001flag there. Oh, say does that star spangled [Music] bree and the [Applause] [Music] That [Applause] was Are we allowed to comment? a [Music] real student recognition. Of course, again, I want to give a lot [Music] of I just wanted to uh take take the vocals aside, the amazing vocals aside, the confidence in which she picked up the mic and just attacked that song was unbelievable. [Applause] So, good evening everybody. Thank you for joining us tonight. We have some exciting things going on and uh we're really excited to celebrate some of our students and recognitions of the great accomplishments that our students have done throughout the year, both athletics and science and research. And it's really exciting night to be here for that. We're then going to do a little bit of around the district, just
002some goings on, and then we're going to get into a budget discussion where we're going to uh ask the board to be adopting the 2526 school budget. So, uh without further ado, I'd like to introduce our director of athletics, Dr. Ryan Cox, to the front of the stage. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you Dr. Po assist. All right. I am honored here to be here tonight. I want to thank the board of education, Dr. Ferris, associ superintendent, our cab, and our school community. Uh I'm here blessed to acknowledge some of our individual highlights for the winter season. And before I do that, I'll do a quick summary of highlights for our varsity teams who had success this winter. Boys varsity basketball had a great year this year. They took second place in League Six.
003They were 8 and six in the league, 12-9 overall. They made the playoffs this year for the third time in a row and they were also a scholar athlete team. [Applause] Carol girls varsity basketball were 9 and seven in League 5, 11 and 10 overall. They made the playoffs this year as well. And they were also a scholar athlete [Music] team. Boys bowling doesn't really keep standings and they were a scholar athlete team. phenomenal job by our bowlers. Boys fencing was also a New York State Public High School Athletic Association scholar athlete [Applause] [Music] team along with our girls also a scholar athlete. Congratulations. Varsity boys swimming and diving combined team with Kport Bluepoint. Uh they were 500 on the season, three and three record in League 2, three and five overall. And they were
004also a scholar athlete team this [Music] year. Boys winter indoor track and field scholar athlete team had a great season and doing a great job this spring right [Applause] [Music] now. Girls varsity winter indoor track and field league champions and a NISMA scholar athlete team. Congratulations to [Music] coach wrestling. Coach Pesco, coach Dioro, uh 6 and0 this year in League six. Uh they were the League Six Dual meet champions and the League Six tournament champions. That hasn't been done in quite some time. Coach Pesco, you can't hear me. It's been a long time since that happened, if ever. So, congratulations. phenomenal. Very difficult to do. Very difficult to do. Unified Top Golf was our uh third season this year. I know Coach Morel is here. Coach Morel, can you take stand up, please? Where are
005you here? In the back. Coach Morell does a phenomenal job with our unified Top Golf. We had athletes with or without intellectual disabilities compete. I I had to top golf under the Special Olympics and it just is an incredible experience for our kids and was another one this year. So, congrats to [Applause] that. This team we are recognizing this evening. What a season. Let's give a round of applause first before I [Applause] [Music] [Applause] get what an experience following them from home while they were in Florida. three first place finishes in the local co-ed division for our varsity cheer team. They were the USCA regional game day champions. They were first place for game day at the Garden State Challenge in New Jersey. They made historic automatic advancement to the national finals for game day
006and traditional in Florida at Disney. That is quite an achievement. They were fifth fifth in the country in small D2 co-ed game day division and 22nd in the nation in the small D2 traditional division. They also had four perfect routines and had zero deductions. Now think about this. They went to Florida on a plane jet lag and did all of this. Congratulations to that team. [Applause] This is a common theme in Seville and really a credit to all of our teachers and staff, our parents, our community, and obviously our student athletes, our coaches. But again, all 10 winter varsity teams received scholar athlete recognition. All of our fall teams have received scholar athlete recognition. So, we're on pace again to be recognized by the state as a school of distinction. So congratulations to [Applause] [Music]
007[Applause] all. Now with team accomplishments come individual accomplishments and I'm here to recognize some of our uh individual accomplishments followed by recognizing our varsity cheer team. We'll start out with a student athlete that I am so very impressed with, Scotland Peeler. This [Music] is this is historic. Girls wrestling is on the rise. It's one of the most uh you know uh it's it's one of the sports in the country along with white girls football that's really on the rise and and and taking over so to speak. Uh Scotty is the first girls wrestler in the history of disabled schools to compete on a girls wrestling team. And not to mention she did very well. She took fourth in Suffach County this year, the first time ever. So, [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Scotland, just a quick background,
008you'll see it says Belport on her shirt here. Uh she does wrestle for Sable. Bellport hosted and it was a combined team of William Floyd, Belport, Longwood, Bayport, Patchup, Medford and uh and Lee Floyd. I said that. But there were seven or eight teams that were combined. They had several girls from each team. Scotty represented Seo and represented well. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Varsity girls have two round of [Applause] applause. A varsity girls winter indoor track and field. We had several national qualifiers this year in the New Balance indoor national qualifiers which was held in Boston. We had the national qualifiers in the 800 meter run and the 4x1 mile relay. That's Ashlin Beach and Christina Duffy. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Joining them, national qualifier in the 4x1 mile relay, we have Mariana Duffy
009and Katherine [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Simus at the Nike indoor national qualifiers. That was at the Armory in New York City. We had national qualifiers in the 4 by 800 meter relay. They are Jordan Weber, Sophia Buffardi, Harley Brady, and Elizabeth Elizabeth [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Budrich. I'd also like to call up coach Tom Duffy for the picture as well. Tom, congratulations. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] varsity girls basketball. We had one of our girls basketball players, senior, achieve a thousand points in her career. Not only not only is she a phenomenal athlete on the basketball court, but she's phenomenal athlete on the field hockey field, girls football, and literally whatever she chooses to do, she's good at it. Ava Vadia. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'd also like to thank Deborah Erso over there who painted that ball for Ava
010Badia, our chair. So, thanks [Applause] Dea. That's your ball key. [Music] Where'd you go, [Applause] [Music] kid? I love this picture. Leo, varsity wrestling. Leo Montello. [Applause] [Music] believe it's one of the toughest sports that you could participate in. Leo was the Suffach County Champion in Division One at 145 lbs. He went up to the New York State Championships and I was the honor and humbled to be able to watch him wrestle. Took fourth place for the second year in a row. was also a second team all island selection. Truly a historic career for Leo. He will be missed. Senior. Congratulations, Leo. [Music] [Applause] and thank you to Coach Pesco, Coach Dioro for leading the charge with Leo and the rest of this group. Congratulations on a great season. [Music] [Applause] Doesn't that look nice
011just about now? Palm trees in the background. Nice. Felt like a game. UCA game day regional champions. Two national bids for game day traditional. Historic automatic advancement to national finals for game day and traditional. Fifth in the country, D2 small co-et game day and 22nd in the nation for small D2 traditional. Really an incredible incredible achievement for this team. Uh we're going to call up our team. They were in matching shirts tonight which I think is really cool. They're going to come up and stand. We're going to hold our applause till the end. And here we go. Juliana Ahern, Juliana Bentegna, McKenna Broadick, Katherine Estagna, Ella Sephuentes, Elizabeth Pahan, Ariela Pamsky, Abigail Heel, Ella Aenegro, Courtney Malone, Brianna McBride, Emma McMulan, Amber Paulowski, Joya Rakanelli, Marthia Ruff, Sarah Stewart, Jaylen Troll, Cassidy Vanesh, Ryan Walker,
012Payton Yannik, and our coaches, Coach Katie Fermy, and Victoria Herman. Congratulations [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. And congratulations once again to all of our student [Applause] athletes. I especially want to point out how unbelievable it is that every single team we've had is a scholar athlete team. And it's just an amazing accomplishment both as students and as athletes. So, one more round of applause for all. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And speaking of scholars, we have some elementary scholars we want to recognize as well. So I'd like to introduce our three elementary principles, Dr. Foy, Mr. Armano, and Dr. [Music] [Applause] Good evening everyone. It's definitely an exciting night for elementary school. When we call your name, will the following students please meet us by the podium? Molly Ryan, Logan Shay, Ella Moran, Kelson
013Penny, Carly Kochi, Mason Martella, Lyla Jones, Devin Dango, Kinsley Hamill, Maddox Bermudez, Riley Franco, and Eastston Morin. [Applause] [Music] this opportunity to recognize these fine students who are representatives at the town of Icelip Sharpshooter competition that was held this past March. For the past 39 years, this program has helped students improve their basketball skills while promoting the benefits of physical activity as an alternative to drug and alcohol abuse. These students competed against their classmates and they earned the privilege to represent their school at the competition which consisted of 40 schools participating at Cherry Avenue. Congratulations to our fourth grade representatives Molly Ryan, Logan Shay, and fifth graders Ella Moran, Kelson Kenny. I'd like to say from Sunrise Drive, congratulations to our fifth graders, Kinsley Hamill and Maddox Bermudez. And our fourth graders, Riley Franco, and
014Eastston Moran. And I'd be remissed if I didn't give a little extra shout out. Eastston Moran additionally placed first place amongst all first grade fourth grade boys across the competition. [Applause] [Music] at Lincoln Avenue. A big congratulations to fourth grade Carly Bochi and Mason Martella and fifth grade Laya Jones and Deon Domingo. So, I'm very happy and very proud of Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Right. At this point, the three schools we would like to recognize our Suffach Zone winners from each school. So, I'd like to invite up to the podium with us from Sunrise Drive, Kinsley Hamilton, and Philip Lavar. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and [Applause] Kelsey. And from Lincoln Avenue, Alexa Charles and Brennan [Applause] [Music] Monahan. The Suffach Zone chapter of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance chooses
015to honor one young man and one young lady from our schools each year. These recipients make an outstanding effort to be cooperative, honest, poised, self-confident, attentive, industrious, and enthusiastic towards class activities. In addition, these students are always working to support the instructional efforts of the class. They are scholastically sound and have outstanding character. These students are leaders in class activities and demonstrate the ability to accept the responsibility for all regular class tasks. Congratulations to each of you. [Applause] Ellen Pulson who were just mentioned before as being our fifth sharpshooter winners. So congratulations again. [Applause] [Music] One more. [Music] It's [Applause] science at Cherry Avenue. We have quite fabulous scientists there. It's my pleasure to recognize the following six students. I will have them come up, read about each of their projects, and then they will
016go on stage for a photo. Um, so if you could please hold your applause until we talk about each student, that would be very helpful. Silus D'vor, Kelani Capalini, Maximus Prepup, Mason D'voir, Emilina Howick, and Riley Hodak Miranda. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] starting in kindergarten. Silas D'Vor his project entitled Why do people float in the Dead Sea? Silas designed an experiment to explore why objects float so easily in the Dead Sea by testing how varying salt levels affect buoyancy. He found that the more salt in the water, the better the object floated. Congratulations, [Applause] [Music] Silus. Next, moving on to first grade, our first place winner, Tamani Capalini. her project entitled, "What happens when you get near a black hole?" Khani explored the concepts of mass and gravity. By conducting an experiment to investigate what happens
017to objects near a black hole, she found that when you put a dense object at the center of the black hole, all of the surrounding objects were pulled toward the center. Great work, Colani. Now, Maxis is a little bit of an engineering project. his project building a metal detector. Using an AM FM radio and calculator, Maximus put his engineering skills to the test and built a working metal detector. This took several trials. Talk about perseverance and stamina. It took three times. That was the charm. Once he moved from solar powered calculators to battery operated, that did the trick. Awesome. Good job. [Music] Mason before Harry Houdini's deadly trick. By studying the accidental death of magician Harry Houdini, Mason discovered smart ways to secretly protect the body from unexpected punches. He found that while the cardboard
018box was very successful, it would be difficult to hide. So, the soft blanket would be the best options for softening the blow and to keep secret. Great job, EA. And this project is the Farmer's Almanac. Accurate, Emma. I look at this every year and pray for snow days. So, let's see what it says. To see if the Farmer's Almanac lives up to its reputation, Emma ran an experiment to evaluate how accurate the weather predictions really are. Her findings showed that the Almanac was correct approximately 50% of the time. Good job, Emma. Fifth grader Riley Hod at Morenda her project entitled thermotherapy. She was frustrated by how quickly berries spoiled. Riley ran an experiment to see if thermotherapy rinsing them in very hot water could help them stay fresh longer. She found that the berries submerged
019in the hot water at 125° for 30 seconds lasted longer and lasted longer and 1 minute was every was even better. And I have to tell you, Riley, I always find that the berries that I buy, I'm so frustrated. I try that and it really works. So, thank you for doing that research for us. Congratulations. [Music] You're welcome. [Applause] [Music] The science fair is a great opportunity to remind us how alive and well Steve is here at uh at Sville. And uh one of my favorite parts is that this is an opportunity for our youngest minds in the district to teach us something new. So I'd like to invite six six sunrise drive teacher scientists up to the podium please. Uh Ryan Petraino come on down please. John Jansen, Gracemea. Christian Gallow, Kira Venetski and
020Morgan Kasha. Come on down. Sunrise drive. [Music] [Applause] All right. I think we're missing a few, but we're still hopefully they're watching from home and I'd like to sing their praise. Uh Ryan Petraino, who's not here with us tonight, he did an experiment on explos it was explosive experiments. Um, so we would all think that it would be uh what would create the most foam. You go right to baking soda and vinegar. But what Ryan found out is it's actually when you utilize elephant toothpaste. Who would have thought? Makes the most foam. So congratulations to our kindergarten winner, Ryan. John Jansen did a lesson on electromagnetic avenue and was trying to figure out how do you make your electromagnet a little stronger and what he simply found out and taught me is that the more
021coils that you wrap around um around the item it will create a stronger magnet. So congratulations John. Thanks for teaching me. [Music] Okay, Grace, who is here now. Grace solved the problem for us all because who here loves the beach? Come on, show hands. Who here loves when the seagulls come and take all your food? No hands. So, what Grace figured out, bye-bye birdie, how to keep seagulls away, was that the simple use of pin wheels around your blanket made a huge difference. Way to go, Grace. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Christian, this one hit home. I'm not going to lie. It's uh it's there's some age brackets here. Uh Christian did the mystery of memory and took a look at which group uh in terms of age had the best opportunity or was best at remembering
022what took place when it comes to memory. We're sure about this, right? Okay. It's the under 30 group. Congratulations, Christian, for teaching us something that we were all hoping wasn't true, but thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, here's Vignetti, not here tonight, but a fourth grade winner, took a look at how naturally we could prevent erosion, and she planted a couple of different plants. And what she found out was simple ivy was one of the best plants that could naturally be added to prevent erosion at our shores. Wonderful. Great job, [Music] [Applause] Kira. And Morgan Kasha, our fifth grade winner. Uh Morgan had a unique take. This was a uh a part two to a science fair project from last year. And um I I I hope I'm getting this right. Unfortunately, Morgan's dog
023went blind a couple of years ago, and Morgan's first project last year was to see if his dog's sense of smell could determine where food was or some or certain location of items. Am I right? Okay. The second year, he revisited this project and put the sense of time into play. Now, his dog's been blind for a year. How did that sense of smell change? And it was heightened. keeps me smell better. Isn't that amazing? So, well done, [Music] [Applause] [Music] Morgan. All six of our students projects will be on display at Brook Haven National Lab in June. Bring us home a banner and one for yourselves as well. Congratulations. Why don't you go get [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] You know, it's it's funny because the best part of our jobs, mine, principles,
024teachers, educators, board of ed, cabinet is honoring our students. And it really is amazing when you look at some of the work that they do. And as I was reading through these science fair projects and going through our science fair, I realized I I was definitely not a good scientist at all. And our students did a much better project. I remember when I was in third grade, my science fair project was which French fries are better. I personally think it's McDonald's, but that was not the case when you grew up in Deer Park on Deer Park Avenue. It was Checkers. So uh but uh we're actually going to talk a little bit about the scientific research of our wonderful students at Lincoln Avenue. And I'm so excited and so proud to honor them tonight. So
025I'm going to call them up uh and then we're going to go through their project. So in kindergarten we have Athena Corso, first grade AR, second grade, Drew Kochi. Third grade, Francisco Corso. Uh, fourth grade, Juliana Blanco. And fifth grade, Carnica [Music] [Applause] Untoro. So, in kindergarten, uh, Athena did a project titled Don't Wake a Sleeping Baby, which I found very interesting, and I wish I would have had this project about three years ago when my son was a baby. But her objective was to she wanted to observe if her one-year-old baby brother took longer naps when he sleeps with white noise. Um, and like I said, I found this very interesting. Um, and in conclusion, she found that her baby brother did take longer naps with wave sounds and the nap average times were
026longer. Uh, and I'm wondering if there was uh a trick there so she got more free play time or maybe some more time to hang out. So for those that have sleeping babies at home, let's put on some white noise. So big thank you and [Music] congratulations. In first grade, Broen's science fair project was foam hand soap soap verse liquid hand soap. So, the objective was to see which hand soap cleans hands better, foam or liquid. Um, and I was actually surprised because originally I thought that the foam was better, but it turns out that the liquid didn't. So, I was I was surprised. And now I'm going to stop in Walgreens on the way home and change my soap. So, thank you, Broen. [Music] [Applause] Uh, second grade, Drew's project was, "Can you read
027me now?" Uh, and the objective was um wanting to know how powerful the RFID cards are and what materials can it read through. Um, again, very interesting. The conclusion was that the RFID card can read through mittens, paper, paper towels. Uh, they we learned that the card can be used to transmit data like print cards. Very interesting. Big round of applause [Music] for Frankie's project in third grade. I just I love the name of this project. It's called Planttastic. The objective was to observe differences in plant growth using water of different pH levels. Um, and we found out that plants watered with water at a neutral pH of seven survive the longest. Very, very interesting. Thank you, [Applause] [Music] Frankie. Uh, fourth grade Julianne, her title of her project was beware of skin care testers.
028The objective of the project was are skin care testers safe to use or do they contain bacteria and germs from people's dirty hands? And the conclusion was that her hypothesis was correct. The skin care test samples were full of bacteria due to the germs from the many people. Uh she also goes on to say they are unsafe because they can cause illness. So thank you Julianne. [Applause] [Music] And finally, fifth grade, Carnica. Uh, the title of her project was automatic plant watering system. So, the objective was she wanted to build an automatic plant watering system that can water the plants when they need it based on soil moisture levels. Now, I found this really fascinating because I'm always wondering when should I turn my sprinklers on, when should I water my plants. So I found
029this very interesting and the conclusion was that her project worked out successfully because she demonstrated that an automatic plant watering system would indeed protect the plants by optimally watering them only when they need it. In addition to that, it also saves water waste. So that was amazing. So thank you for that. [Music] I wish them the best of luck uh at the Brook Haven Science. Go [Applause] ahead. Ready? Wow. [Music] One more time, brother as a scientist. I also have the um honor of um presenting some of our uh PTA reflection winners. Um so we're going to follow similar um protocol. I'm going to call uh the students up to come to the front and then I'm going to go through a couple slides and talk about their winnings and what they did. So we
030have a round of applause for Broen Arn and Christopher CJ [Music] Merlo. Elelliana and Sophia [Applause] Palace, Megan Britz, Leila Custaro, and Avery Morett. Come on up. It's okay. Blake Pentar, Cody Richtor, and Penelopey Ray Ransen, Roi, Emerson, Wade, and Olivia [Music] [Applause] Mat. Some of my friends here seem to be a little nervous, so get a big round of applause for them. [Applause] What what they don't understand is I'm petrified right now. So if you're nervous, just look at me. You guys are fine. There's that smile. All right. So the Lincoln Avenue PTA Reflections program is a showcase of our creatively talented students. There are 21 students who participate in the program schoolwide K to 5. The program is broken up into three sections for all grades. K to2 is primary, 3 to 5
031is intermediate, and for the accessible arts, all grades were welcome to participate. The projects are in one of six categories, including dance, choreography, film production, literature, music, composition, photography, andor visual arts. Judges from our community anonymously reviewed and scored the creative projects from the Lincoln Avenue students. These judges then provided the results to the reflections chair, Maria Day. The winners from the school were then submitted to the Suffach County PTA Reflections chair. Judges review and score those entries and those winners are entered into the New York State Reflections Programs. If they are successful candidates in that round, the winners would then proceed on to nationals. We are here tonight to celebrate an 14 school level winners. Five of those 14 were Suffach County PTA Reflection winners. One of those five um three earned awards of
032merit from the New York State PTA Reflections program. And just a huge congratulations to all of our Lincoln Avenue PTA Reflections [Applause] [Music] winners. The two students on this slide entered the Lincoln Avenue PTA Reflections dance category. Avery in fourth grade entered as an intermediate. Avery chose to dance the fight song because every day she chooses to fight for good grades, be athletic, and a good friend and person. Avery fights to be the perfect all-around person. Avery has the wherewithal to understand that perfect isn't always best and that she doesn't need to be all those things. She's happy doing cartwheels. Avery is recognized as both a Lincoln Avenue PTA and a Suffach County PTA reflections winner. Reagan in grade one entered in the primary category. Reagan chose to dance chose the dance to Brave by
033Sarah Gorillas. Reagan choreographed her own dance. When Reagan dances, she never gives up. She knows that she will not always be the best, but will never give up and will always be brave. Reagan will never quit dancing. [Applause] Drew in second grade entered in the primary literature category. Drew wrote a poem entitled Be You. Drew says that you should accept who you are and love everything about yourself. Drew was awarded the Lincoln Avenue PTA and Suffach PTA reflections winner awards as well as an award of merit by New York State PTA. Blake in first grade entered the reflection's primary music composition category. Blank sang ac cappella have your own sunshine. Blake wants you to feel like you are relaxing by the sun. Her song is about trying again and feeling yourself. If trying again doesn't
034work, say kind words and believe in yourself. Blake was awarded the Lincoln Avenue PTA and Suffach PTA Reflection Winner Awards as well as an award of merit by the New York State PTA. [Applause] [Music] Cody in third grade entered the intermediate music composition category. Cody composed the song A perfect mess and what was accompanied by her music teacher. The meaning of her song is that having imperfections is okay because everyone has them. Everyone is different and that is what makes people special. Cody was awarded both the Lincoln Avenue PTA and the Suffach PTA Reflections Winner Awards as well as an award of merit by the New York State PTA. A round of [Music] applause. This slide illustrates Lincoln Avenue PTA winner awards in visual arts. Elelliana in grade three entered as an intermediate. Elelliana created
035two eight hexagon canvas artworks entitled the reflection. She reminds us that no one is perfect, but everyone is perfect in their own way. Sophia in fifth grade also entered as an intermediate. Sophia created a pencil and marker canvas artwork. Sophia lets us know even though something isn't perfect, it can still be beautiful. Big round of applause for The next two entries are part of the primary category. Broen is in the first grade. Broen created an 8 by12 drawing of the threefooted iguana. He used a video to show him how to draw an iguana with no other aids. On a trip to Aruba, Broen observed the lizard missing its foot and felt sad. The lizard appeared to not be bothered by the missing foot and looked happy while playing with the other lizards. CJ Merlo is
036also in first grade. CJ created an artwork on construction paper with cutouts. CJ's papa took him to the softball game where the players had different kinds of arms and legs because they lost them during the war. Even though they were different, they were just like us. So, a very big round of [Applause] applause. Emerson in fourth grade entered the intermediate literature and photography categories. Emerson is seen here with acupuncture she takes for her migraines. She took this picture of herself. She knows that she is not perfect. She has gotten headaches since she was four years old. Emerson wanted to share her story with everyone and so she decided to take this selfie. Whenever she gets migraines, she acknowledges that she is not perfect and that is okay. Everyone has some imperfections. Emerson tries to accept
037her imperfections every day. Big round of applause. Penelopey in third grade entered the intermediate music composition category. Penny composed a song, I love my imperfections. Uh, everyone has a few imperfections and so do the music sometimes, but she loves them anyway. So, a round of applause for Penny. [Music] [Applause] Leila in fourth grade entered the intermediate dance choreograph choreography category. Leila danced to defying gravity by the original 2003 Wicked soundtrack. The dance allowed later to understand that no one is perfect and we all have things we need to work on from the past and in the near future. Leila was happy to enter the contest to show it to herself and the world what she is capable of. Round of applause. [Music] Olivia in fourth grade entered the accessible arts division for photography. Olivia took
038a picture of the tomatoes from her garden to illustrate that everyone is different. When the tomatoes are in season, she picks them every day. They come in different sizes. Some are big, squishy, small, or medium. Olivia thinks they are all perfect even though they are different. So, a big round of applause. [Applause] In closing, I want to thank all 21 entries to the Lincoln Avenue PK reflections program. We hope that all of you enjoyed the process and hope to see you and your classmates enter the program in the 2526 school year. And one of the things I also just want to add is I don't know if you noticed it, but there was a theme. And the theme was that we're all different and that's okay. And I think that's amazing. And I want to
039give a huge round of applause to our students at Lincoln Avenue because they truly are celebrating themselves. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I apologize. I think in the first slide I said she danced to the song Brave, but it was actually war. My apologies. See, I was nervous. Congratulations again. [Applause] Good job. Good. Very careful. [Applause] What a group of outstanding artists. I'm Deborah Erso, the art department chairperson at Facebook. And I just want to say I do want to say how incredibly proud I am of all the students that are up here. I wear many hats in this district. I coach in this district. I teach in this district. And I'm also a chair. and I am so proud to be a part of your community. So, I just want to say thank you. And
040I also want to recognize six amazing artists. So, I'd like to call up Jacob Shaw, Carneuro, Lincoln Lewis, Zachary Helba, Gabriela, and Abigail. [Applause] [Music] In so many ways, the art room is a community. Our amazing art teachers pride themselves on the fact that through art class, we provide a safe space for our students where they can feel comfortable and free to express themselves. The culture created in our art rooms are in line with the philosophy are of elementary buildings and place value on a student centered engaging community where resilience is fostered and all welcomed, seen, heard, respected and valued. The art room is filled with many different learners and personalities with one common goal of being resilient, creative problem solvers. The teachers can set the tone for this community feel, but it is each
041student member that makes it happen. These six talented elementary artists were selected by their art teachers because each day they help create a joyful collaborative environment for those around them. With a warm smile, a kind word of encouragement and respect for others, they demonstrate outstanding citizenship, being great role models for their peers, and most importantly, help foster a safe and fun environment for all of their classmates. I know with students like you guys that the art department will have an extremely bright future. So I would like to proudly congratulate Jacob Shaw, Penika Unuro, Lincoln Lewis, Zachary Hellbach, Gabriella Duffy, and Abigail Duples for being outstanding. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] See the other people? [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Okay, that wraps up our celebratory portion of the evening. We want to thank all of our students
042and staff for what is an amazing example of the work that we do both academically, instructionally, and athletically. Uh if you're a young child and you need to get home from bed, uh now is the time to do so. Or if you have homework, get to uh and then we're going to go right into the budget portion of our meeting. Mr. budget. If you're in the back and you'd like to come up, there's plenty of room in the front. [Music] problem. [Music] American Awesome. [Music] Okay. All right. Two weeks ago, we presented a a plan to the board of education regarding the school budget. We spent the last two weeks revising that plan and we're now putting forward a presentation to propose to the board to adopt. As you know, it's been a challenging budget
043season. But if you look at the great things that you saw just moments ago, those are the things that make up St. Louis who we are and what we are. And that's amazing students, amazing staff, amazing community. those kids just an example of the great work that goes on in our schools and the kind of work that our budget supports and we want to continue that through and through for years to come. Um so our programs just a couple of updates. Um our central office team heard you guys loud and clear at the last meeting. We've been thinking about that prior to that meeting but we really want to sorry talk loudly. Uh we really want to express that uh Miss Deola, Miss Nris, and myself will be taking a pay freeze for next year
044to help with supporting uh and moving that funding into staffing for for teachers. Um we wanted you to be aware of that. That's about a $19,000 savings total. Um we also met with the SAS Group, that's a union for the administrators. We have 12 building level administrators and directors in the district, and they came to us and said, "We want to be part of a solution. We care deeply about our schools. We want to help with this." So, they agreed to take a 0% increase for the upcoming school year, and that allows us to uh get $50,000 back into teacher codes for teaching staff. And I just want to thank the SASSA group uh for caring so much about the district and for taking that uh that up. That's very unique. Most unions don't decide
045to just do that. And I want to just recognize our SAS group for doing that. [Applause] [Music] As many of you know, we'll be looking for a new business official, and we've kind of talked with the board about the idea of going for an interim business official, someone who has much experience in the field of education and finance in the educational world. We're looking for someone with over 20 years of experience, who's recently retired to come back and um support us as we move forward with budget planning and finances. We have not identified a particular person, but we are going to be putting that out and looking to do that in the very near future. In this part of the year, finding a qualified business official uh for a permanent position in the long term
046is just not a great option. There's not a lot of great candidates out there. So, we want to look for somebody who will be with us temporarily to kind of make sure we're solid moving forward for the next four years. Uh that though would save us about $50,000 because uh a interim would just be a daily rate. It would not incur the benefits and other things that the business official would require if you did a permanent spot. So we're going to take all of this funding and kind of put it towards staffing for uh schools so that we can rebuild some of the things that we're talking about. So what that allows us to do in conjunction with other things we've kind of rearranged is we will have an elementary world language program in grades
047one through five next year. Um we the brillian principles will be working together with the language department to determine what that will look like and how it will be supported. But we're very happy to restore that program. We feel it's a good part of our schools and we want to continue that. We also talked with the language department about the deficiency that we've had for years in seventh grade language, which is that we're one of the only school districts uh in the area and very few on Long Island that has language every other day in seventh grade. And that puts our students at a disadvantage heading to eighth grade for the class exams and so so forth. So as part of our restoration of world language, we're looking at grades one to five and also
048have a daily language program in the middle school for seventh grade so that we have a solid program that is very much aligned with other districts of California. Um we also are going to be restoring one math position for the elementary schools. Um, and we will now have five elementary uh, math as teachers for the district uh, instead of the four that we had proposed. That will help significantly and I'll show how in in an upcoming slide. That also allows us to bring back one teacher who is excess in the elementary pool. So, we're very happy about that as well. There's no scenarios where we feel good about or want to be accessing teachers. I want to make that very clear. We care deeply about our teachers and we want to do everything we can
049to hold on to as many teachers as possible. Um all high school and middle school programming class sizes are fully supported. That was in the last presentation and that continues to be the case. Um all music, art, athletics, extracurricular activities are fully supported. And what I mean by that is that the programs as we have them will continue to exist. That doesn't mean uh all staffing will be part of that in this plan. But it does mean that every program that exists, every course at the high school, middle school, every group that we have, every program will continue to exist uh in this budget. All elementary art, music, library, PE, stretch, and steam classes are fully supported in this budget. And these are programs we're really proud of and we we want to continue to
050support. Our prek program remains fully supported with eight sections running across three elementary schools. Uh we do get funding for prek, but we also pay for prek as well. Um but it is essential that we have a solid pre-k program because we believe that if you get early intervention and eyes on students at an early age, you can support those students in being robust, successful students moving forward. Regarding reductions, these are areas we are reducing. Um there is four reductions at the elementary staffing level. Class size in grade two, we've talked about this has been 14, 15, and 16 students in a class. Um we can't financially support those low class sizes. I wish it could be 20 and not 14. And I don't wish it was 23 or 24. But when you take away
051one teacher from each section in that each building, you end up with class sizes of 23 to 24 per class in the second grade with one class of 25. And then grade one at Sunrise Drive has currently has 15 to 16 students in a class and now they will have 23 students in each class. And again, I wish that it could be closer to 20, but um this is where we are financially, where we are making this decision. Also, the average elementary class size overall still remains at 20.73. And obviously, we know there's no such thing as average. That's just a number that summarizes mathematically, but truly we have 21s, we have 18s, we have 19s, we have 23s. So, it's an average. Terms of staff reductions due to enrollment. As I had mentioned in
052earlier meetings, our enrollment continues to go down slightly each year. We are leveling off, but it is hitting the middle school and the high school. It has hit the middle school and is heading into the lower enrollments of the high school. So, we are able to offer the same programming, but maybe not as many sections, which is why we are down teachers even though we're not cutting programming. So, those staff reductions are due to lower enrollment include the one music teacher, um the 6 art teacher, and the point 6 speech teacher. Again, that's based on um need for speech. That's based on art needs and that's based on music needs across the district. Uh and that means we're not cutting art programming. All the courses that we offer in art is absolutely the same. All
053the courses we offer in music is absolutely the same. And all the speech services for those students who need it are going to get. It's just a matter of the numbers and and what they elementary school math. We are reducing math as by one FTE and not the two that we had originally said. Um we have five math teachers across the three elementary schools now to provide support for math as for students. Uh we it reduced building administration as I had me uh mentioned two meetings ago but did not mention in the last meeting but we are not included in this budget the assistant principal at Lincoln Avenue and we are reducing central office administration the assistant superintendent from human resources position and one HR clerica was be was replaced and will continue to be
054replaced by one civil service human resources officer for a significant cost savings to the district. So we did reduce one uh administrator at the central office and one at the building regarding reductions uh in terms of summer school. I want to clarify so everyone understands the programs that we offer this summer. We will continue to offer the summer research summer AP um the um the extended school year program which is run through the special education department. All those summer programs will run. But what we were looking at is our credit recovery program for students at the high school who would maybe fail a course and need to get the credit say earth science or algebra or geometry. And what we looked at is that we have 60 students currently coming from outside of the district
055into our program and about 21 to 31 students that are our students. So other districts are coming to our district. They pay a fee to participate and it cost us about $100,000 to run, but we only get about $10 to $15,000 in revenue from those outside students. So for those students who fail a course, it's nice to be able to come to Seville and to have that course take place here. But other districts of our size don't run those kinds of programs and our students can get credit recovery in other ways. Uh so we're exploring the option for students to go to a local district nearby or to get credit recovery through an online program and that would save us $100,000 uh in cost minus the 15 10 to 15 in revenue. So that allowed
056us to bring back one of the world language positions um by not running that program. But every single student who fails a class at the high school will have an opportunity to go get that credit either through a credit recovery course program at another school district or um through an online possibility that we're exploring. I did want to talk about the elementary music lessons at the elementary schools. I said there was an average of five and as I said earlier averages don't ever work out that everyone gets five. Depending on the instrument, it might be different numbers based on the instrumentation. I asked the music department to put this together for me. So, I want to thank you guys for doing that. And it basically is an estimate. It's not the actuals. We know the
057fifth grade band next year because we know what instruments the fourth graders are playing. We don't know what the incoming fourth graders are going to play, but we can kind of predict because it's pretty similar each year. So, you can see there are some lessons groups of three, four, two, but there are also groups of seven and nine. Uh, one of the things that is important in music education is to keep the same instrument in the group and we want to try to do that. There are two areas or three that don't do that in this current plan. Um, and then there are groups that are getting to be like 10 or nine and we don't want to see them. So I am committed to working with the music department to reduce uh in about
058seven areas or split those lesson groups so that they become fours, fives and to do that you need about eight more lessons which is the equivalent of a 0.2 FTE or 20% of a teacher. Um, so we would look at that and or we would look at using existing staff to pick up some lessons to make these numbers smaller. So I just wanted to acknowledge that that was fair points made by people in the last meeting two weeks ago and it's something we would address and make sure that we take care of those bigger numbers. Um, in terms of AIS math support in the previous plan with only four, we would continue to provide all students in tier two and three. Those are students who are identified as needing math support with pull out uh
059services. Uh and pushin would have been minimized and we didn't like that. We like a push-in model in addition to a pull out model for mathematics. Uh we also had um group sizes would probably get a little larger and we don't want to see that either. Um and math as teachers would no longer be used for coverage during the prek snack. Um they do that um they go into the prek they do math games. It's a really nice thing that happens. Um but it wouldn't be able to happen under that situation. Uh and 4.0 FT would uh necessitate a break in continuity between who's getting the service from one provider versus another. And we didn't want to see that. So when we met with the elementary principles, we talked about the possibility of restoring that
060extra position. Uh we said that that would improve things quite a bit. So uh it restores math as staffing to approximately 1.6 to 1.7 FTE in each building where it was 2.0. Um, all tier two and three identified students will continue to receive pull out and pushing services and we like that want that. Uh, tier one students will continue to benefit from the pushings due to small group instructional model. Uh, there would be a priority on maintaining at least one push in a week in classes that are currently served. Uh, if any groups may increase, it would only be by one or two students. um math as teachers would still not go into the prek um but they would continue to push into the K through five and um the 5.0 FT would allow for
061greater flexibility in scheduling prioritizing contact. So the same teacher would see the same kids for the push in and their collab because that was important to the teachers and to the principles. So this is just kind of illustrating how by adding back that one math as teacher it it creates and fills out a more robust program for us. Now I'm gonna hand it over to Miss M to go over the budget. Thank you Dr. Ne. Um okay so here we have the proposed budget for 2025 2026. Uh it remains unchanged. Uh I know we have made some reclassifications within the budget but the proposed budget for 2025 2026 remains at the 105,676,793 which is a decrease over the 2024 2025 year of uh 351,838 or 333%. Uh and the projected tax levy increase is at
0621,527272 or 2.317%. That is based upon the um tax cap calculation. Um I just want to highlight here that um if someone is comparing the adopted 202425 budget with the 2025 2026 budget um you see that the tax levy change is 2.20%. So um as I've explained in previous presentations uh you when you calculate the tax cap you have to start with the prior tax levy and if that has been revised through the town which we find out in November um that's the number you need to start with. So that is why uh it calculates to 2.317% um and it's not the 2.20 20 that uh you may see in another slide. So here is just again the history uh for the last several years of what the tax cap calculation was and what the
063actual tax levy percentage was. Uh there were two years where we have um gone below that. um the first of the chart in 2020 2021 and then again last year um we had gone below the maximum allowable tax levy percentage uh and as I always repeat uh the our residents vote on the district's tax levy not the tax rate uh that is guided by the assessed valuations of each person's property um through the town. Here is the revenue side of the budget um with the categories. Uh the state aid at the top for 2025 2026 is again still the um governor's executive budget. Uh they have not moved with regard to this legislative budget or adopted. So uh that is what we are presenting for the board to um include in this adopted uh budget.
064Uh next is our pilot. Again that's one property the Bristol which um I've discussed in previous presentations. There was uh a change to the assessed value um that was challenged by the Bristol and uh accepted by the tenant of Iceland. Um then we have the um other revenues which is detailed here. Um the biggest are interest income. We uh derive um good interest because we utilize um appropriate uh investments. Um one of them being nightclass which was added uh in 23 24 uh and that gets um that those rates are very good. Um down below we have all of our appropriated reserves. Each of them are used um in accordance with what that reserve allows. Um and our appropriated fund balance what we're committing towards the 202526 budget is the 2.9 million and our property
065taxes at the 67 million454. And again that is the 2.2 2 when you compare it with the adopted budget of 2024 2025. And uh on the right hand side, this is just an estimate uh based on uh the tax levy that we put forth and the um uh values that have been provided for the 2425 year. We don't know what they are yet for 2025 26. The tax uh levy is actually set at the end of August, September. Um so that information comes later on. This is a pie chart of the categories of our revenue budget. Uh again has remained unchanged with regard to um the different categories. Obviously property taxes is the largest percentage. Uh state aid coming in behind that. Um and then the other income This is our expenditure budget again in
066major categories. Um this uh has not changed. It's been reclassified. But uh pretty much the reclassifications have occurred within the salaries. So in total the salaries are the same. They're just broken out differently between um the threepart component budget. Um so uh we have the salaries the largest expenditure then employee benefits which is associated and that the salaries are for both certified and uncertified employees and uh this slide is a little hard to regard to the color I've chosen but my apologies. Um and then next we have our debt service, our contractual expenditures, OC's, which is another major category. We do derive state aid that is part of our executive budget. Um and the expenditured driven aids uh and then we have the transfers uh transportation uh that is our new contract with SUFFK transportation.
067Uh and the transfers to our capital fund which is for our high school and middle school bathroom renovation projects four in each building. Uh that will round up uh we completed the elementary buildings. So now we're moving to the secondary buildings. Um and then uh equipment at the end is uh just very little but uh and then the total here. Again these slides will be uh on the website. Um they also are shared as part of our four docs agenda but they will be on the website uh for you to uh produce. Again, this is a pie chart of the categories of our expenditures. Just another way to look at it. Um, again, the largest piece being our salaries and uh benefits. Here is the three-part component budget summary, and this encompasses the changes that
068have been made since the last budget presentation that Dr. Ferris shared with uh you earlier. So um it shows the three-part component budget which is required and comparatively with the 202425 year um and you can see this the um administrative is 3.99 program 06 and then the capital is a du of minus4.10 00 just to expand a little more on what comprises the administrative budget. We have our salaries here and this is where you're going to see the differences. If you compare this same slide with the last presentation, uh the salaries have uh been reduced 1.74% move to our program component budget. uh employee benefits come with that. I wanted to uh just interject when we talk about salaries that is not just administrators. It's administrators plus all of the people who support administrators. So
069clericals um who so there's instructional budget and that's teachers. There's non instructional custodians and then there's the administrators. So I just want to make it clear that that number represents not just the 12 SAS administrators or the central office administrators. It also includes all of the clericals and support staff that supports those people which is many people. Yes. In each of our buildings and central office. Yeah. Our um custodials that's part of our capital uh component budget and obviously our teachers and those support staff members are part of our program budget. So um as I had shared if you look at just the unallocated insurance which is all of our insuranceances and our Bose services that alone uh represents 75% of our administrative budget. Um and then we have our contractual all of our auditors
070uh internal external claims auditor and our attorneys both labor counsel and general counsel that supports the board of ed. Um and it's uh this is a breakout of the just the administrative portion of the three component budget. Um it uh we are just highlighting some of the new services that we added actually in um partially to the 2024 25 year we had um and I mentioned this at the last meeting as well. uh we moved from uh head of security to uh covert security management. This is a Bose service for um just our head of security and uh the cost of that is 122,000. We've estimated what the state aid they have because these are new services they um I have have not gotten that information yet. Um but we estimated about 50%. um it
071ranges anywhere from 40 to upwards of maybe 59%. Uh so we went with 50 just uh for um an explanation here. Uh and then what our previous in-person uh employee was paid and then the potential savings net of the state. I just want to Yeah. Yeah. I just had a quick question. So the the co security management that I I understand the numbers but I I know that they also offer us like a wide variety of like cart services. Is that is that Yeah. So let me explain. So um what we get with a company that's outsourced is far greater than any individual because they provide a team of people. So not only do we have a head of security who manages our security management team and they have different specialties. So, for example, we
072had a training on superintendent conference day and they had different people come in and train our aids and that was part of the deal. Um, also they did a security audit which, you know, if we paid for that as an outside thing would be maybe $20,000. That was part of the 122 you see on the screen and they gave us and we're going to be talking about this in June when we meet to talk about security again um a plethora of areas that we want to um like recommend for improvements and and have already begun to do those things. So with a management firm, you get a crew of people and a range of services. There are additional things you can pay for, but they come with trainings for staff, faculty meetings. Uh we do
073stop the bleed training, first aid, and CPR. They offered um they also offered um what was the title of that last one? Yeah, nonviolent crisis intervention, which we provide to staff. And also um you know, intruder, like what do you do when there's an intruder in the building? How do you deal with that? So that level of training all comes with that cost. So not only is it a um a head of security management, but it also provides a less funding, a greater amount of service. And the same is true of our Z communications. Uh if you've noticed, we've been in News12 and in the paper a lot more in the last month because they have connections uh with those organizations. So when our schools do great things at the high school, at the elementary
074schools or the middle school, uh it gets celebrated more. And um and again you can see that one individual can have one skill set but when you hire a firm they have multiple skill sets and the cost savings there is actually uh better. So you get less cost and you get greater service. Can I jump in here? I mean, one of the important reasons why there's so much value for those two specifically, our PR firm and security firm is those extra services and additional attention and hire specialized. A lot of those funds are eight. So, we're able to access state funds um because they actually are maintained. You know, they're part of the vendors listed. So, we're getting a much higher quality than we could ever afford. Yeah. And that's why if you look at
075the right hand column, that's a potential savings. Now, we put an asterisk there because we're waiting for the exact numbers, but it could be between, as Miss Mess said, what you say 40 to 60%. And so, we're looking for the final numbers there, but the potential savings is pretty much there. Yeah. So, um more for our money. Uh this is the three component budget uh in a pie chart and then it just explains a little more um about what is part of each component uh budget and uh our administrative services are part of administrative and a lot of those um our insuranceances. Those are the the big pieces. Uh and then everything that supports our students and their learning is part of the program which obviously is the largest piece of the pocket here. And
076then capital is everything to do with our debt service and our buildings and repair and maintenance and custodial staff. So what happens if the budget fails? uh key elements of the law that um the board of ed is able to either put up the same budget, a revised budget, or go straight to a contingent budget. Uh and that the a revote would take place on June 17, 2025. That's a third Tuesday. Uh that again is the same statewide kind of the date. Uh similarly to our May date uh for the um budget and elections. Uh if the budget fails twice, the board must adopt a contingent budget with a 0% increase on current year's tax bay. So what does this mean here? Um there's a second part to the contingency spending limits and that has
077to do with the administrative budget cap. So you need to take just the administrative budget component piece along with the program add them together and they can't be more than the prior year's percentage. So uh last year that was calculated at 11.53 when we calculated it for the 2526 year that calculated to 11.91. So the most our administrative budget cap can be is 11.53% of the total of those two pieces together. Um so that would mean that it's not just a tax levy that would have to be cut. It is uh a little bit more than that. So it would be 1,573,13 and uh that is where the budget would have to be reduced in each of those three areas uh to get to that. Um and it means uh removing any equipment um any
078renovations, construction projects, no community use of our facilities uh and just areas uh largely equipment and some non-contingent uh items. So after this evening within 24 hours we are to file the property tax report card. Uh this is on the next to it's this screen and two other slides. Um this is pretty much regarding our levy comparatively to 202425. Um and this is filed with New York State. The next piece of that, it's just too a very long form um has to do with our fund balance and reserves. Uh and the actual 202425 amounts for each of those lines is agrees with our audit financial statements as of July 1, 2024. So that is our beginning numbers for each of those uh our total reserves, our appropriated um fund balance. And then for 202526 that
079is what we're projecting at this moment. Um we start doing fund balance projections uh after 6 months of our uh fiscal year. It's just easier to some expenses are halfway point. Uh some are more front-loaded, some are evenly throughout the year. Um so that is done uh routinely from December, January, February and updated. Um and this was done uh just recently again and this we're projecting that we would be uh coming under the 4% amount at the [Music] 3.6. Um and here this is where we stand with each of the reserves. Um they want you to report what that is as of March 31st. uh and then what it is what you project at June 30th and then what are you using of your reserves to fund your 20 25 26 budget and that's the
080far right column. So uh we will be presenting this uh budget again um to different groups. I know a lot of PTAs have heard some of this information previously. um our civic association, we need to reach out to them in May and we will present to them. Uh and then May 13th is our next meeting which will be a budget hearing and then uh May 20th the annual board election. So thank you for that and our community um for your support. [Music] Okay. Um, just to uh just before we have any comments on the budget, I would just like to uh go through the one second correspondence. We had um some items regard uh several emails regarding the uh budget and any cuts in the budget. We also had an email regarding the superintendent and
081we had an email regarding special education program. That was okay. Uh under board discussion, we also have um just uh to go over the upcoming training opportunities on May 7th, this is the live virtual policy uh seminar at 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. It will be recorded. And then uh there's the claims order report. Does anybody have any comments on the claims order report? Okay, everything seems to be in order with that. Um, is there uh now any other comments regarding the public? Um, I just I just had a question or actually just a clarification. I was wondering if either Rhonda or Mark could touch upon um the the um the information about the miscalculation. the tax setting um for the preschool for the UPK. Oh, so that that was included both in the revenue
082and expenditure side erroneously uh for the 20 24 25 year and it's been removed. Yes. I just have a quick question about the uh the math AIS. So we restored it's it's five. How are those five being contributed? What do we not know that? Yes. So, um, principles are working on that, but we're looking at obviously every building will have one point I think five and then there's going to be one person who will spend a day in each elementary school or maybe mornings and afternoons, but we don't know the exact schedule yet, but the elementary principles have a plan and um there will be one AIS people, there will be one teacher who travels basically. I'd like to piggyback the math AIS because math is really important for life. So yeah, I'm glad we
083can restore a little piece of it and hopeful for more. Um I think the seventh grade foreign lang world language, sorry, um every day is a great idea to help our students move toward fluency rather than every other. And then there's something else that I think might be a little misleading. Um, regarding the reducing of central office administration, that position was vacated this past fall. So, didn't we reap the savings this year? Yes. So, we we paid for that position through the end of August. And when that position was vacated, we made a conscious decision not to replace that position. And during this year, we wouldn't be paying anybody because nobody was sitting in that position. So um there was savings there but it's still in our budget. So when we take it out of
084the budget for the following year it shows it on paper the savings. So the savings was this year also a proportion. Correct. Okay. I'm just saying I think it's a I don't want anyone to be misled that that's a new savings. Yeah. It's not we're not trying to mislead anybody. We become very clear. Okay. Good. Full amount. He's saving the full amount of that position this year, you know, and then we're adding we're adding another position. The full amount, but minus the click the the civil service position. And and just to be clear again, we did not replace the assistant superintendent for human resources and we added a civil service human resources officer um for much less money. And then we also in this budget reduced the clerical in the HR office. So we reduced
085two bodies and added one if that makes sense. So I I just want to start by um by thanking the cabinet for taking a hard freeze and I want to thank the SASA group for also taking a zero in the 20 for next year. Um it's no indication of the value we have for the work that you do here. Um, and it is greatly appreciated and it is wonderful to be able to take that money and put it towards program. Um, I think that is really important that the community understand that that was a give back on their part and um, we're very grateful for that. Um, I also want to say um, I'm glad you know the budget season has been messy this year and and last year and um, it's you know it's
086hard because you have to work through it. You have to start with worst case scenario and kind of get a best case scenario even if it was a campus. um as we went through these um the cuts and the potential cuts and then what to restore um you know it's hard because everyone wants everything and and you don't ever want to choose one thing over the other but I think that working through this we realize or at least I realized that once you lose a program you kind of lose it forever it's almost impossible to win it back so although we're losing parts of AIS and and and and a and certain positions If we had lost world language, it would have been a very long time to be able to put that back. And
087I think that's why the focus went to putting that story first. Um I highly um support that and the idea that we can um take what we had and revamped it into a K through not pay now it's one through seven program. Um because we were going to have this year even if we just left it as is. two was not going to have world language as it is and seven was given a hand. So I think this makes it a whole program and listening to the the teachers and community was definitely something that people valued and help was serious as Kathy said as well. Um I do um want to point out that you know there were heavy cuts made if you look sorry before we looked at program there were heavy cuts made
088in places like um skipping what I um supplies and textbooks and equipment. I mean, there was almost $750,000 cut right there before we even looked at programs. And those are the things that we can't do more because they're the things that our teachers use to support their teaching. And of course, we're asking again our our teachers to do more with less. and they'll rise to the occasion, but we do have to take consideration that the budget is not ongoing and it's not um infinite and that we do have to make some cuts to make this happen. Um I am worried though that we are making some we're taking a lot year after year and again this year from our fund balance that we're not actually restoring and although we'll still be at that four right
089under that 4% in the fund balance and we have reduced you know the amount of spending um what is the concern going forward because I do think that um although we could just say hey we have enough money and we can restore positions that we would love to have but but we have to look hard and fast that the decisions we make now are going to have strong effects in the future and um although sometimes we have to make difficult decisions we also have to make fiscally responsible decisions so what um what are our worries going forward I think there's always a worry and concern when you have a 2% tax cap and costs and expenditures cost of goods go up more than 2% inflation as you pointed out in the last meeting 9% and
09011% and you know our bus contract went up 20 plus percent. So it's very challenging. Um but that being said we expect our revenue picture to look better next year. We expect a more natural flow of retirements offset things and we but we do have to be careful if we get additional funding or we get we can't just say everything back because we want it. We have to be thoughtful about it. And I think one of the things I appreciate about your comment is, you know, when this first happened, the first thing we went to was capital, right? You know, because we value staff. We want to do everything possible to not reduce staffing. And we did that first and then try to reduce staffing in a way that doesn't affect programs. But um I
091do think it's really important to keep our expenses down to try to enhance what we have in our reserves and we are financially stable. I'll let Rhonda kind of add to that but I think it's really important to be conscious of not just jumping to put things back quickly but be thoughtful and and do it meticulously so that we are in a better financial position in future years. You know, there were things that happened in the district that had to be taken care of. There were parking lots that had to be paved that were cracked and weren't tripping hazards. There was a pool that had to be marble dusted for hundred plus, thousands. There was a pipe in the bathroom that cost $100,000. The lighting in this auditorium was failing and we had to replace
092it. Um, or else we wouldn't be able to use the auditorium for shows and for theater and for even meetings. The lights were flickering. So these things were just costs that have to be replaced that were not part of past budgets that were then you know used for funding um when we did the retirement incentive that was a good thing to help with last year's budget but it does affect our reserves taking money out of reserves. So we have to look forward to the next year two three four and really be thoughtful about keeping our expenses down and and replacing funding in those years. Yeah. And I think one of the things we can do better is instead of looking from year to year is to look from year one to year five. Yeah. And
093and start looking further down the road to make wiser decisions because when you when you operate from year to year, that's how you get yourself in trouble. You're constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul and you pull this band-aid off this injury and then another injury opens up and now you can't you don't have enough fingers to plug the holes in the ship. So I think one thing that we can do better is is start to look further down the road and make more financially uh sound decisions. And if you look at even if you look at budget presentations from 2019, there's comments in the budget presentation from 2019 that says we are going to have to use $5 million of reserves to help offset the lack of uh revenue and increase in cost to maintain
094our programs. And we've been doing that for many years, but we have to kind of get that number down and get our revenue numbers up. Yes. And I I would like also to suggest that although this is bumpy and it's It's hard. It's hard for the community to hear. We're going to cut things, but that we start these conversations earlier in the year. Um, and you know, we we we make the state aid numbers and and those are our doom and gloom or good or bad. But even a year like this one where state is actually not our nemesis, um although we don't have an exact final run, um it it isn't what they're fighting over in the state. in and some of these discussions we really could start earlier in the year when we
095look at you know class sizes these people can be prepared they're not going to like some of the decisions we have to make but they can be prepared that that they come you look at the size of the class it's um and then you put that with a as a cut all those things happen once and it's very emotional it's very hard for parents in our community to understand and for us even as a board to um to absorb because we got a lot thrown at us once and then you know we come out face community and hear them and and we want to make sound decisions and you have to hear them sometimes two or three times to really have it sink in and understand what the process is and what's going on. And
096it may also help recover some of the mistakes or some of the um things that you know are not in the right place so that we can um not up against the time bunch. Yeah, I appreciate it. I think you know I've talked to many of the PTA organizations and the feeling of having a rug pulled out that very quick manner was not a good feeling that way. So we got better in that in that I agree with Christine. And I just want to say um as a board we we are making tough decisions as you said and we need time to process and we need time to put in a lot of full consideration about these issues and we do want to hear from the community and we want sometimes the community changes their
097mind and sometimes they think it over and they come back to us with either more elaborate concerns or a different concern. So, I too would really like to ask, I know you're kind of saying the same thing, but I would really like to um start start the process earlier and have access to to these situations so that we have time more time to process. Um, I just want to say say historically, Long Island on a home has been short changed and I'm a little tired of this. Um, I have relatives upstate New York. Oh, and relatives upstate New York and dollar for dollar, student for student, they get more money than we do. And that is very disturbing to me. And I would suggest lobbying your legislators, the state government to say it's time for
098New York to get it fair. So I I just I just wanted to for for an example, um I it looks like on paper that like we're already in the hole. about 120 grand when when we go to next year based off the interim business official um SASA uh taking a zero central office taking increase which are gracious and there's no doubt about it but that they have to get that next year right so those so we already have to account for those numbers next year and the interim business official you know we have to account for that we can't we're going to have to hire a business official eventually so it's it's already like that's what I'm talking about like with the with the bandings like we take care of take care of him.
099And so I I think we just have to, you know, sometimes make these difficult decisions and and with with the kids in mind at all times and and then move from there. And but we really need to start looking like further than next year. And I know sometimes it's hard to get that vision um you know to to look beyond, but I think we we as we as a board and like have have to try to just do the best we can. Um, I I I just want to say that uh I feel Kathy has gone above and beyond what what a board I mean, listen, I've only been on one board that I've only been on for a year, but I I feel like she has gone above and beyond trying to, you know,
100work numbers and find solutions to problems. And I'm not saying that anyone has. I just have, you know, I I just know what what she continuously brings to the table. So, I just wanted to thank her for that because she just constantly seems like she's, you know, always thinking outside the box, always trying to find ways to to save money and to to restore programs. And so, I just wanted to thank her for that. [Applause] [Music] I just want to make one comment with regards to reserves. Uh so a lot of our reserves are for very specific reasons and uh most of them are for our benefits. So our TRS, our ERS, our workers comp, our unemployment and uh the purpose of those is to alleviate spikes in rates. So that's really it's not supposed
101to be supplementing all of the other things, but that's what the purpose of those reserves are. So especially with our TRS reserve, it's very important to make sure that that gets funded again so that we can use it very strategically in years moving forward. Any other comments? [Music] Okay. Uh I would just like to say thank you to all the stakeholders for the contribution but getting this budget together and uh it doesn't go unnoticed by the board of education and uh I also thank the community for the support as well. So um what I'll do now is I'll open it up for for public comment. Let me just read the statement regarding our public comment policy. The board of education appreciates feedback from the community and we recognize free speech as one of our fundamental
102freedoms. These freedoms are not without restrictions to follow regulations specified by law and board policy as we encourage the committee members to offer public comments. According to stable school board policy 12:30, we request the following. Participants in public session must demonstrate civility as they address the board and community. 30 minutes have been set aside for comments by the public. The the board reserves the right to limit or extend public participation if it deems necessary. Comments and questions from the public are limited to three minutes per person and should be related to school matters. Speakers are requested to identify themselves or the group they represent and direct their comments to the board. The board will not permit discussion involving individual students, district personnel or community members. The full policy is available on the district website and
103we appreciate your support to have a productive meeting. Thank you. So, if I could have a show of hands of Okay. Um I guess Yeah. So, let's start over here. Um [Music] Thank you. Good evening. Uh my name is James Rian. I'm a junior at Sable High School and a pretty active member of this town's music community. Uh today I'd like to speak about the proposed budget cut, specifically the staff production and music program that will leave Mr. Carapoli without a job. Since Mr. C began his career at Sable Schools, he has made a lasting impact on our music department. From his time in this district, many students have had the honor and privilege of working with him. When the news was first broken that his job was being cut, I think everybody in the
104music department was extremely concerned. We were told that the music program would not suffer from but shuts and yet here we are. It was a slap in the face for a lot of us to hear that someone so integral to this school's program and community now is out. Sable is a small district. Losing one teacher is equivalent to losing three or four in a larger one. And so any potential staffing cuts ought to be thoroughly thought out. And I don't believe this one was because there is absolutely no way that the music department can remain fully supported as you keep telling us without Mr. C's position, not without putting unreasonable burdens on the existing staff and hurting the quality of our school's music education. Facing this potential reality, many of us in the music department
105decided that we wanted to do anything we could to fight for Mr. C's position. Shortly after receiving the news of Mr. C's potential job loss, I created an online petition and shared it with disabled community in order to collect signatures and support for Mr. C. As of today, that petition has 755 signatures and counting made up of concerned students, parents, alumni, and community members who all recognize that cutting Mr. C's job would be a major mistake. A lot of those people are here with me today, and we are all urging you to change your minds. I would now like to read some quotes that students have left on the petition to help better highlight the impact that Mr. C has had. From Annabella, Mr. Caroli is genuinely one of the most kind and caring teachers
106I've ever had. It breaks my heart to see that such a fantastic teacher's job is at risk. From Christopher, I only met Mr. C last year within my orchestra class, and that one year with him teaching me in lessons made me improve and learn far more than any other time that we learned. He always showed so much care and passion into teaching us, and he always made the classroom a lot brighter. From Christopher, I only met Mr. C, sorry, from Robert. He is the best music teacher. He is fun and relatable. He is a core reason so many students choose to stay in music. This would be a major loss for the music program. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to read more, but I encourage each and every board member here to go and
107look through the petition and read the comments yourself. It is the least you could do. Everyone here tonight is here to show their support for Mr. C because we've all had wonderful experiences getting to know him and to see him leave us would be nothing short of a tragedy. Our school's music community will suffer greatly without him and I ser sincerely hope that you reconsider this decision. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much. Can we get the petition? Can we get the petition? And that was amazingly well spoken. Oh, it's in Oh, it's in that in the Good evening. My name is Grace Garcola. I'm a senior at Sable High School and I've participated in several of our school's music programs like wind ensemble and pit orchestra and even give some private lessons to underassmen.
108At the start of his career at Sable, Mr. Mr. Carropolley was our high school's very own beginning guitar teacher. Now he's in the general music teacher at Sable Middle School. However, Mr. Carropolley remains very active in the Sable School's music community outside his own classroom. Mr. S was also an integral part of the pit orchestra during Sable High School's musical something rotten this year. I can say on behalf of the pit, he was a part of our music family in Sable. He played a vital role and he wouldn't have been the same without him. Mr. Carpoli played violin in pit, taking time out of his schedule not to only show up and play in the pit, but also to learn the music to an expert degree. Mr. C showed incredible dedication and his immense passion
109for music really shine through. Just a few of Mr. Carpoli's qualities that make him such an amazing teacher and a person as a whole. Without Mr. C to fill in, not only were would there have been a musical part missing from the pit, but the excitement and talent brought through the ensemble, specifically by Mr. Mr. Carropoli would be missing as well. Both inside and outside his classroom, Mr. Carropoli finds a way to create lasting memories for students and inspire them a desire to explore music and performance simply by showcasing the passion he himself possesses. Mr. Carropoli taught invaluable lessons about nurturing a positive and open mindset towards music, ideals that have guided me and others throughout their career at Simple High School. He is not just teaching notes and rhythms. He cultivates passion and resilience
110in his students. His impact impact extends far beyond mere music school instruction. It's about building confidence and fostering a love for the arts that lasts a lifetime. Of course, pit orchestra is not the only out of school event that Mr. Julius has volunteered his time to help. Mr. C also attended several football games not just to watch a band, but to also show his support as a community member. Outside of music, Mr. Carpoli has volunteered to chef on our field trips like the eighth grade Frost Valley trip or seventh grade Boston trip and attends many events throughout the year to help out in any way he can. Mr. C is not required to do any of this, but the fact that he does anyway and does with such contagious excitement and immense passion really says
111a lot about his character. Mr. C clearly loves to be involved in the communities he is a part of. And to lose him would be a devastating blow not to just our music program, but to our entire team of school faculty members. Thank you for your time. [Music] [Applause] Good evening. My name is William Mitchell and I'm a sophomore at Seville High School. Participates in several music groups and the RISE independent research program. I'm in the process of developing a research study discussing some of the benefits of music education. In the preparation for my study, I've identified many benefits of music education. Simply stated, music education benefits the quality of education overall. According to a recent study by how in 2021 and a study by Tanga and others in 2021, students who participate in music
112programs have higher SAT scores, higher GPA, less substance abuse, less disciplinary problems, higher graduation rates, and higher attendance rates. These results have been replicated many times in other studies such as a study done by NA and others in 2024 which proved the emotional and psychological benefits of taking music classes. These are not opinions but facts that have been proven from experiments and will be used in my research paper. Despite the myriad of benefits that come with music education, programs are continuously overlooked and cut, which is extremely frustrating. The statistical benefits which demonstrate the impact of music education on students are ignored and people still view music as less important in academic class. The view that music education is less important is the exact myth study will disprove. By reducing the size of music faculty, enrollment
113will continue to suffer as fewer students within the personalized attention and care provided by having extra staff members. At the board meeting on March 27th and today, we were told the music program here at SEO would be fully supported with budget cuts other than lesson. Yet, the removal of Mr. C's position simply makes this impossible regardless of how it is handled. At the middle school, Mr. C teaches all the general music classes and multiple lesson groups. Without Mr. 's position, the elementary music program suffers because staff will need to be relocated away, putting additional strain on the teacher and getting rid of fourth grade bands rehearsals. Music education will suffer, especially in places where it's most important for early development. This is when students decide if they want to start and continue with music classes.
114Having the extra staff member at the middle school allows for more students to be interested in continuing with music. Although many of the staff members may have certification to teach all the areas of music, each faculty member has their own area of expertise and cannot be easily replaced. Many of the music faculty members have inspired me to want to be a music teacher upon graduation. The lack of emphasis seen on music education is concerning for my future and future of my peers. I urge you as a board to please reconsider Cunningham music faculty members. In a world that discourages creativity and originality, music classrooms help students continue to express themselves and learn in a positive and fulfilling way. Thank you for your time and consideration. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Christian B and I'm
115a senior at Sable High School and have participated in several music programs like our wind ensemble, jazz ensemble, and uh and many others. As some of you may remember from my AP research presentation last year, I conducted my research project on student involvement in school music programs over the course of their school careers. As an agent music student myself, I noticed a decline in sight school's music program over the course of my own music career, and I became curious as to why. So, I sent out surveys to current and former music students in grades 8 through 12 to try my best to figure out when most students dropped out of music programs and why. My research was conduct conducted strictly on school districts in Suffach County, but heavily focused on Sville's music program. And I
116determined that most students seem to drop out of music upon entry to high school, oftent times because they had a negative experience with a peer or teacher or because they lost interest in the in the subject over time. When I interviewed current high school music students and asked what made them stay in music, the answers I received mirrored each other very well, all centering around one theme, the sense of community and family they found within our music program. Above all else, the most important part of our music program and the students taking part in it was feeling included, feeling welcome, feeling like they belong. One key aspect of achieving this sense of community, as claimed by a majority of my interviewees, was the importance of students developing good relationships with their music teachers. I've only
117known Mr. Carrick for three years, but I can't think of any teacher better at making students feel welcome and included than Mr. C. Whether it's playing Mario Kart with the high school paid orchestra or inspiring students to explore their creativity through music or even on the morning announcements, Mr. Carropoli has had a positive impact on countless DA students over the past couple years. Even though I never even had the pleasure of having Mr. C as a teacher, I feel like I've been able to easily form a strong bond with Mr. Carropolis simply by interacting with and taking and talking to him at the high school or other events. If he were to lose his job at Sable, I can't even begin to count how many future music students would miss the opportunity to meet Mr.
118S, who is both an excellent music teacher and friend to every student who's ever had the honor working with him. As a formal closing statement, if the board will accept them, I'd like to present them with with this envelope filled with letters written by students sharing their favorite moments and Mr. Car on behalf of all the students in Sable's music department. When I first asked if anybody would be willing to write a letter in support of Mr. C, the idea was overwhelmed by some and many Sale music students began spreading the idea as far as they could, trying to get as many well-written letters from Mr. C as possible. So, I'd now like to hand it over to the board as our final bit of proof as to how Mr. Parapoli exists such an amazing
119impact on Sale's music department. Again, thank you all so much for your time and for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Mr. Carapoli and I hope we've helped to sway your decision on the matter. And of course, I'd like to give a special thank you on behalf of myself and the entire sales news department to Mr. Cari for all of his amazing work and service this past year. [Applause] Everyone else, I'd like to just say to the students, thank you for coming and thank you for speaking. You speak beautifully and your passion for music is obvious. Thank you. We know I know we know music and art are very important parts of a well-rounded education. Thank you for coming [Music] [Applause] out. I just want to add to the students. Um you guys are
120brilliant. You're using your what you're learning from your teachers in class and argumentation and research. It's it's really brilliant to watch you speak, but even more brilliant is the performances that I've gotten to see. Your your performances, whether in music or arts or theater, have been unbelievable. I hear you. I'm listening to everything you're saying and I agree in the value of that teacher that you mentioned. He's absolutely everything you said and I understand and recognize that and I want you to know that I hear you. Um I just wanted to you break my heart. Um, the music program was the center of my daughter's life. Sorry, I know what your community gives to you and I'm proud of the people that you become. She already contacted me to harass me. Uh, and she meant
121it. Um, but you know, I just appreciate being here what you have to say to people that you become uh and the community that you formed. Uh, you're one of the best parts of our culture. Thanks. [Music] Thank you so much. Thank you very much. You're a very pressing group. It is. I am very impressed and I'm very happy to see the students of Sable fighting for what they want and fighting for what they believe never [Music] [Applause] stop. You are incredibly impressive. You, the parents who have reached out to us, um I want to say I found out um about your petition to keep Mr. Care Holy because my two daughters signed it and sent it to me. So um they also feel that connection and Mr. Caroli I hope this is not your
122opus but um I'm pleased that you understand that you're beloved in this town and I just this is going to be a very small consolation prize but um this may not be the end. Uh Mr. portfolio is being what's called excess which means the position will be abolished but you'll be put on a recall list for seven years which means the second there's a lean replacement or there is an opening u by law not by promise of this board by law we have to offer him his position back so we hope that something happened that there will be no um no chance that he can come back but if he does he will always be welcomed and as soon as there is a chance back we will offer that Um, so we're hoping that this
123is not Can I jump on and speak? In addition to what the kids are saying though, um, this district is a wonderful district. So, I'm a parent of a music and an athlete. Um, this district is a wonderful district, but it has always been criticized for focusing only on its athletics. Here we are giving you an opportunity to prove that the athletics are not the only thing that matter in this district. So, I'm really hoping you'll step it up and you'll speak up and you'll do the right thing for these kids. Thank you. Hi, my name is Chris Robertson and um I am running for the board of ed this coming year and I just got the question, are you sure you want to do this? And I said, "Absolutely not, but I feel I
124have to do this because um my daughter is in fourth grade. Um and I'm a music teacher and she plays the trumpet." And I don't like the way things are run here. So I felt compelled to go. And that's not a criticism of any teacher because I think her music teachers are just absolutely fabulous. But the setup that we have here, I think, is very um it's not conducive to I think the best approach that this community deserves. One of the things I love about in the high school is if you look in the high school auditorium, they have the whole ring of like all the all state students that they've had over time and before I even taught I had to do a practicum and I observed, you know, I was looking, you know,
125Bernstein and Andy, Jim Alvo and Pete Salo and Jeff Hoffman and all them and and it was a great music program and I I still think it is, but I think we could get back to that pinnacle that where we were and I'm really um you know, I'm looking at this this sample here and you know, I just know for being a music teacher that, you know, we have nine trombone and trumpet players in there. That's two different quests. They don't even play in the same key and that's like teaching French and German in the same exact class. And I know what you're thinking like, all right, it's only nine. But those are nine beginner students. And so when I have a, you know, I flash back to my kid playing baseball when he was
126four years old. Almost every kid was hitting each other with a bat. You needed like a parent on each kid because they didn't know what was going on. And that's kind of what happens in the elementary school classroom. Kid doesn't know how to put on read. They don't know how to put on a ligature. They don't know how to do anything that first year. And so although seven might seem like a small number, that's quite a large number. And I don't think that's educationally sound. And by cutting another staff member, I think that's just exacerbated the problem. So I mean, I know you guys have your budget due. It sounds like Mr. C is amazing, but I would love to see changes and especially next year. You're saying we have a rosary picture. I would
127love to see changes to get these numbers lower and to get Mr. C back. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I just want to comment and say that I agree with you and I think I mentioned in my presentation those eight or nine areas in those lesson groups we want to address. So we're going to work with the music department. There shouldn't be trombones and trumpets together. I agree with you and we're going to make sure that we're not doing I I do want to, you know, thank you for your kind of expert perspective. um very much value that. I do want to say though I don't think there there was a better time to sit and music than now um because that's been my experience. I don't think this is one of those get back
128to being great. I think we are great. I think the challenge is to maintain the excellence that we have um and support it and this is a tough situation the whole district but I you know I do feel that I have not seen a drop off in the music program and I've followed it for a long time but I do think your perspective and expert uh criticis valuable appreciate it. So thank you. My name is Paul Conley. I'm also a band director. I'm a high school band director. Um I appreciate everything that was said tonight. Um the things I appreciate the most were uh how the fundamentals in the beginning stages are the most important. Um so I love Mr. Harold. I'm not here to fight for him. I'm here to talk about how a
129fourth grade band program can be that program without a band schedule on your sample here. Um I don't see fourth grade man here at all. So in addition to trying to spread out the instruments, um we'd also need to add a fourth grade rehearsal. Um, I'd also like to say you have an enhancement to language. Again, being a high school teacher, I see the importance of the language throughout history. If you have an enhancement of any kind, how can you have a cut of any kind? I do not see how you can say add more to suffer the arts and music that you really are saying that you really enjoy. Um, you've seen the benefits. I see students here that I saw in Hall State that be that started because they had a foundation, a
130solid foundation that they were able to really continue through middle school and in high school. Um, if you take the elementary person and put them into the middle school, you now have minimized beginning stages. Again, the most important stages. I don't know what else to tell you. And I know that the budget is due tomorrow, but the numbers do have to be switched. You can't add and enhance another program at the sacrifice of one. [Applause] [Music] And as I said, if we look at those sections and we want to reduce them um and look at that fourth grade rehearsal, we've been talking about that actually spoke with the music chairperson during the day. Even enhancing those, it would still be a 0.2 or point4 FTE. It wouldn't be a full-time equivalent to do something like
131that. But I appreciate and agree with your comments about what would make a you know an early band introductory like solid program. So also if we adopt the budget tonight, we're adopting the overall number, it doesn't mean that we can't within that make staffing decisions uh over the next couple of weeks or months before the school year starts. So I want to emphasize that if the board adopts tonight, it's it's adopting the number 105 million and whatever the actual number is, we still can have conversation about uh staff. Hello everybody. Um, just a couple of comments. I agree with Desmond and Christine. The budget process feels very rushed every year. It feels very surprising and unnecessarily stressful. I feel like the planning needs to be happening way earlier. Once this budget is passed, you should
132probably be planning for next year's budget. If you do it in pieces, there may be compromises that come out sooner rather than later. There may be savings that can be found sooner rather than later. You know, I feel like we know that we're stuck at the tax cap and we're dipping into reserves, but we don't change our model. We don't plan ahead. You know, the research for the bus contract should have happened before it did because this way if you only got one RSP back out of seven, you can then call up all of the people who didn't answer and say, "Well, why not?" And then you can call other districts and ask who they're using and maybe try calling those people. You know, what are the long-term changes that you guys need to think
133about making to keep all the AIS math teachers, to keep the music program, to keep the language program? What, you know, that planning starts today so that five years from now we're not in the same situation. You know, it feels like maybe I I don't know, maybe somebody with financial experience should be sitting on the board helping through this. You guys are not in an enviable position. I get it. Inflation's going up. Cap is at 2%. But you just wonder like how to fix all of the spending because I do seem to keep dipping into the reserves and those reserves eventually they run dry. Um I did come last month. I did talk a little bit about how our central administration is really one page for the size of the school. Um, I believe that
134you guys said my numbers were not correct. So, I have a little bit of paperwork I'm going to pass out to the board. Um, so this is paid data that I pulled from the data. of new and nyed.gov and then I called and I confirmed with the uh the budget office of New York State. And so if you look at the people we're paying on salary that make $175,000 or more, I'm sorry, it's $174,000 and more. Uh we have enrollment of $2,52 students. We have 16 people at that level. Patchog has [Music] 7,369. Oh, and that's so I'm sorry. That's 16 people with a total payroll just for those 16 of 3,864 and520. Hog Medford is three times our size, $57,369 students. They have 17 people, so just one more than us that make over
135174,000. and they actually spend less than us at $3,681. Connect Quat has double our enrollment at 5,300 and they have 18 people making $175,000 or less at 3,819,000. So, I am not picking on anyone on this list. I'm not saying they don't do an incredible job. I'm just saying that it looks like we spend like we're a bigger school than we are. We're talking about cutting an AIS teacher, but we're paying like a district. We're paying more than a district that has 7,000 students. And just from a purely black and white like agnostic financial perspective, it doesn't make sense that you're cutting music and AIS math and we're pulling a payroll like this at our size. So maybe we don't need and I like I said, I I don't want to pick on any of
136these positions. I don't know them personally. I don't even know what some of them all do exactly, but you look at these numbers from a business perspective, you go, gee, that doesn't it doesn't really make sense. And that is just my closing thought that going forward, maybe we can streamline some of these jobs. Maybe we can hire the new business superintendent at a lower salary than what this home is being paid. And I get it. There's pay scales and all of that, but we are not at an enrollment level where we can afford to pay these these numbers overall. And if we're saying that enrollment is going down, just some just some general food for thought. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. [Applause] Yeah. I just wanted to make a brief point.
137Thank you for putting your time into this in your perspective. I appreciate it. I I was a principal of that. So one thing just in terms of the numbers, the directors aren't listed on the sheet. There's a lot more directors. I think the metrics you're drawing will make sense to me. I understand that big district lot of positions. Okay. Uh but I appreciate your time to this. Good evening, Ryan Moya. Um I do want to start by thanking you. I know tough decisions had to be made and no matter what if anyone's getting paid to take the debate that's never gone or agrees with everyone. Um, I think debates help, right? We get the better outcome. We talk about transparency and we can see different perspectives. So, I I do respect that we can have,
138you know, healthy debate sessions as well. Um, I'm going to respectfully disagree with our elementary class sizes. I do think we're on the higher end of what we expected for a Long Island school district. Uh and when we talk about our neighbors around connect, they they tend to be in the 14 to 18 range and that's right from the New York State Department website. You can pull that down yourself. Um New York City just signed a bipartisan law last year that will limit K through 3 to 120 students. That's the city, but that's the direction. Uh and every study out there concludes that the you know proposed definition we have right now for elementary school fully supported um is inaccurate for our most vulnerable and younger students. I don't know if any of you up
139here have six, seven, eight year olds. I can tell you think three of them in a room is a problem but 25 I fear for that teacher safety and I mental health. Um and I do want to I do have a few questions but I I wanted to ask about the capital reserve fund. Um my understanding is for the past few years we after we voted as the district put about a million dollars in there as part of the budget and then we use it for capital plans throughout the year. Is that correct? too. Um the first time we put money into it was at the beginning of the uh at the end of the 223. It was a million dollars. We have not been able to put any more in that. Uh it's grown
140by mere interest. Um typically the way capital reserve is used, you would um save money and plan something larger uh to avoid going out for more borrowing. So so far nothing has been spent from that reserve. um it's fairly new. There's a limit as to how many years you can fund that. Um but uh it is to use it for uh a larger planned project and the objective is to save a little bit and and add to that reserve. So when we say the we put a million into the capital fund, it's not the capital reserve fund. It's something completely separate. Correct. It's an interfund transfer and we've done that over the last several years. a million dollars. Um we've addressed uh elementary bathrooms with that in the last few years and now we're turning
141to the secondary. So it's actually part of the general fund budget, but it's an inter fund transfer and it's a project that is maintained and um dispersed from our capital fund. Okay. So capital fund and capital reertif. Um, and the other thing I just can't wrap my head around, and we touched about it last time, is the general insurance. 26.6% this year seems really high. 53.5% over two years seems ridiculously high. Um, looking at our neighbor districts, no one exceeded 15% this year. Um, so I'd like to, you know, point out that if we rose our insurance at the same cost of living adjustments as our neighboring districts, we would have a savings of about 125 120,000 this year alone. Um, so it seems like savings that could well spent on, you know, one or
142two FTE particular, our great teachers that we hear these students talking about, our permanent subs that are, you know, taking positions in the in the school. So I would like to understand a little bit more in the future or however you want to do it of why are we an outlier there? What's driving our insurance so much higher than all of our districts surrounding us? And with the contingency budget, we spent a lot of time talking about it. Is the reason that admin and capital take such a large hit because we're at bare bones of what we would have for children programs? I know there's limitations on what what it can be, but I'm a little bit surprised to see that's where the emphasis would fall. So, there are state minimums to what a contingent
143child program would be. Are we too close to that minimum that we have to get everywhere else? Um, I can't speak to the program, but what I can speak to is um, with a contingency budget, that million dollars that we just spoke about would not be able to happen. So, for the capital budget uh, component piece, the million dollars for the bathrooms would come out $44,300 is equipment for facilities. Um, and uh, it's for the program budget. I know that is predominantly equipment within um, our buildings. you can't buy equipment. Um, and then for the administrative budget, um, it's equipment and then other non-contingent expenses that we would have to reduce. So, if you look at this slide here, there's rules about when you if a budget fails, what you have to do. And if
144you look, I can't read this, but it talks about how you come up with the administrative number. And so, it's either the year before or this year's percentage, whichever one is the lesser lesser. And so, that's where that administrative number comes. It's not related to whether you have good strong academic programs or not or whether you have robust um class sizes or things like that. Understand? Um so I think the general question I have is with the amount of taxes that we pay in bill we're you know a leading program across the island. No one no one doubts that just because of these teachers first and foremost. Um it's starting to feel like we're an outlier when we look at you know across the board and our peers. I just like us to take a
145step back and figure out why. Okay. And that doesn't have to answer. It's not a fair question, but I I would like us to take a step back and figure out why says become an outlier. I I do want to say that there are many surrounding districts, including our neighboring districts, who are having similar struggles as a result of tax cap and the rate of inflation. Just the other day, another district right next to us was having a similar discussion about class sizes and the challenges they're facing. So it's I don't think it's unique to Sable. I think we want it to be here, but it's not completely unique. And Moren, I I agree with your point. Maybe there is more as parents we could be doing to to call our state reps, call the
146state, and figure out why why we're getting shafted if our state aid is becoming a problem. Um, and I just want to turn to you guys, great job. It's hard not getting up here as an adult with a parent who doesn't love public speaking. Don't lose that fire. You guys are our future. Keep standing up and fight according [Applause] to Can I ask a question back right those questions about the insurance? Yeah. So I I know that that's been have brought multiple community members have come up and said similar things like why can't we shop right or less correct me if I'm wrong was it was does the insurance company is that the insurance company that basically says that if you leave us you can never come back type is that is that that is
147true. I was told that by a board member of nicer. Um I did not know that myself. Um but uh we have obviously claims and losses um and you pay rates based on claims and losses. Also we've added a lot of fixed assets over the years um that has to be insured. So um you know we we have a number of different policies. It's it's not like shopping for your home. Um it's a little more um involved than that. But I just wanted to make sure that that was the the conversation it Yes. Hi there. My name is Sally Carowski. Um I wear a lot of different hats. My ven diagram is pretty messy, but I've never been prouder to be a music mom. Mrs. Bosel, you have inspired citizens of the future. This is
148an extraordinary showing of support. You should be so incredibly proud of yourselves. were unbelievably inspiring to all of us. Please, please keep singing this song. This is the best music you can make to use your voice for good to stand up for what you believe in and make it heard in an educated, knowledgeable way. So, welcome. Thank [Applause] you. Um, I'm actually here tonight as PTA council president. So, PTA council is a lot of things. Um we don't actually have any decisions or members as part of our PTA. We are the council of all the other PTAs. Um and what our job is to really support the PTAs in facilitating communication communication between the community board um the superintendent's office as well as the the uh different PTAs within themselves. And one of the things
149we've really been struggling with is clear consistent communication. So that's in the spirit in which I approach it today. Um, a recurring discussion in the past two years has been about the frustration that the PTAs are feeling in not being able to communicate effectively with our membership communities about budget concerns and as it's constantly moving target with everchanging information. And I know we're not alone in that frustration. It's been addressed many times here tonight. Given that the factors that influenced our budget crisis last year and the unexpected revenue changes this year, having to pivot and respond to unplanned budgetary cuts, create contingency plans, and make difficult financial decisions has unfortunately become the norm rather than the inception. We have no reason to believe that the next few years will be any more certain or predictable.
150And it is irresponsible to not make those necessary adjustments to ensure that we prepare for the unexpected in an informed, controlled, and thoughtful manner. Right now, we are dealing with a challenge of optics and trust. With an effort to be transparent comes frequent communication, changes and updates which contribute to a feeling of general chaos and unrest which then creates a feeling that any communication or publication may change and so then cannot be trusted. At these board meetings and at our individual board meetings, we continue to hear from passionate, frustrated community members who feel as though their voices and opinions are not being heard, do not matter, are being mis prioritized, and who continue to ask, "How did we get here? Why is this happening? And who made these decisions?" With that in mind, I'd like
151to recommend or request or suggest that Seville Schools Board of Education create a budget advisory committee comprised of representatives from each of the stakeholder groups in the district, parents, teachers, administration, business owners, and taxpaying community members who do not have children. This group would work with the leadership of a board of education member and closely with the finance cabinet member all year long. And that's been mentioned a couple of different times. They would work with them all year long to analyze and plan financial matters so that decisions made about cuts, reappropriations, reductions, additions, expenditures, and investments have input and buy in from the impacted community at all times, not just in times of crisis or in response to budget proposal number X in as many weeks. This group would work to develop tiered contingency plans
152for cuts in the event that funding is reduced or other unexpected issues arise such as the Bristol pilot cuts, COVID enrollment changes, what have you. This would allow us to more easily pivot to adapt to the changing financial landscape, hopefully mitigating the confusion and anxiety clearly felt by our community. They would also be able to help plan, forecast, and prioritize our ability as a district to embrace investments in program growth and development with an eye to how sustainable and financially viable those programs will continue to be in the long term. By having a budget advisory committee, we would also create opportunities beyond justice board positions and PTA positions for subject matter expert community members, which couldn't have been better planned for the communications we had here tonight. Um, that would allow them to really contribute
153to district processes in a new and really valuable way, in a way we don't have today. This is actually a standard practice in many districts. Um, I was kind of surprised to realize we don't have this already. And just a quick Google search, I found Port Bluepoint um has a budget advisory committee. Babylon has a BOE finance committee. Massipa has a BOE budget and finance committee. And if you go to Masipa's website for their school district, they have really good information about exactly what the charter for this group is. And take me just a moment. I can read you through the the bullet points they've listed. The statement of purpose says, "The budget finance committee shall review year-end treasures report and prior year budget appropriation adjustments between budget functions. Review monthly treasures reports and district
154reverse reserves plan to gain an understanding of district finances. Review fund balance projection reports beginning in March. They're reporting starting already projected forward. review the proposed budget prior to public distribution and offer input to support and vote on the budget consensus. Perform special projects every as requested by the board of ed. This really gives us a lot of creativity to really make this um personalized to what we need year to year to review a five-year capital improvement plan by the district architects. Assist in recommending project financing um if they exist. Review revenue shortfalls certainly would have been helpful this year. Assist in the development offormational budget materials to be presented to the community to ensure consistent, thorough, and transparent messaging. Be a liaison to the community. Review all educational and financial matters with district officials.
155Attend budget workshops. And the key piece is that this committee meets September through May. So, it's truly a yearround process that allows for that kind of input that we're really lacking. You can hear that in the frustration. We've had so many um so much repetitions in tonight about feeling last minute, feeling rushed, feeling like all of this is kind of being put upon us week after week. We're seeing different numbers that really lends itself to an overall feeling of unrest and our community is stronger than that. And so we need our financial foundation to match that community strength. So obviously this is something that requires some planning. Um, I'd certainly like to offer the council's resources in any way we can possibly help to corral some of those subject matter experts, but I would love
156to see that the board of education endorse this plan and make work on it so we can have it going forward years to come. Thank you so much. [Music] So, I just want to say personally, thank you very much for the the the approach and how I came up with that and um I will volunteer right now just to support you in how to do that. I thank you. I'd like to know that with what Tom said, the way you're up here, well thought out, well spoken. I don't know what it would entail to get that together, but I think that's an awesome idea. I also support that. Um I do think we need some people to um like Mr. Moy was saying was saying we do need some people that have this background and
157that can help out and help to um give us input from the different stakeholders in the community. So thank you so much Sad. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hello everybody. I'm gonna take this because I'm short. Um, my name is Erin Roalada, a music mom and to echo Sally, to echo everybody. You're amazing. You did wonderful. But I want to start by complimenting all of you and I want to compliment our administrators and our teachers to to embrace the Sable Strides initiative. I did not go to Aruba during spring break. I was at the Sable High School several days in a row and picking up my children and there were Sable Strides posters everywhere. The Sable Strides initiative was a few letters and they stand for different words. And to those of you in the room who
158don't know them, the S is self-esteem, the T is trust, the R is resiliency, the I is independence, the D is diversity, the E is empathy, and the S is strength. And I want to compliment every educator in this room because this district could have an assembly a year or they could have a standalone lesson on these strides concepts. But that's not what Sable did. Sable embraced strides. It's everywhere. It is woven into our curriculum. And I love that tomorrow night is a family connect night. and I can go up to the football field with my entire family and I can watch the girls play flag football and I can watch these band kids perform at the game. And I just love that the families can go and not think about homework that night and
159they can literally just go and focus on enjoying their community and realizing why they love to live here. So, I thought about those stripes letters and I started with the S, which is self-esteem. Every adult in this room, every child in this room can name activities in their life that developed their self-esteem. One of mine is meeting my best friend, who is still my best friend, in a room literally above us where we are right now. She's still my friend. She's raising her children in this community as well. But what else could build our self-esteem? It could be maybe your art was rec recognized by Mrs. Erso tonight. Maybe it's a grade that you worked hard for in school. Maybe it's a sport that you played your whole life, but now you get to walk
160out on the field and represent your town. And for many of our students that are here tonight, self-esteem was built in the music classrooms, in the art classrooms. And I want to talk about some of those rooms. They don't happen in one room. They happen all over this community. These students that are right here, they are everywhere. They might join the musical. Those same students join the jazz ensemble. Those same students play in the band. Some of them join the funk orchestra that performed at jazz night last night. And they literally are a family. You can see with their matching outfits that they're family. So I'm asking all of you, what are we doing to their self-esteem if we are taking someone they trust away from them? There are people that they trust in both
161music and art being removed this year. These kids are getting slammed with two cuts in the areas that they're passionate about. So there's that tea lever trust and that concerns me. So these music and art programs teach our children to work independently. They help they then contribute to a larger ensemble whether it be the band, the funk orchestra, the musical. It's kind of like how an athlete trains in the off season so that they can give back to their team. But there's a difference with these kids. They don't have an off season. They are music kids from September all the way to June. These students and their talents are highlighted all over the place. Like tonight's board meeting, the national anthem literally had me teared up and then I've teared up several times over again
162since. Then it was jazz night last night. last night. It was so much fun to see the same kids get up on stage and they were in the jazz ensemble and then they moved a music stand or two and then they came back up and then those same kids were in the jazz choir and then those same kids were in the funk band and they were literally everywhere. So I know one of our other strides letters is E. Empathy. These kids showed you how much they love each other, how much they show up for each other, and they show up everywhere. At the na national anthem tonight, at the musical, in Mr. Shaw's Little Theater at the Strides Carnival. And if you've seen them tonight or tomorrow or at any of these events, you've seen
163their strength and the bond that they form when they invest in music and arts. So, I want to close and ask you to think twice about removing anything from our music and arts programs because music and arts is disabled strides. [Applause] Hi guys. Um, I just had a really quick question. I might read. I wasn't planning on speaking, but when I was looking at it, um, I have a son who's ninth grade who is a special ed student. He's in inclusion. Um, and today I had his annual review. We were going over his recommendations for next year. And come to find out he we're going to go the uh principles of geometry route. That's usually for the children who struggle a little bit more and need a little bit time before they move on to
164um reuse geometry. But I was told after the fact that there is only one teacher in that class that that's not an inclusion class. Those students are the ones who need the support the most. Um, and my child is not ready to go from regent algebra to regent geometry. So, he needs that little bit of extra time before we make the decision whether we're going to put him in a regent geometry class. So now you have, let's say, 20, 22 kids in a principal geometry class who need support and there's one teacher. How is that fair to that teacher to spread their time between the class? Will there be a need in there? Will there be someone else to help with instruction to support those students that need the help most? And you guys are
165all amazing. I sorry for that. I was sitting over there in tears while each and every one of you spoke. So, thank you. If you It's all right. I could I'd like to look into what you're asking about and then get back to you need to know more detail. It's not a budget related thing, but it might be just understand. And again, this happened this morning. So, I don't know if that is 100% but from several different people I hear that. And it's kind of scary to have 20, 22, 23 children who struggle with one teacher in a class that need support. I mean, I know I have high schools teachers here that aren't in inclusion and have a class with general ed and those inclusion children and they still need that support. So, I
166appreciate you being Thank you. [Applause] Now, some of you know I had surgery not at all. Can you hear me? Okay. So, if you can just have patience. I took actually no painkiller before I came. Um, I just want to go over I have a few things to go over and I brought the board to help remind myself. um initially well you guys thank you my daughter's music and classical piano is it was great listening to all of you um there's an article in the south county news and I have it here I'm not going to read it but it claims that information posted online I assume by me is not true I have some ways you can save money with that false information that false in paper. I foiled the district and the lawsuit
167with Mr. Brandstone is not being paid by the insurance reciprocal. Okay? He's not claiming a loss, a damages. He is it's a breach of contract basically. So I have the letter here that I put. We are paying for that. The money that can go to our teachers are paying for that. I don't know what the cost is up to right now, but there's going to come a point because I see what's going on with that case. It might be best to settle that case and give Peter what he needs instead of continue to pay attorney fees to Gersio and Gersio. Here's the letter. I'm sorry. We can't really discuss discuss the fee. We don't need to discuss the discuss but perhaps you can all look at it with the attorney and see what it's costing
168you because I I believe I don't know whatever his claim was 6,000 you know depending on the attorney fees going forward what's that going to cost you we are paying for it it's taking away from the program budget additionally you know somebody got upset with the community for getting out of the board at the last meeting you can't really you guys make all the spending decisions and people are upset because the spending decisions didn't go the way they hoped. So, they are going to get upset with the board and all of you. So, please take that into account when you respond to them. The bus [Music] study. I heard last time somebody said that their school district had to begin earlier or later, whatever it was to accommodate a less expensive cost. We've had 18
169large buses. We have 15 years now. It's ridiculous. 126,000 a bus. Declines in enrollment. Kids graduate. Kids move. We could do a bus study still and the kids can stay on the bus 10 minutes longer. You can condense them, get rid of maybe two or three buses so they're on the bus a little longer. We don't have to change the start time because it's a small district. Please consider that. I don't know if you signed that contract yet, but there's no reason to spend that much money. I looked at East High School. Okay, they have a longer distance like one mile or whatever it is. So, it's really hard to compare it within the particulars, but they have more kids and they're much larger geographic, so you can probably save money there. As for these
170slides, these are your documents that were posted online. This is our fund [Music] balance committed. Since you began, it's been depleted by over $8 million. That's fright. I don't know how we will fund that. If you were asked to fund that this year, we'd have a 13% increase. Just not okay, this isn't fake. We shouldn't be using fund balances for recurring expenses. I came to a meeting not long ago and asked you all to take a million out and save the foreign language program. That was a bit sneaky of me. It was a test. Nobody told you we should do that. Nobody. and we shouldn't do that because it's a one-time moneyshot deal and then we won't have it next year to fund foreign language. So, we need to find other sources of revenue. We
171have to stop putting the lease down because it's putting our district in jeopardy. Additionally, on the back of this are your other budget presentations from I don't know last two years or so. They're right here. Glad to show them to you. Ron can check them. These are only showing the budget presentations. The budget book was ready at this time. I compared the three different components of your budget with the actual budget books and they were wrong. The instructional program was $900,000 less. You told everybody one year $122,000 more another year for the administrative budget. Also, one of your slides are misleading because you're not showing the one with your salaries for the administrators. If you show the year prior on there, it's over 500,000 additional in salaries. So, it doesn't really show we're paying for
172that because that apparently all came out of these reserves. I had to I don't know what came out to where it all went. I can sit there and look over every document, but that's not my job right now. Okay. So that needs to stop. It didn't happen before you were here. We didn't go down our res I I look all the way back into our budget fail in 2014. We did not deplete our reserves like this. This to see our reserve balance at this point is scary. And the last audit was a June 30th of 2024. I'm sure you saw it. You I think your firm last audited us in 2018. So you would know that that's incredibly low for us. Okay, that so that's no good. That spending was no good and that was
173everybody's fault except I will take Desmond and Kathy Vandor out of that because they weren't here those years. But that needs to be watched. You can't spend over the amounts like that and then we're stuck here. That's what led us here. Here is your spending compared to your revenue. Okay, you need to keep on track with your revenue. I know it says, but your program budget comparison to your administrative budget. The growth since you've been here, the administrative budget has increased 52% over the program budget. If you look at these, these are right from your right from your budgets each year. the two components you can watch our program budget decrease and this go up your administrator 52%. Prior to you the administrative budget actually decreased over a 4-year period by 2.49% over the program.
174So that's what's happening with our programs 52%. If you'd like this, I can email you a copy of the slide. Yeah, we have to look into it. I can't see from here. Yeah, I mean so and that that's a lot for our administrative budget. I know what it includes. Also, our insurance you can leave the reciprocal to go back can leave that reciprocal. But I prepared it, right? You want to give that to us? I'll email you. Thank you. So that's what's happening. Whether you want to admit it or not, that's what's happened to our program budget. And it's a shame because I spent Easter Sunday with my nephews in East and it's incredible the electives and other things they offer in the elementary school in the in the high school for those kids and
175we can't I mean they're they're enrollment staff too. I graduated from there. So I know I just want to say there is a very robust elementary program, middle school program, high school and then high school high school across the board in the state. Amazing program but the electives and what they offer the kids over there with their budget. I also want to clarify the administrative portion of the budget is not just administrators. It's a whole bunch of other factors. I know I know the one budget. That's what I'm trying to look at this. I asked her was ready. So, but it should be so ready the budget though. Yeah. Um okay. I don't need all the state stuff that goes just line it. It's easier for me to look at than this because these have
176been too if you like. Thank you. Thank you. And here's the list, by the way, of the raises. Salary adjustments you Thank you. Well, I don't have it. I stopped when I got up to 300,000. Thank you. [Applause] Hey everybody, my name is Jason. I have two other students at Cherry. Um, and over the last couple years I've sat on their uh site based team and oversaw what was on over at Cherry. So I can speak specifically to Cherry. I know how much work Dr. puts into that school. I don't know how how uh how much the kids appreciate what goes out there in my time. I've been through a lot of um I know what it is to learn, right? And to come to school before, wake up early, practice, right? come to school,
177learn about a spring concert, learn about concert, learn about Minnesota, learn about all the things that you guys are doing, and then be here practicing at 8 n and I know what goes into what you guys do and to watch the passion you guys have and coming up here fighting for something you believe in. My little two kids were here watching and just to see the smile on their faces listening to you guys. I hope that they grow up in a world where they can fight as well as you guys really see. Now, at the same time, there's a lot of decisions that have to get made. I think everybody understands that nobody is jealous of the precision that you're in. To make that a little bit of a sports analogy 20 minutes before this
178thing started, I was on the uh baseball field coaching a little league game and I was thinking about what I want to say here tonight when I came here and I realized that like a in in coaching eventually you can have the best intentions and you can be really good at what you do but you can lose a lock and you lose the lock world. Doesn't matter how good you are what you're doing. It doesn't matter what you're saying or how you're saying it. Sometimes you've just lost the locker room and it doesn't matter anymore. That all comes with trust from the community. And I think over the last couple of years, what we've seen here is a slow dwindling down of community is trust in this board. I am really excited to see that
179we're open to the idea of having a community board, a community interaction there to get on these on budget committee. But what I think what we need to really concentrate on is for the future so that we're not sitting here 12 months from tonight with a new group of seniors and a new group of juniors explain to have them come up here and explain why they should be fighting for another teacher that's going to get cut next year. We know we have a revenue problem. We know we have a tax problem. What are we doing? We again 50% of insurance over the last two years is astronomical but we know we're facing that. So what are we doing going forward so that we're not going to sit here 12 months from tonight having the same
180discussions with a whole bunch of new students and have done the things that they're think I'm going to start off by saying that but at the same time these students these are the people who really are the ones that we report to here I report to my two kids they run my household they know it these students here are the ones that we're responsible for and they are the ones standing up here telling you that what you're doing is not a fully supported solution to through to the budget and I think I need to listen to the best. So fully supported or not whether it looks like FTES are met for what we can do and numbers are met on paper. This is not a fully supported student right here talking about what back they
181don't feel supported tonight. They're not going to be supported next year unless musical comes around and that program that we're so proud of that does the things that we think that they excel in is not going to be the same quality next year unless they have that feature with them and supporting them until 8. So, thank you guys for standing [Applause] up. I want to thank Marie for his service. [Applause] I'm here for the kids. Nobody else. I meant to say earlier one other thing that the PTA council does. has the privilege of hosting the meet the candidates night and I know a number of our candidates are here tonight but May 5th you'll get a flyer soon May 5th will be the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates for the new board of
182education positions thank [Music] [Applause] I'm back. Um, back to the buses. I mean, Teal had a good point and someone else made a good point. Maybe, and I'm, you know, I'm sure it's too late, but if you could sign a one-year contract and then explore other options or assign someone to do some like real due diligence research, talking to other districts, doing a bus study, even if you could find a way to say it's a couple hundred,000 over the million dollar increase or what, that's that's a teacher. That's a couple of teachers, you know, and so that just seems like a huge increase. And then to only have one RFP back and make a decision based on that, that's just see that doesn't seem like the soundest. I mean, and listen, I I'm sure somebody
183made a million phone calls and called all the bus companies, but it might be worth it to do it again or tell your existing bus company, we're only going to sign a one-year contract. I mean, my kids take the bus. I would let them stay in the bus an extra few minutes if it's if it meant we saved $200,000 a year or whatever it is. And so the I think that we all know tough decisions to be made. We have to make a tiny sacrifice somewhere to save, you know, full-time teachers someplace else. I'm sure we'd all be willing to give a little bit and I just feel like the bus the bus contract is a big one to to just say, "Okay, we're going to sign this contract based on the one proposal we
184got and that's it." Thank you. Well, I'm sorry. What was your name again? You I know I spoke last time. I did. I'm Christine Cesarino. I have three kids in the district. Thank you. Yes, I just wanted to respond to the to one of the points. We don't pay for like 18 buses as part of the contract. We pay a rate per bus. So, we do study every year the routes and the uh locations and the students and and the regions and we try to reduce. So, we can do that and we say we only need 17 then we get 17. If we can get 16, we would get 16. So, it's not like oh the contract is for 18 buses 10. So, if we can reduce We did have a conversation three months ago
185about the small van. We have vans going uh from Cherry to Sunrise or from Lincoln area to Sunrise or Lincoln or Sunrise to Lincoln depending on students who go to different schools for different reasons. Um some of those vans have four students on them and they hold 15. So if we said how can we condense and put eight kids or nine kids on that van and then it's a 10-minute longer ride to what had said, but at least we reduce the van. So the contract is per bus per van. It's not the set amount. So if we can we can still study the roots and reduce if that makes sense. Definitely. It would just still be great for you guys to have numbers from other companies to compare to, you know, so it's it's hard.
186You guys are making a decision in in an information vacuum because you only have the one quote to look at. So to lock in at five years, even if you lock in at two years at just five years seems like a long time. The fiveyear rate was a better rate than the one-year rate. They give you a discount over time. So, it's more cost effective to do the five years over the one year. Um, just right. I mean, but I understand what your point is. Can someone speak to I do have a question. I do have a question. Uh, Rhonda, do they have any bus companies or in Suffach County? I I don't I know um educational bus trans there have been a few less over the last few years because they've merged um went
187bankrupt um but uh I only know of educational bus transportation and um of course suffic transportation and again it is a legal process. We follow a legal process. We have a a sealed RFP. We did send it to seven companies. I know. I mean, there transport, you know, some of them don't, you know, just don't pick our routes. I know. I'll take as a guess 10 15 because I work at national grocery, so we deal with a lot of bus companies. 10 is probably better. That's about probably first is the largest nationally the largest bus company. I believe, but there's about a total of 10, I think, educated guess. Could we have when we when we only got one hour of feedback, could we have altered the specs and resent it out? Could we could
188like when we when we only got one RFP back, could we have like altered this like we could alter the specs and then and then resend it out to see if others come back? Like I know you can't resend out see you could then you know change the specs to your proposal cast a wider net our our specs are what we needed for our students. So, um I mean I suppose you could have sent that event. I don't know that if I remember correctly and I know this is not like an obvious thing to point out but we were anticipating this because we our last contract was before inflation was you know through the roof and sometimes it's all in the timing. So it it it feels like this bus company is, you know, raised
189to drink this enormous amount, but the idea that some other bus company is going to give us a rate closer that we had 5 years ago is is probably [Applause] not work. That's the answer. They did not do work. [Music] Hi, my name is Jeff Schroeder. Um, can you tell me the savings on the five-year um contracting bus company as in respect to the one year? I is it a humongous discount or so in year three we would pay what we would pay in year one. on a one-year contract. So they in essence gave us two years of savings. They give you two years at the same rate. No, a lesser rate. So if we go to the one-year contract, that would be the same rates we would pay if we went if we um
190the third year of a fiveyear contract. Can you [Music] make it something like It just doesn't seem to me. It seems like all of a sudden we got a humongous increase on on fees for busing and now it's oh let's give you a fiveyear contract for it. Why don't we look around a little bit farther instead and find some better practice? So the way the way it works is we put out a request for proposals. We send it to multiple companies. We follow up by asking them to provide bids. Seven companies I believe it was six seven and one proposal but we have it's a legal process. You have to open the envelope. You have to look at the bid. It was the only bid we received. So, we can't make a decision to go
191with another company if they didn't put the bid in with the job. How many times can you have to respond? I'm just asking because I'd like you to help me understand it. That's all. I don't mean to put you out. I'm just trying to ask you some questions. So, I think the way it works is you put out the request. um it seems like we put out to seven and then they have to respond and come back and say, "Okay, yeah, we'll take your business and we this is uh how much it's going to cost you." Okay. So, we went and signed a five-year contract instead of saying, "Why don't we put this request out to 15, right? We just went and said, "We'll go fiveyear contract at this higher rate." Just to be clear,
192we put it out to anybody. We put it in the public notice and then we because we wanted we were worried about getting bit we reached out to seven companies to try to convince them to give we sent the physical packet of what we needed to seven companies and we published it because we're supposed to in the paper a legal um advertisement and we just got one reply and we gave them a month's I think it was a month's time to reply because there are packets like I mean, they're fine. We thought seven was an appropriate number. Uh, it was who we who we know of or who we deal with. Okay. So, we made sure that was in their hands. A record, but seven's good. Get ready to teach it instead. Yes. Exactly. suffer
193because you don't want to do 5 years again. Okay. Anybody else? Please don't. Good evening, Amanda Mullen. Um I also would like to mirror everybody else in this room. I sat in this seat tonight in awe of these kids. We heard that you guys were coming um to support your beloved teacher and your programs and I just think you guys are outstanding. Your voices are not falling on deaf ears. No matter how much it may feel like that at times, we hear you. And guess what? We get to vote who makes these decisions next. And I think what happened in this room tonight is a lot of the community members really woke up and they realized that the people that they elect to put up there to make these decisions, their voices matter of who
194goes up there so that we can protect you. So stay loud, stay active in your communities, and use your voice for good. You guys are incredible. Um, I do have some very specific questions. I'm going to start with what is ZE Communications and why are we paying them? What other questions do you have? They'll they'll ask the question. Oh, well, I'll wait for an answer and then I can move on. No, get your questions. Okay. Okay. So, I'd like to know what ZE communication is and why we're paying them. I'd also like to know what the other is in the contractual auditors, attorneys, postage, supplies, and other. Um, and my last question is regarding the bathroom renovations. It's no secret I am a stable grad. These bathrooms have not changed since I've peed in them.
195Um, I don't necessarily think it's fiscally responsible for us to be talking about bathroom renovations when we're also cutting teachers um, and programs that are attached [Applause] to is the only justification for that transfer of that million dollars into that fund year after year is bathrooms. How much are these golden bathrooms really costing us? And why is that a priority in a year where every cent matters in this district? So, I'll try to answer a couple of the questions. The the issue with the bathrooms is that they are as you said so old that they can have problems and if they have a problem as did in the high school there was a art bathroom near the art wing where a pipe burst and because there's asus in the building because of it's built in
1961950 something it cost us $170,000 to repair that pipe just for that one like you would think it would be much less but because you have to abate and do all those things it cost a lot of money. So if we don't upkeep those facilities that are in its end stages, um we end up paying a lot more money for patches over time and it actually hurts the district over time. So it's beneficial to maintain plant and to maintain your footprint to keep it from uh deteriorating. So those bathrooms and all of the bathrooms that were done with it's my understanding that projects were started uh were because they were at their end of life and we want to not be in a situation where there's problems. Um in terms of the league communications uh
197there are many school districts on Long Island Boseies who use a PR firm uh for their picture taking for their news articles for a variety of website design things of that nature. Is that what we are using it for? Yes. Um, so, so we're using it for the suite of opportunities they provide for us, including, uh, you know, if a newspaper calls, getting quotes, putting them out, uh, and doing a a good job getting our kids into the paper. As examples, in the last couple months, we've been in News12 quite a bit uh, for things that we have always done and in the past, we've tried to get into News12 and they don't we don't get in because so having a communications uh, group serves a variety of purposes. The other thing is um if
198you look at the chart the cost $88,000 with Bosey's aid it becomes $44,000 and we were having an individual who is costing us 79 and no one person can do the job of the firm and many districts do this. Uh it's not unique to what we're doing to provide those kind of services. Is it a necessary expenditure this year? Is it a net savings? It's a net savings to have that as opposed to the person that we had on staff. because of the state aid because if just go through the chart it's cheaper but I but we had it in school before but this is a school why right so PR I'm going to just say that marketing and PR are what I do for a living I work with actors and models who actually
199need PR I'll do it for free okay there [Applause] are you don't need to be spending [Music] primary teacher. We're talking about Jesus Christ. Um, and the other the line item budget, it's supplies. It's it's a catch all. It's postage. You know, you you'll you'll you can see I mean, I do see the words that are listed. Yes. Auditors, attorneys, postage, supplies, and other. Yes. and other I I I don't know what and what the and other it's just instead of a mirror list. But when the budget book comes out, would they be able to look at that? Yeah. When the budget comes out next week is got it. [Applause] Good evening everyone. My name is Cara Ferwin. Um, I'm here tonight because we spoke a lot about trust and transparency this evening. Um, and
200I'm coming to speak about my frustrations and my peers frustrations with working with all of you. Um, tonight I came to speak about armed guards, but probably not in the way that you expected me to speak, even though there was another shooting last week that people in the community were directly affected by. Uh, before the last board meeting, armed guards for meant security, safety, the well-being for our children, our teachers, our staff, and our community. After the last board meeting, armed guards stood for sneaky, deceitful, and disrespect. Tonight, I'm not here to advocate for armed guards because the threat to our community comes from the cuts that we're receiving. Tonight, I'm here to express and show how months of working with the board of education and the superintendent will fall on deaf ears. Six months
201of board meetings, 700 signatures, community polls, community forums showing the majority of the community wanted something. And yet here we were at the last meeting went with a simple armed guards aren't in the budget with a grin. Perhaps your agenda was to keep us distracted from other concerns and issues within our district. Or maybe it was just to keep us quiet. The town was manipulated against each other strategically between the budget or the armed primitive security. The same price tag as the essence of principal salary which started the teachers before guns. Our armed guard movement was never to push to higher armed guard security over keeping staff and teachers. And now we're not getting either. But you knew that and you knew what you were doing the whole time. And you sat there with a
202smile and you watched us all fall for it as we went to these forums and spent months speaking to you about our concerns about the safety and security of our children. But the town has woken up and people are upset and it's a day and age where we're questioning our leaders, especially the ones that we put there. you were elected to represent our district and I want to thank Kathy and Desmond for speaking on behalf of the community. So, I want to say good luck to everybody fighting the fight for whatever you feel is important, but I feel that we've been met with false hope, lies, and smoke cases. Um, it's time to change. The board of election election meeting is crucial that's coming up. I urge everyone in this room to get involved. Get
203your friends involved. Get your neighbors involved. Our kids are counting on it. And thank you to the people in the community running. [Applause] [Music] Um is there any other comments from the community cuz we need to call. Okay. Thank you. Um any comments? Okay. I would like to request some a recess to have some discussion regarding a lot of the things we just heard before we vote on. Okay. To discuss personnel. Okay. So, what we're going to do, we're going to take a 5 to 10 minute break uh to discuss personnel issue. Thank you. [Music]