001the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice. >> Welcome to our first meeting. Oh, sorry. [Music] Thank you those joining us. Welcome to our first meeting of the fall season. Um start off with a couple of recognitions. One, it's National Research Administrators Day. So thank you to all those Jericho faculty who fill those roles in our natural science and social sciences class. And second of all, I'm hoping you all know it is National Day. So, if you all of us who are lucky enough to h to have daughters, make sure you let them know how much she means to you today. Thank you very much. Um, a few quick items before we get started. Some of this will be repetition for the people who
002listened last month, but and looking at the calendar, you'll notice we now have two meetings per month. We used to have one meeting and one work session. We've changed the name and to some extent what we do. Typically, we will address student and PTA updates, prior meeting minutes, and most board schedules at our second meeting each month. The first will be moreformational and project and presentation focused, but there could be important business and decisions at either meeting. So, I encourage you to review the agenda when it is released, typically the Friday before the meeting. Please make a note that our schools will be closed next Thursday, October 2nd, and also Monday, October 13th, and Monday, October 20th. Um before I turn it over to Dr. Kravitz, I would like to commend him of course and
003to commend him and of course our new athletic director uh Mr. Brett Cornbloom under their very brief stewardship. We've already become a football powerhouse and um we are excited about our 2 and 0 start to the season including last week's exciting come from behind homecoming victory under the lights. Congratulations to all the coaches led by Mr. who've worked extremely hard to revive our football program over the last few years and are now enjoying the fruit of some of their efforts. And then finally, for the people at home, I want to commend uh Mr. Larkin and Miss Malo and whoever else is involved in getting us this great new microphone system. Hopefully, it is working better this month given that we don't have fans here for the uh hot weather. Um, with that, uh, should we
004do some, >> why don't we go then so they can get home and study. Um, our middle school report, we have Kazm Khan and Eugene Wong from the middle school. [Applause] Good evening and welcome back to another school year in Der Middle School. We hope you had a relaxing summer. My name is Eugene Wong and my name is Ken Hong. We are sixth grade student council representatives. It is a pleasure to be here this evening. School opened on Wednesday, August 27th, and everything went smoothly. Even though students are still getting used to not using phones at all during the school day, baby steps, sixth graders can attribute their smooth transition heart to high school leaders for project A, assisting incoming middle school students who volunteer to help the next sixth grade students feel comfortable from
005day one. They guided students in the hallways, assisted the sixth graders on how to open their lockers, and shared their positive experiences in the middle school. We would like to thank our high school social worker, Mr. BZ, and our middle school social worker, Miss Brein, for coordinating this program, as well as the high school students who volunteered their time. And a very big thanks, and all of our administrators for helping make the opening of school a successful day. to our custodial staff for the immaculate school we return to as well as our transportation department. It was so nice to see our bus drivers greet us every morning and to visit to come to every day. And now for breaking news, we must let you that nest aren't just for birds. Our middle school restorative circles
006are also called nests. Our first nest was Friday September 19th. During nest, students and staff play games, listen to music, enjoy, and engage in conversations in an effort to create community. appropriately the SC community. On September 16th, Jericho public schools honored our students as 2025 natural discovery award winners by the Lo Milin Center for Unsung Heroes for their outstanding historical research. Congratulations to our finalists an Ryan Chen E and Alan Z as well as semi finalists Nicholas Wayne and Andrew Zen. A special congratulations to Anomia on her website in Angel Harlem. A special congratulations Dr. May Edward and was $500 for her research. Special thanks to the middle school social studies teachers and librarians who supported these remarkable achievements. Especially Miss Kwell, Mr. Waller, and Miss Conway. Lastly, Dr. Eric Sunberg associate in social studies,
007business and libraries, was recognized by the lowland center as an outstanding leader at the Jericho schools. Congratulations to all. September 19th was also the same day our homecoming weekend began. It was filled with rides, games, food, as well as sporting events. It was a great weekend for students, staff, and family members to come together. It was so much fun. Things are off and running. We hosted our middle school back to school night on Wednesday, September 10th. We had a great turnout. Our middle school yearbook portraits were today in our tomorrow. Your students were absent or just had a bad hair day. The makeup date for a portrait is Friday, November 14th. The STA's will announce the photo schedule for your team. On clubs, in class, sports and engine have begun. Each morning, announcements are made
008regarding meeting times and locations. Did you know that the White House has 35 bathrooms? Well, if you are an eighth grader, you may learn such facts during the eighth grade trip to Washington DC on October 6th, 16th, and 17th. All students are looking forward to exploring DC. Calling all ogres, donkeys, and magical creatures. Auditions for the middle school musical Shrek took place last week. Today is the first rehearsal. The middle the musical is scheduled for December 4th and 5th. Mark your calendars. On Thursday, October 23rd, we will celebrating our annual Oasis kickoff. This year's theme is no matter what. We will be sharing details about this anti-bullying program in the upcoming weeks. September is childhood cancer awareness week. The campaign highlights the need for continued support for research, care, and advocacy to improve survival rates
009and outcomes for children worldwide. The student council is asking all students to wear yellow on Tuesday, September 30th to support child. Well, that's all for now. Looking forward to an awesome 2025 to 2026 school year. >> Hopefully all the middle school presentations are that informative and enjoyable going forward. Next from the high school with the high bar to clear, we have Mr. Deakani and Miss Emu. Um, definitely a tough act to follow, but good evening everyone. My name is Evu and I'm one of your student council co-presidents for the 2025 2026 school year. >> And I'm Deaconi, your other co-president. >> Um, tonight we're excited to share what's been happening around German this one. >> So, let's just jump right into our updates. Similarly, like the middle school, our back to school energy has been
010absolutely amazing. Students have settled into their routines perfectly and their energy around school has been fantastic. >> Speaking of energy, our pep rally was a huge success. The student body really came together to show their J-Hawk spirit and it definitely set the tone for our fall sports season. Our winner for this year's pep rally was the boys volleyball team. >> Homecoming was equally as successful. We had many clubs set up their booths to raise money and awareness. And we had people from all of our schools and this community and other communities um to come to our carnival rides, which honestly gave me a stomach ache, but it was really fun. >> Now, let's talk about our sports because our teams have absolutely been crushing it. Um as Mr. Pearlman was saying earlier, boys football pulled
011off an incredible 21 to20 victory that had everyone on the ed edges of their seats. Not just that, our soccer teams have also been having a phenomenal season with boys soccer going 5-0 on their game and girls soccer going 4-0. >> But now moving on to some of the Jericho students with their amazing achievements. As always, Jericho students are continuing to come out on top. On September 16th, Jericho schools honored our students as 2025 National Discovery Award winners for the Lwell Milican Center for Heroes with their outstanding historical research. A big congratulations to Jay Patel and Ryan Hassan who earned the $6,000 grand prize for their powerful documentary, The Unsung Hero of Industrial Health, Alex Hamilton Alex Hamilton's responsibility in shaping industrial health policies. >> We also celebrated Ara and Chloe Hoo, winners of the
01220 $2,500 outstanding high school award for their inspiring project from oppression to action and solidarity. Gary Kochiama, an unsung unsung hero in activism. And additional congratulations goes out to our semi- finalists and finalists Judy Leang, Isabelle Dion, and Caitlyn Chun. And a special thanks to the teachers who made these remarkable achievements possible, especially Dr. Dawson. >> And once again, thank you to Dr. Sunberg as well as Mr. Kaboros as they were recognized as Lo Milin Center as astounding leaders at Jericho schools. >> Extending to the music department, they're very proud of their NISMA allstate announcement of four musicians selected to perform in Rochester this December. We have a congratulations to Arab Wu, Een Chen, Gia Choy, and Margina Chen. >> And from the English department, we're excited to announce that Ginko Chen, a 12th grader,
013won the New York Times summer reading contest for week 10. >> It's been an incredible month for Jericho and Jericho High School. And we're proud to represent such an amazing student body. And just another reminder that our annual blood drive will be this Tuesday, oh sorry, Tuesday, October 7th from 8 to 2 in the Sam Springer gym as anyone 16 and over can donate with a signed permission slip. Thanks for your time tonight and we look forward to continue to share all the great things happening at Jericho. [Applause] You cleared the bar beautifully. Next up, we have our PTA update from Aen Gingle. Good evening, Dr. Kravitz, board of ed members, central administration, faculty, staff, and committee members. My name is Aen Gingold, and I'm the president of the joint PTA council, and it's my
014pleasure to be here tonight. The Jericho joint PTA council held its first meeting on Monday, September 8th, where we had the privilege of hearing from Dr. Kravitz. Together with central administration, we discussed our schooling, welcoming information night, parent square, and a new cell phone policy. our outstanding new faculty hires and so much more. We are so grateful for this monthly opportunity to maintain an open line of communication with our administration and to discuss all that is happening across our district. Last week, the entire district came together in anticipation of homecoming with a spirit week of activities. On Friday, the boys varsity football team and the Jets helped spread school surprise by visiting our elementary schools, followed by a high school energy high energy pep rally at the high school. As soon as the middle school
015bell rang around 2 p.m., the carnival kicked off with amazing rides and fun. A heartfelt thank you goes to Victor Manuel, Maggie Rose, Brian Cummings, Michaela Failey, and all the teachers who work so hard to plan such an incredible event. In addition, we are so grateful to the middle school and high school PTSAs for adding to the fund with delicious treats from pizza to bubble tea, donuts, chips, and candy. Congratulations once again to the boys varsity football team for making history with a big win over Valley Stream and starting their season 2 and 0. Their pregame show and fan attendance helped set the tone for the big game. On Saturday, the excitement continued as our clubs recruited new members and joined in the community celebration. The weekend also included the swimming, the girls swim, boys
016varsity badmitten, boys JB football, girls JB tennis, and boys and girls varsity soccer games. Truly showcasing the spirit of Jericho. I am proud to share that all of our PTA units are off to an incredible start this year. Each unit is striving for 100% membership and with memberhub joining is easier than ever. We are continually looking for new ways to increase involvement and strengthen our impact. If you have any ideas, suggestions or concerns, I encourage you to reach out to your school's PTA officers as your voice and participation is always welcome. A special congratulations goes out to both Jackson Elementary and the high school for earning the prestigious Horizon membership award presented by New York State PTA to units that develop and submit comprehensive plan to grow their membership. Our PTA units have already been
017hard at work. KE PTA launched a revamped website is preparing for this Saturday's coloron and has already hosted both the fifth grade sports social and a car wash. Jackson PTA welcomed back teachers and new families on opening day with a delicious breakfast and lunch. And tomorrow they will be hosting a fun running and picnic at 4 pm. Jeffrey Ratner and Robert Seaman greeted staff with a refreshing yogurt and iced coffee bar and already kicked off the year with a family funday at Adventureland on September 14th. The middle school and high school's PTSAs welcome faculty, staff, and administration back to school with iced, coffee, fruit, pastries during opening week. The middle school book ran a book fair from September 16th to 19th and the high school senior committee is already at work selling senior te's on
018memberhub for $20. Proceeds will support the senior party, a free event for all seniors on June 3rd. SEPTA is preparing for its welcome breakfast on September 30th at Jeffrey Ratner Roberts Seaman and continues to plan a wide range of meaningful programs for students in grades K through 12. We encourage you to support their membership and the many wonderful events they bring to our district. Please save the date for our second health and wellness fair on Tuesday, October 22nd at 7 p.m. We are proud to partner again with top physicians from Northwell and the Catz Institute for Women's Health for this communitywide event. All are welcome to attend and benefit from informative talks and resources. Topics will be announced in a couple of days. Our PTAs cannot succeed alone. We are grateful for the support of
019our board of education administrators, staff, and community partners. Together, we look forward to a safe, healthy, and successful school year. Thank you and good night. [Applause] >> Thank you to everyone for those updates. Um, now we're going to quickly move into uh official required business that we have before we get to you, sir. Um, so we'll move to approval of minutes. Recommended motion be resolved that the board of education make any necessary corrections and move the approval of minutes of the regular meeting dated August 4th, the special meeting dated August 15th, and the regular meeting dated September 11th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Dr. Bachandra. Second, Mrs. Bartonoff. Thank you. All in favor of approving those four minutes. All in favor of 50. Thank you very much. Um, now hold on a
020second. We're very fortunate with us tonight to have Mr. Alan U of the firm Cullen Dasc, our outside auditors. The audit committee met privately with Mr. U earlier this evening to review their report. Given the district's buttoned up financials, thanks to Assistant Superintendent Emanuel and Miss Melissa Lee in the business department and actually the whole business staff and the clean opinion from Mr. U's firm, it was a good discussion. We ask Mr. Hu to again review the audit report here publicly with the community. Um, and please feel free to ask questions should they arise. um the audit report, the draft audit report, as well as all the letters, management letter, governance letter, can all be found as part of the um packet that's on the district website under the board tab. >> Thank you, Mr.
021Ferman, for that u introduction. Uh good evening, members of the board, members of administration, and members of the public. Uh my name is Alan Hugh. I am one of the audit partners of firm Colin Indonesi and our firm was appointed by the board of education to be uh the school district's external auditor. Uh that means we audit your district's financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025. Uh as Mr. Thurman mentioned as required by law uh I met with the audit committee uh and went over the results of the uh of the audit and I'm happy to report to you that uh we are issuing what's known as an unmodified opinion on your district's financial statements uh otherwise known as a clean opinion which means the district's financial statements were prepared in accordance
022with GAP generally accepted accounting principles. Uh we were also required by government auditing standards to issue a report about the district's internal control financial reporting as well as your compliance with laws and regulations also happy to report that we did not have have any reportable findings and it was also a clean opinion. Uh we looked at your district's internal controls and we performed testing. uh we noted that the recommendations that we had from our previous fiscal year's audit uh have been implemented by the district and we did not have any new findings or recommendations for this from this current year's audit. Overall, all your districts have very very strong internal controls and I commend the the business office. Uh Miss Emanuel who cannot be here tonight and Melissa Lee as well as all the staff
023in the business office. Uh they really performed a very good job. Um and financially your school district continues to be very strong financially. your general fund has a has a healthy fund balance uh with restricted reserves that your district has continued to use uh including the the capital reserve to fund capital constructions without the need to go out and borrow uh long-term debt such as uh serial bonds and um as far as the uh uh overall reserves the district has been using not only the capital reserve but also teacher retirement system reserve and the employee retirement system reserve uh as as well as the employee benefit accured liability reserve uh that is designed to pay for uh retirement benefits upon employee separation from retiring from the school district and um I'm also happy to report
024to you that uh we did not have to propose any audit adjustments as part of our audit uh which is a rarity points to the strength of your uh business office staff and especially Melissa Lee CPA your district treasurer. So congratulations to your district and especially to the district administration uh under the leadership of Dr. Kravitz as well as Mr. Emanuel and Melissa Lee. I want to thank them to uh help us complete the audit in a very timely manner. Uh the New York State Education requirement, New York State Education Department's requirement is that the uh New York public school district statements be completed and submitted to them by October 15th. uh we're going to be uh as in the past years well ahead of schedule and we will be able to finalize this audit
025report after the school board has presumably will accept the audit report this evening. >> Does anybody have any questions for Mr. U teachers? I don't know if they're here tonight. Mr. Sun, Dr. Sun. Um without any questions, Mr. You. Thank you. And we hope to give you good news in a little while that we've approved the extra water. Mr. Yeah, I know I asked the question before. I'm going to ask it again. So, got the public being aware of >> um the need based on the audits of the US state controller, the typical range of non um district manage the reserve between 5 to 30 millions. Our district, we have six different accounts in six different reserve funds. Um that's a total of 53 millions which is well above the um the average. So your
026your district we we look at the general fund as far as the the reserves are concerned. Uh you have five reserves including a capital reserve. You have unemployment insurance reserve, the teachers retirement system um as well as the employee retirement system which is actually part of one reserve. Uh but the top funds um and combined uh the total reserves at about $40 million and you're correct. Um the total fund balance is $51.8 $20 million which should put you at probably about 37% of your total spending. Um so on average is you're basically at the upper tier of um law and school districts if you will >> and and this fund um the amount of the reserve is managed by the board not the state law or anything like that right I know you answered the
027question before but I just so the the reserves are established in accordance with state law um depending most uh usually general municipal law as well as state education law that governs the the uh uh uh that mandates the uh how the capital reserves are to be uh operated and the amounts of the reserves, the funding of the reserves, the size of the reserves are typically dictated by school boards. Okay. So various school districts, various communities would have different um I I call it I used the word appetite before, >> right? Um and also depend on on the needs. Um you know some some districts believe in you know a very very lean uh fund balance maybe you know some even in the 10 to 15% uh range. Uh typically because of different sizes of school
028districts budgets uh you know we look at the as auditors we look at the uh the fund balance and the reserves in relation to the uh annual budget uh as a whole. So uh typically for for for me uh each district should have a minimum of at least 15 16 17% of total fund balance including reserves of of the annual spending in fund balance to to uh the the idea of reserve funds as well as fund unrestricted unassigned fund balance of 4% ring day funds is in the event of uh spikes in expenditures that um that were unanticipated um special education costs these these days they they're running very high. Um and if there are uh new students coming into the district that require special education services and also it could turn into an additional
029several hundred,000 to you know more than a million dollars in cost. So having fund balance and reserves will allow district uh school districts to have the flexibility to manage these unanticip unanticipated costs. But ultimately it is up to the school board with the recommendation of school district administrations to determine the optimum level of uh reserves funding uh that uh that you feel your district ought to have. >> But having the money in the fund also means that the cash is sitting in the bank and not doing anything as well. Right. >> It's earning interest. Uh it's earning right. It's earning interest. Scooter shakes are very limited by state law as far as what type of investments you can have because you want to safeguard public funds. So for the most part uh like most of
030us you know keep money in the bank uh you know we managed to your district um like all school districts enjoy very high interest earnings the last few years. Okay. So the uh your your reserves are in the bank earning bank interest but at the same time uh your district has been using the reserves uh the cabin reserve in particular uh every May uh there I've seen every May there is an an additional proposition proposition number two or three uh that would request voters for authorization to use the capital reserves uh money to pay for capital constructions. So, so that allows the school district to not have to uh budget a lot of money in the annual general fund budget for capital construction and also allow the school district to not have to uh you
031know every 10, 15, 20 years um go out for serial bond that would incur uh you know obviously borrowing costs as well as interest uh expenses. >> Technically we can have the money in a money market with high interest rate um and and use that interest rate for something else. Do we can we out? >> The the the answer to that is no. Um because interest earnings earned on uh monies that are part of the restricted reserves are also restricted for the specific purposes of those reserves. So uh for teachers retirement system example you have about $3.58 million at the end of June 30th 2025. your annual uh required contribution into teachers retirement system the pension plan is a little over $5 million. Uh last year and and as well as this current fiscal year
032that we're in as part of the budget, your district has used $300,000 from that reserve and we'll continue to use another $300,000 uh from that reserve to help pay for this more than $5 million million of annual expenditures. That means the tax revenues of the current year revenues uh will not can use to pay for something else other than this $300,000 of uh uh teachers retirement system contribution uh employee retirement system contribution. Similarly, your district has budgeted to use a portion of that um to pay for part of the required contribution. of the car contribution is now a little more than $3.5 million for the employee retirement system. the employee benefit crew liability reserve. Uh it's at $17 million and that is used specifically for to pay for retirement payouts for when uh district employees
033uh retire and based on contract provisions. um they they uh if they have unused sick days, unused vacation days, um then state law permits school districts and local governments that have this reserve to use the money from this reserve to pay for that payout. Okay. So this past fiscal year that we audited, it's almost $1.5 million that was funded uh with money from this reserve. So it's not just sitting there and doing nothing but earn interest. So it is being used. Okay. So it's the degree of usage and that's part of the annual budgeting decisions that administration uh together with the school board will make on an annual basis. >> Can we take out the interest and fund something else or does it have to sit in the restricted fund reserve? >> No, you cannot
034use it to fund something else like like I said because it becomes part of the restricted reserve. You can you can use the interest. >> Can we adopt new policy into use rate? >> No. State law. This state law. Okay. Got it. >> All right. Thank you. Nice job. >> Hello, Mr. Mini. >> You can have five quick questions. >> I'll give you >> Wait, hold on. Um, just come up. Join Mr. You so everyone at home can hear it. >> Okay. So, there's a Sorry, some notes on here. I just have to look at what is it might be for you guys. Extra extra classroom activities fund balance of $245,928 >> student clubs. >> Okay. But how does it balloon to that much money? I'm just curious. That that that's two different things actually.
035But to $200,000 there's $245,000 sitting in an extra classroom activities fund balance. Like where is that sitting? >> Those are the collective balances uh end of year cash balances of all of the various student clubs. >> So student clubs they fund raise. >> Sorry, but who controls them? I'm just curious like student clubs officers uh with the aid of their faculty advisor. >> Okay. So, are they in district bank accounts? I guess >> Yes, they are. >> Okay. Um second question was the audit report says significant risks of material mis misstatement identified for revenue recognition due to fraud risk. Is that correct? >> So, okay. So, that is right. So that is a communication from the audit comm the auditors to those charged with governance which is the school board and the audit committee. So
036it's designed for us to uh for auditors to report to the board that as part of our audit planning what we have to take into consideration and plan for the potential fraud. That's all. >> Is there a potential or is it was it like I'm just trying to understand the reason for the note. Is there a potential for it or some sort of revenue recognition issue or you're just saying that as like a boilerplate statement? >> It is. It is somewhat of a boilerplate statement that you know as the as auditors we always have to treat revenue recognition as a potential for risk. >> Okay. So probably the same answer for significant risks for federal grants and state funding revenue recognition assuming same. >> That's correct. Revenue recognition will always be a for risk for
037auditors. >> Okay. And it's final two and it's more than three. I apologize. compensated absence liability is 19 a.5 million and I and I believe the retiree healthc care liability is 102 million. >> Yes. >> Okay. Got it. >> And that's an and we actually spent some time earlier at the audit committee to discuss those uh those liabilities. So, it's an it's an accounting requirement to calculate a long-term liability based on the uh various contract provisions within bargaining unit contracts. Okay. Composite absences liability for the most part as I mentioned earlier has to do with the value of your employees earned but unused uh paid absences, sick days, vacation days based on contracts. uh most school districts on Long Island uh happen to be uh quite generous because it's meant to be an incentive to
038to incentivize and induce employees not to take sick days unless they they need to. Okay. Uh so uh based on each school district's contract provisions, there's a calculation that is to be made um to based on historical information as to how many of these approved days that are being carried over each fiscal year will be used as uh paid leave for when people needed to take time off because of illness. um as well as estimating the potential liability upon retirement payout. As I upon a employees retirement, as mentioned earlier, this past fiscal year, the total payout was 1.5 almost $1.5 million. So, it's a long-term liability that's being calculated. The other post-employment benefit is the actuarially determined number. uh your district didn't come up with calculation takes into account retirees uh employment contract provisions in
039terms of health insurance payments uh that's uh or benefits that the school district has um has been providing to the retirees as well as will provide to future retirees. So actuaries uh services are required in order to do to do the the calculation. So they would take into account healthcare cost trend uh trend rates uh interest rate discount rate to do a calculation and in this case in for Jericho school districts it's it's $102 million. It's and this is not unusual and um school districts as a government has to follow accounting standards issued by the Gazsby similar to the Fazby and the commercial in the commercial world and this is the Gatsby requiring local government all governments to do this calculation many school districts uh that's what we call it is often times uh you
040know at least uh the amount of their annual budget so actually uh in that regard you know, Jericho's hotel liability as at least for this this fiscal year. It's not quite your annual budget. Okay. So, but yes, it's a staggering number. Um, and it's required by by accounting standards to be reported, but what does that mean to your overall financial health? Not a whole lot. Um, because every year your annual budget, you uh the school district has to look at health insurance premium. Okay. we're hearing in the news now uh premiums might go up uh significantly come January. So all that will impact your annual budget uh the budget budget increase but as far as this $102 million it's a lot of information a lot of calculation and the district has to pay for these
041actuarial calculation um you know all to satisfy the financial reporting requirement. >> Anyone else? And just the last part, as Mr. Banny knows, there's the for those of you who are following the $250,000 of club money. There's a separate extra classroom activities fund audit that Mr. U's firm did. It's broken up that 250 amongst a little bit over 40 clubs. You'll see certain clubs have a bunch of money, certain clubs are dirt poor. Um, but really it has to do also with money that gets carried over from year to year, whether it's from a class fund or from a uh a specific class fund or from a specific club fund. So that's again included in this month's or this meeting's uh board package. Thank you very much, Mr. You. >> Thank you. Thank you for
042your time. [Applause] >> With that, I would like to turn it over to Dr. Kravitz for the superintendent report. >> Okay. Okay, good evening everyone and thank you for joining us tonight on my 87th day in the district. Uh I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who worked tirelessly to make our home homecoming festivities such a tremendous success. The weather was beautiful and seeing so many joyful faces with a wonderful reminder of what we can achieve when we come together as a community. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the organizers and our amazing students for the efforts and enthusiasm. Adding to the excitement, CBS Sunday Morning was on site during homecoming to film a segment on our re on our recent cell phone policy. We believe the piece will air over
043the next few weeks. Not sure. Uh thank you to the students and staff who participated and represented our district so well. As we move forward into the school year, we've successfully completed all our back to school activities. I'm pleased to report that our enrollment is currently 3,299 students, slightly up from 3,288 at this time last year. Our mission to to improve every day continues. There's a great deal happening across the district and we encourage you to stay connected through our website and Instagram accounts. We're exploring a redesign of the website to better serve our community. Since the start of the school year, we've welcomed 341 new Instagram followers and our pages have received over 234,000 views, an exciting sign of growing engagement. Thank you again for your time and your support and your commitment to
044our schools. Together, we continue to move forward stronger each and every day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Kravitz. Um before we move into uh comments from the public just couple of additional updates. We are the transparent love to provide information board. Um the board has recently decided to move ahead with redoing our policy manual. So that is a process you will hear much about hopefully just over the next 12 months. There will be probably some policy committees formed. Uh input from the public to come listen to those policy committees with very very limited participation uh will be will be going on. Similarly, the district is looking to upgrade its website. That is a project that is being spearheaded I believe by Miss Milo at this point with Dr. Kravitz and Mr. Larkin. Um also
045stay tuned for that. Given the abundance of information about our communication systems and how we communicate with parents, we are always looking for new ways to do that. It's another project that you will see and hopefully hear uh improvements on over the next 12 months. We have a very very aggressive agenda for this school year. Um, and then finally, just so that I don't get phone calls or anyone else here doesn't get phone calls, over the next month, I expect we will see News Day's News Day publish its annual list of the most highly compensated educators in the state of New York. Um, it is almost certain that we will have an individual included in that list. Please note when you see those compensation levels um they very often will include not just that person's
046salary but rather includes a lot of acred or deferred compensation from say 30 years worth of service or something like that. So so take it with uh with read the full article before you call me. Thank you very much. With that we will move to the opportunity for the public to be heard. If you would like to make a comment or ask a question, please approach the microphone, tell us your name, and if you are representative, a specific group, your affiliation. If you would like your statement to be included in our board minutes, you must hand a written copy of your remarks to our business official, Miss Michelle Stokel, before leaving here tonight. Um, I'd also like to reiterate a change to board practice and board policy that we announced at our September 11th meeting.
047I promise this will only be the second and last time I will announce this. If you attend in person, we are excited to listen and have our entire community listen to your comments and questions. However, we will no longer re publicly read email comments. Any email comments may still be included in the meeting minutes if explicitly requested. You should also continue to send questions to the board. You will get a response as in the past. Those emails can be sent to [email protected] or boe questions deroschools.org. Despite this revision, we remain committed to transparency and will always try to be as open as possible to public comment and as responsive as possible to questions from the community. With that, I now open it up for any uh opportunity for the public to be heard. Anyone? Anyone?
048Anyone? do that at the end. >> Given we have no comments, we will just remind people we're going to do it later. We'll do it now. Um, our next meeting is Thursday, October 9th. And then you also note that our meeting that was originally scheduled for October 30th has now been moved to Wednesday, October 29th. So, next meeting, is it 9th or 19th? October 19th. I think I just misspoke there. Oh, it is October 9th. I'm sorry. October 9th. I misspoke properly. October 9th and October 29th. We will now given there is no interest um in speaking of course interest in what we're saying. Uh close that and move to unfinished business. We have several generous parties uh willing to participate tonight. First um new business. Given that there are donations, we're going to read
049them all. Be it resolved that the board of education accept a donation from NYSIR in the amount of $1,000 along with frontline education in the amount of $1,000 to be used toward superintendence conference day. Be it further resolved that the district increase budget code blah blah blah blah blah in the amount of $2,000 for this purpose. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you, Mr. Varta. Mr. Jin second. Um, any comment? Thank you very much. All in favor? Thank you. Uh, be it resolved that the Jericho board of education accept a donation from SEPTA in the amount of $250 to be to be allocated to cool beans catering. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you, Mrs. Citron. Thank you, Dr. Valer, for the second. Um, any discussion? All in favor? >> Thank you again,
050SEPTA. Be it resolved that the board of education accept a donation from the Nassau County School Facilities Association in the amount of $3,000 to be used towards enhancing Jericho's professional development programs and/or facility improvements at the district's discretion. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you, Mrs. Barton. I have second, Mr. Jin. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? Oh, sorry. So the front is just for us. >> No, I think she's talking about >> regardless. We thank Nassau Countyy's school facilities association. Um, all in favor accepting their money. Thank you very much. Um, we now move on to funding reserves. Mr. Good stat, would you please recommend a way for us to pass these without rereading all of these? >> Be resolved that you that the board authorizes and approves four set forth in
051the attachments. >> Be it resolved the board approved number four as set forth in the attachment. Do I have a motion? Mr. Jyn, thank you. Mr. Bartner, thank you. Any discussion? Just so everyone knows, this goes back to the reserves that Mr. Jim was asking about earlier. Um, constitutes what is it? 1 2 3 4 5 six reserve funds that the district has set up required by law that we fund. And um any other comments from any board members, any administrators? Miss Stokal? Nothing. >> Okay, there we go. All in favor? 5. Thank you very much. What is next? Um, the acceptance of the external audit report. Recommended motion be resolved. The board of education acknowledges receipt of the school district's external audit report from Cullen and Dowski LLP and accepts the district's external audit
052report for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Dr. Bachander. Second. Thank you, Mrs. Bartnoff. Any further discussion amongst the board members? And this will be the final offer to the public for any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions on the audit report. Thank you very much. All in favor of accepting the audit report 5. Thank you very much. Recommended motion. Be it resolved that the board of education accepts the building level school emergency response plan for the 2025 2026 school year as submitted. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you, Mr. Barton. I'll second. Mr. Jim, thank you very much. Discussion. >> Mr. Con, do you want to start off just telling us what this is versus the district plan? And obviously, there's What happened to your microphone? Obviously, there's
053a a high high level of confidentiality involved with this, which is why it's not included in the package. Yes, district plans are public. Building plans because of uh some highly confidential information uh are not made public. Uh the building plans were already adopted and uh were approved by the board and then the state came out with uh a couple of extra uh additions that we needed to put in most specifically around adding plans for CPR and uh any uh cardiac issues that may come about really more specifically for visitors into our building especially after hours. So all the plans have been appropriately uh updated in uh consultation with Alteras our uh safety consulting company and that's what these now are. >> So I just go ahead but yeah I was just um going to ask
054regarding the new uh and maybe I'm mispronouncing it dashes is it dashes law? Um, so it's supposed to be in place by January 2026, correct? Uh, at this point, you know, do we expect to be ready sooner than that to have everything in place for the publication training? >> Again, we're working with each of the buildings in the district. So, we certainly intend to be in compliance. We don't have any questions about doing that. I know that we have uh Brian from Alteras coming to a future meeting. Uh so certainly he can talk a little bit from uh Alteras consulting standpoint and how they're working together. Um but in my work leading the district safety committee and working with each of the buildings, there are no problems in place. >> And just on another note,
055um what what do we do when we have a new hire come in not in the beginning of the year? like how do we catch them up within like the first 30 days of their employment to to be extremely familiar or put into practice you know the emergency response plans. >> So the emergency response plans are really handled at each of the buildings. So um you know there's a training that goes on you kind of were alluding to it in the beginning of the year that is done with each of the faculties and then uh any hires that uh that we make uh there's both some work at the district level through uh HR and then obviously each of the buildings to get people up to speed. So, it's just up to each individual school
056principal, you're saying, or >> Well, ultimately, I mean, you know, we have ways for teachers to have folders that go over the emergency response plans uh in each of our classrooms. Um, and you know, every one of our new hires has a mentor. Uh, that includes uh aspects of safety and it certainly uh so it can happen at multiple levels. It can happen through that mentoring. It can happen through building level administration and it can also happen through the hiring process >> but ultimately I mean it's from top down where the where's the responsibility lies to make sure that that person is receiving the proper training and and is there any any besides just giving an a manual to them here read it at home is there anything else that goes into play >> well
057I mean ultimately you know we're running drills consist consistently throughout the year. So, there's opportunities to practice all of our emergency training. Um, and you know, ultimately it would be the administrative team at each building that is working more one-on-one with employees in that building to make sure that especially during those drills, those things are accounted for and are happening properly. >> And how many drills are we running legally now per building? >> So, you have to run 10 drills a year. Um, so there's a series of evacuation drills that you have to do as well as other emergency planning drills such as lockdown drills and things like that. >> So 10 10 in total including all. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you Dr. Mr. Coat for that summary. Um,
058all in favor adopting the building levels emergency response plan 50. Thank you very much. Moving into approval of schedules, unless someone on the board has an objection. Um, I'd like to just take all the schedules at once. Anybody? Anybody? So that is schedule little I1 the treasures report all the way through schedule KK which would be the noninstructional leave of absence anyway has a problem do I have a motion to approve all of our schedules in one fell thank you Mrs. Martinov second thank you Mr. Jin any discussion? There's reasonable been some talk um and websites talking about Boseies. You'll see in the check registry in this package. There are two large checks made out to Boseies. Um I can assure you when uh some questions about it obviously as Mr. Emanuel is not here
059this evening. We will discuss those next month but we are sure that they are uh legitimate charges but we're going to go over the timing and what they're paying for. But with that said, no other comments, questions. Um, all in favor of approving schedules as mentioned 5-0. Thank you very much. Um, as we said earlier, we look forward to seeing many of you and others at our next meeting on Thursday, October 9th. And also again, please note the October 30th meeting has been moved to Wednesday, October 29th, unless a board member has something to add. As all business on tonight's agenda is complete, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Thank you, Mrs. Martnoff. Second, Mr. Jin. Thank you. All in favor? Have a lovely evening, folks. Get