In three, two, one, action. Good evening everyone. this will resume the February 12th, 2020. Croman Har School District Board of Education meeting. We have called the meeting to order and then entered executive session. We are now on agenda item 1.5. be it resolved the board of education hereby leaves executive session and returns to the regular meeting. So moved second on the question. All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. Moving into item 1.6 recognition of the 2026 valatoran and saludiatoran presentation. And I will turn it over to Dr. Laura Dubac. Good evening, May. I am here with Mrs. Bei and tonight it is our privilege to recognize two exceptional members of the Croton Herman High School class of 2026 whose academic accomplishments, character, and commitment to learning represent the very best of our district. The honors of validictorian and saludiatoran are among the highest distinctions a student can earn. These honors reflect years of sustained excellence across a student's entire K12 experience. They speak not only to the academic achievement but also to perseverance, intellectual curiosity, discipline, and integrity. It is my honor first to introduce the validictorian of the class of 2026, JEREMY POLLOCK'S academic journey has been marked by exceptional rigor, focus, and curiosity. He consistently challenges himself, engages deeply with complex ideas and approaches every opportunity and grows those opportunities into unique experiences that have shaped his trajectory. He has been an active participant in our Mandarin program since middle school, including participating in travel exchange opportunities at CHHS whenever he has the opportunity to do so. Similarly, he has been involved since he was a sophomore in our science research program. Jeremy's project is on understanding the use of AI models to predict DNA binding of proteins for drug discovery under the mentorship of Dr. Gateman from the European Biioiniratic Institute in Cambridge, England, where he was actually invited to spend the summer working in England on the project. Jeremy will be competing at our upcoming Westf competition representing Croton Harman High School which we are thrilled about. In addition to his many academic strengths, Jeremy is committed to our school as a leader. now in his fourth year as class president while also being actively involved in our student faculty congress as well as playing varsity tennis and being an active member of a number of clubs in our school including our finance club where he was involved for two years with the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition and his team was a semi- finalist for two years. I could go on for quite a while about Jeremy's many accomplishments, but I will summarize that Jeremy has earned the respect of both peers and faculty for his thoughtful contributions and his commitment to genuine excellence. His achievements reflect not only his academic ability, but his dedication to growth and learning. Congratulations, Jeremy.
• We are also proud to recognize the Ludiatoran of the class of 2026, Maya Sebastian. Maya's accomplishment reflects extraordinary dedication, balance, and a genuine love of learning. She approached her studies with determination, insight, and care, consistently demonstrating excellence across disciplines. Maya is a thoughtful and reflective learner whose work ethic and positive presence make her a respected leader within our school community. Maya has also been an active member of our science research program. Maya's research is around the use of 3D printing to fabricate transibial prosthetic sockets under Dr. Deuzman from Hopster University. Maya has also been a part of destination imagination through our district since fifth grade and thrives on the problem solving skills needed to participate in DI that have also shaped her interest in engineering. Maya's destination imagination team has earned international recognition. She is also the president of the engineering club and has helped make the club visible as a creative problem solver resource to the entire school community. A few years ago, Maya was also instrumental in working with the Lorraine Hanssbury Coalition to create a documentary highlighting local residents and local history. The film explored Lorraine Hanssbury's life and Crotin's history, specifically a 1963 rally to support the civil rights movement. Maya got interested in the project because she took a risk by picking an elective for her schedule, video production, that was not something she had previously explored and found some joy in that class that ultimately led to her working on this important project. Maya has also been a volunteer tutor with the Croenree Library for the last three years, helping Croin elementary and middle school students in their academic journeys.
• So, as you have heard, while Jeremy and Maya each bring their own unique strengths and perspectives, they share qualities that define the very best of our students. Intellectual curiosity, perseverance, humility, and a commitment to personal growth, and reaching out of their comfort zone. On behalf of Croton Ferman High School, we are proud to have this opportunity to formally present Jeremy Pollock, class of 2026 valadictorian, and Maya Sebastian, class of 2026 saludiatoran. We're incredibly proud of you, grateful to your families for all of their support along the way, and we look forward to celebrating your continued success in the future. Congratul They can dance or Perfect.
• Yeah, we towards the bookshelf.
• Would you prefer to have people in front of the board or do you want people behind the board? So, we need to shift over.
• And we want to invite the parents also to join us. Thank you. Go for it.
• Yeah,
• stand next to Maya. We'll just be
• Thank you. THANK YOU.
• THERE'S JUST ONE MORE appointment that I would like to make and then I think we'll take a pause for anybody who wants to go home. but we had amended the agenda to move to item 3.2 two, which is the assistant superintendent appointment. Yeah, I'd like to turn over to superintendent Walker for some introduction to this item on the agenda. Thank you, Anna. And good evening everyone and congratulations again to Jeremy and to Maya. when we think about and Maya as products of not only their hard work and their family's hard work and their faculty's hard work, but the systems work over the course of of years and years. And one of the things that we talk about as a leadership team on a regular basis is how do you promote cohesiveness and longevity in the work that the school district's been doing u and there are many ways to do that and one of the most important ways is thinking about moments of leadership transition in a thoughtful and significant and impactful way. and for us this is one of those moments. I want to thank John Griffith for eight outstanding years of leadership partnership on behalf of so many folks around the district that he's had a wonderful impact on. One of the other gifts that he gave us was telling us well in advance of his plans in terms of his retirement. and that allowed us to be in a position that most districts aren't. and giving us a couple of years to think really planfully about who would be best positioned to continue that work. Who's been an architect of the work that's already occurred here. who's demonstrated to not only us as a leadership team, but to the entire community the ability not only to bring big ideas, to ask big important questions about our system, but to galvanize people to action behind those ideas. and so it's my pleasure and honor to recommend Dr. Laura Dubac to be the next assistant superintendent in the district. Her academic preparation, her work here over the past seven years has been significant, has gotten us to where we are, and more importantly has positioned us better in our trajectory going forward. So, I'm thrilled to recommend her appending the board's approval. I look forward to where they're going.
• Recommended action be it resolved the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. I'm sorry. I I wanted to make a comment on the question. Yeah. On the question. I'm so sorry. It's okay. I'll start with recommended action. Be it resolved the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools hereby appoints Dr. Laura Dubac as a 1.0 FTE assistant superintendent administrator assistant superintendent tenure area at a salary of $238,000. Dr. Dubac is appointed to a three-year probationary term as assistant superintendent commencing on July 1st, 2026 and probationary term ending on June 30th, 2029. Dr. Dubac has professional certification as a school district leader. All in favor? Yeah. I second on a question. So, I'm going to say something that's a little bit uncomfortable, but I feel compelled to do this. tonight the superintendent is asking the BOE to approve the appointment of Dr. Dubac, who has been the principal in the high school. and to the role of the assistant superintendent. I believe it is important for us to consider the recruiting and hiring process to reach this recommendation. We have established and specific policy that prescribes the expected recruiting and hiring process we are obliged to follow. I do not believe that the recruiting and hiring process that the superintendent has chosen to reach today's vote for an employment alliance with justice policy 9230 recruiting and hiring. for this position superintendent Walker did not conduct a competitive search process. here are some excerpts of the policy. It's 9230 recruiting and hiring. one at the board of education believes that the quality of the district's employees in large part determines the quality of the education offered to the district students as the employer for the school district. The board will provide and maintain qualified and certified instructional support personnel to carry out the educational programs in the district and the superintendent and or his her design implement and maintain a high quality recruiting and hiring program, secure and retain the best qualified staff to meet the needs of students and the district. Then moving on to the section from recruiting. I quote, "The district will seek the most qualified candidates for vacant positions by recruiting from a variety of sources including present staff. District employees may apply for all positions for which they meet the certification and other stated qualifications which today the board and its employees will adhere to the practice of recruiting and hiring personnel without regard to age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin race, religion, sex, or any other status protected by federal or state law. The board will practice due diligence in finding the most qualified candidates for open positions. And the board recognizes that some specialized positions that are difficult to fill because of shortages of qualified candidates in rare instances the board may need to hire a required public employee in which case it will follow commission earners regulations for securing a 911 waiver unquote. So my interpretation of policy 9230 is that the expectation is that there will be a competitive search process that recruits from several sources and that our job as BOE members is to ensure that we are following standard recruiting and hiring practices. The policy also says that we expect that the superintendent to implement and maintain a high quality recruiting and hiring program. So even though there may be disagreement about this, I think it is important to be transparent and clear about my thinking on this topic. I also work in a resource constraint institute of public education and have been a hiring manager for and search committee for positions ranging from senior leadership to faculty and staff. assuming that the appointment of Dr. Dubac is approved, we will then have to fill her vacancy at the high school. So we will shortly need to recruit and hire for another senior level position. So based on my professional experience to me a standard and recruiting hiring program for senior level level positions would include all the following elements not a couple. One we would be provided with an organizational chart, a job description and resumes of each candidate. Two, there would be recruitment from internal and external sources. Three, we would post on job boards s such as OLAS and the New York Times and not primarily rely on Boseies and social media. Four, we would have a good face search for the best candidate for a community open to the possibility that it may not be who we originally presumed. Five, the search committee for senior level positions would include district administration, teachers, staff, students, parents, and representatives from the BOE, PTA, chef, SEPTA, and other relevant party and/or community stakeholder groups. Six, the search committee would represent a diversity of needs, identities, and perspectives to ensure it is not functioning as a rubber stamp. And sele all members of the BOE would have the opportunity to meet with all finalists. I believe that the role of BOE of a BOE member is to pay attention to the outcome as well as to make sure our processes adhere to established policies. Even though I do believe that Dr. Dubac is extremely qualified and I do think she has a great vision for this role. I cannot ignore the process since I do not believe the superintendent has conducted a recruiting process that provides all the data I would need to make an important hiring decision according to the BOE policy. I will abstain from this vote. I want to reiterate this is not a comment on Dr. Dubac for whom I have very much a tremendous amount of deep respect and confidence. This is because of the recruiting process that was chosen that to me defies the expectations laid out in our district policy and I believe it to be a bad precedent to set that for our processes. Thank you.
Thank you. I just want to respond to that. when Superintendent Walker came to us and when assistant superintendent John Rubbertz came to us and gave us the luxury really of of telling us well in advance that he was about to retire and we could start planning. there were some conversations about the unique nature of work that we're in the middle of doing the district and who would be qualified to do that and impact of a performative search when you have already identified that Dr. Dubac would meet with board leadership. She met with board leadership. We felt extremely confident that she was she was unately situated for the position given all of the things that were going on here given her unique understanding of the faculty that exist here of the different programs and the respect that she has from her peers. After that she met individually with different groups of the board of education. At no point was there an objection to her as candidate. We did pause after those three meetings to say, do we feel comfortable as a board with this process? And at that point, we felt comfortable with that process. I did not. This is the first that I'm hearing of it, but okay. I mean, you're entitled to that, but again, as a board, we kind of operate under the idea that there aren't going to be surprises or grandstanding at public meetings. And I can't say that that's not what's happening here because you didn't at any point come to us as a board and say that you were going to express this publicly. So I will just say that I'm sorry I'm speaking now. I didn't interrupt you. So I will just say that we in bringing this nomination to the agenda and preparing the agenda and asking Dr. Dubck to come here tonight. We were under the impression that this was something and that the process was something that was accepted by the board. It was certainly accepted by the administration and that we were all on board with. So if there is any other comment on the question, all in favor?
• Oh no, I'm sorry. I do have a comment on the question. So I I I think also just in terms of background, I think it's important to understand that that the hiring and recruiting process, it refers to both. It refer refers to both recruiting and to hiring. And there is some latitude I think in terms of a hiring decision to be able to consider internal candidates. As a board, we've we have been discussing for a few years now the concept of succession planning and as the policy states. I have to I honestly it's like I'm not I didn't I didn't pull this out right before this meeting because I didn't know we were going to be sort of it but if you can give me a second. I just want to I just want to like I have to find the line that I think it's going to take me a second to find the line. hold on. So the superintendent and or his design shall implement and maintain a high quality recruiting and hiring program to attract, secure, and retain the best qualified staff to meet the needs of students and the district. The portion of this policy that I'd like to highlight is the idea of retaining qualified staff has really has substantial value to us as a district. I think I think we have developed over the last few years pathways to leadership for people within the organization. That's something that's really important to us. I think that as a board we've also discussed the fact that continuity is really important. We have identified and we've heard from the community in the last several years that the community wants us to have as a board and as a district a renewed focus on curriculum on achievement and on outcomes. And I have to say based off of my conversation with Dr. Dubac and I know other trustees had the same, I feel comfortable saying that this is a person who is going to be ready on day one of her accession to this position should the board approve the approve the approve the motion. she's a person who's going to be ready on day one to tackle a number of the issues that have been raised by this community. I the list is long. It's a long list of a long list of things that I think we're looking to see in terms of sort of like reinforcing standards, having better communication about outcomes, having a better vision of the students trajectory from elementary school to middle school through high school both in terms of academic achievement pathways to success. And I want to say that Dr. Dubac has been incredibly involved with all aspects of this curriculum development even before today and before like what could be her future position. who's been involved in all this for the last several years. So, this decision is actually a reflection of that ongoing work. And I'll I'll point back to the portion of the policy that indicates retention of of the best qualified staff is something that's of value to us as a district. I think that the highlighting of this policy perhaps reveals that it maybe needs to be revised because it doesn't reflect the complexity of how our succession planning process has invol has evolved. Just in the last 3 years that I've been on the board, the policy was adopted on November 14th, 1994. It's more than 20 years old. My is it not 20 years?
• No, it's 30. Okay. Sorry, I'm not so fast with the math. and and it was it was revised 2014. So that's 12 years. So 2014. I was looking at the original adoption date, but it's it's a decade old, right? So it's obviously time to take a look at it to make sure that it reflects our current values and where we've moved. And I think it's great that Alison raised that point about the policy because we're not looking at all these things all the time. I appreciate knowing that there's room for improvement in terms of how we articulate this approach to the community and to our families and to our staff as well. And part of my making these remarks is to give a little bit of the context so that the community and the general public understands that there are factors beyond this the particular citation of policy language that were part of this discussion and part of the decision and part of the reason why this is coming before the school board. Thank you for the time. There's no more on the question. All in favor? I opposed abstain. I motion carries. Congratulations.
• We'll take a brief pause for anybody who wants That's what Oh, sorry. You're okay. I will keep it brief because we have a robust agenda after this. good evening everyone. I want to thank the district for putting up a FAQ on the district website regarding the UPK lottery program and their commitment to updating that information as the state budget develops. In keeping on a related topic, the 2026 2027 kindergarten registration begins on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Registrations are completed on the online portal which can be found on the find it fast icon on the district website. Can we close that door?
• Thank you so much. I also want to point out that in response to a conversation with the village, assistant superintendent Paul and the family resource center will be hosting a summer camp showcase on February 25th with over 20 local and surrounding summer camp representatives to answer questions and learn more about scholarship opportunities. This event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the PBC second floor gym. the CHHS PTSA is offering a practice ACT on Monday, March 9th. So, please reach out to the PTSA with any questions about that. I want to also just highlight some of the important work the booster club is doing. I was able to attend their meeting this week where they discussed the Aspire Tiger clothing drive. bins are located in the front hallway of CHHS. If you would like to donate gently used tiger gear you might want to pass on. The Aspire team will be hosting a store for students in need to shop sometime in March. planning is also underway for senior awards and scholarships. So I want to thank all the booster club volunteers for their thoughtfulness and planning to celebrate our student our senior student athletes and to bring our whole community together for the event. the Boosters will also be hosting their annual golf tournament on Monday, June 8th at the Hallbrook Golf Club. That is their major fundraiser. So please mark your calendars. And I will touch on more details of that meeting during boards. but finally, I would like to congratulate Valor and January, Maya, Sebastian for their hard work and dedication to academic excellence. these recognitions represent their love of learning and curiosity. So, congratulations to them for this achievement and recognition. And that concludes my president's report. So, we will now move into our first hearing of the public. anyone who would like to address the board is asked to approach the podium will be given three minutes. We ask that you hold your applause. just for purposes of timekeeping and sound quality. And if you please would just state your name and address.
• Hello, my name is Rebecca Turbull. I live at 17 Thompson Avenue. I'm here again to advocate for the UPK program in Croin. Thank you to the to the board for voting on a resolution calling on our state legislators to fully fund the program. There's optimism that the program will be funded without further action from the district district, which is great. I testified recently at a state senate budget forum alongside Jod Epstein and Holar and we'll continue to advocate to our elected officials. The end goal here is to get the program funded and it looks like we're headed that way. Moving forward on this topic and others, I implore the administration and the board to move with more transparency, clarity, and dialogue with parents. For me, this process has been frustrating because I hear statements assuring me that the UPK is important, but they lack action. the recently added UPK facts page on the district website is a great step in the right direction. Thank you for putting all that info in one place for parents to find. there's still a few things I would love clarification on and even to respectfully push back on a bit. the state budget doesn't get finalized until spring after the lottery normally takes place. Enrollment at our lower at our local lower cost options like nursery schools are already open. Parents are planning now. You're asking parents to have faith that the program will be there without a worst case scenario plan. We're expecting our local providers to start working based on a budget that could fall through. As a business owner, I could never start working on a big project without a payment guarantee, especially for a client that I've already run a loss on multiple times. We owe it to both parents and our providers to have a plan in case the funding falls through. A second chaotic RFP with budget constraints already proved inadequate will not cut it. We cannot expect a provider to run a program on last year's budget or parents to trust a program that is clearly underfunded. Now is the time to outline a plan to bridge the funding gap in a worst case scenario. The district has made it very clear that it will not contribute money on top of the state allocation even if the funding remains unchanged from last year. As a parent, as a voter, as someone who cares deeply about our community, I'm asking why. Please be specific, be transparent. I think many of us would really appreciate a public session on how the budget gets made. The timeline on the website is impossible to understand without context. What role does the board have? Where's the ultimate oversight? What legal constraints exist on spending? And why are unrestricted funds restricted and not on the table? If they're earmarked for other things, what are those things? Does the public have a role outside of voting? My kids are new in the system, and I want to know how things work. I want to be all on the same team, even if we don't always have the same priorities. When our UPK program hopefully gets funding from the state, I'd like us to feel like we all won together. I look forward to being active in our schools for the next 14 years and beyond, getting to know everyone on the board. We are a small community. Let's act like we're on the same team. Thank you for your time and attention.
• Good evening. my name is Leanne Rice. I live on High Street. I really appreciate the efforts to advocate for UPK that the board and the district have made. The efforts to keep us informed and to manage the program. It's a lot of work. I want to raise two issues to the board that were not resolved by the FAQ. First, at the December 8th meeting, you heard from at least four parents who raised concerns that the current lottery process led to the underutilization of the UPK program, particularly because families were told which provider they had to accept and were not allowed to join the wait list for the alternative provider. Conflicts involving work hours, transportation, and individual student needs are all known barriers that prevent families from utilizing UPK when they need it. If you decide to offer a subset of seats at a second provider, as was done in the past, it would help address these problems to revise rigid rules or to allow families to rank providers when entering the lottery. Second, I want to applaud what I saw at the last business meeting where the board's questions and input on the original RFP and the district's responsiveness resulted in an improved document. I'd like to see the board offer the same input on the district's backup plan, which categorically forcloses recommending any contribution from the school budget if additional state funding falls through. I truly appreciate the district's cander and transparency on the limit of its support for UPK. Disappointing as that news was, it was important information to have. That said, the district's policy manual states at section 6100 that quote, "The budget will be designed to reflect the board's objectives for the education of the children of this district." End quote. Therefore, I ask the board to be just as candid and transparent about whether that planned recommendation actually reflects the board's objectives. The board should question the assertion that no matter how small or large the need turns out to be, that supporting UPK in an over $60 million budget must necessarily be a non-starter. That position doesn't reflect the board's recent resolution on the importance of UPK to our children's education. It certainly doesn't reflect what you've heard from the community at these meetings. Maybe you'll decide given the current optimism that this issue is best left to after we know the state's final budget. But we've also heard from the board multiple times that the governor's proposal is only a wish list. So this requires ensuring that we have a realistic backup plan, one that doesn't foreclose considering district funding for September, knowing the current state funding levels of $5,400 per student are below cost. I don't believe that any providers have indicated an ability or interest to cover anything near our 62 or more seats at that amount, even if one classroom at C is offered. As we focus on advocacy to Albany during this crucial time, we can't neglect having a viable backup plan. Thank you.
• good evening everyone. Thank you so much for your time. my name is Dan Hire. I live at 86 Grand Street. my wife Sharon and I moved to Croton 5 years ago. We love living here. We're very excited to be a part of the community. We have a 4-year-old daughter who will be eligible for prek next year. and that's what's getting me off the couch and involved in this conversation. I really appreciate that you have a difficult job here. there's a lot of we know how budgeting works. There's a lot of trade-offs that need to be made and we're not always going to agree on those trade-offs, but I did want to stand up and be counted among the individuals here who want to emphasize how important survival of the UBK program is to all of us and we think what a value it is to the community. my understanding at the moment is the district is hoping for enhanced state funding to come through the next few weeks. that will make the economics of running the program much more viable for our local providers. I absolutely share that hope. but we're here tonight, I think, because hope is not a plan. I'll fully admit that I'm here, as I suspect many others are, because the issue so directly affects our own wallets and our own budgets. Quality child care is expensive. It's been expensive for the past four years. It is only getting more expensive along with everything else. I want to say out loud just how expensive it will be for me and my fellow parents in this situation. Next year, we're looking at costs per student for full-time prek. $18,000 minimum. $18 to $20,000 minimum. That's for one kid. My wife and I have our own reasons for having one kid. man, for the parents with two kids, $36,000, $40,000, it's crushing. It's crushing. so I'm standing up here for them as well. I also understand theoretically this shouldn't be the district's problem to come up with money to supplement a flawed state funding formula. I think we're also in broad agreement about that, but that's the problem we have in front of us. I don't think wishing the state UPK formula were different absolves us from thinking creatively to try to solve the problem with the resources we have. no one here wants any line item to be taken out of the K through2 budget. We're all going to be beneficiaries of that budget very soon. and we're going to benefit from your very good stewardship of that budget. we've just seen no evidence to date that the district and the board has considered all possible funding solutions given the relatively small amount of money the estimates are that it would take to supplement UPK in this district to ensure it survives. we understand budgets. We understand your job requires difficult trade-offs and we're not always going to agree. But without knowing what those trade-offs even are, we can't have a true discussion about it. Thank you.
• Good morning everybody. My name is NATO. Sorry, kind of losing my voice. Excuse me. since you lost your voice, could you James Nato Hastings app I'm going to talk a bit more about the timeline with the state budget. So, in the best case scenario, the state funding passes in April, right? thinking about the things that provide need to do to prepare for the upcoming school year, how are they expected to plan a robust prek curriculum without knowing how much funding they're going to have? how can they make decisions about hiring staff? What sort of lessons can they plan for? What supplies can they reasonably afford? How far in the red are they going to need to go to make this program work? I can't imagine that the pro and K through 12 district operates this way. So how can we expect prek providers to then the district needs to hold a lottery as and enroll families. So at best that's 5 months before September start. Considering that most other districts in our area have already started enrolling for prek, it's hard not to feel that we're kind of behind the the timeline here. so talking a bit about the family, I have a four-year-old and a 2-year-old. the process, as you've heard, is is very confusing and difficult for grown-up families. So, I'm sure you understand, and I'm going to reiterate this, that most of us here with young kids are piecing together the puzzles of our lives like a constant game of Tetris. prek and childare impact so many things. parent work schedules, sibling experiences with school and family, budgeting, long-term and short-term budgeting. The reality is that most of the local programs, as Rebecca said, they fill up far before the lottery is strong. so it makes planning for families really, really difficult. forcing us to wait this long to solidify plans makes an already stressful situation just that much harder for us. So I am very curious to understand how the board imagines all this logically fitting together. and making sense for providers and families. Thank you.
• Hi, good evening everybody. My name is Jacob Day. I live at 9wood Road in Croton. I want to thank you guys first of all for passing the resolution calling on Albany to fully fund universal prek. that was the right move. It mattered. Obviously, there's some some action there from the governor and the legislature. I do want to thank you guys for the continued dialogue having us here and for the FAQ that you guys put out. I think that that showed good faith. So, we appreciate that. but I do want to speak plainly about something that I think deserves a direct answer tonight. Governor Hokll has proposed fully funding UPK at the $10,000 per student level starting this coming school year. Senator Harkman has made that a priority. We're closer to ever. we haven't been to Albany actually solving this. If the state comes through, we won't need the bridge funding. Troom Space North and other providers can continue to operate quality prek programs in Cro. It's the best case and I genuinely hope that happens. But here's the problem. The state budget doesn't get finalized until April. The district's contract deadline is February 26th and right now you're asking providers to sign contracts against funding that may or may not exist. So my question is not about the best case. My question is about the worst case. What is the plan if Albany doesn't deliver? Not we're hopeful. not we're confident. What actually happens? Does the district commit local funds to keep the program alive while we fight another year? If you issue a new RFP and no one responds, then what? Does prek simply end and we don't find out till April when it's too late to do anything about it? I'm a parent with children in the code department class of 2039 and 2041. I'm invested in our preK through 12 district for the long haul. What I'm seeing right now now feels like a process designed to be able to say we tried a deadline set before the fund is confirmed. A backup plan that reuses the same broken formula that caused our current providers to leave and no contingencies contingency plan if the state falls short. That's not a plan that's running out the clock. The good news is we don't need a permanent commitment. We don't need a massive local investment. We just need to know if Albany doesn't come through this spring, will this board commit to keeping the program alive until it does? Yes or no? We deserve that answer before it's too late. Thank you.
• Hi, good evening. Sorry my readers here. my name is Rachel McGregor. I live at 12 Road in Bowden. thank you to the board and the administration for your time and attention. just to I wanted to do a quick summary of all the activities that the parents are undertaking in lobbying Albany and really doing what we can to move this process forward for all of us. So to show that we're in this together, we believe in this cause. we're giving up evenings with our young children and spending untold hours on this trying to make this UPK funding a reality. here are the activities that we have undertaken to date. and apologies if I leave something out. I'm sure there's more, but I'll point out that on December 4th at the board of education meeting, you had at least 100 people attend. More than two dozen people spoke in support of UPK and no one spoke in opposition. We had strong public showing of support for UPK and Croin at that board meeting. There was then a board meeting on January 8th where again you had a very strong turnout, a lot of people speaking in support. No one spoke in opposition. and then we had a parents arranged a tour of children's space and north which is our current excellent provider of UPK with Senator Pete Harkham. So he came and he got to see it. There were parents there. he got to Superintendent Walker was there. two members of the board joined us and got to see the wonderful current program that we have. in addition, early early February, we put together a petition to send to Albany calling on Albany to keep this proposed funding in the budget. We have more than 550 signatures on that petition. It's only been out for a little over a week. the vast majority of that is from Croin residents. And if you think about that number, it's about 350 people, which means it's far more than just people who would have children in a UBK program next year. And I looked at some of the names, there's definitely people there who know they have older children. and this is supported by the community. in addition, we had two parents that testified at the Westchester delegation virtual budget forum. we also have had some press attention with some of the parents who have been involved. And then of course tonight you have a board of education meeting where we have several people turned out and we also have made an effort or discussions now to have a press conference with Senator Harkham at Children's Base North again our current excellent provider of UPK. So we want you to know the parents are motivated. We are working hard. We're doing what we can. We want this Alman funding to pass. all the other comments still hold validity we believe. but we do want you to know that we are all in this together and we are spending our time and our effort as well. On the point of continuity and retention that was mentioned in a different matter earlier, I would just like to say I do hope the board considers that when looking at the RFPs knowing that we have an incredibly excellent provider of UPK right now and the value of retaining that proven quality provider is something I hope the board will take into account when considering the RFPs. Thank you.
• Hi, I'm Samantha Harvey. I live on Mount Area Road East. I have a first grader at CCT and I have a younger child who will be four in the summer, so would be eligible for UPK. So, I'm here to speak in support of of UPK. And I've been following this conversation pretty fervently since the beginning, but this is the first meeting that I've been able to attend in person. And the reason for that is that I often function as a solo parent at night. And I don't have the money to pay for a babysitter after the child care that I paid for during the day for the privilege of working my job that barely pays me enough to pay for the child care. And this is not to complain about the cost of childare because I think the care economy in general in our country is grotesqually undervalued. And I think that the care that's available in Croin is superb and phenomenal and we're very lucky to live in this community. But the reason I mention this is to name that it's it's probable there's a large number of parents who need UPK the most who are not able to come and voice support in person because of child care issues and not having UPK essentially would make Croin a gated community you know where we wouldn't have a physical gate obviously but it sends a message that this community is only for people with the wealth and privilege to be able to function here so this is really an equity issue and I would say a feminist issue and in a country that at the moment really seems hellbent on making life harder for anyone who's not rich or male or white. filling in the UPK funding gap seems like one small and seems like an easy step the board of ed could take to show that Croin is not okay with this national trend. I don't know what goes on with the intricacies of the budget. I've looked at it online, but I as somebody else said before me, I want to understand exactly how it works. So, this isn't to say that the work isn't being done. I'm sure that it is being done and we're all very grateful for the work that's being done by the staff, by the board, by the administration, and by this wonderful community of parents who are coming out to advocate. but from the numbers that I've seen, it does seem like it this could be an easy allocation and we need to know in advance. And of course, UPK is so much more than child care. As many others have said, kids who have access do better later on in school and schools are in kind helped by having classes of kids who come in better prepared and on similar levels with their classmates, which would, I imagine, would save the district down the line with special education and special interventions. So, thank you for your time and please let's let's make this happen.
• My name is Zach Ryland. I live on Trudale Drive. like to point out the obvious that over a course of 12 months, three of the primary leaders of the school district have left or will be transferred to a different job. That makes it a very difficult process in terms of transition. I know you're all equipped for that, but I'm just pointing out the obvious. Two principles changed and one assistant superintendent retires. I think to talk about a couple of controversial subjects. sometime somewhere along the line I'd like to know the disposition of a lawsuit brought by students and parents against a school district for forcing pronouns and free speech violations that was brought to a federal court by students and parents of this district of transgender issues. I sent you a recent article and you should look at your protocols on this transgenderism very very closely about a lawsuit settled in Westchester County. Now I have some experience with this. That was a very very low settlement. They should have taken it to the Bronx where it would have been $50 million as opposed to $2 million. That's where you bring new lawsuits because that child who was at age 13 and identified as a man she went through hormone treatment then had her breasts cut off and then after treatment a mental health care treatment to decide she really was a girl and now she had no breasts. I've heard it said at this board meeting that we shouldn't get involved in this. We should tell the parents, we should keep this between us. We should tell the parents very reluctantly and so forth. Which brings up the next issue. This is very unpopular. 20% of Antifa is identified as transgender. Of the last six school shootings, five of those involved a transgender individual. and of last major political killing that involve a transgender individual and his lover. So that's an extreme here. But the other extreme is which brings up this third subject is the use of symbols. The transgender flag is un unlike any other flag because it implies an endorsement of the most radical medical treatments as opposed to let's help somebody who's got a mental health care crisis through their identity and then try and bring them back to some level of comfort. It it what it implies is we support all this and I've heard it in your seminars that you must have this kind of flag or that kind of flag to support these people are going through this and all these radical surgeries. I'm going to bring this up. If symbols I'm finished symbols are good for one group. I'm going to explore this. Symbols are good for all groups and I'm going to propose a few. Thank you.
• Hi, my name is Evan Atkins, 95 Treeand Drive. I spoke I think in December about the issue of UPK and I'd like to bring it back to that. I I don't at least from what I've heard, sorry I'm kind of doing this impromptu, but from what I've heard directly from the superintendent and most of the people in this room and perhaps individual members of the boards, everybody's in favor of EPK. So, it's a little bit, unnecessary to stand up here and say, I'm in favor of UK. The question is, what will a district do about it? And what will they commit to do about it? And the the potential and high likelihood it seems, for funding from the state is absolutely wonderful news. That is great. But there's a pattern of years of problematic administration of this program within this district that the board and others have said they support. And I think it's really key to change the rhetoric and to change the commitments and say that we're going to fund this. I don't I am not a school administrator, but my brother is, and he works in one of the higher rated schools in Washington state, which I know is a long way away. It's not in the New York City area and so on, but I asked him, "How do you guys address UPK?" He said, "Well, we in our district top up with the state funds. All the districts with UPK do that." I said, "Oh, that's interesting." And then I asked him, "Well, how would you view a cost of one quarter of 1% of your district budget as a necessary input to do this? Is that such a number that it's so large that that's a difficult thing to reallocate or was is that within the reasonable range of something that can be addressed for a policy that everybody says they advocate and he said yes absolutely. So I'm going to echo what many other people are saying here is that why is funding flatfooted off the table every single time we bring it up? Why? If the funding falls through from the state level, it's guaranteed to be just as chaotic as past years have been, perhaps worse. We've already had two daycarees in the community. This is not an opinion that they're stating that, oh, it's difficult. They are opting out. These are businesses that put their own business welfare on the line at great risk. I don't know how I don't operate a business, but those who do, I'm sure, would find it insane to willingly walk into an arrangement where they know they're going to operate at a loss for months on end. It is critical for the board to oversee this process and if you believe in it to like put your commitment earnestly, sincerely behind it and that none of us are hearing that. That's why we keep coming back. And as we keep coming back, you're building a a bit of distrust and frustration with the community in the way this is playing out.
• Hi. my name is Michelle. I live at four Wells Avenue. So I have two young daughters. they are three and one and currently my daughter Sarah who is going to be four would be eligible for UPK. it's obviously CAD with young kids. I have not come to a school board meeting of course my first one a little impromptu. I did email superintendent Walker when all of this news of not having UPK came about. One thing especially that I would definitely resonate with with the distrust of feels like the UPK is not a big priority for the district. One thing that was stated was and this is a quote from Superintendent Walker. As a K through2 school district, our role must be to utilize the funding available to create the best possible opportunities for the students in our K through2 schools. And and it goes on talking about state funding. If the state is not willing to fund that, then so so be it essentially. and actually I work in education and so does my my husband as well. So we have education type salaries. We're very hoping very much hoping to get UBK but that will be I'll talk about that in a moment. but I very much believe in education and the value of UBK. So even that one piece was very disheartening. I thought, oh, we moved up from the city as many families have moving to Croin. I thought, oh, so this is not a priority. So, I'm wondering if if is that part of the issue of reallocating some of the funding to UPK that Croin has thought of as a K through 12 school district. Though the trends in education are showing many school districts now have UPK, the city has 3K. Maybe in the future we'll have two school for 2-year-olds. We're just asking to continue a UPK program that was already established and is very I think creates a lot of distrust. This is my first experience with the school system moving here seeing oh there's a UPK lottery and opportunity for that and now that might be taken away. There's a lot of confusion. parents are talking and forming different groups to figure out what is going on. furthermore, I just want to say something with the financing that right now I do pay full-time daycare for my two children. They both go to Happy Hearts. we pay $4,200 a month which is a huge portion of my salary. so almost all of my salary goes towards that daycare. So yes, technically we can afford that another year. We can make it work. But I want you to ask as a board, are the families truly thriving with they're having to do that rather than providing them with opportunities that all of the other districts in our area do provide? Thank you so much.
• There's no one else. I want to thank all of our speakers tonight. We're going to move on with our meeting. At this point, we move into item 2.3, which is our superintendence report. Thank you again, Anna. Good evening again, everybody. for the past three business meetings, we've shared there we are. Good evening. for the past three business meetings, our principles have joined us to share student achievement data across a a wide span of standardized metrics over the past few years in our district. we're going to take a a break from that this evening and talk about some of the the other wonderful things happening in our district over the past couple weeks. But I do encourage you if you didn't get a chance to see those presentations live or recorded to visit our website to take a look at those. but did want to spend a couple minutes tonight just sharing some of the wonderful events just a few of the wonderful events that have occurred in our buildings over the past few weeks as we were last together. beginning with last Wednesday the 4th our students at CCT took part along with approximately 3 million students from over 80 countries around the world in the global day of play. several of us had a chance to visit classrooms across CCT that day and you see there just a a brief smattering of the kind of of experiences that our kids were involved in. smiles, collaboration, learning, joy, playfulness. we think about what school can be. this is a wonderful example of it. So, thank you to to all of our faculty and staff at C to to Carrie and Craig, our administration at CBT, and to everyone who makes that such a wonderful annual event. we look forward to to more of those occasions on a more regular basis across our system going forward. Yesterday, we had a chance to to join some of our seventh graders from Mandy Ball's science class at PBC for the cell abrasion. a really wonderful example of students working together. We call it elbow to elbow like to create projects representing their understanding of of animal and plant cells. The projects range from u technology based demonstrations to clay formations. One actually was a they made a cake in the formation of an animal cell. So got a chance to to brush up on my skills around vacules and GG bodies and endopplasmic particula things that I haven't heard in in quite a while. Our kids as always were incredibly impressive. engage not only with us as adults but with each other as classes came through to to visit. Their presentations were terrific. So thank you and kudos to Miss Birdsaw and to all the students who were part of that really neat event. Also want to shout out an individual student. Obviously we spent some time at the beginning of the meeting celebrating and very rightfully so the accomplishments of Jeremy and Maya. Also want to shout out and celebrate the accomplishments of Gabby Stock, who we learned very recently is one of only 15,000 students across the entire country who've been named the National Merit Finals. she began the process with about 1.3 million other students who took the PSAT and now is in the running for a really prestigious national level scholarship that will be awarded to approximately 5,000 students later this spring. a representation not only of her academic prowess but her stick tuitiveness and her their assessment of her likelihood to achieve success at a high level in highly challenging college content. So congratulations and outstanding job to Gabby. Good luck. Also on the fourth PBC held their second round of electives. and so this is I think PBC's equivalent of Tiger Tuesday. Grab the next slide if you would. Thank you sir. this is the second round of these electives this year centered around student interests and passions and faculty interests and passions. And so in talking to u to some of the faculty especially our some of our more senior faculty, one of the things that I hear them say a lot that resonates with me not only about the electives but about Tiger Tuesday at the high school is the value of students getting a chance to engage in learning for the sake of learning. Right? and for the intrinsic value and the joy of learning itself without the sense that they're going to be graded on it or assessed on it, but just simply the opportunity to be together to learn something that they're interested in that their f that the faculty is lit up by and inspired by. and so this has obviously taken a tremendous amount of coordination by the faculty, administration, and staff at PBC and by various community groups that come in and and contribute their time and resources. So we want to thank all of them. and this is something I really hope takes hold at PBC going forward. And so we we tried this as a pilot there this year. kudos to Nicole and the entire team who have made that work. and now we'll continue to get feedback from the faculty, staff, and students and look to iterate into some new versions as we go forward. Also want to make a mention of a recent web story on our website and on our social media that ties back to a work session that the board had last spring related to the designing of specific pathways from algebra for all in 8th grade at PVC up through the high school. and really some innovative looking at math pathways that I'm not aware that any other district is engaged in. And this is great credit to Derek Davis, to Isabella Zappa, to Dr. Jubac and the high school administration. allowing the to make real one of the commitments that we say in the vision map is that we're going to look at breaking down some of the barriers that institutionally have have caused districts to u to struggle in terms of meeting their potential, allowing students to meet their potential. And one of the challenges in so many districts is that if you're going to be in a high level math trajectory by the time you're a junior or senior, you really need to make that decision by the time you're in about seventh grade. And if you don't make the decision that aligns with your interest four or five years later, you end up in many cases not having access to the highest level calculus courses at most high schools. our high school faculty and administration understood that, took on that challenge and have created now pathways for students that have eliminated that barrier. I want to emphasize again what a significant shift and what a significant innovation that is. so I encourage folks to learn more about it. Visit our website, contact the high school administration and math department because that's some really special special work on behalf of our students. Also at the high school I want to make mention that this is now I think the third or maybe the fourth that Mrs. Fein and Miss Lim from PBC in the high school have collaborated to create the computer science fair. This was their passion project again. I think it was three years ago. and so we saw PBC students walk up to the high school again for Tiger Tuesday and get a chance to learn from some of their older peers at the high school about some really phenomenally impressive coding and computer science work. And at the same time, our science research fair was taking place. So a really eventful and academically rigorous Tiger Tuesday. And so I want to thank Daniel Berggo, Laura Lynch, Tracy, So Young Lim, and Jen Moore from our faculty who did a tremendous job of coordinating that and have made that into such a a special annual event. so it was as always a privilege to be there. Also actually this morning had a chance to to get over to CCT in the multi-purpose room for a really really well attended event from two of our second grade teachers, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Ventassel in their integrated co-e class as part of a second grade unit on fairy tales. Students work together to adapt the traditional fairy tales into puppet shows based on their own view of this. So, this was, first of all, spectacularly attended by family and parents. and students despite the fact that they were performing in front of scores of parents. Didn't appear nervous to me at all. Did a tremendous job. we had adaptations like, let me make sure I have this right. Little Red Riding Hood became the little red little red road runner. The three little pigs became the big bad Barbie. That one was very interesting. really special example of kids even at a really young age working together to create something that wouldn't have been possible on their own. So kudos to those outstanding co-teers to the students and to their families. Also want to make mention again as as Anna referenced earlier and as some of our speakers referenced new content on our website includes now a frequently asked questions document related to EPK. Obviously, we'll be reflecting on any new questions that were posed this evening and make sure to update that and we'll continue under Rachel's leadership to provide information in what we believe is a is a transparent way to our community with regard to that program. Also, on Friday night, had a chance to attend the CCT PTA student variety show. This was the second annual edition. Again, I'm trying to think of events in the high school auditorium that were better attended than that. and it's very very difficult to think of in my four years here. That was a packed auditorium. and rightfully so. That was tremendous talent. Scores of acts from across C. really just spectacular talent. courageous kids getting up at really young ages in front of a really big crowd to share their talents with with our community. So kudos to the PTA at C. Wonderful job. Lisa Overmire, Marissa Booten, the whole team. and to everybody who was involved in making that a success, Carrie and Craig for MCing. And thanks again to the three seven-year-old karate specialists who called me up to embarrass me trying to get me to break a board, which I I think I may have broken a knuckle, didn't do it, and then one of them just instantly broke it. So, thanks gentlemen for for that. Also want to make mention of a couple of upcoming events. Our annual Tiger Sports Showcase for the spring is coming up on Tuesday the 3rd. This is evolved into a really impactful event for our athletics community. This is a chance for especially young people and their families before they start thinking about JB or varsity athletics to meet some of our older student athletes who they hopefully then look up to and aspire to be. get a chance to meet coaches. and so parents and also our JB and varsity student athletes get a chance to to understand the commitment that it requires to be a student athlete at that level in our system. but more importantly creates a pipeline for younger students to be able to aspire to and hopefully grow programs as they go forward to things. So thank you to Christine Drago and Carla Powell and the booster club and all the coaches everyone involved in that event. We look forward to that. And for the first time at least in my time here the CDT Tiger Cub Theater will be putting on a a musical. So thanks to Marina always a force of nature who along with Maria Strenner are putting this together so that you see the showtimes there the performance will be Spongebob and so our two stars were highlighted recently in one of our tiger success tales. So we look forward to to seeing all of them on stage. I've had the chance to see some of the rehearsals. this is going to be a special show. I have no doubt. No doubt about it. So, wanted to give them a shout out and look forward to seeing everybody there for those performances. Thank you.
• I just want to add I had an opportunity to be in the building on Friday night during the CCT student variety show. I was attending the the senior girls varsity basketball senior night. and there there was another basketball game happening in the Excel region and I just was reflecting on how the improvements that we've done through the capital improvement project to those facilities to to have every room being used by different members of the community and to see everybody coming together. It was just it was a really great Friday night in the district. So, the capital improvement project just keeps, bringing us together.
• All right. Thank you, Superintendent Walker. our student exe our student trustee exeicio is unfortunately under weather. So, she is not here to give a report. We are now going to move into item 2.5. What? Well, we are going to address what we advocacy committee did. Do do if you could stand and we'll do it first if you want to hear what the advocacy committee the work the advocacy committee and what they can report on with respect to UK. so we will be reports and we will start with advocacy. I will turn it over to the chair Sarah. Thank you very much. thank you for indulging me for just a moment. I knew we were coming up to board reports. while the advocacy committee need to actually reschedule our meeting, we will be meeting again next week. I did as as advocacy chair have the opportunity to meet online today with both Senator Harkham and with Assemblywoman Levvenberg's office. Assembly Member Levvenberg was actually still stuck in a hearing. but we were able to discuss again and put forth our our support for the governor's proposal of the expanded funding for UPK. it was certainly we were certainly not the only district to be having this discussion. It was really a main theme of our conversations in both of those meetings with our legislators in discussing the looking at what other what other needs might come down the pike in terms of facilities in terms of transportation and other additional costs that our legislators wanted to be aware of as they were looking at that. So that was certainly something that I brought forward and reminded them of our recent resolution and we we also then were able to shift and discuss foundation aid funding and the the fact that our foundation aid formula has not been updated for an incredibly long time and at this point now 70% of districts across New York State are off formula and so we are subject to the 1% % minimum increase, which I'm sure you can understand is is nowhere near sufficient to meet the needs of increasing costs that doesn't even come close to meeting our contractual obligations for the coming year. so really, speaking with with our legislators to any work and any push that they can do on on that as well on increasing that minimum increase and looking at a way to modernize foundation aid. aside from that, we also had some conversations about the EV bus mandates and the timelines for that and the the, real inability I think in the the fact that the the timeline is not really feasible and looking to make adjustments there. So those were the topics of our conversation. So I just wanted to make sure that that I had a chance to share that as well. So we will be meeting as I said advocacy will be meeting again next week. and our regional LHC will be continuing to meet with legislators not just in our area but legislators throughout the five counties that LHC represents. So we will be continuing to have those conversations. Sarah, I actually have a question because I think if this would also sort of like benefit the community and it sort of touches on some of what what we talked about actually when the board had the opportunity to visit Children's Space. So, one of the questions I think that has come up is it's clear that there's momentum to to continue to advocate for and support full funding of UPK in our part of the state. I'm curious as to whether like the LHC has a sense of whether there's support statewide for this because I think one of the one of the concerns that I have personally about, just like the reality of this is like we're a portion of the state but the budget gets voted on by legislators who live in different parts of the state. And I'm just curious like is there a sense of like is there momentum for this statewide or is is it like too soon to tell?
• I I think it's a little bit too soon to tell. but in in the conversations certainly we've had with LHC which it does encompass the the five counties of Westchester, Punham, Duchess, Brooklyn, and Orange. there is incredibly large support almost universal support I would say across the legislators for this. I think it's something that has been discussed statewide for an incredibly long time and it's something that a lot of legislators across the board and across the state have been pushing for and have been discussing over the years. So, I think these are not issues the that that funding level the the current funding level is not are not issues that are solely a a problem in this part of the state. it is parts of other states as well. So, and and the the recommendation would be a met a requirement. so this is something that that other other districts throughout the state are are looking to see how they can how we can manage. Great. Did they at all address when you proposed the 1% and how it would be hugely insufficient for us just even given our contractual obligations, how we're expected to fill that gap? No. but I think a short answer no. but I think you know what what I've heard from a lot of legislators is they understand that this is something this is certainly not the first time they've heard about issues with foundation aid. it's something that we've all been advocating for for many many years. I think while we were all we were all happy to see that that Safe Harmless was kept intact, that, there was an increase, I think it was just continuing to to to push the fact that that it's not a sufficient increase given how how fast costs are rising. so I don't know. I know it's something that they will have to discuss in in committee as they as they develop their one house budgets. but I didn't get a real sense of, you know, what their thoughts would be on allocation of that. I mean, at the at the end of the day, right, like there's there is just one pot and and they have to allocate those funds in in in the ways that they can. So, wow. Thank you.
• Thank you for taking members of the public. I know there are a couple of members who spoke to us tonight who said we would like to understand how the budget is created. The next item on the agenda is our assistant superintendent for business who's going to be talking about the revenue side of the budget and it follows some of this discussion. In subsequent meetings we are going to discuss program operations maintenance all of those components of the budget. So whether you can stay or not, I they're all available online, right? 18 hours to come and please if you have questions or want further information we'll we will all be available but I want I just want to point out that it's it's a process that is very complicated as you heard just from this discussion but it is not an opaque process as far as the board and the district is concerned and what what's the email budget.quests.org at trustc.org budget.quests@chrusty.org
• go home without home or not. So concerning to board reports my is not here to do a report on audit but can I just so you schedule for an audit committee meeting in February the February 26 and there is a conflict with the number of members that could be in that committee. So we are going to postpone that probably until early March. We have a busy night. Yeah. For development. Oh yeah, that happened this week. Wait, that was last week. Saw a little bit of a give me one second because I don't have everything open to have open and I apologize. We're just like moving from one topic to another. I'm not fully prepared and I can't do it without notes because it's now Do you want me to hop into communications while I do you mind so that we're not making people we alothetical order? So communications met last week we had a really good discussion around looking at and and finalizing a survey that we would like to put out to the community about board communications and and community engagement. So we're continuing to work on that. we also had a a robust discussion about the board section of the website. As as I've been telling it in prior meetings, that's something we've been working on a lot this year. so Greg has wonderfully put together a production site that I will share with the rest of the board so that we can begin to update and populate that those areas. and we would look to to get everyone's thoughts on that as we continue that work. we went over some of the recent and upcoming district communications. the validictorian and saludiatoran announcements. there was recent superintendent video. Is it upcoming on technology or just upcoming?
• We're almost there. and yep. So that and then just going through some of the upcoming budget communications, the fact that the UPK FAQ was added to the website and that was our meeting. There was also just a highlight of the the panel on technology the high school students moderated by Mr. Bahanic had at C that was done at the end of December but that kind of as a committee for that to be pushed out and that was pushed out last week so that the entirety of that session is available for the community to view. and I hope to include the communication survey in my president's report tonight but I I believe information will be forthcoming regarding how to access that survey and the timelines by which it'll close. Great. Thank you. Okay, I am ready now to do board development. Sorry about that. I just I had to get my notes out in front of me. So board development met on February 5th and among the items that we discussed are planning and pre-work for our our video check-in with the superintendent. As I think we all know it is it is the responsibility of one of the responsibilities of the board to evaluate the performance and goals of the superintendent. So we will be convening a check-in conversation on February 26th. it will be held as part of executive session after a work session meeting because it does relate to the employment of an individual or individuals. So it's therefore covered under executive privilege or executive session material. So stating that so that for the benefit of the public they understand that this is part of the annual work of the board. I think in past years perhaps the board has not been quite so upfront about some of these benchmarks in our annual process and of goal development evaluations things like that. And so it's part of our effort to improve our communications by stating these things at means. further to that an update for the board on our winter retreat. The dates are just not working out folks. So we are looking at a luckily it stays cold very it stays cold throughout right and this winter has apparently another six weeks or five weeks to go. So, we may still technically be able to call it a winter retreat, but we are going to have to look at dates in March at this point because schedules have just not made it possible for it to happen in technical winter. we also had a discussion of policy 2510, new board member orientation, which will be referring to the policy committee. we've put some proposals together on that. And the last thing we did is we are we are currently working on formalizing our current committee protocols which is one of the goals that was assigned to board development for this year. That's still in the works. We also discussed the exeicio non- voting student trustee policy made our referral to the policy committee and that will be coming up later. The last piece of it in terms of scheduling, and I don't I don't see this on the agenda, so I apologize if I'm like asking this at the wrong time, but there was supposed to be some discussion of the candidate information sessions, and I don't know if that if if there's a separate agenda item, there wasn't going to be included in my president's report.
• Okay. But I know we we are running out of time. So, we are running out of time, so we're going to push it to the next meeting. Well, the the first session is at the same date, but the next meeting. So, do we want to announce dates? Do we want to give today's second under board development just to talk about this or what are you thinking? So would you like to Dr. That's fine. Do you want the parents square supposed to go out tomorrow? Just do you want to still go out tomorrow? Yeah, we need to guess we need to have two weeks notice but is did you have stuff that you were going to share like publicly at this meeting about this? Okay. Do do you do you have is there like an agenda portion? Right. Has it already? All right. Well, if if we can just use part of the the board development reports because this does sort of fall under our purview, I'll turn it over to our district clerk to let the community know what's happening on this front. Okay. Oh, good. Thank you. Thank you, Denise. No problem. this year we have three school board member positions that are will be filled by election to be held on May 19th, Tuesday. information on the school board experience, qualifications necessary for prospective candidates and candidate packets are will be available they are available on the website in English and Spanish. the candidate packets will be due on April 20th. they include petition instructions for the nomination of candidates as well as the nominating petitions. Please note that this year 38 signatures are required for the nominating position and candidates are encouraged to get a few more than that in the event that some of the nominating signatures are found to be invalid. expenditure statements must be completed at three different times. One is due at the same time your candidate packet is due. The following is a week before the election and the third is a couple weeks after the election. Westchester Putnham School Boards Association provides a free workshop for prospective schoolboard members. this year it'll be on Thursday, April 9th. And if you visit their website, registration is available in English and Spanish. And it's via Zoom. And if anyone has any further questions, they can contact me at these numbers or emails.
• Thank you for the Department of Policy. policy policy committee met on February 6th. We took the opportunity to have a discussion on the premium discussion on a policy on artificial intelligence policy 8636. And as what has happened in that regard is that the technology committee has after this in in the last few days has provided the policy committee with what our director of technology and innovation described as a draft of a draft which has input from the technology committee and also from the students in the current department high school multiddisciplinary bioeththics class. Dr. Moscowitz has met with that group. and I will be going on the 25th so that they can discuss and give ideas about what should they would like to see included in the policy which will be discussed at our policy committee meeting on Friday, February 27th. that's our next meeting. We also discussed a voting procedures policy which is on the agenda today for first reading. We discussed a the policy on exeicio student trustees which is on for a first reading today and we finished discussion on one of the policy 1310 which is on discussion on on our agenda for first reading today. we will be moving forward with other items on our to-do list including policies in which the word citizens appears where it might not be appropriate and a bunch of other policies which it is my hope that we're going to get them all done in 90minute sessions and be able I want to reflect them. Good boy.
• Does anyone have any liazison reports? I'm happy to move right to the next meeting. We do have a few, but I think in the interest of getting to our business, I'm happy to wait. Same. I would like to just mention one because I think it's timely and I think it's important for the public to know and for the board to know. Today, this morning I attended the meeting of the student faculty congress. Among the things that we discussed is whether they had any additional thoughts about policy 2125 that we'll discuss later. I'll present them their thoughts. And we had a robust discussion on changes to be made in the schedule at the high school presented by assistant principal Maximum. And I just wanted to say the reason why I didn't want to forget is that I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness and care that all members participating student Congress gave to many issues relating to adjustment to the schedule, including probably some issues that the building administration may not have even thought about but students thought about it and brought them forth for consideration and I was just so proud of the way that body operated. Thank you. I believe item 2.6 6 the 2026 2027 budget budget presentation on revenues and I will turn it over to assistance superintendent good evening. So tonight we'll be presenting the preliminary revenue budget. I say preliminary because there are a lot of factors in here that are still unknown at this point. We'll cover in this presentation an overview of the executive budget, state aid estimates, the property tax cap, preliminary revenue budget, and we'll follow that up with next steps and upcoming budget meetings. Okay, executive budget highlights. So, we've reached a record high in educational funding according to the executive budget, up 4.3% at about $39.3 billion. Foundation aid itself is up 2.96%. there have been no formula changes recommended. Again, we're working on the 2000 census data. so not much changes in in foundation aid. we are a whole harmless district which means that we will not dip below our previous year foundation aid and we are looking at about 1% for our district. It's about $54,000 increase. Yeah.
• It's like you kind of want to laugh a lot, don't you? Maybe we'll cry. Its fun half a person. I can't I like in articulate. Yeah. So, expense based aids. there have been no changes to those formulas which is great. They are based on they're expenditure driven though our aid ratios will change from year to year. there's no change to that formula. universal free meals will be funded for a second year in a row valued at a price tag of almost $400 million. and then at the, the top of the pile, probably the most notable recommendation was the funding for UPK, which is recommended to go from 5,400 per pupil up to 10,000 per pupil. and with the goal of hitting preK for all by 2829. some other notable funding was to college and high school programs expanding dual enrollment pathways, teacher preparation and some student initiative achievements for lower income districts. These would not apply to to us. but 2 million to math teacher training and 9 million for tutoring for high needs districts. So this is a very robust and high cost budget. But in reality, the impact it has on our operating budget, our general fund budget is very minimal as you'll see because again, UPK is outside of our operating budget and universal premiums are also outside of our operating budget. some key dates, so February 2nd and 3rd was advocacy day in Albany. to echo what Sarah had mentioned, we're talking about predictability with foundation aid and revising formula specifically in Westchester County where our cost of living is much higher than in most areas of the state there's no consideration for that. so in addition to that godly tax cap provisions the property tax cap which I'll talk a little bit more about later is another constraint for districts like like Croin because we receive so little state aid that our entire budget needs to be funded through the tax cap but we are being squeezed and it's finally kind of catching up to us. another advocacy UPK for adequate funding, staffing and space. And then of course the zero emission bus relief which many districts are we are way ahead of 99% of the districts in the state and it just seems impossible at this point. some other dates, February 15th is the database freeze. That's when they take kind of a snapshot of where we stand. and that will generate our aid reports. also, the consensus economic and revenue forecast. That's where the governor and the legislature kind of determine the pot of money that will go towards the budget. and that is in I think it's finalized in in early March. then we have March we have the allowable tax levy submission which is a requirement to the controllers's office. we will finalize our bus and budget propositions in March. of course one house budget budgets will come out ideally in April April 1st. They've got right. I never recognized that. the governor's budget and state numbers will ideally be secured April 21st. We'll have our board event budget adoptions and property tax report card submission followed by the board event public budget hearing on May 7th which is a requirement by law followed by our budget annual vote on May 19th at the high school. So state aid budget projections. So this is a comparison of some of our aid categories from last year to to this year. And this is comparing our adopted budget. So remember our adopted budget is set pretty early on in the phase. So some of these numbers have changed, but I think that's the most reliable representation. So we have foundation aid up 1% an additional $52,834. Transportation aid is also up about 54,000. It should have been up considerably higher, but our transportation aid ratio went down this year. Stable public excess costs and high tax. high cost excess aid up, minimum aid, private excess cost aid is up. That is related to increased special education services. And then we have building a projections. I will tell you that both of those numbers, the 2,603 and the 2,692, both of those numbers are completely unknown at this time because we we filed our final cost reports in December. Those go to facilities planning. They evaluate them, make recommendations, then they go to the state aid department who determines our aid eligibility based on the expenditures, our maximum cost allowance, etc. So that was a projection then, it's a projection now. The last year, this current year, it's a projection as is the second. that number is surely going to change once facilities planning goes through all reports. I'm not quite sure but I will report on that as soon as we know that number. then we have some Bosey's aid which is expected to increase again that's another expenditurebased aid and as costs go up a goes up a little hardware tech library textbook down slightly that is due primarily to textbook aid being down. Denise, you mentioned that transportation aid was not as high as expected given how our ratio went down. Is there a reason for that change in that?
• It it has to do with our expenses and our allowable decimal which is a very complex figure. So, I know you said under the buildings that that's totally a projection. but based upon your experience, given where we are as a district, do you have a sense of what direction it might go in or is that a totally we'll see for this? Because aid is normally building a is generally fairly predictable, right? So, we know we have our current projects and what they're expected to generate there. Once once they're approved and locked in, we know what they're going to generate for their full lifetime because we have $40 million worth of projects that will apply to last year, this year's, and next year's. We really don't have a clear estimation. We have projections that we've compiled based on expenditure guidelines, approvals, and maximum cost allowances, but once it gets to the state, you're not always sure which way it's going to go. Plus, they have they are working with a system that can fully generate those numbers where we are kind of working with our own system. So, I will tell you I have had, because of these final cost reports that that just recently went in and because of some reclassifications, I've been working I've been on with the state, both facilities planning and state aid for the last two days non-stop trying to get these figures because the February 15th database is going to freeze. And the problem with that is that once it freezes, then everything's kind of off for a really long time. So, we're trying to shore up those numbers. Unfortunately, a lot of people up in Albany are on vacation or sick. Just kind of bad timing. but we're working through it. They one of the women at who runs the facilities planning department is fantastic and has been so incredibly responsive to our requests. So, I'm very thankful for that. But we we probably I don't know if I'm going to get that number before the end of next week.
• Thank you. Okay. So, property tax. Just some facts, fun facts about the property tax cap. it was originally designed to restrain excessive t tax growth in the state. the law places restrictions on how much a district can levy yeartoear. it the limits are on the levy itself and not on assessed value. So it we it has nothing to do with property assessments or otherwise just on the levy itself. also voters do not approve the levy. The levy is a prescribed formula. voters approve budgets. Tax levies are are not approved by the district by voters. and this is submitted to the state controllers every year and there's those also go through annual audits by the controllers office. I'll get a little bit more into that in a couple of slides. So these are just three important numbers. Tax levy limit is the highest levy a district can propose prior to exclusions. Maximum allowable tax levy is the levy plus minus debt and state aid. So that's the capital exclusion factor. And then a proposed tax levy is the total amount proposed to the voters to support our upcoming budget. So here we go a little bit about the formula. Now I'll walk you through a little bit of this. So as always this represents the levy levy calculation prior to exclusions. Okay. So we always start the levy calculation with the prior year levy. On top of that we add the taxbased growth factor. So the tax based growth factor which I'll talk a little bit about more later measures quantity change growth and development within the community if there are enhancements to properties if there are new developments etc. The problem is is that there's a 2-year lag and on top of that you also have a lag in assessment. So Westchester County is a year is a a year behind. So it's not always easy to determine what's happening. However, that is the baseline. So in other words, where we are today is the baseline. Any change up or down in the future years will change that baseline. So for this year is at 1.004. So it's like 0.4% increase that we're allowed to multiply by the previous year's tax levy. that number I will show you later changes. Sometimes it's flat, sometimes it goes up. I don't think based on the development that we have in our community that that it will go down in the near future knowing what's what's ahead for Cro. that brings us to pilots. So payments and move taxes. So we have one pilot for Maple right now. speaking with the village manager. they're not clear on when and if there will be additional pilots in the future, but that will be like that's a 30-year pilot which is growing about 3% every year. then we have last year's capital tax levy exclusion and then you take that and multiply that by the growth factor. So the growth factor is essentially the lesser of 2% of the CPI or the inflation factor. So if inflation is 2.9% but the growth factor holds at 2%. then we have available carryover funds which are none bringing us to the total levy before exclusions. So then we get to the after exclusions calculation. So we also there's an addition that we could add for pension expenses if they exceed 2% more which we have not seen that occur in a number of years. So there's no exclusion for that. And we have the capital tax levy exclusion of 2.699966. Again, that is a combination of building aid, transportation aid, and debt expense. Brings us to the proposed current levy for this year of 46 322880, which represents about a 1.98% increase. So, our levy is looking at or about 1.982% within the levy. Now again, even though it says a 2% tax levy increase, there are some districts who have a 4% tax levy increase or a 0% tax levy increase. That's very uncommon. but it has to do with the capital exclusion. So the capital exclusion can change that. If if I'm not mistaken, last year our tax levy increase was like 2.69. Even though even though we% right. So it shows that some years it's more as we had last year. This year we don't have as much.
• No no as you see it is really generating only $900,000 for the district. So, you take the 900,000, the 54,000, and you see some of the challenges that we have. and I'll go over a larger picture of the revenue in a moment. You should say 53,000. I corrected that when you corrected it. Even 54 according to your That's 53. So, we'll just No, because it's like I think it's it's important to, it's like it's important for also for the community to be aware that these are the actual numbers, right? Yeah. Right. So, here's a look at our tax base growth factor over time starting from 2018. So, as you can see, 2122 was a real spike and that was almost like the perfect storm. So, a lot of times when they're doing development, they devalue reduce the value of properties because they're taking stuff down to build. So, you have a piece of that. So, properties that were going into development were actually downsized. So, there was a loss there on in the previous years. And then in 2122 there was a lot of growth within within Croin also it was co so a lot of people there were a lot of permits issued for accessory dwellings basement apartments and a lot of rec home reconstruction within the community which kind of caused that spike. also there was a big development. Was it I guess I think it was South Riverside the north view that you big area. Pardon? Big that was that was our No, you are you talking about 25 south riverside former bet? Yes. So that right the 33 that's when that was pretty yeah the 30 something building there. So so it just a culmination of a lot of factors and they don't align because the assessments are one year the tax base growth factor goes back two years.
• but it's fairly stable now. we're looking at about 1.004 04 on average let's see the tax growth factor. So this is just showing that if you can see the last 5 years the tax cap has been restrained by the 2% when inflation has been soaring for the past five years. So in 2021 it was at 1.23 we were held at 1.23 22 4.7 we were held at two 8% we were held at two 4.1 held at two. So each of those years when we're held at the lower amount and at the 2% if it's higher really restricts our growth and we're beginning to feel it. we're beginning to feel it. So let's see let's take a a broader look at our revenues. So this is overall we have u payments in taxes which comes in as revenue for us. It's it's a component of the tax cap but it's also revenue. So we have that that's up about 3%. Westchester County sales tax which has been a complete blessing to the district and districts throughout Westchester County. we expecting that to hold steady at 9.75 interest in earnings as you can see as the Fed drops the rate down what has been a major source of revenue for us has been interest income and that is beginning to drop considerably. So we are we are watching those numbers again. there was one year I guess I think it was like two years ago where that number was about 500,000 just for the general fund and in the millions across our reserve funds and so forth. So then we have tuition revenue. So we have six general So you'll see that number is up big. We went from 130,000 to 300,000. We have six general ed students whose families have elected to come to Croin and pay tuition to send their children here. and we also have a phenomenal special education program run by Rachel where we have special ed students coming in and their tuition revenue their tuition is funded by their local sending district. So that number is is a nice addition to our to our revenue budget.
• Marketing. Marketing. Yes. building news fees up minorly. That's when individuals or groups rent our buildings we do we do have an excessive amount of building use waiverss in Croton so we don't generate a lot of building use revenue unfortunately other revenue that includes foss refunds prior years workers compensation refunds etc. and that was looking up to 256,000. Has there been any discussion regarding the change? I know when we when we inaugurated Spencer Fields, we were talking about maybe increasing some of the are or having fees. I'm not sure. We have we have fees for lighting and custodial services but for the use of the fields for nonforprofits. and organizations that service our students and families. There is there's no fe. So, I had a question about the tuition revenue. Yes. so, I'm just curious, because it's not just revenue, there's obviously expenses that take like that occur when we have more students. do you have in pro like any sort of process in place to double check that we are not losing because sometimes you need to hire more people to and we watch that closely and Rachel has also implemented the requirement that if you are a tuition paying student that you have to apply every year so that our projections are in line with expectations and so that families know. We could look at placement, see if it causes any issues at the grade level or class level so that we can make a determination at that point. Thank you. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but you had talked to us about this in your presentation last year that these are programs that exist within our district.
• Yes. So, they're already existing. They're already existing and the majority of students in the class rostered are our children, right? So we f try our best to maximize the classroom and the staffing by allowing tition based students to attend. Thank you. I would just add that our policy on student tuition bay student is we have the discretion whether or not to admit someone and part of the consideration is going to be if we have space and I think the policy says if we don't have space meaning we're not going to create another section and we will just say sorry we cannot accommodate and it's also a multi-step approval for anyone requesting ing to attend our schools at the non-resident tuition rate. It goes to the building principal, myself and Mr. Walker and then we we allow the parents to, begin. But for a small district, it's a way for us to be able to continue those programs for ourselves and have that supplemental funding and offer services that, again, I think are unique to are they're unique services within the region, which is why they're in demand. So it's definitely like a testament to a multi-year, thoughtful approach on that front. If I may, before your D, just one thing that I note for us to think about. Can I just because you're going to move on to something else. I just wanted to add on to that and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's it's it's your determination as to whether a student, regardless of whether or not they fit into that based on their needs, also fit into that because of being we have a clinical intake team. So if the student is a PPC, age two, then I meet with the clinical team, review the records, child comes in for a screening, we meet with parents, child does a shadow day, our staff goes to visit them in their current program. So it's a multistep, very thorough.
• Just want to thank you for outlining these processes. Thank So I just wanted to add something which really is as much for the public and for those they're not here those who here before but hopefully they'll realize that if what we're saying is that we expect revenues from all sources that you just presented to go up $900,000. At the last business meeting in January, you presented certain expenditure assumptions such as we know we're going to have to deal with contractual wage and benefit escalations. We know TRS rates are going to go down a little bit, but ERS rates going to go up. Health and dental insurance is going to go up. comprehensive insurance cost you are going to go up 20%. you said utilities between three and 7%. And etc, etc. So, as I'm looking at this and we're going to hear, about all of the budget presentations on the expenditure side in the next number of meetings, we're really going to think about, okay, we've got $900,000 more. I'm just going to I'm just going to correct you. That's only the levy. So, from the levy from the levy. Correct. Total is 1.4. 1.4. Okay. So, with 1.4, we know we have those additional expenses. We know we have program things that I'm sure we'll be talking about. And we have to fit all of that in so that we come to a balanced budget come presentation on April 21st and then presentation to the voters. If I can, Neil, I think just summarizing that it's that when we go through all this, we we see very quickly how very little of that budget is truly discretionary, right? How very little of that of that increase that we're seeing here. As that continues to tighten, there's there becomes less and less leeway for that because obviously our costs aren't aren't going down, they're going this way. So, yeah, agree. So our total revenues are projecting up about 1.6 and where our expenditure budget is trending now is up about $2 million. So budget to budget it's about 2 million and revenue increase is 1.4. I will also add the middle of that chart talks about fund balance and reserves. So when I say that the budget is going up 2 million, you have to also consider that appropriated fund balance and reserves. So where last year we allocated about 3.6 6 million in fund balance and reserves. Based on where we stand now, we're going to have to add about 500,000 to that. So, our fund balance and reserves would be a little over 4 million that we would have to supplement to cover that budget gap.
• Right? So, it's not it's not the difference between 2 million and 1.4. It's the difference between 2 million and 1.4 plus on balance and reserves. And I would just like to highlight while we're talking about this that it's because of those reserves that we were able to do the elevator. Correct. Yes. And the boiler when we went two elevators and a boiler. Yes. Yes. Under emergency circumstances. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll talk more about reserves in in later budget presentations, but they are we have been very responsible in in reserving and allocating things to needed and necessary expenses and and it will it will be a great resource to us in the future. And if I could just add right that's also an area for advocacy on on the board front and and administration front as well. because we are so restricted versus say municipalities in what we can reserve for and what those fund balances can be. and and that's an area with where we can and we have been advocating to our legislators to allow us to be able to plan more responsibly and more long-term with increased reserves. Yeah. Sarah, I actually I want to go off topic a lot, but I actually foracy we should put on a resolution with respect to the health insurance health insurance reserve. we should just draft a resolution for the health insurance the way that we did for you and we can send it to everybody because that was something that you said would significantly impact and we can continue to add yeah that would be great and NASBO was also advocating for that as well. Oh that's perfect. Okay so next steps we'll be waiting for the legislative budget and updated safety projections. we're going to be digging in even deeper into the budget to refine our salaries and budget projections. we do a very deep dive into looking at where we stand today, based on our original budget pres budget projections for this year. So how close will we be to those budget projections? What do we need to tweak moving forward? we're working with principles and directors to really tighten their budgets as much as we possibly can and just really refining refining refining seeing where we can cut costs and not impact services or or staffing. we have two collective bargaining agreements that we will be negotiating. One is CHA, that's our administrator's contract. And the other is Amalgamated Trust United, which is our bus drivers and dispatchers. that will begin in March and we actually had our first meeting today. We will again review enrollment projections and staffing. prioritize school and building departmental budget requests as far as top priority scaling down in case we have to pull some things out. determining our transportation and vehicle replacement needs. That's a that's a big one this year. based on our experience over the last three years with our with our electric vehicles. so we're looking closely at that and then again accessess assessing current performance based on our fund balance projections. So we go through a fund balance projection process at the end of every month. It takes almost a week to go through just to kind of assess see where we stand. and that's about it. So here's our Yes.
• a a question and if it's too long to answer, I'm happy to hold off because I know we have a long day. so you had mentioned that you look you prioritize the school building and department budget requests. at some point I'd be curious to understand like a little bit like who's part of that that process? like is there a committee that goes through that or is that really your office like what is the governance typically of that? So generally it's the principal and assistant principal and central office administrators. Technology is there, pupil personnel services, superintendent and assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction is there and we go through every budget request. As Sarah mentioned, there's not a lot of discretionary spending. So, we talk about long-term planning. you know, what's working, what do we want to enhance? What maybe should we pull back on? It's not working out so well. And we meet as a team and it's kind of like just like a brainstorming meeting. and we meet at least three times. Thank you. We also have the added benefit of the three-year goals, right? So, all of the budgetary spending is no longer it's always aligned with those predetermined goals so that you're not just looking at it point blank for every year. And also the principles meet too. Aside from that and and all of the building principles also meet independently with with Rachel with Ellen to kind of make sure that all the intricacies and the requests are also aligned. So there we have a lot of budget meetings. It's It's a extensive calendar and they're all worth it. They're all worth it. Thank you. So, our next budget presentation will be tons of fun. We're going to have Joe and Brad and we're going to go through the general support budget as well and discuss some of the propositions that we'll be considering. Then we'll have the real fun vision map, technology and athletics. followed by March 20 26 school budgets, each of our building level budgets, PPS and curriculum. And then on April 9th, we'll have the superintendent's proposed budget followed by the 21st of April budget adoption, property tax report card, and BOS's admin budget. And then our public budget hearing.
• Somebody's got to go to that. so voting day Tuesday May 19th from 6 a.m. to 900 p.m. in the Croin Auxil Croin High School auxiliary gym. On the ballot we'll have the budget vote trustee elections and the library vote and propositions followed by the also that day is the tenure celebration. And if you want to stay connected, we have our social media pages and you can contact us at budget.quests at chopst.org if you have any questions. And that concludes my report. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We will now move into instructional personnel. Item 3.1, recommended action. Be it resolved the board of education hereby accepts the administrative personnel resignation of Dr. Mart, principal Herman High School effective end of the day June 30th, 2026 for the purpose of accepting the position of assistant superintendent. So moved second on the question. So if we don't accept this, she's got two jobs. I know. I'm trying to I know like much needed. So I appreciate that. All in favor? I opposed abstain. I motion carries. We already did item 3.2. So item 3.3 instructional personnel resignations. Recommended action. Be a result. The board of education hereby accepts the instructional personnel resignations as presented.
• Second on the question. I will just say that these are some heavy hitters to fill. Yeah. Which I have no doubt we will. but these are definitely very gifted and talented teachers who will long be remembered by their students certainly by us. we are very grateful as a board for their many collective years of committed teaching in this district that I wish everyone is doing well and whatever they do next and I hope that we hear back from them collective I agree forward to celebrating look forward to celebrating this thing I just wanted to know just in case people haven't focused on who the retirees are that three of them are from high school math department. So we know that there will be a lot of work to be done to find new staff for the high school department and but I'm I'm speaking for all of us that I am optimistic and confident we're going to find equality replacement as we do and by we I mean We we crafted you particularly. So we had a second that was on the question. All in favor I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Item 3.4 instructional personnel recommendation. Recommended action be a result of the board of education hereby approves the instructional personnel recommendation of Joan Moore tutor home instructor at the rate of $60 per hour effective February 13 2026 so moved second on the question all in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries item 4.1 donation from Keith and Kim Pretty class of 1985 scholarship funds. Recommended action be a result of the board of education gratefully accepts a donation of $960 from Kenneth and Kimberly Pertie as a contribution to the class of 1985 scholarship fund at Carman Harmon High School.
• So moved. Second. Further question, I would just like to add this donation is earmarked as a scholarship for a member of the senior class who's demonstrated kindness and inclusivity within the high school community. All in favor? I oppose abstain. Motion carries. Item 4.2 Two, donation Gretchen Grime, class of 1985 scholarship fund. Recommended action be resolved that the board of education gratefully accepts a donation of $25 from Gretchen Grime as a contribution to the class of 1985 scholarship fund. So moved. Second on the question. And this again is for the same purposes as of a senior class member who has demonstrated kindness and inclusivity within the high school community. All in favor? I I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Thank you so much to both of our donations. Moving into new business. Item 5.1 policies for first reading. This is a discussion. I will turn this over to Neil Hab, the chair of the policy committee. Thank you. There are two policies that are up for first reading. The first one is policy 1310, staff participation in political activities. And there are only a couple of minor changes to that policy. One to remove the words as citizens and the second is to make it clear that employees in the school district may not engage in political activities during regular working hours which is there while performing duties for the district which may be outside of regular working hours. field trips, athletic contests, etc. or on school district property. That's the only change. Second policy and this was mentioned earlier. I had a question. Oh, yeah. Sorry. So, I just I just wanted to bring up a case of what happened last year to understand how that would like how this policy might impact it. So last year the Croin Teachers Association asked for BOE candidate nominations and we met with them all the candidates who apply for it on the school district like in in this building. So just to clarify does that mean moving forward is like this how like where does the CTA align with this and that was in in conjunction with an election. So I don't have an opinion about it, but I think that is something that's been happening and we should have some sort of clarification on that.
• Well, I basically would since this is first reading I would say we can discuss this in policy committee. I think in the end if this is adopted since it is the administration superintendent responsible for implementing policy that superintendent would say you know what I think what that happens there falls within this okay and so you're in so far as you are soliciting support for a political candidate which could be a schoolboard candidate. You know it may be that they you know that what they're doing cannot be done in the building. On the other hand having a informational meeting or even interviews may be considered not to be soliciting support. Well that wasn't what it was. Yeah. Route two. It's just like a gray area. It's on route two. So that's something that we can discuss. That was a voluntary process. Anybody could participate in that. Well, any candidates did, right? And all candidates could decide or not decide to participate in that process. But even so is that quote soliciting support for a candidate when you have an interview process where people are asking questions of either sequentially or at the same time of candidates. I mean my my point just with this is irregardless of it I think this is something that happens and I think people want to do the right thing. So I think just clarifying what how what that falls under would be helpful. I mean, I would add that in on that same subject, in years past, the League of Women Voters had a candidate forum not on, not virtual, but had it in the auditorium and that was, you know, that was not something that was soliciting support for someone. No, no staff member was soliciting support.
• So, Yes. So there are ways that that can be cons considered and we will discuss. Second policy is exeicio student trustee. This has been reviewed by the board development committee that has provided comments and suggested language. It's been reviewed by student faculty congress. It's been reviewed by policy committee in a number of meetings and this is the distillation of what we've come up with. I'm not going to go through it because you can see what the process is that came to a large extent from student faculty congress about how trustees would be selected. two of them and how and for what length they would serve. One question that came up today at student faculty congress which I just will raise for consideration and if anyone has a comment or thought right away we'd love to hear it is on the second page there is a section called qualifications for service and the last sentence in that section is the exeicio student trustees may not be or singular may not be an officer of student faculty congress and you see the additional words or an officer of any class discussion today at student faculty congress the consensus was that because there's more work ISFC than there is as a class officer and because there may not be that many people who are interested in service at all. That's an issue they've been finding that they would like it the exclusion to only be SFC officers. president, vice president, I guess, secretary treasurer and and Sergeant-at-Arms, but that's for us to discuss. That was their suggestion. We'll discuss. Given that it's limited to senior students, it's not seniors and juniors. seniors and juniors. The idea of them holding officer positions for their class and also holding this position while reporting back to SFC on this position seems like a lot.
• Well, okay. But, they they felt from a student perspective Yeah. that it was not too much. I also think it just offers another opportunity for student voice, right? like they keep talking about having students come to our meetings. They're always able to come to our meetings. They're always able to report back on those things. But to have a single individual from each of those classes sitting here, then turning around and reporting back to that and be able to participate in that body actually expands that body in a way that I think would be enriching as opposed to having one voice representing the junior class as an officer for SFC and then also carry the dual role of being an ex official trustee here. So we did actually raise this at the policy committee as well. I think the dual concerns of is exactly what you're talking about and what Neil also sort of referenced which is sort of the potential that there may be like a limited pool of students who might be interested. One of the clarifications we had asked for at the policy committee was a recommendation from SFC in terms of what they what their thoughts and intentions were in terms of what officers actually entails because there's so many positions and there are multiple elected positions and if you're elected does that make you an officer? Are we talking about specifically president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and I guess I I didn't know there was a position called sergeant interarmms, but is that what you're saying? There is I haven't heard that one. Yeah, I there is. And is that not the secretary though? No, it's Spencer. It's standing for SFC. Right. Right. So, so we're talking we're talking those five positions and then if we're if if SFC's recommendation is that that individual grade level positions not be included, it's like you're I think what I think what we're what we're what I was trying to understand by having asked this question at the policy committee was should do we need to sort of clearly articulate what that potential overlap could be because I think again the intention here in expanding the role goal from one to two positions was entirely to be able to actually give students voice in a manner that also does not necessarily require them to be elected and that there is some connection with this position as outlined in the policy here that relates to actually interest in doing this sort of work. Interest in policy development, interest in advocacy. And it's the the the process by which a student actually might end up serving in these positions relies on a petitioning process, recommendations from teachers, and then an interview process by the board. So, it's a very different process than getting elected. And I think I think it is important actually to to keep that open to as many students as possible. so, I'm not I'm not I guess I'm not I'm not sure. I'm not I I I guess I want to hear a little bit more about what sort of like their rationale and what positions they're thinking of including I also just want to offer that from a historical perspective in terms of the four that we've had here it has been open to students who haven't been in the moving body of students who have always been involved in SFC which was really nice because you did get like a broader perspective of of student life and they did bring a different voice to the board. So to to offer as many entry ramps as we talk about doing this for our academics as to offer as many entry ramps onto some of these experiences I think would would be in keeping with the real I think foundation of what some of these positions were created to do which was to expand student voice.
• I I think those are all good points. I would add that we had maybe a five or six minute discussion today because the main focus of the meeting was on the schedule. So high school and we next meet I just wanted to see probably after the next policy committee meeting. have to figure out when that is. But we can have more discussion whether it's before or after next policy committee at the next SFC meeting to allow people to give more consideration. One of the things that they pointed out is that if a student at the end of the sophomore year applies for and is selected as the associate student faculty trustee associate student trustee then the student could consider It's too much work. I am not going to seek office as a junior class officer or a senior class officer. Yeah. It's a very different role. Yeah. But it it gives them the choice by the student who says I've decided and have been accepted for the student trustee pathway. Yeah. that I will just not take class officership because there's a lot of work and there's a lot of, a lot of commitment as a student trustee. So, I don't want to do both. I wonder if there isn't a vehicle by which to make that its own student officership. So, do you know what I mean? Like instead of you being president and student exeicio trustee, you are the student exeicio trustee for the junior class and that is its own officership within that class because it sounds like they they want to somehow wear the I don't I don't know if they want to wear two hats but but maybe that's something that they could do as well because the associate trustee would be a junior, right? the nonassociate would be a senior and how the classes decide they want to incorporate the person that's been selected that may be some of the classes some of it is also the title right they want the title of being a class officer could be for four years right that's probably what it is what how do the timelines of selection and election overlap in terms of these positions just I mean since we're sitting here talking about this in such detail.
• The spring officers are elected in the freshman or in the fall. Mhm. Right. Are all the class officers elected in the fall? I don't know. I think Aren't the rest of them elected in the spring? Yeah. Yeah. Just as we had the election for student faculty congress, right, in the spring in each grade. And the election for student trustee, right, was in the spring, right? But class officers are done in the fall. Is that true? Like junior class are done in the fall. All class officers or just the freshman? No, I wish that senior class officers are done in the fall. I don't because I feel like so we're at first reading. We have time to figure some of this stuff out. But I think the other thing you know that that we had talked about is although we're at first reading because we want to be able to right give SFC the amount of time that they're going to need to be able to launch a process that they will be leading as this policy recommends. we want to try to bring this back in two weeks, right? Approximately. Yes. I mean we kind of have to if we're going to give them the time to make this change for the next school year. So I think I think this has to be prioritized. This is the only discussion point. Is this the only discussion? It's the only discussion point unless there's something else to see somebody sees. But otherwise that was the only concern. I would propose that to the extent that any of any member of SFC holds an exeicio role to the board that should be expanded to be an officer's role for SFC. Does that make sense? So, everybody was in agreement that the officers of SFC, president, vice president, etc. would not be able to be trustees.
• Right. Right. Our question is and by the way what they did not want to say the senior class president the junior class president and the junior class vice president the junior class treasurer would also be excluded from that possibility and that's why it asked the question about whether like for those class officer positions whether it should be like more clearly articulated perhaps that the junior class president and the senior class president should not also be the student X a physicio trustee but perhaps the treasurer without you know that that might not be I mean there is like a ranking right the president is generally above the treasurer so so that might give like a little bit more latitude for a student who's really interested in serving in a class officer role to have a dual function but not necessarily be a class president it's just a question of whether again if we articulated that whether that might be something we take back to them and I would also just ask that maybe we consult with Miss Fiorini and Dr. Dubac about this right now because I think that they would fully understand the impact and maybe be able to articulate what the concern was from the student perspective. So maybe we consult with them regarding this especially in her former role as Zoom students. I think that she would really understand. Okay. So, what I will do because she's not gonna be around next week and our next meeting is Thursday after, I will try to see if I can speak with one or both of them tomorrow to get their thoughts. Maybe Mr. Bahanic and Miss Morrison, they might be able to Yeah, they I mean, Mr. Bahanic was at the meeting so and he's, he's kind of a facilitator more than I know he he knows that. I mean he's seen it happen over the years. He was the facilitator when the first position happened and all that. So to get So I'll try to I'll try to reach out to that tomorrow and we will have this on the agenda for second reading on the 22nd.
• Okay. I I'm still seeing one thing on on paragraph 4 under rights and responsibilities of exeicio student trustees which I this is the red line that's supposed to reflect all the changes we talked about in committee. Yep. So item number four should still I believe that was a correction that maybe didn't get didn't quite get but it is the the president of the board of education or designate is responsible for arranging the orientation or training program for each New Mexico student trustee. Right. We talked. Yes, we did. And I think it just fell out of the document. Thank you.
• Is that all you have? That is very exciting. Those are two policies that have been meeting. Moving into item 5.2, two, we are looking at the proposed trustee calendar for 2026 2027. And I will turn it over to Superintendent W. Thank you again. just a couple of notes here. as I think most of the team knows, the district has a calendar committee comprised of district administrators, building administrators, and leadership from the various bargaining units who get together at least once annually and take a look at the specifics of the upcoming year's calendar. just a couple of notes here as we as we took a look at this one. This was unanimously recommended by the committee. the Labor Day of course this year is late. It's the 7th. So we'll need to begin school for students prior to Labor Day this year in order to get in the required number of days. not only from the state requirement perspective, but from the various collective bargaining agreement perspectives. one of the things we always talk about is how we can most strategically allocate the superintendent's half days. it was a really valuable times for the faculty. So we decided to move that first half conference day up because it's the consensus that teachers would benefit more from time earlier in the year particularly those implementing new programs or evaluating new programs rather than later. It was of course December 4th this year. the half day conference in the winter we decided to place it January 29th which is also the last day of the first semester for CHHS. so the committee felt that place placing it there was partially to allow for faculty members who teach semester courses to have at least a short period of time to do some planning and preparation for new courses and new students beginning in semester 2. and the March conference day March 10th is also the observance of Eid. and so while we're not able to commit to making it a school district holiday because of the other constraints associated with required holidays on an annual basis, we thought it was an appropriate and respectful decision to put a superintendent conference day here allow for our Muslim students to observe the holiday. We spoke with members of our staff who observe Eid and they felt that was a a decision that would be widely supported by members of the community who observe. So those are my notes on the calendar. Again, it comes with a unanimous recommendation of the calendar committee.
• Recommended action be the board of education hereby approves the 2026 2027 school calendar as presented. So moved. Second. On the question. All in favor? I I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Moving into the 2026 2027 board of education meeting dates. This is a discussion. There was a point raised by trustee regarding you can just call me knock. I don't like it's okay. regarding the reorganization meeting date which right now is scheduled for July 16th which falls in the middle of the month. Now we are constrained that we have to have it before I believe the 23rd 28th. It's the Monday first Monday after July 20th. So if we look at our calendar that is July 20th. Oh, first Oh, after the first Monday. That's the 27th. So, we have to have it before July 27th. The last day of school is June 24th. Is that right? Graduation. The 25th. Graduation 24th. Last year. Yeah. So, we have it scheduled to the 16th. We know that there is, a little bit of an exodus for a minute after the end of the school year. That is a big business meeting for us because there's a lot of things that we need to approve. the idea, and I don't need to speak for you, Anica, was that perhaps putting it in the middle of the year wouldn't give people like a nice chunk of time to make plans or Yeah. I think I think just to make the question very explicit, the the question was because I and again I didn't go back and look at previous years. but whether there's some advantage to trying to hold it on July the 9th rather than the 16th in ter but but there's but there's perspectives on both sides obviously because as you pointed out some people do especially when things are close to the Fourth of July holiday that can be a time that people take off. So, it's just it was just to put it out to the the current board to see what they felt made sense because once the date is set, it actually it generally I mean it can be changed I suppose if if for some reason people aren't available or can't make it. So, but just in terms of planning for for next year as a matter of governance that's my thoughts number one there are three positions on which there will be a vote. So we for three members of the board won't know for sure until after May 20th whether or not you know that's the schedule is good. So we certainly subject to change. I think from a perspective of doing the business of the district, meaning what is needed for approving appointments, for approving contracts, for all the other things that we would do at a July business meeting. I would be willing because I don't have any plans as of yet. And I don't know if I'll be reelected, assuming I'm running. We won't know that for another two weeks. I have no problem with setting it on the 9th if it is felt that's better for the business of the district.
• But I think that was a question that came up actually was whether that was in fact better because I think there were some concerns about also being being prepared to get all the year end stuff that needed to get done done. So, I think that's one of the reasons why we wanted to just make sure I mean again we could put the date on the calendar making move but I believe that that was a question that came up perhaps from the business office. So late it's I know I'm sorry. so there's a lot to be covered at that meeting and again people take vacation and it's a lot of coordination. So my thought was that having them a little bit later would be some pressure on all of those people involved in submitting requests. So you don't need any of those appointments to be made right at the beginning of July basically. So then I think then then it where it is then. Yeah. Well, would you want to push it to the 23rd? No, I don't think so. I don't think you would want to push it that late just in case there are scheduling conflicts. so I think leaving at 16 makes makes sense. Can we get that? No, I was just mentioning appointments at the CSSE, right? You know, also residency officer, things like that. Yeah. And medical, but there's a tremendous number of appointments, but it's like so you don't want to go past the 16, but I always some of that work starts like July. I know that's that's so that these are all I mean, again, these are all like we have to just figure out what the right time before the seventh anyway. And we always make ourselves available for special needs for like the physician all that stuff.
• Yeah. The time limit. Okay. That's the end of that discussion. So we're keeping it at where it is. We are keeping it where it is for now and then you deserve right to amend it later. Item five. Wait, I'm not done yet because I do have another question about the calendar which I did the board of education meetings. Yeah, our calendar. Okay. which is on the Boseis board. The Boseis board decided that because of where Passover falls, okay, the special meeting for approval of the Bose, the meeting for approval of Bosey's budget is not going to be on pass, right? So it's going to be moved back a week which would make put it on April 28th so that this calendar shows bud Bosey's budget vote on the 27th. But now I'm thinking with respect to our approval of our budget in a timely manner before the May 18th state designated date. Is that date, April 27th, too late for the board to approve a budget for the voters? What we have on our calendar for this year, right, is superintendent's going to present budget at the April business meeting and we are going to approve final approval on April 21st or whatever it was. I wouldn't push it back given Governor Hog's No, no, no. Our budget our budget is dependent on their budget to some extent. But my point is Denise if we have April 27 as the date for the Boseis budget which also means if we're following this year's process okay is that too late so that we know we have to have everything done by April 8th or we have to schedule another meeting sometime between the 8th and the 27th so that we can approve the budget in a timely manner and do the report card guard and do all the other stuff that we're going to be doing on that date.
• We looked at this and it worked. Okay. Mhm. If it works if the Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But was I 14 days, Sam? No, that's for the budget hearing. I'm saying the approval of our budget, the approval of the property tax report card. Can it be as late as February as April 27th or is that too late? That's fine. As of now, I assume that when Denise starts her very thoughtful budget processing at the beginning of December, because that's basically as early as she starts it and she starts to do her timeline that we need to change it, we can. Yeah, we did we did look at this. we went through. So, a lot of the timelines are out there like NISPA puts one out Denise's unit, my unit, and there are a lot of crazy dates that have to align and have to be within a certain time frame and we did look at that closely and so they all work but correct me if I'm wrong, Neil, this Bosey's date is set by Boseies and we have to vote on it. policies because we don't have any leeway in changing and no leeway on April 27th for that purpose. Right. So we I mean we're meeting on that date that budget that both set regardless whether it but but Denise and her team have looked to ensure that it fits within all the current timelines for our budget as well. And if if it does great. Okay. Thank you for your attention to detail. Item 5.4, the overnight trip, the varsity baseball spring training in Fort Pierce, Florida. Recommend action be resolved. The board of education hereby approves the varsity baseball team overnight trip to Fort Pierce, Florida for spring training from March 3rd to April 3rd, 2026. This is an annual event for them. They fund raise for it all year long.
• So moved. Second on the question. All in favor I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Moving into ongoing business 6.1 policies for second reading. Recommended action be resolved with the board of education conducts a second reading and hereby adopts the policies as presented. Okay. I'm going to let you do that on the question. Sure. On the question. You want to move them all? Yeah. So moved. Second on the question. There you go. Okay. So, hold on one second because I somehow lost this meeting. I have to reopen it.
• For some reason, my computer is not doing what I want it to do. So, you haven't committed these to memory. I just got to know the numbers. Not yet. I I got to know the numbers. I can read you the numbers if you want. Okay. So, policy 1050, annual district election and budget vote. Okay. policy that basically deals with the process on the day of the vote. the one thing that you'll note is added is that well one thing added is the additional day of voting if in case there is a hurricane or nor easter on the day of the vote and not enough people can show up. there's timeline and this actually we have to consider is that oh no I'm sorry that propositions if some a member of the public wants to submit a proposition they may do so it makes more explicit some of the rules on that and lastly it specifically says that if a proposition would require expenditure of money that would be come from the tax levy and result in a change, it needs a supermajority of 60%. The second policy is public comment at board meetings which I think we've gone through before I don't need to talk about the third policy policy 2120.2 voting procedures adds a number of different provisions that we should be aware of. The first is provisions relating to the appointment of a poll watcher or poll watchers by a candidate. education law does not provide for poll watchers, but a number of districts do that. And it's kind of modeled on the election law provisions in section 8500 of the election. I will provide for one poll watch at a time for each candidate. Three individuals can be designated by the candidate, but only one can be there at the time. an attorney who is a New York state voter and a not necessarily resident of the district and someone who is licensed to practice law in New York can serve as a poll watcher because that is consistent with what is set forth in section 8-500 of the election law. Election law does not apply to our votes, but we used it as a guide. It identifies what poll watchers can do. It also clarifies some of the language as to absentee ballots and early mail ballots. And we should understand that someone can get an early mail ballot for any reason. Someone can get an absentee ballot for stated reasons. The voting process is the same, but in their infinite wisdom, the state legislature adopted early mail ballots, but did not get rid of absentee ballots. And lastly, provisions have been additions. One is that as a ma at the end of the election when the polls are closed, the only persons who will be permitted to be in the room, the auxiliary gym in this case will be district clerk, the election inspectors, and any poll watcher who has been designated to observe by one of the candidates. Everybody else will have to wait outside and when the vote is done counted, the district clerk or the chief election inspector will announce a change in practice which it was felt was preferable to keep in allay any concerns about the the integrity of the vote counting process. process. Lastly, what is incorporated in here specifically is the provisions of the education law relating to how do you deal with affidavit ballots. Last year, we had a number of affidavit ballots and there really wasn't an understanding by the district clerk and the election inspectors as to how they should be dealt with. Yes, there was. We presumpted that evening of we had council.
• No, no. Well, there there are specific provisions in the education law. Yes. Which were counted to us by council that evening but but they even they were not no council was very what much aware of it. I wrote it on the back of the piece of paper. We read it into the record. There was no dispute regarding howed and it was done prior to the end of the vote. But there are certain provisions in the education law that we need to follow and did not follow such as informing each person who individually by mail if your their vote their abs affidavit ballot was rejected that their affidavit ballot was rejected because they were not on the registration roles. But that's postcript. It's not how the vote was treated. No, I'm talking about postcript. Talking about those more clear about the fact that you were postcript. Yeah, postcript. and that is that's those changes which have been reviewed by council and reviewed by the committee and I just that's what's in those policies that policy. The other two board organization meeting kind of just clarifies some language about what we'll be doing on July 16th and years after. and policy 5420.1 concussion management is basically an updating of our concussion management policy to conform with changes in state law and department of health and department of education regulations and to in essence not be so prescriptive so that if they if the standards change, we have to change our policy. It basically will say that we will follow what the standards are for how concussion should be managed for athletes and for other students who may have suffered a concussion and then are coming back to school and how they would engage in activities.
• So that's everything that's there. Okay. Thank you. For for for policy policy 2120.2, there's a missing word. under canvasing and tallying of votes. Line five, it needs to read the only persons who may be present during the canvasing and tallying of the votes are the district clerk, the election inspectors, the district's council, and no more than one insert than one poll watcher for each of the candidates. Okay. Thank you.
• All in favor? I I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Thank you policy committee for you guys for your hard work on all these things. Long long time. It's a lot. And I would just add as I've always said before when we work on these things we have very extensive discussions about what things mean and what the consequences can be. So it's really a I mean I think it's really great that we and administration work diligently to consider issues and before they get part four. So one quick correlary to just what we've approved is in terms of public comment at board meetings policy 1230 that now that that we've adopted that it's referred to both board development and communications to review the preamble of the remarks that are included on the agenda and any other communications or addestations that need to be made when people approach the podium including the question of which is not it's not in policy of the individual coming to the podium needing to state their physical address. That was something that we talked about needing to clarify in our language going forward. So, but those committees will take a look at it. Yeah. And I think something we discussed in communications was was also maybe it was board development, I can't remember. get laminating a few copies of that so that we have them available in this room for people to review. Yep. And with respect to the concussion management that we refer that to you superintendent author item 7.1 the consent agenda approval be resolved the board of education hereby approves all of the items on the consent agenda. So moved second question.
• All in favor? I opposed abstain. Motion carries. At this point we will move into our closing of the meeting. Item 8.1 is our second hearing of the public. If you would like to speak, please approach the podium. That's it. Great. Well, we're going to we're going to I mean the second time, yes, but we'll try to develop something that helps people understand how to use their time. Hey from True Hill like to continue the discussion about allowable symbols in the public school in this library. There are three symbols that are visible. two on the desk of the librarian, transgender flag, homosexual flag, and the American flag, which is probably for your benefit because your meetings are here. I think rather than suppress any of those symbols, it opens up for both teachers and students the ability to use other other symbols. And I will bring these in sometime for your benefit. three of my favorite symbols are one the manora which is the faith of our fathers and the symbol for religious freedom, the crucifix which is a sacrifice of our savior and the cross. If I were a teacher, I were a student, I would have them prominently on my desk or or on my locker or someplace and display them proudly. But this process of allowing or promoting diversity will lead to conflict. Here's here's some of the conflicts. How about Israel and the Palestinians? How about the Russian flag and the Ukrainian flag? How about the Republic of China flag which is the flag of China of Taiwan and the communist flag of of of mainland China or how about the Iranian flag in Turk in the Tur Turkish flag. So you can go on and on. What if you allow symbols and you do everybody should be allowed their symbols but there are going to be ramifications on the politics addressing the agenda item on politics. This school district had a history of inviting politicians in here for self-service. One of them was Gayla who was a senator when she used to live here and the union used to put political items in every teacher's box promoting political candidates because it was a union that should be forbidden. This is public school. Second of all, some of your students are eligible to vote. And in the past, I don't know about this school district, students have been used to politicize a vote for either the budget or for particular candidates. That should be disallowed. also you are, I think, have responsibility for enrolling students in political parties. I don't believe in most atmospheres in this school you can enroll those kids in a political party in an atmosphere that will not influence the way they're registered. That's about all I have time for. Thank you.
• Close to the public. We move into item 8.2 polling of the board. interest of time. I'm going to move my question for volume for after the break. I do have my report on the booster meeting. but I too will reserve that for the next meeting.
• If no one else has anything, our next board of education meeting will be our work session on February 26th, which will be the Joe and Brad. All right. Item 8.4 recommended action. I I will also add that at the next meeting and we'll try to get this student X official trustee policy on the agenda to be done. Thank you. the result of the board of education hereby enters into executive session to discuss the employment of particular person or persons. So moved. Second. On the question. All in favor? I opposed abstain. Motion carries. So for members of the public at this point we will end the regular meeting of board of education. We will move into executive session after which we will leave executive session and immediately and adjourn the meeting but that will be off camera. So have a good day. Thank you.