001it was kind of like the people all like good evening welcome and please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 so I need a motion for the approval of the minutes of January 9th and January 18th I make a motion I need a second second any discussion okay all in favor I need a motion to accept the claims financial and treasures report move second all in favor if there was a discussion oh well um audience communication anything on the agenda that anybody wants to speak on please stand up come to the podium okay that's a no superintendent's report report Podium okay okay good evening um it
002has been a busy month well this is actually a short month since our last board meeting but uh both buildings have have been very very busy in that time um mattic High School is pleased to announce the valedictorian and the salutatorian of the class of 2024 um Jolene Chen has been named our valedictorian and Charlie Pasa has been named the salutatorian um we are enormously proud of their hard work we are enormously proud of their hard work and their dedication we're going to honor them in a few few months when we start to do the end of the Year celebrations but we do want to get the word out um I Believe Miss desiderio had the pleasure of of meeting with them and sharing the news and so uh that way the families could be
003begin their celebrations and getting the word out so it's it's quite an honor the class of 2024 is certainly an accomplished group of students so to sit uh at the top of the class um is very very impressive so uh we begin the second half of the year with with celebrating those students seven high school students uh attended a youth leadership dinner hosted by Loa of Eastern Long Island this is a Latino focused nonprofit advocacy organization that serves the East End towns to help encourage students who could be first generation college students to believe it is possible for them and to help them develop leadership skills that will help them Advance further in the future so it is great to see that other organizations are getting on board um you know now now as we're
004seeing more and more enl students um come through our school system and uh you know opening their eyes to the opportunities and possibilities and um it's a message that we often try to share with with these students um but it's it's great that there are outside organizations helping to support that um you know our next Generations of of teachers and so forth so it's excellent um we want to congratulate our njrtc company Commander Bailey Shannon she's received a 4-year Navy Roc scholarship full ride to the University of Hawaii so congratulations on that as well um and we have some other scholarships that as as the year uh progresses we'll be uh celebrating those as well um PS I love you uh program took uh place in both of our buildings um those activities are going
005to be included in the curriculum committee report report so I'll save that and Mr Worman shared with me uh the sports review for the last couple weeks um the regular season has come to an end for our winter sports programs um but the postseason has just begun for a few of our teams and students the girls basketball team is in a tie for the league championship with babylin and it will uh come down to the seating uh committee decision which is tomorrow to determine uh who will be the number one seed going into the playoffs as it looks right now the number one and two seed will both have a home playoff game against either Greenport Southold or Pearson on February 28th when we know what those dates are we'll let you know and the
006boys basketball team did not finish the season um at 500 or better within their league however they did finish the season with a $500 uh 500 record U amongst other class B schools and is awaiting approval of a petition to enter the postseason we expect that they will get it um if granted the Tuckers would likely be the three seed and head to Babylon on February 26th um for that game so we'll keep you informed on that and hopefully they get that bid and they get a chance to uh play again and compete together um congratulations to Olivia raru um apparu I mispronounced that and Evan Meyer for competing in the section 11 State qualifier Championship meet last night um Olivia competed in the 5 5 meter dash and 300 meter where she set personal
007best records in each her time in the 300 secured her a top four finish out of 12 competitors which is the highest finish for girls winter track in matat history um everan Meyer was the only ninth grader to qualifier uh to qualify and compete in the state qualifier in triple jump where she finished with a 34 foot6 in Jump placing her in seven at the event so great job to those girls and I had the pleasure to of attending the uh suffa County division 2 wrestling championship ship last Friday at Center mares um where the mattic Southold Greenport wrestling team represented us pretty well five team members found a place on the podium um and will be all County uh with one of our wrestlers James fakis uh was a county champion and has qualified
008for the New York state championship tournament which will take place on February 23rd and 24th at the MVP Arena up in Albany so congratulations to those wrestlers other place finishers were Reck martos he took a third Lucas Aro took a fifth um Nikki marosha took a sixth and Kyle Annis took a six so congratulations um to their team on a on a great season uh they're a young Squad and we look for growth going forward um uh our top golf championships happened today um Mrs desert area uh uh we sent a team up uh to go compete with our special ed students um they did a nice job today Miss algro was that that that went well okay good and uh we had two uh musical performances in the last couple weeks first was Finding
009Nemo Jr um at Kut joog East and then ranked here at the Junior Senior High School so congratulations to the cast Crews and advisor advisers for producing first class Productions um over the last two weeks uh the shows were very well attended um and we thank their the students to their dedication um um for their dedication amazing talent M gar is happy to have her life back it's been a busy couple weeks um but it was nice to see uh you know the sets were much improved and uh really a nice job all around and to the advisers of kog geese it was their first time putting on a musical for two of those advisers so they did a really really nice job there um we are getting ready for the high school principal interviews
010um and that'll be reported out on the personnel and negotiations committee um another agenda item uh tonight and uh um is for recommendation for Meredith Alo for tenure um I am happy to make this recommendation you know we often talk about in education that you know someone is being granted tenure um kind of you speaking to some other superintendents and and really kind of reflecting on that practice and the reality is that people they earn tenure um it is something that you know uh especially in a district like ours that has such a high standard um of expectation for all staff members um you know as well as administrators uh it's something that that is earned and in Meredith's case um it it certainly was and and so I I am honored to recommend her
011um she began here with us in on February 24th in 2020 um and uh was absolutely thrown thrown into the fire so to speak um on in a lot more ways than one I know everyone immediately thinks of Co um but Meredith came to us from a Nassau County district and sometimes here we can be a little tough on on people that are coming from up Island so to speak and uh you know at first I I I would even dare say there were some of us that that didn't want to like Meredith you know um because of maybe some connections or or where she was coming from and uh you know uh one of the things that I think about all time you know when it comes to to Meredith and her time here
012is resiliency um as much as it was difficult for her when she first got here um she just kept banging at it and um I know that she wore me down you know I was a high school principal at the time um you know and you know even if you wanted to dislike her you couldn't you had to respect her work ethic um her dedication to students her knowledge of special education um and just how unbending she is in her work um she is a student Advocate she's a teacher Advocate um and uh it's not an easy job you know uh the superintendent often like to make like their job is the hardest job in the district um you know in in my journey through education and and my time here the high school principal
013job is a very very hard job I can attest to but I think on on most days uh the hardest job in the district is the director of of um special education and pupil Personnel I'm just Mar in in in uh the laws that that surround that um how dependent our students are that she serves um to get the services they need to be successful and when you look at our special ed program it is something that we are very very proud of here and um we're lucky to have her at the helm so without hesitation you know my strongest recommendation um that that should be granted ten you so MTH you kind of come on up I was supposed to pull you up here to embarrass you as I said all these things about
014you but um you can come on up and [Applause] congratulations a great looking family Meredith got her support network with her um and then to to kind of top that off we have a a treatment that um Miss Sheldon is here to uh Julie Sheldon's here to perform a piece from The High School Musical uh that took place place on the stage last week so you come on up and that's your CU I'm not I was going to say you can get that um so hi for those who don't know me I am shorter than Shan yes okay um so my name is an Gil um and been in the English Department here for 23 years um and for the past 13 years I've had the pleasure of directing the High School Musical um co-directing
015it with Jacob fou our chorus teacher um and this year's show was ranked a musical we had 35 students involved on stage and behind the scenes um we had Miss pelar supporting us in light and sound as she's done for many years and um Miss Melanie meloa directing the pit as she's conducted for the last couple years it's truly a group effort and we are so proud of the kids who performed and who got involved behind the scenes many students this year were with us for their very first time several leads in the show were in their very first musical and we really are so proud of the growth they showed just quickly about the show to kind of put put this in context for you um so Julia Sheldon a 10th grader here at
016MHS is here to perform she played the lead role of Lily in the world of ranked it's a dystopian High School setting and their class rank is so important that it's projected onto a screen all day long who's the higher ranking who's the lower ranking and so the kids can never forget about the pressure that they're under and this competition affects their relationships with each other it affects their self-esteem it affects their mental health but within all that they're still teenagers they still have crushes they still have friendships they still have drama and so the show looks at how all that pressure is affecting them the show was only six years old it was written by two High School teachers in California in 2018 and it's been shown in States all over and internationally we're
017proud that we were the first school on Long Island to put this show up and we're proud that our kids took on this challenge of drama interestingly they were really proud because they felt like they did something entertaining but also something that they really it felt it resonated with them and the themes they felt and the questions it asked were really important to them so this scene is Julia's character Lily she is a 14-year-old freshman she already feels the intense pressure of keeping her rank up she comes from a very poor family and she and her sister feel as if they don't keep up they'll always be stuck in poverty and so this song that she's going to perform is about that pressure and her need for support and understanding from others and um it's
018called work harder and it's pretty rocking and we hope you enjoy it so thank [Applause] you you gave a much better inro than I ever could next time I have to say Annie it was an incredible show unbelievable really an incredible show every single person on that stage you could feel that they were vested in that production and and the set was great and thank you for all your hard work I know how long you worked and how many hours you put in and how many hours the kids in and I can't remember I said so but Jake and I are so grateful for 13 shows of support from this board event this Administration these colleagues the custodians it's you know we couldn't do it otherwise so we're really really grateful so all right I've
019always been a good little sister never even try to speak my mind just keep my lips unlock don't take the chance to talk put the thoughts in my head still Scream and Shout once or twice I forgotten how to smile in play night let out one thought then L just shut your mouth don't know what you're talking about no one listens to me they're too busy speaking don't tell me to hurry up and wait then tell me that I'm still too late when you're yelling Lily this is our thing we work harder work smarter seems like there's no way to win here it feels like I might spend the whole year working harder working smarter working for a break that's never coming I tell myself not to freak out cuz you know that toally always
020works just breathe you'll be fine that's nice but it's not really helping although I don't want to do this I think the only way out is to go through this but why does this feel so wrong I don't know where I belong I just know where I don't want to be I don't want to hurry up and wait then find out that I'm still too late I'm here yelling this is not my fate to work harder work smarter but when the pressure is on will I make it if I had a choice would I take it when you don't have a voice you never have a [Music] choice I have to compete there's no way around it if there's a way out then I haven't found it that can't be right I don't have to
021fight but no matter what I think it doesn't change anything why do I have to fight till I turn blue there's got to be another way out is this my thing this is my thing [Music] you work [Music] harder just breathe be fine just breathe you'll be fine just breathe you'll be fine [Applause] you I get to oh this oh oh thank you Julio all by yourself up there owning that stage rocking it yet again wow awesome I mean it never gets old hey Miss desideria High School leadership so we are so fortunate to have Shan Murphy here and Sophia nudson to come up and share with us a report on all things MHS how's everyone doing we're going to try to follow that one up yeah getet it getet it so I'm Sean Murphy
022I'm a senior I am the Executive Vice President for uh the student council I'm Sophia canuteson I'm also senior M Class representative we're just going to go over a few of the uh student council activities from December to February the upcoming and past activities so first was the door decorating contest for December this is I mean since I've been in school it's been something I remember every year and Miss Stewart gave us permission to help uh pick the winners for each for the junior high and the high school there were two winners Miss Porto Carrero and Miss will wilsberg were both Chosen and the winners got a bagel breakfast for their class we have uh pictures from each and then me and Sophia both took part in this I was the mascot she was uh
023the one getting bullied in the skit um we 11 of us went to kog East to um present on bullying prevention and our goal is to like help them understand inclusiveness and see the if you the one person helping someone can change uh someone's day or even every day so they we started off with Mr Mr Amato and Miss Michael finegan who let a chant CE is the place to be and CE is Bully free they had me dancing in the mascot outfit and didn't tell me how hot it gets in there though and then after that 11 all 11 students acted out in a skit which we have a video of so it's it's a little uh easy to laugh at and to watch but I think that coming from high school students that
024we know that the younger kids look up to us and that even if the teachers did the same thing they'd probably a little bit more so uh I think overall was a great day and I I think they all had a good time this month we uh started a ducky Gams fundraiser where we sold rubber ducks during our lunch periods for $3 and if you wanted to add a personalized message they were $4 and um they were delivered on Valentine's Day to the first period classes and we raised approximately $300 which gets us a step closer to having a great semi-formal while also spreading love across the school some of our upcoming events are semi-formal and the blood drive semi-formal is March 15th from 7: to 930 p.m. it's Hawaiian themed and our fellow security
025guard Mr Sam is our DJ and there's going to be a lot of dancing and fun games and more um we also have the blood drive next month on March 27th um anyone who 16 or older can donate and like me and Sean and the fellow fellow student council members will be volunteering our time by helping with paperwork and handing out snacks and juice to the people that donate all right that's all we got thank you guys for having us thank you okay thank you Sophia thank you Sean and when our seniors do present to the younger kids it has a far greater impact than when the adults do I always feel like I'm every time I'm talking to kids sometimes it's like a skip from peanuts you know just like I'm talking and I'm
026just making noise you know but when you guys come and present to your peers and stuff it just it it hits a lot harder so thank you very much for that yep good all right um all right good evening and thank you uh tonight um is where we kind of publicly we've been working on the budget for a long time the the teachers the administration um myself and Mr delari in in building a budget for next year and it seems a little crazy that we start that process um almost as the school year is beginning um but it's what needed to be done um you know on an annual basis to to create and build the budget so this is uh tonight is a presentation of the budget um to the board it's a proposal
027right I I want to stress that um this budget is by no means set in stone there's still a lot of variables out there that are going to impact even what we've proposed let alone we are still looking for input from the board Ed um as well as the community um so I'm presenting to you folks this evening um I will be following up with presentations to both the elementary school and the high school PTA and then um you know even though we have a fairly thin audience this evening I'd like to believe that folks are watching this as it's being streamed and if anyone has any questions about anything that they're seeing presented this evening um I invite them to reach out uh to my office office and set up an appointment and and
028meet with me and I'd be happy to discuss anything that's being proposed this evening so with all of our work um we like to draw it back to our mission statement and our goals and make sure that anything that we are proposing in this budget supports the mission of the district in some way shape or form um and if it doesn't come back and doesn't live somewhere within our mission statement then we need to strongly consider whether or not it should be part of our budget going forward um again the budget process the annual budget cycle um starts in July and August as we look at our programs and do our fiscal audits um and then we go into September and October which is our goal setting and planning for the year and as we
029enter November and December um that's when we have started here reviewing our annual uh 5e plan and making updates and planning ahead for that as well as development of our building and Department budgets and then into January and February is when we really begin to um evaluate and project our enrollments our course offerings for the next year um any additional programs we want to um offer or maybe collapse uh due to participation we finalize our Revenue projections and as we're doing tonight presenting the the proposed uh District budget to the board of ed um over the next three months we will have a series of public budget meetings and we will adjust the budget as needed based on input from the board and the community and then in may we will have the budget and
030referendum votes and then come May and June we begin to implement um the approved budget and projects so as we plan um for this year's budget and again we don't just plan for the next coming school year it's really looking into the future as well um the uh the concept of sustainability is very important we don't want to be creating things that we don't think are going to be worth us for uh with us for a long time um and our our values and our mission consistently remain the same um things that we value here at Mat kog um are strong academic programs and supports for all of our students and that's really what's driving um the budget optimal class sizes um across the board uh a full day Universal pre kindergarden program um robust
031AP course offerings um this year we're going to be adding um preap Global for our ninth graders as well as AP European History bringing our total um AP offerings at the High School to 15 which is a very high number of courses uh at the AP level for a district our size um we will continue alignment of the K through 8 Ela and math programs um the mtss system um we continue to tweak it at the elementary level and bring it up into the middle school level that's ongoing work that will continue into next year um we offer a lot of opportunities uh in uh the Bose's occupational program program for our students that want to pursue something outside of the traditional classroom setting here um in the occupational uh program field that bosies is
032offering um we did we were not successful in getting our in-house carpentry program off the ground this coming year we are giving it a shot next year working with posies now they've already posted for a teacher that was our problem last year was securing a teacher um their way ahead of it this year communicating with neighboring School dist districts to try to drum up some enrollment as well so we are optimistic that we'll get that off and running um we keep expanding our enl program um with professional supports as our demographics keep changing and uh we see that these supports are absolutely benefiting these students as uh we we see better integration and and better test scores for these students um we are able to sustain our Extended Learning day uh interventions program the money
033that we got for Co where we initiated these programs has run out and now lives in the budget we saw that we were um getting more bang for our buck in our after school programs during the school year um we saw that participation was good and that we were seeing the results we wanted not so much on with the summer program um so we've shifted all of our resources uh into the afterday uh after school extended a learning program um curriculum instruction development K12 that's ongoing work um when one project is finished we're moving on to the next to make sure that all of our curriculums are are current um we continue to support the ELA and math coaching position at kog East um and we are also beginning to revamp the science curriculum um
034uh the investigations program in grades five and seven um and then you heard me talk a little bit earlier about our special education program um when we were talking about m al it is something that we are very proud of here um we run a a robust program um and really do a great job of meeting the needs of our students and we continue to support that in the budget and our technology infrastructure districtwide is excellent we have the one-on-one initiative that we continue to support as well as our infrastructure here in the buildings um to support instruction at all of our levels um as far as enrichment goes districtwide this budget supports um two additional clubs uh at kog East next year there will be 22 clubs um offered at kog East um it's
035one of those things if you build it they will come um uh you know so we want to continue running with that and at the secondary level we offer 36 different clubs and extracurricular activities in our portfolio for our students um we offer a robus art music and theater program here as you just saw um had two musicals just this past month in each of our buildings we continue to support the steam program at kog East as well as the fles program um beginning in kindergarten and we have a very robust uh elective program here at the Junior Senior High School that this project continues to support um in athletics uh we offer 24 different sports for our Junior Senior High School students um that spans across uh 64 different teams so um things that
036we're not able to offer here alone we partner up with our districts um in Southold and Greenport and provide those opportunities for our students sometimes it's uh details their students coming here to participate and very often our students are going to our neighboring District to participate Sean how many shared teams do we have with our neighboring districts um I don't have that exact number um but it grows every year last year we ended we uh we added field hockey um it's wrestling it's football um it's girls soccer um and uh there's some others that are forgetting um but uh it's something that we've been trending in that direction and I expect to see more of it as um both ourselves and South holder some decreasing enrollment so we want to uh you know I think
037we're doing a great job of creating these these opportunities for our students and and partnering with our neighboring districts we'll continue to do so thank you yeah um our social emotional supports uh something that I'm very proud of here at the district um we have a Rob bus guidance Department K12 five counselors supporting our students um two psychologists uh that assist with uh not only just counseling but our special ed program um we have two students assistance counselors uh servicing both buildings um and this team of individuals are implementing programs in curriculum K12 um whether it's our guidance Department um helping our students with scheduling and college placement they also play a pivotal role in in counseling of our students um as do our psychologists and our students assistant counselors um really our goal here
038is to make make sure that none of our students are slipping through the cracks and all of them are getting the supports that they need um it's a difficult time uh in life it's not easy being an adolescent and a young person and it seems to be getting more and more difficult each year um this is a dynamite team they do a great job um security wise we last year um we added an additional guard to the budget we now have five full-time guards we have numerous part-time guards we are putting out a posting um to bring on some addition parttime guards as well um and then you know as going along with our infrastructure our technology infrastructure are the cameras that we have districtwide um and we keep expanding you know as needs be
039um and evaluating their effectiveness um acting as both a deterrent and then when things do arise uh we're able to reference them so there will be two propositions on the ballot in May um the first is a budget um what the administration is recommending um is a proposed budget um in the amount of 4,345 397 um which represents a 3.02% increase from our existing budget this year um that will result in a tax levy of 2.91% um so our allowable Levy is 3.1% that is our 2% tax cap right we talk about this every year it's not really a 2% tax cap it's different in every District based on the formula the state gives us so our allowable Levy is at 3.1 we are proposing a levy of 2.91 um which means we are1 n%
040under the cap or equivalent to almost $75,000 under the cap um with the budget as it is proposed um it is important to note and this is going to be a different budget season um as you hear numbers coming out from different districts I know that you guys are aware that the governor in her annual budget proposed some pretty massive cuts um to Foundation in um some districts received more many districts received quite a bit less in a proposed budget um so in her proposed budget matat kog could be seen a loss of uh $664,000 a little bit more um that's a proposal at this point in time that's not a hard set budget I know our local legislators um we've been in contact with them um so they're advocating that that money be reinstated
041um and legislators all over the state are doing the same um to make sure that we're whole this budget this proposed budget does not include those cuts we are very optimistic that it that that money's will be put back will be restored um we do have recommendations of potential Cuts if it's not restored in whole um and I'll talk about them a little bit but it's important to note that this proposed budget does not include those cuts many of our neighboring districts are going to be including those cuts um there's some different philosophies in regards to that um like I said we are very optimistic that those funds will be reinstated and we don't want to create unnecessary Panic we don't want folks believing that they may potentially lose jobs when in fact we believe
042that they won't um so this is going to make this budget cycle a little different this year because we're going to have to keep revisiting this so it is going to be a very fluid budget Sean um that figure of lost Foundation Aid does that play any role in the calculation of the 2.91% or actually the 3.10% no it is not included not so if we lose that we're still stuck with this 3.1% if if the governor's budget was to stand and um that Aid wouldn't be reinstated we would be looking at cutting potentially you know again we're underneath the cap by about 74,000 so we would have to cut somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 to stay under the cap my recommendation would be that we would still try to stay under the cap
043um that's a conversation we could have if we need to um at that point in time Mr Petr I just want to mention that you mentioned that our local politicians are reaching out to the governor we have heard we re reached out and we have heard back from Senator Palumbo who is supporting you know us in that that fight as well as um we reached out to Governor hok but we have not heard anything from her yet so yeah and and this past week Mr delari made the trip up to H as part of of an advocacy effort and also met with our local legislators really giving them detailed um concerns you know about what this cut could mean as as well as other things within the budget and um and even in my conversation
044it's kind of telling our story and what's driving these Cuts really are declining enrollment as well as property valuation which we know in our district has gone up tremendously um we were able to discuss um with our legislators that although we may be seeing a decline in enrollment and the land wealth is is increasing dramatically in our district our demographics are changing um and we are now um you know about 35% um economically disadvantaged in our student population so that's a massive change we've seen our enl population grow dramatically and so we talked about our programming to support these students that's been an ongoing part of of that conversation really kind of telling our story in each District's a little different um so even though our enrollments may have decreased our feeling is that these
045Cuts in state aid are um there they're unfair um and the formula they're using doesn't take these other things into account um so and that will keep being on messaging and the messaging of our local legislators um we also uh anticipate having an additional proposition on the ballot as part of our 5-year plan um where we would look to expend monies from the capital reserve um which we established in 2022 um we're looking at air conditioning and air conditioning project at kog East um as well as the fascia and kopa project here at the Junior Senior High School those are the two big items that we are looking at um we are still working to finalize numbers um in March for this project um and those numbers once we get a good handle on them
046will be in our future presentations um it is important to note that all of these monies uh for these projects come out of our capital reserve so that's monies that we have we've saved and we have for projects such as this we will still require voter approval so that's why it'll be on the ballot um we are in conversation we were in conversation today with our district architect about options um for AC at Kut some different things we may look at based on timelines and we'll share more information with the board um when we have it as well as um the phased KOA project as well um I know that when we presented about the 5year plan we were looking at utilizing um repair uh Reserve to handle the Koopa and um and the fascia
047we're being told now because of the involvement and uh what that project entail that would have to come from the capital reserve so we would then be looking to get voter approval to move money from the repair Reserve into the capital reserve um we kind of feel that our repair Reserve is a little overfunded so we'd like to access those funds if we could to get this work done sure and also These funds that would be used can only be used for these type of capital projects they cannot be used for Budget yes and that's that's one of the things that um our legislators are trying to Advocate as well as um the different professional organizations that we're involved with I know the superintendents are pushing hard on the state um to give us some
048flexibility when it comes to our Reserve funds um again we we're only allowed to have a 4% in our reserves our hands get smacked we go above that other municipalities are allowed to carry more than a 4% Reserve um we are not and we're very much handcuffed to what we can do with those funds based on the reserves that that they're in and we would like more flexibility with that especially when we're looking at potential Cuts in our state aid you know like we're saying if we had some flexibility to be able to utilize some of these reserves offset some of these cuts and Aid it would put us in a much better position and Sean whose opinion is it that we can't use the repairs or funds for the fascia because it's Charlie had
049conversation you speak more directly every time we try to use a repairs it's we can't the part that the part that comes up and it was whenever we had to speak with ingerman Smith the attorney's there which the conversation it was kind of funny when I was explaining the project and it was like yes repair yes repair and as the project we kept on going through the detail it was good for like 50% and then once you have to permit and have various closings to do once the word kopa kicked in uh that's when it switched right to Capital project just because of the size and because of the permit so the idea concept that we have is we're not using you're not able to use the repair Reserve but what we're going to do
050through different Avenues is utilize the money in the repair Reserve move it to the capital reserve and take it from there so it's if we can't use it one way we will find a way to utilize those monies for the same type project okay does that require voter approval to transfer the funds no what it'll do is it'll requ require board approval okay just resolution approve um so just showing you where we are with our tax cap history you know traditionally we have stayed under the tax cap um the last few years we've gotten a little closer to the cap um as as costs have have risen um uh you know so again our cap is at 3.2% or 2% % um we are proposing a tax rate increase of 2.91% um so again this
051this is not a true 2% tax cap it's based on um the formula used by the state so our budget drivers um what are the costs what makes up uh the budget and dou Doug you want to label each section this program will not allow us to do it so we move the dollar figures over to the codes so easier for you to read um our biggest you know uh driver is is salar um you know we are people business it's the it's the folks in the classroom the student Support Services um that is our biggest cost um as well as the employee benefits um instruction and student service um again the extra supports put in place for for our students central office costs Transportation um again we have a great relationship with our transportation
052company um lucky to have have Sunrise bus and then our debt service fund transfers and then facilities and security so these are the elements that make up our budget um each year breaking it down um breaking down these cost to budget drivers a little deeper um again nothing extremely dramatic you seeing a a increase um you know some areas that that are uh fairly large you know ERS has gone up 11.6% TRS um 10.1% our health insurance costs are up 99.1% um Transportation um is something that you're hearing about all over the place had those costs are going up at 13.8% and as some of our big technology projects are falling off you'll see that technology has decreased uh close to 16% that's just a little more detailed look at some of the things that
053are um driving the budget um Mr delari in the weeks to come we'll be giving more detailed presentations on what really makes up all of those different components tonight it's just a larger Overlook of of The Proposal um so again one of our biggest costs is Staffing what drives Staffing is our enrollments um so looking at our enrollments at kog East um this present year um we have 443 students at kog East uh for a total of four sections um so if you look at the chart you know our different grade levels those are the number of students we have at each grade level these are the number of sections in each one of those grade levels if you recall last year we had we were watching our kindergarten numbers and our fourth grade numbers
054um to determine if we were going to add those extra sections um we had them in the budget just in case we ended up utilizing all of the sections in the budget as those num numbers came in um this is something that we agreed upon years ago um as a board and administration that we were always try to fall Within These numbers for each classroom um again the 443 that does not take into account um several students that are in our self-contained classes um Sean if I look at the 443 and then in the bullets down below you say we expect a decrease of 34 students I get 409 but then expected enrollment 426 to 436 so yeah I'll what's going on there when I get to it um you know again these numbers are
055going to be approximate because we don't know what our enrollments are going to look like next year um you know we we have 67 students that are going to be going up to the Junior High um we don't know what this number is going to be for kindergarten this coming year um we anticipate anywhere from about 50 to 60 just based on we've been seeing and touching base with the preate programs um we think it's going to be in that neighborhood so we anticipate that we could see a decrease of approximately 34 students in that neighborhood it maybe less um than that um but our projected enrollments for next year um again we think it could be anywhere from 426 to 436 students um resulting in anywhere from 23 25 sections so we have 25
056sections in this budget we did increase it um but again going forward we are going to watch our kindergarten numbers to determine whether or not we need four sections again there as well um if we have a decrease you know we lose some students in first grade we could revisit that number right now I would guess that we're probably going to have four sections in first grade um unless we saw a drop of enrollment um and then watching our fifth grade numbers as well we saw a decrease there we could potentially revisit it and these are areas where if we lost that $650,000 we would obviously take a closer look at it um as as potential areas um so again we're looking to run 25 sections next year um in the budget that's one additional
057over what we had last year um and uh you know again that does not include our special class students and we'll continue to watch uh watch the enrollments in grades K1 and five so that'll be part of an ongoing discussion as the spring rolls out um M Brandon when do you think when do you andp will have hard numbers for kindergarten when we complete kindergarten right now um kindergarten registration is in March so we have kindergarten registration and then screening right after that right now I have um the last I had with most of the preschools um I confirmed 46 but last year we were there was 10 more than what was confirmed based on the schools that we were able to get commitments from pretty much you know just kids we have the the
058biggest amount of students in but there's a few other schools that could range up to 10 more students so that's why we're thinking 50 to 60 because that could look like 56 instead of 46 if it follows the same at the Junior Senior High School um you know again it's a similar story right those those lower class numbers are are moving up to the Junior Senior High School uh when we pulled numbers for this presentation in February of 23 we had four 549 students um you know right now we're sitting at 526 students students in the Junior Senior High School we anticipate next year that we'll have 495 students in the Junior Senior High School um M desario myself and Mr Lynch um we're still looking at the sections I'm pretty confident that these section
059numbers will hold um pretty consistent to what we had last year um some of that is due to expansion program elective classes as well as the two additional AP classes that that we spoke about um we may consolidate some of the six classes that we're using but we do anticipate at this point in time um that our numbers will be consistent again this will be something that we'll be taking a much closer look at in the event that um we get that cut in $650,000 what what's the size of the junior class our junior class right now is have this with me at all times um is uh 93 students all right so because I'm I'm also looking at whatever changes we make now also affect the following year and so there's only a 10
060students difference between the fifth grade that's coming up so when sixth grade comes up well that's this year the following year I'm looking at what kind of change we have and it's much smaller than what's going to happen this coming year yeah it's going to be you know a steady decrease I mean some of the concern and some of what we look at um is you know when you look at some of those classes of 50 and we have a consistent stretch um you know at some some point in time at the Junior Senior High School when those grade levels of 50 hit you know you're talking about again another dramatic drop and enrollment and when that happens you know M makes maintaining those programs all the more difficult right you know to do that's
061not um but again there may be some slight movement you know it's it's a little different when you have that drop of students you know it depends where they fall and you know one thing that we've done in this district is we are very proud of what we offer our kids and to be able to continue to do that with aren't decreasing in sizes we've run some smaller classes um you know if it's some AP classes we have some AP classes of six or seven students in um you know and some of our different elective areas you know especially when we're trying a new elected and getting it off the ground we may run them with some smaller numbers and um you know that that's something that we've been able to do and hopefully we'll
062be able to continue to do Sean when you have those smaller classes and you're trying out a new class how long do you go before you decide throw the towel in um you you you you look at the class you know there's no hard number or hard time you know it's going to depend on the class too like when we started an AP comp science that's a program we know is going to take a while to build and and AP Computer Science is something that is now very relevant to our students um and you know so you look to grow that so we might go two years you know you may look at that um you know we see some courses you know coming up uh public speaking very popular at other times theater very
063popular and then that kind of wains and when you don't have you know the sections you you fold those as other things become popular you know they do begin to compete against each other yeah um you know with the unintended consequences um you know I will remind the board that last year you know we saw that major increase in health insurance costs of about $750,000 you know that was the challenge last year and through um retirements and resignations and things like that we did fold you know close to seven and a half instruction you know teaching and administrative positions in the district um so when the question comes up with this decrease in enrollment why is your Staffing not decreasing it been um typically slowly last year was a big one because we did have
064a lot of retirements and so forth and we had that challenge of of staying under the cap with having to increase our health insurance cost so dramatically so those cuts have been happening we are a much smaller staff than we ever work so our budget Revenue you know where does the money come from to support this budget uh most of it comes through our local taxes um you know we do not um we're not a community that's that's Business Heavy our residents share the grunt of of both of these taxes so it's always important to to remember that and I think that's why staying under the tax cap is always a very important thing for us to do um make sure that we're doing that to maintain uh the community's trust we get very little
065state aid and again that number of of 3, 41,000 uh that does not include the proposed cut so that number could come down potentially um which will impact uh impact our budget um Reserve fund balance we anticipate that we'll be able to roll about $650,000 into this budget from the reserve fund balance um to offset this budget it's something that we try to be consistent in every year um you know again uh you don't want to balloon that that's a number that you want it to maintain consistently or decrease um anytime you increase that number if you don't have that number to put in the budget the following year that's another downset you know um our pilot uh payments those are payments in L of taxes that we get from some different municipalities um help
066offset a little bit and then just miscellaneous Revenue student tuitions things of that nature um that come and help uh build uh generate Revenue so again just to recap um this is our proposed budget we're looking at a 3.2% increase um budget to budget it's a tax levy of 2.9 uh 1% our allow Levy is 3.1% so we are about uh $74,000 underneath the tax cap at this point in time um we don't ever like to talk about contingency and um one of the things you know I'm realizing when I have conversations with parents um folks that haven't lived through a contingency budget um kind of don't necessarily understand it if we were if the voters were to not approve the budget that we proposed um we would have to cut um about 2.56% out
067of the budget so you're looking at an additional you know11 million in cuts and last year when I was sharing this budget with some folks you know people made comments that who hadn't really paid attention to our process um why don't you just put you should put everything in the budget and let the voters decide whether or not they want to have it in there or not and it really doesn't work like that um if you potentially put up a budget that you think the voters may not approve our students stand to to lose a great more so that that's why it's it's very important as we build our budgets that we were very conscious of the impact this has on the taxpayers of this community um and I think staying under that tax cap
068each year sends the right message to them that you know we uh that you know we're being diligent in our in our Budget Building um so that's you know what would happen in the event the last time it happened here was 20 and it was it was catastrophic um for our students in programs took us years to to come out of that um certainly a place we do not want to go back to again um again just another way of looking at uh how we got to our budget to budget increase and the estimated tax levy Mr delari is going to go into more detail on all this going forward um with you again just proposition number one um not including the governor's proposed cutting state aid we're optimistic that will be returned and then
069the second uh proposition on the budget would be capital reserve projects um to address the air conditioning on the second floor in kindergarten wing and cut Yard East as well as the fascia and the KLA here at this building um also involved in um the uh the budget vote are the um we have three seats open for the Board of Ed um this is for a three-year term that would begin in July um so anyone interested in running for the board um they should contact Lisa Bieber um they can call call her directly at c west or emailer um and the nominating petitions um will be available beginning March 1st and need to be turned in no later than April 22nd um to be considered for the ballot a couple follow-up questions um just on
070the repair Reserve maybe for Charlie if we just use it anyway and repair the fascia and the koula what happens what if we just say that we're going to use the repair reserve and if it is deemed inappropriate by the state then you will have to refund that amount of money from your regular budget into your repair Reserve which would then be an impact for impact on the taxpayers of whatever that amount would come to Okay C can we split that project into two it sounded like when you added the koua to it that was the final straw yeah once you if you're looking at splitting project into two now what you're doing is you're bringing companies out here at two different times in which your cost is going to increase because when they're coming
071on site it's better to do the project together and quite frankly if you're able you know I'm I just want to say it's it's almost like a triangle move you're not able to use the money from your repair Reserve directly but indirectly with a couple of steps you would still be able to bring down your repair Reserve by the exact amount of money you're using and still go through Capital it's also good to go through Capital because then what you have is you have your architect signing off on it the blueprints on it and God forbid there's ever a problem with that you have a book that's written on it by the architect that covers you from an insurance standpoint we created the repair Reserve five years ago six years ago um haven't been able
072to use it once do we need it I I would say that you still want to have a portion of monies in the repair Reserve because some of the areas that you might have is an emergency situation such as your boilers that you have um I've seen the boilers I think at some point whenever we move them on we might be able to sell them off in the Antique Road Show and get some of the money back uh but I think if you have something like that or different problems if you have a weather change where you have piping issues because you do have you know these buildings uh have a lot of history which means they have a lot of age and some of the hardware in it okay uh you'd still like to
073have that because in case of an emergency it's there you would have those monies okay question I I do just on kog geast so we're expecting enrollment to go down but we're adding one additional teacher so what's that teacher going to be doing and um and I'll pull that slide up again um right it's about where the numbers fall and um so you know really when we're trying to stay in those uh those bands those different grade levels um you know we would have to watch we don't what's really making that happen is we're not sure what we're going to get in kindergarten right if if it's you know upwards of 60 students last year we were in a similar position and we decided to increase um a section there so we may want to
074have that same option again this year you know so that's um we have that larger class that's in fifth grade now um they're moving up you know it's so you know it's right now we have a smaller CL for sixth grade right there was 67 there was a lot of conversation about four you know four sections of three sections again it was a tough budget cycle um we felt that 22 to 23 fell within our great level bands were able to go down to three sections there the real you know could have for some people GL we should have been at for and stated for um but you know again that that grade level is going up so it's it's kind of where the numbers fall it's a similar situation in the high school when
075you look at it right you're seeing a decrease in numbers but that might mean one section in English one section in social studies now you're consolidating six classes um you know okay yeah that helps so it's just how the makeup of each grade tends to be and then is there a full-time assistant principal at kog East in this budget or we're staying with the um Dean the proposed budget has has the um does not include does not reinstate an assistant principal kog East um but it does support the part-time Dean stem teacher at kacho East which has been working for us this year okay if I could just give some um feedback regarding the sixth grade because I think when we started maybe we were at 20 but those um we've had some additional kids
076come into uh sixth grade but and it's been a difficult difficult year this is the feedback that I'm getting um from students and the class sizes are big so even though they are sixth grade and we're on the higher end of our agreed upon class sizes if I could go back I would have gone back to four sections because I've seen it has been difficult um for the sixth grade so could I just ask how many are in each class like to keep advocating and six grade I would like to keep advocating to keep those classes at 20 or under because it has been difficult um for the students especially because um it's more management the standards are higher the expectations and their the needs are higher um so and as we see with our
077achievement scores we could be seeing an increase in in their Proficiency in their reading and their math so um that's why I would definitely encourage or Advocate to keep those classes at 20 or under for any of kug East and I'm going to add my 22 cents here um I always advocate for the lower and kindergarten first second developmentally they need more they need but the higher end they're getting ready for junior high 20 kids in a class seems manageable by any sense of imagination so 20 definitely but when it gets to 22 that's that's much higher that's and I I mean I teach middle schools I mean did I 17 18 19 and I mean I'm I'm still in the classroom and I'm seeing what after covid their needs and as you say our
078demographics are changing um I think we also have to think about the teachers we hire we hire really the cream of the crop and I give our teachers a lot of credit for everything they're doing and then I look at the numbers of enrollment coming up and to add another section now we've added another teacher and now all of a sudden we went down to 53 students so you know we we have to look at that as well and and although I understand what you're saying I do think 23 students in a class is okay well going from experience um 20 23 is is a lot on for elementary well I was here when the budget went down and we had 24 and 25 kids in a class and I'll tell you you do not
079want to go to school with a budget that goes down that budget's going down no I'm just saying that we have to look at these numbers realistically too well right now we're not dealing with it no we're not in in the proposed budget all right it's close for the sixth grade so once we get some better numbers and if it becomes an issue let's you know we can discuss it again but I don't think we're going to get anywhere tonight I mean we're not even delving into the nitty-gritty of each of these categories each what's going to happen with that state aid is going to drive a lot of this conversation going forward you know right now if if if it gets reinstated as is I mean these are these are Cadillac numbers you know
080for class sizes absolutely if if we're pinched which we were last year right that we had to come up with that 750,000 um that's what drove some of those we had some tough decisions last year well definitely I mean one of the the backbone of our teachers and that's what makes a big difference in the classroom so we you know we should have discussion as to how we can adjust if it comes to that if it comes to that okay Board of Education committee reports audit and finance Mr Connelly thank you so the audit Appliance committee met earlier this evening we reviewed the claims report and everything looked good there there were no issues we talked a little bit about some of the procedures and policies in the business office that have generated the clean
081reports um for the past year so we're thankful to Charlie for putting those in place and and stay on top of that and the rest of the staff and the business office yes um we talked about the two budget transfers on the agenda there's one for the uh interim High School principal um and also for the courtyard project at kog East um the corer project is going to be done this spring yeah that's that's what we're anticipating yes right um and then we talked about state aid which has been brought up quite a bit so I'll leave that there back to you Mr okay building safety and grounds Mr Cooper thank you Pat we discussed a number of issues and items one of the interesting things is the bus Patrol report uh where people are
082getting tickets for passing sto school buses uh the amount that is being charged when they catch you for passing a stop school bus is is what was it Char $250 $250 for the first the first time and then 400 or 500 next time um I I don't know why you're I didn't come up with the I didn't do these violations so I'm not sure but I believe it's 300 the second time the the number of of reported passings like that has gone down significantly since these amounts of money have been being charged Jennifer brought up a issue at Cox Lane and Cog with the railroad tracks and the the timing of the gates when they come down so we've called The Long Allen Railroad and they are investigating that okay um Mr Kelly said that
083we're going to get $1,000 for as a scholarship for one of our students from the from the facilities team management team which is nice that's nice the fencing at Laurel orridge Lane along from the tennis court going north okay that's in rough shape I didn't realize it I went down there with with Mr Kelly and and uh it is in poor condition so that's um our section of the fence has been replaced the park district has opted not to they're not fixing theirs no but our our section is fixed okay that's that's that's good that is are being sent for summer projects and there's a a couple of items that we're going to to give a letter of intent for buying the equipment we don't have permission to do the projects yet but it gives
084us a head start with the with the companies that if we can have a letter of intent so we can order the equipment and have it ready for when they want to we it won't be paying for it till after the if assuming the budget passes the Courtyard at cuto geese maybe we're all familiar with that it's it's a nice area it's not being utilized and not overly attractive but that they want to turn that into a Learning Center an outside learning area looks great get rid of the gravel that's in there put in some artificial grass and it it sounds like a a good worthwhile step uh the stem wi with finalizing the building on the stem Wing we got a couple of things we still have to get get the paperwork for done
085yet and duck cleaning is underway at the high school and one of the projects we we're going to be doing is the the air conditioning at the cuto geese I look forward to that that should be good that's one of the projects will be a letters of intent and that's it pat thank you Mr C you're welcome um cares committee miss Warren oh sorry I skipped your camera it's okay go ahead L we met last week uh we're currently undergoing a remarketing or rebranding for the committee across both of the buildings right now um it's MHS cares at the high school and the CE climate and culture committee which is really comprised of only faculty but these are going to merge to become a Tucker cares committee um and it was previously the diversity equity
086and inclusion committee they're using the belonging through culture of dignity to guide these meetings it's a book um at the high school of all the meetings are being planned to be held after school to include student staff community stakeholders um and are trying to expand to a larger group um we have upcoming sixth grade students to come to MHS to have the current MHS students share their disabilities to encourage encourage younger students to advocate for themselves and encourage kindness compassion and patience at the high school the 10th graders attended the um one woman plague girl in a striped dress it was a memoir of the Holocaust Survivor at the suffa community college in Seldon uh in celebration of the national Holocaust Remembrance Day um this being Black History Month they're celebrating by expanding visuals into
087the MHS halls and classes by celebrating black artists at the elementary school they we saw from the student leadership they hosted the bully prevention assembly where students from both schools participated and it was intended by the sro's previous administrators community members PTA members they're also preparing to launch I'm gonna say this wrong the the OAS OAS OAS student survey to grades three through six consisting of questions related to bullying and implemented by the classroom teachers um eventually this will be sent out every September they're also continuing with their morning meetings to focus on inclusion and there is also um um celebrations for Black History Month at the elementary school with read alouds discussions including quotes on morning announcements um and the Desa survey has been completed it evaluated the social emotional learning there's were eight
088questions answered by the teachers for each student and this helps to build up and develop strengths of their students um and a clarification letter will be sent out to parents uh at the end of the meeting Miss Anderson also asked if the buildings could benefit from having a therapy dog uh some of the other questions around that involved who the dog's caretaker would be that's it thank you now Karen lella okay the curriculum technology and health committee meeting met um the first thing we discussed was the PS I Love You week where the themes and activities were planned in both buildings to support mental health awareness this year's theme was love is meant to be given tagi students dressed to show school spirit and during morning meetings classes participated in different activities such as popsicle
089stick exchanges and bingo to share the message of PS I love you they also participate in the world read aloud day and Global play day high school students wrote positive notes on Post-its to share in messages outdoors in chalk banners were purchased for the buildings and a staff lunch and was provided by Ryan's team some local Merchants have become involved by selling purple Goods and t-shirts and Mrs algro describ the district's mental health Team we then talked about the New York State data security review and Mrs arera reported that our website review is complete and looks good to the state our data policies and plans have been updated and a role in place the girl in the stripe dress again with the 10th grade students went to suffa Community College in Seldon to attend the
090Holocaust Survivor story and there was a question and answer period Miss desidera reported the student students all gave good feedback from the program the Black History Month initiatives as Mrs Warren said at MHS were happening across all departments and artwork has been submitted for the M Martin Luther King portrait project through East End Arts Council the AP seminar presentation students are beginning to present their research to administrators and teacher groups the topics are very impressive The English Department of Professional development is ongoing for curriculum and design the carpentry program we're going to get the program running for the new school year we hope to as boast is is posting for a teacher and the last thing we discuss was the bully prevention program it's a questionnaire Mrs Brennan shared sample questions about what this survey
091students will be invited to to about the survey and students are invited to participate anonymously in grades three through six and this program runs annually thank you um negotiations and Personnel that's me um we're extending the current Spanish leave replacement um for three more months and we're posting for a Spanish teacher for the next school year due to a letter of intent for retirement from Mr Rosen bound and we're headed into the principal interviews 50 resumés have been received and reviewed a hiring committee will interview approximately eight candidates of which one or two will be interviewed by the Board of Education with an anticipated appointment at the March board meeting and that's it for me um policy legislative and community relations yes the committee met uh the end of uh January uh we went over
092three policies policy 4321 programs for students with disabilities under the idaa Ida um it was revised policy 6700 purchasing was also revised and updated and then policy 9120 workplace violence prevention this is a new policy we were notified that we needed to put something um in in our policy manual um we have a first reading for all three of these uh we are also currently putting things in place to meet the requirements of our new workplace violence prevention and will be in place by the time we approve the second reading uh we also discussed the state aid and advocacy advocacy and which has been discussed throughout the evening so okay and I just want to add to that that part of this committee is legislative we've had Representatives at the legislative breakfast recently as well
093as like I said from the board we sent letters um to our um poit local politicians and um one of our board goals is to increase community outreach and every board member has been making that effort so thank you for all of that and now we're on to new I'm the high school principal um do you have a timing or any idea on timing of when the board would meet with candidate so you want to have it on the March agenda which would be the third March 12th March 12th March 12th okay thank you okay I don't know what time I'll get back that's fine okay uh new business I need a motion to accept donations item a through C make a motion I need a second a second and I just want to mention
094those it's a PTSA mini Grant donation to amount of amount of $500 to support the high school enl trip to New York it's an $800 donation from the matat kug friends of music to support the high school 2024 music in the park strip and it's a $4,000 donation from the Elementary PTA to support the Gordon Corman author visit for the 20 23 24 school year um any discussion thank you very much all in favor hold on I'd just like to thank the PTA they've over the years they've donated a lot of lot of money for the benefit of the kids and and I greatly greatly appreciate and thank them okay thank you PT and PTs yes um all in favor I I okay Personnel items a through n make I need a motion second any
095discussion all in favor uh resolution items a through H I need I need a motion second any discussion all in favor I audience communication other than agenda items anybody want to talk talk no that so up Island I know I can't help it it's with it's with my cup of coffee um okay I need a motion for adjournment make a motion I need a second yep all in favor I thank you very much that's a w