A Somers Central School District official presented a regional planning update at a board meeting, describing four shared-service activities being developed through Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES and stressing that the district would not commit funds at this stage.

The presenter said Somers is being asked to continue participating in planning for four areas: a regional behavioral support network and expanded mental-health services; cooperative prekindergarten (UPK) and County Preschool Support Center services; transportation coordination including shared out-of-district routes; and centralized, regionwide work-based learning and internship coordination for high school students. "We literally will not spend a single dollar at this point," the presenter said, reiterating that the district's role would be to remain at the table for planning only.

The nut graf: the planning effort is intended to identify shared services that could reduce costs or expand services across the region, but Somers officials said any later adoption of services would be optional and subject to annual district decisions.

On mental-health services, the presentation described proposals for a regional behavioral-support network that might include shared psychiatric services, mobile crisis teams, partial-day programs, urgent-care expansion and regional social-emotional learning training. The presenter offered the student-assistance program used at the middle and high school as an example and said participating in regional planning could make some of those services eligible for state aid that Somers currently funds locally.

On prekindergarten, the presenter said a cooperative model could allow districts with unused UPK seats to make them available regionally, potentially increasing access for Somers families who do not win local lottery seats. The district emphasized that this remains a planning idea and that any operational detail — including timing and eligibility — has not been finalized.

Transportation coordination was presented as a possible way to consolidate routes for students who attend private schools or out-of-district programs, with costs prorated or shared across districts to gain economies of scale. The presenter described the proposal as several years away from potential implementation and dependent on further design.

The work-based learning proposal would create a centralized system of vetted internship placements and work-based learning coordinators across regional high schools so seniors could more easily find meaningful internships tied to career or college plans.

The presenter said the regional planning process had been relabeled from "regionalization" to "regional planning" and noted that 15 districts initially provided input; three additional districts later joined. The district asked the public for feedback via a web page and said a public comment period would run from the day after the meeting through Sept. 26. The presenter described internal dates for staff to compile feedback between Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 and said a deadline for Somers to notify Northern BOCES whether it will continue collaboration was presented in meeting materials as Sept. 30 (the presenter also referenced Oct. 1 elsewhere in the presentation).

Board members and meeting participants asked for plain-language examples, timelines and online materials so residents could see exactly what the district would be agreeing to at this stage. The presenter said those examples and the slide deck would be posted on the district website and that participation in any service would remain optional year to year.

No formal motion or vote was taken at the meeting. The presenter described the next steps as collecting public feedback, consolidating it internally and submitting Somers' election on continued planning to Northern BOCES by the deadline noted in the presentation.