The North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education adopted a 2026-2027 budget of $233,406,875 at its April 20 meeting, directing that the spending plan go before voters on May 19, 2026. The resolution, moved by Mark Thorne and seconded by Matthew Hermann, was approved in a roll call vote in which every board member listed cast a yes vote. The budget vote followed a presentation by Associate Superintendent for Business Services Donald F.X. Keegan on the 2026-2027 school year budget; the minutes do not include further detail on the contents of that presentation. In a separate action, the board approved OCM BOCES' tentative 2026-2027 administrative budget of $11,722,448, with six yes votes and one board member abstaining. Robert Crabtree, delivering the OCM BOCES board report, said North Syracuse's share of that budget will be $345,877, based on enrollment, since North Syracuse has the largest enrollment among OCM BOCES component districts. The board also elected three candidates to fill expired terms on the 11-member OCM BOCES board -- Nicholas Blaney of Liverpool, Jennifer Welch of Marcellus, and Joan Reeves of Baldwinsville -- also by a vote of six yes with one board member abstaining. The board approved a settlement of a workers' compensation claim filed by a former employee for an injury sustained on April 25, 2023. The employee's employment with the district was terminated on May 28, 2024, under Civil Service Law Section 71. The district's third-party administrator, NCA Comp, and legal counsel negotiated a Section 32 Waiver Agreement covering the indemnity portion of the claim for $100,000.00, to be paid from the district's Workers' Compensation Reserve. The minutes state the settlement is projected to produce a future cost avoidance for the district of approximately $55,000 to $110,000. The motion carried with seven yes votes. The board also created a new position, a 1.0 FTE Systems Consultant at the District Office, effective July 1, 2026. The resolution states the district determined, 'for reasons of efficiency,' that it was necessary to create the position, categorized in the resolution as a Middle Manager post. That motion also carried with seven yes votes. On policy, board member Mark Thorne reported that the Policy Committee met on April 14 and reviewed three policies: Policy 7522, Concussion Management, recommended for amendment and readoption; Policy 7552, Student Gender Identity, also recommended for amendment and readoption; and Policy 5840, Artificial Intelligence, recommended for approval of its First Reading. Thorne thanked Jason Clark for his work on the AI policy. The board approved the Policy Committee's recommendations on all three by a vote of seven yes. In other business, the board accepted, with gratitude, an anonymous gift of $5,000.00 from the Friends of the North Syracuse Early Education Program for the benefit of NSEEP. The board approved a consulting services agreement with the New York State School Boards Association to provide State Aid Review Services. The board also approved three memoranda of understanding described in the minutes as related to a 'Juul agreement,' involving the district and, respectively, the North Syracuse Education Association for Employee #08074 and Employee #08584, and the North Syracuse Principals Association for Employee #08018. Each of those motions carried with seven yes votes. During board comments, Crabtree said he was 'very upset' that education has not been discussed in state budget negotiations in the last two months, and that the state budget 'probably will not be passed' until mid-to-late May, with all 23 OCM BOCES component districts required to vote on their own budgets that night regardless. He said issues including climate leadership, car insurance, and housing have taken priority over education in Albany. Both Crabtree and Superintendent Dr. Terry Ward noted that OCM BOCES Superintendent Dr. Matthew Cook, who has served six years in that role, will retire in December of 2026; Crabtree said Cook has completed seven superintendent searches in the last two years and began his career as a social worker. Ward also reported on recent math performance data, citing a 3% increase in math proficiency across New York State, with several district schools exceeding that growth: Lakeshore Elementary School increased by 16%, Roxboro Road Elementary School by 11%, and Smith Road Elementary School by 6%. He said the district experienced an average increase of approximately 7 percentage points across all buildings. During comments from the audience, Allison Kadick commented regarding personnel changes at Roxboro Road Elementary School. Separately, personnel actions approved at the meeting included the appointment of Sean Fahey as Director of Data, Accountability and School Improvement at an annual salary of $153,203, with his start date amended from May 26, 2026 to May 4, 2026. The board also acknowledged the retirement of Kimberly Kennedy, an elementary teacher, after 31.3 years of service. The board moved into executive session to review one personnel matter, with no action to follow, before adjourning at 7:30 p.m.