001Good evening everyone. We want to welcome you to the Enlarged City School District of Middletown's Board of Education meeting for Thursday, May 21st, 2025. Hopefully a quick and wonderful meeting. So those of you who are interested can go home and watch the Knicks tonight. Um, at this time, I'd like to call the meeting to order. And a reminder that 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. And because my bre Hispanic brethren have decided not to be at the meeting, I am forced to read it in Spanish as well. We'd
002also like to remind everyone that translation and interpretation services are available during the meeting. If you need assistance, please let us know and we'll we'll be happy to accommodate you. At this time, if you could please stand, remove your hats, and face our flag for our pledge of allegiance, which uh tonight will be led by Mr. Freddy Williams. Please remain standing afterwards for a moment of silence for Mr. John Parino. Thank you, President Estrada. The first moment of silence this evening is for all the military personnel who have lost their lives in various wars and battles of the United States. Memorial Day is coming this Monday. It is today to honor and mourn our dead military personnel. The second moment of silence this evening is for Mr. John Eaggan. Now, Mr. Egan not a member
003of the district, but he did work with our students in various capacities. example are NGOTC students, honor society students, members of the key club at the various events. He advised he advised these students, helped these students become acclimated and encouraged these students. So, uh, John also served his community. Longtime member of the fire department, a fire department and chief of the Johnson fire department. So, he most definitely will be missed. Next moment of silence this evening. One of our uh students, very big MIDI fan, Anthony Fenure, unfortunately uh lost his life in a car accident. He always attended the MIDI games, cheered for the Mittis, attended various plays, concerts, and so on. While he was a a bit physically challenged, he never gave up the fight. And the last moment of silence this evening is
004Mr. Alfred Booth. Mr. Booth, the husband of Lorraine Booth, a longtime library clerk in the district. Al served his country as a member of the United States Army during the Korean War. He in addition to that he had many volunteer opportunities in the community. All these individuals will be missed. Please remember these people in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pino. And now for the mission of the Enlarge City School District of M of Middletown. Pastor Williams. Mission of the Enlarged City School District of Middletown. We strive to provide fiscally sound educational opportunities in a safe environment that continuously supports our diverse student population. We will enable all students to graduate, to reach their full potential, and to become lifelong learners, and to be competitive and productive members of society. Thank you.
005Thank you, Pastor Williams. Roll call. Mrs. Monterie, Mr. Estrada, here. Mr. Moore, Mr. Parino, Mr. Rhett, here. Miss Romero, Miss Tobias, here. Mr. Freddy Williams here. Pastor Williams. Yep. Mr. Mitchell Williams. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Vonry. I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Moved by Mr. Tobias and seconded by Mr. Perino. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for the regular meeting minutes from May 8th, 2025. So moved. Moved by Pastor Williams. Seconded by Curtis Wat. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for personnel memorandum 22A number one. So moved. Moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by M. Bias. Any discussion? Yes. Very disappointed. I think that is the consensus around the table. That's the consensus. Uh
006I will say that before we take the vote, uh Mr. Tuttle, if you could please stand. I'm going to make you sweat for this one. It's gonna be rough. For those of you who don't know, this is um we're approving the retirement for Mr. Tuttle, our assistant superintendent for business, uh who has served this district admirably. Um one of the best Moody ratings in the state of New York. When it comes to school districts, we have a very sound budget process as evidenced by our school budget votes, which we'll be approving a little bit later on. Um, you're not a midi bear by trade. You're a crusader, God forbid. But nevertheless, we want to thank you for all of your years of service and we hope that you enjoy 20 years total. 20 years total.
007And we hope that uh you find uh peace and that you enjoy retirement. Thank you. Stand up. Anybody up? Yep. Yep. Any other discussion? Mr. Parino, I suggest I suggest that um we Well, then I got Mr. Parino and then I'll pass it off to Mr. Pino. Ed, I suggest I was going to vote no on this, but I told Mike I was going to vote no, but he's younger and bigger than I am, so I'm going to I'll have to vote reluctantly yes on his retirement. We all wish you the very best, none better. Thank you, Mr. Parino. Pastor Williams, I I I also suggest that we make the next month as hard as we can for him. Um but no, um uh I want to say this and we'll probably have an opportunity
008before before we get to the end of the school year, but uh Mike Mike has uh Mike has been has been one of the best people to work with in every situation. And that's why um this is so hard. It's not just about the job that he does, but it's about the person that he is. And so, um, that's what I'll miss most. You you can you can you can teach people to do certain jobs, but, uh, the character and the integrity and the personality that goes behind it cannot be taught. It can it's only natural. So, Mike, uh, thank you for everything you've done. Thank you, Pastor Williams. Any other discussion? And I just want to add I you know sometimes people don't really understand what the result of having a really solid Moody's
009ratings does to you the taxpayers but u literally that gentleman uh because of that bond rating has saved this school district and our taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in interest expense over the years. So once again congratulations. I actually need a vote. Call. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion regretfully carries 70. I need a motion to approve personnel memorandum 22BS. 22B numbers one through six. So move. Moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by Mr. Moore. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for personnel memorandum 22C numbers 1 through 8. Moved by Mr. Bias. Second, seconded by Mr. Parino. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for financial memorandum 22D numbers 1 through 14. So moved. Moved
010by Pastor Williams. Second. Seconded by Mr. Parino. Um just wanted to note on the financial memorandum um you see a lot of agreements between uh Middletown and neighboring school districts. Those are for students who um uh attend our private schools but are residents of another school district. So, they have to pay tuition um to the school district itself. We also have a couple of contracts between the school district and several colleges um as part of uh credit offerings to our students here at Middletown. So, um any other discussion? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for special services memorandum 21E numbers one and two. So moved. Moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by Freddy Williams. Any discussion, Mr. Pino? Yeah, thank you. Um, this has to do, of course, with approving
011the uh IEPs. Um, I've been reading the IEPs and I just have to compliment uh members of that department. I Nicole Tagnney is here tonight, Julie Dominguez Post and Vanessa Pitman among others. And I I just pulled a few uh quotes from the IEPs with no names. And the the students seem to be making great the progress here. Positive interaction with peers in the classroom. Blank good student comes to class prepared to work. He is able to analyze primary source documents. Consist blank consistently demonstrates active participation in class discussion. Blank is showing progressing multi-step problems. blank enjoys reading time and tries to uh collaborate with others. Person enjoys writing the student that is interested uh with uh uh in reading and reads consistently. So again congratulations on the special ed the services that you provide.
012Um John I know Ed you you're responsible for Truman Moon. I think that's your assignment and the school's just as clean as a whistle you go in that building. Tracy Santino does an excellent job along I say with the special eds a nice environment for the students. So that's my comment here. Thank you. Thank thank you Mr. Pino. Any further discussion? All those in favor. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for change order 16F number one. Moved by Curtis Rat, seconded by Pastor Williams. Mr. Bartlet, if you'd like to give us some information on the change order. So, this change order is a credit for change order work that was not performed. The work was to re relocate existing drain pipe pipes uh catch basin and to remove an existing bench. Do we
013expect that work to be done in the future or was it needed? If needed. Okay, we like credits here. So, $71,000 credit. I think we can vote for here. So, any other discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. Now, for some good news, I need approval to accept the May 20, 2025 budget vote results. So, move. That was a tossup. We all can we go to the videotape? We'll give it to Mr. Curtis Pratt, seconded by Mr. Tobias. Um uh does anybody want to go around the table about the budget vote? So, I just want to let folks know thank you to the city of Middletown and the town of Walkill residents um for your continued support and your faith in what we've accomplished so far here in the school district
014and uh in voting for a continuation of the progress that uh we make. Uh we're very proud of where we're at and where we're headed. Um and this uh budget will help support our students and our staff to continue that progress moving forward. Um on a side note, the budget passed with a vote of about 77%. So uh a very strong indication of uh where our public um feels. You know, knock on wood. Uh this school district has never had a budget vote voted down by its residents. So when it when we talk about supporting public education, we mean it here in Middletown. So thank you once again. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval to accept the May 2020 25 proposition number two results. So moved. Moved
015by Mr. Parino. Seconded by Mr. Moore. Uh Mrs. Cedon, can you just let us know what which one was proposition two? Mr. Tuttle. Is that on? Can you hear me now? All right. Um, Proposition two was the $20 million 20-year uh capital reserve. And as you know, we've had the capital reserves in the past. Um, and we've used them for some of our projects to alleviate some of the tax burden on our capital projects. So, it's worked out pretty well. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval to accept the May 202025 Proposition number three results moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by Mr. Rhett. Uh Mr. Tuttle, can you give us a description of Proposition three? Proposition three was the um capital improvements districtwide for the $45
016million um some bathroom renovations, library renovations, some turf fields at Twin Towers. And because of financing and fund balance usage, that is net zero to the taxpayer. zero to the taxpayer. Yeah. Using capital reserve. Um any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval to accept the May 20, 2025 candidate vote results. So move. Moved by Mr. Parino. Second. Seconded by Mr. Rhett. Um to let you guys know, we had our two incumbents who were running, Pastor Williams and Mr. Basin both get reelected. Congratulations to the both of you. And as you know, our vice president, Mr. Mitchell Williams, um has chosen not to run. He's taken a position with the city of Middletown. So, we wish him well. And in hisstead, Dr. Patricia De Jesus was elected
017last night by our voters. So, we welcome her aboard as well. And she I talked to her last evening. She sends her regrets not being able to make the meeting tonight, but she'll be at a a future meeting. And as we do history here, um those who have been elected to the board, they'll have a seat at the table even before their oath of office. Um so they can, you know, get the feel for the participation part of it. So um any further discussion on the vote? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 70. Congratulations Middletown and Tana Walker. [Applause] And one of the uh the group that we want to really thank are all of you sitting over there, especially to my right, um all of our administrators in the district who have
018come out um in support of uh what the taxpayers responded to and that was the passing of our school budget. So, if all of you could please stand so we can give you a round of applause for all the hard work that you [Applause] did. Great job. So, now I'm going to hand off, this is always our favorite part, our board member recognitions and our community updates. And I'll hand it off first to Mr. Perino for our Elk student of the month for May. Mr. Thank you. And Mr. Whit wanted to uh have me remind everybody that afterwards we'll take pictures over in front of the Middletown Legacy Maker Banner. I'd like members of the high school administration and our students of the month and any family members to approach the district approach the podium.
019And since we have officials from the county and city and town here, why don't you come on up too and you can hand us certificates. And John, before uh you get started, I just do want to acknowledge our town supervisor, George Srano. Thank you so much for stopping by. Unfortunately, he has another meeting to get to as well, but thank you for your support. All right, I'll say it again. Good evening, President Estrada and members of the board. Miss Ceden, um district administration, it is my pleasure to present uh the sophomore class cohort 2023 Elk Student of the Month to Xavier Hines. So, a little about Xavier, he has a currently has a 95 GPA. All right. Hey. Currently has there's more 12.75 credits at this juncture. So even though he's a sophomore, he's theoretically
020a junior. And by the end of the year, he will have 19.25 credits, which will make him a senior. He is absolutely crushing it. He is also a member of our track team where he is a thrower. So, he throws the hammer, the discus, the shot put, all that good stuff. And uh when I spoke to him about what he wants to do, he already wants to he knows what he wants to do. I'm mechanical engineer, which is above, you know, anything I know about. And uh he's thinking about the University of Buffalo, so sophomore class already knows um what he wants. So, Xavier, did you want to share any words of wisdom? I just want to say uh thank you for the nomination and I'm glad to see that my hard work pays off.
021Thank you to my mom. He's my biggest inspiration here. [Applause] Thank you, Mom. Daryl ODM from the Elks is here this evening. Good evening all. Xavier proud to present this on behalf of we have no award to give you as well. Unfortunately, somebody but doesn't stop here. This is the beginning represent wherever you decide to go. You understand? It was very proud. made me smile that you recognize who got you here. Not only the school, but your mom's. All right. [Applause] Then we have Miss Skyler Richards. Come on up. Skyler is a member of our graduating class. Um she will be graduating in June. Uh four years here she has immersed herself in in many different areas. Um obviously her academics very successful scholar. She has been a member of our dance club, our video
022game club and our our literacy and magazine club. She's also immersed herself in lacrosse and wrestling, I believe. And um when asked where she wants where she's going to go to college, she's been accepted to Mount St. Mary for psychology. So, congratulations, Skyler. Would you like to share? Um, I just want to say thank you to the school district for helping me um, come so far in Middletown High School and all the staff members here and for my family who's not here at the moment, but hope they're always here. Yeah. Who knows that I love them dearly and always been my biggest fan since day one. [Applause] Why don't we have the mayor and county executive come up and hand hand the certificate? Do you like to say anything? Well, I I'd like to say
023first off, congratulations on going to Mount St. Mary. That's where I went. Uh you're going to love it. And uh and anything we can do for you in the county and Xavier, you as well, you want to be an engineer. We have an awesome engineering department in the county. We design bridges, buildings, roads, all sorts of cool stuff. Uh but we also have a good relationship and so does the mayor with a lot of private engineering companies. So as you're getting prepared to go to school, you might want to, you know, start interning and get a feel of things. So um both I'll open my office to both of you. Anything you need. So congratulations to you both. Thank you. Congratulations to you. and you're going to love the merit. Yeah, I I'll be very
024brief, but I just wanted to congratulate the district, but more so congratulate the students and their families. It's a fantastic honor to receive, but it comes after years and years of hard work and we're very proud of the district. We're very proud of what you produce here. So much so that we've been taking business leaders on tours of this school and they are just amazed about the programs that are being offered here. and those programs are creating what's behind me. So, congratulations to all of you, but more so congratulations to the two of you. [Applause] Now, we'll have the family and the students go over to the legacy maker. Do you want to get in that? Sure. Go that way. Just head that way. Mom, you can go over get a picture, too. everybody. I
025just I just want to say this real quick is that um it's been it's been an absolute pleasure um watching um Xavier and his brother grow up. Uh this is a this this is a long long time family, long-standing family. Got deep roots here in Middletown. And um and so it's been a pleasure watching them grow up and and watching them from the days when they were um they were students over at Presidential Park. And now and now and now look at them. This is this is amazing. So congratulations. Thank you very much again, guys. Awesome job. So, next up, uh something that we're very proud of here in our school district. Um you know, and I give a lot of credit especially to uh our superintendent, Miss Ceden, uh in making sure that this
026school district has partnerships um with the city of Middletown and with the town of Walkill, but especially the city of Middletown. And I want to emphasize uh Mayor Dphano and his staff along with our council members uh Mr. Whit is one of the council members Dr. Johnson's here as well as the others. Um you know they allowed us an opportunity to present our budget in front of um at one of their uh meetings as well. Um so we value those uh friendships and those partnerships. We look for uh forward to them growing. Um and as a result of that we have a very special recognition. We're joined this evening by our esteemed county executive, Mr. Stephen Newhouse. In addition to being our county executive, uh, make sure you give him a a a thank you
027for serving our country as well, um, as he does continuously. And, uh, his aid, Mr. Mike Terelli, who used to be my assistant manager many, many years ago. So, like I said, it's like watching one of your kids outperform you after uh so many years. So, at this time, I'm going to hand it off to Superintendent Creed. Great. Thank you so much. Um thank you um uh for the Orange County Citizen Month Award uh this evening with County Executive New House. Thank you. It's our honor to be here um and share space with you this evening and be recognized for this. Um Mr. New House um uh Mayor Dphano, uh town supervisor Serrano who had to leave uh and Mr. Trelli and to our school community. Um, tonight their visit represents more than just a
028simple recognition. Uh, but highlights the excellence, the dedication, and the collaborative spirit that define who we are as Middletown. Tonight, we are truly celebrating that we are one Middletown. We're gathering to celebrate the citizen of the month award. We're reminded that success thrives in places where community, hard work, and a shared purpose come together. This school district exemplifies these values daily. and the partnership that we have with our friends, our community leaders, it strengthens our ability to nurture and inspire excellence in every form inside the school district and the community. I want to take this moment to thank our partners, our colleagues, our friends, the people. We couldn't do this work without the mayor of the city of Middletown um and the town supervisor. Um this award tonight is not just for the school community,
029but our shared communities. Um, when our schools are a success and they are rising up and thriving, our communities are as well. We cannot do this work alone. We're honored tonight, um, County Executive New House, to have you here to help us amplify this achievement, shine a light on the remarkable contributions of our young people and to our community and our staff. Um, please join me in standing and giving a warm welcome to County Executive New House as we accept this award. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Uh it's really an honor to be here tonight and I feel really uncomfortable because I want to call you Amy. I want to call you Ed, but I got to call you guys. By all means, that's very official. I heard county executive. A lot of
030times people just call me Steve. Um I had the great fortune today of starting my day out with many of your students. The Navy ROC team, uh group, um sailors. I'm happy, by the way, because you're the only ROC in a county that has Navy. So, as a naval officer, I thoroughly appreciate that. But, uh, your students put American flags on hundreds and hundreds of graves in our county cemetery, the busiest cemetery in the county, the largest. We have thousands of graves. Every one of them has an American flag for Memorial Day because of your students. So, uh, it was an honor. Yeah, it was it's it it was it was an honor to not only work with them a little bit. They definitely outworked me, but to talk to them, some of them that
031are graduating, uh asking where they want to go, what they want to do. Uh we just talked to heard two students that we recognized tonight that you did about their it's just such a great time of year. Tomorrow I get to give the uh a speech at Sunni Orange's graduation and uh so on and so forth. Um, but I'm here uh because of citizen of the month. And I started this a couple years ago because there's so much negativity when you turn on the news or you turn on the TV and whatever it is. Everybody's always bringing you down. And we don't highlight, in my opinion, all the positive things that are going on, what people uh are doing to make a difference. And uh the Middletown School District um has weathered a very tough
032storms over the years, particularly the last year. And uh if anybody knows anything about me, the two things that normally come to mind is being is the US Navy because I always talk about it. The other two is emergency management. And uh my job has changed from 30 years ago when it was cutting ribbons and kissing babies. It's typical politician thing. It's now really front and center emergency management. Every county executive in New York State that gets elected is forced to take a class and gets certified from FEMA because you are now in in many instances the incident commander because of so many things that are happening. Um so that we are on call all the time. What we get a chance to do is we get a chance to work with some really awesome
033people. And I'm going to start with Amy. Um, and Amy, uh, has not only helped the Middletown school district, um, but she's also helped fellow school districts dealing with tragedies and difficulties. And she's also helped us, if you remember, the Farmingdale bus accident helped setting up, uh, receiving the area. So, uh, she and her the faculty at the school is second to none and there truly should be recognized and and I want you to know that. The other thing is um during you know admir I'm a Navy guy so Admiral McRaven who wrote the book Make Your Own Bed. So I know you're going to give out two books to students at the end of the year. It's either the the places you will go I think I'm saying it right the Dr. Seuss one
034or the make your bed one. Um he says uh he gave a lecture to us a couple years ago before we deployed. And he said everybody's going to have a bad day. It's you're going to have a bad day. Things are going to go wrong. It's not that you're going to have them. It's how you get through them. And it's and it's so true. And I have seen this this school district again, not only with the superintendent and the faculty, but the students get through and overcome some of the biggest uh hurdles and really be role models for the rest of the county. It's a big county. We have 400,000 people here. We have many school districts. Everyone is having challenges. Uh and I got to tell you, this school district is is really second
035to none. and you should be proud. So, um I'm gonna read this and then I'll we'll take a picture. I'll obviously let my colleague uh Joe come up here. Mayor Stephano and George had to leave, but we work very close together and uh it's really a great when you're working together like this, like your budget pass, you know how easy it is. You guys can do the people's work. So, let me just read this. It says uh Orange County Executive Certificate of Recognition presented to the uh Enlarge City School District of Middletown June. Now, I'm leaving on Tuesday for the military. I didn't announce this yet. So, that's why we're doing this now, cuz I'm not going to be here for your next meeting. And you got graduation. Uh, in recognition of the strength, resilience,
036and unity demonstrated by the student, staff during the uh exemplary difficult year. And in the face of profound loss, you come together with compassion, courage, and determination to heal and restore hope. Your unwavering spirit and dedication to one another reflects the very best of this community and it's signed by me. So, congratulations. Awesome. Thank you. And I' I'd like to have um bring my friend Joe up. Do you want to say a few words, Jim? you know, we we're very proud of what we're accomplishing at city hall and with everything that's the changes in our community and uh but one thing we I've been in politics for quite a few years and no matter what we do, we can put in new sidewalks, do facades, do our water and sewer treatment plant, but the number
037one attraction to come into this community is the school district. um not only the programs that you offer but the staff and the compassion that they showed towards the students. So when we sell our city, we're selling it using you and it's an important part such an important part of it of the equation. That's why you see no budget has ever failed as as um Ed has stated and that's why you see us out there advocating for the budget. Um it's it's unusual I believe in many communities where the local community invites the school district in to support uh to portray the budget out there present the budget and then have the public support that we have had over the few years. So we've been proud to work with you um over the years even
038when we've disagreed we've still pushed the budget. We still supported each other on the programs. We still go root for Middletown to beat port and um and we um do a lot of things together that the people don't see. Um including uh you know Amy and I have lunch on a monthly basis. I don't think Mike Mike joins us once in a while, but now he's going to skip out on it, but you're going to come back for lunch. But um it's been that type of relationship over the years. So, congratulations to you for the uh the great honor in recognizing the work and thank you, Steve, for all you have done for the city of Middletown, too. Um, I can't ask for a better partner on the county government level. So, thank you so
039much. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. I I I will make one last note. This is mental health uh awareness month. And one of the one of the things that Peter, who's a retired state police captain, he runs, he's a commissioner of emergency management for Orange County. I hired every people that work for me say you're always being interviewed by Steve New House because I hire people seeing them at car accidents or plane crashes or whatever. You're always being interviewed. He's a great guy. He was the zone commander for here. And he talked about the communication skills that Amy has and this school district has with the public. The people want to know what's going on, even if it's bad news. And when we're talking about mental health, you have to have the courage to be
040able to say it's okay to not be okay and it's okay to ask for help. And when we refer our mental health counselors, whether within the school district, for outside, for both students and for faculty, uh, and for people that are affected during tragedies, it takes courage for people to step up and say it's all right to get help or it's okay for me to get help. And, uh, that is really one of the game changers with us being able to overcome some of the big challenges we had, particularly the school district this year. So, I want to make sure I mention that as well. So, c can I Oh, sorry. Absolutely. No, I want to uh just touch base. So, one of the things that we approved tonight in our financial memorandum, believe it
041or not, was an extension for another year of having the Orange County Mental Health Association satellite right here in our district. And uh we found that to be extremely valuable during the tough times in October and November and December when we lost um obviously some of our students as well. Yeah. So, uh we do appreciate uh everything the school district has done and uh we're going to continue to highlight you especially next month as we talk about your successes. uh when facing tragedy. So, thank you very much. So, maybe we can do a picture together. Yep. That's what we're going to do. And I also just want to tell folks, so um Steve mentioned something very important about um adversity and how you answer to it. Um something that we at this table say almost
042at every meeting that it's okay to fail. It's just what you do with that. And I was actually at a Bosey's breakfast this morning and we talked exactly about that. and one of the Boseis people. So yeah, what we do with uh the word fail is what for us it means first attempt in learning and that's what the acronym for them fail is is for but I also do want to acknowledge that you know we over the years with some good vision were able and fortunate enough um to put together uh some beautiful facilities here, athletic facilities here that have been utilized now by the state of New York in a variety of different state tournaments. As a matter of fact, um, in the next two weeks, we'll be hosting the state semi-finals in lacrosse,
043and we'll be hosting the largest sporting event in New York State, which is the, uh, spring track and field championships when we'll have, uh, probably about 5 to 6 thousand people here at least, uh, doing it. Um, we've done studies, uh, Mr. Coat, our athletic director, in the back, that shows that it's about a $3 million injection into our local economy here. But we could not have done that without the partnerships that we've had with the county and with the city of Middletown specifically, both who have stepped up to the plate in the past in the form of monetary contributions to the district to help us bring those tournaments here and bring that infusion of of money into the local economy, both uh the city of Middletown, town of Walkill, and the county of Orange,
044but you guys specifically uh in stepping up to the plate, and we appreciate that as well. So, thank you once again. And I'm going to ask all board members if we can all go over there and we'll get together with the mayor. We also invite Mr. Wit as well as a member of the council. He's saying no because he's taking the picture, but nevertheless, we do want to acknowledge them. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you guys. [Applause] And Miss Tobias wants to mention something about our own Freddy Williams. Yes. I just wanted to mention that I think a couple years back our own Freddy Williams was recognized um for the Orange County Citizens Award also. So the presidents is there. It's perfect. So next up again we want to thank everybody. We're going to hand it
045off to our own pastor Williams for the NISBA board excellence recognition awards. Well, good evening everybody. Uh I have the profound privilege um of not just serving on this board uh but also serving as the president of the Orange County School Boards Association as well as the and many of you know as the area 9 director for the New York State School Boards Association. Uh my direct responsibilities are for Orange, Olter, Sullivan, Duchess, and Green counties. Uh uh and tonight uh the New York State School Board Association uh wants to recognize uh some of our uh wonderful board members that sit here uh in at this table. Uh the New York School Board Association's uh board excellence recognition program is designed to acknowledge those schoolboard members who strive to continually expand their governance knowledge and
046skills. And so our records have indicated that um a few of our members in our district uh have earned uh our board excellence recognition awards ranging from levels one to four. And so tonight it's my profound privilege to to recognize uh those of you that are here have taken time to participate in conventions. I believe in the last couple of years we've uh we've taken more people to the conventions than we've ever taken. Um two years ago, two years ago we took five. Last year we took six. Uh and they even have this name for us now. They called us the uh two years ago they called us the Middletown five. And so uh we've earned a little bit of uh fame uh throughout the state as showing up. And then uh we have others
047that have participated. We made sure uh over the last two years uh that we would make sure that we all participated even in the free offerings uh of uh professional development from NISBA. And so uh I want to I want to recognize each of you. It's my profound privilege. I would be going to other school districts um doing some of these same recognitions. So why not do it here at my home district to the people who I am so proud to work beside. Um, our first recognition is for board excellence award is awarded to Mr. Freddy Williams, Middletown City School District. Congratulations, bro. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Um our our next our next um board excellence award is awarded to um one of our members who's not here tonight but
048uh to Miss Denise Romero, Middletown City School [Applause] District. Board Excellence Award awarded to Mr. Curtis Rhett, Middletown City School District. Congratulations, brother. Board Achievement Award is awarded to Mr. Andrew Moore, Middletown City School District. Now, I had the privilege of getting all of this information a couple of weeks ago, so I held it. I did pretty good holding the secret. Congratulations, brother. Appreciate it. And um lastly lastly um this person this person is receiving uh two awards. Uh he is he is I'll put it like this the the patriarch of the board and um uh I had the profound privilege of serving as his vice president uh when he was the president of this board. And so, um, Mr. Parino is a warrior. So, this first board achievement award is awarded to Mr. John
049Parino, Middletown City School District. And Mr. Parino also is receiving the board excellence award awarded to Mr. John Perino, Middletown City School District. Congratulations, John. No, I appreciate you. Thank you. And so, uh, congratulations to all of you. Uh, I'm going to make sure, um, give this to Crystal so she can she can, uh, give this to, uh, Miss Romero. But congratulations to all of you. It is my profound privilege to work with each and every one of you every day. Um, and so, uh, I'm grateful and thankful, um, that you're being recognized. I think sometimes we let things go by and people don't understand what it takes to really serve on on boards of education. There's a lot of ups and a lot of downs and um and contrary to popular opinion um we
050don't get a paycheck but but the paycheck the paycheck that comes and I say this I say this the paycheck that comes is when we get to see the smiles on the faces of our young people when we get to see them walking across the stage when we saw these young people get recognized tonight. um to watch young men that I watch to grow up, to see them recognized, that's the that's the pay and and so I applaud each and every one of you for your sacrifice and your your diligent work and I'm looking forward to continue work with you. Thank you. Thank you. So, if you guys want to go over there and grab a picture together as a Thank you, Pastor Williams. At this time, uh, if anybody would like to go around,
051we'll go around for board member community updates. Start off with Mr. Moore. I'll be pretty brief. Uh I just want to wish the flag football team uh this coming Friday at this section nine. I believe it's championships if I'm not mistaken that they take part take part in the flag. Um so the the is is the championship on Friday? I believe it's Friday at Monroe. Oh at Lloyds Lloyds. Yeah Lords and Pips versus Yeah, it's kind of far. I just want to wish them good luck and um congratulations to everyone um that that won this past election and you know definitely uh just wish the entire uh school district and the community you know great success as we move forward. Uh I think we're moving in the right direction. So thank you Mr. Moore Mr.
052Pino. Thank you President Stra. Firstly, I'd like to congratulate uh Bishop Williams, Mrs. Debasin, and uh Dr. De Jesus. He's not here. She's not here tonight for another term on the board, and I'm sure everything will go uh very well. Uh also I I spoke about Memorial Day and my moments of silence, but one thing uh in addition to that uh Monday there's going to be a Memorial Day service at the Elks at 11 a.m. And uh everyone is invited and after the service there will be uh refreshments. It's a nice way to honor those who have passed in our uh military. Uh the other thing and I have quite a bit but I'm just going to mention this and then I'll I'm done. Uh we've recognized people tonight. Uh I'd like to recognize I
053sometimes I uh recognize various families who served the district and this evening I'm going to recognize three generations of a family who served the district and are serving the district. And that family is the the Fuches Redmond Henman family. Uh Bonnie Fuches, I work with Bonnie worked as the office manager at Twin Towers, later secretary to the superintendent many years. I think 32 years she put in the district. Her daughter Tracy Redmond is the current uh office manager at uh Manhagen Middle School. and and Tracy's daughter Katie is working uh with Alyssa Shriner, administrator Alicia Shriner in a clerical capacity at Middletown High School and very hard workers and big assets to the district. So, three generations have served the district and if you talk to them, they like nothing better than working in uh
054the Middletown district. Um the other thing I wanted to salute our technology department. These guys do a magnificent job. Uh let me tell you a couple of the things they do. They service over 10,000 devices, laptops, desktops, Chromebooks, phones, smartphones, and so on. They manage all the district cyber security efforts and networking infrastructure. They manage over,00 camera cameras and digital access controls over 60 computers serve servers managed manage audio uh video for district events in their they're working this evening in the auditorium manage reporting services data collection report cards on and on manage all instructional technologies and software right now members of that department are downstairs and broadcasting the uh our meeting. So, they do a good job. You can't go along without these men and women in in this department. They're just uh they
055fantastic. If you have a problem with the computer, they're there to help you. They, as I say, they service so many devices. And I'm going to stop there because we want to keep the meeting short, but a salute to them. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pino or Mr. Rep. Hi. Yes. Good evening everyone. I I just want to share some pictures of uh some of the successes that are going on again throughout the um high school. I'm the liaison there as well as in the community and in other schools as well. I think they should be popping up here any [Music] second. Ah yeah. Uh this was um one of the celebrations um STEM related celebrations um at the school. Um it's a lot of good um hands-on activities that the students were involved in
056with the teachers and got myself involved a little bit in there as well. And um it was just a great um opportunity to for us to just kind of show off some of the things that are going on in our buildings. Um again we have um our ROC program fantastic job that they do and um we have some of our team members people that work throughout the school. Um you might recognize a few of them and uh Miss Gleata the job she does. This was at the spring concert yesterday. I just want to reiterate the incredible job she does with this um group here with the violins. Um it was a really great concert and um she has touched so many lives with um she took the time to explain how kids from um that
057came in in the ninth grade and and how you know they've come so far. she actually um have them actually um running the concerts and she steps back and um and um it's just really special. We have some other pictures of that coming up. Um well, we'll jump past that. Uh I didn't get a chance to share some of the multicultural celebration pictures. Um and so these are some of those as well. Uh Mr. St. Lewis and his team did a wonderful job with this as we talked about at our previous meeting. But again, um so many cultures represented, big turnout from the community and um just a wonderful event once again. This is one of um students running the actual um concert and [Applause] um I believe that's all. Thank you very much. Um
058also I want to congratulate um our new colleagues our new colleagues on the board um um Dr. De Jesus in addition to um Rose Tobias and welcome back John. welcome welcome you guys back and look forward to another wonderful year. Thank you, Mr. Rat, Mr. Bison. Well, first of all, um, as others have, I would like to thank the community for their support, uh, both of the school budget and our propositions and for allowing me to continue to serve on this board of education. Lastly, I'm going to talk about my favorite topic, Mr. Estrada. Oh, let me guess. Odyssey of the mind of the mind. Um for the past three year three years I've had the wonderful opportunity to accompany our teams um to the states then to uh the world. Uh this year the
059world is being held in Michigan and our robotic team is going. So to me that division came into um the Odyssey of the mind competition three years ago. I came back from Iowa and spoke to Dr. Connell and before he even had a chance before to say anything to our superintendent, Dr. Connell picked up the ball, went running for it and said, "We'll be in that division, the robotic division." And sure enough, three years young, but our team is going on. And to me, it is just one of the most wonderful privileges um that the our students have meeting with these kids from all over the world, Europe, as well as the United States. And it it's you you have to see them collecting their pins on the floor, exchanging pins. It's it's marvelous. Do
060you know the date? Uh so it's next weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. After Memorial Day week, they left last night, right? Yes. Oh, it's today. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Okay. It's always over the Memorial Day weekend. Okay. But um I have to say um I'm so proud of what all our teams did, the middle school and I think and the elementary. I think this year we had a team in every building. It's a lot of work. It's a tremendous amount of work for the coaches as well as for the students. So I say to um our robotic teams, midi pride and good luck. Thank you, Mr. Bison. And Dr. Connell and Miss Tom. Awesome. Uh Pastor Williams. Thank you. Um first again, uh just as uh Mr. Bison did, I want to thank the community um for
061everybody here in this district. um for first um passing our budget, helping helping this district pass the budget. Congratulations to our administration um on crafting uh crafting uh such a a good budget. Congratulations to our board on adopting it and congratulations to the district as a whole um that now we can continue to to move forward and do the work. I want to thank um all of those that came out and voted. I I wish that our I wish that our turnout was a little bit more. Uh but I am grateful for those that did come out and vote. Uh thank you for your confidence in uh uh myself. Uh congratulations to Mr. Bison. Big congratulations to Mr. Bison. Big congratulations to Dr. De Jesus uh on uh Mr. Bison on uh retaining her seat
062and Dr. De Jesus for uh now winning a new seat coming on the board. We look forward to continued collaboration and work um with everybody that's on this board. Uh uh and and with that being said, I ask myself every time we come around to these times of years, anybody that knows me knows I hate the politics of um of these times of years and I kind of I kind of shrink shrink away sometimes. And um uh sometimes I I sometimes I can be a little frustration frustrating to um to to people because I I uh I I I literally despise politics in of itself, but I understand the necessity of it as a tool. Uh but I asked myself the question, why do I keep doing this? And I my answer answer comes in
063so many different ways. Um I even alluded to it tonight when I was doing the presentations. Um but on last week in the last couple of weeks to have the opportunity to go to the experience our programs and and to see so many of our wonderful scholars from all over the district um do presentations whether it be in the sciences, whether it be in the medical field, whether it be in the arts. Um it was an absolutely wonderful um experience to be able to be there. Uh and then on this past Friday uh I I I was away I was away on on some business upstate. We got back and I came straight to the high school and had the opportunity to um to step in and see the beginning of uh 101 Dalmatians that
064was performed um uh the musical or the the play that was performed by Presidential Park Elementary School. And as I was walking out the door, so many of the the young children from Presidential Park started waving waving and saying, "Hi, pastor." And it melted my heart. Melted my heart. I left from there, went home, changed real quick, and I went over to the prom. And I want to say this in my in my few seconds left. This this prom was so amazing. Our our young people, our juniors and seniors looked absolutely amazing. But what impressed me the most about them, um, we did not have any incidents at this at this prom, but what impressed me the most about them was watching these young men that were um that were being so shiverous. They they
065were helping the young ladies carry their plates. They were helping them hold their dress. They were doing so many wonderful things. And so I want to applaud them um for just coming and showing what Middletown is all about. Um I even had a group of young men about 20 young men and I uh that that when I walked in the door they lked, "Hey pastor, come here." And they got in a circle at the table and they bowed their heads and they prayed and that melted my heart. So congratulations um to everybody on that on this on these particular events that's coming. That's why I do it and that's why I keep coming back. Thank you, Pastor Williams. Mr. Freddy Williams, thank you. Um, yesterday was a really great day for the district with the
066budget passing and um, we have our new constituents. Well, returning. Uh, congratulations, Pastor Williams, Mrs. Tobias, and Dr. De Jesus. I also like to tip my hat to Mrs. Monere because I know that is a long taxing day on you. Thank you. Yeah. So, round of applause. not only a long taxing day, a long couple months cuz she Yeah. Right. And the culmination of uh that. So I called in a couple of times to check on you and and her energy is amazing. It sounded the same in the morning as when I called in the afternoon. Um so we really we really want to thank you for an excellent job ever since you stepped in of you stepped in to greatness. So we appreciate you. Um, I'm just excited for the uh this final final
067leg of the school year. I want to encourage uh I'm sorry encourage our um staff and uh students to you know keep the path, stay the path, you know, finish strong um with these finals coming on and regents and and so on and so forth. Um it's been an excellent year, you know, for the district. Um we did hit a couple hurdles in the beginning of the year with the passing of some students which was really heavy on um a lot of hearts and um but you know um since then we've we've been uh you know we've kind of stayed the course and uh I'm really excited. I'm excited for the for the our new um team. This is a really strong team, right? Um you know Mr. Mitchell Williams stepping away. It hurts, you
068know, uh such a a passionate um person in in in our in our work. Um but also, you know, we're moving forward uh with some some familiar faces and uh and a new face that seems very strong and and um I'm excited for our team and the progress that we will uh continue to make. So, um that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Freddy Williams. Um I just want to add once again, thank you. First of all, congratulations, uh, Pastor Williams. Welld deserved, Mr. Bison. Welld deserved. What term is this for you, Mr. Tobyson? How many terms is this now for you? Too many to All I can tell you, as I said before, my son told me that what he's going to continually say is that she was still going. That's the
069school. And then, uh, thank you to the taxpayers. Um please know that we take um your vote and your support in us seriously. We will always look to strive to do better. Um as we talked about that word fail. We will fail often but hopefully we learn from that and then we move on and do bigger and better things together as a community. Um I think we're proud of where we send our kids to school which is a very important message. Um but we cannot do it without our parents. Um, we need our parents. Um, this is Miss Tobias's seventh term, by the way. Thank you, Mrs. Montery. Didn't want to throw you under the bus. Um, but nevertheless, uh, we we do continually need the support of our parents um to do their due
070diligence at home. um prepare your scholars for the day ahead each and every day and we'll do our jobs here um at the school district each and every day. Thank you to the staff administration for putting the budget together um for our faculty for doing all the hard work and our support staff whether it's security or food service or technology um community relations everywhere. This is a job that everybody's part of it and you should all feel proud of that. Um, at this time we'll move on to our public participation. The board will designate a portion of its meeting agenda for public comment for a period of up to 40 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed up to four minutes and the public's not permitted to discuss topics under matters involving specific individuals. Speakers must
071sign in prior to speaking and speakers are not permitted to seed their time to other speakers. So, at this time, do we have any takers? And unless the blue seats are going to talk, I don't think we'll have any takers tonight. Any letters for the board? No letters as well. Um, uh, Norma Aila, our student board rep, sends her regret she could not make the meeting. And we all understand here at the board of education that there will be days that our student board member needs to go. And I know Pastor Williams has to leave. So, thank you, Pastor Williams. As we uh, begin to finish up. I don't think we have any board member conferences or professional development shareouts right tonight. Okay. Did you want to report on anything, Mr. Parino, or you sure?
072Okay. Thank you. Um, we'll do our policy committee. Mr. Curtis Shred, I hand it off to you. Okay. Um, policy 14A. May I have a motion to wave the first and second reading of the policies recommended by the superintendent of schools? So moved. Any discussion? Okay. Discussion concludes. All right. All right. Uh all in favor? I. Any opposed? Nope. Any abstensions? Nope. Okay. So motion passes and that's now a 6 vote. Okay. Policy 14B be it resolved in accordance with a review of the ECSDM's policy and upon the recommendation of the board of education's policy committee. The full board hereby adopts the following policy recommended by the superintendent of schools. Password management and multiffactor authentication. otherwise known as MFA policy and the supplemental ECSDM IT policies and procedures. May I have a motion? Do we
073um just point of uh clarification, do we need to vote on them separately or can we do vote on them together? The policies. Okay. Because there were two separate ones, right? But we can vote on them together. Okay. Sorry. Okay. May I have a motion? Um, I have a second. Freddy. Freddy. Oh, Freddy. Okay. Any discussion? Okay. Um, discussion concludes. Uh, let's go to the voting. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Abstensions. All right. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Rhett. Appreciate it. Uh, any other board of education committee reports? May I just mention that the audit committee will be meeting on Wednesday, June 4th at 5:00 pm? Thank you, Miss Tobias. And any other committee reports? No. Uh, moving on. Anybody want to take round table? No. Did you
074want to do round table for you, Miss Pino? You sure? All right. So, in probably record time for Mr. Strada, I need a motion to adjurnn. So, move moved by Mr. Bias and seconded by Mr. Nick Fan, Mr. Curtis Rhett. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Six nothing. Good luck, Nicks. Yeah. Well, tell Mr. Mitchell Williams That