001Good evening and welcome to the board of education regular business meeting. Today is April 22nd, 2025. Can I have a motion to open the meeting bill? Second by Teresa. All in favor? That's everyone. It is upon 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? Michelle and Bill. All in favor? That's everyone. We will return around 7:30. Welcome back. Can I please have a motion to exit the executive session and re-enter the public meeting? Michelle, Annie, all in favor. That's everyone. Let's all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the
002republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. In case of an emergency, please direct yourselves to the illuminated exit signs in the back and the side. Uh, this is a smoke-free building. Smoking or vaping is not permitted. We're going to move right into the approvals. Board of Education meeting minutes of April 7th, 2025. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve minutes from the meeting of the Huntington Union Free School Board of Education dated April 7th, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? Teresa, second by Tom. All in favor? That's everyone. We have an FYI budget transfers. Any questions or comments? All right. I will move over to warrants. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education
003approve the attached warrants which are certified for payment on April 9th, 2025. Can I have a motion? Michelle, second by Annie. All in favor? That is everyone. Okay, we'll move right along to board member communication. We'll open it up to any fellow board members that have comments. I don't remember if we mentioned this the last meeting, but um Teresa's been nominated to serve um as the Nassau SuffK School Board's uh representative on their executive committee, which is the position I've held for the last year. So, you should be voted in on May 28th. And thank you for doing that. Very much [Applause] appreciated. Know what else? Miss McCoy. So, just a few announcements. Uh, we just had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, but our third quarter report cards were posted on April 11th,
004and our um for our secondary and our elementary report cards will be posted tomorrow. So, please make sure you're checking your child's progress. Uh, we have the first of many senior celebrations coming up with the distinguished seniors dinner on May 1st. So, we are looking forward to kicking off some great celebrations for our wonderful seniors in the coming months. We have K factor coming up on May 2nd and sunset on and sounds on May 3rd which is a great event for our uh fundraiser for SEPTA. AP exams are coming up the week of May 5th. So we have a lot going on in the next couple of weeks. Um I did also just want to mention that we have been working on a public relations survey. It will be sent out in the next week
005or so to gather feedback on our website and social media preferences. We will be looking to utilize this information to make adjustments and tweaks as necessary as we move into the upcoming school year. So when you see that link, please fill it out and give us your feedback. In the area of athletics, the Finley sports program began its game schedule this week with all teams seeing action. Our varsity boys and girls lacrosse teams are both near the top of the standings after defeating some of the highest ranked teams in the county. So congratulations to our lacrosse teams. Our high school track team hosted the Dennis Walker Invitational late last week. We had more than 700 individual athletes competed during competing during the day. We have our two varsity spring track teams which traveled to Maryland
006last weekend for an invitational against some of the best track athletes in the Mid-Atlantic region. So, congratulations to them. Uh, and although our next winter season is way off, the high school boys and girls basketball teams and the wrestling team have all started free intramural programs. Finley students are invited to attend these sessions and start getting those skills up. Uh in the area of fine and performing arts, I'd like to congratulate the many students who participated in the Huntington High School Honors Ensemble Concert on April 9th. The performances were absolutely fantastic. And we have some upcoming events. We have Meet the Instruments taking place tomorrow for third grade students so that they can see all the wonderful opportunities they have in our area of fine and performing arts. Uh, we have our Huntington High School
007Art and Music Pride Awards on Thursday, April 24th at 2:30. Band Fiesta is this Saturday, April 29th. I believe the performance is at 2, although students will report at 9:30 a.m. And we have our HBZMBB open house being held on Wednesday, April 30th at the high school from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. And lastly, we'd like to wish the best of luck to Lea Camarada and Rachel Huth who will depart this Thursday to perform in the All Eastern Music Conference in Hartford, Connecticut. Congratulations to them. At this time, we will 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
008for the second public commentary towards the end of this meeting. Priority will be given to the comments related to today's regular business meeting titled items for discussion and action. The public commentary is not intended to be a questions and answer session with the board members or administration and 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 an employee of the district. Use the form at the podium to sign in. Please refrain from naming any students or employees of the district. Public commentary is now open. You can step up if you'd like to say something. All right. If no one gets up, we'll move right on to the fun part of the night. The reason
009why you're all here, right? Oh, I thought everyone was here for our budget presentation. Um, at this time, I would like to introduce uh Miss Donna Marorrow, Stephanie Campbell, our intermediate principles, Tracy Rothell, our Finley Middle School principal, and Michelle Brown, who will acknowledge some of our fantastic students in a variety of areas tonight. And I would also like to mention that as the students come up, we do have certificates for them. We'd like to take a picture after each group. So, our intermediate group will take a photo after Finley and also after the high school. Um, but additional citations from New York State Assemblyman Steve Stern's office will be sent to each of you at your school building in addition to the certificate that you received this evening. So, I will turn it over
010to Miss Campbell. Good evening. very excited to announce and celebrate our Woodhull students. I'd like to start with Alana Moawi who received the History Day award for an important project that she did for our district. [Applause] And then next I would like to recognize students for receiving the Suffach Co Zone Health and Physical Education Student Leadership Awards. Congratulations to Aiden Legette, Madison Martin, Jake [Applause] Molina, and John Nicholas. And now celebrating our students from Jack Abrams also winning that suffix zone award. Congratulations to Emily Lzama, Leo [Applause] AFA and Taylor Morurell. Congratulations. I think they want to do Congratulations intermediate students. I'm going to pinch hit a little bit here for Miss Rothell. Uh she is on her way and I know she'll step in in just a moment. So I will recognize the students
011for their National History Day award. So congratulations to Lauren Reid and Louisa McKay. Congratulations. Then also recognizing an exhibit that was at Flower Fields, Immigen [Applause] Valor, first place award. That's wonderful. And then we have William Oliva, second place for balloons and [Applause] charcoal. and Patricia Abbruso also winning the uh exhibit at the flower [Applause] field. And then we have uh Ken Eller Anderson, sorry, and Rosa Chu Argua. [Applause] and Zoe Chickalacos and Angelica Cunningham. Clearly, there are a lot of amazing artists at Finley. So, Francesca Delonia, sorry if I'm messing that [Applause] up, and Nora Golden. And there's more. Matthew Croll. Congratulations, And here's Miss [Laughter] Broel. And so we'll call up the next Riley Lewis. Congratulations. You're up. Thank you. I so apologize. Just so parents, I'm a mom. My son is a
012senior. He had a baseball game. I had to watch it. I so apologize. just ran off the field. So, congratulations, Riley. I'm sorry I missed the other ones. All right. Which way? And breathe. I think I'm illegally parked, too. So, sorry. Um, all right. So, our next exhibit uh was Louisa McKe, our between bottles and steel charcoal. Congratulations. We then have Gabrielle McManis, our general manager in charcoal. Dorothy Mo, our uh my name in charcoal. Vivian Moresy, bottles in charcoal. [Applause] Congratulations, Maya Schneider, our Milo initials in charcoal. Ella Triolo, balloons in charcoal. Abigail Uina raspberries for colored pencils. [Applause] Fabulous. Katherine Van Horn or Katie Van Horn for Dad's Toolbox. And finally, Zoe Zeller for tools of graphite for our art pieces. We have a few of our suffix zone awards also. So we
013have Kalita Aguilar, Abigail Arlet, Luca Garcia. Congratulations. And Edwin Lopez Jr. Big congratulations to all of our Finley honores and I'll pass it off to the high school Mrs. Brown. Okay, I lie. Back it up. Is it this one? This one. This one. No, I can just have something which would be because I have these two in. Okay. and I'm like Can we just ask the Wood Hall and STEM students to come up for a quick picture before we start with the high school, please? Are we still going to do pictures outside or no? This is what she wants. Yeah. [Applause] All right. And now for the high school. So it is my pleasure and honor to present this evening's honores in four categories that I name the four A's academics athletics artists and archivists.
014So the first two honores have enjoyed four spectacular years packed with academic and co-curricular success. The top two seniors have captured the respect and admiration of their peers, teachers and excelled in every way possible. Our first honore for the high school is the class of 2025 validictorian Isabella Caretia Johnson. Wait, I have a little paragraph. While she's walking up, I'm going to talk about her. So, I just want to just talk a little bit about Isabella. My first interaction with Isabella was during the first several weeks of school where I had the pleasure of presenting her with the certificate for being a National Merit Commended student. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that I am presenting her with the highest honor this evening. She stated when she received the news that her peers are some
015of the hardest working students she knows and they have set a high bar of excellence. But at the same time, they have demonstrated kindness and appreciation for creative thinking and noted that it has been a privilege to be in class with them. Isabella has been a true asset to the Huntington High School community, participating in mock trial, serving as editor-inchief of the dispatch, treasurer of the Latin Honor Society, and secret secretary of the art honor society to name a few. So, congratulations Our next honore is the class of 2025 saludiatoran Nicholas Pla. You're welcome. I have some words about you, too. He is the embodiment of a true student or scholar athlete. He has been a member of the soccer, basketball, and tennis teams while maintaining the second highest GPA for the graduating class. To
016quote his own words, from his time at Washington to the plays at Wood Hall and starting sports in Finley, the ride at Huntington has definitely been eventful and rewarding. Every day at Huntington has been a privilege and a reward. What an amazing end to his four-year career being named the Saludiatoran this year. Next, we will have the honores for athletics. The suffix zone chapter of the New York State Sorry, I'm trying to speak and do this. Okay. for health, physical education, recreation, and dance honors two seniors from each SuffK High School annually. To talk about our first senior, I'm going to invite Mr. Wilson up. [Applause] Good evening. Uh thank you, Madame Principal. Um, uh, this young man, Thomas Smith, I've had the privilege of coaching, uh, the last five of the six years. Um,
017I started with, uh, Thomas and the other young man that's going to be called up when they were at Finley Middle School. I went back to the middle school to coach middle school football. Smith is a young man that would not be denied. All right. He was in seventh grade and back then we had a team that was mixed with both seventh and eighth and you know we mostly played the eighth graders on the 18th. He wanted to be on that 18 and he made himself on that 18. He worked hard to be on that 18. He did exactly that not only there but as he went through high school. Uh as a matter of fact, he was voted captain as a junior, which is a rarity in football, uh by his coaches and his
018peers. He's an exceptional athlete, a young man, uh just like his uh his dad and his uh older brother that I uh went to school with his dad and coached the older brother. They're men of very few words, but when they're on the field, when they're on the field, you can hear them very loud. Uh and he was a great athlete for us. helped us to win the um Babylon game that we played and the Deer Park game last year. So, congratulations to this great leader, Thomas Smith. Congratulations, Thomas. We heard all your football accolades, but he is going to play lacrosse in college. Our next SUFFK Zone Award recipient is Miss Devin St. John. And I'm going to invite her coach, uh, Katie Riley to come up and say a few words. Thank you.
019It's always hard to follow Coach Wilson. He always making everybody laugh, but um, Devon's accolades, they speak for themselves. She's the epitome of an athlete. if you've ever seen her play, she's got the height, the skill, the speed, the determination, and she really has hard if you ever watched her. But, um, one of the things, you know, when you look out there and you say, you know, you see her play, you're just like, we're so lucky that we have her on our team. We were up in the winter league and she was just running past everybody and I just like turned to the other coach. I'm like, I'm so glad she's on our team and not on the other team. Um, but she's been all division and all county in lacrosse. She's the captain for
020two years. She was the top scorer for soccer team and also a captain there. Um, but she also is like a weapon in the in the classroom. She's going to Cornell University, which is an Ivy League school. She has 102 weighted average, and she's taking like 12 AP courses, something like ridiculous like that, and earned honors in that. So, I mean, she's just amazing, and we love her, and she's got so much passion, so much fire. And um, when I was talking to Mr. hoops about what this award means. She is the definition of this award and she's so deserving. So, congratulations, Deon. Congratulations, another scholar athlete. We would also like to honor all Long Island and all state swimmer Max Leroy. Max swam to all state honors in the 400 meter relay. He has
021been a mainstay with the varsity blue devil program since the seventh grade. Max plans to swim on the team as Sunni Jenniso. So Max, congratulations. Okay, Max is getting honored at the swim team dinner, so he can't be in two places at once. And I'm also going to invite Coach Wilson again to talk about Timothy McDonald. Now, you know, I really do love these two young men. If I'm missing bowling tonight, I love bowling and I'm missing bowling because I want to be here to honor these two great young men. Uh Timmy McDonald, unlike what coach Riley said about um St. John, Timmy is not all that big in size, but when he played the game of football, he played as if he was 6'5 in. That's how he played this game. And that's why
022he got uh the all state honors. He was all county, all division. Yes, he's not going to school to play football. He's gotten a scholarship to go play lacrosse at Sienna. We're very proud of him. Again, he's another young man that was on the same team at Finley Middle School uh with uh Smith and uh it's been a privilege coaching him. I I had the privilege of coaching all of the uh McDonald's and uh he actually um he was good. This one was good. And not that the others weren't, uh, but this young man did a phenomenal job for us. He amassed over 140 solo tackles. That's what got him those honors as all state uh, football player. Congratulations, Timmy McDonald. Congratulations. Congratulations. You're welcome. [Applause] The next group of honores are our artists whose
023superb artwork has been exhibited or is currently on display at a variety of locations across Long Island. The first set of students artwork is featured at Hexure Museum of Art as part of Long Island's best young artists. ES Steven Segoia Tikas for his chromatic flora and fauna emotion. You can just come up if you're here when you hear your name. Eric Santinovski. It comes with an ocean view digital art. Ethan Mortonson. Sculpted in strokes digital art. Anna Gleski in the pain of creation in a system of numbers which is acrylic on canvas with found objects. The next group of students artwork was exhibited in the Huntington Arts Council's Main Street Gallery. Taylor Nappy for Jack's birthday. Emma [Applause] Bole, Ian, Menhiv, Arinia. [Applause] I'm sorry, I pressed too fast. Maya [Applause] Acriman, Tony Reyes Sordo
024for his painted fabric and fabric paint spray. Arley Morera Portia for her work [Applause] Faceless and Est Segoia Tikas for Hermono Manor. The final group of honores for this evening's presentation for high school are our archivist. They excelled in a variety of categories at the regional competition for National History Day which was held at Ha University. Henny England won the best project on Long Island history Mike Dianzo award at Ha on March 23rd. She did her project on the Island Trees Board of Education versus Pico US Supreme Court case. Ruby Hoffman did an individual exhibit on Ella Baker, a civil rights advoc activist who advocated for equal rights, playing a pivotal pivotal role in shaping the philosophies and organizations behind the scenes of this movement. Ruby Hoffman. This is one of my favorites because I
025was a part of this project. Leah, Juliet, Angela, and Violet did their NHD group documentary on the Tinker versus De Moines's court case by interviewing Mary Beth Tinker herself. This group learned that this landmark decision affirmed that students retain their First Amendment rights. [Applause] Vita Gross and Chelsea Drummings did their NHD project on the controversial book The Anarchist Cookbook. Through their research, they learned that author William Powell was a teenager when he wrote it at the apex of the counterculture era to protest against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. [Applause] and our final honores, Kylie BCH and Emma Pollinski. They created a documentary exploring the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway. The pier crafted a strong script based on thorough research and raised an enduring issue of rights and responsibilities, namely the balance
026between government power, in this case in the form of eminent domain and the rights of individual property holders. Once again, a huge congratulations to all of you guys. That's [Applause] Do we want to take pictures with I think we're good. We're good. I think we're good. We're going to move into the budget presentation next. So students, if you want to go home and finish your homework, you can do so now. All right. It's all yours. Good evening. Uh so for this budget presentation, we're going to go over projection updates and budget adoption. Um I will only be doing a brief two slides and then Miss McCoy and Dr. Harris will uh resume with the rest of the presentation. So right here uh is Jack Aram STEM Magnet School, the current uh for this year and
027the projection for next year. During the staffing projections for the upcoming school year and as was discussed at the board meeting on March 24th, the district explored the possibility of expanding our bilingual dual language program to Jack Haven STEM in alignment with guidance from New York State and with the goal of increasing access to this valuable program. After the building selection process, families participating in the program have chosen to remain at Woodh Hall Intermediate School for the 2025 2022 26 school year. So this is what the building will look like next school year. As for Woodhull Intermediate School, infusing back in the three sections of dual language, um, as a result, and as previously discussed, class sizes in the dual language program at Woodhull are projected to be approximately 28.6 students. While this is slightly
028higher than in the past years, it reflects both current enrollment and space limitations at the building. It's important to note that we typically see some shifts in enrollment over the summer with families moving out of the district, which often results in smaller class sizes come September. Additionally, in order to preserve the integrity of the program, we will not plan on placing new students entering the district in grade 4 DL sections for the upcoming school year. So, any new entrance that come in for grade four would not be placed in the dual language program to maintain the class sizes there. We remain confident that our exceptional grade four dual language teachers, among the most skilled and dedicated in the district, are more than capable of meeting the needs of their students and delivering highquality instruction. Their
029experience, creativity, and commitment ensure that all students will continue to thrive in supportive, engaging, and learning environments. Uh they are some of the best and and I know that they will welcome all students with open arms and make sure that that highquality instruction is being delivered. Uh later in this presentation, you'll also see that after reviewing current enrollment districtwide, the district is able to reduce the number of retiree replacements for next year. This was done thoughtfully and it will not impact the breath or quality of course offerings available to our students. In fact, it reflects our continued effort to be both responsive and strategic in meeting the student needs while managing our resources effectively. Are there any questions about how the intermediates will be split up next year? Excellent. So, I'm gonna pass this along.
030Okay. Wonderful. You could have just kept talking. All right. So, some state budget updates. There is no update. Um, currently there is the sixth uh extender through today. Um, I did look online as we were sitting and we are now in our seventh extender. uh and there may be another one forthcoming. Uh items to note uh is the piece about the CPI decrease from 3.1% to 2.9%. As well as foundation aid adjustments due to enrollment counts. Just so the board is aware and the community or anybody that listens to this, we did take those things into account already. Um, so we were ahead of the curveball with those, but those are just things to note as things are forthcoming, I'm guessing, within the next two weeks. Um, and as you will see here, uh, we
031are using the governor's budget with taking into the account those items and that is what you see presented for state aid as we go through the slides. And once we do have an update, uh, I'm sure you'll see it, but I will share Huntington's information with the board and the superintendent. So for the 2025 2026 proposed budget, we are proposing a budget of 157,776,153. Um, which is about almost 5.5 million as a dollar to dollar change and that is 3.61% for the budget. Um you will also see here that the levy uh we had presented a levy at 2.99 per the items that Mr. Hender already discussed uh with staffing. We were able to bring this down to 2.89%. So that is what will be put to the community for vote uh in the coming
032weeks. And then you will also see the tax rate piece. Um based on the current assessed information, uh we would go from $262.17 per $100 assessment to $269.74. So that's $757 of a change where that also equals the 2.89. When all of the assessed information is finalized come the fall, that information will be put before the board to approve and then that will be the final number. But as of current, we don't have that. So we do use the prior year's information. Any questions on the slide. Okay. So this is just a nice breakout of graphics of everything that we have worked over the last couple of months to put together. So, the chart that is to the left is all of the what we deem miscellaneous revenue. Um, it is broken out separately because
033if I put it with the property taxes and state aid, it skews the way the graphics look and it's not pretty. Um, but this shows you the different areas of revenue and the percentage received. The chart to the right is a comparison of prior year being blue and current year being orange of the property taxes and of state aid. So um that's where you'll see our prior year's levy. So our current year's the 117 million verse what we're proposing to the community which is the 120 million. And then the same for the state aid. uh we went from 31.3 uh million to 32.2 million. So it's just a nice graphic to show what's growing um and how the actual revenue side is actually made up. The next three slides are going to get into the
034three-part budget. I like to show this because when the community receives the sixday uh budget notice uh every community member will receive that the breakout requirement is administrative program and uh capital and sometimes it's just a lump number. So if you haven't been following along in the process or you're newly searching for things, it becomes difficult to understand what is in that area. So this kind of just breaks it out uh in a graphic so they can follow along. So this is board of education and central administration. So this is all of the pieces that fall underneath the administrative component because what they will see is that top dollar, the 15,894 668. So this is just a nice graphic to go along with it and it compares prior to current. Um the next part is
035program. Uh this is broken out a little bit differently so you can just see what is feeding the program components. So this is your teachers and supervisory salaries and benefits, instruction cost, equipment, textbooks, etc. And then this is the capital component. And this compares prior to current. And this is all of your facility cost, salaries, benefits, custodial staff, etc. And that will also be the last piece that is included on the six-day budget mailer. Any questions on those three? Okay. Okay. So each year we have to talk about what happens in the event that the budget is not supported um or the budget is voted down. So you have to show what a contingent budget means. And I'll go uh the next slide will go a little bit more detailed into that. But um the
036base of this is in the event that you have to function under a contingent budget, you cannot levy more than what you levied in the prior school year. So this shows you where our budget number would have to be. So we'd have to go from 1577 to 1538. Um this also shows the revenue that would be included there. You see the tax levy amount is on par with where we are for the 2024 2025 budget. And then you will see all the way at the bottom in red that under the contingent budget we would have to take 3.9 million out of the budget. And um I think it's important to really show what that means for a student impact. Um, so per student six, that's a $68145 impact per child. So that really is impacting
037class sizes, staffing, transportation, non-mandated programs, athletics, and extracurriculars. Now, there are areas that automatically get removed in the event that a contingent budget goes into place. So that is equipment purchases, um that is professional development pieces and conferences, contracted and consultant services. Some of those other ones are mandated per students um student needs. Um you also have to remove the transfer to capital, the uh administrative component of the three-part, so supplies and other expenditures would be removed. Um, you do you look at the use of the school building and in the event that you were to allow it, everybody gets charged at what it actually costs for you to allow them to use the building, not the facility use structure that we've created. And then you would also look at reducing the use of reserves
038and appropriated fund balance because you're you're looking at the next year but multiple years. So you don't want to overexpend those lines uh if not necessary. But the thing to note here is that these items when I look at them per budget line only come up to about 1.3 million. So that still means 2.6 million has to come from other areas. And that's why I list all of those things on the other slide. Um this information is also going to be included in our last budget flyer that'll go out through parent square tomorrow. um just putting that out to the comm community ahead of time so they understand what our budget is, components of the budget as well as understanding a contingent budget and the impact of that. Any questions in the contingent budget world?
039Okay. So in the 2025 2026 budget there is the inclusion of the transfer to capital. Um the transfer to capital will total $260,000 and that is so we can do the smoke separation doors at Flower Hill in Jefferson as well as the door at Wood Hall and it also includes like a panic device latching hardware piece. And then this is just to remind us that in the future there are other areas that we may be looking to improve. Um and we would look to do them here if it fits under the transfer to capital uh limits. Budget highlights. Superintendent. Cool. Thank you. So this is the fun part. These are all the wonderful things that we're doing and that we are keeping in our budget budget. So, some highlights for the 2526 school year. Uh,
040a new parent app for transportation. So, parents will be able to see the location of their child when they are within range of drop off or pickup. So, they'll be able to establish a geoence within the range of their house. So, if they want to be noted um they could be notified, let's say 2 miles from home or 5 miles from home, they would get a notification on their phone so they would know when their child is going to arrive. and it would also give us GPS tracking on our buses, so we'd be able to know their location at all times. So, we're looking forward to implementing that and rolling that out hopefully by September. Uh we do have an increase of one social worker to support our students with mental health needs across the
041district. uh continuing our elementary summer school program and our high school freshman seminar which were grant-f funded several years ago but really were very impactful programs that we wanted to maintain in the district and we did so last year and were able to continue to do so this year and also maintaining class sizes which are conducive to optim optimal learning environments and a wealth of elective and AP classes. I can't stress enough the number of AP classes that we have. I believe we have 32 and really an opportunity for everyone and one of our goals is that every student takes an AP class before they graduate. On the next slide, just a few highlights. Continued replacement of Chromebooks and desktops because those are things that we all take for granted sometimes, but they do have
042a shelf life and they do need to re be replaced. So we have a very particular way that we monitor and track each device and then replace it over time when it's reaching end of life so that all students and staff have devices that work well effectively, efficiently, and it doesn't cause frustration for anyone utilizing those devices. Uh we're continuing with our video broadcasting program that was highlighted at our last board meeting. We'll continue to expand that and then also get to apply the real world experiences when we renovate our auditorium which was a capital project that was approved last spring by our community. Uh we're also expanding in the area of computer science with our new cyber security course next year and that is certainly an area where we hope students will take advantage
043of the opportunity because there are many many many jobs uh upon graduation and upon college graduation in the area of cyber security. Uh we also have 70 inter interolastic athletic teams for Finley and the high school including unified teams for each season which we value tremendously in this district. Uh some additional highlights continued participation with first Lego League National History Day, Suffach County Mock Trial, esports drama and musical productions in grades 4 through 12 which I can say confidently are some of the best that I've seen in our district. I mean, starting in fourth grade, we really just have such a great program for our kids that are able to really excel in these areas as well. And of course, our dual language program. And lastly, uh full services counseling center and college and career
044support for our students, which you know is something that if you had to pay on the side would be very costly. So, we're really proud that we're able to offer these opportunities and supports for students within the district. Uh we do have extensive supports for students with varied learning needs including mental health services, special education services and learners uh English language learners. Um we offer a robust CT uh participation for our students so that if they are interested in a trade or an area that we do not support within district, we are able to look into other options so that we can support them out of district. And we're also exploring opportunities that perhaps we can offer more programs within district in the future. And lastly, as I already mentioned, those 32 advanced placement courses,
045which are just a super impressive offering for our district that we're very, very proud of. And I will turn it back over to Dr. Harris. Thank you. All right. So, for the 50,000th time, uh we have the 2026 capital project proposal. Um so, we have something uh at pretty much every building that will be occurring. um including the primary. So this is the interior door kitchen tray pass. Um then we have enclosure of stairs and smoke separation at the high school. Uh we will also be doing stage essress and proper fire rated walls. We have the phase 4 for Jack Abram stem roof and then we also have the outside field bathrooms. So that project um is proposed here at $3,642,500. In the event that the project does not cost this, which is always always
046where I want it to be, uh these funds will be placed back into the capital reserve. So uh just to summarize everything, proposition one will be the 2025 2026 budget. Proposition two will be the capital project and proposition three will be the establishment of a new capital reserve in the amount of 15 million uh with the probable term of 10 years. I always like to say this at the end. No, we do not have 15 million sitting to the side. It will take many years to fund this. Uh but we have to have the reserve established and approved first and then the funding will occur. And when we get to the point where we want to utilize those funds for capital, it then goes back out to the community asking for permission to spend those
047funds. And that is it. Uh I will see everybody here on May 12th for the budget hearing and then go vote on May 20th. Thank you. Oh, any questions? Okay. Thanks. Any questions, comments, board members? I just uh want to thank you all for all this work and um thank you Dr. Harris for the explanation about the capital reserves. It's been a while since we've opened new one and I think it's important for um our community to understand that this does not affect our tax rate or tax levy. This is a separate fund that is funded differently. So I I appreciate that explanation because it's it's been a while since we've done this. So thank you. Here's my recommendation for the superintendent of schools that the board of education adopt a budget for the 2025
0482026 school year in the amount of 1577,776,153 to be placed on a ballot for the May 20th 2025 annual vote in election. It is f further recommended that the board of education approve the associated 2025 2026 property tax report card. Can I have a motion? Annie, second by Bill. All in favor? That's everyone. Can I uh just make a little comment? I want to point out some of the the irony in what we just did and that is, you know, we are required to adopt our budget to have plenty of time for reporting and whatnot. Yet we don't even know what our full aid revenue numbers are going to be. Thankfully, our community is situated such that, as you saw, the percentage of our budget that comes from state aid is is small enough so
049that any changes will be less impactful than a district that gets, you know, 50 60% of its aid. If I were a district that got 50% of its aid, I'd almost be inclined to say we're not going to adopt until we know what we're getting for aid. So I again tric I I I echo what you say. Thank you very much for doing a good job in getting the budget together given what are now the constant uncertainties in what you're doing when building as far as revenue side of things. Absolutely. Thank you. I mean that would be difficult to do in private world to try to put together a budget without knowing what your income is. Uh that's to kudos to you guys for doing what you've done. Thank you. Um moving on to the
050next one. Western Suffach Boseies 2025 2026 administrative budget vote is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education adopt the proposed Western Suffach Bosey's budget for the 2025 2026 school year. Can I have a motion please? Tom second by Teresa. All in favor? That's everyone. And moving on to Western Suffach Bosey's 2025 2026 trustee election. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approved the three candidates listed below to fill three vacancies on the Western Suffach Board of Cooperative Educational Services. The three-year term to begin July 1st, 2025. Can I please have a motion? Annie, second by Teresa. All in favor? That is everyone. All right, we're moving on to curriculum and instruction. Mr. Kruz, good evening. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of
051schools that the board of education approve cseps submissions as delineated. Can we have a motion Teresa? Second by Thomas. All in favor? Motion carries. Personnel, Miss Andrew. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules 5, 10, 11, 16, and 19. We have a motion. Annie, second by Michelle. All in favor? That's everyone. Long announcements. Okay. Moving on to business. Dr. Harris. Again, it is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approves business items I through N. We have a motion. Bill, second by Teresa. All in favor? That's everyone. Michelle, I think there's some announcements. Yes, we have some donations this evening. Um, Mr. William Barrack is presenting a donation of $100 to credit the Frank Lizo Memorial Scholarship Award.
052So, thank you for that. [Applause] The Gilmore family is presenting a donation of $1,400 to credit the Michael Samuel Gilmore Memorial Scholarship Award as well. So, thank you for [Applause] that. Uh, Mid Island Therapy Associates is presenting a donation of $500 to credit the Jagota Memorial Scholarship Award. Thank you for that donation. And lastly, um, Ann Setitz is presenting a donation of $100 to credit is it two people crediting the same trust, Frank Lizo Memorial Scholarship Award. Thank you for that [Applause] donation. This time we open it up again for public commentaries. Second public commentary, uh, same rules apply as the first public commentary. Do we do O? Did you say through N or through O? O is to approve. I'm confused right now. Sorry, it's late. U again, opening it up for public commentary
053if any anybody wants to get up. If not, I'd like a motion. Well, closing remarks by board members. I have one comment um relative to the the lack of approval of a budget by the state. I read in one of my um feeds that one of the sticking points is the cell phone proposed cell phone policy for schools. Like there's irony in that. Bill. Yeah. I want to make one public comment just to set the record straight. Um I understand uh what was put on the website was I decided not to run for the board of ed. It wasn't exact the case at all. As a matter of fact, I'll just be honest and say I messed up and I did not get my packet in in time and the rules are the rules. Unlike
054the way the state does their budget, we don't get our stuff in in time. It just doesn't count. Um the good thing is though that you know our system is designed to withstand this. We have two really good qualified candidates who actually can read dates and get things in on time and I commend them for that. Chances are I probably would have lost the election anyway. So um whilst I didn't, you know, it wasn't my intention, I I did also call to um apologize to the head of the teachers union because again they were kind enough to uh provide an endorsement for me in advance of me actually submitting and it was never my intention to do that. So, I I apologize for um you know, maybe incorrect communications going out ahead of time. It
055wasn't the intention, but you know what? We're going to be okay. This is a great district. Um change is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a great board and it'll continue to be a good board with a great administration. And so, we'll keep moving on. Oh, and by the way, as of July 1st, I'm no longer on the board. I can turn into a salesperson and I can start leaning on you to switch to infinite campus. [Applause] I still have to sign those contracts. So maybe it's a vegan there somewhere. But but Bill, thank you for your comments. You will be sorely missed. Um we will celebrate you and Michelle later on for the invaluable efforts and and the time that you guys have given to this district. But thank you. Thank you very
056much. Anyone else? All right. No further comments. A motion to adjurnn. Teresa Kelly second. All in favor. That's everyone. Have a good night.