001[laughter] >> Please stand for those that are able. I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> If we could please remain standing for those that are able, our Jaz On Saavo will be performing the national anthem. >> Oh, say, [singing] can you see >> [music] >> by the dawn's early light, [singing] what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's [singing] last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars [singing] through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly [singing] streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs [singing] bursting in air, gave proof >> [singing] >> through the night that our flag was still there. O, say, does [singing]
002that star-spangled banner yet >> [music] >> wave o'er of the [singing] free and the >> [music] >> home of the >> [singing] >> brave. >> [applause] >> Thank you. So, I We obviously there are um a lot of recognitions this evening. So, I know that there are a lot of us here in the cafeteria. Um I we would really appreciate it so that we can get through um the the business um of that we need to do as a board. Um if you could please uh you know, keep our voices minimal so that we can get through and everybody can also hear what we have to say as well as in our presentations. Thank you. Can I get a recommended motion to approve the revised March 10th, 2026 Board of Education meeting agenda as presented?
003>> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Our mission statement. >> Our vision is for our students to grow into critical thinkers and lifelong learners with integrity, confidence, and compassion. >> Our mission is to create an inclusive, welcoming, educational community where all students can find their purpose and achieve their goals. >> Thank you so much. Dr. Sabella. >> Uh next on the agenda is the Gannett spotlight uh from Ms. Yoder, our junior high school principal, that will be presenting spotlight awards to our students and staff. >> Good evening. Nice to see everybody tonight. Uh it's great to see a lot of former students and current students and future students. So, I'm going to start by uh recognizing our staff for our staff maximum
004effort award. We're going to start with uh Kelly O'Connor, our social studies teacher. Kelly, can you come stand up next to me? >> [applause] >> Kelly O'Connor consistently goes above and beyond, always putting in maximum effort in everything she does. The veteran teacher's impact on our school reaches far beyond the classroom. Over the years, she's been a dedicated member of multiple building leadership teams, helping to guide our work and strengthen our school community. She's played a key role in planning meaningful meaningful experiences for students, including field trips and our annual field of flags. And is always the first to bring thoughtful ideas forward to improve our school climate. She's typically at my office first thing in the morning when she has a great idea, so it's it's always welcome. Uh her leadership, commitment, and passion
005continue to make our school a better place for students and staff alike. Kelly, we thank you so much for your service and you are an awesome staff member to have. >> [applause] [applause] [clears throat] >> I'm going to call up uh Allison Beazley next. Come on up, Allison. >> [applause] >> So, Allison is a teaching assistant from our tip classroom. Her dedication and heart truly stand out. She cares deeply for all of our students even when they're at their most challenging moments and she consistently meets them with patience, empathy, and respect. Her strong de-escalation skills and ability to build meaningful rapport with those students and families makes a powerful difference each day. She's flexible, dependable, and able to step in for the teacher at a moment's notice while remaining a highly respected and valuable member
006of our special education team. Alison, thank you for everything you do. We love having you at the junior high. >> [applause] >> Okay, next next up we have our student awards and I'm going to start with our student maximum effort awards. So, I'm going to ask uh Deanna Nalliwayco and Peter Palmer to join me here. >> [applause] [applause] >> So, I'm pleased to recognize these two students who have consistently demonstrated maximum effort throughout their entire middle school careers. Both students serve as PTSA representatives and continually challenge themselves academically by taking biology and algebra. They're active members of the band and dedicated to after-school activities showing an impressive ability to balance academics, activities, and responsibilities. Just as importantly, they're kind, respectful, and thoughtful in their interactions with both peers and staff setting a positive example for
007others. Their near-perfect attendance reflects strongly on their commitment, reliability, and pride in being part of our school community. Thank you both for being awesome students your entire fourth eighth career. >> [applause] [applause] >> And next, I will recognize our most improved students. Matt cannot be here tonight, but we have Gavin Sickle, he's going to join me up HERE AS WELL. >> [applause] >> WE DO HAVE MANY STUDENTS WHO HAVE FALLEN into the category of most improved throughout their middle school career, and we have a lot of students who also I feel would be considered most improved. We want to recognize both those students. Um We're here to recognize both Matt and Gavin as this year's most improved students. I have known both of them since fourth grade, and they've the growth they've shown over the
008years has been incredible. Since starting the junior high, they have made remarkable strides in academics, attendance, and behavior, overcoming challenges with determination and resilience. Uh Gavin has earned multiple positive referrals, is on the honor roll, and is actively involved in sports, demonstrating hard work, commitment, and pride in his achievements, as is Matt. Uh his perseverance is an inspiration to classmates, proving that with effort and focus, challenges can be overcome and great things are possible. Matt and Gavin are shining examples of growth and determination, and proud to celebrate their accomplishments. Gavin, great job. >> [applause] [applause] >> So I do have a few more slides and I I promise I'll keep it brief. Just to go over some highlights so far this school year. Uh so one of the first uh speak about um our referral
009data. Um a comparison from last year to this year and I know not everybody can see it. Um so I'll speak to it. Um so last year at this time of the year we had uh a lot of negative referrals. We had over 700. Uh we've seen a substantial decrease this year. Uh we have about 250 this year. Uh and with our positive referrals we only had 21 last year and uh this time uh at this time we had over 150. Um we attribute that to uh both proactive and preventative measures that we put in place. Uh we have a bi-weekly student review team meeting to talk about individualized supports. Uh we've done a lot more parent outreach and collaboration. Um we really focus interventions on behavioral change. And we really pushed this year to
010recognize uh positive efforts by our students and our staff really have done a nice job in in recognizing our students for that. So we have seen for all you math people um our positive referrals increased uh 624% compared to last year. Uh negative referrals are down 64% uh compared to last year demonstrating major improvement in student behavior and a strong focus on our recognition of positive actions. An area I do want to highlight um we've had a 75% reduction in in recess [clears throat] incidents. I know that's that's always been kind of a topic that we you know been looking at it about it the years, Um this year we really had a lot um more strategic staffing. We have a new playground, which is great. Now that the snow melted, we're able to use
011it again. We've had a lot of students lead activities outside, different games, and they've been doing a really nice job with that with our staff also monitoring them. And for the students who don't want to go outside for recess or be in the cafeteria, we do have student support during our lunch period. There's a quiet lunch option and then we have the library that's available. New this year, for indoor recess we've opened up the gym. Which has been great because we've had so many days this winter where we could not go outside. So that has been I think a game changer for us to have the kids be able to still get some energy out. >> [clears throat] >> And then our students that are receiving positive referrals, the areas they're receiving it for are
012improved behavior, academic progress, strong leadership skills, modeling respect, enhancing the school atmosphere. I do have a couple of examples of what students are receiving it for. They are receiving it for things of merit. We had a student was recognized for volunteering work on a project with a new student. The student made that particular student feel welcome in our community. There was a student who was visibly upset in class. Another student went over, gave her a hug, and offered comfort. Her compassion and kindness really made a difference in our school community. That was Sam Patrick, I'm going to call her out on that. >> [laughter] >> Another teacher recognized a student saw the teacher drop several items [clears throat] while coming up the stairs. As she was uh there passing the stairwell, the student came back
013and opened the door for her. And then lastly, just want to highlight um areas of student engagement. We've really tried to focus uh more on project-based learning, uh and hands-on activities things that really um are engaging for our students. Um as I mentioned before, in Miss O'Connor's class, um they did the Field of Flags project. Uh Mr. Ugolino did a Connect Four challenge as a review for an upcoming quiz. Uh and Mr. Gross's uh life skills class, they did an activity thinking like a scientist where they they cooked um a recipe. Um Mr. Freeze and Miss Crowley are still doing unified PE class, and they did an octopus game with both uh Gen Ed and special education. We have the intro to ad class this year as a new addition. We have uh students that
014are really into that. Uh Mr. Colmer uh does pen pal letters in eighth grade. Yeah, it's right up there. Uh >> [laughter] >> with our fourth graders, and that's usually a big hit, uh the a collaborating event at the end of the year. Uh Mr. Tarchine, our Spanish teacher, uh he's uh teaching kids uh about chores, and they get to do a skit. Um not only learning the vocabulary, but also encouraging our students to do chores at home, so that helps helps parents. And then uh with Miss Bradley in ELA class, the tall tale heart debate, the students have the opportunity to do some debating in the class. And that's the end of my presentation, so thank you everybody. >> [applause] [cough and clears throat] >> Uh next on the agenda is the recognition of
015the Round at Valley musicians and distinction presentation. >> Good evening, everyone. My name is Doug Friedman. Um I am a music teacher in the intermediate school. Um and we are going to be recognizing some students tonight who participated in various honors ensembles and opportunities. Um, so in a moment I am going to call up a group of students to come on up. Um, and we're going to have a few um, a few different groups coming up throughout the um, throughout our presentation. Um, so what can I have all of the fourth graders who participated in the Young Elementary Music Symposium, also known as YEMS, come on up and maybe um, just stand between the two tables up here. Any anybody who did YEMS, >> [clears throat] >> come on up here and we'll read your
016names in just a moment. Okay. Um, so I'm just going to ask everyone as we have a lot of names to say, please please do hold your applause until um, we get through uh, our list of names um, because there are a lot of students that we'll be recognizing. So please do hold your applause until the end. Um, so we will be recognizing Julia Spadafora, Austin Sweeney the third, Rio Lopez, Daisy Shear, Ava Wilson, Mason Benincasa, River Blanchard, Neveah Hyam, Braden Broders, Asher DeClue, Ayoda Britten, Fox Jones, Hazel Mahoski, Kayla Miller, Leah Pagliaroni, Mary Charlotte and Emma Haynes, and Natalie Rhodes. Let's give them a round >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you my friends, you can return to your seats. That's you. Come on back my friend. >> [applause] >> All right, next [applause] we
017will be uh recognizing um fifth and sixth graders who participated in the All-County Elementary Chorus and the All-County Elementary Band. If those students could make their way on up as I start to read their names, again, please do hold your applause. Um so, that includes Yep, you can start making your way on up. Um those folks are Reagan Bishop, Willa Faccidomo, Liliana Gray, Utman Khard, Eleanor Royals, and then I will turn it over to my colleague Mr. Shoemaker to read the names of the band. [laughter] >> All right, making the band are Lewis Banner, Chloe Bogart, Oliver Carnivale, Benjamin Castro, Michael Collamer, Penny Conklin, Caitlin Drum, Lucas Hobart, Layla Hoffman, Anna Ignat, Nolan Now, Harper Martino, Corbin Miller, Nora Murtaugh, Winter Nichols, Jackson Post, Adeline Quinimohan, Callie Robbie, Isabelle Schulte, Lauren Shay, McKenzie Traeger, and
018Olivia Wyatt. >> [applause] [snorts] [laughter] >> Yes. All right, then come over this way. You will come back this way. We're going to face the TV. Come this way face the TV. Come this way and then turn around. Keep coming back though. Come back. Come back. Come back. Come back. Come back. Turn around and smile. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Hello everybody. Can you hear me? I guess I don't know if you can hear me. Okay. Uh my name is Rebecca Spencer. I'm a junior high chorus teacher. And I will be reading the names of the junior high schoolers who have gotten into All County this year. So, if you're in 7th or 8th grade, please please come on up. Come on up. Okay. So, for All County Chorus, I have Sophie Farrell, Audrey Tagliaon, Ava
019Greenblatt, Gloria Menes, Cameron Hornbeck, Hayley Ray Wilson, and Peter Colliver who also made All County Jazz Band. >> [applause and cheering] >> We're to continue with All County Band and Jazz music speed certificates. It should be known, maybe it wasn't stated earlier, that these students competed for these positions and that our school district actually is comprises 33% of the county organizations. There's 12 schools that compete and we have one third of the positions in the county. If you hadn't noticed there's a ton of kids who made it. So we're really proud of them because these are they are just kids. [applause] >> [cheering] >> Okay, continuing on. This is the Junior High All County Concert Band. We have Carter Carr, Aurelia Gatherer. You can come right up, guys. John Gillis Lennon Coker, Victoria Jaw Charlotte
020Martino, Cooper Miller, Nicola Molino Eliana Murray, Walter Mykola Diana Naliwako, Harley Rider John Ridout Owen Spadafora Isabelle Velasco and Sabrina Velasco And as mentioned before, Peter Colmer made the All County Jazz and so did Aidan O'Keefe All County Jazz Band and some students who made both All County Jazz Band and All County Jazz Concert Band are Ada Bedusnak Samantha Peck, Claudia Shay and Finn Sheehan. >> [applause] [applause] >> Hey guys, I'm shorter than the kids. >> I'm going to find myself. >> 1 2 3 1 2 3 and 1 2 3 >> [applause] >> All right, now we're going to continue to our high school students. So, if all high school students are here to be recognized, they come forward and down this way so you're nice and close. That would be wonderful and then
021we'll do our photo op at the end. We're starting out with a group of ninth graders who are both in the junior high all county jazz band, the junior high band, and were in Matilda. And that's Atlas Greenblatt and John Regan. >> [applause] >> Next group is students who are in ninth grade junior high all county jazz and junior high band and that's Ella Moskowitz. I know she couldn't be here tonight, but that there is her. Next up, ninth graders who are in junior high all county jazz and in the high school concert band, GABBY CASTRO. >> [applause and cheering] >> NEXT ARE NINTH GRADERS IN junior Thank you all. I don't think we really said this at the beginning. We can let's hold our applause to the end of this whole group because I've
022got a group that is this this big. So, I appreciate it and we love you and we love them. Uh ninth graders who are in junior high band, Stephen Medina Mahon, Danny and Nicole and Max Weber. High schoolers in all county chorus, Adali Broseman. Then we have everyone who was involved in Matilda. Lorelei Enjoy Adawa Lila Anderson, Sophia Aversano. >> Did you want to read the same thing or do you want >> Yeah, I thought we were going to switch, but I kept going. >> All right. So, our Matilda students, we have Joy Alada, Alila Anderson, Sophia Abbersano, Heath Carlson, Rebecca Carroll, Eric Cruz, Jackson Davenport, Kathleen Farquhar, Poet Farrell, Nance Henry, Pearl James, Rex Morgan, Graham Palmentiero, Daniel Wright, Margaret Chassell, Rihanna Tapp, Sienna Tapp, Mia Trambore, Gracie Walsh Compass, Isla Brown, Isaac Donnelly,
023Ryan Helm, Morgan Hermance, Vivian McInnis, Noble Palmatier, Giana Saint Hilaire, Zinnia Vargas, Jade Williams, Eleanor Zalensky Zalusky, Isaac Herman, Raphael Apicella, Sorry if I didn't say that right. Justin Cantwell, Jameson Wilhelm, Owen Bissell. We're going to move down the aisle, y'all. Down the aisle. I know. >> [clears throat] >> Great. Uh the following students are being called up for being in the high school all county chorus and Matilda. So, both of those groups. This is River Bauer, Francesca Bueti, Graham Palmentiero, Daniel Wright, Rowan Sickler Avery, and Owen Simmons. The next group is those that were accepted into the high school all county chorus, participated in Matilda, and area all state. Laszlo Becca and Hannah Hayek. Come on up. The next group I'm going to hand over to Mr. Loader. >> Right. I'm doing a terrible
024job with this stuff. >> [laughter] >> They didn't stand up in alphabetical order for some reason. >> Uh okay. >> [applause] [applause] [laughter] >> And in front row like taking front of the picture. Second row if you guys can slightly >> [laughter] >> Everyone get it? Find a window and smile. >> 1 2 3 smile. 1 2 3 smile. And then 1 2 3 smile. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> ONCE AGAIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IF YOU DID NOT GET YOUR CERTIFICATE I CAN give it to you right out in the hall as we continue the meeting. Thank you so much for being here and supporting all of these wonderful students in our music department. >> Thank you music department and all the students. Congratulations on all your awards. Let's give
025him another round of applause. >> [applause] [applause] >> Again you can by all means want to stay for the business part of the meeting you are more than welcome. If not everyone is free to leave before we put up the business part of our meeting. >> When I want to talk when I'm ready. Okay. All right, perfect. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Hi ladies. >> Hi. >> Are you ready to go? You did your Did you want to >> Next up on our agenda is our budget presentation with our assistant superintendent for business, Tabitha Begaye, and our superintendent, Dr. Siderio. If we could please have everybody's attention. >> Last little stragglers. >> Ooh, microphone. >> Trying not to say something I might want to say before I leave. All right.
026Can everybody hear me? Yes? Okay, good. I'm pretty loud on my own, but there's a lot of people here. Well, there was a lot of people here. And what a great thing to have all those students so talented get all those awards. I think that's great. Um I applaud them. I was not a musically inclined individual student, so congratulations to all of them and that's wonderful. Um this is our second presentation of the budget for the 2026-2027 school year. So, this is another projection preliminarily. Uh there's still more work to be done behind the scenes, but we're ready to go. Want to start out by uh reminding everybody that uh our theme and our goal is to become a world premier district. Our budget is what helps us to do that. So, all the taxpayer
027dollars, all of our revenue, everything we're going to talk about today helps us to support the efforts that we're making as a community, as a school system, staff, everybody. These are just highlights of a few things that the budget currently supports and will continue to support. We're looking at the academic side of things and we're looking at student well-being, but there are many, many more things that aren't even considered on here that the budget does support. To highlight some great things on here, we have the uh Envision math curriculum that's been going on and going very well. We're seeing that our test scores uh our BOCES CTE offerings at the high school. We are one of the leading schools in this area that offers the most number of students ability to go and learn a
028trade at the BOCES program. Uh if you don't know what CTE is, it's a career and tech education program. Um and it's it's well attended. A lot of students get to go there. On the student well-being side, we have a SEL program we're working on instituting, helping to educate the whole student, social emotional learning. And we have the award-winning music program, as you see um all the students that are here today, along with all these other great things that we offer. Okay, preliminary preliminarily, we have our 2025-2026 budget, which was approved by the voters of $80,470,116. And we're projecting to see um a budget for the next full year, 2026-2027, of $83,500,615, which is approximate $3 million increase, or to look at it as a percentage, it's about 4%. On the revenue side, we're looking
029at an increase from that 80 or a decrease on that $80 million to 77,675,382, which is a reduction of about 2.7 2.3 million dollars, or a negative 3.47%. A little note to say to you that the revenue does not include any appropriation of savings that you may have for this year, nor does it indicate any use of any reserves. So, this is just before we look at all the ways we can be creative to make sure that we can keep programs and all the things. Here's a breakdown of our expenditures by line. Not everybody will see it over there, but um we have all of our increases on this side, one decrease in our debt. That has to do with the BOCES aid, uh the BOCES capital project. Uh some people may be familiar with
030I Park. Uh there's a reduction because they had some savings in their capital expenditures, so we're going to see a reduction in our expenditures on our debt. We help support the I Park program um as a component district, as does Ellenville, Kingston, and you are all the districts that have a part in that, because we support the BOCES to support our students. Um of major note is um the decrease or the lower of an increase on our salaries. We worked really hard to dive in and find ways we could save money on all those salaries. Additionally, we have our transportation expenditures that we're not increasing very high. It's about $300,000. Um our transportation supervisor works very hard to make sure that we are not paying more than we're supposed to. Um looks at efficiencies on
031runs, makes sure that we can maybe reduce one or two. All kinds of creative things happening behind the scenes. This is our projected state aid. It is the same as the last time I presented it. There is talk at the governor's uh and legislative level that there's going to be an increase to our foundation aid, which is this line at the very top. Foundation aid is the only aid category that is designated or decided on upon by the governor and the legislation. So, they do a calculation based on all kinds of different data points, and then the governor may decide to add a little extra in there. And then she brings that to the the legislative side, and then they decide whether they want to keep it there, maybe decrease it, or increase it. At
032any rate, that increase we won't actually realize until well after we've adopted our budget. Any funds that we may get in extra or in excess of what we have planned here, we will use in the next year's budget, just as we did in this year's budget. Our tax cap calculation is now official. We submitted this on March 1st. Um last time I presented I didn't have exclusion numbers. These exclusions are the amount of money we're going to spend on debt and capital expenditures minus any aid we're going to receive because that puts pressure on our our budget. So our tax levy helps to support that. Often times it's called our local share. At the end, which you can't see on the screen cuz there's a little box there, but it's about a 3.82% increase, which
033is less than our tax levy increased from last year. And it's going to yield us about $1.8 million in additional revenue. This is just to show show the historical history for how we levy on an annual basis. I also want to point out that the percent of the levy increase is not equal to the percent increase on your individual tax bill. [clears throat] Uh at a presentation on another day in February, I'll do a presentation and I'll have a table on here what it affects you as an individual paying your taxes in your specific township. This is to bring all those previous slides into one. We have our expenditures on top. We have our tax levy increase. The new levy amount here. We have our state aid. And miscellaneous is going to be items such
034as tuition we collect for students that come here from another district, interest we may charge or we may get from our bank account. Um interest we may get from the tax levy that if people don't pay, we get paid back some extra money. Um other things in there, Medicaid reimbursements, things of that nature. It's miscellaneous because there's no one large pot. They make up about 1. 2 We'll call $2 million. Our new gap is 5.825 [clears throat] 233. We are proposing to the Board of Education that we allocate $3 million in projected potential savings in the current year. And then another 1.15 million out of our reserves. Last year, just as a comparison, we invested $3 million from the prior year's savings. And we invested a million dollars from our reserves. We still have a
035gap of $1.7 million. Still have work to do. That's why I said in the beginning this is all preliminary. Here's our reserve balances. So, as a comparison, we used money from three different reserve buckets of money. Reserves are meant to be savings. It's meant to be used to offset costs or expenditures that are exceeding your ability to pay. Each reserve category has very specific guidelines or regulations. You can't use it just for anything. For the most part, the reserve listing is what it's intended to be used for. So, ERS is actually employee retirement system. That is a New York State We We contribute as an employer to all employees who who are our employee here based on a percentage. TRS is our teachers retirement system. Just two facets of the same state retirement system. EBALR
036is our employee benefit accrued liability reserve. That is for any expenditures for retirement. So, if an employee retires from the district, they may be eligible to have a payout for their sick time or we had an incentive that we put out. That comes from that reserve. That reserve is meant to fund those types of things. And then our capital reserve is to, as it states, cover our capital expenditures. If you remember last year we the Board of Education and the community approved our capital expenditure budget for the new capital project that's currently underway and we used $4 million from this reserve for that to offset the local share. I'll turn over to Dr. Stern. >> Thank Thank you, Ms. Beggins. So, this slide looks at our cost per pupil analysis in Ulster County and how
037much we spend on our students each and every year and you can see from Wallkill all the way up to Onteora, we are the second in Ulster County. So, this is indicating that we're spending uh per pupil with instructional services that the students are getting what they need through programs, through teachers and and through uh support staff. Um it is high, the cost per pupil. We we are taking a look at that, but we know how how important it is to make sure the students and the programs get what they need to be successful. And then looking at our historical staff levels with declining student enrollment from 2018 all the way to 2025 uh 26, we had a 17% decrease uh in student enrollment, but only a 10% decrease in staff enrollment. And we look
038at this historical data, you see from 20 2020 to 2024, uh you know, this thing happened called COVID. And the federal government gave grants to all school districts and we had the American Rescue Plan that allocated us roughly $4 million and we used some of that $4 million on staff and on support staff. And if we didn't access those positions, those positions were then gobbled up into our general fund. >> So what you're seeing is showing the gap a little bit. We're doing a better job of getting the staff enrollment down when we went up to 259 staff and roughly 692 students. The staff numbers began became to come down with our student numbers. So we went to 1679 in 2425 with 250 staff members and then this year, myself and Ms. Biggins' first year
039working together as superintendent assistant superintendent for business is we actually went down 15 more staff to 235 compared to 1619 with our with our student enrollment. And it's just a really good way to make sure the programs have what they need and the students have what they need and also to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers because you're entrusting us with $47 million and we want to make sure we're appropriating those those funds and being fiscally responsible to the Round Rock Valley community. >> Okay, now we're going to talk a little bit about what makes up that $83 million number I gave you before, okay? So I like I'm a visual person. I like to look at pies. I will also look at the numbers after this. But I what I want to point out
040to everybody, as Dr. Spataro was saying, our budget is 75% supporting of programs. That is a great great pie. That to me is a healthy school district. And we want to maintain that we're spending more money on program than any other facet in our budget. Things that are count accounted for in that number is going to be our instructional salaries, our pupil transportation, transfers. Those are for our food service program. And then our employee benefits is a part of that as well. Those are just the employee benefits for those who are in our instructional salaries on this slide. We're seeing a 1% increase year-over-year on our instructional side. We're seeing a 3% increase on our transportation. Again, those things change as we go through it. The transportation supervisor works very hard on that. We're keeping
041the contribution to the cafeteria fund flat. Believe it or not, the cafeteria does very well here. Everybody loves the food. And we are a CEP school, which means every student gets a meal for free. So, we're not seeing a lot of increased costs on that side. And then the employee benefits, which was a part of our increase um on the big picture. This is what makes up our capital expenditures. It's not just our debt. Capital expenditures in this chart includes all the things to maintain our facilities. So, our custodial staff, our maintenance staff, um the work we do, all the supplies and materials to make everything look so beautiful here at Rondout. I will say this is my most favorite campus all of them in Rondout. On there as well as our our our debt.
042And then transfers. This is also transfers for capital expenditures that [clears throat] relate, as they relate to the iPark capital project. And then benefits as they associate with both operations and maintenance and principal and interest. Just that. And then we have our administrative component, all the people that are leading at the top. Salaries are increasing by 3%. We have a decrease in our instructional supervision. We also have uh curriculum and development increasing by 11%. That's that's supporting programs, supporting things for students. And then the employee benefits as they apply to those. I'm going to bring everybody back to our budget timeline. We are coming to uh the um marathon, as I like to call it, my Super Bowl down here. May 19th is our budget vote. It's going to be a great day. We have
043some great things coming. I believe there might be a program, music program, or a barbecue fundraiser that might be happening. Come and vote, too. Um we have a special board meeting set for April 7th, where we would like the board to adopt our budget. But if they choose to wait, the last day we could do that is April 24th. So April 24th is our contingency date to approve the budget if we don't approve it by the 1st or by the 7th, excuse me. Any questions from the board? >> Dr. Spadero, Mr. King, thank you so much. Um very thorough. Uh presentations, and I know they get more thorough as we get closer to that adoption day. Uh so but last month you did present um you know, the numbers to us uh incredibly similar to
044what you did today. And I know in both presentations you did mention that you know, you and your team are trying to find creative ways to lessen that gap that we have and it's it is a significant gap. And you've also mentioned um we when we to be fair and equitable, we have to look across the entire district. Um and you have to take a look at many aspects um from retirees to student enrollment as you mentioned and stuff like that. Um and I know that there's there's a concern about program and but it's important to state that we have the the board has always made program a top top priority and so has the district. Um are you able to definitively tell us tonight the budget presentation that was presented last month as well
045as the one for today, does it include a full-time music teacher to replace the retirement of our current band director? >> Uh great question, President pack members of the board, members of the community. Uh first of all, I'd like to say it is a it's a privilege and honor to serve as the superintendent of Rondout Valley because of of what we're seeing today. Uh everyone come together, it's a community focused uh school. It we work collaboratively and cohesively together to to make decisions. Uh and you know, when we when we may have to make decisions like this, when things come across our desk, you know, we we definitely take a look at things uh with uh attrition and and and with with resignations and with retirements. And the great thing is we collaborate. We bring
046in parents, we bring in uh teachers, we we bring in department heads and we look across all avenues and try to be creative. We try to outside-the-box think uh at Rondout. And and I is here at Rondout. We have a $20 million investment in a capital project um building a brand new band room here and refurbishing all auditorium. We have a long-term investment here, um, from the administration to the Board of Education in our pro in the arts. We know how important and how they are. I love the arts. I love I My first musical, Bye Bye Birdie, was last year I attended. I saw Conrad Birdie today. I wanted his autograph. Um, I saw Matilda, um, a few weeks ago. It's It's brilliant how talented uh, our students are and that doesn't happen overnight.
047So, President Paxson, make sure that we have continue having a premier uh, music program and premier arts programs not only next year, but the next three to five seven years. We have put in this budget to replace the music teacher. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING, DR. STEWART. >> YOU'RE WELCOME. >> Are there any other board members that have questions? Thank you. We will see you next month, Mr. Dean. >> [applause] >> And I would like to open up public comment. >> [snorts] >> We do have Oh, okay. We do have, um, um, a lot of requests for public comment. Um I we are limited to 3 minutes. I am asking those that are speaking to please we we will keep a timer up here um and I I will give you
048a uh you know, a 30-second warning and we are trying to work on that by also giving a physical block of the 3 minutes because I really do feel terrible when I have to interrupt somebody at when there's 30 seconds left. Um so uh but I am asking that we please uh keep it to the 3 minutes. We do have um a lot of people that do want to uh have a public comment. Um and if I mispronounce your name, I do apologize and please correct me. Though I am a teacher, I thought I was really good at reading names. Um Tanya Dewitt? All right. >> Um so I was going to go on and on, but now given what I just said, >> [laughter] >> I'm not going to go on and on. I'm
049going to change it up and just say that as a resident of this school district, I went to this school district, I graduated here, I was involved in the music program. I graduated in '86. I have a daughter who Amanda Dewitt who's a senior here and she's been involved in the music program since the fourth grade and at that time uh the district decided to allow fourth graders to uh be a part of the uh band, right? Uh the the the large band. And um you know, because of her being involved in that, since that time, she was so like I said to her, "When you get involved in the band, you're going to realize something. You get to sit down in that orchestra and you get to hear what you are helping to collectively
050create and hear around you as you all play. It's going to it's going to be like changing for you. I I I predict. And I was right. And she [snorts] has gone on She She's been 8 years with the Woodstock Playhouse singing, dancing, acting. Music and the arts have been a tremendous part of her life and it started here with Rondout. And this This district has the most amazing music program, be it band or choir and everything in between. Um and and consistently brings home all kinds of awards to make this community so very proud. And I am so very proud of my district for making this decision. And by the way, um Mr. Clinton, Mr. Shoemaker, all of the the folks that make these these programs happen, I I'm so grateful. Thank you. >>
051[applause] [applause] >> I HAVE HERE MUSIC boosters at the >> [laughter] >> Um my name is Deanna Kelly and I am president of the music boosters at the high school. I've served in that position for 3 years now. I also have two sons. One is a senior uh this year at the high school and the other one graduated class of 2024. They were both really active in the music program and so are um I I did I wanted to come here tonight to speak on urging you to please replace Mr. Clinton's position with another full-time position and just the importance of that for the music program. With the middle school being the birthplace of all of our musicians and the origin of everything wonderful. And I just wanted to speak to those the wide range
052of music abilities that they have to deal with. They're going from fourth graders to eighth graders. If If you compare it to ELA, they're they're learning the alphabet in their fourth grade music life to reading chapter books by the time they're in eighth grade, if you convert it to English. And it's just it's so diverse and there's so much time and effort and consistency and energy that goes into teaching those different levels. And it wouldn't be appropriate to put those readers together, the ABC kids and the novel books together. We couldn't pump them together. It wouldn't be appropriate. It's the same thing with our band. We were really worried that it was going to be where we were putting beginners with more advanced and it was just worrying us that our the students weren't going
053to have the appropriate level of instruction. But I'm so relieved that this decision was made because it it seems like we're setting ourselves up for success and then for the kids to go through the high school now and to take advantage of this new capital improvement project that we're building and um just the level of effort and attention that our teachers put into the students. Like at Rondout, they they can say things like, you know, like Ryan, you're really struggling with the upper register on the trumpet. How about we take the time to try out a euphonium or tuba and see if that's something better for you. Or or conversely, Ella, you're doing so great at clarinet. Maybe we can actually advance you and try a double reed instrument and have a special lesson. And
054just something like that is that's what happens at Rondout and that's what creates these amazing musicians that go on to be in all county, area all state, all state and they have all of these opportunities. My son yesterday, just yesterday, got to play in the capital building in up in Albany for state legislators and meet all of the assemblymen and women that were there. And it just just to represent Miss Ma Allstate and that's an opportunity that he has because of our program here. And I just want to make sure that we understand how important that is to keep it so strong for the future. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Jackson Bailey >> So, >> Well, >> Hi, I'm Jackson Bailey. This is my brother Hudson Bailey. He
055kind of has the same angle we were going to take >> [laughter] >> and it has nothing to do with the fact that our mom was the president of the music boosters. But, as she mentioned, we're both we've both been really involved in the music department here and we both felt that the middle school was the birthplace of that and because of the level of attention that we were able to get through that program that we really [clears throat] owe where we are today to that. >> Yeah, it couldn't be that I got to play at the Capitol building if it weren't for my passion for jazz starting in middle school. Yeah. >> Just want to say >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Breanna Casey >> Hi guys. Um, first I just wanted to thank
056you all for your service and the long commitment and I know you're also volunteering other places. I know coaching and you yourself is busy. And I wanted to thank you for giving everybody the opportunity to speak. Um, I could have come here and said all the music things cuz I agree wholeheartedly and everything everyone's saying, absolutely. Um, I wanted to speak a little bit more about the budget process. I I don't know if it's me, but I feel like this isn't very transparent. I have even after that presentation, I have no idea of what programs are being eliminated, what you're looking to cut, where reductions are going to take place. And that leaves a lot of room for um insecurities and rumors. And um I would just encourage you to have those conversations openly in
057the public as they should be. Um I looked at the budget audit the committee meeting. There's no documents posted for any of the meetings, I don't think, and that's required by the Open Public Meetings Law. Um and I just want to encourage all of you to be >> [clears throat] >> extremely transparent. I can speak from experience. I know how hard it is to um to be in the spotlight and have those hard conversations um declining enrollment budget pressures. I get it. I co-chaired the committee to close an elementary school, and it's the hardest thing I've ever done. Um I have some regrets about some of the things we did. Um but when we were doing it, we thought we were doing the right thing. I mean, and um one of our commitments to the
058community was to be as open as possible, invite everybody in, and share what we could and what we couldn't. And I I just want to encourage you all to do that because after seeing the last budget presentation and this one, I have no idea. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Willow Casey and Harper Martino. >> Okay. >> [snorts] [applause] >> Liam. Volunteer. Thank you. >> I was also going to talk about the music program, but I still am, but just Um there's a lot to be said about the achievements we achieved um in this school. But something else that's really important in the music department here is the community. It's I've been part of the community since I could in fourth grade, in fifth grade. Now I'm a senior. It was a place I could go
059when I wasn't feeling the best. There was always shoulders to cry on and people to lean on and it's one of the most meaningful things to me in my whole life and I'm sure that's true for anyone who's been through that. And um thank you guys for making the decision to keep it because it's it's really important and I don't know what would happen to the some the well-being of some of these students if they got So. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. BIANCA FERRIS >> I WAS GOING TO SAY THE SAME THING. I was a student in the high school band. Um and I know her as program or a substitute position. So, I'd like to be clarified that it's a full-time position that is being replaced. Um cuz there's no way a part-timer could
060do all of this. Thank you. >> [applause] >> DIANA ZUCKERMAN >> HELLO. I'M here to urge the Rondout BOE to adopt the Safe Schools Resolution to keep our immigrant students and all students safe. >> [applause] >> I'M DIANA ZUCKERMAN AND would like to share some experiences from my 27 years teaching Spanish here and my approximately 9 years of being the advisor of our award-winning Human Rights Club in the high school before retiring June 2025. One year at the whole school pep rally, clubs were acknowledged. When the Human Rights Club had our turn in the center of the gym, a group of students chanted negative statements about immigrants, potentially making students feel unsafe. When I brought the need to address the discriminatory behavior to the administration at the time, it went unaddressed. I won't repeat what
061the students chanted because it still makes me feel sick even tonight. A Human Rights Club student said, "It's not that our students are bad. They just need to be educated." I agree and add, "Educated for cultural competence, cultural awareness, and cultural understanding." That takes district initiative and commitment. One [snorts] day I showed a film about the cultural sweet 15 celebration. A student in my Spanish class got up, said something offensive, totally offensive about immigrants, and walked out of our class. When I brought it to the attention of the prior administration, it went unaddressed. These are examples of how our immigrant community was not supported. We need to make sure nobody is targeted, isolated, or marginalized within our school community. One of my notable projects I started each school year with was called "A Better World."
062Students brainstormed ways we can make a better world, school, and class. Students expressed compassionate ideas that would give many of us hope that we can achieve the better world the students wrote about in their handmade books created all in Spanish. >> 30 seconds left. >> Anyone entering our class would see the students' books on the walls all year as reminders of what we need and can do. Everyone wants a better school. This is an opportunity for the board and administration to lead by setting the standard for safety specifically for immigrants through the safe schools resolution. Passing the safe schools resolution is a chance for Rondo to help provide a school climate of inclusion, welcome, and safety. That Rondo needs to be our best world premier school district that many of us know it can be.
063MLK said, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Let's not be silent anymore." >> [applause] >> I just have a name on this. It just says "Banned". Um it's somebody's email that ends in cornell.edu, but there's no name. >> Hi, I'm Kathleen. I'll just finish. Thank you for listening to the community um and keeping Mr. Curtis's position to be filled again. Your words were "It's in the proposed budget." So, I hope that means it's in the final budget, and that this isn't kind of a switch and bait, um and that you keep alive one of the greatest things that Rondo has to offer. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> JUST TO CLARIFY ON THAT, DR. SPATARO did say definitively. Um Michael O'Keefe. >> Yeah, hi.
064I'm um Michael O'Keefe. I'm a parent of Aidan O'Keefe in 7th grade. He's been in band since 4th grade and jazz band, and like a lot of people, I came here to advocate to uh have Mr. Curtis's position filled and not left vacant. And since that's not the issue anymore, I want to commend Dr. Spataro and Mr. Payne for finding that money in the budget and solving that. And and I I really think it's important. And on a personal note, I can tell you as an artist, I I've made a living as an actor for 50 years and that the foundation of that was the lessons that I learned in school. And doing the theater in school that I did, doing the music that I did in school, and being able to rely on that
065community as that student just said earlier for for the support that I needed to make the transition into, you know, taking a leap to try and be an artist. 50 years later, it's easy to turn around and say, "Hey, you know, what that was pretty cool." When I was a 15-year-old, I really didn't have support at home and it was there that I found it. So, good job. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Amelia? >> Hi. I'm a I'm a 19-year-old >> Thank you for running that graphic. >> I'm in the I'm in the band. What's really cool is my brother and sister and they both still make music to this day. He actually did the music soundtrack for a film. So, you can make a career in music. Um I'm just so proud of you
066guys. This is I was about to like roll on our old life and say, "It's going to be terrible. I can't [laughter] do such a thing." And I just wanted to say the one thing I wanted to say is I both my children are in bands. They love it. They're very disciplined kids. They love it. They've had a great time in the program. The key kids focused music programs. They keep them engaged. They give them community to foster their creativity and they're very important, especially in today's climate with devices, screens, little Tik Tok. Um so, I'm really proud of you guys for deciding to keep keep that position in place. So, just thank you. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Margo >> Good evening, everyone. I'm Margo Sanchez. I'm a parent of a ninth
067grader and a member of the District Equity Council. Uh I love music and I really appreciate this conversation tonight, but I'm here to renew my call to the board to strengthen their commitment to protecting students and families from ICE. As you well know, everyone in charge here knows by now, the federal government has removed important guardrails that used to stand between ICE and our schools. So, things have actually changed and now I believe it's incumbent upon districts, led by their boards of education, to create explicit guardrails of our own. Tonight, the Saugerties Board of Education is considering an adapted safe schools resolution similar to the one that Kingston has adopted already and I really hope that this board will consider doing uh that as well, but if passing the full resolution isn't possible right now,
068I want to suggest two things that the board could do that would be in the same spirit and toward the same ends. Uh first, send sections two and three of the Kingston resolution to our policy committee to ensure that all of the uh the items laid out in those sections align with our existing policy um or to amend our policies so that they do. And second, collaborate with the administration to create a multilingual lingual safe schools commitment of some kind that works for Rondout to be shared with the entire community electronically and posted at entrances to all of our buildings. Even a brief statement can send a powerful message to the community that everyone is safe at school. Uh I also want to thank the administration for moving forward to expand know your rights training
069to faculty and staff. This is a really important step of community care um and I I hope we can continue to roll out more and more ways to show our immigrant community and anyone who is dealing with what is essentially a collective trauma for many of this community um that we can offer collective care and just love. you. >> you. >> [applause] >> Sarah Graves? >> Hi. Um I just wanted to say that um you know, I knew that my fellow uh band friends, the parents of band kids, were good parents of band kids and were really worried about band program possibly being scaled back. So, 2 days ago we started a petition to to see like what the community felt about it, um laying out, you know, what we knew about what could be
070at stake and what was being considered. And in just 2 days, the last time I checked we had 573 signatures um from members of the community, taxpayers, and not just I assume parents of band kids, and I think that really is an amazing testament to like how much this community is committed to our band program. >> I'm really glad that you're here. Thank you. Thank you. >> [laughter] [applause] >> Hannah Savka? >> Okay. Um class of 1992. Rondo member of the chorus um and actually unfortunately I wasn't going to share this, but um we were talking about um protecting immigrants. Unfortunately, I was ruthlessly bullied in Rondo for being a first generation immigrant. So, there's a history of that and I really hope that you'll, you know, stand up for our folks who are here.
071But, I came to talk about music. I'm so thankful for this decision. [snorts] Uh I am the mom of uh a man in the the concert band and jazz band. Uh and um I miss Oh, concert choir. I'm sorry. >> [laughter] >> There's a lot of music. Uh actually, um I'm also the uh assistant chair for a big arts and communication department at SUNY Orange, which is a county community college. Uh we struggle with budgets as well. Um we're actually we like redoing our whole music program right now. Um that's going to also include more things like um uh audio production and modern tools. Uh so I've seen a lot of numbers about music and I just wanted to share that with you because this is literally been something I have been working on since
072last year um with my AVP and my chair. Um so actually music contributes a lot to our economy. Um so to give you a little context cuz we all buy cars and there's a lot of cars out there, right? That contributes 7% to the GDP. Music, I couldn't believe it. 5.7. That's a lot of money. It's 212 billion annually. Um and uh my other research is for um we we also have a new media program. Um so all kinds of cinematic media arts. Um that area, which overlaps like music and media overlap, um actually um actually is out hiring our IT and has been already out hiring IT for a few years. So this decision is an investment in our students and ultimately in careers and into our economy. So I I sometimes see people
073treating like arts, music, all this stuff like, "Oh, it's fluff." No, it makes money and um it really is a real investment and a wise investment and I'm so thankful for this decision. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Anna Maria. >> Oh, that was me actually. >> Oh. >> Now we're switched. Okay. >> I just want to say that uh and 10 years ago, we were in the same situation with the board in town around trying to find teacher which we did. There was Mr. Rogers and I'm very happy that we did because it was very crucial for kindergarten to have art teacher and for future also of kids. So, I'm really happy that you make such decision. Also, I want to tell that I'm really happy about sport in our town but we need
074also this is one leg when you raise future citizen. Another leg like it is culture. So, we have to stand on both of them and most of the work is investing in both of them because they are the same important and we know Polish emigrant, political emigrant 48 years ago. Actually, Poland got free because of culture. If you don't hold your language and culture, you don't exist and this very crucial and we have to remember that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Mrs. Biddy? >> Hi. My name is Colleen Biddy. I'm here tonight as a parent of a graduate from 2017. Can't believe it. I'm here on behalf of him to talk about our music program. I wanted to thank you Dr. Spedaro for making this decision. My son, just like many of
075the musicians here today, began playing the clarinet when he was in fourth grade. In fifth grade, Mr. Shoemaker said, "Anyone want to play the oboe?" And his hand quickly shot up and [clears throat] he My son was a little bit of a wild card. He was a little too creative and a little too curious. He could have got himself in a lot of trouble But instead, he thrived because of our music program. I can't carry a note. I never played an instrument. Everything he learned about music began here. And he's traveling right now. I accidentally called him yesterday not realizing it was 4:00 a.m. And the first thing he said was like, "Mom, it's 4:00 a.m. in the morning." I said, "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry." I said, "Do you think that you would have gotten
076to where you were able to get without having two teachers in the middle school program?" And he said, "No way." So, it's not possible. Um and he he did thrive. He did thrive. He All the hours of practicing, um all the NISM competitions, he Sorry, um uh Jace or Brady, he um went to Texas with doing all nationals. He did a lot of programs outside of school. He got pretty much a full scholarship um at college. So, so yes. Thank you. It was a wonderful decision. And I'm proud of you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> Emma Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Uh Emma Kretschmer, I'm the parent of a seventh grader here at Rondo Junior High. And I attended last month's Board of Education meeting to speak about my support for the Safe Schools
077resolution, which I wanted to thank everyone who's here to speak on that tonight. Um It was actually at that meeting that I learned that there was talk about um cuts to the music program. And I got very alarmed. Um and I'm very happy that um this announcement is thrilling me tonight. My daughter was among those who were honored for her musical accomplishments this evening. And while I would love to just spend the next few minutes bragging about her, truly um it's our band program and our incredible band directors who deserve the praise. Um and I'll just maybe take a minute uh to say that if any of you uh have children who received music education from Jason Clinton, you know that it will probably take three full-time teachers to even begin to fill his shoes.
078And it really is in large part thanks to his decades of service that the Rondout Valley band program is nationally recognized as a top school for music education and I can personally attest to uh the impact that this program has had on my own child's academic performance, social emotional health, and self-esteem um and I know she's not alone. In my view, Rondout's band program is quite possibly the best thing about this district and uh I think a lot of other people have spoken about how band uh participation is linked to things like higher test scores and greater academic success as well as to all of these other critical uh life skills um and community building. Uh so I just want to thank you all. Uh I think as you know, enrollment is going down but
079band participation is going up. This decision really reflects um both the demand for this program and how meaningful it is for our community. So I really want to thank you all and I again want to urge you to consider looking at the safe schools resolution. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> That is all I have. Is anybody else out there with a a form that they did not have the opportunity to turn in? >> I have a form. I'm in the music department. My name is Dr. Megan McMahon. Uh my husband couldn't be here tonight or I'm here on Ronald State National School of Music. Uh thank you very much for this decision. I just wanted to share with you that 10 years ago, 11 years ago, when we decided to move
080from a different district in the Huntington Valley, it was the presentation at an All County Band uh performance that I went to with a friend of mine, watch her children perform, that made me decide to move to Huntington. So, I hope that you understand that the program here can actually improve your tax base. It can actually recruit people into the area and help kids uh improve their lives. And as a next band parent, I'm incredibly proud that my daughter and my son have these uh opportunities. I have a letter to the board from my husband, Dr. Matt Stubble. He couldn't be here tonight. >> Thank you. >> That's the gentleman who was here before. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, can I just say something? >> Mhm. >> So, when I when we first started
081talking about this and Mr. Clinton retiring and I was running for my own head of how do we solve this problem? My The first thing that came to my mind was convince him not to retire. >> [laughter] >> Then the second thing was to make sure that we fill that position. So, along with Dr. Finello and the rest of the board, I think we're ready to do that. >> [applause] >> Are there any other public comments at this time? No public speakers. We are at 8:45. >> Next to the agenda is uh the memorandum of agreement with the Rondout Valley Federation of Teachers and the recommended motion is the Board of Education approve the amended MOA of 10 retirements by and between the Board of Education of Rondout Valley Central School District and the Rondout
082Valley Federation of Teachers, copy of which shall be incorporated by reference in the minutes of this meeting and that the Superintendent of Schools be hereby authorized to execute such a supplemental memorandum of agreement on behalf of the district as presented. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion carries. >> Next is the Jennis separation agreement. Recommended motion that the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, hereby approves the voluntary separation agreement for the purpose of retirement between Lee Cutler and the Rondout Valley Central School District and that the Board of Education hereby authorizes the Superintendent of Schools and his designees to carry out the terms of the agreement as presented. >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in
083favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion carries. >> Mr. Cutler is here. I would like to recognize Mr. Cutler for his 10 years of service at Rondout Valley Central School District and his 42 years in education. >> [applause] [applause] [clears throat] >> Thank you, Dr. Superintendent of Schools. Thank you for giving me the opportunity speak to you for about than and a half. >> [laughter] >> I I can't believe I'm doing this. >> Three minutes. >> [laughter] >> Well, I thought I'd get more. I No, I I just can't believe I'm doing this. 42 years, I'm older than most people in this room. Um it's I I want to thank the Board of Education, Carolyn, not just Mr. Darrow, my colleagues because when I came here 10 years ago, I thought I'd stay about 3 years
084because just wanted to, you know, get my retirement fully taken care of, but I just couldn't leave because this is a very special community, a very special community, and I have loved being here. I've loved my 10 years, and I'm very very honored that you trusted me with the children. You did, and it's great. And um I'm I'm going to miss it here, but I'm looking forward to the next 4 months to really get set up for next year so that we could continue our successes. Thank you so much, EVERYBODY. >> [applause] >> NEXT ON THE AGENDA IS SUPERINTENDENT Schools consent agenda items 1 through 8. Uh recommend a motion that the Board of Education approve the revised consent agenda items 1 through 8 as presented. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >>
085Any discussion? >> Yeah, I just have a question about that. Um number eight, uh sports team merger, Rondout Valley girls varsity softball team and Onteora varsity girls softball team, um will you just talk a little bit about that and how um it benefits Rondout, how it benefits Onteora? >> Sure. So, the community would like to have um Um, three different up feeder system with our softball program. So, this entails that we'll have enough enough athletes, enough players for a a varsity softball team, a JV softball team, and a modified softball team. If these players uh were able to join from Mantius, we may have to move up some players from uh the freshman softball class to play the varsity uh program, which may hurt the enrollment and the the program of our JV softball team.
086So, this will help have a team at each level, a varsity softball team, a JV softball team, and a modified softball team. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Um, before some of you run away that are walking away towards the door, >> [laughter] >> um, we did just recognize in our or we just approved in our personnel report, we do have some retirees who have stuck it around even though it's a school night. But, I Two of them are right over there trying to sneak out. I know Mr. Clinton is still here. I don't know if I If anybody else is still here and we just approved your retirement, I would like to AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE >> [applause] >> WE WILL BE FORMALLY RECOGNIZING ALL OUR RETIREES, UM,
087as well as our teachers that have been tenured this year and as our Thomas King um, recipients this year at our meeting in May. Um, and that's a wonderful evening where we do get to celebrate everybody that evening. So, I do encourage everybody to come. So, see you then. >> [applause] >> Okay, moving on to board president agenda items. So, I do have um, I do have a joint between uh the Board of Education and Dr. Spadero that I would like to read. Um if you could bear with me here. Some members of our communities our community have reached out to express their concern about district protections for students and families considering increased federal immigration actions. We recognize that our students and families may be facing significant and frightening challenges and we affirm our commitment
088to ensuring that our schools remain a safe haven where all students are welcomed and provided a free public education. We want to reassure you that our approved district-wide safety plan along with established state New York state law are already in place to respond should any situation that puts our students at risk arise. This includes procedures that ensure students are not accessed by anyone without parent or guardian permission including outside agencies. Our building administrators, clerical support, school resource officers, and security guards are all aware of these requirements and know how to respond if a situation with an outside agency were ever to arise. Please also know that the operation of our schools are governed by state laws and policies that clearly outline our responsibilities for safeguarding our students. New York state provides clear guidance regarding the
089protection of students and access to school buildings. We will continue to uphold these laws in consultation with the New York State Education Department as well as our school attorneys. We care deeply about every child entrusted to us. Their safety and well-being guide every decision we make. Our schools will continue to be places where students are protected, supported, and able to focus on learning. Thank you. >> [applause] >> For the fourth time, um, Carrie, would you like to start tonight? Sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. >> It's fine. Um, okay. Starting with, um, I happened I'm a member of the Rondout Valley Growers Association as a farmer, um, and just wanted to mention they do this annual dinner. Um, usually there is a politician who will come and speak and there's lots
090of information shared. Anyway, at the end of all of the presentations, I'm walking around and I see Rondout students. Um, McKenzie Lawrence, who is a teacher here at the high school, um, had brought a number of, um, FFA students, um, so future farming students, um, there and I just thought that was so great to see them, um, and to have them connecting with our farmers in the Hudson Valley. Um, next I want to share, uh, last week, uh, we had a learning walk, um, at Kerhonkson, and, uh, I I wanted I just noticed uh, we had gone into the gym, uh, the PE teacher there, um, had stations set up. We had the most amazing rock climbing wall and kids sort of one by one were sort of like crossing this large expanse. I hadn't
091seen the rock climbing wall, I thought it was very cool. Um, there was a ladder and they had some sort of system to to get across with, you know, a certain number of legs in each square, what have you. They were stacking cups, um, and that sort of thing and it was just really neat to see. Um, we saw library time, um, and they were doing a scavenger hunt. Uh, the kids looking, uh, for particular authors. Uh, we went into a reading group, um, and then Jackie, uh, took us outside and shared, uh, some of the planning for the, uh, soccer field and for the new playground, which is part of the the capital campaign. Um, next, um, just on the resolution cuz that's been talked about tonight. I'd be happy to work on and
092sign a resolution for our school district that reflects how we support everyone in our community, including undocumented immigrants. This resolution does not feel political to me. It's not about how we feel about immigration in this country. It's just about how we keep everyone, including undocumented immigrants, safe in our school buildings and on our campuses. But if the board as a whole doesn't feel this is an appropriate action, I'd be happy to take a look perhaps at the policy committee so that we can report back. I feel like part of part of sort of what I've been thinking about. So, number number two or three, I'm not sure which one on Kingston's resolution. I'm not sure where that falls with Solidarity's, but it has to do with with student privacy, right? And as sort of Carolyn
093mentioned in the statement, that is those are New York City rules and regs that we're following. That has to do with FERPA. Those are in our policies that are public. However, I will be honest and say that I had not looked at our policies at Rondout until I came on the board and was part of the policy committee. I'll own that. I don't know that it's the easiest thing to find. I hope everyone knows it does exist. If you go to our website and you click on So, the top bar, the one all the way to the right says Board of Education. If you click on that and you just and you look at the at the drop-down, you look at the bottom, it'll say policy. If you click that, there's like a little search
094box that comes up. And one of the things I searched today, it's just as an example, was privacy. And all of this section sort of come up and tell me that like there are 42 mentions of privacy. And I can sort of click through those and I can find some of these policies. So, I know some of what is being asked for in the resolution are things that we definitely are doing and in our public. You know, I think the point of the resolution is just to make it more public, but I just want to make sure that people know um that that those those items are available um if you if you have some time to to look into it. Um in terms of equity council, uh our next equity council meeting will be
095March 24th at 3:00 p.m. Um and that is that is an I think an open an open meeting for folks to come to if they would like to. Uh we are we're having it a little earlier than usual. Um part of that is um hoping we may have the opportunity to have um some student voice. Uh and I think the the sooner we have it to dismiss, the better chance we have of that. We've invited some of the Rondout diversity clubs to come and share. Uh we'll see if they're available. Uh we also I think may have the uh a couple CRSE trainers to come and share with us the work that they're doing. Um and also uh Victor Cuevas uh will join us again. Um and the the main agenda item um for that
096meeting in is something that I've already sort of been mentioning during my board time, which is a community forum, so a feedback session of sorts. Um we are it is currently in sort of draft form. Um and the idea is to um structure it in terms of portrait of a of a graduate or to take I think Jessica Twork may have um may may have sort of labeled this like portrait of a gander. Um and what that sort of looks like, what portrait of a graduate looks like um here at Rondout. Um but it's a time for us to hear community feedback. Um that's that's sort of the goal of this, not to present information to you. Um know your rights training for faculty. Um we are looking at doing it, uh, the 3rd of
097the month, probably [clears throat] in May. That's not set in stone yet, uh, but just so that you know that that is happening. Um, I'll leave policy committee to you, Jim. Um, and Zachary, um, I just wanted to mention cuz I bet he won't, that I went into Benny's Pizzeria the other day and he's pictures up there for athlete of the month. >> [applause] [laughter] >> That's okay. I'm in I'm in Benny's every day. >> [laughter] >> I think I follow I was athlete of the month. So, that's personal. >> [laughter] >> Um, just to to finish off what we were talking about the music program, um, along with a bunch of the other parents that were here, my daughter was one of the ones recognized tonight for being on the all-county band. Um, it's
098very nice to see the, um, dedication or, um, uh, commitment to our programs, right? I mean, it just in the last week the amount of phone calls that I've received, emails we've received, um, my kids coming home with with paperwork and and so on and so forth from students along with community members. Um, it's nice to see that our community cares that much about programs and want to make sure that our programs continue, um, along with myself. You know, I was one of those ones that was definitely, um, you know, for replacing, uh, Mr. Clinton when he retired, so. Um, we had a facilities committee meeting yesterday. The we talked a little bit about the 2019 project, which is wrapping up, um, which must be completed, will be completed right now by, uh, by June.
099Um, the 2025, um, some progress updates. Um, if you haven't noticed and you haven't been here before, um, the clocks are up and running in the high school. They're currently working in the district office and in the middle school. >> Or the middle school annex. >> The south Okay. But, they're in the process. So, if you're if you're not sure what they are, they're the clocks that are on either end of the building or the room here that'll be able to do some really cool things, you know, tell the time, you know, lockdowns, lockouts, all kinds of messages will come across there. So, they're they're pretty exciting. They're working really long on those. Um and we we mentioned about the band room, you know, which is part of the 2025 project that's going to be
100in the high school here. We're we're finally finalizing some design plans for that, which are pretty exciting. It's going to be a nice looking building. We um you know, taken a few different ideas of of design and kind of piecemealed some of them together to come up with what we want. I think it's going to fit really nice. It's going to be out right, you know, it's going to be right up behind the football field. So, it's going to, you know, a lot of people are going to see it. It's going to be very nice when that's all done. Um our next meeting is April 8th, 4:00 p.m. at the district office. >> Coach >> Okay, I'm going to talk uh briefly about the policy meeting we had yesterday. Uh there's a number of policies
101that we reviewed or go over. Uh we did not not adopt any policies uh tonight. Uh we're continuing to review these policies. Uh one of the big things was the our connection with the New York State School Board Association uh where we are reviewing uh all of our uh policies and trying to get them updated to make sure that we've seen them within the last 10 years. Uh they began to work with us in the first week of February and they continue to work with us and we do not think that they'll be done until uh probably end of March. So, those are uh just things that we're we're not out of compliance with uh by any means, but uh we are just updating them and we're reviewing ones that have not been looked at
102for the past 10 years. And the New York State School Board Association is helping us tremendously. Uh we have a policy that we're reviewing called a school policy number 2160 with the school district officer and employee code of ethics. Uh we're going to be reviewing continue to review that policy and we'll be looking at a a local school district also with regards to that to see if you know we can you know maybe get some help get another idea from from another local school district as well. Uh policy number 8130 which deals with the school safety plans and teams. That's something that again we're reviewing. We want to work with the school safety team and collaborate with them with regards to how our school safety policy fits in with the school safety plan. So we'll
103be talking to you guys about that. Uh Uh policy number 8120.1.2 is about the automated external defibrillators. I will I'm sure we'll be adopting this policy at our next meeting. Just about basically about making sure that we have these AEDs in each of the schools and they're in the appropriate areas and that they're marked and people understand and know where they are. Would you like to say something? >> Go ahead sure. >> Absolutely. >> Just the defibrillators cuz we talked we talked a lot about that and one of the things that we were doing with Dr. Spadero was looking at what basically what what's the policy and then what's in the safety plan and sometimes the policies will like note that it's in the safety plan for defibrillators. We decided that we would put a
104lot of that information in the safety plan instead of it being sort of a separate policy. I also learned something that I did not know and you did know which is that coaches always have a portable defibrillator with them. I just think that's amazing. That's such a great thing. I didn't know if that was true and so we talked about it. Um and then we would yeah, Dr. Bear will talk with the safety committee about um looking at looking at where um the defibrillators are located and like where those maps are that say where they're located so that they can be found very very quickly. >> Right, exactly. >> Yeah, that's right. >> That's That's fine. I got We got two more things to continue with and then I'll pass it on to the Dean.
105Uh so, our policy number 8505 is about regarding charging meals and other food items as we know uh we are a district that uh our students can eat for free and uh one of the only things that occurs that if they want to go up and get another meal, they would be charged for that meal called ala carte. Uh so, again, that's a policy, you know, pretty basic policy that we'll be adopting. And uh the other policy goes hand in hand with that and that's the eight policy number 8520 which is about the free meal services and that was students who receive. So, that is pretty much uh what I have for policy. Do you want to add anything about those last two? Uh Mr. Good to go? Good to go? Okay. >> Well, since
106Paul stole my thunder I had it all planned on the CD. >> [laughter] >> Literally said everything that I had written down. >> Our meeting Next meeting you did say it's 4:00 4:00. It's open to the public. Anybody can come. >> Um I was talking about but Two things you can mention is that we have March Madness which which is attendance challenge between the grades. And so, it's kind of just paying attention to like each grade's attendance and the higher attendance uh that grade with the higher attendance, they get to pick like a little treat to have and it just I think that will motivate students to school on time. Um also, March 12th is Thursday, we have a learning expo which will be I don't know if I said this before, student projects in
107each class, and there will be many different things. There will be a free daycare um in the library as well for parents who want to go around or have teacher conferences, so that will be there. Um there will be an all-inclusive pickleball tournament, which is going to be free as well. And there's going to be a free entry gift card giveaway, as well. >> Uh to go off what Maddie was saying also the night of the learning expo, we'll have we'll have a fast ID support. No appointment required between 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Um also parent-teacher conferences will be held from 5:30 to 7:00 o'clock. Uh another thing, the FFA will be hosting a fundraiser. It is a chicken dinner. It is $16 for a plate. You can dine in the cafeteria and eat it
108here. That will be from 4:00 to 6:30. And also during the learning expo, some kids from the photography class will be taking pictures, as well as Y students will be discussing the Y program. And lastly, there will also be an eSports competition for them to show their skills. >> And this is like all inclusive, so anybody could Everybody can come and just take a look. It'll be really fun and interactive. >> Thank you so much. Mr. Clinger? >> I don't have anything to add. >> Uh thank you so so much for everybody um that did come. Um and >> [clears throat] >> uh I appreciate those of you that have stuck around. Can I get a recommended motion um that the Board of Education approve consent agenda items 4 through 6 as presented? >> I'll
109make the motion. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Recommended motion to adjourn the March 10th, 2026 meeting as presented. >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed?