Oceanside BOE : March 12 Regular Meeting

001e you I to shake your head because let me tell you something too many here my no I'm not I'm going to list right now let me know when junior high school middle school middle school launch sta launch be I mean did you see did you see did you no yeah you got to do you look like a real that guy in the T suit over here sitting next to Abby is she running looks like he wants to run or is he thinking about the future I think I think he's taking out the future all the names he I don't think this year but he could be I ha to say it we'll see I practice not enough don't practice like I did they cut me out they cut me right stop it just saying

002stop it what are you doing I watch t good evening welcome to the March 12th board meeting at this time I'd like to call Dr Brenda Mitchell up to lead us in a PL of Allegiance the national anthem will be followed be sung by Brooke berio and Nicole y Janos U members of the oad high school syonic choir select choir and ohos Swang choir please stand Dr Mitchell I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all for all remain standing oh say can you see by the DAR early light what so proudly we held at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the perel of fight or the red

003parts we watch where so gly streaming and The Rock are the BS bursting in a gave Pro through the night that our flag was still there oh s do that star spangled there and W for the land of the free and the of the please remain standing for a moment of silence for all our First Responders all our nurses our doctors our troops that are keeping us safe and people that we might have lost during the month okay please sit down so at this particular time I'd like to ask Dennis Yash Yasha Yos yosa I'll get it done I know set's watching and he's saying right now he's had the same trouble so Dennis if you can introduce you uh your cabinet there please all righty thank you so I would like to welcome to

004the stage myself plus also Sher Ahmed who is our vice president Julian a vonetta who is our treasur and Dakota Calderone who's who's our [Applause] secretary so we had a very is working now Okay so we've had a very eventful past month at the high school so our school's esteemed art Honor Society welcomed both new and returning members um last month in their induction ceremony members took a pledge and then were able to showus their artwork at this beautiful event our annual Dawn de fashion show was hosted at the high school and was met with great reception by both seniors and parents the whole show has been posted on Oceanside sailor station make sure you check it out to see all the students who walked on the runway including us four and we also want

005to especially thank the PTA and board members who put in so much effort to make this a special night for All Sport night was also held on Mar 1st and it was our 80th anniversary the night was filled with lots of dancing singing Sports and so much more for our grades to enjoy in the end of all three hours the blue team with their New York Fashion Week team won the whole thing this now creates even more excitement as this is the blue team's second win in a row which I'm sure white team will now try to beat and return to their six-year Legacy the SAT was held this past weekend which I'm sure our Juniors loved hopefully everyone is happy with their scores that are coming out in the next few weeks prom preparations

006have already started with a parent student informational meeting being host yesterday in the auditorium the turnout was great and everyone is absolutely ready to go to prom and da delirium and the lifeit game was also held yesterday March 1st and it was incredible the turnout we had to watch and cheer on our a students as they played against Long Beach was phenomenal they absolutely loved every second of the game and had a blast now cementing this game as a legacy and stable for the years to come in OS now moving on to the Future I'm sorry he took my script away uh so our future our future has a lot of wonderful events at the high school first off our school's robotics seemly competing in reefscapes at hofire next week from the 20th to the

00722nd so much effort has been put into this competition and we have so much faith in our Sailors as well in our school for the rest of this month Our World Language department has created a wonderful way to celebrate World Language month they've been able to get students from the AP or higher level language classes to come on the announcements and say a proverb in their selected language as well we've been putting on a song in these languages during our regular announcements on Fridays which have been a hit the first week was Spanish with French Italian Mandarin and Hebrew all to come as well on the announcements have been some fun riddles and tribia for National nutrition month my three go members didn't want me to say this joke but I'll still say it here's

008a fun riddle for you all Dakota's already getting sad here's a fun riddle for you all why do people in France only eat one egg because why because it's enough it says here waits for laughter Oh My Gosh Dennis you know there's a reason why you're president and not aunan honey here comes Dakota with more funny jokes everyone without a doubt is absolutely elated for progress reports to be released on March 19th to show their grades for the third quarter I will tell you I am not our thespians are showcasing their exemplary musical production of Mama Mia on April 4th and 5th we are excited to see this uh this production and see the movie with the Abba Classics to come to the center siage I'm sorry ABA yeah he's correcting me you hear him

009yeah well your joke was bad as mentioned before prom preparations are already underway for those who missed the first meeting and those who want to know more information another mandatory meeting will be held on April 8th for prom College awareness night will be hosted at the high school on April 9th to help students learn more about college and their possible choices it is a great opportunity for students and parents alike to learn more about the future finally on the same day as the next Board of educations meeting April 23rd our computer science Honor Society will be hosting their induction ceremony for all new inductees and we would like to congratulate our very own Sher Ahad cuz he is saladi dictorian than thank you Yi thank you proud of you man proud go thanks Dennis for

010that presentation you're president of the high school correct uh well president comedian and chief whatever you like to call it or Elementary 1 go ahead yeah exactly now I would like to welcome up our Castleton Representatives so IIA papin Ado Brady chinski and Alexander book I know I got these [Applause] wrong hello good evening esteemed members of the school board Dr Harrington and the district office faculty and my fellow students my name is Sophia papadu and I'm a senior at OS Castleton as well as a student body president I'm so excited to be here and sharing what is at Oceanside High School uh Castle our day five events continue to provide opportunities for students to engage in Creative educational and wellness focused activities most recently on February 13th we had an activity day where students

011participated in a variety of engaging sessions including Valentine's crafts DBT which is dialectical behavior therapy and Fitness training this mix of activities allow students to explore creativity relaxation and physical wellness before that on February 5th we celebrated Black History Month students part participated in activities that highlighted black history and culture such as black history Bingo another DBT Wellness session the viewing of a historical documentary and reflective journaling on Martin Luther King Jr these sessions encourage students to learn in an interactive way emphasizing historical awareness mental well-being and cultural appreciation hello my name is Alexandria book and I the vice president of the student body of os Castleton additionally on January 27th we dedicated a day five to celebrating the Lunar New Year focusing on Chinese culture appreciation students explored zodiac compatibility DBT Wellness Batman writing

012reflective journals on Lunar New Year traditions and culinary experiences these activities provided a fun and meaningful way to learn about Traditions from different cultures hello my name is Brady morzinski and I'm the treasur of the student council at Oceanside High School Cleon Beyond these events our school continues to make student wellness a top priority we now have a wellness space that is dedicated to helping students manage dress and receive support when needed this space includes comfortable seating mindfulness tools and professional or professional support I am excited to be at Castleton and although we will be graduating soon we continue to uplift each other as we grow as a family while supporting each other's other aspirations thank you for all over your time and continued support well thank you to our colleagues at Castleton now I

013would like to welcome School 3's Representatives who are and I'm sorry if I get this wrong Mia Al alamino Al alimo Kylie bonnan Jackson hatme Colton Hemley Hannah Murray Jackson strong and Braden trary hello parents families teachers and Oceanside residents we are the seven student council officers from Oak School number three my name is Jackson strong and I am the President my name is Colton Hemley and I'm the vice president my name is Kylie Bonn and I'm the co- vice president my name is Jackson hack M and I'm a secretary Le my name is Hannah Murray and I'm the second secretary my name is my name is Braden triscari and I am the treasurer my name is Mia Alo and I'm the co- Treasurer we would like i' like to thank the Oceanside board members

014for giving us this opportunity to speak and share all of all of the wonderful things that we have been doing at school number three although we are some of the leaders of school number three we care about our classmates and their opinions we have created a suggestion box so students can easily share their ideas we have already received some great suggestions besides the suggestion box we have also been able to bring other unique opportunities to school number three to help raise funds for Oak School number three we've hosted a holiday bake sale we raised 300 over $300 we look forward to handling of spring bake sale later this year we also organized the fundraiser to help raise money for the for money and awareness of the Los Angeles Wild s we were able to combine

015our funds and and successfully donated $600 to the LA FD we look forward to hosting another big sale in the spring we are responsible for setting up and running our school store we open our school store to students every day to before school some of the things that we sell at the school store are benty pencils Mochis bracelets erasers and other items as we look as we look to purchase more items we always return to our suggestion box because we are always mindful of our classmates interest for the last two months of school we will also be running the school store after dismissal to give students an extra opportunity to visit during the holiday season the season of cheer and joy during the holiday season the season of cheer and joy we hosted a holiday

016spirit week we created the spirit week to spread positivity to the kids and let them Express themselves with their favorite holiday characters ugly sweater day Clash of carols day and so much more to help spread even more joy our school participated in the annual oft toy drive we were able to collect a ton of toys and then we went to school 6 to help them sort them and R them this was a great opportunity and allowed us to work with student council members from other schools while giving back to the oceans Side Community at our student council meetings we discussed how we think it would be important to have older students like us pair up with younger students like first grader first grade classes we have started a buddy program which allows us to meet

017with a first grade class and do fun activities with them such as team building games partner reading word work and math games this has been an amazing experience because it allows us to act and posit as posit positive role models and become someone that the first graders can look look up to throughout the year it's always fun seeing them waving us when we pass the hallways in February we hosted our annual Super Bowl Drive our school was able to collect over 300 cans of soup while predicting which football team we thought would win the ca the cans of soup were the were then donated to the Oceanside community service in honor of the 100th day of school our student council helped decorate the school for classes to celebrate we also created the bulletin board in

018our main hallway titled 100 Ways to Be Kind allowing students from different classes to add their own ways students in our school have been continuously adding to it and it is displayed right next to our go of the month bulletin board next week we will be hosting our second annual St Patrick's Day fair for all of our second grade classes to attend we will be having our fourth fifth and sixth grade Representatives running different stations such as cornhole designing a leprechaun trap and obstacle courses each student will leave with a prize making it a fun experience for all on Friday March 21st it is National Downs awareness day and we will be inviting all of school three to rock their socks by asking them to wear mismatch socks on this day as we approach the

019last few months that we have left at school number three we will continue to do all that we can for our incredible school once again we are the seven student council officers from Oak School number three my name is Jackson strong and I'm the president my name is Colton Hemley and I'm the vice president my my name is Kylie bonnin and I'm the co- vice president my name is Jackson hackmeister and I'm the secretary my name is Hannah Murray and I'm the second secretary my name is Bren triscari and I am the treasurer my name is miao and I am the co- Treasurer we will continue to work hard to make school three the best place to be hold on hold on guys Jackson uh I think it was Hannah Hannah can you just explain

020a little bit more with the buddy system that the sixth graders work with the first graders I think that is so unique and do you are these do you keep the same the students paired up together or you keep changing them around between the sixth graders and the first graders on mentoring or can you get up to the mic and explain that a little more elaborate a little more so that's important for the first and sixth grader buddy system um the sixth graders and first graders Mr Poo's class they had a day where they went to miss ke's room and they got paired up with a child or buddy and they got to play fun games with them and they're going to stay buddies with them do you wish that when you was in the

021first grade that you would have a sixth grader to do that buddy system with yeah does anybody else on my board have any other questions for these uh students Jackson you're doing a good job leading this team over here and power to you all and to the high schoolers and also the cast thanks [Applause] guys okay with that being said we're on 4D and I'd like to ask Dr Harington please on a recognition for NASA suff Autism Society of America Elisa Burman uh board member so thank you Mr D Osio I think anyone who knows anything about the Oceanside School District knows that we have an amazing special education program um that uh runs the gamut and is is staffed by just amazing Educators um from prek through our senior uh seniors in our high

022school but tonight we have a special guest with us Mrs Alisa Burman who is a dedicated board member of the NASA suff Autism Society of America Miss Burman is here tonight and we really appreciate that she took the time to be with us tonight to recognize the outstanding efforts of our school district and one of our own members whose leadership and dedication have made a tremendous impact on our district and the families we serve Miss Burman thank you again for joining us and we turn over the podium to you thank you so much Dr Harrington and thank you to the board for allowing me to be here tonight um good evening everybody again my name is Alisa Burman and I am a parent of two boys uh Nathaniel who is 16 and a junior at

023OS and Max who's 23 and aged out of District two years ago Max has autism and I am here tonight representing the nasau suff a Autism Society of America or NASA for short the Autism Society is a National Organization that provides information advocacy and Community for people with autism spectrum disorder and their families at Nasa the Long Island local chapter we offer the opportunity for children and adults with autism and their families to participate in recreational and social activities and events in our community they can participate with their families without fear of judgment and with supports I first heard about NASA when Max was 3 years old he's now 23 I signed up for an event at a local children's gym and became a member of NASA soon after approximately 10 years later I joined

024NASA's board I have been a volunteer board member for about eight or nine years now several years back I started my fundraising efforts here in the district first with the best buddies at om and then at OS when my son moved up and then with Mrs Mandi at school 5 and the following year with a few more principles and so on then last year I reached out to Tracy Murray and asked for her help she was so receptive and invited me in to meet with her and tell her all about about the organization then she got to work she rallied her staff and reached out to all the School principles and what a difference it made last April in honor of autism awareness and acceptance month Oceanside School District collectively fundraised just over $10,000 for

025nsas is huge that $10,000 was used to host two events for families affected by autism the first was last September 2024 at United States of America in Seaford and the second was this January at the Long Island children's museum I brought the I brought the poster with us this was on display in the lobby when families arrived um but Tracy didn't stop there she attended our linking Long Island event with the Long Island Nets at Nassau Coliseum and brought her own family with her Tracy and I met again recently to discuss how she can help spread the word yet again this April She also asked how she can help volunteer personally and how we can spread the word to more families affected by autism especially those right here in the Oceanside School District so that

026they can benefit from all that nsas has to offer so on behalf of NASA I'd like to say a huge thank you to all who fundraised and present this award to the Oceanside school district and Tracy Murray Tracy if you could come up and accept this you're welcome thank you team yesk I just want to read what it says it says um and it's it's clear so it's hard creating connections Award presented to the Oceanside school district for their support and dedication of nasic Asa during Autism Awareness Month April 2024 the connection is you um and if I may um I just want to say a few things things that I think are important for people to know um NASA does not charge any local chapter membership fees of families affected by autism um in

027order to take part NASA is a registered 501c3 it's a nonprofit organization and all funds raised go directly to our programs I am a volunteer board member as are all of our board members um I encourage anyone here with a with an Autism diagnosis or if you know someone with an Autism diagnosis or if you know someone who knows someone with an Autism diagnosis to please visit our website which is nasa.org it is free to be a member and it is free to attend any of our events no matter where they are no matter how big they are or how small they are all free you can also email us at new members atns s asa.org and you will just have to fill out a simple form and you will be a member thank you

028so much for your time Mrs Burman before you sit down yes so what you probably don't know is that Miss Murray is actually up for tenure this year so I guess without a without question now we're going to have to Grant her tenure right I guess I guess that's it Tracy would you like to say a few words Tracy please so I am overwhelmed certainly um just by everything that you have done our partnership since the moment that I walked in the doors of Oceanside Mrs Burman and I really um you know built and developed a wonderful relationship that has reached our entire community and so I'm so touched and I have to say thank you to all the principles because it didn't take a whole lot of effort to say we're doing this together

029and we're doing this for something wonderful and our principles needed maybe one email reminder to say how are we doing and fundraising efforts just exploded so this is a team and I know Dr Harrington hears me say it all the time could never do it alone this is a wonderful wonderful team and I am so blessed and honored to be a part of this district and I am over overwhelmed with gratitude so thank you this is beautiful thank thank you so much ladies great [Applause] job we're on 4E and I'm going to ask Dr kley to uh give a report on the national nutrition month Dr cley thank you Mr dambrosio so I just wanted to um you know remind the community that we do recognize March as National nutrition month and we do want

030to I I want to express my thanks and gratitude to the nutrition committee um and and especially at the high school Miss Tara Mau and the entire family in consumer Sciences so with that being said um we do have a very short video of what our high school students are doing to kind of Empower our elementary students and just raise awareness about um the importance of nutrition and um just uh practicing good eating habits d I've been teaching family and consumer Sciences here in the district for over 20 years from a very young age I've always been passionate about nutrition and healthy eating I went to undergrad and study nutrition and I'm always keeping up with the latest nutrition information it's so important to teach nutrition and fitness Adolescence in high school because this is

031when we are developing our lifelong eating habits that will stick with us for the rest of our lives I started taking this class because I noticed myself I was getting into very bad eating habits and I'm an athlete I play basketball and I was not eating like how a basketball player should be eating and I just wanted to get a better diet my students are always so surprised about how much added sugar are put into foods and how much misinformation can be out there so it's important to learn the basics about nutrition and health eating I love teaching every aspect of nutrition and fitness from reading the food labor to learning about the six essential nutrients basically most of my diet was foods that are processed fried or generally have a lot of sugar and

032salt so so that made me realize that maybe I need to change my diet me personally what helped me was eating a lot of fruits and vegetables like adding that into my meals helped a lot and definitely um not skipping breakfast helped a lot cuz breakfast is the most important part of the day eat food every day and it's so important to learn about what we're putting in our bodies and what can make us healthy and prevent disease and keep us feeling and looking good when I eat um before my game I have way I noticed like my energy level is way different like I'll have more energy if I don't eat prior to a game I'll eat like a banana or an apple or something in my stomach just so I can get some

033type of energy that I can perform well we are going trying to post nutrition posters throughout each School building in the district the students created a variety of different helpful tips that we need to be constantly reminded about healthy eating is always a work in progress I hope my students learn to develop lifelong healthy eating habits that will stick with them through their lifetime good so again uh you know thank you to the high school family and consumer science department and a special shout out to the student councils at school 5 and school 8 who met with our food services department um where they will be unveiling a special menu for the week that they got to select all uh under the guise of being nutrition uh nutritious thank you again thank you Dr cockling

034how many people saw the eggs in that thing saying I wonder how much those eggs cost at this particular time we're on 4f and at this time I'd like to uh turn the mic over to Dr Harington Dr Haron thank you Mr D Ambrosio so one of one of my favorite events of the entire year I would like to ask Sher and Madison to join me at the podium please your family's there so why are these two amazing young people here standing next to me it is my great honor and privilege to introduce you first to the class of 2025 Salud atorium an extraordinary young man who embodies the very best of Oceanside High School Sher Ahmad sher's academic achievements you'll have a lot to applaud in just a little bit promise his academic achievements

035speak for themselves he has embraced the most rigorous courses our school has to offer excelling in AP Calculus BC AP biology AP English Literature AP Gem and Virtual Enterprise this year beyond the classroom Sherry has taken on leadership roles as you just saw previously that have made a lasting impact on our school Community through our gem m Mentor in program Sherry has guided and inspired freshmen sharing his wisdom on how to navigate High School successfully his peers and teachers hold him in the highest regard recognizing his natural ability to lead with kindness and integrity Sherry's passion for medicine and service is evident through his volunteer work at a local nursing home where he has dedicated countless hours to supporting residents whether serving coffee engaging in meaningful conversations or simply offering companionship he has demonstrated profound

036empathy and a deep commitment to caring for others these experiences have reinforced his aspiration to become a physician a career path for which he is exceptionally well suited in addition to his academic and volunteer endeavors Sherry has made significant contributions to our extracurricular landscape as president of the science National Honor Society he oversees a membership of over 80 students spearheading initiatives such as Alzheimer's awareness walks and cancer fundraising events his leadership extends to Mathes where as president he has fosted a dynamic and engaging learning environment further more his role as vice president of the class of 2025 has allowed him to refine his organizational and Leadership skills strengthening the bonds within his graduating class Sherry's dedication does not stop there since the age of 14 he has gained invaluable work experience balancing his commitments while

037working as a cashier at Checkers and as a beach attendant these roles have instilled in him a strong work e ethic resilience and adaptability qualities that will serve him well in all future endeavors above all Sherry is a young man of humility integrity and perseverance his academic achievements leadership and service to others reflect a character of remarkable depth and promise there's no doubt in my mind that he will excel in college and go on to make meaningful contributions to the medical field this fall Sher will be attending John Hopkins University where he will continue his journey toward a career in medicine now we can applaud it's quite quite amazing when you hear what these young people accomplish and now Madison Moore Madison is our class of 2025 valid Victorian Maddie Moore's brilliant mind and Relentless

038Drive have earned her this achievement but what truly distinguishes her is her extraordinary humility and modesty despite her many achievements Maddie remains grounded never seeking the spotlight but instead quietly leading by example her humble nature and genuine enthusiasm for learning make her not only an outstanding student but also a kind and thoughtful peer deeply respected by everyone around her Maddie's academic achievements are nothing short of remarkable her inquisitive nature analytic mindset and disciplined approach to her Studies have set her apart from her peers she has consistently embraced the challenges of our school SCH 's most rigorous courses particularly excelling in mathematics and business having completed every Math course available at our school Maddie took the next step by enrolling in college multivariable calculus and college linear algebra through Sunni Empire State an accomplishment achieved by

039only a select few Oceanside students Maddie is also on track to receive a CTE career and Technology education endorsement on her diploma for mathematics no sorry on her diploma as a result of completing the small business management program of study Maddie's passion for mathematics has shaped her goal of pursuing a degree in finance where her skills and dedication will surely continue to shine in addition Maddie is a candidate for the Seal of biliteracy in French demonstrating her fluency and commitment to mastering a second language Maddie serves as The Treasure of Mu Alpha Theta and the vice president of competitions feda leading her teams to States for the last three years Maddie was also a three-year member of our Oceanside girls soccer program and the team captain of her club soccer team demonstrating her deep passion

040for the sport soccer has been a big part of Maddie's life since she was little shaping her discipline and perseverance over the years she is also a valued member of The Varsity Spring Track Team her involvement in these extracurricular activities speaks to her strong leadership teamwork and organizational abilities she is also a member of the National Honor Society business Honor Society World Language Honor Society social studies Honor Society science Honor Society and the student athletes in service to others all of which reflect her well-roundedness and commitment to Excellence Maddie's heart is just as impressive as her mind she played a key role in planning and organizing a Gala for the organization for all who fight helping raise $65,000 for ovarian cancer research she is also an active member in the Key Club where she has

041helped with event EV like the turkey shoot and organized food deliveries for families during the holidays whether Maddie is tutoring a peer teaching soccer to students with disabilities or serving as a lifeguard she remains steadfast responsible and compassionate Maddie Moore is an outstanding scholar leader and role model in our school Community her future is undoubtedly bright but she will always remain someone who values hard work and service to other s over personal recognition as she stands on the brink of an exciting future having been accepted into schools such as the University of Virginia the University of Tennessee Clemson University University of Georgia and Binghamton University she's still undecided but one thing is certain whatever path Maddie chooses success will follow congratulations so as amazing are you want to take a picture first with they're so

042humble they don't even want to take a picture don't go away don't go away so as amazing as these young people are we know they could not do that without obviously the support of their amazing amazing teachers but it does take a family and I know that we asked tonight to um have their parents join us so I would like to ask Maddie's parents and sher's parents to please stand so that not only can we recognize you but we also have a gift for you so we have a gift for you because we we thank you for planting such beautiful seeds in these young people many many years ago and we hope that these plants will be a very longtime reminder of of of how much we are so proud of them and thank you

043and hope that these plants will grow just like these young people will continue to grow congratulations and thank you you can go and give them to your par thank you congratulations congrat [Applause] that again congratulations to our two students what a milestone it is and I'm sure we're g to be reading about you uh pretty much in the future uh it brings us to 4G it's budget number three presentation uh it should be our final uh budget and that'll be from Dr Haron and of course Dr Jerel uh cley Dr cley wouldd like to take this H us got it thank you uh Mr de Osio uh tonight we are uh presenting budget Workshop number three for the 2526 school year uh the topics covered tonight will cover the following projected Elementary sections projected staffing

044needs a detailed breakdown of our Revenue sources the tax levy formula proposed 25 26 figures a review of the uh two budget ballot propositions and share some upcoming important dates projected enrollment in our elementary schools is based on anticipated sections for the next school year uh at this time I will turn it over to Dr D Roa for further information thank you Dr kley uh as you can see from this chart or maybe not see from this chart uh it's uh quite quite a way that we look at elementary sections and what we are projecting for next year is down two sections and that's just about the way classes break but we often see enrollment changes between now and August which we will Monitor and for Staffing and budgeting purchases uh purposes we will have

045two teachers that we keep um the budget money for in reserved in case we do go over in those areas yep at the middle level reductions have been made in art technology family and consumer sciences and health to better align with current student enrollment at the middle school of physical education oh actually that's changed since last time um at the middle school we're using a little bit of a realignment um based on enrollment trends and looking very closely at the way sections land and we were able to find the savings um there at the high school level we have streamlined Staffing in response to course requests and enrollment figures this includes a reduction in English staff due to the consolidation of certain electives and enrollment in math restructuring of support models and enrollment Trends have

046allowed us to reduce staff and additional additionally High School physical education classes uh will be consolid ated to align with the total School enrollment uh does the board have any questions board have any questions uh M uh Dennis would you like a question I'm just wondering is this primarily going to be done with retirements correct okay thank you 100% actually okay Dr D roza that is all I have for today yeah thank you thank you Dr D Roa as part of the budget development process uh we actually begin building the expenditure budget in late October uh to early November uh in December as you see we conduct our first uh budget review of all proposed budgets and wish list items from District administrators um which at that time amounted to $10.8 million uh at that

047time we knew that that amount would have exceeded or pierced our tax cap which is never uh the district's intent subsequent follow-up meetings with administrators were held to justify proposed budgets which resulted in bringing the overall expenditure budget down to $88.95 alizing our expenditure budget uh this past summer I conducted a three-year expenditure review of all codes which helps align actual expenditures from prior years with proposed budget amounts uh the impact of inflation has once again increased costs in several areas out of our expenditure budget such as utilities basic supplies Transportation health insurance utilities and special education coupled with our updates as shared by Dr D Roa with the updated staffing needs and after a third and final review of our budget of all codes we now have a final proposed expenditure budget of 186

048m 74,000 $215 or a 2.93% budget increase from the prior year a balanced budget must have revenues equal to expenses uh since budget Workshop number one uh we have highlighted key changes within proposed expenditures and have now conducted a thorough line byline review of the three components of our budget this year budget development has been very tight to meet the needs for the upcoming school year under the fiscal guidance and oversight of Dr Harrington and with the collaboration of Dr doosa and Mrs Pito we have made critical recommendations to fine-tune our proposed expenditures to stabilize costs and preserve all program and staff and have now completed a review of the total operating budget once again of $16.7 million or a 2.3% budget to- budget increase just for a point of uh clarification for the community

049last year's budget increase was 4.0 2% so we definitely have uh as Dr H uses the expression sharpened our pencils um during times of inflation uh to prepare uh for next year while preserving Staffing programs um to remain fiscally prudent to our community um we will now transition into our Revenue sources that will help balance our budget Oceanside has three major sources of revenue um to help balance our expenditure budget other which are important local sources of of Revenue that include DACA Pilots direct assessment use of fund balance among others state aid which is based on categorical Aid and District expense driven Aid provided by New York state to support our educational needs and the tax levy which are property taxes levied on four different classifications of property subject to the tax cap set by

050New York State we will go through each of these revenue streams in Greater detail in the upcoming slides and take questions from the board at each Revenue Source the dollar amounts you see um for each Revenue Source represent conservative Revenue forecasting measures to help meet our operating budget needs we will now review each funding source further we'll start with our other sources the direct assessment amount you see of $4.4 million represents the value of the year four lipo Glide path amount we will be receiving this Glide path is a reduction in liper Revenue up to to 46.5% less over a 7-year period as a direct assessment the value of what we are owed is not on our tax roles nor is it a pilot instead we account for it as a local source of Revenue

051thanks to the district's overall healthy financial position along with a sustained top Tier credit rating we have secured better interest rates on our operating and investment accounts this is a huge positive impact for the district the proposed interest in income of $3.5 million serves as another Solid Source of local Revenue appropriated fund balance is the amount a school district utilizes to act and serve as a local Revenue Source used to fund specific expenditures as well as reduce the tax levy burden on our community from year to year the $2.75 million you see is consistent with past budgeting practices to try our best to keep taxes relatively low and controlled our Pilots payments in of taxes are payments made to local governments for some or all of the lost property tax revenue due to tax exempt

052ownership of a property these Agreements are made with nassa County not the school district but we are funded based on those agreed upon pilot payment schedules the amount of $2.5 million represents the total pilot payment schedules Oceanside is entitled to for the 25 26 year docka Revenue continues to support the many programs for ocean students and residents there is a slight projected increase in doca Revenue based on adjusted program offerings and increased participation finally miscellaneous revenues Encompass use of facilities vendor reimbursements Medicaid reimbursements Anonymous donations prior year adjustments among others the projected total for other revenues is 16,192 1835 at this time are there any questions from the board on our other Revenue sources yes Dr J Dr kley I have just one question is on the pilots so is the pilots for 2526 is

0532.5 then what happens there is that as these properties or these Pilots then come to fruition then they go on a full tax Ro correct that is uh once the pilot payment schedule expires if there is no new pilot payment schedule produced by nasso County given to the district yes that parcel of land defaults back to paying taxes which would then appear in our tax roles which is better served for the community full taxes not not partial payment that is correct but there's always Pilots that are coming out with local Builders and construction and stuff like that that is correct by way of Pilots Andor the Ida industrial uh Industrial Development agency good uh anybody else Sandy uh Mr kley the direct assessment Lipa uh what was this year's reduction was it half a million

054this year's reduction was half a million last year's reduction was about a million doar um so why not while not felt as steeply any reduction is is is felt by us yeah well it's compounded every year right correct so years one two and three are compounded in with this year's reduction that is correct so it's still a significant reduction yep and overall the seven-year Glide path of again amounting to about 46 and a half% will ultimately be approximately $32 million at the end of uh 7 years yeah I just wanted to clarify that for the public that you know we are and we have been kind of covering that without taxing the taxpayer yes for the last four years that is correct sharp budgeting and spending y we've been able to uh uh absorb that

055so that we don't pass that along to our taxpayer and hopefully we can continue to do that but there's no guarantee that's correct and if you look if you were um remember in October for the past 3 years when our audited financials are closed our our financial books from the prior year um the district has opted to um exceed the 4% allowable because there is no Special Reserve set aside that we can absorb the Lipo loss so we take the I say quote unquote slap on the wrist and ultimately that is reflected and written into our audited financials but the fact of the matter is that that now addresses that subsequent Year's Lio Revenue loss I think that's very important for us to make sure the public aware that you know other communities could be

056passing this on to them but we're not right now because of our sharp budgeting and our and our sharp spending and our very smart use of our of our fund balance and our reserves we've been able to do this and the slap in the hand that we take from the Auditors uh they do it because legally they have to slap Us in the hand but they understand why we're doing it and I think that's important for the public to realize thank you any other board members have any questions so far up to the date no and I just I apologize if anybody in the audience this way we don't get behind if anybody in the audience has any questions up to this point feel free to go up to the mic seeing none Dr kley

057go ahead state aid uh is money provided to school districts uh based on a District's combined wealth and enrollment uh New York state uses a categorical Aid formula as well as expense driven Aid factors in locally controlled District expenses um that uh are are um exp that are that that are written in then filed into our annual financial report known as the st3 um each year state aid projections come out usually in January and again are finalized once again in April when the governor's budget is enacted as the state has completed fully funding districts um their Foundation Aid amounts over the last three years this year was particularly difficult to predict what was going to happen with Foundation a um an extensive study has been done by an external group uh known as the Rockefeller

058Institute and a 3 14-page review was presented to the New York State education department with recommendations for improving the foundation Aid formula as it currently exists some of those recommendations have been Incorporated in this year's uh January state aid runs um but not all of them on our state aid uh projections received in January Oceanside has significantly benefited from increased Foundation Aid due to a couple of variables uh the first is there was a shift in the district's wealth measure meur again which includes property values as well as combined household income and overall wealth there's also been a shift in the community census population which shows a trer depiction of our community demographics as well as our student needs and um there there was also increased building Aid due to four recent uh closed out

059projects that were accepted by the office of facilities planning which we now receive building aid for on a schedule of about 15 years um we are keeping a close eye on what happens legislatively in Albany as state aid projections are again finalized as the governor's budget looks to be enacted in April Universal prek is an allocation under state aid under the state aid formula but we do not count it as a revenue Source since the intent of those funds is isolated to our upk program in our ELC and cannot supplement nor supplant any general fund expenditures since upk is not using our Revenue projections it can be misleading to our community into what our district state aid projection actually is overall our preliminary state aid amount is a little over $5 million greater than prior

060year amounting to a total of $ 38.7 million for the 2526 school year at this time are there any questions on state aid any questions from my board Sandy um I just want to clarify Mr kley the $5 million you're talking about includes the upk grant correct uh we actually have deducted that out from the deduct it out okay so that represents the foundation Aid increase along with any expense driven AIDS categorical AIDS categorical AIDS expense driven AIDS and approximately a million dollars more in building Aid okay and I just want to clarify again that last year at Foundation Aid which is the only new money school districts receive with which to do new things uh we received zero we were flat so the fact that we received more this year we're grateful for but

061again just remember that it's you know we got nothing last year so okay Shen uh the only other question does Universal prek uh allocation how many students does that represent well right now it represents 287 seats which is uh consistent with what we were able to offer to to our community last year um legislatively there are talks of increasing the per pupil amount which may uh as we you know wait to see what happens with the govern's budget um remains to be seen but right now we are able to um afford 287 seats to eligible pre- families and those seats are filled uh yes yes is there a waiting list I guess for that Noe Noe not this year okay I just have one more question yes s um on the uh if the budget

062does does not come in on time which is April 1 we still have to meet all of our legal requirements and deadlines so we will go in with the governor's numbers yes and even with that uh you know we are conservative in our state aid projections um the likelihood is that um anytime the governor's preliminary Aid runs come out in January you never usually lose less than that but we also don't take it dollar for dollar either there there's a fine balance that we kind of conservative we're prepared in uh for the fact that that April 1 budget may not happen yes which has been the case for the last couple years for the last five years it hasn't come in on time um okay thanks any questions from the audience yes ma'am you can

063come up to the mic state your name and what school you're from home school the microphone it's a button right there y hi Andrea grub U my children attend school five and school six um it's actually a few slides back but the more I think about it um I felt compelled to speak um my twin fifth graders are School 5 and they have 27 students in their class and that has been um quite an interesting change from last year and I'll leave it there um we love school five I can't imagine another place for my children to grow um I'm just curious because I work in a neighboring District how is that number determined because I noticed the aster that we need three more for the class to split um so I'm going to go

064recruit sixth graders for next year so that that happens um because it will change their lives if those classes can be four and not three so I'm just curious where those numbers come from of the class sizes and I apologize that we're going backward okay so it's a great question and it does typically come up every single year so much so that at Monday night's PTA council meeting I did a full presentation on addressing exactly the point that you are raising uh it was transparent it was clear uh the PTA council is going to be um sending that out to the PTA presidents so um I would ask you to start there you're also welcome to call my office at any time there is a Rhyme or Reason there are guidelines that were developed um

065a number of years ago through before my time even a committee that that studied class siiz guidelines especially as it related to our space and that is a big big problem like you just said you love school five and if we said hypothetically now this is made up we said you know what we're going to reduce size to 22 students students in a classroom or 23 in a classroom but especially in school 5 where it's bursting at the seams you know that it means that means we now have to add five additional classrooms and that might mean that some people may not be able to attend school five you could imagine that that would be an issue so it's a legitimate concern I grant you that um but there are so many unintended consequences that

066are not understood fully when people just think of it as a mathematical equation it is much more than that um and if you find those people make sure you do but make sure you find them before September because the other thing we said was come and we do we look at those numbers very very carefully throughout the entire summer as you know we don't we don't notify class placements until and we are and that's why as Miss as Dr D Roa said we do keep a couple of what we call unallocated positions open so that it expecting that we might break um we would we wouldn't in fact do that but one of the things I made crystal clear at at the presentation on Monday is once those assignments are out and those classes are

067made unless the numbers were going to jump dramatically which it doesn't really happen we do not break sections at that point we find other ways to support our children you know so thank you for the question it's a very fair one you're not alone in asking those questions uh but there are many implications thank you does that answer your question good thank you so much um and we're going to go back to Dr Copley thank you um to all of our Revenue sources are linked together again to help balance our budget um here is our uh tax cap formula and how it works and all of the variables that go into it and very complex calculations um many of the variables are provided by either local and or state agencies um the allowable Levy growth

068factor that you do see highlighted in red um on the screen is also known as as the Consumer Price Index that is the one variable that is constant and consistent across all New York state public school districts we are permitted to use the maximum of 2% or or CPI whichever is lower for the 2526 school year the allowable Levy growth factor is 2% for the 2526 school year the maximum allowable tax levy limit is 131 M 78727 which represents a one .1 allowable tax levy limit to fund our 186.000 million expenditure budget which again was reviewed in great detail uh beginning in January Oceanside will be proposing a tax levy increase of 1.10% again the proposed tax levy dollar amount is 131 million 78727 which is the state's approved amount of taxes we are legally

069authorized to Levy up to without piercing the tax cap um compared to last year's maximum allowable percentage of the tax levy increase which was 1.57% um in comparing other neighboring districts um as well as districts all across Nassau County Oceanside will be proposing one of the lowest tax levy increases this uh school year at this time are there any questions from the board on the tax levy calculations I tell you Dr kley I I know that this comes natural to you it just it's just amazing sometimes but we look at the numbers every year and I know that um it's just amazing how we're able to recognize these numbers and we start these numbers up like the day after uh after the May um year and then we we start all over again in September

070and we start putting these numbers together and to be one of the lower districts in nasau County with a 1.1 there true Testament to this entire District to everybody that's in this District to our Central Administration that that gets these things right to try to keep our numbers down the best we possibly can and give a quality education that we get uh hearing that do we have any questions Sandy not really just to add to the fact that that we're staying under the tax CL Levy limit and we've made no cuts um we've laid no one off right we've not closed any school buildings I don't know if you've been following the newspaper but a lot of districts are struggling and that's a tribute to the financial prowess of our team here in Oceanside so

071I thank you for that St Laura Bob no everyone's good anybody in the audience seeing none okay Dr kley uh here are our proposed uh year-to-year comparative figures uh again our expenditure budget represents a 2.93% budget to- budget increase increase and our proposed tax levy amount represents 1.10% higher than the prior year in tax uh tax increases we have worked very hard uh during this budget cycle and are confident that with your support um this proposed budget will meet all student needs for the 25 26 year uh the following two propositions will be recommended to the board for uh approval and adoption tonight um the first is the the proposed 2526 expenditure budget again which maintains all instructional programs and full-time staff uh the second is the Oceanside library's operating budget as the district serves

072as the official taxing Authority on behalf of Oceanside Library and just a reminder for our community there will also be the Board of Education trustee elections in which both Mr dambrosio and Mr transon will appear on the ballot as go ahead is there any other questions from the board and anybody in the audience seeing that okay Mr cley as a thank as a reminder uh the budget vote is scheduled for May 20th 2025 from 7 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. here at the Merl Avenue School gym at school 6 uh this now completes budget Workshop number three and tonight we have covered uh Staffing Revenue enrollment sections at the elementary level tax levy and state aid um there is a regular Board of Education meeting scheduled for April 23rd um and there will be budget Workshop

073number four if needed um but if not our regularly uh scheduled budget hearing will be on May 7th um and again if anybody has any follow-up questions regarding the budget or how it's developed or anything with Revenue please reach out to myself uh or Miss santor um we're happy to answer any questions and again thank you for your continued support thank you Dr Cy Dr Hammerton you know and and we really mean that anybody that has any questions and you know there's times where this board has gone to Dr kley please please call the the district up 6781 1215 and if there's any questions you might have any anything at all we could try to explain it to you uh best we can but Dr Co will definitely one thing I would like to just

074point out for the public that's here and and watching that our entire full proposed budget line by line is now publicly available it is it's contained in the um public comment content section uh of the agenda for this meeting so uh it's fully transparent and available for your reading pleasure um but we also have all of the presentations that are done uh through our PowerPoint presentations also available so please if anyone wants to look more deeply please feel free to do that and as Dr kley said reach out to any of us should you see anything or have any questions um that you you uh as you begin to look at all of that information we want you to be as informed as possible thank you seeing none we're going to be in uh 5A

075it's opportunity to comment on agenda items any audience member wishing to make a comment on any item that is on tonight's agenda can do so at this time anyone wishing to make a comment on any item not in tonight's agenda we'll have the opportunity to do so later on in this agenda while New York state law does not require us to hold a public comment period on agenda items this board of education chooses to do so because we believe it is important to get input from community members on the board's agenda items please note that the board is here to listen while everyone is encouraged to share their comments please keep in mind that this is not designed to be a question answer session again comments should be directed to the chair of the meeting

076which is me anyone who wishes to speak should please come up to the microphone clearly state your name and your child's School seeing none we're at 6A so I'd like to take a motion 6A acceptance of financial report the financial reports for tonight's meeting be accepted by the Board of Education to include our monthly Treasures report of receivables and Appropriations for funds the extra classroom activity fund report budget transfer request and our independent claims audit report the board of education has also reviewed the district's appropriation status report and revenue status report all of these reports are public record and are made and and are made a part of the board's agenda every month they can be found on our public meetings as well as posted on our school district's website these reports reflect an up-to-date

077accounting of our school district's finances and expenses the public is welcomed and encouraged to review them and ask questions once accepted to the board the financial report document the financial report documents will be filed for and subject to audit I will now take a motion to accept the financial reports to be filed by audit I make a motion still I'll second it Nancy Nancy n Nancy Nancy Sandy and if i m l up we forget any any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes it's going to be tough night I'll take a I'll take a motion uh for approval of minutes I make the motion for the February 12th Laura I'll move it okay Bob transom second I'll second no no no no no what second it by Bob

078hold on Don uh any any questions or comments we have Laura and Bob right okay any questions or comments none all in favor I any opposed any exstension motion passes we're at 7A approval to declare technology equipment Surplus I'll take a motion move Don second St any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes approval for the use of facilities third and 10 sports I'll take a motion I'll make that motion Sandy I second Laura any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes approve Pro use of facilities for the Long Island surge volleyball I'll take a motion I'll move it Bobby second Don any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes approve reduces facilities from the pops softball

079league I'll take a motion motion second Ste and Sandy any questions or comments all in favor hi any opposed any extensions motion passes approval for of facility okay I'm going a little fast here you let us know approval for the use of the facility from True lacrosse I'll take a motion I make the motion I'll second and Bob any questions or comments all in favor I I any opposed any exstension motion passes approval for the use of facilities from the Oceanside United Saka club I'm moving second any questions or comments just a question yes uh is there a conflict because I noticed I think soccer is using uh the field down at 9 uh uh are are they going to work out the the field usages yes socer was taking the whole place DACA has

080a very extensive process there and Brenda kimman does an excellent job they recognize exactly thanks Bob um take a v okay all in favor I I any opposed any abstention motion passes uh approval use of facilities from the oceans ianis I'll take a motion I'll make that motion I'll second should we do s I think you should obain because you're the one that put that in there I didn't vote yet okay I just made a motion okay so Sandy and Laura uh any question or comments all in favor I any opposed any extenstions I will abstain Sandy motion passes approve for use of facilities by the Oceanside flag football I'll take a motion I'll move it Bob second Don any questions the comments all in favor I I any opposed any extensions motion passes and

081finally approval the use of facilities by the Long Island ladies soccer league I'll take a motion motion second Ste and Sandy any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions and that motion passes how we doing Justin yeah good Personnel we're on 8A uh I'll take a motion for professional personnel recommendations I'll make the motion Laura I'll second Bob any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes Mr T broser if I may please Dr Haron so the board now just uh approved the retirements of a number of people this is always a bit of sweet time for us we will have a an opportunity in June uh to recognize these individuals at a public board meeting I'm sure there will be other celebrations as well um

082but I would be remiss if I just didn't name them um and and begin to share um the the the amazing um sentiment that we have for these um unbelievable Educators who have given so much of their time and I'm going to start with Miss White Miss Jennifer white uh who is in our audience all the time uh because she also serves uh an invaluable role uh with our oft so uh Jen white will be reti hiring as elementary teacher at 9e buddy eileene Benson will be joining her also elementary teacher from 9e Melissa cetti from school 8 a reading teacher Evan Young one of our science teachers at school 7 Karen Flynn one of our elementary teachers at school 4 Susan cord a reading teacher at school 4 Gerard gambella social studies teacher at

083school 7 and Stacy Stark who will be retiring uh January of 26 elementary teacher at school 3 so uh let's give them a wonderful Round of Applause we'll have more than ample time to celebrate thank you Dr Harton uh we're on 8B and I'd like to get a motion for civil service Personnel recommendation you a motion I'll make the motion Laura I'll second and Bob any questions or comments all in favor any opposed any extensions motion passes Dr Harington okay we're on 8C I'd like to get a take a motion for an hour employee movement second any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes we're on really 8D take a motion for DACA employee recommendations I'll make a motion Sandy I second and Laura any questions or comments all

084in favor I I any opposed any extensions motion passes 8e the 20 the 2024 2025 curriculum new appointment and updates I'll take a motion I'll move it Bob second and Don any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passed and we're on F high school and middle school spring coaching staff varsity and JV for the 2425 season I'll take a motion motion second St and Sandy any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions I will abstain I will abstain and motion passes we're n hey how we doing Justin good I'll take a motion for recommendation of a CS CPS chairperson I'll make the motion I'll second Laura and Bob any questions or comments all in favor any opposed any extensions motion passes items for Action uh

085I'll take a motion to appoint of of inspectors of election to be held on May 20th 2025 moving and that's Dawn second and still any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes want 10 B I'll take a motion for nominations of members to the Bosey Board of Education I'll make that motion at Sandy I second and Laura any questions or comments all in favor any opposed any exensions motion passes I'll take a motion for the election role Clerk's recommendation I'll move it Bob second and Don any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes I'll take a motion for the resolution to award biders for capital reserve projects motion St second and Sandy any questions or comments all in favor favor I any opposed

086any exstension motion passed notice of budget hearing an annual election I'll take a motion I'll make the motion Laura second Bob any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes we're on 10f I'll take a motion for the student overnight field trips Dawn and second two any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any exstension motion passes we're on G approval of Summer playground programs 2025 registration fees I'll take a motion I'll make the motion I second Sandy and Laura any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes approval for the 2025 2026 nassa County transportation Consortium I'll take a motion I'll move it any qu oh I'm sorry Bob second Don any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any

087extensions motion passes Justin good and letter I I'll take a motion for a capital fund unexpected balance unexpected unexpended unexpended balance transfer to capital reserve I'll take a motion motion talks about you I'll second it St and Sandy any questions or comments all in favor I any opposed any abstentions motion passes uh we're on J I'll take a motion for approval of budget propositions I make the motion Laura I'll second and Bob any question questions or comments all in favor I I any opposed any extensions motion passes Dr hton anything oh are you ready to move on no yep okay so now we're going to be on to 11a and that's the opportunity for the superintendent of schools Dr Haron so thank you so we had so many wonderful things to celebrate uh this evening

088and it it just it just fills my heart with pride when we see our students uh as we did earlier this uh this this evening uh as well as celebrating our valoran Salud atorium so the only thing I want to add um just very briefly uh we had um the honor last Friday of a visit um to our high school by uh our commissioner of the State education department uh Dr Betty Rosa uh and as well as members of her team including uh our local Regent a board of regent similar to a board of education member Roger Tillis as well as the chancellor similar to a board president Dr Lester Young uh we uh we had spent about two hours in the high school kudos to our high school administrators uh of course Dr Mitchell

089and the teachers who opened up their classrooms to these very special guests um we were able to demonstrate um the the wide variety of things we offer our students uh including where we were able to have a panel of students talk about the uh number of different things are involved in including the take a look of teaching uh Club that's sponsored by night it uh as well as our slate students students lead act teach and Empower as well as our enl ambassadors um I do have to say it just was a wonderful wonderful afternoon and I know that the State education department walked out um with a great deal of Pride and and and uh awe of what we accomplish in in our school district so thank you to everybody involved um and uh again

090as always the students do such a good job talking about the events that we had and the events coming up they do my job for me they make it easy at this particular time uh Board of Education report anybody on our board would like to say anything Mr Moresco I do but I'll wait you're on right now thank you Mr [Music] dambrosio first of all congratulations to our valedictorian and salutatorian for that wonderful achievement it's quite a background quite a report first I would like to say I attended two wonderful Elementary musicals 90 Disney Finding Nemo Jr and school number four Disney Beauty and the Beast again two wonderful shows and congratulations to the directors and all those who helped out and a special congratulations to the students on stage and backstage and who work

091backstage it was it was just amazing again to see how many students were involved in these programs and to the executive producer Andrew fry gold and his team Vicki and Jennifer congratulations to you once again I was proud to be a part of the Oceanside Council of pta's annual Dawn delirium fashion show the high school student looked so terrific in their Tuxedos and the girls in their beautiful gowns and even Dennis was outstanding in his tuxedo did a great job as you walked down the platform and I want to congratulate the PTA Council and how hard they worked to put this all together I had the pleasure of opening the fashion show with the superintendent of schools on my right arm it was my pleasure Dr Harrington and I thank you and it was quite

092an event now sport night and what a night it was blue versus white there were so many competitive events I could not believe the number of girls who participated it was a long night and a very successful one and the number of parents and grandparents and close friends and relatives who showed was terrific and the results were as follows the white team won the sportsmanship award as the seniors pointed out before but the blue team took the gold home they were terrific and the number of events they won congratulations to the staff and to Lisa and I hope I say this correctly I know Dennis will correct me Cole munello who was a director of Student Activities and she did a wonderful job and putting this program together so congratulations to all the students that

093participated what an event it was and also I'd like to say this I know it's been said before a congratulations to Tom Neeman on the athletic director who was named citizen of the citizen of the year at the Oar Chamber of Commerce reception it was a well-deserved honor congratulations Tom wherever you are that's my report okay thanks uh how many years you been going to D delirium since you went to high school Dawn or it's about that long okay Laura Mr transom anything I think Don covered all of it okay Laura Sandy and still other thing we had was we were pres uh we were lucky enough to be president for for uh Dr uh Rose's uh uh trip to Oceanside and we were the only Nassau County School uh that was that she was

094able to attend a bunch of classes with and see our school there she did make a another appearance at a different District but I think that was just for different purposes uh but we were very honored we had a great time with her and it was truly I don't know if it was 25 or 30 years ago that we had uh someone like her come to our district so we're very lucky and and that's due to due to the true leadership of this Central Administration it doesn't happen magically this is the relationships that we built up in Albany and all around the state that we're able to say side is one of those school districts that achieve and it's because of our Central Administration it's because of our teachers it's because of our administrators it's

095because of our ptas it's because of our students and our valorian lorans and our board I don't want to say it but anyway uh thank you uh now we're up to um 11 uh 13A which is opportunity to comment on non-agenda items next is public comment on non- agender items this is the opportunity for anyone wants to make a comment on any item that is on that's not on tonight's agenda as I previously mentioned state law does not require us all a public comment period but this board of education does so because we believe it's important to provide this form to hear from our community members about concerns and issues having said that please note that the board is here to listen comment should be directed towards the chair of the meeting which is made

096while everyone is encouraged to share their comments please remember that this is not designed to be a question answer session if somebody has a question that can be easily answered we will do so otherwise the appropriate personnel will follow up on any issue lastly please remember that the board cannot and will not discuss Personnel matters related to staff or students in public any party wishing to come up to the with any party wishing to come up to the microphone clearly state your name and your child School thank you for cooperation is there anybody in the audience on non-agenda items okay you can come up I forgot your first name again it's okay state your name and your child's name again okay we did this already hi Andrea grub School six and school five um first

097I just like to say thank you to all of you I know that your long hours after another job and the job that you all do and our children are always at the Forefront so I really do appreciate that as Sayes my husband um we received a letter um to the community on February 27th that we learned that the district would no longer be sponsoring the asoken trip so I always teach my daughters if you have to say something find a nice way to do it and make your voice heard so here I am I've had the enjoyment myself as an educator in a neighboring district and the privilege of chaperoning this said trip for over 12 years the experience my students have received while on the asoken trip cannot be matched our children spend

098time unplugged immersed in nature discover that the very River they walk besides provides water to New York City they time travel to a Schoolhouse from the early 1800s they learn about conservation and food waste and these are just some of the educational connections that support our New York State curriculum standards experience is without a doubt the best teacher ever the students in my class will see invasive species and learn of their their effects which hold so much more power than merely watching a video reading a text and then answering the ever dreaded constructed response about it to watch my students see a chipmunk Scamper from tree to tree or a hawk saring above is truly Priceless we've seen a black rat snake gracefully cross path in front of us climb smoothly to the Fallen stump

099just to avoid the humans that are watching a mother bear and her Cubs greeted us one one year from the roadside as we looked on an astonishment in my years I have seen intelligences of my students that I wouldn't have known they possessed if not for this trip they are immersed in education without even knowing it without the pressure of Reading Writing and math in a world where unfortunately technology has completely taken over they are free from it they must play with each other and have conversations during the teacher time that were offered for 10 years now my own Rising sixth graders whose kindergarten year was upended because of covid and they spent their first grade year behind barricades and in masks they've seen me pack for the asoken trip I've told them stories and

100I've always ended with don't worry you'll get your chance one day when I broke the news to them that parents were surveyed they were dumbfounded mom were you actually asked you said that that was okay I said no I haven't been asked actually and neither were any of my neighbors who have Rising sixth graders and this would directly affect them next year now don't get me wrong Club getaway sounds super fun I mean what 11-year-old doesn't want to go on an adventure ropes course with Ziplines but the thing is they're kids there's always going to be someone who won't want to go or who's anxious of going on a rope and unfortunately $185 is still going to be too much money for some people if you pulled those 11year olds I'm sure they would likely

101choose the Rope course over a shoken but it's our jobs as the adults in their lives to push them to take responsible risks and think flexibly that's what we're teaching them every day right so I'm just curious these goals that we say are being met by Club Getaway I would love to know what those goals are because to me a shoken truly provides our students with not only an incredible team building opportunity but the chance for personal growth Under the Umbrella of Ed of Education I just failed to see how Club Getaway can do that so I would love to know why weren't we asked and what are the goals okay so Dr Hamington would you like to address that now or I certainly can can make a few points um But please understand it's

102not permitted to be back and forth so I say in advance I'm available at any time to take this conversation further please just call my office um but I will um say don't disagree with with anything that you said we know and that's why we have supported and when it say supported it's supported by the fact that we we put it together and you know it is something that the families pay for themselves as as you all know but it is something we for for years um have treasured for all the reasons you said and you said it beautifully um but the reality is is we have tracked the data over the years and um we found and saw our number of students uh participating decrease year after a year for a whole host of

103reasons and you're absolutely right there are always going to be some and there always were some we averaged about 20 to 25% of our total sixth grade that did not choose to go for a variety of reasons we still felt at that point that we could support the trip and it would it would be able we would be able to enact our goals team building being one of them um because we had a majority of students participating however this past year 50 55% of our students attended that meant 45% did not and then there were a couple of reasons for that some of them were the same reasons why people didn't go in the past but the the cost of the trip which exceeded $400 as you well know uh was a big part of

104it yeah um and the reality is is that um we could not ask our ptas to fundraise that amount of money it's just just it was impossible truth truth be told but whether they did or didn't it still was going to cost that amount of money and unfortunately we didn't see any hope that that would actually decrease in price so so cost was definitely uh a part of it what also began to happen is that because there were some students who chose not to go for whatever reason there were splintered groups of families that chose to create their own activity for two days and that just counter is counterproductive to to our goal so when we said the parents were surveyed you're you we we did but we did not ask people who were anticipating

105the trip we asked the people who went on the trip why' you go why didn't you go what would have made a difference because surveys you don't work if you're not going to say okay the majority of people who want something are going to get it that's not the way we were going to make this decision we made it um with a lot of a lot a lot of input from parents from PTA from building principles from teachers who were watching in some cases almost half their class be left behind which also meant given the two the overnight trip that there were two days that if students chose to come to school and more and more did it used to be when it was the 20% they would typically stay home which isn't great either

106but that was their choice um but what we were finding more and more is that as the number of students who were not going on the trip now they were staying behind two days you understand you're a teacher you obviously get it so um in in summary uh we did not make the decision lightly we did gather as much input as we could but you are absolutely right at some point a decision needed to be made um and and it was my decision ultimately I will take responsibility for it but we do believe that everything we know about Club Getaway we have a date already scheduled it's on the books we will take over the entire we meaning Oceanside we'll have the entire facility it'll be in the springtime and our hope is that not

107only will they be able to go as a school and you know do the school elementary school spirit kinds of things to be honest with you by that time the sixth graders are ready to move up and I am confident that between our elementary principles and our Middle School team that we will also begin to establish for them what life is going to be like when they meet new people and are going to be engaged in our wonderful teaming that we do have at the middle school so there's an ulterior motive I will tell you that we will continue to monitor the the data um and and we're always willing to be reflective on on the choices that we made it does sound for your your sons that they're going to miss that I and

108I I can understand that um but at at the end of the day um we and we're not going to go back and forth okay I was gonna say thank you they're girls but thank you you only because I would be oh they're girls I'm so sorry oh I'm so sorry um but only because I'd get in trouble if I do this right um but but again if you want to continue the conversation happy to do that with you but but I can assure you no dispute with anything you said decision not made lightly it was with data it was with input and we we just can't support call we can't even call it a sixth grade experience when almost half the kids didn't aren't going to be attending thank thank you for your thank

109you for your time thank you very much for coming up to to the podium very uh very commending anyone else that'd like to come up yes Peter state your name and you have no children I have no children yet yet you are an oce side graduate correct um Ocean Side Middle School number five number eight uh thank you for the opportunity for public comment and congratulations to the valorian and salutatorian tremendous what they do and great the amount of resources that we have uh to give them um so just a quick question um curious about your Rel relationship with the Nassau County legislator um in recent months or years is there anything that the legislature could be doing to serve um Oceanside School District better uh it's great to see that we're getting more State

110resources additional $5 million um going from 32 million to 38 million but uh curious if there's anything as of late you know how the relationship is Dr Dr Harton you'd like to well I I certainly can tell you uh we always are uh willing to be advocates for our students and for public education let me start there um and uh that doesn't just mean supporting the money it means supporting everything that we do um for all of our students we do have our board is very active in advocacy so we do have a couple of meetings actually set set up with state legislators um we've have not had opportunity to connect directly to Nasa County legislators because they don't control that they're they're not as involved with local school district um efforts as much as

111our of course our state um our state government um but our door and our ears and our mouths always willing um to sit down with anyone who would like to sit with us to talk about any issue that they that they that they really have so our doors open for that thank you Peter we are represented by three National County legislators and as far as assembly and senators and of course all types of government whether US senators us congressmen you know I mean we it's a whole as you know being a government of of all our things and we reach out to different resources different times on different needs that we might need and uh we also like to invite all our elected officials to come down to you know a lot of our programs

112and a lot of our community things that go on that they meet a lot of our board members I I I just want to reiterate we need to support public education education is our future and um however that is portrayed that a very general statement but it's a very important one we we need to do more um in a very broad way to support public education is there anybody else before I hit this gavel and send the meeting off seeing none take a motion to move it Don Morin Sandy thank you everyone have a good night and a safe trip home