SSCSD BOE Meeting 3/27/2025

001e for e all right Board of Education may I please get a motion to re-enter public session Matt first Beth second um all in favor that is unanimous okay thank you um please um stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance well good evening welcome everybody uh my name is Mike Patton superintendent of schools here in Saratoga Springs uh march across New York state is music in our school's month uh and so we have been very fortunate uh to have performances by our student musicians uh at our last meeting uh three of our high school performing groups uh performed for the Board of Education and the community uh so tonight uh we have the great pleasure of welcoming our elementary students uh who represent a variety of our uh six elementary schools uh that

002are here to perform for all of you under the direction of Miss Brooke Vincent so welcome to our elementary orchestra e [Music] [Applause] than [Music] w aren't they incredibly talented how about one more round of applause so I just want to uh first thank all of our students uh for always uh just being incredibly impressive and sharing their musical talents uh to all of our music teachers throughout the district for their continued uh dedicated support uh to both our students and our music programs and then finally I know many parents are here uh with us us tonight uh I want to thank our parents for your continued support uh as well as the Board of Education and the community uh for continuing to to support all of our district music programs uh throughout the school

003year so thank you very much Miss Vincent if you're still here and again thank you to our parents uh for making your children available tonight and great job kids awesome job okay best way to start a meeting ever can I get a motion to approve our minutes from March 13th meeting Deb can I get a second Tony is there any discussion seeing none all in favor thank you that's unanimous can I also get a motion to accept tonight's agenda John Natalia as second is there any discussion on that seeing none all in favor all right thank you that's unanimous as well all right this opens our first um public comment section um session on behalf of the board thank you for being here we do truly value the input from our community and we appreciate

004your engagement New York State Board of Education meetings are held in public so the board can conduct our business of the district District visibly to maximize transparency and information sharing with the community they are not public meetings with real-time dialogue with attendees however our board provides two public comment periods during which speakers May address us to share information and opinions that may inform our work in the case that follow-up is necessary the appropriate District official will reach out to you we ask speakers and the audience to conduct themselves in a civil and constructive manner modeling the same respectfulness we expect from the students of our district we do not allow comments about specific individual employees students or trustees and ask that you be succinct and try not to repeat previous speakers to allow more people

005the opportunity to address us the first public comment period is limited to 30 minutes then after the board conducts its business a second comment period is available um with um no official time limit this opens our first public comment period speakers you will go in the order as you signed up um you're allowed at a maximum of 3 minutes and before you address the board please clearly state your name our first view slots are always rever reserved for students so first up we have Kayla Gat hi my name is Kayla Gat um student at Saratoga high school I just want to say that I fully support the reaffirmation of our policies and the decision to protect our student body um and their best interests I think when your decisions are going to directly affect the

006students it's most important to prioritize them what they want and what will make them feel safest when they're in our schools I'm not here to speak on behalf of any specific group but I do want to speak on behalf of myself and my experience is working on Dei initiatives in the high school over the past four years um so coming into the high school as a freshman I and many others found a community in these clubs and committees that I started working with and I think that's what largely has kept us going um with our work that we've done for years later throughout this time um in this work the biggest issue and kind of reoccurring theme that we've seen um come up is like a dist trust between students and staff in the buildings

007and in general and it's kind of a common belief among students that nothing is being done about issues that they're seeing and that nobody cares those of us that participate in these communities and do this kind of work know exactly how much time and thought and effort is put in behind the scenes but um people who aren't actively seeking this information often aren't reached so that's why I'd like to stress how incredibly important it is to make the choice to actively support our students rather than passively I think that even if you or anyone not a part of the student body aren't seeing or feeling the direct effect of these kinds of statements and decision decisions I want to assure you that they do matter and even if stud student in our district is made

008more comfortable by your choice to proudly protect them and their interests you will have done your job thank you thank you our next speaker is Raven Eldridge hi my name is Raven Eldridge I am a sophomore who attends this school I am also transgender a couple months AG go I sent my passport in to get my name changed the government kept it as long as they were legally allowed to and provided no information on when it would return when I finally got it back it came from a letter from the US Department of State I quote the date of birth name or sex was changed on your passport application sex was circled the changes were made for the following reasons to correct your information to show your biological sex at Birth make no mistake this

009was deliber they are targeting transgender people do not think that nothing is happening we are afraid I am afraid and I am sure you are too over the summer I held my friend's hand as he cried scared that next year we would not be able to see each other again scared that we would no longer be safe because of rhetoric surrounding our existence I understand that this is hard that this is not something to be taken lightly I understand that people are afraid that the government would punish us for not complying with them that they are scared that the this would put a Target on our back I also understand that there are Financial concerns do you know what stereotypes of transgender people we see every day tells a young person it tells them that

010they are alone that they do not matter that the economy is more important than them being seen for who they are this is saying no to that we matter transgender people and immigrants matter we are a part of this community just as much as everyone else actions against trans children hurt all children and is our duty as a community to stand up and say no we care it is our responsibility to be leaders to stand up and say all members of our community matter not every school can do that so it is our responsibility to do that it's worth it it's worth it to stand up and be leaders if one more kid wakes up tomorrow and feels just a bit more safe people are saying this is political and I must disagree it is

011a sad truth that politics have become a fight for rights what some say is politics is just my life my freedoms my rights my ability to have a passport my ability to go to the bathroom some people are focused on Sports and I am talking about life and death last year at least 32 transgender and gender expansive people died because of violence in the US do not think that nothing is happening we have a chance to do something about this to take a step forward and stand up for what is right I am proud to be a member of Saratoga Springs schools and I am proud of what you are doing I applaud those of you who are choosing to vote Yes tonight you are brave people the politicians are not the ones who make

012the world we do we have the power to change things thank [Applause] you thank you next up is Ted Martin all right um thank you board I just like to preface this um message I'm about to share that I am empathetic to the challenges that our school district faes today I work in education my mission is to um enable Equitable in accessible education throughout the world and as a parent of two daughters directly impacted by the policies of the Saratoga schools spring or Saratoga Spring City School District and as someone who grew up in the New York State education system I strongly oppose the board of education's proposed affirming our support for every student proposal while claims remain a commitment to education it is clear that this proposal is politically motivated fails to address the

013real challenges of our schools today politics has no place in our schools the board should be prioritizing academic Excellence student wellbeing and practical solutions for the real challenges that we Face Instead This is politically charged declaring that does little to prove the the quality of education for our children our school should be focused on preparing students for the future not serving as a platform for ideological agendas rather than addressing the pressent concerns such as the de climbing academic performance the growing need for mental health support and the rising autism rates not one in 36 one in every 36 students this statement ignores these critical issues where is the board's commitment to improving special education services ensuring that struggling students get the re the resources they need and focusing on classroom effected this and there's a

014fair there's a threat to the Fair competition of women's sports right so this statement disre disregards the importance of Fair competition in women's sports along iCal males to compete against females in athletics compromises the Integrity of women's Athletics and undermines years of progress and creating equal opportunities to female students if the board truly Believes In fairness inclusiv inclusivity must acknowledge that biological differences that give male born athletes an unfair advantage and advocate for solutions that protect the rights of female competitors I know this because my daughter's on the track of field team here and she has told me that she just won't compete I'd also just like to bring up the right of privacy another major concern is the broad stance on allowing biological males to use fale restrooms or locker rooms many girls feel

015deeply uncomfortable and unsafe sharing intimate spaces with biological males regard regardless of the gender identity this voices and concerns should be should not be dismissed schools should prioritize the well-being privacy and safety of all students ensuring that policies the rights bi biological girls as much as they do others I know this because I asked my daughter this morning who's in fifth grade how she felt about it and she said Daddy I just won't go to go to the bathroom at the school please please wrap up your time y I'm just about done the statement does not reflect the concerns of many parents in the district families deserve to have a say in the policies that impact their children yet the board is pushing an agenda without adequately addressing the voice of parents who worry about

016the fairness of sports privacy and overall quality of Education thank you thank you next up is Cindy [Applause] swda thank you for the opportunity to speak I spoke um at your last board meeting my name is Cindy swba I live in the town of Milton and I'm a resident of the school district I'm a volunteer with Saratoga Pride the lgbtqia organization serving Saratoga County last meeting meeting I spoke about the importance of affirmation and support for transgender gender expansive expansive and immigrant students I want you to know that since I spoke I've had lots of comments from Friends foes um allies who were cheering that the school district had the courage to bring this forward so I strongly support this initiative and I thank you thank you [Applause] next up is Gordon Boyd good evening

017my name is Gordon Boyd I live at 99 State Street in Saratoga Springs I want to add my voice to those supporting the board's motion to continue the policy of promoting diversity equity and inclusion these values are not only desirable ones in the Democracy they are Facts of Life America diversity is all around us just look at our community and read the most recent census America includes people whose families have come here from all over the world I myself was a fetal immigrant to the United States in 1945 carried by my British mother and who had married my GI father during World War II my son and daughter both of whom attended Saratoga Springs public schools were born in Columbia South America and were naturalized here after we adop adopted them in the 1980s Equity

018is something that we not only expect from our Civic life it's a legal requirement in any Business Partnership from the smallest LLC to the biggest public companies if you make an investment in or participate in an enterpris like a community a school or a business you have a right to an equitable role in that organization's management and Leadership inclusion means to me that we also have a right to be welcomed in these civic affairs not only out of our the community's desire to bring us in but because it is our right to be consulted in brief I believe that those who question the value of D of e and of I in our public agencies are really questioning Freedom itself I believe also that the existential anxiety even an old white guy like me feels

019from watching the news over the last eight weeks is very much akin to the anxiety that black and brown and lgbtq people have been feeling in our Society for hundreds of years all three of these values are really about Freedom the freedom to be who we are and how God made us the freedom for to a fair and Equitable share of responsibility and participation in civic affairs and the freedom to be included in the decisions that affect our lives the same Freedom that our country has defended and fought for over the centuries and I just I like to add as kind of a tangent to this uh my grandson my second grandson is the only person from the Saratoga Springs schools currently participating in the 4 program at the county level so I think there's

020room for encouraging uh diversity in uh outside extracurricular interests that would be uh really beneficial and teach uh more families where the food comes from anyway I recommend your adoption of the resolution thank you very much thank you Nora Brennan hi my name is Nora Brennan and I'm a resident of the school district I put aside my remarks because I really want to think on what I heard from the students and what people have said before me here tonight uh because as I was coming here and thinking about what I wanted to say I was thinking about my own experience going through the schools and being heterosexual white girl in an very very White Community there were a lot of things that were easy about it for me but it was hard it's hard for

021every student as you're growing as you're learning where what you want to be who you want to be and I think about the students who are having to make very difficult decisions about who they want to be at a young age and the support that they need and the dignity that they need to be able to achieve that and what our school district is doing by affirming and supporting our students students with this resolution is allowing all students to have that opportunity and that's something that is so important to our community it's so important to understand that uplifting a student who wants to make a very significant important life change at a very young age is something that I I can't imagine being in that situation myself I can't imagine being a teenager making such

022a massive decision and needing the support not only of my family my parents but my community and my school district and there should never be a situation where that student that child is put in a situation where someone else feels that their right to be who they are their ability to be who they are is somehow taking away their ability to be safe to grow to go through all of the same challenges every single one of us when we are a child when we are going through School are dealing with our own thoughts and demons and dreams and opportunities and I understand that but affirming children's ability to grow and be who they are is never something that is taking away from any other child and that's what this resolution is doing is affirming that

023ability to support every single one of our students in the school district and that's so important um I want to leave with one thing I have a niece who is uh well she's 12 years old she identifies as female when she was very young she looked very very boyish and she had to go through Elementary School being told Oh no you're supposed to go to the boy's room and she's like I'm a girl what are you talking about I'm going to the girls' room she has no plans to make any kind of transition she knows who she is she's very comfortable and who she is and she's very lucky that she has parents and a community that has supported her and the ability to stand up and say this is who I am get over

024it uh but you know having hearing her talk and her confidence is something I want us to ensure that our school district is making it possible for every student that goes through these schools to feel confident that they have the support they need to be who they are in the best possible way so thank you thank you Marlo KS Mara KS hi my name is Marla kurs um also in support of the uh proposal affirming our support for the students there's a lot of talk about being on one side or another particularly you often hear emphasizing the other as bad evil cruel heartless stupid Etc and i' really prefer to recognize that everyone has the same objective here which is to keep our kids safe and thriving um we just don't all agree on what

025that looks like I have taught my child the premise that your civil rights end where mine begin and if we restate recognition for our kids who are lgbtq or immigrants or transgender or simply not white at a time when their federal government is sending them the message that they are somehow less valued than other humans I I just don't see how that encroaches on the rights of anyone else we are not saying that those kids are more important than anyone else we're simply reassuring them that they also deserve respect which many of them must be doubting right now I will also say aloud something that you know quote unquote my side doesn't seem to often say which is the transgender Sports issue is T it's touchy it is not clearcut we debate it at our

026kitchen table regularly we see a lot of different angles to this and we still have not settled the issue um that said how many kids are we actually talking about like what is the actual percentage of our school athletes that are assigned male at Birth who are now looking to play on girls team and I would ask that we don't let that piece of this proposal deter anyone from supporting the much larger numbers of these other kids who need to know that their trusted grown-ups at home and at school have got their backs thank you to the whole board for the work you're doing thank you Mark Crockett good evening Mark Crockett um I think just my thoughts here tonight I think the resolution is largely unnecessary um because all students should be treated fairly

027I think it's definitely politically motivated kind of states it in it and furthermore it may be illegal based on Title Nine that's my comments on that so I decided I spent 15 minutes today I'll go through this quickly coming up with a different resolution so here it is we commit to ensuring that all of our students are treated fairly no bullying or demeaning language or actions will be tolerated we also commit to the tenants that's teachers will be treated with respect as long as they show proper respect for the students we set a goal that in five years our school district scores in the top 5% of districts Nationwide and that at least 95% % of our students graduate at or above grade level in core subjects such as reading math science and language arts

028this will ensure that whatever future they pursue they will be properly prepared for it in that regard we propose the following the superintendent immediately begin to form groups of parents teachers students administrators and board members to study how to accomplish this goal these groups should be coordinated by the superintendent and gather information from the most successful schools in our country public or private to understand what they do that makes them successful they should then decide based on This research which curricula and methods should be used to quickly get our students on the right track to ensure students graduate with the best education possible we request that our district focus on these goals and not be distracted by secondary ideologies or teachings thank you thank you next up is Diane jaraka good evening my name is

029Diana draa my daughters are in seventh grade at middle Maple Avenue Middle School and third grade at Greenfield Elementary I am here tonight to present some data in regards to male versus female swim record times I am sad um for two reasons sad for our female athletes who up until the boot tonight who have been working towards their best in their chosen Sport and sad for our transgender and gender expansive athletes who don't currently have a home space to work towards their best times in their chosen sport I recognize that there is no easy answer and I am definitely happy I'm not in your shoes tonight I handed out a packet and I apologize I didn't print out enough you'll see on the first page of the packet there's data and sources for male versus

030female Record Times in the F 50 yard freestyle 200 yard freestyle 50 meter freestyle 200 meter freestyle and I will includ dash for outdoor track I have provided the male and female records for Saratoga Springs High School New York's state Public High School Athletic Association NCAA division 1 Skidmore College NCAA division 3 Paris Olympics gold medal Olympic record and world record the second page of data is a series of line graphs showing the male and female world record progression between 1900 to 2010 for 50 10 and 200 meter butterfly backstroke bre stroke and short and long course this is your data to review and I would like you to see the highlighted sections on the first page of your packet outlining that the Saratoga Springs and New York State High School male record in the

03150 yard and 200 yard freestyle are faster than the female records at Skidmore and NCAA division one record 200 yard 3.9 seconds for the 50 and 17.7 s77 seconds for the 200 in a sport where milliseconds matter these differences are significant this is my opinion this in my opinion is the best data to show the difference in male versus female athletic abilities I would ask the board to seriously consider delaying the vote regarding Sports um and spend time investigating it further albeit I do agree with the the rest of the initiative thank you for your time reviewing the data and I wish you the best in navigating how to best serve all the students in the district thank you Christina buing hello thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Christina Spalding and

032I am speaking in support of the reaffirmation of the Dei commitment uh we've lived in the district for about eight years and we have a high school student that just graduated early in January um I am also an educator I have a PhD in Psych ology and I have taught undergraduate and graduate students and professionals and I know that students cannot learn from a place of fear or shame education opens doors it empowers individuals to help themselves and others to do good and to make the world a better place it is our job as a community as parents and as educ ators to give them an environment where they can each child can feel safe and supported and accepted and where they can Thrive doing so will be paid back many times over as our

033youth mature into adults I know that if I am given a choice of the type of people who make up my community I want it to be built upon the foundations of kindness respect and compassion thank you thank you next up is Amy Eldridge my name is Amy Aldridge and I'm an 18year resident of Saratoga Springs and the parent of a wonderful High School sophomore here in the district my child has been supported in so many important ways by his schools throughout the years to be seen validated and welcomed I commend the school board administrators and teachers and express my heartfelt gratitude for their ongoing commitment to the well-being of our students it's the support for each child that is the potent antidote for ignorance and oppression as we teach our students mathematics and science

034we simultaneously teach them so much more as they watch what we do and how we do it and I urge you today to vote Yes to the provos statement affirming the district's support for every student watching the inauguration my son and I witnessed the verbal violence threats and attack against marginalized individuals over the passing weeks the dangerous visites of federal policy aimed at Racial equality efforts transgender rights and undocumented immigrants has unfolded ongoing we receive that message of violence and our children receive that all of them whether a child is one you would include in a marginalized class each and every child is watching how we respond they may not even be able to give words to the questions that arise deep inside that arise in each of us questions like am I safe is

035it okay to be different if I'm Different is there something wrong with me if all voices are not welcome is my voice welcome should I keep quiet for fear of being othered will others help me how do we respond to these silent questions the answer seems obvious we continue to provide support and ensure safety in the face of fear mongering and retaliation Advocates and allies are needed to step forward it makes all the difference this is the reality and I urge the school board to be an ally to have the courage to stand up in the face of such threats and say no not in our Comm Community to say we see this violence against our fellow citizens and we oppose it it's not political to stand up for folks who need help and yes

036although it seems we are okay for now as far as the stability of our federal funding the scare tactics of the federal government make us feel afraid we might lose that we are being bullied and in the end bullies can never win against compassion dignity and love so in closing our children are watching us now watching to see if we prioritize their well-being and safety watching to see if we stand up for others who are vulnerable and need help I encourage the board to vote unanimously to oppose the propose to approve the proposed resolution as a statement of recommitment to diversity equality and inclusion at this time serving as a powerful statement of support and a step towards creating a world where everyone is seen and valued thank you [Applause] um at this time we

037have time for one more speaker we have one student who signed up and we have five speakers left um I'm gonna go ahead and call in the student um so at this time I'm going to call up Sarah Pino [Applause] that feels short hi all and thank you for letting me speak and letting everyone speak I won't be up here very long because if I'm being completely honest I don't think that this should be a debate at all because this isn't truly about anything complicated it's about the Dignity of our students every student whether they're trans or or an immigrant or anyone else should have dignity in school trans kids should be able to play sports for the gender they identify with because that's what's right and fair for them and they deserve to have

038the same opportunities provided to cisgender students anything that would infringe upon their opportunities in our schools is discriminatory and immoral they're just kids who want to be themselves why does that make so many people so angry trans kids wouldn't go through what they go through all the bullying and discrimination and dysphoria just so they could beat CIS girls for a spot on an athletic team they just want to be treated like the gender they are is that really too much to ask for and another thing that I haven't really heard people talk about as much immigrant youth should not have to worry about the police coming to question them at [Applause] school when they're just trying to receive an education teachers and administrators promised to protect their students when they decided they wanted to go

039into this field and that promise has to be upheld school is supposed to be a place where students can leave their outside worries behind and only focus on learning that can't happen if we say no to this Dei resolution immigrant kids will go to school terrified and be unable to learn anything due to their anxiety that's not okay how can our schools say that we're an accept environment that prioritizes student safety and learning if we don't defend our most vulnerable communities we have to uphold Dei because it is what's best for the kids and that is what this school is supposed to be about thank [Applause] you thank you that does end the our first um public comment period we will call on the remainder of you after um our business is finished today that

040brings us to our board committee reports do we have any board committee reports I see Dean thanks Angie uh the property committee met on uh March 17th we had a a handful of items to talk about that evening a few of which were uh the Melanie Foundation uh had come to the high school with a proposal for a donation for some uh conceptually for some benches a sitting area near the back locker room some other ideas that were talked about Melanie Foundation is a foundation that was um created in memory of uh Melanie marola who was a mid 90s graduate from high school who passed away uh tragically from a car accident so her folks and the other people that are involved in the foundation would like to donate uh conceptually something Sports area related

041again that's why we're just talking about like a sitting area by the back lock rooms just because of her involvement in sports uh Michelle sa is going to go back to the committee and talk with them about some potential options and bring those back to us so more to come uh Scott Singer presented uh a request for us to consider the replacement of the existing uh digital sign at Maple Avenue Middle School for anybody that's driven past rout recently driving north you'll see a big black band across the center of it that is not uh there intentionally uh the pixels and the and the bulbs inside have have failed and unfortunately that software uh and technology is no longer supported so we'll be bringing that in front of the board eventually as well then lastly

042which is an annual uh brought uh forward by John Tiner and his crew an emergency pesticide resolution something that is required by the state of New York for us to provide to them uh so that they can approve us putting pesticides on uh our grass uh grass Turf and field areas um and those of you who have who have seen the transformation of that over the years know that it is a a huge help we notify the neighboring uh residents as appropriate we make sure we keep the kids and and faculty and staff off the fields uh as required by by law um but it is a a huge benefit so you'll that resolution this evening and then the last thing we had discussed which we know uh as of yesterday uh the solar proposal

043uh is no longer valid in our area because of some delineation in uh School District boundaries but we had talked about it prior to yesterday's email from Bobby so thank you Dean any questions for property any other board reports John the policy committee met you will see in the consent agenda seven items that we're bringing to you combination of policies and regulations most of them are um minor edits to existing uh policies there is one I want to emphasize and draw your attention to which is about guest speakers and there's a policy and a regulation and there guest speakers to classes in our school district and there's some subsi of stuff there that uh you might want to I know you'll want to look at everything but that's probably the one that's most subsi thank

044you any questions for policy all right Tony uh finance committee met on March 17th uh it was a pretty brief meeting um because we're talking a lot uh as a big group about all the budget uh issues this month um we uh we went through a few small things uh an elevator maintenance agreement which is on tonight's agenda uh we talked about the pilot program that was not eventually a pilot program as well um and then uh we really spent the rest of the time talking about um the budget process and next steps and uh Bobby um sort of summarized the one house budget um uh statements from the the assembly and the Senate and kind of gave us the pluses and minuses of of what would happen if if their Visions for this year's

045budget came to fruition um but all things that we discussed at towards the end of that we've already discussed with this group in the form of budget Workshop or or here at the table or they'll soon be part of our our budget meeting so I don't have to take any more of your time that was it was a pretty short meeting any questions for finance okay any other board committee reports all right students you're up thank you uh last week at Division Street the PTA hosted a steam Expo it was wonderful to see the students excitement as they showcase their projects thank you to all community members and families who volunteered to participate at the career fair on Wednesday um tomorrow students will participate in a PBIS March Madness Monday the day will kick off

046with a character education assembly in the gymnasium afterwards students will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of March Madness themed games and relays at Dorothy Nolan congratulations to the battle of the book club not only did they partici in their first competition but they also won first place across the region the K through two students got to enjoy an Irish step dance performance last week it is great to see former students sharing their talents with March's music in our school's month they have two more chorus concerts to enjoy congratulations to the second and fifth graders who have had wonderful wonderful performances thus far all students got to celebrate the PBIS cheetah day with the schoolwide virtual Bingo competition fun was had by all through our spirit week and this culminating event last week

047at Lake a they held a PBIS assembly and recognized students who followed the 3bs they also had a special performance from The Wild Irish Acres dancers featuring one of lakes's current current students Lake sent two teams to the battle of the books competition the third grade team came in third place and the fourth grade team came in fourth place Lake hosted their annual pasta dinner night last Friday the wonderful fifth graders served the community and did a wonderful job at Greenfield last week the HSA had their annual spaghetti dinner and guests were served by the fifth grade students proceeds will benefit the fifth grade's endof year activities on March 17th leprechauns caused some Mischief in the kindergarten classrooms and unfortunately none of the students leprechaun traps were successful they culminate the month-long readathon this Friday

048Friday March 28th with a dress like a book character day uh Maple Avenue students that attended the Bose student Leadership Summit this past month will be meeting with the Maple Avenue building Equity leadership team to brainstorm ways to create a more positive culture and climate last Friday at the grade eight semiformal dance took place huge shout out to the faculty staff and especially the students for making this an annual tradition that everyone enjoys students have been working hard to prepare for the upcoming New York State English Language Art assessments that will be taking place on April 8th and 9th and lastly at the high school congratulations to the science research program students who competed at a recent science and engineering Fair Nora Hoke senior was awarded the grand prize and will represent sshs at a

049n at an international competition in Ohio SSH students won a variety of awards through the day the computer science students will be competing on Friday at the Sienna College High School programming contest Miss Martino will be bringing five teams to compete against Statewide students good luck sshs will welcome a guest speaker Steph Hill who will speak to all grade n students next week next Wednesday about making good choices he will then do breakout sessions with them in health and PE classes thank you so much um Dr Patton we're over to you great thank you um so next Tuesday night uh is going to be the first of three uh Community meetings uh to have the opportunity to gather some feedback uh regarding our Elementary attendance Flex Zones uh the flex zones uh were approved um

050by the Board of Education five years ago uh so back in the fall of 2019 uh at the request of the Board of Education uh we assembled uh a group of volunteers of 35 members of the of the school district uh parents community members uh other partners uh had helped uh develop the policy uh for elementary flex zone so now it's obviously F five years later and so we want to reconvene the original task force and then we welcome any additional community members who are interested in providing uh opportunities for feedback and continuous Improvement uh as we uh have implemented the Elementary uh attendance flex zone so there's three meetings scheduled April 1st at six o'clock in the administration building and then uh two additional meetings on April 22nd and May 6th and then our

051goal would be to have some recommendations to the Board of Education uh for any tweaks uh to the current policy uh that we could Implement in June for the start of the new school year uh also want to mention uh that next Wednesday night April 2nd uh is the annual meeting of our of our bosies uh and so that's there our entire 31 school districts in our region uh gather each year uh to learn about the Bose's budget uh hear from the candidates that are running for the Board of Education uh for bosis and so that meeting uh I I will be attending along with several of our board trustees uh at the southern adonic Education Center in Hudson Falls on Wednesday April 2nd and I would like to just make a comment uh regarding

052tonight's board resolution uh the Saratoga Springs City school district has a long and proud history of celebrating and acknowledging the wonderful diversity of our students creating a school environment where all students feel safe welcome and included and providing outstanding academic and extracurricular opportunities for all students to be successful both in and outside of our classrooms our school district's pathway vision statement and core beliefs are rooted in equity of opportunity collaboration community and personalization these core beliefs extend to all students without exception the policies and regulations of this board ofed education that guide our school district support creating and maintaining a positive inclusive School environment and this work aligns directly with the guidelines that are shared with all school districts across New York state that are established by the New York State Department of Education this

053alignment of our policy and District P practices ensures that our school district remains in compliance with the law in regards to the athletic participation question that has come up the New York State Public High School Athletic Association has established specific guidelines for Trans students transgender student participation in all inner Scholastic sports that all school districts throughout New York state must follow Nisa continues to advise all its member schools to place students on teams that most appropriately align with the students gender identity our school district remains committed to supporting the needs of all students in providing them with an outstanding educational experience where all students can Thrive and achieve their own personal goals we are very proud of all of our students and appreciate the dedicated efforts our entire staff and the support that we received

054from our community throughout the school year I thank you for all of your efforts thanks Mike um board at this time I um move to amend our agenda to put our old business ahead of our budget Pro um presentation in order to have that conversation and vote um and then allow our community members to either leave or stay for Budget if they would like to um and so um I put that motion forward if I can get a second and we can take a vote natal is a second um all in favor of of moving the agenda okay thank you so at this time then we will start with a first and second and open it for discussion so um I think I as president shouldn't make that a motion can you make our old

055business can you make this motion for me then I move that we uh the Board of Education uh votes on uh the resolution that is in front of is on the table called affirming our support for every student can I get a second Matt um all in favor for for I'm sorry for sorry we got a second that's that's what I needed discussion sorry I'm kiding ahead um any discussion please Deb thanks yeah um I just wanted to fill the board in on discussions since our last meeting and the slight revisions that um Matt and natal have and I have made to the resolution itself um at our last meeting and at this meeting again we have heard from community members during the public comment sections and from our last time from our fellow board

056trustees both in support of the resolution and with some concerns um subsequently uh we received feedback from The District's lawyers who assured us that we were what we were doing was certainly legal stated that it was not political but could understand how that might be a perception and offered some suggestions about the wording um I also met with a fellow trustee to better understand their concerns some of which I agreed with some of which we agreed to disagree Matt and Natalia and I sub then met and revised the resolution um we tried to incorporate slightly different language in a few spots to address some of these concerns but did not alter the spirit of the resolution the final draft of the resolution is posted on the website with tonight's agenda um I guess I especially

057want to thank all of the students who spoke tonight um for your smart incisive and affirming statements um we did Design This resolution for you to make sure you know that you are seen and valued and that your right to Affair and free affirming education uh means the world to us um I ran for school board on a pledge to support and uphold an affirming inclusive education for all of our students regardless of color or Creed national origin gender identity or sexual orientation I see this resolution as one small way I can enact that promise and we'll vote in favor of it thanks is there other discussion John I was not an author of this resolution but I wish I was I think it's an excellent timely statement that reflects careful consideration of existing laws

058and funding sources guidance from District legal council our District's mission statement and policies and most importantly the well-being and education of the students in our district Key language in the res resolution perhaps the most controversial language is drawn from the dignity for all students Act and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association all that said I I believe the real point is this if we as a school board members by our action or interaction allow any student in our district especially those who have been targeted especially those who have in fact been victimized by a growing trend of hate crimes and other kinds of harm if we allow any student to feel that they are not a respected member of our community to think that they are not a valuable human being worthy

059of dignity or deserving of every Educational Opportunity other students have to feel vulnerable or to actually be vulnerable we're falling short if we do so knowingly We are failing in the most indefensible way as a native born neurotypical white straight cisgender male I am proud to support this resolution with my vote I say to every single student in our district we see you we value you we need you thank you other discussion Tony and then Matt um I just wanted to uh basically um frame my brief remarks around um what I heard tonight and what I've been hearing um you know since the topic was brought up and um I think it's important to say that what we're proposing to vote on here is not a policy um it's not a regulation um it's not

060something that we're deciding uh you know on a on something to enact nothing is being set what we're doing is what we're considering doing is um is doing three things that begin with re we're we're restating um certain things that the the state and um our own policies have uh have already stated we're reaffirming um our support and our uh protection in a way for for uh parts of our community and we're reassuring those people that they have uh every right and to uh to a free and uh equ equable and um excellent public education uh despite the um uh voices from outside that that might tend to make them think that they're not um I want to just sort of end with uh stating I love two things that were said today uh by

061by Raven and Amy um I think uh it's I I love the statement and it's a paraphrase it's worth it to stand up as leaders if uh one more kid feels safer at school that that felt like it was said right to me and uh it's not political to stand up for those who need help um especially and this is where I'll add especially and I think we've talked about this a lot of us especially if the people who need help are the literal embodiment of our primary Mission as school district leaders uh so I'm gonna I'm in the yes column too Matt um one of our speakers today talked about the well-being of our students and I I want to um make my comment specifically about the well-being of our our trans and our

062gender expansive students out there um according to the NIH uh 56% of transgender youth attempt suicide um the NIH also reports that one factor that can significantly lower the rate uh is if students feel a sense of belonging at their school um I hope uh that by passing this resolution today we're sending a clear message to our trans and gender non-conforming students that you belong at your school uh we want you to come to school as yourself play on the sports teams as yourself and we want you to stay and become adults that belong in this community and that's why I'm voting for this resolution other board comments Connie um I do have a couple question questions um since this is a discussion I'm not sure who would answer them but one is um it

063has been acknowledged that there is a possibility that a federal agency like the Department of Education or Justice might notice this resolution and then take a closer look at our programs and funding do we have a plan for that and then if even though it it's been acknowledged that it would be a tall order but it wasn't a definite like never going to happen if our federal funding were reduced or pull or pulled like what's our backup plan are we going to raise the tax cap would we take it from um fund balance I think those are fair questions to ask as we are stewards of the taxpayer so hoping that and those are if scenarios so can anyone answer those questions I don't I don't think that we're not changing anything so there's nothing

064that is changing of what we're reaffirming um the tax cap will be set at that point but I okay so there is no there's been no discussion or plan if that were to happen no not that I know okay so um the board has received a significant amount of Correspondence regarding this resolution the overwhelming majority of messages urged us to vote Yes um specifically a unanimous vote um was in several of these emails um that has been I would say demanded of us um in the name of affirming all students which is a message I do believe all of us at this table genuinely support um however what was notably absent from these messages on the whole was any reference to the most controversial aspect of this resolution and that is the inclusion of biological

065males in private female facilities and compe EMA Sports so I wish that that distinction were made in all of those correspondences that we had like if people were like and I definitely support this part too because all of the messages we got in opposition only named that it only named that one part um so I have heard that there's some concern in the community with the federal funding again we don't know what's going to happen there um but we do know it has not definitively been like it's not definitely ruled out by our legal council um I do want to share that I did have I I think a great conversation uh with one of the authors of the resolution we both acknowledge this is very emotional this is very complex um we did respectfully

066agree to disagree about a couple things um but in every conversation I've had including that one recognize that at its core this is a political act um I don't I'll I'll just say what I said before I don't believe this is the place for political gestures um when especially when the practice is outlined we are already doing we are aligned with state law and guidance um nothing has changed um unless there are reports of people being questioned at school I that's the part where I don't I don't know if there is an active threat or that we're being targeted um so I believe this resolution is well in mentioned I'm just concerned that it is going to create deeper division in our community especially around the issue of girl Sports and potentially put us at

067odds with Federal Regulations it also risks an environment where anyone who does not vote Yes unanimously is unfairly characterized and any group not specifically named is actually going to feel excluded um I did make a statement in the last meeting about certain groups in the past that may have felt targeted that were not given the same treatment uh throughout this process I've made a sincere effort to be collaborative I did offer some friendly amendments in hopes of finding some common ground but none were accepted so um and and with the shared acknowledgement that this is a political statement I will be abstaining um and my decision to abstain is not about opposing anyone's Identity or rights it's about staying grounded in responsible governance being responsible stewards of the tax payer and ensuring that we remain

068focused on our core Mission which is serving all students in a way that brings our community together not further apart thank you [Applause] John I'll just point out that the vast majority of our funding comes from the state and local tax sources the nisba has been very clear that the dear colleague letter does not have the status of law uh I think that we respond to political forces that are in play at every level of government all the time we have to we don't we don't live in a world that doesn't have politics government policy always involves politics but for me with family and friends who include immigrants and queer people there could be nothing less political about this to me it's about the well-being and health and civil rights and dignity do we have

069any other board comments Natalia um I wanted to also clarify that uh any concern about um I guess transgender girls playing girls Sports um because I haven't heard it in the other direction um this polic or this sorry resolution is not a policy that is putting that into place that is already established in our and is one of the things that makes me grateful to live in New York state um we do have daa we have the New York State human rights law um and in fact um Title Nine follows title seven when it comes to protected classes and uh there was a Supreme Court case in 2020 which prohibited sex discrimination and employment and education um including based on gender identity gender identity is a protective class under title seven and therefore title n

070and so I want to I guess just be clear that it is important to me that we stand by our trans students um I guess regardless of um these things I would feel the way that I feel but we are saying something that is already set in our state and it has been for years and I just want to make sure that that is clear Matt Tony and Connie well I just want to respond to something Connie said that you know we didn't re we didn't receive any commentary about locker rooms or bathrooms or sports teams and we did like we had a student come up pretty eloquently I thought just before the end of public comment and say explicitly let kids play on the sports teams that they play on and I found that

071powerful and moving yeah I just uh also so not I'm not arguing here uh I just wanted to respond to Connie's question about you know discussions about um uh you know any money that could be at risk and um I think I'll just state with a combination of what John bugman and and Natalya said um it to me I mean this is a reaffirmation to to uh paraphrase Natalia this is not this is um the the specific bullet point in in most in question um is grounded in Dasa NYS uh New York State Public High School Athletic Association as Mike said and uh and civil rights uh human rights law uh in New York state um and because we do get 10 times the aid from New York state that we get from the feds

072I think it's you know while we're talking about theoretical funds being at risk I mean we if we went against these um these uh acts uh of the state um you know theor in theoretically that much greater pile of money could be uh could be at risk so I think talking about Theory here is is all well and good but the there's a greater risk of of not following what we've already got on the books than than um the other way around I think Connie um just to respond to Matt um I would also then like to hear the same thing from and I'm not sure what activities that student is involved in but if we had all of our student athletes here saying the same thing right that they would not mind losing a

073division one scholarship or anything like that to um something that may happen if if we're talking theoreticals here um think that is something that has happened in other states there are lawsuits that are currently active because that has happened in other states so those those are the concerns that I'm hearing and um I those are I think plausible things that can happen and that's why we're having this discussion is there any further comment Dean and then Beth just a quick comment uh I think the the most important piece of this resolution that resonates with me is in the dignity and education bullet point that was written and I'll read it uh because it's just a sentence it says we and I would like to put I reject intolerant R rhetoric are actions that undermine each

074and every students's right to a free and fair education period however I will say that as the resolution is written I'll have to vote no Beth um I want to also recognize all of the people who took time to write to us um who are taking time to be here tonight with us um to share your thoughts about the resolution I especially want to thank the students who are here and the students who spoke up tonight um I think it can be really uh intimidating to speak publicly um especially in a forum like this and so thank you for being here for being involved for being engaged um you're very brave um and we appreciate it um you know when you feel like you are outside of the margins of something you don't see yourself

075as a part of the story and because of this and because of all the current confusion and conflicting information I continue to support this resolution and I would go as as say we have an obligation to support it this is a point of clarification from this board which I hope will provide assurance and reassurance to our students to our teachers to our community this resolution is not addative we're not asking to change anything or add something new we are simply saying to our community that we will follow the existing laws and affirm our commitment to existing policies so for that reason I will be voting thank you Beth um I think at this time I will call the question so um at this time all in favor please raise your hand and that is um

076seven um NOS raise your hand and abstains all right thank you at this time we will re arranged you're welcome to stay for our budget presentation of course um our we will move back to our agenda as um as it was in order and move to our budget presentation whenever you're ready take your time are all right if you can please move out into the Halls at your earliest convenience so we can move on [Music] um yeah all [Music] right moving on let's hear our budget presentation thank you Bobby all right so I know we've been meeting weekly now for about a month so and I'll keep this brief so here we are in our budget development timeline uh right on the doorstep of April now um and next time we get together you will

077be uh approving hopefully the budget that will go before the voters in May um state budget is still uh you know to be determined but we're rapidly approaching the budget and capital project vote on May 20th so when we had started this process we were looking at just over a $4 and a half million dollar budget Gap and what we did was we talked about some certain scenarios that uh trusty bugman had specifically asked for um so scenario one um as most of you know and you hearken back to the fall to our initial conversation about budget development was just the allocations that existed within certain areas of the budget so scenario one was let's look at some specific targeted areas and look to see if we can reduce some of those scenario two is

078continuing our budgetary practice of appropriating existing fund balance to close any Gap that exists between uh revenues and expenditures and then scenario three was let's look to make further reductions in Staffing in hopes that we can realize some savings because as we all know uh 76% of our budget is made up through uh salary and benefits so in looking at the progress of Gap reduction working off of that 4,69 th000 how did we do through this process so um when we met in February at February 27 the budget Gap we had whittel it down to 3.8 million based on some conversations um and the priorities that had come in uh across all of the buildings at our leadership level so in doing so we had determined that 2.4 positions would be brought onto the budget

079and then five positions would actually be removed through either uh retirements um or resignations and that was achieved through attrition March 13th we got back together together that was our last board meeting and that budget Gap was then reduced to $ 2.27 five million and how did we do this well this was a little bit of a combination of both where we continued to look at existing areas of the budget to reduce the Appropriations so we were able to capture reductions of that uh appropriation Surplus to the tune of $1.2 million and then we also looked at the revenue side of the budget because obviously in any good budget you have expenditure consideration and revenue consideration so it's it's not just an expenditure issue let's let's scrutinize our revenues and make sure that we're budgeting

080accordingly and not under budgeting to such a level that it it exacerbates the existing budget Gap so we increased revenues to the tune of $312,500 yes it's not as easy to find that Revenue um but we still have to look and then March 20th uh last week at the workshop that budget Gap was down to 1.9 million and how we did that was we still were going through the budget looking at targeted areas um for potential reduction and we were able to identify almost $374,000 of additional reduction so the positive at uh last Thursday's Workshop was the budget Gap is now 1.9 million so when we look back to the three scenarios to reduce the existing budget Gap we did our due diligence looking at scenario one uh reducing these allocations in the target areas

081of the budget to the tuna $1.15 million we used scenario three in looking at making uh Staffing reductions and we were able to realize $677,000 in savings here um whe whether it be through outright reductions or just breakage through attrition and then you using all these scenarios kind of together um we're left with scenario two so this this remaining gap of $1.9 million the um the prevailing thought was well let's do something similar to past years and take the remaining uh Gap and close it by appropriating 1.9 million million do of fund balance so when we left the workshop last week that's essentially where we left things and decided we'll just take fund balance to close the gap of the $1.9 million and so that is what our budget is built on so when we

082look at our total package look going into 2526 what does our budget contain well fortunately it continues all of the great things that our current budget in 2425 has in it so we continue to make our investments in our highquality educational programming we're continuing all academic experiences and opportunities which include our career in technical education and AP advancement courses here in the district uh all professional uh development opportunities for our faculty and staff our extracurricular activities our uh sports music and art programs are all going to be continuing um and in some areas expanding um and then we're continuing our investments in our social emotional learning supports um and then something that was new in this budget cycle operation graduation we're proud to be continuing that work and also advancing um the instructional coaches and

083then specifically when we look at 24 or 2526 budget and what what is new or different about this well we're looking at the expansion of the L support at our buildings um adding a social worker at K5 and we put this asterisk here because the the general fund budget will assume two Social Work positions however one exists already in the form of a body but it's currently paid for by the mckin vento grant that Grant is slated to expire so part of the decision in the budget cycle was well let's bring on that social worker that's supported by this grant they will now be in the general fund and additionally we have at one of our uh two of our elementary schools actually split a social worker halime each so what we'll be doing in

084this budget is making the half social worker at each of those buildings whole um so that's really one of the biggest um you know goals of this budget cycle was to was to finally uh be able to add one social worker across each of our elementary buildings so that was a a feather in our cap in in this budget um participatory budgeting is another one that is new to 20 2526 budget and this will be specific to the high school where the students and the student body of the high school will work with uh Administration to be able to put forth initiatives that might be important to them and then essentially they will um be involved in sort of like a Civic lesson in that it will be brought to a real vote there will

085be a winning initiative that would then be funded with um some funding that's set aside in this budget to be able to support whatever that student Run Initiative was in this participatory budgeting pilot so something that um we're really excited about here and I think if this is successful and when we roll it out we will be the first district in New York state to do this so that was just very positive um looking forward this budget also as you know um produces a 3.97% tax levy increase and this stays within the state mandated tax cap uh we're proud to uh put forth a budget that has $1.8 million in essentially efficiencies where we've either reduced or reallocate existing costs we do have a $2,600 bus Bond proposition that would be able to uh help

086purchase additional uh Transportation Vehicles as part of our Fleet replacement plan we're utilizing $13 million of fund balance and reserves and4 million dollar is specifically for our next Legacy 2025 Capital project and then as as you know we have three vacancies coming up for the board of education so briefly looking at our expenditure categories across the budget you'll be able to see um the the first two boxes that you'll see at the top um shows the general support year toye and you'll be able to see that there's a decrease uh year-over-year of about $115,000 and then when you look to the instructional section of the budget you'll also be able to see that there's a slight decrease there of almost $53,000 so year toe when we're looking at our general support area of the budget

087and then our instructional area of the budget there are slight decreases here but where a majority of these increases are coming from that's driving the year-to-year budget increase really is is in the capital and transportation Port part of our budget uh down below so you'll notice that the transportation expenditure is increasing almost $384,000 year-over-year we also have a $3.6 million increase to employee benefits and as most of us know here we're we're currently in the middle of our December 2020 Legacy project so we're bring on debt service and that's part of the reason you're seeing the additional $2.8 million year-over-year increase because we're starting to finance the existing project which means we're issuing serial bonds and when you bring serial Bonds on you have new principle and interest payments so that's what's reflected there and

088then finally the difference of interf fund transfers $4 million is the $4 million that were taken from our current unassigned fund balance and then moving it over next year to to offset the costs the borrowing costs for the May 2025 Legacy project so even though we see a $10.6 million increase um and a 7.19% year-over-year increase we know that $4 million or 2.19% is specifically for the next uh Capital project to offset any debt in the future and then any other increases are really either result of just the economic environment related to employee benefits um and then just Debt Service which is part of our existing Capital project so without the interfund transfer increase of $4 million the budget to budget uh change would actually be 4 and a half% so here's our tax levy

089figure uh for 2526 this is important because this obviously makes up a bulk of our Revenue so the tax levy is specific 65% of the revenue budget so uh $3.9 million increase over the 2425 tax levy uh we're looking at 3.97% and you'll notice down at the bottom our eight-year average is 3.18 and you'll be able to see that history reflected here so this past year 2425 we were at 99.6 and then with the 3.97% annual increase we will be at 103.5 million how does that break down uh estimate wise for an individual taxpayer so for a $100,000 assessment essentially that breaks down to $35 uh 12 per year or 35 cents per $1,000 of assessed value so essentially looks like a ballpark of a cup of coffee a month um per $100,000 um and

090then obviously as you apply each level of 100,000 it will just uh double or triple or quadruple that 2.93 so that's essentially how the math works out and it's important I always like to qualify slides like this that this is really an estimate that's based off of all prior year information so even though the levy has changed in producing these numbers we still assume no changes in assessed values exemptions Equalization rates and full values so basically all of those factors reflect the prior year uh tax levy information so that's the big difference there where these will not be actual um impacts if if taxpayers see them on their tax bill just estimates so our history of assigned fund balance and Reserve utilization in our budget so you'll see we've colorcoded um trusty bugman what color

091is that middle one is that orange or yellow so you'll see the big bar in the middle is the unreserved fund balance usage on an annual basis um so if I can just call your attention to 2425 and 2526 you'll notice that for 2425 in the total fund balance categories we used $9.2 million 800,000 came from our retirement reserve and then 8.4 million came from the unreserved their unassigned fund balance looking forward to 2526 we do have something new which is that green bar that transfer to Capital the $4 million that I was talking about and then we look at the other categories of fund balance that we're using to balance the budget the unassigned fund balance and the retirement Reserve so even though we're utilizing more fund balance this year to balance the budget

092so 13 million versus 9.2 million the one thing the silver Ling that is positive in this is the unreserved fund balance or unassigned fund balance that we need to balance the budget is less than the prior year so that's good because we were able to step off of the amount of of savings essentially that we're using to balance the budget and the same is true for the retirement Reserve contribution last year or the current year 2425 we utilized $800,000 as we move forward into 2526 we are stepping down to the tune of 200 $100,000 to $600,000 appropriation of our retirement Reserve so even though the fund balance and Reserve number is higher 4 million goes right to Capital and then the other two remaining categories are less than they were last year which budgetarily is

093where we want to be we want to be stepping off of U utilizing savings to balance a budget and so how does the revenue budget shake up so when we look year year to year year we look at our total state aid we know that that's increasing fortunately about one $1.5 million the caveat that I continue to tell you all is that the state budget has yet to be finalized if and when that is finalized and we we are um you know we figure out are we do more money than what was in the governor's proposal that we used to plan here if that's the case then all that will mean is we will use less in fund balance if we're do less in state aid then is what's shown here that just means we'll

094use that much more in fund balance so because of the timing of where we are in the process it just does not look like the state budget will be on time and we just similar to last year we can move forward knowing that this is a plan um going forward so Federal sources remains flat there might be questions about what that is that's the Medicaid reimbursement um for those who are eligible and then we also will will receive a Medicare reimbursement for retiree health insurance that we have so basically Medicaid Medicare both Federal programs those are the only dollars that are accounted for here in our general fund budget we have fund balance like I just mentioned we have the increase from 9.2 million to 13 million biggest change here is that $4 million increase

095transfer to Capital you can see it actually Nets out to a $ 3.78 million increase meaning that we've stepped off of the other two fund balance categories and then other receipts you'll see we have a difference of $125,000 increase to interest and earnings and that really is just because of the positive interest rate environment we've continued to see and then the miscellaneous I know this is a bigger one where we increased um the refund of Prior year expenses by a couple hundred, and also the refund of Prior year expenses from bosei so that really makes up a portion of that and then there's an additional $90,000 in there that is an interf fund transfer from Debt Service to help pay for uh our our debt service costs you'll see the property tax levy uh going

096up from 99.6 to 103.5 so that 3.97% increase our payments in Lee of taxes really is just based on an existing schedule that we have that we receive from either the city or the Ida that lists all the agreed upon pilot agreements that we have with certain uh businesses throughout the district and then interest and penalty uh part of like I said before we scrutinized our Revenue lines uh during this budget cycle and it it appeared to me that we were consistently receiving over $185,000 in interest and penalty so even though it's modest it's still an increase so it's still important to point out so overall similar to the expenditure side we have a year-over-year increase of 10.6 million just shy 10.7 million for a 7.19% budget to- budget increase again without the $4 million

097interfund transfer to Capital we would have a 4.5% budget to- budget increase so every year we're legally obligated to provide a budget in a three-part uh uh I guess uh appearance and it's broken down in an admin uh program and capital component so this is essentially how that breaks down so you'll see for the administrative component it increases about $198,000 year-over-year program component just over one uh $3.1 million and just hammering home the point of where a bulk of the budget growth is coming from during this cycle it lives in that Capital portion uh which is increasing $7.3 million so the capital that's partly that $4 million in fund transfer plus any Debt Service that has come on uh as as a result of the existing Capital work that we have so and then you'll

098see underneath the pie chart breakdown giving you the uh corresponding percentages and so we have a bus Bond proposition that will also go before the voters um this is new because I added the disclaimer down at the bottom because um right now some things are in flux with the pricing of the vehicles as a result of some of the tariffs at the federal level so my concern is any time you're talking about uh having the voters approve issuing debt to purchase a specific uh thing um in the past I know that you've been familiar with me putting the quantity of buses on here however knowing that the price of some of these buses may increase as a result of any tariff um once that Bond proposition is approved so let's hypothetically say the voters approved

099the 2 million Bond proposition in May if I put 10 vehicles on here we would essentially be locked into 10 vehicles and if $2,606 only bought us five vehicles we would then be on the hook for the remaining five so I'm proceeding with caution here because the resolution is pretty General and says acquire various buses for transportation something along those lines it is not specific with the quantity of buses so my fear is locking us into a plan to purchase a set quantity of vehicles what's most important is that with whatever we can do trying to meet our needs for transportation and replenish the buses that are coming off our bus replacement schedule is that we can meet those needs while staying within this $2,600 authorization and not have any sort of local cost above

100that um and that is really the main concern for taking the quantity of buses off of this slide just because I don't want us to be locked into anything what we can say with confidence is right now our plan is to buy 70 passenger buses 64 passenger buses with wheelchair lifts and then there were Suburbans that were also planned to be acquired the original plan did call to replace 13 vehicles but knowing that the tariffs might have upwards of a 25% increase on the cost of these vehicles I don't want to lock us into a quantity that's my that's my explanation for this slide here so we're still proceeding with a proposition in May asking the voters to approve a proposition uh for bus uh acquisition for $2,605 the big difference is we're just not

101specifying the quantity that is going to be used to purchase here okay any questions about that Matt um don't we have a certain number of buses that we need to run our runs and aren't we retiring are we required to retire a certain number of buses no we're not okay no it's a local plan and so what we do basically is if we're able to replace as many as we initially planned that's typically how we proceed um but in the past knowing that that's been our process there's been really little concern about change in cost from when we're dealing with the bus companies and signing letters of intent basically saying yes we intend to purchase these vehicles for this specific price that reality has shifted a little bit in that we aren't confident right now

102that if we had a bus price that it would still be this bus price you know a year from now when we actually are starting to acquire them sorry guess my question then is don't don't we need to have a certain number of buses right like we're replacing buses not just because like we we want a new fancier bus we're replacing them because they're getting old yes I to your point they are not in disrepair so they're still passing all inspections and all that stuff it's just that we're spending more time and and maintenance on these buses but they're still perfectly able able to be used in Daily runs and activities and things like that it's not that our transportation process depends on the replacement of these vehicles what we're doing is being prudent and

103before these buses get to a point of either uh you know additional intensive maintenance we're just trying to get them off of the uh you know the fleet okay all right so contingency budget obviously another uh you know thing that we have to touch on on an annual basis so this is essentially the reality if the budget were defeated um we would then be locked into a situation where there's certain rules in the creation of a contingency budget the most important being you would not be able to increase the tax levy year toe so essentially we would have to uh statutorily take out some expenditures so basically those non-contingent EXP expenses which are identified at uh the New York state level um but also we would be locked into a 0% tax levy increase so

104budgetarily we'd be looking at a difference of about 5.4 million but we would also know that while we wouldn't be able to exceed 153.7 for a contingency budget we would have to be able to do that without increasing the tax levy at all so that would also impact the Revenue side to the tune of $3.9 million because we would be flat on the revenue side the uh the issue is we're only mandated to show the contingency budget as uh the expense breakdown so that's what you're looking at here and then those are the um distributions that you're seeing down in the P graph below big thing to remember too with a contingency budget there are some disallowable things and two of those items would be uh the bus Bond proposition being prohibited and we would

105not be able to make that interfund transfer to Capital of $4 million for the Legacy uh 2025 project so that would just be um you know a bit disheartening in that we would have to alter those Capital plans and then finally with board governance uh we have three vacancies which consist of three-year terms they're all volunteer and unpaid positions and the terms begin on July 1st and we have provided a QR code to bring you to some key campaign information on the district's website and then there is a meet the candidates night on May 14th uh here in this location at 7 pm and that's hosted by the League of Women Voters and this QR code will bring you to information related to the budget and capital project vote that is scheduled for May 20th

106of this year any questions questions for Bobby thank you for the uh increased attention to managing the colors and uh and I appreciate your uh bringing scenarios and being responsive I also especially appreciate that you were you were being responsive to me at the LA at the last budget meeting that I had to miss I felt like I was having an impact even though I wasn't there but uh special thanks for just getting all for working so hard to get us to this point Thank you sure thank you and we had your face on a couple nice slides John and if I can just real quick I did give you a handout that breaks down the budget um kind of like you saw in the appearance tonight for the expenditures it provided all those functional

107codes um and then we gave you a history back to I believe 2021 I know last year this was something that you all had asked for more comparative his historical data so that was one of the things that we thought was important when you're looking at it hamburger wise when you flip it around to The Back Page um you will see a breakdown that we provided by object within the budget and the top part is the budget by object and then underneath we put the actual performance um by object as well so you know hopefully as you peruse through this if you have any major changes about fluctuations and categories from your to year that can be something that assists you uh if not feel free to reach out to Joe or uh myself and

108we would be happy to you know walk you through any question uh that you might have um I'm I I know I was not at the last uh budget workshop and I did get um brought up to speed on on most of what went on there so I'm not asking you to repeat this part of uh of that presentation but in the intervening week I I know it's not likely but any uh change or or news on the universal free meals scenario um so the only change is I think we're getting um more and more hesitant about what the future might look like um I think the last time I spoke with Eric our food service director he was filling me in on the fact that there um is discussions of propos legislation at the

109federal level to uh bring the C threshold back to the old threshold uh 60% um if you recall it got lowered from 60% to 40% um and then subsequently was lowered from 40% to 25% which then triggered uh our ability to participate in the program um and really I think served as the Catalyst for New York state to then uh use their policy to uh advocate for the universal free Mill funding it seems that if the C threshold does go back to the 60% that it will become increasingly difficult for the state to be able to meet that Universal School Meal um you know obligation so right now I think a lot of it rests on what happens at the federal level in terms of a defined uh Federal threshold for participation in the community

110eligibility uh program um but Eric had mentioned you know he does not anticipate knowing anything concrete until about the summer um and knowing that you know we have our timeline and the board slated to approve our budget at our next meeting on the 10th um you know it's just one of those things I think we just have to be prepared for the worst and and hope for the best type thing um so the fortun part of all this is we have um you know we have plenty of fund balance and reserves to be able to offset any cost that would be necessary to transfer to the uh Food Service fund as a result of a change like this thanks sure other questions okay thank you Bobby all right thank you thank you Joe all right

111this brings us to our consent agenda do we have any modifications to our agenda tonight we have a bunch um we have four items that need to be pulled for a roll call vote I'm not going to read the text of them all uh but the first three i1 I2 and I3 are uh related to the uh May 20 budget vote um they involve school buses um and um Bond proposition and also uh some sort of General legal e about the spending and spending uh of funds and levying of taxes those are the first three and the fourth is um about a Cooperative entering a Cooperative program which we've done before uh with bosis to uh bid jointly on uh custodial products uh but they all require a uh roll call vote so Bobby will

112help us with that truste crackler this is on do we do these can we do them all at once yeah no no let's separate them so I won so I won yep okay yes truste AA yes trusty Amory yes truste braon yes trusty bugman yes truste Cagan yes Copans yes trusty lakia yes trusty yovic yes oh do you want do you want me to introduce so I2 next you made the motion oh okay that's I we didn't do that for the first so I we have to make a motion for each of these okay so I move that uh we uh approve I2 okay second okay uh trustey achca yes trusty crackler yes truste Amory yes truste Braxton yes trusty bugman yes trusty Cagan yes truste Copans yes lakia yes trusty yich yes oh we

113didn't we didn't we didn't do a motion for the first oh okay can we retroactively move keep the same vote okay so I move that we uh accept what we already voted on for i1 DEA second okay vot stand all in favor all right I we'll get together um I uh move that we approve Financial I3 second natalan roll call yes can I just ask a quick question so the first two right so I W was the resolution authorizing acquisition of various school buses second was uh submission of the bond proposition um for the annual meeting both of those had attachments to it that we could read Andie I3 does not have an attachment to it which may be fine but I just want to make sure that I have clarification of voter propositions to

114be considered by voters on May 20th 2025 got it I'm sorry yeah my apologies I was looking for the little piece of paper to the right side for the a of it I'm sorry thanks be no worries got it my apologies everybody uh I moved and we have a second we on roll call all right yep so trusty eka yes trusty crackler yes trusty amyy yes trusty Braxton yes trusty bugman yes trusty Colligan yes trusty Copans yes trusty lakia yes trusty white toic yes okay now I move that we uh approve Financial I4 second debie second roll call trusty AA yes trusty crackler yes truste Amory yep truste Braxton yes trusty bugman yes truste Colligan yes truste Copans yes trusty lakia yes trusty white toich yes now let me get to my right page here

115we at I uh move that we approve consent agenda items g h and I as modified can I get a second uh Connie is there any discussion seeing none all in favor that is unanimous thank you I just have a quick recognition so on the agenda uh the board just accepted the resignation for the retirement purposes uh of two of our longtime uh District employees the first uh Mr Timothy Harris has been an administrator of the district for many years uh serving as assistant principal of both the High School uh and currently at the at Maple ad Middle School uh so we appreciate all the dedicated efforts that Tim has provided to the district uh and his uh U effective uh resignation for retirement purposes uh will be in September of 2025 and also to

116Lynn Madison uh Lynn has served as csca president uh and it's just been extreme oh uh um just a pleasure to work with Lynn uh she's an outstanding leader uh in our district representing all of our CCA staff uh and Lynn will be uh retiring effective July 3D 2025 so congratulations to both Tim and Lynn on their upcoming retirements oops thank you that ends our business meeting and opens up our second public comment period I'm going to call the rest of who signed up and then we will open it up um again same goes as the instructions at the beginning and you'll each have three minutes the next on my list is John Miller hi thank you all for having me and thank you all for um what we saw earlier I really enjoyed seeing

117the students and uh all the people in the community talk about what's obviously an important issue my name is John Miller I have have uh two kids in the uh at Dorothy Nolan right now they love going to school every day I think that all of us in our community are so blessed to have such a wonderful school system every day when we put our kids on the bus my wife and I feel uh 100% confident that they're going into a great safe learning environment um a year ago I came and spoke to you all about my advocacy for Banning cell phones in schools and um at that time you all thought you know it seemed like I was well received and you all said you would investigate it and now a year later I

118think that it's true that we still have cell phones in schools and um that you know nothing has yet been done on that um I put a packet in front of all of you that includes um some opinion editorials one opinion editorial from the New York State teachers union president Melinda person she co-wrote an oped with Albany Sheriff Craig Apple about how phone free schools protect kids during emergencies that's one thing that um people that want to keep cell phones in schools they say oh an emergency it's good to have them and Craig Apple the alony sheriff talks about why it's not good to have them in schools during an emergency also included in your packet is the New York Post and the New York daily news both calling for a Statewide ban on cell

119phones and schools the New York Post on the right and the New York daily news on the left very rarely agree on issues and what I include for you is both of them advocating for that along with Mayor Mike Bloomberg um who has been run for offices both the Democrat and a republican um the Surgeon General I didn't include in the packet what the Surgeon General says about mobile phones but I encourage you all to look at that luckily we have the leadership of governor hokel and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart cousins and speaker Carl Hasty and they are reports are that they're going to hopefully uh Implement a Statewide Bell tobell on mobile phones and schools I hope that Saratoga Springs doesn't have to wait for the state to take action um the fact

120that there are thousands of uh school districts across the country that have implemented cell phone bands to great success including Los Angeles one of the biggest um uh districts in the country the fact that there are thousands across the country and dozens in New York state that have implemented cell phone bands and the fact that Saratoga Springs hasn't is a huge embarrassment to our students to our teachers to our parents and most of all is a huge embarrassment to you folks the school board my view is that the members of the board are not only negligent but you're grossly negligent in not implementing a a cell phone man in schools I really appreciate you all doing this I know that you don't get paid for it and that you are serving our community and you

121only hear from crotchy people that are cranky but you know I uh I was in the bowling Al alley the other day and I saw the high school kids bowling and there are a bunch of kids there that are having fun and talking with each other and a bunch of kids that were just glued to their cell phones and so I am passionate about this issue I think it would affect the students in a positive way a lot more than whatever you all were debating tonight so um I hope you all will at least let the members of the community know who is for the band and who is against the cell phone ban if there are uh board members that are uh standing in the way of the B that you at least let

122the members of the public know that that's your position thank you very much for your time thank you next we have Ruth Hernandez good evening I had to um change a little bit because I was writing to urge you but now I have the great pleasure to thank you my name is Dr Ruth Hernandez Ros and I am the director of immigrant services at Life Works Community Action formerly Saratoga ELC for 20 years years the Immigrant service department formerly the Latino advocacy program has worked with immigrant families in Saratoga Washington and Warren counties our office receives anywhere from 150 service requests a month a substantial amount of service requests come from the city of Saratoga Springs most recently the need for our services has dramatically increased I am here today as a representative from Lifeworks

123Community Action to thank you for adopting the statement of affirming our support for every student the current climate has impacted the families we work with our clients feel scared to walk their children to school something as simple as grocery shopping has become a fearful event we've had Direct contact with at least one student who has decided not to enroll in school due to fear of deportation that is one too many we also work with families who have been torn apart due to immigration enforcement the proposed statement affirms that Saratoga Springs welcomes and supports immigrants I am eager to translate it and share it with our clients within the Saratoga School uh Saratoga Springs School District we have a great relationship with enl teachers and guidance counselors when an immigrant child arrives to Saratoga our office

124is the first to get a call we assist immigrant families with school registration accompany them to their orientation and help them fill out critical paperwork lastly we help bridge the gap in accessing critical Health Services required by the school district such as vaccinations as an organization that deeply understands the challenges that immigrants face we support this statement because it affirms an inclusive environment and we thank you Life Works Community Action immigrant Services is here to support our immigrant families and are eager to be part of conversations regarding guarding their safety in our community thank you thank you next is Kristen D Kristen Dart resident of Saratoga Springs proud Saratoga Springs Alum um I want to thank you all for passing that resolution um I'm here from the gym in my women's basketball versus every bu

125sweatshirt there is no greater advocate for women's and girl Sports than me I will bet anybody anybody amount of money I will go trivia I'll talk about all the sports professional athletes Beyond Caitlyn Clark women's basketball players particularly women's basketball I have nieces that play girls sports sports changed my life they made me who I am I don't have children and I return both to this school district when I am able to and I volunteer in my own personal capacity to coach girl Sports because I think it's really important and because of that I think it's really important that we understand that trans athletes are not the villains in the story they are not showing up to take somebody's division one scholarship away from them in fact that's not how division one recruiting Works do

126you know ariemma who is the basketball coach on the women's side who I hate the most made has made several comments if you are a top tier basketball player it doesn't matter how small of a high school you play at or how big of a high school you play at or if you play at the fanciest aaou club or your dad is your coach and you're playing in small gyms if you are an elite athlete they will find you as a young female athlete I didn't have the opportunity to play girls developmental basketball I had to play with the boys it made me better it didn't weaken my opportunities it strengthened them I would welcome transgender athletes in our Sports because what I teach my athletes the most about sports you see the advertisements on

127TV most NCA athletes aren't going professional in sports the NCAA admits it they're going to be professional in something else and so what I am teaching them is to be resilient to work hard to perfect what they work at and to be good human beings who respect each other other one of my favorite stories is my high school field hockey coach who still coaches here came to my high school graduation party and asked if I was going to another one of my teammates parties later in the evening and I said no we're not friends and she looked at me astonished because she had no idea that we weren't friends because we were such good teammates and that's what High School athletics is about is about creating good people and good teammates former Republican Governor Baker

128is now head of the NCAA and he was called before Congress and there are 520,000 athletes across all of NCAA Sports 12 are transgender and do you know what he named as the biggest problem for female athletes not trans athletes taking their positions the sexual harassment and harassment in general and the degrading of women sports that's what's detrimental to our Sports in this high school when I was here I had to advocate for equal policies when the football team was drinking at a party the same party that the female athletes were drinking at and the female athletes got suspended and the football players didn't can you please wrap up that those are the issues that we need to address that's equity and that's why sports are important and trans athletes deserve that opportunity thank you

129we have Edward Myers okay um Holly Hammond and um I'm not sure this name Suzanne James anyone else wishing to speak to the board you do not have to sign up to speak in the second yep come on up Aron L is that on yeah Aon lry Saratoga Springs um I actually want to start with a thank you that is unexpected because I don't think it's been said publicly but back in December I came before and talked about my uh interest in seeing greater investment in elementary school clubs and I have heard that there is now a line item for clubs that's going to be like assigned to each building which means that we do actually have greater engagement and opportunity for elementary clubs as opposed to say putting all of our teachers towards Sports

130coaching so I'm really appreciative of that I think it's a great thing um I also and if I'm wrong I would like to continue to be diluted um I also just wanted to share something that um I want to thank those who voted in support of this uh resolution tonight because a friend of mine told me about something that happened to her child yesterday and I might be speaking out of turn but I think it's important to known an elementary school child who uses they them pronouns was told that their presence made somebody uncomfortable another child and per this trans student an adult intervened and said you cannot talk about your identity here because it is political and upsets people so last night I spent time texting with a friend because her child did not

131want to attend school today these are not minor things and they do not happen at a specific age what your assumptions are about trans experience are not usually accurate I also wanted to share something else that I found today while kind of reeling from that information which is that another uh misunderstanding let's say in 21 the center for American progress looked at girls participation of sports over the period of 2011 to 2019 um as each of these State as a number of states developed trans uh trans exclusionary sports legislation um they used the youth risk behavior assessment survey from the CDC and what they found was actually pretty surprising they found that the percentage of high school girls participating in Sports Nation wide at least one sports team per year remained statistically consistent between 2011

132and 2019 between 49 and 54% participation rate but when they went into individual states and looked at States that had trans exclusive policies they found that girls participation in sports overall decreased and when they looked at States that had trans inclusive policies partip a remained consistent but in a number of states part girls participation in sports increased [Music] 14% when people talk about trans exclusionary policies as really regulating women's bodies and activities that is a perfect example because once we stop doing that girls actually feel that they can participate in the activities that are provided to them thank you thank you anyone else wishing to address come on up hi georgean Hansen I'm a resident of Saratoga Springs and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to speak before the passage of the resolution but

133I'm grateful to be here in support of it tonight um I want to thank the school board members who work so thoughtfully and diligently to bring it forward and those who supported it I was an athlete in school it fundamentally shaped the person I am today it taught me about hard work resilience how to work together lean on other strengths to achieve your goal and that you may fail first winning is not everything but every loss has a lesson and that working together gets you farther than when you think of or only focus on yourself life lessons that are invaluable experiences I want every child to have I am a mom of two girls I share my love of sports with them every day and we spend maybe some will say far too much time

134doing so I can't think of anything I want more for them um I believe in the incredible power sports brings the value brings on their health their well-being and their Futures every kid deserves the opportunity to play and to do so as their true and authentic self to feel supported and seen as who they are our kids health and well beinging should be should not be seen or made political affirming to our students that we see them we support them and we believe in them having every opportunity to learn and grow is what we as a community should be doing so thank you for reaffirming that this evening thank you anyone else all right that will close our second public comment period um we move on to agenda planning um and um I open the

135floor to any agenda planning items Connie um yes um as a result of tonight's reaffirmation I was hoping to request that at the next Dei presentation in June um that the so we have the statement in the resolution we affirm the 2018 data Amendment and will respect students chosen names and pronouns we will ensure their right to use facilities and participate in activities and sports consistent with their gender identity um so what has occurred to me as a board member is that I don't believe I know how we are operationalizing this so I was hoping that in the presentation that' be clearly articulated and communicated to the board the specific process for students to update their chosen names and pronouns including how it's implemented and recorded and then the procedures that ensure students access to

136uh facilities and participation in sports and activities um that are consistent with their gender identity um and this just helps to ensure transparency and alignment with this commitment that's been passed tonight can I ask is that the appropriate place for that is that something that that committee the Dei committee um oversees something um that we could build it into maybe the counseling POS uh presentation uh towards June uh because a lot of the process like the first one you mentioned the process for um students changing names is a legal process and our counseling office helps fa facilitate that so okay just trying to think where we can you know um gather some of that information and just provide some updates now will that also does that also apply to the facilities and the sports participation

137okay thank you is there support from the board to add that to that is one of the to one of Y to the June counseling is that a thumbs up or a question we're not being asked no to support it right now no I we can we can be asked next week yes but if okay so it would be part of the June all right any other agenda items or conversation about that one tonight all right um one reminder please um go to the sign up for our Legacy presentation um presence if you have not already um a lot of you have signed up and it's getting full so we can be there for our Administration as they go on the tour to support our Legacy project um but we still have some that do

138not have any presence yet so um if you could check that email from Lisa um Nim and sign them if you have not yet um and that brings us to board member comments John and then Natalia we we've actually had quite a bit of conversation about cell phones Mike can you remind us there's a group working on that and I think they're they're coming back like in August or something we have some time frame there yeah we anticipate it's part of the state negotiations right now that when the budget gets adopted at the state level there's going to be idance for all school districts in New York state and then our committee that's been working at the high school for the fall hopefully that's still when they're in session you know that we'll have information

139that will help guide our new policies for the start of the new school year and I just want to clarify that we've had a uh uh kind of a a large group representing multiple stakeholders really digging into this and this board takes that very seriously and have been attending to it for quite a while now and I I haven't mentioned it this this meeting so I thought better say something because I almost always do thanks John tell you sorry um yeah I wanted to thank my community for showing up um it felt really um important to have so many people sharing their views but especially the students who came to speak um I think it's really amazing every time we get to hear from students and I also just wanted to highlight something that Bobby

140mentioned um in the presentation which is something that he and Joe have been working on is the participatory budgeting for our high school students I am so excited about this and so grateful that we're working on it I want to give so much um I guess thanks to you too for setting up a pilot like this um I think it's been two years of the Seal of Civic Readiness is um and this seems like progress with that getting kids more engaged and having them take ownership of their school in a new way I just think it's such an amazing proposal and I'm so excited to see what happens and what the results are Matt uh I just want to once again thank the the music teachers for bringing these students in today and uh sort

141of pose a question um March seems like not enough months of Music before uh school board meetings and uh I would be in favor of having music before every school meeting board meeting uh I don't know how the music teachers will feel about that but if that could happen that would be fantastic Other Board member comments Tony I just want to put an exclamation point on something Casey brought up in the uh student reports and to uh congratulate uh Norah Hoke on her big um local science uh win that the Casey mentioned it's impressive we talk a lot about athle Athletics including tonight and um and we have quite a bit of um uh exposure to our music and and drama uh departments and I I want to call uh equal attention to our young

142scientists and and so congrats to Nora on that thank you anybody else all right um may I have a motion to adjourn John second Matt all in favor thank you that's unanimous