[0:00] To turn this over to the very, very short timer, we call them the short timer. And that's Mr. Markler. Thank you for that wonderfully deep and thoughtful introduction, Mr. Perredo. I really appreciate. Good evening, everyone. And all of those Tommy are we on? We're rolling and all of those watching in TV land. Now today, it's, it is a difficult time to get a seat.

[0:29] here. So, hurry down. Let me just review what we attend to accomplish tonight and then we'll get

[0:36] rolling. This is a very brief meeting but it's a great meeting because we're going to celebrate

[0:42] a lot as we should do at this time of the school year. So, this is a celebratory meeting. We have

[0:49] a little bit of business to take care of. I want to begin though by welcoming Mr. Jason Zona to

[0:55] the Niagara Falls School Board

[0:57] and congratulating you on your election,

[1:01] and say I think that the district and the school board

[1:04] is going to be even better because of your presence.

[1:06] So, Mr. Zona, welcome and congratulations.

[1:09] Thank you, Mr. Lord.

[1:15] That's what I say.

[1:15] Thank you, everyone, and I look forward

[1:17] to working with everyone

[1:18] to help bring the district into the future.

[1:21] And I know we got a lot of issues facing us,

[1:24] but tonight's not the time to talk about that.

[1:26] here to honor a lot of worthy recipients tonight.

[1:29] So thank you again.

[1:30] Thank you and welcome.

[1:31] I don't want to do a little bit of a reverse order.

[1:33] I usually do my updates at the end,

[1:35] but I'd like to do a few updates at the beginning tonight.

[1:39] First of all, I want to congratulate two of Niagara Falls

[1:43] High School's great athletic teams.

[1:47] This afternoon at one o'clock, our baseball team,

[1:51] for the second consecutive year, took their bus

[1:54] and are on their way to Binghamton to bring home the state championship.

[2:03] They play tomorrow at four o'clock in the afternoon and once they win that game, they'll

[2:09] go and play the championship game on Saturday.

[2:12] And once they win that game, we will be out there to greet them and celebrate them.

[2:17] But I want to congratulate Coach Augustino and the entire boys baseball team back to back

[2:24] trips to the final four, which is really wonderful.

[2:28] Next, I want to congratulate our track and field team.

[2:32] Our track and field team, coached by Justin Spidell,

[2:36] has quite a few individuals working for state championships.

[2:43] And I would just like to single out a young man named Bishop

[2:48] Palmer and Naia Hamilton.

[2:51] They are the section six triple jump champions,

[2:54] and they're going for state titles this week as well, so congratulations to them.

[3:04] Next, we also have four very fast women.

[3:09] We are up for a state championship in our four by 100 relay.

[3:15] Tamaya Jenkins, Kamari Simmons, Naya Hamilton again, and Janaya Carey are up for state championships this weekend in the four by 100.

[3:26] Now, they had a chance to race as a warmup against Mr. Petrosi, Mr. Kinsemi, Mr. Perreto

[3:34] and myself.

[3:36] And we were a photo finish away from beating them, but we didn't.

[3:41] So I think the competition for those young ladies are going to be a little tougher when they

[3:46] go for their state championships, but let's wish them a great luck.

[3:51] Tomorrow, our LaSalle Education Club dinner will take place at the high school.

[3:56] Congratulations to staff members, Angela Manella, Lauren Falsetti, and

[4:02] our former great maintenance employee, Mickey Dumas, who will be receiving recognition at that dinner.

[4:12] Also, I wanted to take just a moment to thank everyone who was involved in the soapbox derby yesterday.

[4:19] the Cregnodrauski soapbox Derby. It was 111 degrees on the corner of Pine

[4:26] and Portage. There were 650 people lining the streets with our students from all

[4:36] schools and it just warmed my heart to see the community come together for such

[4:44] an old-fashioned thing like the soapbox Derby and we brought it back a couple of

[4:48] years ago in Niagara Falls. So, you know, it really wasn't about winners in

[4:54] that even though it was a competition, the kids were great. They drove their cars,

[4:58] a few, you know, if you, no road rage, but if you went into the wrong lane, no

[5:03] injuries, no workers comp and a lot of fun. Those are kind of the things that I'm

[5:08] looking for, but high park school, they are a juggernaut of soapbox derby

[5:14] I think Mr. Ostrotech, who is a very difficult owner as the principal, really insists on High Park one again, so good for them, but congratulations to all the schools.

[5:27] I also want to conclude with a wish here for the Niagara Falls High School Senior Class, tomorrow's class day, and they have an assembly, and they'll have fun, and

[5:41] and they have a picnic, and they have a motorcade,

[5:45] and they have a sunset ceremony tomorrow evening,

[5:48] later in the evening as a sunsetting.

[5:50] I wanna, we're gonna get a lot of time

[5:52] to wish our high school seniors

[5:55] well in their future endeavors,

[5:57] but I also would like to wish them safety, health,

[6:01] and a shield of protection around them

[6:04] as they venture out, and I know there's some seniors over there,

[6:08] a shield of protection and caution and safety

[6:10] as you enter the fun activities that begin tomorrow.

[6:16] So have a great time, have a great class day,

[6:19] have a great picnic, fun, sunset ceremony.

[6:23] You earned it, you deserve it, just be safe.

[6:26] We love you and appreciate you and want you all to be safe.

[6:30] Those are my updates so I won't have to do them

[6:33] at the conclusion of the meeting.

[6:35] What I would like to do right now is to begin

[6:37] and celebrating and I'm going to step away from the mic.

[40:39] Maureen Park here for the next couple of minutes. I don't know how else to say it.

[41:01] Part is not only four languages. On

[41:50] 18th, board, agenda.

[42:09] Members of the board, my attempt to move swiftly through this is in no means, I'll just wait a second here.

[42:27] Okay, Mark. We can get on with our meeting now. Okay. Thank you very much. My attempt to move swiftly through this is in no indication of trying to gloss over, remove something fast.

[42:37] Yes, there is no voting that's going to take place this evening.

[42:41] I just will give you a quick review with some summary points between now and

[42:47] next Thursday, when we will ask you to vote on these topics, if you leave it there, Ray.

[42:52] We are all available for questions.

[42:56] Most of these items are items with apologies to Mr.

[43:01] Zona that you have seen before or we've gone through before.

[43:04] So, again, I am going to move swiftly through those.

[43:08] Maria, you have personnel reports?

[43:11] We'll catch Maria at the end for personnel reports.

[43:15] But let me just hit some highlights here.

[43:18] The bid 117 is for the recycling and trash removal services.

[43:25] This is a continuation of the bid with modern disposal,

[43:28] am I correct, Julie?

[43:29] So we're continuing with modern as our lowest apparent bidder and in the contract they will continue our trash and recycling removal.

[43:40] We'll come back to the personnel reports of the short term contracts that are before you.

[43:47] Let me couch this by saying that many of these are now for after July 1st.

[43:57] There are some that we had to put in for the month of June.

[44:03] There will be an evaluation form after all those

[44:06] that call for an evaluation, listing the impact of the cost

[44:12] and the efficacy of what was accomplished.

[44:16] So Elizabeth Bell is the first to, I won't read them all.

[44:23] Those are through the Teacher Resource Center.

[44:25] Number three is the Teacher Resource Center.

[44:28] Number four was a program that we did for literacy

[44:31] to a number of schools in the district.

[44:33] Maple, Califist, Mann, 79th Street,

[44:36] and Hype Park, it was to encourage,

[44:38] encouraging reading.

[44:39] I know Mr. Cowert, you were there for that early on

[44:42] for the Abbott presentation.

[44:43] I thought, I think you felt it went very well.

[44:47] So we did move that to other schools.

[44:51] The next is for a speech evaluation

[44:53] for a one of our exceptional children and look at this look at our planning we're already planning the

[45:00] Prom for 2027. So that's the contract for the prom. The high school administrators have that ready for us for next year. That cost is, uh, is, is born by the class. So that is not a course to the cost of the district. I may have one additional. I will have one additional short term contract. We are sending students to, um, amaya, you may be one of them. We are sending students to Tanzania and amaya is one of them along with us.

[45:30] six other students. So there will be a small district contribution to send great students

[45:38] like Amaya and six others from our high school to have an experience in Tanzania. We've

[45:43] done this in different parts of the world. And we had an opportunity to expose our students

[45:50] to the world. And I think it's really important. And I know you'll have a great time, learn

[45:55] something, and do good things because of that. But we're pleased for you and your classmates

[46:00] that you're going to be able to go.

[46:01] That will be a short-term contract.

[46:03] I will add for next week and the only one that isn't on there.

[46:08] Moving on to the business.

[46:10] 0-1-0-3, you've already had your public hearings

[46:13] on the safety plans.

[46:15] This is the formal vote.

[46:17] If you approve them next week,

[46:19] we submit them to the state.

[46:26] 604, 604 through 614.

[46:33] 14. Begin a series of summer contracts. Two points about these contracts. One, one

[46:44] they are all paid for by the F code or grants. So none of these activities are paid

[46:51] for out of your general fund. Secondly, as I said earlier, you'll have an

[46:56] evaluation for them. And thirdly, these are things that we want to do during the

[47:00] summer to keep our kids active, engaged, and learning.

[47:06] So that's why they're on here prior to the July turnover.

[47:10] When you get to 6.15, I believe this is yours, Ms. Buckman.

[47:16] This is to again move the LaSelle Early Childhood Center.

[47:23] In order to receive the $2,195,000 of early childhood money, we have to offer a community-based

[47:32] organization a 10% match of that money, part of the grant requirement, to our agreement

[47:40] for that match has been for a number of years through the LaCelle Early Childhood Center

[47:45] on Buffalo Avenue, where they serve 18 of our future students for pre-K4.

[47:50] That's to approve that.

[47:53] When you move to 616, that is for interpretation services, for our students over the summer and parents who may need interpretation services.

[48:06] 617, Mr. Massaro and the attorneys are working on this.

[48:10] All of the Boses districts, Niagara Orleans Boses districts have joined a class action suit against

[48:19] the social media companies and the harmful effects that social media and the algorithms

[48:26] of social media are playing on our kids.

[48:30] The BoC's attorneys, along with our attorneys, are working on this.

[48:34] It's not going to cost us anything, but I thought it was important to make sure that our district

[48:40] was represented on that class action item against the toxic social media companies that are

[48:48] doing harm to our students and that's what that is, again, that is a non-cost resolution.

[48:56] 618 is for your property casualty insurance, we continue with NYSER and finally some good

[49:04] news. We budgeted 10% for our property casualty and the rate came in at 9.84. So we've been

[49:15] with nicer for a number of years. We're recommending that we stay with nicer. The rate came in within

[49:22] our budget and that is to bind that property casualty insurance. 619 is our planned service

[49:29] agreements with Johnson Controls who they work with Mr. Maggary and they are our trouble shooters

[49:37] for the heating and cooling parts of our system, 620 is for fire controls and fire protection

[49:46] systems and also at head start.

[49:50] We had to separate head start out because that comes from a separate pot of money from

[49:55] the federal government and they want that resolution put before them.

[49:59] But Mr. Mackery, I think that you said most of those contracts from year to year only increased

[50:05] about $3,500 to $5,000, and you're satisfied with their work.

[50:12] The 24th Street Group stayed the same, but everything's going up, God bless you.

[50:18] Everything's going up in price.

[50:20] That was about a $3,500 to $5,000 increase for both of those resolutions.

[50:25] And also for Johnson Controls at 621.

[50:29] Those are the resolutions. The only addition that I can foresee for next week would be that one for the students going to Tanzania.

[50:40] You have one week, call us, read them. If something is at right, we will have time next Thursday to go through them with any questions publicly to answer them.

[50:51] Then you can see if you scroll up just a bit more array.

[50:56] Your next meeting is next Thursday at 530.

[50:59] It's a voting meeting at 7, July 2nd.

[51:02] That's your reorganization meeting, both at 5 and 530.

[51:07] And Mr. Woten will be taking you through those items a little bit next week as well.

[51:13] Any general questions?

[51:15] Ms. Bessard, do we have personnel reports?

[51:21] That's it.

[51:22] This is my penultimate meeting. I just love that word penultimate. I believe that it means next to last, or second to last, penultimate.

[51:34] Don't get a chance to use it very much. Sorry. I'd like to throw that in there. Mr. Vantray, I'd like to see you try and weave that into one of your presentations.

[51:43] Would you?

[51:45] Okay.

[51:47] What do you have here, Ms. Masaro?

[51:56] A Certificated Report with two retirements.

[52:00] One for this year, one for next year.

[52:04] Several resignations of some folks who have decided to resign

[52:08] before, at the end of the year, excuse me,

[52:11] probationary appointment of a school psychologist for next year.

[52:15] And then you'll see our voluntary transfers listed there.

[52:18] these are contractual steps that we take to fill our vacancies for the following year.

[52:25] See, those folks have asked for voluntary transfers, Mr. Wotong and Mr.

[52:29] Laurie have reviewed those and these are the ones who have been granted.

[52:34] Leaves of absence and then moving down the list, you'll see we begin our

[52:39] per deer and schedule work. Any questions?

[52:44] Do you anticipate asterisks?

[52:46] I do.

[52:47] So, to clarifying points here, one, there will be asterisks,

[52:54] asterisks, meaning there will be some additions that will be mailed to you on Tuesday.

[52:59] Secondly, nothing is being voted on tonight.

[53:02] Ms. Masar will be available to answer any questions on any of this personnel

[53:07] between now and next Thursday.

[53:08] Yes. And then you'll have your classified report at the same. We have some

[53:13] retirements and resignations. Then we have some when you turn to the

[53:17] following page. No, we have some probationary appointments and temporary

[53:22] appointments. And then you have your change of status. Those change of status are

[53:26] folks who are going from probationary to permanent. They have been reviewed by

[53:29] their supervisors and by the superintendent so they're recommended to you this

[53:33] evening. Some involuntary transfers and then additional hours for the

[53:37] school year in summer work.

[53:40] Any questions?

[53:41] What have you been doing?

[53:42] Nothing.

[53:42] Okay.

[53:43] I just wondered if you've been attending to anything.

[53:46] I haven't seen you.

[53:47] Have you been coming to work?

[53:48] Yes.

[53:48] I know.

[53:49] I'm teasing her.

[53:51] Thank you.

[53:52] This is Maria's busy season.

[53:54] And I know everything will be done correctly and appropriately.

[53:58] Once again, not trying to rush anything through or push anything by.

[54:03] This is a non-voting meeting this evening.

[54:05] Please call us.

[54:06] I would conclude by saying it was wonderful to see Niagara Falls come out, 650 people at

[54:15] the soapbox Derby yesterday, kids building cars, parents helping, teachers helping, community

[54:23] out there celebrating, wonderful job, Harjat, congratulations to you, you've been an amazing

[54:31] Mr.

[54:37] President, other members of the board, there are no other questions.

[54:41] I have no other items for you this evening.

[54:46] I think we're good.

[54:48] I think we're going to end this meeting.

[54:51] Everybody be safe, a motion to end this meeting.

[54:57] Any objections?

[54:58] Okay, so moved.

[54:59] We will end our meeting and be safe, everybody.

[55:02] Thanks for coming.

NFCSD Board of Education Meeting 6/11/2026

Transcript