001All right. Ready? All right. Good evening. If we rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our April board meeting. Um, I'm going to keep my remarks brief. I just wanted to announce and thank again our uh county legislator, Michael G. and the county executive. Uh, we did receive our grant uh for $104,000 that will be used for the repairs at the Camp Avenue School, the uh the roof that we had to repair last year. So, uh, we're very excited about that. And, uh, um, that check will be coming tomorrow. So, we just want I wanted to just make note of that and I will turn
002it over to uh, Dr. Signak for her comments. Okay, welcome. So excited to see everybody. I'll be brief and then we're going to move into our budget presentation. Uh we had so some of the highlights that we had over the last month. We had our parent teacher conferences on March 19th. Always a great turnout. Thank you to our parents for always partnering with our schools and our teachers for the best interests of our students. We had our h happiness day, international happiness day on March 20th. Every day is happiness day here in North America though we know that but we did take that day to really celebrate and uh the children all had a wonderful time. Theater arts. Wow. Shrek Jr. the musical on March 28th and 29th. Packed House. Another amazing show. Great job
003by our sixth graders. And as I spoke at one of the shows, the bonds that our sixth graders form amongst the three schools are lifetime bonds and friendships. And when they go to MAMS next year, they have those couple of extra friends that make them very, very happy and at ease. And a big shout out to the entire staff who participated. Joyce Kelly, Lisa Soal, Christine Vanella. I mean, I the list goes on and on. And thank you. What a great job everyone did. It was a great show. Uh, our UPK lottery was held uh quite a few weeks ago. Placements for our UPK will go out this Friday. Um, and all of our families must provide proof of residency before their placement can be verified and before they can accept it. We have 114
004seats. On tonight's agenda, you'll see the contracts for those UPK uh community- based organizations that we will be partnering with. We had an RFP that went out. So, those that met the criteria are being awarded the contracts. This this will be the end of our third year with UPK. Very proud of that. Thank you, Board of Education, for your support. And we'll be moving into our fourth year. What's coming up? Our community readaloud kickoff on Thursday this week at 3:30 at the North America Library. It's our second annual. So, really looking forward to that. Spring recess. Really looking forward to that. I'm sure everyone here. We return on Tuesday. Don't forget, not Monday. We return on Tuesday, April 22nd. Uh our summer programs are up on our website. We have our scope in Old Mill
005for the month of July pretty much. And we are also starting a JCC recreation program after scope so parents that need a full day of something for their children. Uh scope can go right into JCC so parents don't have to come up in between. Looking forward to that. Here at FET, we have our music program, our theater arts, Spanish, our extended school year, our ENL program. So again, another vibrant summer here in North Merrick. Doesn't feel like summer, but we're hoping it get does get a little warmer. And I would just like to give a big shout out to our board president, Miss Megan Ryan, who is a premier businesswoman of Long Island. Big article in the Herald. So a big round of applause for her. And now, Miss Donley with our budget presentation. Okay,
006good evening everybody. Wait for a minute so she can dim the lights and we'll be able to see the presentation. Okay. So, tonight uh is the night that our board will review and hopefully adopt our budget. Uh but before we do that, I'm just going to kind of present the highlights of the process and where we are and what's coming up uh in the next few weeks. So you'll see on the agenda, we're going to review the expenditure budget, the revenue budget. We're going to look at some charts, analysis, um what's on our ballot because we want everyone to know what they're voting on, what happens if the budget doesn't pass, and our proposed contingent budget. So, as you can see on the screen here, and for those that don't have a copy of the
007presentation, we will be posting it on our budget website tomorrow. Uh, our proposed budget for the 2526 school year is 42,638,849. That represents a 3.51% budget-to-budget increase as compared to last year's budget. We are also looking at a 2.87 87 projected tax levy increase that is compliant with our tax levy limit as I presented a few months ago. Um the 2% tax cap as you are probably familiar with. So we are compliant with that as part of the budget process. New York State requires us to report the budget in what they call different components. So the three components of our budget are the administrative portion uh which covers the the offices the the you know central office the principal's office all the folks that are really managing and operating the the district uh the program
008which is everything relating to teaching and learning teachers supplies uh textbooks special ed technology anything that we need to instruct students is in that port portion of the budget and that is usually the largest because that's where we want to see the most money being spent. Capital, also a smaller portion, but it's the place where we put the money to keep our buildings up to snuff. Um, any repairs that we need, any enhancements we need, uh, debt service from prior borrowings, etc. So, I put the percentages here, but I also did a little chart because I like to do charts because I'm a math person and I like to see things visually. Uh, so you can see here the big green portion is the program portion of our expenditure budget. And again, we want to
009see that as the largest portion anytime we do a budget. My predecessor did this chart and so I I presented it a few weeks ago and I'm updating it with the final numbers. Um what this is good to show you is that large green chunk is salary and benefits. That's the part of our budget that really we have no control over. The contracts rule the salaries and benefit percentages that our employees uh are entitled to. Uh what the district pays, what they pay towards their benefits, etc. Uh so you can see even before we start our process, we have a number that's already kind of determined by those things. So we start off with that and then we go uh with the rest of the needs and wants and and go from there. Okay. Now,
010we're going to talk revenue. Everybody likes getting money, right? So, our revenue budget, and I'm sorry that it's very small up there, um, but our revenue budget, and you'll see another slide when I talk about the tax levy, um, is made up of a number of parts. We have state aid, we have pilots, which are agreements that are made by business owners, uh, to pay a discounted rate instead of paying what their tax rate would be. um projected other revenues, things that we do in the district like provide to us educational services to students. So, we're charging tuition to another district. Uh interest earnings on our bank account. Those are the types of other revenues that we'll see there. Um you'll see the section in the middle is really um mostly reserves. Um, and reserves
011as I mentioned previously are kind of savings accounts, specific purpose savings accounts that the state allows us to set up with specific rules and also specific rules on how we can expend them. So, I'll use the ERS for example. The ERS is the employee retirement system. And that is what we anticipate paying to New York State next year for those employees that are covered under the New York retire uh the employees retirement system, excuse me. And you'll see the number has increased because the projection from the state has increased. But what we do when we take that number, you know, the $687,000 out of our reserve, it's it's really a dollar fordoll type of thing. So like if the bill comes in at $687,315, that's the maximum amount we can take out of the reserve.
012So the ma amounts actually have to match. Um if it came in less, we would take less. Uh so this is the projected amount that the state gave us. So again you really see it summarizes all the different aid categories and as we talked about previously our revenue budget has to equal our expenditure budget. Both sides have to balance. And of course as I'm sure you've seen in the media we're waiting for the state to give us our budget. So these state aid numbers are the numbers they gave us in January. We're hopeful that we'll get something soon. Um but we'll keep you posted. So here again another chart that shows you the breakdown. You'll see the tax levy is our largest source of revenue followed by state aid and then you know the other
013uh three or four areas that we have revenue. So the property tax calculation what we do when we're looking at this process is we look at all of our sources of revenue and say where are we getting money from? Because we take all these sources into account. We project what we think we're going to get based on estimates we get from folks based on past history. Um and so you'll see there the sources of revenue in the middle, state aid, local sources, pilots, fund balance, reserve use. So when we get to that subtotal, we know what our expenditure budget is. We know what we're getting from other sources and then the rest would come from our tax levy. So what will you see on the ballot in just a few weeks? Uh we have several
014propositions here for our district which I'll run through in a second. We also will have the high school uh propositions on our budget which will be a separate um item. So proposition one for us of course is our school district budget that will include the election of three board of education trustees for a three-year term. We have proposition number two which is the creation of a new capital reserve fund. As we talked about previously uh we need to start saving for future projects. Uh we talked about the roofs. We're going to talk about the camp roof in a second. But we also need to do roofs at both this building and at Old Mill Road. Uh so what we want to do is start planning for those projects and other projects. And the reason we
015use a capital reserve is so we can avoid the cost of borrowing debt service. And then proposition three uh is the expenditure from our 2019 capital reserve. Uh what we would like to do is ask our voters to approve that project and we're required to get voter approval to do that work. If the voters do approve that work, we have what's called our funding source. So now we can send our documents up to state education department for review with the specs that our architect will draw up for all the roof work that needs to be done. Once we get the state approval, then it comes back to us. We have to put it out for bid. It's a lengthy process and so it takes, you know, several months to do. So, it is our hope
016that all goes well, we will plan to do this roof work in the summer of 2026. How much is the roof? Uh, it's estimated right now just over $1.3 million. So, that's Are we getting money from the legislator from that? The money from the legislators for the repair that we had to do last year because of the emergency. Yeah. No problem. Okay. So, what happens if the budget isn't passed? Um, you know, year every year contingent budget. what our options are. The board can go and put the same budget back up for, you know, if it's not passed the first time, the board can opt to change the budget and put a revised budget up. Um, but if they we did put up a second budget and that did not pass, we would have to
017adopt what's called a contingent budget. Uh, the contingent budget basically is that the tax levy that we had from a prior year budget is the same tax levy. We cannot have a dollar increase in the tax levy. So you see here I list the amount from last year as 26,14525. That would be the amount of our tax levy. So what does that mean for our budget? We would have to reduce it. Um you know so our expenditure budget will go down to 41,88896. Uh represents a 1.69% budget-to-budget increase and then as we talked about a zero tax levy increase. But what does that mean for our students and our staff and our families and our community members? Um there are things that the state gives us regulations that we cannot do under a contingent budget.
018And some of the things are no new equipment purchases. Even if the repair to a piece of equipment would cost more than buying something new, we're not allowed to do it. Sounds crazy, but that's the rules. any kind of non-essential maintenance, any capital expenditures except in the case where there's an emergency related to health and safety. Our buildings um would not be allowed to be used if there was a cost to the district and we do have a lot of building use right now. So that would be, you know, troublesome for our community. Um non-instructional employees who are not a member of a collective bargaining unit could potentially not receive a raise. And really the things that we have are not allowed to buy are things that are cons considered non-contingent. Um things that are
019contingent that we are allowed to spend money on in a in a contingent budget would be legal obligations, expenditures authorized by statute, items necessary to maintain the educational program, preserve property, and ensure the health and safety of students and staff. So there were a lot of things that we have to pull back on with a contingency budget. So, we just put that out there so folks know when they're voting what the consequences are and what would happen, what the potential process would be if that budget vote was u not successful on the first time. And I will open the floor any questions. Of course, most importantly, I just do two quick things. Uh the budget vote May 20th at our North Public Library. And I really do want to thank the board and our budget
020advisory committee and my colleagues in central office for all of their time, feedback, um, and effort during this process. It's been a long one, but it's a good one. So, I appreciate it and thank you all. Nice job. Thank you. And uh we can take any questions during our public comments on the budget just to uh on that would would go under agenda items only. If we could have a motion to approve 4 A through 4 C. Motion by Mary, second by Ed. All in favor? I I motion passes unanimously. Um, any public comments on agenda items only, including our lovely budget presentation by Miss Donnelly? Any? All right, we're going to move on. Uh, if we have a motion to pass 6A through 6 I as listed on the agenda. Motion by Ed, second
021by Mary. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Go. Wake up. A motion to approve 7A, the personal a uh actions report. Motion. Yep. Oh yeah. Uh by Steve, seconded by Ed. All in favor? I. And Dr. Cineiac, you'd like to Yep. Um we just the board of education just approved our personnel actions report. So I'd like to take a moment at this time. Uh as many of you know, we do have some retirees this year. And we got out of the gate early and uh we posted for people to come in and apply for classroom positions. We received over 500 resumes. Uh we had screenings, we had committee, we had demos, we had final interviews, and we had writing samples. And the three candidates are here this evening, and I would like to announce their
022name so they could stand up and be recognized. Congratulations. North America is an extremely special place and you should be very excited that you are here because you made it through a very rigorous process. So we have Antonio Bagbo. Please stand up. Welcome. Welcome. We have Michaela Gallo. Please stand up. Welcome. And we have Caroline and Ellie. Please stand up. Welcome to all of you and Congratulations. Have a spark in your eye. I love it. Hope you hope you have that in September. Rest up. All right. Okay. We have a motion to approve uh 8 A through 8E. Motion. Motion by uh Kathy, seconded by Steve. All in favor? I. Motion carries. And our uh report of committees, would you like? Yeah, sure. So, our Central High School District board of ed meeting was on
023April 2nd. At this meeting, we honored track athletes uh who were county champions from Kennedy and Meppam High School. We also had two girls from the district girls wrestling team and the Meepum cheerleading team. All of them were also county champions. Uh the public session was mostly taken up with the Central High School proposed budget for 2526. As I reported last month, the proposal includes a 3.32 budget-to-budget increase and only a 2.82 tax levy increase, which is within the tax cap. Um also highlighted some work being done this summer. Uh the middle school boys locker room is being reconstructed. Kennedy High School auditorium sound and lighting upgrades. and also a Kennedy track will be resurfaced. Uh I have a question for Miss Donnelly. So just so I'm sure how the propositions are numbered on the
024vote like the high school budget is proposition one, but how does that differ when they see like our proposition one? Isn't it? I'm going to let Joan answer that one. That's definitely a question for me. Any proposition that the school our school has goes first. So we have one, two, three. So the high school would be four and five. Okay. So when I say proposition one is the high school budget, I'm really meaning proposition four and then five. That's correct. However, the Belmore has a different layout also. They would do their proposition one, their propositions too, but the high school might be three on theirs. Right. But for for North Merit for North Mer. Yes. Yes. How how ours will look. Great. Okay. So I said all is happening this summer. That's already been approved
025from last year's budget. the new things. Uh, proposition two, which is on the ballot, uh, which I should mention, or proposition five, five, would not be changing the budget. This is just a a vote to appropriate the funds, uh, to rebuild or to renovate uh, the second and third floor of Calhoun High School, replace our library roof, replace the auditorium curtains, replace the wood gym partitions used to be made of wood. They're going to put in heavy curtains. um replace the boiler and also repair the gym ceiling. That's all proposition five. Okay. Does not affect the budget. And of course, proposition four would be the high school budget. Uh May 7th um is the board meeting and the budget hearing. And of course, May 20th is the budget vote. Thank you. Thank you very much,
026Ed. cookies. All right. Um, so one of the perks of being a newly hired employee, we're going to let you leave if you want so that you don't have to stay here for the rest of the meeting. We usually do that. I was a little remiss in doing that, but it's not going to be much longer. So, it's up to you. You might want to stick around and enjoy the team's wonderful school community relations and PTAs continue to be incredible. They're planning out uh spring uh festivities. So, we'll start with Camp Avenue. Students celebrated the International Day of Happiness, making it a joyful day all around. The PTA arranged for a great assembly with Holly Rock Entertainment. Students participated in fun engaging in a fun, engaging game show. Mad Science came to the school for
027K through two grades. Kids were engaged and came home raving about it. Upcoming events include the final book fair of the year. It's buy one get one. Spring Fling and the talent show. Amazing Athletes is halfway over. Chess club began last week and drama club, their play is this Thursday. So, lots of activities. FET has even more. Math science visited to celebrate International Day of Happiness. The Science Fair awards were given out on March 26th. The New York Islanders are scheduled to visit FET this April this week, April 11th, for a pep rally. Ready, Set, Go is scheduled for April 24th and May 13th. We are excited to welcome our newest HDF kids to the school. Staff appreciation week is May 5th through 9th. So they're planning. Our theme is Wickedly Oz some. So based
028off the movie Wicked, pickle ball, game club, podcast club, and Amazing Athletes are all running smoothly. The Scholastic book fair was March 18, March 18th for students. And then they had a March 19th book fair for parents and they said that was a great uh it was a great fundraiser for them. Uh bingo night was April 3rd. Our their school supply sale is running right now through April April 23rd for paper orders and April 25th for online orders. The spring boutique is scheduled for May 9th. Old Mill Road. The sweetheart shamrock dance for grades K through three was a huge success. Beautiful flower uh fund raise beautiful flower. They had a beautiful flower fundraiser courtesy of Olive which was fantastic spiritware fundraiser with Lux and Hazel just ended. Happiness day was celebrated with an amazing
029assembly lead you. Students learned about the importance of making good choices and being kind and caring people. They were also given strategies on how to use mindfulness activities to help reset and refocus the brain. On April 2nd, we had the Islanders assembly with two representatives and Sparky the mascot in attendance. And we just have to laugh. The kids were slightly disappointed that there were no players. Slightly slightly, but Sparky helped out with that. Um, bingo for books is in the works and will return on May 9th. Uh, and very exciting funday plans are currently being discussed. SEPTA on April 24th, we are having a speaker scheduled at FET who will be discussing encouraging kids to be independent and to help them cope with anxiety. It's going to be a great um it's going to be
030a great um talk. Kelly, the president of SEPTA uh wa uh saw it and she said it's excellent. So, uh, SEPTA is finalizing plans for a circus event on May 7th and, um, very exciting. SEPTA will be covering field trips for our self-contained classes. All great things. Thank you, PTA. Incredible. That's great. Thank you. We're going to defer uh Mr. Carter uh Mr. Carter's report. He's not present tonight, so we will do our building and grounds report in May. Uh, Miss Long, any communications? Two communications were received and responded to. Great. Thank you. Any unfinished business by the board? Any any new business? Any public comments? With that being said, uh hope you have a happy Passover, Easter. Motion to adjurnn. Motion. Motion by both. All right. All of us adjourn. And welcome to our
031new employees. Thank you. Have a great night. So nice.