001everyone to please rise for the pledge and remain standing. Um, eighth grader Avery Gilbert will be performing the national anthem for us to repice all [singing] the dawn early So proud we held at the twilight last stripes and bright stars through [singing] the gallant stream. The rock is proled [singing] or the land of the free. and the home of the [singing] [applause] >> Thank you, Avery. Incredibly done. >> Yes. Very much a powerful instrument she has there. >> Yes. Brilliant. >> Okay, just a reminder that this is a business meeting even though that we're here tonight and not in the middle school. So there will be two public comments. One's uh for agenda items only and after we run through the agenda, another public comment for other issues. Um so going through um today uh
002correspondence, we had some foil requests and we received a thank you from uh Patty Drigo's family um to the board. Um, and I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent of schools. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us if you're here in present or if you're home. Uh, our focus tonight is going to be on budget presentation number three. Um, before we get started on that presentation, I think it's important to kind of look back though at the last four years of budgets and the last four years of progress we've made as a district as a story and it lands us where we are today in budget number three. Um, you know, four years ago, we surveyed our parents, our students, our faculty, um, and asked, "What do you believe
003in? What do you love about Savville? What do you want to maintain? And what do we want to improve on and make even better?" And we got so much good feedback that kind of led to our five-year plan. And we began that plan the following year. Um, in our second year, we added elementary world language. We doubled the staffing in the elementary schools with no expense taxpayers because we utilize less sections of the high school to add sections to the elementary schools. We I now have a flourishing grade 1 through five elementary world language program that we intend to grow into the middle school where we will hopefully at some point have seventh grade world language every day. We added steam teachers to the elementary schools and we put a beautiful 21st century state-of-the-art steam
004lab in each elementary school and that was uh really uh based on parent feedback about enrichment for students in science, math, technology and engineering and robotics and it's been a flourishing program and we're really proud of that program. We added math AIS to the elementary schools and reading AIS to the elementary schools to ensure that we could provide a balanced level of support in all three elementary schools. We enhanced the elementary music programming by adding band to fourth grade so that it could be equitable with the fourth grade orchestra program. We added middle school teaming uh with block scheduling uh advisory programming and recess for students at the middle school level which has been wildly wildly successful. Um we set forth a purpose and aligned curriculum across all schools and grade levels engaging teachers in
005professional development and focus on what we value. Each school created their own focus whether it was back to basics or whether it was path at the middle school or core at the high school or Lincoln Learns or the core values at Sunrise Drive where teachers led and kind of focused on what they valued most aligned with our district values. We added elective and AP programming at the high school, ensuring that despite the fact that our enrollment was down, our high school students had a wide range of choices and opportunities uh through AP programming to other programming uh based on their interests. Uh we remodeled every elementary bathroom in the entire district because we knew that over time those were deteriorating and we needed to make sure that we could take care of that. And we've
006remodeled some of the bathrooms at the high school and the middle school and we'll continue to do so. Uh we added state-of-the-art lighting and sound to the middle school theater uh so that we could run plays and and and actually have a place where we could have revenue from outside groups. We also put new roofs on every single building and we are just in the process of uh adding solar paneling to all the buildings so that we could um not necessarily save money but as costs are shooting up in electric not be hit by that as hard as as as other districts. Um, and we're set aside about a million.1 million dollars in capital reserve for academic programming. Um, last year, you know, we hit a bump. We had a a budget that was not
007what we wanted it to be. Um, about three days before the the budget presentation, we found out uh that we were um $3.8 million below where we needed to be. and we had to really in a very fast fashion set the district up for the best success possible by reducing our expenses and not impacting student programming as much as we possibly could. Um, it was not the budget that we wanted and it was not part of the long range plan, but it was something that we've dealt with. And over the last year, we've reduced our revenue uh and expense gap from $5.5 million to under $500,000. and we're looking to get to a point where we have more revenue than expenses. So, we're really kind of taking that moment um and learning from that experience
008and and making it into something that fits in with our plans because the most important thing is providing programming for students and facilities for our staff to deliver for our students. We have outstanding programs. We have outstanding uh students and they deserve the very best. Um, every night I think about our students and the weight of this budget kind of has been sitting with me and my sole purpose has been to uh be an advocate for our kids and to make sure that we provide a budget this year that gets us on track and continues the great work that we've been doing. So I think what we're presenting in our third and final budget presentation is kind of the ending of that. But what I really want to focus on in that is the priorities
009that we set for ourselves are being met. We have closed the gap between district revenues and expenditures significantly and over the next two years we'll set the district up to be in the positive in that area. We are maintaining all of our programs and enhancing our programs as we have planned and will continue to do so over the next several years. We are also um in this budget providing capital um areas that are asked for and needed for our kids. Uh so we're going to be asking to pass a budget and we're also going to be asking to pass the capital reserve which we'll talk more about later at the end of this meeting as two separate votes that create really great spaces and opportunities for our kids. Um we've also reduced our reliance on
010the reserves significantly so that uh we can continue to build on those and also um grow our programs for our students over time and continue with our five-year plan as we have. And uh we've looked for new revenue and found new revenue um in terms of renting out our field spaces over the summer with the uh future stars and also looking to rent out our theater spaces and find other ways to increase revenues through grabbing on to state aid and maximizing our state aid intake as best as we possibly can. And we've done a phenomenal job in that area and it's really set us up for success in the future. Uh so this budget maintains our programs, sets us up for success, and then uh we will be talking about a bond. And the reason
011we'll be talking about a bond is because there's a good amount of work that we should be doing for the district to be responsible to our our buildings and our grounds to be responsible for the the focus on student experiences in 21st century spaces and also to maintain a flat um a flat budget each year that does not go above the cap. So we'll talk about that at the end of the uh the presentation as well. But I I think there are a lot of really exciting things ahead and I guess I want to say that I'm very proud of this budget. I think this is a budget that achieves all of the goals we set out to achieve and I hope that the board is in support of it uh and that we can
012then bring it to the community for their support as well. And with that in mind, I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Bartell's who will kind of go through the last components of the budget. We started with the tax cap and the revenues in the first presentation. We did our expenses and we went line by line through every expense and explained every increase and decrease. So there's nothing that you couldn't ask us that we couldn't tell you about. And now we're going to talk about enrollment projections and um you know what happens if the budget does not pass. Mr. Bartell. >> Thank you Dr. Ferris. Uh so I want to talk a little bit tonight about student enrollment um uh where our district staffing is going to be uh the three-part budget uh that's
013required the contingency budget. So what happens if the budget fails and then talk about some uh a few budget updates and I want to put also an another update on our revenues, expenditures and uh fund balance. So we already had our, as Dr. Ferris said, we had our first two budget presentations um tax cap, state aid, and so forth. Um and then budget two, the revenue, reserves, and expenses. Um tonight is the third budget presentation. Uh we have enrollment, staffing, and contingency to talk about. So, student enrollment uh here in Seville has dropped continuously for the last 10 years or so. So, we have an overall downward trend. Uh little concerning, but hopefully looking at some of the next slides, it'll kind of stabilize. [clears throat] Uh when you look at the breakdown of elementary,
014middle school, and high school, you can kind of see those continuing drop offs. But when you look at the kindergarten enrollments, it's kind of been back and forth, but relatively stable, just under that 200 number. Um and if you look at the last few years in the elementary, it's kind of flattening out. So, while we're probably going to see another couple of years of declines in middle school and high school, hopefully everything else will like kind of level off and and hopefully go back up, right? We've seen pretty much the decline in the middle school level off at like 170 in a class and the high school will then get that hit in the next couple of years. But if you look at the kindergarten numbers, the consistent 170 180 has pretty much been flat
015and the projections show that we would be in a similar place in the next couple years. So I found this to be an interesting chart. So what I did was I went in and compared our kindergarten enrollments versus the actual births uh in Seville five years earlier. So uh the green line is the births again five five years earlier. So you see that enrollment trend kind of follows the births. Um, for the 26 27 school year, I probably have that line, the orange line down a little bit from probably where it should be. I think we have about 135 enrollments for next year right now, but we have another 50 or so um who are eligible to enroll, who have not enrolled. So, we could be up in that 180 190 um number. I think
016my number in there is about 165. Uh, a little bit in there now. over there. >> No, no, no. >> Um, and then for 2728, the following year, um, our birth uh, numbers again go up and then I have one more year which is not on this chart, which goes up another seven or 10 students um, or children uh, for birth. So hopefully that will continue to go up. Uh the UPK line is that bottom red line. Uh I just put that in uh just forformational purposes, but it's not a real number because not everybody enrolls their students. And we have um uh we have a cut off right now of I think 144 students in the UPK program because we can't we don't have enough to hit another section. >> Currently we have some
017students on the Over time, some kids drop out and that fills in. So, we're we're still in a wait and see. But so far, we have in the last couple years been able to provide seats for everybody who has wanted them, but we don't know yet because we'd have to wait to see how. >> So, we can see with the kindergarten enrollments, it's kind of flattening out a little bit. Um, so that should be good going forward. >> Uh, for staffing, uh, I have the numbers for 2425, 25 26 and 26 27. Um so what you see is for central office and the administration we have no change for next year. Uh we had dropped one position that was the assistant superintendent for personnel. Uh so that position no longer exists. So that's why we
018went down one from 2425 to 2526. Um building and program administrators again no change this year to next. We had dropped one person uh and assistant principal last year uh into this year for the unaffiliated clerical staff. That line went up this year by one. We replaced the assistant superintendent um for personnel with a personnel resource officer. Uh so that position is in that unit. That's why it went up for the current year. It's going down for the next year because we had uh one of our tech positions left the district and we're going to replace that position with contracted service. So, we're not going to replace with an actual staff member. And one of the reasons we feel it's beneficial to contract those positions in the tech department is because you get state aid
019back on those positions. >> Yeah. No, it depends. It has to go through both season. It has to qualify, but these particular positions do qualify. >> So, our teaching staff, we were down uh a few teachers for this year. Uh but we have no change projected for next year. Everybody is going to be rolling forward. Uh nurses, teacher aids, and monitors for [clears throat] this line. We had a cut for this current year um from the aid at the elementary schools that went down for the current year. We're putting them back in for next year. So that's why it's going back up one and a half. Custodian ground staff. Um we converted a few full-time positions for from last year into this year uh into part-time positions. So that's why we're down a couple of
020full-time equivalent positions. Um but no change projected for next year. And security staff, we have no change. has been the same for the last couple of years. >> I just want to be clear um the number of teachers isn't going to change but it doesn't mean so like we might have some retirements and they might move around in the district but the actual it's just the number that hasn't changed in from what you're >> yeah we had nine retirements and we're replacing those retirements because they were in areas that need to be uh replaced. However, we do look at every year when there's a retirement, do we need to replace that area and do we need to add somewhere else and or do we just not replace that position? In some cases, we've replaced in
021some cases we've replaced partially and in some cases we have not replaced at all. Um, if you remember three years ago, we had 18 retirements and we replaced nine. So, we've reduced our staffing considerably in that year. So my budget when I when I I say we have no change that means all the positions that currently exist this year are budgeted are in the budget for next year. I also have two contingent teaching positions in the budget for next year which are not on here. So for example if we end up with a high kindergarten enrollment we need to add another section. Uh we have staff to do that. If there's if there's a need in special ed and we need to have another piece of special ed teacher or piece of speech teacher, we
022have the ability to do that. So there's two contingent positions in there. As far as the three-part budget goes, uh this is one way that we need to report um according to the state uh the budget. Uh the budget is broken into three components. Administration, capital, and program. Uh we have the administrative portion of the budget is going down by uh just under $100,000. The reason it's going down is [clears throat] basically the business official salary. I've taken uh a large portion of that and move that to transportation. Transportation falls under the program component of the budget. The reason I did that is because by putting it under transportation, we're able to generate state aid, transportation aid on that portion of the salary. So, that's one of those things that you are allowed to do
023um for this position. So, that'll generate about $50,000 in revenue for next year in state aid because it's As long as you have a good portion of your work goes towards transportation, then you can place that in there. So, right. So, so as part of my responsibility, I oversee transportation. I answer phone calls. I do contracts and work with the bus companies. So, I can take a good portion of my salary, place that in there. uh the capital portion of the budget is up uh really due to increased debt service. So we had an issue new bonds this year. The debt service will be coming on for next year. Uh that's the really the increase for that component portion of the budget and program is really just salaries um some tuitions uh for the most
024part. a small increase uh in that portion of the budget as well. Uh as far as comparing what percentage of the budget each of those components was from last year to this year, uh we have the administration comport proportion is down a little bit. Uh the capital component is up a little bit and the program component pretty much stays flat. It's up slightly but for all intents and purposes about flat. >> [clears throat] >> So what happens if the budget fails? If the budget fails, board has really three options. One is you could put up the same budget a second time. Uh you can put up a second revised budget. Um could revise that budget up or down. Um and that revote date would be uh Tuesday, June 16th, whether it's the same budget or
025a revised budget. Uh or you can go straight to a contingent budget. Um if the budget does if you do put the budget up twice and it fails twice, uh the board must adopt a contingency budget, which is a 0% increase on the current tax levy. So that means you can't increase your taxes at all if the budget goes down twice. [clears throat] with a zero uh increase in the tax levy. That means we're going to have to cut $1,895,000 because that's how much the tax levy is increasing with this budget. That's within the tax cap. But under a contingency budget, you can't increase the tax levy at all. Uh so when we look at what we have to reduce of the 1,895,000, there's a few different requirements. So, first thing that kind of comes
026out is really the capital component. So, we have $1.5 million in transfer to capital that gets eliminated right away. You're not allowed to add any capital items unless they're um safety issues, something you actually have to do. Uh so, we would probably cut one and a half million dollars right off the bat out of the capital component. Um the rest of the cuts really are going to come from probably equipment because we don't have to go too much further after that. Uh so equipments within the administration component of the budget and then the program component of the budget as well. So that's really what would come out of a contingency budget. uh it could impact typically when you go to contingency budget you don't have $1 and a half million dollars of capital to cut.
027So, if we ended up deciding there are some safety issues that we need to address, for example, um playground surface repairs at the elementaryaries, if we decided we need to put that in and we have to go back and cut another 300,000 of other expenses, then we might have to get into some of the other issues which might affect academic programs, staffing, uh our athletic and extracurricular programs. But I don't foresee that happening um with this budget if we were were to go to contingency. But I just wanted to make people aware that those are some of the things that it could impact. Um and then I have the other items prohibits purchasing new equipment. So that's why those pieces come out and again the capital construction projects. So all those projects that we have
028in that transfer to capital line would not happen if we had a had to go to a contingency budget. The other piece that's in there is community use of facilities. So, one of the requirements when you go to a contingency budget is no groups are allowed to use your facilities without paying for the facilities. They have to pay the full cost of any costs incurred with opening facilities. So, that means all of the local groups, the scouting ps would have to pay to use the facilities. Um, we have quite a few. Yeah, I'd have to come up with the number. >> Yeah, you look at the like we get that facilities report. It's usually fairly even on tonight. >> [clears throat] >> So that's that's basically what happens with a contingency budget. And just a
029few budget updates. So we did file our tax cap on March 1st as we were required to do. Um nothing has changed about that. We're still under the tax cap. Um one thing we had talked about was putting back our summer school program for students that f the high school, middle school, high school. So, we are going to do that. We've looked at it. Uh we're going to put that in and we're going to have another reduction in our transportation portion of the budget. One thing I wanted to add, you know, when we talked about this last year, it was costing us about $130,000 to run our summer program and we were running it for our students as well as outside students and it was very costly. So, we were really fortunate to look into
030working with Boseies to the summer school program in our high school but through Boseies uh they would hire our teachers if our teachers were interested so it could be almost an identical program um but the cost would be about $30,000 to the district instead of the 130 and that 30,000 is aidable so it could actually be about $15,000 to run a similar product that we were running for about 130 years ago so we really took some time and I want to thank Miss Bricker and Miss Dola and Miss Mris for helping to kind of coordinate and talk Mr. Bartell's to make that happen because we now have restored something that we think is valuable and important at a at a significant fraction of the cost. >> Will we still take students from >> Yes. So
031if you're within um Eastern Sy school, you could come >> anybody could sign up through Boseies, but we cap it at 115 students because then the revenue would go to Bose. >> So the revenue would reduce our costs. Okay. So we could get to zero if we have a lot of kids. Um Then Boseies would get whatever's left. We can't make money on it, but we can reduce our cost on it. >> Okay. >> So is >> it felt like a win-win to us? >> Yeah. Are there surrounding districts that you know that would >> Yeah. So connect Quat and Bayport Bluepoint used to send about 50 to 60 kids combined to us when we had our old program. The problem was the pay structure never benefited us. We would spend 130 and we would
032get about $10,000 from them. I know. >> So now now everyone's paying their fair share. >> Right. Okay. Yeah. Um, state aid. I was hoping to have some sort of a state aid update, but the state aid update is there is no up. Um, we're hoping, yeah, we're hoping since we're getting, you know, we're into March, middle of March. April 1st is supposed to be the state budget deadline, but there's been really no discussion on any changes or any new um information on state aid. Uh, for revenue and expense line adjustments. I'm going to talk about that in uh just a minute um on the next slide. Uh voter registration uh anybody that wants to vote for this year, the registration deadline is May 14th. Uh you can register um anytime before then uh with
033the district clerk uh here in the administration building uh between 9 and 4 pm. Uh 9:00 am and 4 pm. Um, absentee ballots will be available until April 20th. Uh, and they must be received by the district clerk no later than five o'clock on May 19th, which is the day of the vote. So, they will be available, but they have to be received by 5:00 on the day of the vote. >> And if you were planning on running, right, packets are available. >> Packets are available. Um, I want to reiterate that all of our budget documents and presentations are online. So, if anybody is missing anything or looking for any of the information that we presented, that all is available on the district website. Uh, we've been running our budget advisory committee uh once a
034month. I think that's been going uh great. Uh, had a lot of good input from all the participants in the committee. Um, and just a reminder to everybody, we have administrators, teachers, parents, um, and board members on that committee. So, it's uh, I think it's been uh, really well received. Um, and I think I think we've got a lot of information that's been able to get out um, into the community that way. Um, and fund balance. I'm also going to have a slide on that so we can talk about that. I was hoping this might project a little larger, but um this is a a slide I've shown uh in the past. So that last little piece, so you see those gaps over the last couple of years was 4.89 uh 3.09 last year, um
0353.02 last year. This year, where I am right now, I'm looking at a half million dollars as far as a gap. Um I still have three months to go. Um, so building administrators, you may still get phone calls. If you're submitting requisitions, um, we are kind of questioning everything at this point. Um, to cut it all back, but love to get it to zero. I can't do anything. Um, but I'm comfortable right now at half a million. Um, as I think I said last time, the one uh obstacle I have that I'm worried about right now is the utility costs. So, I'm hoping solar as we're kicking in little by little that will kind of ease up some of our expenses in May and June and that won't be too much of an offset. It
036It would be nice if it stopped snowing. It's >> snowing five minutes ago, but Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> What I would like to say that I really appreciate is Mr. Bells is very conservative because he's cautious. Um, so while you know I think the projection is a good projection, but it's conservative. So if things tilt in certain ways, it could be better. >> Yeah. I I've always I always try to be conservative. I like to have good news at the end, not bad news. So that's I'm I'm still a little cautious, but um I think we're in good shape. >> But yes, that's my goal. Uh so, but what I I do want to thank Dr. Ferris and all the administrators. Um I think he's been great in leading this and all the support
037that I've been given in doing this. I mean, it's one thing for me to do things, but um I need support from everybody. Um and it's been great under his leadership to to do that. So, um I really appreciate that and I appreciate the administrators as well working with me. Um so our actual fund balance um these are numbers and it's not quite as bad as it looks because the bottom line there is 15 million that baseline it's not a zero. So we're starting with 15 million. Um so those drop offs uh that we've had over the last couple of years are we're stemming that and the fact that we've been able to cut the amount of fund balance that we're using to balance the budget for next year um we'll continue to keep that
038line to kind of flatten out and have it go back up. Uh we want to be able to have a um well balanced budget uh that's thoughtful that covers everything but that also has contingencies in there that we hope not to use. Um and when we go through the year next year um I'm hoping to get back about $3 million. So that would cover kind of an ongoing replacement of applied fund balance has to be I think there needs to be something in there because you always need some sort of contingencies which you don't want to use. And as you go through the year, if you end up using up some of your contingencies, you may have to look at your other expenses to cut back on those. So just because you're using up a
039contingency doesn't mean you're going to end up in the hole. It means you have to kind of stop, pivot, look at your other expenses and where can you make that up. Uh, so for example, if one of your contingent expenses was a teacher and you had to add a teacher, so there's $100,000. I have to make that up. Do I have to cut back supplies? Do I have less textbooks? Do we buy less um athletic supplies? Or did we find out that there's a um uh a tuitioned special education student who ended up leaving the district? So then we don't have to, you know, spend the money on that. So there are a number of different things that could happen. throughout the year, but it's a matter of managing that budget going forward as you
040go through the year. So >> that's >> no that's >> does that so I think it's important that like as does our spending per pupil basically stays the same right so as so if [snorts] you look at 167 17 right that the co years are anomalies right so take those out of the equation so if you look at 167 pre-COVID 25 26 we're now five years outside of right So you would ultimately want to get that number up. But if our enrollment is down, right, then the number we really want to look at is what are we spending for you, right? So it's we're similar to where we were. And I I've checked around and I know we're comparable to other districts of our size and our soio economic background and stuff like that. But
041that's really what we we're looking at ultimately, right? Because we can we'll never get back up to that number just because of if our enrollment declines, we can >> correct. >> But if we're managing to consistently spend the same per pupil, then that means we're on the right track, right? >> Yeah. And I would say that um it's really like we have a healthy amount there. The important thing is to not have it go any further down and to try to add to it a little bit. But to your point, when we had 3,500 students, that other number would be more necessary. We have 2500 students, >> it should be a little bit up, I'd say, but not to the degree that it used to be. >> Right. That's a good point. Um I also
042have on here um in the upper right corner that's that comparison of our revenues and expenditures. That's where we want to get those lines to cross. Um half a million dollar difference. But the reason I have it there is the ratio is 99.5% of our revenues versus expenses. And if you recall when I talk about fiscal stress, we had to be above 99%. So we're now at 99 and a half. I think we're in really good shape. I don't think there's anything to worry about for that for next year. >> Yes. >> If you get to 100, you have crossed. >> Um so again to summarize where we are on the budget, it's a 1.94% increase. um projected tax levy will be a 2.791% increase which is slightly very slightly under the tax cap. Uh
043so we will just need a simple majority to pass the budget. Um and as Dr. Ferris mentioned, we will have uh use of a capital reserve on the budget. Um it's important to note that this does not cost taxpayers anything. This money is already in the reserve which was set up a few years ago. It's sitting there needs to get used. Um we think it's appropriate because uh we don't we don't foresee being able to contribute any significant amount of money into that capital reserve in in the next few years. So really it would behoove us to kind of utilize that money and get it out so uh students and staff can enjoy the benefits of of that work >> and Since we're we're talking about moving to the next bond, right? These are these
044are things that would be addressed through that if we can address them here. >> Correct. >> They don't have to be addressed there. Don't have to be addressed there. I also think that these are things the community kind of put on their immediate radar as something they wanted. And four years ago when we had that COVID surplus, uh we could have just put it in reserves and it would be in reserves or we could have put it and we made a conscious decision to put it in a place where we could use it for student uh learning experiences. So, uh the voted significantly in favor of it and we have it there and now the community will have to vote just to decide if that's how they want it spent. So if you go to
045the next slide um you'll see just again a summary of like where we would be using the capital reserve. So the first area is the high school auditorium sound and lighting which cost about $450,000. It sounds like a lot but we are getting state-of-the-art professional lighting that is in line with any other high school that would want to run shows or plays or concerts. Uh currently we rent lighting every year for our shows and it costs us money every year. So once we have our own lighting that would come out of our yearly budget and that would be provided for us. It also allows the high school to be a place where we could rent out the theater because there it's air conditioned and it's a nice space and we've been uh companies have reached
046out to say that if you had lighting and sound there we would want to rent that space as well. Um we also had a long conversation with the um athletic advisory committee through Dr. Cox. Um the weight room that is now current in the basement is not necessarily the most um it's falling apart and it's also dingy and gross and has no windows and we want all athletes to use it both male and female sports in a nice open area. So we want to move it upstairs to the fitness center. Um part of our capital line would move the fitness center over to the old wrestling room which has windows. So we have a fitness center in the wrestling room. We have a weight room now in the fitness center and then very creatively using
047the basement area refurbishing that to be a dance studio for the dance team and for potential future dance classes if you ever get to a point where that is an elective of interest and also a spin studio where we could do almost like if you went to a cycle bar there'd be a dark room with a screen and music and the kids could ride and or adults could ride. So, this goes back to a conversation we had four years ago. I was joking with the middle school, high school PTA the other night. I'm in the old junior high school in the warehouse that looks like Raiders of the Lost Arc and you notice there's like basketball hoops and you say, "What is this?" It's a gym. So, we said, "Well, why is it a sword
048room?" So, we took everything out of the storage room, resanded the floors, put in basketball hoops, and now we have an extra gym space for our volleyball, basketball, and wrestling team. Uh, the wrestling team has really enjoyed It's larger than the space they have and that's what they're using now for wrestling. So our wrestling room at the high school is now empty to be able to do that maneuvering. >> It's incredible to watch a wrestling match there. It's really cool. Um it's like hooers for wrestling. Like it's it's a great spot. >> Yeah. We had 20 years of that space being useless and now it's a really >> Yeah. Because you can watch it from above. Like it's it's it's different. It's unique to us which is cool. >> Yeah. Um and I think they
049really enjoy having that space as their space. >> Um we also, you know, we're talking about the math teachers in the district. doing um thinking classroom and they were really utilizing and you've heard from our student representative like how engaging it is when you're up at the whiteboard or on short paper writing. But we felt like our rooms were not conducive to the the style that the teachers wanted to employ. So we're going to be refurbishing in this plan all of our um high school and middle school math classrooms 6 through 12. So there's whiteboards around the entire room. Do some flexible seating in some of those rooms so that teachers can go back and forth between lecture based and or math thinking classroom style learning. Um and finally, you know, security is always a
050concern. We want to continue to upgrade our security. And we are adding cameras and outdoor uh areas so we have more visibility, more ability for our security team to see who's entering properties. We talked about software and having better software so we can locate regions very quickly and also look at the plates of cars coming into the properties so we know who's on campus and I think it's a nice upgrade. So these things are part of the capital reserve which as Mr. Bartell said is no additional cost to the taxpayer was money that was set aside already and we're going to be asking the voters to vote on it. But that gets to the the point of the future. This budget, I think, is a really excellent budget that takes care of business, gets us
051where we need to be, but sets the stage for the future. As our debt service is reduced in the next year, it really would behoove us to, you know, replace that debt with debt so that keeps our line flat so it doesn't increase the taxes, but that we take advantage of the opportunity to do work in the district that would significantly benefit our students. For example, we have work that we want to do on our athletic fields at the middle school and at the high school in terms of some turfing of areas, making it more playable, more safe, and also more usable for rainy weather and also potentially renting it out to to outside groups. We want to look at our uh classroom spaces, our middle school science labs were original labs in 1976, and
052we want to redesign those so they are not only usable, but so that students in the middle school can thrive. We have areas in our business uh department at the high school in our um science and technology areas. We have a PPS department that's thriving at the high school but doesn't have the adequate space. Uh so we want to create like a guidance PPS suite with the nurs's office attached. You know, we also need a better space for our nurse. Uh we have a lot of areas that we want to work on that really needs to be improved upon K through 12. We have aging playgrounds at our three elementary schools that would need to be upgraded and these are spaces that we can make more safe, more conducive to modern [laughter] learning. Uh and
053we can do it at no additional cost to the taxpayer if we reduce debt with debt. Um it's the equivalent of when you refinance your home, you redo your kitchen because you have a better rate. You um actually, you know, don't have to change your payment. You just get the kitchen. So the question is um what we want to do like very soon is uh in this to reach out to our staff, start to reach out to our administration to kind of have committees to look at all the spaces, reach out to families and parents who want to join these committees, get feedback from the community. Uh this is uh your community and we serve you. Uh we give you the plan and then you guys get to decide how the plan looks and then
054vote on that plan. So this is completely active approval of the community. But we want Seville to not only have the greatest teaching in the island, not only have the greatest students thriving in the island, but also I'll be proud of the and modernize in a way that makes us excited for learning. Um, and I think that if we don't take advantage of this moment in time, it'll be a lost moment and then it'll be a long time before we can upgrade these spaces. And we're talking about spaces that are 1976, 1985. Uh, you know, it's time and time. >> Yeah. And but but it is time and there's a path to really um do it in a responsible way to the taxpayer. And I'm really excited about this opportunity and I think our teaching
055staff is excited about this opportunity. And I think, you know, in talking to some of our PTA groups, they're really excited about what we can do. But we have to kind of engage the community and kind of get working on it this spring and then into next fall to then start to have a vote because um as that debt comes off, we want to replace that debt and then get the work started by next summer. Um that's it. So, the preliminary budget hearing um and the board of adoption of the budget will take place on Tuesday, April 21st. Um 7:30 in the middle school auditorium. Um and we would summarize any of the changes. So, the um change with the summer school, we'll have that in there. The updated u any updated budget documents uh
056will be available um at that time. Um and any other changes, we will discuss it at that time before um we finalize that budget. Um I'll present a revenue summary, an expense summary, and additional voter information on April 21st. So, we're all set to go um for the budget vote. >> Questions? >> No, I had some questions. you actually covered them all. I didn't want to sound foolish by making you repeat them. Um, no, I want to thank you again um um all both of you for working uh together, but uh Robert for laying it out and and really um sort of tackling a giant giving us a place where such a feeling and um you know, I'm excited about what we're looking forward to doing in the future and um I appreciate your transparency
057and many times. So I do appreciate that. Thank you. >> Um two things quick. One, what was um what was our revenue? Probably about 97%. >> Yeah, I knew a number. I didn't know. I didn't know. Um, and then how on the website on the district's website, how can the community under the business? Okay. to do that. Um and any of the information we present to board meetings are still available under those also now that we present our third presentation letting them know that we have these meetings where they can find it and then we're going to be doing a campaign over the next month and a half toote meetings. meetings that goes out. So again, I just want to say thank you. Um I've learned a lot being on the budget advisory committee and
058stuff like that and just old tricks like you know one of them being your transportation and using that salary to get aid back from the state is uh you know I think you run as much water out of appreciate that um and I feel like we're in much better financial footing than we were last year and I think this continu Kudos for that. And I think the community also wants to do that. They pay a lot of taxes and they want to know that they're having good facilities for the amount of money that they pay. And hopefully we're on the right track. I think this is again a budget that the community support. So kudos. Thank you. >> Say you know in between the exact and the creating we're talking about teaching One of the
059things about teaching was to see kids every day. That's why I imag the reason that I feel that administrator is because people design. Thank you. Um, moving on. Board of Education discussion. We have the use of the facility report. Comments or questions facilities are used regularly by and outside organizations. Um, claims are report on state testing. >> We had discussed and we just wanted to discuss that we're going to be sending out our letters about the upcoming state testing that goes on in that we really feel as a district and as a state that's important that our students. You know in the past there were reasons to maybe opt out because we didn't agree with the way that the scoring was done with the exam and that movement was really successful. You think about it
060they change the test shortly in detach and they've allowed us to redesign our evaluation system which we're working on that can be more conducive to teacher. So at this point in time we really want to send out a message to the community that we want you to take these tests. We want you to have that experience to practice and get good at it. So when you get to upper level, you have experience with it. It's not the first time you're taking it out. Just kind of reminds our goal. to have students there any >> Yeah, I think it's important that it is a different time. We were at the P meeting with Dr. the other night and we had a nice group of parents talking about it. One parent had commented, you know, we had
061those reasons and now we don't. And I feel like my kids actually have test anxiety because they never took a test till they got to high school. Now they freak out every time they test and maybe they should have taken the test a little earlier. So they were better, you know, how they want to approach it, but we really feel at this point in time there's no reason to opt out. Um I think I can speak from experience and say that's I remember just me that [laughter] >> and thank you Saludiatoran. Well, [clears throat] that's the point I'm getting to. So, I think it really did end up benefiting me, right? Because then you learn at a young age kind of like, all right, once a year you got to go and sit for two
062hours and just do this test. Um, so you you get used to it. You like you learn how to sit for two hours and take a test. So, I really do think it helped me especially in the last couple years with regents and things and the ACT, SAT. Um, so especially now, I guess, that more people are doing it. I think it's a great thing. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think an important message also is that the testing at one point was so high stakes um and that we do not put any pressure on our our teachers or on our students or on um you know the results that it it's just one measure of of someone's ability and a snapshot of where they are at that moment. And as long as we can embrace that
063as a community, then um the testing doesn't shouldn't have the anxiety that it had at one point when it really was high stakes. >> And Anthony, you so articulately describe that. I'm going to ask if you'd like to come with me to the next four PTA meetings that point of view to our parent base. >> Um it's just a multiple measure, right? And that's what we have to get. We have we have to just get that across. And uh to Christine's point, um you know, scared teachers produce scared students. And uh if the teacher is anxious about the results of the test uh they are going that anxiety is going to pass on to the kids and that's when you get the test anxiety. Um so I I think if we just you know reiterate
064that fact we don't include any part of the state testing results in in teacher evaluations whether it be informal or formal evaluations then the teachers can feel free to just teach and not teach to the test and then you know they can push their kids positively and not push them anxiously. Uh, which I've seen happen time and time again. So, I think as long as we do it and we do it the right way, I think it's very important because I know sometimes me myself, I I you know, I check I like to see what I get and I like to see, you know, my percentages and then I go to other schools and I would be lying if I didn't check Cherry and see how the fifth graders did there and how, you know,
065Lincoln did and to see how they compared with my class. the first thing I saw, I was shocked at the the number of, you know, of kids that were taking the test. So, I I think if you want to get a true um measure and evaluation and be able to compare ourselves on like a, you know, regional and national level, I think it's important that at our best, we get to show our best doing their best. So, I I think it's important >> and I think it's important the message we send from the top, which is like if your superintendent and your principles are saying like, "Oh, you got this question wrong. Let's talk about it." It does anxiety owning the staff. I'm very proud of our principles and our staff and that our message
066has been caring and learning like care about your kids and ensure that you have high quality learning and whatever happens with the test it happens and then we just use that as one of many many measures to help figure out how to support a child. It's not about a gotcha moment or anything like that. >> Any teacher in this district would say anyone ever brought them in to talk about their test scores. >> Yeah. because it should never be a gotcha because make no mistake, I'm not a fan of these tests. I I think the state does an awful job. Um, you know, any any, again, I said this before, anytime you set the cut point after you get the results of the test, it completely invalidates anything any data that you're doing. So, >>
067um, and it's even like when you look at it as a diagnostic tool as, okay, well, now I can drive this can drive my instruction. it really can't drive your instruction because now you have 27 new kids and the 27 kids you have this year might not, you know, fit the the mold of the 27 you had last year. So, you know, I'm I'm not the biggest fan of the test, but I am a fan of taking tests. So, I I think it's it's beneficial for our kids. >> I think Anthony articulated it well, just the active practicing and sitting and learning how to take >> um can can you address the fear that I think a lot of community members have in, you know, well, if my child does poorly on test are going
068to get AIS or MTSS or or resource or or I think there's a lot of that. >> Yeah, we do not use the test scores in any way, shape or form to place a student. Um when we when we talk about AIS or we talk about gifted and talented or we talk about any of those programs, we use multiple measures including teacher feedback, anecdotal um and and a variety of other assessments. Uh the state tests have never been nor will they ever be as long as we're running the show uh a measure used to make that decision. And to be fair, the state doesn't get us the results in time next year anyway. >> Yeah. Get them a year and a half later. >> Yeah. It's like a whole point. It's October by the time
069the kids know what they get. >> But that's a fair point, Chris. >> [laughter] >> Okay, we're at the public comment section. Um, this is the first public section um of the night. Um, it would be related to agenda items only. Um, is there anyone who would like to speak? >> Okay, thank you. Okay. Um, moving on, we will have our second public comment after we run through the agenda. So, running through the agenda. Um, I'm going to take them in pieces. Nobody said they needed me to stop. And where is it? I Nope, I got them. Okay. Um, starting at 601. Motion for 601 to 709. Uh, motion Chris. >> Kathy second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes. Uh, taking 7.10. 10 to 7.16. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Tom
070Kelly second. Uh discussion. All in favor? >> Motion passes. Uh taking 801 to 901. Kathy second Desmond. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? Motion passes. Okay. Um, yep. I'm there. I'm there. Sorry. Okay. Uh, next section is dates to remember. A lot coming up. Summer's always uh spring is always busy. Got summer on the mind. Um, March 29th to the 21st is our high school musical, Legally Blonde. >> 19th. What did I say? >> 29th. >> I don't know what you're saying. Sorry. 19 to 21 High School Musical Legally Blonde. Uh, 700 p.m. at the Sable High School. March 20th, professional development conference day. Schools are closed for students. March 24th is the all district string night at 7 PM at the Sable Middle School. March 26th is the is our next family connect night.
071March 28th is the all district festival of dance concert at 300 p.m. at the Sable Middle School. April 2nd through the 10th is our spring recess. Well deserved for everyone. And April 14th is our next board of education meeting. That will be a workshop meeting taking place here in the administration building at 7:30. >> Can I just add one date? >> Sure. Um on March 18th at noon, we're going to live stream the UPK lottery. So all our UPK families do know that date, but the link will be on the website the morning of March 18th. It'll be live streamed at noon and it will be recorded for any families who can't watch because they're at work or otherwise. I don't have a UPK child, but that sounds so exciting. [laughter] >> There are parties
072all across the district watch. >> I feel like, are we gonna hire like Yolanda Vega to call it? Like, it sounds so good. >> That's [laughter] Dana. >> Yeah, that's Dana who works. >> She's become famous among the prek community. >> Um, okay. Uh, second public comment, uh, um, about any items on the agenda or off. Do we have anyone who'd like to speak? Okay, seeing no one, um I'd like a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of dis um of discussing the employment history of a particular staff member. Can I have a motion? Chris second, Desmond. Discussion. All in favor? All right, we're in exact session. Thank you everyone.