001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> It's 7:30. We are live. Post cards. Oh, I sent an So and so and Do you have a list of public What time do you have? 5:30 p.m. Keep Garden. Here. Keep Garden. Here. I'm here. Faith Bowlin. Here. Michelle Klein. Here. Jamie Wilson. Here. Sean Duesenberry. Here. James Cartwright. Here. Ryan Orwig. Here. If you want to do the pledge now or later. I'm supposed to do that after we open the election. Okay. That's here. You can leave that. You can leave with my Diana. All right, my babies. So, welcome um tonight to everyone and those online for the Genesee Valley budget hearing for the 2026-2027 um school year. So, as we were making the budget this year, we wanted to make sure that we were keeping um certain budget goals at
002the forefront of our work. This includes um maximizing opportunities for students. We wanted to do all that we could to maintain current staffing levels um cuz that has been something that had the district hasn't been able to do for a couple budget years. We also have to make sure as always, that we're in compliance with the parameters of the New York State maximum allowable tax cap levy. We wanted to make sure that what we did for next year's budget was really going to support professional development and learning, not just for our teaching staff, but for our support staff, um including our aides, but also those other departments of the district that are so important for us to function, our food services, our transportation, custodial maintenance, cuz we couldn't do what we do without those other
003departments to support. And we want to make sure that we're providing a foundation for future budgets, right? Like I think sometimes we we look at the current budget and we think about only those numbers, but our goal is also looking 5 years out to make sure that the district has sustainability, um because we don't want to put ourselves into a financial situation um that could be detrimental to the programs that we offer. So, some of the strategies that we used this year was to maintain focus on those goals and state requirements that I just highlighted. Um assess all our current staffing and programs and assess our current professional development. And one of our goals is to make sure that for all of those areas that we start creating 5-year plans so that we see where
004we want to go with staffing or programs or professional development, not just for now, but also just like the budget for sustainability for the future. In developing the budget, we also took into consideration the positions where we have retirements this year. So, we have an administration retirement, we have a receptionist retirement, a teacher aide, a custodian, and um an administrative assistant. So, those retirements actually hit many of the departments in the district, um not just teaching staff. Was this me, too? Okay. >> [laughter] >> So, some of the [clears throat] things that are included in the budget. So, we always have to start with our contractual increases. So, these include salaries and benefits. We are part of a healthcare consortium that's run through CA BOCES. So, all of the school districts in CA BOCES are
005part of this healthcare consortium. And we have already been told that next year health insurance is going to increase by 8%. Um if you remember, I think 2 or 3 years ago, we had a 20% jump. Um 8% is still very high, but it's better than 20. Um one of the things that we really wanted to do next year is also add a first-grade teacher. We've seen an increase in enrollment in our younger grade levels, including kindergarten. We have three kindergarten teachers this year, so this will allow us to continue to provide really high-quality education for that cohort as they move up into first grade, which we all know is foundational for students to learn to read. Couple other considerations we had was we'd like to include a new special another special education teacher in
006next year's budget, as well as an additional teacher assistant. Currently, we have 38 teacher aides, and next year that would increase to 39. And we're also anticipating uh placement for a student in a BOCES special ed placement, a 611, which runs upwards of over $100,000 just for one student's placement. So, those are some of the major things that we wanted to make sure we were able to work into this year's budget. Oh, just one more. Yeah, you take over. Okay. So, um also included in the budget, we um as you remember a few years ago we started tuitioning in kids for um specialized services. Um BOCES is really struggling placing some kids um with district from districts around our area. So, we are still looking to tuition some of those in. Fortunately, that is not
007guaranteed revenue. So, that is a risk that we take year after year after year, but it does balance our budget as of now. Um but that is another reason why we carry a little excess fund balance to help in case of emergencies if that revenue does not come in. Debt service, um we're in the middle of multiple capital projects. This year we did an $8.8 million ban. Um so, the budget is going to look like it's increasing quite significantly. A lot of that is due to this $800,000 principal and interest payment on this ban. It is offset by um building aid coming back from the state. So, you'll see our revenue increase as well. Um we have two students attending the Medical New Visions program, so we always like to highlight that. That's a very
008competitive program, so it's it's great for our students who get accepted into that. Um we are looking to purchase a new school bus. This one will be handicap accessible. We haven't purchased one of those in a very long time. That will be directly offset by our transportation reserve, so that's zero impact to the budget as well. And then out of district tuition this year we started charging um out of district tuition for students at $1,000 and we are looking to increase that to $1,200 per student. So, now to get into the uh the financial side of things. So, this is what it looks like from the state as of today. It's not a finalized budget at the state level, so this is really the first go at it. So, we're hopeful that we're going to
009get this. We will see once the final numbers come back from the state. So, it's really positive. I mean, over the last 10 years since I've started, I've never seen an increase like this for our district, anyways. So, we are looking at just over an 8% increase in foundation aid. Um again, I'm it's really hard to believe. I'm not the most optimistic person, so I'm very hopeful that we will get this. Um building aid, you'll see a large increase in that. Again, I just explained that that's due to the band that we um we entered into this year. And the state is really pushing UPK funding. So, they really want three and four-year-olds to districts to start implementing the program. So, they are increasing UPK funding significantly for us. So, that that helps us out.
010Um fortunately, we we already have the classroom set. But, they are increasing the per pupil per pupil amount that we will get in that fund. So. And just as far as pre-K goes, the state has just recently come out with some guidance that stating within the next couple school years, every school district in New York state is going to have to provide pre-K to any four-year-old family in the in their catchment area that wants pre-K. So, you have to remember, right now our pre-K classes are limited to 18 because that's state guidance. So, what that means is if we have 36 kids in September and we have three more kids that want pre-K four, the state is basically saying in the coming years you're going to have to open another classroom. Whereas now, we would
011just put those students on a waiting list, right? So, I'm wondering if part of this increase is preparing districts for the future. Um because right now, we wouldn't have to hire another teacher and take on those added expenses, but that's something that's going to be coming down the line as they try to get more and more kids into those pre-K programs early. >> [clears throat] >> So, we are looking to increase the tax levy at 1%. Um this is well below our cap, um, and it's just under $32,000. So, not a huge increase, um, but we we do like to increase it little by little each year. So, here's our estimated revenues just broken out by category. Um, our generally this is coming directly from the state. Um, this includes the foundation aid that I
012just went over, the UPK funding, as well as the building aid increases. Community schools, that is state study for since they've, um, initiated that. Um, so we we typically get $100,000 for that and it's lumped into our building or our foundation aid. BOCES aid, um, you know, BOCES aid expenditures go up every single year, so we receive the aid back on that. So, um, uh, so we're looking for an increase in both BOCES aid. Other revenues, this is down a little bit. Um, the this is mainly due to the kids that are being tuitioned in from our special ed into our special ed classes. So, um, we're just not getting the participants that we've had in the past. I mean, districts are starting to open up their own classrooms, so, you know, this that's a
013that's going to be a struggle for us in the upcoming years. And then, um, the reserve transfers, we always allocate a portion of our reserves to help balance our budget. Um, so here are the reserves that we appropriate our fund balance. Um, we we appropriate $725,000 of our fund balance to balance the budget. Um, our debt reserve, this was depleted with during this current school year, so we do not have that to help offset, um, future debt service payments. Transportation reserve, this is the cost of the bus, um, that I explained. Retirement reserve, we always allocate a portion of our, um, retirement reserve just to help offset the increases in retirement contributions. And then our unemployment reserve, we typically don't touch this, um, but we've left it in there. It's mainly just in case, you
014know, people file for unemployment and we don't have that budgeted. So, we are able to use that reserve just in case. And then this is just a visual of where our money comes from. The majority of it comes from the state and, um, uh, about 15% comes from our local tax levy. And here are expenditures. Um, general support says up slight- slightly. Um, this includes some administrators, our maintenance staff, um, and just the general expenses of the budget. Um, instruction, that's up uh, just over 400,000. That's mainly contractual increases as well as the new positions that we explained. Um, transportation, >> [clears throat] >> that's down a little bit. So, Wally's done a great job managing his transportation budget. He always cuts costs whenever he, um, whenever whenever he feels it's appropriate. Employee benefits is
015up. Um, a lot of this is due to the health insurance, but we try to remain steady by, you know, offsetting other costs. And debt service, that is the large increase due to the 8.8 million-dollar ban. And again, the visual of most of that is instruction with benefits. General support is 14%, debt service 18, transportation four. So, this is just our three-part budget-to-budget comparison. It breaks it out by admin, program, and capital. Um, you can see a budget-to-budget increase of 6.45%. That looks like quite a large percentage compared to previous years, but again, a lot of that is due to the debt service. Our admin is decreasing. Again, a lot of that is due to new administration as well as the retiree. Program is up 3.95, not terrible. Then then our capital, again, it's debt
016service. So, just budget to budget summary, um 6.45% increase in a 1% tax levy increase. So, here is the propositions which will be on the ballot. Um the school bus, uh this is a little more expensive, but it is a handicap accessible school bus that will be out of the transportation reserve. And then the libraries, so Angelica will be going out for 58,000 and Belmont's just over 68,000 with a combined increase of just over 10,000. And then the Board of Education. So, we have three open seats with three candidates, and that is Jeremy Marsh, Amy Wilson, and Michelle Kelly. >> [clears throat] >> And the vote is 2 weeks from today, and we are just holding the one vote site here at Genesee Valley in the pool best view, and it's from noon to 8:00.
017Open it up for questions. Why are we not voting in the Angelica as well? It's going to cut down by a lot the number of people in Angelica vote. Someone take that. Yes, I will. >> [laughter] >> I agree with the Leslie, and I I'm tried fighting for it. That's what I ran for, but according to the election I work for the Belmont elections that the staff they're not they're not going to support having two different districts, and it was going to put too much on Pam to figure out who goes where instead of the election board doing it anymore. So, Pam doesn't have the time in her schedule to say, okay, these are from Angelica, these are from Belmont, to do it before the election board. That's part of their job and duty and
018now they're refusing to do it. So, that's why we had to move it back here. So, next year you're going to vote in Angelica? No, I don't think they'll ever change. I'll sign a petition, I'll sign it, but I don't think it they will change. When we did the one vote in the fall, I believe it was for the capital project vote, we did send we did communicate out to the Angelica community and we sent a bus that we would be willing to transport individuals over if they didn't want to drive cuz that was bad weather time. So, in in that vote we didn't have anyone we didn't have anyone show up to ride the bus over that we had in Angelica, but if that's something that the Angelica community would like us to offer
019again, we're more than willing to do that. I think I think I hate to say it, but I think people drive around the park so circle and say, oh damn, we got to vote today. And they stop and vote. They don't have it in their head necessarily. They're not driving by the bus garage or the the pool vestibule, so they're not >> Yeah. remembering. So, that's why we're going to have fewer Angelica people. And I think honestly fewer people care to vote anymore about anything, any of them. Elijah, is that true? That you can vote. What? >> [laughter] >> Never mind, go back. That's all. Oh, I do have one more question. You're talking about hiring an additional first grade teacher. I know [clears throat] teachers move around in the elementary. Are we not going
020to need three Are we going to need three kindergarten teachers? Could one of those move up to first grade because you're going to have those changes you're going to have to make as large classes move through the system. Yeah. My understanding right now is there's a large pre-K 4 class. So, it is kind of They're going to need it. Yeah. And what I did is I actually went through the last five years of enrollment numbers and we looked at this was the number of students that were in pre-K 4 and this is how many additional enrollments came in between the end of June and the start of school. And over the last five years, it's averaged between 7 and 12. Um so, if we take 36 pre-K'ers and we add 12, that's 58. We can't
021put I mean, there's a kindergarten teacher here. We can't put 28 kids in a kindergarten class. These are the >> could, but it might not be beneficial. So, I mean, it's it's I think it's going to we're going to have to pay attention to those fluctuations as the enrollment trends change. And yeah, this year we may have three kindergarten and three first grade and next year we need three first grade and three second grade. Um but I just think it's important that we just keep looking back at those enrollment numbers and and making some really good decisions about about what's best for kids. Cuz in the at the end of the day, every decision we make should be foundational to what is best for our students. Um so, that's really how we've tried to approach
022the budget bill this year. Thank you. Other questions? Yep. We'll go ahead and Uh do you think we're going to lose numbers of students with the increase in our district costs? Do you think they're willing to pay that? I can't foresee the future, but I personally don't feel that we will. We never We had a couple conflicts with putting the tuition in and the the parents realized what kind of education they were receiving from Genesis Vale compared to other school districts. And so, you know, that is what it is. That is what it is. I don't I don't imagine that we will. I mean, that's my own personal This is going to sound stupid. Do you take payment plans or are they required to pay for it all at once? That's Sarah. She can answer
023that for you. Yeah, so this year we did do payment plans. We We split it up with three payments. Um and we are looking to to continue that going forward. So, it's not all. And last year, part of it, Nancy, too, was the fact that the the decision to do the tuition came after I started as superintendent, so like the end of July, beginning of August. And it just it just wasn't feasible to have that expectation, right? So, the fee last year was a thousand dollars. So, we did 250, 250, and then 500. So, the the plan is to also do that. And it was nice that the we we changed the policy to allow the board to make that determination in January, so that families would have plenty of time and knowledge about what
024those fees were going to be. So, And do out of staff out of district staff do their children, if they bring here, have to pay the tuition? Is that something that they you would entertain? I know they have in the past talked about it. Currently, no. We don't We let any staff member who that's benefited many of our teachers and staff. We haven't gone that road. Just the pre-K in question, not that we charge. It's just whether or not they can come because we have to accept the in-district ones. We're capped at the 18 for our funding, but that will change. So, we have K through 12 to allow staff's kids to attend. >> That's the hard part because of that cap like Erin is saying, if we're at 36 students and all of a
025sudden a family moves in with a pre-K student, we we actually have to ask the staff member to remove their child from program because we're required to offer it to an in-district family. That's just it's rough. Yeah, for a 4-year-old to say, "Why can't I go to school anymore?" So, we we've tried to really balance that and make good decisions about enrollment in pre-K so that we don't run into those situations. I see you with the New Visions program, and it's been wonderful. That's provided many medical providers have coming back to Allegany County. Um does that cost the district? >> Mhm. How much per student? Um it's just over 17,000 per student. 2,000? Wow. Mhm. We pay for each student that also goes to to the BOCES CTE program. I believe this year we had
02653 uh students that go, and the average is just a little over $10,000 per student. So, the New Visions is significantly more than than the uh just the general CTE programs at BOCES. Does BOCES offer a pre-engineering program? I don't know. I don't think so. They actually I don't know. >> My grandson's doing it up in Cattaraugus through the CTE. They do. There is some sort of engineering says they do. Yeah. Cuz each BOCES will offer different programs. Um like the culinary program that's here is not offered at the BOCES center in It's only offered here in Olean. So, each center will have different programs, and they can choose those, but Mrs. Dolman said they do offer the pre-engineering. One of our seniors is in it. Thank you. Again, so that I marked in my
027thing that the the occupational special schools, so it includes uh tuition at BOCES and summer school is going up almost $100,000. That's Am I reading this wrong? For BOCES expenditures? It It says occupational special schools and under underneath it says includes occupational tuition at BOCES and summer school. That's all it says. Yeah, I mean, with the way they charge for students, they base it on a 3-year average. So, we have continually increased our participation in BOCES, so our 3-year average has gone up significantly over the past 5 years. I think from last budget to this next year's budget is going up over $100,000. So, It's good for the kids. >> It is. Yeah. The thing to also kind of understand about the BOCES budget, and Aaron can correct anything I say wrong, BOCES is It's
028like they're called cosers, which stands for cooperative services. Some cosers are optional, but many cosers are mandatory for districts, whether or not you're using services or not, and then they have the additional fees on top of them. So, just like Aaron was showing that our expenses are increasing each year a certain percentage, so were the BOCES, and that's up to all of our districts in BOCES to absorb those costs. So, anything that's increased at BOCES just filters down to us at the district. Now, at the last budget meeting, last budget, you cut out some of the vocational programs that were housed here at Genesee Valley. Have we seen an increase in student dropouts since those programs were lost? Sorry. No. No, we I can attest that everyone that was in that program that was able
029to graduate has graduated. They stayed in school. Good. So, that was a benefit of it. Uh we left a couple on the table because we cut it. It would have been nice if we could have kept for them to get their second year and they didn't get it. And two boys especially were very hurt and sad and they were doing much better wanting to be here because of the program. So losing it was really tough even if for just two kids. It was really tough to see. Thank you, Aaron and Peach. Can I get a motion [clears throat] to adjourn the Is there a motion to a I'll second. Favor? I. All right. Now I'd like to call the regular meeting to order. Did the meeting call so if there is no standing for it,
030leave. So there's no scheduled guests to the board tonight. I'll open up the table and see if there's the board. Okay. Can I get a to approve the revised agenda? Any questions, comments, concerns? Favor? I. Both. Presentations to the board. Dave Hagstrom from Angelica, I'll take you first. First, okay. I'll let you do it. Um I do have handouts and I I don't have enough. I wasn't expecting the green shirt gang here tonight. >> [laughter] >> Start with these, whatever you want. You guys, maybe? Thank you. We're handing them out for everybody. Um I'm Oh, wait a minute. >> Yeah, we're going to just share them. All right, you should. All right, thank you. Um I'm David Hagstrom, the president of the Board of Trustees of the Angelica Free Library. And um I'm just going
031to read through this quickly. Board of Trustees of the Angelica Free Library met January 13 and adopted an operating budget for 2026 of $67,000. The amount is an increase of $4,000 over the final budget figure for the previous year. The spending plan includes a property tax levy of $58,000, an increase of 1,000 from 2025. And then, as we all know, the annual Genesee Valley School District ballot in May will include the library tax levy proposition. So, some um budget numbers, uh allocations include for books and other materials 4,100, wages and employee benefits 38,420, janitorial service and supplies 1,800, utilities 3,000, library supplies 900, building insurance 2,300, building maintenance 4,000, security 460, programs 2,000, equipment 600, technical services 5,500, accounting services 3,480, and miscellaneous and contingency $400. And then this is the following information is from
032the 2025 annual report of the Angelica Free Library. Library visited library visits total annual attendance 3,512. This compares to 3,439 in 2024. Live program sessions 47 compared to 61 the previous year. Live program attendees 384 compared to 369. And the physical items circulation 5,989 compared to 6,452 the previous year. Under accessibility project just completed within the last week is installation of a new automatic door opener at the library's handicap entrance. And the total cost of this project was $11,500, and grant funding received through the 2025 New York State Public Library Construction Aid Program was $8,625. Free Art for Youth This summer creativity takes center stage once again as the 2026 free art for youth program returns to Allegany County sponsored by the Angelica Free Library. Throughout July and August, this county-wide initiative offers a rich
033lineup of free art classes designed to inspire young artists, building skills and bringing communities together. The season begins with a kickoff celebration at the Lavender Festival in Park Circle, Angelica on Saturday, July 4th. Project is made possible with funds from the statewide community regrants program through the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the office of the governor and state legislature. And finally, Angelica's front porch. The fall of 2025 marked the 125th anniversary of the construction of the Angelica [clears throat] Free Library building. A front porch celebration of this notable milestone took place on Saturday, October 18th when friends gathered for a commemorative photo. The event also included by uh Don Berger and the Song Kitchen Sidekicks, remarks by Village Mayor Robert Claypool, cider and Al Hall's famous white cakes and lawn
034games for the kids. And I hope you can skip right through my typos in that paragraph. So, um that's the Angelica Free Library and back to the actual number that that makes the difference. We're asking for a tax levy increase of a thousand dollars and that's just because everything is more expensive. We're in the land of, you know, four dollar ice cream cones. So, that's it. Any questions? But Dave, Okay. Thank you very much. It's the the public library. >> Here's the most exciting. Okay, I don't have nearly as many handouts as you did, but I can pass a couple of them out. I think you actually gave me yours. Um, and I don't have anything as eloquently put together either. I apologize. This is my first year meeting in front of you guys. I
035took over at Belmont in February of last year, um, kind of part-time. I was running two libraries until June when I left my other library and took over at Belmont full-time. So in 2025 we had 474 registered borrowers. Just over 2200 patrons came to the library. Checked out almost 2700 books. 46 programs were held with 414 people in attendance. And that was just mostly the summer reading in the last half of the year because again, I didn't wasn't there full-time till June. We had over 2000 electronic items checked out. So that's if anybody uses Libby. And we had 100 or 1671 patrons that used our Wi-Fi. We reached out to a place called Josh's Frogs and they donated a bunch of materials to us to introduce our newest library resident, which is Fettuccine. He is
036the cutest little corn snake ever. It has gotten teens into our building because they know at Tuesday night right around 5:00 Fettuccine's going to get his mouse and they love watching him. Um, >> [clears throat] >> You did Was he out the day that >> No, >> [laughter] >> It's okay. I will survive. I I get you to like him. I promise. >> [laughter] >> Um, we also for the first time ever were able to offer STEM kits and Wonderbooks. If you don't know what a Wonderbook is, there is a built-in speaker that reads the story as the child can turn the page and see the words in the book as well. So, it's helping to increase fluency and literacy. To the numbers that matter, we are asking for an $8,905 It works out to
037be roughly $7 for the year on properties that are of $100,000 assessment value. We've pretty much everything has gone up across the board. We 5 years ago we could purchase a book for 20 bucks. Now they're 30. Um, so I did put I mean I gave you our full budget. If anybody wants to look over that or has any questions for that, um, I don't want to sit here and bore you and go line by line unless you want me to. No? Awesome. Thank you. What was your budget again last year? Yeah. Uh, last year we had asked for 59,364. This year we're asking for 68,269. It's an increase of 8,905. Questions? Comments? Well, thank you very much. Thank you. And I have to sneak out because I have to get my kids. I'm your
038ride. You're my ride. >> [laughter] >> Oh, and to all of the teachers, you guys are my hero. I love you all so much. Thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. I know it's rough. Keep doing what you're doing. Thank you. This is my time to present them. Mhm. All right. I'm going to announce the more information. The annual budget vote and election for the educational members will be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 from 8:00 p.m. There will be one election site at the Genesee Valley school pool, Westville wheel for Angelica and Belfast district Residents will vote the following propositions: 2026-2027 school budget, the purchase of a one to 60 passenger school bus with the ability to carry two wheelchair chairs, use of transportation reserve funds, will and increase support both Angelica and Belfast
039libraries. Residents will also vote on three Board of Education members. Positions have been filled by Jeremy Marsh, Jamie Wilson, and Michelle Kelly. All ballots will be tallied after the polls close at 8:00 p.m. And new for this year, we will be using electronic voting machines supplied by the Allegany County Board of Approval of minutes. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from the April 21st, 2026 meeting? I'll move the motion. I'll second. Thanks for the second. Anybody got a any questions, comments, or concerns on this? All in favor. Aye. The polls. Motion carried. [clears throat] Administrative data reports. I didn't do it. This is locked in. I do want Just an update. The A- doing I think this is the reason for the article board meeting. I wouldn't be doing something. Mhm. Oh,
040uh, 77. Sorry. Thank you. Oh, thanks. >> You're welcome. Everyone should bring a teacher with technology knowledge. I know. Uh So, uh, the May board presentation, I found this cute little picture of the bear at picnic table. So, that was told it was going to be picnic. Well, there's not a picnic on Friday, but there's a chicken barbecue. So, uh the chicken [clears throat] barbecue will be Friday. Uh, Ms. Wilson in the, uh, district office created a beautiful Canva flyer that I will send out to you all when I get a chance. Um and I was told that it is always the superintendent's job to make the baked beans. So, I will be leaving work on Thursday and going home to make some smoked beans. That's what happened. So, cuz it is National Teacher Appreciation
041Week, um and one way here at GB that we do appreciate our teachers is each year we do a lovely chicken barbecue. So, it's Friday. I can't wait to eat chicken barbecue. The next thing I wanted to share with you is the class of 2024 had funds remaining after their students graduated and they have decided to um through BOCES, they at the print shop, they're able to do what's called like wraps and this is the design that we chose this morning for the windows and the doors down in the pool vestibule. So, this entire design was created um by the class advisers of the class of 2024 in BOCES and it is of no cost to the district cuz it's coming from those that class fund. So, I think it's going to look really it's
042going to look really nice. Spruce up down there a little bit. So, I just wanted to show that picture to everyone cuz we just decided on the design this morning. We are in the at that time of year where we're having a number of community forums. So, we had a community forum last week where I presented on looking into the 2026-27 school year. Some of the things that were highlighted um and these presentations will all be put on the website once I narrate the PowerPoint so uh the information is shared out well. But, a couple things for next school year is we are moving to the regional bell schedule aligned with most of the other schools in Allegany County. We're also going to have a bell schedule at the elementary school. Many of you might
043not know we don't have a common bell schedule at the elementary school. Uh we're also going to be offering recess during lunch next year for elementary school students. Uh 15 to 20-minute recess each day when they're having lunch. Breakfast and will be in the cafeteria next year for all students grades K to 4. A major change next year is all students 7 through 12 will be using lockers. We are to begin to limit the use of backpacks and the carrying of bags. If any of you want to know how much weight a student carries every day, lift up a ninth grader or an 11th grader's backpack. Uh we are going to have lots of people needing chiropractors when they get older. They're carrying upwards of 50-60 lb on their backs and it's just not necessary.
044And as many of you know, school safety is a really big thing for me and it's just not safe for kids to be carrying those bags. They're tripping hazards in classrooms, lots of things. So, um Oh, I'm sorry. My slide is wrong. I made a mistake. So, May 5th, which was today, was the community forum on the Title 1 uh uh our Title 1 program here at GV, which will also be put up on the website. We did a survey of all families in the district to provide their input on Title 1 and we received over 130 surveys back, which was really great. So, that data will inform what we do with our Title 1 programming moving forward. And then on May 18th is the GVCS safety forum. So, each year as part of New
045York State regulatory guidance, we are required to have a safety forum to discuss our safety plan and I've developed a safety survey that um Mr. Babbitt and um Ms. Massioni is have going to be putting out on Parent Square and the website tomorrow and we'll be able to get input from the community on the safety of our school and then we'll have the safety forum on the 18th. The public plan will be on the website by Friday cuz we're supposed to have our public plan out for 30-day public comment before the board vote and the board usually adopts that at the June meeting. So, I wanted to make sure that we were um in compliance with all of those things. So, so far this year, we have given the board a lot of data on
046um our school year overview, our APPR, which is uh the our evaluation and assessment data. We've done a lot with marking period attendance and discipline data, PBIS data, and then given the board multiple updates each season regarding student participation in club and sports. So, we wanted to close out our professional data tonight with uh information from Ms. Roberts on professional development conferences and summer learning opportunities. Yeah, so this winter we did conclude two book studies. We worked on the writing revolution two seminars uh that we attended with Dr. Kinnard. It was very well attended, and we got a lot of good feedback from that book. It provided multiple writing strategies and approaches for students who struggle with writing. And we also did a book study called number talks, and we had two sessions for that
047as well. And uh just good conversations with teachers reading the same book and sharing ideas and thoughts and what we work and how we could use some of the recommendations in those books. So, it was very well attended. For the 26-27 school year, you can see a list already in the works for additional book studies. Um we want to offer those for teachers to get their CTLE credits, and so we increased those offerings for next year. So, some good opportunities there. So, we concluded our March professional staff development day, and we always have a full schedule on those days with lots of options for teachers. Some are optional and some are required, depending on their position, and so teachers have lots of opportunities not only to attend PD, but to also have time to collaborate
048with each other, to work on instructional work or things that they need to do. Um we did have a mandated reporter training, which is required by New York State, and that was a follow-up to last year's training. There was an update. Um and we have our tech liaisons. We have teachers in our building who are experts in technology, and they offer their time as a tech liaison for other teachers to come and meet with them and ask questions that can be specifically tailored to the needs of the persons attending. And so we really appreciate the tech liaisons giving their time to do that, and I know it's helpful for those who attend. I did lead a Teach online help session. Um Teach is a teacher account that uh some people um needed tutoring in or
049had questions in or wanted extra help or just simple information. So I led a professional development session on that. We are currently piloting Haggerty for writing. Um we find some of our students struggling with writing still, so our grades 3 through K through 3 teachers are piloting that, and we had an opportunity for an additional training, a question and answer session with our rep from Haggerty. And we hope to make a decision on that by the end of the school year. We also have mentees, new teachers in our building, and we always provide time for them to meet with their mentor. Um we offered collaboration and planning, uh project-based learning meetings across grade levels and departments, great opportunities for teachers to get together and collaborate. New York State also requires science investigations. And that's for
050our science test. We did have a New York State science test for grades 5 and 8 today. Science investigations lead up to the science test, and uh so we give time to teachers for planning those investigations, scoring them, entering the data into PowerSchool, etc. Um teachers have opportunities to revise curriculum maps. We did have special education self-contained teachers opportunities to meet with their classroom aides. And we had special luncheon by Lulu Reese Cafe. It's her first time here for a staff development day, so that was fun. And then we worked with Ann Campbell um Ann and I met on multiple occasions. She helped develop a bunch of wellness activities that occupied the afternoon. And we had lots of offerings, ramp health, custom fitness, we had pickleball, yoga, uh diamond art, cooking with Carolyn. Carolyn um
051hiking outdoors, sign making with Anna Lawson, um puzzles, board games, all kinds of things for us to be able to practice wellness. It's also important. I know. So it was a busy day, but it was a fun day. We also have had um 17 total conferences of attendance since the last meeting that I presented to you. These are some of those conferences that were attended, Carolyn Wright, uh Sarah Horn, Brandy Hutcheson, Keely Graham, and Nicole Bagley, Ashley Allman, Sue Ann Lindquist, and Sean Clancy. Um so you can see just the list of different offerings outside of the building um where teachers can go and learn more about their particular topic or content area. You know, we both these offers a lot of professional development [clears throat] for our teachers, and and we really try to
052take advantage of that, but it's also really important that we have teachers that are willing to go beyond just our region and be able to collaborate with other teachers from other areas of the state to just expand that learning beyond just see able so we're really we're really lucky that the budget is able to support so many teachers attending such great conferences. So for the summer of 2026 we've increased the number of professional development offerings for teachers to choose from we kept the traditional math and ELA we included special education opportunities so there are 18 separate days in July and August for people to choose from and topics to choose from to be able to attend PD here over the summer. And so that's great that's great opportunity for everyone to come in opening of
053our school year new teacher orientation we have every year this year August 24th. Our opening week PD is August 25th and 26th and our meet the teacher night is August 26th from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. And so during that opening week the two days the 25th and 26th will be another round of professional development meetings collaboration for teachers as they come in get their rooms ready for the first day of school. Any questions? Things up somewhere. You can find it. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you Paul. Okay. So I don't have a question on that presentation but I did read something in an email I don't know a week or two ago about digital learning and the negative impacts on students and how the board and the school district should start collecting data on
054number of hours that students are spending on digital learning is that something that we will be discussing or putting in play in the future? Yes. I mean I've already talked to kindergarten that like we're not doing the IXL testing or the regular use of that program in kindergarten cuz I think they just need to be engaged with other humans not a digital device. We've also talked about is it appropriate even in first grade to be doing some of those benchmarking. So, I think it's important that we start taking a look at all that. Um it's just the pendulum swung so far this way. It's going to we're going to need to bring it back a bit. So, there are some of those conversations already happening particularly at the lower grade levels. Okay. Great question. Thanks.
055I mentioned a couple names in the room that Did you Did that Did it work for you or did you learn something? I'm not sure if it's a good one. What was the positive thing? Pardon? It was a positive thing? Very positive. And that's the board's trying to promote as much of that as we can. And the staff I think we're doing a wonderful job of looking budget and keep it up here for you all so. So, Sue Ann attended the checkpoint B and B for Spanish. Mhm. And so, she was able to get materials that we can use for Mhm. um state testing. So, it was a collaboration of learning. She got to talk with other districts and you know, really work that out together and bring back some really good materials for us.
056Thanks again, Paula. Two uh board committee reports. Anything with the athletic committee? No, just that the meeting got changed from June 4th to June 3rd, but we haven't had a meeting since the last 20 years. That committee usually meets at the end of each season. So. Policy committee meeting is next week. Mhm. So, we've got a good plan in action of prior policies to review and I don't know if there's any new mandatory ones that we need to consider, but Dr. Myers usually gets about uploading those ahead of time and he talks to people to get them. We did just approve four or five last board meeting. What was it? Nine I think. Okay. Yeah, cuz some of them are like just a little different than Yeah. Um So, yeah, we'll keep plugging away at
057that. See how far all this is so Yeah. So, um one of the things that uh this actually came up in the health and wellness committee meeting that we had a couple months ago is when I started doing some research into what committees New York State says are mandatory and which ones are optional. And in reviewing it, it really looks like the health and safety or the the health and wellness committee and the safety and security committee by New York State guidelines almost have the same goals. So, one of the things that we talked about at the health and wellness committee is instead of those two committees meeting separately, would it be more beneficial to to bring those two committees together um because of the the structure of the goals. So, um I think that
058that's something that we could probably look at for next year in the establishment of the board committees as to whether or not both of those are necessary or if the work can just be combined and be more efficient. And I think originally we had separated them because we had the wellness director in here when we created the health and wellness and I I think it makes more sense to put them with the safety and security and be less meetings and they're still touching the same basis of everything else. >> Yeah. We do plan on carrying out the meetings through the end of the year with health and wellness. Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, that would be a reorg. Putting the thought out there for something that we could just be more efficient there. Financial
059reports. I think you did a wonderful job, Erin. Is there any more you want to add to it or? Um I'm working on the five-year financial plan, so I'm hoping to have something to you guys in June at meeting, so. Yeah, they've been there. Thank you. All right, can I get a motion to approve the warrant report? James to the motion. Second. James and second. Any questions, comments, concerns, anything else? All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Aye. All right, consent agenda and general action items. >> [clears throat] >> I need a motion to approve the consent agenda. I short one. I'll motion. Second. We've got JC to go. James. Second. Any questions, comments, concerns with that? All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Motion. Personnel action items. I need a motion to approve long-term substitute teacher April Cole
060teacher for Julia Kelly. Motion. Second. Actually the motion is there. So this is second. Any questions, comments, concerns on that? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? I need a motion to rescind the appointment of special educational teacher So moved. I can't find it. Wasn't highlighting. So we make a motion. I'll second you. I'll second. You got it. I'll take second. Do you need a motion? Motion second. Any questions, comments, concerns on that? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Let's pass the motion. I need a motion to appoint an advisor for the Genesee Valley band. Heather Brown. Motion. Motion. I'll second. So second. Questions, comments, concerns on that? Who was it? Heather Brown. She resigned last meeting. I'm sure resigned. Was there somebody else? Was there's There was a key and one side. Oh,
061that's what I was going to ask. There is Yeah, there was a key and one side. Yeah. Any other questions, comments, concerns? All in favor? I. I. Opposed? Motion carried. Information and discussion. I'll let to you, Dr. Canars. All right. So, we already covered a couple of these, but we have a number of upcoming committee meetings that are occurring prior to the end of the school year. So, next Thursday is health and wellness. The following Monday, on May 11th, we have our policy review committee, which Mrs. Kelly has already referenced, and we have a lot of policy that we're still reviewing. Tuesday, May 19th, uh safety and security committee, and then that day is also the budget vote, and we will have our board meeting that night at 8:00 8:30 to accept the results of
062the budget vote. Then, I can't believe we're saying it, but moving into June, Tuesday, June 2nd, it will be our governance meeting, where we review the agenda. The Wednesday, June 3rd, as Mr. Galooli already said, the athletic committee meeting was moved because it was originally on June 4th, but that's the joint management team conference for a lot of us superintendents uh up in the Northtowns. So, uh both Dr. Butler and myself will be at that, so we moved that athletic committee meeting. And then, June 9th is the last regular board meeting of the year. I thought we discussed on June 2nd moving the governing meeting. Didn't we schedule the negotiation? Oh, yeah. You may be correct. I think it's the 4th, right? But, the times has changed. Yeah. To to try to think through that.
063The The other thing, and I have communicated this with Buddy earlier today, is we said that tonight would be the night when we would determine the reorg meeting for the board, as well as the date for the board retreat. So, one of the one of the ideas that I had that I wanted to float by everyone was if we held the reorg meeting on Tuesday, July 14th, cuz remember this year the the state says that we can have that reorg meeting up to the Monday after the 21st, so we're not limited in just that first week. And then we could do dinner after that board meeting. Uh because that um and then we could actually start the board retreat for just a couple hours that night. So, we could go from like 5:30 to like
0648:30. And then on Jul- July 28th, which would normally be the July work session, we could actually turn that into the remainder of the board retreat. Um we could if we could start that day at like 3:00. Uh I mean, the time can be um You're Yeah, flexible by what >> What was that day again? July 28th, Tuesday the 28th. So, >> on the 14th. You're unavailable on the 14th? Only day that week I'm unavailable. Okay. So, we can choose a different day. But uh on the 28th, if we could do like 3:00 to 6:00, we could finish out 3 more hours of board retreat, and then we can have dinner, and so it's kind of breaking up the board retreat. I was thinking if that after the reorg meeting uh as an admin team,
065we could present the vision and goals for the 26-27 school year, set the foundation, maybe some ask some essential questions that then we could come back to um on that second time. So, I just wondered what everybody thought about breaking it up into two, and it not taking a full day, and just kind of running it that way this year. What was the time you wanted to start on the 14th? Well, the 14th would be the normal board meeting, so we would start at 5:30 and go till about 8:30. But, James says he can't do the 14th, so we could pick another day that week. But, then on the 28th if we could start at 3:00 to 6:00 and then do dinner afterwards. We could figure out how to make that happen. So, then we
066would basically have a 2-hour board retreat on the first day and then 3 hours on the second day. As long as we give ourselves enough time to finish it on the 28th, but I like that idea. Well, I like the idea of that is because you always go home and then you have questions that you forgot to ask or bring up. So, at least now you can write them down as one home thinking about things and then I'll make them And you're pairing it with the work session, so then you're not saying like that's an extra meeting, so I I like that idea. >> [clears throat] >> Phil? Um well, we're going to go on vacation in July, but I don't know when, so I can try to work. I can try to work. If
067we know we're going to do it 2 weeks, that kind of takes out 2 weeks. But, I'll make it. But, we'll throw the dates out. Paige can throw out the dates. Um we can change the voting. Same. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah, cuz we have to have that by what, the 21st? The reorg meeting has to be made. So, we could even do the 21st and the 28th, but they could be 1 week apart. I was just thinking of why we use the dates we'd already kind of talked about for July and we would splitting it up and you know, getting the work done like doing it in a more efficient way. So, I'll put something out and then what we'll do is we'll we'll vote on those dates at the June meeting. Okay? All right.
068>> [clears throat] >> I'd like a motion to go into executive session. Who seconds? It's 35. All in favor? Can everybody sign in? No, I thought I did. Good night, everyone. That makes sense. I couldn't see the grenade launcher. That's perfect.