001of education me. Um, if everyone would join me with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible and justice for Thank you. And we're going to start with our first recognition. Cooking for change students. Okay. So, we'd like to have Stacy Smith come on up and Liz Lowry if she would also come up. Um, and any students that are here or wonderful people that support all of our work are here as well. So, I'm going to turn it over to Stacy. >> All right. So, thank you. Um, tonight I am very happy and proud to recognize Liz Lowry, students and volunteers for their work cooking for change event last month at Lambs. When
002we talk about authentic learning, this type of event epitomizes that ideal. It's a lesson in global citizenship, community service, and it showcases the power young people have to make real make a real difference in the world. 51 8th grade students served over 250 community members, which far exceeded our expectations. and at one point necessitated an emergency trip to Hannerford for morph tortillas. Students designed the menu, prepared dishes, and took on roles as cooks, servers, and hosts. They worked alongside community and school volunteers and parents who shared their heritage and cultural trai traditions. Altogether, they raised $4,600 for Commodore Sargas, a community kitchen in Merida, Mexico that feeds women and children in need. To put that in perspective, this one event will provide month four months of daily meals for 95 people. We also want to
003recognize We also want to recognize Frank McCann, who's not here tonight, who's in charge of our kitchen at Lambs. who worked alongside students. We want to thank Martha Tepeka, uh Janet Cruz, Sonia Castellanas, and Laura Dipper who are parent volunteers, and also Michelle and Jim Lowey who are Miss Lowry's parents. Um we want to thank the PTSA, Culture Connect, and over a dozen local businesses who helped make this event possible with their food and monetary donations, which ensured that every dollar we raised went directly to families in Meridia. So please join me in recognizing uh everyone who made cooking for a change happen. It was a remarkable success. Um before you go um I also want to thank you for highlighting the Raider profile of really having students understand the importance of empathy and compassion
004in the idea that change should occur definitely locally but also globally and that you can make a difference. Um, I had a great server uh that I asked for seconds and I was told no. Um, but that's okay. That's for another day. Um, so Liz, I want to thank you for just being an outstanding teacher, thinking outside the box, always creating spaces for our students to create um, but also these these life experiences like Mrs. Smith said, nothing like waiting tables. Um, and it was it was a stressful moment, but I think they they loved it. So, but also in the end they saw the impact that they could have on another school um just by a short period of time. Think about what you did for the group of students and families. Um so,
005we appreciate you always going above and beyond as a teacher and putting pulling these events off that are not easy. And I also want to thank Marta. She is always there for the school district um helping us in every single way. you're a huge advocate for all of our students, making sure that we are doing right by all of our kids and also identifying the importance of cultural diversity and inclusion and equity and we appreciate you from helping us with uh Mortis uh day as well as this. We really appreciate everything that you do. Um so both of you thank you so much um on behalf of the district and on the board of education for everything that you do every day for students. We have certificates for every single student that we'll give to
006you, Miss Lowey. But do you want to say anything either of you? >> I guess if the offer is out there, um I would just like to say that I was so impressed with the students during this event. Um, we did a lot of work leading up to it so that they would understand what their responsibilities were, what the impact of this event was going to be. You could have asked them any question about Zariguas or about Merida and they would have been able to answer it that night. They are very well-versed in everything about that city, everything about that organization um, and exactly what this money was going to um, do for that organization. Um, and then after the event, we did kind of a reflection project where I got to read a lot
007of their thoughts about what it meant to do community service. And a lot of them wrote that it was their first time ever doing like a community service experience. Um, and they wrote about how nervous they were, but how rewarding it felt, how much fun they had, that they want to do more community service. Um, and then I asked them to come up with an idea for how to sustain this impact long term. What other things can we do to help on a smaller scale? and their creativity and the way that their empathy like pours through those ideas is so inspiring. So, um, thank you guys for providing a space in this district for me to be able to bring these ideas to life. Thank you to Marta because without her, it would not have
008come to life. Um, and Culture Connect and PTSA for financially making these ideas come to life. Oh, they're right. There's a bunch of them. All right. So, we are moving right along into oops, sorry. Um, our student board of ed uh report. Hi. Okay. So, we actually have a lot going on at the high school right now and with all the sports. So fall sports finished really strong. We had a lot of championship winners and um some people qualify for states. Now winter sports have begun and some games coming up are the varsity boys basketball have a home game tomorrow against Rondout. The varsity girls basketball has a home game tomorrow or um a home game against Pine Plains on Tuesday, December 16th. Varsity boys swim has a home meet against Bard um against Rybeck
009on December 15th. It's going to be at Marlboro and varsity wrestling team has a meet on December 18th at Lambs. The track and field has a meet on December 19th at West Point and there's many more games to come since the season has just started. The varsity club also had a fundraiser for the girls flag football game in early November that had a big success with great participation. It was super fun. The auditions for the spring musical Hello Dolly were in early November and rehearsals are underway. They're working really hard. They're out there every day. Um they look great so far and everyone is really looking forward to seeing the musical in the spring. Student council, we just got back from our NYSLsa conference in Niagara Falls. That was an amazing experience. We learned a
010lot of new skills in workshops with our amazing speakers Mike Smith, Sarah Frioff, and Carlos O'Hara Jr. They all had amazing messages that dealt with inclusivity, service, and mental health. We also worked with students across the state and got a lot of ideas that we're excited to bring back to Red Hook. We also worked with the Buffalo Bills and the American Heart Association, and we all got CPR certified, which was really interesting. Um, student council is also currently planning a few events for the holiday season. We have spirit week this Monday um until Friday with comfy clothes as our first day. Um, we'll start door decorating competition this Monday as well. And we have the winter pep rally on the 23rd where we'll have a short jazz band performance followed by our volleyball tournament. And
011then we'll have some winter sports recognition and we'll end it with volunteer-based games with teachers versus students. So, we're very excited for that. That's a completely new thing that we're doing this year. >> Is Dr. Rody playing? >> Hopefully. >> Okay. >> If you'd like to. >> Um, a lot has been changing at the high school. For example, the lunchline rooms look great. We do have some small issues with them, just like people messing with it, but it still looks amazing. Um, the halls are super welcoming and bright, and we I think a lot of students really like the new changes that have been made. The gym looks amazing. I personally really like it, and I'm excited to be in there for the pep rally as well. Um, and the varsity boys basketball game this
012past Friday was um, very full. Every seat was full. It was amazing, especially the new student section which was filled to the brim. Um, and it was a great environment and the gym looked amazing. But yes, overall there is a lot going on at the high school and we're super excited for our winter break and for the rest of the year. >> That's terrific. There's a lot going on. So, really quickly, in my zest to get this meeting started, um, I did not get a first and second to adjourn executive session. We didn't catch that, but Carla did. Um, and go into our public meeting. So, can I get a motion? Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. I apologize. All right. And on to um our first presentation. So, the board did ask um
013this past summer for us to do a presentation on uh enrollment trends and what has looked like over the course of a few decades. Um yeah. Um and where we're headed in the future. So, Dr. Hayes put some information together on enrollment and budget. >> Yeah. Great. Thank you. So, um I'm going to first talk about enrollment trends and then I'm going to invite Mr. Martin and Mrs. Steinberg to come up to talk a little bit about budget and answer any questions that we can for forecasting right now. So, next slide. So, what you see here is our total district enrollment starting in 2007 through 2025. So, this is all um data that's reported to New York State. So you'll see that we started with just over 2200 students in 2007 and in 2425 we
014were down to 1576. What you see on the right hand column is the yearover-year percentage change. On average we lost about 44 students a year although that has leveled out in the last couple years. Um but this is in line with uh New York State and declining numbers um in public schools across the state. Next slide. This is um the same information just in a bar and a line graph. So you can see um how we steadily declined over time. There was a slight increase in 2016 through 2020 um 2019 uh a little bit of a hit and then we declined after that and now towards the end we're we're starting to level off as I said. Next slide. This is the distribution by school level. Um the blue color is the elementary level. The
015orange is middle level and the green is high level. So, in general, the elementary students have taken up the majority of the population, but they've also experienced the biggest decline. And this is in line with fertility rates. Um, so the national average in the United States, the fertility rate is now at 1.63. New York State is actually at 1.53, but our Duchess County in particular is at 1.46. So, we are well below the national average in our fertility rate. And that reflects in our elementary numbers that we have um smaller cohorts that are enrolling and coming into our pre-K and kindergarten classes. Next slide. We use live birth data um published by Duchess County to predict our kindergarten enrollment. So in the birth year of 20 or 2007, their kindergarten year was 2012. So you
016can actually make the comparison to the live birth data that we were given and then the actual number for enrollment. So we have that data through um 20 or through the um enrollment period of 2025. So the 2020 birth year 76 students and we enrolled 84. So in general our trend is to enroll more students than is predicted in the live birth data. So live birth data actually looks at um babies that are born that live within the district. So based on these trends, we anticipate a little bit of an upswing for next year's kindergarten enrollment. So the live birth data is predicting that we would have 87 students enrolled and we're projecting about 100 students to enroll. And that's aligned with our pre um kindergarten numbers too. As you know, we added a section
017this year because we have increasing numbers in those areas. Next slide. This is um a comparison of our expenditures in the whole county. So, as you can see, Red Hook is right in the middle between Milbrook and Hyde Park. Um, so this just gives you an idea of per pupil expenditure. This is actually from the financial transparency report. This is the last audited year, which was 2021 2022. The next audited year probably won't come out until mid 2026. So this is the last um audited data that we have available but you can tell where we stand within the county which is reflective of um where we should be for the size district. Bigger districts like Arlington and Wingers they typically have a lower per pupil um expenditure. So if you compare us to some of
018the smaller districts I think we're in line with where we need to be. Next slide. So, one of the things that hasn't really changed is our staffing levels, and I think that's attributed to the number of things that the state has asked to um happen since 2012 to through 2025. A lot of different initiatives and unfunded mandates. So, you'll see things up there about um the Common Core implementation, then um Every Student Succeeds Act, culturally responsive education, a lot of work with mental health. We've added on school counselors and psychologists and social workers that we didn't used to employ. Our ENL population has expanded. So that's required us to hire more ENL professionals. So there's a lot of things that we have to do to be responsive to the state and those initiatives and they
019require those staffing levels. But I think that we've done a really great job in not increasing them that we've remained steady over those last decade, decade and a half. Next slide. We've also expanded a lot of our programming. A lot of this is just um some of it's in response to the state, but a lot of it in response to community interest. So, we've expanded IB. We've added social emotional learning. We obviously added a whole pre kindergarten CL um cohort. We do a lot more with project-based learning, interdisciplinary classes, steam education. We've expanded expanded our school resource officer program. So we've done a tremendous amount with the resources that we have and yet we still maintain um an average per pupil cost expenditure. So I think that um overall we're very fiscally responsible but also
020being able to add a lot of robust programs that's been able to attract students that want to move into the district or even expanding our tuition based students. Um and we're getting more and more calls for people to come because of the size school we have but the amount of program that we offer. Next slide. So before we go on there, does anybody have any questions? >> Do do we have uh I mean in in your uh demographic projections uh you had something that projected you know based on five years ago, four years ago, how many live births there were and you know we're expecting an uptick in enrollment for next year. Do we have data that gives us a sense of what the longer term projection is or I guess those kids haven't even
021been born yet so no one knows, >> right? But but but we do know um um I mean I get well I if we don't have the data we don't have the data. >> Yeah it's and it's hard to say if it just was a little um increase in COVID babies but the last available data for live birth is 2021. So it's difficult to project beyond that but I think keeping in mind that as a county in New York State we are one of the lower they call it the fertility rate county. So all the districts around us are experiencing a low rate. So that's why we're working to find ways to increase that student population. And I think um one of the things that we've also found is a trend in the increasing numbers
022of home homeschooled students with which Dr. Summers I think could comment on. There was definitely an uptick in COVID. Um and that's leveled off a little bit but it's not to the level that the low level it was prior to CO. So >> that is a consideration as well. and and I know that there are a lot of districts across the state that are working to bring those students back into district just to increase their numbers. But um overall I think we're doing pretty well and it would be great if we have that uptrend coming through in our kindergarten enrollment. Any other questions with the the enrollment back to budget? Um, before I start my remarks, I would just like uh everybody to join me in re-welcoming Linda Steinberg to Red Hook as my successor
023in uh the business administrator position in financial administration. Uh, Linda's been my counterpart in Hyde Park for 14 years, 15 years. Brings a wealth of knowledge. Um she and I have had the pleasure of working together this week and we'll have the pleasure of working together for a little bit longer. Um she has already given me a significant boost in confidence that she'll maintain a style of fiscal management that will um enable Red Hook Central School to continue its focus on the mission of of educating students in the district. So welcome, Linda. Um, we can go to the next slide with budget projections. So, you really got this information last month uh with the audit report, but it was in a binder about this thick. Uh, I'm sure you all took it home and read
024it diligently between last month and now. Um, but as we as we head into the budget season here in December, um it's a little bit too early to really know what the budget will bring us between now and May. But what we can do is take a look at how we're positioned financially to absorb whatever it is that might come our way in the next five or six months. Um so this is a uh very pretty version of what our fund balance looks like. We're talking about the general fund fund balance and if you start in the upper leftand corner um we have what is called restricted fund balance or reserves. And that part of our fund balance has grown uh to $6.8 million. many of those reserves are accessible as budget stabilization resources if
025the need were to arise. Um, in addition to that, we do we have grown our capital reserve to top of my head $1.7 million. Um, we established that a couple of years ago that's there for a very particular purpose. Um, but those things are all in that restricted or reserved fund balance. Um, we assigned just over $4 million from last year into this year to assist uh in funding this year's budget. That really came in two forms. Um, it came in the form of $2,850,000 that we planned to assign or appropriate as we built the budget. Um, and then we did run a significant surplus last year. So at the end of the year um we were doing a significant amount of endofear purchasing and those outstanding purchase orders at the end of the year
026are what's called incumbrances and they also essentially assign into the new year so that that funding from last year moves into this year to pay for um those things that we obligated right at the end of 2025. Um, we also maintain an unassigned fund balance. That's really unrestricted, unassigned available money. Uh, that's the number that is not supposed to by law exceed 4% of the ensuing year's budget and it does not. Uh, we bumped up over that a couple of years during COVID. Uh, but we've got that back down under um by a tiny little amount under uh 4%. Um, and that money is also sitting in fund balance and could conceivably be used as budget stabilization. And when you put those three components of fund balance together, um, our total fund balance at June
02730th, 2025 was that just under $13.6 million. Um, if we slide over to the next um, slide, I would ask the operative question that many people debate, which is, is 13.6 six million, a big fund balance, a small fund balance, is it just the right fund balance? Um, and I think depending on who you are, you might have a different angle on the answer to that question, but the way I like to look at it is to try to try to do some benchmarking. And a nice benchmark is that every year the office of the New York State Controller takes a look at all the districts in New York State um and does a fiscal stress analysis. And one of the things that the controller does uh in analyzing fiscal stress is they took they
028take a look at the size of a district's total fund balance compared to the amount of money that it spends on an annual basis and they create a percentage. Um when you look at the controllers's analysis and look at that particular item, uh Red Hook Central School District sits 560th in a list of 669 school districts in terms of the size of our fund balance. So, um, approximately 559 school districts have larger fund balances than we do and just over a 100 school districts have smaller fund balances than we do. Um, in Duchess County, we are 10th out of 13. So, um, while some folks would look and say, "Wow, $13.6 million is an awful lot of money having sitting in a fund balance." As we compare that to other districts across the state and
029in our own county, uh we actually are maintaining a relatively modest fund balance. Um with that said, if we could look at the next slide, um I believe we are nicely positioned to absorb budget difficulties if those were to absor uh to arise. Um things that I think we could look at tapping if the necess if the need arose um would be our TRS reserve that's in that restricted fund balance. We have set 2 million almost $2.9 million aside in those two reserves and those two reserves are specifically designed to stabilize the cost of the district contribution to the retirement system. Excuse me. Um we have another reserve called the employee benefit and acred liability reserve. It's a slightly more particular purpose, but it could be tapped if necessary to do some budget stabilization. We
030have the unassigned fund balance that I mentioned. Um, the retirey health insurance account is actually not in the reserve section of the balance sheet. It's in the liability section of the balance sheet. Um, there's a bit of debate about whether districts are even supposed to have such a thing. We actually have uh just about $1.1 million there. Um and this may be a year to take a look at that because we're hearing about some difficult times coming from DHICK and in the health insurance world in terms of the rate of increase that we might see this year uh in the premium that we have to pay for health insurance. Um not in the general fund but also a spot where we have some money. We've created a debt service fund. A debt service fund gets
031created when we earn interest on borrowed money for a capital project while the money is not yet spent. Um it also gets funded when a capital project ends with borrowed money that hasn't been spent. That goes to the debt service fund and the purpose of that um is to help offset the local cost of debt um as we pay down the debt on capital projects. But in a pinch, we could increase the amount of money that we grabbed from the debt service account to help fund our debt service. Um, Linda wants to add a couple of cautionary notes about what it means to dip into fixed funds um for budget stamp. >> Uh, thank you. So, uh, like Bruce had mentioned, uh, having the reserves is a really good, uh, tool for the school district
032because we can use that to offset operating costs. um the items in the reserve would be used for the particular purpose that they're set aside for, but that could help us uh alleviate some of the operating budget to accommodate some of the other costs like the rising health insurance. Uh one thing that I had uh learned when I was at High Park is when you school districts use when school districts use a fund balance um that actually um causes sometimes uh questions from our bond raiders. Um they do look at that. They want to make sure that school districts aren't relying on fund balance. So, we would have to be really careful and not use a large amount of our fund balance all at once. >> I think that is the end unless there are
033questions. >> I think there's one more slide. >> Unless there is. >> Come on, Mr. Martin there. Let's try to get that last. So while while we don't have um specific information of of much value yet on uh the budget coming into um what you're looking at there is really the annual budget challenge, right? We have we have collective bargaining agreements that drive salary increases. Um we have health insurance which has its own little inflation rate which is sometimes more difficult than others to deal with. And we look at an expenditure budget that really in the natural course of things wants to run in the 5 to 6% increase range. And yet the primary revenues that we count on, property taxes and state aid are far more far more likely to run in the 3
034to maybe 4% range. And that leaves us a challenge every every single year with a gap between sort of the natural rate of growth of expenditures versus versus the natural rate of growth of revenues. And for us, that means on a typical year, we're probably looking to close a budget gap of about $1.3 million. Um and we've been doing this successfully ever since 2011 when the tax cap came in and I am confident that we will do this successfully again for the 2627 budget but it is a challenge every year. >> So is is the net result of what you're saying uh as we solve this every year is that um ultimately the projected rate of expenditure matches the revenue so it will come down to 3 to 4%. >> Absolutely. You have to find
035a way to make those two numbers match. >> Right. >> Yep. >> Right. because we can't make the revenue any higher, >> right? And unlike uh certain government entities, we uh we have to have a balanced budget. >> Any questions? Um I'll just take a moment and uh thank Mr. Martin for doing this year after year and keeping such a us fiscally healthy for so many years. This will be Bruce's last board meeting. There you go. Um, thank you. How many have they have there been in your career? >> Linda asked me that question today and I I didn't do the exact math, but we we did previously do at least two a month. Um, and I'm coming up on 28 years. So, uh, quite a few. >> All right. Good. I was going to
036say, don't ask me that. You're the you're the one should ask answer that. But we so appreciate you and putting a district in this position that we can serve children every year to the optimal level is deeply appreciated and you will be missed um as a friend, as a colleague and most of all just an advocate for kids. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Y >> All right, that brings us to our first recognition of visitors. If you would like to speak, we ask that you uh come up to the podium, state your full name, and that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. Anyone? Hi, Dr. Warden. Take it away. So, I'm going to start out by thanking our bus drivers for yesterday. Um the weather call was particularly um misleading
037uh to say the best. Um, so we really want to thank all of our drivers, our monitors, um, all of our mechanics, dispatchers, and Anthony for leading all of them, and we appreciate keeping our kids safe. We know that that's a difficult thing to do, so we want to thank them. Um, just looking over the board reports, if you take a look at Mil Road, just want to bring your attention to um, the November faculty meeting at Mil Road where they talked about student performance trends. I know a lot of board members have asked about data and assessments. So at during their meetings they talked a lot about um instruction instructional targeted strategies based on the data and what what might be needed at a grade level uh a classroom and then obviously a student
038level. Um also too we've been working in all the schools really to create student councils and hear student voice. So fifth grade is launching their student council with 42 members. That's a lot. He's brave. Um, and then we had our Shakespeare. Um, I know that some of you were able to go see Shakespeare. We continue to offer that as a wonderful enrichment for our students. And we continue here at Milroe with our buddy program. I saw a great wonderful thing happening today with our prek and our second graders making gingerbread houses. Um, it was basically frosting all over everything, but it was a great thing to see. And I think working together and being able to be role models is is key for that program. Um, over at Lambs, I want to thank Miss Smith
039for really focusing on community engagement and getting parents back into the school. I know that that has been a challenge, especially after COVID, but we just honored Liz Lowey and the wonderful activity that took place not only taught kids service learning, but like we spoke about before, but also highlighting the the thankful for science. That's what I was talking about, bringing all those parents into the school and teachers working together and really talking about the science behind food. So, there's a a bunch of pictures in there. Um, we had our Veterans Day celebration at uh Mil Road, but also the middle school students participated in Patriots Pen. Um, and also they worked with um I believe the VFW to hear podcasts that are coming from Olive Haley. um and they'll be able to hear voices
040from actual veterans. So, bringing that to life and making sure that we understand the sacrifices that were made. So, also too to direct your attention to the cafeteria mural project. I know that's been a few years in the making. So, we're really excited to have a local artist work with our students. Um, and if you took a look look at the pictures, it's the artists that did the buildings in Kingston, one on Front Street and one at the Maritime Museum. So, we're going to be very lucky to have a artist like that collaborating with our students, and I'm sure it's going to look beautiful. When is that going to start? Okay, great. And over at the high school, um, Dr. Rodi is starting a new council with students to discuss AI, artificial intelligence, so they're
041going to meet the first time next week. Um, Marina said a lot of this stuff, so I'm going to get through it a little bit quick. We got uh approved for our conditional approval for our welding CTE pathway. I know the board has talked a lot about that, so we're really excited to start that. Um, and Mr. Hutman and Miss Hagerty are really working hard on this, but we're really excited. Um, and I don't think I can give all the details yet, but we'll we'll give you more as as we're able to um relay those messages publicly. We talked about the red zone, how great it was, the senior picture. Um, we had a parent night for the IB program. Um, I don't know how do we have a lot of parents come to that,
042Dr. Ratty? >> Okay. Yep. And also our student service um student services uh helped out a lot of families when we had a lot of issues around SNAP benefits with new uh Red Hook response and they delivered nearly over 40 backpacks filled with food to our students in our community. So again, that service learning uh and working with uh local agencies and you talked about the great conference and Niagara Falls that that some of our students were able to go and we know that our students are starting to sign up for college and that can be a stressful time of year. So support them in that and I wish everybody a happy and healthy holiday and new year and I'll turn it over to Dr. Summers. You want to use my Got it. Got it.
043Thank you. I'm stuck in that thing. Okay. Good evening. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. So, this is um my report out for the work that's been coming out of the office of curriculum instruction and staff development. Um so we have led uh I have led the search and hiring process for the new director of technology which we will introduce later in the personnel area of our um part of our board. We reviewed 25 prospective applicants. We screened 10 applicants and interviewed five candidates in person alongside a team of 13 Red Hook professionals which included administrators, teachers, support personnel, and members of the technology department. I've been meeting with Amanda Allison, our director of PPS, to discuss the need for professional development for special education teachers to create a deeper understanding of literacy
044instruction. And we are also discussing staffing regulations and scheduling for this year and for next year. Um I've completed and submitted additional information for the federal grants which is the consolidated application which was reviewed last reviewed by state ed last week and approved. I've continue working with Lisa Polo to bring data to um the equity committee for evaluation. This information was presented to the community to the committee which will support our next steps and where we need to work on being very aware of equity across the district not only to program but to other areas of what we offer here at Red Hook. I've met with the music department coordinator to discuss professional development, the continuum of the music pathway, preK through 12 and staffing. Um we after each superintendent's conference day we do evaluate
045the faculty evaluates the professional development that was offered and we collect staff feedback. This has been shared out with the professional development committee and also with building administrators and um then I also had a intern that did summer academy work and also work in the equity committee. So I conferred with her and she's coming to the end of that internship. So we have done some evaluation of her process um continue to participate in administrative meetings and ongoing um walkthroughs and observation of teachers and have completed all cycle one observations within the allotted time. So been busy Great. Thank you. Um, so in the world of facilities and operations at the high school, we did install some new equipment for the PA system so Dr. Rody and Mrs. Lynch can play their uh soundtracks to the
046whole building. So, we're excited about that. We are prepared um this week to start installing some new lockdown shades. So, if you remember, we replaced all of the classroom doors within the last year and a half. So, um the windows are a little bit different shape than they used to be. So, we're preparing to install those shades. Um, at the middle school, we um had bought a whole um bunch of furniture for year-end purchasing. So, that has arrived and the custodial team is putting that together and distributing throughout the building, which is great for kids. A lot of flexible seating and different um furniture options in classrooms. I also want to commend um the facility staff because we did have a steam pipe leak last month um and they were on top of it. They
047were great. We got it fixed within 24 hours. We anticipated it was going to be a much bigger problem, but they did a really great job and got the building up and running and the classrooms back in order. So, kudos to them for that. And then at Mill Road, we continued our paving project. So, you can see in the daylight um that we extended the paving walkway in the back. And we also outside of the library here, you can see the um paving extends onto the sidewalk, which is great for kids and great for um just access into that area. And our food service department. Um, so we continue to increase the number of meals. A lot of that we think is attributed to the free breakfast and lunch. Um, but also a lot of
048different menu planning that um, Sam Pride has done and just a lot of student engagement. So that's been really nice to see. Um, Mr. Pride and I are working on a grant for the New York State Regional Food Infrastructure Grant. Um, we'd like to apply for him to be able to preserve farm fresh farm foods in the summer that can be used throughout the school year for students. So, um, we're looking at cryovacing to start and so we'll need some equipment and new freezer and refrigerator capacity. That grant is due in January, but we've been working, um, together on that. So, we're hopeful that maybe we'll get awarded some money. Um we did have um Cornell Cooperative Exchange come help train our kitchen staff on knife skills for the Thanksgiving meal which was exciting. So
049they worked at the high school um and cooked a whole Thanksgiving meal um and had those uh partnership come in and and that's a nice partnership and opportunity for our staff to be able to learn different techniques in the kitchen and and Mr. Pride's been very um very outgoing in in forming those relationships. So that's been great. We also had the CIA representatives from the culinary come and we're looking to partner with them and may maybe be an extern externship site. Um so they have their chef students go out to sites for six months and then um learn how to cook and be a part of that. So if we get approved as a site we can form that relationship which would be really great. Um and then in the transportation department we um have
050done a lot with snow removal which is great. They've um partnered with our facilities department. Um we did have um some issues with our fossil fuel bus with the cold and but our EV buses performed very well in the cold. We weren't sure. It's the first winter that we've had them. Um we were a little worried about what that would look like in starting, but they started fine. We did lose a little bit of our mileage for charge, but they said that was to be expected uh with the electric buses. So that's all performing really well. We, as you know, we approved four new EV buses in the last um proposition. In May, we've received two of those buses. We expect to receive the other two by the end of the month. Um so we
051will have a total of six. And we're always working on staffing. We do have a couple upcoming retirements of bus drivers. So Mr. Cercio is working on refilling those um replacing them and so looking at different ways um to do that. Um the field plans. So at the previously approved capital project for field one um and five were submitted to the state. So once we have approval for those we'll be able to enter into the bidding process and hopefully work on um construction and break ground this spring weather dependent. Um the RAH is working on their second round of grants. They've been incredibly supportive of different teacher initiatives and things in the classroom. Um, and they're also preparing for their June gala which is one of their biggest fundraisers which will be on June Friday,
052June 19th. Um, and then I was able to attend the Rotary Citizen of the Year dinner which was held in November and they honored Maria Scabelli and Lisa Murray for their work on the postp prom party. It's been more than 30 years that that prom postp prom party has been going on. So really a great thing for our students and um certainly a great example of service above self. So that was a lot of fun and to speak uh on behalf of the district and thank them for their work. >> Two questions. Field five is the girls soccer field. >> It's the varsity soccer field. Yeah, >> right. Sorry. Varsity soccer field. Sorry. Is that the one? I watch girls soccer. But so the field hockey field is closest to uh 199 and then the
053soccer fields on the other side by the bleachers. >> Okay. >> And there's boys soccer. >> Yep. >> And there's boys soccer, too. >> Boy soccer. >> I just was sorry. I was reflecting that the last time I was on that field, I was watching girls soccer. It is our genderneutral field. Okay, >> second question. >> Is it fair to assume that like what percentage of our classrooms have upgraded furniture? Are we like at 100%. >> No, really >> say 100. I mean, Mil Road, I think elementary teachers um always sort of had that type of um classroom setting. >> I don't know, Kyle, could you answer that better than than me at the high school? No, it's not. No, it ballpark is fine, but we are working towards 100%, right? I mean, every year.
054Okay. >> Milroad probably has the biggest amount. Um, probably three years ago now, Kitty. I think Dr. Boyd and I worked with Dr. summers on a grant and it took two years for the furniture to show up, but it did show up and we were able to replace a lot of the classroom furniture with um actually movable seats and flexible desks, which is great for kinesthetic learning. So, >> yeah, I mean, most of the rooms I feel across the buildings I've been in tend to have some upgrade, but I just didn't know if that was a full representation. I'm just curious. >> Yeah, >> by department. Okay. And we're trying to use, as you know, Bruce mentioned before, when we have end of the year funds and surplus to do some of those smaller things
055and start to replace. And so the middle school was able to take advantage this year, which was great. >> And we appreciate that the students see it. >> Yeah, >> that's the goal, >> to make that environment feel that way. So we're glad that that students appreciate that. All right. It made up for the first one. I'm kidding. So, uh, that brings us to the board of education review. And so, we'll do a committee report out. We'll just go on order here. Um, does policy, uh, want to share out? >> Go. You go for it. you guys. >> Uh we talked about a couple policies, just two really. Um one on uh accidents and medical emergencies, some minor adjustments. Um uh we discussed the bus policy and practices and uh had a some suggestions there.
056And then we also um um uh Heather was able to provide a list of all of the policies that we have and whose area of responsibility it falls into. I think this is something helpful for all of the board. Um you know in addition I think we we had talked about um uh I missed the last meeting but two meetings ago um uh she's started to work with Erie one um which you know they that's their like their mission is to help districts uh uh update their policies and so she's been working with them. Um, and she also had a list of all of the uh policies that are required by law for us to have. Um, so she's in the process of reviewing to make sure that all of the pro all of the
057policies that were required by law to have, we have. Um, hopefully we do. So, yeah. So, the spreadsheet and but um also u I thought this was helpful because it's a list of all the policies and um uh which ones uh fall under like you know uh the board of ed um versus the district clerk versus social work versus library versus you know um so it's kind of >> I was going to say maybe that's something we could get all get copies of. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. All right. So next is um community engagement. Um for community engagement, we were kind of we spent the majority of our time working on the new BOE highlights, kind of plotting out the different sections of the highlights and um kind of starting to work on some of
058the content for it. Uh, and just as a reminder for everyone that's going out after each of our board meetings, um, to kind of help kind of recap the meeting a little bit, give a little shout out to something that happened, um, and then things that are coming down the pike. So, um it'll have a few different sections in it to kind of give an easy kind of keep up with what's happening with the BOE and at the meetings um in the district um in kind of a concise highlights package. >> I think we saw something >> we sent one out for November. Yeah. >> So, we were still kind of like working some of the sections and stuff like that. >> What was the name we came up with for it? That seemed to
059be it. >> BOE highlights. Oh, well there you go. >> Do if you have something catchier, feel free. >> I thought we did have one aliteration. >> We remember we debated what it should be called anyways. All right. Sorry. >> They're going to have the policy committee decide on the new name. >> Leave it to the president. We'll also continue um our planning for the community partnership team which we will do those tours again um this school year. So we kind of need to plot out some dates for that and maybe some plans for presentations um and then how we'll uh build those teams again this year. >> Great. Great. Anything? All right. Okay. And that brings us to facilities. >> No, I didn't take notes. >> Oh, I took notes. Okay. So, we talked
060about two main topics. The ongoing discussion around the HVAC, let's call it, I guess, adjustment. Um, there's some new information that's come in in ter I don't want to go too down much down a rabbit hole, but you know, we kind of came to the conclusion that the news about the HVAC came on pretty quickly. everything came on really fast and it's just given us reason to think that maybe we pause you know get some more data. It's a big expense and you know current regulations are changing so quickly. Um Scott spoke and Erin spoke very clearly that you know we really do have a decent system in place you know for the number of days which I think all of which were five where students were in the building. We had high heat index
061but the the HVAC we have coupled with the the units there were no issues. We did not have to shut down like other districts did. Um, we think what we have is very viable to just maybe like slow roll this a little bit and not rush into another big lift for the community if we're not certain that the regulations might shift again, right? So remember, we got this approval and within six months we were told the regulations changed, right? So we just want to be a little bit cautious. So we may actually take that off the table for this capital project. Um, and then you know it it's ongoing. The dialogue should be ongoing and we'll continue to do that. Um, but it might not be prudent to just throw it on for the sake
062of throwing it on yet until we feel like we have all the facts, all the information. That said, we then had uh our our fellows from Palumbo put four sort of options in front of us for the bus garage. And I think collectively it it's really two options with little variance. One is demo build whole thing. Second is, you know, renovate an addition. And the the the number one fiscal difference is when you demo and build, zero aid. So that's really off the table. Um, and we've sort of come to the conclusion that, you know, renovating the current space and then adding the addition uh is probably our best uh path forward. Um, these are preliminary numbers coming in, you know, somewhere around 14 million, which feels a lot more manageable than 20 million. Um
063and and to say that that building from the ground up would be closer to 18 to 20. So that's a big difference. And then this maintains the integrity of the building we have, but we'll upgrade the offices, add a little more space to the bay, and then add in the new beautiful addition that has sort of a drive-thru bay area. So I think it will be less disruptive. We won't have to relocate our entire team. and you know all there's a lot of sound foundation there. It's just a matter of of of renovations and then the concrete floor where the dirt floor is. So they're still working on those numbers, but that seems to be kind of where we're going to land. Is everybody kind of comfortable with that concept of not knocking down and
064rebuilding versus add on? Okay. >> Yeah. especially with that the age >> and then Erin mentioned earlier with part of this welding grant which is amazing will require um some work in the space you know you have to have certain uh HVAC regulations you have to have a garage exit for aation so that might come out to somewhere around 1.1 million as well so we're looking at a capital project that will primarily be the bus garage project and the welding um learning space. >> How much was the welding grant for? >> 450. >> Oh, not fun yet, >> but a lot. >> I just >> Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I didn't >> Okay. >> Um >> Yeah. >> So, that's for like the equipment, right? >> So, you have to build out it's kind of
065like the >> you have to build out the space to support the equipment. >> No, I understand. >> We can share that number with you, but not the >> Okay. So all in we're looking around 15 >> one2 capital product which >> is manageableish >> right. >> Yeah. >> And what is our aid rate again? What would it be on that? >> 64. >> Okay. >> And then what was um the HVAC adjustment like when we had talked about doing that? Was that like 3 million? >> Another four million. We have 2 million left over from the original but it would be an additional 4 million. So the total closer to six. So if we added that in now we're pushing >> 21 million. >> So this is a much more manageable number. Okay. >>
066Actually part of what Kate is talking about is we just don't have enough factual information on the whole scope of the project and specific pricing. Um, our construction manager from Palumbo was on the phone during the facilities meeting and he's not entirely comfortable with all of the pricing and so it could go up another million and we're just not ready to bring that to the community without more specifics. >> Yeah. >> So, I have a quick question. Um, I guess when I first looked at all the cap the capital project, um, what we discussed at the last meeting, I kind of viewed the HVAC system as like maybe the most urgent in terms of our building needs. And so, is this the sort of thing when we say like pump the brakes um, we would
067be looking to then do at next year at the in May for another capital project vote? Yeah, that's what we talked about is pushing it a year just so that we got more um like I said more concrete pricing and factual information about it. I don't think the urgency is there in terms of we can't cool the building. We have cooled the building, we can cool the building. I think long term we're just thinking about as the system starts to present challenges our current system and replacing that. We need a long-term solution but we are able to cool the building. >> So I you're absolutely right. there was a sense of urgency, but after further reflection and Scott really thinking about how we're operating, we've dialed that urgency down, if that makes sense. >> Yep.
068And so I guess then my follow-up question would be um is there urgency with the bus garage and the welding um you know space in the way that you know I I just I guess I I want to um be a little bit cautious with like setting the precedent of having a capital project vote every year. Um and so is there any bit worth considering like pumping the brakes on the capital vote overall into next year? >> So there's an advant a fiscal advantage to having a capital project every year and that you try to maintain debt service because if you don't have a capital project you have debt service that falls off and so to the taxpayer perspective you're coming along and then you fall off and then you add on a capital project
069and you go back up. So there is the fiscal advantage of and you we could create a maximum ceiling of debt service but you want to try to maintain that steady flow. The other issue that we have um come up across is that we have cost allowance that's assigned to every building and we have a a ceiling for incidental cost allowance. We are about at our max for Lynen Avenue and the high school based on the work that we've done with the um athletic renovations and now the fields. So there is not really an opportunity to do work at either one of those buildings within this next year. So when we look across the district at places where we have a little bit of room for that incidental cost allowance, it's Mill Road or it's
070a place like the bus garage which doesn't have its own assignment of cost allowance. So that gives us the flexibility to be able to do that project. I do think there's an urgency in terms of the cost that we're putting forward and and not being able to run an efficient garage. Like we talked about the slope of the floor. We talked about not being able to get the lifts up in some places. Our major lift is broken. We're renting that right now. Um I think seeing the conditions of the offices and and doing better for our staff. Um but certainly all of that is a decision that the board needs to make. >> Yeah. And the uh welding program is being approved and going to be offered. >> Like I think that's a fair question.
071I'm trying to think in my tenure. I feel like maybe one year we didn't do a capital project and all others we did. I I just can't remember. The way I was told when I joined the board was like it's like a house. Like you have to put a certain amount of money every year and the problems compound. We took a lot of heat on the fields. What did people say to us? Well, you didn't. You ignored it for so long. You pushed it off for so long. So it's like you can't win. You know what I mean? Like I think you make those decisions to slow roll pump the brakes and people are unhappy with that decision because comes and compounds. It could be twice as expensive, right? So it's like do we approach
072capital projects as like a little bit more tenable, a little bit less sticker shock, right? 14 million versus 27 million and and keep maintaining things as we go and checking off that box. And then yeah, maybe there would be a year where nothing's urgent or dire. And I think that's a fair point because we asked that question like, okay, we were like really locked in on this, but now with more education, understanding that things may shift again and we're sustaining a a decent system. It's a good system. It's a new system. I mean, right, the one that we put in. >> Yeah. 2017. Okay. So, it's not like, you know, totally aged out. But anyway, that's just my two cents. I don't know if >> some districts also just look at every single thing they
073have in the entire school district and put it in one big capital project. But that doesn't mean that they're doing every one of those projects right away. So they're borrowing money like throughout. So you might see some local districts do projects that are like aundred 50 million, you know, something really astronomical and you're like, "Wow." But that doesn't mean they're going to be doing all those projects at once. They're just getting that approval. So that is an approach >> the school district could take, too, is that we're going to put in a mass amount. Um I mean I prefer to have smaller ones kind of getting a building a better understanding for the community but there is different ways to look at that. >> You probably have read about local districts having like 40 million
074or you know 100 million. >> Yeah. Right. >> Don't we have like a very substantial priority list that our architects? >> We've definitely decreased it over the years a lot. Some of it was done through capital projects but some was just done through our our regular budget the people that work here. So we've been you know, chipping away and looking at what is a priority. Um, what system may fail, right? So, you're always going to go to that, but then what's aesthetic as opposed to, you know, mechanical that we need right away. So, there's different ways of looking at it. I mean, we could probably make a list of 50 things, but it's just the way the board wants to go about it. Well, I think the way we've operated, you know, the last six
075years that I've been on the board and, you know, probably longer than that is more regular um, you know, smaller capital projects. I think to, um, make a list of everything we need to do and get like approval to do $80 million worth of stuff and then do that over five or six years. Um, >> I think needs change. >> Yeah. I don't I I don't know that's a that's a smart way to go about it because then you're having to, you know, I get approval and then four or five years later you finally finally do it. >> And when you get approval, do you have a certain time frame that those projects need to be completed by? >> No. >> Okay. >> So that $2 million that got approved, we just won't borrow it,
076right? So it's not like it's lo it's taken from the taxpayers and we like hold on to it. We won't even take it. So that's sometimes people don't understand that either. Yeah, Jen, do you have >> we had also talked about the sign outside of Lambs. >> I know that's not like a super high urgency kind of project, but just curious if that's still in the mix. >> Yeah, so um Stacy and I met with um a representative from the sign company and talked about what kind of the vision of it was. It's actually um it's less money for us to do that on our own than to go through a capital project and pay all of those extra fees for it. So they are designing um kind of a different options for what it
077could look like. And then our plan is to we have to go before the village planning board because it's uh digitized and there's uh light that comes off of it and it is in a res residential neighborhood. So depending on the lumens and um the light spread, we would need to get permission to put that in. But we are working in the design phase. He thought that that would be done by early spring. >> You you started off by saying uh it would be cheaper for us to do it on our own than go through the capital project route. And I was just curious as to why >> there's no capital work that really needs to be done. There's already electric out there. So it's really just a design of a new sign and replacement.
078If we go through a capital project, you're paying for the designer, the architects, the construction manager to overseas to be submitted. >> It has to be submitted. It's just a whole other process and it's not necessary for this type of work. There's no um infrastructure work that needs to be done with it. It It's just a swap out of a site because the electric's already there. >> I got it. Okay. >> Good. Uh any other uh board of ed member comments or questions, concerns? Is there anything I want to talk about? >> All right. >> Um I I just wanted to Hey. >> Okay. >> I just wanted to um quickly share a really nice positive experience I had recently. I attended a Red Hook class reunion. It was a combined reunion for the class
079of '09 in uh 2010 and uh just under a hundred people showed up for that. Um and it so it was a really nice reception at Lasting Joy Brewery. Um it was a night of like nostalgic memories, people talking about their experience at at Red Hook, you know, through throughout the years. Um it also included a tour of the high school. So I wanted to thank Dr. Rody for allowing that to happen. Um and Mr. Pavich and Mrs. Miller for leading the tour. Um it was cool for me, like I've been around and obviously connected to the school district in a number of ways. Um, but it was really cool for me to see my former classmates come back. Many of them have not been, you know, in Red Hook for a number of years
080and they got to step into the building and see what was the same and then also all the cool exciting things that were going on. So, some of the highlights were just like peering into the classrooms and seeing the new furniture and then obviously seeing things like the new gym and the auditorium. So, it was a really special moment and I just wanted to share that with everyone. >> That's great. It's nice to hear that. And that so many of the teachers that you guys had were there. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. We had uh eight teachers attended the the reunion. Uh yeah, it was really nice. >> That's fun. They were probably just as interested in seeing where you guys had gone, too. >> We saw that. Yeah. >> I love that. that that was
081a topic of discussion. >> It's all streamlined. >> Now they're all the same. All right. So, um, anything else? >> Okay, that brings us to policy review and approval. Um, we have two. The second read of policy 3310 and the first read of policy 7520. Can I get a motion and a second? >> Motion. >> Second. Any discussions? Any questions? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? All right. Okay. And item M, uh, trustee and alternate workers comp committee. Um, can I get a motion and a second on that? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Uh, any questions or concerns on that? >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? >> No. All right. And then uh number n uh trustee and alternate DHIC. Um can I get a motion and a second on that
082>> motion? Second. >> Any questions? All those in favor? Any Whoops. Sorry here. And then um board appointments. Um can I get a motion and a second on that motion? Right. Any questions? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? >> All right. And that brings us to business consent agenda. Um items one through 20. I get a motion and a second on those. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any questions or concerns on any of these? >> I just had a um would welcome hearing a little more about the all points. Um it sounds really interesting and the all points um consultants was wondering if you could just talk a little bit about that. >> It's item number 12. >> It's okay. This is the group that's going to um come in and work with our
083flex classroom. So, one of the things that Miss um Allison noticed is the consistency of our students traveling through that entire program. So, this group will walk in and help us with instructional programming, curriculum, staff development. Um they've worked with many school districts that she's worked in. Um, so just additional support to help with those students. We talked about job opportunities, things of that nature. Did I get all that, Kitty? >> Okay. >> Is that >> So, it's a new a new program. Okay. >> It's a new Yeah, it's a new consultant service. So, these are experts in the field that will come in and support our teachers, our assistants in the classroom, our speech therapists, our social workers in creating that alignment throughout um those programs. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah. Any
084anyone else? Um, I had just a quick question regarding the Washington DC field trip and um I I'm not sure if Stacy would have to answer this, but um I was just wondering um is there any like additional fundraising or funds available like for instance to help students that may not have >> the uh the money to to afford that. um what has been done in the past? Is there anything planned for this year? >> Um yeah, I we would never turn away a student that um couldn't go because of money. Um we have I believe in the past spoken to the foundation. Um I'm not 100% sure, but I also think additional families can contribute a little bit more money to um offset the cost for other students. So that is part of that.
085So if a parent pays and decides to give an extra $20, uh we certainly would look to most likely the foundation to support those students and they have in the past the VFW helped huge that one year. They I think they gave us about 10,000. >> They did >> or plus that. >> So yes, we would never um have a student not uh come. So Stacy does a lot of work with the counselors to reach out with families that don't return and ask them if that is the issue and then we go about finding those funds for >> I was on the other thing too. I was on the I'm on the parent meeting because normally you don't even have this conversation to the beginning of eighth grade. Lauren who's amazing Ceruo bar bargained with
086the company to say if I can get commitments in seventh grade. It took like $150 off the fee and also it reduced the monthly payment plan to something I think it's either 19 or $24 a month which is a lot more manageable for you know if you start in eighth grade it's like hundred and something so it's at least getting it out there and then they did say on that call we will not turn any student away. I don't think as a class they do collective fundraising because it's like a personal choice if you want to go. >> But I do think they go out to the education foundation BFW and a lot of parents give over and above fund for sure. And the price has gone up for sure. It's it's 90% of it's
087the busy. >> It's the transportation. Transportation. Yeah. >> And we did approve that at the I don't know if it was the last meeting or the meeting before so that she could go ahead and start a year ahead of time >> just like what Kate said. So good. Um All right. Any other questions? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? All right. And that brings us to personnel agenda items uh 1 through 10. Can I get a first and a second on those? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Okay. Any questions, concerns, any discussion on any of these items? All right. All those in favor? I. Any opposed or abstain? All right. And um we want to speak really quickly on item number one. Okay. So, it is my pleasure to welcome Brenton Gardner to
088be our next director of technology. Our current director is retiring and we wish her the best in that endeavor. Um so, Brenton comes to us from the Olter County Boseies as the education technology manager. He has over 15 years of experience in the field. He's a graduate of Meris College with a masters of science in information systems management. His bachelor's from is from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He did very well with our committee which um was a stakeholder group committee and he had complete consensus to be our chosen candidate. So I'd like to take this moment to introduce and welcome Brentton Gardner. That's right. Welcome to being a Raider. Congratulations. >> He's still sitting there. You You made it. All right. Um that brings us to the second recognition of visitors. If anyone would
089like to speak, we just ask that you come to pod the podium. Um state your name and you keep your comment to three minutes. Any takers this time? Nope. All right. Um, so that brings us to adjournment. Um, can I get a motion and a second on that? >> Second. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Happy holidays. Thank you again. >> Good job.