001Yeah, she treats it like a open it like a regular with a pledge of allegiance. Make sure all the mics are switch. All right, we're good. I went I went live thinking we're starting I'll give you no helicopter. To the flag of the United States and to the republic, religious stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Good evening. So tonight is our budget. So we'll get started on that. Um so our challenge is to welcome. >> Yeah. This is to empower each individual to embrace today. >> That's the number of profile as a school district community. to demonstrate these ideas. Demonstrate, think critically and promising, collaborate and communicate. Be engaged in both global civics. Create and innovate. Embrace diversity and equities and plan. These are totals for 2024 school years. These were
002developed which is across districts. So under academics technology we provide rigorous students and curriculum diversity to care of students community. We use instructional kind of physics that are responsive. We encourage communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. will use technology. Education will be timely, clear and concise, expected audience will develop perspectives. Encourage respectful dialogue facility for adults. We will environment and that they have access to the following long-term goals. Community members will foster the development of social and emotional skills, physical health, and interpersonal growth, resiliency and compassion for themselves and others. So this is our team instructive and staff development and operations found health and athletics technology communication. facilities and operations service. We had about Well, we'll be adding that preliminary at the next meeting. There are some items on the my slide up here that
003really important that the committee making budget considerations and something here and one of the items really are not in control of the district. So, the first two items listed are further revenue. Um we uh fund our Google district primarily with taxes and also with state aid. Um we do know that for the behavior the part of the tax capulation it's a calculator the part that's 13% to zero property tax increase that's actually tied to the inflationary factor in 2025 inflation increase or the CPI 2.7% but we're only allowed to account for 2% in our population. The purpose of that is to help the taxpayers and slate again for inflation. But I think it's really important for everyone to realize that with school districts is also subject to increase in the tax cap because we have
004there's another item that's significant in the tax cap that's not on the screen. is information that I just received after we created the slides, but that's the tax base growth factor. Uh the tax based growth factor is different for every school district and for next year for redund that's a 1.02% increase. While that reflects changes in the actual tax space for new construction and plants, it's not reflective of just exceptions whether legal student improvements. The purpose of the tax bill factor is to school districts and governments to raise more revenues because of the physical change in the activities of the district. Foundation aid is the major part of state aid. It's actually unrestricted. School districts can utilize those funds for whatever operating costs they be necessary. Um there are many other state aids but most
005of them are either expense driven or just designed for business. The overall community is done today 3% increase in foundation aid. However, of most school districts about 70% of us are will be sleeping in the governor's proposal the minimum increase in this final the legislature will still have to pass their budget. It's due by April 1st and in my experience the city members usually do change from the proposal that the governor implements to what was actually enacted. But right now in our budget presumptions we'll take some percent. The other three items listed on the slide pertain to benefits. The first two are the pension systems. They're really a function of payroll because we're a public school district. Our employees along either the teachers retirement system which is the retirement system for teachers and all other
006system which is also known as the local state and local system and that's non staff currently in 202526 we'll be paying for next year that's increasing the rates here are listed between 8.25% and 8.75%. However, we learned this week that the rate will actually be 8.24% next year. So, that will result in about $300,000 savings for the district. However, the employees retirement system rating increasing from 16.5% to 17.6%. Early calculations show that increase would be about 100%. because we accept our impact that we budget with our health insurance budget for the current year about $9.1 million which really significant um we are budgeting for uh cost increases of 16%. That is really high due to um rising prescription costs. However, uh it's not set yet either. We we see both of our health insurancees. Duchess
007the Duchess educational health insurance group and they don't set their rates until March. So I chose to use the 16% in early calculations based on conversations that I had with you. So um for regular discussion of staff development um last year's goals we had a lot of women initiatives start in phase one. So those are all the areas that they started an initiative in. We continued um did um our staffing based on enrollment did summer academy curriculum mapping. We continue to do that when I was finished with that six year as well and we support professional development. The issues continue to phase one expires if the plan to strong education in your state. They're looking to um shift graduation requirements and they have produced a portrait of a graduate. We will continue to look at
008ours and theirs and see what needs to be updated. I'll work with the team and the schools to do that. We'll continue staffing based on enrollment. We'll audit all our courses that are in curricular mapping and continue to fine-tune that process. We do as the board knows new courses were proposed over the last few months. So we have multiple pathways for graduation. Um and high school will continue the discussion on winter 12 literature performance and the AP summer academy 2026. will continue. We'll start that process in March and we will continue to certainly focus on relevant professional development with future focused practices and to support the near inspired practices. That's what's happening in the world of private instruction. Good evening everyone. So it's been a busy year for us. Um a lot happened with in
009terms of our capital projects. As you know, we completed the um basically general renovation and human features. Um we continued to design work for props one and three which was field work. So the field one between Lyn Avenue and school as well as the field um high school. All the plans have been submitted and they are passed through our construction review and our engineer review over the years of disability. Once that's done, our plan needs to go into the round. We are continuing to expand our e fund according to the mandate. We did have two that we received last year. Um we had the proposition that approved four more. We're in receipt of one. We expect the next three within the next couple months um to be put into service. We're excited about that. We
010are still expanding our non-resident tuition program with our focus on land road this year. Um, and we've also, um, I mentioned Sam and I had applied for a grant that combines some business opportunities and regional partnerships with local farms as well as local school districts. Um, so we continue to look at those grant opportunities. We're hopeful that that comes through and we can have a food preservation program at the high school that will benefit. Um, we have seven local schools that are interested in our reading list. Um, so we're excited about that. We will find out about that in May. For next year, we'll continue capital project implementation. So, um that will include the field that I mentioned, a new track, work in the kilm room at Lance um and bathroom upgrades in the high
011school and lighting um change over to LED lighting in both road and school. We're looking at um improving the technology infrastructure which we've talked about Dr. Brad as he puts in the welding certificate program. There's some work that we need to do that way. We're hopeful to lift a revival proposition for dismay along with design and upgrade the transportation facilities to accommodate both our new bus inventory and to improve employee safety and safety. Um I spoke about the regional food preservation program. We'll continue to opportunities for grant funding. And the other thing that Linda and I are working on with our financial planners is we develop the sustainable debt service budget so that instead of the debt service fluctuating we have a set amount for a capital project every year and that will be a
012steady debt service for our taxpayers. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. Um so I'm here to talk about people personnel services. Um and to reflect on our two 2025 2026 goals as well as our planning for 2026 2027 as well as that year. We we plan for our goals for this year where we are in terms of where they are. Um so we continue to work on school virtual emotional support program in collaboration with our effective school solutions. We need to have a program at Lam's middle school and our high school program. Our high school number is currently both. Our middle school program is about six out of the 10 plus both. And we are working with ESS to support not only our families and ESF and students, but also they will be partnering
013with one of our parents partners workshop series to provide some professional development workshops around mental health support for our family. We are continuing to to work on school to work opportunities for our special education students. We um think have continued to work with um our access pre incredible colleagues in services and potentially facilities and transportation and providing some work experiences for our students. We are continuing to work on creating a life scale department community engagement experience. We'll talk more about that in the planning piece. We are continuing to use behavioral consultant support to not only provide training to our family but also parent training and support and providing that to our flex classes as well as our students that um each of our buildings continue to use therapy dogs um and we continue to offer
014different social emotional learning opportunities as well as mental health training different components. We continue to work on accommodating more out of district CIC request and building capacity in our programs and making sure that we are letting letting it go from mountain to mountain that we have to state what what unique things that we can bring to our department. We're in year two of our mental health grant which is the final year. So we are right now looking at how we have utilized that that funding and looking at our programming and the data information that we have from it and we are also reviewing how our pilot u relief service conditions continue to work. So for next year we're looking at uh continuing to do a lot of these things a big structure to change drugs
015and we can really build capacity and get sensory reading instruction and really trying to um provide some additional training to staff especially at the secondary level so that we can provide surgery and support to the student. We're also looking to strengthen by making protein across our building so that we can kind of come to an alignment around the types of foundations. Continue to work on IP quality and alignment and processes. You'll procedure your guide and additional training. We're continuing to advance important consultation for our flex program. We have consultants coming in now to to go through curriculum assessment and behavioral support. So we're looking for that because that would be more students in district and also be able to bring students in sustain and expand the parent engagement initiative. We're doing that now with our
016parents and partners and we'd like to continue to do that with parent input uh providing engaging opportunities and topics that can benefit our community and the family here. We're continuing to work on building a life skills. you have some ideas in the work and we're working very very closely with and Dr. Hayes to really bring that to action. We're looking at also broadening our special education continuum of services to make sure that we're offering a unique and defense continuum that provides the needs to all of our students across all of our buildings. We're continuing to pilot program. We'd like to pilot program the CPSC service. We found it to be incredibly helpful um at providing mandated and CPN services as well as providing preschool support services and speech and support in our kindergarten classroom that
017are really helping us to support students and um keep them out of special education because really providing and we like to continue exploring our partnership with effective school solutions to support the mental probably >> question. Um, now that you got a couple months to kind of get the lay of the land, um, maybe we can go back to your, uh, slide. Yeah. Uh I was just curious, you know, now that you had a chance to kind of share the names, what are the short list of things you most focus on the biggest? >> Yeah. So I I think it's probably I don't have com. You see, there's this huge whiteboard that has like my brain pretty much on there. So, I'm pretty pretty solid in multitasking um and trying to kind of fit in a
018bunch of plates at the same time. >> Unfortunately, I have to like have stuff in between. >> Um I think the one of the biggest pieces for me is um building our capacity is on reading. I I when I'm looking at priorities and targeting, I'm looking at trends, student needs, student data, and I'm also looking at what's happening in the region as well as what's happening south of us and what's about to come and hit us. And there I think um a major uh piece that we need to look at and be prepared for is probably providing multiensory reading instruction for those students that's required or needed based on their IP or their learning disability. And so training that takes time and and that is an extend being able to kind of prepare for that
019I think is one thing that would position do best for it. Uh I think for me along with that making sure that we provide a robust continuum across our building. So making sure we have lots of different options for students so that they can get the supports that they need. Um it was something that uh is very important and something that I I hear our staff playing and I I think the staff beliees as well as the parents um are going to be important to learn from. So I try to try to work with and collaborate and honor that. I think in general my if you if you hear me talk we don't know where this budget will come forward but um I know there's a lot of things that are going forward. from my
020family and part of my skill capacity and utilize the resources I have now to build these up so that student said we finishing the gym amazing project still excited kind of going now. Um, it was challenging. That's a space that we used quite often in the summer. Some of the delays push us into September as far as when we received the space back. Uh, I think Bart College, they helped us out with our volleyball teams in August by hosting us, which was great. Um, little issue with getting the bleacher story away, but we were able to run events with some of our regular cheers. But thanks to Crystal Sat that we put out 150 chairs a volleyball match. So that was great. Um pleased with the space. Uh get a lot of compliments on it.
021One of the things I did not like about the old space. Those who had seen it, we had like five different shades of red. Um so we spent a lot of time trying to get everything to match nicely. Some of that was frustrating. Sometimes you know some companies came back and things that we didn't agree upon, but um we we got to where we need to be. So happy about the space. It's been great using it. Initially I was concerned because we did obviously lose some seating space with the um ADA compliance. Um but we have has some large scale events and everybody's had a seat. The student section has been great. Very frustrating for some of our teams who come to play against us as we found out on a few occasions, but um
022it seems very well seen by the kids. Um so I couldn't be happier at this point. Um so continuing down the line from last year um field one that's inside the track obviously which we're going to hopefully start this in a few weeks which will be great but we'll talk about that in a bit. U the design phase of the west soccer field lacrosse stadium again coming up in the spring summer. Um the timing design the potential of the east soccer field. So this is the field we had talked about in the past where um that's along the tree line where something is. So one of the things we were talking about was are we going to hook up to the service of the town or not? I'm not going to get into how it's
023going to town and all that, but um that definitely impacts that. That would be the ideal spot to do that last addition. And I realize a lot of people are looking down the road, but I know we would have those discussions in this year. So, um, we'll see how that kind of land pans out. Um, expansion of unified sports. One of the things I unified is new sport bowling. Um, and when we had the bowling lanes right here in town, that would have been exceptional. Um however when that was a useful running bowling alley um Ryan Beck athletic director and myself went there tried to create our own bowling teams and they really did not have interest which was disappointing um so Detroit and Spanish unified like I said we're a bowling season the closest
024bowling ranes are in Kingston um I think it's something that is worth future discussions to see if something we can do obviously we'll be able to get there every day transportation makes that a challenge ing but um it it's I do believe it's an exceptional program that we like to take take a look at in the future as well. Uh so for next year obviously field one inside the track and then east soccer field um getting recent 18 in of snow does not help this frigid temperatures do not help this. Um so I'm a little concerned of the timeline. Um, initially we were talking about possibly being on those go back in the fall, but that's going to be challenging and delivering through a couple of these other projects. I realize there are setbacks and
025we're going to have that come up. So kind of preparing our our people who might not be possibly like we're all in the fall. Concerning on my end, um I'm displaying 18 that's challenging for daily practice where you said we track kids try to get workouts in when we can't use the track. Um and we're also using the east field as the the west field. It's all starting construction. As we learned when we built the pack center, kids love piles of rocks, piles of sand, piles of dirt, and they will climb fences and things like that. Uh, so some of the security, you know, is is a concern to me. General safety is a concern to me about those spaces, but these are all meetings that we go through. We have construction meetings and we
026talk about that a lot. So, I'm excited to be part of those projects. Really look forward to that. I know the kids are excited as well. So, again, I talked about future planning with that east field. So, we'll have more of that as we go. Something I bring in next year. Um, a lot of schools are going with this new field lining. It's called Turk Tech. It's a robot that lines your fields. It lines them perfectly. There's no deviation. While I I love our guys do a great job in in lining our fields. It does take a lot of time and it is challenging because fields are not perfect. Um, the robot takes that guessing out of it. So, we're hoping to expand on that hopefully next year. Um, it can be run to the
027poster. So we do get some money back on that really and I have a meeting next week to kind of talk a little bit how it so many of our local schools are doing it. Probably get a demo here so we can all take a look at it but I've seen what we can do and it's tremendous. Uh continue future discussions of the rec park. I know this is not something everybody wants to talk about but I'd like to keep it on our radar. Um, is there something in the future that could help with this funding source or just is there some agreement or something in the future that can help that that kind of and future planning is that elective courses? There are some courses that we've kicked around in the past. I know
028the high school leader maybe doing some dance courses, maybe some um other courses like pace that makes sense in that physical education through some more opportunities. I have a staff who would love to do it or willing to do it. Kyle and I have talked a little bit about it, but it involves planning and potentially expense and things like that, but I think it's worth all the discussions. Thank you. This was done before I got here. Soction were done before she left. part of the work by email that email configur. We're going to be leveraging our eate funding to update our hardware at least in our project building. So we place some switches. Um we have additional iPads for no road that they purchase through our smart bond app to replace aging iPads and moability
029more expansion. Uh work continuing to offer PD to staff to support tech initiatives as need come up and we'll be working with building what their staff need and we're going to be replacing that end of life hardware that supports our phone systems come probably this summer. It's about 5 year life cycle. So trying to get replaced with that surprising. >> How's it going for you so far? >> Good. It's a lot to learn. A lot of people to meet the lay of the land. It's been great so far. in terms of the schools funding do not >> okay um last year then we implemented piece of pirate square and I think it's gone well. I haven't heard anything way to reach out to the community. Um, so we're going to continue using parent square um
030to build secret communications. Um, we're going to be using the school website with dedicated link. So what Mike has offered us kind of handles our website um is maybe website for the pack. So it' be like louser.com or point to our rather than having buried and having to clip through a bunch of links to find something to have more easy to ident and we're going to continue maintaining that closer to post Good evening. Um there's a question of last year's goals by the state we met all our goals um from the past I got into the need for the district down to the employees keep making sure that the positions and the service what needs often you see that we deliver what they need or the training they Um as far as goals for next
031year I would say really ambitious productive year I plan um from the systems to be comps and we just said we recently got our condition survey we do every 5 years um trying to steal what we can but make it part of our maintenance program taking away capital way of doing things um to implementing a more robust uh debate between human program. That's really neat. It's something doing right down to the basement and then going all the way through the purchase and then we do the truck for our maintenance that'll be replacing a truck that's over 20 years old um to floor storage for our staff. So once again, you'll see a common theme between our buildings and also weekend and our staff. So then the last thing I think also I just like to
032to thank Lord and all our staff for making my job easy. Um it's not it's not always fun. Um but to me it's exciting if you take a look around and see our buildings are changing. Um I believe it better than when I got here and we continue to grow in some students and that's fine. It's exciting. Thank you. Right. So, so my reflection goes back to the uh interview process when I came here to drive them and uh they I was asked about EV vehicles and it really wasn't a thought in my mind that it would ever happen and I said I know they're coming down the line but you know maybe it'll be after I I'm retired or I I really didn't think I would live it but here we are and Well,
033like Aaron said, we we have two in service. Um they had bugs and we worked all the bugs out of them. We figured out how to use them. We've been utilizing them on our runs. Um the last I don't know two two and a half weeks we've had zero degree temperatures and the two buses have been on the road every morning, every afternoon. um and with plenty of heat. The heat was always a concern from the beginning, but we learned how to treat them before we send them out, and it it's been going good. We're starting to receive the rest of the buses that we um had the grant money for. So, I have two of the newer ones that arrived already. um another one should be delivered on Monday and then the fourth one
034should follow that as well. So it it's really come to fruition. Um so for going forward I'd like to expand on the EV fleet but we have to see what kind of grants come available. My thought for the coming year is think about the schools on the outside with private transportation that we do them on a salon. We go to Eastern New Orle. So those further uh schools we need like a hybrid vehicle. So my plan is to try to purchase some hybrid vehicles that will make those further schools. um with the modern modernization of our new transportation that would help with the safety um of the drivers. It would give them their own space plus it would separate the mechanics as well. Uh, a lot of the school board had came by and uh,
035did a tour of their facility and reality the drivers if they need to use the restroom, if they need to get to their driver's room, they have to walk right past the mechanics and, you know, the mechanics have their tools out. extension cords, air hooks, and it's a big safety issue, and a more modern building would uh definitely help that out. Um, so it would be a a safe space for the drivers, a safe space for the mechanics where they wouldn't get distracted from the drivers. Um, and then I would also like be able to do our training there. We would have a training room that would be able to fit all 50 people at the same time. Our offices were limited to confidentiality. We have three people in the office at all times and
036it's really hard to have a personal conversation with a driver or monitor, office staff. They make fun of me because if I need to have that private conversation, I said, "Come on out. Let's go to my office." We walk out into the parking lot and we find an empty school bus. We sit down and we have our meeting. So, it it really would be nice to have our parking lot office space. Um, and then, uh, you know, that that's basically it. It's a modern facility would be a great great move for transportation and it would bring us up to the next level. >> I thank you all. >> Also, even it would have to be uh all all electric. >> Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, we are still trying to do our part with the
037hybrid part of it. Um, and we really need to look to see if there's more grants. And right now we utilize all our grants. Um, and the other thing too that I left out is with with these new buses coming in, we have chargers set up already and the chargers are all in place. We're six buses. There you go. And part of the challenge was too they have the mandate in place but they haven't caught up with making the vehicles readily available. So the hybrids are looking for are actually not state contract. So but that's not an option for fully electric vehicle right now. So the the price of them without branding it's really possible to be able to still question. How are we doing um as far as recruiting and hiring bus drivers? I
038was like our current stat. Do we have enough moving into the to the next school year or >> we'd have to ask Tom and kind of sports trips even sports trips are challenge. >> It is a challenge. I I feel like I'm in a good spot right now. I have a few people that are retiring, but I have a driver that's being trained. And it's a constant it's constant. the more people I talk to, I always carry a business card with me, whether it's a waitress in the restaurant that, you know, I was looking for for work or I I I met one of my drivers walking down the street in in Red Book. So, it's just having conversations with people there. There's a lot of interest there, but you know, they they all look
039at rent. So the bottom line it all comes down to how much they can make an hour, what the benefits are and we we have some goods and you know we just try following up and living on the red. There's some weeks where I need like 15 buses, you know, Monday through Saturday. And uh there there are days where, you know, we have to adjust or get a later leave time or on occasion takes a couple different seats on the bus, but it's bigous. I have about 300 trips maybe a year. You can go somewhere. A lot of those are, like I said, they're they're doubles. that counts as every day we're going somewhere and every day we're welcome other schools here for employers. >> Thank you guys. Um I'll try to real quick I'm
040super excited about somebody asked me how I'm doing. I'm leaving. >> How are you doing? I haven't um I need about eight orders on my part. Um so I inherited some of Larry's very cool goals. Um and I'm excited about where they're going and how we go. Um expanding the 30% New York initiative into breakfast uh does not increase or give us any more um revenue. They're not giving us any more breakfast items. New York. What I would like to do is expand our snack all our carb programming to include New York products which will drive our initiative. Um as well as increasing revenues um and also we can start to run some of the junkier foods although we've gotten into all the food diets and stuff. We're still selling fundings and and Fredo products
041and what I'd like to do is still continue to sell them but they've been cost prohibitive next to our New York product. Um, so you can buy Doritos if you want, but you're going to pay three bucks where you can get the New York chips for two. Um, the environmentally conscious, uh, we are still using plant-based serving containers in areas where we're not washing dishes or using plastic trays. Um, I like to further that start to eliminate more and more plastic. Um, I'm pretty hip to the fact that even though it says it's compostable, it may not actually be compostable. Um, and there are also several grants I'm looking at to eliminate plastics, like specifically small grants specifically to eliminate plastics. I'm just getting into that without asking any questions yet. Um, let's see. Minimally
042processed New York foods, including chicken nutrient dense products. Um, the nachos that we have out today feature New York beef. That's what our kids ate two days before lunch. They're sitting on top of New York chips covered by some food shredded cheese. So, um that's a pretty good meal that I'm proud of. Um be great. Oh, yeah. Um let's see. Oh, uh so our food pyramid just recently got flipped upside down. I'm not going to get political. Um but we are now able to sell Hudson Valley Fresh's whole milk products. I have chocolate milk here um to sample. Um it's flying off our shelves. It's increasing our New York um initiative percentage and it is increasing our evidence. Um somewhere else >> I read that chocolate milk is better for sports recovery than >> I
043didn't know that. at all. >> I also think you can make whatever you want. >> Anyways, like yeah, I I can't stand the taste of skim milk, but yeah. And other people hate, but I do like the fact that there are choices and you can empower people to make the decision that's right for them. That's cool with me. Um, let's see. Uh, we were going to make new serving lines at Lynen Avenue Middle School. Um Larry got anything all sorted out. I don't know how relevant that would be when we actually did get the project. Scott have to replace the floor before we ever even touch that and I think that's so hopefully I'll be able to do the research and work Larry did or come to see new solutions. I wouldn't look for that
044until we celebration. Um, we uh currently still work with Hudson Valley uh food panch. Uh we're still working with them. I've expanded that. Um I like to include as many words as possible. Um we know when we had that little scare with it wasn't little but they had the scare with um our food welfare programs in America that convened amount of shelf life and I'd rather somebody can throw it in the trash. So we're doing a better job of that this year than we were last year. Um there was an anticipated increase in participation of the intro and universal free meals. It's real. It happened and we are hanging. We are selling a lot more food to a lot more students um and pulling in a lot more reimburse. So that's pretty cool. Um last
045little note um is I'd like to create an annual farm to school showcase. I'd like to invite area businesses, area farmers, area producers in something that I'm going to try to roll out this spring continue to go with, you know, future years. Um, and that would be in conjunction with the um the grant that Dr. Hayes and I applied for. I conspicuously did not include that because I don't want to count that chicken before it hatches. Um, but if we were to get that, we could tie in our expansion school garden program to become more self- sustaining, more self- feeding year round. I'd like to have a garden at every school. Um, I'd like them to be able to be staffed and work during the summertime. If we were to get this food expansion grant,
046that would be something forward. All I got was going >> good evening everyone. So in planning for the 2026 27 year of the high school uh we have we're implementing New York State improved CTE pathway for welding and metal fabrication implementing the winter circle program which we're very excited about. Uh that provides students the opportunity to engage in year-long classes. They will actually be building a uh full race car from start to finish. And the program also includes visual arts and business classes. Uh we are growing our residential construction and woodworking programs to ensure they align with future careers. Dr. Rocky um continue to build capacity of our faculty members and students to engage responsibly and ethically with artificial intelligence. Um, as has been discussed in a prior meeting, expand our IB for all program
047to provide options for students to demonstrate mastery with theater and also support our theater pathway. Um, enhance our visual arts department with additional digital equipment aligning the 21st century trends and continue to support all elective areas to maximize enrollment and ensure these courses align with the ever. That's it. Okay. So, looking at our 25 26 goals, um we put a number of them. Uh so, our new electric materials support hands-on learning. We received our cricket machine this morning. So, we have that. We have flight simulators now in Jinsk's room. I believe we have two of those. um she was able to get more uh materials for robotics to support that program and we're still fine-tuning our piano lab with Mr. uh so we're on year three of improving the learning spaces. So if you look
048at the back of our cafeteria, there's more of a chilled spot with couches and high top tables. Um we have a couple of air hockey tables up on the saves and then we've added um high top tables to our hallways and we're continuing with our classrooms kind of getting away from that old armchair and more up to-date um desk students can write on be a dry place to move around. So continue with that. Um, our digital sign is a little bit more difficult. Um, we do we we need town approval and they need to run a bunch of different things to the light pollution and make sure that okay with it. And then we're also trying to match what it looks like the historical look of our building. So we're working on those two things
049down. Um, so we're still working on that. continue. Sorry. Um continue the academic social social emotional work for uh ELLL students. Um we going to continue with the great program run by Liz Lowy, the Latin culture fair which I was just pulled. We're going to have to also so um we're going to do that. Uh we're working we're expanding our recess recess options working with our staff to turn in what equipment we need. Um meaningful work principle and development remov standards. really important that we updated our supplies to match and put back um lit literacy resources and training to support our secondary literacy goals. Um that's something Amanda touched on and she's really been doing great in supporting us uh with like the Wilson program training our teachers especially those with with students with IEPs.
050So, we'll have more support than that. And then we are across our fingers. We'll have a cafeteria mural in the back instead of have a big gray wall. We'll have a a really cool mural that maybe >> Yeah, it's been a long time in the works and really with Matthew to install a mural with hopefully starting around spring break. we would like to get paint on the wall while students are not in the building so um the pre-work can be done and so that they're there for the more the more exciting work. So we're really excited that it's been a long time coming and it has been a long time with a big role in the back. So um so I'm going to talk about our goals for uh this coming year. We are uh
051in the middle of looking at our ambassador schedule structure rolled out four years ago our block schedule and we're reworking and we've got a lot of gains and there's a lot that we like with the schedule. Um we are looking to improve something uh that came to us from the teachers is some more consistency within the schedule. I do think that from a budget perspective at least efficiency we will be able to um to obtain as well. So that's ongoing work and what's been nice about that is we are all working together building. So it's a real collaborative effort with the teachers and the furniture and team leaders. So I'm working on that. Uh we're going to continue to support project um learning at labs with additional materials and all content area. It is time
052for us to get new textbooks in Spanish. It's been over 10 years since we looked at textbooks and so world language is exploring choices for textbooks. Um as Paul mentioned year three we're looking forward to your course continue to improve learning spaces with flexible classroom furniture throughout the building. Um and in general improving building appearance I I do believe strongly that the way that the building looks and the privacy school does translate to student success um and how they build a school. So I I want to make sure that we're providing space that make people feel proud. So we are also um looking for materials and supplies for the digital and financial literacy programming that's part of the near expires mandate. We're again looking to expand some recess equipment both inside and out. We are
053working with errands like this on the town. So that will be in place for next year. And um Jen Lipsky is ordering a laser cutter which is another way that students will be able to do some creative work with different types of materials. There are a few more things. Um as Paul mentioned that we're fine tuning for the piano lab more supplies that will be needed. So we're seeking those as well. Um and last uh we'll see they did update on my slide but uh we're looking for increase in assembly funding. um assembly line is is funny um for just social programming that's to support the culture responses inclusion so not increase assembly line that's but the line to provide them because they're really we get we've gotten tremendous feedback from students that the assembly
054were very impactful and um there's been such an increase in price for outside managers to performance. So um just trying to increase that slightly so continue to provide and we do know that you good evening everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to talk first to talk to you about reflection on our 256 goals for Mil Elementary School and talk about the meeting 27. Uh since uh Stacy just mentioned the assembly um budget code line and all the great things that they're doing at the middle school. It's I think it would be good to know that um in many of these cases they invite our fifth graders over and we get to team up with fifth and sixth graders or seventh grade. We had Mikey found about a month ago I think and we're able to get
055better presenters to cover some terrific topics some of these people like nationwide. The fact that we can kind of share the cost I think also allows us to a bit more than we could on our own. So, thank you to the middle school thinking we're fifth graders. Um, as as Chris and I reflect on our goals, I think we feel really good and a lot of pride around the things that we worked on this year in terms of making the whole road this prek field. I think our approach and our planning activities that we continue is going really well. We've also increased the number of students that participate on language explorers program. That's where second language As you all know, we also expanded the prek programs to four classes this year. That has been a
056tremendous success. So, we currently have 66 students in program. We have a very short await list that we had in the fall just from students coming in late, but we were just uh able to offer to everyone that came over uh which is a major improvement from when we lottery and only served one class a couple years ago. So I think uh the growth of that program um has been wonderful and we think about the students that are currently in our kindergarten classes that attended our school day. Um you can see and um they transition very well in September and they are certainly ready for the challenges anyway. The one of the other things that we were able to do this year is to expand on the outdoor activities. Um we worked closely with facilities
057we created to support and increasing the pathway that connects to a lot of the elements and it's now created a large loop around our campus. Um that pathway has given full access through our gardens to all students with any mobility or anything else. It's also plowed in the winter time which makes the sleigh riding hill the back of the road much more accessible and our students really appreciate that to go out on the playground even in really cold weather we try to get outside um and our OT's PE teachers working with Kristen and I um to purchase some more things some more like tricycles and things that are developmentally appropriate and get our kids doing a lot more research so they don't they don't complain about the cold because it's like a bike game out
058there. >> Not enough fast bikes. >> Um the last thing I want to mention in terms of goals, um you know how important uh the steam activities and embedding that into our curriculum instruction is by repositioning classroom teachers to the steam position for grades 3, four, and five. And now it's been many more opportunities for our students to co- teach the classes. So piv science activities going to be math activities. Um but there's a lot more hands-on things happening uh in the steaming room and when we do our you know community walk through in March. Um we're really hoping that some of the board members can see that room in full full action. She's going to do a good job. Most of our goals are now next steps from the uh section we haven't the
059last couple years. The first one there is expanding cross activities. Um after tonight's meeting, I encourage you to walk into the hallway. There's a mural with five Martin Junior quotes and our students worked on the together with their buddy activity. So that's when you're together like a first grade class or class together third grade class. we find those more symmetrical and we think um the activities that we do and the the experiences that the students get we get a lot of benefit from each um one of the other things we will hope to work on next year is deepening implementation of structured literacy across K through 5 uh with consistent progress monitoring. So it's finding that balance between having enough data and not over testing right working young students. So, we want to make sure
060data is driving our instruction, but also that teachers have time to teach and they're they're not overly worried about getting getting the assessment done. So, we've used ESGI, we expanded it to our third grade team this year and so they're exploring to see whether or not it's an appropriate product for them, if it's something they want to continue with next year. Um, and our teachers had a huge undertaking last year with the curriculum writing for literacy and are living the first year of a full literacy curriculum map. Um, they were really they came out of the curriculum writing last summer really excited about what they created. And so as they've lived through it this year, Ryan and I have asked them to really carve out time to stop and reflect because it's really hard to
061remember what went well if you wait till June. Um, so we've asked them to do that this year. We hope to do some more work over the summer to reassure on their their reflections from here. What will stay, what will change, what will be enhanced, and what needs to be added. to piggy back on some of the things that Amanda knowing in the high school and middle school both mentioned our work and part of our goal is to continue to develop teacher expertise. So we work on math world. We work with our math. It's only a nice year. We're really focused on mathematical things in the Greg Tang math program this spring. But um in terms of different instruction specialies, we have a number of our special education teachers and reading that are now training
062with student and Wilson reading as well. something very excited about continuing to build capacity uh within our building and it really speaks to the early students and getting them specialized readiness. One of the other goals that came out of our strategic planning meeting in January was to create problem based learning units that integrate multiple content areas and real world problems. And specifically what our strategic planning team talked about was trying to make ties to the local community. So um thinking about enhancing our our current project based learning and really thinking about how do we create it where where kids are being presented with a problem that has to be solved through their project and how can we make ties to what we have around us and the people and the resources um and really tie
063all of that together. So it made sense in their life that you know potentially their first grade level but that they're thinking in that capacity. So um we also talked about tying that to the new profile from the state and really thinking about when they get to the high school, how's that going to change assessment on their end and what can we be doing with our problem based learning so we can start assessing things that are going to change on your end. Um, and something we're really excited about is uh creating a dedicated outdoor classroom space. So, we do have a pavilion out there now. It functions more of a picnic area. Um, and so we really would like to design a space that is easy access for teachers that houses the materials they will
064need when they get out there to teach a lesson. Um, we we've just kind of started thinking about design and location. Um, but we've always encouraged teachers to go out and and use the beautiful space we have, but the reality is a lot of times that comes along with lugging 21 whiteboards and markers and now, you know, kids are forgetting things and it's it becomes a heavy lift and so we're looking to design space that teachers can go and use on a regular basis and really get out of >> you know outdoor learning is our counter to, you know, some of the concerns we discussed over the last five, six years with students that are maybe on like screens too much. And so we've taken a very careful strategic approach with the amount of technology
065that we implement through instruction every single day, but that's carefully balanced with like the hands-on activities in our state rooms, our garden program, and what Chris is talking about like this outdoor learning space for us. It would be a nice place for you to gather your class but it would also be extend as well. It also provides you know we try to go as I mentioned before we try to go outside the rain and things like that but for students with different like um sensitivity. It's really nice to have like a covered space and that could be like on a really sunny day to have more shading out there uh or other days where it still nice to have some cover. So um the outdoors live stream is really just like the final step of
066building something that we encouraging. So, um, those are our goals. We're happy to answer any questions that something similar to lamps with the covered area. It has a lot of use. >> So, tonight is really the kickoff for our budget season. Um, Linda mentioned on February 19th at our next board meeting there will be a preliminary update on the budget um information we know so far at that board meeting you'll also need to adopt the speaker a capital project proposition. So on the ballot in addition to the budget in our main vote there will be a vehicle proposition as Mr. Persio mentioned um the capital projects with the board agreed last meeting will be the bus garage in addition to the welding infrastructure upgrades for the welding certificate program and we do have more vacancies
067to share on the ballot. We will have three um two board meetings before we have to adopt the budget on April 18. of some important dates moving forward that you should consider. The budget workshop was today, February 5th. Community conversations is coming up in March, that is March 5th, a month from today. Ocean adoption is April 9th. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay, that's great. We will continue to invite the public in to our budget expo and our public hearing. That's May 7th. That's where we really highlight our programming, the things we offer our students and um it gives a really good look globally of what Redbook offers as an educational program, but also um we try to incorporate other areas um so that you can see the full picture of what a student's journey is from
068UK through 12th grade and the things that they've had the opportunity to explore and enjoy during their time here with house. The budget vote is May 19th. Um, so those are the important dates. Mark your calendars and I think this concludes our budget workshop. Any questions from the board? >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Guys are working hard. >> Yeah. I'd like to extend a very very sincere thank you to everyone. This takes a lot of work. This this takes a lot of thinking and it takes up teams of people in every single area whether it's BPS, utilities, transportation or many the academic areas and the service class work. So, it's really is a very um strong team that this district has. So, hats off to all of you and um enjoy
069your evening. J is the best part. I love how you guys all help each other.