001and welcome to the Monday, October 20th, 2025 regular board of education meeting for the Marcelus Central School District. Please join me in 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, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much for the beautiful treats, the soup and the pies and everything. Thank you. Um and tonight we'll begin with uh recognition. >> Yes. Um you will hear a little bit more a little bit later about the soup and and how it was made. Um tonight I want to just formally recognize the board of education. Um last week was actually officially board appreciation week. Um and so tonight we did not have a board meeting last
002week. So tonight um we just want to thank all of you including our student board member here at the table, Tucker Bernett. um just for the sacrifice that you make in being here and being stewards of the district and helping to support and partner with us uh in service of our students. So, thank you. You see, you have little gifts uh before you. Um we could not do this work as well as we do without your support. So, thank you. We are humbled and honored to have you as partners with us. >> Thank you. And then moving on, um October, it's hard to keep track because there's so many things that tends to happen, but October, if you did not know this, is National Principles Recognition Month, the whole month. There's also a day in
003May that we recognize our principles, but um honestly, they deserve incredible kudos for the work that they do. Um, I will will tell you that building administration is getting more challenging and more challenging um as the years have gone on. But a huge uh shout out to Lauren Masa who is the KCH principal, Kathy Mahoney, the intermediate principal, Stephanie Rice, our junior high seventh and eighth grade principal, um, and Brian Ci who is our high school principal. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to Marcela schools. um this school district would not be as amazing it is as it is without you. So thank you. >> I do want to just give a congratulations. A lot of people may not know this, but Jess Puo is our high school French teacher. Um and she's also
004a writer um on the side. And so she was recently named the Robert uh Andadella Shift Award winner for a recent writing she did. It's a literary non-fiction called Your Life for Another. So, um, just an incredible thing that she does, you know, on her own time makes us proud to call her our colleague. So, a congratulations to Jesso. >> And then also, um, a huge congratulations to Neuri. I don't know if anybody knows Ne. She's a 10th grade student here at Marcelus High School. Um she will be receiving from the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Central New York the 2025 outstanding youth uh in philanthropy and she's going to be awarded that in November. Um there are many factors with how they choose that individual for this youth award. Um she was chosen based
005on her community engagement actively volunteering for various nonprofits over the past several years. um primarily with Till's touch and so she helps kids in programming with soccer, reading, tutoring um and she is consistently doing that and so um again she will be recognized as a 2025 outstanding youth in philanthropy. Again, just that you know outside work makes us proud that she's a Mustang. So kudos to me. And then Cara Lux who's here with us tonight. She is our currently our director of special education. Um she was named today as the next superintendent of the Lafayette Central School District. So anybody that knows Cara knows her work. She will be incredibly missed by this district, but we again are so proud that she has done amazing work here and will continue that uh in a greater
006capacity with the Lafayette community. So congratulations, Cara. >> Congratulations. Yes, we're we will miss you very much. We're very excited for your next adventure. >> We know you'll do amazing things. >> I also wanted to just take this opportunity first to thank our principles. I think there is it's one of the hardest jobs in education. You have it coming at you from all angles at all times. You're working with students, you're working with parents, you're working with staff and administration. So, um, you know, kudos to you. I know that the work that you do is so meaningful to all of you and the the work that you do with kids, you know, is really incredible. So, um, but on behalf of the schoolboard, I just want to take that opportunity and and thank you so
007much for all that you do because you really get >> and then I also was sharing with Jean that on Saturday I attended the cross country invitational meet and it was really an exceptional event. It was at Marcellus Park which is such a beautiful setting. We're so lucky to have that right in our backyard. There was over 33 schools from the central New York area, some as far as Fairport I saw, that participated and I think we had over a thousand runners. So, it was really a beautiful event. So, I want to thank our cross country team certainly Jason Burke I think took the lead on all of that and was a tremendous undertaking and he did an excellent excellent job. So, just wanted to be sure to mention that as well. >> Thank you.
008And I I got a couple calls today from superintendent some other districts who heard about it and just how incredible it was. So, um, yes, kudos to Jason Burke and Mike Free for, uh, supporting Jason in that endeavor. >> That's it. >> Okay, that's it for recognition. So, at this time, we'll move on to presentations. >> Yeah. So, we have Sean Reagan here with us tonight. And um, you know, from years that uh, Reagan companies have come uh to to uh, offer us a donation in service of our Marcelus uh, Reagan Helping Fund. Um, So that fund helps students in need with various different things through the years. We've helped um purchase eyeglasses for students who needed that support. So their family had had struggles with that. So anything that our counselors identify that students
009might need um that fund is ready and available. And so Sean, thank you for years of that partnership. We are forever indebted to you and I know your dad who started it. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh so I'm Sean Reagan, graduate of Marcelis and uh also representing here Ned Reagan and Mike Reagan, also graduates of Marcellis. Uh and we're always very pleased to provide this donation. Uh and this is really in memory of uh my grandfather Jim Reagan who himself was an educator and we feel his true passion was not insurance, it was actually educating. Uh so this is a great way to honor his memory. Uh, and we really love this program in in how it's structured as Jean spoke of and that it's really up to the the the staff here to determine how
010those funds get used and to use it for those students that uh have the most need. Especially in today's day and age, it seems like there's more uncertainty than ever. So, how can we use this to provide certainty to those that need it the most so that they can have the most fulfilling uh education experience and just, you know, have a great time while they're here to be able to be involved in everything that uh those students that are able are able to. So, uh with that, I'm very pleased to provide another $4,000 donation on behalf of uh Reagan Companies and uh looking forward to many more years of partnership with the school. Thank you. >> We're so grateful. Yes, your generosity is incredible. And I am a school counselor, so I in Liverpool, so
011I understand. I know what it's like to get those phone calls if the you know there's um snow boots or snow pants that are needed or eyeglasses. So, this is a tremendous gift and we're so grateful to you. >> Thank you. Moving on, we have our CTE students uh here tonight and um I don't know how you want to start with um Liz, Joe, you guys want to start because you're the beginning of the slideship. Do you guys know how you're starting? >> You don't know how you start. Oh, you do? Okay. Yeah. Why don't you guys start it off? Let's do your beginning hand. Hi everybody. I'm Jillian Ireland. I'm a 10th grader in the Marcelis FFA and this is my third year in FFA but my first year as an officer. So FFA
012is Future Farmers of America and it is a national youth leadership club which gives students like us opportunities to immerse ourselves in career opportunities as well as leadership opportunities. U my name is Sheamus Clark. I'm a junior here at Marcelus and I've been an FFA for five years. Uh this is my second year as an officer. I'm about to talk about um a couple of the activities that we've been able to do already in the school year. Um so the first thing we did was apple pressing with the kindergarten students. Um we were able to teach them about how the apple cider process works and show them our up andcoming orchard. Uh the next thing we did was we volunteered at Amberations during their fall fest and there we helped and curated different activities for
013the kids to do. Um the latest thing we did was we went to the hollow for FFA social and there we got a tour and we got to learn more about what they do there. Um I also want to recognize ninth grader Mia Moer who was just accepted to be um a national FFA reporter. Thank you. >> Hi my name is Aalia. Hi, I'm a junior here. This is my third year in FFA and it is my second year as an officer. I'm here to talk about our upcoming events. We have a reach sale that we sell to family and friends and we're able to raise money for this organization. We also have a cheese sale that is able to raise money for our organization to keep it alive so the younger generations are able
014to experience everything that we've been able to do and just to keep everything alive and growing. >> Hi, I'm Alice Stevenson. I'm also a junior here and this is my third year first year as an officer. I'm just going to talk a little bit about what we've been doing in our classes across the road up at the egg building. Um I personally am in sustainability science as well as um our mechanics small engines class. And for sustainability science, we've been working a lot on just kind of like planting trees in the orchard and getting that ready for like kids coming up to the apartment. And um we're going to be getting into making our own maple syrup shortly. And in mechanics, we've been doing things like tractor operating and um a lot of like using
015the tools and we've just started um working with our saw. >> Hello, my name is Kase Swindell and I've been in FFA for three years now. Currently, we have begun preparing for uh district level competitions. In these competitions, we do leadership development events which help build our leadership skills in self-confidence. Later on in the year in May, we'll begin preparing for career development events in state level competitions. Here we can help prepare and learn more about careers and responsibilities once we are out of school. Thank you so much for your ongoing support. Do you have any questions? >> I have a question. And I love your jackets. Can you tell us a little bit about Did you design them? When do you wear them? They're beautiful. >> The They're the national >> Oh, so it's
016the national thing. But um >> our names. >> Oh, that's awesome. Those are fantastic. Yeah, they look great. >> Um we have during like the different like sales. So during the read sale, the cheese sale, like if you place first place, you get your name embroidered on a jacket for free. Then second place gets the annual shirt for free and third place just >> so it like pushes you to like sell more. Just being able to raise more money. >> Yeah. >> And it just like keeps the like fun of the sales going. >> I bought your wreath one year. It was one of the nicest wreaths I've ever had. In fact, I would love to get an order form for another one. So yeah. >> Any other questions that you guys have? the soup.
017Can you tell the board about the soup that was prepared? >> Soup? >> It was a freshly grown squash um from Oliver's and it's just >> our cooking classes. The cooking classes with Mr. Kelly. Did they make it up? >> Basic cooking. >> Nice. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That's awesome. Thank you very much. Now we have our family career leaders of America coming up to present. My name is Maddie Harvard. I'm Nelly Humston. I'm Charlotte Stick and I'm Sophia Luckland. And we're all part of Marcelus's family and career and community leaders of America. So, in fact, the seventh graders take drawings that the kindergarteners make of little monsters, and then they make them come to life out of felt by sewing them. And then the language classes make little booklets that pair with
018the monsters. And then the seventh graders go down to the QCH and are partnered up with the kindergartener and then they teach them about colors, body parts, and numbers. In these photos here, we have some of our KCH students that came down to the middle school for cooking classes. This is a part of our KCH start program. And this gave us an opportunity to teach our younger kids some basic kitchen skills like knife skills, how to use an oven, how to use a stove through many recipes like acai bowls, mini pizzas, and many beef balls. And then when you take advanced facts in eighth grade with Mrs. At the end of your career and financial management unit, you take the national wise exam, which is the nationwide financial lit literacy exam. And these are all
019the kids who pass. And then we also had Ella Hates who received one out of five national scholarships. To qualify for the scholarship, you have to get a 95 and above. And then she applied and she got one of five. She was awarded $1,500. Also in advanced facts, each partnership of students gets the opportunity to create a recipe. Each of the students get to watch and critique and taste breakfast. The students in advanced facts also complete a food truck project where they learn how to run a business and create advertising, menus, and pricing. We have local business owners come in to judge this competition and then the winners also get to go to the food truck competition in Syri and these are the foods that they tried. Over the past few months we've been doing
020a fundraiser through funds to or where we ask our community to donate shoes and then we um bag them all up and eventually the company will come and take them all and then they'll donate them throughout the country to those in need. We'll also teaching them skills about um small businesses and we'll also be donating some of the trees there at our own schools to those who need them. For Mother's Day, our FCCLA chapter had students that baked, decorated, and sold these cupcakes as a fundraiser. And it's a great way to do something nice for the moms and also have a fundraiser. Another Mother's Day activity that we did this year was going to the Sarville Garden Mother's Day garden tour. And campus. We sold the bracelets that we made, had a kids station, and
021did face painting. And not only did we make over $800, we also got to teach people in our communities throughout New York State what FCCLA was and what we did. In March, we had students attend the state competition for FCCLA. Yet students compete in a range of competitions including fashion, construction, cupcake decorating, interior design, interview skills, and repurposing design. This is more photos of students who competed. And then we had a lot of student place in silver or gold. And we even had some of them in the top two earning their spot to go to nationalist. This year we went to six of our members went to the national leadership conference in Orlando, Florida over the summer. So we had eight national qualifiers but only six were able to attend. We had Charlotte CE and
022Sophia Laughlin who competed in interior design, Addie Kinsley who competed in personal finance, me Nelly Holston who competed in chapter interview portfolio, Medic Carver who competed in job interview and Sophie Small who competed in the fashion construction. And then we had Addie Hinsley placed in the top eight in the nation and Mina Homson placed in the top three in the nation. And then nationals. At nationals we got to network with people from throughout the country. Went to workshops and competed in star events which are students seeking action with recognition. And that's what we all competed in. This summer we went to summer leadership. This opportunity was available to all members of FCCLA and we had our um officer Alex and our junior leaders attend. So in the photo on the right you can see um
023our officer Alex me and Maddie Carver in a meeting. And then on the photo on the left you can see all the school supplies that we collected to donate to the national the local onian middle school. After summer leadership, Charlotte and I as well as Mrs. Milican were invited to speak on News Channel 9's full school segment and we were interviewed about our time at summer leadership as well as our fundraisers that we're completing at Marcel's in the future. >> That is Oh my god, >> that is really so impressive. you you ladies did an amazing job presenting and all of those opportunities and I know Mrs. Milikin is behind supporting all of that. So really >> they make it easy. >> Oh, they do. They want it. >> That is incredible. They want it
024on you. >> Yeah, that really all the the activities, the everything. I am just so impressed and what an excellent opportunity for for all of you to have. So great job all of you. Yes. two things that I just read about when I when I just listen to all the things that go on on this campus. It it the fact that we're on one campus, the opportunity that it allows for that collaboration between schools is just so much easier than than other schools. You know, it's it's a definitely more challenging if you're not on one campus. So, um just those incredible opportunities for our young ones at PCH and and thanks to, you know, all of you for thinking of them. Uh, in addition, you know, I think about, and we've talked about this several
025times, just the portrait of a graduate and a new graduation requirements that are coming down the pipe for New York State students and these ladies are embody all of you, all of you here are embodying that already. Um, those leadership skills are already being developed in you and um, you're going to be ahead of the game truly. So, um, thank you, Mr. Killian, Mrs. Milikin, for all that you do. um in just ensuring that our students have those opportunities available. Thank you. >> And so, um just do a couple um just quick updates. Um every five years school districts are required to do what's called the building condition survey. That's >> great job, guys. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, every five years, school districts are required by New
026York State to do a building condition survey. And I I've mentioned that we've started this process. We actually started the the paper process several weeks ago. And just last week, Ryan Regler, myself, and Don um with the architect walked Driver Middle School, the outside, and we really only got to the first and part of the second floor. Um it's it's daunting because when you do those walks you really you're just every little nook and cranny you're looking at and it's a little overwhelming. Um once we complete that process of actually doing the walkthrough of all the different buildings um we will start prioritizing the the you know the most dire needs. Um and that's part of the facilities committee. We'll be working with the facilities committee to help us prioritize that. Um but certainly we
027are grateful for our architects and our engineers who are helping us identify and obviously Ryan Reer. Um so that will still be in process. We'll um submit that information to the state in December. Um and then start really using that to develop our list for our next capital project which will be around 2030 2031. Um but again just to to keep you awareness that that is in the works. Um the DMS auditorium is complete and so here is a photo. Um you'll see you'll notice the um the carpet and the lights. It's you don't see them as well right now because it's so bright there, but it's just it looks incredible. Here is um the light booth. Um, again, as you could imagine, Adam Grryer, who does so much of our lighting and electronics during
028the show, he is beyond grateful for this new technology, like state-of-the-art really area. >> Um, and then this, you kind of get a better sense of just what that the um the new carpet and the lighting look like. It It really is an extraordinary space. >> Um, these are stairs and I think it was Rich Ryan, did you >> Rich Dixon? Rich Dixon refinished these stairs and new I mean they're just beautiful. Um and then really that the auditorium is done. We're in the midst Brian is working with um Jack McCullaf and I don't know Jack is Mike McCulliff's son who when he was here um really pushed for having this space redone. um he is a a theater person and just um felt passionate about the the district needs to do something to fix
029this space before it's too late. So um Ryan has been working with Jack um just to see if we can um organize a dedication a formal dedication for this space and just like we did for the egg center we'll do an advertisement and invite people in. >> That's great. Um the inaugural show is the seventh and eighth grade drama that will be November 21st. So yep, we are thrilled with how it turned out. It's incredible. The next thing I want to just quickly touch on just to bring an awareness to the community. um Bose and Boseies is in the midst of developing a capital improvement project and it does impact us because um this our our school district school district actually contributes to that capital improvement project. So um there are two uh spaces that
030they are going to renovate. One is the Courtlandville campus and uh the Thompson Road campus. We have students that attend both. Um, and so just to give you a background, that's none of their spaces have been touched since 2000, even prior to 2000. And so they had a plan back in 2009 to start looking at renovations. And if you remember, there was a financial crisis at that time and they just sort of hit the pause button. Um, but at this point, they are really in dire need. Um, if you go to their website and um, I'll just click on it right now so you can get a sense. Um, this sort of goes through the nittygritty of the project. Um, and there are photos that just show you just some of the um, the really
031intensive needs and facilities and stairsting of powered equipment that um, they're really looking for some support. So in for the capital project it'll be uh state aid will will kick in 65% and then component districts will be 35%. And what that means for Marcelus and they sort of figure this out here on this website if you look here for for Marcellis if you are someone that has no star exemption um that that kick in is about a$134 per year. So I want to bring that awareness. The vote is going to be November 19th. Um there is a public hearing on Thursday, October 16th if anyone is interested. Um but again, you know, we have such a a close partnership with OCM Boseies and we have so many students that attend the programming. It benefits our
032students as well. I don't know if anyone has any questions about that. >> Okay. And now we're on to Mr. Montgomery's report. >> Sure. Um on the capital projecties, if you watch the video, it's very compelling. They have students in the background and they're showing some of the conditions of the buildings and what it would mean for some of the upgrades. So, it's pretty powerful. My goal tonight is to give you an update on some of the professional learning. So, we had our first half day on the 10th and we have another one coming up on the 4th. So we uh took a lens of district level. So we had a trainer from I Ready come in and worked with many different groups of teachers and teacher leaders in particular to not only look at
033the diagnostic itself in the whole act of giving the diagnost diagnostic but also the reports, how to use the my path individualized lessons for students and then really how to look at the data and what instructional decisions could we make from that. Knowing that this is probably going to be a full ye three years before we're up and running and fluid with all the things that I Ready can um actually give us, we followed that by some steps plan. The steps plan is our revised version of APR for teacher evaluations. We looked through um we went through some series of meetings with every building level just to have a Q&A and have some questions about that. Also, our teachers were able to work on uh the required trainings from New York. Uh you might not
034know it's about 283 minutes, just under five hours of training that is required by the state. So, we do give our teachers a little bit of time in order to complete those. Uh and we'll give them some more time as well on the fourth. And then Kerszsw Wild training happened for the special ed department at the high school with the building principal's support. Of course, uh the senior high school students, they or staff looked at student profiles. They looked at who their students are as characteristics and categorized those and then really talked about strategic strategies to use to help those groups of students be the most successful they could be. DMS uh grades seven and eight, they are working on a project called attribute of the month and example November will be kindness. And then
035they went back to their connection survey that Mrs. Rice talked about last year about um pairing up adults with students just to make sure they had a go-to person. And then at DMS for 46, they're working on tier 2 instruction and how to maximize small group instruction time. And then also some of their collaborives such as the library grade six met with um KCH grade 1 and they did a reading activity and of course the hovercraft project. They um and if do we have any video of that? That was so cool. It it is so fun. >> Yeah. But I do >> it was a great experience. And then at KCH they're working on their positivity preventive community service uh projects along with the CRSC which is the culturally responsible responsive educa sustained education plan
036um from state of New York. So, a lot going on in terms of the just one half day. Uh, and we'll be uh we have some upcoming learning on the fourth which is going to be the portrait of a graduate. Um, Gan is going to forecast um what that means in terms of how we need to be thinking on our staff development. Uh we're inviting a group to do data privacy and cyber security training. some of the statistics that are coming out on a weekly basis are alarming and schools are becoming increasing targets of the bad actors in the cyber world. So we're going to work on that a little bit. And then of course our grade level and departments will be working on a host of uh things on that day like our benchmark
037advance I ready data driven uh conversations using data wise along with regions data testing and alignment um and a whole host of more. Um to finish up I wanted to give you an update on our benchmark advance. That's our ELA pilot program. So, we currently have two RTI teachers along with 14 classroom teachers who are working on a one-year pilot for our next ELA program. And I just wanted to mention their names because they are going above and beyond every single day. They are learning a new program while in the midst of teaching as well. So Cindy Warren and Tracy Okconor are the two RTI teachers along with Mackenzie Sarekic, Jill Zakqualo, Diane Edy, Jules Sheridan, Kelly Catrell and Denise Monz, Sue Vet and Mindy Dixie along with Mo Manaki and George Mango at grade
038four and then Colleen Cross and Sandy Kerry at grade five and then Sophie Jackson and Mick Russio at grade six. And then we also have Julianne Wagner who is serving as a liaison to help all of these programs and be on-site job embedded professional development and she's doing an outstanding job. So they um are experiencing the first set of training the week of 108 and 109 where we had benchmark trainers come in and actually model lessons and work with teachers on small groupoup instruction. That's going to happen multiple times throughout the year. And then on the off months that they're not here working with us, they will um set up virtual hours. So our teachers always have access to benchmark. And most this is mostly due to the fact that we're participating in a data
039study with them. So they're running data on our benchmark classrooms versus our non-benchmark classrooms. So we will have some very good data in June with which to help us make final decisions about what products are working best for our kids. And then we should have we hope as a group to come to you in early May to say here's our recommendation looking for your approval on our next ELA program. >> Any questions on our ELA program or professional learning we're working on. I would just like to say I really appreciate all the time that you took in in really looking at all of the different ELA um products that are out there, really working closely with staff and getting feedback from, you know, because obviously once you make that decision, it's a big commitment, but
040you you really have done your due diligence and taken your time and yeah, I think >> thank you for saying that. Our team was pretty dedicated to make sure that we made the best decision possible. Um, our original goal was last year, but we took the time and that was based on teacher feedback and really wanting to make sure that we're doing the right decision for kids. >> Awesome. >> Thank you. >> I just want to I think the fact that you're bringing in the research piece and and collecting data in real time through the feedback loop to reform process um you don't always have the opportunity to do that. >> You're right. And so this lays the foundation for when we get ready to do more work so that we have a process in
041place. >> Thank you. >> Next for report is um Don Weber. So he's going to do just a little rundown of what he's been working on in his office. Um Don so mine is a little bit more of a hodgepodge. We touch a lot we touch a lot of areas. Um, but for the last couple of weeks, I think the the big item was what we call the ST3. It's kind of the state aid report. Um, very lucky. I was I was at a conference last week and uh because of how organized our staff is and how lucky we are to get our audit done early, we're able to get our state aid submission into the state on time where a lot of other school districts are still kind of scrambling to get that done.
042So, I was very grateful uh you know to have our auditors get that done early and really they were able to do it because of the staff being so well prepared. Joanne and Stephanie and and Katherine do an awesome job. So, uh really pleased about that. Um so, uh the large part of it was the the audit information that gets uploaded to the state, but then also having to track down information from Mr. Montgomery and uh Carol Locks in the back there. uh again talking to other school districts, they they have to chase their people around to get this information where I was very lucky. I would have ask a question and have it have the answer like 15 minutes later. So, uh I'm very happy about that. So, this submission uh really drives our
043state aid. Um we're going to get our first state aid report hopefully in November and it's driven by the answers to all these questions. So, we should have an idea or at least the state's first idea of what our aid's going to be next year. Um, so looking forward to that. Uh, I'm going to talk a little bit about this later, but I'll kind of give it a preview now. Um, we're going to ask you to look at a state aid review service that the New York State School Boards Association provides. Um, and this was an idea that Tony floated before he left. He thought it would be a good idea. uh they will look at your last year's uh submission and see if they could if you would have done anything differently, if they
044could have found you any any money. Uh and if they do, if they're successful, we keep 85% of it and they keep 15 as kind of a little finder fee. Um in doing this, it it's all found money for us, which is good. Um but we can take that information and apply it to this year's and kind of use it as a training exercise as well. So looking forward uh to doing that. I'm going to be starting uh really the budget preparation soon. I think in next year or next month's meeting they'll be approved hopefully approving the budget calendar but really we're going to start working behind the scenes before that. We have kind of an idea what we think we know the budget gap is going to be and you know there is always
045a budget gap. So we'll be talking as an administrative team about how we're going to plan to shrink that over the coming months. Um, see, we did a dent in dental and vision insurance switch this year. It was a bit of a bumpy roll out in the beginning, but uh everything should be smoothed out now. People should all now have their dental and vision insurance cards and we're we're moving forward with that. That was another thank you Tony Sacio move that saved quite a bit of money for the district. So, going to be thanking him for quite some time. I heard from our tax collector. I think you may know that we kind of outsourced our tax collection to the town of Anandaga tax collector. She said that this year the Marcel's residents were much
046happier and friendlier. So the first year was people were not so pleased to have to leave uh the village to drive into. But seems like that was maybe just a shock in the first year. Everybody's pretty happy. Uh she did also drop a about a $13 million check off to us the other day, too. So, we're we're doing pretty well there. Uh we're going to start talking about later this week the United Way campaign. And wouldn't you know it, Katherine Branson Dennis, a former United Way administrator in our office, so she's going to head that up uh for us. um school lunch uh program. You know, we're doing school lunch this year. So um Amy Mitchell has told me that really their staff is very busy. Um even looking higher than pre-COVID numbers. So we
047were expecting maybe a 30% increase. We think it's probably even greater than that. So u but they're handling it just fine. Um and everybody's >> doing pretty well. Um, we have an up an upcoming facilities meeting on the 30th, I think, to start reviewing the BCS information. So, all this information that Ryan and I and architects are walking around gathering to start planning for our next capital project. We can start presenting that to facilities meeting and start prioritizing things. Then, I'd like to get a health and safety uh committees meeting uh mid November. So, I haven't scheduled it yet, but I'm looking at 14 weeks. I said I know it's a little we're a little a little over but that's it. >> Thanks Don. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to residents comments. Uh
048public 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 questions and concerns that are brought to the board's attention at a board meeting. that is as it is typically not prudent for the board to make instantaneous determinations. In addition, many issues that are brought to the board's attention 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 superintend superintendent without further board action in accordance with board policy 3220, community relations. Do we have any residents comments at this time? Okay, moving on to business items. Um, business 5.1, second and final reading of board policy. Resolved that the board of
049education approved second and final reading of the following board policies. You can see them there before you. Policy 4240, administrative latitude in the absence of board policy. And policy 4250, use of committees. And then policy 4260, evaluation of the superintendent and other administrative staff. And policy 4310, superintendent of schools. Can I have a motion? >> Motion, Jen. >> Second, Kelly. Questions or comments about any of that before we vote? >> So, these are all just really clean up policies. Um, one of them I'm sort of um suggesting that we abolish because it's really not necessary. Um, again, if you remember, I sort of follow closely with query one policy manual and make those suggestions based on that. So, um, these are all just clean up, nothing really substantial. >> Any other questions before we vote?
050Comments? All those in favor? >> I opposed carried. Item 5.2 Two, first and final reading of board policy. Resolve that the board of education approves first and final reading of the following board policy. Policy 6580, employment benefits for designated school administrators. Can I have a motion? >> Justin second. Sean, questions or comments before we vote? So this one, if you remember, we shifted the um position of director of technology to our bargaining unit with the MAA, Marcelus Administrators Association, in which case this is the the policy that used to govern that position. We just simply deleted that position from it. So that's what CB3. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.3, approval of revised board of education meeting dates for dates for 2025 2026. Resolve that the board of education approved the
051revised meeting dates scheduled for 2025 and 2026. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Erica. Thank you. >> Second, Jen. Jen, questions or comments before we vote? >> So, this Colleen and I really were just trying to figure out this must just have been a simple clerical error. The only change here is Monday, May 11th, and that is now correct. The previous one that we we put before you in the spring said Monday, May 4th, and the reason why it has to be May 11th is you um were the budget vote is May 19th and the hearing cannot be more than seven days before that. So that's why we have here May 11th. Strangely enough, in the calendar that got mailed out to families, it is correct as May 11th. So I think some
052strange glare. So, we just wanted to formally correct it with with the board tonight. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.4, gift donation to Marcelus Central School District. Resolve that the board of education accepts the donation of a 1941 farmal a tractor with multiple accessories for the purpose of teaching students how to work on machinery as well as operate machinery. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. Justin. >> Justin. >> Second. Kelly. >> Questions or comments before we vote? >> So, this sort of is just illuminates the relationships that our CTE teachers have with outside entities. So Joe Killian um has you know a relationship with um Scott Green who you know in talking with Joe said hey I your kids would really be interested in having this tractor and learning how
053to you know fix it how to change you know all of the different things that you know spark plugs whatever whatever it might be to keep a tractor that age um running. So, um, Joe of course brought that to us and absolutely we want those opportunities for our kids to learn that right here at school. >> So cool. Awesome. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Item 5.5, gift donation to Marcella Central School District from the Reagan Companies. Resolve that the board of education accepts the donation from the Reagan Companies to Marcella Central School District. Can I have a motion? Eric >> Erica second >> second >> Jen thank you all those in favor >> opposed carried okay um moving on to item 5.6 Six, approval of 2025 Marcela Central School District um NISBA
054SAS agreement and um resolved that the board of education approves the agreement between New York State School Board Association and the Marcelus Central School District for the state aid review services. Can I have a motion? >> Motion Sean. >> Second, Justin. All right. Any questions or comments? So that's what you were referring to. Yes. the same one I talked about just >> Yeah. Yeah. So, this is a service that um this >> they'll review our our previous state aid submissions to see if they could find us additional state aid. If they do, then they keep a 15% >> keep 85%. >> Tony also, I mean, as Don mentioned, Tony was the one that suggested it. Yeah. Um the the beauty of it is Don's going to learn from these state aid, you know, gurus what
055what he can be looking for in the future. So um it's just good timing with a, you know, a new school business administrator to, >> you know, have this done now so that we can learn from it. >> Don, how how far back um will the review go? like five years back coord >> they'll do. So the the reason that we're timing it this way is that we can get two years out of it. So they're going to review last year's but while they're doing that I'll be able to to also revise this year. So they're just going to look at one next year. >> What do they typically find? Do they find enough to make it worth their while? >> Uh no with Tony here probably. Probably not. But uh yeah there are instances
056where they could find hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the first questions they asked me was when was when's the last time um anybody reviewed your transportation department because there's a lot of aid is driven through there. Sure. >> And I and and they haven't reviewed this district in a while. So they were very confident that they're going to be able to find something. So >> great. >> We'll see. >> And once they find something, then the district, I would imagine, has to submit for it, right? They aid in that process as well. >> We'll have to revise our previous year's stated sub. And then once that gets confirmed that we're going to get that money, then they'll >> then then they get their cut. Yep. Okay. >> Yeah. So, we'll keep you posted.
057>> Yeah. As the process continues. >> All right. Any other questions or comments before we vote? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Okay. Um, authorization to enter into agreement with is it Lehey? >> The Ley. I think >> Ley the Ley company. Resolved that the superintendent of schools be authorized to enter into an agreement with the Lehey Company Incorporated for historical review of workers compensation premium calculations. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Kelly. >> Second. Erica, questions or comments? >> So much like I'll punt to Don, but this is much like the above SAS agreement, but it's with workers comp. >> So yeah, very very similar. This leggy company is a private company. They've done this for us in the past. Um, they review, >> I guess I would describe it almost
058as like our credit rating for >> uh workers compensation, but New York State, New York State doesn't change the rates, those ratings regularly. So, they can do a make an appeal to the state on our behalf and say, well, the district was, you know, had a rating of 081 and it really should have been 77. And if it was, you know, they would have saved x amount x amount of money. So, um, that's the service they provide. The last time they did this, I think, uh, was 2017, they were able to recover $13,000 for us. >> And that's is the same in that if there is a savings, they get a portion of it, but there's no cost to the service unless they find funding. >> Correct. Except that the split's a little bit less
059generous in this case. It's it's a 50-50 split. Okay. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried. Okay, moving on to personnel. Approval of personnel items. Resolved that the board of education approves the following personnel items. You can see them listed there before you. 6.1 through 6.14. I'm sorry. I have a motion. >> Motion Sean. >> Sean. >> Second. Erica. Questions or comments before we vote? I see we have Katrina. You know, she just such an amazing teacher and um we're excited for her, but also sad that we're going to lose her. Um, and then obviously Lori Updike who's been an institution here in Marcelis. Um, >> and Lori does plan to continue to coach, which is nice and and sub here. So um, we're losing her, but not entire. So,
060but just kudos to both of them and um, we're sad to see them go, but we're excited for them as well for their next chapter. >> Certainly. Congratulations to both of them. Any other questions or comments before we vote on any of those personnel items before you? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Buried. All right. Moving on to consent agenda. Approval of consent agenda items. Resolve that the board of education approves the following consent agenda items. You can see them listed there before you. 7.1 through 7.7. Can I have a motion? >> Jen, >> second Justin. Questions or comments about any of those items before we vote? All those in favor? >> Opposed? >> Carried. Number eight,formational items. >> Yes. >> Radar and for the community. Um, our homecoming is this Friday, October 24th. It
061is sure to be an amazing uh night under the beautiful lights of Marcelus uh field. Um, also our New York State assessment results. We'll plan to review those with the board like we did last year at the November meeting just to give you sort of a sense of where we are um with 3 through8 testing. Um, and then also the parent advisory council. I mentioned that um you know I started that last year. I think I have maybe about seven to 10 parents. This year I have about 21 parents and so that starts October 29th. Um excited for just to again hear from parents and their experiences and um things that they think we're doing great uh with and other things that they may have ideas on how they could do things differently. So, um
062I'm excited to to meet with some of the same parents who will be on part of that ador council, but I'm welcoming some new ones as well. >> K through 12, right? K any parent in the district that wanted to be a part of it. And then um our superintendent student cabinet um the applications have been submitted. So this year um students had to submit a resume uh and have a cover letter and a letter of recommendation and then we're starting an interview process with those students. Not not really a long interview process but just to give them that experience um next week and then we'll make those selections from there. Um, but again, just excited to interface with uh our students and hear what what they think we should do uh differently and you
063know what what they think we're we're doing great with um strategic planning. I just want to you know let the community and the board know it is live and well. Um I think every meeting that I go to from our principles to meetings that Mr. Montgomery holds um we ground ourselves in our strategic plan um and are constantly looking at it to see are we meeting what we and our stakeholders committed to to uphold. Um and so uh we'll continue to review that. Um but we're you know again uh grateful that we have that sort of um path to follow in achieving the things that you heard so much from Mr. Montgomery. um that is all under the strategic plan looking to improve student experience but also um our academics. So um again kudos to
064our whole team for just again making sure that we're living and breathing that strategic plan on a daily basis. >> And Jane for your student cabinet, did you get a lot of applications? >> I did. Yeah. Um I think I got a total of maybe 22 applicants. Um, I I try to pick about 12 to 15. It's hard though. I mean, I I won't know for sure until after the interviewing process. Um, some kids will sort of as the process goes forward um drop out. So, um I I probably will end up with 12 to 15 students. >> I I got one thing for for homecoming week. I just want to kind of shout out some of the the teachers that do a great job as well as some class advisors. It's really a group
065effort. Mrs. Willis takes a lot of a lot of that toll with organizing like kickball for school today and even some of the Powerpuff stuff that goes on on the turf later in the week. But student government and the the class advisors for each class are really organized with home room meetings before school and just the pep rally on Fridays. We make a lot of fun and then hopefully the football game to cap it off and our homecoming dance on Saturday. It's really gonna make a great week. Yeah, it's great. >> Tucker, thank you for doing that. Absolutely appreciate >> the dance. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I was Is the dance here on campus? >> I was just in the gym on Saturday night. Yes, it's great. And I that's not always been like I
066know there's been periods where it hasn't been a thing. So, I was glad to hear coming back and hopefully we meet a lot of people and selling tickets and lunch and seems like there's some excitement around it. >> That's good. >> Yeah. >> Do you have spirit week this week? Like, >> yep, that's today was America Monday. Tomorrow is tropical Tuesday and it goes week and and Mrs. Willis again does a great job. She announces the results. So, you know, I think it was after 8th or 9th period today. She announced it. So, you're you're listening in the hallways. It just it gets people excited. Yes. >> And on Tucker, the game is at 7 on Friday evening. >> And and uh who are they playing? >> Bishop Len Grimes SAS. So, all those schools.
067Yeah. Hopefully, it won't be too cold, but I know our guys will be ready. >> Excellent. Good to hear. >> Enjoy the week. >> Yeah, we'll do. Thank you sucker for adding that. >> Okay, at this time we will enter executive session. Resolved that the meeting in public be adjourned and an exe an executive session be convened for the purpose of the discussion of matters made confidential by law. Student records made confidential pursuant to the family educational rights and privacy act and the discussion of contact contract negotiations. Can I have a motion? construction. >> Second, Justin. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Carried.