001Good evening. Thank you all for joining us for the February 10th board of education meeting. If you'll all join me with the pledge to the flag. >> 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. >> All right. And we will start this evening with the report of the superintendent, Dr. Murray. >> Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the February 10th board of education meeting. I want to begin by sharing a highlight from this past week. I had the pleasure of attending a performance by our high school jazz band and they were outstanding. Congratulations to our students and Mr. Schwarian and Mr. Strang for their hard work and dedication. I'd also like
002to provide a brief update regarding the snow lot. As many of you know, the lot is currently being used as a snow dump, which has reduced the number of available parking spaces for both staff and students. As a result, we are seeing some additional traffic during arrival and dismissal. We are asking families to please allow a little extra time and be patient when dropping off students so we can ensure that everyone arrives and departs school safely. Looking ahead, our NWA assessment results for grades K through 8 will be posted this Friday, February 13th. This data is an important tool we use to monitor individual student growth and progress throughout the year and to help inform instructional decisions and supports. And finally, a reminder that mid-winter recess is next week. Schools will be closed February 16th
003through the 20th and district offices will be closed on February 16th. That concludes my report for this evening. Okay. Thank you. And we will now move into our presentation and discussion one. And this is Dr. Murray's first report budget presentation. Let's go. Dr. Murray. Okay. Thank you. Um tonight, uh Gabby Peruchio and I are going to be presenting the proposed budget for the 2026 20227 school year. This proposed budget was created through a very collaborative process with our administrative team and we look forward to continuing that collaboration with you. Uh tonight you'll hear about the overall budget and then in the coming weeks you'll hear from different administrators and how and what the budget looks like in their specific departments and we look forward to those discussions. uh the one tonight and all the feedback
004that we'll receive from the community along the way. As we created this budget, our work was guided by the ride commitment as we thought about financially supporting programs that work towards instilling the skills of critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration, and effective communication all while focusing on social emotional learning. In addition, we also work to financially support professional learning for our staff that's highquality, meaningful, and relevant. And this is all done in an effort to make sure that we provide an educational program that is of the highest national and state standards. And here is our budget process timeline. So, we'll be hearing the overall budget tonight uh followed by our instructional program presentation that includes curriculum instruction and special education. Uh after that presentation on March 10th you'll hear technology and then on March 24th
005you'll have you'll hear athletics and facilities. That night is also open topics which focuses on the budget as well. April 14th is our budget adoption and then between April 15th and May 14th um I will be going around with some of my colleagues around to different community organizations to talk about the budget, answer questions and really talk about the the additional highlights that it brings to our school community. The budget hearing is on May 5th and then the budget vote uh and trustee vote is on May 19th. So as we developed our budget um we're it was guided by several key considerations and that reflect both our values and our responsibilities as a school district. First the budget is aligned with the board of education's goals and the district strategic plan and every major decision
006was reviewed through that lens and and how it really advances our long-term priorities and supports student learning in meaningful ways. We also carefully examined enrollment trends and staffing needs to ensure that we're appropriately resourcing our schools, maintaining reasonable class sizes, supporting student needs, and staffing our buildings responsibly and efficiently. Another important consideration we made was uh sustaining and strengthening our educational programs and services and making sure that they are the of the high quality that the community expects and that they're aligned to the right commitment. We also accounted for ongoing infrastructure needs including both facilities and technology and those investments are essential to maintaining safe uh functional learning environments and ensuring their instructional tools remain current and reliable. In addition, we reviewed revenue and expenditure projections along with key factors that impact the budget um
007as well as a thorough review of our debt service and our current obligations to ensure that they're appropriately reflected in the overall financial plan. So in addition to the key considerations, there are also um budget drivers. And we we're thinking about these in two different categories. The known drivers and the unknown. Um and when we look at the known drivers, these are the ones with that we have a high degree of certainty and we can we can plan accordingly for those. First is the tax cap. Uh the tax cap continues to serve as a foundational constraint in our budget development shaping the overall parameters within which we must operate. Uh we have our collective bargaining unit provisions which are also another key driver. Those are our salaries uh step increases and negotiated benefits. We also
008account for uh required retirement system contributions that are set by the state as well as our health insurance premiums. They remain a significant driver for us as well. And we base our projections on current rates and anticipated increases. Uh in developing the budget, we make deliberate decisions around our fund balance utilization and using it strategically to support one-time needs while maintaining long-term fiscal uh stability. State aid projections are also included based on the most current information available and and while those final numbers will not come out until the state budget is adopted. We have also factored in known uh uh known facilities concerns including maintenance and operational needs necessary to keep our buildings safe and functional. Technology needs are also another important consideration for us as we work to maintain reliable infrastructure and instructional tools
009that support teaching and learning. And finally, we reviewed anticipated debt service changes to make sure that those are reflected as well. So, in addition to the known, we also have our unknown variables. These are these remain less predictable for us as we finalize the budget for next school year. Um, one of those is enrollment. And while we closely monitor these trends, actual enrollment can shift throughout the year. And so that may impact staffing needs, class sizes, and make programmatic decisions. Special education services and and associated transportation needs are another area of uncertainty. Student needs can change really at any time, and we have to be able to respond promptly and appropriately to those needs. We can also we also consider non-t tax revenues as well as assessment and tax valuations that can change based on
010broader economic conditions. So while those factors are not fully within the district's control, they're closely monitored throughout the year and the budget is structured to allow for uh responsible adjustments as needed. So, as Trisha mentioned, the um budget development season's kickoff, if you will, is the property tax cap calculation. This is um an eightstep math equation essentially that is required by the state for every municipality to complete in order to determine what the allowable tax levy increase will be for the coming year. There are some elements of a school district's expense um grouping that are excluded from that calculation. Things such as debt service and um transfer to capital needs. And it's the delta between the current year and the future year exclusion that impacts the overall calculation. Um there are two elements of the
011calculation that are determined by the state and that is the assessment growth factor which for Rye um has always been a favorable number so we benefit from that as well as the lower of CPI or 2%. um in the last couple of years that has sat at 2% and that is the max that is allowable and that's where you hear often times a 2% tax cap. So although that element lives within the eightstep calculation, it doesn't necessarily equate to a 2% overall tax levy change from year to year. That's just the starting point of the calculation. So the the total proposed budget for is um 1116,757 and1 and this is a 3.08% 08% increase from the approved budget for the 2526 school year, which was 113,267, sorry, 113,267,267. And the proposed budget does maintain all
012current programs and services for students. And before I go into some of the budget highlights, I just want to look at our enrollment projections. Um, as I mentioned before, a key consideration when creating this budget is enrollment. Um, and here are our enrollment projections for next year across all three levels, the elementary school, middle school, and high school. And our enrollment has been relatively stable uh recently with a slight decline. Um, you can see that in the total district column there on the right. And this is one of the data points that we use to to determine any staffing um shifting. And um this chart is showing adjustments in staffing at the elementary level by collapsing a section from third to fourth grade at Milton and a from third to fourth grade at Osborne uh
013while still being able to maintain optimal class sizes. And also keep in mind that this chart is a moment in time. It's taken something called beds day which is in October of every year. Um and as I said before when discussing the key considerations, enrollment can change and so we really need to monitor this closely. Um but our hope is that this is how it will land next year. >> So Dr. M in um knowing that there is the possibility of some changing variables in looking at it, >> would we anticipate a need to change the budget >> proposal or? >> No. And as I get to the highlights, I'll explain how that would work. >> I'll wait. I promise. Okay. >> Okay. Um so with the with the highlights, a few things I wanted
014to point out. One is that this budget does include an increase of one FTE for a social worker. So we currently uh contract with an organization called effective school solutions where we have two social workers for the middle school and high school. So this would be shifting to use one social worker from ESS and bringing one on as a full-time employee. Um and this would be a budget neutral shift. >> Um yeah, go ahead. Sorry. So um ESS is split between the high school and the middle school. So where do you envision this individual spending their time? >> Erin, do you want to respond to that? >> So we actually we have a full-time clinician, one at the high school, one at the middle school. So we will maintain that level. It's just that one
015of those um individuals will now be out employed by us as opposed to contracting. >> Right. And so do you have an an anticipation if it'll be at the high school or the middle school? Okay. Thank you. Um, this budget also includes the addition of eight uh high school academic teams. And so these teams are currently known as clubs. Uh, we would like to transition them to teams because it will then allow for the district to support them uh with supplies, entry fees, and travel costs. Uh, and the teams would be DECA, model UN, robotics. So, sorry, can you just slow down? I have my hand coming right so fast. Deca. Yeah. Deca model UN robotics rhythm onry science olympiad mathletes and engineering. And when we get to um Lauren's presentation to talk about our
016academic programs, she'll discuss these more in depth. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Um, so as I mentioned before on the enrollment slide, collapsing those two elementary sections, what it'll allow us to do is have two elementary STEM teachers in addition to the one that we already have. A few weeks ago, we had a presentation where you heard from Amy Carman. She's currently our elementary STEM teacher, but she's split across three buildings. And so we would like to do is expand that program because it's so successful and give our elementary students more exposure to science so they can do more STEMbased activities connected to mystery science but also will take place in our maker spaces. Um so if that enrollment stays as is we can offer that. Uh and then Jane to your point if it
017does adjust that might not be two it could just be one. We just have to watch those numbers. >> Okay. Um this budget has a reduction of four full uh FTEES. Um and this is because we're watching trends in enrollment and also the shift in student needs right now. And our plan is to do those reductions through attrition which is retirement or through not filling open positions. >> Go ahead. >> And so the sorry and so those are going to be spread out throughout throughout the district. >> They're uh the secondary level. >> Got it. middle school, high school. Yeah. Thank you. >> Yep. >> In terms of technology, we have a Wi-Fi upgrade for the middle school and high school. This is the first of a two-year plan uh to upgrade our Wi-Fi. Uh
018we're starting at the secondary level and then hopefully can do elementary the following year. Um with elementary, we are putting in new security cameras and and we're and this is the first of a two-year phase in also with secondary hopefully next year. Uh we're starting at the elementary level because our two new wings will have our new uh security camera system. So it makes sense for the buildings to all be on the same system. Um and then we have two uh new facilities projects which which require the use of our transfer to capital funds. Um one is a new roof for the high school gym and the other is a new roof for the pack which we are in in need of both of those. Um, so as you can see, this budget does uh
019bring more to our students while still maintaining the wonderful programs that we already have >> and we'll get a hefty understanding of what the Wi-Fi upgrade is. >> Dr. Sasson will will explain what that what that is and how that's going to help us. >> Cuz certainly without cell phones, >> we don't need it for the phones. >> We don't need it for the kids for our teachers. they need their access to their phones, but our kids certainly don't need it, but maybe our computer systems and such. So, it's something to look forward to and learn more about. >> Okay, >> so this slide depicts um our 12 categories. Um we dust this off every year and bring it out to um examine what areas in the budget we have and how they're funded. Our
020two largest areas are salary and benefits. Um so salaries are all staff and faculty um that comprise the school district. Benefits are the associated benefits including health care premiums, pension cost, social security and other associated employee benefits. Um category number three is um all expenses related to general education. Again I just want to point out that all salaries are identified in item number one. So that's across the board. That's teachers, administrators, custodians, and clerical. Any of the items below number um or three below, those are the supplies and items in the classrooms that we're talking about when we're talking about those budgets. So again, item number three is general education. Item number four is related to special education. Five is our athletic programs. Six would be technology. Seven, curriculum development. Eight, transportation related to athletics
021and special education. And nine would be district-wide support. So that's um how we um host our vote and election every year, how we support human the human resources department, our legal expenses, liability insurance, and all of the behind the house um items that allow us to run the school district. Number 10 is our facilities um department. 11 is debt service as Trisha has mentioned and 12 is the interfund transfers. So monies that we plan to have in our um operating budget in the general fund that by way of transfer into capital allow us to do some larger projects as well as meet the obligation that we have to the 80 20% of our um summer programming that takes place um over the summer for our extended school year students. giving us the total budget of
0221116,7570 um and $1. For those folks who excuse me for those folks who don't get the opportunity to participate in this presentation, this is kind of a um word description of those categories that I just explained. So for every budget there has to be um a balance of revenue on the other side that supports every dollar that we spend. So on the revenue side we're looking at um our largest contribution which is property taxes which goes back to that tax levy um calculation that we talked about. So this is a tax cap compliant because we are within that um calculation. So this is a tax cap compliant budget. We also look at um payments in lie of taxes. So these are agreements between the city of Rye um and properties that tend to be um
023taxexempt but because they access services um they do pay some sort of contribution to the local municipalities for those services and the school district benefits from those payments. Interest and penalties as associated to property taxes. We um as a school district receive a portion of county sales tax that's collected as well as a utility tax on the utilities that come into the um boundaries of the city of Ry charges for services. So um that's related to items such as if we have um non-resident tuition or border taxes that lives in there. interest earnings. Any funds that we have as a school district, we do um invest in a safe manner and we have the benefit of receiving interest for those payments. miscellaneous revenues. This could be anything from um an insurance loss um on a
024particular vehicle or roof leak um to a um donation that was given to us or a payment from last year that is now being realized in the future year. State sources, that's your state aid. So we are expecting um a slight increase from where our projections are today. And then anticipated use of fund balance. So those are funds that we have in our proverbial savings accounts that we are then dedicating to support the budget. Um that allows us to smooth what we're asking our community in terms of for support of this particular budget. And as you'll see that balances to the same amount of money that we are projecting for the 2627 budget. And again this is a word version of that previous slide. This is our um use of fund balance. >> Much just
025um so looking at interest and earnings we're expecting we're not anticipating any increase in any of our interests. So, there's a couple of things going on. We're obviously watching the markets and we're watching what interest is doing, right? And then we also are no longer receiving the benefit because we're coming to the tail end of capital projects, the $80 million that we have almost expended fully. Although we did not borrow until we actually needed the money, um those monies did sit in our bank accounts and we had the opportunity to gain interest on that because we are on the the tail end of that. Those funds are not as lucrative as they have been in the past few years. So this is our best assumption of what we anticipate will happen next year. Any other
026questions? No. And this is a snapshot of fund balance. So fund balance equates to um monies that the district has um set aside for very specific uses. Um this is very restrictive and dictated by the state. Um so there's opportunities to put money aside for taxerts. Um those are when property owners um have the ability to um protest their tax dollars or tax amounts and typically end in a settlement in which we then have to repay back taxes for those properties. We have um retirement reserves for both ERS and TRS. We have a capital reserve. So these are monies that are set aside for future capital needs. Um appropriated which is the amount of money that I talked about in terms of on the revenue side that we are designating to support the future budget.
027Incumbrances these are promisary notes monies that have already been spent but that actually have not left the our bank account yet. Um and undesated. So the state is very restrictive that we are allowed to maintain 4% of our budget in an undesated um reserve account. This can be used for um emergency projects um you know recouping damage from something like hurricane Ida. It would have been a good example of how those funds are utilized. When we look at the taxert reserve, um that is >> um you've explained it in in previous years and I think it's always helpful to understand that this is not a number for a a single year that this dollar amount is reflective of. >> It's a reflection of um a 5-year look back of what our exposure is. So when
028a property owner um decides to protest their taxes, they have to file a claim. Those claims are then recorded and we keep a running record of what those claims are by year in which they were um initiated. We then with our auditors review what those claims look like on an annual basis and they allow us for any viable claims that can still be active because it does take a number of years before a property will come to resolution. Um, and we are allowed to maintain 30% of what that exposure is for a 5-year period. And that's a rolling exposure each year. >> That's very helpful. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions? So to sum up um how this impacts our taxpayers, again we're talking about the tax levy. So we anticipate a
029tax levy increase of 2.96%. Again, this is tax cap compliant. Um the tax levy that we are looking to collect for the 2627 school year will equate to 105,34700. Our estimated taxable assessment that is um the value of all of the properties within the city of Rye um is 134,148.95. This number is provided to us by the city assessor. Um and this is a number that is everchanging. So, we will continue to look at this number throughout the budgeting process, but it will not be finalized until early July when the when I come back to the board and ask you to adopt the tax warrant. At that time, it's then established and then that directly impacts what the um tax rate will be. And currently based on estimates of that ass taxable assessment, we're looking
030at an estimated tax rate per thousand of assessment of $785.35. And then the next slide just shows the historical tax levy increases. So you have a sense of of what it has been over the past five years, five or six years. Um, as you can see, our uh our projected tax levy increase of 2.96% is uh kind of in line to where we were around 2122. And then just again there's the budget process timeline. Um and and next up when when um Lauren Santa Barbara and uh Aaron Vinenberg will be presenting on curriculum instruction and special education. Uh and then any budget comments here's some contact information. Please feel reach uh please feel free to reach out and then any further questions. So, just as it relates to the community discussions, where and when will
031people start to be able to see those? And >> yes, we will start I'll start um putting those out so people can see um publicizing those in my newsletter. Um we do go to the PO meetings. I go to the senior center at Ryre. Uh we go to the preschools um and try to to kind of hit as many um locations as we can to to touch base with the community and be able to answer any questions that they have. But I'll start putting out some dates so people know when those will be. >> Questions, comments from the board. Um so thank you for the presentation. Um I think as we have have seen in years past um the the you know bulk of um what we're looking at from an expenditure standpoint is the
032salaries and benefits and I know one of the things we always talk about is health care costs. What what are we seeing from from last year to this year in terms of increases? >> Sure. So um going into this year it was a 9% increase. Okay. >> This year um I'm sorry. For 2627, they're anticipating um an 8.7% increase. Okay. Um >> it's slightly down from what we saw this year, which was um two percentage points down from the year before. So, we were at 11, then it's nine, and now we're looking at 8.7. >> Okay. And from a from a retirement standpoint, those seem to be holding not not no drastic increases in the last few years. >> Yes. And um so interestingly, right, any increase in the pension expense in a given year
033that's more than 2 percentage points then becomes an exclusion. So I would argue conveniently, >> conveniently, you better to keep going out. >> Conveniently, we never seem to hit that that tipping point, right? Um, and what typically is happening is if you're seeing a bump in TRS, which is your teachers retirement, which is 85% of our population obviously, and equates to approximately a $5 million expenditure each year. Um, you'll see ERS go down. So they play that game with each other a little bit to and that kind of helps smooth those exposures each year. >> Right. Right. Well, cuz and this was now many years ago, but there was a time when things did not go that way and the >> No, they were both going up at the same time. >> Drastically. Yes. So,
034um, so that's good to, >> you know, see in a certain way. We typically hold steady between the two pension systems in a given year. I would say between 6 and 1/2 to 7.2 million. >> Okay. I guess just just to clarify on that healthcare piece. Um I know you said that we're anticipating it going up 8.7% but it looks like the budget's only 6.7 um increase for healthcare. Is that I guess you had mentioned I think there few less FTEES but I guess could you just elaborate on what that difference is? >> So yeah so it's also the difference so TRS happens to be going down a little bit. Um ERS is going up slightly. So it's it's the combination of all of those benefits together. Um and it also includes the negative expenditure
035of our contributions. So that's also hitting that same area. One question, Gabby. The um debt service for this next year projecting 6.7 is that do we is when we talked about the the bond, is that kind of the peak that we talked about? >> We are we are hitting that ceiling. Um the board did the hard work um a couple years ago of anticipating that this is where we were going with debt service. So we strategically started putting money in transfer to capital, right? So in those years where we weren't quite hitting this ceiling, we were utilizing those funds and transfer to capital to help support projects throughout the district knowing that this was coming. So strategically now we've reduced what we're using in transfer to capital and we're moving those funds into debt service
036because we need them there. So the combined total of those two expenditures is around it's 7.4 million. Like that's the magic number that we anticipated we were going to need to be able to a still support some additional projects while we were meeting those debt obligations. So we're going to be at this um this combination for the next two years. And then um you're going to see a slight decrease in debt service. So you're going to be able to move some money back to transfer to capital. Then it bumps up again and then it comes down again. >> And I'm sure we'll hear more detail about this when we have our um >> Don't tell Rob I said it. >> I won't. Um >> I will act totally surprised. >> Okay, good. Bubble. Then I
037guess I'll hold my question because I'm just trying to I want to get a better understanding of the um of what we have in here for transfer to capital and how much of that is going to get um used solely for the roof repairs versus other things. So well I'll wait. >> Okay. >> I hope my face isn't giving it away. And to that end, I think it's best to make sure that we do say that um you know when you look at the expenditure summary and there is kind of this uh breakout, you know, a tracknet storage these kind of things that that's um the kind of detail and the kind of questions and conversations we'll be able to have over the next couple of weeks. So, if there are people um who are
038at home who are taking a look at this and have specific questions, it's really great to be able to to comment to listen to the presentations or to watch them as they're going forward so you can really get a a robust sense about what it is that the district is looking to do in this budget. Are there other questions to that end? Okay, I think this is a great starting off point. This is a great overview for all of us and I really do look forward to the conversations that we will be having >> in the weeks ahead as we uh march ourselves to May 19th which is always exciting. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Excellent. So now we have the hearing of the public on non-aggenda items. We welcome and encourage our
039community members to address the board at this time. Please come to the podium, state your name, address, and if you are representing an organization. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to speak, please limit your remarks to three minutes. The board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed to be a discussion. So, please understand that we may not respond publicly to your comments or questions at this time. We take your comments seriously and may need more time to process and research an issue. We will ensure questions will be addressed by the appropriate staff member or possibly at a future board meeting. We will not entertain comments regarding individual students or district personnel as these are protected under state and federal privacy laws. Please know we take personnel concerns very seriously on these
040matters. We would ask you to follow the appropriate administrative channels. As a reminder, the community may submit written comments at any time to the board by sending those to rcsd boardschools.org. Is there anyone from the public who would like to come forward? Seeing nobody coming forward at this time, we will move forward to our consent agenda. Can I please have a motion to approve or review this evening's consent agenda? Valerie Lapam, seconded by Sean Claper. Let's take a look at tonight's consent agenda. Bless you. Consent agenda general. Consent agenda. Fiscal. Consent agenda. Professional appointments. Consent agenda. Classified appointments. Consent agenda. Pupil personnel services and special education. Okay, seeing no questions at this time, uh, can I have a vote to approve this evening's consent agenda? All those in favor? That is six to nothing with
041one absence. So, on this evening's consent agenda, we as just previously mentioned have established or we have the establishment of the budget and trustee vote on May 19th. So, please make sure everybody out there you mark your calendars. It's always a fun day here in Ry. We typically have had some interesting events and so I'm sure we'll have more exciting things to talk about as we get closer to May. I can't wait at least for it to warm up to May weather. We also have the approval of a gift in the amount of $3,500 from the Milton School PTO to support an author visit. We also have an approval of a gift in the amount of $10,500 from the Midland School PTO to support the cultural enrichment programs. And we have a very large donation
042and approval of a gift in the amount of $438,73158 from the Rye Fund for education to support 20 thou 202526 teachers and administrative grants. Uh while we accept this um donation from the fund, we do realize and appreciate that this is a donation from our entire community. And you don't get to that kind of a dollar amount without mass support. And we really do appreciate all the support from every community member, large and small, monetary, time, and otherwise. It is the reason that we are able to have such successful programs and services for our students, and we really do appreciate that. We will now move to presentation and discussion two. Mrs. Bole, lots of policies. Yes. Thank you. Hold on. Okay. So, these are um a revisit from our policies from last week. Um the
043uh community relations goals as well as um student health services uh have not changed at all. Those are the same policies that we looked at last week. Um they have some minimal additions and changes to them. The community relations goals in particular um in incorporated the ride commitment um into the uh uh document. So that was an a a crucial ad. And then um the student health services had a very small change in it on the second page, the third page, sorry. Um about student return to school after an illness um changing the word uh from requires a doctor's note to request. And that is then consistent with other policies that also cover this. The only other policy that had um we discussed about last week was our curriculum adoption and instructional program evaluation. Um
044based on our discussion, we did include additional language to specify more the evaluation of instructional program process and what that um entails to differentiate it from curriculum um adoption. So this was just a little bit more language that was already in the existing policy about evaluation of instructional programs that we brought into this so that it was very uh it was distinguished from each other. Right. So any any additional questions on those? No. Okay. Um so then we can move these forward for adoption at our next meeting. Great. Okay, thank you. Uh we will now move on to communications to and from the board and we didn't have any meetings. Huh. Look at that. All right. Well, we have a curriculum council meeting tomorrow. Well, that'll be exciting. There's some very good things on there.
045So Sean and I look forward to bringing that back um to the board at our next meeting which will be until Oh, we do have a student report. Excellent. Mr. Croer, it's your time. I'm very excited. Love the student report. Uh good evening. At the high school, the senior class officers recently hosted the annual volleyball tournament across a week of community lunches, which was a huge success this year. There was fantastic multi-grade participation and some heated matches with many spectators. We also got to engage in some multischool connection through Ryax Ry Harrison Mixer last Friday, February 6th. The high school school the high school student government association continues to take student input from the suggestion box to better understand what issues are most important to the student body and have made headway on some of
046those issues, including adding an ice station to the cafeteria and changing changing the clock displays around the school. This Friday, February 13th, the Student Government Association will help host the winter pep rally to give students a fun sendoff before a week on break. >> That's all. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um, let me just I'll just add I did attend the RI Fund for Education meeting where they did approve um all of those grants that we just talked about. Um, and there's a lot of amazing uh um additions that are coming and a lot of excitement that that came through in talking about the grants from from the teacher end because they are the ones that bring all of these ideas to the committee. And so it's just a lot of really interesting things.
047And so I hope people will be able to take some time to read about the new grants for this year. Um uh and there is a um you know a gala coming up for a fundraiser and also a participation fundraiser that's going to be happening for the BIR fund for education too as we look forward to more um innovative grants to be uh um uh created and and um drafted and and put forward to the committee. >> Great. For next year. >> Okay. Wonderful. And I do believe that date has been announced. Correct. It is March 26th. Okay. Great. All right. So, what else do we have here? Sorry, I lost myself. Here we go. Okay. So, with that, we have no other Do we have any other uh communications to and from the board?
048Nope. Nothing else. Okay. So, then we will have our next meeting, which will be the Tuesday right after we return from the holiday. So everybody get well rested cuz we're going to come right back to it and get right back to work with two wonderful presentations from Dr. Freedenberg and Miss Santa Barbara. So we look forward to those um as we begin in earnest our budget conversations and presentations. So that'll be great. Um so with that, can I have a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? Took me a second. Sean Coffer, seconded by Matt Shivoff. All those in favor that is six to nothing. Enjoy your recess and we'll see you soon.