001do the pledge first. Um, good e good evening. Is it on? Sorry, we're having a little technical difficulty. Be just a second. Motion second. Can everyone hear it? Is it is it working? >> That's because everyone's looking at you, right? >> It's not like you had anything going on here. >> No. We were were eating our way through the three cafeteria. So good. Larry was here, too. >> Did you say no? All right, we're all set now. Anyone? >> Yeah, I can do it now. >> All right. Yeah, there we go. All right. Well, good evening and welcome to our um budget public hearing and board of education meeting. I need a motion and a second to open the hearing. >> Motion. >> All those in favor? >> I if you will please join me
002for the pledge of allegiance. 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. All right. So, we're going to go right into uh voter information. I'm just going to keep this a brief synopsis. Um the elig voter eligibility and election procedures. To vote in a school district election, individuals must be a US citizen at least 18 years old and a resident of the district for at least 30 days prior to the vote. Voters are registered with their county board of elections at least 10 days before the election are automatically eligible to vote and do not need to reregister. However, individuals who have not voted in a school district election within the past four
003years may be removed from the registration list and must re-register. The district will offer voter registration on May 7th, 2026 from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Milro C K2 cafeteria, which is here. Um, absentee ballots are available to qualified voters. Applications must be received by the district clerk at least 7 days prior to the election if the ballot is to be mailed or by the day before the election for in-person delivery. Completed absentee ballots must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the election to be counted and all absentee ballot envelopes must be signed. In addition, New York State's early voting mail law, uh, let me say that again. New York State's early mail voting law allows qualified voters to request a ballot without providing a reason for absence. Applications must be
004submitted no later than 7 days before the election for mailed ballots or the day before for in-person delivery. Early mail ballots must also be received by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the election. For any questions, residents may contact our district clerk at the Red Hook Central School District office. That's head of Haskell. All right. And that brings us into our proposition review with Dr. Hayes and Linda Steinberg. Hey, good evening. We're here to review the budget and propositions that were adopted by the board on April 21st. So, I'm going to um just start with the timeline. So, the board actually adopted on April 21st, 2026. If you recall, we had to cancel the April 9th meeting. Um we had our formal budget hearing now. We just finished our expo, which was great for all
005of you that attended. We also had voter registration today and the vote will be on May 19th from 12 pm to 900 pm in the 35 cafeteria. So, uh the budget that's on the screen right here is what the board adopted at the last meeting. Um this is a summary of our overall budget. There is a line by line budget which um is in the blue budget book. You can find copies on the table um over there. We also have the information on our website too. So, um, so our overall budget is $67.3 million. That's a 3.66 increase over the current year. Um, like I said, these are the pretty, uh, broad categories. Um, I'll just point out a few things. You'll notice, uh, if you can do the math in your head, that salaries
006and employee benefits add up to about 76% of our overall budget. Uh, we do expect to see, uh, school districts have uh, 75 to 80% of their budgets for salaries and benefits. So, uh, we are right in line with that. Uh, we also have some increases in equipment. Uh, that's mostly for the, uh, car kit for, um, Winter Circle. We're really excited about that project. And we also added some equipment funds. We moved it from contractual to equipment to take care of some things at the high school library. Uh, this slide here shows the breakdown of the budget. We are required to show the budget as the administrative portion, the program portion and the capital portion. Again, in a detailed budget, um you can see that line by line. So for every account code, it'll
007show you uh how that account code is distributed amongst these three areas. Uh we also have to consider the tax cap and our revenues. Our tax cap increase is 3.61% for next year. Uh the major factors that go into that calculation are listed here. The CPI is the uh is the inflationary factor. Uh that's the part of the budget that's limited to 2%. For 2025, the CPI change was uh 2.63% but every school district in New York State could only increase their budget by 2% for that portion. The second uh factor is the tax base tax base growth factor. That's different for every school district. Um, New York State tells us what our tax base growth factor is and it's based on a change in physical property. It's not uh based on assessment changes but
008actually uh new properties that are coming onto the tax role. And then at the bottom you'll see we broke down uh that 3.61% tax cap increase. Uh 2.98% is actually for the program and operations and 63% is for capital costs which is really for the capital project that we've added in the last few years. That's okay. I got in. Thank you. So, the uh budget that Linda just reviewed is Proposition One on the budget vote on May 19th. We do have other items on the ballot. We have a vehicle proposition this year. We're asking voters to approve three hybrid SUVs, two 16 passenger buses buses, and a maintenance truck. The maintenance truck is the one that is not eligible for aid as we reviewed earlier at the board meeting. So, our total proposition before aid
009is just over $500,000. We do get aided um this year's aid rate was 46.6%. That is a flexible number which we won't know until next year, but we always base on the current year. So, our net cost after state aid is just over $300,000. We have two capital project propositions. The first proposition is to upgrade the infrastructure to support the welding program at the high school. If you remember, Dr. Rody is putting in a certificate program for welding. In order to support that program and the welding units, we do have to do some upgrades for um electric and ventilation at in the high school in the technology wing. This is a picture of um something similar to what we are proposing to buy for the welding program. These are individual units. You can see up
010top um where the ventilation has to come out of the wall. So that's what we have to do and the electric that's required for that. The second capital project that we're proposing is an upgrade to the Lind Lynon Avenue bus garage. We did offer tours tonight um for anybody that wanted to see the bus garage. Mr. Curtio is also offering tours all week um for anybody to come in the morning or in the afternoon or evening to walk through the bus garage. But our current bus garage was built in three phases over the last 75 years. So we are looking to upgrade the entire structure. We're looking to renovate on the right side and then um put an addition on the far left which will come this way. If you remember uh we have a
011lot of issues with our maintenance bays in some uneven structure. We can't work on our big buses. Our lift was broken last year so we have been renting a lift. Um we don't have adequate space for our employees for the bathroom usage. They have to walk through the maintenance bay. So there's a lot of safety and thing um upgrades that we need to do just for our staff. So, the total cost of the propositions, the first proposition is just over $1.1 million. Um, and then the expected cost for the proposition to the bus garage is 14.7 million. We did make a recommendation which the board adopted to put $1 million of our capital reserve to uh contribute to the second capital project to offset the cost to bring that total to 13.7. So all of
012those combined for a $400,000 house is an average of $28 a year over 21 years. We also have propositions on the budget vote this year for the Red Hook and Tivoli libraries and we have two vacant board seats. That's it. We're happy to take any questions. >> Yeah. Well, yeah, we'll get to that. Any does any do any board members have any questions? I know we've talked about this extensively. No. All right. And so that brings us to um public comments on the um budget hearing only. If you would like to ask a question or um speak, we ask that you come to the microphone that you state your name and that you um keep it 3 minutes um or less. And we'll give you a cut off whenever that time comes. So if you'd
013like to come up and and speak, please feel free to do so. My name is Brad Mitchell. Um, I am, uh, covering the executive summary of the Red Hook Central School District Finance Reform Committee. The F RHSD finance reform committee is a non-political two Democrats, two Republicans, one independent group of concerned group concerned with the need for academic excellence and superiority at a reasonable cost through creative excuse me educational alternatives, financial awareness and efficiency, costbenefit analysis and understanding of opportunity cost. The group wants to help the Red Hook Central School District move from its current educational model to a better model with a more serious financial plan to help the transition. Bottom line, throwing money at a problem does not improve it. I.e. the Mississippi miracle. We started over a year ago with the discovery
014that despite declining student population, the RHSC budget was increasingly increasing steadily every year, resulting in a cost of over $40,000 per student per year currently and growing rapidly. That cost is more than many local private schools and educational results were statistically not improving or even declining depending on the analysis. We have tried to get the RHS CSSD to acknowledge the issues below but have been repeatedly ignored. The issues are one recognize you have financial problems overspending and poor budgeting and planning. Our cost per student is greater than many private schools like I said about $40,000 a year. Admit that the number two educate admit the educational results are not improving and are declining or at best unchanged despite spending massive amount amounts of money. We want our school district to be the best performing district
015in the state at a reasonable cost. So how do we do this? What are our options? We suggest the following options entirely partially available and or in conjunction. Number one, we would transform to private schools only model and sell assets to pay for the students for many years at reduced cost. Two, we could have total school choice vouchers and issue vouchers for every student for far less cost per student. Three, we could change the educational model model to a homechool or hybrid public homeschool model or some other hybrid. We could get number four, we could get serious about our public finances and take a hard look at each individual expense, reducing expenses when needed, like any business. Five, we could start a long-term budget process five years instead of last minute budgets presented to the
016citizens each year and show citizens more financial analysis frequently. Six, we could plan on budget reductions reductions to bring our sky-high costs per student to a more reasonable cost. Seven, we could improve our financial communications with all citizens on a frequent and regular basis. We think many would agree the first two options are extreme, but the last five are quite logical and badly needed. The best example of poor planning, bad financial analysis, and resulting poor decision-making is the 14.725 million proposition number three in the current budget. The problems with the proposal are one, the 14.725 million proposal is more than 20% Mr. Mitchell annual budget, >> an outrageous amount of money. >> Mr. for such a modest degree >> after three minutes. >> Um I did get your email >> like to have another three
017minutes, please. >> No, >> I I did get your email today that stated all this and I have forwarded it to all the other people hear this then. Is that what you're saying? Why is this not important for the public to understand? >> Not an eight page email. No, >> it's not an eight page email. It's three pages. I'm halfway through it. I've got one page more. >> No, not Hold on a second here. You're you're saying the public doesn't have the right to hear. >> I am not saying that. I'm saying you have reached your three minutes. >> So what can I I request another three minutes >> and I denied it. >> This is what we're going through people. >> This is what we're going through. I mean you again >> Thank you,
018Mr. Mitchell. If you have a I'm not stonewalling. >> Yes, you are. >> No, I'm asking you to follow the rules. >> You think people have a right to hear what's wrong with the proposal? >> This is your opinion. Yes. So what is is an opinion? Do you think your opinion is the only right opinion? >> I do not. I forwarded the emails to all of the board members. You you sent it to Bruce who has been retired since December. So I sent it to Linda as well. >> Okay, that's great. >> Yeah. So we will look at it and then we will respond to you. you you are not going to let the public hear that that the problems with this proposal >> uh out of if if I can add a comment um
019Brad uh uh you have actively been sharing uh information with the board um you know we appreciate hearing from the community uh but for our board meetings uh we do need to out of respect for everyone >> is this a public hearing uh out of out of respect for everyone's opportunity to have time to share um uh our president has has asked that people keep their comments to >> another community member to give me their three minutes please anyone volunteering the back >> can I have another three minutes to finish this >> go ahead >> thank We think many agreed would agree the first two options are extreme, but the last five points are quite logical and badly needed. The best example of poor planning, bad financial analysis, and resulting poor decision-making is the 14.752
020million proposition number three in the current budget. The problems with the proposal are the 14.725 million proposal is more than 20% of the current annual budget. An outrageous amount of money for such a modest improvement. The shrinking school district in terms of students is hundreds of students smaller than several years ago and still project to shrink additionally over the next five years. Three, going forward with less students, the school district may need less and or more smaller buses. RHS uh CSD has not produced any supporting financial analysis on bus usage, maintenance and repairs, capacity analysis, efficiency of EV buses already purchased, route analysis, fuel cost analysis, labor cost analysis, efficiency improvements, or other reasons for the need for such a huge project investment. RHCSD has not shown any analysis to the public for alternatives to
021Prop 3, such as remodeling, repair of the existing structure and/or increased pay to bus drivers instead, as well as efficiency improvements. Six, the 14.725 million cost is insane. We could build in the private world a state-of-the-art sports complex for that amount of money with an indoor pool, two basketball courts, volleyball courts, indoor track, etc., offices, locker rooms, and probably do that for a couple million dollars less. The public desperately needs seven the serious amount of evidence to justify such an enormous expense and deserves it well before the annual lastminut budget proposal. We started talking to the school administration board administration over about over a year ago about financial issues and have been mostly ignored or even stonewalled. The RHCSD BOE has repeatedly ignored our pleas to admit it is has a spending problem. It is
022time for the school board and the RHCSD administration to admit its financial problems, take its fiduciary responsibilities seriously, and start a long-term financial budget, plan on reducing expenses, and look at every expenditure from a costbenefit analysis. Prop 3 is a shocking example of financial malfeasants and demonstrates the RHCSD boe and RHCSD administration lack of financial expertise and resulting sherking of his fiduciary responsibilities. We urge the RCHD BO withdraw Prop 3 immediately before the May 19th election. Otherwise, the BOE should encourage everyone to vote against the Prop. We also propose the BOE immediately approve a five-year budget plan, planned expense reductions each of the five years and implement cost benefit analysis and opportunity cost analysis while reporting to the general public on a regular basis. We also request that this executive summary letter be distributed by
023the RHCSD BOE and administration to all email addresses in its database of parents, teachers, employees, and others to provide true transparency of counterarguments to this tremendous waste of public funds. not an H page letter. >> Thank you. Pardon me. A three-page email. >> Uh uh just some helpful uh to put things in uh kind of context. Um how many districts are there in Dustri Duchess County? >> Uh 12. >> And where do we rank on a per pupil spend? Um >> we're so the last um issa financial report was from 2021 and we were seventh >> we were so we were >> we were seventh out of 12 so actually um one below the middle >> uh I I'm this is I'm asking uh our administration some questions. Um, thank you. >> I'm going to
024also just remind the public that when we invite our public to speak, we expect to be treated with the same level of respect that we run our meetings and the way we communicate back and forth. So, I just want to remind everyone of that. Thank you so much. All right. Would anyone else like to speak at this time? Please come on up. Just say your name and we'll just ask that you keep it at three minutes or less. My name is Roxan Fischer and I am a resident of Martown, New York. Thank you. Uh I want to address the amount of money that the school district has to pay the town in order to use the wreck facilities. And these facilities allow you to have baseball, softball, and tennis in a limited space of time
025from probably the spring to the end of the year. So, I was able to find the amount that you had to pay for the past three years except for this year. And I just learned that you were paying $65,000 to the town for the use of those wreck fields where you actually go and paint the lines and you have the people do it and you pay for all of the time and energy that's required. This is out to me an outrageous uh situation where who can look forward and tell me what or who would be negotiating for next year and what we can do as the public to get the town to be fair. They've increased their maintenance costs because they've increased all their trails and all of their facilities, but that does not mean
026that the school district has to be the person or the the institute that that supports them. So my question is, is there someone here who will be negotiating for the next year because I understand you don't have a contract yet for this coming year. >> It'll be our administrative. >> Yeah. >> You okay? Do do you is there any leverage? Can we help you in any way? I will be glad to make a statement at the next meeting and get the press involved because it it's an outrageous situation because the taxpayers are paying the town and then they're collecting this money from you. It's it's not right. >> We're in a little bit of a difficult situation because we need the use of the fields. We don't have another option in in order to keep
027our sports uh programs running. Um, but just to uh give some context, in 2017 through 2021 we paid $7,500. Um, and this year we did pay $65,000. >> And obviously you have not really increased your usage over that period of time, nor have any other costs risen at that degree. So please, I, as I say, I will do my best at the next meeting and get the press involved because if you're going to do anything, you need pressure against McKeen. Otherwise, he'll just pull over you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Fischer. >> Did anyone else um want to make a statement or have Okay, I'm coming up. Sherry and uh there's been a lot of growth this year. And I want to just recognize um Amanda Allison is in the room right
028now. I'm gonna get emotional. She's wonderful and our district is so lucky to have her. And when I looked at the budget and I looked at the programs that are in place, I believe that ESS is budgeted for future years. And I think it's crucial that our community understand the importance of having support and inclusion for kids who might otherwise be placed out of our district and to make sure that they're able to truly be in their least restrictive environments. So, I wanted to say thank you for reading my emails, taking my phone calls, and for working to bring a true professional who sees our children and their needs and the need for partnership with families and is showing up every I don't know what she does with her own family, but she seems to
029be here more than there. Um, and I just wanted to say thank you publicly and recognize that that program has stayed in the budget, which I was terrified to do. >> Thank Thank you, Sher. >> Thank you. And thank you, Amanda Allison. I'm sorry. Were there any other um public comments? Anyone else wish to speak about? All right. So, I need a motion and a second to adjourn the public hearing and move into our board of education meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. So, we'll call this meeting to order. And this will um we're going to start off with our board of education um candidate uh introductions. And I'm just going to go in the order that you'll appear on the ballot. Um, we'll start with uh
030Robert Tines. >> Hi, Robert. >> Hi. >> All right. >> Right. >> Hi, everybody. So, I'm Robert Tines. Um, thank you for giving me the chance to be here and say a little bit. Um, I've lived in Red Hook for 22 years with my wife and two sons. Both boys were students at Mill Road, Lynen Avenue, and Red Hook High School. So, I'm very familiar with the schools. I spent many years in the Red Hook school community, engaged at numerous parent teacher conferences and school open houses. I've cheered at soccer, lacrosse, and wrestling matches quite loud. I've had many discussions with my sons about what they were learning in classes such as chemistry, math, and English. I really I really really appreciate how much the Red Hook schools have contributed to the success of my
031children. So, I want to know what I can contribute to the board of education. Well, I've been teaching for almost three decades. I've also been an administrator with the Bard Prison Initiative. My decades of teaching in a variety of classrooms on multiple subjects and for different age groups has given me the ground level experience needed to understand what a school budget line means to a student. My administrative experience has helped me develop the problem solving skills needed for building partnerships. So why am I running? I want to make sure that students, all students, keep getting the resources they need, whether it's excellent teaching, books, special education support, school lunches, sports, and theater. What do I see as needs in the district right now? Well, this is not going to be a surprise. When I talk
032with red residents, their top concern is the budget. Over the past year, what I've seen is the board working hard on transparency in the budget, and that's a positive. I would still like to see what I call translation. That means taking board decisions and translating it into knowledge that taxpayers can understand better. If we want voters to care, we should show them that funding for schools essential for a strong Red Hook community. Look around. How many Red Hook High School graduates work and live in the town now? They work in our banks. They run our stationary stores. They excavate for our septic tanks. They create wonderful restaurants. And they fix our plumbing. And they were all all of them were educated in the Red Hook Central School District. So even if your children are grown
033up and living elsewhere or even if you don't have children in the schools, you too still benefit from a welleducated workforce. Red Hook graduates are smart and they're running the businesses in your community. That's what support for the annual budget translates into. Additionally, we need to continue to provide even more resources to mental health services. The world today definitely generates a lot of anxiety in students and teachers. And even though these may seem like adult world problems, children are just as affected. If we want our children to succeed in school, we will have to support their mental health needs continually. Thank you. >> Thanks, Robert. Um, so next we have uh Dave Mkindall. Hi Dave. >> Good evening. My name is Dave Mendall. A little bit of uh background. Um, I've been in this town
034village for over 50 years. I have had uh numerous nieces and nephews graduate from school. I had two stepsons, two sons, now five grandchildren in this district. I have worked here for 32 years. I coached sports here. I might have even coached some of you that are in this uh cafeteria right now. When I started here, K through six was on the side of the building. Within a few years, the whole other side was open. Transition that we had to do to now going to the middle school to the high school. I was here for two major projects, sat in meetings, deadlines, etc. through the whole thing. I think what I have done, I have volunteered running a recro program for Red Mau. I as as far as other things, I totally support the school
035district. I totally support our teachers. I think they're very, very professional. Also support our staff, the ones that clean, kitchen help, bus drivers. When I worked here, I did those things. So, I know how that works. In closing, I'm going make this short. In closing, I want to be part of leading this forward. I think technology is something we need. The programs that we're going to try to get, I think we need. So, I think I can be your voice. Remember, I work for you. You don't work for me. Thank you. >> Thanks, Dave. All right. And that brings us to um Paul Burn. Hey, Paul. Good evening. Uh my name is Paul Burn. I'm really excited to be running for the school board. Uh but before I talk about myself, I want to acknowledge
036the reason that we have two open seats for the board. Uh we have Kate and Russ retiring after nine years. I think both just kidding. >> No. Uh nine years is a long time and we appreciate the the level of commitment, the dedication that you've made to our schools and our our community. So thank you. Um, I believe that strong schools are at the heart of strong communities and I'm really excited about being a part of moving our community and our schools forward. I grew up here in Red Hook. I attended kindergarten here in this very building um and graduated from our high school in 12th grade. My first grader now roams these halls, which is kind of hard for me to believe. And her brother will be here soon. Um, I left as soon
037as I could, got out of Red Hook, went to college in Philadelphia, and then worked in New York City in education. Started as a teacher in the South Bronx, became a school leader in Brooklyn, and then spent seven years working at the central offices of the Department of Education as an executive leading a range of programs there. Um, when our little one was born, our twobedroom apartment was clearly too small for us, uh, in New York. And with my mother still here and clearly uh not able to live on our own anymore, we decided to make the move back to Red Hook. Um and we've been here for almost four years now. Uh since being back, I have looked for ways to contribute to the community. I've coached my kids uh soccer and T-ball teams.
038I have spoken to our graduating seniors um about my own family's uh experience with a drunk driving tragedy. Um, and I've served on the board of the Red Hook Education Foundation for the past two years. Um, and I'm really proud of some of the work that we've done to support the the school district. Um, so I'm excited to take this next step hopefully to serve on the board of education. Um, I want to make sure that we are engaging our community, our parents, uh, meaningfully and early. I want to make sure that we are intentionally focusing on the students that need the most supports. Whether those be socially, emotionally, academically, um those students that are classified as economically disadvantaged and who are significantly underperforming their peers, I want to make sure that they're getting the
039attention that they need. Um and clearly, as we've heard here tonight, we have some some tough challenges ahead of us, right? We have rising costs, uh rising costs of living, um and decreasing enrollment. and there are some tough choices ahead as we balance our needs as a school district with our fiscal responsibility to the community here. So, I hope that my experience um can be a value ad to those decisions ahead and to the uh amazing work that the school board is doing already. Um and you all have a tough choice ahead of you. I I admire and respect all the other candidates that are running for this uh position. Um and I hope you'll vote for me. Uh, I know what it's like to lead a classroom. I know what it's like to lead
040a school district. Um, and I hope that I can add value to our school board. Thank you. >> Thanks, Paul. All right. And last but not least, uh, Troy Haley. Hey, Troy. >> Um, that's hard to follow that act right there. Uh my name is Troy Haley and I'm running for Red Hook School Board of Education and it's an honor just to be sitting here with you. Uh Kate Russ, congratulations on moving on to greener pastures and uh thank you for the your service as I've heard multiple times. Um this is kind of an introduction. So that's kind of how I wrote my speech today. Um, I grew up in California, Sanwaqin Valley, often called the world's fruit basket. As a kid, I worked summers at a local packing shed with migrant workers doing some
041of the hardest work in the country. That work taught me how as a person to live, show up on time, and do the job. After high school, I I lived in a small town and there wasn't a lot of opportunity and I family my family couldn't afford college. So, I joined the Marine Corps and it was probably the best decision I ever made in my life. 23 years of service, uh, seven years in the Marine Corps, 16 in the AR Army National Guard. I worked full-time for the Army National Guard. I served in the first Gulf War, Somalia. I was accepted as an embassy marine which is one of the toughest programs in the military. I served in the HEG I served in Jamaica Chad as at those embassies and I worked as a senior
042intel analyst in Iraq. I also worked at the Army's professional education center as a professional instructor for the full-time force for the Army National Guard training all full-time National Guard members into 50 states and four territories. Um, I also led relief operations, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irene, uh, when I was in Arkansas, uh, uh, tornado operations. Um, that taught me leadership, discipline, accountability, and how to make hard decisions when the stakes were real and information was incomplete. After that, I went into business uh running manufacturing for a company in Asia, Europe, and today I'm an operations consultant with Tilden uh Partners working alongside my wife who's a marketing professional. I volunteer at a local VFW where I manage close finances and spend time with veterans. As you know, it's very important to me those that know
043me. Along the way, I had the privilege of traveling around the world. Um, and that is a gift. I sit at tables with people whose lives look nothing like mine and discovered that underneath language, underneath fa faith, uh, underneath customs, we're really all not that different. That experience taught me to listen before I judge and to look for what we share before I focus on what divides us. The most important thing tonight is my family. My daughter Olive is a ninth grade student has spent every single year uh in the school district. It's the longest place I've ever lived in my life and my kid has been fortunate enough to go through this district. Um yeah, sorry emotion when I talk about my kid. Uh I watch her uh shaped by the teachers, counselors who
044generally deeply care about her. Our schools are good because people in them are good. And I want every family in this community to have the same confidence in our schools. I'm running because Red Hook schools are one of the most important things in our community has and they are worth showing up for. I'm running because I believe in the people that walk in buildings every day on behalf of our kids and I want to make sure that they have a board that listens to them, supports them, and trusts them to do what they do best. I'm running because I want every family in Red Hook to feel the same pride and confidence in our schools that mine has failed for the last 10 years. If you elect me, I'll bring three priorities to every vote.
045First students at the center of every decision, every decision always. Not politics, not personalities, not the loudest voice in the room are kids because they only get one shot at education and they deserve a board that asks one question first every single time. What's best for them? Second, trust and uh trust and partnership with our teachers. They are trained professionals who deserve a board that listens to them before it legislates. I'm humbled to have earned the endorsement of the Red Hook Faculty Association. Thank you for that honor, and I do not do not take it lightly. And third, honest stewardship of your tax dollars so every dollar reaches the classroom, the teacher, and the student it's meant to serve. I'm not running for office. I'm running as a neighbor. Red Hook has been good to
046my family and our teachers and staff have helped raise my daughter alongside my wife and me and I'll never stop being grateful for that. So, it would be honor to serve and grateful for your vote on May 19th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Paul. I mean, Troy, sorry, >> I'm discombobulated. >> Thank you, Troy Haley. Um, all right. So, that brings us to um one of the best parts of the night. We have a recognition of Dr. Stacy Smith. Come on up. You know you're not getting away with not coming up. Okay, come up there. So, it's an honor tonight to congratulate Dr. Smith. I'll say that louder. Dr. Smith on her completion of her PhD in leadership and policy at Sunni Albany. This achievement is a testament to her perseverance, resilience, and extraordinary work
047ethic. Balancing the demands of school leadership with a doctoral study is no small act. And she met the challenge with the same commitment and integrity she brings to students, staff, and community every day. Dr. Smith believes in what young adolescents deserve from their school and her and is apparent daily in her work and study. So her doctoral research was a mixed methods uh study of New York State middle schools. She examined how schools organized themselves to implement ADHD accommodations consistently across classrooms. Her work revealed a critical gap between administration and practitioners. Highlighting how well-intentioned systems can appear functional at the top while breaking down in daily practice by identifying structural barriers and calling attention to the need for clearer roles, better communication, and systemic monitoring. Her study makes an important contribution to bridging the research
048to practice gap in the middle school. On a personal note, I feel incredibly lucky to have served as a reader on your dissertation committee. It gave me a front row seat to see your passion, thoughtful analysis, and your voice to advocate for middle-level students. We thank her for her contributions to middle school and congratulations for this remarkable accomplishment. Thank you so much for recognizing this achievement. This is on you can hear me. Okay. Um I just of course want to thank my family and friends. Um it's been a long road. It's been seven years. uh and their support has been critical to keeping me going and moving forward. I want to thank uh our faculty and staff at Lambs, Michelle Tossac, Paul Brown, and our office team for their encouragement throughout and for celebrating with
049me. I have to say hearing congratulations from students has been especially meaningful and I hope it shows that learning never stops and hard things are always worth doing. I want to thank Dr. Warden, who served on my dissertation committee and I know went to bat for me more than once, especially in these last few months and weeks. Uh my dissertation, as Dr. Warden mentioned, is a study of systems for ADHD accommodation implementation in New York State middle schools. The last two years of my graduate work have focused on effective ADHD accommodations for early adolescence. And I carried that research into my dissertation by examining the systems behind delivery. Since accommodation delivery becomes in incredibly and considerably more complex at the secondary level, I gathered feedback from practitioners in the field and and to understand the
050current practice and to develop recommendations for effective implementation. As a researcher, this work was designed to inform a broader field. As a building leader, it sharpened my own practice and that was always the goal for my graduate work to strengthen my ability to serve students and it has. I look forward to bringing some of this work into what we do at Lambs. And so thank you again to Dr. Warden and to the board. I really appreciate the recognition. >> All right. So that brings us to our board of education uh student report. What do you got for us, Maddie? >> Hi everyone. I hope everyone's doing good. Um so just a quick report. So on May 1st was decision day for the seniors. So, um, seniors had the opportunity to make posters and banners to
051be displayed around the school, which was really great. And there was Holy Cow, so that was a bonus. Um, they we are now selling tickets for our senior prom, which will be at the links at Union Veil on June 13th. So, ticket sales are starting and starting to feel real the end of the year. Um, and then looking at sports for senior nights, girls lacrosse had their senior night tonight. Um, girls golf also had their senior night as well tonight. And then baseball has their senior night on Monday. Um and softball has theirs tomorrow. And then unified basketball has a big game on Tuesday. Um it's senior night and we just hope everyone can come and fill the stands. Um and then right now we are in the thick of IB and AP testing. So
052that'll be going on I think for this week and next week and a little bit into the week after. So um students are studying hard and preparing for their exams. So that's what's going on at school right now. Thank you for having me. >> Lots going on. So, real quick, um, the unified game and what's give a shout out on that. What's on Tuesday? >> Tuesday, I believe it starts at 4:30 is the time that it'll start and it's against Pine Plains >> and it's in the high school gym. >> Yes. >> So, if any of you have the opportunity to come and attend a unified basketball game, it's the best thing you'll do all year. So, good. >> Oh, I did. I committed to Syracuse University to study national relations. Right. >> And Maddie,
053if you have testing, I know you do the IB program and things like that. If you need to leave, we completely understand. Okay. So, no pressure. >> I'm looking like a yes. >> English, too. >> All right. Thank you. Good luck. Try to get some sleep, too. All right. Um, so really quickly, we have some, uh, administrative reports. Um, Dr. Warden's going to talk about the expo tonight. So, I want to thank Dr. Summers for all her work with all the instructional booths. And it was really amazing to see all the programs all come together in one room. We see them in classrooms, but when you see them combined in one room, you really think about the amazing work that our school district does. So, thank you to that. Thank you to Dr. Hayes. for
054also the farm to showcase. I did eat a lot of food. I had a banana and a couple things I shouldn't have. Um, but overall it really leads us to the importance of our 30% initiative that we're working with local farmers. So, I believe that was really highlighted today and I want to thank the board for coming. I think it was a great event. It really highlights when people talk where their taxpayer money goes. It's the best we can do to show you every program that we have in the school district and what it looks like. So, and we'll keep growing it. We look forward to some feedback from the board um next next board meeting as well. So, thank you and thanks to all the teachers too and staff members that were at the
055booths um >> and talking about what they do every day. That's not something that teachers and staff typically do. Um they talk to students all day. So, it's such a great thing for them to be able to share for the community all the work that they do. So, thank you to them. >> That's great. And next year we'll have our own um Cobra out there. Oh, maybe we can have a race. That that would be exciting, right? Um all right, so that brings us to um business consent agenda um items 1 through 11. Can I get a motion and a second on that? >> Motion. >> Second. Um all those in favor and any questions? Sorry about that. Go. Okay. All those in favor? >> I. >> And then um on to the personnel agenda.
056Um items 1 through 10. A motion and a second. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Um any questions on those? All right. All those in favor? >> I you um I would like to congratulate Tom Casada, our director of PE and athletics and health. He's worked in the district his whole life. Um, started out, some people probably had him as a PE teacher. I'm seeing some shaking of their heads. Okay. Um, I believe that you were one of his favorite students. I think I did hear that rumor somewhere. Um, but I can't begin to tell you how dedicated he's be been to the school district for the past what do we say 32 32 years. So, he grew up here, raised his family through this process. um his dedication to sports, but really just overall fitness
057and overall in our um administrative team has just been a colleague that you can always go to bounce ideas and just truly cares about every student that walks on the field but also walks in the building. He's always there to help out regardless what everybody needs. He's going to be deeply missed. Um and we wish him he's very excited about retirement so we wish him uh well um with his family. I know he has grandkids now and we wish him a lot of fun in his Florida home and um I hopefully he'll listen to this. Um Tom uh we appreciate you and good luck in your retirement. >> Where'd he go? >> He wasn't here. >> And we have one more. He's not even here. He's >> He's already He's gone. He's >> That's right.
058He's in greener pastures already. >> No, I saw him earlier. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Yes. So, we'd like to welcome two new teachers that were just appointed. Um, Annabelle Posdo is you here. Stand up. Annabelle. Annabelle. Um, welcome. Toms. She will be our new biology teacher up at the high school. She has a master's in teaching biology and a master's of education, environmental education from Bard College. And then she she has an interesting background because she was a park ranger in New York City. So she uh we had quite a conversation about bird watching. So we do welcome her to the high school and to the science department and um she has a lot of energy and a lot of great thinking. So we're looking forward to teaching our students. So welcome. And then um
059our second is Josephine Depala. She will be a math teacher up at the high school. She comes to us. Josephine, how are you? She comes to us from Sienna College and she it be her first teaching experience but she um done student teaching at Borisville Middle School which is an excellent school district in the cap region and um she has done some substitute teaching in so she come to she also has been an English teacher in Poland. So again, a unique background but special skill set and you're going back this summer. Did you share that with me? Yes. Yeah. So a great experience for our teachers to get out into the world and to look at different systems. So we welcome you, Josephine, and um you'll be a great addition to our math department at
060the high school. Welcome. >> Welcome. All right. And so that will bring us to um a recognition of visitors. If anyone would like to speak um we ask that you come to the microphone, you state your name and you keep it under 3 minutes or less friendly. Oh no. No. Okay. Great. All right. So that brings us to our German. Can I get a motion and and a second motion? Right. Yeah. And and then go. But I'm going to close this out first. Right. >> Okay. They're so anxious to get to executive. Um so all those in favor? >> I. And now we will break into our executive session. Thank you very much for coming out tonight. We appreciate it. Thanks guys. Hi Mr. How are you? Let me get your information. What's your email?