001Welcome to the Tuesday,6 favor. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under Godis we have behind us stage report. Okay. All right. So what we'll do is ask Vassel Datic and Kaden Nappy both from the class of 2026 and Emma Schultis from the class of 2027 to come on down here in New York State this year. In New York State this year, the governor signed a law that gave school districts the opportunity to include a um an exeicio student board member on the um on boards of education in every school district across the state. Now, an exeicio board member means that they cannot vote unless they're voting to extend the superintendent's contract. You can't vote. But what the student representatives role is going to
002be is to bring the most important voice to the board of education table in a way that is not um reported on by somebody else. You have three student leaders here who are involved in lots of dis different aspects of school life and have been for a long time in Hampton Bay. And I know that Mr. Meyer and Mr. Sh look back and remember each of these students in elementary and middle school and Mr. Rashard has worked with them all the way through. Um we've decided to do something a little bit different in Hampton Bay. So the the way the law is written it gives the school district the opportunity to uh figure out how they want to select the board member. So and notice I said singular the board member. Um it could be
003a student body election. It could be defaulting to the student body president of student council or the senior class president for example. Um or it could be an essay and selection process for by the board of education. We've decided that we would have initially since this is the first unit to give some of our seniors an opportunity to lead in this unique and new way. Uh, so we sent out the application to seniors and we're grateful that Vassel and Kaden both uh answered the call, right? This is public service, so you answered the call for that. But something we're doing different in Hampton Bay is inviting juniors to this process as well. So, as Emma is having her junior planning meeting with counselors right now and thinking about colleges and regents and APs and all
004of that, she's also thinking about a longer period of service because we're going to lose these two gentlemen in just 3 and 1/2 months. But Emma, you're stuck with us for a whole another year, right? And so what an opportunity that's going to be for you to work with us and the administrators and the teachers and your stellow students to identify issues and report so that the the governing body, the board of education, has the opportunity to have your input directly when making decisions that impact the entire school community. So, in May, we're going to ask the sophomores the same question that we recently asked uh the juniors and the seniors this year, and that is, is any sophomore interested in their junior year serving uh to serve as an exeicio member of the board
005of education? And so, that's a a little history and background as to how we got here today. We're really grateful to the board for saying, "Open more seats. It's just another table and we have the chairs, right? better to have more voice than not. And um we'll be working together to figure out a meaningful project and opportunity to update the board of education from now until June. So we're going to dive right in this week together. Still up for the challenge. Okay. Mary and Miss Mrs. Hill, Miss Hill here is the district clerk. She is the manager of the board of education. This book that you're going to sign after you take the oath of office is one of the only things in a school district that can never be destroyed. If you go into
006the archives of district office, there is a feels like a ton filing cabinet that is fireproof. When you go into that into that filing cabinet, you have the signatures of every board trustee since we've been a school district in 1908. So, you're adding your name after you swear a note. You're adding your name to something that will be in Hampton Bay forever. Everything else could be gone, but that fireproof safe is going to be there. And our first three exeicio student members to the board of education. Your signatures will be in that book for setting us on a new chapter. So, congratulations. Okay, Madam Clerk. I announce that you saw me swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of the Union and that I will
007vently discharge the duties of exon student member education to liability. What was that? United States. Not so fast. Take your seats, please. >> All right. Who wants to who wants to give them feedback and complaints and ideas? No one. Welcome to the board. >> Okay. Um, next section is the public comments. All right. Um, we start with our presentations and reports. Who wants to go first? Mr. Mr. Okay. And we also have Alison Callie. Welcome Alison. Congratulations on being February student of the month. Alison is an allound amazing girl. She is smart, helpful, honest, caring, hardworking, and love. She's an active participant in her learning and truly embodies what it means to be a dedicated learner and a compassionate peer. Whether in the classroom or on the playground, she leads by example through her actions,
008her effort, and her unwavering kindness. She's truly a lifelong learner. Alison approaches every task with a can do attitude. She works remarkably hard and consistently gives her best effort in everything she does. It is particularly impressive to see her thriving in the classroom and showing a level of academic maturity that inspires those around her. A major highlight of her progress is her commitment to language relevant. She is using English constantly gaining confidence in her communication and using her new skills to engage more deeply her lessons, reading peers and teachers. You can always count on Alison. She's exceptionally dependable and responsible, often anticipating what needs to be done before being asked. Above all, she's a friendly. She's consistently kind and respectful of both teachers and classmates aling to lend a hand makes our classroom a better
009place. She's the first helped or volunteer for classroom case. Allison enjoys math class, especially learning about multiplication. Her attention to detail benefits her from working with formulas, flex vocabulary, ensure focus needed to understand and show accuracy in fourth grade math matters. Her favorite special and physical education when she likes to play soccer. When not in school, Alison loves to play with her dog Nina. She loves to draw, make slimes, and read, especially throws. Alison's favorite season is summer, which explains why her favorite color is blue, blue skies, and swimming at the beach. Alison loves playing games with dominoes and Jacob with her dad. She often plays soccer with her dad and learns how to cook her beer like spaghetti from her mom. Allison is creative and delights in giving her cousin ideas for stories to
010write. She's a curious, inquisitive and observant girl and she will make a fine peace officer in the future. We are proud and honored to have Alison North this year and we're so proud to have nominated you. Congratulations, Alison. Good evening. How are you? I'd like to invite Mr. Smith represent Allow me to introduce also Hampton Bay's middle school student of the month for February, fifth grader Mary Angel Roman. Mary Angel was nominated by team inspiration who had this to say about her. Mary Angel is truly an extraordinary student and is more than deserving of being named student of the month. From the very first day of school, she has consistently demonstrated what it means to be dedicated, responsible, and motivated. She's the kind of student every teacher hopes to have in their classroom and the
011kind of classmate every student is lucky to learn beside. Every day, Mary Angel arrives prepared and ready to learn. Her materials are always organized, her assignments are completed with care, and her focus during lessons is unwavering. She takes pride in her work and always gives the very best no matter the subject or test. Whether we are tackling a challenging math problem, diving into a new novel, or working on a science experiment, Mary Angel approaches every opportunity with enthusiasm and determination. What truly sets Mary Angel apart is her willingness to go above and beyond. Not only to improve herself, but to help those around her. She regularly creates detailed and thoughtful study guides to share with her classmates for quizzes and tests. She takes the initiative to review key concepts, organize important information, and present it
012in a way that helps others understand it. This act of kindness and leadership speaks volumes about her character. She understands that success is even more meaningful when it is shared. Mary Angel is a natural leader in the classroom. She leads by example through her actions and her attitude. She consistently participates thoughtfully in discussions, asks meaningful questions, and even encourages her classmates to stay engaged. When working in groups, she listens respectfully to others ideas while contributing her own in a positive and instructive way. Her classmates are always willing uh looking to her for guidance because they know she is dependable, understanding, and supportive. One of the Mary Angel's most admirable qualities is her perseverance. She never gives up even when faced with challenges. If something is difficult, she does not become discouraged. She works harder. Her
013growth mindset and determination are inspiring to everyone around her. Beyond her academic excellence, Mary Angel shows kindness and compassion every day. She is respectful to her teachers and peers, always willing to help and consistently makes thoughtful choices. Mrs. Schmidt always jokes that behind Mrs. Sahowski and herself Mary Angel is third in command. Yes, she understands the importance of being both a strong student, dependable friend and a good person. And Angela is truly someone who embodies all the qualities of a model student. Responsibility, leadership, perseverance, generosity, and integrity. With her incredible work ethic, unwavering determination, and kind heart, there's no doubt that she will go far in life. We're so incredibly proud of her accomplishments and I'm so grateful to have her as part of our classroom community. Now there's more. There's more because I had
014a chance to really sit down and talk to her for a bit. She loves math, especially fractions and multiplication and division. She's excited to be a member of the ensemble in this year's HBMS drama club performance of Junior where she was super excited to perform. It's a hard knock. In case you no longer have that song in your head, I mentioned it last month. Now you will. It's a hard night. Mary Angel is also a soccer player excited to play for APMS and in seventh grade and she's an artist who attends R12 regularly. What she enjoys most about painting is how satisfying it can be. She specializes in using colored pencils. She told me today I have one of her sunset drawings in my office when it's complete. I cannot wait. While she's home only,
015Mary Angel's dreams for her future include either becoming a pediatric nurse so she can help children or an author specializing in addiction and fantasy. She shared that one of her favorite stories she's written so far is called Julie in the Bank. And I don't want to give it away. I don't want to give the ending away, but let's just say it involves a hot dog, courage, and a concert. Based on how caring, hardworking, and talented she is, I suggest that she should be both a nursing home. her most favorite book to read so far has been Harry Potter and the prisoner of Asaban which she read with her older sister Daniela who's here also enjoy spending time with her Yorkie named Bel Mary Angel's advice advice for new students is this don't be scared to
016try new things and always be your best congratulations Mary Angel on your successful start at HBMS and we look forward to many exciting adventures for Good evening everyone. It is an absolute pleasure to be here to present the February student of the month award for Hampton High School to Jose Flea. Oh Jesus. Jose is a junior who has taken on an incredibly rigorous course load this year, including Spanish 4, AP literature, AP US history, physics, and college accounting. He isn't just taking these classes, but truly mastering them, maintaining grades in the high 90s across the board. In Mrs. Barrett's pre-calculus class, Jose has become a true standout. Mrs. Barrett shared that Jose loves the hunt for a solution. Whether it's a complex function or a brand new concept, he is always the first to look
017for patterns and connections to what he's already learned. His energy and that signature smile of his brings uh that he brings to every challenge make him a natural leader in our classroom community. Beyond the math equations, Jose's heart is in the world of business. As an active member of our FPLA and a key player in our virtual enterprise team this year, he is already laying the groundwork for a career in the finance industry. Jose serves as the chief financial officer of our virtual enterprise firm this year, Smackdown. Smackdown is a beach game created by our own students. Think Spikeball meets pickle ball meets volleyball. It's the kind of thing you'll likely see all over Ponqua Beach in a couple of years. Mr. Berdo knew Jose would be an excellent fit for the CFO role after
018seeing how quickly he excelled in his college accounting class. As CFO, Jose is responsible for creating the firm's financial statements and budgets, including the entire marketing budget. He played an instrumental role in preparing and explaining those financials for both the business plan and marketing plan competitions. This April, Jose will represent the firm at the Javit Center for the Trade Show and Youth Business Summit, where he will help promote the product and compete on an international stage. Jose has his sight set on attending Stonybrook or Sunni Bingington next year, and next year's course requests, including AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, and AP Business with Personal Finance, prove he isn't slowing down anytime soon. But what makes Jose truly special isn't just his talent for business. It's his perspective on the people around him. Jose lives by a
019philosophy we can all learn from. When it comes to friends, it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality. He believes in surrounding himself with friends who help him grow. And in turn, he is someone who helps those friends grow, too. Jose, your drive to succeed and your commitment to your peers make you a massive asset to Hampton Davis High School. We can't wait to see you take the financial world by storm at the Jim Chapman Center. Congratulations. It is my pleasure to introduce to you the saludiatoran valictorian of the class of 2026. And we're going to start with a familiar face. Uh two months ago I introduced Dennis Williams as the student of the month from high school. So, we got to hear a little bit about what was going on with you. Come
020on down. Uh so, Dennis earned this a lot of hard work. Uh he is an incredibly determined young man. uh and his we point out is 200% true. Uh so you know we don't miss homeworks very frequently. Uh we crush tests and quizzes. It's what we do over here. Um and uh the colleges that he's applied to have acknowledged that we have very nice scholarship on the tables in Johnson and Wales. was admitted to Clark, Stony Brook, Bington, Junata, Mmouth, and Hastra and we are waiting to hear from him. Um, any one of these colleges will be really fortunate to have this young man. Um, it brings incredible focus in his academic endeavors and uh that is here at Hampton Bay High School. Uh, I mentioned last time we had a series. He's going to
021be majoring in business administration uh possibly a minor in management. uh over his years here in Hampton Bay, he's been really involved. Uh was a critical member of our virtual enterprise team last year. Uh he volunteered substantial time um on the south town southampton youth board and uh works with the peer educators um again working with students to make really great decisions. Uh he is a member of three honor societies, math, science, national honor society. He's part of our FBLA. his resume would have us here for a really long time if I kept going. Um, I may have mentioned last time that Dennis has a a special affinity for math. Uh, he's taking both AP stats and AP top this year. Um, if there was a third AP math for him to take. Um, he'd
022probably be in that as well. So, uh, again, I'm looking forward to hearing some amazing things. Uh there's congratulations and um All right. At this time, I would like to present the validatoran of the class of 2026, Taylor Myers. That's all right. So, uh, we didn't have Taylor here two months ago at the board, uh, meeting, but Taylor was recently on child news. Uh so if you have a chance to check that out, the story is still available online. Uh she was recognized by Channel 12 News as a scholar athlete and um you know the interview uh if you watch it, you know really um it spoke a lot to whom Taylor is. Um she talked about math and science. She likes answers. She doesn't want gray. She doesn't want negative responses. Um she she's
023got to know. Okay. Um and a few things that she knows really really well. Okay. Uh Taylor is a competitor. She's a three sport athlete. She's a captain uh on each of those sports. And if you have any opportunity to watch her play, you'll know that she was not playing her. Okay. Um on class night, uh she was literally destroying every student in the building in this basketball contest. Um it was like merciless. Uh it's what she does athletically. Um but what's interesting here is that uh this is fundamentally who she is as a student academically. She has a 100.40 weighted average. She has taken a massive pile of AP classes. Um, and she is the president of all three academic honor societies, math, science, and national. Uh, so a three sport captain, a three
024honor society president. Uh, she's the definition of student of the year. She will be um, well, she didn't have a college application process. She was recruited by Case University to play institute lacrosse. uh and they're also getting an amazing student for their nursing program. Uh so she's going to go off and do some really amazing things there. Uh she's a Leo, a member of Interactive Key Club, varsity club. Uh the resume goes on and on and on. Um very very special memory special uh out in the world. So you get one more chance uh to watch Taylor play. Lacrosse season started uh yesterday. Uh so if you want to see some fierce competition uh there you go. So, so congratulations. >> All right. Congratulations again to all. We are going to take a quick five
025minute break. Okay, we'll bring this meeting back to order. Clemenson. >> Good evening everybody. Happy spring. different shielding in the air thankfully um with the warm weather and seeing green grass again. Um our enrollment sits at 1906 right now an increase of two students. Um we continue to see um a slowdown in the registars's office for new entrance um who are not incoming kindergarteners. Um we are in the midst of kindergarten registration um my own included. uh that uh will take place through another week or so. Um and then it's off to the races for the class of 2039. 2039. Um we'll continue to watch enrollment as um activities at the federal level uh continue to um evolve and uh we will uh we had considered um we used a demographer a number of years
026ago who um is is now retired. um our numbers have been pretty close to what we um have been projecting, but again after we get out of that 5-year window, um we don't know who those babies are yet because they haven't been born yet. Um and I say this just to continue to um reinforce so it's just sort of muscle memory for all of us that um when we're asked the question is enrollment going up or going down it's really a nuanced question um because it's a snapshot at a moment in time and while it is going down unffect unjusted right 198 kids in the senior class um I'm sorry 197 in the senior class 107 in the kindergarten currently. That is going to continue to come down. Up until this year, we have had
027um very active in and out of students throughout the year. So, the number was not as drastically lower each year as it as it was previously or as it is now um because we're seeing that slowdown in new enrollment. So, we continue to watch it. It continues to drive budget and long-term planning um activities as well. uh state aid. A couple couple of things to to point out uh as it relates to um state aid. Today the Senate released its one house budget. So as we discussed in February, uh the governor presents her budget at the end of January. And uh then from the very end of January and February and the beginning of March, the committees in both the assembly and the senate get together um and hold hearings to determine if there are
028amendments to the budgets uh the governor's budget proposal. At the same time, the New York State Education Department updates its database. Its database are all of the factors uh for every school district in New York State. How many special ed kids? How many kids moved in? How many kids moved out? How many kids are English language learners? Uh considered economically disadvantaged, how much did we buy in library books? Because you get a certain amount of money back for each library book. So the database is updated fairly uh a couple of times a year. There's an update in November, there's an update in January, and then there's there's an update in November, and then there's another update in February. Now, the the proposal, the budget doesn't have to acknowledge that the one house budget, the New
029York State Senate's one house budget that was released today did accept the February database updates. And so, you'll see on the third column is the new update. So in on February 10th, I presented that the governor's proposed budget provided us $15.515 million. Because of the updates related to our formula variables, the February update yields $15.507 million. So about $8,000 $7,135 less. Now, the governor's budget is proposed. The one house senate budget is proposed. We're waiting on the one house assembly budget to be proposed. And then all three of those get negotiated to be one budget. What we're hopeful for and what was passed in today's one house budget from the Senate was the foundation a basic minimum increase being 2% and not 1%. So if your school district is what's called off the foundation aid
030formula, it means that because of circumstances in your community, the formula would mean you would get less money each year than the previous year. But since the 1970s, New York State has had what's called hold harmless. Sometimes people refer to it as save harmless, but what it essentially means is that if the formula says you're going get you're going to get less state aid next year, there's a basic minimum increase or a basic minimum meaning you're not going to get less. So, previously it was one year it was zero. If you were off the formula, um it was 2% last year. It was proposed at 1% by the governor this year. Um and the Senate one house budget at least has 2%. That will help us because we are still shaving the budget down. Um
031looking at enrollment driven um and retirement staff changes to bring costs down under the tax cap. That continues to be our our goal. So state aid, this is the projection as it stands today, but as you've heard us say before, January, February, March, and the beginning of April, that number is going like this. And so it's also just a snapshot in momentum time. Our goals for the budget next year are to preserve the reserves, meaning that's our savings account. Maintain our successful programs and the staff that's required to run them to live underneath the tax cap and to maintain our facilities, not to defer maintenance in such a way that we backslide. So our allowable tax levy at this point is 2.6. Technically it's 2.56 and our budget increase that again is within the tax
032cap is 2.1. Uh it's really 2.05. Um so it is a tight budget but there are a couple of things to report that come from that. So key drivers included um key drivers of the budget increase are transportation, special education and benefits. That is not Hampton Bay specific. Mr. again will tell you that that the industry um education industry has seen tremendous increases in um these areas. Our departmental budgets are finalized, staffing projections are finalized. Um and so we are now processing uh retirements, leave replacements, things like that to really get that number down. Uh April 21st would be the date that um we anticipate adopting the budget proposal that would then go to the community in May. So you can see this slide. This is an age-old slide. I update the numbers each year.
033It's a 2.1 spending increase. So that's one almost $1.4 million more. 1.3 of that is going to come from the tax from the property taxes or the CPF pilot. And uh state aid right now accounts for 1.3%. Uh it's a 1.3% increase. Um roughly that is about 77% of our budget being carried by the local it's a local share districts that are more impoverished based on the state formula. There are several in Long Island uh can see more than 50% of their of their budget paid for by state and some districts upstate even more than that. Um but based on the formula and our statistics, I guess you'd say they're the hard and fast numbers, um we are our breakdown is roughly 77% local share and then 20 to 23% uh our state and federal
034share. So that number is up from where it was, which is good because we've consistently said every dollar that comes from Albany or Washington DC is a dollar that a property taxpayer doesn't necessarily have to pay. Uh so we continue to try to keep that local share, that number uh percentage of the local share uh moving down. Just a few uh graphics to illustrate what we've been talking about. This is our enrollment trend. At this point, we did see a a steeper dive from the 24 to 24 school year to the 25 school year that we're in right now. But you can see that is starting to plateau. Not plateau, but decrease a little bit slower. The slope of the line uh changed a little bit. And so, um we don't want to make big
035rash decisions. We really use this data to forecast four, five, six years out down the road. Now, when enrollment goes down, um it's also important to say and and for the record that it's not a dollar for a kid, a dollar for student decrease, right? The same amount of buses are still needed right now. Classes still need to run, the lights still need to go on. When you really start to see a market, a marked enrollment decrease that is sustainable, then it's a dropped bus route. then it is a closed section while still maintaining the board's goal of keeping lower class sizes than we've had in the previous 15 years or so. And so all of that gets baked into the budget process right now. When you look at the budgettobudget increase which is 2.06
036I'm sorry I said 205 before 206 um you can look back historically to see what our budget increases have been since the 20112 school year. The average is 2.85. 85% spending increase. But you'll notice that's the 23 24 school year. Really pulled that average up. If you take that number out, that average is going to drop again. But Hampton Bay has has remained fiscally responsible by adding programs, by coming out of CO in a strong way, maintaining low class sizes um as the and and still maintaining a spending plan that averages around 2% um 2% a year. When you look at the tax levy increase, just the amount of money we tax property taxpayers in Hampton Bay, the average is 1.97 and this year it's 2.57. So the tax cap goes up and down. See
0371112 school year, that was the year before the tax cap was enacted. And then we had the 21 and 22 school years that had big foundation aid um big state aid increases. Prior to us being caught up with foundation aid, we were 87 to 88% funded by the local share. Now we're 77%. So again, every dollar that comes is a dollar um that helps us in this community. This is the timeline um that is managed by Larry and Marian and myself. will see legal notices in the newspaper in uh letting folks know that the budget hearing and the board of education vote is um coming that is posted four times in April. Then we'll have our budget hearing on May 5th. We're going to anticipate adopting the budget on April 21st. The board of education
038and annual budget vote um will be Tuesday, May 19th. Um it'll be the third Tuesday in June if the budget fails and we need to move to contingency. A couple of com couple other highlights that I'd like to just mention inside the budget. Um, as enrollment shifts and Hampton Bay Maze isn't the only district that is experiencing this. Um, opportunities for shared services within the region present some pretty cool opportunities. So, we've had South Fork United um with um the school districts from Hampton Bays to East Hampton. On the South Fork, that's boys varsity lacrosse. who play out of Southampton, but our team is called the South Fork United um this next coming year. Johnny John Foster has been working with his counterpart in Southampton um who would not be a who to combine an
039opportunity so kids can play here um in Hampton Bay and under the Hampton Bay jersey and under the purple. Um in converse uh the opportunity has presented itself to allow our Bayamon to go play field hockey at Southampton. That was an enrollment driven um conclusion of the field hockey program several years ago, but there are still some young ladies who are really interested in playing field hockey. And so it's great that John Foster was able to um open up that opportunity. Unlike playing purple for football, the the students who choose to play field hockey are wearing their own. That's okay. It's an opportunity for our kids to be involved. Included in the governor's proposal and adopted by the Senate today was um the expansion of um the of UDK in the in United States in
040New York State uh from to move away from half day programming to full day programming. Um it is anticipated that this will become a mandate uh in 2728 and so or 2829 uh but the budget is not finalized yet um and we want to be prepared for that. Currently we run two half-day sections in scope and then because of our partnership with just kids we can scholarship 9 a.m. and 900 p.m. prek students. So we have the capacity for 54 half day pre kindergarten spots. they're here in the high school. Um the state aid state aid for um as you can see on this slide the pre kindergarten state aid line is not included in the total budget but we receive $97,000 currently and that is a per pupil amount for 36 spots um 36
041half-day spots. The governor's proposal is to increase the amount of funding for students to $10,000 per student to apply to UPK. So you can see that is 180,000 divided by 10,000 is 18. So that would that represents 18 seats in a full day pre kindergarten program. So we're going to continue to explore that as a possibility for 2627 um which would also if we can run that program here. There's a lot of rules and regulations around this. So, we will be working on that. If you can if you can move that program, it helps move some of the budget dollars from general fund dollars to UPK dollars. And if we run it our ourselves, all of that is all floating around in the air right now because the final regulations for the new prek approach
042haven't been finalized yet. So the way it is right now is the way it is where you need to work with a community based organization like scope which we're doing. So this is just on the on the dashboard for us to be considering in the next couple of months. We've got some great field trips uh coming up. Mr. Morgan leaves um Thursday, right, for Washington DC. Are you going there? All right. They leave early. Uh Frost Valley um is grade 8 um later this month and the high school music department heads to Boston. Um a pretty cool thing will happen on Friday, March 20th. St. Patrick's Day parade is the 24th 4th. So traditionally, um the Veterans Flag ceremony hosted by the middle school takes place on Friday, March 20th. Um our uh grand marshall
043Brendan O'Reilly um Odwire, excuse me, Brendan Odwire. Um great family here in Hampton Bay, two daughters in the elementary school. And uh he is from Ireland. And so there is a whole Irish tradition coming over for the going to add a whole new grave dimension to it. But um if you could say it with me, Balance Fiddle Comus is a band of 17 to 20 year old 15 to 20 year old um musicians from Ireland and uh they are going to play at our veterans flag ceremony and they're they had an empty calendar on Friday uh because they'll be marching on Saturday. So they're going to play some traditional Irish tunes on Friday at the flag ceremony. Sorry, Mr. Piano. Uh we'll do we'll do the Italian in October. Um but some traditional Irish tunes
044and in addition the stay inv uh harmonizers who sing the national anthem are going to coordinate with this band so that they play the American national anthem while our um honors chorus at the middle school sings. So it's going to be pretty cool. Can we get you can we screen you for the morning? >> 9:30. So very cool. And then a number of our student groups um will have volunteers volunteering in a number of different um components of the St. Patrick's Day parade. The marching bands march. Uh we will have students carrying the uh thank you first responders banner and supporting them some student face painters for the after the family afterparty at Drose restaurant and um also a bucket brigade uh to help raise money from the AO along the parade route and a
045portion of that will help support our student clubs as well. Um our spring musicals you heard Mr. Shu mention it Annie Jr. near the end of the month, sister act. Um, next week we're in tech rehearsal. Um, and Miss Perez graciously gave us the space tonight because hospitality academy is taking place in the cafeteria and sometimes there are just too many things um going on. I do want to just mention uh for a moment the quick pivot that the district um teachers and under the coordination of Mr. Carlson um and team um took undertook to navigate the blizzard. On Sunday before the blizzard, a note went out that opened up the building for uh faculty and staff to come in and get anything that they didn't get when there wasn't a blizzard in the forecast
04610 days prior when we left for winter break. And um what we saw um were teachers sending parent square notes out. I got one for in our home saying uh from the teacher saying I'm going to be up here till 2:30 before the snow starts. If you have if you forgot your Chromebook or or something, you can come up and get it. And then on Monday, uh Mr. Carlson and Mrs. Fox uh conducted two an AM and a PM professional development se uh session on the remote plan for faculty. And just to dust off our brains from last time we used remote, we tested it once a couple years ago. uh but we were doing it a lot more during um co um just to dust off um some best practices sharing what works we
047had 130 faculty members join that uh on a Monday um that was the choice my choice as well because the other option was shoveling other cross was shoveled up before the the P sessions began as well um finally um we surveyed the faculty and staff immediately after because the remote the remote um option now allowable by state regulation um is something that can be helpful, right? Um in the cold in the Cold Spring Harbor School District, we saw that there was a fire overnight at an elementary school. they're being forced to pivot immediately to make sure that there's a continuity of education. Blizzards, extreme weather, um all of those things can be factors for us. And we were all staring down um the potential of losing our snow days. And if we don't didn't have
048the opportunity to go remote, then what we do is start eating at the spring break. We saw that happen during Hurricane Sandy. And so the ability to switch to remote was a was a good muscle test for us. And uh the results that Mr. Crossing we received in the survey were that nearly 80% of the classes had greater than 75% um attendance and we saw many teachers reporting high levels of engagement and so um that was a great thing to see that if we need to we can do it. The great news, provided that there's no need to close school for a full closure, we still have one snow day, which is which would be replaced back into the calendar on the Friday before Memorial Day. So, uh, call it to maintain our 180day instructional
049calendar. So, that is good news. that is the result of um a heavy lift by faculty and administration and uh showed us that we we still got it as it turns out for remote instruction. Any questions or comments? >> Thank you. Okay. There are no questions on the agenda consent from 4 to 7. >> Motion second in >> favor. Public comment. Persons may address the board of education on matters of interest or concern in accordance with the able state and federal law and majority of education board of education policy 12:30 governing rules of public comment and board meetings. The board president will recommen speakers please identify yourself and town topic which we speak agenda here and with that I need a motion to close the meeting. >> I need a second. All in favor? >>
050Okay. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. Congratulations to all members. Thank you.