KCSD Board of Education Meeting 10/9/2024

001ready it is 7:15 we have um ended executive session returning to the regular board meeting if we could please call the role Miss Jordan here Mr Spicer here Dr Collins is excused Miss Anderson here Mr Ryder here miss Fitzgerald here miss coron here Mr Fitzpatrick here Mr Lance here and if we could plan stand for the pledge of Alle pledge the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liy and justice for if we could please remain standing for a moment of silence for Dan mnni teacher at Miller um Middle School past this week thank you we have no action coming out of executive session so that brings us to public comment we have several people signed up we are about to enter the

002portion 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 because we do take your concerns seriously we want to have time to process and research issues 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 and 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 please note that state and federal privacy laws and Collective bargaining agreements prevent us from discussing certain topics in this venue the

003guidelines are posted on the boardroom wall thank you for your respectful adherence to the rules and your interest in the continuous Improvement of our district we do ask that you honor the time um of 3 minutes the clerk will provide reminders and we our allotted time for public session is 30 minutes we do have a second public session at the end of the meeting we will begin with McKenna boy good evening this is a letter that I wrote to Mr Silverstein about the boards and as well as his response good evening Mr Silverstein I would just like to let you know I would just like to know if you are going to do anything about the boards before the end of the season I know you this in February and it is my senior season

004my sister Kaye boy was not able to die for senior season as well because you decided to redo the pool and not give us a pool to practice at or have any of our homes that had diving boards Mr Silverstein had our meets at the YMCA knowing at the why there are no diving boards it was very upsetting not not being able to see her to compete to her full ability her senior season and I would not like that to happen to me though it has already started and now almost ending it is very upsetting that you have not taken action or tried to do anything for our di team or so it seems because before the season started you told us that the boards would be ready to go for the season and I

005have yet to dive at one home meet out of six because the boards are not up to standard and they are 8 in Old you clearly know by now as many people have gone to you to see what you are going to do and it seems like nothing as we only have two Mees left I was hoping to at least dive at my senior night which is coming Tuesday October 15th I wish you had paid more attention to swimming and Diving as well as other sports not one person I have spoke with has anything positive to say about their experience with you as the athletic director I'm glad to see my diving coach back after almost half the season because swimming and Diving deserve this I am very UPS about the diving board situation as

006you have probably heard from my mother Michelle this is my first time speaking out about this I have not said a word while my coach and fellow divers have expressed their opinions and how they feel I thought I should express my thoughts and my opinions as it is my senior season so maybe you can get a better understanding rather than telling us to get out of your office because you are not doing anything for our team and suggesting to end the season when that is clearly not a solution to our all we are asking is to be able to dive at our me meets which I have said before but out of nine meets we have six homes can't wait to hear back from you to see what you have to say sincerely McKenna your

007senior doctor and my respon and his response that I got from him was I will address only an update to regarding the ding boards I'm not responsible for faculty items like dings but our buildings and grounds director ordered the replacement parts for the two boards many months ago they are projected to arrive in the month of October I've been told and that was his response to my letter thank you McKenna I'd like to apologize I had no idea my phone was on I thought it was I'm so sorry Sophia sorry I can't read the last name hello first I like to thank you for bring coacher back he's essential to my name is Sophia Grand I'm a junior at Kingston High School and this is my third year diving for theity swim di but I'm

008sure you've heard of the problem with the boards our 2-year-old certified boards are 8 in short of a meter this causes many problems we can no longer die P Meats we've only been able to di at three of our nine meets this is costing us points and causing us to lose Meats because of theic all of our rotations are off this is very dangerous we don't have as much time as we think we should and we hit the water the wrong way causing unnecessary injury in fact I got a concussion because of this since then I've had to dial back the difficulty of my Dives to more simple ones with less points and way meets with a proper one meter board all of our Dives are way off rotation and timing because we are practicing

009at I was the one who figured out the mistake that same practice we called the athletic director in he also measured that was in February it has been eight months since this was brought to his attention and the boards have not been fixed he says they are on back but has he looked into other companies or places press to practice the same thing happened my freshman year when the pool was being fixed the swimmers practiced at the YMCA but the W do have a diving board he never attempted to find us some place to practice instead coach leer had to reach out to school to let practice there he drove us 45 minutes to Newberg and back only which only left us with an hour to practice it's sting to me that our competitors us

010District my freshman year was ruined my sophomore year my sophomore year was raw my junior year is ruined and my teammate with Ken of boys sen years all because the director and other members of administration just don't feel like this woman D is as important as other sports I'm looking for scholarships for D to get through me to get me through college I can't get that if I don't even have the opportunity with the proper equipment all I want is that I have that chance it feels like one man is stopping that in my future meeting it was mentioned that this problem is a silly issue this is not a silly issue this is our safety and our future I hope you take thank you Michelle Mills good evening as the mother of four daughters

011who have attended Kingston High School and currently do all who have participated in Varsity swimming and Diving I hope that had has what has been my experience will not be the experience for the athletes in the future this is my second senior who will not be able to die at one home meet for final scene season under Mr silverene as the athletic director I have been told lies and that the boards would be uh offered to us and less than safe information I have been asked what would you do if you were the athletic director literally on phone calls what would I do if I was the athletic director these are the things that I express to Mr silversteen communicate with the other schools and offer the ladies a place to practice diving the other

012schools have told us that they are on board with this communicate with schools to offer KHS a way to score points for diving at meets that we have lost by one point this season where the team would have won by 12 points with our diers I have asked him that this as well and he offered me to cancel the entire season communicate the truth about the boards and not just say that they are on back order by the way since February which one I told him that that's when they were back ordered he said he denied that he knew that that was a lie he has also told me in previous season that the boards will be installed while they were sitting in between two buildings for months when I spoke with them face to

013face about this in the summer of 2022 months before the season he assured me they would be ready for the season communicate with the building and grounds director who you have put the blame on for the boards and look for other companies which I have found who can deliver and install the boards in a timely manner attend home meets in school colors and express a genuine interest in the sports you are in charge of that would be all sports when asked about swimming and Diving do not divert to speaking about other sports or the Deep Stadium complex respond to emails respond to phone calls and listen to your student athletes please don't communicate information that you know is not true and don't have the student athletes participate in unsafe conditions Robin Tio good evening I'm

014here once again on the safety issue um the more that I find out about the security issues in our schools the more concerned I become the first breach at the high school started with a lack of oversight with the security Personnel a female employee who let this individual into the school I understand she's not on campus anymore was told by the nurse that the individual looking for his schedule didn't look like the person on the ID this employee said oh it's an old id and the nurse handed over the schedule and off this child went to look for his Target so I have to ask why were these procedures so lap had this employee done this in the past and didn't have this type of outcome or has she seen other employees do it and

015felt comfortable allowing him in this also brings up questions related to the qualifications of our security Personnel what qualifications for what are the qualifications for our security Personnel in our schools what qualifications does our district coordinator of safety and prevention have that make him the right fit for this position is one coordinator enough for our large District or should we have another why do we only have two Sr at the high school this is a huge campus and having only two officers seems insufficient should a major issue arise and why do we not have any SRO at our elementary schools where these young children would be the most vulnerable why do we not employ any full-time security officers I often hear Kingston being compared to Newber Free Academy NFA has metal detectors and they have

01615 full-time security staff after hearing the concerns from parents regarding the Yonder pouches I'm realizing that it's not so much the use of the pouches that has them angry it's the fact that we skipped a major step in securing our schools and parents feared their children not being able to communicate if necessary and this doesn't mean communicate with parents I for one don't really have an issue with the Yonder pouches but I have an issue with my child not being able to call 911 if needed because her phone is locked in a pouch and yes if she sees something she could go find an appropriate staff member to let them know but God forbid there isn't time for that she should be able to use her phone to call 911 and report it and possibly

017save lives I have an issue with these couches seemingly being utilized to buffer any liability the district may have if certain events are recorded within the schools again F NFA uses the Y pouches successfully but they've also secured their buildings with metal detectors first I also have an issue with the district spending 60 to 80,000 on the pouches before taking steps to secure our schools this District also has a districtwide Safety Committee so why haven't the security breaches at the high school been addressed at these meetings it seems that it would be an appropriate place to discuss how these occurred and to come up with possible solutions to keeping it from happening again I also feel like this might be a good time to remind the parents in this District that the board works for

018us and that our superintendent works for the board the board members need to stand up and have a voice and not simply following along with what Dr patalino wants while also being responsive to parents questions and concerns because up until this point parents are not being heard with phone calls or emails I demand answers from our board I want to know what steps are going to be taken to shore up the flaws in our current security protocol and if you're not willing to take the time to answer questions when you're asked then you should not be sitting on the board and representing the parents and children of this District Rose D sandis good evening everyone um board members so today I am here um again in the capacity of a trusted Community member a parent

019a taxpayer from a board member and definitely someone who actually cares about the future of our young people here um I know you all probably are familiar with and you'll hear some key players who have brought to your attention the toxicity in the culture at GW and I want to share again that it starts from the head I'd hope that we have implemented in any way action plans to either educate to train or to change the leadership style that is happening at George Washington I had to make the very tough decision to transfer my child from there which was a school we were so excited to attend that was a key component to his childhood development with the montau learning style um in which his teacher was removed without any notice without any feedback from

020parents um in which left many families very upset disheartened and also too confused imagine what it was like to transfer my child from a school that he was from preschool to now his third grade A crucial time in his education fortunate we are now at another school that is completely opposite in the atmosphere of the school that has helped to develop the love of going back to school so when children are telling you that they are happy to no longer be in a school because they did not like leadership there and that there's a clear difference in where they are now and actually wanting to be part of their school and engage in education that speaks volumes so I'm hoping again that we take the time to consider the assessment the evaluation the communication the

021support to provide to the leadership of the schools so that they can continue to do the best in educating and creating an atmosphere of learning and support not just for the teachers but for the families for the parents now I'm here I know there are key individuals who usually come and speak about it there are petitions around there was a consultant that came in there's a lot happening however I want to come today to say that outside of being a board member I've had numerous parents not the regular parents come and complain to me since I've left cuz they feel as though the board has not heard them they do not trust the board they do not trust the leadership of the administration to really Implement some change in that school also want to note

022that I'm sure um someone else will come and mention we have not had any updates on the lights on program that was brought to your attention while I was on the board as well there has been a followup we haven't got any insight on what are the next steps so thank you br Riley hello board members um superintendent uh thank you all um again very much for supporting the effort to come into compliance with um section 10.11 of New York St state educ ation law that requires each district to write a shared decisionmaking plan and meet out the important uh Logistics of how many different stakeholder groups including ones who work for the school district such as administrators um and the administrators unions teachers the teachers unions and the teaching assistants unions all these different

023unions meet and come together with parents families caregivers um who are the other people taking care of children throughout the course of the day and community members um and figure out how to get those four groups to be able to work together proactively much earlier in the process so that things don't have to just build up and turn into really toxic situations for people to come here and complain to the board the whole point of shared decision making is to push a lot of that complicated decision making back into the very early parts of the school year um and to have a place for people to talk these things through at the actual schools themselves I'm on the shared decision-making um team and I'm helping write the rules that are going to apply to the

024building leadership team where I am also a member and last night I was at the district leadership team I'm begging both the the administration and the board of education for a more open um attitude toward including parents yesterday night we were told that parents would not be able to add agenda items to DLT meetings that's the only place where all four stakeholder groups can meet um and we were told we were not allowed to we could only respond to DCI um issues that so that's the first thing that I would like you all to consider is whether or not that's really a good policy for this coming school year the second thing I would like to ask about is since the beginning of the formation of the shared decision-making committee the parent Representatives have been

025asking the board for a clear um naming of who the members of our committee are because it is not clear so you can imagine if in Congress nobody knew who their representatives were you didn't know how who was representing what it's a very confusing situation especially since things on which votes are being taken have already been gathered and we don't have access to that information we don't know what the vote tallies are we don't know how the information is being compiled and I had to foil that information which was supposed to come back to me today and I still did not get it so I'm asking for that information thank you Scott Jenny good evening my name is Scott Denny and I'm here this evening to speak on behalf of just over 6,000 students within

026the Kingston School District whose safety is the ultimate responsibility of each and every member of this board taking prent over any and all other responsibilities as a board is aware I was a candidate for the school board and while I'm not on the school board I am Seated on the finance and audit committee as a member of the committee with complete access to the district's finances and I'll be vague I found that I found that um we have been allocated the money that have been allocated to the safety of our children is incredibly low and actually alarmed me um if you were if you were to research the New York state board members responsibilities you will generally see that first as follows a school board Member's First responsibility is to the children that they serve

027which means putting their interest of the student future first while providing a safe and conductive learning experience is also important to note that boards develop the appropriate processes to help schools keep students safe and as a board member each of you are held legally responsible for proper campus secur Safety and Security which is where I believe there is a tremendous disconnect between the board the students in our community what I am seeking this evening is a positive reception from the board a firm genal reception from the public as well as commitments from each and every individual board member that you will immediately begin taking the necessary measures to secure every school in our district without any further delay as we know over the past several weeks there have been multiple credible threats within the school

028district which which should prompt the board to move as quickly as possible to better secure our schools with a greater focus on our elementary schools to better protect our most vulnerable and defend L children one of whom happens to be my 5-year-old grandson the safety issues within the skas city school distri have been on on an ongoing issue without any result for several years and as a and as of late with multiple threats the time to act is now and without further delay I thank you all for your time Heather Lundy I don't have your name on here at all you can go with the end if there's time hello I'm here once again to state that I'm strongly against the Yonder couches and I believe that this money should have been spent on metal

029detectors and more Security in our schools I read recently that these couches cost $60,000 which is a lot of the parents and taxpayers have a right to know who made this decision and agree to have the Y pouches we are still anxiously awaiting this information so we can better understand why these couches were deemed necessary this money could have been put to much better use and applied to protecting our students teachers and staff with added security and metal detectors it could have been applied to repairing restrooms many of which don't have working think it could have helped with things as we're hearing tonight about the diving boards and everything going on with Athletics there are just so many ways that this money could have been better spent um but there were just so many so

030many other ways this money could have been um a lot of people in this community are speculating and saying that these pouches were brought in after a lawsuit when there was a near deadly assault at the high school last year if that is the case then you would all better get ready for another highle law when students begin giving statements to law enforcement about how staff are now peeking underneath bathroom stall to see who is and who isn't using cell phon this is terribly alarming to me as a parent and absolutely unacceptable I have heard this from multiple very high achieving reliable responsible students this is not okay you need to be aware that this is happening as a result of this ridiculous cell phone stuff that everyone is just getting so up and arms

031about we need to protect these kids and we need to focus on more important things than cell phone use this school is turning into a circuit I am bombarded with texts and emails almost daily with security threat students who are my employees can't reach me regarding schedule changes I hear from students and teachers about students with panic disorders now having full-blown panic attacks with no support each day students now have to wait in lines to have bags checked at random and having their devices laugh or check to see if they are real or not what type of learning is actually happening here teachers support staff I know you are scared to speak up about a lot of this and I thank you for continuing to fight the good fight I will continue to try to

032help you in any way that I can and if I have time for 30 seconds okay I have an account I'm going to read quickly from one of my employees today KHS say pop B check and the line of students in front of the Salman entrance span all the way to the bus turnaround there was two kids in my class that showed up five minutes and 15 minutes late into first period And I was held up in the line for 5 minutes outside the main building entrance I was almost late to first period I understand you were trying to keep us safe but some of us are missing first period because of a 15 second bag check my first period teacher delayed instructions because of kids showing up late because of bag checks there really

033is no reason for a student to be late because of bag checks it it stresses the kids out because they're coming late to class the teacher has to get them caught up and it's over unnecessary if you want to leave that I can with the rest thank you Tyrone Wilson this is my third time in front of y'all first time the superintendent wasn't here this being my third time the second time I was here the superintendent was here the third time I'm standing me right before yall right now again he's present the first time I came in for y'all I talked to Y about the um the program lights on Kingston that program had 600 kids registered average 150 kids every Friday um from from the Middle School to the high schools um Community people

034actually taking care of these kids monitoring these kids supporting our kids I don't know how much the board look into this because the first time I came here the board didn't even know about this program which is blows my mind um but look at the success of that program I was also told that we was going to look into this program in the beginning of this session it was it was read in the uh public speaking that you will get to us you will get back to us about these things we brought up this my third time I haven't heard one thing from nobody here not one I was told that y was going to look into this program and y'all going to see what you can do it was a it was a money

035situation for what I heard but that's all we know so I'm trying to I'm just trying to really understand how do we let a program like this just go that was working and was keeping our kids safe it was helping our families after hours how do we just let this go who if superintendent made a decision to stop this program why I want to know if you board members asked him that why was this program stopped I I have heard any I have heard nothing and I and I'm just saying to you board members you represent us sitting here the superintendent works for y'all y'all are here to ask the questions that we have and it doesn't seem like that's happening because I don't understand this I really don't and when you when when these

036type of things happen it only leads for us to have assumptions so wherever I'm right and wrong in this situation what it looks like is that y just washed us under the rug again this is the third time I've been here and I'm not here because I started the program I put the program on if I could send you the screenshots of my my inboxes that will explain why I'm here this is not about Tyrone Wilson this is about these kids and we all supposed to be here from the boy to the parents here putting safety around our kids and when we have something going on and we're not choosing to put this in the Forefront about the safety and about the well-being of our kids and what help our parents as well it is

037very disrespectful to us as parents we have time for one more um Jim shaunessy good evening this some of you know me Jim shy I have experiened U my background on Schoolboard matters is 17 years on the Kingston City School Board and nine years on the aler bosi school board so I have some opinions about the way things should be done that I cleaned over those years I was asked to come and talk about the safety issues uh but I really have not followed them that much and so I really can't I thought I would come and I would listen to what other what other speakers had to say about it um but what I decided that I did want to say and this is to the board when I first became a board member

038I was told that the most important function of a board member is selecting the superintendent and that was from uh training sessions that was from New York State School boards Association that's the you know opinion that's out there and I really think that's wrong uh and if it work true then I don't think any member of the board right now has ever done that most important job because Dr patalino has been here for almost 13 years and none of you have been here that long really the most important function of the board of a board member is to hold the superintendent accountable to the goals that you agree on and and the functions that he's supposed to carry out as superintended that's what you that's what you should be doing on an ongoing basis it's

039not something that you're only going it's only going to occur once every five years 10 years I mean some school districts have had six superintendant in the time that Dr catalino has been here I mean it's a function of the particular District but you really have to monitor the superintendent and the administration on an ongoing basis doesn't have to be in public that's why you have executive session and I just wish you would take up on that responsibility thank you we extend for one additional speaker y good evening I'm Mariel fii I've been here before and I keep hope H that's why I keep coming because I'm hopeful that you're paying attention and I know sometimes you do so I'm going to mention a couple of things and then go back to previous topics um

040my daughter my child is going to Bailey and I realized that there are no Spanish classes for Heritage speakers at Bailey and this is a disservice for the 25% Hispanic student class that having that that that Bailey has and this is a diservice because the students have to practice over and over all when they could be doing something else uh so it's not just for my child but you know a vast majority of the students there will be taking a better Spanish class uh talking about inclusivity hearing all the voices please follow up with your promise to provide child care during the board meetings a lot of Elementary School parents cannot be here to make their voices heard because they need child care and this was promised a year ago by Dr re Reinhardt and

041so I would like you to pleas follow up on that promise I also want to thank H board member Anthony Fitzpatrick for joining parents every morning in the walking School Bus for George Washington School and also thank you for your help doing doing popcorn on Fridays with the PTO parents at George Washington so following up on what I mentioned before about back to school night at George Washington which I I brought at the last minute there was meeting here there was no child care provided as was the case in the past even though the PTO offer offered to pay for the child care for back to school night and I wanted to mention that I found that we have uh we are a title one school and there is a something called parent and family

042engagement and there is money supposedly uh for a parent Li own or coordinator for family engagement consultants and also stipend for staff to plan for or participate in Title One activities outside contact hours and the cost for activities including materials transportation child care and life refreshments so I want to I want to ask if you can talk about this later or email me or anything what is how much money the George Washington School has for title one and how are we spending that money and following up on my previous presentation here Dr padal know how many reports of harassments of children staff or parents do you need to receive to start action the last Str for George Washington came for me when I saw the results of the consultant that was hired by the district

043to look at the DS say status of chorge Washington they interview at life the team interview more than 40 teachers and support the staff and the most alarming thing of the report there were many but this is the most alarming is that it uses the term toxic to describe teachers feelings about their work environment and wors the consultant wrote that staff reported that interactions such as yelling silent treatment slamming doors and pulling students exist in the school and are de punitive towards both students and adults so Board of Education it is time to hold this District administration accountable for its failures and for endangering the safety of our children that ends our um public comment session and brings us into the superintendent's report thank you Miss Anderson uh we are going to start our superintendent's

044Report with our Auditor's report and we set up the presentation now good evening uh for those of you who don't know me my name is Christi I'm an audit partner at mangle Meer bar or MMB and uh we're the district's Auditors and I am the engagement partner that oversees the audit of of the district financial statements so uh just before I start I want to note that uh the financial statements in as they are presented tonight are still in draft format they're in process to be run final uh just based on timing of of the last few items that came in before we're able to finalize uh not in final form for this tonight but we don't expect any changes to um any of the numbers that you that we talk about here tonight so

045I'm going to go through high level I'm certainly happy to answer any questions at the end or or if you have a question as I go through please feel free to stop me um required Communications to those charged with governance which is the Board of Education um so this communication lets you know that we have audited financial statements of the Kingston City School District we also have audited the extra classroom activity fund of the Kingston City School District we're responsible to use professional judgment to form an Express an opinion about whether the financial statements are free from Material misstatement we obtain reasonable Assurance but not absolute Assurance so that means that we're not looking at everything happens we perform a risk assessment and design and perform our procedures accordingly to be responsive to those risks

046we consider the district's internal controls but we don't provide an opinion on those internal controls if there's anything that we feel is a significant matter we would bring that to your attention we have no uh no matters to report related to internal controls We performed the audit consistent with the plan timing and scope so as many of you probably know the uh the state requires your audit report to be submitted by October 15 annually so you'll have that final report I I uh predict by tomorrow um midday tomorrow so that'll be able to be filed on time we're required to be independent of the district so one of the uh important considerations here is that you do engage us to prepare your financial statements that preparation is really based on the underlying books and records

047that are kept by your management team and your management team reviews and accepts responsibility for those financial statements significant risks identif uh so we're required to communicate to you areas that we consider to be significant risks these do not these are not areas that we U necessarily have an issue with or there's a finding related to it's really where we're spending more time and effort because these are areas that have higher risk so the first is management uh override of internal controls which is uh presumed to be a significant risk in any audit that's performed unless there's a really compelling reason why it wouldn't be and really the reason for that is if you have a good system of internal controls but there's a way for management to override those controls that could be significant

048and you would certainly want to know about that U no findings in that area improper Revenue recognition related to taxes so because you're a city school district and you're responsible for collecting your own taxes and the county does not make you whole until a later timeline than a Central School District that's another area that we consider again no no issues to report there financial reporting bias uh relates to your propensity to uh to be in compliance with uh in particular the 4% 4% real property tax law limitation so there is uh incentive based on the fact that that's compliance with laws and regulations that there's some incentive to potentially manipulate the financial statements we don't believe that there's any intentional manipulation of the financial statements or anything that's not in compliance the last item is

049compliance with the uniform guidance so you expend greater than 750,000 in federal Awards so you're required to have a single audit in accordance with uniform guidance which is a very compliance heavy uh audit and we'll talk about that separate report here in a few minutes your significant accounting policies are in footnote number one so a thick packet financial statement packet is about 77 Pages a lot of information in there uh significant accounting policies are in foot note number one all financial statements have estimates uh based on their nature the most significant estimates in your financial statements relate to compensated absences which is your um unused sick and vacation time it's an estimate of what you believe you will have to pay out in the future um so that has assumption built into it based on

050um the probability that an employee will stay to actually uh receive that benefit the other post employment benefits liability or oped which is your retire Health Insurance liability is based on an Actuarial calculation there's significant estimation that goes into that and then you're also part of New York State uh teachers retirement and employees retirement plans which again there's Actuarial calculation involved in those uh liabilities so those are the no significant estimates we encountered no significant difficulties in performing our audit we had no uncorrected misstatements we had no material corrected misstatements so what that means is that the information that you see on a regular ongoing basis is is complete and accurate um we don't we based on our procedures we didn't make any significant adjustments or propose any significant adjustments to bring the financial statements

051into the final form we had no disagreements with management management actually provided us earlier today with the management representation letter stating that they were truthful accurate and honest provided us with all the information that we requested the last item that I want to talk about in this uh communication is related to the extra classroom activities fund report so I'll talk about that again here in a few minutes but um we do issue a qualified opinion on the extra class activities fund which is fairly common um in New York state and that audit is conducted in accordance with the cash basis of accounting so it's really based on the cash coming in and the cash going out of those activity uh funds and the reason we issue a qualified opinion is there's really no effective control

052to uh to be able to tell that what should make it into the bank does make it into the bank because of the nature of it being cash and student involvement so we audit what's there and there's no issues we have an unmodified opinion there but we we don't know what isn't there essentially U again that's pretty standard um practice here in New York state at this point independent Auditors report so summary again we audited the financial statements in our opinion we believe the uh financial statements present fairly in all material respects the financial position of the district so that's that clean on modified opinion that you're looking for highest level of assurance that we can provide it says we believe your statements are presented again conduct our audit in accordance with uh Professional Standards

053required to be independent and meet our ethical responsibilities and uh we believe that all the procedures that we performed are uh provide sufficient appropriate evidence to provide our opinion management is responsible for the financial statements that includes internal controls we're responsible to express an opinion based on our audit reasonable Assurance not absolute Assurance um identify risk material Mis statement plan and perform those procedures again understand your internal controls but no opinions and I apologize that this is a little repetitive this actually follows the format of the report so I think it's important that we go through uh those pieces so I'm not just repeating the same thing I promise um uh and then evaluate your accounting policies and estimates we believe that your accounting policies and estimates are reasonable the next report is our report

054on compliance in accordance with government auditing standard so you're a governmental organization we that means we have to follow a stricter set of guidelines that report uh talks about our uh consideration of your internal control over financial reporting specifically again we consider that internal control we don't provide an opinion if we have any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses to report we would bring those to your attention we have no findings to report in that area report on compliance and other matters so we're required to consider material non-compliance provision of uh provisions of laws regulations contracts Grant agreements any non-compliance that um meets that threshold of material non-compliance are required to report to you and we have one item to report in this area which I don't believe would be a surprise to you which is

055that you have uh excess fund balance in the school lunch fund school lunch program of approximately a million dollars at the end of uh 20 63024 that being said the state uh did just within the last week or two uh if they they doubled the amount that you're allowed to carry so the state says you're allowed to carry three months Surplus forward and they've doubled that to six months so that will that will help your uh your excess here and um certainly not for lack of of effort based on our procedures you you've done some extra things to try to you know purchase new equipment and spend down that fund balance so of all things uh to have as a finding really this is not something that I would personally be concerned about obviously you

056have to you want to be in compliance but a surplus uh is is much better than the other way around the last report is our uh report on compliance for each major federal program in in accordance with the uniform guidance so this is that single audit report again uh this time we're giving an opinion on your compliance with each major federal program based on the OM compliance supplement uh so that's put out by om that tells us as the auditor what is considered to be a direct material compliance requirement of each Federal grant um and then based on our risk assessment we select um one or more programs to test and follow that compliance supplement to report to you and in our opinion uh the district complied in all material respects with those compliance requirements

057again Management's responsible for internal control over compliance we're responsible for expressing an opinion on compliance we consider that internal control but we do not give an opinion um our report on internal control over compli similar to the other reports we consider that we don't give an opinion if there's a significant deficiency or material weakness we report that to you and we have no findings to report to you uh in this area either uh so the major program that we did test this year was your education stabilization funding so that's winding down um you know I don't expect we would test that again moving into the future it'll be minimal amount remaining for the for the next school year the total of your expenditures of federal Awards for the year was about 14.8 million I apologize

058there's an extra zero in there uh 14.8 million expended this year and our procedures covered about 5.4 million of that and that rotates uh there's a a rotating basis of programs that we look at so uh your 4% real property tax law limitation calculation I always like to just point this out so again I mentioned before you're right at that 4% limitation so you're in compliance with uh the real property tax impementation law restricted fund balance I'd like to bring this out to your attention um this is all your reserve balances so this is the money that you have set aside should you need it um in case of funding shortfalls Etc moving into the future uh some of these reserves are fairly restrictive and what you're able to use those funds for and some

059of them um are a little bit easier to to U Move money out of for example the the retirement contribution reserves you have to pay the employees and the teachers retirement system bill every year so it's it's easier to move money out of those items so it makes sense to have a higher balance in in those reserves but again you have about 38 million in reserves at the end of uh June 2024 long-term obligations I like to point this out because most districts um don't talk about this as much on the regular because it's not part of your fund financial statements it's not part of the general fund uh this is all your long-term liabilities uh so you do have um about 700 million which sounds like a big number it is a big number

060578,000 of that 578 million I apologize of that amount is your retiree Health Insurance liability which is based on an Actuarial calculation which essentially assumes that the district ceases operations and you have to pay that all at one time obviously that's not ever going to happen you pay that uh retiree premium as it comes to out of the general fund annually uh so really this it doesn't look as um pretty as you would like it to based on that there's no mechanism in New York state to fund that liability um even though uh the school business officials and the state Society of CPA have lobbied for a long time to try to find a mechanism for that you're not able to do that so uh just be uh mindful of that and then you did

061have about 95 million 95.6 million of of bonds outstanding um at the end of the year extra classroom activity fun we talked about the qualified opinion we do have some minor recommendations based on uh the state guidance that's again not uncommon you have student involvement the state's guidelines are pretty stringent so we have some comments about best practice type things but um to be honest with you we don't we don't have any districts that don't get this uh comment letter because of the nature of it um so really nothing that that um I believe is is significant or unusual uh that you wouldn't see potentially anywhere you know missing signature here or there um so with that I I know I went through a lot quickly I'm happy to answer any questions you have U

062you know on on what I talked about or if there's something that I didn't address that you'd like to know about um and before I do that real quick I just want to say thank you to um Miss Carone and Mr and the team for providing us all the information timely accurately um really makes the process go go well so thank you to that thank you any questions or comments from Mr Healey um um you said that um there is they increase the um the time that we're allowed to fund to to six months is that something that's happening about to happen or so yeah so with the the school lunch program up through june30 2024 you were only allowed to have 3 months of a surplus beginning July 1st 2024 and moving forward you're

063allowed to have six months so for the for the next for this current this school year that you're in at the end of the year that threshold would be higher so that million dollars wouldn't be a million dollars it probably be closer to 600,000 you know somewhere in that range based on that updated guidance so you still would have surplus funds left but it just is uh they're they're giving you more flexibility to carry more about the state saying you're not in compliance go back to the reserve and I so essentially comp range yes so this is one of the things that we definitely spend time looking at uh this is a big area of compliance so we do uh go through um each Reserve has different uh rules regulations guidelines around how to establish

064how to expend what that balance can be so yes we did perform procedures all over all those and we don't believe that you know there's anything that's out of compliance any other questions or comments yeah it was a good report thank you I don't know if you have any comment no just thank you to the for Auditors I know it's a lot of work and there's a lot of collaboration with our business office and there's a lot of stress during that time even though this gentleman was very relaxed still very stressful done a few of very stressful situation to have the Auditors in um but you know um I think our business do a great job and appreciate your support thank you thank you very much I know um people like to speak their peace

065and leave but I wanted to just address a couple things that came in the executive session last week and one of them came up again today was the the Yonder um pouches and first of all start off by saying we never implemented the Yonder program as a safety program it was not an addition to our safety program you know it was really as a result of distraction in classroom distraction in classroom reports on social emotional health of our students reports about social media and the use of social media of our students and last week um one of the gentlemen that came up asked about research so I mean I haven't seen any research that says cell phones are good for kids so we do have if Paul ever turns on the computer just just a

066couple of quick things to go through and I won't take a lot of time on it thanks um you know just quickly quick research the Surgeon General of the United States that says there's ample evidence that social media poses a risk to harm the mental health and well-being of schoolid children the PE research has there studies say 72% % of teachers say cell phone use is distraction from the classrooms there insute for health say cell phone use as a negative effect on students course comprehension UNESCO which is 14 countries um a study group 14 count says 10 seconds of cell phone use during a class requires 20 minutes for students to refocus and just last week the New York State United teachers adopted a resolution called for Bell to Bell ban on cell phones in

067schools so it's not just us um there was complaint there was no communication there were two board presentations eight public information sessions two student Focus forms now one of the other says only that only 10 students were invited no 1,800 students were invited only 10 students showed up but 1800 students were invited they were invited over the PA system and then Kingston Kingston High School cge g TV in the press the Daily Freeman did three articles there were two articles in the Kingston wire and there were four articles in in Hudson Valley one about this so for someone to say they didn't know this was coming there was a lot of information out there that this was coming uh just really going through we went through a timeline to show exactly what we did how

068we communicated when it happened so all through right up to July and into September we continued to do more more public Outreach we have more public again we did another another four months September 9th we had two students show up um you know teacher feedback is positive I think many of you went to have heard from from teachers teachers feedback is positive and again the endorsement of New York State United teachers around cell phone Banning in schools is a big endorsement so it's not this isn't the Kingston thing this isn't the safety thing this is about academic performance students mental health and wellbeing thank you thank you I think that's really helped um also at our last meeting we did have some public comments that I wanted to address revolving around GE Washington Elementary School

069and one of the speakers said there was no updates given to the the there was no no results of the plan um on August 1st we we presented a twoyear plan wasn't a one year plan was a two-year plan on June on June June 2004 Miss Lano presented this board our progress toward that plan um there has been updates and there'll be another update Midway through this year as we go through to the second year of this plan there's also a statement that we had a 20% reduction in budget to George Washington Elementary School that's false we actually spent $2,217 per student at George Washington where the average school we spent $ 22,42 um there was some talk about Tas and class size tradition Al since before I came here at George Washington in the

070um montor program the classes are three grades in one that's the monory model that we were asked to continue and to maintain they've always had larger class sizes and we added ta to those classes George Washington has more than almost three times as many Tas in their building than any other Elementary School they have 27 Tas yes did we have some trouble at the beginning of the year filling all our TA slots we did we solved that two Mondays ago um but you know there are ways to solve this but there are not ways to solve this that would be in keeping with our plan and wishes of the community at George Washington we could eliminate we could eliminate um uh superintendent permission which is students of other school zones coming into that that would

071that would not class size it down immediately we could change the grade configuration again that would be against what what the parents that George Washington want us to do or we could eliminate the three and four roles which we click quickly also knock down the class side so you know there's solutions to those problems but those problems can be what they are um that's all I have I have a question about another statement about child care I was under the impression that we were prohibited from so yes thank you for because I wrote that right on the Bott here um well first of all going back to the title one the other the other question about school scho the title one of the scho schools of most need um George Washington went from 73% fre

072and reduced lunal poverty to 53% in the last two years so they now basically tied with Crosby Chambers Edson um they're all around the same but we have 78% at JFK so when we talk about title funding and child care just say we can spend it on that but we have a certain amount of money in title one that has to be spread across all of those title one schools so we spended on things like math Specialists for our students who are struggling math reading Specialists the tops after school program as well as some of our social emotional mental health programs that we use in our schools so you know child care and those things we can use it but we choose to use it for things that we're using in the classroom to help

073our students move forward academically but we have been given advice from our attorneys that we should not be letting outside organizations pto's ptas the um National Honor Society do babysitting if we're going to do it we have to use either use our teachers so we have certified teachers in there or have registered or hire a registered organization that that's what they do that are insured or responsible for that like we do with our after school programming some of our elementary schools so we can't just say oh yeah Mrs Anderson Miss Anderson is going to watch all the children today during um morning during uh our our back to school night so there there's a huge cost associated with hiring staff or hiring an agency to do child on top of that if we hire our

074own staff we so we then have to go back to every one of those students that we're that we're bringing in to do childcare has to be a student in the Kansas City School District registered in the kson city school district n todler all we have all of their we have to have all of their medical information available to us that so we know if they get stung by a bee we're responsible how do we know so then we also probably to have a nurse at that point now we could hire an outside organization yes but just random groups to to take care of you know children during events we cannot do that we've been advised by our attorneys not to do that and I think I said that publicly last year I think it's

075also important to note that with the title one um funding that comes available the priority is to close the achievement gaps in literacy and and so that's where initially the first funding should go and that's something else that um I just think should be pointed out and the allocation of the money should be in percentage as as by poverty correct so if you have 78% in one school and 53% in the other they shouldn't be giving the same allocation and tile One Fund that's regulation that's just that's yes and the the other question I had since you're talking about what came up in public comment is I know that you have tried to um look into lights on and there hasn't been a partnership available yeah yeah I reported on that I think we spoke

076briefly about it I think I think there's you mean I don't I don't have that those statistics as far as participation is concerned I know that our team our security team did most of the work during those sessions but the the bottom line here is we have um we had Partners there were three organizations involved in this um now we don't so I will say right now we have almost 1100 students participating in extracurricular event or extracurricular Sports That's not including the chess club That's not including the the drama club that's not includ so that's just in our Athletics so the idea the thought around we're not providing opportunities for our students to do things things after school is not accurate now is this a program that we would like to see get off the

077ground yes but we can't do it along we need Partners we need we need help financially help as far as who's going to run this program and help who's going to who's going to do the programs inside the program um we can't we can't do it alone we do what we do do alone is all of the extracurricular activities we offer here more than 65 clubs at Kingston High School more than 66 at athletic uh Sports um throughout the school year we do that on our own um but if we want to run something extra like we did before we had good Partnerships we had part half the part of the county part of the city and us um so the three of us together right now I don't have Partners Mr Ryder can we

078find out though like what it would cost even with we don't know the board has not been presented with what it would cost to do the lights on program with the school district standing alone I gu there's political issues with the county and the city but like I would like to know what it would cost us so that we could have that information and make a policy decision on whether we would want to go forward on our own to to have that program okay I mean I that's all and then we can make that decision sure yeah also so one of the obstacles that seemed to come up last year was um competition with some of our sports activities that are going on basketball and things like that so I'm just wondering if there are

079any other barriers beside final barriers doing this well yes from from November 1st until April 1st the gym is used every night of the week that's on basketball season based on this so that's you know Friday nights are when we play basketball most of the time so that that's a Friday night the gy that would be one of the bar for short yeah and actually in the beginning what we did was we took a we took a Hiatus we did it in the fall and then we did it in the spring we kind of took a a break during the winter because of that but yes that is the obstacle Mr sper but in In fairness to Mr Wilson um his things and his that I'm here his not exactly that wasn't being continued that

080he had come to the board before to say what's going on and no been communicating with it the reasons why the program fell apart and and because of internal Communications from Dr all of us we understand what what fell between the city and county they don't know that so they're upset I thought it was brought up at a meeting I was gon to say it has been brought up might not have been at a meeting it has been asked byard members repeatedly and different MERS bring it up on different occasions I he yeah I know I'm that's why I Dr Catalin an opportunity to speak to it again because I think that you're right about his angs but I think that he doesn't understand that the board did have and does have an appreciation for

081the value of that program but I wanted Dr patalino to have another opportunity to to explain that the partners had fall to the Wayside and I think that um you know Mr Ryder's suggestion that we look at it and see if we could swing it um I don't know if we can or not but we could at least look at it but I think he was mistaken in that the board does have an interest in it and Dr patalino had an interest in because he's had several conversations with um people and and as I said in internal emails do know have Express without reservation and support for the program I'm saying I'm not sure based on what Mr Wilkins said that he knew that so now woman saying he does know that I don't know

082how no I don't know that he knows why the program was terminated to begin I'll tell you that why it was stopped he knows those re okay then there was a bit of a miscommunication just now between me and Mr Ryder because I thought Mr Ryder said he knows that I thought Mr R was saying he knows Dr P supports the program and why it it fell the way it did because Dr Pino has said he supported the program and and uh and and very very strong strongly and and that's what I was saying I don't know that say about the communication he's not he is specifically is not getting he doesn't understand why because whatever communication we've tried to put out you know there's two people in communication there are the senders and there

083are the receivers right like so we can send out whatever we want the receivers may not hear what we said or may not hear I think it's important so in what way should we try to communicate with well I think the suggestions been made and Dr patalino has agreed that he would um provide us with a report with a breakdown of what what the cost would be and then that would be public information and then we can make a decision as to a recommendation as to how we move forward and I don't want anybody to misunder understanding either because I'm even though may not seem so I'm defending Dr because he can't speak back during public comment so he he can't say how he really program or what his his intentions were or what his

084moves were even behind the scenes so would it be fair to say about November basketball season is out would that be fair to say like it would be out as far as what the most popular things we did during oon Kingston were basketball virtual reality and soccer soccer out in the back in the in the practice field that's where most of the kids come I mean if we were doing there were also there was also an element in classrooms of different things there was cooking there was there was a couple different activities going I mean that we could continue but as far as the using the using the field house and the back and the practice field well the practice field would be winter so but then using the Fieldhouse that would be something that

085would be that'll be booked you know the day football starts stops basketball starts could we use the weight room you know that aspect at that time or not not without not without someone who is certified and qualified to use that weight room to be there okay I mean let's be honest the the program was initiated to give you know the community a place to go and and Ure that they are doing the right thing that a lot of that goes away in the winter and and it's more you know there's more of a need port in the spring and summer and the fall so if we can work towards like a plan to get this up and going maybe depending on how much it would cost and if we had an organization that was willing

086to run it and all those things that we could look at then like shooting for a thing to me would be STIs I I I like the idea I'm sorry well Mr uh Patrick had his hand up what was the district's involvement in this more than just using the space in the stff yes the district we actually hired all the security um and we paid for all the security including Mr Mr Parker who was really really there every Friday night from start to to end okay the space insecurity space the funding and programing I mean the programming was done through harambe or the no it's not through the county so someone wanted to put this back on wouldn't they have to apply for the use of facilities is that like they could the proper yeah

087they could but then they would have to pay for the security and pay for you know and the building doesn't just open itself right right overtime for cleaners overtime for custodians you know security all those things that's that was our input in that first the first iteration of this so we gave an inine donation yes and then it was the county that paid for the progect it because that were talking may I talk to the mayor about two weeks ago had a phone conversation with May Noble two weeks ago and I believe there was funding from the state maybe for this portions of it the yeah the gun by violence PR and so there was funding that funding is gone there was certain Fallout at the county and so that's gone and so there's a

088reason there has but I I just wanted to be clear I'm sorry no that's right um that the board I don't want the assumption that the board has no desire or support for program or that the superintendent has no desire of support the program because we don't have conversations about updating it all the time um and I think to Mr Fitzpatrick's Point anybody who has an idea to bring something like that back could do it without the school district and just ask for building use so that's not out of the real possibility that's a really good point really good point well I don't see Mr no Mr Spicer well I don't see anything wrong with combining two ideas that M Jordan said and also what Mr Ryder said of us leaning into as much as

089we can even a little bit of this program leaning into it as much as we can and then also what Miss Jordan was saying was I I don't think there's anything wrong letting Mr Wilson know because he he obviously H has come to speak for a number a number of community constituents communicating with them directly to say these are our efforts this is what this is what we're trying to do I think I think that would um alleviate him coming to a Bo me say nobody's telling me anything you know just just to just to um communicate with him in some way to say we're trying this may see but he knows what M Jordan was saying that we really do care about this program it's it's just a challenge right now have we looked

090at Grants for this I have't I'm running the school district I know but do do we have someone we don't have a grab wrer maybe it's time to consider that because some districts get $38 billion in Grants I mean I worked in one and that money is found money the we grants work are very different than they used to but I any other any other questions or comments just to what Mr lamb just brought up that's why I'm suggesting any community group could do that and ask um and in their Grant see if it's feasible for the school district to uh support it in kind or you know other ways it doesn't have to that program doesn't have to start with the school district it's really the beauty of it was that it was a

091community okay I think we can move on to the um Board of Education committee reports beginning with policy we have a lot of policy work to do are we ready for all right um the policy committee met on Friday September 16th um we had a lot of policies for review and they were provided for the board ahead of time and we did not get any thing back and um but we proceeded to discuss them all and um first we reviewed programs for students with disabilities number four through two one which is I we we tabled that because we're waiting for more information um because we did not have some of our committees present and we wanted to make sure that we had um our curriculum people have in put into it before we voted on

092it then we went on to Title Nine sexual discrimination for students and we went through that policy it had been reviewed by our attorneys and I am going to put that forward for acceptance tonight that's policy 0102 I move that we accept that any uh discussion all in favor of passing Title 9 sexual discrimination policy one 0102 any opposed so that policy is passed yes and I have a resolution related to that policy now it resolved that the revised Title 9 regulations that went in went into effect on August 1st 2024 which are the subject of a July 2nd 2024 injunction in the matter of moms for Liberty young Americas foundation and female athletes unite shall not be implemented pending further order of the Kansas District Court index number 5 24- cv- 0441 which is

093um I guess the federal index number in the following three schools Miller JFK and King school so I'm offering that so we are compliant with the current so you put a motion I move that yeah any discussion all in favor of accepting that resolution I I any oppose one nay okay that resolution does pass so moving on we have um number 9215 non-aligned employees I'm moving that for acceptance tonight second um discussion this I think oversight the language on non align yeah oh okay we can get to discussion so we have a motion we have a second so discussion um what in bement it um it has a list of who um the types of family members that that covers um and I think I I've seen in other places um the addition of step

094children step parents count as IND ual count as immediate family members and I think if we put that in there it would just cover I have no objection that's not in any of our other colletive bargaining I but I think that it's presumed that it's just no there's a statement in most on the other Collective artist say the superintendent has the right to expand this list at the request of a of a of an employee so I guess you could put this or you put that in if you wanted to this doesn't have that line This doesn't no this doesn't have either of those line so it could be amended to say that the superintendent I would rather be consistent consist that's what the that's what the other concept are you comfortable with that well

095I'm comfortable that you would extend that to whoever years I I think it would just be better to put that in just to cover um what this doesn't cover because it it covers um like living wind um that sort of thing I think that's the type of family member that most people just I guess the only concern is that we want to have it um consistent um is there a situation in which you would not I think Anthony's saying that he's fine with that but he think because he knows that I would do it right right and I that's what I'm hearing so I'm just wonder five years from now or tomorrow um what you're saying is you'd rather have it consistent all I mean that's I think it's the contracts are settled so it's

096not unless they want to reopen the contract tried to change the language but we just tried to be consistent so years now we right but in terms of reading this in terms of Step family it says at the end of that statement the last sentence their grandparents and grandchildren of the unit member or spouse and signicant other residing in the house yeah which wouldn't that's why I'm asking doesn't that include it live in the household though oh say grandparents and grandchildren of the unit M it goes through all the last the last end of all the people that are included it says of the unit M ore children the child be a step that's but you [Music] can there's a semic and then it says of thee and sign so it's not hiding in the

097household I thought there if you want to add stepchild fine I have no issue with that yeah no but it it's um it could be significant in an individuals case I do understand um the need for consistency and I wonder if we make this change to include stepchildren that we make those others even though they're settled contracts um we can't do no I just won't all right so we'll do it next time they they already have that other statement I me they may want to upate that language but that's conversation I can have with you but since this hasn't been negotiated and this is the negotiation so why don't I have no problem with adding stat so do you want to make a motion to do that we are in the middle of a discussion

098a discussion yeah we have a motion in a second and a discussion he can amend can am right an amendment to Mo so I moved to amend this policy to and that children and St parents account is immedate family thank you I'll second by motion any discussion on that motion we're voting on the so we're Mo voting on the amended policy no vo the amendment be that having been in that situation it was not refused by the superintendent back then and I think I think the contract should agreed consistently um I I very firmly believe consistency is a necessity so if we're not going to go back and change the others I will vote no and I'm in the same position because I let take a vote okay so we're we're voting on The amend

099the amend Amendment you are voting on whether or not to add the amendment that Mr fit Patrick is proposed right St children and St can I we go to discussion yet can I discuss and then move to contract we can't contract no it's settled already so it's moved well I know so we have a we have two motions and two seconds on the table right now so we need to vote on something so the what we need to vote on right this second is whether or not we are going to add the amendment to the PO policy that Mr Fitzpatrick just brought forth are we still in discussion J had something I just wanted to say that like under some of these labor laws that they have they remember so for instance it's under different

100sub chapter but it's from the division of labor standards and it says for purposes of subdivision labor code immediate family member meanse domes partner cohab child great grandparent oh great grandparent um brother sister half brother half sister steping brother LA s law Uncle it's covered so that's like that's just like labor labor I'm not saying that we just like accept all that but one more because we have it in quote immediate family name where do we quote it where we pull that from well no we're defining immediate family by that's but we are defining right when it's in quotes it's defining immediate all right so can we vote on the amendment on whether or not to add the amendment stepchildren and step children and step parents all in she hasn't said anything can all in

101favor and those opposed two opposed now we have to call I'll call the question of the policy which we already have a motion second as amine policy as amended so do we have a we have a motion we have a second it's number 9215 so all in favor of accepting the policy as amended any opposed oppos to oppos okay now going back to our list number 0105 diversity equity and inclusion I offer that for any discussion all in favor of policy 0105 any opposed diversity Equity inclusion policy passes next number 15 Community use school facilities and ground you're moving I moving that second adoption any discussion all in favor of uh accepting policy 1500 community school facilities and grounds any oppose that policy passes the next up for adoption is number 1 155 advertising in

102the schools I move that we adopt that um any discussion all in favor of advertising schools any opposed 1505 passes I move number 1510 operation of Motor Vehicles on District property aded do have a second second any discussion that went from like two sentences to yeah actually because a lot has changed it was important that we question I I just I don't understand the um rale of why where this is one I there so that's the last thing I want is like let's say a parent has an expired instruction sticker and now we're just saying come on to our school grounds okay like I'm not really it's about for us it was about cars that are left or someone who is operating recklessly in our in our parking lots so someone's operating recklessly during parent

103pickup um other than us saying we don't we don't give permission for them to give tickets in there they won't be so other than us saying don't do that anymore which works sometimes doesn't work sometimes um was it was the recommendation of our attorney and leaving leaving cars Oh leaving cars is a bigger issue I don't think anybody's ever expired inspection and there's nothing to prohibit the police from doing that a tractor trailer atw sat there for um there's not enough parking of GW as it is I mean lengthwise along the parking taking up about 10 spes any other concern all in favor of 1510 operation of Motor Vehicles on District property I any oppose so 1510 also pass and um 0102 title ual discrimination so um we did we've offered many first readings HIV

104related illnesses I will note that there were many changes since the law was written long long ago um and if you would look carefully at board operational goals and self- evaluation and send any comments or concerns you have to meet before our next policy meeting I greatly appreciate that um and that's really all I have to say any other concerns you have of any of those policies of course feel free to send them but before please do it by the Monday before our policy meeting which will be November 1st so the last week in um last Monday in October if you could get those comments policy 1100 inform program just we reference parents and I feel like in a lot of our other policies we yes we just haven't gone over it yet there may

105also be a rogue sh somewhere thank you okay so we will be meeting on November 1st and um thank you so much for your careful considerations thank you Mrs Jordan audit and finance Mr Ryder sure so we met on September 24th um we reviewed the June 2024 claims auditor and Trey reports Ved to accept these uh we were given an extra classroom update U Mr Fel and Mr boday are meeting with the schools for the annual training um they're going to begin with the middle schools uh and they will provide the committee more information external Auditors update um I mean he came and presented here tonight um but they're also to us of the October meeting skip that we had some business um Miss coron has asked about the latest ranking of economically disadvantaged demographic

106by school as it uh has shifted significantly Dr patalino and Miss Carbone will provide the committee with updated numbers that new business Mr Denny asked about the accounts in MNT and question the uh rates that we were receiving um Miss Rosado Kowski reported that um the 1.25% we get MNT doesn't hold our high yield accounts which are more around 5% and M Carbone explain the breakdown of the bank accounts um tax accounts are being moved to Chase Bank this year we also talked about tax elements and challenges in the reserve many businesses Mr person said that um many CH businesses challenge their tax payments annually Mr Denny asked about the budget for Deets and whether the project went over budget Dr pedalino is going to get back um after talking to the city um but

107I know the we had talked about the district had tapped the amount that we were going to spend Mr dny also asked about the sum of money allocated for SRO and safety in general for the districts um Dr patalino said he will put the numbers together for the next committee meeting I talked about the timing of the budget and Dr patalino said that the president president had also spoke about having the the budget moved up a little bit uh and then we went over some fund balance Reserve thank you questions or comments for Mr rder [Laughter] that brings us to facilities committee oh I'm sorry uh the facilities committee met on September 26th um the minutes were approved from June um we started with a discussion of the meeting date we had a major conflict

108so we are now have a schedule for the fourth Tuesday of the month um and Miss Siri will generate a calendar um most of the meeting was about project updates we pretty much all know about the stadium the stadium opened for public use on September 14th we played football there on the 20th teams are using the stadium for practices and contests there are still there's still a punch list for some issues in the stands and Fields the locker rooms and bathrooms under the stadium um should be completed in November um there are some security issues that still need to be addressed regarding lighting camera signage um and the practice field will probably be available next fall for once it's seated and the grass is good um the energy performance and smart schools projects are coming

109to a close they should end in October the final projects include the intrusion system at Mahar and outside cameras at KHS um and there there are punch list items in most schools the uh Capital project phase one bids for phase one will be released in October those bids will be awarded in the new year and work to begin in the summer of 2025 phase two plants are at s we um permits are expected in the new year and bids will go out this summer phase change just include the phase 2 um Bailey kitchen is moving to July of 2027 and phase five Chambers has moved to phase three um it'll begin sooner due to the geothermal project the um ksq shared some ideas for GW and chamers um designs Architects are working with the principles

110and the focus groups in the schools to develop plans for updating spaces while respecting the architecture of the schools they're very impressed with our two GW and Chambers um upgrades include restrooms Auditorium gyms parking and flow of traffic ventilation uh attention is will be given to the science of color creating soft lines and textured curvature isn't that nice they had some nice slides so uh the geothermal Chambers the approval from nerta for track one in the amount of $265,000 that covers soft costs track two funding for construction costs is are expected to be approved this fall playgrounds all of our Elementary School Playgrounds have been used since the opening of school that was good news we have a new contractor pen pet pettinelli and Associates um they will complete the installation at Miller and address

111the punch list items that the other contract kind of left undone and if I just interrupt just a quick update B is done oh great so and I'm I'm sorry Miller is done B should be done this week yeah and we had we had two Elementary principles at the meeting and both reported that the kids are loving the playgrounds so that's good news um the Athletic Field Master Plan District administrators coaches and athletic Community will work with Consultants to review suggestions for multiple Fields throughout the district and surfaces at existing Fields primarily at Miller and Crosby a detailed report will be shared in the October meeting um the committee decided that we will not do Building Inspections as we did not do last year Dr pelina will advise principles to report new building concerns to

112his cabinet and then we may have an inspection followup the repair reserve and the budget will be used to address issues outside of the capital project we adjourned at 4:20 and our next meeting is October 22nd any questions um two questions well three questions you're talking about the plch list and the prac no it's at the stadium yes it's going to be grass it's behind the visitor viewing Vie bleaches okay I just haven't been that okay it's down below Hill where Hill was right okay so two other questions about facilities because they're hot tiet items um someone was talking about the functionality of the restro from what from what was said tonight yeah yeah I was kind of curious about that too we have we we have had a couple problems with bathrooms of Kingston

113High School I think it's two different sets of them actually one of them we fixed today um it was broken because someone flushed a vape down the toilet and plog the the drain so um yes there there have been a couple issues I I haven't had reports of sinks not working we did have some Plumbing issues with with toilet stuff and question yeah that that's been a long ongoing saga um and it really is between our construction and our buildings and grounds people that was installed improperly the proper you know and and we don't just order something on Amazon I mean you know to get them we've been promised the pce I mean we've had a similar conversation about playgrounds we've been promised the diving boards we've been promised the installation and it keeps getting

114pushed back and pushed back and pushed back um I'll be on it first thing tomorrow morning see why we're waiting around or how many vendors did we actually check on um but yeah I'll be with with Mr M Dyan tomorrow about it he's probably watching right now probably call me on my way home two things um first of all the also water fountains are not turned back on at the high school since go back since 2020 water fountains there this is when I'm being called on and told and what I told open house and the the water fountains only the water bottle stations work the bubblers which is great except for there aren't enough in that building I'll have to look at that I I've never heard that all right well and that was brought

115by teachers all right so I'm a believer that that's issue the other one is um I I'm not in favor of us giving up walking doing the inspections because some of us that's the only time we go through the buildings and number two it gives the custodian also a chance to tell us stuff that's not necessarily being translated to us and I think it's a very important our buildings are in so much better shape than when I walk around other buildings in this County and I think part of it is board members walk through not during school day and look and make recommendations of wait a minute they're saying this is no good and it's not you know there were issues with lighting around the outside of um Meyer at one point and where the

116kids had to come out for fire drill it dropped off I I think that we really need to be going through buildings and and that's my feeling we're responsible financially for making sure our buildings are safe and have everything that they need and I don't think by not walking through them I think it's a major mistake availability to do it but I also think it get the S time to Showcase um like back to school night um I don't so I would yeah I would maybe I don't know if it can reconsidered but I I was excited about doing it when I first came on as a board member that was like what we talked about like hope I can make few of those that would be great well we certainly can revisit and I'm

117not opposed to revisiting it with the the two principles that were at the meeting um acknowledge the fact that it's a lot of work for them and they are already um identifying the issues and there was a process for notifying the maintenance department and and so forth and most of what we're doing through the capital project are are on those lists from last year but I I'm not opposed to bring that back and seeing maybe we can modify it um and uh and make just streamline a little bit so that it's not so overwhelming for principles they have lots of important work to do not that that's not important but it's just an extra an extra task also also like I'm sorry I to keep going all about it butay is the public like when

118people are saying we're not infested I think being being there and seeing whether or not there's anything wrong I think it's just an important I don't need to be I just I just maybe consider yes I I see Mark I want to go back to the diving board if this is if your comment is about this my C is just okay why don't you finish didn't we only ever visit the schools once a year yes in school I don't think that that's a a huge um um pressure on on on principles to receive us once a year and for the years that that I've been doing it first of all principls love to show off their buildings and the custodians love the opportunity to point out every nook and cranny of something they would like

119the board to pay attention to and it was also um I I agree with M Rich darl it was also a lot of fun to get into the buildings and and then when the report is being given by facilities for all of us to say yeah I I was there I saw that and and and boy those principles and custodians love to point out even cracks in the pavement can we can we p attention to that or or or a faulty drain or something and it's only once a year every building only gets it once a year as a former principal that what the showcasing the building is one thing the paperwork you have to do to prepare for it is another well they have to do an entire building inventory in writing and submit

120it to the superintendent that's a that's a task but isn't that part of their job I I would hope that that's they would be doing that as part of our building I mean they're they're responsible for that building they're doing that they're doing that so if there's a leaky faucet in one of the bathrooms they're doing a work order to get that repaired immediately they're not waiting for a board walkth through to to be able to identify that then needs to be repaired well but four years in a row I walked through Georgia Washington and saw a door on a bathroom that if you opened it you took your hand off all right in the The Faculty bathroom because the sink is right there and if you open the door I did I I I

121hurt my finger doing it and I get it CU someone said ah you got it too so there are things that are not being recorded that that custodians say look I've had this on my list for 5 years custodians have foot as the electronic way to put it through to our maintenance people if they have something if they're doing that not doing that and telling you that they did that there's a problem there that's a that's an issue but there this is all operational right these operational things we're not part of operations then it's correct so I think going there to micromanage anything is notar the plan you're right it wasn't to micromanage and and then also correct me from wrong but the list that the principles and was created were their ideas of the

122most important things just not not everything it was just their ideas of the things they really want us to uh uh to look at and and and fund but they have to do a 10 page thing in the in the meantime I don't know I don't know we can bring to we'll bring it back to the committee and be open to whatever I just have one comment on that there's nothing that stopped individual board members from arranging to walk through building oh we can do that with Dr arranging ahead we can walk through a build we can super superintendent's notice and knowledge at any time am I wrong I mean I would call and say i' call and check with the princi see what's gooda match up but you could so if people you don't

123need my permission you just need to inform me that's that's misconception I know that was a misconception do that my concern I really appreciate the fact I've been on many building tours and I've always enjoyed them but my concern is if the principles themselves are saying that it's burden they have so much on their plates right now I think that perhaps there will be a different way of informing the board about those specific buildings I just would hate to give them something that they to be relieved of I'm concerned about that so I just um I I think it should be discussed again at facilities and perhaps there's different feedback that the principls could provide that would allow people to feel like they're attached to that but I you know I I appreciate your comment

124that we're not really in charge of that operation and that's why we have the facilities coming you know what I I really do want to lean this there are 180 school days 183 what school days and the board is asking them to receive us on one of those days and to the to the whole Community they really do see this as our footprint as something that we I don't know that we should be doing that we that we should be as their representatives getting our eyes on this and like I said it's only it's only one day a year well I I appreciate the concern and I think we should bring it back to facilities because they're the people who hand and we will I make sure that not I mean I understand principles just

125in terms of like everyone's kind of stakeholder involvement whether or not that not I don't want to do it I mean it's not it's extra work um but um okay we need to go back to and I want to start with the preference that my mom always said so on the diving board my understanding is that when we redid the pool the height of the water was too close right correct is there Reasoner and the gutter system won't work it's the gutter well you know how never mind so we have two needs left right and is there any hope that I I'll find out I'll find out tomorrow that's right there senior night and another me I believe there's two meets all right any other questions for facilities that brings us to the consent agenda

126are there any items on the consent agenda that trustees would like to have pulled hearing none if I could have a motion to accept the consent agenda in its entirety any discussion all in favor of the consent agenda any oppos so our consent agenda passes we do have donations the Board of Education of the Kingston City School District hereby accepts with grateful appreciation the following generous donations to Edson Elementary School from the Edson PTO the donation of a refrigerator valued at $216 to Ernest C Meer Elementary School from the Meer PTA a donation of 6 thank you this is cor um that brings us to Old business any old business I don't know whether I'm old business or new bus but I think I'm old buiness um all of you received a copy of the

127draft of the board uh handbook first of all I want to thank M fitgerald Mr lamb and Mr sper for their hard work please read it I have had one person provide feedback but I would welcome feedback please go through it and send any suggestions so that we can then finalize this did you send me ibrary it is inary that Poli is sort of that we poliy at it's a very detailed handbook Orient I think that I've lost my mind so did we announce the winner of the educ friend of Education formally because last time I didn't know if she was notified I I don't think she has been notified I think that we should publicly announce that uh St Stacy crimper has um been nominated for appointed nominated for an award for an award

128through the ster bosies orer County school board thank you and um we were so delighted to be able to recognize her many many contributions over many many years and so I'm thrilled for her I think she's very thrilled as well name award distinguished friends of education and that recognition dinner is November I'm going to say 21st I it's yeah we confirm and we will have to uh um Reserve anybody that any board member that would like to attend can so yeah any if you let me know if you want to attend that I'll give you where's the location the venue up 10 got and if you could just check the date we're working on that I will send something out tomorrow letting you know the date and then you let me know if you it

129was always done May May or June and we it was moved to November really because superintendence felt that the end of the year was just such a busy time so um we'll see if it's a better or not it was tough one the last week of May or second week June so much going on yeah okay other old business Mr lamb and then Mr Spicer I attended three the open houses um and I I will tell you that first of all they were the most Pleasant evenings at KHS Miller and cross were the ones I attended people were just you know introducing themselves and things and really there were no complaints and I got to tell you the principles were fabulous um you know getting us set up getting us where we needed to be

130whatever um and we're very supportive so I think that's a good move I think we should continue that in the future thank you Mr Spicer it's just my fa um uh if you could just let us know again when the next facilities meeting is um October 22nd okay Conference October 22nd then that's wrong then it's the 24 because it's oh no it's a Tuesday it's a Tuesday isn't the conference at the end of the week oh October 20th 21st 22nd 28 and 23d Tuesday well the fourth Tuesday is what we decided on but we did we did acknowledge that there may be some conflicts with the fourth Tuesday and we might have to go to the the the one before that but so I'm send out a calendar and we're just gonna but if that

131is a conflict then maybe we should go to the the this I'll look at it I'll with you okay well we haven't gotten there yet olding very okay I thanks to stepen who mentored me through that process Ates and brought me to the we met everyone it was it first time school on thep is amazing just like I'm interrup it was it was impressive well that was a very nice thing to say and and we did have a good time at graves gra sorry that's okay we're still in Old business um I no no done oh so the um I wanted to talk about the um board member uh student board member um I think uh I could make I could have made a really good argument to why we should do that or why

132we should not do that but since the state we have to do that asking us to do that um I think I would rather have us decide the best way that that would work for us in this board in this district and then rather than having just be checking a box that the the state wants um so I'm not sure well it seems like this conversation include the whole board so I don't know if this is something we should either put under near future agenda or what everyone best Mr Ryder my understanding is that the state's at least putting out some broad guidance on this at some point in the very near future and I don't want it to be a check the box either but like this is something that I believe still has

133to go to the voters ites have to go TOs position but they are putting guidance out on it and I spoke to um Brian some or other at newbook and they were hoping to get something out originally by October Now by November not that that will Define what we do but I think it will help inform our discussion so maybe we could put it as a a member on agenda in November once we have that I think that's what we decided when you brought it up the first time that we would definitely put it on the agenda um but we were going to wait for the guidance from the state just so that we have um a place to start so we will do that as soon as that we get that information I just

134want to clarify I didn't think that the person had to be elected I thought we had to put adding we used to now we don't yeah they could be elected by their the if that's what we agree to yeah thank you all right any other old business new business I have what I think is new business or board member announcement I'll treat it as your business um so I've for a long time been a proponent of a weapons detection device um I hesitate to say what I'm about to say just based on the tone of some of the public comment tonight but um coming into this meeting and really since I came back from the conference last fall um where they did a demo of evolve and I would encourage you all who are attending

135the conference to to look at that system um because again it's not a metal detector and it it doesn't look like the school is a prison or or other plac things that that people I know generally think um but it it's a system where you don't remove metal from your your backpacks your pockets you just walk through it isn't hidden but it it's very clear um I intend to put a resolution for next um board meeting to to implement a project similar to that so I don't want to surprise anybody um and and it isn't out of the speaking that we've had from the public in the last because I I question the tone of some of the like how you know we have to listen to what the people want um not that that's

136always a bad thing but like it's not coming out of the public speakers but I I intend to put forward a resolution because something I've always supported and I think when I was in the Safety Committee I was patient and and I think it's time you know having a 15-year-old an 11year old and and where we're at with Society I think it's time can you just give the name of that evolve o l v yeah without the and what is it as opposed to a metal detect weapons detection devices because they use x-ray again it's not removing metal from your pockets um many school districts have them you will walk through them when you go to the conference um they're also in baseball stadiums they're they're in many other places um that you go to

137in your daily lives I was out in Detroit and went to the Seahawks Detroit game last week I walked through one um they're very easy to get through you do have a staff member to Dr Pino's Point who has to look at a monitor and if something um that looks like a weapon so this would have even it goes beyond metal because it would have looked at plastic and and other things that look like a gun um you will get flagged for secondary um R checklist I have I also I have I have literature and a video on this that I can attach and send it to everybody we also include I don't know what your your resolution is going to say but could we also include the cost of of not just the ball

138but what you're proposing for security yes I'll give you a right very preliminary estimate of what I think would I don't want to tie that to that resolution right but but yes because I don't want to tie the additionality that we're looking at that resolution I I will just say that for evolve um they're about $3,000 per month gate they they're leased um anywhere between 2500 and 3,000 my guess is we would need at least six or so and they're movable they are movable so if you wanted to move them to the Fieldhouse for for a big basketball game you could move them for that evening Mr not to put you on the spot but concept is is a Nexus between the security committee the facilities committee auditing finance and policy how would you suggest

139we begin the conversation in facilities in policy in uh in secure in school safety where where would you think we should begin the conversation yeah so I think the resolution putting forth um I haven't drafted it but it it'll basically direct that that a policy gets written so it we'll have to go to the policy committee if it passes right it will have to come to finance an audit when like assuming the resolution passes the administration would then operation wise be in charge of an RFP or something else that would come to finance an audit finance an audit would have to find a place for it in the budet and then it would go to facilities and then it could go to facilities although these are at least movable it's possible that it it would

140be it might not be it would be safety probably and policy yeah and policy it touches everything but I think you need the information that's yeah we need the information we need to start somewhere I don't want to start with the policy and policy committee no that doesn't make sense without any information you can't write a policy so what um what occurs to me and I appreciate what you're offering is that um I hope that we can be looking at the whole idea of this and this is I mean you're recommend are you recommending this no I'm not but I'm recommending not metal detectors but a weapon detection system system and so then so then we would have to get information about as many as we could so we could compare and that would have

141to come under facilities I would imagine or budget or I mean we would or you know there are certain one of these that are under State contracts and other things that we wouldn't have to go through an entire procurement process okay I I use the name of the one that is most common in in schools okay you're proposing it only for the high school um I would prefer to start as a pilot at the high school but I think the high school and the two middle schools need to be Mr L I've had this concern for a long time I plan on seconding it I went to the conference two years ago and went through their stuff that they offered and I'm a firm believer that at this point with what's going on in in

142the world we need to take responsibility and it's a weapons detection system which isn't going to be fullprof in any way I'm sure but if we're taking every opportunity we can to keep our students and staff safe then I can feel I'm going to bed at night and think that we're doing our job and if kids don't feel sa they don't they're not going to learn and and I think Yonder PES was part of that they brought the kids to feeling safer they're not being beaten down by stuff on the on on Facebook they're not being and I I I think but most the parents and students that spoke to me at open houses help save her you know so and I think this is another step I think you should also look at bosies

143to see if there's a coaster um for this equipment um which might help a great deal in the expens because we lease computers through bosies so that would just be my feeling I would just encourage us to make sure that we are with our you know population I know you're proposing under a different premise right I would like to be sure that we do consider the thoughts so that we don't have to go back and make a timeline to help explain how much we communicated although I sincerely appreciate that I I think it was very helpful FOC more than eight people just I mean I want to get us kind ofing sure'll be support well we haven't seen the resolution yet so once once we I didn't intend to have a full discussion tonight I

144just don't want to surprise anybody and we appreciate that can I clarify one statement that I made like so I am not discouraging any parents from coming here and speaking it's when make comments or comments I've seen on social media that if you don't follow what we say you should resign that is what I am opposed to because that is not what any of us were brought here for it's a litness test for one decision so that's why I said I was hesitant to bring this forward tonight after some of the public comments but I I don't want to discourage I encourage parents to come out and share um their feelings on this and many other things but just when the tone comes to like basically this is a l test you design if you

145don't feel this way that's not me were gotta thank you any other just one quick thing for me sure believe it uh tomorrow night 6:30 Stadium Midfield be there um if you can we're we going to be kind of doing our official takeover of deep Stadium um we have a foot and a football game will start at 7:10 so they'll be the band is going to play they're going to do their performance at halftime I believe there's uh the May will be there I'll be there we're going to have some students speak or we' invited all the captains from all the other all the sports to be there out there with us um just going to be fun then there'll be a football game and what time do it begin cuz I had football gam

1466 6:30 we're going to do the ceremony and then the game will start at between 7 within 15 minutes then I just doubt that that's gon to happen see you over there all right that brings us to um our second public comment not sure we have Mrs bers being because I think it was a disc thank you yeah I think a lot of things might have been clarified that that were yeah we'll consider that for future meetings maybe just a message of it will be addressed in the in the could could be could be yeah some things can't be yeah we let them know we're also I was to say how many people are watching us on YouTube hope a lot that brings for once I agree with Mr Kimo it brings and we have

147board member announcements that we haven't gotten to yet so I just want to bring awareness to the board and the public about lawsuit um the New York State Attorney General is one of many State Attorney General who do Tik Tock um based on the safety that it provides to our children and there's a lot of good information in that lawsuit I would encourage people to find it and read it that talks about the the mental health impacts of all social media on youth um my 15-year-old and 11y olds don't have any form of social media and I think that if you look at the research Dr padalino presented some of it um related to the pouches but I I think if you look at it you would understand that it it really is harmful and

148and not beneficial and and so we'll see where the lawsuit goes um and that's just one of the social media Outlet to yeah I agree thank you any other announcements I do have one and I'll make it really quick really quick the wellness committee met this week and there was a lot of discussion that I won't go get into but our food service department got a lot of really positive recognition for the quality of the food for the nutritional assets you know the the Farm to Market um priorities it was really good and I think um thank you to everyone that supports them us and to that food service department in that light I do have one thing I'm thinking about I just want to thank all the people who are responsible for the rapid

149response team because they have worked overtime um in this District alone and I know that it's hard for the people responding as well as the people they're responding to and I just want to thank all the people in the district for their support of their community and the people in it and I thank Dr patalino for being the reader that he is because it's always top of my any other announcements and so we are at that big moment if we could have a motion to a all in favor right like just one more