001I need a motion for the approval of the minutes of the March 19th and April 16th meeting. So moved. I need a second. I second. Any discussion? All in favor. Yep. >> Yep. Okay, I need a motion to accept the financial reports of March 2026 and April of 2026. Make a motion to I need a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor. Yep. Okay, audience communication. Okay. Doesn't look like there's any. Uh superintendent report. Hi. Um I'd like to start off by congratulating this year's valedictorian Jake Shannon and salutatorian Ryan Harnett for their outstanding academic achievements. Um we will be recognizing them next month at the at the May meeting, but I just wanted to acknowledge uh those two individuals. Applications for next year's UPK have been mailed uh to all district residents and can
002be downloaded from the website. Applicants must be 4 years old by December 1st, 2026 and the deadline to apply is May 15th. Um and anyone interested should be contacting uh the district clerk Lisa Bieber. We've already had some people coming in and registering. How's it look? Are we going to have a lot of people apply or It's uh early. It's too early. Yeah, it's too early to tell. For sure. Um I got it in the mail today, so. Yeah. You got to bring it I brought it in. Okay. Two of this time. This time. Um the high school play has begun recital. Uh Lost Girl will be May 1st and 2nd here in the auditorium. They were uh practicing before we came in. And uh I had a bunch of other items and then I
003read uh Stefani's report for tonight's meeting and realized she's going to do a much better job of presenting um the rest of things I was going to talk about and so I will gladly let her do that. Um, and then tonight the board will be voting on the adoption of of one proposition for the budget vote, the proposed budget of 48,257,000 which represents a tax levy increase of 2.63%. Um, the annual budget vote and school board election will be held on Tuesday, May 19th from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the high school gym. And the election is for two members of the Board of Education for three-year terms and one member of the Board of Education for a one-year term to fill the vacancy. Um, the following be on will be on this year's ballot
004and we thank you for your interest in running for the school board. Um, Mrs. Arslanian as an incumbent, um, Mrs. Warren as an incumbent and Suzanne Martinez is also running um, and that's for those three seats that are on the board. Um, our next Board of Education meeting is a combined is combined with the budget hearing and will be on Tuesday, May 12th um, 6:30 right here in the auditorium. So that'll be that'll be coming up quick. And with that I will ask Mr. Delargy to um, give an update on the budget prior to adoption this evening. All right. Thank you, Mr. Petretti. Okay, good evening everyone. Um, this is the last uh, one of the presentations before we go to our budget hearing which is going to be on May 12th. Um, to bring
005us forward. Again, we go through our mission statement. And along with our mission statement again, like to thank all of the people that have been involved in during the budget process from the superintendent to Tina Smith, who has been in my office Laura Finnegan, who we've given more of a role on now from the curriculum side to sit in on all those exciting meetings where I torture people when they come in and put numbers down. The principals, directors, also department chairs who gave feedback to the principals and everybody else in the process along with uh Tom Kelly from Buildings and Grounds um Jose Torres with transportation Lisa Bieber for the district building and also Tina Smith again for the business office. When you look our plan for the future in 26-27 as you can see
006we are fortunate enough to keep everything involved uh that we have in our program here keeping optimal class size, robust offerings um this year again, we are recognized as an AP Honor Roll Gold Distinction uh by the school board and that leads me to the last part. Also a level of thanks to the school board because these are all items that come up in all our conversations and these are the directions that our school board wants us to go in. Whenever you have a supportive school board along with you on the budget process, it makes things a challenging situation very easy, so thank you. Um you'll see here also continued alignment, the MTSS program is starting its implementation up the middle school. We're keeping our BOCES career program that we have that goes outside of
007school while also keeping our in-house carpentry program. The also all the supports are put in place for ENL Our sustained extra learning day is still in there. Our ELL and math coaching. Also, our science curriculum, which is investigations in chemistry this year. Special education, we have integrated co-taught classrooms still remain in our budget. Along with all of the other supports that we have. And our technology infrastructure upgrades. We have a rotating basis of our Chromebooks, which this year, I believe, is the fifth and ninth grade. And we're also looking at the PA system. We're looking at doing that through our repair reserve. Here's the breakdown of the budget drivers. Of course, as you see, salaries are the greatest amount along with benefits. And then instructional and student services. You'll see the other areas, how they
008break down on here. And this next slide will give you an out will give you a breakdown as how they relate to a change a budget change year per year to year. And also our percentage of the budget. What you'll notice is the largest two largest areas of our budget are in salaries and in health insurance. Uh health insurance is a 7% increase and takes up 19.49% of our budget. Salaries takes up over 46% of our budget. But only has an increase of 3.45%. This year there were significant decreases in our facilities and also for our technology. Uh the technology decreases because of the program that we we believe through repair reserve that we'll be able to do those maintain those costs uh this school year uh and run it through our repair reserve. Here's
009a little breakdown on what our tax cap history has been for the last 4 years and what we've gone out to with the public. So, this year it is goes at a 2.63% which is the lowest that we've gone out with in the last 4 years. And as the part that I mentioned last time, we like to come across with a steady uh steady line. You don't want a line that jumps way down and and uh way up and significantly down cuz that's what causes problems. And this is all done through the tax levy cap that's been here since 2012. If you look at the numbers, it'll show you a 1.4, almost 1.5 million dollar increase, which is 3.19% budget budget. And the taxpayers we have is an increase in the levy of 2.63. Why
010is the tax levy increase lower than what the budget to budget is? It's because we've been fortunate enough to have additional revenues uh in our program that we're able to infuse on the revenue side. As you can see, those were all the dates and all the budget presentations that we have done around the on the school district website under the budget page. The two events that we have that are still part of the process is in May 12th, is our budget hearing where I'll be presenting what's called the three-part budget. And I promise it'll be a quick one. And then on May 19th is when the budget vote is. So, as you see, I know I'm sorry I didn't put the curtains on this slide for you, Doug. But on May 19th, that's the 3:00
011to 9:00 p.m. in uh Mattituck Junior Senior High School Gymnasium. Okay, anybody have any questions? Yeah, Jolly Yep. Where where will you put the the biggest increase in the the budget to budget increase of 1 and 1/2 million. What's the biggest driver there? Uh the two largest drivers are salary and benefits, health the health insurance cost. Those are the Those are the two largest and the most significant. But the other thing to understand is even though salaries is significant, I think the increased salary was 3.45%. So thankfully, it's still a very small increase within that. Thank you, Charlie. Okay, thank you. Okay, you're up. Our ex-officio Yeah. student board number Thank you. Hello, everyone. Good evening. I will be presenting my student board report as of what has been going on at Manalapan High School
012for the past couple weeks. Starting off with the blood drive, which was organized by uh student council. We had student and parent volunteers to help donate blood for those in need. Uh students were able to volunteer during um a class period, whether it be a study hall or a gym class, in order to donate blood. And parent volunteers were able to come in throughout the uh doors through the wrestling uh room with security on site in order for it to be safe and for everyone involved. Um the blood donated last year uh was able to contribute to a scholarship for seniors, so we will be doing that again this year for any senior um need that needs um scholarship opportunities for college. Um furthermore, with band, this is the first time um a community-based throughout
0136th grade, junior high, and high school has been implemented into the school. I was lucky enough to be there when uh it was happening, and it's very interesting in order to see the 6th graders presented first in front of everyone. The bleachers were packed with families and students, and they were to be able to see this happening. Um following that, junior high band came up to play songs that they have been learning as well. And lastly, high school the high school band as well presented. It's very interesting to see how it it shows how from 6th grade to high school, how these students improve throughout band and their life. And uh we reintroduced the Manatech fight song from 1934. So, I believe it's a very important thing to do to implement more uh school spirit,
014as well as when we started doing cheer um routines during uh high school games, and having that corner for the marching band. I think all of these being introduced to students once again and families, it just brings more people and makes everything more lively in the school. So, it's very nice to see. And it was very well organized. Uh following the 8th grade Washington trip, it was um an exceptional trip this year, only the second time in the years of going that the cherry trees were in full bloom. Uh cherry trees are one of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen, if I can say so myself. So, it was very beautiful out when the students were on their trip. They joined celebrating 250 years of the nation with a commemorative tour of the United
015States Capitol Building. Um it was just very nice being able to go on this trip compared to during COVID times, where some grades weren't able to experience this trip. So, a special thank you to our organizers and chaperone, Ms. Bebe, Ms. Daniels, Ms. Samanski, Mr. Greeley, Ms. Hanson, and Mr. Burke. Um following National Honor Society induction on March 26th, 40 uh new students from the junior class were inducted um here in this auditorium. The I remember how it was getting this letter saying that I was able to apply for National Honor Society. It's a very rewarding feeling that these students must feel getting a letter saying that all your hard work is qualifying you to be a part of something so big as National Honor Society. So, these juniors worked very hard to um finish
016their application and apply and then get accepted and honored here at this stage is something that these students should be very proud of. It's exciting to introduce them to new community service opportunities and show them the responsibilities that come with being in National Honor Society. So, it's just very impressive and congratulations to everyone. Following that, we had a National Honor Society luncheon on March 27th at Copper Ridge Inn. Uh it was uh helpful to celebrate students' accomplishments of being accepted and um inducted. And it just brought new and old members together uh to enjoy uh eating lunch and really introducing to them what their responsibilities will now be as a National Honor Society uh inductee. Um semi-formal was organized um by student council for grades 9th through 12th. It was a dance with the theme
017of boots and bling, where students went all out dressing in fashionable boots and cowboy / cowgirl outfits. It brought students together to enjoy a night full of dancing, eating, and hanging out with friends. It was a very nice reset with all the academics that has been going on, sports. It was just a nice uh night to hang out with everyone from grades 9 through 12. Um the Bushwick tour, I wanted to highlight this field trip from the art students. I was luckily enough to be able to enjoy this experience. Um this past Thursday, um went to a guided tour of the vibrant Bushwick Collective graffiti murals in Brooklyn. As you can see on the photos, the top two are graffiti art, but they're um realism. So, it's very impressive to see how with a graffiti
018can you can make something so beautiful. And following the tour in Brooklyn, um the students went to GlassLab in Hotville, where students had the opportunity to apply what they learned by creating their own graffiti inspired work with step-by-step instructions on a canvas or skateboard in order to create their own art inspired uh on what we saw in Brooklyn. So, it was very exciting and there's a couple more art trips coming up as such as Orient um Park, where students will be able to bring a canvas and paint something using the nature around them, as well as the MoMA trip, uh where students get to go to the city at the museum. This coming month that is coming up really fast are AP exams. Um some examples are psychology, AP composition, literature, art, physics, history, and
019much more. Many students, seniors and juniors, are uh studying and focusing on these exams. Juniors in specific are working really hard to study for these exams. Um not only exams, but SATs, which were a nightmare, but it's something everyone has to go through. And what's very impressive to me is that study sessions are held by students. One in specific, Dominik Tusa, has been posting on social media, reposting on his own social media to help bring students together for AP US history study sessions. He's already held two on March 30th and April 15th, and he's holding one tomorrow at the Mattituck library from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Uh I think it's very smart to do group study sessions. It really just brings community together, as well as students being able to push each other to go
020work harder than before. Cuz it can be very nerve-wracking to study by oneself, but having a group of people that are just pushing you to do better is very it's just very nice and yeah, so Senior events that are coming up. Um There's a fashion show, which is very exciting. Everyone's been talking about this. Everyone's going on to their shops and shopping for what they're going to wear. Senior games, as part of the seniors, we're doing like um water games. So, everyone's gearing up with goggles and water bottles to try to get each other out for a prize for money. So, it's very exciting and it's bringing all seniors together. Uh committing to colleges. So, next Friday is commitment day. So, everyone is really narrowing down their choices or committing already. So, it's just very
021exciting and nerve-wracking, as well. Uh Hershey trip is coming up for juniors seniors um June 2nd and 3rd. It's an overnight trip and permission slips are have been due, and it's just so exciting to see everyone just being really excited for all these senior events that are coming up. And lastly, scholarships. Um every month this whole year, there's been a new scholarship list for seniors, and it's just very uh helpful for everyone because being able to apply to their scholarships out of school, but as well having school offer opportunities for seniors is just another way of looking out. It's very helpful. For the yearbook, it is also due May 1st. Um and it's highlighting school events and senior activities. Right now, focusing on spring sports that just started up, and senior quotes are also due
022soon. It's very exciting. For the sports, girls and boys track, boys and the girls track have won two out of their three meets so far, so it's very impressive. Um it's been cool these past few days, some hot, some cold, but it's very nice to go out there and see them really pushing themselves to the limit. Uh for softball, won against Connetquot and the boys baseball have been working hard at practices and games. Following girls and boys lacrosse, girls team victory 15 to 5 over Connetquot this past Friday. Uh girls lacrosse have been working really hard not only at practices, but at games. They're really pushing themselves to do the best they can, and you can really tell with the score. And um boys lacrosse, they played against Islip in a heated game, and it
023was just very exciting to see. Upcoming, as I mentioned before, is the fashion show, which was uh organized by the PTSA, and it's the 28th annual fashion show. And it is Kentucky Derby style themed, so everyone's uh all the seniors were organized into groups uh randomly and given a store, so these past few weeks um all the seniors and have been going out to the stores and looking for outfits themed with Kentucky Derby, so it's very exciting who's going to participate. And as I mentioned again, AP exams, it's really crucial right now to be studying and making sure you're pushing yourself, but not the point that you can't you get burnt out, so being able to keep that balance is very important. Then at the end of May and end of June, final exams and
024Regents, which means end of school year. Like time has flown by, but almost done with exams, so it's pretty exciting. And thank you all for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Soldiers did a much better job than I could do with the Yeah, I agree with that. Next year, um, the district-wide concert, if you I if you were able to attend, I mean, there's a lot of special things that happen here, but that one gave me chills that night. It was, um, kudos to the teachers that put it on. It was a uh very special magnificent moment and something that everyone should try to catch next year if they can. Maybe even you, Doug. Yeah. Yeah. That was an agree That was an agreement, so. Okay, now we're up to department reports. Um,
025math. Ms. Bibi. Okay, that's going to be a tough act to follow. Thank you so much. And thank you for the shout-out to Washington, D.C. Yeah. Yeah, so my Washington D.C. trip went better than expected. It was a great trip, so. I'd living a little bit there. Did you have a good time, Mr. Burke? It was unbelievable. Oh, thank you. Escape is on the top, thank you. On the beginning. Yeah. Okay. Oh, okay. Um, so welcome. Good evening to you all. Thank you for uh having me. I got my notes here. Um, first I want to introduce you to the team. Ryan Greeby, Jen Valentine, Aaron Nardolillo, myself, Teresa Holman, Tracy White, and John Albers. Um, otherwise known proudly as math nerds. Okay. Up on the screen I have for you the generally the two
026different pathways that you can take in math. On the left side is the more traditional way. Um, many of our students take the three Regents classes right in succession, the Algebra 1, the Geometry, and the Algebra 2. But when you start looking at all of those arrows, uh you can appreciate that we have many different ways for students to be successful um to earn their three credits of math. Um, so many opportunities there. On the right side is the accelerated program. We start that um in eighth grade, the students taking Algebra 1, and that's very straightforward. It then gives them the opportunity as juniors to take the AP Pre-Calc, which is a relatively new AP class. Um, and then they can also take the AP Calc. And I do want to mention that we have
027um regular juniors becoming seniors taking Algebra 2, and then going into that AP Pre-Calc also. So, if you're a regular student and you're you're enjoying the math, you are more than welcome to try that AP pre-calc. So, that opportunity is there for them. Um this year we are collaborating with the science department. Uh Mr. Albers and Mr. um Cavallango are doing a joint adventure that I think has exceeded all of their expectations. And I have to tell you not a week goes by that Mr. Albers is not running down after that physics class and telling us all of the cool things that they are doing in that physics class and how the math integrates with it. So, it's been a very positive experience for the um teachers and students alike. Um and there's um Mehmet's
028quote. Uh he's pretty impressed about how much calculus is in the class and how much it helps him. So, that's been great. Great find. Um I wanted to mention the additional support we offer our students. We have lab classes in both the junior high and the Regents level. Those classes meet every other day. Uh the purpose of those classes are to support the learning that goes on inside the classroom. Um what can happen in that class is maybe they have an activity. There might be pre-teaching or re-teaching. Um one of the things I try to have them do is have math conversations and actually help each other cuz there's only one of me and a whole bunch of them and that's really working well for them to be able to talk about it. Um the
029ICT classes or where we are pushing in to the Whoops. I hit button. One more. One more. Okay. Uh the ICT classes are where the special ed teacher pushes into the regular math class to support our students with special ed needs, but I have to admit, it is a benefit for every single person in that room. Uh Mr. Rosso and I team teach the class that we've been doing several years. Uh he's up there dancing away with them showing vertical versus horizontal and getting into the dance. Uh he you can also catch him just going around the room making sure everybody's in a good place. So, anyone raises their hand and he runs right over to them. Um and I also want to mention the team taught ENL. That's in the algebra one. It sometimes
030feels like math is a whole 'nother language. So, it's really nice to have the support to help those students with all the vocabulary that they have in the algebra one. So, thank you very much for that. I I teach that class with Mr. Ridgway. Okay. Um our curriculum, this is the final phase of next generation. Um it's now being implemented into the algebra two. Last year it was geometry, the year before that was algebra one. So, we are converting over from common core to next gen. Um and as we transition each year, we have the opportunity to converse about the curriculum not only with the other people with other teachers in the course we were teaching, but there was a lot of vertical conversations um for better understanding of the prior knowledge that our students
031would be coming up with and how we could prepare students for the upcoming grades. Um I also want to mention that learning doesn't start in the seventh grade and we greatly appreciate the elementary teachers who put in that hard work of providing us with math students who are very capable. So, thank you to the elementary teachers. Mhm. Your work doesn't go unnoticed. Um Finally, our math electives. Um I've been in enough meetings to hear our guidance counselors use the phrase strength of schedule and I think some of these electives provide that opportunity. Um it's sort of funny because a lot of students don't really realize that these are electives. They just think that's the next class they're supposed to be taking in the progression, which I will not argue with, especially for students who go
032on to um math and science careers or um educations. So. Our math clubs. We do the high school math meets and the chess club. While um we were in Washington D.C., Mr. Albers held his second annual North Fork Chess Club Tournament. Um I think this is going to be a new tradition for him. Uh there were three schools involved, Mattituck, Southold, and Greenport. And when I spoke to him, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew that ninth grader Connor Phillips did the best for Matawan, coming in third place. There were a total of 24 participants, and it was a double elimination bracket. Um looking ahead, we have big shoes to fill. We'll be hiring a leave replacement for the junior high math, as well as an anticipated high school position for next year. And
033I would be remiss if I did not mention that Mrs. Valentine will be retiring. She truly has been an integral member of our team. Her commitment and dedication to her students is so well known. And her knowledge and expertise has raised the bar for all of us. So, she will be greatly missed. And finally, just in case you didn't know, mistakes allowed thinking to happen, which is what math is all about. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Feeney. Does anybody have any questions for our math department? I did have one question. Uh-huh. On the the team teaching with the ENL, the Algebra 1, are those students able or do any of them continue on through the math program? Um so, technically you need 3 years of of math. I think some
034of them get caught up in how old they are. So, that's an issue. But, to me, it's a huge achievement when they can pass that Algebra 1 Regents. So, that that's an you know, really something for them. Yeah. So, and thank you again to the board for supporting that joint teaching in the the physics cuz the feedback has been excellent. And Gina, thanks for mentioning the ICT class because having taught, I can't say enough about having two teachers in the room. When Yeah. somebody raises their hand, it doesn't matter who they are. Yes. >> So, thank you for that. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Friend, you're up. Mr. Friend's going to report for the science department. How are we doing, Mr. Friend? All right, let's see here. Which one? On the right. It's only happy hour
035this one. Oh, she closed you out of it. See, it wasn't messing up. No, no. It was not you. Somebody closed out Chrome. Awesome. There you go. Thank you very much. That's it. How's everybody doing? Good. How are you? All right. Just giving you a little science update. Um we're going to kind of go a little bit different than math. I'm going to give you guys the updated highlights of what's happening new. All right, after being here for so many years. I never thought I'd see it, actually. We're now Earth and Space Science, all right, instead of the regular Earth Science. Um you guys might have heard that other schools were having a little bit of a problem with the new curriculum in Earth Science. So, we kind of held back a year, kind of
036see what was going on. And Mr. Anke has been going to a ton of uh BOCES workshops and stuff like that just get a handle on the new curriculum. And things of that nature. He's also been using New Visions to kind of help him out a little bit. And he's been kind of moving along with the new curriculum. The same in Living Environment Bio. Bio, we're doing the same exact thing. Uh Cavallango Cavallango and Sham Lavalle have been dealing with that in exactly the same way. A lot of it has been awesome with actually sending over information. Actually, been actually sending them out to you know, learn about the new curriculum. Questions on the new curriculum? Cuz that test is going to be a little bit different. It definitely is uh not going to be
037as uh as well received as it was in the years past, I think. And Eric, when is those tests given? What What grade is the test given? Where? What grade? What grade? That is going to be sorry. Uh ninth grade Earth Science and eighth grade Bio. Yeah, so both of them will be same time as as always with the Earth and and Bio, but just a whole new setup. All right, then we have our clubs. Um in science, we have the Chemistry Club. Uh that's run by Mr. Down. All right, those are two of our students over there. I mean, she's been having a great success with it this year. Um Botany is run by Ms. Rowland. All right, um a lot of indoor house plants, succulents, things like that. And then we have the
038FFA Aquarium Club. Um again, we combined the name just cuz we deal with both outside in the greenhouse growing plants, and then we have a bunch of aquarium stuff, which we've acquired a few new things over the last few weeks. Um if you ever get a chance, come on up. We just got a 2 and 1/2 foot um 8-year-old bamboo shark. So, uh it's kind of interesting. Kind of exciting. So, um you know, we'll see how that goes. But the the clubs all three clubs have been running well. And it's kind of go back to the AP physics. Um they really have had a great time. And again, I really do think it's a two-cap alignment going Albert's. It's really a great team effort. Um when you have the science and the math together, and
039they can really kind of see it really coming home. And both of their styles in teaching, I think, really help every single kid that's in the room. And if one person is out, the other person's there to help them out. I mean, I hear it all all day long, whether it's, you know, kids in the hallway or I absolutely hear everything in the driver's side car, and they all say they love what's going on in the physics class. So, um I had to put that up there for Next year, um chemistry is going to be for us next year. Uh there are a few schools that are doing it this year, but just like we did with Earth Science and Living Environment, we took a year. Um McGowan is actually uh you know, in charge
040of that. Same deal. Going to those Regents workshops, things like that. Talking to other schools, trying to get a a better read on what's happening. Once we see the new test, I believe it's 10th or the 11th of June. Um then, you know, we'll obviously get a better read on how that one's going. So, a lot of new curriculum going on in uh science world. If we had a regular Regents physics, that would also be a new one, you know, following. Uh but AP does not have to deal with that. The state has a climate education process. That is going to be embedded within the science curriculum. All right. So, whether they're taking certain classes, they will actually fulfill the climate requirement. With that being said, we are also introducing a new elective, meteorology. It's
041kind of It was an old elective that we used to have, but we're kind of bringing it back, um especially with uh the climate education piece and um you know, the different electives that we have. And that's what we have. Um the only other updates that we have is we are going to have our annual trout release, which is going to be happening from the uh aquarium FFA club. We're going to be doing that at the end of May up at Laurel Lake. We just got our permits the other day. And that's what we have. Any questions? The kids that take AP physics, can they choose to take the Regents if they As of this year, I believe they're going to be doing a project. All right, that's Mr. Lynch's question. I have to go
042over. I don't think they are doing the Regents this year, though. No, they're they're not. It was the the the Regents and the AP test are pretty different and cover different topics, and they kind of felt like that that was handcuffing them prepping them for the Regents and then also getting ready for the AP. So, the focus for that course is the AP physics. Mr. Friend, are we still using the greenhouse? Yeah, yeah. Uh the environmental class uses the greenhouse. We just planted about uh just before spring break. And um we also go out there with FFA. And how's it holding up? It's been around for a while. Uh it's it's holy. It's holy. The heater's doing great, though. You haven't had a chance to make a pitch. I'm giving you the opportunity here, you
043know? I I would say it needs some updates. >> Yeah, no. It It definitely would be really nice to have something year-round. Like um you know, like cuz right now, what we do is we plant like Okay, we just planted right before spring break, and we're going to go to the end of the year, then we cull everything out of there, close it up for the summertime, and then we go from September until about, you know, beginning of November and November, and then it just it just gets too cold and you can't really hold it that much anymore. Uh the doors are a little leaky. Everything's kind of leaky, but it would be nice to get some, you know, if it was a real structure to have, you can go in there all year long.
044We even have all the lights We for when I used to have everything in that aquaponic room. So, we have all the lights and everything. So, if we, you know, were to have any of a heater, if you had to go in all year long, I'd bring them back there. >> Mr. Friend, if you could do some research to see how much it cost, I think the superintendent might be interested in seeing it. Don't send it to the business office, send it to the superintendent. I love the greenhouse idea. And I And I actually did put in for a grant. I'm hoping to hear next week. Hopefully it comes through. It was from Mr. Propski. Um it was for a composter, like an industrial one that would actually take food scraps from the cafeteria, compost
045it, and then we could use everything on site. So, that was one of the things that he was trying to get and we put in for it. So, we're going to hear at the soil convention in September. >> Sanesac knock on your door about that? What's that? Lucy Sanesac, did he >> Lucy did not. No, uh Nick Propski Jr. He was the one who who told me that. >> one of them. Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me. Mhm. Okay, thank you, Mr. Friend. Anybody else? Okay, we're up to the Board of Education Committee Reports, Curriculum, Karen Belton. Okay. The Curriculum Committee met and the first thing on our agenda was talking about the Spanish. So, during the Curriculum Committee meeting, we revisited the adjustment to the elementary Spanish program. The committee reiterated that this decision was made
046to achieve a better balance in student schedules, specifically to ensure that appropriate time for core academic instruction, while still providing these enrichment opportunities. This change was not made for budgetary reasons. It reflects the need to balance enrichment programming with the increasing demands on instructional time, including core academics, additional enrichment programs, intervention, and related services. The committee also acknowledged the abrupt nature of the rollout. Due to an unexpected staffing change, the district needed to act more quickly than anticipated, and we recognize that this limited the opportunity for broader communication and discussion. We remain committed to providing students with meaningful world language experiences while ensuring their overall academic needs are fully supported. We then talked about the New York State Instructional Technology Plan, which was submitted and approved. The plan is a required triennial survey from the
047New York State Education Department for public school districts to outline how how technology enhances teaching and learning. The goals that were submitted and approved are the Chromebook initiative, software purchases, and the switching refresh project. The plan is also aligned with board goals focusing on equitable access, professional development, and student success. The plan was due by June 30th of 2026. The testing New York State testing grades 3 to 3 to 8, state assessments in ELA and science will begin this week followed by math in May. We then talked about the desktop refresh Chromebooks, so 40% of that project has been completed, and the priority are those Chromebooks that are connected to the smart boards. New Chromebooks have been purchased, and delivery is pending. The Diligent Community Migration to BoardDocs is the software the district uses to
048create, distribute, and manage Board of Education agendas, policies, board minutes, and public access to documents is moving to a new program called platform called Community. The rollout of the new software and training is coming soon. The software will improve meeting transparency and efficiency. And we ended the meeting with the discussion on Apex Minds. The Booster Club will host an informational night on the science-based intense mental training program tailored for athletes. Okay. Thank you. Um negotiation personnel, that's me. Everybody already said everything that I should say. So, um I will say that Laura Bosnak, who's been a TA here for a very long time, will be retiring in June. And Luann Nappi will be retiring in July. Um other than that, Lauren, you're up. Um so, the audit and finance committee met earlier today. Um as
049far as the claims report, that was um fine in terms of budget transfers for the payroll code adjustment. Those are some end-of-year transfers. They will be on next month's agenda. Um just so that they can properly adjust the codes um that those items are under. The Ketchogue New Suffolk Historical Council and Museum, uh they're putting up a proposition in August, which was similar to the Mattituck-Laurel Historical Society and Museum uh board vote. Uh a resolution to start that process uh will also be next month. Okay, thank you. Okay, we're up to new business. Resignations, terminations, leaves of absence, and reductions. I need a motion to accept A1 through A6. I make a motion. So moved. Beth. I need a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Yep. Okay, appointments, tenure, and salary changes. I need
050a motion to accept B1 through B6 as presented on the in the agenda. I make a motion. I need a second. Second. Any discussion? Okay, now we're on resolutions. Um before I say anything about the resolutions, I just want to say H is a recommendation to the board to elect candidates for the positions on the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services, first supervisory district of Suffolk County for 3-year terms commencing July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2029. And the people are Susan Lipman, Joseph LoSchiavo, Ann Mackey, Victoria Molloy, and Catherine Romano. Um so, I'll now need a motion to accept uh resolutions A through O. Make a motion. I need a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor. Aye. Okay, audience communication. Okay, I need a motion to adjourn. Make a motion. I
051need a second. Second. Okay, we can go.