001[Music] Keep up. [Music] Everything. [Music] Good evening. Call meeting order. Please stand for the pledge. America stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. board president to advise members of the audience that they may address the board regarding agenda items after the superintendent 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. The chairperson will limit discussions of any item by the public to to three minutes in order for the board to expeditiously conduct its business. We're going to turn over to Miss Amanda. Thank you, Mr. Dorgan. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. Uh this evening, we have a meaningful and informative evening ahead of us. Uh first, we'll take some time to
002recognize some outstanding individuals whose achievements and contributions continue to reflect the values and pride of our district and their excellence. Uh it's always a privilege to shine lights a spotlight on the hard work and dedication of our of our students and our staff. Following recognitions, we will move into our third budget presentation. For our first uh recognition this evening, I have uh Mrs. Jones and Dr. Smith uh from RCK and JFK schools. Good evening. Thank you for letting us take the time tonight to recognize um two of our wonderful science fair participants. The science fair has been a long-standing tradition in East Icelip. Um, all of our elementary school teachers do an outstanding job teaching the children science and especially our fourth grade teachers who take the time to make certain that all of our
003students understand uh the scientific method and as of late the engineer design process. So tonight we are here to recognize the first place winners in both of our schools this year. Um for RCK I would like to call up and recognize Miles Savage for Do More Police in a moment. And good evening everyone. Uh I want to thank our staff and our students for doing an amazing job at the science fair but also be participating in our steam tank and being incredible designers. So you're going to get a chance to see the groups that won in both schools. We are super proud of their innovations. Creativity really makes everyone shine. So at this time I'd like to call up our science fair winner from JFK, Cara Galia. Congratulations. I'm going to have Miles take a
004minute to just share a little bit about his project which was sent to Brook Haven to be part of their competition. Uh, so I chose do more police pool more uh because sometimes we go on the beach uh with our camper and uh one time one of our uh friends got stuck in the sand and we struggled pulling him out and um my and my dad wanted to know if there was a better way to pull to pull them out than a better way to drag. So that's why I chose this project and it was actually kind of fun to do because I realized that uh electronics can pull over over 90 lbs if you if you pull three pulleys. And now I'd like to introduce Kira who had an incredible project that she's going
005to speak about, but she was talking about humans versus artificial intelligence. So I'll let her elaborate on that. Hi, my name is Kira Galia and I would like to tell you a little bit about my science project. I wanted to discover if people could tell the difference between pictures taken by a person and pictures created by artificial intelligence and test questions that were written by a person and test questions that were created by AI for the book because of window. I use Magic School AI pictures and test questions and I made a quiz using Google Forms. 123 people took my quiz. I 75.6% of people were able to tell the difference between pictures taken by a person and pictures made by AR. However, only 56.4% 4% of people were able to tell the difference between
006the written test questions. That means many people were fooled by it. Fun fact, I used a picture of my real dog racing experiment. Thank you for listening. and start you going to come and get a picture. For our next recognition, I'm going to ask Mrs. Spear and uh Mrs. Wilson to come to the podium. Good evening everyone. We're Miss Mir and Miss Wilson, the elementary steam teachers um from RCK and JFK. So on March 27th and 28th of this year, our elementary schools hosted their annual steam tank competition. An idea that came to my head, believe it or not, at 2:00 in the morning one morning. Fifth grade students had the opportunity to work in teams while following the engineer design process to create new inventions to meet the solution to an everyday problem. After
007months of preparation and working with their teammates, they were able to develop a creative pitch to persuade our judges that their product was the best. Students were graded according to color-coded images and a rubric focusing on innovation, research, the impact on the world around them, work ethic, and the celebration of learning and achievement. So, the project project took a lot of effort and we wanted to thank our school community for volunteering their time to be our sharks. A special thank you to Dr. Bells, Dr. Aurora, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Pepe, Mr. Kamath, who's in our audience, too, and our board of education member, Mr. Ruland. They generously gave of their time and provided such positive feedback to the students while actively participating and encouraging them. Also, a special thank you to Dr. Smith and Mrs. Jones
008for encouraging us to run with the idea and their continued support in all that is accomplished in our steam rooms. We appreciate that. For many of our students, this was one of the first times they had the opportunity to present to a group of people and to work collaboratively with others to solve problems. We are proud of all of the students who dedicated their time and effort into designing products. They utilized their personal time to engage with very meaningful process. It was exciting for us to witness the changes they made to improve their prototypes, the problem solving aspects of the challenge, and the critical thinking skills applied during their products development. It is our hope that our students continue to think outside the box in all avenues of their educational pursuits in their years to
009come. So, at this time, Mrs. Wilson and I would like to invite our students to come up and show them the pitch that they gave, their skit that they performed for the Sharks for the judges. So, I'd like to start by calling up the JFK participants. So I have Malli and Arian and they are going to present to you the book buddy. [Applause] Hey, Ara, have you ever heard of the book No. What's that? What are you guys talking about? The book pack. Miguel, do you want to help me explain the book pack to Arya? Sure, why not? The book pack is a fun large size type of purse. You can fit books inside them. Oh, I understand. I have a back just doesn't fit any books. That's exactly why we made a gift. The
010front pocket holds your phone and the smaller pocket holds your Post-it notes or other reading or school essentials. And you put books in the big compartment. You got it. That's so cool. It's made out of fabric, string, adhesive, decor, and elastic. And it's portable, fashionable, and easily. Okay. So, if I heard you right, you created a purse big enough for books, postits, pencils, and more that isn't the size of a backpack. Yep. And that's the book pack. Okay. And then I'd like to please bring up the RCK team, Ariana Bum of excuse me, uh Aubrey Fox and Avery Jans. [Applause] in. I think we're done. All right. You need microphone or can you shout? No, we can shout. We can shout. We can shout. Hi everybody. Hi, I'm Ariana. Hi, I'm Aubrey. And hi, I'm
011Avery. And we are the Triple A's. And we want to introduce to you Interactive Eats. Moms, dads, and babysitters. Does your child make it a mess when it's time to eat and leave your house ending up like a train wreck? Well, we have the right product for you. Let me show you what this can look like. I want my food. It's coming. No dang. Oh, here. I have to go grab your fidget. Why are you making such a mess? Cuz I don't like this tray. Okay, here's your fidget. Bye. Good luck with her. It's okay. Do you want a new tray? Oh, yeah. Other way. Wow, this tray looks really cool. I wish my mom and dad had this tray for me. And look, I can play while I eat. Uh, wow. She's not making
012a mess. What is this new interactive eat tray? Is it dishwasher safe? Of course. Added to my cart. Oh, and this is our interactive eat tray. You can purchase this [Applause] Joey, bring the clothes up. Sit in your chair from the picture. Oh yeah. By the way, they did test their prototype on a real live baby. And the baby is actually on that picture there. And he was much happier, right? Yep. Oh, yeah. [Music] You grab the grab. first job. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. This time I would like to ask Mr. Mer to come up with the next pres presentation. All right, while they bring up the presentation, I'll just introduce myself again. My name is Anthony Monttoano, the principal of the middle school. I'm here with Mr. Spiegler, our assistant principal, and Miss Jaylen
013James. She is the editor of our school newspaper. Uh we're here tonight um because we are excited to uh show uh a little piece of East history that I was fortunate as a new administrator to stumble upon. Uh what we have here is a time capsule that uh Mrs. people kind of get into a little bit of a timeline of events. Um, but we have a time capsule that has encapsulated the district's history going back to when the the middle school was founded when it was actually the the high school. Uh, so it's an exciting time for us to kind of uncover the past. Uh, the time capsule is filled with memories with photos um and treasures from all the people who walked the halls before us. So, we're excited that as as new administrators
014getting to kind of tap into having physical artifacts dating back uh for so long in history, it's been an exciting way for us to really kind of get to know where we've been and really kind of where we where we've seen the district going and where we would like to kind of have our current students leave their mark for the for the generations ahead of us. Um, so, Mr. Speaker, can you hear me? Okay. All right. So when we opened up the box, we kind of went through all the artifacts and the first thing we found was mostly came from 1961. So most of the things you see on that table there are from 1961. You'll find that there's menus, there's schedules, there's other uhformational brochures and things from concerts. And that's when we think
015that they originally buried that metal box that you see there. And then it seems as if it was dug up uh in ' 86. So 25 years later it was dug up and added to. So there's some artifacts from ' 86 as well. There's some yearbooks and different photos and all that fun stuff there and then it kind of went ghost and nobody heard about it again until Muro found it in the safe uh this summer. So from 86 to 2024, 40 years it was somewhere. Uh we believe that it might have been buried and then rediscovered when they did the addition to the building 20 years ago and then put in that safe and hadn't been open since. Uh, so one of our maintenance guys cracked open the box. We took everything out, framed
016it, made it look nice and our plan going forward is to now do this for the class of 2025 since it's such a um, you know, monumental year graduating middle school. So, our current eighth grade seniors are now uh, stepping into the process of adding their own touch to it. So, J's going to share a little more about that process. Yeah, we're really excited to um, get to put in a lot of our um, things that we do like our lives like what do we use in our lives like our music, our uh books and stuff like that we can put into the time capsule for our gear and we're really excited to like just put in all the stuff cuz like if you imagine like 40 years ago they were eating lamb chops as
017their lunches over there like pork stew and all that that I I've never seen a single lamb chop in our lunches [Music] here take a look and it's just really mindblowing to see like all these like different kinds of things in our time capsule from like almost 1961. Can you imagine that? Like we're really excited to just put it in our own like little thing on the wall and then just give it to like the next 60 years. Maybe they'll find it too. So, the newspaper called the student government. They've been collecting uh menus, brochures, flyers, things that we've been doing this year that are pertinent to the graduating class of 2025. And then this kind of part of our beautifification. We're going around the building and just updating some of the spaces that need
018a little touch. Uh so, we'll have the older display next to the newer display. So, if you're ever in the middle school, that'll be up in one of the main hallways. And then we plan on doing a a reberry ceremony once we have everything wrapped up and all the new artifacts collected and organized. We'll do some sort of big grand ceremony for the reberry. And hopefully it's not touching it until 2050. [Applause] And we're going to leave this out after the meeting. Feel free to check. Check out that menu. That's really interesting right there. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Montano and M. For our next presentation, we're going to ask our director of humanities, Mrs. Carl, to come to Tokyo. Good evening, everyone. Those are really hard acts to follow, but I
019will tell you that we really do have something very special in store for everyone this evening. So, M trial is an academic competition that challenges students to step into roles that are reserved for attorneys and witnesses to argue both sides of realworld cases. It develops critical thinking, public speaking, and collaboration skills, offering unique opportunities to engage with the legal system in a very hands-on way. We're proud to share that our mock trial team has earned a spot in the New York State Championship in Albany. This will be taking place May 18th to 20th and this happens after months of preparation and success at the regional level. And they now will compete against the top teams from across the state. Their hard work, their dedication and very very extensive professionalism. If you've seen these our students
020in action, you would be blown away. They really are such gems of the district. It really is a testament to the strength of our academic programs and the support that they receive from our school community. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Lester who is our month trial coach whose guidance, expertise, and unwavering commitment have been instrumental to the team's success. Her mentorship continues to inspire our students to challenge themselves and represent our school district with confidence and pride. Please join us in welcoming Mrs. Lester and her team. going to take this out of here. All right. So, thank you very much for having us tonight. We really appreciate the opportunity to um be recognized by the board and by Superintendent Manzo. Um Mrs. Carl is absolutely correct. We could not do this without
021the continued support of the district and all of um the staff who stand behind us and help out the kids every day. Uh I have to say after watching the presentations from the kids in the elementary school, it's totally clear where I get my public speakers from and I look forward to seeing the A team maybe doing mock trial in a few years. And I can tell you that we would love to put in 13 orders for the book pack because that's exactly what we need. Okay. So, um, this team, I've been doing this for 25 years, um, along with my partner in crime, u, Mr. Brian Mitchell, attorney in the community, who has selflessly dedicated his Saturdays to us for 25 years, giving me, as I always say, a free legal education. Um, and
022these students have worked tirelessly. Several of them did summer programs. Then we went all the way to Chicago this year and competed against teams from all over the country as well as from other countries. There were teams from Ireland, Britain, China there. Um, and that experience they did a really great job. I think even 16th in our division, but it lit a fire under them. And in the bus on the way back to the airport, they said, "Mrs. Celest, be harder on us. Be harder on us. And I said, "Okay, I can do that." And I was harder on them. And they rose to every challenge. And here we are as Suffach County Champions. So something about the New York State mock trial program. There are over 600 teams in New York State. They are
023divided into eight regions. uh because we are such a have such a high population down here on the island, Suffach County is its own region. So, we are one of eight teams that will be going to Albany. So, it's an really incredible testament to these students and to their dedication that we got to this point and we're just so grateful um for all the support we've received. So, thank you so much. Paty is far too modest. Um, I've been able to come by on Saturdays when I can the last 25 years. She has dedicated time days and days and days during the week, during the evening, on the weekends preparing these adults. I was about to say kids, but you watch them in the courtroom and it's a cliche I hear again and again, everybody
024says they do as good, if not better, than the attorneys that we see in the courtroom. They performed their last competition in the county was in front of a a judge of the surrogate court um out in Riverhead. They appear in the court. They do opening statements. They do witness uh examinations and crossexaminations and then closing statements and they're all scored. So, it's absolute team event and they are all fantastic. Um, that being said, it's their coach who's really the most fantastic and uh, she deserves all the credit. Um, I will just want to mention that I happen to be an artifact from 1961. I'm not sure if I should be on that table over [Music] there. The one thing I do want to say is my children all grew up here in the district.
025They grow up. Um, but and this is for you folks up there on the board. I'm sure you hear all the time questions from the community. Uh, are my tax dollars being well spent? If you ask that question, point to this program and that will answer the question for you. Yes, your tax dollars are being well spent. I think I guess that's it. I did have pictures, but I I didn't send them to the right address or something. So, um, but you can follow our Instagram, EIES. They were all there. So, thank you very much, everyone. Hey guys. Thank you. Can [Music] everybody everybody look at the one camera. one camera where everyone is looking at it. Where? Where? The the main camera. The main camera. The white one. Oh, thank you. All right. So,
026the next portion of our meeting will include a presentation, a budget presentation by Mr. Harrison. So, if you are um welcome to stay if you'd like to. If not, take the next two to three minutes to exit. Uh promise we move on with you. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] All right, we'll now turn it over to Mr. Harrison. Good. Thank you very much and welcome to the third budget presentation. Uh the presentation has been building upon itself since the first presentation, so I will uh go over some items quicker than others. I'll try to focus on some of the newer items. So, there's been no further information provided to the district about the state aid from New York State. We still the only information we have is the governor's proposal. Again, we're a district
027that uh receives the minimum increases in foundation aid. As you can see by this chart, that increase is 2%. And just to reiterate, we are a whole harmless district, which means we will not receive any less uh state aid in the upcoming year that we're getting in the current year unless it's not included in the governor's budget. And this year uh for 2526, the whole harmless provision is included in the budget. Uh building a highlighted because the governor's budget was based upon information in November. We do have further information indicating that we're going to get closer to $4.6 million in building a so overall the increase the general fund portion of the budget is $ 1.99%. That's including the universal prek which is staying at a funding amount of $963,900 which funds 178 full-time slots.
028Okay, the next couple of charts are comparing the district to the New York state average. On the left hand side is the per pupil property wealth which is based upon assessed value rates for homes. And as you can see uh by the green line which is the district information. We're pretty much on par with New York state averages. And the same thing holds true when you look at per pupil income wealth. So in both both cases, we're pretty much an average district as compared to the rest of New York State. These two factors that I've just highlighted combined to form what's called the combined wealth ratio. And as you would expect, we're again very much on par with New York State. So we're not really a district that's considered to be in poverty or in
029need based upon this information. where we would where we would get hurt is in the case of enrollment which had decreased in all three categories going back to 200708 where numbers were between 5 and 6,000 students where we're down now to uh 3 and a half to 5 million 5,000 students. So if whole harmless wasn't in place, this factor here would hurt us tremendously with a loss in state aid. So based upon that hold homeless provision, we're on pays to get roughly $29 million in state aid in the foundation aid category. If hold homeless was not available, our state aid would be as little as $22 million as evidenced by the white line. So, uh, in the future, if the foundation a formula is scrapped or adjusted, we do run the risk of getting less
030state aid, probably the tune of 7 to8 million. So the next two slides may be difficult to see but there are copies of the presentation on the table. Uh why why I included these slides is to show you that even though the governor has taken some uh suggestions from the Rockefeller Institute study that was done, it's really not going to positively affect the district, we're still going to get about the same state aid per student that we're getting currently. And that's reflected on the next screen where you see that the selected foundation a day per pupil on the right hand side of the chart is $5,470 as compared to $5,47. So even though there were some recommendations uh taken by the governor, it really only impacts us by $62 per student. So the tax levy
031that's calculated for 2526 can go up as high as 2.93% without requiring a 60% majority. uh through discussions with the administration and the board of education's input. The levy that's supporting the budget that we're presenting tonight is with a 1.75% increase in the levy about $900,000 less than it could have been levied at the 2.93%. So I should have mentioned a little bit earlier on in the presentation uh on the agenda tonight is the adoption of the budget by the board of ed which is required by today's date and which is currently supported by 1.75% tax levy increase. So charts are similar to they were in the past. You can see from this bar graph that there's a history of being below the allowable tax levy increase. As previously stated, that increase could have been
032as high as 2.93% for next year and the levy supporting budget is 1.75%. But if you look over the past uh several years, we've been at or below the tax levy in a significant fashion. So, the dollar impact of being below the uh property tax uh allowable levy increase in 2526 as I said is roughly $900,000. And the gap between the two lines, the top line being the allowable levy versus the uh line below, which is the levy that the district has levied. Those gaps are the lost in in funds that u uh the district did not take advantage of. Over time, this has a cumulative impact. And if you look at the far right hand side, the proposed levy is $77.1 million. Levy could have been as high as 89.1 if we went to
033the captain every year. As you see, we haven't done that. But in doing that, there's a cumulative impact to what the levy could have been. So with a 1.75% increase, the average homeowner in East on an annual basis would expect to see $140 increase in their school tax portion in the bill. I want you to remember this uh for later on in the presentation when I start talking about the two voter petitions that have been submitted for transportation. So this is the levy that's supporting the budget 1.75% [Music] $140. On the revenue side, nothing has changed on this graph, but it does uh nicely lay out that 60% of the budget does come from the property tax levy. Uh followed up by state aid at 32%. And of note is that the district is appropriating
034$6.4 million from reserves to help plug the gap between revenue and expense budget. There are some uh initiatives and accomplishments that uh span several pages. I urge you to either take a presentation and look at them individually or this will be posted online for you to look at as well. Very significant accomplishments. So flipping to screen number two, we see here that the salary and benefits portion of the budget is relatively flat.95% or $893,000. The employee benefits were helped due to lower premiums anticipated on medical and some decreases in ERS, I'm sorry, TRS um pension contributions year-over-year. So, that's contributing to a decrease in employee benefits. The salaries themselves are going up at 2.54%. Uh we're benefiting from the retirement of part of our staff. roughly 13 retirees teacher wise and some changes in the
035other staffs that the increase is right now is at $2.54% on the salary line. Overall, the budget's going up 2.35% or 2.9 million 2526 as compared to 2425. So just uh to give some comparison and if you pulled any district's um budget presentation it would pretty much look the same where 74% of our our expenditures are related to salary and benefits and then the remaining parts of the budget total up the other 26%. And you can see the categories there all relatively small. So as part of the presentation tonight is the contingent budget. The contingent budget can be adopted after either one or two failed votes by the community. Contingent expenses are those that are deemed absolutely necessary to operate and maintain educational program and preserve property ensure the health and safety of the students
036and staff. So some things that get removed from a contingent budget are non-contingent items which include student supplies and equipment. And two other big categories that have to be considered is the tax levy in the year of the contingent budget cannot be any greater than the year of the last approved budget. So you'll see on the next slide that gives a big impact. And finally, the administrative component of the contingent budget did not exceed the last approved budget. So, while our uh budget that's being proposed is going up 2.35%, if that's not passed and we move into contingency, the budget can only go up by 317,000 or 0.25%. That's because the budget has to be reduced for those um supplies and equipment items and also lowered by the amount of the tax levy increase. So
037in the middle of the chart here you see that the the levy would have to go down uh 1 millise can't really see. So, so about $1.3 million would have to be decrease from the expense budget to accommodate the decrease in the t in the tax limit. So, we do have a second proposition on the ballot which is for capital reserve expenditure. The district established this particular reserve in 23 and 24 with board of approval on May 21st. Uh we can fund this reserve up to $3 million a year over 10 years and not to exceed $30 million. In the first year, we were able to fund $3 million into this reserve. But before we spend this money, we have to seek voter approval to uh to to be able to spend it. So the
038reserve scope included major system upgrades as you can see for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and various interior and exterior building renovations as well as site work. Project being considered is the replacement of switch gears at this building as well as Timberland Elementary School. So here's an opportunity for for us to use reserves not incurring borrowing expense or further increase in the tax levy by having this money available in reserve. So new to the presentation uh this time is the district received two uh transportation petition from qualified voters. Uh the first one was to change the mileage limitation. Currently in K3 if you live a half mile or more 4 to 6 a mile and 7 to 12 1/2 miles more you're eligible for bus transportation. The petition which had a required number of signatures uh asked
039that the fourth and fifth graders be included in the half mile and that the seventh and eighth graders be included at the uh mile limitations. No change for 9 to 12. So we have to put this on the ballot since there's an increase in expense as well as reduction in revenue associated with this petition. And that's estimated at $350,000 which includes potentially two buses, fuel, and also a reduction in state aid because the more uh students you transit transport uh living closer than one and a half miles to the school, the less state aid you're able to get. So on average uh the anticipated impact of the average homeowner on an annual basis is $37. The second petition was submitted to establish a child safety zone. Uh this um this safety zone if created would
040uh cause an approximate $100,000 as an increase to the levy uh due to anticip anticipation of one bus in fuel at $10.50 annually to the average homeowner. So, this uh area is south of Sunrise Highway and north of um uh Washington and it includes certain areas that uh students would be having to walk through that would calculate enough points that would qualify this as a child safety zone. So the addresses listed on the screen as well as the presentation are those addresses that qualify for transportation based upon and the establishment of the child safety zone. There's a point system that New York State provides a district that we hired a consultant to uh to perform a study and this is as a result of the study completed by Eastern Suffins and this would impact uh
041students in grades 6 through 8 only. the high school students um as part of the matrix would have to uh garner more points in order to qualify for transportation. So it didn't qualify for grades 9 through 12, but it does for grades 6 through 8. So some historical information including the draft budget uh being adopted tonight shows that percentage increase on average for 10 years is at 92% for the tax levy. If you uh look at the information on those two columns, there's also information pertaining to the approved budgets of the past as well as the amount of funds used to support the budget. So May 6th is our next meeting to discuss the budget. It's a required meeting by New York State and we'll review the budget at even more of a higher level
042than we did here today. And then finally, May 28th is the vote here from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. So, at this point, if there are any questions from the board, I'd like to try this. Thank you, Mr. Harris. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Harris. My pleasure. Um, now, unless I I missed it today, the state still has not adopted their budget, correct? That's correct. All right. So, but we've gotten some indication as to what our state aid will be from now, but that could go up or it can't go down. Is that right? Well, the raw fact is that can lead to decreases the enrollment based calculations as well as what CPI is used. So, while it's a good hedge that it's going to go up, there are factors that could cause a decrease.
043Okay. But because that they haven't they were supposed to have a budget by April 1st, but because they dragged their feet on this, we don't know what it's going to be and we can't if there is any increase, we can't include in our budget. That's correct. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Harrison. Uh just the last two items I have for the board is one is uh K letters have gone out to parents who entered the lottery and it has also outlined the dates for registration and the deadlines to the matter. Uh the other piece is I've been working with Dr. Bell's on uh exploring the possibility of um creating a graduation requirement uh finance literacy as part of a graduation requirement. That's something that we are looking into. But while we don't p for foresee
044it being able to start for the 25 26 academic year, we are working till the 26 27 planning ahead. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Manzo. Uh public comments on agenda items only. Okay. Certified personnel be resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board of education hereby approves resignations termination leave of absences position abolitions employment appointments tenure appointments and salary changes in accordance with the applicable provisions of education law and civil service law as cited in the certified personal attachments motion motion second any discussion all in favor I non-certified personnel be resolved that upon the recommendation of superendent Schools Board of Education hereby approves the resignations, termination, leave of absences, position abolitions, employment appointments, tenure appointments, and salary changes in accordance with applicable provisions of education law and civil service
045law as cited in the non-certified personal patches. Need a motion? Motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? I memorandum of agreement between the east between the east isop free school district and the unified uh the United Public Service Employees Union be resolved that upon uh that the board of education of the East Free School District hereby ratifies and approves a a certain memorandum of agreement dated March 31st, 2025 between the school district and the United Public Service Employees Union And be it further resolved that the board uh the president of the board of education and superintendent schools are authorized to execute the new collective bargaining agreement incorporating the terms of the memorandum of agreement on behalf of the board of education. Motion motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? I anyone need any items from
046consent agenda? Consent agenda items 8.2 2 through 8.11 be resolved that upon the recommendation of superintendent of schools the board of education hereby approves consent agenda items 8.2 23 8.11 in accordance with the action presented for each item. Can I motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Appropriation changes for the 2024 25 school year be resolved that upon the recommendation of superintendent schools, the board of education hereby approves the attached list of appropriation changes for the 202425 school year. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? All in favor 9.2 to rescend donation. It resolved that upon the recommendation of Superintendent Schools Board of Education hereby rescends the donation of a 2000 Mercury marquee from Lee's auto body originally accepted by the board of education on June 8th, 2017. Due to the
047condition of the vehicle, this the district never took possession of it and the current owner on record would like to dispose of it. Can I get a motion? Motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I old business. So, LuR, I see you here tonight. I know Mr. Manel spoke about the topic that you've been asking us about. So, um if you if you want better public comment, we can discuss it then, but I just want to mention you want me to do that now or wait till the end. Um you you can come now. It's fine. Now, sure. An article I just read in Moneywise caption here is a single high school class can boost a teenager's lifetime wealth. by $100,000 a year, but most kids aren't taking it, meaning financial. Can you imagine
048a student taking a 4year course for 4 years, what that per pupil number might be when they graduate? I bring this up a week and a half ago as I at Ace Hardware and the young man's putting top soil in my van and I asked him, you know, uh, do you know how a mortgage works? You know, principal interest schedule directed reduction. And he said, no. And I says, did you graduate? He says, yeah, two years ago. I said, where'd you graduate? East Iceland. So, it's one of our alumni. And I says, did and he says, I'm going to try and be a sports broadcaster. I said, "But did they teach you how a mortgage works and borrowing money for college?" And his answer was, "Heck no." That's one of your alumni answering me. I
049want brought up in old business next time we meet. I had asked, "What do we have to do to start a financial course in this school district to educate our students?" Because all they're getting is financial failure. You read about it every day. All right. We've learned that our government doesn't know how to educate kids. We read about that. Why don't we be different and be leaders instead of followers and get a course going, but every year so when our kids graduate, they don't get their handshake of financial failure as they walk off the stage cuz that's what they're getting now. And I'd like that brought up in old business about that. What are we doing and where are we? And I'd also like to know the results of the people that you spoke to,
050what their feedback was and how we educated them, the alumni that I requested. So I'd like to again like some answers next time we meet. Okay. Thank you, Senator. Dr. We have two high school teachers, social studies teachers, Mr. Davis and uh Mrs. Bcher. Um, oh my gosh, I can't even push right. Who are proposing a World War II trip for next April break. Uh, students will be visiting England, France, Belgium, and Germany. They will be visiting such places as the Church Hill Warrooms, uh, Normandy, and in Germany, um, seeing the site of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. So, we're excited for them to attend that trip. Thank you, Dr. Nelson. Public comments. Yes. Megan Braman. [Music] Hi everyone. Good evening. Um my name is Megan Garland. For those who don't know me, I'm
051a mom of three littles who are entering the district. Uh two of which for the 2526 school year. My husband and I moved here in 2018 ahead of having children because we wanted to be a part of the district that we had been told put children and their families values first. When applying for the universal pre-k program, I reached out to the district inquiring how to apply for my twins. And in doing so, I received a response from the administrative professional who supports Dr. Bells and Mr. Mando with the UPK lottery process admissions and placement, stating that each student should submit their own application. I followed that process and noted on the application anyway that I am a twin. So, the district would see that when I applied as there's no formal space for that
052on the East lottery application. After about two months of waiting, we received our lottery numbers and to shock to my shock, uh, Payton received number 80 and Riley received number 217. I was unsure how the district could separate them in an educational setting, especially noting that they had been together obviously since birth. This seems like torture for them and honestly for my husband and myself. So again, how could the district do this is all I kept saying to myself. It would be detrimental to their development. I have now for over a month and a half been discussing this process with yourself, Mr. Manzo, Dr. Bells and some other board trustees who were uh here about a month ago when I had a conversation with you all discussed the disparity in the application process and whether
053or not they should be duly accepted or duly on the wait list. I have also taken your suggestion and spoken to Mr. Jared Balfa our state assemblyman who reached out to New York State Education Department on my behalf to get me some more information of how the districts are encouraged to manage the process and that there is a notion that the plan should there should be a plan in place for families with twins or multiples in our district. this does not seem to be the case and I'm here asking for a resolution for the 2025 and 2026 school year as well as a resolution for the families coming up in the future. So I ask you all as the board of education who's here to develop our children, can you please provide me with the
054educational benefit to splitting the twins going into UK for their first year of school here? Uh President, can I respond? Sure. personally display I can't see. Yes, we spoke about a month ago. Yeah, we did. And just to let everybody else know what happened, uh I attend Yeah. that came through the UP preK about 20 Mr. Doran 16. And I remember the day of the lottery. Mhm. and my wife came to the district because I stayed home. I was on the board at the time. So without any appearance of impropriy, I stayed home and we prayed that we would win one know and we had a good chance of getting one. And back then there were about 80 spots cuz only New York State provided funding. Mhm. So it's about 220,000 that New York State
055provided. And my wife came home in tears cuz out of 152 applicants for 80 spots, I think we were number 115 and dead last at 152. So, we were not happy about it, but we would love to get one. And to hear you say that you won one, you won a lottery ticket and are complaining you didn't get two when there are 70 other families out there who didn't get one. I think it sounds a little selfish. And to sit here and say that I should pay Excuse me, I'll give me a hand. Okay. To sit here and say that I should pay increase my taxes to now pay for your second child if the first one's free or to have my 93year-old neighbor who lives in Social Security to pay for your second child
056when the first one's free. I'm not going to vote for that. No. That sounds like a very personal approach towards the board that's supposed to be helping our district. So that's fine that you can have your personal approach. I'm going to talk about mine now. You had your chance to stand up for your family and you chose not to. That was your choice. So I'm going to stand up for mine as well as every twin family and a multiple family that has been split for the past however many years. Do you think that's appropriate and beneficial to the twins being split entering the district? We're not splitting the twins. If you choose not to send one or pay for one and not take your free one, that is your decision. The district is not splitting
057anyone. What's the goal of this for you telling me this? Uh, what's the goal? Just to let you know how it is. So, I'm asking you a question. So, anybody else on the board want to answer who's not specifically talking to me as a twin parent who made his own personal decisions. So, if you're asking for personal opinions, I mean, that's what it seems like you're soliciting. No, I want to know what we're going to do as a district to have a plan in place that's going to be beneficial to twins entering the district instead of detrimental to the district where one of my kids is going to get an education under UPK for the cost of $5,400 and my daughter in order to sit in the same classroom with her, I have to pay
058double that amount to sit in the same classroom that's being taught by the same teacher. So, can you explain the cost disparity there for me for the child? So, again, I'm going to You're talking about the same program now. Same program. I paid Southshore for two twins. Okay. Okay. So, I paid out of pocket on my mo own money because I did want both of my children to be together. That's the sacrifice I made and my wife made to do that. But now, in the instance where every neighboring district has a a line item where it says twins should be submitting one application for a universal New York state program. Why is there not a universal application pro process for all districts? So, Mr. Sam, if you could just talk about a little bit about
059the policy around this, that that's pretty much up to the districts on how they're going to process that. Here in our district, we do one student per application and if the if New York State is telling you per Jared Mandalfo's conversation um that there should be a plan in place, can somebody show me where that's outlined for us in Eastland? Can you show me where John New York State Education? I'm just going off of what I was told by I have not seen that document. So, can you look into this as my We have We have ever since started the conversation we have. There's nothing that indicates that. Oh. Um, so as far as um the last conversation that we had, you mentioned that it was a gift that that I got that if it's
060a gift, why am I then funding the full amount of two kids to go to the same classroom? Excuse me. Can you repeat that? It's $5,400 for your budget presentation per child, which New York State funds for all districts. But Southshore Children's was your solution to me as a viable option to keep them in the same classroom which costs over $10,000 200 for one child. So why am I paying double the budget of New York State education for one child? It should be the same cost for all students that are on the wait list then if you're putting them in the same classroom. It's a third party. We do not provide a prek class of our district building. Is it part of our district building? Yes. How is it not part of the district? Cuz
061they're not part of the district. The the teachers did not work for the district. Excuse me. Let me answer you please. Let me finish. How does these guys fix that for going forward? Here's how we fix it. Mr. President, I would like to propose a policy. Sure. After this parent brought it to our attention that we adopt a policy that no parent should get two free UP preK spots when there are other parents who don't get one. So, how explain to me how a triplet family who had number 219 after my daughter now has all three of her kids accepted. I don't know anything about that. Well, somebody does. Mr. Bell, Miss Dr. Bell. So, you don't know about that? Spoke to her this morning. Her name's Laura Anne. Absolutely. She had two two of
062her three accepted and one was now taken off the PK list and accepted into the process and not on the wait list. So, I'd like to know who communicated that to her because I was told in our I'm still speaking. I was told in our last conversation that my daughter Riley would be taken off the wait list as soon as there was traction. And I was also called by South on Tuesday to set up interview with Payton for her education screening. And I said, "Are you going to be doing Riley as well?" And they panicked and told me that 10 spots were given up already. And I have yet to receive a phone call from either of you. We have 178 spots. That's right. Already the child in the waiting list is number what again?
063217. 200. Okay. So 10 spots will bring us to 217. But just to further say what number she is on the wait list for the for the mention of the emails they sent out today. There is no number for what number my daughter is on the wait list. Those numbers were given. They were not given ever because you have not communicated to any of the families until today. Right. So they're so that doesn't say that in the email. So you should clarify. Okay. So it will be clarified. So for in any case Maria is here from South. Can you help us out? I can in the process. I can. Um I know we we did call about screenings. We have started with screenings for children who are going to be captured into the initial um
064seating of 178. Uh once all the registration comes through and the district frees up more seats, they will start pulling from the weight list. Right. And they will register from 179 down to the 242 because I believe that's how many students you have on that weight list. 70 are on the weight list. Yes. Um, and so it really depends on who declines a seat, who may get a seat in a different program. And I think that that may be what the triplet parent is referring to. Okay. Not that she was jumped ahead in the lottery. Well, I'd like to know how she got screened when you wouldn't screen my number 217. Screen her if you want, but it doesn't mean that she's going to get a seat in the program. Okay. She She did though.
065That's She has three seats in the UK. No, she doesn't have three seats. One of her student one of her children who was seated elsewhere in a different program. So, so that's what she's referring to. And I just want to make one point in terms of the cost for you to enroll in the um the second child into that program is not double the amount. It's $10,200 is what I was told. It is not that amount. So, where do I get the right amount? Cuz that's what I got from First of all, you can give us I I have the paperwork from the packet I got itself. Right. Right. And so in that packet there is a a new uh program listing for the 8:30 to 2. You're referring to a program 8:30 to 4
066or 8. No, 8:30 to 2:30. She's only 10,000. Let me just interject. I think the point it's just less. What call me that we have? That's that's what I was going to say. In order for the board to I would like the whole district to know because even other parents look at social media. Ma'am, I think you've made your point known. You've expressed it to all of us. We've conveyed to you what what you've asked of us. We've gave you um the procedures that are happening. We talked about some policy here. We also have the representative here from Southshore give you some information. My suggestion at this point for the board to conduct its business, I would advise you to connect with Amory and have this conversation offline. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much
067for your time. Mr. Harrison, we adopted the budget tonight. Correct. Does it include 400,000 300,000 for the 70 families who are on the waiting list to get free? No, it does not. Is there any way to change that now? I'm sorry. We already adopted it. That's right. Thank you. Stephan, Ashley Antico pass. Yes. Thank you, Steph. The next board of education meeting for the Eastern SuffK OC's budget vote election will be held Wednesday, April 23rd at 8:00 a.m. And the next regularly scheduled board of education meeting and annual budget hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 7 p.m. I need a motion to adjourn back to executive session. Motion. Motion to return back to executive session. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you everybody. Have a good night.