Huntington UFSD Board of Education Meeting 3/25/25

001Good evening. Welcome to the board of education meeting on March. This is March 25th, 2025. Can I have a motion to open the meeting? Teresa, second from Tom. All in favor? That's everyone. Is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education and to 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 open exact Tom and Teresa? All in favor? That's everyone. We will be back at 7:30. Welcome back to the board of education meeting March 25th, 2025. Can I have a motion to close exec and reopen the public meeting? Bill and a second. Teresa, all in favor? That's everybody. Uh Mr. Palasios and Dr. Michaelian could not join us this evening. Please stand

002for the pledge. Justice. Okay. Do we do does Xavier say these emergency evacuation procedures or am I He does. Okay. So, we have two two exits in the back in the rear, two on the side, and we are a smoke-free facility. All right. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve minutes from the meeting of the board of education from March dated March 10th, 2025. Can I have a motion? Bill and a second. Teresa, all in favor? That's everyone. We have two FYI's budget transfers and an FYI uh change order from the high school. Is there anything you want to highlight or No. Okay. Anybody have questions? No. No warrants. Is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approved the attached warrants which

003were certified for payment on March 12th, 2025. And I have a motion. Teresa, second from Tom. All in favor? That's everyone. Okay. Does anyone have any of my colleagues have any announcements? Kelly. Um, all right. I won't spoil anyone's thunder about the Finley play, but I will say that I saw it. It was fantastic. I'm so impressed with these kids. And, um, uh, we went to Heffy last week, which was amazing as well. So, thank you guys for anybody who came out and donated to the raffles. I also wanted to mention that Darren Reed, who was one of the honores, has so graciously donated his entire catalog of photos. I think it's like 60,000 and growing. So, um, the his website has been posted on a lot of the PTA pages, I believe the district

004page as well. There's so many gems in there and they're organized really nicely by category. So, definitely if you haven't had a chance to take a look at that, go on, download them, share them. They're fantastic. So, that was um a really amazing gesture. And String Fiesta, have we talked about String Fiesta? Have we met since then? So, that was two weeks ago and was also incredible. And for anyone who hasn't been to either band fest or string fiesta the entire string uh players in the district or band players come on different days to the high school. They get to play together. They have a whole day um and the teachers play with them as well and then they put on like a 20-minute concert at the end and it was a '9s theme. So

005everyone was rocking out in the audience. It was really fun to see. Uh Bandf Fest is coming up. So if you've got a child in band, be sure to come about 20 minutes before and catch the concert. That's all. Um, couple things that I just want to congratulate Finley um middle school, Miss Greyber, Miss Sims, the casting crew. They did an amazing job. Um, it was a really great performance. Also wanted to just mention the band parents association, much like Heffy and all of our other amazing booster club and all our parent organizations. They um do a lot for the marching band here at Huntington and music department as well. So, they're having a fundraiser down at um I believe it's the Hellsight Fire Department. Yeah, on this Sunday. So, if you can make it,

006it's um great to support our marching band. Um I don't want to step on Miss McCoy's toes, but we did uh attend the scope dinner awards dinner last night and um it was wonderful to see three of our own honored um for their teaching, for support, and for administrative um excellence. Um was proud to a proud Huntington moment. Um, and I just also wanted to remind everybody that the high school is putting on uh Mean Girls this coming Friday and Saturday. I've seen some sneak peeks um with Michelle here and it is not to be missed. No, it's this coming Mean Girls Friday and Saturday. Did you know I'm at the pancake breakfast? The pancake breakfast. It's the 6th, April 6th. So, not this Sunday, the following. Yeah. Um, two couple things. One is um

007just thank our PTAs for all that they've been doing throughout this year. I've attended a few events and um if you haven't supported them, uh please um please do if you can. They're uh supporting all of our kids and all of our buildings. Uh and the SEPTA Sunset and Sounds will be uh held on May 3rd at I think it's still at the Bay Club. Um, and then I just want to wish our uh spring athletes at Finley and the high school to have a wonderful season. And I'm very proud volunteer coach of the girls golf team. And we're uh we have our first match uh this week on Thursday. Good. Miss McCoy. So I would like to start with Heffy Gala. I'd like to thank Tara Poli and her team who put together an

008amazing amazing event. Um, thank you for all you do to support students and staff in our school district. We truly appreciate your efforts and it really was such a great night to celebrate Mr. Schwendamin and Mr. Reid. Uh, last night our cabinet and several board members had the pleasure of attending the scope awards where three of our own were honored. Miss Diana Rich, director of PPS and special education services, Angela Burner, ELA coordinator and teacher center director, and many other hats that she wears. and Jorge Sodto, our principal accountant. Thank you for all you do for the student, staff, and families of Huntington. Congratulations on this special honor. Now, speaking of honors, Lauren Desadario was named senior division teacher of the year at the Long Island History Day finals at Hofra. She was presented with

009the Robbie Hart Teacher Recognition Award in recognition of her commitment and dedication as a teacher and in grateful appreciation for her longtime service to the Long Island History Day program. For over 15 years, Miss Dez has been a true leader in our program for National History Day. She coordinates cooperation and participation by teachers at both the high school and middle school. She supports students throughout their work on their projects. She serves as a judge in our region and has truly grown the program. Congratulations to you, Miss Dez, on this well-deserved res recognition. Additionally, ninth grader Henny England won the 2025 Long Island History Day Mike Dianosenzo outstanding entry on Long Island History Award sponsored by the Robert David Lion Gardener Foundation. It was awarded to her for her senior individual exhibit entitled Knowledge is Power,

010the right to information in schools. I'd like to also congratulate our Huntington High School MOP trial team who had a phenomenal season. Watching them in action as they competed in the Elite 8 round of the Suffach tournament was truly phenomenal. The future is bright for Huntington's team which brings me to my commendation for our Finley team who showcased their talents at Suffach Community College where our prosecution team brought home a victory last week. So, congratulations to all. Moving on to robotics, we had a great regional once again. They built a 115 pound robot in six weeks, which is just extremely impressive to start with that. Uh when they began the qualification match at Hostra this weekend, the drive team was doing a fantastic job and they were able to reach third place overall. However, on

011the last day of qualification, there were some challenging opponents and we lost three close matches. They were chosen by the eighth alliance captain and made valiant attempts in the playoffs, but were ultimately knocked out of the bracket. All of this couldn't have been accomplished without the help of our team members, parents, mentors, adviserss, and our sponsors as and of course, Mr. Omar Santiago. They had a really great competition season this year, and we're looking forward to improving for next year. Additionally, I'd like to take a moment to show off the great work by a group of our Finley students on their wonderful achievement from Sunday, March 9th at the first Long Island Championship Tournament for the First Lego League Challenge. This year's theme was submerged. The Dragon Racers worked hard on researching topics, interviewing experts,

012and volunteering at and visiting sites to expand their knowledge in the area of marine life. All that work led them to come up with an innovative technology to help save whales from boats and ships. They ended up taking home the first finalist champions award, which is accompanied by the chance to participate at one of thell's invitationals. The team was led by coach and mentor Miss Delaney and supported by Dr. Caparusio. The eighth graders that were involved with this were is Elizabetha Ara, Elena Prior, Caitlyn Welnik, Cecilia Lee, Dylan Goodwin, Gavin Klene, and Hunter Klene. Congratulations to you all. In the area of athletics, senior Max Leroy swam to all state honors at the state swimming and diving meet at Ithaca earlier this month. Our unified bowling team, coached by Lauren Blackburn, won its first two

013matches of the year. And we're looking to strengthen our varsity bowling program by offering up to 20 Finley students a four session intram mural bowling program at Larkfield Lanes in East Northport in May and June. We hope to build interest in the sport of bowling as well as identify Finley students with the skills to succeed in the future. Uh we're expecting to have a very successful girls flag football season after having 10 intramural training sessions and adding the JB team this year. Varsity will play 16 games and JV will play eight games and we plan on offering a flag football intramural program at Finley in the late spring. We're also hoping to offer bad mitten intramurals at Finley. So there's lots to do at Finley to get our kids ready for their experiences at Finley

014and as well as at the high school. Uh we also have 689 students registered on final forms. So for those of you who haven't looked at final forms yet to register your children for sports, please do take a look. Once all of the information in, it really is a seamless process each time that they're signing up for a new sport to just renew and provide any additional information. In the area of fine and performing arts, uh we have several announcements. On March 12th, over 150 of our most talented middle school students performed at Huntington High School as part of the Finley Honors Ensemble Concert. Congratulations to everyone on their fantastic performances. It was it was truly amazing. On March 15th, we had 220 string students in grades 4 through 12 participate in our annual district

015string fiesta. Students in grades 4 through 12 worked together to learn four pieces and presented a concert for families. Another wonderful event. This past weekend, Finley Middle School presented their spring musical, Once Upon a Mattress. Congratulations to the cast and crew. It was really so such a funny show with so much talent that we're looking forward to uh having in our high school in the next couple of years for all the wonderful productions we'll be doing there as well. Seven Huntington High School art students will have their work on exhibit at the Huntington Arts Council Main Street Gallery. The High School Arts Showcase will run from March 25th through March 9 through April 19th. The opening reception will be held on March 28th from 4 to 7. The following students will be exhibiting their work.

016Taylor Nappy, uh, Arley Morera, Portillio, Estan Seiggoia, Tikas, Tony Reyes, Sto Iverson, Manhivar, Maya Arian, and Emma Bole. And Taylor Nappy has also won the Robert Robera Stret Memorial Photography Award contest. Two more. Estan Seiggoia has won the achievement award in digital art in Long Island's best young artists at the Hexure Museum 2025. And as Miss Sullivan said earlier, please make sure you go to the Mean Girls show uh on Friday night and Saturday night at 7. And there's also a Saturday matinea at 2 p.m. Couple of more items. I just wanted to mention the Huntington High School um celebration of French language and culture that took place last week. They welcomed Canadian hiphop artist David Deour, known as Detract, from Quebec. Last week's event commenced with Meta Moo, the project organizer and president of

017the AATF SUFFK, highlighting the importance of uniting French speakers to celebrate the power of the French language. Diet track alongside his talented DJ Louie Durand delivered an electrifying interactive performance that included songs, improvised slam poetry, and engaging exchanges with students, all conducted in French. He performed for over 400 students from various schools including Babylon, Baldwin, Northport, East Northport, East Williston, Holy Child Academy, Planeview, Old Beth Page, Walt Whitman, and Jay Taylor Finley Middle School. Thank you to Miss Morov, for Dr. Harris, and for Miss Movo in organizing such a wonderful event for so many. And lastly, I just wanted to mention uh that every five years, this is the really fun part of my uh my comments. Every five years, we're required to do water testing in the district. And this includes sinks, water fountains,

018kitchen areas, locker rooms, etc. Please note that this year they changed the threshold from 15 parts per billion to five parts per billion. So many faucets and fountains that followed the requirements in the past were flagged. In many cases, we were able to add filtration systems, change pipes, change faucets, and other remediation options that will bring these items back to the required levels after they're retested. In cases where we are not able to remediate, appropriate signage has been placed at the site or the device has been taken offline. The district water testing remediation plan is posted on the website under the facility section. That was the really fun part. That was exciting. Thank you. Uh now, uh I'll open it up to our first public commentary. Um it is open to residents and um employees

019of the district. Uh you'll have three minutes. It's not a Q&A with the board, but you're welcome to come up and address the board. Um please refrain from uh mentioning staff or uh individual student students. Um so the mic is open. Don't rush the mic. Okay. There'll be another opportunity um at the end of the meeting. Okay. Um our strategic plan presentation Good evening everyone. Uh so as you know we undertook a rather long and extensive process of uh strategic planning for the 25 through 2027 school year. that really began in conversations last summer uh when I took on this new role and we met with you know our cabinet and discussed that we really wanted to have a very precise um purposeful and planned trajectory for the district for the next 3 to 5

020years. Uh so the strategic plan represents this blueprint for excellence that will guide us from 2025 to 2027. It's designed to align district priorities with the needs and aspirations of our students, families, staff, and community members. The purpose is to create a roadmap for success that is transparent, focused, and accountable, and to ensure that every decision we make is guided by our core mission, value, vision, and values, which are rooted in the shared perspectives of our community. Our district is dedicated to empowering students, fostering community engagement, and continuously improving the quality of education through this plan. So, the purpose of blueprint planning is really to be inclusive and collaborative involving all members of the school community and reflect their shared perspectives. We allow stakeholder representation to provide feedback and clearly define the mission, vision, and

021core values for the district. Define priorities and action steps by engaging a team to establish these priorities and outline steps to meet our objectives. facilitate action planning to identify who, when, and how the work will be completed to ensure accountability and ongoing growth and innovation, enabling the district to innovate, allocate resources, and grow continuously in a thoughtful aligned manner. We recognize that this is an iterative and evolving process that adapts to emerging needs and changing demands. So the timeline overview that we followed this year in October of 2024, uh we collected community feedback through the thought exchange process that lasted for about a month where it was a very open forum where all community members had the opportunity to include their ideas, share their thoughts, comment and rate one another's thoughts so that we could

022see what was important and what the community valued. In November, we drafted the mission, vision, and core values developed by the board of education and the leadership team, which really took into consideration all of the information from that thought exchange. It gave us uh aligned areas of focus. Then in November of 2024, we had a community team assembled to review feedback, develop priority areas, and suggest strategies in December. And then in January of 25, action plans were developed with our administrative staff specifying what will be done and who will lead the work. For the last two months, we put final revisions on the plan. We reviewed the plan um with our team and now we're at the point where we're communicating the plan to the community. So, who are we? What's our mission, vision, and

023our core values? Our mission is to nurture the whole child academically, socially, and emotionally by providing all students with meaningful opportunities and experiences within a caring environment, empowering them to become compassionate and productive members of their community. Oh, I didn't mean to do that. Our vision, empathy, excellence, and high expectations move us forward as a united community. Together, we learn, grow, and thrive. celebrating achievements and inspiring one another to reach new heights. Together we succeed. And our core values are excellence and high expectations, cultivating a culture of achievement through critical thinking and lifelong learning. Children first. Prioritizing the well-being of students in every decision and action. Collaboration and transparency. Building trust through open communication and shared responsibility. Compassion and empathy. Creating a caring and supportive environment for all. Equity and inclusivity. Ensuring fairness and embracing

024diversity to empower every individual. Integrity and respect. leading with honesty, accountability, and fairness while fostering open-mindedness and dialogue. So, those were the pieces that we really worked on together throughout the gathering of information from the thought exchange, the two leadership meetings we had, and our community meeting that we held. Now, I will turn it over to Mr. Hender, who will discuss our priority areas. Thank you. So, as Mr. Koi stated uh back in October we had a survey that was sent out to the community for their feedback and input and then in November we took all of that feedback and we broke them up into four priority areas. So the four areas uh that we broke um it into was academic excellence, the student experience operations and then family and community engagement. And we went

025a step further from that and we decided to create specific goals for each um priority area. And I'll read those goals to you now. So for academic excellence, the goal is that we will empower all students with the foundational and advanced skills, confidence, and adaptability needed to thrive in the evolving demands of post-secary education and the modern workforce. for student and family experience. Uh we will ensure equity, access and enrichment opportunities for all students through developmentally appropriate practices that meet their diverse needs and foster growth operations. We will enhance and ensure the safety, security, quality of food services and equitable resource allocation across the district, fostering a supportive and well-resourced environment for all students and staff. And finally, for family and community engagement, we will actively engage and empower all families as partners in their

026child's educational journey, fostering meaningful involvement and inclusion from uh early childhood through grade 12. And after we established those goals and we continued to review the feedback from the survey, we did meet as a um uh all stakeholder group and we really created a specific plan uh looking at these goals as well as the feedback that we received. And I will pass it off to Mr. Cuz for the next portion you Thank you, Mr. Hender. So, I have two of our um priority areas to talk about a little bit. Let me just thanks. And you also read the goal, so now I don't have to do that either. Um so uh as far as academic excellence is concerned um as Mr. Hender stated the the goal is um somewhat overarching. This goal is important in

027its differentiated scope in that we are looking to ensure that students have a strong educational foundation in every aspect of their schooling while consistently providing opportunities to explore rigorous content and advanced learning experiences. So we're looking to make sure that everyone has the foundation that they need and that they can achieve as high as possible. Additionally, this goal delineates the need for adaptability for our students. We hear often that the educational system must prepare students for a future that is not fully mapped out or understood as yet. This is of course a challenging feat. However, in providing students with opportunities to develop adaptability skills, our students will be better equipped for any eventuality the future may hold, including changes and shifts in higher education and in the workforce and also technology and every other aspect

028of life. Each of our areas uh is followed by a lot of action steps. I'll share uh a number of them for our academic excellence portion of the plan. Uh one of our goals and action steps is to increase transparency regarding the content of coursework and lessons through enhanced communications and usage of our scope and sequence in our tool that we use right now which is Atlas Rubicon. Uh we're looking to try to enhance and expand the use of that wherever we can. Uh we do conduct regular uh regular instructional evaluations and focus walks throughout the district. Um and those will continue along with our inter re interrator reliability training and articulation among administrators to ensure that all of our evaluations are done consistent uh consistently and with a firm focus on observable evidence. Uh

029professional development across the district is very extensive and that will continue as well. Um and those are some of those opportunities are required, some are offerings that uh educators can choose to delve into. And um we have a number of of areas of focus there, particularly emerging technology, uh instruction for English language learners and um uh many other areas of focus. We do conduct staff surveys at least twice a year to get feedback from the faculty to see what their areas of perceived need are in terms of uh professional development. We try to offer uh as much of that as we can as well. Mr. Kuzzac, before you go to the next slide, could you just explain a little bit about Atlas Rubicon? I'm not familiar with Yeah, sure. Atlas Rubicon um is is how

030we both internally uh map out our scope and sequence for our coursework across uh K to2 um and it's also what is forward facing. So on our website there's a link to Atlas Rubicon. Um the fact that you're asking about it is precisely why I need to make it more forward facing and um we as a district want to you know do that as well and as a cabinet we want to put that forward. Um, so that's how you can see kind of where, you know, monthtomonth, year to year, uh, day to day, uh, our instruction is heading for each area of of our courses. So, Atlas Rubicon is the program that we use. And as it stands now, whenever there's curriculum writing that's done, um, we do expect that that finds its way, you

031know, through the curriculum writers into Atlas Rubicon and we're looking to kind of expand that. So, so that may be in the form of communication from me to our community saying, "Hey, this is where you can find all that information." All right. Any other questions about that portion? Okay. So, the student experience um again, Mr. Hender kind of uh gave an overview of the um the goal. Some of the key points of this uh particular goal is that it focuses upon students access to programs such as trips, clubs, experiences in the arts as well as um access to our facilities um that all of our students utilize. Researching a variety of funding streams outside the current district budget may provide avenues by which to provide additional upgrades to facilities um wherever we can and additional

032access to experiences for students. Some of our action steps might include uh researching the possibility of afterchool transportation. However, we do know that that comes with a cost and it may in fact be cost prohibitive. But one of our uh action steps is to look into that as deeply as we can to see what may or may not be um available or or possible. Um additionally, extracurricular offerings are always something that we are um keenly looking at and uh that may be something that we uh look to enhance as well. The current the district currently offers many opportunities and additional efforts to ensure that all students needs and wants are met in this regard will complement our current offerings. Expanding these opportunities at the primary level is an area that will be explored as well

033again with the understanding that the cost uh will also be uh a factor that's that's part of the equation. Uh seeking out grant opportunities to support expansion of resources for field experiences like field trips, programs, afterchool activities, and facilities improvements may help to ensure that all of our students have equitable access to these important facets of the overall educational experience. Um we have many partnerships with local organizations within the town of Huntington. Uh building upon these and expanding our current partnerships may serve to further strengthen ties with our local community and um provide additional opportunities for our students which again will enhance uh the student experience. This may include work andor internship experiences, access to additional services and uh possibly resources or extracurricular activities and other learning experiences as well. Um, is there any questions

034about the student experience portion? If not, I'll hand it off to Dr. Harris. Thank you. Do you want me to advance it or you want to? That's all right. Thank you. Okay. Now, the next uh priority area for action is operations. Um the overarching areas that were found were safety and security, food service allocationclass sizes. Uh I won't read through each area here, but just uh primarily the one you're looking at is safety and security. It really gets into enhancing school security through control access, researching swipe card entry um for secondary students, and expanding double door security at the high school. Uh we also talked about strengthening safety measures through increased administrative presence during student arrival and dismissal and exploring additional barriers for playground security and really improving communication and communication is going to be

035talked about here. It's also going to be talked about in the next area. but improving communication with families about safety procedures, security upgrades. Um, also improving communication when it comes to food service, what's offered, what's the nutritional value of the things offered, where you can find that information. Um, we talked about also ensuring compliance. So, you see one snapshot of what is included in the plan. The plan has many pages of really great information. The next area that was uh talked about was family and community engagement. So parent involvement, how can we expand access to English language uh classes and increase multi- lingual surveys to better understand families needs? Utilizing our neighborhood aids um and parent liaison to improve communication, supporting new families and explore home visit options where feasible. and then really strengthening engagement

036through parent square PTA collaboration and additional outreach. The list goes on and on. I don't know if this was mentioned, but one thing to note outside of the person/people responsible is the time frame. And throughout this entire plan, you're going to find a lot of ongoing, which lets me know we do a lot of great stuff. It's really communicating it out and helping people find where they can find the information so they're a little bit more informed, which speaks very well of the school district. Uh, when that's the focus is really just how do we push it out instead of how do we build it? And I'm going to turn it back over to the superintendent. Oh, any questions? Sorry. Thanks. So just going back to that um there are a lot of people responsible

037for a lot of these things. So in the coming months our next task is really to break down who's doing what and have very specific um templates for each administrator to have so they know over this year what are some things I need to focus on? What am I focusing on the following year and the year after that? So, it's really going to be a process that's ongoing for us um in the coming months as well as we plan the roll out of this in September. M I'm sorry to bother you. Can you just explain a little bit about the parent leaison role? I'm not familiar with that. So, we have our neighborhood aids who are our full-time employees in the district. We also have parent liaison who are who are um funded through title

0383 grant and they do a lot of work with our English language learner families and helping them with um a lot of the different resources that we have in the district ensuring that there's communication that we know exactly what their needs might be. Um so we have funding for that separately. I just wasn't sure if it was a volunteer thing or if it was a No, it's a paid position. Um so next steps in accountability uh February through June we're doing our community presentation. We're going to unpack the plan with faculty and staff. Uh then beginning what we plan on doing is each year annually doing a beginning of the year presentation as to what our steps are for that year. A mid-year report kind of like what we do with the board goals now

039and then an endofear report as well. Um, and we'll plan to do that uh end of year report and follow this process through the 2027 school year. I'm sorry. Um, we will at the end of 2027, we're going to probably do a blueprint refresh to kind of look back at what we've accomplished over the last three years and determine whether or not we want to do a new thought exchange and go through this process again. It is intended to be replicated every three years so that you can get fresh perspectives from your community. You can really get the pulse of what matters and what what's really on the focus of everyone's mind. And it was really interesting because there were things that we all thought were going to be very paramount in the survey. And

040then some of the things that were surprising were the amount of comments about food and nutrition and the offerings that we have. And that's a very regulated program. So, we don't have a lot of leeway with that, but we did notice that that's something we wanted to provide more information to the community about. So, we've already started working on that with some social media blasts about some special things we have going on in our cafeterias just to really make people more aware. Um, I would like to thank our blueprint team. This is these are all of the people that were present at the meeting that we had in November. I would like to give a special thank you to my cabinet because um we've spent a lot of time this year on on this project.

041Um when I told uh the consultant that we worked with that we were you know in the first year uh in this new role with a new team, you know, there was a little bit of a this is a big undertaking and I think we all felt that but we thought it was the right time to do this and really get a very um purposeful trajectory for the district with a vision, mission and core values. Um, our administrative team was absolutely phenomenal. Our principles presented at that community meeting uh in November and did such a great job highlighting all the wonderful things that they're offering already. And then we really worked as a team to come up with the things that we think we need to do to enhance, improve or explore to make things

042even better. Um, there is a lot of work to be done and this team is really up for the challenge. So, we appreciate the support of all. Um, and I want to thank the board for allowing us and providing us with the approval to do this work to really make sure that our district is moving in the right direction. Um, any questions? No, but but to echo what you said, thank you uh to you and your team. there was a lot of people involved and I know there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes and um this is something that I was really excited um for us to do here in Huntington. So so thank you and everyone else in the Thank you on the team. The what if if this is

043approved by the board tonight. The longer uh plan will be posted on the website. This is just the presentation form. If we went through every single page, we'd be here all night. So, we highlighted some key aspects, but the longer plan is what is is up for approval this evening, and it will be posted on the website for the community to see. Thank you. Oh, yeah. I just wanted to add that I know this kind of came up uh the end of last year um in a way that was unanticipated, but I'm I'm really thankful that you you followed through and and got the community involved in something that is really farreaching. You know, we're not just um reacting to things here in Huntington. And I think this is indicative of of us taking action

044looking towards the future. And it's uh it's really exciting. If we were at any of those meetings, you'll you'll see there was a lot of enthusiasm not only from uh uh the community, but also from the educators that were there. So, I wanted to thank you. Thank you very much. I can do it. We have right that's what I was thinking but I don't I'm having te technical difficulty with my iPad. Okay. uh is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the No, that's Warren. Yeah. Is anyone's the 2025 26 board of education meeting calendar? No, the strategic plan. All we're going to treat you. Yeah, I'm stuck on back to paper. It's the second meeting in a row. We need paper. There you go. You got it. Yeah,

045it's slow. Yep. This is the whole rest of Oh, okay. Thank you. Okay. Is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the strategic plan for the 2025 through 2027 school years. Can I have a motion? Teresa. Second. Tom. All in favor? That's everyone. It's working again. Okay. I'm not I'm not working. So, I'll read this. Okay. the meeting calendar. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 board of education meeting calendar. Have a motion. Teresa second, Kelly. All in favor? That's everyone. This is exciting. Yeah, this is the one that everybody comes out for, you know. And now we would like to introduce Mr. Hender, deputy superintendent, and Dr. Harris for our staffing and budget presentations. Absolutely. So, first

046and foremost, I just want to thank um our building principles, assistant principles, directors, and chairs because we begin this process in November. Um and sometimes difficult decisions need to be made. Um especially if there are fiscal constraints um costs rising um overall um additional students that may need um special services. Um so we had to make some some difficult decisions but overall we want to make sure that we continue to move in the path that I discussed in October of increasing supports to make sure that all of our students are successful. So thank you to all of you for all the hard work you do. I appreciate it more than you know. So, what we're going to do is we're going to look at the current staffing numbers, how everything looks, um, and then we'll

047look at the trends in enrollment. As I shared in October, uh, every single week the board of education receives an enrollment report um, on average class sizes between each building. Also, um, which students have moved in, moved out, um, and the overall enrollment. And at the current moment, um, in the past few weeks, we've seen a slight dip in our enrollment. I do think that that will eventually plateau, but we have um definitely received students who have left the school district. Um and that's been updated and I'll share that with you in a moment. And then we have the projections for what hopefully uh the board will approve um for next school year. So overall, um this is based off of last week's enrollment report. I will do another enrollment report in Friday and I

048will continue to do so all the way into the summer. Um and I will share some stories just so that this way it puts some of the community members at ease that in the event that uh we got an influx of students moving in that we of course would make decisions um in order to support our teachers, our support staff as well as most importantly our students. So overall this is Flower Hill Primary School and Flower Hill is a classic example of what happened uh this past summer. So, in late August, we began to receive an influx of um students moving specifically into Flower Hill Primary School and we made a decision at that point that we were going to open up another section. We opened up that section, I believe it was the first

049three days of August um to make sure that we had class sizes that would support our students. Um and so what we did here is we rolled over and you could see uh for next school year the average class sizes based off of um uh the current enrollments in the building. So they're going to remain flat there. For kindergarten I just want to point out um it's important to note that for kindergarten those are just projections at this point. Uh we are currently doing our K regge um presently right now and then additionally we always in August receive uh August and actually the first two weeks of school uh we'll start to receive more students coming in and registering for kindergarten. So kindergarten is always a projection. Jefferson I do want to point out that

050Jefferson is going to be adding an additional class section. Uh that's just based off of a rollover trend. Um however it's important to note that kindergarten is unique next school year. Um based off of conversations with uh Miss Morov uh it we have come to the agreement in Miss Capatulos that uh we want to be in compliance with part 154 regulations. Um and we need to uh support our bilingual students and offer a bilingual program. So for kindergarten it was recommended that we do two dual language sections and two gened sections. Now, for the lottery, we typically uh when kindergarten students come in, they want to enter into the dual language program and we often have to, you know, decline their enrollment in. So, this will actually help to continue to increase our dual language,

051but also um to make sure that we're in compliance with part 154 regulations. The increase um so as you could see the increase in this building um is going to be accounted for. Uh the average class sizes are listed above and as I shared with you some of the enrollment has be beginning to decline and I've been seeing a pattern uh specifically in grade two uh in the past few days and the past few weeks we have uh lost a few students um in grade two specifically at Jefferson as well as in grade four in both Woodhole and Jack Abrams and I'll get there soon. For South Primary School, this is just another rollover situation. Um they are losing a class section and I will get to it shortly after that. they will actually be

052increasing in a section of life skills special education. Um, Miss Amarwig is always so wonderful in accepting um our special education programs into her building. Um, so this may be a loss of one section. Um, however, there is a retirement so there will not be a need to transfer an individual out. For Washington Primary School, uh, we are decreasing a section after having a conversation with Dr. Richards. This is another story of when we had our kindergarten numbers at one point at 2728 students. Um we needed to create a new class section. Well, those students are now going to be going into third grade and they some of those students have left the school district and the average class size is 23 and Dr. Richards thought it would be a good time at this point

053to remove that additional class section. Additionally, just like Jefferson, we do need to have that kindergarten dual language, two dual language um classes. Um and the need for that is once again to be in compliance with part 154 regulations. Are there any questions about the elementary and the need for the dual language programs in both Jefferson and Washington? Uh one question. I'm guessing that last year this 65 in in kindergarten was probably a bit of surprise. That was right. And so we've got a 40 projected for this year. Yep. What are the chances of that being? So based off of um the KR regge packets that we sent out um we believe that that number is going to be accurate. Um of course we don't have a crystal ball. Um, but in years past, we've

054always planned and prepared for our K regge numbers to be very closely aligned to where we end up at the end. Um, every once in a while there's anomaly where, you know, on the third day of school, uh, we have a line out the door of of individuals needing to register. Um, however, usually we're pretty successful with that. In the event that that we end up seeing that there is an uptick, of course, we'll we'll explore that and and make a decision. Um the beautiful thing is is that we have a really great team here who uh thinks very creatively because as I shared with you there is some fiscal uncertainty and some difficult decisions needed to be made. Um but based off of the team's creativity um unlike once again other school districts that

055are going to be accessing their staff, all of our staff will stay here. Um which is really really important. It's just not covering specific retirements. Um which ultimately helps our budget. Um, however, every individual that's employed here will continue to be employed next school year, which is really, really nice. For Jack Abram STEM Magnet School, once again, uh, you're going to notice that there has been an infusion of dual language for the first time. Um, and the reason for that is similar to Jefferson and Washington. Um, we need to be in compliance with Part 154 regulations and have a bilingual program to support our students. Um and so this is a good time for us to to create those sections. Additionally, um when we looked at the staffing enrollment, when all the third grades were

056now going to come together at uh Woodhull Intermediate School, there would only be three sections with four classes. And normally it works out tremendously. This school year, uh it would be an average class size of 29 students, which obviously is not um okay. So, us creating this model actually will decrease the class sizes to 22 and allow for um the programs to be successful. I just want to mention that for all the third grade families who have already put in their requests for Woodh Hall next year who have dual language students, we will be sending out a follow-up letter and we will have a lottery uh so that if people are interested in being considered for the classes at STEM, that is something that you would be able to let us know about and there

057will be a lottery that will take place for Woodhole. So instead of having three sections of dual language, now they will have two sections of dual language in fourth grade. And then they will now have instead of three sections of general ed, they'll have four. Um, and so once again, those are the class sizes that are listed above. And as I shared with you back in October during my presentation, I know that there was a grade four concern of the number of students that continued to come in. At one point, every class either had 26 or 27 students. We're down uh to about 24.6 in both buildings. So um the grade four who moved in have also moved out and we'll continue to study that trend. Like I said if we need to make decisions

058we will of course do that in a creative way. So overall we are losing a class section at Southdown and Washington based off of rollovers and then uh we are increasing a section at Jefferson. for integrated code teaching. We are uh losing a section of inclusion at Jack Aen STEM Magnet School and at Woodhole. However, we are increasing in the area of life skills and self-contained. So, um the new trend has been obviously based off of UPK and and um not having specific early intervention services available to these students. So, a lot of our students are coming in with significant special needs. Um, which has required the district to, you know, create additional life skills classes to support our students. Um, so at Southtown Primary School, they'll be receiving a life skills class and at

059Woodhill Intermediate School, they'll be receiving a self-contained class. So, overall for special ed, it's a wash, removal of inclusion, and addition of two uh self-contained classes. for other elementary. So for art there's a minus.1 that does not mean anybody is losing their position. This past year we had to do a memorandum of agreement for uh a teacher to cover a few art classes at Washington Primary School because of the number of sections they had uh because we have removed that one section that memorandum of agreement will go away. Okay. Um for mathematics this past school year um so that's RTI mathematics services this past school year. Um, in August, I believe it was as well, um, Miss Amat Irwig's class sizes were were significantly low in one grade level. And so, we decided to collapse

060that section and create an RTI mathematics position with that individual, and it's been very successful. So, this school year, we have two um, retirements in the RTI mathematics position. We just won't fill one of those retirees. um and for social workers. So, we do want to continue to increase our mental health support. Um so, we decided that we would build in an additional social worker to assist um our students with their mental health needs. Additionally, um there is an increase of a 1.0 in speech, but that's actually not completely accurate. This past school year, we had a point4 memorandum of agreement for our middle school and high school speech therapists to um assist new students moving in. So really it's a 0.6 increase districtwide. Um but overall in the in the in the grand scheme

061of things uh we have a number of students who are either moving into the school district or coming into the school district um from other schools and requiring speech therapy services. So this is definitely something that is needed. Um and in the past few years we've actually had to increase this drastically um just because of the students needs. Mr. um social worker it's an additional full-time position. That's correct. And that'll float between the elementaryaries. Yes. So, what will happen is uh Dian, Miss Rich will, as she always does, she does a great job of assessing the entire school district and trying to split things equitably, but making sure that it makes sense. Um, so she and her staff, uh, sometime in July and August, we'll review everything and then allocate the FTEEs appropriately. But this

062will definitely help with the mental health support. Awesome. Thank you. So for secondary staffing, here is the current enrollments. This is Finley Middle School. You can notice that uh there'll be a reduction in of 23 students overall at Finley next school year. And for Huntington High School, there'll be a reduction of 46 students. Overall for art um if you notice in the first category there's a minus0.2 that is just one collapsing of a class section of art 7. Uh there are 23 students uh leaving um the Finley Middle School. So therefore it's one less section. However um that individual will go over to the high school and that's for our video broadcasting three which has been very very successful program. um something that we're really proud of and and so they'll have additional uh classes

063to offer. As far as mathematics, this is due to an increase in us needing to support um our geometry students as well as we created two additional programs that will take place next year, which is college web design and college cyber security. So that will assist us in um the hiring of those staff members for fizzed. Um, I know I believe it was two years ago, Miss McCoy was standing up here as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and she provided an overview of the new PE courses that were going to be offered at Huntington High School. Um, at that time period there was a um a need for a 0.6 allocation for that staff um that was not staffed uh last year. Um, so looking at the class sizes in PE and the

064fact that we are trying to offer as many different services and Mr. Hoops does a wonderful job of this of offering different types of of classes for students based off of their interests and needs for personal fitness, for unified and for dance/ yoga. Um, it'll be required that 0.6 and the additional 0.4 once again is based off of special uh education needs for AP. And then finally, the technology is I'm sorry, no, special ed is a plus 0.2. Overall, it's really a 0.1. Currently, right now at Huntington High School, we have a 0.2 MOA um that one of our special education teachers uh has. Additionally, two board meetings ago, um the board approved, um a 0.6 six um part-time teacher to come and work with our life skill students to make sure that we had

065a fantastic transitioning program. And then the additional 0.2 from that is so that we can support our students in computer science within a computer science inclusion class. And then finally, technology. Uh it's just a reduction once again. We had an MOA for a technology teacher uh who was receiving a 1.2. We'll go back to a 1.0 0 just based similarly off of just class sizes and the reduction of 23 kids at Finley Middle School. So overall, it's a 1.0 increase for the secondary. So if you look at the summary here, it's minus0.2 at Finley Middle School and a plus 1.2. So overall, it is a net change of a plus one. Nothing too exciting here for non-instructional staffing analysis. The only increase is in the area of teaching assistance and that's based off of the

066life skills class that we are creating at Southtown Primary School. And overall just the summary of the proposed staffing changes. So we're losing one classroom teacher. And when I say losing one classroom teacher, we're just not replacing a retiree. Um and then as far as the other elementary, it's a plus 0.9. Secondary, we have just a plus 1.0. And then non-instructional is a plus 1.0. The other thing is um in years past we've either had five contingencies, four contingency, three contingency positions built in just in the case for a rainy day. We're very good at thinking of creative solutions and to have that money allocated there um when we know that we needed to make some cuts, this is the area to do it. Um, so this way we do not have supports and layers

067in place for our students and all of our teaching staff will continue to remain on in this capacity. So I know that we were okay with only having an allocation of a 2.0 contingency. This year I haven't touched it. Last year I didn't either. The year prior it was a 0.2. So we'll just continue to be creative in working out solutions that are best for a our taxpayers, b for our students, and c for our overall staff. And then finally, we did remove additional contingency positions in teaching assistance. We will not need that. And we will continue to maintain five aid positions. That's the one area that when we have students move in that require um services based off of their IEP, we do need to create those. So having that buffer there is extremely

068important. Are there any questions on staffing? Just a couple of observations. having been around a long time. Looking at those enrollment numbers, um they're pretty significant in some areas and to to keep the staff intact is thank you for for doing that because it shows um being thoughtful and also our students needs are getting greater. Um but the the the enrollment numbers are really kind of shocking in some ways like um looking at the primary buildings and it's great that our class sizes are the numbers that they are. Um and that's due to your great work with your team and a little bit of help from the enrollment Yep. dropping, but that that's a whole another issue to discuss another time. Um question about the classes, the gym classes that we've added. Are are we

069seeing an increase now this year since those classes have happened at the high school like the dance and the individual um training? Are they have they increased popularity for next year? They have. The problem though is that we have to cap those classes off based off of size and based off of uh instruction. So when Miss McCoy had shared the the course proposal sheet, the additional 0.6 was really needed at that time period, but last year uh we couldn't increase that that in there. So we have some class sizes that are 31 32 students in a PE and it's really not um an appropriate allocation of uh you know students in in a class setting especially something where you know students are going to be moving around and there could be implications that they can

070injure themselves. So we really want to make sure that we establish a safe and secure environment for our students and continue to offer them uh the unique options that uh we offer in PE. I really appreciate the new um the new classes. I know my own child is really loving. I've never heard her say I love Jim, but she loves Jim because she's taking dance. So, thank you, Mr. Hoops. Where are you? There he is. Thank you. I just want to echo Michelle's sentiments. I'm very grateful, you know, in uh collaborating and speaking with other districts. Um, and a lot of districts are cutting teachers. Um, so I appreciate the fact that you guys are always looking at creative solutions and and having hard conversations with principles and and becoming creative and how you can

071condense and and then expand in other areas of need. So, um, thank you for maintaining our staff. It's really important. Absolutely. And you know, the wonderful thing is, uh, this school year we are going to begin posting effective tomorrow with a closing date of a lot earlier. In years past, we always waited until late May, early June, and we missed a large boat of really really solid candidates. Um, and so we want to make sure that we we capture everybody um that we can. So, they'll be posting uh the posting will go out tomorrow. All right. Thank you. I'll pass it off to Dr. Harris. Sure. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So, uh, Mr. Hender talked about a lot of great things, which definitely cuts down on how much I have to talk through as you

072see some of these numbers change. So, tonight's budget series that are being discussed are curriculum and instruction and benefits, two very large areas of the school district budget. All right, we have our beautiful small numbers up there. So, I'm going to pull it from my spreadsheet. Um, I'm not going to go through each one of these. I did make highlights, uh, that I do want to touch on tonight with the board. If you have additional questions, uh, we can always address them next meeting if we don't get them get to them today. So, um, you're going to see a lot of items that are described as contractual obligations. Um, that could be due to union contracts. It could also be to contractual agreements or Boseies. uh a lot of those items are already preset and

073outside of our control just based on what is happening with the cost of living, the uh CPI, those percentages of increase. That information is primarily given to me and then we try to work to see what do we need versus what can be uh removed to fall in alignment with what we're able to do with the budget. um areas to draw your attention to. I really focused in on anything that seemed to be at 8% or higher. Um some areas are listed as 8% or higher. I'll draw your attention to supervision and adult education. So, it says 14.58%. When you see a percentage, that's huge. When you look at the number, it's $3,500. So, I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of the smaller ones, but um things that came up between uh our

074last budget meeting and this one um is definitely special education uh listed up here as students with disabilities. That's at 8.79% a little bit over 2 million. Um we do have a or we seem to be on the rise of students needing additional services whether that is out of district placement or just in district services for speech OT PT. Um Diana Rich works very hard to keep this in a an aligned only asking with for what is necessary uh for the upcoming year. We've had multi oh she is here. uh we have had multiple discussions um during the budget season with her just keeping a pulse on that. We have made adjustments due to what we foresee as placements and contractual obligations there. Another area um that you will see on here that is shown

075as a 41.47% increase is occupational education. This does include Lisa. It includes career tech and Bose's increase obligations. Um I do want to say that we have spoken as a team a lot. We speak out as a team a lot anyways but during budget especially um regarding our career tech. We are working with um guidance and the way in which they allow students to be selected. Um we are going to have some future meetings in regards to just making sure we're looking at attendance. We are looking at making sure this is an appropriate program. Career Tech is wonderful. Having I I love going there. Having the hands-on experience is wonderful as well. You do have to monitor it though because it can grow. And Boseis does a two-year average. So, they look at the past

076two years and they update the bill. So, you're getting build for past students. there's no uh control once the kids are there in regard to what happens budgetarily. So you have to control it at the beginning of is this appropriate, how many students should go, what is the impact for the budget and then planning moving forward. So we're just trying to get in alignment with the appropriateness and the budget component and making sure it is the right decision for the student and the financial component for the school district. Another area um just to draw attention to some of these seem like I'm picking on Boseies. Uh maybe I am a little bit but um is the BoseI summer services. Uh that includes regional summer school regions review and walk-in exams. There really is no control

077on our end. It's based on the number of students that participate. uh I will not know the actual number of students until the summer actually occurs and Boseies will revise what we are build for. So um this past year I did experience about a4 or $50,000 uh increase in compared to what I thought it was going to be to where we landed. I'm trying to account for that. It does not mean it will be expensed. It just means if it's necessary, the funds are there and we're not taking from another place. I have a a quick question on that. So, is that true for Lisa, too? So, for example, if we'll accept, I think, eight kids, eight students, and let's say only two choose to attend, do we still have to pay up to that

078eight cap? No student cap. It's going to be based on the number of students that are actually attending. Um, I don't want to speak in the know all in regard to Lisa because I have not reached out. I believe that's Nassau's. Um, I have not reached out to them to see how they average it. They make some Boseies do a two-year average, some Boseies do a three-year average. Oh, so we So that's what you mean. So we pay retroactively. So they they won't bail us for the kids that came this year. They'll bill us next year for the kids in Correct. Got it. Okay. And that's where like uh some of the miscommunication can happen. I opened it and I was like, where'd this number come from? And then through discussion, we did realize that

079we have allowed more participation. It's just how quickly will it catch up to us and then making sure we're just prepared. It's not to say it's not worth it. I just want to make sure we're not seeing anything balloon in the end that has a financial impact and we're not foreseeing it coming. Okay. I just wanted to add that for Lisa, we have a clear cap as to how many students are able to attend. That has not been the case for the CTE program and we noticed a a spike and so we are looking to rein that in a bit. How would you do that or is that a subject for another? We're we're putting in processes. Mr. Kuzzac's been working with Dr. Papandria about processes and what we need to look for when students

080want to apply. Looking at attendance records, looking at if it's the right fit, looking at whether or not it is the right program for each child, and really having more extensive discussions with them about that, and having a a a procedure for that. Um, so that's something that we've uncovered a bit. Interesting. Thank you. And then the last um item that I'm going to point out, so if you have any questions, uh just ask me and I'll I'll I can explain most of this. If not, the team definitely can. Um an area that is also increasing is social work, but that is primarily due to the social work request. Um so I just like to make those connections sometimes. Chris just did a wonderful presentation, but now you'll see the numbers for some of those

081requests. Any questions? on the slide. Okay. Employee benefits. Um so you will see ERS. So that is the employee retirement system. This is based on the estimate that is given annually. We receive an estimate uh for ERS. I will say the uh estimate for the 2025 2026 year I believe is inflated. Um that's the hope always but we do need to budget per the estimate because you don't want to uh underbudget this area. Um the next area shown is TRS and this is just based on the salary amounts and the estimate of the 9.59% um that we were told to budget for. Uh so that is included there. This has changed a bit since the draft presentation from March 10th and that's because the overall salary area for TRS has decreased. Um, social security is

082shown as 4.14%. It's really 7.65% of the projected salaries. As the projected salaries shift, that number can shift. So, you may see that change again as we work through to balance the budget. Um the next area is workers comp. No change there. Life insurance. Uh there's usually a small increase there. We are also uh we have an RFI out. So that's a request for information in regards to um benefits. And it's it's not like health insurance benefits, but it's really similar to like a benefits broker. So looking at dental, looking at vision, um looking at life, but also what value ad they can assist the school district with. Um the union has been slightly involved. There will be more involvement with them in the future. Um so we're just looking around. So I'm trying to

083build in for the possibility of that increase. Uh no nothing for unemployment or disability health insurance. Uh in the past we have definitely contributed a larger percentage. This past year uh so when we were budgeting for 2024 2025 we were told to plan about 10% of an increase. We did not see that happen with NICHIP. So to make sure I'm not overinflating the health insurance budget, I am taking into consideration how the uh health insurance budget is performing for this year and we're only budgeting 3.48% for 8% increase for uh next year. So just being mindful and having a buffer but without considering uh or taking into consideration that last year was not the doom and gloom 10% we had heard. Uh so I don't want to overinflate this too much. Um no changes here

084for dental. I do believe that the overall spend for dental will increase but there seems to be enough of a buffer in there already to cover that. So, we did not make changes. And then, just so people are aware, other benefits is usually uh 403b. That payment can change as you have years of more people retiring. Um, which this year we do have a lot of retirements. Uh, so we keep that stagnant at the higher amount even though you do see for 23 24 actual it only being 244,000. Any questions? All right. All right. So, the adjustments. Um, I'm not going to read every single one of these. Uh, I will read the expenditure area. You will see the dollar amount and additional information. A couple of these I have already touched upon per uh

085the previous slide or two. Um, there is usually a uniform request. We were trying to add it directly into the budget. This does not mean people will not get uniforms. It just means that when we look at the end of the year, if there are available funds, uh, that will be provided to athletics so they can continue the replacement. They've already been doing it. The plan is just to do it the way we've been doing it instead of putting it as a budget item. Um, we spoke through uh a couple of Boseies items already. We did do a contractual reduction. uh QEL was a program cost that was added last year through discussion with uh Mr. Cusac. There is no cost for the upcoming year. So we were able to take that out. There was

086a 10% reduction for equipment. That same 10% reduction was also done for supplies. Um I've already talked through ERS and health insurance. uh the inner fund transfer for food service that's been earmarked for 40,000 for I'm gonna say at least the last three years um through the review of C as well as the healthy fund balance and when I say fund balance I'm not talking about the general fund food service has its own fund balance and you have to have at least three months or you should have at least three months of uh funds to perform through review of that we have been able to uh usually stay above that amount and also do equipment repairs without issue. So I feel that it is okay to take that out of the general fund as a

087obligation in in anticipation. Um I don't foresee any issues happening for next year for food service. Um then the big area you will see here is salaries. I believe uh Mr. Hender correct me if I'm wrong. When I counted the spreadsheet earlier today, I think I had around like 25 or 26 retirements. Oh, dang it. All right, I was close. Um, retirements listed. So, those retirements are incorporated in here. Also incorporated here are positions that will not be refilled or um renew. Um, I we'll stick with refilled. Um and then we also incorporated any MOA uh that are currently in place that are not necessary for next year. So that's where that large number comes from. Um anything else? Transportation was reviewed by myself. I had a discussion with uh Mr. Hender as well as

088Jorge and the business office. Uh just looking at where our transportation bills are, where do we anticipate them coming in and is there any fluff that's not necessary there? We did do a slight reduction of uh 200,000. When we looked at everything, we are performing very well in that area. Hopefully there are some future changes in regards to some pushes from our board members to uh change what happens in the world of transportation which could also help us. Um but that's not incorporating that there but just as a a plug of a great idea. And then workers compensation was brought down slightly um in regards to some additional review. So you'll see that total changes to expenditures is minus 1.6. That does include though the the Boseies piece we spoke about which is an increase

089as well as the uh special ed piece which was an increase. So that's all including and then there was some review in regard to revenue. Uh the next board meeting we will do a deep dive into revenue. So you'll be able to see all the ins and outs of that. But um one of the areas that was reviewed was expense driven aids. I believe it was at the last presentation I said I'm still looking to make sure we're using the correct information. We look at um high cost. We look at private access cost and we looked at transportation aid. I think it's always important to let people know just because the state has a number on the run that does not mean that is the actual number. Um so through that review high cost and

090private access costs especially um in working with our stack reviewer uh we uh work with a service through Boseies to review stacks. They actually accounted for more funds than what is shown in the run and they felt confident in that. So I did provide that in the expense driven aid area. And then we also receive a chapter tuition aid. we have over the last two or three years. We don't account for that revenue. Um so we are accounting for that here. This year it was I'm going to say 200 or 220,000. I figured less was better. Um because that can fluctuate year to year. It's dependent on the students that are placed there. Any questions in regards to adjustments? All right. So you will see here revenue at a glance which really just shows what

091we spoke about um last meeting which is made up of revenue other than tax levy and revenue uh with just tax levy uh and the totals there. So you will see from March 10th to March 25th $368,367 which the last slide explained where those two numbers came from. And then you have the draft budget snapshot um which you will see where the total expenses have went down 1.6 million which is shown on the last slide of where all those numbers come from and the total revenue. So between the March 10th meeting and the March 25th meeting there's been a reduction of 1.3 or am I looking at that right between the two numbers um netted there's been 1.3 million uh that we are working with or 1.26 as a budget gap. So that means we

092went from 5.17% uh as of the last presentation to 4.11%. There's still a gap there of 1.2 million. We're doing a lot of discussions. Uh we've been doing a lot of discussions. I will tell you uh I work with a phenomenal team that within I don't know it's probably 48 hours. I was getting thrown ideas every couple of minutes with people coming in my office or us meeting as a cabinet. Um, we still have work to do, but I am not concerned that the work won't be done. Any questions with this slide? Okay. Tax cap since inception. You've seen this slide once or twice already. It's just a nice uh picture of what has occurred in the past. and then the 2025 2026 year uh will be filled in for actual um within the next

093meeting or two. Any question on the historic view in regards to the tax cap? Okay. As we spoke about in prior meetings, uh, for every 0.1% increase in the levy percentage, that equates to an additional $117,044 in revenue. We have not made any changes thus far to the levy limit. So, it's still listed in the presentation as 3.34%. Uh my hope, fingers crossed, is next meeting when we're talking about revenue, uh the governor will have provided a bit more information, hoping for the uh state aid run that will help us look at where our expenses are, where our revenues are, and where we need to be in regards to the levy limit. So, uh the hope is at the next meeting it's a recommendation and we can move forward. We never know what the governor

094is going to provide, but uh as we know more, the board and the community will know more as well. Any questions with this slide? Fund balance and reserves. This just provides a snapshot of where the um fund balance is as of 312025. The only difference really that you're seeing from 6:30 2024 to 31 2025 is interest. Um outside of that, all of these pretty much stay status quo. uh the goal at the end of the year which once the audit is done so it's really not 6:30 but when you see the reserve plan and the fund balance update you receive the audit report um it is to fund these reserves as appropriate per the recommendations of the auditors per the discussion we have as a whole and um to keep us in good financial standing

095each year we do use a bit of the reserve in the planning of the budget, but through interest and through just really good fiscal oversight by the collective um we are able to not deplete um but to keep replenishing which is which is great to see. Uh another item just to draw your attention to capital reserve does uh remove the 3.6 uh million in regards to what will be proposed to the community. So, I did take that out. So, you don't see that available. If you're wondering how is there 263,000 there when it wasn't there when we talked about this a couple weeks or months ago, that is simply interest. So, I do show uh the interest component going back in. Um, and as of current moment, there has been no change to designated fund

096balance. Uh, I just want to note I didn't do anything different there. Uh, but we will talk about that more as well next meeting. an unappropriated fund balance uh will be known when the audit is complete. That's your incumbrances for the current year. Any questions? You will see this again next meeting. Okay, so hold on. Let me I never turn my pages. I watch my peers do it so well and I never do. Um so this is the 2026 capital project uh proposal and um you will see here 3.6 6 million. This goes through everything we have spoken about in the past. Um I don't know if there are any questions, any discussion pieces that want to occur. Right now there is a uh motion put forth before the board in regards to not only

097the capital project um proposition but also to the establishment of the capital reserve. some items that I wanted to mention in the worlds of capital. We did have an auditorium meeting. Um we were able to review uh some information. That submission will go to SED. Uh we are anticipating the approval during the summer of 2025. I do believe it'll be hard to do any work during the school year. So I anticipate the following summer will be the uh work that's being completed. um there per what the board has approved over the last couple of meetings, there's a lot of capital work that is planned to happen uh this summer. So, I just ask everybody to be patient as we do some shuffling of what buildings are available, what's accessible, when it's accessible. Um we are

098trying to come up with large plans of action so we're able to provide that to the necessary um stakeholders and people prior so they are well informed and can plan for that. Um there was a question about the auditorium seating. Is it the entire upper seating area? Yes, it is. Um we already spoke about the lighting at the last meeting. That's summer work as well. And I think I covered everything. Some of those I was supposed to talk about last meeting, but I don't flip my pages. So I'm missing and I know I ask this question every meeting and it's not it I probably know the answer but just to highlight so everybody knows the state state ed department is still behind. Yes. Okay. So things that were approved two years ago will be done

099this summer. It sounds like correct. So u that includes uh roof work. Um there's the science room. There is the cafeteria uh HVAC work. Um uh I think one of the items is Flower Hills boiler. Like it we are really co-mingled in the what was approved when I do try to keep a a good spreadsheet of it because once those projects are done any funds not expense go back into the reserve fund. So, we try to account for it, but it is a bit I think it was on I don't know if it was New York State school boards and or Nassau SuffK, but I believe it's always a resolution to push state ed. So, maybe we we and Huntington need to kind of maybe Teresa will take that on and Yeah. And the field

100lighting is also uh one project that's being completed this summer. Yes. Uh along with what you were referring to about boilers and things of that nature, um one of the greatest things is seeing these long-term projects, you know, being completed. Uh how much uh or how many more roofing projects are left um and boilers for that matter. I think we're done with the boilers, right? Yes. Um, I think two meetings ago there was a nice slide that really showed all of that, but off the top of my head, um, once the boiler projects that are out now, uh, are completed, that would be all of the boilers. Um, STEM has two sections of the roof that are out to uh, bid and bids have been received, so they're being reviewed. So, that would cover what

101was necessary for STEM. And Woodh Hall is a roof that we are Is it Wood Hall? I believe it is Woodall is a roof that we are looking into. Okay. So, almost done there as well. Yes. Thank you. All right. Prop one, two, and three. Um Proposition one. Once that is complete, uh once the budget is complete, you'll have a number that goes there. uh Proposition two and Proposition three the board will be uh acting on tonight and the community will have the opportunity to hopefully support uh come May uh for the budget vote and I will also be sending out someformational uh think piece in regard to Prop 3 just providing uh some frequently asked questions and answers just to inform the community on what the proposition is, how it is supportive to the

102students, the staff, the community, to the buildings, um, and and our future plans. Next meeting is April 7th. It will be revenue and budget overview. Any questions, comments, concerns? No. Thank you very much. I know it's this is a lot of work. So, thank you to you and your team for Thanks. I have a great team of work. Okay. Um, it is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education review and adopt the attached resolution which among other items outlines a capital proposition for inclusion on the May 20, 2025 ballot that will allow district residents to vote on use of existing existing monies within the district's 2022 building improvement capital reserve fund. Do I have a motion? Kelly and a second from Teresa. All in favor? That's everyone. Thank you. Is

103upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education adopt the attached resolution approving a proposition for the May 2025 ballot allowing district residents to vote on the establishment of a 2025 building improvement capital reserve fund as outlined below and for said proposition to be included in the annual notice of said vote and election. And I have a motion. Bill, a second. Teresa, all in favor? That's everyone. Mr. Cusack. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve CSSE CPSC submissions as delineated. Can I have a motion? Tom, a second. Kelly. All in favor? That's everyone. Mr. Hender, it is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules five, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 16. Can I have

104a motion? Teresa, second, Tom. All in favor? That's everyone. Bill should really be sitting on that side tonight, so I only have to look that way. Do you have any? Okay, Dr. Harris. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve business items I through O. Can I have a motion? Uh, Bill Tom. Second. All in favor? All in favor? That's everyone. We have a couple of donations tonight. Um, Miss uh Jennifer Gosh, I'm sorry if I mispronounced your last name. Googliano is presenting a donation of nine books to the Huntington High School library. Donation has an approximate value of $139.75. So we thank you and um very exciting. Trex is presenting a donation of a 48 in yacht club bench to the Woodhill Intermediate School as a result

105of their participation in the Next Track Plastics film recycling program. And this donation has an approximate value of [Applause] $49. Okay, moving on to our second public commentary. If anyone would like to come to the podium. No. Okay. Oh, sorry. Just um sign and just say your name and your affiliation with the district, please. and you'll have three minutes. John Weston, John Weston, uh, resident the district. Um, I just want to commend the, uh, district administration for the thorough overview of the strategic plan, uh, for excellence. One area that I was thinking of, um, and this kind of falls into like the long-term plan, which obviously this is why we're here for a long-term budgeting plan. Um, an area of the budget that's ballooning was the CTE, the career tech, um, I think it was

10641.47% increase. And I believe it was due to the spike in students attending CT programs or their interest in CTE programs which is wonderful. But um one suggestion and I don't know if you take suggestions from the lay people but um one thing to look at uh obviously you're looking at attendance records if it's the right fit for these students but it might behoove the district to look into whether we can run these programs inhouse with our teachers and our educators that are already uh here in Huntington. might they be able to complete the same programming for CTE that the students are getting in Boseies? So that could cut down possibly on what we're spending and allocating towards Boseies. Just a suggestion for long term. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Any closing comments? No. We

107have a motion to to close the meeting. Teresa Kelly. All in favor? That is everyone.