001to the flag. He's supporting you all the way from John Hopkins. Yeah, he said John Hopkins, I guess. Then John Hopkins. Yes, this is him. Yes. Sophie's going to Wellesley. I didn't know. She's going to Wellesley. All right, here it is. Yes. You're going to Wellesley? It is Not going to Wellesley. 7 minutes past 7. The board has returned from executive session to our public session. If we could please call the roll. Mr. Spicer. Here. Dr. Collins. Here. Ms. Anderson. Here. Mr. Ryder. Here. Ms. Corsones. Here. Mr. Lamb. Here. Ms. Collins. Here. Dr. Bernabei. Here. Mr. Jang is excused. Ms. Collier. Here. If you could stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one
002nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have no action coming out of executive session that will move us into uh public comment. There's no one signed up to speak. Is there anyone in the public that would like to address the board? You can come forward. I I'll read my statement. Good evening all. We are about to enter the portion of the meeting where we welcome public comments. Although state law does not require that we hold a public comment period, we feel it is crucial that we hear from our community about their concerns. The board is here to listen. Your concerns and questions may be addressed at a future meeting of the board or you may be contacted by the appropriate staff member or administrator. If you have prepared a written statement
003and do not have the opportunity to present it, please leave it with the clerk of the board who will see that all trustees receive it. Each speaker will have 3 minutes and this public comment period will not exceed 30 minutes in total. It is important to note that state and federal privacy laws and collective bargaining agreements prevent us from discussing certain topics in this venue including specific employees or students and pending grievances or negotiations. Any speaker who does not adhere to these posted guidelines will forfeit the remainder of their time. Thank you for your adherence to the rules and your interest in the continuous improvement of our district. Thank you for being patient. Thank you. What's your name, sir? Michael Brownlow. Currently, I have two children in North Middle School. There's been a lot of
004issues that have been happening in the building with one of my children and the resolutions have not been easy to come by it. And I've tried contacting everyone involved from the superintendents down with not many resolutions coming to it. Any conclusion. And it's it's becoming a problem to where now I have to be here speaking to you. And I don't think I should have to do any of this. And a lot of things that you said are probably things you don't want to mention or whatever according to what you just said. So the boys have been out of school for 6 months due to issues in the school and there's been no resolution. And I've contacted everybody including the board members by email and it was just sent back to the same people I've been
005talking to who have resolved nothing. So my question is, where where do I go now? We're we're not here to respond to public comment. That's about We're here to hear, to listen. Okay. Well issues have come from not only students but staff which are things that shouldn't happen. It's gotten to the point where CPS and law enforcement was involved and there's still no resolution as to how to get the boys back in school. It's completely out of hand and they shouldn't have to go through the things they're going through. And I've been speaking with everyone for the past 4 years about these issues with no resolution to date. So I guess I would end this with saying that I would like a response from the board as to what we do next. Thank you. Is
006there anyone else who would like to address the board? That brings us to the um approval of minutes. We are looking at the minutes from April 8th. I make a motion to approve. And a second? Second. Any discussion on the minutes from April 8th? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The minutes from April 8th are approved. Our superintendent's report, Dr. Caralino. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. First in our superintendent's report, we have Dr. Perice who will be presenting on Graves Elementary School. Good evening, folks. I hope everybody got their Robert Graves pen. Yes. I do have mine. I just wanted to let you know I wore my Robert Graves hat when I was out around the other day. So I have a Robert Graves hat on. That you gave last year. For baseball. I got
007another one coming for you. It's a beanie cap for the winter. Um my apologies, it's not blue. >> [laughter] >> That's all right. You know the rule. Yes, Gary. There's no such thing as a black pen. Nope. Folks, this is um we took this picture about 3 weeks ago. This is the non-using feet, by the way. It's 317 students who do not want to have snow and it was not by a drone. One of our teachers goes up with a town bucket truck and it was windy. She is a brave soul. Um one interesting fact about Robert Graves that um you need to know, we are directly next to a new complex that is being built that has 227 bedrooms in it and there is one up the hill that has another 120 bedrooms in
008it. Robert Graves is going to be a full place in the not too far distant future. Um our enrollment is clear here. Um this is off the New York State report card from last year, so these aren't quite the data of this year but this is very close to where we are with our enrollment. You see our students with disabilities and our economically disadvantaged which has led to our set plan. Our set plan goal is to focus on high level tier one um teaching through engaging lessons using CA LA um to focus on our economically disadvantaged students. Our goal two is to continue with our social emotional focus um specifically with the lunch plan which we piloted last year and we have continued this year. Um you'll see more about that in just a few
009minutes. Um CA LA and I-Ready are going well. Um our special ed folks continue to support them through one and our facts um mini and our and it's it's been have making good progress in both. This is one form of our high level tier one teaching. Um this is our hospital transformation day for first grade and it was a blast. Um our teachers get very creative in using the curriculum um and it does provide hands-on um experiences and the kids have a lot of fun. I got to participate this year as well cuz my student is a first grader. He's not in this picture though. I didn't put him in. Um our engaging math lessons too with I-Ready um our kids are doing well with I-Ready. You'll see more of that in just a minute.
010Uh I-Ready ELA progress overall, as you can see, the bottom um grid is is the fall and the winter grid. We made good overall progress. Looking at this, if you look at the economically disadvantaged versus the non-economically disadvantaged, you'll see that there is progress being made um and the economically disadvantaged is part of our set plan to focus on those groups specifically using high level tier one. Um I'm giving each grade level here from 1 to 4th. And it shows continued progress in grades three and grades four with I-Ready testing. I-Ready math progress, while it's on the set plan, we are making good continued progress with our I-Ready math. This is where the rubber meets the road. Um our New York State performance to be strong. Our ELA performance in third grade was above the
011district and the state levels. Fourth grade also was strong, above both. And this one is very impressive and our third grade team worked hard and this 70% proficient for a third grade in math. And our fourth grade is strong as well. This really shows where Robert Gray students continue to work hard and they're engaged in both tier one and specifically Our test refusal data, this is 23-24 to 24-25. This is kind of a moot point because this year so far we've had four students opt out. So this data is kind of blown out of the water by our current data which we started last week with ELA and we have four students. Math will be next week, but with four students that's pretty good and that is a significant improvement. Our discipline data. This is
012very telling and this is going to talk a little bit about our PBIS and restorative techniques. Conference area is where we use our restorative methods. Um, the graph on the right, if you see 3:00 p.m., that is our buses. So we got a lot of work around lunch and you'll see, you know, the 11 and the 12 and the one, that's kind of in the normal range and then 3:00 p.m., which is our bussing, which is a still a significant area that we're trying to work on. Haven't come up with a great plan yet. So lunch we've made some good progress, but with our bussing we are working on it. Chronic absenteeism, we have made progress. You can see the light blue versus the dark blue. Not huge jumps yet, but definitely slow progress to
013chronic absenteeism. This year's the most significant and it is a little higher, but it's something we continue to monitor. We communicate with parents and students most frequently about absenteeism. This goes out specifically on PBIS lunch program which we did adopt after watching Chalmers. Um, so our kids have total choice over eating lunch and then the amount of time and then going outside and playing. Even though it's not aligned with the previous grade level. Um, it has been incredible and the discipline data is is real and it is really helping kids be happier during lunch and recess. We are still learning a lot though. It is very different um, and we're watching kids play with toys constantly um, and social interactions between different grade levels. So we're having growing pains, but we're also really enjoying um,
014seeing students be very happy and um, play with toys a lot. What do you imagine? They want to play with toys. We've also been working on the Quorum grant grant and we have upgraded many toys which has been a lot of fun. And a lot of movement based toys so the kids are getting a lot of movement. Family community collaboration is consistently have a lot of fun with our community as well. Our Veterans Day recognition, Flag Day, SPCA collection, Memorial Day parade, um, we have a good time with our community and that is one reason I think our students and our parents are mainly happy. Culturally responsive practices are woven into what we do. We still work in our faculty meetings to talk about ways to make sure that we are focusing on this because
015we are not a highly diverse school and we are aware of that, but we want to make sure our students are educated and are experiencing different things. Our SEL is well and we are working with our special area folks to make sure it is supported um, and the students are enjoying tier one improvement all the time. Our social emotional, this is our First Responders Day. So we have First Responders in the whole area, many of them are parents and relatives. Um, they presented and the students are meeting with them and talking and learning about what they do. Um, our PBIS is is huge in the building and we are constantly working on it and upgrading it. The lunch is one really good example of that. The cereal box challenge, this was exciting. 331 boxes this
016year and all of that goes to the food bank. The kids have a blast with it. It really is fun. People's Place is where we bring it after the um, Domino's. Our SPCA food drive. That food drive. Oh, my favorite the summer reading challenge. Um, 130 students, the most ever and it was big. Um, yeah. So back about a year and a half ago I promised to do this since I can't stand the weather anymore. So yep, no more laughs. So I am a mummy that's been covered by whipped cream. It was a lot of fun. Like I said, our community connections are very strong. Our Veterans Day celebration and I will be the master of ceremony for the Veterans Day parade and on Memorial Day. So it's going to be fun. Flag Day, pasta
017dinner. And um, strong thank you to everybody in the room, Dr. Padelino and especially my team. Uh, we're ready. My office manager is incredible. My PTO and my staff support me and our school and our community all the time. Can't thank them enough. Mr. Mayor. First of all, learning is fun at Gray's and I know that because I've seen it. What I want to say is when I look at those I-Ready results, I can't be more excited because I I hear people complain that it there's no evidence that it works, etc. Look at the results at Robert Gray's and how many of our kids but how little there is red now and how much there is green. And the yellow is getting smaller. So I I can't thank you and your staff enough for your
018dedication to this and showing the results are true and they do work. These programs work that we are trying, this SEL, the I-Ready, they are improving our students scores and with your dedication it's evident. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Collins and then Mrs. Kerns. Thank you, Dr. Freeze. That's great. I um, I'm also really excited about the test scores, the math scores which look terrific. Um, I'm also loving the community engagement. It's very outward facing. I really appreciate all the donations and engagement with our community that we're giving to the grade levels. And we often talk about our community partners, community involvement and so forth. Seeing how we're giving back as a school. So I appreciate that. I have a very small technical question about the recess which I'm also a huge fan of. It
019sounds wonderful. Um, but I was wondering in the winter for indoor recess, do they have where do they go for toys and do they have to They don't have that much choice when there's indoor recess. They go to the classrooms or they're broken down kind of the traditional way. We haven't figured out we don't have use of a large area to break it down. So that is kind of traditional for indoor. Okay, that's Thank you again. Yeah, thank you. Mrs. Kerns. Thank you, Dr. Freeze. I really appreciate your presentation. Love Gray's. I'm really stuck on every time I see a school presentation with the bistro style dining. Could you talk a little bit about how that changed the culture of the meal time with the students? So that picture I sent you, there's only a
020few kids in there because the kids come in and they eat, sometimes quickly, and then they go outside. So the lights are off and it is almost silent in there during lunch time. Um, the challenge is, and especially with the younger kids, our monitors now know they need to pace them, they need to distract them. And once they get to know the students, they know who's been dumping and running. They figure that out and they slow them down and they work with them, but kids are definitely happier. Um, and like what we do is we start off the beginning of the year, kindergarten and first grade stay in the traditional style for it depends on the class. Um, and then we phase first grade out and now kindergarten just now because of the class is
021starting to phase out. You need to get this full freedom. It's challenging. Um, and then learning all of the full freedom and the monitors learning how to work with them with the full grade out is a real challenge, but the discipline is clearly showing it and despite that you see it with bussing, it was normally a spike that you would see during lunch time as well. Um, so kids are happier, kids are having fun. Um, we are happier because of the lack of discipline, but we also are learning how to teach kids differently. You guys, this is a whole new ballgame. Like I said, we piloted last year and at the end of the school year we looked at each other and said, "We're not sure." And then we really did look at the data
022and said, "Okay, this looks real." And now it is real and it is a positive and kids are happier. I appreciate the commitment of you and your entire team for seeing through innovative techniques that really means a lot and obviously resonates with the kids and the community. So thank you. Dr. Bernabei. Hi. Thank you so much. Um, and I really appreciate when you say things like, "I don't know how to deal with it yet." And you know, thinking about the bus time, um, I'm curious what how can you figure it out? What do you What's your plan? It's my challenge. Yeah. Buses was my challenge and Maria's peaceful school buses was the two worst times. Yeah, and you knocked it out of the park, so. Buses, um, what we do, long time ago, peaceful school
023buses, we use one part of that, bringing TAs, creating relationships with bus drivers. We still do that. When the TAs go out at the beginning of the year, and they meet with the bus drivers, and they meet with the kids, but we're not making it important. Mhm. I'm not sure why. Cool. So, um, so Okay, awesome. And I appreciate it, though, cuz it's it's it's obviously not a huge number, anyway. You know, 13 is just, you know. But it's not >> But it's enough to The tough thing is, you know, not being directly in control. Bus drivers are not teachers. They don't have the education to do Right. And they're driving the bus. They're driving the bus. Right. Right. It's a challenge and um Maybe a partnership of some kind. Yeah. Thank you. Mr. Spicer.
024Just It It's just fascinating because people who have never run schools don't know the importance of intricate data because we did the same thing when I was a high school principal. When the fight started in in the lunchroom, and and we noticed that on a particular day and when the fight started were the exact moment we ran out of pizza. So, we actually lowered the the the rates of fights in the cafeteria by Ordering more pizza. making more pizza. So, so I I appreciate the data you did in lunch in the lunchroom. Um, also, [clears throat] incorporating culturally responsive education practices are effective and vital for our district for our district demographics. Children who feel like they belong have better attendance rates, better mental health, and higher academic achievement. So, thank you for that because
025I'm sure this, and of course, the academic professional of your building have a good deal to do with with your academic success. So, thank you for that. Your parent involvement programs, because our Grant Elementary School, I know are the are the vital flotation device for your for your whole building. And and a vital line of support for every elementary school. I've sat with your parents at band concerts. They love your school. They love your school. Even after the music stops, nobody gets up and leaves. They love your school and and and it's all because of the atmosphere you set, Dr. Creasy. And you also win best whipped mommy cream principal ever. So, so thank you. And thank you for your presentation. Any other board comments? Thank you, Mr. Creasy. Great job. Oh, I'm sorry. Did
026Did I miss somebody? Oh. Um, I just want to say one thing, too, please. I would specifically, on a personal level, like to thank this board and Dr. Paladino. I have a senior who's graduating this year. He has accomplished some incredible things because he's in the Kingston City School District. And I do not think that he would have accomplished those things if he wasn't in this district. So, thank you. THANK YOU. AND I DID WANT TO THANK DR. CREASY. SO, DR. Creasy had uh same taste in glasses and the same ailment. And he had to go up a level, and he put he had a whole stock of the ones that I was at. So, he sent them to me directly. Very nice. And I So, now I break three pairs a week, so I
027I thank Thank you for sending them. Very nice. Okay, next on the superintendent's report, we have our budget report, and I'm going to ask Mrs. Carbon, and I will go up to the podium. Thank you. Bye, Grace. Bye, Grace. Have a good night. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your this opportunity to talk to you about our 2026-2027 school district budget. Um, obviously, we've talked about this a lot over the last, uh, 2 months, 3 months. Um, some of the things you're going to see here are very familiar, but I think we're we're right at the end of this process. Before we say anything, before I say anything else, I think I want to I want to just acknowledge this was a difficult process. We had a difficult budget year. Um, we're faced with many
028different challenges, which we brought forward in the past. Declining enrollment, declining state aid, the loss of the federal aid, um, and just so many different issues that we had to grapple with. So, I appreciate your patience. I know we took longer than I'm comfortable with, and I'm no longer than you're comfortable with to come to where we are. Um, we've already started to strategize how that's not going to happen in the future, and I think that, um, we need to look at long-term solutions to the issues that are in front of us. Uh, and I keep going backwards in time, but we had this conversation more than a decade ago in a similar situation, and we found long-term solutions, and we're here again. It's time to find those. But, regardless of how the budget rolled
029out, our focus was always on our students. And this budget has no reduction in student academic programs, advanced placements courses, college courses, CT participation, art and music programs, classes, extracurricular offerings, or and that's including sports. None of that will be gone. Next year, when your students walk in on September 8th, see the calendar that's in your in your back in your packet, we will start at school Tuesday, September 8th. Our students will not see the difference. Our students will be offered the same things they're offered now. The one caveat I'll say to that is we are looking at adjustments to our middle school summer school this year, which I'll report back on next month. Not next month. 2 weeks from now. What's next month? Um, we've been able to mitigate lay offs through attrition. We
030appreciate the partnership with our bargaining units, especially KTF, who has helped us not only with, uh, working with health insurance, but also working with a retirement incentive, where we were able to bring more retirees on in order to not have to have so many lay offs. We have had to eliminate 59 positions. So, we've eliminated them. That's across KTF, ESP, and administration. Um, through attrition, we were able to we were able to, uh, have 29 lay offs, and we laid off the The laid off employees, but the laid off employees will remain on our callback list for the next 7 years. So, as the as openings come, those people will be reemployed. Um, I'm sorry, I want to go back. 31 have been through attrition. 29 have been through lay offs. So, I just skipped
031over that. Um, also, there are changes in our school students with disability placements and programs that may bring people back sooner than that. So, we're still working through that process as well. We were very deliberate. And I know that's a concern of the board, and I know it's a concern of every everyone. Based on the percentage of lay offs that we had, and the percentage of those areas are as our total employment, we are dead on. 62% of the people involved in this were were in our KTF. They're 62% of the reductions in force. 34% of ESP members were involved in this. They were 30% 32% of the reductions in force. Administration is 3% of our total, um, number of employees involved in this, and they're 7%. So, we stayed We were We were deliberate
032in how we did. We wanted We obviously we talked about equity. We talked about equitable across the across the the span. I will say we did not, um, have reductions in force in our CSEA unit. We're already thin. We already have openings that we can't fill, and we have highly skilled areas that we need to that we need to fill. So, there were no reductions in force in our CSEA unit. Um, all this I say, I want to say we remain at the established tax levy limit, and we were able to maintain a 3.4% increase in spending. So, again, most important, our students have not lost out on anything. To our taxpayers, we're staying at the tax levy limit, and we are controlling our spending with some allocations that we had to make, but we
033know we have to do moving forward from that. So, with that, I will hand this over to Mrs. Carbon. Good evening. So, some of these slides are what you've already learned. I just kept them in for the sake of anyone watching who hasn't watched before, and who may visit the presentation later. Um, the first slide, the opening slide, gave a uh snapshot of the programs that we maintain. >> [clears throat] >> We've spoken about our three challenges that have come together we've been addressing, and we didn't just start this process this year for anyone who's watching because we're in a a critical spot. So, I just want to take a a step back and remind everyone of last year when we found that our we have a new normal that we have to, um, deal
034with and assess. Last year was round one, and we knew that, and we made certain decisions. And just as a reminder, last year we had to eliminate positions, but they were all through attrition. We didn't have to lay anyone off, thankfully. So, now here we are and the landscape has shifted even further this year. But to Dr. Pedlow's point, we've already been in conversations about how we move forward in 2026, 2027 and beyond. So, you are all familiar with our declining enrollment. on each level. And just for anyone who is just tuning in, I'll just give a quick quick numbers. The district currently has 891 fewer students than in 2029 2019-2020, excuse me. On the elementary level, 320 fewer students than 6 years ago. And that's the equivalent of one of our elementary schools. On
035the middle level, another 233 students fewer this year than the 2019-2020 school year. And KHS has 270 fewer students now than 6 years ago. Our revenue budget. The major changes in our proposed budget this year are stated an increase of $2.8 million. Our tax levy increase at the maximum allowable limit is $5 million or $5.1 million. Interest income increases after further assessments and conversations and market updates, a net of $850,000 estimated. And then other revenue changes were a net of $221,000 in miscellaneous revenues and reimbursements for a total revenue increase of $8.557 million. Our tax cap calculation, as you have heard about the five main factors, >> [clears throat] >> our levy is $130,877,575 at the maximum allowable limit, a 4.404% increase. And just recapping the difference year over year how it compounds when you
036do not levy the maximum allowable limit over the past since 2020, um there's been a difference in about $3.1 million between the maximum allowable and what was actually levied, but the cumulative impact was $14.5 million. But decisions, difficult decisions need to be made at certain points, so that's what we need to do. Now, our expense budget. Just to highlight some primary expense drivers, salaries and benefits, about 70% of our budget. Transportation, as you know, has been significant and especially over the past 3 or 4 years. Our cost to support our students with disabilities. Debt service is a factor. Contractual expenses. Of course, equipment, supplies and textbooks. And then operations and maintenance because just as a reminder, our facilities are 11 buildings and a million square feet. And our team Yes, sir. I see what you
037mean, Connie. Your list right here, is that descending in order of like, for example, our staff salaries the most expensive and then you went down? No, sir. Or it's just That's an excellent question. No, it's not in dollar amount. The first two, salaries and benefits, are always the bulk of it. The rest are just major uh factors. I did not list them based on the dollar dollar amount. Thank you. Next year, though, I'll make a note to do so. Oh, it's fine. But it's also helpful. So, just to recap uh transportation, special education expenses and how they have shifted over over the past several years. And these are areas that we have discussed and spent a lot of time on, not just this year, but in the past several years. First, um determining in what
038is needed to most efficiently bring in the the level of transportation that's needed to fix some of the logistical problems we had coming out of the bus driver shortage. And then as costs grew to the level they did, what could be done to bring in the expenses as much as possible, but still get our kids to school on time and safely. Our transportation coordinator has done a lot of work over the past 2 years to see to realign things as much as possible to maintain and limit increases as much as possible. And our contractors are also working with us as well. Yes, sir. Um so, for the current Can you remind us again, please, the current um fuel crisis the nation is going through, does that impact our transportation contracts next year or are we
039solid? It depends on the contract. We have contractors where the fuel costs are bundled into their rates. And then we have some contractors where we do have uh fuel reimbursements that are separate. So, it's a it's a mixture. I understand. Thank you. Excellent question. Thank you. And then this is just a recap um our reimbursement. At the bottom of this table shows the actual rates of our reimbursement for our main expense drivers, which are special education in orange, transportation in blue, and BOCES aid because we do get reimbursements for our um BOCES services that we contract out with. And just to give um some context, our non-special education BOCES services that we contract for, they too have um risen similarly to transportation over the past several years and uh right now about the same rate
040um and same amount as our transportation. But BOCES has been a partner and an excellent partner for the district. So, our major changes in our expenses year over year. Salaries, we have a slight decrease because of all the um adjustments that Dr. Pedlow has just spoken to, $2,000. Employee benefits, $3.1 million increase, which while that is um quite significant, it is much better than it could have been. Debt service, uh just under $7 million. Transportation, a slight increase of $200,000 um speaking to the effect of the changes and some of the um partnerships and also reimagining um that has been happening. Special education tuition, we're projecting a decrease of just under $2 million, $1.8 million. And other contractual expenses, oops, a net of $232,000. So, an overall expense increase of $8.6 million. Oops, yes, ma'am.
041>> Connie, please turn your phone off. Which is a 3. uh 3.4% increase over in this current budget. Thank you, Mr. I was curious if you could um cite on slightly specific more details the employee benefits increase. Is it due to market increase in cost? >> Yes. So, it's not due to other potential other factors related to people opting in or people opting out? >> No, not at all. It's all market driven. >> Got it. Okay, thank you. And as Mr. Carver said, it could have been much worse if we weren't able to partner with our with our partners at the KTF Trust, who also worked with us to keep our rates lower than the average across all of the So, our KTF Trust, they they um represent KTF and ESA. So, that's a big
042group. And being able to work together with the trust to get some reduced rates has helped us not only this year, but last year as well. Excellent. Thank you. And to give further context to what I mean when I say this could be worse, there are districts who are facing at one point 15% increases. Um many people in this area looking at 10%. Um so, and this is less than 10% the $3.1 million of our um health insurance budget. So, while this is significant, it could have been much worse. And a summary of our proposed budget. Oh, I had a question. I'm so sorry. That's okay. Go back one slide. Um I'm just curious as to whether the increase in special ed tuition um or the decrease in special ed tuition, rather, is that because
043of the anticipation of bringing the classes back? Yes, it is. Yes. That's the anticipation of bringing our classes back um into district, which then again helps to maybe offset some of the things I talked about earlier. But also when we're doing our calculation [clears throat] on transportation, so there there could be further savings in that area. So, we're we're you know, turning over every every rock. Is there any chance you have like a ballpark of how many students you're bringing back? Because I know one of the hugest issues we're facing is not having enough enrollment and I was just curious. I'm going to stand up here next to Dr. Pedlow. Right now, we are looking at five classrooms Oh, wow. at the elementary level. Um some of the classrooms have three classrooms uh that will
044be eight students classrooms and two that are 12 students. That's fantastic, Barbara. Any other questions? I don't want to miss anybody. Sorry. No, don't be sorry. >> No, no. I'm glad. I I I appreciate that. I'm just sorry I missed you. So, our summary. Our current budget is $249,522,500, which was a 7.76% increase over 2024-2025. Our current tax levy was $125,600,000, which was a 6.97% increase, which just as a reminder was below the maximum allowable levy of 7. I believe 27% last year. Our proposed budget is $258,079,830, which is a 3. 3% increase. I apologize, I misspoke. And that change is $8.6 million. Our tax levy is $130,877,575. Again, a 4.04% increase. And our reserve allocations pending the enacted budget. >> [clears throat] >> Allocated fund balance of $3.5 million. Debt service fund of $530,000
045and other reserve allocations of $8.1 million. Any questions? Questions? Mr. Ryder. Can you talk a little bit about the the transportation increase cuz I know as we've been going through this process it it had been much higher. Um and and so the the budget and stuff we talked about a couple ways that we were going to try to get it lower and just thank them everybody in the public. Sure. Yeah, so one of the things the things we're working on are really about our arrival and dismissal times at our elementary and our middle and our high schools. So, what we do now is we we have an inefficient way of doing that at this point. So, what we're looking at is how can we adjust the school day in order to instead of having three
046times a day buses going to us secretaries, only having them going twice a day. So, that's right now Ms. Boyd, our transportation director, is coming together with that. I met with our middle school principals to have some conversation about how we could use that period that the um the activity period that we have right now, 10th period, 9th period, they call it that. So, how can we we created having that flexibility with the schedule, which is a blessing to be honest with you, that we can have that we can adjust using that and be able to adjust our arrival and dismissal times so we can eliminate a whole run of buses, which is a significant savings to the point of of one Yeah. Yeah, it's said So, we're also looking at some of our BOCES
047transportation. Um some programs of BOCES that we found to be ineffective will will not be participating in. There's some participant There's some transportation savings there. But, we will over the next month or so, I think, start communicating with families once we get to exactly bell times, arrival times, dismissal times of how we are going to make some adjustments to our to our school schedules. I don't think they'll be dramatic. I don't think people people will be, you know, blown away by it, but there will be changes. Just for clarity, there's still going to be buses for um on time dismissal and late bell dismissal like at the high school? No, there might not. So, that's how we're that's how we're looking at looking at that um activity period, right? So, we're saying maybe we turn
048around one of the one of the thoughts was we put activity period first period. And then there's only the 3:00 bus that eliminates that 2:12 bus that some students take, some students don't. So, those are those are kind of the options we're throwing out there. But, I really want to work with the building principals. They know it better than I do. And and do what's best for our students and what works best. But, we know I know at 2:00 at 2:12 standing outside you see a certain number of students go to buses and at 3:00 you see a certain number of students go to buses and it's not a lot either way. There's also already a population of students I I know especially the high school that come to school early. Um there's the 7:00
049a.m. arrival for band classes and orchestra and I think that could probably be built upon as a means for that. I personally I'm there every day at 7:00 a.m. And just for the sake of anyone watching in terms of the impact and why this is one one avenue that we're pursuing is just that change alone is estimated to produce a minimum savings of $600,000. So, it matters. So, when communications are sent out and things are discussed further and all the details are mapped out and communicated, it's important that people understand that. So, earlier in this process I used the word reimagining and people thought that I was just doing good marketing. And that's literally what the district has to do in order to get to where we need to be long term. And for a
050district our size, that's significant. Seven elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school. So, to reimagine how we inspire, educate, graduate all students all times without cutting the program offerings or the support that we give our students, it's a layered feat. So, we took step one last year, step two has been harder and deeper and we're already making plans as we roll out implementation and finalizing plans for '26 '27, we're already talking about what else needs to be done in '26 '27 to be where we need to be the following year and beyond. Mr. Lam and then Dr. Collins. Mr. Ryder actually asked my question. So, what I would like to do is thank you and the cabinet for This has been painstakingly done. I know I don't want to see any layoffs. I mean,
051I know you don't want to see any layoffs. I I get that we have to right-size and I get we owe it to the taxpayer to really do this. I I I thank you for making sure programs stayed intact for our kids because we are in the business of children and we're in the business of educating children and I think you have done successfully with this budget. I I had some questions earlier and they've been answered and I I I think we're on the right road and you're going to start Monday morning on next year's budget because we're not going to be at this late next year. You've already started. So, thank you. Dr. Collins. I guess I just wanted to highlight too that I really appreciate the reimagining theme and the approach and that
052um and that it's it's it's interesting that some of the ways in which we're reimagining, especially when we are talking about transportation and bell schedules, is very consistent with things that I think has more research would show. Um and so to me that's very exciting that maybe if we shifted those bell schedules a little bit, let our older kids sleep in a little bit and our younger kids get to school earlier. Um a lot of the research shows that that's actually quite beneficial long run for learning outcomes and so I think I just think it's important that this is not it is maybe instigated by some of the financial moves, [clears throat] but it's consistent with really remarkable um or potentially remarkable outcomes for our kids. So, I just want to make sure that that's
053also if we go forward with that sort of move. I realize that there's very much in the the playbook right now about how this may play out, but anyway, I appreciate the thoughts around all of this. Mrs. Kearns. Dr. Collins said what I wanted to highlight too that I really just I couldn't be prouder to be working alongside and supporting the work on this. It's just really a pleasure to be part of a district that takes the time. I know you've worked so much on this. Um and it really is easier to stand behind knowing that that work is so done because we do, you know, these are people's livelihoods and we take that very seriously. So, thank you for looking at that on behalf of the students and and the reimagining and also the
054right-sizing. I agree with Mr. Lam on that as well that we do have to consider that as a key component to our changes and it's the time to do it. So, thank you. Thank you and I just want to highlight and thank you all for your support. And I do appreciate your patience in releasing details, but the late nights and the hard work has been shared across the board and I want to thank the cabinet team for everything that all the work. And also our directors who have been part of the reimagining that you don't get to see. They have worked tirelessly, proactively, including our IT director and our our We already spoke about our transportation coordinator, our business office. I don't want to name names, but I just want to publicly thank them because
055the work that they do every day on the operations side and our facilities department because they run so efficiently. Um a district our size, we really could be seeing much more significant increase just to operate our buildings than we have been. So, I just want to bring that forth to both you all in the community also. Mr. Ryder. I know this has been a difficult process for the whole whole cabinet and um I I'll just say like this is a difficult vote for me. I I think that you all have done so much work a year ago. I I was thinking that if there was layoffs that I would be a no on the budget vote, but like I've watched you all over the last 380 lesson days with two budgets and just know that
056you have really thought this through and and and tried to preserve both, you know, had in mind both our taxpayers, but also our bargaining units and our and then then most importantly what's most important for our kids. So, um I have confidence and you know, when it comes time for resolutions, I will be a yes, but it is a difficult vote and so I just hope that whatever notices, whatever that they happen swiftly after this and I I think there's been a commitment to do that, but um so that that when folks do receive notice um that they've been laid off, that they can proactively start their their search. Mr. Spencer. She'll go next. I I I just wanted to thank you again for your presentation and for your your talent in explaining very complicated
057district calculations for proposing to to ordinary people. I'm I'm ordinary to ordinary people. Help us to understand exactly what's going on so so we can be >> This is Chris Sounds. I just want to piggyback on a little bit of what Mr. Ryder said and that it's going to be very difficult both for me as well for a whole host of reasons, but one of them being the layoffs, but what I did hear is that on a percentage basis we have done what we needed to do across all units save our our CS, but I understand that because I know that I could never get those positions filled myself. So, and they're critical for running our buildings. And I hope that as we move forward we've all said you've said indicated that we're dealing um
058you're going to be looking at starting now or already started 27 28 multiple years moving forward. And as we do that and continue our reimagination, I hope our focus will also be on how we can best support our students and increase instructional time so that we're using one our resources much more efficiently and two that we hold ourselves accountable for as well as everyone else for making certain that our students are successful when they leave us. Anyone else? Thank you very much for a very for all the work that you've done and to the entire cabinet, we appreciate your efforts. It's going to be an interesting month. Thank you. >> Yes. Is any of this due to our reduction in federal aid? No. Honestly, I mean our our federal aid hasn't been impacted greatly. Actually
059that fell so low. Very little. Yeah. Yeah. So, our federal aid has not been I mean our opportunity for some federal grants, we weren't able to apply for based on some of the new things that are going on, but we are in the pool for a few others. So, but no, as far as federal money we're still around the same. Do you have any additional district I have no other additional reports except for we have facilities committee on Tuesday the 28th at 3:30. That's it. Probably have finance and audit on the same day. I know we had talked about moving it earlier. I I don't know if that's possible actually, but to just have our regular scheduled meeting. We were going to change it earlier and then it got canceled. >> Audit and finance. Audit
060and finance. It's normally the same day, so it's the same thing. So, we will have audit and finance on Tuesday, April 28th at 9:30. 9:00 9:00 9:00 Sorry. The only only T&L's at 9:30. I got to remember. Policy's also Thank you, Mrs. Sierra. So, we don't have student report on the agenda, but if our student rep has something that you'd like to share Um I'll keep it brief, so don't worry. >> [laughter] >> One thing I noticed recently at the high school level is we had a fire drill and if students forgot their ID badges with their backpack or didn't have it on their person or simply dropped it at some point during the day, they were given a detention upon reentering school. I was curious if this was being implemented at the middle school
061level as well. Do we have any information on that? I don't I'm not aware of that, but I will find out more, but I do want to point out that the code of conduct says you wear it so it can be seen, not don't put it on your bag, don't leave it in your pocketbook. You're supposed to be wearing it where it can be seen like Yes. yours is right now. I think Oh, no, it's not right there. Um I simply wanted to remark I'm that I'm not sure it had the intended effect that was desired. I think it really um angered students more than it motivated them to keep their ID badge on. Uh I know for me personally um I forgot my ID badge in my backpack. Um next to my backpack on
062my desk actually in my AP literature class and I was given a detention when my ID badge was a staircase away. And I understand the policy and the point behind it. I'm just unsure that students will respond to that method positively as a method getting more people to wear their ID badges. Um but it's it's it's an issue. I see that absolutely. I'm just hoping that an alternative way is something we can work towards. Um second thing high schoolers who in the senior class senior writers is hitting like a truck. >> [laughter] >> Especially with AP season right around the corner. Oh my goodness. Um aside from that though, I would say the school environment is pretty steady right now. Uh senior writers is a is a constant uh across high school time, but aside
063from that things are going pretty well. That's all I have for you. All right, good. Thank you, Sophia. Sorry that you didn't have Benny's lovely face tonight, but he's at Johns Hopkins right now, so I suppose we can excuse Thank you all. Have a great day. That brings us to the Board of Education resolutions. Our first resolution is BOCES the BOCES election and budget resolutions. We'll take each one at a time. So, BOE 37 is the election of BOCES board members. There are three at-large positions to be filled. If we could have a motion. So moved. Second. And a second. Any discussion on the um election of BOCES board members. All in favor. I. Any opposed? So, the [clears throat] three at-large positions are approved. And that also approves the Socrates position as well. So,
064you have the one for Socrates and three at-large. >> Oh, um I'm just making sure we're all on the same page. Yes. Thank you. Everyone sees that. I'm sorry. I You said Socrates. BOE 38 is the approval of the BOCES administrative budget for the 2026-2027 school year. So moved. Any discussion on the um BOCES administrative budget. All in favor. I. Any opposed? So, the BOCES administrative budget for next year is approved. That brings us to B76 which is the notice of public hearing on budget annual meeting Board of Education election and budget vote. Second. Discussion. All in favor of B76. I. Any opposed? So, B76 the notice of public hearing on on the budget annual meeting and Board of Elections is approved. I'm sorry. Should we should I announce the public hearing date and times?
065Was that a part of that? For the budget hearing? Yeah. Public spot. Yes. See you then. Yeah. So, the budget hearing is May May 6th at 7:00 p.m. directly preceding the public portion of the Board of Education. So, it's a regular meeting night and we'll do the public hearing prior to our public meeting. Anything else that you would think should be announced, Mr. Ryder? That brings us to B77 the 2026-2027 property tax report card. Any discussion? All in favor of B77. Any opposed? B77 the property tax report card has been approved. B78 the adoption of the 2026-2027 school district budget. So moved. Discussion. Hearing no discussion, all in favor of B78 the adoption of the 2026-2027 school district budget. I. Any opposed? B78 our our district budget has been adopted. Those are our resolutions under
066the Board of Education. It brings us to our committee reports teaching and learning. Dr. Collins. Okay, so the this is um teaching and learning faculty that on March 23rd was also a meeting based on some of the survey data. Um Our first topic for that meeting was speaking about getting an update on our honors and accelerated classes. So, several years ago we made a move to increase participation in those classes by hopefully removing barriers to entry in part of the upper grades that honors classes we were thinking or aiming to have students self-select into those classes. So, at the beginning with English and the global non in 2021. Um but the discussion actually with the teaching and learning committee began with our accelerated classes which are not self-selected in but um nevertheless there's been an
067effort to increase participation particularly across particular subgroups. Um so, eligibility in in part this idea that the sooner we can remove those barriers the um the better the benefits will be long-lasting and the longer barriers stay in place then the longer we're kind of tracking students. Um the we'll see that all through their high school career. So, um we were talking about Um let's see I have to find where I am in my notes. Okay, so eligibility for these accelerated classes in case you don't know at the middle level in third grade assessment scores, completion of iReady lessons, attendance, and teacher recommendations. Um for biology now there's also a reading assessment required given the reading heavy Regents exam. Um this year we saw a slight increase in the student participation in algebra at both middle
068schools. Um within subgroups we saw a non-trivial increase actually in participation by socioeconomically diverse students in grade eight algebra and Hispanic groups particularly at Mellenville School. So, it's great work there. Um changes are being made to increase participation in algebra include a recently launched new algebra bridge program. So, it's currently serving 50 students to help prepare them pave a way into algebra. Uh the numbers of students in the English and social studies honors have increased substantially since this program of self-selection at the high school level began doubling. These changes have led to mixed success as reported by teachers in the survey. So, I appreciated that the teaching and learning team had surveyed staff to get ideas about the current model how it's working. Um And some teachers report that students are not prepared for the
069workload or level of independence once they opt in. Others report more positive effects that students are challenging themselves, that it's preparing them for AP and college level courses. Some teachers report seeing more behavioral challenges. Um There was a note of lack of planning time across sections and grade levels that's made it challenging to align expectations across all of these new honors sections. So, continual revisions are being made to this model. At the moment um district's trying to determine whether and what reading and writing skills might be added back in or required for those opting into English and social studies honors. But interestingly that the discussion took a different turn at that moment in the teaching and learning committee and and the discussion really focused on why the district still offers honors classes at all. Um
070honors There was a point made that honors continues student tracking, sorting students based on academic abilities. Um self-selecting is one way to remove barriers to achievement but the same goal might be met by eliminating honors and implementing high quality rigorous instruction for all students. Um the district has many AP and college students for students or college courses for students to choose from. So, these are self-selected and will continue to appeal to any of our students. Um interestingly many districts in the um are phasing these out or don't have them in Ulster County. Only Wallkill and Rondout have honors courses. So, um this was in the idea of just challenging the notion of honors is consistent with the idea of um the New York inspires and portrait of a graduate their momentum around one diploma. Um
071so, so the discussion was really around can we better understand whether what is the value added of honors classes um whether to retain them or change criteria for enrollment which might [clears throat] require that we really understand um what parts of the curriculum are serving those students and could that actually be serving all students. So, there are no These are goals um for the immediate future to really look into what the definition of rigorous and successful instruction is across all of our courses but and no changes are set to occur in the next term but it was an interesting discussion um for the round table discussion of the committee and Uh we then turned to talk about the new financial literacy requirement that's put in place that's required by the state. Um So, it's up
072to districts to decide how to phase it or how to include five key topics in finance the key topics identified by the state. Um so, that you can we can embed them in current courses, offer a standalone courses, or through career and technical education programming. Um The high school will target particular classes to embed the majority of content it sounds like through AP Euro, Civics, and other different voice AP Business and Financial Literacy. Um also partnering with um banks and local professionals to help with financial literacy. And at the middle schools FACS and CTE can include financial literacy too. Very much still a work in progress. It sounds like we're moving more toward the embedded model. Um Next on our agenda was actually to be talking about discipline and restorative action data. We were running
073out of time because it was such a lively discussion. So, we passed on that to the next meeting and instead turned to our last agenda item which we thought would be shorter. Um And was not necessarily. It was really again a round table discussion about AI in the classroom. So, this is the first time this has ever been talked about in the AI or in the T&L um committee. Um and we didn't have a strong agenda or of what to talk about so much as just thinking about how both teachers and students might be using AI. Um and what it means for us. So, um students have been found using AI during diagnostic exams. So, think about that. Teachers have been using AI detectors which are not consistent, reliable, or approved by the district. So,
074we talked a little about that. Um we did learn that EdTech coaches are creating a newsletter that includes lessons on how to effectively in um include AI into lessons. Um there's a lot of effort to get students and there should be more as we talked about giving students clarity on how to use AI as a tool, defining what is cheating, what is using it as a research tool. Um There's there's a need for thorough and continued AI PD for teachers on how to effectively use or not use AI in the classroom. If AI detectors are being used we should be probably approving just as we do other curriculum materials. Um and it was pointed out that Dr. Sleddy who was not at the meeting but is part of an AI circle at BOCES aimed at
075equipping all of those participating in that circle the strategies to integrate AI AI into teaching and learning. So, it's very much a new landscape for the world and for our district. So, it was just interesting to have a conversation about what this might look like for the board. Um our next meeting is May 18th which is a revised date from May 11th. Um so, 9:30 Questions? Uh Mrs. Grant. Thank you so much for the report Dr. Collins. I'm curious to know about regarding the financial literacy. Um Kingston is known to be ahead of the curve on certain things and which we're already doing it and we're glad it's a mandate. What piece of financial literacy is is missing? What are what is not being covered? Or is it that the curriculum itself is built around
076things that have normally never been included in the curriculum? I can take a hot take on a very justified but I'm going to pass this off to the table. Um so, Some directions. Um so, one of the pieces that we're going to really embed is the budgeting piece. So, a lot of our our students need to understand how to budget, what is a budget. Um And what you know, expenses could throw off the budget. So, that is one piece that we are really focusing on. Thank you. When is that requirement Um it it will be implemented in September. September. Okay. At the secondary level. At the elementary level it's the following year. And my understanding is that at the at financial pieces aren't currently included at the middle grades but can easily be incorporated into
077that. Yes, we are we're going to embed into our FACS and our business courses. So, that would be an example of where we have it in there. Mhm. Yes. Any other questions for Dr. Khan? That brings Thank you. That brings us to policy. Before we get to the policy meeting, last meeting I recommended we table policy number 5020.3 so we had a full board. It's Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This is a policy that is required by law. It is eight pages long. I want everyone to make sure they went through it and we had a full board to vote on this. So, I am moving policy 5020.3. Second. Any discussion on 502.3? 5020.3 All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? 5020.3 is approved. Policy met
078on April 10th at we called to order 9:34. We went through numerous policies. Some being sent back to council for clarification and rewording. The following policy was moved for first reading and that is 5 Let's see. 5220 School Student Publications. Student Dismissal Precautions. And 2210 Board Organization Meetings. Our next Let's see. That's all we went through today. Yeah, it's just for first read. Yes, those are all first read. The Our next policy has meeting has been moved to May 9th because of um May 8th. May 8th Saturday. Whatever that is. Oh, my my minutes say I'm so sorry. That's all right. Not a big deal. I did not put that in my minutes. Sorry. May 8th at 9:30 in this room will be our next policy meeting. >> That is a superintendent's conference day. Yes,
079superintendent's conference day and hosting the United Council meeting. I I just questioned uh the availability of our administrators. Um May 8th. It just says Saturday. I I was So, Jeff We'll talk about it. Subject to change. Right. So, our next policy meeting is not May 8th at 9:38. We will let you know as soon as we know. And that's policy. Thank you, Mr. Lam. That brings us to our consent agenda. Are there any items that trustees would like to have pulled from the consent agenda? Mr. Ryder. Can we pull BOE 36? BOE 36. What's 11242? Any other? So, if we could have a motion to approve the consent agenda minus BOE 36. So moved. Any discussion? All in favor of the consent agenda minus BOE 36. Aye. Any opposed? Consent agenda is approved. So, now
080let us go to BOE 36. I'll move it. I'll second it. Any discussion? Mr. Ryder. Um we just talked about Like it just seemed very um I don't know how to put it. Like I mean there doesn't seem to be a lot of extra days. Like it it feels like so we're taking We're not having in the calendar like a four-day holiday for for the Memorial Day, right? Is that Is that how I'm reading it? Like normally we would have No. We've always only had one day for Memorial Day, haven't we? Yeah, just We always end up We used to end up getting snow days back. Like this year we don't have four days. We only have three days for Memorial Day. But we're not taking the East the Monday after Easter. Correct. Okay. It
081just seemed like Well, we're we're short on days. Yeah, there are fewer holidays. >> Because we're getting a late start and then still And then an an early end. So, if you look like we did we have that almost a whole week after there. So, the last day of school is what? The 25th? So, it's just a condensed >> It's a condensed and we are lucky One of the things we we did get lucky with several holidays falling on the the Jewish holidays falling on the weekends and um Lunar New Year falling on the weekend. If they had that then we would've been a little bit of a different situation. I did work out an agreement with KTF to do those superintendent days before Labor Day, which contractually they don't have to do, but they
082have they've been willing to do that. So, we were able to count those days as one of those days of student attendance. Yeah. It it is it's it's kind of what you're saying. Our district is short. Yeah, just feels everything feels short. So Yes. It is a Mr. Lam. This calendar frightens me in the way that the Easter's um spring break is the fourth week, but there's a whole another week of March left after that. And then we have April with one day. We have May with one day off. And if we go over snow days after spring break where are we getting those days because if we give if we start giving them back if we start giving them back, we're going to be short days and we're going to hit That's why we
083when this year if you look at the give back days I purposely started I started with the self-titled Easter Monday that we have. It's really not a thing. Um Easter Monday week start with that as a give back day, then we but then we go to May. No, I'm going I'm going the other way. What happens if we're out of snow days and we have Oh, yeah. I mean technically >> break and and April 1st we have a snow storm. We have no days and we're going to lose mega state aid if we can't make up that day. Yes. Where are we making it up? We have no days to make up. Yeah, it's a difficult calendar. In March. Yeah, it's a difficult calendar weather-wise for breakfast. The Albany area has the third week of
084April off and just Good Friday. Well, cuz they have a February break. So, it's just a matter and like when I was in when I was in the Capital District what's the difference between you know booking the booking those snow days and then giving them back or giving fewer snow days and knowing that your April break, which in this case would be we That's why they were able to move it, would be possibly taking away your February break. So, that's kind of it's kind of it's just a reverse thought process. And one of the other big problems is we're tied in to the other school districts in Ulster County with BOCES. So, if that if we wanted to make a move like that, we would have to coordinate it with all seven schools in in
085in our BOCES, which is which is a challenge. Does that calendar actually line up with all the other districts in that way? Mhm. Pretty much. Not in every way. I mean we have different superintendent's conference days and that kind of things, but like so traditionally Kingston always has the Monday after after Easter. We don't this year, but we traditionally do. Where we're we're kind of alone in that in Ulster County, but that doesn't really affect too much. Um but yeah, if we don't So, we really are tied into especially with the number of students we have attending BOCES. So, we're talking about 500 students that go to BOCES every year. Mr. Ryder. So, what what So, I'm assuming then that BOCES is closed that day. So, after spring break, where do our BOCES students go
086during the day if we're the only ones that are in school and they're For that day? Yeah. Yeah, they'll have they'll have their morning and afternoon calendars. They'll have basically have an afternoon calendar. They'll have their morning schedule or their afternoon schedule, whichever they whichever they are supposed to. Got it. Has there been any discussion of of doing the week after Easter rather than the week before? That used to always be the vacation week. And that would push you into a little bit That'll give us a week later. Yeah, a week later. >> Yeah. So, the the issue there The issue there is so you So, the issue there and there is Good Friday. So you have Good Friday. If you go the week the week after, you have Good Friday, then the whole week,
087then Easter. If you if you push it the other way, you can encompass it all into one week and then the give you know, the give back day or take over day at at the Monday after Easter. And I'm assuming the other districts also take the week before Easter. Here in Ulster County, yes. Again, you go across the state, there's different different things. I mean I remember in January 2012 when I came here looking at the calendar and saying to my secretary, "What's February break?" It's just explained to me they don't have that. And oh, uh Mrs. Corson. Um I recognize Labor Day is very late this year, which is what's a challenge. Um have any of the other districts discussed starting before Labor Day? Yes. Several districts are talking about it. Starting before Labor
088Day. And we technically are starting before Labor Day. We do have one day of student attendance that is distributed to 180 in the in the two superintendent's calendar. >> our students won't But our students won't start till Labor Day. No, I'm talking about instructional time. Mhm. Any other Well, you know, I mean we have we only have the teachers for 184 days. So anyway, so that superintendent's gift comes to whether it's there or somewhere else in the calendar, it still counts towards that 184. How much do we lose in in aid if we if we're short a day? How much do we lose in aid? I don't know that number off the top of my head. I mean, I can tell you depending on the number of students and like so so a good example
089is if one school is closed one day and we're not able to get state aid from it. So say that school has close to 300 students. The the my calculations of the amount of aid we would lose for that one day in that one school where our students probably around $100,000. So that's 6,000 students. >> with you. 5,000 students. >> what are your thoughts? You know, like back in the napkin and you like you like technical stuff. >> [laughter] >> When you take the aid we get per student, you get the aid we get per student, divide that by 180 days, divide that by the number of hours that they're out, and then you calculate it all back in, and that's how you get our total, right? So that's where I >> that's how you
090got it. Yeah, that's where I But she wants a day in her head. So what was your number for one school? About $100,000. For one day. About 2 million per day. Across the board. So one snow day in April costs us 20 million dollars. No, no, no. 2 million. Or 2 million. Sorry, 2 million dollars. No, that that's not it. No, no, no. I just said it, she's got me. And that's only if you already had more snow days. You used everything, right? Yeah. Mhm. Right. What's that? Total. Yeah, so it's 10 So $10,000 per say $10,000 per student divided by 180 school days times by the times the number of students that we have in the district. So you're looking at So what did you say? 400. 400 Right, so we're at 60,000. We're
091like 50 or 60 for 300. I doubled it. Yeah. I'm just following your math. Just the high I did a high level of uh estimated foundation aid slash divide the 180 days. So that gives us a total per day of about 100 300 and 80 I got that. I understand. Thank you. Yes, cuz that's what they would hit. What we don't lose What about transportation >> it out, we would still get my understand it and we would still get our reimbursement aid because that's calculated differently. So my understanding is we get hit on foundation aid. If that my understanding is wrong, then that's a different number, but I think it's the foundation aid number. I doubled it. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on uh BOE 36, the school calendar? Dr. Collins. I
092just maybe just reiterate I appreciate very much actually the addition of those days if we don't have snow in on the main holiday. That makes so much sense. And I realize you did that 2 years ago out of necessity and that's fine, but it just um I think that's a great change. So thank you. And thank you for the 12 people who helped me put that together, bringing everyone in there. KTF is bringing people as possible to to help me get that correct. I know and Bonnie built all the snow days for me and Karen did a lot checking them and other stuff. So I hate doing the calendars. It's the hardest thing to do. It's so hard. It's not something I like to do. It's not easy. It is not easy. All in favor
093of BOE 36. >> Sorry, can I Oh. I hate No, that's okay. One more question. We we never have like so maybe no other Ulster County schools, but we never considered haven't considered since I've been here the Eids. Um the Eids, sorry. The Eid holidays and like I know some in like such as County um What was your suggestion? Eid holiday. Like I has it ever been discussed on No. Not a popular flight being on the most populated Yeah. Students or teachers or And even you know, even if you look at Lunar New Year, I mean, that was really put forth because it was mandated. So I don't think anyone would have been taking that if it hadn't been mandated. But if anyone about children that family celebrates Eid for children, they can just take
094it. Yes, it's not a it's an excused absence. Okay. All right. And when we look at other you know, the holidays like that that like so again, you know, many times the Jewish holiday. So a lot of depends depending on how you celebrate, you know, sundown, but you're traveling to sundown. So those kind of things. So one of the things that we work with our teachers and you know, and even our even our athletic teams say this you can't mandate stuff during that during those days. Um and make sure that anything that students miss, they have the opportunity to make up with you. Are we ready to take this vote? BOE 36, all in favor of the 2026-2027 school calendar. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. One nay. Yep. >> [clears throat] >> BOE 36 is
095approved. You can have that calendar. We do have a few donations. Yes, the Board of Education of the Kingston City School District hereby accepts with grateful appreciation the following generous donations. Wow, okay. To E.R. Crosby Elementary School from the Crosby School PTO, a check for $14,995.60 to be used for playground improvements. Wowza, good job. And then we have Thank you. And then to Robert Graves Elementary School from Stewart's Holiday Match, a check for $400. Thank you so much. And finally, to George Washington Elementary School from Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, a grant of 1,200 to support the fourth grade field trip to Huguenot Street. Wonderful, thank you. Thank you. On this agenda, did you want to say anything? >> No, we're good. We're good to move on. That brings us to old business. Uh
096Mr. Ryder. I have a question on the um the code of conduct committee. I don't know like where we're at with And maybe do you have a report next time? Okay. I didn't know if anybody else not I wasn't just putting you on the spot, but if any body else had You know, it's a good point. And it probably should be on our agenda. So plan on that for the next time. You got it. Is there anything that you would want to share now? I mean, they're working very hard. I think they're going to have some questions for the board. Um They have a list of priorities they've been working on. I would say that we should be ready to match our board policy documents that are very wholesome with their one sheet of summary
097and how that's going to move in the future. And we do get a uh code of conduct report from uh the advisor in >> Afternoon. Yeah, in June. Oh, that's right. I actually thought she was going to be here sooner. She's supposed to be at the May policy meeting. Right. Miss Oh, that's right. Okay, that's why. Yeah. I mean, holding it excellently. I mean, the advisor and the group, I mean, really it's an incredible group of people just So so that would be good timing if we hear from you prior to the report. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. Well, they'll just give us kind of a preliminary Can you make sure that she's available for whatever cuz that's an important meeting. Dr. Bernabei. Um just another quick thing more for the record cuz I have the
098information that I was that I looked for, but um for continued conversation about how we ensure that trans and NB or non-binary students um are completely welcome in our schools, that their um pronouns and identities are respected, but also that we incorporate stories and curricular items about that include actually um trans and NB students into our work. Um I know that teaching and learning um and Dr. Collins shared that that hopefully that there'll be time at the next meeting on May 18th to begin to share just a little bit um about what is being done. And um wanted to just also say that we get sort of I would say like not not all the time but somewhat consistent requests for amplified um professional development training and in particular materials in classrooms to make sure
099that um NB and trans students are are feeling fully belonging full belonging in our classrooms and in our schools. So, just to say um it's not just teaching and learning obviously that has um that need um to to talk through that but um thinking also from for parents and for students where those concerns are coming up. Um just to encourage them to share more with us about what they actually also know and have and what what their needs are so that we can continue to meet them where they're at. Um so, I'm looking forward to coming to the teaching and learning meeting and listening as a from the from the other side um and also excited for um us to continue that conversation in the rest of our meetings and figure out what we need
100to do to get better. Um we're good but we need to get better. So. Thank you. Any other old business? I just would like to take a minute to um thank Eva Cnutel for joining us tonight. Um uh I think everyone has met her. She's going to be doing the communication retreat with us for our board development goals. So, thank you for being here and we look forward to getting a date on the calendar. Any new business? Anyone to speak from the public? Done. >> [laughter] >> Any board member announcements? Mrs. Corson. I just would like to note that on our consent agenda we have many retirees listed and I want to thank them for their years of service everything they've given to our students and to this district because they really have given a
101lot and I just want to I know we formally recognize them at our June board meeting but since we're passing the the resolution this evening I'd like to publicly THANK THEM. THANK YOU AND WE WILL RECOGNIZE THEM IN JUNE. And I Is there any other I would I was that's I was going to do say the good thing is that we have a lot of good people that we recognize in June. I mean I think that and I actually think Miss Bondel would like to say congratulations to someone as well. Yeah, so thank you for saying that and I have two amazing names on our consent agenda that have worked for many years as well as one of our amazing administrators um Colleen O'Connor. Um but I did want to um make mention of Anne
102Brackens uh retirement after she has uh been here in the district for 18 years. Um as many of you know in the last couple of years she's been my partner um a very fine one. Uh she is um and I think most of her knows that she is assistant counsel and is a wealth of knowledge um and she is just a tremendous um person for the community. She's always thinking about the taxpayer. She's always thinking about our employees what's best for them um and navigating the road as well. We'll really miss her and it's I'm happy for her but really a loss for our district to lose her at this time. So, thank her for all her years of Thank you. Don't worry we're not out of lawyers WE STILL HAVE ONE AT THE high
103school. And we still have her for a few more months. Yeah. Any other announcements? That brings us to our motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All in favor. Aye. Thank you very much everyone. Thank you. I'm sorry.