29° and Sunny
Summary
Before the regular meeting of the Niagara Falls City School District (NFCSD), the Administrator for Early Head Start and Head Start, Dr. Lynnette Haley O'Stewart, provided an update on the District's Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) program. The District has headed up the program for three years. A management staff, policy council, and governing body or Tribal Council lead NFCSD Head Start. A federal review of HS/EHS is set for this year. The NFCSD Board of Education is the official governing body of EHS/HS.
A federal grant funds Head Start and Early Head Start. The NFCSD EHS/HS program serves 141 children under the age of four. The District is looking for additional space to serve an increased number of one- and two-year-old children. The program currently has a waiting list of 42 children.
Administrator for School Business Services Rebecca Holody and Budget Manager Julie Jacklin provided a first look at the 2025 – 2026 school year budget. An updated iteration of the budget will be presented at the next seven board meetings. The initial version of the spending plan totals $202,705,036, an increase of only four percent over the 2024 – 2025 budget. The District is in a good fiscal position, and there will be no tax increase; all current district programs will continue next year, no full-time staff members will be cut, and the District will not cut any current offerings. New York State Foundation Aid is expected to increase by six percent over last year to more than $7 million.
The New York State Comptroller issued fiscal stress reports for all 700 New York school districts, and the NFCSD is rated with no fiscal stress. The environmental stress category has improved over the last three years. Congratulations, Becky Holody and Julie Jacklin!
New Business
The Superintendent recommended that the Board approve the following items:
- Acceptance of funds for the 2024/2025 ESEA Title I Basic
School Improvement Grant
- Acceptance of Funds for the 2024/2025 Student Mental Health Supports Grant
- Acceptance of Funds for the 2024/2025 School-Based Mental Health Providers Pipeline
- Approval of Funds for the 2024/2025 Pedals Grant
- Approval of a resolution authorizing principals to appoint building-level
school safety teams for the annual review of building-level emergency response plans under New York State Education Law
- NOTE: The grant funds total $1,628 799 for the District
Superintendent's Report
- Thank you to the members of Men Standing Strong Together for their volunteer work on behalf of our students, including Friday movie nights
- The recent PowerSchool data breach affected six million students across the United States. Very little parent/guardian contact information was included - no social security numbers were breached as the District never collects or uses them
- May 1, 2025, remains the target day for air conditioning installation to be completed at Gaskill and LaSalle Prep School
- Thank you to the 50 teachers who are participating in the Science of Reading training
- The District is keeping close tabs on the governor's ban on cell phones in schools and will continuously issue updates
- On February 10, 2025, Niagara Falls High School, North Tonawanda High School, and Niagara Wheatfield High School students will gather at Niagara Wheatfield High School for a viewing of the Roving Holocaust Museum currently stationed there
- There has been a great deal of concern over news that the Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant is emitting a chemical known to cause bladder cancer. The NFCSD has tested for the chemicals around the Community Education Center(the school closest to the plant) and did not find any traces of the chemical
The next Niagara Falls City School District Board of Education meeting is Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., Central Office, 630 66th Street, Niagara Falls, NY.
