CHUFSD Board of Education Regular Meeting - January 9, 2025

three two one good evening everyone I would like to PL to order the January 9th business meeting of the oh thank you of the Pro and Harmon Union Free School District action item 1.2 the pl alleges to the flag of the United States of America and to item 123 approval the agenda recommended action be it resolved at the Board of Education hereby approves the agenda as on the question all in favor I all opposed motion carries moving into reports item 2.1 the president for Flor good evening and welcome to the first Board of Education meeting in 2025 thank you for watching whether our live stream or later and thank you to those members of the public here tonight I want to start by thanking the members of the ad hoc committee working on the proposed Equity policy and social media policiy who met on the Friday before break at 7:30 a.m. and also thank the members of the administration who came in early for this meeting and we're prepared to discuss that policies of significant interest of the public some questions have been raised as to the scheduling of this meeting both as to the date and the time it commenced with some stating that the meeting was held at the date and time to discourage public participation to the contrary I can assure you that was not the case but rather the meeting which like all committee meetings is open to the public to observe our work was scheduled to ensure that the members of the ad hoc committee and the administrators were able to coordinate many schedules to find the time that all could be available during a very busy season further I want to assure the community that the policies discussed during that meeting were not adopted or enacted but that like every policy considered for adoption by the board upon completion of committee work would then be presented for first and then second reading before adoption upon presentation for first reading and again at second reading as with any policy the board will have the opportunity to review the proposed policies and to discuss the proposed policies before voting on them and members of the public will have full opportunity during hearing of the public and through other communication channels to the board to let the board know their opinions about policies that are being prepared for proposed for adoption as for more details as the work of the ad hoc Committee in this regard we will await an update during board reports at the end of the meeting as an update on this work falls to the chair of the committee who is Neil Haber and as with all board policies inquiries may be made to the superintendent regarding District implementation and to the board with questions or concerns about policies subsequent to adoption moving on I just want to as a point of clarification remind the public that the board of education is an oversight board the board establishes policy but does not have a direct role in operations or in practices or in the implementation of policies adopted by the board the administration of the district falls to the superintendent and staff we continue to work on a communication to the community which clarifies these roles and identifies points of contact on particular questions or concerns which we expect to send out by the end of the month I also want to recognize that members of our school Community have commented on and communicated with the board concerning the ongoing negotiations with the AIDS of proton United as with any bargaining unit negotiations are between the union representing those employees and the district through its administrators and legal counsil the board is kept appr priz of ongoing discussions but it is not present and does not participate in contract negotiations further while the board carefully listens to the comments and Communications concerning the ongoing ACU negotiations to protect the Integrity of the process the board will not make any statements about those negotiation as was discussed at our last me our meeting last month the subject of participating in the regionalization process is on the board's radar I want to thank superintendent Walker for taking the time to discuss regionalization this evening I look forward to the board discussion which will follow I also want to thank the athletic department for recognizing our scholar athletes this year and congratulate all of our athletes we look forward to contined success of our athletic teams during the winter season and finally I want to congratulate our seniors who have heard back with early acceptances and announce their future plans I'm enjoying hearing the announcements of our seniors as they you're back regarding college acceptances and hope that those who are still in the application and consideration process are accepted by the college they desire to attend and for those of our student be graduates who are embarking on a career path rather than higher education I hope you are able to connect with a career that meets your goals but for all please know that our district and the board are behind you every year thank you item 2.2 hearing of the public The public's allow three minutes excuse me to speak speakers should State their name and cot and Harmon School District address all comments must be addressed to the board trustees and comments about a specific person staff student or cro and Haron District resident are prohibited you can approach the podium if you like good evening my name is Michelle I'm at 17 blary Road I'm a resident proton and also the founder aasa parents against School anti-Semitism we are a local Grassroots organization created by District parents and who believe that anti-Semitism or Aid of any group have no place in our schools Tonight We Begin by acknowledging the efforts be done in educating The Faculty at C about the IH definition on anti-Semitism and we look forward to the definition also being shared at the February faculty meetings of DC and the high school along with the result of the climate survey additionally we've learned a significant portion of the administrative team will be attending the West shefer Jewish Council session for school district leaders to share resources and ideas on the topic of reducing incidence of bigotry and hate and we look forward to understanding how the district will be implementing these ideas and resources in the day-to-day operation of our schools and introducing instance of fig Tre including anti-Semitism and all form of P we also want to remind you of the or Paso recommendations the first one is specifically a recommendation of policy and that is to the adopt the IH definition of antism orate this definition into chest policies and codes of conduct the definition fits well into the set of definitions already planned for addition to the policy War to clarify anti-Semitism and its representation in the trusta idea policies and to consider adding specific language calling for violence against the Jewish Community as part of is efforts to prioritize a safe learning environment and comply with existing anti-discrimination wants thank you very much thank you hi I'm Alison Samuels at 237 Road West and I'm also a founder of pasta and just would like to continue along with what Melle said put on record what be recommend and also to thank everybody in this room who has been making some movement on this issue the second recommendation is to educate sha including students faculty Administration e staff and families on the IR definition of anti-semitism and its contemporary examples of outlin by the IRA and to one ensure sh Community understands and know how to apply this definition so it's to compli with F6 and executive order 1389 and to include professional training as needed our second this is to share our website with AC staff and present to teachers at each school to review and update the planning and management of culture night coming up in may2nd 2025 and to include specific steps to prevent non-community political voices from manipulating the Comm sh Community event and this should be applied as needed in any sh event and for to include the past perspective in thinking about the anniversary of October 7th in the following year and the potential day we had also in early October our third recommendation is to create comprehensive systems to improve Justice climate and become more fully inclusive one to develop and maintain policies including a centralized and transparent process for reporting responding to anti-is and other forms of dis discrimination two to ensure that diverse perspectives and people including FAA but not only FAA are involved so decisions and policym so that all identities and under represented groups can participate for example in the hiring and selection of Dei consultant three to include possible representatives and decisions and conversations around including Justice climate and addressing anti-Semitism and issues surrounding B and the fourth one is something that I personally feel very strongly about I am a professor at one of the most diverse schools in the country so I have a lot of experience in this area to enrich student academics to better prepare for modern day realities so want to prepare students with different views and backgrounds to engage with each other encourage mutual respect tolerance stability and an open learning environment by improving critical thinking information literacy and communication skills and lastly to promote a richer ethic of pluralism which encourages greater tolerance of and respect of differences in religion culture and national origin to succeed in promoting tolerance students would come to understand and value of these differences the last couple seconds I would just say I personally found that once students graduate it's really important for them to understand the definitions so IRA definition does not limit discussion or disagreements on the topic it allows their students to be equipped so when they go get out into the real world they're not inadvertently discriminating at somebody and that their words and actions actually match their feelings are inside so I think it's a responsibility maybe not only the semitism but to make sure all of our students graduate really understanding these definitions so their words and actions reflect their true feelings inside thank you thank you hello I'm work in corand I live at 124 pfield Avenue I'm in 8th grade at PC and I'm here again tonight to support pasta because I'm tired of students thinking they're joking when in reality they are being anti an thank you thank you my name is Eric Linberg I am a resident of croon I currently live at Gorgan been there for about 10 years my children are Ben at Weinberg an eighth grader at PDC and Juliet Weinberg a 10th grader at C Haron High School I am here to support pasta as well I'm going to tell you a little bit about my Evolution as a as a Jew I am a grandson of Holocaust Survivors approximately one quarter of my family Tre no longer exists including almost all members of my grandparents Families my grandmother's family was wiped out outputs and my father's family was killed in the Polish my grandfather's family was killed in the Polish resistance My Grandmother Had tattooed numbers on her arm which always freaked me out as a kid I always wondered why she never covered them up and now I'm beginning to understand why until Rec ly I always felt safe in this country until October 7th unfortunately and the dramatic increase in anti-emetic events since that time according to FBI data Jews are the most frequent victims of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States unfortunately both of my children have experienced moments of both subtle and Elite anti-Semitism in our community I'm here in support of pasa and the four recommendations that have been proposed I will not repeat them because you guys have heard them already in regard to the last one including curriculum practicing civil discourse on challenging topics I would like the children of this community to understand that many seemingly contrary opinions can be held by the same person for example I can fervently defend the right of Israel to exist I and many other Jews can be highly critical of the current isra Administration I and many other Jews believe Palestinians deserve the sovereign state I and many other Jews can be highly critical of Hamas and what they have done to the Palestinian and Israeli people we need our children to learn new skills and they are currently not being taught I need my children to feel accepted and heard just like all other marginalized groups in C thank you thank you my name isber 13 drive and a lot has been said I myself and my kids have witnessed an in this District I'm here to support thank you thank you like wish everybody a Happy New Year hope they had a merry Christmas and happy H I wish you and your family as well although we may disagree maybe I'd like to agree with the speak that the policies that are proposed and will be voted on by this group as a whole diversity policies stink it's terrible some of the people on the committee with the wrong people be on the committee because their past history themselves I'd like to point to a couple things one headline of today's newspaper says that one of we used to be one of the most prestigious colleges Sarah Lawrence is being sued because of anti-Semitism what they to happen on campus that the current minority leader of the House of Representatives is Uncle a Sunni Professor accused Jews of being behind the slave trade which historically impossible but he proposed it as a professor and a lot of other professors have done the same a lot of students have done the same those students came to school somewhere didn't pop out nowhere so it's a serious issue should have been addressed in your diversity policy but it's a ter it's a terrible policy to begin with I'd like to touch on one other thing there's a u as of today's KY Federal Court decision that is thrown out Biden's title 10 Title Nine Provisions regarding bathrooms girls locker rooms and teams which has been the impetus behind the idea to put transgender boys of teams and before The Supreme Court this is critical because this has always been the excuse and this board has used this as an excuse before The Supreme Court the question of nine judges the groups that oppos this law in Tennessee said there is no increase in suicide no increase in suicide between a self-describe transgender person whether they receive drugs and or and or Serv treat but they do not and cheap and and are treated with the mental the mental health consultations that they require before The Supreme Court of the United States suicide is one of the primary hammers or sort of drama these that SoCal Health Care Professionals which have ruined your reputation over the last five years they have good reputation have used to hold over parents to drive them to these buchet shops and in Boston at these hospitals in vanderville St Louis and elsewhere so I like that part of the record and you should adjust your thinking as opposed in terms of gender affirming policies that you have discussed in the past I'm going to address that later and have have some written policies that effect thank you thank you there anyone else we'll close hearing of the public and move on to item 2.3 superintendent report thank you R good evening everyone it's always one of the great parts of my job with these meetings is to get a chance to share some of the phenomenal things that have occurred in our schools since the last time we were together at a business meeting so I want to begin with that and then we'll close with a few slides on regionalization and look forward to the board's discussion and questions on that topic at that point I don't have any jokes Greg so there you go so starting with the PBC Winter concert John and I had a chance to attend this together we always are amazed by the incredible quality of the musicianship of our young people particularly Cons considering how few years they've had at that point to learn that particular instrument and to perform together the quality of the sound from beginning to end across Orchestra the band the chorus is the Jazz Band truly exceptional there was no different this year so congratulations and thank you to miss dwire Mr katsman Mr Bryant and all of our student musicians for what was an outstanding Winter concert if you see also want to make quick mention of one of the fun pre winter break activities every year at CT we get a chance to get invited as a district office team to come over to M Shiro M Baron's class and grade and hear from the Tigers who have participated in their cake decorating contest so students work in groups come up with some really elaborate themes and decorations some had dance routines and songs they had made up that aligned with their themes around their particular kids so just kind a fun example of of kids enjoying each other collaborating together creating something together and then sharing it with adults and with colleagues and so thank you to those to those kids and to their teachers for some some good laughs and some really interesting C Decora no doubt about I also want to make mention of any number of our student athletes and teams beginning with our scholar athlete teams as on a reference from the fall and the 114 scholar athletes from the fall it's a phenomenal group and represent kind of everything that's great about our schools and the product that our schools produce students who are high achieving and excellent and Furious inquisitive about the world passionate about the world in the classroom and also contribute to the community the field of play so congratulations to all of them I wanted to congratulate Henry Martin who recently won his hund wrestling match remarkable it's a phenomenal young man who is an exceptional wrestling Talent I'm sure we'll see him at the state meet again this year so congratulations to him and to coach guell also want to make mention and thank Christine and Carla and everyone who's involved in facilitating the annual make tournament I had a chance to attend the games Thursday night and Friday night I think it was Friday the boys game that was the loudest I've heard the gym in the three years I've been here I think Vinnie Flynn hit that three-pointer and he beat North Salem that night that was a really great night not only for the team but just for the program kind the morale of of the entire athletic department so thank you to to coach Lucas Mar to everyone who's involved in in all those games a phenomenal tournament the girls won the tournament boys came in second so a lot of tighter Pride on display that weekend also wanted to mention and congratulate again when mcmanis who we talked about previously with ALS maybe all state soccer team we surprised to no one but that again is an exceptional young person who combines tal with great work ethic and Incredibly proud of her accomplishments congratulations to Glen as well shifting to the Arts we wanted to congratulate and thank Marina Horton in the C chorus who had a chance to perform we talk a lot about school being a place where kids get a chance to make memories that they'll remember the rest of their lives and I think certainly the chance for the fourth grade course to perform at West Point and at Radio City are examples of that John and I had a chance to go down to the city that day and watch our fourth graders I would say anxious right a little Beyond anxious but sounded just tremendous and the pride of all the parents who were there to get a chance to watch their their child perform on a stage like that in in an environment like that before the the Christmas Spectacular it was a a beautiful beautiful day for us and and congratulations and thank you to them and for marinaa Dynamo in that program also want to make mention and give a shout out to our fifth grade faculty and fifth grade PBC students who took part in the annual fifth grade stores and this happens twice a year well time this is before the winter break and so our our students it's part of an interdisciplinary experience that helps them to learn about decimals and apply that knowledge in some kind of real world context where they they pick a product or a service they're interested in it might be making bracelets jewelry or stickers or other kind of holiday themed items they then determine a market price and market value for them and then get a chance to present them so they deal with Concepts like inventory accounts payable price listing so actually if we need help in the business office got some good fifth graders ready for that and then they get a chance to present and share their knowledge so that's always an incredibly fun experience we look forward to that again in the spring so thank you to them for sharing their interest and talents with us and thank you to those fifth grade teachers for making that happen next up is the annual clothing Swap this is the activism Club thank you to Terry Tracy at the high school I think this year there are about 30 students who were present u a phenomenal example of environmental Consciousness and some collaboration and people kind of upcycling their wardrobe in a in a very conscious way so always a fun event didn't get a chance to attend this year but have in the past it's always an excellent excellent opportunity for our kids to do some learning together so thank you car and the the club for that opportunity I want to make mention of this this is something I hadn't talked about in Prior years but had a chance to experience this year as I have a nith grade chap group one of the things I had heard about as kind of a special Tradition at chhs is every year in chap our 9th graders take one of the sessions and write letters to their future selves and they're asked to think about themselves as seniors and what they want their High School experience to have been about what they want to have gone through experienced feelings of success struggle whatever it is they want to share with their future selves it's then entirely confidentially U but I want to say my chat group shout out to my chat group really did an excellent job we're thoughtful about it and it's one of those moments when you talk to seniors they remember and get a chance to open those letters and reflect on their chhs experience so it's a unique thing I haven't seen that in other high schools so I wanted to make mention of that and to my chat group and thank them for for being so thoughtful and I look forward to four years from now seeing what their what their experience has been like one of the things that the board and Community has heard about for some time is the idea through the vision map of leveraging school schedules to establish further Innovation around the student experience and so I want to make mention of something that'll be happening for the first time beginning at the end of this month at C called tiger day and actually car and Craig some faculty put together a video that was shared yesterday with our C families and a survey in anticipation of a parent meeting on this next week but the general idea is that today we'll start for all students at C with a building wide assembly so think about 550 young people in the same space at the same time engaging in activities together learning together and while that's happening the rest of this of the faculty and staff have that 45 minutes or so to to collaborate together and to think about what the potential is of that kind of interdisciplinary collaboration and the rest of the day the entire schedule is opened up in terms of prep periods for teachers so that you can have some incredible multi-grade multi-age interdisciplinary cross special area collaboration this again is something I've never seen before came out with some really good thinking by the faculty and staff there in alignment with the vision map it's something Carrie and Craig we're very proud of ctually when the board first heard about it in August and now we'll get a chance to experience it starting in January and actually the district office has been slated for a couple of days this spring so again you got just planning entertaining 600 Elementary School students it's going to be attacked so just want to put that on everybody's radar we look forward to having Carrie and Craig back soon this spring to talk about how that's going and certainly will'll be sharing more information with on that as it get now shifting wildly to U an entirely different topic that of regionalization so just to give a little bit of background and anticipation of a board discussion around this this is not a cro initiative this is instead a state initiative coming out of the State education department in Albany one of the things that blends it in my mind credibility that it comes and is led by commissioner Rosa leader whose vision and whose leadership in general is is one that we have tremendous respect work and well maybe not in our district there are certainly parts of the state where this has driven a lot of conversation Long Island particularly some places upd particularly but essentially what I tried to do in the next couple of slides and this all comes directly from the s website for those of you who haven't been regularly reading s.gov U is to give kind of an overview starting with what this is and what it isn't there having a fair amount of misinformation I think about the concept so it's not a surprise to anyone in education that districts regularly collaborate with each other and we're in touch with each other we think through ideas we share at every superintendent meeting every assistant superintendent meeting the projects we're working on the priorities we're working on and how we might connect with each other and so in my mind this is an extension of that and potentially a furtherance of that because what it does is incentivize the sort of conversations through SED support not just financially but through advocacy for potential changes in legislation or regulation that in some cases restrict what districts would like to be doing together now and so at its core in my mind that's what the commissioner's vision is is a way to try to incentivize districts to continue to collaborate to potentially to find efficiencies but in my mind it's mostly about how can we work together to lift each other up in systems and in doing so lift up the experience of all students within our region what it isn't and certain I think have you admit there was some there was some lapses some mistakes and how this was initially communicated and we've been CED with SC about that what it isn't is discussion of emergers or consolidations or mandating districts to do anything so to me that's a key part of this is It's a nothing Venture nothing gained kind of concept where there is no requirement that districts a participate and if districts do participate that there's no mandate that we actually do anything if the direction of the regional conversations isn't one that we're particularly interested in as C in terms of the outcome as as shared by we're really talking about kind of two things the first is what they're calling Regional plans and this will be led by but Northern West as district superintendent Bo we will bring together all the superintendent of participating districts in the region to talk through what our potential priorities are what our areas and to develop what could be plans as an entire region plans as or three districts in the region or some combination thereof of how it is we want to go about working together that may mean engaging in shared research sharing practices sharing of resources or professional learning opportunities and so that's kind of the that's where the meat on the bones are is is what those conversations would sound like and what the kind of the fruit of that that labor would be and then the second part of a series of recommendations that would be made on behalf of the region to the State education department around for us to continue this work for us to do the kinds of things that we would like to do we need the following changes in regulation changes in legislation financial support and so those are really the two aspects of what would come out of this process and again this the way SS described this the regional activity plan what we've agreed to work on together that are in their words and I have no reason not to believe this completely identified generated by the districts themselves and then what we need where we want U the folks in all to continue pursuing if we had additional resources legislative changes and so this is an mechanism at this point and so what districts all districts were asked to do was to A needs assessment which was fairely onerous mostly information that is already accessible publicly kind of condensed into one 43 or 44 page document and so the idea is I understand it was for the State education department to then take every District in the Region's needs assessment and solidate them and find a way to see if there's some overlap that might help to drive some of the conversations around what some prior hearing might be when the districts come together spoken fairly extensively with Neil Bo Andes about this he's let me know that Point his understanding was that at least 18 if not all 19 of the districts in the region will participate preliminarily that's my recommendation is that we we see where this goes there's no again there's no obligation for us to engage in anything if there was ever a point we thought well we like to fall here with and North Salem on following work around interdisciplinary course design and research then that would come through kind of a formal plan to the board for discussion and consideration so we're talking about something that's months if not years off the requirement just in terms of a timeline so that folks have a sense is that the districts will first start to come together in late February or March for the first time we'll be discussion we get together all the time anyway but this will be more focused around this topic and facilitated by m boil the requirement from s is that any actual plan is put together and submitted by October 1st of 2025 and implemented the start of the 26 27 sco year all these things of course are I would assume subject to change but that's what s has laid down at this point so I think from our end as I would think about going into these meetings our priorities would be based around the vision map the work we're doing here that we already to see as inovative for students here and staff here getting a chance to share some of that here from other districts about where there may be some overlap some interest in in similar work and then seeing if there's a potential for a partnership that would allow us then to say to SC we can take this work even further if you can help us in the following ways and I think again that's really the the difference is we've always collaborated share Cod share resource and share ideas and share professional learning Concepts and research and we do interations of other districts all the time right that's not a novel concept the difference potentially is the backing of the State education department legislatively in terms of advocacy and financially that could help us potentially to VI some of this work at a deeper level next exped level than we could do IR own and if nothing comes of it that's interesting that's an opportunity for us to get together as colleagues and have some good Rich discussions anyway so our recommendation is we initially participate we see where this goes and obviously every time after there's a meeting I'll come back to the board and to the public and share what the nature of the conversations are a little kind of broad overview of regionalization happy to answer questions to hear board discussion that's my report thank you thank you I think we'll move into item 2.4 which is discussion surrounding regation so we can now start if nobody else wants you can start so I've actually doing a fair amount of reading and studying on is thinking both about what the obligations and demands are on participating districts and I've looked at the opposition of those districts that have popped it out May me and La Island and some of them have posted their materials on their website which I have copies here of some of them the first thing that I know is that as Steve said the roll out was there the roll out was not particularly well thought out with certain things like terminology in New Jersey regionalization means exactly what some people see one offline some people were scared of regionalization in New Jersey means combining school districts or combining high schools when New Jersey has for a particular County a Regional High School that's not what this is about but by using that term immediately people got scared and I think it's pretty clear that that's not what it means I look at some of the material I actually watched this afternoon a presentation by Tom Rogers the that he presented to his board in November I think it was in which he talked about the authority of the state see education the regulations as they were in draft form as of November the desire that he saw on behalf of his district saset which is a high performing District in Long Island for the we regionalization to be if you will voluntary and not mandatory and some things that he wanted to see changed in those regulations after his presentation s said you may opt out and put in the regulation that you may opt out in participating in the planning process what they did not do in the regulation is specifically say that you may opt out of the implementation in at the town Hall with commissioner Rosa and Deputy Commissioner Madison and assistant commissioner Frank that we some of us attended on December 12th they discussed that and they said no we don't mean that you must to do anything even if you participate in a planning process you don't have to follow any recommendations even in those items that are going to be submitted as a report to SCV that's not what the regulations said but that's what they said one of the things that that superent Rogers said is if you look at the authorities of the school district who run the school district under education law it would and look at all of those statements that were made it would be very difficult for the commissioner to say you violated the law because you ran your District in accordance with law section 1709 for Union Free School Districts so then I get back to what does this really do for us and how does it you know what impediments or burdens is I think the burdens are slight it's some time it's some thinking it's some spending time at meetings that maybe we didn't really want to have our administrators have to add to their schedule but my impression during my service on the board is that the cooperation and interchange between districts and administration superintendent and and administrative staff and principal is somewhat ad hoc we have an idea we hear that somebody in Long Island or somebody in another part of the county or wherever is doing something that sounds good and we call them we say yeah maybe we'll come visit is that's a little bit different than actually working together to use the elbow to Elbow phrase that our superintendent once St thanks sir I think that it is important to for us even in our community to participate both because we will be helping other in our neighboring districts and other districts who might benefit from our experience and we will be able to benefit from their as I know there's a lot of we at the Town Hall commissioner Rosa called out our neighboring districts P ay and T towns and their superintendant for working together on a lot of very Innovative things for their particular populations and their particular needs that I think we could learn from and that's what I see here I would hate it if it ended up that the commissioner tried to put the thumb down and say you must do this but I don't think that's going to happen and I I'm very much positive towards this initiative and where it can take us to help our students thank you and I I do have some materials if anybody wants to look at them thank you yeah it would be great if we could share that than you just I I wanted to just quickly I've been following along with this as as it's been going along through a lot of the work that I do with LGC and westput as well and having attended the the town hall commissioner Rosa and and understanding I I think getting a better understanding of sort of what the what the idea behind it is and what the potential is for the district I'm pleased that that we are just making that our administration's making recommendation that we that we participate and we see where things could go I do think that at that point right there isn't it's it's sort of a no loss situation right we I do thank you for the the time and I'm sure owner's effort of putting together the needs assessment because I understand a lot of that data is stuff that is already report out in a lot of different ways and so having to recalibrate all of that stuff manually is is certainly an effort so thank you all for that but I'm I'm curious and and I'm looking forward to see how this moves forward and ways after you have this meeting in February or March with our regional counterparts and and seeing what ideas kind of float up from there and what what the opportunities are thank you yeah I like when we talked about this initially at the advocacy committee meeting it was still before the clarification on I think was late November that the commissioner sent on sort of the question of the mandatoriness of the of regionalization and the concept here and so there was some concern from in our conversation about what does it mean right for the district are we required what is what does it mean to be required at Sher Etc so I'm glad that there's been a clarification and an improvement on communication on on their part on on all of that and I I mean I think it makes sense the the way that it's been laid out and I think collaboration is always a good thing right even if to your point it ends up not going to the full extent that you imagined it would I think having conversation with with districts innovating together and exploring together is a good thing for our district and and and neighboring districts one question I had and and I know that potentially the additional resources Peace legislative changes or regulatory changes I'm in I'm interested in the additional resources piece because I assume that they might be Financial though not necessarily Financial Resources right and there will be a moment right when you're exploring with other districts where it you're going to want the information about how possible additional resources may be so that you can continue in the Endeavor right of exploration and I I guess I wonder about at what point and this is probably not an answer you have already but but something that I think we we're going to want at some point is how are decisions on additional resources being made right and and because I think that information will will be necessary at a certain point where you decide all right this is something we want to explore but we can't do it without X Y and Z right so how is that X Y and Z determined and then my second question or point is around the your priority around the vision map if you've already seen alignment with other districts in kind of the concepts of the vision map where you think you think you want to part at least explore initially with them because of that alignment so on the resources question yeah that you hit the nail on the head and so I think part of what I'm optimistic about is the connection through Neil Bole as the district superintendent and as statutorily as commissioner Rose's representative to our region when we say resources we certainly think about Financial Resources but we also think about s expertise and attention and time and so it's not a surprise it's not a surprise to anyone that SED is not incredibly well staffed and so when you're trying to do to give an example when we were trying to put together the interdisciplinary courses at the high school one of the questions that needed to get answered was Can you issue Credit in both areas when you're combining curricula like that and believe it or not because no one else is really doing it that's not a question that is readily answerable at s Laura because she's Laura hunted down somebody to get that answer but the ability to get attention to our questions and focus on some of the things we'd like to do from SED as a resource that's frankly as valuable to us potentially as the financial side and so he would look to kneel to help to keep his finger on the scale with commissioner Rosa make sure that those things are happening remind me of the second question just where you see alignment yes so I think one of the areas that we'd be really interested in is U conversations around Innovative assessment practices and so that's a conversation that comes up whenever we're together regionally in general but if there's an opportunity to do some partnering with districts to do some kind of action research supported potentially by SED in some way I think that's going to be particularly with the blue commission's recommendations and the changes that are happening Statewide anyway I would think that without wanting to speak for Albany that that would be something theyd want districts to be prioritizing and collaborating around and so we're in a position to help lead that with some we think really good Regional Partners as well thanks I'll just time in to say one of the things Steve that you mentioned I think also sounds pretty interesting is just the opportunity to use this regionalization structure in supportive advocacy because I think again just as we're thinking about you know how education continues to develop and change and what the Outlook is in terms of policy changes and things like that in the coming years I certainly think that having those conversations with other school districts and being able to sort of present a collective perspective from like a position of strength U as we've seen it's like we have seen school districts across our state even sort of advocate for legislative kind of like change and I think it's an opportunity for us that we haven't taken advantage of in a structured way where again hate to go back to like the Long Island example but we have seen it there and I think there there's opportunity for us here also to be moving some of our our policy thinking forward through the structure so that seems pretty compelling as well yeah I completely agree and to quote John you I know John probably a half a dozen times in the three years we've spent together has said think about what the the potential impact would be if the even the 62 Westchester districts came together around a particular topic and said we need to move toward this change in education kind of harnessing that potential around advocacy in a region like ours is fantastic to think about and so this gives us at least an opportunity potentially to have some of those conversations backed by support from s in a way that hasn't been as you said harnessed or channeled before so that's that's incredibly interesting to us too good glad to hear it I just have a a kind of a point of Interest like with respect to the needs assessment was there information what that we don't already give St or was it just a different compilation that they were looking for No it's it's information that's already publicly available packaged differently and that was one of the is that the time and energy put that together yeah and it was yeah it was it was initially communicated and packaged very poorly the commissioner sent a couple of her deputies down to meet with the orinal superintendent in I think it was late November and I'll say that meeting went very poorly for the deputies you ask us for can of feedback you're going to get it and part of it was that aspect of the initial roll out was terribly done they asked us to put together information that you could go to s.gov and get already so that irritated us and we let them know that but I think frankly the direction of these conversations isn't going to be guided necessarily by that specific needs assessment it's going to be guided by things like the vision map and the Strategic plan the vision of the region schools and how we can find areas of commonality work together but yeah we were we were HED by I I would just add that for other parts of the state rural areas and I read some of the post articles in postings about rural areas and the cats and amond acts and so on the needs assessment I'm sure was a very vital point because it helped them identify the ways in which school districts and share resources share administrators share programs share teaches that they really had not thought about and for them it probably was much more useful than perhaps it was here where we kind of we had a better sense where we are but I guess from the state's perspective they couldn't really make a distinction between in West all you don't have to do this because you kind of know but other places you do so I think but I also think what you talked about was the needs assessment for our communities is really not something that's going to be it's going to drive discussion going forward it's what's going to drive it is getting everybody together and saying these are the things we're doing well what are you doing how does that tie in and how do how can you also connect perhaps with tools or or districts outside of our area that we may not have thought about we hear about them sometimes like when we go to NYSSBA we he somebody do a presentation and there's some ideas and maybe reach out but I think they system more systemized approach and through the district superintendent of the 37 bosies who also get together every month and talk about things a lot of a lot of innovation can come and a lot of resources we will be able to not our district alone but our area will be able to utilize as as I see it conceptually so Steve I was wondering if you had any thoughts about how how is this coming together as a region going to work in the face of the existence of districts that have historically been somewhat iconic plastic we all know who they are and and in depending on the dimension that you're talking about they may be iconic clastic in different ways they may be on icon clastic in terms of their budgets are very different what it takes to pass or not pass a a budget maybe very different in those communities what they choose to spend money on what they choose to focus on what they choose to not focus on or ignore and historically that's led to a sort of impedance mismatch in many of our efforts to work together as multiple districts I wonder if you had any thoughts about that I mean we've seen that kind of the I don't want to say the word disagree disagreement is not really the right word but a a difference in approach along the lines of many different things like one that comes to mind is is on participation in state testing for instance was a was a big thing about I want say about seven eight years ago right and there were some District we don't really want to do that you and or or participate to very different very varing degrees I wonder if you had any thoughts on it yeah I think I I agree and certainly we know who those districts are and have close relationships with the superintendent of many of those districts and we have those kind of conversations I think what interests me about this opportunity is that it doesn't have to be a one- siiz fits-all entirely Regional plan where all 19 districts are looking to focus on this issue the idea of being able to partner with two or three districts to the point made previously in an atin Peak Skill Terry town try add you know that kind of opportunity for us with other districts because there are a lot of districts in our region and outside of our region who are similarly inclined to to think about to use our what school can be there are a lot of Kindred Spirits out there and so they don't necessarily have to be all 19 of us they never never line up all 19 of us the issue with the chance to work on with a smaller subset of districts on issues that are of interest to us to our student bodies to our communities that I think is what's interesting to me in terms of the the planning and implementation part and then the opportunity to anus point about advocating more broadly as a region I think it kind of checks both of those boxes potentially thank anyone else so we asked this be put on the agenda because we had mentioned at our lastt meeting I think it's important that we have these conversations in public and have an opportunity to to take Steve exp and he the district's perspective on why decisions are being made so I want to thank everyone for participating in this and thank you Steve for presenting on it we look forward to keeping your post thank you we'll move on to item 2.5 student report take I everybody happy New Year before I start my report I just want to T touch on this walk Point with the clothing swap I was able to attend it's probably one of my favorite events of the year it's just really cool to see students collaborating and like getting to know each other across grades and so it's a great event so if you guys can attend next year I highly recommend so do we have to like bring clothes for sh I mean if you want but I think it's just everyone can go for the fun I know some of my friends didn't bring stuff but I definitely did and we just kind of had fun with it which is great moving on this one really excites me because I am a senior but we will learn our choose Mentor placements during chat next Monday okay so the choose program allows students to do internships or things of that sort during the fourth quarter of their senior year so we'll start organizing that with our mentors once we find them out on my day these C just Winter concert will be on Thursday January 23rd at 7.m so if you can attend I'm sure everyone would love the music like everyone's working really hard on it auditions for the spring drama will be held Monday to Wednesday next week the production is the ly project which will run from April 4th to April 5th and I believe it'll be at chhs if the auditorium is all done by then and sfc we'll meet tomorrow morning so SCC will meet tomorrow morning just to discuss a couple initiatives like the pave program which we're starting which is basically students in a Grade will record a video with just ideas and like information about their experience living in that grade and then that will be shared with students in the grade below that are rising to be their level and just to kind of give them an idea of what they should expect in the future and we're also trying to plan our 100 Year celebration for the anniversary of the school's 100 years since the building I love it it's kind of like a big birthday party so I'm really excited for that one and on more technical terms the wing over there which used to be the language Wing is now closed off so a lot of students are switching their classroom placements and kind of adjusting with that getting the hall with one's the scarecase is pretty hard but I haven't run into the wall yet so it's going pretty good and it's really exciting to be part of this transformation and I'm pretty sad that I won't get to see it but I think when I come back after I graduate I'll be very excited we have a we have some I just wanted to add one thing and I had heard that SSC is working on their 100th birthday celebration as I've said to the board over the years and I've said to staff Administration as well well has everybody has a passion project I have defined my passion project as having a community celebration I don't want to at all take away from whatt is doing but of the 100th anniversary I have started I guess I can make this announcement publicly to reach out to members of our community who may have memorabilia from their High School career up in the attic going back as far as they may have from their parents grandparents goe so that we can sometime probably unfortunately have to graduated Isabelle but maybe you come back have a community celebration perhaps TI it in with something with a new Spencer field with lights Etc but I'm not sure exactly how it's going to go but what whatever we can do and I'm just saying that's sfc's passion I think is great that their pride that passion project right and but I'm hoping that we can put it put it together so if anyone and this is for the public goes up in the attic and find or in the basement and find stuff let me know I I probably can find room in my garage drop it off the car doesn't go in the garage and I'd be glad to kind of help this along Suzanne's gonna kill you yeah I know she she has yet thank you Isabelle and we hope you do come back and you get to definitely for that and definitely one of these board meetings I'm sure thank you so much and we now will move on to item 2.6 the assistant superintendent to business repor presentation so tonight is the first in our series of budget presentations for 25 just wait a moment right getting steps into my this will be a good time for gon begin with the budget development timeline oops see I don't seem toing might be slightly delet longit so this is a year-long process budget development started in September where we develop preliminary assumptions we analyze some historical data and begin to develop forecasts take a look at the political and financial landscape and making those forecasts and then then in October we create our budget development time line and calendar and we look at of state aid and debt projections in November we start establishing a Partnerships with building leaders and directors and administrators and we engaging in the process of talking about goals priorities [Music] Etc December is where our building leaders Come Together We dialogue about their priorities we evaluate options and we actually look at existing programs to determine how effective are they are there something we want to move forward or want to put on pause for a little bit until we have further evaluations Buton and then in January the governor's tenative budget comes out and that will determine give us guidelines for the state aid funding that we expect to receive and and today we'll have our initial budget or maybe my batter here we go okay then February we have another budget work session we receive the New York St that acronym down at the bottom we able to move that the New York State teachers retirement system releases their employer contribution rate so as a public employer we're obligated to contribute a percentage of their salaries to the retirement fund that information usually comes out in February we also at that point we usually issue a spending moratorium to our so that we could stop to spending take a look at our year-to-date expenses our future obligations and then determine if we're going to keep that in place or move forward with the balance of the year and spending then in March we submit our allowable tax levy that is submitted to the Office of the State Controller it basically says that based on our based on our projections and the prescribed formula we are anticipating a tax levy of a certain amount and that to be authorized by the controller's office we will also present our budget and bus propositions Transportation propositions oh now we moving great thank you in April we'll ideally have the governor's budget and state aid will be secured so that we can begin to adopt our budget and submit the property tax report card we'll also have our public public budget hearing in May along with our vote which this year is on May 20th and that will be at the high [Music] school crazy here 6: am to 900m at high school so we're going to begin with looking at our Revenue we generally look at revenues first because we don't have a lot of opportunities to create Revenue it's kind of like we have what we have so we begin by looking at state aid a big portion of state aid is foundation Aid last year the legislature and the governor got together and they commissioned the Rockefeller Institute to evaluat the foundation a formula which was established in like 2007 I think that's the basis of of our figures so the Institute got together they formulated a group of recommendations New York is a very complex state with a wide variety of school districts demographically sizewise there's no one one fix for this it's a very complex nuanced situation where one thing could send one District into Financial ruins and send another District in into a flood of state aid Revenue so U though the report is very valuable I believe according to NYSSBA and NYSUT think they are going to dive deeper into some of the recommendations maybe looking at the wealth ratios and enrollment and so forth but the word on the street is that we are holding steady with Foundation Aid as is NYSSBA is also recommending that are expense based AIDS so those are AIDS that are generated based on the expenditures that we have for that year Transportation Aid building a special ed expenses that's all I can think of off the top of my head so they are recommending that those Aid formulas stay as is and dollar for dooll reimbursement and to for our district we're expecting that Foundation a will remain stable for this year and will anticipate increases in our building Aid and and transportation Aid based on projects being finalized and also just increased expenditure in transportation so just for perspective purposes State a represents about 15% of our Revenue then we have our tax levy so the allowable growth factor is a a component of the formula and the allowable growth factor that we're anticipating is 2% so that's essentially CPI or 2% whichever is lower right now CPI is about 2.99% that's the lowest it's been since 2022 but maybe 2021 I think January 22 it was a little over 2% and now it's again the lowest since then but we expect that it will it's not going to go below the 2% so we think that we can reasonably rely on that the tax-based growth factor that represents brick and mortar development within our community this year the so that rate comes out by the by the property tax division of the state that number changes not that much I've seen a change three times over the course of the budget process and I've seen it given once and never changed again right now we're projecting 1.004 which is a reduction from last year which was at 1.59 so it's a it's a small difference but still a reduction and that increase is added onto our Levy to offset some of the growth in that area not a significant amount it's it's a very small amount in our tax lby as you'll see on our next budget presentation Westchester County sales tax and income so West County provides districts with a percentage of their sales tax revenue we this number has increased substantially we expected that during Co that that was going to decline significantly and it actually didn't so we we we receive about 2% of our revenue from westest County sales tax and interest income we are expecting interest income to go down this year based on interest rates inflation Etc here we go with expenditure assumptions so some of our assumptions looking forward into the budget season certainly we have our contractual Personnel wage and benefit increases we have obligations to our collective bargaining agreements Etc that is a large portion of our budget it represents 50% of our budget it reflects salaries next we have health and dental and insurance increases so the consort is expecting an increase between 3.9 and 4.5% which considering the environment is very very reasonable in comparison to some of the surrounding plants nyi Swiss Shi Etc employer pension contributions and payroll taxes so as a public employer we pay ERS to our non-certified and we pay employee I use the acronym So I promis myself I wouldn't the Employee Retirement System we pay a percentage of the salaries for those employees that is going up considerably so the rates are average around 16.5% so for our non-certified staff we pay 16.5% on top of their salary for retirement benefits the teacher retirement system the rates will not be finalized until next month but the range is 9.5 to 10 to 10% that's down slightly from 10.11% which is last year and then FICA so we also pay 7.65% on salaries for FICA contributions that rate so there's a maximum a f Max that that Max has gone up considerably over 5% this year so that's going to also increase those costs as well next special education placements we are expecting thanks to our wonderful assistant superintendent for people Personnel Services and the programs that he's establishing we are expecting those costs to remain stable remember those costs are fluctuate more than than almost anything in our budget expenditures okay bosis admin capital and service cost increases so we were presented with Bose's budget last month I believe and we are looking at approximately 3.5% increase in administrative and capital cost Services career and Tech so our career and Tech program is based on I think it's a three-year rolling average with five data points so districts in the past would have a lot of students going to the program and then the next year would have none so it was very difficult to project these costs so what Bose did they established this three-year rolling average so this year we are is a very good year for us the increases to CTE are are going to be very minimal I think we're they we're going to be up between 1 and 2% based on that threeyear average utility cost yeah just to be clear that's a per student cost so if we have more the same number of students we're going to go up 3% if we have more students who decide to take advantage of CTE offerings no we that will not it will not be based on enrollment so the enrollment this year's enrollment will become a data point within our threeyear average but we will not pay actual costs for each and every student that's going this year it'll be that threeyear rolling average with the data points and it's five or seven days so therefore if the number of students decrease three years from now we will be paying higher we'll be paying a higher per pupil cost because it's the three-year average so next year let's say we have 100 students who diffusing program next year they 50 we're going to be paying more until that average Works its way okay utility costs we're expecting increases to utility costs even though our solar is generating an enormous amount of power we are going to be opening up Spencer field whole lighting there will be far more building use than we've had in the past two years due to construction so we're estimating increases there and when is I'm sorry just to remind me our Energy service contract goes through will we have two right one is falling off in a couple of years and one is here for 20 plus years I believe yeah but we will probably be looking at a new new one because I new one was falling off yes but we made from that strides in the area like there's only so much you can do but and last the last one was big one was good yeah very very efficient Debt Service increase so debt services increasing by close to a million dollars this year though that will be offset by some state aid it is still an increased cost to our budget technology upgrades to infrastructure new spaces with been our new build new areas of our building and of course our one one program so next steps next steps we are going to an and update State a projections Implement our collective bargaining agreements and project our salaries out into our budget to see where we stand review and update enrollment projections assess staffing needs and potential retirements incorporate instructional initiatives and priorities by meeting with our building leaders and DEP and looking at budgetary requests and really prioritizing those as far as what will bring the most value to our students and our districts we will determine our transportation replacement needs for our propositions in March and then a a big part of this process is really assessing our current year performance as far as fund balance and expenditure projections because remember the budget is really projected year in advance so we want to say okay last year these were our projections really where do they stand and then reassess at that point so our budget presentation schedule begins with this evening where we reviewed our revenues and expenditures and then in February the first February meeting on the 13th we'll have a revenue budget summary followed by our second meeting in February where we'll do support operations and present our propositions then March 13th we'll do vision maap technology and Athletics and then on the 27th we'll have our school building budgets curriculum and instruction and our pupil Personnel budgets and in April the superintendent will present the loost budget followed by the budget adoption and our property report card adoption and we'll also be approving the Bose's administrative budget in May we'll have our public budget hearing on the 8th followed by the vote on the 20th for our budget trustee elections and 10 stay connected do you have any questions about about the budget budget. questions chi.org follow us on Instagram and Facebook and just opening up to questions if anyone has any one relatively simple question I hope you said March 13th there will be a presentation on the vision that portion of the budget and then two weeks later being the school building budgets and the curriculum and instruction what's the difference between the vision map presentation and the more particular the vision map is really just framing the budet so it's really just framing for what we will be discussing that day and what we'll be discussing two weeks after so it gives me a chance to say what I always like to say was just budget process is not just about dollars and cents it's about vision and value and so you know that this the budget process is a time when a greater segment of the community perhaps is is paying attention is locked in to what use that as a to talk about the vision map and the longer term vision of the district thank you jise question on the U the revenue side how will the proposed housing developments impact District Revenue so this year we have one pilot from the previous year's development which is about 44,000 that P was implemented to last year the housing developments themselves next year the only it will not increase the revenue that the district receives the district has to adhere to the allow tax levy which does which doesn't allow us to to deviate from the formula or exceed that Revenue based by 2% what it will do is it will reduce the taxes for the existing residents so if we get $40 million in revenue and we and we have five massive developments that go on the tax rules we still get $40 million there's there's no change to our bottom line as far as Revenue it just distributed amongst the existing residents so additional housing within the district with won't increase School District Revenue it'll just lower residents taxes because we're allocating out the tax base acrost in a larger more risk yeah got it am I correct to understand it that is actually the purpose of the tax based tax based growth factor to account for increases in in the actual built supply of Housing and its value yeah not that it actually does but that's what it's intended to do it is that is a portion of it but again the tax based growth factor the most money it's ever generated and that and that's a factor that's applied to every school district every year it goes up and it goes down is a fraction it's anywhere between $20,000 to 120,000 maybe maybe 200,000 in in a rare year so it again it's in significant if we I've never seen that number move more than 0. two no I understand that but it is a 1% increase in the tax levy each year plus or minus whatever however it changes but that is still a growth versus the prior Year yes right so if the allowable growth Levy factor is 2% C at 2% which is what we expected to be this year because inflation was the CPI was greater than 2% and the tax based growth factor is what rounded off to 1% the the 04 doesn't really mean very much so call it 2 point call it so that totals out to 3% gross approximation 3% that means that our total re our total revenue from taxation is going to increase by it's not 3% it's multiply the two let us say by 1.04 well 1.01 whatever the so it's 2% okay so that is not add that's not added to the to the growth Levy Factor it it is a factor of oh my it's a which is why District doesn't get much revenue the one thing to add is that like any other instruction during the term of the construction the assessed value of whatever is being constructed is going to be pretty long until it's done and then it's going to be reassessed like when you had an addition to your home or when your home is vacant as your rebuilding it you get a very low when you get your certificate and then you get your CFO and they do the inspection and all of a sudden they come in and the assessment goes up so while we will not have if there is for example lot Aid development going on during the time that that's going on for the next year and a half however however long it takes we're not going to get much more in the way of tax revenue out of lot a also not going to have any residents in lot a and then once lot a is as a CFO it'll be assessed and then you know that will be on the roles which will not increase Revenue as you said nothing increases Revenue but redistributes the tax burden differently among among all the right taxpayers the one way that you could not necessarily in our community have a increase in a tax and tax growth factor that would be would not just be a redistribution is with nonresidential construction because for example if someone built a 20 story office building on a plot right nobody's living there and then so would create a lot of increase in the brick and mortar the brick and mortar and therefore the the factor but it wouldn't increase our student population speak of increases in student population do we have any sense of what the trend will be next year are we expecting an increase and and do we have any idea how much yet well we're expecting an increase but we don't have any solid numbers at this point we're evaluating our incoming preschoolers and kindergarteners and every year there's an an adjustment with incoming students in certain grades like we have a sense of order of magnitude we do know there have been at least at least one new development is opened now and is now now has occupancy right do we have any idea of what we're what we're expecting relative to that yeah students nine students newly registered for that particular yes does any remember consultant had said what that number would be yeah and I I believe it was it's a little bit higher than expected to splice numbers but that's also not the number of potential students that are living there right because there's some question as to whether there are schoolage children that are living there that are perhaps still residing in their District district and it could potentially still make a shift here at some point understood so the potential is we know the actual potential is greater than even so you're we're not talking about a a vast influx and when you spread that out across 13 grades that's yeah but I don't I don't think you can really spread it because you might have five five students entirely entirely possible but the argument that some make that you're gonna get 50 students so that's like two per grade doesn't make a lot of sense if of them are going to be in one it doesn't happen that way and you never can tell and we also although you mention eight or nine we don't know perhaps we can find out or will find out how many preschool age students are living in Maple common who two years from now or three years from now will become that would be very interesting but you know that's that those things happen it's the same thing when someone buys a house and my neighbor down on the corner has a child and just had another child well that's the way of life I think the Phil consultant whatever the measure they had assumed of number of students that would be attending the district coming out of the fact that they have us in their calculation for M Commons think ended up being two to two and a half times greater in actuality so just something to think about as those considering a that one there will not be additional Revenue to the district from that building and that there's potential significant costs that would would be incurred I I have two questions the first is in terms of potential development in the community it's my understanding where I've been told that having an Anor property which would then increase brick and mortar could some could somehow is that could you speak to that or that would not an anchored property like a a commercial property at the base of like a residential building sorry mixed use property right yes I I don't think that would have any impact other than not increasing enrollment just reducing our exposure to enrollment increases I don't think it would have any other impact okay thank you and then my other final question is I know that there's a difference in terms of how this District does budgeting versus how the village does did you just speak to that to clarify so I'm not very clear on how the village does budgeting but I know maybe well just just in terms of like us and our tax levy like sometimes they will exceed their tax levy and we do not do that no we do not nor have we ever right so we always say we are more obligated than them to stay within the L I think they have a lot more latitude than than School District villes sorry there was a a point that was made at some point with regard to potential funds that would be available the 192,000 in taxes that would be available property of LA and the argument was made that we we as a district could potentially reach some of those funds if we pierced our tax ly said that again that's what well yeah let me just say we could were told if in fact this board decided to ask the voters to approve a a tax levy of exceeding the tax levy cap on the rationale that new construction was going to increase the I guess the assessed value of everything in the community and therefore that's a way to quote capture some of that the only way that works is if the community says okay we will approve a 2.7% tax levy increase which is above what we would what be entitled to do on a simple majority would have to get 60% of the voters one of the differences with the villages they just have to get 60% of the five person board which means as long as it's a three to2 vote they've met the obligation that they need in order to exceed the taxle cap but we can't just say okay we're going to raise $192,000 above the tax cap and say oh we can just do it we can do it if we go for an override and we go for an override it's not not based on anything else other than we think that's how we're going to quote capture this money which I don't think we would and as we've talked about in years past and you'll talk about in March and April what happens if your budget goes down and you go to a contingency budget you know that's it's not a way to no not a way to do your to try to capture money that's not really I will say that historically probably 10 or when when the tax levy C W station was first connected and we were going through this analysis with one of your predecessors we as a board did talk about whether it might be necessary at some point to ask the voters to override because inflation at that time was so great and the cap was 2% that we just felt or we thinking that in longterm fiscal planning we could not sustain the tax levy cat without having to cut programs fortunately as a board as a district we never got to that point and it is certainly my hope that we never get to that point any time in future clarification I think just just to point out that historically we have not done this and also to point out I think just for anyone who's listening to this it does require a significant majority percentage in the community to improve it I will also add that the the 2% tax cap does not always equate to 2% in the ly projection it's a prescribed formula and if you are within that formula the percentage can vary there were some districts I think that their tax cap was zero because of the formula and others that it may be 5.2% tax C so just remember that we are within the prescribed formula not exceeding that right and and I know that the fact that we have a pilot which is now on the books which factors into that you know what is it you knock off the prior years pilot and the current year pilot or vice versa is going to make our computation even a little more complicated than it has been in years past this it'll sort of balance it out off it's going to be a little off because the projected amount was was slightly higher than the actual amount so there's going to be a little variation insignificant really not right but so when you show that chart it's going to be there you're say look at this number it's just another number and you kind of like you take the pilots off and then you apply the the growth factors and and and then you put the pilots back on yeah right you take the prior year and then the current year you do the H it's the budget dance yes anyone else any thank you I know that those are a lot of question to your presentation we appreciate having you in the room being able to pick your brain out all things Bud related just what for point of reference so in looking at Maple Commons it looks as though we have six preschool age students in in that that are not yet enrolled in prep they're age two to four currently based on this report which was published in September 2024 so two years we'll have 14 potentially yes but there's only 13 of the 23 units that have school aged or preschool age children so there's 10 that are are are either not occupied or solely adults with no children occupying those units and that was based only on what the village provided us back up in September but again just to reiterate to dat eight students have enrolled as full-time school age students today from Maple G and six presol schoolers in the way 14 is a very big different number from five yeah do we get those is occupancy changes were you updated on an annual basis or is that just the initial the initial roll out if there's any change in occupancy within the village they would have to update right and then if they in fact move out of District we would get notice from previous pardon me from the receiving District that his child is now enrolled so we know that and their enrollment here in Gren so there's some checks and balances as long as they stay within New York state but sometimes yeah but we wouldn't get updates from the village that any changes it would either come through enrollment or this so is is that what we're looking at potentially in the future that when a new residential development opens you get the initial numbers or is that just this particular think it's just this development because of the structure of the development so there was a lottery so we were able to get a lot of information from the village based on the lottery if that is not the case it's just private development you would know did I I remember the numbers correctly so you said eth Elementary School that was across grades from kindergarten through senior yes so that was distributed among all three schools and I'm I don't know the ratio per building but it was distributed amongst all three are we still on track to be able to for that demographic study that's due overdue to us to come sometime this winter do we think yes we are great it's good to know so it looks like we have calendar is it pardon isn't it calendar for a future me I think I thought we were still waiting on the results yes no I believe we have a date but a promised date we haven't received it yet it's a promised date so it looks as though we have two many Elementary four in PVC and two any more questions thank you so much Den Andel those numbers on the sline moving on to new business item 3 one tenure recommendation Rachel I will turn it over to superintendent Walker yeah thank you and certainly we'll have a chance to speak in Greater depth and length about Rachel's leadership and accomplishments when we celebrate all of our tenure congies in May but I just want to say that certainly it's it's c customary it's tradition that when we reach this point in a person's career we wish that wish that person congratulations and on behalf of everyone in the school district Community we certainly wish you that but beyond that I also just want to take this opportunity to say thank you U you are a remarkable leader and a truly remarkable person and the fact that you've chosen to share your talent your time your vision your passion your love for the students in the this community with this community is an incredible gift that you give every single day to the people who work with you and on behalf of so many families that may not be in a position to say thank you I say thank you for that I say thank you for being an exceptional colleague a remarkable leader a friend and a member of what's become a family I think for all of us I say thank you for that and I say thank you for the genuine honor and privilege of getting chance to recommend you for 10 congratulations thank you I just want to the board all the parents and students in our for the school district thank you because everyone sees how much you care our work we are so very lucky to have you there so thank you so much and congratulations thank you we had it already miss it people lined up recommended action we have resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools Board of Education here by Grant tenure to Rachel depal assistant superintendent of pupil personnel the Tanger area for har Union Free School District affected January 20th 2025 all in favor opposed motion car policies for I will refer to the chair of the policy committee Mr ha like a lot no on December 17th policy committee met went through a variety of different policies all of these are business office related policies that were reviewed and discussed with the system superintendent for business you will see they relate to revisions to the purchase in policies purchasing Authority some revisions relating to transportation of nonpr school students and what the rules are to update them and changes to conform with federal law concerning alcohol and controlled substance testing the policies of many districts on that subject relate to bus drivers because our bus drivers are required by federal La me testing regularly for use of control substances but all policy also has been written to include any other drivers of vehicles that are above a certain weight class so that they must be those drivers are also subject to testing I think the changes are pretty self-explanatory if there are any questions can POs to the policy committee Andor to assistant superintendent business I will say I got one comment from the board member cting to my right can I just move on we have to vote no un unless anybody has any questions they want to ask now well if they have any questions they can email the policy committee right but if there are questions you want to he publicly now is the time to do it why will vers kidding I'm kidding why will kidding no no that's a serious not this meeting I just to say for some reason Chang changed will shall to will in all of their policies I have asked n's products and services why they didn't know that good reason but that's what they say so they kind of fit their style moving onement approvement recomended action resolve education hereby approves the proposed settlement for the tax sary of matter of South Riverside courland LLC versus assessor of the Town of Portland and all as presented S one more second one more second on the question yeah just one thing point of clarification or point just I think public should be aware is that assessments such as this assessment for which there was a tax ction file assessments are done by the town the the town department Town court if it's in that cor Town York town if it's in that District the district as a matter of practice for the last 10 15 years has participated as a party in those lawsuits and has reviewed and agreed to the settl that's not necessarily the case for small claim cases where a homeowner will go and seek an adjustment in their assessment even if that will get to the point of filing a small claims action in Supreme Court but we are involved in in those tax surch cases and negotiations and are able at times at least in my exp to effect modifications that are of modifications that are of benefit to The District in in in in the settlement process thank you thank you I would just add that we that you'll also see a budgetary adjustment in the consent agenda that allocates a portion of our tax Reserve to watch that post how much remains in the tax s Reserve after the payment of this I'm reading this correctly approximately $32,000 yeah our tax Reserve is considerably higher it's in leave the 2 million range okay but I think these points of clarification so that people don't think they stashing money there the amount in the reserve is based on what represents an estimate of what our potential liability is not made by you but made by our by our Council and by our public account so it's not like we sticking money there it's like that money is there because we have claims or potential claims that have been asserted that that connect to that amount you if you recall it was Y and we reduced that based on the assessments and our liability so we do look at that every year and just as a matter of history number of years ago almost 20 years ago it was a major tax seeri what by Hudson National had a significant lowering of their assessment and our district was required to come up with $1.8 million to refund to Hudson nation and so part of this process is to ensure that we don't have to find that money or borrow money to and an interest rate to pay those charges if you will so this is really part of our responsibility for the district finances thank you for bringing that out I Iain motion carries moving on to donations recommended action be resolv with the Board of Education gratefully accepts a donation from the pro artment Education Foundation in the amount of $ 27984 for the procurement of 3D printers in order to engage students in designing digitally and prototyping physically so moved second other question sorry where where do we have any information on when these are where these printers are going to be deployed yes 12 to PBC and four to C this is on behalf of Granny Mark mooy and Ashley ler thanks okay thank you so on that say 12 at C and wait what 12 of PVC so that's 16 16 printer is 3D printers for a cost of less than $3,000 these are smaller scale devices meant for sort of smaller quicker prototyping okay but even so that's all in favor I Iain motion carries donations 4.2 recommended action be the Board of Education gratefully accepts a donation from the cro Education Foundation in the amount of $2,613 and 42 cents for video production in the Innovative learning spaces at cro and Harman high school so moved second on the question all in favor I iOS abstain motion carries and donation item 4.3 recommended action be resolve the Board of Education gr exess a donation from the C har Education Foundation in the amount of $2,122 for one poster priner so moved second question just a qu a question this if this is this poster printer for the use of science research and similar presentations I know it's similar to the one that that Mr Keane has here for science research this is also on behalf of Mark and Ashley so for use in Indie and New York oh thank you all faor oppos abstain motion carries and as always we want to thank the Herman Education Foundation for their continued support of innovation in our district of our students needs and interests and of our faculty and staff's needs and interests and the collaborative work is just beyond beyond remarkable so grateful so thank you very much we are then going to move on to our present agenda I'm sorry before we move on to the consent agenda yes all of these devices have a requirement for consumables ink paper element how do we bud is that just budgeted out of a regular supplies budget added on at the building level the building right it is something that we need to think about because C of consumables for this is not insignificant well the chef application I mean at least what I on the chef where the chef application requires a building level administrator to sign off on it so it's ination understood just look it's not an argument against it's just something that we need to think about in budgeting that to make sure that we account for try to have a projection for the the cost of these new the new consumables that that are out there especially when you talk about 3D printing I'd say that you have about a overall you'd have maybe a 15% hit rate in terms of usable product and the rest is filament that you toss and hopefully gets recycled but you can't the the machine to convert that you that used filament to shred it and turn it back into usable filament is not something that we have in the in is a capital expense that we probably wouldn't be doing but it's something to think about well and I would also hope that we're participating in recycling program around those consumables because there are there is recyclability for many of these things and I'm assuming we'll be able to talk about that when we have the building budgets 51 approval of the consent agenda the resol the Board of Education hereby approves the consent agenda items as presented so move second question I carries we will now move into our second hearing of the public again I'll just repeat that all speakers will be to three minutes they should say their name and quote and Haron School District address comments must be addressed to orderes and comments about a specific person sta student har District resident are prohibited please step to the podium if You' like to speak just recommendation is that most people do not use the microphones effectively much to theun of the public and the technician backs that chairwoman did effectively at all times Mr in reference to policies regarding students and health in a distant past two years ago I heard two in in a public meeting I heard two board members discuss there's a there's a number of issues medical issues with a student that would prop up in school they would not inform the parents about or be reluctant to inform the parents about let me say this if a medical issue whether it be mental social or medical you better get a lawyer and go to a judge and get a Judicial bypass because you don't know the unintended consequen that you're not informed in p and that really sh me up and I've spent two years wanting to say that item two there's there's I'm worried about the high school history in English departments when I heard their presentation here check out one the list of books that they're that they're reading and then the interaction of the history Department how they interpret that and then I heard what the teacher was about to say and I believe that in this school because it's a mostly Progressive students in the school and the liberal community that the events of the last five years in terms of censorship terrible medical policy Co policy silencing people on on on media will never be addressed because it was instituted by the left wi and I worry about that and I was shocked by that presentation three things quickly this this year to 5 is the 50th year of the Vietnam War those veterans so I know there are 15 combat veterans that worn this town are now in their 70s some in their 80s as Witnesses for your students they'll be going soon to make used to that it's also the 250th anniversary of revolution war and which took place many of the most important events took place within 5075 miles of where we sit and one of the most important participants in that process is the black soldier up here which we're having a difficulty doing research which shows all the difficulties of historical investigation and lastly this school when you're dealing with prejudice and Holocaust this school has a graduated a a refugee from the Cambodian which you should make use of when you deal with these issues thank you thank you so anyone else close the hearing the public onction 6.2 for reports start start the adoc committee on social media policy the adoc committee on social media policy and policy 1015 the diversity equity and initiative I'm sorry inclusion and accessibility policy met on December 20th we discussed various changes in revision to the draft which has been res I should say revised several times many times since we started our work in 2021 and then contined in 2022 and 2023 the members of the ad hoc committee which is myself and Josh and Theo were members of the policy Committee in 22 223 and 2324 and the ad hoc committee was established simply because we had worked on this for a long period of time and the board felt and the president in exercise The Authority the president has establish the adhoc committee just so we could finish the work on that the status with regard to the policy 10105 the the diversity equity inclusivity and inclusion rather and accessibility policy is I think we are done we are going to provide one last look and review by appropriate administrators and legal council to make sure there is no issues and then that will be presented to the board for and the reason why you may not hear me so well is my thing keeps going off and may be presented at meeting near future to and as far and with regard to the social media policies we will be continuing to work on those at the next meeting and it is hoped that after that meeting we should have something ready to present to the board for first reading after that assuming that there's not more work that the board asks the ad hoc committee to do we will have completed our charge and will be in a position to be disbanded question does anyone during that meeting was the adoption or incorporation of the IH definition of anti-semitism discussed there was discussion of utilization of that definition we Haven come to a final conclusion one of the concerns expressed at that meeting and at prior meetings is the inclusion of the IH definition might result in a push if you will to provide definitions of many other potential or perspective areas of bias anti-asian anti-islamic Etc and rather than creating a laundry list so to speak of different groups where the definitions will be stated in policy I I think it was the consensus of the committee and my other members can Chim in if they disagree that it was felt better not to include that definition it doesn't mean that the concerns about anti-Semitism will be minimized just as the concerns of anti-asian or anti-islamic or anti-catholic or any other type of discrimination or harassment or inequities and treatment would be minimized and I think for myself that the policy in so far as he talks about the kinds of things that we wish to imbue in our students work with our students imbue in our faculty incorporate no idea did that got a mind of own done that apologize so I think that all of the things that we as a district will be working on have been working on and will be working on to deal with bias of is Incorporated in the principles and in the language of the draft of 0105 now we will have the opportunity as a ward once it's presented first reading to discuss to take feedback from the public and feedback from the board to make changes if you know that is not clear but I think that's that's how we looked at it with regard specifically to the definition from the IH thank you anyone else have any questions moving on to policy Neil you're up again I'm up again okay policy committee as you heard before met on December 17th as you said our discussion primarily was on the subject of the financial and business related policies that we had on the first reading we will have some other policies in that area that we will continue to work on our next meeting is on the 29th of January I believe that's so that's a date that we have identified and administration said they're available that would be 500m at the district office and the only other thing that I want to say is we had some discussion but did not come to a conclusion with respect to the request by the board that the board at policy Community consider the adoption of the alternate V attendance or participation at board meetings remotely where under Section 103A of the public offical law a member of the governing body for extraordinary circumstances as is stated can attend without identifying that person's location and without inviting members of the public to be at that location for attendance at the meeting the board I think back in October perhaps asked us to look at that again we had the board prior years decided it did not want to adopt that one of the things that we noted in our discussion we haven't come to a recommendation yet and I put it out there so that people may give it some thought as as we do is that if the board adopts by resolution or by policy the alternate participation without identifying location the statute requires that since members of the public will not be at that remote location the board must provide the opportunity for the public to participate in for example hearing of the public in the same manner as if they were in the meeting if under section 103 where they is noted if someone were to go to that remote location where that member is then that person who was sitting in the room at location would have the opportunity to say during the hearing of the public I would like to speak and could speak because they're on cameras speak but if we do adopt the alternate under Section 103A we are required to in essence have not just a live stream but to have actually some kind of a interactive ability at the meeting so that some that member of the public from anywhere would be able to both participate during hearing of the public and and otherwise and that's something that we'll have to consider there are technological issues to that there are also c meeting is conducted and in the end we'll have to decide whether we whether we feel that is something that we as committee recommend and then ultimately what the board wants to do we have a I will just add that we have a large pile of policies that we need that we need to churn out which It's Our intention to do so so the fact youve got half dozen or so on this agenda we're hoping on the next agenda we'll have a bunch of for first read Neil might it make sense for us to wave second reading for any of those there's anything that's ready to go I'm just wondering if we can expedite the process of the things that are simpler for the ones today I don't think so I think each of the ones that are here that we've already had first reading on today are things that do not have such an immediacy that we need to weigh second reading we can when we consider them see about waving some of the others to expedite adoption generally we when the our board policies were revised to allow for waiver of second reading the concern was for those things that had such an immediacy that we really couldn't I'm just saying if there's any that do have immediacy let's let's forget that we have that tool in our Bel right you will recall a few I think it was last year no when the policy was changed or the law was changed and a sing single use bathrooms had to be made available without sex tender and that law came into effect 30 days after it was passed we had to do that immediately because that was the law underst understand thank you okay so Communications met in early December I don't sorry I have the thing on top of my head right now we continued working on the process and protocols we talked about the meet the Boe and process protocols document for that we do have a draft in place that we are will finalize and then circulate to the full board for review on that hopefully soon along with that you also saw that we are working on we discussed last time a chain of contact a flowchart of of contacts a draft of that has been produced and circulated to the board so we will continue to discuss those in our next Communications meeting among the other things we are currently working on as well is the intro and closing statement for hearing public and then we are also looking at ways that we can increase our student participation and and student recognition in during our board meetings bring some of that into our meetings and that is the PRX thing we're working on to I miss anything no the only other thing that I think is if we had any budget Communications that we want to C maybe put that on the next yeah that will definitely be on the next agenda and that's something we talked about the end of the meeting so for next agenda and I will be sending out a communication to everyone for availability for our next meeting and I will likely invite Miss Harry to come as well so yes so be on the lookout for that and we will be continuing to work on these things and hope to have updates with board thank you Sarah on to yep sorry I try to get to this without having a coughing thing I can't even tell this is it okay y sorry my voice is definitely wearing out boards development met December 12th and there are just a couple of things that we wanted to highlight for the group first is in committee we did start to have a preliminary discussion about sort of our developing sort of like a methodology for and a way of thinking about board goals one of the big things that came up in that conversation was considering multi-year goal setting so that we aren't necessarily under the same pressure to sort of establish new goals every year maybe thinking of some things that can be ongoing sort of freeze us up from sort of being on that very strict calendar of sort of setting goals every year and then trying to make them within like a discret period of time so we have as a subcommittee sort of brainstormed some areas around which we think we could have further discussion we'd like to actually bring this to the table for the next work session if there's a room there honestly at this point like I'm not sure I think it's like the first week of February I don't know if we're really jammed up there but that's that's like our next opportunity I to have that conversation so we'll talk to you I'll see what's available so the January 23rd meeting because it conflicted with the Winter concert here at the high school and there's such limited parking and many of us are right parents has been moved to the Fe February 4th right that's what I was asking about February 4th yeah so that work session we should be able to accommodate a conversation about perfect so I think that was that was essentially like what we sort of focused on in terms of what we'd like to accomplish other things that we are working on or beginning to work on are an onboarding guide for new trustees we'll be working on that in committee as sort of like a living document that can serve future trustees to come we also talked about considering whether it's whether we need to have a Spring retreat and what our sort of professional development needs are and I think that's still under discussion so when we next meet we'll try to firm up some thoughts on that and we're also working on a couple of things that we owe to the full board including a a write up sort of committee responsibilities I think we we'll see whether we're the right places to revisit that with everyone and then we have let already that we've worked on a board development calendar which you've sort of seen in email form so that eventually hopefully will'll get into calendar form so it's actually a little bit more useful and can be calendared and used year after year so that's the report thank you so much yeah we are meeting meeting in no we we're in the process of re-evaluating or reestablishing that date for the audit committee we have our Auditors and the team so hoping by Monday we'll have a date okay I think the goal would be to have a meeting report back at the next the next business me advocacy yeah briefly the last two topics of conversation in the advocacy committee have been the regionalization effort which we discussed today as well as the cell phone use policy at the state level and we obviously talked regionalization today look forward to just continuing to be connected there understanding what's happening and using the committee as a resource as the district is engaging there on the cell phone use policy I've been monitoring any updates patter Etc from Albany on the potential for go out yeah two of them have bad bash batter I've been monitoring just any murmurs coming out of Albany yesterday was the first day of session so not much happened aside from ceremonial things the State of the State is happening on the 14th where we might hear more about cell phone policy Maybe maybe not but this month is generally where we start to see Russ information on various policies at the state level there was I'll note in an article in late December where the governor was quoted as saying that this is not an exact quote but is essentially signaled that her plan is to have a Statewide policy on celf use sort of a blanket Statewide policy no real indication in that article whether there would be any adaptations or allowances made for districts but it it was an interview and not anything very official but just a note of one thing that that was out there right before the new year so I think we're just going to keep pondering what's happening in the next several weeks on this issue and then decide weon as a committee to decide about steps and talk to you all about what's happen on that front that's it thank you that conclud board reports moving on to item 6.3 Bo does anyone thank you s go ahead okay so just a couple of quick updates from LC and West putut so as I I serve on the steering committee for LC which is the lower Hudson education Coalition and our annual legislative Forum actually West put was was kind enough to share that date because the West the L Forum had to be cancelled was initially supposed to happen which was going to be Retreat time for our legislator so January 30th is that date from 7: to 9:00 p.m. I will be moderating that legislative Forum with several Regional colleagues and look forward to as many people who colleagues here who can join us as well we will so it will be legislators from the five regions of LHC so that would be W Chester plam Duchess Orange and Rockland counties so we expect to have robust participation that night so looking forward to that event we in LHC meetings and in West meetings have been as of BL discussing the regionalization efforts and also talking about some of the updates and things we've seen from from the region on the Blue Ribbon commission we're obviously anxiously awaiting the state of State on the 14th and then the governor is due to have for Budget submitted by the 21st of January so that'll position us well to sort of have that in hand for that legislative Forum and I think that's it but yeah busy busy advocacy time so oh and lastly the advocacy priorities for westput were finalized at our last meeting so you can find those on the website and they were also all emailed out mid December Satur as well thank you brief item if I recall correctly we were still waiting to hear back from Con Edison on when they will be able to provide us with increased electrical capacity at the bus at the bus maintenance facility have we ever gotten an answer on that we not you're still waiting however the last update in the portal was that they will we are on their list for the upgrade related to this current capital project right so that's one step we've been we've been waiting on this for I believe over two years now maybe three which is if you see in the ESB report that I shared in my last weekly that is one of the major issues that districts are having with implementing EVS is that the electrical capacity particularly and we are we are in the heart of Westchester so we're in a very espe when you consider that it's really conent folks if you're listening it's only about a 100 yards of additional line that you need to put in come on get with the program that's all the PVC C planning council did not meet this month we were told that we would again in February so that's a report on that but I will report on the health and safety committee health and safety committee met on December 16th we discussed a variety of different topics and subjects including the construction and what was going on as far as our updates and we discussed fire inspection security camera updates to the buildings AED boxes so there are now AED boxes installed at all School fields that was done back in September we had discussion about stop arm cameras and during that meeting there was a concern raised by members of the committee that the plan had been to install stop arm cameras extern on the external outside the buses as well as internal interior cameras that could be used by the district and questions were raised as to an EV that think those internal cameras would be appropriate after that meeting the the administrator who was in in charge of the committee that's Brad Kennedy director of facilities did further research spoke with Denise and with others and that work is still continuing we met again not a formal meeting on Monday we did a walk through of the almost completed Music Room in a high school and the almost completed guidance Suite in CPT I mean PVC we did not we look you know when we go through these walkthroughs members of the committee will raise questions about safety concerns that's the role one of the roles the health and safety committee we did not see anything of concern in this walk through the expectation is in the near future those two facilities will be open but I do understand that the music department in high school has said even if the music room is available we don't want to move all that stuff out of the auxiliary gym until after our concert on the 23rd so soon after the work will be completed more then and that's will be occupied we also took a quick Peak into the auditorium where work is progressing I sure hope that everything will be done by April 1st well actually it's got to be done before that so you can do rehearsals I'm not sure if that'll happen but the work is progressing there and that's what we did as a commit we actually received the ABA chairl today which was considerably earlier than expected so right and one of the things they said in the music room is they really couldn't finish that because the lift through the stage is at the corner of the music room so now that that's there installation can proceed hopefully be done soon anyse moving on to item items needed for the next meeting thank you much does anyone have anything discuss for the next meeting and yeah thank you item 6.5 recommended action be it resolved the Board of Education hereby adurs the meeting at 1016 so second all in F I'm sorry on the question all in favor opposed obain motion car thank you everyone for