001Okay, we're going to call the Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 Board of Education meeting in order to stand als One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, first order of business is the acceptance of the agenda. Can I get a motion, please? >> Second. >> Okay, any discussion on the agenda? All those in favor? I >> Any opposed? Agenda is accepted. Next item is the consent agenda which is resolution 063 2025 including the item on the consent agenda. Motion please. >> Mike >> second. >> Any discussion on the consent agenda? How favor? I oppose. The resolution is approved. Next is the best thing we do as a board. We don't get to do it enough but it's our favorite thing to do. is the recognition of our uh Nordic ski teams. I'm
002gonna ask Mr. Morgan to come up in a second, but before I do that, I want to tell you that my experience here in around 40 years being being a student, staff member, board member is that our ski teams have been phenomenal forever, not just in in in skill, but in sportsmanship and in academic achievement. So, this is a great pleasure for us to be able to do this. Um this is our first ever Nordic team state championship um for the girls and for our boys they were the section seven champions as well as runners up at the state meet. That's pretty impressive for a little teeny score in the outer. So, how about a hand? Now, the official part. Board of Education proudly recognizes and congratulates the girls Norex team on capturing the second
003seven championship, earning the opportunity to compete at the state STEM championship where they secured the state title with the first place finish. The board of education also proudly recognizes and congratulates the boys Nordic ski team on capturing the section 7 championship in advancing to the state championship and an impressive runoff finish at the state level. These remarkable achievements reflect not only exceptional athletic ability but dedication, perseverance, and true sportsmanship. Throughout the season, these student athletes demonstrated unwavering commitment, balancing rigorous academic responsibilities with the physical and mental demands of high level competition. Their teamwork, resilience, and determination propel them for the highest level of success in New York State. We extend our sincere appreciation the coaches for their leadership, guidance, and countless hours of preparation that made this accomplishment possible. We also thank the families, supporters,
004and community members who encouragement and pride continue to inspire excellence. Winning a state championship is an extraordinary honor and a testament to the strength of our athletic programs and our school community. The board commends the Nordic scheme teams for representing our district with integrity, class, and distinction. Congratulations on outstanding school. Yeah, the best thing with our skiing program, if you haven't been up to Dewey Mountain, sorry, if you haven't been up to Dewey Mountain for any of our ski races, it is an awesome, positive atmosphere. Um, our both our coaches, Coach Kat and Coach Olri, they do a great job of getting not just our older kids and established ones, but the younger kids, and it's an awesome community, and great to see you guys achieve what you did. Hey, great job. Okay. Is it
005Laya Zel? Is that right? Got that right? >> Come on up. Kelsey Burke, Tyler B, UH, KATON DAILYALY, AMEILIA ADAMS. >> Occupy Holmes. CONGRATULATIONS, >> Cadence Kennedy. Ev, >> uh, Kelsey Bur >> here. too. >> Uh Liam Stoddard, >> Liam's at junior nationals in Wisconsin. >> And Mason, >> perfect. >> Mr. Kok, would you like to say anything? >> Uh I'm just really proud of these these kids. They worked super hard. Um and the the line between making it happen and not making it happen is so thin and they never took it for granted and all the way up to the very end worked as hard as they could. Just really proud of them for how hard THEY WORK. PERFECT. EMMA BEN KIRK. Is that right? BENJAMIN. So you can stick around if you want
006and list all of us the board or we'll give you a second if you want to kind of sneak out of here before we do the real fun stuff. Congratulations again. Thank you again everybody. >> Thank you. Moving on to the next item is the uh Spanish club for summer 2027 with Mr. Zobel. This is resolution 064 2025. Can I get a motion? >> A second. >> Okay. Discussion. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me here tonight. And I also appreciate the uh you double booking me so I can see my daughter get the board and also also talk about this trip a little bit. >> Thank you. >> Um so next summer 2027 I would like to I'm looking forward to taking a group of students to travel to Guatemala and neighboring Bise
007for for about 10 days. It's a 10 11 day trip if we can combine both of those countries. Um, last time around, if you remember, I traveled with World Strides and Explorica is under the they're managed by the same same company. So, I work with the same team. They have my information. Um, I like I like this. I like the team that I work with. I did talk to probably five different companies since we came back from Costa Rica just to see what was out there. Um, lots of five different companies, lots of different itineraries, and this is one that I kept coming back to for a couple of reasons. Um there's a lot that's out there and I think this one I think this one's going to be a good one. This looks like
008a really great trip. It's a 10day itinerary. We hit the highlights of Guatemala. Um if I have a 15 student minimum, then I can add on three days and we can uh transfer by bus into Bise and then we snorkel snorkel off the reef and um explore Bise. And the contrast between those two countries is just uh pretty remarkable. I think it' be really cool for the kids. Bise, if you may or may not know, is the only English-speaking country in Central America. So to kids for to be able to compare and contrast what they see after a week in Guatemala and then we go to a very Caribbean um three days and police there and then we would fly home out of there. So that's sort of the the the overall of it. you
009have the itinerary there. And really, I just wanted to see uh what kind of questions we have or what's on what's on what's on your mind here. >> Question for Doug. >> Yeah, Doug. I when we were chatting about this, I think was it yesterday? >> Uh yeah, it was yesterday. >> Um my questions are not are are I guess not even really specific to this trip, although I have some questions specific to this trip. There more questions for the board and for Diane about just our risk profile with trips like this. I used to lead study abroad trips at Paul Smith. I was in charge of that program. >> Okay. >> Um and I I just I just have questions around what does that look like at the level of district administration for students
010going on these trips given risks involved? Um like what happens for example if something bad happens on one of these trips what are the like does the company have I mean we can get real dark real soon if you want around like hostage services does that is that provided by this company >> those are actually kinds of things that get worked into risk assessment plans around stuff like this and I I'm just wondering just general question for you and the board around what does that look like in terms of how we administer these kinds of trips. Does that make sense? >> No, it's it makes perfect sense. The sad thing is there was a time when we never even thought about those things as all logistics of getting somewhere and doing the things. >> It's
011it's certainly a comment on the times that you know these things rise to the top to talk about. Mhm. So, I will say um with this trip this year specifically in the last week and a half or whatever that I've been in contact with parents, I've certainly fielded more questions about overall safety and th those kinds of concerns than I ever did with Costa Rica. And I think you guys are right that it does to some degree maybe speak to the the current state of the world right now. Um, and also if we look at, you know, if we get real dark real soon and we talk about hostage situations and there is violent crime of course in just about virtually every country in the world. Um, the State Department website here indicates and I've
012been looking at this a lot for the last couple weeks. Um, you know, one of the trips that I was considering proposing to the board was Mexico and this was, you know, months ago, weeks ago. And since then things have blown up in Mexico. So these things these things do change. But um as far as the guidance from our state department, it says on the on the website, it says I mean this violent crime is not to I'm not not to say this violent crime to downplay it at all, but it's does not typically target tourists and uh there are very specific areas, neighborhoods of Guatemala City that should be avoided and there are certain regions in the highlands that have temporary or longstanding unrest. test and those areas should be avoided and those areas
013are not on our itinerary and we have no plans to visit those areas. >> Is this going to be the same cohort of students that went to the last went to Costa Rica? >> No, not necessarily. Though I will say I have three, my wife included, because I have two high school age daughters. We have three parents that sent kids on the first trip that are considering sending kids on the second trip. And we just want to go to a different place that just happens to have a higher risk profile than go to the same place knowing that that's uh got a lower risk profile than already done it before. And I think this is I think this is maybe some of the the questions that I'm that I'm fielding right now is that I
014think the the perception of Costa Rica is that it's safe and it's set up and it is. The the tourism infrastructure is is certainly there and it was great. Um I mean I'm looking at taking my daughter on this trip and it's a lot of her friends and that cohort that's that's going and I wouldn't I wouldn't take a group of kids to someplace that I didn't feel like was safe. And again, I think that I mean, if you were to look at whatever shade of yellow or orange or red that the US might be in right now, I mean, I have friends that live abroad and they they have no no there's they do not want to come visit the US for any reason whatsoever. So when we look at a country like Guatemala,
015yeah, there's some unrest in the unrest in the highlands and there's very specific neighborhoods in Guatemala City that should be avoided. And again, we have no plans to decision those places. >> I don't think it's any question about um the good intentions here. I just think that, you know, given the state of what's going on in general and what's occurred over the last two weeks, you know, our concerns are we want our kids to have these experiences, but um frankly, we're a little gunshy at the moment. >> Got it. >> And I think what would help us would be if we knew more about what the company's responsibility was, you know, do they have security forces? Do they have uh uh connections um with Guatemalan authorities? What what are those relationships? um what are their
016policies regarding safety? You know, those kinds of things will go a long ways towards helping us determine at what risk we're willing to take. What does our insurance company We have insurance carriers. What do they cover? What do they don't cover? >> Okay. >> Um >> yeah, I think um I mean I've already signed my kid up for this trip. I'm not concerned about like your ability or their ability to run this trip. Um, I've just taken I mean I used to take students I take students to Denmark regularly which the state department lists as a level two which is avoid public areas because there's always this pervasive risk of terrorism in Europe. Um it's it's uh the I guess I would like to see us as a district get into a risk profile where
017we are doing a kind of risk analysis on trips like this or trips to other parts of the country even so that we have a sense of those kinds of questions but also the financial dimensions of that. Um, I don't want to say that the only reason we would do that is for insurance reasons or financial reasons, but we really do have to think about that as a school board, right? Um, at Psmith, we had to file these like really lengthy risk analyses documents, which I'm not saying we should do, but um, but I think we need we need as a board to get our head around that in terms of the risk mitigation of I specifically think trips like this any regardless of country, not even so much Guatemala, but but I I just
018think that these kinds of trips are not a field trip to Albany, right? There's much much more that can go wrong all the way down to like just student illness. I mean a pulse miss one of the one of the kids in the Italy trip got hit by a car. That was a huge thing that had to be dealt with and like you had to you had to work those into plans like where are the nearest hospital? How do we do that? Um trip companies typically have that. And so I guess like one of the things that I would feel more comfortable with as a board member, but also as a parent if this kid is interested in this trip is just what is what does that look like for World Strides? Like do they
019have I mean do they have like negotiators on call? Like those are things that often these companies provide should something bad happen. I'm just thinking worst case scenario which is really unlikely but right but we had to map these out like I took students to South Africa and that was a really difficult place to take students through and the risk analysis there was really tough and we we did it it was successful you can do it successfully I have no doubt that we can do this successfully but I just think we need to do our due diligence in this board >> and do we have a risk analysis um >> yeah I don't I don't know >> process And >> we have a policy doesn't need to be as >> we don't have the policy
020>> particularly as posts but do we have one because >> sounds like it would be wise to do something we could get some data >> you know. Well, it'd be nice to know just what what world strides, you know, like let's dig a little deeper, you know, we and just know what their policies are, right? So that you know let's look at what they provide >> provided in in terms of security >> right like their the details of you know worst case scenario >> worst case scenario >> happening what is what is what do they provide and I think that's that's the first step is to find out what they're you know what they are providing >> you know well first of all not providing >> right well first of all if I wasn't clear
021about this it is on the back and similar as last time so these tour companies when you when you book with them, we have uh a bilingual guide who meets us at the airport and we have a bus driver and we have a bus. So, we get we're ushered basically from the airport onto the bus to the hotel that first night and then the second day we travel to the old colonial capital. Um so, we're um not insulated, but we are, you know, we are contained. We move throughout the country as a as a unit on this private bus, which is very similar to last time. I understand that there's some concerns between the difference between Costa Rica and Guatemala, which I completely understand. >> Yeah. Just to clarify, not suggesting concerns, just asking for
022clarification why we would make the decisions we're making. >> Right. >> Doug, if I can give an example, is when I was a junior in high school, I did a term abroad and within 48 hours of them advertising, hey, look, our American students are here. The ground war for Desert Storm broke out. We and our high school had five countries, kids in five different countries and they had never had to pull back the kids. Um our our school had never had to pull kids back from terms of that was one thing. Um and we were part of it afterwards. Um because we had people at school protesting us. Mhm. >> So, you know, some countries, you know, Egypt went home, Russia stayed put, France stayed put. Um, there was one program that ended up going
023to a different country because they couldn't get home, but we were looking at is it safer to stay there. So, I think that as a board member and as a parent, um, it's more kind of those what are the contingency plans, like what are the company's contingency plans? um for if you get hurt, if you if there is if things tank. Um just kind of an idea of what those contingency plans are, what they have in place. Um just to give us I think part of it is peace of mind as parents and board members, but then also financially when we get into what does their insurance I'm sure there's some insurance they have. what more do we need to have in place to decrease the exposure? Um, and just kind of the details. And
024I'm sure that's something they have just in the very small the very small uh >> I'd be surprised though if they don't have it. Companies like this often are often have that kind of >> Exactly. I mean it could be just as easy as asking and saying what's your policies and then they provide it and >> you may be able to just move on >> and then they have in place. That's my biggest thing having lived through that and it's being really scary. >> What's your timeline on this stuff? >> Uh well the trip's next year. So I've started advertising it. Some people have uh I had 26 families represented at meeting the other night. So there's lots of interest in it. Um, but we it's next it's next summer ideally for me if I
025can if I know who's >> I hear from this summer coming up or this summer. >> Correct. 20 2027. >> Oh, okay. >> 2027. >> Okay, good. So, we're not under the gun. >> Yep. >> The only the only reason I'm going to say we're under the gun a little bit is because the expense of this trip is a payment plan and the payment plan starts >> now. Right. So, >> so, right. >> You know what I mean? I think that we I think we should be under the gun out of respect for people that need to abide by the payment plan. >> Yeah. So the the payment plan works. So there is a there is an upcoming deadline I think because of the payment monthly payments would increase >> um just because there's there's
026less time between now and when the trip would potentially run. But I want to get you I want to make sure that you guys have all the information that you need so that I want you to feel sound about this so that so that when I leave I can feel sound about this. >> Yeah. >> Um we need a liability we need a risk mitigation and then we need to be able to give families informed consent to be able to make the decision they want for their students to go and have an experience or not. And I feel like >> right >> we've made good decisions from that. And this you you're aware of the step program, the state department travel program. >> State Department has a program that you can register for also that
027will alert you to any sort of changing. >> Yeah. >> Which is just always good practice. That's that's more logistical in country stuff. Um I think there's an additional question. So I think that what Zach just said would be super helpful for us to have. Um and uh but I also think we need to think about whether our policies are adequate regardless of country trip like whether kind of study abroad policies agree >> I don't think they are. I I think that's one of the things that we've been talking about and upgrading >> changing a policy committee conversation Douglas conversation definitely >> an insurance conversation I think I just think if we're going to keep doing these and I think we should keep doing these these are incredible like life-changing opportunities >> and and I
028think if Doug if you can help us stay you know stay connected so that if we can work through this with a higher risk profile location like this while we're trying to look with this policy that could be really practical because it'll help, you know, get us where we need to be. And if we have time, like we're talking, boy, that could if we need to figure stuff out, it gives us time to be able to do so. So, I think I think it just sounds like good timing as far as that goes, but I think it might be super helpful to help with the policy update. So what would work well is if you get that information, get it to Gina. >> Okay. >> She can send it out to the board, we can
029review it and we could table this to our next meeting. That would be >> okay. >> Hopefully we could do that before break if we get the things we need. >> Okay. >> Does that sound right there? >> Yeah, that sounds good. And in the meantime, we can I'm I'm happy to take this one on. I've got experience doing this at Paul Smith. So, >> thank you for taking this on. >> Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, this is >> a lot. Yeah, it is. >> It's good. Yeah, but it also is it is a lot. I understand. I completely understand. >> Yeah, it's been is Guatemala a higher term than Costa Rica? >> If you look, >> uh I don't know what Costa Rica is listed at right now, but Guatemala, I'm not sure when
030it was updated, but it does list specific neighborhoods. >> And for most countries of Latin America, it's it kind of runs the same. >> You Exactly. Exactly. That's what I want to bring up. >> Yeah. >> And I and again, I think this just kind of speaks a bit to this the state of the world at the moment, but your concern the concerns are valid. Absolutely. >> Anyone else? >> So, we're going to table this. >> Yeah. I'll ask for a motion in favor. We'll vote and we'll just put on the next agenda. >> Yeah. >> Try to make this happen. >> Happy to work on it with you. >> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. >> So, a motion. I would ask for a motion to table. >> Mike, I'll second. >> All those in
031favor? >> I motion has been tabled and we'll put that on next agenda. >> Okay. >> Sorry for the headache. >> It's all right. No, I understand. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate. Next item of business, public comments. Any members of the public would like to uh address the board? Yes, sir. >> Hi. >> Let me I gota read this first. That's that's rules. I'll make it as brief as I can. Uh the board of education encourages public participation in school related matters at the board meetings. The BOE is here to listen during this period. Person wish to address the board should state their name and organization. Three minutes will be granted each speaker. Speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. board cannot permit a public session discussion involving individual district personnel or students.
032If you wish to do that, you can contact the superintendent and or the board for a written statement. It's generally not a question and answer period. Uh and we will likely not respond to specific questions or concerns, but would follow up with it. Uh the president reserves any right to uh discontinue any public conduct as possible. You're on. >> Wow. Okay. Thank you. Hey, I can read this every time. You only >> You should have it recorded. Uh Steve Makowski, u uh Tupper Lake, 722 Bartley Kerry Road. I'm a Santa Clara Township resident. I uh came to the board meeting in December and shared with the board members our concerns about the 16% increase in property taxes uh that hit Santa Clara Township residents. Um, I'm here back to let you know that in January
033we got a pleasant surprise from the Harrietstown Santa Clara Township combined tax increase of 12%. So our two taxes went up more on one hand 16% 12% on the other. These are four to five times the level what we've seen in our 12 years of living here. And what I shared with the board at that time is I'm not so sure this is all sustainable for us. Um, I literally think that a lot of people are going to have to give up their homes. And again, the broader goal of making this community affordable to people, even if they can find a home that they can afford, they'll look at the new taxes, especially in Santa Clara Township and perhaps even in Harriettown. I believe Harriettown was just reassessed and those people are getting their taxes.
034I go back to what I urged the board to do in December, which is, and by the way, I want to stop and say I want to thank you all. Thank you deeply for the work you did on the facilities study group and the ultimate decision for Bloomingdale. I saw I was away. I read all the public comments. I want to thank you all for your outstanding public service to the community to make that very difficult decision, which is a first step, an important step in controlling some of these costs. I want to go back though and say that I urge the board as they are already working on the budget for next year to keep in mind what I just shared with you that I think the board needs to look at each and
035every decision about spending money in a different way to say is this mission critical is this mission critical to our academic standing and where we want our students to be academically when they graduate. So much as I love Guatemala, I've been there. Much as I love this idea of these students going, this whole presentation just happened and no one said what this is going to cost. I don't know what it's going to cost. Nobody said, "What is the benefit going to be? How many hours a day are these kids going to be speaking Spanish with local people in that country? How much time are they going to spend learning the history of Guatemala before they go so they understand the history of the country politically, socially, culturally? It can't just be a fun junk that
036they go down and ride a bus and go town to town. That's not mission critical. What's the proficiency of all those students when they're going? Is there going to be a proficiency test so they so everybody knows if you're going, you have to be able to be able to have a conversation with people when you're there. That one example of many. So, I just want to say that I think I'm back here again on behalf of the taxpayers to let you know because what I heard before, it seemed like the plan going forward was we're going to spend up to the cap and if you keep on spending up to the cap, there's going to be huge repercussions here because we can't afford it. And so, every budget line has to be interrogated. Every budget
037line has to rethought. And I don't know who's in charge of the other bit of it. It takes a lot to re-engineer a school system. So maybe you need to figure out how do we re-engineer the system because what we're spending now with these increases of another million dollars a year in an in an additional tax levy isn't sustainable by the taxpayers where I live. And everybody is alarmed and they're concerned. And I'm here just to share that with you again. And I apologize for not being here for the last two months. We were away every time you had a meeting. But I'm bringing back to you to encourage you to think deeply as you start into the budget. We put the budget hearing date and the the budget vote dates on the agenda of
038everybody we know in Santa Clara. That's never happened before. We've gone to Santa Clara residents and said, "If you're not registered to vote here, register to vote here because we need your voice with this budget." So, it's going to be a different situation in terms of what you're going to see with people voting in May on this budget than you've ever seen before. And I encourage you to think deeply about it. I know you are, but I'm just bringing it again. We are really suffering. >> Yeah. To be clear, the uh the trip is not funded by the school. >> Pardon? >> These trips are not funded by the school. >> Oh, well, that's who's who's funding it? >> Selfunded. >> That's why they're talking about payment. So, >> and it's a summer trip. It's
039outside of the schoolyard. >> So, that would have been very helpful for me. I thought you spend this money. >> Take your point. >> So, so then I'm then I'm all in favor >> as a town Santa Clara resident. I'm with you and uh >> I'm sorry. Who are you? >> Tory Thirstston. >> Hi, Tory. >> Um, get in touch with me because we'll talk more. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And I got my I'm down here. It's down. I feel great. >> All right. Anyone else in the public hear that officer? >> No. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming. >> Thanks, Stephen. >> Okay. Uh, next up is our financial report. Nikki, >> um, everything is saved on the share drive like always. There are a few that are over $10,000 transfers. They
040are to cover our increasingly rising electricity costs. Um, we are working on this. I did reach out to >> You don't mean to laugh. >> I know. I reached out Nancy recommended that. I forget what the stands for. Municipal Electric >> I don't remember. Yeah. >> Sorry. So, um, they are working on a quote for us to see if there's any savings there. I don't know if there is or not, but it was worth it was an avenue to >> because their avenue is they kind of stabilize it, right? >> Uh, they they negotiate on behalf of many municipalities to get a fixed electricity supply, right? which is what's if if you don't go with a fixed price like through a esco then it's it's variable which is what we're all experiencing it being highly
041variable so it's not you don't necessarily you know it's hard to beat the variable price you're you know around in a year but um but it smooths out you don't get the big peaks uh you know at the worst times necessarily just smooths it out >> Nikki how much more are we paying for electricity how much. I mean, I've noticed it in my house, but like what's the like >> we're clearly moving money in the budget to cover an increased cost to your to Steve's point. Increased costs are coming at us in all directions, electricity, healthcare, etc., etc. >> Yes. >> What what what are we spending this year above what we budgeted last year? >> So, for one building alone, it jumped at $8,000 from one month to the next. >> Wow. for one
042month. For one month >> for one month in one building. >> In one building. >> Does it look like you're we we are moving money between the three buildings? $140,000 already move money. >> So we're we're upwards of about $175,000 >> just for above allow >> above what we budgeted above our budget. >> Okay. So that you mean because it there was some last month. >> So say that. Can you say that again because I want to make sure I'm writing it down. 175,000 over what we >> our budget budget >> and that's just right now >> that's that's what we anticipate to the end of the year >> for electricity >> increase electricity >> what about fuel that's what we're looking at now >> is fuel up too >> I will I I'll just
043jump in on that and often if there's money left in the fuel line Vern will do a final full of final fueling in the spring because it's often cheaper in the spring than when he has to do it in September. But he, if you look at where that's moving from, we're already moving what we think might be left in fuel. He will not do a refill in the spring. He wanted money to do the refill in the spring. And right now, maybe that's a good thing. Like, who knows what six months will bring. It's all a gamble. It could be twice as much or it could go back down again in the fall. But we're actually stealing some of what would have been that final spring fill. So, we were ready to run on September
04415th and we have to turn the boilers back on according to state ed. Um, but we're put that on. >> Diane, how do we choose which buckets to pull from? >> That's a really good question, Zach. So, uh, I wish Gina Ferington were here because she's our guru. But we look at what we're spending. We look about where we are on on target for spending. What's left to be spent? So, is there was that money put aside for something that we were buying in the fall and we purchased it? Now, there's money left. Um, this year we did not budget for the title grants, if you'll remember, because it was all very fluid when we were doing our our budgeting. So, we have some money in uh personnel because those grants did come through. So,
045we're moving some money from there. Um, but as you can see, we find little tiny Gina. >> She's really good at finding pockets of >> Yes, you can see we find little pockets of money. And we hope our estimate is correct. Our freeze is actually April 1st. So, as of April 1st, your purchase orders have to be in for the rest of the school year. And that also helps us then clarify >> what's actually left, >> what's where we're over and where we're under. And so some of these line items I notice um are kind of interrelated and I'm just curious. So what it sounds like is is there's possible grant funding that covered some of this correct personel. >> Right. Like you'll see there's a counselor position. My guess is that person moved into
046the grant. I don't know specifically, but when I saw it, I said it didn't it didn't red flag me. I assumed it was a move into the grant. >> Okay. We budgeted every single person in the budget last year because we didn't know what's happening with grant funding. >> Same for those site services. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Same grant. >> Okay. >> Those are >> Thank you. >> Which is only one year, >> right? >> That's not available. >> Could be, but not guaranteable next year. >> So they're I'm including them again in the budget for next year. >> Okay. I I think particularly the federal money is probably in much more doubt next year than it was this year. >> Yeah, I'm sure it is. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. >> You're welcome. >>
047Not to mention, we got to figure out uh just shy of $2 million for uh the healthcare costs that >> seems to be mounting as we speak. >> Good. Anything else, Nike? >> Uh just that resolution. >> Okay. Resolution number 065 2025 approving the current budgetary transfer report as presented by the school business executive. Motion >> second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Resolution is approved. >> I will have um budget forecast and the fund balance reserves ready to present next. >> That's not correct. I know. >> Okay. Um, moving on. Uh, I know Jay's got a few things on on her docket to share. >> Yes. Applications packets are available now to run for the board of education. Um, so you can just shoot me an email, stop by my
048office, however you'd like to do it, and I will give you a packet. We have two um available spots to be two that are up for >> Re-election. Thank you. Um and they're threeear terms each. Um it will be due in my office by 400 PM on April 20th, 2026. Um if you're interested in voting in the schoolboard election/budget vote, you must be a registered voter of the school district. And to be a registered voter of the school district, it has to be your primary residence. That's a Franklin County law. Um, and you can do so easily via the board of elections and I put the link in the um, agenda which will be saved in the minutes. So like you will be able to click it right there and then you can register to
049vote right on the board of elections website. Um, the next meeting that we have, the public meeting that we have is March 25th, 2026. And we're going to celebrate our top 15% of our senior class this year at 5:00 p.m. >> Yeah. Now's the time change. >> Yes, time change. Make sure 5 p.m. I will change it on the calendar if I haven't already. And um we'll have goodies and lots of positive positive uh feelings. >> I think it's already changed. >> Sometimes I forget that I do my job. >> So >> well, you haven't been meeting every week for six weeks. >> I know >> it does get a little confusing at this point. >> Um so yes, other than that, um I think that's it. >> Perfect. Thank you, >> Gina. You said
050uh just to clarify for whoever's listening, you said in Franklin County it's the law that you have to be you can register to vote only if you're it's your primary residence. But I assume that's same in Essex County and Clinton >> and all all counties has to be your primary residence where you get your mail. >> Yeah. >> So >> Where the bills come. That's right. >> The most year. >> Anything else to >> That's it. >> Perfect. Thank you. Moving on to old business. uh capital project update. >> Uh we just continue to uh chip away. There will be people here on Friday to do a walk through at Petrova for upwork updates and the backflow for venture work. Uh that's going to happen over spring break. So we're doing walk through with all
051the different parties. So they'll be set to go. Besides that, we're just still working on some closeout things. Uh I did want to mention that uh our field has been in use for lacrosse. Track was out there and >> Wow. >> Like football too. >> And football. Yes. We had >> March 10th. Wow. We set kids out at recess and lunch to stomp down the field. You cannot play on it when it's frozen because you can shear the the top of it. So with the the um snow on it, we need the snow to melt. So it's so good >> and they last little bit of snow >> last little bit of snow to smooth it out and there we are. So it's >> like two months early. >> Correct. >> So in previous springs
052of which I coached a bunch, we would be a minimum of six more weeks before we hit on the surface maybe. >> That's how much accelerated our spring athletes have now. >> Wow. So >> yeah, and it's money and if you get on too early, >> you wreck the the grassroots and then you don't grow grass and then you're trying to spend a short summer trying to get your grass back. So >> this should help our grass facilities as well. >> Um district is about >> uh weren't something to do with school from >> that has all sorted itself out. >> Okay. Yes. I don't remember what we were talking about. >> Yeah, I think we're still waiting on a part. I've not heard but but everything else is up. It's going. >> All right,
053moving on to district facilities plan. >> We continue to work on that. We meet as administrative group. We have a lot of input. We're meeting with a lot of departments. Uh and we're moving along. Our elementary teachers know what they're going to be doing next year. We've put out all the building maps and asked for input as to what building layout might look like. All of our um 7 through 12 departments have now sent me a proposal for what they'd like their departments to look like. And as part of our Friday activity, we have opportunity very informally for our seventh and eighth grade teachers to come over and tour their new facility and opportunity. They they all know each other because they meet for curricular work and they have for many years, but just an
054opportunity to actually see the building, what the rooms look like, where they might want to to move into and what their input might be as to the best use of the facility with the arrangement. Also doing the same thing for Bloomingdale at the building. >> Let me piggyback on that. Um Nancy and I had a meeting with the employee groups. So far, we met with Bloomingdale, the middle school, the high school. We'll meet with the transportation CSCA Friday during the conference day. Um, I want to commend our principles for the the excellent job you do at these uh staff meetings. Very organized, very well thought out. So, kudos to you guys. um you know there was some some good questions asked and basically and we want to thank all these groups for the work they've
055done continuously but more recently and encourage them that um moving forward we have a lot of lot of belief in our admin team um and our staffing our teaching staff our support staff our bus staff and I think the message that we delivered overall was you know we have bricks and mortar but the school community really is our people and we got great So that was kind of messaging. Anything you want to say about that? Thanks. >> No. Uh there were uh yeah it just was just a nice opportunity to just be in front of people and thank them for being with us through the whole process and a lot of unknowns and you know now it's time to figure out how to uh how to move into the new spaces and >> and the
056people did seem very appreciative that they had a map and they could start putting their thought. You know, I I I commend uh the administration for asking everybody's input. >> So, our next goal is to solidify our start and end times and uh share that with parents. >> Our single bus run actually shortens bus times for a lot of families. So, if you're a family who's used to your child riding the bus for an hour and you plan on that for your morning time to get to work, we want to make sure that families know that your new commute for your child might be 35 minutes and there'll be adjustments on those pickup times. So, I I spoke with the bus garage today. They're really ready to share that information with families. Uh it will
057it will alter a little bit based on who moves in and what our kindergarten group looks like. We but it's not going to alter it by 20 minutes, right? Alter it by a little change it by a bit. So we want to get that out to families in case they need to make some some morning adjustments. We want them to have some time to do that. >> Already getting questions about that. >> Yeah. So I'm not sure we're going to be able to hit right before spring break. That would be our goal. But if not right before spring break, we'll do it right after spring break. That's great. they they know what they're looking at. Mostly morning is of course finding finding care in the morning can be difficult. So we want to give everybody
058time. So that's our next goal is to solidify those times. >> Perfect. Anything else on that? >> That's it for now. >> Okay. Uh resolution number 066 2025 approving the 2627 district calendar. Let's get a motion to get that on the floor. >> Sorry. >> Second. >> Discussion on the calendar. same calendar that you saw last time except that I needed to add an additional day off for the 12 month staff they have in their contract. They work a 260day year. Uh and when our our totals were totaled, it was actually a 261 day year. So the extra day will be Christmas Eve. So it'll be Christmas Eve and Christmas, which which backs it really gives everybody a very nice 4-day weekend because Christmas is on a Friday. So, >> I'm happy to see the
059family teacher conferences back like in the fall and then another one in the March because I think it's really great that we schedule that time because it's important. >> We because of the single run busing, we can't do what we've been doing, which is the half days. It just would become chaos. >> So, we we were able to make it a whole day. >> No, I remember. So yeah, >> it's nice to see there's only a week of the half days. >> Half days at the end. >> People hate those things. >> I know they do. But there the paperwork does not get lighter with each passing year. And so that's that's a a necessity. >> And I and I'll bring this up again. The complexity of trying to put this count together is unbelievable
060because um you got your your requirements, you got your contracts, you got to work around some B doi issues um and holidays and it is a lot harder than you would suspect to try to put this together because of the start dates and the end dates and everything in between. So Dan, congratulations to you and the folks you work with on this because it it's it's challenging. So thank you. Well, I have to kudos to Tim Seymour and Todd Leage because they're our calendar committee for the uh superintendence group and they they start and they lay out all of the requirements and then I get to just tweak it for our requirement like our our CSA staff has Good Friday off and then we need the >> carnival carnival day and how many days are
061we going to do for snow days and what will those look >> still there's there's There's not as much wiggle room as you might suspect. >> Okay. Can I uh let's We're ready to vote. Any more discussion? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Calendar is approved. Okay. Under new business, uh Bloomingdale Building News Planning Discussion. >> Anyone want to speak with us? Well, uh I mean unless you want to speak to I I wrote this up. We'll pick it up. Well, uh three of us met, not a forum. We Mike and Joe and I met just to talk about like all right, how do we go about thinking of repurposing Bloomingdale school? And so and then I agreed to like just type something up just to get it on the you know just so
062we could start talking about where are we going how are we going to do this. Um so that's what this document was about. You know I think the goals are really important that you know we want to engage the community because you know community owns building and and I mean this district owns the building but it's you know for use by the community. um maintain at least this is what we felt like maintaining a school layout for future school use in case you know we should have the good fortune of of uh needing to use it again. Um but and then the third one providing clarity around the district ownership and legal parameters. Of course that's really key. You know we still the district still does own the building. So, so, uh, it's not like
063it's just a community center. That's a, you know, >> it's one thing to have great ideas, but none of those ideas are feasible because of the legality of them, right? Financial growth. >> Right. And then, of course, aligning with district mission policies of course is uh, critical. >> So, thank you for introducing that. Nathan, where this came from um, in some ways was listening to people during a lot of those meetings. you know, it was communicated that the board wasn't interested in selling the building and so people naturally had the question of, well, what are we going to do with it then? And I think that was a that's a reasonable question and it seemed like there's a lot of energy in the community about having conversations about that. What is the timeline? What does
064that look like? I think we need to figure all that out. But we were just chatting out and we were thinking like what what how do we move forward at this point? What does that look like? Um, I sent some messages to Douglas uh just asking him for a kind of like legal brief on like what do we need to legally have like the first step for me is is a legal question like what can and can't we do with that building? What do we need to consider as a district legally? There's financial questions as well. So I think we're just interested in starting that conversation >> at some timeline, >> right? I mean, the building is still being used as a school, so we can't jump too quick on any anything and and it
065will be a decision by the board to do anything. So, uh, >> but in the same right, we don't want to sit in government for very long, right? We don't want to, you know, >> well, the sooner we start the conversation, >> right? That's I mean I think the conversation is the way to go like and you know make sure we're you know crossing our tees dotting our eyes getting every use that we can get out of the building out of it right and to support the community and you know so and support other students if that be the case right so >> I think the biggest thing what I see as a priority is is the legal questions I know for example u nice law goes into you lengths of possible leases and how
066it can be leased and and all of that. Um, and I think if Douglas had talked about giving us kind of a a a primer on that >> because I think that's the best way to start with what is even possible and what isn't possible and you know um what our what our duty is through naid you know what our you know not only do we have state law but we've got knifed and and those kinds of things. So I think if we start with Douglas >> well Douglas offered >> yeah I think >> that he would meet with us and just discuss that if that's the case. So >> here first >> the good place to start >> right and you can see the steps were kind of in order you know roughly you
067know like then speaking with Douglas our legal counsel is to you know learn the legality concerns is paramount. So I think that's probably where we're we're heading next >> or first. >> I think I think the legality is like what we're talking about is definitely the practical next step. I think the philosophical piece that I'm thinking about is is how do we create as an objective goal as we can around this because we are appropriately going to be asking for input from a group of people and we are going to get a lot of different ideas and thoughts and perspectives and I think if we aren't if we aren't intentionally creat creating a target to shoot at, we're setting oursself up for a very subjective process to say, well, are we even getting close to
068where we intended to go in the first place? And I kind of feel like that piece is a really important piece that we need to talk about of like what are we trying to get out of this space philosophically, you know? Um so that when we do start look at knowing the legalities and then start asking for input and having dialogue, we're working towards something. we collectively have agreed to say this is what we're trying to get to and we have some kind of metric to be able to say so that's why your decision may not get as much you know precedence as your idea and it's because we're trying to get here together right >> there's a financial right >> well that's what I'm saying like holistically we have to look at that and
069talk about that and that should be an objective outcome that we're trying to get to and then we try and drive through all subjective to get there as best we can. >> I mean, that was my initial thoughts, right? Is that, you know, like how can we drive that building so that we have a portion of at least that can still let us make the rest of it a community hub, right? It's being paid for by our lease and you know, >> and I think that's it like what's the balance? What's the >> what's important to the district we do with that space, right? Is it just we're trying it's a cash grab? We just trying to get as much money. We don't care who goes in. Of course not. >> We we need to
070figure out what this looks like so that we can make some really hard decisions as time comes and we don't get caught up in well but we can make a little more money if we do it this way. No, that's not hitting what we intended to do or what we're trying to get to. Right. >> And there are models for this. I mentioned in our conversations um I take my classes at UVM to the one center in north the north north end of Burlington which is a which is a repurposed Catholic school >> that's great >> and they turn it in >> it's no longer owned by not a public school >> Catholic schools had the Catholic church get rid of some of its assets settle some legal >> but a different legality >> yeah
071but but the reason I mentioned as a model is that it's used as a community center in an area where there's a lot of social needs >> and there's all sorts of things going on in there. There's an alternative school, there's a community theater, there's health services, there's immigrant services, there's >> I think you guys are on point. >> The observation I would make is um look at this committee. I think it's a great group of people, but you've got a superintendent who will be retiring and someone we got to hire. You've got Katie and Vernon. We're going to have their hands full the next couple months with the reorganization. So, my suggestion would be um we we probably need to get through at least budget season. Yeah. >> Because we're going to spend a
072lot of time on that and let these people at least get their feet on the ground before we task them with yet another thing. >> Yeah, I agree. >> I'm not sure that the timeline needs to be as um quick as what I'm sensing. Um because we're asking these people for a lot of heavy lifts right now. And I think you probably want your new superintendent to be key on this because they're going to have to >> one just on to follow up on March. Right now we've got budget, we've got hiring superintendent, and we have CSEA contract negotiator >> and supervisors and administrators. So, I know we just came off January, February of meetings almost every week and sub support meetings and then the next I mean we're already I'm not saying it's not
073important but there's certain things that we have to prioritize like hiring superintendent and the budget right now and we're behind where we normally are in the budget don't we haven't we looked at a few more things by now um so my concern is >> well are we behind in the budget Well, here's the answer. And Steve is here, so he'll he'll appreciate this. I hate it when district superintendents and the the business manager come out and say, "Look at this budget. We we need $3 million. We're $3 million short. What are we going to do?" Oh, no. And then they come back two weeks later and they say, "Oh, look it. We're $2.5 million short. What are we going to do?" And then they come back two weeks later and say, "Oh, we're a million5.
074Sure." Like, so are we farther behind in the budget than what we normally are publicly? Yes. Are we farther behind in the budget privately? No. Because right now we're about two $5 million short in the budget. And I'm not going to bring it to the table because that's not where we're going to end up. And I'm not going to threaten. We're going to talk about what we're going to do when we know what we're going to do rather than just stirring the pot of all the possibilities. Um, our tax cap is under 1% right now. So, our raise in our tax levy is about $144,000. Is that correct? >> Yeah. 75%. So, our tax cap levy will go up $144,000. So, totally >> we've got a lot >> that's our total increase over last year's
075budget. >> Correct. >> And now get >> plus we'll have a little state aid extra look like% which is another >> and that gets distributed over all the taxpayers. >> Correct. >> So, if your tax bill went up by more than your in percentage of that, it's not because we raised our budget. >> Correct. So, that's that was really interesting. I spent a lot of time. I went to four of the Harriets Towns tax um conversations just because people have the great thing that happens is that Harriet Town Harriettown does its reassessment and the first bill they get on the new reassessment is not Harriet'stown's bill, it's the school taxes, right? So I wanted to be there. So is that it's like every every town our our our tax is in a picture of lemonade
076and every town gets a container to drink their lemonade of based on the assessment of that town. So if your assessment is small, your container to drink the lemonade is small. If your assessment is large, you get a much larger vessel. But the amount of lemonade that I actually have doesn't change. I fill all of your cups based on what it is. But I can't I can't go get another picture of lemonade. It just keeps handing it out. And so that's not saying that Santa Clara isn't going to see a big raise. But that's not because of me. That's because at the local level their value >> has been reassessed and has gone up comparatively to the other values of the seven other areas or it might not. Harriettown might balance that out a bit.
077So they actually might see a decrease because Harriet Town I don't know where it came out. I haven't seen the final they hadn't done they hadn't released any of the figures when they were doing it. But depending on what the Harriet Town reassessment looks like, that reassessment may have gone way up, which means their percentage, their vessel may have gotten significantly larger, which means other vessels would get smaller. >> So, we'll have to see what happens with the Harrietstown reassessment. And I live in North Alba where they reassess every single year, but actually last year my my tax rate went down because they had more property of more value. So it's it's tricky and we don't know that when we put it together. All we can do is set our budget as to how much
078lemonade goes in our picture >> and how it then gets distributed. And so we're adding very little we're adding very little Kool-Aid to our picture this year. It will be the small amount. >> We are somewhere somehow reducing somewhere internally because we have costs we have to pay for. Correct. So some place in our school operation will have to suffer. So, it's not pretty behind it's not pretty behind the scenes. >> Um, but we'll come to you with a balanced budget, >> but it's taking us longer than it normally would to come here. And I do not like to stir the pot by whatifs because, you know, all those groups will be out rallying and they may not. They just assume it's them, right? Sports assumes it's them, music assumes it's art as soon as
079it's I don't want any of that. We're going to come. Is is this accurate that a no vote on our budget could potentially only save $150,000? >> So a no vote on the budget is different. We we'll do the contingency budget and there's a little formulas a little formula to the >> sometimes it's almost the same. >> It actually could be more at a 75 when you get to the end of the day. There are instances where the contingency budget actually is equal to or above. >> So a no vote could cost you. It could, but I I we'll we'll have that information. We'll we'll bring that forward. What a convenient side for >> I don't have a I don't have a date for that. Okay. So they just it goes there and then >>
080Okay. >> Yes. >> Can we get back to >> So as far as timeline wise, I I I definitely think that after spring break we should be meeting with Douglas at least like to just discuss and just know so that way I'm you know because you know I'm constantly thinking about so just so that we are not constantly thinking about all these things that >> we can't do anything. There's two ways to work this money. >> First of all, we have to establish a committee to do this. That's a civil board vote. Okay. >> Um we could start it out with the board members. That's the committee and then add staff members to it as we get closer to the point we need them. >> Well, I'm not even talking about having the committee with
081the thing. I just want to know for us. >> I'm not talking about the committee. >> Gotcha. >> The committee I think we're gonna have that committee is just a suggested members. It's not something I got. >> So I think I think really what's >> what's to come is I'd like to meet with Douglas and know what we can do. >> You are certainly free as a board member to consult our attorney on any matters including this. >> Um >> it be nice. >> So you want us to do it? >> No. I mean I reached out to Douglas and I said Douglas is there anything we need? >> He's the one that said and he said it would be really helpful if I like to board and one of the things he wanted to
082talk about was timelines. So I don't think we actually need to do anything tonight on this. I think we just need to say like let's invite Douglas to a future meeting after break. Sounds good, right? >> And like I agree there's a lot going on right now that we need to prioritize before this, but I also just don't want to lose this. I think >> I agree. >> I think it's just a very small step. You know what I mean? To have public I think that I think it's a small step, but we're taking steps, right? >> Purpose of this is to recognize that we have another step in this whole process, right? And that's the repurposing of Holy School and that uh there's some um there's some thoughts out there, right? >> And so
083at that point, I think we'll leave it at that and we'll bring it back at a future meeting and >> we should see when Douglas is in town. He said he was interested in visiting us in person. >> Well, and then it's just tying in because we're still I know he had restrictions on his dates for >> right CSA. >> For CSAs. >> Yeah. negotiations. >> Okay, >> good. >> Moving on to reports. Superintendent report. >> Uh, I just want to mention that we have a a terrific speaker coming on. Am I stealing anybody's thunder? >> I have I have no report. >> We have Kate Fagan who's joining us. Uh, Kate worked for ESPN and ESPNW. um and she's a an author and she wrote um what made Maddie run and the reappearing act
084and several other books. Um she's a division one athlete and uh came out and uh she's she is coming she's going to meet with our children grades 8 through 12 on Thursday afternoon >> 2 o'clock >> at 2 o'clock and then she's going to open up our superintendent conference day >> on Friday and what made Maddie run was really uh a story about a top flight student who uh went to college and committed suicide and she is that child that everybody thinks has it all together and works hard to make sure that everybody thinks they have it all together. So we spend a lot of time talking about the kid that goes down the hall bing the lockers using every square word they know. Um but we have a whole another group of students that
085need our time and attention and she really brings that group of students to life. So really pleased she's able to come. She has a local connection. Her family's in almond area. They have camp in Bolton Landing. She knows she really knows that we're Sarak Lake and not Sarinac and how to get here. So, we're we're really pleased to have her joining us and it's it should be a really good >> Can we Is it open? >> Oh, yeah. We'd love to have you. >> What? It's Friday. >> So, Friday at 8 and Thursday at 2. >> Thursday at 2. Thursday at 2. She's with our kids. >> Oh, yeah. Not for the general public. >> And so they're and they're both in the >> Yes, they're both in the >> She really does not uh
086stand and deliver. She wants to do it through a question and answer format. >> Do we have a student? >> Ethan Ethan Knight. >> Ethan Knight >> who's going into communications >> the moderator >> and so he's he's running he's running the the session with the students >> on Thursday. >> Perfect. It's really really not much going on in my world right now. So, >> Erica, what do you got for us? >> Oh, nothing. >> WHAT? >> JUST KIDDING. >> I WAS LIKE, >> keep that up when we got 10 more. >> Uh, I wanted to public publicly thank the Fieldstone Foundation. They're a component of Citizen Advocates. They are contributing to our weekend pantry program where students take home food for the weekend and um they help many schools in our region and they
087have picked up Sarak Lake pretty considerably um and send direct ship from uh local vendors to our warehouse and the food is distributed to students who wish to take it home. So, thank you to them. And uh this is a public invitation to Aaron for Saturday. This Saturday is our Saturday academy uh 10 to 1 right here at the high school on the third floor. We'll have everything from March Madness basketball to a delicious lunch to uh make your own slime. And we hope you will join us. And includes a food uh a farmers market at no cost for the first 50 families through our door. So, we hope to see you there. >> I heard the question what lunch was. >> Oh, lunch >> slime >> is >> Slime. Yes. >> Depends when you
088come in the door. >> Uh, so lunch from the cafeteria is a cheesy garlic bread tomato or potato soup. And um the maple component is maple cotton candy. And um we're also having its pie day. And your very own Mr. Dan will be in the pie making room where you can make your very own pudding pie. >> It's not not It's not very hard. >> He hasn't started yet. >> You should all come. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Erica. Brian, >> uh yeah, just a few things. Um our fifth graders visited Mount Van Hovvenberg last week. Um, great opportunity, especially, you know, just following the Olympics to check out the, uh, worldclass venues that we have right in our backyard. You know, whether it's the Bob Run, luge, um, skeleton, you know, a lot of
089local athletes have competed for many years in the Olympics. Hopefully some more to come. I keep looking at Mike, but >> um just a great opportunity for them to check those things out that even though they're right here, you know, a lot of our kids would would never go. They wouldn't have the opportunity and might not even know they exist. So, that was a great opportunity for them. Uh tomorrow we have our um second of third of our of third character awards. We're focusing on academic progress. So that's at 8 am tomorrow morning in the Trova Auditorium. Uh families will come in. We'll call students up who were nominated by their teachers. Um we're showing great academic progress at this point in the year. Always a fun event. Uh as Tori mentioned, the family conferences,
090they went really well last week. Again, seeing all the parents in the hall. Um I attended several of our fifth grade studentled conferences, which are fun to watch. students get up, they have a presentation that they worked on with very little guidance, you know, taking ownership of their learning and um displaying that with their uh parents. So, um that was great to see. And uh let's see, what else do I have? Looking forward to Friday, our superintendent conference day and Kate Fagan in the morning. um doing some other structured activities uh later in the morning and then in the afternoon an opportunity for our grade levels to start planning for this next chapter um if they so choose um with some other little workshops planned um for staff to attend if if they find that
091helpful. >> That's it. >> Thank you, Brian. Amy, >> on uh February 9th, we had 16 singers qualify to represent Sarak Lake Middle School at the All County Festival in Elable Valley. So, congratulations to our students who worked really hard to get there. Uh, and thank you to Mrs. Delton for all of her work with our students, preparing them for the day and the performance that evening. Uh, we will also have our third coffee with the counselors meeting for parents and guardians at 7:30 on Friday, March 20th. Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. McHugh will be leading the conversation around how to navigate middle school friendships, which can be tricky. Uh, so families do not need to sign up ahead of time or RSVP. They can just show up that morning and we hope to see many
092families there. >> Thank you. Josh, >> um, we have our college decision time. So, all of our seniors are making some tough decisions. Uh, as you probably know, May 1st is the deadline for a lot of those decisions. So, uh, moving through those. Our scholarship packet was handed out, um, two weeks ago, and that's actually due the 20th of March. So, they're scrambling to get their letters of recommendation, all that kind of stuff going on. So, we had a blood drive u at the high school on March 4th. We had our model UN uh go to the competition at Nor Eastern Clinton on uh 35 and 36. Um and so pretty busy there. Uh Mama Mia kicks off tomorrow. So, that's uh a performance at 7 p.m. So, it's tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday. And uh
093you'll probably know it's just it's going to be an amazing performance and our kids are so excited. And then the last thing I just wanted to mention is that our boys basketball team plays uh Kip Capital uh on Saturday at 2 o'clock at Hudson Valley. And so if they win that game, they uh go to the final four. So we're rooting for them. >> That's all I have. >> Thank you, Josh. Uh Nancy, >> well I got something from Katie Lava Blooming Dale. She said, "Oops, on March 6th, we had our school assembly and awards. Our first graders ran the meeting. That must have been good, huh? We just finished our spring family academic conferences. We had 97% family participation. Would like to thank the staff for meeting at times that were convenient to families
094and to our families for coming for those important discussions. Quarter 4 for the 21st century is being posted this Friday and starts in April. We will have 28 before and after school programs offered for students K12. Today was music in our schools day and Mrs. Koga and the staff coordinated a lunch surprise flash mob. Students loved it. Next Tuesday we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day by having a special snack coordinated by Satie and an Irish dance lesson by the dance sanctuary. Next Thursday is the elementary science fair at 5:30 p.m. in the petroa cafeteria. And then next Friday, the Tupper Lake Observatory will be coming to Bloomingdale to lead a robot maker space workshop for UPK through two. So, lots of stuff still happening in Bloomingdale. And then uh I would just um just mention
095that I started reading through some of the Aderonic Paradox uh materials. There's a lot in that website. Um the I I I'm going to ask if I can share them amongst the to the board. I I know she didn't want to make it public. She did say that we could share it with the rest of the board. >> But we just need to make it clear that >> because it's a work in progress, she doesn't want it shared publicly yet, >> right? >> It'll be uh it it I would highly recommend and I'll share this uh with everyone. Um there's videos or AI videos made about the wilderness gentrification kind of addresses some of the issues we're hearing about the budget. But there's seven little little mini videos. Fascinating. I I mean I learned a
096lot listening to them. I was like, "Wow, that's so well it's interesting how there were creative AI videos." I mean, but very easy to um to digest, but some really interesting concepts about what's happening to our region and what you know, it's it's um it kind of the movement towards gentrification was already happening and then the pandemic really accelerated it and that's what we're all feeling. Um she's the superintendent of which district >> of of North which is southern >> and is is she trying to >> organized regional districts around like a state response to the many of the issues that >> correct >> we've been incredible work she's done very >> I did read I read that piece in the in the on board the schoolboard magazine. It sounds fascinating. I'm really >> well
097Northville's they're hitting the wall. I mean, they're a smaller district than here, you know, and they've really hitting the wall with their budget and being able to to stay under budget and provide services for their students. And so, that's I think what led her correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what led her to kind of dive in deeper as a ways to explain to the taxpayers like what the tax how the tax cap works and, you know, how um uh you know, the formula with for state aid works. And so there she has little videos on on those kinds of things as well to just explain, you know, how the how the district comes to its budget. You know, a lot of it applies to all our districts, too. and then kind of delving
098into like why in the aderonics we have an extra issue to deal with and and um contributing to we're feeling it you know very much the same way with loss of uh student numbers and um just housing issues. I mean it's just it's really very interesting. So, I I will spread around at some point. >> Dian had a great idea when we were talking about this. Perhaps maybe uh we're long overdue for a retreat. We could maybe invite her to speak to the board at a retreat. I think you would find it amazing. >> She is looking to um she has applied to present at conventions in October >> and so much of it supports the legislative brief. >> Like it really a lot of the stuff that is hard to explain. Um, I've agreed
099to help her. Have you agreed to talk to her yet? >> Yeah, I'm scheduled to go down and meet with her uh on the 17th. >> Okay. And her son uh lives next door to me. So, she it wouldn't probably be that big for her to come here. >> It's It's incredible stuff. It's exactly what we've been talking about for years here. >> Was that was that the porch that Josh and I thought was >> No, no, not the other different neighbors. >> Tell him to say hi. Anything else fancy? >> Uh, no. I think that's about it. >> Okay. Uh, Joe, >> uh, nothing. Uh, we have a DI meeting next week. Thank you for accommodating my travel changing that. So, next Thursday, >> um, nothing to report as liaison. Just wanted to offer
100a suggestion based on viewing the uh, the replay of the last uh, board meeting that we had. I was watching it after the fact and uh I couldn't hear the audio audio quality was not like I couldn't hear people in it. There was a really bad warble and um you're seeing the back of people's heads and it depends where you're standing. I just if we're asking for people to get involved and I believe we do want people involved we we got to do better on on our audio video. Um, and I don't think it'll take too much to make it happen. So, I don't think it's a break the bank thing, but I think it's uh we we need to get that right thing as soon as possible. >> So, just wanted to put it
101out there and offer a suggestion that we we think about that. >> Yeah, I had some comments about couldn't hear. >> I agree. But I mean, you know, I think the the higher quality is what we need, >> right? >> Especially the audio, >> right? >> Okay. >> Let's put it let other people >> um the NISBA sent us along uh the one house budgets uh from the Senate, the state senate and the state assembly. Um the NISMA analyses, the preliminary analyses are in our email. If you didn't get it for some reason, let me know and I will forward it to you. Um if you aren't aware, if anyone isn't aware, these are in response to Governor Hokll's budget. Um two of the key issues um to highlight, I guess, um that affects us
102is uh all three actually agree to fully fund foundation aid. Um, Governor Hokll's was with a 1% increase and no formula changes. Um, I'm disappointed that the assembly and the Senate, they were talking about a 4% increase to try and handle some of the uh expenses that are out of our control and they only came up to two. So, I don't anticipate that being any higher than two. Um and for zero emissions buses, uh the governor in response to her no change um no changes whatsoever. Um both the Senate and assembly houses have suggested I want to make sure I say this properly. Um 100 million uh of the sustainable futures program towards buses and infrastructure. Um and again that's disappointing because as we know hund00 million towards the existing law um does not go
103very far. But if you take a look at that um there will be a a deeper dive into the budgets and kind of where what we're anticipating um uh will be coming up and how forward that one. >> Okay. Thank you. Mike report >> uh me neither. So we are in need of an executive session for the medical financial credit or employment district corporation matters the appointment motion dispens dismiss or remove of any particular person corporation. Um I get a motion to go to second session second. >> All those in favor I >> any oppos Okay we'll take a little break here. I should tell you Nick is like obsessed with the album. >> He was like, I had no idea how fun this is. Jump on.