Public Hearing 1/14/2026

001Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. When you came in, there was an agenda. There's some guidelines for tonight's meeting. I'm just going to kind of summarize those go through exactly what I did last night. So, if you're here last night here again on behalf of board of education, I welcome you to this public hearing on the future use of elementary school. We truly appreciate you taking the time to join us and share your thoughts on an issue that matters deeply to many in our community. Before we open we open the floor for public comment like to provide some background context for tonight's hearing. [clears throat] This conversation didn't begin this year and it did begin with this board questions about enrollment trends, building use, and how to best organize our schools as

002a part of our district discussion towards that. As far back as the 1718 budget season, superintendent presented a report titled education redesign mobile pathways detention. [laughter] I'm sorry. >> That presentation raised early concerns about the planning enrollment and encourage the district to begin formal facility planning including examining configurations and transfer transportation efficiencies. Like many things, this work was slowed during the co years as our attention had to shift to more immediate needs. But the underlying challenges did not go away, but has changed where we are in town. For many [clears throat] years, these conversations focused on what might happen someday. Now, the realities we've been studying are right in front of us, and the board has a responsibility to listen, reflect, and begin considering next steps. In May of 2023, the board took the next

003step by apping a comprehensive facility study. The results of that study became available in 2024 and were shared with municipalities that make up our district. Since then, the district has continued to look closely at enrollment trends, how our buildings are being used, educational programming needs, and long-term fiscal sustainability. This work has included administrative analysis, board discussion, and the creation of a facilities use supplement. So at this time I invite Mr. Sponsor Superintendent to add some comments. Well, >> building on what Mark has shared, just wanted to add some broader context about our community and our region because the questions before us tonight didn't begin with this board and they aren't unique to our district. Cornell University's program on applied demographics studies long-term population trends across New York State, including here in Franklin and Essex counties.

004Their work shows what many of us think we know. Our region has been gradually getting smaller and older with fewer young adults and families with school-aged children and a growing proportion of older residents. In Franklin County, population decline has been driven largely by out moderation and an aging population. Exits County reflects a similar pattern with a significant share of residents now aged 65 or older. Across both counties, the number of children, therefore students, has steadily decreased. That context matters for schools because our facilities and transportation systems were built for a different set of circumstances. When enrollment shifts and population patterns change, it's our responsibility to step back and ask whether what we're using of whether the way we're using our building still makes sense. Looking at facilities is not a reflection of how much we

005value the school or its community. It's about understanding how our buildings can best support students while respecting our taxpayers. Aligning our educational spaces with current and projected enrollment helps ensure that all students across the district have access to strong learning environments. The demographic information I shared tonight doesn't tell us what decisions to make, but it does tell us this. Standing still is not a neutral choice. Continuing to operate exactly as we always have despite changing conditions places increasing strain on resources over time and can limit our ability to invest where it matters most in our students, staff, and programs. It's not easy work and it's deeply personal for many people. But by grounding our conversations in demographic realities and by listening carefully as the board is doing through its hearings, we can ensure that whatever

006decisions come next are thoughtful, transparent, and focused on the long-term health of our schools and our community. >> Thank you, Mark. >> So, tonight's meeting is a listening session. No decisions will be made this evening. The purpose of this hearing is to give the board an opportunity to hear ideas, questions, concerns, and perspectives from our community as we continue our review and deliberations. I would like to invite any POE member or committee member to respond when they feel it's relevant and appropriate to the conversation. I also want to note at the onset that this is going to be unique for us. Because this is a public hearing rather than a regular board meeting, I'm not going to follow our usual public comment rules. Instead, we've established participation guidelines designed to specifically support open sharing, thoughtful

007listening, and provide community input on the topic. Let's summarize how we guided. In May of 2023, the district commissioned facility staff. Over the past several months, we continued reviewing enrollment trends, facility use, our programming needs, and long-term sustainability. While a great deal of information has to be gathered and shared, no final decisions have been made regarding future use of elementary school for that matter how we're going to reorganize the district as a whole. [clears throat] The hearing is not intended to be a form for debate or rebuttal. Instead, it's an opportunity for the board to listen carefully and thoughtfully. Board of committee members, as I said, may engage as they feel appropriate. We ask speakers to keep their remarks to approximately three minutes or so that we may hear as many voices as possible. Please

008direct your comments to the board as a whole. While board members and administrators are present, we will primarily be listening and you should not expect immediate comments or individual responses. Although last night's meeting, we did have some uh engagement back that went well. We recognize that this topic brings forward strong feelings and different viewpoints. Those perspectives are welcome here. At the same time, we ask that everyone engage respectfully. Personal attacks or comments directed at individuals are not appropriate and will not be permitted. For those who prefer not to speak publicly or would like to provide additional details, written comments may also be submitted and will become part of the record. Last night, I was asked how long do you have to do that? And the answer is until the final decisions made. We'll help you

009take any input from the public. Your input matters. The board will be listened for common themes, questions, and considerations as we continue to work uh continue this work and we sincerely appreciate your willingness to engaged in a thoughtful and respected way. So, as you address the board tonight, just tell us your name so we know who you are and be appreciated. So, with that, we'll begin the public comment period. Who would like to be first? >> I'll do it. Okay. [laughter] Can I Can I I have questions first. Absolutely. >> Hi, I'm Jill Hank. Uh, I live in Green Lake. My son Levon is six. He goes of Troa. My daughter Isa is four and she's in QPK at Boo. I I've read the materials. I've read the minutes. I I've been talking to a

010lot of um parents and school staff and I I think what would be helpful from a person who's read all the documentation is would it be possible for you all to run through the possible scenarios because I think I understand them but I I don't know if I accurately understand them and other people might be in the same place. Is that possible? So, I think we could uh discuss what we've already discussed at some of our committee meetings, board meetings, okay, and let you know what's out there. Um, there's not been any real movement as to what choice we would go with. There's just been some ideas of these are possibilities, >> right? >> Yeah. Can can you make that a little bit? >> Sure. So, one is to just stay status quo as we

011are. Um, another is to move Bloom and students to Petrova and leave it K or UPK6, I'm sorry, K or UPK5 and 6 through 8 and everyone has there and a 9 through 12 high school like it is currently here. Um the other option is to make it a K through six or UPK through six ARBA and make the high school a 7 through 12 building. The other piece we've been checking Oh, there's no go ahead. >> The other piece we were talking about transportation, so totally different. >> So we've been watching the number of students who are in the district. We also done a lot of work on the number of students who ride every day. And again, anecdotally, we see more and more families are picking up and dropping off their kids than

012when I started even 13 years ago. So, we did the data and um about 50% of our kids ride two or more times a week. So, when we really look at transportation, we'll run two runs in the morning and two runs in the afternoon. Um the transportation department has done the work to see whether or not we could be a single run. And so that too is on the table. Okay. >> Part of the single run uh idea we're going to [clears throat and snorts] be um moving towards collective buses. A single run will work out way better trying to run two runs and then try to charge in the middle. >> It will or [snorts] will not. >> It will work out better to do a single run. >> Correct. Okay. >> For for

013ridership and you know physical >> operations buses. So that's that's part of the plan we're looking at. Okay. So, just to be clear, is housing UPK at the school district still an option? >> So, that that every year we look at that, >> right? So, I'm going to give you this waffle answer, but it it really is what we do. Okay? So when we receive our UPK funding, we are required to have 10% of our funding be granted to community- based organizations. So it really depends on what our numbers look like for UPK. If our numbers are large enough, you you I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that using district staff is more expensive than if I'm a community- based organization. Just the costs are higher. So, we really need a full class

014of 18 students in order to even begin. We don't break even, but we come close. Um, so it really depends on how many students we think we're going to have in UPK that year, how we then divide that up in where they can where they can be. So, we actually your question is a great one and we are worried about it. Also, it looks like next year's UPK numbers are small. Um, so we've actually moved everything up a month so that we can get a better handle on what our UPK numbers look like because everybody wants to know, is there going to be a district UPK placement or not? And so, usually we do things in March, we moved it up to February. We actually our our RFP that we're required to put out is

015out now. So we hope to get that answer sooner rather than later. >> So St. Bernard's is uh it classifies as a a CBF. >> Correct. >> Okay. Correct. >> So anecdotally I I somehow won the lottery and both of my kids even though there's a gap year in between were able to go to UPK at the district. and it has been like it is it is noticeable um to me that that opportunity has impacted the beginning of their education. So I just want to reinforce that that has been a true amenity and I know I've talked to a lot of other parents who have been able fortunate enough to experience that. Um I don't I don't put down any of our daycare providers. I don't know anything about St. burners, but I do know

016that my children benefited from having trained educators welcome them into UP. Um, I will also say that I'm I'm I work with Hansy and I'm all for bus electrification and I understand the capacity of batteries and charging one time a day. I will also say that both my kids ride the bus and I am uncomfortable with my four-year-old riding the bus with an 18-year-old if that is a scenario that happens. Um, Yeah, I'm just here to listen and um I know this is a really hard decision and thank you all for your work. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. [clears throat and cough] >> My name is Curtis Sessions. I live in Rainbow Lake. I have two sons. Uh one is six and attends first grade at my youngest is three and he is actually in

017a prek3 program at St. Augustine Lake Placid. Um, fortunately, a lot of kind of some of the questions that I had were already answered a little bit. Um, but I just wanted to perhaps bring everybody's attention that um, it seems to me that at this moment it's it's it's kind of an inflection point for the future of Sarah Lake Central School District. My children too uh, have benefited from UDK provided by district personnel with district oversight and checks and balances and resources and all of that stuff. Again, not to say anything negative about community based providers, but um we too were very thankful that my child had that opportunity and I would love to see my youngest have that same opportunity. Um [clears throat] in terms of budgetary constraints and things like that, it's not

018my place to say what is or is not possible. However, um I think that, you know, prior to my oldest son having the opportunity to participate in the PK, we were kind of what's going to happen? Is it going to be there? Is it not? Where are we going to end up? How much is it going to cost? Um and you know, there's a lot of anecdotally going around. It may perhaps be a little bit uncou, but I think it's worth noting that there was a point in time where both my children were in care um for a year, and in that year, we spent about $17,000 on child care. Um, and it was cutthroat. It was incredibly difficult to find a place to send our child just for them to be, let alone knowing

019that they were going to get the care and oversight um, and all those things that they need that were then provided to my son when he came. But, um, I digress. I I think the point that I want to make uh most clear this evening is that um knowing the community of Sarinac Lake and what our values are um supporting each other um thinking toward the future how to make this a more inclusive welcoming community and and to my mind it seems that we're all very focused on children's education. I would see every child in the district have the opportunity to have kindergarten provided by New York State licensed educators. Um, and personally, I find it hard to believe that were it put to a vote, the community would not choose to make that investment

020in terms of a budget for the upcoming years. And if you look around and see all the things that we spend money on, it's probably a hot button issue, but I won't mention the beautiful field we've got outside. Um, there was clearly support for that. So I I would be shocked if the citizens that live in this area did not vote to ensure that every single child of the appropriate age has an opportunity at least they can opt out if they'd like as you say the 10% for the CBOS's um has the opportunity to participate in a UPK program administered through the district [clears throat] by licensed educators. I I didn't come totally prepared to talk about UPK, so I'm going to talk a little [clears throat] off the cuff. >> But all of our

021CPOS do have to have a certified teacher um to teach and they are overseen by us. So Eric Bazar is our UPK. She oversees the UPK programming. So she's there once a month. They must use our safe curriculum. I think Listen, I'm biased. I love our our staff. So, I I hear what you're saying. Absolutely. But just know that just because it's provided by a community based organization, you still have to have a certified teacher that's provided the class, you still have to have the aid that supports it, the 18 to 181 ratio, 18 one and one. So, one teacher, one one TA or eight and up to 18 students. So, and they have to use our curriculum. We do oversee that. There's professional development included in all of that. So, and every student who

022wishes to be in UPK for the last two years, we've had a spot for it's been a lot of years that we did not have a spot. >> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I did some reading about it and there is a pretty significant nuance to certification for those that are working at the CBOS providing the oversight in the classroom. Correct. set of three separate criteria for qualifications that >> there used to be there used to be this if you were and again I apologize I'm going to just broad stroke there used to be when I first started and UPK was introduced um there used to be if you were working towards your certification it was kind of this gray you take a few courses and that has really tightened up >> so sorry

023go ahead >> so the literature that I was reading stated I think it was three specific criteria and Then if the three specific criteria aren't met, the district has the opportunity to reach out to some sort of state commissioner's office and seek some sort of relief to continue with the program so long as they have some sort of coverage by the entity overseeing the CPO. Well, >> what what I can speak to is that we've had a we've had a long partner who um we had a breakup this year and we felt very badly about it, but it was because the partner wasn't able to hire a certified person and we have not as a district um allowed that. We've had some other groups that have wanted to partner with us and provide UPK and

024without a certified instructor we have not allowed that. >> Is it something um again budgetary I that's not where my head is at but is it something that could theoretically be put to a vote in a budget? We could or you you could. Uh the other thing is if we had we had enough students, we could have two. I know you're going to find this hard to believe because I do, but some parents actually prefer >> certainly [laughter] absolutely continuity for their child, you know. So if they're already at a program and that program is offering the UPK program and get to after school care, so they they just seamlessly stay where they are. So there are parents who do prefer their student to be at the community based organization that's providing that. Um and

025again it really does condemn the funding's there. It's the students that are missing. And that being 1836 plus the whatever it cost for the 36. It's 10,000 and change per child is a is a flat number. Um and then we have to do the 10% to the community basis. We need to have enough students in order to be able to do that. >> Probably should clarify. I'm not trying to take anything away from from the CEOs. I know they they have their own thing going. I don't want to see anyone fail. I love seeing all these businesses that are popping up and people succeeding. Uh I just I just want to make sure that everyone has um whatever the the parents of the children feel is in their child's best interest as an option available

026to them as we have had. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. And you know I am welcome to have this conversation if you wanted to email me or call me. >> I appreciate that. >> I can give you specifics. I just am I just don't want to talk specifics tonight in case I'm wrong. >> Yeah. No, I understand. That's fine. >> I'm going to spend a lot of time on this in a while and I just want to get it right. So, feel free to reach out. >> Next. [clears throat] >> Hi folks, I'm Drew Ben. I'm a high school coral director here. Just had a couple of questions. one um how much work has been done in terms of a number or estimate of what is the cost savings of removing students from Lumdale

027understanding that we can't just leave that building right we're still going to need to pay for heat and lights and maintenance on property um so I just that's the by two kind of veins of question but that's one of them [snorts] >> Drew why don't you read number two Yeah, I'll leave up number one for you. >> Okay, [laughter] wonderful. Thanks. Um, I guess number two might might not be so much a question, but a bit of an observation. It seemed that last year when we were uh kind of making the shift to bring grades three and four and five all to Petroa, there seemed to be this um this real bias um against single sections um in a school whether that's um maybe it wouldn't provide as much um opportunity for social growth or

028or would somehow limit their their educational capabilities. But I guess I would ask by extension does that mean that every St. student has a limited education. I'm a product of a Catholic school grades K through eight. I was the only section all the way through. We only need to look at all of our top 10%s and see that many many St. Berners graduates who went through every year of elementary school as the only first grade, the only second grade. So, I just hope that there's not this implicit bias against uh you know, let's look at the one room schoolhouse, right? And this district has a long history of having one section in buildings going back to the River Street School, going back to the Broadway school. And I just um just want to make sure

029that that particular argument um doesn't equalize the sizes. I don't recall in any of those discussions um an issue with there only being one section of bullying. >> Okay. But >> I I heard that anecdotally, but aware we do have class size limits and contractual obligations. >> So that was a numbers game from that. >> I think from my time here, everyone on the board has valued the opportunity that students have at Millennium. Um, I two children my dad have said that repeatedly and uh I don't think that's ever been an issue. So, >> okay, >> what you're speaking of, I can't say that's not true, but I've not heard that in our house. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. >> So, along those lines, I'm going to give you an example. One of the

030limitations that we have is um in special education. Now, my daughter graduated in June. She's severely dyslexic um and uh been described and so she needed a significant amount of um special education help. If we had lived next door to the to Bloomingdale, my daughter could not have gone to Bloomingdale. She would have had to come to Petroleum. So when we look at things on an equity basis, is that equitable? And at the same time when you have your highest needs kids centered you know the majority are in petro what happens is first of all you're pulling kids from lingale all the way into petroa I'm going back a year you're pulling those kids intoale they don't have the luxury the one section I agree with you my daughter went to St. burners until the

031fourth grade and it was great. And it's not so much the socialization. I look at it as as they get into high school, they're all going to be together. And if the kids from Bloomingdale, because we don't have a full compliment, we just can't afford to have a full compliment there, a full compliment, full compliment high school. Then those kids, is that a benefit? is that a hindrance that those kids aren't exposed to other kids with more significant learning disabilities than the kids at Provo where a class may have a higher percentage of kids with disabilities than particularly. So that's one of the things that I have looked at financially speaking and I agree with you because yes we're still going to have this giant building but the n we're so constrained by nice law

032like the regulations you have to have a principal you have to have a vice principal you have to have a secretary you have to have a nurse you have to have so just to open the doors there's this complement of administration and before we step a child steps in there's that whole extra layer before you get teachers and you know the daytoday stuff that's the one thing that I've looked at because that was a question that I had and I've gotten a lot of questions it's a very good question um one of my biggest concerns with Bloomingdale is the equity end of it so we have these kids that are getting a really great experience and it's wonderful and I know I've talked to more families amilies that are third and fourth generation and I

033feel very badly about it but at the same time what about the kids that don't have that luxury so I look at it as an issue of effort >> thank you >> so Drew there I believe this sheet is in the uh dry but the lowend potential this This is after burn did all sorts of setting it at its level. What the the cost to run the building at baseline. The potential savings are somewhere between 595,000 and 62,000. And that savings won't all be in the first year. There will be some costs for reconfiguration of some point. >> So but but there is cost savings connected there. >> Drew, you might remember um too long ago. Um, we ran Bloomingdale with a teaching principal. >> I do. >> Was a a teacher principal radar. Exactly.

034>> And um, at one point the state came and said, "Uh, uh,uh, we can't do that." So then we had to put certified administration out there in that overhead. >> Uh, was certainly worth it when the building was filled with over 100 kids. >> Right. So I think Dory makes a valid point that the overhead now is is way out of disproportionate going other places. >> Sure. >> Um you know if we were allowed the the luxury of maybe running it under an old model a 25 year old model um the numbers might look different. I don't know but that's not even a possibility now. So, you know, when we feel important this weight of what can we provide because we have an obligation to all our students, all our staff and all our taxpayers

035and they all have varying interests of what is important to them. And so, we're trying to read through that and come up with the best solution we can. We separate the out. We know no matter what decision was made here, um there's going to be a happy group and a kind of a different group, but sadly, we know that. So, our mission is to try to do the best we can. And that's why we've been committed to hearing from people. We heard some plaint one gentleman spoke with a joining neighbor and his concern was well what's coming here? Am I going to see a development right across the street from me? >> So I haven't given that any thought because honestly that's not in in the plans and we spoke about that but it was

036a great question. I'm glad you came and so we get that answer. So the model of how that was originally run just isn't feasible anymore. Part of that is why we're ahead of where we're heading. >> May May I ask a question about the um um proposed savings you just mentioned? You you had mentioned it won't be that much in the first year. So you're suggesting that's annualized savings, >> correct? >> Thank you. We also said last night, I think it's important for people to hear or read. It we have no intention of u excising that property like what happened with Lake Kobe and Lake Clair. By the way, my kids went to Lake Clair, too. But that's not in our plans. I can't speak for what will do a decade from now. Um we

037want to use that property in the best possible way for the district. what that means. There's plenty of ideas out there and also keep it as best we can as a community for people moving as well. How that's going to look that's that's a different question if we go that route. Um but certainly that would be a discussion and you know if it's done within our time here with this board I'm sure we' entertain the same kind of format where we would say come in and tell us like let's do it understanding that we don't have an open checkbook either. So Diane spoke great about some ideas that she's brainstorming last night and uh we don't know because right now we we have all these things floating around. We have some more subcommittee meetings and

038we we have to get some work done. But at some point um we're going to have to take all these ideas and we will debate it uh and and an open board meeting and discuss it and we're going to have to make some decisions and we know it's it's going to be difficult. We're none of us are looking forward to that. By the way, uh I think I speak for virtually everybody on the board that if there's a way it could be done with with the kind of parameters we talked about with the equity and staffing and the financing, we'd be okay. But those things are colliding >> and it's just not something that I said in the open. It's happened in the last five months. This I I can remember at least a dozen

039years ago, maybe longer, that discussion. Well, I know when we first started when we said we have to put principal there, well, should we keep it open? and the building was packed. As a matter of fact, if you're here watching, you remember when we expanded the building. So, I appreciate you speaking to us. >> Absolutely. And I appreciate all your work. >> Thank you. Appreciate you. >> Can I just make a >> Sure. One comment about the cost savings and uh just because it looks like $600,000 cost savings, you know, on an annual basis or, you know, maybe not immediately is out there doesn't mean taxes are going to go down because the district costs are going up every year, right? So, it really just keeps the cost from going up too fast. So, I

040don't I I I hate people to go home and think, "Oh, great. my taxes are going to go down or the overall you know tax levies going to go down because probably not likely given the increased cost of health insurance that what is it 25% >> you know increased extra I mean like the costs are skyrocketing so it's really more keeping those costs from getting too high than it is really savings >> you know the state of that one of the things that occurs often in school districts is when you get a wave of retirees coming up say wow we're retiring people we're going to save money [clears throat] almost always is not true. It may slow down the the cost increase temporarily, but you know, in my time, I've heard that over and over

041again. It just doesn't materialize because, [laughter] you know, I didn't know that I got on the board. How many thousands of gallons of fuel we burn in one week when I heard that? You got [cough and clears throat] >> So, it's it's just and and we say this over and over again. Everybody gets on the board with this kind of idea. Geez, I got to do something to help contain cost. And then they find out I I worked here for 30 years. How can you have a good handle on the ticket to get kind of behind the curtain? The amount of regulation and requirements that are given to you. Um and then how the funding comes about. It's like you control so little of this yet you're tasked making it happen. And the healthc care

042increases is a big thing that we're going to have to figure that out. There's just so much to it. Um and and the gentle spoke earlier about the taxpayers approving tax. you know, we would have to exceed the tax cap to do some of the things that we would like to do or or request. And I don't share the same confidence that our taxpayers say, "Oh, let's just give you more maybe." But there are risks with the tax cap when you go to that vote. And uh we talked about it. Most districts that go that route really struggle with getting that passed. And uh our taxpayers, our community have been so gracious. our our kids and and our staff. You know, when there's a fundraiser, people support us. Look, um so we're mindful of that.

043Uh a month ago, we had a taxpayers group from the BART car's area come in and say, "You got to help us. We're getting killed here tax." Um if you live in Harriettown, you just got your tax notices and they're saying, "Oh, by the way, we're going to do a full rebound in June. I live in Hartown." I don't look forward to that either. So we have to be mindful of everybody's piece of this and that's what we're trying to do and that's why we're want to come talk. So that was next. >> Most of my questions have already been answered. UPK was one of them. Oh, by the way, I'm Ellen Yowsy. Um, and so I have gone from the parent to a staff member to a grandparent and now I'm one of those

044elderly people that so I've been in all the situations. My children went to St. Bernard's UPK would have been great. Wasn't around then. Um, I was going to ask how much are you going to save? I don't know. But the thing is not how much you're going to save but maybe how much you can make. And I know some of this was talked about last night, Diane. I heard from people that went and I'm kind of disappointed in how many people have come. I have to say that's disappointing. Uh the essential worker housing would be great. >> That was a neat idea, wasn't it? >> Yeah, that's a great idea. And I know I worked out there last spring to help with the funding. And all I could see was a senior citizen living there

045because it's one floor, easy access outside. I could see a center in the middle. Just lots of potential potentially moving some of our new vision programs that Bose subsidized out to there and adding to that with other new vision programs. Maybe putting solar in, maybe moving the bus garage with the e chargers and the solar helping. people could be techs learning the tech program. So just some of those ideas as a taxpayer looking for how to make money to offset the cost that we have to use for the building. So those are just I think that's >> I think I you volunteered for a committee that was every time I come home from one of these meetings my husband asked me that and I said nope I'm just there to prop [laughter] that's my job.

046So thank you for your time and thank you everybody for working on this. Great. Thank you. >> Next. >> Hi, I am Sha. My son is a kindergarten of Bloomingdale right now and I am a president of the Bloomale boosters. Um my question really is just if we do close them down, that's fine, but we've been an organization since the 1990s. How do we then make these kids, you know, yes, it comes down to the organizations, but like we don't want to fold. It's already hard enough to try to get our softball girls to stay and want to play because they're in middle school and they want to go to Santa Cl, but there's guidelines and you know, if you live in this area, but then they just don't play because they're not they don't

047want to play with Bloomingdale, you know, the younger girls or things like that. So, I just kind of had a I guess a suggestion like Bloomdale, you know, is we're a family, you know, it is a family and it's going to be hard to see it go, especially because I thought I could see both my kids going through Bloomingdale like I did my oldest. But as the president, you know, I'm just kind of we don't want to have to hold because all these kids are now in Lake and like how do we keep our committee and all of the things that we do out in Bloomingdale out in Bloomingdale kind of situation. There's no different to keep your identity. >> Yeah. Like we do a lot like we're getting soccer this year. We're starting a

048golf program through us. You know, we're trying to do a lot, but when we lose the kids and you, you know, we have signups still because people still like to come in and sign up. Like what do we do then? Like we can't just if they're signing up online, we have no say on that on where they go and things like that. >> So we're talking mostly use words. Is that what you're saying? >> That was just my start, you know. Yeah. like just if Bloomingdale shuts down I just know like kids are going just going to be at control but now they're going to be like well I don't want to play with this I want to come out and you know I want to play with you in Santa Cl League and I

049want to do this and it just kind of upsets us a little bit just because it shows our you know we don't want our committee to hold either >> right so two points here one my daughter played softball in as a young kid she loved it there so I had that experience was a great opportunity for her >> second is we don't control how the youth sports >> yes >> guidelines I coached your hockey and I know the exact fight that you're fighting right now I understand what I would say is in terms of the schoolbased side um I think we'd be open to all kinds of suggestions trying to keep some identity there um and and how to um make it so that your group still has a purpose >> we're not looking we

050don't we don't want to do that we don't want to make this some >> situation where you don't get keep your identity. So to that aspect, we would love to see some opportunity for our ability out there to still um serve that moving community. What that would look like, we're not sure if this comes to pass, but I'm an advocate of somehow using that facility um as some sort of landmark still. Um I would hate to see that not be able to serve the folks out there. Now you have some other facilities down here on the firehouse. Bloomingdale bar none does a great job for their kids in the community and what they do. >> So thing about that is is like we're not allowed to promote any of this through the school anymore. Is

051there a reason like kind of behind that? Because because >> what are you not allowed to promote >> like if like our booster like signups things like that? It's only like social media only. You're not allowed to do it [clears throat] through the school district or on parent square or anything like that. There are some rules on that. I'm not since I'm not in that world, I can't speak directly with Dan. >> Sure. So, I know Mark knows all about what you're talking about, but I don't. So, can we just can we just circle back to your first part? Then we'll come back to the second part. So, if I if I'm an eight-year-old and I want to play softball, do I get to choose who I play for or is it based on where

052I live? >> Where you live? So our students would still based on where they live still play from moving down. >> So that's the problem. Everything all of the most of the registrations now are all done online. So once you register and you know Sarah Lakes is $20 actually $30 this year more than we are. So to have to refund and transfer, you know, because people want to switch because they find out their friends playing out here. We have that, you know, back and forth. >> But we never have that. >> Yeah. [laughter] I want this class because my friend is in it. Same kind of thing. >> Yes, exactly. So, it's the same kind of thing, but with all everything done online now, like when you have like, you know, registrations and things like

053that, it just gets harder with the kids and you know, say you don't even have it doesn't even matter because most of their friends are all standard like people, how are we going to get them all? Like, we can't just get them all and have make them play in because then they just don't play, right? >> And then, you know, then you don't have softball or baseball teams. um at such a point where um we're we're clear as exactly what direction we're going, I'd be happy to meet with you, see what we can do to brainstorm. >> Okay. [cough] But but certainly back to your second one. So we have the rules in a school is you can be all in or all out, but you can't pick and choose based on what you like.

054And so we would have to open up our social media to anything that touches students or we have to keep it closed. And so um we we've had some experiences over the years where we've we began with kind of opening it up and really got burned. We had enough police here one time as a presence for a giveaway. Like we didn't think much about it, but the community did. So, we really have had to lock that down as far as using our social media piece to advertise. Again, you have to be in or out. So, we're very very tight. We advertise to the Y because they're our partner here on, you know, on the campus, but we're we're we don't open up beyond that. [clears throat] the youth center. We'd love to and we'd love

055to help everybody. But the problem is we can't say, "Oh, we really like what you're doing, but you've been a problem, so we're not going to let you do it, right? We can't can't pick shoes." And already parents will tell you that parent square is overwhelming. They hate the volume of parent square messages. We as staff hate the volume of parent square messages. So now just adding to that, everything just becomes a wash. I know it's old school, but kids still have their nikki folders. Is that what they're called? They still have their nikki folders. So, it we are happy to distribute for you if you wanted to do a half sheet. If you want there are some rules to that, but we are we're happy to help local organizations like yours advertise, but it's

056old school. We tried it last year and we were kind of shut down. So that's why I was just curious like if we are you know just kind of we have a booster meeting tomorrow. So just kind of I just want to have a little bit more information on how if anything happens what our next step is we're prepared and we had tried that just because we had a little paper to you know like back in the day you got paper sent home that stuff refrigerator [snorts] >> we were made at home. Yes. Um but we were told we weren't allowed to um last year. So that's just kind of why I was curious on >> So when we get to the point where that may be a possibility, >> we'll talk about it. >>

057Great. Okay. Um I do have one more thing. If the school is to be shut down for today, um what happens with all of the equipment there or the children? Has that been spoken about or >> you mean playing around with equipment? >> Yes. like all the desks all that like >> so that's why there will be some costs because that will be sorted out when we move to the other school the best I'll try to get some of it to go to recycle playground other people will want to keep it so we'll have that but but the playground equipment anything that's older cannot be moved because it it's a liability >> so anything that's old will continue should be there. Anything that was part of the new install is still new enough that that

058could be moved to. Okay. So, it would not be sold. >> It would not be sold. It would be enough to we actually can't sell it. We we had some when we closed Lake Clear, we had a municipality asking us for the playground equipment and our insurance company said absolutely not that we we can't sell it because it doesn't meet the new requirements and we would still be liable. So we can't can't sell it but we can't play on it. Yeah. So all the buildings there's all kinds of regulations in there. >> Yes. >> Every time you think you can do something like hey someone can use No, you can't. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. That's all I had. >> Thank you very much. >> Next. [clears throat] >> Me again. Um, can we

059go back to bus runs for a moment? You mentioned that there was a possibility of doing single bus runs. Um, could you explain what that would look like because I think I may have a question depending on what what exact how exactly that would play out. So that really is what it would be is um our buildings would start in tandem and so our students K12 would run bus to school, one run in the morning, one run in the afternoon. >> Okay. So did would that there being one run in the afternoon, would there be any changing changes to the timing of that run? >> A little bit. Uh we haven't because we aren't quite there yet. Nothing's written in stone, but we certainly looked at it to see whether or not it would be

060feasible. So, it's it we would split the difference approximately. So, it's a 7:30 drop off and then it's 7:15 drop off. I'm looking at Dave. It starts at 7:15. Where's Dave? Is he in here? Dave 7:15 drop off. Right. >> Right. And then it starts about 8 at the high school. So, off the top of my head, it would be about a 7:30 drop off for one building and then a 7:40 drop off for the other building, then just reverse it on PayPal. >> Okay. So, my question would it may not be relevant. Please tell me if it isn't, but my son at present um just given the nature of our schedules, uh he participates in the Y program, which is wonderful, and we pick him up from that at the end of the day.

061But in the event that switching to one bus run in the afternoon had you know timing implications for everyone really. Um would the school be providing some sort of oversight for children in the inter like when I was a child there was lunch key things all these different things. >> So why would expand their hours? So if there was a change in the end of the school day for for elementary the Y would just adjust to that. You're saying that the change would only affect the elementary the change in timing would only affect the elementary school. >> Well, it would it would um move the elementary school a little bit later and end the high school day a little bit earlier. And so >> I'm just wondering if I mean I' I've witnessed the program

062for a couple of years now and I'm just wondering if that's something they would be able to accommodate if there's suddenly an influx of of parents that are saying what do I do? >> You mean if there are more students? >> Yeah. I mean, where were all the kids going to go if they have to go home later all of a sudden? And who's going to be caring for them? >> Yeah, they staff according to the numbers. So, yeah, we we've been more students and fewer students and they adjust every year based on the number of of students who are in the program. >> So, um I guess that leads me to the next question, which would be for families who that might be a bit of a stretch for them to to pay to

063participate in the Y program. Um >> the joy of the Y is that they take everybody And they have a sliding scale and they they will they will meet your family where it is. >> Yes. They the the wise mission is that they don't turn anyone away. >> I didn't realize that. >> Yes. It's a it's a cool partner. >> That's great. >> Thank you very much. >> The women fund raise and you see their fundraising know. >> Good to know. >> Anyone else? >> [clears throat] >> Hi, my name is Alison Sox. I'm a Rainbow Lake person as well. I have two kids that are three and five. And so we're poised, they're at Northern Light, but we're poised to um enroll in kindergarten and very excited about that and a bit overwhelmed with

064not knowing sort of where the landing place might be. So, I apologize. I'm not super well informed yet about how registration works. Um, but I'm wondering what element of choice there is. Um, potentially in the future, like are you locked into when you register your child where they go is only based on where you live? And if that is the case, will that continue even if you know it's determined that Bloomingdale is going to close in one year. So you might have a child that has only one year at Bloomingdale and then moves again necessitating more transitions. It's just obviously there's everyone has their hearts so deeply in where are my kids going to go? How will they be supported? Um so the uncertainty is hard but just wondering if the parent the families have

065some degree of choice. I could imagine that would make people feel more comfortable like oh I want them to go even if it's only for a year or if I have a choice to just choose to have them go to off the bat so there's not as many transitions that just that's sort of my question if that makes sense really drives that the busing forale is specific and we're doing right now we're doing a lot of transfers so kids get off the bus and then onto Another bus is how we're doing UPK because they're coming from all over the district. So, a lot of students actually get driven to on their regular bus route and then transfer to a bus that takes them to Bloomingdale. Then we have kids on the Bloomingdale buses that go

066just to Bloomingdale then get off and Katie entertains them with some song and dance for a little while and then they ride a bus from Bloomingdale to patrol. So again, it's kind of gray area what you're asking and here's what happens and and everybody does it on the best in of intentions is don't worry I'll drive my child is what they say in May, right? I am happy to drive them. I really want them to go there. And then November comes and they get a new job and now I don't have a bus route to get them there. That's not an hour and 15 minutes. Right. So, so even if if if you're on the line and we can make it work, um we have always indicated when families have preference, it's on the sheet.

067And if it can work, we've tried to make it work. Um but we never guarantee because until we we always have to start too with the numbers. It's part of the contract that our classrooms have to remain somewhat even. So we can't have 21 children in a classroom at Bloomingdale and 10 and 10 in or vice versa. So it really is again a bit of a numbers game and how far our father's children were traveling because they get first rights and then we sort of work our way backwards. So, so my answer is a lovely gray maybe. >> Um, really based on where you are and what your bus route looks like and where everybody else is laid out for that kindergarten classroom. >> Okay. >> So, sort of is is well dated because one

068of the things that we'll have to discuss and talk about is no matter what configuration we go with, is it going to be we're doing it all one yet or are we going to do some sort of phasing? We don't know. And actually, we've heard a lot of people talk about that and as a board that serves as something we're going to spend some time on. Um, some people would like us to, you know, base it in if we do it. Just get it all done and once our done. There's good and bad both those ideas. You know, our staff has given us some feedback. Our admin staff has looked at the thing. They're giving us some feedback on some of this. But, uh, so it's it's not as simple as saying we're just going

069to close a building. There's transportation involved. There's potential reconfigurations of patrol in the high school. So, there's a lot of different moving pieces here. At what level do they all fit in? Um, we may do some of them, we do all those pieces. We don't know. That's what I want to hear. >> Right. >> So, that's a great point, >> right? And and your child being infected multiple times. That's the other piece too we want to be careful about. >> But it's Alison, right? >> Yes. Alison, February 20th. Is it February 20th? February 20th, kindergarten registration opens. So, call district office. We'll get you your information, but it'll also come to Northern Light. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's a a piece of the problem to be figuring out. Everyone seems so thoughtful. It's amazing.

070Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Good evening everyone. My name is Eric Bennett. Um I'm here speaking 100% um as Eric Bennett as a taxpayer. Um just want to make sure that's clear. Um >> are you ever really off the clock? >> Well no I I actually I am right now. Um but I do want to say I do appreciate all the work people are putting in and it's unenviable. Um it's a ton of hours obviously and most of you here are volunteers. So, thank you for putting in your time because it's always a few doing the most work. Um, I thought Tori had some compelling words last night talking about um how hard it is to make $19 an hour and try to find a spot to live. Um, you

071know, Deina talking about um the things that governments are trying to do and h how many awesome um just amenities we have here in Sarak Lake and why people want to be here. um you know listening to Joe uh call out local government and say it's time to what can we do um right because these these problems are not going away and I feel like year after year it just kind of churns what what are we going to do what are we going to do and there's just not a lot being done because I don't think people feel like they're you know short of a billion dollars to build houses how do you how do you really make that happen um and I too I'm hopeful like Nancy that 10 years from now we start

072seeing a a change and getting more folks in here. Um, I was getting some exercise today and all of a sudden it hit me. Why don't we as local governments or districts tax primary residents at a lower rate than people who have rentals or second homes? Um because effectively what's happening is people that are profiting off of Airbnbs and I'm not, you know, it's businesses America. I get all that. But you have you have to know that it's these um endeavors that are preventing people from moving here, being able to move here. And so why can't we um whether the village or the town and county tax that I just got um or the school districts, why can't we keep whatever the levy needs to be but reproportion it so that the person who has

073a primary residence in the district or in the town or in the village um is paying a lower rate than someone else that is has a vacation home or that um is renting and making a profit there. Apparently, it's illegal to do that. Um [laughter] but I did learn that there is what's called a homestead based proportion law and I don't know if anybody is familiar with that. Um I learned about it in 15 minutes, so I'm admittedly ignorant about it. Um >> homestead based >> it's the base homestead based proportion law and I believe 1903 is the number. lost signal is for him. Um but as I understand it, if a city um town or village enacts this law, then a school district, if 20% of the district is covered and the school district

074crosses multiple boundaries just like ours, that the school district could do the same with their tax li that they could effectively um incentivize people to be able to buy that home if their taxes for their primary residence would be that much less. I'm not saying the person who lives on Spitfire year round should have their taxes increased. I'm not saying that. But the person who comes up here for two weeks a year, yeah, tax them more if they're not a p it's not their primary residence. Let's take care of the people. the the idea that we're just going to take and tax people based on it's this number per thousand dollar. It's it it's different money when you start getting up. And if I'm a young person and I'm trying to purchase a house and

075perhaps through a district reappropriation in conjunction with a village one, I could potentially pay $2,000 less per year, which might not sound like a lot of money to some people, but certainly $200 a month goes a long way. and the person whose fifth house on X Y or Z their taxes go up $2,400 to compensate for that. I I take that chance. if people who own housing and are renting and it becomes uh you know their their nice one you know uh rental um I'm not talking like a multiple unit but they've got an Airbnb on Edward Street and because they're it's not their primary residence and they have to sell it now because their business isn't going to work because uh the taxes are too high and someone else can come in and buy

076that as a primary residence and be taxed at a less rate. Like to me, that's a doable, immediate, solvable um way to address how to make it more affordable because short of an influx of huge government money, nothing is going to change. And it's probably going to get worse. Other than that, we have to like hope for some crazy recession where people are selling all their stuff so that the local person or the average person can buy. Anyway, I I do again admittedly I know very little about this except for what I've read um this evening, but perhaps there would be pressure put on organizations such as this one, counties, villages, and get the designation. Think how great it would be for our own village to be able to tax primary versus rental non-primary secondary

077home and just create opportunities. And so I don't want to hijack a Bloomingdale conversation, but since it came up last night with you all and what can we do, how do we do it? For me, this seems like a great way to at least help out the average person and perhaps incentivize future home sales. >> So, it's a it's a very interesting concept. Uh I don't know about it either, but certainly, you know, but as a point of clarification, the district is not levy the taxes. We don't we don't determine what your tax is. That's a county issue. So the county is letting county do the lease. So we would be unable to say you have a second home. So we're that we don't do any of that. >> So that that would have to

078come from municipal government. >> Okay. >> But there is there is a start exemption, right? You know, so your primary >> Sure. >> You know, if it's your primary dwelling, you get an exemption on the assessment and then if you're over a certain age, you get this enhanced star. That is a little bit of what you're saying. >> Sure. >> Yeah. I mean, it's the same concept. >> We would be supportive of a concept that supports our local taxpayers and our people. The other thing that is is kind of a join with us, Eric, is that uh most people don't know this. It comes up every year in our budget that the amount of money that we get reimbursed by the state is significant less than most of our district neighbors. The state has us

079as a wealthy district on paper. We have a tremendous amount of state land in our district. Take a guess that they pay market value for that land. Yes or no? >> So, you know, that formula we, you know, lobby on it. Tori particularly has done work on that, but there's no appetite to change that formula in Albany because it doesn't affect the big five school district. The formula they like. >> Sure. rural districts, particularly one like ours that has a lot of state land, it is a formula that works against us. It's a formula that's probably 50 years out of date. My entire time in this district, I've seen various attempts to get that fixed. So, where our aid is between 54 and 60%, you go to another district uh 50 miles away, they might

080be getting 80 or 90% reimbursement in some of their age. That's huge for our taxpayers. So every time we do our budget, we talk about every dollar we spend in our district, the local taxpayer pays a [clears throat] much bigger share of that dollar than most districts around us. That's kind of hidden. Most people just don't know. We talk about all the time, but just doesn't get out there. >> So can you, this is my own ignorance, too. I don't know much about it, but can you just explain again how who sets the tax rate for anyone who owns property within the district? taxes. >> Yeah, it's done through your your your uh townships, I think. And then it's actually um implemented through the counties, the counties and the collectors. I have that right. >>

081I absolutely can speak to this. >> So, St. Arman, obviously I'm the supervisor of town where Bloomingdale is located. Um we are the northernmost township in Essex County and we obviously border Franklin County um as well on two. So the way the tax rates go and just so everyone here knows I know Mark just said Harriet's town is reassessing oh my goodness they're going to go to 100%. And they absolutely will and the tax rate will go down. So just >> it doesn't mean your tax is going it does it absolutely does not mean that your tax is going down but your tax rate per thousand will absolutely 100% go down. So based on the assessed value of your parcel so if you have a house that's assessed at $200,000 in the town of St.

082Armond you have several different funds. So general a fund, DA highway, highway outside because we are part of the village. So that means the DB fund, highway outside fund is that little portion where the village of Sarinac Lake and the town of St. Armen converge, >> right? >> That's exactly right. >> So that's highway DP. And then um we have Rocklet District for water. We have a Sarinac Lake Fire and Rescue. We have Bloomingdale fire. We have North Ela fire because part of St. Armen is in Echo Bay in Lake Placid on on Upper Lake. So there's different sections there [clears throat] and those are broken down for the entirety of the township for each parcel. So the the budget of your town sets the rate. So the budget of the school district sets the

083rate for the parcel. But because the school district encompasses town of St. Arman, town of Franklin, town of Brighton, town of Santa Clara, town of Harrietstown, village of Santa, town of North Albarook, >> Blackbrook, Blackbrook, >> right? So Blackbrook. Is that all of it? Is that what it is? >> Yeah, three counties. >> Three counties, right? So, the way the tax rate works for the Sarinac Lake Central School District is all of those parcels that are within it's only two count. No, three counties determine based on the parcels. This is your town tax. town, General A, General B, D. This is your tax per county, you know, your Essex County, Franklin County, and Middle Ser County. And then the school district has a budget of X amount of dollars. And these are the parcels in

084Essex County. These are the parcels in Franklin County, and these are the parcels in Clinton County. And in order to make up that $40 million budget or whatever it is, each parcel has to be assessed at X amount of dollars. So that's it's very very complicated. I'm really glad I'm not in charge of all of it because it is very complicated. But assessed value like you were saying, you have your star exemption. So if you're primary residence, um you should already be signed up for your star exemption. And then if you're over 65, you get your your senior star, your aged exemption there. And then uh town of St. already passed a a firefighter EMS exemption. Um there's a veterans exemption. There's a bunch of different exemptions that people may be eligible for that they

085are not receiving. So if you think that you aren't getting your star or anything like that, please reach out to your assessor of your town and they can help you with that. Now, I wanted to talk a little bit, Eric, about what you had said about the taxing at a different rate for um short-term rentals. The board of supervisors for Essex County just recently passed a resolution requesting the governor to amend the tax code. It's called a Swiss code, and some of you might be aware of it. So, we wanted to be able to uh attach a Swiss code to short-term rentals because we feel that those are businesses and they should be taxed as businesses. Um, but as you said, it's illegal right now. So, the Essence County Board of Supervisors are taking steps

086um in order to be able to tax those entities at a higher rate than a regular person. And is that potentially through the the homestead base? >> That's a little bit different that No, because that one was specifically just form rental. >> Um because they're a business, >> right? >> So they're a business. They're they're getting money by renting this property. And so we we requested a Swiss code basically so that we could tax them appropriately as a business rather than as a residence. So, that's one step that the board of Essex County uh supervisors is doing. Another step, and I didn't talk about this last night, and just tell me to stop talking if you want, but um we are very committed to addressing affordable housing in Essex County. Um I can't speak to

087Franklin County, but I can tell you what we're doing in Essex County. Um three years ago, we created the Essex County Land Bank. Um, by the end of 2026, we will have 17 homes that will be in possession of uh residents low to mod income and that's their home. They own it for their entire life. They can uh donate or their heirs can get that home. So, we have 12 right now in 2026. We anticipate having 17. We have plans to do more. um as many as we can, as many as we can affordably. Um we've gotten a little bit of push back on it from some people. There's a I'm sure you all are aware of the tax foreclosure process and one of the things that land banks can do to get properties is

088for the jurisdiction which is the Essis County Board of Supervisors to remove a property from the tax role the tax sale excuse me and donate it to the land bank. Um recently there was a lawsuit. It's called Henipin. Um you can Google that and it's a nightmare. Um so we've had to come up with a different mechanism in order to get properties into the hands of the land bank. And what we are going to be doing moving forward is we are going to fund the land bank um just for example like a $100,000 a year to allow them to go to the Exis County tax sale and bid on properties that they think they could flip or you know would work a vacant land for a new margin of home or something to that effect.

089Um so we are working on that and we are committed to that. Um there's a lot more work to be done and that always equals money. Um we are applying for grants diligently. The um Essex County Land Bank right now has a program throughout all of Essis County. It's called an 80 new accessory dwelling program. So if you have a garage um on your property and you say, "Hey, I'd be willing to, you know, renovate that." Right now, there's a grant. You can get up to $120,000 to renovate your garage to turn it into a little apartment. And the the hope is that you agree to rent it to a low to mod income person or family for 10 years. >> That's great. >> Wonderful. >> With a with a you know, the rent can't

090be above you know 20% of >> you know the compensation. >> These are good things that uh you know I haven't heard that before. So thanks for >> Yes. I and I apologize for saying nothing's being done. I appreciate the efforts and it sounds like those are great programs. >> One one thing that they had mentioned and again my >> it was talking about eligible split tax districts and so that effectively >> I don't know who sets the levy or what it is but that essentially could do the same thing with your school taxes ultimately that you could designate them through whatever entities as primary residences or um you know for-profit or secondary homes. And so, um, I don't want to take up everyone's time, but I just thought it was an idea that, um,

091I had never heard of before. And, um, what a way to maybe, um, make it just a little bit easier for, um, people that are trying to make the goal here. >> Eric, there's there's another issue this we we talked about this yesterday afternoon, right, which is something that we can't solve at this scale. And so, you know, the the funding formula is endlessly frustrating. And I've had conversations with project about like fixing that at the state level. It's primarily aderondex and catskills that get hammered on that. Um, we keep a lot of money in reserves for this reason. The field was built mostly out of reserve money because we have to keep infrastructure money in reserves so we don't have to keep going to the taxpayers. We're getting absolutely crushed on healthcare costs. And

092as somebody who does work in Scandinavia, I find that endlessly frustrating that this country has not done what every single other developed country in the world has done, which is get its healthare costs under control. And so, you know, this is the implication of that, right? We're looking at a massive, massive hole in our budget costs. So, we can't solve that problem at this level, right? >> One thing I do want to say, if I'm headed to Albany on February 11th, I'm hoping to take some of the kids, some of our school kids, that's a tangible idea. I know nothing about I'm going to make phone calls for them to NISB. There's I we've got some great resources in NSBA and attorneys and so that I can get them look into this. This is like

093to me it it's logic and unfortunately the thing I've learned in three years on the school board logic does not play into a lot of the state stuff but that's a con that's like that's a solid idea that we can take. you've got appointments with Dan Stem set up and a couple others I'm waiting to hear back. But that's an idea and I can get the numbers after from you. Um that we can go to them specifically and say okay instead of here's thinking out of the box. This is what it's going to take. And I think as enrollment gets smaller and things are only getting more expensive. We have to start thinking out of the box and you all coming and coming with ideas like yes Google search but I haven't heard of anything

094like that and it makes it makes perfect sense to me in that the people that are here living just going to work teachers going to work plumbers going to work that that's a different rate than the people that are here you know and that's not going to be popular with some of our customers because some of our customers do have million dollar homes, but when it's their second, third, fourth million dollar home and we're just trying to keep the property that my grandparents built, we're talking about two different things. And so many, and I'm sure you see it every day in the classroom, so many of our families are just getting by. And we've got to start out of the box thinking like that to say, okay, how do we make this work so that

095we can so that we can still live here and that we can keep people coming here. And unless some major industry that's environmentally friendly that doesn't have a huge footprint that works here, that would suddenly bring a whole bunch of people, that's the only way we're going to get bigger. And that's not something that's going to happen. We need that part. I just kind of feel like if if if people that are either living up here in second, third, fourth, fifth homes or they're making money from units like you said, if that's effectively choking out our district and we can see it in the declining enrollment each year, then we might as well let them pay for it. You know, we might as well let them eat the cost instead of the little people >>

096putting the bill for watching our own demise. You hear this, you know, you look on the news and I talked to districts, you know, actually when I was in Washington, I talked to other districts that are facing the same exact issue of these these vacation rentals and the second homes and it does make it, you know, nobody's come up with a solution. This is the first thing that I've heard that's an actual attempt. I just just made a point. There are a lot of people in this district that are live maybe in San Lake but have acreage that has been in their family forever and they're they want to keep that acreage and so when you talk about you know upping the upping it for not everybody's a second or third or fourth homeowner that

097owns the you know million dollar home. There are a lot of people in our district that own land that isn't their primary residence that they would like to keep. you know, they might be on a lake if they're lucky enough, but they also So, so it's it's never that black and white like they're really rich and then they're low. >> Of course, of course. >> So, just I wouldn't want to hurt those families either. >> Someone's getting hurt all the time, right? That's going to happen. >> Yeah. Next. You know, we started out tonight by saying that, you know, this is not a new problem. It's the whole reason why a couple years ago when we got the study members of the board with Diane went to the various municipalities and said here's the numbers

098we have this is what it looked like this were headed down we were generally well received by those municipalities already knew what the problem was and and struggling the reality of politics of this is you know the rich and powerful tend to have more influence on these kinds of laws and all and you know I I am hopeful that our local government can make that way. And I hope your your efforts pay off and I think your your points are well taken. Um between now and then we got a problem on our doorstep and we got to do the best we can to fix that. Hopeful that the bigger picture things are out of our control. Remember things are out of our control. The school district does not determine the value of your house. We

099we have no part in that. And so all those things and I I agree with being it's great to be complicated. I want to be a checker, but we want to be in communication with all our partners, be it our community members, our staff, the municipal governments. We're willing to work with anybody and everybody to try to improve the situation for all all of us. I think that's one way to go. >> Well, I just want to just mention one other thing and Eric had touched on it a little bit. Um, so where we live is very unique. you know being 100% inside the aderondex park and for example the town of St. Armond um has approximately 80% of its 54 square miles of acreage 80% of that is state land that means there's only

10020% of the entirety of the town of St. that is privately owned either by businesses or people or any you know people we have you know Trudeau and whatever the case may be but only 20% of the 100% [laughter] is privately owned conversely the state pays [snorts] 20% of the taxes and the 20% of the private land owners pay 80% of the taxes. So, you hit the nail on the head when you said, "Is the state paying their fair share?" And no, they're not. But we're also the state. So, what do you do? You know, I mean, we're all paying the state taxes. So, even if the taxes in the state went up, we're still paying it. So, it's it's a double-edged sword. Um, one of the things that I want to look at very

101very carefully for the town of St. farming is increasing our hamlet areas. As we all know, the APA is in charge of what we all do up here with our land. Um, so right now we have a very small hamlet area in Bloomingdale. There's Bloomfield proper, uh, the village, the old village lines, I guess you would call it, the hamlet, and there's a little piece um, you know, down with Sarah Lake area that's that's Hamlet. But if we had smart expansion of hamlets, not just in the town of St. Armen, but in all of our towns. If we could increase the size of our hamlets, that could substantially increase the amount of housing stock that could be available because some areas, you know, right along the stretch of Route 3, which is it's a main

102corridor and, you know, it's it's 40 acres per house. So just by expanding you know the hamlet areas in what little bit of land that we truly have we could really make some big impact there >> your jurisdiction over the hamlet would would supersede some of the APA regulations >> right so if we could do that not just St. Armen, but all of our towns that are in, you know, the aderon park, if we could expand on our hamlets, we could increase our housing stock. >> So, we'll end on this particular topic by by saying this. Um, no other school district in the state of New York, perhaps even the nation, is in a village, three counties, and by >> eight, [clears throat] even worse. So, that always complicates everything we do in the school

103district. Um, never causes DNA any edex, but it's it's it complicates that. So, let's move on. Someone else to speak follow that up. >> I didn't think I was going to get up here and say tax the rich. [laughter] >> Tax the rich. Um Tommy Brighton resident really affordable taxes just for the record. Um I wanted to touch on the timeline that was mentioned. So the two options which include Bloomingdale closing I from what I understand one would have an option that would call for more staffing efficiencies than the other and I know that you mentioned that you talked to staff you talked to all of the staff hopefully about this and I'm wondering what their feedback was on that and whether or not it seems to me it would be most comfortable maybe not

104for a budget but for the people who are employed at the school to extend that timeline out. So just wondering what you heard from the >> So Diana has spoke at several of our meetings about the necessity for the timeline to start to firm up because if changes are made, we don't want to be trying to do them in June for obvious reasons. And so one of the topics at our meeting tomorrow night, should you want to come or tune in on TV, um is we're going to discuss the timeline a little bit. And so our subcommittee has had some conversations about it. Um, but at some point we've got a firm up. So if we're making plans for for school end of it, we can do that. And also for staffing to know what's

105coming their way. And probably most important for our parents and our and our students to have an idea what the time is. Is it going to be we're staying the same? Is it going to be a little bit? Is it going to be a lot? Are we going full on everything? Are we phasing in? Those are everybody has those questions. parents, staff, board, ad staff, everybody has. And to kind of uh enhance that a little bit, Mrs. Fox will be leaving us and we'll be hiring new superintendent. So, it's probably important to know what we're doing. Um, so when the new person comes in, um, they're not tripping over, have no idea what's going on, just dying. So, tomorrow we're going to start entertaining some of those conversations. See you tomorrow. >> This the staff

106has been surveyed. It's not my survey to share. Um, but the teachers association and the non-instructional union both put out a survey to their staff members. So, the the information is there. As I say, it's not mine to share with you, but I'm sure at some point it will become at least the main themes will become public. But yes, the staff has all had the opportunity to weigh in about some suggestions, to make their own suggestions. >> Anyone else? >> So, last night we allowed uh members of the committee and the board if they wanted to uh make any comments and I think what we do tonight is is offer the same opportunity. So, someone at the table would like to address this in any manner. had pretty good discussion so far. So, >> are

107you gonna do the call? >> No, I don't want to do that tonight because I don't want to pin people down. So, if you want to speak, just say J. Let's >> I would. So, speaking now as a mom of two adult boys who went um K through five through Bloomingdale um [laughter] and living in Bloomingdale and literally moving to Bloomingdale because of Bloomingdale school. Um I would hate to see Bloomingdale School. It uh breaks my heart to think that it and I just wanted to put that. >> Thank you. Anyone else? I just want to say thank you all that are taking the time to come and ask questions and understand. One of the things that I have found really frustrating, Mark touched on this is that we have control and we don't have

108control. We get on the board and we think I'm going to change the world and then as Dian says it's a giant ship that turns to us. The one thing that I'm finding though is that the rural districts like us, we're we outnumber big districts. And the squeaky wheel gets to grease. And although sometimes I come off as argumentative, we need to do the best we can and ideas like yours and yours and yours coming and talking to us and bringing up stuff. We've already we've mentioned a few things that we haven't um the more we get our voices out there and the more we talk to our elected officials and the noisier we are um the more likely are to get get a change. We're making change because we have to long term. We

109need more voices. Uh with the funding issues that are our constraints, that are a major part of this is we need more voices. We need more voices reaching louder and farther so that in another 10 years um we aren't in a similar position and that the numbers aren't going there. I don't [clears throat] that's not my intention at all. That's it's the last thing I want to do. But we are constrained by we are constrained by N said incredibly. Um but the more people come out and talk and say our kids matter, our kids need the same thing as city kids. Um the big five have double representation. they have extra school board um they have their school board then they have regional school boards boards of board members and then they have you know

110larger district board members so they're getting multiple representation we don't have that luxury so coming out and talking and asking questions and making noise and getting on your social media and explaining this is what we had to do I just think that that's it's really important And it shows our kids that they are really important and that they're worth fighting for. And I appreciate all the militaries that have come out to say, you know, our kids are important and they're worth, but I just think I think we need help. Um, I didn't think I I didn't I can't do as much on the school board as I had hoped to, and I find it incredibly frustrating. And [clears throat] Dan Ste will tell you that I always check what he had for breakfast. Um because

111so many of our kids didn't used to get breakfast. We need as many voices as possible to work on these funding issues so that 5 10 years from now there's going to be a different challenge. Things are not suddenly going to get cheaper. Um but I thank you for coming out and being some of those sweets. Thank you, Dory. Anyone else on the table? >> I just wanted to echo Tori's um sentiment. I've been teaching in the district for 22 years. I commend all the parents who came tonight. You know, obviously your spouses, your significant others, daycare, watching your kids. I I like I was in your position. It's tough with little kids. Uncertainty is really hard. Um so, I just wanted to say that I commend you for coming out and sharing your voice

112and asking those tough questions. I've witnessed two schools close in my 22 years here. It's just it's really disheartening. I worked at Lake School. You know, I remember sitting out in these seats and being part of these tough conversations and yeah, these are really, you know, it's it's hard to approach this from an unbiased perspective. When you're sitting on this committee and you're looking at declining enrollment and you're looking at, you know, these budgetary constraints, it's hard it's hard to sort of put your heart to the side, you know, and look at it really from a financial viewpoint. you know, where are we? You know, what you know, you know, what is actually what is our district looking at in the future? You know, and you really want to keep that positive outlook and hope

113that with some positive change at the government level and beyond, you know, we're not sitting here, you know, we're we're on a positive outlook in the future. But so, thank you to the parents is what I was trying to say. >> Kids are our future. >> Well said. Thank you. >> I mean it. >> Anyone else? We said last night, I'll repeat it tonight. Um, if you have people in your circle that want to reach out, send us comments or contact us, we'll take input all the way up till whatever the decision date is. Um, you know, there's no cut off for for for input. We want any and all input. And to that end uh um I'll stay after if anyone wants to visit and share some text and everybody wants to get up

114in front of the microphone in the auditorium but uh we're available to hear you and I think that's our obligation and our board of education our committee have been very good about uh seeking and taking in we've got I think over two nights we've got a lot of things a lot of positive things come our way and you know some things have been clarified I think some things we got a little more work on Thank you very much for coming. So with that we'll adjourn.