001Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's July 1st, 2025. This is the reorganizational meeting of the Horses Central School District Board of Education. At this time, I'd ask everyone to rise for the pledge of allegiance. I 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. As this meeting is now open, I would ask the district clerk to come forward and administer the oath of offices to the following newly elected board members. Uh, the new board members will sign their oaths. Daniel Christmas, Matthew Fineberg, Cara Sheen, Miss Cluck, you want to go around and help them out? If all three will stand, you can do it. You can all in unison or I swear that I
002will support the United States. I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York. I will faithfully discharge the duties and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of education member. As a board of education member according to the best of my abilities. Please sign. Welcome to the board of education. Now the deals have been presented and signed. Uh at this point I'd like to turn it over to the senior board member, Mr. Warren Conlin who will ask for nominations for the position of board president. All right. So I open the floor to nominations for board president Christine to nominate Christmas. Is there a second? Second. Are there other nominations? Katrina. I would like to nominate Suan Barski.
003Suan Barski has 12 years of service on the school board. She has also served as vice president in the past. She is very wellversed in how a board is supposed to operate and I think that's very important right now. Second. Is there a second? I'll second. Any other nominee? Oh my turn. Any other nomination? All right. So, it's customary to allow each candidate to speak. So, um since Dan was nominated, I'll start with Dan. [Music] Well, first, thank you very much for the nomination. I am honored to be nominated. I have served on the board now for completed three terms, so nine years entering my 10th year. And it's been a a wonderful experience. I've learned quite a bit. I've seen many different individuals act as board officers. And in so doing, I've tried to
004look at if I were in their shoes, the things that I would do, how I would do things potentially differently. And so I certainly feel that I've gathered a wealth of experience and knowledge as it relates to what it takes to be a successful officer. And what my vision would be if I were to be president is trying to facilitate and enable the best collaboration amongst the board as we could possibly have. I think it's no secret that we've had some contentious times over the course of the last one to two years. Personally, I think we are in a positive direction now. And my goal would be to welcome our new members, help them to feel like they're part of the team, continue to build the camaraderie amongst the existing members, and really set up
005the board to be the successful governing body that it's intended to be. And so my would be my sole focus. I don't have any specific um agenda or item of focus other than doing my best to serve to unify the board and lead us through uh our meetings and through our agendas and what we need to do so that everyone feels that they've been heard and that they are uh a valued member of the team and that we function as effectively as we can. So, thank you for the nomination and I certainly would be honored to have folks votes of support for the position. Thank you. We've also allowed in the past any other um other board members that want to speak in support of this candidate and then we'll move to Sue. So, does
006anybody else wish to speak? So, I would just like to speak on Dan's behalf. Um, the reason I nominated Dan, I you know, I've I've been on the board um just one year ahead of ahead of Dan. And so, I've seen him in action. I've um been a part of, you know, witnessing really his overall levelheadedness. Um throughout all of these years, we've had ups and downs as far as uh you know, all of the referendums that have been through the construction, COVID, um and just, you know, the budget um ups and downs. And Dan has always been um very fair, uh very levelheaded. Um he's always professional. Um so I think he he really elevates that level of professionalism on the board and I I think that Dan would be a great president. I
007think he would um really keep us focused on what is important and how we really need to operate as a board and the others. Mr. speak. Am I allowed to speak from the chair? All right. Um, I would also support Dan. I've served on multiple committees with him. Um, he always comes prepared. He always has done his homework in advance and he always offers um insightful comments um whether it's on policy or finance. So I think he would be an excellent leader. Sue, thank you. Thank you for the nomination. I would be happy to serve as board president. I was elected. Um I think we all know that we need to go forward in a positive manner and do what's best for the community and the students of the Horet Central School District. I did
008previously in the 90s serve as vice president of the board. So I'm aware of the duties of both the president and the vice president. And if you choose to elect me, I would be happy to serve. Any others wish to speak in support of Sue? Didn't you already do that? I don't know. I guess you get a second shot. We do. Um, I also just, you know, I may have jumped the gun on the support, but um, I think that if the board is really interested in moving forward and being able to, um, feel like things are going to mesh well, I think it's important to have somebody who is going to really make that happen on both sides. So, that's why I think that it's important. Um, nothing against Dan. I like Dan. I've
009served a lot of committees with Dan. But for me, I think um, Sue brings a level of wisdom that is very much needed from the way things have been done in previous years to help the board understand truly how a board is supposed to operate. I think that she will make sure that anybody who has an issue or wants to have a question or something put onto the agenda that that will be taken care of. And I think that she will really listen to make sure um that those voices are heard and everybody's voice is heard. She's very fair and she cares a lot about her community and she's put a lot of time and effort and energy into it over the years in many ways and she would be the best person in my
010opinion for this position others wish to speak. All right. So, I'll ask um when I say the name that you would say I and raise your hand so we can um count and I don't have to worry about recognizing voices. So, all in favor of Dan Christmas I. One, two, three, four, five. All in favor of Suan Barski. Congratulations, Dan. Thank you. So, do please I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and I will faithfully discharge the duties and that I will faithfully discharge the duties as President of the board According to the best of my ability, correct me. You're staying there for right now. Okay. I like I like
011my seat for the Okay. Okay. So, moving to the next item on the agenda, item 4.04. As board president, I'd like to ask for nominations for the position of board vice president. Are there any nominations? Aaron? I would like to nominate Christine Dale for vice president. Second. Are there any other nominations? Yes. I would like to nominate Suan Marski to be the vice president of the board. Second. We have a second. Second. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Okay. So then as we just did for the position of president in the order nominated, we will allow the individual to speak on their behalf and then any others who wish to speak on their behalf. So Christine. Okay. Thank you Aaron for the nomination. Um, I would love uh to be an officer again for
012the board. Uh, Dan and I, I believe, will work really well together. In my 10 years on the board, I have served in both the president and the vice president position. Um during those times is when we really were heavy in the referendum um generation for the capital construction projects as well as um all of the the issues or the the the new ground that we had to um cover during during COVID. Um, I in all my years on the board, I fully understand what it means to be a board member. Um, how we need to operate as a board and I will do my best uh to serve in that capacity. Um, and work as best I can to make sure that we are moving forward. I do believe that we do need to
013come together and be a unified board and work well together and listen to each other and respect each other. you know, we have had some some difficult times the past couple of years, and I'm hopeful um that we can all work together on establishing what our board goals are going to be as we move into this next school year and how we can work together to achieve those. So, thank you and I would appreciate your support. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak on behalf of Miss Dale for vice president? [Music] I've gotten to know Christine better in the last two years. We've known each other for quite a while. Um but I have served on a few different committees with her particularly the audit committee as well as the committee
014to uh revamp the board evaluation and I have seen the collaboration and the appreciation for everybody's viewpoints in these meetings. Um and I have seen her really as a facilitator and somebody who uh was able to bring us together as a group uh to achieve a goal and I found that to be very um very much something that I think we need as a board. So that's why I throw my support behind Christine. Any others that wish to speak or I would also um similarly say things as Erin did. Um she led the committee that revamped um our uh board self-evaluation documents, set up all the times. um gathered all the information and data necessary to uh give the board what I thought was an excellent improvement in the document. She's also had the experience
015as both board president and vice president. So I think that's an important thing at this point in time. Thank you. Any others? Okay, seeing none, we'll turn to um Sue. Do you would like to speak first? I'm sorry. And then any uh Yeah. Um yes, I would be happy to serve and work with Dan. Um I've worked and sat next to him for the last year here at the board and um I both I think we both understand what we needs to be done to move us forward in a positive direction. So I would be happy to serve the board if I was elected as vice president. I have experience from the past and I have I've watched it for many years of what goes on and what the board of education's responsibilities are. Thank
016you. Any comments in support, please? I really support Sue as vice president. And if this board really wants to move forward, Sue needs to definitely be a part of the leadership team. If we don't want to have a more trying and difficult year, it's very important that all board members have an opportunity because the president and the vice president are the people who are setting the agendas. They are the people who allow board members to put items onto an agenda, which is a big part of our meetings. So, if you truly want if we really want to heal the board and to try our best to move forward, I would strongly recommend voting for Sue. Thank you. Any other comments and support? Okay, seeing none, we'll then move to the election or the voting step
017as we just did for president. So, I'll first ask for uh a vote as we did before with a a verbal I and a show of hand for Christine Dale as vice president. All those in favor say I. I Okay. So then we will that was four uh for all in favor of Sue Unbarsski as vice president. Please uh vote. Hi. Vote is five for Miss Embarski, four for Miss Dale. So, congratulations, Vice President. I'll just for I'm fine here. Yes. Could the district clerk please administer the oath to the newly elected board vice president? United States and Yorkit and I will faithfully discharge and I will faithfully Okay. So, we'll move to item five on the agenda. Appointment of the district clerk and deputy district clerk for 202526. It's items 5.02 and 5.03. Is
018there a motion? Second. Any discussion or debate on the motion? Please. So, I make a motion um in regards to the 5.03 as um Candy for the deputy clerk. Um and maybe this is also going to be for her duties as regarding the minutes. um that I make a motion that the board members names and that the more detail about the conversation that the board members have be placed in the minutes like it was prior to last year as well as um make those minutes available for the public to be able to see them when the board members are able to see them and not just that the written minutes are available at the very end. Okay. Procedurally, there was already a motion pending that had been seconded. So, if what you're proposing is a
019different motion, you need to seek um approval to amend the motion and then the board would have to vote in favor of amendment. All right. So, when a when a when a motion is made and seconded, then we debate that motion and it either gets voted up or down unless it's amended. I think what you're trying to do, if I understand correctly, is amend the motion that's on the floor. What I'm trying to do is when we approve Candy as deputy clerk, her job is to take the minutes, right? That's what is part of her job duties. The only or no, is it just an appointment motion? It's not a duty motion. If there are duties, then I also have to go into impact. So this is only for the role of assistant, right? The
020mo the motion is to name a person to that role, not to define what the role requires. Okay. So we'll vote for 5.02 to 5.03. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Extensions. Okay. Move to item six. Oath of office for district clerk and deputy district clerk. The superintendent will administer both. Item 6.01 6.02. Repeat the United States of America. to the best of my ability. Congratulations. Thank you. We'll now move to item seven, oath of office for the superintendent. So, I'd like to ask the district clerk to come administer the oath of office for the superintendent, please. 7.01 on the agenda. I do solely swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge
021duties of the office of schools in the best of my abilities. Okay, we'll move to item eight, appointment of various officers uh as listed in 8.02 through 8.08. Is there a motion? Second, any discussion or debate? Katrina. Yes, I have a question on 8.06, the supervisor for attendance. Um, previously it was Shawn Mcdana. So I am just everybody else is the same on this. So I'm just wondering why there was a change in this. But that is because last year we cut Shawn Mcdana's position and he is now in the committee of special education and Mr. Kohler and other district administrators took over those duties. So Mr. Kohler is now in charge of attendance. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion or debate on the motion? Okay, we will vote. All those in favor say I.
022I. Any oppose say nay. Any abstensions. The motion carries. Moving to item nine, other appointments for action with a series of district appointments 9.02. 02 through 36 and a scroll a bit there. Is there a motion? Any discussion or debate on the motion? Sue, I'll be voting now on 9.14 legal counsel. I think we should look at different options um for legal counsel and we weren't really given any Katrina. Yes. on 9.14 [Music] 9.15 9.16 um possibly I don't believe it was 9.17 I believe 9.17 was um their contract was extended in the year previous but the other three the legal council bond council and the financial consult consultation services those were all bids that were brought to the board in June and at the June meeting I read the statement stating that you know
023no board can vote in essentially something that the board is going to be approving right now. So all of these positions their contracts are up and we were not given the full contract of what everybody all of these people are going to be providing and the list of service fees. New board members are here on the board right now and they're not being attached here. It doesn't say the fees that they're going to be charging. It doesn't say the services they're going to be providing. It's just asking them to be approved. And two of the firms are from Syracuse. Another one is from out of town. Did we even look locally to see if there's people in our local taxpaying district that provide these services? We were only given one bid. And I don't believe
024that that's how it should be. I believe we should be getting bids when contracts are up from multiple locations. so that the whole board has an opportunity to review them and that we can make a good decision that way. So, so because of that I will be voting no on 9.14 9.15 9.16 and also 9.17 I believe I read somewhere on the New York State website for NISED that we are supposed to change our external auditors that we use every 5 years. So I think that we should investigate that to figure out if that's true or not. Nothing against any of these firms, but if we are supposed to be changing, I believe that we should be. So I um and so then if you could answer me to clarify if the mango metal if
025that was a continuation contract. um then that will affect my decision on how I vote on that one. You know, just as an answer to your statements, the board approved the RFPs for each of these, which is an extension. So, a former board can approve the RFP. This is just making the official appointment that they are in fact the council that we deal with. That does not mean the board can't go out and seek something else. But we are all according to the the contracts legally authorized as well as the external auditor should be reviewed mandatory every 5 years. It does not mean that you can't use the same but there's a caution that you always look every 5 years. So uh that's something that the district has done. Uh each of these are just
026for official recognition as the RFPs were already extended by the district and the board. The board isn't indemnifying or saying that the board has to stay within the future. They are the council under legal bidding procedures and RFP for professional services. So if the board wishes to, you appoint them and if you want to open it up again, the board can tell us to go look for another counsel, but the board cannot be without counsel at any time. Other board members would like to speak on the motion. Okay, seeing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor 9.02 through 9.36 say I. Are there other any other nays other than already noted or abstensions? I will vote yes on the 9.17. I hadn't completely clarified that, but no, just my nose for the
027ones I had stated previous. Do you need me to repeat those, Candy? Thank you. Okay, thank you. Move on to item 10 in the agenda. We have an action vote 10.02 02 and 10.03 and 04. Is there a motion? Second. Any discussion or debate? School board membership. It's only other questions. I'm sorry. have to get used to looking please. Um I know that we had cut our membership to NISPA but I think that it would be an important thing to look into to going back into renewing a membership with them. Um I think that they're a great resource for board members, especially new ones, to be able to reach out if they have questions and email them and seek advice. I think it's also a great place um for yeah for any of us to
028be able to seek advice through them and their organization and I believe that we also get discounted rates on going to um some of their things if we do have membership. So maybe we decide if we want to do this and add add that at a later point when we can look at the budget a little bit better. Okay, thank you. Any other comments? Okay, see none. Call for a vote on 10.02 through 10.04. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Extensions. The motion carries. Move to item 11 authorizations. So we have action vote 10.02. 02 through 10 point I'm sorry excuse me 11 thank you 11.02 2 through 11.16. There a motion comments or questions. Please. So on the um district used of credit cards, um this year, this previous
029year, we had a talk about like the fax teachers being able to use credit cards. And I kind of feel like their names should be added to this um policy if they are going to do it because otherwise I feel like we have to continuously renew that resolution to allow them to utilize the credit cards if they need to go out and make the purchases that they need. So I feel like those people should be you know or that you know the group under that should be added to that section for the um if I can ask a question for a minute and one of the facts fall under business use credit cards. So that is where they would be able to use. In other words, they come over sign out that for the purpose
030of Oh, they can actually go and use. Oh, okay. That's what those four are. That's what those Maybe we could underneath that just specify the different areas that utilize those possibly. Okay, maybe it's a lot. All right, just a suggestion. That's all. Any other comments or questions on the motion? Seeing none, I call for a vote on item 11:02 through 11:116. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed, say nay. Any abstensions? Motion carries. On to item 12, bonding of personnel. Need a motion for action 12 through 12.02 through 12.10. Second. Discussion or debate on the motion. Seeing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor of 12.02 through 12.10 say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Extensions. The motion carries. We now move to item 13 on the agenda. Annual review and
031approval of specific board policies and exhibits. So these are listed 13.02 through 13.09. Is there a motion? Second. Any discussion or debate on the motion? Katrina. Um yes on 13.08 for complaints about school personnel that policy. Um it is talking about the exceptions made only when complaints or concerns of board or board operations. Um it's talking about the board. I think that we should review that and that um we make it um so that the board can receive its own individual emails um in that policy. change it so that we can get emails directly from the public instead of going to a general box. That's my comment on 13.08 and 13.09 the organizational chart. it would be my recommendation. Um, I know that we have the organizational chart um for how everything is set up,
032but I'm wondering if there should also be a line of um department heads reporting directly to the board if they needed to. Um, I know sometimes during board meetings, um, questions are asked and sometimes they're answered, but then sometimes it's not always answered and it's redirected. So, that's why I thought that maybe that would be a good way to change um, that one. And then so if those things um if we aren't able to change those things in this little moment that we get to talk about it um I will be voting no on the 13.08 and the 13.09 and then I will also be voting no on the exhibit of the code of conduct. Um, I've said it previously. I believe that that needs to get reworked. Um, and I'm hopeful that maybe this
033year we can dive into it a little bit more and rework that and then I don't do we have no I just have to respond to the district organizational chart. That's the subject of district organization chart that is uh by policy and also by state. Uh that is the superintendent's obligation is not the board's purview. You can only approve as I have the right to reorganize the district. But this is what it's been all that line. Department chairs are staff members of the administration. They have their hierarchy that have to go to the board is not the employers of the district. They are the employers o only the superintendent. Other discussion or debate on the motion? Julie. Okay. I just wanted to say that on Sorry. Um 1309 the organizational chart. Um I think it
034would be nice to actually see the names of the people that potentially hold those positions on there. I think there's a lot of questions that do come from the community on who's in those different positions and I think that might be a nice addition to add to that. Um I support the way it is. I just think that it would be nice to see potentially the names or maybe a last name of someone so they could look it up on the website. Um and then sorry 1307 um I think that's oh no I'm sorry 1308 the complaints about the school personnel. Um, I agree with Miss Unski that it would be nice to actually have um, email addresses for the board. You said the public could comment or connect with us um, directly. Um, I
035don't know if it falls into that or not. Um, but that potentially could be something that we can discuss as a board as we move forward. That's all. Thank you. Just in regards to that, I can look at that if the board allows me to just modify this with whatever. I'll just put the people's positions in there. Uh the hard part is it does make it easy. It makes it bigger and hard to print out, but it certainly would help people. Is the board seemingly okay with that? Other discussion or debate on the motion? never felt so short. Just from a parliamentary perspective, um I I think to be clear, you know, we're voting up or down the policies as written. So suggestions about potential changes are certainly uh something the board could consider at
036a future meeting, but uh you you would have to you know there'd have to be separate motion and to amend in light of the comments that you made just to be clear. So the the input is certainly appreciated, but we're vote you'd be voting now on it as written as opposed to as amended. Make sense? Yeah. Okay. But as I said, the policy committee or the board could certainly look at that as a whole um in a future meeting. So I call for Would you like to speak? No, I was justify I also have to vote no on 13.02 because it's the school conduct and then 13.03 3 is the exhibit. So, I'll be voting no on 13.02 and 13.03. 13.08 and 13.09. Okay. Call for a motion. I'm sorry. Call for a vote 1302
037through 1309. All those in favor say I. I. Any nos other than what's been recorded? Abstensions. Okay. The motion carries. We will move to item 14. Other items for action. through 1408. Is there a motion? Second. Comments and questions on the motion. Katrina for the board meeting dates. I'm wondering if we can move the appointment um or the August 14th date. Um three of us will be out of town. So if we could do that the week before or week after. I did look up when the tax warrant has to be and they just say that it has to be done before September 1st. So I would like to either if we could do it the week before or week after and we could disc discuss that that would be beneficial because even if there's
038one or two more people that are missing that's half your board for the August 14th. So if we could discuss that that would be great. Just to give board a knowledge we've had this question before. Thursday, August 14th is it's during that week no matter what. It's not the week before. We don't get it. Last year, we got it on the Wednesday before. We were lucky enough to have the board meeting and we just barely got it out the next week. Our problem is is we have to do over I think it's 32,000 tax bills and get that done. So, it is and always has been during that week. That's the problem. Unless you wish to pay somebody else to do it, but we do this ourselves. Okay. I would like to suggest that if
039you really have to have that for the tax warrant that that would be the only item on the agenda that night and that we have the regular business meeting when we're in town. That's what I would like if we can do that [Music] because any presentations that you give, I'd like to be here for them. Just for discussion purposes, can you clarify the unavailability? Is it that full week or Yes. Um it's our annual trip to Holden Beach and we've done this trip for since our kids were little and that's the week we go unfortunately. So, yes, and it involves all of our children and our grandchildren. Not that they need to come to the meetings, but um we're just not available unless you want us to FaceTime, but I'd rather not have to do
040that when I'm on vacation. I do know August is a difficult month. You know, for myself, if we were to say move it to the following week, I would be on vacation. Um, but I understand certainly if there is a date that works for the district and works for everyone, that would be ideal. Is it would it be possible to separate the tax warrant from the business meeting and do the business meeting say later in the month? Do you think Dr. Doug? you can do just about anything, but it's just going to hold up the operations that because that's the hard part that that week we have roughly two weeks before we start school. Everything is in a state of transition that if we're moving off the business meeting there, it's just one more thing.
041We'll make whatever has to work. Uh it's just this has been the date. It's been known several years. It's been every year and it is our regular business meeting and tax meeting if I could offer a a possible potential solution maybe. I know that we had all sectioned off our calendars for August 5th, 6th, and 7th for a potential fourth retreat. And now we are having the board retreat on the 5th if we could do the tax warrant and the regular board meeting on August 6th, which or 7th, which was something that we had already sectioned off. Unfortunately, we won't have the information at that time. It's very much tight. What about just the board meeting then? You can do board. Okay, that would be my my uh suggestion. Do it all on the 5th
042or two nights or I I don't know. I just know that we had we had agreed collectively prior that those dates were available for us. So to offer a potential solution, if we could do the board meeting on Wednesday or Thursday and still do the tax warrant on the 14th, I think that would be a good foot forward to um you know being able to accommodate everybody that wishes to be there. Like I said, we can do anything that the board needs to with the tax warrant. Karen, I really like that suggestion. I would be in favor of that and I would support a meeting, business meeting on the 7th and then the tax meeting on the 14th after the meeting was set for August 5th. I have plans for August 7th, so I would
043not be available for August 7th. Whatever date you just proposed, you said Tuesday, Thursday, 5th, 6,7. I said the six or the seventh. Julie said the seventh. Well, I have plans the rest of the week. So, I just thought you went with five and seven. So, that's why I said it. I made my plans for the rest of the week after we set the fifth. Can I ask maybe by a show of hands the week of August 25th? Are there is there unavailability that week? I just I think that my concern So you can speak to it is if we move it all the way up to the beginning of August, does that give the district enough time to prepare the meeting materials that I know it says redistricting followup? You know, we want to
044be prepared for the meeting. Is that an issue? I I can't say either way. I mean, the reason why the district always picks the third Thursday of the month is so it's settled when you run for the board, that's I think the third Thursday for the tax warrant. I mean, the the issue is if you go too early, then we've got other things to pick up. Or we do the regular meeting like on the the 6th and if we have to the tax warrant, we can also do another meeting there if we had stuff. big thing is we're trying to start school and that's where a the last sort of push for us is August 14th is actually the second Thursday in August and I would be available August 6th and would appreciate it if
045it could be moved to August 6th for the board meeting having the board retreat on the 5th and the board meeting on the 6th and the tax warrant on the 14th. any other um to your suggestion about who would be available for the week of the 25th. I would be available that week um the week of the you know in the evening 6:00 7:00 meeting. and I can understand what you know they're saying about the um uh presentation and the different things but I'm available for that. I am also available on Wednesday the 6th and Thursday the 7th and then I'm also available um you know starting Tuesday the 19th anytime in the evenings as well. So, I don't know if we want to just like show hands like who's available for what weeks if
046you want to do that or how you want to do it. I'll leave that up to you, Dan. Okay. I've got an idea, some wisdom of Solomon action going on down here. Um, how do people feel right now? Obviously, we've talked quite a bit about the retreat and the importance of everyone being available to attend the retreat. So, I'm assuming Tuesday, August 5th, folks are available in attending to attend the retreat. I think we could try to maybe cut that to three hours as opposed to four and and add an hour and fit in a 2-hour business meeting in addition to the retreat. It makes a longer day, but we get everybody. And um we still get the retreat. And frankly, the problem is any other week someone won't be available, right? We're going to
047inconvenience someone. And it seems, we know this is a date that works. The retreat is still to be determined exactly what we're going to do uh and something we could talk about, but you know, I think we could be willing to give up some of that time uh for purpose or or stay a little later and that means you don't have to come for another meeting at some point during the month. Would that work for folks? I have concerns with board meetings currently going three or four hours. We have a 4hour retreat and now a 4hour board meeting on the same day because that's where we're at now. We're going three or four hours at a time. So I'm opposed to an 8 hour day. That's fair. And to be clear, what I'm suggesting is
048we reduce the time for the retreat to no more than three hours and then we would so we got seven hour thing. I I I I understand what you're trying to do, but unless people are going to um shorten their comments in the board meeting. We have 4hour board meetings now. I seven hour day doesn't make me feel any better. That's fair. It would certainly be my intent to move through the board meeting as expeditiously as possible. I mean, it's the same amount of time. You're just doubling it up in one day as opposed to two. If we went forward, do you have I I tend to recall that the August board meetings are pretty light in terms of business because of where we are. Do you have any idea, Dr. Doug, of what the
049agenda would entail? We'll we'll try to keep it light, but one of the things that I would suggest to keep it light is that we do as much as we can on August 5th. We have the tax warrant and we also do any other business that we have that comes up between the 5th and the 14th for the start of the school year. I like the suggestion. And then I also think that anything that comes up between August 5th and the end, there's no reason that we couldn't call a special meeting for things that may need to be approved that wouldn't necessarily be like big item actions, presentations, or anything like that to fall for something the week of the 25th if that really needed if there was something really pending needing to be being
050approved from the district's end for, you know, when you need stuff for our approvals, but I like um Dan's idea and I'm still available for all the other times. So, I'm fine with extending um the time on the 5th and I'm I I would not be in favor though of having to then potentially have the tax warrant on the 14th and then a special meeting on the 25th if anything else came up. I mean, that's I think that's a lot. I think as long as we're going to have quorum on the 14th that we continue with the tax for it and then anything that comes up between the 5th and the 14th in order to get the school year started um or any action that needs to be taken we do it on the 14th
051any other comments well it was mentioned that there could be a potential redistricting presentation done and I would if if an update didn't somebody just I thought somebody said that there would be an update like last August there were things that were important and updates with the redistricting and the zoning and the lines and we were gone we weren't able to be here for that so like anything big or if there was an outside presenter coming in I feel like that would definitely have to be a part of the August 5th meeting there is We are not aware of any presentation on redistricting. The school start times, the busing times, the application, that's all going into play and out and about. We're trying to get ready for the start of school. Matter of fact, I'm
052going to talk about a little of it uh later this evening. So this may be a this might be if we just reuse last year's table and it didn't get updated but currently uh it states on August 14th 2025 redistricting followup in the presentation I'm sorry. Okay. So there's no intent for a redistricting presentation in the August. No none I apologize. That's just a that's just a carryover from last year. And unfortunately, we didn't get that because one of the things we'll have to talk about is what are some of the presentations that the board would like and I'd need that at August 5th. Okay. So, the proposal that we'll vote on here in a minute is to modify the calendar by adding a business meeting on August 5th and um we'll have to Well,
053right now we have 4 to 8. Um I think we can figure out the exact time. Yeah, I was thinking if you shorten the retreat from 5 to 8, which we'll have some dinner there, but you're probably going to need at least one to two hours for the meeting at the outside if there's any type of detailed questions. Okay. Never thought of that one, right? 7. So 4 to 7 for retreat business meeting at 7. There's currently no intended presentation on redistricting. To be clear, that's just a typo in the calendar. We will keep the Thursday, August 14th meeting for the action on the tax warrant as well as any items that come up between the 5th and the 14th that need to be addressed, routine items of district business. That's the proposal. Any other
054comments on 140? [Music] 1402 through 1408. [Music] Yeah. Somebody motion what Dan stated. I make a motion to amend the calendar for what Dan just stated. Okay. Okay. So, we're going to vote on the motion as amended in line with my what I stated. All those in favor say I. I. All those in favor say nay. I'm opposed. Any abstensions? I get to speak on it in opposition. Do I not? Yeah. I didn't realize. Okay. Um, so I'm opposed to this. All last year all we heard was we didn't have a retreat. We didn't have a retreat. And now it seems the importance of a retreat is minimized that we have to meet other concerns. So I and I'm opposed because of the 7-hour day also. I just think this is um an extra burden
055on the board and I I just think it's wrong. So I am opposed and adamantly opposed. Okay. Any abstensions? Okay, the motion as amended carries. We'll just reprint the uh modify the calendar and send it out to the board. We are now u at item 15. We need a motion to move to the regular business meeting. Did you vote? Did you finish 1401? Because you justed that vote on everything else on Uh, I thought that's what we did. But if so you if we only voted on 140 we Okay. So then moving back in the agenda, we need to vote on 140. We need a motion for 1402 and then 1404 through 1408. Okay. So a call for a vote on 14024045678 in favor say I. Wait I I have a point of clarification please.
056The original motion was for 1402 through 1408. So, should we have withdrawn the motion and then amended or do we vote on them all with the amendment? I mean, I I'm not sure what we're voting on, I guess. The question was called basically the action vote for 1402. The question was called for action on 1402 to 1408. There was a during discussion a request for an amendment to 1403 to the calendar of which inside that there was a motion to amend the calendar with what was said and that was approved by the board. So 1403 has that amendment. You're actually still voting on 1402 to 1408 to approve everything. Now that 1403 has been amended. So the motion on the floor was to motion motion in second 1402 to 1408. There there still can be
057discussion on them and then you can call the final. Thank you for the assistance. So does that answer the your questions Warren? I believe so. Okay. So, any other comments, questions, or debate on the motion? And for the record, I'm going to try to restate. So, the motion on the floor is to approve 1402 through 1408 with it being noted that 1403 has been amended in accordance with the previously approved motion. Christine So, so this is not sure what happened. Um, this is where we would all announce our conflicts of interest. Correct. I just I just lost my screen here. So, because it says because that resolution says that it will be disclosed each person will disclose at the end. Is that correct? Yes. That can be by written format instead of public announcement, but
058that has to be signed and file. All right. signing and filing not the verbal. All right. Right. That's an excellent point. So board members can look at policy 2170 which talks about disclosures of conflicts of interest and then in your folder there should be a conflict of interest statement that the board member should complete and sign and then that will be turned into the district clerk. So calling for the vote then all those in favor say I. Any opposed say nay. Still opposed to 14.03. Okay. Thank you. Amendment. Any other no votes? Abstensions. Okay. Motion carries. Uh do you want to take a five minute recess for the completion of the forms and in for the district clerk and then we will uh move to our regular business meeting 7:15. Okay, we'll stand in recess.
059Okay, the board is returning from a brief recess that we took at the conclusion of our organizational meeting. So, I need a motion to move to the regular business meeting. Second. Any comments or questions? All in favor say I. Any oppose? Say nay. Extensions. Okay. So the motion passes and we will move to the the July 1st, 2025 regular business meeting of the horse's board of education. We completed the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the business meet uh organizational meeting. So we we don't need to do that. So the first item on the agenda are minutes the approval of minutes. We have item 2.01 and item 2.02 for approval. Is there a motion? Second. Comments or questions? Julie. Um Candy, I'm voting no on 2.02 per the email I had sent to the
060board president on 620. Um my objection is to section 16 um of that vote that we took on that day. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Okay. Call for a vote on the motion. All those in favor say I. I. Any other nos other than what we heard? No. To the motion as a whole. Yeah. Okay. I will be voting no on the minutes um for the June 18th. Um but yes for so no for 2.01 yes for 2.02 or no after it was amended by Julie's amendment Julie didn't amend it. Julie just stated her speaking vote that she was voting no to 7 to 2.02 I believe. So there's no amendment that to the motion. Okay. I am voting no to 2.0. I'm voting no to both. Okay. No. Did you vote no
061to? Okay. Any other nos other than what we've had stated? Any abstensions? Okay. The motion carries. Item three, agenda changes. I'm not aware of any agenda changes. Okay. Item four, community questions and comments. Uh, do we have any members of the community that would like to uh come forward and comment? I would note for you that policy he just like this. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Marian O'Haron. I'm a resident of Big Flats and I've been so for the past 40 years. Thank you for allowing me a few moments to speak tonight. I'm the mom of Christina O'Harren Regula who spoke at the October 17th meeting last year in the hopes of encouraging the school board members to reconsider the 7:20 a.m. start time for high school students. My daughter's platform
062was that of safety and health of the students and respecting the dignity of the family. However, the outcome was that her presentation wasn't acknowledged and Christina felt very dismissed. My daughter was critically ill at this time when she spoke with the board. She also set up an online petition and then she walked the streets of Horseheads Neighborhoods to gather personal signatures when she was told that online signatures would do her no good. Shortly thereafter, she was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as an out as an impatient awaiting a double organ transplant. She received a donor in April but passed away two months ago from complications of the transplant at the age of 42. She was a graduate of the class of 2000. So up until April 30th, the day she passed, my
063life was good and perfect because of her. And for the past 42 years, I would do anything for my daughter. And I did. And now that she's transitioned to the next state of life, I still feel the same way. I do anything for her. So, I'm here. Christina was a nurse in the cardiac care unit at the at the University of Rochester, a nursing educator at or at Ogden and Guthrie Clinic and spent a lifetime as an advoc advocate of those whose voices were left unheard. She was kind, she is kind, caring, generous, and a radiant spirit. and one of her goals was to run to become a board member to help ensure that all community voices were always heard. She even spoke with Commissioner Rosa about her thoughts. Christina's records are here. My paperwork
064is here. Both Terry and Dr. Douglas have it and promised that they would distribute it to each of the board members as a packet for each of you. I did reach out to Dr. Douglas this past January. We exchanged a message or two, but we never formally connected. And that's on me. Um because of Christina's declining health, my focus changed and a lot happened since January. So now I'm here. I respectfully ask all the members of the school board, especially those distinguished new members who were seated tonight, to reestablish a res a respectful partnership between the school board members and parents and guardians in our district and to embark on a new fresh and open discussion regarding school start times which promote safety and health of all of our students and rekindle a spirit of
065dignity for our families. Thank you for allowing me to talk. Thank you very much for your comments and on behalf of the board of education, please accept our sincere condolences for the loss of your daughter. Welcome. Do we have any other members of the community that would like to address the board during the public comment period? Okay, seeing none, we will move on in the agenda to item five, superintendent report. Dr. Douglas I have several things to report, but I'll try to make it as succinct and clear as possible. First of all, graduation 2025 was probably one of the hardest calls for the high school and myself with mother nature this year over any other year, especially with impromptu the heat that we had with the popup of the storms. I want to thank everybody
066for their patience and understanding that we tried to activate those um final calls up until the last possible minute to have a wonderful graduation without the threat of detrimental weather. Thankfully, by moving it back an hour, we were able with the graciousness and help of everybody that turned out administration, but mostly the facility departments to dry everything off from that quick 3:00 storm. And by 7:15 the weather broke very well and it was a very cool evening and we heard a lot of kudos that people were very happy that we were able to do it from people in town. So I want to commend the class of 2025 as well as all the people that were here uh celebrating with our graduation class. I'd like to also ask Harry Potter. Hie, where are you? Over
067here. Hie, could you stand up please? So that the board knows. Tally is our new community information specialist. She's only been here for about a week and a couple days. So, she went through our graduation. She took a lot of pictures there. They're up on Facebook. As well as she's starting to understand as she comes to us from the uh public media producer, television and print media news journalism uh taking on the role in public education in schools and helping us bridge the gap between both of the worlds. So everybody, Hy is, as she put out, the new Sam, the old Sue, but she's H. So welcome. As the board, just so that you know, I just put this in here. We'll be sharing this out a little bit later uh this week, and this
068is just for your review because it's not finalized. But the start and end times, this is what we talked about the last time with the temporary drop early drop off. That's the application sort of what we developed from the board. The second page sort of says all the requirements, but now we've added and this is what we're working on with transportation. So, anybody that can call in uh starting Monday and they can say, "Hey, I need my name, address, phone number, students name, what elementary school." You won't be able to tell us the bus run or the bus pickup time yet because they're just starting to develop them for next year at this point. So, they'll take care of that. But what we will need to know is what grade your child is, what time
069do you start work, and who your employer is. And then once that happens, we will ask for a letter verifying that you have a work documentation time. And that all goes through the transportation department. We will be putting out a communication on Thursday to individuals to let them know how to go about this. And what will happen is it really goes through a check. If a bus can pick you up and it still allow you to get to work on time, we've provided that opportunity. If a bus can't pick you up and you have a dedicated work time and you have nobody else that could help you, we will provide that early start time. Now, we've had a question. Why is it just till January? because that's what we talked about as a board at
070the last meeting that this isn't a permanent fix. It's a temporary fix and we will report out about it sort of at September and November and see whether we will carry it on past then. But the intent is to try to adjust and give people more time. So that is sort of a sample of it. If you have any thoughts or anything, please email them to me. Uh we'll be working on this tomorrow to try to get a final communication out with this whole presentation so people can see that and then put it up on the website. So that's how we're trying to handle that starting July 7th. Our advice is if you think you're going to need it, fill it out no matter what. If all of a sudden because I had a wonderful
071parent call me and said, "Well, I should fill it out, but I don't think I'm going to need it." Fill it out. It's better that we know it and then you say, "I don't need it afterwards." the transportation department and uh the business office will end up ultimately uh going through and processing all this with me being the last appeal on this and that decision is the binding decision if anything uh hopefully we won't ever get there. So that's that. The other thing cell phone regulations will be developed by roughly mid August but it depends. I can't develop regulations until policyy's approved and I think you got the second reading of that tonight. So, I'm just letting other people know that that's how we have to communicate that out. Uh, but once we have the
072policy, then we'll develop the regulations and process these out for each of the levels. And any information that you have or thoughts again, please let us uh know that. I'll probably have sort of have like a draft of that regulation. I'll try for August 5th. That way, at least before I can finalize it and get it ready for the start of school. uh board of education. Now that you're seated board, committee preferences will be sent out tomorrow by Terry. There's seven additional committees. We sort of downplayed a couple. Attendance has been difficult over this past year. So, we want to just make sure I think Terry also put in a little description of what sort of each committee tries to accomplish whether it's a superintendent's ad hoc or uh the board standing committee. So, please
073I think Terry has it. She's going on vacation on the 9th. Please get it in by the 9th, even though she'll accept it up to the 18th. The sooner we get it, the sooner the president can make his decision. So, uh, if you can, please try to take care of that as soon as possible once you do it tomorrow. Yes. Sorry. So just on that um is it possible to also put in the the proposed times for those committee meetings? Like I know um you know this past year I ended up on two committees um that all met at 3:30 and that was virtually impossible for me to to make all those. So, I think understanding the times of those those proposed times would be helpful. No, thank you for mentioning that. We'll work on
074that tomorrow before we send it out. Um, board retreat topics, please, if you have any thoughts beforehand so I can work with the officers so that send them into Terry. will have a sort of a retreat meeting with the officers cuz honestly we're trying to shift it that the officers plan the retreat, not I'm there more as advising. Uh and then next construction direction from the board of education. I received and I think you have it in my notes real quick a communication just today from Dan Delorum and I think you can see that in there if I can figure out how to get to it. Yep. And that's just the letter right now just for the board to see. I haven't had a chance really to look at it, but uh Mr. Delorum is
075really talking about the temperature conditions from his experience as well as a grant person of running our energy efficiency and about his experience before I I believe is my time. He's not there trying to support me or anything, but really talking about when you see it, the fact that the district has come a long way with addressing the issues of outdatedness of the district. He even shared with me some of the former manufacturers that the boilers that we just recently replaced were from 53, 55, 58 and they were eating so much money that by doing it we're actually saving money. So that will be one of the other presentations that will probably be recommended to come forward. But he was just trying to sort of emphasize to thank the board. You know, my comments are
076not meant to endorse any person or non-classroom capital project. I'm addressing my 30 years of experience as a physical teacher and observing what was never done and now has been done for the learning board of our students. Instead of sitting in 90 uh plus degree testing centers, now they're at 7274. uh and he noticed that during his energy check. I'd like to thank everyone involved in making this happen for the children. It is something everyone involved should be proud of that we've always said we do our budgets and everything for the children. This is one of the best things we've done for the children. So you can read that. That's sort of his notes, but that will be more of a discussion because the district administration needs to know what's the next step in the
077construction process because I have a construction manager and architects that say we are on that 5year time cycle within this year. Yes, I was teaching with Dan at that time and he and I were four doors down from each other and the temperature was pegged on our thermometers at easily 92 94 degrees just room temperature not considering real field with humidity. Um can you share some information about the regulation that we now have as far as uh we had a low temperature where we had to dismiss school in previous years. They didn't have a high when I was teaching, but now they do. Can you share what that is and the impact that that could have on possibilities of closing buildings um without temperature regulation? What Miss Siobhan is talking about is near state passed
078a temperature in the classroom bill. However, um it was that if a temperature reaches at 3 ft in the middle of the room, tested a couple minutes, like 20 minutes apart, reaches 82°, you must take some type of action to remediate the temperature. In addition, it said now, same place, 88° in that room, same measurement, you must close the classroom. That was the initial intent of the law. However, like in politics when it came pushed the shove, they actually amended the law and said where practical, which means basically a school district doesn't have to do a dang thing. But if you were in some of these rooms last Monday and so forth, people in Center Street, Gardener Road had no issues whatsoever because they have at least climate control. in the new classrooms and big
079flats. Uh, and most of the high school classrooms here, they have climate control. They had none. But the entire intermediate middle school, which is really our next major project, is climate control, they had nothing except in the offices. Uh, so some of those temperatures started to reach there. They tend to reach there about 1, two or 3:00. uh and you have so much but really what you have to do is just move them out of the classroom any place and make some type of effort. I don't necessarily think that's the intent but they sort of passed and said we can't be closing schools and the hard part is a lot of times the temperature is going to hit that during regions week. We can't cancel. Let's face it, if anybody's remembered the regences in the
080gym, afternoon regences, it can be just an 80 degree day, but 400 kids in a gym for 3 hours, it's 90°. Uh, so that's one of the problems and that's why they ended up amending it, too. Uh, if we close, it's got to be like a cold weather, like a snow day or a cold weather day. Most districts, if they're going to do something, they are going to shift to 100% remote. So that's sort of a darned if you do, darned if you don't because nobody wants to go remote but they don't want to be in the hot room. So I think one of the things that most districts are doing and that's what this district has done is our third project would be to pretty much finalize climate control in each of the buildings
081in every classroom or at least probably 99%. But it does come at a cost. That's the next project. We can't do that until voters authorize it or the board tells them what to do. Did that help? Um, just to follow up on that, Aaron, um, thank you for helping to bring that to our attention. I did type it in Google because sometimes it's easier for me to read and see things. Um, and so then looking from what the NISBA resource is, it says that we are um that the law also mandates that school boards create a policy that requires So, do we have It says that we're supposed to have a policy and that it's supposed to be in place by September 1st. Do we have a policy yet on this? Not that I'm aware
082of. And the policy is just a recommended. Remember, our lawyers will also say you don't want to handcuff yourself cuz if you do, you're forcing everybody to that policy. So, be very careful about what you wish for. Yeah. Um, sorry. This says that it's mandated. The law mandates it. It doesn't say that it was optional according to the NISBA website. I can dig into it further, but I think that we should definitely find out for sure if that is the case. So that way we can have it available for the policy committee um to get something into place um so we can have that second reading going or what I will do is I'll reach out to the attorneys. Uh however, we don't take advice from NISA. We can't they can make their statements but
083they don't guide school districts. So, I'll ask our attorneys for their guidance on um Oops. So, I need some discussion on that eventually because between now and August because I've got to know whether December or January or you want to wait another year. Uh but waiting another year can put this off the pool. Unfortunately, can't wait. Uh in addition, we are required by New York State over the past year to do a substantial equivalency determination. We have been doing that. There's been guidance on and off by the state education department. Uh we were required and there's a requirement that notifying the board of education that we are making a positive substantial equivalency determination for the Shimong Valley Monasuri School as a result of our local view. That is one of the seven pathways they chose
084to have a local review. Our other three schools, Schmom Foundation, Twin Tiers took one of the pathways of one through six, which they could automatically meet and not have to meet with us. They have met that requirement as well. So, I'm notifying the board that to ensure that district students attending nonpublic schools are receiving instruction that is at least substantially equivalent to the instruction provided here in our public schools, we have completed that task. and so inform the state education and here informing the board of education that we've completed that task. Um let's see real quick trying to finish up today. Senator Omera, Assemblyman friend and Czech Shim County Executive Chris Moss came and presented some wonderful oaks to our boys baseball team for the proclamation. They asked where we were going to hang it
085and we said it's being built. So they were very happy with that. But uh they also presented a nice uh award to Jeff Lemonelli. Uh Chris Moss actually went to school with Jeff. Uh knew him very well, knew his father. But from the county executives piece to our state legislature, uh they've recognized our boys. I think there is one more possibility of being recognized by uh the Bingmpington Rumble ponies that's coming down. And I know that the booster club is also working on a final recognition that we're going to try to help out with getting some fundraising uh going for their championship rings. Uh that you know usually is customary. You can't necessarily take them out of the school budget, but we can work productively for that. I think it was a wonderful thing. And
086today we had a couple extra state championship medals that we had the boys there also present them to our elected officials so that when they get their picture they have something in their office to always say look we represent courses. So as far as that goes that's where I'm at right now. I think I've got everything and I'm sorry for taking so much time but we have a lot of stuff going on. Okay. Any other questions for Dr. Doug respect any parts of his presentation. Karen, I apologize for researching while you were speaking, Dr. Douglas, but um I actually am in agreement with Katrina where she shares that we should implement a policy um for educational law section 409-N which does go into effect September 1st, 2025. So maybe that is something that we can
087um put out to consider for um conversation within the policy committee. I will ask the lawyer. Okay. All right. I'm just reading you know the specific um compliance documents here on NYED um not just NISPA. So um you know just something for us to be aware of. Yep. Um so I did have a couple of questions on some things that you talked about in your presentation and some of this. So like um the intermediate school it says students um classroom breakfast from 7:10 to 7:19. So, does that mean the students are getting nine minutes to eat breakfast? And then for the middle school, are they getting five minutes to eat breakfast? Because it says classroom breakfast at 7:00 a.m. So, like the building's opening at 6:50. They can eat breakfast from anytime from there on.
088Okay. Um because there's that second section that shows that they won't be able to, you know, so that I feel like that really needs to be cleared up because for the for the elementary it's built into their morning meeting. So all the kids have plenty of time and if they don't have time they have time in their class which is also instructional time. So it's part that you do not see but we do it every day and we've always done it that way. 7 a.m. 7:15 a.m. The middle school is not elementary. They have their first period class. They can come in and they can get breakfast and they also do a grab and go. And the teachers do allow them to bring it into their classroom. So class as long as they're appropriate. Okay.
089And then okay, I feel like it's really important to make sure because you would feel really bad if like there was a teacher who said who didn't know or who said no, you're not eating breakfast in my class and to not like to me it's really important to make sure that kids have it. Okay, right just to emphasize like people need time. They need time to eat fuzzy and all that. So, like that's a really tight squeeze and I'm very concerned about that. But I want to just let you know. Um, and I think that we need to really make sure that we get feedback on what's actually happening. Um, you know, with that. Um, also you had said that the new parts of Big Flats have choline, but the Does that mean that the
090old parts of Big Flats do not have That's correct. Okay. All right. Um, I have a lot of thoughts about all of that with the HVAC systems and the cooling systems, but I'm not going to I'll figure out a better time or how to um talk about that. Not at this minute. Um, okay. That I believe is everything that as far as your presentation went. Um, oh, the evaluation that you guys did, is that something that we get to see like what that evaluation looks like to see what the other schools are when they were meeting up to the standards you were talking about with the St. Mary's that stuff. Do we see what was done like what the checklist is for what you know what we're looking for? Yeah, it's it's not something within
091bird preview, but it's a file that we have to file with state ed. I'll talk with Joe and try to get a print out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, the state doesn't allow the board to get into the middle of that. That's an operational issue, but we'll share it. That's no problem. Y Okay. I'd like to move on the agenda to item six, finance items for action. Uh first of all, item 601, it's noted that there is no report of the audit committee at this time. So then an action vote on 6.03 and 6.04. Do I have a motion? Second. Any discussion or debate on the motion? Okay. Call for a vote on the motion. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Nay. Extensions. Motion carries. Item seven, human resources items for action. Need
092a motion on 7.02 HR recommendations. Discussion or debate on the motion. I would just like to recognize Naen Morgan who will be retiring as a clerk typist in October after 21 years in our district. So, I would just like to thank her for her service and um hope she enjoys her retirement. Candy, this is for you. You ready? Okay. I need to abstain from uh number 702 section P numbers 51, 84, and 85 as they reference my husband. You don't want to vote against it. Julie, I just had a question. 702 section S 25. I know it's way down there. S as in Sam. I'm sorry. So my question is it looks like um we only have one appointed for that position and in the past haven't we had two teams? Will we continue to
093have two teams? And then I also Sorry. I'm gonna um just throw another one in so you can answer because I think you're going to. And then I noticed that we were missing a unified basketball program for the spring and appointed coaches for that. And I want to make sure that those programs are continuing. Correct. Yes, both of those programs will be continuing. Our personnel is our personnel and we will be addressing them. I can't go into it in public session. Okay. But we will have we will have two teams and we'll have two coaches. The district will appoint those coaches. Okay. And then I know that we um currently have posted a secondary math position and an AIS mathematics teacher for the fifth through 8th grade. Um, I don't think either of those positions
094have closed, but those will be filled before hopefully, correct? Filled before the school year starts. Correct. We're still on track. Okay, we're on track, too. Thank you. We're working quick to fill them. This is This is our harder one. Thank you. Any other discussion or debate on 702 Katrina? Um yes. So in section R and section S and section T, all of these positions um section U, there are no um dollar amounts next to any of those positions. And I feel like it's important that we can see what each position is getting paid for those things. Um so I am not opposed to any of those appointments but I will be abstaining because that is not enough information to be able to appoint those things. We should be being given how much um you know
095people making those positions. Um, so if you need me to repeat my abstension, I can. Yeah. So that the board knows, these are all governed by contract. Uh, we will put them in because this is a two-part calculation and until the season is rolled out, we can't do the calculation. Once they do, then that gets brought forward as it always have been. Any other comments or questions on 702? Okay. So, we'll call the vote 702. All those in favor say I. I. Other than uh Yeah. The any any nos other than as noted or absentions other than as noted. Okay. The motion carries. Item 8, miscellaneous actions for miscellaneous items for action. We have items 802, 803, and 804. Need a motion. Second. Any discussion or debate on the motion? that I'll be abstaining from
0968.02 uh due to personal um uh matters. Thank you, Julie. At an 8.03, that exciting trip. Um it does show a 10 to one ratio which I think is great of um supervision to students with the possibility of up to 50 kids. Um who since we approve that who will then kind of be the final approval to make sure that that ratio is in place. Ultimately that's up to the high school principal to ensure that appropriate supervision is done. Any other comments or questions? Um, I am also I um a lot of these things are for Center or some of them are for Center Street for the 504s. My son has a 504 through Center Street. I don't know if these are being transferred, if I'm supposed to abstain from this or not. If you
097feel that your son is in that, you should abain. Yeah, I'm just not sure with the paperwork like if you would have been there or not. So, I'm just going to abstain from 8.02. Okay. Any other comments, questions? Call for the vote 802 through 804. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Abstentions other than as noted. Okay. We will move to the uh board policies section and there is a policy committee report from June 30th which I guess I should deliver. um as the so we met specifically to look at policy to have a second reading and this is the required policy on the prohibition of internet enabled device use during the school day and we did discuss the feedback that was given in the prior board meeting about this policy and
098we made several edits so thank you to the board for the feedback and for the suggestions Um, if you look at the policy itself, just to give you a sense of what the policy committee talked about, there are a couple of things I would call to your attention. Uh, number one, we uh added language in item seven about the district publishing information regarding enforcement of the policy as required by law. That was I think um Katrina, you pointed out that that's something required under the statute and so it would be good to state it as a requirement in the policy. So we did add that. So thank you for that suggestion. Uh there was also um you know the district did solicit input from staff, students and community members in accordance with the statutory requirements
099and the policy committee had the opportunity to look at the output of that prior to our meeting and there was uh a fair amount of input in favor of a policy. a fair amount against the policy and uh I'm not sure if it served a sample of that or that's been shared with the full board. Okay. But I won't try to summarize all of it. We did we did on the basis of some of that input make a couple of changes like for example there was discussion about the fact that the regulations in section 4 could be seen as somewhat vague. In fact, you know, they came right from the statute, but we did add language to make it clear that the district would define by regulation and and provide guidance, for example, to teachers
100as to what would be the appropriate educational use um under the policy for internet enabled devices. We did add language under 4D to make it clear that um the student caregiver exception would require business building administrator approval so that it's clear how that would how that would function. and uh we added generally that regulations would be promulgated to further define those usage. We did not change the stated as as we talked about last time under the policy excuse me under the law there has to be at least one method of communication and one method of storage and those remain as stated in the prior meeting although we talked about by regulation as Dr. was referred to earlier, the district can provide additional information um as to you know where storage of devices can be maintained
101and how to communicate students with students during the school day other than as stated and I think those were all of the edits that we made. So I will stop there and um you know the board can comments or questions on the on the policy 5315 that's proposed for second reading approval. Well yeah I guess is there a motion to approve 5315 as stated in 9.03. Okay. Thank you. So the motion is pending. Are there comments, questions, discussion on the motion? Um, yes. So, it was difficult because you were talking about the changes that you guys made, but at first maybe it came up in other people's, but none of the those edits were highlighted in here. Usually, they're highlighted um so you can see it easier. Um, I do think that our policy, we
102should be outlining in our policy the communication for the contact and the storage devices. Um, I think that that's a board's decision. I don't think that it should rest solely with creating a regulation. I think that we have to make that decision based on the feedback that we get from the stakeholders. And I think that um all of the board should be able to see the feedback from the stakeholders to see what people commented. Um and then uh Julie and I believe both were interested in trying to see information about the yonder pouches as far as that goes. I'd be interested to see if there were community people who also thought that that was something that they wanted to see for storage options. Um and I really do feel very strongly about what I had
103stated before um which was outlined in the law and a lot of this is just the law copied and pasted onto it about um you know non- internet enabled devices are allowed to be with students. So I think that's important for parents who might think like me and say okay here's your non-inabled device and you can carry it with you anywhere you go and I can get a hold of you in between classes or whatever. Some people like that option and I think it should be um outlined in this policy. So as is because of all of those comments, I will be voting no on the way that this policy reads. Okay. And just in my capacity as the policy committee chair for that meeting, I appreciate the comments. We did discuss the feedback from
104the board meeting about uh the fact that non-in enabled devices i.e. a non-s smartphone flip phone that those aren't captured by the scope of the policy but by other school district policies and requirements. They're regulated. In other words, you know, student can't just have a non internet phone and walk around on the phone all day in the class, right? But so we did not feel it was appropriate to add anything to this document to encourage or um you know enable the use of other devices. They themselves are subject to separate regulation or rule in the district and this policy doesn't speak to those one way or the other. But that that's just the explanation for why we didn't make that change. Um and uh I I'll stop there and others have comments or questions. Christine,
105I think too and I'll I'll default to the policy committee, but with the comment related to not having the changes highlighted, I think that's typical when the policy is already in place to highlight what the changes are versus this is a from scratch policy. So, I'm assuming that's why the policy committee Jan did not highlight the changes that were made from last week. That's I think that's right. Generally speaking, what we do is we take an existing policy, propose edits, and those edits are highlighted and that's what we see. This is, you know, starting from scratch, and so it's a slightly different process, but I can say I think I called out the edits that were made. We did not make significant edits. Uh there was one comma that I noted that needed to be
106added, but other than that, but please go ahead. Um yeah I know but the when we did the norms and stuff all that stuff was from scratch too and we did have the highlights and not thank you for explaining all this stuff and I'm not saying anything but I it is always very helpful. So in the upcoming when we if the policy committee is creating the new policy with the heating regulations I think anytime that we have an edit it's always good to help all board members have highlighted and to see and I think even um when they were doing the new board um evaluation there were still like changes and shifts not to say anything negative you guys are all busy it's very it's not bad but it's helpful So, thank you. Any other
107comments or questions on the policy? Please do it. Um, to kind of back on the under pouches, I think I did make that comment last time that I would be interested in seeing what the pricing for those under pouches would be. I do know that the governor did put forward some money for that. Um, I believe Dr. Douglas, you had indicated that we there was no um steps on how to access that money. Um it is on the governor's site now on how to access that money. I'm not sure if we've looked into that at all, but um you know, if we are going to continue to look at a storage solution and potentially doing it the right way, we might need to look into something like that for down the road. And um it
108looks like the reimbursement for that is that we have to have a plan first. We do purchase them up front and then seek for reimbursement. So, of course, there's no guarantee that we're going to reimburse for all of it. I understand that. Um, but it would be something that I think those pouches or at least are something that the kids could keep their phones or devices on them all day. Um, but distractionfree. So, um, just my thoughts on that, but thank you. This might be untested waters in Horseheads and all of school districts, but I do know that there are a couple of local surrounding school districts that already have a cell phone ban in place, internet based device ban in place. Uh, and there's a lot of data that comes from it. Um, where
109I work in Waverly, we're instituting it at the same times is. Uh, we are using the yonder pouches. um I would be able to act as a liaison impromptu with the superintendent over Waverly to get some data for the school district to see how we're doing. Um, obviously if we see how this policy goes and if we're kind of meeting up with some brick walls and we need some other options, I would be very happy to provide some data from local other school districts where I work every single day. Um, and let you know how it's going over there to see if we would need to change things a little bit uh if we need to. So, thank you. Any other comments or questions? I'll just add again sort of as the outgoing because uh
110policy committee chair uh there there was a legal requirement to get this policy in place by September 1st and that's part of the reason or maybe August 1st I don't want to okay and so yeah and so that's why we had to move quickly to get this in place and it meets all the legal requirements but you know I think the idea of yonder pouches or other other mechanisms are all very good valid ideas to and um as those are deliberated we certainly the policy committee or the board could update the policy right so we just got we got to get it in place which we're doing but it doesn't mean we can't change it as we go forward if we come ac with additional ideas so I certainly think that's great input from members
111of the board and I just sort of make that point so then I will call for the vote on item 9.03 03. All those in favor say I. I. Any uh any we have one no I believe that registered. Any other nos? Abstensions? Okay. The um motion passes. There are no items for first reading. We go to item 11, board president report and board member comments. 11:01, president's report. Um, I've only been president for a little while. I understand you have to leave for a family commitment, but I thank our outgoing president, Warren Conlin, for all that he did for the board over the past several years. You've done a fantastic job, and we appreciate your service. I look forward to doing my best, as I said, to serve the board. That's my view as
112what it means to be a leader as you do it to serve others and that's my goal. So welcome input from any member of the board thoughts as we go through the year and uh and again I appreciate the support people have shown for me won't take up any more of your time with the report. So 11:02 board member comments Eric I should have said this along with 9.03 3. However, um I will share this now and I think I've stated it before in reference to the yonder pouches. Um when I was uh an administrator over at GST Boseies, we did implement the yonder pouches within our alternative education program. It is not just purchasing the pouch, it is purchasing a philosophy and the company will come alongside you. They come uh you purchase the
113pouches. They also have options for individual rentals, which you may see from, you know, things like the Dave Chappelle show or other things like that where they where they rent them for one time usage at concerts and whatnot. Um, however, uh, you know, when you purchase one of these systems, you are purchasing not just the pouch itself, but you are, uh, purchasing the company's support. So, it's difficult to look at the uh the price online. Well, I guess I would just like to uh you know do an FYI to the board. If you begin doing a research on this and you look at the cost of the pouches, right, that is the cost of the pouch but does not include the cost of the support and the uh person's time the the vendor support services
114that come along with that. Then they Now again I will say this caveat that things may have changed in the last five years since we implemented them. Uh but there is like I said a whole philosophy that comes along with this. So a representative from the company comes to your school does presentations does a roll out talks with the students talks with the staff talks with the administration. It is um not something that I could foresee happening by September with my understanding of the work that I I and my colleagues put into this um years ago. Um the efficacy of them was low. Uh I know that other districts may have had success in it. I know with with our particular clientele of student it was a challenge but that doesn't mean that it would
115be a challenge here. It really just depends. It was a challenge for us um to implement and I believe I stated this before in a previous board uh meeting that this uh the use of these tools like yonder really requires uh a 100% buy in and compliance by staff and administration um with support of the parents. So, I just wanted to share that kind of a knowledge dump for you and and leave it there to call out my new board member, Parish Sheen. She was also a teacher that had students in her classroom with Yander Patches. So, maybe she would want to speak on that. I don't know. But I'm just sharing that she has that insight as well. Thank you. She did. Yes, Aaron. Thank you. I do remember that. I don't really any
116particular issue with the student or two that I had with the yonder pouch. I don't think they use them currently, but I don't know for sure other board members in Christine. So, yes, Warren left, but I did I did want to to thank Warren. um you know the time commitment in being an officer. Um it's it's not it's not just the meetings and it's not just the prep. There's it's just constant um time constant communication with Dr. Douglas. Um and so you know I I I applaud Warren for the really hard work that he did the past two years and and really want to thank him. Um, I know the other suggestion is with when we have the table mics, we can turn them on and we don't kick somebody else off. Is there a
117way to do that with these? I mean, understanding that whenever they're blue, they're going to be hot, but I I feel like we constantly are kicking each other off. And is there a way to set them that we don't? I don't believe there is. And we apologize for the other mics, but because of moving Mr. Shabbone already packed them away so they wouldn't get lost. We have meetings buildings, too. It's not We're We're going to find them for the other meetings. It was just tonight with everything that's going on to protect things, right? That we just lost the other mics because Well, we use these and the other. We're trying to get rid of these. Oh, that little mic. Okay, first I want to welcome um the new members. Congratulations. You made it to your
118first meeting. So looking forward to an exciting year. Um I want to thank um Mr. Klin of course. He um you know it's my first year on the board last year and um he was the president. Um I understand there's a lot of time and commitment that goes into it. So, um certainly appreciate his service to all of us in the community as well. Um and I want to congratulate Dan and Sue. Um you know, there were um I think every candidate that was proposed tonight was a really great candidate. And so, um it's never easy to vote, but I think that everyone would have done a great job had they been elected. But, um you know, I'm looking forward to this year and the diversity and new new people and new roles. So, it
119should be a good year. Um, congratulations to all the graduates. Um, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there. I had a family commitment. I wasn't in town. Um, I secretly was hoping that I got pushed to another day just so that I could have been there. But I'm glad that you guys got it in and it was great. Um, I also want to comment that I really do love the H's on the construction fences um around the new gym. I think they stand out. They look really great. And um, you know, Mr. Sax always talks about kind of you're coming to Raider Town, you're coming to the horses community in Raider Nation and that we have went on. That's a really nice touch. So, um I really appreciate that and I like it. Perhaps
120we can continue that with any I will for sure. Um and then of course um Dr. I know that she touched on this, but you know that New York State baseball team continues to be celebrated by um local community, county delegates, state delegates, um and like community and the business community as well as all of the community has been extremely supportive of them and really finding ways to celebrate their win and continue that um and to continue celebrating Coach Leven's um 437 wins. So, um I just want to say thank you to everyone because as a parent who has a kid on the team, it certainly is special and um it just continues to every week. It's like they're going to be honored here and it's just kind of a fun thing. But um the
121really behind it, so it's really nice to see. Thank you. And I know you won't totally be flying high. So, congratulations to all of them. look forward to next year. Thank you. Any other board members like to speak? Thank you. Um, I'd like to welcome Cara, Matt, and Dan to the board, even though Dan's been here, but Dan, welcome to being the president of our board. I know you'll do a great job. Um, I too want to thank um the facilities for all the hard work they did to make graduation happen on that day. It was a warm day. I believe graduation be should be a set date. Um that's how it was back in the 90s when our children graduated. Um we graduated in the either the middle school gym or we graduated on
122the football field if it wasn't raining. And it was on a Saturday so families could come in from out of town and you didn't have this. Well, my family's already on their way. It might be cancelled. Um, I had a daycare parent there that night and he said, "Well, it's going to be postponed an hour. The people are already on their way." You know, it's just it's a lot on everybody. I think it's a lot on Tom and everybody trying to pray that the weather holds out and um I would like to I don't know why we changed it and didn't do the first arena like they did a few years back, but I would like to see a set date for that. Um, I think that's all I had. Thank you. Anyone else? Good
123for you. Um, yeah, I have a few comments and I have a few motions and I think that these motions are important that um, we vote on these motions um, because this is also like how we're going to be structured and set up. Um, so, um, I'm I'll just talk through all of my things and then we can maybe do individually. So, one of the motions that I would like to make is to allow any and all board members to serve on the audit committee. This state allows for this. It is something that I brought up in the October meeting. It will allow board members to go and ask as many questions as they want when the external audit when they meet with it. Um, another portion of this law states that you can um,
124solicit community members to also serve on the audit committee. There have been a couple of people who have come and spoke at our board meetings who talk about their expertise when it comes to finance. And I think that it might be something um, that we could offer to see if they would like to help serve to help us really understand and hone in on our finance things. So that is one of the things that I think would be um really important to have for for clarification. Um the other thing um when talking about the committees that we currently have um they are ad hoc committees of the superintendent. I would like to see if we could take some of those committees and make them ad hoc committees of the board. And that way we can
125ensure that or possibly um get members of the public to be able to serve, not just necessarily in our schools and not just board members. Um, I remember a couple years ago we had somebody come and speak saying that they were a parent and that they were wondering how they could serve on the athletics committee. So I think that looking at some of those committees and saying okay what committees do we want to be board committees? Um the also the other advantage of that is that the committees of the board report directly to the board. So then those types that information could also be um shared more readily with um the public. Um I also um want to go back and talk about the emails. I think this is very important. I think that we
126need to have individual emails so that the public can contact us directly. And I think that's something that we have to establish and that it has to be in the beginning of the year. Um I know that we have a way that it's done. According if you go to their website for their board of education, they have their phone numbers. They have an individual email address listed. They have ways that board members can be contacted. And I think that's important to help promote that message to the community and um to hear public feedback. Um, I also think that it's important, um, and I I think that we should have, it's been mentioned before that when, and even Cara tonight whispered to me, wait, we can't comment on their public comments. When people come and they
127speak at a meeting, I think that we should address their comments to a degree, talk to them, either let them know when this information can be where where the information can be found or have a item standing on the agenda so that the board discusses that issue at the next meeting if that's what is determined. But I think it's important that we acknowledge the people when they come and they speak and they talk to us. I really want that to change. And so, um, those are the Oh, and the other thing that I also, um, would like to have a non- voting teacher as a member of the board. That's something that a lot of people have said that they support. And I think that, um, you know, they could report whatever it is. There's
128a lot of the student reports. They report a lot of things that's going on in their buildings and you know it was something that when I was endorsed I said that I was in favor of and so I also would like to um have that voted on. So those are all of my motions so we could have votes of yes, I'm for this or no, I'm not for this or if you know you guys would like to have this to be added to an agenda item for the next meeting. any of those topics, I would be fine with that. And then also, um, you might want to kill me, but I would like to, uh, make a motion to go into executive session after this to talk about, um, the a contract. So, that's all
129my stuff. So, I think what you know to be clear every one of those items you brought up would have to be a separate motion would require a motion a second and then discussion in some cases. So for example we have a policy already as two committees we that we have two standing committees policy and audit and that the rest of them are ad hoc committees of the superintendent. So in my view, if we felt we wanted to make changes to that, the appropriate vehicle would be through policy committee um considering that policy and our and our you know process for review and update as opposed to a uh I think part of the issue is things that you bring up there there will be multiple points of view on those. There may be instances
130where we need information from the district to fully understand it. So it's difficult I think to have fully informed discussion and decision making without really you know advanced notice of the issues. So you can make the motions but I certainly feel that it would maybe be conducive to better conversation, discussion and deliberation if we look at them through things like policy committee updates where it implicates a policy or other um you know we do some work to understand what for example the emails right you know we all understand and we've heard we should be accessible people should be able to communicate with us I don't really you know as a board just designating we should all have an individual email I think that raises IT questions um that we don't know the answer to I
131would have a concern about individual board members having you know we sit as a board so the communication should either come to all of us or none of us right so there are a lot of issues that go into these that I don't think we're in the capa we have the capacity to really fully explore tonight and that might result in a number of the things you brought up getting voted no just because people aren't comfortable to um fully discuss them. So, you can make the motion, but for that reason, I I think you might see that the board's not ready to just, you know, implement these instantly. I can appreciate and understand that and that's fine. Um, so but I think that these are things that need to be addressed and they need to
132be addressed by the whole board and you know essentially yes we could have policies and we can change them but we can also change policies with the whole board present at a meeting at any given time. We're also allowed to do that. So, um, I would then make a motion to have these all of these items on the agenda to be able to be discussed so that we can have proper votes if people need time to do those things. Um, but I think that's important. Those are like well, not the audit because that's going to be coming up here soon. I think that that needs to be a decision tonight. So, um, I make a motion, my first motion to allow any board member to serve on the audit committee who wants to, even if
133it's the whole board. And then also to allow members of the public that if we wanted to appoint, if they wanted to do it to help also serve on audit committee, they would be allowed to do so also. So, that's my first motion. Is there a second? I'll second that motion. Even though I'm a new board member, it seems to make sense to me. And a few things that Katrina mentioned seems to make sense that, you know, with respect to what you're saying, Dan, we're all individual board members, so I think some things in the board has changed. It's good to talk about things and get feedback from every single board member and then have a vote. Any discussion or debate on the motion? Could Christine. So if we have So I'm not in favor
134of having an audit committee made up of all board members because then it becomes a board meeting, right? So I don't I don't know I mean if that's even legal if we're I mean if we're able to do that. So is me, but now I have to be there and I'm an ex official member and a board meeting I'm not. So I mean right now the way our audit committee is set up I mean any board member can ask questions right I mean it's we we take all the content from the audit committee it's it's posted and everybody has it ahead of the meeting and then we can ask questions during the meeting. um whenever we have an external audit report, we have our external auditor present um and and he or she, whoever it
135is at the time, gives a presentation. So, I guess I'm just I'm just curious as to why what the need would be to open it up to have every board member be a part of that audit committee. I think it's overkill. I don't think it's necessary. I was just curious how many um I was not on the audit committee this past year. So, how many board members are currently on the audit committee? There's four. Thank you. Um and then my assumption is there is no public like there's no community members on that committee. Correct. Okay. But we have so our internal Um and then you know you have staff and um and a lot of it depends on what but you know it's I don't in all my years I don't think we've ever had
136other discussion or debate So the reason that I'm um really strongly for this is because um at the last October meeting the external auditor didn't even have the correct report in front of him when I was asking him the questions. So the first well my five minutes was primarily eaten up by the fact that he didn't have the correct information to review. So he couldn't answer my questions properly. Um, so that was very frustrating and I think that we have two new board members. We have people on the board who have never served on the audit committee. If I'm not, people can choose not to do it. I'm asking for the option to allow every board member who wants to be on the audit committee be allowed to be on the audit committee. And if
137we go over five, then we go over five. If we have six, seven, then that's the case. And then if you know the audit committee says hey you know I don't know everything about finance but there was a gentleman who came who talked a lot about projections who or he he spoke and said that he knows things about projections and he helps schools with financials. He's a member of the community. Maybe he would want to come and sit and talk to us about that. You know the the external audit is a really large document. It's going over all of our finances. It goes over our debt service line. It goes over everything. And so to be able to sit and have a meeting, not just that as a line and okay, we have to go
138through and we still have a full board meeting after the fact. We can ask questions of him, have all the time in the world to ask him questions and then it's not like, okay, we've asked questions for an hour and a half and now we're going to go into our board meeting. You know, I think that that just allows people that opportunity and the state allows for it. It's something that I read a lot about when I was on the NISD website and some of their recommendations and it's an option. It's an option. It, you know, the law says all some you can you can do it however you want. And so I think that that's very important. I think it gives options and I think it will help in functionality and I think it
139will help with financial with you know with a lot of things. So that's why I'm strongly for this. So what you're saying is put it out and then if we were over four board members or five then it would then become a meeting and we would sit with you out of it. So it' basically be up to people whoever decided they want to join if that's what you're looking for. Yes. Right. you'd like more time with the Audrey than your five minutes that you had last year at the board meeting. And there were important questions. So, okay. I just wanted to make that clear. I just have to provide the board the warning. Sue, I agree with you. If people want to show up, there's five members. It's an open meeting. The problem is once
140you do that, the people that couldn't show up can be succumb to whatever the five members say because board action can be taken at that point. If you're going to do that, you have to make it a mandatory meeting with the full board, not just who can show up and have a quorum. I don't think that is good board practice. That would be my only warning. Tom, you just shared my concern as well. Um, and again, not to say that I'm against this. However, I think there's a lot of nuances that have to be um considered in this that at that time we would need to have somebody present that could uh take uh notes that could take meeting notes. Um we have uh been a district that has always live streamed uh any business
141that is considered open meeting law. So there would come in a te technology component to that. So I I think it's not as cut and dry as just saying yes, we want we want to do this. There's a lot of other factors that come into play. Um that would need to be discussed that also come with a financial impact for these individuals doing that work. Thank you. Uh, just to clarify, because I am a new board member and I just had my orientation last week, I think we were told you have to pick one or the other to be on. And I think what Katrina is trying to say is if board members want to be a part of something and there's more than five, then yes, notes are taken and you have your open
142meeting law, but there's not really a discussion or a vote on any particular matter. It's just that board member giving their impact and wanting to be part of that. I thought that I had to pick between the audit and the policy and definitely be part of one of those, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there aren't any committees. And just to piggyback on what Christine said earlier today about time, I think we should do the best that we can to have committee meetings when the general public and when we all can to the best of our ability, get that feedback from the community and from each other and not feel like we have to race there and feel like it's a good time to meet. And like I said, I'm new to the board, but I
143think all these things are very important factors. Also, one more thing if I might I may be mistaken um but as I was researching uh to be on the board the superintendent doesn't necessarily have to be a part of a board meeting or an executive session that the board can meet without him to help clarify a couple of things. If the board is there, you're you're correct. If there's five, but at any time, even though there's five, that is a board meeting. So, action can be taken, which could preclude the other board members. So, that's why I gave the warning. As far as any meeting in my contract, it says I am to be able to be present at any meeting of the board and speak on any behalf of the board or actions, whether
144it's that or executive sessions, unless it's about my performance. So that is typical in the state law. If Katrina is correct and it was nice at all some I don't recall the exact verbiage you use from the website when it comes to this and if Aaron is correct that which I agree with her there's a lot of nuance that needs to be further discussed. Can we table this motion so we can further discuss rather than voting on the spot in this second? May we table? Yeah. Allow me to consult my Robert's rules of order here. I mean, if we need to discuss this further, then we're not going to get a well-informed vote on this right now in my opinion. So, there is an ability to table a motion. It requires a second and then
145a majority vote to pass. Can I do that right now? Um, or do I have to wait? I don't know the exact right now. You can do that. Well, then I'd like the motion to table for the next meeting. Is there a second? Okay. So, now is there discussion or debate on the motion to table uh motion? Yeah. So the problem with tableabling it is that the committees get assigned within the next week. So that's the only problem. That's why we're having it and that's why I wanted to make sure that we did it now. All of my other motions I'm fine with having them at another meeting, but like trying to decide this, I get it. I understand Aerin's nuances. Um I don't know if open meeting law necessarily applies completely. New York State,
146it does say that all members can serve it. you know, I I know we have to have that. And you know what? Maybe it's a show of hands to say who really wants to be on audit to make sure that they can, you know, or some of the people I I get that, but I really also think that it would be wise of us to solicit some of the people who have come who have shown interest, who know information about finance to see if they also want to serve as members on this committee. I'm going to I'm going to interrupt because I made a mistake and again I'm looking at a Broadway school rules of order. So to table the motion it requires a second but it's not open for discussion. So it's one of
147those motions that once seconded has to just be voted up or down. So I apologize and uh that's why I kind of jumped in because um it's not something we're supposed to discuss. So there is a motion to table the motion. That motion was seconded. So I'm going to call for a vote on the motion to table. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Oh, that's a tie. So the motion motion fails. So then we're back to the motion on the floor. The tableing motion fails. And we're back to the motion on the floor. Okay. Right. That's what I said. So, I'm going to Everybody has spoken on the motion. I'm going to speak now. My comments as board president, we're going to vote. Okay. I think your ideas
148are great and and they warrant consideration. I think it's premature and hasty to make those decisions in this setting. I think you might be looking for a problem. you know a solution without a problem. Let's see how many board members identify that they want to serve on audit committee. And then if there are more than the currently stated four in the policy, then I think we should have the policy committee. The things you identified, whether or not any or all board members can sit on it, whether or not a community member can sit on it, and whether or not the ad hoc committees of the superintendent could be board committees, all of those are currently dictated by um our policy. I want to give you the right number. Board member committees 2250. And and I'd
149feel far more comfortable if we deliberated through our policy development process those kinds of significant changes and and then if a majority of the board supports them then we can make them. But for because of the you know hasty nature of it and and the inability to um really think about all the implications that others have been raised I would vote no for the motion that's presented. So any further you know there's a secondary round of comment or question of three minutes under our board norm. So does anyone want to heard again for up to three minutes? Okay. So, I'll I understand what you're saying, but like when Terry sends out the email of what committees do you want to be on, it's you pick one or the other. You like you say what is
150your top choice and what is your second choice. There isn't an option that says if it's available, I would serve on the audit committee. So, if that was going to be presented to say if it was an option, I would serve on the audit committee. that gives everybody the option to serve on it if they want to. Otherwise, the way that it's currently set up, you wouldn't get the proper feedback back because you're getting an option of pick one or pick two. So, I can appreciate what you're saying with the regards to what we have and set up because, you know, I'm not trying to find a problem. There isn't one, but we have two new people. Um, I haven't been able to serve on audit yet since I've been on the board. It's been
151two years. I think that as a practice, I don't think it's a bad thing to allow and to promote every board member to be able to be on an audit committee to be able to sit and to talk with the external auditor and ask him as many questions as he wants and make that something very special because it's our finances. So that's why I think it's really important and I also think it's really important to allow people who understand finance better than we do to ask and say, "Hey, do you want to come and help and serve on this as well?" Because then we can have questions and we can have talk. We can have all this stuff. It's allowing that to happen. So, you know, maybe it's not going to be so great. Maybe
152it's like, "Oh, whatever." But I think it's I think allowing that to happen would be really good. I think you know me. I'm going to sit here and research things, right? So, um, as I'm researching, uh, Katrina, I just wanted to bring to your attention, I'm referencing, uh, chapter 263 of laws of 20 five which govern school district accountability. Um it states that the law was amended to require every school district except those employing fewer than eight teachers to establish um an audit committee blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Okay. While the law allows board members to serve on the audit committee, it does not require nor recommend that all board members serve. In fact, best practice in N guidance suggests that the audit committee should be a subset of the board
153to maintain independence and objectivity. In contrast, policy committees are flexible and often include more or all board members depending on law district bylaws. So in summary, audit committee not all board members should serve a smaller independent group is preferred and for the policy committee. Local district uh discretion applies. All members may serve if the district chooses. And that is again from NISED um school district accountability uh district management services. Anyone else want to be heard for second time on the motion? Go ahead. Thank you, Erin, for looking into that. So, it does sound like there's really no number. I myself do not want to be part of the audit committee. Thank you. Okay. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna call for a vote on the motion pending, which is to allow any and all members of
154the board to serve on the audit committee. And think to allow community members. Those are the things that I all in favor of the motion to be in support of proposed. Um in favor of the motion vote I So four votes in favor. All those voting no say no. Okay. So it's a tie. The mot Okay. Um, we have gone far over the period of time that we exceed that we allow comments. So, I would request a motion to adjourn unless there have to make their comment. They would like to I just want to make one comment. I'm new here and it was Mrs. O'Hare or O'Harren who spoke. I don't know if she's still here. I can't see but I didn't push her anymore. Um, but as a new board member and as someone
155who recently ran obviously a lot of people in the public come up and talk to you and there is a lot of concern about what she spoke about which are the start times and I also talked to Dr. Douglas when I had my orientation when he said you have any questions or concerns and I said yeah that is a concern. So I just, you know, as policies go, we change, we adapt, we do what's best for our community, and I think this is a major issue. I um Thank you. I apologize. You You also mentioned wanting to make a motion for executive session. currently there's no executive session uh topic on the agenda as I understand it. So u without violating confidentiality are you able to say why you think we need an executive session
156or what uh because you know we normally would have it on the agenda so the public is aware of the topic to be to be discussed and we don't have that. So can you clarify without going into any detail? Um yes it was going to talk about the superintendent's contract. Is there a second for the motion? Okay. Discussion or debate on the motion. I think it would be um unfair to go into executive session uh without our full board here if that's the crux of the conversation. Uh Warren was not made aware of this prior to leaving. That may have changed his uh his need to leave or his want to leave in the moment that he did. Um so I would um think that we should have that discussion at a later time so
157that all board members can be present. Anyone else want to speak on the motion? I just want to say I agree with Aaron. I think it would be unfair to to do it without Warren knowing and being able to choose himself. I'm fine with adding it to the agenda for the next meeting if that's what you want to do because he should be here for that. So, I'm fine with that. Although, he might not want to do that because I think our next meeting is August, right? Yeah. And yeah, I did have some I did have some other things. I think we really do need to discuss these start times. Does anyone else want to speak to the motion? Julie. Um, I think we were waiting on some information back from our former president. Uh,
158there were some questions that I think it would be important that he provided the answers to if he received any of those. So, I do think that going to session at the August meeting to discuss this would probably be best. Okay. Uh I I agree with the statements about the fact that proper notice and so that all members can be present is a good idea. I also think if we're going to discuss the superintendent's contract, we have to um communicate in advance to the superintendent what the topic would be. And I would make the point that in our last meeting, it was approved and then executed. So it's there's no, you know, there's no ability to um change it or reopen it, right? It's been signed and executed. So I I'd want to explore more
159what the topic is um before I commit to putting it on the agenda at a future meeting. We can talk about that, you know, offline. It's my view. I'm not trying to change anything about it. I understand that all of that happened, but we can't talk about what we talked about and open and there's some things that needed to be cleared up and addressed. So, that's what I want to be able to talk about. I'm not trying to change anything, not trying to go back on anything. I'm just trying to talk about stuff because I don't know everything what you're talking about. My guidance is you needed to have that discussion with the officers and everything that was here part of that discussion and you can no longer have it with one of them because
160they're no longer on the board. And the matter unfortunately to me and I'm finding out these other things, it's a settled issue. So if it's a issue between the board and its dynamics. That's something you could probably talk at a recess retreat because you got to clear the air among you guys because I don't have any issues. That would be my suggestion. Okay. So, in light of the comments, do you still want to proceed with the vote on your motion or do you want to withdraw it? withdraw. Okay. So, the motion's withdrawn. I think mention start No, that's we we haven't even you know there's a whole policy about agenda development and there's an agenda meeting that takes place with this officers and the superintendent prior to the meeting. So of course that hasn't occurred
161yet and we board members can submit topics to that group for consideration. So that would be a way of asking for something. agenda that we know on the ala can propose a motion and we can go through the process we just did. I I think you know I'm also trying to be mindful of the time of everyone who lives here and you know the um trying to I think a best practices to have on our agenda the things that we will consider so that the public has the opportunity to know those and come and be aware and comment. But um you know if you want to make a motion carrot it's your prerogative then there'll be a second and a discussion and a vote. Guess what? just get I do apologize because I am new
162to the board, but I have had several public community members say things to me and I think with a woman who is here tonight bringing it up, even though it is just one person, I think it's a very important topic that should be revisited because it affects the community. It's a very, very big And I think it's something we should look at. So I'd like to make a motion to have that on the agenda. Yeah. Can you have just Yes. I would like to have I would like to make a motion to discuss the start times of next year on our agenda. Thank you. Okay. Discussion or debate on the motion. Um I think my concern with this is that our next meeting it's beginning of August. At that point, you know, I mean, all
163the bus routes, I mean, are already in process of being developed and everything. I don't think there's even even if big if there you know a a decision was made to alter the start times I don't see a way that it can even be executed prior to the start of school. So I mean I think if this is if this is going to be a discussion I think it's something that then gets discussed for next school year versus this school year. I mean, you know, there's been a ton of work that's been done on, you know, on the district end to get ready for this upcoming school year and and, you know, continuing to have this discussion only only prolongs that and and really creates a a lot of rework and I don't even know
164if it's possible. It's a year. If you want to do something for the If you want to do something and consider for the following year, the only thing is flipping them. We still have to meet the state requirements which was the district was not doing. We still have to meet the requirements of the contract which are set the length of the day. This was the board's decision only is regards to AM PM. The operation is an administrative decision as the board said and that decision has already been made, passed on to the community, communicated since December and regularly updated that if the board wishes me and directs me to do it, I'll do it. You aren't opening school in September. I don't see how I can do it. So, that's the warning. We'll do whatever
165the board wants, but I'm I'm telling you, people will not be happy with all of a sudden the whip is off. Other board members want to the motion. Um, I think that um, Cara really only made the motion to have this as an item on the agenda to have a discussion, not to have a discussion of it to tonight, but to allow to have this as an agenda item. So then we would have our discussion at that meeting. Um, and I think it's important to be able to allow board members to add items to the agenda. there was a member of the public which was something else I had spoken about of when somebody from the public comes and speaks to us I think it's important that we talk about the topic that they have
166brought forward to us um and I think that this is important to dis to discuss others just Just to clarify and Christine made a good point. You know, we we don't have a lot of time, but I just think it is a hot topic and a big thing and that we should discuss it more and try to get community involvement as well. Um, I think it's not a bad idea to have a discussion. I don't think there'll be anything there. Obviously, it can't be changed because the train is already going. Um, but it is still a very hot topic. I know I've said quite regularly in my board comments, I feel 7:15 is too early for a child to have to be in school. And I still firmly believe that. Grades 5 to 8. When
167we approved this back in October, I went back and looked and um what we approved was the high school time and that was going to be around 7:35 to 7:50. Um and and and you said in the meeting, I read the minutes. I didn't I didn't read the I didn't pull up the um the video because when I was doing it I was with sleepers and I couldn't have noise. So I read the minutes and the minutes said that um the high school would be first and the middle school and the intermediate would be probably second and then the um K through four would be third. Um, so that's not exactly how it is right now, but I still think there should be discussion because I I I look at it like they're almost like
168little factory workers starting at 7:15 in the morning and that that's not what they are. These are kids that have to function all day long. And so I think there still needs to be a discussion because not only are we shutting down a school, but we're also adjusting all the times. are doing so many things at once that it's it's there's a lot of frustration out there. I'm sure you hear it. I and and I agree with you and and going back. Yeah, that's those um going back to it. That was our initial and we had to update it later because unfortunately the high school's a 7-hour day. The middle school intermediate school is 6 hour 46 650. And if you Really the reason why the ISMS had to go in front is because you
169can pick them up while the high school is still out and that was explained. It's to try to minimize and get the bus runs to an hour or less which was the board's directive to try to do. So yeah, I mean ultimately if you look at it over time you could switch one for the other or the hard part is is it's Boseies. If we moved the 7:15 to 7:30, the high school would have to go to 7:40, 7:50. They won't get the Boseies on time. So, if you flip it and the high schools at 8:40 and then um the elementaryaries are at 7:20, 7:30, there's there's the same problem. You just have to work out the busing, but now you affect everything at the high school. So, that's why the board really made that
170decision. high school went up front and then everything else had to fall in place to try to meet the blessing. But having more discussions to help people understand I don't have a problem trying to address it with less than eight weeks to go is going to be very detrimental to the students and I think everybody does have concerns. I think as they go through it uh we have not heard as many concerns and people regularly write us um but there will be an adjustment so always open to it. I think discussion is a good goal and if it it's geared toward education helping people understand my fear would be that people are going to think that discussion also include action right and it's made clear that I don't think we would have the ability to
171change it for September right So, um, do I have an option? Do I have an issue with it being on the agenda so that for for to make sure all the information is put out there and people are aware and we can hear from the public? I don't have an an issue with that, but I do worry that we might be sending the wrong message about reconsideration of the decision because of the inability to do that timing wise. So, you know, I, you know, in the agenda setting, I wouldn't be opposed to considering it and talking with Dr. Douglas about what kind of presentation could be made to put out information and make sure everybody understands and um so I don't think that's a bad goal, but um I worry about the misconception that might
172arise, you know, if we put it on the agenda here from a formal vote. But those are my comments. So, The motion pending is to include on the next board meeting agenda discussion of the start times. Did I say that accurately? Okay, we had a second. I just want to say one more thing. I and just to put this out there is understanding that having discussion in August isn't going to change anything for the start of the school year. Would it be better to have the discussion a few months or a couple months into the school year to see how things are going and to get the feedback so then we can start building the discussion as to what would happen the following year potentially. I would say September just because September is like I
173think the 18th. It won't be the prettiest time because everything will be new the first couple of weeks and if we have to then we can follow up in October or if we need to back back it from September to October even late in October it at least a full, you know, roughly six six weeks of school time. See where the tweets are and see where the tweets are, see what complaints come in, see what we're adjusting to, how many people are taking advantage of the early drop off and then if you needed to revisit, you know, December, January for next year, which that's where we were scheduling that sort of first check on the early drops, too, was right around that. So maybe that it's not the meeting with you. Well, I know Katrina
174was concerned about the from a parliamentary point of view. Sorry from a from a parliamentary standpoint, we have a motion pending. We now have, I believe, a proposal to amend the motion. So, I think it has to go back to the original maker of the motion and seconder as to whether they agree with the amendment. Right. Well, let me ask, would you withdraw your first one and make a new motion just to do it in October? Is there a second? Second. Okay, I'm going to call the question. So, all in favor of the October board meeting, including on the agenda item, uh, you know, let's call it an initial report on implementation of the new start times and and board discussion thereof. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Any abstensions? I'm I
175did I'm opposing that because I believe that it should have been done sooner because we did have a member of the public. I know that we're addressing it, but I I feel like when you push it off, I get the timing wise, but I think that it's really important that we start figuring out ways when people come to speak to us, we address it in a not a couple months, but in a more timely fashion. And there is a there is a board policy on public comments. So that would be another thing the policy committee could to look at and and see if there's a mechanism for a way of um engaging sooner. So with that is there a motion to adjourn. Second. Okay. 5 seconds for that one all the time. All those in
176favor say I. I I any opposed? Nay. Extensions. Motion carries. Everybody. Thank you. Meeting concluded. [Music] Were you planning on filling out our sheets thing after we leave?