001Can I have a motion to return to public session? Mr. Long, Mr. Reinhardt. All in favor? The vote is unanimous. We're now back in public session. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the stand. Do we have any agenda changes? Yes, we have changes to personnel. >> Thank you. >> I just wanted to take a minute to welcome everybody here tonight. Um it's not as cold, but it's rainy and a little little gross. So, thank you guys so much for being here. I can't wait to hear what you have to share with us. Uh it is a really really busy time for students, for parents, for staff the week leading up to February break trying to tie together all the loose ends. Uh deal for a change in routine and
002be prepared for when you return. So just taking a moment to recognize all the work and the emotional strain that that can take on people to give each other a little bit of grace. Uh it's an exciting time as well. We're starting to have registration open for spring sports. We just had a sixth grade chorus concert with some very animated uh performances which were great to see. Uh my son just went to Java Jazz which if you know my son at all, he's not a social being. So any event that he voluntarily goes to outside of the house is really exciting and the fact that he seeks it out every year to me is really great to see. Um had the opportunity with several of the other board members here and Dr. participating in the
003Monroe County School Board Association legislative breakfast this weekend, which is always a really cool opportunity to engage with people from other districts in their administrative teams and on their school board and different um government representatives at different levels throughout the county and the state and having conversations about things that are impacting our kids and our schools every day. and no matter what our views are, how can we work together to try and help funding and safety and security and mental health support and just access for all of our kids. So, it's a nice chance to get to see people in real conversations and how we can support each other. Do we have any additional points of interest this evening? Um, my family also went to Java Jazz and I just wanted to say how impressed
004we were with the amount of talented kids we have and it made my second and third grader really think about what they want to do down the road. So, it was a lot of fun and we won some door prizes. So, that's always fun, too. >> Love that. Any additional points? And I know Miss Littlewood, who's not sharing over here, is working. so hard with the sports boosters and seeing them out at all of our events supporting all of our kids and our sports teams is amazing. And she's looking like she's really happy. I'm pointing her out here. Anything else? Okay, that moves us now to our report of meetings for the evening. Uh let's see. Do we have any reports of meetings that have taken place? Okay. And just so you guys know, a
005lot of those meetings happen at noon during weekdays, which makes it a little tricky to navigate and be at. So, we try and have representatives really hearing things that are going on around the county when we can. Do we have any visitor comments? No. All right. Now, we have our Gage Highlight High School indoor track athletes trip proposal presentation. Thank you. >> There you go. Good evening. Uh interim superintendent Dr. Ball, uh board president, Miss Coffee, board of ed, um cabinet. Thank you for having me here tonight. Um I'm here to share uh Lisa Young, athletic director. um here to share a opportunity that our um track athletes have the opportunity to participate in. Um it is our state meet. Uh this is actually going to be our fourth year returning which is exciting. Currently
006we have uh four athletes who um will be qualified for states. And if I turn that on, you'd be able to see that. Which one? There it is. Okay. Sorry. So, um, our the state meet is on Staten Island in New York City. Um, and it would be a two-day event this year, which they have changed. So, it'll be from, uh, March 6th and 7th. Um, but our students would leave on March 5th. Um just some background, section five used to control um everything that had to do with this event. So they would provide transportation, the hotel, food, and then they would just bill each district, however many students were involved. Uh they have decided to do away with that just because actually it's a good reason. There are so many students that were reaching
007that state um uh qualifier time or throw or jump whatever their event was that it just got so big that they couldn't do it anymore. So pushed it back on the district. So um schools must now arrange their own transportation and lodging and food. Um so the only way that they can qualify this for this event just like I said they have to reach that state standard for whatever event that they participate in. So, it is a great honor. Um, it's not that they won a championship. It's it's the state standard they have to reach in that event. Um, they'll be competing against the best in the state. Um, in in their event, uh, we have, uh, like I said, we have four students who will be already who have already reached that. We also
008have a 4x4 team that is right on the bubble that has two opportunities sectional this week and state qualifiers the following week that could also um possibly make it as well. Um here are our students right now. The four athletes that have qualified uh Kira qualified for the high jump, Modesty has qualified for triple. Sophia for pull vault and Braden for the hurdles. And like I said, we could possibly have a 4x4 team, so we could possibly have eight athletes that would be able to attend. [snorts] Um, we had uh we got a charter bus that we will share with Penfield and Churchville, which will offset the cost for that charter bus. Um, the athletes will travel with the coaches and full supervision will be with the coaches. Um, and then meals. Thank you again
009to Gage Child Sports Booster Club. They are donating 500 a $500 Visa gift card um for all of their meals. [snorts] Um just a big thank you like I said to the sports boosters for their help um and for the board for always supporting our our athletic events. Um this is a picture of the entire team that went to that trip that I talked to you guys about um last month uh in New York City. So, it's a great opportunity for our athletes and they're excited to compete. Do I have any questions? >> No, thank you so much. >> Okay, thank you. >> Right. Next, we have our Hillside Work scholarship connection for the 2425 school year report. Our group is definitely growing. So, um, thank you for having us. First of all, my name
010is Omayira Ramos White and I am the supervisor for the Hillside youth advocate team at the middle school and the high school. And, um, you'll see our team behind us. We have, um, our youth advocate too at the middle school, Taisa Rivera, who you'll hear from in a little bit. um Paige Maltman who is back there as well and um she's our youth advocate too at the high school. Um they both have brought students with them just to share about their experience in their own words of being in the program. And then um in the back we also have Miss Hood Myers Hood. She is our newest addition to the team. She's also at the high school and then our regional director is back there as well um Denise Stokes. Um so we're going to
011just start off to reviewing uh last year's outcome. So the 2425 school year, which was our 10th year of this partnership. So we were halfway through our 11th year, which um to us is amazing. Um and we thank you guys um because it's been a great great partnership. Um just a brief overview, most of this has not changed since the beginning of our partnership. We are a youth development program that has been providing services to students since 1987. Enrolled students continue to have access to individualized mentoring through our youth advocates on uh weekly basis and some of them they'll tell you many of them will be seeing them daily. Um enrichment programming which happens weekly as well and there are some weeks where we have so much going on that students can participate in things
012multiple things in any given week. Um academic and post-secondary planning support. So we have a partnership that has been going strong with dial teacher where we partner with teachers in each of the buildings to provide after school tutoring for students who need that additional support. um and um post-secary planning uh employment assistance. So when students mostly at the high school are ready to take on additional responsibility when they've demonstrated they can have a handle on their schoolwork and are ready to take on additional um an additional role. They are able to uh get referred again through our youth advocates to our in-house youth employment training academy. And so students learn how to interview, how to uh prepare a resume and If they complete that successfully, including a mock interview, they get set up with an
013actual interview with one of our employment partners and they're able to earn part-time employment. Our eligibility factors haven't changed. They continue to be the socioeconomic status is one of the things we look at. Attendance, grades, whether or not they're over age, suspension data, and or test scores. And then the ratio has been the same for many years. I think maybe year one, year two it was a little lower, but it's remained for the last eight and a half years at 35 students per one youth advocate. In terms of case load capacity, as I mentioned, we have one YA at the middle school. She was at full case load capacity last year. Um, and then for our high school, we had three case loads um for a total of they were a little bit above um
014at 107 students enrolled last year. And then you'll see the breakdown there by grade level. One of the things we're now in our this was the second school year where we have been able to because we're at the middle school. This is the third school year now at the middle school. Um so the second group of ninth graders that came in when they're enrolled at the middle school, they can transition still enrolled in our program and get transferred to the high school youth advocates. So that's worked out really well. It does minimize how many new nth graders we can recruit at the nth grade level. We always have some room. Um but it's been great to transition the students from the middle school and hand them over to our um staff at the high school
015to have that continuation of services. In terms of attendance, um on average on the left you'll see for the middle school, the average attendance for the students who enrolled in our program were was 95% at the middle school and then at the high school it was 91% by the end of last school year. For GPA, again on the left, it was 83% average for our middle school students for the 2425 school year. And for the high school, it was 78%. That was the average. Um just a note about employment readiness. The data that you see on this slide is specific to the high school. But one of the things I wanted to mention although we don't have numbers um in terms of employment readiness and job placement for the middle school just because of the
016age uh group of that student of those students, excuse me, we don't completely leave them out of employment readiness. So most of their employment readiness just comes through exposure around our enrichments. So we talk about career exploration and things like that on a not uh in terms of referring them to our yeta training yet because what we don't want is for them to have that yet training really far away from the time they're going to be able to start employment. We want that gap to be a lot smaller. Um but for the high school, we always look at what's our baseline at the beginning of September. How many students do we already have certified? Last uh September we had 22 students that were already certified and by the end of the 2425 year there were
01744 students who had successfully completed our YATA program and were certified. In terms of job placement we had 38 who were enrolled in part-time employment and then 64 by the end of August. for grade promotion and graduation. On the left, you'll see 100% of our students were grade promoted at the middle school, but we of course understand that that looks a lot different at the middle school than it does at the high school when those credits kick in. Um, so for the high school, there were 101 out of 107, so 94% of our students were promoted to the next grade level at the high school. For seniors, we had 31 seniors in that cohort that all graduated on time. There was a 32 student that did graduate, but you'll see that kind of separated out
018below because they were a grad early grad. So, they were a junior who just graduated early. And then I'm going to actually hand this over to Taisa Rivera, our youth advocate at the middle school, who's going to um highlight some of our enrichment programming. Hello and good evening. My name is Taisa Rivera. I am the youth advocate at the middle school. Um, I know some of you guys are familiar with our enrichments, but for those of you who aren't, these are weekly activities hosted by us. They use advocates. They ensure that we build rapport with the students. Um, they focus on developing social skills, team building, job and career readiness. Some activities we've done are creating vision boards, smart goal setting, and college and trade school tours, even at the middle school level. Um, as
019you can see at the fir at the top left picture, we um we visited MCC's economic and workforce development center downtown, I'm sorry. While there, students were able to use simulators to do job training like you can see at the top left. They were training to be electricians. Um, we also toured the robotics lab and students were also able to use Inoculus, which is a virtual reality headset to utilize other job training purposes. Um in the second photos, second set of photos, you can see that um we uh we host a culinary camp every year. Um over that over the summer when we host a culinary camp, there are a variety of we have a chef, I'm sorry, we have a chef there, a professional chef who teaches the students um I'm sorry, who teaches
020our students the history of food and demonstrates how to cook and handle food safely in a kitchen. Students pair up with other students from schools and they team up to create a dish from scratch. This teaches students teamwork, confidence, social skills, and independence in the kitchen while giving them nutrition nutritional education. They even work in groups to complete the cleanup of the kitchen so it's ready for the next day's lesson. Um, now you'll hear from some of our middle school students. Um, I would like to introduce Alyssa, Alysia, and Amaya. They're all eighth graders who are in Hillside Work Scholarship Connection Program. Hello, my name is Alissa and my name is Elisia and we think and we have been in hillside for about one and a half years. We believe side is essential because it
021helps us prepare for the future as young adults. We've enjoyed many experiences such as the college. During our tour, we were able to play with virtual reality headsets and experience hands-on learning. I love such as she gives us the advice we need, not just what we want to hear. She helps me see situations from different perspectives and us provides students with support and new experiences in life and life lessons. So therefore, this is why we think you guys should continue to support Hillside so that future students continue to grow. successful adults. Hi, I'm Amaya Williams. I have been in Hillside for a short time. Hillside is a great program for students where you get to meet new people and you are in an environment full of love and you can be yourself. Hillside is essential
022because our advocates care about our futures and we can talk, laugh, and cry with them about whatever. I have had many positive interactions in my short time with Hillside. I have made new friends and participated in the She Group, which is a girl group that Hillside offers for young women to come together and build relationships and connect. I believe all students should be reward awarded a youth advocate to mentor them. Thank you. Hi, I'm Paige Walman. I'm a youth advocate at the high school. Um, I have my student Niss Hardway here to tell us a little bit about the program. >> Um, hi, I'm Nice Hardway and I'm a junior attend. Um, I've been in Hillside since my freshman year and so far I like I love it. Um, I go there every single day.
023I be I be there for like lunches and for my study hall every day. They do provide tutoring for me. So I go there every Tuesday and Thursday when I'm not working. Um they actually got me a job at because I applied through and I got my job automatically like on the spot. Um they have helped me a lot through my high school. Um I feel very comfortable talking to them and I just love it there. Um my first like I got I like my second week me being at Gai and before that I never attended Charlotte before like the middle school or like the elementary so I didn't even know what hillside was until I came to G and then they always like welcome me um I'm not going to lie when I first
024but she has even like with even with their connections like their relationship with each other like all the advocates that come together and my first advocate her name was Mccra and she told me like maybe I should apologize and I did ever since I love Miss Mman and I just got introduced to Miss Hood and I love her as well. So everybody that come into Hillside and all the new advocates that attend here are always like they're always welcoming and they let me be myself. >> I just want to add a note. She mentioned we gave her a job. No, students have to earn their employment, right? So, we gave her the tools, but she did what she had to do. And we tell the students, you're not guaranteed a job. Once we hand you
025over to the employment partner, it is their decision whether or not they hire you. So, that definitely students earn that. It's not something that they're given automatically for being in the program. So, I just wanted to highlight that because you put in some work. No, no, you're right. I just want you to get the credit. Um, and I just want to say thank you all. Um, is are there any questions? >> Do you guys have any questions? >> Okay. Thank you so much. We appreciate the invitation. >> Thank you so much. Have a good night, you guys. We really appreciate your time. >> All right. Next, we have our student exeicio update. >> All right. Hi. So, this week I actually have some updates from the high school and we reached out to some of
026the elementary schools. So, I have some updates from them, too. Um, for the high school last, yeah, last week on Wednesday, we had a half day and half third and fourth period we spent watching the cultural fashion show, which was just a great experience seeing all the different cultures and like the school come together and everyone did a fantastic job. It was just a great experience. Um, also this week on Thursday we have our senior faculty basketball game. So all the seniors are excited for that and the school whole school comes and it's just a big tradition and we're also doing our senior week right now and we have a senior breakfast on Thursday too and participation is really good with that. We are full swing into the second semester of the school year and
027that's going off great. Um, like they said earlier last Friday we had Java Jazz. I didn't attend but I saw and heard things. That was a great experience for everyone. We had a JA field trip to the stock market competition which is down at Kodak at the JA center and it was just a great experience to see all the um volunteers or all people who work in the financial industry and actually have jobs. So, it's just great to hear from all of them. We are starting our peer mentor program at the high school. So, it's a program where juniors and seniors are able to mentor people who are needed in the district or just having trouble adjusting and just helping them find their way around the high school, mainly for freshmen. We are having our
028career breakfast. I don't have I don't think we have a specific date, but we they are planning our career our third career breakfast, which is just a great event. I've went the past few years. It's just you get to talk to all people different careers that you really interest you and they give you the actual how it actually looks and the raw details. Um I have an update from Disney. They have uh they have a student council and it's called their Dragon Quest Ambassadors and they are in charge of planning all their school assemblies and they are a T1 school cultural initiative program. And then from Armstrong, we have their Armstrong um student council and they are coming up with some community service events such as the McDonald House Pop Tabs campaign and they have
029a planned trip to St. An's nursing home this month to bring crafts and fun activities to nursing home patients. Then from Brasser, we have a Brasser um student council and they have brainstormed projects and events for the school and help split into subcommittees to put plan and prepare for projects for the school. The projects include making spirit day videos, preparing for our annual car car wash, and preparing to celebrate Florence Brasser's birthday with a community service project and naming the new Florence Brasser Bear mascot. They also are visit they visited the Monroe County office building and they just got to learn about more about actual government in Rochester which they've been learning about in class and that's it. >> Thank you so much Kandre. All right, next we have our 2026 2027 budget update. was
030already on. Good evening, President Coffee, Board of Education. Thank you for having me. I'm Dr. Ball, interim superintendent, here to give a budget update. So, you'll hear from me quite a bit tonight. and I apologize for that upfront. So, in terms of um agenda, talking a little bit about revenue estimates, um state aid, just um sharing where we're at currently in terms of state aid. Um talking about the executive proposal, which is the governor's proposal um for state aid, the tax levy limit calculation. Again, it's not a cap, it's a limit. Um the fund balance and reserve use. Um thoughts and considerations around that. other revenues um potential vote propositions uh BOE elections and next steps. So in terms of uh revenue, this is in terms of our current budget. Um we're about a uh
0314545 4645 split on state aid and and property taxes. um we have becoming have we have been becoming more and more um reliant on state aid. So over the last few years you'll see that the state aid has ticked up and our reliance on property taxes has ticked down as a percentage of budget in order to balance our budget. It's good news for the district um in terms of our our state aid. Um but that's just um kind of a breakdown per dollar. Uh in terms of other revenues, this is much smaller areas. We do have other revenue sources really in most schools across New York State. Those two top categories um are consistent for districts. Those are the big categories. And then we get into other things like interest earnings. We invest um our
032available cash. Um and our our finance team does a great job of this under the direction of Sally Sanford, our director of finance. Um that team has done an incredible job. Um we have a hundred score the highest in the country um for our investment um and and the way that we do our investing um payments in lie of taxes. Those are through um those are negotiated agreements through Monroe County um Kama um and the IDA um the Industrial Development Agency. um they negotiate with um businesses in our community and they try and attract businesses to our community so that they can create jobs and and create um local economy. Um they negotiate lower payments for taxes. So that's one of our revenue sources too is that they cut a check to us. And then
033Medicaid is a much smaller portion um fees and tuition. Fund balance and reserves that's about 3% of our budget or three cents on the dollar. and we'll talk about that in a little bit of detail in a few minutes. And then a Monroe County sales tax for everything that's purchased that's taxable in Monroe County, we get a portion of that revenue here in the district. So when someone goes and and purchases a car, for instance, and they pay um that tax associated with it, we get a portion of that here in Gates Chili as well as the other districts in Monroe County. Um so in terms of state aid, our adopted uh budget for state aid is a little under 63 million and right now we're on track and and in shape. So um no
034glaring concerns about whether or not we'll receive our full share of 2526 state aid. In terms of the uh executive proposal, um the way it works is the executive proposal comes out in January. And so the governor uses essentially numbers that are specific to our district in October um when we do a snapshot of attendance as well as other data um that's collected from the prior years of operation in the district to calculate um how much aid we'll get going into next year. Um so again um these are calculations. The governor is saying um right now that um you know she feels as though this shows a strong commitment to supporting students um teachers and and educators in New New York. Um some of the things that she discussed as initiatives are increasing foundation aid.
035Um they there was a big increase last year specifically for our district because they started using an appropriate poverty um formula. um instead of using the year 2000 census data that they were using, which is not reflective of the community a quarter century later, um we were not getting our fair share of state aid. Um we are now getting that fair share of state aid. Um but the governor going into next year saying there will still be increases. Um universal pre kindergarten um one of the initiatives of the governor is to fully fund um upk. Um the other thing that the governor has said is that um they would fund uh the facilities that would be associated with um bringing up UPK um to fruition in in its entirety for school districts. Um that would
036be a a big price tag. So I don't know um you know if this will get legs um but again that's one of her proposals. And then um ensuring that expense ba based aids are fully funded and expense based aids are ones that um are tied to actual expenses. So we get an example is transportation aid. We get aid back from last year um this year on actual expenses. So the governor has said that they will continue to fund those things. Um about a $ 1.6 6 billion increase statewide or 4.3% with a total statewide um school aid of 39.3 billion. That's what's in the governor's proposal. Um based on earlier communications some months ago, there was some concern that aid would not be increasing in the governor's proposal, but it is increasing. And what
037that means for our district, we'll um share in a moment. So again in terms of our district um one of the you know concerning points is right up front um foundation aid which is our basic formulary aid um increasing 1.42%. So um some of the thinking around this may be that well you got that big increase in state aid last year to get you back to level but what it doesn't account for is the nearly 20 years of being underfunded as a district. So some of the things that we have to do in order just to meet a minimum um we're now getting that funding but it doesn't accommodate for all the work that we have to do to continue to catch up um in some critical areas. Although I, you know, I would surmise
038along um with the district that we have done an incredible job even given the fact that um frankly we were um significantly behind in terms of our equitable share of funding based on um the poverty indicators in our district. So um we are hoping that there will be some consideration given to this because a 1.42% increase is not um what we would consider adequate. um and we will continue to press in directions relating to that. Then we get into some other categories. Um Bosey's aid, um excess cost aid, transportation aid, building aid. Those are all based on prior year expenses or prior years expenses. Um and then the the other categories are kind of per pupil driven. Um so hardware and technology, software, library, textbook aid. Um, high tax aid is a an aid that's
039been carried over for decades um, in the district and we hope to still get that long into the future. So, overall a reduction on here, but I'm going to walk you through a couple of other things because it's not as bad as it looks um, but it's still not adequate enough. So, Bose, that number is inaccurate. So, they didn't pick up some of our expenses from last year and um we're anticipating going into um future aid runs. So, when they actually put out a budget in April, hopefully if the state approves a budget and that's a three-way conversation um between the three branches of state government, um hopefully once they've negotiated that in April, what we'll see is an actual increase in Bosey's aid because our expenses increased. Um so an actual difference of about
040$1.1 million which is obviously beneficial and you can see that bond number has gone up a bit. Um and then building aid also inaccurate. Um we anticipate additional principal and interest payments associated with our capital work. So that's our debt service payments which are like our mortgage payments of about $3.8 million with a difference of state aid as well. So um this number here was inaccurate. it's not reflecting um essentially the um the claiming that we put into the state in December because that's when what they're called our final cost reports are due. Those are due in December. The aid doesn't get picked up on what we report until December which means it doesn't come out in the mid January governor's run. And so the accurate number up there is about 3.1 million um with
041a total aid increase of 4.3 millionish. But one thing I will share is that um that doesn't necessarily mean a significant increase because it does mean an increase in aid, but we also have an increase in expense on the debt service side. And so um the foundation aid number right now is inadequate given things that we know to be true. CPI, um, consumer price index, cost of goods and materials and services, cost of electric and heat, um, you know, our contracts for employment, all the things that, um, our cost drivers are, um, pricey and expensive and they, um, will certainly outstrip 500,000. And then the other piece to share is that um you know building aid um after after netting out the cost you know the aid to the cost approximately um $360,000 increase in
042aid in that category is that between the 500,000 and the 360,000 that um 800,000ish is not enough um right now to balance our budget. Um however um we are hoping that that number comes higher and it usually does. So that's the good news is that every year um what the governor proposes is never what we get in April. It's always been a higher number and we're hoping that that's still the case. And if it's not um you know we will certainly um have to have a couple potential critical conversations. Um but just want to share that um we're in we're still in a good place and I'll talk about that too in a minute when I talk about our fund balance and reserve um plan is that we have a plan in place if aid
043isn't what we had hoped it would be. So we're okay. Um I think that that's the big message is it's okay. Um we're in a good place and we'll be able to weather um a lower aid year and probably a couple of lower aid years if if needed. Um, in terms of the tax levy limit, um, CPIU was 4.8% last year in 2025. Um, and the way the calculation works is that if it's over 2%, then you're capped at 2% as your starting point. So that's where we're at. If it's lower than 2%, you have to work from the lower number. Um, so you don't really win with the tax levy limit calculation. So we're capped at 2%. Um and then from there we build some things on to that. One of the things that
044we build onto it is called the taxbased growth factor which is an assessment of additional um valuations in property. Um usually specific to new construction or or people um who have purchased some property that the value is higher than it was initially when assessed. Um so that calculation is due March 1st. Our tax levy limit is 4.77. The piece I want to point out is kind of our net levy increase is 2.34% when you back out that taxbased growth factor. Um so when when we say um 4.77 is our our tax levy limit. That doesn't mean that that's what everybody's going to experience. The actual um rate that people will experience is closer to the 2.34% in terms of how it's applied to the whole levy. um acknowledging that individual assessments can impact um what
045goes up or down for people's personal taxes. Does that make sense? Okay. Um these are some other revenue areas. I won't get into much detail um but just noting some of the things we shared earlier. Um fund balance and reserves. Um this is our current reserve use about 4.6 million. We do have funds available in reserves if again we're unable to balance for whatever reason. Um we're in pretty good shape to be able to um weather a slight decrease in state aid as compared to prior years. Um and we'll continue to have those conversations as we move forward in the budgeting process. So not promising but again we're in in good shape. In terms of vote propositions, um right now we have budget approval, um bus purchase proposition, and then we're um currently talking through
046um potential use of capital reserves if necessary to address um facility and infrastructure needs. Not looking to create a new capital reserve or anything at at this point. We're in a pretty pretty good shape in that regard. Um but may look at um some kind of a proposition in order to use um some capital funds. One thing to share with the board is that under general municipal law, we cannot use capital reserve funds without getting public approval. So public um approves the creation of the reserve and then they also need to approve the use of the reserve. So we have money in capital reserves. We can only use what's been approved. In terms of the election, there's four seats available. um three three-year terms and one one-year term that would start immediately after the budget
047vote on May 20th um per regulations. Um and then the expiring seats are up on the screen. Uh petitions are available March 1st. Next steps, um continuing collecting information on the tax cap calculation, acknowledging that it's coming due in a couple of weeks. um await final state aid allocations and then continue collaborating with district staff to generate and refine the expenditure proposal. We're deep in that work right now. Um it's going very well. Um the systems that we have in place are very effective and efficient and the team is very capable. Um I do want to extend a great thank you to um Sally Sanford, director of finance, and Daryl Wood, our budget analyst. Um they do a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure everything keeps moving forward smoothly. Um, in terms
048of the budget calendar, uh, February 24th, our next board meeting is when we will finalize the tax cap calculation and discuss the bus purchase propositions, um, as well as, um, the tax levy limits due. Budget ambassadors are starting. We have 15 budget ambassadors, our highest number to date. Um, it was, um, it was very well requested. Um and then we get into um the later dates which include the hearing on May 5th, meet the candidates on May 6. Amy Thomas is scheduled and ready to come back again to lead that conversation. And then on May 19th, the budget vote and board election with questions, you email communications.org. And are there any questions from the board? >> Is there any questions? You know, I really appreciate though the time you take to really outline the tax
049levy limit and all the explanations around there because even though this is my ninth year, I still need that in front of me every time. So, I I personally value that and I imagine I'm not the only one throughout the district who needs help kind of working through those pieces. So, thank you. >> Yeah. And I've had the pleasure of doing this long enough that I was doing this work in 2010 when the Governor Cuomo put it out and still remember trying to um articulate it to our community who didn't quite understand it and also um at that time had to share it with the office of the state controller who was auditing those calculations and didn't quite know how to um understand them yet. So um yes, it's been a process of learning for
050me. >> I appreciate it. Any other questions or comments? >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We next have our midyear update. Okay, that is me again. So, I'm very excited to be here to share tonight's midyear update. Um, this is a special night when we get to highlight a lot of the work that's been happening in the district. And there has been a lot of work and people have been working um very hard um very intelligently to ensure that we're doing as much as we can for our students every day. Um so this this um reflects the collective work that our district has done this year. And what you'll see is how our staff, building leaders, and departments are working together to bring our district goals to life. This is not about one
051initiative or one group. It's about shared systems, shared responsibility, and steady progress across Gates Chalai, which I think is the biggest message is that um the the staff here in the district and our community um and our board um work together very well, partner to ensure that we're doing all the things that we can be doing um to the best of our ability. So, in terms of the district goals, going to first start um with goal one. Um this year our work continues to be guided by two district goals. The first focus is on strengthening connection and community through restorative practices and wellness. The second focuses on elevating academic achievement through rigorous instruction informed by data. Everything that follows reflects how these goals are being implemented across buildings and departments. So across the district, staff
052are strengthening restorative and social emotional practices to create supportive learning environments. This includes consistent social emotional learning lessons and screening, daily community circles, and expanded regulation spaces. We've also built capacity by training staff and students as restorative practice champions. And at the middle school, we're preparing to pivot to pilot, sorry, a new sensory room later this spring. We've continue to strengthen the systems that help us identify student needs early and respond intentionally. Teams across buildings are using consistent protocols and panorama data to guide tier 2 and tier three supports. One example is the middle school tutoring center, which is now fully s systemized to support academic, behavioral, and attendance needs, including transportation and extended service time for students. Strong partnerships with families remain central to this work. Across buildings, communication has become more consistent and
053accessible through parent square. While schools continue to expand family engagement opportunities aligned to academics and SEAL or social emotional learning, we've also we're also seeing increasing student voice and family involvement at the secondary level through expanded clubs, evening events, and participation in school improvement work. Creating a culture of belonging also means listening, celebrating, and honoring our students and staff across the district. This includes student recognition, opportunities for student voice, culturally responsive practices, and visible efforts to reflect our community. From literacy celebrations to inclusive holiday displays at the district office, these efforts reinforce connection and shared pride across Gates Chilai. Supporting students begins with supporting the adults who serve them. This year, departments across the district have expanded staff wellness opportunities, professional learning, and communication. Examples include new staff newsletters like your tech lifeline and the
054ops insider, wellness offerings during conference days, and continued focus on inclusive communication and restorative practices. Now, moving on to goal two. At the foundation of our academic work is strong tier one instruction across buildings. Staff are implementing aligned literacy and math practices, refining when or what I need structures, and collaborating through grade level and department meetings. At the middle school, new reading six, reading seven, and English language arts six classes are now fully operational, expanding access to rigorous instruction. A huge win for the district. Data continues to guide decision makingaking at every level through beginning and mid-year data days, tier one meetings, and shared protocols. Teams are using academic, behavioral, and social emotional learning data to reflect and adjust instruction. This includes deeper analysis of literacy data at the secondary level and a longer term
055review of discipline and suspension data to inform equitydriven planning. When students need additional academic support, clear systems are in place to respond. Tier 2 and tier three meetings are now fully data-driven with intervention plans documented and monitored consistently. This has helped teams both strengthen supports and appropriately exit students from interventions when progress is demonstrated. We are also continuing to expand pathways and access for students. This includes new credit bearing courses, work-based learning opportunities, and access to industry standard tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud. These efforts ensure students have meaningful opportunities that align to their interests and future goals. Sustained strong instruction requires ongoing investment in leadership and professional learning. Literacy leaders, administrators, and teacher leaders are working collaboratively to align district guidance with building practice. We are also bringing learning back to the district through
056statewide networks, helping to strengthen instructional and equity focused practices across Gates Chilai. So, what's next? As we move into the second half of the school year, this work continues. The progress you've seen tonight reflects the commitment to our staff, leaders, and partners across the district. We will continue refining systems, monitoring impact, and working together to support every learner's success. And I just want to say, um, generally speaking, that it's been really impressive to watch the year progress and unfold. Um, again, staff here are working incredibly hard to ensure that each student every day gets the best experience and learning that they can, and we're super proud of everything that they do. Are there any questions? >> Any questions? >> Thank you for speaking to each of the different buildings and parts of the district. >>
057Thank you. It's weirdly quiet. That moves us now to our discussion items and we had a policy committee meeting. So we'll have an update on there. I can give basics if somebody else can get better details. We reviewed policies um language around them uh recommended from our Boseies counterparts just to make sure that we're staying current with what is the expectation around the state and the area. Um we reviewed policy 1620 about the annual organization meeting and it changed the date requirements of when it was. >> Yeah, that's correct. It's no longer just the 15th. It extends beyond that um and allows us a provision to go out to the 20th and maybe a little beyond as far which is super helpful to districts that are trying to accommodate all the things that early July
058brings um to make sure that there's a date that that works for everyone to get together and have that meeting. So, >> I figured you could use a breather for a second. >> That's good. >> Uh the second policy we reviewed was military and early mail ballots. >> Yep. And that one was just language cleanup. There's nothing substantial in that policy change, >> which is what we found overall this year that the majority of the recommendations have been around that language piece and really like clarifying things. Um the third policy we re reviewed was 7513 around medication and personal care items. >> Yeah. So this one um both of those both of the next two relate to the same thing which is the use of epinephrine. Um epinephrine now has other methods by which it
059can be taken. Um in the past it was primarily just an injector. Now they have nasalbased epinephrine as well. So um this language um created some clarity around the application and use of that um type of of um epinephrine. >> So the second polic connected to that that we reviewed was 7521 students with lifethreatening health conditions and or analysis and I believe based on our discussion that we are going to make a recommendation to wave the first reading >> that's correct >> any questions discussion for those of you either on the policy committee or That moves us on now to our consensus items. Can I have a motion to approve the consensus agenda? Littlewood, Miss Jennings. Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. Can I have a motion to approve consensus items C
060through H? Mr. Bowski and Mr. Reinhardt. Any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. That moves us now to our action items. Can I have a motion to appoint the 2026 2027 budget ambassadors? Can I have a motion? Miss Davis, Miss Littlewood, any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. I have a motion to wave the second reading of policies number 1620 and 7521. Can I have a motion Davis? Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. Can I have a motion to approve policies number 1 1620 and 7521. Have a motion. Miss Mella, Mr. Long, any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. That moves us now to our superintendent comments. >> Thank you very much. And this is when um Keandre, I'm very happy that I have my printed notes because
061my computer died right as I was preparing to share them. >> Yeah. So, there we go. >> Backup plan. So, um I want to begin by uh tonight, well, I already began earlier, but I'll begin again with a quick reminder for families that you can snooze those alarms later this week because schools will be closed for students and 10 month staff on this Friday, February 13th, Friday the 13th, um to start the mid winter recess. This date was unintentionally left off the printed district calendar earlier this year. Just a heads up on that piece. Um, and before students depart for break, we will hold our annual early release drill. This drill helps us test transportation and communication systems. During the drill on Thursday afternoon, students will be dismissed 15 minutes earlier than usual, meaning students
062may arrive home up to 15 minutes earlier than their typical dropoff time. This is this also means that families who pick up their students should plan to arrive 15 minutes early, too. Just a heads up if you're wondering um why are we doing these early release drills? Because they're required under state law that we do it once a year. So, that's why we do it and it's also good practice. Uh last week our K12 teams from across the district came together for our halfday data day to dig into midyear and common assessment data, celebrate student growth, and reflect on what's working in our classrooms. This dedicated time for collaboration gives staff the chance to have meaningful conversations about student progress, spot trends, and continue strengthening tier one instruction and assessment practices. A big thank you
063to our office of instruction and student support services teams for all the planning and support that made the day successful. Thank you. Before students took off for the day, Spartans at the high school hosted the second ever cultural fashion showcasing traditional and modern fashion from around the world. About 50 students and six staff members took to the stage representing more than 28 countries and regions. The show was led by two student MC's and supported by 10 students from the performing arts center tech crew who helped keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes. The program also featured incredible performances from three outside groups. And for the students who are parti who participated in the show, a watch party was held the following day so they could see themselves shine on stage and maybe spot a few
064runway worthy moments. That was a mouthful. It was a powerful reminder that when we celebrate who our students are and where they come from, the whole community gets something worth applauding. Then last week, the GC Performing Arts Center was packed with more star power as the high school music department welcomed Hello Dolly. Cast members Elaine Hendris, Tyler Hardwick, and Evan Bala. Bala Bala. Okay. Bala for a question and answer panel. The panelists shared insights into their careers, training, and experiences as performers, offering students a firsthand look at pathways in the performing arts. Bala, who is a Gates Chilai class of 2020 graduate, made the experience especially meaningful and relatable for students. Hello Dolly is currently playing at OFC Creations in Rochester. Also, late last week, we saw a great example of what happens when student
065leadership, generosity, and a little creativity collide. Literally, the student support team at Brasser wanted to give back to the community, but they also wanted to do it in a way that was fun and memorable. Since November, students and their families have been donating food to support the Gates Child Life Food Pantry and other local food banks. And the response was incredible. More than 750 box box boxes were collected. And instead of just stacking the boxes and calling it a day, the school decided to take things to the next level, they were elevating by turning all those donations into a giant domino run through the halls. It was a powerful reminder that when our students come together, even a simple box of food can make a big impact. Did I Did I go faster than the
066video or did the video outlast me? Okay, this is the second time. Darn it, I tried. Of course, on Friday evening, our community took in the smooth sounds of jazz at our annual Java Jazz fundraiser at the Gage Tyler Performing Arts Center. I know you heard a little bit about this earlier, raising just under $3500 in support for our music program. Pretty impressive. The evening featured incredible performances by our middle school and high school musicians along with incredible guest performers. Thank you to everyone who attended, performed, and volunteered and supported this event. On Saturday evening, some of our Septto families, special education uh parent teacher organization, also came together for a family swim night at the Spartan Fieldhouse pool. The special education parent teacher organization is looking to grow these types of opportunities for our
067students and families to connect. Be on the lookout for future events. Thank you um to that team for creating that experience for our students. And one quick look ahead to a sweet event coming up later this month. The Gates Chilai class of 2027 is hosting the annual Sweethearts Dance on February on Friday, February 27th for Gates Chilai students in UPK through grade 5 and their families. You can't you can't. >> I would like to. >> Okay, I like that. Um, the dance will take place from 6 to 8:00 PM in the large cafeteria at the high school. It includes flowers, a gift bag, selfie stations, refreshments, and of course, plenty of dancing. Tickets are $30 per household, and families are reminded that pre-registration is required by next Friday, February 20th. More details and the registration
068form are available on Parent Square. We hope to see lots of smiling faces on the dance floor. And yes, I still have more. This past Saturday, we had the opportunity to attend the Monroe County School Board's legislative breakfast. I especially want to highlight the leadership of Keandre Joseph. Thank you. Our Gates Chilai student exeicio board member who joined us for the event. Keandre attended alongside me and board president Katie Coffee and board members Andrea Menella and Tanya Serbanowski. This annual breakfast brings together students from across the region to share their experiences in school and advocate directly for legislation that impacts public education. Following the student presentations, we participated in table discussions with local, state, and national legislators where we were able to advocate for school funding and other key priorities. Overall, it was a meaningful
069opportunity to connect, listen, and share our Gates Child Life story and to see student leadership in action at the regional level. Finally, in addition to our own board's student exeicio, I want to take a moment to highlight another Gates Chilai student who represents Gates Chilai with leadership and purpose beyond our district. Xavier Williams, a dental assisting student who serves as the first ever student exeicio member of the Gates Child or sorry, the Monroe 2 Boseies board was recently featured in the very first video of a new series called Boseies 2. unscripted. This recognition was especi especially fitting during both Career and Technical Education Month and Black History Month, highlighting Xavier's leadership, voice, and impact in spaces where representation and opportunity matter. We're incredibly proud of him and grateful for the example he sets for students
070across our community. To see that feature, check out the February issue of our District E newsletter. It's linked on our district homepage. Okay, final final thoughts here. And wishes um for break as we head into mid winter recess. I want to take a moment to wish all of our students, families, staff, and community members a safe and restful break. We know that time away from school can look differently for every family. And we hope the days ahead offer moments of rest, connection, and care in whatever ways are meaningful. We are grateful for our staff and community partners who continue to support students during this time. And we look forward to welcoming everyone back on February 23rd, refreshed and ready for the next stretch of the school year. And that is my report. President Coffee, thank
071you. >> Thank you. Can I Ask for a motion to adjourn our meeting. Miss Littlewood, Miss Jennings, any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. The meeting is adjourned.