001Good evening and welcome to the Monday, February 23rd, 2026 regular board of education meeting for Marcela Central School District. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. 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, liberty and justice for all. >> So this evening we'll begin with recognition. >> Yeah. So I have one um item of recognition and hopefully people saw this in the newspaper was published last Thursday, February 19th. Uh we combine our wrestling team with Anandaga Central School District um and our Marcelus Anandaga Central uh combination team. They won their first section three division 2 wrestling title. So just a congratulations. Many of our seniors on that team um just competed and did so well. So um
002kudos to all of them and congratulations. >> And that is a recognition. All right, move on to um presentations. >> So, I have a couple things to just report on. Um the first one is I was contacted by um one of the individuals in Ryan McMahon's office and you likely have seen the news stories that many school districts have um contracted with and county to get um school bus stop arm cameras on on their buses. And so, um, I met with, uh, this gentleman with several other school districts that haven't initiated this program yet. And, um, it is costfree to the district. Um, there is a company that comes and puts these cameras, uh, on to all of our buses. Um, and they work with Anaga County and law enforcement um, in case anybody passes
003one of our our buses. and you probably have seen too that people are getting tickets. It's just a good reminder honestly um and an extra layer of safety for our students. So um I just wanted to put that out there. Likely our next meeting which is March 23rd, I'll open it up just for discussion um just to make sure the board has a chance to discuss that possibility before we move forward. And then the next thing that um I do briefly want to report on um I know I have spoken about this in the past the new graduation measures that are coming from New York City. Um it is the whole uh sort of pathway is coined New York inspired. And so, um, I shared with you after probably, I think it was our August
004or September board meeting that the New York State Education Department adopted, uh, July of 2025, the portrait of a graduate. And so, um, as you can kind of see here, there are, um, six different, uh, sort of pillars to that portrait of a graduate. academically prepared, a creative innovator, critical thinker, effective communicator, a global citizen uh and a reflective and future focused uh individual. And so um what I want to just sort of share is um it for the cohort 2029 and what that means some people aren't sure what the cohort means. Those are freshmen entering in the year 2029. So those are our current fifth graders. So for that cohort, so the 2029 cohort, our current fifth graders, um and beyond, there will be the plan is that there's one diploma. Right now there
005are all these different diplomas that they can achieve. So it'll be one diploma um redefined seals. So we have the seal of bi literacy, the seal of civic readiness that likely like likely is going to expand as well as some other endorsements. we have an a endorsement etc. So that that will expand and at that point there will also be a statewide transcript. So a transcript from Marcelis will look the same as a transcript from Liverpool, the same as a transcript from James built the wit etc. So um that is really the initiative to have a statewide transcript. And so in addition to that, the proficiency in both learning standards as well as meeting that portrait of a graduate, all of those six pillars um will be the expectation as well. So um as you
006might imagine, there's a lot of work behind this. And so what we're currently waiting for is um New York State to release uh some of the information around it. So one of the things that we're waiting for are rubrics around the portrait of the graduate. So what are the rubrics that we would rate students to make sure that they met the um stipulations that are in that portrait of the graduate? That is expected to come out in 2627 school year. Um and so you know when I think about our school district we're positioned to review those and digest those so that we can start formulating a plan. Um same thing with prioritized reformatted learning standards though those are expected to come from the state in 2627 school year and then we're also positioned to work
007with our OCM Boseies to collaborate on the design cycles and so that's one of the things that I have been saying to our Boseies I know that there are other other Boseies across New York state that have been working on this in fact this is a full book that Olster Boseies put out um guiding districts through the process of leading to New York inspires and the graduation um requirements. So again, we're we're heading in that direction. It's a little premature until we have more guidance from the state, but we're we're working on some of the things that we need to in the background to be positioned to to launch. So, um, this summer I'm planning on just setting up targeted discussions with stakeholder groups, parents, teachers, students, um, just to see how we can start
008embedding, we do already, but how we can intentionally start embedding some of those, um, specificities in the portrait of the graduate into elements of our our K12 curriculum. And so one of the things that I do um think also about is we are well positioned in the fact of the work that Tyler Cooper is doing with our professional pathways. When I speak to superintendent from across New York State, they're how are you doing that? Tell us your, you know, your formula, your systems. And so, uh, in that regard, we're we're in a good spot. One of the things that I do think we need to sort of start thinking and and leading toward is um project- based learning. More opportunities for project based learning and also smashing down the silos of content areas so that
009teachers from all different contents are working together together collaboratively. >> Um so that is the work that's coming. I think the frustrating part for many of us and and I'll speak for Don is we we have a lot of work to do to meet these mandates, but the state keeps pulling back and not funding the things that we're going to need help with. And so, um, that's our puzzle to figure out. But, uh, I I certainly wanted to at least present this so that, um, people are aware what's coming, um, and really why we're holding off until we get that guidance from the state because again, too much effort to realize we have to shift directions based on what they provide. >> So, that cohort 2029, they would be graduating in 2034, right? >> Y.
010Okay. And so some of the cohorts like the seventh graders right now and the eighth graders will start experiencing some of those changes. So the state's pulling back on um some of the assessments, the region's assessments requirements. Um but essentially it's that 2029 cohort that will experience the full implementation. I said one of the and you might not be able to or not know this but um so with the statewide transcript you know how some districts rank and some districts don't will that be uniform >> probably have guidance from the state or we do >> we don't but we anticipate that it could be uniform across the state. Okay, >> that that is the intention of the state ed department is that there is a uniform transcript because again as you imagine it's different if
011you're applying to a college in New York State but if you're applying to a college you know in in other states um it's hard for for schools colleges to compare a transcript from one school to to the next. So I think that's really the intention too to just sort of put everybody on a level playing field. >> You think this is part of the kind of re regionalization trend that we've been >> perhaps. Yeah, I think that's part of it too. Yep. >> I mean I and Don is going to talk a little bit in his presentation on on where we stand with the with the budget at this point. Um, but I think there there is suspicion that the state is trying to push school districts to potentially either merge or um create countywide
012high schools. So, I I think we're sort of wondering how that will all play out. >> Um, you know, again, like if I don't have a crystal ball, but certainly we're doing the work that we need to do to make sure that our students are prepared. >> Sure. And then Don is going to give an update. He um did his budget presentation or last forward meeting and has refined some numbers. So uh they'll sort of give you a sense of where we are at this. >> So the new green portion of our >> uh no I mean I have some general updates. I thought I would go through first uh the timeline of some things coming up in March are probably you're more familiar with than me at this point, but um you know we
013we'll list them out all the same. Uh then we'll go through an update on the revenues, expenditures, and uh the work we've done so far to to close that gap up a little bit. Uh so upcoming in March, the petitions for board of education is going to be uh made available be 30 days at least prior to the vote. uh you will approve the propositions. That's going to be uh the proposed levy, bus purchases, and the library levy. Uh and legal notices are going to go in the newspaper. So really next month, those are the the few small things we're going to be doing. Uh since one of the propositions is bus purchases, I thought I would talk a little bit about uh the proposed bus purchase. Buses have, at least in our thinking here,
014about a 10-year useful life. We we plan on a new bus to last 10 years. That's about the point where really rust just starts to take over. Um uh so we're aiming to replace about four buses a year. That's that's kind of our goal what we try to do each year. A few years ago, uh I think we pulled back from that a little bit and we're starting to to see the consequences of that now. So we've got some buses that are in some pretty rough shape. Um [clears throat] uh we're also starting to transition the fleet from diesel to gas, not yet electric, although we are going to study that shortly. Um gas buses are, we think, going to be cheaper to maintain. Uh they get worse mileage, but gas is cheaper. Um you
015don't have to plug them in and heat them up for 45 minutes before you take them out on the road. Um just a whole litany of reasons why our transportation funds transitioning towards gas is gonna is going to be better. So uh we're looking to purchase three full-size gas buses next year. Those cost uh just under about $196,000 a piece which is up from last year. Last time last year we bought buses they were about 175,000 a piece. But uh the difference being aside from inflation, these buses are going to have air conditioning which once in the past didn't. Um the decision to do that due the high heat days u mandates and the fact that we no longer are paying as policy uh coach buses to go on trips where we were paying like
016$10,000 a shot to take fancy coach buses for for different things. Um, we als we also may need a wheelchair accessible bus and then uh what a Ford Transit, which is essentially a 10 passenger van. Uh, it's going to take the place of the Suburban that we use for these longer runs for some conventto students and things like that. So, totals be about $865,000. If I give you context on buses, they're double the cost. So this if we were 15 there, we'd be double what you see um here. >> There are some districts I've heard that are stockpiling buses now, like trying to buy tons of buses so that they don't have to go electric. I don't think that's something we necessarily want to consider, but I thought it was interesting. So, >> kind of
017hard to hide a big yellow school bus, too. >> We're not even buying them. Just hoping that they're having electric buses later. >> Yeah. >> Guess if we got the money. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. >> And somewhere to store them. >> Uh see. So, uh the budget gap. So, last time when we talked the initial um revenue initial expenditures were $44.8 million. The revenues are 43.4. We got a budget gap of about 1.4 million. That's where we started started the process at. I don't know if you're going to be able to read this next slide. But this this is the line item detail of the changes in revenues and expenditures we've had so far since since the last meeting. If you look all the way on the right in that blue bar, you can
018see the new budget gap is just over $1 million. So we knocked off a little over $400,000. That was kind of a low hanging fruit probably >> some stuff that we we knew about but we we remain with a million dollar budget gap which >> we do have some plans to facilitate or eliminate over the coming months. So I know that um we've got some retirements coming position we may or may not have to fill. I know that we're looking to offer a retirement incentive which I think there which I've heard there's some excitement for. So, we think that'll go a long way. >> And then we'll have to re reevaluate based on who accepts that, what positions need filled, and which ones we can possibly do about. Um, in your budget binder, I don't
019see any binders. Just I see one binder. Can I miss uh in section eight maybe? Uh is a is a list of every single dose service that we subscribe to and a total free. We're going to sit down with folks at postings and go line by line through that, see where we can potentially say something because that is a big chunk of our budget. It's like >> $3.4 million. So, >> I think there's probably some that in there we could trim. >> On the other side on revenues, we don't know yet what the state is going to do. The legislature hasn't uh given us their take on the budget. I think most people expect Foundation 8 to be 2% again as it was last year, but you know, that's another $95,000. It's not going to
020close our gap when it's moving in the right direction. >> I think we may have to consider uh you know, targeted use of of reserves at least maybe for the short term, but that's something we don't have to decide just yet. So, it's still early, but again, we're hopeful with our retirements. We have close the budget cap and um we'll do the best we can with retirements, but we you know, as we look at the overall picture as if it gets closer to the final um you know, time where we have to present the final budget to the board, um we may need to make some tough decisions. Uh Don and I tomorrow are um presenting in the morning and in the afternoon to any staff member that wants to hear about the budget and
021ask questions um both tomorrow and Wednesday. So we have four sessions slotted so that we can you know have open conversations with the staff but as Tony always said don't don't panic. This is a nor this is the normal process. Any other questions as of that? >> And that's it for presentations. >> Yes, that is it. >> All right, we'll move on to item number four, residents comments. Public expression at the board of education meetings is encouraged and a specific portion of the agenda shall provide for this privilege. In most instances, the board shall reserve judgment regarding regarding questions and concerns that are brought to the board's attention at a board meeting as it is typically not prudent for the board to make instantaneous determinations. In addition, many issues that are brought to the board's
022attention do not require a formal determination by the board, but instead are most appropriately addressed by the superintendent of schools or persons designated by the superintendent without further board action. in accordance with board policy 3220 community relations. Do we have any residents comments at this time? All right, with that we'll move on to the business portion of the meeting. Item 5.1, acceptance of gift donation to Marcellis Central School District from Marcelus Youth Basketball. Resolve that the board of education accepts the gift donation from Marcelis youth basketball of $9,6551 for the purchase of a new scoreboard in the old DMS gym. Can I have a motion? >> Kelly, >> second. Sean, >> questions or comments before we vote? So, Marcel Basketball uses our facilities and they know I appreciate the fact that our facilities are open
023to them um and made a very generous donation. If anybody has been in the old DMS gym, the the scoreboard is um outdated to say the least. So, we're very grateful for this donation. >> Very generous donation. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.2 to acceptance of gift donation to Marcella Central School District from Cornell University. Resolved that the board of education accepts the gift donation from Cornell University of $1,500 to the Marcellis FFA which will be used for the sixth grade FFA program. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Destin. >> Second. Erica, questions or comments before we vote? So, just kudos to Caitlyn Eaton who finds, you know, these these donations to support our students and our programming. Um, we have a robust FFA program honestly because of the work
024she does and Joe Gillian does. And, um, again, sort of tapping into some some of our younger students in sixth grade. So, this is worth. >> That's great. All those in favor? >> Opposed? carried. All right. And then another acceptance of gift donation to Marcelus Central School District from the National FFA organization. Resolved that the board of education accepts the gift donation from the National FFA organization of $500 to be used for a birthday kits service project. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. Sean. >> Sean, is that you, Erica? Okay. questions or comments before we vote. >> Again, this is Caitlyn Eaton um who used her contacts at the National FFA organization. Um we had some students that were interested in doing a service project where they created birthday kits. So, um you know,
025a pan, cake, frosting, all the things that a child would want or need for a birthday cake. And so, um our students have put those together and they're gonna give them away. >> That's great. Yes, I've heard of that. That's awesome. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.4, approval of first reading of proposed board policy. Resolve that the board of education approves the first reading of the following proposed board policy. You can see that there before you. Policy 7522, concussion management. Can I have a motion? Justin, >> second, Jennifer. >> Okay. Questions or comments before we vote? >> So, this is a policy. Um, I think it's, you know, I mentioned before that I'm working to try to clean up our policies, make sure they're um up to date. This is one um
026that I recently just from circumstance recognized that we did not have in place and we should have. Um, in fact, some of our polic our our current policies reference it, but we it wasn't wasn't um actually a policy that we had voted on and approved. So, um it it is a policy that aligns with New York State regulations and state law um when a student is suspected to have a concussion. And what it does is really provides the district um I don't want to say power, that's really not the word, but the ability to say to a parent, we're concerned, we think your child has a concussion and they need to be evaluated. >> Um and so it helps our athletic director and our athletic trainer if they ever suspected that there was a concern.
027Um it really protects kids and protects us. Um, so that is simply um why we're putting that forward. Um, we used Erie One U policy manual as well as some other school districts looking at their concussion management um policy and branded it on our own. You know that you'll notice in here um our medical director is named Dr. Fisk. So, [clears throat] um, essentially we we customized it to Marcelus, but it it has all of the things legally that we should have in a concussion management policy. Any other questions or comments before we vote? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.5, approval of nomination of OCM Bosey's board of education candidate. Resolved that the board of education approves the nomination of Jennifer Welsh, a Marcelis resident, as a candidate for membership to the
028OCM Bosey's board of education in the election to take place on April 20th, 2026. Can I have a motion? >> Kelly, and then Sean questions or comments before we vote. So, um probably a month and a half ago, Matt Cook, district superintendent of OCM Boyce's um reached out to me um to let me know that um we share a board appointment, an OCM board appointment, um between Salvill, and Amandaga Central School. And typically, um it can be a current board member or it can be someone from the community. Currently, um the board member that represents Marcellis is a West Hill uh board member right now and she is stepping down. So, um there is a a some document that Matt has capped or his secretary has kept showing who whose turn it is. And so,
029um he reached out to say it's Marcelus's turn. >> Um and so, you know, just canvasing uh any interest. It's it's challenging to be on two boards. Um and so Jen Welch, who is a parent in the district, she's had three students, in fact, one last year who graduated, three students who have all graduated from Marcelis. Um I reached out to her and she was interested in serving. So um just great to keep that person here in Marcelis and she will occasionally come and report to us on things that are happen happening um at the OCN board level. >> That's great. We're certainly grateful to her for her service. All those in favor? >> Opposed? >> Carried. Moving on to item 5.6. Approval of the Marcela Central School District 2026 2027 school year year calendar.
030Resolved. The board of education approves the Marcela Central School District 2026 2027 school year calendar. Can I have a motion? Jen >> second. Erica, questions or comments before we vote? >> I think I counted this a little bit. This calendar is trickier than the past few years simply because Labor Day is September 7th. So, school is starting um you know, the second week in September. Typically, it's the first week in September. So, um it just creates a little more challenge in making sure you have all of the days that are required. Um, something to note and I will send this communication out to families with this calendar, but something just to note is um, and again in surveying our UTK uh, sixth grade staff who lead parent teacher conferences um, having parent teacher conferences so
031quickly in October when school is starting later is a challenge. So, um the consensus was shifting those and so we will have um half days for UPK6 leading into Thanksgiving so that our staff um can conduct the parent teacher conferences. Um and we'll see how it goes. If if it is problematic, we're I'm certainly willing to to shift back. Um but we're going to try it this year. >> All those in favor Oppos. Okay. Item 5.7, approval of board of education meeting dates for 2026 2027 school year. Resolve that the board of education approves the board of education meeting dates for the 2026 2027 school year. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Kelly. >> Second. Justin, questions or comments before we vote? So the structure of those meetings is very similar to this
032year and same. >> All those in favor >> opposed carried. Okay. Moving on to personnel. 6.1. Approval of personnel items. Resolved that the board of education approves the following personnel items. You can see them listed there before you. It's 6.1 through 6.4. Can I have a motion? >> Jen, Erica, questions or comments about any of those items before we vote? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Okay, moving on to consent agenda. Approval of consent agenda items. Resolved that the board of education approves the following consent agenda items. You can see them listed there before you. 7.1 through 7.5. Can I have a motion? >> Motion, >> Sean. >> Second, Kelly. Questions or comments about any of those items before we vote? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. All right. Now, we'll move on
033to item number eight,formational items. >> Yeah. So, Wednesday night, our boys and girls basketball uh are exceptional competition. They uh both won this past weekend. So, they play again on Wednesday here in Marcelus. One of the games, the girls game is at 5, Brian, correct me if I'm wrong. Uh boys game is at 7. Um also just a all school show is March 6th and 7th. Um tickets are available online and the show is Mamma Mia. Also, board of education elections petitions will be available that first week of March from the district clerk clerk, Colleen Liry, and they are due um in the district office by 5:00 p.m. on April 20th. Um and then the last thing is um I received a communication, you may have seen this in the newspaper, um but Ryan McMahon
034is seeking uh students to name the new Syracuse Aquarium. So, um I have a communication that I plan to send out to families about the calendar and and various uh items. And that one I'll be sure to to send out too because um how cool would it be if one of our students named the new Syracuse Aquarium. >> All right. >> And that's it. >> Okay. So, at this time, we will enter executive session. resolved that the meeting in public be adjourned and and an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussion of personnel. Can I have a motion? >> Sean Sean second. >> Second, Kelly. All those in favor? Opposed? Carried.