001Please. Okay. Good evening everyone. We'll open the meeting up. Will we please rise for the pledge allegiance 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. Thank you. Um, we'll open the meeting up to our uh public budget hearing presentation and then we'll have an opportunity for our candidates that are running for the two seats uh that'll open in July. Uh we'll give them the opportunity to speak uh why they want to run for the board of education. So at this point we'll um go to our public hearing. We'll have Joel Frier, our superintendent, and Desmond Bernardet, our business official, give our budget presentation. Good evening, everyone. So, uh, this evening, um, we're going to show
002you the video just as I did last year. We found that, uh, we reached, uh, a whole different group of folks and got more information out there by putting it in video form so that it could be shared in different groups, it could go on social media, could go on our website. So folks that might not be able to watch this evening could go back and take a look at the video. And then uh again at the end we'll encourage any questions and uh in the end of the video I also encourage any of the viewers uh that watch the video in the next 12 to 15 days before the budget vote um that they could get in touch with any district administrator uh director building principal or any of our trustees who are all
003versed in the the spending plan. So, I'm going to start the video. It's only about six or seven minutes long. It uh wraps up all that we've been doing for the last number of months and uh and then we'll open it for questions. Welcome to the 2025 2026 Highland Central School District budget presentation. My name is Joel Frier. I'm superintendent of schools. My name is Desmond Barnett. I'm the school business administrator and we will walk you through this year's school budget. We created this budget in collaboration with the building administration directors and the board of trustees. We carefully considered the overall benefit to the school district community. This presentation provides an overview of the proposed budget for the 2025 2026 school year. We are tasked annually with creating a balanced budget in which our expenses
004and revenues match. The district is facing challenges like many others as the state has not yet finalized its budget. Therefore, we need to explore ways to offset that discrepancy while remaining within the tax cap. Last year, we reduced staff and services to balance the budget. This year's proposed budget maintains all staff and services for our students. The budget serves as a financial plan that supports the district programs. The New York state law requires districts to break the budget down into three categories: administrative, program, and capital. Specific rules dictate how expenses are allocated within these categories. For instance, while principal salaries fall under the program category, they are recorded in the administrative portion of the budget. As with any budget, most of the increase is seen within the program component of the budget. This slide shows
005the three-part budget in piraphph form which visually highlights the greatest portion of the budget being the program component. This shows that almost 75 cents per dollar goes to that component of the standard plan. Another way to look at the budget is to break it down by more specific categories which mirrors the state and audited financial reported format. General support, which is the portion not in the classroom, instruction that includes program and extracurricular activities, pupil transportation, community service, and finally undistributed includes our employee benefits, debt service, and inter fund transfers. The following chart illustrates that 72% of our total budget is allocated to payroll and benefits. While this percentage is lower than last year, it is still considered standard for most school districts across the state. This slide shows our revenue increase for the 2526 school
006year. The total amount of state aid has increased by $1.8 million. The two significant categories of aid that contributed to this increase are foundation aid and building aid. A $16,000 increase in pilot payments is due to the maturity of certain pilot agreements. A debt service plan has been created with our fiscal advisers and we will be utilizing $85,000 from an interfund transfer towards this budget. $1.15 million in applied fund balance will be utilized again to offset the levy. And in addition, we will use $74,000 from the employee retirement restricted reserve and $376,000 from the taxert reserve to offset the budget shortfall. The total tax levy increase will be 2.63%. This is the max cap without exceeding the budgettobudget increase is 5.4%. This chart provides an estimated calculation of the tax impact on the residents of
007the town of Lloyd. We can only estimate this because we do not have finalized equalization rates from the county until late July. The estimate is given with last year's equalization rates. So for every $100,000 assessed value, there would be approximately a $5.64 increase per month. We are thankful to our administrative team and board of education for finding a way to use specific reserves to keep our programs whole and not negatively impact opportunities for our students. All programs remain intact under this spending plan for the 2025 2026 school year. There are two propositions that will be listed on the ballot. Proposition one will be our school district budget. Proposition two will be our bus referendum in the amount of $962,497, which includes five buses and one pickup truck with a plow. There are two three-year trustee
008seats up for election this year. Voters can pick up to two candidates for those seats. The candidates are Janine GML, Tom Miller, and Ivan Acasta. The budget vote and trustee elections will take place on Tuesday, May 20th, between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 900 p.m. in room D10, otherwise known as our band room at Highland High School. Absentee and early mail ballot applications are available to download from our website. Absentee and early mail ballots must be returned by 5:00 p.m. on May 20th, 2025. To be eligible to vote, you must be a US citizen, a registered voter, and 18 years of age or older. Additionally, you must be a Highland Central School District resident for at least 30 days immediately before the vote. For more information regarding the vote, you can contact our district
009clerk, Lisa Cerniglia, at 845691105 or by email at lserniglia@ highland-k12.org. This concludes the 2025 2026 proposed spending plan for the Highland Central School District. Thank you so much for taking time to watch this video. Should you have any questions regarding this presentation, please feel free to reach out to any building administrator, district administrator, or any one of our board of education trustees, all of whom are fully versed in this proposed spending plan. Also, be on the lookout for the annual budget newsletter, which will be in your mailbox in a few days. Once again, thank you for your support and have a great day. Sorry about the bottom line there. So, um I didn't get the screen uh maximized for you. Um this video will be uh made live uh in a couple of hours. Actually,
010I know Jess Murray, our liaison with Boseies is probably watching and ready to make it live on our website and our Facebook page. Um and again just to reiterate if there are any questions about the spending plan of especially for the voters that uh or the viewers that might not be able to be here this evening um please do not hesitate to reach out. So I think at this time we will turn it over to the board president who will allow each of the uh candidates for trustee to uh talk to the voters about uh why they would like to be elected to the board of education. There is an opportunity for questions on the budget. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right now there is. You want to do that first? Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Um with the
011state's adopted budget now um and where our spending plan, did the numbers come in where we expected or was there uh additional funds that came in? So the state did actually um they made some provisions. They said they adopted a budget, but they actually pushed it out till tomorrow where they're actually going to put out the numbers to the um school districts. So there's nothing actually available to school districts to kind of work from. Had a budget. They have not shared the budget. They approved the budget, but there's no numbers that uh school districts can actually work from at this point. So our spending plan is as presented. Great. Also opened up to the to the public. If you have questions for the board administrators, you can ask them. Mark, I had a question. Uh,
012Desmond, if that numbers come out tomorrow, will you or Joel, will you be sending out any if there's changes and additions, will you be sending that out also on the website? Well, I don't think we can make any changes for the actual vote at this point. That would be up to the board of education to make decisions about what they're going to um, you know, whether they're going to put money back into reserves or going to make any changes. So, this is the spending plan we're putting forward. This is the plan as the voter regardless, right? And those changes wouldn't happen after until after July 1, correct? Right. The student population is it less than last year or more? It is about the same actually. We dropped slightly when we're looking at the state numbers.
013We dropped probably three students, three or four students, but we're still within the 1500 range of students in the district. Okay. And second question, the buses that are going to be replaced. Uh I I happen to drive by because I live on Tina Drive pretty much every day and I sure see a lot of buses sitting in the yard even when schools times to pick up and I see the request from school bus drivers. Are these buses that are being replaced uh being replaced in kind or you know it would seem to me that you know you know I I I don't get the warm fuzzies on the five buses. Just can you explain why? Well, the five buses that we're actually implementing in the proposal referendum number two actually is kind of a twofold
014process. One we're kind of it's replacing the buses that are kind of aging out. So we're doing in that regard. The second phase is more in regards to the electric mandate from the governor who wants to have by, you know, 2027 uh no more fossil fuel buses on the road. So, we're kind of building our inventory so that we have both replacement of inventory that's kind of aging out and preparing ourselves so when we get to that point, we have enough fleet to kind of transport our students that we would have in the district. And the other the last question I have is I see a lot more small buses than larger buses being purchased at least compared to when I moved here 48 years ago uh 47 years ago. And uh I'm just wondering
015is that a shift in the population or because of special needs or people going to prochial schools or other I know that that's been a requirement. Prochial schools. We have the the one large one that goes over every morning and comes back in the afternoon and that's actually a transfer at the middle school. But yes, I think you're correct in saying that many of our smaller buses are for more individualized uh routes for some of our special special needs students. Okay. It cost a lot less to run one of those buses rather than running one of the big buses. I agree. But just wondering, you know, I would also say um we had a big discussion on the buses and the replacement schedule a couple meetings ago. If you want to go online and see
016that recording, it was a lot about the whole bus schedule and EV. Yeah. Well, I understand the EV issue. That's why I was I asked about that. We're expecting they pull it, but they haven't yet. I think Dr. board. I think you could probably answer this the best. I know uh the perception out there for a lot of community members, they do say, you know, we do have a lot of small school buses and when I say, you know, we transport to numerous locations outside of the Highland School, they're not aware of how many different locations we go to. Can you give them just a snapshot? It doesn't have to be, you know, there's there's quite a few that we transport on a daily basis. Right. Uh I can't give an exact number top of
017my head. Um, but you know, we're talking double digit, you know, locations that we're transferring to. I I I worked on a in a construction project down in Westchester, and every day I saw a bus show up, drop off a student at a special needs, go park in the parking lot, sit there all day, and then go back, pick up the student, go back. And it was because it would take them longer to go back right back. Yep. The thing I would add to that is I think Kathy, our director of transportation, has worked very closely with other districts. So, we actually do some uh sharing of buses. So, if we have to go to Sogerties, maybe there's a Kingston student we pick up on the way. Very restrictive. Yeah, I understand. I mean, so
018we we make those adjustments to kind of or cut the cost for both districts. And and some buses that you see sitting in the parking lot during during activities, we have spare buses that Oh, can go out. Yeah, you have. Anyone else? That answers my question. Good questions. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll uh close the public hearing. I'll ask our district clerk. Did you have a question, right? Yeah. No, I'm going to ask our district clerk to introduce our candidates. Yes. So, each state. Okay. So, for the the first candidate, and this was just um the list is just done by a lottery. Um name is being basically pulled out and that's how it's listed um on tonight's agenda as well as on the ballot. So, for the first person will be Janine
019Gimmel. Thank you. I am running again for one simple reason, the community of Highland. I have no other agenda other than to ensure that this community continues to thrive and is supported from an academic standpoint to extracurricular and co-communal activities and engagements to the fiscal responsibility that is tied for serving on the board of education. I believe in the ideology of service, the idea of giving back to your community. And what better way to give back to the community that I have been fortunate of to be a lifelong member of, a product of the academic system, a parent and an active volunteer and participant in this community of Highland. My hope is to be a voice of reason and support and that is echoed amongst our educators and our administrators, our students, our athletes, our
020artists and musicians, the taxpayers, our youth, and the future of those that will call our little hamlet home. For that reason and that reason alone, I look for continued support to be reelected to the Highland Board of Education. Thank you. Thank you, Janine. Uh the next um candidate will be Thomas, as most of you know as Tom Miller. Good evening. How's everybody? Um I moved to this community 47 years ago. I don't remember seeing this guy here. But that being said, um this is my this has been my adopted community since I moved from Kypy. Uh, I've always been active in community organizations. I did the children's sports thing back in my early years, aged out of that and at about a time about almost 15 years ago, I uh was thinking about running for
021the board and I realized I'm probably going to be retiring soon. I'll have a lot more time. Well, believe it or not, that did happen, but in a different order. I ran for the board in 2010 and uh here I am 15 years later looking to do another three-year term. Um it's I work with a dynamic group of people on this board. Uh our our mission statement says that we are a diverse group of individuals who strive to engage our community in providing quality education by lending our experiences and perspectives. that will positively that will positively affect the future of each and every student with within the means of the community. Now, we just talked about our budget and um we believe we put together a good budget that falls within the means of the
022community. Um and like I said, there's a great group of people. I would like I would really like to be voted in again for another three years. Hopefully, we'll be together that much longer, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Uh I uh am a member of the uh support services group and we did a lot of work over the last couple years getting this project um put together and started and supporting it all along. uh with the help of our business department and our senior administration, we we didn't we beat the uh bushes quite a bit when we're trying to solve the project and it worked ultimately. Joel, thank you for that. And Desmond, you weren't here when we did that, but your predecessors um did a great job to get us this
023far and thank you for picking it picking it up and um taking it the rest of the way. Our capital project should be finishing up by the end of the fall ideally. There's always a few straggling issues uh that go out beyond that. But again, uh we have qualified I'm a qualified person on this board and we have a group of other qualified individuals and we are diverse. We all have our specialties and we all respect each other. I want to keep that team together. I want to be part of that team. So, uh, at this point, I also want to be around in the district a little bit longer. The ne second generation of my family over here, uh, has just entered school at the kindergarten level, and I, uh, I want to be
024part of it for the future. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. And our third candidate for the school board um, in the audience here is Ivan Acasta. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Ivan Acasta. Um, longtime resident here in Highland and, you know, a proud parent of five children that have been through this school district and are currently in the school district. I'm running because not that the school board is broken, not that the school district is broken, not that anything needs big changes. I'm running because I want to see more involvement and I want to see more support for the parents that are involved. I want to see more support for the teachers that are that are striving to help build our children's future and make sure that they're a success. Now, I'd
025be honored if I get to be put on this board. Uh that's the best way to put it for me. I mean, I'm looking forward to working with our superintendent and both our assistant superintendent and our community just not again, not to make Highland better because we're a great community, but to make it stronger because I feel that there has been some things that that have been gone out into the community that reflect badly on both our school board or our community. And I think there needs to be a little bit of a little bit of change just to make it stronger and that's it. It's nothing more, nothing less. I'm not doing this for an agenda like Janine, you know, it's it's not about that. I'm well invested into this school district. My children
026are proud proud graduates and I have two children that are still going through it. I love the fact that they were able to receive so many college credits which is which is a you know, it's a testament to how great this school district is. you know, one of my children graduated with 52 college credits. That's amazing. You know, that that helps the community massively, especially for what, you know, what out there. So, again, I'm honored if you would choose to for me to be on this board and I look forward to working with everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Again, I wonder if I can get a picture of the three candidates together. Sure. Maybe over here. Is that a possibility? You turn the lights on the lights. There we go. One more. crazy books.
027No, just a final reminder to everyone. Uh, voting information polls will open at 6:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. at the Highland High School band room um on May 20th. All those that are registered with application for absentee, I think they're still available. I don't think that's closed yet. So for those that are out there listening, uh please come out and vote. Uh it's part of your obligation as a community member and part of the Highland Central School District. So May 20th from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. All right. Um we'll now open the meeting up to public comment. And again, our front end public comment is for agenda items only. So, if you have any uh comments regarding our agenda, please shout them out. Okay, we'll close public comment and we'll move on to our
028consent items. Uh consent items are FA1 to C2 I. Uh we do have uh an addendum added under personnel. This would uh bring us to four I All right. Um I'll entertain a motion and then uh as normal we can uh pull any individual any item out if you have concerns, questions. Uh once we have a motion, we can ask those questions. So a motion made by Tom, second by Janine. Any comments, questions, clarifications? Um or if you want to pull any individual item out, you can do that. Comments are that we're losing two uh longtime bus drivers to retirement jobs. Okay, if no one has any questions or concerns or comments, we'll um move it to a vote. We have a motion made by Tom, second by Jane. All those in favor? I opposed.
029Any extensions? So carried. Okay. So to echo what uh Mr. Miller said we do have three uh retirees on the agenda for this evening and we will recognize them at our retiree reception in June. Uh Robin Link, 25 years as a food service worker. Deb Southworth, 22 years as a bus driver. Mary Santini, 11 years as a bus driver. And I don't know if I'm at liberty to say there is one more bus driver that I know of, but I did not get the letter yet. So we may have one more at the next um the next meeting. So implore the the folks in the community, if you're interested in in driving a bus, please reach out to Kathy McCullik because she would be more than happy to take you on and train you to
030do that uh that very important work. And then secondly, this evening, we just appointed Sarah Hathaway as our new director of pupil personnel services. Sarah's been a a teacher at the elementary school. She was the interim assistant principal at the middle school uh last year and princ or assistant principal uh at the middle school this year. So we will be accepting her resignation at the next meeting for this appointment to take place on July 1st. So tomorrow we will post for Sarah's replacement at the middle school. So congratulations Sarah. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Okay, Mr. Timber is not here this evening, so we'll go to Dr. Boy. Thank you. Um, as Joel just acknowledged, um, you know, a bittersweet moment for me uh, handing over the rings uh, to the PPS department. Um, but
031no one I would trust more uh, than Miss Hathaway. Uh, we are very excited uh, for her to continue in this role and I'm very excited to work very closely with her. uh moving forward. So, um kindergarten screening this Friday. Um I had some numbers as of yesterday. I see you might have a little bit different numbers. I had 94 packets out. Looks like you had we're up to 99 packets out. Uh 84 of them being returned. Uh and as of yesterday, we had 79 out of those 80 84 scheduled for their appointment uh this Friday kindergarten screening. So, we had a few more just to to finalize their schedule. Um we look forward to welcoming our class of 2038 coming in um this September. Uh so we've made a couple of changes to our
032kindergarten screening. We're trying to add a few more things in um to bring some more excitement uh for our newest students entering the district uh in September. Class 2038. Class 2038 coming in. That was always my favorite thing to do when I welcomed parents to that uh presentation is to say that and it like takes the air out of the room because 2038 seems so far away. I thought I just walked into a wall, but yet it comes faster than they think. So Spain for that. Actually, I think these parents here probably all heard me say that at one point. School is school. Keep on cranking. I know. Anyway, sorry far away. No, not no worries at all. Uh this afternoon I um was part of a updated uh graduate requirements uh webinar. Um this
033was again a planning year as they're starting to roll things out. Uh there's a lot of questions at the webinar. There's there's a lot of questions from districts too. Still waiting to hear. So after the webinar today, they were going to put out a Q&A. So we're hopeful to get a little more uh specific guidance from some of the questions that came out. Um, but we'll be looking to continue to make our adjustments uh with the adjustments that are coming over the next few years. Uh, and just lastly, I had a UPK update from uh Mr. Zimmer. We ended up having a total of 64 uh applicants uh for our 48 spots. Uh the lottery was held yesterday. Uh so all of the names that were pulled for the lottery were contacted today. We are
034giving them a week to make a decision if they are accepting it. Uh, and if they're not, uh, we'll work our way down, uh, through the weight list. Any questions for Dr. Boyd? Okay. Thank you, Superintendent. Okay. So, this is the last time you're going to hear me talk about the foundation dinner. The foundation dinner is here. It is uh this coming Wednesday or sorry, Friday, May 9th, 6:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Indian Ridge. Um, I will be putting out a communication to families. I don't believe we will have any more emergency or snow days. So again to remind folks of returning those days to the calendar, Friday, May 23rd and Tuesday, May 27th. Um I I want to really say thank you to Olter Boseies for the assistance that they gave in putting
035that video together. Uh for folks that I've spoken to, I've told you last year we had to do it multiple times without stopping or making any errors and it took forever. this was able to be done. If we said something that wasn't clear, they were able to cut it and merge it into a better video. So, this video is uh definitely uh thanks to olosis. Uh the video will go live hopefully this evening, if not first thing tomorrow morning on our social media site and our website. And I ask that folks uh if you're on social media, please share the video so that folks that might not be thinking to to chime in or uh to tune in tonight will be able to see that video so that they are well prepared uh to come
036out and show um you know what their thoughts are with that vote on May 20th. Uh the district art show. So you may have seen this uh flyer coming around. Uh, I know it was uh sent to uh everyone by one of the district art uh teachers. Um, our art is on display at the public library from May 2nd to May 29th and they will be hosting a uh reception for the artist this Saturday morning coming up May 10th from 10 to 12 noon. So, if you have an opportunity to get to the public library, there's some great uh art on display. Uh our support services meeting is set for this Friday at 1 pm uh to go over hopefully the last of the change orders from the parts of the project that are already
037completed. Uh track coding is scheduled to begin next week. Uh which um we're excited that our track will finally get that uh that coding so that we can move on and allow our student athletes to uh fully use that. Um, Friday, uh, May 9th is our superintendent's conference day. And as Dr. Boyd said, it's also our kindergarten screening. Um, and just finally, you're going to hear, you won't see me at any more board meetings before this, but please don't forget that the budget vote is on uh May 20th from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., 2 weeks from today, in the band room. And uh it's not just the budget vote, it's the bus propositions that are up and the trustee elections. and you heard from the the candidates this evening. That's all I have for
038tonight. Any questions for the superintendent? [Applause] Okay. Um for the board of education, uh any new business winding down the school year business? Anything under old business? Okay. Anything for the good welfare of the district? Uh, couple comments I'd like to make. Uh, the first one would be in regards to u the talk that's going around town and the articles you're reading and some of the emails the board of education have gotten from some concerned residents regard to the proposed crematorium. It's set to go uh in front of the planning board. They've been there uh a few times. Uh still open. The public hearing is still open. They'll be meeting again. I believe their uh public meeting is on May 22nd, which is a Thursday. They meet on the second and third Thursdays of the
039month. The second meeting uh Thursday is their uh workshop meeting and the third Thursday is their business meeting. Uh we as the Highland Central School District has no input into the decision making for that crematorium that's part of the planning board. Uh Joel, our superintendent, has uh forwarded any correspondence that we've got right on to the town supervisor and Dave Barton, the director of the uh building department u and planning and zoning departments. Um there are some articles out there regarding the crematorium and its proximity to our Highland Elementary School. We do take a stand that you know we do have concerns, but I think from the boards and the district's perspective, um we can't deny we can't even have any input in denying the application. That's up to the planning board. I believe they're
040doing their due diligence and researching it with the help of Dave Barton, the building director, building department director who has forwarded them numerous articles from DEEC, EPA, what the emissions are based on the EPA regulations. So, all that has gone out. Uh, the board has gotten some information through our superintendent from Dave Barton from previous uh Friday updates. So, you have that information in hand. Uh what I can say to the audience here, the audience out there, that if you have any concerns, you must go to the town board or the town planning board at their next meeting. Um so I one of us I think will be there at that meeting just to hear any concerns and listen and if there's any input that we can provide, we'll do that. But again, uh the
041board of education, the Highland Central School District has no jurisdiction over uh what the planning board decides on that application. And the other comment I had is in regards to um what the superintendent just mentioned a little while ago in regard to the coding of our track. Um that's the final piece of that athletic facility to completion. Our concession stand is completed. Uh the turf field is completed. The press box and bleachers are completed. Um the track coating is a temperature sensitive application. We weren't able to do it last fall because of temperature restrictions and the company that does all the track coatings uh stop applying at a certain time of the year because of temp temperature sensitive applications. So we are scheduled for May 12th. that's been out there since uh back in probably
042January and February that we set the date for the second week in May. We want to be the first school district where this company can start applying the coding to that track. Uh unfortunately, it does play a factor into some of our spring sports. uh all spring coaches were notified on the onset of spring uh practices in the spring season that there might be some impact to their programs sometime in May. Um and then two weeks ago when the date was confirmed. Uh coaches that would be impacted have been notified. They're aware of it. Uh hopefully that got passed on to parents to kind of quell some of the concerns that they have that um it is senior night for some of those athletes. But our athletic director, Frank Alonso, has done his due diligence.
043He provided the lacrosse team and their uh final home game on the turf field to another location. I believe it's Walkill Schools who has a turf field. Yes, it's not their home field, but they're out there. And flag football, who was also playing that evening, is going to be down at the middle school. Uh, just one point of information, unfortunately, um, our graduation last year wasn't on the football field as it has been for numerous years. That had to be moved to a different location. So, that impacted our graduates last year. uh our track team has not been on their home track for two consecutive years. So that has impacted their program. So hopefully come September, we're going to have a completed athletic facility for all the students of the Highland Central School District and
044most importantly to the community to help support to build those athletic fields. I'm sure the community is going to be proud of a new concession stand, turf field, recoded track, and expanded bleacher and press box. So, um, just wanted to put that out there so the public kn knows where we stand on certain areas and how our timelines have progressed. Anyone else have anything for the good and welfare of the district? I had some comments on that pet crematorium. I know we don't have a stake in it and I will say that the science you know supports that it should not have an impact to the elementary operation. Um but I can't help think about other things. So this would be the closest such entity such business in proximity to a school in the state.
045The other thing I think about is people love their pets and it's an elementary school with kindergarten through fifth grade students and it's a place of happiness. Um when you think of elementary schools that's a place of happiness. When I think of pet crematorium it's a place of sadness and I don't want students distracted because of this business next to the school. I notice science is there, but there's other things to consider. And when I say these things, I think about that lower third of students who struggle day in and day out, every day, who have trouble staying on task, who have behavioral challenges and all kinds of challenges. And for some reason, I see this as another challenge. There's so much land for sale. Build it elsewhere. I know from the town perspective too,
046that house has been for sale. They'd like it to do something productive. You want to get it on the tax rolls. Um, and it's it it seems like a good decision, but it there is something to say about these businesses have not been built next to elementary schools and this is adjacent to and I just don't think it's a sound decision even though the science might say it is. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Um, we'll end the meeting with public comment for any items in general. Just one question. The I know I know you but the rest of the board. Oh, Bob party. Uh, question. You said that the kindergarten screenings there were 94. I think that's what 99 packets were that do all the kids that come to kindergarten have to be screened? Yes.
047So that's the number that will be the so far uh so far but we usually typically will continue to get them and then anybody who wasn't screened at this date will get screened when they do register will be around 110 kindergarten class probably end up around 110 115 okay I just did the multiplication of times of classes and I said looked a couple hundred short than what the graduating typically gets about closer to 115 or 120 yet but yeah usually we'll get a chunk between now Yeah, I I understand as the former elementary principal, I can say that this is a larger number than we've had in the last few years already scheduled for for screening at this point. That might be that we did a great job of advertising. We got all those folks
048in. Um but you tend to see folks come uh through the summer months and then we'll do another screening at that point. I was just I did the multiplication and I said that's a that's you know a couple hundreds short of the overall population based by grade. So I just wonder some of the grades are larger than others. No, I understand that. Yeah. But uh based on that you substantially less if you you know what I'm saying? If we don't get any more than this would be one of the smaller classes. Yes. Okay. But you but history is that that's this is in all of you get transfers and also still Mrs. Finch was a kindergarten teacher for many years. She knows up until the very first day. Anybody else? Two quick questions. The the
049track coding is that a days operation or two day? No, it's about a two two and a half week process barring any weather complications. Is that because they come several times to do it? They have to prep. Uh initially they got to cover the field for overspray. They have to cover catch basins. There's a curing process. Then it's, you know, cleaning the existing the the black top subbase and then applying and curing and all that. Yes. So, we're we're at pretty much guaranteed to be able to walk on it in in probably 20 21 days, but outside of that, it's it's off the limits. And so, you're thinking graduation might take place there. Graduation? Why we plan for early May is to have graduation on the football field. Okay. Yes. Um the other question I
050just wanted as an addendum to the issue of the crematorium on Thursday. The ZBA is hearing a challenge made by a resident to the determination of the zoning for that and that happens on Thursday. So uh the planning board that might take a month or two months before they make a decision. So we'll have to see how that plays out, right? Anyone else? Okay, we'll close public comment and we'll have a motion to adjurnn. We we have exactly a motion to go in Yes. motion to go into executive. We will not be reconvened. Motion to go into executive session is for discussion contract contract negotiations Thursday. I I noticed that. Yeah, we can stay here.