001Um, good evening and welcome to our April 21st Board of Education meeting. I need a motion and a second to adjourn executive and committee. >> Motion. >> All those in favor? I. If now you'll please join us for the pledge of allegiance. All right, so let's go right into um some of the best part. Uh we're going to start with our recognitions and we'd like to bring up the um Hello Dolly production and leadership team. Woo! Hello. >> Does that work? >> Hi everybody. Thanks for everybody for coming. We so appreciate all of you. I would like to commend the incredible work of the recent production of Hello Dolly and to reflect on how far our performing arts program has grown. I still remember early productions that first took place in our performing arts center.
002From those beginnings to where we are today, the growth in scale, confidence, and quality of our performers is remarkable. The students, let's all raise our hand. The students in the production. >> So, a lot of us on the board and myself had the luxury of watching this performance. The students were engaging from the very first moment. It was evident that the entire audience was not only entertained but genuinely impressed and in awe of all your talent. The countless hours of rehearsal were apparent as was the collaboration amongst the cast. The chemistry on stage was authentic and truly joyful. I found myself laughing, moved to tears, applauding louder, standing when nobody else stood. Um, but that's okay. uh than I expected. The whole everyone around me experienced the same thing. The success of the production was
003made possible with the seamless collaboration of music, dance, acting all working together beautifully. The dedication and support of all of our directors. Let's raise our hand. All of our great directors. So, our choreographer, Amber McCarthy, our vocal director, Dr. Thomas, our orchestra uh director, Mr. Barnett, and our wonderful producer, Mr. Fix. So many of you probably have never put on a play before in our audience. And I don't think you understand what goes in and the hours and what you give up and the time that you put in for these students. So I know the hours, the pride that you took in the work was apparent. The genuine love for the performing arts on the stage was apparent as well. So thank you to the students, directors, musicians, set construction, anybody here with the set
004construction too. That was unbelievably beautiful as well. And I know Mr. Hutman and uh Mr. Gaul helped out with that as well. The producers, the choreography, all supported this production. Thank you. You created something truly special and provided our students with the opportunity to reach their full potential potential and that's our mission of the district. And also as a side note, I grew up listening to that album and my mother played it over and over and over again and she came with me. So she was brought to that tear. She saw like one of the original performances way back in New York City. So she said this was fabulous. So that's the true testament all the work that you've done. So keep up the work. I know who's graduating. Oh, okay. All right. Uh well,
005we can't hold you back. Um I'm sure that you'll go on to perform in other places and always remember where it started and thanks to all of you. It was wonderful. Wonderful. Keep up the great work. Oh, if you want to come around and shake the hands of the board, that would be great. All of you. >> Oh my gosh. >> Oh, thank you. So good. So good. >> I know. You just want to keep doing it. Great job. Great work. That was so fun. >> All right. Thank you. >> I just want to clarify what an album is if anybody doesn't know. Um that was a fun time when you could uh bring out your albums. So, thanks for uh allowing a lot of us to reminisce about that wonderful play. Um now we
006have some other great students that we'd like to honor. We have Marina, Mrs. Schmidt, Ada Wilson. I don't know if Ada's here. Maybe not. Okay. All right. So, I would like to commend our high school student council for earning the recognition through the National Council of Excellence. This program celebrates student councils that demonstrate consistent, meaningful leadership throughout the year while making a positive impact on their schools and community. There's four tenets that they worked on to ensure that they got the award. Leadership, service, engagement, and student voice. And our student council has exemplified each one of these values with excellence. I would like to extend a special recognition to Mrs. Schmidt whose guidance, dedication, and belief in student leadership has been instrumental in this success. So, thank you. Also, yep. Um, I think I want
007to thank all of the student council. I would like to highlight two students, Marina and Ada. Is Ada up there? No. No. Okay. And Marta, right, who took uh on this important work of applying for the award. I know it was a lot of effort. There was a lot of attention to detail and pride in the council's accomplishment to reflect the deep commitment with their peers and school comm community. So to all the members of student council, great job. W set a high standard and made the school and district really proud. So, congratulations to each one of you on this amazing award. >> Great job. Congratulations again. Look at you guys. You guys rock. You're like everything. >> I love it. >> Thank you so much. We're so proud of you guys. Amazing rock stars.
008>> Again. Nice to see you again. >> Great job. Multiaceted. I love it. Student council leaders. >> All right. So, we're giving out a lot of awards tonight. I would like uh Miss Christine Griffin to please come to the podium. Yay. So Christine is the award winner for the Mid Hudson School Study Council Award for Teaching Excellence. If anybody knows Miss Griff Griffin, she exemplifies the best of our profession. As an English teacher and long-erving department chair at Red Hook, she has distinguished herself as a courageous instructional leader who believes deeply in the potential of every single student. Her leadership has not only elevated classroom practices, but actually transformed systems within our high school to ensure equity, access, and excellence for all students. Miss Griffin is perhaps best known for leading her implementation of IB
009for all model, a bold, bold initiative that ensures every single student engaged in rigorous IB coursework. This work required vision, persistence, and willingness to a challenge a longstanding structure. And Christine led it with integrity and clarity of purpose and also by expanding access to advanced instruction. She also secured dual enrollment opportunities at Sunni Duchess. She's open doors for students academically, intellectually, and also financially. Beyond these accomplishments, Christine Griffin's impact is deeply personal. She is known for her unwavering commitment to students. Every day someone's in her class eating through teaching night school, individual support, and a constant present as a mentor and an advocate for all of our student. She inspires a genuine love for reading, writing, and storytelling. And one of the best things is she also inspires students to want to be an English
010teacher. That is the true testament of what you do. It is with great pride that we recognize Christine Griffin for receiving the Mid Hudson School Study Council award for teaching excellent and her extraordinary impact on our school community. We so appreciate you. Thank you. >> I think some of those students are here for you tonight, too. So, well, thank you. >> You're supposed to be doing public speaking. >> Thank you. thing I would say that I appreciate from the bottom of my heart the opportunity to be an I love it. I was rest of my day. I appreciate that different. >> Thank you. >> All good stuff. All right. So, that's going to bring us on um we're done with recognitions um to our student board of ed um leaders here. >> Hi everyone. Hope
011everyone's doing okay. Um so, it's kind of a short board report because we just had spring break recently as well. Um, but this part of the year is pretty stressful for students because we have IB and AP exams coming up. Um, but to start, we just had NISMA All State, um, which is a program that showcases student musicians from around New York where students perform a solo in front of a judge and a very talented group participated this year and it went really well for them. So, that was great to hear. Um, spring sports have just started and many of the teams are doing well at the start of the season. Senior nights are being planned. Um, so just really great to see the games coming and go to some home games and everything like
012that. Um, and for the senior calendar, um, we just got the rest of the year calendar for, um, our senior year. So, we're really looking forward to those events coming up after exams because we want to get through those first. Um, but really looking forward to the second part of the year here. So, for some student council news, um, NYLSA, which is the state leadership um, organization, is starting back up. We just had our first meeting this past weekend where the we began planning the 2026 revolutionized leadership conference and where I was also elected president of the board which is very exciting. Thank you. Um student council has also begun planning for a local district 4 Hudson Valley leadership conference which will be a scaledown version of the state conference uh at SORS on June
0131st. For Earth Day, student council has planned a style swap where students have been bringing in clothes for clothing and media swap tomorrow and Thursday as an alternative to fast fashion. Um, finally, we've been planning the spring pep rally where we will recognize school sports and have a brand new event where clubs will receive awards and recognitions for their events, advertising, and more. And on behalf of student council, I just also like to say thank you for the recognition. It's been truly an honor for us to work with administration, staff, and all the students in our school. and we appreciate the support and recognition. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I think that was everything. So, thank you again for having us. >> Thanks, Marina M. We appreciate it. Um, so that brings us to
014our presentations uh on the lights. Uh, we have Megan Baker here from Musco. We also have um Jim Selinka from Tetratech, our architect. So, if you just give us a minute to set up In the meantime, um the college search searches are going well. Any decisions? >> Personally, I have not made a decision yet. >> Okay. Okay. But I think we do have a decision day for those who are going to college on May 1st. So, we're going to be doing um I think some special stuff that day to kind of showcase where everybody's going. So, we're looking forward to that. And um these past couple weeks, we've seen a lot of people starting to commit. So, >> our Instagram, >> I'll send it to you. >> I know that's bad. I I just >>
015So, on decision day, are you like people wear their shirts where they're going to go to school? >> Yeah. So, I think everyone will wear their gear and I think we're going to do like a poster thing that'll kind of get showcased. I'm not exactly sure the details about it, but I think we're going to be decorating something. So, really excited for that. >> I think we we bought enough time to to go over to the presentation. So Ena and Jim are going to talk about the lights that were proposed for our athletic field and a little bit about all of their components and compliance um with dark sky lighting um glare and pollution etc. That'd be great. Thank you. >> Hi everyone. My name is Ena Baker. Um I work with Musco Sports Lighting
016um which is the company that will be providing the lights here at Red Hook. Um, it's a family-owned company out of Oscaloosa, Iowa. It's been around for, this is our 50th year this year. It is still family-owned. The person who founded it 50 years ago still works in engineering. Um, right in our Oscooa office. Um, one thing that we strive to do is we are putting light control over everything. Um it is our job, it is our mission to make sure that we are protecting the night skies, neighbors, um and just making sure that we're getting that light onto what the intended surface is and not in the surrounding areas. Um I don't know if you guys are familiar with dark skies, but basically it is an organization um that protects the night sky. We
017our fixture is dark sky compliant. Um we meet those certifications. Um, yeah, but it's my mission to make sure that the lights that go up at your school are in the community's best interest and we are providing the best fixture that we possibly can. >> You I think just um what was proposed for our project would be helpful and then you let me know when you're ready for the lights. I can turn them off. Um so the sports field that was proposed was a football field. Um we are going to be lighting for football lacrosse field hockey. Um and then track events as well. So there'll be kind of different options that the school can do um in the terms of lighting track events, walking track for the community um as well as the lights
018for the actual sporting events. Um yeah. Anything else? >> Pole heights. Okay. Yep. So, these poles, the two poles that are on the side of the neighbors, those are going to be 70 ft tall. The ones on the opposite side are going to be 80 feet tall. Now, pole height, I'll go into example when I show the demonstration, but pole height is important for that light control. So, typically with town variances, you'll see like 30 foot poles or 20 foot poles. Now, when it comes to actual sports lighting, we have to get that angle to actually make sure we're able to control that light and making sure that it's on those intended surfaces. So, for example, this is a 70 foot pole to scale model. This represents around 100 ft off of that surface. So,
019typically But typically for using um our competitors and other sports lighting fixtures, they will just have the light blast it try to get those light levels there with no control. You want to shut the lights off. So, this kind of just shows that light is blasting everywhere. There's no control. It's your house, neighbors, it's all going to be lit up. You're going to see that where some competitors and other sports lighting manufacturers will say, "We're going to put a visor on." Um, this will control the light. This will keep the light onto that intended surface. So, here's that example of some visors that other people will add to their go But yeah, it doesn't didn't really do much. Um, they said they have a visor. There is a visor on it, but it's not really
020controlling any of the that light. So, this is what we have engineered. This is the exact fixture that will be on your sports field. So you can kind of see the cut off is much greater. I mean I can move it too. You're not getting blasted over here anymore. The fixture is used to directionally control that light and make sure it is staying on those intended surfaces as well as protecting it from the sides as well as the back. So the difference between spill and glare, that's typically one thing we talk about a lot. Spill is that light that was over there, not on the actual playing surface. So that is technically what spill is defined as. Now glare is the measurement of glare is the experience of light that you're seeing. So, so technically
021right now like we're not experiencing any glare and that's because that actual diode, the light source is being completely covered. So any spill is anything that's off of the intended surface where glare is anything you're experiencing by seeing that actual light source. So another reason with pole heights is say your house is off of the backside and you're seeing oh we're going to have 80 foot poles. Yep. The point of those 80 foot poles is so that we can get the angle needed to make sure that you guys will not be visibly seeing those diodes. So you won't be experiencing the glare that is coming from those light sources if that makes sense. >> Analogy like >> is kind of like a stage lighting. When they flood the stage with light they're the lights are
022close because it provides a broad light. But when you do, you know, a focused um beam, I forget what that's a spotlight that's further away because you can focus it better and you don't have to spread it. And that's kind of similar to what they're doing. They're getting the light higher so it can be focused better with whatnot. >> Ena, could you explain to the board the difference between what light is needed um for a sporting event versus what light is needed for the walking track? >> Yep. So um it's all measured in a foot candle. So typically the IEES which is a engineering organization that sets the standards across the country for what light levels need to be met for sporting events. Um IES says that the standard for a football game, soccer game,
023lacrosse game is 50 foot candles. So for a regular sporting event when these lights are at maximum that is the light level that will be on the field. Now for community walking track um we have made it so that there is a circuit that you can shut off all the lights and just have the walking tracks on and I think the average for that is 6ft candles. So it's a significantly lower light level strictly for community use. So when they say that the lights are going to be on for the community use of the walking track, it's not at that high beam maximum which you're seeing here. Um, it's going to be at a lower dimmer level that is suitable for walking. >> Can you talk to because I thought it was so interesting when
024I heard this at the the other meeting, the lumens, how your light lumens is less than like headlight. You you gave some analogy about like what the lumens are. Maybe you could explain what lumens are, how they're measured, how the lights that we're proposing measure up to like lumens that we all interact with every day. >> Yeah. So, I thought two different things. So lumens and candela. So with the car um when you so glare when I say you experience glare that measurement is candela. So you are experiencing glare measured in a candela. So when you're staring at a high beam headlight, that's around 10,000 candela where the measurements that we have that we will exceed on these playing fields. I don't know if they have the scans, but it shows the highest reading of
025candela is around 400 on those houses. So just imagine when you're driving down the road, you're experiencing anything from 8 to 10 to 15,000 candela depending on if it's an LED high beam, an HID high beam. um where the candela readings on the field are significantly lower than that. And that's basically like this would be 10,000 candela where this comes down. I don't know the exact reading of candela for this, but you can just see that you can't see that light source. The candela is much lower. Um >> that's for the fixture that is aimed at So if the fixture that is so say like the light pole the glare source that you can see that is producing the candela on the road where you're taking that measurement that is what that reading is. >>
026Okay. Go ahead. >> Just a reminder that um right now it's just questions for the board. >> Oh okay. >> No worries. >> Did I answer your question on Kate? >> Yeah. You answered it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Uh-huh. >> So, I thought that was very interesting because I didn't like I know I get blind in my headlight sometimes. >> Well, the difference between the glare and the Yeah. This >> Yeah. And then >> just to like that is the quality of >> 400 400 not even better. And then when you were kind of talking about the lumens, um lumens are typically the same when it comes to HID and LED, but the big difference is the um the Kelvin temperature. So this Kelvin temperature is much higher versus what we have is a 5700
027Kelvin. >> Um >> go ahead. Uh so I know there's been uh questions as to uh you know time frame which we might have the lights on um you know lighting for track at night versus sporting events. Um uh are you or could you um and your team put together some procedures um that you know you know you share that we could look at so we could you know that I guess community could understand you know what our what our plans are when we would run the lights when we would not run them you know >> that's a great idea there's a lot of misinformation that's been out so that would be helpful >> yeah I've seen a number of flyers that have had statements that some, you know, had some inaccuracies in there. Um,
028and I think in part it's just, you know, we haven't been a we haven't communicated, you know, exactly what our procedures are. >> So, I think from right from the very beginning because it's not a turf field, there's going to be very limited use on that. So, I'm going to turn it over to Aaron. She'll talk about the amount of games that can be played on it. Um, and kind of our thought process about when we would leave the track lighting on as well. >> Right. So because it's a grass field, we're limited in um how we can use it, what sports we can use it for. So as a grass field, it's used for football and for uh boys varsity lacrosse and then obviously the track around for track and field events. Um so
029because of that, I believe that the varsity football season is eight, maybe nine games. Half of those are home games, so we're looking about four to five football games. Maybe a track event in the spring um at night, but as Mr. Casada will tell you there are track and field events that can only be played in the daylight. So the feasibility of doing night events for that is slim to none. And lacrosse is interesting because the ball is so small. It has to be completely pitch dark in order to have a nighttime lacrosse game. So that means starting a lacrosse game this time of year around 8:00 at night. So that would not be something that is feasible to have as evening games. So, we had talked about maybe a maximum of 10 um athletic
030events at night for the entire school year. The majority of the time the lights would be used, our promise to the community was that we would you have them um on for walking the track. Um so, we would be looking at an academic calendar September to June, but even in June, it's lighter out um late enough that we don't necessarily need to put the lights on. We do have a timer for the lights um so that we can set an end time. Um and then in the winter when we have a winter like we did this year, it is not feasible for us to plow the track. So there could be months where it's just not usable. And in those situations, the lights would not be on. >> There are some of us who actually
031still run on the >> Okay, run. Now you're just look other questions anyone happening at other events happening on the field that we would need the lights for. It's just the school district. >> Yeah. I mean there may be um so in the past we've given like Saturday during the day to pop Warner um but we don't use that as a practice field because of our limited use. So there may be a scenario if we have um met the heat index in August and the kids can't play in the sunshine because it's too hot maybe they'd have a practice at night under the lights but that would not be the norm. Any any other questions? >> No. >> Thank you. >> Right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. >> I know the scale. >>
032How much do people get for that visor that doesn't work? >> Yeah. I like that. >> The Yeah, the cover made a big difference. Yeah. >> Thanks. We appreciate it. All right. So, that brings us to our first recognition of visitors. Um, if you would like to speak, we ask that you come up to the podium um talking to the microphone. Uh, please state your name. We also ask that you keep your remarks to 3 minutes or less. And just a reminder, this is not an interactive exercise. This is a listening exercise for the board. and um we will get back to you or you know get the appropriate people to you um at some point dur after this meeting. Is anyone like to speak? This one right here. >> My name is Colleen Bloxson.
033I am uh one of the residents that literally backs onto the field. So, I have two two of the concerns with the lighting that one of the lights that's between the jump the new jump uh what do you call that? Jump field, the jump pit and my fence literally is practically in my backyard. I understand the directional lighting. Um, and I understand how that helps, but the glow that multiple heads I understand there's going to be 55 lights. Is that correct? The last I heard from the Musco stuff. Anyway, my understanding was there was going to be 55 heads. There's going to be seven poles, five on the track, five on the four on the football field, two, three on the Anyway, the numbers don't matter. It's it's Yeah, it's for poles on the main
034field. The I think the light that you're referring to by the long jump, that's only needed if there was a nighttime event, right? >> Um that's not something that would be turned on for general. >> Is that something that's on when the track is on? >> It is not. >> Okay. Um my other concern is I know they've said because we have a limited use field, we can only have so many football games, but my question is how many track events does that give us? Does that then up that? And then my other biggest concern is parameters on things like noise ordinances. We have noise ordinances in our village for a reason. You know, they end at nine o'clock even for things like our bands that play, weddings that come. I mean, I'm I'm a
035I'm a chef and a caterer and I've been shut down for noise ordinances for bands playing in weddings and barns and all kinds of things. And my question is because we have a residential area, I shouldn't say my question, sorry. My my comment is is that because we have a residential area that backs directly onto the field, we are directly affected by all of those noise ordinances that my understanding is the school doesn't have to meet. And my question is is why why do why do we allow a game that creates that much noise and bells and whistles and you know you have start guns and all the things for track meets that kind of noise. It's really loud and I can literally hear the loudspeaker from the school at my house every day. I
036hear it all day long, all winter long, every time you guys are in school. I even heard my own kid's name when he got in trouble. So, like, I get that these things go on, but what I don't understand is that there's no parameters as to how these fields will be used and how they will directly affect especially my property and all of us on that back row. It it's it's a lot. It really is a lot. And I would also question whether, you know, the practice and all of that stuff, things like the music that these kids play is incredibly loud, often incredibly rude. And I just I I think some of the parameters really need to be considered when we look at this field being active often along with the lighting spill, glare,
037all of those things that will then literally light my entire yard. I mean, I already get lit from the security lights on the other side of the field. Colleen, >> I'm sorry to cut you off, but it's Yeah, sorry. That was three concerns. That's good. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to come up there? >> Hello, my name is uh Charlie Lang. Uh I'm also a resident on Mazeand Road behind the school. Um I'm a former village trustee, former deputy chair of the town planning board. Uh, I like the and both my kids went through Red Hook schools, did very well with the IB program, did the full IB diploma. Guys did too. Uh, and were varsity athletes. Um, and I think it's fantastic that the schools, the middle and high schools are
038in the village. It's it's great to have those schools in the village, but they need to recognize that that's a community setting and this village character to be thought about. 80 foot poles, 70 foot poles, you know, 80 foot poles are more than twice as tall as any building in the village, taller than any of the trees around them. It's it's out of character. uh I don't believe you couldn't achieve the same or adequate lighting with shorter fewer pole and that would be more in keeping with the character of the village. Um I think the the demonstration missed the opportunity of having a little figurine of a person to scale next to that massive light pole. Um, and I I just think it's it's out of scale. I I don't understand the the board was
039in front of the school was in front of the village planning board for a special permit but then uh backed off from that you know process that is intended to go through seeker to to address impacts and community character. So I don't understand why that process didn't go through. uh and there was a county outreach as part of that too. I don't know what happened to that. My other concern is that it sounds from the the board that this is a huge investment for a remarkably small number of football games because of the nature of the field because it's a grass field. Sounds like the board is still looking to uh long-term go to turf, which the village and the school district and the the the members, the residents have already shot down three times.
040So, I hope that's not the case. Uh anyway, maybe that's just paranoia on my part. But um I would seriously ask the board to to consider ways to make this more in keeping with the character of the village and not to you know impinge upon the neighboring residences and communities. Uh and that's my time. >> Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Come on up. Evening. >> Good evening. >> I'm Ross Williams and I live on London Avenue. And while I don't have the same immediate effect that the previous two speakers have talked about, I do have a concern about the lack of involvement in community participation in setting some guidelines for the use of the fields. And I was encouraged to hear that that the board is thinking of looking at
041a plan and I think you should do that. Uh I believe that you should do that in conjunction with a cross-section of the community uh that includes residents and that there should be some upper limits on the usage of the fields. I think that's in keeping with the need to protect from overuse of the fields. Uh I'm encouraged by your attention to the lighting. The technical standards seem excellent. uh it's not the lighting so much that is my concern but rather the usage patterns that will occur and the impacts that that will have in terms of uh noise traffic uh and just the general climate that is created in what is a a school that's in a neighborhood. It's in a residential neighborhood and I think there is some balance of both school interests and
042and neighborhood interests that needs to be recognized, appreciated and embraced. In fact, I think it would be an example for our our children to see the community together in that manner. So, I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. name is Barry Lipshots and I live at 80 West Marcus Street. Um, across the street from that big mansion that sits across the street from the school and in my kitchen, I have a direct view right through the mansion would be on my right where I'm sitting. Trees are down a little bit back further. But I'm wondering if there's reflection or deflection of the light when it shows here this when it's had the table up here. So I would be neighbor has put up a pool house and he put up a metal a
043black metal roof on it. And for at least two hours a day in the middle of the afternoon, the sun hits that black roof and it comes right in my windows and I have to shut my drapes. Now the sun also hits that normally hits that. So now I I'm thinking, do I have to think what time of day it is because I I have to pull my drapes in the back of the house and do I have to pull the stuff in my on the front of the house now? So maybe I don't know what the deflection would be from that kind of light. Um way that light was shining here, there was no light coming behind it, but there's going to be lights on that side if the field goes this way. And
044that's the way it is in front of my house. It goes east and west. So that's 22. >> All right. Thank you. We appreciate it. And would anyone else like to come up and speak? >> Hi, my name is Paul Glock. I'd just like to store and endorse the comments made by prior speaker community input and thank you comment about getting the community together with some sort of program in order to have a agreed upon set of parameters or protocols for the use use of the field. Um, I have I am a great supporter of the district. I support the athletic program. I have two daughters who participated in their high school in the athletic program. I think it's a I think it's fantastic for people and I think it is um I can really
045see the added benefit of trying to pull an additional program into nighttime for for the community. But but make no mistake, these lights are big and stadium lighting and the associated impact in the community is large. It's a residential community. Always associated with night games until 10 p.m. or later. Highly disruptive. Um particularly to families with young children. And although the lights are well designed um they are not without um impact sky glow and there is glare. I think you can imagine. Look at the center page of some of the materials that the lighting vendor put out. You could see big lights and see big lights um in the sky. Good part of Red Hook. I can appreciate the um district's receptive and being sensitive to the concerns of its neighbors. I know you've said
046you're committed to minimizing the potential impacts. Um but as I understand the plan here it is to send this project um to the state to a bureaucracy that itself says it has no interest in local usage. It has no interest in local parameters and no uh input into how the lights will be used. That is something really that locally and here if you look at what other districts have done they've done as was was suggested here they've formed committees they've had um process by which the community um gets together and with the district and with other stakeholders and um incorporates a a use plan. Um and we all know that it's all very nice to be relying on other people's goodwills and you know good intentions but um paraphrase you know good rules make good
047neighbors. We could set that out in a in a formal process in a writing um that I think could be beneficial. >> Thank Thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you. >> I I know we don't norm this is a uh a listening exercise, but there's a question that's come up a couple times and so I thought it may be appropriate to um if there's an answer uh that um one of the the administration could provide doc Dr. Warden or Aaron. Um uh we originally were going to go to the planning board and now we're going through to the state. Um can you give us any background as to why that change was made? >> Yeah, I think but right from the beginning we had every intention to go uh and work with the village board
048and go through their ordinance and go through their planning process. Um the attorneys from both the village board and our attorney had many conversations and it was just brought to our attention through the village that we should seek approval in our normal process with SED. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, did anyone else want Go ahead. I think him in the back is first, but >> Hello. Good to see some of you. My name is Justin Ridgely. Um, I own the home at Threel Lyndon, which is uh being renovated right now. Hope to move in soon with my three children, all of which who will go to Red Hook Schools. Uh, I don't I first of all really appreciate the demonstration, all the information, and your desire to make the lights as in or unobtrusive as
049possible. The demonstration was very helpful in showing that. I think my um thoughts here are more about the question that was just brought up about showed up to the planning board to hopefully hear a public discussion on this a few weeks back only to find that the permit application was pulled and that the district would go straight to the state. This felt uh disappointing. It felt like a missed opportunity to continue the process that had started by working with the community. And it felt like well it kind of undermine trust when I'm basically with no policy in place about how these lights will be used. Uh it doesn't convince me that they'll be used responsibly in the years to come when community input was potentially abandoned when it seemed maybe there was a little resistance
050uh coming. I had to submit a foil request to find out there were 30 letters submitted before that meeting. Some for some against. Um, and it's commentary that we're hearing somewhat tonight. What would have enjoyed hearing is in the what I thought would be the normal venue of the Red Hook Village Planning Board. So, I think I'm just yeah wondering um why that decision was decided by two attorneys working between the district and the village and not members of the community or members of the board or members of the district themselves. And it just uh again I I'm very supportive of the concept. I think and I appreciate again all you've done to make this proposal and the designs um less impactful, but I'd like to see this put back in the hands of of
051the I think the jurisdiction of the village or at least to work with the community to to get some fair use standards or how that would even be done, you know, every year or something like that so that you know six to 10 to 12 sporting events um you know doesn't turn into something more and after they're up that's a lot harder to do I think. And so again, appreciate the time here and all the feedback and just want to kind of voice those concerns about the process seemingly kind of going over our heads at the village level straight to the state which again doesn't care about our local community whatsoever. >> All right. Thank you. Um was there someone in the was there a gentleman? There you go. >> My name is uh John
052Rman. I live on six Mazland and uh these are my neighbors here. Some of them I know I don't know. Uh and my kids have gone to this school. Um they've graduated. Uh two are married. One is in London. She's still trying to get a degree on something or other whatever. But the thing is uh uh this school system has always taken care of my kids. They were in the school productions. They were on the sports teams, track, soccer. They're also on swimming. You guys don't have a pool yet, but you should look into that eventually. Anyway, um that's up for the agenda. Now, I just want to clarify something. Uh lumens is um in candela. Candela is when you're looking at the headlights of a car, that's the bright light that you see when
053you're staring at you. It's a point of light. And lumens is per square feet. That's the the light that hits the surface. So, like this is lumens right here. It's not it's not a bright light. And this is candela. looking at it as a shining light. So the idea is that um uh lumens are a weaker form of light because it's sort of like a reflection off the surface. White reflects a lot, black doesn't, etc. Uh and the thing is um with that little model there, it's supposed to be scale of 7 ft. Well, um this wall right here and everything is only about 30 ft. So if you put two of these walls one on top of the other and add another 20 feet, that's going to be 8 ft. So where I am
054is like maybe like not more than 500 ft away from the track and field and to put an 80 foot structure up there. Uh I'm going to see it somehow. Even if you have like a tilt that goes like this and from what what you said there, two of the lights would be facing from um from the street over to our side and then there'll be lights all around the the track and stuff like that. So, um, even with the angle, you're probably going to see some of the lumens and not just the other thing is if you have 80 ft, but there's a inverse square law for light familiar with that. You know how that works? >> Like if I'm here >> anyway from a point of light and you're 100t away then this
055this particular object if I move 50 ft in twice as much. So if you got an 80 foot that's it get the same amount of but you don't have same density of light but anyway so um >> thank you Mr. Radman, I'm sorry to cut you off. That's three minutes. We appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. And would anyone else like to speak? >> Oh, there you go. Hi, Dan. Um Dan Hubble, uh graduate, uh 1994. I have um two daughters that graduate in 2024 and 2025 and another that will be graduating in 2039. Um we live at 85 West Market Street, my backyard. Literally, you can see the bleachers. Um middle COVID when you did um the block parties because you couldn't do dances. Uh, we heard it when the pack was being
056built. Was in my off in my office working away and hearing the trucks back up and the beeping all day. Uh, I see the security lights every night when I go to bed because my back my bedroom looks off at the back end. Um, and I'm 100% in support of this project. They should be 80 ft. This is a great community resource. When I'll tell you a quick story. When PAC came, the Performing Arts Center came before the community, I voted against it, I think the first couple of times because I said, "This thing's never going to be used." Uh, I can't think of a better use of $16 million. Uh, that performing arts center is used incredibly. It is having two daughters go through the high school. That room has kids in it every
057minute of the day. And then when school ends, continues to have kids in it every minute until they have to go home for dinner. And it has just expanded what we can do as a community. We can host all county. We can do great plays that we recognize tonight. It expanded our ability as a community. Now look, I've lived here since 1983. It was a football field when I moved here. I believe it was a football field two decades before then. When we bought our house at 85 Markets, West Market Street, we knew we were moving into next to a football field. I hear the football games. I hear the offensive music on Saturdays when I'm outside playing with my kid. But I will also say this, we use and other community members use that
058field so much. You see my idiot little four-year-old riding down the street, I'm sure, with his red helmet on on his on his bike. We're we go up and down those internal roadways between the high school and the middle school all the time. We're on the parking lot. When my daughter had dreams of becoming a track star, we went to the high school track at six o'clock every morning for about two months. And we saw a lot of people at the track. And in the evenings when we're there, we see lots of people still out on the field, immigrant community members who are playing soccer, teenagers, all sorts of things. This expands our ability as a community to provide more to our taxpayers. It's worth whatever the $2 million, $4 million. I if we're going
059to put taxpayer money into this, then let's get the most use that we can get out of it. I will maybe I'll be inconvenienced by these lights, but I don't care. I had my three-year-old, 2-year-old kid sleeping through block parties that went past 9:00 at night and he slept through it. I I I'm not worried about the noise. This is about you as a board have the opportunity, I think, to expand what we do for our community. And I think that's a glorious and wonderful thing. And as far as why is this here and not in front of planning board, I am an attorney. I do land use law. New I don't know why this ever went to the village board. It never should have. New York law is clear that each municipal corporation has
060its own jurisdiction in terms of land use decisions that it's done. the school is subject to Department of Education's overview of their projects, but this was voted for by the taxpayers. Um, there was it was given a yes for that. The community does want this. I I couldn't speak more in support of of this project. I'm sure this makes me unpopular with my neighbors, but I truly believe that this is an opportunity for us to really do something great for our community. >> That's Thank you, Dan. Um, anyone else would like to speak? >> All right, thank you. Um, moving right along. Now, we're going to go into um, budget discussions with our budget presentation. >> Yeah. >> Yahoo. >> I don't know if this is the right time to say it, but also we
061have extended to any community member, and I know we've met with some. Please, we can't answer your questions back and forth, but you could call Aaron or I at any time. You can come in, you can talk to us about your concerns. Um, we are very open to meeting people. I just want to get that out there so that you don't feel like your questions will go unanswered. You could call us, email us, or even come by. >> Good evening everyone. Uh, tonight's a very exciting night for me. It's the night that the board will hopefully approve the budget for 2026 27. There is a a um resolution on the agenda after the presentation for that. Um, there's also a resolution for the board to adopt the property tax report card and the school budget
062notice. Uh, that's actually the important part right there is for the board to adopt that property tax report card because we then uh report it to New York State. And after that, we're able to uh put all of our budget documents together and have them available for the public and for the budget hearing which will be on May 7th. So, uh the uh budget uh has not changed since we presented it last in March. Um you'll see the summary on the screen. Um here at the top part of the screen are our expenditures and the bottom part is the revenues. The budget for next year is 67.3 million which is a 3.66% increase or 2.4 million. Um as I said this is the same budget that we presented in March. So I'll just point out
063two of the significant changes um in the expenditures. Uh first of all, you'll notice that the equipment um the equipment line um increased by 11.4%. Uh the reason for that is that we added the car kit for the winter circle program into equipment. The rest of that program is paid for through Boseies and also we reallocated some money from contractual. We moved it into equipment so that we can purchase some furniture and shelving for the high school at the library or the high school library. Um that's not new money. It was just a reallocation. Um I I do know we talked earlier about the employee benefits and how the health insurance was increasing um nearly 10%. However, o all benefits overall are just increasing 3.2%. Uh the other benefits other than health insurance include our
064pension costs and also uh payroll cost. Um at the bottom of the screen you'll notice the revenues. Um I do have some slides regarding the tax levy increase which I'll talk about. uh we are at the maximum amount allowed um under the law that 3.6% increase. Uh the state aid that you see here is based on the governor's proposal. As you may know, the state has not yet passed their budget. Um if there are any changes to the state aid uh after the state passes their budget, it'll be minimal um and could just um provide a little um extra money that would go into our uh into our revenues at that time. um if we don't spend that money, it would fall to fund balance, but we're not expecting any big changes on that state
065level. So, this slide shows the three-part component budget. Uh we are required to show that uh for the public. Also attached on tonight's agenda under the um resolution to adopt the budget is the three-part budget, the line by line detail. That information will actually become part of our budget book. Um, we do show every account code broken down as either admin, program or capital. And then this slide here just shows some of the factors that go into the tax cap calculation. Um, as I stated, our tax cap increase for next year is 3.61%. That is the maximum amount that we're allowed to levy. In order for the budget to pass, we would need to have a 50% approval rating. If we went over the maximum amount, we would have to have a 60% approval rating.
066and the uh components of the tax cap um calculation are actually listed here. The consumer price index change um that's really the inflationary factor in 2025 the change in CPI was 2.63% but New York State limits that in the tax cap calculation to 2%. So every school district in New York State is using 2% as that part of their calculation. Another factor that's included here is the tax base growth factor that represents an actual physical change in the properties, not simply uh an increase in assessments. That's different for every school district in New York State, but New York State does provide that information to every school district. Uh for Red Hook, it's 1.02% for next year. And then overall our tax cap increase can be uh looked at uh what's the increase for operations and
067what what do we have in the increase for capital. So we show that at the bottom of the slide. Uh 2.98% of that three 3.61% is for operations and 63% is for the capital portion of the budget. Uh this slide here uh we also went over this at the last meeting too. This is the actual calculation for the uh tax cap calculation. Um the taxbased growth factor and the allowable levy growth factor that I just talked about as well as changes for the capital uh exclusion part of the calculation and pilots which are payments in lie of taxes are applied to the current year levy to determine the maximum allowable tax levy which for next year would be the 42.7 million which is listed at the bottom which uh represents that 3.61% 61% increase. So,
068um you know, I do know I went through that quite uh quickly, but we uh didn't make any changes since last time, and I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have. >> And I just go ahead. >> No, I just want to say thank you. You know, our district um and budget are in good standing, especially during a time when so many of our neighboring districts are not. Appreciate that. Thank you. >> Okay, that brings us to item number two under discussions. Um, uh, the, uh, Lynon Avenue Middle School lockers. So, I need a motion and a second on that. >> Second. Uh, all those in favor? >> I just wanted to No, it's okay. I'm I just wanted to make a comment. So, we have to have the SECRA for any
069capital project that we do. It stands for the state educational quality review act. So, the state um we submit it to the state and they look at the environmental considerations for every project. This particular one, we'd like to use our capital outlay money um to do some locker renovations at the middle school that have been there for several decades. >> Those the ones that are in the classrooms. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. They have been there a minute. Um, all right. So, that brings us to item number three. Um, approve the uh 2026 2027 budget. Um, can I get a motion? >> Motion. >> Um, any discussion on that? All right. All those in favor? >> I. And then, um, we need to approve the uh, budget reports. And I need a motion, a second on
070that. >> Second. Uh, any discussion? All those in favor? I. Thank you. All right, Dr. Warden. >> So, I just wanted to highlight that we had our second uh visit for the community engagement team. We went we were at the high school and Tom Casada spoke about health and athletics. Um Anthony Kurio spoke about transportation and some of the obstacles to EV bus, which we'll talk about a little bit later when we talk about the resolution that the board has. Um, Linda Steinberg, our wonderful businessman administrator, was there talking about the budget. Um, Dr. Hayes was there talking also about the budget in the capital projects and Mr. Rody presented um, the programmings at the high school as well as we toured the building and it was great because we were touring right at lunchtime.
071So, people made the comment about this is like a little city that just appears and then disappears and then reappears the next day. So, we sent out a um survey because we ran over time. So, we're looking for the survey to come back. So, once that's back, I'll be able to report out to the board. But, I feel like it was successful. We also have our budget expo coming up. So, I think most of you probably got um an email or saw it on social media, but I'll also send these out for you. So again, we're going to continue with our budget expo, which is a way that the public um taxpayers can see where the money goes that they're voting on every year. So we will have tables set up where you can interact
072with staff and also students about our clubs, about our programs. Um we also have again our new classes like the winter circle project where our students will be building a race car and marketing. We also will talk about our capital projects that night. So, there will be an EV bus that you could ride also to over to see the bus garage um and what's going on there. We'll talk about our renovations to our welding program that we're looking for in the fall. But it's basically going to be a highle overview. We also are really lucky to have during that the farm to school showcase. So, there'll be food. Um unfortunately, the cow that we usually get something's going on with the cow. Cow's got the cow's getting an award. I mean, it's very popular cow.
073Uh-huh. >> Um, but what you what you'll be able to do is sample foods that are um one day going to be served in our cafeteria. So, the students and the parents can and the community members can sample some of our foods. And we're really looking to get some more form uh farm-totable in our schools. So, this is a great way to showcase that. So, I encourage people the board um again it'll be from May 7th here at Mil Road from 5:30 to 6:45 and then at 7 we will have the budget hearing and also at um during the budget hearing you'll be able to hear from the four uh candidates for the board of education and Linda did mention this in her presentation but I think one of the pe things that people don't
074understand is that every year we have to meet certain deadlines lines for our budget and right now the governor is on their fifth emergency ex uh extender. Um the deadline was April 1st. There was an extender to April 22nd. We were advised to use previous numbers for aid runs, but this is also just adds to the impact around when you see other school districts really in this unknown. Um it's really a difficult thing and the issues that appear to be are not appearing around education. they seem to be more about insurance, environmental laws, immigration, and housing. Um, so I think it's important that the board and also our associations continue to advocate for changing to school funding at the very least to meet their deadline, but overall just um changes in how our our schools
075are funded. There was an a study done by the Rockefeller Center that was really thoughtful and it's really is nothing has changed since then. So, uh, just continue continue that advocacy around, um, funding schools in an appropriate way and in a sustainable way in the future. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Summers. Thank you, Dr. Warden. So, um, I'm going to be reporting out of my office and also the areas that I supervise. So, I'll start with my office. um been very busy partnering with our director of our mentor committee and our mentor coordinator. We have reviewed and updated our mentor ambassador documents, professional development opportunities and really a self-re reflective process to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our new teachers that are brand new to the field and also teachers
076that have been in the field but are new to our district. Um, I've attended conferences focused on literacy in AI and education, planned and supported professional development for the March 13th superintendent conference day, which I reported out on the last board meeting, uh, reviewed student teaching placements, requests, and interviewed candidates for year-long internships for next year. I continue to meet with department chairs, coordinators, and liaons to to discuss co goal setting, curriculum development, our atlas mapping pro process and progress. We're almost completely um done with all of our coursework and mapping those, but that is always a continuous process for updates to our work. uh have collaborated with our director of technology to engage parent groups on district technology use and supported the development of um a new committee for next year the instructional technology
077task force. I am in the process of reviewing tenure teacher portfolios. Um leading the charge on the budget expo, working with teacher department leaders administration. Let's see. Working on preparations for summer academy 2026. Working on finalizing arts and education programming for next year. Um we do my office does track and monitor staff certification the status and making sure that they are compliant and timely renewed. Uh I continue to do teacher observation administrative observations and um I also attend a monthly meeting at Duchess Boseis. Now on to the athletic department. Mr. Casada has um shared that he has signed um the students have signed um one student has signed with St. Thomas Aquinus will he will continue his academics and baseball career and another student has signed with Sunni Oniana where he'll continue his academics and
078basketball career. Um he also extends a thank you to the board of education for the continued support of the athletics department. >> Um Mr. Gardner, who's our director of technology, is working on the smart schools bond to make sure we get reimbursement. Uh firewall is scheduled to be replaced in May. He says his team has supported computer-based testing which has occurred this month at a New York state level. And he also has supported the preparation for the new sign up for health insurance. So he has ensured that all people that are involved in that uh will did get email accounts. Um PPS that's our director Amanda Allison is our director of PPS. She continues to work on annual reviews uh supporting professional development across all areas of special ed. We are focused on making sure
079that our special ed teachers have the skill and the training for multi-ensory reading. Uh Amanda was awarded a $2,500 scholarship to become a certified instructor in youth mental health first aid and so she will be able to lead professional development to train our staff in the coming year. Um, also our unified basketball team is on the courts and had a game today. So very um, that's a lot of fun. And she also supports parents as partners workshops. The next one will be April 27th at the Performing Arts Center and it will feature a presentation by Westchester Institute for Human Development. On to the high school. The high school continues to interview for new teachers for next year. The master schedule is in the works. Student services has been very busy with college planning evenings. Scholarship
080season has is upon us for their seniors and to support students on their college search. Um, the middle school has did host a Shakespeare performing arts midsummer night stream presentation that's supported by arts and education. They're also doing ELA, New York State ELA assessments and math assessments. On to Mil Road. Milro completed kindergarten screening for both in-house and new students will be welcoming in the fall. And Mrs. Strothman and Dr. Boyd did meet individually with families to discuss their child's development, celebrate their strengths, and address any questions they have. They also administered the Fontis and Panel benchmark assessments and oh god, I'll get it to you. Okay, they did do kindergarten registration and prek is um I know we have four classes but I get those numbers something like that but I'll send you that
081information both kindergarten and um prek um wasn't in the report sorry um one of the things with the mino benchmark assessments that the the um results were truly remarkable we've worked really hard our teacher teachers and our administrative staff at Milroad have really been focused on all aspects of a very structured literacy program and they have seen tremendous growth in reading development since the beginning of the school year. So, we're very, you know, thrilled to report out on that. Um, Mil Road was the first community engagement visit that was um I think very enlightening and um showcase the innovation that's happening at the elementary school. Uh student council is working on a talent show that would be a lot of fun to go watch and I believe I hit all of them. >> Okay, thank
082you. I talked fast but there's a lot to share. >> Three and a half minutes. >> Well, I try I knew I only have three minutes, right? So, Yes, that'll start next fall. Haven't made all those decisions yet. Certainly staff stakeholders would be involved in initially it' probably be internal and then we'll go from there. But I'll keep you informed at board meetings and um Brett and I are going to another professional development on Thursday from the Rockefeller Institute. So that had a lot in AI and what best practices out in all fields medical law law school. So we're um excited to gather that type of information to see um what the very best practice is. But we are we will start that um task force next year. Um and it will involve initially very
083pertinent stakeholder groups within our internal community and then um there'll be opportunity for community and parents to have input on that. Okay. But more to come on that. >> Yeah. And at a very high level, it's like philosophically and educationally like how we believe technology should be used in the classroom. Um, and how it should enhance learning, not just be like a substitution for learning. So, we'll look at different models and also the future of AI as we're embracing it and thinking about it and we see that like some places are putting out policies. We we have a policy, but putting out more procedures and really like talking about what we believe in and how how we that should be used effectively. And we assume we called it a task force because we don't believe
084it's something that we're going to like we're probably going to meet for like this year then put things into place and then maybe in the we're going to have to meet again because things are so who knows what it'll be like in a couple years. But I think what we're hearing from the community is um there's a lot of concerns about computer use. we, you know, we have a cell phone ban. Now, a lot of people are talking about computer use. So, we really want to make sure that whatever we're using in our classrooms is sound instructionally. So, we will start with the people that are closest to the students first. Um, and really talk about how they're using it now, how is it effective for instruction, curriculum, grading, assessments, everything like that. And then,
085like Kitty said, push it out to the wider community to say, "What are you noticing at home? What are your thoughts on it?" So, it's going to be great work. Yeah. Dr. H. >> Great. So, um, in facilities, we have a couple exciting updates. As part of our capital project that was approved, the next phase, um, in accordance with the NAERTA efficiency study was to convert all of the lights in Milro Elementary School and the high school to LED. So, we had that first walk through um, to talk about that. If you remember when I presented, we are going to have all the lights on occup occupancy sensors. So there will be no longer switches. And also included is um the different types of color lights to minimize um sensory input for some of our
086students. So that will be automatically part of every classroom, which is great. Um so that work is in uh expected to be done in the spring of 2027. We also had our bid opening last week. Those award recommendations are on the board agenda for tonight. Right now, the schedule has us with a June 1st start date on the field renovation work. It looks like we are scheduled to do the majority of the work over the summer to finish in the fall and then we should be able to use those um some in the spring of uh 2027 with our substantial completion which is great. Um in the transportation department we did want to give an update after last board meeting when we talked about those EV buses were out of service. We do have three
087buses back in the garage and that are back on the road which is great. they're working reliably. Um, and it helps because we have had up to four, we average about four athletic trips a day in the spring. So, it's been busy. We also had um a loner bus which New York bus sales gave us without cost just to make up for the difference on the other two buses that are still being serviced. So, that was really generous of them and that's helped out a lot especially when we have Department of Transportation inspections. So, school buses have to be inspected twice a year. Um, so that takes them off the road for the time of the inspection. Um and as Dr. Warden mentioned, we have a couple things um for you tonight. One of them
088is a uh petition that all of the school districts are looking at. And basically it's asking the state to look at the utility study to see the feasibility of every district complying with the mandate to do a full fleet conversion to EV buses. Um so they estimate that most districts could do up to 10. For us it was six without any major infrastructure work. But the question is really can the utility companies handle the load of full fleet conversions. So this petition is basically asking the state to do a full study to make sure that it's feasible to keep the mandate in place so that the utilities can be put in place. The other Yeah. The other thing that we uh were communicated to this week was that starting in 2027 uh the department New
089York State Department of Transportation is going to be prohibited from um uh inspecting any newly purchased fuel buses. So if we buy a fuel bus, we won't be able to put it on the road because they won't be allowed to inspect it. Um we can apply for a waiver, but it's unclear exactly what the criteria for the waiver is. They've they made some preliminary comments that if we've made the effort to comply with the mandate, we're more likely to get the waiver. But I think these are things the board should consider when we continue to have the conversation about the mandate and EV purchasing or fuel bus purchasing as we move into next school year. Um because as it stands, we still by 2035 are supposed to have a complete conversion of our entire fleet
090in starting next spring. Uh we aren't allowed to buy fuel buses. the uh sales companies have been prohibited from selling them to us and if we did find a way around that they won't be able to be inspected and put on the road. >> Any positive news from Albany? anything >> as it relates to as it relates to supporting districts in this migration because the cost is >> well for some districts the cost is just >> well even for us I mean I as we've been very fortunate that the six buses we were able to purchase um we were able to use grant monies for that uh which made a big difference but moving forward because we've exhausted that each bus runs about a half a million dollars a bus compared to a fuel bus
091at 180 So it's a huge price differential and I think these are the things that districts are contending with and trying to talk to the state that the concept is great but you need to put the supports in place in order for districts to make this happen. So I I want to keep the conversation going because we are going to have to make some decisions moving into next year and we if we don't purchase anything we run the risk of skipping a year of transportation aid which we use as a revenue source for part of our budget. So there's a lot of implications there. Um, >> and I think when the public is going to hear that the governor put money aside for this, I believe the number was like 10 million, which is >>
092that's nothing. >> That's we'll spend more. Yeah. >> So, it's one of those things that I think in obviously we should be looking at different energy sources. I think that's the wonderful thing to do, but I think the feasibility is where that petition comes in to say we don't even have the infrastructure set up in our state to handle every school district with a fleet of electric buses. So, you've got to do that first before you create a mandate. So, I don't know. It's backwards, but I think >> Well, kudos to our admin for getting the six buses at like $10,000 or whatever they they cost us. It was $13,000 for each of the first two that was purchased. And then the the four we haven't paid for yet, but the estimated cost to the
093district is 60,000 a bus. And that's a function of the state changing the reimbursement rate on aid. >> So interesting. >> So they lowered the rate so we got less money back. >> Oh, okay. Well, still still that's less that's that's 100,000 less than a gas bus and 300,000 less than what a you know a full electric bus would cost. So um you I've heard some you know snippity little comments here and there about an electric bus out of service or this or that. It's new technology but um you know for getting six electric buses um giving us a good jump start on this mandate and uh you know it's I I think it's smart and it's new technology there may be some issues and you know they have to get a little extra service
094up front or whatever um get sent back to get something fixed but um you know it's it's a very smart move to have gotten these six buses at such a low cost. So, and >> you mentioned the restrictions on the fuel bus. Does that include propane as well? >> Yes. Anything that is not zero emissions and so hybrid >> as well, right? >> Okay. >> So, what about the >> has to be fully >> Fully electric. Yes. >> So, the ones that we are looking to purchase those are they >> No, those are those are Yeah, those are vehicles. those are our smaller SUVs that that it's not the same thing and and we're still under the purchasing window until 2027. It's really next year that we're going to have to make that decision about
095how we move forward with this. And we're not alone in that. Every district is, you know, and they've also put a mandate in place that is um even when we put something before uh the voters, they have to vote for it, >> right? That's the biggest problem. So, if the voters vote no and there's still a mandate, right? >> It's just we have They issued it. I believe it was three years ago. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And the same with infrastructure that we mentioned before with the bus garage. they aren't aiding all the infrastructure, which is um a little frustrating because we have to upgrade infrastructure to support the mandate, but yet they don't want to aid it fully. So, and again, every district's having this conversation. >> Yeah. And that's also in the determination
096what's going on in the state right now, whether or not they're going to aid that storage. So, hopefully it'll be us. This came up at the lower Hudson um council school superintendent. So they really started this charge. So I think that it's good for the board to reach out to their board association. And there has to be more advocacy around this because I feel like the superintendent group is like screaming from the mountains like we need to do something and I'm not sure that maybe people are really aware of what's being asked of us. A lot of schools are just ignoring it. Um, >> well, it's it's I mean, communities aren't going to vote to for those kind of capital spends uh to buy those buses and the kids are still going to need to
097get bus. So, what's Albany going to do? >> I have no idea. >> Do these types of things. So I think for us it's just putting that petition out to the board and then later on on the meeting there's a signature or an actual letter that comes from the school district. >> But in happy news in our food service department um we have increased our meal um sales by 10%. Uh Sam Pride has done an amazing job of just trying different foods and recipes and uh the kids are really buying into it. He's also done an incredible job partnering with our local farms and working on that 30% initiative. So, as Janet mentioned, we have the budget expo on May 7th. We have 12 confirmed farms coming. Um, we also have other farms that are
098sending samples. So, yes, there will be food, which which is great. He also has the surprise guest chef still, which we're excited about. Um, he had Milestone Mills, which is one of our vendors, come and work with our flex students, and they made scones and bread and um, so he's done a lot with that. Our partnership with the Culinary Institute of America continues to strengthen. We have some student volunteers coming twice next month. They're in a new class called uh good food students. So, they have to do school projects where they'll come and he'll mentor them and then they'll come and um talk about food with our students during their lunch period. So, that's really exciting as well. He and I did, if you remember, we applied for that $5 million grant. That award um
099notification should come this month. So, we have our fingers crossed that we'll get that because we're excited about the possibility of that. Um and then on May 9th, Rotary is hosting Apple Blossom Day, which is a big village festival. Um so we are giving them the use of one of our bus to help with um parking is a little bit of a challenge on that day. So um they're renting a bus from us to bring um community members from the middle school parking lot into the village um that aren't >> one of our electric buses. >> No. >> All right. Okay. So, that brings us on to the um board of education review. Um we'll start with committees uh policy. >> Um yeah, there's nothing really to too major to to highlight with these. Um
100they're pretty straightforward. They're all coming through Boseies. Um and most of them are first read. Um I think there's there's two that are second read. So yeah, they're all coming through through Boseies. So and also for the next meeting, we don't have any more committees meetings, but we will potentially have a few more policies coming in our next BOE meeting just as a heads up, but we won't have a committee's okay policy. >> You can keep us up to date on that. >> All right. Um and then community engagement. Um, so I know that Dr. Warden uh talked about the tour that we just had at Red Hook High School. It was excellent. Um, we had a lot of community engagement. Um, very thoughtful conversation uh not only with our partners that were um that
101were there, but also with the students and with our staff. It's really it's really fun to um to see all of them in action. Um, and then our next tour is May 14th. Um, that will be at Lynen Avenue Middle School. So, if any of you can make that, that would be terrific. Um, we will have uh Amanda Allison will speak at that one. She's our uh pupil services director. Um, and you did you talk about the survey? Yeah, the survey that we sent Yeah, we we kind of ran over um we're talking so much and uh and um so we sent out a survey. Um and then really quickly um I also attended the wellness uh health and wellness committee meeting uh today and so we talked about policies and continued to update that.
102Um and also talked about the budget expo. Sam Pride said come hungry. So um so we know that'll be good and he's going to bring that broccoli powder. >> So so it'll be it'll be fun. But he has a new one. It's mushroom powder. A lot of protein in it as he said. So um so that's all. And um so I guess on to facilities. Super quick question before we go on. Um I had a question on one of the policies. We had talked about it last time was that there was a personnel name in the policy itself. It's still in there. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Very general. Yeah. Just I mean >> Yeah. Or if you know that person is not here and available to do that. >> What's that? Yeah, on facilities. Uh
103Erin gave a better update, but this is a beautiful timeline and Gant report that I uh be emailed to the board that just shows literally every step of the reconstruction of all the uh capital product elements that we're facing over starting June 1st. So, we're excited about that. >> For how long? >> Well, Russ, that's a great question. I only ask a question. >> If we launch June 1st, again, the hope is that the football field and that what was or is the soccer lacrosse field will be potentially usable in the spring of no, excuse me, not the football field, sorry, soccer field, the spring of 2027. The football field will likely not be used until the fall of 2027 because even though we're going to be looking at these gorgeous fields, they need to
104live, breathe, water, and settle before we can start um kind of tearing them up. But very very u >> very thoughtful planning. They've already blocked off all the safety routes and they've already factored in those couple of weeks where they'll still be students. Um but they're ready to go. The other good news is they've got all their vendors bid. It's all in the um for board approval tonight. >> We are coming in already guys 2.6 million under budget. So yeah, I mean I think up against Lou's original estimates and where all the local, you know, vendors came in. Um he was very happy to say that we have a broad, you know, diverse group of of different vendors we're working with. We prefer to keep it local. So I think as far as Troy and
105maybe Rochester and um you know some in Hide Park and sort of local. So we are excited to get this going. And then obviously there's that interior work. We don't want to minimize the bathrooms in the high school, the the fire protection for the welding that you know will hopefully pass in this budget. So just laying the groundwork. Um but actually it's always great I think for the community to start to see the work. um you know once because it's such a long tedious process with state ed um once it's approved actually seeing it it go so we're excited but you know minimally disruptive hopefully to the students it's really just like four weeks in June so we'll have to be thoughtful about graduation but that we'll talk about that later >> yeah that just
106it'll all work out >> okay >> oh and then we talked about um possible tours for the bus garage, which Dr. Hayes had mentioned. >> Yeah. >> So, we'll be looking into putting some dates out there and getting people to see the current state of the bus garage. >> Yeah. One during the day and then one. >> Be great. >> And bud at the budget expo, we're going to have a bus, an electric bus that will take people to the garage if they want to tour right then and there. And I will plug that the budget expo is the most exciting event that the school district puts on. So please, please come. Young >> hungry, >> community members, everybody. It is a huge event. If you want to see every single aspect of the school
107from elementary school through to high school, this is your moment. So I really encourage everyone to come. >> Awesome. Any other comments? Um anything you want to discuss? I know um that Dr. Hayes uh talked about the petition of the lower Hudson Education Coalition. Um as did Dr. Warden. Anything you want to add about that? Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Dates, right? >> The dates next week. >> Okay, we're all set for that. And what about the retreat date? >> So, um so the date for next week is Thursday. Um wait, Tuesday morning the 28th and that will be um Russ, Kate, Patrick, and myself. Um so we have a quorum >> for the Boseies vote. >> Yes. For the Boseies budget vote, it'll be Yeah. 8 a.m. >> Um and then um so
108the retreat date we looked at, >> we get a gold ribbon. >> Yeah. Um so we looked at we're going to go out here now. August um we looked at August 6th. I know that the sixth does not work already for um at least one person. So, anything like the the week of the 10th or the 17th? Do any of those >> I don't know. >> Don't look at me either. >> I know. I know the last >> all the candidates in the audience should be paying attention to. >> I know, right? Uh anyone >> feel about putting out like um a poll? >> I can do that. like an email poll with some dates and then >> Heather, can you add that to your long list? >> All right. Yeah. And I know and
109quite a few people will be moving in um students to college. So >> yeah, just maybe put, you know, quite a few dates on there and we can see how they fall. >> Just kind of whittle it down. Yeah. Okay. >> Um any that's it. All right. So that brings us to um policy review and approval. So let's do um 1 through six. Those are first reads. It's uh policies uh provision of interpreter services to parents who are hearing impaired. Uh policy 7521 students with life-threatening health conditions. 7530 child abuse and malreatment. 7550 dignity for all students. uh 7616 uh uh preferral intervention strategies and policy 7640 student individualized education programs which is the IEP development and provision. Um can I get a motion on that? >> Motion >> Second. Um any discussion? All those
110in favor. >> I All right. So that brings us to um policy review 7 and 8 uh which are second reads. Policy 5741, drug and alcohol testing for school bus drivers and policy 7210 which is student evaluation promotion and placement as presented. >> Motion >> second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Great. All right. And that brings us on down to our business consent agenda. Um items one through 19. I get a motion on that >> motion. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. All right. And that brings us to um personnel. Uh items one through eight. Um can I get a motion on that? >> Motion. >> Second. Any discussion? >> No. All those in favor? >> I can I just before we I know we went really really fast
111that time. I know it's getting later. So, I just wanted to uh thank uh the education foundation for the grants that they um hold on one second. Just got to pull this up. Um they supported um the GCA field trip, the model UN trip, the eighth grade field trip, the Earth Day art event, and hygiene boxes. So, we appreciate their support. >> Kelly, >> I think now Dr. Just sorry to interrupt, but I think you said 1 through eight on personnel. Is there >> Did I see one through seven? >> I don't know if you have to amend. >> That's because I don't have my reading glasses on. But >> good catch. Do we need to amend that? 1 through seven. We're good. All right. So, I guess I covered the spread. You covered the
112spread. Okay. I would like to take a moment to welcome a new teacher to our um system. It's um Thomas Tarshine. He will be our new Spanish teacher up at the high school. Yay. >> He's he's had a full sense of what we offer here through sitting through the board meeting. Um but we we really appreciate that. Um he comes to us from Roundo. He has uh eight years of experience. He comes to us from Newaltz. He also has studied abroad both in Mexico and in Spain. Um I believe he also is a musician. Yes. And um but he comes to us with a lot of experience at a secondary level and we're very excited to welcome him to our world world language department. he has already spent a day at the school and met
113the uh the our other um professionals in the world language and so we're very pleased to welcome you aboard and Okay, so >> yes, thank you. Congratulations bearing with us. Yes. >> I have one more uh thing before we go on to I would like to uh we're accepting a retirement tonight from Margaret who's worked with the district 33 years as a teacher aid in every classroom possible. Um if you ever come across her in the hallway, she's always with a student. She's always so sweet and kind-hearted. She's always going the extra mile every single day. So, I know that the building's going to miss her. I'm just going to miss her smiling face. She's never not smiling. She's never not happy. After 33 years, it's actually absolutely wonderful. She has worked with every grade
114level and she continues to support every student. So, her care, love, and support is deeply going to be missed. We want to thank her for her service. So, I know she's not here, but I hope she enjoys her retirement. >> Can you pass the word along, Aaron? >> All right. And so, that brings us to our second recognition of visitors. Um, if you would like to speak again, we ask that you come to the podium. Um, state your name and that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. Anyone? All right. All right. Um, that brings us to a German Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, you guys have mentioned the uh the My name's Justin Ridgely. You mentioned the community engagement group a couple times. I am a part of that. I just
115want to thank you all for for doing that. I've learned a ton about the district and everything that goes on. and it's been extremely informative um to the point where a lot of this is sounding very familiar including even the budget slides that were gone over. So I just wanted to thank you all for doing that. Um it's been very helpful to me and very helpful to the community. >> Thank you. Um just like to ask you um having uh you know voted in favor of lights as part of your consent agenda that we follow up some of the comments that were made here today and build in something very structural in terms of coming to agreement and conversation members of the community and putting together a set of um protocols that can make everybody
116uh support the project and make everybody happy about what we're seeing out there and some of the concerns that a lot of people in the community have in terms of just a unfettered process where there are no no limitations. Again, you could look at um you look at Bronzeville, you can look at Scarsdale, you look at Pleasantville. These are all school districts that have um stadium lighting close to their residential neighborhoods. the same sort of process. Um, and they've all come to a a set of protocols and understandings that that brought people together. So again, if we some content, some process in that, some uh some structure um I know um people I would be uh greatly appreciative of that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, did anyone else? All right, that brings us to
117adjournment. >> Motion. >> All those in favor? >> I have a good night. Thank you for bearing with us tonight, guys. That was so so sexy. >> Actually, do you want my coffee? Really? Yeah. I will just Great job. Great work.