001Hello. Good evening. Buenosene. Thank you for joining us for the March 19, 2026 regular board meeting. At this time, we will call the meeting to order. >> This agenda was prepared in advance of tonight's meeting. The final agenda for tonight's meeting is subject to change at the time of the meeting. Any changes will be noted at the time they are made and again after the meeting on the public board minutes, which are available on the district's website. We would like to remind everyone that translation and interpretation Services are available during this meeting. If you need assistance, please let us know and we'll be happy to accommodate you. Thank you. This evening, we're going to start with our vice president, Freddy Williams, with the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Parino, do we have any moments of silence?
002>> We do. >> Unfortunately, we do have some moments of silence this evening. Uh, the first moment of silence is for Anthony Lindo and Mr. Lindo, the brother-in-law of Dr. Noville Connell. And Mr. Lindell had a very distinguished military career. After his military career, he became an executive in a technology company. He had a very strong belief in the value of education. He often quoted the phrase of said by Nelson Mandela, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. And he passed this value on to his children, two daughters, one daughter serving as a a principal, an administrator, and the other daughter is serving as a psychologist. So, Mr. Lindle again had a very distinguished career on many, many fronts. Uh, the second moment of silence this evening is
003for Mr. Kenneth Carpenter. Mr. Kenneth Carpenter served 25 years as a teacher in the Middletown School District. He also served his community. He was a member of a number of boards including the emergency housing board, the guild of St. Margaret Soup Kitchen and a member of the Grace Episcopal Church. He also served his country in the United States Marine Corps. So he also will be missed. I knew and I worked with uh Mr. Carpenter for a number of years. He's a very softspoken individual. never heard him raise his voice. He the students really admired and loved him. Believe me. William gotas room gotas again served his comm community served his country and community. He was in the United States merchant marine. He served on a number of boards in the community. He had a career
004in banking and then he became a he joined our security force. So Mr. Gotas also will be uh missed the last moment silence that I have and this occurred today very suddenly. one of our security aids, member of our security staff at Presidential Park passed away quite suddenly. And I want to read what uh the superintendent wrote about this gentleman, Mr. Baky, John Baky. Mr. Baky John was a a presence in our building. Someone who showed up in support of students every day. The kind of support leaves an impression on people and he will be dearly dearly missed. So fortunately, as I said, it's been a rough stretch for us. Now I'm going to turn the uh program over to um Mr. Andrew Moore. And Mr. Moore has a moment of silence. >> Yes. Uh
005in addition uh to the moment of silence, uh want to we'll have a moment of silence for the entire uh Hilton family. Uh over the Easter weekend, their um one of our lifelong M's uh uncle passed away due to a house fire and it's um pretty tragic. Um and it's it's it happened you know over the over the weekend and it's it's it's pretty shocking just to understand the nature of how it happened as well. He was a um his name is Steve uh Pakoli. He was a life uh you know retired FDNY uh firefighter in the city and relocated up here with his family. And I just want to take a moment of silence to the entire Hilton family um and just let them know that we are the entire board and district has
006them in in our prayers. So please remember all of the people that I mentioned and Maui family in uh your thoughts and prayers. >> Thank you John. >> Thank you Mr. Parino. Thank you Mr. Moore. Now we're going to have Dr. De Jesus with our mission statement for the Enlarge City School District of Middletown. We strive to provide fiscally sound educational opportunities in a safe environment that continuously support our diverse student population. We will enable all students to graduate to reach their full potential to become lifelong learners and to be competitive, productive members of society. >> Roll call. Miss Montree >> Dr. De Jesus >> here. >> Mr. Estrada >> here. >> Mr. Moore >> here. >> Mr. Parino >> here. >> Mr. Rhett >> present. >> Miss Romero >> here. >> Miss Tobias >>
007here. >> Mr. Freddy Williams >> here. >> Pastor Williams. >> Thank you. >> May I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> Second on that. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion passes. We're going to begin our meeting tonight with the spotlight on excellence. Thank you very much. Um, tonight is an exciting night um for our scholar athletes um their coaches and the entire athletic department led by David Coats and Justin Serge. I'm going to invite them to come up and share the um Thank you, Superintendent Creden, President Romero, the me Oh, sorry. Uh, Superintendent Cedin, President Romero, members of the board of education. Thank you so much. Justin and I are pleased to be here this evening uh to do our fall and winter recognitions. We have
008so much to be proud of. I'm so proud of all of our coaches that are in in attendance and especially our athletes and their parents uh who dedicated themselves tirelessly to uh the multitude of uh recognitions that we're going to see here tonight. You're you have county champions, you have section nine team champions, you have national qualifiers, you have uh state qualifiers, you have teams that are ranked in the upper echelon of New York State, and you also have a team that's ranked nationally here this evening tonight. So, congratulations to all of our athletes and coaches. Uh the first we are going to do our our scholar athlete recognitions uh later in the year because we still have our spring sports to go. Um, we're really looking forward to our spring events, but I just
009like to recognize that we have had uh six scholar athlete teams in the in the fall, as you can see on the board there, and we also have six teams in the winter, which is fantastic, which brings us to 12 scholar athlete teams for the fall and the winter. So, so Middletown, Middletown's record uh this uh for for for our school is 17 scholar athlete teams. So, we are on pace to break that record and it's really uh we put the pressure on the spring, but uh we really want to uh get that record there. We want to push it to 18 or even 19 or 20 this spring. So, uh the pressure is on our spring sports coaches. Um, moving forward, I just like to uh recognize a lot of the work that we
010have done out of the one middle town collaborative uh uh group which uh some of our board members are on. A lot of our community members are on this. Uh we increased uh this year uh by tenfold. The facilities increased uh to all of our community groups uh spec specifically football, basketball, every sport imaginable. Our facilities are being used 100% of the time. Uh we have scheduled uh youth nights for basketball. We scheduled youth nights for football. We have one tomorrow night for for the little league which is which Justin will uh be talking about a little bit later. Uh we had the Middletown Police Department versus students. We had the meet the coach night in the winter for basketball. Then we expanded out to all the spring sports for varsity, JV, and modified. meet
011the coach night was fantastic. It was spearheaded by uh the one Middletown group and we're going to continue that uh for future in the fall. We also created our uh district website for all of our coaches so have easy access to all of our coaches modified JV and varsity. And we also have increased our capacity not only with Bearcave wrestling with the increased uh invitationals but also the All-American Blazers youth track and field is in their second full season this year. So it's been a wonderful wonderful year. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to pass this along. We're going to try to keep this as efficient because we're going to be recognizing so many people this evening. Our coaches have their marching orders to kind of be brief, but we also want
012to do the due diligence. But I'd like to pass it over to our assistant athletic director, Justin Sturge. >> Good evening, everybody. Uh before we get started of, you know, with our portion of the the uh you know, evening where we let our coaches come up and speak about the successes of their own individual programs, I just want to say that it is amazing to see the turnout tonight. Uh student athletes, we're proud of you. You I'll echo what Mr. Coach said, "Well, we are proud of you. We're proud of the work that you do on the athletic field, but we're also extremely proud of the work that you're doing in the classroom, and it's wonderful to see uh all of you here, as well as uh your support that you have here, clearly with
013with uh you know, family and friends. With that being said, I'd like to call up our varsity girls tennis coach, Coach Connley. Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to recognize all of the athletes that stand behind us in this room. The girls varsity tennis team has seen great success in the past four to five years with accomplishments that include but are not limited to several county championships, several section 9 championships, team championships, and several state qualifiers while continuing to trend of a scholar athlete team. Before me stands Sasha Hennessy, who has been a member of the varsity tennis team for many years, and she is a big reason why we've had so much success. She's currently a junior and has really embraced the role as a leader by displaying her hard work, persistence, and
014never back down attitude. Her accomplishments this season consists of not only an undefeated season, she gets a singles county championship, a se a section nine championship, and this adds to a career resume of a two-time county champion, section 9 champion, three-time top four county finisher, three-time top four section 9 finisher, three-time state qualifier, scholar of the month, and high honor role. I've been a part of this program for more than 30 years as both a player and a coach. and since I know she's probably one of the most decorated since then. Sasha is one of the hardest workers I know and her successes are well earned and welldeserved. She is a great example of what Middletown stands for and I couldn't be more proud of what she has done and what she will continue to
015do. Congratulations, Sasha. Way to go, Sasha. >> Well said, coach. Congratulations, Sasha. Congratulations to Coach Connley. >> As we move forward, we're going to call uh Coach Strength up to the mic to speak about our varsity football program. >> If you're on the varsity team, come on up. All right. >> All right. Who wants to talk? >> Nobody. All right. >> All right. Uh, so, uh, I know you're looking up there, you see finalists. Um, I think what a lot of things that you don't see up there is what the coaches on our staff and these guys went through. uh all the obstacles that they face this year this off seasonason starting in a spring. Uh we had a lot of guys sort of leave uh for other options, other choices. Um and then we
016had a couple coaches that we had to move around last minute. So a lot of things got really hectic uh especially in the May, June uh and July. Uh but these guys, they never wavered and every day they came, they worked really really hard. Uh there was a lot of people that were out on the field for the first time this year. Uh and then I mean if you followed any of our games, you noticed in the beginning of the year it didn't go very well. Uh but these guys came together. Uh I've been coaching football for 21 years now and this is the first time that I can say that football truly brought this team together closer. Uh a lot of times you get friend groups coming from one piece to another. Um, but
017these guys all truly came together. Uh, they made all the obstacles, uh, like sort of put it in the rearview mirror and they said, "You know what? We're going to do this. We're going to do this together." And I was so proud of them. Uh, the other coaches who are not here tonight, uh, they wanted to let them know uh, that how proud they were. uh the banquet that we had back in November when the season ended. Uh these guys, they really they came out and they and they just they just showed up every single day and I am so proud of them and I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that how hard these guys worked throughout the year to get those two titles up there. So, thank you to these guys. I'm
018not going to give you this. I'm going give you a better one tomorrow. >> All right. Hey coach, it's great to see Mr. Mery wearing that >> it's a great day to excel shirt over there. >> Okay, so on to our varsity esports program. Okay, we have coach Sweetzer and Coach D Robertas here. Uh Mr. Coats was speaking about a national ranking. I think this might be you guys. So welcome. >> Uh we'd like to first start out today by thanking the board, Amy, Camille, David, Justin for all of your continued support throughout these years. Uh, every year we feel that our program is growing bigger and better and we're getting even more accolades every single year. Um, we're excited to be back this year to highlight some incredible teams that continue to grow and
019improve within our program. Uh, this season marked a major milestone for us. We qualified for playoffs in every single game that we offer for the first time ever. Um, in fact, we actually had two teams qualify for the in-person playoffs at Syracuse University during the fall season. Uh both these teams finished their season undefeated at 8-0. Uh they went on to become state champions as well. On on top of that, uh a lot of these uh members of our team behind us contributed to our national ranking uh for the fall season. Um we ended up as the number 11 ranked team nationally. To add to that, for the spring, we are currently ranked fifth. So, we keep pushing the envelope here. Uh this spring, we're aiming to have even more teams advance, and we're excited
020to see a few of our teams compete at PlayVS Nationals in May. Uh thank you again for giving us the time to celebrate our teams. Hey, quick question. What sports do you What sports is that? >> Can you tell us a little bit more about your sport? Because um I think the public would like to know. I mean, it's new and and it's very special. Thank you. >> Yeah, so we currently offer uh five titles. That would be Rocket League, Mario Kart, Splatoon 3, uh Madden, and NBA 2K. Uh and all of these titles, uh we have multiple teams that compete across varsity and JV levels. even some uh uh middle schoolers are coming up in the ranks through modified and uh our program is one big cluster of players together. So we have some
021seniors playing with uh seventh graders and they all get along and uh they all come together and just push each other to improve and be the best version of themselves that they can be. >> So how where do they compete like actual contest? >> Yeah, everything is done virtually. Um, as far as what we do in the state, uh, we go up to Syracuse twice a year, uh, for the, um, uh, state championship and then the national stuff is just held online right now. So, but they are playing teams all across the country. You could be playing someone in Texas, California, Tennessee, anywhere in between. Uh, last year, our Rocket League team, uh, please, third, third in the nation. So, um, we're really excited and we think that we could push for number one this
022year and get these kids some scholarship money, too. So, >> thank you, sir. Very good. >> Thank you. >> Great work, man. That's great. >> I just know not to play them. >> Thank you guys. >> Who would have thought, right? >> I want to know what sports it was. That's why >> just to add on to what coach was saying, uh this is a relatively new program, you know, that the public doesn't necessarily know a lot about, but when we were looking to create this program, there was a lot of research surrounding it in terms of uh who was getting involved and the research was saying that over 80% of our uh our esports competitors were not involved in any other program in the district setting. So, it's yet another offering that we have
023here in Middletown that's drawing kids, you know, uh, in and and giving them an avenue to be successful. So, something we're very proud of here. >> As we move on, we'd like to welcome Mr. Paula Burke to come up and speak about his girls and boys varsity swimming and diving team. Hello everyone. Uh, thank you very much for having me tonight. It's truly an honor to represent one Middletown, but two also the swimming diving program. So, first I'm going to talk about the girls swimming and diving team. Um, here today we have Kylie McAvenu, a seventh grader, and Lori Rosa could not be here today. She's actually competing right now in swimming, but her family was able to attend. Um, so first I'll talk about Lori. This is Lor's first time on the team. She
024scored the second most points on the team. She placed at OCAS. She finished six in the breaststroke. Um she competed in the 500. She had three uh swimming section qualifying times. Um immediately had a direct impact on the team competing in every relay that we needed her to. Um definitely a positive person. Couldn't have been happier to have her. She was an athlete of the month of October. She won the coaches award and again she did this in her first year as an eighth grader. Um, Kylie McAvenu, probably one of the most impressive starts to a varsity career that I've seen. She did score the most points for the team. She finished third at OCIA championships in the 50 and the 100. Um, at OCI championships, she qualified in every single swimming event. She was
025on the podium in the 100 backstroke, the third seventh grader in school history to accomplish that. uh athlete of the month for November, team MVP. Overall, kind of the person that I would rely on where I said it's time for a win. I knew I had Kylie on my team. Couldn't have been happier. And another five years is going to be I'm sure I'll be up here again talking about it. Uh so that the girls and uh next slide, I do have the boys swimming diving team as well. This is kind of gonna be piggybacking off of last year. These picked up right where we left off. Oh, sorry. >> So, I'll start. Vernon Lamb. He's been on the team since 8th grade. Um immediate impact. He had every single swimming event on his first
026attempt since 8th grade. Um he was on the podium for the first time individually this year in the 50 and the 100. Finally was able to go under 23 seconds for the first time. Um, he was my guy pretty much for since eighth grade where I said I put him at the anchor and that was the guy that I rolled with at the anchor in every single meet and came up clutch for us a bunch of times. Um, Kenneth Nuome was able to make it to the finals for the first time um, in his swimming career uh, individually. He was also there in the relays. Kenneth is a captain for the first uh, time this year and he will continue to be a captain. Immediate impact on and off the field and I know it's
027lacrosse but in swimming. So, sorry. Um, and then also with the relay, this relay has now been on the podium for the last two years. Um, Eli Bryant, Maurice White, Vernon Lamb, and Kenneth Nome in the two free relay. They've placed second at OCAS. Um, we also have another seventh grader who made an immediate impact for our program for the boys. Um, Andrew Sanders, first time. He's mostly a swimmer to start the season, but he's also a really good gymnast. So, finally, I allowed him to do a little diving. And in one month, he qualified for sections, competed at OCAS, competed at the section finals, and finished 12th in the section all in one month. Truly, truly impressive um start to his career. So, I'm sure I will continue to be talking about him in
028the future as well. Um also in our two free, we had Randy Espanol. first time competing at OCAS for us in sections. Um, so overall again phenomenal season by both the boys and the girls swimming and diving team. I truly is proud that I get to keep coming up here and talking about them. So keep making me do this everybody. I appreciate that. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Coach Burke. Okay, moving on. We have girls basketball. We have coach Diana. >> Good evening. Thank you to the board of education for inviting us to recognize a very special group of athletes. Through hard work, dedication, and perseverance, this year's team ended with an overall record of 16 and five. We won two tournament championships and we maintained a GPA of 93.7. Um, a special
029thanks to my assistant coach Ed Boel and the entire coaching staff, past and present, as they are a huge part of our program success. We also had three athletes that were recognized this season by the uh section 9 basketball coaches association. Our two top 50 Banny Allstars are here tonight. And we also had a honorable mention, Michaela Thomas. This season, Jaden averaged 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, and four assists per game. Isaiah averaged eight points, three rebounds, two steals, three assists per game. And Michaela averaged eight points, 13 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks per game. Congratulations. We are so proud of you all. Great job. Okay, next I'd like to welcome Coach Me Maluso up to talk about our girls wrestling program. >> Good evening everyone. Um Dan Gable said after wrestling everything's
030easy. So why these girls would sign up for the sport? I don't know. It's a tough one. It's a long season. Um you you got weight management, you got a lot of hard practices and um it's long and and it's the fastest growing sport in the country, girls wrestling. So I'm very honored to coach this team and uh for the last two years and it's three years down and um we had a really good year this year. Um this year we had 10 girls place in the sections. We had uh several a lot in the finals. We had uh five girls qualify for the state championships. We had um we had Aaliyah Sodto um who qualified for the uh state championships. Also had the really huge pin helping us defeat Men Valley in our dual
031in a duels tournament. Um we have behind me as well we have uh Hay Lexenstein has won numerous tournaments also qualified for the states this year. We have Isla Smith graduating this year, going on to St. John's. Um, also qualified for the states this year, was a, you know, a role model and, um, you know, she's been around a long time to help help this program start. So, we're going to miss her. And we had, um, Shane Darling, um, who's not with us right now, couldn't be here, but also two-time section N champ and qualified for the states both years. And also we have MadiRaa Manerry who not only won the sections but she's our first female wrestler to ever place in the Nisva State Championships. Give her a round of applause. Yes. Yes. >>
032Um I feel like our team prides itself in our culture. Um, we have a a really good culture, a lot of good friendships on the team, and over the last two years, we've um, since I've been here, we've been able to maintain our undefeated status. We've defeated every team, including Valley Central, um, Port Divers and Mining Valley, and we haven't lost a dual meet yet, and we don't plan on it. So, give these guys a big round of applause, and thank you for having us. >> All right. Congratulations. Great season. Okay, moving on. We have boys wrestling coach Likenstein and I think we have coach Rosales here as well. Welcome. Come on up. So, uh, each year, you know, we've got we've made this fun game of doing a by the numbers, and it's kind
033of a way that it's like our state of the union where the kids kind of get a chance to see the accomplishments of the program and what we've done. So, our state of the union this year by the numbers, it's uh pretty impressive. So, the first one is 307. That's uh my current career mark, which puts me at 21st all time in New York State history. Uh 204 of those wins 204 of those wins come with coach Rosales on my side. So really lucky to have something like that with me. For the second year in a row, we've eclipsed the 200 mark for total wrestlers in the program. between Bear Cave, Modify, JV, and Varsity. We're at 206 wrestlers, which I feel is a direct reflection of the culture that we've built in Middletown and
034the culture that we uh we've embraced here. And it's really great to see that the community is also embracing that culture of wrestling also. Uh 156, that was how many wins DJ A has had. He's the third wrestler ever to eclipse 150 match mark. And he is also the third Bearcave wrestler to do that. So, all three wrestlers are all Bearcave wrestlers. 113. That's how many wins Miguel Neves and Anthony Nabboa had. Um they Miguel is graduating going on to the Marine Corps next year and Anthony was one of our team captains and he'll be returning next year. So that's awesome for Anthony. 111 is the amount of pins that DJ V has had in his career, which puts him at fourth all time behind some of the greatest wrestlers we've ever had. But again,
035DJ like Miguel and Anthony are former Bearcave wrestlers and have been part of the culture of our program for over eight years now. Uh moving on, our team record this year was 30-2. Our two losses this year came in a close match to Mining Valley and a very close match to Shannendoa who went on to be the state runners up. Uh we had 12 section 9 place winners which is a program record. We had nine uh well nine for the ninth time and seventh time in a row we've made the New York State all scholar team which is again speaks to the culture of our program that we have athletes that are willing to uphold not just the athletic piece but the academic piece as well. >> This year we finished seventh in New York
036State which is the highest ranking we've ever had as a team. We also finished ninth in the state as a as a tournament team. So, there's there's dual meet rankings and there's uh tournament rankings. We were top 10 in both for the first time ever. Uh we had six New York State qualifiers this year, which was a program record. We had six wrestlers win over 30 matches. We had six wrestlers become MWCA academic all-ameans. >> That's Victor Luilo, Evan Bryant, Ethan Bryant, DJ Az, Aiden Scott, and Jace Valencia. Um, we had we won we entered six tournaments this year and we won every tournament that we entered. We won our fifth OCIA Division 1 title and our fourth in the last seven years. We also had two wrestlers DJ Az and Anthony Nabboa surpassed 40
03740 wins in a season which was the first time we've ever done that. A couple other cool awards that we had that spoke that speak really to the culture and the work that the kids put in. Last year as a team we finished third in section N. This year as a team, we finished second in section 9, but the coaches in section 9 voted our team as the most improved team in section 9. And at the section 9 all-star banquet, we took home an award, a plaque that sits downstairs for the section 9's most improved team, which is impressive because we were already a top three team. And then for the first time ever, we had a wrestler win the Section 9 most improved wrestler of the year award. That's voted on by the Section
0389 wrestlers and presented at the uh Section 9 Championship. And that's the Pat Diso section I motion improve wrestler. And that went to our sophomore Aiden Scott. So where the program sits right now, we're, you know, as coaches, we're very proud of the success that the kids have put in. We're very success of how they've embraced our culture and how they don't only embrace the culture, but they look every day to enhance the culture of our program and our district. Thank you. Congratulations to our coaches and to our wrestling program. Really amazing season. A lot of fun to watch, too. Okay, next on our list we have track and field. Coach Hipsman, please come up to the mic. Good evening. Uh, Coach Hammer had a wake today, so she apologized she could not make it.
039Um, but as you'll see, we have a very young team this year, which is great for us, but we still had a ton of accolades even with a lot of freshman, sophomores, and juniors. So, I'm just going to go down through the accolades, and then I have one senior that I'd like to highlight quickly for you. Um, our section top three finishers, we had a 4x2 girls relay, uh, Naima Francis, Chanel Ezie, Amari Watson, and Justina Gray. And second place in the high jump, Esther Dorsina. We had seven school records broken this year. >> Destiny Harriet in the PV vault. Julian Larouge beat the thousand indoor record and the onem indoor record. Chase Mononttoya beat the sophomore 200 record. Elijah Kroom beat the freshman 60 and freshman 200 record. And Andrew Smith knocked off the
04060 meter school record who Aaron Williams did have that before that. He still has the 100 and 200. So Aaron's still in the records book, but Andrew Smith Jr. got the 60 meter school record. We had 11 national qualifiers, which is impressive when it's when we have a very young team. Uh we had Howard Naymith, freshman 400, Elijah Kroom, the freshman 60, Imani Brown, the freshman 60. We had Andrew Smith in the 60. He was also our anchor leg of our 4x2. Chase Mononttoyo uh sophomore in the 4x2, Jude Smith, sophomore, and Jeremiah Bennett, senior. Our girls, Chinella Ez, Amari Watson in the 4x2, Justina Gray in the 60 and the 4x2, and Naima Francis 60 and 4x2. Our girls, there's two divisions. There's championship division and emerging elite division. Three of these young ladies
041are coming back next year. Um, we entered the emerging elite division, and we took second place at the Nike Nationals. So, we only had four seniors in that whole group. So, that's a good thing for Middletown track. And both, I know we're going to do it in June, but both boys and girls teams, we're very proud of this every time it happens. Both boys and girls teams got scholar athlete, which as many of you know is 75% of your roster. We do have a big roster on the track team, 70 boys, 70 girls. Outdoor, we had um 80 and 80. So, having 75% of them to have a 90 above average is a true accomplishment. So, I gave those certificates out. Just one last person. If Naima Francis can come up here, I just wanted
042to spotlight her. She is one of our seniors. She moved here before freshman year from Monroe Woodbury. Thankfully, she made that move. Um, but I just need people to understand how outstanding this young lady is. So, I'm just going to read off some accolades. This has nothing to speak to her character, which is by far her best quality. Um, she has a 92 GPA. Um, she's been on every scholar athlete team since she was a freshman for us, indoor and outdoor. She's an eighttime state qualifier, a threetime allstate medal winner, >> a 14time national qualifier, a fivetime all-American, and an eight-time scholar athlete. And she will be hopefully attending Stony Brook University to run track and do sports communications. So, thank you very much. >> Congratulations. Well said. Well said. Congratulations. >> We have a
043few more. Uh before I continue, I just want to say that you know again how proud I am of these athletes. Uh and and a a special thank you to your par the parents and and family members that came out. Uh, a lot of our student athletes who we are honoring tonight have moved on to our spring sports, right? And are now starring on those athletic fields as we speak. Okay. So, I'd like to ask Coach Aaron Rose up to the mic to speak about our boys varsity basketball program. >> Oh, good evening. Oh, wow. Good evening everyone. Thanks for having us. I'm super uh proud to be up here with these guys. Um we won multiple awards. We won the sportsmanship award for section 9. Um I really think it shows uh the adversity
044these guys faced all year. A lot of close games, a lot of battles. Um but always show their best selves. Um so that's really what we want to see of our young men as we're uh coaching them and bringing them along. Um I also want to shout out our three allstars uh Rudy Cherry, Isaiah Jackson, and Jeremiah Forbes. Uh, I've been coaching here long enough now that, uh, I've had a lot of these guys since they were freshman. So, to watch the the development from, uh, being little freshman that can barely dribble and use their left hand to being county allstars is really amazing. Uh, Rudy Cherry, whenever we needed a big rebound, you were there on the spot. Whenever we needed a big three, Isaiah Jackson was there. Jeremiah, whenever we need to get
045to the rack and either get a basket or set your teammates up, you were always there uh, helping out your teammates. So, um really proud of the the men you've become and how far you've come along in your basketball careers and I know uh the best is ahead for you guys. So, thank you for all your commitment and sacrifice and the Saturdays and giving up all your time. You know, winter sports are November to to February. You guys never miss a practice or miss a day. So, I really do uh appreciate you guys and putting in all the hard work together. As a side note, our head coach did want to be here, Coach Harrison. He is out on medical currently, so he hasn't been uh you know, with us uh for a couple of
046weeks now. Okay. So, unfortunately, Coach Ivich and uh Carter Yanni couldn't be here tonight. Uh Carter had a golf match this afternoon, but I do want to just point out that he had the high score in the uh section with a 300. He rolled a 300, which for anyone is an absolutely impressive feat, >> especially when you're a seventh grader. >> Okay, so the eighth grader, eighth grader, still impressive. Still impressive. Uh so we have many years of uh Carter to look forward to uh you know on the lanes and again it just speaks to all the successes of all the sports right we don't we don't necessarily hear about our bowlers all the time but but we have you know student athletes everywhere doing really really great things so Carter couldn't be here but
047we wish him the best and I think that's a good segue way into our next uh you know our next slide and our next guest. We have our Middletown Parks and Recck Boxing Club. Uh we want to honor them and I obviously Coach Mitch and his staff, they will be speaking, but but I think it's amazing that we have another program that can support our student athletes in a different way beyond the intercolastic uh offerings. So, we have coach Danny here. We have coach Graham. We have coach Mitch. And is Coach Latrell here? >> No, he's not here. >> Okay. Coach Latrell couldn't make it, but he is also a major uh aspect of the program. >> Yes. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you so much. >> Good evening. My name is Coach Mitch
048here with Coach Danny um as well as Coach Graham representing Middletown Recreations Boxing Club. And I just want to start off by thanking this board for this recognition. this acknowledgement. It means so much to us. Um the program just started a little bit over a year ago and we have so many kids from our district. I want to thank the kids for the hard work that they do, the family members for the support as well as the educators, administrators from the school district. Boxing is a tough sport and these kids come committed working hard. We have boxing matches in Brooklyn, New Jersey. We just had one in Newports and we look in the crowd and we see district administrators, we see teachers, we see board members there to support our kids. So when you talking
049about one Middletown, that's what this is. So we're so grateful for this acknowledgement. Also, we do it's three things for us. It's not just the boxing, it's also the education and as far as with the family at home with your family. And I want to commend these kids for the improvement that they've made, not only in boxing, but at home as well as with their grades. Can I give them a round of applause, please? So, for us, it's definitely more than boxing, but we do box. Hey everybody, I'm Coach Danny. I just want to say thank you for recognizing our program. It is a program that is relatively young. We started in about February, I want to say, and since then, we've been able to get three state titles, uh, 143 open class, and we
050have two super heavyweight um, open classes as well. This year, we have two more guys in the finals at Madison Square Garden tomorrow. Uh, we have Vano. Vano, come. Hey everybody, this is this is Javono Graham. Uh he'll be fighting tomorrow at Madison Square Garden for the first time. He's never been there before, so it'll be one of the main attractions. Um great story. I won't take up too much time, but um we also have Latrell Lamont, who is um going to be fighting tomorrow as well in Madison Square Garden. He's a super heavyweight. Uh we've already competed on the state level and won that. So now tomorrow we will win and he'll be competing they well he won't be competing in the national level cuz he's a novice but Latrell is open class so
051he'll be competing in national sometime later this year. >> Okay. >> We just uh one more time just want to say thank you for us. Um this is just bigger than boxing you know. It's more It's more about the love. Um, first and foremost, we love our kids, especially Coach Mitch. He's always in the schools scouting the kids. You know, people say bad kids. We take them all. We want them all. And we going to make them men and women. >> Hey. Hey, coach. Do they live stream the the bouts at all tomorrow? The ones from the garden? >> Uh, who's speaking? >> Sorry. Uh, millions.co. >> What's it called? >> Millions.co. >> And um, do you know approximately what time they might be boxing? >> The show start about 7 o'clock. >> And Vono
052is the fourth bout and Latrrell is the 12th bout. >> Okay. >> Would we be able to um maybe coordinate um, and put that message out on our Twitter feed um, the live stream and stuff? If you give me this, if you give me the stream, >> Absolutely. Before we go. >> All right. Thank you. >> Great job, guys. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, brother. Appreciate you so much. >> Appreciate them all, man. >> Good luck. As we finish up, I just want to leave you with our future events. Uh again, congratulations to all our student athletes. Uh tomorrow we have our first Middletown Little League youth night with varsity baseball. Hope to see all of you there. That's at 6:30. That's 6:30 pitch. Uh but the
053the event will be basically honoring all Middletown Little League teams with an emphasis on their Harvest Cup Championship team that they just they just completed the Harvest Cup Championship in the fall and that was that's a very significant tournament very difficult to win. So we're going to bring them in a little bit of a fundraiser for them and just give give them the night. Uh April 18th we have our citywide cleanup. Uh the 24th we have a a night game on our with our softball program. It's autism awareness night. Hope to see all of you there. That's a wonderful cause. April 25th, we have Battle of the Brands. That's with Kenny Jones coming in. He's going to be running a uh a nice event here in our gyms. And of course, May 8th, experience our
054programs night. Wonderful night there. And uh just to to finish out, we we do have our senior nights coming out soon with our one pager so you all know when we're going to honor all of our seniors as well as our ro our QRS for our rosters. Thank you all for your time. I very much appreciate it. Yes. >> Just um I I see on the future events on the bottom it says head coaching roundt to roll out Middletown uh SAC mission. Can you tell us a little bit about what that >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So we are looking to we are in the process of starting our first ever Middletown SAC committee. Uh basically run by our student athletes. Uh it's to give them a voice. Okay. A voice in in and what happens what
055you know what we offer for them. Uh that the we we just finished up with our philosophy and you know our criteria for for uh how we choose our student athletes uh through the recommendations of their coaching staff or administrators. Uh and we'll be looking that's we we we had Dr. Beck come in recently uh actually in the fall and speak to all of our student athletes. If you guys remember I think some of you were there. It was a wonderful experience. So we're working with Dr. Beck to flesh out our SAT committee. Okay, where we're essentially providing our student athletes with a leadership experience and growth in their own leadership. So that's coming soon. So, we have our Middletown Athletes Care, our MAC program, and our student athlete advisory committee. That's what SACK stands
056for, student athlete advisory committee. And a lot of colleges have their SAC committees, and uh very few high schools have their SAC committee. So, SAC and MAC are going to work together to do a lot of great things in Middletown. >> We appreciate everybody's support. Thank you so much. We know it was a long night, but we appreciate the recognition. Thank you. >> Thank you. I just want to quickly touch on that our Middletown Athlete Cares um group will be um co-f facilitating a community event in May. Um so that'll be really exciting. More information will come about that, but the students are going to be presenting to other students um from across um Middletown. So really exciting event for them. And um a massive thank you to our families um their tireless dedication with
057our athletes, the late nights, the long practices um driving back and forth preparing multiple dinners. Um we appreciate it. our community partners who put so much into our athletics. They come to events, cheer us on, um, put signs in the store windows, um, and really make us feel like one Middletown. Um, to our educators, you support our athletes inside the classrooms. Um, really wonderful job doing that. And to our coaches, thank you. Your passion, your hard work, and your leadership on the competition spaces is evident each and every day, but tonight it was celebrated. So, thank you very much for a job well done. Oh, we're not done celebrating. We're not done celebrating. Um, tonight, um, we have a wonderful group of women who are here to celebrate a legacy of sisterhood. My sister's keeper
058is here tonight. They stand as a vibrant, unbreakable sense of what happens when we choose to lift each other up. Tonight is about the power of connection, the strength in our shared stories, and the brilliant future that our ladies are building together. This work would not be possible without the leadership of Miss Jasmine Ortiz and Miss Tiffany Rhett. So, I'd like them to come up to the podium to celebrate the magic of our Master Keeper team. At my sister's keeper, we will encourage, equipped, and empower. We will walk with confidence, supporting one another with compassion, commitment, honesty, and strength. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Tasara Thompson and I'm a member of MSK. So, at MSK, we like to start every meeting with a pledge to remind our sisters of our values and principles.
059Our pledge goes, "Look to your left. Now, look to your right. >> Look to your left. Now, look to your right. >> These are your sisters, your circle, your light. >> These are your sisters, your circle, your light. >> I'm here for you. You're here for me. >> That's how strong sisterhood is meant to be. >> That's how strong sisterhood is meant to be. I pledge to uplift, to listen, to lead. >> I pledge to uplift, to listen, to lead. >> To plant good words and follow with deed. >> to plant good words and follow with deed. >> Encourage, equipped, empowered to grow. >> Together we shine. Together we glow. >> So, who we serve at MSK? We serve 6th through 12th graders for our Twin Towers, Mahagen and Middletown High School. We meet weekly,
060every Wednesday. And what we do when we meet, there's mentorship, leadership. They learn life skills, wellness, community building and engagement. There's volunteer work. We build upon our school mission of equipping students with the essential skills and knowledge and ethical values to help them flourish in the world with confidence in who they are. We truly believe that our sisters are legacy makers and we inspire each of them to be the best version of themselves and we like for them to lead in their own unique way. So we make sure that we create those opportunities. We have approximately 200 young ladies that have participated in our program thus far this school year and we have 12 active um mentors in the school district. Our events so moments that matter. We have workshops um where we discuss healthy
061and unhealthy relationships and habits. We have collaborated with MBK, the step team, Diamonds and Pearls. We have a prom dress drive going on and we're going to be giving out prom dresses on next week. There's strips trips and special events. We also coordinated with the black history planning month committee committee to hold a black poetry cafe. Hello and thank you for having us. So, really quick, I just want to go over an event that we actually had yesterday called She Inspires Me. And I just wanted to highlight some of the moments that took place, which um at this event, one of the girls shared. So, pretty much, let me explain what the event was. The girls were able to invite a woman that inspires them, a mentor, a teacher, a sister, a friend, whoever in
062inspires them. One of the girls shared about their mom and how she was a hard worker and supporting her siblings. At that moment, her mom actually took the mic, which you can see right there. Um, that's Abigail. And she started speaking back to her daughter and they were just speaking life into each other. And it's not that often that we get to actually see the fruit of the inspiration that we put out in this hood's world. Another sister had her mom come and she said, "You know, mom, you've been through a lot, but no matter what, you're resilient and you rise again." Um, we had another girl invite her teacher and she told her teacher that she's like another mom to her and those are the type of connections that we need to acknowledge in
063our district that it's happening over and over and the more we speak about it, the more we get to bring light to it. Um I actually want to also talk about an opportunity that I had. I was presented um with a certificate which I I didn't fit everyone in that slide. So um there was a lot of inspiration going on. Um but I was presented with a certificate from a student that doesn't necessarily speak on mics. Like when I started hearing her voice because I was busy doing something and when I heard her voice I was just like is that and I can't say her name because she'll be mad at me. So I was like is that so and so? And and sure enough, it was and and she spoke to me and she
064she told me why I inspired her and things of that nature. And it honestly had me to tears because this program is allowing girls to do things they never thought they could cuz they can do hard things. Um the next thing I want next slide. Oh, I have to press that. Okay, next slide. Um I just wanted to talk about a couple of the events that took place this year thus far. Um the first one was we collaborated with MBK and MSK which was the Thanksgiving um event where we actually had a couple board members there. Thank you so much for helping serve our students. Um we had the students share something that they were grateful for. Um the next event you saw there is the bond and bloom. We kind of just hung out.
065It was a good time. We played a lot of games. Um Mr. Whit could attest to that too cuz he was there taking a lot of pictures and um the students were just going off playing the game. And then we also had our Black History Month where the students had the opportunity to either write their own poems or they read poetry from other black authors of poets. And then yesterday we had the she inspires me which I just went over. And now we're going to hear from some of the voices of the sisters and find out what they think. Leah in my sister's keeper we share our greatest strengths. My sister keeper means having sisters who are always encouraging and empowering each other. We lift up each other and support one another. We truly show
066up for one another offering a helping hand and caring heart in any possible way. Our bond as sisters is really deep and important and unbreakable. In my sister's keeper, we talk to each other and also get to know each other better. I love the laughs we share and fun activities we do together because it helps us bond. I, Aaliyah Harper, love MSK. MSK helps help me grow as a young lady. MSK made me open up more and speak more. At first, I was nervous to speak in front of people and now all I do is talk. Miss Ortiz and Miss Rhett has helped us a lot to get through struggles and pain. In my sister's keeper, we are all family and that's the reason why I love MSK. >> Hi, my name is Raquel Ros
067and I'm welcoming you all to good evening. Um, I am part of my the my sister's keepers club. This is actually my first year. Before I had joined, I would say I was not good at communication and especially voicing how I felt of an appropriate and understanding way. Joining this club has taught me to better communicate and better to understand from other people's perspective while considering their feelings. I have not only learned to become a better sister, but be a better person and understand everyone's community and everyone's p perspective. I am truly grateful for this club and I don't know where I would be without it. Hi, my name is Emily De Jesus and I think that this club has really helped me in many different ways. Helps me communicate with other people, meet new
068friends, do fundraising, do a lot of events with other people, meet the middle schoolers who want to be in the other sisters in high school. And I think it's just really great for me as well to hear what other people are going through and just encouraging and uplifting everybody else. Yeah. >> Hello everyone. My name is Nafisa Cece and I've been a member at MSK for three years now. And I just want to talk about my experience throughout the years being in it. When I think back to my sophomore year, I remember joining a women's empowerment group called MSK. But at first, I didn't take it seriously. To me, it was just another activity. But over time, that changed. As I kept showing up, I started to really listen, learn, and grow. I began to
069understand the importance of supporting other women, using my voice, and believing in myself. What once felt small became something powerful. My sister keeper became a safe space for me, a place where I felt heard, supported, and encouraged to be myself. It helped me build confidence and see my worth in a whole new way. One thing I really enjoy doing at MSK is mentoring the middle schoolers and showing them what it's like to have a strong sisterhood. Today, I can honestly say it changed me into the person I am. I'm more confident, more empowered, and more proud of who I've become. So, in the end, my sister's keeper became more than just a group to me. It became turn It became a turning point in my life. It showed me my strength, my voice, and my
070worth. I'm proud how far I'm proud of how far I've come, and I I'll always carry those lessons with me as I grow continue to grow into the person I'm meant to be. Thank you. And in closing, we just want to go over some um call to actions and upcoming events. So, upcoming, we have a food pantry trip on April 15th where the girls are going to go out to a food pantry and help pack up food. Next slide. I can't do both. All right. So then um then we're also going to have an awards ceremony and we're also going to have a MSK MBK annual sneaker ball. Um the ways you can help us out is by sharing our content. Tell other girls about the program. Parents, if you're listening, please, please, please encourage
071your girls if they're not connecting with someone. Come on out. Tell them to come to MSK on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 4:30. Um we're there every Wednesday. um donations. Whenever we have our drives, the ways you can help us is support us. There's a prom dress drive happening right now. I know there's some of us that have a dress from like me 2011 when I graduated and I swear I'm a fit in it again, but I'm not. So, just bring it, drop it off. We'll take it. Um and like local local businesses, if you're um looking for somewhere to donate, please please please come this way. we could talk out a way to um collaborate and also just thank you for your support. Mentors, the women who show up every week, board members, you've come
072out, you served our girls food, you've shared a good word, you told them how proud of them you are. Um community members, for those of you who have donated, thank you. Food services, oh my god, we email them so often. Please feed our girls. They're so helpful. Thank you so much. Custodial staff, you deal with the little bit of mess that they leave behind. Security team, you make sure we're safe and you participate in our program as a mentor. Thank you. Admin, constantly offering your support. Thank you. Our building leaders, Mr. Donny Hill and Mashidi, you told us whatever we need, we have it and that's exactly what you do. And to our superintendent, Amy Cedon, thank you so much for having our program here in this district. Thank you. Next, we're going to go
073to our minutes. May I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of March 19th, 2026 as presented? >> So moved. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the workshop meeting minutes of March 26, 2026 as presented? Can I have a second? Rose. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve administrative personnel memorandum 18 number one as presented? >> So moved. >> Any discussion? >> On that uh uh on that memorandum is the fact that Tracy Santino, the principal Maple Hill annex is retiring. And I just want to say a couple words because Tracy was one of my students. Yes, she graduated and I'm trying to I'm trying to
074remember some dates now. I haven't talked to her except uh when I'm invited to go down to Truman Moon to read to to her students. But I I believe she was a 1987 graduate of Middletown High School. and I sort of tried to follow her career and piece things together when I saw this. Uh I believe she started as a substitute and I think that was if my memory serves me correct at Memorial School and Memorial School of course is no longer in in service. uh she started under a gentleman named Robert Cadillac >> and who had the distinction when uh one of the students tried to uh alope from school. We used to call it skipping but now students are scholars and skipping is a lotment. So anyway when that uh when that happened
075he used to chase a student down the street and bring him back to school. That was Robert Cadillac. Good, good principal. Um, then Tracy went to I think part-time if my memory serves me correct. I wrote this down at Charlie. I could be all wrong on this. And then she started at the high school. Again, I thought it was part-time, but I'm not sure. She became department head. Then uh she moved up to principal of Manhagen which she was there a while I think maybe seven or eight years and then she went to the high school as I recall and she was there about I want to say about seven years or so and now at Twin Tower uh I'm sorry Truman Moon but you you know I don't as I say I read the
076IEP PS and I see great improvement in the students at Truman Moon from uh the beginning of the year to uh the uh late in the year. And I have to believe that Tracy and her staff down there, Nicole Tagy and uh Vanessa Pitman and the the instructional staff plays a large part in that. She has a very calming disposition. If you've ever talked to her, >> I once called her I I believe when I saw at the high school the Ma Jode of the district. Now Ma Jode was the uh uh was one of the uh characters in the Grapes of Wrath who uh had this very smooth disposition. So I'm sure she's going to be missed and I'm certain that her students have made uh great progress throughout the year. So that's what
077I have to say about uh Mrs. Santino. So I hope I got these figures right uh if you're watching Tracy because I haven't spoken to you. So that's it. But thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Parino. All in favor >> any Yes. >> I'm sorry. I I did want to make a comment as well. Mrs. Santino, I go back um to the 80s with Tracy as well. I actually texted her, John, where you were talking and letting her know that you were talking about her to verify um her graduation year because I I thought it might be a little bit earlier than that. But uh nevertheless, um it's it's sad when when we lose um any employee um who's given so much to this particular school district. you know, sometimes the ride is bumpy, but
078nevertheless, uh, even during those tough times when things get bumpy, um, her grinds, her her focus was always on students, um, and her students, whatever building she was in. She was a strong advocate for um, her staff and her students in those particular buildings. Um, you know, I was the liazison to the annex last year. Dr. De Jesus, I think, is the liaison this year to the annex. And uh we could both probably say Amy know uh Amy Tracy knows every name of every student inside that building. Um she knows especially in a building um that serves our students with disabilities. She knows their strengths. She knows their weaknesses. She knows when they need a little bit of space or they need to walk. Um the touch that her and her staff do and the
079culture that they have in that building is amazing. And um I think you know moving forward we really need to take a look at how we can provide additional support as far as equipment and stuff like that for that building. Um because the way we um educate our students with disabilities changes almost every year. there's new um ways to engage them and there's new but we need to continually support um them in that building and and Tracy has always been an advocate um for all of our students with disabilities. I you know she was a I think a good appointee for that particular building and she'll be sorely missed. >> Thank you. Um, any opposed motion? I did. I did. All in favor and then Ed spoke. But all in favor? >> I. >> Any
080opposed? Motion passes. >> Yeah. >> May I have a motion to approve instructional personnel memorandum 18 numbers 1 through nine as presented. >> So move on that. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Okay, Mr. Parino. >> Okay, that was the action items one through nine. Approve of Tom Buckeyes Twin Towers Middle School. >> Not yet. Okay. I'm I'm getting ahead of myself here. Go ahead. >> Just a little bit. >> Better than being behind, I guess. >> That is true. >> Can we move along? >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve non-instructional personnel memorandum numbers 18 C numbers 1 through 12 as presented? >> So move. >> Can I Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? >>
081Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve financial memorandum 19D numbers 1-6 as presented? move >> second. >> Any discussion? >> Just to thank Toro College for the donation that was part of the financial memorandum on here and I'm just looking real quick. Um >> that's it. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve special services memorandum 17E numbers 1 through two as presented? >> So move second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve change orders 14F numbers 1 through 4 as presented? >> So move. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Um, now we're going to move on to the approval of Tom
082Thomas Buckeye Twin Towers Middle School auditorium resolution. Whereas the board of education of the Middletown City School District recognizes the importance of honoring individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the district and the broader school community. And whereas Thomas Buckeye, a former administrator of the Middletown City School District, dedicated 32 years of exemplary service to the education and well-being of student, staff, and families. And whereas Thomas Buckeyed demonstrated outstanding leadership, commitment, and integrity, leaving a lasting legacy as a proud Mitty whose impact continues to be felt throughout the district. And whereas Thomas Buckeye played a meaningful role in fostering academic excellence, student opportunity, and community engagement, contributing to the continued success and growth of Twin Towers Middle School. And whereas it is fitting and proper to recognize his enduring contributions by naming a
083prominent space within the district in his honor. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Middletown City School District hereby approves the naming of the auditorium at Twin Towers Middle School as the Thomas Buckeye Auditorium, and be it further resolved that appropriate signage shall be installed, and that the administration is authorized to take all necessary actions to implement this designation. And be it further resolved that this is a res that this resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption. May I have a motion? >> So move on that >> second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes. Do you >> want to go first or last? >> I think you should end it. >> Okay, >> John. So just I just want to you know um thank uh the board for taking this action.
084Um, but I also want to thank the community because this was very much communitydriven. Um, a petition that collected two over 200 signatures in just about two weeks time. Um, in regards to Mr. Buckeye, Mr. Buckite was um, and I'll tell I say this story every once in a while. I remind him about it. um that he he was the the he was the heavy guy at Twin Towers um to Mr. Saunders's >> tranquil side so to speak. So uh when I went through Twin Towers as a student and um I the story I tell one day is that I got I got involved in a fist fight once at Twin Towers getting off of the school bus because a kid had called me um a bad Hispanic name. Let's put it that way. And
085so we got sent to Mr. Buckit's office and I had a bloody hand and he asked me, "Why were you fighting?" And I said, "Well, this individual called me a certain racial uh negative Hispanic name." And he looked at the young man and said, "Did you do that?" And the young man was truthful and said, "Yes, I did." And he goes, "Okay, you're suspended for five days." And he walked out. And I'm thinking to myself, "Well, I'm the puncher, so what's that?" I'm thinking, "What's going to happen to me if he just got five days?" And um he looked at me and said, "I know your father, and I know whatever punishment I give you is going to be small in comparison, so you can go home." And um I never fought again after that
086day. Uh but it's it's a story of the type of person he understood kids so well. Um you know we talked about Tracy a few moments ago of the understanding students and that's kind of what we as a group as a board of education have tried to instill in our new teachers when we do our new teacher orientation about that they need to understand our students. You know we're not Pine Bush, we're not Warwick, we're not Monroe. our our teachers and our support staff need to understand our students and these guys, somebody like Tracy and somebody like Mr. Buckeye, um have always understood our students. Um you know, back then um 90% of our Hispanic population were Puerto Rican. 90% of our Hispanic population now are not Puerto Rican. And but Mr. Buckite knew about
087those demographics back then and he he adjusted accordingly. and and so um I'm glad that we're honoring him. I know he is um not well these days um and so hopefully this brings a little bit of of nicity to his life right now. So thank you. >> Thank you. Um all in favor >> one second. One second. >> I'm sorry, Mr. Bino. >> Okay. Yeah. Can we have those? There's uh we have a couple photos of Tom from some of the earlier years, but you know, he actually Tom was employed probably 32 or 34 years from uh I believe 19 around 1963 to 95 and after that he came back as an interim and interestingly enough I believe he was the interim assistant principal at Manhagen when Tracy Santino was principal until Dominic Quonia was
088hired I think. Uh so uh a a long career believe me as uh Ed said he was a heavy but the kids loved him. I mean he he could uh say something to a a student and uh uh they didn't take it personally and he had a nice folksy way about him. Um he started actually as a uh teacher. He started teaching as a teacher in English uh 1963 and he was a coach. He coached uh football modified football 1964 to 68 and in the last season they were undefeated as says on the board. Then he became assistant principal in 68 vice principal from 73 to 89. was the suspenders and he became principal then from 1989 and 1995 and as I say he came back uh as an interim uh from time to time
089long and distinguished career and by the way uh when he started it was AJ Veraldi Junior High School this was the junior high school only about one quarter of the size of the building and we had around 1,500 students in that building at at the peak and there was only one security person and there was one lunchroom monitor. The staff members took lunch duty. I remember myself and Dr. Gray, we had five periods of lunch duty one year. So, it was a lot different then. And nobody can tell me it was easier then because that was a time in the in the 60s and into the 70s racial strife in the country, assassinations in the country and the drug culture in the country. It's very difficult and we were really underststaffed as far as security
090and administration goes at that time. We all had to pitch in. So I can't say enough good things about Tom. I worked with him a long time. So, so that's my comment, Ed, and the rest of the board on for now on Mr. Buckeye. We hope to have him here when he's feeling better because there's a number of people in the community wanted to speak about him. Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. We're going to move to the public participation and the opportunity to address the board. The board will designate a portion of its meeting agenda for public comment for a period up to 40 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed up to four minutes. The public is not permitted to discuss topic topics and or matters involving
091specific individuals. Speakers must sign in prior to speaking. Speakers are not permitted to seed their time to other speakers. A timer will sound when you have 30 seconds remaining to address the board. for personas specific. Anyone who would like to address the Thank you. Um, Miss Montrey, have we received any letters to the board of education? >> No. >> Thank you. Now, we're going to move on to our superintendent updates. Good evening. Thank you so much for um creating this space for us to um review with the community and the board of education um our revenue streams as the last component um of our budget presentations as we'll quickly be approaching um the April 21st meeting where we'll be officially adopting the budget to present to the community later in May. Just a reminder that
092all the work that we do is grounded um in our mission statement and our commitment to our community and diverse student population. Um our superintendent's goals ground the work. Those goals are driven off of the board's goals and the community's desires to see um excellent outcomes for our young people. As we develop the budget, it is part of a very collaborative process that includes feedback and guidance from a myriad of sources, all of which you see up on the screen in front of you, which includes many, many, many community partners and um balanced with our financial adviserss and audits that are done across um all of our budget streams. >> Good evening. um you know it's it's really it's really um exciting to present a budget and a night when we can see evidence of
093of so much success among our scholars. So you know it really gives us a a sense of pride for what we've um the hard work that we put into making sure that we can provide all those programs. Now, as we develop the budget, there are certain assumptions that we have to make um really just to make sure that we're aligned with um the state controllers and making sure that our data is completely um um reflective of the of the realities of our of our of our state. So, CPI around 3% um our tax cap is 2% and that's an important number. Um we will get into that a lot more. um with our TRS and ARS we went um with the same trend um that has been given to us and um and our health
094insurance premium and as you know we would owe you um U Boseies which is a 7% trending that's okay and then um and then for Bose services 5% or contractual salaries somewhere at $8 million and then number eight is kind of what stands out right that's an outlier just to point out usually you would see 2% increase um this year we we we were at 1%. And um we'll continue I'll talk a little bit more about that as we as we go along. We want to share that and then um and then you know then we have to also consider our unfunded and underfunded mandates. We just want to remind um the board and the community that tonight um the revenue streams and then ultimately the budget that we'll be making a recommendation that community
095consider for adoption um is being presented without having um the budget passed by the state. And so we anticipate that um we will be on April 21st um adopting a budget without truly knowing the exact final number of foundation aid that we will receive which is why we are positioned to um build the budget off of the 1% increase which is the January foundation aid run that we receive. So, we'll be adopting a budget most likely prior to the state adopting their final budget. >> And having said that, um we went through this process knowing our mandate from the school board, knowing our our um our partnership and our interests in the success of our community. We want to make sure that we consider all those. And um and so we have right here um
096four revenue sources that drives our budget. Uh the majority of our revenue sources come from state aid um 685.5%. Then um the second highest would be our local taxes which currently is 26.7%. Um we have other revenues that we get um via New York State um and that makes up 3.2%. Um if you notice there's um one additional which is the unappropriated funds and um that's just 1.6%. And that's really um you know that's really our savings account. And if you remember when um Jeff Smith from municipal solutions came he came here he commended the board for for having this foresight for years to put us put away a little so that interest could grow so in the time of need we can use some of that to to to buffer and to keep our
097taxes low for our community. So the moment you see these numbers, you're thinking how do we look compared to last year, right? So, so state aid um this year is 68.5% of the budget. Last year it was 69.9 69.6%. Which is a change of um negative I mean it's a decrease of 1.1%. Local taxes this year is 26.7%. Uh last year it was 27.2 which is a decrease of.5%. the other revenues remain flat and um and we and this year we're using um unappropriate funds. Last year we did not. Uh now if we when we look at our our state aid u one of the things is that state aid comprises of um foundation aid, building aid and so forth. So um so if you look at the number of state aid you'll see that
098um we had we had a a small increase um 63% um but then um when you take out the universal prek which actually went up by a million um then you'll see that actual increase is um 1%. And why would you take that out right you want because that part doesn't impact our um total state aid um for district operations. So that's that's that's money for prek programs >> and prek only. There's no flexibility on use of that. >> No flexibility. >> So the other revenues would be um 9 million versus what we did last year which is just um 1.2% increase. Now the amount of unappropriated fund that we're using to balance this budget is 3.49 or approximately 3.5 million. So you see that big red mark, right? That's the magic number. That's our
099budget. Uh that's the that's the budget for 283 million which which represents a 2.65% growth over last year. Um where we had um 4 276 million. So this is probably the part that most people I know this is the most important slide of all. Um where are we? Well, all the decisions we've made, all the collaboration, all the partnership was to make sure that we are being fear to our community while keeping all these amazing programs going. making sure that we keep not just the doors open but we keep our scholars shining and successful but at the same time we know that we have to take care make sure the community um is is is treated fairly. So and that is why we're grateful to you. We're grateful to the decisions that you've made in
100the past that allow us the opportunity to to use a portion to keep our interest rate 1.99% the same thing the same growth that we had last year. Now I know Mr. paren they thinking what how much were we allowed by the state controllers worksheet by their numbers >> how much could we have done right so instead of the 1.9 and if you look at that big red arrow it means that we could have actually increased ours our by 4.87% >> and still bit under the 2% >> and still yes and thank you very much and still exactly which would get us 3 an extra 3.6 6 million which have completely offset the um the use of the um unappropriated funds. But the decision to do that is a decision to show really how much
101we value our community and how much you the board members have wants us to make sure that we are we are being fair to them in terms of keeping our programs going. Now, this is our this is our cheat sheet for you for for all of us as we talk to people and people ask questions. What is our proposed budget? $283 million. What does that mean? A budget increase from 25 from last year is a $7.3 million increase, which means that it's 2.65% increase. What's going to be our tax levy? It's a 1.5 1.48 48 um tax levy and that the percentage increase is 1.99% which is below the 2% cap. Now what does that mean for for the contingency rules? Well, Tuesday, May 19th, Super Tuesday is when we actually get to vote. And
102when we vote, if we have 50% plus one vote, then the budget is approved. it's passed and it's below the 2% tax cap. However, if we do not, then we just have to follow make sure the contingency rule applies and the same tax levy as of 2025 2026. No additional budget requests can be honored. No equipment purchases except health and safety and their applicable facility charges. Just to name some of the few things, the implications of that. Well, so we won't know this until after the budget is already adopted. We will not know this, but we're grateful for the advocacy of this school board because I know u Mr. Strada went up with an action item and and and and action items from both me and Mr. screen and they they came out with um
103with with really an executive proposal that may still have a really big impact >> and that impact falls in these four categories but especially number one is really important. So we still have a hope and a prayer that after the adoption there is the opportunity for them to for us to get the 2% which will help us to um to and all that will help us to provide us additional cushion in terms of our budget. Now the budget process is not over. As a matter of fact um we're already scheduled April 13th for our budget recap. We're going to do a virtual session in the day. I'll send out the link. uh it will be on our website and then in the afternoon it will be an inperson right here in this space and this
104was give us another opportunity for for our community members to come in and ask specific questions with details and we can talk about it and we can go back and forth but just to really be very transparent and allow them to see what's in our budget, what are we what what are we how are we trying to make sure that we're keeping our programs healthy and and and alive for our students. Then in May 5th, we're going to go to the um the city of Middletown, their council meeting, and we're going to partner with them just to allow them to be able to to ask questions as well and to see um what we have in our budget. Um May 7th will be the public hearing that's going to be in person and then May
10511th will be the BOE adopted budget review with some question and answers. So as Mrs. Kin said April 21, 2026. That would be the budget adoption. Um and as she said, um the first the April 1st state budget, the budget was due. There was an extension till April 14th and that we know that's probably going to continue on and on. Um no resolution to that yet. Um so once again, I just want to lay out all those um important dates that everybody will have them. >> Yeah. the market. >> Yes. Um so we just want to take this opportunity to do kind of a an an advertisement a commercial for meet the candidates. >> Um we know the work that you board me that the board members do. We know how important you are. Your
106your voice and your service um as it to to want to serve in such capacity is a very noble thing to do and and and and you see the power of your decision making unfold right in front of you. So, we want to take this opportunity to celebrate all the candidates who are coming in on May 4th, 2026 at 7 p.m. for the community to meet them, for the community to see who they are, what their values are, and and and really because you never know who's going to be sitting next helping us to make those decisions. So, take this opportunity just to do to to advertise that. And the next piece of advertisement is Super Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. All the locations are there. you're going to see it on on all the website
107um all the bulletin boards. It will be everywhere just so you'll know exactly where to go. And that's our that's our presentation. Any questions? >> Mr. Estrada? >> Okay. I have a lot unfortunately. So, um >> so just and and a lot of my stuff is just um to emphasize some of the information. First of all, thank you, Dr. Connell, for um your steadfast. This is your first year. >> Thank you, sir. >> Um going through this process. I think you've done an outstanding job. So, >> thank you. >> I want to give make sure we give you a hand for all the hard work >> that you did. Thank you. >> So, um just so the community understands, so 4.87, 87. Um when you hear that famous, oh, it's a 2% tax cap um
108slogan that they like to throw around up in Albany, um it's a misnomer. So, every school district has a different number based on its tax roles, whether you have a um a community that's growing its tax base. Yes. And so for Middletown over the years, we've been fortunate that our tax rate because we have businesses that open here and residents that that move here has always historically been well above 2%. Yes. >> Um but the culture that's been driven by the board of education is that we've always never wanted to be anywhere near that number. So, I commend you for um despite the fact that we would be um within our state right of going up to 4.87 that we're nowhere near that. That's number one. >> Uh number two, I want to thank Mr.
109Allen's in the audience. He's done a um a great job trying to remind us um to really make the the question about our our um our our um what do you call it? Our fund balance >> fund balance >> um number. Um and just to get it clarified and hopefully this will be something that we can um from an advertisement purpose u when we're presenting the budget on the website and stuff we get a little bit more clarification um for our residents. Uh one that the the state allowable limit quote unquote on a fund balance is supposed to be 4% of your budget. >> Yes. Um, we are currently at about six and a half, I think you mentioned. >> 6.55% >> 6.55. Middletown has never, >> since I've been on the school board, ever
110been at 4% or below. >> And there there's a reason for that. The reason for that is because when you have healthy reserves >> Yes. >> and you have a healthy fund balance, although the state doesn't want you to be there, >> Moody's does. >> Yes. And MO Moody's drives your rating, >> your bun rating. >> We have the best ratings of any school district in the state of New York. And what does that mean? That means millions and millions of dollars in savings on interest expense for our taxpayers because our bonds are rated at the highest quality that there is. And so that's the balancing act that you have to do. Now, um, thank you again saying that. Okay. But 655, we really don't want to be that high. So, you've utilized 1.6% of
111our revenue. Yes, sir. Comes from that fund balance. That hopefully gets us more in what percentage rate? >> 5.28%. >> 5.2. So, the state limits for we're aiming to be at about 5.2. Now, the problem we have here is there's no state budget, right? So, we have to conservatively estimate that what we're utilizing is what the governor rolled out in January, which was that 1%. >> Now, when I went up to a meeting up in Albany, um the first thing I did was I sent a text to Dr. Connell and and the superintendent and I said, "What do you guys want me to ask? What do you want me to?" and every single I don't know you had the slide up there that talked about the um >> the advocacy >> are what we wanted
112to advocate for >> there right there that one and so all of those points that you guys gave me to go up to Albany to talk about I didn't even have to ask because they were already answering that question so the good news is that both the assembly and the senate when they put their bills together um all have been advocating for a 2% increase in foundation aid. >> And even though that hasn't come to fruition yet because they're still negotiating the state budget, there are strong indications that we may get that. Um if we do get that, my question earlier was what do we do with that? Well, unfortunately, once you vote on a budget, >> yes, >> you have to adhere to the requirements of that budget in that year. So essentially that
113extra money that comes in, guess where it goes? Your fund balance and then we're back to square one to address it next year. Correct. >> Or savings account. >> So it protects us for years. >> And I always like to remind people that this isn't money that's going into Dr. De Jesus's pocket or my pocket or Mr. Mor. This is your savings account just like you would have it at home. And what that has helped us do over the years is um and and Mr. Mr. Allen asked a great question earlier which well what have we done with the fund balance in the past? Well, we have reserves that we've put fund balance money aside. We have used the fund balance and this is all within the last 5 to 10 years. I think one
114year we use uh a couple years we've reduced it to reduce the tax levy. >> Yes, we did from higher amounts. So I think if we um you know not in this realm but if we can advertise that yes >> on the website as part of the budget process there'll be a better understanding um from the public's perspective of why do we have a fund balance? How do we use it and and what does that save our taxpayers in the long run? So I think that would be >> yeah I I I appreciate that question and it is really important for us to make sure that we're clear about that because I think that if you keep messaging the component of instead of unappropriated funds which can be a you know people don't know it
115which sounds like this big pool where does it go we don't know right and reframe it more as a savings account I think that that most people understand that because they manage you know um some type of you know budget for themselves a personal budget or a home budget and I think what is important to note is that you know if you watch school districts across the state you'll see that many times they get to a budget cycle and they are putting up on their slides or in their presentations to the community cuts teacher cuts TA cuts transportation cuts program cuts athletic cuts right and then you'll see when the state budget comes and then some extra funding comes in they start to relax a little bit and start to add programs back in and
116make changes and I think that what we have been continually focus focus on doing is stability. Is using that savings account to say that we can continue programming not just for this year right now, but we are thinking five years out what the landscape is going to look like in public education knowing that our savings accounts are going to afford us to continue programming even through the very lean years of aid from the state and federal government. And then my last two points is one um despite admonishing school districts for not adhering to the 4% a lot of times >> New York State doesn't even do that on its own on many occasions. Um >> no we are often commended by that in addition to it impacting our Moody's rating. It also impacts the rates
117at which we can invest and where we can invest our funds which then turns into revenue sources for the district. So, >> and the and the challenge is I want everybody if you get a chance, Google the Rondout Valley School District and you're going to see what the difference is between having healthy fund balances and how that offsets versus nothing. So, that school district right now, it's a smaller school district, right? It's about 40 minutes from here. Um, they're section nine, so they're part of our section. Um, they have to cut about almost $2 million There's a lot of um you know uh back and forth and animosity between the community and the school district. The school district put together a budget that slashed many positions. >> The community said we don't want that. So
118now they have to figure out but that was a school district that followed the rules of 4%. >> Yes. And unfortunately, year after year, when you get short-handed in funding or you have an emergency come up and you no longer have those funds to use, now they don't have it for the rainy day, right? And we have talked about the fact that our rainy day is coming soon. It's either going to be in 2027 or 2028 when the budget's not going to be 2% anymore. It'll be 1% or half a percent or maybe even zero. And that's where that fund balance is going to come in handy. $284 million budget. It doesn't take you more than one bad year to begin to really see the impacts programmatically. >> And a savings account is very different
119from a checking account, right? You go to a checking account all the time. Saving account, you go in when you really need to make do something special and that's what it does. It allows us to do that. And the commitment of the school board to the community to make sure that we're keeping taxes low is also something to be commended. >> Um, yeah. I I just want to thank you you guys for um this um comprehensive um breakdown. I I like the fact that again like you talked about as opposed to just putting um putting up graphics about cuts. Um being able to show that graphic that clearly states what we're advocating for. That was very um helpful. So, um, so, um, as far as homeless EL, the L's program, is there any other programs
120in particular if we was really looking to advocate for that you have in mind right off the bat besides those two? Anything else that >> No, I think those advocacy points that um, we're focused on are dialed in in terms of our um, special needs populations, right? um our English language learners and ensuring that in a district like ours um where that is a big percent of our scholar population that we're appropriately getting funded to provide programming and services for them because we know that those are our high-cost students >> and I would think special needs programs as well. >> Yes, >> absolutely. >> That's what I was asking. What else would Yeah. >> Yes. Middletown is a very um very unique place in terms of um the services that we offer and everybody knows
121it, right? And the truth is to continue all these different programs that we have. We we're going to have to keep advocating to make sure that we can provide that for our scholars. >> Yeah. I just have a quick >> Thank you, Mr. Rhett. You know, I think a lot of times a lot of people don't realize the the financial strain um although it's a benefit to our employees, but the the increases in the in the premiums of um the health insurance and then also the the commitment to the >> uh retirement system that is pretty much 30 over 35% almost 35% of the overall budget if you think about it, right? So it's not just when it when you're thinking about the contractual salary increases of nature, but really more so the the systems
122in place to help the longevity of our um staff members to be able to have that, you know, comfortability once they the time to retire. Right. So that is permitting majority of the of the budget. Yes. You know, it takes up a stronghold of it. But uh I just want to commend you on the the job done this this uh year. It's uh it's been challenging, but I think you definitely have raised the bar and being able to present everything in clear and detailed uh for us. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Hopefully, we get that 1%. So, back to >> Thank you so much. >> Any other questions? >> Mr. Pino, would he would like to >> Again, I want to commend you folks for this budget. Nice job, Norville. And
123so, >> uh, Miss Creed and the rest of the staff, you know, what we all have to realize is that I'm always a bottom line guy, as you know, nor I'm going to wait until I see what the bottom line is, and it's a good bottom line. We're going to also be able to add some positions that were held in obeyance uh for one reason or another. But we all have to understand that the school district pays the same bills sometimes as we do individually. Orange and Rocklin bills, >> gasoline bills, we have to replace trucks sometimes and everything goes up. So with this budget, this 1.99% tax levy, I I think it's remarkable. And if we get another percent back from the state, we can start replenishing our savings >> Yes. >> account, which
124is always a good idea. Wish I could do that, but uh that's good. So thank you again. >> Thank you, sir. Absolutely. Any other questions? Amy, were you going to say something earlier? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for your presentation. >> Now, we're going to move forward and discuss our board of education updates and we are going to begin with our student board member report. Um, good evening everyone. I just wanted to say there is not that much to report as last week we did have our spring break but the week prior um we did have our prom spirit week and we do have prom coming up next week as well as our senior trip and as we get closer to May and June um I just want to say that
125time has personally passed very very fast um graduation is in less than two months away and honestly like it's still like kind of like in shock with me to believe that I'm almost graduating soon and I'm going to be off to college by next or this fall. Um I can tell like with the other seniors and juniors who do plan to graduate to for college that um they're as well feeling the same. It's pretty like I would say like a very tense time now as May 1st is the um deadline for commitment day. So students who want to um commit to colleges or are planning on going to college, that is the deadline to commit to that college. So there's just a lot going on with college and career students in general and just all
126these like very very big events that are going on. >> Thank you. >> Yes, like Nepor said, we're mainly just focused on prom right now and prom readiness. Um I'm very excited for graduation as well. Um it feels like it was yesterday that it was September 2022. But um yeah, just I'm very excited for what's to come for these next two months. I want to give a shout out to our college and career center for setting up all of our seniors for success, whether it's going to college, having a career for the future, or just getting into the regular workforce. Um but yeah, we're just getting ready for prom and the end of the year. Thank you. >> Thanks so much. Mr. Moore, do you have Well, we're going to move forward with our community
127engagement. >> Yes. >> Mr. Moore, can we start with you? >> Yes, Stephanie. I have Sorry. I actually want to start off with uh we had an event at Mhagen um celebrating. I did the PTO do does it every um quarter. Me and myself and uh this good guy right here, Mr. launch tree we had opportunity to serve uh I think every year it grows so every semester it grows hundreds and hundreds of kids if you ever have a chance to go to Mont Hagen you'll see the wall of all the students that are either high honor ro honor role or the president list the the walls just continue to grow with the amount of students that are you know consistently achieving high academic standards so this is always a good time great time to
128give back and um you know they definitely love the ice cream that's courtesy of uh shop stewart so it's definitely a good time. Then I have another video, a picture. So, as everybody know, I coach um actually coach a 15U girls basketball team and this year we had uh sponsors uh donate roughly about $3500 and got all the girls um sneakers to be able to compete. We actually compete down in PA this weekend um against a lot of highlevel uh teams um a lot of Nike EBL teams. So the these girls are definitely engaging in being able to showcase their skills at a very high level in front of college coaches during the live period. Uh the next one I have is I want to give a kudos to um Dave Coats and Justin Serge
129if you could play the video pretty quickly. This is pretty good. So as I speak >> I'll take there's going to be tense times during the game, but that's the first one, right? Let's Let's just kind of build on that. >> All right, here we go. Good job. Here we go. Come on up. has got to be uh B2B. I got a really pattern of gold. back. >> So, thank you for for that um opportunity. So, I just want to give a huge shout out to uh Dave Coats and Justin Serge for that opportunity. So, I have a local um videographer that I felt it was definitely a need to highlight the the team as they pursue another undefeated season, which I'm 100% sure it will happen this year. Um that was a pretty lopsided
130um victory, but the team is is comprised of a lot of young ladies that are competing at a very high level and it is a testament to the outside programs that you know develop and give them opportunity to give the platforms to um our school district to achieve. So I just had a I felt the need to do so and I I'm huge kudos to Dave Coats for allowing this opportunity to develop and there'll be a lot more opportunities like that to showcase and highlight the the teams. Um but I felt it was a need to get the get it out early so you know the community can understand like what we have in store and going forward and the girls are just tremendous. Um they won last night I believe it was 130 against
131uh Monroe and then yeah so you know it's it's just it's just a lot of success and I just want to give them opportunity to have that shot in a spotlight. So thanks. >> Thank you Mr. >> Quick question. And I was just wondering um what about the possibility of you getting um the school board team, you know, some sneakers like that. >> I can work with >> I think there'll be a lot of dislocated hips trying to avoid the flag. >> Mr. Parino. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Just uh firstly one brief announcement. I I know a lot of uh uh students have cats and dogs and there's going to be a rabies clinic at the uh Middletown Humane Society April 18th. Rabies in December and only $20 to 2:30 and Dr. Johnson in
132the audience tonight is going to be the honors of the uh professional in attendance there. Um follow the rules. the uh uh dogs must be leashed and cats and carriers, but it's a good opportunity uh to get rabies and deceer at a very very reasonable price. The Humane Society depends on donations. Now, the next item uh yesterday attended the unveiling the ribbon cutting of the uh book vending machine at Maple Hill. You see, you see it there. And I want to give credit to the uh Maple Hill PTO, Jessica Topica, coordinated the whole thing. And they raised money uh for that book vending machine and they are also raising money for uh uh a machine at Truman Moon. And I want to say Ed asked about equipment at Truman Moon. Dr. McConnell uh sort of
133got the uh uh folks over the line there and we found some money, $2,000 to help him out with that. But the the students were just enthralled by that. They have little coins. I think Crystal has some little cool coins and we'll pass them around. They get these coins for doing being kind and doing good things and doing their work. then they can put them in a a book vending machine. This vending machine and reading reading is so fundamental to everyone. So, uh this is good. It hopefully this will continue and the enthusiasm will go on and on. But, uh again, the PTO uh raised the money for this and a very active PTO at Maple Hill as we have in most of our schools. So, there are members of the coordinating committee uh for
134the Maple Hill uh PTO. I thought it was fantastic. Um >> I think they heard I heard today that they gave out 50 books yesterday on day one. >> Yes. >> Books. >> Uhhuh. >> And the other item I want to go over before my time is up, I'd like to highlight some of our graduates. So, this is a graduate corner coming up now. Uh last uh uh meeting I highlighted the twel to whale uh students Jacob uh to whale Jacob and Mrs. TW students uh college students. Now I'm going to talk about Haley Mcamera. Haley McNamera a graduate of Middletown 220 225. She was involved in many many activities of the NJOTC. She was uh in the color guard of the MGOTC marksmanship on and on the senior member of the Iron NOTC. She
135is now in the submarine service. She's graduated. She went from basic t training to submarine service in Groton, Connecticut. And she's doing very well. She's only one of two female members of that class. It used to be there were no no females can could even get on a submarine, but uh that has changed and she's very sharp individual, I'm going to say. And she's always come back to Middletown when NGO TC is having something. I'm done now. I don't like to go over my time. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Ren. >> Good evening. Um again, I'm always excited about um sharing what goes on in community and the schools, the connection. Um I have a couple of graphics here. Um of course, we're quite aware of this one, but I just want to reiterate
136multicultural night that's um April 24th at Middletown High School. That's um chaired by uh Mr. Shadrach St. Louis. Um it's a great event and I'm always excited about being a part of it. I'd encourage uh students, parents as well as um people in the community to come out to attend that. Um secondly, um again um keeping kids involved actively in sports. Um this is a program, Legends Academy. It's a one-day clinic at the high school um that's sponsored by um gentleman uh Mr. Merch and >> excuse me, >> boys and girls. Um, I'll double check that for you, Drew. Uh, but again, that date is April 17th. Um, that's a one-day event. Um, 6:15 to 9:00 p.m. And that's at the town of Walkill Boys and Girls Club. Again, also, I have another um um
137event here. I don't have it um posted, but I just wanted to share what the YMCA is going um doing. Also, um they have their annual 29th annual Ruthie 5K walk and that's um June 7th. That's a Sunday, rain or shine. It's always a great event. So, um I'll um post this again. I have some time to repost this um to the public, but if you need more information on that, you can always reach um our um city uh schools um clerk. Uh okay, what else? Um, I think that's about all right now. Um, I I will be sharing a little bit more on in community reports about some things that are going on as far as healthy habits and um and um some excitement as far as um things going on with our committees
138that I'm on. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. Bias. >> Thank you. Uh, I just want to remind everyone that um the temple on 75 Highland Avenue, I believe it's April 19th and April 26th from 12 to 4 will have their usual their annual prom do prom dress uh suits and accessories for the upcoming prom. So, anyone that's looking for gowns or even the gentlemen who might need a suit um can certainly go to the temple and uh pursue what's they have available. >> They can go anytime. >> No, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 on those two Saturdays. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. De Jesus. >> Good evening. I'm going to be like Mr. Pino. don't like to go over my time and drop the mic. Um, three items. One, the um,
139congratulations to all of the the athletes um, job well done. Um, also to Odyssey of the Mind. I had the privilege and honor to be at Maple Hill um, for the clap out and to see the support of the students um, in the hallway celebrating each other, clapping. They must have walked back and forth at least five times with the banner, but they were very very very happy um for for the candidates that were moving on. Um for MSK, I can just say wow. Um Superintendent Cedon um Emily De Jesus that spoke, that's my granddaughter. Um she don't talk. Um, so something in that program is working because um, she's been very very shy for a long time. And to hear her speak without any notes and just speaking freely with confidence um, says that
140that program is really doing something um, for our scholars. And to hear um, the other young women, young ladies that spoke as well um, it's it's just it just blessed my soul. So that program um we could see the success over 200 um students, women, scholar, young ladies in that program. I've had the the privilege of attending many of their um events. I also like the idea that they bring um outside um um speakers to come in and to speak to the to the um to the young women to mentor them. And the mentors is excellent too. one of the um one of the events that I had attended and the middle school girls came over. I got to witness the middle school girls came over and the high school girls went over and was
141was mentoring them. Hey, come on. Welcoming them, making them feel very comfortable and just showing a lot of love and a lot of support. um and the collaboration with um Madame President with Diamonds and Pearls is just a phenomenal opportunity and um I'm looking forward to much much more success. And so I I commend um Miss Rhett and Miss Ortiz, not because she's my daughter, but I commend the two of them on um a job well done. Um that that that is a good fit um for these young ladies. And so, um, kudos to them and shout out to them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Estrada. >> Yeah, what a great meeting tonight. That's what our meeting should be all about. Um, you know, highlighting programs um like my sister's keeper, my brother's keeper.
142um we kind of lost our way this year and um hopefully we're back on track to celebrating um our students and our staff and the hard work that Miss Ortiz and Mrs. Rat have put in the blood, sweat, and tears that they put into these young ladies um and Mr. Brown on My Brother's Keeper. The blood, sweat, and tears they put in to those programs. You know, it's not because they're making it they're making rich getting rich out of it. It's because they have a dedication to to our students that you know we talked about the theme earlier about um you know with Mr. Buckeye and Mrs. Sorentino you know all of our faculty that work here um you know they go above and beyond and we need to celebrate that more than what we
143have over the last uh several months. So hopefully we're on track for doing that. Um because if we can't uh we have to be our own public relations for our kids, right? Um nobody's going to do it for us. They're competing against other school districts and other students as well. So we have to help them out and support them whenever we can in order to do that. Um right now, Pastor Williams wanted me to remind everybody to let the audience know that he um is upset he couldn't make the meeting tonight, but he is down in San Antonio, Texas. um addressing doing a presentation on uh DEI initiatives representing the New York State School Boards Association at the National School Boards Association down in San Antonio, Texas. So that's where he's located right now. Um
144and he'd be here talking about all of the great kids that we highlighted tonight. Um and many more to come hopefully in the uh in the foreseeable future. Um, also want to congratulate all of our schools for all of the plays that went on over the last couple of weeks. I was able to make a couple of them over at Mont Hagen um and over here um at the high school. just a tremendous effort by everybody in putting it together and I look forward to seeing all of our families out over the next month and a half um for our our chorus concerts and our band concerts um to end the school year and uh kudos to our student representatives tonight. Nepor and Mr. Lugo, I can see it in your face, especially when you
145made your presentation tonight, that you're coming to a realization that there's probably like what, six school boards meetings left, something to that effect. But, um, enjoy the moment. Enjoy these next 90 days. Um, you worked hard the last 12 years to get to this moment in time. So enjoy it and Godspeed and enjoy prom. >> Thank you. >> Just a question. I know Boseis I know Boseies is having their student board members uh at the >> Yeah, the presentation's next week, I believe. Right. >> Okay, that's Thank you. >> Oh, good. Vice President Williams. Thank you. Um, I have images. >> They're okay. So, I'm excited to get the ball rolling on the It takes a village barbecue. It's uh only April, but before you know it, we're going to blink and it's going to
146be uh back to school. I don't want to rush it, especially for you uh the poor and uh Mr. Lug. kind of want to rush it on you, but um this is a a big lift and um I've been passing the word around and we have multiple people, multiple uh board members at these uh tables now that are going to help pitch in uh multiple organizations within the district that are going to help um just within a couple of days of the conversation. Um you know, it's coming it's it's going to come to fruition. Uh and I'm excited to get the ball rolling. We're creating a Facebook page. So, anyone that wants to get involved um on a committee or any kind of um sponsorship, please look out for our uh in um Instagram and
147Facebook pages that'll be coming out. Um this started in 2021. Uh you know, with a small group of us from the community and it's grown into something amazing. Me being a lifelong resident of Middletown, born and raised, it means a lot for me to be able to um you know, help put forth an event like this. Um so it it just to see everybody come out and the camaraderie between the community and everyone that's involved in a you know in a great fashion is it's awesome. Um so I look forward to that. Once again um look for our Facebook page and Instagram and thank you all. Um some cabinet members also going to jump in and help out with this uh this year. Uh multiple organizations. So you know it takes a village is the
148name of it and it really does uh metaphorically for sure. Um I have another Okay, the boys. Okay, so uh like Mr. Moore myself, I uh coach a 15U uh boys basketball team. Um and we went out to the place that Mr. Moore is going to go to this weekend. and we were out there March 21st and 22nd for the organization a game. They had a um big tournament out there that we go to every year. So, ironically, we won in March 2022, March 2024, and we took it this year. Um we were the top team out of 24 teams from uh all over the uh really the eastern seabboard, even some some Midwest teams. And I just want to salute these guys. Um the coaches first, Mr. Everton Brown and uh Mr. Ed Ayala.
149Um and it was bittersweet. This is the first um tournament that it's more sweet than bitter. The first tournament I didn't coach. Um you know have some things going on. So I kind of was just cheerleading on the side for the guys. Um but it was awesome. Uh I want to give shouts to um uh our Middletown kids. Uh Jordan McGriff, he's a freshman from Middletown. Uh, Nathaniel Pierre, freshman from Middletown. Donovan Williams, a freshman from Middletown. Um, we also have, uh, I want to say Christian is a sophomore from Middletown, David's a sophomore, and, uh, Jaden uh, Luna is a sophomore from Middletown, and we also had two guys, um, Kaden from Monaceel and Garrison from Washingtonville. Um, this was an awesome, awesome weekend. Uh, these kids deserve it all. They played for each
150other. Um, they played hard. They played with the class. They represented Middletown in a great fashion. It's called Middletown Youth Sport. So, anywhere we go and we have the MR chess, we want to carry ourselves with a, you know, a proper uh, you know, with proper decorum and um, it was a great trip and you know, we look forward to the next one. We should be on the road again soon. Uh, coach Moore, good luck this weekend. you know how that the these these are priceless moments and we both have our kids playing and we're going to blink and they're going to be in college so we got to enjoy these times. Um yeah, and that's pretty much it. Oh, and also I wanted to salute um Mrs. Ortiz and uh Mrs. Rhett um seeing
151the MSK program come together as it has so fast. I mean at a rapid rate. I just remember last year going on college trips with MBK uh and Miss Ortiz and Mrs. rep were on the trips with the boys and the respect and um the acknowledgement that would they would get from these young men was just awesome and I knew that they would do great with the msk and I mean they're doing greater than I could even imagine. So salute to them and uh you know kudos to everybody that was acknowledged tonight. Um you know it's good to see good energy and uh you know this is what it's about. So thank you. >> Thank you so much Vice President Williams. I have updates for Twin Towers and then I have a few recognitions. Uh
152Twin Towers Middle School before spring break, they had an incredible day of growth and goal setting during their college and career event. The eighth graders took a deep dive into their futures, gaining firsthand insights into the diverse paths awaiting their awaiting them after graduation. Um they had an inspiring keynote. The host was Lieutenant Jeff of the Middletown Police who delivered a powerful keynote address encouraging the students to lead with purpose and ambition. The career exploration included students participating in tailored small business groups. Um sessions le led by an exceptional group of professionals. The students connected with experts to learn the ins and outs of various industries and educational paths. It was inspiring to see the students engage so thoughtfully with their future possibilities. Again, a huge thank you to Lieutenant Jeff and all of the
153phenomenal classroom presenters and the dedicated staff for making this event a success. Also, in March, Twin Towers Middle School saw strong engagement with the Midies Love to Read Challenge. A total of 85 scholars successfully completed the Beanstack Midies Love to Read Challenge and each earned a prize. In just one month, scholars logged 58,026 reading minutes and submitted 179 book reviews reflecting meaningful growth in reading engagement and accountability. Today, the school also hosted its annual breakfast for readers, recognizing the top 50 readers alongside their families and celebrating their achievement. These efforts highlight a continued focus on building strong reading habits and celebrating um students success. Next, I want to highlight our very own Dr. de Jesus for her many recent recognitions of service, teachings, and love for the community and for receiving the lifetime achievement award
154endorsed by our Middletown mayor, Dr. De Jesus. Thank you for your service. Um, I have some pictures that I want to share from last night's Diamonds and Pearls and my sister's keeper. Bloom into your best self event. It was a huge success. It was focused on self-care and reflection. The young ladies engaged in meaningful conversations about healthy eating habits, skin care. They created reflection mirrors with affirmations and they developed vision boards to inspire them with their goals. And the step team delivered an amazing performance. It was truly a great night. Thank you to all of the incredible women who continue to come together to make this all possible. Jillian, special thanks to you. Thank you so much for all of your help. Um, I want to congratulate the athletes that were honored tonight. Because Ed
155mentioned you guys, I have to say something. It has been an honor to serve with you on this board and I am so proud of you. >> Okay, with that, I have a question. Was Mr. Corino at them. He was not allowed. >> Mr. wasn't dead. >> Not allowed. No men allowed. Um >> Yeah. And we just we pushed them out. >> We don't give up. We don't give up. We're going to keep >> kicked them out. Um next, do we have any committee reports? >> No, I just have an announcement. Uh the audit committee will be meeting this Monday, August 13th at 4:30. >> Thank you, Miss Tobias. Any other committee reports? >> Yes. Um our health and nutrition committee uh we had a great meeting um a couple weeks ago. Um we was
156also supported by uh Cornell Cooperative Extension and they provided some information, some flyers here. I'll post um at the next meeting. But um it's just some real good information to involve the community and what they're doing as far as healthwise and supporting the kids particularly in um extracurricular activity programs instead of them running to the strip there to get, you know, burgers and fries. You know, they have some healthy alternatives. Um also um I wanted to um again I wanted to acknowledge um the um award recipients today in sports all the different sports activities. You know it's just really special to see how that comes together and I have to give um uh Justin and David Coats um a lot of respect for that particularly um uh Mr. coats over the years because um that
157program continues to grow and anybody know I I'll say until I'm blue in the face um sports is a metaphor for life and when you build those um energies outside the school day in sports it builds kids self-esteem and confidence when and makes them want to come to school and be productive and and and and um consenting um citizens you know in the school as well as out. So, um I want to acknowledge that. And um um I didn't know he was actually acknowledging um uh Miss um what's Miss Santino. I heard you say something and this gentleman over here too. You know, I have um some nothing but some nice words for her as well. When I retired from New York City, um I came up here and was um administrative sub and we
158had some good relations as far as pertains to um just sharing successful practices and just um you know, lit leadership conversations and things of that nature. Um um it was very welcoming and um I really appreciate her and and and the work that she does has done and will continue to do. So, um, again, I congratulate her for, um, finally putting those papers in and >> getting ready to ride off into the sunset. >> Thank you, Mr. Bino. Did you have something >> committee >> for the committee? >> That's what we're discussing. Yeah. Yeah. >> Uh, the, uh, safety and security committee and facilities committee, >> we're going to meet at the Twin Towers on the tour. I've invited them to the tour because it's very very appropriate. Instead of hearing about it, I'm uh
159the people on these committees will see what we're doing as far as construction and the safety measures were taking that building. >> That date, >> pardon me, what date? >> That's April 16th. Am I correct on that? At 5:15. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. So, what are we doing now? >> Um any other do we have any other committee reports? >> Um do we have anything on conferences, professional learning or educational matters we'd like to discuss? With that, we are going to have Napore share upcoming dates and reminders. >> Okay. So, April 10th and April 11th, there is a Carter Spring Musical from 6:00 p.m. on April 10th and 12:00 p.m. on April 11th, and it will be located in Williams A. Carter Elementary School. April 15th, there is a Ready Set
160Kindergarten information session located at Presidential Park Elementary. Um, one session from 11:00 a.m. and another session from 6:00 p.m. April 17th, there is an NJOTC military ball. On April 21st 1st, there's a board of education meeting starting from 6:30 p.m. at Middleton High School Media Center. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. May I have a motion to adjourn? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Uh let's go next. >> Um before everyone does go, Amy, we're going to get together. She's going to give us a quick quick update. Just a little bit of information we missed earlier. >> Huh? >> Have to forgive me. No, I believe the whole >> It's not Amy. Would you consider it exact? >> No. So, we're all good. >> And that April 21st is a Tuesday, not a Thursday.
161>> When a porch is right, >> the next board >> Oh, the next board meeting. >> Yes. And it's a workshop, is it not? >> No. >> Tuesday is the 16th. The 21st is a Thursday. And it's a board meeting. >> April. >> Oh, that'll be >> right. The 20 >> the 21st >> the 16th and 21st. >> Yeah. >> So, April 16th is a workshop.