001Right. Good evening. Thank you for joining us for the board meeting. I'll let the record show all board members are in attendance. Um please stand and join us for the pledge. All right. 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. >> Were there any changes or additions to the agenda? >> No. >> Two in a row. Gold star. [laughter] Amazing. There are no changes and no questions. Can we get someone to approve the agenda, please? >> I'll move it. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstained. Motion passes. All right. [snorts] On in we have a food service. I'm just going
002to come over there. You can leave it. Are you doing this presentation? >> Actually, our food service director is. >> Okay. I'm going to go sit over here. Did you leave him just enough room to get through? >> Hi. >> So, uh, for those of you that don't know, this is, uh, Rich Card. He's our shared food service director. Uh, we have him as a.5 FTE. He's shared with U Red Jacket, who also has 0.5 FTE. And, uh, we're very glad that he's with us. He's doing a great job. And so he's going to share some of his information with you. >> I don't know if the board wants it while I'm setting up if you just want to introduce yourself or >> me to each other. >> Hi Michelle. [laughter] >> Sorry I didn't
003mean to make it awkward. [laughter] Okay. Don't ask too many questions. He's about to do a presentation. I want to see. [laughter] >> I'll ask you questions when it's done. >> So, I um >> You can if you pull it up, I can get you. >> I I started here what at end of June and um I come with um over 20 years [clears throat] of long-term care experience. um and got to the point in my career I was like I I think I need a little bit of a change and uh this opportunity came up and I'm so glad I I I found this because um I'm just ecstatic to be here. I mean and I don't just say that. I really am. I think I've said it to Rich multiple times. Yeah. [laughter]
004>> Uh okay. So, like um like Rich said, my name is Richard Card. I'm the uh food service director. And um tonight's update is on our food service operations and how we provide um meals that are uh nutritious, compliant, and sustainable. And I do have notes or else I lose my place. [snorts] Um so, areas of focus tonight. Uh we'll I'll focus I'll talk a little bit on uh food procurement. I have a tough time with that word. Um some regulations and how we put our menus together. Um and you know a little bit of how these things shape what what we put on the menu, what we serve. [snorts] Um I know Rich presented this at a previous uh board meeting, but I just wanted to throw this up there as a review. Um
005we did a in November we did a uh food service survey. 130 students and and um staff members completed the survey. Cafeteria staff did awesome. I mean that that um that category they just knocked it out of the park. And that really goes to show just like how much our staff in food service they really care about the students and what they're doing. We did have some uh couple places of opportunity in overall taste of food and also in the variety of food and I'll I'll talk about that more more um in the presentation. Um so goals tonight is uh I'm going to explain a little bit about how purchasing works. We're going to talk about some um regulations and I'll show how we put all of that together to uh to provide the food.
006[clears throat] Um why procurement matters to the district. So um it matters because it really defines like what what we're doing. Um, it it determines, like it says here, determines what food we're allowed to buy, who we're allowed to buy it from, um, how we buy it. Um, and it really it it comes down to, um, using our our our providers uh, to get good quality. And um it also protects the taxpayer dollars um through through fair and documented um purchasing. >> You have to excuse me. I am a little nervous. I don't do this very often. >> I'm usually hiding in the kitchen. [laughter] >> You're doing great. Just relax. >> All right. So, um USDA foods. Now, this used to be called commodities or brown box or government food. So, this is um
007this is a national school lunch program entitlement. So, this is this is provided by the USDA and and it doesn't cost the district. So, um we uh th these foods help offset food costs. [snorts] Um this is money that we don't that the district doesn't pay for. This includes stuff like canned fruits, frozen vegetables, um some meats, um some dairy stuff, a lot of cheeses, um and uh we actually I I'll be planning this for um the 26 27 school year next month where we'll look at what products we want to we want to bring in. And then how this really works is like we'll I'll put in what we want and then it's never a guarantee that we're going to get exactly. I mean we get we get a lot of what we what
008we request. [snorts] Um it and it really depends on especially the fruits and vegetables depends on harvest like say if we get um the big thing uh strawberries frozen strawberries um if that's not a good strawberry crop that year we might not get that or we might not get as much [snorts] as we we had asked for. Um so I'll be planning this next next month in February for next school year. And then they they distribute it like they spread it out. Um it's not like we get 20 cases of frozen strawberries at one time. It'll [snorts] be spread out throughout the year. Um >> can I ask >> on a monthly? Yeah. >> A question. Sorry. [laughter] >> So you have to like >> you have to put in your request for the entire
009year at one time. >> Yes. Right. >> Yep. Yep. And then and then like I said they it doesn't come in one drop. It's it's spread out throughout the year. Um, and they could say they give us a date of like, all right, so this is gonna this is going to hit the distributor's warehouse this month and we may or may not get it. But I mean, probably 85% of the of the time we get what, you know, what they say we're going to get. Um, so how does this drive program success? So, um, food quality and safety, it's very consistent. uh the products that we're getting are are consistent. It does give us a great, you know, great uh menu variety. There's a lot of products that we can that we can choose from.
010Um and um the program costs, of course, you know, with the USDA food that we're not we're not spending money on that um to bring that in. So, some limits on our purchasing. Um so we have to follow uh Wayne Fingerlakes Boseies has a co-op um purchasing and not just for food like all all um departments have that too. Um but we uh we follow their contracts. Um right now we have Cisco as our main our broadline distributor. Um Upstate Milk uh Bimbo Bread. Uh so we use all those those vendors and it's the limit is really like what they offer and what they have like um so US foods might have different products that Cisco does and if that changes um say next year or um you know the year after that we have
011to go through Cisco or excuse me US foods that product we got from Cisco may not be available [clears throat] wouldn't be available to us anymore. Um and then also uh nutritional requirements fall fall into that too. So storage space and staff and equipment that we have available to us to use in in our kitchens um affect or uh limits what we get to [snorts] uh regulations that govern school meals. Oh my gosh, there's a lot of them. So these are these two programs are are the biggest. The National School Lunch Program and the school breakfast program. There is a bunch as you can imagine there's a bunch of regulations that that come along with these um these are federal programs and following these are what enables us for to get our reimbursements um from
012the federal from the federal government. So some of the nutritional standards um calories so we have a um calorie range for and it's broken out to great to u gra um fruits and vegetables. So these these five um components here fruits and vegetables whole grains lean proteins and milk. Those are five components that we have have to offer say at lunch every day. Um so they have what they call offer versus serve. uh we have to offer uh a fruit, a vegetable, a whole grain, uh lean protein, and milk all in a certain a required amount. So, we offer those. That doesn't mean the student has to take all five of those. They have to take three at least three of those components. One has to be a fruit or a vegetable. [snorts] Um and
013they do that. They It used to be where they had to take everything. Well, there was a lot of waste going on because they don't some students just don't want all of it. Um, so to to um counteract that, they they want what they offer versus serve. So, we also have limits on sodium um saturated fat and added sugars. Um there's limits on that and that does affect everything that we purchase too. Like if we're going to use a new product or we're looking at a product we use, you know, I'm looking at sodium content, uh fat content, sugar content. [snorts] Um other other things that come into that, there's vegetable subgroups. Uh on a weekly basis, we have to offer a dark green vegetable. We have to offer an orange or a red vegetable.
014A legume, we have to offer um at least at least right at least once a week. >> Lord. Yeah. Um and and the good thing is here and I'll talk a little bit about this is [clears throat] that um through our fresh fresh fruits and vegetables um they do the the staff do a great job. They put out beautiful uh like fresh vegetable boats and it's an everyday thing, you know, so it's and and they go well and the students love them. Um so I mean we're covered with that. I don't even really have to look at the menu. Do we have a red vegetable? Because I know that every day we're offering a veggie boat with red peppers in it. >> The legumes is different. Sometimes [laughter] it's hard to get that into the
015menu. It's like, how do I hide these black beans? >> Chili on a [snorts] baked potato. >> Yes. >> Next month. >> Nice. >> Right. Next month we got baked potato. >> Okay. Um, so that so what I was just talking about is what you know it's why we can't always serve the popular foods um or the popular foods that we do serve don't taste as good as as the students may think they should because there's a fat limit. We all know that fat is one of the things that make food delicious. Um and salt and salt and sugar. All [laughter] the things that eliminate are are um >> everything else >> is what we [laughter] um so >> but I love the red peppers. >> Yes. As long as there's ranch. Um so when
016when we look at our meals, we have to make sure that they they meet the nutritional um rules first. And then um some some foods, like I said, we'll we'll we'll do um we'll do some things, but we have to change how we make them or limit them on the menu. Um one of the one of the big things that I've noticed coming into this sector in K12 was a low-fat ice cream. I am an ice cream fanatic. I I try not to, but I could eat ice cream every day. And I tried a low-fat ice cream and I was not impressed. I mean, at least we have ice cream, but the low-fat ice cream is it just leaves dip in >> leaves me wanting. [laughter] All right. Um, so principles that guide menu uh
017decisions. So, [snorts] um, we we look at using our US our um USDA entitlements first, the food that we have coming in. So, I have a list of foods and when when I we can expect them um uh when they're coming in and I'll put um put that stuff on the menu. Um and then we just we we balance this uh the nutrition, the cost and if the students are going to accept it. Um and then also uh labor plays into that, you know, what what kind of staff we have and time we have and also equipment plays a role in that. if we have um equipment to um in the kitchen to do certain things. [snorts] Um a little bit more on that. The USDA entitlements I talked about contracted products. Um, we look
018at the nutritional analysis of the whole menu as a whole in a week at a week glance and also in a daily or um um daily because some of the regulations do say within a week you can exceed this. Um so you can kind of [clears throat] mix and match or or um limit things on a daily basis um to do that. Um whole grains is one of them. Um and then um we we adjusted the menus on historic participation basically what the kids like. I mean if you know we we prepare 200 of something and only 50 go out the door we know that that's not a great product that you know um but if we run out of something when we do that then we're like okay this goes back on this goes
019back on the menu. Um, okay. Operation challenges we manage daily. Staffing shortages. Um, sometimes, yes, that's definitely something that we we have to address on a daily basis. Special diets. Now, this is something that um allergies play into that. Um, we're seeing more and more gluten um gluten-free um diets. Um, and then balancing nutrition with the students [clears throat] preferences. It's that's the game right there is really getting nutrition in there and getting them um to eat the food and um and like the food. And then ch supply chain disruptions that's starting to to two three four years ago that was huge supply. I mean, it's starting to level out now, but still sometimes we have times when um just production from uh whether it be Tyson or you know, whatever company, it's just not
020um they just don't have it. Um or or the the the supply company didn't order enough for the warehouse. They [snorts] ran out. Um okay, talk a little bit about uh scratch cooking here. That's one of the questions that that I get asked um occasionally is how much scratch cooking do you do? Um well, when we look at scratch cooking um the benefits and the in the uh the the limits. So, of course, scratch cooking it's it's great. I mean, we we um we can use fresher ingredients. We can we have greater control. Um, but it comes with a trade-off because it's uh it increases labor and training. Um, it takes uh more time for prep and and and that type of thing. And then more equipment and also food safety plays into that which
021[snorts] um when when you when you're talking about scratch cooking, the more we do, the more training we need to do, the more documentation we have to do, the more staff we have staffing we have to do. Um with with with scratch cooking, we're touching more ingredients. There's more critical control points that we have to control um to keep the food safe. So, when we talk about heat and serve, this is um buying prepared foods and heating them up. There's less ingredients. It's it's all it's prepared. So, we're just we're heating them up. There's only one or two um uh critical control points. So, most schools do a combination of the two. Um, and then we call it speed scratch, which is just simply taking something, for example, like a a chicken patty and making
022chicken parm with it with with um sauce and and shredded mozzarella. Um, or, you know, just taking pre-made ingredients and combining them into some into a uh a different u menu item. [clears throat] Um, but like I said, most K12's program, they operate in the middle of this of [snorts] this uh continuum. Um so back to our survey um and the two the two areas that we could improve on um the taste of the food and the variety. Um some of my ideas here um work with a student council and start a student advisory um group or board or something like that. Um, I know that the student council meets monthly. Um, that's something that I'd be interested [cough] in doing is is getting with them and uh seeing if we can figure out whether
023it be [clears throat] um me being at the meeting with them or or something um doing more taste tests um in the in the right in the cafeteria. We can have we can have um food brokers or or um people come in. We could do it ourselves. Um, usually the the food brokers are happy to come in and and test a product. We did it we did it at Red Jacket, which is the other school that I that I'm at, and they loved it. Um, [clears throat] it was actually chili and cornbread. They love I think they like the cornbread more than the chili, but we put it on the menu um after that and it it went very well. Um, and then just increasing the uh the student communication with with menus, maybe some
024some signage, some promotional stuff in the cafeteria. Um, and then like really u bolstering that feedback loop saying, you know, basically says that we heard you and this is what we did. um and making sure that they that they that they know that um some takeaways had comments saying this um dietary [snorts] uh regulations um they define our requirements procurement defines the allow the allowable purchasing and many development is where we balance all of that, the cause, the student needs, and the wants. Um, oh, and then the questions and discussion slide. >> I probably I feel like I flew right through that. [laughter] >> No, >> did I drag it on? >> Not at all. >> Okay. Well, balance. >> I think you were good. Um, I was going to I don't really have any
025questions, but I was going to tell you that I've noticed with my two kids who attend here the junior senior high at the beginning of the year, they were packing lunch three or four days a week. Now, they don't they don't pack at all. They're like, there will be something there that I eat and so they just prefer not to pack their food. So there has whether all the students see the change or whether my kids even actually see notice that change they have seen they they have seen that there will always be something here they eat and it's not worth their time packing food and taking a lunch box around with them all day long. So >> that's good. >> Um like last year they refused to eat at all at the school. So
026like I've seen this improvement. So I think that's a testament to the work you've put into it. Um, like I do get the I do get the feedback that they don't always feel like they listen that you guys listen like when food. So that's like close that feedback loop like show them hey this was the feedback we got. This is a change we made, >> right? >> They don't necessarily catch on to that but they do eat here five days a week now when they did it before. >> So must have changed. >> So something has changed. They just always clicked that feedback loop in their head. I think that the I think that the feedback loop is is going to be huge because um I'm not sure if there is an avenue for them
027to give us feedback. I mean besides in the in the lunch line >> or it just coming back through word of mouth that that lunch sucked or that lunch was >> What about just little slips each day on their tray like what did you guys leave? I thought about a a comment box um whether in whether it be um >> paper or electronic. I mean we they all have laptops, right? >> Their laptop and >> Right. But yes, I agree. I think that that's I think that that's huge. >> But there has been a change. So whether they've realized it or not, they my kids at least know that they [clears throat] could find a meal here at lunch. They've actually started to do breakfast some days as well. >> Okay. So, >> yeah, my
028kids do both. Well, one of them does breakfast. They both do lunch every day. And uh this school is the only place that my kid will eat vegetables at. So, [clears throat] thank you. [laughter] >> Well, and I was just I was just going to say as you're saying that, you know, it's it's >> I have to give props to my to my team. I mean, it's it's really them who are doing the hands-on, you know, all that hands-on work. I mean it's it's >> Yeah. >> I have a question. I've asked a lot about the heat and go we're now a warming kitchen. >> Yes. Yes. >> You talked a little bit about speed scratch. Is there anything you think you are missing that would make it better for you in the kitchen? Like
029are there ovens can you make >> like equipment wise? Is that what you're saying? Well, yes, it it does take more staff. If you make a giant pan of cornbread, one person has to put it in the oven. You know, it's >> Right. Right. No, I I see what you're saying. Um I mean, each each uh each food item is different and I mean different cooking processes and stuff like that. I mean, I think I I mean, we got the basics, you know, we've got we've got a combi oven, which is awesome. Um, we've got convection ovens. Um, I mean, other than going full-blown like give me a hotel kitchen, you know, with fryers and all that stuff for fries. [laughter] >> I know. I know. >> But I No, and I and I realized
030that would go way out >> without [laughter] looking at specific like food items. I mean, I I plan, oh, but we can't get that because we don't have this. Like there's not something that kept coming up. Not really. Not that I can think of. >> No. >> Okay. I think the suggestion box is a great idea. It might not be a great idea. A wooden suggestion box, but like some place the kids can come and while they're thinking about it open >> and accept the fact you're get weird suggestions in there. >> Oh yeah. >> Or irrelevant. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> But >> or candy wrappers, >> right? [clears throat] Well, if you do it digitally, no candy wrappers. No important milk in. No. [laughter] >> Right. >> I do really like your ideas
031about like connecting with kids in person like you know maybe some kids would even opt into that to like connect with you during a lunch period. Do you know what I mean? Or connect with Mrs. Ellsworth like whatever it might be. I love that. And I think too like the chances to like sample some new things and I think those are great. So the sampling thing I think is is good too, you know, because then when we put it on the menu, we can say this was a hit. This was >> what we tried, you know. Um this was a student choice >> Yeah. >> Um item. Yeah. >> I just like >> fun stuff. Yeah. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> Well, thank you so much. That was great. >> Thank you for having me.
032I'm just gonna stay here for right now. Okay. Have to move back in. >> Did we have anybody sign up for comments on the agenda? >> I did not. [laughter] [clears throat] Board of Education reports. we had on here to discuss the New York State doctor tax exemption for 100% disabled veterans. We did get some information back, but we did leave it on here because we wanted to discuss it so everyone knew we had discussed it. So, >> I'm not sure that everyone got information back. >> Okay, then that we're going to discuss it now so everyone knows the same thing. >> So, I had a I had a community member reach out to me. New York State passed the ability for local taxing authorities to create an exemption for 100 100% disabled veterans and
033we c we have the ability to exempt them from you from our school taxes. So a while back I don't even know how long ago there were some other exemptions that had come up that we as a board decided not to allow um because it was I think it was like emergency services volunteers or there's some other ones in the past and we decided that we weren't going to do it because when we exempt one person from a tax that means everyone else pays those taxes. We're not we're we don't get that money from anywhere else. So if we say these 20 people don't have to pay school taxes that means those 20 people's taxes get spread over the rest of the people. However, since most of this board was not here at that discussion
034time, I thought I would bring this up. Um, and when I sent the request to Michelle and Ellen to put it on the schedule, I had a few questions I thought that would be helpful if they came prepared to answer. And that's the that's what Michelle is referring to. Um, and the the four questions I had was, do we know how many people in the district would qualify? Are we talking one? Are we talking 20? that makes a difference. Um how many how would it impact the rest of the community? And it's exactly as I said like if they don't pay taxes, somebody else pays that tax. So increase everyone else's a certain percentage. Um but do we have to fully exempt or can we partially do a partial exemption and can we revoke the
035exemption in the future? So once we accept it, if we decide this really isn't working for our community because we have a large population that moves into the district, can we go backwards? So Rich came back with some answers and I will let him give those answers. And then my my my request for tonight was just put it up for discussion, not to make a decision. If we would want [clears throat] to make a decision, we could add it to a future agenda, but I just thought it was worthwhile to discuss it and actually make a decision instead of just ignoring it. Okay, so question [clears throat] one, um, how many people in the district will qualify? So, just let me just back up a second. So, when I received the question, um, I researched
036it and I also reached out to the town assessor, um, and the town assessor was great. He responded immediately, um, with some documentation regarding, um, the new recently passed, um, law. So his his comments were that very few people in the state are going to qualify for this because in order to be 100% disabled um you have to meet some very stringent requirements. Um so I can't imagine that there would be more than if any more than one or two people that would qualify. Um and I can forward you the document that has that information. Um, so that was I believe question one. Question two, how would this impact the rest of the community? So if there were one or two, let's just say there was $10,000 in exception if there was one or two
037people that qualified, then that money would get spread out amongst the remaining taxpayers. So we have roughly 25 or 2600 taxpayers. So if you take a rough average, that's like $4 a household that would be absorbed. Um, so that's question two. Question three, do we have to fully exempt or can we you'd have to do a full exemption? Um, question four, can you revoke the exemption? That I'm not sure about. So, I'm not going to speak 100% either way, but I can't imagine a scenario where once you provide that exemption that you would take away. So, you know, you have 100% disabled veteran and then next year you decide, nope, you're going to pay taxes this year. So, I don't know politically that would be a good move, but so those are the four questions
038that were asked. So I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on it or I want to move forward, but I agreed to bring it to the board for discussion and at some point a decision. So >> So you said that someone asked you about this? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I had seen it in the news. >> Uhhuh. >> Um and then it went out because it didn't directly impact me. that I had a community member reach out to me who is a person that would I know there's at least one that would benefit because this is a person that would benefit from it but so the part of the qualification is um that you would apply and the VA would have to approve it. Um, so they would have to be approved and
039then obviously they would provide that to the town assessor in order to be exempt if the board approved that exception. >> And if people want to think about it and put it on a future agenda, I'm perfectly fine. Like this is just kind of out of the blue. But >> what are other do you know what other districts are doing or have done? I accepted that you know >> I actually brought this up at the Wayne County meeting uh last week and at that point nobody even knew about it. So, but to [snorts] Rob's point earlier, you know, the [clears throat] general consensus is is that, you know, once you start providing exemptions, now you're providing that burden to the rest of the taxpayers. And if you approve one exemption, then it may be expected
040that you approve other exemptions and it just kind of snowballs. So, from a business official standpoint, we typically don't promote that. So, we were given the ability by the state, but the state themselves did not grant it. They said you can do it. >> It's not mandatory. >> Correct. Every local taxing authority has the option option. So, Wayne County could, the town could, we could. >> Um, but I don't know that anyone else has moved to do it yet. >> It's it's it's very fresh. >> It was just like within It's not even a month old since it's been passed. And it will really won't impact us as a district until we get ready to build for taxes next time. So we have several months to do it. >> Yeah, it has to well it
041[clears throat] goes through the tax assessment. So I I'm not sure what the cuto off date would be before it would be impact on the following year. >> Yeah. But >> so we could definitely think about this and come back in a month discuss >> okay for so first meeting of February >> there's one meeting in February February 10th >> do you want to push to the first meeting in March because that will that be a big meeting we have plenty of time to discuss too you know what I mean >> there would in February. That's when we end there, too. >> I'm okay even pushing it to the end of March, right? >> So, okay. March >> because that tends to be a lower meeting. It allows us more time to think. We can
042adequately process it ourselves, come back and have a discussion >> when we're not don't have a whole lot of other stuff. >> Did anyone else have anything like discussing? Next up, we have superintendence report. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Mr. Wise. All right. So, um I have a couple different topics tonight. We'll uh have a little discussion around uh school having a school resource officer. As the board knows, I was recently away for training with the Wallace Foundation for the Wallace Foundation grant. So, I have like a little update on what I learned there, what the goal is for that work. Uh, a little bit of information around upcoming school finance items, an update on the boost grant, and an update on our Pomeroy marker. So, school resource officer, we've been waiting, as the board knows,
043for a long time to come to the top of the list for a school resource officer. Um, so now we're at the top of the list. So they emailed me and said we have some availability. So we need to make a decision on if the district is interested in uh moving forward with funding a school resource officer. So, uh, they sent along the budget. And tonight, what I thought we would do, similar to, you know, what the board just did for the exemptions for disabled veterans, have some real like discussion around this and maybe generate some questions that we can send along to the sheriff's department so that we can come back to make a decision. So, uh, just a little bit in terms of the costs associated with this. So uh the first chunk
044is about uh the budget if you have a school resource officer for 10 months. So the September through June model. So the total cost for 10 months is $105,976. Then the second chunk is if you do a full 12-month contract and that cost is 127,172. And then there's this summer option uh for the two months of summer and that's $21,195. So all of them are broken out the same way. So, there's a salary amount, a benefits amount, an overtime amount, a vehicle, uniforms and equipment amount, and an administrative cost amount. So, um, looking at this information, I don't know if the board has like any initial questions. I know um in sending out this information, Michelle had a few initial questions that I reached out to the sheriff's department to get answered. So, I'll share
045those with you now and then if we have additional questions, we could generate them and have some discussion around this so we kind of know how we want to move forward. Um so, are SRO's at school over school breaks and holidays? Uh the answer to that question was yes, but it's contractual that SROs have to use their vacation time during the school holidays and breaks. Um a question around overtime costs like those were a built-in line of the budget. So I'll go back quickly. So you'll see um I'm looking at the 10-month category. The cost for overtime is about $8,333. So, um, the question was, is that like built in or is it a pay as we go model? Is there a certain amount of overtime allocated? Um, so the answer for that was that
046we work overtime into the contract. Uh, it sounds like there isn't an SRO in the program that hasn't met or gone over that allowed amount. and it's a fixed cost that the sheriff's department came up with after um reviewing the first several years of the program. Um again, it's not pay as you go. It's a fixed part of the contract. Um and it's associated with a fixed daily cost for the school resource officer. Um this was a question around hours. This was something in conversation um with our admin team thinking about the times of day at school that we would want a school resource officer and the times that um for example like after school activities, sports, events that we have um a question around is it possible to for these people in SR to
047have a flexible schedule. So, for example, like could we say on Monday and Tuesday we want you to work 7:30 to 3:30, but on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday we have some events, so we want you to work 12 to 8. Um, that's not allowable. So, there's no um flexing hours to avoid overtime and the current hours are 7:30 to 3:30 for an SRO. Um, I think that's why the cost of overtime is built in because you certainly can ask your SRO, you know, we have this basketball game tonight, we have the musical on Thursday, like can you stay late? And those are the reasons that overtime's built into the cost um in terms of vehicle uniform and equipment that line are those recurring costs each year? Yes, those are recurring. So like you'd have
048to >> my question >> play [laughter] pay them each year. >> That's how long until we own the cop car. >> Oh, I don't think we ever own [laughter] the cop car. >> And then administrative costs. Um what kinds of expenses are included in this budget line? Uh their response was their cost associated with the vouchering and account management through the treasur's office. Honestly, I don't know without like asking a few more questions what that answer means, but that's the answer. Um, another one that we asked ahead of time, this was actually Mr. Keller House's question. Previously, the district had shared a school resource officer. So, we asked if that is still allowable, a share. Um, and it sounds like it is not. So it was previously when SRO programming was run through the troopers,
049but through the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, it's a one person. There can't be a share between districts. So I feel like if people have additional questions, I'm happy right now to like capture them. If I know anything about it, I'm happy to attempt to answer it. But I think this is going to be one of those things too if people have initial thoughts or discussion that this will be, you know, one that of course we prioritize student and staff safety. There's also a cost associated with that. And you know, costs are something that we really have to consider within our budget. And you know, looking back at overall costs of $105,000 or $127,000, um when we're looking at that big of a cost, you know, Mr. Walker will do updates soon about our budgeting for
050next year. But in order to find this money, it has to come from somewhere else, right? So it has to come from program or it has to come from staffing. So those are things that we have to balance out as we make this decision. You feel you would need someone in the summer? >> Can you send them out to check at >> kids? I mean, if we don't have kids in the building, the point of the SR, the safety for the kids. >> Well, we do occasionally host summer school. >> Correct. >> It's Yes. Three and a half hours a day. >> [snorts] >> So, >> it's abbreviated. >> That was one of my big questions was does the administrative team >> have any thoughts on how they would use somebody over the summer? We're
051paying them to be here from 7:30 to 3:30. >> School's not even open. >> What do we Is there a benefit to our district to have them here? And it might be also push that back to the sheriffs going, "What do your other SRO's do in the summer?" like what what other districts are using them year round and what do they have them do? Like maybe there is a benefit to having them here to work on some type of student safety programming or something that some of our other administrators do that we can kind of take off from somebody else's plate and put on this person's plate. Um, and that's even like running some of the safety programs over during the school year. Like, what can we put onto this person and take them off
052from another person? Um, it there's been a lot of push from our community to have an SRO. And I think it's going to be hard to look at the community and say, "Yeah, we finally got to the top of the list and no, we're not going to do it." So, what creative ways can we use this person that might allow us to save time from somebody else? >> I also think the way that our community has acted the last few sports seasons, I I don't see how we have another option to be honest with you. >> Well, they I mean, but that would be a lot of overtime. Is there a limit to the overtime that they can work? >> I can ask that question. >> And what's our deadline on making a decision? So,
053uh, I'm supposed to connect tomorrow with the under sheriff now for [laughter] a decision, but to see if there's further questions. Um, I think they're looking for us to make a decision no longer than two months out. >> Oh, that's exactly. >> Okay. When you say district, would the SRO move between both buildings? >> Yes. Okay. What is the I'm just curious what what do you see as the biggest need for an >> So I think in general in terms of school safety it would be beneficial for us to have someone who's connected to law enforcement who knows all of our emergency response plans who has connections with law enforcement and EMS. Um, I think people might be surprised at the amount of time, especially recently, like when we have an issue that involves law
054enforcement. Granted, it's not frequently, but when we do, it does take a lot of like administrative time um to deal with that. Again, it's not like this is something that happens even on a weekly basis that, you know, we're having to deal with that. But >> it's also not your first nature. Like you have to research like who do I need to go talk to about whatever where they would have it done. >> I mean, is that $105,000 a year worth of work? It's pretty sticker. I mean, it's a pretty price tag >> and we would have to sacrifice as well to make that happen. So, I mean, that's >> for me. me. I feel like that's a concern. Um, but >> well, that's that's why I kind of as the question is like what
055other what task can we balance? Like is there something that we wouldn't that this person could do for us that we wouldn't necessarily have to do anymore >> and we could >> if there's an offset of the cost and it's not going to be detrimental. So I've been in the building >> current operations >> older kids who have >> I don't want to say like they they are not in their correct mindset and it watching six people have to come out to corral an older kid like who it's not what they do every day it's how they're I mean they're trained to handle children but this is different the child has left the playing Were you on the board, [clears throat] Amber, when we had them come in? Were you on the board yet? >>
056Hemodil? >> I don't think I was. >> We did a special, >> we did like a for community forum and we had them come in and present what they do. >> Either I wasn't or I wasn't present that day because my kids would have been pretty small if it was. >> It was quite a while ago. Like we've been on this track for quite a while. I want to say I wasn't I want to say it was before my time. >> I wonder if it's worthwhile having that presentation. >> And we already we already know that like we can't Right. I'm I'm just facteing myself. Like we can't like pick who we get and like it's just whoever's up first. Yeah. >> Yeah. They're assigned to us. >> Yeah. >> But they pick the ones
057that want to. >> Right. Right. >> Not taking someone who wants to be beat up and putting them in a school table. Elementary school. as punishment or something because yeah for bad behavior. Yeah, we don't want that. >> And that's like part of why you know it has has taken a long time but they have to fill those open road positions first before they fill SRO positions. So I think like staffing for them is now at a place where they can start to fill >> because I think that was like Don Davis was still superintendent at the time and >> like >> it was >> it's there's more than 50% of our board is new. Um it could be worthwhile having them come in and just do like >> maybe not an open form but
058at a board >> just at a board meeting is my thought like not an open form just at a board meeting and just a refresher of this is what they do >> because there's a lot more than having a it's a lot more than having a police >> I feel like I don't know what like I don't know what I don't know at this point. Yeah that's why that's why >> and to make this decision with this price tag and you know the things that come with it. I don't feel prepared to make that choice. I mean, I know what the position of the community is, at least the folks who have spoken up about it. Um, but that's also not a sweeping demographic either. So, I mean, I would like to know. I think
059I'm just agreeing with what you said. Basically, I'd like to know what it is. >> It's hard to make a choice at that dollar amount if you don't actually know what they're going to provide. >> 100%. Y. >> So, >> yeah. >> And I do there was so much use. What I remember there were so many things they could do while they were here like >> going and checking because this kid hasn't come to school for four days. >> I mean, I was a student here when we had an SRO. We had trooper fast um back in the early 2000s and I remember seeing him all of the time and it wasn't just breaking up fights, but it was handy to have him here, you know, whatever. But uh >> yeah, >> but that was
060and with younger kids walking in and it was just that safe spot that >> sometimes you're embarrassed to say to your teacher, I I need help, [snorts] >> but there there's that policeman they've been told since they were two, >> he's the one who's going to help you. Like there are a lot of things that they could help with. It would be worth listening to it again, >> I don't think that there's an amount high enough to be up there. the value I remember the SR I don't think you could put a high enough number >> I disagree [laughter] >> listen to the presentation and then tell me >> perfect looking forward to it and I do think like that is like that's the balancing act right because ultimately do I think that this person
061could pick up things that are like administrators currently do absolutely enough to do something like eliminate an administrative position to pay for this. No. >> So that's like, you know, you got to find you have to find how you're going to pay for it, too. And like that's the tricky balance of like >> how do you make it happen so that we have like a safe school environment, right? Where parents and students and staff feel good about school and school safety and then how do you pay for it? >> Are there any grants or kickbacks, reimbursements, anything? There aren't currently. That was like part of the um advoc advocacy platform through like rural schools and school boards was that um the New York State budget fund a school resource officer in every district. Um that's
062not something that we saw come out, but that's part of the advocacy that this will eventually be part of your funding from the state is the hope. >> Will both pay for it? >> [laughter] >> Do we have um staff opinion on that? >> We haven't since the last time this like came around. We haven't put anything out to staff. >> Okay. >> Interested in that as well. >> But we send a survey or something survey to staff. >> I just [snorts] I I think I hear the need. I support the need. That's a That's a high number. Ouch. >> Well, and especially if it's going to mean like a staff cut, >> right? Program cut. >> Yeah. >> Well, I think we could very much like have them come out, do a presentation, and
063then, you know, obviously anyone is welcome to attend meetings or tune in, and then you could follow it up with a survey once everyone had hears the same. >> The survey could even include a link [snorts] on it to the video. from our meetings just to make it easy for them to go watch it themselves. >> Tune in future thinking there. I like that. [laughter] >> And that way we would we would include parents, community, >> yeah, staff, everybody. >> I feel that we don't have one on the day that we need one. >> That's interesting. And I think it would take one day of needing it, needing that position and being for us to realize it. >> Just you hope that name doesn't come too Wallace foundation. Now that I dragged everyone right down,
064uh, okay, so uh, Wallace Foundation, a couple of different things. I broke this into two sections. Kind of the training topics um that were provided and then just some big picture takeaways because I think it's still um it's still in the works in terms of what this grant means not just for Marian but for Wayne County as a whole. Because again, this is like a grant to foster community partnerships. It's not like a grant that's directly to Marian or any other school district. Um so in terms of the training, here were some of the sessions. So um I attended training on adolescent development and youth de um youth development principles. Uh success planning for youth and staff. So, like how do you help your students basically like have a vision for their future like starting
065from elementary school all the way through graduation? And to me, it's a great fit with the work we've already done here around the four E. Like when students graduate, are they ready for employment? Are they ready for enlistment? Are they ready for enrollment? Or are they ready for entrepreneurship? like all students should be prepared for one of those and have a plan for moving forward with one of those. Um to me that's a lot that that that is what success planning leads to students being prepared. Um something called opportunity landscaping that I hadn't ever heard of before. So, it's this idea as you um as an entity m whe whether it's like a school district or as a larger partnership within um Wayne County, you look at like what are the assets already available in
066your community. This grant again is specifically focused on kids. So like um advancing opportunities for adolescence. So their focus age range is 7th through 10th grade. So when you think about that opportunity landscaping, it's things like looking at your community and seeing like what are the opportunities um for adolescence within the community. So like the public library, a rec center, um different things like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, like all of the different supports that are currently available in your community. um whether it's your immediate community or your wider community for adolescence. And then once you landscape what those opportunities are, it helps you be more informed about like what you might want to offer to kids, like maybe there's something missing that we don't offer in our community that we can help support through this.
067Um and then the last big piece of work was um the development of what they call backbone structures for organizing community partnerships. So, how do you create um an entity that functions as a backbone to hold all of these different community organizations together and get them working towards the same outcomes so that kids can be part of this and are able to access multiple resources all connected by the same backbone structure. So some takeaways uh again it's a national initiative that helps communities strengthen how young people specifically adolescence access learning enrichment and career connected opportunities. Um, importantly, we have been chosen as a pilot location. Again, like that is to me like a big honor for us and really speaks volumes about our work that we've done around the community schools framework um and our
068opportunities that we'll have for the boost grant. Honestly, this Wallace Foundation work aligns very nicely with the work of the boost grant and I think that's going to be great for our kids because it's like synergistic to me. Um, also again, it's not a focus on creating just a single program. So, not something for just Marian or just Marian kids over the course of this grant. It's meant to build a coordinated system that does a couple things. So, aligns partners and resources within all of Wayne County. Uh, reduces barriers to participation. So, if there's some things in another community that our students are interested in that we're finding ways for them to access that um expanding access to meaningful interest driven opportunities so that students get to explore topics of interest to them. Um that
069they're able to think forward to different career opportunities. uh really making sure that young people are supported by trusted adult adults. Again, that's that idea of navigation. Like, do all of our students in Marian and all of our students in Wayne County have an adult that can help them navigate so that they can get to that outcome that they're looking for um aligned with those four E. And part of it is that this uh advancing opportunities for adolescence grant is meant to contribute to national learning uh by documenting what works. So all of this is part of a researchbased initiative. So [clears throat] the work that we do in Marian, the work that we end up doing in Wayne County will all be part of research to help other communities who in the future want
070to take on things like this. So again, it's really exciting because we're one of seven communities in the whole United States that like gets to do this. So >> it's like kind of mind-blowing work. >> Yeah. >> Does anybody have any questions about that? >> What like continued support do you get now after being like what's ne next step? >> Sure. So they have a timeline. they have um the first year is all about planning. So they have you spend a lot of time in their planning phase because they want you designing something that meets the needs of your community and that's for like the partnership as a whole like thinking broadly for all of Wayne County. Then they have another year that's your pilot phase. So um like we would be specifically planning out
071what do we want to do here in Marian that supports those broader goals. they take a look at um what's working in the pilot and then say okay for the next like three to five years what do we want to do like what do we want to move forward that we know like looks like it's promising from this pilot and expand out to other places so like what are the things that we do in that pilot with our kids at Marion that might be successful in other districts or other places in the Anything [snorts] [clears throat] else? All right. Um, just a quick tidbit about school finance training. Uh, we had talked a little bit previously about working with Rick Tims. He had done the presentation at 4ount at a 4ount meeting. Rich and I
072are going to a training with him this Friday. Um, it's for the regional superintendent and business officials at Wayne Fingerlakes. So, we'll do that this Friday, but I thought I'd circle back to see if the board is still interested in doing like a little workshop time or training time with Rick Tims. We had talked about that previously and there was some interest. And if we're still interested, then Rich and I could connect with him on Friday and kind of identify some times that maybe will work for him. So, I didn't know if the board a I guess is interested in that and then b if you are is that something you want connected to a board meeting like what's the best way to coordinate schedule wise >> from my experience with him I think it
073would be very good to have him for the rest of the board to listen to hear what he has to say [snorts] [cough] contact with whoever >> just I he has a very interesting and a [clears throat] very deep perspective on school finances and school aid. And from what I listen to, I think it would be good to have everyone else listen to him and [snorts] have be able to have a conversation like I sat there and just watched a presentation, but being able to have a have that present a similar presentation here and have a chance to have a conversation with them, I think would be a good thing. I can on that as far as like yeah if it could be attached to a board meeting [snorts] perfect because I can guarantee Tuesday
074class three years. [clears throat] [laughter] >> Does that work best for most people? Like trying to do something in conjunction with an evening? Yeah, it would be the simplest. I think >> if it doesn't work, I'd be open to other things, but >> first would be >> okay. Great. >> Second meeting of the month. >> I would love to go from 5:30 5:15 [laughter] marathon session. >> Y uh a quick update about the boost grant. I know the board has like heard a lot about this because we found out in the summer, you know, that we were successful and we have been working our way through the New York State contract system, which has been a big learning curve. Like huge kudos to Casey Steiner. It's like hours and hours of work to get through
075this New York State contract system in terms of the training you need, the format they want, the revisions. Like, I can't tell you. I've honestly lost track of the number of revisions we had to make to meet their requirements, but um our grant was finally officially awarded so we can access the money um on the 12th. So that's awesome for us. So uh we have everything very well planned out in terms of how we want to move forward. Again, huge kudos to Casey. Um so we're going to be able to start some programming during second semester. Uh we're going to uh move forward with driver's education. We're gonna also work in some mentoring and tutoring after school. Um some night quests which are basically uh >> no side quest or night quest. >> They're night
076quests. We moved away from side quest. Good memory. [laughter] So, similar to mini camps at the elementary, but a you know, junior senior high version of that where kids have more contact hours. It's topics that hopefully are connected to student interest and also like maybe career exploration. Um, you know, letting kids dive deep into an area of interest and seeing where that leads them. And then also some workforce development activities. So again, this grant will let us do things like have allow kids to have some paid internships in different areas of interest for them. So, uh, we're excited to get started with this. And then last but not least, uh, just a quick update on the Pomeroy marker. So just as a quick refresher, this is something um that Marian Historical Society brought to us
077as a potential collaboration in conjunction with Marian's bicesentennial. So um looking to get one of these Pomemeroy markers to commemorate the Marian Collegiate Institute which is you know was at MEES the MEES location. Um and we provided materials and documentmentation from the school archives. Marian Historical Society submitted everything and we just found out that we were approved. So >> that's super exciting. >> So when we know more about installation and timelines, we'll share that with the board. But we appreciate the collaboration that the board has done with the historical society because um I think it'll be really cool to have this in our community. Wonder if you budget mode. >> Yeah. I don't know if we have any like say around timeline. You know what I'm saying? We'll find out. >> But that would be
078cool. A little ceremony unveiling [laughter] >> right up there with the mural. >> Yes. Yes. [laughter] >> So, I'm just not going to move. >> Okay. No worries. our student representative is not in attendance. So, we're going to go right on to Mr. Walker. >> Well, I think this is the shortest agenda I've ever had under my name. Um, so we have the food service update, so I thought I would just share a little bit about the other departments as well. So, in transportation, um, [clears throat] we just received our new buses, so we now have some of the new buses. So, now we have all the new buses in place. Uh, three new large buses just came in and they'll be in service this month. Um, tomorrow they actually have their uh, winter safety
079refresher. Um, which includes uh, a focus on ADHDA behavior and managed response on the bus to that behavior. Um they're also looking at um from a safety standpoint in terms of loading, unloading, crossing reminders, pedestrian encounters um as a refresher for that. And then um Shellene is also taking it upon herself um to allow for at least a half an hour builtin to talk about the disturbing rise on what she calls BOB by own bus which is you know the recent fatalities um with busing accidents around New York State. So she's going to talk about that a little bit. And then the other exciting news which um as you are aware for several years now has been very difficult for staffing levels especially like bus drivers um even within the school itself um it's difficult
080with instructional staff support staff but with bus drivers um she's going to work with our PR person Bob Chavez um to create a hiring video um to try to enhance some hires for the transportation department because there are on the retirements coming up um at the bus garage. So that's the transportation. So facilities um so the lead water testing has been completed and we're compliant. Um they still have to do the concession stand uh in the spring when they're able to do the testing when it's not freezing and the water is back on. Uh they just recently completed the fire inspection uh with very few minor violations. Uh so that's good. Um and also I got an update on the uh new tractor that you authorized us to purchase. Um he says it's been working
081great. It's a huge improvement in terms of keeping the sidewalks in the lot safer. I have been observing notice that he has maintained the sidewalks much better now. Um and the salt spreader has been working great for him. Um, and then the last thing from facilities I have is um the backup generator. Um, I don't know if you remember when we had last year we had the power outage at the elementary school, we lost um our heating and our phone system because it wasn't connected to the to the generator. So, they're completing that. So, that's good news. Um, and then also >> put the heating on the generator. >> Well, when the power goes out >> doesn't have Is it the heating system or is it the controls? >> It's just I think it's like
082one boiler just to make sure that we have heat. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um and then also um staffing levels. Right now >> we're fully staffed to facilities which [applause] you know that's always a challenge. It seems like we're always struggling to fill a position there but right now we're we're fully staffed. So that's good news. Um the other thing that just it's not on the agenda but um so today the governor came out with her budget uh the executive budget um there her budget includes a 1% increase in foundation aid which for Marian is $94,000. Um so the new revenue this year the trends continue the new expenditures are going to far exceed the new revenues. The only other new revenue um like tax levy uh which is about $180,000. So combined we're
083looking at $275,000 in new revenue. Um the killer for the budget, I should say the challenge for the budget is is healthcare. Um we I will get the new rates for next year um in early February, but we're looking at a 15 to 19% increase in healthcare. Um the other one that's even more alarming is Medicare uh for our legacy costs for our retirees. Um, and somebody had we just had our budget committee meeting and somebody asked the question, well, how many retirees do we actually pay for for healthare? We actually pay more for number wise for retirees than our active employees. So, we have about 200 retirees that we currently pay healthcare for uh compared to 180ome employees. Um, so the what I legacy costs for retirees are are really challenging. Um Medicare, if
084you recall in 2022 23, we had a huge decrease in Medicare costs because the consortium went out um for bid and Excelis wanted to retain our um contracts because they do for our activives. So they came in really low. They they outbid everybody. Um and so we cut our Medicare costs almost in half back in 2022.3. Since then we had for three years we had a guarantee of the first year was like a 0% increase then a 5 10 it was 5 10 15%. Or actually it was up to 10%. However there was a clause in there relating the CMS rates that allowed that. So this year for 2026 which is the calendar year based for Medicare it went up 15%. That's not the alarming part. The alarming part is in 2027 and 2028, they're
085expecting like a 50% increase each year because one, the rates are because they guaranteed those rates, right? They were too low to begin with. So, we're far under market value in terms of what we've been paying. So, when that threeyear time ends, the rates are going to go back up. They're still going to be below market value, but they're going to be closer to market value. The other main reason why the rates have gone up so much is Medicare changed, right? It used to be the donor hole had a limit of $8,000 out of pocket and they reduced it to 2,000. So that 6,000 has to be absorbed by somebody and drug costs are a big factor. Why those? the CMS rates, the government that reimbures for Medicare hasn't kept pace with what the cost
086of the programs are. So that's the challenge um moving forward. Any questions? >> Will the consortium again? Do they not do that? So that was discussed at so as you're a board member of the flash source. So that's been brought up a few times. Um when they went out to bid a few years ago at that time uh Etna was Etna is the biggest player in the US in terms of Medicare plans. The other one was uh a local group. Anyways just Etna's no longer interested in bidding in this area. Excelis has got a pretty stronghold on this area and the fact that Excelis is going to be competitive with whoever bids just because they're going to still be below market value and that's what the bidding is, you know, the are going to come
087in at. So, were they probably overpriced three or four years ago? Yes. And so, we got them in line, but because of the changes and the limits that they originally had on the three kind, it's escalated again. So um needless to say that the new expenditures are three four large so that'll be a challenge Quick. [laughter] >> What the hell? >> Said so much, but that was a quick. >> It was quick. >> It was kind of a downer, too. >> I was going to say it was kind of like >> Is there anything positive to end the meeting on? [laughter] >> We have a consent agenda yet and reading policies. >> Did you have anything else you want to do? >> Not unless you have >> That's all you get. >> Not unless you
088have any questions. I'm good. >> All right. Then moving on to policy review. just for Amber because she said she liked it. [clears throat and cough] >> This is our second reading, so we need to vote on these. Did anyone have any questions before we do that? >> All right. Could we please get a motion to approve? >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. All Holy cow. In favor? >> I opposed. Abstained. Motion passes. Totally forgot the words. [laughter] Good lord. Consent agenda items. Any questions on any of the consent agenda items? Need a motion to approve. Thank you. Second. Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. And a big thank you to Parker Hannipan and to Fingerlakes Community for their donations to our food pantry.
089Like that is something that I don't think everybody always sees how much use that food pantry gets within the district. And so it's great to have other organizations supporting our food, >> but can we send a like a thank you from the board to Parker Henne just because >> it wasn't even that they reached out to someone else and asked him to support us. I thought that was pretty cool. >> I mean, they can both get one. I'm not trying to exclude one or the other. I just thought the employees nominating us for something else. >> That was pretty awesome. >> Community, do you have any comments? [laughter] >> Come on. You got to have something. >> Wrap it up. [laughter] Okay. Can we get a motion to move into executive session for the specific
090purpose of discussing the work history of a particular employee? I'll move it. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. No students. No signing.