001All right, we are we are live. Good evening, everyone. And I'll call to order uh another public session of the Manhasset Public Schools uh Board of Education meeting. Um hope everyone is uh is doing well and survived our our latest storm and and cold weather. Uh, but we will start this meeting with our pledge of allegiance. So, if you could please stand up. >> 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. >> Sure. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Sure. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. military for uh a a brief uh superintendent report. >> Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Post, just quickly, I want to thank uh publicly our grounds
002and facilities, our custodial team that worked all day Sunday and Monday while our kiddies were off sledding and building snowmen and and us. We were cleaning cars and driveways and things like that. Uh I certainly want to thank they did an incredible job on our uh driveways, sidewalks, things like that. I mean, far superior even to what's around us in the neighborhood, unfortunately. But they did a great job and our security guards who stand out in the cold each morning up here for really extended periods of time because now everyone's driving their kids. I know folks don't want to wait for the bus, particularly this time of year. And even a little bit of a shout out to transportation who have had it difficult this week with some uh unhappy folks because the buses are
003later, they can't get down streets. There are delays constantly. And I'll be honest, we didn't have a great track record throughout the year with some delays. So, this kind of was icing on the cake, but this was really beyond any of our control. And I want to thank our our folks. We had some heating issues, I know, at Shelter Rock and that's been worked on as well. uh we have older buildings and just like in our homes we have to take care of them and keep up keep them up uh to code and and I want to just thank all those folks uh as Ted had mentioned about the you know the snowdon that we just had this past weekend and and hopefully hopefully we are dodging one this next weekend. So thank you very
004much. Yeah, I I concur. Thank you from on behalf of the board. Thank you to all the staff. It's been a busy uh start to 2026 with the exam periods at the secondary school, tons of activities um at at the elementary schools. And I appreciate um parents and students patience getting in and out of the schools in the mornings. It's cold. Uh the roads have been narrowed by the snow. It's difficult to make turns. It's difficult for the buses. So, if everyone can keep calm and carry on, it is uh much appreciated. We're we're trying not to um penalize any of the kids for lateness, but uh you know, we should hop out of bed and get get to school on time as as well. So, um anything else from the board? Uh okay. Uh
005so, let's go quickly here. We have a uh personnel schedule. We're going to do our our regular business. Uh I think we've we've looked at this. Any comments or questions or objections on the personnel schedule? All right. Right. So, could I have a motion? And then, uh, Maria and a second. And then all in favor of approving personnel schedule. Good. That's 50. Um, Nicole. Uh, and now we'll move on to the consent agenda. So, we have a uh stipulation of settlement agreement um which which has been discussed and uh the board is is aware of that. Uh we have appointment of impartial hearing officer for SED case number 513388. We have approval of agreement with labor education and community services agency. Um and then we have approval for cross contract with Eastern Suffach Boseies for
006bid for doors. So that's um relatively standard stuff. So, is there any um comments or questions on the consent agenda? All right. So, could I have a motion? Allison second. All right. All in favor? So, that's 50. And we do have a uh thank you for coming. We do have one um public uh some here in the one person here in the public uh session who would who would like to uh make a comment. So, we will open for uh public comment. if you could just come up and uh state your name uh and and if you have, you know, kids in the district and happy to uh to listen. Thank you. >> Right. Um yeah, keep student names out of it, but just introduce yourself. Yeah, >> absolutely. Um my name is Alex Mlan.
007I live here in Manhasset and I want to read into the record a letter my wife Mary Mlan sent to the board two days ago on January 27, 2026. Dear Mr. Post and Manhassid BOE, I hope you're doing well and keeping warm. I'm writing to request information about Manhassid BOE's decision in July 2025 to request an exemption from the New York State Education Department to operate a breakfast program at Muny Park Elementary School for the school year of 20 2526. As a working mom with two young sons at Muny Park and a third son who will enter soon, I wish nearly daily that Muny served breakfast like elementary schools in our neighboring districts like Port, Roslin, Great Neck, etc., especially given our very late start time. In my conversations with other parents, I know I'm
008not alone. Dr. Altman, who I've copied, uh, has been truly wonderful, excuse me, in listening to my concerns, too, that our morning max program has not resumed since CO and how challenging this is for working parents. I recall the district issues an annual breakfast survey to assess interest. So, I spent a little time this snowy weekend researching the surveys results. I was pleased to find uh your July 14th, 2025 BOE meeting minutes that addressed this issue in paragraph 13 ex excerpted uh excerpt one pasted below. Very interestingly, when Muny families responded to the most recently issued annual breakfast survey in March 2025, Muny Park survey responses indicated sufficient interest per the definition outlined by the state to require the district to be to begin operating a breakfast program at Muny Park. Indeed, greater than 33%
009of Muny Park families responded to the survey. Uh, and families uh responded to the survey. And of those responses, the district did not receive 80% indicating disinterest, which is required to request a a waiver. Yet, for reasons not explained in the minutes, and thus the reason for my inquiry, BOE proceeded to request a waiver from the state to opt out of Governor Hokll's universal school meals program mandate. In researching the process for requesting and receiving waivers found here on New York State Education Department's website, I learned that waiver requests are submitted via an online NID portal and submissions do not appear to go through an actual review process by the state. Excerpt 2 pasted below. I may contact Assemblyman Norbert to learn more about the process, but what does seem clear from the from the
010website is that one, exemptions should only be sought if certain criteria are met and they do not appear to be in Muny Park's case. and two exemptions and are building specific and therefore the results um therefore the results of shelter rock survey must be viewed separately from my parks. I respectfully request an explanation about why the district sought a waiver for my parks breakfast service despite my park parents surveys responses indicating sufficient interest in the program. I received a little while ago an email announcing your meeting this coming Thursday, January 29th. If you feel productive, I would be happy to attend and discuss the issue in person. If we conclude a simple error was made, we are all humans. Then I would like to discuss a remedy such as one, a communication from the district
011to Muny Park elementary school families to explain the error and two the implementation of a breakfast program at Muny Park for the 2026 2027 school year. I w I welcome also a dialogue and partnership about increasing transparency of any future surveys assessing interest in breakfast service and morning care. Respectfully submitted Mary Mlan. Um this was sent to the board members on January 27th CCD uh the superintendent and um Dr. Altman as well. And then at the end there is the um paragraph 13 from your board meeting in July um discussing the annual breakfast survey and then the NY said um application portal process. Thank you for your time. >> All right, great. Thank you for bringing that to our attention and uh we will do the research and uh and come back. >> All right.
012Anything else from the board? Motion to adjurnn. Second.