001Gabby. Thank you. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] You want to [Music] get Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] 2. Come on. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] Another round of applause for them. Woo! Heat! [Music] I'll eat this. It's good. Good job. There you go. Very quiet. So many people. We'll start a minute. We're waiting for one more board member. [Music] Yeah. And I like Oh, Everybody, please stand for the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty andice for all. Good evening everybody. My name is Paul Austin. I'm the vice president of the ISIL school board.
002Mr. Denine, the president, and Tom Legio are away at a fire commissioners meeting tonight and could not make it tonight. Um, it's nice to see a full crowd here. We have a uh big night tonight. I guess you've already seen the musical performance and we have our night of champions after which we will take a short break and then we'll come back with our public hearing of the 2526 budget. We invite everybody to come back for it. We encourage everybody to come back for it. It's a load of information for your district. At this time, I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Thank you, Mr. Austin. Uh, good evening, everyone. This is a thrill to see these seats filled. Usually, we have our board meetings and there might be six or seven people in
003the office. So, um, uh, we do this several times a year and they're always the best nights of the year because this is when the effort, uh, the grit, the growth mindset, and the stick tuitiveness gets recognized. Um, so to everybody who's here tonight for the award, congratulations. Grandparents, family members. Um, we should be proud of the effort that you put into getting these young people to this place that they're in and to the place that they are. And tonight we are going to celebrate lots of exciting achievements. So without further ado, I would like to ask Mr. Hershitz to come up to the microphone and he will be giving our recognition up for us. [Applause] Why are you all going away? Good evening everyone. Uh Michael Lever is director of fine and performing arts
004uh here in this wonderful district. This is one of my favorite nights of the year of the two nights that we do this. Um, as Dr. Rohara said, we're celebrating our students, their growth mindset. I think what I love the most is that tonight, um, you get to see the students and their achievements because this district and the board of ed provide them the resources. Our teachers here provide them the tools, but it's really the students that took that and ran with it. and achieved all the things that you're going to see tonight and I am unbelievably proud to see them. So, if I can just ask um some of my fellow teachers from the fine performing arts to join me up here to celebrate our students. Mr. And if I could uh ask for
005assistance from our amazing elementary principles. awards to hand out tonight. Um we'd like to do this in a speedy process, but being able to recognize uh every one of the students uh that's receiving an award tonight. So, we're going to start with our elementary students. Uh I'll describe a little bit about the awards that they're getting and ask them to come up here and accept their award and we're going to stay up here and we're going to take a picture together. So, every year um we have a New York State music assessment system we call the NISMA Festival and we were very lucky to host it here this year. Um but students who participate in that and earn a certain score. Um and as well as a nomination of their teacher are accepted into these
006Suffach County level honors ensembles. Um we had many students participate in those ensembles today uh this year. Uh, and I'm very happy to say that um, we had uh, over 220 of our own students participate this year and we're very looking forward to seeing uh, what those achievements are for next year and their ensembles. So, when you hear your name, please come up here, receive our certificate and stay up here. Actually, can we slide down a little bit for the Scamia Division One All County Band? Owen Chandler, Elena M. County Forest. Abigail Bados, Haley Cazmir, Grace Fernandez, Cabaro, Savannah Torres, Joseph start to see you again. Leila Lazero and Loa [Applause] version. All these students are considered amongst the best musicians in Suffach County. Let's give them a round of applause. [Applause] She's in the
007back. And now for the middle school. [Applause] Uh I want to start uh recognizing the four students that you actually saw performing earlier. Um we call them the middle school uh Iceland middle school quintet. They've been practicing all year uh under the baton. We can say that of Miss Bartlett uh to prepare them for the Long Island String F uh Long Island String Festival, Selma County Chamber Festival. And I just have a full circle moment here. I just to tell everyone in person, which is I actually started this festival uh 14 years ago when I was working at Stony Brook University. And one of the very first students to be involved in that festival is actually Miss Bartlett. And now it's become preparing students for a very So, one of those students could be here
008tonight. I'll recognize that in a sec in a second. Those students are Ella Fishbine could be here this evening, but Malcolm Freeman Heat. Heat. [Applause] And now for our middle school students who made it into the Suffach County Division 1 and Division 2 bands. [Music] Is that powers? [Applause] in the division one chorus. Gavin Ker, Samuel Nasso, Julio Sanchez, Division one orchestra. Chelsea Cooper, Taylor Gillette, Christopher Lyn. [Applause] Got plenty of room. Yeah. So, let's let's congratulate this group of division one. [Applause] Now for our division two, these are our seventh and eighth graders. Tilly and Cassandra Love you. For division 2 chor is Ella Carvalo. for the division 2 orchestra. Alice Champion Billy Champion Alexa and again Malcolm Freeman who couldn't be here this weekend. Dominic [Applause] And while because we have a couple
009of students who are involved in a few things this year, we had middle school students accepted into the Itilier Flowerfield uh jured art show which is actually a very big deal on Long Island as well. Uh, one of them is Tilly. All [Music] right. Thank you. All right. Now, we want to recognize some music and arts students from the high school. his board. Dr. Gonzalez, I think I saw there we go. His third as well, Mr. Rudo. We'll start with music again. These are students who participated in the Scamia Division 3, Ball County. So, these are students in the ninth and the 10th grade. We recognize our 11th and 12th graders uh at the night of championship ball. Ryan [Applause] Brown, the orchestra are Christopher Dunworth. [Applause] Okay. Can I That's [Applause] Joel. Now, we
010have some art students from the high school as well that we want to recognize in the same jury show, the itilier, the flower field. Very excited to have so many students get in this year. We're very excited for this. Abigail Butlerini, Alison C, Matthew Levy, Amy Rich, Kathy Angelus, Rios Cruz, Aaron Thor, Weiss. [Applause] Okay. [Music] [Applause] And just a little plug on May 20th right here, coincidentally the same night in the budget vote is Festival of the Arts. We will be having performances during the night. We will have art all around this area. of the auditorium representing every single school. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pieces of art, gear, performances, solos, uh, ceramics, 3D art, um, scavenger hunts. We will also be having an instrument petting zoo for our youngest performers. They get
011excited about choosing an instrument. How many people were there last year? Awesome. Even more fun this year, we might still have a kazoo orchestra if they let us. Thank you so much. It is a pleasure to always be here. Craft director of fires to Mr. [Music] I think he uh I think he takes the cake now. One thing I always forget, but on behalf of all of us, this couldn't happen without the very important work of Miss Kianne Carr who puts all together. Well, congratulations to all of our music and arts award winners. It's a great accomplishment and uh it's nice to be able to to piggy back and you'll see some uh crossover how many of our students not only do well in the music and the arts but they also excel in athletics.
012Um this past and that's just the beauty of Iceland. You know so many of our student athletes are involved in just so many things just outside of the classroom and that's uh that's really one of the wonderful things about uh about ISIL uh here especially at our ISIL high school. Um just a very quick recap we had a really really nice winter season. Many of our teams are scholar athlete teams where they have a 90 average or better. All of our teams we had uh quite a few of our teams win uh section 11 Suffach County sportsmanship awards. Uh those awards are uh are earned through the coaches of the other teams rating us. That's why I always say at the parent night nights and the code nights those are very important for us because
013uh our not only do our student athletes get rated but our coaches get rated as well as our fans. Uh and again every year, you know, many of our teams do very well in that area as well. And again, it's a credit to our community because you guys always do a really great job. Uh before I start going over some awards, I just want to make real one quick plug. Uh tonight we had our first uh it was an away game, our first unified uh basketball game. They did a phenomenal job. We uh we beat Sable by about six or nine. What was it? Vince. And I want to give a plug for uh Friday. So Friday is our first home unified basketball game. If you haven't come to one of those games, it's probably
014one of the most uplifting events you'll probably ever watch. Uh it is truly uh just an amazing amazing um this atmosphere and I would love to see we have so many people here. Uh it would be the games at 5:00 uh here at the high school. We are going to be competing against our cross town rival East Icelip. So it would be wonderful if you could just spread the word. The games only take about an hour. uh then hit Main Street, get something to eat, and uh we'd love to see a big crowd there for that game. So, please spread the word, drop your community. We'd love to see a good crowd at that unified game on Friday. Um so, thank you for that. And let's get to it. Hey, our first set of awards
015will be is Coach Ragnel here, cheerleading coach Dina, come on down. And I do see coach coach, come on down. [Applause] So this uh this was our second year with a competition cheer. Uh coach has been doing an absolutely phenomenal job with the girls. Uh when you watch these kids practice and compete. Uh it it's truly amazing where they came from from last year to this season. It's uh it's truly amazing and that is is all credit to coach Ragno and uh and coach Daller for really doing a phenomenal job with these kids. So couldn't be more proud of them. I'd like to recognize cheerlead Jasmine Field. [Applause] Congratulations, girls. [Applause] Uh, next up is girls basketball. Is coach Smith here? He may not be here. We have He's actually announcing the girls softball game
016uh that game may still be going on at Wing. Um, so if I could uh Is coach Lynch coach Lynch here any chance? Yeah. Coach, you finally got these awards real quick. Represent basketball. Thank [Applause] you. Okay. First like to recognize um Paul being honors uh for basketball. Uh also she was made a nice had a nice uh nice head shot in New Day yesterday. Abigail Dumagard. Abigail she did great interview. You want to say a few words now? Uh, next up, uh, all league honors in basketball, Riley Moran. Right. And last all league in all conference honors and girls basketball, Tegan. If you haven't had a chance to come watch the girls uh lacrosse team, they having a wonderful season. Uh we got a couple more games left before playoffs and uh they had
017a great game yesterday against Mount Si. Great win. We're going to stay here. Uh, next we're going to recognize some of our boys basketball. Hey, uh, first up, all county honors, Devin Carr. Come on. Kevin's also part of our unified team as well. Uh, next up we have all county honors, Chase Harrington. [Applause] And also now recognition uh academic all county Vincent Tyrie. [Applause] uh girls bowling. I'm not sure if coach had attended tonight. I know he had to attend an award ceremony for his son. Um coach, um where is it? Coach Ro, can you come for me real for boys represent for girls. Thank you straight off the golf course for the girls golf team. There you go. Good job. [Applause] Okay. All league honors for girls bowling. Juliana Conland. Also, all league honors
018for uh bowling. Olivia Olivia Connley. Next up, Oie Isabella [Applause] Draos. Next bowl league honors, Brooklyn. [Applause] All County honors, Nicole Matu. And all county honors, Dana [Applause] Pal. Congratulations. Next we have boys following. Uh this young man is not here but we'll just make quick mention. Jacob Petland is all. Next up bowler also an all Long Island bowler. Gavin [Applause] Connell. And next up, in recognition for bowling a perfect game, I think he makes number nine in the showcase now. It'll be I think it's nine. and he gets his uh pin that'll go in the showcase forever uh and ever and ever. That's Anthony Bolero. Congratulations. Uh, girls with the track, coach Claps and Coach Casillus, you guys want to come down. [Applause] Okay. Recognition for all league honors in the long jump and
019triple jump uh this year and Nicholletas. All right. [Applause] Congratulations. Congratulations on all the honors of the triple jump uh this season. Kayla White Walters also holding on to the 600. Maline Coran league owners of the shop. Uh Julie Lyn [Applause] Daniel [Applause] Congratulations. Also, all league honors uh and uh in the shot put and all section honors in the weight throw. Guy and Jean Charles [Applause] also academic all league honors during this winter track season and Gene Charles. Congratulations. All league honors in the race. Catherine Quinn also academic all league honors in the track. Catherine Quinn in recognition for earning all league honors in the 55 meter, the 300 meter, as well as all section honors and a member of the 4x200 relay during this uh winter track season. Florida for now. [Applause] But
020in recognition again, all the honors in the 300, all section honors and a member of the 4x200 relay team during the winter track season is Brianna [Applause] Gabidon. all league honors in the high hurdles and all section honors and a member of that 4x200 relay team Brooke Martin all section and again all league honors and all county honors in the 55 meter and the 300 all section honors and a member of the 4x200 relay team Ammani Hood congratulations track. [Applause] Congratulations, [Applause] girls. Okay, next will be a boys winter track. Uh, Coach Blanchard, Coach Rosado, you gentlemen come on down. Uh the in recognition for all county honors in the shop this winter season, Josiah Patterson. in recognition uh of the uh in the county championship relay team, member of the county championship relay the
0214x200 relay team this winter track, Evan Rener. [Applause] Evan Again, also a member of that county championship 4x200 relay team, Adrien Sanchez, [Applause] uh, our county champion in the 55 meter. uh in the 55 meter and a member of the uh county championship 4x200 relay team, Colin [Applause] How, our county champion in the 300 meter and a member of that again that county championship 4x200 relay team. also earning all state golf federation honors in the 300 uh this past winter season down at Ocean Breeze, Katie [Applause] White and also earning Ball State honors in the 600 meter as well as earning all state golf federation honors and was also a member of the sectional relay team during the winter track season up at the state championships. Ryan Don, [Applause] he's your all county and county
022champion boy track [Applause] me. Congratulations, Track. Uh, Coach D, come on up for wrestling. Thanks, coach. All right, our first uh in recognition of their old league honors this wrestling season, Landon Dallagher. [Applause] League honors, [Applause] Nico. League honors, Joseph Frangelo. [Applause] All league honors. Kevin [Applause] her league honors. Dylan [Applause] Smith. All league honors. Jack White House. [Applause] All league and all county honors. Jonathan Hernandez Rosales. [Applause] He's nice in person. You got to see him on a wrestling mat. Lead champion this year, uh, Aiden this year. [Applause] Going to have another one of our league champions come up. [Applause] Connez also another league champion in all county Spencer this year. Both of those young men will be competing next week to try to make a spot on the national team. So, we wish
023them the best of luck. [Applause] And another one of our league champions in Old County, Matthew Peterson. Matthew also just qualified this past weekend for the under 14 cadet national team. So, congratulations to that. Oh, Congratulations. President Coach Wagner here. Gymnastics. Chris, come on down. Y. Uh our next recognition is going to be a uh for gymnastics. This young lady has been a household name here in Iceland because I call her up so many times because she's just a phenomenal gymnast. Uh this past season uh she earned all state honors. We we had recognized her earlier in the year, but the gymnastics the states aren't until March, so it's a little bit later in the year. So uh I'd like to recognize uh Isabella Field, not only for being all state, but also being a
024three-time all Long Island gymnast. Absolutely. Multi counties. Sorry. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for the members. Congratulations. Great job. Great career. [Applause] Just a few more awards that I'd like to give out. Our next two awards are our Suffach Zone winners. Uh SuffK zone award winners are for our students who just demonstrate outstanding sportsmanship and leadership um uh in physical education. Uh each school district on Long Island gets one male and one female student. Uh that's voted on by the phys staff. Um and usually there used to be a dinner involved, but you know they they stopped doing that now. So, obviously we'd like to recognize those two uh student athletes. This year's male recipient is Jack White House and our female recipient. I get to do this. [Music] Oh yeah.
025Congratulations. And our last our last award is going to go to um a recipient that uh each year we send out um I send out I actually send it home uh for students to uh fill out applications if they want to to be part of or try to to be selected uh to the New York State Leadership Conference. Uh and this year uh Vincent Tyrie was one of those uh students who filled out that application. It's a process through New York State. They choose they choose uh selected individuals from each of the school districts. Um and this year Vincent Tyrie was our representative up in Albany to take part in the New York State it's the third annual New York State Public High School Athletic Association Student Leadership Conference up in Albany. So congratulations Ben.
026That's uh that's our winter sports. Next, I'm going to turn it over [Music] to Miss Baron and Dr. Gonzalez. You want to come up for the high school? It's Could I please call Max Delton and Sarah Pelro down Max and Sarah, two high school freshmen, created a podcast entitled Climate Change Causes Problems on Long Island and Surrounding Areas for the submission to the Long Island Youth Summit held at St. Joseph's University this past April. Their podcast was inspired by their experience in their living environment and AP environmental science course, otherwise known as LEAPS, and their desire to make a difference. They won best project in the climate change category with their project discussing the specific impact and consequences of these changes on Long Island. Congratulations, Max and Sarah. We are so proud of your efforts
027for this project and for your interest in exploring solutions to this problem at a local level. Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] Um, I'm here to uh give awards to um our girl state uh candidates for this year and um I was asked to just give a brief explanation of girl state. Girls day is put on by the American Digital Auxiliary and it is a weekl long intense leadership program for young women and uh we are very happy to award Anna Led Led. be [Applause] ready. Oh, there's [Applause] Good evening. My name is Ronald Kley. I'm the first vice commander at the American Legion Post 411 right behind the ice town hall and I'm here to present the boy state candidates. We have Eden [Applause] MCA. Heat. Heat. [Applause] Good evening. This evening, the New York State Youth
028Leadership Recognition Awards will be presented to two outstanding juniors. Those juniors are Jenna How and Taylor Andrew. [Applause] Now, a few words on each of our award winners. Taylor has been a varsity lacrosse player since seventh grade. This year, she learned about a nonprofit organization created after a tragedy involving a lacrosse player in another state. Taylor took the initiative to bring the work of that nonprofit, Morgan's message, to our high school. She presented her idea to teachers in the school building and then to building leadership. As a direct result of Taylor's actions, our high school is piloting a new club designed to raise awareness about student mental health issues and to offer education and support for adolesccents who experience struggles. Congratulations and thank you to [Applause] Alan. Jenna How has contributed in a multitude of
029ways to the academic and extracurricular life of our high school and our school community. She was selected for her leadership skills to be a student ambassador representing our high school on the town of Icelip's unity council last year. Additionally, she is a peer mentor with Buccaneer University, a student representative on our superintendent round table, and a class officer. We are proud of your service to our school and to our community at large. Congratulations and thank you, J. [Applause] New York State Office of State Controller Award goes to three people. I'm going to ask you come up here and then I'll speak about it. Juliana Colin, Julian [Applause] The state control of student achievement board is presented to students who have shown academic excellence and potential for leadership through involvement in activities that improve the school
030or community. These students have shown leadership potential by volunteering their time to serve the school and the Iceland community. Congratulations. [Applause] Good evening. I have the pleasure of presenting the New York State Office of the Attorney General's Triple C Award to some fine high school students. This award from the New York State Attorney General's office goes to those students who are being recognized for their ability to persevere to overcome obstacles and to get things done. The triple C's are commitment, character, and courage. Is Mr. Caleb Raider here this evening? This first award goes to Caleb Rider, who will be proudly representing his community and his country in the United States Marine Corps. Caleb has shown the three C's. courage to meet the challenges he has confronted, commitment to bettering himself, and the strength of character
031that you have and that will continue to guide you, Caleb, in charting a positive force in the future. [Applause] Congratulations. I'd now like to invite Miss Ryan A. has also been presented to Ryan. Ryan, you have shown courage, commitment, and character during your years at Icelip High School. I am especially proud of the dedication that you have grown shown through your seal of civic readiness project. You did not would not give up and our school is better because of your efforts. Thank you, Ryan, Pereira, and Haley Roerty. Please join us once. The triple C award is also being presented this evening to seniors Kira and Haley for their participation in the seal of civic readiness. Their project was to prompt building administration to complete the first responder wall of honor in the main office. They
032helped to provide the encouragement that we needed to complete the project that was started some years ago. You may have seen them recently interviewed on News12. Congratulations and thank you Kira and K. [Music] [Applause] girl. [Applause] This is from the New York State Office of the Attorney General Civic Ambassador Award. This award is given to one student in each high school in recognition of their passion and knowledge to citizen government. This student is a role model for all students and pro in promoting the importance of civics education and engagement. It is my pleasure to present this award to an outstanding student, one who has excelled in the subject area of social studies. Congratulations to William Ham. [Applause] This is a [Applause] case. At this time, would Ryder Miranda please join me at the podium? I
033am honored this evening to recognize Ryder Miranda as the Icelip High School class of 2025 saludiator. Ryder is as kind, thoughtful, and dedicated as he is academically talented. He has a strong affinity for STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Yet, he you have excelled in every subject area at our high school. Ryder, you have consistently challenged yourself, including this final year of your high school career with a schedule that is full of advanced placement classes. You, as a young scholar, have made significant contributions to our high school, and on behalf of our school, we wish you all the very, very best in all your future endeavors. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Lastly, I'm thrilled to recognize this evening John Ojiri and [Applause] the first John is as humble, caring, and kind as he is academically brilliant. You
034have, John, consistently challenged yourself by taking a full complement of advanced placement courses throughout your time. I had the pleasure of traveling internationally with John on a school trip last year and I can attest he is engaged and inquisitive about life and the world around him. Whether at home or afar, John Ojiri, you will continue to make an enormous difference. John will attend MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. studying chemistry. Congratulations, John, on earning the distinction of being your classes validictorian. We wish you all the very best. [Applause] Um, I think you can't help but be inspired by uh that huge list of achievement just shows tremendous dedication. and commitment as I mentioned earlier. So, congratulate everybody once again and with the board's permission, I think we'll take a 5m minute recess. However, we do
035have a very important public hearing on 2025 2026. So, I would invite you all to stay. We will take a 5m minute recess and resume. Thank you very much. Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] Okay. Hello. Good evening again. And uh for those of you that stuck around, we're on live public hearing on the budget. Thank you for being with us. Um if you've been here through some of our other presentations, I'd like to tell you in advance that some of the information this evening will be repetitive. It'll definitely look familiar. And there's a couple pieces of new information and you'll see that as we go through the presentation. The curtains is my favorite feature. What do you think about um Okay, this slide may look familiar to you. This is where we've been with our presentations. We
036had a presentation on what we thought the state aid may be and where we thought our tax levy may come up. That was March 5th. On March 26th, we presented a uh a proposed expenditure budget. On April 8th, uh we gave a review of the budget process. We shared K12 enrollment. We shared class sizes on the K5 level. And uh we talked about some staffing and uh programs that are in the district. Two weeks ago was the final budget proposal and the board adopted the budget that I'll be presenting this evening. And here we are on May 7th at the U public hearing on the budget. And uh you'll see this date in here several times and we'll continue to remind people please come to the polls and vote on May 20th. Uh of course
037our mission statement is to empower all students to achieve excellence and reach their full potential. Um essentially we want every student who graduates here to be first choice ready by the time uh June of 12th grade arrives. Just to point out to those of you who came in um you may have seen a lot of documents in the back. These are documents that we are required to produce. So, there's hard copies um on your way in. If you haven't gotten them, you can get them on the way out. And if for some reason you don't see them on the way out, you can find all of them on our website under the board of education page um under the budget link and also you can find hard copies of the main office of each building
038in the district. Okay, this is uh definitely a repeat. We've gone over our budget goals several times. Uh but basically to maintain the welcoming, safe and supportive environment we have in our school community. Uh keep our focus on academic, mental and social well-being, improve our instructional programs and expand curricular and extracurricular opportunities for students. Provide high quality instruction. Uh enhancing technology and focusing on professional development that's researchbased and continue with the long-term plan for the district's educational program while dealing with those things that are listed uh below. maintaining our security teams, identifying repairs and improvements, upgrades to facilities, managing our reserve funds, and um navigating all this in the 13th year, soon to be the 14th year of uh a tax cap in New York State. This slide again is a repeat. I'd like to
039reiterate uh this is a list that I'm I'm quite proud of. Uh it reflects the effort of teachers, administrators, board of education, support staff. Um it lists initiative programs that began in earnest in uh September of 2022 uh and have grown over the last three years and continue to be in force today. Um the things on this slide in addition to our overall program touch every kind of student, every grade level, all sorts of different interests. Um, and that's a list I I'm quite proud of. Um, and to reiterate what we said several meetings ago, we are uh not losing any programs. We're not cutting any programs. We're not reducing any programs. We're not eliminating any uh positions. Uh we will through attrition not be replacing um one elementary teacher. Uh possibly will not be
040replacing one physical education teacher. And there were three special education aids uh that uh have either retired or resigned and likely will not replace those positions. Other than that, class sizes remain intact, faculty remains intact, support staff remains intact, and we'll be able to provide students with at a minimum the same but most likely a better experience than they've had thus far. You've seen this slide um which explains that our revenue has to equal our expenses in New York state. The law requires school districts to have a balanced budget. So that simply means that we cannot spend more than we take in. So the money that we're receiving in state aid, local revenues, property taxes, fund balance, etc. has to equal the amount of money that we spend. At least that's the budget of that.
041You've also seen this slide um it's it's uh changed over the course of the several presentations. The most important thing to note is you see at the bottom the revenue matches the expenditures that are on the right $12,445,046 in revenue, same number in expenditures. So we had zero budget gap. There's been a lot of work done with uh by Mr. Zedberg and administrators to get to this point. Uh this pie chart shows our estimated revenue and you can see uh from this uh graphic display that the tax levy is the largest part of our revenue. State aid is the second largest part. Uh we plan to use some fund balance, some local revenue and uh use of reserves which we explained in more detail at the budget adoption rate. Same kind of chart but it
042just shows um our estimated expenditures. You can see that the bulk of our school district uh which is typical for school districts um is spent on instruction uh and benefits. So the overwhelming majority of the school district budget is salary and benefits. You can see general support transportation debt service and there is uh interfund transfers in the top right and you might say where's the slice of the pie for that. Um, the problem is the slice is so small that I couldn't figure out how to make it visible. So, it it reflects $150,000 out of 102.5 million budget. Uh, here's another way to look at our expenditure budget. It lists the same things you just saw in the pie chart, but it shows you the changes from the 202425 budget to the proposed or adopted
043budget for 202526. And in the bottom right, you can see that our budget's increasing by uh 2.3 almost $2.4 million and it's 2.37% budget to budget increase. Um I noticed uh some people taking pictures, but this this will be available on the website and it might be available. Excuse me. That was just me. Yes, I well I was speaking to just you. I was trying to be helpful. Um, okay. So, um, these numbers are important. Our our adopted budget, uh, the budget that the community will vote on, uh, on May 20th is [Music] $12,445,46. The tax levy, the money that the school district will collect from property owners and businesses in in the school district is $68.5 million. It's a budget increase of 2.37% and it's a tax levy increase of 2.42%. What does that
044mean to the homeowner? Uh approximately $259 increase in your school taxes annually uh or about $22 just under $22 per month. Um voter requirement for this budget is a simple majority. So 50% of the people who show up to the polls plus one person because the budget that we've adopted is tax cap compliant. So we're not asking to pierce the cap. We do not need a super majority. Okay. On May 20th when you come to the polls you'll be asked or you'll have the opportunity uh to elect two candidates to the board of education. Either Miss Cro Gray or Miss Trusty for one seat. uh currently held by Miss Flora who will be stepping down after many years of service and Mr. Clarine will also be on the ballot but he is running on opposed
045this year. Proposition number one will be the actual budget itself. So you'll have the ability or the opportunity to vote yes or no for our 102.5 million budget. Uh like I've said already, it's tax cap compliant. It's fiscally responsible. It supports all of our programs, initiatives, and student supports. Uh and we also have an eye toward the future with uh part of the bill. And there's a second proposition this year on the ballot which will be asking uh the community for approval to uh spend capital reserve funds. Uh these funds if given the approval by the community will fund a new playground at Wayne Elementary School uh which is in uh pretty bad strains right now. It will fund a new greenhouse at the high school. Uh it will fund the abatement of the Tion
046asbestos containing materials in the facility wall cassette wing and also some high school plumbing upgrades and retaining wall that's needed in the basement of the high school. Um and it's important to note that this is at no additional cost to the taxpayers. So essentially uh the million dollars that we're asking for the community's approval to spend on these projects has been saved over a number of years. It's in an account specifically for this purpose. Um, if the community votes no, then the money will just stay there and we can't use it for these projects. If the community approves proposition number two, then that money will be used for these projects. It does not affect the tax cap. It does not affect your taxes, your school taxes in any way. And so, um, at the last
047meeting, we promised that there would be a little more detail, uh, at this meeting for that proposition. So, this is exactly what it will be, uh, when you come to the polls. And basically it's telling you not to exceed a million dollars plus incidentals and it lists the uh projects and renovations at the high school greenhouse plumbing upgrades and retaining wall building and all interior upgrades at wing and uh of course the playground. Uh here's some detail about the high school greenhouse. When this project is done, it uh will be a greenhouse that will be the envy of many school districts around the county. Um not as exciting coming up, but um these things need to be attended to. Uh school playground. Uh so essentially with the school playground, uh the voters will give us
048hopefully your approval on May 20 uh May 20th. That means May 21st, first thing in the morning, we will begin this process. So, some paperwork has to be sent to the state. It might take about 30 days to get uh that approval. Um our architects have already been working on this project. As soon as we have the approval, we'll move the project forward. It's unlikely, I think, uh that it would be finished by the start of school, but because it is an outside project, we will have the ability to work on it possibly during the school day. and you have our assurances, we will get the project done well and as quickly as possible and of course some upgrades to the uh custodial office settling um and some of the paperwork and that part of
049the project although you might ask uh gosh that's pretty boring and why do we need to attend to that um it's actually great job on the edit's part and great thinking because when we do the work inside the building it uh the uh project income is aidable from New York State. So we will get a lot of money back from the state because we add that portion to the budget. Uh and again no additional cost to the taxpayers. So it's important everybody understands that. Um, last couple of presentations we had a big list of next steps. Well, now we're here. So, the next step is for you to please uh we did our steps, now we need you to do your step, which is please go to the polls and uh cast your vote. Um,
050and that takes place May 20th in the high school gymnasium. Polls open at 6:00 a.m. They close at 9:00 p.m. Um, and at the bottom of this slide, it mentions what I talked about earlier that all the documents are available on our district website. And of course, if you have any questions, you can call Mr. Zed call my office. We'd be happy to uh to clarify or provide more detail. Um and that concludes the presentation. I just want to say thank you to the community for uh for your continued support. We're a school district on the rise and I'm excited to uh have this budget vote and move forward with great things for our students. Thank you. Questions from the board. Mr. Austin say uh if you couldn't hear Mr. Austin's question was do we
051did we get an increase in state aid? Um the answer is not yet. We're optimistic that we might get some state aid. um um an estimate if uh the state aid per school district increased by 1% we might get an additional $290,000 but we don't know of course what that uh final number will be. Um um as we've explained though the $102.5 million bottom line number cannot change. So if we get uh state aid that we didn't anticipate, then uh we could either decide to um it would be surplus at the end of the year uh at this time next year or we could uh use the money and take less money from the reserves. If you recall two weeks ago, we showed that we might use 975,000 from two different reserve accounts. And if
052we get another $300,000 from the state, then we might take uh 675,000 out of those accounts instead of 975,00. So that's how the money would help us. Does that answer you? Did I answer your question? I don't know that yet. I'm hopeful. Any anything else from the board? Anybody in the community? Miss President. Sure. Thank you. Uh almost 975,000 um that's not um aable source of income. borrowing from a savings account. How um do we plan to fill that budget gap next year if we're not planning on being reserved again? We can't rely on things like retirement. Yeah. So, we just need to have a plan. Yeah. So, um the the reserve account we're one of the reserve accounts we're taking the money from is um funded further out than two and a half years.
053And if we use the money from that particular account, we'll still have reserve for uh one and a half years, which is 50% more than what our adviserss recommend. So we think we'll have that money available for the short term. And then in the long term, um uh given the ages and experience of our faculty, there will be some retirements coming in pretty sizable numbers. And we think uh the breakage or the savings between um a teacher who has 30 years of experience compared to a teacher who's coming in new will provide us with the revenue that we need in future years. Thank you for your question. Any others? Okay. Thank you and uh we'll see you on May 20th. Thank you very much. Keep going. That brings us to the questions on the agenda
054item. Seven. Okay. Before I go to the board for uh questions on the agenda, uh I would like Mr. Calvin to give an explanation to the community on an item number K. When a law firm uh when a law firm has a uh a conflict when they're they have represented private clients or are representing clients currently that may become the involved in a matter which they would otherwise work on. Uh in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism uh the firm needs to uh defer to separate counsel uh this evening the board will be appointing outside counsel to work on a uh a particular personnel matter. This new personnel matter this new person this is a new personnel matter and not connected to any prior past uh appointments of outside council. Thank you Mr. Calvin
055too. Are there any questions from the board on any of the agenda items? Are there any questions from the community on the agenda items? I need a motion to approve recommendations upon consent for items A through N. So, Mrs. Flora in a second. Second, Mr. Buer. All those in favor? I against abstain. Motion is carried. Mrs. Brown, would you go over the personnel? requested. On the A1 this evening, we have an appointment of four substitute teachers. And on the A2 this evening, we have a resignation for the purpose of retirement from our middle school principal, Dr. Martin on the [Applause] We will be holding a recognition celebration uh ceremony at a later meeting. So thank you Dr. Martin. On the 813 this evening we have additional duties for our regions review sessions also for our
056s summer regions program. our summer uh school enrichment program for K5 and our summer um special class ESY program. On the B1, we have appointments for support staff for our ESY program as well as an appointment for a sign language interpreter for the district. On the B2, we have uh a resignation from a security guard as well as a resignation for the purpose of retirement from an administrative assistant who manages our payroll department, Miss Roseanne Apostle. On the B3, we have non-instructional uh leave of absence requests. And on the B13, we have additional duties for a school teacher aid for an afterchool program as well as um summer special class ESY um additional duties for the 25 school year. Thank you, Mr. Austin. Thank you, Mrs. Brown. Now, we'll go to the public questions part
057of the night. Our first question is from Mr. Brendan Stanton. So first uh as a chair question second you have the card I suppose. Yes. Would you like me to read it? Yeah, read your question. Yeah, great. And then I assume public comment is set. No, this is the public comment period. Okay. Uh, please describe the process used by the district to select its website vendor. Please list all criteria used in the evaluation and selection process. As the district determines it determined its IT needs, what criteria does it use to evaluate offerings uh and vendors? Does the district take into account UI UX considerations, which I must admit I had to ask what that was, but now I understand it's user interface and user experience. Correct. Okay. Um Okay. So the district looked at several
058different vendors over the last year. Among them APTOG uh link LQ and smart sites. Uh when we looked at the different vendors, we looked at the ease of design and editing and the training offered by the vendor for our web masters. We looked at the enduser experience with specific attention to accessibility and integration of tools in the design interface with which the web masters could check for ADA compliance, but also wanted to ensure that the enduser experience was smoother and more intuitive and that the site design and navigation was easy to use and understand while visually appealing. We also wanted a site that would maximize its appearance regardless of the platform whether it be a cell phone, a tablet, a computer etc. In terms of it, our department continually uh examines the needs uh and
059are flexible. We uh this department in particular prides itself on the fact that they have a variety of technical knowhow and the technicians are able to adapt to the everanging needs whether it being a realm of cyber security where we're continually highly rated by external auditors or the area of instructional technology where our staff is able to maintain a complex environment with over 3,000 devices used for instruction alone. That's the best answer I have for you. should ask a question. Is there a time limit? I assume three minutes is sufficient or is it short? Three minutes is the typically the only although they you can answer but this board is very gracious and does not stop people. Typically this board is very gracious. The staff is also excellent [Music] here. Um, thank you for greeting
060my girls in the rain. Um, make sure they get in. Um, everyone wants to do what's right. And I I heard I heard courage. I heard commitment. Uh, sometimes I interact with some of you who articulate your IT staff. Um, vital agitation. The reason that happens is this conversation we're about to begin as a group keeps going to serve. Uh today we go to hospital say, "Hey, no more phones beginning of this year. Good luck." Um I'm happy for our kids. What about us? When I wanted to go to the talent show, the notification I got from the district was a phone call, my phone, my wife's phone, got a text message. I got an email, then it went to voicemail. Then I got a push notification that voicemail transcribed. She got one about 7
061minutes later. We were trying to remember what we were discussing. So, it's not just happening to them. I heard you list three vendors, none of which were parent square. We're proposing to the board. Wrap it up here. No, I just want to That is who we're working with. I think um uh I believe Smart Sites is Parent Square. Fair enough. The board map. Yeah, I I don't know that who owns who, but we are working with Parent Square. I can tell you that. It's not solution. I'm alone because the people that would normally be with me are at silent and we're all pulled in so many different directions. The one thing that doesn't help is the notifications and it's only symptom because the next thing we could launch into is the way the site is
062designed which uses a feed. The reason it uses a feed, Instagram, YouTube, boilless successful apps is because it exploits u human behavior for fear of missing out which gs you clue that the next time you pull that down, okay, what you wanted to see is going to come up and the list goes on. So it's not that there's a problem with that vending. We're at a point where the technology, our relationship with it has to change. Has to. Because daycare just happened. Because I sit here almost shaking because I'm visualizing the amount of chemicals that are forced into my child's body when I say, "Hey, you and you all know what I'm talking about." And it's not just Google Chromebooks. My school box does 325 per upload of the funds. Let's assume one upload a
063month. 10 months of the school year. 2,700 students. Heck, let's make it two. Two uploads a month. That's reason. Well, I have two daughters. They always get so three. They're two of them in school. I want ice cream. Okay, cool. So that's 20 per time 2,700 and 325. I think it was around 87,000 and change. I'm that's that's money that is going from our household to who who the heck owns my school bus? Why couldn't I just send cash in an envelope? And then we got our parents to try and resolve the issue. My wife, who's also a teacher, tried to resolve it. And I felt terrible because our teachers are wonderful when she experienced probably a 15minute interruption in her day trying to use an application that's taking money from our household and everyone
064else is here. And where is that? It's not going to the district. And so what I was going to say a minute ago is I'm suggesting a pilot program for this district. This conversation I hope begins tonight and I won't squeeze it all in in this little exchange and thank you for your patience. There is a different way to do it. You do not have to contract out to be nameless faceless companies in other states. I'm pretty sure if you walk around the building there's a students app that's featured prominently here that can be recreated. And what I mean by that is solutions done by local community members who have vested interest just like you. That's it. And I hope you'll take that into consideration as you review your technology plan over the summer going
065into the fall. And I think a number of you know. Thank you very much. Thank you. My next question is from Miss Kristen Presky. [Music] Hi, Kristen Presky. I was going to ask about the wing playground and the timeline, but you answered that. Great. Thank you. I so appreciative. Um I didn't keep it in my pocket this time. I love to that term. Um, I wanted though and thank you for highlighting that it wasn't going to cost taxpayers any money because that playground in the dire streets. As I understand the larger playground that is suited for the older kids is no longer being used at all. So everybody is forced to share what was prior the prek playground including Isaac prek kindergarten and first so I don't really know and I'm sorry miss laser I
066didn't realize you were over there. This place I'll be calling you tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. presentation. We're going to have an extra presentation on a question that was asked last week. Um, person's not here. Hopefully, they're watching and they'll see the presentation and answer to their question. Uh so we've been asked a couple of times about enrollment and number of students um possibly leaving our district to uh attend private schools or other schools. So this page shows you what the district enrollment has been going all the way back to the 2009 2010 school year uh up until current. So, um, back in 2009 2010, there were 3,432 students. And if you fast forward, uh, 15 years or so, we now have 2,652 students as of April 30th. Um, so, you know, that's that's a
067phenomenon that's happening islandwide. It's not just an ISIL issue. Um but I think uh in recent years uh from 2021 2022 school year to now we only have 11 fewer students. Uh so uh we've been asked a couple of times about people leaving our school in droves to go to um Catholic schools or homeschooling etc. And uh the data do not reflect that. Um so here's the total number of dis of district students enrolled outside the district going back to 202021 school year up until today. So you can see uh this is K12. There were 143 students who live in the community that were in some school outside of the district. Um you can see it went to 135, 173, 181 and this current school year 145 students. So um uh that chart shows that
068the number of students leaving the school for other opportunities is not getting larger but it's at least a recent going the other direction. Uh the other question was the number of students leaving between grade 8 and grade 9. So um I couldn't find the data for the 202021 school year but you can see for the year ending in 22 23 24 and 25 the numbers are fairly consistent 10 students 10 students 15 students and nine students another question was asked of us is how many come back I don't know the answer to that it wasn't so easy to to find it but um I do know some students come back um and then also we thought how many students in the district do we have uh selecting homeschooling and you can see for the same
069time period it's also fairly consistent. Um but uh 35 36 uh down to 28 down to 25 but this year will bump to 35. So um I hope that answers those questions that's the data that we have and uh just since people had asked several times it would be worth it to share. Dr. I just had a quick question. Um so for the top number the 145 number is that inclusive of students who are um in other institutions of education. Does it include uh special education students who have um been placed out of the district in order to receive services that the district cannot provide? I believe not. Okay. So those are students who are completely um unenrolled within the district. That is my belief but I I will confirm that. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
070Thank you, Dr. Har. I believe that's all the questions we have on the cards. Brings us to updates and non-resolution topics. Our last meeting We had a reading about the exeicio student board member. On September 5th, 2004, the New York Governor Kathy Hokll signed into law a bill which amended various provisions of the education law relating to high school student participation on school boards. The new law, which will go into effect on July 1, 2025, requires all school districts in operating a high school, as well as all boards of cooperative education services establish procedures to designate at least one high school student as an exeicio non voting member of their boards of education. Tonight we are going to open up as a public discussion our ideas, thoughts of how this school district should go about
071getting a student member on the school board. So if anybody uh would like to start um just a few things that we really have to cover is uh policy. We need an application process. We need the board of education review and a possible way of selecting who is going to serve on the board. So with that being said, I'll open it up to comments. Mr. Austin, I guess I'll start. Um throughout this process, the New York State School Board Association has provided a number of materials to boards of education in order to facilitate this conversation. Um, and some of the ideas that I liked, one was very similar to the way that candidates for the board of education are selected. So, there was a petition process that a school district had. So, a student had
072to get a number of signatures from their classmates in order to be considered as a candidate first for um the student board member position. Uh there was also in addition to retaining a number of signatures from their classmates, I also like the idea of the student writing an essay explaining why they would like to become the student exofficial board member. So one two of the things I'd like to see is I'd like to see the student garner enough support whether it be through a petition process in addition to having to write an essay. So we so it demonstrates the students interest and they're explaining why they want to be the student board member in addition to demonstrating that they do have support from their classmates and then perhaps those uh candidates are screened by the
073board of education and in some fashion they're um a certain number of candidates are then um put on the ballot for the student body to vote Okay. Do you mean repeat anything or No, I got it. Okay, great. Uh the uh definitely an essay because we want somebody who want really wants to do the job. U screened by the BOP. Um, I would also add, uh, I'd like to see a recommendation by two people with a minimum of one being a, uh, somebody involved with the school. Uh, the second one could be school or a non-family member, a boss from a job, recommendation, some sort of two two different recommendations. Uh, we'll um, and see if they can write something about the person so get an idea of um, their intent. Anyone else? Mr. Austin.
074Um I I love the idea of an application essay recommendation process and but I really love um one step further uh the involvement of like a true student election. Um so perhaps after the screening of of those applicants uh if if several um let's say three to five students are selected from that process uh by the board we then put it out to the to the student body for a vote um rather than having like Mr. Corine had suggested signatures on a petition. I don't know that's my thought. I think the signatures petition was just to get the person on. Yeah. So my suggestion was to have the petition to demonstrate that the student does have a decent amount of support prior to the election, right? Just and then it permits them to be on
075the ballot. And then you're suggesting the final staff is a student body election. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So then so they get similar to what the process we have to go through. They'll get the petition signed, fill out the essay, letter of recommendation screened by the board. Perhaps the board selects the final two, three candidates, and then the election. Recommendation from the administration. One of the things we're trying to avoid is we don't want a popularity contest. We want to have uh students that are really uh they want to do this. Uh we will have to go over with them exactly what it entails. Uh it's not a it's not a walk in the park. Um it's they're going to sit up here with us at every board meeting. Um so it uh and we
076want somebody who's who's going to speak and tell us things. Give us a uh an idea of what the student body is thinking. Was um and I'm not sure a number of districts and other in other schools had uh junior seniors. I'd be fine if we had a the qualifications either junior or senior. Well, I think you you have to because the law mandates that they're in the school for two years. So, it eliminates a ninth grader because they don't have two years complete. So, it has to be either a 10th or 11th grader. Yeah. Someone going into Yeah. And really, it wouldn't it technically it's going to be just an 11th grader because you have a ninth grader or you have a 10th grader who has ninth in not the 10th year in by
077the time they're picked. So I think by the law it's going to be a junior coming in as a senior. But could all could all the grades vote? It could be a sophomore coming. We want we want somebody that's going to have a relationship with the all the grades and be able to talk to all the grades and find out what they're thinking, what their concerns are and uh get it back to us so we know what's going on. That's my other question, Mr. Austin. Once this student representative is um is selected from the process, how would they go about uh getting information to report and would an adult kind of um mentor them with that? Yes. uh we would um from readings it's uh advisable to have regular meetings with the superintendent and the
078president of the board so they get an idea of how the the board functions how things work how to get information how to relate to people um they can have uh people that report to them um uh the other thing is I would like to see um the person who's the runner up to be remaining as the runner up because if the the winner cannot serve or for some reason is removed, uh we don't want to go through the process. We want to get somebody right onto the board right away. So that's another aspect of it. So an alternate and another question, would they would they be um reporting each public session? Like would they come with a report twice a month from the student body? They they could. It's a matter of how we
079want this to evolve. They be careful they don't uh take away Mr. Clarine's accounting position. Matt, your air time may need to cut down. Competition is on. And and Mr. Roston, are summer uh meetings mandatory for this representative? We can we can discuss that. We can discuss that. I think there was a question in the back there. Um it's more of a comment. I I I'm pretty loud so I could probably just talk, but I have to respectfully disagree. I think a vote from the student body is not a good idea because I think it's going to turn into a popularity contest. Um, I think getting recommendations from the teachers who know the students, who can tell you what students are civic- minded and might be really interested in this. Um, that's probably a good
080place to start because you have kids who really would be interested in something like this but maybe don't have a ton of friends and the kids in school don't know who they are. So, I I would caution against doing a vote. Um, I also I get that we want somebody who could be a good writer and be seen in that light, but I think these kids write enough essays. I don't think we need to make them write an essay for this. Um, we're not talking a thousand words. No, but it's probably more important that they could speak in public and like you know like get up and talk make you're missing the point on the election part is these uh students would be screened and recommended already and those would go up for the election.
081So would the teachers be involved in the screen? Yes, very much so. Teachers, administration, uh we would go with their recommendations and we would screen who we feel would best fit on the board. Okay. Those would be put up for the election, not people that just want to run. Not just anybody. Not just anybody. No. Like we said, we don't want a popularity contest. We want somebody who's genuinely interested in doing this. Okay. Thank you. Um just one suggestion. You guys know how busy these children get. Uh, is there would you guys be open to having more than one so they can go in tandem and if one can't go on a night of the board of ed meeting, the other one would be there so that they have somebody else there with them doing
082for the same purpose. They work almost as co- co-chairs and that gives them a little bit of flexibility. continues the information stream from the board to the school and uh gives them a buddy especially in the beginning. I agree with that statement from everything I've read on uh selecting one the idea is to get the one person and then have the alternate to take his place or her place. Um yes ra one of the things that uh uh from doing a lot of reading on this is that they say that it also teaches um a student time management. Um we're not going to force somebody to be here every single meeting. We can't make every meeting. I mean we got two out tonight that couldn't be here. There are excuses to be out. I just
083don't want somebody coming onto the board and then appearing uh two meetings a year. That's it. Well, if you had if you had two of them, they could, you know, I mean, they're still actively involved, right? We could look at having two as a one as a backup. Um, they really don't look at it. They want one exeicio and then maybe an alternate like you said, like if one can't make the meeting, the other one can. microphone. I'm usually pretty loud, too. I guess I was actually president of Isaac. If I wanted to step down, my board was overwhelmed much like the kids working jobs extracurricular activities and we formulated a second structure of the board in our bylaws to have yes a president for signing purposes but also co-chairs because it was just too
084much for one person. So possibly doing one student and then an alternate and have them being able to work off with each other and both of them getting the experience. You can we we can look at that. We can look at that and uh see what would be against it. No, I don't think so. We we can definitely look at that and see if it uh uh we can maybe get four people kicked and or six people take and take four or if there's only four people left, we'll we'll take the four and a sign out who's um the exeicio and then who's the backups, we can also use them as information gives to find out from uh to feed the uh the officer. Yes. Hi. Um I just had a question. Does the law
085say that it has to be like specifically one or is it on a school based on what would accept more than one. You can have more than one. So it is like possible. That's why I said we'll look at that. I mean one or two people they don't represent the general population. Would you would you tell the board your name and why you're here and see? Sorry. Um, my name is Molina Bennett and um, I'm here because I'm actually doing my civics project on getting students active in the board of education. Wow. I just want to ask that, but thank you. Thank you. Are you a a junior? I'm a senior this year. You've missed it by You're too late. Sorry. You would have been perfect because you speak very well at the microphone. If
086I could better than I do, if I can just answer your question, how many um student representatives do you think the board of education should have? How many do you think would satisfy the the student population if you had to just give a roundabout number? Um for my project, I was thinking like in between. Do you think it would work if you had a student rep and then um people from each grade that could feed the information? I do believe it'll work because I know that all the like all obviously all the grades in high school have a very very different high school experience every single year and just getting the different um getting the different energy from like the like the other and stuff like that. I think it'll just be great actually integrated
087and incorporating something that affects the students daily lives. So we could have a exeicio officer, a runner-up backup, and then we could have uh three information gathers like an incoming u freshman, a sophomore, and a junior cuz the the two that are up the top there would have to be seniors. You like that idea? Okay, we're working. Thank you. [Music] Um I as well one problem with that when they're elected in they don't have two years in the high They haven't start when they're appointed. We can check that. The sop the sophomore is appointed. They serve their junior year. July 1st. Correct. I think the law they have to be reelected. I think I think they can lose your one term and then I think Um I also um I I kind of agree with
088them [Music] about if you have two kids that might be against the other and um oh and then my idea was a round table. So if you do have one or two round table where you have a representative from each grade that would give that information to whoever the only reason I think I really feel strongly about a student election is because this is their representative and if we have like an application process and then you know teachers and then the board vets that I feel like there's a missing piece which is the represented student body and And I understand the concern of a popularity contest. However, um I feel like we need to stand up for the integrity of the process and teach the stu this this is a teaching opportunity. Um and and
089we teach them perhaps about uh the values and the and and the process of who they're electing. I I think with everything that they would have to go through, it would eliminate the popularity contest because you would have you'd have a selection of students that really want to do it and we would have students that we want to have on the podium. So, it wouldn't matter who they actually voted for, it would be ones that we would be very happy to work with. And on that respect, then as far as the commitment. Yeah, we have we have two a month. Yes. Anyone else? Thank you. Hi, Rene 23 year teacher in Icelip and um lifelong resident. I sit on the Suffach County Youth Board and for many years I sat on the town of Ilick
090youth board and we've always had students from different schools represent us on the youth board and in the future for discussions. I would be happy to sit and discuss how those processes are done and maybe we can um not start from the very beginning but how our students because I recommend students from our high school to be elected to the town of Risley youth board and they have to go through a process also and we also have some students that sit on our Suffach County youth board and do um various jobs for us. So I would be happy to offer my experience over the last 20 years of sitting on those boards and nominating youth and working with the team. Okay. Thank you. Mrs. Clock, I just had a question. Who makes them the final
091determination for the students that you recommend for them to sit on the board? Is it the town board, the county legislature? It's a Well, if it's the county, it would be through the county legislators. If it's the town, it's the adults on the town youth board. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. One of the ideas we had for the election which is uh it can't be done this year was to have a uh election on the uh budget night and the board vote night. We could have a separate thing like the um they have a uh elementary school vote in the auxiliary gym. We could also have that night where they vote for um their uh student member on the board. Um, we can't do it this year because it's not we just we just can't
092get enough time to get all the paperwork process and go through everything. But that's one of the ideas we had for future. Anyone else some good ideas today? Okay, I think we got enough here. Oh, let's get into the fun part. Dates to remember. May 20th, 6:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. the annual budget vote and board election high school gymnasium. Sorry, it's not Monday, May 12th. Okay, that's at the middle school. 7 o'clock PTA right on on May 12th. There's uh all the PTAs have a meeting and then I do the uh the budget presentation to all the PTAs and then following that is meet the candidates night. You said it begins at 8:00 p.m. Yes. But the public can submit questions for the candidates to answer from 5:45 to 6:45 in person. Uh in
093person. Okay. So, for those at home, um, uh, meet the candidate night is, uh, May 12th, begins at 8:00 p.m. in the middle school auditorium. Anybody interested in submitting a question may do so beginning at 5:45 p.m. in person. Uh, submit the questions in the middle school auditorium, Miss Preston, right outside the library. Right outside the library. Submit questions beginning at 5:45. Meet the cabinet. Sorry. questions are 6:45 to 7:45 with the question with the meet the candidate interview starting at 8. Okay. The meet the candidate interviews begin at 8:00 p.m. That will take place in the middle school auditorium and beginning at 6:45. If you would like to submit a question between 6:45 and 7:45 p.m., you may do so outside the library. Correct. Looking like I'm watching a tennis match here. Do I
094have that right? Okay, thank you. And I believe this is being moderated by the League of Women Voters. Thank you. Uh on the same day, May 20th at 9:30, there will be a board of education meeting in the high school cafeteria. May 23rd through May 27th, the district is closed in observance for Memorial Day. June June 4th will be another board of education meeting in the high school auditorium. 5:30 exact session 700 p.m. public session. And June 18th, another board meeting. It's our last of this school year. Miss Flora's last meeting. So come out and bid her. I better write this down. How many days left? June 30th is the last day. 5:30 exact session, 700 p.m. public session. That concludes our meeting for tonight. Thank you everybody for coming. Can I have a motion
095to close the meeting? Motion. Second. Second. Those in favor? Opposed. This meeting is ajourned. Thank you for coming everyone. I know.