The Regular Board of Education Meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. at the Herkimer Jr/Sr High School Media Center by President Crandall and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.
This meeting was open to the public, but in accordance with current regulations, attendance will be virtual only. The public may view the meeting live via a web link on the district’s website, www.herkimercsd.org. A recording and transcript from the meeting will also be made available following the meeting.
President Crandall explained due to the current circumstances in our community regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, our Board of Education meetings are being conducted virtually. Because of this, members of the public who wished to submit a comment for the Board of Education meeting had the opportunity to email epopek@herkimercsd.org prior to the meeting. President Crandall also explained the Board of Education welcomes public comment and community input at meetings. However, we caution that we are not authorized to engage in conversations pertaining to individual students, faculty, staff or administrators. Topics of this nature may only be discussed during executive session and must be coordinated with the Superintendent of Schools prior to a BOE meeting.
Public Comment:
The Board of Education heard no comments from the public.
Approval of the Agenda:
Mr. Lewis moved, and Ms. Fischer seconded a motion to formally approve the consent agenda. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
Board Communication:
Superintendent Miller indicated that the Board received several informational items that were not included in their Board packet for information only and noted they will be referred to later in the meeting. Ms. Gilbert moved, and Ms. Lewis seconded a motion to place all appropriate Board Communications on file with the District Clerk. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
Approval of the Minutes:
Mr. Lewis moved, and Ms. Gilbert seconded a motion to formally approve the Regular Board of Education Meeting minutes from Wednesday, January 13, 2021. A brief discussion followed. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
BOCES Budget Presentation
Herkimer County BOCES District Superintendent, Sandra Sherwood, along with Stephen Coupe, Business Manager, presented the 2021-2022 Administrative and Capital Budgets.
Component boards will vote on the BOCES budget and Board seats on April 21, 2021. (Material filed in the supplemental file dated 02/10/21)
Business Report:
Upon recommendation of Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Mr. Lewis seconded by Mr. Mihevc, the BOE accepts receipt of the December Treasurer’s Report, December Revenue Status Report, Appropriation Status Report, General Warrant totaling $2,517,734.10, Federal Warrant totaling $5,045.51, Capital Warrant totaling $505,152.90, Trust and Agency Warrant totaling $652,442.64 the January Exceptions Report, HES/HHS Extra Curricular Treasurer’s Report and Capital Project Change Order Update. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0. [Material filed in the supplemental file dated 02-10-2021]
Building Blocks Learning Center Resolution
Ms. Fischer moved, and Mr. Petucci seconded the following Board resolution:
“BE IT RESOLVED, the Herkimer CSD has the need for an independent contractor to perform Teaching Services set forth herein and enters into such an agreement with Building Blocks Learning Center, LLC during the 2020-2021 school year for one (1) student in the Herkimer Elementary School building.
WHEREAS, it is the Districts desire to enter into this agreement for the 2020-2021 school year; per terms and conditions of the agreement.”
All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
Superintendent Report:
Budget Narrative 2021-22
The attached spreadsheets show you the projected 2020-21 actual expenditures and revenues updated with the recent state aid announcement that school aid will be made whole for the 20-21 school year and all reduced state aid due to districts will be released in the 20-21 school year. The outlook shows a small surplus of 2% to 3% with no use of appropriated fund balance. We are cautiously optimistic for the financial position of the district and we have moved forward with the acquisition of a new elementary reading series which was delayed from planned implementation in 20-21 due to the uncertainty of state aid. The district will also move forward with the purchase of a new truck for approximately $40,000 with about $15,000 generated by the sale the old truck that is being replaced.
In developing the 2021-22 budget we are looking at three possible outcomes. We hope school returns to normal or near normal next year with PE, music, the arts and athletics restored. However, we must also prepare for opening in a similar fashion as 20-21 or some more normal but not completely open model in 2021-22. We proposed a budget in January based on early projections of the governor’s aid package from news conferences which were pessimistic. However, the governor has grown more confident of federal aid relief which leads him to restore school aid to current year and show a very small increase in school aid in 2021-22. His aid package for next year is completely dependent on federal aid and actually contains a state aid decrease without federal aid. He also mixes the STAR tax rebate into the state aid runs for the first time and shows a budget adjustment down by the STAR amount and then offsets that with federal aid. The net is about $160,000 more aid in 2021-22 than 2020-21 with about $300,000 understated building aid in the run. Also note in the easy-to-read aid run if the legislature restores the current expense-based aid formulas, we will have about $128,000 restored in aid.
The February 21-22 budget spreadsheet shows an expense budget increase of about $886,000 or 3.52%. The district anticipates a 1.99% tax increase which is a levy limit override in a year where the District’s tax levy is limit is -4.67% using current state aid runs and other revenue sources along with $1,100,000 in fund balance. The February budget estimate is contained on the spreadsheet titled as such. Remember that state and federal aid are very unstable in these times
Our plan for March is to develop line by line budget which contains about $100,000 more in state or federal aid, $100,000 more in other revenue driven by health insurance rebates and $300,000 less in expenditures. This will allow us to use only about $600,000 in fund balance which will greatly strengthen our financial position going into the next two to three years anticipating a downturn in state aid with federal aid falling off as happened in the last economic crisis of 2008.
Budget Highlights:
Restoring physical education, music and athletic programs back in our schools if allowed.
Maintain or enhance district academic programs
Flexible to meet the needs of our students
Reduced use of fund balance
A proposed tax increase under 2% which is reasonable but a levy limit override due to debt service changes. A discussion followed.
Fiscal/Environmental Stress Reports from the Comptroller
I have attached our fiscal and environmental stress reports from the comptroller. We received our lowest score on the fiscal stress report since I arrived in Herkimer, 0 which is the best score you can achieve and assigns no designation to Herkimer meaning the comptroller is not concerned about our financial profile. We have adequate fund balance and adequate cash on hand to meet operational needs. We believe we will not need to use fund balance this year for operation and our cash flows indicate we will not need to do any short-term borrowing to meet immediate cash needs, so this bodes well for our continued financial health and low fiscal stress scores. We likely will attempt a tax levy limit override in May of this year so we will test our voter support for such proposition. The tax levy limit is negative 4.67% this year and we will ask for a 1.9% tax levy increase which is under 2% but over the levy limit calculation.
Our environmental score was driven by our free and reduced lunch rate of 68% which was given a 16.7 score over half of our total score of 31.7. This followed by score of 10 points because our voter approval rate of 63.26% is considered moderate but that was for a 4.5% tax increase. Our teacher of turnover rate of 11% is considered a moderately high level and was scored a 5. We can do very little about the free and reduced lunch rate, but we will monitor teacher turn over and voter approval rate as we navigate pandemic election mechanisms. A discussion followed.
High Risk Activities and Athletics Plan
Regional determinations were made at the athletic director and superintendent level for Herkimer County for the remaining time as follows:
Winter Season: March 1st – April 10th
Fall 2 Season: April 5th – May 8th (Metric Driven)
Spring Season April 26th – June 11th
Winter sports varsity/JV only and no spectators for indoor sports
I categorically disagreed with the determinations of the county about athletic seasons as there is not sufficient time to run three seasons effectively. These seasons have significant unacceptable overlap, and it is likely that the winter season as proposed will not begin until later than March 1. The first week of Fall II, a five-week season as written, and last week of the proposed winter season are the week of spring break which doesn’t bode well for either sport. The last two weeks of Fall II overlap about two weeks of the spring season which makes the spring season difficult to start on time. These seasons were not thought through adequately.
We need to make a plan to gradually introduce high risk activities into our schools. My recommendation is that we develop a return to play plan for football and cheer along with a return to production plan for an outdoor drama production beginning after the metrics allow. All of these high-risk activities will be outside. All of these events would also be able to have spectators as they are outside. We will develop a plan for football at both the modified and varsity level. We believe we can reasonably have 3 or 4 football games in April if we start the Fall II season as designed by the section once the metrics have been met around the middle of March. We will need to meet the criteria set by our schools and county for high-risk sports and our plan for an outdoor COVID protocol safe drama production needs to be approved by the county department of health.
Our administrative team believe there is sufficient time for fall II football and spring sports. Running these sports seasons will be less likely to negatively impact the operational integrity of our schools in a broad sense than the other indoor high-risk sports. We believe as a team that we are preserving opportunities for kids by maximizing the spring season and football/cheer as well as introducing a drama activity for equity in the school. Many of the high schools in our area have either struggled to remain open, opened and closed sporadically or have never opened because they cannot operate their building and offer instruction under COVID protocols. One must wonder whether they can operate athletics safely and consistently when they cannot provide their primary function in person. These are the facilities our athletes will be competing in and many are not open.
Mask wearing will not be enforced as it was not in the fall because administrators have interpreted as tolerated to mean basically no mask mandate. When the athletes were outdoors and generally spaced out the risk of spread was low, but many parents complained throughout the season about deficiencies in mask wearing. I should note that even in these low mitigation environments our highest number of students quarantined from a student driven exposure was from athletics in the fall. Our county schools would not entertain a testing protocol for athletes, coaches and officials. We are aware that a Buffalo-Syracuse basketball game likely caused a spread event from Buffalo players to Syracuse players. College NCAA events operate in an environment in which athletes, coaches and officials are tested routinely which means that we will have a higher risk of exposures and spread with no surveillance testing.
The threat of COVID to children is believed to be very small but there is at least a perception from many parents that COVID is dangerous for kids and none of us can guarantee that there is no risk for students. Our operational systems are based on students and staff complying with mitigation protocols while in our schools under supervision of the school. Indoor high-risk sports beginning broadly across multiple grade levels in a low mitigation environment with competition between schools creates an environment for many quarantines across cohorts even if we ignore any underlying risk to children. Why we have been successful in keeping the schools open is because we have made massive changes to the way our schools’ function in cohorts. We have shut our facilities down to outside use and do not allow facility use internally except on a rare occasion. Our cleaning staff are at their maximum and we have run with one less cleaner this year as we hired an extra LPN in their place to bolster our nursing staff. The cleaning staff cannot meet the cleaning criteria between practices in doors at current staffing levels.
The advantages to football being our first high risk sport to run are as follows:
The sport is outside. The number of competitions is small 3 or 4 games. The number athletes will be relatively small with a single varsity and single modified team. Your administrative team is anxious about initiating high risk sports and its impact on instruction but have consented to this as our plan.
When we operate in a new environment where safety is a concern. We should adopt the Special Forces motto “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
I urge us all not to mourn what we may have lost because time has made it too late to recover but let us instead cherish what we can preserve and build excitement around these opportunities. Let’s work together to keep our schools open and get excited about the possibility of an April football and cheer season, a spring outdoor drama production and a full spring athletic season.
I will ask the board to appoint football and cheer coaches, spring coaches and drama advisors at the March 17 board of education meeting should we meet the metrics for high-risk activities by that point. If we do not meet the metrics, we will still appoint spring athletic coaches as the protocols only apply to high-risk sports. I will continue to press the county to lengthen the fall II season on the front end and try to get the overlap in the spring season reduced or eliminated. My hope is to begin a return to play plan for football, cheer, spring sports and drama beginning in the middle of March. The elimination of the spring championships means we can lengthen the spring season into the first week or so of June and have seven weeks even beginning April 26. We need to get more time for football prior to April for conditioning and reduce overlap if at all possible. Spring sports who were denied a season last year must be given the best chance for a season this year and has been our priority since the fall season ended. A discussion followed.
Administrative Reports
Ms. Vogt reviewed testing that was performed at all grade levels and she expressed how she was proud of the progress her students have made in this difficult year. She acknowledged that there was still more work to do but was pleased that what they are doing to improve was working. Ms. Tomaso expressed her pleasure with our graduation rate and said that she was waiting to see what restrictions will be in place in order to make plans for this year’s seniors and making their end of year festivities memorable. She is working on keeping our students motivated in order to finish the year strong. At the middle school level, Mr. Abbe expressed that students deserved recognition and they were giving out certificates to acknowledge the efforts being made academically, mentally & socially. He also spoke about how happy he was that our district was chosen for a new STEM Program.
Staffing Recommendations
Upon the recommendation from Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Mr. Lewis, seconded by Ms. Fischer, the BOE approved the following personnel actions; motion carried 7:0:
SUBSTITUTE APPOINTMENT AMENDED: BOE 08/28/20
Name: Stapf, Nathaniel
Position: Substitute Cleaner
Effective Date: 2020-2021 School Year on an as needed basis
Salary: Per NYS minimum wage guidelines
REMOTE INSTRUCTION APPOINTMENT AMENDED: BOE 08/28/20, 09/16/20, 01/13/21
The following are appointed as virtual tutors for the 2020 – 2021 school year, as per the memorandum of agreement:
Becker, Jenna
Ellinger, Amberlyn
Knowlton, Deborah
Macri, Barbara
Nare, Jennette
Winkler, Michalyn
EXTRA-CURRICULAR APPOINTMENTS:
Name: Denton, Heather
Appointment: Elementary Yearbook Advisor
Salary: $1700, per the HFA Contract
Name: Irizarry, Julie
Appointment: Elementary Yearbook Assistant
Salary: $1370, per the HFA Contract
CSE/CPSE Program / Placement Recommendations
Upon recommendation from Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Ms. Fischer, seconded by Mr. Petucci, the BOE approved the Committee on Special Education, the Sub-Committee on Special Education and the Committee on Preschool Special Education program/placement recommendations as presented. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0. [Material filed in the supplemental file dated 02-10-2021]
2021 – 2022 School Calendar Adoption
Upon recommendation of Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Ms. Bray, seconded by Ms. Fischer, the BOE approved the 2021-2022 School Calendar as presented. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0. [Material filed in the supplemental packet dated 02/10/21].
2021 – 2022 Operations Budget Calendar
Upon recommendation of Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Ms. Fischer, seconded by Mr. Petucci, the BOE voted to accept the draft copy of the 2021-2022 Budget Calendar as presented. All voted in favor, motion carried 7:0.
Herkimer County Board of Elections-User Agreement
Upon the recommendation of Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Ms. Fischer, seconded by Mr. Lewis, the BOE approved the Herkimer County Board of Elections – User Agreement as presented. A brief discussion followed. All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0. (Material filed in the supplemental file dated 02/10/21.)
Board of Education Reports:
President’s Update
President Crandall expressed his gratitude for everything our staff and administration has done to keep our students in school. He also reminded the BOE that the BOCES’ Annual Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 6 p.m., and he will be attending via Zoom.
Future Meeting Dates/Agenda Items
It was decided that a special BOE meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 6 p.m. via google meet. The next scheduled BOE meeting will be on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 6 p.m. via google meet.
Meeting Evaluation
Mr. Mihevc, this evening’s meeting evaluator, presented his review of the February 10, 2021, Board of Education meeting.
Ms. Gilbert moved, and Ms. Fischer seconded a motion to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing personnel and negotiations. The Board may take action in public session after the Executive Session ends and the Board returns to public session
All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
Executive Session
The Board moved into Executive Session at 8:12 p.m.
The Board exited Executive Session at 8:23 p.m.
Adjournment:
On a motion made by Ms. Gilbert and seconded by Ms. Fischer, the BOE adjourned the public meeting at 8:25 p.m. All voted in favor 6:0. (Mr. Mihevc had to leave the meeting)