Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
July 12, 2023 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
12/2023 regular meeting of the Andover Connecticut Board of Education. Thank you everyone for being here. Appreciate your time serving on this board. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance. To the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for all. Comments from the public? I guess there's no public. No public. K? Communication. Does anyone have any to share? We
had two communications. The whole board has already received them. We had one communication thanking, the board of education for the involvement in a hundred and seventy fifth celebration, for supporting that, that came from the town. I believe the email came from, well, Yep. So I know you've all already received that. I will enter it in tonight. The second communication that everybody received was from Eric Anderson, the town administrator, and I will add that as well.
Thank Anyone else? Okay. Approval of the minutes for the regular meeting of 06/14/2023. We have a motion between the minutes of the meeting on June '23. I make the motion. Thank you, Chris. Is there a second? Second. Second. Thank you, Caitlin. Does anybody have any discussion? K. Hearing no discussion, we vote. All in favor of approving the minutes of the meeting of 06/14/2023, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Mike has to. Mike
is what I'm saying? Yeah. Okay. So you're gonna see a 500. Actually, 501. Yep. With Michael, that was a thing. Opportunity to add or delete agenda items. Any additions or deletion? Hearing none. Well, I'll just delete the board of education policies, the e one. Oh, you wanted to delete the e one. K. Okay. So we will delete item e one. And
then we should add another item for action Okay. About writing a letter to try to create a meeting between Sure. Multiple boards. Absolutely.
Okay. So first, we have to vote on deleting item one. Any motion to delete item one? I make the motion. Thank you, Shannon. I'll second. Is there a second? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Any abstention? Okay. So we're tabled item one. Now you would like to add an item, Caitlin? Yeah. Okay. We you wanna add it? Where?
I mean, we can we can just add it up at the end of fee. Right? Like, we hit it or 5. 5. Yeah. Okay. So how would you like to read? Sure. To To ask to draft a letter to ask for a collaboration between three boards of the town. Okay. Good to begin the discussion of setting up a meeting or or a semiannual meeting of of the boards.
K. So I make a motion to request that Caitlin draft a letter to the board of selectmen and the board of finance to join us in a joint meeting. Is that the the motion?
Yes. Yeah. The the joint meeting of of the boards. Of the three boards. Of the three boards. Right now, the motion is just to put it on the agenda. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So
the motion is to put it on the agenda and have it appear as b five. Yep. Correct. Anybody second that motion? I'll second it. Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Six zero zero. Thank you. Okay. Celebrations. Does anyone have any to share? K. So there are no celebrations. Chairperson's oral report. I have none. Superintendent's report. Gotcha.
So very briefly, I know Taylor will share some stuff about the basics of the school. Grant wise, know we've been waiting on some grants, and I wish I had good news for you to tell you that we've heard one way or another, but we haven't. We haven't even heard about the one that is the summer, mental health grant. So we are still waiting to hear. There's been no results as of today released on the, summer mental health grant, the spring year mental health grant, or, the safety and security grant. The only one that we did complete and it went through is the right to read grant. And what that will do is it will allow us for two years to have a small stipend. I believe ours is $6,500, toward our approved science of reading, program. So either professional development or supplies. But that one will not be used until we find out the results of our waiver because our waiver will determine if our current program, which is not one of the six on the list, is deemed approved. And if Taylor's waiver goes through and they say, yes. You're approved, then we do not have to use one of those six programs for professional development, and we do not have to purchase from one of those six programs.
If her waiver comes back and it's not approved, then we will have to switch, and that money will defray the cost moving forward of the resources for one of those six. So that's the grand Wonder if I can tell you that. Well, that's the valid question, Kate. You have no idea. What did There is one person at the State Department of Education currently reading waivers from, what did we say, over a 100 counts? Oh, pretty sure. That's all. Unless they go alphabetical. And they're, like, 50 pages. You know? Yeah. It's a whole one. Yeah. Yeah. So so we're working on that. But I guess, grant wise, no news is good news. That's right. So no news is good news. And Terry has finished up the expenditure report. So thank you, Terry, because I'm sure you guys know we've talked about this before. The way they work is with our grants. Our grants that we receive, they don't throw the money at us. We have to spend, then put it in, get reimbursed, and then that requires another level that of of documentation, which is Terry then, at the end of the year, has to do an expenditure report. Even though they gave us the money for a specific expenditure, we've already kind of given them I don't wanna use the word receipt, and that report has to be done. So at the end of the year, we've got lots of end of the year expenditure reports, and she's already done them, and I've already certified most of them. And so we're almost there, which that's important because the auditors have access to the eGrant management system. And so as they get going in real time, they can look in and make sure that all of that's done. So we are in really good shape in that curve.
That's it. Thanks, Jay. Thank you, Mel. Next one is principal report. Taylor?
Yeah. So July in elementary school. It's just a hodgepodge of things. So we have a lot of cleaning, of course, going on, you know, if you well, you can live in the store, but the hallways are full of things. So all certainly in full swing in terms of the typical waxing and cleaning and moving. But we also have a few projects going on that were just completed. We've retiled the two classrooms that you guys and the music room, and they look great, very fresh. That's what that color looks like under twenty years. So that's good. Got that done. They're coming back to just solidify a few of those items. Our ESY students who in the need summer support services has begun last week. So it's it's nice to see a few kids coming back. I swear they've already all grown three inches. But our new speech pathologist is able to get started, which is exciting. Sabrina Hosmer, meeting families and and obviously working with some students. So, it's kind of a nice way for her to fully acclimate, to families. And then we are also very excited to offer a pre K program in just a few weeks. The last week of July and first week of August, we'll run a half day, 08:30 to 11:30 pre K
program for any any students who will be in pre K next year. So new kids that are coming to Andover that haven't been here but are returning to Breeze as well. And our two pre K teachers are actually gonna run it with our two paraprofessionals who will be in pre K as well. So it's really good to know the actual staff in the actual rooms and with the actual kids. I mean, it it's really That's awesome. A pretty neat opportunity all kind of team together beautifully. So we have about half of our total pre K registered so far. So I hope in the next few weeks, we'll get close to three quarters just to kinda get as many as we can in here. So we're excited about that, and I think families are excited just to have that, have their kids kinda get used to the school now and then have that kind of Instead of the first day? Yeah. Exactly. First. Absolutely. Teachers are excited, and so that's great. And
do you want me to wait on the wait. Okay. And I will share some of the planning we've been doing as well just kinda for the upcoming school year until they get on the agenda. Thanks, you. Set. K, Carrie. Your turn.
Okay. So for the next couple months, we'll begin I'm gonna be working in two years, the old year and the new year. And in your package, you should have the 02/2023 custom expenditure report with the totals at the bottom. Does anybody have any questions? I know we had a vote last month of of we had we had voted what we're gonna use the if there was any monies left for and then hopefully have some money to put into the 2% collapsing account after the audit. Is there any questions on that? Page 11 of the 2023 detailed custom expenditure report. No? I I don't have any No questions? Okay. Moving along, I did do a a printout of the 2324 detailed custody report. As of the running of this report, I had not extended or encumbered any dollars. However, there are people that need to get paid this month, so I had to do some work this week. So we have expended I think Val may have mentioned this earlier, but we have expended $10,360.64 due to the last week payroll I mean, sorry, the first week payroll for July.
And then we've also had some encumbrances of $4,801.44. And we've at this point, we've only spent 2% of our total budget. Let me just see if there's anything else.
Valerie, did you want me to talk about the monthly summary that it's going to be? Valerie and I have decided going forward for this starting with the new school year and that we are going to provide the board of finance a monthly summary after every board meeting. Right, of the total expenditures, what's encumbered, what grants have been received, and with the final bank balance. So in order to be transparent and collaborative, collaborative, we are going to do this on a monthly basis after our board meeting.
Does anybody have any questions on that? No. I think that's awesome. No. I think that's very ideal. Thank you for doing that. That's all I have. Thank you.
Next. E, we donate an item one. Yep. We have item two, town of Andorra financial audit 2021 to 2022. That's this.
Okay. Oh, the big one. It's the big, big one. It's the the big Oh, well, oh, I have that. Yeah. Or you could. I've seen it a few times. So I I guess, you know, in in light of the email that you guys did receive, I wanted to make sure that we did discuss it together. Obviously, an email wouldn't be appropriate, and a meeting is appropriate, just to make sure that we were on the same page with understanding where we were as a result of the 2122 audit. So this was what we had received. You guys had not received it from the auditor. This is fairly new. I marked some pages in here for you. Happy reading on everything else. But
if you go to the first sticky that's in there on page four, this kinda gives you anybody who's never had the privilege of reading one of these before in all of its entirety here. This talks about the discussion and analysis and is intended to serve as an introduction to the town's basic financial statements. And it says it's a government wide financial statements, fund financial statements, notes to the financial statements, and supplementary information. So that's everything that would be in here if you read through the whole thing. And because it's the whole town of Andover and the board of education is in here as well as part of financial, update for the the town of Andover as a whole, we're not included in a lot of this. This is other things. So that's why I I kind of pinned a couple of sections here for us to make sure that we all did
go right to. And if you go to where's my other pin? I know. That's what I'm trying to find. Thanks, Shannon. Page 66. Yep. 66. That first pinned page there, I just wanted to, while you're reading this, bring you to a couple things that do pertain to us. On 66 is where this looks at the combined balance sheet and statements of revenue and expenditures for all of their, like, other accounts. And you'll see that we have one of those funds, that school improvement reserve fund. That's our 2% nonlapseed account. Mhmm. And so you can see that this is remember, this is last year's audit, the 2122 that was just finished. So you can see that it started with $1.65 $5.64. Total balance at the end was $2.12 $5.78. And as you go down to revenues and other sources,
the $40,000 was transferred in, and it makes that balance on the bottom $2.12 $5.78. So remember they said when the audit was done when the audit was done, they said would be when they transferred in that nonlap that money so that last account. So that is in here. The only thing we would still be waiting for would to be would be the other 6,000. Remember, had 60 one year. They approved 40, and then we had 6,000. So that would be the only other, like, off number that Terry will have to discuss with them. But this one shows you a balance of $2.12 $5.78
on page 66. Do you above this packet? I I turned to it. Oh, thank you. So we definitely wanna make sure that we pay attention to that so that way we know what's in there. The next one in your happy reading that I would bring us to would be if we go to the right. The next section that has the the they call it a single audit there. If you look at the page on the bottom, it's page nine. It starts on page eight before that, and this is summary of significant accounting policies. When you look at this, this will tell you kind of the areas of growth or improvement that that would need to be looked at before the next audit. And so here, you'll notice on the top, they have said that there were material weaknesses and deficiencies that were identified, which means that once we look through them then, then as as a town, a corrective action plan needs to be done. You don't wanna have any yeses there. One heck of those. So if you look at the bottom under financial statement findings, they do it by year and then number. So here it says twenty twenty two dash zero zero one. It means that for the 2122 audit, the first finding is material weakness and internal control over financial reporting bank reconciliations. Luckily for us, they talk about their criteria,
but luckily for us, that was not the school side bank reconciliation. That was just the town side. So in terms of our current practices and policies, there isn't anything that needs to be changed to accommodate this one because we are in compliance there. There was no finding against the school. If you flip to the next page If there was, does it does it say school instead of town? It would. Yeah. Because I'm gonna show you where we are, Mitch. Okay. When you go to the next page, it's o o one continued in terms of material weakness. The audit for 2122 found the bank reconciliation for the town's general fund operating cash account incomplete. And as a result, there was misstatements about identified. The important part there I mean, you guys can read that on your own, but the important part there was that when they did look at our other accounts, there wasn't that mistake there. So we're again in good shape when it comes to that as well. So there was not a finding that said you have to change your practices
or your procedures. So we are excited about that because we're in good shape. If you look at the next one down 02/2002, there was a significant deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting year end procedures. But in the middle, it was the town reconciliation controls, not with the school. So, again, if Terry continues with our current practice and I'm speaking, not her because, unfortunately, she wasn't here for half the year last year. So if there was one, it would be her fault. So we're lucky here. We can continue with the practice that we currently have in effect. The top of the next page, '20 02/2003. This one is to your question, Caitlin, if it involves us, they do list us by name. And so here, it said there was a significant deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting, not of our reconciliation, but when you go to reconcile the town's ledger to ours. So it was once once our books and their books had to merge into one book, that was when there was the difficulty on the town's side. What what does it mean when it says year end cutoff entries were incomplete? Where are you looking at? So the condition Page 11? Yep. Oh, below it on the condition? Yeah. So which one are you on under condition? Under condition. Oh, the town's ledger is not currently integrated with the school district's general ledger. As such, journal entries were required to record and reconcile the activity of the school district with the town's general ledger. Year end cutoff entries were incomplete, and as a result, reconciliation issues were identified between the school and the town. So, for example, if we go to the thirtieth,
so anything that occurs in June, if it's June 29 Yeah. Terry's policy and procedure here is it's still within that. Right? So by the time she finishes her reconciliation and the town finishes theirs and then they push the books together, what this auditor says is at that time because remember, it's gonna change in a minute because we're no longer together for this year, but there was no set number that said, as of, you know, midnight on the thirtieth, there's absolutely no changes that can occur. Okay. So, like, let me give an example of where a change would occur. If Terry ordered if Terry ordered a $5,000 item, charged it to this fiscal year on the June 29, and then that company turned out out of business, couldn't order from them, and it came back and said, sorry. Can't buy this. And that money came back. That wouldn't have come back till the summer. So for us, that happens sometimes often that there are closeouts that need to occur
after a date. Can I add to that?
The findings for that were, my predecessor had done some journal entries in August, which were actually supposed to be dated for June 30. They were old they were checks that were dated in August that really should have been dated for June 30, and that that was some of the findings that they had. I worked very closely with them on that, and they were like, oh, why did they do that? I'm like because she had the dual role, though. So she was like Oh, yeah. Yeah. Checking herself.
So when she got to the town side where she needed to merge ours and theirs and they didn't match up, a change was made, and that can't happen. And that's why having the same person check themselves probably wasn't the best idea because it was like, oh, I made a mistake. Let me just go fix that. So is there anything on the school side that you have to do differently for that to not be Yeah. When I have when I have a check that's due and that's
first of all, the the procedure the the financial procedure is to encumber the money by June 30 for any projects that you're planning on doing over the summertime, if there's money, obviously. You never want to pay something with an August date that happened last year. So if I get a bill at the end of July, which I will, or if I get a bill in August, which I still will because there's a lot of pending purchase orders. Yeah. I will when I cut that check, I can I can manually change that date to 06/30? The date was when it was uncovered. Yes. So that's the fix on that. And I was surprised. I really do think it was just too many hands in the soup, and it it was just not good. So
Thanks. Mhmm. So then on the bottom, for the summary schedule of the prior year audit findings, Now you'll notice there are some twenty twenty ones and some twenty twenty twos. Because what the auditor does then is they go back and they say, are we still making the same mistakes we made two years ago? Yeah. And they want to notify you of that. Like, hey. So the material weakness in internal controls over the bank reconciliations, that was a 2021 and a 2022. The material weakness in the year end closures, that was a '21, and that was a 22 on the town side. Capital assets, no longer an issue on the town side. Material weakness and reconciliation of the town and the school, that had been repeated again from '21 to '22. However, if you notice on the bottom, there are a couple of other things that were fixed from '21 to '22. So this is what it would look like if it's fixed from '21 to '22. It'll say no longer considered a finding. And then I know you also had received correspondence that had corrective action plan in there from the town, the original corrective action plan. I believe you guys received that.
Did you guys receive that, Emion? Was, like, the first one they That was the first one that had been from the town administrator. Yeah. The town administrator then met with the auditor and the treasurer. And when the three of them met then, this was the approved by the three of them. This was the approved correction action plan. Because I did see the original one. The original one didn't have that second language Correct. At the request of the auditor, they did then this is the one then that went to OPM. Right. Okay. Dated June 3. Correct. So the other one, the draft one that, we did oppose, Pateri and I did oppose, that was not the one then that OPM is getting because there was a meeting with the auditor in the town. So this is the one that they're getting. So the finding of bank reconciliations, you see the corrective action on the bottom. The town has agreed that the way to fix that is the town reconciles the town side of the general ledger monthly, and then the separate bank account established in July 2022, the school will reconcile monthly its own. The only change then is that because you don't wanna be both the preparer and the sign offer Mhmm. Is what we've been doing, and, you know, now it'll just be in writing, is Terry is the preparer of the bank recs, and then she gives it to me, and I see her bank rec and sign off on it, and then that is put in her records for the auditor.
So the auditor said, I know you're doing this, but I just want you to document it. So there's a physical signature from both of us on the monthly bank recs, and that corrective action portion is is all set. I just I just have a question, though. On on the letter on the second second page of the letter that went to OPM where it says corrective action beginning with the fiscal year, the school business office will be responsible. His name of contact Not Eric Anderson. Yep. Because, even though Sorry? No. Okay. Even though in audit itself, we we share, obviously, the auditor, we're a part of that. But, the town of Andover is responsible for submitting
the audit. Mhmm. Okay. So, yep, we're a big component. That's why they come. That's why they talk to Terry. That's why they but they submit the audit for the town of Andover. Okay. Okay. So that's a good question. But yes. So he would be the contact person. But, yeah, they the the auditors themselves, not OPM, the auditors themselves, they contact Terry or our staff Okay. Directly. And they're great. I mean, they, you know, they're No. I just didn't hear you if it should've said Terry or Valerie. Yep. Okay. The second one actually, it's funny you said that off the subject, but even when we fill out our application for school readiness grants, because of where that funding comes from and it goes through OEC, Jeff Maguire has to sign off on our application. So
it just depends on certain, you know, departments within the state of Connecticut as to who signs off on it. And so he has to actually sign off on that for us as well. And he counts for us. On that same one, it says the school business office will formally adopt procedures in connection with fiscal year twenty twenty three closing process of both. Has that been done already? We already have formal procedures. Yes. We can present to auditor. Yep. And when does does Opium respond to this? Do they tell us we accept this or we don't accept to us? No. Do they do they tell Eric that we accept this or don't? And the auditor will absolutely get we only get if if we had a binding in here, we don't. But if we No. The corrective action plan since there's it's Right. Paging with the language or they how do we know that OPM said this is fine? I guess it's a new question. Because the auditor will tell us that they don't. Yeah. They'll go do the other thing.
Good thing is is that we'll so this I mean, the stuff that the auditors found were we've already been doing, so there's not gonna be another issue with it in 2223. So Right. We're hoping to have zero issues for 2223.
Because, Steve, to your point, the only one that affected us was that bottom one. Yeah. I just Significant deficiency reconciling the account in this ledger, and they already put in here the corrective action was that as of July 2022, which would have been one month after that year ended. Because remember, this is last year's 2122. Right. So
No. I guess my question is because this was submitted June 30, which was not very long ago. Is there any chance that OPM says we don't like we don't think this covers everything you need? I don't think so. Okay. Just a formality. Just That was kinda what was Yeah. There was no It's not a
yes. This is good or no. This is bad. But So does that mean in the future that there is not reconciliation between the town and the school because the accounts are separate? What it means is if if if things continue,
if the same thing continues every year I mean, there is there is a a problem, obviously, if if things don't get corrected. I I mean, I know the town has had a couple of years of of, of, you know, significant findings at the town, but I really believe now that the town and the board are separate,
we're not gonna have that we're not gonna have that issue going forward. I guess I was just asking, is there still do you still have to have a reconciliation between the town and the school? Monthly? No. No. Or Because that It doesn't come to any sort of clombing. Okay. Yeah. That's that's what I thought. Just And, Kate, on the bottom of that page, it says the town and board of education will now reconcile their accounts independently and provide the information directly to the auditor. Yeah. So so that's what I've been doing anyhow for six months. So So just so that you guys have that, you know, I I wanted you to have this because I know that there was some question, from the town administrator as to if we were okay. We are okay. We're fine. The there were there were no findings in here that we had to change practices with, so the way she's probably doing it is fine. Thank you.
Yep. Anybody else have any questions? Thank you, Valerie. Eight. Three item. The only. Right here. That's on the Thursday, 06/22/2023. Jessica Smith wrote Valerie an email. I'm very sorry to hear that the town has chosen to take the path of ignoring the law and refusing to compromise. I know we previously discussed the possibility of seeking legal recourse through an injunction, but you are correct that this is possibly bad. And I recall the board had political concerns about bringing a lawsuit against the town. I suggest that at a minimum, the board passed a resolution noting its objection to the town plans and its disagreement with the town legal conclusions, reserving the right to object more formally to the project in the future and reiterate reiterating its request the town consult with the board on on the building of the center and all related implications
for the operation of the floor. Please let me know if a conversation would be helpful and or if you would like me to draft this resolution. So I guess the resolution is what is attached. This is a draft. Draft of it. Let me take a look at it and see what you're saying. It gets written. It
oh my god. Can't read it. I can read it. If you need explanation, I will be happy to try to pronounce it. I'm just starting to read it myself.
Anybody have a chance to read it over? Yeah. One of your thoughts and feelings.
I guess my first question is just for clarity's sake. What did we what response, if any, did we receive from our meeting last month from? Did we did we receive a no? Yes. Or did we receive a just a second. At at the PNC meeting,
Eric Anderson said Leakstown will not sign the m o the MOU that we presented. But have we gotten formal communication from the board of selection to whom we submitted the MOU to?
Because the and and and the reason I'm so Well,
there were members of the board of selecting at that PMZ meeting. There was Adrian Mandeville there. There was Paula King there. Jeff Maguire was there. Neither one of them had said said no that that's not the case. And Eric Anderson, on the record, said the town will not sign it.
I mean, I guess my question to the board of selectmen is is is that their stance? I think so. And are they allowing Eric to speak for them? I think so. That that, in my mind, is a problem. Yeah. I guess my my other statement is is that I think we were very open and interesting to an engagement with the board of selectmen and in making memorandum work for both parties. I am highly disappointed as a member of the Andover community that the board of selectmen, evidently our town administrator, has failed to to recognize the board's authority over this. And and I I I'm just shocked. Just speaking for as a a community member, I am shocked.
Am I wrong in thinking that that's not really the proper way to respond to a letter for an MOU when they asked us to present them with one to begin with? I I
think it's representative of the relationship between the board of select and the board of education that we've seen since the beginning of this project, which is parts of this town I won't say it's the entire board. Certain members of this town do not feel the board of education has the appropriate authority to mandate this where the law says otherwise.
I think the proper response would have been a formal response. Correct. And not simply having the town administrator who did not acknowledge whether he was representing a board of election At that PNC meeting, and it's never been clear to me, I believe that Eric was operating on top of the town. And I don't know if you could have been deemed to be operating on behalf of the board of selectmen. That's been a fuzzy situation as far as
that's concerned. So so I guess then to your point, Chris, like, do we need to ask for a clarification of that from the board of select them before we send something like this?
I think we should. I think we should also. Yes.
And I think that we should ask for it in writing? Yep.
And they're like, we are prepared to do this should be doing a resolution at a public meeting as far as Yes. They're coming to a response to what we did publicly.
Because I I mean, I will echo what you said, but that makes me incredibly disappointed, especially after the two of them came to our meeting. And I thought I mean, while there was some contention, like, I thought that meeting was not bad, and I
I guess I had hope for Well and and we ended it with a we want this to be a discussion. I mean, that was my last statement to Jeff. We want this to be a discussion. If you have concerns about items in the MOU, discuss it with us. Yeah. What else can you do about?
Well, I guess the question now is is how do we try to bring about a formal response? We're gonna work with We really as the chair. We really can't force them to respond. No. No. No. But I'm just saying, you know, maybe what we do is you as our chair on the board, write a follow-up letter that basically says, at our meeting, July 12, we recognize that we haven't received a response and would appropriate a formal response to and our draft memorandum of agreement that we forwarded to you. We'll be forwarded to them. Yes. Which was requested. Correct? I mean, you don't write the bill right now. Do
we wanna ask for clarification as to whether or not Eric's Eric's statement was representative of the board of SelectLink's opinion, or do we just ask for a response?
I think we just ask for a response because, honestly, a PNC meeting, like, that that's not a meeting of either board. Like, there was no one rep representing either board at that meeting to speak on behalf of. Like, so to me right? Like, I wasn't at that PMC meeting. I didn't know any of that happened.
Well, I guess the thing that prompted me to I I talked to Valerie, and I said to Valerie, I said, I first of all, we're not going to fight lawyer versus lawyer. Go into a court, look for a judge's ruling on how the state statutes are interpreted. We don't have that kind of money to go to a court and request a judge's ruling on it, and it's not worth it. Technically, it's not worth it, but I didn't want this to go on without us making a formal resolution or statement. You did this to us once. We did not approve it. You're not free to do this again. Expect that we're going to
fight back, push back. And I think that we need we need to say say something. So if you want the the response from them, which I thought was pretty clear at those meetings, that Eric did the talking. It's gotten to the point, Eric's tone, his attitude, his condescending way about him toward the board of education and valor, I pulled up Jeff Maguire, and I asked him, please do something. And he acknowledged that it is not correct in what he's acting, Eric Anderson. And he said he would speak to him. I I feel that as a board of education, we too are elected by the taxpayers of the town. We are funded by the taxpayers of the town to operate a school, to do what's in the best interest of the children, and that's why I asked for a resolution to be drawn up. I have no problem sending a letter to the board of selectmen asking them to respond positively or negatively about the memorandum of what they did. Agree. Agree with it. I stood out there at the site plan at the sidewalk.
I forgot what the date was. It was prior to, I think, the first public hearing. Was it not Yes. It was May. And I stood out there. Scott Person said to me, write a memorandum of understanding and have it ready for us. Yep. Yep. Yep. That's right. Thank you. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. We did. They asked for it. We did, and it was fresh. Now like I told you before earlier in the day, I feel as though I mean, I I have been through a lot, and I've taken a lot of abuse, not from you guys, but from that board. I have nothing against the board of selectmen. I I I hold no ill feelings for any of them,
but I just don't like the way we've been disrespected. It hurts. We're one town, and I think we should get together and do what's best for everybody. I I don't think any of us in this room are opposed to that. I really don't. I don't know what to do. I really don't. I I've told you before, some people weren't here. The general wire did call me up, and I've been in communication with this. He has asked me to join them in a groundbreaking ceremony. And I said, sure. I'm not angry with them. I don't feel what they did is is right, but I I don't remember feeling their anger. I guess it's feeling is more hurt and disrespect. And that's that's where I'm at. I will do whatever you, as a board, want to do. I don't act alone.
You are my board. You know, we work you want me to. Well, I guess what we're asking is that an email be sent asking what their answer is to our m o our m r memorandum of agreement. Mhmm. And I I I think it will be no because it was made very clear at the last PNC meeting that it doesn't matter. The town won't sign it. That's what Eric Anderson said. Mhmm. And once we get their no in an email, then the, you know, the reading of this resolution, I have no issue with, and then I think we send it. That's that's what I propose. Do we need to specify in that letter where we're asking for a response by x date so that then there there is a definitive timeline to Sure. When we send this. Yeah. No. Because it could just hang out there for Correct. Correct. Yep. What's already happened, and I Okay. I find that disrespectful Yeah. To our entire town. So
if when when are we prepared to send this, and then what are we gonna give them? A week? I would. Okay. So whatever date it's sent a week from that day.
I don't know if they, like us, have to have a meeting. I don't see them scheduling a special meeting to address it, so we might not get a formal response until they meet, which I believe is on the second Monday of every month, which would have already occurred.
Yes. We already have it for this month this month. So correct. So we wouldn't get a response until August. It would be August 8. Yeah.
So I don't know if think that they have to talk about this in a meeting? I believe so. I I I don't know, but I believe so. Okay. They should. Okay. Well, August 8 would be the day before your next meeting. Before our next meeting. Right. So Okay. Alright. So by August 8. And then does anybody have any do we wanna talk about the the the language in the resolution? Or I can go back to the next. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's fine. Sure.
Yeah. Think you wanna read it. She's got Don't wanna be accused. Because that's the only thing that gets it. Because it right? It states on here, like, whereas on blank date, the town rejected the board's proposal. Right. Exactly. So, yeah, that hasn't actually firmly happened. Right. Right. If exactly. I mean, we could put the date of the PNC, but I agree. But that's not no. No. No. I get it. I get it. I get it.
Well but but, technically, as that's written, I believe the answer is they did reject it because the account manager rejected the PNC. It doesn't say board. It says town. Now does does Eric speak on behalf of the town? Okay. I'm I'm still I I think we should go ahead and and get clarification. But but, technically
Right. Yeah. It's right. Alright. Thanks. We we haven't. No. No. Next month's meeting. Okay.
And as soon as I get a response, I won't let everyone know. Or I should say if I get a response. When. Next. Initial update on development of future long term plans.
So there's three areas on this one. We have tech, curriculum, and facilities, and I know we've been talking about this for a while. And so we're finally there, Steve. So I know that's gonna make you really happy. We're finally there. Taylor has and she'll show you she'll share her screen in a minute. We we really feel strongly that we have a good solid base for our tech, which I know may Chris have too. For our tech plan, it's not complete yet, but it's almost there. We're we're we're almost at the finishing touches. Thanks to, Taylor, and Christina, and and some good efforts there. In terms of curriculum plan, the same thing. That will be adjusted, depending on the outcome of the waiver in terms of what we need to do with. And that may be adjusted for kindergarten next year, pending any changes that we may or may not see as a result of that new law, which I'll let Taylor go first
and talk about that, and then I'll I'll touch on this that I gave them with the new minimum age. And the last one is facilities, and that one, we are not in draft form yet because based on the things that we already started at the end of the year with what you guys voted on in June for us to do now, we have to, adjust. Like, the floors that were down in those those rooms now, that'll be adjusted a little bit. And under facilities, Taylor and I decided I'm gonna break that up, kinda tag team here. You know, that when we present that one later on at next meeting or the following meeting,
I will deal with one half of it, which is really facilities itself. And Taylor really needs to, she requested, and it's a great idea, to focus on, like, furniture, like, what goes into the facilities because that plan has not been designed in years either. And in our going through, NIAC accreditation for preschool and now NIAC accreditation for kindergarten, we were finding that we were left deficient there too. And that's not really like instructional supplies. So she's like, don't take that out of my instructional supplies line, and she's right. It really isn't. Just because you're buying cots or play equipment, that isn't the same. That is furniture. So that'll be the last one that I give you next month or into September, and that'll be those two components. So k?
Yeah. So we have done a lot of curriculum work over the past year and more to come this year. But one of the things in making kind of a curriculum map, this is more geared not necessarily to the second grade teacher, but more to families and to the board and to the community. So we're it's a draft form. I went to grade two because it's it's mostly complete, so you can see kind of an example. So right now, as Val mentioned, we're waiting on our re our waiver for our reading foundations and writing program. So those are certainly our current units that could change depending on kind of what we get and where we move. Regardless, even if our waiver is passed, which we hope it will be, there's there's ongoing work. These units were written here
at in Andover between five and seven years ago. I I can't remember the exact date. So it it's, you know, there's always time. It's as you recycle and look through standards, they are based on the common core standards that still exist. So it's not like they're working off the wrong standards, but certainly as our practices have improved. And I mentioned earlier, the decodable book sets we were able to get. So some of these are are will be continued to be tweaked through the coming year. And then same for math. So for the we are if you recall last year, we piloted the I Ready math curriculum.
We used the I Ready math assessments, but we piloted the curriculum they they have in second and third. K? Let me get it right. Kindergarten, second grade, third grade, and sixth grade. It was the pilots for last year. And there were many positives about it, but it is a very costly program, And we found the differentiation we were doing inside of it made it a little cost prohibitive in my mind to spend many thousands of dollars in a program we are going to significantly adjust. And so there's a lot of, kind of new and upcoming open source curriculum programs, meaning they are open to educators, to schools free of charge, full robust curriculums. And they are still you know, sometimes that makes people feel a little nervous if they're free. Are they good? They are still certainly kinda go through the gamut of all that research and those kinds of things. So we are gonna move towards what's called illustrative math in second and third grade this upcoming school year. And those are the units you see here, and work towards moving them up through sixth. At this point, we do not plan to purchase a formal program in k one. As we have so many resources, we'll continue to develop the curriculum by unit the way we do our reading and writing according to the standards. Especially because we are so play based and believe in developmentally appropriate learning,
we'll find a lot of the box curriculums want you to do worksheets in kindergarten. It's just not really where we where we stand. So that's where kind of we we pull those units from just so you have that. And then science, we use our NGSS units that from CREC developed. Most schools in our state use the CREC units, because there's not a lot of published science curriculum. So when those new standards came out, so that's where you'll see these. Very excitingly, we have new social studies standards, haven't been updated in well, maybe it's almost fifteen years now. I could be wrong. A very long time. And when they were originally written at the state, they're very vague in elementary. So when they were originally written, they were written for those high school and social studies middle school curriculum classes. It's down those social studies teacher, but in elementary, it was, like, 70 people. I mean, I'm being a little vague, but, so we're excited because of this what the state has shared is that they put a lot of more work towards, the elementary level, making it a little bit more specific for teachers to be able to to because they know most elementary schools don't purchase prepackaged social studies curriculum. We build it into our literacy.
So we're excited to kind of explore that next year and hopefully just get some kind of refreshed direction in our social studies vertical planning. And what is taught like, I know, like, in when I would social studies was, like, history. Is that still what that is? Or So, certainly, there's kind of all the domains of not gonna remember them all, but, like, history, geography. Right. Right? There's all the different elements, culture, economics. Yep. And so those are all strands in the standards. But, again, for elementary, they've been pretty Whatever. General. Okay. So and for remember, elementary teachers are generalists, so they didn't necessarily go to school for one of those domains. So the more direction we're able to give, the better. Absolutely. So as a school, we have some direction, and we know which kind of thematic, work we do in social studies, but we don't have necessarily,
concrete units yet that hopefully will. So are are the themes then different for each grade,
or is that what they're trying to go through? What they are hopefully, we are hoping. Yes. Okay. They had to go to the state board of education, so we're hoping end of this month, beginning of next month. And That they'll be, like, formal. Yeah. That we can see them published. So we've just kind of done all the webinars to get the sneak peek. So so that will come out. We, no big changes in assessment wise for this year. We still will use I Ready assessments as in terms of that formal second we will do that second through sixth grade. We were doing that k one here. Not something I had experienced in other districts. Those students are very young, so you can imagine, to take formal computerized standardized tests. I did not find the data we gathered from our five and six year olds on the computer was hugely impactful for the work we did. So we are gonna just move it up to second through sixth. The other great news is is when we get SBAC now, supposed to a year ago, we get that data almost instantaneously within a few days. So that actually does provide our teachers good valuable data in the May,
June for three through six as well. I can't share it publicly till they formalize it in the next few months, but at least we're able to kind of already start planning on the internal.
Just to make sure I understand. So previously, they were using I Ready for during the year just kind of to progress and then also as an assessment that you're not gonna be using it?
Yes. I know what you mean. Yes. We actually also had the I Ready learning path. So it's like an online program kids could practice. Those are, those computerized programs, typically, your recommended students are on them at least thirty minutes a day. It's a big commitment that, again, in Andover, we don't feel is always developmentally appropriate and is more valuable than our teachers for thirty minutes a day. So I did not we did not renew that either. We felt there are so many free online like, if you want math back to practice. You know, it's not like teachers can't utilize those. But, certainly, in in other districts, that is a valuable part of their curriculum. We didn't feel that here was necessary. So we are only keeping that assessment they take three times a year, second through sixth. The results of that assessment from the spring, like, final one, are those going to be shared with parents? Oh, with parents. Sorry. I thought you said with you. So we did not send home the final score sheets with parents. We took them because of SVAB, we did not wanna it's hard. You will feel sometimes like we're over testing kids at the older age. We didn't do I Ready until the last second to last week of school to the last week of school in order for them to feel pretty fresh and okay in May.
So the timeline for us was too tight to turn around all of that. So we are talking about next year, third through sixth, looking at that schedule for I Ready and actually only doing it as of twice a year, October, March. Second grade, we'll still do three times, but October, March gives us that data prior to SPAC, gives us two more months to kind of instruct in those areas, then take SPAC. No 10 year old wants to take another test six days before school ends. I'm glad we did it that way and that we didn't want them to feel when came, but it's just the way that timeline. So, certainly, if any parents are interested in them, I'm happy to provide. We just did not have that gonna turn around. And then I did list, and I'll list on here just some additional curriculum resources at the grade levels that we use. So like I said, those GEOs, RasKids are our ereaders. Seesaw, I mentioned a little bit earlier, plastic news. So DIBELS will be our brand new assessment, and that's the state mandated.
The state has mandated an assessment k three that looks directly at your phonics, phonemic awareness, all of those decoding skills, and they had approved assessments. And iReady is not one of them. So DIBELS is the one we chose to adopt. It's it's I've used it many times. It's has a lot of re big research base. It'll be a universal. They're quick. It's it's not another test. Like, the kids don't know it. You pull the child under one minute like screeners, you know, that they do. So they won't feel they should not feel the burden of it, but it's a reading predictor. So that's what's nice about the DIBELS is it it looks at kids',
norm reference and say, if they score in this way, it is possible they may have difficulty with reading. Doesn't necessarily mean right now. So it's just another lens for us to look at, so, we're we're excited to be looking at that. We were previously using the front desk and panel. So for any parents of getting, like, the letter, like my kids reading at a j, That if sounds familiar to anybody. We will still use that, but closer as students shift from decoding to comprehending. So more of the second grade and up and not as much. So I don't wanna give you too much. It's like I said, it's a draft, but this is what it will look like, just for families too as well. We'll post this on the website to give everybody as we work through the next few months, and,
we have foundations integrity on there, just kind of our programming. In that way, we keep all questions or or anything like that. So that's curriculum plan moving in the right direction, and, it's a lot of people's work. It will continue to be. It will be a, you know, a moving dock until we all feel really strongly and what the board can feel strongly about the curriculum that it it's as sound as it can be. Move to that then.
So tech is kind of twofold. There's the education component, I guess we could call it, versus the materials, the devices, and software component. Right? So the first thing we really had to do just kind of set some context. As you know, we were teaching tech classes prior, where students just like a music special, we're going to tech class for years. Christina is gonna we're gonna shift that model to more of technology integration. So where she's going into classrooms, in there, she may be visiting second grade from nine to 09:40. They're actually in math. And so what she's gonna do is the tech piece, help model for the teacher coaching, and how does the tech fit into that math lesson. And so that, ultimately, we're moving in a direction that our tech is way more inter integrated into curriculum as opposed to kind of living in one row. So to do that, there's the first thing we had to do is kind of really focus on what standards we were gonna use. So this point, we're using ISTE, which is a pretty well established community for technology. There's a few different sets of national standards for tech. They they all have similar thread lines, but, typically, states don't own their own. So it's a good starting point for us to kind of ground our work. So this plan is gonna look kinda show you the format. There are seven standards for students, and so you'll see the standard up here just as an example. They're using tech to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice. It's pretty specific for for students. There's a set for teachers as well for admin on what we want kids to be able to do with tech. So we are looking at each of these
and saying, okay. What are some things that we need to do here at AES to reach that standard to bring us closer? And we're talking about a three year plan. Right? And so that's what we're kind of brainstorming. And then what professional development might that need? Is it curriculum work that that needs? What materials might we already have? Do we need to purchase something to make this happen? So it's kind of just as you when you really get into this, the format we use for the first part. So I talked a little bit about Seesaw for family communication and showing work that will become the platform that will help support some of these goals as well, like students reflecting on their work. As I mentioned, they can record themselves, those kind of things. So that's one subs that will be a new subscription for us this year, and you'll see later in the plan. And it kinda goes on like that. You're certainly when we're finished, get a chance to kinda dive in. I don't wanna take too much time, but, like, digital citizenship, obviously, very important to us. So what are our action steps here?
Reliability. Students are love to type in Google. What's the answer? And the first step, right, is the answer to them. So how are we teaching that in a more specific way? How do we utilize Melissa Litusska in the library? So kind of those conversations, and then what is it we need to do? And then even as we talk, you can see I had a question for myself here. You know? Do have any research databases? Will we pay for BrainPOP, but not like an Encyclopedia Britannica online, say? So just some questions that we're gonna start to ask ourselves as we kinda do this work. So the first part of this plan will be structured like this by standard. We've completed the first two. We have lots of sticky notes and notes about the other seven so the other four. So those will come in the next month or so. I'm gonna skip down, though.
The other yeah. I have a quick question. Yes. Maybe it's not quick. But Sure. What about, like, ChatGPT and AI? Okay. I
didn't use ChatGPT to write this plan. I did not. I did for some tech vision statements. You know? Here's the thing. I think at the elementary level, it's gonna impact us more positively than negatively because it's we as the adults that will use it in a positive way. Christina Fraser just sent me a tool today, an AI one for teachers to create, like, reading passages that meet certain standards. Like, there's so many amazing ones. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Certainly at the middle and high school level, they have a whole different Yeah. Ballgame of how do they monitor and teach it to kids and use it in a productive way. I don't think we're just gonna see that the same way here at least with our population. Not to say it will never pop up. Fifth and sixth graders are gonna know about it. They just don't have the same way of, Yeah. I think their work, and we know what their writing looks like differently than the 14 year old. Got it. Yep. Not that it's exactly on this realm, but just in reference to that. Is there is there a formal cell phone policy in the building for students? I you know, it's so funny. It's, like, one of the first questions I asked when I got here. I like, what's a cell phone policy? I just and I remember about saying, you don't have cell phone problem. I was like, what? But have a problem. There is something in Yes. We do in family handbook. Okay. One but I have not. We we noticed. There are some students who bring them. Okay. I think this year, I had one teacher saw one once in class. Okay. Literally. Once What and what's do they do they have to put it away? Like, what's the It's on they bring it because of bus. The the kids who bring it are typically bus students whose families want to have a cell phone. But they can't obviously No. We don't use them.
You know, we've had some students, like, in districts, if we were gonna use Chromebooks and they had a personal Chromebook and they wanted to use that one, some districts policies around that, like how we ensure it or how we can get the we just haven't had to do that because we have one to one tech for everyone. So we really haven't had very many instances of students wanting to utilize tech, like, even for academics, their own personal, if that's what you're kinda wondering. We just haven't really had to how can we manage that? So then you kinda get to, like, what are what do we have at the school, and what's our kind of plan? And so this is just a three year plan kind of thinking through. I don't know if I can get this first page all on one page, but you can kind of go through. You'll, again, can get to kinda study this. But just few big pieces, you know, kinda starting the transition over the next three to five years from SMART Boards to the ViewSonics. Our SMART Boards are over almost fifteen years, if not more. So they they don't last forever. We have bulbs we maintain. A lot of them, you know, when you touch them, they might skip a little. It's just it's an expensive product to keep maintaining. Smartboards came out with their own new one. It's the same price as a ViewSonic. Like, right, everybody has a brand new one. So when they just, two years ago, with John, when they kind of first started looking at what to replace them with, this is the, you know, the one you see here, the device that they went with. It it it's great. So we'll
plan over the next three years. I've kind of mapped out how to how to replace through at the beginning of this year, they'll be currently in third grade through sixth grade, which is great. And that's kind of where we started on the plan. They started prior to me, and we're moving down. So that's those. And they don't require any regular maintenance. Actually calculated, I think it's fifty five years. They're supposed to last based on how much light or whatever. Sure. They'd be outdated before that. The Apple TVs, this is just how many we currently have, just so you know. The one of the reasons we went with ViewSonics is that when you attach the Apple TV, it's gonna make it really easy for students to go ahead and cast their iPads to the screen and teachers as well. And so that's one of the pieces we're excited about is how are we actually empowering kids to share their work,
in a more direct way. So those are, that's those. Faculty laptops, we have not replaced they were purchased in 2019 2018 or 2019, so we're coming up on about four years. So we're just right on that cusp. Right? We replaced four for this upcoming year. It's always hard to say exactly how many years, you know, everyone wear and tear their device a bit different. In a perfect world, we'll we'll get be able to get on a cycle, right, with faculty laptops where every three to five years, whatever it is. If you're in group a, you know you're getting yours 2016 and 2021. And you know what I mean? That that's your ideal world. To start, though, we're gonna need to they bought them all together, like, on one year. Got it. So we don't really wanna be on a cycle where we have to replace 30 in one year. So that's why we're gonna you know, the goal would be to replace as we go. Chromebooks, we currently are one to one, about a 170. That is we are inventorying exactly this year and getting them all in Jamf, which is our the system that we're gonna be recording what we have. So we could have one seventy one or one sixty nine just so you're aware, but we will inventory exactly. Those, we update software as they come out. We only repair those when they're under warranty because, otherwise, it's not worth it. If they're out of warranty and they break what's the nice word? Christina gave me we retire. I was like, so we don't use it. She's like, don't break that. We retire. That's nice.
So and so that replacement cycle, you know, honestly, like, in a bigger district, those are replaced two to three years. They don't last. We are we we all know Casino runs a tight tech ship here, and those kids treat those things like they are the, best. So we have been very lucky here, and she does a great job, and we only really are replacing between three and six years. I believe she has been working once eight years. She she I believe it. She knows how to maintain. But just even when they work at eight years old, they don't work the way that a 10 year old expects them to. So those do require that,
that replacement. We don't anticipate having to buy any Chromebooks the next three years because as we move to iPads, these a 170, we could probably co use with iPads for at least three years because of the way that they are managed so well. K and one will not use Chromebooks likely going forward. So we also have that group that's in those touch ones that are pretty good condition that can move up to our older students. So we're in really good shape, though. So the goal is to phase those out and switch Correct. Yeah. And and then what what can happen in this plan is where you know how tech is. In three years, it's hard to predict everything, right, because it changes so quickly. So I'm happy we don't need to purchase anymore. In three years, it might not even be. No one may be even on Chromebooks right at this rate or or they may get something. So we don't even really need to worry about that. So we We can do our SBAC testing on iPads, but, certainly, we have Chromebooks that could be available for students that prefer them if there was a a any anything, we'd have them. That's the other problem with Chromebooks is state testing. That does not last eight years. So to do the SBAC testing, they can only be certain models in certain years. So we actually when that happens, we have to go and steal all the newer ones from k one as they shift and put them up to four or five, six so we can take SBAC. And then and as we do what's called the interim assessments from SBAC, it's the same thing. So that's actually been a challenge for us. It's great. The Chromebooks last five years, but they don't do the thing we need them. Is that true with iPads as well? No.
The iPads, because they are updated as just like your if you have an iPhone as the new iOS comes out, that So say upgrade. Yeah. However, the state. So same. IPads, you'll we'll update them just as you would update your phone as that's needed. We are the iPads we purchased, we're going with the three year warranty. That's what was recommended is that you keep them, and that three year warranty, is no cost for fixes, to us, which is great. If they recommend every three years replacing, and they're part of an Apple exchange program. So you actually get credit per device that you turn back in towards the new device, which makes our cost fairly similar to Chromebooks because of that. The cost also, we did the package with the case and the keyboard. I felt strongly about having the keyboard piece to really, kind of, you know, make sure that productivity was high. And that warranty that covers anything. Right? So, like, they break the screen and you just turn the whole Correct. And so if we kept on that cycle, same thing of the three years, then we wouldn't have costs to maintain. And
those will be maintained via our Jamf as well in the software. This is a let's see. Yeah. This is, again, the plan if we were gonna get to one to one. So, certainly, this I'm recommending the best case here. Should the budget change or something come up where this is not feasible, we'd adjust the plan. But this is kind of to give you guys a sense of what would get us to where we wanna be in three years. And it's not a unit cost because they come in there. Then I also just wanted to give you our main I think we have eight subscriptions. I think it's interesting to see this so you guys are kind of aware. These are the subscriptions for the general population, so for groups of students. There are a few other ones for special education. Just want you to know that that are not noted here. If a student has a specific disability that required an app, say, or a program,
that would be like, we pay for a seat or two. This is these are programs or subscriptions for you to school. So Lumio I'm not you really want me to go through them all. There's seven, but you can see those there. We did a lot of paring down this year because you can imagine what happens is a fourth grade teacher one year really wants this program. They love it. They go for it. They don't realize the second grade teacher are putting for this one, and this one does something similar to this one. So we really kind of did a full audit, I guess you could call, of our software or apps. And if you went through the eight of them, they really all fall kind of in different purposes, different genres for what they do. Yeah. That's alright. It's a little long, but It's great. That those two by the end of the summer will be complete, as she mentioned, along with the facilities just so you guys have a sense of that long term and really guide our work. And as great as this part is, but I really think for us, this is the real work, and we're excited about kind of getting that more into our classrooms and how that will that's that's where our kids are gonna see the biggest impact and our teachers. So Thank you. Yeah. Questions for me on those two?
Yeah. Well, thank you. Alright. No problem. Anyone else have any questions? Yeah. We have on the agenda next, we've added in e five. Would you like to talk to them, make the motion, and we can talk about it? Yeah. So as we discussed
when we had our previous school board meeting with two members of the board of selection present, I recommended, you know, possibility of scheduling at least I I mean, I think quarterly would be ideal, but at least twice a year meetings between all three boards for our town. And I'd like to draft a formal letter to present that to the other two boards in our town so that we could set a date for the first meeting, hopefully, in the month of September. I would I support that. I agree with that.
Do want us to make a motion so that we can talk about it? Sure. I'll make a motion to discuss,
Caitlin, drafting a letter to the board of selectman and board of finance to have a quarterly or semiannual meeting of the boards, hopefully, to have the first meeting in September.
Is there a second? I'm second. Seems okay. Okay. Any discussion about how you feel about doing this? Having Caitlin write the letter. I personally I'm in favor of any collaboration, any get together, any anything we can do to unite ourselves as a town into the fabric of the board through the commission that run the channel. So I would support that at least to begin with. Anybody else?
I I guess the only other thing that I would want to know from you guys feedback wise, I mean, I feel like it's important to have some kind of goal or action item to the reason for the meeting. But I think since it's the end of the fiscal year, you know, possibly potentially asking all three boards to share what their goals are for the upcoming year and how the other two boards could help support those goals. I would agree with that. I would like that to be helpful. Yeah.
So we're gonna do this in September. I guess my question would be, you're gonna be drafting this letter. When when is the intention of sending it? Because I don't know that it makes sense to wait all the way until our next meeting. I don't think it makes sense. So if you draft it, I would just, I guess, add that, I think, you know, maybe submit it to Jerry and get his between you and Jerry sign off on it, then send it over. Okay. Yeah. I I don't need to see it. I Yeah. That's what I'm saying. It's Yeah. Trust her, but at and somebody else at least on the board's looked at it and Right. Curious Yeah. Proved it. We're good. Yeah.
K. You can take a vote on it. You have further discussion for it? Okay. All in favor? Okay. We're breaking a letter to invite the other boards, board finance, board department to meet with them. Meeting to be held twice a year. Say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any extensions? Thank you. So we'll draft the letter. Take a look from your left. And you what's that? Yep. Alright. Next for liaison reports. Are there any?
So I'll call this, like, school readiness liaison because I didn't wanna interrupt Taylor when she was doing kindergarten, but I gave you guys a copy of the letter that I received that I I know is out there in the general public anyways about, the changes for the minimum age to enroll in school, and this was a July 7 letter. Just so that you guys are aware, if you have not heard this, the state has, changed the requirement from a child must be five before December 31 to enter kindergarten to and this is for next year. So a child must be five September first to enter kindergarten. Now this will be for next school year, not this coming fall, but even a twelve month notice is not really a lot. As you read through this letter, it will tell you that they are fully aware that
this is gonna be huge, huge blow to families financially, huge blow to families and communities in terms of trying to find now scrambling to find daycare and to find open preschool slots. And they understand that it's not just a financial burden, that it's training burden. It's a staffing burden. It's it's it's everything. Well and there's, you know, there's a teacher shortage. Yeah. I mean Yes. And not only is there a teacher shortage, but this letter points out that they estimate that just changing it, those four months, will put 9,000 more children in day care for preschool instead of kindergarten. Right. And they know there's not enough slots. And so what will happen in towns is that, you know, people will scramble to put their children in earlier now. Maybe they would have waited till next year, but they're like, okay. I need to solidify a spot because my kid's gonna be there for three years. Right. And and and we don't know long term effects in terms of that. They're in some smaller communities where homeschooling is an option. You may get homeschooling increases where people say, I can't afford to do it for three years. This is something that is huge in relation to special education costs, special education spots, birth to three spots. You know, we always say to you guys, we get preschoolers all during the course of the year because when birth to 3¢, then when they turn three, we have to take them. You know what's gonna happen in that. So there's a lot of unknowns here in Andover. We are oh, and next year, that will mean a much smaller kindergarten for a lot of communities,
followed by a huge kindergarten the following year. So there's a ton of things. Taylor and I have really tried to kinda sit and think of how this would affect Andover because that's really all we care about as a board here is how is this gonna affect us. We don't think that there will be a big financial burden to us since we do have, you know, adequate tuition that comes in and adequate grants that come in with Smart Start School Readiness. I've already spoken with Theresa Supernet, who is our liaison, and asked, will a child who qualifies for Smart Start for school readiness
be able to qualify for three years? They're not gonna not be able to get it a third year. Same thing with your sliding scale fees. Yes. All of that will move over to year three. For us here, the biggest concern is having 2.9 year olds considered preschoolers with 4.11 year olds. And now you're talking about what normally in any other circumstance in this building be two to three grades of a range. And so at any other level in AES, that could be fourth to sixth graders. So we're not just talking about, you know, like, we had a two three combo. That's one grade. We are talking about significant developmental differences, between children. Basically, babies. Some of them come in here, they're barely potty trained, and then other children who are readers.
I mean, so it's a potential of having to split the pre K into So it's too later in the numbers. To know what we will need here,
we're going to have to reevaluate that during the course of the year based on which kids enroll. Right. Right. So because if they're all readers, that's one thing. So the smart move that we've made, and you guys supported it, was putting Jenny Morell in as the interventionist and the early childhood specialist. So Jenny being, in that position remember last year, we had Amanda as the two three interventionist, and we said that worked. We're good. We can move that interventionist position. So, thankfully now we didn't know this is coming down the pike so soon, but, in doing that, we now have that person that's going to be able to help us screen. It could mean in the next two years, we just hired, a shared part time, fifty fifty, speech language pathologist. We know that that is probably the most needed service for pre k and k kids is speech. That may be and we wanna throw that out on the table now. That may be an area next year where we wind up saying, as a result of this, as a result of having preschoolers for three years, we need more speech. So that could be a result.
We may add to Steve, to your point, we may wind up saying, we need to have little's room for preschool and a bigger room for preschool. I don't wanna say threes and fours anymore because it won't exactly be threes and fours. Now the advantage we had actually just mentioned this briefly when we were discussing something else before the meeting, but I'll reiterate it, is that the good thing is we're up for NIAC reaccreditation this year for preschool. Nothing changes with that. However, we are accrediting our kindergarten. So the criteria is gonna span our current two pre k rooms and our two current k rooms. So the good thing is, just like we've differentiated before, we've adjusted to the individual needs of students. Should there be a time when we say, wow. We have one reader in the upper, preschool group. We have the potential to say, well, it's all NIAC. As long as we stay within the same guidelines, maybe that one visits
that room when they do their reading. And so all of the options are on the table for us. The only thing that the board needs to know now and not act upon till the end of the year is there's a caveat in this new law that says boards of education can pass a policy that allows for administration to make the decision that a child who is not five years old on September 1, but is five year old five years old prior to December 31, like the old rule, that the administration and whatever team it is we decide in the building could deem that child appropriately ready for kindergarten. And a parent or guardian could petition to ask for that.
And so what we do have to recognize is some of the other factors that might, come into play should that happen is, does a family just want their kid to be held back so that they're bigger, stronger, faster for sports? Does a family have a situation where they have a special needs child and they only want them kept back because they don't pay tuition for preschool. Like so it's gotta be a case by case basis. It really will have to be. And when we do that policy, recommendation in the spring, Taylor and I, to you guys, we will very carefully ask for certain language to be put in there so that it is on a case by case basis. The reason why I wouldn't put it on the agenda until June is we don't want families to ask us to make that decision because it's now a policy prior to June because it would be impossible to make the decision in December for a child that isn't going to the next grade until the following September. So that one will be tabled, but I did want you to know that this is kind of the talk in the town with early educators
because this is gonna have huge implications. And I think that, a couple of you have little ones. I think that families are gonna need time to talk about this and watch their child during the course of the year at home as well because that's a decision that we hope a family will not only support the educators in our building, but that they will be on the same page with. Because there is a possibility that there will be families that don't agree. Put my kid ahead put my kid ahead. And so I think that this is something that needs to be on our radar for the whole year. And Taylor already has a list of the potential children, and they're not that many think with us here in Andover. I think that they we do need to make sure they're on our radar starting right now. Which children will we potentially have to have a conversation with families about so that we have extra data? And not that we don't pay attention to all of the kids, but if those are going to be the exceptions, we wanna be all the more vigilant about making sure that we have that information for them. So so whoever is enrolled now
will can will can go to kindergarten.
It is under the old In two months. Yes. You mean enrolled right now and ready to go to k in this fall? No. Ready to go to pre k. No. No. If they are enrolled and they are planning on going to kindergarten Okay. In September '23 Right. They're going to kindergarten as long as they're five by December 31. Got it. Okay. Next year oh, and wait. Let me back up. If they're enrolled right now ready to go to pre k Right. This fall, they're going. That's what I meant. Okay. Next year, however, if they're enrolled in pre k right now expecting to go to kindergarten next year, they may not be. Got it. And there's four kids currently in our current enrolled group. Okay. But where those numbers change, remember, there may be families that are thinking ahead that are going, you know, I wasn't gonna put my kid in this year because they're just turning three in October or November. I was gonna wait till next year, but what if there's no room next year? And so there may be a few families that make the decision to send them earlier now because they wanna make sure they're a returning student next year with a spot. And I'm not saying that we here in Andover wouldn't take them if they didn't do that, but that's gonna be a statewide problem of making sure they can solidify acceptance in because we're not gonna tell a kid who's been here a year, sorry. You gotta go. We got another one coming. And parents know that.
So some of them will be looking to enroll them now even if they were on the fence. Are there any kids starting slated to start kindergarten this fall that you think parents would see this information and ask if they could stay in pre k? And we have received a call already. Are you guys going to reach out to parents that that would have Taylor's already spoken with one of them, and that will be again on a case by case basis. I figured it would be more the other way just for so I just wanna be clear.
Not kids. It might be kids this year that did kinder. And now That already did kindergarten. That wanted to do kindergarten again. Because Okay. We've never I shouldn't say you're not allowed to retain in pre K. That's not true, but it's much more much rarer that we would actually, prior to this, keep a hold a kid back into pre K. Okay. You usually say they're all going to K, but certainly if we need to retain or that's the time to do it. Okay. We just got more talk of retention of our current case because of this. Okay. Does that make more sense? Yep.
To make sure. Because those are parents that are saying Wait a second. Right. Now do they're looking at both grades. They're looking at first, and they're looking at pre K. Mhmm. And they're saying, which one is more my child's peer in a year? Because do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So we we have gotten one call about that. Okay.
And, you know, we only have three or four that age, but you have to remember, I only take in about 11 to 12 new pre cares every year. So if I now can only take in about eight because those four change If they change. Yeah. That just impacts our slots for Well, and I and as a parent, right, like, whether or not they changed, like, some of that is it's very dependent on, like, what did the other kids that are also the younger kids do? Because, know, kids are depending on what they want us what are their friends do? Yeah. You know, those are the kids they know. And so it's a lot to consider, but we'll, you know, we we'll be looking at the box. You had said there might be a lot of the younger kids enrolling? Yes. So because if that happens, I'm like
you're gonna have to look at more para support because, obviously It's a lot of Yeah. 2.9 cap. And, Steve, you've heard me say this three years now. In the summer, one of the things I always try to do is to anticipate what are the potential do you wanna come over there, honey? Can come over here. In one sec. What are the potential and we try to brainstorm ahead of time. What are the potential grant opportunities that are gonna happen? Yeah. So right after COVID, we were like, okay. It's tech. It's tech. They're definitely gonna give us tech for one to one devices, and they were. And then this year after Uvalde, I was like, oh, it's definitely gonna be school security, and we got one to apply for. Remember? So I do think that a lot of the upcoming money is gonna be early learning money. And if that happens, you don't necessarily want to put that money toward a salary because then once that money disappears, you have to keep that person in your budget.
But the advantage of preschool and not the other grades is, number one, it's partially driven by tuition. You know? Right. And if you can fill all the spots, you're good. And number two, if you have to go from one to two, two to three, three to whatever, change the number of classrooms, you can do that easily without affecting the rest of the the the school community. So we do have a lot of options there. It's just probably gonna be something that we talk about all year. And that's the only grade that you could if you said, okay. We opened a third room, but we're, like, six kids short to be able to pay the bills. You could take out of towers Mhmm. Right. To pay the bill for that, which we can't do. Right. We can't do it. Right. And we will fill it. Yeah. Yep. Depending on how how prepared the other towns around us were. Because if they were not as prepared as we are planning on being, they'll have kids scrambling for spots. Okay. So have you or do you plan on sharing this with
other parts of the tech? So, specifically, I'm thinking it should be shared with board of finance because I think there's two statements in here they need to know about. You know, one is the the statement we know about how important early years are for supporting child education. That's been a conversation we've had continually Yep. With community. I think it's very important. But the other piece is that we are going to have an enrollment drop. We don't want we want them to know that that's coming ahead of time. Not that it necessarily impacts the budget a whole lot, but I know there are many people in the community who focus on how many students are in So
so I I maybe I misspoke when I said it. It's not It wouldn't be an enrollment drop. It would be a A distribution. A distribution. Would be more pre kers and less kers. Yeah. So we wouldn't have a drop. What we would see is we would have a redistribution. We would have a need to open up another preschool and hire a staff member and not have as large a class in kindergarten. So I will absolutely send it to the board of finance, but I think this will be a big conversation when we do our budget in the fall because there may be and we will make sure that this is a huge part of that if it's a factor in the budget because we may very well for next year say, we only anticipate I can tell you I have a a class in in my other school that will have four kindergartners, And that's gonna be a tough sell, but that's not our fault. So here, it may wind up that when Taylor gives us our numbers for our budget in the fall here, that one class will be, you know, seven. And you know that people in the town will say, how are you gonna keep a class open for seven kids? But you can't get rid of that teacher because at the following year, there could be 17
Right. That go into that class. But so that's why I think it's important that we can get to the board of finance so that they they they're aware of it. And Perfect item for, like, join me. Yep. Yep. Absolutely.
And when we do, Taylor's monthly enrollment summaries, I think we will highlight specifically. Usually, we say these are our numbers. This is where we are. I think we will highlight all year long since the kids can come through Right. With birth to three. I think that we will highlight, make sure every month that we're all consciously keeping an eye on the numbers. And maybe we can work together during the course of the year with the community to try to get a figure from parents that we know, and you guys as parents of of little ones probably would know better than us. Maybe we could encourage them to kinda let us know who plans on enrolling a preschooler next year. It's typically not till Right. March that I reroll the eight two years. And we'll need that number earlier before the budget. Mhmm. But I no. We can just move it up. Yeah. We'll need that number by December, so we can put that into one of your newsletter too. So that's that. I just want you to know. That's all? Okay. Thanks,
Val. It's not a big deal. Thank you, Val. Is there any public here? Yes, Dawn. Miss Dawn?
Okay. So comments from the public on agenda items. There's no problem except one. Other action items, are there any? Nope.
I think we should have it. Actually, I I felt. It is. I tried to turn I tried to turn the. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. No. No. No.
Upcoming meetings, board meeting, 08/09/2023. And any items for next meeting, let me or Valerie know when we're doing of the agenda. Sure. And that's it. Adjournment? Well, I will make a motion to adjourn. Second. You so much. Thank you. Any discussion? This is your favorite. Card at the quorum. Say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentive? I'm gonna get 1100.
My Thank you, Dawn. Thanks, Dawn. Dawn. The the town hall and the meeting room. Thank you, everybody.