Wednesday, April 8, 2026 RSS  ·  Calendar
croton.news
Croton-on-Hudson, New York

School Budget & Tax Levy

Active 14 meetings · 2024-12-05 to 2026-03-12

Annual CHUFSD budget development, state aid projections, tax levy cap calculations, and fund balance management. Covers revenue sources, expenditure categories, and the tension between rising costs and the state tax cap.

2024-10-10
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 0:08 →
two one action good evening I'd like to call the October 10th Board of Education cor Haron Unit School District Board of Education to order please rise for the Poli Allegiance America action that the Board of Education approves the agenda as presente…
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2024-12-05
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 28:28 →
two one action good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the December 5th 2024 business meeting of the pro har Union School District flag the United States of America the stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all born and unbor…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 62:29 →
because certain of the committee members said they're available early mornings and then Administration said oh early morning means like Before Dawn well the solstice is the next day start getting longer almost the home actually Sunrise that day is 77…
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2025-01-09
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 63:38 →
and also thank the members of the administration who came in early for this meeting and we're prepared to discuss that policies of significant interest of the public some questions have been raised as to the scheduling of this meeting both as to the …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 97:05 →
two no I understand that but it is a 1% increase in the tax levy each year plus or minus whatever however it changes but that is still a growth versus the prior Year yes right so if the allowable growth Levy factor is 2% C at 2% which is what we expe…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 100:19 →
questions chi.org follow us on Instagram and Facebook and just opening up to questions if anyone has any one relatively simple question I hope you said March 13th there will be a presentation on the vision that portion of the budget and then two week…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 152:26 →
I will be moderating that legislative Forum with several Regional colleagues and look forward to as many people who colleagues here who can join us as well we will so it will be legislators from the five regions of LHC so that would be W Chester plam…
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2025-02-13
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 80:02 →
seven in reserves and fund balance we have strong reserves in our district and we will be utilizing those undoubtedly in the years ahead the allowable growth factor again was a 1.16 million in increase in Revenue so some advocacy opportunities so man…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 84:53 →
questions trust.org can trust just and that concludes my presentation anyone has any questions a quick question about School meals so you mentioned that there's a money in the federal line to fund some school lunches and then there's the proposal in …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 110:06 →
the location somewhere in C Harman High School to be detered given all the construction and cl changes but we will definitely get that information on the plug so at this time it has been the custom of this board to allow sitting members to publicly a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:53 →
good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the February 13th 2025 business meeting of the cro envirment item 1.2 Pledge of Allegiance One Nation God indivisible withy and justice for alled AC here approves the agenda as presented so moved second…
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2025-02-27
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 7:04 →
in three two one action I should this good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the February 27th 2025 work session of [Music] the school district Bo of Education item 1.02 approval of the agenda recommended action be resolve the Board of Educa…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 94:21 →
half% we're basically to all lowf flow fixtures throughout the district and we also with the capital project and Spencer field getting redone we no longer have irrigation down there so we won't have to water that field so there's some savings there a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:45 →
in the high school gym we will have our budget vote trustee elections and also our 10e celebration seven this is a way to stay connected and thank you thank you all thank you now I gotta let them go home because I need them more than good night guys …
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2025-03-13
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 0:05 →
two one action good evening everyone I would like to call to order the March 13 2025 business meeting of the C Herm The Union Free School District item 1.2 opening of the meeting and pledge of leave flag ster item3 isation for 2025 OFW Rosies student…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 75:39 →
and this is open to 7 through 12th grade students and they've been working on strength and conditioning Sports specific and learning the proper form and technique how to use a lot of this equipment in the wait room in the picture on the left Coach Jo…
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2025-03-27
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 0:00 →
e good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the March 27th 2025 work session of the Clint hary Union police School District Board of Education item 1.2 approval of the agenda recommended action VI disolve of the Board of Education hereby approv…
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2025-04-10
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 98:54 →
be a result that the board of education hereby approves all items in the consent in the consent agenda as presented. So moved second question just all in favor abstain. Motion carries. We are now moving into our closing of the meeting with our second…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 98:55 →
Not just incremental change, but systemic change in the experience for our students. Also wanted to remind the community about some of the foundational aspects of our system. Again, that innovative professional culture encouraging thoughtful risk-tak…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:00 →
and that brings us to tonight where we are doing the superintendent's budget proposal and adoption. So let's begin. Okay, this is kind of becoming a regular thing. the the budget has been delayed now for the for the fourth time. May may have been the…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:01 →
including our vision statement discussing how all members of the learning community will demonstrate an enduring curiosity, engage in the pursuit of inspiration and develop the habits of mind to promote personal growth and the well-being of society. …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:08 →
We also talked about meetings with legislators and and I think there's a follow-up item here because we know that we noted that Westp has been typically putting together these meetings and we just had a general question around how how in the past whe…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:10 →
May 28th at the high school from 6:00 to 7:30 and there'll be activities inside a table inside and then outside we'll have some activities so students can try the sports. Outstanding. Again we talk about student leadership, student advocacy, vision a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:10 →
And the work of this current year, as you've heard from our building leaders and our district leaders over the course of the past few months, continue to be around designing genuine highlevel rigorous interdisciplinary courses and learning experience…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:11 →
Always visit our website. That concludes my report. Oh, and don't forget to vote. Thanks, R. Thank you so much, J. That was really great. Yeah. Thank you. Moving into new business, item 3.1, adoption of the 2025 2026 superintendent's budget for the C…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:12 →
the board of education candidate forum will also be held here in this room at the Cotton Harman High School library on Wednesday, May 14th, starting at 700 p.m. Candidates should be here by 6:30 p.m. The forum will be moderated by someone from the Le…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:12 →
And we hear from several outstanding Tiger students about what that's meant for them in terms of the rigor and the expectations and from several members of the faculty about the work that they've put into it, about why they believe it's a superior mo…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:12 →
increase in foundation aid approximately 2%. slight decreases in Bosey's aid and stable county sales tax and interest earnings. From an expense perspective, major components are salaries and increased teaching staff benefit cost increases for teacher…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:12 →
no changes in the other areas with the exception of private excess cost aid which is down slightly due to enrollment. And then you see that we have a very large increase in state building aid and that is directly related to our capital project. So we…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:12 →
So wanted to begin just by there we are highlighting the what we call the budget roadmap. this is this is information that the board and the public have seen previously but I wanted to mention it primarily to say that the budget is truly a yearround …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:13 →
so that's that's an insurance component there. And then lastly, we have benefits, debt service, and other financing. And I'm actually going to it's easier to address that in the next slide. So I'm going to go here. So this is a budget overview by obj…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:13 →
So please come out and support that work and bear witness to bear hard work in the district. And that is all I have. we will now move into our first hearing of the public. There is actually no one here in the in the meeting room with us right now. So…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:13 →
Lion that was who we were recommended to use who we did not use. Is that correct? Correct. And we're fine. We're staying. We are great. Our the bird bus that we use actually opened up a plant right in Yorktown and they are servicing our vehicles and …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:14 →
they are within the New York State requirements as far as allowable reserves and within the the confines of that expense overview by function. So as I shared with you last there last session there are many ways to slice the budget. you can't even ima…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:14 →
And this gives them a formalized structure to do that supported by members of our faculty and staff. Additional unified sports offerings as we heard from from Rachel as well as additional huddle cameras to cover various aspects, new aspects of of our…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:14 →
our wonderful assistant superintendent for people personnel services has been making a name for herself out there and a lot of districts a good name good name are approaching us to send their students to to our district for for education and other se…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:14 →
So we were allocated a number of vehicles but Naerta who doesn't understand the confines of the school budget process just thought well we can give you money for five vehicles and you can just go buy those five vehicles and knowing that there is a ve…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:15 →
it's color wars this week at CHS, so we've been doing spirit week. Monday was pajama day, Tuesday was Adam Sandler day, Wednesday was anything but a backpack day, and today was generations day. And tomorrow is pep rally. So, I don't know if administr…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:15 →
the administrative component covers costs related to district management, salaries, benefits for administrators, legal fees, property insurance, any school board expenses. So that is approximately 11.3% of our budget. Next, we have the program compon…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:15 →
revisit sort of our our practices and ensure that they continue to be our best practices and sort of also start the conversation on developing our goals for the upcoming school year so that by the time we reconvene in September and administration is …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:16 →
So, so the formula, what the formula does is it says take last year's okay numbers at the top and then this year's numbers at the bottom. It's that's an oversimplification, but yes, but we have to use the pilots that we applied last year to the formu…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:16 →
But we worked with NAERTA and now we are the requirements are much less. You have the option of retiring vehicle or not and it it doesn't have the same the same year of make a model that it had last time. also the the requirements for mileage have ha…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 99:32 →
I think that's everything I've got for the moment. And if not, we'll hear about it soon. Thank you, Neil. we'll move into item 6.4, items needed for the next board of education meeting. And that meeting will again be April 22nd. It will be a Tuesday …
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2025-05-08
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:36 →
This year, some really important work occurred in curriculum, including the development of interdisciplinary learning experiences for students in the humanities for the upcoming school year, as well as overhaul of our science and math curriculum to a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:37 →
We will open the public budget hearing on this. There are members of the public that want to speak. Please approach the podium. Yes. So, this year we try we decided to change it up a little bit. So our our budget journey began back in September of 20…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:37 →
The proposed budget also adds an additional clinical staff member, either a school psychologist or school counselor for CCT to continue to strengthen our support system for our youngest Tiger students. And as you've heard us say for some time, the id…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:40 →
Also on the ballot on May 20th will be Proposition three, which is the opportunity to vote on the budget for the Croinfree Library, as well as the opportunity to select two board of education candidates for those available positions. Tiger community.…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:41 →
and I also wanted to point out, back on April 28th, we also received an email from Westp that had a recap of their last EDLAW launch for the year, which will reviewed, BOE use of social media, employment and, negotiation trends. So, please take a loo…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:42 →
The proposed budget also provides increased opportunities for inter mural sport offerings, which will allow for our student athletes whose skills need to further develop during the offseason to continue to do that in the sport that they love. The pro…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:43 →
Rising insurance costs for both the building and our employees have place added strain on our finances. But through careful planning, we've managed to present a balanced budget that does not exceed the tax cap while protecting the core services of ou…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:44 →
the we don't know as of this moment checked since we started our meeting whether this budget has been completely adopted but if this language is adopted it will require that the board adopt a policy on the use or prohibition of use of internet enable…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:44 →
Hopefully, we get a chance to have some some good conversation over the next couple weeks leading up to May 20th and the community's opportunity to weigh in on the vision and values of the system. [Music] Hello, Tiger community. As we approach our up…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:44 →
not much to report on advocacy. We we have not had a meeting since our last meeting. The state budget is I believe in the very very final moments of passing. if it hasn't passed already and so it'll be good for us to dig into the details. I think we …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:44 →
I'd also just like to add to keep your eye out in your mailboxes for the reflections newsletter. This will be going up shortly. I've seen a preview. H3 looks good. policy. Unlike the other president, we met we met on March 26. We met on May 1st. Our …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:47 →
Here at Cone, we are fortunate to have a community that understands the role of its library. People here use their library. They check out materials, attend programs, volunteer, and speak up in support of what we do. And that foundation gives us stre…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:49 →
The work of our vision map as it has come to life in our schools over the past couple of years has allowed us to truly redefine the idea of excellence in learning. We are focused on three key areas. Genuine interdisciplinary learning opportunities fo…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:49 →
The Westchester Platinum School Board Association's nominating committee slay of officers and directors and budget ratification. Recommended action be it resolve the board of education hereby votes of the Westchester Putnham School Boards Association…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:51 →
Not everything correct that is in that because which is historically what has always happened, the final report after we meet with superintendent blockers when it's posted on the district. And and I think also make it clear for the public that any an…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:51 →
Just keep reminding the public that comments about a specific person, staff, student or CH or important district resident are prohibited. Madam Chairman, is this I'd like to understand the rules before I start. So I'd like to reserve my time. Is this…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:51 →
Two, one, action. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the May 8th, 2025 business meeting and budget public hearing of the Crow and Harmon Union 3 School District. item 1.2, to the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 111:51 →
It's actually going up that in previous years it's just not coming from the tax money from the taxpayers and lower scenario as we did previously because we want to still keep the programming but we wouldn't be able to by keeping the tax cap under. So…
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2026-01-08
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 243:53 →
So, our foundation aid there are there's no in there's no mandated increase to save harmless districts. They can provide percentage increase, but they don't have to do it by law. So, we expect that to remain fairly stable as well as our expense drive…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 243:57 →
And I'm thankful they brought that up also, too, because our helping period, and I know that a lot of CET families here, it's not something that a lot of high schools in the area have, that it's open access to every teacher every day for students to …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 243:58 →
at the district office where we will continue going through our list of items that have been brought to us for our February meeting for first reading and we'll continue forward. Thank you. You guys have been quite busy. I think communications and pol…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 243:59 →
So, the inflationary growth in costs of goods and services is evident to all of us as taxpayers and moms, dads, et cetera. So, that is impacting our our costs. Insurance costs, comprehensive insurance costs is increasing considerably due to catastrop…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 243:59 →
I believe that everyone here, the board, the school district, and parents believes that UPK is essential. studies show that UPK has direct social and educational benefits for our for our youngest residents. In addition, by serving as an early method …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:00 →
from your understanding at the end of 2025 fiscal year, which would be June 30th or March 31st or or maybe the state's fiscal year which is March 31st. Yeah, we're in the 26 fiscal year. Yeah, so right. So, I guess really Maybe they did this already …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:00 →
Laura, the all APs score one to five, right? Yes. Okay. If I could recommend the scale just be uniform. Okay. So that they're all cuz you you look at them differently when you start with four versus five. Visually it can look Yeah, that makes sense. …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:00 →
[clears throat] Out of district tuition income, so we have tuition income from students and families that are outside of our district, whether they are paying to come to our schools from a regular education standpoint, or whether they are interested …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:04 →
We'll start with revenues in February followed by operations and then we'll lead into our school budgets and specific programs and departments in March. And then the superintendent's final budget will be presented on April 9th with the adoption and p…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:05 →
Additionally, there were some guidance documents that we were kind of, looking through but the priority fund the some of the priorities, the legislative priorities for our our state as well as our Board of Regents is that, by 2030 all 4-year-olds wil…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:05 →
And then if we go to the next slide, in addition to our total number of exams offered steadily increasing, so is our AP course enrollment. And that's something that we're really proud of. You can see a steady trend upwards with a pretty significant i…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:06 →
So [clears throat] so yes, we will absolutely have those discussions. And we are currently looking at the balance of our of our future facility project funds and determining it's a it's a crazy time where to where we're trying to assess where we are …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:07 →
from what I understand, it would be extraordinarily difficult and time-consuming to reenter the program. I [clears throat] have been doing a fair amount of legal research, and I'm a practicing attorney, for the record, not just a volunteer lawyer, bu…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:07 →
I first just wanted to thank the board and thank the superintendent and administration for meeting with us, for listening with us. specifically wanted to thank you for working on a board resolution that would ask for more funding from the state to pe…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:07 →
We will get to a point where we will be able to start putting some additional information about the the the board section of the website into a production site that isn't live that people would be able to take a look at and review so that we will be …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:08 →
We are raising our children in a challenging America. Our local leaders matter. We need protection and innovation in safeguarding our kids and communities. Please do your part to do so. Also, I wanted to add that I and others would organize around vo…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:08 →
First is annual district meeting and budget vote, which is basically conducts that budget vote on May 19th or whenever it is each year. And there are certain changes that are required or allowed by law, recent adoption by the state legislature of a p…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:09 →
I mean we we go through this budgeting process literally every single year to fund these schools right? So this this is just like another piece of that and it's every year. I guess I I would I would just say that given that it it is such a big priori…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:09 →
We learned our colors and we hatched chicks. and half of the school year, if we were in the morning, we switched to afternoon and if we were in the afternoon, we switched to morning. It was a very different world. And the curriculum, my son is in kin…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:10 →
you know, that I think we're trying to have a collaborative culture that to have like some dialogue about that understanding the there's limitations to what can possibly happen from it but in in the fall. Thank you. [clears throat] Absolutely. Couple…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:10 →
March we'll submit our allowable tax levy to the state controller's office and then propose our budget and bus propositions to the board for review. In April we hope to get our state aid numbers secured and we'll ask the board to adopt the final budg…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:10 →
But so, really between the end of February and March, depending on when we get the contracts to the board, we'll open the lottery and we post that on social media, our website, Parent Square. We put flyers in the local preschools. So, we do a lot of …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:11 →
Essentially our like our instructional leadership, the administrative cabinet and our administrative council we look at the effectiveness of our programs, where they are headed to determine if they're working, if they should be continued and then we …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:11 →
Ready in 3 2 1 action. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the January 8th, 2026 meeting of the Croton-Harmon Union Free School District Board of Education. Our first item is the opening of the meeting and call to order. Second is the pr…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:11 →
The Federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends that a household budget not exceed 7% of gross household income for child care. I'm not making a million dollars a year. So, [snorts] one pre-K spot is 24 grand, which roughly equates to …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:11 →
And the state aid runs we don't have information about until the budget. Until the budget. So, that is usually I mean again, it can be whenever they decide [clears throat] to do it, right? But that would be usually April. And and again, just just for…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:12 →
I think that the it seems very clear that the people who are paying those taxes are asking you as a group to make a very specific decision. thank you so much for your time. I'm appreciative. [snorts] Good evening, everyone. It's good to see some fami…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:12 →
and the assembly and senate might push for a faster timeline maybe and maybe that's part of the advocacy that also then makes potentially this year more complicated if they do decide to put in some stuff this year that might complicate the timeline a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:13 →
Analyze and update our state aid projections, refine our salaries projections. Finish negotiating those two open contracts, review our enrollment projections. We have a demographic study that was done a little over a year and a half ago looking at th…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 244:13 →
We [snorts] are looking at a projected increase of about 5%, which is incredible considering everything that's going on absolutely with GLP-1 and all other issues that are facing the health care system right now. So, we have just signed off and voted…
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2026-01-22
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:15 →
We will also be pushing back the submission deadline until early in February to allow for the potential providers to consider their proposals. Additionally, we've previously shared publicly that as part of a good faith effort to make the state's fund…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:25 →
So, I give a lot of credit to Craig and Robin for planning PD on a monthly basis with our lunch monitors. Transportation, that is something that we have not specifically reached out to our transportation department, but based on the feedback we've go…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:26 →
So given the current repair reserve of 260,000 we are proposing to utilize that to attend to these two critical building related matters. Thank you D. Sure. So we have opened the hearing. Have we not? Okay. That was on the question. So all in favor? …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:27 →
the hearing is required in order for the board to authorize it an expenditure payment out of the reserve. the repair reserve is currently funded at about $260,000 and it's designated for nonrecurring repairs to capital improvement or building related…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:31 →
as part of our commitment to on an ongoing basis keeping our community up to date with regard to a university pre kindergarten and u the district's work to continue to administer this program in a robust way. we saw some potentially significant movem…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:33 →
So that's how many if this goes through we will be funded for and how many seats would be in the lottery. potentially open to negotiations between with the one house budget and 95, right? All all that is open to negotiations. So ba based off of the f…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:33 →
Does anyone else have any thoughts? I just want to be clear again because the way that the program is named it's named as universal prek. It's not actually universal pre kindergarten for our district or for districts that participate with this progra…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:34 →
3 2 one action. Good evening everyone. We just exited executive session. so we are on agenda item 1.4. Recommended action be resolved. The board of education hereby leaves executive session and returns to the regular meeting at 7:50 7:50 p.m. So move…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:36 →
so as part of as part of the advocacy committee's work and and the the board's work in hearing the advocacy of many of our community members, the the advocacy committee has presented has put together a resolution that we think strongly showcases our …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 140:37 →
We know that for them like one of the things that makes them literally crazy because this is like part of their job is when their buses get passed. They work so hard to like maintain the highest safety standards. So just to have this support for them…
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2026-02-12
Board of Education
Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:25 →
But the reason I mention this is to name that it's it's probable there's a large number of parents who need UPK the most who are not able to come and voice support in person because of child care issues and not having UPK essentially would make Croin…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:27 →
And I think it's great that Alison raised that point about the policy because we're not looking at all these things all the time. I appreciate knowing that there's room for improvement in terms of how we articulate this approach to the community and …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:29 →
I I think it's a little bit too soon to tell. but in in the conversations certainly we've had with LHC which it does encompass the the five counties of Westchester, Punham, Duchess, Brooklyn, and Orange. there is incredibly large support almost unive…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:33 →
we also had a a robust discussion about the board section of the website. As as I've been telling it in prior meetings, that's something we've been working on a lot this year. so Greg has wonderfully put together a production site that I will share w…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:33 →
I think while we were all we were all happy to see that that Safe Harmless was kept intact, that, there was an increase, I think it was just continuing to to to push the fact that that it's not a sufficient increase given how how fast costs are risin…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:34 →
It's crushing. so I'm standing up here for them as well. I also understand theoretically this shouldn't be the district's problem to come up with money to supplement a flawed state funding formula. I think we're also in broad agreement about that, bu…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:34 →
Marketing. Marketing. Yes. building news fees up minorly. That's when individuals or groups rent our buildings we do we do have an excessive amount of building use waiverss in Croton so we don't generate a lot of building use revenue unfortunately ot…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:34 →
And if you want to stay connected, we have our social media pages and you can contact us at budget.quests at chopst.org if you have any questions. And that concludes my report. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We will now move into instructi…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:35 →
First, at the December 8th meeting, you heard from at least four parents who raised concerns that the current lottery process led to the underutilization of the UPK program, particularly because families were told which provider they had to accept an…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:35 →
We also have the added benefit of the three-year goals, right? So, all of the budgetary spending is no longer it's always aligned with those predetermined goals so that you're not just looking at it point blank for every year. And also the principles…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:35 →
So there's no exclusion for that. And we have the capital tax levy exclusion of 2.699966. Again, that is a combination of building aid, transportation aid, and debt expense. Brings us to the proposed current levy for this year of 46 322880, which rep…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:35 →
It's like you kind of want to laugh a lot, don't you? Maybe we'll cry. Its fun half a person. I can't I like in articulate. Yeah. So, expense based aids. there have been no changes to those formulas which is great. They are based on they're expenditu…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:36 →
Please be specific, be transparent. I think many of us would really appreciate a public session on how the budget gets made. The timeline on the website is impossible to understand without context. What role does the board have? Where's the ultimate …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:36 →
We have more than 550 signatures on that petition. It's only been out for a little over a week. the vast majority of that is from Croin residents. And if you think about that number, it's about 350 people, which means it's far more than just people w…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:36 →
What if you allow symbols and you do everybody should be allowed their symbols but there are going to be ramifications on the politics addressing the agenda item on politics. This school district had a history of inviting politicians in here for self…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:36 →
but finally, I would like to congratulate Valor and January, Maya, Sebastian for their hard work and dedication to academic excellence. these recognitions represent their love of learning and curiosity. So, congratulations to them for this achievemen…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:37 →
thinking about the things that provide need to do to prepare for the upcoming school year, how are they expected to plan a robust prek curriculum without knowing how much funding they're going to have? how can they make decisions about hiring staff? …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:37 →
to echo what Sarah had mentioned, we're talking about predictability with foundation aid and revising formula specifically in Westchester County where our cost of living is much higher than in most areas of the state there's no consideration for that…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:38 →
the governor's budget and state numbers will ideally be secured April 21st. We'll have our board event budget adoptions and property tax report card submission followed by the board event public budget hearing on May 7th which is a requirement by law…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:38 →
but we were able to discuss again and put forth our our support for the governor's proposal of the expanded funding for UPK. it was certainly we were certainly not the only district to be having this discussion. It was really a main theme of our conv…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
Therefore, I ask the board to be just as candid and transparent about whether that planned recommendation actually reflects the board's objectives. The board should question the assertion that no matter how small or large the need turns out to be, th…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
And I just wanted to say the reason why I didn't want to forget is that I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness and care that all members participating student Congress gave to many issues relating to adjustment to the schedule, including probably…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
aside from that, we also had some conversations about the EV bus mandates and the timelines for that and the the, real inability I think in the the fact that the the timeline is not really feasible and looking to make adjustments there. So those were…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
Yeah, we need to guess we need to have two weeks notice but is did you have stuff that you were going to share like publicly at this meeting about this? Okay. Do do you do you have is there like an agenda portion? Right. Has it already? All right. We…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
That's a that's a big one this year. based on our experience over the last three years with our with our electric vehicles. so we're looking closely at that and then again accessess assessing current performance based on our fund balance projections.…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:39 →
So, a lot of times when they're doing development, they devalue reduce the value of properties because they're taking stuff down to build. So, you have a piece of that. So, properties that were going into development were actually downsized. So, ther…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:40 →
Right? So, it's not it's not the difference between 2 million and 1.4. It's the difference between 2 million and 1.4 plus on balance and reserves. And I would just like to highlight while we're talking about this that it's because of those reserves t…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:40 →
The Boseis board decided that because of where Passover falls, okay, the special meeting for approval of the Bose, the meeting for approval of Bosey's budget is not going to be on pass, right? So it's going to be moved back a week which would make pu…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:40 →
thank you to the board and the administration for your time and attention. just to I wanted to do a quick summary of all the activities that the parents are undertaking in lobbying Albany and really doing what we can to move this process forward for …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:40 →
I just wanted to add on to that and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's it's it's your determination as to whether a student, regardless of whether or not they fit into that based on their needs, also fit into that because of being we have a clinical i…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:40 →
there's timeline and this actually we have to consider is that oh no I'm sorry that propositions if some a member of the public wants to submit a proposition they may do so it makes more explicit some of the rules on that and lastly it specifically s…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:41 →
the recently added UPK facts page on the district website is a great step in the right direction. Thank you for putting all that info in one place for parents to find. there's still a few things I would love clarification on and even to respectfully …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:41 →
I'm saying the approval of our budget, the approval of the property tax report card. Can it be as late as February as April 27th or is that too late? That's fine. As of now, I assume that when Denise starts her very thoughtful budget processing at th…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:41 →
They fund raise for it all year long. So moved. Second on the question. All in favor I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Moving into ongoing business 6.1 policies for second reading. Recommended action be resolved with the board of education conducts …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
we should just draft a resolution for the health insurance the way that we did for you and we can send it to everybody because that was something that you said would significantly impact and we can continue to add yeah that would be great and NASBO w…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
So Westchester County is a year is a a year behind. So it's not always easy to determine what's happening. However, that is the baseline. So in other words, where we are today is the baseline. Any change up or down in the future years will change tha…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
So each of those years when we're held at the lower amount and at the 2% if it's higher really restricts our growth and we're beginning to feel it. we're beginning to feel it. So let's see let's take a a broader look at our revenues. So this is overa…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
18 hours to come and please if you have questions or want further information we'll we will all be available but I want I just want to point out that it's it's a process that is very complicated as you heard just from this discussion but it is not an…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
All the districts with UPK do that." I said, "Oh, that's interesting." And then I asked him, "Well, how would you view a cost of one quarter of 1% of your district budget as a necessary input to do this? Is that such a number that it's so large that …
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
I'm just going to I'm just going to correct you. That's only the levy. So, from the levy from the levy. Correct. Total is 1.4. 1.4. Okay. So, with 1.4, we know we have those additional expenses. We know we have program things that I'm sure we'll be t…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
We have projections that we've compiled based on expenditure guidelines, approvals, and maximum cost allowances, but once it gets to the state, you're not always sure which way it's going to go. Plus, they have they are working with a system that can…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
We have a 4-year-old daughter who will be eligible for prek next year. and that's what's getting me off the couch and involved in this conversation. I really appreciate that you have a difficult job here. there's a lot of we know how budgeting works.…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:42 →
it the limits are on the levy itself and not on assessed value. So it we it has nothing to do with property assessments or otherwise just on the levy itself. also voters do not approve the levy. The levy is a prescribed formula. voters approve budget…
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Transcript Brendan Walker (Superintendent) 184:43 →
forcing us to wait this long to solidify plans makes an already stressful situation just that much harder for us. So I am very curious to understand how the board imagines all this logically fitting together. and making sense for providers and famili…
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2026-02-26
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:36 →
Recommended action be a result that the board of education hereby accepts the resignation of Raymond Ferrara Croman Harmon high school science teacher effective February 24th, 2026. So second on the question. I just wanted to say that I've known Mr. …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:41 →
Thank you all. Thank you. So, I just want to speak briefly as I do at the start of really every budget meeting. I realized today this is the fifth budget cycle I've had a chance to be a part of here. and I think as the board and community will see, t…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:44 →
So, based on the review of the proposals and looking at the feasibility and logistics at both locations, Children's Space North at this time, and these these are anticipated numbers. So we're looking at about 54 seats for children's space north which…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:46 →
The district clerk's budget covers elections and public meetings, record keepings, foils, and conducting business on behalf of the board. The second part of the budget, chief school administrator, is our leadership, management, and supervision over t…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:49 →
And then lastly, over the course of the last week, the business department, the business office and my department met to use the evaluation matrix to ensure that each of the proposals were met the criteria and they were determined a rating was determ…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:50 →
The the good news is is that we can structure our payments. we have some flexibility in structuring our payments so that we can try because remember we're always trying to keep a level capital exclusion under our tax cap. So we have the prior year ca…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:52 →
In 3, two, one, action. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the February 26th, 2026 work session of the Crohn Free School District. Item 1.2 is approval of the agenda. Recommended action be it resolved. The board of education hereby appr…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:52 →
but what you'll see I think not only tonight but throughout the course of the budget process is a a team that continues to come together grounded in the vision map and innovate so that we can we're able to genuinely say to the community we continue t…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:52 →
So there have been tremendous increases in property and casualty insurance over the past 2 years. So now we're going to be bringing on approximately between 35 and $40 million of additional equipment and buildings and grounds enhancements. This is a …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:53 →
So we have to account for approximately 400,000. We'll up those figures a little bit just to make sure we've covered ourselves. In previous years, because of delays, because of changes in state contracts, we have had to absorb some of the costs in th…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:54 →
after the budget work session, we ended up doing a trial at the high school and it proved highly successful in terms of cleaning effectiveness, ease of use and staff satisfaction. We then entered into contract with them for the high school and we the…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:55 →
A whole bunch of stuff there. that was both contractors who did that as well as Nikki was involved. doing some in-house work so we didn't have to contract it out. We also put in the high school trainers room which is a long time coming. we relocate s…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:55 →
so I I do again think back on what Denise was saying I do think it's a testament to the department that you run and the culture that you foster there that we haven't had shortages as other districts have. Other districts have really struggled. and to…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:56 →
Can we just We're going to stop and see if we have any questions, but we'll start with the questions. Just checking. Yeah. Question. Okay. I I have a couple. The first is I just want to point out with so everybody knows that the the Boseies amount th…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:57 →
because there when you when you're focused on one sport, you're using generally the same muscles and and it can lead to an increased injury rate. So that is something that the committee is looking at that our our athletic director is looking at and w…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:58 →
He now can operate all the controls while at the unit itself, which is really streamlining. and he is very appreciative of. So so then sort of back to more on the master library, we have work orders which tracks our manh hours and categories. We put …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:58 →
So, we'll we'll net increase of two then we'll scrap one and then we'll scrap one and then we'll keep that one if that's just one diesel." Okay. what Denise said earlier about me and Kelly and Brad and how she couldn't do her job without us. Well, I …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:58 →
I was actually going to say I think this for me this is one of my favorite budget presentations every year. I know I speak for all of us that I just say that we enjoyed the history element that you brought this time for sure. but I think it's it actu…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:58 →
and it's important to understand and to do this work publicly and to go over line items and the detail of it all. and I know it's tedious work. so thank you for your attention to detail. Thank you. You guys can go and get home first thing in the morn…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:59 →
No, we like with Spencer being offline during construction, we helped out the the village with the fields more so than usual, obviously, because we do the brunt of the damage on them. So we have the equipment that they don't. So anywhere we can help …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:59 →
Most of the increase in this budget category is from implementing our frontline central which is an electronic hiring software that external and internal candidates will be using when we hire. And we did have some reclassification of some items from …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:59 →
Following that, Joe Bernardi, our transportation supervisor, will provide an update on our transportation budget, detailing some of the costs that are associated with providing safe transportation for our students. then our director of facilities, Br…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:59 →
We interrupted you during our questions. Mr. Kennedy. Okay. Thank you for having me so I can tell you all about our great department. thank you to Denise and Kelly for helping navigate through the the whole budget process here. we're going to start o…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 180:59 →
It's just it's like it's it's it just it's a it's so impressive. So, thank you. I would just add one other thing. I agree with everything said, but I think the other thing to note is that if we look at when each of our buildings were first built at t…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 181:20 →
I guess the only question I would have I'm sure I know the answer but I just want to make sure under our policy 6900 all of the equipment the iPads and the MacBooks and Chromebooks etc. I just want to make sure that they have all been wiped or everyt…
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2026-03-12
Board of Education
Transcript Unknown Speaker 174:24 →
And the other thing I would just say is that like I I know in my workplace we work to a lot of things that are digital and part of this tonight as we're hear hearing the budget presentation. there has been more spending on digital technology etc whic…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:14 →
And certainly in terms of like connecting with the community, the thing that we feel is most important as a board is that now that we have this FAQ up on the website, there is a place that families can go, they can get the information. It's being upd…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:19 →
I'm saying it's like there were generations of women and families who were there to to celebrate these students. It was really a just such a testament to I think the way that our collaborations with our community can evolve into such amazing things f…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:25 →
Creating cognitively rich environments where students are creators, not just consumers. On the technical side, we're continuing our critical upgrades with a focus on improving infrastructure at PBC and completing the improvements at CCT. Through the …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:28 →
And in an effort to continue to make improvements in display technology in large group spaces, we plan for a new projection screen in the PVC gym stage area, sorry, projection and screen for the PVC gym stage area on the main floor, as well as sound …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:32 →
And I think I I hope that for the for the folks who are in the audience tonight and also for community listening at home and people listening afterwards that you hear that this is this is a this is a statement from us to say it's like we're here to t…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:32 →
It is not and I think we all agree should not be the default mechanism involved in student learning and therefore when it is introduced, it should be with a specific purpose in mind. I'm proud of the work that has gone into the shifts that we have sh…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:33 →
We'll now move into the closing of the meeting and that portion of the meeting begins with item 6.1, our second hearing of the public. As there are no longer any members of the public in attendance at this meeting, perhaps you're watching from home. …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:35 →
If anyone has not had a chance to read our public communications on this topic, view our district video on this topic or view the video features featuring several of our high school students, you can find all of them on our website at trusty.org by c…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:35 →
I think with collaborating with neighboring school districts through the merge athletic teams has been a positive impact on our program and our student athletes. As a smaller district, these partnerships allow us to expand athletic opportunities to o…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:36 →
As we have shared previously, classroom space at CCT was offered as an option for potential providers in the event that the state's not able to allocate the funding to make the program viable for community based organizations. Through the expectation…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:37 →
so, first we're going to jump right into the athletics budget for the 2026 2027 school year. the athletic admin salaries, the slight increase for admin salaries and support. There's the coaching and event coordinator salaries. you'll see your supervi…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:37 →
Operationally, we improved efficiency by aligning our network and administrative software and simplifying some of our systems, including the student absence reporting system, making daily logistics smoother for families and staff. This has been a ver…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:38 →
and what you will see in later on in tonight's agenda is a resolution that we will bring be bringing forth for the board's consideration that I want to thank Denise Harrington Cohen our assistant superintendent for business who helped draft this reso…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:39 →
So how do we when we vet those technologies and those apps and those things that we are acquiring or that we are using how do we know that it's not going to be pedagogically appropriate but it's going to kind of key into some bad habits that people m…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:40 →
To ensure that we are on the right path, we've been taking a look at where we are in the spending of edtech tools relative to the region. It's important to note that not all districts in our region are having this conversation of edte software and th…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
And it's always nice to see ideas come to fruition that were initially talked about in this room or in the community room two or three years ago now becoming part of the the lives of our students. So, with that, I'll be happy to turn it over, to Alan…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
for nutrition, I've been speaking with, Miss Kelly down at PBC about the potential of offering like a healthy snack cart after school for our athletes and kids that are in after school program so that they're a lot of them are going out in between pr…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
I think we all recognize that this is a particularly challenging budgetary cycle for a number of different reasons, but one of the reasons why one of the many reasons why we're able to navigate through this as well as we are able to in addition to Ja…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
So, one of the challenges I think that we face and I know that this is something that you're dealing with Ellen and I I think we're also going to hear from it in terms of our building budgets and then also when we talk further about curriculum is is …
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
And we now open it up for you to come and address the board. Thank you. Hi. Ben Faber. we live on street. a couple things. the I note that the the athletics department budget presentation is up for tonight. so I do have a comment and request about th…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:41 →
Thank you very much, Ellen, for for putting together such a a thorough presentation of the budget, but but also giving us that greater context of the the framework and the why behind behind some of these numbers. and I was really happy to see that yo…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:42 →
so this would enable us to establish a fund. it would be no cost to Albany. So this would be just it it would be a free option and would provide leverage for our district to offset costs that we know are inevitable. So right now I have spoken with As…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:42 →
But right that makes sense. So, I think just like, looking back to what we've experienced over the last couple of years, the fact that we're hearing that not only the governor has it in her budget, but that both houses, I guess, right, of our governm…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:43 →
When students have specific group projects or assignments, teachers can make the choice to send a device home. Additionally, if a student needs access to a device at home, we of course will fulfill that need. This shift will continue into the 2627 sc…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:43 →
Is there interest or intention to see if there's anything in any of the other districts in terms of available space? Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So, we as I know as a team are committed to the success of this program. I think we're incredibly optimistic a…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:44 →
The motion carries and want to thank the the Clinton River Artis and Gallery for their support of our student artists, visual artists and otherwise through the establishment of the scholarship. Thank you very much. Item 3.3 new business under new bus…
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Transcript Unknown Speaker 175:44 →
And so I sometimes have had to be that no voice in the room to say like we can't do this. I would rather pay for a product and get the ED2D paperwork signed and it affect my budget than for a student's data to be compromised. So I agree with you. It'…
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