001Good evening all and welcome to the board of education regular business meeting. Today is May 12th, 2025. Can I please have a motion to open the meeting? Annie second by Michelle. All in favor? That is everyone. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education enter into executive session to discuss specific legal collective bargaining personnel and other matters in accordance with the open meetings law. Can I have a motion to enter into executive session? Teresa one, Tom two. All in favor? That is everyone. We'll be back at 7:30. Welcome back. Can I please have a motion to exit the executive session and re-enter the public meeting bill? Second by Annie. All in favor? That is everyone. Let's all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag
002of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. In case of an emergency, please direct yourselves to the illuminated signs that say exit. Uh, this is a smoke-free building. Smoking or vaping is not permitted. At this time, we're going to open up a public hearing. Can I have a motion to exit regular meeting and enter the public hearing? First by Teresa, second by uh Tom. All in favor? That is everyone. We're in a public hearing. Uh public commentary is allowed during a public hearing. Okay. So, tonight we are presenting the 2025 budget for our budget hearing. some updates finally from the uh state of education and the state in regarding to our uh foundation aid and other areas are listed
003here. So the first item you will see is foundation aid. There were some adjustments to the actual components that go into the foundation aid formula. There has been a change in the poverty measure and an increase in the maximum state sharing ratio. There has also been some additions that will increase the waiting on behalf of students who are English language learners. There was the inclusion of at least a 2% increase in foundation aid. And then there's also the note that the final state budget includes information from the February update. So if you remember the governor will give her proposed numbers in January. there is a February update that occurs. The February update information is the numbers they take into consideration. I think just something important to note here is there are multiple updates that are
004drawdowns in regards to school districts information. There will actually be one in about 3 days uh because they do a May 15th look and then they will do another one in November. So there's it's a constant rotation. Um it is a possibility numbers can change either favorably or unfavorably. Um it is not listed in here but just so the board in the community is aware in regards to what we budgeted for foundation aid the state's foundation aid uh that was released is about $150,000 more. So that means there has been a slight increase uh in foundation aid. And as mentioned in prior presentations, that will be something at this point in time, nothing can be changed because we had to have an on-time budget. Um, but that will become additional revenue and then that will
005be something we take into consideration in future years. Dr. Harris, are you able to to speak at all to the foundation aid changes in the poverty measures as you mentioned here and what the maximum state sharing ratio means? Are do you have I can pull additional information. And I'm pretty sure I have uh a pamphlet of stuff in my binder. It's just changing every day, right? So I'm just curious what that what the new definition there was. There's a point where they were looking at free and reduced lunch. Um there was some back and forth in regards to what are the poverty measures. I will say that the change in poverty measure was not favorable for all districts either. There was a push out of what this could look like for your district. Um, Huntington
006the the calculation worked out fine. Other districts not so much. There has also any other questions there. Okay. Um, there has also been a change to the Boseis Adidable salary cap. Uh, this has been something that uh has been the same for at least 20 plus years. Um, so they are saying that it will increase $10,000 each year. So the cap will go from 30,000 to 60,000 by the 2027 2028 uh school year. Uh there was also the extension of the retirey salary cap waiver for an additional two years. Um as will be mentioned I'm sure uh in future meetings is the belltobell ban. Um policies are required to be adopted by August 1st of 2025. So, I'm pretty sure there will be some hot off the press information coming quickly. In regards to that,
007there has been there has been some changes to the zero emission bus mandate um which included the requirement for bus range estimates to occur and uh the possibility of a two-year extension. I do believe there will be paperwork that districts need to complete to qualify for that. Also here is uh listed there has been revisions to the standards and procedures for determining substantially equivalent instruction provided by non-public schools. And one item that was not mentioned because I would have had to do the font smaller um is the school lunch. So beginning with the upcoming school year, you have to provide meals to every child at no cost to them. We are a C school district K through 12. Um we are actually completing our process to reapply which you can reapply annually if the numbers
008are favorable. Um so we will be reapplying to keep that moving forward. This is the school district budget notice. This will go to every home in Huntington Union Free School District. Um, so I do like to show it here so people know what to anticipate and what is coming in the mail outside of the uh budget newsletter. This is a separate document. Um, and then this explains each area and you are also required to not only provide this, but you also have to break the pro uh the budget itself out into the three components. So that's where you'll see at the bottom administrative component, program component, and capital component. This provides a breakout of what is included in each component. So administrative is expenses for office and administrative costs, legal fees, property insurance, and school
009board expenses. This provides a glance or a chart of what was the 2024 2025 year and what is being proposed to the community to vote on for the 2025 2026 year. Program is the next area. program is comprised of teachers and supervisor salaries and benefits, instructional costs such as supplies, equipment, textbooks, co-curricular activities, intercolastic athletics, and transportation costs. This also provides basically a pie chart of how much goes to each area. And the largest part of any school district budget is program. And then we have the capital component. This includes the facility cost including salaries and benefits of the custodial staff, debt service on any buildings if you have any, leasing costs, maintenance, supplies and equipment and utilities. Lastly, we have revenue and your revenue and your uh expense components have to match as they
010do for us. Um so you will see in the right corner um you will see the real property taxes uh for the prior year and the current year as well as the state aid for the prior year and current year. And then we do a breakout of what is deemed miscellaneous revenue just to allow for people to understand where the other percentages of revenue come from. So for the 2025 2026 school year, the proposed budget is 157,776,153. That is a change of almost 5.5 million um and a percentage change of 3.61%. If you look down, I'm just going to skip down to the um tax levy area. The tax levy is 120,426,114. So almost 3.4 million in dollar change and it is a percentage of 2.89. That then follows down in regards to the tax
011rate. So, the uh tax rate for the 2024 2025 school year, the current school year we're in, was $262.17 per 100 assessed value. And the 2025 2026 proposed rate to date is $26,9.74 uh per 100 assessment. So that's $757 of a change which is also the 2.89%. Um something to note here and I'll go a little bit further the next slide is this information is as of what was approved in October of 2024 by the board for the rate as well as what was provided by the town of Huntington from the assessor's office. So that was these are finalized numbers for 2526. The board will have the opportunity to approve the um rate as of October and then at that time the town will also provide us with updated information of the final assessment. So
012this next slide provides a little bit of additional information when it comes to the tax increase. So, if as mentioned on the last slide, the average uh assessed value is $3,516. Looking at that, per the calculation, the annual assessed um annual assessed value estimated increase would be $266.40. So, when you divide that by 12, um you get a monthly estimated increase of $22.20. Um, this goes down a little bit lower and says the assessed value is equal to the dollar amount placed on a home by the pertinent municipality, for example, town of Huntington, to calculate property taxes. Um, another thing to note is usually around this time they will provide an estimate of we believe the assessment for Huntington is this number. We have seen that number change. um it usually changes annually. So, we
013did not make any adjustments in here. We are waiting for the final number to come out. I do like to say that uh because some school districts you will find they make adjustments and then they're adjusting. Again, we felt that it was appropriate to hold strong with what we had been providing throughout the presentations. This next slide deals with contingency budgets. So, in the event that the budget uh was not supported by the community, you have two choices. Either we come back and we make adjustments and we put the budget back out for a revote or we go into a contingent budget pathway. In the event that we were functioning under a contingent budget, we have a I'd say about 3.8 8 or 3.9 million that would have to be removed from our current proposed
014budget which has a huge impact on how we function as a school district. This would impact class sizes, staffing, transportation, non-mandated programs, athletics, and extracurricular activities. So in the event that we were to have to go to a contingent budget, it means that you cannot levy more than what you levied in the prior school year. So in the 2024 2025 school year, um things that would have to come out of the budget would be equipment purchases. It would be professional development and conferences, contracted and consultant services, any transfer to capitals that are happening. um components of the administrative component would have to be reduced. Uh the use of school buildings and grounds would have to be reviewed, reduced or removed. Um and then we would also look at how much we are using in reserves
015and appropriated fund balance and if it is appropriate considering the amount of a budget adjustment that would occur. Um just so people are aware, the above reductions total 1.3 million. So that means 2.6 still needs to be found within this number. Um, and that's why you see all the things listed on the last slide about class sizes, extracurricular, non-mandated, because those would be areas you have to touch to bring the budget down. Next, there is an inclusion for transfer to capital. Um, we plan to do this annually and we have over the last couple of years. The uh budgetary appropriation is 260,000 and we do receive aid for these projects. Um so the plans for the transfer to capital for the 2025 2026 school year deals with uh safety. So we are focusing in on
016smoke separation doors. This is something that we approved last year for the other primary buildings. So this gets us uh to par across primary buildings in regards to the smoke separation doors. So you see Flower Hill and Jefferson. And then for Wood Hall, there is an inclusion for panic device, latching hardware, door replacement, and repair. And then this also lists some things that we could utilize these funds for in the future. So they would be future discussions. Any questions? All right, I'm gonna turn it over to Superintendent McCoy. Thank you. Before I begin, I do want to thank Dr. Harris for doing a phenomenal job in preparing this year's budget and in answering the multitude of questions that I would bring to her throughout this year. um as this was my first time in in
017a new capacity and really wanting to know as much as possible about every aspect of the budget and any questions I had, she was extremely helpful and supportive and does a phenomenal job. So, I did just want to say thank you before I get into some of the fun things that we continue to support in Huntington. Um, I mentioned this at the last meeting as well, the video broadcasting program which will continue to expand and then apply the real world experiences with our out auditorium project coming up next summer as well as the expansion of computer science with cyber security courses which we all know if we read the paper um how many places are getting hacked on a regular basis. Cyber security is a huge huge growing industry for our students to explore. Um,
018we're also going to continue to replace our Chromebooks and desktops to ensure that students and staff have all the tools to teach and learn with optimal re resources. And I think sometimes we take that for granted. We really do have a great system with end of life and replacing Chromebooks, but they really are costly. And we really try to do it in a very meaningful way so that we can continue to sustain what we have in the district. um continuing to support our 70 intercolastic athletic teams for Finley and the high school including unified teams during each season. Uh on the next slide, continued participation with first Lego League, National History Day, Suffach County Mock Trial, esports drama, musical productions in grades 4 through 12, and our wonderful dual language program. continuing to provide mental
019health support and counseling for college and career. Um with our full services counseling center, extensive supports for students with varied learning needs including special education services and English language learners. Um our robust CTE offers off offerings and participation and 32 AP courses um which is a super impressive offering for our students. Um and we also included the installation of smoke separation doors. So, the 2020 uh6 capital project proposals uh total the amount of $3,642,500. Um we did look at the building condition survey priority list to come up with these as well as when we walked through the district uh with the board to really look at some of the needs, areas of need, areas of wants, and then really making sure that we're prioritizing what needs to be done and then also trying to make
020enhancements to our facilities. So we have the interior door uh kitchen tray pass um at uh the primary and intermediate buildings at the high school, the enclosure of stairs and smoke separations at the first and second floor. Um interior rated walls at offices and rooms that were not fire rated. Um stage egress and proper fire rated walls. So a lot of safety pieces there. um the final phase of the roof replacement at Jack Abram STEM and outside field bathrooms which we really do think will be such an essential uh piece of our campus which will really allow our students I mean so many times I'm outside with kids whether it's a you know it's PE outdoors or an athletic event or we're you know field day for the high school kids and it's Mr. Hoops
021can somebody give me a ride to the bathroom please. So, um, we're really looking forward to having a nice facility where our students can really enjoy being outside and not have to take 20 minutes to get into the building and and then come back out or utilize a portaotty, which we all know isn't really an ideal um place that any of us really want to spend time. So, um, we're really looking forward to that opportunity as well. Um so the ballot propositions the 2025 2026 proposed budget on proposition one 157,776,153. Prop 2 is the capital reserve appropriations which I just referred to the capital projects totaling 3 million $642,500. Um voters must approve the release of these monies that are already situated in the capital reserve fund. So there will not be an additional impact
022on the tax levy or the tax rate with voter approval. And then proposition three is establishing the new capital reserve fund which would be titled the 2025 building improvement fund with a term of 10 years funded in the amount of ultimately 15 million. Um and that would cover costs in whole or in part in the future related to our capital improvements. And again, there would be no additional impact on the tax levy or the tax rate. So, we encourage everyone to come out and vote on Tuesday, May 20th from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Huntington High School gymnasium. Questions or comments from board members? Questions or comments from the public? All right, that being said, can I have a motion to conclude the public hearing and re-enter the regular meeting? Michelle, second by
023Annie. All in favor? That is everyone. We're moving on to board of education meeting minutes of April 22nd, 2025. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approved minutes from the meeting of the Huntington Union Free School Board of Education uh meeting dated April 22nd, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? First by Teresa, second by Kelly. All in favor? That's everyone. We have a few FYIs um two through five. Any questions or comments from board members? Moving on to the treasures report. It is pron recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the March 2025 treasurer's report. Can I have a motion, please? Bill's first, Annie second. All in favor? That's everyone. And warrants. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that
024the board of education approved the attached warrants which were certified for payment on April 23rd, 2025 and May 7th, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? Tom first, Teresa second. All in favor? That is everyone. And now it's open to board communication and announcements. any board member? Okay. Um just two things. I wanted to thank um uh our high school principal, Miss Brown, and her team um at the high school for uh putting on a lovely night last week. Was it last week? I don't even remember. Last week, for uh the distinguished senior dinner. So, thank you for that. That was a fabulous night. And um I think the kids and the parents and everyone enjoyed it. and uh just acknowledge the amount of talent. If you didn't go to KF Factor, you you really
025missed out. That was phenomenal. Um when she came out and danced on those stilts, I mean I I couldn't believe it. So, uh if you look at the website that there's pictures up there, it was a incredible evening and we have so much talent uh in Huntington uh to be proud of. So, thank you to uh the key the key um key club for putting that on and the staff and the custodians. It's a big production and it showed that the care and love that goes into putting that um event on. Anyone else? Superintendent McCoy, it's all yours. Okay. So, I will skip over those things that I wanted to mention, but I I can't just not say anything. So, I'm just going to say the distinguished seniors event was phenomenal. Cape Factor was a
026blast. And I will mention SEPTA uh sunset and sounds fundraiser. It was an enjoyable evening in such a beautiful location with our beautiful community raising money to support our incredible students. So, thank you uh to Miss Balibur and her team. I know you're here tonight. Uh it was a wonderful event. Thank you for for all that you do for SEPTA. Um, I am pleased to report that we have or will administer a total of 974 AP exams this year, which is an 11% increase from last year. Additionally, we have 452 students taking these exams this year, which is an increase of 12% from last year. So, that's something to be very proud of. Um, go Huntington. We're on the way to the goal of having every student take at least one AP exam. And hopefully
027we're acknowledged this year. I think we started at bronze, we got silver, and hopefully we're going for the gold. Um, for this year with the APS. Um, in the area of peri of fine and performing arts, uh, we had Bandfest on April 26th. We had over 225 band students in grades four through eight who attended this, uh, day of fun and learning. Uh, students spent time working with our district-wide band staff and sectionals. They had a march off with Mr. Rudo in the gym and performed a sidebyside concert for their parents. It truly was phenomenal. and there was no room on the stage. So, if we get any bigger in that area, we're going to have to find a find a bigger boat. Um, on April 30th, the Huntington Blue Double Marching Band held its
028open house at the high school. Students in grades 7 through 12 were invited to learn about our program and begin working on music for next year's show during sectional rehearsals. Uh, while students rehearsed, parents met to learn about the band parent association of Huntington and how they can become involved in this very active parent organization. So, that was another great event. Um, from the art department, our Huntington Camera Club competition, we had a total of 605 entries from 270 students from 11 different high schools. Um, Huntington won first place and best in show in the open category, C um, Isabella Cruz Pon. Second place open category, Shannon Capel. Third place open category, Kylie Bartch. Honorable mention, Steven Spina. Another honorable mention for Kelly Bonitez and an honorable mention in the minimalism category, Faith Robertson. So,
029phenomenal job in that in that all around. Um, our Huntington High School Chamber orchestra earned a level five gold at NISMA Major organization. So, another super accomplishment for our wonderful uh music program. And the Huntington Tony nominations came out. Um the awards judges watched every high school drama club production in the town throughout the past year and that's how they they find their nominations for each category. Um so this year's awards recipients will be announced during a ceremony at Harbor Field on Thursday, May 15th. Um, there's a red carpet outside the building at 6:00 for the kids to walk in and the ceremony kicks off at 700 p.m. Some other upcoming events, spring concert season starts tomorrow with Finley 7th grade concert at the high school at 7. May 15th, we have the grade 8
030concert. The 19th is our film festival at the Cinema Arts Center. And then we have our district art show next week. Um, this is one of my favorite times of the year when we get to see all of the exceptional student artwork on display and then see the fashion designs of our high school students as they strut their stuff on the runway. So, if you can attend, that is at 4 and 700 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20th, although the art show will be available all day on Tuesday, May 20th and Wednesday, May 21st. Um, we also found out today that we have once again been awarded with the best communities for music education. Uh so we're really proud of that accomplishment and that will be um advertised soon. We just found that out just before
031the meeting today. So some news in the area of athletics. Uh our high school boys and girls lacrosse teams are ranked very high in the polls. Um as of last week we were ranked the girls were ranked number four and the boys were ranked number seven. So it looks like we have some playoff uh experiences that we'll be going through in the next couple of weeks. Uh Vincent Pillo was honored at um at all county and Thomas Smith captured an academic athletic scholarship at the Suffach County Wrestling Coaches Association dinner. Our varsity boys and girls bad mitten teams both won their matches against your park which was our first victory in bad mitten. So that was very exciting. Um and we also got new curtains at the Huntington High School gym which we've been waiting
032for us for quite some time. So the old ones were 16 years old. So we're really excited about that. Um, what else? I I have so much more I could Oh, the girls varsity assistant track coach, Alisa Alyssa Cesi. She is an HUFSD alum. She won the recent Long Island Marathon women's division, which is just another phenomenal accomplishment. Um, and our our kids get to learn from her and she's clearly a phenomenal athlete. So, that's wonderful. Um, I won't really repeat the update from the governor's executive budget um because I know Dr. Harris went through that. But I do just want to note um that, you know, News Day reports some things that may not exactly um look the way that they were presented this evening. Um they reported over $2 million for Huntington that
033we were getting uh for the upcoming school year. Um but please note that we anticipate a total of $677,000 in f in foundation aid. All of the other monies are expense-based so that when we're spending the money, then we get aid back. So, that's not really um the way it's presented, and I just wanted to clarify that. Um so, based on the year-to-year cost, the additional funding we would receive is about 677,000, but that doesn't cover the cost of the budget-to-budget increase of 5.5 million. So, I just wanted to mention that quickly. Um I know she mentioned the zero emission buses and the cell phone ban. Um we have been having a lot of conversations about this. We found out recently that this needs to be approved by August 1st and there are several steps
034that need to be taken. So we will be looking to expedite that process a little bit. Um we had heard belltobell for quite some time but it wasn't exactly clear if bellto bell meant during instructional time or if belltobell meant from the beginning of the school day to the end of the school day. We now have that clarification that it is beginning of the school day to the end of the school day. Um, so we're working through that process. On June 2nd, uh, we will be presenting a proposed plan for the future of our intermediate buildings. We will not be approving the plan that day, but we will just be sharing a draft plan as it currently stands. We've been working on that for quite some time. Um there will be a Google form shared
035after the presentation to gather additional feedback from the community and there will likely be a community meeting as well um where community members can come and ask questions or have a conversation about the proposal. Um just a reminder that we are truly fortunate um that the foresight of our team over the past 5 years have provided us with air conditioning in our instructional spaces. It is a true gift as we approach the warmer weather months. So, I know that um I just wanted to mention that to everyone that we do have those air conditioning units and they are in full working order. Um we do have a senior walkthrough plan. This is something that recently someone brought up. Could we do this? We've actually been working on it for the past I'm going to say
036six or seven months. Um I know Mr. Cuzak's been working with Miss Brown, uh the primary principles, Dr. Papandria to uh really have a an opportunity for our seniors in their graduation caps and gowns to go down to the primary schools um to kind of walk through the buildings and give some high fives and really show our little ones uh what it's going to be like for them in a few years. Um and lastly, the public relations survey. I know Mr. Hender sent out a reminder about that today. If you haven't completed it, we'll take the good, we'll take the bad, we'll take the ugly. We do want to hear from everyone. we have had a good turnout and we've received a lot of positive and a lot of areas where you know we want
037to know what tweaks we can make and how we can make things better. So please feel free. Um last but not least I do want to announce um our upcoming exeicio board member. Um we had a process put in place where our juniors were able to indicate their interest in becoming a student board member for us starting July 1. It began last month or maybe two months ago at this point and concluded two weeks ago as our cabinet held interviews with the final three candidates. So we are thrilled to welcome our exeicio student board member beginning on July 1. Her name is Emily her Herrera Rivas. She has received numerous awards for her participation in national history day including local regional and state competitions. She dedicates her time when she's not studying for her rigorous
038course load. She volunteers at Long Island Helping Hand Rescue Mission and Family Service League. She does this while working and participating in math, social studies, English, and science honor societies, and the New World Club and girls wrestling and tennis. So, she's pretty busy. Um, but she will be up here with us starting in July as a board member. She truly impressed us as did the other candidates throughout the selection process which was comprised of an application, letters of recommendation, student essay indicating their interest, committee interviews, peer review of candidates applications and then final interviews with central office. So it was quite a rigorous process. Thank you to Mr. Levy, Miss Brown, Dr. Papandria, and Mr. Cuz along with some staff, additional staff members for putting that together. Um, and last but not least, Tuesday, May
03920th from 6:00 am to 9 pm, please exercise your right to vote. Thank you. It's a lot. Sorry. You know, one of the things that caught my eye is that there's always a lot of great news about our alum. And one of the things I noticed was a class of 2015 graduate Gunther. He set all kinds of swimming records in our district and he's now trying out for the Olympics. So, wish him the best of luck. Uh, I'm sure he'll continue to make us proud. Uh, these air conditioning, you know, I I like to tell my kids that I walked to school barefoot. Now I can say there was no air conditioning when I was going to school, but they did live through a pandemic, right? So, I think they still have one over me.
040All right. At this point, we'd like to open it up for public commentary. Public commentary is open to residents and employees of the Huntington School District. Speakers are limited to three non-transferable minutes per person. There will be a maximum of 30 minutes total for all comments. We will open it up again for a second public commentary toward the end of this meeting. Priority will be given to comments related to today's regular business meeting titled items for discussion in action. The public commentary is not intended to be a question and answer session with the board members or administration and speak speakers should not expect to engage in discussion with board members or administration. When you approach the podium, please identify your affiliation to the district whether you're a resident or you're an employee. Use the form
041at the podium to sign in. Please refrain from naming any students or employees of the district. Public commentary is now open. All right, don't all rush up there. Uh there will be a second public commentary towards the end of the meeting today. With that, we'll move on to items for discussion and action. The first matter is handled with care presentation. I'll do this. Um, I'm going to ask for a motion. So, it is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approved the memorandum of understanding with the Suffach County Sheriff's Office relating to the handle with care program for the 2025 2026 school year. Can I have a motion? Michelle, second by Annie. So, uh, in the fall I was approached about an opportunity to pilot an initiative with the Suffach
042County Sheriff's Office called Handle with Care. I would like to start by thanking Lars Clemenson, superintendent of the Hampton Bay School District, and Bob Veio, president of the Nassau Suffach School Boards Association, along with Rebecca Sanin, Suffach County Legislator for District 16, and Suffach County Sheriff Errol Tulon Jr. for contacting me to begin the discussion about this initiative. Um Mr. Clemenson out in Hampton Bays was looking to start his pilot of this program in January um with the Southampton Police Department and they it has yielded positive results for the students in their district. So we were looking to create a similar experience starting it here in Huntington and the goal for both regions is really that hopefully if this works well it's something that could expand to other school districts as well. Um, it really
043has been a pleasure working with this group of individuals throughout the year as we've worked towards crafting language and protocols to implement implement this program as a pilot starting in September. I would also like to thank Deputy Superintendent Chris Hender and Director of Safety and Security Jared Stein for their assistance in getting us to this point today. So, we already have many collaborations between schools and law enforcement and many of them are listed here. We've welcomed school resource officers to support students in learning about online safety, stranger danger, and they've helped to facilitate safety drills, training for staff, etc. So, this new initiative would be another example of a partnership with local law enforcement. And the goal of this is really an approach to mitigate trauma. So simply put, if a law enforcement if law
044enforcement encounters a child who is victim or witnesses a traumatic incident, the address of the location where it occurred and three words would be forwarded to the school district. Handle with care. Um if a child u so basically we would receive that information via email and it would just say handle with care. there would be no additional details. Uh research shows that having safe, stable and nurturing relationships can prevent or even reverse the damaging effects of childhood trauma. So the goal is if a child has in been impacted by a situation, we would be able to look for some um behaviors or some things that perhaps were happening with the child and just be a little bit more sensitive um to what the child might be going through. We wouldn't have any specifics, but we
045would know that something occurred that perhaps could be impacting the child. So, how we might see that at school, if something, you know, uh, traumatic happens in a home the night before, you might have a child who comes in without their homework. They might be very tired the next day. They might not have had a full breakfast or they might not have had dinner the night before. Um, they might be a little bit more anxious or not be as as readily able to concentrate. So, we would just want to know that if something did happen, we would want to be a little bit more sensitive to student needs um, when they're walking through our doors the next day. So, how would this look for the sheriff's office? What would happen is they would receive a
046call and the sheriff's office has very specific things that they handle with handle as opposed to the Suffach County PD. But after they would receive a call if they noticed that there were children present, they would not ask their names. They would not ask their ages. They would not ask what school they go to. All they would do is select our district. They would scan a QR code or perhaps it they would have an email address. They would just enter the street address, the CC number, and click submit. And they would write on that handle with care. Um, and that would only be for traumatic incidents such as domestic violence, arrest or death of a parent or guardian, witness of violent behavior, or other significant events or incidents. The process for the school district would
047be that we would receive an email um which would go to one centralized person that would just have the address and it would say HWC. No additional information would be present other than the CC number, but it would be the address and the CC number and HWC. So we would receive that email and let's say it went to Mr. Stein. He would then contact the principal of the building and say, "We received a handle with care at this particular address. Please let the staff know that when anyone from this address comes in today, they may be impacted in some way. We don't have any details. We don't want the staff to do anything necessarily. We just want them to know that this child or these children may come in with a little bit of a
048different affect today and we want to just be a little bit more sensitive. So, we're not going to press them for their homework. We might encourage them to get breakfast. Um, and if the child says, "Can I talk to you about something?" or "Can I see someone?" We would certainly, you know, facilitate that, but we wouldn't be asking the child any questions. We wouldn't be saying, "Did something happen to you?" We would just really be a little bit extra more sensitive um when they arrive at school. And the goal for this really is to just shift the paradigm of really focusing on being proactive rather than reactive. I can't tell you how many times when I was a teacher or as a principal when we would say, "I just wish I knew. I wish someone
049told me that that happened last night. If I knew that this family was evicted or if I knew that there was, you know, a a death in the family, if we knew, we'd be able to provide a different level of care for a particular child." Um, so really just trying to be as proactive as possible. I did just want to mention that the goal for this summer would be for um, Mr. Stein will be working with this up um, with the sheriff's office. We have created a QR code. We're still not sure if that's the best way to go or if it will be an email address. Um, but just so that it would be very easy to populate that Google form so that we would receive that on our end. Um, and then at
050superintendent's conference day, we would be rolling this out in our faculty meeting presentations just so that if a teacher knows so that a teacher would know that if they received an email that said handle with care, they would just know that something occurred potentially the day before or it could have been two days before, you know, depending on when we receive it where they would just want to keep an eye out and really be very sensitive to the needs of that particular child. Okay, any questions? Beth, I have a question. Is the information uh that's given foilable or is it protected on the fur? I know it's no particular student, but you still have it addresses. Is that So the Well, the the criminal complaint numbers, the CC numbers are always that's that's a public
051record. Um but we would not be maintaining that data. It's a one-way in. So we would just get an address and handle with care with the number. Um, we've talked about purging that file monthly so that we wouldn't even have a record of when they happened like, you know, over time. Um, so that we wouldn't even have that information because the goal is really just to be able to provide a level of sensitivity to students. I've I've got two questions. Um, is the traumatic incident list is that is there like one comprehensive list or is it subject to the discretion of the uh responding officer? So, if it if it was a the Suffach County um if it was the Suffach County Police Department, it's really a much broader scope. But because this is just
052being piloted with the sheriff's office, it's those things that I listed. They're more extreme situations. So, it wouldn't be um you know um like a like a small situation. These are more um I would say traumatic situations like an eviction um a death in the family, an arrest, those types of things that would really not that other things wouldn't impact a child, but these are more significant or more severe. Um if this goes well and the Suffach County Police Department wants to expand this, then that would be a broader list that we would be responding to. Um when I did speak to Hampton Bays about it, they're they're working with um Southampton Police Department and I think when I spoke to them, they had two or three reports like this. So, it's not that it's
053like a tremendous amount. We don't anticipate this being, you know, a daily occurrence. We certainly hope not. Um but we want when it does happen, we want to be able to respond the best way possible to kids. Okay, great. I actually have uh two more. So, how long does the handle with care distinction stay on that child's file or record or does it doesn't get put on the child's record at all? It doesn't ever get associated with the name. It just gets associated with an address. Oh, and with the CC number. Yes. Okay. So, it doesn't it's not linked to the specific student. No, it will not go into their record in any way. Um, and we are looking that was a discussion I had with the superintendent from Hampton Bay was, you know, how
054are you maintaining this or are you not maintaining it? And we've discussed internally here that we're looking to purge that list. But if a child does need assistance and says to their teacher, can I speak to someone or can I speak to you or you know, can you give me some support? This happened yesterday. Then we would refer them to mental health supports in our buildings. Okay. And then what type of training will our staff receive for this? So it it really is more of a a notification piece. So it's that they would need to know what to do if they received that email. And we're not looking for them to do an intervention. We're not looking them to seek the child out. We're not looking for them to do ask any questions. It's really
055a it's for them to know that there might have been something that happened and that the child might present a little bit differently today and to just be aware of that. Um if they notice something that is, you know, more extreme, then we would want them to contact one of the support staff members in the building. Um or if the child says, "Can I speak to someone?" we would want to put them in touch with an appropriate support staff member that could assist them. Okay. Thank you. And and that will take place on superintendent conference day if this moves forward. Okay. Great. Thanks. It seems like a great program. I think it's been around since 2013 in West Virginia. Right. Yes. It's it's growing there. It's gaining momentum. Um and I do think even when
056um Hampton Bays did this, they created a drop down even though they're the only district out there using it. they have a drop down so that as it expands out there, their form will be able to get filtered to Bridgeampton School District and to Quag and to all of those different um districts in that region. So, I anticipate that that may be something that would happen in Suffach County. So, we're trying to create it with that in mind that at some point there will likely be district dropdowns on this clickable QR code. Any other questions or comments? I got one. It's more understanding our local law enforcement's structure. We're signing this agreement with the sheriff's office. Yes. Most of our experience is with SCPD. Yes. So, I'm guessing a sheriff's office is countywide, right? So,
057they work across all of the different precincts, but they aren't necessarily there on site. How do they become aware of something that SCPD handles so that the sheriff's office becomes aware to be able to notify the school district? believe when it and we we've had this conversation when it rises to the level of those types of incidents, they contact the sheriff's office for their involvement. So that's why it's not as frequent as something that would be occurring with the Suffach County um police department. Thanks. Um just one quick comment. Um, we were talking about $158 million plus budget that we were just going over now and uh you think of all the things that uh you're being tasked with to take the time uh as all of admin has been asked to do with this
058uh to talk about something which some people might be such a subtle and nuance but such an important part of what we do as educators for for these children. Um, you know, it's a real part of the safety net that I really appreciate you spending this time, the months of time that you put in thinking about this program. Uh, I think it says an awful lot about administration and the school district uh, and the and the people that are behind it. So, thank you for putting in this time. Thank you. Appreciate that. Anyone else? All in favor? That's everyone. Thank you. All right, moving on to program proposal reveal mathematics. Good evening everybody. Um, here with Dr. Brasani and thank you very much for giving us a little bit of time to go over the
059process and the content of our proposal for a new math program uh grades 6 through 8. We'll keep it brief but uh I'll uh uh begin with just sharing a little bit about how we arrived at this particular uh program. So the the rationale for looking into this in the first place was to align um our 6 through8 math with next generation learning standards and um so the math department and Dr. Groani uh sought to procure a program that would assist in that transition to these standards. uh grades K through five mathematics currently use Reveal math and that does address the standards uh in a in a comprehensive fashion and so the adoption of reveal math for grades 6 through 8 will provide uh continuity grades K through 8 across the board. So, just to
060give a little sense of the time it uh takes to to put this all together, uh back in August of 2024, uh Dr. Kasani uh started to get in touch with uh different vendors uh to present presentations to the department. Uh this past fall in October, there was an initial review of three different programs. Uh it was a team of administrators, myself, Dr. Kasani uh teachers, directors, principles um and the RTI uh faculty in each building to take a look at three different programs uh to come to a conclusion to see what would be best for our kids. There were three different vendors uh that uh presented about 45 minutes to the group each uh to show what they had to offer, what the program would look like, what the assessments would look like, the
061activities, the day-to-day, and um so we all saw three different uh products and and um programs that we could choose from and the teachers were provided all the different resources to review. Uh there was an evaluation rubric that was put together for the teachers to uh go through for each of those three programs and the top two were selected for an 8week pilot each. Uh we looked at readymath, reveal math and into math. So, just to give a little sense of how these programs were evaluated, um we we have a whole um rubric that was put together. Essentially, the components of the rubric uh focused on all of these items here on a three-point scale. So, curriculum features, the student materials that they would be using, uh the support for teachers, the types of technology
062and um the user functions for the technology pieces were all evaluated uh standards alignment in terms of those next generation standards, the support for L's and for students with IEPs, the digital assessments that were provided, and also the parental connection. All of those pieces were part of the evaluation process for teachers and administrators to to look through. Bless you. So, um, as I mentioned, the pilot for those two for the top two programs was eight weeks in length. So, each of the teachers um were able to cover a minimum of one unit per grade level. And during the pilot, uh, digital assessments were implemented and all of the tools, the online tools that would be used. Uh, some teacher training was provided before each of the pilots so that teachers would be comfortable with the
063uh the user features of each of the programs. Uh, so those pilots were conducted in November through January and then February through April. Once that was all concluded, uh, the teachers came together and under the direction of Dr. Gasani, we all met and came to some conclusions about which would uh work best for uh again for our kids and for our district. The results of the pilot were reveal math was uh really came out on top. Uh the feeling was that the correct uh the instructional support was very userfriendly. The materials were uh very easy to navigate for the teachers and um very uh user friendly for the kids as well. There were multiple types of assessments that were provided. Um the technology piece and all of the manipulatives and interactive tools uh worked seamlessly
064and there was a lot of support for L's and the standards of New York State were also um represented well in the product. So Dr. Grassani is going to go through some of the content and at the end if we have any questions we'll be happy to answer them. I'll hand it off to Dr. Gresani. Good evening everyone. I got to move this down. Um I'm excited to be here um to really talk about this product. I've kind of lived it since I've been here in Huntington with the K5 grades and now to be able to extend it to six hopefully extend it to 678. I'm very excited. So let me just tell you a little bit about the program. It really is the same as if you know the K5 program. Um this is
065what it looks like. Course one is sixth grade. Um we do our seven accelerated and we do algebra 1 and 8th grade. Now this is the lesson model and it's the same lesson model that we have implemented in grades K through five and it starts with a launch and I'm I'll show you that in a bit. it. Then the next part of the lesson is the explore and develop which could be activity based exploration or a guided exploration with the teacher. Um there are different types of assessments. There's a practice and reflect and then a differentiation. And this again is the model K through 8. So this is just an example that we wanted to share with you. Um this is the lesson opener. It's kind of like a warm-up. It's the be what uh
066what do you notice? What do you wonder? Every lesson opens that way. Um, and students have an opportunity to kind of think about something that's like opposed to them that's kind of something in real life. And here you can see it says, "How many different shades of purple are there? How is each shade of purple different from another shade of purple?" So, it kind of brings it. It starts to get the thinking going to get the lesson started. And then we get into the explore and develop. Um this is where the lesson is developed which can be done in an activity or it could be um the teacher could be like posing questions and this is where the kids take notes and they learn their new concepts. It's like our mini lesson. U what do
067you notice about the math story that the classmate asks? What do you what do you still wonder after listening to your classmates story? How might the story have shaped your classmates's thinking after math class today? So, it's really kind of the meat and potatoes of the lesson. Um, and now we move on to assessing. Um, every lesson has an exit ticket which can be both paper and digital. Um, and this is way of assessing the lesson. The teacher can come come back the next day and modify the lesson if necessary. This is uh one way of assessing. Then we have our practice and reflect. The practice can be done in class and then obviously an a homework assignment which again can be paper or digital. And then these are all the different types of assessments
068that reveal has provided for us both in paper and digital. Um, we have a readiness diagnostic, uh, an exit ticket, lesson quizzes, math probes, we have benchmark assessments, end of the year assessments. And by the way, all of these assessments can be modified. So, they can change the questions, change the numbers, change the names because it's all digital. So, it it really does provide an opportunity for teachers to kind of modify and create their own. And then once all of those assessments are given or some of them um we can now differentiate for our students um we can extend their thinking and this could be one of an example is this this product is very much involved in STEM activities. So this is a STEM adventure which could really challenge some students. Um and then
069there could be let's just take another look again. This is all because of the teacher has an opportunity to look at all those assessments and now assign these different activities. So this is a reinforcement of understanding. Let's go back and let's look again. And then there's one other type of assessment which is our fluency which just goes over fluency skills um which if students need that that's available as well. And I have to say that um we had looked at this pract product a few years ago for this 67 and 8 and one of the things that was said to us was that didn't have enough for our Spanish speakers or other languages and they've really changed the product I'd say in the last two years. So now everything pretty much comes in Spanish and
070and supports other languages as well. They really do take our um suggestions and they have made revisions to the product. They're very very easy to work with. Any questions? I actually do have a couple questions. The um the reveal math when we approved K through five was probably was like three years ago. Yes, we're going on year four. And you've heard great feedback from teachers data. Yeah. So, what I love about Reveal is like a a teacher just emailed me the other day about um the way they present something and I can actually email them and say, "Can you like look into this?" And they will. So, they are using the some teacher what what's great about it is not all teachers are using all the assessments, but they get to choose what works for
071them and works for their kids. And that's what I love about the product. There's just so much out there. It can the first year of any implementation can be overwhelming for teachers because they have all these new resources but now we're moving into year I believe year four in September and um I think they they truly feel comfortable and have found a rhythm with with the product. Awesome. And I noticed there's a lot of professional development built in to this. So there'll be on-site staff training for this um from the company itself. And is there any plan to have teachers in K through five? I don't know what the translation would be K through five then to jump to six, you know, seven, eight, but um is there any plan to kind of have teachers
072who are now well-versed in it just the assessment pieces and the, you know, resource pieces? Uh what's great with this product is now we have sixth grade that we hopefully will adopt this program, but I have the fifth grade teachers in the same building and they're using the product. So there's like there's a built-in kind of coaching system. And then obviously the RTI coaches have been fantastic in supporting the training of teachers. But what I did when when we adopted the K5 is we spent the fall and the spring bringing in trainers from the companies to work with the teachers. I believe I did that for two consecutive years to really dive into the product. And what I like to do is each session kind of specifies on a partific excuse me specific part of
073the product meaning technology or assessment so that way they don't get overwhelmed at that training. Excellent. Thank you so much. Question you were saying before that you had uh it could be used both digital and paper format. um the uh the program that's available, will students be able to have uh like a digital notebook? Is that part of the program there or will they be able to add to it at all? There are ways that stu students will be answering digitally. I don't know if they'll have a whole notebook, but whatever is provided digitally, they'll be able to answer digitally. I don't know if that answers your question. I'm just wondering uh the seamless u how seamless it might be for kids who choose to you know be more tactile um drawing writing um or
074if they're will it be up to the the student uh to to choose at times or I guess that's up to the teacher to decide or do they have the availability to be able to answer things uh both ways. So I think the best way to answer that is um you know the teacher is going to probably drive that to some degree mostly because um I think some of the online components the digital components are helpful in that uh it it serves to assist in differentiation. Right. Right. So, as they're doing these formative assessments, teachers can kind of pivot and as you were seeing earlier, um there's some enrichment, there's some, you know, review type of uh activities and they can kind of utilize that data. If you're switching, you know, if some kids are
075doing paper, some are doing digital, that might impact, um, you know, the immediacy of receiving that formative assessment feedback to develop the next day's lesson, for instance. So, I think it would be more for teachers to to do that, but also, you know, we rely on teachers to know their kids best and also to know, you know, how they're going to respond. Um, it's true, I think some, you know, some kids will have a preference. Um, and it's really just a matter of the lesson of the day and and what's going to work best uh as they're, you know, going through these developing the unit. Just looking for the flexibility. That's all at the K to5 level when we've done observations and in classrooms there are workbooks. So there's the um workbook that goes along
076with the lesson. So there are a lot of paper and pencil opportunities for our kids to utilize the workbooks and and the hands-on pieces. So it's not all online. We're really looking for a great balance of technology as an enhancement or a support but not the sole way that our kids are learning. We know that they need to write. We certainly know that they need to practice writing particularly K to five but also six through eight. So yeah and the and the teachers were able to access all of the uh materials to to really assess uh and and help make the decision. Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to both of you and all the staff who took the time and extra work to pilot the program. Um I know it takes
077a lot of extra work to do that and a lot of patience and trial and error. So thank you so much. I was going to say the same. Uh the teachers who are involved in this and all the administrators were very grateful for their help with this and their thoughtful approach. I really this is one of the first uh soup to nuts experiences that I've had from the curricular standpoint and at different grade levels and seeing just how much thought goes into a program from August to now um is great. You know, I think that it it gives me a good uh sense of confidence in the way we do things here because it's a collaborative approach and it's really comprehensive and um and thoughtfully done. So, I appreciate everything you did as well. Just
078say I just want to add on that. This has been such an great experience just go going through from August to now. The teachers have been so supportive and of each other. Um, it really was an easy decision for them. Uh, not for me. I I don't weigh in, but it was a very easy decision for them and I think I can't thank them enough and the principles as well because they were super supportive. Um, so it was um, it was just a great experience for everyone involved. That's all I want to say. Thank you, Dr. Garz, Mr. Kuzak. Thank you very much. Right. Moving on to the next three items are policies. I'm going to go through them. If either if any of them uh require a uh bypass, I'll ask for it. If
079you don't want the bypass, we'll leave it as a first read. Okay. All right. So policy 1220 board of education members nomination and election and regulation 1220 is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education review first read draft board policy 1220 board of education members nomination and election and its regulation with options for further consideration or second read adoption. Can I have a motion for first read Teresa? Second by Kelly. All in favor? That's everyone. And I make a motion for Can I make a motion to bypass first read? Yes. Motion by Teresa. Second by Michelle. All in favor. That's everyone. Policies adopted. Moving on to the next one. Policy 3311. Notification of disclosure of employee disciplinary records and 3311F. Notice to employees of freedom of information law request is
080upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education review. First read draft board policy 3311 notification of disclosure of employee disciplinary records in 3311F notice to employees of freedom of information law request with options for further considerations or second read adoption all in one breath. Can I have a motion Annie? Second by Michelle. Uh, is there a motion for bypass? All right, so we'll leave that one as the first read. Move on to the next one. Policy 8113, extreme heat in schools. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education review first read draft policy 8113 extreme heat in schools with options for further consideration or second read option. Can I have a motion for first? I'll make a motion to bypass the Okay. Uh, first motion
081from Michelle, second by Teresa. All in favor. That's everyone. Thanks, Michelle. That a lot easier that way. All right. Moving on to curriculum and instruction. It is upon rep uh recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve CSSE CPSC submissions as delineated. Can we have a motion? Teresa, second by Kelly. All in favor? That's everyone. And personnel. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules 2 3 5 6 8 10 11 13 15 16 19 and 22. Can we have a motion? Bill first, Michelle second. All in favor? That's everyone. Just a few quick announcements. So, uh, we've gone through our first wave of new hires and there are some really tremendous candidates that we've interviewed. Uh, some of them
082are sitting here today and some others had, uh, some obligations as this is a busy time of year. Uh, so if you're in the audience, if you could stand, smile, and wave when I call your name, that would be great. We, uh, the board just appointed Justin Boba as a special education teacher at Flower Hill. Welcome aboard. Stephania Flores was just appointed as a dual language teacher at Jefferson Primary School. Welcome. Kayla Moran has been serving as a uh speech therapist for the past 2 years and finally uh is uh slotted for a probationary position uh districtwide. So, congratulations. Carlos Sanchez was just appointed as a social worker [Applause] districtwide. Dennis Scrugs was just appointed as a social worker at Finley Middle School. Welcome [Applause] aboard Liliana Torres, school psychologist at Huntington High School. And
083a return of a PE teacher, Jake Torres, who is returning from his stint at Harborfields to come back and work with uh the Blue Devil community. So, welcome aboard. Welcome to Huntington. Now, moving on to business. All right. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of school that the board of education approve business items J through O. Can we have a motion? Tom first, Teresa second. All in favor? That's everyone. We have some very generous donations this evening. Empire Subaru is presenting a donation of $1,516 to the virtual enterprise program at the high school. Thank you so much for that generous donation. [Applause] The booster club is presenting a donation of an outdoor bronze memorial plaque to Huntington High School in honor of alumni Greg Klene uh to be affixed by out by the flag
084pole for a total of $2212. Thank you so much for that generous [Applause] donation. Um the special uh SEPTA is presenting a donation of $2,000. This is a credit to their scholarship fund. Um, and they award 500 four or $500 scholarships to this year's graduating seniors. So, thank you for that generous donation. In addition, SEPTA uh has donated $3,610 to the district to support seven different grants which are outlined here for a total of $3,610. Thank you to SEPTA for that. [Applause] So when you go to the SEPTA event, that's what the money goes to to support all these uh incredible opportunities for our kids. Um and lastly, the um Stop and Shop is donating $7,500 in gift cards to the high school uh through a grant which will go to restock the pantry as
085needed throughout the year. Thank you, Stop and Shop. [Applause] Thank you, Michelle. Now we open it back up to public commentary. Same rules apply. No public commentary. Comments by board members. Motion to adjurnn. Michelle, second by Bill. All in favor. That's everyone. Have a good night, everyone.