that on here. I did on here. No good coding. We're recording. Okay. It is 703. I'd like to call to order the board meeting for the Annabelle Board of Education today is February 12th, 2025. So we can do the pledge of the police on its first. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and engineering public where we should stand one nation under God, individual, liberty, and justice for all. It looks like we have maybe like half the teachings that of the elementary school here tonight, which is kind of off-up. So first things, first, we'll do comments from the public. If you guys have comments, please remember that they should be about board agenda items and try to keep it to two minutes or less if possible. Amanda, boy. Hi. I was like, great. I'm first, I love it. I am Amanda Balloyn. I teach first grade here at Annabelle Elementary School. And I'm here tonight asking the board to support the budget for the 2025,
2021, 26 school year. I know that this budget is requesting the additional higher of new staffing, particularly staff for the upper grades and I really hope that that the board takes it into consideration. You're great. No, no. So, thank you very much. Hi, that's boarders. Okay. Melissa LaFazca. Hi, my name is Melissa Latesta. I wanted to say thank you to the Board of Education for all your hard work with budget season. And I really appreciate the additional staffing that you guys have put into our budget to accommodate our grown school, especially in our upper grades and for us in fixtures. So, thank you. We appreciate it. 15 up right there. Good evening. Board of Ed members. I just want to express my hope that you will vote to accept the proposed budget tonight. As a teacher who's been here for 27 years, I know that the importance of this budget and the direct impact it has on our students. The increase in staff that Val's asking for will certainly be felt in a positive way for all staff and students. Each member of our staff works hard to meet the needs of each individual child, but this task becomes difficult when there are more students and non-unup interventions.
We want to be able to challenge those who need it in Richmond and support those who are struggling. We are a staff that understands what a gem it is to work here at Andover and we work hard to put every tax dollar that we have to its best use. We know Val is worked hard on this budget and we hope that the Board of Ed supports it. Yeah. I can't even go work. Hi, just to reiterate what everyone is saying. Thank you to Val for putting together this budget and as a kindergarten teacher, I can speak to how important the class sizes are and as a class size of 11 or 12 for the last several years. I feel that it is really beneficial and I hope that it will support the upgrades to with smaller classes and we can have some more success with that as well. Thank you. John McGoencrack. Thank you, I'm just reiterating what everyone else has said as well. Just speaking in support of the budget and we thank Val for all the work that she's done to put this together. Jamie Lever. Hi, I just wanted to say thanks so much for your work on the budget this season. I'm really appreciative that the addition of teachers for the upgrades is included. This year I'm teaching fifth grade math and ELA and I can say first hand that even with a class full of amazing kids, it's been a challenge
to meet the individual needs of 28 students. So thank you. Daniel Rose. Ben? Good evening, I'd like to again, as everyone else has shared my appreciation for Val and the Board of Education for the hard work going into developing this budget. And I want to add that I support the increase in classes for the upgrades as a special education teacher. I see the hard work that the teachers are putting into trying to differentiate for all of the students and it becomes more difficult when there's such large class sizes as we have in the upgrades at the moment. President Care money. Hi, I also want to thank Val and the Board for all the effort you're putting into the budget. As a reading specialist at the school, I have definitely seen an increase in lower reading assessment scores particularly in our fourth fifth and sixth grade classes. A lot more students seem to be struggling to meet grade level benchmarks and as a result, more and more of our older students require reading support.
The number of students I provide intervention services to has greatly increased in the upgrades. We currently have about 17 students in grades four through six to require tier three support academic support and about a third of those require tier three support for both reading and math. And then you compare that to our kindergarten through third graders and we only have about seven who received tier three support. So we're definitely seeing a much greater increase of academic need with our older students. The classroom teachers work tirelessly. They try to help the struggling students the best they can, but it's hard for them to take the small groups they need to to meet the students' needs when they have just so many kids in the room. So I definitely am in support of smaller class sizes to help the teachers meet those needs and help get our students' performance where I know it could be.
Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Mrs. Hopkins. Again, I just want to thank Val and all of you for your hard work and your support. And it means a lot to have the increased staffing in the budget, especially when our numbers are going up, which is a good thing, right? So thank you all. I'm Denny Murat. Hi there. I also like the others but like to thank Val and the board for your support. As a staff member who's been at Andover for 20 plus years, I have always felt lucky to be a part of the Andover community and the board has always been there to back us up when we have needs that change and things changed throughout the year. And I feel like we are changing with the time. The board knows what it's like for us. I have taught in many other school districts. I know what it's like to teach a class of 32 kindergarteners. It's not easy. It's not easy as fifth grade level, sixth grade level. And we have been fortunate and Andover to have small class sizes. And I don't think anyone will disagree the impact that we could have with classes when our class size is smaller. Andover has a name. And I think that's one of the reasons why our enrollment
is going up. I think in order to still have and over keep that name, we need to do the things that we know work and one of those is class size. So I appreciate the board considering the increase of teachers and the upper grades as well as all the other line items in the budget. So thank you for your support. And we're looking forward to hearing some good things. Did I miss anyone on Zoom? Do you have any public comments? No, I guess I'll just say that. You know, I've been in the board and over for years now
because of my wife's role in a staff. But I just have my confidence that you're being responsible and have the needs of the students in mind. And that's been steady and driven in all the shows. So thank you all, you two. I really do have anything you want to say for public comment. They've got good. Good. So we'll move on to some of the communications. Does anyone have any communications because they want to share? That's not addressed in a different slide item. I received a decision. OK. That grew out of Monday before it's morning. And it's okay if we sign this? I don't know that it's appropriate to sign this item. Find out more than I've heard of the meeting. Yeah. It's a petition for the board chair. It's a petition for individuals. Yeah. So are you asking if the board can sign it or if you as an individual sign? The individuals can sign it being a board member. Oh, you just like are you allowed to sign it? Absolutely. Have an individual? Yeah. Absolutely. I don't think there's anything that being on the board finds you to do or not do, isn't it? Because it doesn't ask you as a board member, it's that the individual board said, yep.
That's a really good answer. That's a resident. Yeah. OK. Is that anyone else have other communications? So last, do you have anything or brief? I don't have anything. No. I don't have anything. OK. I'm sorry. What is this petition about? I don't understand what this is. What Jerry's referencing. I don't. So I think it's not appropriate for us to discuss about a board meeting. It's a petition that you have given as an individual person in our town and you want it to make sure that he was allowed to sign it as an individual. OK. OK. All right. Thanks, Caitlin. Thank you. Yeah. So we'll move on to student celebrations. We have won a big one here. Well, a little big one. Emily, can you come stand next to Mrs. Greenhouse so that they can see you on the show? Everyone can see you on the show. I see you're going to see you there. Wait, say hi. You got to wait. Look, look, look at her. Look at her. Closer. Now they can see you. OK. So I want to introduce to everybody. This is Everley Lataska. Yes, she is, in fact, Mrs. Lataska's daughter and Mr. Lataska in the audience. However, she happens to be the winner of the end-of-relimetry school, school-wide, all the way up to grade six. And she is a fourth grader. Spelling big. She will be our representative at the State's Family date. And then if she had success there, against all those kids, then she would go further. She would reach it all first and then stay. But regionally, I want you to know
that this is not just an accomplishment because we know she'd want to follow beautiful and smart. It's because little is Everley here has sat on that stage as a finalist. How many years? Four years. Whoa. She was the first grade winner, which was in first grade. When we would take first through sixth to the stage. And I will have you know, we no longer do first grade because there's a lot of tears when they don't make it. And again, six graders, that they don't understand that they're just starting out. But Everley did not let that get in the way. Everley was the second grade winner when she was in second grade. And sat on that stage with third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade. She was the third grade winner and sat on that stage with fourth, fifth and sixth grade.
And now she is the fourth grade winner and beat the fifth and sixth graders. So we are very, very proud of her. So if you have any questions for her and you spell in question? I do miss that really. I have one question for you. What word did you win at? I don't care if it's late. Say that one more time or two more time. I don't know if I could spell it. I just did, so it was a little cold. And I understand that when we go around the room, I tell her the principal does the room spelling these to get the winner of first through sixth. And then I have the privilege of just doing the stage one, the winners first through, while second now through sixth.
So I have no idea what words they were given in the rooms. And I list and we have a prescribed order that those words go in. So sure, we go grades two through six and then keep going around two through six. But we start off with maybe words that are a little less challenging, but they don't know what word they're gonna get. So we could happen that if kid gets all brand new words that they didn't have when they did their grade level because of where we start and how we go. So, Tursley was definitely one that she probably didn't have before. So, Ellie, do you remember last year what word you want on and what word you got out of? Oh, I don't remember one time. One time, I think it's a little bit too wide. Well, I don't know if we know what I got out of it. It's good, it's good. Yeah, it's good, it's good. It's good. It's good. So, Cecil, I'll never forget that. But she's an amazing spelling and we went this year through words that were grade two, three, four
and Mrs. Fraser correct me if I'm wrong and we go up to seven, we went up to seven, three. So, she did not just win on second and third and fourth grade words. She had to beat the fifth and sixth graders on words that weren't all the way up and I'm pretty sure Mom says that she was definitely a studyer. So, she earned every bit of this and we're so proud of her. I'm so proud of you guys. Congratulations, Evely. I'm being off of the board. There's a certain room there. Mrs. Fraser, don't watch the show. And there's a little bit of money there too. But we're hoping that if you don't have church, you'll wear that one to spell me. And one is the spelling bee for states. She will go, what if they barks seven? Yeah, so she will go and barks and hopefully buy a bee in bed. We'll be able to tell you who, you know, how well she did. That is good. Good, it's hard. That was good. That was good.
Well, they've got a representative that you're going to be doing too. We're so proud of her. Yeah. And all of the kids did amazing. I can tell you that next year we can go ahead and have a chance. We had a second grade spanner there and Eva there. They all did a great job. But let me tell you, the smile she brought to my face every time she hopped up to spell the word because I was nervous for them. You know, it's like that mom thing kicks in and you're like, oh, we don't want to break their heart. She would pop right up there and she was so confident. And I've disobeyed a few three rounds, that second grader. Was it three rounds Melissa? How many rounds did that second grader make it? Through three or four? We had some second graders up, made it pretty far. I was at three or four rounds because it was just amazing to watch them. Yeah. Well, I think they were, they all did a really great job.
They did a great job. And so, you know, we've got some strong spellers coming up. We've, you know, in our lower grades and so it's amazing. They'd hopefully we'll see Evely again next year for fifth grade and then sixth grade. So congratulations. Congratulations. I took a break at a basketball. So I'm going to let her go back to basketball. Okay. Thanks for both of you. Have a nice year. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Superb. Next is a approval of our minute from the meeting of January 8th. Does anyone have any corrections with a notice? Yeah. Anne Cromet needs to have an E added in the ones that are present in number two. And then on the second page, um, Dawn breeches, actually spell. Oh, I am. I am. Anne Cromet, she's A and I need. Oh, I'm an Anne. I'm sorry if I left me, but I was like, it has to be no. And in number two. Yeah. And then on the second page in eight. See the principles report, um breeches actually spelled BR E A C H. Not a breech baby. Okay. And there are two places that's found that is all there. And then on page three in CIP, Dawn, would you just mind adding the S Loud and reported that the fire department presented? She told me she's not going to have an audio. So she's, oh, great. So Bernie attacks the earlier and said she may not have an audio. So I'm writing. Okay.
That's all I have. So other than that, is anybody else doesn't have it? Only conversion. Because anybody else has corrections. So, let you be manned. And then, because I wouldn't notice the story. And you wouldn't be the spelling. I make a motion to remove the regular reading minutes of January 8, 20, 25 as amended. Yes, certainly. No, second. And I'm holding the paper. Bye. Bye. Bye. And my hands are insane. So that'll be five zero, one. No, six zero, one. Wow, math, two, one. You need a very demanding job. I don't know why. My team is going to show that. I'm going to decide. And next up is opportunity to add or delete agenda items.
Is there anything on the agenda that anyone would like to add to or delete off of the agenda for this month? I'm going to move that we potentially add a action item on a number or letter F with a solar project update. For nine F for nine F. Yep, I'm going to move along with that. Move the table. The executive session to march as we have a full agenda. And then third move up C to our first item to honor our distinguished teachers as they discussed the budgets and respect their time. Sorry, what do you want to move up C to the first item on the agenda? Move the budget up to. This goes before today to nine A. Yes. And what A as well. Second, I want to just switch B and C. Sure. We get switched B and C and C and C. Okay, so we'll move that budget to be. We need to make a motion to do all those things. Yes. Yeah, so I moved that. That's your move. Would anyone like to back in? I'll all second that. Okay. Do we need to repeat all of them or you guys got it off? I got it. Okay. All in favor. Hi. Hi. Hi. Okay, anyone opposed? Okay. So we moved that stuff in terms of the agenda.
Does anyone have anything else that they'd like to move or add and send them to us? I do not. Thanks Eric for taking care of that. I do not. Okay. Yeah, where's that right now? That's under F. Do we want to move that about the future stuff though? Okay. Move that too. Yeah, so yeah, so just because Ryan's here for solar. We're going to move item F, which is the solar project to to D, which is the elevator estimate in that way. You don't have to stay here forever. I'll make a motion. Is that a curse? Okay, thank you. But we want to leave this again. That's right. All in favor. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Okay. Anything else? Okay, moving on. We have other telegrysons at all. No. Okay. Chair persons or a report. I don't have a whole lot aside from stuff that's on the budget or that's on the agenda in other areas. So I think we'll just talk about it as we come to those things. So we're in time to report. We have specified grant updates, facilities, updates, and five year on capital 10. I'll be. And there'll be a few things that as Caitlyn said, we're going to be talking about down there. So all books, and so we can get some of this stuff. In front of you guys, I tried to give you all the paperwork you'll need.
In front of you guys, first and foremost, you'll see that there's a letter here. And so last and three, I have packet since your online that I'll send home tomorrow. Okay. This is just a letter that I've shared with admin and office staff regarding the legislation that speaks to ICE and potential issues regarding immigration and customs enforcement. That that we expect there to be any issues in the town and over. But I wanted to be very clear that we do have a procedure that we need to be followed. Should this affect our school in any way, shade that good. So this, as you can see on the top, was addressed to principal secretaries and other pertinent offices staff. Just I wanted everybody to be rest assured that there is a probe procedure that is in place, should we go across this?
And I'm made sure that I have reviewed it with all of that. Okay. So and this follows the governor's guidance. Yes, it's probably a little bit different. And this is more particular to the school. It doesn't disregard anything that's in there. If anything, it is more enhanced. It's like further. Yes, so yes. Thank you for being on top of that. I think it was really important for us to have this procedure in place. Yep, so we're good with that. Everybody understands that. There are no regrets right now to apply for. As you can imagine, you know, it is a difficult time to be a school with not knowing where the state will stand, with where the federal government will stand. And so they've been a little stingy with putting out any grants at this point right now while they await and see what's going to happen with the federal federal department of education. So five year plan as we get down to the three things that are on the agenda, then the elevator estimate the bathroom project in the solar. I think we can put that there. Those are three priorities, those are that is part. The only thing that I'm also working on as I put that plan together is making sure that even
though it's not in this year's budget, even though it's not something for this year is we've been working Scott and I think at custodian, we've been working with our vendors to make sure that part of that capital plan that's a little bit more comprehensive is to do with the workers. So we've been actively getting quotes as to what we need to be done. What we need to be done, what we need to be done price-wise if because we have two boilers. If one needs to be replaced versus two, so we are putting that together and just know that that's not for this year plan. Where are they in life cycle like are they in the end? So where is the end of the year? No, they're not getting toward the end.
When we get all of the information in, I'll put it on the next agenda, that's something for us to discuss, but we've been, I would say, quickly. Well, we've been pretty lucky that with the repairs and maintenance that have been occurring and the fact that this will sound weird that it's an older boiler, like you know, they say these expressions, they don't make a like that you still, you know, that's true. So if they've been properly maintained and repairs and maintenance were done on the regular basis like they were supposed to, the things that you were appearing seem a little bit more regular. It's like, how come we always seem to need this because that's going to extend the like given further. So we're working on that. The lights outside, they are due Tuesday. They're coming on Tuesday. There was one other day that they were coming and they couldn't so they'll be done out there on Tuesday. And that's when they're actually repairing. Yeah, yeah, the appointment for them to come is Tuesday. Let's see. We'll do the bathroom. We're in this tool, we're in the breaking of you.
What about the fans of Jim? So Jeff Murray is working with Taylor on scheduling that date, but I'm just trying to put those in. So yeah, and so all of these other things then that are related to the repaired maintenance are under the five-year plan are further on down here. So I think I'm going to hold off on those. What else? And then that's enough. Yeah, I think that's it for this slide. And then we'll do the other thing we get to the business. And I have a question for right now for we get to the business. No, I'm not unless you have anything else that's not in those categories. I do not have her. Principles report. Taylor's not here tonight. She was good. She's sick. She was going to send one to us. Fortunately, she's not able to do that. But I will tell you that they do have a half-day professional development Friday of this week. Two days last week, she was supposed to be bookworms, but there was no storm because that one was paid for as a two-day program for somebody who was lying in.
We had an option and we had to take that option 48 hours ahead of time, either cancel and reschedule it or who's one day. Because you have to give them notice so they don't fly in. So she opted to do that. She does have a team that's participating in a couple of other professional developments that we'll talk about. The newest one is I have to do with social studies standards and actually Melissa Lataska. We'll be working with Taylor to put together a community on that one. So she's doing well with it. We've got our teams. A lot of whom you see on the screen here tonight and we're pushing work with that. When we get to the calendar, you'll see that not only is it replanting for now, but as we work on the new curriculum, as we enhance the existing bookworks curriculum that we put into effect last year, we are making sure that the professional
development is pointed through to the end of next year. Because as you guys know, especially those of you who work or are teachers here, it's really important that that follow through the schedule. So that's good. The only other part of our report here is that enrollment report that's in your package. And you can see we've stayed never studied since August, which is a good thing. You definitely don't want to lose kids. In the months, we shouldn't have a lot of new ones coming in for follow along the year anyway. I will tell you though that that 241, if we looked at individual students, it does reflect movements out and movements in time. So the good news is, is that right now, we've been lucky this school year that anybody that has moved out and sold, we've got new ones that have come into replace them. So sounds like the same 241 students, but give or take about five that changed up during the course of
these last five months. So we're very, very excited about that. And you'll see a little bit of numbers on the top. It's very reflective of what the teachers have just said and of glad that we had Jamie, especially on here, as somebody who has 28 kids in 27, 26 in those doctor classes. They are so Lisa also experiences that. And that's that for me, the information that I have to be responsible for. Harry, hi, hi, financial report. Okay, I'm hoping you all got a chance to take a look at them. I say we're right on track, being at 53% spent at the end of January. You know that I'm letting lines run over. So if there's any questions about any of that, I can try to answer them or I can get you an answer tomorrow when they're back in the office. But does anybody have any questions about the reports at the moment? Um, substitute salaries? What is what is the IA instruction all of a sudden?
That's the pair. Yes. Right. We will run over with the sublines in instructional assistance and potentially teachers, the whole school year. But what you're going to see in the reason for that, what you're going to see by the end of the school year that is there will be, I don't know, all the surplus. There will be those dividends that are in the teacher salary line item, because in the, um, the line item that has the pair us because we've been utilizing Taylor has probably interviewed from the start of the school year to now and I know Ms. Frazier who's on here and a couple of other teachers also are looking at her face right now. Also, I'm ready. We have interviewed well Taylor has interviewed probably 30 people since July for these positions and we are very grateful for the pairs that are in this building, but because we had had a change of circumstance with student needs, it meant that we did after a place too. And we have not found the right candidates for those too. We, okay, okay. So the sub, so that isn't her and they're like a continual sub because you don't have a person. So they technically, um, the books right now are a sub, but it's to replace an existing position that's here. So that line will have extra money in it at the end of the year, which then will roll. Right. But like Terry said, we all had decided the board had decided and, you know, and told us that it was okay, that's so that you could see the true actuals. We didn't want to do the transfers. We want to wait so that you can see at the end of the year and then transfer that
over there. But that's why you're going to see those lines run over because those people are considered subright subs right now. Same thing with the teachers because as we talked about, there will also be between now and the end of the year, some some coverage when we have teachers out of the, um, because we are expanding our children of the end of row entry school. And so when that happens, again, you're going to see it's due to subline, but then we're going to have to transfer that over from them. But I think leaving it this way in turn. Yeah, I think so. It makes it to realize those things. I like it this way too. I've never liked having to transfer it over to the course of the year because it doesn't give you that true number. Yeah. So the other one I had a question on was printing and find out. Yeah. Yeah. Rising costs for the equipment maintenance and obviously, we're using we're using a lot of, a lot of paper and a lot of the copy your expenses are going to instructional learning. Yeah. And it's been running over, that line's been running over since I've been here. So I think I, I think I put a little extra in the budget that you're going to vote on tonight to, to hopefully, um, hopefully take care of that for next year. And that's, and that's really mostly movement of stuff from like physical books. That's a little like photocopy and like open it off. Great. Yeah. That's some of the curriculum requires teacher to do things a little bit
differently. For example, yesterday I walked around and I had to give a chart paper, teacher to rooms. Now, teachers didn't normally use a lot of chart paper, but some of the instruction that they do with our current reading program requires them to make these anchor charts and they're using a lot more of that chart paper that the, the kids utilize as they're instructing them in these lessons. So, um, you know, that's another one of those things that have changed and shifted. They do have certain things that they have to copy with the, the current curriculum that they have. And so it's just a shift from one place in the budget to another and that we're just going to have to to the end. Yeah. And then the only other on this high is um, repairing maintenance and we are ready. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions? Any other questions? Oh, I wanted to let you know that the auditors were in on Monday and Tuesday. There were no, no significant findings that I know of, but they're coming back next Thursday to finalize everything. And I don't anticipate they're being any issues. And I just want to let you know that hopefully we'll have a solid number for you at the next meeting. Hopefully I'm keeping my fingers crossed that will know how much money we have to, um, from last year to move over to, um, wherever you want to put it. So, okay. Okay. I know you have a little vague, but I don't really know
more how soon they're going to wrap it up. So yeah. Um, and then you guys also should have these there's two valid sheets. Um, just that that's highlighted on them. So the one is that, um, 174, 964.33 is our two percent, um, and then the other one that's that two 12, 433.46 is, um, the capital fund. If you looked above that, they saw them move the money from the other places to actually put it in there, but it, it's all accounted for. There's also a letter separately that the town treasure sent to Terry and I, that states that that is the amount of money that's in the capital fund. And they're going to keep giving us this, I think that a monthly basis was my understanding. Yeah, that's why. Yeah, kind of, um, which I especially as we start the bathroom project and start having to pay for that. It'll be important. Yes. Okay. If there's nothing else, does anyone have other questions for Terry? I don't have any questions. Thank you, Terry. You're welcome. Reed, do you have anything? No, nothing. I'm the final. Okay, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, liaison reports and updates. And I think we need to just add
CIP on here because we're sure we get it. Um, school readiness for you. Do you have any updates from school readiness? No, there's been no meetings since the last one. Okay. Um, probably a little bit as an aside. Um, we did get communications, but it's related to school readiness from the Board of Finance asking for more specifics in regards to the budget for preschool specifically, because it's not in the general fund. They wanted to see specific budgetary, like, ins and outs and accounts receive a little and whatnot. Um, so Val need a video for them. Um, that shows that stuff that shared every month at the school readiness meetings. Um, and then also send them some written information as well. And also invited if one of them would like to be a member of school readiness that we would love to have someone from the Board of Finance on that as well. Um, so sort of related, but I'm just going to forget it otherwise. Um, so I don't know if anyone has questions on that, really just so that you guys are all aware. Um, just a quick one. Uh, that school readiness that is that audited all financially. Okay. That's okay. But that's not, is that particularly the school or is that a separate? Oh, no, it's part of the school audit. It's part of the school audit because, um, smart start and school readiness or grants. So that's absolutely, um, part of
our grant audit. And, um, they have access in real time as well. The auditors do. They can look at, in any time, or, of course, the year, because it's on the e-grad management system for the state website. Um, Diane Kane keeps them on the records for the money in, um, as it comes into the building for tuition. Um, that's shared with Terry Terry handles that just as those she handles all of our other finances. And then it goes through to school readiness council and the school readiness council that Bree is always asked about, okay, she's out there. Um, then they have oversight of the school readiness cabinet. So, absolutely, there's, so they have, they have a little thing like this that's much smaller. That's just for just for those who are in this. Yeah. And if you want the video that she made for border finance, I'm sure. Yeah, that's how now. Yeah, if you can send it to go. That's a report. That's what I'm in it for. It's really quite good if you
listen to it on to ex speed. If I don't speak fast enough. Yeah, just follow. Do you just sound like that? Do you have any PTA update? Uh, uh, lesson of, of, of great, uh, significance, just, we had our meeting and just talking about doing some fun raisers and some other things. So, um, but yep, that's all really. Um, in terms of town leading updates, um, so I just spoke about the stuff from border finance, which is probably the major thing affecting us that came out of their border finance meeting. Um, and then the board of selectron had a meeting, um, after ours, and then again, this past Monday. Um, I don't know as others, anything from that that pertains to the directly, aside from the fact that we need to discuss solar panels, which is on the agenda. Um, that they said they talked to me about the vehicle. Oh, yeah, so Monday, night, they also mentioned it is the vehicle that's used to. I don't know. They were talking about how they're going to have to kind of look at their senior vehicles. And, um, the handicap equipped was what they were referring to. So I just asked them and they were very open, um, you know, to have a conversation. I asked
them if they could talk to me once they make a decision as if they're re-sing, renting if they're going to buy because we use one of their vehicles anyways for, um, we pay to use it. Um, there may be some way for us to put that toward our, um, the our expenses related to special education, since we do reimburse them from part of it. And there may be a way for us to see about, um, getting access costs. The kind of that they were talking about as of 2014 and it has rusted, like I think the bottom is rusted and the side panels will attach because it's
rusted and they were quoted like $10,000 to repair it, which, um, right? I've already put money into it. So yeah, um, but it's like $65,000, 55 to 65,000 to get a new handicap equipped band. So which I know because my father and let's just call us. Oh, my goodness. Um, so in terms of town meetings, I feel like that's probably a problem. Um, and then for CIP, do you have any complaints in there? Um, the only thing is that um, part of part became back and just further talked about um, their needs for the SBA, um, which I believe is now on to the Board of Selectman for approval. Um, the scholars, they were approving me expenditure. Yeah, they don't talk about that. I'm on the right. Yeah. Okay. Um, so then we'll move on to, um, the discussion items. Um, so we have the 25, 26, a calendar, which is in the packet. Um, and then there's a copy of it at your spaces as well. Um, I have one question on here. I don't know if anyone else does and maybe I'm willing to notice it because I'm Jewish. Do we always have the Friday off?
Yes. Okay. And I apparently I never noticed. It's often included in the April School of Education. And it's just because good Friday is so early this year that they're starting to get out. Okay. That's why you need it. When you're going to add number four and there's on there for my family. Um, well, I will tell you that on the holidays too, it also depends on contract needs. We'll start with. Yeah. And then trackially what's in there for paid holidays for certain employees. So for example, if you look at the non-strip contract, there are certain non-certified employees that get that as a day off. So we wouldn't ever, not that we would, but we wouldn't ever, you know, say, well, you know, let's go still on that day because they get paid out of our families, they're touched by it. So, and that's with a lot of school district. I would say 95% of school districts in the state of that might be 8% of public school districts in the state have to apply out. That's our separation of churches there. Absolutely. The thing I noticed just real quick, picking you is early release versus early dismissal. And I didn't think there was any which difference. So it's early dismissal on the top line. And then it goes to early release. In February and April on the bottom description. It's top of the town. Every April and June. And I'm pretty sure there's no difference between, oh yes, that's the last early release. Yeah. Gotcha. So because it's defined, it would be good just to have those three. I think it's only February April and June that I saw the differentiation. Just so that it all says that all day early dismissal because it's defined. Yeah. So yep.
The only question I had is looking at this and I'm coming from a perspective of parents who are working in class, low income. Do we ever reach out to a survey of whether half days, pole days are better for families and I know that there's contract obligations that we're looking at too and other matters, but just going to any type of parent feedback that we can elect to see and have an input on the calendar. Well, the state actually kind of mandates that for us, because the state says you have to go 180 degrees to school. If you go a half a day counts, if you have the whole day walk, it's just an outcome. So even if parents said I'd rather have a whole day off, they have to make that up, but they don't really get it off. So if you said like this Friday, there's a half day for professional development. If you guys said, and rather actually just have that off, we'd have to make that whole day off. You don't just get added. So like, it's going to be like, I don't remember days where there's two half days for conferences, those two half days count as school days, but if they just did one day off and the other one was a full day, then you have to add a day. I do. Yeah. I just feel like it would be good to
collect some parents feet back on the calendar. I don't know what the percentages are for. When they like the half days, when they this, there's one thing that everybody always agrees upon, and that is, get us out as early as you can. So that's universal. You're going to get a 100 percent of parents that are going to say, yes, I won't. I would prefer it. You love your kids. So, you know, that's the thing is if even if parents then said, you know, take all those half days, make them full days off, and we had to make them up. We would have huge complaints from parents saying, why are we going to school until June 28th? Yeah. And so you're going to have more parents that are going to say, okay, fine, let's go back to the half days because, but I will say, that's one of the reasons why, you know, we have cool here. You know, so that there is an opportunity for families. And just this year, because of the parent feedback about the after school events, that occurred. Their numbers were up this year, in terms of attendance, especially for the little ones. But I know that the cool program does accommodate families that say at the beginning of the year, hey, listen, I don't need my kid to come every day, but I do need to kind of sign up for when you have those half days. And they do have a daily right there that, you know, that's that sign up for it. So
that's always an option for me. I also like pushing out two legs with snowies. If you're really pushing that out with the additional days, then you can't just snow days, then you run that risk of really getting deep into. Well, and you know, Michael, if it's like if we run out of days and June, where do we get those days? If I don't even watch that, it's always been great. It has half of the past before. Yep. So. Great. When my question is, are teachers nervous? So I had a time to be able to have the important work. Yes. By contract, they do have to have some feedback that they give to the administration. And I will say, Taylor's very good about that. You know, she does meet regularly with teaching groups. The biggest thing we did this year with this one, and you'll notice on here. So it's inclusive of four, half days, five full days. Some of that is contractual for the teachers. But we really tried to do because the biggest feedback with parents, not even just here. I have a district as well, where they've got children in an elementary, a middle and high school is, can you try to make those collegeers line up? And so
we really did that this time to help parents out. We really looked at Rams and he runs in Barbados or Bussen. Well, yes, but there's a cost to that. But they rely on the older kids, the siblings, to watch the younger ones. Yes. And on half days. So for the most part, all of our days are also professional development days at Rams, not necessarily the reverse. Rams does have some pd days that we do not. But I'm pretty sure 100% of these days that we have line up with them. Right. So, you know, that feedback was definitely hard. And if you look at just because of where the winner holiday
is fall, it's almost two weeks off. Yes. So, it's not great. I was telling you, you said that I'm making a picture. Okay. So, I think the only thing that we want to change on is just that definition to change early release to say early dismissal, and then otherwise with someone like to make a motion to approve, I'll make a motion to approve the 225, 226, EES calendar, as a member. All in favor. All right. All right. All right. On the next thing that we have on here is budget. Okay. So, we have already obviously met we had it posted. We've already presented it at our, at our board meeting. So, nothing to change since then. We did schedule for parents to be able to come. We had one. And we appreciated her coming. So, but I think that there are a number of people that are watching it online. I don't think that there's just no interest in it. I think that, you know, parents have reviewed it online who are interested in reviewing it, as well as watching the video online. So, just be quick before you guys motion. The quick recap is yes. We are a little bit higher this year than we have been in the past. But I do think that it should, you know, be noted. That's, I mean, we have had needs on the town side, too, over the past few years. And some of their needs have, I've occurred that I've also caused six, eight, 10, 16 percent. And so, I think that people in the town do understand that it's not just the percentages, the numbers. Let's look at the numbers. The overall increase
ask here for this budget is $381,000. And we have a $386. And when we reviewed the reasons for this, there were only a couple of categories. We need $3.1 to increase to what we currently have on staff now. And that included assisting with a new fourth grade and a new fifth grade. So, we can get those 27, 28 numbers down. You know, and again, to, I think it was Carrie's point who teaches kindergarten. You know, we've been waiting and holding off because we understand that not everybody in town loves the idea of classes, who don't have kids here, that love the idea of classes being 10 and 12. Even though, you know, that's where they have been with some classes.
We held off until now, we're talking about 22, 27 and 28. And so, you know, I would urge everybody to make sure that that is understood on the town side and the voter side that, you know, we did hold off as long as we possibly could. And now we do feel that it's also interfering with meeting the needs of the kids. It's not just the maintenance of having that in the kids in the classroom. We feel that it is actually going to be detrimental if we don't do something about it. We will hold off on six straight. But as you can see that that class is going to be big next year, if we get 45 and that it will be our gender firm in 26, 27, school year. So, those new positions are going to be about 222,000 of the 300,000, really one. Benefits medical out there there. That is going to bring us about 75,000 dollars. Their just isn't anything that we can do about that. You know, we have contracts and we have the consortium so 75,000 would be an increase there. And the contractual increases for teachers and bounds certified. And again, they came in and understand this that they came in and it can be for that. So, just over 3%. So, we are talking about something that should anybody ask for members
live well. Is it that the teacher are making too much? Nope. That contract was less than a lot of the increases with cost of living adjustment that you're going to see everywhere, including the town's budget. So, you know, I think if we're being fair, we do have to make sure that people know that that their increases were basically cost of living adjustment. And we're asking them and they agreed. There was no content should whatsoever. Remember those of you who are on that committee. We settled that contract with the teachers in a couple of hours through sessions and a couple of hours and that they themselves for next year are taking an increase of 2%. Just over 2% for their own benefits. So, that's actually less than what the physician wants to share. They are, so they are helping to burden themselves with that cost that increase of medical benefits. Otherwise, that 75,000 would be even more. So, if they could shoulder some of it, I feel like we have to make sure that there's no problem in the last event. The 21,000 have to do with tech and licenses. We talked about that. There are certain programs that we use that require a per-students license and with the change of curriculum. There are other needs in this department. Again, I mentioned it before when we talked
about the increase of things like copying. It's just a shift in where the money goes for curriculum now. Instead of us saying years ago, we need $25,000 for books. We don't see that anymore. But we do have needs and this would be under its under tech and licenses, but truly it's curriculum based. Well, that's the same as the increased printing for you. That's what I just said. It's absolutely, it's curriculum instruction and that all of the other mild increases add up to $7,000. I point this out because there will be people in town who really want to support us, but their question is going to be, isn't there any place that you can cop from? And my argument would be, we do that all year long so that when we put this budget together, we are not dealing it with placeholders. We are not dealing it with what ifs. Only $28,000. Yes. Our entire increase is non-teacher-related. Yes. So, that's big for itself. It's non-staff-related. It's directly staff and benefit. That's all it is. All it is. Yep. Contracting increases, new positions and benefits. Yes. Absolutely. So, to look at a budget and to see the needs, and especially when you as our superintendent are saying that it would be detrimental to our students not to hire their employees. And I think that also, I mean, having a child in middle school now, the other thing, like you need to keep a hold of is the fact that when our kids leave this school, they go to a ban. And you don't want to have the elementary school have a larger class size than
what they're going to have when they get to middle school and have them be at a disadvantage with kids from other towns. And we do right now have class sizes that are larger than 4 by 6. But right now, some of those are larger than what their middle school classes will be. Yes. Like significantly larger. And I've said for years, and I still hold true to this. It is it is difficult when we put this together. We need to remind people that they used to call it fluff. They used to say, you know, do you have fluff in there? And I say, I want them to remember that we don't have contingency money. We don't have funds. When a town, not just our town, every town, when a town side does budgeting, they have the advantage of, because this is the way of town works. It's different from a school. They have the advantage of having funds. They have hot some money in there that they can dip into, because they need to, because when something happens, it usually happens to the tune of 100,000, you know? So they have to have those. We don't have that. The only thing we have is that 2% should there be something like an out placement or something that needs to happen. So we try to plan and get as close to the mark as possible. If we think it's going to cost 104,000, we try to plan for 104,000. So Terri sometimes holds her breath, which he says to me, are you sure about? And I say, Terri, we talk it through and we go through trends.
And we, we don't say, well, just in case, let's throw it up. There isn't any of that. So I know that some people over the years have said to me like, well, you know, if you needed to cut where would you cut from? And I was saying, there isn't any plastic ons. And they say, well, there has to be, there really isn't because I've never presented to you guys. And I know you guys have never proved a budget that you felt there was that in. And this is another one of those budgets that we've been doing together for five years. There aren't any spots in here where we could say, well, that's there just in case it's not. It's there because we know we're going to need it. And last year, we're going to take away a teacher that we need to increase. And we can't because we've waited to put that together there. Remember a couple of years ago, we did a two, three split for two years. And it was actually Christina Fraser that had to teach that class. And then, um, Jen, so, you know, we have pushed those teachers. We've pushed them and said, sorry, we're not going to ask the general public for that. So, you know, I, I will remind the board, not that you guys are going to disagree with me, but I will remind you that we have asked them to do things already so that we didn't have to ask the taxpayer and we just can't do any more. Um, we're at that point. If two more kids were to move into that class, we would have to open
that anyways because by state law, now, by and over policy, by state law, we would be over the number. And so, we would have to do it anyway. So, I would just remind you that this is, it's, it's a, it's a good budget. Um, and I think that people will see that. No, no, that's the number. You look 30. Yeah, 30. Yeah. And we're dangerously close. I make a motion to approve the 2025, 2025, 2026 budget as presented by the superintendent. Oh, and the question is correct. That's, yeah, that's why I'm just saying, um, I personally appreciate all the teachers, especially showing up here to show your support for the budget. For what is necessary for us to continue to provide a high quality education for all of our students here in and over. I personally just want to say, I am extremely proud to cast the vote for a budget like this as a Board of Education member, as a fellow teacher who's currently in the classroom, as a parent and as an end-over community member. And I fully support it without hesitation. And I will do my part in fighting and making sure that this passes through our town vote. So,
thank you all for all the hard work that you put forward for our kids every single day. Oh, I go some of my comments. Um, I think we see the results pain dividends and how our children succeed as they move to higher grades, as they move into the world. Um, I think the end-over community that is proud of that. Um, they go in the world and they bear successful. Um, this is not a valid budget now. This is going to be our budget. And I'm very excited to go on in the community and sell this to them. Um, just talking and putting our feelers explaining kind of this is where the board is and our budget for next year. Once you explain the facts, what that vouchers went through, they understand that. They understand that we cannot class sizes of 26, 27. It makes sense to them. 8% yeah, it's hard to swallow, but once they understand that, it's a pretty easy sell. So, it's about advocating, it's about getting out there. We have a hard job board numbers. We have to advocate for this budget. You can't let it be an 8% number. It has to be, we have to tell a story of why we need this. There isn't why. Yes. And I think it's really important for such a care voting just as well, right, that like a third of kids in grades four
through sex or having chair three support. That's, that's a large percentage of your kids in those grades. And, and also, remember that most of the kids in those grades are the kids that were probably the most highly affected by COVID. COVID affected cases. I'd like to thank you for the work that we're doing today. Yes. Um, I too have to support the budget being a forward that retired teacher. And he's got a fantastic group of people you work with. And I fully back to you. I know what it's like to have a class size of 2728. It's not easy. It's not good. And you end up in the long arms spending more money. Then you would if you would have remediate their problems at younger grades. Otherwise, they could pass on. And it would put 2728 that it was we can't grab more. And I know what that's like. So thank you Valerie for well, we we think that because, you know, we we can't do this. Um, you know, if we had teacher and union complaints about 2728 kids this year, if they were not able to say, we'll do it as long as there's a lay at the end of the tunnel, we weren't able to. So it's it's it's it's it's
I like to thank them all for what they do every day for our kids. So I wanted to say that I 100% support the budget. Um, it's necessary. I do want to apologize to the teachers as a board for allowing a year to go by where we have a classroom size of 28 students. I we clearly failed by not doing the sooner. So I apologize for that. Does anyone have anything else or can we move on to vote on passing the budget? Let's move on to vote to pass the budget, Caitlin. Okay, all in favor. Hi. I was opposed. So seven zero zero. Thank you. Thank you teachers. Good night. Okay. Um, that's it. We have the, uh, the cave. Um, yeah, all that for policy. Make a motion because I've looked at it and it's fantastic. So I'll make a motion that we can have discussions. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Make a motion that we, um, the case for the cave audit as board of education policies, the high amount of the higher cave to audit our board of education policies. Uh, certainly. You're of course. That's what the discussion. There is no reason. So she hasn't on the table. Okay. Now that's on the table. Um, so the audit, um, as we mentioned, is is hiring cave to assist with going through our manual, figuring out what we have, what we don't have, what, um, gaps we might have in the legislation that's passed in the last few years. And, um, they have agreed that if we get in their queue, um, that they will, that the fees are based on the size of the district, but they
have agreed, um, that's super technical difference, that they will keep us at 1800, which is the Wallace district size, um, policy, uh, cost. Um, so they are ready, willing to be able to put us in the queue. And I will tell you that when I was put in the line, there were two in front of me. And now they're almost done with mine in Scotland. So they, they, they do it really quickly. So I will give them that, um, handbooks and, um, Jolie over at Cube. So, um, I do tell them that they asked they sent me a message. Um, and I did tell them that, um, as long as it's voting on tonight, um, that I would have, um, pavement, uh, signed the letter of intent. And we would get that, uh, sent over to them and then they would put us in immediately. So that is what you're voting on is, um, as Shannon made the motion to have the audit done, it's at a cost of 18 to a hundred. Um, then in the end, we'll have our lists, suggestions, uh, a template for things, uh, moving forward. So it will, it will really make you your goal, your goal, a whole lot easier of updating that policy book because I think in the past five
years, what would happen is we would be able to get done a handful of them. Maybe three or four and this will be the whole kit. It's an invaluable service. It's been done so for 1800. It's absolutely worth it. I think you're glad to hear that they would keep it at 18 to a hundred. So I'm sorry. It's Oh, yeah, please. Yeah, but we are never okay. Um, as well. So that helps. Well, 800 is still for God's education. Is that on the series, the current sort, or that the internet? It would be on this year. Yeah, because the goal is to have the full audit done with suggestions and templates by the end of this school year, um, toward your immediate goal this year, um, one of the board goals. And then that would go, uh, budgetary-wise, it would go under like we go in terms of where we're running off. So it could go under legal expense because it's looking at the policies, um, um, I would say for right now for period of run over the board of that expense line first. Obviously, you can really see that. Yeah, I was going to say that. Yeah, I was going to look back. Sure. And then it was for your yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but those are the two lines that we've already gone over on legal. So I don't think we want to put it there. Well, you guys have to decide where you're transferring to and from at the end of the year, but those will be the only two spots to put it. Okay. So the board was, it was legal and what was the other one? The board of education line item.
Three years a lot. Do you guys have any other questions? No, I don't have any questions. I'll second the motion. I think Mike did already, but you can, you can third it's the motion. Sure. Okay. I vote. Yes. All clear. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Good. That would be awesome. Yes, yeah. We're the. Okay. Um, next up, I think we moved solar to be next. Um, so Ryan is here. Um, from green skies. Hi. Hello. Another one. I don't know. Um, if other people have questions, I did email you some questions and I'd more than happy to read them here. I don't know if you've got my email yesterday or yes. Yeah. I apologize. I was traveling, but I definitely can assist with those. Those questions. Do you want to ask them here? And I could respond and also put it in writing too? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and and just so that you guys are aware, I have been working with Jeff Moray on the board of selectments. What's one of these questions for his questions after reading
for the policy? Um, for people that don't know background wise, he is an engineer and like he. So he has more experience with all of this than most of us do from a planning perspective. Um, okay. Um, sorry, I just turned up a little bit. Um, so in terms of, um, if there was a lightning or storm damage, do we need an additional rider on our insurance, um, to cover damage to the roof? Yep. So all of the solar equipment, um, that green skies will be installing an owning, um, that's going to be additionally insured through our policy. Um, I built who is your insurance? Her is it? Uh, Kerma? Yeah. Kerma? Yeah. So we, we've probably done, I'd say like 50% of our solar installations on schools here in Connecticut have that insurance policy. Um, so actually for his porter right down the street from you guys in Colombia, we're on top of their roof, solar-sized project, and they're also insured by, uh, by Kerma. So it's, um, it's their insurance and our insurance are able to coexist on the same roof. Uh, so we've never had an issue with them. Uh, there are some other insurance providers that are a little bit more difficult to work with.
I won't name them, but, uh, so they, but I could definitely confidently say that they're, they're much easier to work with, and we've done many projects on municipal buildings with that insurance. Um, okay. Yep. Go ahead. Do you know if we would be an additional rider with our insurance to cover damage to the roof? Like I understand you guys cover damage and repairs of the solar system, but what about the actual roof? So you're existing roof, policy would remain in place. Our installation would not, uh, jeopardize the roof warranty. We want to build a project with out the warranty, uh, remaining in place. Uh, so what, what requires on, on that side is the, the the manufacturer of that roof would come out free installation, review the current existing conditions of the roof. Um, we would install the project, then they would come out after the fact and, uh, side off on the warranty remaining in place. Okay. And now have happened yet, correct? No. No, so that's actually a question I have, uh, probably for the board of advice. We, we've
trying to gain access to the manufacturer or warranty information of that roof. Um, only because that has a direct impact on the type of racking that we would use, um, on on top of the roof. Um, sometimes certain manufacturers have, have different, um, requirements on how we install the project. And we have to do everything they say by the book, uh, to ensure that your warranty remains in place. Okay. I know, I know on my personal house, uh, we had to get a new roof in order to put our solar panels on our barn. And then as soon as we put the panels on there are warranty on the roof is gone. Yes. Yeah. That's, um, we, you know, we would not be in business if, uh, if we weren't these did not remain in place because there are no school, whatever, uh, you know, move ahead with us without it. Yeah. Um, and then, um, second question, um, the inverters are only warranty for 10 years, uh, but the panels are weren't in material for 20. Um, somewhere it must specify that
that you guys are responsible for replacing the inverters if that means to happen. And then what if there was damage to the roof during that process would be responsible for repairing the roof? Yeah. Yep. So, um, special 4.1 of our tower purchases and a contract satisfies that, um, grace guys is responsible for all the equipment on that roof, including the inverters. Um, so we make a business decision on the 10 year warranty as opposed to the 20 year in more converter warranty. It's, it's significantly cheaper. And we are betting on those inverters lasting a lot more than the 10 year warranty. And given just our track record and being a business for as long as we have, uh, that definitely that strategy has paid off, uh, but regardless of whether the inverter goes out in your 10 or your 15 that cost us our responsibility and that's, uh, specified in, in section 4.1 of our of the power contract. Um, and that goes for all equipment, solar panels, anything related to the to the solar installation is owned by green skies and our responsibility, um, to maintain and fix when the time comes. When you're maintaining and fixing those components of the solar system, if there is damage to the underlying roof, we are responsible for repairing and paying for that correct. So it depends on negligence. Obviously, if green skies does something that that that, you know, posts a hole in the roof or jeopardizes it, then that's on green skies. Um, that's on us our obligation to repair that roof. If it, if, you know, a tree falls on the roof and it has, you know, no relation with the solar project, then, as, as normally, but in any instance, if solar was installed, um, the year insurance provider,
and roof warranty would probably get involved. So it would just be the pisses as usual, um, if there were a situation that we weren't associated with. Okay. So if some component of the solar system damages the roof, then you guys would repair that part. Right. Right. And we would have to ensure you're really wanting to. Right on. But that. And that also in 4.1 same section. Um, no, I don't believe that that question is answered in 4.1, 4.1, 4.1 is just regarding the cost of the actual solar equipment. Um, I could, I'll, I'll follow up with the email. It's likely somewhere in the indemnity or negligence, uh, clogged with the power contract. Okay.
Um, sorry. I think I have three more questions on here. Yep. Um, the HFAC equipment is in the center of the roof currently. I think, um, with, with the solar put on, it looks like it blocks a lot of the access to that. Is that correct? There are there still ways to get to the HFAC equipment without walking near the edge of the roof. Yeah. So per code, we have to hold a certain setback off of all HFAC, HFAC or any, any roof equipment. Uh, that's not just for the fire department, but also your, any one who's doing maintenance on the. Yeah. That equipment. Um, so the design has changed a lot. Um, we're, we're constantly tweaking it to make sure it is too code to get it ready for building intellectual permits. Uh, so by the time it gets to that, um, there will be full access with, um, multiple feet or round as a radius around each HFAC unit to allow people to access it and work on it. And they will need, um, proper, uh, walking past to get to each piece of equipment. Um, and that, that is a requirement, um, just locally where we, we, we have to provide that access. Uh, we wouldn't be able to, uh, building permit without it. Um, so what all do for you as a follow-up is provide you are most updated in design. Um, and that way you can just, um, you can look at it and you, you can see all the equipment as well. Um, it co-existing with the, the solar array. Okay. So that we wouldn't need to have like fall prevention put in place. The, the equipment
will be so that they can walk safely to those areas. That's correct. Yep. And if there's any, um, any tweaks that, that are questions you have when I send this, um, just let me know because they're, we, we have done as, as everyone probably knows a stroke pretty significant structural analysis of this group, um, requiring at one point, um, art, one of our members to actually go into the school and look under, um, on the decking of the room. So there definitely is a lot of real estate up there to play with, uh, to adjust the design if needed. Um, but, but I'll, uh, we can kind of go through that. I guess more of a find, find her point once you have the more detailed drawings. I think we're probably have them by right. Okay. Um, and then, um, one more question, um, if we had a leak on the roof, or we needed to repair the roof, um, who is responsible for removing your equipment so that we can do that. That would be green skies. Um, we want to make sure that the, um, because we built it, we want to make sure that we're the ones who are removing it and that we're, we have the
evil and electricians on site, um, handling the equipment. We would obviously turn off the system when removing panels, um, so there's no live electrical wire on the roof, um, then the school could come in and take care of whatever damage there, there is, and then we would, we would put it back. Um, this, this does happen. What's up? Sorry, would there be a cost to us to have you guys remove that for us to repair the roof? Yeah. So it, it is on a case by case basis. If it's, if it's like a a leak that's already identified, um, and it's a few panels, we have to take off for a day, um, that's, that's a typical wearing tear, uh, that we have to deal with and bake into our, our model. Um, if it's a significant issue, where the, the system is offline for, uh, weeks at a time to fix the, the roof, um, what we would look for is basically a return on the lost revenue, uh, during
that time. So for example, if, if we're offline for a week, it's, um, it's like your typical electricity bill, uh, now that you would have been paying, um, we would look to regroup that. So it's probably a couple hundred dollars. If it's a week, if it's a month, it could be more. Um, and that's why when prior to us doing any of the ways that we want to make sure this roof is in, uh, you know, good condition before we install. So what would, if it can just have a ballpark, right, for like, for a week of it being, or for a month of it being gone, if you had to pick a number, would it be like $1,000? Um, yeah, so in the, in the, in the winter time, when the system is not really performing, uh, for example, like, if it were right now, when it's covered in snow, um, we would, yeah, we would, um, it would be pretty minimal because that, what we would do is base it on the year prior's performance. Um, so let's say if you were down in, and, um, in the middle of January, we would see how much energy was produced the, the prior year and just base on the amount of kilowatt hours, the loss during that, those days, we would just factor in, uh, what the loss revenue was, um, for ballpark, if it's down for a week, it's probably, um, a couple
hundred dollars, um, of loss revenue if it's in January, if it's in July, uh, when we're at peak performance, um, it would, it would be more, it would probably be closer to $500 to $1,000, without knowing the exact numbers. Um, so the summertime is definitely obviously our most optimal time for production and then the winter is, um, what we do with some schools, um, is we, uh, where there's issues, we, you know, where we know the roof is, uh, in poor conditions, they'll be, um, you know, times for them to fix the roof, um, but dedicated months to that, so it's usually in the months when the system is not performing the best, so January, February, and March. Um, obviously, if it's an emergency, then, um, that's a, a different situation where we just have to remove everything, um, and it doesn't, if, if it's, uh, more of a aesthetic thing that could be delayed, then we would recommend a taking place in the winter months. I mean, how would that work in her, uh, with that be a bill that we would pay you or does it go negatively against, like, the credit or, yep. So there's a bunch of different ways we can work it out, but what would likely happen is the following month we would just build, um, we would build higher to catch up on that loss revenue. Um, so it would be us in the voice, you know, it would be more of us increasing the voice in the next month. Um,
and all of this would be documented, um, and you would see the historical data on the loss revenue to account for it. Um, and I'll be honest, this is, um, we, we've never really had this happen before many of our projects. So, um, you know, it, but it is always a question before it, which is smart, you know, everyone wants to know what the, what the worst case scenario could be, um, but the reality is it's, it's relatively, uh, quick process if there is a, if there's an issue with the root and it's usually very, uh, hyperlocated into one area, um, that just requires some panels to remove which doesn't require the entire system to be turned off. Yeah. Um, and then, how do you guys, uh, monitor the system? Yep, we use, uh, a software called deck monitoring, um, which is
pretty neat because it's, uh, it's just a link that we have, and we could send it to, to the board of Ed, um, a lot of, uh, a lot of classes like the science, the part, the science classes will use it. You should have the students how much solar is being produced at any giving day, um, and it's sort of like a bell curve that goes up, you know, around noon, it shows how much production is happening, and then it starts going down at night. Um, so it's a kind of a neat tool. It shows how much carbon's being offset, um, by using power from the roof instead of drawing it from the grid. Um, so that's something that we will, we will, of course, provide to you. So you can see what's, what's happening in real time and be able to educate students. Hey. Sorry to capitalize on all of that. Oh, there's a question. Hey, does anyone else have other questions for Ryan in regards to solar? I'm just to update everyone. Um, we did get the in her connection agreement with ever source. So I think that's the last documentation. Great. Um, that needs to be signed. Um, and then you said that you have updated, um,
like, site plans. Yes, we're, we're, um, updating our electrical drawings, um, and, uh, based on the structural analysis and your, uh, it definitely was a, a unique situation in that your single phase power at that building, which, um, it is, it is unique. Um, but fortunately, we passed into connection. We had to get a little bit, uh, creative with inverters and, um, um, which, uh, ended up working out though, because it will be a very efficient system. Ryan, I will give green skies kudos because I have them obviously my other building. And, um, one day someone showed up and said they were there to fix something. And I said, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't call you to fix that. I, I know I didn't talk to you about it. And it was of that monitoring system that you guys had that you guys knew something needed to be adjusted. And that's what they were there for. I didn't need long. Yeah, it is, um, yeah, that's, we, we watch it. We watch all of our solar assets very closely and have, um, maintenance providers all throughout, especially in Eastern Connecticut because of, um, just the amount of projects that we have in the area. So I was highly thrust. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Is that in Scotland? I assume. Yep. They just showed up there. I didn't even know anything was a mock. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we sure, you know, in this instance,
and in all of the situations where school, their school is didn't evolve. Um, we tried to give a decent notice, um, prior to anyone, you know, going on property. And well, of course, you know, check in, um, prior to trying to go on to the work to, um, to manage the system. But it's good to hear that they're, they're out there work in Valerie. So they all passed it along. So now that we've got the interconnection document or whatnot, what do we need to do the move forward with this and get it done finally? I think we're just waiting for that learning fancy with the ad. Um, in terms of the updated. Okay. Okay. Okay. I mean, the insurance staff, they didn't insurance staff. And, and then they need the, um, that performance from the town, correct? Yeah. So I mean, he should be out his way to just moving forward on the schedule. Yeah. Um, thank you so much for your time tonight. Unless other people have other questions.
Uh, so last or brief, you guys have any questions for Ryan? Um, I don't, I don't, I don't have any questions for Ryan. Thanks. Thanks for coming again, Ryan. Appreciate it. Of course. Any time. Um, and then Eric, you said that you want to break up? Yeah. I wanted to introduce or move that, the board of ad, a Sunday lighter to the board of selecting and asking for a special town, meeting to approve the solar projects. I mean, open up for discussion with the flagships of seconds. I, I, I second that. Well, the board said the basis of the part of which are the authority on which we need to give a bar authority to take it to a town meeting. So that's a great question. Um, and in this letter, I would recommend we state that the board of education has the full authority to go here with this project. And I firmly believe that, I think many of us believe that too. Um, if not fall. So that I would like to be included in that letter. Um, I also know that gets great to have community support for a project like this for a couple of reasons. One, if it's very visible, um, to the complexity of the project as we just witness with the
questions. Um, and three, the long-term nature of what is a capital project. It's different than an elevator. It's different than adding a bathroom. Um, so given those three reasons, that is, there's a lot of questions that the community would have and I'm fearful that if we even forward with this, not that there would be backlash, but it'd be nice to have that full community support through that special vote. Um, and through the board is, um, dreaming through the charter. There's a list of several reasons to call this festival meeting. One of them would be a discretion of the board of selectmen. I think it's number seven on that list. Um, so I feel like this project will fall under that. Um, again, it'd be a good avenue for the board of education to publicize us, too, instead of just having community members drive by and see it to be able to invite them, have them ask their questions, have get, have us give a presentation of what this project is. Um, and I fully expect the community to support this, hopefully, rubber stamp it. Um, and it's a huge win for us from a, from a marketing publicity perspective. Um, Terry Spaver went down as well, and good for the overall school and the board of education here. I, I will say that also, like, since it's been at Port of Slotman and Port of Ed Beatings, like I've had quite a few people from outside of our normal, a heavy board of Ed Beatings ask questions about it and some of those questions were Jeff Murray's and some of them came from other people in the town that had concerns and questions. I think, uh, I would agree from a community
standpoint, I think it would be good for everyone to be on the same page, not, not a matter of who's allowed or not allowed to do what, but more from like a community supports standpoint. Well, I feel like two things number one, it sets a really bad precedent. Um, this is absolutely under our purview, um, by law, by what we've been advised by our lawyers. Um, so I don't share your, um, your optimism that it's going to get the support from the community that you think it's going to be, I think you said rubber stamped. So I have a tremendous concern in that regard. Um, the second thing is, um, we've been talking about this since 2022, um, the town, the
board of selecting, everybody has had more than two years to attend and meeting to ask questions, granted we're getting to the end of the project and maybe that brings about more interest in the project, one more questions. I really appreciated the questions tonight. I don't want to buck up against a situation like we did with the driveway, where we don't get the permits from the town. Um, but I don't think we need the town's permission to do this as I've made clear at many meetings. And I'm very concerned about the timing of everything as a third concern, um, because I believe there is a grant and whatnot that we're operating up against, um, and green skies needs to get started with the project. I mean, we're getting to the point if we put it off or a town meeting
to me, that's another one or two months. Um, that we're not moving forward with this and they need to get started as far as I know this, this summer, um, in order for us to qualify for all of the funding. We asked, right. Yeah, I know the timeline is on that in terms of, uh, when you guys I mean, if we sign the documents, you saw up to get permitting from the town. What's the, what's the timeline on the actual project? Yeah, our intention would be to start construction towards the end of the school year. So construction's not really messing with, um, you know, um, when kids are in school and potentially testing. Um, but the, yeah, I guess the, the issue is the is the procurement process. So it does take many months to buy the equipment and get it, um, you know, prepared and find out an area on sites at what it is and hold it, um, and that comes
after permits take place. So permits usually take 30 to 60 days, um, once that's in hand, then we know a type of material exactly to purchase that, that will take another, uh, 60 days or so to have that arrived. Um, so we, yep. Sorry, we got the other school we got you off. Sorry. Um, yeah, so that's, um, I think we're, you know, although it's early in the year, um, we're already, I guess pretty close to, um, you know, bumping into a construction start date probably towards the very end of the school year and building all summer, which is a good time to build, obviously. Um, but yeah, with the intent to have the project online towards the end of the summer, uh, prior to kids coming back. So in terms of, if, if we were to ask for a town meeting and
our, at our like time frame was like within two, two or three weeks of now, do you think that would affect the overall end game? No, I don't, I don't, I don't think so. Okay. Thank you. Can I have that something about? Yeah, I don't have to just question. Um, Shannon to your point. I know that you are supposed to question, um, about support. Um, I don't know why the board would think we wouldn't have support, um, because we haven't talking about this. I have the details. We've been talking about this since September 14th of 2022 and it has been on our agenda or presentations by Elaine or Ryan, have occurred no less than 12 times. 12 times that this support has been here. Former board members, uh, that initiated this plus this first conversation was in September of 2022. We applied for this grants three times and didn't get it to the third time. Um, I, I strongly believe that it is supported. I know that, people on the town side elected officials have said, it's not that we don't support it. We do. Um, I do feel that there wasn't even a town meeting when they built the senior center. That's the town didn't feel needed to go for approval to the taxpayer. And that involved money. This, as Ryan Linaris has described, does not involve the appropriation of any money.
So not only was it the right of the board, but it doesn't require. It doesn't meet the standard for any of those town meeting requests. So town vote requests. And if we know it's going to be supported, which we do because we've never since 2022, uh, had a vote in a meeting. You voted the first time to let us apply for that grant. We had nobody that went against that. Nobody in the community who's on and nobody on this board. We then had to vote the second time and it went through. We had to vote the third time and it went through. We had to vote for signatures of other things. And it's gone through with this board without reservation every single time. I think the board
has done a job. Yeah. And I have, in addition to hearing skies, lots of hours into this since 2022. And I have never been approached by a parent or community member to say, we're not in favor of solar. So I do wonder why we would do that to share this point set of precedent for something when we know the support is there. So I would ask the board because I know you're voting. To continue with the work that this board's been doing since 2022. And that is moving forward with this. As Ryan said, if it was a matter of two weeks or three weeks, sure, maybe you're not, you know, potentially going to lose this grant. But the leeway between now and in this school year is March, April, May, and June. Okay. So you're talking about 16 weeks time period for him to get this done. So he said it would take 30 to 60 days to get the permits. And another, I don't think it's for procurement. And we're at the end of June. Right, Ryan? That's about correct. Yeah. So I would ask the board. If you do already know that you're going to get the majority of support. And the board has already proved this since 2022 on multiple occasions. And we've done our
due diligence to have them present on multiple occasions. They presented in December of 2022 all the way through until 2024. And I will tell you that October 9th of 2024, one of the board members from the Board of Selectman Mr. Murray was on here to discuss AES gym fans. And he even said the fans will be more beneficial when the solar is in stock. So I do know that that conversation has occurred. So as the superintendent, and I know that, you know, you guys have lost. This is your board. I am requesting that we just continue to move forward with it. I don't think the time meeting is the way on vehicle for advertising or promote it. I believe the time meetings are if you want to spend money on both our own budgets. The time meeting time has been to that's usually what it is. What will we do if they have a time meeting everybody will do not have to get them. Then what? We've run this before it to this. It's not course they are saying money. And I haven't heard any pushback on this from anyone in the community. I have. So after watching other towns around us that have put in solar projects that are now having issues and granted those were not with green sky as they were not PPAs. They were like they did a full-out solar project. But I since purchased. They did a purchase and that was when
was there meeting about that. I think it was two weeks ago. And maybe that's the reason why I have gotten so much contact for members of our town is because of that. But it makes me a little nervous with us as a board. Yes, we have the right to make that decision and to move forward. But I would personally like to have the support of those in our community to back us up on it when it's a decision that's going to be there for 20 years. Regardless of the financial implementation. Yeah, to back Caitlin up there's understand there's a right but there's also the right thing to do. And that's to make sure that we're in lockstep with the community. And I think that in the past couple of years there's been a strange relationship and making this move will help heal back. But three two things. Number one while I agree we would love the support of the community. If we don't have the support of the community we've been voting for two and a half years to go forward with this project. So that's a major concern of all the wasted time and effort and not proceeding with something that the board has unanimously time and time again voted to say is something we want to do. And getting back to my first point I absolutely and I'm not just
standing legal and right and authority here. Do not want to set a precedent that every project that the Board of Education who are elected members to do this approves of need to another staff of approval from the town granted. If it were something that were budget related or a major expense I can understand that a little more I wouldn't give on that but I understand it but I really appreciated what Jerry said which is why we need to have a town meeting to promote a project. That's really not the purpose of a town meeting. And it's our job just as it is with the budget we just passed tonight to go out and advocate for what we believe is best for the school. We've made votes consistently for two and a half years that this is what is best for the school and it's our job to now go out and answer any questions that might come up as to why it wouldn't be good for the school. But it's not up to us to go to a town meeting to allow I mean if they have questions asked the questions come to the meetings to the Board of Ed but I don't know that we need to go forward with a town meeting and have a town vote on something that has no budgetary relationship to the town. It would be great to get their support. My concern is if we don't have their support and how much time and effort has gone into this. We can have a Board of Ed special meeting and tell people we're discussing solar and if we get the response we got to discussing our budget and we have one person show up do we then go forward? Why not call the special meeting of the Board of Ed instead of
the town meeting? It's a good idea. So last or might do you guys have anything to tell me? So I echo I think the precedent thing is a major issue. I think the underlying thing about just like we are Board of Education members this is a Board of Education we are a certain role in responsibility we need to uphold that. Well I think Jerry also raises a great point what happens if you have this meeting and people say we don't want it? This is already unanimously been voted by the Board of Education as something we want. We think as a good idea from the actions we've taken then you propose to have this meeting. We have it and all of a sudden the community says no we don't want to do what happens but is it or are you going to backtrack on your vote of saying so you've already said I've never voted on this matter. That's correct he has it. I'm sorry thank I have already voted on this matter. I'm going to go and we are as a Board going to go and request the special meeting in which they could approve but they could have dreamed support it or they could say we don't support it. That's not the decision we are still making
a decision so do I now have to continue to say I support it and think it's a good idea even though the community now is telling us we're going to backtrack on the whole thing. The community comes out since it's not a good idea. We're going to be in the community is going to show up so we're going to be the Board of Education. I think we have to represent what the individuals in the community want but I do feel strongly that there is going to be great community support for this if we present the case we can on it. Do you feel like I'm using the town meeting as a marketing coin? I think marketing play is not a fair characterization and I also would say hey we're asking a lot of the town with you know a more than 8% budget increase why wouldn't we also you know take this opportunity to use this as an arena to say hey we know that we're asking a lot from you but we're
doing things as a board to try to bring costs down like add solar I mean it's a good opportunity in my opinion for optics. So what's the difference between you and if we have a special meeting of the Board of Education can we not serve the same purpose with upholding the role of the Board of Education still serving what you are looking for right without having a town meeting it fits the same exact requirements that you like out. There's no difference there. There is a difference though because like us asking the Board of Selectman to have a town meeting and have solar at that meeting is not the same as us having the Board of Education meeting. How is it not the same? I mean people can still show people can still voice their opinions people can just so the community can it because is this about the community support or is it about the Board of Selectman support? I think it's about the town giving us support. Okay so if we have a special meeting of the Board of Education
the community can show up the Board of Selectman people can show up the Board of Finance people can show up everybody has the right to show up at that meeting. So they still can show up and give their input. It serves the same exact purpose. See I think we have a motion on the floor and I think we need to vote on it. I want to say one more thing to last and that is if we create this precedent where there is no budgetary implication we're creating another sense for a town meeting and I absolutely agree with you Bree. It would be wonderful to have the buy-in from the town. I don't think we need to have a town meeting to do that and if they want to address it is something that is in support of us getting almost 9% of an increase in our budget we address that at a budget meeting. That's why a town meeting is called for the budget. This is totally unrelated to the budget and a project we unanimously approved of as a Board from more than two years. It needs to move forward. We cannot have the delay of waiting for a town meeting. We can call a special Board meeting in the next two weeks and get it done. Now, if we have the same response to a special Board meeting that we had to our special budget meeting I hope that we can take that as an indication that there aren't any questions or concerns. But I guess we promote this in as best a way as possible to say if you have any questions or
concerns either email them as we did with our budget so that we could address them or come to the meeting. We have a Zoom component to the meeting, but yeah, so let's just we could call the question. Okay, do you want to say again Eric? The motion on the floor is to stand a letter to the Board of Selectman recommending a special meeting on the solar projects. Right, so we're ready to vote. All in favor. Before you vote, can I say a question? Yeah. Are you asking for a separate town meeting for this? Because at their meeting on Monday night, they were looking to add this to a town meeting with the variety of other topics. So are you motioning for them to have? Because if you're asking for them to consider this and this is your issue. At Monday, if you look at their agenda and you look at their minutes, the town wanted to have a town meeting and add us as an agenda item to a variety of other things that they were voting on.
And so the focus of that meeting would not be to invite people for the purpose of seeing if they wanted solar or not. The purpose of that meeting would be fivefold. And so your audience then is fivefold. They are there for different things. And if this board really wants to gather whether or not those people and attendants are in favor of solar. Are you asking, are you motioning to send a letter to ask for a meeting to discuss solar? At that one meeting? I'm going to stick to the original and keep it to a single item, single meeting, solar only, for our recommendation. Okay, so to ask the board of SWFman for to have a town meeting, specifically, solar at a yes by itself with no other things on the agenda. Correct. Yes. Thank you for clarifying that. Thank you for bringing it up. Yeah. I vote yes. All in favor. The last is yes. Three. Yes. Yeah. No. No, yes. I'm going to vote yes or no.
Yes. Hello, Peter. No. Faster. I think faster. Yes, because we switch between. We can learn elevator with this one. Okay, so we, um, as you know, we have lots of no meal as our oversight company, um, for the staffer project. Um, we have met with the Josh who is the site manager on multiple occasions. The left and I'm Caitlin has been on those meetings. She's taken over now. They began, uh, back when select was the chair person and we were discussing, uh, these things. Um, we are in phase one, uh, which is they've taken all of their pictures. They've come in and they've done all their measuring. And we are, um, at the, um, design stage at the beginning, where we are talking about, um,
what would we want them to put together, design-wise, or the fixtures, what we would want them to put together for flooring and things like that, what makes sense to use the bathrooms, also to things like that. So we had two meetings with them. Um, and we'll continue as they create the plans and move forward. Um, in terms of finances, as you know, the board of finance, you know, had a truth that, um, 43,000. So the first check will be cut this week. So they did some first. No, it will be cut this week. Okay. Um, that they're in 1000, um, and then we move forward with the rest of phase one. The exact timeline will depend on when phase one is completed because their timeline was not dates. Their timeline is phases. So I know that, um, you know, as we know, what we get to the next step, the next phase,
that's when we will supply them with another theme. So that's where we are right now. And it's been, um, it's been good. Uh, I think that they've thought of a lot of things and helping us out. So one of the things we addressed this week was, um, like, for example, um, the tiles on the floor, and what alternative to we could use in the bathroom, um, to, um, hygiene, wise and cleming as wise, not as many ground lines. Normally, look at larger tiles versus smaller tiles. So you have less ground lines. We've also looked at, you know, a epoxy like, um, materials for the pouring, um, but they utilize, um, that was, um, that was, um, to make the cleaning easier. Um, they're trying to assist us with the fact that one of our bathrooms now, actually has the slop sink in it. Uh, for the custodian because our other closet that's there, uh, is kind of, um, not wide enough. And so you go into that custodian's closet and it's got, um, a sink that's raised.
And so it's not ideal for that. I think it might be too big. So, um, they were instrumental in assisting us with planning for that. They're like, oh, well, you know, if you have a wider door on there, then you'd be able to do that with the slop sink in there. So they've been, they do this for living. Thank goodness. Um, so they've been instrumental in assisting us with that. Um, we're looking at, for example, the toilets. You know, around the base of the toilet is, uh, where if our youngsters have, um, less than good aim, um,
we do wide up with some significant, um, um, fluent on the floor of the bathrooms, especially the boys bathroom. So we were looking at toilets that, um, would come out from the wall instead of floor mounting. Yeah, well, that's something about the plumbing that they made more sense to have that. Yeah. I still have ones in the floor. Yep. So they are, um, they've been instrumental in assisting us, um, you know, they, um, absolutely are helping us along the way here. So it's coming along. Um, we'll keep you updated every month on that. And then just so we're on the same page in terms of those checks. Um, they're going to come from the capital fund. But the town will, well, um, you'll tell them the amount and then they'll issue the check. And then that will show the next month when we get this balance. She like that. We'll get to talk to you on that. Um, then elevator is next. Does anyone have questions about the bathroom project? Let's start. I don't have any questions. Thanks, Caitlin. No, nothing. Thanks. Yeah. So the elevator. That was, um, another one of the boards priority.
Uh, when we came up with the priority for our top three, uh, capital things that needed to be done this year. Um, I do now have the, the, the three quotes. Um, TK is the company that we have right now for service. We've had TK since 2021. Um, I pulled the 21 to 24, um, maintenance numbers with the help of Terry. And, um, we looked at, for example, um, basic maintenance before we even decided, um, you know, looking at the three companies in the quotes. If the three of them were to be equal, how happy are we with TK? Um, because they were one of the ones that I was just giving us a bit. So we looked back through, um, we are happy with the service. So that was a plus for us. And when we looked at the yearly maintenance from, um, 2021, um, through till now, it averaged roughly about $27, $2800 a year. Okay. It's been consistent. Um, so when they put in, uh, bid, they gave us, uh, two prices. They were one of the first ones we had. They gave us the $140,000 home phone replacement. Um, at the very beginning, um, before we were talking to the companies about doing that soft mod that modernization. We do the panel. They came in at about $20,000 for the soft mod. So that's what we had to work on at the beginning. We went with our first one to work on at the beginning. Um, next came in with a line. The company's ALI, GM, like a line.
Um, they wanted our quarterly contract, too. So they offered us two, um, um, prices actually three prices. Um, and it looked very promising because they came in at 2998 for the year as well. So when you looked at what their, um, B would be for the yearly maintenance. Uh, they were very comparable to TK. So we were like, ooh, tell us more. Tell us more. Um, because we thought, hey, well, switch if we need to find a company that, um, you know, suits our needs. But the caveat on that one was when you read through the fine print, um, their quarterly contracts, um, it said anything that needed to be covered over and above their normal service agreement is at the rate of $355 an hour and $670 an hour for over time. So our elevator happens to break. They're going in for all day. Um, and it needs to be fixed. That's at the rate of $670. So that made us a little less optimistic there. But we did pull the two quotes from them. Um, the board replacement. Um, they quoted us at $16,800. So it was, you know, about $1,700 less than TK. But they did say, they didn't think we needed that now.
So they would be purchasing it. Uh, well, we would be purchasing it. But they would get it now. Because remember all this began because we were told that you're going to have a problem getting these. But there are a discontinued model. Well, we all know when the models are discontinued. There are still some out there. And so they said, we would have you buy it and keep it on site now. Because, um, you don't need to replace it right now. But we understand since it is a discontinued model, you want to get it now. However, their price doesn't include any installation. So we would be paying that money just to house and store it here. And then we would have to go with whatever the going rate is for them. To install it later on. So if we were lucky enough to go, let's say, two more years. In two years, when they need to install it then, this is the same company that told us the 300 million dollars an hour than 670,000 over time.
So. Oh, labor is a long word. And yeah, and again, we'd be paying that 16,000 right now. But that would just be to store it here, like we said. And they're, um, their quotes said that they felt that there was, um, other work that we would need to do in terms of maintenance of the elevator, to the tune of 5900 that they said were repairs that needed to be done now. We did then ask T.K. Are these repairs that need to be done now? You know that we just haven't done and they didn't think we did. So we were left a little, oh, Scott and I are a little on that one. Come on. K-O-N-E was that firm company that we were waiting for. Um, home came in on a price, um, that was a lot higher to do the whole thing. Remember, T.K. It said, hey, if you want to replace the whole thing, we can do it for 140. Um, home does high eggs. Very, very nice, um, elevators, you know, high-end skyscrapers. Um, they would have been way more than 140 to do the whole thing, because, um, one of the things that these are known for these elevators is all of the, like, apparatus inside, like the fancy everything inside with the buttons. And so we went back to them and said, well, we only have two floors and you know, um, it's not really out there, but the public uses it on a regular basis.
So don't have to be all that pretty. Even though yours are really pretty and they are. I have pictures of them. Um, can you just give us a quote on the soft mind? And, um, they said, well, you know, what, what, what would that include? Because, um, we explained to them, we were just interested in, like basically the panel. And again, they said, um, not the buttons and making the inside of the elevator prettier. We said, no. A lot of budget here. And they came back with an email that says, we can't be T.K's price, because we've sent them the, um, not the price originally, but the, um, information. This is what we are looking for you to price up. So it would be apples to apples instead of apples to orange. And they sent us a lot, we letter that said, um, we declined to be on the soft mind, because there's no way we're going to be able to do what, basically the small amount that you're asking for. You can see their big work working. We can't do this. We don't want. We don't want to do that. And they actually said, we anticipate that you'd probably be getting that out of a better price from them because we just like don't down great to do that. I have that. We said, okay. Thank you. So it would be, um, both minds got to recommendation them.
That, um, we, we stay with T.K. Um, of the three of them, um, and that we continue our, our maintenance service with them as well. Um, so it, if, if you guys want to vote to stay with them now, that's fine. It's the cost on the panel with, just under 20 thousand. Okay. Is that a clue with the waiver? Well, it does include that general labor. And remember, since we have a regular maintenance contract with them anyways, um, the, the cost for service hour would be the same. So if you guys say you don't have to vote for actually a clue doing this project tonight, if you vote and say, yes, we would like you to engage in, um, getting a contract, not just that quote with them. I will have them draw up a contract that says, this is everything. This is like based on the quote, and then I would bring back to next month's meeting. We need to go on it then, because that would be error right say the quote is great. But now I want you to pretend you're going to actually do the whole thing for us, quote us the number of hours, quote us this, something more detail. Yes. You know, um, and if we are continuing with you for a yearly service, what, I don't use the word discount, because that's not, you know, where they used, but like what consideration that would have in that quote. So if you guys are liking me to,
that is my recommendation and Scott's recommendation, that we start the process of moving forward with getting that paperwork for you to then approve and sign for next meeting with TK. And just to be clear about it again, it's the, the panel for the elevator that we have, that the, they're like not going to make them anymore. Right. Right. That's what started the whole thing. Yes. Okay. And it's functionally working right now. Yes. Absolutely. And it should anything else, need to be repaired to this elevator. Again, I mentioned this quote earlier. They don't like the mic they used to. Like this is a good elevator that we have. Um, you know, the life on this, nobody's going to guarantee us what the life is, but the life on this, especially with the sloth mod upgrade, um, should still be very good for us. It's, um, only use that to force. Um, so there's less stress to employees to stamp out. Oh, um, you know, it's funny that you asked that. Doesn't it? Uh, no. No. It's, it's, it's been reconditioned. I'll use that word. Like the original police and everything. I'm not, I'm, I'm, um, you know, you know, all the things, right. There are other things that had been upgraded, you know, other little mechanisms, just not that whole soft mind. So, um, the other for next month. And I will get the stats on, you know, exactly what's been done to our elevator over the course of, um, um, um, um, so we can see that. And again, keep in mind that it is only two level. You know, it does, preserve the life on our elevator more than in some other places.
Do you need a motion to move forward, or take it? I do. So that I should then say to them, yes, we're interested. And so send us, you know, not just that quote, I make a motion to move forward with TK to ask that to prepare a contract, with quotes, or our elevator repairs. It's definitely. Anyone want to discuss further? No, I'm all set. Okay. Oh, class, but do you like to vote now? I would love to vote, Caitlin, and I vote yes. Okay. All in favor. All right. Okay. Seven. Um, thank you guys for doing all that work. And, you know, it's always important to, to get multiple quotes. Absolutely, to know where you are in the ballpark. And I am happy to know that the service provider that we're currently using, was the nearest. Yeah. That's always good to know, too. I think we need to do anything with this difficult. I thought we did that last morning. No. So the only update I have on that was from the Board of Finance, which is, and Perry and I spoke with, the, with Eric, as well as with the, I can't remember her name now. The trucker. Terrell. Terrell. Terrell. Thank you. And there's conflicting information. So if you look on the Stepping Count website, it says towns can have multiple Stepping Counts. If you talk to Sheryl or to Eric, they say, we're only allowed to have one. You guys will have to do it yourself. Is the reply that we got behind you now. So Joanne, here was looking into that further from the Board of Finance.
And I think hopefully we'll be in contact at some point. The towns only have the account for a year. So I think everyone's still a little bit just unsure with where that stuff lies. But hopefully we'll get it to move forward. Caitlin, I did check with our auditor on that when they were in. And they said, yes, they said the town could have multiple Stepping Counts. And since they're controlling the money at the town already, it would make sense for them to invest it. Yes, considering that you can't just take that money from them and invest it. That's where I was used on their reply. So correct. Okay. Thank you. I'll try to do something about that again then. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Do you guys have a couple of other things in front of you? Boy, before you get to comment. These handouts are just. And I have some for for grants. So that's the last two of us and them home. I just wanted to provide you with any of the things that I've received. For taking a few guys. This one here is the state's 2025 agenda. So if you go through here, this is like their goals and objectives. And this is put up by teams for all blue members. So that you know what paid schools and objectives for the year are. And this is separate quite a constant. Everything related to special education. Everything related to policies. The legislative priorities are summed up. And this one that's filled up here. And on the back.
There's information for you. Marks for is the day on the hill. So they don't ask any board members who would like to participate. That's on there. So those are there for you. And then the two that I also need to pop yourself for anybody who's interested. So those are the key ones. I've included two caps. Which are normally just given to the super tendons. However, I thought some of you, especially since most of you participate in the caps. Kate convention. I thought maybe you'd be interested in seeing. The caps mission and the caps legislative proposals. The things that they're interested in so that you can kind of compare that. She came and see where the super tended scan the board members. Have to have state level. A great. And this one right here takes these priorities and gives them to you more in debt. And you'll notice on the front there's just three key words there. It's elevated fund in him too. So as you go through here, you'll notice that everything that is the caps goal and objective is also the cave school and objective which just motivated. So just some reading point. I like that right in the center as improved free school programs.
I comments from the public on agenda items. Jenny morale. Hi there. Thank you all so much for all the hard work to support that you did with the budget and everything else. When you were having discussion about the budget and there was conversation about COVID and realizing the needs that we're all faced with. It's been interesting with me in my new position to see the needs in a different way throughout the whole school. I think looking at this intervention position that I have this year that has that social emotional learning component which we have not had an intervention position. We all realize that there are some needs that need to be addressed and I think because you have supported changes like I said at the beginning public speak. You have supported changes to the needs that are facing our students and our community. So, you know, personally from my position that I have as an intervention teacher this year. I thank you for, you know, including things like that and looking beyond just one classroom or just two classrooms and looking at the need of all the children. So thank you all so much. Yeah. John McGoldrich. I will just go ahead and echo what Jenny said.
I really appreciate all of your support for the teachers but more importantly for our students. I appreciate you passing budget tonight. Yeah. Jamie Weber. Just want to say thank you. Thanks for everything. I'm in a delight. You're up Amanda. Oh, man. I'm doing great tonight guys. I just want to thank you again and we appreciate all the support over the years. Thank you. Does anyone have other action items that we need to talk about tonight? I don't have anything. Okay. Great. You're good. I'm good. Okay. So our next forward meeting will be March 12. I will keep you guys posted on in terms of a town meeting for solar and what the date for that would be. And then in terms of items for the next heading. We did move the executive session in terms of midterm review. So that would be on next month's agenda. So clearly in that regard, I'm going to get. Written evaluations to be able to to prepare them or how are we going to do that. I guess I had questions in terms of what people prefer. We haven't ever done that before but I don't think we've actually done formal midterm reviews before.
I got on so I don't know. I can speak to what. Hey, recommends it's an informal discussion on board goals and the superintendent review. No formal story. I think that. Okay. So I think if. If. If you're with it being informal and kind of just going through what our board goals were. And then like goals that we had for the superintendent. And have an informal discussion. I'm free as long as you guys don't pay with that. No, that sounds good. Thanks for clarifying it. I appreciate it. But yeah, that sounds good. You haven't good with them. Okay. Um, is there anything else that we need to make sure that we add on to next month's agenda. That's what we would like to talk about the. Um, the boilers that with regard to the capital five year. Yeah. And then the TK elevator contract. Yeah. And hopefully will have solar, I guess, on our agenda for next month. And then I hopefully will have some kind of step update by that point. I would hope that the audit is done by them. Maybe. Nope. It probably won't. No, but the meeting because they put the full towns together. And I know that they are still. They're still over. Oh, I thought they were there first people. No, they're they're simultaneously. Okay. So I just I mean that they'll have it 100% completed by. Oh, and then I think. Um, our date for the border finance. That's a nice night. Thank you. Marks. We think it is. It is. Okay. When you're going to present our budget to the border finance.
Up the 19. On the 19. Yes. So the day of originally gave us the option. It'd be the 12th. And I like, I don't know. Because there is a. They're having meeting that. Right. Every. Thank you. Thank you. Any items from you or Taylor. Next week. Next month. Yeah. Um. Can I ask one other question. Sorry. With the federal changes. Do you see that affecting anything in terms of funding? We don't know the answer to that. I know you don't know the answer. Um, I mean, we have lots of conversations about it. Super tenants and districts. Um, I mean, obviously, we don't want this to be a political conversation. But I know. I would just simply, you know, say that at this point. Anything out of federal level is still in. Um, executive order state. No. So that doesn't mean that it is.
It means that it's hoped for. So, um, you know, I would say that between now and the rest of the year. Um, the only thing that I can imagine us being affected by would be. Um, funding. That's promised for next school year. And so, um, yeah. You know, the money that's already like in the grant system right now. Like they can't make that away from us. So I would say that, you know, um, we would have to worry for July 1 on. But, um, we do watch her legislative, um, actions here on the state of Connecticut. And, you know, should something come up? And, no, no, no, no.
And anything that's going to come up. Because when you put you said as far as executive order. Anything budget carry has to go through Congress. So we will see if that is actually hers. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, it's critical for our state to have the federal funding for education. So that's right. Yeah. The biggest thing for us right now. If I were to say if somebody says, are you feeling it right now? The only thing I'm feeling is that, um, we haven't had the opportunity to apply for grants. As much as we normally would have this type of season. We would be applying for quite a bit of grants. And they're dry. The last. Black. You're up. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Okay. Recommended. It is nine. Let me do. All right. Good night. Everyone. Thank you. Thanks. Last. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Thank you.