001All right, so we just need a motion to come out of executive session at 6 20. From something on second that all in favor. I motion carries and then just the emotion to reconvene the public session at 621. From Boeing on second that all in favor, I motion carries, we will stand for the flag. I believe you don't see the flag, the United States of America, and to the republic which stands, a nation forgot in this world. Right, and we will kick right into our budget presentation. I think this is the first presentation where we didn't have the really feel good story of a building presenting prior to this. So, this is exciting that we have a fresh start we get to go first. So, I'd say we want to focus a little more on
002our program continuation increases. I'm doing some more work with some of the nuance, but large expense drivers that really move the district's budget, both positively and negatively depending on market trends and whatnot. So, as always, we're trying to utilize the district's fiscal resources for this upcoming year in a manner that supports education instruction. Next year, but well into the future to make sure all of our students accurately have a great learning experience regardless of when they attend empty schools and we know that budgets play into itself year over year. So today we're going to talk about some of our legislative priorities, the Senate and the assembly have their budgets that they will eventually marry and compare that to compare that to the executive. Some of our historical and projected 912 course enrollments at the regents
003level. It is a little bit more of a projection compared to the elementary school because we have students move in and move out course attainment because of passing our regents exams. Some of the work with the industry consultants, some budget highlights and then of course our updated budget at the end. So, as we move through when we look at our legislative versus executive budget proposals, there was seven main areas that we just wanted to quickly highlight foundation aid the Senate and the assembly. You'll notice that a lot of their proposals look very similar as is historically the case and then historically the legislative budget is more favorable towards schools and this year is the same. They are proposing approximately a 1% increase in foundation aid in comparison to the executive budget. They are proposing that
004districts receive more expense based aid for both CTE due to instructor salaries. The Senate budget recognize that there's a labor shortage, not just in schools, but across all of New York and raising the retiree earnings limit would attract more people to come out of retirement and to maybe fill part time roles or really difficult. To fill roles on the next slide school meals on the Senate and the assembly try to add in proposals to incentivize school districts to reach easier levels of farm to school incentive programs. The effect of that would be approximately 19 cents greater meal reimbursement while it's not a general fund budget. In fact, it's great to support some of our local businesses in that regard. The capital outlay provision, that's some of the small construction projects that we've historically we've mentioned
005in this year's budget is going to be K-3 playground fencing. They propose increasing that limit to 250,000 to reflect today's cost. Truthfully, that has been something that has been seen year over year as a proposal, but typically doesn't gain a lot of traction. Zero emission buses, the Senate decided to say we would love for SED to have the waiver authority, recognizing some of those challenges and the use of smart devices, the Senate and the assembly wanted that local districts have the ability to adopt their own policy and the assembly even wanted to provide bonds to help support implementation, but again, to be driven at the local level. Is there anything that we are particularly interested in making sure that as a sister that we've got, I'm in the habit of calling elected officials right now
006and I'd love somebody to be yelling. All of them truly are wonderful and would move the needle in the Senate or the assembly budget. They're in all different ways, helpful if any of those changes were to come through. It'd be hard for me to say, you know, which one might be more or less important over a longer period of time in terms of a pure budget as in next year, the extra increase in foundation aid is great. 10 years from now, you would say maybe the capital outlay provision is more impactful, but they are all important. 10 years from now, you would say maybe the capital outlay provision is more impactful, but they are all important so to say anyone is more or less important. If any of those seven things happen, that's great. Okay,
007who are the local people who go to the legislative office? Yeah, it's Rob Ward, Bill Conrad, and Angel Moranello is a little sliver minty as well. You could call them. That's who I was going to call them. Yeah. Well, actually I'd probably call the governor and be like, you should listen. Yeah, because it looks like the Senate and the assembly were more generous. Historically. Right, so I'd probably call the governor and be like, but maybe. That'd be great. NISBA gave us some additional guidance on the 16th, just informing us that the Department of Education at the federal level recently reduced approximately 50% of their workers. Reduction staffing may impact things such as the title program, IDA special education grants, civil rights cases, and research. In some good news, there was a budget deal struck they
008indicate that title one and IDA funds, which are the bulk of our federal funds, are likely to be set and in place for the upcoming school year. That is wonderful, but they did explicitly mention how title two, three, and four funds still remain at risk for reduction or elimination as approximately 10% or $300,000 that's still up in the air. And, of course, all these grants help support some interventionists, supplies and materials and equipment and a whole bunch of contractual services for special needs students so there's a whole host of different important agenda items that these title funds or IDA funds help impact. So that remains to be individual the Disabilities Education Act. That is the 611 and 619 funds specifically. Which some of those funds are dedicated towards some of our community agencies. And now
009we'll go on to some of our historical and projected course enrollment figures at the high school. So, at the previous presentation we looked at the case six numbers. This is looking at the high school level the 912 numbers are historical trend in terms of average class size the blue is North Carolina, red would be comparable districts. We've been a little bit higher and a little bit lower. The average was about 18 students per class and 19 for comparable schools. This does not include our special education classes, and this is looking at our core regions classes so not all of our electives and things like that. It's the core regions classes that our kids must take these are the average class sizes. So as we move forward to next year, you can see that this year,
010our sections, in some cases a little higher, in some cases, next year might be a little lower, we put an average, or we put a range of how many sections that are going to be because the principal opportunities to determine how many sections and then they will be able to look at other things like electives and other things that we do along with those sections so if you look at our anticipated class sizes for next year, most of them are in the low 20s so ELA for instance the courses that our kids need to take 22 to 23 kids, some are global classes, 23 to 24 kids, so it's still very reasonable class sizes at the high school as we talked about in previous previous meetings, getting more efficient ensuring that we can offer as
011many classes as possible by making reasonable class sizes and this is our anticipated class size guideline for next year and all of those numbers from our perspective look very reasonable for high school classes. So some of our industry consultants we've collaborated with over the past couple of weeks for capital project interest rates, Rick Gancy with Capital Market Advisors, we had him do a deep dive into our debt. None of our debt can currently be refinanced at a lower rate, which means it's lower we'd be saving money currently or if we refi we'd be expending more. While that may be necessarily a negative, the Federal Reserve today actually held their interest rates constant over fear of inflation which will help us in interest earnings on our savings in different reserves so while there's a lost opportunity
012at one end, the debt is actually at a pretty low level given the real estate market last couple of years. We are going to be earning more in interest earnings which I believe in December, Mr. Schneer you had indicated what are some of the threats to revenue and one of the threats I identified for sure was the possibility of lower interest earnings. So that's good news on that front. The workers compensation rates with PERMA will be expected with what our needs, which was nice that wasn't a surprise on the increase. Health insurance rates, the district continues to work with our consultants lolly. We are self funded so it is definitely a little bit more of a projection with their computer modeling to narrow down the expected rate increases. The anticipated rate increases are forecast to
013be somewhere between five and a half to 8%, which sounds high, working with colleagues and other business officials. Regionally, some are reporting somewhere between seven and a half to 11% and some of the consortiums where the rates are dictated by other factors are reporting even higher rates than that. So feel very good relatively speaking compared to where some of our neighbors are and the rate increases they're expecting. So we have Dr. Jack Lucy come on here and some of our budget highlights that are buried a little bit more in the finer details that we really wanted to highlight tonight. So for the academic program, some of our budget highlights are maintaining the K-16 program that we currently have continuing with that, our gifted and talented program continuing that at NTI, an AIS specialist at NTI
014that is currently filled by a person that is retiring that is in an elementary role but having a math teacher do that math AIS at NTI, piloting and expanding our UPK program at Spruce Elementary School in the space that we have there, and establishment of a series of kindergarten academic summer screening opportunities to get an idea of who our kids are coming in and having that information is very valuable. At the secondary level, maintaining a STEAM TOSA at the high school level, academic learning center continuing at the high school, reading plus opportunities at the high school, and maintaining the work-based learning community experiences for special education students, keeping all of that moving forward. And district-wide, keeping our class sizes very reasonable K-8 and then also at the secondary level, all the numbers that we presented
015to you, low 20s at the K-8 level and once again low 20s in the high school level, all very reasonable class sizes for our core classes and very much on par with our neighboring districts in terms of class size, and maintaining our K-12 fine arbors closest and the family resource center positions. So adding in some areas and keeping all the good things that are going on already in our schools. For our facilities and services, the capital outlay project that's in the budget for next school year is providing K-3 playground fencing around Spruce, Ohio, and Drake. And that certainly is something that many parents have spoke to us about and believe is very important for the safety of our kids. For food service, we forecasted student participation with breakfast and lunch programs. We've had surveys regarding
016that and more information. Also, student cafeterias at NTI, the tables, replacing those. For transportation, at the last meeting we talked about going from 2 miles to 1.75 to be able to service transportation for more of our secondary students. Athletics, establishing annual allotments K-6 for our intramural program to be able to provide more opportunities for our students through intramurals for them to participate and then continuing the 7-12 weight room supervision for our students at the secondary level. For the music department, dedicating and setting aside funds for music instrument purchases and then continuing field trips that we've been doing annually for all of our K-12 students. So some of our updated budget figures for the expense reduction efforts, reduction of some of our K-3 AIS per diem subs. So these are individuals. There is a little bit
017of transiency with these positions because many times it might be someone who is retired recently, might want to work for a little bit. Or someone who's in graduate school and can't take on the full-time position of a tenure track teacher, but they obviously are dedicated towards schools and those associate per diem subbing days. We anticipate a very successful career, but attrition of one clerical position through an anticipated mid-year retirement. They jokingly told me this for six years, so I'm going to guess that plan hasn't changed, but it is something, you know, we are looking into and thinking about. And then we have a series of unfilled cleaner positions that we have budgeted that we've struggled to fill for as long as Mr. Hart is, he's indicated as he's been here. So just recognizing just a
018reduction in one of those cleaning position vacancies. There are multiple just saying instead of I'm going to say five, there's four, still hoping we have four coming, but recognizing that there's continuously been openings in those positions. We have those associated benefits and bringing down the reduction in the anticipated health care insurance costs, again, indicated on the previous slide that some of those results came in a little bit better than forecasted. We conservatively budgeted what we were hearing from the region from the very beginning, but knowing that our district due to its self-funded status has been performing historically better than the region, able to recognize some of those savings as well as you see. So when you see some of our net program changes, the program continuation expense budget is actually from last year to this
019year is down $330,000. So we wanted to present some tax levy scenarios. So on the screen, you'll see options of going for a increase of 1.99%, 2.49% and 2.74%. And with the home values, the assessed values of 100,000, 150,000, 200,000 and 250,000. So when we look at the 1.99% increase versus the 2.74, the monthly increase that would be for a house that was assessed at $100,000 would be about $1.50 a month. That would be the increase and for the year, right about $18 for the year in terms of the increase and for a home assess that $250,000 at the bottom, the monthly increase would be about $3.60 and then for the year, about $44 more going in that direction. So the recommendation from me and from Josh is at that 2.74% and that's where the
020number that we actually built into this next slide that you'll see, but probably the most important piece is that money obviously would be used this year. But as we move forward for the next five years after this, if the budget increase was the same, let's say 2%, but we went from 2.74 today versus 1.99. After those next five years, thinking about every year being exactly the same, the amount of money that the district would have after the five years for this little difference right here between these two would be about $1.5 million in favor of the district. So that's money that would obviously be very valuable in the future and money that we really would never get back if we don't go to the tax cap at any point. As we've had many meetings, it's
021definitely recommended by a lot of people that do this work to try to go to the cap if possible because that's money you'll never recoup if you don't go to the cap. So I know it's obviously a very difficult decision that needs to be made, but that money is very real down the road if we don't go to that point this year. For a forecast in total revenue, this is all based on using the 2.74%. So the revenue from the state would be $44.5 million from other revenue, $33.7 million from fund balance, about $4.3 million, which gives us our working revenue of $82.5 million. And our working expense budget is $83.18 million. So the difference between those two is still $647,000 that we have to make up that difference within the current budgeting plan. Sorry,
022the difference is, yeah, there are 2.74% budget. That is the number after the increase of 2.74%. So obviously that gap would be a little bit larger if it was like $1.99 or whatever the levy actually is. If it was less than 2.74, the gap would increase a little bit. That is also assuming not using any of our reserves besides the debt service reserve, which goes into the tax cap calculation levy, and we used to be EBLR reserve, which was planned based on the structure of the retirement incentive. There was the increase, but then the corresponding revenue increase. So that is the only additional revenue at this point that is where we're at. And that's based on the executive budget? That is based currently exclusively on the executive budget. Some of the challenges, the legislative budget
023and the state's promise of saying we're going to have a budget in school's hands by April 1st. That can usually happen, except, you know, they say we have to have all of our budget statements and newsletters done and printed and at the printers by roughly April 10th to 15th, and they're still working on their budget, but we got to present something to the community. So it is a little bit of a challenge that we face. So the 82 budget expense. So the 83, that includes us doing the first payout of the retirement incentive, but the revenue does not include the EBLR reserve. So it is actually the second payment. We'll be doing the first one in this fiscal year, and up into the amount that we're legally allowed to do by the use of the
024reserve, the conversion of the sick days, it does fully account for as much as we can. And utilize that reserve because that is its only purpose is for that conversion. But so the payout is listed as an expense, but the EBLR is not listed as a revenue. It is listed as a revenue. Correct. So some of our important next steps, identify additional action steps needed to balance the budget on both the expense and the revenue side and then finalize the budget presentation for you hopefully by April 2nd. At this point, there's been a lot so thoughts and reflections. Questions on anything and then we can jump back to the tax levy slide if there's no question. We want to jump at 19, I think it's on. There we go. Perfect. So I figured let's go
025around and if anyone has opinions or anything. Just so we can try to get an idea and try to get them what our thought is on a levy so we can have a number working forward. So if anyone wants to jump in, good start. Yeah, for sure. So, we've traditionally, so we've traditionally been, I would say, and he's going around for hour with me. We've usually been above zero, but less than what the cap was. So we've probably been between like one, one point five, pretty consistent. Tony used to always give us that presentation to you're leaving money on the table and you don't go to the cap. Last year, last year, because of the governor's budget, we actually went to 2%. We went to them. Yes, we did go to the max last year.
026Which was like, you know, tax rates and at least a number of years. Last year the levy was approximately the maximum level approximately 2.79%. It was somewhere in that region. We did end up last year for this current fiscal year budget at 2%. Sorry. Yeah, no, you're good. What was the community response? You are always going to have people that like it because it goes towards the schools and the kids' education and their safety and all the things. And then you're going to have people on the other side of the fence saying, why do you need all this money? Right. So you're, you're going to have, I mean, it was approved. So that will tell you, you know, but especially when you are going to get signatures, people are going to ask you a million
027and seven questions about the budget. Be prepared. Okay. Can you do some math and let us know what our gap would be with like the 2.49? I'm sorry to make you answer. I think we got that very quickly. So, I went with Josh, Jeff and Matt to the, to the financial consideration presentation that Eerie Bostes had back in October. And I've been trying to like, look through some numbers and I thought I took notes, but apparently I didn't write down the stats I'm looking for. But the majority of the majority of school budgets pass in this state, like an overwhelming percent, it's like a 96, 98% of school budgets pass. And, and like, I think, like, I try to tell people in the community to like, I'm also a taxpayer, like, I'm not just raising
028this for no reason. Like, I also have to pay this amount, but I think, I don't know, I think this year just like 2.74 is lower than the rate of inflation. Right? Like, we're still keeping it lower than what like, what the spending is out there and knowing that aid coming from the state, which comes from the federal government. Like, it all just seems like in flux, I think, for me, I'm personally comfortable going to the 2.74 this year. And I would second that. Like, I feel like there's a lot of uncertainty moving at the federal level, some of which was touched on in this presentation. And I feel, again, I would echo those same sentiments as someone that's going around and giving signatures and will be continuing to talk about this, but I feel
029comfortable saying 2.74%. And, you know, I think children, our schools need to have the funds that they need. I also think, you know, we have worked really hard, especially with the retirement incentive. I mean, 40 retirements is crazy. I mean, that's a lot. And I think when we do our budget hearing, I should say when you guys do your budget hearing, if we put in there, like, this is what we did. And, like I said, you're never going to have everybody happy with it, but I think if they see that we went above and beyond to try to get it as low as we possibly could have. And yes, we're still at the levee. I mean, like I said, you're always going to have unhappy people, but I think being transparent with how we came
030up with this and what we did would be our best. The implication between 2.49 and 2.74 is minimal, but it'll have bigger implications later down the road, right? Five years from now. So, I think responsibly, you know, at the $250,000, a $14, $15 increase from 2.49 to 2.74 probably will save dividends. But it's actually an increase of $96. Yes, but if you're comparing, if you're comparing between 2.49 and 2.74, it's not. Especially nowadays where everything is just so expensive and people are already struggling. So now we're going to say, well, we're taxing you to the cap. And last year, our expense budget was $83,510,000. That's what was in the spirit. Proposition vote on budget. And this year it's $83,108,000 and we worked hard on that. I get that. But the expense goes down about $400,000
031and then we're going to raise taxes 2.74%. Last year we took money out of our fund balance to keep it below the tax levy. I'm just saying, usually we go up like $1.2 million and then we have to fill the gap, right? But this year we're going down and then still raising the tax potentially. I think that their firm's going to have to keep me on it is in prior years that fund balance appropriation was always included in those working budgets. Where if I heard you correctly, outside of the retirement one, there's no fund balance included in any of these working budgets. But we have to use some of our. The three biggest pieces on the revenue side is we lost approximately $2.2 million in building aid. There was a corresponding decrease on the expense
032side, but that side is going down. Also that we have not necessarily used any additional revenues from any of the other reserves. And also our appropriated fund balance is nears the 4% that we're allowed to carry as unappropriated fund balance. So if all of our bills that truly came due, we would have the ability to pay them. Of course we don't want to fully expend our budget, but also that's our truly the district's year-over-year emergency fund that doesn't replenish over time. That is the only really emergency fund that lasts us in perpetuity. What is the plan to get this other $700,000? It would be a mix with the team for like the instructional piece, looking at some of the codes. It could be additional supplies or equipment or contract. Additionally, there are other positions that
033have like year-over-year fluctuations with staffing levels and working with student needs. Then also there is the, do we use some of our reserves for their intended purpose? And then what would be the most strategic way to use those reserves? Reserves have a very specific purpose, so unemployment for unemployment, TRS or ERS for those expenses, workers' comp for just workers' comp. Generally, I would recommend a mixture of all of them, so you're not just using one fund. I think that allows the district to remain the most flexible in future years that we have access to as many reserves as we most possibly could. If you exhaust one reserve, then that ability to access those funds just completely disappears as opposed to taking a little bit from every reserve. So my thoughts are leaning on the max
034as well. I think the governor has signaled with the Foundation Aid study that basically if districts aren't taxing to the cap and they have huge reserves, they don't deserve any more money in the Foundation Aid formula. So my thought is if we're playing the game, which the money comes from somewhere, they're either going to get taxed more on their payroll or they're going to get taxed more here because the money doesn't come from nowhere. So my thought is we go to the max. That way, once we get out of this election cycle, that's why it didn't happen this year, then we see where that formula goes. I think if we're not going to the cap or pretty close to the cap, then again, it was at a presentation as well, and it was crazy the
035amount of money that was left on the table that is super important to school districts. It was staggering. I'm sure I can follow up an example. I was going to ask another question. I'll come back. So any thoughts on you? I think you're the only one asking on the same number. Well, I just think it's a lot, the 2.74. I'm just shocked I'm actually in the minority because we have talked in years past about being predictable for the community. There was a reason that we hovered around 1.4, 1.5. Okay, so we stretched it last year because we were worried about losing that $2 million and stuff, but I'm just a little speechless about it just because it's just a lot for the community, I feel like. But, you know, I yield to the group, right,
036I'm not going to, it's not the hill I'll die on, of course, if it's what everybody else thinks is best for the school district, of course, more money is always great for the school district, but I would lean more towards 1.99. Just because at least it's still in the ones, and I think if they're paying attention, and they read the spirit every year, and we've always been, you know, historically around one particular percentage, you know, 2.74. It's a big jump. It's a big jump. Yes, it's a big jump. And it'll take a lot of educating the community on why it's such a big jump and that's not a bad thing. But, you know, we should all be prepared to do some educating the community on it. I don't know, I know we do this, we
037do the legal things, the spirit, the budget workshop, and the week before the vote and stuff, but, and, and I don't know. That's where I'm at. I don't want to just keep going. They were good points. Yeah, they're well founded and it's incredibly hard. None of them. So I think if we see what the actual gap would be for the other two numbers, then we might be able to make better. Does that give you guys enough at least? Yeah, absolutely. You should be able to hear those again tomorrow. Any other budget questions? Yes, I remembered my question. So you said that the governor is sort of indicating that if we aren't, if we aren't raising the tax to the cap, and we have a lot in reserves, but are the reserves that I'm thinking of
038that have that like 4% max? So like we can't have a ton because they tell us we can. Well, that's, yes. Right? Well, a lot of districts are above the cap. You can only have 4% in the unappropriated, and then if you feel like you're going over the 4%, you can move them. Put it into a savings account, you know, instead of the checking where if your cash flow that you pay everything out of, you can put it into a savings account, aka a reserve. So like there is that one line that you can't go over 4%. Yeah, it's true. But you just put it into your savings account instead. So, yeah. Which is a good thing. Savings are a good thing. You know, everybody should bill to savings. The Rockefeller Center, one of their
039proposals was some districts don't adhere to the 4% rule, that they would then lose whatever money they're over 4% in their state aid figures or foundation aid to conform. Because they're assuming that if you have money over 4%, that, you know, they're going to say that you don't require the same farmless provision. And then you can put it towards a reserve and reserves just have specific purposes. Approximately 70% of our reserves, if not a little bit more around the capital reserves, which don't necessarily help on the budget per se, but they do help for capital improvements throughout the district over time. I think the other thing, and you probably won't be able to get us by tomorrow, but like, I think the other thing is that we're shy, even if we go all the way
040to the cap, that $650,000 almost $700,000. I guess I'd love to see like, sort of, either what that changes in the district, like, what are we getting rid of, or, like, sort of specific, not the exact numbers, but like, which reserves we can pull, you know. Certainly. We definitely have those conversations about how we close that gap. But until we know exactly what the gap is, you don't want to just put it out there in the universe. Well, we would do this, this, this, and this, because it would probably cut some. Yeah, I'm just thinking though, like, if we're already short at the cap, if we go lower, right, like, to be more predictable, it's a bigger gap. Like, we're going to have to have more conversations about either what the district cuts back on
041or what comes out of reserves. So, I think I'd like to see, like, I think that's the thing that I'm starting to think of is like, what are, where are those restrictions? Anyone else? All right. Thank you very much. We will jump into our policies. The best part of the meeting. Sorry, I've been telling Katie that a long time. Okay. So the first two are continuations on some of the follow up in relation to the Title IX amendments reverting back to 2020. So if you recall last policy meeting, we moved to reinstate the 2020 regulations for Title IX in accordance with the Title IX and sex discrimination policy. So these are a couple of additional follow up pieces because of that change. So equal educational opportunities was another policy that was touched in light of
042the 2024. And the reason that originally it was touched is because the section that's on educational services for married and pregnant students, which sat in this policy was removed and placed in its own policy because there were expanded rights under the Title IX 2024 regulations. So way back then we had a couple months ago, actually, we had created a separate policy for it. So you'll see the first recommended action is to reinstate the original equal educational opportunities policy, still renumbered. So originally this policy was in the instruction section, the eight thousands, and it just sits better in the student section. So we would still leave it renumbered at 7556. However, we would reinstate what had been adopted back in 2023, which includes the language that's that matches the 2020 Title IX regulations. And once this
043policy is reinstated, then the second policy that you'll see on the list for tonight would then be to delete the new policy educational services for married and pregnant students, because much of this is no longer part of the provision because it was part of those updated amendments. What protections do married and pregnant students lose by moving backwards, which we have no choice to do. I get that but I'm just wondering. The expanded the educational, the five pager included a lot of the provisions and following up to prevent discrimination to ensure equal access under the Title IX 2024 amendment. If you recall, though, discriminating in New York State on any protected class, including being pregnant, is prohibited. And so it would be the New York State Division of Human Rights and ensuring that we are following
044up appropriately. So the protections are still there. They're just not all under Title IX at the federal level anymore, but this New York State has many provisions that protect students in protected classes. And so we would be, of course, following up on all of our other policies in those New York State laws. So it takes out the amendment language from Title IX. Any questions on those first two? Next is a new required policy. So there was an addition this year to the public officers law and an amendment to that public officers law, which requires school districts to develop a policy to just to specifically articulate the requirement to disclose to a current employee or a former employee if their disciplinary records have been foiled. And so what this you'll see in the policy, if you
045scroll just a little bit, so you can see the overview explains the why. The middle section explains what constitutes an employee disciplinary record. That's everything that would be considered discipline. And then the bottom is the notification upon release. Now the amendment itself didn't establish specific procedures that a district must abide by. It also didn't specify a specific time frame, but just that it should be prompt that it can occur after the release, but the notification must be in writing. So if it's a current employee, it does say that it can be using the organization's email. If it's a former employee, we would be using the address, the most recent address that we have on file, but it is notifying them that there was this request. It's important also to note though that in the second
046section there, Patrick, just scroll up a little bit. Anytime we have a request under the freedom of information law, we are consulting with our attorneys as far as what exactly can be, should be released versus what would be redacted based on case law and all of the filtering that they put things through. So while that middle section does articulate what constitutes a disciplinary record, it does not mean that all of that would be released. But we are not under obligation to discuss the determination on what to release with that employee or that former employee, but now the law does require that we do notify them that that is the case. Any questions on that new policy? Next one is an exciting one. So we do have our policy 5710, which part of this policy does
047articulate the mileage eligibility. And so this is a revision for consideration that calls out the adjustment of the distance policy for our secondary campuses as a trial for 25-26 and reducing that mileage eligibility to 1.75. So we will want to ensure that the policy matches what we're putting into practice for next year and then of course we can, we'll be able to revisit I'm sure lots of presentations to come on where we go from there. We'd love to lower it. We know it's really important as we're smiling, we know that's something that's really important for us. The last two you'll see are connected. So we've been fantastic here in NT. We've had a student board member serving on the board as that ex officio member for some time. Now there's been amendments to seven sections
048of education law that as of July 1st of 2025, there's a requirement that every school district has an ex officio student board member and so that goes into effect as of 7-125. So these two, this policy is a policy we already have on the books, board members, nomination and election. We last reviewed this policy back in 2023. We're all up to date, all of everything that we have articulated in here also matches the requirements for being a small city school district. So that's all good. No changes to the bulk of the policy, but Patrick if you go, go, go, go, go right here. Right here. So where we already have a standalone policy that talks about students serving as unofficial members of the board, it's embedding what the requirement is now by the state into
049this policy. And so two policies become one and there's also some changes reflected that match what the state is now requiring as of July 1. So you'll see the first part of this section clearly communicates what the student board member does do and what the student board member is not allowed to do, like participating in executive sessions, voting, things of that nature. It matches what the amendments to the law stipulate as far as a one year term and then the selection. So to date our selection has been a student who is duly elected by the student body. So we would be continuing that practice on an annual basis and talking with the high school. They have those elections at the same time that students are running for student council and things like that. And then
050building in and in the event of an unforeseen circumstance, the superintendent may name a student to serve. So if in August something shifts, the student and family move or there's something that necessitates, we want to have a student board member and the election cannot occur for some reason. It does give us a backup plan in the event, very unlikely event, but to make sure that we have the ability to do that so that we do have the student board member. So if and when we're ready to adopt these changes, then the next policy that's on the list would be the recommendation to remove the standalone that spoke to our student board members in the past. So if they're the student board member, so if their term is July 1 to June 30, when do they
051do their election? Spring. Thank you. All right. In the last one. So just for, obviously at the last meeting we had parents, community members that came to the board meeting to speak about bullying within our schools, and we absolutely listened to those parents and since that March 5th meeting, our high school administration has had phone calls with some of those parents, multiple phone calls in some cases, just to talk about the issues and try to address some of the things that are going on. We had phone calls with some of those parents as well, just to listen to hear what they had to say, letting them know that we want to have these open dialogues, have conversations, really try to make the situation better for all of our students and families. So we wanted to
052let everyone know that certainly we heard them, we're not forgetting about the things that were said at the March 5th board meeting, and at the April 2nd board meeting, we have a presentation to talk about what we do district-wide in terms of bullying and school safety, how we try to create a welcoming environment and a belonging environment. We'll also have one of our SROs here, Eric Herbert, to present on how our SROs work in our schools and how the police department works with our schools to work on bullying and school safety as well. Also, tomorrow we plan on sending out a cell phone survey to our students, our staff, our families, and community members to gather additional information about cell phones, as we will most likely have to create or update a policy that we
053have on cell phones, so having that information will be incredibly valuable. So those are some of the things that we will be doing moving forward and we'll be talking about at our next board meeting. Thank you. And then the only other thing, and we can, if anyone else has anything, we do receive a letter of resignation from one of our board members, Caitlin Baker, today. We don't need to take action on it, but just wanted to note that that came in today for the board. But if anyone has anything they wanted to comment on. Alright, so with no further business for the board, just seeing a motion to adjourn at 7-11. I'll second that. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you everyone.