001Excuse me. >> Turn this on. >> Nope. Go ahead and talk. >> Turn on. Turn up. Oh, you're going to use the wireless. Then hit the bottom button. That'll go green. >> Sorry. >> Good evening. Welcome to our 2627 proposed public hearing. Uh this is presented by myself. My name is Paul Spado, a superintendent of Ronda Valley Center School District and our assistant superintendent for business services, Tabitha. So again, our theme at Rondout is uh we want to become the world premier school district where our students are future ready and productive citizens and we want to continue creating a culture that fosters collaboration and innovation. And our hashtag is Premier Round Out Valley and the budget will help support this theme to become a reality. What our budget funds is all of these wonderful innovative
002programs. And I I'm proud to say that we have a very minimal impact uh with our student programs uh with this budget, all of the academic programs we offer, with our new math and ELA curriculums, uh giving us real-time data on student performance, with our fast bridge and data made assessment systems. We have innovative and creative special ed programs. our CTE offerings. Our students get to go to Boseies to participate in those classes with AP dual enrollment. Uh extracurricular activities such as small gas engines, FFA, fishing and wildlife our students get to participate in. We have our instructional framework of universal design for learning and the writing revolution writing program. And we're also focusing on the whole child student well-being of our children. We monitor our students uh through safety and security systems like digital
003hall pass and go guardian. We're um rolling out a brand new social emotional learning curriculum uh this year that the budget will be funding which we're excited about. Again, we have award winning music programs, related services providers with athletics, unified PE, sports clubs, activities. Uh all of these things we offer to our students, a wide range of activities we offer to students and the budget helps fund all of these academic programs. And our goals not only for this year's budget, but moving forward is, you know, we want to have minim minimal impact on student programs. All those programs I just listed, they're all going to be offered uh in this year's budget and we want to make sure we pass that budget for 2627. We want to minimize staff reductions moving forward. Um looking at
004attritions, resignations, internal transfers to rightsize the budget so we don't have to fill a position uh based on numbers and data. Uh that can be a way to um minimize those reductions moving forward. And we want to continue reducing expenses and minimize the gap. um we have a lot of expenses we incur each and every year through contractual obligations uh through um health insurance um payments. So we always look at those expenses how can we reduce expenses each year uh to minimize those those staff reductions and then we want to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers everyone here uh we we're we're asking to go to a 3.2 82% uh tax levy uh this year to fund next year's budget. And again, that's a 34% decrease from 2025. And then our budget, our overall budget,
005which Miss Be's going to get into, is only a 2% increase from 2026. So that should tell the taxpayers, our community that we are being very fiscally responsible uh with our funds. That's a 32% decrease uh from 2025. All right, this slide here is going to compare our expenditures on the top year-over-year. So, our budget, our adopted budget expenditures is the furthest over for 2526. It was 80,470116. And this year, we're proposing or projecting our expenditures to be about $82,935, which is an increase of about $1.6 million or 2% as Dr. Spidaro was saying. Compare that to our projected revenues. As you see, our revenues balanced out our expenditures in the 2526 year. And as we move forward in this slideshow, you'll also see how we are proposing to fill our revenues in order for
006that same thing net to zero to happen. All in all, you're going to see a decrease uh in our revenue about $3 million or about 3.5%. set a different way. There's our expenditures at the very top and our revenue categories. We have our property tax levy. As Dr. Spero said, we are recommending going to the levy uh cap, which is the allowable amount per our tax cap calculation. That will generate about $1.8 million in additional revenue. We also have the state aid number. Some of you may know as of yesterday, the state budget still has not passed. Therefore, we are still going to base our projections on what the governor proposed back in January that is presented there at the 27,288,809. And miscellaneous is going to cover things such as our interest income, tuition we
007gain from our um spend programs and students that may choose to come to the district um and other ancillary things that don't fit in those two other buckets. All in all, we have a shortfall of about 4.4 4 million. As we look at the projection of the remainder of this year, we do project that we'll have savings because we've been fiscally responsible all year, looking at every expenditure and making sure it's necessary. We have about $3.1 million, $3.2 million in fund balance that we're going to appropriate. That's our savings from this current year going into next year. And then we're also going to appropriate some reserves. This is use of money we saved in the past for these rainy days when we have a shortfall in our budget. Here's a comparison as a graph. I'm
008a visual person, but as you can see, our expenditures in the three-part budget have stayed exactly the same year-over-year. So 2526, our program budget was 75% of our budget in expenditures. And again in 2627 the program is the largest portion of our budget. This summarizes the three-part budget what you saw on the graph. The program is about $60 million in 2526 and it's going to go up to about $62 million which is a change of about 1.3 million or 2.21%. Our capital expenditures are not those expenditures related to our capital projects. This is our expenditures as it relates to our facilities. How we maintain our facilities, the custodial workers, the groundskeepers, um the snow removal. Also, all of our debt sits in the capital portion of our expenditures. So, we're going to see a little
009bit of an increase there. And then our administrative budget is listed here at $8 million, which is the smallest percentage of our budget. Um, and that gets us to that $82 million or the 2% increase contingency budget. It's very important to talk about this. If the budget were to pass, we would have to have a conversation as a board of education to decide what items based on the formula are allowable in the budget and what items are not. If we go to a contingency budget, we will lose that tax levy increase. Therefore, we will tax the exact same amount as we did in 2526 and we will lose about $1.8 million in revenue. Um, we have a budget video again this year, uh, that you can get off of our website. It was also posted
010on our social media. Kind of breaks down even more what we talked about already here. Tonight, we're going to meet some candidates. This is the list of the candidates we have that um, submitted their um, applications. Three seats are available for a three-year term. and our vote is on May 19th. Come out, enjoy um some I think there's going to be a chicken barbecue and some other things, but please come out and vote at the district office. We open at 7:00 a.m. and we close at 9:00. We look forward to seeing everybody there. If you have questions about absentee ballots or early mailing ballots, you can go right to our website at that link there. Any questions? Correct. But the school district actually children. special. >> I'm not sure which budget line you're looking at,
011but we do send students based on the uh needs of the student and the least restrictive environment. So, we do send some students out of district. >> So, why would you create smaller special needs classes so those children stay in their and be a part of their community. Make their lifelong friends and field trips. Why do they have to descent as a district? And we spend all that money where we could take a class in the middle school that might have 12 to 15 children. >> That that's definitely a good recommendation. And all these decisions are it's a team decision with the CS with the CSSE team. That's part of it. And some students have to go to what's what's called residential facilities where they actually have to not only go to school there, but
012they actually have to live in those areas too. So all those considerations are are taken under consideration when a CSC team is making those types of decisions for what's in the in the best interest of the family, of the community, and of the school. children have special needs just and not get any kind of academics. I'm curious where the art for the future. Yeah, all of our all of our classes that we've offered last year are being offered this year. Art classes, um all extracurricular activities with art clubs, anything that deals with art and extracurricular, those same clubs, those same activities will be offered in this year's budget as well. question. I have a question. The test has found out is pretty [clears throat] Next 41% statewide 52% is 38% statewide 58% 50% statewide in
013Osa There's eight school district number one number eight go to some of the other places the same thing I have been here our budget was $80,000 $30 million east their $155 million students. We had 18. We had 4,133. We have some questions like they have over 100 students against the budget. I know it's me to say that students much but the budget the total budget student okay round up $44,000 for us $24,000 for a big difference. Okay. Now I see that you got a program passed and uh this is where you can ship all the kids second first and kindergart school second buses that's overion money to do that the kids are going to be on these buses in the bus the longest time I don't understand. >> Sure. You make you make great points.
014And the bus is is a grant. So, we actually the buses is a is a $10 million week grant we got from the EPA. It's a federal grant. Uh we're just going through the process of making sure we get that grant, solidify those funds, and uh start uh building those charging stations where our bus lot is in the town of Rochester. So, that'll actually be a savings to the community. we won't have to go out to the community and ask for you guys to fund those EV buses. We have a $10 million grant uh for those buses uh in the future. And with our state test scores, yeah, we we have we have room to grow. We know that uh we had double digit increases in in our math and ELA scores last year and
015we're anticipating some increases this year as well because like I said, that budget funds this this curriculum that we have. We finally have some tier one curriculum uh systemically going from from K to 8. And uh we're really working hard using our data systems and making sure students are getting the services that they need through our you know academic intervention services and uh making sure we're using giving teachers real-time data to improve instruction. So we know where we need to be. We're growing. We're not where we want to be, but we're going to continue trying to grow and move forward to ensure that we're number one, you know, in Oster County at some point. earn money from you see that our overall budget only went up to even with all the factors. ers that you
016talking their great list of items that you discussed and we're being very fiscally responsible with all of the items you're talking about. Again, our overall budget from last year to this year only went up 2% and again we have we have a financial fiscal responsibility to all of you the taxpayers out there. We're going to continue having that budgetary mindset as we go as as we go through the process. I don't know how it right now says 25 minutes. 15. >> All right. Thank you. Uh so we want to bring the candidates up. for meet the candidates. Heat. Heat. Yeah. All right. So again, good evening and welcome to our board of education candidate night. Uh I'd like to have the privilege of introducing our mo our moderator for this evening. He is the co-chair
017of the Round Out Valley Education Foundation and that's Mr. Jeff Davis. Good evening everyone. Uh welcome to the Rondout Valley Central School District Board of Education candidates night. Thank you for joining us. Uh this evening's format is designed to ensure families I'm sorry we start over. This evening's format is designed to ensure fairness and to provide each candidate with an equal opportunity to share their perspectives. Each question will allow candidates one minute to respond and the order of responses will rotate throughout the evening. Please try to adhere your best to that one minute and may politely ask you to wrap it up if necessary. We ask that all attendees remain respectful and hold applause until the conclusion of the event. So, thanks for your cooperation and engagement. Appreciate you being a part of this important
018process. Let me uh introduce each candidate to you. Roughly to my left is Charles DL. Charles is a father to a kindergartener at Marbletown Elementary and a fourth graver at our middle school. As a certified public accountant, he works with the elected comproller of Olster County as her deputy comproller. He also volunteers as treasurer for the Rondout chapter of the American Youth Soccer Organization and offers bookkeeping assistance to the Rondout Valley Food Bank. Uh Mr. Dunel wants to bring his professional experience to this board to improve the district's budgeting process and budget communications to the public. Sydney J.heims. Sydney is father of three children, two of whom attend Ronda Valley uh Rond Valley schools. For over 20 years, Mr. Hines has worked with individuals who have developmental disabilities. And for the past 13 years, he
019has served with the New York State Justice Center. That work has shaped his commitment to fairness, transparency, and accountability. He's running to ensure that every student learns in a safe supportive environment as well as to ensure the students and families of diverse backgrounds have a voice and representation. Patricia Violi Pat Pat's career in education spans 35 plus years. After retiring from Ronda Valley as a high school English teacher, she taught freshman English and literature for 14 years at Sunni Olter. She's a proud Randout graduate and received her BA and MS degrees from Sunni Newalts. Her children and grandchildren are also Rondout Valley grads. For the past three years, Miss Mioli has been on the Ronda Valley Board of Education, working on curriculum changes, tax reductions for seniors and EMS, and securing safety for our students
020and staff. She believes in giving back to a community that has given her so much. Matt Nusbomb. Matt is a lifelong Stone Ridge resident, graduate of Rondout Valley, where he was deeply involved in student life, as a musician, athlete, student leader, and student representative to the board of education. He's worked with young people in and out of schools as a tutor, and counselor. He received his BA from Westland University's College of Social Studies and now works in communications for the Olter County Executive. He believes that Rondout School should be places where all students learn how to think, grow, and find their place in this changing world. Justin Swisser. Justin is also a lifelong resident of Stone Ridge and a graduate of Rondout Valley. He teaches business at Cornwall High School where he brings a strong
021passion for supporting student success. He also has worked as an accountant giving him valuable financial experience. As a father of three young sons, he has a personal investment in our school's future. He holds degrees in business and accounting and is dedicated to responsible budgeting and thoughtful financial decision-making. Please welcome our candidates. [applause] So our first question, we will start with Charles and then rotate to the left. uh what is your current understanding of a by the way I should mention these questions were drawn from a community survey and pulled into consolidated so first question what is your current understanding of a board member's role let's start with you Charles you have one minute so the board is charged with governance of the school district um oversight of the finances of the district oversight of the
022operations of the district and the board makes important decisions guiding the future of the district and the direction of the district. >> Good evening everyone. Um I agree with everything that uh Charles just said. The board is responsible for um creating policy for the district. I also feel the board is responsible for hearing communication from Round Up Valley families and also being transparent and all the decision- making that goes on with the board as well. Thank you. >> Okay. After we go after being on the board for the past three years, I learned a lot about what a board member really does. Um, yes, we are governance. Uh, we do set policy. Um, but we are also guided by education laws. Uh, the commissioner of education. So much of what we do is really hard
023work. It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Um, and I agree with with my fellow candidates. Um but it it is something that it it takes a lot of work, a lot of research, a lot of listening to not only eight other people on the board, but administrators, teachers, parents, kids. Um it's it's a big job. >> Pat, you talked about listening and I think that that's really really important to me. The board's job is to make sure that every student at Rondout has the support and the resources they need to get a great education. And that takes listening. That takes listening to the community. That takes listening to teachers, administrators, to these higher forces, to the laws, to the commissioner. Uh it takes listening to students. It takes it takes
024understanding what it's like to be a student and responding to their needs uh as as they change as they development as uh as we learn learn more. So I to me the board is here to make sure that every student gets a great education and that requires working with all the people who are involved in a student's education. Justin Uh yeah, I mean the candidates did a good job of explaining I think what a board is here to do. Um and I think again at the end of the day their job is to ensure that the district is making decisions that keep the best interests of the students in mind while uh keeping in mind any laws or mandates that come down from above and listening to the community and the staff uh and the
025parents when making those decisions. Thank you all. Our second question will begin with Sydney. What role should the district play in protecting immigrant students, including from concerns about ICE enforcement? Why does this matter? >> Hi. Um, that's a great question. My my candidacy really focuses on students being seen, being heard, feeling respected, and feeling safe while they're in school. I feel the district has a role to play, a very strong role to play in ensuring that all students, including our immigrant students, are safe while in school. I know that the board is currently looking at safe schools resolution which I u really believe in. Um I also believe that um strong policy should be created to protect students and families from you know that follow the law um when it in regards to ice coming
026on campus. Thank you Pat. >> Uh the board currently has safe lands um that have been guided by the commissioner. Um and we've also been advised by several lawyers to make sure that we are doing what we need to do to protect our kids. Um we all have a stake in it. Uh safety is number one. If we don't have safety, nothing else matters. Yeah, I think that's great. I think the board has been working to protect immigrant students, make them feel safe, and that's really important. And I think that reiterating the privacy policies, the the the resources, the the policies in place to keep these students safe is so critical. Uh because students and families need to know that they are safe at school, at community events. It affects the whole community. You know,
027this school brings people together and if families don't feel safe going to these events, going to sports games, whatever, uh that that affects the community, that affects their education. And and we also need to be reiterating these policies so that everyone in the schools knows what to do when a situation arises. If ICE shows up, will teachers be prepared to deal with it? Uh students need to know that that that the school will be prepared so that they can feel safe enough to learn. >> Justin. >> Okay. So yeah, I mean student safety is a number one priority I think in this district and pretty much any district at this point. Uh it's one of the reasons why we have the armed guards. Uh and we fought so hard to get them and keep them.
028Um, and I think there are policies in place that students are not allowed to leave school with an unauthorized person. Um, and I again the board has been doing a great job working on this and discussing it. Um, so I think I think we have a good plan in place and student safety is is a top priority and will continue to be. >> Charles, yeah, I think student safety I echo everything everyone's saying here. Student safety is the most important thing here. Um, I think it's important that the board um, you know, communicates to the community that immigrant students are safe here. Uh, immigrant families are safe here and takes a strong stance. Um, and I appreciate what the board's doing so far in that respect. Thank you everyone. Our next question, we'll start with
029Pat. How should the district address concerns about too much screen use during the school day? Oh boy, my favorite. Um, I I think that California has just passed, LA County has just passed um a law and they will be um reducing and in some cases taking screens out of they're going back to paper and pencil uh pen and having kids. It's as a former teacher and I dealt with this in the high school and I dealt with it at the college. I want my students to be paying attention to me. I'm trying to educate them. I've got things I need for them to I don't want their attention divided. Um, and with all of all of the studies that have come out about technology and children's brains, um, it's frightening. I think at this point
030we really need to look at [sighs] what science fiction writers have been saying for years that we need to be in charge, not the other way around. Technology technology should not be in charge of us. We need to be responsible enough to know when and when not. >> I agree wholeheartedly. When I was a student uh in fifth grade, we got iPads. In ninth grade, we got Chromebooks. And uh they were useful in some capacities. they they didn't completely hinder my education, but they were undoubtedly an attention suck. And and these technologies are are designed to do that. Uh and so it it impacts the students education. Uh you know, in school where they just have these limited technology access that is restricted by uh programs in the technology. They there are ways around those.
031every kid knows how to get around those and and does and wants to. Uh and then at home it's it's free reign. And so we need at least in the schools to be using technology responsibly, to be using research to to be up to date on the research and understanding how how can technology be a tool because it is a tool. It's been very useful in my education for research for writing. uh but it can completely devour a student's attention and when it does that they're not learning. So I think that that's a place the district has a lot of room to grow in terms of our technology policies and guidelines and the support we give to teachers to uh teach well using technology. Thanks Justin. >> Yeah. So I I agree with Pat. I'm
032kind of old school. Um, actually my own classroom this year, you know, all the students in in our school at Cornwall, they have uh Chromebooks and I actually went back to no Chromebooks for notes, just pen and paper. Uh, and I've seen a huge improvement in what they retain. Um, because it used to be with Chromebooks, every single kid would take all the notes. They just sit there typing the whole period, play a game for a second, type, right? And now they they are actually listening to me. They're they're paraphrasing the notes, which means they're actually reading it and then thinking and shortening it and putting it down on paper. Uh and it's made a huge improvement. I know that we can't get rid of technology because I mean AP exams are given on a
033computer now. Many tests are given on computers now. Um and we have to prepare our students for a digital world. Um, but I think as much as we can, we need to get rid of those devices and get back to the basics. Um, and again, I do that with my own children. My 7-year-old was home this afternoon, caught a milknake and we were playing with a snake for 3 hours before we came here, you know, instead of scrolling through a tablet or something like that. Uh, and I think that's huge and that's how you learn and I hope that continues. Charles, >> yeah, I mean, I think the cat's out of the bag. Uh, technology is not going away. screens are everywhere and we have to be very careful about how we integrate that into
034the school. I mean, I want my child to know how to use it. Uh, but I understand that it can be an extremely distracting, you know, device in the classroom. Um, I I learned with pen and paper. I'm old enough to remember taking notes in a notebook. Um, and I think that that's important for kids. I think that they retain information better. I think studies have shown that kids who have cell phones in schools have far worse educational outcomes. So, um I like what the district has done with uh putting the phones in the little pouch, but I've heard stories of them coming out of the pouch. So, maybe we need to look at that uh as well. Um that's it. S. >> Hi. Thank you. Um, so I have a 9 and 11 year
035old at home and they uh they love their screen time but we implemented rules in our household where there is no screen time Monday through Friday. Friday they come home first thing they do is they hop on and that's totally fine. Um, I think we I I think technology is a tool. I think there needs to be a balance. Um, I think teachers can utilize screen time. They can get real-time assessments for students. They can manipulate their teaching styles for that individual student using technology. So, I'm not against screen time in the classroom. I'm more of working with teachers to try to find where that balance is to get the most out of the school. >> Thank you everyone. The next question, we'll start with Matt. How should schools balance academic achievement with social emotional
036development and belonging? It's a great question. It's an important question. I think for me as a student, I learned both those skills at the same time. When I got to work with my classmates on a project in class, I was learning to collaborate with someone else and I was also learning to the the subject matter we were we were focusing on. And I think that that sort of curriculum that engages students and brings them together collaboratively teaches them to work together. Uh that is really important in this respect. And even even if it's not a whole project, even if it's just getting some time to discuss a topic with another student, you know, all of those uh those those interactions, those interactions with other students, with teachers, uh and and also talking about those interactions
037after debriefing a project, all of those experiences are really valuable uh both for learning the academic content itself and understanding uh and and growing uh social emotional level. >> Thank you, Justin. >> Yeah. So, I mean there definitely needs to be both happening. Um in order for you to excel academically, you need to be social emotional um you know there as well. And I think teachers do a great job and whenever they can they incorporate it in their classroom. Uh I know these days with teachers it's very difficult with all the standards you have to meet and the times you need to you know be teaching math and reading. Um but they incorporate as much as they can and again I think the screens really hinder that social emotional learning and again the more we
038can remove those not just in the classroom but outside of the classroom um I think the more we will see those students develop that. You know, I have a group of of seniors this year in class and for the first time in a long time, they started a whiffle ball league outside of school. Um, I haven't heard kids talk about that in my classroom in a long time and that's great to see. You know, they're they're talking about it. They're keeping stats. They're so excited about it. It keeps growing. Um, they're adding teams every week. And that's the kind of stuff, you know, once you get that kind of stuff going, you know, that builds the community. and then you know you come to class you're more excited and and then you're ready to learn.
039So I think they go hand in hand. Yeah, I think social and emotional learning is so important in the early years. Uh building confidence so that children can come to school and feel confident to ask questions um feel confident to learn, be unafraid uh to learn. And I think that you know I teachers are doing a great job in the district of incorporating that. uh my daughter's uh my fourth grader has really blossomed both socially, emotionally and and academically as well here. So um I think it's uh I think it's important. I'm I'm really happy to see that the new curriculum is incorporating that and uh I'm excited to see what that brings. >> Hi. So, in regards to this question, I think there deserves a special shout out to the psychologists and the teachers
040and the people that come in to deal with, you know, kids that are having um challenging behaviors. Um um I recognize them. Um, so, you know, my my my 11-year-old was having some issues on the bus with with getting bullied and, you know, they were making fun of his hair and they were doing all kinds of other things and that doesn't just affect him on the bus, you know, it it affects the education as well. Um, I I think that, you know, in regards to social development. It's it's it's it's a huge deal and we have to ensure that our kids have, you know, this emotional intelligence so that they can do well in the classroom as well. >> All right. um UDL that's being done in elementary schools um and in high schools uh
041is nothing new. It's just a matter of making sure that every student is involved. Um and unfortunately when you're sitting in front of a computer, you're by yourself. when you're doing group projects, when you are doing class discussions, um I used to break my kids up into five or six groups. Give them a problem. Taught English. I wasn't teaching math, but a problem with literature or something that they've discovered in a book about themselves. The discussions were amazing and it talk about emotional learning and and learning about yourself. This is the way we've we've gotten so far away from and I'm not saying us because I've been in classrooms and I see it done now, but people complaining that kids are not getting social socially they they can't be social. I had a student at
042the college who said, "I can't get up and talk to anybody unless I'm talking on my cell phone." And at that point, I said, "Okay, cell phones away. You have people in here. I want you to get to know each other." Um, it can be done and it is being done. Um, it's nothing new. It's just in education. We do. We've reinvented the wheel so many times. Um, we keep going back to what worked. And I think with our curriculum right now that we have in the district, I see amazing things being done. Um and kids uh helping each other and um the the feeling in the elementary schools especially when you walk in and kids are like, "Hey." Walking out with five books. Oh my god. Books under their arms and smiling and going,
043"I got to return these next week and I'm going to get five more." I mean, this is what's happening. And I'm I'm very proud of what's going on. Uh, I can see social and emotional learning and academics go hand in hand. >> Thank you. Thank you everyone. Our next question, uh, we'll start with Justin. It's a good followup from this previous question. What kinds of student experiences inside or outside the classroom matter most to you? I mean they they all matter equally to me. I mean every student has different interests, different different abilities and um we need to be able to offer to them you know what's going to fit them you know whether it's the the drama production in in the fall or the spring or whether it's um you know the band or
044the orchestra or chorus um or an art club as somebody mentioned earlier uh or sports teams. I think I think those kinds of things again you know schools work best um and you any you can ask any teacher any staff member of any district schools work best when when people are involved in things and they're excited about not just the classroom but their extracurriculars um because then then you're happier in school you you want to come to school so you can be a part of that be involved in that so they all matter equally uh and we should try and offer as many things as we can to those students Thank you, Charles. >> I think that's just right. Um, as long as the my daughters are excited to come to school, I think they
045learn better. Um, I I know that my daughter anecdotally, she gets very excited about drama and the visual arts and she loves coming to school for those reasons. Um, her younger sister loves sports, so she comes to school for soccer. Um but I think that having these these extracurricular activities and having something for everybody is so important to engage the entire uh student body and make sure that everyone has a full enriching educational experience here at Roundup. So, my uh third grader had a play this year and he did a phenomenal job. He was a spider. He got up on stage. He read his lines. It was it was great. He had a fantastic time just, you know, going to play rehearsals. He would come home, he would practice his lines. It was it was
046a great overall experience for him. Um my older boy, he plays trombone. He he enjoys playing it. He's about to go with his group to Six Flags. Um Chase is also involved in game clubs. I think what matters most to me is what the kids actually want, what what actually works for them. These experiences are giving them, you know, education outside of the classroom. Spence is learning how to act. He's learning to memorize lines. Chase is learning to read music. He's learning to concentrate on those notes. It's it's it's to me it's a form of meditation. So whatever experience is is best for the students I think is most important to me. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So you're asking can you just >> Sure. No problem. What kinds of student experiences inside or outside
047the classroom matter most to you? >> Oh, okay. They all do. They all do. I think um the more experiences kids have, the more they understand who they are and they discover things. They come home and they mom dad and mom and dad go what you okay that's wonderful. So they they they find out who they are and that continues right up until they're seniors. And then some of us are still trying to find out who we are. But we try all different things. Um, I think they're all important. >> I agree. They're all important. I was I was very involved, very lucky to have a lot of programs that really spoke to me, that engaged me as a student. I did sports, I did music, I did theater, I did an art trial. I
048got to be a a student board rep, which was amazing. Um, and all of those different opportunities I had engaged me and and helped me stay engaged with my academics, too. My brother, uh, he did not have the same engagement with with a lot of the opportunities that Rond offered. He did not have as good of a time in a traditional academic setting. He wanted to learn about things really deeply. He wanted to learn practical hands-on skills. And he he did get that. He got that through Boseies. He got that through Wise. But he didn't get it until kind of the end of his time at Round App. And and that that sort of practical learning that maybe career preparation that uh those sorts of skills, those sorts of programs, those sorts of experiences I
049think he would have benefited from earlier and I think I would have too, you know, that I was engaged with a lot of things but that was a an element of my education. I I would have I think I would have benefited from from having more. So all of them definitely has so many great uh experiences that it offers and our community has so many great experiences that it offers. Um but for for me that's a those practical skills, those practical opportunities making those more accessible to students I think would be great. >> Thank you everyone. Our next question we'll start with Charles again. How should the district support students with special needs and their families? Well, I think it's so important that there's communication between the district and the families um when special needs
050children are involved. Um I think that it's incredibly important that district funds and supports special needs teachers. Um and I I understand we have a pretty good special needs program here at Rondout. Um, you know, if elected to the board, I would do everything in my power to keep it well funded and to keep those positions in place. Um, from what I understand, it's profitable for the district to take on children from other districts. Um, and charge a fee for for taking on other students. So, it makes sense for us to have a strong special ed program here at Rhonda. And, uh, I support them. I support the families. Um, and I think we should keep as much in the house as we can. Thanks. Thank you, Sydney. I spent uh many years working direct
051care on a at a residential facility that I also had um the school setting. Um I was involved in, you know, these kids IEP meetings and and all that other stuff. Um I agree with Charles. I I think we need to ensure that the special ed program stays well funded. I also think that we need to have discussions with the special ed teachers and ensure any professional development that they may need that they are offered. Thank you. >> Okay. We do have um a really I think a unique special ed program here. Um I've been in and I have seen some amazing stuff with OT and PT and um kids that really are getting what they need from our public school and not a private school. um dedicated teachers, dedicated staff, um people who are
052doing uh amazing things with Special Olympics. I mean, there's so much out there um that we are doing right now. I don't know if we can do any more than we're doing, but I don't see any problem with us supporting it. I mean, I think it's it's here. >> Thank you. One one point that I do want to hit on that Charles mentioned is uh the importance of communication to support students with special needs and their families because special needs are are special. Every I mean every student has their own individual needs and special needs are often I think harder or more challenging for uh some people to wrap their heads around be prepared to address. So I think communicating really clearly with the families of students who who have particularly challenging needs for the
053districts and and listening to them uh you know what they want for their students, what they need for their students um what the students as much as they can communicate what they need for themselves. I think that that is is really really important. >> Thank you Justin. >> Yes. So how should the the school support students with special needs? I mean, they should support them uh to try and get them to reach their full potential. I mean, I think that's that's the purpose of education is to get students um to reach their potential, whatever that may be. And again, as many people up here said, Rondell does a phenomenal job with it. Um you know, our area, Hudson Valley in general, does a very good job with it. And you know, programs like, you know,
054even beyond the classroom, like now there's unified sports where there's a basketball team and a bowling team. Uh Pat mentioned this the Special Olympics, you know, that's helping the social emotional learning for those students as well. Um and again, all this stuff costs money and you know, as as we develop and grow and learn more, it it more and more programs need to be added. Um and again, it's a cost and I think the community needs to understand that that you know, we're supporting every student as best we can. And again, it takes it takes dollars to do that. um in this day and age. >> Thank you everyone. Our next question, we'll start with Sydney. Uh this is a twopart question. How should the board think about investments in education? What is worth prioritizing
055even in tight budget years? Um I think it's important to prioritize our teachers. I think it's important to prioritize their um continuing professional um development. I'm sorry, I missed the first part. Okay. >> How should the board think about investments in education? What is worth prioritizing even in tight budget years? >> Right. So, so again, um, you know, in in these tight budget years, and I commend the board for going through and and tab that what everything that you did this year with the budget. Um, we need to prioritize our teachers. We need to prioritize our front uh facing staff and, you know, ensure that they have everything that they need so that they can be successful in the classroom. Um, I think we have pretty much done what I I think our district shows
056where our priorities are. There are kids, the programs that reach our our kids. I mean, every kid now we're we're being told that there's this new portrait of a graduate. It's just reminding us that every kid needs to be a critical thinker. Um, and we have a very talented staff, creative people. Um, it doesn't take a lot of money to be creative in your classroom. And many of our teachers work that way. It It amazes me what they do. Um I I don't know if there's a matter of saying well this is more important than this. I think we need to stick to what we know works. Um not just find a new program that well maybe this will work and that. Stick with what we know. Stick with the experts that we have in
057our district and those are our teachers. They've been trained. They know they know their kids. And um it amazes me people will say, "Well, um how do you know if a kid really needs extra help?" I can guarantee you that after the first week of a teacher having her kids in front of her or him having his kids in, he can tell you what kids need extra help, what kids are going to um be staying after for extra help or are going to need to go for reading, are going to need to go for whatever. It doesn't take a lot of cash. It takes more creativity. That's >> Thank you, Matt. >> It's a good tagline. In investments are in students education. That's what the board is investing in is in in the outcome of
058a student who has ex had a great experience, learned a lot, grown and uh is coming out of the district as a someone ready to move on in the next phase of their life. And so that what contributes to that is a hard question a lot of the time and we can kind of answer that question by listening to the people who know. We've all talked about teachers up here. Teachers, I think, have a really good sense of uh what students need and and listening to them, being in communication with them is really important for making those decisions. Not just teachers, though. Uh all of the support staff in the school. There's there's all these other roles, these people who play an integral role in the education, the well-being of every student, of every teacher,
059of everyone in the school. uh and listening to them, communicating with them, uh keeping them supported and and helping allowing them into the process as we make decisions when budgets are tight, I think is really really important. >> Thank you, Justin. >> Yeah, I mean I agree. I mean, I think the number one investment should be in the staff of the schools because any organization is only as good as its staff and that's particularly relevant in schools. Um, you know, teachers are the ones there every single day with the students, not just teachers, but all the staff. They're there with the students every single day. And as Pat said, um, you know, we both have experience in the classroom and and we can tell you what each student needs on an individual level. And again,
060it does not take much money to give those students what they need um outside of what the what the teachers are able to come up with. Uh, and again having their input in what they do need is critical um, going forward. >> Thank you, Charles. >> Yeah, thank you. I think it's so important that we invest in our people like everyone else here has said. Um, the employees of the district are the front line of our students education and I think it's really important that they feel safe in their jobs. So, I think that when budget decisions are being made, it's incredibly important how the district communicates decisions about staffing to uh the district's employees. And I think that it's incredibly important that we fund those positions that to the best of our ability and
061that we prioritize investing in the people because like Justin said, you know, the greatest asset of any organization is its people. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Our next question, we'll start with Pat. What is your position on having trained armed security personnel in every Rondelle school building? Okay. If safety, we are living in very uncertain times. every time you put your news on or you're online um something happens that nobody expects. Um we have a district that is so spread out. We've got Khan, we have Marble Town. We have a a campus here that um is close enough where we could we can deal with our SRO's, but we've got Khan, we have Marble County. Um we don't have any police close by. Even if you look at um Khansen, you never see troopers in
062the their station. They're out. If there's a problem and you have to call the police, it's going to take them some time to get there. Um, we have put armed security in both buildings and as far as we have been told most people are very comfortable with it, the kids like it, the teachers like it. Um, and as a parent and as a board member, I I feel confident uh knowing that our kids and our staff are safe. Um, I remember years ago when my son was in Khan Elementary, um, one of his friends was snatched off the playground just like that. It was a custody battle. Dad took the kid, took off, and by the time they found him, they were down in Florida. This was frightening to me at the time, but times
063have gotten even worse. And I I think that at this point, we're doing the right thing. >> We're doing what most of the other schools are doing. >> Thank you. It is a really scary time to be a student, to have kids in schools, to be a teacher, to be around a school. These we're we're talking about shootings and uh it's it's really scary. Kids are scared. Everyone's scared. Um but fear shouldn't be the only thing affecting our decisions, too. you know, we need to be looking at the causes of these events and all of the safety measures that can help prevent them. And that could be armed guards, but it it's also the buildings themselves and and the campuses themselves. It's also student mental health resources. Um, and I think also as we're moving
064forward, we have armed guards, we have SRO's. We should be continuing to evaluate are these is this the best way to uh keep the district safe. Are these people making our district safer? Are they making students feel safe? And and clearly defining their roles, having their rules be defined and redefined uh to be really thorough in the district's safety plans. Uh are these people doing the most? Are we using our resources as best we can to keep students safe? Uh that's that's the question we need to be asking and asking and asking. >> Thank you, Justin. >> Yeah, I mean I support the armed guards in in each school 100%. Uh and Pat mentioned a couple great things. We are a very rural district. There is not a lot of police enforcement or law enforcement
065uh nearby to a lot of the schools and in the event of anything happening, it's going to take a little while. Uh, and that's the last thing that we want. And in an earlier question, it was brought up about student safety. Uh, and everybody up here, you know, said safety is a number one priority. Uh, and now we're talking about something that keeps students extremely safe, which is armed guards and building. And again, that that goes to student safety. And I think that's a top priority for the district. >> Thank you, Charles. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, I mean, this is a complicated question. I think that I definitely support having the SRO's at the schools. Um, I understand sheriff's officers are very well trained. They've been through the academy. Um, and I understand they're
066more expensive than the ARM cards and, you know, they're also limited in what you can get for SRO. There's a limited number that are available. Um, so I think we want to look at the research and look at what the um what the the research tells us with respect to the uh the security guards and the uh the contract the district has with them. From what I understand, we're locked into a contract for a number of years with that company anyway. So um it's something I think we need to take a regular look at. Absolutely. >> Thank you, Sydney. Hi. Um, personally I do not have an issue with armed guards being at school, but I think as if I was a board member, I would want a lot of community engagement and feedback in
067order to, you know, make this determination so that, you know, we we we we get to hear from the community and we get to hear what everyone else thinks. Um, I also think that it's important that we review the data and make a determination on do does having armed guards in school actually make schools more safe or are there alternatives? And I think as a board member, what I would do is really look at the data and look at, you know, the conversations that I had with the community in order to make uh determination for the district. Thank you everyone. Our last question, we'll start with Matt. What does what does success look like for students beyond test scores? I I talked about this earlier a little bit. I talked about the importance of students
068leaving the district feeling ready to move on into whatever comes next for them. Whether that's college, whether that's a career, whether that's my friend who drove across the country and worked odd jobs and uh you know found himself so to speak. But uh I think that students should be leaving the district feeling like they have a a good grasp on, you know, the the subjects they learned on history, on math, on on critical thinking, though the those deeper uh those deeper skills to be a a kind, caring, thoughtful member of our society, of our community. Um so success success can look a lot of ways. Success can be uh you know someone going and and immediately going into a professional career and doing great. Um but it can also look like someone not sure what
069comes next but knowing that they know how to learn that they know how to figure things out for themselves. Uh and I I think Randout has given that to many many students over the years. I think it gave that to me. I'm really grateful for it and I want us to keep giving that to students and and give it to to every student who comes through these doors. >> Thank you, Justin. >> Yeah, for sure. I think success definitely is measured by again preparing students for whatever the next chapter brings for them whether it is college, career, military. Um and again they want to have the foundational skills of you know reading, writing, uh math and also the things beyond the classroom like being a respectful contributing citizen to you know society. Um being able
070to critically think like Matt said that's very very important. Uh and again the teachers do a great job I think of incorporating that as much as they can in the classroom. uh and I think they would like to do more of it if possible because I think this generation we're seeing a lack of those kind of skills um coming out of high school you know across the nation not not just round but anywhere uh we're seeing a decline in those other skills beyond the reading the writing and the math. >> Thank you Charles. Yeah, I think it's all about being prepared for what comes next. And I of course want my children to be ready for whatever they want to do when they get out of school here. So, uh, and I want every child
071that goes to school here to be ready for the future. Um, whether that's, you know, college or the trades or some, you know, another path. Um so I think that success is beyond academics is about you know the friendships that you make here and the connections that you make here with uh your fellow students. Socialization is a big part of it. Um you know learning beyond just the books is uh an incredible part of of uh you know preparing to for the rest of your life. And I think that um you know that's what it what it means to me to uh be prepared. Going last on this topic is tough because everybody already said everything so I might uh sound redundant. I apologize. >> Oh good. Well I'm screwed again. You'll have you'll have
072more than one. >> Um, success for me to me looks like the the ability to think critically. It's not about rope memorization. It's about leaving school having the ability to really think through problems critically and to be able to problem solve. It's about preparing college uh preparing students for their next steps whether it's college or or a career path or or what have you. Um I I I don't think success is measured through test scores. I think it's it's it's the whole package that we need to look at in order to measure success. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I think success comes in spite of test scores. Um, I I think that a good educator, the six W's, the who, what, where, um, when. Those are the facts. the why and the how make
073our kids critical thinkers. Have them question. Have them leave the school with a barrage of questions. I want to find out about this. I want to find out how this how this happens. We unfortunately um kids look at gee just tell me what I need to know so I can pass the test. This is this has been timewned. Um, good teaching teaches kids not just the facts, but teaches them to be inquisitive. Go back to that kindergartener who comes in and goes, "Why? Why? Why?" Okay, answer those questions, but have them leave school and go, "Why?" Gee, that's maybe that's I need to pursue. Um that's >> Thank you. >> Thanks everyone. Uh each candidate now will have one minute for closing remarks and we'll begin with Justin. >> Okay. Uh, I would just like
074to close with, you know, I'm running for the school board here at Rondell because I've always loved Rondell and I want to ensure that, you know, Rondell goes in the right direction and stays in the right direction for a long time. Um, I have three young sons. The oldest one is in in Marble Town already and the other two will be coming soon. Um, and I believe I bring a a wellqualified background to this board to ensure that those decisions are made. Uh, I'm I'm a public educator myself. I'm a high school business teacher down in Cornwall. My wife Jacqueline is an elementary teacher at Marbletown. Um I also have a business background. I was an accountant for 4 years before I became a teacher and you know I have a couple different businesses here
075in the town. Um so I think I bring that to the to the board as well. Uh and then I'm also a very active community member. Uh you know I'm involved in in many different things within the in the community. I talk to many different people from the community. I hear their opinions. I hear their voices. Uh and and I think I can bring, you know, the educator, the parent, the community member, um all to this board. >> Thank you, Charles. >> Yeah. So, like Justin, I have very young kids in the district. My youngest daughter is in kindergarten right now. She's got her whole career here in Rhonda Advert. So, that's a huge motivating factor for me. Um, I'm running to make sure that all of our kids at the district and and in
076the community have a fair shot at a a great education. Um, I think, you know, the district's facing some serious financial troubles. We saw declining revenues up there earlier in the budget presentation. Um, you know, many of the district's employees faced threats to their jobs earlier in the budget process this year. And I think there are challenges. the seniors in our community are living on fixed incomes and a lot of them are struggling to pay their school taxes. So, I think I'm the right person to help the district overcome these challenges because I'm the deputy controller. I have years of municipal finance experience. I write a budget for a county department. Um I I understand how important it is to find a fair balance between providing a great education for our kids and uh you
077know, keeping taxes affordable and fair for the community. So that's uh that's it. >> Thank you, Sydney. >> Um hi. Uh I'm going to go down a little different path. Um I I I want to begin by saying thank you. Um my wife's not here tonight because she's with my boys at B at uh baseball practice. Without her and her support, I I wouldn't be up here tonight. So even though she's not here, thank you, wife. Um, I want to give a shout out to all of the teachers. It's it's teachers appreciation week. And I just want to let you know that, you know, my my kids have Mr. Gillis and Miss Kurlander and they're awesome teachers. My son Spencer has a Miss Houston and he loves loves loves some Miss Houston. So, um, Mr.
078Downark, I'm going this is Spencer's last year at Marbletown. I'm going to miss hearing good board in Marbletown families um on my voicemail. So, thank you to him. Um and thank you to all the families that um help and supporting me through this campaign. Um I'm running primarily because I want to ensure that students feel safe and heard in in school. I want to ensure families know that they will be heard by somebody on the district. I feel my experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities has given me a skill set of you know some values of compassion and caring and accountability. Working at the justice center I make complex decisions. I have to look at analytical data. Uh you know the decisions I make can you know possibly put a staff member out of
079work for some time. It's it's very important. It's very very important to me. So I I I feel as though my skill set is is would be valuable to the board and I hope you get out and vote on May 9th and consider me for your vote. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> May 19th. >> Thank you. >> Um I've been on the board for three years. I've learned a lot. I thought I knew it all when I got on the board, but boy, I found out how much I didn't know. I've done a lot of research. I've done a lot of talking to people. Um, my family when talk about my family. Um, my kids are we either have teachers, we've spawned teachers or medical people and they've all gone through Rondo and they've
080all been successful. Um, yeah, we've had our ups and downs, but one of the steady things is our our staff. Um, we seem to hire in our district really creative, uh, caring people and good teachers. Um, it's and we've had that kind of a reputation for many, many years. Um, I've been working on curriculum on the curriculum committee and I would love to continue working on that because I've seen such good things coming from it. I've worked on getting seniors, we finally got our seniors up to where we should have been as far as taxes go. And now the state has raised they've raised it again. So we'll be working on that. Um and EMS as well. And we've been working on safety. And I I think we are um a school that we can
081really be proud of. I think our kids feel safe. I think our staff feel safe. and I would like to continue. So, I'm running again. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy. >> Thank you, Matt. >> Uh, thanks so much everybody for for being here. Um, I'm really glad that people showed up and care about our schools. So many people do. Uh, and I'm running because I care about our schools and I want this district that raised me, this district that shaped me to keep providing a great education and for every student and and to really make sure that every student has the resources, the support they need to get a great education. Um, now one thing you might notice about me that didn't really come up is I am a little bit younger than uh
082a lot of the people up here than uh most board members usually are. And I think that that's a real valuable uh asset that I bring to the board because I was a student really recently. I was a student in 2021. I graduated from college uh one year ago and there are certain challenges to being a student today that are unique and the experience of of them as a student is unique and that's a perspective that I can bring to the board to help the board understand you know what is it like to be a student in the age of uh technology in every facet of life in the age of AI which didn't come up tonight um what you know student student mental health and well-being right now is is really challenging and I
083also because I'm younger and because I've worked with young people in our area for many years I think that I'm I'm able to connect with understand listen to uh students and and provide a voice for younger people uh to the board and so uh you know I also I work in public communications I've learned a lot about communicating complex ideas breaking down systems for the people who need to know about them and also listening to those people and and incorporating their feedback into decisions. Um so I I I hope that my connection to the district, my experience as a student and uh my communication experience and skills will uh be a real asset to the board and help help this district improve, help build stronger schools today and tomorrow and and into the future. Thank
084you very much. >> Thank you everyone. Thank you to our community for your engagement this evening and thank you to our candidates for their thoughtful responses this evening as well. [applause] Want to remind you, we encourage all of you eligible voters to participate in the upcoming Board of Education election on May 19th from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. And thank you again for your time and your commitment to our schools. Have a wonderful evening. [applause] Yeah. >> Right. Right. Halfway all the way to the end. That was >> over here. I promise. Not enough. Oh, you doing quite good. I'm going to tell them the electric I don't know if uh Jeff is still here, Mr. Davis. I think he did leave, but I do want to thank Mr. Davis for coming in and moderating
085for us. So, thank you so much, Mr. Davis, for taking your time this evening and doing that for us. >> [applause] >> If we could all please stand for those that are able for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands nation indivisible with all. >> It's okay. Can I get a recommended motion to approve the revised May 5th, 2026 board of education meeting agenda as presented? >> I'll make a motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Dr. Swedo. >> Next on the agenda is the Rondout Valley Middle School principal. Uh on February 24th, 2026, the board of education approved the reconfiguration of the district's intermediate school, grades 4 through 6, and the
086junior high school, grades 7 and 8, into one school to be known as Rondout Valley Middle School, grades 4 through 8, effective, beginning with the 2627 school year. And on April 30th, 2026, the New York State Department of Education approved the district's request for the reconfiguration and registration of schools, including the registration of the new Rondout Valley Middle School effective July 1st, 2026. Whereas the commissioner's regulations require the assignment of a full-time principal to each school under dis under the district supervision. Uh upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education recommends Victoria Sapiod as the principal of the Ronda Valley Middle School effective July 1 of 2026. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Congratulations. [applause] Next on the agenda is first reading adoption of policy
0875040 for student religious expression. Recommend a motion that the board of education approve the first reading and adoption of policy 5040 student religious expression as presented. >> I'll make the recommendation. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? Just to comment on this, very minor updates. Um, you know, nothing significant. This is an existing policy, which is why we're doing a first reading and going right to adoption tonight. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Public comment. Dr. >> Rick motion that the board of education approve the consent agenda items 1 through six as presented. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. um some board time here. Um I know it was mentioned uh before, but uh
088I do want to recognize it is teacher appreciation week. So, thank you to all our teachers who work countless hours. Um and it is also tomorrow, National Nurses Day. So, be sure to uh give a huge shout out and a thank you to all our school nurses um that also work endlessly with so many students that come to them with skins and knees and bloody noses and and all the other good stuff too. But, uh we do appreciate them and all the work that they do as well as all our teachers. Um, but if we could just uh spend a few minutes. Uh, Carrie, I'm gonna start with start with Carrie. Is that other car? I'll start with you quickly. Uh, I think I'm going to leave policy committee to Jim. Um, and, uh, I
089just wanted to share the learning walk. Um, last week was at Marble Town. Um, and I was lucky enough to see a little seed um, sung by some second graders in a music class movement. It's really, really beautiful. Um, I also, uh, saw the garden beds are planted up there, which was really neat to see. Um, and I heard a little bit about that. Um, was, uh, I also observed a PE class. Um, I didn't realize actually that we had, uh, student teachers come in, I think, pretty often. And there was a student teacher um leading um in that moment. He was from Courtland. He seemed great. Um and they had stations. They were using uh kesthetic balls. They were doing squats, a rope climb. Um and it was it was just really really awesome
090to see. I was really grateful to to be at Marble Town. I think this is just the second time I observed this year. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Bogart. >> Uh yeah. So, um, first I'm look actually looking really forward to next, uh, next Friday is music in the parks. I get to spend it with my daughter again. Um, hopefully it's not torrential downpours. We can do the parks, part of music in the parks next week. So, I'm looking forward to supporting our music in our schools um, as I always do. Um, I received an email from the county which I'm going to bring back to um, our safety committee, safety and wellness committee um, regarding vaping uh, in our schools. Um, somebody from the county reached out to me. issues uh on public
091health. I mean, public health education for the county um trying to look and see how we're combating the vaping and what we're doing to prevent it and um what kind of stuff we have in place. So, um I know we have a lot of good things going on. So, I'm looking forward to talking with everyone, bring them to the safety committee as well. Um and tomorrow we have a facilities committee meeting 4:00. All are welcome. >> Thank you, Dean. >> Yes. So I'll add to that facilities committee is tomorrow. Everybody's welcome. Uh last committee we are continuing talking about the capital project program uh that we have going on. We're wrapping up our 2019 uh capital project which hopefully next month we should be good. Fingers crossed I see out there. Yeah. Um and uh
092I just want to personally say uh I want to thank the nurses. Um I have a uh personal thing for the nurses in all these schools. Uh it's it's it's very important to uh me and my family. Um so thank you. >> Thanks to um it feels like we just had our last board meeting. So >> it was two weeks ago. >> I wanted to say first thanks to all the candidates including you Pat. I remember being in this seat last year and it's um takes a lot of courage and I just appreciate all the people including everyone here who step up to serve in these roles because it is a big job and it's a lot of work and it's great to see so many people interested in it. Um what else? Uh we
093heard from the from the fourth grade consultant Dr. Bowman at our last meeting and he said he welcomed us all to reach out to him. he wanted to interview us. I had a conversation with him and it was great to just sort of learn about what he's doing and um learn more about the process and I know he's he's looking forward to getting feedback from the community as well and I think is is going to um collaborate with Dr. Spero on how to best do that. Um I'm going to leave budget committee to you Pat. We had we had a budget committee meeting between last board meeting and this one, right? I know it feels like, >> right, we had a committee meeting. Yeah. So, we saw that we talked about updates and processes. Okay.
094Um, our next curriculum committee meeting, Natalie, you're going to have to check me. I think it's May 12th. Okay. May 12th. Everybody's welcome. That's it. >> Thanks, Chris. Yeah, I'll let Jim cover policy. Um we do have our Thomas King um award ceremony May 21st. Um really excited about that. It's, you know, a night where we're, you know, celebrating those who are distinguished staff um within our district who have been nominated by their peers. Um but we also celebrate our retirees um and our tenure recipients as well. So looking forward to that. That will be ending up May 21st and hope everyone will be able to join. I'm tired of talking. Um, actually, uh, we really haven't had a lot to do with the with the committees, but what I am looking forward to is
095Thursday's art um, at the high school, seeing all the art that it it's amazing. last year. So, tomorrow I'll be here. Jim, there's no on and off. Okay, here we go. Thank you. All right, I got a couple of things here cuz everybody pushed their policy meeting information down to me. [laughter] So, uh, just bear with me. We'll be out here in a couple of minutes. All right. Uh, all right. So, uh, the policy meeting, uh, the policy committee would like to have, and I'm talking to my colleagues here. Okay. I have the our first reading at our June meeting to review policy number 2160, which is regarding school district officer and employee code of conduct. One of the areas of this policy that I would like you to pay particular attention to is the
096confidentiality requirements for the board of education. So please review this policy thoroughly so that we may have the first reading at our next meeting in June. Policy number uh was already mentioned with regards to the student religious expression which was already uh a part of our policy in our manual but our attorneys have addressed uh in this policy some guidance issued from the US department of education. So please peruse this in case you have any questions uh again and as it is an already existing policy so we do not have to adopt this again. The safety and health and wellness committee has sent us concerns from the committee members with regards to the use of energy drinks in our schools. The policy committee has discussed their concerns and even though NISPA has not yet created
097a policy for the use of energy drinks, we as policy members also have some concerns. We discussed that is important to educate and inform our students, parents, and staff members about our concerns for using his high uh caffeine energy drinks. Hopefully with board guidance which will come down from the state level. Meanwhile, we will be discussing more about how we can include this in our school issue handbooks as well as our athletic code of conduct. Policy number 6240 district investments will have to be updated because our new 3 + 1 investment uh we don't have nothing on that. Okay. But that'll be updated and that'll be forthcoming. And after receiving feedback from our compliance review, the policy committee will begin to look at removing the policies which have been targeted for removal from the compliance
098officers. All good stuff. And lastly, the following policies will be under review for our June 1st meeting and they will be uh student attendance, student temporary housing and regulation in the student of this student temporary housing eligibility for co-curricular and extracurricular activity for students on temporary housing and also diapering and toiletrying protocols and having more training for our TAs. And that is the end of the policy minutes. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Can I get a recommended motion that the board of education approve the consent agenda item number three as presented? >> A second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Can I get a recommended motion to adjourn the May 5th, 2026 meeting as presented? >> Any discussion? Those all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Please join us Thursday,
099May 21st, and let's celebrate our teachers and