001Check, check, check, check, check. Brandon, can you hear me? Thank you. You can hear me now, too. >> Yeah. All right, we're good. Oh, other. Oh, no. No. Keep going. >> Yeah. >> Just watching the clock. Very quiet. Three, two. >> All right, it's it's six o'clock and we'll call the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Next, we will have recognition of Ms. Lucy Hefernon from Mr. Mcdana. Good evening everybody. Lucy if you would like to come up. We would like to recognize Lucy Hefernon. Um for a couple years now she has taken upon herself outside of school
002of her own accord to raise um to raise money and food for our local North Palace food pantry. Um and I think this year she even surpassed the amount she this year they earned over 1,200 she brought in and raised over 1,200 pounds of food for the food pantry which is always in need and always in service. This is just a small thing of one of the number of things that Lucy does as an example not just inside the school but outside the school as well. Um she's an example not just in the classroom but obviously in the community. Um and kind of a silent leader. I wouldn't say an an unsung hero, but definitely a a silent leader and set that she sets by example. So on behalf of Eden High School, I'd like
003to read the following. It's a certificate of recognition proudly presented to Lucy Hefernon in recognition for your outstanding contributions, your commitment and hard work that have made a significant impact not just on us, the community well and on and on the community at large. So we want to congratulate you on all of your efforts. Don't go away, Lucy. >> And Lucy is here joined. You want to introduce Lucy's here joined by her family. >> So, I want to thank her and her family for coming this evening for a recognition and congratulations for doing what you're doing. And this is just the beginning of the things that she will be doing. So, congratulations. >> So, Lucy, can I ask you a couple questions? Could you stand at the mic for me? I probably should have warned
004you I was going to do this. Um, >> you started this back during the pandemic. >> Yes, I was in um eighth grade when I started. You >> were in eighth grade. >> Yes. >> So, this is five years running that you've been um uh raising um collecting canned goods and whatnot for the Eden North food pantry. >> Okay. And do you know and I I heard this year was over 1,200 pounds. That's what Mr. Mcdana just said. >> Yes. 1,234. >> Wow. And do you have a total for your five years? It's over 3,500. >> That's pretty amazing. That is absolutely amazing. So, as the board knows, we received an email from uh Mrs. Kindley, a former board member, uh espousing Lucy's virtues and and how consistent and wonderful she's been for so many
005years. So, we just want to take a couple of minutes to to thank you on behalf of the board, on behalf of of the entire district and the community for your leadership and your benevolence. um really um really incredible. The fact that I'm at a loss for words means that is it's extra incredible. Um we're very proud of you and really excited to to keep following you as you as you learn and grow and do more great things for our community. >> Thank you so much. Can I ask you a question? What made you decide to do that? >> Um it was a little bit of too much energy at home and um I think I it's important to always give back. I mean it's always like especially during co like >> so many families
006needed it and especially now this year >> right >> it's just always important >> right there few tears you're very passionate about what you do good job very good >> yeah we're gonna Can we pause for a minute get a photo with Lucy and work where's good for you. >> She'll take >> it's all done. >> Yeah. sharing your screen. All right. >> How's that look? Good. >> Yeah. Beautiful. bridge. >> All right. Good evening. Um, board of education superintendent Certicio, Mrs. May, Mrs. Pachinsky. Uh, I am Jeff Cone, one of the principles here at Eden Middle and High School, and I get to do probably one of the cooler presentations to the board of ed because I'm going to share some great updates tonight. We're almost midway through the school year. January is midway.
007Um, tonight we're going to talk about cell phones, lockers, attendance, student interest. We got a lot of great stuff we're going to cover. Uh, and I'm looking forward to doing it. So, this year 2526 school year started off with a major challenge. And you guys all remember when the governor signed into law that there were no internet enabled devices allowed in any public school in New York. And most of us that work in schools scrambled because this happened very late and gave us very little time to put this in motion. So this is just a little bulleted kind of overview and and a little memory lane for us. They signed the you know the New York signs into law the ban on all internet enabled devices. We knew as principles cell phones were going to
008be the big one. Um we had roughly a month to start planning. So, our admin team got to work on it and we knew the issue would probably be middle school, high school, even though we know some of the younger kids do have phones. Um, so we put on a a big communication push with our families and then the minute the school year started, we really started to communicate again with students, student meetings. Um, and throughout this, we created with our teams a tiered progressive approach to help us enforce this ban on cell phones. And as I go through and share some cell phone data with you, we'll kind of see how this has been going up until now. So this chart here, um the graph shows grades. On the left axis there is the
009number of offenses and this is up until current day in school. So we've got 42 cell phone offenses out of 650 students roughly. 10th grade has the highest number with 13. Eighth grade has the second highest with 10. Here's a little more cell phone data. We have seven students who have committed multiple offenses. Now, the chart shows grade on the left. It's multiple offenses. You can see where there's no bar chart. Those kids haven't done anything. So, 6th, 11th, and 12th aren't even on there. Our repeat violators are found in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10. We have no repeat offenders in 11 or 12. Um, most students correct behavior after their first consequence. We see them with it, we bring it up to them, the problem's over. Here's what this data suggests. A small
010group of students accounts for the most repeat offenders violators. middle school and early high school are where we remain we where we may need some more targeted approach but I will tell you we have seen improvements in these age groups like I don't remember our last cell phone referral or you know report um older students de demonstrate stronger self-regulation I think that's probably makes sense there's common sense and overall the policy at Eden has been very effective for all of our students All right, switching gears. We're going to talk about student attendance. And I can't tell you how important attendance is to us here and across the district. And what we know, and this is re researchbased stuff, you can almost predict students success academically by their attendance in very low grades. That's how important
011it is that all of you guys come to school daily. that's important that we focus on this as a district and this has become a big priority. Not that it always hasn't been. I think we've just put a little more a little more to it in the last few years and I think we're going to see you know sort of the fruits of our labors with this. So currently right now as of like December 15th we are at roughly 96% attendance grades 6 through 12. Historically 22 23 34 and 45 that's the year 93 94% which I would say is a pretty good percentage for 10 months of school. We have about 20 to 30 students out per day and we have one student right now who is chronically absent. And chronically absent means 18
012or 10% of the school year or 18 total days. Here's some attendance data. This is a comparison from last year's snapshot at this time to this year. If you take a look at this chart, and I love these numbers, 2425, here's 2526. Last year, at this time, we had 773 absences. We're now at 636. It's a 17% drop. Students with 18 or more, this is the chronically absent student. This is the same student, by the way, and we work tirelessly to try to get this student here. Um, no change there. Look at tardies. I would I could argue tardies are as impactful as full day attendance misses. You know, you're constantly coming in late. Um, we do focus quite a bit on this,56 last year, 593, 43.9% drop. And then 10 or more tardies. This
013number is great. 24 last year, eight. So that's just that's just good stuff. You can't argue with data. You know, we don't always know that this looks as good as it does until we run data. And trust me, we run it, we check it, we have other people check it. We want to make sure it's accurate. Um, so up here in these bullets, this is why we believe, you know, we we we have an intense focus on it district-wide. So, we think these habits are starting young and coming to us and then we keep going with it. Um, but we believe it's part of our communication and I think we set a real good tone last year. I think students know we're serious about it and no one's really getting under the radar with this.
014So, >> can I ask you a quick question? >> Sure. >> With the student who is chronically absent, I I understand that 18 days is 10%. Are you saying so to date they've already missed 10% of the school year? >> Yes. or 10% of this portion of the school year. >> So, they already missed 18 days. >> Yes. And it's probably more than that. And I know it's more than that. >> Okay. I know when I worked at >> when I worked at Boseies um and espec specifically at Baker Road for half my career um we would get students from other districts obviously and most district policies were absence for those kids cuz the districts were paying to send the kids to us that after they missed like 20 or 21 days you know the
015district had a right to notify the family like you you could be you're in jeopardy of being pulled out of the program. We had many kids who would miss 19 days, come back on the 20th, and it resets the clock. Does like this district or other public districts have those kind of things in place or is that just was that just Boseies that did it to because there was a big payment involved in sending them there? >> I let me answer that. Okay, so that that's not a BoseI specific policy. you're talking about um 20 consecutive days of absence a student can can be dropped. >> Um the word I'm looking for >> and and so most I I I won't say all districts. I will say every district that I've worked for which is
016five has a same or similar policy. Okay. >> And same and similar experiences that students know exactly how many days they've missed and they go back and reset right up to it. >> And and on the one hand you think, well, geez, we we almost could drop that that young person. On the other hand, I think they know what they're doing, >> right? and they want to reset because they don't want to give up yet. >> Yeah, sure. >> Um, so it's not an automatic here. If a student gets the 20 consecutive days, conversations had between the administrators, the counselors, and me to talk about what our next steps are. Okay. Um, and that's that's been consistent uh here, and I'm sure it probably predates my arrival here as well. >> Well, yeah, we used
017to generally feel it was like a cry for help. Yeah. >> You know, so that's good. Well, those are great numbers. >> Yeah, we we really try to use like if they're attending Boseies, we we try to use that more as the incentive. You know, we are paying a lot. We committed to you attending a two-year program and >> if you're not going to go to that, there's a lot of students that, you know, we we now have waiting lists for both these programs. So, >> it's usually a good way to work with the family and the student. And >> we get we see a lot of success when you start to shine light on things. You'd be surprised at how >> how quick we get things to turn around. Very good. So, here's a
018little uh little more data. Some good, some some okay, but it says grades 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 show strong reductions in both absences and tardies. Sixth grade um stands out with the largest improvement, 70%. Change. So, we had a lot of absences last year for grade six. Um but what you'll notice here is if you look at grade seven change in absenteeism is up 43%. So what I noticed here is a problem we were chasing last year moved up a grade. So the sixth graders who are now seventh have these same habits. They're missing. Um so we're working on them and we meet and we call families and we have meetings and you know that sometimes they're they're helpful, sometimes they're not. But it's never, we never believe you stop trying and you
019stop working with people because these, you know, a lot of times these young folks, it's not always their fault 100% that they're not coming to school. Um, any questions around any of this data? So, some great changes. Our 11th grade is an increase in both. I don't know why, but I will tell you we're addressing these students and we're talking to them. And I will tell you, it's a team effort. We get I get information from Grace Ganon. We get it from teachers who notice kids are out and bring it to my attention or to Mr. McDana's um our guidance staff. Like they people who have like relationships with kids sometimes have a better, you know, pulse on this than just me looking at it. So, it's really a nice team thing that says, "Hey,
020I haven't seen so and so in a long time or so and so's always late and that's Miss Ganon who's at that door who says, "Man, this kid is coming in late every day." And there's their parents signing them in, you know. So, it's these are just good conversations and good good relationships that we build. So, these are strategies. I shared these last year, but this is where you need to go when you're trying to address absenteeism. We look at health, mental health, transportation. Are there family issues? You know, a lot of things go on in families that a lot of us never think well could could happen, right? It happens. There's there's troubles out there and that can have a big impact on student attendance. It can have a big impact on tardies. Um
021so we offer supports um everything you could imagine we offer, but we have a social worker, counselors, parent teacher conferences. Um, I believe this final bullet is really what makes the difference when we start to really engage families. Um, and that happens in home visits and meetings. I think we're at we're at 10 or 11 uh home visits. I mean, that's me, social worker, counselor, go to a door, pound on it, go in the living room if they if we're invited in, you know, see what's going on, how can we help you. Um, most people don't like us coming, but we have had great success by showing up repeatedly and kids start going to school. >> Are your um home visits, are they announced? Like, do you call or you just show up? >> Show
022up. >> Okay. >> Yeah, some are announced like we will say, you know, we'll be back tomorrow. Some parents say, "Please come back." We've had parents say some not nice things to me. Uh so the the home visits the and here here's another big one. We we call like crazy around here and a lot of this starts from like me and Miss Ganon in the morning. Okay, who's late? Who's who you know we we get these chronically tardies and sometimes they're tardy by 5 minutes, but you call home, you talk to parents, parents don't want to hear from me. I mean, Grace Ganon will make phone calls, counselors will do this work, but we call and we log everything because we can't remember the work we do half the time, right? It's so many so
023much we do that we now have these great anecdotal logs so we can go back and go, you know, I called Bill Mcdana 20 times. Here's here's where we're at. These are additional strategies. Now, we really haven't had to go down this road too much yet this year, but these are this is where it gets a little bit more real. This is family contracts, calling you in, setting some parameters, some goals, you know, measurable goals that we all try to meet together. Um, if we have to, we report you to child and family services. And to be honest, we may be more powerful than they are, but it certainly is another nice layer, a nice, you know, like a another layer of support where they can go out. It's a different phase. It's a different
024relationship. Um, we find there's times that when other people work with kids and families, they can be more effective than just me all the time or just another administrator. they might connect with a social worker better, but Erie County Child and Family Services works with us. They link families to supports that Eden can't necessarily link them to. Um, and we've seen some positive things and we've seen it fall, you know, fall flat at times. Um, and then this is a big one to me. You know, we build a positive climate. We have good relationships with teachers and peers, and we really love celebrating attendance. Uh, and we've started we had we had so many during for the 10 week mark that we sent letters. We normally have a breakfast and it was, you know, it
025just was too big and I just wanted to make sure everyone nobody got missed in that mix, but we sent a letter. Parents loved it. Um, and it's just something we're going to continue to work on and celebrate. All right, moving from attendance locker update. So, we thought with cell phones and everything else, let's add another challenge to our lives here at the middle high school. If we're going to have kids put cell phones away, let's have them start using their lockers. Um, kids were very used to carrying their whole lives with them in backpacks, and we said, you know, this is a perfect opportunity. And at some point in the summer, we messaged out, we're going to require locker usage for all students. Backpacks will be stored in lockers with your cell phones. And
026I would be lying to say if that wasn't an initial bit of a change. Change is always hard. But I will tell you, and kids do this, students do this. As long as I've been in this business, they adapt quicker than anyone around. Um, so they adapted quickly. We see students transitioning without the use of bags. Um, all students are sign lockers. They're all using them. Uh and and just to like let you know how our lockers work because sometimes we get it like it doesn't work. It's stuck. It's this 25 total locker work orders up until like last week. So, and then we couldn't forget this. Last year we did a sense of belonging. You know, what are our kids doing? What are they interested in? I think we have something like 30 clubs
027and extracurriculars just here in the middle high school between book club and game club and national honor society and you know advisorships and student council. So there's a lot of stuff for for students 6 through 12 to get involved with. But we did a survey. We said hey what are you guys doing? What are you involved with? Last year 100% of our kids involved whether here or outside of here. So this year we have new sixth graders. got to give the survey again. So, we get every sixth grader to respond and we track these kids down. They do this survey whether they want to or not. And really, sixth grade is so great that they open their laptops up there and it it happens. And then we announced it to all 7 through 12 is
028we had our class meetings and we said, "Look, if things have changed in your life, update it." Sure enough, great news. 100% of our sixth graders involved. I'm going to share some of what they shared with us. some great responses, some funny responses, not a ton of 7 through 12, but some of them have changed their lives because kids' lives change. And they updated them. So, here is a list of um top reoccurring student outside interests. Fishing is the hottest thing going right now. The kids talk about it, they love it, they're into it, the boys, the girls, and then sports, right? Eden is such a sports. But there you go. Dance, ATVs, dirt bikes, and I can share this survey with, you know, we have all this data. I just tried to pull the
029here are their outside work responsibilities because it's always neat to know what they do to make money. So, a lot of yard work, babysitting, um farm work, chores, a lot of volunteers in our school, a lot of church connection, a lot of that stuff goes on, pet care, landscaping. To me, these were some of the funny, creative ones. And Mr. Straticio and I were looking through this in my office, and I I probably missed a few other good ones, but hobbies, go home and sleep, because sleep's a big deal. Um, soccer and drawing, horses. I can't get over we have a large group of kids that are big into the horse world. There we go. Yeah. So then the jobs, this one was great. I don't get paid, but I do a lot of work.
030Um, babysitting and just having fun. There was a lot of that. Like I enjoy my friends. I just want to hang. Just want to be social. And then these were clubs. I'd ask the question, you know, if you could have a club here at Eden Middle High School, what would you pick? Drone, train club. And of course, someone had to put nap club. With that, that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions or comments. >> I do have one quick question going back to the attendance and I'm sorry if I missed this. Is the school resource officer involved in like especially when you do the home visits and if you said it, I'm sorry. >> He he has been on home visits with me. I typically take um it's usually me, a social
031worker and a counselor has really been our core team and and not for no for no other reason than >> Yeah. Okay. I was just curious and the drunk >> probably but >> to be honest our SRO have really good relationships with the kids. I don't think they're >> I think initially a lot and sometimes our kids who haven't been in school a lot don't have those relationships. >> Yeah. >> That if you're here every day so when you do see that police officer >> I mean there's a lot of times Jen Cerero is first in because she has known these kids forever >> and you know has just more of a relationship. >> Got it. >> So >> but a drone club would be cool. Salica has one. It's amazing. >> Do they? Yeah,
032>> I know. >> It would be amazing. >> My my oldest niece um who is 33 now, but when she was at the GLP, so she was second grade, uh there was a tragic death in the family. And um she struggled for about a month to get to school, like didn't want to come out of her room. And you know, my sister and husband knew the reason, but it wasn't helping the situation. And I forget who the counselor was. was I think it was a counselor contracted through Boseies and told my sister, you you you you can't just let her stay in her room. You got to get her here. Whether it's kicking and screaming, white knuckling it, bring her in her pajamas and bring her clothes with her. And my sister is like, "Yeah,
033I don't know if I can do that. I, you know, it's my daughter." And they're like, "You." So that's what my sister did. in for the first week, took her in her pajamas, took a little bag of clothes for her and this counselor and oh my god, it it was just absolutely wonderful to think back of the the help that they gave. And ironically, she's now a licensed mental health counselor at the age of 33. So, going back that far, they've always had a good a very good um plan. One of our bigger success stories was years ago and actually involved officer Bishop and we me him I think it was social work a social worker a counselor went to a house farmhouse we were invited in it was mom there was a newborn baby
034house was a little little hectic grandma great grandma in a walker and the kid was upstairs not doing well and we kind of sat around and I think we might have had coffee and toast because great grandma was whipping it up in the kitchen. And sure enough, I and I don't know what what magic happened that day, but sure enough, the the kids said, "I will go. I want to shower. I will go. I want my mom to drive me cuz I'm not going in the bus." You know, whatever. We bring a uh our transportation's great. They drive us all over the place. And that kid came to school, turned it around, and became just an outstanding student. You know, we have these handful of great stories. You know, we leave all the names out
035of it, right, for obvious reasons, but it's that's a pretty cool moment in education when you see that change because if you didn't put that effort, I wonder if that kid would still be laying in a bed, you know, doing whatever. >> Yeah. So, Mr. you use the phrase um when you shine a light on something, you know, that obviously brings a lot of attention to it and and your work has been shining a light on areas where where we need to improve and areas where we're doing really well. So, I thank you for that. Your the data is excellent. Uh, and as you're aware, and I want to make sure the board and the community is aware, that the work that you're leading here is also being led at the elementary building and and
036the primary building at GLP. And to to uh Cheryl's point, and why this is so important districtwide, good attendance habits start very young. And so the conversations Mrs. Carter's having with preK and kindergarten parents is, I understand it's pre-K, I understand it's kindergarten, but it's school. Missing a day is a big deal. Um and so you know daily we hear it in our building because we're we're we're obviously housed in the elementary building the percent of students are in attendance and it's usually 96 97 it was 99 one day like that's like one child where somebody go get that kid let's get to 100%. So, it it's an important district-wide initiative and it matters because as as as you stated earlier, you can dial back to fourth grade attendance and and and pinpoint those students
037if it's not paid attention to, if it's not a corrected, those students who are not going to successfully uh graduate from high school. So, thank you for taking the lead. You know, the I'm I'm a big fan of all all of the the students who are interested in fishing. that's absolutely what they should be interested in and that doesn't surprise either of you and keep shining a light on it because not only is it important to the students, but you but based on what you said here and that you're hearing from faculty members, it's important to them as well and and so it's a whole it's a collective it's a collective approach including our bus mechanic >> get on the bus with you and and and work directly with some students who are a little
038bit uh uh reluctant. So nice job. >> Thank you. >> Yep. So basically you guys are doing the job of a Truan officer. >> Yeah, >> they don't have Truan officers anymore, do they? >> No. >> Well, yes, but >> yeah, it must be quick question. >> Great job. >> Is a minute late late >> is is 30 seconds late. If I ask the students, would that be the same? >> Um, they they better answer that way. But >> um so so late is late. It doesn't matter if it's 30 seconds or 20 minutes. Yeah, I mean it's, you know, late is late >> and >> Yeah, I I agree. >> You start doing that, is it not late and this and that. >> Now, if a bus comes in late for weather, we have
039we had that last week. We're not marking those guys late. >> Um, >> you know, common sense stuff, but yeah, late is late. And we have a lot of kids that are tearing in right at the bell. >> Yeah. >> They get to home room, they're late. Home room starts at 7:30. You you come in at 7:31, >> you're late. >> Late is late. Okay. >> And our teachers are on this stuff. Like we we really >> you know what's important and you know what in life you know late late is late. A minute late for a meeting is is late. >> Well we always say like if I worked for you >> Yeah. >> How many times could I be late before you'd be telling me where to go? >> It's 100% true and
040it's a lesson that needs to be learned. So good. >> Yeah. Thank you. Mhm. >> At this point during the meeting, members of the board of education may request to have any items removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. So, are there any requests to remove any items from the consent agenda? No. Then that's all right. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent, consensus items be approved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Abstained? Motion carried. >> This is the approximate position and time that the board is designated to receive statements from individuals and groups. The board will review all statements, then respond appropriately at a future meeting. All persons in attendance are required to sign the attendance sheet and designate their representation status. For example, a parent, teacher, bus
041driver, chamber of commerce, etc. There is a two-minute time limit. Okay. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the resignation for the purpose of retirement of social studies teacher Carrie Hamlet be accepted effective July 1st, 2026, the board and administration wish to thank Mrs. Hamlet for her 32 years of service to the district. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the employment start date for Sharon Gatowski will be changed from December 1st, 2025 to December 8th, 2025. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> Abstained. Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, Jean Zidell be permanently appointed as a clerk typus HLPS effective January 17th, 2026. >>
042Second. >> Any discussion? What is an HPS? >> It's >> Yeah, >> you got it. >> So, it's the helps program. So, um, Eric, well, New York State because of the civil service, >> okay, >> um, backlog and people not taking tests, people not being on lists, people not being eligible for lists, um, people being in provisional appointments, they created what's called the HELPS program. So, we essentially, um, appoint someone into the helps program and as long as they successfully complete a probationary period, we can hire them permanently without them having to take the civil service test and scoring within the top three. >> Perfect. Yeah. Awesome. >> All right. Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. >> That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, Maryanne Terski be
043appointed on probation as cafeteria monitor effective December 5 16, 2026 and ending June 15, 2026. Salary is based upon CSEA contract level two step one. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. >> That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, Allison Keller be appointed on probation as a clerk typus in the helps program effective January 5th, 2026 and ending July 4th, 2026. Salary is based upon CSCA contract level five, step five. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried >> that upon the recommendation of the superintendent the following items be declared excess and disposed of as a district deems appropriate. CKLA skills readers first edition. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed abstained. Motion carried. that upon
044the recommendation of the superintendent the 2026 2027 budget calendar be approved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. >> But upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the contract for healthc care insurance plan consultant and administrative services at Eden Central School District be awarded to Li LLC. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. >> That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the transportation route spreadsheet effective December 12th, 2025 be approved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Abstained. Motion carried. A resolution dated December 15, 2025 of the board of education of the Eden Central School District, Erie County, New York, capital project insurance funds. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed?
045Abstained. Motion carried. >> Next is the business report from Frankie May. >> Okay. Okay, so just a quick update before um next meeting we will kind of get into the budget season. Um so just a quick update regarding school tax school taxes. So the towns both town of Eden and the town of Evans that do our school tax collection um have remitted the final payments to the district. Um any outstanding balance at this point has been turned over to Erie County. Uh we did receive 99% this year which is great. Um and then in January, Erie County will reimburse us for any um outstanding balances and then they'll continue any uh collection efforts and keep any interest and penalties beyond that point. >> Next we have the superintendence report. Mr. Spartisio, >> thanks. So just
046briefly I have two two quick updates. Um a year ago we were talking about or we had um accepted the uh the results from the capital project vote and uh in about a month we will be going out to bid uh for for that very project. So end ended a little bit more than a month end of January, beginning of February, we will bid out that project with construction slated to um happen summer of 2026 and summer of 2027. And that's the the roof at the middle high school, some parking lots, some curbing, some classrooms at GLP uh and and a few other things as well. So hopefully uh at the February meeting, I I come back with great news on on how those bits came in. Okay. Uh we also had a lot of
047discussion about zero emission busing. Uh, interestingly, uh, today I was invited to, uh, a meeting on January 20th, uh, sponsored by the Are Niagara School Superintendent Association, and we'll be meeting with representatives from New York State Electric and Gas and National Grid to get some information from them on capacity. You know, it's not whether they they're for or against uh, zero emission buses, it's whether that they feel the infrastructure can handle it. um to the point where we're also sharing where our buses are located and so they can do a little bit of research before we have that meeting. So should be should be pretty interesting. And finally um this is our la our last meeting of the year and the last meeting before um some pretty big holidays or one that's already started. So
048happy holidays to to everyone and happy new year and thank you for all you do to the board. >> Thank you. Next we have student reports Sophia Donovan. Do I have to press the thing or talk? All right. Um, from November 23rd to 25th, Mrs. Doctor and 10 students including me attended the MYSCLSA leadership conference. Um, this year it was held in Niagara Falls. It was really great experience. We got to see a lot of really good speakers and you do a lot of workshops about kind of developing your skills and all that stuff and it was very informative. Uh, we delivered the food we raised from our I guess food pantry fundraiser. We got 456.5 pounds of food collected and that was delivered. We are holding our Just Say hello December meeting, I believe,
049on the 17th and we are making ornaments to donate to the nursing home and decorating uh just things to put out in the hallway for Christmas. Our Toys for Tots fundraiser is going really well. The boxes are overflowing at all three of the schools right now, which is really great to see. We are also doing jammies for granny's and papies. And the two large boxes of pajamas we have here are being donated to the local nursing home. And then we are holding the Arctic Raider races on Tuesday the 23rd and we have over 15 teams participating in that. So everything is really successful. >> What do you What kind of race like like sleds and stuff like that? Yeah, you make like a team of six and they get to pull a teacher of their
050choice. >> Yeah, he's funny. >> Nice. >> Who's p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p pulling uh Mr. McDonald and Mr. Cavone, >> do you guys have a team? >> Oh, we're we're going to have to rectify that. Uh >> oh, >> we could probably get a reindeer for you, Mr. McDonald. >> Very nice. >> Uh next we have the board report roundt. anyone I don't want to belver the electric buses but um not that we have a we don't have a ton of control over it but um the was it Wendo Corporation am I is that who came do they have
051I can't remember do they have contact with like NISA NIS national grid like or is there's like intercommunications between them as well >> um I I I don't there's certainly communication and information that that flows back and forth. Whether they communicate directly with them or not I I don't know because that's that's the question about capacity. >> Yeah. >> Um at some point I recall hearing and we're on national grid here that the grid feels that they have the capacity to service Eden. >> Okay. >> But what does that mean? And we won't know what that means until we get deeply into it because what's the process we have to we have to take. >> So we essentially have to commit to a project, >> right? >> Have them come in and then look and
052then give us an estimate of what it would cost. >> Okay. >> So we don't necessarily know what that would look like >> until we commit to a project. And then what happens if we commit and we're like, well, we can't >> Armageddon. So, >> don't you get discounts for everything that you commit to? That guy when they came and gave their presentation? >> There were all these things where you get this discount and this discount. >> There's rebates right now for chargers. Um, but infrastructure, there's nothing really yet. So, we're not even sure if we would get building aid or transportation aid from the state. It's kind of unclear. >> That's like building a house, but saying, "I don't know how much it's going to cost, but let's go ahead and build it." So,
053it's almost like they're saying close your eyes and sign here. >> Yeah. Nobody else would do that in their right mind. >> Okay. >> The next regular board of education meeting is January 12th, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the middle school high school library. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board of education enter executive session to discuss discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed?