001Good evening. Welcome to our March Board of Education meeting. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. No. I'm sorry. All right, I don't have my my paper. All right, District Clerk, please let the record reflect that all board members are present except Mr. Khan. Um may I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of February 10th, 2026? Move. Thank you, Ms. Battle. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Ms. Douglas. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Do we have any correspondence? All correspondence has been given to the board for consideration. Thank you. All right. Welcome to our March Board of Education meeting. Good evening. Uh whether you're
002joining us in person or virtually, we thank you for joining us tonight. It's hard to believe that we are actually already halfway through our school year and um we've made it safely through the winter months, past the storms, thank goodness. And with the snow finally behind us, we hope, although Ms. Battle did remind me that there's snow expected next week. I'm ignoring her. I'm ignoring her. We should we can look forward to the spring and the busy months um and what comes with that for the second half of our school year. On behalf of the board, I want to take a moment to thank our teachers, staff, and families for their continued partnership and dedication to our children. Um we are always grateful for all that you all do in supporting us. So, let's get
003started. Uh may I have the report of the Sewanhaka Central High School District, Mr. Ramos. On behalf of the board, I Good evening. Uh going to I'm going to give the report for the Sewanhaka Central School District. Uh March 2026. Good evening and happy March to everyone. As we adjust the clock, spring forward spring forward and welcome the longer days ahead. Our schools are also moving forward with momentum. Across the high school district, our scholars continue to demonstrate excellence through academics, creativity, service, at and athletics and athletics. Tonight, we are proud to share a few highlights from our high schools. At Elmont Memorial, scholars have been shining in academics, athletics, and the arts. Students recently participated in the district's first overnight college tour visiting Villanova, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton in an inspiring experience
004that brought college dreams into focus. Our scholars also earned recognition in the American Math Competition, showcased their talent at the all country all county art exhibit, and delivered a successful performance of Bye Bye Birdie. On the athletic front, Spartan pride remains strong with 29 all country I mean again, all county and all conference winter sports honorees. Playoff appearance for both boys and girls varsity basketball and varsity track team advancing to the state championships. At Sewanhaka High School, students have been exploring learning beyond the classroom. Forensic science students traveled to Cold Spring Harbor's laboratory to conduct hands-on DNA analysis while research scholars presented work at the UAlbany Research Symposium. Sewanhaka also hosted the district math tournament with over 130 mathletes participating. The Ravens Quill newspaper earned four awards at Adelphi Press Day, and robotics teams achieved
005impressive recognition in regional competitions highlighting both academic excellence and innovation. At Floral Park Memorial, the Knights continue to demonstrate excellence in academics, service, and competition. Students participated in meaningful activities for PS, I love you day, promoting kindness and belonging. While the Model UN Nation team earned multiple awards competing against thousands of delegates in Boston and Times Square conference. In athletics, both boys and girls basketball teams advanced to Nassau County championship games, and students continued to shine in arts with all county exhibits and upcoming performances at Seussical the Musical. As we look ahead, we are almost 3/4 of the way through the school year, and our scholars continue to excel in classrooms, on stage, on courts, and in the community. As we celebrate Women's History Month, we also recognize the many women in our schools who
006are already leading, achieving, and reshaping or and shaping the future. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. >> [applause] >> Are there any audience members like to speak on agenda items only? Okay. The report of the superintendent. Thank you, Madam President. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Uh my report this evening will consist of three items. One item will be um a presentation from Mrs. Walfall and Miss Boyd on our Saturday Enrichment Program. We will also have the opportunity to recognize some of our scholars for their outstanding artwork, and we will have the first presentation of the 20 the draft 2026-27 uh school budget. One of our ongoing priorities as a school district is to provide meaningful opportunities to extend the learning of our students beyond the traditional um school day through initiatives
007like our Saturday Enrichment Academy. We are able to offer students additional academic support, uh engagement with learning that um caters to their strengths, and enrich their experiences, and provide them with opportunities um to develop key skills um in areas that they like the most. I want to extend my thank you to the many teachers and aides and staff members who volunteered and gave up their Saturdays for four Saturdays in the month of um March. The program uh concluded on February 7th to support our students on the weekend. I would also like to thank Mrs. Walfall and Mrs. Boyd for their leadership in uh running the program and providing leadership to our students and staff for this wonderful program. And with that, I would like to introduce Mrs. Walfall and Mrs. Boyd who will give the
008board and our community an overview of the Saturday Enrichment Program. >> [applause] >> Good evening to the members of our board, our superintendent, and the mem- members of the Elmont community. My name is Mrs. Walfall, and I'm here with Mrs. Boyd, and we are here to share some highlights of our 2026 Saturday Enrichment Academy. This program provided meaningful opportunities for students beyond the traditional school day. They gave them the opportunity to work collaboratively, be creative, and be curious. We're proud of the engagement that they participated in, the enthusiasm, and also coming out on the freezing cold days cuz it was some zero days on those Saturdays. So, we do appreciate the families for taking the time. I'm going to turn it over to Miss Boyd that'll go through some of the slides. Thank you, Miss
009Walfall. So, just a little bit about our program overview this year. The program, if you didn't know, was funded through the 2025-2026 school budget, and it is contingent upon the approval of the May school budget. This year, we enrolled 374 students in the grades K through 6, and that represented approximately 11% of our district's total enrollment. Students from all six buildings participated in this particular academy, and that included all students from general education, special education, ENL, and our ABA students. The program was supported by 53 dedicated When I say dedicated, dedicated staff that came out with their aids in cold freezing weather. And this program ran for approximately 4 weeks with each session lasting approximately 3 hours. What are the benefits of enrichment programs? Well, all students benefit from enrichment, but our Saturday Academy provided
010our student scholars with hands-on, project-based learning in the areas of STEM, the arts, literacy, music, and even movement. These experiences helped our students build creativity, confidence, collaboration, and critical thinking skills in a supportive, engaging, and fun environment. Next slide. So, here are some course offerings that we had this this year. Our students participated in a variety of enrichment courses including some of which I will mention and many others that you'll see on the screen. Science exploration, robotics, music, dance, coding, engineering, and visual arts. In addition, each class was provided with a push-in of an SEL, which is social-emotional learning, by one of our dedicated psychologists in the district, a music push-in, or a technology lesson to further enrich and vary their learning experience. So, [snorts] what are some of the proposed enhancements as we look
011toward next year? As we look to improve our program for next year, Miss Walfall and I, in conjunction with the parent surveys feedback that we received, we're looking to enhance this program by adding the following: themed learning days, adjusting grade level band groupings, increasing the enrollment, and possibly providing weekly take-home highlights that will help our parents and families stay connected with their students' learning over the Saturday. Next slide. So, in conclusion, we would like to thank you all for having your students come and share with us their Saturdays on a cold Saturdays. Um and we want to share this short highlight of all the wonderful things that they experienced over Saturday. The creativity, the collaboration, the excitement that our students experienced throughout the Saturday Academy was second to none. Thank you. >> [music] [music] >>
012Yeah, we're going to bend our elbows, and then we're going [music] to go back. And forward. And to the side, and forward. >> [music] [music] >> Some even have a waxy coating to keep moisture from escaping. Some plants like mosquito >> [music] [music] >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. THANK YOU, MRS. WALFALL AND MRS. BOYD. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you to the many teachers and staff who volunteered their time to work with our students um during the Saturday Enrichment Academy. Tonight, we'd also like to highlight an exciting partnership um opportunity involving our students and the New York Islanders through the cultural inspiration patch design program. With that, I would like to introduce our director of curriculum and instruction who will recognize the over 20 students who participated in this program.
013Good evening to our Board of Education, Superintendent Small, and our Elmont community. Each year our students are invited to participate in the Islanders patch design contest. This year's theme was cultural inspirations. Students were asked to design an original Islanders patch while also showing how they celebrate their own culture. The goal of the contest is to highlight the traditions and values that make each one of our students unique while also celebrating the diversity that strengthens our entire school community. We received many, many creative and meaningful designs and it was inspiring to see how students represented their own cultures through art, color, and symbolism. Thank you to every student who participated and shared a piece piece of their heritage with us. I would like to also extend a special thank you to Ms. Tanya Laws who's with
014us this evening. >> [applause] >> SHE IS THE DIRECTOR OF external affairs and community engagement for the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. She organizes this event and helps make [clears throat] this opportunity possible for our students each year. I must also thank our Elmont art teachers which I see several of them with us here this evening who worked so closely with our students to create and submit these wonderful patch designs. Their guidance and encouragement helped our students' ideas and cultural inspirations come to life. It's also exciting to share that the final Islanders patch contest winners whose designs are displayed here on the screen. I think it's one more or it's coming. It's a real they're displayed on the screen. They're invited to attend the upcoming Islanders game on March 13th where their achievements will
015be recognized. THESE THOSE >> [applause] >> THE PATCH DESIGN WINNERS are Savannah Percival from the Alden Terrace School. >> [applause] >> Efron Herrera Roman Jr. from the Gotham Avenue School. >> [applause] >> AND THE WINNERS WHOSE DESIGNS WILL be made into Islanders stickers are Abby Beard from the Clara H. Carlson School. >> [applause] >> Mehak Asif from the Covert Avenue School. >> [applause] >> Sajda Khan from Dutch Broadway School. Andrew Foley from the Stewart Manor School. >> [applause] >> A round of applause for all of THESE SPECTACULAR WINNERS. >> [applause] >> THIS EVENING WE'RE GOING TO ASK OUR OUR winners to stay up here because it's also my pleasure that we are going to recognize all of the students from each school whose designs were selected as their school's finalists. So when I call your
016names, please come up to receive your certificates and I would also like to invite the building administrators and also the art teachers to come up as well. So here we go. From the Alden Terrace School, Principal Sonia Rodrigo and art teacher Zoe Sanders, please come up. >> [applause] >> And we would like the following students to come up. And some of them are already up here. Savannah Percival. >> [applause] >> Come, please. Present them to your Yeah. Arshi Choudry. PLEASE COME ON UP. >> [applause and cheering] >> NORIYAH MUSLIM. COME UP. >> [applause] >> Some of our students are were unable to make it this evening but we still would like to acknowledge them. EMMA WILLIAMS. >> [applause] [applause] >> SIMRA KAUR. >> [applause] >> AND ISA KHAN. >> [applause] >> SO LET'S HAVE OUR
017ISLANDERS patch winners will collect in the front and then we'll take Mr. Small who wanted to take one picture. Yeah, let Philip come in the front. Come right in the front. Our our Alden Terrace students, please come in the front. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Just our Alden Terrace for you all. Oh, we're doing per school? One picture. One's going to be a lot. I don't think we have space right in the front. >> Why don't we wait and then as all of our students collect, we'll we'll take one photo at the end if that's okay. All right, from our Clara H. Carlson School, we invite Principal Stacy Wohlfarth, Assistant Principal Richard Mansfield, and Assistant Principal Samantha Magarachi, as well as the art teachers Lauren Romano and Karina Cuba. >> [applause] [applause] >> AND OUR
018FIRST FINALIST, EMMY LAWALMAN. Emily Lawalman. >> [applause] >> Damon Andrade. >> [applause] >> ABBY BEARD. >> [applause] >> Ashin Mehenoor. >> [applause] >> JENNA FATHALLA. >> [applause] >> AMI FLORES. >> [applause] >> Excellent job. Our our Carlson students, you may come in the front. Next we have our Covert Avenue certificates. Please we invite up our Principal Allison Gunn and our Assistant Principals Valerie Donahue and Jessica Trioni along with our art teachers Kathleen Salustri and Lindsey Loud. >> [applause] >> Mehak Asif. >> [applause] >> FATIMA JAHANGIR. >> [applause] >> Ayana Battari. >> [applause] >> GREAT JOB. WE NOW invite our Dutch Broadway administrators, Principal Cynthia Cassim, Assistant Principal Dr. Edward Thomas, and Mr. Brendan Alfieri. >> [applause] >> Along with our art teachers Stephanie Greco and Karina Cuba. Cuba. My my apologies. All right. Sajda Khan.
019>> [applause] >> Nancy Benny. >> [applause] >> Mary Ann Morales. >> [applause] >> Come come stand with us though, Ms. Cassim. Come stand with us. >> [laughter] >> You deserve to be up here. There you go. We next invite our administrators from the Gotham Avenue School, Principal William Mingo, Assistant Principal >> [applause] >> Assistant Principal Kimberly Farina and Pilar Erdmann along with their art teacher Sophia Lazevski. >> [applause] >> Our first certificate goes to Amaya Trimble. >> [applause] >> Nicole Molina. >> [applause] >> And Efron Herrera. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much and yep. You can stand right in the front. We'll take a group picture in just a just a moment. We have our last but not least our final school. We invite up Stewart Manor administration, Principal Robert Cavalieri, and Assistant Assistant
020Principal Pamela Boyd, along with their art teacher Lindsey Loud. >> [applause] >> Max Madigan. >> [applause] >> OWEN MAKASHI >> [applause] >> ANDREW FOLEY >> [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF our winners. Thank you again to everyone who participated and thank you to our our liaisons our community liaisons at the UBS Arena and Islanders team. We are so happy that we were able to celebrate the many cultures that make our Elmont community so special. >> [music] [applause] [laughter] >> Okay. All right. As we get ready to present the first draft of our budget for the 2026-2027 school year, I'm going to take this opportunity to recognize some of our staff members. As many of you as many of you are aware on February 23rd and 24th, we got one of the largest winter storm of
021many years in New York State. And we think it's only fitting as we're celebrating the greatness of our students, the things that make Elmont so proud, we should recognize the staff members who also work behind the scenes to make this district the great district that it is. And so, I'm going to turn the mic over to our board vice president, Mr. Palmer, who would like to say a few words to our custodial staff who did such a wonderful job on those two days to get our building ready for teachers, students, and staff. MR. PALMER. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, SUPERINTENDENT. I JUST WANT TO SAY AS I made my way to this meeting tonight, it was great to see our young scholars outside after school in their shorts, t-shirts, riding their bike. And I just
022thought on the way here that it's just literally 30 days ago we were dealing with historic snowfalls and just bone-chilling weather. And we would be remiss not to say thank you to the unsung heroes of this district that went out of their way to ensure that all of our properties, streets, and sidewalks, and crosswalks were clear. That many of them, unbeknownst to some of us, spent evenings inside of school buildings waiting for the snow to stop and at the sign of the very last flake that hit the ground had hit the streets to make sure that the pathways and the byways of our scholars was was clear. So, that first snowstorm in the early February, as a property owner in Elmont and who had to tackle some of the snow, and as I made my
023way to some of my neighbors and family members to help them out, and I passed by Dutch Broadway, our biggest property in the district, and I saw specifically that those custodians, I was just amazed at the wonderful job that they was doing in very difficult weather and and and elements. So, on behalf of this board, to the custodians, if you're in the room, for those that are not here, please carry the message back that we are eternally grateful not just for the work that you did in February, but for the work that you always do and probably never get full acknowledgement for. We just wanted to take the time out to say thank you very much. It was an amazing job. And if you're in our community chats, you'll notice that the Elmont School Elementary
024School District was never mentioned in terms of snow backup. So, I just all I'm going to say. I'm not throwing shade. I'm not throwing smoke at any other school district. I'm just saying this school district was well taken care of and that's and that's just a hearty thank you to our custodians, our engineers, and the leadership from Superintendent Smalls and as it filters on down. So, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. >> [applause] [applause] >> WE HAVE A FEW OF OUR CUSTODIAL staff in the in the room. So, please stand and be so you could be recognized. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU. BRING IN THE LEFT. HE HAS THE CLICKER. OH, YES. OKAY, very good. All right, thank you. So, we are entering the budget development season. And so, we are going to do
025the first public presentation of the 2026-2027 school budget. First, I want to thank the development of the budget is a collaborative process. I want to thank members of our administrative team, our principals, our directors, our assistant superintendents. I want to especially thank Dr. Messias. This is her first year as our assistant superintendent for finance and operations. And so, I want to thank her for her collaborative leadership in helping us to craft a budget that we believe will be financially responsible while maintaining and protecting the educational programs and opportunities that we offer to our to our students. It is only fitting tonight that we are starting the budget development presentation as we recognize our scholars for their creativity, for their hard work, and for how they made us proud each and every day. As we also
026recognize and highlight the Saturday Enrichment Program, one of the extra programs that our board and the budget supports each and every year to enrich the experiences that our students have. And also, as we recognize our stellar staff and our faculty and leadership in our buildings, because the budget is not simply a presentation of numbers, but it's a highlight and a presentation of our priorities and the things that we hold dear in this district. So, we started the budget development process. By the way, let me say we're going to tag team you tonight. So, Dr. Messias and I will do the presentation. We started the budget development process in October when our directors and principals were given their budget development sheets. They went back to their buildings and offices to look at what are some of
027the existing programs and cost that they have and what are some of the things that they're looking for in terms of new needs for the upcoming school year. We then start having our one-on-one meetings with our budget budget leaders or principals and directors in December. And from those meetings we're able to craft and take out some of the some of the wants and and come down to the needs of what we need to maintain our programs. And then from there we started drafting the budget in January. Our Board of Education received the first draft of the budget in February. And tonight we're having the first presentation of that draft. The board will be asked to adopt a budget in April. And we will have the budget vote on May 19th. We felt as I said
028before the budget is not just a collection of numbers. It's not just expenses and revenues but it's also a statement or expression of what we value and our aspirations. And one of the things that we value in this district is our strong educational programs and support we provide to all our students and the support and resources we provide to our teachers in the classroom each and every day. So the budget that we are presenting will allow for us to continue all the existing educational programs and services that has been authorized by the board over the years. It maintains all the positions that have been approved by the board and our collective bargaining agreement. And all the approved programs and policies that the board has adopted over the years. Our continued hope and dream is to
029maintain the excellent educational programs and services that we've offered to our students over the years and to continue to build on those programs and services to make them stronger and more effective for our students, teachers and staff. The budget will continue the implementation of our new science curriculum. If you remembered last year our teaching and learning committee engaged in a review of various science programs and at the end of the year they selected a hands-on science program and so the budget will continue the implementation of that program. We will continue the implementation of STEAM classes for grades four, five and six. This is one of the other initiatives that we undertook last school year and want to continue that initiative of providing our students with robust hands-on materials and coding opportunities on robotics and technology.
030The last board meeting we had we recognized some of our students who competed in LEGO robotics and our students continue to make us proud in those competitions and we believe by offering classes so such as STEAM uh for our fourth, fifth and sixth graders will continue that tradition for our students continuing to do well as they engage in those activities outside of the classroom. It will fund a pilot AI adaptive curriculum to individualize instruction. We know that AI is now one of the biggest things that's going on in the world and we want to start using some of those cutting edge programs and softwares. And so instead of jumping in full force, we're going to do a pilot to see which program how the program works with our children and to see if it fits
031and meet the needs of our students. We will continue to expand opportunities for our students to engage in inquiry-based learning through science research projects and to strengthen analytical thinking and experimental. We have our science program will continue to have those programs in the upcoming school year. The integration of our data management software system. One of the things last year we felt that we needed to do is to do more automation and so last year we started that process of more automation. One of the things for example with state assessments they're being done online and so we we have acquired a software that allows our teachers to assess our students online and to give them instantaneous data on how our students are doing so that they could make instantaneous decisions about how to better support our
032students. The Model UN program will continue to provide our students with opportunities to become global scholars to make sure that they continue to engage in critical thinking and problem solving. So that will continue. You saw the presentation from Mrs. Wohlford and Mrs. Boyd about the Saturday enrichment program. The budget that program is funded in the budget is in this year's next year's budget so we can continue to have that program next winter. And it will also fund our Saturday enrichment programs for our English language learners. And so all the programs that are currently in force in the district will continue in the upcoming school year. Last year one of the things we we a new initiative that we brought to the district we believe that it's not only important to attend to the academic needs
033and skills of our students but they are also attend to their creative skills to to provide them with enrichment opportunities such as the theater program. We had this year three performances all six buildings. It gave buildings we clustered buildings together so we gave our students to work with other buildings across the school district so they get to interface and work with each other before they go up to the high school. And so the budget will continue the theater program. It will fund translation services for our second language homes so we could better connect and work with our parents so that we can engage with our parents as partners in the education of our students. And it will fund additional support and staff members to support our students with disabilities. Last year one of the initiatives
034that we undertake in the district was to hire more special more physical education students. If the board will recall that up until last school year our students some of our students were getting one period of physical education each week. Now we have each students all classes in grades pre-K through grade six our students get two periods of physical education each week. And so the budget we're proposing will continue to enhance that and continue to provide that opportunity to our students. So we have the capital budget that includes additional funding for building and grounds and as the community is aware we are engaging in capital improvement work going on in our buildings and so some of the budget will will continue to fund some of those work that is going across all six of our campuses.
035It supports improvements in student transportation efficiencies. One of the things that we undertaken and we're going to start that implementation later this year is GPS tracking devices on all our school buses. We are upgrading our software to manage our fleet and so our Transfinder we are continuing to work on training our staff will be using that software so that we can route our buses in the most effective manner and to also be able to so that we could track where our buses are at any given time of the school day. And so that implementation is is is in earnest right now and will be in in full implementation for the upcoming school year. Now one of the things that we did last year again when our in our efforts to automate how we work as
036a school district is to adopt a software program for absence management and professional evaluations. And so we are continuing the automation process to make sure that we're working smarter and more effective in terms of how we are working with our staff members each and every day. So the budget has a three parts. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Messias. We're going to go through the three parts of the budget and the funding allocations for each of those parts of the budget. Dr. Messias. Thank you Superintendent Small. So in New York State it is required that we present this three-part budget format. The structure separates all district spending into three categories administrative, program and capital. And the purpose of this structure is transparency. It really allows the community to clearly see how school district
037resources are being allocated. And by breaking out the budget into these three components the New York State Education Department ensures that school districts across the state report financial information in a consistent way making it easier for communities to understand how their tax dollars are being spent. So the first portion of the three-part budget is the administrative component and this section represents the cost of the overall district management and governance. It includes expenses related to district leadership business operations, central administration, legal services, insurance and Board of Education expenses. And while this component is essential for school district operations, it typically represents the smallest portion of the overall budget. And our goal each year is to ensure that administrative spending remains responsible and efficient, allowing the majority of the resources to be focused on student learning. The
038next part of the three-part budget is the program component, and this represents the largest portion of a school district budget. This section funds direct educational experiences of students, and includes classroom instruction, special education services, instructional technology, guidance and counseling, library services, co-curricular and enrichment programs, and transportation. The enhancements discussed earlier in the presentation, such as the STEAM initiatives, robotics, Model UN, these are all part of this component. And ultimately, this portion of the budget represents the district's direct investment in student learning and academic outcomes. The third component is the capital component, component, and this supports the physical infrastructure of the school district. These funds ensure that our buildings remain safe, functional, and conducive to learning. So, this includes building maintenance, custodial operations, utilities, facilities improvements, and debt service, payments related to capital projects. And as
039mentioned earlier in the slide, this includes continued support for our new H back improvements and bond related application obligations. So, this slide shows how the overall budget is distributed among the three components. For the administrative slide, you'll see an increase of about 198,000, of which approximately 100,000 is directly related to the increases in property Yeah, property insurance premiums with the remainder attributed to contractual increases tied to services and salaries. For the program component, you'll see approximately $2.7 million increase, and that's directly related to the increase in contractual contractual obligations tied to services, collective bargaining agreements, and state and federal benefit costs. And for the capital component, you'll see about a $1.1 million increase, of which 720,000 is directly tied to the increases in principal and interest related to the $12 million bond that was issued
040in the fall. With the remainder of the increase attributed to increases in contractual obligations, again tied to services and collective bargaining agreements. Overall, we see the $4.1 million increase or 3.6%. So, this slide shows the percentage allocation across the three components, which is consistent, of course, with school districts across New York State. And um this balance demonstrates our continued commitment to prioritizing classroom instruction and student support services, with program being approximately 80% of the overall budget appropriations. So, now that we've discussed how the budget is structured in terms of expenditures, we'll look at how the district generates revenue necessary to support these programs and operations. School district revenues typically come from two major revenue sources, state aid and local property taxes. There are smaller allocations for local revenue, such as interest earning, tuition payments, and
041miscellaneous revenues, which we'll get into. So, first starting with the state aid figures, these figures presented are based on the governor's executive proposal, which was issued in January. At this stage of the process, these numbers are projections. They're not final allocations. The governor proposes the executive budget in January. That includes estimated state aid across New York State for all school districts. And now, between between January and April 1st, the New York State Senate and Assembly review and negotiate the proposal. Changes may be made to foundation aid, expense driven aids, and categorical aids. And as I said, the final New York State budget is typically adopted on April 1st. So, once the state finalizes its budgets, school districts receive updated aid runs from the state, which allow us to revise our revenue projections before the the
042board adopts the budget. So, these numbers shown tonight represent the best available estimates at this stage of the budget process, and they may change slightly once the state adopts the budget, but overall, we're seeing approximately a $3.8 million increase in state aid as compared to the prior to the current year. And state aid revenues represent approximately 39% of the district's overall revenue budget. So, jumping over to our local revenues, in addition to state aid, the school district receives local revenue from from various sources, interest earnings, tuition from non-resident students, Medicaid reimbursements, use of facilities, the Belmont agreement is is captured here. Um and other miscellaneous revenues. So, while this area of the overall revenue budget are smaller, they still play an important part in helping us offset costs by reducing the amount that must be
043raised through our local taxes. Overall, we're seeing about a $30,000 increase in local revenue as compared to the current year. And local revenues account for approximately 3% of the district's overall revenue. So, jumping over to the tax projection, this is the third major revenue source, the local tax levy. School districts in New York State operate under a tax cap law, which limits the amount that school districts can increase in taxes each year without voter approval above the cap. And so, several factors determine the allowable increase, including the tax base growth factor, inflation, and certain allowable exclusions, such as capital costs. But overall, we're seeing about a $1.2 million increase in tax revenue as compared to the current year, which totals 1.99% levy. And property tax revenue account for about 58% of our overall revenue. So,
044looking at the combined revenue sources, we're seeing about a $4.1 million increase or 3.6% as compared to the current year. And so, just looking at estimated revenues, you'll see that state aid accounts for approximately 39% of our revenue, property taxes at 58%, and our local revenue at about 3%. So, just a few talking points on the tax cap, the tax levy and the tax cap. For the 2026-2027 school year, the maximum allowable levy increase under the tax cap formula is 3.4%. However, the proposed budget includes a tax levy increase of 1.99%. So, that means that the district is proposing a tax levy that's 1.41% below the maximum allowable levy limit. So, in dollars, that represents approximately 841,000 less than the maximum permitted levy. And this reflects our continued commitment to balancing educational investment with taxpayer
045responsibility. And so, when we compare our proposed tax levy with those of our surrounding districts, the average permitted tax levy for Nassau County and Long Island is approximately 2.81%, and the average estimated levy increase is approximately 2.58%. So, at 1.99, the proposed Elmont tax levy increase will remain below the regional average, and this demonstrates our efforts to maintain strong educational programs while minimizing the impact on taxpayers. So, I'll now turn it over to Superintendent Small to discuss next steps. Thank you, Dr. Macias. So, over the next 2 months, or over the next month, we will have another presentation to the board at the April 14th board meeting. We are hoping that by that time, the state will have adopted its budget, and that will give us some finality in terms of what our state aid
046will be. And so, and between now and then, the board can give us feedback in terms of where we are, and in terms of whether or not changes are to be made. But right now, we would have to wait until uh we hear more from the state when the final budget is adopted by the state, and whether or not our our state aid numbers will change after the state budget is adopted. And then, on May 19th, the public will have the opportunity to vote for the budget on May 19th. Thank you. We'd be happy to take any questions that you may have. >> [applause] >> Okay. Do you have any questions? So, how does this How does this Which school's budget? Which one? How does this How does Is that what it may be at
047this point with the definition? I'm sorry, $30,000. I told I could talk to Let me think about to myself for a second. All right. Um We're ready. You ready, man? Okay, Madam President. I seek a motion to approve personnel agenda items 5.1 through 5.2. May I have a motion to approve personnel agenda items 5.1 through 5.2? Move. Thank you, Ms. Battle. Second. >> Second. Who was that? Ms. Douglas? Thank you, Ms. Douglas. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. There are no items for curriculum. Right. I seek a motion to approve or to approve support services agenda item 7.1. May I have a motion to approve support services agenda item 7.1? Move. Thank you. Dr. Massey. Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. I seek a motion to approve business agenda
048items 8.1 through 8.4. May I have a motion to approve business agenda items 8.1 through 8.4? Move. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. Thank you, Ms. Battle. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Items 8.5 are noted for the board minutes. So noted for the minutes. This concludes my report, Madam President. Thank you. Do we have any committee reports or informational items? Do we have any old business? Any new business? Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak? Good evening. I have a few questions. Okay. Um before you begin, I'll ask that you state your name for the record. And everyone, please keep in mind, please keep your comments to 3 minutes, and please refrain from using any employees' name, uh whether it be for praise or problem, we ask that your first
049course of action be with the building administration and then our superintendent. Please state your name for the record. My name is Amada. So, in regards to the staff when it comes to the training for monitors assigned to special needs transportation, giving to assist children with special needs, specifically with behavioral um issues or designations in the IEPs, how is the staff being trained to assert triggers, manage safety, reinforce positive environments on the bus? That's my first question. Okay. Um Mhm. Ms. Moore, you want to do them one by one? Our staff receive continuous professional development opportunities. As a matter of fact, on March 20th, we have our superintendent's conference day that's coming up. Uh part of that training will center around CPI, which is Crisis Prevention Institute, where we'll be training our staff about how to
050deal with um behavioral issues and how to inter- intervene in a safe and an effective way. Do you have one-on-one monitors for children with behavioral IEPs? If their IEP calls for them to have a one-on-one um aid, yes, they do. Okay, and that's in addition to the regular monitor on the bus. Uh that's in addition to to Well, some of our students, if they are special needs, they might have uh special bus services where there are aids on the bus for those for those students. I understand that, but there's a diff- Okay, so there's an aid and a monitor. Yes. Okay. Also, um in regards to the programs that you're um providing to the community, Mhm. specifically the AM and PM tutoring sessions for the children, how are these programs being um How are these
051programs What are the metrics to ensure that these programs are being fully um used and absorbed by the children in the community? Okay. Um so, we offer the AM and PM tutoring program, which started immediately following uh the winter recess. Uh those students were invited to the program. It depends on teacher recommendation. Teachers will look and see um during um the regular instructional day how students are doing um with our assessments that have that have been um uh administered to students, um the work that students do in class, and then the teachers will invite students to participate in those programs. Okay, but how does the program itself, the tutoring, the AM and the PM, how do you know that the community is being able to take advantage of this fully? Like, are children in attendance?
052How many Yes. kids are attending? Attendance Are teachers on time? Are the kids on time? Is it the AM better absorbed than the PM? Attendance is taken. Our teachers are on time because the students because our students are dropped off by parents, there might be some fluctuation in terms of when they get there, but attendance is taken, and if students do not participate or come, parents are called, and we open up slots to other students. Okay, again, what are the metrics? Are you offering uh on paper? Are you having >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me. Are you keeping up with who is attending, who is not attending, so we could better serve our students in the community? >> Yes. One of the one of the initiatives we have this year is the improvement on attendance.
053So, we are looking at our students um which students are are absent, whether it's the regular instructional day or whether or not they are absent from the extra support we're providing them. And as you know, we have social workers and guidance counselors in our buildings, and so part of that effort is to engage with our students, to engage with our parents, to get our students to school. We do know that when students miss school, they miss out. And so, we are trying as hard as we can to work with our parents, to work with our students to ensure that they're in school each and every day. Okay, but this separate from the tutoring program. Uh in the last session, it was pointed out that there was equipment that is going to be disposed of. What
054equipment is disposed of? Who deemed it obsolete? How much is it going to cost the district to dispose of the said equipment? And can this equipment be donated? Okay. I don't have the list of um the equipment that were slated for to be designated obsolete. But when we have equipment in the district that have not been used over many years, and they might cost too much to be repaired, we will generate a list, and we come to the board to designate them to be obsolete, and we get rid of them. If we can't donate them, we will donate them. But for the most part, if we have equipment that are not being used for many, many years, and we we know that that it would cost us too much to repair them, we do designate
055them. The board is the only authority to designate them as obsolete, and then we throw them out. Okay, so I would love to have a list of what equipment this is, because in the past, there have been like >> They're on the board list. The board will have that. When they're on the board list, when they're on the board agenda. Okay, and do you have more or less a time for that? Mhm. A foreseen time for you to have those items on the list. When I have discussions with our department heads, and they have deemed a certain equipment to be obsolete because they've been sitting in the basement for many years, and we need to clear space out, then we will come to the board with those equipment to have them designated. We cannot throw
056government property or district property. So, we will come and get permission from the board to get rid of them. Okay. Thank you for your questions, man. Okay. Good evening. Good evening, board members. Um my name is Michaela Beeman. I am a Clara um parent. I apologize for my tardiness. I missed your presentation, but I didn't know if this was included in it, so I want to reiterate it. >> Which one? Uh the presentation you were doing. Oh, oh, oh, yes. Oh, the budget presentation. So, um I would love to just emphasize the fact that 2 years to the day on March 13, 2024, we were in this room, and there was a discussion of selling this particular property. So, as you are considering what you're doing with the budget, please do keep in mind there
057are there are lots of discussions about the community center, and we are having a meeting in the library on April 6th to discuss that. So, if you know, members of the board, if you are available, we'd love to have you there just so you can hear updates of what's going on, you know, as they say, from the horse's mouth. Um and a bit of praise. Um my school, Clara Carlson, has been doing the park program this um month, and it is intense. My children are dressing up for reading. My children have Zoom at night for reading. Like, there's a color code. Like, we're prepping for our outfit. We're reading certain books in school, and then when they come home, there's like, my children are excited about reading. So, I wanted to mention the praise. >>
058[applause] >> Because it's it's it's clearly different from what we've done before. Like, this is this is intense, but they're on it. >> [laughter] >> But, you know, I I I appreciate the intensity about reading because, you know, our state figures aren't um as forgiving for, you know, reading and and comprehension and those things, and I know if you look at certain data, it says that the children are falling behind, and I see that the board, our school, is stepping up and emphasizing those things. So, I wanted to give that praise. Thank you so much for the creativity. >> Thank you, Ms. Feemster. >> [applause] >> And just to add to that, Ms. Feemster, we're excited about it, too. The board members have have even gone and visited buildings as guest speakers. So, we're all
059in on the intensity. So, I I really appreciate that. Um Ms. Capers, and thank you so much for your comments. I want to take this opportunity to really thank um Mr. Small, Mr. Mingo. I had the privilege of visiting a kindergarten class at Gotham this week, and it was phenomenal. Um I was in Who was it? Ms. Lufkin, um Ms. Musserullis, Ms. Wanamaker, and those kindergarten scholars were engaged. They were asking questions, and they were showing me their wonderful dance moves. It was amazing to get in the classroom, see the rigorous instruction that's taking place, um to see the the test prep, uh students utilizing technology, the small group instruction. You walk through the halls, and you can see that there's a a strong culture for learning that is created. Scholars are excited about reading,
060they're excited about learning. Um congratulations to the great work happening at every single school, and I had the privilege to see a esteem activity taking place, uh even a salsa dance um with our students. So, really congratulations and then and thank you uh to all of our teachers and the efforts um under your leadership, Mr. Small, and uh REALLY GREAT JOB. >> [applause] >> AND AND also to the custodial team, the building was spotless. It smells amazing. [laughter] Uh truly great work. Your your discussion about your visit reminded me, Clara in particular, we're getting ready for our career like week. We're emphasizing um education, emphasizing alums coming back, especially um alums of HBCUs, and we're really emphasizing individuals signing up for career day. So, if you do have any time, it's May 27th, please consider,
061you know, signing up, and anyone in the community, please consider signing up because we did have to postpone this because we didn't have enough volunteers, and that was so frustrating that like, our children weren't able to receive a career day and presentations, and I I know it's hard. I get it. I literally got off the train myself. But, if you can carve out a little bit of time just to feed into our future scholars and show them the things that we are all doing, it would really mean a lot to the PTA PTSA and our children, most importantly. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Feemster. >> [applause] >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, the board, superintendent. I am the president. My name is Freddy Ricks. I'm the president of the custodial association. So,
062I think I speak on behalf of the members and the custodians and cleaners for you guys recognizing the hard work that we do in the schools and keeping the grounds clean for the snow because it was a lot. And Kabiria called me and said, "Ricks, are you coming in spending night?" No, I see you in the morning. >> [laughter] >> But, they got it done. So, I think they would You know, they told me to thank you guys for recognizing. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. HI, MS. CRAIG. GOOD EVENING, CHIEF OF CRAIG. Um Yeah, thank you. >> [laughter] >> I didn't bring my timer. Um just first honor of Women's History Month, um I want to acknowledge a community member, um which was Venecia Williams. And last time I
063omitted her name cuz I wanted to make sure that she was comfortable with that. And this is one of our senior citizens who came multiple times, almost over a year, to get this board to resolve in action. And I want to acknowledge her because we mentioned so much about people who are being paid to do things. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when we have people who are actually sacrificing, I would like to acknowledge her for Women's History. Um along the vein of inaction, um last time I was here, I asked for um the community to be provided with some transparency about your policy writing process. And Ms. Capers, you delegated that to the superintendent. Clearly, he knows that he doesn't have to respond to you or to me. So, I'm continuing to
064ask for this board to prepare something so that the community can be made aware. It shouldn't even be a me thing. That's something the community should be told what your policy Excuse me, what your process is for policy writing. And along the vein of the policy that I was asking for, um I was asking for a policy for um feedback. Now, our school My school did work with me to get me my results, but I'm one of probably almost 900. And I think that what I'm learning is that people don't know their rights. But, Ms. Capers, because people don't know their rights, doesn't mean their rights should be ignored. Parents should be able to know what's happening in the classroom. My daughter, I can use as an example, had three benchmark ELA assessments, which is
065our reading um standard. And when I tell you I learned so much about her in the classroom, that as much as I do with her at home, I was enlightened. That's not right. It should not And this has been years of talking about bringing the ELA assessments to parents. However it's done, you want to save paper, whatever it is. Parents should be informed. If they're assessed in September, that should come home. If they're assessed assessed in November, that should come home. There are no secrets in education. And this is something I'm continuing to ask for. Um along the vein also of um reading. One of the things I also realized is that during the summer, some of you are aware that I filed a complaint against the the district regarding the actual reading curriculum, and
066I was told through a legal person that there was something there. When I looked at the website at that time, it said Ready Gen was our program, which is comparable to what people in this region use. Coming to find out we're still using Fountas and Pinnell. I don't see anything in the budget for continuing I don't know. So, my question is still, where are we with a formal, research-backed reading curriculum? Not, my teachers are great, my teachers are awesome, but something formal and structured that we should have as taxpayers. My teachers are great. My teachers are awesome. Um so, let me just say this. Uh we have said over and over that the issue of reevaluating our reading curriculum is something that we will um endeavor to do. I think one of the things that
067um this year, we have a teaching and learning committee that is looking at our RTI / MTSS uh program. We need to get that done first, right? So, we can make sure that we are quality um we are looking at quality data in terms of what's happening from one building to the next. Next year, what our goal is to do is to look at various reading programs um to see what is out there in the market and whether or not it will meet the needs of our students. That process will start next year. But, I will also say to you, as I've said over and over, that I believe that the best resource we put in our classrooms to support our students are the teachers who are there. The teachers are the best resources that
068we will put in front of our students. So, I do will say over and over that we believe our teachers are are fantastic, and they're using the resources that we've given them to the best of their ability to meet the needs of our students. It does not mean that we will not continue to review and evaluate all the instructional programs we have in the district and to see whether or not those programs are meeting the needs of our pro of our students. We will continue to do that um next school year. I cannot give you a timeline in terms of when we will adopt a program, but we'll start that review process next year. In terms of the issue you've raised about policy, the district has a a policy committee made up of two of
069the board members sitting here and other administrative of the district. One of the things that we're doing right now is undertake a review of existing policies that we have in the district. Some of the policies are over 20 years old. And so what we're doing is we're working with NISBA to review the policies. And once we've reviewed and make revisions, we send them to legal counsel to review to make sure we're complying with the law. And that process takes some time. In addition, as you spoke about assessments, when we you we're I do agree with you that what we do here is not a secret and we try to work and we will endeavor to work with our parents. If parents want assessment data and they request it, we give it to them. We also
070have the portal where we upload a lot of the assessment that we have will upload to the portal. So the work you're talking about is a work in progress. We want to get parents hands on the assessments we've given to our students in a timely manner. And so the the portal the parent portal will be will be part of that tool of doing that. If parents want hard copy, they could request hard copies of those results and we'll send them home to them. So we are hearing the feedback we've got we've we've been given and we're working uh seriously to ensure that we're being responsive to the those feedback. Okay, just one quick thing though. People cannot No, you had people come up multiple times with extended time. That is not That's correct. What's your
071question, Miss This is your last question. you like to time me, but you need to be indiscriminate. No, no, no, but I'm saying you have people coming back. >> Miss Craig? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm just saying like be consistent, please. So anyway, what I was going to say is if people don't know what to ask for, they're not going to ask you. This is an immigrant community. We also have people who are first-time parents who may have no idea that their children are being assessed or have been assessed right as of now three times so far in English language arts. They're not going to ask because they don't know to ask. I know to ask. No. No, it's not a question. It was a response to him saying that parents can ask. They're not going
072to ask because they don't know to ask. So I'm asking and then you, Miss Capers, because you've been here 6 years. And often when I bring things to you, you say I'll get back to you. I'll get back to you. You said last time he will get You don't get back. You mentioned a comment about you being paid. You guys are paid in power. You don't I mean Salary is nice. You're paid in power. I have children Some have children, Mr. Khan, Mr. Ramos. That's the value. That's the investment. That's the stock. So no, we can't pay you money, but I'm asking you that with the power of the pen that you have, you accept that as a responsibility and actually respond, not keep putting people off. Thank you, Miss Craig. No, thank you. Your
073friend can come now. Thank you. I know she's going to talk. Does anyone else have any comments for the board? Mr. Hines. Very quickly, hi everyone. Um good evening everyone. My name is Robert Hines. I manage community affairs for the New York Racing Association. Um Madam President has been inviting me for at least the last year, I'd say, maybe a little longer. A little longer than that, I'd So this is my first, but it it certainly won't be my last. Um I want to thank her for inviting me. I want to thank her also for kind of welcoming me into the Elmont community and making connections with the superintendent, members of his staff, um and other kind of leaders at the PTA level and the school level. Um you know, those have allowed us to
074start collaborating with certain schools on you know, certain events and even working with the superintendent's staff on hopefully some good news that we'll have in the coming months about how we can start using Belmont Park um as kind of a resource for the local community, educational and also just kind of for fun, right? Um but yeah, that's all I wanted to say. Thank you for having me and thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Mr. Hines and welcome. Welcome. >> [music] >> Anyone else? Mr. Hines, you look like you were getting up. No? No. Okay. All right. >> Miss Hall is getting up. >> Okay. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'm sure I'm no stranger to anyone in this room. However, my name is Claudine Hall and I'm a lifelong resident of the Elmont community. I
075serve as the president of the Jamaica Square Civic Association. And this evening, I would like to wish all of the women in this room a happy Women's Day Month. But especially to my devastating divas of my wonderful sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. And I know there's about four of five of us in here this evening. So Oh lord. To my sisters, happy sisterhood month. In the words of our former first lady, Michelle Obama, there is no limit to what we as women can accomplish. And because of all the women in here, whether you be on the transportation committee, the school board, teachers, administration, custodial staff, you have done a great job. And for this month, I applaud each and every one of you for all that you have done. And in closing, I'd like to
076say, in the words of Serena Williams, every woman's success should be an inspiration to No glasses. to another. We're strongest when we cheer each other on. So this evening, ladies, I bid you a farewell, a happy Women's History Month, and continue to do what you do best, educate and protect our community. Thank you AND GOOD NIGHT. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, MISS HALL. IN ALL OF MY 6 YEARS, as someone pointed out on the board, I am happy to serve you all and we will continue doing that as a board. Our next regular board meeting of the Board of Education is Tuesday, April 14th at 8:00 p.m. at Stewart Manor. May I have a motion to adjourn? Thank you, Dr. Massie. Can I have a second? Thank you. Miss Douglas, all in favor? I. Motion
077carries at 9:27.