001Miss Kais, Miss Serbinowski. 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 United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Good evening everyone. We're going to start off our evening with our GC Pride Awards. Alrighty. It is our pleasure to honor three students and three adults this evening. And we are going to begin with our students. First up, I'd like to invite Castile up. Castile. It is with great pride that we recognize Castiel Santiago with a GC pride award. As a fifth grader, Castiel has embraced leadership opportunities. as a member of our student council and the fifth grade safety patrol. He is always thinking
002of ways to improve our school, he might have shared a few of them on my very first day at Disney last spring. And even when I shared with him that he'd be coming tonight, he said to me, "Good. We can get some of those ideas down on paper and get moving on them." Literally, this young man is kind. He is creative. His hard-working nature makes him a standout student and his innovative ideas have already begun to inspire positive change. Congratulations, Castile. We're proud of you. Next, we'd like to invite Alina up. Ina [Applause] Alina Styher is a fourth grade student, she is a friend to everyone in our school and she's always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. Though she may be quiet, she consistently stands up for what is right
003and gently reminds others of the importance of kindness and respect. Alina's hard work makes her an excellent student and her character shines brightly in everything she does. We are so lucky to have Alina as a member of our fourth grade class. Congratulations, [Applause] Alina. All right, next up is win. Man, the legend. All right, side note. This young man had his tonsils and adoids out yesterday. Uh when I called his dad today to firm things up, he said, "Yeah, you know, he's going to rally. he's going to be here. So, we are so pleased that Wyn is here with us tonight. Um, we are so proud to recognize him as a second grader. Wyn is an energetic and hardworking student who always strives to do his best. His smile lights up the school every day.
004He is someone who gets off that school bus every morning with a sense of excitement and joy that is really contagious to those around him. When is always eager to lend a helping hand and his cla to his classmates and his teachers and he's a role model in his classroom and all throughout our school. When congratulations you're an important part of our school. Appreciate you. All right, let's move on to our grown-ups. Mrs. Nap. Alrighty. We are honored to recognize Michelle Knap, a teacher aid at Walt Disney. Michelle works with students with complex needs, demonstrating unmatched patience, grace, and a deep dedication to understanding and supporting every student. She is a quiet leader at our school and a true role model to the members of our 611 team. Michelle always rises to meet challenges with
005a sense of calm, compassion, and firm yet nurturing approach. Michelle's reliability and her willingness to help others make her trusted and respected at our school. Michelle, thank you for your dedication. We simply couldn't do it without you. Congratulations. All right, next up, another Michelle. Michelle Saline. [Applause] We are proud to recognize Michelle Selfine as well with a GC pride award for her outstanding contributions as a school psychologist. A longstanding member of our student support team, Michelle plays a key leadership role in our MTSS process and she is a trusted mentor to new staff members. She may have been a trusted staff member to me over I don't know 25 years ago perhaps. Yes, trusted mentor. She is always ready to help in problem solving situations and she's a vital resource really to our entire school
006providing consultation and evaluation services to students and families. Michelle also works very closely with our 611 program, overseeing the development of individualized plans. Rain or shine, you're also going to find Michelle outside with a walkie in hand every afternoon. Ensuring a smooth car rider process, which if you've ever visited Disney at dismissal, it's quite a process. And Michelle is a huge part of that. She knows every student and family by name and she's out there every day with her walkie doing that piece of her responsibility. We're we're incredibly grateful, Michelle, for the many years of dedication to Walt Disney. [Applause] Congratulations. All right, last but not least, we'd like to invite Andrea up. It is with great appreciation that we recognize Andrea Mchella with a GC pride award. As a mom to two Disney Dragons
007seated right there and our PTO president, Andrea works tirelessly on behalf of our students, our staff, and our entire school community. Whether organizing a thoughtful cocoa bar or managing a giant craft fair with vendors from around our region, Andrea's efforts are always, always aimed at bringing people together and creating meaningful connections. Her incredible organizational skills and her attention to detail ensure that every event is a success and runs smoothly. And I particularly appreciate that she is not afraid to ask tough questions or to bring different perspectives. Andrea's unwavering commitment to our students, families, and staff make her an invaluable partner. We are so fortunate to have her. Andrea, thank you for the energy and the time that you pour into our school. You're available. I don't know. We can hug. We can hug. Thank you
008and congratulations to all our winners of our GC Pride Awards. If you have a human connected to you who is taking their picture, you are more than welcome to go closer to take a picture if you would like it. All right. While we're finishing up pictures, we're going to continue moving forward. Do we have any agenda changes? Yes, we have changes to personnel and also adding reports D, student exeicio report. Thank you. So, I wanted to take a few moments just to gather us together as we're rounding out the month of March in our schools already this year, which some moments feel like take a very long time to get here and others feel like it's flying by. It's that time of year where it's very mixed emotions like that. Um, we are finishing out
009music in our schools month and just had wonderful performances with many of our students and staff working on Mary Poppins. We are also running out that um focus on women's history month as well. Looking forward to April within the next few days. We'll be entering world autism month. We have many art and talent shows coming up. Um, we'll also have other exciting events such as our uh, elementary school volleyball game coming up, which I'm hoping there will be some competitors that are here tonight. Excellent. So, April 10th. Excellent. There's more than one in the audience, guys. Uh, April 10th, those of you at home and here, get your parents to bring you two because all of our elementary schools are going to have staff competing against each other for that volleyball game. Uh we also
010have things such as our Bosey's annual meeting coming up which is informative and helpful for those of us on the board to make sure that we're continuing our connections to support our schools and our programming. And lastly, I wanted to make sure to welcome and thank our Walt Disney families and community for being here tonight. Our room is full and it's our favorite thing to see and hear. We have lots of families, students, and staff here tonight to share all the wonderful work you guys are doing at your school. So, thank you all for being here. That moves us forward now to points of interest. Do we have any, Miss Kais? I'm sure you're going to hear this from more than one person. I got to attend Mary Poppins twice this weekend. It was a
011fabulous show. Um, one of the best shows I've seen Gage put on in a really, really long time. Um, just to see the amount of community members supporting the kids of the musical, the ability to see Mary Poppins fly, which is a definite new ability in our new pack. Um, I keep telling everyone that will listen. Every time she flew, I cried. It was just a fabulous show. Um, I know we had Katie's daughter in the show as well, but highlight for the week. Thank you. Additional points of interest, Miss Davis. So, on the same topic, um, as a parent of a musical theater kid, I want to thank the community for the support that they showed this weekend. It was, uh, record-breaking numbers at the box office. They're very proud of that. Um, 1,888
012total tickets sold over the three shows with the most being Sunday afternoon, which was 701 tickets, the most ever in our new performing arts center. Um, we actually had to hold the show for over 10 minutes on Sunday because there was still a line at the box office that we were trying to get people in. So, um, great community support and really thank you everyone who did come out and to support the kids. The money from those ticket sales and the concessions and everything goes right into the program for future shows. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Any additional points of interest, Mr. Bowski? Um, on Friday I went to the New York State Art Teachers Association's um, art show that they had at Robert's and several of our students had artwork and it
013was really cool just to see their art displayed in a real gallery and they were just super proud of themselves and it was just, you know, um, you could see how hard they've been working all year and how hard their teachers have been working with them and just to see, you know, it was cool. That's exciting. Thank you. Any other points of interest? Uh, Mr. Mscato, I also had the opportunity to attend the the Friday performance of Mary Poppins. And I've been going to high school musical performances for over 30 years. And u this was the most ambitious and exciting show to watch. The kids did a great job. Kudos to the staff, parents especially for transporting their kids around. Um so again it did highlight our performing arts center in a very special way.
014So again uh thank you to everybody for the job well done. Thank you. Any other points? All right. Thank you guys. That moves us on to reports of meetings. Have we had any meetings in the past two weeks? Mr. Mscado. I had the opportunity to attend the Monroe County School Board Association's information exchange uh meeting last week. The topic was how to run an effective meeting. Um I don't know whether our meetings are effective or not, but we like to think they are, but you don't know unless you take the time to compare yourself to other districts. It's one of the reasons why we go to local, state, and national conferences so we can get some data as how well we are doing. And I think that I was very impressed by the presentation. And
015I think we're doing a pretty good job than anything else. So again, um, our meetings are not five hours long. They used to be, believe me, I was there. Um, so it's it's definitely much more effective. Thank you. Thank you. Were there any other meetings? Okay. Do we have any visitor comments? No. All right. This is on to the part I'm excited for tonight, our Walt Disney update. Good evening, board president coffee, board of education members, and superintendent daily. It is my pleasure this evening to invite you to join our Dragon Quest 2024 2025 centered around the theme that Disney dragons dream, rise, soar, and shine. This theme took shape actually last summer when our school improvement equity team came together for some summer planning days. We recognized as a team that we had two
016major lifts this school year. One, supporting the critical shifts happening in tier 1 literacy instruction. And two, rolling out our brand new code of conduct and support in a meaningful way for students and staff. When you think about those words, dream, rise, soar, shine, they really represent what we do in education as students and as staff. We dream every year. We dream and we set goals. We rise and we persevere through challenges. We work hard to soar and to help those around us succeed. And we shine. We celebrate and reflect on our accomplishments. These words represent what we do as learners. They represent the work of a school building and they represent the instructional cycle at its core. For our students this year, the Dragon Quest has included lots of positive reinforcement for showing the
017Spartan way. This has come in the form of green tickets that ultimately led to us building a castle in our cafeteria. Yes, that's right. We are in the business of 5 to 10 year olds. So, we went on a quest and built a built a castle. The total number of tickets that we have earned this year is 7,680, which means over 7,000 times that adults in our school have taken a moment to stop, recognize a child, tell them something about their worth, and that they're an important part of our school. That's that's pretty powerful. Our quest has also included engaging studentled assemblies and there's a couple photos from our assemblies on your screen this evening. We presented students with challenges that they have needed to complete leading up to our assemblies and then they've they
018have shared their uh their their projects with us right there live in our assemblies. They have created class crests that represent who they are as a class. They have set individual and classroom goals. They've designed hot air balloons uh representing how they help themselves and others soar. We've also leveled up our quest recently. You see the young man in the middle photo who's presenting one of our quest characters. Students earned the right to unlock these characters this winter by earning green tickets. They had the opportunity to nominate and vote on names during their lunch periods. And this continues to be a lot of fun and very engaging for our students. We're about to introduce another component to keep uh the interest level high and to continue to reinforce through a tier one program appropriate, respectful,
019responsible behavior. Been a lot of fun. Tonight we are going to share four points of pride that embody these ideas of dreaming, rising, soaring, and shining. Specifically, Miss Pika and Mrs. Deanzio will be up first. They are our student council advisors, and they will be sharing more about how our students are dreaming big and advocating for those dreams. Mr. Tavaleris and Miss Pika will be sharing some updates on how we are rising as a school through tier 1CAL and behavioral work that has resulted to date in a 68% reduction inCA referrals and a 34% reduction in disciplinary referrals year-to-year. If you ever doubt the power of tier one programs, that that statistic says it all. Miss Stevens and Miss Brondon from our speech and language department will be sharing more about how our students soared
020last month at our first ever neurodeiversity dinner. And last but not least, Mrs. Snyder, Mrs. Powers, and Mrs. Clinar from our second grade team will be sharing how consistent tier one instruction and a well-defined tier 2 model is now allowing us to help our students shine in the area of literacy. So, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Pika and Mrs. [Applause] Deanio. Good evening. At Walt Disney, we dream and we do this in that we display this with our student advocacies. Our student council decided that they wanted to work on a project to improve our school. They reached out to every single classroom, they got every student's input. They um after reviewing all the recommendations, they decided um after looking at all the submissions that they wanted to select three ideas to improve
021our school. They chose to focus on improving the playground. Um they narrowed it down to three different uh choices. They looked at basketball hoops, more swings, and a new slide. And after they did their research, and they did a lot of research, they went and they decided that the basketball court was going to be the most popular one to do. From there, student council representatives asked kids in grades K through five for statements on their opinions. They also researched the other elementary schools in the district to see if they had basketball hoops. They mapped out a potential location and brainstormed design elements. Their vision includes placing the hoop somewhere near the playground and adding each student's handprint around it to symbolize belonging. In January, the student council representatives presented their idea and their research to
022Dr. Ball to advocate for the basketball hoop on behalf of the student body. We also have a short video of one that one of our students recorded for his advocacy. Thank you. [Applause] With the launch of our new code of conduct and support, Walt Disney Elementary focused on building robust tier one social emotional learning and behavioral supports in our classrooms. These foundational supports empower students to rise up to meet high expectations, unlock their true potential. This fall, our hallways were transformed with vibrant vibrant new sensory pathways, which you can see in the picture on the left. Uh staff were introduced to these pathways, learning about their purpose and how each activity meets specific sensory needs. Classrooms then had a chance to explore the pathways with guidance from our awesome team of occupational therapists. And at
023any moment throughout the day, you might see a class joyfully navigating a pathway on the way to specials, preparing for an assessment, or an individual student taking taking a sensory walk. These sensory pathways are an inclusive tier one support for all our Disney Dragons, providing essential regulation tools to keep students engaged and ready to learn throughout the day. And now, Miss Pica will shine a spotlight on another exciting initiative, the zones of regulation. Okay, so the zones of regulation have been part of the tier one social emotional curriculum for a a little bit of time now, but this year we are leveling that up by making sure our staff have an understanding of the zones of regulation framework. Specifically, it is a framework that is the development of language strategies for students to recognize and
024communicate how they are feeling. It's a framework for both our neurodeiverse and neurotypical students to utilize and understand. It creates a common language among all of us at Walt Disney. We also introduced staff to a zones check-in, which is the triangle up in the corner that helps staff with their own regulation, students with their regulation, and staff with co-regulating with students. Finally, we have a continued focus on regulation and regulation tools to equip teachers with the tools needed to co-regulate with students. And one example is our behavioral or our sensory pathways in the hallway. All right. Next up, we welcome Mrs. Brandon and Miss Stevens, two members of our speech and language team. When was the last time you went out to dinner? Going out to dinner is a treat. Getting a break from cooking
025and spending time with your family. For many of our families in the 611 program, the treat of going to a restaurant is not always possible due to sensory needs and safety concerns. We wanted to create a safe restaurant experience and could bring our families together to enjoy a night out. As we got excited about our unique idea, we realized we could tap into the school equity and improvement teams expertise to create a memorable night like no other. We pride ourselves in our knowledge and professional skills that develop our kids into succeeding in social situations that people take for granted. We collaborated and talked about all the elements that would need to be considered, including the layout of the room, ensuring an unobstructed line of sight from the dining tables to the sensory area so parents
026could see their child easily at all times. the lighting, dim lighting for sensory considerations as well as creating a restaurant ambiance and the variety of sensory materials that would be needed to would be needed allowing children to take a break from the table and get in movement. Preparation also included the creation of a social story that was used by the speech team and parents to help prepare students for what to expect that evening. All the preparation was well worth it as the school was transformed into a restaurant setting where families enjoyed a meal together in a supportive atmosphere. The exciting transformation from school cafeteria to fine dining restaurant complete with tablecloths and festive centerpieces also included hosts that greeted families and brought them to their tables. adult and kid menus, including the food selections for
027the evening and Gates Chileai peerleader servers that took orders and delivered food to tables. The response to this event was overwhelming. Some parents came with just their student, expressing they used it as a special time to bond with them one-on-one as they rarely have this opportunity. Others brought siblings and were excited to enjoy a night out to connect as a family. We had nine students and their families, roughly 30 people, come out to the restaurant for a night and delicious meal. The joy in the room was palpable. Families were spending quality time with their children. Parents were able to relax and appreciate the meal, confident that their child was safe. The children appreciated being able to roam safely and enjoy the swing and other sensory equipment. The room was filled with conversation, laughter, and plenty
028of smiles. Parents shared that they haven't been able to go out to a restaurant as a family since their child was a baby. It was a night to remember, not only for our families, but for all of us who volunteered. All right. And now I'd like to invite up our second grade team, Mrs. Powers, Mrs. Clinzar, Mrs. [Applause] Snider. So, two major components impacting student success and literacy at Disney have been our assessment component and also our instruction components that were added this year. Our assessment tool, Acadians, has be been a great assessment measure, providing us really specific data to drive targeted tier 2 instruction for all student learners during our win block where students get exactly what they need to impact their overall literacy um growth. And then the second component has been in
029instruction. Our new tier one resource CKLA um has provided a structured and systematic literacy instruction for all students um during tier one instruction in class. And we've been able to elevate this resource through district provided letters training in best practice in reading instruction and literacy instruction to really impact our students. One of our new CKLA resources has provided students with the opportunity to explore the past and present world around them. We have worked to elevate lessons in a variety of ways. After learning about important contributions created in ancient China, students had the chance to make their own paper and learn the ancient symbols of writing their names. To practice knowledge of Greek gods and goddesses, students played the game headbands and had to use clues from their peers to figure out who they had chosen.
030After learning about Dolly Madison saving a portrait of George Washington from the White House, students did a directed drawing and then took pictures of themselves running away with their very own portraits. Our current domain focuses on cycles and natures, which connects nicely with our science unit. An incredible amount of work has been done to create an integrated unit that has students excited and engaged. As we continue to learn this new resource, we are always looking for ways to make the learning come alive for our students. So, at second grade, we're giving you a slice of second grade, but really this uh success that we've seen in our tier one program can be extrapolated to all of the grade levels at our school. At second grade this year, 76% of our students are on a green
031or blue trajectory for reading. Um, which means that they've not only hit a moving target, but many of them are exceeding it. And for that 24% who aren't hitting it, we have systems and structures in place to support them like the MTSS process or the tier 2 groupings that Miss Clansar was talking about. So to end our shine segment, uh we're going to stop and we're going to we're going to let a student have the last word because they deserve to. And we can talk about PD and curriculum all we want, but at the end of the day, if the students in front of us are growing, we know the work is happening and it is. So, we're going to leave you with a little reading clip of a student reading for 15 seconds. And
032uh when I we did her beginning of the year assessment, she read four words correctly in a minute. Four words were the is uh and then the again um in a minute. And so this is her shining for 15 seconds. And I think you'll be able to feel the results. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, so we are excited. You're going to see some organization happening behind me. Um, we're excited to close our presentation this evening the same way that we close every assembly or gathering as a school community by singing our school song. Song is a powerful and predictable community builder. and our students and I think maybe some of their families, we'll see if their families sing too, have enjoyed learning this tune and these lyrics which were actually written by Mrs. Snder and her
033husband. Um, special thanks as well to um, as President Coffee shared to all our families who took time to come out tonight to support us and be part of our celebration. All right, over to our awesome Disney Dragons. Dream is mine. in your heart. First grade, fourth grade. Everybody here at Everyone share the light that's in your heart and shine. [Music] Shine Amazing job, dragons. Thank you so much for sharing your voice with us. All right, at this time we're going to wrap it up and certainly take any questions that people might have. First of all, thank you guys so much. They're asking for an encore. I don't Do you guys have any questions for them? Wonderful job. Could I ask before you guys leave? It's going to be crowded, but would you guys be
034willing to take a picture together? Absolutely. In front of our GC. So, dragons, come on over by the GC by Mrs. Petraino who's waving. We're going to take a big group picture. Okay. You guys, your song was amazing. Thank you. Adults like who are with the school, if you guys want to be in your your school, grown-ups, come on over. Come on. All your kids went voluntarily. Thank you so much, guys. We really appreciate it. Come on. Parents, you guys are welcome to go over and take pictures if you want. You don't have to take it from a distance. And again, thank you guys so much. Thank you for all the work you do for our families and our kids. Students, you guys did a great job. We do recognize it's a school night in
035the middle of the week. So, if you have the need to go feed your families and do homework and you guys are more than welcome to. We appreciate or go to karate maybe. Um, again, thank you everybody. You did a great job. Have a wonderful evening. Thank you, Erin. Well done. You guys did great. And as we're transitioning, we're going to move forward to our capital project update momentarily. It I heard also has song with it. So, I'm really excited for that. All right, gentlemen. We are hoping you're starting with the song, but in case you don't, we'll be looking for it as part of your capital project update. Unfortunately, we do not have a song prepared. Maybe next time. Wait, what? That's not what we just said. All right. Do you want me to
036wait a second for everyone to clear up? What? Go ahead. Okay. Uh, good evening, uh, President President Coffee, uh, Vice President Richards, uh, Superintendent Daly, and members of the board of education. Uh, we're here for a March 2025, uh, capital project improvement update. Uh we'll get right into it. So uh phase one of the capital project for the past month has been mainly focused on the middle school. That space is prepared to be turned over next week. The move starts for that process and the following week we'll be starting the uh middle school music. Uh as part of that something that's been on this agenda for a long time, the high school technology, that slab was poured. Uh we we finally had some warm weather. Uh we have a concrete slab for the high school
037technology. Uh the roofing is ongoing there as well. Uh the building is almost dried in uh which is a milestone improvement for us. And then in the middle school case work is installed some specialties the exterior facade and then the contractors have been working on punch list. Plumbing wise high school technology same thing roof drains and roughin has been ongoing. Uh middle school technology the drinking fountain and the uh air reels have been installed. All the tech rooms received a uh compressed air reel. And then finally, middle school technology punch list. Mechanically, uh, same thing. High school technology, continued duct work installation. Um, middle school technology finishes and then the dust collector system. So, the wood shop and the middle school technology will actually in both buildings, but as we're turning over the middle school,
038uh, we'll have a dust collector attachment to each piece of machinery in the space. Should limit uh, dust. And then electrically, middle school technology lighting. Uh they've finished that space and then high school power and lighting. Phase two, uh if you came in off of Buffalo Road, you may have noticed several new very large dirt piles. Uh the softball field, that area is being graded currently along with the uh storm structures in that space. And then our site contractor also dug the foundations for what uh for the Florence Brasser main office edition. our general trades contractor for phase two uh continued just some minor demolition in the OTPT space and then started to form the foundations for the uh main office edition. Uh the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing contractors uh did not have a lot
039to accomplish over the past month, but they continued what they could with minor demolition and then uh starting what little work they can in terms of running conduit, running pipes, and the like. Uh looking ahead, April 2025, uh we would like to finish the roofing work at the high school technology space. Uh start the brick facade, which will be the uh last uh exterior piece for this uh area. The duct work installation, finalize that in the woodworking rooms, and then start to install lights in that space so that it can be self-suffic self sufficient for uh work moving forward. And then dust collector in this space as well. Uh middle school technology punch list is ongoing. uh wrap up this week and then district moves next week uh as I had mentioned previously and then
040we start the middle school music space. Uh phase two Florence Brasser the addition addition foundations will be poured uh and then steel will be coming uh about midappril for the couple of bumpouts that we can see here and then framing in the OTPT area as well as the faculty room. Uh the middle school continued uh drainage and grading that is going to be a theme for the next few months. That is a very large area um and we're looking to turn that over uh late in the fall. The light poles for the uh field lighting have arrived and we are going to start see those landed uh in the next couple of months. They will then be uh hoisted into yeah hoisted into the air. Uh tallest pole is 110 ft. They will definitely stand
041out. Uh budget-wise, we are 67% build for phase one and then we have started to see contractor payments for phase two and we are 8% build for that. Our contingency overall has not changed and then we have still expended just over $143,000 in allowances. Some photos. So this is the slab and some start of framing in the high school technology space. Uh this is an office in this uh high school technology space. This is the mezzanine uh above the two woodworking rooms that will be for uh that holds the air handler. This is the middle school technology uh open area. Uh looking on the right hand side of the photo, the plastic that goes to the streetscape main street of for the fax and library area that was done in the last project hallway. This
042is one of the technology rooms. Uh poured epoxy resin floor. Uh, lot of storage space in here, similar to what we saw in the fax rooms. This is the new art room in the wing. Uh, next couple of photos are just of earthwork in the fields. Uh, another photo of the Florence Brasser edition. Then from the inside, this will be the faculty room in Florence Brasser. And then finally, what will be the OTPT space, which was the old gymnasium storage and shower space before we get to questions, comments, um, so the next next time we'll have some more document, sorry, more documentation for the next project. So the capital project 2025 uh has was successfully voted on. We have started stakeholder meetings uh that that project has been broken up into multiple phases design phases
043to uh take advantage of uh the aidability of each of the buildings. Uh the first package is slated to go to SED for review in April. Uh and then we are working on um stakeholder meetings for the next phase which would be slated to go to SED in December. Thanks guys. Do you have any questions? No. Thank you guys for the update. We appreciate it. Thank you all. Have a good night. Yeah, that's a really tall light pole. Uh, next is our budget report. Good evening, President Coffee, Vice President Richards, Mr. Daily and the distinguished Gates Chalai Board of Education. Thank you for having me. I'm Mitch Bal, the assistant superintendent for business. And I still can't believe I have to follow the Disney Dragons uh song. I will not be singing a song tonight.
044Um but uh that was pretty impressive. So, uh here to present on the 2526 um budget. Uh typically at this point in the process, we've talked about revenues. Um we've talked a little bit about expenditures but haven't gotten into great detail is this evening. Um what we'll do is we'll go through some of those expenditure details in the proposal. Um assuming that we get state aid as anticipated and I know we've had some conversation about that back at the end of January. Um from there we'll be able to hopefully put this um same budget forward. If for some reason we don't get the revenue we anticipate through state aid, we may need to make some adjustments in terms of the um fund balance and reserves that we use and um if um it was really
045bad, we really didn't get the aid we anticipated, we may need to make some adjustments and come back in the first um board meeting in April and present again to have conversations about adjustments that we needed to make. But typically from here, we've honed the budget in. Um, if aid comes in as anticipated and we have what we think is a pretty good read on that right now, um, then the budget we're talking about tonight would be the budget that we look to have adopted by the board of education on April 22nd. So, with that, um, we'll talk a little bit about how the budget ambassadors went. Um, share that the expenditure information. Um, just talk a little bit about, um, how we plan for revenue based on where um, the state budget falls. um
046propositions and and board of education election information and then a summary and next steps. So, in terms of the budget ambassadors, um went very well this year. Um this was our fourth year of budget ambassadors. Um Charles Johnson did attend again. It was his fourth um season of budget ambassadors. He's been there every single one. So, it's great to have um somebody more senior in the group. Um but we um had two three-hour meetings. Um each presentation was about a hundred slides. Um the first evening being on expenditures, the second evening being on revenues and also demographics um specific to the district and some of the challenges that we have in developing a budget. Um so on March 6 was the expenditure one. There were four attendees. March 20th, um four attendees, six individuals total.
047Um, generally speaking, um, two of the, um, attendees from the first meeting came to the second meeting and two dropped off and two new people came on on March 20th. Um, so had great productive conversations um surrounding um, federal funding concerns. As you know, there's a lot of things going on at the federal level that could impact funding to New York State and to school districts. Um so discussed some concerns around that and um also how we would manage those things. Um we talked about our investments and our our planning around investments um and the great work that the district is doing in terms of our strategic liquidity. Uh we talked about bus purchases um what the legislative processes. There were some questions about that. Um we discussed um how we transport students and we
048transport all of our students. Um although there are regulations around transporting students um certain distances and how um we're not necessarily required to transport um students at different grade levels um at all um with if they're within certain distances, how we do that as a district because as you know a lot of our buildings are on very busy roads with no sidewalks and it's not a safe situation for our students. So um like many other districts in Monroe County, we transport all of our students. Um we talked a little bit about solar and how that's going. Um the free meals program and some concerns around if federal funding goes away, what that would look like. And then also um how um Gates Chilai has done a great job of supporting our students, especially our students
049in need by ensuring that um we provide supplies and materials to um our students and families um uniformally across the district. uh surveys. Um we do a an exit survey um that the participants are able to engage with and we ask a whole number of questions. Um the overall experience was five. Um and they said that the knowledge and ability of um the presenters was um a five as well. That's a one to five. Um some takeaways. Um what did you find most beneficial from this experience? Um I enjoyed learning where the money um was going. Exactly. So, um they really appreciate um having a deeper understanding of how we develop a budget and some of the um particular challenges we have in doing so. Um especially around regulations and and requirements and mandates. And
050then what if anything could be improved or enhanced for next year? Um you know, somebody said more participation. So, when we first started budget ambassadors, we did have a little more um presentation than we or participation than we've had over the last few years. Um and it seems to kind of be going down as um there was some thoughts around um trying to engage more participation. We did have eight people signed up um and in all um six uh attended um at at various levels of participation. So it was a good experience overall and um we hope to continue to um do budget ambassadors on an annual basis. Any questions about budget ambassadors? No. Okay. Um expenditure budget estimates. Um so what do we get from our budget? Um again, we're um hoping to continue
051to support mental health and behavioral support. Um AIS u math and and um ELA, uh advanced placement and dual enrollment courses. Um, as you know, in terms of hearing from, um, our recent graduates, that is something that, um, we're hoping to be able to maintain and continue doing because we know that our, um, graduates really appreciate that. Our students here, um, are able to oftentimes, um, reduce their length of stay in college, even um, accelerate classroom um, classes at the middle school. Um, some postsecary opportunities, um, our career and technical education programs. um our our students um certainly engage with those and not only at um Boseis and Wamokco, but also in terms of um the program we were able to offer. I know that you saw some of the um new um gains we're
052making in terms of our facilities um via the presentation we just had. Um continued use and maintenance of our onetoone digital devices. All of our students here um have digital devices. Maintenance and upkeep of our state-of-the-art facilities. Um again, you know that those are used for community use and that's certainly something that many of our community members value. And then professional learning for staff and and many more things. So in terms of the expenditure budget proposal looking for a 4.85% increase. Um again this is a a modified zerobased process. We start from zero and we build a budget based on the needs aligned with um the strategic plans of the district. Um so I'm looking at a 4.85% increase in budget. Um some highlighted increases, some of those things that are driving those costs are
053our um ERS salaries. Those are our support staff. Um our TRS salaries um those are our um salaries for teachers or people who are certificated. Um health insurance is a driver for us. Um just a point of information is our health insurance rates went up 14% but due to um you know negotiated contracts and we are seeing um our health insurance costs go down as a result of new hires being on high deductible plans. Uh operations and maintenance um is a is always increasing. Um this year not as much as it has in the past. We had some really difficult um costs in terms of energy over the last few years. Um this year is looking like it's hopefully going to be a little bit better in terms of our planning. Um people services um
054increase of of personnel. I'll talk about that in a few minutes. Um transportation services. Um that's always a cost in terms of um buses. as recently as today um got some messaging around concerns around tariffs and the cost of buses maybe going above and beyond what we typically anticipate um especially in terms of steel. So those categories alone equate for about $7.3 million an increase. Um if you'll remember back to the last slide, that's not the increase in the budget. Um we were able to create some savings in some other areas that help us balance. So um the next couple of slides are going to talk about the budget in three parts. This is one of the requirements we have under um New York State regulations is that we break the budget into three parts.
055Um administrative, capital, and instructional or programmatic. Um so I'm going to go over that now. Um I won't get into the details very specifically on any of these line items. Um as you know, you do have a copy in front of you. So hopefully you can see some of those details. is that um this is where we're tracking in terms of administrative cost about a 3% increase. Um one of the largest increases is tied to some restructuring that we'll discuss in a few minutes that's been communicated um to both staff in the district as well as our community. Um in terms of uh specifically around that staff line as you can see um we are looking to increase um some uh Bosei support which is an aidable expense. we get about 70 cents back from
056on the dollar um for those expenses from Boseies and then also a new director of human resources um which aligns with the restructuring. Any questions about that slide before I continue? Yes, sir. Um so yeah, so the board of Let me back up. Yes, you don't get paid a salary, but in terms of um that particular line, um there's more than just the board of education in there. So, there's portions of people's salaries in the budgetary line that doesn't relate specifically to the board of education. Yep. Yeah. So, okay. um new in 2526, some planned administrative um restructuring that will save the district a little over $200,000. Um there's some details of um the planned restructuring. Some things are happening as soon as um March 31st. Um I know Sam Bell is in attendance this
057evening. Um there are some changes um that are on the agenda for the board um to choose to adopt if they so choose. Um that will take effect much sooner. some changes will not um take effect until July 1. Um but within that restructuring um people are moving into different roles um with different responsibilities. So I'm just going to move through these slides quickly. This is not all of the changes. This is not inclusive of all the changes in the restructuring, but these are the ones that relate specifically to administrative changes. Okay. In terms of the programmatic budget, um there's a number of lines here. Um the big piece is looking at a 5.91% increase um in in the programmatic budget. And this is everything related to um educating students specifically tied to that. Um
058it includes everything from um supervision to um special education um and and teaching. So, um, you can see the the budget lines up there. Are there any questions before I move on to the next slide where I get into a few details about what's incorporated, um, within the programmatic or instructional component of the budget? Okay, I'm going to keep going. So, new in 2025, um if the district is um is set to receive the foundation aid increase, we anticipate through the changes to um how they calculate poverty within the district. Um previously, I know I've shared this um they were using 2020 census data. I'm now looking to use something called SAPE. um if they were to use that safe data, the district would be set to get additional funding to support um programs and
059services in in areas where we know that our district um needs those supports. And so um some of the things that we would do with those funds include reducing appropriated fund balance. So appropriated fund balance are funds that we take from the prior year and apply to next year's budget in order to help balance the budget. um in time that can become problematic because you're depending on last year and if you have a bad operating year then going into the next year you're unable to fund programs and services. So looking to reduce our reliance on that appropriated fund balance um cutting it in more than half. Last year it was about $2.5 million. So look to cut it in more than half. Um additional funds to support culture belonging and engagement. Um additional funds for
060special education. Um you can see some of those targeted areas we would hope to be able to fund. Um ensuring that every kindergarten class has a full-time teacher aid. Um currently we have shared teacher aids at the um elementary level. Um so looking in kindergarten specifically to ensure that every classroom has a teacher aid which you would find in a lot of the districts who frankly have been overfunded in this state. those districts who you've heard are um at least getting a minimum of 2% increase through additional funding, many of those have um teacher aids at multiple grade levels in every classroom with smaller class sizes. We've been unable to do that. This funding would allow us to target that area and provide that additional support to our early learners. Um additional academic intervention service
061staff in both math and ELA. um more field trips um for experiential learning and then um other enhanced learning opportunities. This speaks specifically to helping students um frankly who have um mental health considerations who may not be able to attend our programs here in the district. This is an opportunity whereby they may be able to have virtual learning through um city bosis which is starting a program around um virtual learning for those particular types of students. Any questions about any of that? Okay. Um, in terms of the capital component, so this is the third component, about a 1.59% increase. A lot of reductions in there. Um, we've reduced some administrative staff. Um, we um are anticipating less of a refund in property taxes. Um, generally speaking, um, not huge increase in cost. The one thing
062to point out is that $1 million increase associated with the increase in debt service. Reminder, um debt services are principal and interest payments on the capital work that we do is that as we do capital work, we borrow money um we have to pay um for that work um through bonding is that we get aid back on that cost. So, just a reminder that um we're going to have matching aid that um that accounts for the additional cost which obviously factors into our budgetary increase when looking at that million dollar increase. We're also getting aid back on it. So, in terms of our threepart budget, um nearly 75% of or sorry, 73% of our budget is spent on instruction or programmatic costs. um about 17% spent on capital and under 10% on administrative costs. Um
063in terms of our per dollar expenditure breakdown, about 66% of our budget or 66 cents on the dollar is salary and benefits. So we're a people business. We spend um the majority of our money on on personnel. Um debt service, those are our principal and interest payments about 10%. um Bosei services. This number has continued to go up over the last few years. We do as much as we can um to purchase through the board of cooperative educational services because we know that when we do that um we get aid back in the following year which helps us maintain um programs for for our students. Um and then you get into smaller items from there. So, um a quick comment on tax rate projections. Um as part of the um approved budget calendar, the board
064approved budget calendar. Um on that calendar, it says um tax rate projections are something we usually talk about at this point in the um budgeting game. Uh we're unable to do that at this point for a number of reasons. The first one being um there was a pilot that expired in the 2023 um tax season. If you'll remember, I presented on that last year in great detail. Um, unfortunately, it was never added back to the tax roles. That's not a responsibility of the district. Um, unfortunately, they were never added. Um, and so what does that mean? is that um going into next year, um not only are we going to have that $60 million of assessment coming back onto the tax roles, which is going to drop the tax rate. So that means that um
065the the levy that we put out is now spread out over more assessment, more per thousands. That means the rate goes down. Well, now not only are we going to have that coming back on um to the ROS, but we're also going to have them being rebuild for the payment they didn't make. So, that's going to be another $1.2 million um that will not need to be paid by the rest of the taxpayers here in Gau Chili. That's going to create a complication um in terms of a one-year drop in tax rates. That's pretty significant. Um and in addition to that we have the reassessment which is another complicating factor um when thinking about um getting initial tax roles. So we don't have initial tax roles because of the reassessment. Um so it's not going
066to be something that we can easily calculate. In addition to that we also have that Wegman's pilot consideration. So tax rates for one year are going to drop significantly because assessments are going to go up with the reassessment and we're going to have these other two things going on at the same time in terms of the Wegman's pilot. So tax rates are going to be artificially low for one year and then um going into the following year they're going to come back up a little bit again. And so we're going to have to do a really good job of communicating that. Um and we're we're certainly working through um what that's going to look like. Um so cannot give um tax rate projections right now. Um hopefully by the budget hearing we'll be able to
067do that but again no promises because we are dependent on getting our hands on those tenative rules um through the town of of Gates and I know that they're working really hard um to get there but it is a process and um usually the um challenge date I don't know um off the top of my head what it is for um gates this year but it's usually miday. So, um, as you know, the budget hearing will come before then. Okay. Um, revenue plan, generally speaking, we're awaiting the New York State budget. Um, there is a lot of, um, talk right now at the state level around where they'll end up um, specifically with the Senate and the Assembly. Um, the governor put a minimum increase of 2% um, in terms of state aid. Um the
068assembly and the um senate have talked anywhere from three to four percent in terms of increases. Um if if um all goes well, we could see a a slight increase over what we initially anticipated in generating this budget. Um but if anything, we're hoping that it at least maintains um what we anticipated in in late January so that we can continue with our plan as presented this evening. Um if there is a if there is a gap, we do have some relief in terms of as I mentioned reducing that appropriated fund balance and we may need to utilize a little bit more of that or some of those reserves to cover our budgetary gap that are specific to um our expenditure categories. As you know um reserves can only be used for very specific purposes
069under general municipal law and education law. Uh board propositions and board of ed election. I'm looking at three propositions. First one being and the vote is May May 20th. Um the budget approval. Um as you know the the um public um gets a referendum every year for approval of the expenditure budget. Um specifically how much money we can spend the max amount uh bus purchase proposition. Um we've already shared that with the board. And then also um a capital reserve for bus purchases. A note on that is that um currently we um borrow money for school buses. So we bond school buses. So we have um principal and interest payments on those um purchases on an annual basis in our general fund. Okay, sorry about that. um annual issuance costs for that in terms of
070um you know our our bond attorneys um you know Moody's we have to um put out for a credit rating every time we do that at a cost of over uh $20,000 and then our interest costs so a number of costs associated with going to the municipal bond market about $190,000 a year um with a strategic reserve plan we'd be able to eliminate those costs um our annual Um, bus purchases are about $2 million. Um, if we create a capital reserve to set some funds aside over the next five years, it is a five-year plan to get us off of um, borrowing for buses, um, we would be in a much better place in terms of um, saving the district money and obviously being able to channel that um, to better um, serve our district.
071So that's what that capital reserve is about. In terms of the board of educational election, there's three seats available um all for three-year terms. Um the expiring seats of Frank Mosscato, um Dr. Christine Brown Richards, and Tanya Serbinowski. Um petitions are available. Summary. Um our intention is to um enhance current programming and staff to support district goals and continue to provide multiple opportunities for student achievement and engagement. Um we do feel that this budget adequately does that and will continue us on a great path to continued success. Next steps um budget calendar. Um this is the budget presentation. Well, yesterday was the budget presentation to the finance committee. A brief rundown on March 25th, that's today. Um we went over all of that. Um the budget adoption, we would look for the board to adopt
072on April 22nd as mentioned earlier with a public hearing and meet the candidates night on May 1st and the vote being um the third Tuesday in May of every year which is May 20th um this year at the Spartan Fieldhouse from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. With that, are there any questions or thoughts? No, thank you so much and we appreciate that this work takes place throughout the whole year. So, having brought information to us and breaking it down so that way we can understand piece by piece is really helpful because it is a complicated process with things outside of uh our ability as a district to control. So, it's helpful to understand those. Thank you. Well, thank you and thank you for all the work that the finance facility audit committee does in the board
073of education. Thank you. All right, that brings us to our fourth report for the evening. Our student exeicio update. Good evening. Starting with the high school, the high school building equity team has begun their plans to hold the gates to change event with a similar structure to the rock to change from the fall of 2024. The building equity team is co-planning this event with Rush Henrietta while hosting the event here at Gates Shillay. And the H.B.CU trip was a tremendous success with the trip allowing many students to be exposed to a variety of historically black colleges and universities, a program that may represent them best. And on conference day this Friday, there will be a student panel of eight students participating in the breakout session called Lifting Student Voices with nearly 140 people signing up
074for this session. And this breakout session aims to help encourage staff to better support their students. And finally, the cultural culturally responsive and sustaining education cohort. We'll be meeting with six students to talk about microaggressions and their experiences. Thank you. Thanks, Lucas. All right, that moves us on to our consensus item agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the consensus agenda? Miss Littlewood? Miss Davis. Any discussion? All in favor? Vote is unanimous. Can I have a motion to approve consensus items C through L? Dr. Richards, Mr. Bowski. Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. That moves us to action items. Can I have a motion to approve consulting services from BPD for financial services in connection with the school district's 88 million I'm really great with numbers guys. Sorry. $88 million capital
075project and other financial matters. Can I have a motion? Miss Littlewood. Uh Miss Jennings. Any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. That moves us forward to superintendent's comments. I'd like to begin tonight by sharing some important school calendar changes that were just approved by the board. As we move into the home stretch of our school year, there are new last days of school for all levels. The last day of school for high school students will be Monday, June 16th. Exams will continue through June 25th. The last day of school for middle school students will be Monday, June 23rd. In addition, please note that Friday, June 20th and Monday, June 23rd will both be half days for our middle school students. The last day of school for elementary school students will be Tuesday, June
07624th. In addition, please note that Monday, June 23rd and Tuesday, June 24th will both be half days for elementary school students. The last day for our 10-month staff will remain Thursday, June 26th. And a reminder that this Friday is superintendent conference day. That means there's no school for students UPK through 12 as our staff engage in their own learning. We look forward to welcoming back Dr. Malik Muhammad for a featured presentation for all staff as well as some staff choice breakout sessions in the afternoon. And it's the last week of music in our schools month. We'll conclude the month-long celebration tomorrow evening at the Music in Our Schools Month chorus concert at 7 p.m. in our GC pack. Also, uh, over the weekend, we had Mary Poppins and and what a show. Extremely proud of
077all the students and staff and the puppy that participated. Uh again, it's the best show that I've and echoing what our our our board has said since I've been here uh as superintendent. Phenomenal show, great attendance, record-breaking. The efforts that the students, the staff, the musicians, the backstage crew and and our uh outstanding music department really put on a great show for our community and we can't thank them enough. Great great weekend. And now, are you ready for some volleyball? We're a little more than two weeks away from the Gates Charlie Education Foundation's third annual ball volleyball tournament. The event arrival between our four elementary schools is Thursday, April 10th at 5:30 p.m. in our Spartan Fieldhouse. Tickets are a dollar per person with a can of food to donate to our food cupboard or
078$5 without. Come see our four elementary buildings compete for the ball bus trophy. And last week, we announced some administrative restructuring as part of our ongoing commitment to efficiency, leadership development, and fiscal responsibility. These strategic changes to our leadership and operational structure will result in more than $200,000 in cost savings while improving services and aligning resources to better support students, staff, and our community. The key shifts include Dr. Mitch Ball moving into the role of deputy superintendent. As you know, Dr. Mr. Ball has led major capital projects, secured increased state aid, and strengthened district's financial position. In his expanded role, he will oversee key district-wide initiatives to ensure long-term sustainability and continued success. The business office will transition into the finance department led by Sally Sanford as director of finance and Jessica as district treasurer.
079Payroll and benefits will move to our human resources department with ClariS Gardino moving into the role of payroll and benefits supervisor. The district will also hire a director of human resources to oversee payroll benefits and aspects of personnel and labor relations. Sam Bell, who's in the audience with us tonight, will become our exe has become now our executive director of operations and security overseeing facilities, school nutrition, transportation, and security effective March 31st. Anna Lamb will move to the operations department as director of construction and safety compliance supporting capital projects and our significant safety initiatives. Steve Torres will be promoted to security supervisor and Joe De Santo will continue to support facilities as our facilities supervisor. Uh director of physical education, health and athletics position will move under the office of instruction to better align PE
080health curriculum and instruction. Continue education will transition to the communications department under Eva Petraino who will become our executive director of communications and community engagement. Our nursing department and health office staff will shift to student support services to create a more integrated approach to student well-being. Student support services will be restructured following the retirement of longtime administrator Julie Stark. One administration position will be eliminated while Danielle Lator, Angelina Pound, and Dr. Tabitha Woody will assume the roles of directors of student support services. Additionally, a teacher on special assignment or TOSSA will be added to support the committee on preschool special education process. Again, these changes along with a combination of retirements, resignations, and role adjustments allow our district to maintain a strong leadership team while also saving more than $200,000. Please join me in congring
081all these leaders on their new and expanded roles. I'm excited for this new next chapter in Gates Charlie history and look forward to continuing to work alongside these hardworking professionals on behalf of all our Spartans. So, everyone's wondering state budget. Well, it's due April 1st. We'll see if they're on time. We're hopeful that it will be. We're excited to see the updates and anticipating uh solid report on our state aid. In the meantime, as Dr. Ball shared, we had our final night of budget ambassadors last week. uh we we had four people attend each session for a total of six individuals across the two nights. It was a great time to share data and provide answers to questions and to showcase that the great work our business and finance department do in preparing a budget
082each year. And finally, Gates Charlie has once again earned a perfect financial score, one of only two municipalities in our nation to do so. We learned today that Gates Charlie earned the Cashfest 90 plus award from 3+1. You may remember that 3+1 helps us with our banking and investment services. This award recognizes the district earned a perfect score for the last four quarters and is maximizing the value of taxpayer dollars by carefully managing investments and using high yield accounts. On a last note, congratulations to our new executive director approved tonight. That is my report. Mr. SC, thank you sir. On that note, can I now have a motion to adjurnn our meeting? Mr. Bowski, Miss Littlewood, any discussion? All in favor? The vote is unanimous. The meeting is adjourned.