001It's Oh. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Today is Tuesday, July 22nd. Uh, welcome to the Hide Park Central School District's special board of education meeting tonight. Like to call the meeting to order. And can I get a motion to adjourn to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or persons? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I >> Carl >> uh opposed. Motion carried. Now an executive position. Good evening everyone. At this time, I'd like to return to open session. If we can please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
002for all. So um so I think we need to uh modify the agenda um by um adding in public participation. Um, I think it was an oversight that we didn't add it in here and I I I didn't pick up on it um earlier. So, I want to amend the agenda um to add it. Um, so can I have a motion to amend the agenda? Uh, >> yep. Can I get a motion to amend the agenda? >> So, move to >> second Margaret. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. Moving on to 4.3. Can I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended? >> I'm out. Don't we need to also add a second exec session? >> Oh, that's not on here either. Phil, >> and we had
003a second executive session. Thanks, Carl. but this is going to be a separate >> um so we also need to modify the agenda by adding a second a executive um session um at the end. So can I get a motion to amend the agenda? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carried. Any other motion uh for agenda changes? All right. So, can I um get a motion to adopt the agenda as amended? >> So, move second. Carl, >> any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. 5.1 Superintendence Report. >> Yes. Uh good evening uh board trustees and community. Um two um things that I wanted to share with with the community and the board. Uh the first one is just a quick update on the federal freeze on title
004uh funds. Uh this past week um I met with several Duchess superintendents. We all attended uh Governor Hokll's uh presentation in Kingston at the YMCA. Uh, additionally, I sent uh three letters to uh Congressman Pat Ryan um as well as uh Senator Henchi and um Assembly uh person uh Deh Bareric as well. Just to emphasize um the the the the need for us to have those funds and to pour upon them to to request that those funds be um uh unfrozen. Um and so uh they have responded to us. Um so we will be setting up a meeting with them just to kind of just share the impact of those dollars. Um for for the community to know the the title funds are usually intended to support our teachers um to provide professional development or
005sometimes the the the the neediest uh students. Um and so um that's one of the the titles that are title funds that are being frozen. Um additionally uh we have some uh programs that we also offer through the various title uh grants and so um we we'll keep the board and the community apprised. Um but right now we're definitely advocating for those funds to to be released. Um the second piece that I wanted to share um is just >> just on that um if it's not resolved by the next board meeting, can we see like a bigger like impact statement of what that means for for us? >> Okay. >> So So right now just quick just in terms of quick numbers. Um it's it's approximately just under um 300,000 um that we would be
006seeing an impact a negative impact on. Um, but we'll certainly um I'll work with Linda to make sure we provide that information uh to the board and the community. >> So today I just wanted to uh reiterate some of the points um that I shared on July 1st at the reorg meeting. But before I do that, I wanted to share uh this image um because I know that there are uh there is information sometimes misinformation or information that's missing uh key data points. And so there there is a danger to only having one side uh of of the story. And so in this image you you can see one point of view um and this is what the information is being shared. But when you flip to the the next slide, you actually see the
007bigger picture. Uh and this is actually what's indeed occurring. And so today, my my intention is to share with the board um the the facts of of what is being proposed on today's agenda. And so as I mentioned before, we're really trying to streamline uh the roles and responsibilities um in the organization. There were many responsibilities that were inappropriately placed in different um divisions um because of the need at the time and understand those decisions that were made. Uh but now we have an opportunity to rightsize it uh the the the the ship and uh we're taking that opportunity to do so so that the system is more efficient uh and effective. Um, additionally, we had some recommendations from some of the audits that we had and so we're looking to implement some of those
008uh changes uh that were recommended from an outside audit to support our our HR division to provide uh more a more comprehensive um set of supports for our staff um uh across the district. So the deputy superintendent position encompass all of these roles and responsibilities. And so with the plan that I proposed back on July 1st, it really is taking these responsibilities, not filling the deputy position, which is a $275,000 savings, um, and redistributing reallocating these positions among two, um, two different divisions, HR and student supports. And so the key changes um are the deputy superintendent will not be filled. Uh we will be uh retitling uh the assistant superintendent uh for PPS to student supports and elevating the chief of HR uh executive director to assistant superintendent for PD for the reason of taking
009an entire position dissol dissolving it as to not fill it for next year and redistributing those responsibilities. Uh the last one is highlighted in yellow because we are working with civil service to make a determination and we'll keep the the the board apprised on that matter. So the reallocation looks like this. Uh for student supports um student supports will take on uh the work of curriculum and programming, multilingual learners, homeschooling, UPK compliance monitoring, um all the accountability uh work that is is entailed in that in that um division as well as New York State testing and reporting. in terms of the new assistant superintendent for HR and PD. Um when we look at the uh the vision or excuse me the um positions regionally uh and take a look at some of the roles and
010responsibilities for an assistant superintendent. Um the role as it was written did not encompass the these areas. As a result, we're including professional development across the district. That's an area that we have been cited for in the audit of making sure that we provide PD opportunities for every bargaining unit and intentional PD PD that that will really support them to do their best work. uh my learning plan uh which is all about professional development and keeping track of uh the hours that our teachers are devoting to their their craft and being able to uh keep track of what's submitted, what's approved and uh moving on to title N investigations that would also shift from the deputy superintendent to the uh HR uh division AR inservice credits and leadership development. which would be shared in terms
011of the financial uh impact. So, as I stated, uh by not filling the deputy superintendent position, there's a a savings of $275,000. Um we would be taking all those responsibilities. So, about 30% of the workload for the assistant superintendent for student support services will be increasing. So just imagine you have a role. We're going to be increasing the amount of responsibilities. As a result, it requires uh compensation for those additional duties. In terms of the assistant superintendent for HH HR, as it was written, the executive director is a lower title than the assistant superintendent, which at the time uh required a certain salary. Uh but when you elevate it to an assistant superintendent and you look at it regionally um there's a parity adjustment that we need to consider so that the roles and responsibilities
012align with with the new title. As a result that does require uh a higher increase to competitively put our our position uh regionally. And then the last the last one is is the one that we're still working. We're um estimating no more than $15,000 for the accountability um manager role uh which we're working with civil service on. Um the net savings would be a total of 227,000 uh for this year and years moving forward. In terms of the benefit, um, as I stated, we're going to be realigning, uh, the roles and responsibilities to make the system more efficient. Um, we're looking to integrate our student supports so that, uh, we have a leader who's able to work with all, um, facets of the student support services and be able to work with the team there
013to make sure our students get get what they need. Um and then uh ensuring that we continue to provide targeted support uh and supervision for for our leaders across the district. And and then as I stated before the annualized uh savings of 227,000. So just I'll pause there. Um not sure if anyone has any questions. Other than that, that concludes um my items for today. >> Um just can I make a comment? So just historically this has been um every couple of years a new superintendent will restructure. This is not like some big unknown thing. Um back in 2022 I believe it was we did the opposite. We added an administrative position and uh and I think a lot of the reasoning a lot of it uh we did it was because of COVID and
014there were all these um instructional expectations so it made sense to add it there. Um, I was a little nervous when this first came up because, you know, when you take away a position, you want to make sure that everything is still being covered. Um, so, but it makes sense and I would think people would be thrilled that we have a net savings of $227,000 a year and we're getting rid of an administrative position because that's what I keep hearing is that we're heavy on the administrators. So, it for me it makes sense. We're out of COVID. hopefully we're never going back there that we would kind of shift back to a structure that was similar to before COVID when we had one less administrator. The difference is, and correct me if I'm wrong, it
015looks like it's just the allocation of duties might be a little bit different, which is why that HR position is being retitled and the salary is changing. And do I >> correct? Okay. Correct. Okay. As far as I sorry as far as I think the other distinction is that we're elevating HR kind of roles to the level of assistant superintendent. >> Yes. >> Which acknowledges the importance of those duties in maintaining the district. >> That's that's a great point. If if we think back on the HR audit that was conducted last year, they talked a lot about shifting from compliance to transformative work and that requires a higher level skill set and we've acknowledged that. Um, and this will continue to allow us to enhance um, the level of leadership that we need in order
016for us to actualize a lot of the of the recommendations, start implementing a lot of the recommendations that came from from that audit. >> And I just want to add too that with the salary, right? Like I know a lot of folks are saying, "Oh, he's getting a big raise and big raise." But if we didn't have Ryan on board and we were to post this, the number we would post is what's in the agenda today. That would be the starting point for an assistant superintendent uh for HR. That that job responsibility, right? >> So it that's you know that's what would happen if we had nobody. We would post at that number and you know hopefully get a good candidate. we have a good candidate already picked out that vamp happened recently. So, um
017that's just probably the worst thing is poor timing because of the circumstances that caused you to look at the reorganization. >> Um but but if this happened, you know, three months ago, the job would have been posted as this. >> Right. So, that's kind of where, you know, kind of people understand that it's really what that job would be posted for. And and following up on that, I know there's been some discussion of the the raise versus this increase. And I think to your point, Mike, ultimately what matters is the bottom line end number. Some people might say the raise is too high, but if we lowered the raise to get to the appropriate number, we'd have to increase >> right >> this adjustment. So ultimately what matters is what that end number to make
018us competitive for this kind of kind of dupes. So, and what I would say is again if I've said in the past, I like the idea of the restructuring. I think it's a good idea from Dr. Roman. I said that I was very clear about that. Um, I think that we certainly can streamline our administrators, especially at the district level. I think that's all a good thing. I think it's long overdue. You know, there has been concern. We all know at our last board meeting, we had people come to the mic. We had people email, you know, and so forth. So, it's people raise these concerns. So, I think we should talk about those and that's what we're doing right now. So, again, the perception right now as you mentioned is concerning the two different
019positions. Um, and yes, yes, an assistant superintendent has a certain, you know, average salary across the county, but you have to factor in the size of the district. You have to factor in how many years somebody's been in that position and so forth. So um so what I would say is that um you know a lot of people are concerned not only about the raise but the sequence of events. I know you know there were some things that happened recently. We talked about that and so forth that wasn't uh it wasn't optimal. It wasn't optimal. Um but with that said we have somebody who I think we're happy with right now. I think is has been here but has been here a very very short time and I think it's somebody who hopefully will grow
020and continue with our district and so forth. Um, you know, the reason I'm I'm against this, I'm for theru restructuring in general, but I'm against the HR part, you know, for those reasons. And then, you know, I think first of all, for an administrator, um, there should be something in a contract that if there's a raise, you know, it's kind of like when I used to score teachers and give teachers their teacher scores, if that teacher wasn't in for at least five months of the year, they didn't get a score. So that's a whole another question we have to look into is in the contract itself. If somebody has been with us only for two months, even if they did a great job, you know, to get a big raise and then a different raise
021for another title, the public perception of that, it's very concerning and so forth. So um then there's the question as was mentioned that some community members have brought up why wasn't this posted? Why wasn't it advertised? And yes, yes, um if we advertise something like that, that salary in that ballpark could um and most likely would be um more of the pay rate, but you could get somebody who's been doing HR for, you know, 10 years, 15 years. So um so these are some of the things again that we've heard in this room from people coming up to the microphone. We've received emails and so forth. Um, so that's why I'm just I'm against that part of the restructuring. Um, the way I was raised, where I've worked is, you know, you go to a
022job, you sign a contract, you do a good job in your first contract, and then you move forward, and then of course, if you're doing good, then there's raises. That's the American way. I think I mentioned last time. It's not, you know, just got here, and then then there's raise and second raise. It's just I don't think it was the proper sequence of events and and maybe the community was right that maybe it should have been advertised for a little more um transparency and maybe there would have been some other candidates too. But again, it's not anything personal against the HR director. I I think he's doing a good job and so forth, but it's just the way this is going about and the perception I'm not for that part of the restruction plan. Respectfully.
023Okay. >> Yes. >> I I would I would just say that I understand your points and I respect your position. I would not characterize it as a raise and then another raise it because it's a restructuring. It's not as though you get a contract, need a raise in the contract. You get a contract. Now, we're giving a new contract, a different contract with different duties. That's where the rationale comes in. That's why I'm I'm in favor of this because we've collected data on what the numbers are in the county and this seems to me the right salary for those duties and respectfully again I think we're we're having some you know semantics here and so forth. Um the other part of the semantics going on I think is the the savings. the savings. When we
024say savings, what I think we should clarify is there's a savings to the district where we can take that $227,000 and earmark that for other things hopefully for children down the line. So, it's a savings for the district. It's not a savings for the local community taxpayer because it is in the budget. It happened after the budget. So, it's not a savings per se, you would think, for the taxpayers. It's a saving for the district to use. Um, and then that goes into the general fund. When it goes into the general fund with few restrictions, it could be used based on the approval of the board, recommendation, superintendent for really anything. We've talked about and Dr. Roman mentioned about how there's concerns about some of the federal funds being cut. Um, you know, that's another
025discussion down the line. I'd like to see if there's a savings for the district of this amount having that specifically earmarked and having that discussion with the board for, you know, specific things for students. But, um, when we say savings, just understand that there's some people in our community who just see things a little different. When they say savings, they're saying savings to them, the taxpayers. What we're saying is savings for the district that we can put it into the general fund. That's all. And just to follow up on that so people understand, there's savings every day in the district. This is just one of the savings. If we have a vacancy for, you know, a PE teacher in a school and we can't fill that for three months, well, we have three months worth
026of savings in in the budget. If gas prices are cheaper than what we budgeted for, that's savings in the budget, right? All these savings at the end of the year would we look at and sometimes we vote to say let's put that in the capital reserve or it goes in the you know fund balance that we use to offset the next year's budget when it comes out to say well rather than raise taxes this much we're going to raise taxes this much and pull from the fund balance and that's a continuous cycle year after year after year that happens right and I don't know if we could specifically earmark savings for there's because there's you know gazsby rules that we have to Well, I don't know if we could specifically airmark it, but at the
027end like it would come out like if we don't get these federal funds, well, the numbers look almost the same. So, it would lessen the burden of that somewhere in the magic budget that you know like the the codes that you do, right? It may have to still go to general fund, but to cover the savings, it has to come out of some other fund, but that's for when to figure out when the time comes. But it is truly savings in the budget, right? Right. I mean, and again, we have savings every single day, right? We go to buy paper and we budgeted paper is going to cost us $10 a box and we go to buy it at Staples and and it's $9 a box. Well, that's savings, right? That's savings to the budget
028that we then put put in there. And, you know, hopefully at the end of the year there's more savings than overruns. And because sometimes things are more expensive. Sometimes we budget for $10 a box and it's $15 a box. Well, what are you going to do? you need the paper. So, all these things balance out throughout the year and at the end, knock on wood, we've been pretty lucky that we have this extra money at the end that we then put into the to the reserve accounts. >> And just to follow up so it's clear to the the public, I'm looking at the um in fact, this year the tax increase was less than the cap would have allowed us because of both savings and the health of the of the general fund. No one
029can predict a year from now whether this $227,000 will have made a difference that we don't have to go to the cap, but it it's part of the overall savings as you point out. Okay, >> that's just a normal budget cycle planning, you know, balance sheet at the end of the year, right? >> I do I do just want to say a couple of things. Um, first of all, thank you for the the dialogue. I think that this is really healthy uh for us and for our organization. Um the second piece is to your point um Trusty Spence um the the community. I I want to say thank you for the engagement uh from our community. We had at least I I had at least four questions from different community members um that were forwarded
030and we were able to respond to each of those uh sets of questions and that's that's what we welcome. We welcome those questions. We want to provide as a pi picture insinuated uh a clear um picture a clear story of of what these numbers entail. Um the other piece too that I do want to highlight is in this slide here um whenever there's a position um whenever we have a position and we're adding additional responsibilities to someone's plate already typically if you have a collective bargaining agreement um what happens is there is what's called impact bargaining which means that you are negotiating with the union because you're adding x amount of percent of of new work to that plate. And so unfortunately central administrators are at will employees. So we don't have that that same
031protection. Uh but this this really allows us to be fair in the compensation because we're taking a a full position. we're reallocating those responsibilities to to to different divisions and we want to make sure that we compensate those individuals um fairly. Um so those are the two things that I I wanted to to highlight. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. I just maybe I just have a different philosophy. I've always been raised, you know, you get an opportunity, you take a job, you know, they say run with it, show us what you can do, and then after several years, then you get the raise. That's just the way I was raised. >> Um, >> yeah. And the thing to think about is like if if we didn't have a person >> and we needed a person
032today, it would be posted at that number. So that person's not coming in with a raise. They're coming into it's it's it's the we're paying the position, not so much the person. It's the position that you're paying. It just so happens that we have the person that we just brought on board to fill the position, right? But it's it's we're not paying a person with all the all of them. We're paying a position, right? And there is there is room in there based on experience and stuff to to do that. But as he said, you know, when you look at the superintendent salary throughout, you know, uh assistant superintendent salary throughout the county, this for equaliz schools, that's the parody that we want to be in. We want to be kind of in the middle
033and you could adjust it based on, you know, experience. So that's how the process happens. But it's not like the like Mike said, it's not a race. It's a where the position has changed. It's a brand new position that's being staffed. Any other comments, questions? All right. So moving on to Do you have anything else for that one? Superintendent report. That was it. >> My items. Thank you, sir. >> All right. Uh moving on to um 6.1, the creation of a new title, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services. And I get a motion for uh 6.1. >> So moved, Kate. >> Second to this. >> Any discussion? >> I do have one question about this. At the bottom, it does say that wording provided by TDWPM. What does that stand for? the for the title. >>
034That's the lawyers, right? >> Yeah, it's the attorney. It's uh Thomas Joanne Blacksmith. I would never got the attorney. >> How you get all the letters? >> Okay, good. Thank you. >> Okay. They had just um you know, I'm very happy with this one. Um Miss Lawson in this case has been with the district for many years. My children have had her as a principal and so forth. So, I have a lot of confidence in her. So, I think this is very good. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. >> Uh 6.2 uh creation of a new title, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Professional Development. >> So moved. Carl. >> Second. Christine. >> Any discussion? Um, I just want to point out I I understand all the
035financial questions, but um, I just really think it's important to focus on this professional development piece. We have a new reading program. We've got a lot of new instructional initiatives and they're not going to be successful unless we have top-notch professional development for our staff in all areas. And that's something that staff has mentioned for years that you know certain groups get professional development but others don't. So um I really like that the way it makes sense to have this in the HR department together because it seems to go more handinand. Um so I just wanted to point that out that aside from the finances the structure of this makes sense to me for instruction. Okay. Any other uh discussion? All right. All those in favor >> I >> opposed. I got that. All right.
036Uh so it's 6 to1. Motion carried. Uh 6.3. Um, can I get a motion for a uh personnel uh unpaid leave? >> So move, Carl. >> Second, Margaret. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. Moving on to 6.4, personnel matters. Can I get a motion? >> So moved, Katie. >> Second. My name is Gresian. I have a question. So I remember when the substitute administrative salary was set um it was when we um because in the old days we didn't you know principles would cover for each other and that became impossible. Um and when this was instituted it was before Dr. Roman was here. Um this is something that's carried over. Um, we were having trouble finding people to cover a building. So, like in an emergency, right,
037you need somebody there for the day. Um, and I just thought as we um look at this, you know, something to look at going forward. We had put high high pay and we knew it was a little high because we could not find people. Um, but these are people who have high levels of certification who can step in. There's an emergency in a building. They know what to do legally. you know, they know all the safety stuff, but is that something that we want to look at this year? I mean, it's set for this year, and I agree with it, but um maybe is there a way that we could look at other other districts, what their um offerings for substitute principles to make sure that we're more in line um because we're out of
038that again that dark period where we might not have that difficulty of of filling those positions. I don't know if that's if that makes sense. >> Yeah. I mean, we can always look at it, but one of the things that factors in here was years of me years of in one of the roles. That's why you'll see some people have different Yes. numbers for substitute principle, for example, because some people have more administrative experience in that area than others. So, we made it so that >> you know, the more experience you have, the higher the number goes, right? you know, because they're more soughtafter. They're hard they're harder to get, >> right? I agree. I just think it it would be interesting to to get a the temperature of of what other districts are charging
039for that. >> Yeah, we can work on that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any other uh discussion? I just want to point out um that I'm trying to scroll here quickly. We have a um Okay, we have a couple of um support staff retirements that I'd like to acknowledge. So, we have um three bus drivers. Uh Raymond Leellis um after 9.8 years is retiring as a part-time bus driver. And then we have uh Fred Newswinger is retiring um after 5.8 years as a bus driver. And um we have uh Thomas Germano who's uh retiring after 21.67. Um Tommy, if you're watching, congratulations. Um, so I don't know what you're going to do in the morning now to get coffee at the firehouse, but uh enjoy your retirement. So congratulations to all the community. Any other
040discussion? Did I miss any retirements? I think it >> Okay. Any other discussion? All right. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. Uh 7.1. Any other matters deemed necessary by the board? Oh, wait. Stop. I forgot to add the one in here. >> I was going to add that was one of the things I was but I do have a discussion. >> Yeah. So, um can I get a motion to enter public participation? >> So, move because it's >> second Carl. So, I don't have the wording in front of me, but basically public participation is limited to three minutes per person and keep comments u respectful. Would anyone like to address the board? >> I covered mine in my emails. >> Okay. >> Jean Sullivan Jones, I covered them in the emails.
041>> More than welcome. Okay. Um since we have no one, we will close public participation. Um 7.1. any other matters deemed necessary by the board. >> Um I I'd like to make a statement if I may. >> Yeah. >> I know there's been some conversation about this outside of the um public meeting, but I but I feel like it's important to to make this statement in public form. Um, it has come to my attention that a member of the community has posted to their social media account confidential information discussed during a board of education executive session and only available to the superintendent and the members of the board. The other members of the cabinet were not present during that discussion. This is not only a breach of confidence but according to the New York State
042School Board Association uh constitutes professional misconduct and it grounds for removal from a board. Let me be really clear. I have no information about where this community member got their information and I am making no accusations. However, I consider this a serious issue and my hope is that this board, one that I consider really high function, will not tolerate such behavior. Thank you, sir. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Any other matters? Yeah, just on a little lighter note, the um the car that FDR built last year is going to auction in Harrisburg, I believe, tomorrow. Thursday, Thursday or Friday. No, tomorrow through Saturday. I'm not sure. >> Week it be interesting. Um if you get ESPN Plus, I think you can watch it. But if you go to it's mikum auctions mecum.com and you can scroll
043and find out what the estimated price is and what actually sold for. So >> make a bid. >> You're going to make a bid. >> Anonymous. Anonymous. >> Just curious what what what number does it sell for roughly? ballpark >> 40 to 50 plus or minus depends on who's there who's bidding and how much they want. >> So if we get 40 grand that goes back into the winner circle kind of the cycle cycle the winner circle >> the agreement that we have with winter circle and we we did this we worked with the attorneys on it to be like legal is they they use the money to buy the next car kit. winner circle buys the next car kit and then donates it to >> Okay, it's nice. >> Thanks for that, Carl. Any
044other matters? >> And just quickly, since we're talking about cars, just I know we didn't do pride tonight, but kudos again to the girls cheerleaders for the car wash. My cars never looked cleaner. So, great job. And uh there was a little bit of a backup there, a lot of customers. So, great job to the girls. >> I donate money. I don't want I don't want him to touch my car. Brand new. I don't let anybody touch it. >> No. >> All right. Um since there are no other matters and we do need a second executive session. Um so can I get a motion to enter? Um well not yet. I need to appoint a cloak uh clerk pro 10. So, uh, I'd make a motion to Mike to make Mike our clerk prom. >>
045Second. >> All right. All those in favor? >> Okay. So, now can I get a motion to enter into our second execut or second executive session? >> So move to the second. >> Okay. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. All right. We're now in exe