001Please join me in saying the pledge of allegiance. Could I please get Could I please get a motion to accept the minutes from February 12th, 2026? I see Matt and a second from Angie. Is there any discussion? Connie? Um, yes. I just wanted to note that I'll be abstaining just from this uh because There is a portion of my comment that was it was not in the recording. It got like cut off and it's not in the minutes. Um and I thought it was important. Um so a portion of my comment specifically where I said that um board members should not tell teachers how to teach and that that can backfire. It was not included um in either the recording or the minutes. So I just think it's an important reminder about the respective roles
002of the board and instructional staff. So, I just wanted that to be officially on the record. Thank you. Point of order. Can we just Can we add that to the minutes? Because I I mean, she she said that I don't know. If it's the board's pleasure to amend the minutes, I think that we can make that suggestion and put it in the official record and bring it back next time to approve. Do are are the minutes usually that specific including um quotes from board members on varieties of things? I in my in my experience they're not that specific. the the written minutes I think so to a point but the way the minutes are put together is reliant on whatever available video is streamed because the process that we have is although I take notes
003at the table um Lisa Netashim is actually the person who writes the minutes on the paper and she relies on the video stream recording to generate um some of the comments that do get translated into the minutes and as a result of Connie um her comments being cut off. Anything that Lisa would have regularly transcribed into the official record for the minutes didn't have the opportunity because the video cut out. I mean, if the minutes if the minutes are wrong, I I think we should amend them. Um, Angie. So, I think the person who wants them amended should make that motion. Yeah. Okay. Matt, would you make that into a motion, please? I make a motion to amend the minutes to reflect what I just said. Okay. Can I get a second? Matt, is there
004any further discussion? Okay. Seeing none, all in favor of amending the minutes. This would in if I'm understanding correctly, remove them from tonight's agenda and they should be back on next meeting's agenda. Is that correct? Yes. And we'll get them on with the clarification with the comments that Connie just noted. Okay. All in favor? Okay. Um that's unanimous. So I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do. Does that Do we just move on from that first motion that was to approve the amendments? Yep. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Could I please get a motion to accept tonight's agenda? Matt with a second from Angie. Is there any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, all in favor of accepting tonight's agenda. That's unanimous. This would open our first public comment period. I do not believe that we have
005any members of the public who wish to address the board. Um, but am I incorrect and are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? Okay, seeing none, there will be a second public comment period at the end of our meeting. And this brings us to board committee reports. Are there any board committee reports? Matt, uh, I have a report not from our board committee, but from the DEI committee. Um, we had a meeting on Monday, uh, that was a reschedule from some blizzard that we had at some point. Um, there were a couple things that were discussed in an update that I thought was very interesting. Um, the some of the uh, building the I think the BERT team B belt the belt team, sorry, the belt teams uh, reported
006out some of what they were doing in DEI. I thought some of which was worth noting. Uh, Lake AB is is um, continuing their newsletter that we learned about uh, when we were at Lake Avenue. uh and they're talking about tech in the classroom for families in this next uh this next newsletter. Uh Maple Lab, interestingly, is looking uh to bring back recess or to bring recess to the middle schools to find a time to let the kids move, which I thought like I that sounded great. Um either as part of a lunch block or some other thing. Um and obviously weather is is also one of the big challenges they're facing. Um and there were some other updates about uh various events. Uh division 3 is doing an annual cultural fair, their annual cultural
007fair on March 31st. Um that's coming up. Uh and then we broke into our groups to talk about uh the our various projects. I I'm on one group so I can sort of report on that. about the the the culture survey that's climate and culture survey that's going out that that'll be administered uh sometime at the end of the very end of March early very early April before April break uh and then hopefully the data will go through that committee again and get to the schools uh sometime in in the spring. Also, there's a Geyser Road event. It's their uh Mike, you might you might have to help me on this. The Stoic event, thank you. on uh April 30th coming up. Any questions including from our students? Okay. Any other board committee reports? That
008brings us to our student member reports. There we go. Um, so we received four reports from three elementary schools and the high school. So, Division Street Elementary School was pleased to welcome students back this week following the winter break. The Steam Expo is taking place this weekend and will be will feature projects created by Division Street students along with a variety of interactive exhibits presented by community organizations. The giant earth balloon is always a highlight of the event. Tomorrow P is PBIS Dragon Day. Students will receive character education awards and recognition of demonstrating patience. They may also use their blue streak bucks to enter raffles and names will be selected for prizes. Dorothy Nolan um students at Dorothy Nolan enjoyed celebrating the 100th day of school in a variety of ways. Primary students were especially
009excited to showcase their ability to count by ones, fives, and tens to reach 100. Dorothy Nolan has also been celebrating its February Good Citizens and learning about the many ways students have demonstrated patience at both school and at home. Um, at Lake Avenue Elementary School, Lake A students have placed in the top three in Win Place Show, the annual student art exhibition at the National uh, Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for the last two years. And this year, they are excited to share that one of their fifth graders, Nico Toli, placed in third. The second graders are working on the Prevention Council's Protecting You, Protecting Me program. The program teaches kids to stay safe, make good choices, practice vehicle safety, and build healthy social and emotional skills. They're looking forward to watching the
010students perform in the drama club production of Mary Poppins Jr. next weekend. Students have been working really hard and they can't wait to perform. And at the high school, congratulations to Loit uh Gfield, who was recently named a National Merit finalist for 2026 for his outstanding academic performance. He's one of 15,000 students in the country to receive this recognition. The high school drama club presents Newsies. Come on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday for a great show starting on March 12th. They wish all of their student athletes luck as they enter sectional season. And congratulations to the teams on an outstanding winter sports season. Another congratulations goes to the boys alpine ski team for their state championships. The champions champions are Griffin Singer, Cooper Villier, and Noah Senita. And one last congratulations to the Saratoga Quiz Bowl
011academic team. They've qualified for the Northeast Regional Competition and the High School National Championship Tournament. And that concludes our student reports for this evening. Thank you. And that brings us to our administrative report. Oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to add that the participatory budgeting committee met this Monday and we finally started doing our advertising and promotional stuff. So, my group, the healthy foods group, is working on making our posters and things we're going to hang around the school and also hopefully some fun little things to give out to advertise. And we are meeting again next week to do the same. That's awesome. Thank you. That brings us to our administrative report. And just to follow up on the participatory budgeting process, I think Sydney and Olivia have been working with the adviserss. Uh
012the board had asked for an update from the students. So is it the March 16th meeting? One of the one of the meetings in March uh prior prior to the actual vote uh that they'll be able to come and and share uh the great work that's being done at at the high school. So uh so the students have done an awesome job uh taking on that first year initiative. Um, also just want to follow up on a few things that Olivia had touched on. Uh, to congratulate all of our winter sports teams. Uh, several teams are wrapping up their season now. Uh, many are still participating in either sectional or state level competition. Um, as stated, our boys alpine team has already won a state championship. Uh, so we'll be looking forward to recognizing um,
013all of our participants and coaches. So again, just want to thank all of our coaches for their time and efforts. uh to all our parents for their support, all of our outstanding uh fans who come out to support our teams and especially to our student athletes for representing uh Saratoga Springs with great Blue Street pride. So um so again, another very successful uh winter season. Uh high school drama club. Uh we're excited. We're just a few weeks away. Uh March 12th through the 14th. Um they'll be the production of Newsies here at the high school. So already on the district website uh there's information about ticket sales uh and the u the times of the performances. So encouraging all the community uh to come out uh and to support our our high school uh drama
014club production. Uh and then finally uh on tonight's agenda, I just want to point out um the our pathways to excellence strategic plan uh for the last uh four months uh through the leadership of the board of education and the engagement of our entire community uh from our students and parents and community members, our teachers participation and support staff and our entire administrative team uh who help uh contribute uh to updating the district strategic plan. Uh also want to acknowledge Kevin McGowan uh who is a facilitator who did a great job uh helping us get to this point. Uh so on the agenda for the board of education tonight is to adopt the 2026 to 2030 uh pathways to excellence uh strategic plan. Uh over the last month or so uh we've gone through uh
015several iterations and some edits um based on feedback from the board uh based on feedback that we re received um from our stakeholder committee. There was about 60 members of the community that me met met back in November uh to help provide some u some focus areas and and identifying priorities and establishing some action plans. Um so again we're we're really excited uh about the new strategic plan and now the next step once the board adopts uh is to publicize this out um not only to our school community but also to the greater community at large. So uh Mora Manny our communication specialist um is already starting to create what the one-page document that will kind of summarize all this uh that we'll be able to u to share out to the community. So again,
016just want to thank the board uh for your participation and leadership uh throughout the process and again uh having a strategic plan that really focuses our initiatives. Uh moving the district forward uh is a critical and important step uh for the district. So uh so thank you for for all your efforts. Uh so we do have uh two presentations tonight. Uh so our first presentation is our annual facilities and operation uh report. So with us tonight is John Tiner, our director of facilities and operations. Uh Dave Alhamdu, our assistant superintendent for information technology and operation and innovation. Uh will be assisting as well as Mike Goodwin, our assistant director of facilities and operations. Um as the board knows in the community, uh these folks take extremely great pride in our in maintaining our facilities, do
017an incredible job. Uh so uh John, Mike, and Dave are looking forward to uh sharing the wonderful work that's taken place over the last year. I'll turn over to John. It's waiting on the projector. Yep. So anyway, I'll introduce the team. I think most of you know me, but my name is John Tiner. I'm the director of facilities and operations for the district. Uh, presenting with me tonight is Dave Hamadoo, assistant superintendent of information technology and operational innovation. Say that fast. And, uh, Michael Goodwin, assistant director of facilities. Um, tonight we're going to share our five departmental goals and evidence of how we continue to achieve them and support the pathways to excellence. In addition, we will discuss some of the primary challenges we face as a department and how we are addressing them. As
018you can see in our org chart, we have eight head custodians, maintenance supervisor, ground supervisor, head grounds monitor, clerical staff, custodians, maintenance staff, groundskeepers, grounds monitors, as well as a courier and a lot of substitutes as well as summer workers. So big department, lot of staff, a lot of moving parts. Wish John was still here because he always loved this org chart. So in this section, we're going to provide examples of how our department has impacted student achievement. This is a big one. Um studies show that clean, bright, and safe environments with well functioning mechanical systems positively impact learning. So, you've all seen a lot of um pictures from Dr. Patton and some of the other staff and received updates on the legacy project. This slide is just to demonstrate how much facilities is involved
019in all this work. Um when it comes to all the planning meetings, um I attend three different phase four, five, and six meetings concurrently right now. All of those construction meetings. Um, we regularly have boots on the ground. Our head custodians, our maintenance staff are coordinating when they're in our buildings and they have them all torn apart in the summers uh to make sure that everything goes smoothly and get the construction teams the things that they need. Um, and to date we've been involved in over $60 million in construction have been completed in Legacy 2020. It's a big big undertaking. We have a phenomenal construction team. Super proud of all the work that's been done. This was the lead slide and uh I'm I'm really proud of this and and hats off to Brooke Cany,
020a speech pathologist at Geyser for putting in this um budget request in the city's participatory budget process. Um they overwhelmingly won with 524 votes and received almost $20,000 in grant money. Um, we were afforded the opportunity to pour the concrete for this, which is, believe it or not, a big undertaking, do all the excavation, the site work, um, and assemble and construct this very large structure. Um, this beautiful outdoor learning environment will benefit the guys of Road Elementary for years and years to come, probably decades to come. And, um, it's just something we're really proud of and honored to be a part of. A big thank you to some of our staff, uh, Victor Politi, Richard Longo, Jeff Jones, and Alex Frolish for their hard work on this project. So, this was mentioned earlier and
021uh, you know, we were Stu Whipple, the head custodian here at the high school, myself, Dr. Greco. Um, we all got to, uh, Bobby Yusco as well. We all got to sit and meet with some of the students, uh, give feedback on their ideas and, um, and, um, they've been contacting me for estimates like, how much is it going to cost for this? And, and I'll give them an idea. Actually worked with some of our vendors to get better pricing for them. So, it's been a great experience, tons of energy, very impressive. We're really excited to be a part of this process. And the cheapest way to improve any building, whether it's a house, a school, a commercial building, is paint. And we have two great painters that are always at work. And um this
022year we've done a lot of work in Maple Second Floor. If you get over there, it's really bright in the space. Geyser Road Hallways. Um, some classrooms and hallways at Greenfield Elementary and plenty of other areas that I'm not going to name tonight. Um, and it just really enhances and brightens up spaces just to have that paint. So, we continue. It's a huge district. We have 1.3 million square feet, but we're always trying to work and and make areas a lot nicer for students in the community. Um, now I'm going to turn it over to Mike to discuss improvements in our safety and security systems. Hi. Um, basically we have uh one of our goals is to enhance the school's safety and security systems. Um, we've had solar powered caution lights installed and that's an
023ongoing thing because we're always trying to replace ones that we can get to um with uh the blue lights to get into different areas that it's may be hard to hear. So with the blue lights flashing, you know, there's there's issues. Um and also with Alyssa's law, as the um legacy project goes on, we've been installing those because that's a very complex system. Um radio communication upgrades, the lead testing, and then the Dorothy Nolan lock sets. Basically the first picture we installed a another uh speed zone light on the northern end of Route 9N in front of Greenfield Center Green up in Greenfield Center at the Greenfield Elementary School. John fought with DOT what was it for over a year trying to get them to get the okay because we had to actually dig an
0248 foot deep hole the excavator there put in a sono tube that was three feet wide and um just go to their specs it's not going anywhere that thing especially Greenfield with as much rocks they got up there um it actually it improves the safety because the one that was there was pretty old. Um, and it saves us $2,000 a year in energy costs. The blue lights continue to be added in the spaces, you know, where it's difficult for the PA, you know, difficult to hear the PA systems. And the barrieret boxes, they were added to Dorothy Nolan and Greenfield Elementary. And with, like I said, with the leg legacy project that will continue to be added to the other schools. It's just a very complex system. You know, it's uh well worth it. radio
025communications. We actually had a dirt meeting that we held in December. Went over some radio protocols, rules, commands, and we actually did practice it and you know how to properly communicate in an emergency. Um, we're going to be offering more training and just keep working on the inventory as each of these radios is almost $900 a piece right now. I mean, I remember back in 2020 they were like 500 and something. And I haven't got any new quotes, but I'm sure they're probably up close to a grand. Um, we try to gain 10 to 15 new radios, you know, each year to replace some of the ones that, you know, are beyond their age. With the lead testing, um, we had the, uh, New York State drop the level of lead testing down to five
026parts per billion, which it was 15 parts per billion. Um, all of our testing was complete in 2025 and it goes in a three-year cycle with a trianual uh retesting. We only had two outlets. We had one outlet down in the kitchen um with a sprayer unit and there was one over in U Geyser Geyser's library in the workroom in the back and those tested they were like 6.2 over the five. It wasn't anything majorly, but we wound up remediating. I just got the results back on the the Geyser Road one, but um the faucet or the sprayer in the kitchen was replaced very quickly because luckily Jeff walked in, the maintenance supervisor, walked into the place. Oh, we have this one that somebody paid for, but they never picked up and we're just going
027to return it. You want it and actually fit what we fit our needs. So, that worked out really well. um the ex existing bottle stations this year, this basic um budget year, I think we put in seven of them so far. Each one of them cost around $1,600, $1,700. And um each of the carbon filters, which filters about 3,000 gallons a piece was like $80 a piece for those, but those are well worth it. It takes care of the issue of the lead in the water because we have a bottle filling station and a water fountain on top of it. Um, we're continually adding new ones of those to cut down on the the bubblers and the, you know, using the old ones in the classrooms. These ones take care of the lead issue that
028we it covers everything. The Dorothy Nolan lock set. This was actually discovered during a lockdown drill where you could actually go into one classroom and you could access all the other classrooms by just walking down between all the bathrooms. You know, just continue from one classroom to another because it's almost like a forer between each of the classrooms. And we actually bought some lock sets that can actually um be used as a lockown area too, a safe secure spot. So once you shut the doors, that area in the bathroom for and then the bathroom would be a secure area, but then like I say, it's um for emergencies, they're able to exit out the the doors. I'll turn this over to Dave. Thanks, Mike. So each year at facilities, we also try to do in-house
029projects. So I was just going to talk about four tonight. Um the first one is the is the varsity softball field enhancements. So facilities does a lot of work with our athletics fields. We also do a lot of work with athletics PE coaches um the sporting programs for the the gyms and fields. So this was no different. So it was working with athletics to find out the measurements, the radius, the layout of the new outfield fencing for the softball field. um our own grounds crew did a lot of the excavating component um installing stabilization fabric back filling and doing some of the grading of the area as well. We actually contracted out with AFCO fence to put the actual fence in um and then we also purchased the uh warning track material. So this spring
030um the plan is is to finish it and is to put in that um warning track material and then also there's new foul poles, double gates uh again and hopefully our student athletes enjoy the the warning track. I think it's three steps before you hit the fence. So hopefully it works out. Um also this was kind of a a project we didn't necessarily want to take on but the floodgates literally opened. Um, there's a water mane room in near the white gym area and it was a 6-in water mane and there actually seemed to be parts some of the fittings and the coupling devices actually separated and that's where the the flood started. Um, luckily our facility staff was able to see that there was a flood. Water was coming out of that room into
031the white gym area. It was and I know John was there. It was a super difficult task. I mean lot of pressure. I had to dive through a water blew the light fixture. So, it was super difficult to get to shut off, but they they did it. And again, why was that important? Well, it allowed us to isolate uh obviously significant loss to the white gym. Had to do a total regut. You can see from some of the pictures. And we had damage to our new fitness center, which are both terrible, but at least it we were able to keep it to that area. Um we were had school that was we were allowed to have school open. Um John worked with Bobby worked with Belffor restoration um to give us an estimate and they're
032the ones that did the work as far as as you can see right from the base up um putting in a new gym floor for the in the white gym which looks awesome now. And then there also unfortunately was significant damage to the fitness center as well. And again they had to put in new mats, new flooring and that's also been repaired at this point. And you can see, you know, significant claim was needed in order to do that work. U another in-house project was this was actually a safety issue. Um sometimes our youngest students are runners. So there was an alopment issue over at Caroline Street and the playground, the K1 or primary playground for Caroline Street. It's kind of in the back of the building if you've you've seen it there. So, a
033couple of the children or one student in specific was kind of going around the corner out towards the street which is a safety issue. So, we put in a fence which moved it out from the corner so it includes the outdoor classroom as well. Um, they put a double gate in there so they still can do mowing and things like that and actually looks pretty good and it's made it a lot safer. Um, I think Caroline's very happy with it. And then the last project is our gym floors. I don't know when we started. Did we start with the blue gym like six or seven years ago? Is that right? Almost 10 years ago because I remember we keep going through these. So we kind of have a plan now that works and it's definitely
034working with the athletic department, the PE teachers, the principal, especially at the elementary schools. They have a lot of PE curriculum that require they do certain games and certain activities. They may want certain markings or colors on the floor. So we try to incorporate that into the into the design. But that typically happens over the summer. So that Greenfield was the last one to be done. came out great. Um I believe we're moving over to back over to Lake Avenue um this upcoming summer and I'm going to hand things back over to Mike. Basically, we're trying to improve the department morale which we do every year. We've done it for the past nine years um with our facilities and operations golf tournament. Basically, this was our ninth annual tournament. Uh we had 68 participants and
035we had it up at Brook Haven Golf Course. John and I work really hard on this project. I mean, because it's going to vendors, getting uh raffle prizes, getting people to donate. Um it's a great opportunity. We all get all the people together, get as many, you know, school staff together, and I think everybody enjoyed it. Um, the one person who actually hit the the putting contest didn't really play golf, but he actually I was surprised when he hit it because everybody else has come through. I'm going to take over. I'm going to take care of this and uh I'm going to get it. And he wound up winning the tournament, the putting contest. And it was I was surprised because every person that walked through, I was watching him going, "No, no, no, don't
036hit it. Don't hit it." I wanted this kid actually to work, you know, to actually win it. Um, our department has raised over $21,000 over the last nine years. Last year we raised I think it was 4,000 was close to 4,000 $5,000 last year and we donate that to the Franklin Community Center through to the project lift program which they've been a good partner with us. Um, like I say, we thank all our sponsors. People are very generous with uh giving. This is part of our vehicle upgrades. The last one we purchased was a Chevy 2500 express cargo van that's in our maintenance department. We actually bought a new trailer because the other one was in pretty bad condition. This one allows us to haul some of our larger equipment, you know, like the Mahindra
037loader and backhoe there instead of driving it around. We used to have to drive it around. Um, also it allows us, we actually bought a couple of Onyx rideon scrubbers for Caroline and Geyser, which that's a continual thing. We're always trying to upgrade our equipment because it does take a heavy beating on just trying the cleaning and the scrubbing and, you know, the chemical use in it. This is a lot of our professional development. A lot of these things are New York State mandated like the asbestous, the water plant, you know, operator certification, pesticide certification. Um, that stuff we have to keep updated through New York State. Turn us over to John. Thank you, Mike. In this section, we will discuss how we use our building automation systems to prevent dur damage during times of
038extreme cold temperatures while saving energy throughout the year. We'll also discuss some ongoing challenges we continue to face as a department and measures taken to mitigate them. So, we brought this up last year. This actually the well issue of Maple occurred I think right before this meeting last year. We actually tried to um isolate the problem in the fall. Mike were and I were out there digging with a bunch of our staff and um turned out there was an electrical short under the concrete plaza in front of Maple Avenue, the worst possible place and there was snow. It was freezing cold out. We had a Archon Electric come in to help us find that. We also replaced the um pump one. There's two wells and two pumps at Maple Avenue. Um there were issues with
039was it the right horsepower? We've had studies done. We've tried to get the system completely upgraded and new. Now they're looking at issues with well one itself, the well casing. Um so I'm waiting on a report for that. But um this is an arduous task because Maple Avenue is such a large building and it's supplied by wellwater. We've talked in the past with our capital project team with various municipalities around to try to get uh municipal water to Maple Avenue, but it's an incredible challenge. the main is far away. It would cost a few million dollars at least to bring water over. So, it's something we're not able to do at this point. Um, we're going to continue to get these wells upgraded and if we have to drill a new well, we'll have to
040drill a new well, but just want to make sure that the system is in top-notch working condition. So, I'm I had mentioned this before with extreme cold protocols. This year was like the winters we used to have when I was a kid. Uh 15 below um I looked back at the historical weather 11 days below zero in this season. Um so in the past we've had a lot of damage and a lot of coils burst even though we're doing multiple building checks. Uh monitoring the system. I can get in on the system over a VPN from home, check it at 3 in the morning if I need to. Um, but there were always issues. This year we got more aggressive and you have to have a minimum of 10% outside air when buildings are occupied,
041but when they're unoccupied, you can close those dampers right down. And so we were putting them at zero or 1%. Um, per recommendations from our um, HVAC vendor. It's an older buildings. There's nobody in the building, so you can go ahead and do that. We didn't have any issues. Just one freeze up at Greenfield and it happened to be a brand new unit in the conference room area that was just installed in the project a few years ago. Huh. We had some freezing, but I don't think anything burst. Yeah, we caught it like just in time. But compared to the past and this many cold temperatures, it was it was amazing. So, you see that bottom chart down there? That's the calendar. That's the schedule. So that was the last weekend where it was 15
042below zero. So we have the building in full occupied at those times. And yes, you're using more energy, but it helps freeze up. So when you close down those dampers, you increase the temperatures, you have a lot less likelihood of having something freeze up. So we're very fortunate with that. And then on the other side of that, you always want to try to save energy. And I brought this up last year as well. So, uh, this year we had a little spike. Our gas and electrical usage went up a little bit above last year, but again, a lot of cold weather. Um, but when you look at it historically over the last four years, um, we've had a 12% reduction in natural gas and a 10% natural gas and electrical usage. So, um, we do
043belong to an energy consortium that Bobby helps manage. Um but prices continue to still go up. So we have to do our part to continue to reduce our usage and reduce our carbon footprint. And uh over next summer, Maple Avenue is the last building that has what's called T12 ballasts and they're the oldest energy hog ballast for all the fluorescent lights. So we're going to convert as many as we can there to LED. So we've done LED in parking lots. We've done LED on the exteriors of a lot of the buildings. Um, but you can't just replace one fixture because the color is different and it just doesn't look great. So, you got to do full classrooms. You got to do full corridors. So, I think we'll realize a very, very large savings after we
044do that work at Maple this summer. So, these are some challenges, couple from last year to give updates and a couple new ones. Um contractual labor costs continue to go up. Um so we're looking to try to at least um raise our contractual codes by 10% this year. Um I'm looking at just hourly rates we pay some of our vendors and they've gone up so much since the pandemic and it's hard to keep up with it. Our um garbage contract has gone up probably 60 70% in the last five years. It's just it's hard to keep up with this stuff. So, we're always looking at that. Um, a lot of our stuff, the remaining useful life, even though we're doing a lot of work in the legacy project, it doesn't touch the vast scope of
045mechanical systems that we have in this district. Again, 1.2 1.3 million square feet. There's air handlers all over the place. Luckily, we've done a lot of the boilers. Um, so we continue to um do as much preventive maintenance as we can and to upgrade as much systems as we can in house. Um, another issue that we're has started to become more of a challenge. We were doing really good. We had almost a full staff, but um, not a lot of people are taking the civil service exams for custodian. So, um, Mike is reaching out, I'm reaching out, we're calling people who are subs. Hey, take the test. We're trying to find different ways to connect with people to get them to take those exams so we can hire them. and uh we just got the
046new results, so we're going to do a mass interview to try to fill a lot of these positions. Um and then again, grounds and custodial equipment ages out. Um we do have a vehicle replacement plan. We're working on a plan for this stuff as well. And uh we continue to buy new lawnmowers, new tractors, um new ride-on auto scrubbers like you saw on the other slide. That's it for us. Questions? I don't know how many minutes that was, but how do we do? I'm so sorry I didn't time you. Um, these guys usually do. Any questions from the board, Connie? Just a comment to thank you for everything that you do. Um, without you, we literally don't exist. So, thanks for maintaining everything. I know that you definitely do help to save money with the
047staff that has skills to fix things um instead of calling contractors all the time. So, um thank you to them as well. Thank you. It it's we have a great staff and and they they always come up with creative ideas and things they want to do and if it's feasible, we try to do it. So, thank you, Matt. Uh I understood that you we put in a $ 1.4 million claim for the floor. Did we Did we get that all? It just completely finished um a week ago because they had to put the climbing wall up. We got all the money I think less our $10,000 deductible. Amazing. Thank you. Yeah, it's great. Angie, I have a leftover comment from September that I've been saving for this presentation because um it was when you all
048were here and when we just had opened for the year and Bill McMorty was here and by the time we got to board member comments um I thanked you and your team for all the work that you do up to the like 11th hour to get everything open and ready each year because we do a lot of apple cart upset over the summer. And I just wanted to thank you and all of your team for all the work you do in the summer. Let's talk about some warm stuff since we've been talking about the cold in the hot buildings and the on the roofs on the everywhere um that you pack into all those hours and oh those few weeks rather in the summertime. So um and then when we open everything looks perfection. So
049I saved my comment my compliment since I missed you that time. Thank you. Yeah. And Mike's mentioned this before. If you walk in the buildings in the beginning of August, especially with all this capital work, you're like, uhoh, this is uh the Greenfield parking lot's an example a few years ago. That wasn't us, but we were involved in it. So, thank you. It always ends up just perfect. So, thank you so much, Lee. I'll just add really quickly onto that. I was going to say the same thing that um I think our my first meeting was you know hearing about some of the amazing things that at the 11th hour you did but um also having been on the um district emergency response team and see how much u you're all involved in not just
050maintaining the facilities but thinking proactively about safety. So thank you so much we appreciate it. Thank you Olivia. Thank you for your presentation. I did have one question about the lock sets at the elementary schools. I know usually for the kindergarten through first grade bathrooms, those are usually left unlocked so that teachers can come in and help if they need to. Um, how do those locks work in the emergency situations? Like, can the students come out of the bathroom if they need to or do teachers have a key to get in there if they have to for some reason? That's a really good question. and you might have a career in engineering or facilities. Um, yeah. So, that was a challenge because we actually had to reverse the way we put them on because fire
051code states that you have to be able to exit the building. So, what we had to do some procedural changes as well with the building. So, the teachers do have keys to the bathroom and to those doors. So, basically classroom, classroom, little hallway and a bathroom. So what we did is we reverse the lock sets. We keep them locked on the doors to the classrooms, but we leave them in the open position because the student can still go in the bathroom and lock the bathroom. In an emergency, the teachers just close the door. If there's a student in bathroom, they would shelter in that bathroom if they didn't have time to, god forbid, to get them out if there was a real situation. So the students can lock and unlock the doors from the inside
052by themselves. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Just want to again uh reiterate just to thank John and and uh Mike and and Dave and our entire facilities in operation and our grounds folks. Um again, anytime we invite uh guests, you know, into our school district or the community obviously is using our schools for a variety of activities. Um you know, our facilities folks do such an incredible job and take such great pride in their work. Uh you know, whether it's just preventative care or just being proactive or our regular maintenance. And then obviously when you're taking on significant capital project work like we do uh the leadership you know that that John and Mike and Dave provide working as part of our capital project team with the
053architects and the engineers you know there's a reason why when we put our projects out to bid that we're getting seven to eight different companies who want to come work in Saratoga. It's because obviously the incredible reputation uh that our facilities and department uh has earned uh and uh just the wonderful things that are going on throughout the district. So uh you know a winter like this is a challenge. water last year was a challenge that you know the challenges don't go away but they do just an incredible job uh making sure that our schools uh you know again provide that atmosphere for our students and our staff uh you know for just awesome learning to take place. So thank you for all your efforts. All right. Um, our next presentation, uh, as we head
054into the month of March, uh, obviously, uh, budget, uh, will become our focus of our conversation here for the next several weeks. Um, so at each of the next several meetings, uh, whether it be in our regular business meetings or our workshop meetings, um, Bobby and Abby and our entire team, uh, will continue to provide the board with updates. Uh so again, uh Bobby just got a short update for tonight just to kind of give a sense of where we're at right now. Um a lot of the legislative advocacy efforts have already started between our local uh Boseis advoc advocacy team uh meetings that'll be take place uh down in Albany and with our local legislators and you know the partnership that we have with NIST and with ASBO and with Niscus. I've got our
055state conference this weekend in Albany. So, uh, I'll be learning more, uh, about what the the current status of the state budget is. Uh, so again, everybody's working hard on behalf of our public schools across the state. So, turn over to Bobby. Great. Thanks, Mike. Um, so just give a high level uh, budget forecast kickoff. um tonight, next Thursday, as you know, we'll kick off our um weekly meetings um with our first workshop. Um and then we'll really get into the nitty-gritty at that point in time. So, just some general discussion items tonight. Our budget process and major drivers, which you're all familiar with seeing. Um our uh 2627 budget update. So, that really just involves the tax levy limit update, which we actually filed today. Um really it's just a matter of meeting a
056statutory deadline by March 1st which is the date that we have to file our tax cap calculation with OSC office of the state comproller. Um does not mean that we cannot modify if something might change between here and when the board has to adopt the budget. Um but obviously if anything did change with any estimates we will continue to update you at our workshops. Um, we'll go over state aid, just really year-to-year comparison compared to what the governor puts out based on what we know because of our ongoing capital project work. We'll talk about use of fund balance and reserves historically throughout our budget process and then discuss um just really preliminarily uh the estimated budget gap and the gap analysis. Uh there's a slide on board governance that just talks about open positions and
057then any open items and important dates as we move forward. So most of you are familiar with our budget development summary calendar. Um and really we're right at that red line right on the cusp of February into March. Um so you can see the tax levy increase was set. um or we run through the calculation and you'll find out what it is tonight. Like I said, it's it it still can change right up until the board adopts the budget. Um but pretty much throughout the month of March, we're meeting um as an administrative team talking about any potential changes, challenges, um things that we see coming down the pike. We continue to update you and then we just proceed through the season. So budget drivers, most of you I know are very familiar with this
058slide. So again, state aid over the last couple years has been a major concern. Um continues to be a major concern, especially now that over half of the school districts in the state are now on that um essentially treated as hold harmless and receiving a due minimum increase. Um health insurance while not um as high as we had originally anticipated. Previously, when I showed this slide, it said 10%, uh, we have since uh, set rates at the trust level. Uh, 4.7% year-over-year, which is really, really positive news. Um, when I was putting the preliminary numbers together using that 10% figure, um, it really we were in a position where there was an additional million and a half dollars on the expense side. So, knowing that we're at 4.7 really helped things out. Um, I know
059you'll be thinking a little bit later like, whoa, they pulled one and a half million out of here, like, you know, but again, no cause for alarm. It's just really it's our process. It's where we're starting and we'll continue to update as we go forward. ERS rates, one of our major two retirement systems. So, employee retirement system is what ERS stands for. Um, that is one of our retirement system rates that is increasing. TRS is not on here because TRS is decreasing year-over-year. Boseies and CTE another major driver. Last year, most of you know, we pulled back in our Bosey's allocations just because we were over budgeting in those areas. So, it's something that just as a normal practice, we're going to continue to do. Special education and pupil services continue to increase in costs
060as well. As you just heard, utilities, commodities, even though we are um trying to be more efficient, the costs of the existing services and supply continue to increase. And I think most of you know the supply charges with utilities are out of control. Um mandates continue to be something that we pay attention to year-over-year. And then finally, retirements, breakage, and any open positions where we might be able to realize a savings through attrition allowable levy growth factor. I like to ch show this chart every single year. It's produced by the office of the state comproller. Um comproller denapoli did have a little quote in here that I put with this slide. Um really he's just noting five consecutive years now you're you're in a tax capped environment right at that 2%. And you know, you
061just heard in the preceding presentation talking about um the handheld radios being about $500 when we were in this COVID period, um increases to other services through contractors. So, what I can tell you when you look at this, even though it's a factor in our tax levy where we're basically capped at that 2% ceiling for the allowable levy growth factor since 2022, you see on this chart, that orange line where we have the 4.7, the 8, the 4.12, those are all yearover-year inflation rates that we've experienced on our expenditure side of our budget. 67% of our revenues comes from the tax levy. The the difference primarily comes from state aid. When we know the tax levy calculation has a ceiling like this built into it as the an inherent part of the calculation um you
062know variables. We're always going to be in a difficult position trying to move forward because one side of our budget equation lives in the orange line environment where there is no cap on the growth of expenses. That really comes down to what types of decisions do we make locally that can get us the furthest out of our dollar that we're spending. So really that's that's what I look at when I see this slide. So, you know, and you're familiar, the tax cap calculation really is a is a process where you um basically have inputs. You put in your inputs. There's some variables that are in here that are determined outside of our control like the taxbased growth factor. Um pilots largely are out of our control. So, just to start at the top, we look
063at our prior year levy and that's where we start. Tax and finance tells us in every school district in the state what our tax levy based growth factor is. What that number is is really just the state's measure of economic growth in our community. We're at 1.51%. So prior year levy, we have to add that and then we take out prior year exclusions getting to an adjusted prior year levy. And this is where that 2% or less kicks in. So, as we've been over 2% annual CPI increases, we have the ceiling of 2%. If we were under 2% CPI increases, that would be less than 2%. So, that's what that factor is here. Pilots for the coming year, we do have a slight increase to expected pilots in 2627 and that's that $377,000 figure you
064see. And when we go through all of those portions, we get our tax levy limit. And this is where managing the local share of the levy comes in related to our capital project work. So the coming school year exclusions really is a product of the local share. So what is your difference between the debt that you owe on your capital improvements and the building aid that you receive because the state is picking up a portion of the principal and interest payments. So that difference is the local share and that's what we get to add back to the calculation per the statute. So when we do that and work through the mechanics, we look at a 3.9 almost a $4 million year-over-year increase which works out to 3.85%. So this is just a summary slide to
065show that. Again, it's always due on March 1st. I filed it today. And here's just a little history of the property tax levies. uh the amounts and then the annual increases year-over-year. So, when we do just a nine-year look back, we're averaging about 3.25% per year. Some years we've been higher, some years we've been lower. So, just a sidebyside comparison of our state aid situation um based on the governor's executive aid run. So, on the lefth hand side, we're at $ 38.4 million in 2526. When we look at 2627, based on the governor's numbers, uh, we're looking at 38.5, which really is only about $124,000 increase. But the governor's numbers, you see building aid in red under the 2627 column. That's because the governor doesn't take into account what's called at the state level chapter
06697 projects, which really is just the work we're doing right now. and we know that we need to file final cost reports and we'll be doing that by June of this year in 26 which will generate building aid. But then we also know that there's projects that really really haven't even commenced like we have a project that will happen over the summer and we anticipate filing final cost reports for that work by next June of 27. So, even though I'm building in an estimate here, um I'm also hoping we don't run into a situation with something unexpected or anything like that that might delay the work because what that what will happen at that point in time is it's almost a guarantee the the final cost report um filing would also be delayed because the
067work was delayed. So, it's just that fine line where we meet bi-weekly as a capital project team, make sure that we're on the schedule that we've all been talking about, and you know, based on those conversations, it gives me the comfortability that we're all on the same page, we're progressing accordingly, and I'm comfortable enough to now build this estimate into the building aid um revenue for 2627. So, when I do all that, we're looking at really a 1.9 or a five 1.9 million or a 5% year-over-year increase. So, again, as most of you know, um part of our budget uh process is to use our fund balance and reserves on an annual basis. We use it as a tool. So, you can see two different colors here. We have a portion that's reserved and we
068have a portion that is considered assigned. Um, and what we're seeing here is really we're planning to increase one portion and step down off of another portion. And the big increase to the 3.9 that you see as part of the reserve fund balance really is just a matter of shifting one source of revenue from one pot of fund balance to another. So you see in the assigned fund balance was 12.4 million. That's because $4 million in 2526 is included in that biggy yellowish line or bar and we moved that to the capital fund for our capital project in 2627. We're rounding out our final capital um fund contribution locally. So we did three and a half or four four million, excuse me, four million in 2526. Now we're planning to bring three and a half
069million from a capital reserve that already exists to round out our commitment for the or the May 25 legacy project. And that's that $7.5 million of the local contribution. So there's $400,000 that's remaining from that reserve fund balances. And that really is just our our continued appropriation from the employee retirement system reserve. So we're stepping down from the use of that reserve from 600,000 to 400,000. And then the assigned fund balance piece in 2627, that $6.5 million figure, that really is just the amount that we have in the board approved um fund balance and reserves plan. So, if similar to last year, if we get to a point where we decide we're going to appropriate more fund balance, then we'll amend the fund balance and reserve plan to make sure that that figure reflects the
070figure that we we elect to close the um budget gap by and we'll just move forward from there. So looking at our rollover expenses. Um so this is just the first part of our gap calculation. So step one we roll over the current year budget. So the current year budget 159.3 million. That's our starting point. We look at all of the certain categories that we have built throughout the budget. So salaries, benefits, contractual, boseies, debt service, inter fund transfer to capital, materials and supplies and equipment. Couple things to note. You know, this is um one year where we actually do know all of our contractual salary increases. Um so, you know, that's pretty much a hard fast number right there. benefits. Like I said, we had a positive um rate renewal for health insurance, so
071we were able to comb that back from just shy of like $4 million. The contractual, it's really a matter of we're living in the environment where we're seeing those expenses continue to increase. Um, a lot of that is special education placements. Um, things that are kind of outside of our control, but we're trying to be responsive to BOSIES. This it's early on. We still haven't received the service requests from Wish We Boseies, which will drive a majority of any changes that you see on here. The one reason you're seeing a decrease is because we've had a slight decrease in CTE slots that we're subscribing to. So the last couple years it's been 145 slots. This year included in 2526. Next year we're only moving forward with 140 slots. So that's really why you see just
072uh $7,000 decrease. This is the time of year like I I chair of the CTE committee. So we have our meeting tomorrow to based on all the school districts lockins for how many spots they're going to have that then allows them to set the tuition rate. So it it it's kind of information as Bobby says as Boseies is finalizing their budget um then we can kind of incorporate it into our into our um you know numbers up there. Yep. So debt service again this is just a matter of what do our current amortization schedules say and what do our projections say based on when we plan to issue debt for our ongoing project work. So, um, really that's just a matter of principle and interest that we owe. Interfund transfer to capital. So, this will
073decrease by 500,000. Why? Kind of like what I talked about before. Instead of moving 4 million over to the capital fund, we're only going to be moving three.5 million from the capital fund. So, that's why you see a $500,000 decrease year-over-year. Materials and supplies, 76,000. So, really, that that is not crazy or eye popping. That's kind of what I expect. Um, and then equipment. Um, reason you're seeing this 172 100 of this is what we've talked about as part of our capital outlay project. So that's the work specific to um not not the bleachers, the doors, the um blue gym doors at the high school for safety and security purposes. So, originally we talked about only like the entrance panel coming from the main common area, but now we're actually able to do the entire
074perimeter of the blue gym. So, it it actually will be beneficial. And then since it will be in the budget moving forward, if there's additional work that John and his team might identify for future years, we could actually just create leave this in the budget and address another capital outlay project down the line. And what this does is gives us the ability outside of the legacy project to address capital improvement needs that we don't want to just spend our money on and not have an opportunity to generate aid. When we do a capital outlay project, we're basically going to get the state's um stamp of approval to say yes, you can do more than $10,000 worth of work that qualifies as a capital project. And because you went through this process, we're going to give
075you your aid ratio, which is 70% back the very next year. You're not going to have it, you know, amortized over 15 or 20 years. Everything you spend this year will be reimbursed at 70% next year. And that that's how an outlay project works. So for the revenue side, same type of thing. We start at our current year budget 159.3 million. We know the tax levy increase at 3.85% 85%. So that's 3.9 million. State aid 1.9 million pilots slight increase. Um and then what we do is we get into just the mechanics of the changes of fund balance revenue. And like I said, the gap is 5.3, but I really want you guys to not focus so much on the big number because it's early on. The last couple years it's been seven. Last year
076it was four. Um, this year it's five. But there's still a lot of work to do. All we've done is roll over a budget. And I think most of us know by now because we're only spending 92 93% of that top line. Naturally, this will be more of an inflated gap anyway because the expectation is to never put out a budget that we're spending 100% of it anyway. So, we want to make sure that we're cognizant of and really focused on how much revenue can we raise because that will really be the deciding factor about how much expenses we can continue to budget. And then this is where the use of fund balance comes in. So like I had mentioned we have our assigned fund balance and then our capital reserves that we're drawing from.
077So yeartoyear we're taking 3.3 million more dollars from the reserves because last year it was 600,000 from the retirement contribution reserve. We're going to decrease that to 400,000 in 2627. But we're also increasing by 3.5 million what we're taking for the capital project. So that's why you see that line go to three 3.3 million. And then we have other portions as well which are coming from our unassigned fund balance category. But when we appropriate that money it now goes into a different category of assigned. So last year we took 4 million from unassigned fund balance and moved it to the capital fund. This year because it's coming from reserves we actually dollar for dollar we just decrease it pull it right out. $4 million is not coming from an assigned fund balance instead three and
078a half million is coming from the reserves. And then the difference that 1.9 million that you see decrease that's the additional fund balance that was I think our our third scenario last year as part of our budget development process where the remaining gap was $1.9 million and we said well we'll close the remaining gap with fund balance and really that's that's what you see there. The difference again, our fund balance and reserve plan. We're just calling right now to try to build a budget that's based on $6.5 million used of unassigned fund balance and we'll go from there. So, right now we're just looking at a $5.3 million budget gap. Still a lot of decisions to be made, a lot of conversations to be had. And I I just circled these because they are related.
079There's that decrease on the expenditure side and then we have a decrease on the revenue side. So to the board decision points really as you know this is the the decision wheel. Um how much fund balance and reserves do we do we use on an annual basis? Um are you okay with the recommended um staffing levels and programs? And then are you satisfied with the tax levy increase that's going to go out? So we have some planned reductions. Um like most of you know we have a a behavioral coach that's been funded with IDA carryover over the last few years. That IDA carryover is expiring. So the behavioral coach does um you know become a budgetary item for discussion but right now based on prior plans it's a planned reduction as we start and kick
080off this season. A director position we've combined roles. Um, another thing that you've been updated on, um, Joe's previous position, director of budget and program integration and Aby's Aby's previous role of director of assessment accountability improvement were consolidated into one. And then we have reduced um, two sixth grade sections which because of enrollment uh, projections will we anticipate shift to kindergarten. So to just take a look at some positions under review. So like I mentioned, we have some expected budget additions. Um really because of our enrollment projections. Um CDRPC was here last meeting. They gave you their presentation that showed a bump this coming year, anticipated bump in kindergarten enrollments at 437. um that would require an additional three FTEES at kindergarten. Right now we're at 19. Um this would require us to go to
08122. And then we have our budget additions if possible which are really just uh you know either they were on the planned reduction so we see the benefit in the role let's talk about them or as a result of budget conversations we've had um prior to tonight you know with building leaders and things like that this is really just what they've submitted in terms of hey we would request x y or z and then we also know we have 14 total retirements um that we've been notified about. Two actually occurred midyear which are filled with just leave positions till the end of the year. Um but right now this really is what things look like from a staffing level as we know it. And just really quickly um again another thing that I know that
082all of you or most of you know uh a major portion of our budget is salary and benefits. So between any given year it's between like 70 and 80 80%. I think these two numbers represent right around 73% but it's a large part of that pie and there isn't much to go around when you look at these other areas you see our equipment not even 1% contractual it does continue to go up tuition would be another contractual item but we parse it out just because we can identify with a pretty round number almost three like that tuition is starting to tick up in some of these placements Um, and I mentioned our contractual lines. A lot of that million dollar increase is because of some tuition related items. We have textbooks, uh, Boseies related expenditures,
083supplies, and then another one, our debt service and inner fund transfers rounds that out. And so, just briefly, we'll talk about bus bond proposition. Right now, we plan um to do eight large passenger buses. um five small 30 passenger buses and then two Suburbans for non- studentent transport and one Suburban for student transport. Total estimated cost based on the um the quotes we've received from the transportation companies about 2.7 million. So when we look at this um you know and transportation aid is something where we have kind of a lower aid ratio related to all the other aid categories we have. So it's only about 38%. So, when we take into account 38% transportation aid that we get on our bus purchases, it leaves a local share of about $1.7 million. The way state um
084state repayment works is really that will come to us um state aid comes to us over five years and we pay the bond back over five years too. So, what we try to do is line those up and the board governance piece. So, we have three positions that will be open on July um 1st, 2026. Um again, they're volunteer unpaid positions. Here is some key campaign information for anybody who might be interested, as well as QR code that will bring you to um the site where you can find the appropriate information. Just some open items. We do have to get final state aid figures. And I'll just leave everybody with a, you know, a little remember. Um, the state budget is probably going to be late again this year. Um, it just so happens with
085the Passover holiday and then Easter um and then school break being the first full week of April, I don't even believe the lawmakers are in session when the the budget is actually due. Um, so I anticipate a similar situation to last year where we're going to have to use the best information that we know at the time of budget adoption to just decide to move forward. We still have to get some BOSI service requests so that we can hammer and finalize those numbers. Um, staffing needs and projections is another big one that we've been talking about a lot. And then just ongoing program supports and reviews and curriculum renewals. Here's some important dates. and I'll be happy to answer any questions. All right, any questions? I see Tony and then Matt. Bobby, just uh to
086clarify the the 3.85% um calculation of the the um max uh um tax levy increase. um that has the uh contribution or the allocation from the V fund already factored into it. Right. It does. Yeah. First, I just want to say thank you. Like this is incredibly complicated and I I think I understood more than half of it which I feel really good about. That's a and I I that's that's on you not on me. Like so thank you. Um my question though is on the retirement like you with the the positions we're losing to retirement are we assuming in the budget currently that all those positions will not be refilled will not be filled we're losing the positions not just to people. Exactly. So what you saw tonight doesn't take into account you know
087any anybody going or anybody coming. It's just we start with that 159 roll up all the expenses as we know everything today and then that's what you see is reflected and then oh go ahead. So just to clarify so the retirement on the page that was like uh it was Yeah I can go back to it. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. No problem. A lot of clicks. Yeah. This is what you get with animation. Yeah. There you go. So the additions on the left y make sense to me. Are we assuming with the numbers that you're at now that none of those retirements will end up back in the budget? That's exactly right. The the rollover that you saw tonight doesn't account for anything that you see on this screen right here. Oh, I see.
088Okay. Yeah. It's just a matter of, hey, FYI, this is what we know to be true as of today. Um, and it's just always important to note like if we're looking at existing sections that are built into that rollover budget. So like this year, we don't have 22 sections at kindergarten. So we know right off the bat if CDRPC's um enrollment projections are correct, we're going to have to go up by at least three FTEEs to just, you know, deal with the class size. But again, those three FTEEs, they're not reflected in the budget gap that you saw. So it's it's really right now two totally separate pieces of information. Next week and you know the weeks after you're going to start to see all this stuff marry each other. Any other questions including from
089our student members? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. couldn't remember whether to clap for you too. Now we turn to the consent agenda. For those in attendance or watching, a consent agenda is a commonly used vehicle provided for by our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure that allows a board to vote on a large number of items in a single motion. Typically, these are business items associated with the everyday running of the schools and their inclusion in the agenda is the result of a great deal of prior work and care by the professionals of the district. There are from time to time business items that by law cannot be included in a consent agenda and when this happens, we pull those out and vote on them separately. Consent agenda items are known to trustees
090and the public several days ahead of the business meeting on which they are considered so that board members have the chance to ask questions of discovery and do any advanced factf finding that is part of their due diligence process. Do we have any modifications to tonight's consent agenda? Uh we do not. So I move that we approve consent agenda items GH and I in their entirety. Can I get a second? Matt, is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? That's unanimous. This brings us to our second public comment period. Are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? Seeing none, that brings us to agenda planning. Do we have any agenda planning items? Okay, seeing none, um, that brings us to board member comments. Do any members of the
091board, including student members, have any comments? Matt? Oh, I'm sorry, Tony. Yeah, I'd just like to thank uh Wonderland Maker Studio for uh donating a 3D printer to the Greenfield School. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Connie. Sorry, I had one small one. There was a public service announcement from the music department at Maple about taking your instruments home over break to practice and it was quite funny. So, um, if you get a chance to see it, definitely watch it. Um, so thank you to the music department for reminding kids to bring their instruments home and everyone should bring books home to read and all sorts of things to do over breaks. Where do we see that? I believe it it's somewhere internally with Maple, but someone did send it
092to me. So maybe it's on maybe we can put it on Facebook. It's hilarious, but you should see it. I want to see it. Okay. Um any other comments? Okay. Could I please get a motion? Actually, before that, sorry. Um our next board meeting, our next board business meeting will be on March 12th right here at the high school in the teaching auditorium. We will have another budget update and that's at 7 p.m. But before that, we do have March 5th a budget workshop which is at the administration building at 6:30 p.m. That meeting is open to the public, but it does not function as a business meeting. We will not be making any votes. Um, additionally for board members, we do have another gathering next week on Tuesday, March 3rd, which is at 5:00
093pm, and that is at the middle school. Is that correct? 5:30 p.m. 5:15. If you can arrive at 5:15, we'll start at 5:30. Sorry, I put it in my calendar for 5. Um, additionally, next week on March 4th is the first apparently annual pizza wars. Yeah. Here at the high school, which does benefit the schools education foundation. Yeah. The Saratoga School's education foundation. And you can come and you can try pizza and vote for it. Um, which is really great. I also think that um something that they set up which was really cool is that you can when you are buying your own tickets buy tickets to be given to a student which is really a cool way to like share that with others. All right. Could I please get a motion to adjurnn? I
094see Tony. Is there a second? Lee, any discussion? Okay. All in favor? That's unanimous. Have a great night.