001Let's see. We've got Miss Mella and Mr. All in favor. Vote is unanimous. We're now back in public session. Please stand for the pledge. I alian flag of the United States of America to the stand for all. Do we have any agenda changes? >> We have additions to personnel. >> Thank you so much. That brings us to our board president comments. Thank you guys all for being here tonight. It's so nice to see all of you. Um especially in this wonderful winter like weather. Um but we're glad everybody's here and Can't wait to hear more about all the work that's been going on at the high school throughout this year. I wanted to take a minute to recognize just how great a time of year this is, but also how stressful and busy it can
002be for a lot of our staff and our kids and our families as well. Um, within the short three weeks, we have, I think, concerts or events or meetings almost every night throughout the district and lots of different celebrations going on within classrooms and parts of the community, which is amazing because then we get to learn about and support each other, but also just knowing that there can be an added stress with that that time period and that change and that different consistency in your day and recognizing that and supporting it in each other. Um, I wanted to thank everybody again for the Elf Jr. uh musical and just all of the work of seeing our community come together for any of these events. I can't wait to see the concerts coming up this next
003couple weeks actually and just all the work and heart that everybody puts into showing what they've learned and what they know. I wanted to just put a plug out for the Harlem Wizards coming soon after the holidays January 16th. It's wonderful night that we have for families and just seeing so many staff and kids and families coming together. It's always a fun time. And just a reminder for our digital equity survey that's out for us all to respond to to support our community as well. Do we have any points of interest, Miss Jennings? Sorry >> here. I got you. Just really, really quick. I don't think that we can say enough about Elf Jr. It was amazing. Um, so kudos to all of the students, the staff, and everyone who helped to put everything together.
004It was amazing. So that's it. >> Do we have any other points of interest? Okay. Do we have any meetings that took place? All right. Do we have any visitor comments? Thank you. All right. That moves us on to our high school update. That's you guys. And yeah, do you want to do those first? Let's do the Spart and Pride Awards first. Thank you so much. Perfect. Thank you. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Dailyaly, President Coffee. Thanks for having us here tonight. I have a couple people I'd like to recognize for our Spartan Pride. Uh, first two recipients are Sarah Robinson and Hartman. Join here. >> Sarah and Eleni exemplified what true leadership looks like within special education department. Their commitment to excellence and unwavering dedication to both students and staff set them apart in every
005way. Going above and beyond is an understatement when describing their work ethic. They are tireless tireless advocates not only for their students they serve, but also for the colleagues they support. Their ability to balance compassion with professionalism creates an environment where everyone everyone feels valued and heard. When challenges arise, they don't just bring concerns forward. They come prepared with two or three thoughtful alternatives or solutions. This proactive approach demonstrates their problem solving skills and their deep understanding of what it means to lead collaboratively. Any superhero duo has nothing on these two. Working with Sarah and Elenni truly is a pleasure. Their positivity, resourcefulness, and commitment to make them indispensable members of our team. We are fortunate to have them and recognizing them as a Spartan pride as Spartan pride recipients is welldeserved honor. Our [applause]
006next uh GC Pride Award is Miss Kirsty Knight. [applause] Kirsty has been an invaluable member of Gates High School for over seven years, serving as a substitute teacher with unwavering dedication and professionalism. Her kindness and gentle demeanor make her a trusted and respected presence among both staff and students. Whenever the high school needs her most, Kirsty steps up without hesitation. She has covered an impressive range of roles from facts to French to testing accommodations and currently math. Always giving her absolute best. Her flexibility and willingness to take on any challenges demonstrate her true commitment to supporting our students and staff. Kirsty embodies what it means to be a team player. She's dependable, adaptable, and consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the success of those around her. Her positive attitude and strong work ethic make
007her an essential part of our school community. For these reasons, Kirsty truly deserves to be recognized the GC pride as a GC pride recipient. She exemplifies the values of hard work and compassion that define Gates Chilai. And our final GC pride award tonight is for Andrew McManis. Come on. Andrew truly embodies what it means to be a Spartan at Gates Chilai. His friendly and outgoing nature makes him a positive representative for our school community and someone we are all proud to call a leader. On top of being a senior, Andrew balances multiple roles with excellence. He is a dedicated student athlete and serves as a class officer, demonstrating leadership and commitment in everything he does. His ability to manage these responsibilities while maintaining a positive attitude is a testament to his character. Recently, Andrew went
008above and beyond during the our homecoming dance. Faced with an abundance of leftover food, he took the initiative to call and arrange for all of it to be donated to the Open Door Mission. This thoughtful act not only prevented a waste of food, but also supported those in need, reflecting Andrew's compassion and sense of community. Andrew is a true Spartan, responsible, caring, and proactive. His actions and leadership make Gates Charlie proud, and he is highly deserving of a GC pride award. You all have to go take your picture now. >> Sorry. Good evening. Thank you again for having us here today. Uh I apologize I didn't introduce myself. I am Tom Hamilton High School principal. Uh here with me is the high school administrative team. They are passing out some uh documents that we'll be
009referring to throughout the presentation including an at a glance uh a one-pager and um also a newsletter that is shared with our shared with our school improvement team. Before we begin, I'll have the admin team go ahead and introduce themselves. >> Hi everyone. I am Gigi Parchman Magnus. I'm the 10th grade assistant principal. Good evening. >> Good evening. Jennifer Curran, 11th grade assistant principal. Good evening everyone. Uh Michael Perkins, the 12th grade assistant principal. >> Good evening. I'm Laura Braid, the ninth grade assistant principal. >> So, uh we want to start off tonight with talking about how our team is working towards achieving the district goals. Uh our first goal is uh district goal is strengthen connection and community through restorative practices that promote wellness, foster relationships, and support every learner's journey. Listed here are
010a couple of the high school action steps that are uh that we are working towards achieving district goal number one. There are uh several other uh action steps that we're working towards, but these are the ones that we wanted to highlight in tonight's presentation to reach the first district goal is we are working with uh again running our lessons that are picking up more speed every year. These are monthly lessons that were created um that align to our New York State standards. How we run them is uh through schooly. Teachers have access code. Students are able to access it. There's usually a quick video that goes with it anywhere between five to 15 minutes. There's some sort of interaction with the students. And then there's a reflection piece using Microsoft forms. We rotate this throughout
011the school day. So in September occurred period one, uh October period 2, uh November period 3, and so on and so forth. So it's not always falling on one period and one teacher having to carry it out and execute it. Uh what's really great about this is the counselors do have access to this. They reflect on it on some of our data days and look to see any trends or anything that they see popping up that's alarming. Uh along with this, we uh to reach this goal of district for district goal number one, we are uh have several members of the high school team uh including Jen and I are on uh champions uh for restorative practices with Dr. Malik Muhammad. We just had our uh a very long PD today that was very beneficial
012and very insighting and uh very powerful in a lot of different ways that we're going to be looking to bring back to the building working with our teacher uh partners and uh champions and then we're going to look to spread that out to our student champions eventually down the school later in the school year. Again, to go along with district goal number one is the we gave you guys a copy of the at a glance and the uh one pager around the uh cell phone policy or the the internet use policy. Uh this has been a tremendous success I feel like at the high school this year. Uh students have really adapted to this. We all know kind of how they're very used to being on their phones, having access to 247. And I believe
013this is a testament to the district's efforts to communicate this early and often uh between the postcard they went home, communications through newsletters, communications from the high school team. Uh very well executed so everybody's aware what the expectations are. Uh very clear and direct expectations as well with the uh tier one, two, and three infractions. Uh our system usually is is pretty self-explanatory based on this but we have when there is a possible infraction teacher call security and uh the students cell phone is taken to the grade level office and there's a restorative conversation with the administrator. What's pretty awesome is throughout the day maybe six to eight radio calls are being made. Um we just had another reminder just because we're coming off a break and sometimes things get over relaxed. So we just
014had a nice little reminder again to staff and students that make sure we're all on the same page and pulling in the same direction with us. Uh but again only about six to eight phone calls a day where students are maybe using their phones and it may not even be a phone. It might be an Apple Watch or uh beginning of the year we had a lot of students pulling out their cell phones to like use their Apple Pay for the vending machine which was you know a little bit of a learning curve for everybody but something they had to get adjusted with. So uh again huge success with this and what's uh really really great to see is with the number of students that are interacting with each other. Uh the first couple days
015of school uh the lunchrooms were extremely loud and there was one staff member that came in and said you know Tom why is it so loud in here? like they're not on their phones, they're actually talking with each other. Uh, which was pretty awesome to see. And I I don't want to speak for the students, but I've had a lot of conversations with especially our seniors. And I think there's a sense of relief from them not h not needing to be on it, not needing to answer that Snapchat or that Instagram or anything else like that. So, I think they're enjoying it just as much as the teachers are. And then as I'm meeting with uh our N10 year teachers for post observations, they, you know, their second and third year, they're um enjoying not
016having to fight that battle of, hey, I need you guys to put your phones away. I know they're engaged with me and they're seeing that improved engagement. So again, testament to the district communicating these expectations, uh very specific guidelines on how we're going to carry things out and I want to say maybe only a handful of students even reached uh tier three where there was a device check-in plan. Uh so again, 1140 students in the high school and we uh didn't even reach double digits of students that needed to be on a device checking plan, which again is pretty impressive, I feel. Yes, I was waiting for this. Okay, sorry. Um [laughter] I am so excited to um hopefully to push like just kick off this mentor opportunity opportunity. Um the purpose of the mentor
017opportunity is to support new students in their transition to gay child by pairing them with a trained peer mentor who provide guidance, friendship, and resources throughout the school year. So imagine you're a new student at Gates. You don't know anyone. You're scared. The halls all you got to look at colors that are not always the color they supposed to be like the purple look like burgundy like so. and you're just nervous and you don't know where the bathroom, well, all of that. So, imagine we have some trained students who are going to support that new kid and here's the expectations of the mentor. So, mandatory training sessions, they're to meet with their mentee at least twice a month for a semester, either in person or virtually. They'll provide academic and social support. That's like showing
018them how to look at their transcripts or where they find their class link or schooly things like that for academics while assisting navigating school resources, clubs and activities. They're participating and they have to track their monthly meetings. So the reason why they have to track it because they can get volunteer hours for it. See? Yeah. See? Okay. And then hopefully we can build this program and it'll be upper classman's from well 10th to 12th grade because you know sometimes you know you know if you're a nth grader and you're talking to a senior could be intimidated. So we were like maybe we can get 10th graders who are really got their stuff together and it's like requirements like attendance, academics, all of that. I'm going off script so I'm going to stop right now. So
019thank you. >> Okay. Uh looking ahead at district number two. Uh district goal number two elevate academic achievement through rigorous engaging data informed instruction that supports each learner's pathway to success. Again here's just a couple of the high school action steps. There are several others. These are just the ones that we want to highlight for this evening. So with feedback from our teacher leaders um and our students, we wanted to take advantage of the morning half day for our students on the data day where staff was going to be meeting in the afternoon. So uh you know shout out to Gigi and Laura and the counselors. Um they organized a you know a very well-run um meaningful experience for our students that morning. Uh all students were asked to complete an SEAL lesson including a
020screener. So that was one of the periods. Uh students uh were had a presentation titled drugs unfiltered in which a member of law enforcement presented on the realities and dangers of various types of drugs that students or their friends or their families may encounter in different ways to get support if needed. They also the counselors then on third period um and they were all kind of organized 9th and 10th did it now 11th and 12th did it then the counselors had created a presentation to familiarize our students with school links now school links is our updated career college and future planning tool we used to use Navian now we're using school links uh using this tool students are able to create goals and explore careers that match their interests They can watch videos and they
021can go back and review it and try another one and look what trainings are needed for certain jobs in their career interests and they can keep going back. So it was to get them started and signed up and to begin that process. And then the fourth one, which was I think the one we enjoyed the most, um, was a class of spirit building activity where the class of 2026 held their first monthly senior town hall meeting, which you'll hear a little bit more about later. And 9th through 11th, uh, class of 2027 had their group, 2020, uh, 8 had their group in 2029 where they participated in various different, uh, activities, bountous, parachute game, bubbles, temporary tattoos, kickball, a whole bunch of different things. So, kids could do what was in their interest. And staff
022was out there participating with the students and just kind of building that school spirit amongst that class. Connecting with uh goal number two again uh data driven decision- making. So we are very fortunate to have found a screener and assessment tool to not only measure reading uh levels for students but also for algebra uh specifically. Uh these screeners are going to be administered three times a year once in the fall, winter and spring. We gave our uh fall ones very early in September. Time was taken out of specifically algebra classes for the uh algebra screener and then four out of English classes uh for the reading screener. Uh the data is pretty quick to return on this and uh teachers actually had access to this d on the data day uh that was back in
023September. Uh what's really really powerful about this is we are seeing the the needs for our students and where we can start addressing those needs and how we're going to start uh working towards addressing those needs. So conversations are being had about how we're going to realign our MTSS structures, how we're going to build stronger as a AIS supports uh to pro provide students with that um support, the supports they needed that are needed. uh our building literacy leader uh Sandy Train has also been pushing into some departments to share this data and share the powerful you know they all have access to this as well uh but they can see specifically how students are doing and performing so they can make adjustments and get the students what they need at their levels. Uh again,
024we're having continuous conversations on how to build on this and and continue that momentum and then we are again administering it in January uh to see if there's any growth or if there's any reason to start um making more adjustments. >> So earlier tonight you saw that we recognized Sarah Robinson and Elenny Hartman, two of our special ed leaders. Um I do want to give a brief shout out to the entire special ed department. uh between the teachers, the teacher aids, even we had another building sub that has helped us out tremendously as we have expanded our offerings for special education students. Uh we have welcome um to offer or welcome our new 611 program this year. Uh we have transformed an office, a former office into a life skills learning living space. It's equipped
025with a kitchen and laundry to promote and develop authentic life skills. We have a new sensory room that's in progress. It's located near the 611 and the 1211 rooms, but it is available to others as needed. We've expanded our fine off arts offerings to a lot of our special ed students. And right now, students in our artistic programs have begun to partner with our food service and maintenance departments to expand their workbased opportunities within the building. Uh right there, Snack Shack. We're not quite there yet, but right now we We have students in the our CASP uh program currently working in the kitchen and uh we're with our food service already currently and we're hoping to ext expand that to more students and to more areas within the building. And then if you want to
026right there, there's a picture of our uh life skills space um life skills kitchen, how or whatever you want to call it. But it is equipped with uh oven, fridge, laundry uh to again promote those authentic life skills for our students for after they leave high school. On the left, you'll see our new 611 uh classroom. Um, again, our new teacher, Jaden, and our aids and everybody, our speech pathologist, they are all working in such a great team to help welcome our new students. Um, as well, it's right across the room from our 1211. So, Megan Palmer, they're just it's meshing. They are all uh lending hands whenever need be. And the support has been amazing for those kids. On the right, you'll see the sensory room that's in progress. I believe that they just
027hung this wing. Um, and we are looking at different lighting uh for that room as well currently. But those are some exciting things going on within the special ed department. So in collaboration with the office of instruction uh student support services and along with the middle school we are trying to uh take on some consistent practices for our teachers 6 through 12 that are going to align again to the uh goals of for district uh district goals number one and number two. Uh we actually had our first session today. So, we planned together utilizing our instructional coaches K12 where they teachers had an opportunity to sign up for one of these four sessions where teachers either got um some information on how to support students that are neurody divergent formative assessments through ectrina student engagement
028opportunities and vocab and writing practices. Uh teachers chose these using a Microsoft form uh just over a month ago. they got their top priority, but eventually our goal is to have students or excuse me, staff to work through and get uh at least two more of these uh throughout the school year. We're looking to do one again in February and also in uh April. Um this we felt was a better utilization of some of our faculty meetings where some things I can just, you know, maybe share in an email, but trying to get some more PD with our teachers that we're on the same page that they can bring back into the classrooms immediately and support our students at a tier one level and be more consistent again 6 through 12. So other highlights from
029our year. >> My excitement comes from obviously being an alumni. Um so I'm excited to share the story of this year's homecoming 2025. There it is. Okay. and Gage Chalai Hall of Fame induction which was the first since 2022. A celebration which I had the privilege of planning alongside Mr. Hamill and our dedicated homecoming and Hall of Fame committees. As an alumni, I was incredibly touching and a bit nostalgic the welcoming of to to welcome home and celebrate this year's six distinguished um inductees. Mark Parina, Tony Dolce, Jeff Fischer, Neil Campbell, Chief Robert Long, and Elvis Reyes. Their achievements and ongoing impact embody what it truly means to be a Spartan. During homecoming spirit week, we hosted two days of events jam-packed reconnecting inductees and their families with the Gage Valley community while giving students
030a firsthand look at future possibilities. Thursday began with an inductee lunchon at the high school followed by speeches to the class of 2026 in the performing arts center. The seniors were attentive and inspired by the messages of resilience, gratitude, and finding their own path. Some surprise guests made their way in and attended as well. Through a pre-event survey, inductees identified in influential Gates Chileai educators, past and present, and we personally invited them, many of them attending, bringing support and their familiar smiles to everyone. The inductees then toured the high school building, reminiscing through some familiar hallways, impressed by the changes since their own graduation days, and then participated in a meet and greet in the pack lobby. The feedback from all the inductees was overwhelmingly uh positive, which many continuing to stay in touch with
031us to this day, sharing how meaningful it was to come home. On Friday of that week, the inductees returned for breakfast and were on time for first period full morning of classroom visits. Mr. Long included, he was he was on time. Um, and he was well, he was one of them collecting with um or connecting with over 20 classrooms at the high school. Each inductee spoke directly with students about their careers, their life experiences, and the role at Gates Chilai and how it played out in shaping who they have become. They toured Spartan Park and the middle school, further connecting with the community. Friday's events include the state of the district meeting with the superintendent and deputy superintendent and the famous high school pep rally, then the comeback of the homecoming parade with special moments
032across the district. Then the inductee uh recognition at halftime during the football game. Obviously, it was a good night for that football game. We all had some good memories with a win across all those events. Pride and ex excitement from student, staff, and inductees was felt across everyone. Additionally, the first homecoming dance was held Saturday night with over 400 stylish high school students in attendance, marking an overwhelming success in school spirit. Special thank you to Mark Parina, one of our inductees, Mark's Pizzeria, and Gates Chalai Sports Boosters for their generous contribution contributions. I also want to thank the board of education, administration, hall of fame and homecoming committees, class adviserss, teachers who opened up their classrooms, and the staff who supported every step of homecoming 2025 and bringing back the hall of fame induction process.
033Bringing the alumni back to share their journeys is powerful way to um inspire our next generation of Spartans. This year's celebration was memorable and it was a personal honor to help with these tr this special tradition here at home at Gage Chilai. Once a Spartan, always a Spartan. Um, so like we said, we had our senior town halls. Um our first one happened during data day and so basically they happen once a month um and it's where we get together um every every Friday or one Friday a month um all the seniors you know that's the hope um and then we get together and so basically first off is you know this the town halls are meant to bring the students together um you know build the community build the family um kind of you
034know celebrate each other and and go over certain topics like that um so during these meetings I normally start off with like a warm welcome where I have ask a question or put a question on on the slide and have students they can answer out or share with each other um turn talk to to a fellow classmate then then they can share out and then I from there I move into reminders and then so I normally ask the staff if there's anything that they want me to kind of share with the students or remind them um so we kind of go through those reminders um and then from there we go through the expectations so that's just kind of um reiterating like the behavioral expectations the electronics um you know, going to classes and senior
035study hall and lunches and things like that. Just some some some reminders that we think that they may need for for that month. Um, but then so for November, we talked about the college applications and making sure they get those done in the Sunni apps and the common apps. We talked about submitting their FASA, submitting their gold forms to their counselors decision day. And, you know, we know that not all students are going to, you know, want to go to college or go that route. So, just ensuring that they all have a plan um set forth so that when they graduate, they know they're on the right track. Um, and then next we go into an activity. So, the first activity that we did was a a fierce competition of rock, paper, scissors. So, had
036um, you know, students, you know, they battle each other and whoever loses, they have to then cheer on the person who beat them. And then when we came to the end, it was like, you know, one-on-one and everybody was cheering, they were laughing, um, very, very, very loud in the pack. Um, and then the winner uh received a gift card to Starbucks and the runner up got a gift card to Dunkin Donuts. Um, and then last month we did a cahoot where we had some questions about Gates Child's history. We had some questions about Mr. Hamill and myself um and how university is better than St. John Fischer. Um [laughter] um then we also had some questions about um our our class officers and like just some fun facts and things like that. Um they
037definitely enjoyed that. They took that pretty serious. Um there was a lot of again screaming, yelling in the mezzanine for that. Um and then from there we kind of go on to recognitions. Um so one thing I wanted to highlight was that you know perfect attendance for each month. Um so for the month of September we had 93 students who had perfect attendance. Um and then in October we kind of dipped down a little bit to have 66 students with perfect attendance. Um, and then pretty much, you know, once first semester is over, my hope is that we kind of get all the students who had perfect attendance for the first semester together. And then we kind of do like something fun like maybe like a silent disco party or like a bowling event or
038something like that. Um, and then finally to wrap it up, we do our our class theme is Shrek. So instead of student of the month, we call it the ogre of the month. Um, so they get an award, you know, they get some some gay chai swag. Um, then they get lunch. I buy them lunch of their choosing. on a Friday. And so our first student that we had win was Dante Stewart. Um and then last month, I didn't get a picture of her, but uh Cameron Baitman was our over the month for last month. Uh next we're going to discuss our school improvement team and I have a couple students from this team to discuss uh what we're doing with them. >> Hello all. The school improvement team meets once monthly for students and
039teachers to address issues and ways to improve in the school. When we get together is in small groups where we each work on different areas. Thank you. School improvement team is comprised of 26 students and staff members. Students were nominated by teachers for their leadership abilities. At our first meeting, we identified areas that students would like to focus on improving. At our last meeting, we develop pro protocols for respectful discussions and practice with questions around identity and culture. >> Based on student input, we've determined the following three overarching focuses for the area of the school year. And they're on the board right there. And then at our next meeting, students will split into groups and start brainstorming action items for these focus areas. And you all received a copy of the uh school improvement team
040newsletter that Mrs. Rosario, Mrs. Brody make every month in collaboration with the students on their meeting dates, uh sit t of sit tip of the week, uh current focuses, and then who is on there as representatives. Rock to Change. So, Gage High School is hosting the spring rock to change uh this uh spring. Uh this is a huge huge honor. We hosted it here at Gates Chad a couple years ago. Uh but with collaboration with uh around quite this year and East High School. This is a studentled summit and over 300 students from the area get to attend this. Uh the theme there is a decade of rock to change. Celebrate, celebrate, belong and persist. And the summit will be held on Thursday, March 19th, 2026 at Monroe to Boseies. Again, it was held in
041the here in the past, but the committees got together and decided to hold it at Boseies. Again, what is great about Rock the Change is we are able to send students there and be part of this uh these discussions and uh work with other students across the county. Unfortunately, we are only able to send about eight students per year. So as a uh school improvement team a couple years ago we decided to start uh bringing it back to Gates Chile and we now have a gates to change that we host in the spring. Uh essentially what we have is we have those eight students come back they turnkey the sessions back to our students and we are able to invite upwards of 80 gates Chilai students to help spread the practices and and the good
042work that they did at rock the change. Uh we are looking in the future to try to collaborate with another school district. Uh but right now we are planning for this spring uh upwards of 80 students to go through these sessions, continue this work and practice uh and celebrate everything that's great at rec uh new classrooms in action. So these are our new fax rooms. We have the uh sewing room on the far left and then uh in the middle is another uh picture of our sewing room and on the far right is one of our two outstanding cooking stations. Uh I wanted to highlight these because not only are they state-of-the-art, I love giving tours of this district. Uh that's the highlight of some of the things I do because it's just so impressive
043and these rooms are absolutely top-notch. Um, right now in those the left picture in the center picture, what you see students working on is the uh creative design courses uh in collaboration with the Neil Armstrong second graders. I believe those students draw pictures of cute little monsters. They send them over to our students and our students take the project of trying to create those as best they can. Uh this Friday, those students are going to be coming over and working with our students in the small cafeteria to meet with each other. Our students are going to be giving the Neil Armstrong students their creature that they created and it's a great collaboration between two buildings and a great chance for our students to showcase their skills and work with younger students. And then on the
044far right is one of our culinary classes. This is a foods one course. Uh again, due to the uh interest that we've had over the last couple years, we were in need of a second uh kitchen. So, thanks to uh everybody here, we were able to make that happen. Uh again, very enjoyable class. All these classes are absolutely maxed out at 24 students per class, which is the highest we're allowed to be in there uh for safety reasons, but again, they're all maxed out and they're continuing to grow, which is fantastic. So, what's happening in in our technology classes um with architecture and design, uh our students are using fixed floor plan examples and utilizing the 3D software to do interior work. Uh their next project is they're going to be making a ranch house
045completely from scratch. Our computer aid design and draw class. Uh students are reading schematics and making 3D models of breakfast scenes and digital electronic circuitry. Construction systems. Uh students just finished a unit on framing walls wall sections with 2x4s and now learning uh the torch to solder copper copper pipe together in the plumbing unit. World of Tech students are engaged in problem solving activity in which they build a cargo boat out of paper materials that must hold the weight within a tank of water. Electricity electronics. Uh the students took a field trip to downtown Rochester where they visited the Kodak Tower. They got to play with some virtual reality robotics and programmings. And then they also got to make a digital clock. And then for metals and fabrication, um our students created a memorial bench
046for Mr. Starboard's mentor, Mr. Bolts. That's actually located right outside um the large cafe um entrance. So that's right out there if you guys want to take a look and see it. >> We're almost done. But before I get started on the maker space, I want to also give a shout out to GC3 for providing the DJ for the dance for homecoming, too. Whoop. Hopefully, you'll do that next year, too. Okay, so um maker space Friday. Um the purpose is to expand library offerings to study hall students to provide a variety of learning activities and increase student engagement. Uh so this is spearheaded by Angelina Brody who is our successful amazing librarian who actually integrated maker activities into the high school library enhances learning by providing hands-on experiences that make STEM um subjects more engaging
047and accessible. These activities help students develop critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills while fostering a culture of curiosity and motivation. Additionally, maker space also turned the library into a vibrant, inclusive hub to for learning and community, ensuring that all students have equitable and access to resources. Some of the things that they've done in there, and you guys got to check it out. It's maker space Friday, so just come by to the library. And it has they did 3D printing, crafting, robotics, Legos, board games, playing. They go in on those board games like they be like it's a tournament in there and they also do some coding. So please stop in and check it out and yes give um kudos to Miss Brody for setting that all up. >> Thank you. >> So looking ahead to
048the 26 27th school year, we were looking to add a class into the program of studies for social studies. Uh there's a class that hasn't run in some time uh news in the media uh just due to low enrollment, low low interest. So the social studies department got together and would like to propose a history of sports in America. I won't read all the bullets there, but you can see some of the topics that will be discussed uh as a uh meeting with the social studies department. We really feel this going to be a high interest class. Uh multiple sections are going to be offered. Uh you heard some of our some of our students in executive session about the classes we offer. I didn't want to share that with the seniors that they're going
049to miss out on this uh because there is going to be a huge interest with it. But this is a course we're looking to offer for a half year uh half of the credit beginning next year. And that's what we have going on at the high school. Are there any questions we can ask or answer? >> Thank you so much you guys. Do you have any questions? >> We appreciate all the information you guys gave us tonight. Thank you. >> Thanks guys. [applause] >> Right, that moves us forward now to our budget update. Good evening, Superintendent Dailyaly, President Coffee, and the Board of Education. I'm Deputy Superintendent Mitch Ball. Thank you for having me to share a budget update. Uh we'll start by going over a um quick budget development calendar update. Um we're in
050the early phases right now. Um the budget process really starts in October when we're talking um with administrators and department heads about um generating budgets that they can put forward so that we can begin reviewing those in late December and early January. And then from there we start getting into things like board presentations and budget ambassadors and the tax levy limit calculation. Um and from there again more budget ambassadors and eventually working towards budget adoption, the budget hearing, meet the candidate night and the annual vote and election. So in terms of revenue budgeting, there's still a lot of uncertainty around revenue at this um phase in the process. Um typically right now we have very little in terms of state aid. Um what we are hearing um we're kind of hearing two different narratives. Um,
051one narrative is that, um, state aid is not going to be what it was last year. Um, obviously there was a big increase in foundation aid specifically to our district as a result of some new data that's being used in order in order to determine our poverty in the district. Um, which was frankly very beneficial to the district. But what we can anticipate is that the increase that we got last year as a percentage will not be the increase that we get going into 26 27 budgeting. Um we're also hearing that the state isn't getting as much federal revenue as it has in prior years. And so there's some concerns from the division of budget that they won't be able to fund education at this same level as they had previously um in the last
052couple of years. [snorts] Um meanwhile, the state's also distributing checks to um all New York state residents um as a result of inflationary um concerns. And so the state does have some money because they're able to do things like that. So a lot of times this time of year the state does um put up red flags saying we're not going to have funding and then a lot of times they do come through with it. So, we're really hopeful that that is the case, but we won't know more about that until the governor puts out some aid runs in January. And then we don't get our final state aid numbers um until um the April time frame. Um local tax um we anticipate that from a taxation perspective, we're going to create a balanced budget that
053is within or at the cap. Um and that has been our goal over the last five budget cycles. Um, from a sales tax perspective, this we're talking Monroe County sales tax. The district gets a portion of sales tax for everything that's purchased and is taxable in Monroe County. The district gets a portion of that sales tax revenue. Um, we're anticipating approximately a 3% increase and we're tying that to estimates of sales and inflationary measures. When things cost more, obviously that um sales tax revenue will go up. uh the market is not suggesting a dip in in purchasing power or people's willingness to buy things going into next year. So we don't anticipate a dip in that area. In terms of fund balance and reserves, again that's to be determined because we have to use um
054as you know we have a adopted um reserve plan fund balance and reserve use plan adopted by the board of education. We have a plan that provides us some flexibility or some safeguards for if for instance state aid doesn't come in as anticipated or there's some other concerns that we have that come our way. Um we use fund balance and reserves as a leverage point to try and ensure that as you heard from the high school tonight. We're doing a lot of great things in terms of programming and providing experiences for students. we want to be able to continue to fund those things and and the required staff in order to get there is that we use fund balance and reserves um when needed. Although they're tied to very specific purposes under general municipal law
055and education law, we use those things in order to help us um balance our budget. And then other revenues, those are much smaller items like Medicaid and um you know uh any tuition that we receive. Those are much smaller items. We anticipate about a 2.5% increase in those. But again, that's a very small portion of our revenue. And these things will start to get honed in over the next couple of months. And as they do, we'll be sure to share out um more information with the finance audit committee as well as the board of education. Um from an expenditure budget perspective, we don't know a whole lot at this point. As mentioned earlier, um departments and buildings are developing budgets right now that they'll share with us and then we'll start having some conversations about
056how funding is um being distributed in terms of um equity, in terms of ensuring that um we're meeting a high standard in terms of programs and experiences again, but um we're still honing in a lot of these things and that will come um in the next few months. Um, in terms of salaries, um, they will be per negotiated contracts, um, assuming the programs that we offer, um, and the staffing that we have in place continue, which is, um, currently our intention, um, a 3.8% increase in salaries is the average that we have in terms of our contracts right now. In terms of pension costs, um, a reminder that pension costs are a percentage of salary. So when we look at our total salary base um this year it was 8.25% for teacher retirement system which
057is the retirement system for our certificated um teaching staff and administrators. Um the percentage of salaries that we have to pay into the pension system is going from 8.25% of this year's salaries to 8.75% of next year's salaries. So an increase there. And then employee retirement system which is generally our um support staff um it's estimated to be about 16.88% um which is significant as well. Last year um it was right around uh I believe 13.8%. Uh employee benefit cost health insurance I'm looking at approximately a 10% increase in health insurance. Um health insurance is a huge component of our budget um especially when thinking about compensation for staff. um and it continues to experience um pretty significant increases as a result again of those um health insurance market factors. And then dental insurance approximately
058a 3% increase. So those are some of our big budget drivers and again we're a people business so much of the cost that we have is um paying for our staff. Um in terms of um building and department level budgets again we provide a modified zerobased budget. What does that mean is we really start from zero and then we build a budget off of that. What does that mean for our district? That means that um our staff members have to spend a whole lot of time thinking and planning for next year and they do an incredible job of that. Um but it also means that the timeline's a little longer and it also means that we're really um focusing our funding on our critical um um strategic initiatives um that we have as a district.
059And so, um, we feel really confident that we budget in the best way possible. And so, that's a a modified zerobased budget. Um, and then we're continuing to centralize expenditures um, from an equity perspective for our elementary buildings and the office of instruction is done under Troy's. Uh, Mr. Olen's leadership has done an incredible job of that. and then um finalized by the end of March, early April um when the final state budget um comes out, that's when we'll really be able to hone things in and and have a final proposal for the board to hopefully adopt in April. So, moving on to budget ambassadors. Um budget ambassadors is a advisory group um of up to 15 people that um we started with about four or five years ago now. Um and that advisory group
060is an advisory group of our community members. Um people who have interest in learning more about um education funding, learning more about how we spend our funds and and what we do with um those um critical and important tax dollars that we have and and state dollars that we have and what are the ways in which we utilize those to best service our school community. um people come together and they learn a little bit about the budget and then also share any feedback that they may have as to what we maybe can be thinking about um doing differently. And so we put out a survey at the end of that process that people respond to um that are on the budget ambassadors group and then the board is able to review that and consider that
061as part of the budgeting process. There's three dates um scheduled. The third date is really an if necessary date and usually um as as you see here those meetings start at 6 pm. Um if interested community members should complete um the form at that link by January 9th at 5:00 pm. For more information on the budget, you'll want to go to gateschilai.orgbudget. And with any questions on this particular item, please go to communications.org. with that. Thank you. And are there any questions? >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. >> So, moving on, we now have our finance, facilities, and audit update. >> Although again, it's helpful if I bring the paper up with me. So anyway, um the finance facility audit committee uh report of November 17th, uh we talked about budget assumptions and we
062gave an update on the status of the budget and an overview of the assumptions as they stand. We shared those this evening. Uh senior income exemption limits, we shared that there was a resident inquiry about senior income exemption limits. This is um a topic that um comes up just about every year. Um and so we have a discussion about it and so we had a discussion again. We reviewed the board policy um and talked about the process which um exemption limits could be updated. At this time the committee agreed not to make any adjustments given all considerations but agreed that they will continue to look at it at an ongoing and annual basis. Um, in terms of facilities use, talked about the building brighter futures project and the various items going on in terms of
063athletic field construction. Um, work at Florence Brasser and the middle school. Talked about the future ready project and the bid process. Um, contracts were approved. Um, shared that phase 2 planning is underway and then talked a little bit about long range planning. I know that um the um leadership solutions advisor team u presented to the board at the last meeting but gave a a brief um overview of the presentation that was shared and also um the conversations that have been happening at group planning sessions and what the next um couple of weeks and months will look like and there were no roundt items and then we adjourned. Are there any questions on the finance facility audit committee? >> Thank you so much. >> Right. Thank you. Have a good evening. >> You too. >> All
064right, that moves us on now to our consensus agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the consensus agenda? >> Littlewood, Miss Jennings. Any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. Can I have a motion to approve consensus items C through G? Got Mr. Long and Miss Mella. Any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. Can I have a motion to approve the appointment of Timothy Doberton as interim assistant principal for the Florence Brasser Elementary School effective November 25th, 2025? Can I have a motion? Littlewood, Miss Jennings, any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. Be it resolved that the board of education approves the written agreement between the superintendent of schools of Gates Chile Central School District and an employee of the district as discussed in executive session and executed on December 1st, 2025.
065Can I have a motion? Second, Mr. Reinhardt. Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. That moves us on now to our superintendent comments. >> So students in grades UPK through five have parent teacher conferences on Monday, December 8th. So students in those grades will not be in attendance on that day. High school middle school students will operate as usual. And as referenced earlier, the middle school musical was outstanding. Great performances by all our Spartans. I look forward to seeing how they continue to develop in our outstanding musical program. And December is concert season time. engaged child. Make sure to get out and witness all our talent. Paul Road band and chorus concert is on December 4th. The high school band will celebrate on December 9th. The middle school grade six band on December
06610th. And the Walt Disney Band and Chorus concerts December 16th. And if you're in need of some holiday gifts this season, there are two great opportunities to get some handmade items. Florence Parer Family Association has a craft show December 6th and 7th. And the Walt Disney PTO hosting their craft show next Saturday, December 13th. Get plenty of information and insight into filling out the financial aid forms on December 10th at 5:30 in the high school library. This is an outstanding opportunity to learn more about this important process for any of our collegebound students and their families. And as referenced earlier, the great Harlem Wizards are coming back. So save the date for another night of laugh and fun in the Spartan Fieldhouse as the Gates Charlie Education Foundation welcomes back our Harlem Wizards. They'll play
067against the GC faculty, staff, and administration relative allstars on Friday, January 16th at 7 p.m. Look out for more information in our December e newsletter. We are currently trying to get a chief of police in the town of Gates to play this year. If anyone knows him, please contact him. Thank you. Uh we'll once again be seeking budget ambassadors from our community. This is a great opportunity to dive into the district's budget and understand more about how we fund our operations. No experience is necessary, but ambassadors must be residents of GC. A maximum of 15 ambassadors will be accepted into our program on a first come, first- serve basis. This year's meeting dates, as shared earlier, are Monday, March 9th, March 16th, and if needed, April 2nd. To apply to participate in this program, complete
068the form at gateschillay.org/budget ambassadors by Friday, January 9th at 5:00 pm. That is my report. >> Thank you, sir. Can I have a motion then to adjourn our meeting Davis? Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.