##VIDEO ID:JToLZasPsa0## here here you're you're making the motion yeah all right roll call Mr Bate Mr andonopoulos is absent Miss Hagerty Miss pasamano for Mr pasamano for Mr patronio for Dr Scardino for Estella is absent and Mr valano motion carries our student rep's not here tonight we'll go right to the state monitors report okay I would like to begin by publicly thanking our auditor Mr Jeffrey Bliss and his audit staff for preparing the June 30th 2024 annual audit along with our superintendent business administrator and administrative staff the Cooper operation between our auditor and administration resulted in the documents that the board will be asked to approve at tonight's meetings just want to give a quick that our volleyball team won the state sectional our uh boys soccer team where co-champs in the county I guess uh tournament and you clap with them too it's okay and we're looking for a bright future here in our basketball program with the boys and the girls other than that I think uh oh you can clap an go ahead there you go other than that everything else is uh running smooth and you'll be delighted to hear what the uh superintendent's report is thank you uh for this meeting primarily we're going to focus on our our audit so at this time I'm going to have um Jeff Bliss our chief auditor come up um review our audit um and then I can answer any questions the public may have um Mr Bliss you want to come here or there whatever is easier for you all right um that's good okay all right thank you Mr dorso um good evening board members State monitor it's a pleasure to be here tonight to uh present the audit um we completed the audit uh for the year end in June 3th of 2024 um after we examine the books and the records our main task is to give an opinion on your financial statements and an opinion on your compliance with major federal and state grants I andan I'm happy to report again our opinion is unmodified meaning a clean opinion uh meaning the financial statements are fairly stated they're prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles uh there were no scope limitations in performing the audit um and they are consistent with the prior year financial statements our opinion on major federal and state Grant Awards was also unmodified also clean meaning you complied in all material respects with the compliance of those grants uh obviously a clean or unmodified opinion on financial statements and a clean and unmodified opinion on your Grant compliance is an absolute must in any order um and I'm happy to report that we issued unmodified opinions uh we had no material uh findings related to uh material weaknesses in internal controls or um sign significant deficiencies in internal controls those are findings that are severe um they rise to a level of what's called government auditing standard findings um anytime there is a weakness or significant deficiencies internal control um that is not a good situation no material weaknesses and no significant deficiency findings we had no reportable findings of non-compliance that Rose to the level of a finding uh for non-compliance either in financial statements or in um in Grant compliance um financially uh as the state monitors indicated uh you increased your capital reserve about 247,000 over last year those are funds that are set aside specifically uh to fund capital projects that are in the long range facility plan the board by resolutions puts those monies away they do a resolution June every year and any excess revenues or any unspent budget Appropriations uh go into that account uh we started the year a little bit over a million dollars in that account we used a little over 700,000 to fund capital projects uh and they have to be school facility projects and we were able to put back 900 50,000 so therefore we were able to increase that 247,000 um our maintenance Reserve those are funds again put aside by um board resolution to fund maintenance projects uh we used a little bit over 162 almost 163,000 of those funds during the year uh we started at 286 we used 163 uh we only put back 36,000 so we ended there at about 161,000 uh for the year we're down about 126,000 in that account um overall um the unassigned fund balance was down a bit from last year um and that was really due uh to uh not bringing in enough of extraord unbudgeted extraordinary Aid something we spoke to the administration the state monitored about of maybe a way to budget a little less of that revenue and uh if if we get some excess monies uh we could put it in the unassigned but your un assigned fund balance is at its Max uh you get 1 and a half% plus an additional add-on for unbudgeted Aid um you're you ended the year at about 800,000 um overall stable uh Financial condition you have money set aside for capital projects um and especially with the state uh awarding Rod grants you're going to need those funds to fund your local share and you have about 160,000 for any maintenance projects so overall uh stable Financial condition with respect to the recommendations um as I previously reported uh there were no findings of material weaknesses or significant deficiencies and no report of conditions of non-compliance we did have four what we call General findings they are the less severe than a uh a reportable condition or a significant or material weakness um under financial planning accounting and Reporting we had two uh recommendations there uh and that uh in performing the audit and looking at the payroll tax deposits we noted uh certain federal tax deposits were not made timely um the administration was aware of it they contacted IRS the IRS Abad any penalties uh and there's I think one more that they're still looking into um but we have to deposit our federal tax deposits timely it's an absolute must uh we had a general finding also on certain budget account charges uh that they'd be charged to the proper budget account uh these were payments for uh lease purchase payments uh rent rent payments and certain equipment payments they were just not charged to the right account um the payments were proper uh that we just got to get them into the right bucket the right account um when we charge them out to the budget under School purchasing we had one recommendation uh we had a recommendation regarding National Cooperative purchasing uh vendors who are awarded contracts with the national Co-op the uh district is allowed to piggyback on those bids you don't have to go out to bid but there are certain procedures we have to do internally to use those uh Cooperative bids um one of them is you have to do a cost savings analysis to make sure that the national Co-op is cheaper than any state contract or any local Cooperative contract uh you have to do a pre-award advertisement 10 days before you award the contract just to notify in the paper that you're doing a national Co-op award um and then you got to get this the contract documentation from um the national Cooperative the fourth recommendation uh was in regard to the Food Service fund uh this was actually a repeat recommendation um in examining the sales and the deposit from sales we noted that they weren't being deposited timely um this was a recommendation last year it seemed to have gotten better at the end of the year but it still was occurring and so we need to take continued efforts to make sure um we deposit the food sales in a timely manner it's it's all cash money um there was no differences nothing missing it's just being held too long um those are the four recommendations these are General findings again they didn't rise to the level of those severe type findings uh that we spoke of before um if there's any questions be more than happy to answer them um overall it's a good report um financially you're stable like to see you increase your reserve accounts a little more get some more capital reserve and some maintenance Reserve um but you still stable um and for General findings um and it's a good report good report for the administration and the district thank you you're welcome I just want to note too um you know obviously the District of finances is really rate the most critical um aspect of of what we're doing obviously we can't deliver a proper education if our finances are in place especially um where we were so I just want to thank the board and the finance committee for supporting um Administration and just really you know working hard to make sure that we we balance the budget and we really prioritize for us um to put almost $900,000 into capital reserve in a fiscal year is a tremendous year for us um especially because over the last couple years we've done um a large number of maintenance projects we've done boilers um in just about every building at this point uh the only building left to do was the high school um we had to do an emergency repair and boiler replacement at Jefferson School and so um you know our Reserve accounts are not where they need to be but 1.2 million is really the most we've had in a while um and if you if you factor in um that we had to do these boilers um that you know I really think we're in a great position and so thank you um for your recommendations um James already worked with Mr Bliss and his office to do a corrective action for those four findings um that was approved that will be submitted um with the audit so so thank you welcome okay good night everyone have a great Thanksgiving you too anybody okay there's no one on the uh agenda items business administrator please read the school business administrator secretary the official results of the Board of Ed election yes the official results of the N November 5th 2024 annual School Board election for a three-year term Paul pasamano had uh 5,879 votes Anthony J Scardino had had 3,661 votes Anthony J guso had 2,624 votes Sandra Malone had 1,940 votes sha Lemley had 1,931 votes and Michael zerillo had 1,353 votes the three seats will be filled with by Paul pasamano Anthony J Scardino and Anthony J guso congratulations conratulations [Applause] pursuant to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the committee on finance recommends the following resolutions be moved forward for a roll call vote I make a motion to move forward Finance resolutions 1 through 17 to be adopted roll call Mr abat for Mr andropoulos is absent M Hagerty for M pasamano Mr pasamano four Mr petronio Dr Scardino four Miss Stella is absent and Mr Valvano yes to everything except under number seven I abstain to all references to me uh the bills list because uh we're paying for his expenses oh in the bills list yes all right motion carries thank you ADT second Mr pasamano roll call Mr abate Mr andropoulos is absent Miss Hagerty miss pasamano Mr pasamano Mr petronia for Dr Scardino for Miss Stella is absent and Mr Valvano for motion carries policies pursuit to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the committee on policies and rules regulations recommends the following resolutions be moved forward for a roll call vote recomend one two three who was a second I'm sorry roll call Mr aate Miss uh Miss Hagerty miss pasamano Mr pasamano four Mr petronzio Dr Scardino for and Mr Valvano four motion carried somebody like to do security I I'll do it pursuant to the recommendations of the superintendent of schools the committee on safety Health uh and security recommend second yeah one two two second all right uh roll call Mr aate uh Miss Hagerty miss pasamano Mr pasamano four Mr petronio for Dr Scardino for and Mr valano for motion carries person the recommendation of the superintend of school committee on Personnel recommends that the following resolution to be moved forward all call I got a second for Mr pasano that's okay uh roll call Mr Abate Miss Hagerty four M pasamano four Mr pasamano four Mr patronio Dr Scardino four and Mr valano motion carries yeah non-agenda Alysa sakong a non-agenda item to listen good evening members of the school board thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Alysa Sone and I am the parent of Dominic he is as a student at Jefferson School I'm here to address a series of troubling incidents involving my son and to advocate for fairness accountability transparency and how these situations have been handled um before I discuss these incidents I want to provide some context my son reentered the Linhurst school system last year at the end of April at the end of the school year I was informed that Dominic would be held back and the decision came as a surprise as I was communicate it was communicated to me during the final week of school leaving little time to address it I appealed the decision thank you Mr dorso with Mr dorso's help and he passed to the fifth grade after doing his IP testing and everything was updated it was basically uh found that he was in line with the fifth grade he met the requirements and he was promoted while this decision was the right one for my son I can't help to feel that the events that um of have been happening this year um that have never occurred before in his prior School experiences have been possibly retaliatory stemming from principal's decision being overruled uh first incident happened in September uh I think it was the 17th uh so basically Dominic came home and told me uh during Spanish class he had asked to use the bathroom and uh so he asked the teacher permission and she responded that he could go once another student returned following her instructions Dominic who is a rule follower and takes instructions literally waited as instructed and then he left for the bathroom when the other student came back when he walked out of the restroom he was confronted by several teachers the principal and even a police officer uh outside of the bathroom door as if he had done something wrong when I spoke with the principal I was told uh the school didn't know where Dominic was yet no one thought to knock on the bathroom door or call out to see if he was in there um and when I questioned the teachers instructions why they were not brought to their attention I was told the teacher claimed she didn't hear a mask to go to the bathroom so uh that was the explanation that I got it didn't really make sense because how could she have responded to him by asking him telling him to wait to you know till the other student came back so this inconsistency combined with the extreme overreaction left my son a little confused and shaken as a child with autism he takes instructions literally and strives to follow rules the situation was not only unnecessary but also avoidable with proper communication then on October 3rd which I'm sure you guys are all aware of my son uh was I was informed by the principal that he was involved in a a harassment intimidation and bullying investigation uh he was accused of using inappropriate language toward another student uh the report came from the gym teacher who stated there were five witnesses yet she didn't hear the alleged comment herself furthermore I later found out that the student involved didn't report the incident until later and the timeline of when this was supposedly uh remains unclear when this happened however despite this when Dominic got to explain his side of the story he was met with disbelief by The Counselor who told him I don't believe you um I thought it was supposed to be fair on both sides when you have a hi investigation so Dominic has consistently denied using this word in question and his classmates support the account confirming that they didn't hear him say anything inappropriate and he is you know like again I tell you he has autism and he has an IP with a behavioral intervention plan um he's socially less advanced than his peers and doesn't engage with the same interests or humor as his classmates for example he recently asked me about phrases like Pig cotton and big back which he heard uh from peers at school and has told me he feels out of place because of the memes that they talk about and phrases his classmate use which he doesn't watch what they watch on YouTube um these words were not in his vocabulary at least the way they seem to be described by being used as from the adults that were explaining this to me um so basically um I have never heard him say anything like this and it further illustrates that he's being influenced by his environment not the other way around um basically I guess I'm just here to clear his name with that because I feel like you know I know my son very well and I don't think that he would ever come out of his face and say anything like that um during my meeting with the principal uh with Dominic's Advocate President we discussed the situation and agreed that the punishment of indefinite detention that he was given was excessive my concern however extends beyond the punishment Dominic shared with me that during a conversation with Mr Vasa he felt intimidated because Mr vessela banged on the desk and was yelling while addressing him this caused Dominic significant distress leaving him anxious and in his words my heart were beating so fat was beating so fast and my face got hot and red uh meanwhile the student who accused Dominic has also had a history of getting physical with him uh he has even called him certain names too which I won't disclose um yet there's no substantial action had been taken about that I've never heard like you know how when they have to call both sides when there's like a Hib investigation on uh what's going on so then there's a another incident with this child uh which is a serious concern of mine he uh came in a couple weeks before Halloween with a thumb tack placed between his fingers and was shaking a couple of the students hands and pinching them so with the same thumb tack um when they told on the kid he threw it you know in the garbage and said he didn't pinch anyone so I feel like that was a little calculated and sneaky um and you know basically my son was one of the students that were harmed and it's not only dangerous but poses significant um health risks so also to my knowledge no meaningful action was taken to address that and uh basically you know he still has ongoing detention now uh because of another situation where one of the little boys was sliding off the top of the bleachers and Dominic bumped him and he fell and so he's been since the day before Halloween still in detention right now every day which you know I actually don't mind because it's cold outside and they send them out so whatever stay inside it's fine um but just basically my intention in bringing these matters to your attention is to advocate for my son who deserves to feel safe respected and supported at Jefferson School and to ensure fair and consistent handling of incidents for all students I asked that the School Board review how these situations were managed address the lack of communication and inconsistencies and ensure fair treatment of students especially those with IEPs also that our children feel safe and supported I would also like to ask for Clarity on when my son's indefinite attention will end and prolonged punishment without resolution is neither Fair nor constructive thank you for your time and attention I trust that together we can work towards solutions that benefit not only Dominic but all other students at Jefferson School thank you and Happy Thanksgiving thank you thank you Mrs Sone for speaking um you know we did speak earlier this summer so um you know I I was aware of the uh the HIV that you mentioned but these other instan is I I wasn't this is the first I'm hearing of it so um I'll look into these matters and I'll reach back out to you when I have some information and we can continue the conversation okay Happy Thanksgiving as well okay yeah so so the Hib I can provide you um a redacted copy of the Hib um and when I look into the matters I can give a synopsis to the board and follow up with yeah absolutely okay context does uh does he have an aid is he someone that works with I mean you said he moved back from from out of District so that was made by by you as a f and as much as you can share with me because I want to have some some more information as we digest this so does he have someone working with him in the classroom I would just recommend that uh student matters be held conversations be outside of the board office or board meeting for that all right thank you for