001Mhm. >> Good evening. Welcome to the Rochester City School District Board of Education work session. Today is Tuesday, January 13th, and we will move forward into the first part of this particular session, starting with our policies. Um I would like to take a look at District Goals part one. Uh we have policies um that I'm going to turn over to our clerk, Carisma Travis, who will kind of go over those for us at this time. Thank you, President Simmons, and good evening, everyone. So, tonight's policy review, District Goals part one, policy 0000101 and 0105, and policy 4350. So, as always, the policies follow this review process. Um and so, we're currently on step five. Standard operating procedures, the policies were sent to our advisory groups, SOC, BEC, CPAC, and a plaque, the the district administration
002for review, and now final recommendations have been forwarded to the board to review. And so, with District Goals part one, there are no significant updates or any NESBA recommendations. However, policies and 0110 are a part of this um batch. They are currently being updated by legal because of some NESBA updates with um legal updates. And so, when those policies are ready for review, they'll come to the board. Policy 4350, multicultural global education. This policy originally has started its review in September by the board and was voted down back in November because there was a question by a comment that the old administration had reviewed and recommended. And so, it was sent back um to administration for further review. And so, at this time, there are two options for the board to consider. One option is
003from administration. One option is um from Commissioner McCullough. They both are very similar. Um one has less wording than the other. And so, the question is which language is preferred. Okay, so that's the point of discussion at this particular time for policy again 4350. We have the two points in front of us. Um any discussion around these two items? Appetite of the board? Uh Vice President Malloy? Thank you. Yeah, I know when I first saw this um the language um I wanted to see that changed a little bit and I see the administration's recommendation, but I actually I'm looking at Commissioner McCullough's recommendation and I think I'm inclined to agree with that recommendation. Any other discussion points? Commissioner McCullough? So, can you hear me? Okay. So, I was looking at these and um they are
004almost similar in language. Um they very much say the same thing with the um with the administration's adding the um the actual African-American literature and Latino studies, which is actually the part of the actual policy itself. It was already written in there. So, just for for a sense of wording, I like my own, but I do think they both fit the bill. Thank you. I will say that one thing that I think needs to if we were to go with the shorter version and just as as a modification to the language because they are similar, I do think it does need to explicitly say the superintendent who is the person who guides these efforts versus the district. So, if we were to adopt Commissioner McCullough's language, we do want to give that order to the
005superintendent. Um Any other uh Commissioner Fineman? I like Commissioner McCullough's wording better because it also expands and adds more languages. It gives more ethnicities to be represented. Awesome. Commissioner Santiago? >> [clears throat] >> I agree with the administration's to be honest with you guys and that's just because of the fact that they name specific studies and things of that sort and I think that it's good that that will be in the language if that is the one that's chosen. So, my support is with the administration's recommended language. Okay. Thank you. Do we have any hands? No. Okay. All right. So, it looks like there's an appetite um for the modify for the um lower the other recommendation from Commissioner McCullough. Forgive me, guys. I should have eaten today. But yeah, so that looks like there's
006an appetite there. I do again think that it needs to be explicitly the superintendent. Commissioner Santiago? If we are going with Commissioner McCullough's point, is there any chance that we can take the bottom after including uh from the administration's um recommendation and add that into the language? You're saying the the calling out the specific >> Right. Including African-American literature, uh Latino studies, and Latino literature. If we can add like that line to Commissioner McCullough's um proposed language. Yeah. Do we believe that there's also, if we were to do that, do we also believe that there needs to be something open to um there could be other languages cuz this specifically says these and to Commissioner Fineman's point, the other one leaves it open. So, we would want to probably make sure there's a caveat that
007expresses that. It's not all inclusive. Part part of the reason why is because I like that it says including, so it doesn't exclusively >> limited to. It doesn't exclusively leave it to that, but it just gives examples of what it can include. >> That's true. I missed that word and that that does frame it. So, I we could add that in there. Does it not make them the same? Commissioner McCullough. Okay, so yes. So, while they are saying the same, that that language at the bottom, if you look at the actual policy under the section 4350.20, it has that same language already there. So, it's repetitive. So, that's why you didn't include the African-American because the other covers it. Would that work for you, Commissioner Santiago, if that is the case there? Okay, so I
008don't think we need further discussion. I think we'll go further go with Commissioner McCullough's with the addition of or change out to Superintendent and we can move forward. No problem. When you all do a motion, if you could um say that in the motion when it comes down to policy 4350, please. Okay. And so, thank you for that. And so, deliverable review. So, the following policies have deliverables. The first one is policy 0105, Equity and Educational Excellence. This is not a legally required policy. This is a board required deliverable. Sorry, board required deliverable, not policy. Um and so, the board wants to modify or keep it. If not, I'll keep moving to the next slide. Uh President Samonds. Yeah. Commissioner Santiago. J- just to be clear, when it says annual report, does this mean that
009he has to share this out in the board meeting, or does this just mean that he'll share this with us, like a written report? Anybody? Are we talking about the Equity and Educational Excellence? Right. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Policy establishes When I read it >> progress on the plan as it and its outcomes. So, there I think there'll be some progress monitoring. Um I don't want to guess, Superintendent Roster, will there be progress monitoring, but I know that this is just an annual report. A cumulative report is what I'm understanding to be. Yeah, from my understanding, this this this would just simply be a report that would be provided to the board um without a presentation, because I'm just thinking I'm just trying to keep in mind the Council Great City Schools framework for
010reporting out. Mhm. And this doesn't necessarily fall into um the superintendent's interim goal goals that we >> for Okay, so then it does exclusively say annual report progress on the plan as and its outcomes. Just wanted to say. Okay, I I I was just making sure that it was, you know, possibly a report. To me, I I'll go with wherever the majority of the board goes with as far as that. I think that um it adds more work to the administration. That's not specifically focused on our goals. And so, um I agree with it being gone, but I also agree that this is uh an important policy, an important subject. So, wherever the majority of the board goes, I'll follow. We can put a pin on that, too, if we do support it as it
011is and maybe revisit it if we find need to do so. Thank you for your thoughts, Commissioner Santiago. Commissioner um McCollum. So, when I was looking over some of the things in this policy, um I came up with some concerns. And I would say that it's not the best way to ensure that equity and educational excellence um is being met. Um and it's not a good way to spend administration's time. Um what I noticed is that this deliverable is a policy that doesn't optimize the um it's not optimal, I should say, to student outcomes. So, I did have a question. And this would be more so for the board and maybe the administration is what um would it be read more reasonable to have this deliverable um be centered around students explicitly embedded in the
012equity into the instructional pieces as opposed to coming up with a whole other report that we now have to sit up and look at or this administration has to take time to do? Did you want to go for that, Mr. Yeah, it it's just it really speaks to what I was also articulating that this seems to be something in addition to Mhm. what we've been working on as a governance team um and as an administration on developing those guardrails. Um And if we were to look at this policy in relationship to those guardrails. We may see some alignment. And maybe it's just um changing the language of the policy to then reflect those guardrails and the reporting out on those guardrails. Mhm. So, I know I I took the position that equity should be woven
013into the system. And so, that's the suggestion that we have at hand at this point and there's agreement on that. So, we can modify the language. Clerk Travis, do we need to have that language now? Do we need to try to You all have the option to forward this out in the next the first reading doing the um January business meeting. You can come up with new language. Okay. So, for now it'll stay as is. Okay. With the understanding there's a there's plan to modify. Okay. All right. Uh Commissioner Santiago, I'll move it inward. I It may also be beneficial uh superintendent if there is anything, you know, you want to specifically add or recommend your administration to that just to make sure that we're we're working as in a partnership and as a team
014when it comes to that. So, if you guys have any recommendations, that'll be helpful for us, too. Thank you. We'll take another look at this. Miss Vice President Malloy. Thank you. Yeah, and I agree with everything that's been said. Um I would love to run this by uh our partners at the Council of the Great City Schools so that they can look over um I know we're going to be moving more into a policy diet at some point. Um so, I would like to see what their take is and whether or not this is something that would be woven into what we already have or is this something that is this something we need to keep or um do we modify this? Thank you. Commissioner Finney. This is also something we can just totally do
015away with. If we're being redundant, we don't need to continually do these things. So, we need to be mindful of that we're not wasting valuable time, and we can just get rid of this and make sure that it is woven in every other place. Thank you. All right, it looks like the discussion on that matter is um there was so we have two options there. We can we will either modify or um come up with another approach. Um we have one question from Vice President Malloy. I do see that in the bottom right corner it says legally required. Um so, are we required to have this policy or So, the deliverable is um not required. The policy, give me a second and I can let you know about that, but the deliverable itself is not
016required. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Travis. I'm sorry. And so, next steps would be to forward the policies out of this meeting, which will go to the board the board business meeting to follow policy 2410 with vote at the March business meeting. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you. So, with that I'd like to entertain a motion uh to forward policies 4350 000 0101 and 0105. So moved. Um with the modification 4350 reading the superintendent versus the district. Um moved by Vice President Malloy. Seconded by Commissioner Fineman. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Uh President Simmons >> Uh-huh. No, you're fine. I just wanted to provide an update to Vice President Malloy that this is not a legally required policy. Okay, so it is not legally required. Perfect. Thank you. Uh with
017that said, we'll move on to our next topic, which is out-of-state travel. Um and I want I'm pleased um as State Monitor Alisjah approaches the podium, I do want to acknowledge this is the first work session of with our new commissioners. I was going to wait till the uh business meeting to be more formal, but I again want to welcome Commissioners Fineman and McCullough here to the dais officially. Um And already cooking with gas, having great dialogue, and so um we want to applaud you and and thank you for joining us this evening. You have no choice. We have 4 years. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, State Monitor Alisjah. Thank you. I have a clicker. Good evening, President Simmons, Vice President Malloy, Commissioners. Welcome to the two new commissioners, uh the staff, uh people watching.
018Thank you for the opportunity to share with you one of my responsibilities as a monitor in the Rochester City School District. This presentation is based on some of the questions that I have been asked and some of the work that we need to continue to do as we continue to monitor the finances in the district, how the district is spending money. So, this is a question for you to know that as a state monitor, one of my duties is to monitor outside of the state travel with general funds. Next. Next. As you know, uh Chapter 56 of the laws of 2020 required the commissioner of of education to appoint a monitor to the Rochester City School District to provide oversight, guidance, and technical assistance related to the academic and fiscal policies, practices, programs, and decisions
019of the district, the Board of Education and the superintendent is about working as a team. The legislation was extended this past May 2025 for 2 more years, and one of my new duties and responsibilities that I'm working on with the fiscal consultant is gathering feedback from the stakeholders to develop a new plan that is going to be in place for 3 more years beginning the year 2026-2027. Next. Part of the duties and responsibilities that I have is to serve as non-voting non-voting ex-officio member of the board. Work with the board to develop a proposed academic improvement plan and proposed financial plan for the district no later than November 1, 2020. This is when the legislation was passed for the first time. Now I have to come to you, to the board, in May 2026 to
020present a new draft plan for the board to approve at the June meetings for the year 2026-2027 to begin July 1st, 2026. Beginning with the 2021 school year, budget ensure that each annual budget is balanced and consistent with the district long-term financial plan. And I want to commend the team. I want to commend the superintendent that right now we're in the process of developing the 2026-2027 uh, school year budget, and we have he has made sure that, uh, the fiscal consultant and myself are included in the process of developing the budget. And as I said before, one of my duties is authority to disapprove travel outside the state paid by the district. And this is not only, uh, travel for the Board of Education, but also travel for staff in the district. Next. So, who
021approve the travel first? For the board, for the commissioners must be approved by the president of the board, and send the recommendation to me. And for the staff, district employees must be approved first by the superintendent. What is the criteria that I take into consideration based on the guidance from the state? Has the traveler made a a timely submission of the travel request form? And we're in the process of developing the form. And when we say, uh, timely submission, we want to make sure that if people are going to travel, that all the arrangements are made early, because that will give the opportunity to save some money. We know that for many conferences, if you, uh, register at the last minute, there's some extra fees. If you're going to fly, the flights are a little
022more expensive. If you're going to, for the hotels and all that, there's some extra charges. So, we want to make sure that, uh, the request is submitted in a timely manner. Also, to make sure that the travel is consistent with the district travel policy, policy 2521. Find out whether the traveler demonstrated how the travel will materially benefit the district. When you're going to go to a conference, when a staff member is going to go to the conference, that's why we're doing now for the commissioners to share and for people to share in executive cabinet or any uh meeting. Why are you going to the conference? What are you bringing back to the district? How is this going to improve student outcomes in the district? And has the traveler explained how the information will be disseminated
023to benefit other groups? Is the funding available to pay for the travel? Can the trip be funded without requiring a budget transfer? To make sure that and that happened last year in the budget, money was already allocated for travel in the district. Almost $1 million of the budget is allocated for the staff to travel for professional development. Are the expenses reasonable, necessary, and cost-effective? Has the travel request been approved by the board president for members of the board and by the superintendent for district employees? [snorts] And does the trip make sense within the current context of the district? Are you going because and I don't mean you per se, but are you going to a conference to support the strategic plan, to support the academic plan, to support the social studies curriculum that is going
024to be implemented, to support some new strategies that is are going to be in place? We want to make sure that the professional development it is aligned with uh the district plan. Then again, there's going to be a form that will include the name of the and title of the traveler, the person who is going to attend the conference. The name of the event and the sponsoring organization. There was the conference from the Council of Great City School that took place in Philadelphia. Is it a sponsor by the council? There's another event or another training that take place at Harvard during the summer. There's some other the National Association of Elementary School Principal. The National Association of Secondary School Principal. So there's on the council for Board of Education, the New York State School Board,
025even though that is only in New York State, but to make sure that the event, the conference, that the staff member is going to go is sponsored by an organization that is in the field of education. The location of the event. Cuz sometimes people are watching, "Woah, he's going to Miami again, going to California again." And for some people those are very exotic places. Again, things that I hear. The dates of the event. The date of the departure and the return. Is the conference for 3 days? When is the person coming back? Is the person going to extend the time of the conference or the location? Who's going to pay for that extra day or that extra night? Should not be on the taxpayers. The method of transportation. Is the person going to travel? Is
026the person going to drive? If the conference is in Philadelphia, so those are the things that are very important for me to approve the travel. The cost. The funding source. Again, see the a link to the program. And again, the most important things, what is the benefit to the district? Is this conference going to make a difference on how we are going to approve improve a student outcomes. And again, the signatures, I got to see the signature of the president or the superintendent. And so we got the 7 8 and the last thing is that again, I have the authority to say yes or no. And if I say yes, congratulations. If I say no, I have to give an explanation why and give the person the opportunity to answer some questions. It's not about
027not letting people go away for professional development. It's making sure that we're prudent with the taxpayers' money. And hopefully, this will benefit all the employees and the students in the district, again. >> [clears throat] >> This is a way to share with you one of my duties and responsibilities. Now that we have new leadership with the superintendent and new commissioner of education. Next. Any questions, comments, or feedback? Thank you. I like that you're reinforcing what has been put in place and that you've also taken the opportunity to streamline this a bit more. And so it will be helpful for commissioners. I do want to open the days for any if anyone has any additional questions. I think it was clear for me. For myself, would I just be submitting my report to you and just
028ensuring that my fellow commissioners know Yeah. when I'm traveling as well so that there's, you know, accountability on both ends. Okay. Um any other questions? With none, um we we look for additional developments and we'll be looking forward to that form to go over that and and make sure that we're in alignment with it. Thank you, state monitor. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we have the a board calendar attached here, a draft for the board calendar. Um this is inclusive of the speakers forum um being woven into I don't know, that's my new word tonight, I guess, woven. Um and this was to be approved by the board. The speakers forums, as you can see, um are October 30th, November 18th, and so on. So, with that, um in review of this calendar, I'd like
029to entertain a motion for this uh 25-26 Board of Education Meeting Calendar. So moved. Moved by Vice President Malloy. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Feinman. Why am I Is am I saying this right? Is this supposed to be the 25-26 calendar or should this have been Am I looking at something wrong here? Um no, you're correct. The modification you all were supposed to have a board retreat on Thursday. So, you look at the track change version, that's the modification. Perfect. So, it's finishing out this year. Uh and so, we have motions on the table. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Board calendar approved. Here we have a packet of January resolutions, academic resolutions. I'm just opening up my computer here, guys. Um and I'd like to entertain a motion for resolutions 365 to
030381. Excuse me, make that 382. 380 365 through 382. Is this a resolution to just um review these? Or just afford it to the consent agenda? Should be I can't understand you. Right. So, the first thing thing is reviewing the resolution packet and then forward it out to the consent agenda for the business meeting. Yeah, so I'm asking for motions >> for these. Has everyone reviewed the Okay. Uh any questions So, we do have Do we I'd like to entertain that motion and you're moving it by Vice President Malloy. I just need a second. Second. Commissioner Fineman. And so, it's open for discussion if there are any questions before we move forward with the consent agenda. Yes, I do have questions. >> Okay, Commissioner Griffin. Um let me go to the resolution. Give me 1
031second. We have a several resolutions here. Um let me get to the one where we have Let's just ask a general question. How were the schools selected for the for the grant monies um for these schools when it I think it was the literacy section. Um let's look at resolution 366. Am I in the right spot? What resolution are you What resolution would you like to >> is 366, right? >> are resolutions 365 through 382. >> of them, but I believe it starts with 366. Can Can someone explain to me how the schools were selected for for this for this grant money? Chief Cody, can you Thank you. So, resolution 366 is an opt-in. So, an invite went out to all schools. Um teachers were able to opt in. That is additional deeper uh professional
032learning community formed around the implementation of the practices that they learned in uh a previous professional development. And then 367 is initial training. And so, we have a system of tracking which teachers in the district have received the initial training in letters. And so, these are for teachers that we're prioritizing because they have not yet attended the initial training training. Um How many Do we know how many students in these schools are multilingual and and not just um bilingual or that I would say like uh speaking just Spanish? Is there any multilingual students that are coming to these events? And if they are, how many are there? Um these uh are academic resolutions for professional learning, not events. But we could certainly get the numbers for the multilingual students that are inside of the schools
033that the teachers that are attending this training Right. But Okay, because my concern is that overall, we need these teachers We need teachers that are fluent in not just just not just Spanish, but in other languages. Have we Have we diligently sought out other teachers that can address the needs of our multilingual students? We have an initiative to reach our goal of academics across the board. And I want to know have we done that? And this is part of that money that should be going to that. Are there any multilingual teachers that we will be that will be in this training at all? That speak more than two languages. >> Yeah, we would need to look at the certification of each of these teachers and if that is an expectation um that may be quite
034extensive um to some degree. But we can evaluate to see how quickly we might be able to ascertain that information. I would definitely appreciate it if that's one of our initiatives to move the multilingual and our students that are have a disadvantaged right now extensively. This money should be looked at. It should be given to them who are at a detriment state right now. And especially the fact that that you know, some of them are not even coming to school at this time and not even not getting the assistance that they deserve. So I think that we should definitely um before I would approve it we need to make sure that we are addressing the needs of all of our children and not just certain sectors of children across the board. And as as leaders,
035I feel that it's we need to make that initiative to reach out and touch the the teachers that have multilingual. Have we have we reached out and said, "Hey, do you speak more than one language?" We have a kid over here that speaks Swahili or Arabic or you know, all the other languages that we have. We have 4,000 students in our district that speak other languages. So I think it is pertinent that we do that. And my >> Griffin. And um uh how what tools are we using to um track the attendance of the administrators that will be attending these trainings? Yes, ma'am. So I can confirm that we do any of this training related to the science of reading, we do um require and offer to ENL teachers, special education teachers, and reading and
036ELA teachers. But again, we can get you the full information about um who has attended which of those if that is um the preference and then also as you asked for we do have a tracking mechanism for attendance of all stakeholders so it does include administrators as well. And that is on Saturday schools as well, right? You I mean you're doing Saturdays, right? On some of these? So I I just want to make sure. My biggest thing is like you know going back to um Miss Alizae's uh Jaime Jaime's uh point. This is taxpayers' money. And over the years that I've been here there's no been set no set information. I've asked for this information over and over again on this dais and we all know that I I I take pride in wanting the
037information and the data and showing that we are this is these things are being successfully successful and this cuz this money is just a waste. We waste money and and if we don't know who's actually attending year after year it's it's more waste taxpayers' money, right? So we want to make sure not just for travel for the commissioners but for the teachers and for the leaders that are giving this opportunities this money to our teachers to learn and elevate themselves that we are elevating we are elevating we're using our money strategically. Thank you Commissioner Griffin. >> And I have one more last question. I one last question. Okay. Um um No I I asked do yeah I just want to know about the Saturday school and and how and how you can ensure that we
038have we have the the um presences there that we're not just signing teachers up to use money grant money when it can go to something else. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. >> also confirm that just because the money is allocated on the resolution we only pay teachers if they physically attend the training. Right. Of course. We have we do know that that has been a problem so what I'm saying to you Miss Cody is that I we the board we we have the we should have that auditing information so we know that the job is actually being done. It's time for us to get that documentation and not just be told that that it happens. >> I'm going to take I'm going to take I'm going to take the mic back at this
039particular time, and I do want to just get some clarity. Again, this is for teachers at the schools allocated here, various schools across uh the school district uh for the letters training to align with the the science of reading. I'm not missing that, and I do recognize that Commissioner Griffin did have a list of um concerns or questions that she would like follow up on um that may take time for you all to gather that information. With that, I do want to ask my board colleagues if that is the will of the board um so that uh administration has a direction uh an official direction to move in or not move in. So, I'm going to start. I see your hand, Commissioner Santiago. No, my my my answer is no. I believe that you guys
040have full-time jobs and things to focus on, and so if this is um I don't believe that this is something that's uh super important when it comes to this conversation or even our board goals. Thank you. Okay. Um I just want to get an appetite of the board so that we can give a directive because there there are um some concerns that were presented. So, which way are we moving? Vice President Malloy. Sure. And I do recognize the concerns that um >> in the mic? >> [clears throat] >> I recognize the concerns that Commissioner Griffin has raised, but I think these um this is professional development for our staff members, and I think we already have the mechanisms in place to hold our staff members or our superintendent has the mechanisms in place to hold
041staff members um responsible or to hold teachers responsible for getting that professional development. In fact, in New York State, we have required or mandatory professional development hours that we have to meet and I'm sure that they are keeping track of who's received this particular professional development. So, but I recognize the concerns. Okay, thank you. Uh, any other Commissioner Flyman? Anyone who knows me knows I'm very passionate about language and I understand the concerns that Commissioner Griffin has, but this is not what this is about. This is about professional development. This is about teachers who have already signed up, teachers who have already made their commitment and this is the superintendent asking that we make sure that they get paid and I'm all for supporting the superintendent and the teachers in getting paid. Um, Commissioner McCollum,
042did you want to weigh in? Okay, I do um, do know that we have multilingual learners here in this district and so obviously there is an appetite to ensure but we have some guardrails around that and making sure that all students are learning and that the literacy is taking place. Uh, this letters training is understood to be for the professional development pieces. So, um, it looks like we have a general appetite and understanding but we can definitely follow up on any other concerns and get some clarity Commissioner Griffin around some other pieces. Did was there any other matters on here resolutions and the the concerns that are presented related to the actual resolution that is in front of us this evening on any of these [clears throat] resolutions? >> One second. And I think we
043again we said resolutions through 382. Any specific questions? Commissioner Griffin. >> I just want to clarify something to the listening public and for the record. I know this is for the teachers, but just as the teachers, the students need to learn, the students need to learn as well as collectively. So, I just want to clarify for the listening public. I do understand this is training for the teachers, but I also want to put out there that I've spoken to a lot of teachers that that the reason why they don't sign up for this because the people that teach them, they know more. So, I want to put that out there that the people that are actually doing the leadership training you are not as acknowledged as not as knowledgeable or knowledgeable, I should say, as
044the people that are actually doing the leadership training. So, I think that we also need to look at that. Who are in front of our teachers? Because the teachers are irritated by the people coming in front of them that know more than them. Okay. >> You know, so I think that that's that's that's something that is a concern. So, you don't probably have a lot of teachers signing up because they don't feel like somebody that has does not know as much as them being in the district for 15 or 10 years coming and tell them what to do or how to do something when they haven't even sat in their shoes. So, I just want to make that and put that out there for the record. It's not that they don't want to learn, but
045they want somebody that has that experience that can give them what they need to excel in this district. Thank you. I think 382. So, um with that said, we have the motions on the table. All Oh, we have a hand? Thank you for Thank you very much. Commissioner LeBron? Yeah, I just want to say, um it's really irrelevant who's teaching the workshop in this particular moment for the board because again, that's being all up in the weeds of what the administration is doing. Um and as you all know, and maybe the public may not be aware, um contracts have to go through a RFP process and people do have to have credentials in order to teach and train and so forth. So, I just want to put that out there cuz I I hate this
046narrative that we're just sort of laissez-faire not caring about what PD is looking like for teachers when in fact people are confused about what the purpose and the intention of that resolution is. I also just want to uplift that I don't support wasting administrations time on frivolous reports, data requests that people can't even do anything, won't do anything, and don't don't even know how to apply it or analyze it. It's just a waste of everyone's time. Thank you. Thank you. Uh with that said, all in favor of moving resolutions 365 through 382 forward to the consent agenda. I. Oh. Um I'm sorry. I missed the uh One last piece. Commissioner Faiman, you all set? I was just trying to You guys good? No, I I got one thing. I do have a question though for
047um resolution 377. It's more of a clarity thing than anything um because this there's no fiscal impact or anything for this particular resolution. I just needed a little bit of clarity on one of the tables that was in the executive summary. And that's number 377, page 28. She Swan, can you speak to this one? This is the authorization of CSE, CPSE recommendations for special education programs and services. Good evening. Can you hear me? I can. So, each month we will have a resolution to the Board of Education that is asking the Board to approve the Committee on Special Education and the Committee on Preschool special education recommendations that have occurred through the committee's meetings. That's a function of the board. So, every month you will receive that request or that resolution. Okay. So, my question
048then is for the actual table, I've noticed that um there's 963 IEPs that were um that were done and then there were 84 decisions last status that was made. What's the relationship between those two numbers? I'm sorry, I don't have the table right in front of me. So, and that's what I was trying to look at before I came up. Thank you. I can't open them up. So, the the one table is the type of meeting that took place. Um so, there's a number of different types of meetings, annual reviews, reevaluations, initial meetings. And then the other table is the decision status. So, what did the committees um decide? And let me look a little bit more closely and if it's agreeable and acceptable to the board, get more definitive information to you as board
049members. >> Oh, 100%. I just wanted a little more clarity because I didn't know if that was a subset or where that information was coming from or how it was being interpreted. So, just for clarity purposes, I just wanted to know. I I'm I'm very pleased to be able to give that to you. >> Yeah, you. I appreciate it. Okay, we done open up Pandora's box. We're going to take one from Commissioner Santiago and then we're going to close out these these set of sub resolutions. Commissioner Santiago. I'll just I'll just ask to Commissioner McCullough's point if we can possibly pull this from the consent agenda until we get those answers and we'll cover it at the business meeting. I certainly was going there. Thank you for that. Um and also if you can place
050that in the board question log so so we can review the response when it becomes available and so um and that was resolution 377 was it so that modifies what we have on the table I'm going to come back do I need to backtrack or just can I move forward with the modification? I think just just restate the the vote and what you're the board is voting on and then go forward. >> I just like to entertain a motion for resolution 365 through 382 with the exception of resolution 377. So moved. Moved by Vice President Malloy. Seconded by Commissioner Griffin. All in favor of 365 through 382 with the exception of 377. I any opposed? >> I. Resolution carries. Okay, looks like we may be moving on to the superintendent at this time. Superintendent Rosser.
051Thank you very much. The team and I have been working extremely hard to put together our 2026-2027 budget. I have to commend the team who's in this room and their hard work and effort with thinking out of the box and you know, coming up with innovative ways in which we can continue to provide greater opportunities for our children. We wanted to provide a preliminary draft budget update this evening. Mr. McDowell, if you can go to the microphone. As we [clears throat] know, the landscape is always changing and there's information that's being shared with school districts across the state um information pertaining to charter school tuition changes in various rates and we wanted to make sure that as we continue our journey of developing the budget that reflects our investments in and our intentions to advance
052student achievement as well as deliver a budget where equity between schools and departments is reflected in the budget we would like to provide updates to the board and our community as to where we're at and changes that we have seen since the last time that we have presented. So I'm going to have Mr. McDowell run through and provide some high-level updates as it relates to our revenue projections, our expenditure projections, and what our overall funding projections are. Mr. McDowell. Uh thank you, Dr. Rasser. If you can flip to the next uh slide for me. Is that better? You're welcome. So back in December on the 18th, we gave a draft um estimate of what we thought our revenues would be for uh this upcoming school year. Um in in the last four to five weeks
053or the last four weeks or so, we really don't have any updates for revenue at this time. Uh we do know that the uh governor gave her state of the state address today. Um and uh I want to review that, really look into that. And we uh also know that um the expectation is next week on the 20th, she's supposed to release the um actual um individual school district uh revenue estimates. So, um we're hoping in the next 2 weeks uh when we come back, we can actually give you an update on revenues. So, um right now we're projecting about 984 million for the general fund. Um and hopefully those numbers will change in a positive way in the next few weeks. Where we did see some change in a couple areas, but we'll start
054with the first is in our instructional line. In our instructional line, we include the cost for charter schools. So, we do know that at least two new schools are opening next year with possible enrollment of about 6 to 700 students. We also know the actual cost for charter schools is gone up for gone up about a thousand dollars per kid for next year. And we also know that the calculation for excess cost day, which is a cost for special needs students, is also increasing. So, with that, knowing all of that, we have increased our estimate for charter schools by seven million dollars. Taking our total estimate for expenses right now from 1 million 22 million 1 billion 22,000 or 22 million to 1 million 1 billion 29 million dollars. Next slide, please. When we didn't
055compare our general fund cost, we now are estimating that our our deficit not our deficit, but our gap is about 46.3 million dollars. And that's just in a general fund. But we also know for grants that there is an expectation that we may lose some funding there. And what right now we're guestimating about a 10% decrease in our IDA and our title grants. So, with that with that expect expectation, we're expecting about a 7 million dollar decrease in our grant funding. When you add that to what we're looking at as a gap in our general fund. It equates to about a 50 mil 53 million dollar gap at this at this particular time. Now again, we do have the state revenue projections coming out next month and we are doing a ton of work behind
056the scenes to look at every expense that we have and as we get more defined information, we will share that with the board as soon as we can. So as I mentioned, this is a very quick and brief update. You know, as changes come to administration, we want to make sure that through this the development of the budget that we're very transparent with what we are working on and what we are working to close. At this point in time, President this concludes our presentation. Thank you very much. I'll open the dais up for comments or questions at this particular time. With that, I'm going to just start with slide four really quickly and if you could um help me out with that surplus gap again that I'm looking at. Help me understand because it looks
057like a matter of a month and I I might have missed one piece of it. Can you go back to slide four? Yeah. Right there? Yeah. So this is reflects the chart So on December 18th, we came to the board and presented a gap of about 39.3 million dollars. A month later, which is today, because of the expected increase in costs in charter schools, that number now we're guestimating at 46.3 million dollars of a gap. So it's it's increased by 7 million dollars. And this was information that we received last week from the state. Okay, based on the developing charters that that we're anticipating. I see your hand Commissioner Santiago. I'll move inward. Quick about this specifically. Over overall surplus gap it says 53 million. What is What is that about? The 53 million is
058the 46 from the general fund and the 7 million that we expect to lose for our grants, unfortunately. Right. So, if I can just jump in. So, ASBO New York, which is the Association of School Business Officials, we've been very tapped into what they're looking at, their projections, their conversations with a number of different entities. And what they've shared with us is that many school districts, understanding the federal landscape and what's happening with the federal government and the defunding of education, that many school districts are bracing for a 10 to 15% decrease in federal dollars coming to the district. So, when we look at these numbers, we're taking into consideration potential cuts to title as well as potential cuts to our IDEA grants, excuse me. And I know that this is fairly new, but as
059far as right now, what is the plan as far as to close that gap in the budget? We've been working diligently as a team to identify a number of different ways in which we can reduce our expenditures for next year, which will help in closing the gap. Once we receive the governor's run next week, hopefully, I had a conversation yesterday with Jennifer Pile and it is expected that the governor's run on state aid allocation to school districts across New York will be received by all school districts. It will give us more of an understanding as to whether or not our revenue projections that we have listed on slide two are in alignment with it. If there's more money that we are anticipating to receive, we're hoping that it's no less than the 983 million dollars
060because if it is, then at that point in time our projected gap is going to be more than 53 million. Thank you. And I am definitely interested into hearing more about you guys' plan to to fix and to fill the gap. I mean, of course, every year this happens, but this is a little bit more money than usual and that's because we're in different times. But it's important that we as a board are here to support and to make sure that we get a budget that is balanced and that that we can provide to our children without taking too much from them. And so I look forward to that process and our conversations there. Thank you. Thank you. I do see a hand at the other end of the desk, Commissioner Griffin. And please let
061me know Dr. Assefa if if this is um not getting in the weeds, but this information is is coming and it's just not as present at this time. Um I'm very I'm very at first glance, this is very It's not enough information. Um we are on a time constraint and I know that you're you know, this is your first year dealing with our budget. Um but it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. I guess my concern is or not even a concern, it's more so is it based on the fact that we have so many things out there that's hanging in the that's hanging in the wind like we don't know exactly what's going to happen that we have such a brief uh five pages of information not even of yeah, five pages of information
062regarding the budget because last year this was a lot bigger at and so I'm just trying to figure out, you know, is that the reason why? Because it's a lot of gaps here as far as lack of information. So, I know you guys have been dealing with Oracle and all that. I do respect that. But when you when we get that information, we still have to go through it. So, my concern is that how much time is that allow us to get through the information and and like a fine-tooth comb as we should as commissioners to understand what is or isn't um applicable or should be um maybe uh changed or those things like that. So, I'm I'm concerned about that aspect of it. Um when do you expect that we will have something a
063bigger draft to to look at? As far as as far as Go ahead. Mr. Williams, if you can um go to the last slide. So, your observation on this, Commissioner Griffin, is correct. This very brief, as stated when we opened up this presentation, is something that we wanted to make sure our board, our community had an understanding as we receive information from multiple places. We want to make sure that our board and our community are updated. We received information last week that spoke to the increase of expenditures of about $7 million from the charter school. I did not want to wait until February 26 to share that with the board. Also, in our collaboration and conversation with other outside entities, we learned that school districts across the state are bracing the federal impact to be
06410 to 15% reduction in our federal revenues. We did not want to wait until February 26 to provide this with the to the board and our community. What I shared with the team is that it's going to be extremely important given the fact that this is my first budget here in Rochester, but not my first budget as superintendent, that some of the things that we had in place in my previous school district was sharing updates to the board and to our community will be carried forward here understanding that when it comes to our billion-dollar budget, there's a lot of questions that are asked and we did not want our staff members, our community board members sort of scratching their head saying, "Well, back in December you shared this number with us. What happened in between?"
065As we are, as I mentioned, journeying to develop a budget as we receive information that is pertinent and relevant to our communities understanding, we will most certainly continue to share this information in this manner. It is my understanding that last year during this time, this information was not shared and we're looking to do things differently so that when it comes to us producing a budget to our community and to the board that you have come along with us every step of the way. I do appreciate what you've said. Um, I know um, just just my last thoughts on this. Um, there's a lot of things that need to be done here that we that would not um, per se have anything to do with the outside world as far as the budget is concerned. So
066I guess me as a commissioner, I'm wondering what are we doing internally to address our budget as well. That I mean, and maybe I should have made myself a little bit more clear. Um, we this is the a budget as you we go and we look at the the the local, the city, the state. We look at the general support instructions and all of that. But what have we done in RCSD to affect the budget so that, you know, we we're making changes at that level. Not at with at the other level. So have we done that and where is that information with us? We've been doing a lot of work as I opened up the presentation to simply say that we've been working just about every day on the budget in large groups and
067in the small groups. We're looking at departments. We're looking at every line. We're working with our building principals or will be working with our building principals and developing their school-based budgets. The information that you're asking for was intentional. It was not a part of this presentation because February 26th is when I will be giving a more comprehensive presentation after we have received information from our governor about our budget. So that's something that the board, the community, um individual commissioners can really anticipate hearing much more of a detailed presentation on February 26th. Thank you. Much. Thank you. Um for the viewing audience or folks that are tuning in because our conversations do go around, I do want to just bring to your attention, it's already been stated, but I feel the need to repeat it that
068this uh particular presentation is a preliminary. Um and so the language gives you the understanding. It is a preliminary introduction to some high-level pieces that might be of use to us to know ahead of time in which again as Superintendent Ross has stated on February 26th is when we will get a full comprehensive budget breakdown and understanding of where we are going as a district and what we are looking at. Also, that is in alignment with the governor's um release of budget information which will come out around uh January 20th, and we know that that is uh going through ebbs and flows. Um and so I want folks to recognize that the board will be going into budget deliberations around April 21st, 28th, and May 5th. So, I want to do that as a facilitator,
069that is my role. So, I want folks to just know I'm just facilitating the meeting. Um Commissioner uh McCollough, I do see a hand from you, and then I do see Commissioner Santiago. Commissioner McCollough? Yes. I got it. Okay. So, real quick, and this is more so um just for not a not a a response I could I should say, but more so something that you can um give us when you do your more in-depth presentation, something that I'm going to be looking for. And what that was was um given considering what's going on in the federal level and and how it's going to impact IDEA, how are you going to um discuss with us some of the tradeoffs that might that are going to have to be considered when it's when we're looking at
070this new budget season and what's happening. So, that's just something to consider that I'm going to be looking for to see how that is going to play out. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner McCalla. Commissioner Santiago. Yeah, and I and I know it's it's not positive or good practice to ever balance a budget with fund balance, but I do just want to reiterate that we do have a fund balance and at some point that fund balance is going to have to be used and I believe uh that during this time we're in the time that we possibly and I'm not saying the full amount or a large amount, but I'm saying uh that that we do have a fund balance and it's good to hold the purse, but sometimes you got to open the purse
071and pay for for what's needed. And so, um I just want to put that out there uh as an individual commissioner. Of course, not any large amounts of money. Um but, we do have a fund balance and this is exactly part of the reason that the board saved the money uh for the rainy seasons like this and um we possibly have to deal with this three more years or one more as Congress is reelected. And so, we have to be strategic about that, but I do uh want to say and I know state monitor you don't like this at all. I'll say something. But, um it I I believe that, you know, there is a point that you got to tap in and it may not be a lot of money. It's not the full
072$60 million that we have to fill, but if there's something uh I think that that's worth uh at least a conversation with the board, the state monitor, and the administration. That might be letter F of the contingency plan. Let's get through A through the rest of the letters. I did see state monitor look back at you. Um I do see that we have a hand on the screen and Commissioner LeBron. Yeah, I just want to point out and thank you for uplifting that this is just a forecast, but perhaps going over the actual budget process or schedule, even if it's a one-on-one with Commissioner Griffin, so that we're not putting out there to the public that we have a shortage of a budget presentation when in fact it's just a forecast and some up news
073some updates and news. I also want to point out that there's other cuts that will be coming down the pipeline that this is again just a forecast and that we should anticipate impacts because of tariffs, impacts because of RG&E's hike to the um request to the state rate now which is still up in the air. So all of those factors at play will be impactful to us as we move forward this budget year. Thank you. Thank you. With no further discussion, um thank you uh Superintendent Rosser. Thank you very much. As I mentioned, um as we receive updates, we will most certainly continue to keep our community and our commissioners abreast. Thank you, Mr. McDowell. Okay. All right, moving forward on the agenda time check 7:14. At this time, this meeting may recess into executive
074session uh to discuss uh collective bargaining negotiations and pending or current litigation with general counsel um entertaining a motion. So moved. Move by Vice President Malloy. Um you know, thank you for the question. We will not be returning from executive session. So we will be uh after going into executive session, we'll motion to adjourn the meeting. Um before we finish that, I do see a hand. I want to make sure we're clear. >> a quick question for the administrative support resolutions, are we going to vote for that before we go into executive? You know what? I thank you for that. I thought that we did that for that the academic resolutions. >> Or I believe that they're separate unless I'm wrong. >> I'm mark No, I marked that off. Um, no, we we don't need
075those on the consent agenda. We don't have any on here. They were just academic ones. Okay, thank you. Trying to get me. No, I was just making sure. I was just making sure. I Yeah, I got confused, too. Thank you for that. So, entertaining a motion to exit into executive session. So moved. Sure. Uh move by Vice President Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Griffin. All in favor of exiting into executive session. Aye. Aye. We'll be going into executive session, and I think I'll use this time to adjourn the meeting at this time. No. Just Okay. We'll be leaving from executive session. Thank you. All right, thank you to our viewing public. Have a good evening. >> Mhm. >> Hey.