- You hover over yes--
- I'm using his data,
and then I corrected--
- If you hover over
yes, your mouse changes,
like the spot you needed clicked,
is like over here in no man's land.
- I think it was 50 actual, his model,
to the actual data we had.
So this is what I've been using,
what he did, he had a bias.
And if you look at the
report, you will see
that these numbers come
right from his report.
- Okay, I'll double check 'em.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
It's not me, I'm just like the local here.
I'm just like Jason over there,
I'm just reporting the
news, I'm not making it.
- Well I'll look at it.
- Here's what the lady
told me to double check.
- But yeah, look at the actual report,
and you'll see that anomaly.
- So this is the fiscal
site for (speaking faintly).
- And I think it's because of
how he weighed these issues.
- I've got to take both of them for.
- That's a good catch.
- That's a good catch, Peter.
- Huh?
- That's a good catch.
- That was the good
doctor's doing, not mine.
Because I was stumped by that myself.
- Good evening, I'd like to
call the meeting to order.
Please stand for the Pledge.
- [Together] I pledge allegiance
to the Flag of the
United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
- Well, welcome to the
May 20th business meeting.
Exit information, in the back of the room,
and on either side.
And at this point, if there
is any recognition of visitors
for any items on the agenda,
or for any other concerns?
No, okay.
Neal, we go up to
presentations, end of season.
- Very good, that surprised me.
That was so fast.
I thank you all for being here.
I see a lot of our student athletes here,
and that's always a treat for us.
And again, this is the
review of the winter season,
and we had another incredibly
successful winter season.
And I'm going to introduce Mr. Kroemer,
our Athletic Director,
to tell us all about it.
- Good evening everybody.
- Good evening.
- Thank you very much for having me.
It's always a pleasure
to be able to come here
and brag a little bit
about our student athletes
and all their accomplishments.
So I'm going to take a few
minutes if you don't mind,
and share some of the accolades.
We'll start first with
our student athletes
who maintain a 90% or higher.
We had 130 of them this winter season.
And that's just varsity alone.
It's an amazing testament again
to the hard work of our student athletes,
both on and off the
playing surface area, pool,
wherever they're doing their
thing, because all the time
that they've got to put into
for that and this as well.
And we truly do look at
the student athlete piece
as a very important part of this,
and you'll see throughout the
course of the presentation
that we have teams who also
maintain those averages as well.
So let's get to my favorite part.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna call out a bunch of names.
When you hear your name,
just stand up, be recognized,
and I'd as that you hold your applause
until I get through the entire sport,
not necessarily the whole
season, but the whole sport,
and then we will give you your accolades.
We need you to keep your speeches
(chuckling)
to below two and a half minutes,
people, so roll them up.
All right, starting first
with boys basketball.
Head Coach was Tom Howe,
the record was four and four the OCIAA,
they were 10-11 overall.
The recognitions go to
senior Will Fredricks,
he was the BCANY Section
9 Class A All-Star,
and the Times Herald
Record 2nd Team All-Star.
Also, senior Kyle Skivington,
he was the BCANY Section
9 Class A All-Star.
Ladies and gentlemen,
your basketball stars.
(audience applauding)
Next up, girls basketball.
Head Coach was Chris Miller.
They had an eight and O divisional record,
with a 17 and four overall record.
Coach Chris Miller was
BCANY Coach of the Year.
But lets get to the students,
starting first, senior Maggie Malone,
she was the BCANY Section
9 Class A All-Star,
she was the BCANY Class
A Player of the Year,
she was the Times Herald
Record 1st Team All-Star,
and she ends her career in
girls basketball in high school
with 1492 career points.
Puts her number two on the all time list.
Also here--
- She needs to be applauded
for that, come on.
(audience applauding)
- Next up, Eliana Bulusan.
She's a BCANY Section 9 Class A All-Star,
she's here as well.
The girls basketball team won
the Division III Championship,
that's the 16th straight time
that they've won that
championship, and they were
a New York State Public High
School Athletic Association
Team Scholar-Athlete Award winners.
Ladies and gentlemen, girls basketball.
(audience applauding)
Moving on to boys swimming,
Head Coach John Pinckney.
Record was five and four in the Division.
Sophomore Evan Morales, is Evan here?
Oh, man, he's got some
great accomplishments here.
He's the Orange County
Champion in the 100 Fly.
2nd place in the 200 IM in the
Orange County Championships.
2nd place in Section 9 Championships
in the 50 Free and the 100 Free,
and the New York State Qualifier
in 200 IM and 100 Butterfly.
They were the OCIAA Division's
Runner Up, and they were
the New York State Public High
School Athletic Association
Team Scholar-Athlete
Award winners as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys swimming.
(audience applauding)
Next I'll give girls skiing,
Head Coach Laurie Santos.
Special recognition goes
to sophomore Olivia Santos.
She's 3rd place in the
Division, 9th place Section 9,
and New York State Championship
Alternate Qualifier.
They were 2nd place in the
Division II, and they were
a New York State Public High
School Athletic Association
Team Scholar-Athlete Award winners.
Ladies and gentlemen, girls skiing.
(audience applauding)
Moving on to boys skiing,
Head Coach Gabriella Santos,
'cause it's the Santos family
there in the skiing world.
Sophomore Anthony Sulewski
took 5th place in the Division,
12th place in the Section 9,
he's got a great career ahead of him,
and the ski team was a New
York State Public High School
Scholar-Athlete Team Award winner.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys skiing.
(audience applauding)
Moving on to wrestling,
Head Coach, Mr. Don Blaine,
19 and six overall, three
and one in the league.
Mr. Blaine, he was the
Friends of Section 9
John Bell Lifetime Achievement Award.
As all of you know, he is
hanging up the wrestling shoes
and gonna be spending some
more time with the grandkids.
So thank you very much Coach.
(audience applauding)
All right, senior Will
Leonard, 220 pounds.
In wrestling it's okay to
give the weight, so it's okay.
(audience chuckling)
He was the Section 9 Champion.
He was the New York
State Public High School
Athletic Association Champion.
He was the Friends of Section
9 Wrestler of the Year.
Times Herald Record Wrestler of the Year.
He was the Varsity 845 Athlete
of the Month for February.
He is the OCIAA Senior Scholar Athlete
for Cornwall this year.
And he's the first Cornwall
and Section 9 athlete
to win a Section 8 State Championship
in two different sports in
the same year, and I might add
that he's the only Cornwall
and Section 9 athlete
to be undefeated in those sports,
so it's an amazing accomplishment.
(audience applauding)
At 160 pounds, Steve Gazzillo.
He was a Section 9 Champion
and a New York State Public
High School Athletic Association
Championship Qualifier.
Senior Luke Wojehowski at 182 pounds
was 2nd place in Section 9.
145 pound junior Rob Giumarra,
he was 3rd place in Section 9.
Junior Dan Heffner, 152 pounds,
was 5th place in Section 9 Championships.
And Tyler Reed, an 8th
grader, was, at 106 pounds,
6th place Section 9 Championship.
Ladies and gentlemen, your wrestlers.
(audience applauding)
Boys indoor track, Head
Coach Brian Creeden.
Senior Seth Bywater, he was
the Orange County Champion
in the 3200M and the 4x800M relay.
3rd place in the OCIAA, the 1600M.
He was Section 9 Champion
in the 1600M and the 4x800M,
and 4th place in the New
York State Public High School
Athletic Association Championships,
setting a new school
record in the 3200 meter.
Senior Blaine Doyle was
an Orange County Champion
in the 1000M and the 4x800M relay team.
He was Section 9 Champion
in the 4x800M relay team,
and placed 8th in the New
York State Championships
in the relay 4x800M.
Senior Billy Ormiston,
he was an Orange County
and Section 9 Champ in the 4x800M relay,
and also 8th place as well in 4x800M relay
at the State Championships.
And Jack Teague was an Orange
County and a Section 9 Champ,
and 8th place finisher in the
New York State Championships
in the 4x800M relay.
They were the Division 3 Champions
and a New York State Public High School
Athletic Association Team
Scholar-Athlete Award winners.
Ladies and gentlemen, indoor track.
(audience applauding)
Onto girls indoor track,
Head Coach Dave Feuer.
8th grader, Karrie
Baloga was Orange County
and Section 9 Champion
in the 3000M and 1500M.
She was 4th place in the
New York State Championships
in the 3000, setting a new
State record for 8th graders.
Senior Alicia Porter,
she was 2nd in the Orange
County Championships,
and Section 9 Championships
in the Triple Jump.
She was 3rd place in the
Orange County and 2nd place
in the Section Championships
in the 55M Hurdles,
and she was 15th in the New
York State Championships
in the 55M Hurdles.
Junior Julia Garcia, oh yeah go ahead.
(audience chuckling)
(audience applauding)
Junior Julia Garcia, she
was the Orange County
and Section 9 Champion
in the Weight Throw,
and 3rd place in the New
York State Championships.
Julia Garcia, give her
a big round of applause.
(audience applauding)
Sophomore Olivia Hansen,
she was a Section 9
Champ in the 1500M Walk,
and I don't like to walk that
far on a normal occasion,
in a championship meet,
took 8th place in the State
Championships in the same event.
Sophomore Claire Kelly,
3rd place in the Orange
County Championships
in the 1000M and 1500M,
2nd place in the Section 9 Championships
in the 4x800M relay,
3rd place in the Section 9
Championships in the 1500M race,
7th place in the New York
State Public High School
Athletic Association
Championships in the 4x800M.
Sophomore Julia Samuelson,
she was Orange County
Champion in the 4x800M,
2nd place Section 9
Championships in the 4x800M,
2nd place Section 9
Championships in the 600M,
7th place in the State
Championships in the 4x800M.
Sophomore Ashley Hickman,
she was Orange County
Champion in the 4x800M,
she was the 2nd place Section
9 Championships in the 4x800M,
as well, and 7th place in
the State Championships.
Freshman Abigail Schewtschenko,
- Close enough.
- And I practiced that name
all day, the whole thing,
(audience chuckling)
Orange County Champion in
4x800M, and she was 2nd place
in the Section 9 Championships
in the 4x800M as well.
Junior Isabella Fabrizio,
she was an Orange County
Champion, and a Runner Up
in the Section 9 Championships
for the Shot Put.
Senior Liz Manderson,
she was 3rd place in the
Orange County Championships
in both the Weight Throw and the Shot Put.
Sophomore Lindsay Ward, she was 3rd place
in the Orange County
Championships in the 4x400M relay,
3rd place in Section 9
Championships in the High Jump.
Senior Sydney Hunt was 3rd place
in the Orange County
Championships in the 4x400M.
Junior Breeana Guild,
she was 3rd place in the 4x400M as well,
and my apologies if I
misspelled your name,
and I corrected when I
made my revisions here,
so my apologies for that.
And sophomore Elana Teague,
she is 3rd place also
in the Orange County Championships
for the 4x400M relay.
The girls won the Division 3 Champions.
They were the Orange County Champions.
They were the Section 9 Champions.
And they were the New York
State Public High School
Athletic Association
Scholar-Athlete Team Award winners.
That's your girls indoor track.
(audience applauding)
For the last, but not least,
I want to acknowledge our
competition cheerleaders.
While there aren't many
individual awards that go out,
I did want to recognize
their team accomplishments.
4th place at the
Monroe-Woodbury Invitational.
3rd place at the Indian Rumble.
2nd place at the Pine Bush Invitational.
And 3rd place in the
Section 9 Championships.
They were also the New York
State Public High School
Team Scholar-Athlete Award winners.
That is our winter sports award winners.
(audience applauding)
- That is amazing, thank you,
and congratulations to all the athletes.
That is an amazing list,
an amazing group of people.
And again, thank you.
You are all welcome to stay
for the rest of the meeting.
(chuckling)
Just in case you were wondering.
Do you have anything.
- No, I'm just waving bye.
- Oh, oh, okay.
(audience applauding)
- Thanks for being here.
- I'll stay.
- All right, Tom.
Stay up front.
(Tom speaking faintly)
There you go. (chuckling)
Bye.
- All right, this brings
us to new business.
The Consent Agenda.
Is there any member wish to
vote on any item separately?
- No.
- Okay, then it's recommended
that the Board of Education
approve the following Consent Agenda
as submitted by the
Superintendent of Schools,
items two through ten, do I have a motion?
- So moved.
- Second.
- All those in favor?
- [Together] Aye.
- Any opposed, any abstentions?
Thank you.
- Now I have something.
- Yes.
- Yes, I would like to
introduce to our Board,
Breeana Quinones, Breeana,
if you could please stand.
Breeana will be replacing Tom Bushey
as the new Clerk/Typist at
Cornwall Elementary School.
As you know, we stole Tom
from Lee Road, and in fact,
Tom's probably here taking
photos, tonight, Tom.
Well I guess he only does
the important things,
but Bree, on the other
hand, is very important,
and will be a great addition to Lee Road.
She has a B.A. from the Culinary Arts,
the Culinary Institute of America,
where she concentrated in Baking.
What a great skill for a secretary
to have on Friday Bake Day.
Bree has great experience as
an administrative assistant
for a packaging company
and an attorney's office,
where she was a receptionist
and a computer aide.
We look forward to working with Bree,
and I know she will
add a great personality
and great skill to CES,
congratulations, Bree.
(audience applauding)
- Welcome.
- I don't think I see
anybody else, am I wrong?
Nope, that's it then.
I mean, I see other people,
I'm just saying anybody else on the list.
- Rachel.
- Mr. Miller.
- Mr. Miller, Rachel.
- Rachel is here.
- Oh, Rachel.
(crowd chuckling)
I did not recognize you out
of my confines of our offices.
- That's Brianna.
- Well, this is Rachel Fischer.
- That's Brianna.
- [Brianna] Brianna Lewis.
- Brianna Lewis?
- [Brianna] Yes.
- She's over there.
- I haven't seen Brianna
for almost a year,
so I didn't recognize, I'm
sorry, but I'm ready for ya.
Let's go with Rachel first.
Rachel Fischer is going
to be a Spanish Teacher
at the Middle School.
Rachel comes to us from SUNY
New Paltz with a Masters Degree
in Teacher Adolescent Education Spanish,
a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish,
and a Bachelor of Science Degree
in Communication and Public Relations.
She studied abroad
in both the Universidad de
Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain,
and at the Spanish Language
Institute in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
She has been a leave replacement
in both the Middle School
and High School in
Rhinebeck since January,
and will begin her career
with us in September.
We are thrilled to have someone
so accomplished and skilled
working with our students,
and look forward to your
long and wonderful career
here in Cornwall, congratulations Rachel.
(audience applauding)
And last but not least, Brianna Lewis,
5th grade ELA teacher
at the Middle School.
Brianna is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz,
and she has worked as a substitute teacher
for Cornwall and Monroe-Woodbury,
as a teaching assistant
at Monroe-Woodbury,
and as a 6th grade leave replacement
at Cornwall Central Middle
School for us since October.
And she has done a wonderful job.
She has great knowledge of STEAM,
Best Practices in Writing,
Differentiated Instruction,
and she always shows great
poise and professionalism.
She has become a very big part
of the Cornwall Central Middle
School faculty and staff.
We are so pleased to
have Brianna with us now,
in a probationary position,
and we wish you the very best
on your career here in Cornwall,
congratulations Brianna.
(audience applauding)
- Okay.
- All right.
- Correspondence and Reports, Margaret.
- So at the last Orange County
School Boards Association meeting,
there was a really great presentation
by an architecture firm that specializes
in learning design and
redevelopment of different spaces
into really fantastic learning spaces.
And then there was also discussion
about the upcoming BOCES
retiree recognition dinner,
which is on June 5th in Warwick.
So, great presentation
all across the board,
and I'm looking forward to the dinner.
- All right, and it's not
just the BOCES retirees.
- Oh, all of them.
- It's honoring all the board
members across the County
that are retiring.
- Sorry, with BOCES, my bad.
- Within the BOCES, yeah
- Yeah, all the District board employees.
- All the District's.
- Gotcha.
- Gotcha.
Mr. Miller.
- Yes, I,
(chuckling)
Wow.
- So Jason and Kate and Mark.
- Kate and Jason, wow.
- And Mark.
- Oh, Mark's back there.
Whoo, we've got a crowd
now, that is amazing.
- I think it's an all time low.
- I don't think in my six years here
we have had a more sparse crowd.
- It's a busy time of the year.
- I guess, I guess, maybe
they're all at Lee Road,
I don't know, but I'd first
like to say to the Board
that our spring concerts
have just been remarkable
this year, this spring.
Our musical talent is extraordinary.
Our teachers have created
these incredibly entertaining
and high level concerts,
and I think if you've been
to any of them this year,
you know how proud we are
because it was sensational.
I know the Middle Schools
are coming up after
this next little break.
Now last week I sent
you this in my update,
but I was very pleased
that the State came out with
its lowest cost per pupil,
and Cornwall again is
number one in lowest cost
in the OU BOCES School
Districts, or Orange County,
and we're number 127 in
the State, which ranks us
out of 669 total districts, in the top 19%
of the lowest cost per
pupil school districts.
What's amazing this year
is that we have never had
more distance between us
and the second place school,
Pine Bush, we were 127 in
the State, they're 199,
they're in the top 30%,
we were in the top 19%,
and no other districts in our county
were even in the top third.
In fact in our 18 districts,
10 of them were in the bottom half,
the bottom 50% of the state
in terms of lowest cost per pupil.
So this is quite an accomplishment.
We have, interestingly enough,
I've got the data here.
We haven't always been
the lowest cost per pupil,
and back in 2006, as far
back as I could find,
we were 6th in our
county, 2007 we were 5th,
2008 we were 4th, 2009 we were 3rd,
and we finally got the lowest
cost per pupil in 2010.
Now we did have one out of the
eight of the last nine years,
one of those years Goshen
actually took first,
we were only $326 per student behind them,
compared to $1,510 per student this year.
So that is just a phenomenal difference.
What I did, I thought
this was interesting,
I thought what if we were
just second in the county,
and we actually had $1,510 more per pupil.
So I multiplied that by
3,115 students that we have,
and if we were just second in the county,
we would have an additional
$4.7 million in our budget.
Can you imagine what
we could do with that.
And then I thought,
what about the average.
What if we were just an average
district in Orange County.
The average is, and I
took out Kiryas Joel,
because they're the highest
cost per pupil in the state,
at at $146,000, and I also took out Tuxedo
because they were the 12th
highest in the state at $56,000.
So I just took the remaining 16,
no not counting us, so the remaining 15,
and the average in the county is $26,664.
So that's $4,906 per pupil higher
than what we are this year.
So if you multiply that 3,115 students,
we would have an additional
$15.3 million in our budget.
Now think about that.
We could use more teachers
to reduce class size,
to offer more courses in our curricula.
We could outfit out schools
with the latest technology
and STEAM equipment.
We could hire an
elementary strings teacher.
We could field two
modified lacrosse teams.
And we could really focus
on the facility needs
that we have, if we just
were a little bit more.
But you know, we're not.
And because we're not,
it just shows that this
school board has had
the most responsible budgeting
over the last nine years
of any other school district,
and it's a real tribute
to our board to be able
to congratulate you
on the great job you've done.
You have represented the taxpayers.
And I've got a whole thing
here that I was going to say,
I do, I do, but I will keep
it private to our board,
and I'll send it to you in my
update, because there's no,
Kate, I'd like you to hear this, but.
(chuckling)
Ask me sometime, okay.
But honestly, there have been
some things in the newspaper
that are really disturbing
to me because they're,
it's not factual, it's very
damaging to our district.
It's a real attack, it has
been for the last two years,
and what I will show you is the
fact that none of it's true.
Because one of my favorite
maxims is without data,
you're just another
person with an opinion,
and I have the data, and
I will show you that data,
and it will show you that we are not only
a responsible board and a
successful school district
in terms of our student achievement,
we hover over everyone just immensely.
And that hasn't been really stated.
It's also been stated that we are not,
I'm not going to get into this,
but that community sport
has deteriorated drastically
since the current superintendent
took office in 2013.
And the data shows that
that is absolutely not true.
And I will just quickly say
that our tax levy increase
prior to my coming here,
the eight years prior,
was 4.22% tax levy increase.
Since I've been here it's 2.06%,
so we've cut it in more than half.
And the yes votes, before I
got here in those eight years,
the average was 61.2% on budget votes.
Since I've been here, it's 68.5.
Take away last year as sort of an anomaly
because there was a pretty
vicious attack on our district
which I think some people
believed, take that year away,
and our votes since I've
been here averaged 72.5,
compared to 61.2 before I got here.
So our support in our community
has not deteriorated
drastically, or anything close.
In fact it's really come up considerably,
and that's a real tribute to our board.
And I really thank you
for all you've done,
and I do have a lot more,
and I'll send that to you.
Thank you.
- Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Our student representatives report,
now Jessica's here all alone today.
Greg is at his sister's
graduation from medical school,
as is his father, so, Jessica.
- Good news from Willow Avenue.
Willow began the month of May
with our 3rd and 4th grade students
demonstrating their strong math skills
on the New York State Assessments.
Congratulations to our
students for putting forth
their best effort and for
persevering on this years exams.
Our 4th grade combined spring concert,
with Cornwall-on-Hudson,
was a highlight this month.
Our students gave a
memorable concert performance
in every area, and their
hard work was evident.
Thank you to Ms. Macri and Mrs. Suby
for helping our students to shine.
Additionally, Mrs. Mires showcased
our students' visual arts talent
by displaying recent drawings
in the lobby of the CCHS.
Thank you to everyone who
has supported our students.
On the 14th and 15th, our
grade 4 students walked
to the Sands Ring Homestead.
Our students learned about
what life was like in the home
during the colonial period
and the history of the house.
A special thank you goes out
to our Willow PTO parents
who showered our staff
with great appreciation
during Teacher Appreciation Week.
And good news from COH.
The PTO held its annual Talent
Show on Friday, May 3rd.
There were 27 acts involving
more than 50 students.
Each act was extremely polished,
and the audience was
thoroughly entertained.
Thank you to the PTO,
Mrs. Hoyt, and Mrs. Gioia
for putting the show together.
COH hosted the assembly,
NED's Kindness Adventure,
on Friday, May 3rd.
The performance was designed
to inspire the students at COH
to be kind-hearted and caring.
The children and adults
were thoroughly entertained.
On May 9th, the COH PTO hosted
their annual Spring Fling.
4th grade students from all
three elementary schools
gathered behind COH,
participated in many field games,
and played on the new playground.
Over 120 4th grade students attended.
A good time was had by all.
Cornwall-on-Hudson and Willow
Avenue Elementary Schools
held their annual combined spring concert
at the high school on May 14th.
Students held a dress
rehearsal performance
for the district 3rd graders
on the morning of the concert,
and then did a repeat performance
for a packed house that evening.
Both performance were outstanding.
Thank you to Mrs. Suby and Ms. Macri.
The 4th grade students were very busy
during the week of May 13th to 17th.
They visited Sands Ring and learned
about local history and customs.
They made a trip to the
Phenology Trail at Black Rock
to study the forest's ecosystems,
and then they participated
in many invigorating and challenging
team-building activities
at Rocking Horse Ranch.
This week it will be back to work
as they will be participating
in the New York State
Science Performance Test
on Wednesday May 22nd.
Good news from CES.
This month has been a whirlwind at CES.
4th grade visits to the Middle School,
overnights for 3rd grade at Black Rock,
1st grade went to the
Storm King Art Museum,
and there has been an endless stream
of STEAM activities for all.
Many students qualified for
the Read A Lot Luncheons
and the Reflex Math luncheons
by meeting their goals.
The 4th grade Concert and Art Show
held at the high school
was truly wonderful.
Congrats to all.
Our PTO planned and
provided an amazing luncheon
for all the staff that
was greatly appreciated
and thoroughly enjoyed.
We are looking forward
to the last six weeks of school
and the many fun learning experiences
with our friends at CES.
And good news from the Middle School.
The Middle School has
received the designation
of a No Place For Hate Gold Star School
from the Anti-Defamation League.
The Middle School began
the program in the fall
with the start of a No
Place for Hate Committee.
This committee worked throughout the year
to identify activities which
would combat bias and bullying
as a means to stop the escalation of hate.
No Place for Hate is a
self-directed program
helping all of the
stakeholders take the lead
on improving and
maintaining school climate
so all students can thrive.
The committee will continue
its work in the fall
to maintain the designation
and invite parents,
students and community
members to participate
Last week 8th grade students took part
in the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The CCMS 8th graders had
the distinct privilege
of welcoming the Holocaust
Museum and Center for Tolerance.
Students worked in a breakout session
on resilience and understanding
the impact of the Holocaust
and then listened to speaker Paul Galland.
It was an incredibly
educational and moving day.
CCMS 8th graders depart for Boston
very early Wednesday morning.
We wish everyone safe
travels and a wonderful trip.
And finally, good news
from the High School.
As students look towards
the end of the year,
May has brought lots of
exciting events for CCHS.
To kick off the month, May
1st was Destination Day
where seniors proudly wore
their plans for the future,
and teachers their alma maters.
AP exams ended last week,
leaving many juniors and seniors
very relieved and happy.
Junior prom was this past
Friday at The Meadowbrook Inn.
Juniors enjoyed a fun night to
the theme of a starry night.
In the fields and on the
track, our spring sports team
are finishing strong.
Boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse
had their senior nights last night,
both winning their games.
The softball team is set to
have their senior night tomorrow
and had a resilient season
after losing some of their key players.
In golf, Brandan Geddes and Gannon Yarmus
are set to compete at Sections tomorrow.
Gannon was also awarded
the Chuck Reynolds Memorial
Sportsmanship Award,
which is given to only two
seniors in the county every year.
On the courts, boys tennis
finished their season
with a new streak.
Will Webber and Gurv Suri placed 1st
in the County Doubles Tournament,
and Dan Leach secured 3rd place
in the Singles Tournament.
Five boys, which for tennis is basically
half of their lineup, are
set to compete at Sections.
Boys and girls outdoor track and field
secured their division titles once more,
and the girls team was also
named County Champions.
Both teams are set to race
in the upcoming weekends
at Sections, State Quals, and States.
On the musical front,
the CCHS Music Department
had their spring concert
series this month.
All the ensembles performed an awesome
and well done variety of music.
And it was a bittersweet
farewell for all of our seniors.
This past Saturday, the
concert choir, jazz band,
and orchestra brought their
repertoire to Dorney Park,
Music in the Parks.
They performed their pieces for a judge
and got to have some fun on
rides for the rest of the day.
All three ensembles were
awarded a superior rating,
which is the highest possible rating,
with special recognition
for an outstanding vocalist,
Jessica Henry, and an outstanding
accompanist, Jade Lee,
and the choir.
Next week will feature
the String Showcase,
and a visit to the elementary schools
to show the 3rd graders all the
fun choices for instruments.
Our visual artists have
been hard at work too.
Seniors Victoria Sands, Jessica
Bartle, Odessa Pattinoss
Justina Guglielmetti and Julia Schurmann
presented their beautiful portfolios
in art shows these past Friday afternoons.
Congrats to all four on
four years of amazing work.
As the school year winds down,
CCHS is gearing up for final exams,
and buzzing with the good energy
that comes with the finally warm weather.
- Well thank you.
You need a drink of water?
(chuckling)
There is another school that
I think I'm going to interject
at this point that a lot
of our students go to.
And on May 15th, there are a
number of our BOCEs students
were inducted into National
Technical Honor Society.
So I think that's a good news.
Orlean De Brieux,
Brian Banks,
Jordan Brisman, Nicholas Kehoe,
Bradley Schewtschenko, well close enough.
Bruce Torres, that's it, thank you.
And I just thought that
that was another good news,
that we have a number of students
in that National Technical Honor Society.
- Larry?
- Yes.
- Could we just go back,
I just have a question
on one thing that Neal said.
That report that he was going to do,
and he's not going to send it out today,
is this gonna be on the
board website, Neal?
- I think I'll just, I'll
just send it to the board.
- Well, you were going to present it
to everybody here though, tonight,
if there were more people.
Well why shouldn't you just.
- Because the information
is really for the board.
Yeah, I was gonna say
it in a public setting,
but I don't know that--
- Well don't you think
that Cornwall Local would want to see it?
- I don't know.
- Well, all the news is fit.
If you've got an argument,
I think it sounds like a strong one,
but I think we should release
it to the Cornwall Local.
- Well I'll discuss it
with Larry, and then see,
and then we'll make a decision.
- Okay.
- Committee Reports.
The Handbook Committee has done its job.
The Communications, Outreach and SBAC,
I'm gonna have Nancy do that one, please.
- Okay, so it's really Outreach and SBAC
because Communications got absorbed
into the Outreach Committee.
We hosted two budget forums May 11th,
here at the Middle
School in the cafeteria,
and then May 18th in the
afternoon at the library.
Attendance was very, very
light, but very good.
We got some really good
questions from the community.
It was board members running the forum,
and it was more of an informal
question and answer period.
And it was well received.
One of the things that we did hear,
and that we know the
community liked last year,
and we're hoping that Outreach
can certainly bring this back
in the coming year,
is to have more of these
informal discussions,
and the library seemed to
be a very popular place
to have that, and the library
was willing to accommodate us
having their community room as
everybody's schedule allowed.
So that's gonna be moving forward.
So we did have some interesting comments,
and we are in the process
of following up anything
that we were not able to provide
very specific answers to,
but it was a good dialogue.
Information was handed out,
and a good time was had by all.
- Thank you, Nancy.
- Policy Committee, I understand
that Mr. Miller, you have some good news.
- Yes, after about four, maybe five years,
we have had our district experts review
each and every word in
each and every policy
presented to our Policy Committee,
and we've made some
modifications, some edits,
and made these policies fit Cornwall.
And it has taken a long time
because it was a very detailed
process, intentionally.
And finally, each and
every one of our policies
that we've reviewed
and edited and modified
are now with NYSSBA,
and it is now their turn to
review what we have done,
get those back to us, and
they'll come back with some notes
and things that they would suggest.
We'll talk about it again
as a Policy Committee,
and at that point, as a Policy Committee,
we'll determine how we get
those out to our full board,
and it won't be this
year, which was my hope.
But hopefully early next year
we will have a brand new set
of brand new board policies.
- Early next school year.
- Next school year, yes.
- Yes.
(chuckling)
Okay, thanks Neal.
Facilities, Nancy?
- Okay, very briefly, no
minutes were available
because the Facilities
Committee just actually met
prior to this meeting.
So I will put minutes together
that will be available
for the board to look at
before the next meeting.
But we just had a very brief
update of where we're at.
Some of the information had been shared
with the board before as
far as some capital projects
that are gonna need to be done.
Some brief updates as
far as what the architect
has been doing, and then
the Facilities Committee
will meet again on June 18th,
and that is on the calendar,
prior to the next board meeting,
with a presentation from
CS Arch to the Committee.
And that's kind of where
we're at at this time.
- Thank you.
Anything on the Safety Committee?
- Safety Committee will hope
to set a meeting date in June.
- John, do you have anything
for the Audit Committee.
- To the Audit Committee's
next meeting is June 3rd,
which I believe is an hour or two
before the next board meeting.
Hopefully at that meeting the
Committee will work through
some items and be able to make
a more formal presentation
to the board on those
items, some recommendations,
in regard to the external
auditor's focus, I mean,
the internal auditor's focus
as well as the upcoming
external audit, in brief,
that we're having on the 3rd.
And there's a study that
we're currently reviewing
the data on that we may be able to come
to the full board next meeting on.
So we have some stuff.
Thanks.
- Thank you.
At the Candidates Forum,
and thank you to the
PTO for putting that on,
there was a statement was made,
there was a question from
the audience that was read
that referred to a dramatic
drop in student enrollment.
It hit a couple of us funny,
and John called me afterwards
and asked if he could do
a little research on that.
And I said, sure.
So John, would you take it away.
- Thank you, Larry.
So just to review, I think
the question cited a report,
an enrollment projection
report, that was I think
commissioned by the board
at some point, maybe 2016.
And it was conducted by Dr. Seversky,
who I believe is affiliated with Cornell,
but in what capacity I'm not sure.
I think he was doing this
an independent consultant
using his own time and the like.
And anyhow, as Larry mentioned,
this came up at the Forum.
The question basically cited
this report, and I kinda went,
oh, that's interesting, I
don't remember a lot of fanfare
being done about that report
when it either came out,
or in the year that followed,
as there was some discussions
about the capital project and all.
So I went in and looked at the report,
and I was somewhat
surprised to see what I saw.
And so, as Larry just
mentioned, I kind of said,
let me do a deeper dive on
this, I want to understand,
one, the background,
how'd this come to be,
two, the purpose of it, and
three, what does it mean
for us today, since two years has passed
since this doctor actually
submitted his findings,
I believe, to the board, and
that was maybe March of 2017.
- Yep.
- Is that, okay,
I'm getting some more
stats on that, that's good,
that's comforting to see.
So anyhow, there's a deck
that I kind of prepared,
in the spirit of transparency,
and it's called, for
lack of a better term,
review of the 2017
enrollment projection study.
So let me jump right ahead,
what I'm gonna do is
cover four basic items.
I'm gonna delve a little bit deeper
into the purpose of the study
as it was written in the study.
For those who were on
the board at the time,
please correct me, or correct the record.
This is basically what
the doctor had to say,
whether that was true or
not remains to be seen.
Then I'm gonna get into
what the original
enrollment projections were,
and that's K through 12.
Then I'm gonna look at the,
talk you through the actual
performance of his forecast
in the two years that have
actually since followed.
And then I'm going to
offer a layman's attempt
at what I call here,
recalibrating the forecast,
correcting some of the errors.
I used some mathematical
tricks from the trade.
I used to oversee a
model validation group,
so I'm pretty comfortable with
models at a very high level.
Those that are more stochastic in nature
than something that's
based on historical data,
but historicals are very easy I think.
It's kind of like dealing with stuff
at the high school level
as opposed to at the graduate level.
But anyhow, so I did a quick attempt
at recalibrating the forecast,
basically correcting
what I saw was the error
in his assumptions as
it pertains specifically
to enrollment K through
four, because in his study,
K through 4 basically is the
most critical success data
that he projects to determine
what the final enrollment will be.
And since the horizon of
the study was over 10 years,
if you're wrong in the
beginning, you're likely gonna be
really, really wrong in the end,
because these errors kind of compound,
and so for just the
purpose of full disclosure,
I basically did a means
squared error function
to basically bring back his
estimates of K through four
to what we actually have experienced
over the last two years.
So anyhow, so I'm gonna jump
ahead to slide number three.
And let me just talk quickly
about what his declining
enrollment findings were.
He basically had three scenarios.
He called one a high range scenario,
a mid range scenario,
and a low range scenario.
The high range scenario,
interestingly, his word choice
was kind of counterintuitive for me,
his high was that we'd
have a higher enrollment.
The low range would be lower enrollment.
And the mid range you
would think is kind of like
the middle of the road, but
as I went through the data,
and actually, Peter brought it up earlier,
that in his study, the
first couple of years,
the mid range was actually the high range.
And so, I'm not gonna
look in the mirror and say
I don't know if that
was discussed in 2017,
but when you see something
like that in a study,
that should be kind of like a red flag.
And say, how'd you get
there, doctor, you know,
because it doesn't resonate.
And so he was manipulating
numbers and coefficients
in a way based on the stated variables.
There's no algorithms,
so i don't actually know
what the model was that he used.
He mentioned variables,
but he used it in an unscientific way,
if I could be fair, and I don't
mean to put the good doctor,
or berate him at all, I'm just
saying if he were here today,
I'd be having a very long
winded Q and A with him
to understand how he got to where he did.
But anyhow, so the high
range decrease in enrollment
over that 10 year span was 17%.
Just to give you and idea of
what that kind of represents
for the district, that's
just under about 500 pupils
from what we currently have.
So reducing the size of
the K through 12 population
to about 2,600.
The mid range he had down 22%,
which is just about 600 odd.
And the low range, he
projected to be about 25%,
which is just about 900.
So that kind of reduces
the student population
to about 2,300.
And you kind of wonder, at those levels,
is the district scalable with
its current kind of program,
in terms of head count, FTE, teachers,
a lot of questions come up.
So maybe I can get into
some of those questions
at a later day, but anyhow, I
think it's important to know
that that's the significance
of what his findings were,
that we're gonna be almost
900 kids less in 10 years
than we are today, and
it's all predicated,
basically, on what he said was gonna be
the declining K through four population,
and it would start immediately.
And so you see some of
my bullet points here,
how he used the demographic information
from the New York State Health Department,
that was based on birth rates,
believe it or not, locally.
I'm not sure how he sourced
that, and what he called local.
Hopefully it wasn't just
the Cornwall Hospital.
My daughter wasn't born
at the Cornwall Hospital,
no ill words to Cornwall Hospital,
but she was born somewhere
else, so I'm not sure, again,
not to dive deep into his study,
but there are a lot of questions
that need to probably
be asked at some point.
This additional kindergarten
class enrollment
versus the total school
district enrollment
basically became like a
survival thing for him,
and I just sit back and I go,
it's using guesses on
historical information,
and correlations that someone should know,
do not pass the test
of time, things change.
And basically, in the world
of math, this study had,
what I'll call a huge epsilon factor,
and as I'm sure Jessica knows,
epsilon is another term for error.
So, anyhow, it was cited as
the purpose of this study,
was to provide a tool
to help school district
decision making and strategic planning.
I think that's a very
commendable objective,
and use of a study.
Now whether this is the
study with which to perform
strategic planning and
decision making solely on,
hopefully we don't rely on just one study,
we kind of look at things
through different lenses
and different perspectives
to formulate a more
informed basis of fact.
But anyhow, he also mentioned
that there's this regulation,
Section 155.1, which requires
boards and school districts
to perform long-range planning
of program requirements,
pupil capacity of existing
facilities, and a plan for repair
and modernization of facilities,
and or provision for additional facilities
to support the delivery of
the program K through 12.
Well that's great.
I think that goes into this whole notion
that you should look at
your enrollment projections
and see what you have is sufficient or not
to deal with what may come
over the next five to 10 year horizon,
however you define your
strategic planning horizon.
And the last thing he
said was he recommended
that the BOE review this annually.
I'm not sure if this actually
was reviewed last year by the board,
but I would suggest that,
I guess we're doing it now.
Okay, so let's go right into
what I said were his projections,
this is on slide or page four.
A very simple chart here.
The X axis is time,
from 2017 through 2026.
The Y axis on both the
left and the right side
is just enrollment population.
I cut it off at 2,300 because
that's kind of the lower bound
of what he was suggesting,
so you get an idea of
the difference in scale.
And the upper bound I had
is 3,300, which is what,
about 100 or so short of
what I think where we've been
for this school year, anyhow.
So there you get to see 17% down,
22% down in that orange
line, and the red line,
obviously, which is red
for a reason, is down 25%.
Okay, so let's fast
forward to the next page,
which is five, which is
the forecast performance.
And so how I did this is I
represented our actual numbers
by the green column.
I then took his forecast,
and his high forecast,
which is supposed to be
the high enrollment number,
that's in yellow.
His mid range forecast,
which is supposed to be in the middle,
is the orange column.
And in red is the low range,
the most severe decline in enrollment.
So for 2017, he basically projected
that at worst the low range,
we were gonna have about a 5% reduction
in student population in that one year,
which is pretty big if you ask me.
I'm not sure how he came to that number.
And then at the high
range he had it at 4.1,
and the mid range, and this
is something Peter was talking
to me about earlier, it was
2.9, and actually, I don't think
anyone would ever question the study
if you saw that 2.9 on the high range,
and the 4.1 in the mid range.
But just by having those
numbers kind of reversed,
or it kind of goes, what's that about.
But numbers can do that.
When you start projecting things
and you're looking at
one specific scenario,
you can make these types of estimates.
Normally you apply some
type of adjustment factor,
to correct for that.
I'm not saying he didn't,
but it's something that stands out.
But the bottom line is
that he overestimated
the decline in the first year,
which is normally the most accurate year
of any forecast, by 3%.
And then when you project that
going out another 10 years,
or another nine years in this
case, that gets magnified.
So it doesn't just stay at 3%,
it actually compounds per year,
and as a result, you get some
really wacky numbers, maybe.
I don't have a crystal
ball, but all I can tell you
is that in 2017, which should
be his most accurate year,
he was off, by a lot.
A lot of probably good reasons for that--
- John, can I jump in, can I just ask you
a real quick question, ENRS,
what does that stand for?
After the actual decline, 1.9%, 62 ENRS.
- That's a, enrolled students.
- Oh, okay.
I thought it was some
kind of cool data thing.
- So 62, that's the number of
students that you would lose.
- John, do we have any
comparison to what's going on
with Cornwall, the Town of Cornwall,
and the County of Orange in general,
in terms of population
reduction in general.
- We actually, if you received
your State School Board's
Association Newspaper,
I got mine in the mail
today, there's actually
an entire article about the whole state.
And the population in Orange County,
there's several counties
that are going up.
And Orange County is,
but it didn't break it
down by communities.
So that would be interesting
to see how that breakdown goes.
- So Peter's question, I don't have that,
but I think that kind of
information could be easily--
- Yeah, it would just
be interesting to see
how it correlates with
the county population
or the town population in general
to the student population,
you'd think there would
be some correlation.
- Well, you know, I think everyone agrees
that Cornwall is somewhat of
an oasis and a special place,
and just what we saw
happen in the kindergarten
and the 2nd grade in the
last two years suggest
that if you're starting a
family, and you have young kids,
you're somehow finding
Cornwall on your list of places
to come to and live,
which I think is really
good news for everybody.
So the notion that people are leaving,
I'm not gonna say that's not true,
but they're not leaving at a rate
that should cause us any
kind of concern or panic,
at least from what I've seen here,
when I compare the--
- Well, when we, right.
- And again, this guy's
study is really focused
on K through four, and
he's using census data,
birth rate data, and
kindergarten information
that we now have empirical data
that suggests that that didn't happen.
Now it may be because he
needed a couple more variables
to throw into his model to get right,
i.e., there's unexplained reasons for it.
It may be because property
values in Cornwall
actually did go up, I don't know.
But anyhow, so make a long story short,
there was a big mis-estimate, in my view,
in terms of the enrollment decline
that everyone's talking about.
And I know everyone loves
to have fun with numbers,
and here's my attempt to
have fun with these numbers.
So the high range is
overestimated in my view
by over 213%.
The mid range, 150%, the low range, 235%.
From a mathematical modeling perspective,
again, I used to do
this, I had teams of PhDs
that worked for me when I
was a chief risk officer,
these would not be acceptable.
People would be, people
would have explaining to do.
Anyhow, I understand
population is a lot different
than equity and financial
markets, interest rates and all,
which are more stochastic in nature,
this is more historical, but
to be this wrong this soon
suggests that the conclusions that he made
probably aren't really that worthwhile.
Anyhow, again, this model's reliance
on historical relationships,
in my view is the real cause of the miss.
So let's go and look at chart number six,
which is the forecast
performance actual per grade year
to what he projected.
And this is actual for
'17, actual for '18,
against his forecast for '17 and '18,
and you can sse, the
dark green is for '17,
actual, the light green
I used for 2018 actual.
And then his forecasts
are in orange and yellow.
And I believe for the purpose of this,
I was using the mid range
just as a point of reference.
So you can see that kindergarten,
he overestimated the decline sizeably.
1st grade kind of by the
end of 2018, or this year,
it's kind of even.
2nd grade, huge spike in '17.
Now we're kind of even a
little bit with the 2nd grade.
3rd grade had a big spike
where actually the population
increased, it didn't decline,
and now we're in line
with what he has, where
before, not the case.
And yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.
And so if you go to the next slide,
which is on page seven,
this is the mid range, and
it shows on the column,
it's a combined chart.
The column is in green, and
that's actual enrollment.
The red line is his mid range forecast.
And the blue line is my
attempt to re-forecast
or recalibrate his model to fit the data
that we know from 2017 and '18,
and you can see that just by doing that,
that simple mathematical manipulation,
the enrollment decline was 12%.
Now at some point we can talk about
the significance of 12%, or 22%,
but I just wanted to show that
that the errors that are
embedded in the study,
they compound over time,
and it really reduces
the effectiveness of the forecast for use
in strategic planning, decision
making, blah, blah, blah,
in my expert opinion, and
albeit it, I'm not an educator.
- And the two years since
this report came out,
there is a major construction
in our school district
of two and three bedroom apartments.
- But that doesn't include,
that's not part of this.
- That's what I'm saying.
No, that's what I'm saying.
So if we're looking at this,
this did not include any of that,
and there's another development going in
across from the high school,
going up in that area by the--
- Meadowbrook.
- - The Meadowbrook.
So I'm just saying that--
- If I'm hearing you, John,
you illustrate the 12% versus
the 22%, you're just saying,
even your 12% could be off by a degree,
so making 6% true.
- I'm just fitting data.
- Yeah.
- I'm fitting his model
to the actual data.
- Right.
- And that's just a simple
mathematical manipulation.
- Well what I'm saying is he didn't even--
- I'm not trying to reinvent his model
because I don't get paid to do that.
- He didn't even have
that data either, so--
- Oh no, he did.
- Not about the new--
- Well that's not a variable,
well, he says it's a variable
because he actually talked to Gary Vincent
who's the building permit guy in town,
but I think that's all anecdotal,
it's not mathematical based,
because I don't know how
you would generate a model
to figure out that to
any degree of certainty.
- Right.
- Definitely not to a
90% confidence interval,
which is what my means
squared error routine did,
which is I tried to get this
to 90% confidence level,
figured I'd be a A in
most people's classes.
Anyhow, so what's the headline,
is that by just correcting the model
to the last two years worth
of actual enrollment data,
and in full disclosure,
I used the beginning of
the year's enrollment
because that's what you're
actually planning for I guess.
People come and go, but
I looked at it by class,
I cut, sliced and diced
this data a whole bunch
of different ways to manipulate it,
but I said, hey, just started to,
how many people did you have
at the beginning of the year,
and just tried to keep it clean.
Bottom line is, I
reduced the error by 55%,
just by a simple mathematical calculation.
All right, so slide or
chart on page eight.
So here is the forecast, his
study versus my re-forecast,
and you can see my range is
minus eight in the high end,
minus 12 mid range, minus 15 low range.
His low range was minus
25%, basically 50%,
I basically corrected his,
and I shouldn't use the term corrected,
I reduced the error in his
model, and by doing that,
reduced the decline in over 50%
in all these different scenarios,
that are his scenarios, not mine.
I would have probably done it differently.
Okay, so where does that
take now that you've heard me
rant and rave about this issue.
I think as a board we should assess
the significance of this.
Obviously, it's in the public
domain that this study,
there's some credence to it.
I think we should assess the
study and its performance
versus its original intent.
And then I think, as we assess it,
then we should decide
on what we want to do.
And I'll offer, there's
always four strategies
that I like to apply, I
call them the four Ts,
but I'm only going to talk
about three of those Ts today.
The first one is tolerate.
There's a condition, you don't like it,
you could always tolerate,
say, yeah, so what,
I'm not going to correct it
right now, I'll let it slide.
That's a perfectly acceptable
strategy sometimes,
depending on the situation.
Another strategy is to
treat, and treat in this case
I would say recommissioning the study
with looking at maybe improving the model,
or at least fitting the model
to the actual data that we now have.
And then the third strategy
that we might be willing to
follow would be to terminate,
which is just to cease all
rhetoric and discussion
on this issue of trying
to project enrollments.
I have a strong opinion of
which of these strategies
we should employ, but let
me just stop there and say,
are there any questions or comments
as it pertains to what
I've just discussed.
- I want to just make the point
that I made at the Candidates Forum,
and that's where, in his, and I found my,
the whole demographic study,
I resurrected the whole document there,
and so the projected building
projects that were going on
did not include those from
the town in New Windsor,
and so for whatever reason,
New Windsor did not disclose,
at the time that was going
on, the apartment complex.
So we have all the Cornwall
ones that were in there
but not New Windsor, and I
don't know if anything else
was planned at the time in New Windsor,
or was going forward, that
was not included in that.
That's just the point I want to make,
is the difference between New Windsor and,
I know we know that,
I'm not telling anybody
anything we don't know,
there's a difference
between New Windsor and
the Town of Cornwall,
and Cornwall-on-Hudson, so I
think that if there's a way
to get better information, I don't know,
but that was not disclosed to us
until a few months
afterwards, and I remember
we all were in shock
when we found that out,
that that was not part of the study.
- Id like to thank you
for being a data freak.
- A what?
- A data freak.
I think you did a marvelous job.
- I've been called a lot of things, Larry,
but I take offense to that.
(chuckling)
- And you obviously enjoy doing this--
- No, I don't.
- Well, it certainly seemed
like it, but thank you.
That was something that
come up and struck me
during the Forum that was not right,
from what we'd been experiencing,
and we're not experiencing
a dramatic decrease.
I would not be surprised, I mean,
our current kindergarten
enrollment for next year
is moving along rather robustly.
- I want to say that that
might actually be an increase,
and a return to like pre-2012 numbers.
- Yeah, 'cause we were, back
before the building bust,
we were one of two
districts that were growing
in the county, so it is possible
that we could end up going back that way.
Any other questions?
- Well are we having a
discussion about what to do,
or are we just setting this aside.
I mean, obviously, even
with John's corrections,
we're still gonna be in a
decreasing mode of population,
which reflects the entire
experience of the northeast,
actually northeast is losing population,
and they had an article in the Times
that said that other than
parts of the Hudson Valley
and Saratoga County, the rest of the state
is really losing population.
So I think it behooves us, to
maybe we should retreat this,
I don't know, Neal, is
the document still around,
this original study?
- I do not know.
- Okay, I guess you
commissioned it, though right?
You commissioned this original study.
- I think the board did.
- Well I think Neal found
somebody and write the report,
is my recollection.
- So we had known
somebody who had, I think,
done this previously.
- Yeah, where he'd done
something like that.
Well I think it's good to
see if he, or somebody else,
can give us a better shot at it,
using John's points and comments,
because we still need to be guided
by what the projections
of our population is.
And I don't know if it's going to
continue decreasing or not.
If it does, we have to think of ways
to be flexible and be
able to budget flexibly,
so we don't have things that are baked in,
so we can respond to any kind of change
in the population so that we are able
to be flexible in how
we treat our students,
and how we treat their education.
- I agree, and the nice part
about the way we do our budget,
which is a zero based budget,
is I believe that
flexibility is built into it.
We don't assume that
we're gonna do this year
what we did last year,
we take a look at it,
and for instance, if we
have very low enrollment
in certain courses, we
don't offer those course.
- Yeah, we're flexible.
- So that is something I
think that our administration
and the board takes very seriously,
and yearly does look at that.
So yes, I think you're correct,
we have to keep our eyes and ears open,
and continue to be as
flexible as possible.
Any other questions?
- Yeah Larry, I think that point, for me,
I love flexibility because
I think that's a good sign
of an adaptive organization,
and adaptive organization
is another term for adaptive organization
is a learning organization,
at least from my experience.
So what I think is more
important than flexibility
is scalability, in any business venture
that you find yourself in.
A lot of growth is great, but
I can tell you, growth kills.
And I'm sure that when the
law of 155.1 was put in place,
it was put in place not
because they were worried
about the declining enrollments,
they were worried about
growth in certain areas
that were just gonna destroy the value
that a school district was
providing its student population.
And I can tell you that
growth in any endeavor,
over 20% per year,
challenges any organization.
I don't care what it is.
It's replete with headache,
and you really have to strategically be
ahead of the curve on that.
So getting back to this
notion of flexibility,
I think scalability is the issue.
And maybe it would be good for us
to do some preliminary analysis
to figure out how scalable
is what we have today.
We have student population of
3,150, whatever, I'm not sure,
but we have class sizes
that are 25, in some cases
some classes are breaking at
the seams at the high school,
30 kids.
- Yeah.
- Any more growth is gonna challenge that,
similar to what we saw
the projected growth
this year in kindergarten,
we had to add an FTE, right,
I believe that's the case.
So anyhow, my point is how
scalable is what we built.
And at what point do we
have the break points.
Is it at 25%?
My sense is, just doing the quick math,
you lose 900 students,
I don't know how many teachers we have,
but you do the math, you're probably down
to a class size of 15
students per class on average,
not that I like to deal in averages
when it comes to education,
because every classroom is different,
but with that type of overhead,
we're not gonna be number
one in the district.
We are probably gonna be at
the bottom, or close to KJ,
in terms of the cost to the
taxpayer per pupil, right.
So just doing the simple math on that.
It would take us to about $40,000 I think,
and now we're at what, $21,000,
Neal, is that what you said.
Right, so maybe not to KJ, but--
- I was going to say, KJ
is a hundred and something thousand, so.
- But but still, we go--
- I understand
what you're saying, yes.
- We go from the--
- Absolutely.
- And I don't think
that would be considered
a scalable issue, and we'd
have to do something there.
But I would then argue
at 23 per class room,
that's probably better for the students,
it's better for the teacher,
it's probably better for everybody.
- Right, right.
- So I'd, you know, I'd like
to see some additional study
in trying to figure out
these scalable points,
just not etched in stone,
saying when this happens,
this happens, because I don't
believe in bright-line tests.
I know there's some
educators in this room.
I don't believe in bright-line tests.
I believe in being flexible.
But understanding when
certain things happen,
that's when we have to start
taking serious, our planning.
- As our elementary population shifted
between grade levels and what
not, I know as a district,
we shifted the teachers appropriately
to the appropriate grade level.
If we had less 2nd graders
but more 3rd graders,
we had less 2nd grade teachers,
we had more 3rd grade teachers.
So that is something that I know that--
- Right, so having those proactive steps
kind of memorialized and documented,
and so there is
transparency and visibility
and understanding
throughout the community,
I think would go a long way
to dealing with this issue
that seems to be, at the Forum it came up,
this notion of trust,
I'm not sure where
that's coming from still,
but the more we communicate
with the real data,
with the right information,
I think we've done our job
to put these things at bay.
Otherwise we're gonna be punching
air, and we're gonna lose.
- Well good, thank you.
- Anyhow, to that end, Larry,
is there something that we could do
in terms of these next steps,
in terms of making a decision tonight,
or is this too premature.
- I wouldn't want to
make decisions tonight,
on a first presentation.
I think it's something
we need to think about,
chew over, and then we can,
I'm uncomfortable making
decisions on anything
when somebody's first
showing it to me, so.
- My first knee-jerk reaction on this,
John, thank you so much for working
with all your obvious experience,
and something that my
eyes start to glaze over
when you get into a lot
of the different things,
which is great that you're somebody
who knows how to do this kind of stuff,
I would be interested in knowing,
from your experience as well,
what kind of additional parameters
you think would be good to be
added to a study like this,
to see if we could get something
that was kind of closer,
that would hit closer to the mark.
And I know that's hard to
do with historical data,
it's kind of,
but in his range forecast
that he had, he had one level
that was going back six
years historical data,
the other one went back
10 years historical data,
that's not, overlapping
that initial six years,
I didn't really understand
the difference in that
as far as, you know, if
you went back 10 years,
that upcoming six years was still
the same data you were looking at twice,
or whether or not you were
adding four years behind it.
And then kind of his use of,
now I won't use any of
the birth information,
I'm just going to go with historically
where we were for the last
five years and go forward.
So with your mathematical prowess, John,
I think it would be great,
I would nominate you
to look at some more stuff
to look at with this,
because again, if you can
come up with some models,
or something that would work.
- I think that might challenge
my independence on the board.
- I don't believe that in a
second, I don't believe that.
- I might have to charge
some serious dollars for that effort, no.
(chuckling)
- We'll give you a raise in salary.
- But look, I think,
and thank you Margaret,
that was very kind of you to say.
But look, in the report,
it cites six variables.
You've got them bulletized here.
My experience, if you have a variable,
it's a function, X, Y, Z, whatever.
And there's a coefficient
associated with that.
- Right, 'cause we're not like that.
- I didn't see his algorithm, so,
I saw some coefficients in
terms of the manipulation
of the K through four data,
but not the 12 or what is it,
the five through 12, I guess, yeah.
So I don't know if there's anything
that we could really do at this juncture,
short of just continuing to monitor this.
- I think that if nothing
else comes out of this.
- Which is kind of the tolerate,
and just kind of update
it, maybe in six months
when we get the next
year's enrollment data.
- And then see where we're going.
- And see how that compares.
And then at some point,
maybe recommission him,
or find other people
who do this for a living
to see how they may apply
more, I have to be careful,
a different parameter set.
- I think I may be reluctant
to recommission him.
- Right.
- What's that?
- I think I would be reluctant
to recommission the author.
- At some point I think you
want to reengage I think,
you just, if no other reason to show him
the data of the actual,
and get from him an
explanation of the miss.
- That's customer service,
right, to go back.
- Otherwise, it's a he said, she said.
But anyhow, I just throw it out there.
But I think at a minimum,
we should look at this in six months,
whenever the new enrollment
data is available.
And then do some comparative analytics.
- Over the years there have been many,
and not just for our
district, for other districts,
many different models and ways to predict
how many kids you're going
to have in a district.
And I can remember when Legacy
Ridge was being proposed,
and they were saying four bedroom homes
were going to give us,
if I'm remembering
correctly, 1.3 children.
And we went back to our
existing four bedroom homes
that we had, and they
were like 2.5 children.
And we kept telling
them, here's real data,
and they're saying, yeah,
but, there was a Rutgers study
back then, and then out of
Rutgers, out of New Jersey,
I'm not knocking Jersey, I grew up there,
so it wasn't a Jersey
knock, but it wasn't real.
So some of this is an
interesting exercise,
and I think part of that is,
and John, we've talked about this,
data can be made to be
anything you want it to be.
- Reminds me of a very funny joke
about an economist,
mathematician, and an accountant.
- And they walked into a
bar, and what (chuckling).
- What two plus two is.
- Yeah, it's just, they
were pushing the fact
that it would have a minimal
impact on the school district,
and we were saying we're projecting
twice the number of children
that they were projecting.
So I could understood, if
you look at this study,
you're going to have fewer children,
if you look at the reality,
you have more children,
and it was an interesting
back and forth on that.
As it turned out, the
real estate bust came,
and Legacy Ridge never came about.
And as a matter of fact,
it was sold to a consortium
that is now, it's a land trust.
- Yeah, that was a
lucky move for Cornwall.
- John, thank you for doing this.
This definitely put it in a
very concise, usable document.
But I do like your idea,
too, of revisiting this
in six months--
- Yes, oh absolutely.
- With actual stuff that we have, too.
But thank you, this is excellent.
- You know, maybe, taking
back my comment before,
to do this, it's called BEDS Day,
I forget the exact day of the year it is,
but there is a point that the State says,
this is how many children you
have, and it's in October?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
- Early in October.
- Early in October, at that
date, that's the cutoff,
and that's when the States
says how many kids you have.
- Oh, okay.
- We fill out forms, it's a fun day.
And the State then, across the state,
that's the day they say
how many children you have.
And even though it may vary,
but there is a lot of things
that the State uses that number for,
a lot being state aid.
But that's the date that they put it on.
And of using the same date every year,
you're then taking out
some of the variables,
at least it's the same date
and the same thing, you know,
anyway, do you have any other questions,
I think do it every year.
- Well I think we pointed out
that this was meant to
be reviewed every year,
so I think that it's great that
John was able to take it on,
because we haven't done
this, we skipped one year,
but a yearly review I think is great,
because that gives us a chance to see
are we really going to
recommission another study
because the results are too
wide, or something like that.
So it may inform us going
forward in our decisions.
It was a great job, John.
- Thanks, Peter.
- Yeah, again, thank you, John.
Okay, at this point, it's
recognition of visitors.
For any items on the agenda,
or any other concerns?
Mark, you have anything?
(chuckling)
Okay, comments from the board.
Peter, why don't you start with us today.
- Start with me, thanks.
Well, we'll soon know by tomorrow
whether we're going to have a budget.
I think there's been
pretty good support for it,
so I'm optimistic about that.
I think, John, that was a great report.
It just shows we should
be reviewing ourselves,
and checking on a routine, annual basis,
if not sooner, or quarterly,
just to get feedback from ourselves,
and see how we're doing,
like Ed Codd said.
And also, I hope that you and Neal decide
to release this document that Neal has,
it's now got my interest up,
and we've got the press siting here,
and I would think he would want
to look at the report as well,
and I would look forward
to reading it myself.
Thanks.
- I wanted to make a point,
what you were just saying Peter,
as far as the data review.
I think what you're asking for
is that we see it a little bit more,
because I know that it does happen,
there is constant evaluation of data
that goes on within the school district,
that's part of everybody's job,
so I hear what you're saying.
- Yeah, but the big numbers.
- Right, but that's if, I
don't ever want to feel like,
I have really good faith in
what the administration does,
and again as the board, I don't see it
that we're supposed to be
checking in on a day to day basis,
as far as we're not micromanaging,
they're hired because
they know all the rules and
regulations from the State,
and how to process, and how
to make that stuff work.
And I mean, the data, when
we get the data review
every year, it's an hour
long, and that's a pared down,
so I, with what you're saying, I get it,
but I do want to thank
Megan and Kimberly and Neal,
for all the compilation of the
data and the using the data
to make decisions on a daily basis,
because I think that that
really needs to be put out there
because I know that's a
big part of their jobs.
And then moving over to the
public, the Candidates Forum.
I was away in D.C. on a conference.
I loved the fact that
I was able to check in
on Facebook Live, I
felt as if I was there,
which I thought was great.
And in discussing the
budget and all the items,
not only was there Facebook Live,
where you could see what was going on,
but again, there's always
the website for specifics,
you know what, everybody's got busy lives,
and it's hard to know what's going on,
but just because you
don't get a chance to come
to one of the forums, there's
always that information
that gets sent out about
the school district
on a daily basis, has
just raised exponentially,
and I thank you guys again for that,
because really I hear from
people left and right,
wow I got another email from the school,
did you know that the kids are doing,
I said, yeah, I do, and I'm
glad that you know it too.
But that there's so much data,
useful data and information
on the school's website,
that I always want to put it out there
that it's easy to go get it
if you're looking for it.
And my last little plug was,
I talk about the ACE program all the time,
it's the ACE Mentor Program.
ACE stands for architecture,
construction, and engineering.
It's a mentor program
for high school students
to work with professionals
in the industry.
They get a year long design project,
people come in and mentor them,
and at the end of this design challenge,
where they work together, they
have a final presentation.
And that happened in May,
May 9th, at SUNY Dutchess,
we had 24 students from
Cornwall that presented.
There were 70 students all together
from Orange and Dutchess counties.
This is a very new found chapter
of this 25 year old organization,
and I was just amazed at all
of these high school kids
who were giving presentations
on architectural design,
and just to see what they can do.
And you realize, or you forget
when you're looking at them
that they're high school
kids, they has such poise.
Technology didn't work, that
was my fault, at one point,
and they just kind of rolled with it,
and that was great to see.
I was so pleased to see
how many, Neal was there,
he represented, he came and checked out
what his students were doing,
and that was in Poughkeepsie,
it was a trek to get there.
There were other superintendents
and other administrators
from other districts there
too, so I think, especially,
and with Neal, you came all
this way, this is Poughkeepsie,
it's not like it was in our back yard,
and Neal was so appreciative
and really got to see
what these kids were doing,
but it's such a great program,
and I really push it as much as I can,
but thank you, Neal, for coming to that.
And, oh yeah, right, the
budget vote tomorrow, right.
Tomorrow, NYMA, NYMA, I'm gonna
walk out with my sign later,
around my neck, but for
all of you in the audience,
in case you didn't know,
that it be posted on the
YouTube video, (chuckling)
tomorrow's budget vote,
NYMA gymnasium, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
I'll be one of those doing that
next to the inflatable guy
who's gonna be doing that,
so, yes, I'll be ready
for pictures, thank you.
- I'd like to welcome our new employees.
I was able to go last Thursday
to High School concert number
two, it was phenomenal.
Jessica, two thumbs up for
your performance as well.
It was just outstanding,
the dedication of the
students and their teachers
was just absolutely incredible.
The joy that everyone who
was there performing had
was so evident, it was outstanding.
I'd like to thank, thank
you to our community members
who came out to the budget forums.
It was great this evening to
have the athlete recognition,
and for recognition again of Don Blaine.
Thank you to the PTO Trust
for the Candidates Forums,
for the Forum, that was a very good event,
and it was live streamed,
which was also very good.
I do want to just take a minute to respond
to one of the questions
at the Candidates Forum.
It was something that was presented to us,
actually last year in the fall,
and I actually responded to it
at our September 24th
board meeting last year.
The question that came up
at the Candidates Forum
was how do you explain
the fact that Cornwall is,
there's 90% of the districts
in the rest of the state
have lower taxes than Cornwall,
and so when that was brought up last year
I did my own investigation.
So while data is very interesting,
data can also be manipulated
if you don't understand
the facts behind that,
so this is what I presented last year
at our September 24th meeting.
A few facts, New York
State is the number one
highest taxed state in the United States.
We don't get to vote on our town budget
or our village budget,
and most people don't even
go to those budget meetings.
And then another fact, was
that we all get to vote
on our school budget, and none
of us here like paying taxes.
And we all do pay taxes, it's
not like we get a free ride.
When we are told that we in Cornwall
are taxed higher than 90%
of the New York districts,
perhaps giving the
public more of the story
might point out the slant on that data.
State aid, foundation aid,
high amount of commercial property,
poverty level, federal aid,
is there a full K-12
offered or no high school,
all this contributes often
to where a community falls.
For example, 'cause I went to
the site that was mentioned,
last year, the website.
For example, Kiryas Joel
is ranked number 554.
So think about that.
Then I will use what I know.
Cornwall was ranked in 2016
at number 53 in the state.
Glen Cove, which I know personally
because I have family that lives there,
Glen Cove is on Long Island,
and Glen Cove was ranked number 388.
A duplex in Cornwall is currently assessed
at about $284,000.
To start with, Glen Cove
down on Long Island,
that's in Nassau County,
has quite a bit of commercial property.
Their aid is different than ours.
They are a city school district.
And my favorite is that a
similar duplex in Glen Cove,
if they were assessed
at full market value,
they would be assessed at about $500,000.
So close to twice to what a similar duplex
in Cornwall's assessed at.
So even though there's
a big disparity between
what a property owner pays
per $1,000, in the end,
the property owner in Glen Cove pays
a substantial amount more in taxes
because the properties there
are assessed so much more than here.
And my final line on that was,
if you want to throw out data,
please throw it all out
with all of the details.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- John.
- So, Nancy, you bring up
a very interesting point.
And I heard you say throw out the data.
And I'll take it a step
further beyond that and say,
throw out the models, because
the models are all wrong,
and in the joke that I alluded to,
it was the accountant who asked,
to the question two plus
two, what does it equal,
what do you want it to be.
(chuckling)
So there's always that element in society
that is gonna give you the
answer you're looking for
as opposed to the truth, so anyhow.
Speaking of truth, let me first say,
congrats to the winter teams.
Again, great achievement,
especially to the Scholar-Athletes.
It's really hard to compete
at such a high level
and also do well at school,
and my hat's off to all those students
who are burning the candle at both ends
and achieving great success.
It was just brought to my attention
that there is a continuing
element that's out there
that is very active in misinformation.
And everyone wants communication,
but there is a real
danger in misinformation,
and there's a saying in the Army.
Actually it's in the Rangers,
that misinformation
kills soldiers in combat.
And I think misinformation can kill
the vitality of a community,
and the purpose of a school district.
And there is a lot of information
that has come to my attention
from a group called the
ConcernedCornwallHomeowners.com,
or something to that end.
And they provide 10 top reasons
why people should vote no,
and I don't want to go through the litany,
because I think it's a
retread of some of the stuff
that was actually brought about
for the capital bond vote,
but it still represents misinformation,
and I just wanted to talk specific
to a couple that I just saw,
that, giving my point of
view as a board member on.
The first one, the board should be guided
by the spirit of education law,
and the board has neglected
in performing its duties of oversight
as it pertains to longterm planning.
Longterm planning is a process,
it's not a destination.
I know that there are a
variety of different committees
of this board at work this month,
and months leading up to the budget,
that were looking at
a whole host of issues
as it pertains to the facilities,
the offerings of various
opportunities for students,
as well as the costs associated
with those opportunities.
And for someone to suggest that the board
is not guided by that
spirit is just false.
I do believe that we as a
board can do a better job
of one, articulating that,
but a lot of these plans
are in process, and the
community has the opportunity
to respond and provide
input as I've noticed,
to a fault at times, only because
that gets in the way of us
actually moving forward I think.
But at the end of the
day, I think that plan,
when it's finalized, with
all the various elements,
is something that people
will take great pride in,
and be very comfortable.
So their number one reason,
I think is totally false.
Another falsehood that I see
here is that the majority
of the board leadership
is not independent.
Okay, this notion that the
board is not independent,
I suggest that whoever put
that in writing, find a lawyer,
because they are
approaching a legal problem,
because the law has been reviewed.
It's been looked at four different ways,
from my perspective, and
it states unequivocally
that there is no independence issue
as it pertains to this board.
Okay, what else.
And there's some really douzies here,
that really caught my attention.
Proposed bonds were poorly conceived.
So I'm no sure I understand how the bond,
the capital bond, that is in the past,
affects this budget vote tomorrow.
Yet they're making the distinction,
but it's no distinction,
there's no difference,
in their minds' eye.
The purpose is vote no.
You have to ask yourself,
why do they want the
population to vote no.
Who are they looking out for.
Are they looking out for the
interests of this community?
Is the school district going
to benefit from the no?
Are the students going to benefit?
Who actually benefits, and
I will throw it out there,
that the people who will benefit the most
from the school and its
performance declining,
are not the residents of
Cornwall, but other people.
The people that don't live
here, but may want to live here.
Okay, what else.
We lack a longterm facilities plan.
Well, I understand there's been
a new architectural firm hired,
and they've been in the process
for the past couple of months,
actually going through work
that's been done in the past,
and updating it, and they're
going to bring it to the board.
So to put this falsehood out,
flies in the fact of what
this board's been about
over the last couple of months.
Again, a lie, that at some point,
this board needs to go on the
offensive and take issue with.
I see the paper's here.
I'm not sure how much of
what I'm saying tonight
shows up in the paper,
probably none of it, I get it.
Right, not their part, not their place.
But what's in the paper are these lies,
and at some point you have
to go on the offensive.
Move the 5th grade to
the elementary school.
Again, this stuff was decided in the past,
but they're using this as a
reason to vote no tomorrow.
It's ridiculous, it's fake,
and it hurts the community,
even though they state that their position
has the community's heart, it's just,
and I could go on and
on about the other items
that I haven't covered, I'm not gonna.
In the interest of time, let me just say,
that we've done our work,
$73 million is the budget
that's been proposed.
It's not perfect, I recognize
that, but I think it's fair.
I know how I'm voting tomorrow,
and I hope other people,
like-minded like me vote the same way.
Thank you.
- I just want to say I 100%
echo what John just said.
I too was privy to that site
today, and it was disturbing.
Also, last Monday in the
Forum, things came out,
your data review on the enrollment,
and the mindset of people
that things are worse off
than they actually are.
The fact that there's
a contingency out there
that just want to say no,
without an alternative.
Again, I don't want to be redundant.
I echo what John says,
and just to move on,
kudos to all the student athletes,
Jessica as always, thank you.
John, for putting your report together,
I think that was honorable of you to do.
It looks like it took a little time,
but it's part of the issue
I can't wrap my head around
why we're continually
facing where the break is
between what we're trying
to do for the community,
and what the perception
is from some of the people
that are within the community.
And I really hope that the
naysayers, just because
they don't like the word yes,
don't shutdown a budget that I think
is good for our students
first and foremost,
and the community.
So tomorrow at NYMA, thank you.
- John, I too am going to
jump onto what you said,
because it was in my notes
to comment on a few of those items.
Specifically what kind of stuck out to me
was the word spirit, and the
spirit of educational law.
You don't drive a car
in the spirit of New York State DoT laws,
you follow the laws.
And it's not in the
spirit of acting in them,
you don't interpret them, it's the law,
and it's how it's written, and you use it.
And it kind of resonated with me.
And I too agree with you about
the verbiage that's in there,
and the word kind of came
to my mind, propaganda
that's out there, and fear mongering
that is occurring on
that specific website,
that specific website,
I viewed it today also,
and I got the website from the
Cornwall Local, and I get it,
they're turning a trick 'cause
they want to put it in there
and someone's funding it,
okay, put it in there.
But it would be nice to
have some objective views
also in that same pamphlet.
So I did see it, and I'm not
going to go through them again
because you covered them
all pretty emphatically,
and I appreciate that passion,
because I agree with you
whole-heartedly in that.
I do appreciate your presentation,
it was a visit into your
world, that I appreciated,
it's a unique world, it's
not where my mindset is.
I appreciate that experience.
Jessica, thank you, as
always for your words.
Your partner wasn't here
to team up with you,
so you handled it well, thank you.
I do appreciate Mike
Kroemer's athlete report,
I love it, I think it's a great
accolade to have out there.
I appreciate also in his letter there,
all the athletes that achieved
the high grade point average
that they did, again,
burning the candle at
both ends is wonderful.
And everybody, please, go out
and vote tomorrow at NYMA.
Thank you.
- First of all, I just want to say
congratulations to all of my peers
who were here tonight, I'm always stunned
by the diverse talent in our
community and our district.
Kudos to Mr. Edelen for
the interesting analysis
of that study, I hope in a few years
I will be able to look at
it with a more keen eye
and a more sophisticated opinion.
And finally, I just wanted
to kind of return back
to what Mr. Miller said
about the costs to people.
We happened to take an exit
survey today in English class
about how satisfied we were
with our overall education
at CCHS, and I took some
serious pause to that question,
and I thought about some of the criticisms
that I've had over the years,
and then I really thought
about how most of them
source back to the fact
that we can't really bridge
them without having more money,
because it's really just we don't have,
its not in our budget to
bridge those problems,
but given that, the
resources that we do have,
I think we've allocated
them very effectively.
And I'm extremely
thankful for the education
that I've had here, and I
think that the teachers here,
the culture, the community,
really drives this community,
and I'm very thankful for that,
and I'll be voting for
the first time tomorrow.
(applauding)
- Congratulations.
- Well thank you, I wasn't
going to say anything,
I was just going to go
thank you and good night,
but with this, something
that has been bothering me,
and John, thank you for
saying what you said.
To say a thing because
nobody's here to hear it,
and even if they watch this on,
it won't be ready for tomorrow.
The people that have
been knocking this budget
are the same people
that are sitting in
those chairs right now.
They haven't been here since
we've been working on this,
in October, November,
December, straight through.
They haven't heard the
conversations that we've had.
They haven't heard the discussions,
they haven't heard the things
that we've said we'd
like to do but we can't.
Yet they very happily tell us
that we're not putting
together a good budget.
And right now I feel like
I'm preaching to the choir,
but thank you all, do I have
a motion for adjournment?
- So moved.
- Second.
- All those in favor?
- [Together] Aye.
- Any opposed?
Thank you.
