001Okay, we're going to call the Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 Board of Education meeting to order. Stand up for the pledge, please. 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. Uh First item is the acceptance of the agenda for the most part, if you would. Second. Go ahead. Uh any discussion on the agenda? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? The agenda is approved. Next item is the consent agenda, which is resolution 086-2025, removing items from the consent agenda. Motion? Mike. Second. Yes. Any discussion on the consent agenda? >> [clears throat] >> Want to strike that for executive session and conversation or All those in favor? I. Any opposed? The agenda is approved. Okay,
002next up is uh public comments for anyone who would like to address the Board of Education. All right, thank you. Financial report. Mickey is tied up with some some uh business office stuff, so we'll turn that over to uh Diane for the chief business So, budget service reports are in the uh drive. And the meeting minutes also are in the drive. There are two budget transfers over $10,000 that we'll be approving tonight. One is to adjust for some incorrect health insurance deductions. And the other is preschool substitutes. We hired a substitute teacher, and that transfer is to actually cover that position. Motion. Motion. Resolution number 087-2025 approved the current budgetary transfer report as reported by the superintendent of schools to replace one school business executive. Joe. Joe. Second. Corey. Any further discussion on that? All
003those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Resolution is approved. Old business, any capital update uh Tim Cole? Well, the weather outside is beautiful and so they were here today smoothing out the spot for the new sidewalk and in district tomorrow and Friday. We're hoping for no rain. They're also doing a little bit of work at Petaluma uh finishing up that project over there within the next couple of days. Chris Payne will be the district construction manager. Um but we are continuing to wrap up all the small pieces and should be close to wrapped up by the end of this week. And what's the what's going on with the pad out there with the kind of sport slash people golf course? We are simply going to They're going to come and do some um blacktop on that
004and then blacktop the piece up to it. So. It'll Hopefully that'll be done soon. That will be done at some point. Yes. We're getting ready for our concession stand. No pressure, of course. You're talking to me. >> [laughter] >> We don't have a date for that job. So that's why I don't have a date for that job. I was just wondering. Uh anything else on the capital? That's it. All right, district facilities planning. Uh this week we sent out yesterday as a matter of fact we sent out the Petaluma building map, tentative. We also sent out to the junior senior high school, um, tentative roommate assignments. Um, so we haven't gotten a ton of feedback on that, which knock on wood is a good thing, I hope. Um, I did We do have new desks
005coming as a little consolation prize if you are now rooming with somebody. Um, and I did actually have people reach out and say, "Even if I don't have a roommate, I'm getting a new desk." So, it's like, "Okay." Those are the kind of emails I'm getting now. I'm okay with that. Um, but we'll check in next week, but so far, so good. We're replacing desks that have been here literally for years. They were from AMA, and they were AMA something. We took the AMA desks. Um, so they're all by locked wood. It's gone. We're missing drawers that were It's gone. Okay. Is the, um, You know, I I I looked at the the junior senior high school room numbers at You wanted to kind of put them Now, the rooms for this year, I mean,
006some kind of having seventh and eighth from one end of the building or >> Cluster. Correct. Yeah. So, they will start across from the gym, those classrooms that are across from the gym, and turn the corner, and go to the edge of where the office space is start. So, that will be the seventh and eighth grade cluster. And then, everybody else. The only time that space is used by anyone others, we have, right now, tentative was scheduled in. Some of those seventh and eighth grade teachers are teaching upper-level courses. Uh, sixth period is all of the junior high lunch period. So, there is some possibility of the use of those rooms for some upper-level students at sixth period that you can make, but everybody else would be gone. So, yeah. So, we were able to
007actually put them in the capacity of then, music wing is probably the most same but that person is the opposite. So, the music wing is going to become the arts wing and it will be both music and art. will go to the cafeteria. Yeah, boardroom, the district offices, and business offices, and community school also. All be on the first floor at the cafeteria, door 15. So, it's right there at the handicap door. And the elections Well, well, let's talk about that. >> I was curious if it would be over there, but it wouldn't be in that office. It may still go in here. But, we will have to prioritize and you have to decide where you want to be in the new year or over there. Now, the boardroom lighting has a classroom size, so
008most meetings you can probably let them bring in the boardroom and you can set up all of the tables, etc., etc. Um you know. That's it. But, the stories are going to break up and turn out all the time. If we need a larger space, we can use the middle school library, which has been used forever anyways prior to coming here. So, we'll have to discuss that some more when we want to make it that point. Um But, with everything over there, it's going to be easier for our staff that are working there to just shoot down all when they come. It's tentatively scheduled for the elementary art room. So, we have two art rooms in that building. Um And the boardroom We'll use the Yes, the boardroom. So, we're going to use the third
009floor art room, which is a much larger space. nicer space for art. And then, the current elementary art room Is that on the first floor? First floor, right there at door 13. You should just come out to the end. It'll be the boardroom. That was the most historic nature. Remember that as the wood shop. Mr. Bennett's father, Mr. Bennett. The original. >> Was the was the teacher in the school. That's good. John Nelson's name was brought up. Yeah, we're probably going to be good space wise. Any other odds on that? It's really where we are. So, tonight we're going to talk about administrative configurations. And at that point, elementary is still building their schedule, but moving right along with it. It has been through the elementary administrative group. It's going to the special ed. Our
010special ed staff and elementary have their hands on it. And now it will go to the service providers, but that schedule is that that schedule is quite built. Um and then we're on hold with the high school at this point. We'll run it this summer. We'll work to put it in the school tool for it out. So, everything I do is with a big asterisk added saying, "For now, this is what we believe it will be at." We really won't be able to run the schedule. We'll be able to be solid. There's always a few moves every summer. But, looks good. Let's take a minute to recognize once again the great work that the schedule committee did. All admin staff, all of our teaching staff, our counselors, all of our support staff, the district, everybody
011that's involved in this. When you see those maps, you go, "Oh, that's nice." But, the amount of work that went behind that to make it make sense and be efficient and and and workable, those different groups are all involved in that. So, thank you to all of you for that. Um we recognize them. I mean, there's some flexibility and some adjustments need to be made, but uh the lion's share is done and and it's been pretty impressive. And we're on time. We're following our schedule. So, Yeah, thank you for leaving that there. >> What what comes next is our meeting with buildings and grounds and scheduling actual moves out. All right, any odds on that? That's it. Okay, down to new business. Our CSEA contract, let's get that on the floor. Resolution number 088 20.6
012gratifying the collective bargaining agreement by and between CSEA local 1000 and the NCLC IL and the Saratoga Springs City School District for the period of 7/1/2020.6 to 6/30/2020. Motion approved. Second. Uh any any conversation discussion on the contract resolution? There's been no changes since uh we talked about it last week. Um just want to note uh from where I sit good job done by both negotiating both sides good well and uh I guess the striving to try to be as fair and equitable from both sides so uh good job to all of you on that. So all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Contract is ratified. Congratulations. Uh next new business is our farm to school award. Diana will speak on that. I actually would hand it right off to Sadie and ask for a
013Sadie word. Show us how the black city. I'm not going to hold those up. This is what it looks like. Um so good evening and thank you for having me. For those of you who got who do not know me I'm Sadie Crockett Box. I'm here from service director for the district. Last month I attended the New York State School Nutrition Association conference and Syracuse New York where our district was awarded the 2026 farm to school partnership award. This award is a collaboration between the School Nutrition Association and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. It was presented by the Commissioner of Agriculture Richard Ball. Uh this was awarded to us because of our meaningful collaboration with local farms, creative approaches to integrating local foods and our commitment to strengthening connections between our
014school and its community. All the kudos go to my wonderful staff. Um they have worked incredibly hard this year to implement new preparation techniques and to work with me to make more variety available to our district students. During this past year, we have utilized over a dozen local, regional, and state farms and food hubs to procure over 30% of our food from New York State farms. Uh the staff has worked tirelessly to implement full salad bars at the junior and the high school. Um and we have been increasing our fresh fruits and vegetable for all students. I cannot thank the staff uh enough for their willingness to go with the flow as I procure products in season at a moment's notice. Um I appreciate the support of our administration, teachers, and staff throughout the buildings.
015Um it has been it has made the transition a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Uh thank you again for having me and I hope to continue our efforts in procuring local, nutritious, and local products for our students. Thank you. I'M HAPPY TO >> [applause] >> OKAY, NEXT ITEM IS THE 2627 administrative staff configuration. Brian? I see you're sneaking out, aren't you? I am, yes. >> [laughter] >> Sorry. My bad. Hi. I'm stapling on the upper left-hand corner of our side sheet for the guests, so I'm just going to I think that a second sheet. There are some extras if you want to hand them out for me. Yeah, that would be great. You just send us your bill. Thanks. >> Yeah. That's my awkward moment. >> [snorts] >> So there's
016paths to bring forth some options as to what our administrative configuration could look like for next year. I think these are all the viable options that can be on the table for us. I start with just a reminder Sure. Sticking with parameters of any of the mini grading, I think it's important for us to remember that uh um discussing all the parameters of mini grading and um and that can be heard over and over again concerning about uh supervision and oversight, particularly with the junior senior high um So, as we look through these, um we got a lot of uh competing interests. Um we got a dollar issue. Um there's lots of things to consider. And I just want to remind that we pretty much uh uh said that folks and candidates were very aware
017of the need for appropriate staff and supervision um over programming and over state movements, etc. So, as we look through those, let's keep in mind um and not only were we having to work at Crossroads and stuff, we did say that I'm not going to go and let this place run wild with uh with no one around to keep an eye on things. So, that's what I want to throw out because that was emphasized over and over at those at these uh meetings. So, just wanted to make that statement. Thank you. So, we anticipate the student count at Patrol next year will be somewhere around 440-ish. And in the junior senior high school, um 540. So, I've been living the life of if I say it enough, it will just happen magically. And um I
018felt with our configuration and actually what Mark is talking about, um with our goal of people feeling supported, both students and staff and families, so the whole whole shebang there. And also all the work we've done around instructional improvement here in the district over the many years, that having two principals and a dean in each building was the way to staff our buildings. Um I know there's been a lot of discussion around some other um different things at Patrol particularly. I really do not go back from that at the high school. Really feel there needs to be a junior principal and a senior high principal. And junior high should be 7th through 9th. Senior high should be 10th through 12th with at least a dean. It's a lot of students. Our 7th, and 8th, and
0199th graders are all new to the building, so half of the building is new. Um we're going to need some supervision for all of that. The old ones not not just our newbies, but also those who have been here. When half the building is new, there's going to be new things that are implemented. It's not like it's just going to run exactly the way it did this year. They have new administration. They're going to have half the building of new students. They're going to need some supervision um and some support for that. So, I still strongly feel that the right staffing for the high school is two administrators and at least a dean. Would I love two deans? Yes. But it needs to be. At the elementary, there are some options. Do I think two
020administrators and a dean is a very good setup? Absolutely. I'm just in concerned about the number of evaluations and how much time that takes. So, if I'm the instructional leader of that building with all those kids and I'm doing all of the evaluations for you from K through 6, I don't have a lot of time to do much else than much of my time in there. So, there have been a discussion about one administrator and two deans. I would like you to consider an administrator and a vice principal and a dean so that we could split the administrative duties. I think the second one talks a lot about sort of what we're talking about, the capacity versus cost. Instructional leadership means it's an administrator. Student support really is a dean. And so, where do you
021split the difference? What What are you looking for in your building? What's the right model for what the balance should be in the building? And I think once you figure out what that should look like, you can then see what your configuration for your administration should look like. And I just hate to I would love to try a balanced approach, right? We have We have beautiful buildings, minimal student issues, great students from UPK through 12. We have We're going to ride high with them, right? Like, with no fear. We have great students. But at the same time, they need support. They need some walls up to make sure that they continue to follow the the golden path. At the same time, we work very hard on embracing a higher level of learning. And I hate
022to see And we use our evaluations as part of that tool, and that conversation. And I hate to see them just become complete because there are so many to do. So, Can Can you speak to uh what a vice principal looks like as opposed to principal in terms of duties, in terms of uh time on task, in terms of uh uh salary implications? So, I'm going to start with your question about cost. At the end of the day, the cost for a dean, a vice principal, even an administrator, there's no particular cost savings there. It's minimal. It's in the few thousand dollars range, at most. Because most of the time, your dean is a long-term teacher. So, and they make 5% extra because they don't meet the contractual obligations, plus lunch. Um so, so the
023the cost between a new administrator and a dean that's coming up through the ranks is within a few thousand dollars. So so none of these and a vice principal is going to have to fall somewhere. We don't have one at the moment, but a vice principal would have to fall somewhere in that mix also. So the difference really isn't money. So I'm going to say that the teacher is going to go one way or another way. The cost of the position is minimal. So it's really what do you want that person to do? And a vice principal could in fact do observations. Um they can do just about anything that an administrator can do except for suspend students all day long. They cannot actually do suspensions. Vice principal? Vice principals. Now do a lot of
024districts allow that? Yes, legally can you do that? No, but they could do all the other They could do possible for recording duties. All those other pieces that an administrator can still Um do some of the dean work. Correct. Correct. So they're a little more flexible. Correct. And is that a 12-month position vice principal? If I were at the elementary school, I would make it a 10-month position. I don't think that we need that often. Let's share So many of you heard this before. I'll just share this with Diane with the first time we all met. I was I was a classroom for 16 years. And then when I became a dean of students Well first of all before that, I would say a lot of them What the heck does Jerry Goldman a principal
025do all day long? What he must be doing? Then when I became dean and had to go to the things he had to go to, a lot of people was apologizing a month into my dean tenure and just say "Hey Jerry, I'm really sorry." What do we talk about? I said, "I was one of those guys bashing me loudly and saying, 'What do you do all day long?'" And now I know because you just don't know until you see what they do. There is an incredible amount of uh meetings. Phone never stops. You're always getting tracked down for something. Um somebody always needs you to sign off on something. So, there's just so many hidden things that the admin teams are required to do now that probably weren't done back in the day. And that
026was probably 20 years ago maybe then. So, I think our obligation here is with the funds available to balance as best we can best supervision we can for our staff and our students at the admin level um while being as cautious as we can with what costs to do that. And I think we're in a difficult I don't want to go low, but you don't want to go to the max here, but you got to find the right balance there. And I'm not sure what that's going to be, but I assure you these people are not just hanging out all day. They're doing their jobs. And under two principals in one building is a risk of side effects. What is that mean? Um working independently. You know. >> [laughter] >> That's one of the things
027we've talked about. Even having a junior high and senior high principal does not mean that there's we're just creating two two schools under one roof. You know what I mean? Yeah. Our our assemblies would be combined. Our activities would be combined. But if you don't have two people who work well together, it's easy to sort of put the wall up and say, "This is my group and your group. We'll do our thing and you'll do yours." Well, I'm I mean, this could be the what we decide tonight could could say the configuration for years to come, but and being that this is our first year with the new configuration and I can see why two principals in this building would be helpful while they're building, but not to say that they couldn't change in the
028future as we especially as student numbers drop as the lower classes move up to the building. into the upper grades maybe we could go with one principal or I don't know. But I don't know. But it I I just want to make sure that we can keep that ability to shift and adapt. It's a lot of time. If you did the two principals it would be Junior senior high. That would give you the advantage to have overseeing the single principal. Okay. There's a lot more when there is need for when when a couple of things. When there's when there's need for discipline at the administrative level, it would be nice to have that person right there. An alternate person right here. There's also a lot of things that happen at the high school that don't
029happen at the elementary. Graduation, honors, testing. It's just a lot more with time on task for some important events that are happening at the high school level that don't happen at the elementary level. It is all one principal at the junior high principal and one at the senior high. Yeah. You discussed also during the transition conversations that particular sensitivity to the junior high elementary. Junior high the volume up on that um having somebody who's in a leadership position is uniquely tuned to that I think would be strong because those two are different in different kinds of ways. There's one other thing I I think we should all keep in mind too which is that New York State is about to do an overhaul of its requirements in a really intense way, in a way that's
030going to demand that people lock in figures in a way that I'm excited about but like meaning when conversations with New York State are on this assessment is about to get more complicated in a way that I think is better developmentally for our students and so having instructional leadership I worry about a model that has low instructional leadership capacity. I don't think any of us want a model where we don't have pilot seats to fill or that's what we need to get in. I think I would be hesitant at this moment right now to sacrifice instructional leadership capacity given the changes that are on the table and there are happening because this is already happening too. So I worry about that. I I like the point that we may have to revisit this and if
031our numbers continue to decline like we cannot continue to staff at current capacities in the building utility but um What do you think that one dean with two assistant principals is like? I've got all on my chart right. I think that's assumed in most of these scenarios right? So like even if we went to a bus model probably still want to keep a dean. Somebody else right? What is that something that could be happening at each level? Yeah right. Oh so so like so like the in high school that was one of my questions. Right. You know what I mean? And it's it's one dean and one not. Listen, you want to put an extra gift under the tree for me, I'm all in for it. So, that's that's fine. What two deans would you
032have to take one of those dollar signs? Okay. >> [laughter] >> The need is there. The need and the shift and all of that. It becomes I mean, it seems a lot. Like right now we're adding two grades, but you know, the high school principal will have three grades and half a dean instead of four grades and one dean. You know, so So, I know that there's also the new graduation requirements, which is going to be significant. Okay. But it just seems like we could maybe start with one and then if you need another we can have a We've had that conversation. Funny, Katie and I made eye contact for a while there because we've been working on the floor plan for Petrova and just back and forth and back and forth with the changes
033and we're laughing because we're building it like once it's built it can never be moved again. And every year we have movement at Petrova. And Burns always says, "Well, who's moving that [ __ ] Can you give us the list?" Right? So, So, it's funny because we're building like once we build it it it must not ever move again. And yet what we have every year is some changing priorities, different staff, things we want to try. So, we're building it for next year. Nothing is Nothing is forever because that isn't the way we've run to this point with any of our buildings and our staffing. It always fluctuates based on our need, our population. And sometimes it's who's available. We're doing some hiring for counseling right now that we really spread a wide net because we want
034the right person who has the right certification, right? Need the right person in that spot. So, that's the same thing that's been is here with what we have and I'm looking at Brian because I have I have administrators who only have what? Four or five years? Four years? Four years for Brian. So, there will be some natural Sorry, Brian, to point that out. He looks very young for only having four years left. But, we've been talking about like how you also have some senior administrators that will naturally, like we did this year, have the opportunity to make some some healthy changes. And then what about our state departments? Do you have that in the building? No. Based on my population in the building? No. Mhm. Remember this, too, in a situation particularly if this building
035were you know, if this building becomes a situation for particularly reason that the day is busy, the principals can do this differently, and they often do. And if they're concerned about uh maybe a dean being off track or supervising that, all all of what they do is subject to review. And I had a principal one time who told me he was going to change that. Did you enjoy that? No. >> [laughter] >> That was the wrong answer. >> [clears throat] >> Let me just get back out of your business, right? And yeah. His boss has done that to him a few times. Yeah, it happens, right? It happens. But, uh So, you know, really, if you look at uh student management at the junior senior level, you would have three deans. Not just a dean
036doing everything, because principals are going to get involved in this stuff by nature. And every student or if they're dissatisfied with what they're getting out of the dean's office, their next step will be to the principal. Mhm. With two principals, they would split off that body, right? So, that's how it works. I just feel that they feel like they need to be doing something. I don't know if we have to do the principal thing or not. It would be good for the two of us to discuss. >> Danny, the budget that passed last night How much Can you Can you remember how much it was? A lot of for administration for labor and for labor? So, it it passed with two and one in each level. Two and one So, we're looking at We can
037do four to three three. Right. Like this one. Possibly two deans is it a connection by the season? That's the high end. Right. Okay. Are you looking for a decision tonight or a discussion of decision in the next meeting? >> [clears throat] >> It would be awfully nice for a decision tonight only because that's sort of where we're sitting is if Oh, we're getting Yeah. And we're right. We're correct and I want them It's time for the people who will be living some of these changes and suggestions that we're making to actually know that they're ready. Well, also if we need one of these models, we can hire possibly. Right. So, that that would be getting even. What My thought about hiring is um is I guess thinking of the the control model with one
038principal, one vice principal, and one dean. That could be the difference but if there's two deans and one principal, then you get to bring in another not bringing in another administrator once a month. And and uh if you have another administrator, and then you want to change it, if you can go to the principal, what happens to that? Because It It would be just like a teacher with a real reduction and it would be what it is. So as for elementary I'm just looking at the one that's going to two deans versus the one that's going to one vice principal. I understand the deans can't do the evaluations. Um I guess do you have any recommendations one or the other or I I think my biggest concern with the elementary is we do have you
039know, we're bringing the two communities together as far as with one of the kids coming in and getting that in control at this point. I think it's better right now. Um does the two deans there give us more um more students? I think the vice principal is like a dean on steroids, really. Um the big benefit that and all these things are um people specific, right? If you have the right people there which is something we're not allowed to talk about right now in the session. You have the right people there, you meet your goals and they're working for the board. But but the one thing I would say is the vice principal would be a 10-month employee like the dean, but could handle some of the administrative load that a second dean cannot. So
040then you're asking one principal to do all the evals and all that paperwork that comes in all right to state mandates, which takes time from their ability to supervise staff and students. So, if you're asking me what Well, my gut tells me is um I'd love it to be two and one, two and one, but at the very least I'd like to see at the least a vice principal at at the elementary. Uh that has certifications so they could get that admin load and that could be So, that person could kind of float, could do a little bit of admin work, could do a little bit of real work. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm I'm leaning towards three. >> Three? Just to throw a proposal on the table, I'm leaning
041towards one principal, one VP, one dean at Cholla, and then two principals at the high school, junior and That'd be like So, if you said three and three So, I propose that I mean, feel like this is up for debate, so I'm not wedded to this, but after hearing this discussion, given what we've been talking about in terms of student support, but also new requirements in teachers and administrators going forward from that state. I think it's really important that we have someone who that our administrators at Cholla have the capacity to do that work because that's really a significant part. So, I propose one principal, one VP, one dean at Cholla, and then the high school principal at the high school, junior and senior, and two principals at the high school. With the caveat Well,
042we'll see how that goes. If we're overwhelmed, we'll have to make an adjustment. And And bring on just because we would have to bring on another admin. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Whatever. If the principals are controlling and vice principal at the high school So, Ryan and Abby. Am I missing somebody? Missing You have to add in one vice principal then. Yes. So, So, would you want the administrator to be Right. One When does he retire? Yes. So, he's retiring Yeah, so I'm just I'm just playing The concern you to bring on somebody new and then, you know, we're like I don't I don't want to promise somebody a job and then like in a year or two say, "Oh, sorry, you know, we don't really need you anymore." So, I would except there's no guarantee
043of that. And it's easier to get a job when you have a job. So, you're you're looking at like the other one that you're offering somebody a year or two of experience so when they have to shop around, that's true. They're arriving against people who not have experience. Job market had a limited you know, the other thing too is you know, it's being good to end up being able to hire somebody that's already got a relationship with you. Right. Well, if you decide to to uh you know, maybe we'll be able to reinstate the position in a couple of years. And and then the other thought is just the you know, we always hear over and over again from the public um that you know, we're heavy on administration. So, that I don't and I
044don't think it's a cost difference because I you know, it just doesn't really pan out to be very good. But if they're still offered, so that always just concerns me because people think that it's a joke. I hear that, Nancy. Though, some of the costs like when you when you're looking at this relative to the larger percentage of the budget, I I get it. We're getting crushed by health insurance and fuel costs. And like what whatever we put in our money, it seems to be supporting teachers and supporting students. This is the Okay, so then I I don't I don't know that I have a problem with that. If the If the If the answer is, you know, problems with scores, and we have highly successful years with highly successful students. And then sometimes we
045have problems with successful students. Yeah. I get it, though. Hey, what else is on the way in? I I I'm I'm going to agree with you with the the Seems to make more sense. Yeah, but for now. For now, yeah. For now. We're getting the ship coverage. We're getting the support coverage. We're getting the value. Whatever it is. Yeah. We maximize at the admin level. So what I did was I just started them up last year. The excise one And we did the reduction before. Yeah. And then we did the excise last year and then we did the reduction this year. I think next year the is my biggest concern is just having the boots on the ground to kind of respond to whatever because you know matter how well we plan, and I mean
046And the details you It amazes me all the stuff that you thought of already and how like the transportation, how all the departments are coming together. But you know matter how well we plan this, there are going to be mistakes. There are going to be things that we didn't do. We didn't for sure. So personally, next year I'd rather be a little on the heavy side. Um so that if as those go arise, If there's somebody here. If there's somebody here quickly dealt with. And also so that when parents have questions, they have people to call because happy parents that know their kids are getting taken care of and that have questions answered quickly, you know. Yeah. We have a lot of unknowns going into next year in many areas of our district, though. And
047so it's not the worst thing in the world to have more people to handle problems than last. And as we sit through next year and and down the road, we will be able to adjust as needed. But to be too light with all the changes, I think it's a recipe for overload. I think the only thing we can do is with the staff that we have. With the staff that we have, we're kind of making it up as we go along, right? So I can live with that a little bit. Do we need a vote on this or I'm pretty sure. So I'm going to need a motion for the configuration of two plus one at the junior senior high and one plus one plus one at the elementary. I'd like to make that motion.
048So Second. >> Mike. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Water commissioner. Um Superintendent's report. Uh just want to thank everybody who came out and voted. We had For us, okay, Tony, here we go. For us, but it was for us, we had a nice turnout. Um So appreciate the people who came out. I also want to make sure that we thank Scott Vincent for his interest in joining the board. And lots of people tell us they're going to run for the board of education. Uh we appreciate that Scott actually followed through. Um politic the bit and we hope you'll stay connected. So, it's very nice. Uh I want to mention that Forest and I met with Lake Placid for our merged and combined teams. We meet about once a year just as
049an opportunity to touch base uh in the spring and so it just was a good time. We actually met because of a concern about our soccer program and its feasibility in the next few years related to field our teams. Um Lake Placid is not suffering the same situation that we are. Um but it really led us into a larger conversation about when do we have combined teams? When do we become an SLP team? When do we continue to be merged playing under one school or the other? What does that look like? Um and how feasible is it? Right now, we have a gentleman's agreement that for each of the two seasons that we have, one school takes one team, one school takes the other, and we don't do any per athlete cost. We just cover
050it. It's not exactly even, but it evens out in the wash. But the more combined teams we have, um the more it may become one-sided or the other based on the number of students who are participating. So, we actually said, "Wouldn't it be nice to do a little feasibility on what do what does it look like going out into the future?" Um what what do our numbers look like in all of our teams? When should we start talking about an SLP team? One of the things uh before I leave the table is I was around the table when we did hockey. Saranac Lake did not need to combine in boys hockey in order to continue having a boys hockey team. I mean, we sort of took one for the team in order to keep like
051plastic floating on a lawn. Uh and we made some concessions and some promises to families for the first couple of years about playing time and kids staying on the team. So, really we need I think we need a more formalized approach to how when do we We threw around the table that we should really have a 3-year should really have a 3-year look. Because if at the end of the 3 years, one of the two of us is unable to field a team or looking like we're not going to field a team, you need to start talking about SLP merger long before that season is upon you, right? So, so we are going to move forward with a little athletic program feasibility and strategic impact study. $6,200 we're going to split it between the two
052districts. Russ Bartlett is doing for us. It's for us. He has a business that he does. He's very involved in the sports world of the Section 10 but also New York State. Uh work and he's going to do some work with us on enrollment trends. Um we're just getting the list. Athletic participation analysis, comparative district analysis of what what are other districts our size offering. Um Uh miss spot and sexual considerations, operation and financial review because we are kind of each doing our own thing. We really don't know combined how much we're spending on lacrosse for the season, right? They take theirs, we take ours. Um so, community organizational impact. Um so, new and community athletic opportunities. And because we all know well, you're you're leaving us tonight for that for for what it is.
053Baseball, right? Like the the stronger your youth programs in your community, but the goal is to have a pipeline. So, looking at what is available in the community and then some strategic options. How do we put all our financial considerations and our our long-term stability and how do we talk about reducing sports should we need to have some reduction. We we are getting to the point where we never want to put a team on a field that's unsafe because if you do not have a level of player playing at that level. Well, merging is reducing. We're leaving out too much of the cost, but Well, that's I don't know. Yeah, that's that's the trick, Nancy, is that it does keep us both alive, uh but it costs more than to simply have a team playing
054under one school or the other because of the transportation and the additional costs associated with that. I'm wondering, too, like with with the soccer, for example, like is it What is the goal? Is the goal to have a modified, a JV, and a varsity team? And if so, then you're supposed to get full and I'm saying you can't get all three, and so you're going to have a modified and a varsity or something like that and you know, if the goal is to try to have all three so that there's a real pipeline and then you can maybe you need to merge yes earlier. Yeah, our our goal of our meeting was to safeguard our class of the sixth our JV players because they're not suited until they're JV team and we want Again, we
055don't want to move your real JV player and not give them the opportunity to develop appropriately by not putting them in a varsity sport. They have all three soccer three and a half years. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it was it was a great discussion and we really felt like let's let's look at it in the both both districts. Could it be for instance like a modified in each school Yes. >> soccer and then SLP Correct. We do Well, we we do that already with with our athletes. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. There's so many different configurations, which is why we can't be on top of the problem um and solve it immediately, right? We need to We need a look into the future to see what's coming so we can start getting some things in place for
056them. When will you know that? Uh we're going to start right away. You know. So many months. Yeah, he uh he did tell me that it would be 8 to 12 weeks. So over the summer. Okay. I like this idea because typically the way mergers work is we show up here in August and we find out we're short and what is it? Panic and last minute we throw it together. So it's Mergers work best when both schools need them. Um they can't work when only one needs it. Um But this last minute putting stuff together, last minute creating and uncreating is just chaotic. And to get a sense where we're at, some planning as to this will be the process to do it so we're ahead of the game and we're looking at real data,
057real numbers as best we can. Kids come in and out of sports all the time so that does change. But if you just do this at the last minute all the time, which is typically what a lot of schools have done as reported because for the longest time no one knew We were actually really in on the the merger train when some schools got I like I like this approach. I like you know, having some guidelines as to how we're going to continue and under what conditions going forward. Well, that's covered. I mean, we learned a lot with what we worked with the past four years. And I know we we allow some tougher We we sometimes have the type of kids that come and play for us. So we haven't really looked at doing
058any more of that. What is nice is Russ Bartley used to be the AD at Copper Lake. So, you know, I imagine that at some point that will be looked at, I'm sure. But if we have a if we created some sort of process that makes sense, then it's easier to, you know, Yeah. >> have discussions like that because we have a structure to work with, right? Yeah. So, right now, it's just the two of us. We did talk about Twilight. We haven't really brought Tupper in because we are really We've been offering them gentlemen's agreements and just making it work and we feel before we have any conversation about expanding it, we need some real guidelines for it and and a real view of what the future looks like. Cuz again, it's not just
059as it was it was concerned that we were bumping kids either their soccer or our hockey out of the mix who normally would get to play. Until we need a third merger, right now we're bumping two schools' kids out of And so so yeah, so we're not against it. We're just feeling like now's not the time. We need to figure out our own house before we Yeah. how we Yeah, I was just I was just curious how how they deal with it because I don't I don't hear them Yeah. about them doing any tournaments. I know they went to the bowl so you know, that we do it in football at least for a while. But you can't see Tupper in sports. >> know about that. >> [laughter] >> But um But no, I was
060just I was just curious We're doing a lot with the one one of our neighbors nothing real compared to that. But but should that opportunity present itself we'll have some structure in place to say this is the way we want to present Such a big undertaking and there's a lot of dancing between our AB's. So now you put a third AB in the mix. We need to make sure we've got all of our structures and processes It can get complicated. Whose code of conduct is followed? I mean there's a lot of nitty-gritty and what we put read out some of those things. I didn't appreciate this because man one of the one of the questions I got from parents last year was you know the bus saying Well this one their team failed the bus
061saying who got the coach and like that just made me hear from parents. You know for kids but and for parents too so they know where they're going and Well the kind of gentleman's agreement worked pretty good when you have a merger or two. But as you start getting more volume in your mergers you really need that structure. That's the end of my report. Okay thank you. Josh got a divorce? You. We had our prom and after prom on May 9th and 10th. We had 175 students at our prom at the fairgrounds club which is awesome. Kids did a great job. We had after prom and of course it's all funded by our junior parents in particular and so we had a car that was donated by Evergreen and the Elks and Lily Zander was
062the big winner so she was she was very excited. We just finished up our six AP exams which is always stressful time for for our students. We had a unified basketball game on May 14th against Sweet Home which is also one of those amazing days. Probably the best best day of the year uh, and our whole population was in the gym. We brought our eighth graders over. Uh, we had Big Red running up and down the the gym floor. It was just a just an [clears throat] amazing event. That's a highlight for for the whole year. Uh, yesterday our seniors visited the Essex County Courthouse. Uh, first time we've done this in a while. They have they have a new Commissioner of Juries in Essex County and they're they're encouraging, uh, classes to come down.
063We had a great a great day down there. They talked about job opportunities, um, and the whole process of being a juror and might have been one of the best field trips they've been on in a long time. So, they did they did a nice job. And then, uh, last but not least is our marching band, uh, will be in the Memorial Day parade, uh, on Monday. So, thanks Keith Tolge and all their students. So, that's it. Thank you, Amy. Uh, we had an excellent fourth annual Career Day yesterday for the middle school. Uh, we had representatives from over 15 local businesses and organizations giving our students a valuable opportunity to explore a wide range of careers. They connected with professionals from our own community. And the moment Uh, our students were inquisitive and engaged
064with the representatives. They tried out boxing, read an x-ray in Dr. Bentley's Paws and Claws mobile vet lab, learned about the dog sled business out of Bloomingdale, and interacted with law enforcement from SLPD, New York State Troopers, and the DEC, too. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to thank Mrs. McHugh, Mrs. McCormick, and Mr. Hanson for organizing this important event again for our community. It was really fun. We had a DJ this year and the kids really enjoyed it. Uh, we also had our third annual freshman orientation today, as Josh said. Our eighth graders were given a really warm welcome by the high school special teachers in the auditorium, where they learned about the electives they will be able to take next year as freshmen. Uh, then they toured the high school, participated in a PE
065class, and learned about high school academic expectations from four seniors, uh Mr. Dan, Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Cassidy. I'd like to thank Josh and his team for organizing this event for our eighth graders. I visited with them today at lunch. Uh and to get feedback from them about the event, and they really enjoyed the experience. They're excited, uh looking forward to it, and I think they're all ready to go. Um so, next we will have uh freshman open house on June 4th for all our freshman and their families. Tours for our rising 7th and 8th graders on Friday, June 12th. And then open house for rising 7th and 8th graders and their families on Monday, June 22nd. Thank you. Brian? Yeah, just a few things. Uh today was our annual outdoor classroom day that Meet
066Muldowny pulls together. Um it was two different seasons for the uh event today. >> [laughter] >> Raining sideways. Thank god it was a little warmer, but um the big question was, are we going out? Are we going out? And we said, we're going out. So, kids came in. They they were happy. They were wet. Um dried them off, and by the time we got to the afternoon, it was beautiful out. So, it was a great day. Um couple of the same agencies, state police were there, uh forest rangers, uh Dan Sanctuary, um just awesome for the kids to rotate around and see the state police drone flying over and the state police dog, and just learning about, you know, some of the things in our community that they wouldn't necessarily see. Um so, that was
067great. Um we are in the middle of our end-of-year benchmark assessments, which leads to our end-of-year data meetings, uh 504 annual reviews. All of that stuff is coming up. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but our field days start next week. So, yeah. Thank you, Brian. Erica? I was invited to attend a meeting through Franklin County with Jamie Evans and Rachel Carr, uh with Adirondack Foundation and put together a study on workforce and uh the constraints of daycare on employees. In the folks at the table were our large employers, the hospital, uh the Wild Center, um North Country Community College, NCCC, and it was so interesting to hear the woes that we all share, right, of childcare. And yet, um the source of the problem often is us, right? So, for example, tomorrow is
068a snow day and and all of those businesses don't have a snow day. And what a gift it was to say, "Well, our community school initiative worked really hard. While we create those problems, we also create a solution by having community partners come in and provide opportunities for students." So, the YMCA is covering both snow days tomorrow and Friday for families. So, uh it was a nice conversation to have at the table to hear everybody else's woes and also uh talk about how together we can create solutions not just for babies, right? That's really like its own pocket of of trouble, but schooling students and the the the the They are trouble, but >> [laughter] >> but uh the troubles that that families who have school-age children um and want safe and high-quality care for
069their babies. It was great. I was really impressed. Thank you. Katie? So, we attended I was so thankful to Tim Meade for inviting us to the outdoor classroom day. So, kindergarten through second grade in Mineville went to the trove today. I checked my watch, I walked 7 miles. So, I think there's going to be a lot of kids who go to bed early, hopefully. But, they were outside for the entire day, like Brian said, rain. We We kept looking at each other when the rain was coming sideways, but it was such a great opportunity, and a lot of our students were able to go through the lunch line at Petrova. They went to classrooms, they were able to kind of experience it. They loved the playground. So, Brian and I were talking, it's such a
070nice way for our students to sort of become assimilated into that community. And everyone was so so welcoming, and it was a really really great day. I'll probably go to bed a little early myself. >> [laughter] >> It was great. We're also in the midst of our end-of-the-year assessments. Last week, we had our 504 meetings. On the 28th, we start our data meetings. And then next week, our kindergarten staff district-wide will be meeting with Erica as the UPK coordinator and all of our UPK site sites in order to talk about the transition of those students into our district kindergarten. So, that's such a nice relationship for us to have, and it really helps that transition become smoother for the students with pre-K and UPK. So, that will be next week. Thank you. You're welcome. Um
071now down to our committee reports, Joe. Um we had our final DI meeting the other day, which was good. It was We kind of have a plan going forward, so that and we've been seeing a lot of really awesome spring concerts lately. The concert at Petrova was great. Um my wife sends her apologies for not attending career day. My wife was all set up to present on being a physician at career day, and then got called to the hospital to go to an emergency. >> [laughter] >> A really serious one. She was like, "I hope they're okay." I was like, "They'll be fine." Yeah. So. So, that's it. And I apologize, I have to leave to go coach baseball. We're playing Geneseo. So. Well, that makes it all right, then. Thank you. All right. Thank
072you. Um well, I was going to um maybe give a little bit of the like school bus update in that uh looks like this year's budget is going to close officially yet, but there will be a 5-year delay in the 2-year budget. >> [clears throat] >> So, instead of the um mandate starting to start purchasing buses in 2027, it would be moved to 2032. So, I guess we'll see when that comes out. But, that does shift things a lot. Like, you know, it's No, I think the waiver would be I think this is a But, um you know, I I think and I guess this is up to Diane and and what you think it would be. Our Our plan was to send the updated plan to National Grid so they have it on file.
073The The pre-electrification plan that was just updated with the senior bus one model. But, I'm really good. And then, we were also planning to meet with CPL in July with Diane and Josh and she's uh And then, if they had any notification about this time of meeting, just so we're not lost as opposed to putting things off to talking again 4 years or whatever. Like, that's that's So, even though that does change things a lot, but but um that would that would be nice. We've still done a lot of preliminary work. >> Yeah. We need to make sure we have that off. >> That it isn't exactly It is lost. Yeah. And I I just so you know, like I was looking at um you know, I was becoming aware of a new national program
074called the uh Clean Green Schools Initiative and it and it's you know, allows up to 5 million $50,000 per building um up to up to 100% funding. So, not not that there's no cost share, but and I would look at well, okay, can that be used to electrify to make our bus garage electric propulsion ready? Um it would be very helpful and um and it's possible it could be if we do some other things that you know, would would so anyways, that just was a topic with the changes, you know, they might be just everything's going in the right way. Um and then the last thing I would just add is that I attended a nice DNI advisory committee meeting on Saturday. It was virtual and a lot of there was talk about plans for
075the community review of the nice board resolutions. Um where the first will be a subcommittee of of the DNI advisory committee that decides whether that a position should be taken on a resolution, you know, as far as uh what the DNI committee whether they affirm it or not. And then that will be followed by the full committee when looking at the resolution. And it was made clear that some members of of uh what they thought they kind of take a chance to this process, but that um a suggestion to abandon it was resoundingly appealed last year. That didn't go that process well. It did. It did well. And uh most of the committee was um a discussion around how nice book can help uh school boards understand the connection between New York SOARS, which is
076uh work through the graduate with nice the SOAR campaign. Success, opportunity plus appreciation plus research. So it was a good intersection. It was interesting. I'm certainly getting a better understanding of the whole process. Thank you. Dory. Um we're hearing often good stuff. Nobody will say anything on this stuff. The school board went on for a bit and actually a bunch of them um and they were a bit caught off guard um by the potential delay. Um fingers are crossed, toes are crossed. Um and then the education committee will jump on if it does in fact go through um this is the latest budget since 2010, I believe. Yeah, so we're definitely pushing the limit on this. Um, and I think the perfect case jumps took the action took a took the delay and took a
077little advantage of it. So, I think it will help us in the long run. Make better performance. Um, other than that I don't have any Mike. Um, the only thing I want to say beyond that the field trip to the courthouse I I really appreciate that we're doing things like that. That are sparking conversations. You know, like you see them on that day and you see their excitement and everything else, but I had them today and they were first thing we talked for I think we talked for about 40 minutes about it. Like all the things that happened there and like, you know, being in the courtroom and that kind of thing and like and then see that they're that it's sinking in, right? They are really seeing these situations and seeing, you know, and
078really, you know you know, there's a little bit of cause and effect there, right? So, they get the engagement. Right, they engage with them, right? They're fully They're fully there. And I think also it it it it falls on the people that are presenting. So, if you if you if you're not good at that, then they're not going to talk about that. So, when you do attend one that's actually very engaging and they they showed the salaries of what you would make as a this, you know, security guard or a court reporter or a recorder. Like the kids were just absolutely floored. So, I think it's just it's all on who's presenting it, but once you hit one that's good, the kids respond positive. Well, that's a little bit of real life, too, right? Like
079that We're We're I feel like we're at Sarah Knight Elementary kind of in that bubble, right? Where you know, the start of the whole conversation started off with some choice words that were said in the courtroom. Yes. That, you know, that but they were just like, yeah, this guy screamed and I was like and then the conversation, you know, it flowed from there which was fantastic. But like that real life setting which was fantastic. I I just think it's awesome. It's it's a it's a great deal. We used to go to Franklin County. We used to run it. I remember Josh was a student and I was sitting in county court and elbowed me and his buddy was sitting next to us. Nice. >> [laughter] >> Yep. That didn't happen yesterday. But I mean, these
080are it's it's just real life. Yeah. Thank you. Um we are in in need of an executive session to discuss uh discuss regarding proposed pending and current litigation and the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person corporation or matters linked to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation. Can I get a motion to adjourn to executive session? So moved. Second the motion. Roll the favor. Aye. We are adjourned with a little bit of a break here. That's her. They don't fight. >> [laughter] >> Yes, and this is >> [laughter]