001Heat. put it into. But it wasn't showing up on you Testing testing. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I think I'm getting >> testing. >> Yeah. I didn't move it back down here >> cuz it was it was like really high level. But it's okay. I just backed up the game. testing. Testing I like it. >> Check. One, two. Check. One, two. Check. One, two. What's the game on? Check. One, two. Check. One, two. Check one, two. Check one, two. Uh, yeah. Is this static? Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I'm Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
002Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I'm Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. I'm Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
003Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Are we ready? Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, >> good evening everyone. I would like to welcome you to the January 21st budget planning session of the Levittown Board of Education. May I have a motion to convene the meeting? Jimmy, may I have a second? Phyllis, all in favor? We're five, >> right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Uh, may I have a motion to move to the executive session with the purpose of discussing negotiations with the CSEA? Maryanne, do I have a second? Mike, all in favor? Five against? None. We will return at 7:30 and we will say the pledge of allegiance when we return to the planning session. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat.
004Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Back Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Okay, welcome back. Uh, we're going to reconvene the planning session. Uh, good evening. I'd like to welcome you to the January 21st budget planning session of the Levittown Board of Education. May I have a motion to reconvene the meeting? Mike. Second, Maryanne. All in favor? What do we got? Five members. Five members. Four.
005Four members voting. Yes. >> Now, if everybody would join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, at this time we'll have a uh moment of silence to remember all those serving our country at home and overseas. >> Okay. Um um Peggy Morangi, Christina Lang, and Jen Msina have been excused for this evening's meeting. And now I'm going to turn the meeting over to Mr. Winch. >> Thank you, Vice President Moran. Uh so tonight we have some recognitions that we're very excited to to conduct. So uh at this time I am going to first turn it over to uh Dr. Zerianis, our deputy superintendent, who's
006going to uh lead us with the National Board Certification Honores at this point. Yep. And as she prepares herself for this beautiful, beautiful ceremony, I would like to ask the board of education to please take their spaces in front of the deis. Well, now I feel like I have to come I have to like sing or do something like particularly special. Allison Sers, can you come up and please help me? I I don't know. I don't know. Um I don't know. I wish I had a talent um that I could at least um utilize right now. But um I will get us started tonight. I am honored to recognize three exceptional educators who achieved National Board Certification this past December. One of the most rigorous and respected professional accomplishments in education. National Board Certification is
007not simply an application or a test. It is an intensive, reflective, multi-year process that requires educators to submit extensive written analysis, detailed lesson artifacts, and video recordings of their classroom instruction. Teachers must demonstrate a deep understanding of their content area, explain the instructional decisions that they make, analyze student work in meaningful ways, and show clear evidence of student growth. Every component is evaluated against national standards and the process demands an extraordinary level of time, precision, and this is definitely the biggest part, professional vulnerability. I'm sure those teachers who have gone through this know just how vulnerable this process really is. It is widely regarded as one of the most challenging credentials a teacher can earn. What makes this accomplishment even more remarkable is that these teachers we're honoring tonight chose to take on this challenge
008not at the beginning of their careers, but after many years in the classroom. Melanie Murphy, English teacher at Division Avenue High School, brings more than 22 years of teaching experience. Melissa Thompson, social studies teacher at Wisdom Lane Middle School, more than 26. And Carrie Schaefer, social studies teacher at MacArthur, 22. These are seasoned professionals who could have comfortably relied on their experience alone. Instead, they chose to push themselves, reflect deeply on their practice, and hold their work up to the highest national standards because they clearly believe that there is room to always grow. Melissa, Melanie, and Carrie now join a growing and inspiring group of National Board certified teachers in our district. They follow in the footsteps of Allison Sers, a music teacher at Division Avenue High School with more than 21 years of experience,
009who earned her certification last year, as well as Carol Going and Kathy Hour, our district's original pioneers. They were our first national board certified teachers many years ago with more than 26 and 32 years of experience, respectively. Carol and Kathy have not only earned this distinction themselves, but they have also been instrumental in building and sustaining our national board cohort. When you add these numbers together, you are looking at more than 149 collective years of teaching experience. All represented by educators who still chose to commit to one of the most demanding professional pro processes in education. That speaks volumes about who they are as educators and about the culture that we are striving to build in Levittown. I would like to thank our board of education and our superintendent for their continued support of this
010important work as well as Levittown United teachers President John Cawfield, our teacher center director Nara Densen, and of course our principles and directors for their partnership and commitment to professional growth. This achievement does not happen in isolation and your support makes this level of professional learning possible. We are incredibly proud of all these educators. Their work elevates their classrooms, their schools, and our entire district. Most importantly, their students benefit every day from teachers who never stop learning. Congratulations, Melissa, Melanie, and Carrie on this outstanding achievement. You got your congratulations. Okay. So, we're gonna take a photo um so um just a couple things. We take a photo uh with with everybody that's associated with uh the National Board Certification. So, you can come on the front. Um just as a comment, um you know, Dr.
011Z and I were talking about this really is an amazing achievement uh for all of you, past and present. Um, and our certificate is a a little bit like, you know, you come all the way here, you do all that work, and then it's like a piece of paper. That's that's what I got. It's kind of it's nice, but like >> giving everyone a week. >> So, yeah. No, no, but I came up with a great idea for something really nice. Uh, and I told Dr. C, she's like, "That's wonderful." Uh, but that was an hour ago. And so, um, we are going Not helpful. She told me multiple times not helpful in a little more colorful language. But um I am we are going to get you something. So we'll be coming to your
012buildings which I'm sure you're probably like, "No, it's okay. Just send us in the mail uh to deliver them to you personally uh once they arrive." So uh how about a big round of applause? And now we take a photo. You have to get in the photo. Your HR, you have to get in the photo. You have to take the photo. You have to get in the photo. All right, one more round. Okay. Uh, we have another recognition. So, at that this time, I'm going to ask for Mr. John from Wisdom Lane Middle School to come on up and help us out. Uh, good evening and thank you. Tonight, I have a great honor of um speaking about a staff member who did something heroic. On December 19th, 2025, one of our five-star students at
013Wisdom Lane Middle School begins choking on a Bosco stick in our cafeteria while she was eating. Now, as an average food service eater each day in the cafeteria, our Basco sticks are some of the finest in the land. >> And they are excellent. I can understand why. >> Yes. So, um, on that particular day, this five-star student began choking on the Bosco stick. Miss Valerie Shapiro quickly responded and performed the Heimlick maneuver successfully, dislodging the food and allowing the student to breathe normally again. Her calm, decisive action helped ensure a safe outcome for the students, and both the staff and the students family were deeply thankful for her quick decision and immediate response. Thank you, Valerie, for your heroic action. Come on up. McCarthy. Just goes to show uh that when when parents send us
014their kids every day, um there's a lot more than that we do than just, you know, teaching reading and math and science and all all the other wonderful things that we literally do um live and breathe for our kids. So, uh that's just another wonderful example. So, again, one more round of applause for for that. That's incredible. Yeah, >> I think I'm still up. Let me see here. Right, I'm done. Oh, I want to do I have the thing for Randy. That's right. to the next um the next portion of our uh of our meeting. I did have one more recognition for someone who's not here. So, um I would like to uh recognize our assistant district clerk and superintendent secretary, Miss Randy D. Ambrosio. Uh after spending 20 years serving the Levittown School District,
015she will be retiring at the end of this month. Now, while she works closely with me each day, um, and I know many of you say, "Wow, that must be wonderful." Uh, but I can assure you it isn't always wonderful to work with me. Um, she always, uh, also provides important support to Miss Espazito and the entire board of education. You may remember a few years ago, she further supported the board by stepping in to fill the role of district clerk during a period where that position was vacant. uh her professionalism, her dedication and her strong sense of responsibility have supported the work of district leadership and contributed meaningfully uh to the effective daily functioning of the Levittown school districts through various roles that she has held whether it's in the computer department or the
016department of curriculum instruction during her 20-year tenure. Uh the time, effort, and commitment she dedicated to our community has helped advance our mission of success for every student. So, on behalf of the board of education and myself, I'd like to extend our best wishes to her as she begins a well-earned and fulfilling retirement. And while she is not here with us this evening, um I did prepare a certificate on behalf of the board of education, I felt this was particularly appropriate as she is the person who prepares all of these thousands of certificates that we hand out to everybody. Uh so I'll be giving that to her tomorrow. Um so just once again, just congratulations. Her last day for any board members that want to stop by to see her is January 30th. So again,
017uh, congratulations to Miss Admio and thank you for all your years of help and support. Okay, moving on to some discussion items. The bus electrification plan. I'm going to hold off until Miss Reeves does her transportation presentation only because we kind of have a slide in there for that. So, let's let's hold off on that. I am going to mention to the board just two other um questions to discuss. They're not approvals or anything, but as you may remember, uh, earlier this school year, we did adopt a fee schedule for the use of facilities for groups that do not kind of fit within our typically approved group. So, for instance, um, our own school employees and children use our schools without fee. um the um PTAs, the any any organization that has 85% of Levittown
018students in it um typically gets board approved and then uses the field or or buildings without fee unless it's being used when the building is not normally open and we incur a fee ourselves. But this year we did adopt a fee schedule to um also then charge organizations that either are using it outside of normal hours or are groups that you know aren't fall into that category. And so um for instance the neat theater studio that uses this building the auditorium we are now charging for use as opposed to in the past when we did not. Nassau Boseis does use our auditorium for several graduation ceremonies for their schools not GCTE but other schools that we are charging a fee to them just because really our the taxpayers shouldn't be you know incurring use usage
019of our buildings without some type of restitution of that use because all use does wear on the facilities. Anyway, um we have two groups that I wanted to bring to your attention to just get an idea as a direction from the board. Um the first one is a group known as the Levittown Panthers. They are an organization uh that has requested to use our baseball fields. Uh they currently um do not have 85% Levittown resident students that are residents. It's about 60%. I did mention to them that the board typically doesn't approve that, but if it did, then the board would have to then charge them the fees as outlined in our fee schedule. The organization did say they were fine with that. And if I could bring it up to the board, they did
020say they were fine with that and that they would Levittown Panthers. They are like a kind of a travel baseball, you know, league, I guess you'd say. >> Yeah. Tribal baseball team. >> team. >> Splinter group. The question is are you is that something that because I would have to put it on the next agenda for the board to approve the group because it's a new group and uh but before we do that is the board interested in doing that we don't we once again this is new for us and so is it something that you are interested in considering or or no don't bother >> Levittown residents are Levittown school district residents or >> because if you look at St. Burners program which my kids played I coached in Netley that's Levittown Island trees
021and I don't believe that's 80%. And there are some used to be some men's basketball leagues that uh came in the same thing. It wasn't uh it wasn't Levittown uh not 1756 specific Levittown school district specific. There are there there are Levittown kids who are on this team like what's the percentage like >> that's 60%. >> Oh 60%. >> Yes. >> But is below the our typical is 85%. >> Are you saying we charge for? >> No. >> We do nothing for them. We we do nothing to make them pay. >> Correct. >> Right. But that's been >> I think groups historically that have been part of the Levittown Island Trees Youth Council have not been charged by this district for anything regardless of like the percentage like if they're part of that larger organization
022that facilitates the use >> even our summer rec program. >> Correct. >> The same way. >> Yes. Because it's part of Lovetown Island youth. >> Marian. >> Oh no. Yeah, just just my opinion is that if it benefits students in our district and it's something that we do for other groups, then we should allow them to use the facilities at no charge >> as long as it's consistent with what we do with other people. >> Well, that's the issue is that they're at 60%. So, the what we we would usually do is not approve them, >> but that was before we had this schedule where we could charge them. Right. >> Right. But then, so are we going to start charging like anything that's associated with like the Levittown Island Trees youth organizations that may
023not be 80% Levittown school district specific? Is that what we're saying? Or >> we could I mean we don't, but we could. Well, according to the policy, you would have to >> you or correct or change the policy by saying >> it's 80%, we will review down to I'm not saying 20%, maybe 60, you know, >> put a a a number that's might be acceptable if we review it, if we have options available to use it, you know, put some criteria in it, not just willy-nilly. So, are you saying like give like a like if it's let's just say say there's a well like for instance like the the the one with the neat program is different because they're not not forprofit right they're a for-profit organization so that's a little bit different we charge
024them because of that even though I do believe the vast majority are Levitton residents >> um for this kind of organization they are a nonprofit >> and um but like I said they fall into that 60% on our fee schedule that we adopted it does indicate that groups that are not 85% will be charged. >> But are they are the other thing is are we even going to have a feel for them during baseball season all our fields utilize all of them. >> Correct. >> So I don't even know if you'll have a feel for these kids. >> Well, I mean couldn't we do something like you know based on obviously it's based on availability. So, it would be maybe they wouldn't be able to have first pick. Like maybe because they're not 80%, they're
02560%. But I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable charging for a youth organization where our students are benefiting from that type of um sport. >> So, you want to you want to give them the permit with the 60%. You don't >> kind of. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't know. >> Can we change the percent? >> I wouldn't I wouldn't lower the 80%. I would put it with some kind of uh >> wording like Mike said before. >> You know, the board will review, >> right? And especially if it's nonprofit, then if if they have to start paying for facility usage, then they're going to have to start raising those prices for these kids to play. And it's right. So, I feel like it's I don't know. I I know that we don't want
026to set a precedent where we like go against I think that there's a way that we can accommodate our not for-profit youth organizations and also maintain that policy where for-profit organizations or anything that has less than 80% um that is for profofit needs to be charged. So would the board feel comfortable giving the superintendent the direction to um bring it up, you know, for a vote for the next meeting, a final vote, but with the wording like Mike said to, you know, uh the numbers are reviewable by the board, you know, so if they do fall below the policy that says 80%, it would be up to the board. We'll review it and if they can pay the money, you know, I hate to charge them also, but that's, you know, the policy says that.
027Uh I wouldn't put the the review if you have 12 kids in your baseball team and only one's from Levittown. We have to I think there should be some kind of cut off whatever we deem reasonable you know >> some sort of a number some some some baseline number%. >> Yeah I mean you could you could put something in it that says that like a little asterct it's like you know the board will you know consider um a reduced reduced fee schedule for or nonprofit organizations >> um you know that fall under 85%. >> Could do something like that. >> Okay. That way it doesn't it only affects nonprofits, doesn't affect >> forprofits, and it still has some threshold. I do agree with Mike that I do think you need to have >> some number
028because then if you have a nonprofit that is from another school district >> um using the facilities, then you can't really discriminate and say, >> and if possible, can we look into other school districts that actually have a policy similar to this? And what do they base their uh exemption upon? You know, you just don't want to say, "Well, I don't like that guy. I like her better, him better." You know, it can't go like that. Has to be some kind of established criteria that you have to meet. >> Well, you know the history behind the numbers. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh that was cryptic. Um the uh >> we were checking rosters and I remember sitting there checking rosters. You and me, we my brother, we were all out there. >> This
029side of the room doesn't know what you're talking about. >> Maybe I don't know. Do we want to know? Do we not want to know the >> Oh, well Mike and I just talking about >> Oh, the numbers. This policy came into effect because back in the day, because I'm here a long time and so is Mike, but back in the day, we had organizations coming in using our fields and uh it was not Levittown kids. They were bringing in >> Letown adults. >> Yeah. Not Levittown adults. It was um softball leagues and basketball leagues. >> Um so when it came time for our own kids to play in the fields, there was nowhere for them to play. So we had to come up with a policy and we came up with that number of
03080% Levittown residents and the district athletic director it was under his jurisdiction that he had to you know check the rosters of all these leagues and they do check them >> and uh since we instituted that we've been pretty good about it. >> Yeah. >> So we're saying that if you you are a nonprofit and you're under the 80% threshold we will review it. at the board's discretion. >> At the board's discretion, right? >> Right. But you can't be below 60% or something, >> right? That sounds great to me. >> I think Yeah, I think the majority still need to be Levittown kids. >> Yeah. I think I think the 60 sounds because that is majority then. >> So, yeah, I think if you fall below the 80, but above 60% >> it can be
031reviewed. question. >> So, one thing that used to go back in the day, uh, guys would stack the rosters where a baseball team normally has about 12 on a travel team. They would put 26 people on the team that and 14 of them lived in Levittown and they never showed up. Um, that that's an issue. So, you'd really have to say for a baseball team, the maximum should be maybe 15. And that's that's a lot for a travel team cuz kids aren't going to be playing, you know, for a football team, 25 or 30. It's not like a 46 45 46 man squad in the NFL. Um, basketball team, you know what? St. Vernos is usually nine or 10 kids on the team. >> Yeah, it was 10. >> No, I mean, I coached for
032many, many years. We used to have 12. 12. >> Full team. 12. >> I The boys usually were 10. You know, I could go with 12. Yeah, >> go with 12. >> Anyway, that's it. >> I have another one for you, though. >> Wow, >> that was an easy one. >> All right. >> The other one is that as you probably know, civil service uses our buildings quite regularly to offer tests and exams. uh they use many classrooms and um the question is does the board want to continue to allow them to use the facilities free of charge because of the fact that if the tests are local it's a benefit to the community because they have access to you know taking tests right around the block as opposed to having to go to another
033place to take them or does the board feel that it should charge still a service now that would then either mean that civil service would pay or more likely they would go elsewhere. Um so now they use many rooms and so there are fees per room. So >> you know I don't know you didn't calculate out what it would be but you know >> if it's let's say $100 a classroom and they use 20 classrooms you know >> that place is packed on a Saturday morning. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Well, civil service are people who are taking the test to get a job. >> Yeah. >> It really is benefiting the people in the community. >> But then again, like like you was Todd was saying, it's not just Levittown. People coming in. It's people
034from all over >> Nassau, SuffK, you know. >> Are there other locations that charge them? >> I don't know. I could I could find out. >> Yeah, we can. I mean, I don't even know of any other buildings they used to do tests. >> I don't off the top of my head. >> They've been here forever. >> Especially off the top of your head. Yeah. >> That's where you took tests. >> Yeah. >> Where do you live, Miss Espazito? >> I'm just teasing. >> Where it does? >> Okay. >> Oh, yeah. >> That makes sense, right? That's a Nassau County facility to give the Nasso County test. What was that? >> I took one in. >> You did school >> high school >> 2009. >> It was uh at Hickville. I could I could re
035if the board would like what I could do is reach out to let's say Hicksville >> and because I do know their superintendent. I think you know some people there too, >> Mr. I do. >> And um the uh I could reach out to them to see if they charge and then let them bring that back to the board at the next meeting. Does that sound good? And >> you want me to ask the county if they have uh if they use other places? >> Sure. >> All right. >> You can maybe ask them if anybody charges it. >> Yeah. We're looking at how much they're charging. >> Yeah. >> County how much they charge. >> Okay. >> Because if uh we've been giving this for 10 years and they >> whatever >> and they've
036been paying other schools, we'll send them a bill. >> If they're getting charged at other places and we're the only free place, then we should charge them. But if they're free all over, you know, then it really is we're hurting out residents by making somebody go someplace else. But if they're paying in other places, then they'll, you know, >> great. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Very good. >> I know, right? I figured I, you know, those are some good ones that came up. Uh, okay. Budget presentations. Um, so tonight is our first full-fledged budget meeting. Um, so Mr. Fabiano is going to spend some time going over a budget presentation, an overview, and then uh Miss Reeves is here to uh provide us with an overview of transportation. Now, just to set the stage
037a little bit because a little bit different. So, the board had provided some feedback last year after the budget process that you know the the way we'd been doing budgets and budget presentations had remained very similar for many many years now and that maybe it was time to kind of start fresh and do it a little bit differently. So, uh, these presentations have a very different look than the ones did in the past. Uh, there's a little bit of consolidation in certain areas with more of just an emphasis on looking at numbers and the areas where budgets are up. Um, and those conversations instead of, you know, the points of pride, per se, a little bit less on that because we do a lot of presentations during the year like even like as an example,
038great example, Mr. Camarad is here. uh he does a wonderful facilities update in September about all the great things we've done. Um and then you know for him then come again and have to build another presentation with a lot of the same information is not good use of his time or the board's time. Um and so we're kind of going to change that and fold his presentation into with Dr. Z's because a lot of the facilities work for next year that we're focusing on is instructionally related. So just to make it more efficient. Uh so I'm just going to turn this over to Mr. Fabiano. Uh thank you, Superintendent Winch. Yes. So um we we u we start each um um budget session with uh the parameters in which we have to work in under.
039So we are developing a budget. Uh we're attempting to maintain all our uh district programs. Uh this this uh first draft also enhances uh some of the programs and we will go through the process to see which ones can remain in the budget. Uh obviously we're trying to uh safeguard our district assets by uh by investing in our buildings uh and uh we are constantly trying to support a safe and healthy learning environment. Um and this all has to be done while remaining within the tax levy limit. Um that is a given. So um as we as we move through this is a uh this is somewhat of a consolidation our timeline for the budget where this was I think about three or four pages in the past uh we've reduced it to to a
040single timeline. So uh uh while this is our first presentation we have been well underway for for several months. Tonight we're starting with this overview uh and it's going to be followed immediately by a u presentation uh by Miss Reeves on our transportation operations. So some of the transportation numbers I have in here uh I will I will display them uh uh but Miss Reeves will go into uh a little bit further detail so we don't uh duplicate that. Um we are uh that we have two meetings in February. Uh the first one's going to be dedicated to curriculum and instruction and facilities. The February 25th meeting will be an interesting meeting because we are going to then talk about the other side of the budget which is really the revenue budget, our state aid,
041the use of reserves and fund balances. Um and uh as we move into March and and begin to wrap this up, uh we have the special education in in March and uh as well as staffing by Miss Gadis uh towards the end of the month. So we wrap that up at the end of of March with the budget adoption which is both the capital uh budget adoption as well as the operating budget adoption and then the uh the the vote dates are also listed on there. Um what's interesting is that um we are developing this budget uh right at about the time uh New York State audit will be released. Uh as I mentioned at the previous meeting, uh they contacted us back in uh April of 2024. Uh we are coming up on two
042years of the initial contact. We feel that there's not much left to do. So the report will be released and we're anticipating some of the areas where um the discussion will will lead them and we're trying to address some of that in in this budget. that will take place at the February 25th meeting uh when we talk more in depth about the um uh the five-year plan for both capital as well as the use of reserves. So, um we're going to look at we're going to look at really a top-down approach tonight and I and I'm sorry if it's difficult to read here. I I will read that out. Uh but that red arrow does indicate what the uh property tax um inflation factor will be and that has been set at 2%. Uh the
043rate of inflation was measured uh for this year for the period July to July 1 to June 30th at 2.63%. What I find interesting about that is that uh for for most of us, inflation is running a lot higher than that. And especially in a school district where we're not just food and energy, uh we have other uh contractual obligations that we have to meet. And as we see uh in on the overview, we've got a lot of areas that are far exceeding the rate of inflation. Yet, we have to absorb it because our tax levy limit will be constrained by that 2% um uh growth rate. So as we move there uh we look at this is kind of the first indication of where our this first round of the budget is at u
044our budget to budget which is just a measure of the uh last year's adopted budget to what's currently being proposed at this moment in time. Again the first draft uh it's an increase of 15.9 million or 5.81%. Um, again, that's like twice the rate of inflation that we just talked about. And so, uh, one of the first questions should be, well, why? Uh, and see, these are some of the primary budget drivers. These are not all of the budget drivers, but we list these here tonight because they're not associated with any one department. They're not associated necessarily with increases um in in staffing or any other area of the budget, but these are mandated cost. So, uh while contracted transportation is a big part of that of that particular operation, our transportation expenses are for
045the most part uh mandated by our transportation limits. And so, we're constrained by that. So you can see um uh our biggest uh line item in the budget which is which is the health insurance line is growing by a little over $4 million or or close to 11%. So again this is something that's got to be absorbed within that within that 16 million. Um the retirement system contributions uh as well as special education related services. Again, these are mandated increases where we have I I don't want to say any control, but little control uh over those cost increases. >> One thing I'm just going to mention before you go on, Mr. Fabiano is I was at my recent quad meeting with the other school districts around us and as you know we're you know most
046districts do not have their own transportation department like we do and they were talking about the fact that their contracted uh vendors were already talking about yet again another 25 to 30% increase in their transportation costs. So, um, while this, you know, is is a sizable increase of 17%. That's really low because we don't contract out for the majority of our of our transportation services. If we did, we would be incurring yet again another tremendous increase because we talked about that transportation is part of Mr. Fabiano's favorite 3030 club, right? >> Yes. which is 30% increases in transportation, 30% increases in health care, and 30% increases in special education costs over the last couple of years. Um, this is a little bit less than that, but for other districts, they are still dealing with around
04730% increases again in transportation costs. >> Mr. Fabiano, >> yes. I'd just like to say that while we are having these tremendous increases in contracted transportation, we are addressing the situation uh contractually uh because we're we're actually we need to need to hire more of our own drivers and not contract out. If you look, there's $8 million going out the window to pay for people's that owns these companies that we had to pay the entire transportation cost of our contracts during CO even though they didn't transport one person. Uh that was the law. You have to pay them. Um honestly, they I think they've been ripping us off. We do a better job inhouse. We continue. We've always has. We will continue. We need to hire more drivers and we're addressing that situation right now.
048I'd like to see this contracted bus number get down to zero. Although it's not impossible. It might be impossible, but if we can just even knock off three to4 million in the next year or two each year that'll be a huge benefit for our district, our students, uh our employees and our budget and taxpayers. >> Thanks, Mr. Pavis. I just want to make comment on that. So, like Mr. Pab has mentioned we are currently with on you know negotiating a new contract with CSEA. One of our areas of focus has been on on this issue and I know you as well as the rest of the board have been very passionate about making sure that uh we address this issue because if for anybody that attends these meetings you know that we talk about what
049we're doing to hire more bus drivers. We've done uh the signs in front of the schools. Uh Mrs. Riiffken when she was here did a radio advertisement for bus drivers. Um we've the board has added signing bonuses and referral bonuses and um we really you know have done a lot of work is recently the board authorized the the renovation of the parking lot over at transportation new lighting more security fences that that Mr. Camada's department was was excellent at at having done very quickly. Um the board is very committed to um really, you know, kind of fixing the issue in regards to um not being able to hire more bus drivers. And I agree with you. I said Miss Reeves runs a phenomenal transportation department. Um we have the largest, as you'll see in the
050presentation, as you know, uh largest school district fleet in the county. It's very, very challenging to run a transportation fleet. Uh, I think we do it very well and I think that our parents always want to have um a Levittown driver as opposed to a contracted driver and we definitely will look to do that once hopefully we'll have that contract in place by the end of this school year and then it will take us a little bit of time. Uh but the goal is to like you said draw down that contracted transportation line and basically transfer it um with some savings into our district um you know our staff codes for bus drivers. So don't laugh at this question here but uh sometimes I ask stupid questions. Uh, are we allowed to use our services?
051Just supposing that we got this up to we have no more contracted routes and we have five extra bus drivers. If another local district needed bus service, can we actually contract to them and chart some of this ridiculous rates? >> We can. >> Let's get into business here. There you go. >> Yeah. I I mean that that happens to a small extent nowadays, right? But not not to that extent where we'd be like almost like a contractor ourselves. But yeah, that >> we could um I mean Miss Reeves told me personally she'd love to start running routes in other districts. >> But listen, >> 24 hours a day, too. >> Routing of other districts. She's like, "Yeah, bring it on." Um no, but I agree with you. It's It's not a silly joke. It's it
052is that if we you know get to that point where because again it's it's almost like running a program where we bring in tuition students right yes >> that it is a is a savings to our community. Uh but yes I guess that's a nice that's a lofty goal but yeah >> I won't be around for that. So >> you can visit us. We'll name the routes after you. >> Gee thanks. >> Thanks >> Mr. Fabiano. I apologize. You make you make >> No. Continue. Uh okay. So um moving on uh so uh we will be uh we will be having a discussion on the tax levy limit. Mo most of that information now has become available Friday. We got our tax base growth factor. Uh we got uh we got preliminary indications on our
053building aid numbers. So all of that um is coming together but that'll that'll be discussed at at a future meeting. Um I'm happy to report that um uh the state aid runs, the governor's state aid runs have been published. They have been released. Um and um our our our preliminary review uh is that um we are we are in good shape in terms of uh any package that we might have hoped for. Okay. So that the the num the numbers look pretty good. Our foundation aid uh is up by um it's about 8.6%. Uh at this point, again, that's just the governor's uh initial uh run. It still has to be negotiated by uh the legislature. Uh but we're we're in a good spot there. The other thing that that I would mention, um you
054know, some of the uh expenses that we've been incurring and we've seen the contract transportation line go up. Um uh but transportation is an expense-based aid. It's not a foundation aid. So our aid is based on the previous year's expenditures. Because those numbers have been increasing, we're now getting more transportation aid. So this year we got about a million5 in transportation aid in the governor's run. So things are looking good, you know, in terms of that. While we don't like to see these 17% increases, at least there is some offset and we don't have to only go to the tax levy to try to offset those things. So, uh again, preliminarily, um the numbers the numbers look pretty good. Uh another area that I would mention, we've made significant investments uh um Dr. Zerianis as
055as well as Michelle Kelly in updating all our digital license. Uh we've gone through Boseies now. Uh we've done it through multiple years. Uh and we just have to be, you know, the timing of which uh but we're going to be receiving another $800,000 in Bosey's aid this year because of the investments that we've made in those programs. So uh you know what we'll be trying to do is to reinvest that money and have the aid then generate u additional aid. But again, we not going to we'll wait till the curriculum instruction presentation and we'll talk about more about uh what that's going for. Um the Bosey's aid is reimburseable aid because we built something >> for the for the money that we spent in the prior year through Boseis. So a lot of that
056goes a lot of that has been traditionally has been in the area of special education. Uh but Boseies has gotten into a lot of other business operations and and we're now able to purchase a lot of our textbooks well not physical textbooks digital license of textbooks through Boseies. uh and that and that's worked really well uh because one we get a discount for multi-year and we and second uh then we get the Boseis aid on that. So again trying to reinvest that money uh back into programs. So um again we'll talk more about the state aid package but preliminarily I I think it's uh I think it we're in a good place with that. Uh the other >> wait M the transportation aid is also based on money that we spent >> in in in
057the prior year. So yes, while we've been absorbing these increases in the in the budget, the transportation aid has been going up, but now we're it's really starting to catch up. >> We're just losing less money. Yes. Correct. >> So the best thing is to take these routes back, >> pay our own people, and not have to worry about getting 30 cents back on a dollar. >> A nice signing bonus if you sign up for a drive. >> Yes, M. Oh, that would be amazing. I'm in the signing bonus that he helped put in place. He got right by being a driver. >> I will be in retirement mode on July 1st forever. >> But I think the other piece though just to mention is the board's always been very interested in um prioritizing the
058community. And so if we can hire more local drivers and pay them instead of contractors then that >> yeah that yes that that um kind of meets that goal of the board of reinvesting back in the community which is why we use a love town list for civil service right it's about yes >> reinvesting in the community that invests in us and so that's another way of doing that >> uh and then finally uh you know uh one of the other um things that we we will need to discuss is is to make a decision decision on if there will be other propositions on the ballot. Uh right now at this point we'll probably be recommending uh an authorization to expend from the capital reserve. Uh it's that the last capital reserve that we established
059uh in an up to amount of 30 million is not full. Uh and you may ask why authorize the expenditure uh before you fill it up. Uh and one of the reasons is uh you know the initial allocation the initial hundred plus million dollars that we had from the capital reserves uh we've obligated much of that money and as you remember we're down to about 20 million with an obligation uh to to expend about 14 million on on athletic field. So uh we would like to replenish uh replenish the pot. So uh we'll be we'll be we'll be looking into that how much we can appropriate and how much we can set that up for. Uh that will be a decision and a and a and a recommendation uh to have that uh on on
060this upcoming ballot. Um so uh there's there's really no more uh but we're going to drill down a little bit on transportation in a minute. Uh our next update will be in uh in two weeks. U >> you just want to mention about their binders. >> Uh yes. >> Just about what's in their binders and what what's so what's what's contained in your binders is this presentation. There's a an appropriation status report which is uh uh inclusive of every line in the budget. It compares last year's budget, adopted budget to this year's proposed budget, the dollar variance as well as the um uh percentage variance. So if you go to the last page, page 17, uh and you look in the far right hand lower corner, you'll see that 5.81% that $15.9 million increase. And
061that ties back to um the summary sheet. So if there are no additional questions on the overview um >> yeah I'm just going to mention it's not a question. I'm just going to mention because some people do watch or listen at home uh that while you know sometimes people may feel like it's a it's a large budget but yet there's only this conversation taking place. The board does review the whole budget. Um there are conversations that take place about the entire budget. what the presentations are done really is to um provide an opportunity to provide additional information beyond just the budget numbers to the board so that the board can you know have the right information to make the decisions that need to be made about the the final budget in the end. So um
062while not every line is presented on the screen, every line is gone over by the board as well as central administration. So >> not to mention the emailed questions that Okay, I guess we can move on if everybody's good for right now. But looks like Mr. Papis has he hand on the on the mic. >> Hand on the buzzer. >> Yeah, it's like Jeopardy or >> Yes. Yeah. >> Olaf on. >> So, listen. What I'd like to do is thank you for putting the the negative numbers in red. There's 35 pages. That adds up to about uh I don't know >> million >> 50 how many thousand? How many lines? 500 some lines. I think we're up to about 700. >> Okay. >> So, it's easy to just scan through the page like this and
063see the red sticking out >> and that's that's good. Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Do you want to now have uh move on to the transportation? So, Mr. Reeves, would you like to come on up? Good evening everybody. Happy new year to those. We're here to talk about all things yellow, all things wheels, all things bus. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Yeah, we touched on a couple of topics and we'll expound on them as we um go further in tonight's presentation. of course answering any inquiries um or questions in regarding the information that we display today. Um once again uh good evening to the board of education uh central administration staff or all of the residents and community members andor staff that are here tonight with us at uh today's board meeting. So,
064we want to start off with, of course, our purpose statement, which we um rave about the uh dedication and commitment of the transportation staff uh down in the transportation department and how we are committed to um currently address the challenges that are presented in today's society and today's climate with uh the driver shortage and still provide phenomenal service uh for the Levittown community. So this slide here is um as it depicts transportation data and we have four charts that's listed here. In the upper leftand corner is a piraphph showing the um employees in the transportation department of course including myself drivers attendance and um our newly appointed assistant supervisor of transportation. Um, yes, everything would be lovely if we could add about 30% to that driver's side and about 20% to that attendance side. Um,
065>> what do you think we had at our top in regards to drivers before co >> um we had about 67 drivers and about 35 attendants. >> Wow. >> Okay. >> But a lot of those employees were already retired. So those were second careers for them. So when the pandemic hit and it there were so many restrictions and requirements, people felt like it just wasn't and immune comp uh compromise and things of that nature. It just wasn't worth it for them. and they put their family first and they were just like, "Yeah, I think it's time for me to uh bow bow out of the transportation because now, as you talked about contracts and and getting drivers and discussing negotiations and things of that nature, the previous employees, once again, they were already retired, already
066receiving pensions and things of that nature. Now, a transportation, school bus career is a livelihood. So people need to pay their mortgages and need to put kids through college and all of those things where the previous employees they were already retired and already you know did not have those extra expenditures as we do currently today. So uh yes it's definitely always a strive and an effort to try to replenish the losses that we incurred during uh the co the pandemic time. The chart on the upper right hand side uh on the uh the line graph there or the the bar graph there shows the amount of students that are transported daily. The blue indicates the transportation that Levertown provides and the red is the contracted transportation. So once again it's always the efforts that Levittown
067buses drive Levertown students. So it is always the major will always be the majority instead of um you know contracted transportation. So on the bottom of that it shows uh the actual numbers right of being of the students being transported uh by both district and contracted. on the chart on the bottom left is our total current fleet um which is the number of buses that we currently have and then the graph itself is the purchase history that the district purchase buses. So, of course, um we're going to further uh discuss about what our future looks like as far as the purchasing of vehicles um with the mandates and the requirements of the government uh to pursue transportation um and how that looks for school districts. And then the chart on the bottom right hand are
068all of the bus routes. The bus routes that we currently service contract uh currently service and what we anticipate which is we always anticipate a little bit more than what we are currently servicing. Um but of course it's like unknown unknown about new residents moving in the district. Unknown about uh services that certain kids will need or be provided. uh displaced students. Of course, that is a unknown situation. So, we have different um situations and circumstance where you definitely just can't plan for. >> Yes. >> Before you move on to the the next page, um I got on the pie chart the uh staff. >> Mhm. >> You you have two dispatches, assistant supervisor. Let me ask you like in the afternoon um we have late runs you know uh sports and late uh school
069runs what's the hours of the dispatchers the assistant supervisor yourself what's what's the hours you work >> so it's staggered so that we have coverage throughout the day so one employee will open up the the dispatch office at six o'clock in the and work until 3:00 in the afternoon. Typically, that person who works at 3:00 in the afternoon, if we need assistance with dropping off or we need assistance with um route coverage for the ele for the elementary schools based upon absenteeism, they typically stay on and work the extra hours. Then we have the second person comes in between 7:30 and 4:30. And third person is between um anywhere between 8 and 5 or 8:30 and 5:30 really based upon uh athletics and late buses that we do for the year. So the office com
070is completely done with in the dispatch office at 5:30 >> but I'm always there. So, I know you Rapunzel, >> my my my concern or question is that if uh there's a late run, like you know, you got a late wrestling match, basketball, they get over at 8:00 or even later sometimes, there's nobody in the transportation office. So, if something happens, they have to call you at home. Is that what happens? >> Well, yes. on their all of my staff on their time sheets. My telephone number is on there, the assistant supervisor's telephone number is on there, the dispatcher's telephone numbers on there, security's telephone number is on there. So, yes, they will of course reach out to their supervisor first because that's who they have direct contact with. And then if there is a
071breakdown where we need to contact a tow truck or we need uh someone security, there's um someone on the grounds that's not supposed to be there or whatever have you, we'll definitely call to make sure that the driver and or whoever's riding on the bus gets the assistance that they need. So before I move off the pie chart, do you think it would benefit us to have, let's say, if we hired another dispatcher, third dispatcher, and made their hours from 12:00 in the afternoon to 8:00 at night, would that benefit us having somebody in that office till 8:00 at night for the late runs? >> Um, I don't think so because the phone calls when after 5:30, they get automatically dispatched to security. So security too will call me. >> Okay. So someone always has
072access to the office if need be, meaning like a live person to talk to. And I find it um that it's comforting either for the private and parochial/charter schools um because they call me at 5:00 and 5:30 when the district said this is not that's not a Levtown student. I know, but you have the numbers to the bus companies. Can you help us out? because we are there and typically trans uh districts that do not have their own active fleet, they're gone by 4:00. So, you know, if there is a student that left a phone on the bus or the student never made it home, they really can't contact anybody. So, I think like we're kind of like the latest one still operating with the hours that we have, but there's always someone that they
073can reach though. >> Okay. And then moving on to the next pie chart, the the fleet. 49 buses, large buses, 30 small buses. Out of those 49 large buses, how many buses do you use on a daily basis? >> Well, in total, >> you probably have that later on in your presentation, right? >> No, but I have it now. I have it now. I I I came prepared here. Where is my chart? Okay. >> Why were you tipped off? I was going to ask this. No, I it look it's it's always going to be a general question and I get it because you want to know based upon the vehicles that you have what the usage is on the vehicles, especially if you're going to proceed in trying to replenish your fleet, right? You're like,
074well, why do we need all of these buses if we only have x amount of employees? So, I know that's like a general common question amongst anyone that want to know. So out of those 79 vehicles, we have currently 56 vehicles of those are roadw worthy, meaning that they're used. So 41 drivers use those vehicles every single day. That's their assigned vehicle assigned to their route that they use every single day. Outside of that, we have about I want to say a little bit over 20 vehicles that are spares that just in case if there's a breakdown, just in case if there's issues where they cannot utilize their currently assigned bus, there's another bus for them to be used. And then you have to account for anywhere between 10 to 15 buses being out of
075service for repairs, maintenance, DOT inspections, and things of that nature. So that is a synopsis of what our current fleet depicts the usage the spares and the repair and the maintenance and the DOT inspections >> how many of these um buses can we get rid of uh without you know reserve fleet without hurting our reserve fleet because in 2035 every gasoline bus turns to junk. You can't sell them, can't move them. They're not supposed to be on the road. >> Well, you could still sell them >> because there are people that still going to use them. So, we've even had people during our auctions that are out of state, out of country that have purchased our buses and have flew them. But >> I think the state thing is it's federal. Isn't that correct? Now,
076uh 2035, >> I don't I don't think so. I think it's I think it's only New York State, >> right? Governor Hokll is the one who mandated about the electric buses. >> All right. I was otherwise you have to buy a bus. >> It still could be where we could still make some type of revenue or some type of money back based upon the current fleet that we have. Um, but you have to really evaluate, how can I say it? like you have this fleet of of fueled buses and based upon the mandate and things of that nature, how you could do it moving forward, you could still use them, right? Like we could still use them. You just can't moving forward purchase them. So you they'll still be of use to Levittown public schools.
077>> Okay? >> The goal is to try to make the the fleet moving forward electrified. It can't tell you that you must access the current vehicles that you have, >> but they can't be on the road by 2035. 2027 is the last purchase you can make of a gas, >> right? Purchase >> and 2035 is they're off the road, >> right? So purchase like you you're they can't make you sell. They trying what they're trying to do is convince you to take the buses that you have and give them trade them for electrical buses, >> right? They want to dead head the bus by putting the bolt in it so you can't ever use it, but they're not saying that you cannot use your buses moving forward. They can't make you access all of your
078vehicles. >> All right. Um, I did also see and I I spoke to Mr. winch. Uh the $275,000 for the um additional bus purchases. And at first I thought it was going to be for two gas buses or one uh electric bus, but now it's for a motor coach. >> Yes. >> Um can you just explain? Uh >> can we just hold off on that until we get to the beautiful >> We have a slide for you. >> I added photos. It's not in the presentation I sent you. >> Okay. >> But after we spoke, I said, "You know what? >> Probably better put some photos in there because I don't know the day." know what what it what I'm really talking about. So, >> okay, >> you done? >> Yep. Thank you. >> On
079the uh spare buses that you have, and this is it. This my last question. The spare buses you have um on a daily basis, does somebody go out there and make sure they're running, they're not leaking, they're >> Yes, they're evaluated. And not to mention, if a bus is um not used on a considerable amount of time, we um uh take the uh the battery off so it's not draining the battery. >> Gotcha. >> So then we don't have to consistently jump it, jumping, jumping, jumping. We just disconnect the battery. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> that's it. >> Yeah, I'm done. Anybody else questions? No. All right. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, our lovely key highlights and achievements. So, as we've said throughout, you know, this board meeting today that Levittown runs
080the largest in-house school uh district transportation system in Nassau County. Um, and just to expound a little bit about the shared services, Levittown used to do shared services with Island Trees. We we did shared services with CarPlays, whereas I would never recommend if Levittown had the flexibility to give a full bus to another district, right? Because they will never take care of your stuff the way you take care of your stuff. So, we would share it. So, wherever Levittown is going, we have no problem putting additional districts on the way as long as it it's not um an extension of the route where it's an inconvenience to the Levittown students in the community and things of that nature. It should always be a shared service where um Levittown is already or needs to service students
081to a school and other students can ride along as well. So therefore, it cuts the cost of the depre depreciation of the bus and things of that nature because you're going anyway. >> Yeah. I was just on a comment that I'm curious, Mr. Fabiano, I know unfortunately council's not here, but my I was under the the impression that school districts aren't supposed to turn profits. Isn't that correct? Like you're not supposed to really like run like even like when we talk about like lab and lamp like you know we're not really supposed to be running a profit and making money. >> I I would agree. Yes. Yeah. So, we just would have to be careful about, like you said, like adding on students to a route that exists already, I think, is is fine. If
082you're going to be I don't know that you would legally be able to start running transportation for other districts because you probably wouldn't be able to charge more than what the costs are. So, I don't know. Um, like what we did with the fuel where we put a search charge on for the other districts that use our fuel. The reason we're able to do that is because there are other costs with running the fuel depot more than just what the fuel costs. >> That is correct. >> And so we were able to do that, but theoretically it's to cover costs is not to to run. Yeah. Yes. >> But go ahead. Sorry. >> But it's still a fascinating conversation. >> Um so uh second point um of achievement is of course our DOT inspection rating.
083Um, for the year 2425, our inspection rating was 100% due to the tireless efforts, experience, and commitment to the garage staff. So, we definitely appreciate that. And the goal is always to maintain um the high percentage of between 95 and 100. um always increasing training for staff. That goes further than just bus drivers in attendance. It also goes for clerical staff and um the dispatch staff as well. Um as uh Superintendent Winch mentioned that about the renovation of the transportation parking lot and garage. It's wonderful. >> Um so it is definitely appreciated by all that are currently employed down in transportation. and then of course implementation of our upgraded routing software. So this is um just a few pictures of the upgrade that was done down in transportation. So the picture to the far left
084is actually the scanner of the vehicles when they come or enter into the transportation uh ground area. Uh the picture to your far right is actually the gate um that opens and close. So it is split in the middle. So it opens and it closes. It doesn't open like all in one. So that makes the vehicles be able to leave and come faster than if it was just to wait for one long line to go back and forth. And uh yes, my lovely picture in the middle. I apologize for the glare, but that's how bright the lights are now. >> Beautiful. We put that in there because um looks great. >> Yeah, it doesn't really do that like it looks. But you know, one of the biggest complaints from uh the drivers was that in
085coming back like Mr. Moran mentioned the very late routes that we run and it's dark. Um it was very difficult when you think about like a they're like backing these buses into spots at night like um and the lighting was very low and uh when we had gone over there to do the evaluation with Homeland Security >> uh as well as with the facilities department one of the things they said was definitely need more lighting and so by doing the whole uh refurbishment that Mr. Fabiano brought to the board very last minute last year. Um it not only looks good, but it's more secure and it's just a better environment. You know, we talk about about attracting drivers. Um it isn't just about money. If you you know, you want the facilities to reflect what
086you value, right? And so if we value the drivers and we value transportation, then the facility should look like we do. And as the board knows, for many many years that that lot flooded when it rained. It was dark at night. Uh the paving was in very, you know, very bad need of repair. Right now, we're continuing to do work at the garage in regards to the bathrooms there. Um just putting some some tender love and care uh into the area that, you know, is isn't an area that for many years was the primary focus, but um we want to attract drivers. We want them to be comfortable where they work and proud of where they work. And so uh very thankful to the board for agreeing to that uh last year. >> Yes. And
087the the actually the snow scraper has its own spot now >> to the point where it can now they could drive through and just come around and and keep it going. And it it's very more spacious now, more open. Um, but yes, I have to agree being that I too am there late, like coming out to darkness and people have their animals on the property that are not on a leash. You're walking out into a parking lot and unbeknownst to you because that open field is pitch black dark. You don't know if a dog is going to run out without it being on the leash. So, it's it's definitely safer for all. So, it's it's definitely besides the beautifification of it, you know, it's definitely safer. >> How does that scanner work? Is it does
088the driver have a badge or something they scan or is there on the on the bus? >> It scans the license plate. It does have a push pin code in case if it's not working. And the um the sport trailer, they're going to have the push pin code to get in, but it makes it a lot easier for the school buses to scan the license plate. So they could just go through as >> and if I remember correctly during the normal operating hours it's open right because we cannot back up when we have all of a sudden a dozen buses going in it would be too long for the gate to open and close but after operating hours it's closed because once again it's the ones and twos buses that are coming in from late
089routes that's you know whereas the other gates are primarily closed >> right but it also promotes safety right because you know whipping it slows the traffic down of the buses whipping out of the parking lot because it's still an active driveway. You still have pedestrians and residents walking their children to East Broadway and things of that nature. So, it does slow the traffic down to make it more safe and mindful for all. Yeah. >> So, that actually isn't drone security drones in the middle. >> All right. >> Stadium lighting. >> I feel like I'm in a stadium when I go outside. It's definitely um >> It looks fantastic. It's great. It's definitely peace of mind. >> It is. Um so our plan initiatives for 2627 of course continue recruitment of of drivers and after uh
090June hopefully effective July 1st we'll start to have an influx of uh inquiries and um employees as far as drivers coming in and attend bus attendants too because you know Levittown especially the special education uh students with IEPs that require adult supervision and things of that nature. Attendants are just as much needed as drivers. Um, you know, behavioral situations and circumstances where they need that one-on-one care. Um, so we've been hit hard with the lack of attendance as well. Um, continue focus on, of course, our DOT inspection rate. Um, additional ongoing training for staff, uh, completion of the transportation and garage enhancements. Like uh Superintendent Winch said, they're still working on the garage with the upgrades um down at that end of the transportation uh department. Uh continue planning for our transition. Do I say
091it? Zero emission buses. I'm sorry. And of course, investigate purchase of the coach style school bus, which we're going to further discuss. Um, so, um, this are this is pictures of, um, a school a coach school bus. Uh, one of the districts that currently has a couple of them, um, loan well, not really loaned us, but they were kind enough to bring their bus here for us to be able to see what it looks like um, and if it's something that would benefit Levattown public schools. So the inside of it, the picture on the far right is the seating. So it's bucket seats and seats about 44. And it also has the luggage racks above the seats. Ours would also have uh USB ports. So students would be able to utilize their phones, tablets, um
092laptops, Chromebooks, etc. when they go on um trips, meets, competitions, etc. The picture in the middle shows the luggage compartments. It's not as big as a regular Greyhound or 55 passenger coach bus, but it's definitely will house um suitcases and things of that nature for 44 individuals. And then the picture on the right hand side is just the front of of the vehicle. So, it's definitely something that it's an investment being that all of the um accolades that Levertown public school students get from competitions and meets and things of that nature. Like we just went to Rochester um just this past weekend in the snow. We go to Ocean Breeze for the track team. we go to the armory in Manhattan, you know, things of that nature that require students to get there that this
093would assist with their traveling needs as opposed for them as opposed to them purchasing a actual 55 passenger coach bus. That of course would cost more money, but not just moneywise, the inspection of the vehicles. Those vehicles are not serviced by Levittown public schools. So, we make the effort to do the inspection on their vehicles. And there have been um a handful of times where we had to turn buses away because they did not meet the criteria deemed necessary in order to be safe to travel. >> They could make it like up to wherever we were going. You said we just went >> Rochester. >> This bus would make it on the battery to Rochester. >> Well, not on a battery. >> This is not electric. This is a fuel bus. >> Yes. No, not
094not electric bus. >> Has a very long extension cord. that would not make it to Rochester without having to be charged. >> Beautiful. >> Yes. So, it it's definitely >> purchas 27, >> right? >> We can use them. >> How how much usage will we get out of this bus in each year? If you think I'm not exact number 15 to 20, 20 to 30, something like that. >> I would say at least 15 to 20. And that's just going off the fly the dome. Thinking of the Olympiads, thinking of the track team, thinking of uh the cheerlead the cheerleaders when they go to their competition out of state, they have to be driven to JFK with all their suitcases and stuff like that. They need a drop off. They use a coach bus for
095that. We can take them in our bus, you know, based upon, of course, headcounts and things of that nature. But, you know, it could definitely be something that we wouldn't have to also worry about once again making the arrangement to inspect their buses and things of that nature because our mechanics are great. We have a we have a rating of between 95 and 100%. So, we those are things that you know would take a some relief >> and just to just to go a little bit a little more in detail is that um re one of the reasons this came up as an idea and Dr. the zero can fill in any gaps that I leave out is that um aside from the the buses or the trips that we facilitate and we run >>
096um there are also times where our students are participating in small numbers uh with other students from other school districts sort of like the shared transportation that you talked about earlier >> but that either Boseies is running or section 8 is running or some other statewide organization because It's let's say a track I think it was with track where it came up where we had like three or four maybe five or six kids going and um they had to meet at another school district and section 8 had gotten the bus there were about five or six districts on several buses uh and we had to send our you know supervisor of the garage to go and inspect the bus and they didn't have to let us inspect the bus and our option would have been
097to pull our kids from that bus and tell parents they have to drive them up by themselves because we had No, no, you know, no, no way to bring them up. Um the um if we then also didn't like the bus and and our mechanic felt that it wasn't safe, I don't know. Like right now when Miss Reeves department gets the buses, um we send the mechanic either to the facility before the buses even get here or to wherever the buses go and then we send buses back. Quite rarely, right? I think people would be shocked at how often we send back buses that the companies have sent because they feel they're good and realize that these other organizations are not inspecting buses themselves. They are getting a sign off from the company saying that
098the company inspected the bus before they sent it. >> That doesn't fly here because what company is going to >> send you a bad bus and and not sign off on and say, you know, they're going to send you the bus and they're going to send you the the document and the bus is still not safe. So you're making money, >> correct? And so like we've sent buses back for for tread tread wear on tires, for seat belts, for all sorts of issues. Um >> engine lights, >> engine check engine lights on, like >> non-operable emergency exit windows, >> significant things. So it's um this would then at least also alleviate that. And as the comp the district that we spoke to that brought it over, um they did you they use this bus for
099regular routes when they need to like in district. So you could because it's yellow. >> Yes. >> Right. because they do sell it in other colors. Yes. But it has to be yellow if we wanted to use it in district. And so >> if it, you know, came about that like, you know what, we we one of our, you know, we don't we need a bus that's newer. We could use this for routes. Um, yes, that would be an extra special route for that year for that or that day for those kids. Uh, but it it it wouldn't just, I think, be used 30 times a year and and then that's it. It would be used for other, you know, purposes as they come up. I have to say one of the most unheralded things
100our district does, both you and Dana mentioned it, is the inspection of these buses. >> The horrific accidents that we've heard recently with Farmingdale. Uh these are things that we hope to avoid by making sure the treads are good, the brakes are good, things like that. Um I don't know of anyone else that does that. >> I don't know of any other district that does that. I'm going to say that like really this is a a Dr. the Zerionis thing uh where I think you've met buses at 5:00 a.m. with with the folks from transportation in the garage. Um because like when we send buses to Club Getaway, like just this is an example, and I'm not going to belabor this because it's getting late, but um you know, like the first year we had
101the fifth graders all having different dates at Club Getaway, and that's nice because you only send in two or three buses. Uh but then there were issues at Club Getaway because they wouldn't give the facility to us for the whole day unless it was our whole district in fifth grade and there were issues with another school district. And so then we're like, "All right, we'll just send all of our fifth graders the same day." Well, that sounds awesome for us. >> 11 12. >> You have to get 12 13 coach buses, which first of all is hard to do. Yes. >> Um to just get that number of coach buses. It's exorbitantly expensive because they're like three to $4,000 a day per bus. And on top of that, like now you have to inspect them,
102which takes time. And if you have to send back any of those buses, which we did, then now all of a sudden those that that you got to send that bus back to the to the company, it's got to send another bus or you're sending our mechanic at 3:00 a.m. to the facility to inspect. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes between Dr. Zerian's office and Miss Reeves and the garage that no one is aware of. But I agree with you because of the stuff that we've seen, >> we don't trust that it's being done correctly unless our mechanic does it. And so, >> uh, again, >> this makes it seem like we don't want to share with people, but like bringing this kind of bus on once again reduces our reliance on
103others, >> uh, and reduces the risk uh, we feel for our kids. >> Yes. But one thing that was left out, part of the inspection is also reviewing the abstract of the driver. >> So, we also review that too. So, if a driver has had tickets, has had accidents over a period of time, we want to know what the accident was. What was the per what was the situation? Was the car parked? Was it at a red light and somebody clipped it? Or did he drive into somebody's living room? Like, what was the situation and the circumstance that that incident um occurred? We've seen uh texting while driving. Absolutely not. Give me another driver. And so Miss Reeves will fight back and forth with the con with they don't want to they don't want to
104give another driver. That's all I have. Like >> that's not good enough. >> Yeah. And then it's like okay we can cancel the trip or what do we what do we do? So again this creates the flexibility that Mr. Reeves mentioned with having this if if you know it ends up being something that we're able to maintain in the budget. >> It's early but we figured we'd bring it up as a possibility. >> Yeah. And just to add on, um, you know, because we got to hammer this point, um, as a parent with kids that were in the district going on these trips, I absolutely appreciated the efforts that transportation and others took to inspect and make sure our kids are safe. And I think that that's probably one of the underappreciated pieces of information
105um, districtwide for parents. And that's why I personally never, you know, well, of course, I had issues sending my kids because I miss them. But, um, but safety-wise, you know, I always I was comfortable because I know you take the time and the you do your due diligence to make sure that they're safe. And so, I just wanted to say thank you. >> Well said, Marian. >> What's Well, how much more is this kind of bus cost than the regular buses? >> I would say, yeah, about $100,000 more. give or take. >> Thank you. >> So, yeah. >> All right. Before this goes down a rabbit hole like we do usually when we talk about electric buses, um you just remember I just I I put this in here because we had the presentation last
106meeting by Wendell, which is a company that does the bus electrification study. And as you may remember from the presentation that that the the the woman from the company said was that if we do the electrification study, it will make available to us additional discounts for purchasing buses and as well as charging stations uh and 75% of the cost of the study is covered uh through naerta and um I do believe that you know it's it would probably be the correct step to take at this point. Like we talked about buying one electric bus and then we decided we didn't want to do that which is fine but this you know as much as the state and people talk about extensions to the deadline and no one no one has really spoken about that this
107is not going to happen just that it's going to be maybe some waiverss but from what Mr. Fabiano has seen in regards to we are required to do a survey for the state >> and uh every year we got to say like what steps we're taking towards moving forward in this direction and one of those questions is have you yet done a bus electrification study and so in order to get the waiverss I believe right now you have to do the electrification study and so we're not looking for the current waivers that exist the current waivers that exist allow us to buy non-electric buses for two more years beyond on 2027, >> right? >> We're really looking for the waiver from 2035, which is that we can keep using the buses we have, right? >>
108Um, beyond 2035, which will probably come. They're just not doing it yet. But once again, in order to get those waiverss, you have to do this. >> And so between that and then the discount you get, I I just I think they said the cost would be about $15,000 to do the study, >> right? >> Um, after the rebates, >> 20 15 to 20. >> Yeah. So I I just think that that that we should move forward on this. Um >> I kind of agree with the study. It seems like the study is is a step because we don't want any we want to be able to get a waiver if we can. We know it's we get to all the way to the end and then they say, "Oh, we don't have enough uh
109energy and then but we didn't do the study." So if the study is going to prevent us from something, we should do the study. >> Correct. to do it every year or is it just once? >> No, just once. >> But Phyis, you are 100% correct. If if it is going to be a challenge for the district to purchase buses, whether that's structure, whether that's electric and things of that nature, you want to have something in writing to present to the state to say, "This is why we can't do it. We we had the study and this is the challenges that it presents to Levittown public schools." So, you have something in writing and just saying, "I can't I can't we can't do it. We can't do it." for another district that maybe has five
110or six or five or 10 buses, it's very very different than what Levittown uh bus situation is. So, I think it's to our advantage to do the study. >> I agree. >> Yes. >> Are you going to do the study? >> So, I just got a funny text. I don't usually read them during the meeting, but someone actually joked and said, "Is that busy road?" Yes. And I said, "No, no, no, no. >> Could be." I'm just saying. Could be. >> We love Leo Road. >> All right. So, this is uh by three budget codes of what Mr. Fabiano had >> what Mr. Fabiano had specified about transportation and where there's changes in uh certain budget codes. So you have your transportation equipment which is the cost that uh we put there for uh school
111bus and then you have of course the increase um in rates to contracted transportation. Um all of those unforeseen cost uh of course are the highest of our contracted transportation and the increase to uh Boseis transportation. So, we're talking about $275,000 in change, a million in change, and uh less than $200,000 in change. This is the proposed budget for next school year, 2026 to 2027. Our current budget numbers um and then our proposed budget numbers and the difference. So, it's about approximately a 15% or higher change, about $1.5 million difference. >> Excellent presentation. Mike, I have a question. You don't I don't need it today. Um, but can you get me the fuel price that we budgeted for last year and it's including gas and diesel and you have to if you don't have it,
112just email it to me. >> Uh, yeah. Actually, we we we uh yeah, we got the heads up. So, we put together a uh Uh >> uh a a chart there though. That was one of the emails I was uh speaking about earlier. >> Wow. You're good. >> You're good, Mike. >> The best. >> I I had help. Uh no. So um this is really just um a presentation, an accounting treatment of how we're budgeting for fuel. Our auditors have asked us um what we were doing was we were netting out uh the cost. So we weren't showing uh we weren't showing all the full cost. So what this year what they've what they've suggested what they've recommended is that we show the gross cost and then what we're getting back show that show the
113difference what we're being reimbured by the other three school districts as a revenue. So when we take the increase in the appropriations but we offset it by a revenue that never existed the 200,000. You can see we're up we're up slightly. up by about 37,000 I think it is not 237,000. So uh again it's really it's an accounting treatment of it and it was being recommended by our auditors that they would prefer to see us uh do it this way. Okay. So I just have two things to add on the same topic. Um gasoline went down about 14%. Diesel went down almost 5%. Um it's expected to repeat or slightly go above that next year with some fluctuations in between. Um, so that means we could possibly have a surplus here. >> I Yeah, I
114you know, it's it's one of those lines that you really don't want to have to transfer money, you know, into. So, uh, yeah, I mean, we could we could revisit it. It there may be, you know, a few dollars, but yeah, I I would say we're we're safe to assume that there's a little bit of surplus built in. >> And I had one more thing. Let me see if I can remember it now. Uh, a second. Let's see. You can get take another question if you have one. It'll come back to me. Uh, buses fuel fuel or something else. Anyway, if I remembered, I'll tell you later on. >> Anybody else? >> I got to start writing things down. >> Dan, I just want to let you know that that was an excellent presentation and
115I did let central office know whatever transportation asks for to give to them. I did >> I do have a text that actually says that that he sent to the rest of the board. Yep. >> Whatever train station wants. >> That's right. I did. >> True. >> I do remember the question. Um, >> I just I think I forgot it just as you said that made me laugh there. >> All right, forget about it. >> You got I started laughing at Jimmy's thing. He got me, Jim. >> And an excellent transportation meeting once a month. I'm telling you, Oh boy. >> Oh, I I apologize. My I we were getting into like really good budget conversations. No, no, we were, were we not, Miss Adrian? We were analyzing codes actually on transportation. >> Motion to
116No. Um, I'm sorry. Yes. Uh, that is it for my uh for my budget presentations. Vice President Moran, >> thank you so much, Mr. Winch, and to the business office. Thank you very much. That was a good presentation this evening on the budget. Um, at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to adjurnn in the planning session. Maryanne, a second. Mike. All in favor? 40. Meeting adjourned. Now we'll move on to our second meeting. >> Buzz more. >> Yeah, we have a second meeting. Uh, do I have a motion to convene the January 21st special meeting of Levittown Board of Education? Phyllis. Second, Maryanne. All in favor? >> 4 Z. >> There's no one sign up. >> Uh, there is no public be heard. Nobody signed up. We'll move now as a public
117special. Okay. Now, we're just going to go to the agenda. Uh, do I have a motion to accept items 3.1 on the agenda, which is the schedules? Maryanne second. Mike. All in favor? >> Any discussion? I forgot to say any discussion. >> Did that pass? >> Yeah, it's 4. >> Oh, Mrs. Mrs. Gadis >> 5 nothing. >> Yes. Thank you. So, on tonight's schedule, you will see the appointment of uh Dr. Joe Sapienza, who is here tonight in the audience. Um Dr. Sapienza was appointed as the new assistant superintendent for special education and administration. Um we are very very pleased to have him join the Levittown School District. He does come uh to us with extensive leadership experience from the Jericho School District where he currently serves as a principal and has served as a
118curriculum associate for special education. Prior to that, he has many years as a special educator on all levels, elementary, middle school, and high school. So we definitely look forward to having him join our team and for his leadership. So, thank you for coming tonight. Um, and thank your family. Your parents are here. Um, and endured that long meeting. So, congratulations and welcome. >> Welcome to Levittown. >> And we did ask him if he was related to the Sapienza bread family in Elmont, and the answer was no. We're trying to see if we can get something done for the cafeteria, but but he's still a good guy. >> All right. So, schedule. Okay. We're going to move to the consent agenda. Uh, do I have a motion to accept items 4.2 through 4.8 on the consent
119agenda? Phyllis. Second. Mike. All in favor 40. Now I need a motion to adjourn the special meeting. Maryanne. >> Second. Phyllis. All in favor? 40. Meeting adjourned. I did a good job for a