MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING. February 10, 2015

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING At the Regular Business Meeting of the Board of Education of the Plainedge Union Free School District, Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, New York held at Plainedge High School, North Massapequa, New York on there were: Attendee Name Title Status Debra Grieci President Present Douglas Pascarella Vice President Present Maryann Capone Trustee Present Catherine Flanagan Trustee Absent Dennis Gustafson Trustee Present Mary Lowe Trustee Present Raymond Paris Trustee Present Dr. Edward A Salina, Jr. Superintendent Present Lawrence Blake Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business & Present Administration Todd Winch Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction Present Dr. Guy LeVaillant Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources & Present Administration Christopher Dillon Assistant Superintendent for Administration & Special Projects Present (It is anticipated that the Board of Education will immediately entertain a motion to convene an executive session for the purpose of discussing an employment matter) ADOPTED at 7:05 PM Mrs. Grieci called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. Executive Session ADOPTED at 7:11 PM 1

2 Executive Session Adjournment ADOPTED at 7:42 PM Gustafson, Trustee Paris, Trustee Mrs. Grieci called the meeting to order at 8:01 pm. Call to Order: ADOPTED at 8:01 PM Paris, Trustee Pascarella (arrives at 8:39pm), Flanagan Meeting called to Order by President I. Pledge of Allegiance Ms. Grieci led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. II. Superintendent s Remarks Dr. Salina shared with those assembled, the process around making the determination for school delays, closings etc. He explained that staff and student safety is how decisions are made, stating that he speaks with superintendents in the area the morning of in most cases, however when a determination can be made the night before, it will be and all will be notified. Dr. Salina explained that multiple factors are used in making the determinations and that in the end, he wants school to be open and he wants programs to be delivered however he does want everyone to be safe. Dr. Salina went on to discuss the various events that were happening within the district. He discussed the middle school robotics team competing at the Robotics competition in Syosset and that a Robotics demonstration would be happening at the next Board meeting. He stated that students who participated has to be 13 years of age or older and that Plainedge had the youngest students there competing against much older children. He was proud of the children and stated that they did a great job, not only in the competition itself, but in how they applied their knowledge gained as well as how they all helped eachother out. He spoke of Regent Tilles coming to John H. West School and commended the staff for doing such an incredible job welcoming Regent Tilles to their school. Regent Tilles had stated that he has never had such a lavish assembly dedicated to him and he was quite honored. Dr. Salina had a chance to speak with Regent Tilles, and spoke about how excited Regent Tilles was to be there, reading to the children and answering their questions. Dr. Salina complimented the staff and Principal of John H. West, Mrs. Muscarella. It was clear that a lot of work was put into the assembly and it was a great experience. Dr. Salina continued to speak of additional events that he had the opportunity to attend. He attended the assembly on Choices & Consequences, the Middle School Drama Production Willy 2

3 Wonka and was so impressed at what an incredible job the students and faculty put on. He commended the Wrestling team and Coach Shaver for having 22 of 27 wrestlers qualify at the wrestling tournament the past Saturday. Due to the inclement weather, the Parent University Expo had to be post poned and Dr. Salina stated that it would be moved to either earlier or later in the year to ensure that the expo is a success, as there was a lot of time put into creating the classes and learning opportunities. In conjunction with Parent University Expo, there was also Narcan training that had to be postponed. Dr. Salina explained that Narcan training is related to teaching others how to save the life of someone who has taken or overdosed on Heroine. He stated that the program was run by Nassau County and that it was a very valuable training that would probably just be broken out into a separate session so that many others within the surrounding areas could also attend. Dr. Salina reminded everyone that schools were closed next week and lastly, spoke about how he had the chance to be the Principal at Eastplain earlier that morning, having a group of children run the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner. III. a. 2 nd Draft Budget Mr. Lawrence Blake Mr. Blake went through his presentation, which showed an outline of what would be delivered over the next few months. He explained that there were change sheets in their binders which highlighted a few small changes such as a rollover budget, and BOCES reduction of fees, which he would further elaborate on. Mr. Blake discussed the reduction in BOCES administrative charges stating that when the budget was originally put in, a 4% increase was used based on figures from last year, but that while information is still being updates as changes are still coming from various organizations, other numbers have gone down slightly compared to last year which helped decrease the budget for BOCES Administrative charges. The Board of Education Budget and District Clerks Budget were discussed and Mr. Blake stated that the largest change at this point is on the District Clerk end due to unknown numbers against switching voting machines in Mr. Blake then went through the presentation highlighting and explaining the changes in the budget from to Mr. Gustafson asked if these budget figures took into account the Board of Education NYSSBA conference in NY next year to which Mr. Blake replied that yes, it was figured in. Ms. Capone asked what benefit everyone receives from being a member of REFIT what do we get from being a member of R.E.F.I.T. Dr. Salina stated that the administrative team receives a lot of useful information from R.E.F.I.T and that they are an advocacy group that advocates for districts the same size of Plainedge, that they are another ear into Albany, talking about the GEA and fighting for Districts like Plainedge. He stated that he felt that it was very important for Plainedge to continue to be part of R.E.F.I.T and that the fee is nominal. Mr. Gustafson asked if there was still the exploration of using a different tool for the Board of Education to use, in regards to how they receive board meeting information. Dr. Salina explained that he just wrapped up research today and that he has a number of plans for redoing the Board Room as well as working with a new tool called Accela, with potential 3

4 recommendations for the Board coming soon. He also stated that at this time, the costs were not figured into the budget at this time. b. Board of Education Budget Mr. Lawrence Blake Mr. Blake explained the increase to the Board Codes which included district meeting codes and contractual expense. He explained the situation that has been going on for almost 2 years now, regarding getting information from the county and state regarding what is happening with the shift from lever voting machines to electronic. Mr. Blake went through the situation with the Governor, etc. and that everyone was previously told that all districts in Nassau County would need to switch over after December 31, 2015, due to a new law that he signed. Mr. Blake explained that when putting the budget together, the number that was input was an estimated amount based on bits of information received to date. Dr. Salina stated that should we move to the electronic voting machines, that we would be using less machines. Ms. Lowe asked if we could get a better price through BOCES and Mr. Blake explained that only two companies have the electronic machines and that it is not a BOCES thing. Mr. Blake stated that the team would continue to explore to try and obtain something more substantial. C. Health, Physical Education, and Athletics Budget Mr. Jamie LaBelle Mr. Labelle discussed his presentation, first stating that the Health, Physical Education and Athletics department has a great group of teachers who all work very well together. He commended the community sports groups and booster clubs for contributing so much to the Athletics program as well. Mr. Labelle explained that in figuring the budget, the idea was to improve purchasing efficiency and that this was done by getting everything in early. Mr. LaBelle stated that there are going to be new courses in health and Phys. Ed. and he outlined what those new programs and activities are going to be. Dr. Salina stated that this is the first time that the college approach to Physical Education is being taken and that it s great to see the teachers writing such wonderful courses for the students, such as Facility Aesthetics and safety processes. Ms. Lowe asked if there had been any decreases or increases in teams. Mr. LaBelle stated that nothing has changed. Mr. Gustafson stated that it s been a great year and all of the sports teams are doing very well. D. Fiscal Reports i. Collateral Report November 2014 ii. Treasurer s Report November 2014 iii. Cash Flow Summary July to November 2014 iv. Trial Balance Report July to November 2014 v. Budget Status Report February 3, 2015 vi. Revenue Status Report February 3, 2015 vii. Warrant Reports #43 - #46 viii. Cafeteria Income Statement December 31, 2014 There were no questions on the fiscal reports IV. Review of Business Agenda Mr. Pascarella spoke briefly about the extension of bids and renewing contracts stating that service to date has been great and the pricing has been fair, something that all are very happy about. V. New Business 4

5 No new business to discuss VI. Future Agenda Items No future agenda items to discuss VII. Question and Answer Period (on Public Work agenda items only) All questions are directed to the Board of Education President Speaker s limited to two minutes in total Each speaker is expected to use the microphone and clearly state their name. There were no questions VIII. Adjournment of Public Work Meeting ADOPTED at 8:43 PM, Pascarella Flanagan Caroline Fratrik District Clerk 5