001Um, we don't need a motion. No, this is [Music] good evening everyone and I want to welcome you to our July I first audit committee meeting. We do pledge now or later. Pledge now or later. Well, it's an official board meeting, so we can we can do pledge. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. [Music] All right. [Music] We will now have Mr. Michael Noraki, managing partner, and Mr. Greg Couser, senior manager of Naraki Smith LLP. You're on. Thank you very much. [Music] Good evening everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you this evening. Uh incidentally uh just for the
002record um Mr. Howser because of the change in the day, he's on vacation this week. So I'm very happy to have have with us uh Mr. Michael Fizari who's the supervisor on the engagement. So uh you'll get now you've have have an opportunity to meet yet another person that is part of our audit team. So uh in any event uh um my name is Michael Naraki. I'm a partner in the accounting firm Narrai Smith. And first and foremost, on behalf of my entire firm, um I want to take this opportunity to thank the board of education, the administration, and the community of the Elmont Union Free School District for retaining us as your independent external auditors. It's truly a pleasure and privilege to serve this district. Tonight's audit committee meeting is required by New York
003State Education Law. Under that law, the uh uh audit committee of the board of education is required to meet with the external auditor prior to the commencement to final audit procedures to make sure you've been given a presentation of the overall audit plan. Uh an opportunity to ask any questions and just to make sure that you're comfortable that the auditors um are ready to perform the annual audit. Little bit of accounting humor. I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year, a happy new fiscal year. Today's July 1st. So, um, today we begin, uh, the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026. Um, we're here today to talk about the audit, um, of the district's financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2025, which ended yesterday. Um, I know you've got a big agenda tonight,
004so to help you, we've put together a little package. Everyone should have our little presentation. If not, let uh Michael know and we have extra ones to give you and I'll go through our prepared comments and then uh at that point we can open uh it up for um any questions. I know that there are some uh uh new board members. Congratulations on being elected to uh serve your district. I want to stop for a moment just to kind of give you an idea who we are uh and what we do because the district has a number of different auditors and everyone fulfills a a different role. As I mentioned uh the district at the end of its fiscal year which ended yesterday puts together financial statements. Financial statements are really uh presenting the results
005of the district's operations for the recent fiscal year. Um, you also put together a uh a financial condition as to uh your assets, your obligations, your fund balances or whatever as of that date and they are part of detailed financial statements that are ultimately submitted to the New York State controller as well as the New York State Education Department. We'll talk about timetable, but um those reports are all due in Albany by October 15th. The financial statements are prepared by the uh by the district by the district's uh uh financial and accounting individuals and our job as certified public accountants. Mr. Naki, can you hold one moment? Sure. Please come in and be seated. The meeting started. [Music] There's some confusion about seating. Okay. Thank you, sir. Um uh our firm, Naki Smith, is comprised
006of certified public accountants. We're certified by the uh New York State Board of Accountancy. Uh and we're members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. And essentially, we're part of the the overall structural framework for accounting principles for financial statements presented in the United States of America. So, the financial statements that are going to be produced for the Elmont Union Free School District are prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles that are put forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Our job as certified public accountants is to review the financial statements, uh, perform testing, perform an overview of the district's policies and procedures, and make sure that these financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. So the scope of our
007work and I'm starting on page one uh is to do an audit of the financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2025 in accordance with United States general accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards. We will also do a single audit of the district's major federal programs for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 in accordance with the federal office of management and budget uniform guidance. This audit work relates to your federal funds. So the federal uh funding that you receive from the United States government for many of your programs requires a separate audit in conjunction with the audit of the financial statements which we perform as part of our work. We anticipate issuing a management letter with any findings, recommendations for improving accounting procedures and internal controls. And of course, our engagement includes
008not only tonight's meeting, but a uh a final meeting with the audit committee and a presentation of the audit results uh in a public session. Uh page two is our overall audit plan. It's in various phases. I'm not going to go through every line item. Uh it's essentially consistent on a year-to-year basis. We began the planning process back in May. Uh we went through the results of last year's audit started developing our uh our programming uh updating our risk assessment risks of uh uh you know what what are the most significant areas that we need to focus on with respect to doing our work um and had some preliminary discussions with the district as far as u timing uh and of course tonight's planning meeting with the audit committee. Our preliminary audit procedures which are
009just about done. We have a couple of more things that still need to be um completed, but uh during that work, we do what we call walkthroughs of your accounting procedures and internal controls to make sure we have a good understanding as to what the district's processes are. We do transactional testing of uh different items that occur throughout the course of the year. Um we do some preliminary substantive testing where we actually will vouch and look at support for expenditures made during the year particularly in the area of uh of capital uh acquisitions if you will. Uh we begin our preliminary single order compliance work. Um and we read all the minutes of the board of education. So part of our job is to read the minutes of your meetings and make sure if there's
010anything that is of a fiscal nature that requires consideration in the financial statements or disclosure uh in the footnotes that we take those into consideration. our final audit work which will begin the end of July. We will um we will be doing detailed uh procedures on the year end balances um on your statement of financial position as well as your statement of activities. Um we will also look at events subsequent to June 30th 2025 to see if anything related to 2025 and needs to be considered. Um and at that point we'll be drafting the financial statements and uh management letter. uh and be in a position to get you a draft of the financial statements by sometime in uh uh early to midepptember so that we have plenty of time to be able to get
011that filing uh up to New York State by the October 15th deadline. Uh page three is a detailed critical date schedule. You could see some of the critical dates including um our preliminary audit committee meeting tonight. um the the district closing the books and records to be ready for us for audit by July 28th. Uh we expect to complete our field procedures by uh August 8th and to have a draft of the financial statements for you by uh August a draft for the district by August 24th. And then once the district gets back to us with comments, which should be around September 5th, we'll have a draft you. So, expect sometime in early September, you'll be getting a draft of the financial statements for us. Page four gives you a little bit more details of
012the preliminary audit work that we've done to date. Um, uh the uh the purchasing uh and the revenue and payroll testing. We're still waiting for some information from the district right now. I think we need to get certain laptops or other u followup or whatever. So we expect that within the next week or two well before we begin our final procedures that our preliminary work will be uh completed. Um a lot of the detail work that we do is required by uh auditing standards such as testing, budget transfers, journal entries, etc. All of which are presented over here. Uh I'm happy to report that as a result of procedures thus far, we've had no uh exceptions or unusual items that require uh further consideration. We're required uh under the um the New York State guidelines
013for the uh the audit committee meetings to give you an ideas to our audit procedures. Page I'm not going to go through every uh detailed procedure, but page five will give you an idea as to the type of work that we're doing um on your assets or your economic uh uh resources including cash uh and receivables which we confirm 100% to make sure the balances are accurate. uh your property and equipment. Uh as I said, we started preliminary work and we'll continue at the end of the year to vouch support to make sure that uh the amounts that are present in the financial statements are well supported. Uh we'll look at your accounts payable and acred expenses uh obligations to the various uh pension systems, the teachers retirement system, the employees retirement system. We'll look
014at your debt activity during the year to make sure that everything is being done in accordance with your debt agreements. And of course, we'll look at fund balance, something that's always getting a tremendous amount of attention. Throughout New York State, we'll make sure that um all of these balance are properly stated. In terms of uh your revenues, uh we get excellent coverage. Um we confirm 100% of your property tax revenues. We confirm all amounts with uh New York State as well as any other granting agencies and then we will uh we will apply analytical procedures where we look at any variations and unusual trends on a year-to-year basis and a budget to actual basis. One quick note um we do a lot of work uh through the computer. Um we as many other accounting firms
015have very sophisticated uh what we call data mining software which we're able to run through your system uh and it assists us in looking for any unusual transactions, any unusual trends or things that need further investigation. We'll get almost a diagnostic report that are that we will go through and we'll clear each point just to make sure there's an appropriate explanation uh to make sure that things are in order. And finally on expenditures, uh your biggest uh expenditure obviously being salaries and salaries related. We reconcile all of that to your uh quarterly tax filings. Um with uh with the Internal Revenue Service and again we use a lot of our data mining uh software to um look for anything else that uh uh may need further investigation. There was one change in accounting principles which
016I'm which I'm supposed to uh bring you up to date on. and it had to do with the accounting for compensated absences. Um, long story short, it's not going to have any material impact on the district. You've been doing the appropriate accounting all along. So any um any crude vacation or compensated absences the way that the district has been recorded up to now is in accordance with the new guidelines. We're also required to report to you significant risk areas. It's in our engagement letter. Um, federal funds is always a risky area because we want to make sure that uh they're being properly accounted for. Um, any allocations that are being made from the general fund to the federal funds are properly supported. Uh, and we'll be reviewing those. Uh, fund balance reserves. We want to
017make sure that they're in accordance with uh, school district law and that they're properly stated. and revenue recognition um for all entities not just school districts but private entities is uh is always a significant area that accountants are required to identify as a significant audit and risk area. That does it for our prepared comments. I want to thank you very much. I want to thank everyone here for their kind attention to our presentation. At this point, I'm happy to uh entertain any questions you may have on our audit plans or uh any other uh observations you may have about the audit. Thank you. I I don't have a question, just a request. One of my requests in the past reports was that in areas where you mention an interview of personnel, if you could specify
018if that interview was done uh in person, if it was uh through a email communication or if it was through uh done virtually. That's about it. Just in certain uh previous reports, there have just been mention of personnel that had been re interviewed. I'd just like to know how that interview was conducted. That's it. Do you have a question? So, we will typically do that through either email, over the phone, in person. It just depends on the right individual availability. Yep. So, so the final report usually does mention quite a bit of personal interviews and I just like that going forward to be specified how the interview or what type of interview it was. I I have in the past. I I do know that because in the past I have received your surveys to
019fill them out. Yes. And return them to you. But just if we could specify that, that'd be great. Okay. So, Miss C, just to make sure that we we get it exactly right, what we'll do when we come in to do had the final audit committee meeting as part of our presentation, we'll give you a summary of the types of interviewing and the techniques that we have, whether we had email um correspondence in terms of inquiries. we met with people uh in person you know or we had you know telephone conversation whatever just to give you an idea of the type of uh you know the manner in which the audit was conducted. That's perfect. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. We'll take care of it. Any other questions from the committee? All right.
020I did um get a lovely email this afternoon from your new school business official um Linda and I um I was very touched and I replied right away. Uh we're very excited uh for the opportunity to uh to work with her and we just we we want to make sure that uh you know everyone at Naki Smith uh wishes you well and uh we've worked a little bit with you before uh in the past and um uh to the extent there's anything we could do to help you with your transition or whatever. Don't hesitate to contact us at any time. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And as the song goes, we'll see you in September. All right. Thank you very much. Have a good night. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I think Oh, you have to
021vacate the chair. Oh, she's going to run the meeting. Oh, right. Right here. Right. All right. Ready? Introduce yourself. Good evening everyone. My name is Anna Barbagallo. I'm the district clerk and I would like to welcome you to the Elmont Board of Education Reorganization Meeting of July 1st, 2025. We will forego the pledge of allegiance since we just had the pledge of allegiance. This year, uh, we had three trustees that were elected to the board of education on May 20th, 2025. Dr. Shirley Wheeler Massie, Miss Stephanie Douglas, and Mr. Zahed Khan. Each newly elected trustee will serve for a term of three years beginning July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. At this time, I will administer the oath of office. So, I would like to ask you to stand and join me in the
022center. [Music] Okay. Okay. Ready? I do. Repeat after me. I do solemnly swear I doly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of trustee of the office of trustee of the board of education of the board of education According to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. Congratulations. Your officials were [Applause] [Music] At this time, I'd like to seek a motion for nomination for president of the board of education. Do I have a motion? I'd like to nominate uh Tiffany Capers
023as president. Is there a second? I second that. Are there any other nominations for the office of president? You have any to accept the nomination? Miss Capers, do you accept the nomination? I do. Okay. Are there any other nominations for the office of president? Okay. Hearing none, nominations are now closed. I call for a vote for the office of president of the board of education. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. Congratulations, Madam President. [Applause] Not yet. Not yet. sitting here. I'd now like to call for nomination for the office of vice president of the board of education. Do I have a motion? I motion to nominate myself, Angel Ramos. [Music] Is there a second? There is a second. I also motion to nominate myself, Dwayne Palmer. Okay. Are there um
024any vote to accept? Do you accept the nomination? I do. Yes. Okay. Okay. So, now it goes to a vote. Um we have a first and a second for Mr. Ramos. We have a first for uh Mr. Pompa. We need a second for Mr. Palmer. Second. Second from Mr. Parma. [Music] Okay. So, we'll put that to a vote now. Uh, first we'll vote for one at a time. Okay. All in favor for Mr. Ramos as vice president of the board of education. All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstensions? Wait, did we get a second for Mr. Yes, we did. Mr. Palmer gave Mr. Ramos a second. No, no, no. seconding his nomination. He was adding a second. Okay. So, we have Mr. Ramos who nominated himself. Do we have a second mo a second? Does
025someone second the motion to nominate Mr. Ramos as vice president? We need a second on that motion. [Music] Okay. So, okay. So, we have Mr. Palmer. We have uh Mr. Palmer also nominated himself and Miss Battle second that motion. Okay. So, we call for a vote. Um, all in favor of Mr. Palmer as vice president of the board of education. All in favor? I I I Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. Mr. Palmer is vice president of the board of education. Okay. I'd like to administer the oath to the president and the vice president. [Music] Is your right hand together or separately? Together. Together. We're together forever in these four walls. Okay. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the
026Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of president and the office of vice president of the office of vice president and right according to the best of my ability congratulations President [Applause] [Music] here. [Music] some maladies on there. Mr. Palmer will have yours uh prepared for next time. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I'm back. Are we on? Yes, we are. Okay. All right. New folder. [Applause] Oh, yes. I do that. All right. Um, now that we have our uh trustees and we have our board, we need to uh seek a motion for the nomination of our high school representatives. Sure.
027I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong page. Oh. Uh, yes. May I have a motion to nominate a representative to the Swanica Central High School District? I would like to nominate Miss Lynette Battle. I second that. Okay. Miss Lynette Battle, do you accept the nomination? Yes. Okay. And uh need a second another nomination. I'd like to nominate Tiffany Capers to go to the high school board. I second that. Okay. Got a lot of work to do. I accept the nomination. Okay. Are there any other nominations? [Music] No. Seeing no other nominations, nominations are now closed. All in favor of Miss Lynette Battle and Tiffany Capers. Make sure you take one at a time. One at a time. Oh, one at a time. Okay. So, all in favor of Miss Lynette Battle representing the Elmont Union Free
028School District as the representative at the Salanica Central High School District. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay. Motion approved. Congratulations. All in favor of Tiffany Capers as the representative to the Sonica Central High School District representing the Elmont Union Free School District. All in favor? I I Okay, I guess I'm also in favor. I now declare Tiffany Capers and Miss Lynette Battle as the representatives of the Sana Central High School District Board of Education. You want to administer the O now? I think it's high school. No. Okay. Sorry. All right. Um, can we take a moment to turn the air on? Yeah, please. And thank you. [Music] Okay, we're going right into the department of officers. Yep. Four part 4.1. Yes. All right. May I have a motion to approve item 4.1, appointment of
029officers? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. And second. Second. Thank you, Miss Battle. All in favor? I [Music] Okay, motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.2 additional appointments? Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? I. Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve item 4.3 impartial hearing officers and designate a board member as a committee of one on behalf of the board? The designate is Miss Lynette Battle. May I have a motion? Move. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.4 official bank deposiitories? Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second, Miss Battle. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve 4.5 board of education
030meeting dates for the 2526 school year? Who's that? I'm sorry, Mr. Ramos. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. All in favor? I. Thank you. Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.6, the official newspapers? Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? I. Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.7 committee on special education? Move. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. Second. Thank you, Miss Battle. All in favor? Motion carries for May. I have a motion to approve 4.8 authorizations. Move. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Farmer motion car. All in favor? I. Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.9 uh board committees and the board committees as listed in your agenda?
031Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. All in favor? I. Motion carries. All right. May I have a motion to approve item 4.10, board memberships? I'll move it. Can I move it? Yeah, Tiffany. And can I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Battle. All in favor? I. Motion carries. May I have a motion to approve 4.11 resolutions? Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. All in favor? I. All right. Thank you much. Motion carries. This concludes the reorganization portion of the meeting. We will now continue with the regular meeting of July, July 11th. All right, we got all of those done. All right, just bear with us a little longer than usual. All right, no need to do a welcome. We've already welcomed you all. Uh
032uh district clerk, please note that all board members are present. [Music] May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular uh meeting on June 10th, 2025? June 10th meeting minutes. May I have a motion? Move. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second. Second, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Do we have any correspondence? Yes. Correspondence was given to the board for consideration. Thank you. [Music] Where's this agenda? I need this agenda. You don't have the agenda? No, I I only have the reorg agenda. Okay. I can't follow along there. Okay. All right. No worries. All right. I'm sorry. Where did we leave off? We We did no correspondence. No correspondence. Thank you. It's it's in your in your folders. Oh, we received the correspondence. The board has all received any applicable correspondence.
033Are there any audience members who would like to speak on agenda items only? All right, I'll turn the meeting over to Mrs. Small. President's comments high school report. There is no high school report. Um, everyone have a great summer and the high school had beautiful graduation ceremonies this weekend, so we don't have a report from them. Where is my report? Oh, here we go. Hold on. Yep. You do have a report. However, I do want to share, do we have any basketball fans in the house? Did anybody um root for OKC Oklahoma City? The reason I want to bring that up is a former student from Elmont is the assistant coach for Oklahoma City. I will not destroy his name. He has a beautiful name and I will not do it justice. But the brother
034has done Elmont very proud. So I just wanted to bring There you go. He's alumni. So just wanted to point that out. Very good. All right. All right. So, that's my high school report. All right. All right. Good evening, everyone. And once again, welcome to our July meeting. As we close out another successful school year, I want to take a moment to say thank you to all our staff and board members, new and old. This year once again you all showed up not just physically but with your hearts, your patience, your commitment to our children and fam and your commitment to our children and families. Now the summer is upon us and we feel it today. Um and all of you have earned every bit of Rex rest, relaxation and recharge that you can fit
035into the next two months. So on behalf of the school board, I thank you all for a wonderful school year. I wish you all a safe, joyous, and restful summer. I'm honored to once again be serving as your president, and I'm looking forward to working with my new board. So, let's get started. Thank you. My turn. Yep, your turn. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much uh for being here. Let me start off by congratulating Madame President for your re-election as um the president of the board of education. I'm looking forward to working with you again. Congratulations to Mr. Palmer on your election to the vice presidency of the board of educations and I'm also looking forward to working with you as well. I would like to welcome our new board members, Dr. Shirley Wheeler
036Massie, uh, Ms. Stephanie Douglas, Mr. Zahed Khan. Welcome. Welcome to the board of education. We're looking forward to our collaborative work together as we'll continue to serve the students, staff, and families of the Elmont School District. And I would be remiss if I did not welcome the newest member to our team, Dr. Linda MSAS, who is now our new assistant superintendent for uh finance and operations. Welcome. As Mrs. Capers mentioned, we completed another successful school year last Thursday. I want to thank members of the board of board of education for your unwavering support as you have always done in supporting the administrative team, our teachers and staff, our parents and students to help us to have another successful year. I want to thank our administrators, our principles, our assistant principles, our directors. I want to
037thank our teachers for your hard work and dedication. I want to thank our parents for being partners in the education of our students. All of us working together as the the village of Elmont, right? As we have worked together to continue to serve our students and families. And so I want to thank you for helping and guiding us through a very successful school year. We are looking forward to another spectacular year uh for 2025 2026. While school is out on summer break, however, the work of our district continues. And so today we welcomed approximately 700 students back into our buildings for our summer enrichment program where we have over close to 500 students registered for the next four weeks to be given all sort of enrichment activities to um um help them to take programs
038and engage in activities that caters to their strengths and their um their needs. And so we're looking forward to the work that will be done over the next four years for our extended school year program. We have over 100 students who are registered who um while they all didn't show up today, we have them registered for the program for this for the next six weeks. And while GYO is not sponsored by our district, it is being housed in our building and it is being staffed by some of our our staff members. and we have over 190 students who are registered for the GIO program. Again, we are working diligently and we're working hard to support our students during the summer months. And so, we're looking forward to a very successful summer. I want to thank
039our staff members who have made the choice to give up time with their families and friends during the summer to continue to provide very critical support to our students over the summer months. I say a big thank you and they're doing it in the in the heat. Um we had air conditioning units delivered today at at Covert Avenue School. They were installed so our students will get some relief from the heat. Um and they are also doing it while all six buildings are continuing to be renovated. And so while the work of teaching and learning continues, the work of renovating and reinventing our buildings to make them more purposeful, more comfortable for our students this fall continues. And I want to thank our district. I want to thank our residents because this is being done
040because of the support they've continuously provided the school district. So I want to say thank you to our community. And that is my report. We will now get into the action items for the board. Thank you. I seek a motion uh to approve personnel items 4.1 through 4.2. May I have a motion to approve personnel items 4.1 through uh 4.2? Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. All in favor? I motion carries. Okay, Madame President, um as part of the agenda items in 4.1, those include the appointment of a significant amount of new employees. If there are any of them in the room, we'd like them to stand so we could see uh some of the new employees who will be joining our ranks come September. Um please stand. Thank you.
041Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. What's your name? James. James. Welcome to the family. Thank you. I seek a motion to approve curriculum items uh 5.1. May I have a motion to approve curriculum curriculum items 5.1? [Music] Move. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. Yep. Miss Battle. Second. Thank you. All in favor? I I. Motion carries. I seek a motion to approve support services item 6.1. May I have a motion to approve support services item 6.1? Move. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? I. Motion carries. I seek a motion to approve business items 7.1 through 7.5. May I have a motion to approve business items 7.1 through 7.5? Move. Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? I. Madame President, this concludes my report. Thank you. Does anyone have
042any committee reports orformational items? Yes. Yes, sir. Good evening. I'm uh doing the facilities committee/bond committee report. Just wanted to update everyone that regarding building completions in classrooms. Uh from 60 to 62% uh we have Clara H. Carlson, Covert and Dutch. 90% to 90 90 to 94% is Stewart and Alden Terrace and 100% Gotham Avenue. Uh just keep in mind that some of these classrooms like you have like car Carson is 47 classrooms. So that's why it's uh you know they got a lot a lot of work to do over there. 4729 we're done. So I just wanted to give you a uh an idea. Uh all are on schedule with the exception of one. Stewart Manor is ahead of schedule with the uh construction and as uh superintendent had mentioned the uh heating ventilation
043you know they did supply that emergency uh AC uh HVAC systems are 75% completed. Uh in our district the goal is to complete everything during the summer. And that's all for my committee report. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Grandma, does anyone have any old business? Does anyone have any new business? Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak? And we ask that you limit your comments to 3 minutes. And we like to remind you that you should not mention any employees name at the microphone. If you have a concern, whether it be pride, praise, or problem, your first contact should be with the building administration. Hi. Hi, Natasha Miller Deil Avenue. I'm a Dutch Broadway parent. So, thank you, Angel, for the or Mr. Ramos, sorry. Um, for the update on the
044building, the bond, and everything like that. Dutch Broadway is extremely overheated. You have 200 students there for the GIO program. They have a math program as well. It's been hot since like the end of school. It's unbearable. And I think as of January, we've only been at I think 67% completion. So that number that you just said hasn't changed for the HVAC for Dutch as of January, right? You don't know. So I have every all the school buildings that that's where we're at 75% completion. So for a further breakdown I I can get you that another time. Yeah. Okay. So in January I know it was at 67%. So I wanted to know where we were with that. Are we going to be ready for the fall and what can be done for the summer
045since I guess Clara or Covert got air conditioning? No. So um we are working with PSEG um for the installation of the transformers that will power the new um heating heating and air conditioning system. We were anticipating them having some of them installed for the summer program and we were informed um right before uh the summer program started that they would not be able to meet the deadline to for the summer program. It is our expectation that it will be done prior to the start of school. Okay. So what we had to do um actually over the weekend is order uh portable units for the enrichment program. Those units were delivered to us uh today and were installed today because we recognized that with the heat wave that we experienced last week um that we
046had to do something. um what we are currently having now at um uh Dutch Broadway, we have two classrooms that we're using as cooling stations. I've asked our facilities director to try to um see if we could get a one or two more portable units to put in classrooms so that we could rotate the children in and out of those classrooms over the next few weeks. So maybe those cooling stations during the school year weren't that cool. But we we're trying to do the best we can. I understand. So, we have two classrooms now that have AC units in them. And Mr. Walker will be working to get a few more portals um for for um Dutch Broadway. Okay. Um so that our students even though it's not our program, but they're still our children
047and so we could have them rotate in and out of the um um the cooling areas, but we are on track to have it for the fall. We are as we we are now dependent on PSEG. So I want to be very careful not to make a commitment to something that I cannot fulfill. So we are at the mercy of PSENG just like they indicated to us that they would be here prior to the start of the summer program and they were not able to meet that deadline. We are anticipating and hoping that they will be here able to meet the deadline for the start of school in September. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Keith Hall and I have uh first to comment. I'd like to
048congratulate the district for finally hiring a permanent business official and also a treasurer. I've worked with both of them previously. Both excellent choices, both completely professional, above board. Um so related to that, I'm kind of questioning why on tonight's agenda. Uh there is another year-long commitment to the previous business consultant and um a couple of additional uh questions. Uh well, this year will finally will we get a line by line budget posted on the website. This was requested last year. We were told it was going to be posted. It was not. We still had the same presentation that was always posted. And also um in regards to the payment from the arena partners, which was presented to the community as something that was supposed to decrease the tax levy and now it is just seemingly
049part of revenue. Um I think it would be in everybody's best interest to make sure that the budget is figured out without that dollar amount and then afterwards that dollar amount whatever it you know this year it's 900 some thousand uh that goes towards decreasing the tax levy. Again that was how it was presented to the community and it has not happened that way as of yet. So if any uh answers related to that? So thank you sir. Um we're very happy to have our new business official to join us and our new treasurer. Um we think they will continue to do great work here in Elmont and we're looking forward um to working with them. Uh as far as um the issue of the consultant, as you are aware, uh the consultant was here
050for many years um and we felt that it was in the district's best interest to continue to have a contract with him to transition Dr. Masias as she starts as she work on um getting to getting acquainted with her business um office and procedures that there's some transition period. Um so while we do have a contract with the consultant that contract even though it's for a year will be based on on an ad need as needed basis um as we are um in the first couple of months of course Dr. Messias will be working with him very closely um during the transition period but we will also know that he has had 20 years of institutional knowledge in the school district and we felt that it was beneficial to continue that relationship as Dr. Msias
051get to learn the district and learn all the things that are going on. So we we are trying to make sure it is done in a very collaborative way um for the best interest of the school district. um the line by line budget um we will make sure that this year's it is on it is on so yes on the website sir under administration business officer section it's a 256 yes the line by line there I know I looked previously I didn't see it there looking at it right now all right you could check with Mr. D Bartolo and we'll make sure that what you're looking for he can navigate you um to that that document. In terms of the Belmont agreement, um the district gets approximately $900,000 each year from Belmont and it is
052used as a revenue stream. I will tell you that if it was not used as a revenue stream, that money would have to be collected from our tax um from our um residents, which would see an increase in the amount of money taxes we're collecting from them. So, yes, it is used to lower our tax levy from our our residents because if we did not have that revenue source, we would have to collect it from the taxpayers, which would mean we would have to increase the levy. So, it is being used to lower the levy um because we're collecting less taxes from the taxpayers. I don't know. I just see the the the taxes increasing to go up every every every year. So, I don't see how that dollar amount, especially since the first payment
053of 2.44 million was unilar. Yes. I could not speak to that right here. I could have talked to uh my year um this past year and this year that the fund the the funding is being used as a revenue source which helps to lower the tax levy because if you are it's not directly lowering the tax levy. It's like the budget should be figured out and then that money should almost be considered like a bonus to decrease the tax levy. That's how it was sold to the community. Okay. Without that source though, we would have to increase increase taxes more. So, it depends on how you choose to look at it. We are getting close to a million dollars each year, which means that it's a million dollars less we have to collect from t
054um from residents, right? It's a million dollars less that we have to collect from residents. That money is being used to continue to fund programs and services in the district um which our taxpayers don't have to pay through taxes. All right. And I think we're going to have to disagree to disagree on that viewpoint. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Michaela Bean, a Clarage H. Carlson parent. I guess a followup to this discussion here about the presentation. It seems as if it's really about just the order of the numbers. Maybe obviously not to give Dr. MSUS any extra work. Maybe this is about just a presentation of it all. If we can see how in contrast to if we didn't have the $1 million, if we can see how this $1 million amount is affecting
055our taxes, maybe that will allow all the residents to feel as if this is actually addressing our bottom line. I feel as if, you know, both of you are probably correct, but it's all about the presentation of the numbers. So, I'm I'm not sure how to present it. You know, I I wouldn't dare step on your toes. And I'm very excited that you're here. Um, I'm very excited. If you read the minutes, you'd know. Um, uh, my other question though, um, on the fiscal aspect, I had a question with respect to the audit, but it didn't seem appropriate to just shout it out, so I wanted to wait until it was a good time. Page five. Um, they discussed a lot of unusual items, right? That sounded super subjective. I just had a question of
056what's unusual. Okay. Um, and so if there's a possibility, if you don't mind, we'll have Dr. Masias look into it. We will touch base with the auditors and she'll get get back in touch with you. Absolutely. Especially since they're not here, right, to answer the question. So, I see it in revenue. I see it in expenditure. So, I'm just trying to understand in a data mining what is flagged as unusual. Okay. Dr. Mias would be in touch with you with that answer. Thank you. My last one is more on legal counsel. I know legal counsel has been a big part of our budget and I noticed in 4.2 too. We have four different um areas of representation, right? We have legal counsel from Bond, Sha and King. We have special counsel from Gerscio and Gerscio.
057Then we have special counsel, special counsel from Monttero and Fishman. And then we also have bond counsel from Hawkins, Delfield, and Wood. I would just like to know what is the difference in the services that we're receiving from these different firms. Yes. Okay. Um legal counsel whenever we have I have issues, concerns, legal matters, I go to bond directly. Um Bond Shonik um and King um Hawkins and Delfield because um uh they are a bond council for the loan that the district has taken out for construction. That is their specialty. So when we have to go to the market uh for for the bond, they help us and navigate us uh through um through um that system. And what's which one was the other one? Montto and Fishman. And then Gerscio and Gerscio. Mont. Yes.
058The insurance cover. Yes. They help us to get that coverage. And Gerscio and Gersio. Uh we never use them. Um what is their Go ahead. when conflict and cover something then you would call them. Yes. I'm sorry we didn't hear that. If there's a conflict of interest conflict of interest Gersio and Gersio then covers which makes sense. Um with respect to the contract that was discussed earlier. Um I know it makes sense that we're doing some onboarding making sure Dr. MSAS is set up for success. Is there a minimum number of hours within that contract or is it simply as needed? There is a minimum um no a maximum number of hours per month but again Dr. Mas will be the one to say, I need to have some conversations with you about this. I
059need to see certain things. Um and so it will be based on what the needs of the district um the district is. But just a followup, but there's no minimum. So we can go a month, two months with zero. We're not contractually obligated to give any minimums. That's all for my inquiries. Thank you so much and welcome new board members. Thank you. [Music] Good evening. Uh it's it's great following some of my fellow residents because they have such brilliant questions that I'm literally scratching them off of my paper. Um I and um I too had a question about the unusual items, but okay. So I just add my voice to that uh in that fashion and then I will take the next the rest of my time to say it's interesting. It's really nice to
060spell fresh paint and there's lots of fresh paint around tonight. Um but just know that the community gets just like I do. we get used to it and so the questions will come fast and furious I'm sure. I um I want to congratulate uh this district for all the work it has done over the years. And I've been here for several of them. Um and I see the work that you're doing. And so I will set aside my personal hat and put on my Parkhurst hat and say that on behalf of the Parkhurst Civic Association, we look forward to working with all of you. Um and we hope that at our meetings we know we conflict from time to time with some of the board meetings and uh from time to time we'd like to
061have you visit us give us an update uh you know we we are 54 years old and uh and as such I think we we are due some visits from the board. So, congratulations to all of the new board members and uh congratulations to the president and the vice president. Um I think by now you know that your voices are now considered the institutional voices and you've got some work to do. You've got three board members who are going to be asking questions if they're smart. Thank you very much. Thank you. Michaela Beaman back. I just wanted to also note um in light of the fact that we really praise diversity here in our district. My understanding is that Mr. Khan is the first board member of South Asian descent on our board. So I
062think that that is something worth noting at least um during this board meeting. And please correct me if I'm wrong with your identification. And I wasn't sure if you identify Southeast Asian, South Asian. So I wanted to be as accurate as possible. What what area would you identify yourself as? South Asians. Okay. All right. I I assume nothing of no one. Okay. So yes, just wanted to make sure we at least acknowledge that. Um because we always talk about how we are excited about diverse opinions, diverse contributions. So we wanted to make sure we acknowledge that tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Pamela Byer. I'm here to congratulate the new team and to give you a little bit of advice. Please show up at our schools when you have made decisions
063on things in this office. see that they um worked out and uh when you go to see them, you'll see everything that you've done mature in the schools. Please go and see the children. See everything that they're doing. Don't just make decisions and leave it there. It's really really important. And I think we haven't been seeing a lot of the board for quite a while. So new people, please come out and see what the children are doing. Thank you, Miss Buyers. And if I may, Miss Buyers, I just want to share with you that I had the opportunity last month to be a guest reader at Steuart Manor and I had a ball. So I agree with you 100% about being in the buildings and and being next to the children. Every year there are
064chances for even the parents to come and read. Yes. Not just half an hour just going to the school. You will see now the diversity in our schools. Everybody in here represents the children in our schools. So please come on out. I would like to also say that I too was out reading to the children and uh they do appreciate us there in their schools like you said. Thank you. Good evening Joanne Smith. I will piggyback on that. I'm a retiree from the district and I enjoyed reading to the children this year. Also, I came back to my kindergarten class. I just have a question. Um you said that Gotham Avenue was completed as far as the rooms. Yes. As far as the classrooms, as far as the air conditioning, no, no, no, no. Classrooms
065that the first uh stats I gave was regarding the classrooms. Okay. So, I had a question. They did some of the classrooms in Clar H. Carlson and then they have to come, they did the ceiling, they put the air conditioning units, whatever. They put the electrical in. They now they're going to come back to the classroom. The children have to leave the classroom again to do the floors. Why didn't they do everything at the same time? Okay, that will get back to you. Um, so CL Clara H. Carlson, um, it's our biggest building. Um, if you remember last year, our summer programs were all housed in one building. And so last summer, while work was being done in all five buildings, Clares Carlson was not touched. So this summer, a lot of the work will
066be done in that building. um the the heating and the heating vents along the the windows um those in all the buildings need to they would need to go back in and take them out. They could not do that work before the transformers were installed and the heating system was working. So they did everything that they can do. They're now waiting. The last phase of the buildings will be when the heating and the transformers are installed and attached and they're in working condition. Then they will go back into all the classrooms, take out the cabinets that cover um those heating systems, um remove those heating system, put in brand new cabinets in, right? Because now because we will have the new heating system in place. Okay. So that's why they have to go back into
067the classrooms basically. Okay. Okay. So, they have to remove the children again from those classrooms. Yes, they would have to, but they couldn't do it before because they couldn't take out the heating system over the winter months because we didn't have um the transformers to power um the the the new heating and air conditioning system. So, is that in all the buildings? Was that in all the buildings? It's going to be done in all the buildings as we go through. Once they once the transformers are delivered and installed and they're commissioned, they will now have to go to each of the buildings and start removing the the old uh heating system because with the new one will be working. Okay. And another question, do you know the actual enrollment for the kindergarten classes coming in
068this year? I would not want to venture and give you the wrong number, but I could get that information for you. Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you. [Music] Anyone else? All right. Our next regular meeting of the board of education is Tuesday, August 19th. It will be at 8:00m held here at Elmont Road. Good night, everyone. A motion to adjourn. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. 853. Uh second, Miss Battle. All in favor? I. Motion carries. 853.