001All right, let's call this meeting to order. Uh, Bobby, can I get a roll call? Sure. Uh, Trustee Wow, where's my list here? Sorry about that. Trusty Amecha here. Trustee Crackler here. Trustee Amory. Trustee Braxton here. Trustee Bugamin. Yes. Trustee Colligan here. Trustee Copan here. Trusty Lakia here. Trusty Witovich. Please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. All right. Well, good evening everyone and welcome. Uh this is our last official regular uh business meeting of the school year and what better way to end the school year uh with some recognition of our students. Um over the last several weeks, our spring student athletes and our sports teams have completed their seasons. Uh and again, uh just want to start off by thanking uh all of our um our supporters, the board of education
002for their continued support of all the extracurricular activities that are provided to our students throughout the course of the school year. Uh to all of our coaches who dedicate so much time, energy, and effort into the development of our student athletes and our programs. uh especially to our coaches who spend so much time away from their own families uh dedicating time to spend with our our student athletes. Uh and then to our parents uh who again uh through booster club participation and being there on the sidelines cheering on our teams uh and again from the time the kids were young uh through youth leagues uh and competing at the local and regional level I know the uh obviously dedication our parents put into getting their kids to and from events, coaching our youth teams, and
003just being incredible supporters. Uh and then finally to all of our student athletes. uh and again who compete on all of our teams. Um you know, just thank you for just showing great pride in sportsmanship uh and and again always representing Saratoga Springs uh again with outstanding uh sportsmanship uh and and competing at the highest level. Uh so most school districts can go years uh without having the opportunity to celebrate sectional or state championships. We are so fortunate in Saratoga Springs. This becomes almost a regular occurrence uh here at board meetings. And so any opportunity that we have to celebrate our students, whether it be our musicians, our artists, or our athletes, uh the board of education is committed to um again celebrating success of our of our students uh both in and out of
004the classroom. Uh so this spring uh was just a tremendous spring uh for again for all of our sports teams uh but especially for for two teams that we want to recognize tonight. Uh so we're going to first start off uh with our boys outdoor track and field team. Uh this was I believe coach Connley our first ever outdoor state team championship uh for the boys. uh which is just an incredible accomplishment uh when you think of there's 700 school districts in the state of New York. Uh and when you bring the best of the best together for a state and federation championship uh to be named New York State Champion is quite an accomplishment. Uh so first I want to start off by thanking coach Connley and coach Riley and coach Zenetti and coach
005Hook and again all of the coaches uh in our track and field program uh who put so much time and energy uh into the development uh of our runners uh and all of our field athletes. Uh this year uh we have the incredible honor uh that we had two not only state champions but also federation champions. So you win the both the New York State public high school championship and then you go on and you obviously uh because of the su success our athletes have had also were named New York State Federation. So you combine public schools with the private school students together. So this year we had state and federation uh discus champion Lucas Mara, state and federation 1600 meter um champion Owen Blazedale, and then we had a state champion 4x800 relay team.
006And then when you add in all of the efforts of every other team member uh who placed at the state meet, uh that resulted in our boys boys outdoor team being named New York State champions. So, what we'd like to do at this time, uh, is I want to call up, uh, Mr. Goodson, uh, call up the coaches, and we're going to, uh, welcome up each of our, uh, track and field athletes to be recognized. So, I'll turn it over to Mr. Goodson. Thank you, Dr. Patton, for such a thorough introduction. I really appreciate it. And I would also like to echo some of the same thank yous. I do want to thank the board of education, our administration. I really appreciate your support, our school teachers, and our counselors. What a support staff we
007have here for our for our kids. Uh definitely want to take a time and thank all of our coaches. Uh they're always giving of their time and their energies. They're making sacrifices within their families. I really appreciate it. And then a big thank you to our student athletes for the commitment that they've put in towards this. We even have youth coaches here tonight celebrating. So, we can't forget the importance of our youth program as our feeder program as we develop our all of our student athletes and have those opportunities. So, right down from our youth level on up to this great award. So, let's turn it over to Chris Connley for our boys track and field championship team. Thank you. Uh, first of all, I just want to thank the entire boys track team. I
008mean, these guys went through so much all year with sickness and um injuries and just stuff that they have to carry on. None of these young men were ever in jeopardy of failing a course, which is really a testament to their uh dedication to school as an athlete. Um and I really appreciate everyone. So, without further ado, here is the uh New York State Federation Champion track team, Nikki Baldwin, 4x400 meter relay. Sam Burn discus. [Applause] Owen Blazeell, our champion in the 1600 meter run. Thomas Eisenowski was actually a point scorer in two different events, the 1600 and 3200 meter run. Unfortunately, one of the members of our 4x800 meter champion team, Aman Karum, is not able to be with us today. Uh, an alternate for that relay, Reese Limos. [Applause] uh an alternate for
009our 4x400 meter relay. Brooks Lady [Applause] the anchor leg of both of our 400 uh 4x400 and 4x 800 meter relays leviated Uh, and then again, unfortunately, he wasn't able to be here, but our federation and state champion in the discus, Lucas Mara, who luckily is only a sophomore. Um, the second leg in our 4x800 meter relay, also not able to be here tonight, Darren Pacik. [Applause] Uh, only because he is younger than the other kids on the relay team. He ran just as fast as the other kids on on the team. But our other alternate for the 4x4 reindeer pile, the lead leg for our 4x400 meter uh relay team, Brady Variant, [Applause] and his brother, the third leg of our 4x400 meter uh relay team, Connor Varian. the two back. Thank you. [Applause]
010So Like I said, most districts would be ecstatic just to be able to celebrate one team. Uh we have the opportunity tonight to celebrate two teams. Uh so next up uh again for the first time uh in the history of Saratoga Springs varsity baseball, our boys baseball team went on just an historic run uh at the end of the season uh knocking off the number one seed Shaker uh in the semifinals of of the sectional tournament and then went on to win um the sectional uh title against Colony and then proceeded on a 15game win streak. um to complete the state championship uh down in Bingmpington. So, congratulations again to the entire team uh our baseball team led by coach Andy Cuthson and assistant coach uh Frank Rapone. And then again, I know we have
011many uh dedicated volunteer uh coaches who put in a tremendous amount of time and energy. Uh and as Mr. Goodson uh stated, this starts at the youth level and works all the way up. Um and again right now Saratoga Springs is like baseball city in the state of New York uh because we have two state championships within uh the boundaries of the city. Both uh Saratoga Springs City Schools as well as Spa Catholic uh and the boys had a really nice parade last night downtown uh for the community to celebrate both programs. So at this time I'll turn it back over to Mr. Goodson and coach Cuthson uh to recognize our boys class AAA state championship team. We'll keep this simple. Come on down Andy and your staff and let's have a great round of
012applause for our state championship baseball team. Thanks. I just want to say I appreciate everyone's support from the board of education to uh Dr. Patton and the administrators and counselors and Mr. Mr. Goodson. Uh like Mr. Goodson said, it's a it's a tremendous feeling to have that much support um for all these kids and uh we appreciate you. Uh also super excited to be part of history. Um being the first state championship in baseball. Um these guys put in a tremendous amount of work uh starting in in the winter months and and all the way through like Dr. Patton said, we had a 15game win streak. Um but at first we started out six and six. And I like to say that, you know, our path to success was a squiggly line uh but for
013a reason. So through sport, these kids really learned to uh deal with a lot of adversity and uh hopefully that translates later in life um as they become successful young men in whatever they do. Um so without further ado, I would announce uh those baseball players that are present. Uh first up, Jack Collier. [Applause] uh Jack Collarate [Applause] Uh Braden Crow, who is not uh able to be with us tonight. Next up, John Dunn Dash. Owen Fear [Applause] uh unable to be with us tonight. Charles Grryer II, [Applause] uh, Mlin Harris, [Applause] Michael Cat. [Applause] Brennan Kenshite. [Applause] I appreciate that. Peyton Keegan. Matthew King [Applause] unable to be with us tonight. Alexander Landau, [Applause] Colin Mack, [Applause] Thomas McNamera, [Applause] unable to be with us this evening. Brady Mills, also not here, Elliot Mowglia,
014[Applause] Jack Rigabar, [Applause] unable to be with us. Raul Rodriguez. [Applause] Uh, also not here, Dylan Troutner and Cooper Villier. And last but not least, Adam Weiss. Uh lastly, just a a special thank you to uh my coaching staff, Coach Rapone and Coach Carbone, uh Coach Dan Elli, who couldn't be here tonight. Uh and Coach Chase. Uh you guys, we couldn't have done this without you. So, thank you very much. [Applause] Again, [Applause] thank you to our parents and our coaches and student athletes. Uh to our underassmen, uh have a great summer. to our seniors. We will see you tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. for graduation. Congratulations everybody. Alrighty. That's always the best way to start a meeting celebrating our students. Um, can I get a motion to approve our minutes from June 12th? I
015have Tony and Beth. Is there any discussion? All in favor that. Okay, that's unanimous. Thank you. Um, can I get another motion to accept tonight's agenda? Natalia and Matt, any discussion about our agenda? All right, hearing none. All in favor? unanimous again for the seven of us here. Just of note and there was nobody signed up for a public comment period. Is there anyone here wishing to address the board? Oh, I do have one. Okay. Oh, right over there to hide behind. Uh John Hook, resident of the district, also a coach on the track team. I was hoping to get a chance to say something about Lucas Mera, uh but I didn't want to keep all the athletes after I missed that chance, so I'll do it now. Uh we we preach uh priorities to
016our athletes. First, family and faith. Second, their schoolwork, and then athletics. and Lucas has really bought into that. He wanted me tonight to mention two junior teammates who both throw over 160 ft and he credits Sam Burn and Jaden Cox with a lot of his success. Um, we do have a problem though with Lucas. He's 6'7. He wears size 18 shoes and we cannot get throwing shoes for him. So, he wanted me to put out an SOS if anybody has contacts. Um, we'd gladly accept any information you might have. Um, all three of those gentlemen are really good students, honoral students, and it is a privilege to be with them. I'm glad the board keeps reappointing a 75year-old um grey head. uh you keep me off the streets. That's a pretty good thing. Um I
017also wanted to take one second to thank each of you for what you give to the community. I've been to many board meetings this year when controversial issues come up. I like the way you stay calm and address the community's concerns. And on a personal note, I'd like to thank uh John in particular for his service to the board. he's leaving and also to extend condolences on his uh recent loss. Um I'm sure his dad is very proud of what his son has accomplished in life. Thank you. Thank you. All right, seeing no others, that closes our public comment period and brings us to Board committee reports. Do we have any board committee reports? John, you want to start? Um, the policy committee met and uh there's a lot of stuff in the works. You'll
018see that we u are hoping to vote on the code of conduct this evening and then you'll see several items listed for the first read. Um my understanding is that the administration feels that we need to pass the code of conduct and so and we we do that every year. Uh this board has um routinely reviewed the code of conduct carefully and we have always passed it and we need it passed. So, in recent meetings, there were some concerns raised by board members about the proposed use of wands. And um my my impression is that the administration's position is that we need to find out if people are comfortable voting on the document we have as written that includes the use of wands. And if people are not comfortable voting on that document as is,
019they are prepared to remove that proposal so that we can in fact approve it without that. Uh is that a fair characterization, Mike? Yes. Yeah. Based on the conversation from our last meeting, uh the board did give us some direction to gather some feed additional feedback and some information. Uh so our high school principal Michelle Sta and and Dave Alhamdu are uh prepared to present that information back to the board and uh trustee Bugerman is correct. Um tonight we still have the opportunity for conversation um that again we can continue the feedback they have but by our next meeting our July meeting we do have to have the code of conduct approved by the board of education. So, our goal tonight would be again if we could have as a concise uh conversation based on
020the information that Michelle and Dave can share back with the board. We're just looking for any kind of final determination of whether the use of wands is included or not included. Uh and if not, we would be prepared next meeting to present the code of conduct uh as written uh for board approval. Is is this the time for that conversation? Yep. This would be the time. So, uh, is the is the Well, I'll leave it to them. Yeah. Come on up, Michelle. Michelle, if if no one else is at the microphone, I'll keep talking. So, just want to give just uh Michelle and Dave just just a few minutes just to respond to the conversation and then some of the questions that came up in the last meeting. Um and again to uh share some
021of the feedback they've received. Test test test. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Uh based off of the last meeting, the board of education had some questions um asking for some data gathering. I didn't know what that was. I know that was you. That's all right. Um from uh the Suburban Council schools. I did reach out to the suburban council schools. I received five responses. One of the things we talked about last time was that the information is um only good as what is shared with us and uh none of those schools are collecting data but they did provide anecdotal information. There are three general themes from the responses that I received. Uh the first one was that um the use of the metal detectors or wands is used primarily as a proactive measure. um and as
022a deterrent. And so um what they have also reported is that um they feel that the use or at least the ability to have a wand at their disposal uh makes it so that cursory searches are less intrusive for students. Um so those are the three themes that came out more proactive measures uh deterrent for student use and possession and less intrusive Do we have questions remaining from the board? So, this is Go ahead, Beth. Um, not so much a question. I've really wrestled with this because obviously the use of, you know, vaping in general is just such a a problem. Um, and I think as a school community, we do have an obligation to do everything that we can to deter the use of vapes in school. And we we hear about it here
023and and it's clearly an issue. Um, I what I I'm not it's that's good to hear. Thank you for getting that information. Um I am one of the things that concerns me is that once we put something into the code of conduct and codify it then it it exists somewhere um until it someone asks to change it and I want to support you all very much so um and I trust that you would use wands in a very student- centered way. Um, and and to do so with respect. But what concerns me is like 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now, if that's in there and we're not here and maybe there's a different administration, what if someone reads that differently or interprets that differently? Um, so that that is
024a concern that I have. Um and I so it's not so much a question. It's just a it's just something that occurs to me that one of the things the code fortunately or unfortunately this is what 10 years we've been doing code for a long time. So it is a document that we have a committee and they look at it every single year. So if there are issues or things come up from it um that they probably be brought back to because it has to be a policy now. So that would be a time to relook at something or this is not working out and we could make appropriate changes. So, it's not like it's never going to be looked at again. It'll be looked at again next year. One one of the other things
025just to add was the um we heard the board of education's comment last time we were here about collecting annual data to report out and share to you. Um, so if it was uh something that the board was wanting to pilot for a year before we do the next annual review, that could be some information we could provide you in terms of relevant data. Um, thank you. I I do appreciate you hearing when we talked about wanting to provide another tool um at our disposal to address the vaping concerns that we've heard various complaints about. um we do want to be responsive um to the needs of the community and the concerns that our students have and their families as well. Um so I appreciate that very much. Are there other questions? Tony, I I
026just have a comment. Um, I guess I'll I'll just start to I'll just say where I am on this whole thing. And I thank you for all the work you put into this. And I like you, I'm I'm really really concerned about vaping and um, you know, the uh the addiction that, you know, underlies u the the biggest part of the vaping problem. and and uh I I want to give you all the tools that uh you need to in order to minimize it uh in this district. I I just I haven't I haven't personally been convinced by the data um anecdotal or otherwise that wands will make a big enough difference, a big enough impact in the number. I mean, I could be wrong. I I just haven't seen enough because then I factor
027in what we might have lost were we to um were we to introduce uh wands and to me that's a big chunk of adult student rapport. um the optics um uh you know are um are tough for me and um and and the the teaching and modeling of of uh civil rights and and where they start and end uh for our students. Um so I I'm just telling the board that I I can't support it. I just wanted to respond to something similar that um I believe trustee uh Lakia had said last time um about the adult student relationships and um upon reflection of that comment I just want to say that we have restorative practices as part of our tiered interventions and multi-tered systems and supports and if we felt that there was any
028harm to a relationship we would work uh very hard to repair that relationship. It's very important to us that our students feel um that they have relationships and trust with us and so we could build that into um our responses if we felt that there was um a damage in the relationship. Are there any other questions on the policy? I will need to get a straw poll to figure out how we're going to put it on our next agenda. Dean, just a quick question. I know we've referenced a couple of times the wands and vaping. That's not the sole purpose behind them though, is it? We talked about safety overall being the importance of having Okay. Okay. Any other questions for them? All right. Then I need to get a straw poll from the seven
029of us here if we are going to move forward on the 7th of July with this sentence in the code of conduct or with it removed. So those of you who would plan on supporting even if you're not going to be there because you won't be on the board. Okay. We're we're okay until the 24th meeting. The seventh meeting I don't I think it has to be at the organization. Okay. So in July Yeah, we do have the July meeting. So if you are in support of going forward with the sentence in there proving for wanding, can you just give me a little hand? Oh, that that's that gives you nothing. That's okay. And if you are not supporting that sentence, okay, then that's um a majority right there. So we will take it out.
030Okay. And then so again, we'll we'll work on uh finalizing the code uh without the Juan sentence and be prepared for the July 24th meeting uh to move forward so the board can adopt the code of conduct for next school year. Thank you for your feedback. Thank you for being here. Michelle, I have a little more from the policy committee. Thank you. you will see um several items uh listed on the agenda for um first read and there is a significant one all these all these students uh have left but there's a very significant policy here which is mandated by the state uh New York state passed a law which has gone into effect which obligates us to uh move towards a some sort of bell to bell restriction on electronic devices for next school
031year. And so whether we do that is not in question. What's in question is how we do that. And so the policy committee was presented with uh a proposal which we reviewed and now um we have brought it to you for first read. Um and so normally we would say okay have a look at that and we'll talk about it next time. I won't be here, so I'm going to talk about it this time. Um I, you know, I think there's a lot of information, um, evidence suggesting this is a good move. Uh, and yet there's not a lot of great research assessing the effects of different forms of implementation. And just what I've read and my own thinking suggests that we don't yet have a perfect idea of how that could work. The document
032we have will um put a lot of put most responsibility on students in the middle school and the high school to keep their devices in their locker. And at the policy the let me start by saying some districts and other places have opted to use different ways to store phones and s such uh yonder pouches and things like that. um there's more expense there. Um and one of the things we want to try to avoid is escalating hugely the workload of employees in who would be required to be policing this stuff. So there's there's, you know, there's not an easy thing here. I myself said at the policy committee, I'm extremely skeptical of the locker approach. Uh I I just think it's it I think lockers are likely to suddenly become extremely interesting to our
033students. Um so what what I I won't be here to vote or not vote. Um but what I would suggest is if if the board decides to proceed with this and if I were here I would say okay let's try it and I would say let's please look at this very carefully next year and decide whether that was a good idea in terms of implementation and let's try to get a handle on whatever research there is on best practices for implementation. So, uh, it's there for first read. You all can take it forward. And again, another policy, um, by state law by August 1st. So, we've had a committee, we've done surveys, we've gathered feedback from student, staff, as well as parents. Uh so again, this is the um New York State School Boards Association
034draft policy and then we did have our cell phone committee review it uh and then include some of the local uh decisions. Uh and again, this is just first read for the board and then at our July business meeting on the 24th is when we would have to have it adopted. So any feedback either tonight or over the next few weeks that the board can share. Uh but again, we've had a committee um working on this throughout the course of the school year. I saw Matt, I think, and Tony and Natalya. So, we we got our uh the list of presentations from next year. And I guess my question is Mike, are one of those is talking about how the policy is playing out in one of the built into one of those already and
035if so, it isn't, but we can include that. Yeah. I just I mean, I would love to sort of know how it's going, especially before we get into budgeting. And there's a reporting mechanism that's required by law that we have to gather data throughout the course of the school year. Every school district in the state will have to just to John's point to kind of monitor to see how it's going. So we we'll be able to share that out, you know, throughout the course of the school year. Fantastic. Thank you. You can ask for that at one of the agenda planning sessions starting in July. Uh Tony. Yeah. I just wanted to call your attention to one thing that it was confusing to me and and so it may be confusing to to others and
036and maybe you want to take a look at it or explain to me why I missed it. Um on the second page under the um bold heading enforcement consequences and reporting um the the second paragraph there says for students out of compliance the adult who seek who sees the device will confiscate it and the device will be held in the school office until the end of the school day. The next bullet says the first time this happens the student may retrieve the device and the parent will be notified. The third bullet there says further instances will result result in the device being held in the school office daily for longer periods of time. Does that mean I mean the first one said it' be it'd be held till the end of the school day. Does
037that mean the school plans to keep devices in the school for multiple days? No, it should read and again we'll clarify the language. First time it's kept in the office, the student can retrieve it with the parent contact at the end of the school day. the second time the parent will have to be the one to come in to retrieve it. It does say that. The second bullet point says for subsequent instances, but then it says further instances will result in being held in the school office for longer periods of time. Yeah. No, no, we we don't have any intent of storing uh cell phones. Sorry. Doesn't that doesn't that mean that the student will have to like bring it to the office every day and have it like kicked in for x amount of
038time? Is that that was how I read it. We can cl We can clarify. He says yes. Um, Natalya, yeah, I I want to say that I'm really glad that we are doing this and of course we're required to by the state, but I'm glad that our board had already started to discuss this. Um, I think that any time that we implement something that is big, that is going against what's become a habit or a pattern, it feels like a big change the first year and then once we get through the first year, it will feel really different. And so, I guess one thing that I would like to um ask is that this is something that regardless of what we decide in terms of right now that we do take a look at this
039policy again at the end of the first year. Um because there are a lot of districts that have banned phones and say that the attitudes toward the ban at the beginning of the year versus the end of the year are completely different from everybody. Um teachers feel better about it, parents feel better about it, students feel better about it just because it becomes a new normal. Um I do I guess I would ask that that particular paragraph get um clarified. And then I also am just wondering if there are best practices because I do know that there is a local district that started using pouches and students can find ways around that too. So I do appreciate that we're being I guess fiscally responsible but I also do feel it's really really important to get
040cell phones out of the classroom out of the social periods of the day like lunch and recess although I don't think recess is a big part of this. Um, but also that again the burden not be placed on teachers. I will say that I have had too many conversations this year about cell phones and I'm really looking forward to having zero conversations about cell phones next year and I know that's not going to happen but I really um would like for more of our educators and staff to have fewer of those conversations because we just don't need those power struggles. Um, school should be for school. So, I'm really really glad to be looking at this and again I think it's something that we should be looking at as attitudes change especially because it's not
041just us it's statewide. Thank you. Any other questions for policy or any of the policies? Yes. Go ahead. I just want to say um one more about the extreme heat um which I'm really I guess I think that I feel the same about that one which is that I'm so glad that I know that this was a nice priority this year. I'm so glad that we do have new policies in place and I know that they're required for actions to be taken once classrooms are at 88 degrees. Um and I know there was a lot of discussion about that in our community this week just because it was so incredibly hot. So I wanted to say thank you so much for making the decision to close school early. Um, and I guess just a nice
042to know question for me, um, would be, will there be I guess I when I read this policy, it says close school early and send students and staff home according to the district's early closing protocols. So, I guess I want to I want to recognize that um, students shouldn't be in super hot classrooms, but neither should educators, neither should staff, and the buses are also extremely hot, um, probably hotter. And so I'm really glad that there's going to be a focus on taking care of the adults as well. We are so focused on taking care of the students and that matters, but educators also shouldn't be sitting um I spent a lot of hours sitting in an extremely hot room this week. Um and so I'm really glad that we're going to have that in
043this policy and move forward protecting the adults as well. Thanks, Natalyia. Um are there other committee reports? Dean, go ahead. Thanks. So, property committee, uh, we met on the 16th as well. Just one quick, uh, agenda item that we talked about. Bobby, uh, updated us on the, um, Champlain Hudson Power Express. That's the the, uh, power grid line coming down from Canada through, uh, our area down to the city and just easements that are in place, especially along Jones Road over by Dorothy Nolan. Uh we were originally prepared to have it on the agenda this evening to discuss uh and hopefully pass, but there's just a couple of logistics that they're still figuring out relative to trees being replaced and then uh a dollar amount that'll get reimbursed to the district uh on top of
044that as well. So stay tuned for that. That'll come back in July. And then just a quick update, I met with John Tina earlier. Just a quick update on uh the unfortunate water damage that occurred at the high school. The remediation is is uh proceeding ahead of schedule, which is good. uh Balffor, you probably saw a truck out there tonight still continuing their work. Uh materials have been ordered. Uh lead times have been shrunk down as much as they they can be. Uh with that said, the fitness center floor area should be completed and the fitness center should be back to normal and regular use by the start of the school year. And the white gym floor uh unfortunately a little bit longer lead time for the wood materials. And so that'll be a little
045bit later, but hopefully shortly after the start of the fall semester. So that's just an update on the uh the water damage in the fitness areas. Thank you. That's good news. Questions for property. All right, Tony. Uh the finance committee met uh on the 16th as well and uh our first item was a year-end review um basically of uh historical and current ratios and trends surrounding uh state aid and uh just Bobby there was no action taken. We were just sort of brought up to speed on the fact that the district is uh continuing to trend wealthier related to the rest of New York State for both income and property. um uh which has a major impact on the sort of downward trend of our state aid ratios. Um and that's compounded by the fact
046that we're also continuing the trend of uh decline in enrollment which is another element in the in the figuring of of state aid. Um finally to to round out the the trifecta of bad news, the uh the Bosey's aid ratios um and the district's uh transportation aid ratios are are also declining for different reasons as well. none of which are in our control. They're just um New York State uh formulaic uh issues. And uh so we were just brought up to speed as sort of a heads up to keep keep thinking about that as when it comes to budget time. Um we were updated by uh a change in the business office um uh relative to the way uh we pay our vendors. We're long story short, we're going to uh contract with a a
047a group that's going to provide something called virtual card and check print. The aim of this uh is these additions is to reduce fraud potential and to cut the overall cost of of paying our vendors. Um already covered we we also went over the Champlain Hudson Power Express. I won't belabor that. It's the same report from Dean. Uh and then the finance portion ended uh with good news. the the treasurer's report um issue that we've had in uh internal audits in the past. Um our our internal audit was done this month and uh the auditors uh commented that the treasures report finding that has been on our uh uh our audits for the last couple of years uh will come off this year because uh we've taken consistent corrective action to get more timely uh
048treasures reports. That was a big goal of Bobby's this year and that was successful. And um as far as uh the audit committee report goes, the this the same audit I'm talking about was conducted and um it in in the focus was internal controls in the business office relative to the federal grant process. That was what we asked for. Um there was only one low-risk finding. It was a very uh very positive audit. one low-risk finding uh around um signed payroll verifications for one month in June 2024. There's already a corrective action plan that uh is in the agenda for uh approval tonight and it'll be uh it'll be easy to to put into place and to correct this one very small uh finding. So that's the audit committee report. Questions for finance or audit?
049Thank you and congratulations on the treasurer report. Good job. All right, that brings us to administrative reports. So, just a a few announcements as well as recognitions. Uh so, tomorrow morning we are looking forward to celebrating the class of 2025. Uh we have 424 graduates that'll be honored and walk across the stage to receive their diplomas uh tomorrow. So, congratulations again to our graduates, to our families. We have several board trustees who have their own children uh graduating. So, uh always it's an incredible community celebration uh to honor uh our graduates each year. So, 9:00 in the morning at Spack um weather forecast looks great. It's going to be a little cool, but it's going to be a lot better than it was earlier this week. Um so uh and then second just want to
050um recognize uh tonight we have two of our board trustees who are completing uh their tenure here on the board of education serving as board trustees. Uh so just want to use this opportunity uh first to thank uh both John Bugamman and Dean Kogan for six years of service to this board of education. Uh but more importantly their service to the school district as well as to our students and staff. Um board trustees, it is a thankless job. Um all of our board trustees put a tremendous amount of time and effort. Uh but both John and Dean have just led uh just with an an incredible uh um uh professionalism uh thoughtfulness and always have provided outstanding feedback uh to the school district and have always kept our students best interest in mind. Uh John
051has served as our vice president uh of the board of education. He's been chair of our policy committee. Uh helped us when we started talking about flex zones uh back in 2019. uh and again has always been very reflective in all of our conversations and has always provided outstanding feedback and guidance on any issue uh that's come to the the board table. Uh Dean also served uh two terms, so six years on the board, six years is a long time uh as a board trustee. uh and Dean's uh expertise from his professional life uh sharing that um you know experience uh on our property committee as chair uh volunteers as our board uh representative on our district emergency response team uh and then was a a key stakeholder uh in all of our capital project
052planning process through our legacy project work for the last uh for the last six years that he's been a board member. So, uh, we are just so thankful, uh, for both John and Dean and again for the hundreds of hours that you've put into board service, uh, and truly appreciate again the leadership and the commitment, uh, and the dedication that you've shown to our school district. So, you're going to be greatly missed. Uh, but again, we as a board and as a school district uh, and myself as superintendent truly appreciate everything that you've done for our school district. So, congratulations. back later. You can go now. Okay. All right. I'm going to piggyback on that. Um because the board of education also wants to thank you both for your service this last six years. Um
053Dean, I'm going to start with you. your steadiness, your even keeled nature, you're just it's always been a pleasure to see you and say hello and be serving on the board with you this last six years. Um your proactiveness on the property committee and really bringing that to life has been amazing. Um from what it was when I first started here as well. So I'm going to truly miss you. We all contributed to a little little gift and a card for you. So [Applause] And then John, John John was vice president with me during COVID. We were like this became public health um experts practically meeting with Mike every week. Um we've been through so much on this board. I knew you before. Um, but I just know you so much differently now and I'm
054so grateful for all the service and just the pleasure it's been serving with you on this board. So, I will miss you greatly. So we as we have uh trustees leave the board, we also have the incredible opportunity to welcome two new board trustees to the board of education. Uh so Ashley Fogerty, Ashley, she was sitting right there. Um but uh Ashley uh was here tonight. Um so again, we welcome Ashley as well as Lee Wilton. Uh so both Ashley and Lee will be taking their uh official oath of office uh at our annual organizational meeting which will be on Monday uh July 7th at at at 8:00 in the morning. So uh we look forward to welcoming uh Lee and Ashley uh to the board of education. Uh so with that said, the July
0557th is our organizational meeting in room 221 223 of the administration building. Uh that's one of the few morning meetings that we do have. That's an 8:00 in the morning meeting. Uh so we have an organizational meeting agenda and then most likely we we will just have a few business items just quick ones. No presentations are planned uh for that Monday uh morning meeting. Uh and there are no formal presentations tonight. Uh but one of the requests uh during agenda planning several months ago from the board uh was just to gather some feedback uh from our flex zone committee. So I've incorporated that into my superintendent's comments. So Dave and Lisa are going to just assist uh to be able to provide some feedback um of of work that our flex zone committee has done
056this spring that we want to share with the board of education uh and providing an update as to the work uh that's the district is is uh utilizing based on the feedback that we re received in committee uh from the committee for our enrollment uh processes moving forward. So we got a a clicker. I may do my slides from right here. So again, for a little historical perspective for the board of the community, uh back in 2019, uh the board uh charged the district and administration uh to come up with some strategies to address uh some of the challenges that we've had um in the past when it comes to uh student enrollment. Uh and it's wonderful to have six neighborhood elementary schools. Uh but when you have six schools, uh it is a challenge
057uh to balance class size at uh at all grade levels across those six schools. Uh so we had a flex zone committee in the fall of 2019 that worked really hard uh in gathering information uh to propose to the board of education um a flex zone concept at the elementary level. And so that committee made their recommendation to the board in January of 2020. So it's been five years uh since the flex zones have been in place. Uh we had a kind of staggered start because in 2020 um obviously was the co year and so uh we did not have all of our students back in person. So really it was the fall of 21 was the first year that we truly implemented some of the flex zone strategies. So, but four years later, a
058lot of lessons learned, some great feedback that we've have have have received uh from parents, from our staff uh and the community as we kind of learn uh each year and make adjustments. Uh so this is the uh flex zone committee that when the board charged us uh back early this year uh to reassemble a group of teachers and parents and community members uh to again to re-evaluate where we are with our flex zones. So the process uh again we had three meetings uh in the evening. Uh so the first meeting was to provide some history and overview of our existing policy. So this is a board policy for the flex zone. So uh spent the first uh meeting uh providing some some uh data as it relates to the flex zone. Uh and then
059we uh used the opportunity to gather feedback from each of the stakeholders uh where the committee was able to create some recommendations that would help us enhance and improve our existing uh elementary flex policy. And then based on all of those conversations, uh you'll see that there's a series of recommendations and feedback about opportunities that we have now to improve our flex zones. Uh and so Dave and Lisa are going to kind of go through each one of these um just quickly just to talk a little bit about where the conversations landed uh and how we think these uh strategies will help us improve uh moving forward. Uh so our why back in 2019 as I mentioned the charge of the board. Uh again we used to hear at pretty much every year regularly concerns
060about class sizes and comparison of class sizes between schools. So this was an opportunity for us to help balance class size to address class size targets uh to help utilize our existing resources across the district. And then uh you know for Dave's all of his experiences and some of the challenges that when we hit class size targets the number of administrative transfers that were taking place each year. Uh so ultimately our goal was to uh help reduce or you know potentially eliminate the need for administrative transfers. So based on the recommendations uh of this year's committee uh again there was several things that we think will help improve uh and also enhance uh and again uh be uh more open in our communications so there's a better clearer understanding uh for families as they're moving
061into the district about how our flex zones uh work. So, I'm going to turn it over to Dave and Lisa and they can talk through um a few of the recommendations that came from the committee. So, the first one here uh is regarding our newest students to the district, which is reviewing kindergarten um student placement. the timeline. Um, as we all know, especially if you have your first uh child going into school, there's a lot of questions that are are swirling around in your mind and you want to know everything um so that you can plan for it and everything will be wonderful. Um so some of the questions that came up were just general information that was shared with the committee about um why we have done it a little bit later um when
062we have folks enrolling later in the summer and it has an impact on um class size and sectioning. So, uh, we took, um, that into consideration, the feedback and are incorporating that into trying to, um, do it a little bit earlier. And also, there was an element of internal communication with our administrators in the different elementary schools too to make sure that we're having those uh, internal conversations in a timely manner, taking into account um, student needs and programs. So, used to be in the middle of what used to be or our original target was the middle of August realistically now is closer to the end of July. So there's a few weeks uh again through Val and Dave's work that we've been able to kind of move that uh that class assignment or school
063assignment process for especially for our kindergarters uh up early which I think is going to be helpful to a lot of families. So the the next recommendation was to look at um adding more criteria about the actual flex zone process, how students are placed. So this is just a little snippet that's on our website. So it says attendance flex zones. So we're in the process of changing that language that's not done yet. um to having it elementary building assignments and underneath that will be language that talks about some of the the verbiage that came out from the committee was designated attendance zones a little little a little blur about what they are and then underneath that would be attendance flex zones. So that's going to that that'll change. And then you can kind of see
064in the red there. We would then talk about the criteria that we use which is this is something that we kind of went through and reviewed and kind of made this list up with the committee which is looking at our student needs. Uh ENL services, special ed services. Um those kind of trump where a student potentially would have to be placed. Um we've worked hard with our class size targets to actually lower them. Um there's and I'm very proud of that. Valerie sitting in the audience very proud of that. Um some of the best in the suburban council in my opinion. Um looking at student sibling placement. Do you already have a brother or sister that's already in um a particular elementary school? Um we work hard to try to honor all family. We used
065to call them babysitter request and child care requests. Um they're very very difficult. Child care is a challenge in Saratoga. Um transportation. when we first did the flex zones um in 2019. Again, transportation was definitely was part of that. They actually helped us design the flex zones, but it was a different time then. We had 80 some odd drivers and um so that's something that we're reooking at. You you'll hear a little bit more about that with some of the other recommendations. Uh proximity to the school, that has been a factor that we've always tried to consider, but we're going to modify some of our language. They call it the walking zone, um which is again is coming up. And then also talking about um neighbors and again it is something that we definitely look
066at. It's hard sometimes with the flex zones to keep a neighborhood all in the same school but looking at um what are your um neighbors right next to you I guess that's also a tough one because even in our committee it was like when I think of a neighbor that's different than what Tony would think of a neighbor or someone else would think of a neighbor. So it depends on where you live as well. So, but that's language we're already working on. So, continuing on that clarity of language, uh, one of the outcomes was the need to, um, really focus on using the same language. So, everyone is talking about the same thing. So, uh, the recommendation here was to clean up the language. uh in some of the uh documents that we had we
067referred to the base school or the designated school. I used them all. So you know there were many many terms. So we uh decided that we needed to uh simplify that and everyone needed to be uh aware that uh if you live in a designated attendance zone which is outside of a flex zone your child will attend the designated elementary school. But if you live in a flex zone, um your child could attend um an elementary school that's assigned to the flex zone. Um this last part is in there because um as Dave just mentioned, student needs in programming um class size targets and you know, some of those other um potential uh considerations may trump um those two things above that. So, um, and class-siz targets, um, also could result in an admin transfer,
068but just the cleaning up of the language with designated attendance zone and flex zone were were actually two pretty big accomplishments. The next recommendation, which this is something that we already were considering um and certainly if you lived, you know, you could a stone throw, you could see a school, we tried to make sure that you went to that school, but in some of those in some cases you were in a flex zone. So again, if there were class size targets were full and we were not able to place you, then we we had the ability to flex you. The recommendation is we will change that language. So if you live if you're in that walker zone that.3 miles um you would be in a walker zone that is not will not be considered a
069flex zone. So again, not a 100% guarantee, but most likely that's where you'll be going unless, as if you look at the exceptions, just like Lisa said, um if unless there are student needs or services that aren't offered in that school, um class size targets, sibling placement, things like that. But it definitely would be a priority that you would be attending that school. So, one of the other recommendations uh that came out as a result of a lot of the conversation was where possible um could we reduce the flex zones uh the schools in a flex zone from three options to two for many reasons that have already you know been discussed. transportation um also being one of them. And also uh we we looked into enrollment and some of the shifts that we are
070seeing where u perhaps there is um are fewer students attending and it makes more sense to pull from uh different areas or or certain areas where you can um condense it down to two school zones. So, uh, flex zone one, uh, would be, uh, DN and Lake, Dorothy, Nolan, and Lake A., uh, flex zone 2, uh, would still contain Dorothy, Nolan, Lake, and Caroline. Uh, flex zone 3 would still have three, Caroline, Lake, and Division. Flex zone four would be Division, and Geyser. And this was one of those where we were noticing some of the the trends. It made much more sense to to look at two. and then flex zone five green field uh division and geyser um maintaining the three schools there. So um again it was really a a a worthwhile endeavor
071to look at can we uh make some tweaks to what we had in existence to and I think this is one of the implications of transportation of having our routing specialists and Jerry and Kim really taking a look at how we're routing students and again if we can help with that and consolidating it it's not a guarantee but again when you limit the number of schools obviously you take away the flexibility of that um but again if we can help in any way u moving forward as to um how students are assigned within those flex zones. It's I think u a little bit easier for families to understand the two school option as it is the three schools. So that uh again that I kind of see that being a work in progress moving forward
072and moving from three schools to two schools and we kind of address this a little bit but if if I could just offer real quick it's Bobby sorry um Jerry had let me know he's bringing in um an independent vendor uh Tyler Tech to help go over the existing routes to see if maybe we can also identify some efficiencies by reorganizing or realigning some of them. So that's actually set uh to take place within the next few weeks. So I thought given this discussion that was an important point just to let you all know. Yes. Great. Uh thank you. As Mike said that's a big lift. It is something we're going to look at though and work on with transportation. And then the last one was mentioned the the importance of and again of trying
073to do our best to keep our neighbors assigned to the same elementary school if if possible. Um, and again that splitting up the neighborhood is is can be hard and is challenging for many families. So, it's something we're going to look at and make it a a stronger criteria when we we try to do our placements. And that's what we came up with. Thank you. Are there any questions for Mike or Dave or Lisa? Matt, I mean, first just thank you so much for doing this. I looking at that committee I feel like you guys got a lot of perspectives in on this and that that's fantastic. I just had a quick clarification question for you Mike. You said that the the idea of moving f the the three to two flex zones is a
074work in progress. Does that mean like every year you'll you'll try is the goal? I mean my assumption is the goal is to have every flex zone to be two elementary schools ideally. Yeah. So is is it sort of like an annual thing? It be like can we knock Carol off this one? And a lot of it's going to depend on the number of students enrolling and you know once the school year starts where we have some flexibility of class size. Um so you know again that that's something that we're monitoring throughout the course of the year and Val and Dave work really closely together on that. Um, so again, I think the the communications piece and, you know, kind of help parents relieve some of the anxiety of three schools seems like a lot
075when we can get it down to two schools as an option. Um, and again, that would be the goal, but transportation, I think, is the big implication. And there's just so many moving parts there, it's hard to be able to predict year to year. Um, but again, I know we're just we're getting better and better at it. And um again, even working with the real litters and and new families when they come in through the registration process um you know each year we're trying to get better and and just be clear with how the process works. Thank you. That was quick work. Thank you very much. And to those of you who served on the committee as well. Is that you all set? Okay. That brings us to our consent agenda. Tony, do we have
076any modifications? We do. We have one modification. Uh personnel item F as in Frank Five. Um Grace Palawatzinski um was initially stated as uh being initially placed at Dorothy Nolan. She is going to be initially placed at Lake Avenue. So that's the one change. Uh therefore I move that we approve consent agenda items E F and G as modified. Can I get a second? John, is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. You have any announcements? Okay, that ends our business meeting officially and opens our second public comment period. Is there anyone wishing to speak to the board? All right, seeing none, um moves us to agenda planning. Do we have any official agenda planning items? No. Okay, our one agenda planning item for that we do have for
077everybody is we asked for those of you interested in leadership um being nominated um at July 7th meeting if you would indicate today for that. So, is there anyone wishing to indicate interest in leadership for next year? Natalyia? Um, yeah. I'm interested in serving as president next year. So, I'll be putting my name forward for that. Amazing. Others? Beth? I am interested in serving as vice president. So, I would put my name forward for that position. All right. Any others? All right. Thank you. Any other agenda planning items? Going once, going twice. All right. Board member comments. Natalya. Um, just to echo what's already been said, thank you so much to Dean and to John. We got elected together in 2019 and it's been um just really an honor to serve with you both for
078the last six years and I'm happy that you'll have a lot more free time and I hope that you use it well. Um, I also wanted to acknowledge um two meetings ago we had a retirement ceremony and uh tonight we have another retirement on the agenda. And so I just wanted to congratulate um Sheila Pierce. Um Sheila is one of the first teachers that I met in the district about six years ago and has been such a welcoming and wonderful person. She's not she doesn't work at the school where my kid goes, but um every time I encounter her, she just um really like shines and it it feels so much like she exhibits what it means to be a caring teacher in a community who really values students. And so um it's been a
079pleasure to know her and I really wish her a wonderful retirement. And then I finally wanted to say congratulations to all the graduates tomorrow and to all faculty and staff that get off for the summer. And then thank you to those who will continue to serve our community through the schools this summer. Thank you. Others, Beth, um I also want to say thank you to John and Dean for your incredible service on the board. Um it has been a pleasure serving with both of you. Um Dean, I always uh really appreciate the um integrity with which you approach issues that we're discussing and I um always appreciate hearing your perspective. Um so thank you for for all the work that you have put in to to this role. And John, it's been an absolute pleasure
080serving with you as well. Um, I very much appreciate the authenticity and good humor and kindness that you approach our discussions with and um, you both will be missed tremendously. So, thank you for your for all of your work. So, uh, I too want to add my my thanks just to Dean though. Uh, no. Um really both of you as a first year board member being able to to to see the different ways you approach board service and the different strengths you bring. Uh you both really set a a bar uh that I try to aspire to for the next however many years. And so thank you very much for both your services. Yeah. And at the risk of belaboring this, um it, you know, ditto everything that was that was just said, it it
081um it really um makes me feel good that when I when I realize I'm serving with people who are serving and um and put themselves forward for the right reasons. And I feel like you two uh both uh you know exemplify that uh and have exemplified that throughout your service. Um, John was the one who got me into this whole thing. So, I have him to to thank and curse for that. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's been a pleasure and an honor to serve with both of you. Thanks. And just one last thing, I I just want to call attention to the, uh, um, uh, food service and and Eric's department. Um, I just think it's amazing that the food truck um goes to three different locations in our district that um, you know, for
082the uh, distribution of of meals during the summer, free meals to to our students. Um, you know, this is something that was accomplished just through um, you know, a single uh, location prior to the you know, it was the it was the um, you know, the the the cafeteria and and the main campus here. Um, and in most schools that's the way it is. It's it's it's still a great program, but harder to access because you've got only one option. Um, Saratoga and the food truck brings this this summer service to three different areas and uh it just boosts participation and it's an incredibly um well thought out and and uh humane way to approach this and I I really want to congratulate them for for doing that. Um, I feel like I need to
083cram a lot into this speech. That's I've got, you know, many chapters to share with you since I won't be here in the future. No, I want to uh talk about some things I'm going to miss. Uh, I'm going to I'm going to really miss uh people who work so hard for um the children in our community. If you take a complicated issue in this district, and this sort of hit me hard. I I didn't understand it till I got here. You take a complicated issue and I guarantee you somebody's been locked in on it for a long time and they're working really hard and whenever you see something in public, it's the tip of the iceberg. Flex zones is a good example. So many people I think about the registars's office and what they
084deal with all the time. It's there's so much going on and I'm going to miss being around that. I'm going to miss all the friends I've made especially on the board. I've served with 17 trustees uh but also in the administration among teachers and students. I'm going to miss that a lot. I'm going to miss um substantive debate about things that matter. Uh I'm going to miss people who have disagreed with me civily and courteously. I think that's so valuable and I think it's been I've really appreciated when it's happened. in the front of my mind on that because we haven't always agreed on anything everything but we've we've be remained friends and colleagues and there are many other people too. Um I want I'm I want to just say I'm going to miss uh
085my my special colleagues my my classmates Dean and Natalya. We've been shouldertoshoulder for six years and Angie said earlier what a better way to start a meeting than celebrating student achievements. And that's just the final thing I want to say is I'm going to miss celebrating student achievements, the the academics, the arts, the athletics, modified sports, Boseis, uh anytime kids tap into their potential. That is that is a gift to be near that. I think of uh graduation in the summertime and uh I think of commencement tomorrow. I'm going to miss all those things. It's been an honor. Anybody else? All right. Well, I want to thank all of us who sat here this year. We went through more rocky times than we expected and um as usual, and it's been a pleasure to sit
086here with you all year. Um Tony, you've been a great co-leader with with me and I really appreciated all of the work that we've done together. And Mike, thank you for being a really standout leader this year. Appreciate it. Um with that, can I get a motion to adjourn? Dean and John, any any discussion? All in favor? That's a wrap. Thanks everybody.