001The turkey breasts. They're ready. Everybody Good evening all. Welcome to the November 18th, 2025 business meeting of the board of education. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, for anybody who's not aware of the emergency exits, we have one to the back over here and then the other two to the rear. Um, I need a motion for the order of agenda, please. >> Motion. >> I need a second. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. Um clerk's report. M. >> Be it resolved that the board of education accepts the minutes of the following meetings. Audit committee meeting October
00221, 2025 and special BOE meeting October 21st, 2025. >> I need a motion for approval. >> Motion. >> I need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. public comments because we recognize who wish to address the board on agenda items only if we're early on that >> there. All right, we're going to start with our students of the month. Who would like to go first? Mr. Meyer. Good evening, Hampton Bay. Uh, thank you, Mr. Springer. As we get ready to head into the Thanksgiving season, we have a lot to be thankful for with our October student of the month. I'd like to ask Mrs. Dunkerk, please come up and join me. Mrs. Pagga. All right. I'd like to ask Victoria Ramirez Guzman, come on up and join us. We
003are proud to have nominated Victoria for student of the month. Victoria excels both academically and socially. She's a responsible third grader who is always prepared for class and eager to transition to math and reading. While Victoria says math is her favorite subject, she's also excited to participate in activities across the curriculum. Victoria is a leader in and out of the classroom. She was recently chosen to be a student council representative. She is often found helping other students or creating an inclusive environment on the playground. Victoria enjoys extracurricular activities as well. At home, she likes to play with her three cats and help her mom. She's also a proud member of the Hampton Bay cheerleading team. One day, Victoria hopes to own an Italian restaurant and she makes a mean chicken parmesan. We would say she
004is heading in a great direction. It is our pleasure to have nominated Victoria Ramirez Guzman for student of the month. We expect big things out of Victoria in the future. Congratulations, came over for some of that chicken farm. Thank you, Mr. Meyer. Mr. Shug, >> evening. >> Happy holidays. It is my pleasure to introduce Hampton Bay's Middle School's student of the month for October, 7th grader Sandy Mahia Lopez, putting the kid to work. A warm welcome also to Sy's family. Sandy, this is for you. Here's the hardware. Okay, you can stand up here with me. Uh Sandy Mio Lopez was nominated by team triumph. A warm welcome to Sandy's family. Also, before we begin, I want to make sure we are on here. Are you able to hear that? Okay. Before we begin, I'd like
005to uh tell everybody that we're using a Time Kettle app, which is proven to strengthen two-way communication at HBMS. I'll read it in English and Sy's mom and dad will hear my words in Spanish. Tom Kettle's proven to be a great tool for teachers to communicate with individual students and their parents. HBM continues to appreciate this investment in communication tech tools, and it will help at next week's parent teacher conferences as well. And no, I don't work for the company. Now, on to our student of the month. Here's what her teachers had to say about Sandy. Sandy Mahil Lopez has been selected as team triumph student of the month for October. Sandy embodies the spirit of team triumph by approaching every day with determination, positivity, and perseverance. She consistently puts forth her best effort, participates
006actively in class, and demonstrates a strong commitment to her learning. Her hard work and resilience have led her to noticeable academic growth, and she serves as a wonderful example of what it means to overcome challenges and never let anything stand in her way. Sandy shared that her two favorite subjects this year are math and ELA. She enjoys solving equations and challenging word problems in Miss L's class. She loves writing in Miss Gunderson's class, most recently about poems. When we talk about her classes for the last three years of middle school, she said that Miss Lou is her favorite because she always helps her learn new things and explains things step by step. She also named her sixth grade science teacher, Mr. Naidiger, and her fifth grade math teacher, Miss Reynolds, as two other go-to people
007she can count on because, like Miss Lou and Miss Gunderson, they're always willing to help her. Outside of her core subjects, Sandy is willing to play volleyball and she is a cheerleader. Probably not at the same time, though. She did say that she is very interested in playing volleyball for the girls team next year. When not in school, Sandy enjoys fresh air, jumping on her trampoline, and and climbing on the playground. She has enjoyed reading the classic Percy Jackson series and likes to read mysteries as well. She also shared that she is curious about becoming an orthodontist. Sandy's most recent Naviance report shows that she has potential in production and marketing, designing and planning, and providing education and training to others. Her strongest Holland traits are artistic, enterprising, and realistic. One thing's for certain, if
008Sandy continues on her current path and accesses what she likes and what she's good at, she is going to have a bright future ahead of her. Sandy's advice to new HBMS students, be positive about yourself and always work hard. Even if you make mistakes, never stop trying to get better at what you do. I love that. Congratulations, Sandy, on this achievement. HBMS is proud of you and looks forward to many exciting accomplishments in your future. Congratulations. >> Mr. Shard. >> Hey, good evening. Uh it's my pleasure to introduce the high school student of the month for the month of October. Uh senior Luke DAVID STAND. I'm going to read a little um paragraph supplied by Mrs. Perez who nominated Luke. Uh Luke Dave is an excellent student. His grade in English currently 101. Not only
009uh does he complete his work in a timely and thorough manner, but he is an active, engaged learner who asks thoughtful questions to further his understanding. In addition to English class, I know uh Luke through his participation in the high school's theatrical productions. He has grown from a ninth grader who he kind of forced to join the stage crew because his sister was in the show to a true leader as the student stage manager. Luke has shown tremendous growth throughout high school. He is bright, thoughtful, a mature young man, takes responsibility seriously, but isn't afraid to be a little goofy sometimes. Um Luke and I started my day with Luke today and uh he began by offering me some banana bread. >> Um and talking to me uh about um Belmont Abe College in North
010Carolina that recently accepted him and then Fairbanks University in Alaska. Um but that's not really enough. Luke is really keeping his options open. Uh we've got applications out in Norwich, Vermont, Catholic University of America in DC. Uh in New York, we got Manhattan University Forum, Forom, Bingington. We're looking at a couple of schools in Massachusetts, including Boston University. Uh maybe, maybe not. Air Force, ROC, we're not sure if all the schools are going to host that. We are really keeping options open. Um, and I really like this approach. Uh, especially for Luke, uh, who's got the ability to do anything anywhere successfully. Uh, if you want to not see him in action in the stage crew on Thursday and Friday, uh, during, I'm sorry, Friday and Saturday, our performances at Crucible. Uh, you know, stage
011crew is not often seen. Uh, but he's one of the lynch pins to making everything, uh, work. So, uh, look forward to a great show and, uh, some busy nights for Luke. So, congratulations. All right, we're going to move on with Mr. Stroan. Thank you for having us here tonight. Uh, good evening everybody. Tonight, we recognize nine students who have earned a position to be formally inducted as new members of our National Honor Society chapter. According to the selection procedures outlined in the honor society handbook, the voting members of the faculty council select students who demonstrate outstanding performance in all four criteria of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. These students are to be commended for their hard work in the HB community. On behalf of the faculty here at Hampton Bay High School, I proudly
012present these elite and prestigious representatives from our Hampton Bay schools. It is it is at this time that we proclaim that membership in the Hampton Bay chapter of the National Honor Society has been earned by these candidates through the effective demonstration of the four qualities that serve as standards for the society. We will now begin with the official induction of all new members. I invite students to step forward to receive your token of membership with Mr. Rashard and sign the official chapter register with Mr. Loose. William Barleta, Sarah Herrera William Hurdle, Michael Nuns, Leah Russell, Trey Scutter, Good job, Tyler Trirley. Congratulations, Franklin Hernandez. and Mateo Vano. Okay, at this time will new inductees please raise your right hand and repeat the pledge. >> I pledge to uphold >> high purposes of the National Honor
013Society >> for the high purposes of the National Honor Society >> to which I have been selected. >> I will be true to the principles for which it stands. I'll be true to the principles which stands >> and will maintain and encourage >> the high standards >> of scholarship, leadership, service and character. >> scholarship, leadership, service, character. >> Perfect. Applause. CONGRATULATIONS. CONGRATULATIONS. CONGRATULATIONS. CONGRATULATIONS. CONGRATULATIONS. Good luck. Congratulations. >> All right. Uh, a little more presentations here. Let's go with Mr. Foster. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Can I coach Bobby Sutton please come up front? I wanted to recognize and take a moment to um go over coach Sutton here who has been with us for over 10 years with middle school lacrosse, varsity football, and varsity basketball. His dedication to student athletes has been
014beyond extraordinary. We're profoundly grateful for your service and our commitment to our community. You've had your children go through here. We've had the pleasure of teaching them, coaching them, and your last one is on their journey going through the doors this year or excuse me, next year. Um, we've taught our athletes about character, resilience, and teamwork. Lessons that will last long after the season ends. Uh, by far one of the most upstanding men that I've ever had the chance to be around, especially in the coaching environment. On behalf of the board, administration, and community, we cannot thank you enough for all you've done for our student athletes, and we wish you a long and happy retirement. Next, I'd like to call up Coach Stevens and Coach Moran and any of the boys volleyballs that are
015in attendance. As many of you know, this was our first season hosting a varsity boys volleyball team. They were small but mighty, starting with six but ending with almost double of that. My deepest gratitude goes out to these exceptional coaches for their vision, dedication, and positive energy, which was critical in this season's success. They didn't just coach a team, but they helped build it from the ground up. The season got off to a courageous start competing against some powerhouse teams which they hung with very well being being going against Waiting River Bayport and other strong opponents. They also had some countywide recognition as well. Charlie Pek number one in serving aces and number two in the county in digs as well as Payton Single who led the county in digs with 316. But more importantly,
016the coaches fostered a phenomenal environment of team bonding and successfully created a cohesive, supportive unit that is the true foundation of this new program. The success of this inaugural team driven by the players, dedication, and leadership of the coaches has established a high standard for our future athletic programs. Thank you to everybody. Congratulations. >> Thank you, ladies. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Congratulations again to all. We are going to take a quick recess. If you'd like to take some pictures and possibly hang around for the fun stuff, it's up to you. My back to business. Uh we will start with Mr. Clemenson. >> Good evening everybody. It's hard to believe that it was 13 years ago that we had our major construction um initiative across the district. the focus on facilities. Um
017but tending to your house as we know personally requires um you to continue tending to it, right? And so um tonight we are going to here have we have with us Mike Ryan from Energy Systems Group, great partner on Long Island and and in the region. Um we're going to be embarking upon an energy performance contract. Now, um Mike will tell us what exactly that means, but in short, um the punchline is energy efficient, energy efficient enhancements to all four key buildings in the district, district office, the high school, elementary, and middle. >> Looking forward to working with you. The floor is yours. >> Thank you very much. Thank you all. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Um so just as a a reminder, a refresher, uh activities to date in this effort, uh
018the school district issued over a year ago an RFP which we competed for and were ultimately selected to perform a comprehensive energy study at no cost to the district. And tonight we're going to present the results of that and a proposed project to provide improvements throughout the school district that'll be funded through the reduction of utility cost savings. Um so uh just again an overview of how it how it works and what it is. So what it is is it's a strategy to build a project that provides improvements, improves the learning learning environment throughout the district and it's funded through the utility cost savings, the reduction of utility dollars. Uh so it's there's no impact to the taxpayer. There's no uh increase to budget or anything of that nature. um these improvements, and I'll get
019into it a little more detail, but generally speaking, they're uh LED lighting, solar energy, HVAC upgrades, uh temperature control upgrades, building envelope improvements. Um so, this project that we're proposing tonight will save the district over $17 million in the next 18 years. It will also result in $70,000 of utility rebates and $2.2 million worth of federal incentives. All of that will be used to fund $13.4 million worth of improvements throughout the district. Um so those improvements that we're proposing will uh include u LED lighting upgrades throughout the entire district. uh converting uh from oil to clean natural energy efficient gas of the main heating plants. Uh temperature control upgrades and building automation throughout the district. Upgrades to that. Um solar on all of the buildings which will reduce the electric bill by itself by 70
02077%. uh roof restoration at the middle school which will give the district another 20-year warranty on the roof. Uh in addition to that um a lot of uh smaller things that add up to a lot of savings like boiler controllers, kitchen hood controllers, steam trap uh replacement, retro commmissioning of the existing HVAC systems, uh building the transformer replacement, insulation, weatherization, HVAC motor change out, uh upgrading HVAC in the administration building and destratification fans. Um in addition when we do these projects um we use it as an opportunity for uh student engagement to have the students learn from the project. Some of those things that we do is we we ha have them come along with us as we're designing and everything like that to learn about the engineering to learn about construction and how that
021works. Expose them to the different professions involved expose them to the different trades involved. We do a career exploration program as part of it where we introduce them to each one of those professions and um trades. Um how they got there and things like that and let them ask questions, see if we can inspire them into the industry. Um then finally uh what the schedule would look like. So, if this is approved tonight, that'll allow us to move ahead with design with the architect BBS architects prepare to submit to uh New York State Education Department for approval of the project and we target starting construction next summer. Construction would take about 16 to 18 months. Um, with that, any questions? >> Any questions? Yeah. Uh, besides the NICET approval, do you need federal approval? >>
022No, I mean federal. >> There's no federal approval needed for the project or anything like that. There's a federal grant that the district will get though. >> Okay. >> Mike, I just want to point out a couple of thing. The career piece is fantastic. And um, you heard Mr. Shug mention the Navian program. That's a career >> profiler. And so we have the data from sixth grade all the way to 12th grade. So, not only can it be assembly type structures, but we can identify kids and put them right in front of you. Um, one thing I wanted to mention about solar, when you look across the buildings, we had considered solar in the back middle school parking lot as those car ports. Um, you see them at the county building. There's a couple of
023other schools on the east end that have that, but we made the decision to go on the on the roof. we can get more of it. It can be higher capacity. Um, and it just requires some roof touchups before we put solar down, right? Can you talk about that, Larry? Because the building is almost 20 years old at this point. >> Yeah, actually, it's it's a big advantage. Um, what will what will be part of the project will be recoding the roof. So, it's it's not a brand new roof. It's not like you rip the old one off, put a whole brand new one down, but it's like you put a second layer on it and you get a new warranty of of 20 years on that roof. So, and and it it covers the
024whole system from the ceiling right right up to the top of the roof. So, um if there are any areas as they do this process, if they find any wet spots or something like that, they'll cut those out. They'll replace that, but then they put a whole new skin right over the top of everything. So, the middle school, which we think of as the brand new school, um because I was here still when we built that school, um but it's not it's it's it's almost 23 years old. Um and uh it's getting to the point where it's going to need a roof pretty soon. So, this this is an advantage where, okay, yeah, maybe we're a little bit ahead of time because we don't have any problems yet, but we're getting a new roof on
025and then we're getting solar panels on and we're good for about 20 25 years before we have any worries. So, >> what is what is the material of the roof? >> It's it's a um maybe Mike can help you. >> It's a siliconebased product. uh and it gets applied in a few coats and it winds up being very very very thick. Um it's been used u on Long Island in many schools uh for quite a long time and like Larry said gives you a new 20-year warranty from bottom to top, you know. >> Thanks, Mike. And then the other piece I wanted to mention was the fuel conversion from oil to natural gas. members. This is important in that the natural gas the elementary and the middle school run on oil or natural gas where
026we're told by the industry it's literally a switch um downstairs to go to I to convert from one to the other or back again on Argon Road east here. Natural gas only goes roughly to Warner Road, Emerson Court. And so this project continues the gas line from that point to roughly district office and then cuts it into the building to connect to this campus. So it's great for this campus, but what then happens is a slight community benefit because anybody who lives along that run and is interested in making that conversion from oil to natural gas for their home, we don't have natural gas everywhere in Hampton Bay. So um it will be a benefit to the to those homeowners on Argon as well. try to be a good neighbor when we can. >> Is
027the is the cost from Emerson or Warner to us all our burden or >> Yes, >> it'll be it'll be a individual homeowner cost to get it out from the street into the house, but this project carries the cost 100% of it. >> Will this project increase our AC units in all classrooms? >> So, that's a great question. The energy performance contract does this project does not include additional eight um air conditioning units. However, uh we currently have 16 uh eight on this campus and eight at the elementary school that will be construction. The the truck bed is here with the equipment in it. So, construction will start imminently. Um additionally, we met with um our architects uh last what last week. >> What day is today? Last week. um and to talk about the
0282027 bond. So 2012 was our first bond, like a 15-year mortgage. Um that comes off and what you want to do in 2012. What we found ourselves in this situation doing was fixing a lot of things because we had just deferred it through the '9s and into the early 2000s. We went through that list and there was very little romantic stuff which you know 2012 had all this great stuff. Turf, new art room, science rooms, library renovations, these great enhancements to every space in the district and now it's like Mike's here to talk about photovoltaic which is awesome Mike. No, right. But like we we did a lot of the great program stuff. So, um, included in that program that we're looking at right now, and it's still early, um, it would be a 2026
029vote for 202 for 2027 construction to begin. Do I have that right? Yeah. Or fall 2027, >> right? >> Because it was fall 2012 when we did the the last vote. That proposal will most likely include just finishing the AC across the district. couple little places in the middle school that don't currently have it that would have it and then roughly half of this building and half of the elementary school. Maybe a little less by that point because we keep peacemealing these eight at a time. Um but that would likely be on on the program. What we'll get into this more in 2026, what you the way you work the way we have as a board of education a district worked the bonds is that when the mortgage payment is done the next year the
030same or less of a mortgage payment is the new bond. We do that so that there's a zero tax impact at that time. Now, if you stopped and said, "We're done with construction." Number one, it would probably be foolhardy, right? You would it would start to deteriorate again. Um, number two, if a sizable piece of debt service comes off of the books, your tax cap, your tax levy cap takes a dive as well. And so, we've seen districts in Suffach County who have said, "We're going to retire debt service. It's great. We paid our mortgage, right? After 30 years, paid our mortgage." And what happened was their their tax levy cap became negative and so they actually had to decrease their budget the next year by taxing the community less while all costs in the
031district continued to go up. So the plan would be when in 2012 when we embarked on this work to keep the same mortgage payment it turned into a 16.9 million bond. The economy has changed. Interest rate interest rates have increased. While they may decrease a little bit by then, they'll still be higher than 2012. And we anticipate that could get us between 10 and 12 million worth of work to keep that same mortgage payment. So the dollar is going less going less far. Um so we have to be careful and conservative with the projects that go on there. But we know things like HVAC are a priority. >> Great. Thank you. >> So you asked a question. answer was no, but you got the L's answer. >> Well, I got when it's going to be
032>> right school year, >> the EPC does work throughout the school year, right? Not some of the some of the interruptive work would be reserved for vacations. >> Yeah. So, as far as the actual work, we work around the school schedule, obviously. Um, lighting happens usually over the summer and um, if it can't all be done during the summer, which it probably would would go beyond summer, then it's all done nights, evenings >> and carefully scheduled. The solar work um, how we do the solar in many districts is um, we load the roofs up usually on a weekend with the solar panels and equipment and everything like that. The guys start early, usually at 6:00 a.m. They do work up on the roof just with hand tools and things like that, you know, during the
033school day, and then they work the timing where they're done and away from the building before dismissal. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Are we going to own the solar or leasing the solar? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yes. The plan is for you to own the solar. Yeah. It's u we look at different ways, but for school districts, it's always much more beneficial. financially to own it. Yes. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> And I'm sorry, one other thing. If you didn't own the solar, you would not That's where that $2.2 million incentive is coming from. You would not get that. So, it's a law. You know, >> if you lease, you lose. >> What's that? >> If you lease, you lose it. >> That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. >> I'd rather Okay. >>
034Okay. Thank you, Mike. forward to working with you. Members, there's a resolution on tonight's agenda that awards uh ESG, >> the energy performance >> energy performance contract. The EPC goes to ESG. >> Thank you. Okay, we are into November now. Um enrollment has uh settled in uh fairly consistently. We're hovering right at uh under 2,000 students. You can see um smaller than we were last month. So that day is at the beginning of October. Um that really, you know, that the ups and downs sort of sus out in September. Um but we're at 1,923. Now remember, when I talk about enrollment, I talk about unadjusted enrollment. And so that's pretending like not one student moved in and pretending not one student moved out. And with that being the case, you take a look at the
035current 12th graders in November, 202 of them. And the current kindergarteners in November, 108 of them. Last year that was um 100. And the year before that it was 117, 124. And then those were the incoming kindergarten classes. And then in 2021 those that in kindergarten class was 128. I remember that because someone who lives in my house is in that class. Um but so you could see it only grown from 128 to 133. P corridor our registars's office it has become noticeably more vacant. U this year we are seeing less new enrollments than we had. That's important because the unadjusted enrollment at this point if 100 to 110 kids come in next year into kindergarten and 202 leave 5% decrease in the district. That will definitely require our attention in terms of expenditures. Right?
036It was less of a drop like that in previous years because in the 23 24 year for example there was a lot of transients. We had 227 new enrolles throughout that year excluding that that fresh kindergarten class. 227 new enrollies came in at some point. So bar's office very busy. And then we had um I think 167 or 176 um leave. And so not one for one, but lots of in and out. That still kept the number higher, right? Because the difference between uh the number of kids coming in and the number of kids leaving was still higher than the number of kids leaving 12th grade or the number of kids coming in in kindergarten. If you if that makes sense. Makes sense in my head. Um so with federal enforcement of um immigration policy
037I think there is a correlation to the number of new enrollments that we're seeing not maybe causation but there is a correlation there. Um housing prices continuing to be what they are the rental market continuing to be what it is is also a factor. Um and so enrollment is something that we're going to really need to keep an eye on um moving forward. I'm going to talk more in depth about this like what more can he say about enrollment but again um and I'm going to in December. So uh as we kick off uh the budget process number of other um items going on around the district and I'm going to ask some of our leadership team to participate um in these updates uh kind of give you a a sense of the multiaceted um
038dayto-day that we're that we are all that we experience in Hampton Bay. Let me turn it over to Eric to talk about um what's going on in educational services. >> Thank you, Mr. Clemenson. Um yeah, three updates uh for the fall uh on election day, superintendent conference day. Um we hosted the United States Secret Service here. Um and we had a training that was not just for this district, but was targeted uh to this district, open to really all of Long Island. Um the secret service came in they did a presentation on behavioral threat assessment. Uh basically obviously they are you know the absolute experts um nationally federally on what makes students and and just the public do things that you know we we look and watch on the on the news days later school
039shootings um mesh shooting things like that. So uh they came in we actually invited them. Uh we haven't had a presentation on Long Island since 2017. Um they are the experts on this. So we made the connection through the Southampton Police. Uh they came in, we opened it up to our district, but like I said, we had we had participants from Montalk all the way out to Garden City, uh Glen Cove, Rockville Center. Um that was law enforcement that those are educators, school superintendent, principles, social workers, all our support staff. This was open to anyone who wanted to attend. Um we did target election day because we know that schools are in session generally speaking, but but students are not in school. So, it was a good day to to have some PD. Um, we
040had over 200 participants at that training, which the Secret Service was really impressed with um that we had, you know, that much mobilization. Um, so, you know, every every department on every police department on the east end was here, SuffK, uh, Nassau Police was here, um, the sheriff. So, really, it was it was a tremendous day. Uh, we worked with the Southampton Police to organize lunch also because it was a extensive training. Um, it was several hours long. And just the week after they left, they had alluded to they the Secret Service released a new and updated um protocol on behavioral threat assessment. You know, really just looking for the warning signs of a kid who may be coming or person who may be coming radicalizing their thought. Um disengaging from their friend group or
041their family groups. Uh just behavioral just things to look at. So super informative training and um you know the secret service did say that you know we'd love to do it again at some point. So, uh, maybe, you know, not not next year, but in a few years, we definitely would, uh, look to work with them again. So, that was a huge success. Um, moving over to, um, SNAP and Food for Thought. Food for Thought is our school-based food pantry. It's a partnership with Stop and Shop. We've had it since 2021. Um I just actually reapplied for it. But uh with the suspension of SNAP, the federal government, the the federal um program for food assistance, um we definitely saw an increase in the amount of of families that were coming to the school looking
042for, you know, um just basic basic food good goods, um hygiene goods. Currently, we are I know this because I just updated for next year's application. Uh currently, we're weekly serving about 48 families um for food assistance. So that's a pretty high number if you you know if you consider um that's mostly between the high school and middle school. Um so the these um support teams are organizing for the holidays right now. It's a really busy time and people are feeling very generous at this time of year every year. So, we try to we try to at least take care of those holidays for those families, but also use as a chance to up our bank um you know, so so we can we can take in more more donations and you know, keep our
043keep our um bank high and healthy. Every every food bank, every food pantry and food bank you work with or you talk to, they always say everyone wants to get the holidays, but it's it's March, it's April when you're really running low on your supplies. out here especially because you have so much seasonal work. Um March, April really tend to be the high need time that dead of winter, February. Um so you know I know the Lions are super generous to Kowanas also. Uh so they help out and you know we do stock gift cards um for people over the year as the year goes on. Our hope is because we don't have a we have a dry food pantry um we can't provide your cold cold goods, your meats, your cheeses, things like that.
044So every family of the I think nearly 70 we're sponsoring this holiday season um right now will get a basket of you know goods but plus a gift card to supplement um at from stop and shop to supplement for those for those things those perishable items. So that's it's very exciting and uh a member of your board of education's uh daughter recently reached out. She's trying a uh a little initiative to help us out. So it's very very appreciative. Last thing. Oh, you don't know who about that? Liz Scully. Uh, last thing we just on your agenda is an agreement for uh entering into an MOU for the with the Association for Mental Health and Wellness. Uh, this this came about basically it's um it's a grant that um a district that's selected will receive
045the services of a social worker for one day per week. No cost to us at all. Um the only ask in turn is that on our end the district does something to heighten awareness of social health social um health and mental awareness. So we're doing that by um organizing a club at the middle school level uh called the empowerment club. Um this is really going to feed into a larger narrative of getting kids to start younger talking about you know social health and melmental awareness and hopefully carrying off into a pipeline of career some way down the some you know down the road. So really exciting things. Um there's definitely need. You know, we have when I started in this district, I think we had one social worker. We're up to five now. And um
046they're always busy. So, there's definitely uh there's definitely need there. Last thing, um along with food for thought, uh you'll be seeing these in the lobbies um collection bins because there was a social media post that people were asking, can we donate to the schools knowing that we have the food forthought um schoolbased food pantry program? So, uh we did some quick work with our friends at Fisher signs and got some signage and we're getting some bins delivered tomorrow. Um, so we'll start collecting also for the holidays. I know it happens in pockets everywhere, but you know, people see the school as really a lot of times the center of the community. So that'll be each each building. All right. >> Thank you. Just want to make a Do you want to Rich? >> Did
047you say no? >> No. Nice. >> Oh, okay. Um, just a note on the SNAP benefits. So when um the SNAP benefits ran out on October 31st, um we did some quick work with our business office to just ascertain how many individuals receive SNAP benefits. Those that's what's called direct certification. So we get that information from social services um because it is a a formal process that you have to qualify for and register for. Um there were less families on um under SNAP than I expected. Um but we learned that there are more families on Medicaid um which is another assistance program. And so with the th those benefits were not curtailed in the federal government shutdown. Um so we were able to work with um with work Eric's doing to support food for thought.
048We also worked with the town uh board. Um Councilman Isilly and Councilwoman McNamera sponsored um a grant for $6,000 that that is proportionate to the number of SNAP beneficiaries in your district for Southampton Town School Districts to make access to those funds as well. Um but something to put on the horizon is that the continuing resolution that reopened the federal government um brings us through January. And so it would be foolish to think that in January something is going to seem different than it did September, right? We've experienced this too many times. And so um in the budget proposal in the president's budget proposal that was the cause of the shutdown initially in September um there are significant cuts to Medicaid that are proposed in addition to cuts um to education dollars title one title
049two title three title 4. Uh that totals about $140,000 um in Hampton Bay. There's a there's a site you can go on and go by state to congressional district to your school district. Um, so just in the title grants alone, $140,000 reduction. Um, in New York State, the top two budget items in the New York state budget each year are Medicaid and public education. A lot of the Medicaid dollars are flow through from the federal government to the states and then the states administer their programs. If that money gets cut and title monies get cut at the federal level, that means less title money that goes to the state education department. It's formula driven. So you we don't have to fight other school districts for it. But if they're less money, the formula is just
050going to give you less of what you are owed. Um all that's to say happy holidays. Like this that's not great news, right? Um if because it's compound it's there those are compounding effects, right? It's not just a cut to one thing. It's a cut to multiple things that support us. And if New York State wants to maintain its commitment to Medicaid, and it does, the governor has publicly said that the money needs to come from somewhere. When you add up every other dollar spent in the New York State budget, it doesn't come close to what New York State spends altogether. Doesn't come close to what New York State spends on public education and Medicaid. So, um, Larry's got a difficult job ahead as we enter the budget season. Um, but none of these things
051are happening in a vacuum. When I talk about enrollment, when I talk about taxes, when I talk about, um, the federal budget and the advocacy that we need to do there and the state budget and the advocacy that we need to do there, all of these things are related. the Association for Mental Health and Wellness. I just want to recognize and thank the Rotary Club of Hampton Bays. The club that um was part of the grant, the empowerment club that we're starting at the middle school. Um the Rotary Club uh for the duration of this grant, which is through June 30th, is sponsip for um the faculty member to to run that club. So, thank you to them for that. Um I want to ask Diane, where's Diane? uh to come up and talk about
052three things um that she's working on right now. >> Good evening. Um it's nice to be able to um come here this evening and just give you some updates on some of the various projects going throughout the district. Um, so you might remember board members, um, a couple of months ago, uh, towards the end of last year, Site One Landscape Supply, um, had generously donated over $5,000 of materials plus labor, um, to the middle school community garden. Um, it was in need of some updating. We had between the beds, we had updated the beds over the years. We had um composed or built a three um compost bin system um for our community members kind of always trying to be mindful of having an organic garden, reusing any scraps. Um, so we have definitely made
053some updates over the years, but site one had um just called us, you know, and just wanting to donate some services, wanting to donate some supplies, and it came through a former student that had gone through the middle school. Um, Alex Velasquez. Um, he had contacted me, shared about his positive experiences at Hampton Bay Middle School, uh, remembers Mr. Naider's classes and the fish tank. Um, and just, you know, recalled a lot of good memories. And when it came to the team or their company kind of saying that they wanted to reach out to local to the local community and donate some services, he right away volunteered Hampton Bay um without even contacting me first. He was like, I want to bring money to you. We want to update something. We want to do something
054beautiful for your students. So, uh of course we said yes. Um sign us up. And two weekends ago, they were able to complete the project. Um they donated blue stone gravel which is if you have garden at home, it's definitely a material that's not easy to come by, especially in large amounts. Um but they were able to put down some landscape um weed barrier industrial strength. So like the weeds are not going to find their way through this. Um they put the blue stone gravel on top. They provided garden bed borders for all the interior of the garden. They updated took away some of the bricks and they put like very strong thick um garden bed borders to kind of keep everything neat. And the kids have been out there with the garden club. Every
055week they are out there. They are helping now the community members um to actually weed all their beds, put everything to sleep for the wintertime. Um and then they're going to be starting their own seeds indoors and then bringing them out. We have about half of the garden beds are being used um by different classroom teachers in the elementary school, in the middle school. Um so just some great updates there and we'll continuously um you know we'll keep looking for applying for different grants. Suffach County Water District um they've been wonderful in giving us grants throughout uh the past years for some of the updates. So we'll be reapplying for those grants this upcoming year. Um we have some friends in People's Alliance Federal Credit Union. So, as you all know, we have been making
056a big push for financial literacy throughout the district. Um, and part of those partnerships that we look for is um different experiences that are unique for kids to really bring financial literacy to life. You know, not just doing a workbook, not just learning what a budget is, but really looking at um how does financial literacy apply to your real life. So there is a new a fairly new program um that's been uh executed in a couple of different schools throughout the country um but it hasn't really been done in Sep County and so I'm happy to say that we are going to be bringing what's called bite of reality. It's an appbased program simulation for students. Um, and we are just in the early planning stages of this program, but in February, we are looking
057to have a simulation um, for our high school students in which students are going to be assigned randomly through the app a specific budget. With that budget, students will have to buy a car. So, they're going to have to deal with like the salesperson that's trying to keep you as long as possible until you give up and give them all your money. They're going to have to uh deal with the realtor that wants to make a big commission. So, you know, looking at housing prices on the east end, what that looks like. Um they're going to also be assigned a role. So, they'll be either they might be single, they might be married with two kids, they might be um just starting out, they might be a retired uh maybe part of a retired couple.
058Um there it's all totally random, but the kids basically have to learn how to budget their money. And in the app, it'll all all of a sudden pop up um on a device saying you have an unexpected expense. So, it's like Monopoly on steroids. That's the way I'm kind of, you know, imagining it. Um it's going to really bring again that financial literacy piece to life. Um so we are hoping to get uh Mr. Verdone's you know business student involved um and not just his classes but really maybe do this across the grade levels. Um we're going to be mostly looking at our seniors um because they're about to kind of you know leave the nest of Hampton Bays and kind of go out into the future and we want to make sure that they're
059prepared for that. Um, one of the other ways that we're trying to prepare our kids is also by looking at their college futures. And this is where Stony Brook University, which has been a great partner of ours uh throughout the years. Um, they have created a new program called the Stony Brook University Future Scholars. And this program is aimed at eighth grade students in particular. Um we have 21 Hampton Bay HBMS students um that are attending Stony Brook University at the Southampton campus. They're bringing that campus back to life and this is one of the ways they're doing it. Um Hampton Bay was elected along with a couple of other East End districts including um South Hampton um Bridgeampton is also included in that. And what these eighth grade students get is once a month
060they've attended two sessions now. It started in October and I'll go into more detail uh hopefully next month um with pictures but we will be having our 21 eighth grade students are getting a college experience once a month. They are working with current college students, they are working with professors, they are working with mentors um at the Stony Brook campus and they get these college experiences in like fiveour snippets. Um, so we have three of our seventh and eighth grade teachers um, chaperoning these students on these field trips. Last week they went to a Stony Brook University football game at the main campus. Um, the kids didn't want to leave. They had to leave early to get home by a decent time, but uh, they did not want to leave that football game. I believe
061they won, so everyone was very excited. Um, our eighth graders are getting tons of SBU swag. They have their red shirts. They're taking pictures with OPI. If you went to Stonybrook, um you know the Seaw Wo and Wolfie is very popular. Um and they're just going to really learn what it what it takes as an eighth grade student, as a ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade student, what it takes to get into college, to apply for college, and maybe what they want to study before they get there. Um have a plan. So this is a program that every year we will be selecting more students for the program. Um, and I will go into more detail about it next month, but just wanted to share that the kids are having a blast. They
062are having an amazing time on the campuses just learning all about college and the families are involved in it, too. They had a huge kickoff uh last month with families and um it was it was really nice to see how these kids are engaging on a college campus. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Diane. uh at the finish line. If the student persists through the program, graduates from Hampton Bays, and obtains admission to Stony Brook on their own merits, >> they'll receive a tu a full tuition for four years. That's correct. At Stonybrook using their PEL grant program. So, they've been identified as rising eighth graders, first generation college students. Um and and to quote the president of Stony Brook, he said, "We put our arms around them and then we bring them forth." They
063don't have to go to Stony Brook, but if it's free, >> yeah, it's a great mentorship program and the kids are just learning all about college and um because they are first generation students. It's their first experience and the parents couldn't be more thrilled. All I've been hearing from parents is how thankful they are that their kids are getting this type of opportunity that maybe they didn't have themselves or other children that they have older children maybe didn't have and they're getting walked through the process as well. >> Thank you. Stony Brook continues to be a good partner of ours. Um, and for current seniors, um, Stony Brook in partnership with Suffach Community College. I mentioned this very briefly at our October meeting. Um but SUFFK and Stony Brook are developing an early college high
064school program which is different than the really robust Beacon program and dual enrollment program that we have here with Farmingdale and Stonybrook and uh SUFFK and Albany and St. Joseph's. Um this is where seniors would leave school, leave us midday. They come in, maybe they're a music student, and then they bow to Stony Brook Southampton and take one or two or three two Suffach classes and one one-hour um freshman seminar once a week um on campus um with existing college students. So, our seniors would not know, the professor wouldn't know who's an early college student kid and who's an metriculated student at the university. Those credits would transfer 100% to SUFFK, of course, because of Suffach courses, but then also if a student then went to SUFFK and got their associates degree, it would transfer
065fully to Stony Brook Southampton or Stonybrook itself. Um, Stony Brook Southampton's capacity is limited to be a fully functioning university with many bachelor's programs. And so they'll need to rely on programs like Suffach Community College to do what they call two plus two programs where you can get started. Um and you can get started at the Riverhead campus, but SUFFK and Stonybrook see some benefit into bringing something east of the canal, not just for our students, but for metriculated SUFFK students who are east of campus in Southampton that they won't for those classes have to go all the way to Riverhead. Um it's $99 a credit. So, for less than $300, they're getting a college course. Um, and they might get two under their belt in senior year. Um, it could grow to something bigger
066where it's offered every day. Uh, right now we'll be starting in the spring with just Tuesday, Thursday. We've identified for students that this can work. Um, but Mr. Morgan in building the master schedule for next year, we'll be able to pick these classes into the master schedule so that we don't and if a student is interested in the program, they can course select that in January. We had a back into it this year because the schedules are already made and the the pilot and the schedules didn't align um quite exactly. So um more to come on that, but we're going to enter the metriculation and registration phase for SUFFK in the next couple weeks when we come back from Thanksgiving. So, um, we'll give you a better sense of how that program's taking off. It's
067a big investment for Suffach and Stony Brook Southampton right now because it's a pilot and so there the classes are capped at 30. Kids are on the campus and again they're not distinguished differently. They don't sit somewhere else. When it's their spring break and the when it's our spring break, it's not colleges and so they're expected to go. So, it's it's really like leveling up a little bit. Um, I want to turn it to Mike uh for a minute to just talk about uh another resolution that you're going to vote on tonight with Yale University. >> Uh, good evening everyone. >> You didn't put your picture up. >> No, no, that's No, my picture would have been a bit embarrassing. But, um, good evening. Um before I get to Yel, I just wanted to um
068talk about um our efforts with AI and I had a recent conversation after the last superintendent's conference day with Jake Davidson uh which involved a bunch of like bros bro, you know, and like we're thinking back, the two of us are going back saying bro to each other about like this is my 29th year like his I think he's a little bit further down the code like we started with like when I started we used phone books you know um he's like bro I I think he said bro I I used a phone that was attached to a wall um but here we are and um AI has really across the board which is really a nice dynamic right now across the board no matter how long you've been in education whether it's your newest
069you know faculty member to those who have been around for a while I mean Everyone's extremely excited about um what this is going to do to enhance our capacity uh to educate children and um we've started to use Gemini which is Google's form of AI uh which is integrated within our learning management system and um you know teaching teachers to utilize it to unpack standards uh to gamify education uh just to ask questions about what else could I do differently here? Um and have it specific to grade level uh has been amazing. Uh we can analyze data at a totally different you know in a totally different way now uh by just plugging in a spreadsheet or a PDF that comes out of our bars reports for regent exams ask for strengths uh but also
070ask for areas of improvement and instructional considerations. Um and as we see what comes out uh it is extremely relevant um to what you know what we can utilize uh and people are just amazed by it. Um recently we just built through Gemini um self-help guides for parents for each one of the levels of fonts and panel. Um and that can now be handed to somebody so that they can help strengthen uh their child's literacy skills at home um after we have our uh November parent teacher conferences. Um it's now integrated in Google Classroom. So, our teachers have used it to ask for creating writing prompts, hooks for lessons, uh you can create leveled readers, uh choice boards, uh and extremely personalized uh highinterest decodable texts, uh to say the least. Um, we've also introduced
071Notebook LM, which I think has been a relief to faculty too because what we've learned from AI is that if you just use randomly, you don't know what resources it's pulling from. Uh, we see that with chat GBD. We've heard the stories, you know, we've had um you know, we've heard about the lawyers that might um present a case using AI only to find out that it's been referencing fictitious, you know, court cases. So AI just in general sometimes is unnerving to people. Uh what Notebook LM does, it allows the teacher to load specific verified sources that they may have created themselves. uh and that synthesizes that information uh to a degree um that they can manipulate it like they haven't done before. And some of the features are amazing. Um what you can now
072do is take the information that you know let's say a child was absent. Take the information that they should have been presented put into notebook LM and what will come out is in essence a a podcast between two people that are talking about it that a child can listen to in any language. Um and what furthermore what they can do is push a button to interact with the two people that are virtual. And when they push it, the person the two people will say, "We have somebody here. Would you like to ask a question and they'll ask a question?" And they'll respond directly to that student's uh student's question. In addition to that uh and something that we might be able to add to our uh self-help for parents is we can do fully automated
073and animated uh presentations with a voice over. So if a parent didn't want to necessarily read about how they could support their child at home with reading skills, they can now listen to it. Uh again, you know, through the use of a QR code and in any language. So um we're really excited about it. We appreciate you know our tech support team uh in addition to uh the efforts of our teachers to uh build capacity so that you know our hope is u by next year that these will be utilized uh and taught you know within a classroom. Um many of them being utilized as you know through display but giving children that ability or students that ability to to use these features is going to be amazing as well. But our job right now
074is just become comfortable with this technology ourselves um and then uh start to introduce that uh within our classrooms. Another great uh thing that we did in student attendance conference day and I thank uh our librarians um Mrs. Bishop, Miss Boda, and our newest member, Mrs. Piaza. Um as well as our tech team. Uh we got trained by Bonic Teacher Center. Uh they allowed us to um have on loan about 20 VR head VR headsets. Um we had a great training um and we turn keyed that to about 40 to 50 people over the last you know two weeks. Uh and it's amazing uh what you put on those headsets. Uh in in essence you're in a virtual barrier. Um you get immersed you know within the human body. So, if you're talking talking about
075the circulation system, uh you're within it. Um if you're talking about savannah um and the environment, you're walking among, you know, giraffes. Um really incredible, incredible stuff. Um, in addition to that, we're going to be able to do college tours, uh, with a headset on, again, in any language where students might be able to interact, you know, with people on campus, not in live time, but, you know, recording, but with some sort of AI feature. Um, they can go historical sites, they'd be able to to travel across the world um, in a really amazing environment. So, another great addition uh, to our uh, toolbox with respect to technology. Uh lastly, as Mr. Clemenson had pointed out, um our high school was selected to be part of a study with uh the Yale Center of Emotional
076Intelligence. And with that, we're receiving uh free training over the last six weeks. Um we have a team that's headed by Mr. Foster, which includes myself, uh our high school psychologist, uh Michelle Delasio, our social worker, Nicole Selge, uh and Jamie Meyer, who heads our early childhood education. We are getting trained over the next six weeks. Uh they told us that we don't get an official Yale graduation. Um but we do get a certificate that I'm sure um we'll we'll parade around with once it's over. But it's been uh wonderful. Um, every week we get to work with a psychologist uh to debrief about the training that we're doing online as a team. Uh, the acronym ruler um spells out five skills. Recognizing emotions in oneself and others, understanding the causes and consequences of emotions,
077labeling emotions with precise vocabulary, exploring emotions appropriately, and regulating emotions effectively. Um so the point of this um is to train staff first utilize the system ourselves. Um what they have said is that you really need to have the ability to have a common language about emotions. Uh you have to be able to self-identify. You have to have the ability to deescalate. um but also um you know be able to be given a tool where it's visual. So there's a four quadrant system uh where you will on one axis it's energy the other axis it's positivity um so if you think about those things if you're high energy high positivity you're happy you know so getting students uh and faculty to kind of understand their own emotions um so that we can have um the
078skills in which to talk about them in a greater degree uh is going to have a really positive effect uh on the overall all uh climate and culture. So um this begins um our faculty have already been surveyed uh our students will begin to be surveyed um through uh a company uh that that Yale will utilize. Um, and that survey we've reviewed, in essence, what it is is it's measuring a student's ability to relate or express their emotions verbally. Um, and um, it's an anonymous um, survey. Um, students will uh, not be identified by name. Uh, no personal information will be shared uh, with the university. It's going to be taken at three different times. So they could see as they learn this new system, is it having an impact on their ability to express
079and deal with their emotions? >> Any questions? >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Carlson. Um, the Yale SMOU is under contracts tonight as a resolution for recommended approval. That is it for my report. Uh happy Thanksgiving and uh as we go to the consent agenda, I will answer any questions that uh you might have. >> Okay. Thank you. Um all right, we will do if there's no question the consent agenda from 4A to 4E. I will need a motion. >> Motion. >> I need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> motion passes. Uh student services is on its own 5A. We need a motion. Motion. >> We need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. Uh 6A to 6 I. We need a motion. >> Motion. >>
080I need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion passes. Uh board of education is 7 A to 7 C. If there's no questions, we need a motion. >> Motion. >> We need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion passes. Um, eight public comments. Persons may address the board of education on matters of interest or concern in accordance with the applicable state and federal law and board of education policy 12:30 governing the rules of public comment and board meetings. Board President will recognize all speakers. Please identify yourself, your town, and topic in which you will be speaking and time limits will be imposed based upon agenda needs. All right. If we don't have anything else, I need a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. >> Motion. >> I need
081a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Motion passes. Thank you all. Have a great Thanksgiving. >> Yes. >> Thanksgiving. >> Faculty. Thank you for all you've done. Appreciate it. Thank you.