Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 0:00I think as long as Yeah, I'll have a drink. What I want to do is You understand what my point It was taken out of context. Just the EXPECTATION OF THE PUBLIC. YOU WANT TO HAVE A conversation about that? And next time I want you to say So I think We just don't have the We have policies on this. I am So I didn't want to Well, you could You could You could turn it a little bit and just say something. We have some stuff that we really want to get into. You know, next time. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I'm going to like around like I'm just I'm in living on some 30s so that we can Yeah, as long as there's a a place for me to Yeah. Say things. I'm okay with You know. I didn't get a chance to have all my snack. But that's okay. I'm all in star. You know, I have I have it in my my bag. I just I'm all in
2. 1:03They would tell me like I was not supposed to, but I did it anyway. Yes. Now, anything you need? Thank you. Bless you. Are you all set? Here you go. Almost blowing out. Did you sign this way? Oh, yeah. Hello. It looks like my uh laptop is dead. You can start at 10:30. Okay. It is really hot in here. Marcus, oh, Marcus is that you again? Uh-oh, there's the No video. Got you. >> So what we're going to do I'm recording it on my end. So if we can't get it straightened out, I'll put it up stream immediately after the meeting. Got you. There won't be any conspiracy theories. Yeah, right. Not at all. Not at It's probably not Hey, you know what they say.
3. 2:08Yeah, no, no, no. I'm not saying anything there's anything we can do about it. I'm just anticipating. It doesn't matter what you do. They're going to complain. Okay, can we just get the sound? Thank you. Marcus. Marcus. Can you just come back and do the sound? Just Yeah, just turn the mics on. >> Turn the mics on. Thank you. Yeah. Check. Okay, thank you. Perfect. Um so, for those of you here, we're having a problem with our video feed. Uh we're going to have our communications officer send out a message to the public so that those watching at home don't wonder what's going on. Um uh hopefully have it up shortly. Um
4. 3:13And I'd like you to call the meeting to order and ask everybody please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Leslie, roll call, please. Mark Ace. Here. Amanda Greuber. Here. Diana Howard. Here. Kirsten Gustafson. Here. Matthew Maccher Here. Maureen Sheridan Here. Mike Sibella Here. And for Lavona Prova, we have Jordan Francis. Here. Thank you for being here, Jordan. Uh before we accept the agenda, just want to run through the order of events for tonight. We will go through our agenda
5. 4:18um and uh suspend the meeting prior to our second executive session. Um at which point Dr. Bailey and other members of the central admin will go to each of the three polling places make sure that we have all of the collected ballots and their tally sheets bring them back here uh where Leslie will do the final tally. Uh while Leslie is doing her tally, the board will meet in our second executive session and then we will come out and review the final data from the polls. So, there will be no live poll updates. We're going to make sure that all of the data is correct before it's projected up onto the screen. At which point we will resume the meeting >> [clears throat] >> and adopt the results. Um
6. 5:20the only other intricacy to tonight is there are two seats for on the board available. Whoever receives the most votes will be assume the seat that Mike is currently in immediately. And then the person getting the second amount of votes will be sworn in prior to our reorg meeting in July. Um so, it's a little peculiar because Mike was appointed to his seat, but that is New York State law and um it's happened in the past, so. Anybody have any questions about the order of events for tonight? Okay. So, make a motion to accept the agenda as presented with the one change of suspending the meeting prior to second executive session.
7. 6:25Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Uh brings us to our student representative report. Hi everyone, my name is Jordan Francis. Um I am the assistant secretary of the student council and I'm here in place of Mike who unfortunately cannot attend tonight. Is this week on? Or is my mic His mic is on. Yeah, so yeah. Yeah, he's just having a hard time. Yeah, we'll talk later. Yeah. AP exam season has ended at the high school where the majority of 10 exams taken were studied independently outside of regular classes. Yesterday, the Multicultural Club hosted the Multicultural Festival where students represented the cultures that make up our schools with food, drinks, and activities like face painting, henna, and corn hole. A soccer World Cup tournament was also hosted throughout the afternoon. Mr. McDarby's classes and the Environmental Club went on a trip to Boston today where they went to the Boston Aquarium, shopped, and went to the whale watching. Student Council is hosting a free outdoor movie night this coming Thursday, May 21st, open to all high school students. We'll be playing
8. 7:27Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Student Council class officer nominations have begun in the high school and elections will begin next Tuesday, May 26th. Spring concerts will also be held across all three buildings a club. Coming coming weeks. all are welcome to watch the talents and positions of the board. Senior prom has a date and it's June 6th at the Falls. And finally, the class of 2027 is hosting a golf tournament on August 17th. If anyone in attendance or any of the board members are interested, registration is currently open and posters to sign up are posted outside the auditorium and can be found in the class of 2027 Facebook page. Do you know the fees for teams to join the golf tournament? It is 100 per player and 400 per team. So, max of four? Yeah, max of four. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much, Jordan. Um Marcus, any luck with the stream? Working on it. Okay. Uh no presentations this evening. Uh
9. 8:31next we have our board reports. Start with audit committee. There's no audit committee report. Facilities? Yeah, facilities met uh on Monday, which was yesterday. And we uh had a a pretty good meeting, talked about personnel. Uh there are a couple of positions being posted shortly. Uh one in particular because of somebody was promoted out of it. Uh so, we're happy to see both internal uh movement, folks being able to move up, and uh hope that the public will keep an eye on those postings and apply when they come up. Uh as far as the energy performance contract or EPC, uh it has received final approval from uh NYSED. Uh a couple of other steps that have to go through, but uh notable coming up is uh demolition in the high school boiler room will start in June. That can happen and get started early because no classrooms are nearby, so it won't impact uh student life. It has its own doors, people can move in and out of it
10. 9:33freely uh you know, for the for the work. So, we're glad that that can get moved ahead. Um Um get folks will start to see perimeter fences going up and coming down at variety of of locations over the course of the summer as those projects progress and that's of course for public safety. Capital project uh still moving through its steps and paces. Uh it's had its architectural mechanical approvals. It's waiting on additional approvals uh but is moving through its process. Bids are coming up for construction manager uh this month. Last opening this month, excuse me. Uh the freezer at MC Smith is let's see uh has also received SED approval. Uh and the grant-funded greenhouse also has its SED approval. Uh couple of things that had to be tweaked to address
11. 10:37um some changes in the law, required some change orders that were fairly modest uh but will be able to progress that in the foreseeable future. We're all very excited. That's a project that I know a lot of folks have been waiting for um with bated breath. And then some talk about our the presentation that we had at our last general board meeting about outdoor classroom and what would be at MC Smith and what would be required to make that happen. Great conversations. Awesome. Uh where are we at with the um community members? Uh We welcomed uh two community members onto that onto that uh group. Three yesterday. Three? Did we get Well, I got two. Cheryl, is that considered a community Are you a community member? Are you a community? Yeah, you're staff. So, you're okay. Well, we're But yes, Cheryl was also here. Great. That's very exciting. Can we share who the community members are? Chris Christie Askin and Hannah Black.
12. 11:42Thank you. I couldn't remember Hannah's last name. Sorry to put you on the spot. All right. Policy. Awesome. Uh both policy committee and code of conduct subcommittee met last week. Um we I'll start with code of conduct cuz that was first. We are inching closer to a complete first draft um by early next week we plan to have a first draft that can then go out to broader staff for input. So folks have been really cranking away and working hard at that. Really exciting to see that happen and get closer to being ready for hopefully a September start. Um and I think a theme of both code of conduct and policy is it's great to do things on paper but if they only exist on paper that only gets us so far. And I think the sort of overarching theme of both conversations this week was starting to have those harder conversations in code of conduct around like what shifts and staffing what do we need to do to make this come to life. What are we going to actually do? What training do people
13. 12:44need? What training do families need, right? What training do students need? Like all of all of those pieces and really being I think like open and transparent and like raw about where where things are going to work, where we're going to have to shift things to make them work. Um I think similarly that came up in code of in a policy where we've been continuing to kind of crank away at all of our NISBA updates where we've been working on this partnership. But in particular there were two related but not the same policies. One is disclosure of wrongful conduct and the other one is staff complaints and grievances where we had a really like robust rich conversation around the the relational trust that has perhaps been like broken that needs to be rebuilt. Um and we're going to bring that once those policies are up for first read on the next agenda. Um we will bring that conversation here to the whole board to really talk more about and really talk about like what are the things that we need to truly be doing differently so that people feel safe, supported, and comfortable raising concerns in the district. Anything else?
14. 13:46>> That was perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Uh finance? Uh finance committee has not met, but uh I anticipate we'll have a meeting scheduled uh soon, presumably with a passed budget. Um and uh hopefully some year-end financial matters we need to address, too. Thank you. Um board president's report, um we uh have heard that there's been a massive turnout at the polls. So, some of the polling locations did run out of um the exit ballots uh for the tennis court pickle ball uh pickle ball question. Um luckily they did run some new ballots out to those locations, so hopefully we still get a good representation of our communities' um thoughts on the matter. Um uh
15. 14:48we um have some special recognitions. Um the New York State School Board Association uh has a board excellence recognition program designed to acknowledge those school board members who strive to continually expand their governance knowledge and skills. Um these achievements are reached when board members accumulate points for participating in NISBA training, workshops, events, and activities, as well as for taking on board-related roles such as board president and as the advocacy seat liaison. Um so I would like to congratulate Ms. Diana Howard for earning level one board achievement on board under NISBA's Board Excellence Recognition Program. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mark. Congratulations. And I would like to congratulate Mr.
16. 15:54Matthew McCreary for earning level two Board Excellence Award under NISBA's Board Excellence Recognition Program. >> [applause] >> In addition, uh Mark Pace has earned level three. Um and I just want to say that uh NISBA is a great resource um for all the board members. It's you get to meet other board members, you get to get training uh on legal matters, on policy matters, and there's a lot to learn as a as a board member. So the fact that these are are here and uh being handed out reflects a lot of extra work to be better board members. So Mark. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um and then later on in the agenda we
17. 16:56have will have uh updates on the superintendent search as well as a conversation about drafts of our um school calendar and board meeting calendar. Um brings us to personnel uh agenda. >> Mark, can I just remind you that there was something in there we were going to talk about. Uh um So, then let's uh let's actually switch it up. I make a motion to pull this executive first executive session forward. Um so, make a motion to enter executive session at 7:17 for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons. Second. All in favor? One second. If um since we're not going to reenter the meeting until after they get back, is that correct? No, we There's two executive sessions. We're just switching it up.
18. 17:56>> it up. Yeah, we're adding this first one here. >> All right. I was just thinking because of personal matters. >> I forgot about something that Diana had wanted to discuss. Thank you for the reminder. So, we'll be right back. This one should be quick. Okay. Um did we get a second? I second. All in favor? Okay. We will be right back. Okay. Consent agenda? Yeah. Okay. Make a motion to exit executive session. Second. All in favor? Uh public forum. Personnel. Oh, sorry. Personnel. Thank you. Um make a motion to approve personnel agenda items A1 through 2 and B1 through 7. We got A1 through 3 Okay. Stand by. Make a motion to accept personnel agenda items A1 through 3 and B1 through 7. Second. All in favor? Okay. Now we have public forum.
19. 19:09Lauren Jones. Lauren Jones, yeah. Yes, please. Uh Lauren, as you know, you have 3 minutes. Uh and due to state and federal privacy laws, we can't entertain comments about specific school personnel or students. Sounds good. Um I just pulled out my gum business. How's that? Can everybody hear me? No. How's that? Perfect. Better? Um so, I wanted to bring up some concerns about a recent um email that came out from the superintendent that was related to uh threats being made at the school. Um I have a lot of detailed feelings about it and specifics, but I wrote something just to keep it short and summarized. If you want to follow up about it after, I'm happy to talk more. Um My name is Lauren Jones. I'm the mother of a fifth grader and a second grader. I'm coming to address the board after
20. 20:11the recent email from the superintendent on May 15th, at least the second of its kind, which was sent to the school community to address apparent rise in threatening behavior among students. Um I understand the need to address threats and to emphasize accountability. Um what felt shocking about this last email in particular was the way there was no mention of the school's attempts and responsibility to care for the students in their experience of conflict um and help them work through that. Um To threaten police and district attorney intervention on presumed kindergarteners, I'm presuming this because the email said our youngest learners, so I'm presuming we're talking about these huge consequences for kindergarteners. Um To make those threats and offer no side-by-side voice of nurturing kids through making mistakes, um that kind of messaging coming from the school is really concerning. Um, it raises concerns about whether Hudson
21. 21:13students are being supported through conflict or are they just being threatened by adult-size consequences. So, that's all I have to say for now. Thank you. Appreciate your comments. Are they going to let people say that's not online? Yeah, Dr. Bailey sent out a communication that we're working trying to troubleshoot the um the video stream. Our chances are quite high, and so hopefully it's up soon and we can post it later. I got here a little late and I didn't hear how it was going to run, but I was told that you're going to get the
22. 22:14ballots and bring them back. Is Could you go over that again? Yeah, of course. Yeah, so um when we suspend the meeting, um Dr. Bailey and other members of the uh central administration team are going to go to each of the locations, make sure that they pick up the the tally um the tally sheets and all the ballots and bring them back here for uh final counting. Um, so as they're they're counting, we'll be in our second executive session, and then by the time all the ballots are counted, we'll come out of executive session and we'll review all of the results together. And can I ask why it's going to be different this year? I'm I'm just I'm I can tell you my thoughts is that there's so So people in the public that don't trust us now, that sending the executives out to the community to bring them in and give the count, I feel like they're going to say that's a conflict of interest. That's how it's going in my head. That's the only reason I'm asking. >> Yeah, no, I understand that. Well, I mean, in the past it was a custodian
23. 23:15who went out and But we got calls. We used to get the calls from the polling place with the numbers. >> Right. And last year there were a lot of errors in the way that the data was reported. So, we're we chose to have somebody from the district there as they're making those calculations so that the data that comes back there are no errors in it. I have one point of clarification. We will not physically be bringing ballots back here. The ballots will stay locked in the machine. The only thing we'll be bringing back is the tape that is signed by the three poll workers and the document of their hand count of anything that could not go through the machine, such as the absentee ballots or What's the other one called? What's the other one? The damaged Thank you. The damaged ballots that they count where on the sheet and they sign it. That's the only thing we're bringing back. That's Okay. So, if somebody questioned it, they would you could have showed them that. Correct. That's my how my brain works. Yeah, no, those are good. Well, it's And that's always existed. And you know, Leslie is the keeper of that. So, it's it's I've been
24. 24:19here for years and years, but you know, I've just seen live Right. And you saw it didn't go very well last year. The first time I've seen it go that way. 26 years. What actually happens with the absentee ballots? They get counted. And then they go to you and you count them here or No, they they come to me. I write down what polling location Okay. they go to. I deliver them. Um and at the end of the night they count them. And it goes on the tally sheet. Okay. So, the ballots come to the school and then you give them to each of three one of three bell locations. Right. And you include that in your daily? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Uh thank you all for this points of clarification. Um can we all sign up, please? You can sign. Okay, here. We have our superintendent's report. First, I wanted to thank the student
25. 25:22council for running the meet the candidates night, and for um the three candidates, Mr. Zapp, Mr. Nolan, and uh I get it. Yep. Uh Mrs. Isabella. This um Uh doing any type of public service is not It's It takes a hard decision to do that. It takes special bravery to stand um in front of high school students who are asking hard questions. But um we're very grateful to have uh this many people interested in serving this community. So, thank you for doing that. And uh you you mentioned Christina of the Parents for Healthy Hudson. I think I got the title right. And they've been actively pursuing trying to create uh vi- vibrant outdoor spaces for our school students and our community to use outside of uh MCS. And they've made pretty much miraculous headway in a short amount of time. They uh have joined facilities committees to help participate in the greater good for
26. 26:24the district. And also uh they've had numerous community meetings with um Mr. Runneman and uh facilities and myself on school uh school grounds with a number of members of that group. And uh we've got some tentative designs for this outdoor um outdoor garden, which will be classroom space, uh raised bed gardens, um maybe amphitheater. Dream big. We're dreaming big. But attached to that is I got a call from Assemblywoman Barrett's assistant asking to bring the uh Assembly Speaker, Mr. Heastie, down to our elementary school to do a tour in early June, and that's Pennsylvania calendar, and to take a look at the space that we're talking about uh and potentially help as a funding source to uh help build this dream, which is very, very exciting. And of course, we have a lot of volunteers in the community who are
27. 27:25willing and excited to help out with that as well. Uh when we confirm that they are actually going to come on site, we'll we'll do something, and we'll definitely share uh to our social media that they're here in our community and and what they're working on with us. I'm very excited to Basically, it just takes a few dedicated people. Any of us who have been in an organization, it can be an organization of 100 or 1,000, but it really comes down to the seven people or five people who want to pick up the tools and go do it. Uh this is a great example of that. Thank you. Thank you. Can I Can I ask a question? Um about a week and a half ago, there was a like really incredible social media post somewhere that had a bunch of the college acceptances from the Hudson High School, and it is like a beautiful list, and teachers and staff and students should be so proud. I can't find it again. Is that like Can that exist somewhere like loud and proud and in like 400-point font for our district?
28. 28:26>> He usually texts those to me at 5:00 in the morning. Um it like made a quick Instagram round, and now I literally can't find it, and I feel like as We'll find it. Yeah, like let's let's put that somewhere permanent. >> We'll put it up there. And it was amazing. I was like, "It's still going." Oh, yeah. I'm sure it's yeah, there's so much more coming. Hudson graduates sitting right over here, just just so you know. And in the audience as well. Yeah, I'll hold them to that. And uh also there was a record There was a record number of National Honor Society recipients also. Oh, yes. So. That was a great ceremony. Thank you for mentioning that, Mike. Um I it's on- on- inspiring to see the number of kids that were on stage and that got inducted that night. And a lot of student speakers throughout the night. They ran most of the ceremony themselves. So, thanks for mentioning that. Thank you. Um so, consent agenda. Um a few things to point out here.
29. 29:29Um there is a um construction proposal. It wasn't on It wasn't on Okay. Um and then uh there is >> [snorts] >> um a mural donation for an amazing mural that's taking place at um MC Smith. Um and there's also a revised uh MAGBO agreement which wanted to just give some context to this agreement. Um it's not a traditional consulting agreement. This is actually the the district's treasurer of record. Uh we did pull it off uh the agenda a month ago which talked about some of the additional per diem spending. Um but as it is right now, it's just for accounting and treasurer services. And I'd like to point out that it is a uh a significant savings over um the cost of having somebody on staff doing the the same work. Um so, any questions on consent agenda
30. 30:34items? I have a quick question about the mural donation. I mean, first it looks incredible and I'm so excited to see it in person. The donation check amount and the agreement amount are not the same. Is that Yeah, it's that they're installments right now. I have a microphone. It has got two now. Yes, we received a total $4,400 from several organizations. Recently there was donations from Stewarts and I believe HCSD Community Endowment Fund also to total that amount. So, the whole thing will be funded through donations. Awesome. Thank you. Okay, make a motion to accept consent agenda items eight through B. Second. All in favor? Um, policy number policies correct? Policies.
31. 31:37I'll have a bunch for next time. Okay. Um And then superintendent search, we need extended invitations to staff members of most of the bargaining units here in the district and community members to be on the superintendent interview committee. There are 15 members total. A number of them just finished their training session with Dr. Corita Adams. They will participate in semi-final interviews a week from today on Tuesday, May 26th. They'll have an opportunity to ask questions of our four semi-finalists, after which the board will conduct their semi-finalist interviews in which each candidate will give a presentation to the board. Um, following that the hope is that the board can make a decision and a offer to our candidate choosing. We are We're glad to hear what the
32. 32:42public has to say. The committee? The committee. Absolutely. Yes, we will get their uh they'll they'll be scoring on a rubric and we'll receive all that feedback um to uh take into account when we uh make our decision. Will that be on Tuesday? Yep. Okay. Mhm. Do we finalize timing on Tuesday? Mhm. Uh I believe the uh interview committee will start at 5:30 and the board will start at 7:00 or 7:30. I will confirm as soon as I have final times. Laura might have an answer for us. 3:30. Oh my gosh. All right, well, thank you. I'm glad you're here. Uh so, I need to get you information on that and I'll make sure everybody uh knows what's going on. So, they can wait till Tuesday. Um now, old business, so, new business. We've got a number of things up here. Uh Dr. Bailey, do you want to tell us what we're
33. 33:43looking at? Sure. So, there are two uh documents in front of you on the table there and they both look very similar. Uh it's a school calendar, the school calendar for 2026-2027 and then a proposed board education meeting calendar, which is the same calendar with the board meetings interposed in green. The school calendar was exceptionally difficult. The last time the district was compressed and having to start with Labor Day on the 7th or 8th of September, Juneteenth didn't exist. We Well, excuse me. Let me rephrase that. There are holidays in the calendar now that were not recognized in 2021. In New York State or nationally. And now that they are, in district recognized that that either through formal recess or formal holiday or we've already given it to some bargaining units as a holiday. So, it's very difficult to stay open on days when when they're obviously employees not here.
34. 34:46So, we start very late in the year after September 7th and then it ends at the normal time, June 25th. We're unusual in that this district has 182 instructional days and uh what that does is that includes three superintendent's conference days because New York State allows us to count superintendent's conference days as days of instruction, no more than three though Actually, we can do four, but we do three. And then on top of that, we always have at least three emergency closure days. So, Exchange students has more instructional days and we have fewer emergency days in the bank cuz this year we used all three of them already. What that caused us is the normal day off before Thanksgiving There's no day off before Thanksgiving. Um the Memorial Day weekend is just Memorial Day next year. And probably the the most difficult
35. 35:49thing is the March April break. We're trying to align this with the Questar calendar as closely as possible because if we're in session and Questar isn't, our students who are in any of those programs, which is about 70 students, they don't have any place to go for part of the day. And likewise, if we're closed and Questar is open, the CTE center and New Visions and stuff like that, then we're not open and they can't go to their their career programs. So, we try to align as best we can. And the March uh holiday break, but almost all of it is in March. It aligns with Questar. The February break aligns with Questar, the December break aligns with Questar. Where we had to try and be strategic is we really used our superintendent conference days resourcefully to try and ease the lives of families. In order for us to meet 180 days, we would have had to
36. 36:53come back on the Thursday of April break. So, we would have Good Friday that week where we had Easter lies, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then everyone would have had to come back. By being creative with our superintendent's conference days, students will not come back at all that week, the staff will come back on just that Friday for superintendent's conference day. We did the same thing on Eid because the Questar superintendent's conference day would have fallen on March 12th. We moved it to Eid on March 10th so that our students wouldn't have to be in attendance. Obviously, staff members who observe may observe, but it saved that April break so families could have the entire week off. What we knew is, I mean, it's not just about comfort. The problem is we would open that Friday or that Thursday during April break and we would be missing half of our kids.
37. 37:57What do we do with half the kids? Do we move forward? Do we teach them the next lesson? So, we really uh tried to get that aligned. So, it's not pretty. It is the absolute least we could do. I'm very grateful the heads of the units contributed their thoughts to this as well. It is a real pickle. So, this is the least worst option. That's what I'm going to go with. is at least worth having not fun Any and all tally is on the right hand side where it says instructional days. Are there any questions about the school calendar? There's August 31st is highlighted in a a color that makes it indicate that it's a staff development day. Is that an error? That's an error, yes. And did we look at how other districts are handling the like post Labor Day? Like are there any other calendars as
38. 38:58drafts to look at with I feel I feel nervous about two things, I guess. One is like how many staff members who have kids are then going to need to just take a personal day on that Friday off break and therefore we lose the development component of this. Like I imagine that would be a very low attendance day. Um and then similarly for Eid, I I I guess it makes me feel uncomfortable that staff members would have to choose between like observing a holiday with their family and a holiday that feels important for them and then again participating in Like I think if we say that we value that holiday, as we should, I'm I feel uncomfortable with that then being an attendance day for staff members. It's an error, yeah. People lost that number of staff who are observing that. I answered that. Yeah, but then that breaks community, right? Then those staff members aren't part of the community building that day. They don't get that development. Like that to me that just feels it doesn't feel great. No, it doesn't.
39. 40:01Um I guess I would propose that we like ask around a little and see if there's anything else in there. I know that a lot of work went into this, but those two things make me uneasy. You're right about both of them. And uh the the one thing that makes us special is the 182. I don't know any other districts that have that. 180 180 days of instruction, that's the pickle. Cuz if we didn't have that, then we wouldn't have been having this discussion. And the other districts, like I looked at Germantown's, I looked at Cobleskill's, I looked at Chatham's, they didn't have to worry about operationalizing those same that same problem, so their solution is different. Because they contractually have 180 days, right? And does that mean that their school days are longer because the New York State regulation is about hours, not days, correct? It's both. Well, it's both. Like it used to be days at a a minimum number of like 3 1/2 hours on a day to put your state aid.
40. 41:04Now it is you're open for 1 minute, but you need the 900 or 990 hours and 180 days. You're good. So they're a little more flexible. Like so a district could have a lot more shortened days if they wanted to. If they had an emergency and had to go home after 2 hours cuz the water main break, there's no penalty for that cuz you still got your hours and your day, but that um Now it's contractual, and to be quite frank, every day that we are open, we pay for contractual costs. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. We employ 300 people. Is there Sorry. Go ahead. Is there a world where like that April 2nd day then could become a half day of PD on a different day? Like in balancing staff development with Yeah, I I mean I I hear that like one extra half day is hard on families, but I wonder if like getting a half day
41. 42:05where there's an afternoon of staff development would actually get more people present for that development. Or is there something contractual to that needing to be a full day? It's just hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's I was thinking of the balance, right? The balance of what's equitable and and fair for families and staff and what is right for the taxpayers because everything in contracts is hard won. It's hard to negotiate those things and and it's hard to uh concede on both sides of the table and when you settle down an agreement, it's very difficult to say, "But it's okay. You don't have to do it." Or just like it's as likely as uh saying to do more. Of course, people wouldn't say that's a great idea. You know, it's the balance of things. You're asking good questions. How would it cost more though if you just didn't open for that day, but you did a half day?
42. 43:09A half day with students? Wouldn't we save if if Friday the 2nd was off work and you took April 9th and you made it a half day for kids with a staff development for like in the afternoon. And I I fully recognize that you're losing a half day, right? Cuz you have a half day for staff instead of a full day. I just wonder if a half day with 90% staff is better than a full day with 50% staff. The other thing that we know That's a good question. The other thing that we know and Marcus great. He sends me the stats every time we have a half day, the attendance at the elementary school drops to about 57%. Kids The parents just don't send their kids in cuz apparently naturally there's probably a lot of reasons. I'm not going to guess why, but they don't a large number of more than a third don't send their child in at all if it's a partial day. Probably cuz it's so disruptive to the schedule. If they had to stay out of work, why would they them in at all? I'm not sure, but that's that's what happens. So,
43. 44:10again, what are you doing if 30 students are missing? What's the value of the time? We were trying to just create a good as good an instructional situation as we could. But it's not good. Good is not the right word here, okay? I I I think there's a lot of math involved with this, too, because what you just suggested, I think it would uh deviate from the 179 contact days. So, there's I I I I don't know that this is from what you've said about this being worse or least worst scenario. There's a lot of considerations that have to go into it contractually and, you know, as well as caring for the community and whatnot. Taking a compensatory into a contact day would would breach the contract, too. Um I'm going to bring something up. I don't know if you're It's going to be helpful or not, but um we start My understanding is that we start after Labor Day because it's in
44. 45:13the teachers' contract and it's been Sorry. Um my understanding is that we we start school after Labor Day every year because it's in the teachers' contract. Is that correct? It's an understanding, yeah. It's an understanding, but it's not in the contract. But I'm Listen, I'm I'm bringing it up because that would solve everything, right? If you could start If we start earlier the first week of September, not the second week of September, before Labor Day. But that's not a possibility? I believe there was agreements that were settled uh within the last decade that they certain units would not start before Labor Day. Right. But if they I mean, I don't know. Maybe Is there any way to to undo that? Given I think I think staff would be okay with it if they knew it meant having that Friday of April break.
45. 46:14You know what I mean? As a Anyway, all right. I'm just putting it out there. The other thing that's different because again we're using statistics. I look at May. Uh last year the give back days were I think the Wednesday and Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend. And the consensus was after that after the kids were out of school for five school days they never ever got back on the horse. Yeah. They never came back to school with the same number as they came back with before Memorial Day weekend. So, the suggestion was to do three long weekends in May if we have those emergency days remaining. I think that was a good good choice. Um any other comments on the school calendar before we move on to board
46. 47:16calendar? This is just the first first draft, so you know, Dr. Billington take all of our comments and see if there's any other miracle solutions. Um but any other Does this have to be filed by certain date with the state or how's that? Uh we usually adopt it prior to the the end of the the the school year. So, we have usually have it in June. How's this going to go with the new superintendent? Has this ever been done before? If there's superintendent appointed or could they take this and change it up? Oh, heavens, no. Okay. Basically, this is this top secret document which is not secret to you guys in here. Um families across and and staff across the district are planning their vacations for next year based on what we're talking about. Uh or, you know, planning family trips or planning surgery, anything. Um so, it will and it doesn't uh this calendar itself doesn't matter and sent to the state. However, we report out uh we're accounting for every day and every
47. 48:18minute we're in school, but it does get sent to the state at the end. It's like a clearinghouse. And the state does have some rules, although we can do professional development before Labor Day. No student attendance can occur can occur before Labor Day or after June Is it after we reach September after June 30? Christie said I'm just kidding. But anyway, the state does command uh when we start and stop. We have to stay within a certain window. Okay, thank you. Now, the board calendar, which is the other page, which is just as controversial as that. Uh the green boxes represent uh board meetings, and you can see July, August, two meetings primarily because that's a frequent time when you might have staff changes. And it is very helpful for us to be able to act on people's hirings as soon as possible. Uh because uh as a sensible person, you will not
48. 49:19resign from a former position until they've been appointed. So, if we say, "Oh, we're going to appoint you in a month." They're not going to stick around. You know, it's a long commitment. So, there's two in July. Uh the July 7th is the newer meeting. It's the first Tuesday of the month. Two in August, and then we go to one a month, September, October, November, December. Uh and January and February. When we get to February, we wanted to ensure that really January 19th would kick off the formal budget season. Uh there's a workshop in February and a board meeting, workshop in March and a board meeting, which meets about the pace that we did this year. I think we might have had uh one additional meeting uh in there as well. And then uh the single meeting in April, but you can see the gap in there. If there was an additional workshop that needed to be scheduled, it could be done so it could be done on April 6th. And then the
49. 50:22what's that called? Budget hearing is May 4th, uh which is going to be this year with the budget adoption on May 18th. The deadline will likely be May 20th. I'm off by a month. I'm off by a month. Sorry, April is the 20th is when we adopt the budget. The hearing is the 4th. My apologies, of May. Uh and then uh one meeting in June. See? All those date mistakes I made last time, I shouldn't be allowed to say anything any dates. Uh but I will send the graphic to help. Um so thoughts around the flow of the meetings, um the space of the meetings. Well, I'll just mention to address Mike's question, this is something that we have more flexibility over and we can at any point in time add special board meetings, add board workshops. Um you know, I think the goal would be uh shortly after our um
50. 51:24rework meeting in July to really hammer out a uh a meeting agenda, a presentation agenda, so that we're mapping out what we want which information throughout the school year. And that is something that the new superintendent will also have some feedback on. So, I would say this this is likely to change or evolve over time. And then the other thing that I talked with Martin and Matt about the last meeting this year, we'll be optional for us to celebrate any retirees that occurred between July 1 of 2015 and the end of this school year, June 30. And at the September meeting you should celebrate those members of staff who are receiving tenure. Which is a great landmark for our teachers and leaders. Absolutely. Any thoughts? We had also talked about a like July or
51. 52:27August board workshop, right? With the new board also. Yep, that would be the next thing to schedule in here. Um and I want I wonder if just in in thinking about that and thinking about some like finance policy facility work, like whatever needs to continue through the summer as well with the double meetings that I wonder if I wonder if we can try to like stack a long meeting and a short meeting into those July August meetings if that makes sense. Sure. Like a meeting with Well, a meeting to like if if once a month we're like doing the like deeper stuff and once a month we're doing the approvals as needed to make time then to tag on like policy work, quote unquote, like whatever the other work that's continuing is. Yep, that makes sense. Yeah, so you know, just keep one to business and then the other if there are any presentations or things like that. And you'll know you'll ideally know who your superintendent is. You'll have appointed them, they can be there for for the meetings. So, that'll be helpful, too. Mhm. Will there be a need for any facilities
52. 53:30meetings during the ex- extra meetings during the summer because of the capital improvement project? I would recommend Chris and I talked about this that facilities should meet um, every 2 to 3 weeks while construction projects are underway. Even if it's virtual, just to have updates on progress. Um, also, you know, we're very conscientious if there are, um, problems encountered or change orders that need to be done. Um, that, um, the committee and the board are read in on that. So, maybe it should be ongoing. Through the summer. So, that's that's one that is definitely going to need to continuous attention to the task. It's your question. And just since you mentioned finance, you know, the goal of the finance committee next year will be to get a jump start on the budget process and start all those conversations much earlier um, than we've been able to in the past. Um, not only the budget, but also long-term financial planning as well.
53. 54:37Okay. Thank you for preparing this. And again, we'll have them on the, uh, agenda for next week to approve, um, as well as the resolution to, uh, make July 7th a real Um, I'll let the forum know as they're doing this sign up. Um, we'll go through the important dates now. Tuesday, May 26th, 2026, executive session only for matters related to hiring superintendent. 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 27th being held just as a backup day. It is more than likely that we will not use it. And as soon as that determination is final, we'll make sure there's public notice. Um, Monday, June 8th, 2026, code of conduct policy subcommittee meeting, 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the high school library. Monday, June 8th, 2026, facilities committee meeting, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in district office conference room.
54. 55:39Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 policy committee meeting 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the high school library. Tuesday, June 16th, 2026 Board of Education meeting 6:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Um so, make a motion to suspend the meeting at 8:01 p.m. until Dr. Bailey is back and we will reconvene and go into our second executive session. Second. All in favor? And I do see And I do see Austin and Marcus working very hard to get our live stream back up. So, hopefully that all be done together. Mark. Uh
55. 56:41Folks at home, we apologize for the technical difficulties. Our stream is now back up and running. Um employees from the district are out collecting tally sheets from each of the poll locations, bringing them back to the district. And then as soon as those results are tallied, we will begin our live stream. Again, thank you for your patience and then thank you to our technology team for getting us back up and running. We'll see you all soon. To resume the meeting at 9:27 p.m. Second. All in favor? Um we'll be going into executive session at this time. So, I'll make a motion to enter executive session for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons and to discuss collective bargaining negotiations. Second. All in favor? Uh and by the time we're done, we hope to have
56. 57:45election results. Thank you again for your patience. Are they going to present it up there or when it's time? Oh. Yeah. I make a motion to exit executive session at 10:24 p.m. Second. All in favor? Um All right. How are we going to do this? You know, pop it up on the screen. We got a budget.
57. 59:20We got a budget. Woohoo! I don't think they're going right. 28. Oh, it's not bad for 100 though. Oh, that's definitely Peter that did that. Oh, I guarantee it. Am I on the YouTube right now? Yes, I think so. Yeah, that's probably Peter. All right. Well, thank you to everybody in the community who came out to vote. Um and uh congratulations to Lou Zapp and Michael Isabella. Um make a motion to accept board member election results as follows. Uh board member one, uh Lou Zapp, and board member two, Michael Isabella. So, I am.
58. 1:00:25All in favor? Um Lou Zapp, do you have a I have an oath here. An oath? Mr. Zapp, Come on down. You You take a seat. Is it Definitely okay. Uh we've done it before immediately, right? I'm sorry. Cheryl, are you going to take this computer tonight? We're not done. I He asked if you're taking it. He's taking it tonight. Yeah. Yeah. So, Lou, come on down. Can he sit like Thank you. Yeah. Just sit where you are. Yeah, he can sit. Yeah. It's It's not even 20 votes. I don't know if I'm allowed to vote against him. >> I Louisa do solemnly swear that I will
59. 1:01:48support the constitution of the United States of America and the constitution of the state of New York and I will faithfully discharge the duties of board member according to the best of my abilities. All right. Thank you. Um and thank you Mr. Novlin for putting your hat in the ring as well um and volunteering for uh the district and supporting our our students. Um and now uh make a motion to accept the 2026-2027 budget vote results.
60. 1:02:50861 yes, 485 no uh to pass proposition one on our budget. Second. Uh all in favor. And make a motion to adopt the 2026-2027 budget in the amount of $59,171,704 as approved by district voters on May 19th, 2026. Second. All in favor? And that's that. Uh thank you again, everybody, for your patience. Thank you all our poll workers and our administrative team for um putting together all the results. And make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:29 p.m. Second. All in favor?

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