Manhasset Schools Board of Education 2-12-26

001All right, good evening everyone. Uh sorry for our our slight delay here. Um good evening, welcome, and thank you for coming. Thank thank you for everyone observing at home. We'll call to order another meeting of the Manhasset Board of Education, and we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. So, if you could please stand. I 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. All right, we'll get right into it. Um this is always one of the best parts of our meetings is our is our student recognition. So, uh I'll turn it over to Dr. Pelletteri to to help us run through that. Thank you very much, Mr. Post. Uh we have some folks here

002tonight that we're looking to honor. Our students got another a national recognition for their literary magazine, and Brennan, are you going to come up and do some introductions with teachers and students? Thank you very I think it's a couple years in a row, possibly? Done. Two years in a row, Dr. Pelletteri. Thank you. James, is there a slideshow? So, this is uh You made your own slideshow. I didn't authorize any slideshow. We I I checked with Mary Ann, Dr. Pelletteri. I see who's in charge, then. Yes, go ahead. And we James, you have it? Go ahead, Brennan. Okay, thank you very much, and thank you to the Board of Ed for honoring and recognizing the literary magazine, The Phoenix. Um as the Director of English, Reading, and Libraries, I want to commend Ms. Pelletteri Kennedy

003and Mr. Novak for their extraordinary dedication, creativity, and leadership you have shown in guiding your students to produce an award-winning literary magazine. Your commitment to fostering authentic student voice, high standards of writing, and a true spirit of collaboration is evident on every page. In the spirit of the middle school's recent theater production, C.S. Lewis reminds us that literature adds to reality. It does not simply describe it, it enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides. And in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives may become. Through your mentorship, students have done exactly this, using their words not only to reflect the world around them, but to deepen empathy, sharpen thought, and bring imagination and meaning to everyday life. You've created a space where young writers feel inspired, supported, and proud of

004their work. And the recognition this publication receives a direct reflection of your passion and guidance. Congratulations to you and your talented students on this outstanding achievement. Hello everyone, thank you for having us. We'll try to keep this as quick as we can. Uh I'm Candace Pelletteri Kennedy, and this is >> Robert Novak. And we're really happy to be here. I just wanted to take a second to kind of share some highlights of the magazine, things we've been doing lately. First of all, I want to thank our staff for such wonderful work and commitment they have to our club and to our publication. So, I really want to thank everybody here and all the other students who couldn't be here, too, that also play a part. Um we've really grown Phoenix. We do uh and we

005do a fundraiser at the holidays. We do a candy cane sale, and because the students requested we donate half the money. This year we donated half the money to the Shelter Rock Food Bank, and we split it with the Jane Goodall Society. Um so, that's really a fun thing that we like to do. Um Um every year we sponsor a contest in memory of Carrie Sit, a student who passed away while she was enrolled here, and was a big part of the Phoenix community. Uh her family donated money to create this ongoing contest. It's been 10 years now, and that's been a big success, and it brings a lot of creative writers to our table. Uh this year's theme is beyond the sky. And so, we encourage students, and we're very proud that we award

006both middle school and high school students. This is a 7 through 12 publication, which is very nice for our building. And so, we award students for their creative writing and their art in both the middle and high school. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you everyone for inviting us here. We're all very honored, and I think maybe we'll get out. Well, first of all, if you just give me 1 second. Um I know we're talking about the Phoenix, but I wanted to give everybody a sense of what it is and what it looks like. Um every year we publish a number of these hard copies, and every year we have a beautiful slideshow that we put on the school's website, and we can distribute as necessary. But, it's a beautiful combination of >> [clears throat] >>

007Here's Carrie Sit, the student who passed away, and in whose honor we run the contest. But, it's a beautiful combination of creative prose, poetry, and then gorgeous um um artwork that really showcases How beautiful. It showcases really the talents of our school community and it's something we're very proud of. And if anybody here at the end of the year would like an issue, please just let us know um or you can check the school's website where we proudly publish a digital version of it. And I brought a few copies here. We don't have many left. This one's a color copy and the rest are black and white. Uh but I'll leave them here behind. Feel free to take a copy if you wish. So Mr. Novak, uh are these students are authors or artists from

008this magazine? So maybe we can get some autographs on on them and and and put them on the maybe we could sell them raise some revenue or something like that. >> That's a great >> might be able to arrange that. You know, I just want to say something really quick. The other day I I someone mistook me for Mr. Novak and I want to say he's a good-looking gentleman right here and much younger than I am. So I really appreciated that. I'm just That's an an aside. I apologize. It was it was my my mother handsome. That's true. That's a true story, right? >> Yes, it is a true story. Um let's award the just let's give the students their recognition that they that's they deserve. So um first we'd like to recognize Remy Wayne

009as our editor-in-chief. Remy, please come on up. Come on up. Get your certificate and we're going to stand right in front here and take a picture. Right over here. Thank you. And our our literary editor uh Leila Altamura. Our assistant literary editors both Sophia Agaloc and Nathaniel Seeber are at Pocaho tonight, which is also happening at exactly the same time. Yeah. So they're continuing working with literature over there. That's another thing we're very proud of is the connection we make between events like Pocaho. You know, because we foster creativity in our magazine, we also encourage the creative students to attend Pocaho or perform in Pocaho. And uh we find that to be a a very healthy bridge. Now we have our art editor Blair Ba. Our web editor and general cheerleader John McCann. Yes. Thank

010you, good job. Layout editor Angelina Yan. Our treasurer Mia Chen. We have public relations Sonia Sancar, but again I think she's at poetry coffee house. Uh and then we have our staff Sarah Allawati Hayley Chen I think she graduated. I think she did. Amy Lee William Pereira is not here. Yeah, Billy's at Pocaho as well. >> of our newer members and our illustrator Jenna Taha. Yes. I I I think that's the innkeeper's wife from Les Mis. Am I right? Wasn't she great? I could do the innkeeper's part if you want us to do the the wife's part. Master of the house. Do you want to do that? She's ignoring me. All right. We have Emily Shi. Emily Yu. And Esther Yu. Yeah. All right. So thank you so much. I think that Yes. Yes, take

011pictures. I'm going to take a picture. Did everybody get in? Hey, you got it. Okay, did you get a good one? Yeah, I got a good one. Is your sister here? Yeah. All right. So congratulations again. Um I must say one of the things um I've really come to appreciate about the district are some of the traditions and this is one that uh has really stood the test of time and it's just to see the the uh the creativity and uh the expressive the the the expressions that are are represented. It's it's pretty awesome and being able to see the archives um of how long this has uh the Phoenix has um has been around is is impressive. So congratulations again. Thank you and thank you for all your hard work. It's really phenomenal. Thank

012you. So um all right. So we'll let the uh we'll let the students go and for other parents I know you if you want to stay for the budget discussion, you you certainly can, but uh this would be a good time to to exit. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Novak. Thank you, Brennan. All right. Oh yeah, maybe the students will come back, but all right. So let's um let's move ahead with the agenda and and just the first order of business is just approval of the minutes from last week. So if I can have a motion and and uh a second. All right. And all in favor. All right. Thank you for that. Um and then we'll get into our superintendent's report. So I'll turn that over to Dr. Pelletary. Thank you very much. Last night

013I had the pleasure of a a quintessential Manhasset evening. Beautiful concert choir in the auditorium. Catherine first chair violin, right? Our board member first chair violin. Let me ask you something cuz I look sometimes and you're doing nothing. Right? What What What do you do during those times? Are you thinking? Are you staring at watching every Like what are you doing? You sit and think and realize you can never be an audience member. >> [laughter] >> Because I see you and the boy sitting next to you. Is that second violin? The boy sitting next >> he's first violin second chair. So we're stand partners. We look at the same music, play the same parts. Yeah. So incredibly amazing and then the kids were singing also. Thoughts. Tell me a little bit about that piece if

014you don't mind. >> Yes, so that's Fauré's Requiem. It was from 1800s, something like that. But it's really interesting. It's different than a lot of the music we play cuz Manhasset music always makes an emphasis on our symphonic concert and that's in which the symphonic orchestra, band, and choir all play together and accompany each other. And it helps us kind of develop our sound and see what professionals musicians really do. Pieces like this are only often played on a college level. It's rare for high schools to do this. I think it's incredible. And this piece had seven individual movements. For three of them, all the violins were this thing called tacit, meaning we sit and we don't play a thing. So the lower strings, the cellos, violas had their moment and then we only kind

015of pipe in sometimes, but it's really to emphasize the choir. They get to sing. They have the lead melody for most of the piece and we balance them out. I've been in education for 35 years or so and and been a principal, a superintendent. I've I've never seen a one piece like that. And there's no clapping for like 27 minutes, right? It's just all you guys don't stop. >> [clears throat] >> Singing and the people coming down and doing solos. It was incredible. And really as I go back to this quintessential Manhasset evening, right? In our order in our gym, the boys varsity basketball team was playing like an incredible nail-biter against South Side at the exact moment. Allison, you and I made it to both of those those events. Really really incredible. And it

016just speaks to again all that we do here in in Manhasset schools. I recently saw the middle school play Narnia, which your daughter was the unicorn, right? Uh another great performance in our beautiful auditorium. And our February break is coming up next next week. Much deserved for students, staff, and families. I hope everyone has a safe uh healthy break, and we'll see everyone back on February 23rd. Katherine, we didn't even practice that, and you were able to to speak to that. So, thank you so much. I appreciate it. That concludes my superintendent's report. All right. Thank you, Dr. Pelletteri. Any questions? Any comments from the board? All right. Great. So, um we'll move right along to the student delegate's report. Yes. So, there is not really much that the student senate has done. Our January

017meeting got canceled after midterms and the snow day. So, our next meeting will be February 23rd. There's an evening at 6:00 p.m. Everybody here is welcome if you would like to come. And we are currently working on the voter registration drive, which will take place on Friday, March 27th as of now. And that's it for the most part. I will be having to leave early because I am signed up to perform at Poco after this. So, um Time you need. >> Yeah. All right. Yeah, we know you're juggling a lot of balls, and well done. So, uh please yeah, excuse yourself as as you see fit. Yeah. All right. So, uh next on the on the on the docket here is our building uh condition survey. So, let's turn that over to Chris and Gerard

018to walk through that. We are now going to bring up our architect, Mr. Grillo. Mr. Grillo, good evening. Jenny, why don't you move forward as well, our head of facilities. And we are going to share with you tonight a Is it 35 slides? 36? And you told me only have 2 hours, so I'll talk. Uh we are going to go through our building condition survey. Just just a little background on what it is, what it does, and what people are going to see, please. Sure. Um so, the building condition survey is a document that's started by the state education department in the year 2000. And it's required to be done by design professionals every 5 years. This is my fifth one in Manhasset. Um my first one I I was hired here in the first

019week of October in 2005, and at that point the BCS had to be done by November 15th. So, they said just go. So, I came in here. I was hired. I came in here over a Columbus Day. And not if anybody if anybody knows show Seinfeld, the episode with Kramer and he's got to give his apartment keys to George. Drops it on the desk and ringing like 250 keys. They gave me that and I said, "Out of all of these these six will open every single door in the building." Took me 9 and 1/2 hours to get through the building. Um So, yeah. So, these are really what the building condition survey does. It's initiated and mandated starting in 2000. It has to be submitted to the state education department every 5 years. Again, it

020has to be done by a licensed architect or engineer. And it really is a detailed inventory of what we own, what we have. It's not wants or needs. It doesn't really go into depth of programmatic or educational needs. I try to sneak some things in in the BCS, but for the most part, it doesn't ask questions about science rooms and art rooms and music rooms and all those kind of things. So, these are the inspection categories. I'm not going to go through them all, but it went from a five-page document to a 129-page questionnaire that now has to be entered online and sent up to the state education department. This is a sample question. Um very straightforward. You know, what is the system? It's pavement. What is it made of? Concrete or pavement or asphalt.

021What's the overall condition of it? The year it was last reconstructed. Expected useful life and how much it would cost to replace. Not always I don't like this part of the BCS because sometimes it gets a little it gets a little odd. So, for example, this past summer we we did Shelter Rock's pavement. Let's just say we didn't do the whole site. We did just the bus loop. So, we would say, "Yes, asphalt. Satisfactory cuz we left half old and half new. Years of remaining useful life, I would say 15 years." And then I would have a number of on it, $900,000. And people say, "It's going to last 15 years. Why is it $900,000?" So, then I take advantage of the comment line, which used to be only 85 characters. Now it's as much

022as I want to type to let people know this was done in 2005. This was done then, and then I kind of break it down because a lot of times projects are too big to do in one fiscal year or one budget cycle. These are the ratings. Um this is how it's broken down on every single uh comment. We'll get right into it. We'll first start at the secondary school. And I know some of these are hard to read, but what I did is I pull out um the questions and I make a separate spreadsheet, and it only identifies the questions that have a dollar amount associated to it. So, this is the building condition survey question number, and then what they call it, exterior walls or doors or windows. I give a little description,

023and then a a total project cost per per um per category. What eventually I we'll do is we'll break I put everything out in year one. We'll now bring this out 5 years. And then we'll break up and that'll be the that'll be the foundation for our 5-year plan. I'll stay by the mic. >> Oh, sorry. I agree with you. Thank you. For the folks at home, here we can hear you. So, here are some of the some of the highlights at the secondary school are athletic fields. We did four tennis courts this past summer. Tennis courts five and six, which we did I think in about 2013 or 2014. Those are in need of replacement as well as the four courts at Memorial. Um windows is a very very very big number. Those windows

024The windows here at the secondary school and Munsey Park were done before I got here, so they're at least 27 years old. Energy inefficient. Um double-hung windows, very big, much heavier than residential windows. Counterbalances are always being replaced. We put it on there. Jenny and I talked a lot about this one, but we put it on there just so at least we have a placeholder. Doesn't have to be done all at once. Could be done elevation by elevation. We could continue a program to just replace the counterbalances and go that route. Uh Some of these here are ceilings. You know, replacing some of the ceilings. I know in a three-story wing, there aren't really dropped ceilings. It's just acoustical tile glued to the concrete, and you'll see that really prevalent in um Shelter Rock. Uh

025ventilation, it's one of my things I really pushed is ventilation, building shell, and security. There are still a number of unit ventilators. Even the ones that we're doing this summer, the 24 or 25, there's still a few dozen left to be done. Some ventilation that we need to improve in some places. A lot of times in a school district, we need a a math lab, an ESL room. So, we take a book room, take the books out, change the sign on the door, and then we put a ductless split system in the thing to make people think that it's really air-conditioned. We want to improve the ventilation in a couple of those spaces. That takes place in all of the buildings as well. Upgrade the temperature control system. We still have a lot of on

026the old BMS system on pneumatic as opposed to getting it up to a electronically controlled. And then what we did here is after Jenny had met with the building principals, we put together I call them non-BCS projects. These are questions or topics or items that maybe the building principal, the athletic director, the music chair said, "We need to look at some of these things. There's not really a home for them on the building condition survey, but if we decide to use do those projects, I will incorporate those into the 5-year plan as well." And then just some photos. Those are areas that need work. Those are areas that need work, yes. So, Shelter Rock, pretty much the same thing. Playgrounds. Uh exterior walls and masonry. Ceilings The ceilings in Shelter Rock I think are priority

027one. When you go into those pods, it's the con poured concrete. All of the exposed conduits painted on the ceiling. It really echoes in there a lot. So, by putting a drop ceiling in an acoustical ceiling, you'll hide a lot of the conduit, and you'll drastically improve the acoustics in the space. Ventilation system again, we have a a lot of unit ventilators that still could be replaced at Shelter Rock. And we have several rooms that also have um in need of improved mechanical ventilation. And then we also have as the district goes in and air-conditioned spaces with let's say ductless splits, those only have a 10 to 12 to 15-year year cycle. So we now want to get into our rotation to start replacing some of the older ductless splits that are doing its job,

028but maybe they're getting at the end of their useful life. I mean, we're addressing the rest of the bathrooms that haven't been um touched in this bond. One of the one of the things I did try to sneak in here, it's not really a a BCS per se, but when we took the speech suite in Shelter Rock from the kindergarten room and moved it into room 11 in the back, the bathroom that was in that speech suite was used by all the teachers in that area as an adult bathroom. We gave that back to the kindergarten, so now those teachers in that whole wing, there's no adult bathroom. So as part of the renovation of the gym bathroom at the other end of mini gym, we're going to try to squeeze in one at least

029one more adult gender neutral bathroom. This is 6.2 million, 6.3 million. And then again, our non-BCS recommended projects. >> [snorts] >> And then Munsey Park. The Munsey Park um sidewalks in and around really on the west side of the school and inside the courtyard, addressing some of those handicap accessible issues. Uh the basketball courts at the field, there's a a walkway and then the asphalt basketball courts need um in need of replacement. Replacing the playgrounds and then getting rid of the fiber, going with a a whether a turf or a poured in place surfacing underneath the one playground has a fiber at it, the wood chips that need to be replenished every year. Windows again, big number. And one of the biggest number is we had Jenny and I had talked about because what we've

030done over the years here is done replace slates, replace a couple on this roof, a couple on that roof. What would it cost to replace the rest of the slate in the whole building except the 2000 wing? I'm going to wrap 3.9 million for that and then the half a million dollars would be to recoat all of the flat roofs that were installed in the 2000 wing and they're coming up at the end of their useful life. Again, ventilation system, unit vents, it's a recurring theme, unit vents, temperature controls, the stuff that we as a group, whether your house, do not want to spend money on, but from an architect and engineer, facilities director, these are the things that really really keep the building running together. And then a couple of again, a couple of

031non-BCS projects. Admin. These be a little bit of BMS. And then one thing I did not talk about on the exterior doors, the next thing we're doing in terms of security is hardening all of the visions in the doors and the side lights around the perimeter of the building. Um just again to slow an intruder down. Right now they can still get through those pretty easily, reach in and hit the panic button and open the doors. So we're now hardening all of the exterior doors and the side lights. I don't know if you can read this, but this was a question that only got added in the 2025 building condition survey. It's a result of Gov- Governor Hochul's requirement to air condition every room in the entire building. And what they want to know is

032what it would cost to air condition the entire building to code, not just a window unit and a unit ventilator, but if you needed to bring the building up 100% to code, including ventilation and and air conditioning where the fresh air comes into the room, what would that number cost? Try to include architectural and structural and asbestos and all of that stuff. And it's just a range. This range doesn't go into the total. Um I think we had estimated Shelter Rock was about 3 to 6 million. Munsey would be in the 6 to 10 million dollar range. And if we wanted to do the secondary school, it would be in the 10 to 15 million dollar range. And the reason Munsey and the high school, in my opinion, are so expensive, they're 80s plus year

033old steam buildings. I brought this up in uh after the 2000 BCS that we may want to think as a group to go get away from steam and go to hot water. It is a major major undaunting task. But replacing, you know, putting in a new unit vent with cooling and tying it into 80 year old steam pipes, in a lot of cases we can't even get to the steam pipes in the basement of the high school in Munsey, so we would abandon everything and go with all new hot water. So again, this is just a range, it's not in the it's not in the report as an official dollar amount, it's just again something to think about. There's our total of the findings of the 2025 building condition survey. And then just next steps.

034And we touched on them a little bit. If we want to add, you know, non-building condition survey projects together, then I would meet with Jenny again in the and the the building principals and whoever else wants to be involved in these discussions and then put together a detailed five year plan with BCS and perhaps non-BCS projects. And that's it. A, thank you so much for coming. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome. Um so I have a few questions actually. Um First of all, we did the door hardening already within the building, correct? >> Yes. Are you just speaking of exterior? >> Yeah, this would be exterior only. Okay. And then the list at the last part of each particular building, you know, like library reconstruction, showcase replacement, gymnasium air conditioning. Yep. In my opinion, the

035gymnasium is used for also um academics. We do testing in there. So in my opinion, that should be part of this. We could add that. Yes. Um as well, irrigation system for that should be part of the plumbing. We could we could add those in. Okay. Um the um there's a few things like I I I know your point, you see it as like a wish list, but you saw these buildings, like they're they're aged. They're you know, it's time to like really focus on that. So in my opinion, I think most of these items should just be thrown in there and allowed to be seen by the state, whether we do them or not, it's there, it's on record and it's for for us to decide how we and timing wise. I agree a

036thousand percent a lot of these things and when you see 50 year old science labs and 50 year old art rooms and and that kind of stuff, there's just not a place in a specific question to put them. Like they don't ask about casework. They don't ask about >> Well, that I I understand that. Like material, you're saying. Um also, um you had here written down for all the windows, which I agree, we have single pane windows in a lot of the building. Still, um I don't agree with the fact of doing the sliding windows. I think we have to stay with the up and down just because we have the air conditioning units already in place inside those windows. Unless we decide at some point, if the board is up for it, to do

037split units instead of having all those individual window units. That's another thought. >> Yeah. Um Also, I know that Munsey Park has a roof for the it's a slate roof. >> Correct. I'm not sure the price difference between the engineered slate roof versus the actual you know, I know Munsey Park has its rules, I'm not sure I I think you said something like the state overrides. We actually met with the mayor and I forgot who else was there, but I happen to be walking into the Starbucks as she was walking out. I'm like, thank God I held the door for her cuz she wound up at a meeting 15 minutes later. We met with Garav and the building principal and the mayor because we were putting on synthetic slate up on the gym roof. And

038you're not allowed to put synthetic slate in Munsey Park. We explained the situation, we brought them in, they took a look and they they really couldn't tell that the synthetic slate was in fact synthetic slate, not true slate. I mean, it's come such a long way. I mean, the stuff I used to do, it was Owens Corning and it would curl at the end. This stuff is really good. Um those numbers are for the real slate, so we would we would come down a little bit. I would recommend, if we decide to do that, to still go with the synthetic slate and obviously save probably a million bucks something like that. Yeah. Um the other question is at Munsey Park, we redid the parking lot about a year ago. We had water drainage issues. Now

039we're looking to basically tear up some of the new sidewalk that we just did and put dry wells? So we have a couple of other issues going on there on both sides of the all purpose room. The downspouts are all clogged. We got to clean out the downspouts, we got to clean out the gutters. When we did our camera with uh the environmental testing lab, we couldn't locate the piping under there, which makes it me to believe that it's either clay or transite or something to that effect. We would wind up probably having to replace that as well. We also have I was talking to to Jenny before about this. There are other um storm drainage structures in the parking lot, not in the area that we did, where water is backing up. That um

040a couple of those injection wells, there's a pipe that runs all the way past our Hunt Lane and it actually ties into the street sewer line. So, I want to have our testing lab come in. If that log is If that line is clogged or if it's clogged on this on the village side, it could be backing up and then the big area where we get heavy heavy rains and where it's puddling, the the the new the drain the existing drain is literally right there. So, it makes me think that the main line going out to the street might be compromised in some way. So, we're going to run a camera down there and see what's going on. Okay. But the Not to cut you off, but so we we are running out of money

041in the bond, but someone can I think we can find some more money. We could address if it's not too big a deal, we could use some of that money to further address the storm water at Muncie Park cuz we already did a phase of that already. So, it falls under the overall umbrella of the bond. Right. We find something that's just a couple of storm lines that were cracked and we repair it, we'll do that instead of waiting for a a building condition survey. Okay. And then um I guess at the high school, I was under the impression we did the entire courts uh tennis courts when I was there, and I see that the last two were not done. So, now we're going to go back over there and redo those two courts

042where now machinery everything is going to come running on top of and possibly damaging what we've done. So, this we can get to five and six, but so we have to remember that when we started this whole process, it really started in the end of 20 and 2021. So, you know, a bond issue takes such a long time and it's backwards the way the private sector works. You know, we have to have the money in the project first, then we ask permission, then we go to the state, and then we do it. And already now the tennis courts that were six years old then are now 12 years old. So, you And the state will reduce or limit your building aid if you if you complete a project within the 15 year. They're saying that

043anything we do on a reconstruction side has to last 15 years. They'll give you your building aid, but it doesn't come back the next year. It comes back 1/15. So, if we do a a million dollar project and we get 10% building aid, we won't get the $100,000 back the next year. I mean, that was the way school districts did their capital projects. They were getting money back the next year. They were throwing it into capital and they were able to slowly build up. But now they said, "Listen, if you're going to do a roof, I'm not going to give you your entire building aid back the next year. I'm going to phase it over 15 years." So, we would have lost building aid by doing projects sooner than the 15 year mark. Some we

044can't get around um and they will prorate it, synthetic turf. We all know that turf fields don't really last 15 years. So, if it lasts 12, they will give us 12/15 of our building aid. Right. So, I I guess um and the last thing Well, two things. One is at the secondary school, the kitchen cafeteria redesign, I guess that's that would be materialistic. In my opinion, I would I would prefer if a lot of these items that you have no dollar amounts, whatever can fit into this BCS, I would just throw it all into there. Okay. Um and then additionally, the one other caveat that I have is like, you know, going back to the Muncie Park drainage issue, when we do a job, I would like to do it at 100%. If the drainage

045if the cesspools, the drains, and the piping, and everything needs to be replaced, it should be done at that job so that we're not revisiting it >> That's >> a year later and coming back. a great point. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I think uh Oh, any other questions? Mariana, thank you. Just I think maybe you covered it, but if you look at the total cost for Muncie compared to say Shelter Rock, cuz Shelter Rock, and correct me if I'm wrong, square footage wise is a bigger building, right? What What's driving the costs? So, when I first got here, Shelter Rock was in the worst shape. It actually got an overall rating of unsatisfactory. The high school in Shelter Rock did. Muncie had a overall rating of satisfactory. We put so much work and

046money into Shelter Rock these last 15 years. We did all the windows. We replaced all the roofs. We replaced all of the exterior doors. So, now they're now ahead of Muncie. Cuz Muncie, you know, you know, slate roofs last 50 60 years. Um the windows we had just put in not, you know, not too long before I got here. So, the money went to Shelter and now it now we're seeing that it's okay. Now it's Now it's Muncie's turn and it's always the high school's turn cuz it's just so big. Just a a higher level question. Would that list have looked similar five years ago and how much of that list from five years ago was completed maybe or how much is maybe still here? And what's your take when we look at that list,

047that's a lot of money, and how would you like if you picked your top couple of things that really need to get done urgently, where would that go? I would do ventilation, security. We don't really have a lot, but handicap accessibility and building shell. Um I think we could still get a few years out of the windows, but we could look at that. But to me, if I if you said number one, I would say ventilation, indoor air quality, temperature control, obviously security would be my number ones. Um I know bathrooms go a long way, you know, plumbing fixtures and bathrooms. You have another question? Bathrooms are quality of life. >> I agree. And they have been postponed from the last bond. So, I think they should go at the top of the list. >>

048know, I'm I'm going to mention real quick here, too, on behalf of our teachers. There's some they really are looking for. I know we've done a lot with students' bathrooms, obviously. That's why we're here. But we do have adults that work here as well that that need to on occasion go to the when there's time go to the bathroom. Absolutely. So, we we definitely want to be thoughtful around that as well. Yep. I could actually I I I could actually go through this and just highlight in red or yellow or whatever a different color which one which projects were on 2010 2015. I mean, I could I could actually do that. There's a picture at at the high school that's from 2005. I'm not going to tell you which one it is, but Right. I

049would I that would be that was what I was going to say. Like, let's let's prioritize and, you know, prioritizing security and health as as two. So, I I agree with your assessment on on on that ventilation and and security. And then just taking a step back, I mean, you know, obviously these are are very old buildings. The physical plant is is old. I think we've done a lot, which um thank thank goodness we've done what we've done, but um that is probably one of the biggest discussions we need to have as a community uh in terms of, you know, wanting to fund this uh more quickly or over time. And and I think, you know, it's it's it's clear. These are just aging buildings and the amount of use and the size and um

050so I I'm I personally want to encourage the community to take this on and, you know, we need another long-term planning. And we're going to need long-term planning committee. We need another bond. And um you know, I think the I think the community would be behind it. They want They're so proud of the schools that we have. Um but we should also be uh uh proud of the buildings and and create an environment for our students and staff um where, you know, they can they can do their best and and, you know, you can see the scale of this. I'm I'm happy we're doing this. It's it's a it's a great thing, but I I want everyone to see uh the sheer dollar amounts that we're talking about. They're They're not insignificant. So, um you

051know, I'll be in favor of of trying to push that agenda with uh with all of our our families and neighbors. All right. Uh outstanding. Mr. Grill, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Jenny, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Have a great night. >> All right. Thank you, everyone. Have a good night. We're going to move Oh. Yeah. President Post, yeah. Um we're going to move right into Jerod. You're going to be up. We're going to look at our tax levy limit calculation. This is the part for those at home who might want to go to sleep to start paying attention. I'm kidding, Jerod. You're going to have to We're going to be engaged here, Jerod. Go ahead. This is your moment. Right. Good evening. Um hopefully you can see uh either one of the

052screens. So, tonight I'm going to do two conversations, two calculations. One is the tax cap and the other is fund balance as of January 31st. So, I'll start with the tax cap calculation. In con- In calculating the tax cap, the very first step is to start with the current school year's tax levy. The 25 26 tax levy is 102 million 853,135 dollars. That number gets multiplied by the tax base growth factor. The tax base growth factor determined by the um taxation the Department of Taxation and Finance. And the tax base growth factor is pretty much the um increase in property values, whether it's from new construction or from um additional properties that are added to the tax roll. The tax base growth factor is 1.0085. So, when you multiply that by the um tax levy,

053you get an adjusted tax levy base of 103 million 727,387 dollars. The next step in the calculation is to add in any and I'm going to say it, payments in lieu of taxes. I'm not going to say the acronym. Probably will mess up and say it later on, but you know, PILOTs. >> [snorts] >> So, the payments in lieu of taxes, otherwise known as PILOT, those are agreements that owners of commercial properties will get is pretty much a tax exemption. And when that happens, they negotiate with the Industrial Development Agency and we get a tax schedule. So, we know how much money we're going to receive in reduced taxes over several periods of of years. Uh Gerard, are we at those negotiations? Do we get the opportunity to school district to Sure. to negotiate to

054be part of those negotiations? We get to go. Get to go. We don't get to say a word and we don't get to decide anything, but we So, they tell us what we're going to get in taxes. Tell us what's going to happen. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, um and our PILOTs are we have a Lighthouse PILOT and we have a PILOT with the Nassau County Housing Authority for Spinney Hill and um Pond View. So, when I add that back to the adjusted tax levy base, well, so 1 million 610,567 dollars, I get a new adjusted tax levy base of 105 million 337,954 dollars. And you'll see in the calculation if I add something for the current year, I will subtract it for the um for the future year. And vice versa, if I if

055I subtract something for the current year, I then add it back in the next year. So, the next step in the calculation is to subtract out the any judgments and claims against the district for any wrongdoing. And fortunately, we don't have any, so there's nothing to subtract. But we do have a capital tax levy, which is um money in the um budget for transfer to capital, debt service, bond principal and interest payments, uh um energy performance contract amounts less any building aid. That gets subtracted out in the calculation. That number is 3 million 867,650 dollars. So, when you subtract that out, the new tax levy base, adjusted tax levy base, is 101 million 470,304 dollars. The next step in the calculation is to multiply this by the allowable levy growth factor. The growth factor is

056calculated by the state of the the office of state controller. And the calculation is the lesser of 2% or cons the consumer price index as of December, that's the number that we use. That consumer price index number is 2.8. So, you would use the lesser, 2%. So, when you multiply that adjusted tax levy base by 2%, you get 103 million 499,710 dollars. The next step in the calculation is to subtract out um the coming year um so, the the next year um payments in lieu of of taxes. That number is 1 million 642,778 dollars because we have the the schedule and that gives you an adjusted prior year tax levy of 101 million 856,931 dollars. Then the next step is to add any available carryover. We don't have carryover, but just to give you an

057example of what carryover is, when you from last year, last year's calculation, when you calculated the tax levy before exclusions, if I levied less than that number, that would be carryover. So, you'll see in this example is 101 million 856,000. If I or if I levied 100 million, that difference would be carryover. But we don't have it, so there's nothing to add back. But so then in the next step of the calculation, I get to add back any judgments and claims against the district. And fortunately, we don't have any of that. The difference in the employees retirement system contribution rate, so that that's greater than 2%, you get to add that back. We don't have that because for this employees contribution rate for this year is 16.5%, next year is going to be 17.6%, so

058it's less than 2%, so there's nothing to add back. For the teachers retirement system contribution rate, it's going down. So, it's 9.59% this year, 8.24% next year, so there's no exemption there. However, we do have capital tax levy for next year's, it's so the budget that I'm working on right now for debt service, transfer to capital, bond principal and interest payments, um energy performance contract less the building aid. And that number is 4 million 531,293 dollars. When you add that to the tax levy limit before exclusions, you get the allowable levy of 106 million 388,224 dollars. So, that's how much I can go up to to raise taxes for the 26-27 school year. And that equals a um allowable levy limit percentage of 3.44% for the 26-27 school year. This I know it's a bunch

059of numbers, but does anybody have any questions? Gerard, you mind starting all over again? I I I I I mean, that is un People say, "What's Gerard doing in his office all day?" Now you know. And Quinn's helping you back there, right? Having time, too. That's right. Yes. It's pretty incredible. Our right hand man. That's right. Uh it it's amazing, right? All it takes to get to that number. And people always ask, you know, isn't it 2% tax cap or something? It it so much goes into that formula. The fact that you know it is pretty amazing and you explain it so flawlessly. Uh so that everybody can understand. I appreciate it. This is good because this really helps to explain why 2 because in my previous districts, I've just said 2% isn't um 2%,

060but this really helps to explain why 2% isn't 2%. >> Yeah. So, I I think you're going to get a lot of views on this as we as we move forward. So, that will be our allowable tax levy uh percentage for 26-27, 3.44% we'll be going at with. Okay. Any questions from the board? Just really quick, do we last year, what was it? I felt like it was 3.11. Okay. And from what I looked, the current just even just comparison's sake for community members, if you even just look at what the inflation rate, it's like 2.7%. It's like 3%, so we're not that far off from what the general cost of things is. >> Cost of inflation, everything. Their minimum. Yes. Correct. Correct. Meaning we we are we are effectively breaking even. So, with our

061contractual obligations to our staff with health care and retirement benefits and with just general inflation, as you say, you know, this looks like a large number. We're potentially going to raise another 3 and 1/2 million dollars, but um that is consumed very quickly by uh just cost of living. So, um this is the um this is the hand we've been dealt effectively, so. But thank you for Gerard for for walking through it. It's awesome. Gerard, I'm going to ask you to stay right there for a moment. So, historically, we have done a fund balance presentation at this time of year each year. I I'll be honest, I'm not used to doing that in in in places I've been because it's so early in the year still to to predict how much fund balance we're going

062to have at the end, but Gerard, I did ask you to do that. Now, I looked at some of the fund balance presentations in the past and there was a lot of information in those presentations, so I did ask Gerard to kind of get it down to brass tacks as opposed to going line by line, guessing or not guessing, not the right word, hypothesizing or deducing what might be these final fund balances. But Gerard, I asked you to just kind of what we call a quick and dirty, right? Just look at it and and give me what we think a round number we might be at at the end of the year in terms of fund balance. And what does that mean, fund balance? What do we do with it? Okay? Right. So, I I

063started that way. I had all my pre all my PowerPoint or all my Excel spreadsheets and brought it in to the superintendent and the cabinet he said, "No, no, no. Get this out of here." >> superintendent does not want to see Excel spreadsheets and all these other Let's let's get to it. Go ahead. So, this is So, this is the uh just straight to the point as of June 30th, this is where we at this point, as of January 31st data, where we expect to um end the year. The fund balance is the surplus that you would have from um either having bringing in additional revenues or underspending your budget. So, revenues equal expenses. So, my revenue budget for the 25-26 school year is 115 million 43,231 dollars. I anticipate at this point in time

064that we will have in excess of um so, 673,878 dollars more than the revenue. Primarily because of a a rebate that we received from the IRS for solar panels. That's the bottom line for >> That's additional revenue we did not anticipate. Did not anticipate it um and it came in came in and came in handy. So, that's additional money that we will have the for this year. Okay. Then, you know, so for the expenditure side, just taking a look at all of the different numbers, all of the different budget codes, we uh well, I anticipate at this point in time that we will underspend our expenditure budget by $389,261. And that's primarily due to supplies, equipment, and some facilities expenses. So. I mean, and that's a very small number compared to a $115 million budget.

065>> Right. I mean, that's the that's sort of the point that this is we run this incredibly thin. Yes. And absolutely. So, when you add the two numbers together, so money left over at the end of the year, $1,063,139. That is less than 1% of the of our $115 million budget. So, just like at home, right, where we have budgets and we want to make sure that obviously we're in the black, as they say, that we're on the positive side. It looks like we will be on the positive side, but it's going to be really close. So, we'll have to keep an eye on that, obviously. Nice. So, and and I this is for the presentation, but I do this every month. I'll take a look every month I'm looking at this just to see

066where we think we're going to end the year. And then the auditors come in and they give us a final number, but this is how I feel at this time. And And one of those things we might do What's something we might do with this fund balance, for example? Well, the good thing is that um we will have it because not everybody has fund balance, but we just I had a presentation on all of the things that we need to do to our buildings. So, at this point where we are phasing out our bond, we can use some of this money to put into our capital reserve, and then we could draw from our capital reserve to take care of some of the things that we saw it on the building condition survey. The the

067unique thing about the capital reserve is that we we got the approval from the community to establish it, but we need the authorization from the community to spend from it. So, whatever we do, whatever we decide to do as a board as the district, we would need the community support to spend from the capital reserve. So, we could take care of all of the things that we saw. Tyrone, thank you so much. Any questions from the board? Okay. Thank you. Outstanding, Tyrone. Thank you. All right. Well done. Thank you. Um All right. So, let's move through the regular agenda efficiently here. So, we're going to accept a gift of a of a drum kit. So, um that is fabulous and uh we have a Pearl drum set, symbols, stands, accessories for the fine and performing

068arts department at the secondary school valued at $1,200. Um and thank you very much to David and Lee Mariash. All right. So, that's fabulous. Can I have a uh motion? Second. All in favor? That's 4-0. Thank you very much. And then we will get to policy review. Okay. We have a couple of policies and I'm going to go through them quickly. I won't read verbatim because you have the redlines to try to keep this as efficient as possible cuz the first few are first readings, um so they will come back. Um the first one is under academic integrity 4325.2. And the changes are really reflected update and align with our AI changes because we did update our acceptable use policy um to include allowance for AI. So, a couple of quick notes to highlight I

069would just to emphasize, for example, number 13 or section 13 is that the utilization of AI in a manner not previously reviewed and approved by classroom teacher. That's a new addition to the policy. Um you'll see a couple of other redlines um really are to reflect what I had just mentioned. I'll just flag any notable ones, so it's in the record. Um for example, under section four, student responsibilities number four has been rewritten to where it says avoid the use of study aids such as SparkNotes, um AI platforms, and AR features as an alternative to completing an assignment without the express approval of their instructor. So, again, a lot of this is to be responsible in so far as having that dialogue um and communication with the instructor um and the administration if needed. So,

070any questions um on those redlines as I mentioned, um we'll start looking at our policies that align to AI, um and this is the first one regarding academic integrity. Any questions? Okay. Um so, like I said, that will come back. Um the next one is field trips and excursions. Um there was a deletion um with respect to um approval should not be sought for overnight field trips to locations outside the United States except in instances where a student has advanced academic competition or contest. So, that is a change in terms of allowing. So, now we are allowing for overnight excursions. Obviously, that is with the understanding that there will be the approval and all the proper checks and balances. And so, that um is a change um in that policy in order to allow for

071um overnight excursions. Oh, outside of the US. Outside of the US. The board still would have final approval about around any type of trip like that. Correct. Correct. Yes. This is in order to kind of open the dialogue. And again, this is a first reading, but wanted to highlight that is a significant change that we weren't doing before. Um but based on the feedback and understanding, I mean, this has been something that has been inquired about. Um and I think it is a reasonable consideration. Again, there will be all those checks and balances and approvals that would go along with it. Any questions regarding 4531 on field trips and excursions? Okay. The next one is 550 5405 on student wellness. Um this one I just I do want to call a a couple attention to

072a couple of places because um this is in respect to it goes part and parcel to student allergies. Um so, there are a couple of changes with respect to um the responsibility of staff and parents. So, the first section A, um there was a title revision under individually sold meals, food, and beverages. Um under section B, food in the classroom, there were updates to numbers one, four, and seven. So, for example, if teachers or staff plan to use plan to use food as part of the curriculum, the teacher or staff involved must speak with the school nurse. Such discussion will include whether an identified student in the class and in so far whether any identified students in the class are prohibited from consuming any of the foods being contemplated to be used as part of

073the curriculum. So, that's now explicitly stated. Um the other section under number seven B, there was an addition to specify if a parent has provided written consent for their child to consume a particular food item, the school nurse or teacher may withhold the food item from the student if they have reason to believe it contains an ingredient which should would be detrimental to the student's health. So, that is an addition um as a safeguard. That was language that was not in there before. Um this other one is a notable item and change. I think um in full transparency, I think it's actually helpful uh was is with respect to providing the ingredients um in a classroom that does provide birthday celebrations. The change was instead of seven uh days, the recommendation is to change it

074to four um just to be a little bit more practical from that perspective. And so, those are some of the changes with respect to student wellness. Um questions around that? I could just jump in on on that one. We have heard from parents over the past year or so, and I know Ms. Peterson did a lot of work on this and with the wellness committee in so far as allowing parents to have that uh otherwise other than in that moment where we just talked about where teachers would still have a the ability to say, "Wait a second, I'm not so sure about this." But give parents the flexibility to be able to say, "I know what is being distributed in terms of the celebration and my child can have it." There is some belief throughout

075the district in certain in in in our elementary schools that parents need to physically be there to hand the food to to their child. Uh we are taking that piece out where if we are going to get parents the ingredients days before, parents can then look at that and say, "Okay, I know my child can have this." And they can take part in that celebration. So, this gives them that opportunity whereas we didn't have that before. So, uh parents have asked for this. I'm going to ask the parents out there in the community who talked about this for some time to make sure that they weigh in on this and take a look at this in particular. This is some language we got from our attorney, and I think it gives us a little more

076flexibility so our kids can partake in in that celebration. As as a peanut allergy dad, right? My daughter has peanut allergy, and she had to sit at the separate table and all this I I get it. So, uh I want to be able to give that opportunity to allow them to have a a big say in this to parents. Yep. I agree. Yeah. I I think that and I think the staff has done a very good job managing, you know, a a pretty complex situation, especially in the elementary schools with, you know, specific needs for certain students. So, you know, thank you to to those elementary school staffs for working through all of this. And those will come back for second review. The next one is actually first and final reading as it's it's more

077to align very timely in terms of talking about budget and just the cost of living. It's related to conference expenses and voucher for staff and individuals that attend conferences. The recommendation is to increase, for example, the allowance for breakfast from $10 to now $15, lunch $15 to $20. I think you could barely buy lunch in Manhattan with those prices, but there you have it. Dinner um was 25, is now $30. So, I would actually recommend a first and final reading for that one and we will have to have any questions before a motion? Okay. Do I have a motion to approve policy 6830 E2? Second. All in favor? And then the final ones are actually tabled for further review. So, for the the board, you they Oh, sorry about that. Sorry, one more. 6410 6410

078is also a second and final reading. This is related to authorized signatures. One moment. Oh, no problem. Actually, authorized signatures, there were no changes to this policy. Um Let me just pull it up. Sorry, Nicole, one second. Yes, this was regarding the district treasurer on all district checks where we changed the amount to 25,000. This was from the prior reading and it was a recommendation by the auditors. And so, this one we are actually recommending a This is a would be a second and final reading with respect to accounts payable checks for 25,000 or more would require a review and second signature of the assistant superintendent for business and operations. Prior to that, the amount was I think 5,000. 2,000 2,000, which, as you can imagine, every time there was a a bill coming through

079an invoice, an amount of 2,000, as you saw a budget of 115 million, was just inefficient. So, the recommendation was to increase it to 25,000. And so, do I have any questions on 6410 on authorized signatures? Do I have a motion to approve? Second. All in favor? That that policy is approved. And as I mentioned, the other ones that are tabled are still listed for the board to review and we'll bring those back at a future board meeting. Yeah. They're in the They're They're listed in the agenda. All right. Thank you so much for that and we're making a lot of progress on uh our policy review and policy updates. So, it's it's vitally important and thank you for all the hard work there. All right. So, let's move on to our board discussion and

080committee reports. The first one is the audit committee, which um Gerard and I and others um and Quinn were were there. So, I thought we had a good discussion. We had no real um uh you know, audit issues. We've We've had sort of a clean audit from our from our outside auditor. So, I mean, the discussion really actually was about more um things that were actually raised through our building survey and and trying to um you know, have this committee think about what what is going to be our long-term plan for for managing uh the finances of this district and making sure that, you know, we can socialize what the needs are are going to be. And I thought we had a you know, a a [snorts] pretty useful discussion there and I think there's

081an awareness and I think that's our responsibility as board members to continue to um speak to our partners at the SCA and the tower and in the community groups to you know, educate them about what our our financial needs are going to be. So, so I enjoyed that discussion. I don't know, Gerard, if you had any other uh comments about that. You hit the nail on the head. All right, good. Excellent. Um and Maria, anything on on your side or Yeah, finance. Um finance, we you know, again, transportation I think is the dominant topic for um finance. I mean, that is a a line item in the budget that we know is is $6 million and we have a a contract coming up that we're going to renew or not renew, we're going to put

082out to bid. And um you know, we're we're trying to be thoughtful about how we're managing our our bussing and it's you know, it's a hot topic. So, Maria, I don't know if you have any comments on that. No, okay. So, obviously, we're trying to you know, be as efficient as we can with this process. I think our I guess I can say our um the most dire situation of massive price increases, we we don't think we will see that, but we're going to see price increases just for the same reasons we've been talking about cuz inflation is real. So, that's something we're going to have to bake into our budget and and Gerard is is working on creative solutions to try and manage that. So, that's another um important part of of what's going

083to be our budget next year. All right. So, that's that. Let's go on to MAC Athletics. MAC was postponed, so we're back in meet in March. Okay. SCA. The fair planning is on its way. We do need some volunteers and anybody who would like to join the journal, please reach out to the SCA um committee, please. Tower. Just a reminder of the dinner dance, March 7th, 7:30 at the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club. As a reminder, it's Ibiza After Dark. Um tickets are available. Donations are welcome. Also, as a reminder, the administration gets a discount on tickets, so we expect to see many, if not all of you there. Um but again, March 7th at 7:30 is the Tower Dinner Dance. Right. I have to check with my wife if I'm allowed to have a a

084night in Ibiza. Right. And And it's it's Ibiza and it's after dark, which is extra special. That's probably even worse. That's not going to work. I can tell you right now. Going to see the sunrise. I have to bring my wife and that's going to cost more money. Right. All right. Joanne's coming. Yes. All right. But But seriously, that was a great event last year. We raised a ton of money and it's vitally important and please come and thank you for the administration always comes in full force. So, we look forward to that. >> have to give a big shout-out. I know there's a lot of grade levels. Big shout-out to the third grade parents who donated to a nice basket. So, everyone should be voting on that basket. Yeah. Little competition. So, if other

085people want to step up and donate things, there you have it. I I I failed to say something during my superintendent's report, so I'm going to take superintendent's prerogative here for 1 second. We went Monday night to see the St. John's basketball game. Oh, you're going to add it to PACE? Okay. We went to the basketball game. All of us here one, Laura went as well. We had Mariana one, Maria, Nadia brought brought her daughter and we saw our kids, our unified basketball team play at halftime, which was just unbelievable. To see they high-fived all the players when they came out. Coach Pitino from St. John's was coaching against his own son who's coaching in the Xavier team and we all took the train in together. We had quite the experience in and out of

086the Garden and they gave us these little basketball cards, right, Gerard? That people tried to buy right out of our hands. Like it was I don't know what that was about, but uh Are you going to sell yours? All right. But what a great night for our kids. One of our students hit a three-pointer on the Garden floor. So many kids scored baskets. Really incredible. We went over to see them the next day. They were still glowing and really proud of this district what they do and the work that our kids do, the administrators and and teachers and all for being there. It was really a a great moment and so, yes, thank you for reminding me. Yes, that's part of the the PACE update. Right. That's it. All right. That that is awesome special

087moment. Let's go to CASA. Okay. CASA. If any of you have students in 7th grade through 12th grade, CASA is hosting an event tomorrow morning up at the secondary school. It'll be an X day and they will start the morning. The 7th and 8th graders will be in in the middle school gym and the high school kids will be together in the gym. And there are two different presentations with the same theme pretty much. There's there's a mental health focus, a substance abuse focus, substance abuse prevention, and ways the children can um cope with stress and in their lives um without having to turn to substances. Um the seventh and eighth graders are going to have a stand-up comedian um as is their program. And the high schoolers are going to have um a story

088like a real-life story, a person who's made it through and is on the other side of some of these struggles and is going to talk to them. So um CASA is going to help kick off our break um with a special event for those kids tomorrow. And then looking ahead um there's two parenting programs via Zoom in the evenings coming up that CASA is hosting. You all probably received already in your emails a sign up for the one on March 3rd, which is Raising Resilient Children. So if you haven't found it, go back in your emails and sign up for that. And then there'll be one in June uh June 2nd entitled Bringing Back Childhood to make sure our kids, you know, stay kids and get that full experience. And then also looking ahead, there'll

089be a Shed the Meds event April 25th. And then um May 16th, I believe it's a Saturday, is the annual Mental Health March that uh we march down Plandome Road and end with um a little celebration um at the gazebo. So save those dates for CASA. Um and I can jump right into EOC as well. Um for EOC, um they have two events coming up to, in honor of Black History Month. Um our middle school social studies classes, when they come back from break, will be held um Monday and Wednesday depending on your your class. And they'll be workshops that um that highlight um a woman who was a slave in New York. And they're entitled Remember Liss, her name was Liss, and it's a true story. She was an enslaved black woman in New

090York, and her life uh we're going to learn about her life and it sheds light of the experiences of people in of color in New York over the colonial and revolutionary period. She actually played a role with Robert Townsend in the Culper Spy Ring, which took place right here on the North Shore of Long Island. Um so it's going to be great for our middle school social studies uh students. And then coming up later that week, Friday February 27th at 6:00 p.m., there's an event at um the EOC is hosting at the Unitarian Universalist Church. It's entitled Her Voice, Our Song. And it's a celebration of black women who shaped the sound of America. If you want to go to their black one of the black history events. And then um save the date uh

091April 30th at Leonard's is EOC's annual gala. And their funds raised will support their summer program, and I believe I'm allowed to announce that Dr. Chausky is one of their honorees, very well deserved this year. Congratulations. And that's uh that's the EOC. All right, thank you so much, Allison. Um All right, so let's uh we'll keep moving here. This is uh next is our personnel schedule. So Oh, yeah, she has one more thing. Sure, sorry. I apologize. One more thing actually, which we can actually start adding if if the board is okay with. So I attended the um Chamber of Commerce had their board meeting, and there are a couple of important community events that I think are important to highlight just based on the businesses and things that where our students actually can get

092volunteer hours and how they connect with the school. So for example, Earth Day on April 22nd, they're looking at uh cleanup on Plandome Road, um and they often look for volunteers. Um and so there's an opportunity again volunteer hours. Um Alfresco, just to save the dates June 7th and July 12th. As folks remember kind of close the streets and have an opportunity to again, there'll be volunteer opportunity, perhaps have um the band um and and work with maybe having our students there. Also represents us as part of the community. Um and then also the Halloween trick-or-treat October 17th, I believe someone was connecting with Chamber just to make sure it doesn't conflict with our homecoming. So I think there's a lot of things of value that we will kind of cross-pollinate communicating with the Chamber

093of Commerce based on all the activities going on um in the community. So I just wanted to add that, and I think in future board meetings we can kind of do that to keep track of dates um and whatnot and share that with the community. Thank you very much. Yeah, that that's vital information, and certainly we want to make sure that we're not stepping on each other's toes and that we have all that information. I I I was remiss in I mean uh Deena, you you heard something about our mock trial team recently real quick. So excited. Our defense um team made it to the next level on February 26th. So that is huge for the team um and we're so excited for them. So they they present in front of judges or lawyers, and

094they have a case, and they are the most amazing uh kids to watch um and they do all this prep work on their own. It is a club, and they go to the Mineola Supreme Court. So to Margaret Ronai um and her team and the kids, it's it's an amazing feat for them to go to the next level. I just I I'm sorry. Um Science Olympiad came in third in the regionals, they're going to states. So congratulations to all of our Science Olympiad. And then the Virtual Enterprise won two prizes as well. We could go on and on about this. We're going to All right. I'm sorry. No, it is fun. It is fun to brag. There really is um so much good going on, and and we have to celebrate when when we can.

095So thank you for bringing all of that to our attention and to the public. Um all right, so we'll we'll move on. Anything else? Any other? No, okay. So so let's go to the personnel schedule. Thank you, Deena, for um putting this together. I guess I'll just note this is the um you know, largely a lot of the spring coaches uh for our upcoming uh sports season among a few other employments. Any anything Deena we should know specifically here? No, okay. I think I think we are in good order. Any questions or discussion? If not, I'll take a motion. Yep. I just noticed and I was really appreciative that there are some volunteers on that list. Some of our staff that volunteer their time as well, and thank you to them. Yeah, that's very well

096noted there. So um all right, so I'll take a motion to approve the personnel schedule. Second. All in favor. All right, that's 4-0, Nicole. Uh then we are going to also um have a motion here to approve a consultant to manage our uh STS science research classes. So I think we are uh fortunate to have Dr. Powell come and and fill a gap for us. So um a lot of our students can continue on their uh research journey. So um if so if if everyone agrees, can I have a motion for that? A second? And all in favor. All right, that's 4-0 for our consultant agreement. And then we have a um another one here um Eric Nethard is going to um provide some services for us, I believe, in um Is this our uh

097student psychology? Is that a a special education? Special Ed? And so um I think we're also lucky to have him, and Dr. Pelletier knows him. So can I have a motion to approve that? Second. All in favor. All right, so that's 4-0. Um and then uh we have one appointment of uh a new position here. This is for uh for uh Jared Berry and and uh Dolores Mazilli to be appointed central treasurers for extra classroom activity accounts. Uh and and we know they're we are in good hands with with those two. So if I can have a motion to approve their appointment. Second. All in favor. And that's 4-0. All right, we'll move to the consent agenda. Uh we have a number of of items here, um mostly with our uh standard business. So uh

098we have our our 504 minutes. Uh we have um some approval of private school instructional services agreement. Um some out of district health and welfare services. Uh all sort of listed in the agenda both here and and online. Uh ratification of conference requests for our administrative team. Uh we have an agreement with Nassau County Board of Elections. So we are obviously going to hold our elections uh for the budget and the school board on May 19th. Um and that will happen uh as per usual. We have approval of uh some BOCES contracts. Um and we have uh transportation for prom. That is very very important, of course. Um and and I'm glad we do that uh at BOCES. Um we have an agreement, which I reviewed, for In-Spirit AI. I think that is a good

099enrichment program that we're um you know, we're trying to facilitate. Uh and so any questions generally, we have a few change orders here just on work that's being done. Uh one deduction and one addition, it looks like, on on some of our um you know, already approved uh contracting and construction. Let's see, we also have our our claims report. Sorry, there was was a lot of business here. Our normal uh treasurer's report and cash flows. Um and I think that is it. So any questions, discussion on any of these from the board? Okay. All right, so then if I can have a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. And all in favor? All right, that's 4 0 Nicole on the consent agenda. Thank you very much. We see upcoming items of interest here. Um

100we'll be doing more on the budget. A preliminary budget survey um I'm sorry, our preliminary budget and and more on the building conditions and then budget you know presentations uh later later in March. So and and we'll see the budget adoption is right around the corner in in April and we'll we'll be there soon. So All right, so now we are at uh public comment. So if there's anyone who'd like to um have any public discussion, now is your opportunity. All right, just please introduce yourself at the podium and if you could just limit your comments to 3 minutes. Thank you. Testing. Uh good evening. Hi everybody. Uh my name is Mary McLane. Uh I'm the mother of three young children, uh two of whom are students at Munsey Park Elementary School and it is

101way past my bedtime right now. Um >> [laughter] >> Well, thank you for having me. Um I think the BOE and Dr. Pellettieri know why I'm here tonight, but just to give the background for the record. Um I'm here to follow up on a January 27th letter I sent to Manhasset BOE which my husband read into the meeting minutes uh 2 days later on January 29th. Uh I wasn't able to attend that night. My letter asked why the BOE, according to your July 14th, 2025 minutes, asked the State Education Department for an exemption to the requirement to operate a breakfast program at Munsey Park for this school year when your own meeting minutes clearly explained that Munsey Park Elementary School did not qualify for an exception based on the state's definition. Your minutes explained the

102district was relying on an annual breakfast survey issued to Munsey Park families to assess interest, but the survey responses did not meet the state's threshold to qualify for the exemption. I found this disheartening. Um not only as a working mom with children who would personally benefit from this program, um but if I'm being very honest, I felt like our elected BOE members uh were ignoring Munsey Park parent voices. Um while this sur- um the survey could have been about anything, sports, budget, electives, um and our voices just weren't heard. They felt it felt to me like they were um mishandled. Um so from that perspective, I feel like this issue affects all families in the school district. Um I called the State Education Department to ask if the state granted the exception and if so,

103why? I spoke with somebody named Ms. Sarah Hayes in the state's office of children nutrition and she confirmed to me that our BOE, um despite what you said in the July meeting minutes, never actually sought an exemption from the state to operate the required program and that I would be hearing tonight from you all about what would happen, you know, what the plans were to remedy the issue. Um so I'm here tonight to listen, to talk through the issue. Um Sarah implied that there would be a conversation about this. I assume she's talked to some or all of you. Um and then second, as I've talked to Dr. Pellettieri about already, um I have concerns looking forward into future years about the language in the survey. Um it doesn't follow the state's guidance for issuing

104the survey, which very clearly says a one-question survey and not paragraphs of introductory leading text that lead a respondent to certain conclusion before even taking the survey. Um and after this year's mishandling, I have some um concerns about the proper handling of a survey going forward. So um thank you for listening to me. Um I appreciate all you do. This was a super impressive meeting. Um I always at work to my kids, I always say I take things in the most generous interpretation possible. We're human beings. We've talked a lot about AI AI tonight. They've not taken over us yet. Um it's entirely possible I'm misunderstanding something. Entirely possible something just went wrong. Um so maybe we can talk about it. Thank you. Um yes, thank you very much for all of your interest and

105your emails and your husband attending uh last week and I you know, as of now, my my reaction is still the same. We we want to make sure we get it right. Um but we still need more time and as we've dug into it and Dr. Pellettieri has dug into it with, you know, multiple calls with with you um and multiple calls with people from the State Education Department, people from our food service vendors, um we we just need a little bit more time to make sure we get it we get it right. So it's not trying to duck anything or um you know, view this as something that we don't take seriously. We do. Um but we we simply have to make sure we we cover all our bases before we can, you know,

106respond in a complete manner. So so that um may not be, you know, satisfactory, but we we simply just need more time. It's only been a couple weeks since we've um you know, started investigating. So that's my reaction at the moment. So I I got your email today and I've never spoken to Ms. Hayes. So I I'm not I didn't get a chance to email you because we had exec and other things. So I'm not certain why she would say to you you're going to get more information at the board meeting tonight because typically a parent will come up and ask a question, we'll do some research. It's not like a back and forth where we would discuss through something like that. You and I will do that on the phone. We've had these conversations

107and emails back and forth. But I I'm I will reach out to her tomorrow because I I reached out to Mr. Witt who is actually have her her title somewhere here. Uh food program evaluation specialist. So I reached out to her yesterday. I spoke with her. I reached out to her today, but unfortunately her email back to me says February 17th, she'll be back in the office. And so that's what unfortunately is leading this to be a bit longer and as as uh Mr. Post said, we we have to get this right. The information we give you has to be right. And and some of it is conflicting right now. And so I hate being in that position. So I as I've asked uh Mr. Post, we just need a little more time to make

108sure and and I'm not going to duck you. You have my email. You have my phone. We'll continue to have this conversation. I'm sorry this took so long tonight and that you had to be up past your bedtime. I mean the the kids missed you, I'm sure. So I I apologize for that, but we will stay on it and make sure we get this right. Okay, so let's let's let's let's try and table it cuz it's it's really you can ask a question, make a statement and we're happy. We're working on it, but there we we unfortunately we just can't have a dialogue um because if there are issues where lots of people want to speak, then it just becomes um so I I know that may be frustrating, but if if we can, we

109we can we're we're working on it. We're working on it. All right, you can certainly call me again tomorrow. We we can talk further and then I'll pass all that information on to the to the Board of Education. All right, thanks. Thanks so much. All right, anybody else? All right, can I have a motion to adjourn? Second. All in favor? All right, thank you very much everyone. Have a good night.