Minutes March 20, 2012

Date:

March 20, 2012

Time:

8:15 p.m.

Place:

Horace Greeley High School

Present:

Board of Education
Alyson Kiesel, President
Jeffrey Mester, Vice President
Randall Katchis
Vicky Tipp
Karen Visser

Staff Members
Present:

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent

Mr. Eric Byrne, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. John Chow, Assistant Superintendent for Business

Theresa Markley, District Clerk / Adm. Asst. to Superintendent

Visitors Present:

Representatives of the Chappaqua PTA, school PTAs, building administrators, faculty, and other interested citizens.

President Alyson Kiesel convened the public session at 6:30p.m. moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of the discussion of the employment history of a particular person or persons. Randall Katchis seconded. The motion passed unanimously. At 8:20pm Jeffrey Mester moved to adjourn the Executive Session. Randall Katchis seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

At 8:25 p.m. Jeffrey Mester moved to reconvene the public session. Vicky Tipp seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

President Kiesel welcomed the community and asked the board to begin with Item 5.4 on the agenda.

President Kaufman thanked the board for approving the 14 grants submitted across all schools and grade levels. He was grateful of the support of the community and thanked the 24 teachers and administrators who researched and proposed all the grants. Reminder that the Spring Benefit is coming up on April 27 at the Trump National Golf Course.

President Kiesel asked Joe Gramando to begin his presentation on the Operations / Maintenance budget.

Presentations:

Operations / Maintenance
- Joe Gramando, Director of Facilities

Joe Gramando, Director of Facilities presented his budget, stressing the importance of following the operating standards, the mission and goals remain the same. The five-year plan's goal is to create a healthy and safe environment and become more green. He listed some of their projects and detailed methods of training that helps control costs. Mr. Gramando explained that the Building and Grounds portion of the budget, excluding salaries. Together with Operations and Maintenance, Five Year Plan the budget has been reduced by 0.93% or $40,000. He stressed the importance of maintenance and noted that every dollar spent on maintenance is a saving of $4 on expense. There is a staff reduction of 1.0FTE. for 2013, and in the past five years, 8.5 positions have been cut. Jeffrey Mester and Randall Katchis congratulated Joe on the great job that he and his staff do.

Non-instructional / Fund Balance
- John Chow, Asst. Superintendent for Business

John Chow presented the General Support, Transportation, Community Service, and Undistributed Expenses portions of the proposed budget. He quickly reviewed the numbers and special items. General Support includes Board expenditures, the Central Administration, the Business Office, Legal Expenses, Personnel, Public Information and special items that includes school association dues, judgements/claims, MTA payroll tax, BOCES services, etc. He expanded on Transportation to explain that although we are not changing the distance for the coming year, but we are changing the number of vans and monitors and the gas price will probably increase which represents a $146,689 increase or 2.39%. One of the board members noted the excellent service that we receive from Chappaqua Transportation. There were a number of times where a bus driver has gone out of their way to take care of children. Mr. Chow also noted that when students miss the bus, if they are called, they will come and pick up the student. During the snow storm, Seth was out helping to cut down trees.

Mr. Chow reported that Undistributed consists of employee benefits, debt service and interfund transfers. He noted those areas where there are exclusions to the tax cap. Overall, there is a $441,454 increase or 1.81% increase. Debt Service is a 14.01% decrease in debt service because of pay off.

Fund Balance - He reviewed the use of board approved fund balance for 2010-11 and 2011-12. He proposes to recommend an appropriate $3MM for 2012-13 sustainability and within tax cap.

Questions and Comments

We welcome public inquiries, and in respect for each other's time, we ask that you limit your inquiry to three minutes. Board members may be contacted via email or phone.

1.

Information Business Affairs

Questions and Comments

2.

Organization

3.

Approvals

4.

Recommended Action: Personnel

Superintendent Lyn McKay made the following recommendations:

5.

Recommended Action: Other

6.

Facilities

7.

Financials

8.

President Kiesel gave Notice of Future Meetings -

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, Board Work session at Horace Greeley High School

9.

Adjournment

At 10:55 p.m. Randall Katchis moved to adjourn the meeting. Jeffrey Mester seconded. The motion passed unanimously.