001All right, everyone. Uh, welcome to this evening's meeting of the board of education. I'd like to call this meeting to order at 5:26 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025. At this time, can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, as we begin the new school year, we will take the oath of office to officially start our new three-year terms as reelected incumbents on the board of education. Moren, that's you and I. Um, so at this time I, Moren Doyle, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that
002I will faithfully discharge the duties of the board of education trustee effective July 1st, 2025 according to the best of my ability. [Applause] right here. I, Peter Mcnal, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Board of Education Trustee according to the best of my ability. [Applause] All right. Um, okay. Uh, item three, election of board officers, election of board president. Uh, we need to appoint the president and vice president. May I have your nominations for president of the board of education for the 2025 2026 school year? Peter McN. You sure you want to do that? Keep on going. All right. Um, okay. So, if I have to Here we go. I,
003Peter McNal, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Board of Education credit according to the best of my ability. [Music] [Applause] All right. Um, okay. Election of uh board vice president. Uh, nominations for board of vice president. I would like to nominate I'm going to nominate. Oh, okay. Yes. All right. I heard Moren. All right. Moren, congrats. [Applause] I, Moren Doyle, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the board of education vice president according to the best of my ability. [Applause] [Music] All right, here's the uh good
004part. Okay, tonight um we will vote on a resolution to appoint a new exeicio student member. Once approved, the student will be invited to the table to take the oath of office for a one-year term and join the board. Whereas the East Rock Hawaii School Board recognizes the importance of student involvement in school governance. And whereas a student exeicio member can provide valuable student perspectives on school issues and policies. And whereas Sophia Furkoff, a junior at East Rockaway Junior Senior High School, has demonstrated a strong interest in school leadership and governance. Now, therefore, be it resolved that Sophia Furkoff is hereby appointed as an exeicial member of the East Rockway School Board with the term of one school year starting July 1st, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026. further resolved that Sophia Furkoff shall have
005the right to attend all regular board meetings, participate in discussions, and offer recommendations. However, Sophia Furkoff shall not have the right to vote nor attend executive sessions. Further resolved that Sophia Furkov will receive training on board procedures and resources to effectively fulfill the role. Be it further resolved that this resolution is hereby approved and implemented. Can I have a motion to approve Sophia? Motion motion by Mr. Saluto. Second by Mrs. Doyle. All in favor? I oppose abstain. Motion approve. I swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the City of New York and I will faithfully discharge the duties of student executives member for the East Rockway School District according to the best liability. [Applause] Let me just see. We'll get ahead. So, um I want to welcome
006Sophia. Um I know she applied for the process, went through the interview process, and I know the high school uh did a great job in selecting. I just like to read a little statement about Sophia. So, it's my pleasure to introduce Sophia Ferkoff, who has been chosen to serve as the very first uh student member of the East Rockway Board of Education. Now, just so you know, this is a law by Governor Hokll, so all schools in New York State will have a student board member, but we're still extremely excited that you're here. Sophia has demonstrated outstanding leadership both inside and outside of school. She dedicates countless hours volunteering in the community, including meaningful work at the local library and camp anchor. Through these experiences, Sophia has gained a deep understanding of the impact one
007person can have on others, the importance of character, and the courage it takes to speak up for those who need a voice. And that's incredibly important for those who need a voice. Academically, Sophia challenges herself with rigorous coursework, including several advanced placement courses and dual enrollment classes, showing a commitment to excellence and growth. She's also a proud member of the varsity flag football team. Wow, it's great. Uh, balancing academics, athletics, and community service with grace. We are confident Sophia will bring a thoughtful perspective, passion, and dedication to the board. We look forward to the positive influence she will have. Please join me. Everybody once again in welcoming Sophia. [Applause] Moving on. Um, Mr. Damaso, will you please stand so that I may administer the oath of office to you? Sure. Right. I will support the
008Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and I will faithfully discharge the duties of superintendent of school according to the best of my ability. [Applause] Thank you. Okay, this is uh Amaya Moran. Will you please stand so I admit I I may administer the oath of office. I am Amaya Moran to solely swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of birth according to the best of my ability. [Applause] Hi, my name is I support the Constitution of the United States and Constitution of the State of New York and I will faithfully discharge deputy district. [Applause] That's what we're Michael Van declare that I support the Constitution of
009the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and I will be faithfully discharged tax collector according to my [Applause] um All right. So next is uh district standing committees. So we have to decide now for the year about the district standing committees. Now I just have one question. Can Sophia serve on district committees? I believe she can. Yeah. Great. If she if she if she wants to. Okay. Yeah. If you want to you can serve. We have you have the list of the committees. They should be on page number four. Okay. All right. So, the budget advisory committee, that's all of us. Um, the ED foundation. You don't. Would anyone else like to be on that? She wants me. If you need someone else. Okay. Um policy. I'll stay. Anyone else want
010to do it with me? I can do what I wanted to do last year. Are you good to do? Yeah. Um BTA and me. Yeah. Okay. and district safety committee. That's me. Do you want to do this with me or do you want to do any of these? I'll do the safety committee with you. Does that work? And that's most of the meetings are right after school, right? There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, everyone good with that? Um, okay. The board has established the standing committee liaison zones for the 2025 2026 school year. Can I have a motion to approve agenda item 4? Motion. Motion by Mr. Lores. Second. Second um by Mrs. Doyle. All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. Motion approved. All right. Uh, item five, consent agenda. Um, as recommended by the superintendent
011of schools, the board creates a consent agenda with resolutions uh, numbered the following. Appointment of other positions 6 A through N. Bonding of personnel 7A, designations 8 through H. Authorizations 9 A through Q. Policies for readoption reaffirmance 10A. Can I have a motion to create the consent agenda? Motion. Uh motion by Mrs. Lteran. Second. Second. Second by Mrs. Swimol. All in favor? I opposed. Abstain. Motion approved. Um now we need a motion to con approve the consent agenda. Be it hereby resolved that the board of education approves the items on the consent agenda. [Music] Um motion by Mr. Lores second by Mrs. Doyle. All in favor? Motion approved. That's okay. So, so we'll talk about this, but your role will be to share your opinions on different things about vote and also we'll talk about
012doing the student report. So, that'll help me. It'll be a little shorter, my superintendent report, and we'll do a student report, but we'll talk about that. I kind of clear that position. I'll take for that one. It's all good. It's okay. Um, all right. Um, adjournment. Uh, may I have a motion to adjourn the July 8th We're going into a regular meeting. Uh July 8th organization meeting and reconvene the July 8th regular business meeting. Motion by Mrs. Lan. Second. Second. Second by Mrs. Saloff. All in favor? Abstain. Motion approved. Okay. Now we come to the regular meeting. Um, I'd like to call the regular meeting to order at 5:41 p.m. on July 8th, 2025. And first item is presentations. Um, the audit committee. Are we doing yet? Okay. Sorry guys. How are you? Where are
013you most comfortable? Yeah, I think I might. Well, you wanted to sit down. You don't need the uh Yep. Okay, great. Thank you. [Music] Good evening everyone. My name is Craig Hower and I'm a senior manager with Naki Smith as well as the external auditors for the district of East Rockaway for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Uh for tonight's meeting, it's required by New York State to meet with the governance of the district to go over the audit plan. Um so for tonight's meeting, I have a small presentation that's pretty similar to last year's. Uh please feel free to interrupt at any time if you have any questions. So to begin, we are contracted to audit the financial statements for the year end of June 30, 2025 in accordance with US generally accepted
014auditing standards and government auditing standards. We will also perform a single audit of the district's major federal award programs for June 30, 2025 in accordance to OMD uniform guidance. We also audit the district's extra classroom activity funds in accordance with regard accepted auditing standards prepared on the cash basis of accounting. I would also like to point out that the district's extra classroom activity funds are also included in the financial statements for the district in the special miscellaneous revenue fund. We issue a management letter presenting any financial recommendations on improving accounting procedures and internal controls. And we present our plan tonight as well as the results of the financial statement audit to the audit committee and board of education in October. On page two, it's just a brief description of our audit plan. We'd like to
015break out our plan into four stages of planning, preliminary procedures, final audit procedures, and final reporting. Uh, as I said, these haven't changed too much year-over-year. We have gone through our planning and preliminary procedures uh stages where we have come on site and performed our transactional testing, preliminary substantive testing, our assessment of risk as well as read and obtained all the minutes of the board. In August, we will do our final audit procedures. We will again assess risk of the district, perform our audit procedures on year-end balances, test any high-risisk areas that we might deem high risk, perform a subsequent event review, as well as complete all our programs and checklist for the audit. And lastly is the final reporting stage. We would present to the board and the audit committee the results of the
016audit. Page three is basically again the four stages of the audit, but broken out by the dates. uh these dates especially in the final reporting stages based off last year's report. So as I said we did come on site from 69 to 610 performed our prelim procedures. We'll be coming on site again in August August 11th to start our final audit procedures which will allow us to finish the audit by the end of August which will allow us to draft financial statements by hopefully about September 19th allowing us to get a draft to the board and audit committee by September 26th. I believe last year the audit committee met uh on October 16th. Um but there's a date already set for that audit committee the 15th. Okay, great. So I'll double check with that. But
017then we sent final statements for allowing us to get the financial statements sent to New York State by the deadline of October 15th. Page four. Uh again, similar to last year, we just go through the preliminary audit procedures that we performed a couple of weeks ago on site. We updated our key understanding of key controls over transaction classes which is payroll purchasing and revenue. We did capital expenditure testing, preliminary compliance testing, journal entry testing, employee reimbursement testing, legal expense testing and as I said we obtained all outside audit reports from internal auditors and claim auditors and review the activities and the minutes of the board of education. Page five uh is our representative final audit procedures. This again breaks out the audit into four different categories of what you see on the financial statements which
018is assets, liabilities and fund balance, revenues and expenditures. For the asset side, we do confirm cash receivables and we do vouch and physically observe any current year additions for capital assets. On the liability side, we do vouch items and invoices as well as subsequent expenses to determine that all accounts payable have been tested. you're backing your activity of the debt as well as the fund balance in the board resolutions for the reserves and maintain that the district is under the 4% of New York State statute. On the revenue side, we do confirm all property tax revenue as well as grant amounts through New York State Education Department website and we perform our analytic procedures and data mining application both revenues and expenditures. Lastly, uh unfortunately there is a new gazby standard this year that will
019change uh the report, but luckily it has actually not changed too much. Um this is related to the compensate absences. So I won't read everything here, but more or less that there's a new standard that the compensate absences is for leave that has not been used or has not been paid or settled through non-cash means for all employees. Uh this is effective for all municipalities starting June 30, 2025. Basically what the new standard does is replaces the probable threshold for lead recognition under cap 16 with more likely than not which is a greater than 50% threshold that individual will take days owed to them uh for the benefits. The last thing that was solidified through the standard was the rate of pay as of reporting date. Uh there was some gray areas what rate should
020be used for the liability. Um but now it is solidified that the rate that should be used should be the rate that the current employee has for the year end of June 30, 2025 and not the following year. Um I will say that we have done a preliminary assessment for our municipalities and school districts. Uh we do not foresee this standard really changing any of the reporting. Uh luckily this reporting has all to do with the long-term balance which is the governmentwide statements and not current focus which is the fund statements of the school. Um the schools and most schools on Long Island are pretty conservative with their accounting and more or less just acrew all the days that employees are owed. Uh they usually haven't done probable threshold because uh most individuals aren't being
021paid out when they retire or their days. So there are a few disclosure changes uh but nothing more language, nothing number-wise. So you shouldn't see too much change for this year for this new standard. We will be sending out a brochure to Michael and Ellen uh just to kind of show what changes are being made. But as I said, reviewing during the preliminary procedures, we don't foresee any number of changes for the district. And uh that is it for my presentation. Uh on the last page is my contact information as well as my partners and thank you for your time. Thank you. Very nice. All right. Uh next item is new business. Mr. Damaso. Okay. We have um two things to recognize. First, uh for donations, as I normally do, we have a $498 uh
022donation for Center Avenue PTA uh kindergarten classroom supplies. And from Center Avenue uh PDA, also curriculum enhancements, uh from Mary Rapson's class, Brie Anderson, and Kristen Molans. I'd like to thank Center Avenue for that. um that's always very helpful in supporting uh our classrooms and our teachers. And I just would like to make just a quick announcement. We have a new uh staff member in the audience. Her name is Kristen Anis. She will be the new director of humanities for us. Um we feel like we stole her from Washington and we're looking forward to her success. There'll be more to follow and I will be roasting even more in September when we have when we have more people here. Everybody, I'd just like to uh welcome you uh to the East Rockway family. So, thank
023you for being here. [Applause] That's it for uh new business. Okay, now we have old business. Um you know what I'll do? I'll condense the old business into the uh superintendent report at the end. I just have a few items to go over. So, uh, okay. I'll I'll report those at the end of the meeting. Got it. All right. Um, at this time, are there any comments regarding tonight's agenda items? Um, all right. Next item, item F, approval of minutes. Are there any questions from the board regarding the minutes of June 10th, 2025, the regular meeting, and the June 30th, 2025 special meeting? Any questions? Sophia, any questions? Um, not yet. Not yet. Now, not yet. All right. Can I have a motion to uh approve the minutes of the regular board meeting on 61025
024and the special meeting on 6:30? Motion. Motion by Mr. Saluto. Second. Second by Mr. Lores. All in favor. Opposed of state. Motion approved. Um, let's see. Next is acknowledgement of monthly reports correspondence. Uh we have received five emails this month and um everyone saw the financial reports. Yes. Um let's see. Uh item two, create a consent agenda. Are there any questions from the board on the consent agenda? Any questions now? Okay. Can I have a motion to create the consent agenda with the following items? Recommendation of superintendent personnel schedules item 4 A through E. Other items 5 A through U and approval of CSC and CPSC recommendations 6A. Uh so at this time can I have a motion? Motion motion by Mr. Lores, second by Mrs. Boille. All in favor of stay motion approved. Correct.
025Um All right. Now, we need to accept the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to accept the items on the consent agenda? Motion. Motion by Mrs. Lan. Second. Second by Mrs. Lo. All in favor? Opposed to abstain. Motion approved. All right. Uh item seven, policy matters. Um do we have a policy sub tonight? I don't know if we do. No, we just had a quick one, but we just uh there was no one before that. Well, we just put up three new policies. So, yeah. Oh, yeah. We can go. You know what? All right. So, uh hold on. Uh I item 7B, policy to be rescended. We will make a motion to resend the following policies. Policy 0105. Are there any questions from the board? No. Okay. May I have a motion to resend
026policy 0105? Motion. Motion by Mrs. Salo. Second. Second by Mr. Lores. All in favor. Opposed to stayain. Motion approved. Um policies for adoption. Tonight we will adopt the following policies. Um policy 0115, student harassment and bullying prevention and intervention. Policy 2245, exeisio, student member of the board. Policy 5110, attendance area. Policy 5605, student voter pre-registration and registration. And policy 8130, school safety plans and teams. Sorry. All right. Um, are there any questions from the board? No. All right. Can I have a motion to adopt the policies listed under agenda uh under agenda item 76? Motion. Motion by Mr. Lores. Second. Second. Second by Mrs. Doyle. All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. Motion approved. Um there is one policy uh for review pending adoption which is policy 5695 students and personal electronic devices. There are two policies
027for review. Policy 8636 artificial intelligence and policy 245 expio student member board. Um now for our superintendent report this. Okay great. So, it'll be great pleasure that I could turn some of this over to Sophia. Today, to today, I will uh I will take it on. So, I just have a few things to talk about. Normally, I uh talk about topics under the strategic plan, but I'm going to be a little bit more general tonight. I just want to uh recognize the elementary and high school graduations and as well as that moving up ceremony for the middle school. They were wonderful. Um I thought in particular the high school graduation, um Mr. Schaffefer and uh the building administration did a great job. And not only that, speaking of graduation, this is our third year in
028a row where uh we've had 100% graduation rate, which is uh outstanding. So kudos to the high school team for that. And that honestly is a K through 12. That's an effort from the secretaries, the custodians, security, administration, teachers, everybody has a hand in that in helping the kid get through and graduate. So, I'd like to thank uh our school community for that and the parents as well for being on board. Um, our summer boost program started today. It was the first day. Uh, the last report I had, we had over a 100 students registered. Uh, they were ready to go today in their classrooms. They got themselves set up. Um, our supervisors of the program will be Miss Christine Redden and Miss Lauren Berg. and overseeing that program will be uh Mr. Shan Murray.
029So, we're excited about that to uh help our students, you know, get away from that summer lag that could potentially happen. Uh so, if you have any questions about that, please feel free. You could reach out to me or uh Mr. Murray. Uh just an energy performance contract update. So, I'm very excited about it. I don't know if you walk through the hallways, but what's happening is we're replacing all the lighting to help improve our electric. And the lights actually go down when there's no motion in the hallways. And when you walk in the hallways, they light up incredibly. And it is such a big difference. Um, I think it's going to be a gamecher for our students and our staff uh in all the buildings. So, I'm excited about that. And I'm also very
030excited that we got the boiler. Uh I don't know if it's hooked up yet, but I know the boiler system at Yeah, it the boiler system I saw before the 4th of July. Yeah, they're getting ready to put the new system in. So, uh all that is in an effort to manage uh energy efficiently and to save the taxpayers and the district money. So, I'm very excited about that. And the last thing, the Koopa project. Uh right now, we're waiting for the contract. Once that contract is signed, the materials will get here and we're hoping that gets started this summer. I know I've been repetitive in talking about that a lot. I think that's an important uh piece to the community to get that Koopa going. So, um I'll keep updating you as the more
031progress we make. And uh that's it for the superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Damas. Sorry. Um, okay. Good. Uh, condolences to Jennifer Hickham and family on the passing of her father-in-law, LD Hickham, who was a member of the class of 1966. Condolences TJ Teranova and family on the passing of her mother, Barbara Hart. And congratulations to Kelly Kasso and family on the birth of her son, Freddy Kai Kaso. Um, at this time, public comments. Are there any public comments? No. Anybody want? All right. Um, comments. Who wants to start? I'll start. Um, I'd like to say congratulations to Sophia. Welcome to the group. Um, we're fun. Um, and I look forward to working with you. Um, thanks Craig for all the information and for the wonderful presentation. Congratulations to all the graduates at the moving
032up ceremony. I attended a few of them and uh I have to say they were done very well and I love seeing the kids and seeing how excited they got. Uh and to the incoming seventh graders, don't be nervous. Um you'll do fine. Um congratulations to everyone on board. Thank you for coming back on um and for taking your positions. Um, I'd like to tell everyone to have a great summer, stay safe, stay cool, and we'll see you soon. All right. Um, Sophia, do you want to say anything? Um, I'm just very happy to be in this position, and thank you all for being so welcoming, and I hope everyone, thank you. Um, so I want to extend again the welcome to Kristen. We look forward to having you on board and put you a
033committee report keeping an eye on the resident's tax dollars. And uh other than that, have a good summer and congratulations to the graduates. They said it all. They said it all. Ready for summer. Congratulations, Kristen. Welcome aboard. Thank you to the audit committee. Congratulations to you. Looking forward to working with you. Um, I just want to say thank you Moren and Pete for coming back. We we all work really well together and um I'm honored to be with this group and I feel like we're getting things done and everybody have a safe summer. All right. Um, okay. So, first Kristen, congratulations. I'm sorry I missed your your interview, but I heard wonderful things. So, congratulations Sophia. It's such a pleasure for all of us to have you here. We've been saying for a while how
034awesome it would be to have a student to get a different perspective. So I hope this is a rewarding experience for you. So welcome aboard. Um and congratulations to the graduates. Moren, what are we taking? All right. Um I'm just joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. All right. Um, this concludes tonight's board of education meeting um at 6:01 p.m. and I have a motion to adjourn the meeting and enter into executive session to discuss contract negotiations. Motion. Motion by Mrs. Second by Mrs. Lanigan. All in favor? I post abstain. Motion approved. Good night everyone. Good night. Bye all. Have a great summer. Um,