001Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> Welcome everybody. I'm Phil Dineen, president of the board of education. We have our police staff and pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Just a quick article announcement. In the event of an emergency, please be aware of your rear exits and your exits to your left and to your right. Okay, we're going to start tonight's board meeting over with our advisory presentations. And I have Andrea who's going to be in the middle school scheduling and that will be up next. Assistant We're going to go We'll go with the fine arts. Good evening everyone. My name is Megan Stern, proud principal at Islip Middle
002School. And I'd like to introduce my partner for the evening, Mr. Hirschfeld, the director of fine and performing arts. So thank you so much for taking a few minutes and listening to this presentation that we have prepared for you regarding middle school scheduling specific to music classes in an eight to nine period day. So this is a compilation of several years of investigations that have been done to this topic. We'd like to acknowledge and also share that we have met with the We recognize that there are groups who have met for some time to talk about some of the challenges, some of the benefits, some opportunities for students over the years. And additionally this year we pursued it at at the request of some of our members in the audience and and the parents and
003working with central office and doing some investigations with our school counselors and working as well to see what that would look like for our middle school. So first Thank you. First I want to talk a little bit about the New York State requirements for middle school. So there are certain required units of study that we must make sure ensure that all students receive by the time they leave middle school. So I just want to I do want to note that there is a little bit of leeway when a student does have certain AIS requirements. So that there if if you're thinking that your own child's schedule doesn't quite match this, there might be reasons why. However um There is 1.75 required units for career technical education. Islip provides two total half in facts and half
004in technology. So what that means is that they they receive every other day for a quarter for sixth grade and seventh grade for every other day totaling that amount. For health the requirement is a half a unit. They receive one one unit. They get a half every other day in seventh grade and a half for eighth grade as well. Music and art we have a mandatory half credit in each. They do receive more than that. They receive 0.75 in art and they receive a minimum of a half in music possibly more if they are enrolled in one of our ensembles that meets during zero period which we will talk a little bit more about in a moment. For library information literacy they receive the 0.25 in sixth grade but also in seventh sixth grade, seventh
005grade and eighth grade they do visit the library for different units that also help to meet that requirement. So while it is 0.25 technically they do receive more than that throughout the three years that they are there. The world language requirement is not specified but they do have two units in both seventh and eighth grade of a world language. Now the reason why we wanted to bring this to your attention is because something that has been requested of us was to look into what it would look like to put a music ensemble into our eight period day. And what that would mean is that something from up here would have to go in order for that to happen. So it's not that it's not possible because we do have some overages but it would mean
006losing some of the other exploratories that we are currently offering. So to put this into context, this is We picked seventh grade it's right in the middle. This is a typical seventh grade schedule. Now if the student were to have additional mandatory courses, if they were to have AIS or special education services or ENL services, that would that would look a little bit different. But we wanted to show you this is what a schedule could look like. So zero period so earlier on in the morning before our first grade begins at 8:20. If you were part of chorus, band or orchestra you would either be in chorus or have bus to come into our zero period morning in chorus. First period then we have our advisory. Our advisory is on there because our advisory block
007is 20 minutes. It meets every day with the same teacher, 13 or fewer students in each class. This is a time where our students are not only just hear announcements but have have our SEL program. Each student gets a chance to connect with a mentor teacher, get to know them throughout the year and have another adult as a point of contact throughout the year in the building. Many of our programs, town halls also happen to this period. So we have our groups of either the entire eighth grade or one team in small groups where we're able to deliver information to them and even do grade assemblies without disrupting instruction in the instruction block. And we have later on the day and you can see where we say half or quarter credit. So that's where they
008when health when you have health for quarters one and two every other day that's how you that's how you get to see those quarters and those halves. So this is what it could look like and this is how it would impact our current seventh graders who are in currently enrolled in a music ensemble if we wanted to put music instead of a zero period in an eight period day. So because of additional required supports that are necessary for student success we would be able to fit 77% of our currently enrolled seventh grade students who are taking music ensembles. We would be likely able to fit that into their schedules. They would also be losing at least a half of one of those other exploratories to get that but we would be able to fit it
009into their schedules. 23% however because of additional support services would still likely not be able to receive one of those classes or the ensembles during the school day because of the other periods. The other option to this is then to turn those mandatory services, those support services, AIS special education, ENL services those would also be during zero period. But it would still ensure that in order to make in order to make sure that everyone has both music and the services, there would still be a zero period for a population of students. So talking a little bit about more about what that would look like for the music shift to be into the eight period day. So we looked at all of the different scenarios. This has been as Ms. Stern said, this is the compilation
010of years and years actually of conversations. And most recently a couple conversations we've had with central office many times and many many hours actually with Dr. Fitzgerald. Um who probably probably dozens of hours of time kind of looking at the master schedule here. Moving music into the school day away from zero period becomes more accessible to the majority of students. However at that point with zero period students have more flexibility than wanting to be in more than one ensemble. Moving it during the day they would not really have the opportunity to be involved in two ensembles at once anymore or alternate between the two. We would have to form a music club or we'd have to look at a different type of schedule to accommodate that. The other thing that would happen is that we
011couldn't because of the way we do master scheduling and bouncing other classes off of each other. Musical ensembles would not be able to meet in their uh entirety during the day. They would have to be split um either in half um or uh we still have a scenario where they have to be split into four different sections. So, they wouldn't be able to meet together until almost at the concert. Um as Ms. Stern said, zero period would probably still need to be available for students with these AIS support classes uh with reduction in those uh other exploratories that we showed you were a reduction in the overages of those exploratories cuz as she said, we still have to meet the New York State Section 100 band. Um One thing that we looked into is the
012option for removing what we have right now uh our support classes for all of our sixth graders in ELA and math. This would shift away from that. Um and I'll show you in the next slide, this will have major implications on the uh the broad philosophical idea of middle school uh with teaming and advisory. So, um This is a big summary of large amounts of data that we have about creating a nine-period schedule. Um multiple conversations um with uh lots of different facets of an operating district uh all different units being impacted in some way. So, we want to show you just what an initiative would look like, but what are the considerations when we want to go forward with that initiative? This is These are the ideas that would lead to that decision uh
013in the future. So, we want to incorporate that zero period now into the school day. Couple things will happen. First, we would have to shift the entire bell schedule. And ultimately, uh as I keep being reminded, one of the reasons why uh we've heard feedback from people about not enjoying that zero period is that it starts earlier in the day. If we go to a nine-period bell shift, the day would also start earlier. There's no other way to do it for another for students to have enough time in each one of their classes. Uh we would have to lose our advisory program uh in order to fit all nine periods in during the day. And we would lose teaming. So, the two major uh facets of having a middle school versus a junior high model
014uh would be lost if we shifted over to a nine-period model. Um we've heard feedback uh requests well, what about adding electives and additional exploratories? So, by moving to a nine-period day, we would gain access to some of those new electives and exploratory classes. But to do that, we would need at a minimum six additional FTEs to cover that, probably as high as 10 in some of the models that we looked at. Um so, that means hiring additional staff um each year, not just one time. So, it would be each year we would need that staff. It would be a large contractual shift. So, the the amount of hours that are being worked um would have to be factored into future contracts uh with all the the units that are impacted by that. Um students
015with AIS and those support classes, they would be now incorporated into the school day uh and that's a benefit for those students that they would have access to both those exploratories and their support programs during the nine-period day. And then the major thing uh that we looked into is what does it look like to have musical ensembles during the day, which would be a benefit for a lot of students. Um still with our schedule, they would have to be split. There's There's There's not a scenario where we can put um and this is this is um something that I feel very proud about. We have very large [clears throat] ensembles at the middle school. So, you can't have 100 students in one class bouncing off of another class. You have to have a schedule that's
016built so students have access to classes uh of a reasonable class size when you build a master schedule. So, even though we be able to incorporate those music uh ensembles during the day, we would still have to split them, which is not an ideal way to have a music program. Um There is more data that we have access to. We wanted to just give a summary tonight, but we encourage you on the board, uh people in the community, teachers, if you have any questions about how we came to some of these conclusions, uh if you want to see uh some more extensive data that we have um from all the conversations that we had, we we encourage you to reach out to us uh if you want to see some information and some of the
017charts we have, we actually um we didn't want to be too granular cuz we didn't we wanted to make sure that student privacy was was uh of most importance to us. So, um so some of that data we don't want to make public about. We broke it down even further about how the support systems worked uh so we have an idea. So, that that 77% 23% actually was uh was a more general summary. Um so, we we encourage you to reach out to us if you have any questions um about what future scheduling might look like in this district. That one? Yeah. Um I put it here One of the questions that we got That's the new slide I put in. Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Um Uh All seventh and eighth graders have to
018take our general music program. We saw that um not as a as an issue, but that is a that is an opportunity for us to really give something uh to the students that could be memorable for them um and really engage in something that could be very interesting. So, um over the last couple of years, we've been slowly incorporating parts of a new curriculum into our seventh and eighth grade general music program. And starting next year, we're ready to um introduce a brand new uh fully rewritten curriculum for all seventh and eighth graders. Uh moving away from the general idea of a general music class and those of you in high school a couple decades ago like myself uh might have a feeling about what music in our lives or general music used to be.
019This is very much not that. Uh we're going to move closer to what we consider creative media, creative communications sort of program. So, we're going to incorporate lots of different elements of the national and state standards for music, but also concepts and ideas and opportunities for students to engage in the type of media that they are used to engage in. So, the first part is the applied performance part. Students having just like we've been doing the last couple of years, access to digital keyboards for music creation and piano, guitar, percussion ensemble. Media literacy um we want students just like we're doing some of other classes to understand um uh responsible media consumption and digital literacy, critical analysis of the music and the media that we see. Um we want to students to explore all the
020different career pathways that are possible in music and media. Uh including podcasting, and TV and film production, and audio technology. Um I feel very strongly like we do uh at the high school that public speaking is always a major part of these. Uh should be a major part of this because communication and the ability for students to communicate is an essential skill of success in the career fields. Um And something that is important to us as we build this new curriculum is that we do have students in their these programs that are engaged in our performing ensembles, and we know that they're taking additional music on top of that. We want to make sure that whenever we create a new curriculum, that students have an opportunity to engage in that curriculum at the level that
021they feel comfortable, whether they are continuing music on from elementary school uh through the middle school, or haven't been a part of the performance program, that they have an opportunity to enjoy and even go beyond uh the standard uh projects to to something that could be more challenging to them. Uh and as always uh all music programs are programs in the district. We adhere to the New York State standards for the arts uh as well as we we also look to the national standards of the arts uh for guidance as well. Appreciate all of your time tonight. Um I'm so glad so of you so many of you showed up tonight specifically for that part of the presentation. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you very much for your presentation. Okay, we now need to
022move on to our budget presentation. So, >> [clears throat] >> Okay, good evening. And thank you for joining us this evening for our um fourth budget reading meeting for the 2026-2027 school year. Um, in previous uh presentations, we've discussed our tax levy, our state aid, some of our programs, our initiatives, enrollment trends, staffing, and tonight we're at the final budget So, what I'd like to do is I'd like to give a little bit of a review where we are, um, what we've done, and where we are tonight. So, as we develop our budget, we have to always be mindful that we need to keep our revenue and our expenses equal. We look at all of the various areas that we can receive revenue. Our largest revenue source is our tax levy. That's money that we
023receive from the community. Our next largest is our state aid, followed by our local revenues, and our fund balance, and sometimes the use of reserves. What goes into our expenses are broken into categories. We have our general support, our instruction, transportation, benefits, debt service, and sometimes our interfund transfers. So, as I mentioned, our tax levy is the largest source of revenue within a school district. Here you'll see a calculation of what we are legally allowed as a limit by New York State. There's a lot of factors that go into this, including what our levy limit was the previous year, including um, growth-based um, factors, um, our pilots, and you can see debt service, a lot of things play into this. We also were given an allowable uh, factor, which you'll see here, which is 1.02.
024And then we use our estimated pilots and um, exclusions for the upcoming year. So, at the bottom, you'll see the allowable limit that we are able to go to, which is the 70 million 657. And I'm going to talk about that a little bit more in detail in a few more slides. Although this tax cap doesn't um, represent an exact 2. um, 0% increase, it is a 2.22 increase from our previous year. It also represents about 1.5 million dollars of an increase. As you know, state aid is another large factor. Um, as of today, we are still anticipating um, 29 million dollars of state aid. We are awaiting um, the budget to be coming down from the state. Uh, the due date was April 1st. However, since then they've passed five extenders. Um, the most
025recent extender was passed yesterday, and will go into tomorrow. We're hoping to have some more numbers um, soon. Additionally, we look at local revenues. Those are things like tuition that we receive from other districts, interest income, um, facilities used, rental income, our um, Medicaid reimbursements, some scrap sales, and miscellaneous income that appears to the district during the year. Pilots we receive from the town of Islip, um, and those are properties that have been taken off the tax roll, and they're granted concessions. So, we're provided with a list each year, and this year, um, our anticipated pilot payment will be about 457,000. Fund balance is used also to balance budgets, and that's our surplus or unspent appropriations. So, when we balanced the budget, um, last time we met, we had a very um, large gap, and
026we've gotten together, we've spoken to um, staff, we've sat down, we've gone through every aspect of the budget, and you'll see some of the steps that we've taken to balance this budget. Some of it was reductions in faculty and staff through attrition. You'll see we have a buildings and grounds staff member as well, as well as clerical, a custodial, a couple of teachers, some of our unaligned staff members. Also, due to enrollment, there'll be some excessing. Um, you'll see one teacher and three teaching assistants. We're closely looking at aligning all our staffing needs with our most current enrollment data, and that's an ongoing process. We've done some collaborative budget stabilization by negotiating some savings, and I am grateful to stand here tonight to tell you that every single unit within this district has come to
027the table to offer some negotiated savings to help us close this budget gap, and I couldn't be more proud to work with each and every one of them. They're looking to do this to help keep programs intact and maintain the integrity of the programs for all of our students. We've done some fiscal consolidation, making sure that all of our expenditures are sustainable to help support our programs long-term, and we're looking to optimize our revenue, increase um, funding through lease agreements, and continuously identify new resources. We've looked at our um, reserves, and as you see up there, we have quite a few. Um, we have contributions for retirement to our ERS and our TRS. We have workers compensation, accrued liability, a repair reserve, our capital reserve, which is currently funding our playground reconstruction over at Nink,
028and an insurance reserve. So, to date, here are some of the numbers that you'll see, um, as far as these reserves and anticipated uses for the 2025-2026 school year, as well as anticipated uses for the 2026-2027 school year. So, after looking at all of those numbers and looking at the concessions, when we were trying to balance our budget, we were still we were still left with being unbudgeted. So, we had to go back and look where we could um, see some source of revenues to support our programs and keep everything intact. So, that brings us to our tax levy. As we mentioned before, our allowable limit is 2.22, or a 1.5 million dollar increase. However, what we're going to propose tonight to the board and for their approval and the community's approval, is to pierce
029the the cap at a 2.85. That results in about a 432,000 dollar difference. Monthly, um, I'm sorry, annually on an assessed home of $40,000 or a market value of about $600,000, that's about $262, or a $21 a month increase. So, when you look at all of the components and you put them together, you'll see that the tax levy that we're proposing takes up about 66% of our incoming or estimated revenues. Our state aid takes up about 28%. Fund balance reserves and our local revenue take up the remainder. So, what does our proposed budget look like? The proposed expenditure budget for the 2026-2027 school year is approximately 106 million dollars, with general education approximately 13 million, our instruction 56 million, our transportation about 6 million, benefits at 25 million, our debt service at 4 million, and
030our interfund transfers, which support our summer program, and which will be supporting the reconstruction of our greenhouse, well, that together adds up to our $106 million budget. You'll see budget to budget, it's about a 3.71% increase. When we look at it as a whole, you can see instruction takes up about 53%. While our benefits take up about 23%. Right there, um that's the majority of our budget, and the rest of it falls in place to make the the chart complete. This is an overview or a summary of all of our function codes. So, it will tell you what our proposed budget is and how it compares to last year's budget, any dollar increase, and the percentage change. I've added some notes for some significant increases. And um I'm going to give that a few minutes.
031This is all going to be posted on our website, so everybody will be able to see this in addition to a line-by-line detailed budget. >> [snorts] >> You'll see a lot of the increases um are costs that are things that we are can't control. Um we've had premium increases for insurances, um contract services, which you'll see, and just um cost of doing business that has increased. Well, our state aid has only increased at 1%. So, those mean those make for not maintaining our programs as easily as we would like. You'll see here on our district transportation, we're anticipating to award a 1-year contract. And you'll see our interfund transfers again, which I mentioned as the $275,000 to capital for the reconstruction of our greenhouse, and $160,000 for our summer program to to support that. This
032is what the enhancement um what it looks like now and what we're hoping um that it will be once we can get this moving, and this will be a brand new learning space for our students. So, as you can see, or as it's stated, revenues and expenditures are now equal. With the use of reserves, with with the use um um those negotiated savings, that made all of this possible here. So, in summary, the budget that we're proposing for the '26-'27 school year remains at $106 million 244 with a proposed tax levy of 2.85 or 17 million 527 553. And that's a budget to budget increase of 3.71. So, our next steps, we're going to continue to evaluate and look for revenues um to continue to come in and support our budget beyond what we have
033already. We're going to continue to monitor our New York State initiatives and identify ways to offset the general fund expenses. And we're going to continuously analyze our enrollment data, our contractual obligations, new initiatives, and collaborate with building and departmental leadership. And we're going to monitor our resources. So, I'd like to thank the Islip community for your time here this evening, and I'd be happy to take any questions from the Board of Education at this time. Um You know, when you when you hear the word pierce the cap, right? It sounds negative, right? Nobody likes to hear pierce the cap. And as Mr. Brown said, you know, there's seven steps that factor into that calculation. Phil, can you speak in the microphone, please? >> Yeah, sure. Phil, louder, the streaming can hear you. >> the last
034year that the district or Mr. Brown The last year that the um that the district pierced the cap was in May of '21, and that year, to put things in context, our tax our tax levy was negative 1%. So, even coming in at zero that year, we were piercing the cap. Um and again, no one likes increasing taxes, raising taxes, but as Mr. Brown pointed out, going from the 2.2% to the 2.85% is an average of $5 a month increase. So, balancing the budget, the cost effect is an additional $60 a year. Just putting that in perspective of when people hear going from 2.22 to 2.85. Um and then again, taking into consideration all the other givebacks that the other units did um to balance this budget um and still maintain all the programs that
035we have in place. Um again, it was a very challenging budget this year, and I thank the units for um you know, for helping out. Um again, I'm a taxpayer myself. You know, I don't like increasing taxes, but when I look at it as $60 and maintaining all these programs, cuz I don't want the children you know, to take away anything from the children, because that's what we're here for. Um so, I you know, my heart um you know, it's fiscal responsibility, and and I I feel it's a sound budget, and you know, and I just hope that we we get the support from the community on that. Again, I just wanted to reiterate, you know, going from where we are to to 2.85, that represents $60. So, again, I just wanted to put that
036on there. Any other board members have Ms. Brower, can you speak to how the proposed budget and the increased levy will potentially help restore the reserves that were taken away in order to balance the budget? Sure. Um you know, we we are tasked with um unfunded mandates. A lot of times there's expenses that come along that we have not budgeted for. Um the codes now are a little bit they're budgeted uh a little bit more accurately to reflect what our expenses are, and that will provide us with the ability to be well equipped to handle [clears throat] any of those expenses additionally that may come along. However, um it will really reflect our true expenditures. So, how our function Okay. So, right now the way the budget reads, currently our reserves are in the 10
037million, and it's going to decrease to seven. How does this proposed budget though help us to ensure that in the long-term future this seven million in reserves will hopefully begin to increase? So, since we're taking away uh monies from those reserves to balance the current budget, how is this current proposed budget going to empower future budget building this seven million dollar figure upward? So, that's a great question. Um what we're anticipating is that with the expenditures we have this year, um we're looking to really um be more efficient with them and to look to find any ways that we can really um cut expenditures without compromising programs. So, by doing that, we it will give us an ability to have a larger fund balance at the end of the year, which then we could return
038to the reserves. Thank you. I have a question on the state aid. Sure. Meaning that we haven't gotten it, how do we know how much? And if it goes up or goes down, how does that affect our budget? So, another great question. Um right now it's anticipated at 1% on our foundation aid. That equates to about $212,000. Um from our last um presentation, we have added into our we've added into uh the use of our reserves an additional $212,000 because we have been um hearing from the state that the legislator wants to pass let regulations that school districts would be funded at 2%. So that would give us an additional $212,000 that we essentially would not need to take out of reserves. So right now it's anticipated to be taken out of reserves. Once we
039get the updated spending plan or funding from from the state, we may not need to take it out of our reserves. So would that bring the percentage down? Percentage of? The rate. You said 2.85. No. Once we set that tonight, that's the tax levy and that's constant with board approval. That would be the money that we would need to support our our budget. It would in fact lower what we could take out of our reserves because we would be getting it through state aid. You welcome. >> [laughter] >> Take any other questions if anybody has any questions. Well, how would it rather than this percentage how do you get the percentage of money out of that percentage? Just to clarify things that works because is there my problem with the NIT president. By increasing the
040tax levy uh the tax going to the 2.85, how will that affect us for next year with our tax cap? So that will another great question. That's going to give us a starting point that is actually higher. So we will be able to start at a higher point so that that way that would once the calculations are in there, we will be able to be at a 2% walk back. Hi there. Christine at 303 Street. I'm concerned about using the reserves as a form of our our budget. Uh the use of reserves as we know we used a million last year correct or close to it. And then $975,000 and an additional 180 for out of the ad war for employee benefits. Yes. Okay. And then another 2 million this year. Let me pull up
041the 2.8 we're two things. So we're proposing the $2,212,000 to support next year's budget and as I explained the 212 is hopefully would be in the form of state aid but we have not received that determination yet. Okay. So as we know using reserves is not a sustainable form of income. So I know that I mean ask how we're going to replenish these reserves and are we expecting a large amount of surplus left over from this year's budget in order to put back in there? We're not expecting that. Our expenditures are really where they are but however throughout the year if we can find efficiencies and we can cut costs on some of the items that we're doing, we will be realizing those savings and then ultimately be able to put those back into into
042our reserves. Okay. So we're relying on just hoping that we have extra money left over. Well, you know we could have we could have students move into the district that require services that maybe was not budgeted for. You know there are unexpected costs. We are looking at our EPC which we should be starting that in the fall. We're hoping our energy costs right will be coming down for that so that we'll be recouping some savings from that. And we are going to continuously look for ways to be more efficient. Okay. Yes. And and extra revenue. We're we're investigating multiple areas for additional revenue so that we will not have to utilize reserves. Okay. So did a little research but what percentage of our budget are we supposed to have in reserves and what percentage do
043we have to stay above in order to not be penalized because I know once we drop below a certain percentage we get penalized for. Right. So 4% you're allowed to have in reserves and and that's not these reserves so that's that's on allocated fund balance. You can have up to 4% but these reserves you can you can fund them. Each one of them is has a different category to which they can be funded. So you don't get penalized here. I think what you're talking about is the unappropriated fund balance and that's 4% that we are legally allowed to have but once you fall below 3% and 2% that's when you could be in fiscal consideration. Okay. So those are constructive. So last year we were you know when you're saying the 4% that we up
044to we were at 3.74. Yes we were at 3.74 but then four at 4% was the max so we were you know other than that but we're not getting Well no but I'm saying where where we were we're at 3.74. I can't estimate that at this time because we're still receiving expenditures the end of the year. We have a lot of expenditures that come in and it does take us about I don't know 60 days to close our books and then our accountants and auditors work together to ensure that everything is in the proper order and that's when we will get exactly where we should be. Is that I don't know if that's answering your question. Yeah I just I I think I'm just confused is like I'm looking for the sustainable income. Like I
045know I don't want to rely for next year's budget moving forward. I think you know clearly we're in the deficit right now and I just feel like there needs to be more solid plan other than hoping that we get other sources of income especially since I I know the bargaining units I think I know teachers probably or everybody everybody gave something in the form of either pay freeze or some kind of give back so I thank them. But again that's also not a sustainable source of income. So I'm just hoping that moving forward that there is a more solid plan for you know getting a more solid budget you know. And that's our that's our plan as well. Not to use reserves ultimately >> [laughter] >> is the best case scenario and that's what we
046will strive for. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi Colleen Wilson with 303 Street. So my question really kind of was the same as Christine's but I'll ask my piece. So I'm curious and thankful again for all the bargaining units that have negotiated in this contract I mean in this budget but I'm wondering is there any way to know what percent of this budget has been covered by what the bargaining units have negotiated mostly because my concern is the same. So you're hoping for a surplus revenue or hoping for a surplus in efficiencies but unless those bargaining units will be on the hook again next year to try and contribute that percent my fear is that surplus that you're hoping for is only balancing out what the bargaining units have put forth for this year. So I'm
047wondering what percent of this budget is being covered by what the bargaining units were willing to negotiate for this contract. Yeah it was about $360,000 from the units. Okay. So okay then. I'm sorry. So that percentage of budget I'm sorry I don't have that exact That's okay. I don't want it but it was about $360,000. So now we're hoping for efficiency surplus of $360,000 plus 2.2 million plus the increases that will come next year with those on you know the the the pieces that you can plan for retirement system ERS workers comp like those things are all there. So that seems like a huge amount of money to be hoping for on exactly what Christine said on a sustainable budget going into 2027-28. You know that's my concern. Is that's a tremendous amount of money
048to be hoping for without a solid plan. So you know I would hate to see bargaining units being asked again next year to try and fix a $400,000 gap because we didn't reach those hoped for surpluses. So that's my concern is it's fine for this year but there's a lot of work from a lot of people and a lot of sacrifice that went into this for $360,000 plus $2.2 million going forward. That's correct. Excuse me, that's why we're we're continuously looking for additional revenue streams. >> Right. It's a lot of money. So, do you have any plans right now for, you know, 2. $6 million that are hopeful revenue? Like, are there viable things right now as you're going into that plan? And not that you have to disclose it, but are there viable revenue
049sources that are going to make up that 2.6 million plus going into the following school year? As I mentioned, we're investigating a bunch of new revenue sources. So, um I I can say we are investigating it. To what capacity it will make up the the 2.6, I can't really give you that you know, that answer right now. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi. >> [clears throat] >> I just I'm curious what major things or events or costs have happened. This is not a gap that happens over a year overnight, right? Over a year. This is several years in the making. What major events or costs have led us to this point? As I mentioned before, there were some unbudgeted codes. And when they compound, you can see that happen over the years. Um I I
050can speak to this year's budget that some of the items were under budgeted. We were also um given some additional expenses that we did not anticipate. You couple that with our minimal increase in state aid over the years, and it eventually gets catches up. We're not the only district that is um seeing this type of um issue, but we are working to um rectify as best we can. I know we're not the only district, but I think in the realm of transparency, especially for the community, what are examples? Not Those are like Those are blanket statements, right? They make perfect sense, but what are the examples of things that were under budgeted, things that we didn't plan for that were the bargaining units, which I I agree with both Christina and Colleen, those aren't sustainable,
051and you never know what the state's going to come up with. We could have even less from them next year. So, like, what are the What are those items that are examples, and what are the What's the plan? Sure. So, um insurance, um I can speak to it. We're looking at almost a 16% increase. Um I just received the other day an additional quote that was almost double um What type of insurance? Um our casualty and liability. Um and I'm meeting with our insurance representative this week um to go over those costs and see how we can um you know, potentially lower some of them. Um additionally, we've had um increases in transportation. You're aware of the fuel uh surcharges right now. Pretty large. Um our fuel is increasing. Um we've had um some things
052that we've had to give for students, some services, um some BOCES services that And I'm talking about last year, right? Um because I can talk to you about things that have really been um compounding. And when students move into our district, we are tasked with providing the necessary services, which is what we want to do. Sometimes we can't anticipate those costs. Um health insurance increases, um so much so that last last year or the year before, they increased it so much, they had to come back mid-year and lower it because it was so astronomical for for people that were on it. So, we're getting the heat from all areas. Not only that, but then our state aid increases are extremely minimal. So, when you put that all together, and then we're we're capped at our
0532% to be respectful and mindful of the taxpayers, we're you know, we're kind of in a bind right there before we get started. And what's the plan? Like, everyone's asking. We want to I want to make sure that the bargaining units, as kind as they were, aren't stuck in a position. Do we have incentives? Are there retirement incentives coming up? Is there an expected retirement? Some districts have had people give multi-years in advance for retirement to help towards gaps. Like, what are the other plans? Maybe one or two of these ideas of possible future revenue. I I want to know that we're not going to be stuck here again. Sure. So, what we're looking at as far as future revenue is possibly boosting um maybe some recitals, something with the use of facilities within our
054buildings, maybe additional field usage. Um Okay. Um How is your UPK revenue? Because you're getting money from from South Shore Children's Center? So, we'll Yes, we just put in our RFP, and in in that there are administrative costs that the district is allowed to ask for. So, we're we're going to maybe looking at that. Uh thanks for your questions. Some of the um expenses is a over, you know, 1.25 million in health insurance, for example, to give you specifics. 1.1 million in special education costs increase, for example. Um our contractual obligations went up just over a million dollars, right? And while I'm at the microphone, I appreciate everything that every single employee in this district has done to help make this budget come together. I think that probably wouldn't happen in other places. You asked
055the question about what codes may have been under budgeted. So, um we discovered that during this school year that we had a special education BOCES code that was just over $200,000 underestimated. And um you're in the field, so you understand what college transfer is, and that code, that's always kind of a crap shoot um because you can't predict exactly how many people will take credits. And that code was approximately $105,000 under budgeted. So, those are some examples. Um One way that we're trying to fix that code is we spoke with Mr. Levine, and we're going to use this year where there's a kind of a hold on college transfers to have possibly. Um So, where there's um we'll know exactly who accumulated credits, and then we could we can plan that with a more accurate
056number of them, I guess. So, it's not necessarily finalized with the bargaining units yet. These are still possibilities. >> [snorts] >> I have we're committed. We just have to think forward. Yeah, the other the other ones are all committed. So, and we again, I want to say that we appreciate that. Some sources of revenue we're looking at is um uh Future Stars camp, which uh it would start very slowly, but it would build to a really good amount of revenue down the road. Um your answer about UPK, um your question about UPK, you probably know this, too, the state was providing $5,800 per child to our school district, but it's hard for a provider to run a program on that amount of money. So, we didn't we didn't seek any administrative We didn't seek any
057fees for use of space, etc. So, we just put out an RFP that's due May 1st, and and we think it could garner between $250,000 and $300,000 worth of new revenue. I won't know that until, you know, we get the proposals back and we select a provider for uh obviously for beginning of September. So, those are some examples regarding the I just think those types of things and examples are important for the community because when you get blanket statements, people aren't understanding where it's coming from. And my last question is, did Central Meadow office make any concessions? Of course. I just know that those examples I gave you, did that answer your question? Yeah, it's When you you know, I know when you talk about things that are, you know, under budgeted and codes and
058everything like that, I know that. But a lot of people in our community don't know that. And when you're asking to pierce the cap, those are the kind of things that we need to know, as well as what's the plan. Otherwise, you're going to have people all up, you know, their all up in arms about spending extra money, and they don't know why they're spending extra money or if it's going to fix the problem. Yeah, of course. And I can tell you another thing that we did was um we spent I want to say hours, but hours wouldn't be an accurate description. Uh the five of us in Central Office, literally days uh on Saturdays and and over the spring break going through every single line and analyzing five years worth of expenditures to make
059sure that we're way more accurate in budgeting now so that we won't hit some of those under budgeting problems in the future which we believe will add to our fund balance. It's just going to be one of those time will tell situations. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Josh Barr here. As you're talking I'm constantly changing my notes. Like so many awesome questions and I also I also have a many questions. Um So, [clears throat] I'm a proud parent here in Island. I appreciate the response that was given earlier but I want to follow up with a few points for clarity. In the budget presentation it was stated that one teacher and one one teacher assistant are being excessed. One and three. One teacher, three TA teacher assistants. Okay, so one teacher and three TAs, sorry.
060At the [snorts] same time there have been consistent emphasis on this district being in difficult financial position. So, my question is are you confident that they these are the only staffing reductions we should expect this next school year or is there a possibility additional cuts that could follow? Additionally, it was mentioned that low enrollment and key factor driven is driving the budget. Can you provide data that then trends behind that? Specifically, what has enrollment looked over the past few years and what are the projections are for being going forward? Finally, >> [clears throat] >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. Many notes. Uh Sorry. Um take your time. Um at the same time there has been a consistent emphasis on the district being in difficult financial position. So, my question is are you confident these are only
061staffing reductions for next school year? Um Two minutes. Specifically, um what has enrollment looked like over the past few years and what's being projected going forward? I also think it is important to address the broader concern we're hearing tonight where the same question continue to come up. It suggests that there may be a need for a stronger planning and clear communication in the budgeting process. What specific steps are being taken to improve forecasting and ensuring that we're not repeating the addressing uh the shortfalls after the fact. You also mentioned that the district is exploring new revenue streams. Can you Can you be specific about what those are? Are grants part part of that plan and do we currently have someone dedicated to identifying and securing grant funding? If so, what does the process look like
062and what is the timeline? Finally, are these financial pressures in the addressed? Are these financial pressures addressed? What concern concrete measures are being taken to ensure that classrooms, student services, staffing, school safety and are fully protected? I'm asking because the community is looking for clear answers, transparency and a defined plan moving forward. Okay, let me do the best I can from memory and I might need to remind me one or two. All right, please don't forget my wife will kill me. Okay, so regarding staffing, we we feel secure that this will you know what we posted there will be it, right? So, the three the one teacher, three TAs. Yes and um um the only reductions that would be made going forward would be if we discover that as we build the high school master
063schedule that there's um a course or class that's under subscribed and you know someone has three students that selected to take that course. We won't run most courses with three students. We can try to keep them in the uh teams at a minimum right to run a course. So, that will play out in the next couple of weeks because our director of school counseling is in the process of building the master schedule teaching load. Last schedule at the middle school Um The next question is about what steps we're taking in the future. We kind of touched upon that. Um About our our budgeting right now we believe is in a much more accurate place than it was a year ago because of the fine tooth comb that we went through every line with. So, we
064expect there will be there will always be surprises but we expect and believe we'll be in a better place to handle the surprises than we were this year. Um regarding grants, we do utilize grants. Dr. G handles that office. We have um sought revenue sources from people. So, for example, over the last two or three years we've gotten over $75,000 in grants because of our relationships with uh legislators. And also um in this our first year when she served as an interim business official, we identified Medicaid reimbursement as a revenue source that wasn't being tapped and um so over the last three and a half years we've garnered over $400,000 in revenue from that. Um Another example of where we seek to get help is while we have $275,000 budgeted for a reconstruction of the
065greenhouse, we have been for two years in discussions with one of our local Suffolk County legislators who has committed to helping us with um donations of labor and materials for the reconstruction of the greenhouse. So, while we budgeted $275,000, we may not actually expense that amount to have a great learning space for students. Of course that's another time will tell situation. Um Can you remind me of a few of my notes? Um Grants, you talked about grants. Enrollment trends. Thank you. Thank you. >> bigger. Like I know my daughter's class is one of the bigger ones to go through. Yeah. And I do project actually will continue you think? Most kids parents are not electing to go to private or Catholic school. As Ms. Brower said that the reduction So, okay, so it's kind of
066it's a little bit of both. I know that sounds weird but um So, um I can't answer your question directly tonight but I can follow up with you at the next board meeting. In a previous presentation we we um we shared enrollment current and going to next year but what I can do for the next meeting is bring you the last seven years in a row. So, we we are going down as a total but some classes are bigger than others. For this year's budget, um if I remember correctly from a couple weeks ago we reduced by two elementary positions for next year because of enrollment. Uh and so the class sizes in all but one grade remain fairly consistent. In one grade I think it was grade five. Going into grade five. Fourth going
067into the fourth. Fourth going into five uh currently has 18 students in a class so next year they'll have 24. But the rest of the class sizes from memory are ranging from 21 to 23 roughly. But I I I don't have those numbers committed to memory about enrollment but I can follow up with you with more detail in two weeks. I'll be there at the meeting. Um I also just I mean with all this I mean piercing the cap, uh raising the taxes and stuff like that. Um I think that transparency I mean I I think many many of the leaders have said it best at the public at the meeting with understanding you know we're projecting a lot of uh we're projecting a lot of money to come uh I'm not saying we're not
068projecting anything from the state right now because it wasn't approved yet, correct? Correct. Okay. So, then I think I'm sorry, just let me let me correct that. Let me correct myself. We um We got 1% increase on our foundation aid which at that point translated into $166,000 additional aid from New York State from the current year to [snorts] the next year. Now, it the number was the number was 212 but there were some aid amounts that went up, some aid amounts that went down so kind of the aggregate was 166,000 if you remember. 136. 136,000. Um So, if now the aids So, the numbers that were the aid um what do we say? The accounts or the aid categories that made that 212,000 go down to 136, that money's already been taken away from the
069aid. So, the the legislator, both the um assembly and the senate have talked about raising state aid to 2%. So, we we would anticipate another 212,000 and that's reflected in the use of the reserves. So, we would be taking 2.2 million from reserves. If that aid comes through we would take 2 million from the reserves. You can see that the state aid increases are minimal. Okay. Um my last question is in section five subsections M and L there is a lot of under $86,448 uh was under site uh for moving money or money's around for the district. Um So, trying to get to my notes. Um it's one one section was about the technology. Is it Was that the one by one to someone else? No, it was it was maybe it was for uh
070Look at the Maybe it was for that line. It was for another line, sorry. Uh my other question. If If that comes If it If it uh If you clarify call this All right, happy to answer that. All right, thank you. So, next board meeting you'll have the data for the enrollment. I'd be happy to do that. Any other questions? All right, thank you for all those questions. >> [clears throat] >> Good job everyone on the presentations. And we're going to move on now to our agenda items. At this time, I'd like to take any questions from the board and any of the items that we're going to be voting on tonight. Any questions from the public on any agenda items that we're going to be voting on tonight? Okay, with that, I'd like to
071get a motion for consent items 5A through 5S. Can I get a motion? So moved. That was Mr. Miller. Can I get a second, please? Second. That was Mr. Corrado. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? And they will all be carried. Okay, we do have other items that we have to vote on that are not part of consent. The next item we'll be voting on will be item 5U, which will be the approval of the CPSE schedules. Can I get a motion? That was Mr. Miller. Mr. Leggio, can I get a second? >> Second. And that's Mr. Austin. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Abstain for the same reason stated at the 8/26/25 meeting. Okay. Uh the next item we need to vote on is item 5V, approval of the Eastern Suffolk BOCES
072budget 2026 to 2027. Can I get a motion? So moved. That was Mr. Corrado. Can I get a second? Second. Uh second was Mr. Prestia. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? And that will carry as well. Uh the next item is 5W, which is the Eastern Suffolk BOCES Board of Election. Can I get a motion? So moved. That was Mr. Miller. And the second was Mr. Leggio. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? And that will carry as well. And the next item we're going to be voting on is 5X, which is the property tax report card, and I'm going to read that aloud. Be it resolved, the Board of Education of the Islip Union Free School District adopts a property a a budget property tax report card for the 2026-2027 school year with
073a tax levy of $70,527,553 and a total budget of $106,244,044 for the annual district budget vote and election to be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. The proposed budget expenditure requires a tax levy increase of 2.85%, which exceeds statutory tax levy increase limit of 2.22% for the school fiscal year and therefore exceeds the state tax cap and must be approved by a 60% of the qualified voters present and voting. Can I get a motion? So moved. That was Mr. Austin. Can I get a second? Second. And that was Mr. Miller. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? And I abstain. And that will carry as well. Okay, that concludes our agenda items. We're now going [clears throat] to move on to our public questions, and I do have a few public comment cards here. Joshua Rivera.
074Uh good evening, staff members, with a bunch of questions. Yep, I have one. I have my notes. And my phone died. Yo, Joshua Rivera again. Sorry, honey, my phone died. Um So And I'm going to so so so sorry. Uh so five section five L and M. Um so I was looking looking over and those were authorization of budget transfer for professional services. Um So $35,448 uh is being it's my understanding, from reading this, it's being moved uh for um under budgeted services. Now, [clears throat] and then another in section M, the authorization of budget transfer for health services insurance, which is 51,000 in total. Uh just kind of want to understand what that is exactly uh and cuz to me that's a oversight of $87,000 in total. $86,448. So, I I can answer that.
075Mr. Rivera, those budget codes, as I um mentioned earlier, were some of the under budgeted codes. Um we have um service contracts that were not reflected in the allocations that were in the budget. So therefore, um for us to pay those, we needed to we needed to do some budget transfers in order to um comply with those contractual obligations that we have. Um as far as the uh health services, those are health services that we pay for students that are at other districts. Um and that could change at any given time if there are students that are enrolled in private private schools or public schools, and we are required to pay the health services. Um in addition, the cyber insurance, I think I mentioned it earlier, um we um received a quote um on a
076renewal that was um unanticipated increase. Um so we are um looking to fulfill that. Is there options for possibly going elsewhere with a different company, or is that when you stuck with the same company? Um there are options we will be speaking to our insurance agents about next year's, um but these are for bills um that we have received this year that need to be paid. Got you. Um and then my other question was I looked at it says in part L it says $17,724 for security and weekend personnel. Now, just FYI, uh this is completely uh off topic. My kids play play PAL here in the high school. I mean, I know many of the parents here, we're all all across soccer, everything. Um when my kids use the facilities here at the high
077school, uh when we have a game on Saturday or whatnot, there is no security. There is no custodial, there's nothing. It's just the teams and everything, we just show up. Now, when we come here, the facilities, everything's all closed, and there's maybe 200 kids, maybe 300 kids here, uh and there's no security or custodial staff here. So, uh I'm assuming this is only for for a school functions, but is there a possibility that we could possibly open to the PAL and for our kids to use the facilities here? Mr. Rivera, no no security? Yeah, got it. So, um our weekends cover um our mobile patrols that may not specifically be stationed at each building. Um so they are in the car and you will see them moving around throughout the district. In In answer to
078your question about could we You're asking could we add more security during the PAL games? I just say cuz I know the principal called the Somebody called me and my wife and they indicated that the facilities need um janitor uh janitor uh custodial staff for cleaning and before and after the after the events, but we got no word back from the board that there was going to be approval for individuals to be there to clean up afterwards. After the PAL games. Yeah, after the meeting, would you give me your cell number and I'll follow up with Mr. Shimabukuro and then we'll see if we can get you in touch and coordinate some things. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Just give me a moment. Just talking about all our finances and everything. Are we still looking
079at the smart schools grant next year? Oh, yeah. Yes, we are. Um Yeah, we're actually making good progress on it. So, um we have every building mapped out for locations for additional cameras. We have um Internal cameras? Yes. We have some um Yeah, great clarification. Thank you. We have prices. Um and once we get through this process, we'll be taking some steps. Okay. Back to the budget, can we kind of get a continuing idea of what happens if we don't pass our budget? Yeah, so we have two two issues to contend with, right? That's a great question. Um one issue is the the difference between piercing the tax levy and not is $432,000. So, um again, our our bargaining units and individual employees have been fantastic and um we've made some assurances to them that
080in return for their assistance uh everybody who's scheduled to be working next year will be protected, so we wouldn't cut personnel, right? So, that means we would have to find money in other places. Um so we can give a more comprehensive list, I think, next next meeting, but um Dr. Jean Do we have a list of Unfortunately, some places where we would begin to look, but not solidified. And I just want to say before he reads anything the goal is always to continue to provide full program, full supports, not take away anything that directly impacts students. Um so, we would do our best, but there are some things that would impact students' opportunities. Thank you. Okay, so some programs that we were considering and we were looking into if we need to go and make
081up that roughly about $400,000. Uh one of them is our Kid O program. Um it's probably Yeah. It's bedtime even to go into the hackathon on Friday. Um our elementary students but we're also looking at summer enrichment as well as our summer Regents review uh with proctoring. Uh the Regents review will require our students to travel to other districts if need be to go to a summer school program and or review session. Um the PSATs [clears throat] we pay for, we're looking to cut that as well. Um we're looking at um the asking um families to uh rent music equipment and [clears throat] instruments. Uh we currently pay for all instruments in the district. Um we're looking at clubs and the cutting of clubs um from uh kindergarten up. We recently reinstated a few years
082ago our elementary pro- uh clubs after school. Um we're looking at field trip and transportation money uh that we were looking to cut. Um instructional coaches would be also uh individuals that we'd be looking at uh to cut as well as our performing after school uh jump start enrichment programs that are currently taking place in multiple uh buildings throughout the district. Um and [clears throat] uh even looking at some of our athletics and some of our sports programs. Um and looking for a balanced approach of some of those All those areas we're also looking at some of our late buses. Um and and looking for uh places where we can cut on uh transportation after school or after hours. And just I've said this before 5 years now, probably. We really need what we have,
083what we're losing, what we're gaining. And then if we don't have a budget that works, we can look at that same list, what we have, what we're losing, what we're gaining. It's a visual and it's transparency for the community to understand the budget process. All right, thank you. Councilman Sabatino >> [laughter] >> Um Councilman Sabatino, so I just wanted to thank everybody for the presentation about the ninth grade day at the middle school. Um this is literally going on year five that I've been annoyingly asking for this and asking for information and pushing for a change in the middle school program and it's the first time that aside from the board and Dr. O'Hara that I've gotten such real feedback and such real conversations from Mr. Herskowitz, Mr. Stern, um Dr. O'Hara, you know, I've
084always been listened to, but I appreciate really being heard. I appreciate all the work that went into this. I know it was a tremendous project to really break it down and I've had many conversations, so I do appreciate all the work. I appreciate the time that went into that. Um you know, it was kind of one of those shoot for the stars and see if you or shoot for the moon and land in the stars kind of thing. So, I look forward to seeing the change in the general music curriculum. I think that that does cover um some of what my concern was with the overage on the credits for the music kids who are in ensembles. Um I appreciate conversations about philosophy at the middle school. It's the first time really that I've had
085those conversations, so whether I agree or not, I respect the philosophy of the teaming at the middle school level and the AIS being a scheduled period of the day, there are options for that and it's nice to know that there's a strong philosophy that the district will stand behind and not changing that. So, you know, differences of opinion are okay, but I do really appreciate and respect all of the time that was taken in that. Um I think there is benefit in looking at this at a different time when we're not up here crunching numbers the way we are right now for that ninth grade day. I think there's a lot of benefit. I think it can work creatively. Um I would also love to see an art option for seventh graders at some point,
086uh especially if they're in the ensembles because they have that flexibility. Feeding our program at the high school, I think is important. Um I know that that's growing, so you know not to say that it's kind of being put to rest, but I do appreciate kind of this really cohesive, comprehensive thought and and summary on a five-year-long conversation and not fight, but you know discussions along the way. So, that's all. I know there's a lot going on, but I felt like it was important to really recognize the work that was put in and how much I appreciate it. I'm sure the community does also. Okay. Yeah, thank you for your comments and really uh Mr. Stern and Mr. Herskowitz, Dr. Jean Kador should really be commended because and also um counselors at the middle school
087and other people because it was really a a thorough dive into what do we have, what's possible. And I know a lot of people sat around the table even in the meeting I was at. So, it was a lot of people. I just meant personal conversations that I've had. Really extensive conversations that were a lot of time. Um so, you know, thank you to everyone, really. Thank you. Hi, Scott Brown, 090R3402. Uh 122 St. Marks Lane. So, I want to start off by saying that all of our thoughts and prayers create this money that we're asking for. And I also hope that all of our personal finances increase with these hopes and prayers. If we're piercing the cap by roughly 400,000, my question is, why not pierce the cap another 360,000 for a total of
088760,000 so we don't have to ask for concessions from the employees that are also feeling the burden of expenses increasing just as the school is. Except those are people that can't just ask other people for money. That I mean that's that's a terrific question and it's a matter of trying to balance everybody's needs and it's a matter of trying to get community members to chip in to move us forward as well as employees to chip in to move us forward. And so, it would be a question of you know, raising taxes on all the residents that much more. So, we try to balance it the best we could. Okay, fair enough, but I I would just you would have broken it down to like $60 per household. So, I'm thinking that's like we need $110
089per household. I know, but you know, again, we were trying to be equitable, of course, and and you know, we we do have we do have taxpayers that are on a fixed income. We did pass a resolution for Um that uh senior citizen discount >> citizens that are that you know, that have limited income and their property taxes are being um you know, reduced. So, we we need to be mindful, so you know, and again, like I said the the last time and again, the the word pierce the cap the last time was in 2021. And so this this is really just hopefully just a one-off year. I mean, because as we're going forward as we saw in presentations tonight, that I don't think, you know, that we'll be in this I don't ever want
090to be in this position again. I mean, going forward, so we I do appreciate that everyone stepped up and as everyone's been saying here tonight, so uh this was like a win-win, you know, for everybody. Okay, fair enough. Um and then my next question is about the There's a program going on in the schools called the Research for Better Teaching. And I was hoping to get a little breakdown on what is that. Um it's [clears throat] Research for Better Teaching and it's a it's a professional development program that we use with our faculty. Um You know, teaching is is really a very complex endeavor and the philosophy behind it is that skillful teachers are made not born. So it what it means is it's not typical for a person to walk into a classroom and
091just be a natural and there's actually a lot of work effort that has to go into developing your repertoire and your skills as a teacher. And so it's a we've used two courses with this organization. One's called the skillful teacher and the other one's called analyzing teaching for student results for employees. Um and so we've done professional development with our faculty and with our administrators. >> [snorts] >> It might have just died. I think your battery died. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> Thank you, Thomas. So back to the research for better teaching. You said that it was to you know, everybody's teaching is a difficult task. So was that only implemented for teachers that are new? No. All teachers across the board. Um every teacher new to us and we started with our secondary
092teachers. Um I think we could be at cohort six or seven. Cohort six. Moving on to seven and at approximately 24 teachers per year. Okay. So even teachers that are going to retire in two years went through that training? No, not necessarily. I mean there could have been somebody that was close to the end but it depends on you know, where they were and what the what the makeup of a particular cohort may have been. What was the cost of this program? I think it was $1,200 a year. How much was it in the budget this year? Approximately 70,000 was in the budget for next year but we removed that money. We're going to do it in house. Oh, so we're Okay, good. That's that's an Well, it's actually I mean it's not an improvement
093because um it's [clears throat] it might be difficult for people to understand if you're not in a classroom every day but Most of your questions came from teachers. Yeah. Well, whether you're a teacher or an administrator, you should be a lifelong learner and really the philosophy is we can't expect students to be learners if we don't expect the adults to be learners and this is a profession where you know, good should never be enough and so really whatever stage of your career you're in, you should be trying to advance ourselves. I agree. I do blacktop rather than so we got to we still learning every day. Even in the construction trades, we mean everybody's trying to increase their learning. Um [clears throat] so this year is 70,000. I think [snorts] you answered all my questions.
094Thank you. Thank you. >> My pleasure. And last one Mr. Lavian. Yeah, can I ask a question? All right, now folks that concludes our public questions and we're going to move on to reports and correspondence. This is one of my favorites Mr. Deutsch. Thank you. I think this has been an incredibly productive and informative board meeting. You know, talking about finances and the middle school schedule but I'd like to discuss something I find a little more fun. The events going on around the district that make Islip so great. So here are some of the ways parents and the community members can get involved across the district. The Commack Road Elementary PTA invites you to their Blue Jeans Ball Basket Raffle Fundraiser, a fun night out to support our schools. This adults only event will take
095place this Thursday, April 23rd from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Captain Bill's Restaurant. The evening will include raffles, a buffet dinner and a chance to connect with others in our community all while supporting Commack Road Elementary. I mentioned this in the last meeting but I'm going to say it again. This special event will also honor our very own Board of Education Trustee, Mr. Eric Buehler and Commack Road Elementary Teacher, Mr. Dougard for their dedication and contributions to our district. >> [applause] >> TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW TO BE purchased using the link or QR code shared on Parent Square. We encourage everyone to come out and support this great cause. Next, the Islip High School PTSA is hosting a personalized basket fundraiser which makes for a great graduation gift. These custom baskets can be personalized with
096the student's name and class year and are available in multiple sizes. Orders are due by Friday, April 24th and can be placed using the link shared by the PTSA. This is a great way to celebrate our seniors while supporting our high school. Mom, this was targeted by the way. And finally, I want to encourage all current 11th grade students to consider applying for my position as next year's ex officio student Board of Education member. This is an incredible opportunity to represent your peers, share your voice and be directly involved in the decision-making process within our district. It's a meaningful and rewarding experience and I highly encourage anyone interested to apply. Applications are due by May 1st and should be submitted directly to Dr. O'Hara. Thank you. All right, you know, [clears throat] just to follow
097up on that ex officio student Board member. Uh Dr. O'Hara has met with six students already and again as Mr. Deutsch reported, the deadline is on May 1st. So once we hit that deadline, we see the students we have and then the Board will interview them and then we'll pick a new um new Board member and an alternate in the event that that person could do it. So as Mr. Deutsch said, encourage everyone to do that and again I said it before you never had this is the first time he's doing it. He didn't have a mentor and he just you know, falls right into the job, right into the position and it's been a pleasure having you here. We have a few more Board meetings. Thank you. May I add? I had a group
098information session with the students and it seems that Brody is a bit of a YouTube sensation. At least they all shared that they had seen him in action and had watched him at the Board meetings. All right and one other thing in reports and correspondence. So let's not talk about the year yet. Tomorrow is Administrator Professional Day and this probably this will be the last time I'll be doing this and this is one of my favorite parts at at the Board meeting where we get to recognize our district clerk because she's the voice behind the phone, the emails and she really really does not like the attention. >> [laughter] >> I mean come ON UP HERE. >> [applause] [laughter] >> UM IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE, YOU KNOW, AND THIS IS a small token of our
099appreciation and thank you for everything that you do. You know, you know, our our lawyer, you know, he deals with a lot of district clerks and the praises, the accolades that he gives to Carrie and you know, our follow through, our attention to detail. And again, what's coming up next is the budget vote and the elections which is so important and it just goes it's such a difficult task and she makes it look so easy. So Carrie, thank you so much. It's been it's been great and the court says take tomorrow off. I'm only joking. >> [laughter] [applause] >> Okay, uh All right, that's it on the reports and correspondence. It's going to bring us to our dates to Our next Board of Ed meeting will be on May 5th. My ticket session will be
100starting at 5:30 p.m. Public will be at 7:00 p.m. It will be the public hearing 2027 budget vote and Board meeting which will be here in the high school auditorium. So that's what we have tonight, folks. So with that I'd like to get a motion to motion? I move. Mr. Korean a second. Folks, thank you for attending. Thank you for all your questions. Stay safe and we'll see you at the next Board meeting. Thank you again.