Manhasset Schools Board of Education 12-18-25

001All right, let's get going. Early is on time, right? And we're already we're already behind schedule. So, uh, good evening everyone. Calling to order another meeting of the Manasset Board of Education. Happy to have everyone here. Happy holidays. It's incredible. We're already at uh nearly at the December break. So um you know, thank you for joining and we'll uh call this meeting to order and start with the pledge of allegiance. So if everyone could please rise. >> 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. So, this is one of our best and favorite parts of the meeting, student recognition. So, uh this is the happy part of the job. Um

002so, we have our New York State School Music Association Presidential Citation Award. Is that right? Is Dr. Owens here? Oh, there he is. Okay. I knew you would miss this. Okay. I didn't see you. I'm sorry, Dr. Owens. Um, we're so excited for for all of uh these young fabulous students to be recognized in this way. So, I guess I'll call Dr. Owens up. Um, Dr. Pelletary is will be here momentarily, but uh we can turn it over to Oh. Oh, so we have Oh, we have two items here. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. So, let's start with Yes. Let's start with the the presidential citation award with New York State, which is a fabulous thing, and then we'll go on to the the Muny Park uh student ambassadors. >> Sure. So, first of all,

003thank you so much for having me. Uh we haven't met Joe Owens, director of fine performing arts. So happy to be here and so thankful to the board of education for inviting me here on behalf of the music department. Um recently we well we were notified in September that we that the Manhass K through2 music program was going to be awarded the NISMA presidential citation which is their highest honor for music education programs. Um and that is for excellence uh in K through2 music education. Um I'll just uh in in Rochester two weeks ago um I was very proud to accept alongside with some colleagues uh to joining me here today. Mr. Cisco, Mr. Barry, uh we also had Miss Shear and we had Miss Milman uh joining us um and a very special guest

004alongside of us up in Rochester was Dr. Chowsky um who joined us there and it was a really special moment. We took the stage in front of about 800 music educators who assemble from New York State at one of the largest professional organization professional development conferences that we have. Also in attendance uh but on the other side of town was Katherine Abrams and eight of her friends. Katherine is an allstate violinist. Um and that and and and having someone like Katherine sitting on your board is is a perfect testament to the kind of kid um and the kind of student that we have here in Manhasset that excels at many many things. Um we again this this award is a K through 12 award that ex that honors the excellent music teaching and more important

005than that the support that we get from the community at large. Right. We offer tremendous opportunities to our students. Just this past weekend, our elementary school sang on the great stage at Radio City Music Hall. Uh in preparation uh for singing at a Mets game in the fall. Uh our our kids are going to Broadway shows regularly. Our kids are putting on better than Broadway quality shows on our stage. Our concerts, which just wrapped up, um except for our daytime fourth grade concert at Shelter Rock tomorrow. Don't be don't miss it. um the the concert season, if you had a chance to attend any of the concerts, you know that they're truly special. Those concerts only are a snapshot of the incredible things that happen on the day-to-day basis. Um lots of learning happens uh

006from K through 12 to get us to the point where we can share again that little snapshot of the incredible things that are happening in the classroom. So, if I could just read um what was presented to us at the conference. The New York State School Music Association Presidential Citation Award presented to the Manhasset Union Free School District. Dr. Christopher J. Pelletary, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Owens, director of fine and performing arts for the positive positive impact of its exemplary music program upon the lives of its students and the community it serves. Ed Sherillo, president, New York State School Music Association, December 2025. and and really this is a team effort. Uh our incredible music teachers and our students of course and their parents who do all of the things to get them there. So thank

007you and of course we couldn't do it without the support. >> Right. All right. Round of applause for that. That is amazing. Any uh any comments all right well done. Fabulous. I mean, it really is. I I feel this first half of the year, maybe more so than any, that uh I've seen I I feel like the arts are uh are growing, prospering, and the kids are are really just doing amazing things. So, it's it's fabulous to see. And thank you um to to all of the the music and art staff. It's it's uh awesome to see. >> All right. Thank you. Yeah. Picture. Yeah. How do you remember? Okay. >> Everybody All right. So now after that recognition, now we can go to the Monunzy Park Elementary School student ambassadors. Very uh very excited

008for this. So yeah, Chad, please come up and uh and talk us through this. >> Good evening. So, thank you to our board of education for continually allowing us to celebrate our students. This is just a small snapshot of some of the awesome and talented kids we have at Muny Park. But what makes them special is this. aside from a lot of other things. Picture like an eight, nine, 10 year old, moving to a new town, a new school, doesn't really know very much, right? Like you walk into a new school, not knowing anyone. The families are probably pretty nervous, right? You're often the very first students that those kids get to see, the very first parents that those kids get to hear from. You're helping them, put them at ease that Muny Park is

009like a kind place, inclusive, supportive, and quite honestly, you help those parents realize they've moved to the best town. So, you guys are really representing the values of your awesome school, your wonderful town. I got to tell you, they represent our school system so very well. You literally you have confidence. You have poise. Your public school speaking is wonderful. And to have the confidence to be able to speak to people you don't know, especially parents. Job well done. That's the kind of stuff that's going to take you far. So be proud of yourselves, your accomplishments, and all that you do. Tonight's just an opportunity to give you a certificate and honor you. But the work ahead, just keep doing what you're doing. It's really, really wonderful. So with that, I'd like to acknowledge and congratulate

010Elina Bengoral, Charles Bisgar, and then we're going to take a picture in just one second. Okay, >> we'll come up. Yeah, >> Charles. Good. Noel Dumar, Margaret Farah, Grace Coropoulos, Katherine Lee, Brooke Manning, big one. Maxi Mosquita, Mary Polarmo, Matthew Palumbo, and Olivia Phillip. and Jennifer Nicholas. What was that? All right. Once again, congratulations um to all the students. You you said it very well. Uh and it's about leadership. You guys are already showing early uh early examples of how to be leaders in your school and it's awesome to see and it's it's really important for uh for our district. So, with that, I know everyone probably wants to stay for our budget discussion, but if you don't, this would be a good time to excuse yourselves and do your homework and get back uh

011to to the holidays. Um, all right. Good night and thank you. Yes. >> Bye, Jenny. All right, great. So now um we have now approval of the minutes first and then we'll we'll go to your report. Uh so can I just have a motion to approve uh the minutes from last meeting board meeting? Maria second. Yes. Any discussion? All in favor? That's 50 Nicole. Thank you. And now right on to our uh superintendent report. >> Sir, thank you very much. I appreciate that superintendent report. I got several things in here, so I apologize, but lots going on at district as you might imagine. Uh we have seen a great many shows and concerts from the holiday season and winter concerts in our auditoriums. Had the pleasure of being in Shelter Rocks Auditorium. We have a

012brand new refurbished Shelter Rock Auditorium. We have a brand new refurbished auditorium at the high school. We saw lay miz in there as a group. I think I spoke about that last time. But these spaces are incredible. The kids are incredible. The the teachers and the songs and the singing and the performances have all been really outstanding. And I think in the spirit of the season, this idea of embracing our diversity and you know, our fellow man in this season, I think is really vital and important. And those concerts speak to that. and those those really impressive spaces uh really uh benefit and speak to our community and and where our values are and what's important to us and uh really appreciate the work that's gone on in there. Uh beyond that, our fall seasons

013ended well. We uh with many of our sports making playoffs and and and making even finals in some instances. Winter sports is now underway and our students are partaking in basketball and wrestling and girls volleyball and all actually uh basketball. I just saw girls varsity basketball inside practicing. I saw some JV basketball uh today as well and winter sports well underway for our students. So very happy um with that. Lastly, this is a bit more of a solemn note. Certainly, Manhasset's the Manhassid community lost a a giant and a a hero yesterday. A uh cherished son, brother, grandson, honorary firefighter and police officer, a true hero, young man, 5 years old, by the name of Mason Atlas McCulla, uh passed yesterday after a long battle with pediatric brain cancer. and and I think it's important

014that we recognize that. And uh President Post, if you don't mind, uh I think it might be appropriate. Yeah. I just and I wanted to read just just briefly from um [clears throat] this obituary because you you have these things happen, these types of events, and it's just important to acknowledge it. But just if I if I may, and you'll allow me, uh Mason was diagnosed with ETMR, a rare and aggressive form of pediat pediatric brain cancer, and just 2 years and 9 months old. He fought bravely for nearly as long, almost defying the odds until his body ultimately overwhelmed by the disease. But although his life was breath breathtakingly brief, Ma Mason's spirit was never broken. And his impact was profound and immeasurable. A child often without trying teaches adults how to love more

015deeply and live more honestly, slow down, be present and see the world with humility and wonder. In this way, the child becomes the teacher. So, uh it goes on, but uh you know, I think we should just uh take a moment here of silence in recognition uh of Mason. Uh and we'll we'll do that right now. All right. Thank you. And our uh all our thoughts go uh to the McCullik family. So, >> Mr. Post, thank you very much. That concludes my superintendence report. No, happy holidays. Thank you. Okay, with that we'll uh we'll move on through the agenda and Katherine is here for the student delegates report. >> Hi, how are you? Um firstly I would like to apologize for my absence at the last meeting. That will not happen again. There was a

016lot going on with the play. I was a part of the pit, but again, I'm incredibly apologetic and I will be here the rest of the year. >> My gosh. >> Yeah. >> Katherine, you run like uh you were at NISMA up in Rochester. >> Yeah. >> I saw you and lay miz play violin for like three hours, right? What chair are you? >> first chair violin. You're up in Rochester for Nisma. Do you run like yearbook or something? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> So, we know you're busy, but I will tell you, everyone that I've ever spoken to about you tells me besides all those things, you are a great kid. That's the most important thing. So, don't worry about missing one of of our meetings when you're out there changing the world. All right?

017Don't worry about it. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Okay. Well, to start my report firstly, things have been running pretty smoothly in the school in regards to the phone policy. Um, I know that has been like a huge thing, but I think kids are primarily over it. Um, everyone has accommodated. Everything is going well. My computer just died. Um, secondly, the student senate executive board had a meeting with Dr. Rotor on Monday and we discussed a lot of issues that the student senate have brought up in regards to just the general consensus of what's happening in the student body and the biggest thing that we real noticed was an [clears throat] insane pike in mental health. There has been a very large mental health crisis lately and I think it's something imperative that

018the board look at in our meeting with Dr. Rotor, we kind of come came down to the root cause in which a lot of underassmen and middle schoolers as well are taking nine periods a day. That means no lunch AP classes which are available to freshmen and kids are not prepared for this level of rigor in their content that is usually reserved for juniors and seniors. It has you teachers can see the effects that it has in their classroom. Kids are incredibly sleepd deprived. They have six hours of homework every night on top of clubs, sports. not to take in account that they only get home maybe 8 to 9:00 p.m. every single day. People sacrifice their sleep and their mental health, maybe even about their eating, their family life, their social lives in order

019to complete their homework. And it isn't even proving to be successful in school. The rates of failure or feelings of failure among students has increased immensely. Just kids don't feel like they're succeeding. A lot of teachers have told me that kids look like they're sleeping in class with their eyes open, and that's only half of them because the rest of them have their eyes closed. kids aren't performing as well as they used to be. And this has been a trend probably just the last 5 years because a lot of kids who can't handle the workload of nine classes a day do it. But then other kids see it happening and they think it's the norm. They think they're not doing enough by taking nine periods a day and the lack of regulation on that is

020severely hurting our underassmen. And it's going to reflect poorly on not only them but the school as well. student their scores um and their mental health are part of Manhasset and how we reflect to every um other districts. And it's important that we prioritize students well-being because we can never have positive performance if kids aren't feeling well mentally and physically. I've seen kids literally not show up to school because they're sick from the stress or skip school to study. There have been a lot of complaints about this and of course it has been. School is always going to be hard. We can't make it easy or manageable for everybody. But it is just incredibly noticeable in the past couple years how much kids are struggling. So in our meeting with Dr. Roto, we brought up

021the potential of making it mandatory for kids to have a lunch because if they're sitting in school for 7 to 8 hours a day without eating, that has direct physical health impacts on your body and they're not going to perform well. And there is the issue of what parents expect for their kids and just overall college admissions. you know, the pressure that kids feel and I think it's important that we kind of take a step back and look at what we can do to ensure that kids aren't sacrificing their lives for a grade. So, that's the primary [clears throat] um primary thing that the student senate wanted to bring to you guys. It's a huge issue and it's definitely going to be tackled step by step, but I think it's imperative that you guys know

022about this. Um otherwise there has been a lot of positive feedback from kids about the auditorium um the holiday season like all the concerts happening recently sports are doing well and regarding the electronics policy as I mentioned earlier everything else is going good thank you >> yeah Katherine thank you very much you raised something that's really important to us in terms of student mental health and we're about to do a presentation on our budget for next year and one of those factors is making sure that we're working in that in that realm and in that area. And today I met with Mrs. Bruno who helps to run CASA. I don't know if you're familiar with CASA. And one of the things she talked to me about was a survey to students. Uh potentially part of

023that would be around mental health. We'd get some real hard data around that and see what we can't do in terms of supporting our students and and the board will have some work cut out for itself as well in terms of some of the things you just had potentially suggested. >> Yeah, I thank you for raising that issue. It's probably among the the one or two most pressing and important issues that we talk about. So, so please do know and report back to the Senate that as we make decisions about different things that affect um not just student life but um all aspects of the district that topic does come up right meaning it's it's something that we are trying to get our heads wrapped around. I think part of it like you said over

024the last five years it's societ it's societal um the college admissions process is ever more brutal, but but you're right, we we do need to find ways to alleviate that. And maybe it is through um mandates that that allow kids because you have to be rested, you have to be nourished, you know, to be able to to perform. So, uh I'm happy to listen to um other board members talk about this, but we should we should think about a workshop. we should think about some initiative that that helps us if um you know it's as as dire as as you say which I'm sure you know it is. >> Thank you for sharing that and and thank you for um having the courage to just bring this topic that's very important to the forefront. There

025are so many prongs to this. Um I think our duty, one of our our duties is to see how can we restructure the environment to just ease those pressures. Um and there have been many ideas that have been floated and two just came to mind that obviously would have to be explored through um the administration and the teachers and the unions. But one of them that was brought forth um by the staff was uh shortened periods to allow for one free period throughout the day that would allow for rescheduling for teachers to have prep time for students to have somewhere to just an alleviated period. Um and that would be and other schools do that as well. So I don't know if that's something that can be explored through the administration and teacher feedback and

026data exists on that through different schools. Um and then also just more spaces for children to go. Um they really are confined to the lunchroom and then the one um space that we have is just for specific grades and then other students just have nowhere to go. So, um, just from only looking at it through the lens of environmental and obviously there's so many other lenses to approach this, like those are just the two things that came to mind. >> I just want to add to it. Um, I agree wholeheartedly. um we need a space for the older groups to have downtime, but there is um this came up last year with as far as lunch and students who have like a packed and they don't have a lunch period. They are allowed to eat

027in certain um classrooms or so forth. You just have to clarify where I know the labs they're not allowed to eat in, but it's very important that a student is given the opportunity to eat because personalities change and they need food. So, I'm Italian. So, I want to echo what the board members have said, but especially your courage to come and represent that. I think there's still a hesitation, right? So, to be able to voice that. Um, I know you're representing the student body. So, thank you for doing that. I think it would be beneficial to have I guess you know in our kind of place we usually say like a task force like someone really focused on this because I'm pretty sure we can come up with ideas because I agree there is this

028environmental aspect um where there's even like a focus Friday where there's some type of a different focus whether if it's not shorter periods but could it be on an odd even day like something different and also training staff to recognize some of these cues and students students because some students may show up differently with how they're stressed and they're not always going to be. There's not those students who are going to come up and say like, "I'm stressed, right?" But there are other cues that may show up. And teachers do a phenomenal job of recognizing patterns because they're seeing our students at their best and at their worst. So, I think if we can come up with a way to have a committee uh or a focus group so that we don't lose sight of

029something we're hearing is very um relevant, but it seems like there's been a a tipping point a little bit um in some sense. And I I think that it's incumbent upon us to take some type of action. I just want to add one thing again, Katherine, your courage and I think overall the maturity of students nowadays compared to 10 or 20 years ago that you guys are actually recognizing it and acknowledging it and and asking for help and asking to engage in it rather than, you know, thinking there's something wrong with you. And I think something maybe we can add to the discussions is that I feel what I've noticed is there's so much pressure that you guys feel about college and I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to

030get into a good college. And college, the game of college has changed so much. It's so much more intense. And to be able to support you guys and and teach you guys and show you guys that there are so many ways to be successful in so many journeys and nothing is defined by one particular grade or one particular college. and and so maybe to hear some examples of you know other stories like alumni or people that are further along on that trail because you guys are trying to find that balance but you know to see those examples from down the road that yes you need to work hard but your mental health and all that balance is so much more important than not getting any sleep not eating um and and that's one of the

031purposes of growing teenage years you know your childhood your your your journey to adulthood that's actually probably more important than any grades to figure out how you manage your own mental health and and and um your perspectives is is so important. So, I'm really proud and commending you all and the student senate for being so courageous to to to bring it up and discuss it and ask for help. So, thank you, Catherine. >> All right. So, I think that's a good uh reminder for us and we will take it away and and certainly think about it. Um All right. Anything else, Katherine? Are you you're good? All good. >> All right. Great. Uh, all right. So, let's move on to two discussion points we have. Uh, the first being factors influencing our 2627 budget uh,

032which will be uh, riveting, I'm sure. And then um the the athletic hallway, which is also that that that is exciting. >> This's first presentation. It's going to be riveting. I'm trying to I'm jumping in with Gerard as well, so we'll both uh have the mic here. But yes, Gerard, please. Factors influencing 2627 budget. Make sure your mic's on, Gerard. Okay. Hello. Okay. Good evening. I'm Gerard Antoine and I'm the assistant superintendent business and tonight I'm going to present factors influencing the 2627 budget with Dr. Pelletary. you know, breathe, right? [laughter] All the techniques you learn in doing bud presentations. There's a big audience out there, so I know you're nervous. >> Audience, I'm speaking to the audience. This is our budget development timeline. This guides us through the budget process. So, you'll see the

033first two bullets have been checked because we did those. Um, we approved the budget calendar. At the last board meeting, Dr. Chowski did a wonderful presentation. I was told because I wasn't here, but a wonderful presentation on our course enhancements. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it on the live stream. Tonight, Dr. Pelletary and I will do our factors influencing the budget. We'll go over some of the things that we have to consider as we are we build this budget. December February 12th, we will have a discussion on our tax cap calculation and our fund balance as of January 31st. In March 19th, Dr. the pelletary and I will do another presentation um on the the budget, preliminary pre presentation for the budget. March 26th, we will have an informal budget hearing. Then

034April 16th, we will adopt a budget. Then May 7th, we'll have the formal budget hearing. That's the one that we're required to do um in schools. And then May 19th, we will adopt the budget. We will vote. We'll have the budget vote. Budget and um school board election vote. budget goals. It's important to have goals. Businesses have goals. School districts have goals. We're always looking at a K to2 academic programs, expanding our academic and extracurricular activities, but we're also investing in our infrastructure, investing in our buildings, making sure that we have um our buildings up to date and making any repairs as necessary. This time we're also doing instructional technology. We have to stay up to date. Technology is always changing. So, we make sure that we make our investments in our technology. It's it's

035sad that we have to talk about this so heavily, but it's important that we do our safety and our security measures. You see what's going on out there. We have to make sure that our buildings are safe to make sure that we we provide a safe learning environment for our students. Over the summer, we installed the the guard booth to make sure that we know who's coming into our campus during the daytime. [snorts] And listening to what Katherine just said, support and promote student wellness. That's going to be that's going to be something that we have to pay um special attention to. So, that's uh you know, we'll we'll be thinking about that. [snorts] The last bullet, I went to I was in my office the other day and I went to the bathroom and

036I came back and there was a sticky prioritize human capital. What is this? I didn't I didn't put this in a presentation. Dr. Pelletary snuck into my office and put this this stick. >> I was thinking I I I I do have access to the office [laughter] and I just this this hit me. Prioritize human capital. I don't know if you've seen that, Ted. Have you seen that before? I thought I invented it. All right, never mind. So, it's not really inventing it, but the focus we want to make sure that we get and retain the best people and build them up and make sure that we invest in professional development, invest in our staff and and make sure that we can provide for this community the best in all that we can in all

037areas. And so, prioritizing human capital is something you're going to see throughout our budget and our focus in that regard. So, Gerard, thank you. So, yes, Gerard came in and was like, "Who left me this posted?" Because he doesn't know my handwriting yet, but uh pretty much everyone else does. Go ahead, Gerard. >> Okay, so these are components of a school district's budget. You have revenues, expenses, and somewhere to go for emergencies. Uh, so in terms of revenues, being new to the district, it was important that I understood the the structure of our revenues and I realized that out of our $115 million budget, $102 million funded by the taxpayers, 89% of the budget is funded by the residents of Manhasset. So when I'm building the budget, I am aware that all increases most for

038the most part affect our residents. So that's something that I'll be mindful of. State aid, we get $5 million, not a lot. About 5% of the budget of our revenues come from state aid. The um federal grants is in green. So I think that means Dr. Sorry. >> Yeah, I I I wanted to highlight that because certainly with the talk of dismantling the Department of Education and some of the other things going on at federal at the federal level, just concerned and so in terms of will those federal grants stay funded as they have in the past. And while it's not a huge number for us, it is still a number for us over a million dollars. And if we're that that were to go away, that could have, you know, some pretty terrible impacts

039on on us. So I wanted to highlight that there and just bring that to everyone's attention. >> Yes, we we will receive some well we typically receive gifts and donations and um local revenue are things like uh the interest that we receive on our money in the bank. Whenever we rent out our facilities we receive money for that and every now and then we will get um something somewhat of a surprise. We received we recently received an $800,000 check. It was a um rebate from the IRS. I want to thank um our architect, John Grill. John Grillo worked with our former superintendent and our former business official to fill out the paperwork so that way we can get that refund. So, thank you very much. Um John Grill. [snorts] Expenses we have to so expenses,

040salaries, contractual obligations, we have to make sure that we account for those increases that are due to our collective bargain agreements when we've um put together the budget. We're always we're always buying equipment, supplies and materials. Transportation, special education um expenses. Transportation, I'll talk about a little bit more on another slide. Health benefits, we received a 9% increase in our health insurance benefits from NICHIP, New York State Health Insurance um insurance. And so that's 9% for next year. So we have to make sure that we account for that in our next in our next budget. and expenses for operations of plant and facilities. Like I said, you need somewhere to go in terms of an emergency. Last at the last board meeting, we um adopted a we passed a resolution to spend from our repair

041reserve. So, we had a gas leak at the secondary school the gas the gas that was going to our science lab. So, it was important that we had somewhere to go to um pay for that unexpected expense. If we did not have that, I would have to go into the budget and try and find somewhere to make a transfer. So, it's always important to have um a reserves. Dr. Pelletary talked about Oh, no. That was that was an exact. Sorry. So, we had a um we had a a leak at [snorts] um shelter, a water man leak. We're going to put it through insurance, but if insurance doesn't cover it, it's another expense that hopefully we can take from our repair reserve. So that's why it's always important that a school district has some sort

042of reserves. This is typical of what I see most school districts in New York. 74 to 80% of a school district budget is um in salaries and benefits. I like to say that's where it should be. We want to make sure that we hire the best teachers, the best administrators, the best support staff, best um custodians, clericals, security. make sure that we hire the best and retain the best to make sure that Manhassid stays, you know, one of the best schools in Long Island. And [snorts] the rest 26% is everything other than salaries and benefits. This is um our elementary class size projection projection for next year. If you just follow it across. So as you see kindergarten the we we look at the class size guideline and based on our projected enrollment we will

043come up with an average um class size. So you'll see kindergarten class size guideline 21 average class size 16.8. We have a decision to make at um shelter rock in first grade. Average class size guideline 22. Based on the projected enrollment, we could keep the current um sections of four, but then the class size will be fairly low in comparison to the other grades in comparison to Muny Park as you'll see on the next slide. If we drop down the sections to three, then it's more in line with the other grades and more in line with um Muny Park. So, these are these are some of the decisions that we'll have to make. Superintendent will work with um the cabinet and then make a recommendation to the board. So we'll decide which way to go

044here. And if you follow it across second grade class size guideline 22 um class average class size 18 and that just follows um across for each grade. We like to stay two below the um guideline and that's what we're doing in each grade. Anybody have any questions on that? >> Just one. Well these numbers can change anyway. >> Projections. Yeah. Yes. So we keep monitoring monitoring these um the the enrollment. So we we'll keep doing this every month until until we develop the budget. So Muny Park kindergarten class size guideline 21 average class size 17.2. So you see it here my park in first grade class size guideline 22 17.6 is the average class size. So that's more in line. first grade is more in line with um Shelter Rock. >> Yeah, if we did

045the three sections >> closer in alignment quite honestly as opposed to the four sections at Shelter Rock. But again, that's a decision we'll make going forward. >> Yeah. >> So, and then you just follow it along second grade class size guideline 22, 19.6, etc. the secondary schools. You'll see our enrollment peaked 10 years ago, 1516 school year. 1708 was our highest enrollment at the secondary level. Then we started to go down and this is pretty typical from what I've seen on Long Island during the pandemic years. Those are the lows. 2021 21 22 22 23 1499 1490 1486 our enrollment went down during the pandemic um during the pandemic years. We're starting to go back up but we project so this year 1558 next year 1579 but nowhere near where we were 10 years ago.

046Transportation factors influencing the budget. This is a big one. So, we currently contract with um Beacon Mobility, formerly Huntington Coach. They do most of our transportation. I've been informed they do they do all of our transportation. I've been informed that um from my predecessor that Beacon told them that they're not going to renew at CPI. Um CPI is a consumer price index. So, and that's normally 3% 4%. when they don't renew, when a a vendor doesn't renew at CPI, when you have to go out for bid, you're seeing 20, 25, 30% increases on our transportation. So, we spend about $6 million in transportation this year. If we had to if if we incurred a 20% increase, it's about $1.2 million. A 25% increase is $1.5 million. A 30% increase, $1.8 million. the tax levy in

047Manassid around 3%. The the state um so the the tax cap so tax cap is about 3%. Our tax levy is $100 million. If we had a three if we had a 30 Well, if we had a $1.2 million increase in transportation, that only leaves $1.8 million for everything else for for salaries, for benefits, for um for or equipment, everything else. Only 1.8 8 million left. If we received a 30% increase, now we only have 1.2 million for everything else. So, we are very aware of this, how this is going to impact the budget. We um we are working with a consultant to do an RFP. We are trying to get this RFP out early so that way we can get competitive bidding so we can get competition so that we know that we're going

048to see an increase in transportation but we we don't want to see a 20% 30% increase in transportation. Gerard, is there anything we can do here in so far as wrership for example? What if I I got to tell you, everyone here talks about the lines in front of the school in the morning and people getting dropped off so kids are not all the kids are not on the buses. Why can't we cut some of the buses or or create lines in our budget for busing based on actual wrership? Well, we looked into that and we're not able to do that because what we what we well what we need to do is we need to make sure that um well we would have to we always have to provide transportation for every student that's

049eligible. So I know that we floated some ideas of if someone is not taking the bus maybe transfer to someone who isn't eligible but wants to take the bus and that we can't do by law. So we there are other things that we could look into to see how um we can soften the blow in terms of this transportation but uh I know that just switching we can't do >> right we we have a uh we we just it seems like and we we're going to get the data but we have low utilization versus so we're we're paying for services that we are not utilizing to a large extent is is our guess but it seems like in a statutory way like the the law is a law. We can't can't simply um not bust

050people who are eligible or choose not to. So So that's fine. And we but but yeah, people should know. We've been talking about this for a year, so it's not a shock. Um you know, we've talked a little bit about uh potentially surveying the community to get their thoughts about this and and Dr. Pelletary and I talked about that and there's some there's some positives and negatives about that. um just because the quality of the data and the quality of the survey may may not necessarily be um >> that great and yeah so so you know this is something that um you know the community may have to make a decision upon uh you know ultimately in terms of how we shape the budget but it's front and center. >> Yes. And Ted, just a

051little bit more on that when you say the community. I mean, would there ever be a position where we would have a separate budget line item that we would vote on um outside of our >> Well, yeah. I don't I don't know if we could we we would have something separate, but but if we did want to go to, you know, in in your example, Gerard, if if let's say it is a 30% increase and we're going to have to cut something else that is very important to the district, whether it's personnel or curriculum or other things, then we would have to consider piercing the tax gap, which people would think is unpopular and wouldn't want to do. And so but but that would be you know what what potentially comes out of this. So

052>> so I I know Dr. Pelletary you asked about writership. Sorry Maria one second. Does not just wrership but what about just routes like what is that part of the whole assessment? So, it's it's more of the route and and that would require a vote though if I recall like just to >> we're going to take a closer look with the uh company in terms of our routes and making sure that we're efficient in terms of our pickups and and numbers of buses that we have and kids on those those buses. But, uh I mean you could consider making the distance in which right now we pick up every kid that's a mile or more. I don't even want to say the words but you could consider going more and and then or well talk

053about that Maria. >> So one of the ideas that we floated with the finance committee was currently the the law is 2 miles correct me if I'm wrong and Manhasset we have it as one mile there's many students that live on a not so desirable spot but they're8 or 0.9 away from the school and they would love to have the bus but they have to walk and cross Northern Boulevard. So it was floated that if we reduced it meaning from one mile bring it down to 0.8 you would have more people or students willing to take the bus and jump on. So it might be able to pack the buses and actually utilize them. >> But by doing that we would have to then therefore just add more people to the buses as opposed to

054keeping off the the kids that don't come on. like we would just be adding on more buses. We wouldn't be able to do it based on ridership. If if we lower that number and let's say we had a thousand kids take the bus and we lower it to uh.7 we then would have to pay for 1300 kids to be on the bus. It wouldn't be we'll displace some kids and and add other kids. >> So my thought was like that whoever doesn't use it they fill the spot like you know we would still fill the law to do that. >> Okay. Because a child may wake up tomorrow and say, "I'm going to take that bus and it's my right and so I need to be there. I need to have that seat on the

055bus." >> Are are we allowed legally if a family voluntarily opts out? >> Yeah. >> This is the same conversation. No, they have to have that ability legally to be able to have that seat on the bus. >> We looked into that and um you're not a parent is not allowed to give away a student's right to transportation. for afternoon sports and afternoon drop offs. We share buses with other districts. Did we have council reach out to those schools council in order to work together to get an RFP together to approach different companies as Yeah. Well, it's part of the RF part of the process that we're going through with the consultant to try and see how we can frame this so that way we are we're saving there's some sort of savings. But we

056did reach out to other districts. We reached out to Roslin uh Dr. Pelletary might want to talk about that. And we I I in my cooperative I reached out to um East Willist to see because I they had some interest in trying to share buses. So, we're trying to see what we can do to work together with other districts. So, maybe if it's uh you know, we pay per student, if they have a kid going to one school, we have a kid go to the school, consolidate and and share the bus. So, we're looking at a lot. It's uh kind of early, but with we know that we have to get this RFP out soon so that way we can get competition. >> Yeah, it's going to get late very soon. So, we we certainly

057have to do that. I'm I'm familiar with the Southshore Consortium of Schools that do help. They all go out to bid together to help bring down that cost. And that's something that we don't have up here. And we put it out to districts. And I got a couple of districts that said they'd be interested, but there isn't anything kind of in terms of the will like they had 8 10 12 districts I know down in the Southshore that had had all joined in together. We don't have that right now, which uh doesn't help us in terms of trying to go out for something like this. One one more thing or one to consider Gerard and this may be in the works and this is kind of um maybe not extreme but part of like a

058longer term plan like as we're looking at the cost of these things would do we ever go back to a scenario of having our own buses. So, if you could think about giving us pros, cons, costs, because here we're talking about this for the coming year, but I don't anticipate, but you know, buses are going to say, "Oh, we've all of a sudden gotten cheaper." So, I think we need to scenario play out not just one year, but the three to five year. >> Mariana, if I could, yeah, I'll jump in on that. I know the state has mandated that schools or bus companies purchase electric buses now and so that cost is just yeah cubed, right? It has just gone up so exponentially. Then we'd have to have a yard where we'd have to

059build charging stations and garage these things and and it really would be well out of our stratosphere right now based on requirements from from the state. If those were to change in the future, then potentially we could take a look at something like that. Our architect is here tonight. He probably could even talk to some of that with uh some of the schools that he has. Uh and I'm sure his recommendation is going to be to try to try to stay away from that for now. >> But it would the other companies have to abide by that? So really the bottom line is costs are going up >> inevitably regardless. >> Yes. >> Okay, >> George. Thank you, D. I'm going to jump on this one. We're going to tag team uh No. Anything else?

060Okay, we're going to um I'm going to jump in on this one. In terms of curriculum and instruction initiatives, uh we had a presentation our last meeting. Dr. Chowski and and her team offered several ideas in terms of what are some of the programs that we want to see extended in the school or biomed program uh math support web design all uh there were a mixture of courses that we really feel we need to fund because they're part of a pathway and uh several other courses that were kind of a wish list or courses that we want to see as as electives because we feel that they'll be helpful for our kids. We talk about an additional math coach as well. And while no necessarily maybe a small cost involved in terms of monitoring it,

061but a seal of of biiteracy and a seal of civic readiness or things that are coming as well, we put an approximate cost down. This is the cost in terms of sections where we would add uh necessarily a teacher might pick up a course or something like that. So, it's not a enormous cost overall, but everything counts in terms of a tax cap when you're looking at trying to make sure you're allocating resources appropriately. So, this page is kind of dedicated to the presentations that we did last month. Now, this next page, athletic hallway upgrade, is why I have Jenny here, who's leads our facilities, and Mr. Gillow, who is our our architect at this time. And if you guys don't mind, would you mind coming up a little bit and at least kind of

062sitting over by Gerard? You can give them the mic for this. The athletic hallway is something we've been looking at as a community since 2022. Yeah. And I saw a recent uh email regarding regarding that and some of the work we want there. I I look at these renderings. They look pretty fantastic. And there's been money raised in the community. You'll see that a booster club raised $85,000 thus far from the community in terms of upgrading this athletic hallway. We received a grant for $125,000 Dazznney grant, but we're looking at something in terms of if we do this right, and I think we really learned a lesson from the way uh this community came together and did our our high school auditorium. I mean, you talk about doing something right. And so, we want that

063applied everywhere we go in all the things that we do. There's no sense in well let's just do half this and then maybe we'll piece the rest together. No, we want to make sure that we get it done right. And so we're looking at a number I talked to John yesterday of uh almost $500,000. So there's a a obviously a difference between what's been raised, what we have allocated in the grant and and what it would cost us. But I wanted to give the board an opportunity to to jump on this and and and have some conversation regards to this athletic hallway, what we might do and what cost, what what resources we might allocate toward it. And I know we want to get this done. I mean, this is something that we've been talking

064about for three years now. So, um, I will let the board have at it. And again, Mr. Gillow and and Jenny are here for for questions. >> Uh, thank you both for coming. It's >> Maria. I'll assume you'll go first. >> I'm going first. >> Okay. Thank you so much for coming. Um, this is an exciting project. I have to tell the community. Um, this is something that is near and dear because I feel that this is a spot that other districts come and visit our building and that's where they funnel through. We have a lot of sporting events, anything they come into the where the arch is. Beautiful when you pull up, but that hallway is old and tired looking. So based on what we have here, um the 125,000, correct me if I'm

065wrong, is only to be used for the showcases. >> That's correct. Must be used for showcases. >> Only for the showcases. So >> you want to know the price of the showcases? >> Know the price. >> You know the price. Go ahead. >> So correct me if 125,000. Well, they're >> Yeah. One they were about 85 a few years ago. We thought, but by the time now that we're going to move forward there, I think 158,000 for >> right, they're going the prices are going >> building and install, >> right? They'll be built off site and brought on. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, Jen. Were the lighting wasn't the lighting already done in that hallway? >> Just grab the mic and pass it back and forth. You don't have Yeah. Okay, you can stand

066there, but >> No, no, no. Sorry. >> We did do an energy performance in correed. Yeah. So >> actual fixtures >> fixtures were not replaced. Correct, John? >> Right. So that would be that cost. Um the thing that I feel um I I I need like drawings. I haven't seen the drawings and I like to see things by dimensions, but a thought that I had and it might save on cost in some factors would be the showcases to be there's a wall over there that there's open in the background and we can like maybe recess them in to give us the floor space. cuz when you walk in there, you want it to look grand. You want to walk in and be able to see everything and and make it more modernized. So, that's that's

067a thought that I was um playing. I know we're not going to change the floor. That's very expensive. That's Terzo. We're not touching that. The floor um the tiles I'd like them to be from floor to ceiling, which would be nice. >> Your updated price includes that. >> Right. Right. So, um I guess if we can maybe rebid this and see what prices we come back to, even the showcases. I mean it's something that we can rebid. >> Yeah, please John if you don't mind. >> So we have a a couple of things on the public sector that we can't really do that we can do on the private sector. We really can't well or we can bid but we can't award until we actually have the money and we wouldn't really get the money

068if the if the board decided to put this on as a separate ballot capital reserve interfont transfer. We couldn't award the bids until after was May 19th. So what I had talked to Dr. Pelier and and Geron Jenny the other day was let's say and contractors when they bid they're required to keep their price for 45 days. So we bid this thing maybe first week in April and tell them you know you're required keep your price open because if we wait till after the budget not only we probably won't get the tile but the numbers are just going to go through the roof. I mean, we're seeing the numbers going up exponentially since CO and they're just going up. I mean, you see the the the uh showcases have have almost doubled in three years.

069Um, so we would bid it early, get the numbers in. Now, the one thing is there's a couple of things going. One is called the Wix law and if the project is under $1.5 million, we can we can bid and have one contractor which will save us a little bit on the bonding and the insurance and some of the subcontractors and the markups. So, the plan would be to bid it fingers crossed. The only problem with that is we need to order the case the uh showcases sooner than later because there's 16 week lead time and as we get closer to May and June 16 will probably come to 20 or 24. So worst case we have brand new showcases we could install them on the ugly green um wall against the wall tile and

070then we could tile around it at a later date if that's the worst worst case scenario. But I think we have to order if we want to move forward or we put the whole thing off until the summer of 27, which I'm not recommending because then it's just another year of more expenses going up and up and up. >> John, could I just ask uh in terms of recessing them, money savings, additional cost? Well, because yeah, you it's a little bit over 11 ft you told me in that area there. And then these are 30 in out. The >> 30 in. And they So if you look down that hallway, there's a staircase that goes down to the wrestling room that kind of protrudes out a little bit. The showcases won't be any further intruding

071into the hallway than that. So right now that section of the hallway is 8 foot n. The main section when you come in is 11 ft. If we recess these in, besides the fact that we would need steel, but the hallway walls are our firewalls. So that's a 1 hour fire rating. So then we would theoretically have to build fireproof rear walls on the showcases because now we're protruding into the firewall. So we would have to basically build a firewall around it into the backside of that gym, that storage area, >> push them flush, >> and they could be fine and they wouldn't be the firewall anymore. The firewall would have to be built behind it. >> Okay. >> So just it's just more more cost. Yeah, >> Maria, >> I saw you grab the

072mic. You gonna >> I guess I have to like research that part a little bit because if if there's it's open space behind that wall. I don't see how that's considered. Some of it you knock on there's like dummy stuff behind like you walk >> there's there's a 4 inch glaze block that that full height tile is >> not all of it. There's portions of that wall that are not actually the wall. Like there's I don't We'll walk it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to suggest why don't we walk it? >> There are sections that are filled in and that was kind of built to code at time of construction, but once we touch it, like some of those display cases, if you open that display case, you could reach into the

073nurse's office or something like that. We can't do that anymore. Like behind one of the other display cases is >> it's not electric. >> Not the outside wall. It's we're talking about the inside wall. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So yeah. >> Okay. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. >> In terms of raising money for the through the booster club, I'm assuming somebody's name is listed somewhere. There's some sort of recognition. Um, and I don't know if this is possible, but maybe not everybody has funds to give, but is it possible to itemize services and actual materials where somebody may an alumni or community member may want to contribute in that manner and have recognition the same way as giving actual monies? >> Yeah, I' I'd have to take a look at the legalities around that.

074I'm I'm not sure. But I I hear what you're saying almost like I will I will do trade this trade uh in terms of my contribution or donation, >> right? We'd have to carve that piece out then of the uh bid I would imagine. But >> yeah, I'll donate the tile or a portion of whatever it is, >> right? Yeah. In terms of materials >> might go through the booster. So then we're not but then they would get the same recognition of having whatever it would be of giving the monies and then we would get to the total cost. Yeah, I I think we should my recommendation would be go back to the community one more time and let's try and raise some more money in one form or another either for you know individual

075aspects or just have the families listed that are contributing and then Gerard can find us the other money. No, no, I mean can't that they call me the money man. So [laughter] I plan on doing the same thing. the trees. But but yeah, we we we all know we all know this has to get done. So I I agree. This is >> this is at the top >> non-negotiable. Let's >> I think we can probably get donations of the tile and this. The one thing we can't do and another crazy thing with public bidding, they can't donate the labor. The only way a contractor can donate the labor if he is, if Gerard, if it's Gerard contracting and you're the owner and you're swinging the hammer, as long as you don't have any help, you

076could donate the labor. But the second you bring an apprentice, a laborer, a partner, somebody, then you are paying prevailing wage. And prevailing wage is basically $1,000 a day per per trade, depending on electrician, GC, laborer. It's it's >> so why don't we have everybody back in one of these Wednesdays? We have job Jenny there. We have job meetings already Wednesday. So why don't we tack on that and and if the board is okay with it, we'll invite Maria and or anyone else that wants to come. >> Let's put we'll walk through that area and just >> add it to the 14. Are you >> okay? Okay. Sure. Yeah, >> we do it before. >> Yep. or you guys have it, but put on a put on a bi-weekly meeting for this and just keep

077hammering away. Okay. And and um what do you think? I mean, without without I know no promises because there's a lot of moving parts, but if if we order the showcases, they arrive and we get going without the fire like doing it sort of as contemplated. How how long would this take >> this >> if you bid it in April like you had suggested, right? and then 45. >> Get it right after the bid or right after the budget vote we award it. Um, can we cancel the frolic this year? [laughter] >> I'm going to edit that out, John, so you could get to your car. >> No, I mean you would have to start whatever that June 30th, July 1st, whatever that is. And you would seven weeks maybe. you know, the kids will

078probably be coming back, you know, like football comes back middle of August, we may sneak them around the back and come directly into the locker room instead of that for the first, you know. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that'd be great. >> So, we could potentially have it for the start of the year. >> I mean, for the most, there really isn't a lot going on at the high school this summer. >> And I'm going to request that the if the showcases have to be built, I I think after we figure out whether the firewall or not, I do not think they should be delivered here until we're ready because then where we're going to put them while we're demoing. I mean really like we have to just be mindful >> 100%. >> Great. Anything else

079for Jenny or Mr. Gerilla? Thank you. >> Thanks for Thank you very much for coming. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Gillow's here. Can I ask Did we do the building um five-year plan survey? >> When when do we have that >> done? The 14th. Okay. All right. So, we're going to look at it first. Okay. >> That was my Christmas present to the three of you today and you even responded. Thank you. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, >> you could read that instead of the night before Christmas because they're >> Yes, John Alford. I read that. I will read it, John. >> We're required to do it by December 31st. The four documents are written. I have a couple of more tweaks on my high school. I sent you guys shelter and admin. Then

080we're going to reconvene on the 14th. And then we're going to add to it the I call them the nonBCS projects because the BCS is stuff nobody wants to spend money on. Doors, windows, roofs, boilers. There's a certain well I can't I guess I can't even say this either. There's a certain music person who >> didn't get enough last round and he's asking for a couple of >> Dr. Owens on the orchestra room and a couple of other things. So like >> the building principles have come. We need this. We need that. We would like to have this. We need another B now that we stole one bathroom down at Shelter Rock by the in the kindergarten wing turned it back into a kindergarten room. That was an adult bathroom. We need to sneak an

081adult bathroom in there. So there's a couple playgrounds and that kind of stuff. So that'll go into the nonBCS and then we'll put a grand scheme together for everybody that'll have all the numbers and all the projects. And >> when that's done, that'll be shared with the board. >> Okay. >> And then we'll we'll talk about the 2030 plan, you and I. >> 2030. Okay. >> All right. >> Thanks everybody. Thank you so much, John. Great to see you. Happy holidays, Jenny. Thank you. All right, Gerard, let's power through. >> Through a couple. Here we go. Energy. HVAC. Is it energy? >> No, I said power through. Yeah, energy. Yeah, we're going to we're going to we're going to power through. Go ahead. >> HVAC. All buildings. We want to do our unit vents and

082our split units. Indoor air quality, clean up duck work, rooftop units, irrigation. We want to do uh water sprinklers um by the gardens. We'll start off by the gardens and then assess where else we want to add them. We want to add a a truck. Uh I understand that we only have one truck, the red truck, and like think of this past uh what was it? Sunday when we when there was snow, there's only one truck to plow all three buildings. So we we would like to add another truck with a plow and a lift gate. So that way we at least have two trucks to um plow our schools. Then we have um we would like to replace our security vehicle. I said it wrong earlier. It is it currently needs extensive repairs. So,

083>> okay. Yeah, that that security vehicle was basically our gate for many years here and just kind of ran and ran and ran and ran and so there's a lot of there's a great many engine hours on it and it really needs uh right now he just kind of knocked out two holes in the bottom and he runs it like Fred Flintstone. All right, keep going. Keep going. >> Keep going. Okay. Um we want to we want to continue with our um replacement schedule. We want to um replace Chromebooks and smartboards, servers and switches. Uh faster drivers, increase um increase security, replace um defective or obsolete hardware, add license plate, readers, three at my park, two at Shelter Rock. And we also want a camera shed uh that'll house our cameras, cables, and switches at

084Shelter Rock. Your slide. >> My slide. Yes. Factors in uh influencing the budget. We want to maintain class size at least two below. We showed that in so far as our estimates before and our projections. Uh we've talked about a transition coordinator for our students, our special education students. This is something we've discussed with uh pace as well in this very room. Uh we're looking at teaching assistance. I know at some point in the past we did remove uh we did let go of over a dozen teaching assistants and again the board uh right rightly so asked us to take a look at this and we feel that uh we would recommend that we replace three of those folks bring them back to support our students. We want to make sure instructional staffing is appropriate

085obviously in terms of ESL, special ed and general ed. We're looking at a priority sub at each school. Uh it's been difficult to get subs as it is everywhere and we're looking to put uh priority subs are our permanent subs that come each day. Uh we [snorts] want to make sure that we have club funds. We've added clubs over the years. We have to make sure we add funds for them as well especially competitive clubs such as robotics debate things like that. And uh it was brought to our attention there was a petition out in the community around driver's ed and Dr. Roa has looked at this with his staff and there are some things we're continuing to look at. there would be some cost for the district. So, we would have to review that

086and if we were going to have it, we'd have to place it in our budget. >> So, in conclusion, these are our these are the initial next steps. January 26th, we I will present a budget to the superintendent. Superintendent will present it to the board. Um on February 12th, we'll have our discussion of our tax cap calculation and fund balance. Uh March 19th, another presentation on the the budget, preliminary presentation, and then April 1st, we receive our our final state aid. Well, on or around April 1st, we'll receive our state aid numbers so we could finalize the budget. >> All right. Thank you so much. These are a picture of our best buddies here. The other day, I was at their best buddy gingerbread house uh judging contest. Pretty amazing kids. And the the friendships

087in that room uh carry beyond that room into the classrooms, into the hallways, into the cafeterias. really proud of our best buddies and so I'm glad Gerrod you're able to incorporate them into our into our presentation here. >> Thank you very much. Any questions? >> I just have one question. Um do we have any more bond money for like the bathrooms that are left over that we haven't done? [clears throat] >> I don't think so. >> All right. So, thank you very much, Gerard. That was excellent. And uh I mean, I guess I would just say as we construct the budget, let's let's just be conservative with the transportation number, meaning like I would rather leave that like as a bigger number than a smaller number, just so we know, you know. Yeah, I think

088so. All right, so let's move on here. um policy review. We have a number of uh policies that we're going to uh go through. So, I'll I'll turn it over to you, Mariana, to lead this. >> Thanks, Ted. We'll try to get through these fairly efficiently. Um some of them we've seen before. The first one up on the docket. Um it's up for the third reading. Um however looking at 4772 and 4772R um this was related to at the last meeting we had discussed the provision of FAPE um to students with disabilities and so we had revised language um and in this meeting we have some updated language. However, um because the mandate took effect in August, we we would like to recommend or discuss that we go with at their um legal age, at

089their date of birth of 22 um and then bring the policy back um because we're waiting for actually some additional information. The way that we currently have it written in there, and I'll point the board's attention to this section in um 4772R, is to um effective school year 2026 2027. That's the edit for tonight. However, at the prior board meeting, we had a red line when a student turns 22 and their birthday falls between the first day of school and January 31st. So, it's essentially at the term year is what we had. However, because we're waiting for some additional information, um we're actually going to recommend to comply with the mandate that we leave it at the suggested of at their birth date of 22 and then bring the policy back for a first reading

090after we get some additional information to be able to make the determination to um either leave it at the term or at the birth date age of 22. I just wanted to check with the board if that makes sense because that would um that would affect the following policies that are on here that are currently listed for the third reading. Um but it essentially come back for first reading. Um all all those in favor or actually Ted you could >> No, so that makes sense. Let's let's let's get to >> let's revise the policy to meet the standard and then we will come back after further discussion. I think that is a sensible thing, right? >> Yeah. And just for further clarification, we're complying with the regulation. So it's >> the regulation, not the standard.

091Yes, you're correct, Nadia. All right. So, do I have a motion to uh adopt this policy? A second. Any further discussion? All in favor? 50. >> So that is related to 4772 4772R. Um that will also affect and Nicole bear with us. Um that will also affect 43221. The it that actually I take that back. So the change for 43221 is something that we had discussed as it relates to ensuring care coordination or coordination for these students um in their transition period. We actually identified um consistent language that's being recommended according to New York State Education that the district shall provide appropriate measurable post-secondary goals based upon age appropriate transition assessment relating to training, education, employment and where appropriate independent living skills from the age of 15 through turning 22. So this is actually being

092um aligned and prescriptive to the law but being explicit in terms of the importance of that transition period that actually is acceptable and actually recommend to the board to accept because I think that that that just supports holistically what should be occurring and that wasn't explicit in there before. So this would actually be a first and final reading for 43221. Um and wanted to see if anyone had any questions. So it is the red lines that were added to be consistent with um essentially transition or care care coordination for those students. Any questions? Okay. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. Okay. So that takes care all in favor. All five. Um that takes care of 4321. Um let's see 5150 that is uh similarly we needed to update to the age of

09322. This is not describing at which point the student will exit. This is just updating to the state requirement of 22 um and then adding um just updating the New York state requirement. So these were just a reference addition and so this would be a first and final because there were minimal changes to the policy. Do I have a motion? Maria has a motion to approve the second by Nadia. All those in favor that is five Nicole. Thank you. Uh similarly for 9620E it's also a first and final because it is also a update on the date um of age 22 which is on the first page. Child means a person under the age of 22 enrolled in school. Um do I have a motion to approve? Do I have a second? That's two. All

094those in favor? That's five. Thank you. Um now this is a first reading. This is 1050 annual budget vote and school board elections. Um this was um something that we reviewed last year um but checked with legal regarding language um to prevent um those that were um sorry one second must be a qualified voter of the district that's a citizen of the US at least 18 years of age and eligible under the election law and is not subject to any legal impediments. So this was to ensure that um those that were incarcerated there was prior language to um account for that and that was removed. So in lie of that the language that's now being suggested to be put back in is a subject at any legal impediment which would prevent the individual from performing

095performing the duties of the board. So, it's safeguarding um you know, individuals that had any um inability or any reason for them to not be around students. And so, that was taken out previously. And so, the recommendation is to put that back in. And so, this is a first reading. Um the um oh this is something also we did discuss but it wasn't added in there was um the student exeicio board of education member um providing recommendations on who serves on the board as a student representative and so I will call the board's attention and also the public where there will be red lines describing um the student members um abilities or who will also um nominate students and for how long and then what student members are not um obligated or required to do.

096So that is a first me a first reading. Um the other changes were just the Roman numerals to account for the addition of the student exopicio board of education member. Uh any questions, comments about those additions? Okay. Um so there's no motion on that because that will come back because that's a first reading. Um so we'll vote on that when it comes back. Um the next one in a similar way we had discussed this last year but to um be more pragmatic in some ways to cell phone use and social media during um poll watching. Um the recommendation um is to update the guideline. If you see number two in place of 100 feet from voting area, it's outside of the building where voting takes place. Um any any questions? Um this would be a

097first and final because that is a minor um change not making any substantive uh policy change. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? Nadia second. Maria, do I have a motion to approve everyone? Five. Nicole, thank you. Um we have this is a first and final regarding um annual organization meeting of the board and the recommendation is to update um because this was actually um not mandated is to hold it on the 15th day of July but to allow some pragmatism to say no later than on or before the Monday after the 20th day in July. Um so this is again a you know pragmatic recommendation um to be able to be um consistent as well. Any questions, comments? Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? That's Maria. Nadia has a second. Do

098I have a motion to improve the entire That's five. That's the first and final. Okay. Uh second reading is our organizational chart. Uh I think we identified thank thanks to Dena uh just ensuring we had titles correctly on the org chart and so the change of director of transportation central office should actually be assistant supervisor of transportation central office. Um this will be a second and final. Any questions otherwise we can um we can vote on approving. All in favor? That's five. Okay. Moving right along, we are now at oh my favorite topic actually Rebecca Dr. We are at the acceptable use technology and regulation. And actually I would like to highlight um one thank you again to our AI subcommittee members um for those that are looking for the red lines um where you

099will find them. Let's just be clear on this. From the policy committee's perspective question. Okay. From the policy committee's perspective, you will find the red lines in the agenda for each board meeting. Um, I think our our digital technology, they're working on putting a banner on our board policy subpage to direct that. I think is as you as as the public goes to those where where Nicole on the Okay, even better. Oh, it's active now. Oh, excellent. Even better. So that there will be a link that will take you directly to the board of education agenda which will have the red lines just to make it a little bit more seamless and transparent. So with that being said, um the recommendation as a second and final reading um was to add language um that would

100allow um a section around the use of AI. And so for just bear with me I'm just going back to that section. So we will now have a section four around artificial intelligence. I'm going to read it bear with me just for completeness really quick because this is a second and final reading and I want to ensure the board doesn't have any comments or questions and that the public is aware of this change. So use of AI including but not limited to chat GBT are an issue of academic integrity. The use of district approved AI platforms software technology may be permitted under the supervision of the classroom instructor following the review and improv approval by the cyber security data protection officer and department health. Use of instructorg guided implementation will be limited to those approved

101programs within the district which offer AI options. And as a reminder, the reason for this is we do have um students, staff, faculty who do actively need to use certain programs such as like Kadoyo. Um and then also this puts in place a checks and balances. And from a subcommittee perspective, this will now give us some information as we see it being applied. And it also allows in, you know, in the new year starting in January for students and staff to be able to have some type of access to AI. So any questions uh concerns from the board? This might not necessarily relate to the policy itself, but is there a process where we're sort of capturing how it's being used um as the classrooms begin to use them and and seeing how effective it

102is, seeing if it's working, and seeing if the policy is um adequate enough for what the teachers are finding that they're um exploring it. >> Um so yes, the short answer is yes on this. What we'll be doing is after the second reading is pushing this out to faculty tomorrow. So there is an awareness part two of this is for each one of the departments. They've already been gathering how it's being used within departments um at this point. And then the second point is or third point that we have to do is we have to make sure that each one of the programs that are utilized within the classroom are approved by our data privacy officer. That is first and foremost that has to be done so our kids are safe >> and and I

103do want to echo not just the subcommittee but Dr. your leadership in this she has put together a very thoughtful plan and I know you know AI for everyone is kind of everyone's at different levels of embracement but the reality is and we had an outside speaker is AI is is sort of here and I think we need to just empower our students staff ourselves on responsible use and this is I think a very thoughtful way uh to do that so any other comments thoughts >> I think one of the things to just so you know is that we um this is allowing us to already use some of our model school days this spring regarding AI um to start working on programs we have already like we we have access to notebook LM we

104have that in district now so we're able to do that work and get our people up to speed as well >> perfect thank you do I have a motion this because this is a second and final reading do I have a motion to approve Uh, Nadia, one second. Maria, do I have a motion? I guess actually all in favor. Thanks, Ted. And that concludes policy. Back to you, Ted. >> Uh, thank you very much. That is a lot of work and critical. >> Thank you, >> for how we're running this. So, thank you again for for your leadership on all of this. So, um, all right. So, let's move right along to our our committee reports. Um, audit committee, we have not met since our last meeting, so nothing to comment on there. Uh, finance,

105I unfortunately had to miss that meeting. You know, Maria was there. I know we talked about transportation. I mean, that was the large that So, I don't think we need to Yes. Yes. Okay. Anything else, Gerard, that we need to Okay. Um, MAC >> MAC committee. We're just basically working on getting um the athletic hallway and funding >> athletic hallway. And then not to go down the rabbit hole, but are we talking about the seventh and eighth grade participation in JV and varsity? Is that is that >> Yeah, they they're in discussions on that and they um they drafted up something that they're going to present to the board to see if we're um what our [clears throat] thoughts are. Okay. Ariana. >> So, let's All right, let's wait till we see what that is

106and then we'll we'll talk about it. Um, SCA. >> Okay, I'm gonna get my phone up. Hold on one second. Sorry. It's a bible of stuff. So, Tanya, thank you so much. [laughter] >> Maria, I while you're looking for that, I just want to make a statement if I could. I should have during the superintendent report, but SEA has always been a valued partner of ours in in Manhasset schools. And I just found out recently that Nassau postes each year awards and honors groups that have incredible partnerships throughout the county in education, educational partners. And I'm proud to say that SEA is going to be honored this year by Nassobosis in April as an incredible SCA part as an incredible educational partner. So John, I see you here in the audience tonight. So, I want

107to commend you and and we're really proud that that's happening and and and happy that that's taking place. >> Congratulations. >> There's also another piece on Project Share and I see Megan here tonight. Who who do you have Project Share? >> Yeah, I >> Okay, so let's let Maria talk. And Megan, if there's anything to fill in, please, if you don't mind. >> You wrote something in here. >> Maria, you go first. All right. >> Okay. So, yeah. Go ahead. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Pelieri, for uh inviting me to speak. You guys started this meeting with some really upbeat, happy news about the music program and our sixth graders, and then things got a little heavier with the budget. But, I'm back with some good news to uh light lighten things up. Uh

108my name is Me Moy. Um, I have two kids at Monty Park and I lead Project Share, which is a committee within our SCA. Project Share exists um as a partnership between our parent volunteers, our school social workers, and our school administrators at all four schools. And we are here to support kids who are facing financial insecurity and um financial need within our school district. We support 155 kids this year across all four schools. And basically, we're there to help them with any essential needs, food, clothing, school supplies, um all these basics that you you can't learn and thrive in school if you you don't have these things. You need a backpack, you need a coat, you need the the pants and the white shirt for the orchestra concert. Um all of that stuff project

109share is there for. And basically how it works is that the school social workers reach out to us as a student has a need. Um they have the relationships with the student. It's fully anonymous and we just find out about those needs and we jump in and run to Target and get them whatever they need. Um, one thing that I'm really excited about and the reason I wanted to speak is because um, every December we have a special fundraiser and event to make sure that all of our children in this program are set up for the holidays and they can have a very happy holiday. So, this year we had um a record fundraiser. We raised almost $26,000 in the course of 10 days to purchase gift cards for presents and groceries for every single

110one of our children. Um, that was amazing. And the Manhasset community completely came together between we had teachers donating. We had lots of people across the community, people with kids in the schools and outside. Um, all came together. So, that's incredible and is in so appreciated by our families. We also had what we're calling a pop-up shop where we had um groups across the community such as the National Honor Society, the Key Club, the Art Honor Group, um Art Honors Club, some of our local preschools, our women's group, all came together, the Muny Park kindness club, and collected different items, um you know, coats here, toiletries here, um toys, winter clothes, all of that. And we brought that all together and invited our families to come and shop for free for items they needed over

111the holidays. Um, and this was another again another example where people came from, you know, from our students to our parents to our faculty to come together. Uh, I was at Muny Park School on on Monday and Dr. Alman was loading up my car on the icy, you know, parking lot, slipping and sliding, full filling it up with coats from uh Muny parents and the the kindness club and um at Shelter Rock, the the principal uh Zimmer and her knitting club actually crocheted blankets for every one of our families. I mean, it's really like it's really heartwarming and beautiful how everyone came together. So, I just wanted to let you know about uh this wonderful case of a community coming together to support kids in need and uh thank you for all of your support.

112No, there's more. [laughter] >> Thank you. Um, the Manassan SEA spread some cheer at the secondary school by uh serving cookies and hot Poco and decorating the front of the building. We're also excited to share that they will be working with the school and bring back the soft and frost events in the early spring. The senior banquet was a truly memorable event uh evening for all our seniors and their families. It was a special night filled with shared memories and laughter as families reflected on the students journeys through the years. At the elementary level, both my shelter rock showed appreciation for teachers and staff in the sweet holiday treats. The SCA also gifted the band, orchestra, chorus, and chamber choir directors with gift certificates to thank them for their incredible work on the holiday concerts.

113The secondary school will follow up with the secondary school will follow with gift giving certificates to the secondary um school music directors as well. Shelter Rock hosted its annual support staff holiday lunchon and Muny Park will host a support staff lunchon in March. This year the Manhassid SCA once again participates in the Americana Manhassets Champion for Charity. Over two days in December we hosted a shopping event at J Crew and Tory Burch. 25% of the purchases made in the name of the SCA will be donated back to us. Thank you to everyone who supported the Manhasset SCA through their purchases. Tomorrow marks the end of the SCA fall extended extras 2025 session. Extended extras continues to be one of the most popular programs of the students and parents. Each fall and spring, the SEA organizes

114before and after school classes at both Muny Park and Shelter Rock taught by dedicated ele elementary school teachers. We offer more than 20 classes options and enclosed enrolled close to 277 students. Looking ahead, committees at both elementary schools are already hardworking planning favorite events for the new year, including the annual health and wellness week and muchloved book fair at both schools. We are also looking forward to the family theater performance scheduled for January 31st. Registration for the very popular Saturday series opened this Monday and will reopen through January 7th. 18 different classes will be offered over eight consecutive weeks. Classes start on January 10th. At the high school and the and the senior frolic committee chairs are actively planning the senior graduation celebration, also known as the senior frolic. The SCA and the school administration

115are beginning discussions around the senior class gift to the school and the SCA among 16 honores selected from more than 52 nominations of the 2026 NASO Bosey's education partner award nominees are organizers that have been demonstrated a measurable impact on public education. The SCA is humbled by this recognition which speaks to the impact of the work of the hundreds of volunteers over the years and supports the generous community. Thank you. All right, that's uh fabulous. So, thank you for that. So, we'll keep going on uh Tower. Anything new on Tower? >> Uh yes, quick update from Tower regarding their annual uh dinner dance. Um that is scheduled for March 7th at 7:30 at the Manassa Bay Yacht Club. Um they do have uh a theme now. It's Abiza after dark, so save the date. So,

116let's make sure that um we're all there and that they sell all their tickets. Um so, more information as we approach that date. It's >> not just a visa, it's after dark. >> After dark. Yes. The visa after dark >> extra special. Is that what that means? Is that >> Yes. The annual dinner, dance, and casino. I mean, we many of us attended last year. It was It was fantastic. >> Last year's was fantastic. All right. So, um thank you for that. So, let's go to PACE. Anything new? Pace? I don't think >> partnering up. Pace is partnering with St. John's University and they will be playing at Madison Square Garden at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 9th. And you can buy tickets um on St. John's website, but also there is there's a link

117that's being uh circulated and St. John's will donate $10. Timman has it pays for every ticket purchased. >> Dr. Geianopoulos, the entire cabinet is going to that game uh to see our kids play at halftime. Pretty amazing to see them uh take the court at Madison Square Garden. Looking forward to that. >> Right. >> And your alma mater? >> Yes. So that's a couple of us. >> Yes. Oh, wow. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Excellent. Uh, and then Casa. >> Casa has also been very busy. I think the two main points was that Connie does a great job of running the programs, but then she also does a lot of evaluations and gets feedback afterwards. So, she's collected a lot of feedback on all the programs she's run from the fall. Um, and then one in

118particular kind of ties back to what Katherine was talking about. um her current one of the programs she's working on now it's in collaboration with the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and um there's um licensed therapists that have been coordinating with the eighth and 10th grade health classes and they've been asking the kids to write some anonymous questions that will be answered by a licensed facilitator, licensed trained mental health expert. and uh she sent us a sample of some of the questions that they've been collecting and they really tie back to what Katherine's uh talked about earlier. A lot of the questions come about how do I handle stress, what do I do um when I'm upset and overwhelmed with school work, etc. So, I think that's um Connie and Casa are

119really to focused in on this issue and they're actively um finding creative ways to engage with the kids on this topic. And that's uh that's Kasa. All right, thank you Allison. [sighs] And then lastly, uh but not least is EOCC. >> That one, too. Um so the EOC leadership team met for the second time this school year just earlier this week on Tuesday. And a couple of points. Um the EOC is helping to uh fund and sponsor a special event during Black History Month. Um there'll be a special guest speaker pushed into the middle school social studies classes. And um the top the the title of the program is called remember Liss and it's a topic list was um it touches on a woman who was um enslaved in the north in New York and

120um um the the topic will cover you know the issue of slavery that actually happened in New York and some of the northern states as well. Right. >> The spiring. Yes. The culprit spiring which was on Long Island Oyster Bay. She was part of the Coal Pepper Spiring, which is really cool. Yes. Um on Long Island. So, >> Yep. Um so, that's exciting for February. Um the board meeting on January 15th will actually be held at the EOCC like we do once a year and we'll be awarding the Maggie and Shine awards. And overall, all the EOCC programs are up and running for the year. And there's a great collaboration between the administrators and the EOCC staff as far as what resources they need, if they need extra workbooks, for homework help. We talked about

121a free library idea, making sure they know about uh K registration coming up, etc. So, it was a really productive meeting and um the team is up and running. So, thank you. >> Excellent. I look forward to that meeting and those that award ceremony in January. [gasps] All right. So, anything else? No. Okay. So, let's do the personnel schedule which which I reviewed. Dina, any anything that that you want to mention? I I'll just mention that we have 10 people 10 retirees this year and they are listed in the personnel report. We certainly thank them and commend them for their many years of service. Um I don't know what uh if we have typically some mention of them at some point. Uh yeah, we'll do we'll do something. Yes, for sure we have to. >>

122Oh, excellent. Excellent. Yes. So, but that's a highlight of the the personnel, the 10 retirees. >> All right. And we'll we'll figure out a way to acknowledge them either Yeah. at the lunch or at a at a at a board meeting later in the spring. All >> a tea party. Okay. All right. So, can I have a a motion to approve the personnel schedule? Second. All in favor? That's 50. Um and we have approval of a consultant agreement here. This is the board authorizing uh with Dr. Powell for supporting uh students services for students within the STS science research classes which is what we uh we did talk about that. So I'm excited for that. So um motion all in favor that's 50. And then we'll move on to the consent agenda. uh which looks

123largely straightforward here. Um we have our our cse and 504 minutes. Uh we have our special education contracts. We have our LIU post high school scholars which is an exciting uh program. >> Um they're associated those are our business classes that have dual enrollment credit. >> Great. Great. I was also asked to speak by the investment club in January, which is so exciting. They approached me that they're they're talking to other people in the community as well about um finance, which is exciting. So, look forward to that. Um girls volleyball club, girls varsity volleyball club. Uh that sounds good. uh consultant agreements, excise technology equipment, donation u of excise Chromebooks, excess, excuse me, Chromebooks to Mercy. Uh conference requests. Seems like all of our people are um availing themselves of of great conferences, which is

124great. Uh we have some some change orders here. And we have our typical claims and treasurer reports which all uh seem to be in order. Uh so can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda and a second from Maria. All in favor? That's 5. Thank you very much. Approval uh approve agreement with NASA Bosey's routing efficiency study. So this goes back to our our busing and transportation. Uh all in favor that's 5. And we've come to the end. So we have our upcoming meetings uh in January uh and February and March which we can see and then I will open it up to public comment. >> Said quick question. Um the date of the because I saw in Gerard's presentation said January 26 was the draft of the preliminary budget shared with the

125board but then we have January. Is it supposed to be January? It says January 26 next steps at your presentation, but then I know the January 15th meeting is the Shine and Maggie Awards and there's no other meeting listed in January. So, I just wanted to confirm. Was it just a typo? It's supposed to be the 15th, right? I don't it. So, do we have a board meeting on the >> Yeah, because here it says draft a preliminary budget shared with the board of education. So, are you going to disseminate? It's going to be disseminated. >> Okay, got it. Just wanted to make sure because we only have one minute. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Mariana. All right. If there's no public comment, I'll uh obviously wish everyone a wonderful and uh restful and

126healthy holiday season. Enjoy all the time with your friends and family and thanks for everyone's hard work for a great first uh first part of the year here. All right. All right. Good night. Thank you. >> Holidays. Yeah. Send a motion to adjurnn. We need that motion. A second from Allison. All in favor? 50.