All three Pine Plains schools will hold the line on costs for the next school year, according to their principals, who presented their budgets at the school board meeting on Feb. 5.
They reported no expected changes in expenditures from the current year.
Kristen Fischetti, Cold Spring Early Learning Center principal, estimated the school’s 2025-26 expenditures would remain static at $67,325; Seymour Smith’s principal, Julie Roberts, anticipated a stable cost of $64,800. Principal Christopher Boyd said the projected Stissing Junior/Senior High School budget would stay fixed at $186,875.
The principals took turns outlining key budgetary highlights and detailing initiatives aimed at academic excellence, community engagement, and student enrichment. Among the examples: the annual first-grade art show, Seymour Smith’s 100-day celebration — that marks the halfway point of the school year — and a new Stissing Mountain High School theater class developed in partnership with Marist University.
Christopher Boyd, the high school principal, also talked about the “Winners Circle,” a new initiative in which students would collaborate to build and sell a race car. Shop and marketing classes would collaborate to construct, advertise, and auction the vehicle. “Other school districts are doing this; it’s very popular,” he said, adding that proceeds from the sale would cover the project’s start-up costs.
Superintendent Dr. Brian Timm said he expects to get the results of a facilities utilization study, which will provide an analysis of existing school structures. The evaluation was prompted by declining student enrollment and possible cuts in state funding which may require consolidating buildings. Timm will report the findings at the next board meeting, on Feb. 18.
The superintendent also told the board that he will soon meet with New York State Sen. Michelle Hinchey. “We’ve been offered two Bullet Aid packages, one for $50,000 and one for $60,000,” he said. Bullet Aid is money granted by the state to support the general budget of selected schools. “I’ll know more once I connect with Senator Hinchey this week,” Timm said.
In other business, a bid of $51,993 was accepted to replace the school library’s old carpet over spring break. “But that was for the total square footage of the library — the area the carpet covers is much smaller than that, so the cost will be less,” Timm said.
There was also a discussion of the senior trip to Lake George in June and a request from the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services for board member nominations. After Timm announced school snow closure for the next day, the board went into executive session.