Penfield Central School District - May 5, 2026 | Board of Education

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[0:01] The meeting is caught back to order at 701 p.m. Please rise and correct believe us in the pledge.
[0:23] May
[0:34] I have a motion in a second that the Board approves the May 5th, 2026 agenda as a minute.
[0:53] I don't have that.
[0:58] So good evening.
[1:01] As that by the statute, it is now time to hold the 2026-2027 annual budget hearing of pinfield
[1:08] central school district. My name is Dr. Elya Elimin Turner, and I am the president of the pinfield
[1:13] central school district board of education. The vote on the budget and four members of the
[1:26] on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, in the high school gym from 6am until 9pm, the district has continued
[1:35] to extend voting hours to make it more convenient for the residents to vote. The notice of
[1:40] annual meeting budget vote in election has been duly published according to the law in a daily
[1:45] record and a Rochester business journal. Affidate affidavits will be filed with the minutes of the meeting.
[1:52] It is customary, however, to read a summary of notice.
[1:56] The summary is as follows.
[1:58] Notice is hereby given that the annual vote in elections will be held at Penfield High School
[2:04] on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, from 6am to 9pm Eastern Standard Time, where a qualified voters
[2:12] of the district may vote concerning elections of two members of the Board of Education for
[2:19] three year terms for the election of two members of the Board of Education Dr.
[2:25] Aliellemien Turner, Krista Khan currently holds these seats.
[2:29] The candidates running to fill these seats in the ballot order are Dr.
[2:34] Aliellemien Turner, Stacey Lennardos, Susan Cavnoff, and Krista Khan.
[2:39] The proposition will be further detailed during the budget summary presentation.
[2:43] I have available to complete the notice of annual meeting, budget votes, and elections, as
[2:50] printed in the daily record, and Rochester Business Journal, and we'll be pleased to
[2:55] show it to anyone who wishes to see it tonight. I will now turn it over to Dr. Hunter
[3:01] and Dr. Jandruffle. Good morning, good morning. Good evening, everyone. Glad to
[3:07] not morning. We are at the evening. I will start tonight's presentation with an overview
[3:12] of the budget development process and then I will share the why the many positive impacts that
[3:18] the budget has in our school community and the outcomes and successes our students enjoy
[3:24] as a result of these critical resources.
[3:32] Okay.
[3:38] The budget development process is a decentralized
[3:41] multi-month project with many iterations, refinement, legal deadlines, board presentations,
[3:49] and evolving information.
[3:53] Tonight we are toward the end of the budget development process with our budget hearing.
[3:58] And then the statewide election and board vote,
[4:02] which will take place on Tuesday, May 19th.
[4:08] The administration and the board work collectively to develop the goals
[4:12] and the guidelines for the budget.
[4:15] And these align with the board goals of academic achievement,
[4:19] partnership and fiscal responsibility. You'll note here on this slide that our
[4:25] goals are strategic alignment, legal compliance, contractual adherence,
[4:32] program excellence, technology maintenance, and this is all tied to our equity
[4:37] long range plan. In regards to our guidelines, we are focusing on our students
[4:43] and our staff so that there's a balance, professional learning, and it's
[4:48] various frameworks, leveraging aid sources
[4:52] when available, such as instructional materials,
[4:55] and boses, and for our operational efficiency.
[5:03] As New York State begins to roll out its New York
[5:06] inspires and portrait of a graduate initiatives.
[5:09] Life after graduation has come into sharper focus
[5:13] for districts.
[5:15] Here's a snapshot of penfield graduates
[5:17] and their academic successes.
[5:19] In the 2025 school year, 95% of our graduates earned a region's diploma, and 89% continued their education at an institution of higher learning.
[5:34] 1093 students were named Advanced Placement Scholars, and we anticipate this number will continue
[5:42] to grow now that the district covers the cost for our AP exam fees, removing financial barriers
[5:50] for our students, and increasing their access to these courses.
[5:54] Finally, we had eight students named National Merit commended scholars and recognition of their academic achievement.
[6:08] Penfield continues to earn national recognition. Also during the 2025 school year, Penfield High School was named to the prestigious US News and World's Report,
[6:21] list of best high schools in America and advancement,
[6:26] placement, program, honor roll.
[6:29] The district was named to the list of the best communities
[6:32] from music education and was given
[6:34] Utica National School Safety Excellence Award.
[6:41] Inside and outside of the classroom,
[6:44] our students excel.
[6:45] We've shared many of these successes
[6:47] during our board meetings across the year
[6:50] and we're proud to share them again this evening.
[6:52] As you can see, whether it's showcasing our musical talent, artistic ability, esports skills,
[7:02] or an aptitude for STEM or business, our students earn recognition at the regional, state,
[7:11] national, and international levels.
[7:16] Penfield student athletes this year want to combine
[7:20] 7 team and individual state titles are girls lacrosse and boys basketball teams made history
[7:30] When they won the first state titles in program history, and more than 25 of our school teams were named scholar athlete teams,
[7:46] spending plan, along with our innovation and preservation capital project, allows our district to continue to make the investments in our campus footprint and all of our physical spaces.
[8:00] As you see here on this slide, the investments in our schools include opening a newly renovated
[8:08] library at Pennfield High School, a new IT Center and the former Transportation Building,
[8:15] renovations to our family and consumer science classrooms in Baytrow,
[8:20] building addition for a dedicated STEM space, team locker room, renovations, tutoring center,
[8:29] field lighting at the new multi-purpose field and roof replacement.
[8:35] renovations also will be to our auditoriums, our cafeteria, our roofs, and more across
[8:41] the district.
[8:45] And so now, as we're thinking about what next steps look like, I'm going to
[8:50] turn it over to Dr. Dr. Drifle so that he can share the rest of the presentation and more
[8:56] details about our 2,026, 2,027 school budget.
[9:06] Good evening to everybody.
[9:09] So yeah, like Dr. Potter said, this is the beginning of the end of the budget process, the budget hearing.
[9:15] I always like to start off this presentation kind of zooming out a little bit, getting more objective measures as opposed to, you know, the things that we say that we're doing.
[9:22] So there are two objective measures that I look at every year, first of which is our credit rating.
[9:29] So Penfield has an AA-2 rating that indicates that we're a high-quality low-risk entity
[9:34] with a quote unquote strong financial position in low-fix costs.
[9:39] That AA-2 rating is a stronger rating than the median school district in New York State.
[9:44] The other metric that we look at is the OSC that's the Office of the State Controller
[9:49] of the school stress monitoring system.
[9:51] So this is a system that's been in place
[9:53] for over a decade now that the control
[9:55] or utilizes for all of the municipalities in New York.
[9:58] So not just school districts,
[10:00] but villages, counties, towns, that sort of thing.
[10:04] So it looks like as that objective measures,
[10:07] fun balance, cash flow, liquidity, financial results.
[10:10] It also incorporates environmental factors,
[10:13] such as budget approval rates, faculty,
[10:15] turnover, tax-based growth.
[10:17] Once again this year, Penfield Central had no designation to fiscal stress, and we have
[10:23] not had any designation since the inception of that program.
[10:28] So we're going to start out by talking about where the money goes, so the actual spending plan
[10:32] this is what the community votes on with the budget approval process.
[10:38] In order to start building a budget, we need to first determine how many students that
[10:42] we're going to serve, because students obviously dictate what the services are going to be
[10:48] this chart shows is our county's live verse going back to 1973. You can see it peaked kind
[10:55] of around 1990 with over 12,000 live verse and it's down all the way the provisional count for
[11:01] last year under 7,000. And this is not uncommon, right? So the birth rates are down across the country
[11:10] across the whole developed world really. But what it's translating to most districts is reductions
[11:16] in enrollment. But in Penn field we're actually seeing the opposite effect. So here's our historical
[11:23] enrollment back to the 24 or 2015 school year where we currently were in this 2526 school year,
[11:30] 4692 students and what our projections are for the next five years. So you can see a gradual increase.
[11:38] We're only one of about 70 districts in the state of 700 that have seen growth in enrollment over
[11:44] period. So we find ourselves in a unique position where other districts are talking about
[11:50] clothing schools or what they can do with unpurpose space. We're trying to figure out where to put
[11:56] individuals and keep plastic as a small.
[12:01] So just before I get into the numbers, just some of the
[12:03] high level budget factors, things that we've been talking about actually going back to December
[12:07] with the Board of Education. We have fewer new positions in this budget than prior years,
[12:12] but we are still up a little bit.
[12:14] So we're up about 10 positions district wide, budget to budget.
[12:17] Many of the positions we've added this year,
[12:20] but they're new to the budget for next year in terms of dollars.
[12:24] We've talked a lot of this spring
[12:25] about health insurance premiums.
[12:27] Again, not a pen field problem, not a regional problem,
[12:30] but a national problem as we continue to reconcile
[12:33] how to pay for these costs.
[12:35] So this is not only for our active population or current employees,
[12:38] but for eligible retirees as well.
[12:41] And when I say eligible retirees, I mean those that are retired, but not 65 yet, and also those that are 65 and older that have transitioned over to Medicare plans.
[12:50] As everyone knows, as consumers and residential folks, inflationary pressures persist and schools aren't immune to those pressures, particularly around utilities.
[13:01] Specifically, electric costs and gasoline costs in the last couple of months, I think we've all felt that we're definitely seeing that show up in our expenses.
[13:09] The ERS that's the employees retirement system, so this is for our non-instructional folks,
[13:14] the employer contribution rate, year over year difference. This is the amount of money we
[13:19] have to pay the pension systems on behalf of our employees. That's increasing almost 7%
[13:24] next year with that contribution rate per employee, going from 16.5% to 17.6%. The TRS teachers
[13:32] retirement system and play contribution rights actually decline the share, which was of really
[13:37] welcome relief. They went from about 9.5% to would be about 8% x square.
[13:45] So we'll start at the
[13:46] really high functional level. So general support, which is the 1,000 codes, instruction, the 2,000
[13:52] codes, transportation, 5,000 and redistributed costs are 8,000. The overall budget budget increase
[13:59] is $7.3 million, bringing our school budget next year to a little over $136 million, so
[14:06] $136 million, $10,945. represents a 5.74% annual increase. We'll dive into all of these
[14:14] functions a little more detail in a moment, but that's the high level starting point. The other
[14:21] way we split that up, that spending plan, is by the accounting object, that was the accounting
[14:25] function and you can kind of see visually right away that what jumps out are employee wages
[14:31] employee salaries and the corresponding employee benefits. So by say it all the time that schools
[14:37] are people, people business, education works best when we have great relationships with kids,
[14:42] we have great educators, world class staff providing world class services to our kiddos.
[14:48] So wages make up, next show would be about $63 million dollars. So it's an increase of
[14:53] over $2 million, contractual costs are generally services that are provided to the school district
[14:58] from outside providers.
[15:00] That can be everything to our G&E, to trash pick up services.
[15:05] So, an $840,000 increase in that domain. Our BoC's costs are up significantly next year, going from $16.2 million to $17.6 million.
[15:15] An increase of $1.4 million. I'll get into it when we talk about revenue, but for those that don't know, for eligible BoC's costs, we do receive aid back in the following next year.
[15:25] So, in our aid ratio, it was about 70, 70 percent.
[15:29] So, every dollar, eligible dollar, we spent with boysies, we get back in aid in next year.
[15:35] So, it's always advantageous to purse through boysies where we can.
[15:38] Equipment and materials, it's a 4.3% increase, about $150,000.
[15:44] Dead service are principle and interest payments that we need to make on prior year borrowing.
[15:50] Employee benefits, it's those health insurance premiums that we talked about, it's dental insurance,
[15:55] it's workers compensation premiums, it's unemployment insurance, disability insurance, contractual
[16:03] administration, all of those kind of things. The big factor in that 2.3 million dollars
[16:07] is the health insurance premiums that we discuss in the online factors. And then, in our fund
[16:12] transfers are two transfers from the general fund to other funds that we have. The first of
[16:18] which is a school lunch fund, that's only a small portion now, about $10,000 in the rescues
[16:24] who are special aid fund, to cover the cost of summer school
[16:28] for extended school year services,
[16:29] the SY, special education programs.
[16:32] So again, next year's school budget coming
[16:33] to a little over $136 million.
[16:37] So when we zoom in on some more of those functions,
[16:41] I'll kind of just talk about some of these high-level things
[16:44] but try to get through it quickly enough.
[16:47] I know we've talked about it a lot,
[16:48] but it's always a useful reminder.
[16:51] Board of Education, board members, do not get paid.
[16:54] there are volunteers. Thank you, Board. We always appreciate Board Service. The costs that are
[16:59] described here are costs for items that serve the Board of Education, so like the district clerk,
[17:05] the production of these meetings, Board Policy Services. There are acquired functions of the Board
[17:10] for the Board of Elections, the election workers, the required legal notices, deadlines, things like that.
[17:16] Central Office relates to the Office of the Superintendent, my office, the Business Office,
[17:21] the human resources office, the communications office, and all the associated folks that work in those offices.
[17:29] It also entails all the professional services that school districts are required to utilize,
[17:34] so auditors, attorneys, tax collection, all those things are within central office costs.
[17:41] Central services is generally our facilities folks, so it's operation of plant,
[17:46] It's the operation maintenance of plant rather and security services.
[17:53] So that's up about $800,000 for next year.
[17:56] Special items are generally boces in administrative costs.
[18:00] So as a component district of mineral on boces,
[18:03] we, along with the other components,
[18:04] have to pay a provided share of the boces,
[18:07] one in administrative costs.
[18:09] The other items there is our insurance costs.
[18:11] Not our health insurance costs,
[18:12] but our actual insurance costs is a district.
[18:14] student accident insurance, liability insurance, fire, property, all those things.
[18:20] Function 20 is instructional administration, so that is the office of educational services.
[18:25] It's the office of curriculum and instruction.
[18:28] All of the associated directors that work in those offices.
[18:31] It's also all of the main offices of our six schools.
[18:34] So all of the principals, assistant principals, clerical folks that work in those offices,
[18:40] and then they're associated contractual items, supplies, materials, equipment, so on and so forth.
[18:44] teaching school is general-eyed classroom instruction, so that's teacher, supplies,
[18:50] materials, textbooks, it's also things that we don't think about like payments to
[18:54] charter schools or payments to private placements where kiddos attend different
[18:59] schools.
[19:02] Special programs is generally our special education programming, specialized
[19:06] programming, but it's also vocational education, so our occupational education 11th and 12th
[19:11] that attend EMCC at Boses that get some of those real-world experiences.
[19:18] 26 is instructional media, so that is instructional technology and our libraries as well.
[19:25] Pupil Services 28 is all the wrap-around care that goes to support our students, so that
[19:32] includes health services, guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, that also includes
[19:39] very cloud-backed activity and interest-class exports as well.
[19:45] Transportation, people transportation, evident enough.
[19:49] The great job of those folks do in function 50.
[19:52] Registration is the Registrar's office.
[19:55] Benefits like I talked about debt service in our fund transfers.
[20:00] Again, coming to $136 million for next square.
[20:04] And then just the visual representation of those high-level functions.
[20:09] Again, like the object functions, you can see that costs of generally tied-up and employee benefits
[20:15] in teaching special programs in classroom general ed.
[20:21] The other way that we need to display the budget by law is the three-part budget.
[20:25] Also known as the component analysis budget.
[20:28] So this looks at administrative costs, programmatic costs, and capital costs.
[20:32] You can see where we were in the first column in the 2526 year, the pro-rated share of spending
[20:38] in each one of those categories, and then where we'll be for next school year, and then the
[20:43] pro-rated share of costs. So administrative costs are up a little over $860,000,
[20:50] programming costs, about $5 million in capital costs, approaching $1.6 million.
[20:57] Very similar in terms of year over year differences, administration basically the same,
[21:02] due to some capital increase costs that kind of eats into a share of the program and costs.
[21:08] But again, $136 million budget, $7.3 million in increase.
[21:13] So before we transition to kind of revenues and how we finance all of these costs,
[21:17] just some takeaways, no reductions to staff faculty or programming in this budget.
[21:23] Conversely, as I mentioned, we're actually going to be up staff and faculty in the budget again,
[21:28] which is contrary to what we're seeing in a lot of our local districts that are either
[21:33] outright laying off
[21:35] Employees or at least reducing by way of attrition
[21:38] We're maintaining a lot of our budget commitments to professional learning
[21:42] Rigorist curriculum legal requirements and structural fidelity
[21:46] We're maintaining our one-to-one technology program
[21:49] We as a board you've heard throughout the spring when we talked about savings were possible with
[21:55] our director of facilities, and director of transportation.
[21:58] I also got to give kudos to our building principles.
[22:00] We've kept building and departmental budgets flat,
[22:03] wherever we can, specifically around equipment,
[22:05] contractual costs and different supply costs.
[22:08] Talked about those significant cost drivers that we're seeing
[22:10] and helping insurance utilities and student need.
[22:14] But the important thing is that this still maintains
[22:16] an adequate margin of safety.
[22:19] So school districts legally can't over-expend their budgets.
[22:21] So, this budget can withstand significant economic headwinds should they come our way.
[22:30] So, other side of the red ledger revenues. Where does money come from then? How do we spend $136 million?
[22:39] So, here's the really high level glimpse of where money comes from. So, the majority of our money comes from the real property tax levies of the local community.
[22:50] New York State education aid contributes 36% of our money
[22:54] Both Wayne County and Mono County share sales taxes with us. That's 4% and then all of our other revenues 4%
[23:02] I'm not going to add our last meeting, but this chart looked a little bit different just six years ago, or so
[23:08] Because New York State aid increase so much, which I'll show in a moment
[23:13] Real property level used to be closer to about two thirds about 66% of the budget or so
[23:19] state aid was closer to about a quarter. So this chart's changed a little bit. So as it relates
[23:26] to the state budget, surprise, there's still no on-time state budget, still no agreement.
[23:34] I guess there is sort of a coalescence that maybe this week, there could be some pieces coming
[23:38] together, but there is another budget extended into the place for tomorrow. So as I discussed when
[23:44] we adopt the board adopted the budget a couple weeks back, we're making our best estimates
[23:49] for the revenue projections.
[23:52] So what does that mean?
[23:52] We're looking at the governor's January figures.
[23:54] We're applying the updated February database
[23:56] and then utilizing internal projections
[23:59] for our expense-based dates.
[24:00] Those things are on access cost dates, transportation,
[24:03] bothses, so on and so forth.
[24:05] We're not a whole harmless district.
[24:07] Those districts are getting a 1% minimum.
[24:09] They're maybe seeing if they're gonna get a 2% minimum.
[24:12] So those folks are really more kind of up in the air
[24:14] but we're not as exposed to that uncertainty.
[24:18] So here is what we reviewed back in January so it's what we actually received this current
[24:24] school year versus what Governor Hokel had proposed for us back in January and then the
[24:29] differences. So just as a quick reminder because we haven't talked about it in a little bit.
[24:33] Foundation aid is the Unincumbered Aid category that's governed by the state algorithm.
[24:39] We're allowed to put those dollars as we see fit. Bocees aid comes from the reimbursement
[24:44] of those BOSI's expenses, as I talked about a little bit earlier, access cost aid are for
[24:50] kiddos with disabilities, so access costs, services related to them, there's aid generated
[24:57] back. Instructional material aids are aids that are one-to-one grant dollars that the state
[25:02] gives us specifically for textbooks, software, computer hardware, and library materials. Transportation
[25:09] like boces is an expense-based aid. So as a percentage of cost that we get we spend in one year
[25:16] in the following year we get back some transportation aid. Our transportation aid ratio is about
[25:22] 74% for next year and then building aid for capital projects we get back aid in the following year
[25:30] our building aid percentage is about 80%. And then UPK is a separate line item grant so that's not in
[25:36] general fund, but we talked about the state proposing increasing UPK funding from $5,400 per
[25:42] kiddo to $10,000 per kiddo. For purposes of our budgeted aid, I've increased BOSI's relative
[25:49] to the executive budget of decreased transportation relative to the executive budget based
[25:55] on my projections and we've increased building aid because these numbers come from November state
[26:00] database and we'll be filing final cost reports for a phase of our capital project that will
[26:04] right aid for next square.
[26:07] And as I mentioned, I wanted to show kind of like the dramatic
[26:10] difference that we've seen in education aid. So going back to when the foundation aid became
[26:16] law under Governor Spitzer in 2007, you could see that we were getting $12.6 million dollars and
[26:23] all the way up until 20, 20, 21, we were getting $13.6 million dollars. So only an increase of
[26:29] a million dollars per year over that full decade, and then you can kind of see this hockey stick
[26:34] increase in the last five years, because we were underfunded, relative to the formula.
[26:40] The state built a formula and then immediately abandoned it, and the legislature to their
[26:45] credit decided to finally phase it in, which was great.
[26:48] So in the last five years, we had levies that were far below our tax cap, and that speaks
[26:53] through kind of that pie chart that I showed earlier, where we used to have to rely more
[26:57] on local property taxes.
[26:59] But now you can kind of start to see the top of this line, you know, now that we're on formula,
[27:05] I'm sort of suspecting that we're going to see more traditionally, um,
[27:09] traditional increases year to year.
[27:11] It could be up to two, three percent that kind of thing.
[27:15] So let's talk a little bit about local funding.
[27:18] So local funding is governed by the local levy limit formula.
[27:21] So this started in 2011.
[27:24] Also known as the tax cap formula.
[27:26] I won't read all of these.
[27:27] I'm going to show our example in a moment.
[27:30] But it's not as confusing as it looks, it's just straight math.
[27:35] Here's what our Levy limit looks like for this school year.
[27:38] You start with the prior year, Levy.
[27:41] So that's this 25, 26 year, Levy, 72.9 million dollars.
[27:45] Multiply by the local tax-based growth factor.
[27:48] So that's a number that comes from the state, Department of Tax and Finance.
[27:52] It accounts for all new permanent growth within a community.
[27:56] As I'll show in a moment, Penfield continued to grow.
[27:58] So that's positive.
[28:00] What that number represents is that if we increase the tax levy by 1.1 percent,
[28:05] technically nobody else's taxes would go up because you'd just be taxing for that new growth.
[28:10] You add in any prior year pilots, pilots as a reminder, our payments in lieu of taxes.
[28:15] Those are agreements that the county industrial development agency negotiates on behalf of the taxing jurisdictions.
[28:22] The town in the school district to incentivize a new development, a economic development.
[28:26] So instead of those businesses receiving the school tax bill,
[28:30] they're charged a separate payment in lieu of tax.
[28:34] We multiply by the allowable growth factor,
[28:36] which is governed as CPI consumer price index,
[28:40] which is inflation.
[28:41] The CPI actual number for last year was 2.7,
[28:44] but it's capped at 2%.
[28:46] So that's where the e-multiply rate 2% there.
[28:49] Subtract pilots.
[28:51] For the coming year, you add in any available carryover,
[28:54] which we did have, because we are under the capital S5 years, some piece of that gets to
[29:00] roll over into the following years, to bring you all the way down to your maximum allowable
[29:04] levy for us, it's 76 million, 76 million, 67,287 dollars. It's a 3.1 million dollar increase,
[29:12] or 4.33%. Because that state aid did curve off this year, that is the levy that supports
[29:19] the budget this year that 76 million dollar number.
[29:25] So as I mentioned that local
[29:26] levee limit was on the higher end of the county which is positive and that kind
[29:30] of speaks to our growing enrollment and we all see the real estate market in the
[29:36] community doing well.
[29:40] As I mentioned we have been below the tax cap for the last five
[29:44] years so since that 2011 law went into place the blue line represents what our
[29:48] cap was in each of those years and the orange line represents what our levee is.
[29:52] You can see actually two last five years we're at zero percent
[29:57] As the phone issue need went way up, but now this you're getting
[30:00] And back kind of tracking towards the cap itself.
[30:05] So then trying to determine local levy impacts. So the Board of Education essentially dictates
[30:11] what the tax levy is, but they don't necessarily set the tax rates based on what they
[30:15] want them to be. It's based on the levy plus the town assessments plus New York State
[30:19] Equalization rates. This infographic is one that I've shown in the past. I think it's been
[30:25] for people. Penfields are confusing town or excuse me, school district because we have six different
[30:31] towns across two different counties. Fairport is simple. It's one town, one county. The mechanism
[30:39] that's put into place by the state of New York tax and finance are called equalization rights.
[30:43] So what they do is look at all of the assessment data in each town and they determine relative
[30:48] to market value, how fairly those assessments are priced. So the example in this situation
[30:55] shows both houses would sell for $250,000, but in town A the house is assessed at $185,000 in town B.
[31:04] It's assessed at $250,000.
[31:07] So the person in town B might be thinking, wow, that house is way under assessed.
[31:11] I wonder why they're getting such a break on their taxes.
[31:14] But that's where New York State steps in and applies an equalization rate to whether out those town's
[31:21] So the town A house, there are assessment is low, but their tax rate is much higher.
[31:27] So it goes to $27 and $3 per $1,000 of a assess value, whereas the tax rate on the
[31:33] house in town B is $20 per $1,000 of a assess value.
[31:37] So they both pay $5,000 in school taxes based on a very similar home.
[31:43] Obviously it gets more complicated with six towns, ten thousand houses, but that's the general
[31:48] sort of equity principle that the state puts into place to try to keep towns accountable.
[31:55] For next year, the tentative equalization rates, Brighton is decreasing down to 53%,
[32:01] penfield is decreasing down to 68%, Pairington is doing a reassessment, so they go from
[32:07] 57% up to 100%, Pittsburgh goes down from 57 to 51, Macedon, like Pairington is doing a reassessment,
[32:16] So that'll come all the way back up to market value.
[32:18] And while worth goes down to 6%.
[32:22] Unfortunately, we don't have all of the town data yet
[32:25] on assessments, so I can't make rate projections.
[32:27] But intuitively, looking at these equalization rate numbers,
[32:30] I can presume that both parented and Macedon's text rates
[32:34] are going to go way down, like 30 or 40%.
[32:37] And then the other four towns will go up somewhere around three
[32:40] or four percent comments are at kind of with our tax
[32:42] level increase.
[32:43] If we do receive the town data in the next two weeks,
[32:47] we will publish the projected tax rates on our budget
[32:50] webpage, or just call me.
[32:55] So then we do still have a small remaining gap
[32:57] with all the available revenue for us.
[32:59] And that's where we assign fund balance.
[33:02] So historically, our auditors have always asked
[33:04] that we assign fund balance less than 2%
[33:06] of the operating budget.
[33:08] And this budget, we're able to do that again
[33:11] with the 1.55% utilization of fund balance.
[33:17] So here's the overall balance budget.
[33:19] You can see the earlier expenses in the top,
[33:21] kind of left quadrant of the table,
[33:24] revenues in the middle.
[33:26] The two things I want to point out are a sign and fund balance
[33:30] as I mentioned, going up,
[33:32] but still only one and a half percent of the budget.
[33:34] So totally within acceptable financial parameters.
[33:38] And once again, not utilizing reserves
[33:40] to supplement our budget,
[33:41] which is increasingly rare in the region as most districts have had to start dipping into those
[33:46] reserves to balance their budgets. We're not allowed to run a deficit budget. We legally are
[33:50] required to have a balanced budget. And when you start dipping into those reserves to supplement
[33:55] your budget, you start building in structural deficits because then you need it one year,
[34:01] you need the next year and kind of snowballs from there. So we're proud not to be able to have to rely
[34:06] that this year. All right, almost done. So just a reminder for the
[34:12] May vote, we have food, about propositions this year. So the first of which is
[34:16] the school operating budget. It is tax cap compliant at $136 million. Our number
[34:21] we are seeking approval to purchase buses from our 2024 capital reserve. So we're
[34:26] looking at buying 14 buses this year and aggregate cost of $2.3 million. It'll
[34:31] be for nine large diesel buses and five mini gasoline buses. One of them is wheel
[34:35] successful and as I mentioned earlier, New York State Transportation Aid applies, our rate
[34:40] rate ratio is 74%. And then we have, I'm ballot three, the board member election, there
[34:46] are two open seats for three-year terms, beginning July 1st.
[34:54] So, we are entering into the comment
[34:57] period for the budget parent. So this comment period is specifically for the information
[35:01] presented today on the budget. If anyone would like to comment or has any questions, please come
[35:06] to the mic and state your name and your address.
[35:19] Yeah.
[35:19] Sit our son.
[35:20] I'm Donna Steele.
[35:21] I'm a parent of a student in Pennville,
[35:24] the end of a resident of Pennville for going on five years now.
[35:28] Anything else for where I go in my spiel?
[35:31] Good?
[35:32] So I'm here today to speak about how the teacher's salary
[35:35] and benefits are connected to our district budget.
[35:38] While I don't claim to understand every detail
[35:40] of the negotiation process,
[35:43] I do understand that our community values
[35:44] and supports our teachers.
[35:47] They are the foundation of our schools
[35:49] and they deserve to feel secure,
[35:51] respected, appreciated, and not feel uncertain
[35:54] about their futures.
[35:56] I've talked to some teachers,
[35:57] and they do not seem to know
[35:59] what the district is offering them currently.
[36:01] I know that the districts don't usually share information
[36:05] while they're in negotiations.
[36:06] However, it is difficult for both teachers
[36:08] and the broader community to remain in the dark
[36:11] about decisions that directly impact our schools.
[36:14] I have one clear request, please share publicly what the district is offering during these negotiations.
[36:21] Our teachers should be able to focus on finishing the square strong, knowing that they are supported and valued.
[36:26] Open communication will go a long way in building trust and reinforcing that commitment.
[36:30] Thank you.
[36:33] Pretty set.
[36:35] Thank you.
[36:35] If you're welcome to stand or sit, I can respond to you.
[36:38] Oh, if you're going to respond.
[36:39] It wasn't sure if you were standing.
[36:40] Because it's a hearing.
[36:41] Okay.
[36:42] Go ask the question and then response to be offered.
[36:44] I think it's really important to acknowledge our teachers just as you have.
[36:52] I think also that we hold such value in high regard for our educators in this district.
[36:59] Our district really is the heartbeat, right?
[37:01] Our teachers are the heartbeat of everything that we do in support of every student that we serve.
[37:06] And so for that reason, you may not know, but that we are closing four-year contract for our teachers union.
[37:16] And because we have been under contract for four years, this is the first time for me as a superintendent to be able to work through and negotiate on behalf of our district.
[37:28] So I'd like to start by sharing...
[37:30] That I've recently learned that legally, unless ground rules are set by either the district or the union at the beginning of the negotiations process, that there is nothing that prohibits information to be shared about negotiations.
[37:47] So I'll start with that. But I'll also share because it has not been the district's past practice that is not a place that we would find ourselves sharing those details tonight.
[37:58] However, if there are specific details that want to be learned, you could certainly reach out to our teacher's union to ask those details as part of the information that could be shared.
[38:10] What I can also say is that the board and myself are extremely committed to making sure that we take care of our teachers.
[38:20] We have already shared a proposal that is higher than the regional average.
[38:28] So the regional average right now is 3.94% and because of that, the proposal that the
[38:35] district has offered exceeds that.
[38:37] So as the community is concerned, I know that our teachers want to see and feel value and
[38:44] that is exactly what the district intends to do.
[38:46] We want our teachers to feel value.
[38:48] I have said publicly and other forums that it is my intention to make sure that our teachers
[38:53] are taken care of, and that is also equally supported by our Board of Education.
[38:58] This board has allowed me to function within parameters that demonstrate care and support
[39:06] in value for our teachers in our district.
[39:08] And so though again, I can't share the explicit details, I would like to tell you that we
[39:14] have been intentional, and we have been negotiating in good faith.
[39:18] So, if you would employ anyone that does have questions or concerns about specifics to go
[39:24] to the union, I would say that that would be the most appropriate place to start.
[39:28] Just because there's nothing that prohibits either the district or the union from sharing
[39:33] the details, however that has not been our past practice.
[39:36] Got it.
[39:37] Thank you so much.
[39:37] Appreciate it.
[39:43] Any additional questions or comments?
[39:50] So I see no, no other.
[39:53] So now I will make a brief closing statement.
[39:58] On behalf of the Board of Education, I am pleased to present the
[40:03] 2026-27 School Budget proposal.
[40:06] The proposal continues the Board's commitment to providing
[40:10] our students with an outstanding educational program
[40:12] and our residents with an outstanding value.
[40:15] Overall, our 2026-27 budget proposal is 136,136 million, 10,945 dollars.
[40:27] To support the budget, there is a proposal local levied increase of 4.3 percent.
[40:32] It is important to note that the Penfield Central School District has been within the state
[40:37] mandated tax caps since its inception.
[40:39] In addition to the general fund budget, there will be a bus purchase proposition on the ballot.
[40:46] This is for the purchase of 14 replacement school buses, buses which will be funded through the 20-24 bus purchase reserve.
[40:56] Finally, there are four candidates for the two open boards of education seats, up for election at the vote.
[41:02] The open seats are four or three year terms.
[41:06] Please remember to vote between 6am and 9pm Tuesday, May 19th and the Penfield High School of
[41:12] John.
[41:13] And your budget hearing has ended, thank you.
[41:18] We will return to our regular board meeting now.
[41:24] So, with the conclusion of the budget hearing, we will now begin the next portion of the
[41:28] board meeting.
[41:29] We have joined with us this evening, Sheena Conway, our Executive Director for Humanities and Innovative Learning and Cumbus.
[41:38] Cumbus Senko, did I miss something?
[41:40] Yeah, I mean, that approval.
[41:41] Yeah.
[41:43] Okay, I apologize.
[41:44] It's okay.
[41:44] It's all right, you're just excited.
[41:45] I get it.
[41:46] I'm excited for a special report.
[41:48] No, I was like, I'm going to have this letter.
[41:49] And then I'll...
[41:50] Okay.
[41:51] Can I please have a motion in this second?
[41:53] That's the board approved, the consent agenda.
[41:57] So moved.
[41:58] It's okay.
[42:00] All in favor?
[42:02] All in favor, none of those.
[42:03] May I please have a motion in the second.
[42:05] That the treasure reports including the cash reports, you know,
[42:08] fund cash report, the general fund revenue, status report,
[42:12] general fund budget, status report, school lunch fund cash report
[42:16] and school lunch fund revenue and expense budget report for the month ending
[42:20] February 28, 20, 26, be approved.
[42:23] So moved.
[42:25] Second.
[42:26] All in favor?
[42:27] on favor, nanopoles, and now we will move on to Special Reports.
[42:32] All right, so I'm so excited about Special Reports.
[42:34] I'm going to once again introduce our Executive Director for Humanities in Innovative Learning,
[42:41] Sheena Conway, and our Director of Curriculum and Student Support,
[42:44] Kuma Sanko, who will deliver Special Report this evening.
[42:47] I'd like to invite you both up.
[42:50] And you should have a clicker there, hopefully let's advance this slide or two.
[42:57] We'll get started with our ELA textbook adoption from Ms. Canway.
[43:07] Okay, let's put the Amy and Jan. We're going to present.
[43:10] Oh, wonderful. Okay. Okay. So, yep, that's great.
[43:13] They're going to go first. Okay.
[43:15] Okay. I will take over. So, sorry for the confusion.
[43:17] Thank you. So be able to speak to Ms. Canway before you leave.
[43:20] Maybe you can queue with us. We absolutely can.
[43:23] Okay. So, we are very excited to be presenting a book to you this evening.
[43:28] It is for a new course. It's for a women's studies course. We have two amazing teachers here.
[43:34] We have Amy Powers and John Baxter representing Penfield High School English Department.
[43:39] And they are going to be speaking to you about a book book for this particular course that Amy can give much more detail in.
[43:47] So I will hand it over to you. Thank you, Amy. Thank you.
[43:51] Thank you for giving us this time in the States. It's all about this. So we're very excited to have
[43:56] in short women's lit as a new course that's going to be offered at Penfield High School
[44:01] this upcoming fall and I would we would love to have one anchor tax right now which is
[44:07] the Awakening by Kate Schopen so it was first published in 1899 and is now considered to be a
[44:12] cornerstone text and feminist and women's lit studies courses so I think it would be a great way to
[44:18] start you can see from the slide I don't know if you need me or want me to read the whole thing
[44:26] So again, it's considered a course on of women's literature and essential text for feminist studies due to its early candid exploration of female autonomy and the rejection of domestic constraints besides the fact that it's topically very relevant in terms of the development of women's literature on that loud enough, sorry.
[44:46] It's also beautifully written and of course one of the things that we always want to do in the English department is to be able to celebrate beautiful language and the skill behind that
[44:55] so it's a dual purpose for us.
[45:04] Okay, so when it was originally published, it obviously was censored, misunderstood. Sorry, misunderstood.
[45:12] And not particularly celebrated, and it wasn't discovered until the 60s and 70s when women's literature was becoming more celebrated and brought into the visible, yet it's a great way to put it.
[45:23] So again, I think it's a super strong text and a really wonderful one to be able to introduce young readers to how women's literature developed in our country.
[45:34] as the anchor decks for
[45:40] any questions for me?
[45:43] Remember any questions?
[45:44] Just a comment.
[45:45] I'm this is fantastic and I am so envious
[45:49] in a way of our students who get to take this.
[45:52] I would have loved this as a high school kid many years ago.
[45:56] I would as well.
[45:58] This is fantastic.
[45:59] Thank you.
[46:00] Wonderful writer.
[46:01] I have one question.
[46:04] This text, this book was written in 1800s.
[46:08] How does that language translate?
[46:12] So is it our students are going to be reading like Shakespeare,
[46:15] where the language is completely different
[46:18] and then they have to interpret it and translate it
[46:22] into modern day English?
[46:25] No, this is still definitely comfortable, more modern English
[46:28] for them to be able to work with.
[46:29] It's not as, it's not as challenging as going from Shakespeare to current times.
[46:34] Perfectly.
[46:35] I love to hear that, because I knew it would.
[46:37] Yeah, in the past, a lot of students have been, you know, oh my gosh, I don't like the Shakespeare
[46:44] because I have to read it and then I have to translate and interpret it and then, you know,
[46:49] put it into my own words or texts that have been in our curriculum for years and years, like
[46:57] the blue dolphin. Yeah, that's a great old school one. So I'm really, and then you know
[47:06] students lose interest. So I'm really pleased to hear this and I will be going to find this
[47:12] copy unless I can get one at district office. We sent a couple of her. Okay, all right, okay,
[47:20] I know what I'm going to be reading now. Thank you so much. Beautifully written and very approachable.
[47:25] fantastic and you mentioned that it was misunderstood in the past.
[47:33] Do you have any concerns
[47:34] about being misunderstood by any like parents in the district? How do you know I don't have concerns
[47:43] now but I think part of what a responsible educators do is be able to craft the right environment
[47:48] for students to understand and navigate the text that they're working with. Sorry I'm trying to
[47:52] talk and rotate for eye contacts.
[47:56] So no, I think that if it's handled responsibly,
[47:58] which we take seriously, that it shouldn't be an issue at all.
[48:03] And I say misunderstood, because at the time it was,
[48:06] people weren't willing to accept women's voices
[48:10] as highly crafted pieces of literature.
[48:14] So it was misunderstood at the time.
[48:15] And because it speaks to a woman's developing voice
[48:19] and her freedom and autonomy, not just for her body,
[48:22] but her mind and thinking and art and everything
[48:25] that's constrained within the patriarchy.
[48:27] So what are you hoping that students will walk away with?
[48:31] Well, always a greater passion for literature and reading.
[48:36] This is what I always hope for.
[48:37] But the idea that the female voice has been around
[48:41] longer than we have given it space for.
[48:47] So this one text, I think, really allows them to have
[48:49] own part in the pun awakening for the development of this literature and one of the exciting
[48:55] things about the course that I hope students will find exciting as well is this is the
[49:00] cornerstone but then they're able to navigate through their own decisions where they want
[49:04] to see that voice develop over time.
[49:07] Okay, great.
[49:08] Thank you.
[49:09] I need more members.
[49:10] Any more questions?
[49:12] Thank you.
[49:12] Thank you.
[49:13] Thank you so much.
[49:14] Thank you.
[49:15] Thank you.
[49:16] We're
[49:25] going to invite Ms. Conway and Ms. Sankel back up to share a presentation around genius and joy and instructional approach.
[49:34] And so you do have a clicker there if you'd like to advance your slides.
[49:44] So good evening and thank you to the board for having us here tonight.
[49:48] And thank you to Dr. Potter and Senior Cabinet for leading and supporting this great work.
[49:53] So first I want to ground us in the why and the charge we have from New York State.
[49:57] The state has asked us to implement the Cultural Responsive Sists and Sustaining Framework to support our educators and creating student-centered learning environments that affirm students' racial, linguistic, and cultural identities.
[50:11] And this work prepares our students for rigor and independent learning while also helping them build the skills needed to connect across lines of difference, elevate historically marginalized voices, and see themselves as agents of social change.
[50:25] In addition to the state's expectations, our work is closely aligned with the New York State's
[50:30] Portrait of a Graduate.
[50:32] At the heart of this vision is the culture responsive and sustaining framework.
[50:36] While this is important and exciting work, we know it is not small work.
[50:41] That being said, Penfel remains committed to this charge and we are thoughtful about how we
[50:46] bring this to life in a meaningful and practical way.
[50:51] So today, I'm excited to share a key piece of work.
[50:55] It is with great pleasure that introduce a comprehensive research-based supplemental
[51:00] curricular resource to develop by Dr. Goldima Hammett, called Genius Enjoy.
[51:06] These K-35 resources are designed to enhance student engagement and achievement while maintaining
[51:13] a strong focus on academic rigor.
[51:15] It centers learning around the five pursuits of identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy.
[51:23] Providing intentional opportunities for students to grow both academically and personally.
[51:29] What makes this resource especially powerful is its connection to real world context,
[51:35] helping students see their learning as relevant and meaningful.
[51:39] It supports all learners and developing a deeper sense of purpose in their work and who they are becoming.
[51:45] Ultimately, this resource helps us bring the CRS framework to life in our classrooms and concrete and impactful ways.
[51:57] So, Dr. Muhammad carefully vetted these texts and developed thoughtfully designed teaching guys to support our teachers and facilitating these lessons effectively.
[52:07] To begin, each unit provides a strong foundation, offering teachers with an overview and background of the content, and includes misconceptions to anticipate.
[52:16] Both teachers and students are given intentional opportunities to build and reflect on background
[52:22] knowledge and understandings of key concepts.
[52:26] The lessons also make meaningful connections to social and emotional learning.
[52:30] In addition, there are homeschool connection components that extends the learning beyond the classroom, allowing our families to be a part of the experience.
[52:39] It also provides teachers with a clear through line of how the topics can be taught across content areas in a purposeful way.
[52:47] Throughout this curricular research, their resource, there are rich opportunities for reading, writing, and critical thinking to ensure our students are consistently developing essential academic skills.
[52:59] So, with this context in mind, I would now turn it over to Shina, who will share our implementation plan.
[53:07] Good evening.
[53:09] So, in terms of implementation, I want to acknowledge that in our district, right?
[53:14] We have a lot of priorities in programming and our teachers do a phenomenal job with implementing this curriculum and programming every day.
[53:22] And we see this resource no differently.
[53:25] So Genius Enjoy, it is a supplemental,
[53:27] curricular resources Kuma mentioned.
[53:29] We're excited about it because Dr. Goldie herself
[53:31] is the one that curated and vetted these texts
[53:34] that we're going to be bringing in district.
[53:37] For years as a district, we were doing that work.
[53:39] So we were vetting the resources.
[53:41] We were using criteria to bring in the best,
[53:44] most culturally historically responsive books.
[53:47] As you can imagine, that's a lot of work to do every year.
[53:50] In fact, I think it was five or six years ago
[53:52] that we actually adapted a large number of K-5 books
[53:56] and then proceeded to write lessons for them.
[53:58] As you can imagine, that is a lot of work.
[54:01] It's a lot of stamina.
[54:02] It's a lot of time over the summer.
[54:04] And so we're happy that Dr. Goldie Muhammad
[54:06] has already done this for us in many ways.
[54:10] And so these books really, yes, they supplement
[54:13] the content areas, like social studies and science.
[54:16] But they're not just for our social studies
[54:18] and our science and our ELA blocks.
[54:20] there's also opportunity in other blocks.
[54:23] So our SCL block, there are books that will align
[54:25] and fit nicely to those standards.
[54:28] We have special area classes, such as library and dream lab.
[54:32] And so Kuma's going to be presenting
[54:33] to our elementary librarians next month
[54:35] to see where it is the opportunity exists there.
[54:39] Each lesson so far with the work of Kuma
[54:41] and visiting our humanities committee
[54:43] and presenting to our humanities committee
[54:45] has already been cross-reference.
[54:47] So we're looking at our current units, three, five,
[54:49] And where is their natural alignment?
[54:51] Because really the purpose around this is to enhance, right?
[54:55] And maybe replace outdated text, but it's not to add.
[54:58] We already have a very robust curriculum.
[55:00] So we really just want to make it stronger.
[55:03] And we think some of these texts will align.
[55:05] We know they will align perfectly
[55:07] with our existing curricular units.
[55:10] There's one book in mind.
[55:11] I'm really excited about it's Ruth and the green book.
[55:14] I just have to mention it.
[55:15] Dr. Mohammed took our leadership team through a training
[55:18] and a lot of us didn't know what the green book was.
[55:21] I have to say it was a history major,
[55:22] and I didn't fully understand what the green book was.
[55:26] And so it's a fictional story about a young girl named Ruth,
[55:29] and she's traveling with her family,
[55:31] and it's in 1950s, Jim Crow era,
[55:34] and it's really about her introduction to this book,
[55:37] and how this book is designed to get her and her family safely
[55:41] to her destination, what are the safe gas stations,
[55:44] what are the safe restaurants?
[55:45] So this was a reality, right, that our students through our core curriculum as it stands or not exposed to it's not in the standards
[55:52] But we've been saying for years that we need to do better right then what the standards are offering
[55:57] We need to be supplementing the gaps and so through a book like this we can do that and how amazing for our students to make connections to their unit
[56:05] I'm thinking grade four search for freedom call for change
[56:08] They learn about oppression. They learn about enslavement, but they also learn about the fight for freedom and
[56:13] And then making those connections to the 20th century and that the fight wasn't over yet, and in many ways it still isn't.
[56:19] And so having those current conversations and just the engagement and the inquiry that can come from that is just so exciting.
[56:26] So we will initial implementation, Melanch, grades 35 next year.
[56:32] We are going to be very careful and selective about what books we introduce.
[56:36] We're going to use summer curriculum writing to do that.
[56:38] We'll have a team to support our teachers.
[56:40] The lessons are already created but in pen field we don't like to just take what's given to us
[56:46] We like to really make it our own so it feels good. It feels appropriate. It feels reasonable within our scope and sequence that we currently have
[56:53] K2 we're not exploring yet only because our K2
[56:57] Yeah, or K2 teachers will be engaged in ELA pilot next year and that will be quite a lift and so we'll be
[57:04] All in on
[57:05] at ELA pilot and the training that comes along with it, and then really as I said, the
[57:10] overarching goal is to just strengthen our existing curriculum.
[57:13] We have a really strong curriculum and this is only really going to make it better.
[57:17] I meet with teachers and I talk to teachers.
[57:19] We have a lot of conversations around getting kids excited about reading.
[57:23] How do we enhance our fiction and our nonfiction books and make kids want to keep coming back to reading
[57:32] authentic novels and authentic stories, and I think this is the way and what's beautiful about
[57:37] this is it's rooted in the five pursuits, which is what we've been talking about all year.
[57:42] You know, how do we bring joy? How do we have, you know, identity represented in these books that's
[57:46] affirming the criticality, the knowledge that we're building for kids. It's also powerful.
[57:52] And so we're really excited. This is going to again take place next year with a lot of support,
[57:57] curriculum hours over the summer, and then we'll be excited to report back to you on how it's going.
[58:04] Question members and questions are coming.
[58:08] I just have a question.
[58:10] May I get copies of these books, please?
[58:12] I would love to read them.
[58:15] District office?
[58:16] Yeah.
[58:17] Okay.
[58:18] All right.
[58:18] Thank you.
[58:19] Thank you so much for doing this work and for being so excited about it.
[58:25] because I feel that excitement will transfer. We'll just trickle down. Our students love to read
[58:33] even the ones who don't. I think you have to find the right text, you know, it could be a graphic
[58:39] novel, it could be a picture book, it could be a full chapter book, you know, whatever it is,
[58:48] there is a text out there for every student and I appreciate the work and the effort that you put
[58:52] to this. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[59:01] Thank you. Thank you.
[59:05] All right. So now, superintendents reports. And I will ask our students
[59:12] in just a second to share a report. I will provide student and staff honors. And though Dr.
[59:19] Dr. Diffel is listed here for Business Update, I'm going to give him permission to not share
[59:23] business update because I think he shared plenty tonight already so let's just
[59:27] disregard that but I would like for our students you know we just had a meeting
[59:34] they shared a full report and so I did ask for our students to think about
[59:39] something that has brought you joy since the last time that we were here together so
[59:44] I'm gonna turn it over to you and ask for you to report out on how you've been
[59:49] experiencing joy over the past two weeks.
[59:52] All right, who wants to start?
[59:55] All right.
[59:57] I guess I'll start.
[59:59] I think one of my-
[1:00:00] Thank you, highlights. We'll see you next week, which we had like different themes. We had like seniors being seniors, so like some people will like brought candy to school, throw back Thursday, you know, with the sideways hats.
[1:00:11] And then we also had last but not least, decision day, where I finalized my decision to attend Harvard University next year.
[1:00:19] Thank you.
[1:00:23] Chair, why? Chair, why? With the Harvard say they were impressed with?
[1:00:26] Oh, what? Like it's hard?
[1:00:28] No.
[1:00:30] Why would they impress with one of the things that they were impressed with?
[1:00:32] Oh, one of the things that I impressed with was my role in the board.
[1:00:37] So, yeah, with this board, with this board.
[1:00:44] I think, recently, the thing that's about me, the most joy, would be the music department
[1:00:49] and participating in the Jazz Fundraiser and Writing Compositions for the Cotea Award,
[1:00:56] which is, oh, do this Friday.
[1:00:58] So, I just think performing and writing music has been my favorite part recently of Pentate.
[1:01:06] So, I want to start off by saying there's something very powerful about hearing your own voice through all the noise of what's the access like how it ate it.
[1:01:14] Set as future plants.
[1:01:18] So, for me, it's been really hard thinking about careers and stuff in my future.
[1:01:24] But I, this summer, I will be traveling to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology for Fashion Journalism.
[1:01:34] So I really, really excited about that.
[1:01:39] One thing that's really inspiring me about that is my great-grandmother who came from Italy
[1:01:45] as an immigrant.
[1:01:46] She brought here a sense of fashion and culture that has been passed down through my family.
[1:01:52] And I hope to meet again again.
[1:01:53] I'll see you.
[1:01:54] Thank you.
[1:01:56] Thank you all.
[1:01:57] Thank you for sharing with us.
[1:01:59] I love hearing your voices, yes, I'm sorry, I just, Liam, my dear, what have you been
[1:02:07] composing?
[1:02:08] What's the instrument?
[1:02:09] Can I hear something?
[1:02:11] Don't leave me hangin', like, you know.
[1:02:17] I write pieces like with a variety of instruments and music styles, I'm not really restrained
[1:02:23] to one type of...
[1:02:24] That is fantastic.
[1:02:27] Don't limit him.
[1:02:28] Yeah, no. I don't want to limit them. I just want to know. All right. Okay, Liam. I'll be. I'll be listening. Okay. All right. Thank you.
[1:02:38] Before I close any other board members. Do you
[1:02:44] have congratulations? Yeah. Just so proud of you all. Thank you. Thank you for your role.
[1:02:51] Being a student board representative. And we do appreciate hearing your voices. So thank you for bringing them forward every time we hold a board meeting. All right.
[1:03:00] So now let's see what we have here.
[1:03:03] We've got some student staff honors as I try to negotiate my eyes with my readers here.
[1:03:22] So it has been an active month for our students outside of the classroom.
[1:03:28] During the month of April, students at Harris Hill brought finding Nemo to the stage.
[1:03:34] The cast worked incredibly hard to deliver a show full of energy, enthusiasm, and talent.
[1:03:42] At Penfield High School, members of our best buddy club, buddies club participated in the annual Best Buddy Friendship Walk.
[1:03:51] This event, which aims to lift up our community and celebrate our diversity,
[1:03:56] was made even more special as it was deejade by our Penfield High School alumnus.
[1:04:03] Finally, several of our student clubs, including robotics, Deca and Esports, traveled to participate in their respective organizations highest levels of competition.
[1:04:16] The robotics team took home the environmental award from the World Championships and Esports team won the state title.
[1:04:25] Congratulations to all of them.
[1:04:29] Several employee recognition days have taken place recently,
[1:04:33] And I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate our National School Principles
[1:04:38] Day, our School Lunch Hero Day, School Bus Driver Appreciation Day.
[1:04:44] So Penfield will also recognize our School Nurse Appreciation Day on Wednesday.
[1:04:50] And all weekend, week long, we will celebrate and honor our outstanding educators during
[1:04:57] Teacher Appreciation Week.
[1:04:59] These days serve as important moments to pause and thank the members of our Penfield Central
[1:05:05] School District staff for their ongoing dedication and commitment to our students.
[1:05:16] And May is music month at Penfield.
[1:05:19] As we host more than a dozen vocal and instrumental concerts showcasing students from all
[1:05:31] performance.
[1:05:34] And so now, let's see, we are going to finish the rest of the agenda
[1:05:41] after element turn. And then I think this is agenda item number 14.
[1:05:47] Okay, so, so currently we have no one here from our parent advisory board
[1:05:55] partnership. No public comments. We're going to move to next item. May I please have a motion
[1:06:05] in a second that the revised reorganization appointment for the 2025-2026. School year
[1:06:12] be approved.
[1:06:14] So moved.
[1:06:15] Second.
[1:06:16] On the favor?
[1:06:18] Number?
[1:06:18] None of those.
[1:06:24] May I please have a motion in the second that the enter mis-
[1:06:28] mis- enter mis- mis- a pal-
[1:06:31] That was a-
[1:06:32] Tung twist there.
[1:06:33] Put my tongue.
[1:06:34] Fuel agreement between pinfield central school district and pinfield ambulance be approved.
[1:06:43] So moved.
[1:06:46] All in favor?
[1:06:48] All in favor and then opposed?
[1:06:50] May I please have a motion in a second that the board approves the individual names
[1:06:54] above to serve on the election as election inspectors in a system clerk.
[1:06:59] At the May 19th, 2026 budget vote in elections, so moved, second, on favor,
[1:07:15] favor in
[1:07:15] 26, 20, 27, board of education, meeting schedule, schedule, be approved as listed.
[1:07:23] So moved.
[1:07:25] Second.
[1:07:27] All in favor?
[1:07:28] All in favor, all in favor, none of course.
[1:07:30] That brings us to the Mamro County School Board Association and committee meetings.
[1:07:38] Any board members?
[1:07:40] I don't have anything from legislative they are wrapped up for the season. I will be going to the school law conference this week.
[1:07:52] cooperation, board member Gilbert Collins, you and I attended that. That was our
[1:07:56] operations meeting where we had a presentation regarding board role in
[1:08:03] negotiations, district negotiations. Do you want to speak to that or would you
[1:08:07] like for me to share? That was, you can share. I mean that was, that was actually, I
[1:08:12] was thinking just about let's just let it go. That was, that was a really useful
[1:08:16] workshop on collective bargaining presented by an attorney, and that's learned a lot, which you
[1:08:25] probably already knew a lot of, but go ahead and speak.
[1:08:28] Well, that is actually where the district was reminded, and we had participated in
[1:08:33] learned that the negotiations process, the steps in the process for negotiations, and
[1:08:39] how you enter in and what can be communicated with your community.
[1:08:43] So, it was during that meeting that we learned that, you know, if you think about how do you set ground rules at the start of the negotiations process, if that's not established, then that means that details specific facts around negotiation can be communicated with the community.
[1:08:59] So, that was a very insightful reminder and new learning.
[1:09:05] I think that there was a ton of information that I think both of us walked away feeling
[1:09:10] a little bit more educated around processes for the board in regards to negotiation.
[1:09:16] Absolutely.
[1:09:16] Yes.
[1:09:17] It was very useful.
[1:09:20] Thank you.
[1:09:21] And it looks like there was been no district community committees since our last meeting.
[1:09:27] No, everyone's winding down was the school years ending. Any unfinished business?
[1:09:37] Okay, so that
[1:09:38] That brings us to I knew goodness. Oh, so I'm not gonna have to read and you're gonna trust me to do all those skills. I've got it. I've got it. All right, so this is just a reminder. I know that
[1:09:54] A lot of times it can be really confusing, there's so much misinformation out there, and we are
[1:10:02] at the age of where we can get information at the click of a button now, but also having
[1:10:11] to make sure that the information that we get is factual information.
[1:10:16] And so, I want to make sure that I go over what the role of the school board members are just as a refresher for the community so that they just are aware and can help with clarity and I think also foster that trust between the community and board.
[1:10:39] And so the school board responsibilities, so we all take an oath as elected local officials to support the state constitution and the duties of what it means to be a school program.
[1:10:57] And as it was pointed out so nicely by Dr. Truffle, we, even though we're elected, we are
[1:11:05] also still volunteers. And with that, there's a big commitment that comes. So when we first
[1:11:13] enter into the role of school board members, we have to make sure we are learning and aligning
[1:11:22] ourselves with like the district's mission. And there we are aligned with the school's
[1:11:29] vision and goals. And we work on also setting like the policies in following policies
[1:11:37] and procedures or enforcing or creating policies and procedures. So we make decisions based
[1:11:45] laws, district policies, and regulations set by other entities.
[1:11:53] We developed long-term strategy plans for academic achievement and district sustainability.
[1:11:58] So our goal is to just make sure that the district is successful beyond each board member,
[1:12:06] each board.
[1:12:08] And I think, first, so far, Penfield has done a great job.
[1:12:11] We attend workshops and seminars, as you mentioned, you've heard different board members talk about those, we have board member going to too to a law school law conference.
[1:12:26] And so, in these seminars and workshops, they're wide range of school related topics,
[1:12:37] so we also listen to concerns as they arise, but we do not involve, we're not as board members involved in every day, day-to-day operations of the district.
[1:12:52] So, that is the responsibility of the superintendent and so school boards we hired a superintendent
[1:13:02] and superintendent is the chief executive officer of the district and a superintendent's responsible
[1:13:09] for running the day-to-day operations of the district.
[1:13:16] And so, no one board member can speak individually, right?
[1:13:23] We operate as a unit, so even for us to hold what members we have to make sure that there's
[1:13:30] a quorum and that's four board members together for us because we are a board of seven makes
[1:13:36] that up.
[1:13:38] But no one board member can operate as an individual board member out in the community.
[1:13:43] the President can speak for the board, however, I do not operate it in the visual, I operate within the board as a board, a unit.
[1:13:54] So, the Board of Education acts only during public convenience.
[1:14:00] So, we act when we are in meetings, our meetings are posted, so whether we are in meetings, board meetings or executive sessions or workshops.
[1:14:09] those will always be posted for the public awareness to know when the board is convening.
[1:14:17] And so we, as board members, we create and revise district's mission, vision,
[1:14:25] statements and goals, as well as the district's policies that support them.
[1:14:31] And we work to adapt the annual school district's budget to support the operations of the district
[1:14:38] and board members must support board decisions.
[1:14:42] It doesn't mean that we always agree with them
[1:14:45] because we are all individuals
[1:14:47] and we all have to ever see a thought,
[1:14:49] but we have once a decision is made,
[1:14:51] as a board, we respect and support that decision.
[1:14:57] And so lastly, that off.
[1:15:00] Also goes into the commitment to the open meetings law. So by law, we are required to make sure that decisions are made in public, unless it's something that's pertaining to a specific legal issue or employee situation.
[1:15:21] All of our decisions, as you witness when we'll vote on, it's open, it's noted on the agenda.
[1:15:28] But we are held to the open meeting law standards, and that split governance and overseas that we follow that,
[1:15:36] and the open meeting law describes official convening how we conduct business and public,
[1:15:42] and it provides us with the guidelines that we must follow and adhere to as part members.
[1:15:47] And so, although there sometimes is confusing, but the day-to-day responsibilities of the board members is to work on policy procedures, the budget and to hire and review the superintendent.
[1:16:11] But the day-to-day operations, the superintendent is the one that is kind of, and the kind of is, and the thick of those things,
[1:16:21] where the board is here to support the superintendent, but not to get involved with the day-to-day operations of the school.
[1:16:31] And so with that that concludes my present remarks, and I will this time ask if four members have any questions, comments they want to make.
[1:16:50] So, with that being said, excuse me, getting over a code.
[1:16:57] With that being said, I can have a motion made,
[1:17:00] a motion in a second made that the meeting
[1:17:02] be adjourned at eight, eight teams.
[1:17:08] I have my bifle, it's a situation at eight, 15 p.m.
[1:17:12] 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, you start that too.
[1:17:16] OK, we have a motion in a second that's
[1:17:18] the board meeting be adjourned at eight, 18, p.m.
[1:17:21] still moved
[1:17:23] second oh, my favorite
[1:17:27] meeting adjourned