001cups a day. I was like, "Oh, she brought me >> You will make >> All right. Oh, yeah. She told me about this before. >> I love this." Mike's gonna do it. >> Mike's gonna do it. I got Mike to do it. It's okay. >> Well, guess who I got to get the cups. >> How's he? >> He'll be okay. Okay. >> He's gonna rally. >> Oh, really? >> Oh, that stinks. >> Um, let me text her. >> The couple years I've bar you able to get it because I can get it. I actually can't get online because I don't know what to >> So I will see if >> Hi Carol, we didn't publicize your show. >> Yeah, there she is. >> There she is. >> And can you check? >> Yeah, I know.
002I saw that. >> It just We were just talking like stig was not feeling really well. But you don't seem like seem >> Oh, because they put me on steroids. >> Oh, they did? Oh, >> yeah. Finally, Thursday morning, J was like, >> "Oh, she was >> so sick last >> I was completely out of bed. Everybody, um we're going to call to order um our this regular meeting March 10th, 2026 of the Sori Central School District School Board. Um emergency exits. We have one at back front room um and one on each of the sides. Um Virginia, would you do roll call, please? >> Sure. Christina Belosa >> here. Katie Anderson Hos >> here. >> Michelle here. >> Heri >> here. >> Cheryl Keller >> here. >> Michael Meer >> here. >> Jeffrey >>
003here. >> Well >> here. Fantastic. Okay everybody rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Dr. Roarback. Um, our mission and vision statements, please. Our mission statement. We provide equitable, engaging, inspiring, and holistic experiences that support success and empowerment for students, families, and the community in a diverse and changing world. The soverey's vision statement. We are a beacon of educational excellence where every individual is inspired and able to achieve their fullest potential. >> Fantastic. Okay. We have approval of minutes of our February 11th meeting. Can I have a motion to accept those? >> So moved. >> Mr. Wells. Second. >> Second >> by Dr.
004Hos. Any discussion about those minutes? All right. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Right back to Dr. Roar back for our sorghy. So sore >> sawyer sore >> soaring. >> So we have two people who are soaring tonight. We are trying to recognize one staff member and one student each month. So I'm going to start with a staff member. So tonight our Sawyer Sore award this evening goes to Jerry Gardner. She was unanimously supported by the entire administrative team for this recognition. Although Mrs. Gardner formally retired in late summer, she has continued to demonstrate extraordinary dedication to our district by helping preserve the continuity and integrity of the superintendent's office. She remained with us part-time and at times full-time to train new secretaries and assist with complex projects that require deep institutional knowledge.
005Most recently, she stepped in to support the district again by filling the health benefits assistant position while Mrs. Carney transitioned into her new role as secretary to the superintendent and district clerk. Many people do not see the inner workings of central office or realize how essential it is to have highly skilled professionals ensuring that systems run smoothly for the entire district. Jerry Gardner understands that responsibility deeply and she continues to serve with remarkable professionalism and care. Jerry, thank you for your commitment, expertise, and steady support to the entire so community. Unfortunately, she's ill tonight, but if we could all share a round of applause. And secondly, our student that we would like to recognize tonight is Dylan San Juan. He was nominated by Mr. Prince and second nomination by his principal, Principal Cahill. So to
006bring the public up to speed, Kahill Elementary School over the last year, we installed a new fire alarm system. With that new system, it's not just the bells, the whistles, the strobes. It's a voice IP message that goes out. With the pre-programmed message, it was very adultlike, very stern, and very scary to the kids. So, Mrs. Cahill took it upon her safety committee and they did a pre-recorded message. That didn't go so well. So, Laura took it upon herself to get a young gentleman who's a sixth grader down at Cahill to do our announcement and he did a fabulous job. With that, I'll pass it over to Mrs. >> So, yes. So Dylan with his beautiful broadcaster voice did a lovely announcement in English and in Spanish >> so that when students hear the alarm
007and people who come into the building hear the alarm, they will know exactly what to do and not be so jarred by the very stern voice that came with the system. So would you like to say um attention attention in your greatest broadcaster voice? >> Of course. Attention. SO, thanks to you. We're going to have people follow through when they hear the drill in a very safe and calm way. So, and and this is all a volunteer. He was game for it. And so, thank you for your leadership in that. You're keeping a school safe. We're >> very proud of you. HERE we go. >> Principal >> was All right, good job, Dylan. >> Okay. All right. This brings us to our first public recognition um uh session, which we limit to 20 minutes. Um
008and this is for anything that is on the agenda. Okay. So if there is another topic um that anybody wants to talk about that is not on the agenda that will be in the second one. Um I understand I can just see I know you're not all here to hear the wonderful things about the budget. Um that there's probably a lot of people here to hear about the resolution. So how many people plan on talking about the resolution? Okay. All right. Good. All right. So, the resolution is on the agenda. So, you guys will be in this first one. I don't know if that means some people don't feel they need to speak because it's on the agenda. Um, but we're going to do that now. And I ask everybody who's going to speak. Um,
009who? Michelle. >> Michelle is going to keep you to three. So, if you get to the three minutes, you're Michelle's going to tell you to kind of stop. >> Give you this sign. You got 30 seconds left. >> Yeah. Um, just because we have a lot of get lot to get through tonight. Okay. So, anybody whoever would like to step up, please state your name and your location and um let's have at it. >> And there's a sign in sheet on the table. If you would sign in, please after you speak or before you speak, >> you can sit, stand, whatever you want to do. >> Okay. Whatever you feel, whatever you feel comfortable for a moment. >> Yeah, sure. Go right ahead. >> And you have to speak into the mic so that people
010can hear me. is right up next. >> Okay. So, I'm here actually the first one I I'm signed up twice so I'll try to be really quick. The first one I'm reading somebody else's uh letter for Lori Hopkins and she lives here in Sores. Um, I would like to start by thanking the board for their dedicated service to our community and in particular for promoting the educational well-being of our students. And I loved hearing your mission. Secondly, I would like to state the obvious that unless anyone listening to these words is descended from an unbroken lineage of First Nations peoples, the original inhabitants of North America, then each and every one of us is descended from immigrant ancestors. Whether or not our ancestors were brought here as enslaved immigrants or came freely seeking a better
011life in this country. As you listen this evening to the plight of our current and future immigrant students and their families, and I'm not sure if you will, I urge you to compassionately connect to what your ancestors might have endured as they came to our shores fleeing ethnic, religious, political, and economic persecutions and deprivation. I'm going to skip the next two paragraphs, but I do have copies of this here in case anybody would like to have copies of it. Um, because I did time myself. As a young school girl in the 1960s, my social studies books always emphasize that the America was and I I remember this too and probably you do too, the melting pot of the world. And further, this was taught as a positive concept. My teachers told us that we were
012stronger as a nation because we incorporated influences from all over the world. Although as a nation we have often fallen short in offering liberty and justice for all, the flame of hope guiding us to strive toward becoming a more perfect union has always blazed in the America I know, the America that I grew up believing in. With the current practices of this federal administration, for many of us, it's become excruciating to witness the abject cruelty and lack of conscience in our politicians, legislators, and ICE agents, towards our immigrant communities, American citizens, and perhaps even more heartbreaking toward the children who are being destroyed by these acts that terrorize and tear families apart. Tonight, I'm calling on you, the board, to adopt the resolution to protect our immigrant students from the cruel and unlawful ass assaults
013of ICE, not just as a civic duty, but as a moral obligation. I also believe that there's an obligation to protect the moral integrity of all of our students. They are watching what we do and they are absorbing our values for better or worse. What we model and stand for now will remain with them throughout their lives after having graduated from this school system. So we will honor practices based on the rule of law and the democratic principles of this nation. We ask that our students recite the pledge of allegiance each morning. But do we truly honor liberty and justice for all or are those just hollow words? In closing, I shall echo the sentiment that I heard from a local Latino advocate for our immigrant community when she said, "I wish for you and
014yours all that you wish for our immigrant families. May you be treated in kind." Finally, I ask you to recall the ingredients that your ancestors added to this precious melting pot that brought us to where we find ourselves today. None of us would be here in this room right now if our immigrant ancestors had been excluded from the brilliant tapestry of the American dream. Thank you. So, did I do good on three? >> Well, I gave you 30 seconds. >> Oh, thank you. >> I didn't want to cut you off. >> Thank you. And then, you know, I was reflecting on the fact that my kid came here to to this school and to our school system here and every morning I would watch him take off on that school bus and every every And
015the end of day I expected him to come home. And that was that sort of sacred trust that we have in our school system, in you, and in our community. And I was thinking about when I was a student. Um I was I grew up in Spain, but I went to school on the public in the public school on the Air Force base. And when I went to school, I too went there thinking, "Oh, I'm going to go home. There's no problem here." So there's no fear. And I've been thinking about that and how how frightening that would be if we changed that. Uh we need to keep our kids safe as you all well know and you've done such a great job. And you know when I went to school we had the Cuban
016missile crisis and we had to hide under our desks and I could hear the jets taking off from the base for this Cuban to fight the to be ready for a possibility of a Cuban missile crisis and Even then, I felt safe. So, the school system does a great job and thank you for everything that you do to keep our kids safe. >> Thank you. >> My name is Ruth Lavine. I'm a sois resident since 1979 and a retired family therapist. I am here this evening to voice my full support for the proposed resolution to protect all students and their families, including our immigrant neighbors. We know that children and their families are being traumatized by ICE, the border patrol, and the threat of being deported or having their loved ones deported. As a family
017therapist, I know what happens to one member of the family affects all members of the family. This has a ripple effect effect throughout the community as well as including the school where students are traumatized when their friends and neighbors are traumatized. The school must be a safe place for all children. Students need to trust the teachers, administrators, bus drivers, school staff, and see them as allies in order to learn and develop. To protect that trust, the school board must publicly pledge that soy schools and sponsored activities are safe zones and all students will be protected from non-local law enforcement. The school district must make sure that this pledge is publicized in a way that students, parents, and school staff know that they are safe in school. Further, every student, parent, guardian, school staff must receive
018know your rights training. Again, we know that children and their families are being traumatized by federal agents. When this reign of terror ends, we cannot say, but we didn't know. With that, I am reminded of the quote from Albert Einstein. If I were to remain silent, I would be complicit. Thank you for not being silent. Our children are watching. Thank you. Please don't forget to just sign in if you haven't signed in. >> Yes, I've already signed in. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Tim Scott. I'm the president of the Soy's Public Library Board of Trustees and a proud 2010 graduate of SE High School. Thank you for all you do. Um, so I'm here tonight in support of the proposed safety and security resolution. As a sovereign resident and community
019leader, I have a vested interest in ensuring that our community's children, regardless of status, receive a quality education and a safe and welcoming environment. So to that end, I will quote what has been added or included, sorry, and said resolution and what folks paying attention need to know and understand. In accordance with article 11 of the New York State Constitution, it is the right of every child regardless of immigration status to access a free public K through2 education. So you say in your resolution that you support that right. So vote yes tonight and uh pass that resolution. So with that, I'll uh you know end on a short and sweet note by once again saying thank you for your service. I understand as a trustee at the library that you're all making a major time
020sacrifice. I've been doing it there since 2018 and I'm in my third term as board president. So serving a community of over 20,000 people with village residents included. I know exactly what uh what you're sacrificing by being here tonight through the committee meetings and board meetings that you all sit through. Thank you very much. Hi, my name is Sue Rosenberg and I live in West Soures and many years ago I sent my two sons to Sogrees High School. We have seen clearly that communities around the country have been terrorized by ICE and border patrol coming after not only immigrants but people with accents, black and brown people and people who have vowed to protect them. Families and students are afraid to go to school, to work, to go out. And we know it's not just
021far away places, but in our own communities right here in the Hudson Valley, we are often left feeling, what can we do? As we were here, as we were last month, we are here again to urge you to consider and adopt a resolution similar to the protecting immigrant students and families and ensuring safe school environment for all that was passed by the Kingston School District. It weighs it lays out ways to protect our school community from ICE. At that time, you said you would be working on a resolution here. So, thank you for so promptly doing so, and I urge you to pass the resolution tonight. I request a couple of additions. On item two of the resolution on protecting personal identifying information, I request that national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and household income
022be added to immigration status. On number seven, it's important to assure that all notices about these policies are clearly written and displayed in Spanish as well as English and that a comprehensive training be provided for all staff about know your rights and support available to students and families who feel threatened by ICE. Passing this resolution is an essential first step to protect everyone in our school community and make it clear to our friends and neighbors that people who feel threatened are not alone. We know that there's so much right >> almost finished. >> Hello. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was just at the very end. >> Okay. So, I only have a couple more words to say. We know that there's so much more we must do. Oppose detention centers in our community, fight to
023abolish ICE, and be there for our friends and neighbors, and much more. Thank you for taking this important first step and making us proud of our community. >> Yeah. Just so anybody who's going to speak is we can hear you. Um, the reason to speak in the mic is the people who are online and the people behind you. It's tough to hear. So, >> do we >> either way you want to hold it, you put it in there however you're comfortable. >> Just speak right into it. >> Hi everyone. My name is Casha Donahghue and I'm a parent from the Soerty School District and I'm thrilled to be here tonight to show my support of what's been termed as the safety and security resolution on the agenda tonight. I applaud applaud this board's commitment to
024protecting all children, including our immigrant children. Our immigrant children and students are facing unprecedented risks and we only want them to feel safe particularly in their place of learning. Thanks again for considering this resolution and I urge all of you to vote yes as to passing this resolution. I'm looking forward to seeing how the board and district move into the next step of implementing these commitments through policies and procedures. That's of course after the resolution is passed tonight. And I also urge you to act quickly. Quickly because unfortunately our children do not have the luxury of time with the current state of politics and practices of our immigration law enforcement. And with all my respect for the work that you do as board members, I truly thank you. Good evening. Uh my name is Cara
025Janesco and I am a parent and a teacher uh in the district. Um I'm here tonight because um one with my parent hat on. It wasn't that long ago that I was coming to meetings where we were talking about safety in our schools and whether we should do armed guards etc. Uh and the idea that we would um cooperate with masked armed individuals just seems absolutely on its head when we've been so concerned with keeping our kids safe. Um, and then as my wearing my teacher hat, um, I've been working with my eighth grade and we've been talking about the reformers and we've been talking about all of these people like Jane Adams and Florence Kelly and Ida Tarbell who advocated for people that couldn't advocate for themselves. They worked a lot on child labor
026and they did that before they could even vote. Um, and so the they couldn't vote, but what they could do is influence those who can. And so I've brought some students here today, um, who are very nervous, but very brave, and they wanted to just talk to you and speak about what this means to them. Um, and so I do want to ask you to to pass this resolution. So I don't want to take any more time, but invite my students So, um I have like a I have a best friend >> and he's >> tell them your name. >> Okay. I'm Mic and I, uh I'm 13 and I have best friend. He's outside South Dorian. And right now, uh right now he he lives in Kingston. here. But still like that place already
027is pretty in danger of ice and like my friend Donald is very important to me. We like walk around, we talk, we joke, we uh play games. And um it's just like still it's pretty like personal to me that if another school out there with other like kids like me wouldn't have to worry about their best friends being taken away from me or them. So yeah, it's just that would just be cool. Also, schools are supposed to be safe environment for students. >> Can you speak right into the mic? >> Just pull the mic down. >> Pull it down. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Hey, you can hold it. You can hold it if it makes it easier. >> Whatever. >> Schools are supposed to be like safe for students, a safe learning environment,
028and the constant fear of knowing wondering if masked individuals are just going to come into school and take your friends, take people you about just away for like no reason at all and do god knows what to them. It's just it's awful. This needs to be passed because you guys are well people are supposed to protect their students, protect the children of the community. And one reason this matters to me a lot is one of my best friends, he had to leave because his parents didn't have green cards and they couldn't live here anymore. And he was one of my best friends and now just living somewhere else and he hates it. Quite frankly, it's just quite frankly awful because immigrants are what make up make America. They're the social fabric of America. They are
029the foundation of America and we're just like kind of we're destroying them. We're being like it's unjustified for us to do. So I I think just where we are, we have time for two more speakers in this first period because we have a lot to cover in the agenda. So if anybody feels at the end there's still another public recognition where you can talk about anything, but we have time for two more speakers right now. >> I'm going to insist that you hear me. Um, >> well, you're one of two, so we're going to listen. >> It's It's challenging for these young people to do make good use of this microphone. >> And I just wanted to say my name is Lanny Walter. I was a schoolboard member in the 90s. Uh, and I appreciate
030what you do. Uh, it was a challenging but a very worthwhile experience for me. Um, I'm basically in favor of your resolution. I have read it. I have read the Kingston resolution. Um, if I had to choose, I choose the Kingston resolution. And the reason is that I think your resolution has an inclination not to emphasize the negative impact especially on immigrants uh that the resolution should express. And uh I actually wrote a a phrase from their resolution that I'm happy to give to you. It's in paragraph one under the resolution section. That paragraph says, "The district will protect the right of all students have to a free education regardless of their immigration status in all school settings which include buses, school grounds, classrooms, and school events. And I really think you should include at
031the end of that which are vulnerable spaces where students and families may feel threatened by immigration enforcement. We are motivated to come here because we have had children in this school system that uh many of us have had children wherever we've had them in schools and protecting them is so vital. Every time there's a school shooting and kids are getting killed, we're all sick. Well, we need to not let this happen in our community and and in our c county and and as much as we can avoid it, we should avoid it. So, the stronger the resolution is, the more compelling it will be and hopefully the benefits will be realized. So, thank you very much. One more if there's anybody else who wants to speak now or there's another public recognition at the end.
032Okay, moving on. Um, our student representative for Adriana. So High School. Congratulations to the new cast and crew of Alice by Heart for an amazing performance. Thank you to all that dedicated their time and effort in making the musical a success. Mocktrail won their first competition last week against Kingston. Congratulations on the win. The district hosted a vaping awareness presentation for parents and guardians last evening, followed by student presentations today for grades 7 through 12. The sessions focused on the health risks of vaping and strategies for prevention. This effort is part of our ongoing work to address vaping through education and awareness. The spring carnival is this Saturday, March 14th. Many school organizations are making their booth booths and games of chance to bring joy to our community. The carnival will run from 10:00 a.m.
033to 2:00 p.m. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children, and 50 cents for children in superhero costumes, food, fun, face painting, and prizes for all. Junior High School. Huge shout out to all of our junior high high students on stage for Alice by Heart. Amazing community effort from student musicians in the pit to our art teachers leading the prop synthesis and stage crew. It was a hit. The sugar shack was in in full swing this Monday as the sap was collected and boiled down for our seventh grade science students to sample soy made maple syrup on some pancakes at the greenhouse. Spring modified sports will begin next Monday. Good luck to all of our athletes. The teachers and support staff of the junior high school spent the professional development half day collaborating, looking at
034achievement and ex and attendance data to make a success plan for the 60 students that have fallen below expectations in the first semester. This success plan included identifying obstacles and extra help schedule and connected adult assigned to do daily check-ins. Khill Elementary. We had a whole day assembly on February 27th for dental health month. Efil shared information and had dental goodie bags for all the students. Our second grade team saw hot peas and butter at UPAC on February 24th. Grand rounds were completed in early March. We are looking forward to our park assembly tomorrow and genius hour and science fair on March 26th. We had our March PTA meeting last week and the next meeting will be on April 15th at 6 p.m. Morris Elementary School. We are looking forward to our drama club performance
035of succession on Thursday. On February 12th, over 50 students participated in the second annual passion fair sharing passions such as Legos, animals, books, president, countries, and crafts. On February 24th, our second grade enjoyed a field trip to UPAC. We have completed our midyear grand rounds and used this the time to collaborate and discuss how best to support students changing needs. Our next PTA and BLT meeting will be held on March 18th for Cardi Elementary School. The sixth grade variety show took place on February 26th. The students performed for their peers during the day and for their parents in the evening. The staff performed an excellent rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Congratulations to all. Our community service group held a teacher and student basketball game and teacher and student volleyball game last
036week to raise money to share with local food pantries and the veterans association. The fifth grade team of teachers is doing their own version of March Madness as motivation to prepare our students for the upcoming state test. Our next PTA meeting is tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Our second graders attended a field trip to UPC on February 24th. Our staff collaborated together through our second grade grand rounds meeting. This collaboration allows all teachers to discuss how to better meet their needs of our students. >> Thank you, Adriana. Anybody have around the board have any questions for anything Adriana? >> Is that the science fair March 26? Is that Ricardi? >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else? All right. Thank you, Adrian. Okay, moving along. Miss Churchill, and you don't have 20 minutes. No,
037I'm just kidding. Um uh Miss Churchill is our uh director of special education. Um and she's going to provide us a uh overview of where we're at and where we're going. >> I do have some Is this on now? >> Yeah. So, I do have some folks who are going to help me out tonight, too. Um, in different slides to kind of make things a little bit more interesting for you. I don't want to kind of drone on in my numbers like I usually do. I want to give you guys some live examples of what special ed really looks like here in Socrates. So, again, I'm the director of special education, Jamie Churchill, and I'm excited to be presenting for you guys tonight. Um, before I super get started, I would like the clicker to
038work. We'll have to look at that >> short presentation >> high, right? And that's it. No. So, if you could raise your hand if you're in the audience and you work with a special education student in the Sard School District. >> Okay. Um, so awesome. Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate it. So, I asked a bunch of my uh staff to come tonight. A couple of them will be speaking to you and I really thought that it would be a great turnout for special ed because we don't always get to show up at the meeting. So I'm thankful for you guys to be here and thankful for you all to be invested in our sovereign students. >> Thank you for everybody being here. Appreciate that. >> I guess I still can't click.
039So for the sake of time, I guess I'll start discussing my first slide. I know that the board has it, but essentially it's the structure of the special education department. I couldn't do what I do without the support of everyone in all of the buildings. Our uh department oversees 550 students with IEPs throughout uh the SARS uh residential areas. However, some of these students don't even go into our local schools. So, we have to be a tight team and be extra connected. So, my first slide kind of shows how all of us work together, who kind of reports to who and how everything gets addressed. Maybe we can just click next so I can keep going. There it goes. >> Beautiful. Thank you. >> All right. So, we're going to move on to the next
040slide. So, here in Soures, I mentioned our 550 roughly special education students this year. 562. As you can see, this is from last year to this year. When you look at our report card online, you'll notice that last year we had a roughly 18% I think they round up special education report reported to the state and this year it'll be almost 21%. That said, I did share with the board some common questions that you asked me in the past with some data so that you could compare. You'll note that there's a jump about two years ago in preschool services and those students are now school age. So I think that some of this is that population of students coming up into soies and as students have more needs our needs here in soies and special
041ed are growing. Um so you can take a look at that and that's just the current numbers. Then I popped up here our graduation rate for last uh school year just for our special education students. So, we had 36 students enrolled and that counts as their cohort, right? Their four-year cohort. And 22% of them or 22 of them graduated and nine of them are non-completers, which means that they are probably just doing another year of school in order to reach their uh exit criteria. So, students in special education can go to school until they're 22 um as of the this past year. And then five of them are dropouts. that those students might go on to get their GED even through Boseies variety of reasons. What kind of followup do we provide on kids that
042leave >> in ter I it's individual really um so we don't have a specific system in special ed for doing that >> right >> so that's the 2025 graduation rate >> yes these are the people who exited last school year not this we won't know that >> and Miss Churchill that the number is in and growing but I think the not to use the word bucket, but the the umbrella that encompasses special education has grown too, right? So, it can be somebody who's autistic and needs special things to real, you know, severe more severe learning disabilities, but special education that number is a big >> there's a lot of things within that. any student who has a disability who that impacts their education and on top of that they need a specialized service or related
043service, right? Specially designed instruction or related service. So that could be something small like they get occupational therapy once a week or it could be something bigger where they're in a special class for most of the day and they need a really tailored program. >> Okay. Thank you. Do we know how our percentages that's the 18% reportable last year, 21% this year compares to like other local districts? >> I'm not sure, but I would be happy to look at that for you. >> If you look at the uh it breaks it down even further if you're interested on the second page of the board handout that I gave you guys, it it talks about a little bit more of the cohorts. And I think we see more success as time goes on. Right? So this
044cohort, I'm not showing you all the the students who did graduate from the cohort before this year and that kind of and so forth. So some of it gets a little intricate when you're talking about special ed because they have the extra time to graduate and meet the expectations. >> Okay, >> which will change soon too in New York State which we're looking forward to in special ed. All right. So, I'm breaking this down into our pillars. And so, I wanted this is no by no means a comprehensive presentation of everything that special ed does in each of the pillars, but I wanted to highlight some really cool things that we are doing in each of the pillars. So, in terms of the Sawyer experience, we've started a relationship with Valerie Carelli, I think, is
045in the audience here today. Thank you for being here. Um, with C3 Quest, who gives us pre-employment transition services. This is free to our kids. Um, any student, they don't have to have an IEP. parents are listening right now or watching this on the playback, you can email uh our school counseling office and or any of our your special education teachers and get in contact. Um and students can get support based on where they're at. Five key areas including job exploration, workbased learning, post-secary counseling, workplace readiness training, and self- advocacy. So we meet they meet students where they're at. It's under a new kind of an upand cominging regulation in New York State that's getting more reinforced and this is our partnership. All right, up next we're going to talk about the Morse Passion Fair
046and I do have Jen Aratapani, one of our special education teachers who's going to talk for a minute about how this helped her students in her special class. She teaches in our learning communities classroom at Morse. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Hi everybody. Um so the passion fair at Morris uh came about through this program called one book one school where the whole um building reads the same book. They have um staff who read chapters so our younger readers can still participate. It's wonderful. and uh designed as a culminating activity. Our principal set up the passion fair um where students are invited to highlight things that they're super excited about the things that interest them. Um she provides a space for students to create displays, um put on demonstrations and chat with uh students and
047staff about the things that excite them. Um as far as the students in my class, um I have kindergarten, first and second graders in a self-contained class and like a wide range of ability. Um, and you know, one night I had the crazy idea like, oh, my whole class should participate. It'll be great. It's it was a big undertaking, but it was really uh a wonderful experience for them. Um um so along with the teaching assistants in my classroom um the speech therapists, the occupational therapists, even the physical therapists, we all kind of banded together and helped the kids um with their projects, brainstorming their ideas, kind of focusing on a task and helping them see it through to the end. uh communicating with staff, um how they would like to express themselves uh creatively,
048whether it's, you know, a lot of kids use model magic this year, their own drawings, their choosing their images, you know, that they'd like on there to uh creating the text that's on their boards. Um it is a big undertaking but um the kids feel so much pride in themselves. So how could it be wrong, right? It was like well worth it. And when it's actually time for the passion fair and they set up their little displays, um it's so exciting because they feel like, you know, they get to show off a little bit and they're creating connections with all the students in the staff of the building, which in my opinion is the most important part. Um I did bring um two examples to share with you. Um the first one is um from
049a kindergartener and he's passionate about Play-Doh, which seems really appropriate for a kindergartener. Um he actually used model magic for these uh um things that he made on the board because it's not better. But um you know using the tools he worked with the OT um just a great experience. And then I have a second grader who loves animals. animals. He just devours books about animals. So, it was really interesting to help him focus on, you know, animals very broad, what's, you know, more specific. He got down to octopi, which interestingly enough is the plural form of octopus along with octopod. And what else did he find out? Uh, octopod and octopuses. So, there you go. We were all going to learn a new new uh a new fact tonight. Thank you so much for
050your time. >> One of the best things about our special class programs in soies is that they're integrated into our schools. So the students get to do what their general education peers get to do. Um, another part of our story experience is this is Matt Olrich, our physical therapist who runs an adaptive ski program and brings our students up to uh, Windom Mountain, I believe. >> Thank you. >> Um, and they have an amazing time and we really appreciate his dedication to doing this year after year. He's also a certified ski instructor, so it's one of the benefits. >> So great. >> All right. Um, up next we're going to move into academic excellence and we're going to talk about the programs that we offer here at Sogerties, our special education programs by Mr. Hasbro,
051our department chair at the high school and one of our special class teachers. >> Good evening board. Um I have the opportunity being um as she mentioned a department chair for the high school and the junior high and um it's been a good experience just because it's a blessing in terms of the team that I have and they uh they're just gifted, seasoned and they go above and beyond day in and day out to advocate for our special ed population. Um that being said, this is some of the programs that we're running. Um, Ricardi is housing integrated co-e programs in math and ELA K through six. Morris same integrated co-e and math and ELA K through six. um as well as a 12-in1 learning community for self-contained. Kill houses also houses the K through six
052integrated co-eing programs and um the ABC Academy which also stands for the academy of behavior community um >> communication um academy and our alternate learning program supported by um RCPC. Do you know what that means? Um >> we do it children's psychiatric center. >> Um our junior house our junior high houses the integrated co-eing programs in math and English. Um our STEM we have a STEM and community humanities principal program which I'm actually part of. Um that's a self-contained. We also have the life skills uh program and our older version of the ABC Academy that we implemented this year. And lastly, the um alternate learning program um that's assisted by RCPC as well. And then in the high school, we run quite a few programs which nine through 10 um integrated co- teach programs um
05311th grade ICT integrated coach teach program in social studies. Um we run 9th grade social studies um science math um self-contained and our instructional skills classes. Um each one of these each one of these programs are supported by a service team uh related service teams which include special class reading that are they're headed by our certified um reading specialist um adaptive PE speech counseling assisted technology uh OTP PT and vision so special ed actually comes as a lot in the district and thank you for your support. Thank you, Mr. H. We appreciate it. >> Awesome. And for those of you who who don't know some of these ratios, the first number is the number of students in the classroom. The second number is the teacher, the number of teachers, certified special education teachers, and the
054last number is the number of teaching assistants in the classroom. Um, so that's what those mean, right, >> Jamie? >> Yes. So the integrated co-eing we're now doing across the schools K through six that is sort of a new model. Is that right? >> Correct. So we started that this year >> and how is that going? >> Um excellent question. So I if I'm answering honestly I will say that our teachers make things work and they're very skilled at making things work. However full day co- teach in an ideal world would be lovely. So, they are just in there for 40 minutes for ELA, 40 minutes of math, and then we send in a teaching assistant to support the rest of the day for those students. Um, we would love to be in a position
055one day to have special a special ed teacher in there all day to support with that because students needs go beyond even just ELA and math as we see more and more uh emotional regulation, supporting behavior plans, um, lots that can be can be done and then they can plan and have time with the teachers, too. So, we make it work. It's great to have services for students who are younger. Um, but we're not yet to to where we need to be. Thank you. >> All right. So, up next, we're going to continue on academic excellence. All right. And hopefully these will play. So, um, this is, uh, one of our teachers, uh, Kylen Lighter, who is certified in Orton Gillingham and Wilson now. Um, this is how she as a co-teer supports some students
056without pulling them out of the class. And so if we can show it. He's real cute. I'm hoping it's gonna work. No sound. Pause it. Give it two more seconds. So basically um what Kylen does is pulls a student kind of off to the side. She understands that this student is needing a little bit of extra support in reading and giving a multid-disciplinary approach to how she's teaching reading. So um I can always send those videos to you later. But they are um you know they're writing in the in the sand, we're writing with our hands, we're reading it, we're rewriting >> um and this two kind of different modalities of spelling instruction and then working on reading fluency. >> If you could send us those, that'd be great. >> Yeah, for the sake of
057time, we got a lot going on, so don't stress. >> Thank you. All right. And then, uh formally, we do have our special class reading, which is Wilson. And I have um our one of our special class reading teachers who's also our lead teacher at the junior senior high, Hopecraft Craft, who's going to tell us a little bit about it and introduce us to some students. >> Good evening. My name is Hope Craft. I am the junior high reading specialist. I'm the MTSS coordinator and I am the lead teacher for special ed 7 through 12. Tonight I am pleased to introduce the Sard Central School District special class reading team. We have Victoria Luick, Anna Zivian, Emma Mau, and Janine Lawrence. Our team uses the Wilson reading system as a structured literacy program designed to
058support students with reading difficulties, especially those with dyslexia. It uses a systematic multi-ensory approach to teaching FMIC phmic awareness, decoding, spelling, and reading comprehension. The pictures on the slide demonstrate one student working on dictation. Within dictation, they have to identify their highfrequency words by circling them. They use a dictionary if they're uncertain of the high frequency words. Highfrequency words are words that do not follow the rules of the English language and they're difficult to spell. So, if they can identify those words and circle them, they can go through and sound tap the rest of the words within their sentences and make sure they are spelled correctly with other rules that they've learned. The slide two spelling and syllable cards. The student has colorcoded cards. The yellows are for prefix and suffixes. The whites are for
059syllables within the words. I forget this word was I forget what that word was. So what he did was he had to break the word into syllables. He identified that the first syllable was a prefix and then he had a two syllable word for a base word. He spells it out and then he marks up the word. Our third picture shows sentence dictation. At the end of our block two, which is our spelling block, we dictate to the students. We dictate sounds. We dictate um word elements. We do real words. We do pseudo words which are made up words. And then we do phrases. Dictate phrases. Then we dictate sentences. So this student is going through. He already did his marks up. Now he is reading the sentence and he's scooping the sentence. So it's
060easier for him to chunk and learn to read in chunks. Now, I would like to introduce two amazing students who took it upon themselves to present tonight. They did not want to have pictures. They did not want to be videotaped. They wanted to come in tonight to speak. I would like to introduce Brin and Madison. Hi, my name is Ferrar and I have been taking this class for four years. In this class, we work on spelling big words and speaking sentences and lot more. Last year, Miss Craft asked the class to set a goal to accomplish. My goal was to become a better reader and faster readers. Still to this day, we work on that goal. Miss Craft has taught me so much and helped me. If you have a class that is different from
061different from others such as this class, don't be embarrassed because you might need the help and you will accomplish more in the future. >> Hi, my name is Madison. This class has helped me with spelling words and writing complete sentences. Even though this class can be hard at times, I really do think being in this class has helped me through the years. Miss Craft explains everything. Being this class is definitely different, but it doesn't matter because it helps. Being this class brought up some of my grades because I recently used. This class has helped me in many different ways. The most helpful way is making me a better. With that being said, I hope everyone has a great night and don't be embarrassed being in this class and meeting. Thank you. Awesome. That's so brave
062of them. >> All right. This is an example of continued academic excellence of our life skills program. Some work that they uh put together on writing detailed step-by-step instructions demonstrating their understanding of explaining how a how to build a snowman. So, these are our students that are six, we have kind of 16 and under and 16 and over um who are New York State alternately assessed and they are housed inside our buildings and able to integrate um which we love at the junior and senior high. I also wanted to share um Miss Frick I believe is here today too. So, thanks for being here. Um she shared a slide with me. She wanted uh to share quite a lot with you guys. So, I picked a couple things um about the project based learning that
063she's doing in her special class. She works in the ABC Academy, the academic behavior communication academy for our neurodeiverse students. Um, and these are some pictures of them working on their reading, writing, speaking, and listening and researching skills. Um, and so kudos to them and thank you for continuing project- based learning at the elementary school in our special classes and keeping up the rigor. Also in this class, we have our high school uh science students came down and shared an experiment uh to isolate some DNA, which is really awesome. And so they got to do these as well. Same experience as as some of our general education peers and thank you to our high school students for coming down for that. Uh next up, we're moving on to family and community engagement. And this is
064a really awesome event that Vicky Molina is going to talk to us about. She's our school psychologist at the junior high. Thank you, Jamie. Um, this is something that the support team and I have put together over the past few years. Um, the fourth um, year of this event was in this past fall during open house. We've invited these community organizations and many more. We had over 25 this year um, come into our um, cafeteria and they set up sort of like the shape that you guys are in now and families as they pass through have the opportunity to visit with a lot of different resources. I think as the support team, we recognize, you know, we're a great team, but we also have limitations sometimes within the school day and we need to hook
065our families up with some other uh resources. So, that's what we've done. this um fair that we put together. And the first year we had maybe four or five organizations that were able to wrangle in. And um you know, we're proud to say that this year we're able to have over 25. And it also became a nice opportunity for those organizations to network with one another as well as our support team and our teachers also passed through and were able to gain some knowledge and some extra resources when we need to make referrals outside of our scope. So thank you. >> All right. We're going to talk more about family and community engagement looking at our students who are placed in out of district placements with Brianna Boyce who is our chairperson and school psychologist
066for these students. Hi everyone. So I largely oversee our out of district and printerly place students. We currently have around uh 61 students attending an out of district placement across 13 different locations and 24 students attending or enrolled in the private schools. uh two private schools within the boundaries of soy school district that we serve. Um since starting with soy school district last school year, I've had the opportunity to uh visit all these programs several times and also uh get eyes on these students. I regularly communicate, collaborate and problem solve with the with the providers and administration of these programs to support uh stronger more um stronger individualized education plans. >> Thank you. >> Miss question. So the and more for everybody else too, the individual placements when we put a student in one of
067these, it's because we here as a district, they need more than we can provide or a program we don't have. Is that basically >> that's correct? Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Uh this is a picture of our relation one of our uh community relationships with adaptive design of the Hudson Valley. They will build free tools for our students out of recycled materials. So, this is one of our students who has a stander. So, this is to help her stand and work uh do her work uh outside of her wheelchair, which is really awesome. So, that collaboration really comes into partnership with our uh physical therapists, our occupational therapists, the classroom teachers, the teaching assistant that works with the student. Um, everyone comes together to talk about like does this work? Troubleshooting, really
068engineering what a student might need. that's outside of the box and not something that we can normally just purchase. So, we love our relationship with adaptive design as well. Um, professional culture. So, this is our last pillar that we're going to talk about. Um, we have engaged in Orton Gillingham training for both ELA and math um with several teachers. So, I'm going to go over here. So, for Orton Gillingham reading, we have 12 teachers that participated um in this event. They've all gotten their certificates at this point. These teachers are a mixture of special education teachers and MTSS teachers who are now able to bring these multiensory tools into the classrooms that they're working in, whether it's co-e or a special class um and really help students to understand kind of what they're learning and
069solidify that knowledge. Uh OG math training, that is something that is really brand new in the last couple of months. Five of our uh teachers are learning how to make gross motor movements to teach geometry concepts. Uh here is a couple examples of how they can make manipulatives for counting, how they're using this all for math, um as well as the the reading intervention. So they will be they took their test this afternoon, so I hope it went well. So, they're working on it and they'll be able to turn key a lot of this information during professional developments um later on in the school year and in future years. And this is my last slide here. Just some other professional culture that we are still carrying over. Many of you might remember that we did
070a special education audit way back when um when I started here, which seems like forever ago, but it really was only three years ago. And we are continuing a lot of those initiatives, continuing our special education landing page and handbook, updating that. I have office hours in each building um every month. So people don't even have to make an appointment. They can just come on in and talk to me if they've got something to talk about and it doesn't anybody in the building whether doesn't you don't have to be a special ed teacher. You can just come talk to me and we'll figure out what's going on. We had annual planning meetings this year so that we could talk about what we're going to expect and recommendations and be prepared, update testing, do anything necessary
071to make sure that we have the information we need to make appropriate recommendations. Um, we're doing a lot more team building with our Cahill alternative learning program and RCPC team building. I will say for the first time up here in front of you, our RCPC ALP team is fully staffed and they've been there for more than a couple weeks. So, we're really excited about that consistency for students. Um, handle with care is still our um district uh kind of deescalation and restraint procedures. We're have two staff member that are trained and can turnkey that training and will continue to do that. Um, we have a teacher who recently got certified as an assisted tech special education teacher, so she will be helping us more in the future. And, um, Wilson is moving up to steps
072seven through 12. So, thank you Hope for taking that on as well. Um, any questions? >> Anybody have any questions? No. Thank you, Mr. I I leaned over to uh I leaned over to Dr. Roarback in the middle here when you were talking about manipulatives and geometry and things like that. Um, and I would bet you that 90% of the people in our community have no idea that we run those types of programs in our school. So I think all of us I think we need to do a better job not and this is not on you I mean everybody around this table and every of making the community aware of these different programs we do. It's not just about English and math and your your team is doing an amazing job and I can
073speak from uh my son Bowie um is in 10th grade. He probably wouldn't have got there as easy as did if it wasn't for Miss Malt Queen. So um your team is doing what they should be doing. Thank you. >> All right. Dr. Roarback, superintendent report. >> Okay. >> Ready. >> All right. >> Okay. So, thank you so much for coming out this evening. It's so wonderful to see our library media um room filled. Uh we love hearing everyone's remarks and special education way to come in strong tonight. It's Sawyer strong, Sawyer proud. I am so proud of the entire department and thank you for everything you do for our exceptional learners. So, first and foremost, bravo to everyone involved in the phenomenal production of Alice by Hart. The directors, cast and crew, lighting, sound
074technicians, set designers, and stage managers all contributed to such an outstanding production. And taking on a lesserk known musical requires creativity, courage, and commitment. And our students delivered, captivating the audience each night. So well done to our talented performers and to Mr. Zeleky and Mrs. McDougall for guiding such memorable production. I also want to say congratulations to Miss DeFino uh assistant principal in the junior high and also our plan pilot coordinator and Mr. Riley. The plan pilot is on the move. They were invited to be panelists in Bingmpington at the New York State Social Studies Conference to share Mr. Riley's plan pilot uh portfolio project. So well done. Then we also Go ahead. You can you can clap. Yeah, we'll take it. Absolutely. Um also we have lots to celebrate which is nice uh this
075month. Also congratulations to Mr. Ian Cooper for launching and facilitating the first ever Hudson Valley entrepreneurial cup with the support of Mrs. Steinmeer and Mrs. Hayes. Um, our so business students had the opportunity to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of local businesses leaders, experts, and teachers. Even Mr. Riyazi also served as one of the judges. The event brought together students from Soures and Kingston city school districts in the spirit of collaboration and innovation on Wednesday, March 4th. Uh so are in second place for a financial literacy business plan which I know trustee Bellarosa would love and it was a fantastic opportunity for students to apply real world thinking and creativity. Okay, I know it was beautiful today and warm, but I still have to talk about snow days, and I apologize, but just
076to be clear, we have used and exhausted all of our snow days, uh, our district has applied for the waiver for February 23rd. With all of that, in the event we have another emergency day, we will pivot to remote instruction. And no, it's not like CO 19. it would be to extend the learning and more of asynchronous work rather than synchronous. And as we're closing hopefully the season of winter and moving on to spring, I can't thank Mr. Rich Prince and his facilities team for their tireless tireless work clearing the snow, maintaining safe conditions. Lastly, I would like to recognize the 47 winter scholar athletes. These students maintained a GPA of 90 or above while participating in a winter sport. And this is tough to balance athletics and academics at such a high level. So
077congratulations to all 47 of those athletes. >> Um Tim, we'll start with you. >> Board comments. Oh, it works. All right. Um, I guess first off, I know he he scured out, but uh, congratulations to Dylan. Um, that's pretty cool to kind of hear that, and I'm sure the kids love it hearing his voice kind of well, hopefully not too often, but hearing his voice over, uh, with the, uh, with the fire alarm. >> Don't forget the mic. >> Gotcha. >> Um, congratulations to the mock trial. Uh, I I love hearing the u the stuff about all the schools. first foremost. Thank you, Adriana, for that. Uh, it's not just the high school we hear about. We hear about all the schools and all the going on that are happening there. And I do appreciate
078that because that is a lot of stuff that you kind of got to gather up and kind of present to us. So, thank you for that. Um, I wanted to say I know on on our u agenda tonight, I think it's L3 that we're um it's a legal notice basically for the uh the vote and running for the board and all that. I more want to entice people and we have a lot of people here >> to run for the board. Um, as of I think it goes out to the public tomorrow and you can pick up packets at the central office, central administration office and run for the board if you so choose. Um I've been on the board this is my sixth year and I would tell anyone that although it is definitely
079difficult at times um it's definitely very rewarding as well and you do have a seat at the table to have open discussions with with the people here and other trustees as well as as uh you know students and as well as the community as well and you get to have your your voice heard a little bit more as well. So I would highly recommend that. Um it when I believe probably tomorrow maybe you'll have those out. >> Well, it goes in the >> Okay, so sometime this week then. Yeah, >> sometime this week you can pick up your packet at central administration. Um so I I can't say that enough. And one last thing, um Jamie, thank you for your presentation. Our team, thank you all for being here. That's pretty awesome. I know it's
080probably not an ideal time to be sitting here, but we do appreciate you guys being here. Um, one thing you did mention in there is the the need for for more co-eing at the elementary level. I think we do half day and you're hoping for for a full day. Is that accurate? Would like for a full day. That'd be ideal. >> One day. >> Um, so with that, uh, I I would just kind of like to say we're in budget pres budget presentation mode um, coming up right after this. And I'm sure Dr. Roarback and Mr. Stiger will will kind of talk on some of this stuff, but we need certain things that we don't have right now. And uh I'm I'm sure that they're going to give you reasons why we need them and
081kind of show what the cost is. We need to kind of put the cost aside. I understand we we all don't want our taxes to raise up, but we need to start thinking about what is good for our students and where we want to go as a district. And that is the important thing right now. I I think a lot of you here came out and spoke for, you know, protecting our students, doing right by our students. This kind of links right in with that. We are here to support them and give them the best possible education we can. And I'm hopeful that when the time comes to vote for the budget that we can make exceptions to kind of allow stuff like that and other things as well to kind of to vote yes
082and move forward. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you, Tim. Um, we're gonna go to Miss Kelder next. So, Rocco, I don't know if she >> I text her. There she go. >> Um, well, after Tim just went, I mean, I pretty much want to say uh the same things. Um, first, I'd like to apologize that due to a family emergency, I'm unable to be there um in person for tonight's meeting. And I just want to thank everyone that came out tonight as supported the resolution to protect our students um regardless of their immigration status. The resolution reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that every child in our school is safe and feels supported. Um again, like Tim said, it's uh also that time of year when we put forth our school's budget and
083we hold our annual board member election. And I'd like to invite anyone in the community that um to consider serving on the board. If you have a passion for supporting our our children and our families, um I strongly encourage you to consider running. I've truly enjoyed my time as a board member and I'm very proud of the work that we've been able to accomplish together. Um, however, my family situation has changed over the last three years, and I find that I need to focus um, a little bit more of my time and attention on my family right now. So, I just want to thank everyone that came out tonight, and a special thank you to Miss Churchill and her very large team. I mean, I'm really impressed that you had so many staff and students
084come out and share your experiences with your children. That was very impressive. And, um, your programs are very impressive. then I would have to concur uh that I would love to see full day um uh co-eing in the elementary schools. I've seen the benefits of that um and uh that would be great. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Carol Michelle. >> Good evening, everyone. Thank you very much for coming in um to the board meeting tonight. It's been great for a variety of different reasons. We've had a packed room so many of the last consecutive months. Whatever the issues are, this is showing true engagement by this community. I think everyone in this room should be proud for taking the time to come out and represent the district to protect our students and let your
085priorities be known. Um, it really echoes some of the board work that we're doing. you know, a a wellrun and a board with proper hygiene, does self-evaluation, does self assessment, does planning, and we're going through that right now. Um, and we're talking about some of the things that we find most valuable about our board in the current iteration. And that's the spirit of and the culture of civility, contribution, and communication. I think that we're all doing that very well, not just at a board level, but as a community level. Everyone has different perspectives. And I think Sory should be proud that as we've been navigating a lot of challenges over the last 12 months or so to be able to say that we're acting in a way that's civil, people are contributing and that we're
086communicating is so essential and it's such a good model for the children. So, thank you to my colleagues and to the community for maintaining that spirit and culture. Um, I want to specifically congratulate and commend Brenn and Madison for coming up and talking. Very soft spoken and I know that that it was a little bit hard to hear them, but we could hear them talking. And what really resonated with me is that both girls said, "Don't be embarrassed to be in this class >> if you need extra help." And I wish that that could have been echoed more loudly on the microphone. So, I'm going to say it on their behalfs, and I'll repeat that again. They both said, "Please don't be embarassed. in this class if you need extra help. And that is something
087that we should be normalizing. None of us can get through life without help. And to the extent that we can have more and more students coming up and explaining where they're seeking or their parents are seeking help for them and that they're thriving with the help that we can provide, it shows that when we work together, we can help one another. And of course, I will echo what Carol and Tim both have said about please consider joining the school board. U we are going to have potentially four uh vacancies. There are three people that are up to potentially roll off. They will make their decisions about whether or not they're going to run again and then one vacancy. So, we are going to be looking to add to the board potentially and uh we welcome
088people that are committed to that culture of collaboration. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Michelle. Mike, >> thank you. Um, I know we've got a big agenda, so I don't want to echo everything that everyone said, but I appreciate uh what my colleagues have said and and uh thoroughly agree. I appreciate um Miss Churchill's presentation tonight. Um and I really appreciate everyone coming out tonight. Um I hope folks continue to come out um even when there's not resolutions that are particularly strong for them. But um I really appreciate everyone's thoughtful statements. Um, and I particularly appreciate the very uh personal stories of the students who shared um their associations with uh students that may be at risk. So, thank you very much for coming out for that. Um, and just quickly just wanted to,
089you know, congratulate uh the basketball team for a great season as well as the uh really the whole community that was involved in musical. There were a lot of um residents in the community as well as the students and the faculty. So, it was a great uh performance and definitely uh made us feel proud. Thanks. >> All right, Christine. >> Thank you. Um again, everyone has kind of stolen the thunder about everything I wanted to say. Um but I want to thank the community for coming out and sharing their concerns about the safety of our students. Um believe that is a a commitment of the board, the safety and security of our students. Um, I did get a chance to attend the drama production over the weekend and it was phenomenal. The the cast, the
090backgrounds, the singing, the dancing, all of it. It was a and it was an interesting theme and the um Mrs. Zlansancy when he got up to introduce it kind of indicated that this had a lot of um themes in it that were poignant. And um I was like, "Oh, it's Alice in Wonderland." But um and as I went through it and the things that you know that did come out in that production and that play and the lines and the dialogue, it was it was very it was very well done. So I want to congratulate everyone who was involved in that project. Um I think want to thank Miss Churchill for her presentation on special education. Um, and again my focus on the budget and Tim kind of alluded to it as well that special
091education is a huge part of our budget and you can see why the things that we're trying to do for our students uh keeping integrated um, you know, students in our buildings and providing the programming for them it's very important and expensive. So again trying to align the two things. It was a wonderful presentation. Um but to do these things for our students does cost money and as we are entering budget season I think we need to uh keep that in mind. Thank you >> Sinaari. >> Oh I called everybody by their first name so I Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I did. >> Okay. >> So >> but Missaryi go right ahead. All right. Um, I want to thank our student rep for the report on the local schools. It's always excellent hearing about the enrichment
092outings um that our students get to attend at uh local event local theater events. Um, speaking of theater, I'm going to out myself that I didn't manage to get to the school play this this past weekend, but um I understand well other school board members did and have spoken on that and um everything I've heard about has been uh wonderful and I'm gratified to hear how the school uh is supporting the arts in this way. Um thank you Miss Cahill um for the I'm sorry uh Miss Churchill for the presentation um on what I'm sure touches on the incredibly extensive work that you and your team do for our special education students. Um we always appreciate hearing um student voice, student feedback and thank you so much for the students that spoke. Um it was
093very cool to meet Dylan and uh thank you to Miss Cahill for enlisting his talent for the Cahill um alarm system. My kids went to the Cahill and um of replacing that fire system was not a planned expense at the time. It's uh we had to approve that as an emergency expense. Things break when they break. It was necessary. Um but I'm glad to see just because of how my own kids were that reactive and they went to that went to uh Kill that consideration for how students were receiving emergency messages were taken into consideration it sounds like repeatedly. So, um I'm I'm really glad to see that that's being considered how they're um how that message gets put into place. Um I want to thank everyone of our community members who continued to write
094letters, who spoke, those who spoke last month, and those who came tonight to speak in support of the protection of all students. I want to recognize that every one of our board members had their input in making this resolution into something we could all get behind. Um, and especially the work that's been put in taking in all that input. Um, the work that was put in by our vice president Katie Emerson Hos. Um I also want to thank the uh the our educator teacher and um her students who spoke. You spoke to the heart from the heart and you were heard and supported. The doc this document this resolution is a statement of the school board's acknowledgement and support of current day realities. Um, it's not of policy and procedure. It's where the work begins
095and not where it ends. This work will continue with the safety committee meeting that we have tomorrow at 3:30. Um, it continues with a strong administration, strong leadership, staff and teachers who feel supported and affirmed and a board that values all of its community members. And I think that that is as imperfect as any statement can be to all of the things to all of the people. I think that that we have that in this document. Um it does not contain the operational procedures or specificity of resolutions in neighboring districts, but I believe this document to be um more firmly grounded in New York State law and best practices. procedure and operation are the department of district leadership, not of the board. And for the sake of the sake of keeping those things separate, um
096I'm in support of uh support of this document. We don't want to overstep as a board into um into those procedures, but we do set policy and it we will be represented at the district safety meeting tomorrow. Um, echoing everyone else, I hope people out there consider a run for the school board. And that's all I have for tonight. >> Yep. Okay. Um, >> Katie Dr. H. >> Katie Dr. Where are you on >> VP? >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. I have a variety of notes here and so um I have that apologies for crunching potato chips at the top there. Um I want to thank um everybody who's here and who's come and who stayed because I saw some people getting up to go and their friends told them no you need to stay.
097Um, and so I really invite you to come to our budget hearings and voice your support for the budget as widely and as publicly, right? So even if you don't come to our hearings, when you know the vote is and when is that vote? May >> 19th is the vote um that you send emails to all of your friends and people to come out and vote. Um, so it was a really busy week in so I am not going to go into all the details about all of the events, but I Monday was a double-header basketball game. Tuesday policy meeting Wednesday which snow on Tuesdays seems to be when it's happening. Wednesdays pre-board with these people to my right to really craft the agenda and the entrepreneur cup um which was amazing business teams from
098Kingston so coming here and then Saturday was the play and what I want to say about all of those things is um our students are grappling with real life and that is really what education and reading and art and doing this work is about is helping them navigate and understand and integrate the skills they need to live in the world. And um there's physical and mental competition. The business plans they developed were to solve realworld problems. Um the three winners out of the six teams, teen mental health and wellness, financial literacy for teens, and accessible to affordable healthy food. Um and then in art to piggyback on what um Christine said about the issues they were grappling with in that play were stunning. It was sophisticated from the production and the singing to uh the
099issues that were raised and art is particularly important to me and so it was amazing to just sort of see it. I want to call out the arm sleeves for the caterpillars that then became the lobsters and the ladders on stage and the swing. I mean, it was amazing. It was, you know, you can't get better on Broadway. Um, grappling with life. Okay, I'm up to number three. Um, I am proud of that we have a resolution that addresses the marginalized, harassed, and bullied. the vulnerability of children, especially young women with but not exclusively um who are either prayed on or simply disregarded by adults. And yes, the black and brown and immigrant population who are most at risk of inappropriate law enforcement. Um, we felt strongly that we could not have a security and
100safety resolution that did not address the context that Socrates is living in and coming out of. And I feel good that this everybody around here has participated in getting something that um, as of course it's only as good as the protocols put in place and followed. And I feel confident in Dr. Rurreck and the appointee we have on the agenda uh for the HR position um Mr. Wilder. I'm thrilled that you've gotten to see the community support in this room and uh the special ed report because I think you've seen a great slice of the district that you're coming hopefully coming into. Um and I want to also then just two PSAs. Uh Michelle Hinchi is collecting in her office on Broadway uh through April um uh menstrual products, toothbrushes, diapers, baby wipes, deodorant. She's
101doing a collection through April 9th, and you can drop them right off on Broadway in her office. Uh whatever the address is, 721 Broadway, sweet 150. um just go to the drugstore and buy a bunch of things and bring them there and they will be distributed through the Institute for Family Health. And that March 13th is my daughter's birthday, but it is also when um any advertisements for the yearbook are due. So, if you want to put a parental display of affection or just a board friendly display of affection in the yearbook, get them in by March 13th. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Um, so everybody typically around the table gets to talk what they want to talk about and highlight everything. Um, since I get to go last, I get texts
102all week going, "You're going to talk about this, right? Make sure you mention this and you're going to talk about this." So, um, the only thing I will piggyback on is thank you to Miss Churchill and her overall team. Um, and everybody else kind of said that the budget is coming and there's things. If anybody wants any idea of Miss Churchill gave some numbers up there, but if anybody wants any idea of the impact of special ed in sorities, just look at our agenda. And it's not just this week. She happens to be on the agenda. But when you look at every month there is CSC and 504 and Mckin Vento and this one and this one and this one every one of our agendas has something about special ed. Um and so that just
103gives you an idea of the impact overall. Um so that's the only one I'll now I'll go to the text messages that I got during the week. Um so um first off the um the Ricardi easement um that is um the the uh our school district has been afforded the opportunity to be donated a piece of land um and when we talk about safety of students um a lot of times we talk about these bigger things um but the safety of our student our young kids in Ricardi who right now the way the buses and the traffic flows and have to walk amongst cars. The opportunity to get this piece of land and do another easement um which will be used just for the busing um and things like that is huge. So, we just
104passed a major milestone um thank you to um Miss Wilhelm and and Mr. Prince. Um we u our engineers, one of the things we had to do was a traffic study. Um, we just got it. It's a and I this is not hyperbole. It's 199 pages long. So, thank God they gave us an executive summary, but it just goes to goes and highlights the different options that we have and then highlights what the best option would be to make our students who have to walk the safest and also give our buses clear access. And most importantly, this was originally brought up by our safety services, our, you know, our our fire district, our Glasgow fire district, which is in Ricardi, and our ambulance said if there's an emergency in at the school, for us to
105get down there at either um entry time or dismissal would be next to impossible. So, it's it's really important. The next um phase uh next important thing that needs to be done is a wetland study. Um because of some of the property that surrounds the property, we would be donated. Um but that's moving forward. Um and so I wanted to give everybody an update on where we stand with that. Um and go forward. The second thing, um Mount Marian, um Mount Marian is um for those who I'm sure everybody knows or don't know, it used to be an elementary school here. Um we closed that elementary school a few years ago. Um and right now um it is leased out to different um groups um all educationbased Olster Boseis Anderson um and there's a couple
106others um and that's where the prek uh group um does our prek um up there um that building from our perspective and the the moment just so everybody understands how school law works the moment we sign leases for that building um to external organizations ations um it became surplus for as a district meaning we don't have a use for it for an elementary school or another component of our thing. So the fact that it is surplus um and the fact that we are a school district and not landlords um over the next few months we are going to explore um how to dispose of that building. Um, and there's a couple of different options on how that will happen and we will be guided by legal um, and things like that, but I just wanted
107to get that out there. Um, there is that is something that is in the board's preview. It's not something that has to go to vote from a from a voting perspective. Um, so as we investigate, we will make sure we're we're communicating we have clear communication of exactly what we're intending to do, what the options are, and then what we choose to do with it. Um, finally, um, on my piece, um, is our superintendent search. Um, so starting back in in the timeline back in September, um, we had an acting superintendent. Um, both of these are the same individual. We had an acting superintendent and then in December, we have an interim. Those terms are simply those are legal terms based on the current standing of the office. So they don't mean they they're not
108one isn't mean something else. It's just where that person is filling in. Um it is now it it is um one of the three pillars of a board and I've been asked also by the by the board members to continually tell everybody what our three roles are. Right, Michelle? Um and those are uh create, maintain policy, adopt and pass a budget, and hire and evaluate a superintendent. That's it. Those are our three main things. Um, and there's obviously a lot of things that fall under those, but so it is our duty and it's not something that every board has to engage in, but we have to go find a permanent superintendent. Um, we are going to we we've started our conversations at a board level. Um, and we are going to continue those conversations and
109explore the different options we have of what they are. Um, we are working with Olster Boseies, Dr. Shanker um and his team on what our options are, what our timing is, how we go about um doing that. Um we are also in in uh connection with both of our legal councils. Um and when I say both of our we we have two right now um effective last July, I believe it was. Um and for different reasons, but we have one here in Valley, we have one in the capital district. So talking to them as a as ao as um regarding uh you know where we go to look at potential superintendent and what process we have we will be very clear on our on our communication of what we are doing and another thing that
110our board has talked about that I want above if you notice I'm not using the word transparency the word transparency to me it is I can I can say a a piece of information and Carney may think I'm being transparent and Dr. Hos may think I'm not being transparent based on their perspective of the information I give. So we're going to be clear. We're going to be clear in communicating what we are doing. Community can decide if we're being transparent enough about that on how they choose that. So, as we go along this process, we will tell you what we're doing and then when we decide the route that we are taking, we will let everybody know and we will give a timeline um of appointing a new um superintendent. Okay, I don't think I
111got any other text messages this week on things to talk about. So, budget, here we go. This is it. Wow. Thank you for all the >> as we start this. Um I know Dr. Burbach, but thank you Mr. Stiger. I know you are not feeling 100% tonight and this is probably the last place you'd rather be than you'd like to be, but so thank you. >> He's fine. He's going to rally. >> We have an object lesson. We are ready. >> The technology is going to work. Great. We're going to jump ahead a lot. So, last night, so this is still the introduction phase of the budget. If you weren't here, I'm just very quickly going to do a very quick recap of some things we shared last month because doing the budget for a
112school district, it's a huge and enterprise. There are so many details to think about. So, and Mr. Siger is going to specifically talk about the tax cap calculation tonight and some revenues. Okay, that works. Next month we will talk about expenditures and then the following we will put it all together. We'll do that three times. You'll have it memorized and you know what? By May 19th it will be the easiest decision you will make all day. Okay. So again, what drives our budget is several different things. First and foremost, here in Soures, we have our blueprint for excellence. Uh we have SED mandates. We don't have a choice. We have the governor's budget proposal and then we have our own process. Tonight, Mr. Styer is going to talk about the tax cap calculation and revenues.
113It's really important that this year we are very strategic about what we invest our funds in. You've heard several trustees talk about there are some things that we are lacking in this district and it's still true. Five years ago, we didn't have reading specialists. We didn't. That was a disservice to our community and students. It is phenomenal and fantastic that we are providing that service, but this is what they should have had all along. Okay, just stand there, Roco. You >> can be there with my van up. >> Okay, strategic investments. So, when we're thinking about school improvement, I talked about this last month. It's really important to plan for our future and remember that our second graders, they're going to be in 2046, 28 years old. That's the prime of the workforce for that.
114We need to prepare them for that. We need to prepare our budget for that as it is the statement of values. I'm not going to stand up here, nor is Mr. Stiger and put up a slide saying we're going to consider cutting kindergarten. We're not doing that. That is not within our core values. We're not going to put up a slide saying that. We're going to think about doing away with elementary art. According to our blueprint, that's not in our core values. We are going to be fiscally responsible. We are going to ensure that we are making the best financial decisions but while making the decision that's best for students and serving them. Okay. This particular year it's really important that our blueprint for excellence it's also aligned to SED's portrait of a graduate. It's
115also called the New York inspires which eventually will lead to different pathways for graduation. We're going to jump ahead Mr. Stiger a lot. Okay. So, we have over 157 unfunded mandates. Some people say 200. It depends on who you ask and where you ask. Our contracted salaries are a huge chunk of our budget. So, is benefits and health. Last year that was 68.7% of our budget. Just those two things alone. In contracted salaries, we have four different collective bargaining units. The other piece that is very often a non-negotiable is transportation. Last year we spent seven 11 million. Special education. We've spent a lot of time talking about that. Inclusive of salaries. Last year we spent $14.4 million. Special education is an interesting thing to consider because not all of it is funded and many of
116the requirements to provide education for special education, it's not funded and legally we just have to do it. So, I wanted to show you this to remind you that when all is said and done, we really only have a little tiny sliver of the pie that we can make a lot of fiscal discernment about. So, you want to talk about the tax cap? >> Yes. >> Great. >> Thank you, Dr. Orbeck. So before I start talking about the tax cap and some anticipated revenues, um I just wanted to highlight a story I saw on our um our website highlighting students in our design and drawing for production class. In this class, the students were building wooden bridges to test engineering skills. What was so interesting to me about this project is they needed to make
117a plan to plan to build this bridge. They had to consider constraints and then they had to make that design and that's very much what we're doing here with this budget. So a well-developed bridge supports the weight that's placed on it and a well-developed budget will support our students and the programs of our district. So then moving into the tax path calculation, feel free to stop me at any point if you have any questions. Um, this is what every school district does throughout the state for the tax cap calculation. This is a standardized calculation like any calculation from New York State. It is a little complicated. So again, if there's any questions, feel free to stop me. Um, but this has been submitted to the office of state controller at the end of February on
118time. And this calculation starts with last year's tax levy that was voter approved at 47,354312. That was last year's tax levy. And from there we are we multiply that by the taxbased growth factor. So what this is this is New York this is given to us from New York state. This will be different from school district to school district. This is the amount of new construction and growth that we see in our community. So this figure is given to us by New York State to give us that 47 almost 9 million number. And then from there we have to add in any pilots that we have in this current year that $48,815. So pilots they are payment in lie of taxes. These are economic development projects that are negotiated with town and counties. So in
119lie of paying taxes they make these payments directly to the school district. So after that then we have the capital levy. So we subtract out the 1.2 2 million which is our capital levy for this year. So you're probably wondering what is the capital levy? This is the money that we have to spend during the school year on capital projects that have been voter approved the debt service payments. So that's the $22 million capital project that we finished up. We we're still paying we pay for that over um 15 years. So we pay for that. We have um the Boseis capital project that we're a component district on. So there's debt for that. There's debt for the energy performance contract that was voter approved a couple of years ago as well. So that calculation has
120those payments that we have to make during the school year minus any state aid we get on that and that brings us to the 46.7 million which then gets multiplied by the 2% cap. So something to be aware of on the 2% cap, the 2% is the lesser of 2% or the actual inflation. So for this year, inflation is estimated by the state controller at 2.63%. But we have to use the lower of 2% or that figure. So in this calculation, we're multiplying it by 2%. >> And Mike, that number is locked in. >> Yes. >> So the 2.63 63 the the state controller when they finally get around to doing their budget that's not they're not going to come back with a new number for us. >> No. And we got to take the
121lower number anyway. So we're taking the 2% number and I'll have a slide later on in the presentation that shows historical what that data looks like. >> Okay. So this is where I get hung up. So I see that 2% but then I see the times 1.02. >> Yes. So that's number. So that's multiplying it by the 2%. That's increase%. >> That's how you show it. >> 10%. >> Okay. >> You good? >> Yeah. >> So we multiply by the 2% brings it to the 47.6 million. >> And then we look at the pilots that we have for the upcoming budget year that we're budgeting for. So there's one new pilot coming on which raises our pilots that will be due to us in the 26 27 school year 72,207 which then we add in
122the capital levy for the current year that we're budgeting for which about 1.3 million. That increases our tax levy for the upcoming school year to 48,844,683. That is the legal limit the district is able to um levy through taxes. And in the next slide, I will show that it's a 3.15% increase um just under $1.5 million. It's important to note, as I mentioned previously, is that's a legal limit. We can raise taxes with a simple majority. So that would be 50% of votes plus one. Is there any other questions on the tax? Yes. >> So, I just want to make sure that everyone understands. So, the total that we're looking at potentially being able to increase is 3.15% with a simple majority budget vote. And that takes into account the 2% allowable growth factor. So,
123I think that can be confusing for people. >> Um, so it's really important to understand that the 2% is one of a half a dozen components. And when you take all the ins and outs, ultimately what that ends up resulting in is an overall increase to the budget or no to the tax levy. >> Yes. >> Of 3.15%. But that's on the 2% cap, >> right? because there's those those exclusions, the capital capital exclusions for the capital projects that were voter approved and also the pilots that are in there part of that calculation and the the growth factor as well that I mentioned earlier of new construction in the area that allows an increase for that as well. >> Yeah, I think we'll be well served as we go through the next couple of months
124to really illuminate for the public the difference between the 2% and how it grows and kind of looks like the 3.15% because there's different multipliers in there. Um because I know point of confusion for the community. >> Yeah. >> And then this next slide, as we're talking about that allowable growth factor, this looks at historical data from the upcoming school year plus the 10 years prior of where we've been at in that growth factor. Um so it was pretty much around 2% for a long time and then during co you'll see a big spike um in 23 24 inflation spiked up to 8% but we were still limited to that 2% in the allowable growth factor and I I think what's important to note about that is in that year or so we saw 6%
125it was 6% higher than what we were allowed to raise in taxes but when we moved to 2425 the goods we purchasing, we're still that higher price. We weren't starting over back at zero. So, it's kind of a compounding effect. So, um in 2425, um inflation was 4% versus the 2% growth factor, but we're also still feeling that effect from 23 24 that huge jump up there. >> Um so, as I said, >> that's super useful. I'm just Thank you. Right. >> Right. So, the red line is inflation. That's what's happening out there regardless of what we're doing. And the blue is what we're allowed to increase even though our costs are going up eight. >> Correct. Yes. And we never make up for that gap in between. It just keeps compounding year after year.
126Um just like at home, we feel we're not excluded from inflation. We feel it on supplies we have to purchase on electricity. Um >> and everything everything else that goes into running a district. So moving on to the governor's proposal. I went through these numbers last month, so I won't spend too much time, but I do want to highlight because this is an important part of our budget. It's a big part of our budget makes up about 34% of the budget. And for state aid, foundation aid is the biggest driver we get from the state um at just over $18 million. So you see there, we're getting a 1% increase. That is the minimum due in the governor's budget. Um 73% of school districts throughout New York State are on that 1% increase for foundation
127aid. And then the rest of them are more so expense based based on um money we spent on in 2425 and that was reported in our financial statements to the state. And overall at the bottom the general fund total aid increase is about 1.07%. Um we will continue to monitor the governor's budget. Um they'll have legislator input on that. Um, but the state budget is due April 1st, but typically New York State hasn't been on time the last few years. Um, that's something we'll closely monitor as we plan our budget. >> Last decade has >> been on time in a long time. Yes. Which makes it very difficult as we're trying to plan for ours. So, but what you're saying though, because I know I I know I remember from past years, the the budget
128is really what drives the foundation aid, but it won't be lower than 18.2 million. >> Is that what I'm hearing? >> Because they always have at least 1%. Right. >> We may get more, but we're not >> We shouldn't get less. Yeah. Um, barring any huge >> Okay. >> I don't think the legislator the legislators don't seem to be in support in decrease in any school aid. Great. >> I can't say for sure what they would do, but I would be shocked if there was anything less than what's being proposed here. >> All right. >> And then I just want to highlight our current reserve situation. So our reserves are kind of like a rainy day checking account, savings account for our school district. Um these help us kind of strategically fund some things during
129um strategically plan for future costs. Um, so I do want to highlight here the capital reserve. There's $4.7 million in there. That is a reserve that was voter approved in May of 2017 that we can fund up to $10 million. Um, this can be used for a future capital project, but it can't be used for um balancing a general fund budget. This again, the 4.7 capital reserve can only be used for a future capital project as we look ahead to planning for one of them. >> And if I'm not Chris, there's a timeline on that, right? that expires right now. >> Takes 10 years. So, it was approved in 2017, so we have till 2027 to use it. >> Got it. >> I have a quick question. Yes. So, obviously me or probably the public
130looking there's a lot of money sitting up there, right? >> In comparison to other districts, like how do how do our numbers look compared to them? Because I know when I forget the gentleman's name that was here a couple years ago, >> Dr. Tips. Yeah. Thank you. he he had come here and said like we should be more in like the 10 million range on some of these. Um so I just want to be like I want people to understand that yes it looks like a lot of money up there but it's really not a lot of money in the same sense. >> So um some of them they are um there are legal limits that we can have on them. I can't speak for what other school districts have in them. Um, but I
131do think like you might somebody might look at it and say yes, that is a lot of money, but our budget is about 80 million for this current school year is just under $80 million, which when we look at that, it is a lot of money and I respect that it is a lot of money, but there's a lot of costs that go into a district that we could run through those funds really quickly if there is an emergency. And >> I think last year we did we take was it three million last year? >> I don't remember. 3 million from >> fund balance to >> that obviously eats up a lot of that. >> Correct. Yes. It can if it can be spent through very quickly if it's not >> the other thing that
132a lot of other districts have Tim to your point which which Dr. Tims pointed out was there's other So this is just what we have. There's other reserve funds right there's there's districts that have technology reserve funds for for technology purchase and we don't have any of that. They had reserves for insurance reserves, um >> equipment replacement reserves, um some things like that. Yes. >> And sometimes on right on our budgets, I mean on our agendas, right, we have we're transferring from one to another, but there are limits to that, right? So we can't just sort of put all of that money into the teacher retirement system. >> No, there's um legal limits on how much we can have in each reserve >> and whether or not it can be taken out and put in
133a different >> Correct. res, >> right? Because I know we've done that and sometimes people are like, "What what are you doing? How can you do that?" So, >> yes, there's there's law laws and regulations around all of it. It's not not money we just spend freely. Um, so there are things that protect the tax >> because I know everybody before I'm sorry, Michelle, just I know everybody always has a question what that last one is. >> The taxary reserve. Yes. So, this is for anybody that might grieve their taxes um if they think they're being overassessed. Um so sometimes we will have resolutions on the board for people that can test their assessments and get tax redu reductions. Um that's what we use the taxuary reserve to offset those costs which we have seen
134an increase of lately is um the taxuaries. >> So just a question I don't see anything on here that's like a general fund reserve or a general fund balance. Is that because it does not exist or it's just not on this chart? Oh, are you asking about there's not a general fund reserve. There's a fund balance. >> Okay. >> Um but that that isn't on here. >> So all of our reserves are really earmarked for very specific things. There's not an extra pot of money sitting out there somewhere. >> That's not Yeah. Not in the reserves like that >> for the people in the back. >> Thank you. So then this next slide we put together um with a 3.5 3.15% increase um kind of wanted to give an estimate of how much that really
135affects um the average tax bill. So what we did here is we based this on an assessed home at 300,000 at the current tax rate and equalization rates um is how we did these calculations. So for the town of SE and village for a home assessed at 300,000 with the tax cap increase it would be about $116 a year or $969 a month. Town of Woodstock and town of Olter. So this is where it gets a little confusing. They are um they have a different equalization rate. So the town and village are have a 100% equalization rate means that they're um assessed at their market value. But in town of Woodstock and Town of Olter, they are not. So Town of Olter has a 47% equalization rate. So when we see a home that's assessed
136at 300,000, it has a real market value of approximately 638,000. So that kind of explains why you're seeing that higher amount in town of Woodstock and Town of Olter as well. They're assessed at 41 or excuse me, their equalization rate is 41%. So, a home assessed there at 300,000 with that equalization rate, it's really worth about 732,000 is the market value on that. Can I just touch on this as well? >> Absolutely. >> Oh, sorry. Yes. Sorry. Um, >> I just wanted to to just emphasize the assessed value on here. Now, we don't control your assessment every year either. So, so when everybody says their their taxes went up this much, well, it's because your house got reassessed every year for the past 10 years. So, every year your assessment's going up. So, that percentage
137is ch it's the percentage of worth is is the same, but your value maybe went up $50,000. So, that's going to change that number. So, I want to make that very clear when when a lot of people are under the assumption that the school the the taxes the school taxes are going up because they're just charging me more. That's not the way it is. It's because your assessed value has gone up within the town. Um, so that's a different discussion to have with other officials that are not us. >> Correct. >> The assessed values are set by the towns and each one as we can kind of see here they have um different assessments and equalization rates. That's where the state comes in kind of levels the playing field with equalization rates. And then we
138move into the next slide. So, what does 969 look like >> for this? The object lesson. >> Yes. >> For the average taxpayer on a $300,000 home. >> So, depending on your choice of coffee, >> this one, by the way, >> you prefer Starts. So, let's start with STOs. >> You can get about five cups of STOs coffee. >> What What does it say on the back? >> And on the back, this one says, "The easiest decision I've made all day." Oh. So is your budget. >> So then Dunkin Donuts, you can get about three cups of coffee and Starbucks about two cups of coffee. Maybe less depending if you get lattes or frappuccinos or the fancier drinks. But that kind of gives a real life example of what it's costing per month um to
139continue educating our our students in our buildings. Half dozen donuts at Dunkin Donuts, $9.99. McDonald's cheeseburger meal $11.99. I was a little shocked to see it's that high. Um a movie ticket $11.50 and a Netflix streaming subscription with ads $7.99. Um so just kind of some real life examples of what compares to that cost. Then I just want to look ahead to some key dates. Um a lot of the board members talked about the open seats on the board. So, um have until 5:00 on April 20th. We're filing petitions to run for a trustee. Um we have board meetings coming up April 21st, May 5th, and those lead into our budget vote on May 19th, and then May 26th are when ballots are counted and accepted. >> Michael and Dr. When is our budget due?
140I know we're voting on the 19th, but is there a date in April when we have to say this is our budget that we're going to put up to vote? >> We'll have it for the budget here in May 5th. >> We'll have it for the budget here. Okay. >> When it'll be second, >> great. >> And then to kind of answer Dr. Emerson Hos's question earlier, when is the budget vote? May 19th, 2026 in the junior high school gym out back here. 70 days away will be our budget vote and every day we're working towards that. >> All right. Thank you, Michael. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Interesting. >> Questions? >> No, I think we asked them as we went along, right, everybody? Anybody have anything else? Oh, Christine does have one. Yeah, >>
141it's not so much a question as it is uh just a comment. I know you're going to go over expenses in the next presentation, but from what I'm seeing, um, we looked at the revenue side and we have the opportunity to increase our revenue only $1.6 million if we stay at the tax cap, right? We can if the component of increasing through the tax levy is 1.4 4 and the government's uh sorry, the governor's proposal looks like it will increase our revenue by two $287,000. So that's just increasing our revenues by 1.6. And I I'm interested to see then on the expense side is how are we going to use that 1.6 and presumably our expenses are going to exceed 1.6 just when with contractual agreements and things of that nature. So, um I'm interested
142to see, you know, how we're going to balance that budget. >> So, >> great question. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else want to? Okay. All right. Moving on to in our agenda. Uh first off, we have personnel. We have resignations. Um we have um resignation, leaves of absence, and appointments. Um, >> yeah. I'm just seeing if there's anything that we have to >> Oh, yeah. The tenure. Okay. So, all right. So, let me have a uh we have a motion to um for J uh 1 A through D. >> I'll make that motion. One, two, three. >> And one, two, three, four. Yeah. All >> like Miss Coralia by Miss Meyer. Any question on any of those? All those in favor? >> All right. And in there, um, Dr. Roback, I'm turn over to you because
143these are always nice. We have an appointment to tenure for Miss Anna Zivian. Correct. >> Yes. >> All right. Just making sure I say the name right. >> Yes. >> Last name like Riyazi. I want to make sure I say the name right. >> So, Mrs. Zivian has held many roles in her short time here, but has made a tremendous impact on student achievement here in Souy Central School District. She began as an literacy instructional coach. She facilitated curriculum mapping, not just generic curriculum mapping, but interdisciplinary uh mapping. She became certified in Wilson. she became certified as a foundations uh turnkey trainer. The work that she continues to do as a reading specialist to move uh professional development is because she's deeply committed to student achievement. So, it is my honor and privilege to offer
144you tenure. >> I just quickly say it's just really an honor for me to serve this district. >> Thank you. All right. Uh next up, uh business office recommendations. We have uh K 1 through 4, which is the treasurer's report. We have a revenue and appropriations, internal claims audit, and tax funds. Can I have a motion? >> Rosa, second by Mr. Wells. Any discussion on any of those? All those in favor? >> All right. Board action items. Okay. So, our board action items, we have L1 through 20. Um, and right off the top right, as we talked before, we have some uh special ed, the CSC and the 504s. Um, legal res uh legal notice and resolution on there. Um, assess memora. Okay. And then um so in here um as um Dr. Roarback will
145say some other things about it. Um, and this is me personally. I would speak for any other board members. Um, outside of our superintendent that that we go and appoint and hire, I personally don't believe we will make a more important appointment than Stephen Wilder as our new dire um, assistant superintendent of human resources. I think it is it is the going to be a foundational key within our district. >> Um so a motion for items L1 through 20. >> So move >> by Dr. Huff second. >> Second by Mr. Meyer. Any discussion on any of these items? >> Yes. >> Sure. >> So this is where we can talk about the resolution for a second. Item number 20. >> Yeah. Go right ahead. Absolutely. >> Okay. So, I don't usually prepare comments. Um, but
146given the importance of this discussion, I felt it was appropriate. Um, I am going to be abstaining on this vote. Um, specifically for item 20, and I would like to just make that on the record, and I'd like to explain why. As drafted, I feel that this resolution does an excellent job informing the reader that the Soretty Central School District recognizes and affirms our commitments to conforming with the United I'm sorry, with the New York State constitutional obligations of the district, the legal requirements to which the district is beholden to protect our students, the commitment to conforming with the Dignity for All Students Act, excuse me, or DASA, and it educates the reader about a number of supportive polic policies and practices that the district currently employs or plans to employ on our ongoing commitment
147I'm sorry to show our ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety of our students. Where I feel that the resolution falls short is what in what I would refer to as a timelessness test. The inclusion of very specific exposures and risks, particularly the mention of fraternization and immigration and deportation are inarguably included because both have been topics of intense emotion and discussion of late. If written two years ago, the emphases of this resolution would likely have looked much different as the main concerns about risks to our students were very different two years ago. Namely, we were very concerned about the lingering effects of COVID isolation, social media dangers, bullying, etc. Some of these concerns remain certainly while some have faded. Written two years ago, this resolution very likely would not have mentioned fraternization. As two years
148ago, we did not anticipate that our district would be faced with needing to mend from harm caused by very egregious fraternization violations. Written two years ago, this resolution very likely would not have mentioned immigration enforcement as we would not have anticipated that the threat of potential immigration enforcement to be as present as it has become recently. Written two years ago, it simply would have been a very different resolution. And written two years from now, if written with such specificity, would look very different than it does today. We will always face new threats and exposures. Because our commitment to the safety of our children is paramount and far-reaching, I favor a more broad commitment to protecting our students from all threats, internal and external, and the elimination of references to any specific threats. This approach will
149allow the district to have a resolution nimble enough to apply to all potential scenarios and allow us to lean into our resolve to protect our students regardless of specific threats or exposures that arise along into the future. And to be clear, my abstension does not in any way suggest that I object to anything contained within the resolution. I'm simply abstaining because the form of the resolution in my opinion restricts us to the specific contents that are included therein and I think that it doesn't provide us with the nimleness that we may need going forward to ensure the safety and security of the students generally. >> Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Any other discussion points? >> No, I just think you need to pull it out and we have a roll call. >> Okay. Sure. Yeah,
150that's what I was going to. Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. So, I'm going to amend the motion. Um, so I want a motion for items L1 through 19. >> I'll make that motion >> by Miss Germalia. Second by Miss Bellarosa. Um, so we already asked discussion. I don't think there's any discussion on those. All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. So now a motion on item L20. >> I'll make that motion >> by Missari. Second. by Dr. Hos. Anybody else have any discussion on it? Okay, Miss Carney, would you do a roll call on L20? >> Christine Bellarosa, >> yes. >> Katie Emerson Hos, >> yes. >> Michelle, >> yes. Carol, >> sorry. Michael Meer, >> yes. >> Jeffrey, >> yes. >> Timothy Wells, >> yes. >> So, we have one, two, three, four,
151five, sixes, one abstain. >> All right. Motion passes. Okay. >> Would you like to move? >> Sure. >> Yes. Oh, I would. I want I want to stop. We're going to stop for one second because I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Orbeck um who has a few words to say about now officially our new assistant superintendent of human research and instructional leaders. >> Yes. >> So congratulations Mr. Wilder. Um we are very the board and I was very excited to recommend your appointment to the board. So for the rest of you I just would like to share a few credentials. So, and he will come and share and you will all get to know him. But Mr. Wilder brings a distinguished record of service, leadership, and educational impact. He first served our country
152as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 1997 to 2004. This experience reflects a strong commitment to service, accountability, and teamwork that has continued throughout his career in education. He was awarded the New York State Defense of Liberty Medal after voluntarily conducting security operations during Operation Trade Center at ground zero in New York City. Additionally, he was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for the successful training and leading of international militaries in Odessa, Ukraine. Following his military service, he began his career in education in 2004 as an elementary and special education teacher. And since 2010, he has served as both a middle school and high school principal, demonstrating strong instructional leadership and an unwavering commitment to student success. During his tenure as high school principal, the graduation rate increased from
15369% to 90%. At the middle school level, he led initiatives that significantly improved student proficiency rates through a focused attention to curriculum instruction and datainformed decisionmaking. In addition to his instructional leadership, the candidate has extensive experience in human resources related functions. He has been directly involved in recruiting and hiring staff, developing and refining job descriptions, and creating systems that improve organizational efficiency. He has also led efforts to strengthen school safety, improve climate and culture, and build systems that support both staff and students. So, please join me in welcoming Mr. WILDER. And so, we didn't waste any time. I just signed your contract. So, >> now all I need is your >> Okay, moving on. Um, our committee reports. Uh, Miss Belosa, anything out of audit? >> Nothing. Okay. Mr. Cormalia, facilities, I mentioned Ricardi. Nothing.
154Okay. Dr. Hos, of course. Policy, >> policy, policy, policy. Um, we are working out some processes. Virginia and I had a very productive meeting on how we get the policies from Erie 1 to the committee to the board and we worked on some great efficiencies there. Um, Erie 1 has begun their policy review. We're expecting it to be done by the end of the month. They said that it's like a four to five month process of getting anyway getting everything updated and at the same time there is a transition from board docs to diligent or whatever other tool we use. though uh Miss Carney has said that diligent based on her experience or and conversations with other district clerks. Uh sounds like that makes sense even to to move to. But anyway, we'll be moving
155to a new system for our policies for being able to share them with the public as well as to be able to work on them internally. And then there are policies that are on the um if you look on the agenda and you click on them, you'll see they're marked up and they're marked up with comments that I've made that uh highlight the differences in the policy that Erie 1 sent us, the differences they're suggesting get made. And then um there are some comments on some of the medication ones, the conversations I'm having with Dr. Kappler about what are our current practices around anaphilaxis shock and diabetes and helping kids with medicines and so we would expect that in April we'll bring bringing those for um approval. Thank you. >> Okay. Um that's all our
156committees. Um our second public recognition there's anybody and this is can be anything you want to talk about what's on the agenda not on the agenda. Okay. No one. All right. Um I uh need a motion to recess into executive session. Um and this is to uh for the purposes of further discussion on the search for our district's um permanent superintendent. Have a motion. >> Yeah, I was going to do that. >> So by Miss Wells, Mr. Wells, by any discussion? >> All right. All those in favor? >> Okay. When we do reconvene everybody, we will be reconvening simply to adjourn the meeting. There's nothing else.