001or not. Good evening all. Welcome to the May 6th regular business meeting of the board of education. I need a motion to call the meeting to order, please. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I. Motion passes. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance, then we'll go. 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. So, as you can see, you have we got you guys uh Bayon merch. Bam women's lacrosse merch. So, hope you like that. Um, we'd like to invite you to come out to the Campb Lacrosse team senior game on May 16th at 4:30. Um, we're not sure when the senior ceremony will be. It's either before or
002at halftime, but we'd love for you to come out. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. Any other club advisers take note of what just happened? So nice. A um Okay. Uh just for the record, we're all aware of our emergency exits to the rear and to the sides. Um I will need a motion for the approval order of agenda, please. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I. Motion passes. We will do the clerk's report. Ma'am, be it resolved that the board of education accepts the minutes of the business meeting held April 23rd, 2025. Um, okay. I need a motion, please. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I. Motion passes. Public comments because we're recognized to wish the board on agenda items only. I think we're okay there. So, we're
003going to start with our presentations and students of the month. Who we got first? Mr. Maya. Good evening. Thanks, Mr. Springer. I'd just like to ask Mr. Sperman and Miss Tam, please come up and join me. All right, we're about to introduce one sharp dressed April student of the month, Henry Samiento Coogi. Henry, come on [Applause] up. Henry is a smart, respectful, all-around wonderful student. He has an amazing work ethic, is always the first to follow the rules and do the right things. Henry loves to learn and loves to participate no matter what activity the lesson is. He's such a helpful student. Whether it's doing something for Mrs. Tam and Mrs. McDermott or helping a classmate pick up supplies that were dropped and does it without being asked. Henry's classmates like and respect him for
004being such a kind, fun, helpful, and friendly person. He truly is a role model for his peers. Henry's favorite school subject is math. He likes to do addition and enjoys learning about different math topics. His favorite thing to do during math is take tests and play math games during math stations. Henry excels in math and easily understands whatever his teachers are working on. Henry also loves to go to steam. He loves to learn about animals and enjoys reading animal books in the classroom. Henry goes to Kuman twice a week and really enjoys going there as well. His favorite thing to do in Kuman is math. Of course, Henry feels that going to Kuman has helped him be a better student. Outside of school, Henry likes to play tag and take care of his brother. He
005also enjoys playing tennis as the weather gets nicer. One of the reasons why Henry makes a wonderful student of the month is his easygoing nature and happy disposition. Henry's a good friend to everyone and is so kind all the time. He never complains about doing work, even when it gets difficult. Henry always puts forth his best effort. He enjoys helping out and learning about everything he can learn about. We are honored and proud to have Henry in our second grade this year and to present him with April student of the month from the Hampton Bay Elementary School. Congratulations, Henry. You're looking tonight. Yeah. Extremely hands-on. A what a cutie. Yes. Congratulations. Oh, it's a great Thank you, Mr. Meyer, Mr. Shug. Good evening, everybody. Hello, Mr. Springer. Please allow me to introduce Hampton Bay's Middle
006School's student of the month, sixth grader, Diana Morales Menddees. I would also like uh to take a moment to invite Mrs. Uh Jill Oaks, oh standing right next to me. Um join me and Diana at the podium. Mrs. Oaks, who represents Team Ambition, is one of Diana's teachers. I should also mention we will use the app Time Kettle once again. So when I speak English, Diana's family hears my words in Spanish. Welcome to Diana's family and congratulations to Diana. Here is what Mrs. Oaks and Diana's team ambition said when recommending Diana for this honor. Beautiful handwriting. By the way, Mrs. Oaks, I am nominating Diana Morales Mendes because she embodies what it takes to be a student of the month. She is a diligent student who has greatly improved over the past few months in
007math and some classes. She consistently works to her fullest potential and tries her best every day. Diana has started to push herself to come out of her comfort zone and has started to participate and volunteer more often in class. Because of this, her confidence has grown leaps and bounds. She will not hesitate to turn to a classmate and help them with their work or keep them focused. I am so happy to see Diana come out of her comfort zone and grow as a student. That from Miss Mrs. Oaks. During my interview with Diana, she shared that her favorite subject this year is math. She is especially fond of multiplication and fractions. Diana prides herself on taking her time and working carefully to solve math problems. Outside of school, she prioritizes doing her homework first and
008is quite the artist, having a love for pencil drawings. We are going to connect her with Mrs. Gaguiardi and the art club because she is a rising artist. Diana told me she enjoys a nice walk outside because she shared it keeps her calm and relaxed. Diana enjoys visits to the library and has come to appreciate reading fiction, her favorite genre. Diane sees herself in the future following in her teacher's footsteps as an elementary math teacher. Mr. Meyer, watch out. Get ready. just goes to show you the impact great teachers can have on the children they teach. Diana's words during our interview were full of wisdom. Her advice to newer or younger middle school students, listen in class, don't run in the hallway, do your classwork, and study for tests. That's great life advice as far
009as I'm concerned. Congratulations, Diana. We are all so proud of who you are becoming at APMS. Congratulations Diana. Congratulations. You're welcome. Thank you. [Applause] Mr. Morgan, you're up. Good. Good evening. Please join me in congratulating our high school April student of the month, Samantha Takuri Chuki. [Applause] I would like to point out that Samantha has been the only freshman this year receiving student of the month. Samantha's nomination by the fizzed department specifically highlighted her outstanding performance in her weight room skill assessment. As you are well aware, a weight room and a fitness center can be a place where injury can happen very quickly. Students are trained to not only lift weights properly to avoid injury, but are also educated in how to spot their classmates in assisted lifts. Not only did Samantha excel in her
010own lift, but she also demonstrated remarkable responsibility and care as a spotter. Speaks volumes about her dedication to her personal fitness and her consideration for her classmates. As I mentioned, Samantha is a freshman and the transition from middle school to high school can be a big one. But for Samantha, it sounds like she's taken it in stride. While she mentioned missing some of her former teachers like Miss Lou and Miss Maer, it's clear that a positive impact of her middle school experience continues to guide her. As her middle school adviser, Miss Mer provided advice to Samantha that she has already found valuable in navigating her high school life. Academically, Samantha is enjoying her Earth Science and algebra classes, and she's already preparing for her upcoming regions next month, acknowledging that the workload is a little
011bit more demanding in high school, but embracing the challenge with her best effort each day. Looking ahead, Samantha is taking lessons she's learned from Miss Meyer in her college and career exploration course. Samantha is eager to become more involved next year and to build her resume so that she's ready and prepared for college. She's already planning on joining tennis and lacrosse teams. So that's going to be you in one of those cities next year. And she's also looking to contribute to our community by joining either the Key Club or Leo's Club. And Mr. Loose will guide you in a certain way. Finally, Samantha has a valuable message for our younger students. Make sure you're listening. The importance of adhering to deadlines and submitting work on time in high school is paramount. This kind of proactive
012approach is clearly a key to Samantha's success. Once again, join me in congratulating our student of the month for April, Samantha Tur. [Applause] Congratulations. Congratulations. Good luck. Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Congratulations again to all. Uh we'll take a quick 5m minute break if anybody wants to take a few pictures and then uh we're back to business. Okay, we will um move on to Mr. Clemenson. [Music] All right, good evening everybody. Uh today is the budget hearing. Um so I'll give a rundown of where we are with the budget proposal. This is an odd month, April to May. We had a late April board meeting and we have an early May board meeting. So um it's only been two weeks since we've been together where normally it's a month, but in those two weeks we have
013presented to a number of community groups. uh Larry as a Hampton Bay Lion, myself as and Mr. Morgan as Hampton Bay's Rotarians, the Hampton Bay Civic Association, and the Beautifification Association. Um we've gotten to uh communicate uh to um these community groups to spread the word that on May 20th, we will have our uh school budget vote and board of education election. and um to talk about a little bit about what is in that budget. Um you can see on the slides in front of you, we were able to bring three different a number of students representing three amazing programs that we have here at the high school, including prek, which it looks like we might have prek lottery here, um which we're going to do tonight as well. We had our culinary students prepare
014dessert for uh members of the beautifification and civic and members of our junior and senior science research class talking about their uh their research questions on vyroids and plants and um the the anthropologic sounds of males and their migration patterns um super and malware um and virtual enterprise Alex and Oscar and Mr. Verdone with virtual enterprise and uh their top 40 in the nation finish at uh the gavit center recently. Um great opportunity to showcase our students um and their both academic uh vocational and um extracurricular uh passions. Our enrollment today stands at 2011 students right just at the end of April. Um and if we were to project that into 202526 um in an unadjusted way and that is to pretend that no students enter Hampton Bays or exit Hampton Bays once they enter
015kindergarten that number would decrease to 1,944 students. We're graduating uh about 180 students and our kindergarten is about 110 students give or take and and it's tracking with I see Mrs. corridor in the audience tonight, our registar. She is just welcoming in our new kindergarten families over the last couple months and the numbers look like they're tracking compared to last year. Always placed a little wager on it, just a friendly wager. Um, but it looks like she's, you know, she always bests me because she knows her numbers. Um, I say unadjusted and that's important because throughout the year there is a transient. Last school year, 223 students entered. 227 students entered the school district in addition to the incoming kindergarten and 163 exited at some point during the year. It wasn't the same group of
016kids necessarily, but there is a transient. So the unadjusted the unadjusted enrollment looks like it's coming down in a little bit more of an aggressive way than it would be when you're looking at the transients coming in each um each uh as the year goes on each month. You can see the elementary school the bigger classes in the elementary school are on their way out to the middle school. So it's this building uh Mr. Meer and Mr. building looks like it's going to become as long as we continue to see 110 to 115 classes, we'll get into a plateau period where our previous plateau was 140 and our previous plateau to that was 170 and 180. So, we live in those in in those generations. The middle school stays steady, but then as those smaller
017the little the littlest ones right now in those 110 120 classes, that's where you start to see the slope come down. And then in the high school, we start to see that come down more precipitously. However, um a number of the new entrance that is corridor welcomes to Hampton Bay are uh secondary age students. So, current events plays a role in that. Um immigration policy plays a role in that. Um housing prices, housing availability, all of those are factors that we can't just go by the numbers and and forward them. So, we continue to watch it. had the chance to talk to our uh the community over the last few weeks about our college and dual enrollment partnerships, 14 college dual enrollment courses and 18 advanced placement courses. In 2006, we had six advanced licing
018courses. So more than um uh we have tripled that um and continue to build out opportunities for kids to graduate um with a hefty transcript in their hand sometimes 30 40 high 40s in the credits which opens up a lot of doors to students at the primary level. We're we're very proud of our extended block in reading and math so that uh teachers have time. Time is what any teacher needs. Kids need that as well. So with extended block in both ELA and math, teachers have the ability to use that time carefully to give core instruction to every student and then really personalized instruction. You you heard uh you heard Mr. Meyer talk about Henry liking his math stations. That's when the teachers can really work at leveled um in a leveled way with their
019students while other students are independently working. Extended block allows us to do that. The steam program in the uh in the lab weekly is applied science hands-on that moppy head. I saw the picture from my son as he was preparing his scientific question for the science project. Um and then uh you see Sam Blackburn underneath as as our science pathway continues. Sam Blackburn who is a sophomore, Mr. Morgan, he's a sophomore. He is studying nuclear fusion. So um at the secondary level we continue to um to move forward in the sciences with computer science programming. Universal acceleration in 8th grade for living environment opens the door in 11th and 12th grade to advanced placement or dual enrollment science classes, science electives. It gives students more flexibility to build out their transcript in a way that
020uh matters uh to them and their goals. this summer. Uh actually currently uh we are undergoing uh window replacements at the elementary school and at the middle school the back part of the building the gymn the opaque windows in the gymnasium. Um we've enjoyed recent uh we're back outside when when we can take it with the pollen. Uh the upgrades to the elementary school playground the ninja course I think it's called is uh wellreceived um and a result of co funding. Um you can see the the the prek playground right there uh which is just outside the back doors here was a grant from Assemblyman um former Assemblyman Fred Theel um who invested um in helping us build that for our prek program. So kids have uh dad kids have an opportunity to be outside
021on a bayon boat um every day um in our scope prek which is just down the hall here. This summer, uh, the 1957 and 1968 wing classroom toilet rooms will be replaced for the first time since 1957 and 1968. So, think about Pepto-Bismol pink tile, avocado green tile, sky blue tile. Um, and lots of little people using that for 50, 60 years. Time to change the tile. Time to change the fixtures. We'll do that this summer. And then continued HVAC upgrades in both the elementary and the and the high school. That should say high school and my apologies. The middle school has air conditioning as it was built new in 2008. Our adult ed program continues to have both a mixture of life skills and recreation courses and we just finished our fourth annual hospitality
022academy. Um, the career in trades are as important to us as college readiness and military readiness for our kids who are enlisting. And our early childhood program works with 11th and 12th grade aspiring teachers um to uh graduate in June when they're seniors and be eligible to take the teaching assistant certification test. So that's an academy that they'll go through and graduate with a career credential in culinary arts, hospitality, and tourism management. um and the Boseis trades. Kids who are pursuing CTE have the opportunity to have a career credential. Then we've spoken about this at at public meetings throughout 2025. Character and mental health and wellness continue to be a uh a primary focus. If we are not well uh physically and mentally and emotionally, um the algebra homework can't get done to the degree
023that it needs to get done. um and our clubs and our um school social work support team and the support systems that we have in place both in special education um and by in our bilingual program and English as a new language, our enrichment program, our APs and our CTE and commitment to vocational. That's a lot of boxes checked. It's a multi-dimensional place here in the Hampton Bay Schools and we really can meet kids where we are. It's a Goldilocks size school district. I don't get worried when I see those enrollment numbers because it is big enough to offer all the things that I've just um you know rambled on about for a few minutes, but uh small enough to know our kids and give them the support uh that they need. We still do
024not have a final New York State budget. This is late as I can recall it being um in 15 years where I've held this microphone. Um, however, we do have a budget proposal uh that will go to the community and tonight's the budget hearing. Our tax levy cap is 3.32% and that's how much taxes would increase and we will be within that cap. The the tax levy increase be about 3.32%. Maybe a little less because some of that would be pilot money that the town replaces and so it doesn't all come from property taxes. We don't know that until the fall. Um, and then our budget increase, that's our spending increase. how much money we're going to spend next year. A 2.16 spending increase. So 2% more. Um very conservative budget at the tax cap.
025So it's um it is it's a tight budget. Um you can see here uh spending plan is a $67.5 million spending plan. Um and uh that's a mixture of tax revenue and and our CPF pilot, other local revenue. Um and then state aid. This is the first year. Uh Larry talked about this on April 28th. This is the first year we will see a decrease in our state aid, less dollars than we received the previous year. Larry's been doing this 19 years. I've been doing this 15 years. We have not had that experience before. So that is a result of assessed values increasing in Hampton Bay. Even though the town assesses our property at a percentage of full valuation, right? Right? If your house is worth $600,000, it used to be taxed as though it
026was worth $600,000. Now it's about 2/3 of that rough, more or less. And so the assessed value when you only give it that pro rate is about $3.8 billion. When it gets to Albany, like going to Las Vegas, the House never loses, right? Albany always knows. And Albany says 3.8. I don't think so. It's 5.2 billion. You're not assessing at the full rate. So, they put an equalization factor on there. Why do they do that? Because there are 743 school districts, give or take, in New York State. And so, everybody assesses differently based in their communities. And the state has to have some apples to apples to apples way to figure out the the state aid formula so it fair. So, the equalization's the last thing that happens. That resulted in us being seen as
027a much wealthier district than we are. Very valuable land on the Atlantic Ocean. Beautiful 60 to 65% economic disadvantage rate. Kids who present with different profiles have programs that cost more. Right? Kids don't cost more. Programs cost more. And so um and we saw a decrease as a result of that. continued advocacy with the foundation aid formula is what it's all about. New York State school boards and our ability um through the council of school superintendent to make sure that the foundation aid formula is fair and responsive to a to a dynamic like that. The average over the last 10 or 12 years has been about 2.9% budget-to-budget increase. This year it's 2.2%. The tax levy increase has been an average of almost 2% 1.9% that because of two years of a freeze in our
028tax levy. We were able to do that when we had increases in uh state aid that were pretty sizable. So we did enjoy those. You know, we have to remember we enjoyed the years where we saw a big jump in in state aid and um so we didn't cry then. We can't cry when it goes in the other direction. and the formula giveth and the formula take taketh away. Um so on I mentioned this chart here because the reality of the reality of Hampton Bays is a challenging one a 16 square mile community. Some of that is the ocean and the three bays that are surrounding us. So really it's like 13 or 14 square miles. third quarter of an acre to a third of an acre homes in many many neighborhoods throughout the community
029and many yearround folks and families that send kids to school. That's a wonderful thing. Our neighboring communities have Dune Road properties that are taxed. Ours are not. Um and have big estates that are taxed that don't send kids to school. They don't live here. And so their revenue and their tax rate is very high. Their tax rate is very low. Their revenue is very high. So when you look at this, this is a chart. No other names other than Hamptons. It's public information, but it's it's not it's not in my interest to be pointing out other school districts by name. They're great school districts. But when you look at just the budget divided by the number of students, 2324 is the last hard data we all have at the state in the state database. Hampton
030Bay's per people spending is $32,000 per people. That's a lot of money, but in comparison to our neighbors is not a lot of money. The next chart that I'm going to show you is sorted a different way. It's sorted by our tax rate. How much we pay in taxes compared to how much our house is worth. Look at where Hampton base jumps. So it we have the highest tax rate in the town of Southampton of all school districts that are fully within the town of Southampton. So that should give you a clue who the other two are because they're that's a little bit more complicated because their districts share two different towns and taxing structures. However, when you look at Hampton Bay per pupil spending tax rate, so that's the sandbox we play in. We're
031proud of Hampton Bays. We love Hampton Bays. Um and and we're super proud of we know where every dollar is and how every dollar is spent and we carefully spend and strategically spend that and to make sure we have programs that kids benefit from. Um May 20th, Tuesday, May 20th is our budget vote. There'll be two questions. One propo will do you does the community accept the budget proposal for the 2526 school year? The second question is, if there are up to $300,000 left in this year's budget because of unex unforeseen revenue or unrealized expenses, can the board of education opt to use that $300,000 for basic repairs and renovations? The routine maintenance is critically important. In 2012, when we passed the bond, we were replacing a lot of things that had we had deferred
032over the previous generation. We've gotten out of that era. We've gotten out of that positioning and so now that routine maintenance gets to fix a little thing here and there just as you would at your own home. The more you let things linger and deteriorate, the more expensive it becomes. Two candidates uh for the board of education and we have two seats available. Mr. JSA and Mr. Springer are asking for the community support to continue serving on the board of education. Tuesday, May 20th, 7:00 a.m. to 900 pm and absentee ballots are available from Mrs. Lawson down at um over at district office during normal business hours. Um at this point, I'll take any questions from the board and then turn it to you, Mr. Springer, to to open and uh conduct the budget hearing.
033Anybody have any questions? Okay. Thank you. Yep. All right. I need a motion to open the hearing. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I I Okay. Does anybody have any questions or concerns? Anything? Doesn't look like it. Okay. Uh then I will need a motion to close the budget hearing. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I budget hearing closes. Larry, do you have anything that you would like to All right. So, since we are doing um prek tonight, we're going to do a consent agenda from 4A to 7D, unless anybody has any questions. If not, I need a motion. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I. Motion passes. Uh public comment. Persons may address the board of education on any matters of interest or concern. The
034board president will recognize all speakers. Time limits may be imposed based upon agenda needs. Is there anybody here in the audience? Okay. Um we'll adjourn the meeting after the prek. Mhm. So Mr. Meyer, floor is yours. All right. Thank you, Mr. Springer. I know I speak for everyone when I say this is our favorite night of the year as we welcome our newest students to Hampton base. We're very lucky for our pre-K program that we have enough spots for everybody that is signed up for the program. So, everybody is going to get a spot. When we started this program many years, we would have uh too many students and not enough spots. So, this is a good position to be in. So, while we are doing the lottery, it will simply confer choice for an
035AM spot or a PM spot. So, it'll go down the list and that how we'll fill up the program AM PM uh from the from the order we are drawing it. So without any further ado, Mr. T is going to be the our first director. Hey, Mr. Meer here. I have my assistant read the names. I will go ahead. Wonderful. Um, I will go ahead and I will roll and pull out five at a time, label them appropriately, and then pass them off and they will be recorded. All right, good. This is probably 1267. The number one draft choice to the 3K lottery goes to Aaron Ro. [Music] watching. The second name for the lottery, Bryson Mendes, 015. This could be the strongest tape I've ever used. You know, I have been in the wait
036room, but it doesn't seem to be working right now. The third pick, Pedro Flores, Bonija is E5. Number four is Luna Lopez Catherine. [Music] Yeah, use this. Yeah, use the pen. That's why I said that before. And number five, number five is Valerie Montes Adrianiano 217. Number six, Edward Ortiz Morales. 29. Number seven, because of such number seven is Ken Malininoki. Number eight, Jadier Mercedes. Number nine is Noah Hiardo Martinez. And number 10. Number 10 is Aiden Anderson. communication system. Number 11. Number 11, Joshua Melgaretto. Number 12. Number 12, Sam Ariava Reges. So number 13, Briana Himenez Cortez. Number 14 is Finn Oi. O'Keefe. Finn O'Keefe. And number 15 Number 15 is Helen Pantes. [Music] Number 16. Number 16, Natalia Rodriguez Bonita. Number 17 is Margaret Oti. All right. Congratulations, Margaret. We'll let the adult
037have a hat slide. Number 18 is My Lisent Naylor. Number 19 is Kevin Frost. And number 20, number 20 is Adeline Suarez Chuni. Number 21, Leah Saka Quirin. Number 22. 22 is Donna Velasquez. Nava number 23. [Music] Number 23 is Sophia Galddams. Number 24. Number 24 is Itana Vaj Flores. And number 25. 25 is Robert Vija Dubon. Let's get Number 26. Number 26 is Kinsley Cudner. Number 28. 27. 27. Just seeing if everyone's paying attention out here. Number 27. Ova Parada. Number 28 is Jonathan Lopez Mendes. Number 29. 29 is Luca Cosio. Number 30. number 30a Suniga Salaja. And to conclude the evening of excitement, number 31 is Sadi Stone Welder. John Welder. Thank you all. We will be in touch with all the students who were chosen tonight with more information about the program
038and the elementary school does appreciate the book support all years of all our programs. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you ladies. Thank you all. All right. Before we adjourn a meeting, I just would like to recognize Mrs. Kolhane for her board mastery award. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh, that I need a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. Motion. I need a second. Second. All in favor? I I motion passes. Thank you all again. Get home safely. See you soon. Thank you. Thank you.