill and we got to talk to senators and doino. I forgot the other ones cuz I think they were at meetings or something like that. Probably one, but a lot of we first kind of stood at a staircase because the office was closed. But all of all of us like on that side got to speak. about the um what what it's like and some people their siblings are a little too like nervous to speak about it so they had I think one of them Luna and Alex
009they spoke for theirs and then my friend Maggie has a rare type of which is corpelia which is like the cursing one which is like the media and stuff and we very happy that she got to speak and my speech I didn't get I kind of So that's basically threats in a nutshell. [Applause] At this time, I'd like to turn it back over to Mr. Bernard. So we have uh 14 uh students in the in the high school that were um selected as all county uh students. So they were performing in the all county ensembles here in Suffach County in the fall. They were selected to uh represent East Liup High School based on their NISMA uh solo scores last spring, their achievements within the music department and the recommendations of their teachers. We are
010extremely proud of your accomplishments and we are pleased that you are going to be repres representing East Lisa High School at this significant event. Those students are uh Jake and Gracia. So if you have you call hear your name called please uh come up uh bass clarinet Luke Tersy French horn Ethan Jensen tenor Jillian Petty Elto Franchesca Dimma clarinet Juliana Chuck Castro Alto alto uh Jose Mario Tener Eric Lee trumpet Damasi alto Givvon Monroy soprano Brendan Mueller clarinet and Angelina Kotusi soprano. Congratulations. We also have uh two students that are not only all county uh they get all county recognition but they also have state recognition. So it's my pleasure to uh congratulate Cormack Sus cello and Oliviao soprano. Congratulations [Applause] on certificates. [Applause] I'm going to get you sit down and I'll get Okay.
011Mr. Harrison, thank you. Tonight we're having a presentation done by Mr. John Costello, the engagement partner from EFPR group, who was the audit uh team that reviewed the financial statements of the district. Uh on tonight's agenda, the uh audit committee who met last week is recommending to the board of ed acceptance of the financial audit as well as the internal control reports. So, I'd like Mr. Costello to uh present the order. Thank you. Uh yes, I'm with EFPR Group. We're your external independent financial auditors. And as Steve mentioned, the financial statements were reviewed with the audit committee on September 30th. Our audit approach uh we approached the audit by performing a detailed risk assessment of the district. We identified the significant audit areas and we obtained a detailed understanding of the internal controls in these
012areas. We tested the effect effectiveness of those internal controls and based on those tests out audit report programs were designed for each of the significant audit areas of the district to allow us to issue opinions on financial statements. Our results uh we have issued an unmodified opinion on the following reports. basic financial statements, the federal grant compliance audit or single audit, and the extra classroom activity funds. All records and information requested by the FPR group are freely available for our inspection. The results of our tests disclose no instances of non-compliance or other matters that are required to be reported under government auditing standards. uh no material weaknesses, significant deficiencies or non-compliance findings related to to the internal control over financial reporting. There were no material weaknesses deficiencies or non-compliance findings related to the major major
013federal programs and uniform guidance. And the major program tested was a special education cluster, also known as IDEA, which includes special education grants to states and special education preschool grants. Cast low. We're doing okay, right? We're doing okay. Uh yes, you are. There is no findings. Uh you got unmodified or clean pinions, which is exactly what you want. Low risk. Correct. Correct. Uh which means we only have to test 20% versus 40%. Thank you, Mr. comparison go through the process. Yeah. I'd just like to thank EFPR group for their cooperation through the audit. You know, one of the things we look at as how well we did uh financially as well as operational is uh we supply a lot of information throughout the audit to the audit firm and they come back to us with
014whatever changes they would like us to make to our financial statements. And I'd like to uh commend Jessica Perticone and the business office staff. There were no adjusting entries that were made uh on by request of the auditing team. So really what that means is the information we gave them they were comfortable with and there were no misstatements or errors that we had to correct from the information that was provided. So I'd like to thank everyone involved in the process. Thank you. Thank you Mr. R. That's all I have. Thank you Mr. Manzo. Uh student members report to the board. Angel. Uh yes. So good evening everyone. Uh fall is finally here at East of East ISU of High School and the season's off to a great start. It was wonderful to see the community
015come together to celebrate pep rally and homecoming. Several clubs are meeting and engaging students this month. And next week, we will be hosting our student government Halloween bulletin board decorating contest to bring some fun to the hallways and boost school spirit. Fall sports are in full swing with our teams working hard to represent Eastwood Pride. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Public comments on agenda items only. Miss P. Good evening, members of the board of education superintendent and members of the community. On behalf of the For the Kids Foundation, I'm honored to present this evening's donation. The FTK board has voted and approved the donation totaling $64,000 to the East Isup School District. This generous contribution will directly support furniture for the new outdoor classroom at the high school, providing students with an
016innovative and inspiring space to learn beyond the traditional classroom walls. The newly designed high school courtroom, a unique and forwardthinking addition that will enhance realworld learning opportunities for our students, especially those interested in law, debate, and public service. FTK is proud to continue its mission of enhancing educational opportunities for all students within the East Ice School District. It is our sincerest wish that this donation be accepted by the board of education and that it serves as a lasting investment in the future of East ISUP students. On behalf of the FTK board and all who support our mission, thank you for your partnership, your dedication, and your commitment to doing everything for the kids. Thank you, Mess. Thank you, FTK, for the donation and your ongoing support for our district. Thank you. Do a wonderful job.
017Thank you. I have a big fancy check. Will you come take a picture? Okay, I'll get it. The FTK board, please come. Feel like that's the nice check. It's nice. It's a dry erase. Fancy check. Thank you very much. Very fancy check. Fancy. Everybody holding it. There we go. Thank you. I would just Thank you. I'm taking my check back. Oh, thank you. Mrs. Burns, anyone else? All righty. A certified personnel. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the resignations, terminations, leaves of absences, position abolitions, uh employment employment appointments, tenure appointments, and salary changes in accordance with the applicable provisions of the education law and civil service law as cited in the certified personnel attachments. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. All in
018favor? I I non-certified personnel. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the resignations, terminations, leaves of absence, position abolitions, employment appointments, tenure appointments, and salary changes in accordance with the applicable provisions of the education law and civil service law as cited in the non-certified personnel attachments. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. All in favor? I items to be removed from the consent agenda. Any items to be removed? Okay. Consent agenda. Items numbers 9.2 to 9.13. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of superintendent of schools, the educ board of education hereby approves the consent agenda item numbers 9.32 through 9.13 in accordance with the action presented for each item. Can I get a motion? Motion second. All in favor? Hi. Okay. 10.1 donation
019from For the Kids Foundation. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby accepts a donation of $64,000 from the For the Kids Foundation, FDK, to the East School District. This donation will be used to support the purchase of furniture for both the outdoor classroom at the high school and the newly designed high school courtroom. This generous donation will be a wonderful addition to the high school and will benefit the students education. The revenue code to be to be increased is A2705.0000 and the appropriate budget codes will be increased. Can I get a motion? Motion second. All in favor? I. Thank you again, Miss Pepe and the board for the generous donation. Donation for the fax classes. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent
020of schools, the board of education hereby accepts a donation of several items as listed in the attached email for the fax classes that are valued at approximately $200. This donation is from a retired fax teacher from Suffurn, New York. The students in both the middle school and high school will benefit from this donation in their fax classes. Can I get a motion? Motion second. All in favor? I thank you for that donation. Appropriation changes for 2024, 2025, and 2025, 2026. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the attached list of appropriation changes for the 2024 2025 the 2025 to 2026 school years. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. All in favor? I Okay. Any old business? Uh, new business. Yes. Mr. Bernard is seeking
021for students to attend the NISMA Allstate Winter Music Conference. It's in Rochester, New York from December 4th to December 7th. Students who have the opportunity to attend this festival gain knowledge of rehearsal techniques and performing experience. Students have the opportunity to perform with elite musicians throughout our state. Thank you for that presentation. Uh, I want to congratulate Olivia Pimeiano and Cormarmac Zuzma who will be the two students participating upstate. Um, it'll be on the board agenda November for approval. Congratulations. Any public comments? Yes, we have two two. First is Mary Wilson. What was last name? Wilson. My name is Mary Wilson. I live at N Beach Avenue in East ISA. My concern is a lack of bus transportation for our children who are in who are 11 and 12 and grades six and seven attend
022East Isa Middle School. A letter was sent to the district April 29th, 2025 regarding student transportation. It proposed establishing a child safety zone for students having to utilize the sunrise highway walk over bridge which would allow the district to provide transportation to and from the school. It ultimately was approved. It noted in part that residences from house number 8 west to Carlton Avenue met the necessary point to qualify as a child safety zone for grades 6 to 8 and therefore should provide transportation to and from school. House number eight Beecher Avenue is 08 miles to the edge of the nearest entrance to the school property at Craig Barrapy Street and Rosen Street. A gate at the furthest end of football field, not the entrance to the school building where students are required to enter and
023qualify for transportation. My house number nine Beard Avenue is.7 miles to the edge of the nearest entrance at the edge of that football field at Craig Aarab Street and Rosen Street and does not qualify for transportation. A difference of one/tenth of a mile. The walking distance from the end of my driveway to the front of the middle school building where they are to enter is 1.2 miles. Aside from the walking distance to the school property, the expected group traverses a very dangerous intersection at Park Place and Beer Avenue where traffic from the Southeast Service Sunrise Road exit to travel north on Halton Avenue. To say that traffic slows down at this intersection is a vast understatement. There is no stop sign without traffic exiting Sunrise Service Road onto Veer Avenue. Nor is there a crosswalk
024nor a crossing guard this corner. Traffic entering this intersection has the right of way onto Veer Avenue and do not have to stop. I have on many occasions seen cars speeding around this corner going into the opposite lane to make that turn, not stopping for a bus with flashing lights on as I have seen when our children were younger and did have transportation at that corner. Additionally, there is no sidewalk on the northeast section of Beecher Avenue after they would cross that intersection to head to the walkover bridge. So they would have to walk the street down to that crossover bridge and there is no crossing guard on the north side of Frankfurt Garby Street and Roslin Street. I also read the transfinder routing efficiency posted on the district's website. It noted that the district's
025actual ridership on buses is only 80% full for the middle school. The buses are not at full capacity. Surely adding one more bus stop to accommodate our children will be at little to no expense and does not compare to the cost of this review and does not compare the safety of our children. And with over $6 million in this district you serve, I feel that providing transportation to our children who are onetenth of a mile outside of your limit is not unreasonable. Also known that New York state law section 3635 of the education law requires all non city districts to provide transportation for pupils up to as digits of 15 miles away enrolled in non-pivical schools to be provided that transportation where we live a tenth of a mile outside of the limits and cannot
026be provided transportation. And I also feel that it shouldn't just be the the amount of mileage to the school that dictates how or not whether or not these children get transportation, but the safety of that group. Anybody who lives in Eastman knows that intersection of Park Place, the South East Service Road coming off of Sunrise Highway. There are multiple accidents all the time. They have the right of way onto my beach or avenue. They do not have to stop. There's no stop sign. There is no crosswalk. There is no crossing guard to make it safe for these children to cross that intersection. So, I'm asking you to please allow for our children to have their bus stop back at Park Place in Beach after so they can safely get to school. And I would also
027want you to if you would then require them to enter the football field during a snowstorm, would you then plow a plan for them to get to the building? Please consider my view. And I have also taken photos of that intersection for you to see if you're not familiar with Beach Avenue Park Place. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your comments, Mr. Harrison. Uh Mr. Harrison will follow up with you in regards to the busing situation. As for other things you mentioned regarding stop signs and stuff, that's really either a town or a state. The school is requiring them to take that route because it's the most direct route. You have to provide I totally understand that. But you did mention stop signs, correct? There is no stop sign. I understand that you mentioned a
028stop sign. No, not being a stop sign. All I'm saying is if you have a problem with a stop sign in the town, you should contact the town in regards to the stop sign. In regards to the bus, Mr. Harrison will get back to you. Okay. Well, thank you for your comment. Mrs. Wilson, can you please leave your phone number with our district in Sure. Thank you. Anybody else? I'm here to address the school board about how bad could it be just for this one payment in your life. Get my glasses on so I can read. Last week, the inaugural FICO store credit insight report found that Generation Z borrowers took the biggest credit hit of any age group this year with their average FICO scores slipping to 676, well below the national average of
029715. Right. Generation Z 67 average credit score marked the largest yearover-year decrease for any age group since 2020. FICO also noted that generation Z is 1.5 times more likely to be aware of their credit and how it works. Co groom people to think and to act a certain way. unrealistic expectations were put into our subconscious which is free money uh free money payments deferred she they said contrasting generation Z with older generations live more cautiously when you miss one payment on a student loan you miss multiple payments student loans have a very unique way of reporting they don't report you 30 days late. They don't report you 60 days late. They go straight into 90 days. 6 and a half million people missed their payments this year. And that singlehandedly was actually the reason for
030the actual national average credit score dropping for the second year in a row. How many of our alumni were in that 6 million? I ask. The 676 credit scores let you, let's say you took out a $300,000 loan. That's going to cost you an additional $300 a month just on the mortgage. A $20 car loan, that's going to cost you an extra 48 a month. Utilities, it's going to cost you an additional $300 deposit. Your car insurance is also going to cost you an extra 50 a month. The experts said just over 10 years that's going to cost you 63,480. And that's just interest like that fancy check we just had up here a minute ago. How bad could a mispayment be? Worst case scenario is it drops 180 points and your score dips for
031seven years. It follows you around for seven years. And you know, I've been asking you and pushing for a financial education course for our students, and I ask you now, where are we on getting that course? I will tell you where we are, sir. Uh, Mr. Worthier. Yes. Yes. Uh, Dr. Bells will explain our curriculum and from what I understand in our economics course, which which are mandatory, they do have personal management in it now. Is that correct, Dr. Bells? That's correct. Um in addition we do have an elective course which is per person personal finance financial management um at the the senior level all students are required to take economics. So the first part of the economics course so um financial literacy unit is embedded in the first half of that class and they're
032all required to take that. In addition, they use that information for the second half of the class to talk about the broader themes in economics. In addition, um so Mrs. Scarles, our humanities director, worked with our economics teacher to do that. In addition, um at the middle school, the our fax class, the sixth and seventh grade, have had financial literacy in there. Dr. Stanton, our director, worked over the summer with fax teachers to expand those um that unit those units. In the sixth grade, I believe it was an additional two weeks added to the units and in seventh grade an additional four weeks added to the units. And my question to you is last year I was bringing home three students from football practice and I asked them do you know how a mortgage works?
033Principal interest schedule of direct reduction and the answer I got was silence. They said no they don't know. So you're saying that it's an elective and you're educating our students. Then how come they can't answer me on a simple thing on how a mortgage and borrowing money for college? Obviously, it's failing because they're not responding. They don't know. Does anybody know about this? Did anybody teach your students about what I just discussed which I just learned something? I didn't know a mispayment on a college loan would dump you into 90 days. So something needs to change and not an elective course. That's not fair to the rest of the students. If you um heard what I said, there is an elective course, but there's also economics is a requirement to graduate high school and the
034financial literacy has been put into that economics class. So, as of this year, no student can graduate without having had that financial literacy. That is something new for this year, correct? that isn't the uh check writing course or something. No, it's in our econom in our economics class. I hope. So, we do thank you for bringing that to our attention. All right. I continue to ask you how we're doing. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And thank you for your comments. And at other board meetings, you did bring this up and we addressed it. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. The next board of education regular business meeting will be held on Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Get a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Good night, everybody. Thank you for being here.