Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
August 9, 2023 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
We are on.
Okay. Thank you. We're early. If you wanna say Oh, sorry. It's 07:00. On my phone. At
the time We are? We're on. Great. Hello, everyone. Do have any guests with us today on the I don't know. Good. Anna's here. I don't know if there's any guest up there. We do not. Ron, thank you for doing this for us. 07:00, I'm calling to order the 08/09/2023 regular meeting of the Andover Connecticut Board of Education. My thanks to all of you who are in attendance, for giving up an evening to serve on this board for the town of Andover. You, Chris. Comments from the public. No. Any comment there? Oh, I can. Okay.
There's nobody else from the public here. Correct? No, sir. Alright. Communication. Does anyone have any share? Are we gonna bring the whole video and.
Yeah. That's gonna be a different Okey doke. Which is not good. Yeah. We communication along those lines.
We need to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of 07/12/2023. Anybody wanna make a motion? I'll make a motion. Thank you so much. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Shannon. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the minutes, regular meeting of 07/12/2023, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstention? You're saying oh, you're Okay. That was Chris abstaining on. That that was wait a That was a regular meeting, not special meeting. July 12 or which one which one are we doing first, I guess? We did the regular meeting. Okay. Then then I I approve. Yes. Okay. So we have one two three four five in favor of approving that motion. So we're expecting a meeting minutes of July 12. Now there was a special meeting on 07/12/2023. That was our our meeting with Gabe and our little workshop that we had, and we need to approve those minutes as well. Do we have a motion? We move the I move to approve the names of the special meeting of Joel Post. Excellent. Thank you, Shannon. Anybody wanna second that? I'll second that. Thank you so much. Okay. Any discussion? I think that might have been the one you might have. Yes. Okay. So all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any other section? It's first, the remaining in favor of accepting that motion. So we'll move on.
Opportunity to add or delete agenda item. I would like to move that I wanna add agenda item. I would like to add the agenda item to item seven on the reports. E for discussion and action. One a, discussion of project pay the upper parking lot. Can I have a second for that motion?
I'll second that motion. Thank you, Okay. Any discussion? Clarify, Jared. Sure. So you you wanna add it as 74? No. I said one. Seven one. Actually, goes under seven e one a.
Under policy. Thank you. Under policies. Got it. Now I get it. I apologize. That's okay. I just wanna make sure I knew what you were doing. I'm I'm happy to give you clarification. The POP. Thank you
for asking. And we need to vote on this. We need two thirds vote. All in favor of adding this item to the agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That's four no. Two four five zero zero in favor of adding that to our agenda. Are there any other additions or deletions? Hearing none. We have a special celebration. And I
think It's on its way. It's on its way? When you mean it for the door, I'm excited. I don't know. You never know what it'll be. We'll hear something. Knock through that door. Sent her that way, Jerry, so it's gotta be here any minute. Hope she didn't get one. You're just in time. Thank you, Carrie. You're Shannon. She's be one. Birthday girl. Month. Thank you. Thank you, Belle. Happy Monday.
I really got you something that was gluten free. We got you something that was vegan.
Because, you know, I'm always worried about everybody else partaking in our food. And very healthy. I wanted
I wanted Mike, and I wanted everybody to be able to look at it. And especially since I got let in the back door today. Was able to sneak it in. Thanks to Taylor. Mike and I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks to Taylor. So that's really eat this. Yeah. You can share it later. Thank you. Not this one. She can. Does
anyone have any other celebrations? Okay. Hearing none. Reports. Chairperson oral report. I have nothing that I'm going to say here. I'll do my K. My talking later. So I'll go right on and give this to Valerie.
Pretty short. I did send out a blast to let you guys know that, we have heard back from one of our grants. We did receive the school mental health specialist grant. We didn't receive the whole amount. I did put in for two parts to it, but we're very happy because it's a three year grant for a 118,000 total. What it does is it offers us almost 50,000 the first two years, about 48,000, I think it was, the first two years, and then the difference the third year because that's when they do expect you to pay a portion of it. But this will be pretty important for us because we've really, as you guys know, have been pretty short with the extra mental health workers, and we utilize But we don't have a separate contract anymore with them, so they are here just a couple days a week. Our school psychologist is currently here a day and a half to two full days a week, and that person has been expected, obviously, to do testing. When we have PPTs and you do the triennial testing on special education students, she does the psychological testing. She does screenings. She services our students that require mandated hours through their IEPs. She also screens whenever she gets a red flag on a student. And so we have a variety of needs. And, you know, we would have had to this year for sure, 100% guaranteed when we put the budget together this year. We would have had to add that to the line item. And so this grant will help us make sure that we do not have to add that in to that line item for the next couple of years
because it will fund the rest of what we need in that line item. And we do have a number of students and families that are on waitlists at AHN for services. And so even if we reach just a few during the day here of the students who are on waitlists, You know, it's tribal. So we were contacted already by the River East. They will be doing the story because this is our third big grant of the year. We are currently, as you know, they wanted to come this week, but, unfortunately, Friday is the last day, And the kids are gonna be partially off campus on Friday, but they wanted to come see our summer program because we have back two summers and the after school program. So it's a big deal for us to be running those three big things at one time. And so yep. So they that was an update there. We still have not heard about the safety and security grant.
So that's the last one that we're waiting for there. That's the update on RIBS. Since we don't have actually, I'll wait till we get to long term planning then because I do have a report on steam traps in the building. So I'll till we get long term planning. So that'll be it. Move this side. There you go. I saw it. Gonna Anybody have any questions with them?
Thank you, though. Thank you. Next, we have Taylor's turn. Yeah. I'll give you a few updates. We're obviously still in our summer prep mode, but the building is slowly coming along. We have done some good painting today. I'm very excited about. We are rent's clean. Do all the things that we do every summer. Jim Flores is getting work done very shortly, so we've we've been busy. We just had a two week pre K summer camp. So through that same summer grant, we were able to get over half of our prepay students for the upcoming year in, for one to one or both weeks,
in the morning, and it was super awesome to have the kids get to know each other, get to know the school, get to kinda see what school is like, some of our really little guys, as well as some of our returning kiddos. So they got to kinda meet them, the newbies, and give them a little how it goes, which you know they do at age. I was excited to have, I think, 17 or 18 we had total there. We are excited this month that we are partnering with the Andover Public Library and having, six of our staff members do read alouds there, over the next three weeks. So we're excited tomorrow.
Our fourth grade teacher and our new two three teacher will be there in the morning to do, a read aloud, and then we'll have a pair next week and a pair the week after. So PTA is nicely, spreading the news for us on that, we're and just trying to increase that partnership and bring some visibility to the library for kids and what they have there. So very cool. And then the board of ed will shortly get a nice email from me requesting anyone who would like to come and read aloud that first day of school. So the same as last year, I'm very flexible in time. You can all come at the same time. It's what I think we did last year. But, again, if if you can only squeeze in at 02:40, no big deal. We'll find any classroom will take it anytime. So I'll send an email out so you can let me know if it's something you're interested in, and we'll get that set up. What time in the morning would would would that be? The earliest, I would say, would probably be, like, 08:40. Okay. Thank you. I'd probably have the kids. Yeah. Enough on the car. Settled. Yeah.
I'll give you an older class if you do that early. But Yeah. But, yeah, anytime of that day. Okay. And and if you all want a four, that's okay too. You know, we'll make it work as many of you the kid kids and teachers love to have you guys. So and I'll be signing ballots. I'll go and have to sign books. New books. Yep. New books. I have picked the k two book, but and the three six is abating me right now. It's just I've gone to Barnes and Noble many times. You know, I gotta touch them and look at them all and you know, it's just not speaking to me yet, but it will in the week or so. The right one will show its its spot. But our k two book has a really nice focus on,
it ends with the line, you are here in this moment for a reason at this space. And so it's really about, like, we have created this space for you, and we are welcoming you specifically here. So gives me chills because it's just a really nice, message. So I'm looking for something similar message, but just a little bit more. Yeah. Stable. Definitely. Our older kids. So I'll find it.
Great. Thank you. Yeah. And the next one is financial report. Okay. So, Terry.
Still working in two years. The the financials came out in two parts because Diane couldn't fit them all in one. I don't know if the bottle was too big or what, but just a brief synopsis of 2223. The bottom line has been adjusted a little bit due to some adjustments that I've made just in the past month, but I'm pretty confident that this will this will be the last report you'll see this year for 2223. And then you'll see twenty two twenty twenty three twenty four is attached also. And we've spent a whopping 4% of the budget for 2324 just on salaries and etcetera. So
I don't Does anybody have any questions? I just had a question. For the 2024 report Yes. The page two where that account, the summer school tutoring special education, where it's already showing a 162% has been used. Just kind of gotten my head around exactly why it's showing that.
Some of that went by going to summer brand. Got it. Yes. But we did not get starting answer for No. No. I'm glad you all summer for the forty eighty good answers because she can't get any money until eGrants, and they kept waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And I'm like, I can't. I can't ask for any money Right. Until that thing is done. Yeah. Right. And what was it? Not even last week. Mhmm. No. It's Didn't finally go in there. Right. So yeah. It's only where are we? Hold on. 1400. Well, it's not it's not a house. Curious
because over to the grant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I was like, And, yeah, it's due to the grants that they're very slow to come out this year. I don't know what's going on with that. The summer ones, I'm like, woah. No. Thank you. Thanks. You're welcome. Thank you.
Anyone else have any? Okay. On to items for discussion and actions. So, finally,
you know, that was pretty pretty much a print off because I didn't wanna just send all this stuff by email, some draft policy for you to consider. What I've done is as I know Caitlin asked for us, and it hopefully, it went too horrible. Show all the changes that I'm proposing we made to the policies. And just for your I mean, we'll you'll have this, and we'll look at it next month. And I'll try to bring in, like, at least five policies a month. Hopefully, a lot more, but just for this first thing, I just wanted to kinda show you what I've been doing. So I chose the changes. Three things I wanna say. While it seems really strange, if you go to the second page, you'll pull it back and get off. The way Cave suggests you paginate is instead of putting a pay a one or a a number at the bottom of the page, probably because then you'd have to repaginate everything to change policies. If the policy has more than one page, you put a parenthetical a b c after each page. So it's not really policy eleven ten a. It's a policy eleven ten, and then we only put in, like, point one, point two, point three. What I did in coming up with all of these, for example, especially with one eleven ten point one, they had three different policies on the paid manual, four policies. So I looked at all those and tried to make them all together in what I would propose that we consider. One one one o, the second page is the new policy that I took from the paid policy or policy manual.
As I explained, if we put forward this policy, it takes away a lot of verbiage from other policies that I was looking at, which basically say, the board really wants to have a a community relations program. We don't wanna properly communicate with the public, blah blah blah blah. So we would have we wouldn't have to put that in every policy. And the final thing is some of these, unfortunately, got punctuated. It will say adopted whatever at the bottom, and they do have legal references. It's just some of them got punctuated. So business policy 1,000, eleven ten, eleven ten point one, and eleven twelve at the back. And the second page that is missing, but that's okay. I can get that to you in that in that in time. So as you look at them, the final thing I'll say with regard to policies is when I headed into this very overwhelming now. I've looked at the whole policy manual, but I'm gonna keep going.
Is we only need to have policies on what we need policies for. So I got overwhelmed because there was so much that was in the board policy manual that we didn't have in our policy manual. And a little birdie whose birthday is later this month suggested That's not right. That's that's a good one.
No. We don't need to have policies on everything. So we have a lot of stuff that's defined already by law. So for example, we don't have to reinvent the Freedom of Information Act. We don't have to provide all that we have to do for the security program in that exists in the school. I was unaware of some things that already exist in the school, but by law, we have to have. But it's if it's provided for by law, unless we're required to have it as a policy, I did a lot of looking back and forth with the statutes and whatnot to see what were required to happen. So a lot more work than what we see in front of me went into it, but I will keep going now that I have a lot more understanding of the role and what policy should play. So I want you to consider as you look at this stuff I said final payment. I'm going on. Sorry. One more thing is we have nine or 10 different categories. So this is only with regard to communications with the public.
It is not talking about, for example, rental involvement with the board. I mean, rent board involvement with the staff, anything that we have in that regard. So just don't get overwhelmed as did I. I was like, oh, this has to say everything. No. It's just communication with the public. So just to keep that in mind as you look at all this. So I wanted to have 1,001 overwhelming thing for the concept and then go from there.
That's it. So this is not all the 1,000? No. It's just the first four or five, and then we're gonna go to the bidder. Karen, thank you for a lot of work. This is monumental. What?
It's literally been right now. Like she said, she was looking at a whole bunch of other ones. And when I say talked off the edge of the edge of big facetious there. Oh, yeah. It's because you look at these policies, and she went down the rabbit hole. She's looking at them. She's looking at them. It was like, Sharon, we have one school. So sometimes those policies, you have to have in place because the district is water bearing. You have 30 schools, and it's board board event policy. So, you know, I'm a expert. So as I looked at that, I was like But she said myself about their education policy.
Mhmm. So it's good. You will be an expert. I
might be. You can generate a job for yourself. Yeah. There you go. When you're still. Only my doctor was in a.
Oh, maybe you don't have to There we go. I know. I was aware of that when I looked at some of the policy. Yeah. Thank you, Shannon. Okay. Thank you, everyone, for your patience, and we'll go through this. So we'll get the policy and assess whether or not it's something you think we should have, whether or not it's something you think we should commit ourselves to doing. For example, I'll give you one more example. I don't know if it's required by the charter. I didn't have time to look back to me, but in 11:10, which is the second one, and maybe Dawn can also chime in. Board minutes have to be available within seven days. We don't wanna do that or board votes within two days at the superintendent's office. So I readily accept your comments on that. So we should have comments prepared for our Oh, yeah. Considerations for next time, so, hopefully, we can vote on it. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. And and this and just to so this isn't a policy that we have, but rather that this is our policy? Or You guys got the policy last time. So 1,000 is the policy. Got it. Okay. It's it's a mix. Okay. Okay.
I'm trying to put in comments. Eleven ten is a whole new one. Okay. Eleven ten point one is an existing one that I added to, and Okay. 1112 is an existing one that I revised. Okay. I don't know why the revisions are 091110.
Don't have I don't have 11. Well, I have it now. Okay.
Okay. I will. Let me go ahead and connect. Yes. Yep. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Alright. Next one is the agenda item that I am happy to ask. And I just wanna go back to our original motion of that parking lot. I looked back into my minutes of June 14 meeting on June 14, And it reads as follows. So you don't make that decision. Okay.
Esplan made a motion to appropriate up to a $120,000 to be able to address paving of the upper parking lot at the school and the basketball court due to safety issue was seconded by c Greenhouse. No discussion. Five zero zero at pass. Valerie, disconnect the vote to know what what's been going on since this motion?
Since the Everybody's got one of these. Right? They do. They have this, and they have this. So at the request of the board, obviously, we voted, and we were to after discussion, we were to move forward with the project. On July 27, Constantine's paving went to get a standard right of way permit from the town, and it was denied on the grounds that the school needed to go through planning and zoning and wetlands. That was what we were originally told. Jerry and I actually spoke with the planning and zoning chair, and they said this isn't a planning and zoning issue. You don't need to come before us. We also received a letter from Wetlands that said this isn't a Wetlands issue, you're good. And so we attempted to move ahead and to get that standard right of way permit. Not us, our our contractor. And then on July 31, we met with at the request for the first electman, we met with the paper in public works. The first electman asked us to please meet with the public works in case they had any, you know, concerns with the paver, which wasn't unreasonable. We're collaborative. If somebody else wants to join us, we're good. And at that time, we were told that there would be a bunch of additional things that were needed, some testing of the grounds, litany of other town requests.
And the paver did feel that that for a job of this size was not anything as he said in my forty years I've ever seen. Do do you remember what they were asking? Like, what were some? So Is it here, the the stipulations? Or These are some of them. Okay. So, yes, so we'll go through a few of these. Okay. So then Eric Anderson, Jeff McGuire, Jay Cattle did feel that they weren't going to give the permits based on the fact that they didn't believe the school had a right and that you guys should never have believed to approve the projects that it should have gone to the town. So at that point, that was their stance. So we did receive correspondence from Eric Anderson, and in here does describe what the stipulations were. They said that, number one, if it wasn't approved at a board of selecting a meeting, then that was a no go for him. The public works supervisor is to inspect the to ensure a pipe has been properly bordered prior to paving, that the town needed to hire NLJ to monitor paving thickness during paving operations, that the town would hire materials testing lab to measure soil compaction prior to the paving, that the town would hire materials testing lab to measure asphalt compaction of the binder and the wearing horse after compaction. The town would backfill behind the curve in the completion of the job with loam and re seed with standard seed mix designed for fast growing establishment. I did respond and asked when we say the town would hire, you know, hey. Great. Is the pound gonna pay for that? But they said no. That's when it went before the board of selection. They would decide what they're gonna be paying for. So we've we've paid a number of current while I've been on this board, and I don't recall any of this ever have been been required and much less are having to go to the board of selectmen. But
in getting these stipulations, has any of this ever been required either at the town or the school to your knowledge?
Not for a job not for a job like this, not for repaving of a parking lot or driveway that is not, like, one of the towns or some of these are things that are required, as I've been told, not an expert, as I've been told for large scale commercial jobs and state pilots. Yes. On a state highway because that was the thought of the paper. When we did meet, they said when they used the word overkill, they said this is you have a couple school buses that run through here. We understand that, but this is not that kind of an area. So I did ask mister Cuddle. I said, you know, is this something that's been required
all along? And,
nope, it has not been required of every job in a while. So K. So
the board of selectman then did say that they thought that it should go before the board of selectman and through CIP. I did copy on August 4 copies of the selections from the town charter to Eric and to Jeff McGuire. They're on this page for you to see there that there was no violation because that was kind of what was said to me in that meeting was you guys, the board, and as a superintendent, you're just trying to find a way to go around us. And I I said, we weren't, like, maliciously trying to say we're just gonna go around you. We're just within our our rights with the state law and the charter to do so. The things that I mentioned, the citations that I used in my email were section eight zero five of the town's charter. And in section eight zero five of the town's charter, it talks about them asking for extra money, and we're not. I was asked by each member of the the calls that we've run on with the where you know, how much money do you have? Where are you getting this from? I did send to Jeff. I did send a copy so that they did understand because just in case they were concerned that we didn't have the money, I sent a copy of our transfer that that Terry made from the grants
to the general funds in the amount of a $119,000 so that they could see. Because if that was a concern, I certainly wanted to make sure that they were at least that we did have the money coming over from grants so that we weren't gonna overspend. But it says duties of the board of selectmen in the event that department board agency, excluding the board of education, shall require supplemental appropriation. They need to be made in writing to the board of selectmen. And then on the bottom, it does say any request from the local board of education shall be presented to the board of finance. We did not go to the board of finance, as you know, not because I I didn't want to because we weren't asking for an additional appropriation. So we we we definitely were filing eight zero five. Eight zero six in the middle. Eight zero six is expenditures and accounting. A says no purchase shall be made by an agency except through the town administrator or a person designated by the town administrator. This section shall not apply to the board of education.
We don't have either. It's on the six.
We're missing one page. Yeah. Oh, he's supposed to double sign them. It is double sided. Double sided. But we're missing a. Double sided. We don't have either six.
Yeah. Goes August 4, superintendent copied, and then the So when that came out of the copy, there was a whole thing on the bottom. So I'll be back. Okay. So eight zero six says expenditures and accounting. No purchase shall be made by any agency except through the town administrator or a person designated by the town administrator, this section shall not apply to the local board of education. That's a. C says, when an agency, excluding the local board of education, shall desire to transfer funds within its appropriation from the funds set apart for one purpose, they shall file a request with each town administrator. So both of those sections very clearly established that it is not something that needs to go through anybody else. You guys are immune from that. And then section d there that you can't see says, the town administrator through the board of selectman may require We have that. Oh, you do have that listed. Yeah. The last line there says, this section shall not affect the local board of education, which shall have the power to make its own transfers, provided the transfers are reported to the board of finance. And every month, the board of finance does get into all of our financials, and they receive all of the spent amounts, including any available grants that are actually taken. So we've notified the board of finance this transfer was was Well, when they get the packet. Right. That's right. Exactly. But it's When they get the packet. Reported to them. Yes. That's this transfer was made. Mhmm. Lastly, although I agree that in many cases, the the CIP would be a very good partner. We did not violate anything with CIP either, because eight zero seven says the board of finance in consultation with the capital improvement plan or CIP
shall establish and maintain written purchasing procedures and policies, which include, but are not limited to, timelines and procedures for submission of capital equipment purchases to the board of finance. All town departments, boards, and agencies, except the local board of education, shall adhere to these. So I I don't know at this point why they have not given Constantine's the the permit. I don't know. There is absolutely nothing that we have violated, so I I don't know what we do at this point, and that's a conversation for you guys to have. I can tell you that Constantine's, after that, they did go back through and make some adjustments that were suggested to make it easier. For example, our original one had the two years of permit,
and I do know that both the custodian and Jay Tuttle had said based on when they plow, that it's easier to have the Cape Cod curbing. So they went back, and they had changed that in here. They also had gone through and changed some of the little nuances that were suggested by Jay and when he was here. And so we do have both of those quotes. And so, you know, the the the major concerns that he had that day in the meeting with the four of us outside, the payments the payment the the three of us. The payment, Jerry, myself. Oh, no. Four of us and Jay Tuttle. Mhmm. Those the the major concerns for the actual asphalt itself, they were changed in here.
And It looks like the, like, two minutes commentary, if I'm looking at the right thing, is in the new one as well as the old one. So do you remember?
Nope. Shannon Shannon, look down here. Three from the subtotal. So we added the Add Cape Cod per bit. Up here, it's about two minutes. Right. Because that So it's Yes. Doing that and adding in Cape Cod. They took the they took the original quote and added what the additions were on the bottom so that we could see that there wasn't any work being declined. We were still getting what our quote was. It just added in the changes that he did ask for. So after you sent. After you sent this email with all of on August 4, have you heard anything? No. I was told from Eric that he was going on vacation from August 4 until fourteenth, and that the only one in his absence that could issue that permit would be the first selectman. And I believe that Jerry called the first selectman,
and we still do not have a plan. Because he said he won't give you one? Or You have to ask Jerry. I wasn't part of that. Okay. What does Jeff say when he talked to him?
I'm gonna Okay. Jump ahead on the. Okay. I got a phone call from Jeff wanting to meet with me and Mark Franklin about this project. We'll stack in a circle with three of them. And the best I can say is that it's not a bad parking lot. Right? The point that they were making is the installed town properties. Property and installed town money, and that we should have gone to them because they have people on staff that should do certain things. They could check it out, make sure we don't get hurt by not having good quality work. And and but it's it's not about that. I think it's more about being I hate to use the word interpretation, but interpretation of state statute and town policy and town charge. It's kind of thing that I'm I'll be honest with you, my friends. I don't know how to solve this problem. It's almost like and I hope don't you tell you the religion. He's the metaphor. Go ahead, Jared.
It's like you have Catholics and Protestants. They all come. They always say Bible. They all have set the same fundamental beliefs, but they don't agree on everything or many things. So that's why there's that split that happened back in, fifteen hundreds. Protestants say they don't believe in transubstantiation. That's how yeah. They're restrained. Protestants say, well, hope doesn't have a final day. Say, oh, yeah. Pope is right right there. Is where we're gonna have to. The town puts all the society and says, look. The all town property, we need to be involved. We wanna be consulted. We want to I get I have to give you approval. You need to go to the CIP. I said to them last evening, I said, we're lucky we have Valerie. I said, we are so glad to have this person here as. I said she gets us grant money like you've never seen before. I said and she asked for an account to be established, and they said they did establish it. I don't know if they're ready to put money into it.
They have not confirmed yet, but they have been established. Correct. And
that money's was gonna go into that account if we're not gonna use it because that account will do CIP account for the school. Then capital
finance account. You're not a CIP account. Oh, not CIP? No. We won't call it a CIP. No. Not CIP's account. No. Okay. No. Capital Our account for capital finance. Okay. Now for capital budgets. I have a question, though, Shannon. You're you've been on this board
in the past when this has happened. Has have well, when we've done repaving, have we ever self funded it? Always. Okay. And when we did self fund it, did we ever have to go through board of selectment and all of this? No. So when when we did do something like this and it was self funded, what what did we have to do to to to do the project? We had to make transfers within our own budget Right. To provide for the payment for it. No. Right. But but last time we did it Right. But once I don't remember whether or not it was jointly with the town.
Has it occurred since you've been here? No. No. Okay. The last time we did it, I'm trying to remember whether we did it jointly with the town or by the board by the boards doing our own parking lot. Right. Upper and lower parking lot. Obviously, the upper one is the one that needs Right. But we didn't have to go to the board of selectmen. We didn't have to get their approval. No. We didn't have to do any of this. No. Because it's our funds. Right. And once it is given to us by the town, by a town vote We do what we want. And we right. Well, superintendent with her.
Right. You know? We manage we manage we manage our own money. Exactly. So is it that the board of selectmen because now they're saying that this is now town property. So now they want oversight on it, and they want because I can see in the charter where we we're well within our right to transfer money and do that. But is it that they're hanging well, they're hanging their hat on that this is town property
and that they should have oversight on how this is done. And I think that further, and I don't know that. But but I think I think Connecticut General Statute 10 dash two twenty two is quite clear in the case in this case as well as the as well as the case law Yes. That they brought out previously Yep. That states the parking lot is responsibility of the board of education because that was only that was one case that they put forward. Right? Correct. Planning and building. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right.
Because that was that was our argument before that we wanted them to pay that, and they said, absolutely. Now we're not changing it. So now all a sudden, they wanna pave it, but we're gonna pay for the paving, but they want to do they they wanna manage the how it's paved.
I think you got it. Yep. Yeah. That I think we said it. You want it? Well, I mean, you just think that we can take that a step further from the if it's all quote unquote town property, what else are they gonna seek to manage? I mean, if we take it to the next extreme. So if it's all town property, is this building their purview? Now I remember first, like, when Maguire saying no. All of the school grounds are town property. Maybe the building would be excluded from that. But then are they to maintain the playground? Are they to maintain the upper playground? Are they to maintain the basketball court? Do we have to get their
approval every time we wanna do any kind of Play the garden. Play the garden. I I think I think we should we should run our our k through two reading book to find them perhaps
since they clearly don't have anything better to do with their time. So they're stonewalling us. I mean, that's exactly what it comes down to. They're correct. They have a a breakpoint. I'm not sure what the federal government is dollar amount of the breakpoint. But anything below that breakpoint, you can do what you want. Please word that in writing.
If and where is that in the charter? The one that does. So what did they say? If you have to go into a capital account.
But we don't have we don't charge them, or we don't have to? Right. The charter says we don't have. We have to go to theirs.
Well We're not going into theirs. We're transferring money that has been budgeted to the board of education to use as we want to manage. Mhmm. And so the other other thing I wanna say is the liaison of the CIP is CIP respectfully has no authority. Right? The authority of the CIP is to make recommendations Mhmm. To the board of finance and the board of selectmen about capital improvement projects and planning that the CIP recommends. We can recommend from home and unless it is then supported by board of finance, board of selectmen. So, ultimately, for them to tell us to go through CIP is the same thing, which is or select them once total control overall with this. Yes.
Which is not their legal right Which nor their right. They've never done before. Correct. Right. Before that, I see. So so let me ask another question. So we have Connecticut General Statute 10. That's two twenty two. Two twenty or 2.222222. Yes. Who should be the the individuals that that would interpret, since we will use their words, interpret that statute? Two options. Right? They feel I have to Right. Their state attorney general and the courts. Correct. That's the only two options. They're not qualified to to to to justify what this says or interpret it. So can we go to the state attorney general and ask them to interpret it? Which they're gonna say go to case law? It's
a very good question. Can we make that in can we make that inquiry?
Well, yes. I believe you can make an inquiry to the extent that they then come up with a legal opinion about interpreting the state statutes. And barring that, we then would have to do what we consider doing and decided it was not in the town's interest and not in the board of education's interest, which is unfortunately to file a lawsuit against the town. Yep. And
to my mind, that's where the town is pushing us to go. I can't disagree, Shana. I I I I it seems to me based on all the conversations that are going on, they are testing our way. I will be perfectly honest for anybody who wants to watch this recording afterwards. That is where I think we are. And I and I also think it's inappropriate that that that and and Jerry and I and I say this. I think it's inappropriate that they're having meetings with you. I I don't I I think that that and and I'm not I'm not
mad at you, but I don't I don't think that that's proper. I I don't. I don't agree the board chair, so I don't I don't disagree with that. But it needs to be a meeting. Correct. At which the public is invited and Right. Right. Comments can be had Right. And a discussion can be had. Right. I just I don't find that to be appropriate, which is what we were trying to bring about by suggesting at least biannual meetings of Which is three boards. To put together and Correct.
Correct. So so to the the the the problem at hand outside of this, I think my other concern is is that we have a safety situation. Correct. We have students coming back in less than a month. Correct. If this doesn't get started by when?
If if we can't and now remember, we have to get back in our schedule. Right. Right. If this is not started by next week,
it's not gonna get done in time. Before it starts school. So Right. If it's a safety issue Mhmm. I have to close the lot. We close the lot. And
has it gotten to that point, Eric? Well, today, we actually had a parent who is not here tonight. Mhmm. And his brain puts on the upper what do you call it? Court. The basketball court. Basketball court. And then they're just, like, outside the main door, the practice. People are tripping. I mean, it's Close it. It's gonna be from the can have little kids. It's not done before school starts. We have to. We close We don't. Someone's already been injured. Right? Well, there's a a thing there temporarily, and the camp ends on Friday. So then, yes, Taylor will have it. So now that so now everybody that gets dropped off so now right. So students that would get dropped up there are gonna get dropped off down here. So the rest Arrival and dismissal is be and this is already congested here. It's going to be And now you're gonna have a line of cars Out that road. Yep. Up and down that road. Yeah. We will have to maintain limited access because we need to have a handicap spot up there. Right. And staff to have or no. We're going to only have to have six spot year student up there. Oh, right. Right. Early in the Right. Right. Pick them up and stuff. The the the UPS truck Right. Right. Delivery. In in emergency. Right. But we won't allow the people to park up there. We won't allow the campus to pick up up there, and we won't allow the buses to drop off. And staff can't park up there. Correct. Right. So everything will be over here. Correct.
Awesome. Yeah. I mean, I mean, mean, quite honestly, I mean, as a board, that is a risk. And and I'm not willing to take that risk on behalf of the school, nor am willing to take that risk on behalf of the town. And the graph right here down below is private. Yep. Right. My
answer is closest. Yep. We need to vote on that? That's why I was curious. Is that in your preferred point? It's in Taylor's interview. That's what I thought. Have our support. Yeah. You have our support. Have our support. Yep.
We don't Great. So after this meeting that you had with the board chairs so, obviously, nothing got accomplished. I I take it. No one's gonna approve anything. Do we do does Constantine resubmit, you know, for you know what I mean? What's their Right.
So what was check. Yep. I'm sorry. That he will lock in. Go to his board and get the permit for it.
He will get the permit for it. That's what he said. So then we can pay that. Okay. If he doesn't need his board, he has the authority to it on his own. Correct. According to Eric. According to Eric. He can do this on his own. When is he supposed to be going to in court? They have a meeting next week. Mhmm. Yeah.
So, again, I'm gonna say the same thing I have said before, and that is I am highly disappointed in the board of selectmen's continued intention to ignore the decisions and the wishes of the board of education. We are a duly elected board of this town. We are the only board, I believe, that is codified in state law, and our responsibilities are also codified in state law. Correct. So I don't understand why this continues to occur other than they think they're above the law. I I have no other explanation on that. Well,
I will just go a step further for anybody watching this meeting and say, you're talking about what they're doing, and I wanna get at the intent of what they're doing, which is to overreach, to command all budgetary funds from this entire town shall be under their purview. All property in this town shall be under their purview. So what I'm curious about is how they treat the library, the fire department, and any other building in this town The church. That is supported by the town. Right. Right. I don't believe in the there was a repaving of the library parking lot. I'm very curious. These were the expectations.
Gotcha. Right. Yeah. It goes it goes towards the. Gotcha. Yeah. What are those stipulations that they put on?
I have to an incredibly frustrated, and I wanna put out there that I'm not simply as a lawyer who has been denigrated and and said some nasty things about lawyers and other meetings, let's just put it that way, that they're forcing us to involve lawyers. And that's gonna get real expensive real quickly. So if in fact we wanna avoid avoid, I would say, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars between the town and the board of education in legal fees that has no business being in this small town, we need to get together very quickly and get a correct understanding of what the law says and what our charter says. Because having done this for more than thirty years, I can tell you, there's no subject to interpretation as far as what that says. And any lawyer I'll say nine out of 10 lawyers who I would ask what the interpretation of that meant. They would look at me and say, what interpretation? It's crystal clear. It's black and white. There's no gray area for lawyers to argue over.
And I think I wanna be clear too. So anybody else who who gets to watch this or read about some people in the room, we're not opposed to their providing advice. If if they have good ideas, we are welcome to hear them. Right? We're one of the top personnel in helping us. Absolutely. So we're gonna have to pave it.
Yeah. We are so we are not opposed to to cooperating and collaborating as equal entities within the town to meet the town's needs.
They're in line with problem borders. Equal entities. Don't see us that way. They will not see us that way. They refuse to see us as equal entity. We need to go to them. All these rules from town charter and the rules from state, no. No.
They were in charge. How is the Their land. How so when are we gonna notify parents that that upper lie is closed? And and how what what and I and I'm not expecting you to know this plan right now, Taylor, but what is going to be the plan now for pickup and drop off going forward when we can't use that? Right. And then we've all been criticized for all of the traffic that is just on screen mode during Yeah. So when when will parents be notified, and and what what will the plan be? Well And you you don't have to know right now, but, you know what this timeline too is we are literally stuffing envelopes today with those welcome letters on on parking pickup and drop off that I will unstuck tomorrow because we'll we'll have to, you know, make a new plan. But regardless of what it is, even as we work through the logistics, it will it's gonna double our time and traffic. It just is. You know? We we have a lot of pickup and drop off, which we support, and we make it work, but the lot is only so big down here, and we are dealing with really young children. So I can't just say bye and let a 100 kids, you know, off into the parking lot. Well, no. Yeah. But we're also gonna have controlling or construction bounding the other side of our parking lot. Dismiss about 10 at a time down here if you think about that. No. Right? So, you know, I can't you know, it'll probably involve some sort of certain grades that have to park and walk up and then then others that are you know, which is Right. So it's gonna be some choreography kind of park Yeah.
Now do this, where now we're at the eleventh hour. We've got letters going out to parents notifying them that your child gets picked up and dropped off down here or up there. So now that's gonna be you know, now that's all changed because now it's all gonna be through here. So that's gonna be, you know, something now that you have to think about. And Not to mention the time.
I mean, if if if we're talking 200 students that have to get picked up and dropped off, right, and we are seeing what happens with the traffic when you divide it between two parking lots.
I mean What's gonna happen if it all has to go here? I know. It's gonna take hours. Right. When I pick when I pick up my daughter up there, dismissals at three and three fifth, I literally get here at 02:30. So I can get in that just out in and out. So I'm first or second, and I'm usually not first or second. I'm usually third and fourth. So now you're gonna you know, so parents are are way already waiting a half hour to get in line to get out. And by 03:40, that line is already creeping out up onto School Road. So
so now we're gonna have to let parents know that we have to close that upper lot and that we've applied for a permit to get it paid, and we've been denied.
I mean, if if I were a parent and I was having to do that, I would absolutely be writing letters to to town hall about why can't the boards work cooperatively. Again, I think we are trying to. Yeah. We are. And and the board of selectmen are trying to exercise the board. And I I would be I would be upset as a parent. I am because I that's gonna that's gonna affect me personally because now I'm that's a resident. I am as well. But but I think the parents have more right to be accepted than I as that affects you. Well, like I said, with regard to the safety. So we're not only dealing with safety
and liability for anybody that goes into that parking lot, but we're talking about safety all along school road. Right. Traffic congestion and everything else. So it's not just a school issue. It is a town issue
that needs to be addressed immediately. And as a parent, you know, there are things that happen after school. And if I have to wait an extra ten, twenty Uh-huh. Twenty five minutes, can I see that affects back to school activities or other work commitments I have where I'm shuffling my kids to the other person so I can go I mean, that that has a trickle down effect for a lot of people? And to find out about that, what, three and a half weeks before school starts, parents can't just all of a sudden find a new way to do it. I I there's a lot more than people actually like. No. I agree. Does this affect our school safety plan? Well, that was my next question.
Remember, our school safety plan is effective right now, and we haven't finalized it because of the construction that we're starting. So, of course, it does. My biggest concern was, if you remember, when we were talking about the changes that are going to have to happen for us to accommodate construction, there was a refusal to stop construction during drop off and pickup. Right? Mhmm. Right. And that was when we had half the building down below. Right. If we have the whole building down below, I don't know what's gonna happen. So I'm actually hoping that this is still gonna get done before the start of school year. And, you know, that the town will recognize, you know, that we follow policy. We follow procedure. You had a right to vote on this. And a right to enter a new contract. Right. And And, yes, even if they even let's just say they they let's just say next week, they say yes. They they greenlight it, and and we and they say we can do this. That doesn't mean Constantine Right. Can do it here every single day The next that they're gonna say, I'm sorry. We already contracted another job. That's why I'm in that study. When is the last day? The the day of school.
That's because could occur so that the first day of school,
bus has been going. Given us another date yet, and I don't blame them. They're business people. Mhmm. They're not going to say, okay. Let's now see how we can schedule you in until they know they can schedule us in. Right. So when they get that permit But do know how long I don't know how long it takes. Oh, the one hundred and driveway to cure and whatnot. I don't know the answer to that. Right. Once it does start, is it two weeks? Is it right. Do I even If they started today, would it be done by then? Right. I I think so. I think it can I think it's a little under a week is the the initial estimation? You know how that goes? Yep. Yeah. But Hardness. Right. With weather and Or you know? Yep. With weekends, I would guess that we would still probably have one week of the school year with them. Don't forget we have Labor Day. Mhmm. So I I would begin to try to answer on behalf of the paving company, who, by the way, has been very cooperative with us. You know, we've had to call them and say, you know, can you revamp the quote? Give us this. Can you come out and meet with these people? And,
you know
yeah. It's it's My concern is that there's a very real possibility that we still have the permit. Right.
Right. And if Is this not your general then how long is that lot closed for? Do we even know looking at months Right. Of having that shutdown. I mean, it's Well, once we enter into the winter months. That way. Right. Because you don't know based on So did past action that you're gonna see that come. So their meeting is next week, and it's it's your
impression, Jerry, that Jeff was gonna go to his board next week to get the permit. And Mark was gonna have a special meeting for the board.
Okay. To get them on the bus. Which they don't You know? Have to. Okay. Yeah. This is a we're gonna be a problem every step of the way, unless the problem, which isn't really paving a parking lot. No. Not. No. It's not exactly.
Pardon? An existing parking lot. An existing parking lot. Rebating. Right. It's in the in the we're not like you said, Jerry, this isn't about paving. It's nothing to do with paving. And and I think we need a vehicle.
If we can ask the attorney general, I don't know where we can go.
I I Do we have to do I mean, do we have to notify, like, the state that we're closing a parking lot? Like, you know what I mean? But as long as as long as, you know, we can still guarantee what needs to happen in terms of, you know Technically. Tech technicalities. Like, Taylor is probably going to have to call somebody at the, you know, first responders in the town and say, this is still workable just so that she knows. Like, I'll have the trooper come. Right. You know? So I I don't I know. Like, a a high other than that? You know what I mean? Like, do you have to report to the Department of Education. Right. Department of Education that we have two parking lots and that we have to close one for safety issues. Like, is that do you have to report that? No. No. Okay. It's only been, like, we didn't have any parking spots. Okay. We had close like, if we were somehow Okay. I just didn't know if that's something, you know, that you have to have to notify the state that you have to close. And we also have that basketball court that has the big
bracket. So I have kids who would play on that. That is used by the community as well. Right? Absolutely. Every single entity. So that's gonna be close. That's that's,
you know, a big impact for our upper grade kids. And we probably need to make a request of the truce of the of the trooper to visit frequently and make sure kids aren't quite on the call. Gonna come. Yep. You know, the high school kids, it's very difficult to Right. Monitor that at night. So
then we have a responsibility to put up as much signage as is necessary to avoid liability. Yes. Mhmm. So that if, in fact, there are what would be deemed trespassers onto the basketball court and they hurt themselves,
the school and the town are not liable. I think when we leave, we'll be able to, in the evening, close the actual entrance. We can't during the day, like, an emergency vehicle. That kind of stuff. You can get to the court any which way. But that's It's a matter of driving an eye on the court. They're just gonna They're just gonna walk down. Walk around. Right. And they'll park here, and they'll walk up. It's it's very much at least be quasi permanent signing,
not paper. Right. Yeah. No. It'll all be posted. Correct. Yes. Yeah. I know what you mean. Permit for the sign? Probably. I know. I'll come Good question.
No. I might have to I know. I'd have to get a permit. I have I know. Know. Permit sign. So
And are they in the permit for those signs? Yes. And that's what sorry. Just wanted to see we do. In other towns I've
read that they're smaller. I I have read the science regulations, so I can figure that. But I am concerned. I did have a, obviously, phone conversation with Jeff prior to and then meeting when I called to say I need help with getting this permit and and why do we not have a permit. I am concerned about the overstepping because there's overstepping to you guys as board of education. And then, obviously, I'm your employee as the CEO. There's overstepping to my job as superintendent as well. And so it's it's both of the these roles. You know, you you guys did vote on it, and then as your CEO, I act upon that. And so the difficulty is it's not just them not respecting the vote of the board. The law and the statute is then my my job too.
Them questioning whether I'm even allowed to enter into a contract as the superintendent on behalf of the schools, and I am. You do it all the time.
There there was even the question from the first that I could ask whether or not I should be able to apply for a grant without permission for the board of select. Oh my god. And so I am worried that this overstepping keeps going further and further and further. So, you know, as you get to the bottom of this, I think we do need to be crystal clear not only about what the roles, responsibilities, and for the ability of the board is, but what the role, responsibility, and ability of the board attending is as well. Mhmm. Because I I have felt that throughout this and, obviously, a couple of the other things that we went through that they're questioning whether I'm allowed to make decisions on behalf of the school. Mhmm. And that I needed permission from people at the town side,
but I work for you guys. Yeah. Was gonna say, well, let's be clear about that. Right? I mean you guys. You are our employee. Yes. And and that's what I've said all along when when there have been ongoing challenges with them asking you for things that we don't feel is appropriate because they shouldn't be going to you directly. They should be going to us for certain things. Now some things we we don't care about. But when it's it's it's saying we want this amount of information, which doesn't follow any law, any statutes like checks, that's when they need to come to us.
That's our job. Well, that's why it's important to me that you guys understand, you know, that we didn't just do this in a in a vacuum. When you said go ahead and do it, I mean, this is the town charter's balance, not just general statute. Every single portion of this says excluding the board of education, excluding the board of education. So, you know, I'm feeling frustrated because I can't act as a superintendent as frustrated as you guys feel that you can't act on that board. Well, but for the need for a permit to do this, we could have acted. Mhmm. Well, you're never gonna find a company today. Not the first No. No. Plus, for the need for a permit. If we hadn't needed the permit Would've been done by would've been doing the payment. Right. Right. And then
as was our situation with the community center, it would have been up to the town to pursue a legal action to enjoy us in doing that.
And And somebody wouldn't have gotten hurt today. That's correct.
And just going to step you know, just we we don't have to go to the board of selectmen for this. That I mean, there's no reason why that Jeff has to go to the board of selectmen to get their approval. Nowhere does it say in the statute I mean, in the charter that we need the board of selectmen approval to get a permit.
It there's I just don't know why Jeff can't just give us the permit. I under you know, it's Well There's no reason. Regardless of what the charter says, state law is clear. Right. Right. State law is very clear. Right. And if you don't wanna follow state law, case law is very clear.
I just I I just I They don't want. But they don't have a choice in following case law. I mean, it it it state law. Yeah. They don't they have a choice if there is a difference in case law. Yes. Right. State law is very clear Yes. As is our charter. So we have not only law, but our charter for our town that support what we've said here tonight.
So I guess back to your question then. So I guess your question of of encroachment. I mean, do we need to sit down in in addition to going? I think I I absolutely think we have to go to agent. I I have I I have no qualms about doing that. That will take quite a while. Out there? No. That's not my degree. No. Uh-oh. I
I got well, I get to deal with the AG on occasion because that's not funny. I think we need to define what our boundaries are. And and we're gonna and and I I will say the word agreement on where the boundaries are or whose responsibility, knowing full well that we will never get to an agreement. But I think we should try.
We already did. The guardian community said it. I'm not saying that we can't get to some type of agreement, but we have to be very clear about what we believe we need to agree upon. And, frankly, agreeing that a statute or a charter says what it says, it is kind of an exercise in futility. Okay. I don't know how better to put it. I mean, if a law is is flexible or there are gray areas, fine.
This is not No. No. No So what do I do? You're my boss. What do I do?
Well, it's already been done, it sounds like. So we now have to wait for the board of selectmen or Jeff to go to the board of selectmen based upon what he told you during your leaving to get a permit.
And then we immediately contact Constantine's meeting to try to get it done before the school year. What if we don't get the permit after the Monday back meeting? So
Well, does Eric have to sign the permit, or he indicated Jeff could sign the permit? He said the only person in his absence that could do it is Jeff McGuire. And so will Jeff can sign the permit
in that regard? I don't know. He can. Yeah. Will he? Yeah. That that comes with me. A different question. Well, if the board of selectmen provides an authority, or even if they don't, if he's saying it's up to the first selectmen and there's nothing in the statute to charter that even provides Jeff with that authority. Right.
What if where does it say that exactly. Where does it say that in in in Eric's absence that well, Jeff Lovire can sign a permit.
Maybe in the town administrator contract, I don't know. Right. Because the board of selectman supervises the town administrator. Right. And, again, he doesn't have to go to the board of selectman again to do this. There's no he doesn't have to. I
mean, so to answer said in the email from Eric, it says, I've asked the first electorate if he wanted to place discussion of paving on AES on the agenda, but he has not responded. In my absence, the building department will only take instruction from the first selects then who has been cc'd on this. So we don't even know what's on their agenda. So they might not even talk about it next week.
Well, but based on what Jeff told Jerry, if he needs to talk to the board of selectmen, which he doesn't, but if he believes that he does, then we have to take him at his word, then he will do so. And he knows that the school year is coming up. And now after tonight, if anybody watches this, he'll know when there are safety concerns.
And Had they watched it last month, they would know that there are safety concerns. Right. And parents are going to hit the Yep. Hit the roof with
now they have to drop off and pick up this all down here. Well, I mean, that's what, like, when my concern would be is how is it communicated to parents so that they fully understand the reason behind this problem. But if you wanna talk about a vehicle for actually getting a clinic cost. It's inherent. It's inherent. And this would be something that I would see parents being viewing about, like you said. Yeah. And I could see quite a few get to the point where they're actually willing to voice their concerns. So
to me, this is the perfect opportunity to sit there. You know what? We're going to be transparent with you. We're going to tell the new parents exactly why this situation has become. Well, should there be a parents meeting with the principal to explain what is gonna go on? I I don't know if it can be covered in a letter, mailing. I don't want you to get 200 telephone calls and emails that you have to address.
I mean, I will in logistics. Just that people will But, no, you will. I'm just asking anybody. Telling the story. I see what Mike is saying. How could we let them know Right. That It's not just because I don't I'm getting many words that we have tried, and we have been refused a permit. Like,
how can we I think parents have a right to know. Absolutely. And so it's not seen as the school's irresponsibility. Right? Because, immediately, gonna you're wanna pick up the phone and call the principal. And how come you didn't and, well, how come you didn't get paid? Well, let me tell you why we didn't get like to avoid that, and I would like them to know exactly why Right. Right. Because we wanna be a transparent board. Right. We have been trying to do this. We have been doing everything we need to do, and this is the reason behind the bill. 100%. And then parents, the ball's in your court now. If you feel so strongly about this, if you are upset about this issue, we need your help. Yeah. Yeah. We can post this.
Well, let me think that's the other thing. I mean, you know, here's I mean, I think communication is, yeah, close the after lot. Here's the reason why. It's a safety risk. We have we have we have sought the appropriate approvals to that we were all we needed. They were denied. This is gonna push into the school year most likely.
And put Please watch the board meeting. I was gonna say, I don't know. You know, normally, people Yeah. Don't have to get a lot of people. Put it on us. Put it on the board. Put it on the board. You want it. Yes. But those things. But but but put it on the board that the the board took steps to secure paving that was hopefully to be done before the school year. The board has been refused a permit. I mean, put it on us. I mean, we're we're it. And We have the a lot of the transfers with plenty of time to get the paving done as long as the paving company was was available. Right. Made us available pretty quick too.
You know? I mean, it was they were ready, willing, and able to come the first week of August so that we would have had plenty of time. Yeah. It took six weeks to go to town. Right.
So Because I think called them right after the board meeting was approved. Yeah. I guess so. I was just like, we we had this conversation, like, previous meeting. Like, how do we how do we get parents? Right? How do we get parents to voice their concerns? I think this is an issue stemming. It's right in the picture here. I mean, the question is, is there a vehicle to get a communication out there, like, today or tomorrow so that maybe people could parents
could be maybe sit in on the board of select meetings. We can post the link with the times on there, which Taylor can go back through this. Where are you gonna post it? We have a parent website I mean, a parent Facebook page. We have a a school Facebook page, and we have our our own ABS page. And then feel free to share. That's all I need to say is feel free to share some, like, good times for them to watch it.
I suppose they would like to do a live at a play where it is very clear what our rights, what our role, what our responsibilities are in this town, in our local government. You can win the payment. You can win other things, but at every turn, it's gonna be It's okay. It's gonna come up over and over and over again.
And and, again, if if we're all here elected and and hired and and to to support and for the best interest of the town, I just don't understand why that always gets lost. Like, that's why I'm here. Like, that's why all of us are here. And it just it it it's it's Like, It's
It goes beyond comprehension. But you're right. What's next? What's next? So, okay, maybe we'll win the win the war on the painting book. The next time we transfer money to, you know, I I don't know, buy books, Like Mhmm. You know, it's what what what's next? Yeah. Get it out. Get the message out to your parents.
This is like, put it on us. Put it on us. The interesting when we were talking to us, I hadn't thought about this before. But does the board of selecting the one to double its work by basically not only overseeing what happens with the town, but overseeing everything that the board of education is supposed to be responsible for. Looks like it. That's not their legal right to do that, we have to make that clear.
Alright. So by the way, I I will reach out to state AG if you want me to. I I
I will. I don't think you're gonna be around at 09:00 tonight, but I will take it from the results to do it tomorrow. Right. I will say it's
05:01. You're not seeing it says in the election. Who was gonna be representing us on the committee over? And I said, Chris, you know, He's person now. I think he's gonna be the first to me. I hope that's okay. That's fine. Yes. We'll take that on. Yeah. You want to stick on the floor if you want to? Sure. But the bathroom is expired.
I I'm not I can't do that. And you want I got to be in my head with my towel. We got to sit in. And my back is open. Anybody want to go? Originals. I did too, but I have to work. So
So just to be clear, I know that that when you had said if we don't get the permit as the first, like, we guys said that we supposedly will. If we don't get it, then I just wanna wanna make sure what is
the next has to be closed by Taylor as does the upper
basketball court. That's how it's Right. So then on top of that, what is the response to the board that I'm gonna be? I don't know. Because I don't know if we actually answered that question. Question. Well, yeah, can I would like to look like that? I think we should understand. Like, that's a real possibility. And if it is happening, we should we're not gonna be meeting till September Right. You know? 12/13. Second I mean, there should be something to talk about as far as what do we have developing if do not get done.
I've been getting back to what Chris said. Short of getting an opinion from the attorney general, which will not get the course of the matter as far as I'm aware of how quickly or long those opinions take to the prominently. I think our only other remedy is to try to reach a memorandum of understanding with the board of selectmen solely with regard to the paving. And if we have to deal with every other issue in a similar manner, As I said earlier, there were the legal fees. Mhmm. And if that's what is required to finally get people in this town to pay attention to what's going on, which we try to bring about with what was going on with the community center,
so be it. They didn't want us to spend legal fees to deal properly with what was going on with the community center.
Here we are again. And and and I'll I'll just say it. Let's be honest. This is because of that. A 100% it's because of that. Yes. I'll just say it right up front. No reason beating around the bush. It is exactly because we pushed back. Yep.
Yeah. Well, so now we're gonna be needing to push back every time, and pushback is gonna get expensive. It is. Can we engage any legislative resources?
I don't think we need to. We don't. But I mean, the the question would be, what could they do? I mean, they can't bring about legislation solely for the town of Andover and Orover Elementary School. What? They can. They can. Wanna earmark something. I don't know what but they're also not in session.
Ah, good point. Yeah. I was just thinking more January. Was just thinking more more visibility on the problem. I understand.
Well, I certainly could involve our senator, and we wanna reach out to representative leader also. We can certainly do that. Yeah. We're back on from here. Yeah. We've we've seen a lot that. Alright. So but that's still but To answer your question, Michael, I think the only remedy we have short of involving legal action Yeah. I'll just put that in general, is to try to get another memorandum of understanding solely with regard to the paving issue. But why do we even have to do an MOU for for
when it's not oh, because they're alleging it's town property. Correct. Right. Which they're not gonna sign because they won't sign that. So Should
we should we, by the way, go back and all the things that we've done to town property that we haven't also sought permits for? Well, are we gonna go seek or reimbursement for it? No doubt. Now go seek permits and re when and reimbursement, so we are legal. Well, it's so so Jerry and I have had that that conversation
in terms of we've never had an operate a a capital budget. We have always had an operational budget. Therefore, every single capital project that's ever taken place, unless it was large scale and is, like, funded by the state of grant a federal grant, or it's gone through the town years before me, has always gone through our operational budget. And so, again, legally, there are statutes in that book there that say, hey, board of education. If it is whether it is because I I think they're gonna get hung up on the word capital. They're gonna say if it's capital, that's CFP. But since we don't have a capital budget, the law says as long as we are working within our operational budget, any expenditures that you guys approve that are within the operational budget, then that's yours. The only time that they will differentiate is if we had a capital account, which I tried Right. To work with the board of finance on. We're just not there yet. Because it's They were they were cooperative. They voted, but we're not there yet. If we needed appropriation. I have to put it there. And it says that in here. If it's a capital account, even if it's, you know, board of education capital account, we would have had to go to the board of finance and said, hey. We'd like to take money out of our capital account. Work with us. They would have said to us, well, we take a recommendation from CIP, so please meet with CIP, which we would have. CIP then would have heard it, gone to the board of finance, and said, either I think you should or shouldn't give them the money for this out of that account. It would not have been our purview to make that decision if it was coming out of a capital account.
The there would have been no intervention by the board of selectmen at all. It would have been the board of finances purview over you guys if it was a capital account. Don't worry. The only time that the board of selectmen would have been somebody that we would have had to go to. So, again, I keep stressing. We didn't avoid going to them. We didn't have to go to them. Never crossed our mind. If the board of selectmen were to be involved, it would be because there was what's called a shared town capital account. So in some small towns, they don't have a separate capital account for the school. It's a shared capital account, which means that we can always put our money in there, but so does the town. And then we all come together, the board of selecting the CIP and the board of finance, the board of ed, if that was the type of account and say what needs to be done and what are we taking out of there. But this is not that case because this case is every expenditure that we've ever had for capital has had to come out of our operation. I don't have it. I went to them a couple of times in my years here where I said, hey. In our operational budget, we pay for the generator. There's a significant expense that we didn't budget for that was associated with the generator, went to the, board selectman, and I said, can you guys pay for this? Because I know that that generator is housed within our school,
but is used solely because we are an emergency shelter for the town, and I was denied. Sorry. It's yours. It's in your building. You paid for it. Maybe the board of finance will agree with you. I went to the board of finance. The board of finance said as much as they'd like to help us at that time, the answer is no as as well. The second thing center is not in the building. It's on it's on the property. But well, I'll just tell you. The next time the next time I went to them was with, as you guys know, the bleachers. I went to them and said, it costs us a ton of money, not when they're being used by our children because they're not being currently used by our children.
They're being broken when they're in here at night and on the weekends. Yeah. Playing pickleball and and all that. And so I went to them. Steve, the custodian, and I spoke to them a number of times my first couple of years here. And I said, you don't understand. It's so expensive to replace these seats, and I was denied. And so finally, we had discussed this, and you guys were called. I said, we can't afford it anymore. And we said I notified the town that we would be throwing them away because it was cheaper to get rid of them than to keep replacing the seats, and we didn't need them. So then the town approved for the rec commission new bleachers.
And the rec commission still hasn't done it yet, but they will be putting that in there. So there has not been in the whole time that I've been here, and this will be year four, there has never been a time when we've had to go to the board of finance for an additional appropriation. We have had every single project taken care of here on our own, and there's never been a time that we've had to go to the board of select then to say we have a CIP issue because we don't have a capital account that we shared with them. So, yes, that's the long answer to tell you that, yes, every single time we've had to do any work to the building. And that is always what I bring up during budget season is our operational budget has always been both operational capital, and it's always been understood. We've been denied
assistance multiple times. And that was my concern when the MOU was written for the new 25 School Road that's coming next door. And it was about the expense of the the driveway because on my radar was this driveway for us to do. And then when they said, no. You guys are gonna take care of your own, and we're gonna take care of our own. So this is ours, but that isn't. Okay. Well but but that is why, eventually, we came to you guys, you know, a couple months ago because we knew this needed to be done. We knew it was not on anybody's radar at the town to do this anytime soon. And so we made it happen ourselves. And so And they found out we were doing this because Constantine applied for the partner. Right. Yes. I missed.
Yeah. Alright. So I guess we're on the deck next. Sorry, Gary. That's a pretty nice one.
I I meeting with them, and thank them for trying to bring us about. Yeah. Yeah. I'm always We're still trying. We haven't quit. We're not gonna quit, but let's just hope that's Oh, I definitely won't.
Right. She would like to write this letter on our behalf. Thank you for doing that. You sent it on July 15, the question mark for the electorate, expressing that you submitted a read an answer in writing, then rejecting our MOU. And
I guess you really didn't get it. I I I did not get anything in writing that's saying that they would reject it, but I did get was I did get a phone call from Andrew Manville saying that he had talked to the rest of the board as well, and that there really was not interest in signing any memorandum agreement. And I said, well, that's what we asked for was the answer so that we could decide our next steps. So, yes, their answer was no. Just verbally nothing. K? But at least we have clarified their desire not to do it and not relied on on Eric's response, which is why told Adrian and.
Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Thank you, Chris.
Next thing we have, you know, we have our resolution that or Jessica. Yeah.
We did actually read it at that last meeting, but then put on hold approving it and allowing Jerry to sign it until Chris reached out for an official. Because at the end of the resolution from our attorney, it said, whereas on this date, the town rejected the board's proposal to enter in an MOA. As such, MOA may be amended through discussion between the town and the board. And if you look back through the minutes, it was thought by this board that we were uncomfortable allowing this to be adopted by the board until you had a definite I think it was you that brought it up, Chris, a definite date, but they rejected it. So we wanted that technicality to be addressed. And and when was that phone call that you had with Adrian?
I'll I'll do that. Don't worry. Because it'll it'll take me in to
actually find it. So that we need to put a date in here before anyone takes the actual ground. Right? Because you sent the letter with you said July 5 fifteenth? July 15. July 15. We sent it to him. And then he called you to to verbally say no. Yeah. You already got the letter. Right. Right. Right. But Did board select them at a meeting to respond to this? Because that's what I thought they were really I I don't No. I understand Adrian can talk to other members of board selectmen, but
they're required to take action in public or in executive session as is their purview I am not to respond. I am not aware of any such meeting occurred. I'm not aware of that. I mean, either. Because I thought in our last meeting appropriate for us to deal with this.
So so, I mean, if if they have never officially recognized our communication and they have never officially responded to the communication, I think that reinforces even some of the discussion you were having on the previous topic too. Correct. So what what can we actually do if there's been no official The paragraph could be changed
that was given from our attorney instead of whereas on whatever date it is the town rejected the board's proposal, it can be changed to whereas the letter dated July 15 and in that paragraph, and I would give it to our attorney to to fix so that it would say that they did not respond to it there. Just in the first paragraph,
isn't the property gonna be located at what's now being created is 25 Over? Right. The very first paragraph. There is no 25 yet, but, yes,
we could change that to the My understanding is that's supposed to be its address. Yeah. Proposal of 25 School Road. Correct. Thank you. I think it should say that that it was not what did you say? That it was That That there was no response from the Yeah. I I think it should say that there was no response. Still. Past this. To doctor. Yeah. That there was no response. Okay. Yeah. And the date was twenty fifth, just case of mine is curious. But Okay. Yeah. No. That there was no response. We wanted it in writing. We didn't get it in writing, and I agree with Shannon that at our last meeting, the reason why we we wanted we sent the letter was because we wanted it in writing, and, also, we thought that they would most likely address it in their next for a selector meeting, so we were waiting for until after that. So For formal response. Correct.
I don't think a recall from Adrian Mandeville is a formal response. Or or represents how the board is selecting and voted on it. Correct. We split it out in the public vote.
So going to make a motion. Right? We wanna we had a direct motion here. One. Eric, vote about it. She'll pass it. Hearing? To adopt and approve resolution as amended. I'll second it. I'm gonna.
You know that that's It's the same it's the same one as the last meeting. Shannon, no other changes from No. We just wanted you guys to know that. Yeah. Where are we putting in the language though, that you just discussed, or what type of a land grabby? Whereas on the town injectors, it's going to say
Yeah. We got the first one. We're we're at the Monday before we proposed the town for consideration. We've got that date. It's the second date that will that will have to change. Yeah. If the town refused to answer. So on that third paragraph,
you wouldn't have see where the date is. You would just say, whereas the town rejected a response rejected to respond. Oh, failed to respond. Failed to respond. To the board's proposal. To into the MOA as such MOA maybe. To respond to the letter
sent by Chris asking for a response. Sent by the board asking for a response. Right now. Okay. Letter dated such and such. Yeah. Was it July 15? Yes. Correct. Yeah. And one other clarification there, it should not be the town.
It should the board. Board is selected. Okay. In that paragraph. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. Right. Any other changes with me?
Okay. Take a vote. All in favor of passing resolution? We got a close discussion from the senate. Excuse me. I don't know. I move to close discussion. Second. Second. Chris?
All in favor? Aye. Great. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. Now we can make a motion. We will adopt the resolution. The motion's already pending. Yeah. It's already pending. We need to act on it. Who provided the second? Sorry. Was that you?
Motion as amended. It's done. Any There you vote? Yes. Yeah. All in favor of the document for that one here? Say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Any abstentions? It passes by zero zero. Yeah.
I'll get that data plan. What is the change server?
We're down to the last plan. Update on development of strategic long term plan.
So I have one update for you. I know that Taylor did a beautiful job last time of updating you on curriculum, and we're going with that. Uh-huh. And we said we were gonna have three in tech. We're gonna have three strategic plans moving forward for the year that we're gonna be really, really working hard on. It was gonna be the curriculum. It was gonna be the tech, and the third one was facilities. And we've already talked about the outside. But inside, the one big thing to update you on, and then next month, we'll have an update on where we are with the plumbing, you know, or the facilities. But the steam traps in the building, I've learned about this. So I might sound like an expert right now, but that's only because they've been explaining this to me. A little disclaimer, I didn't even know what a steam trap was until this. So so buses there, I have not pretend that I know what's going on here. I have no idea what's going I didn't know we had them. So where do I know what they are? So these little steam traps, these little valves,
they aren't supposed to be leaking. They aren't supposed to have steam that goes outside because, ultimately, what happens then is it makes our heating system less productive. It's it means that stuff goes out there that's supposed to stay in here. That's my, like, you know, official version of how to describe it. Anyways, for, you can laugh. Go ahead. For some time now, you know, this has been on our radar to make sure because it's not that we were in danger. It wasn't a safety issue. It was an efficiency issue. And so we're getting to make sure that we not only deal with the safety and security issues of the facilities, but that we deal with efficiency as well. And so what we did was we had August 3 completed through power process. We had had them complete a full inspection, and it was hot as heck in here for a day. They didn't do it in 90 degrees. They got it. Turn on it. Eat on.
Okay? Really fun. And, you know, we felt like little kids. You know how kids say so hot. We were just like, so hot here. I'm hot. Are you hot? It was like, you didn't wanna hear it anymore. Sorry. But it was really hot. So they did. It took them two days actually to complete, and we do have a complete data summary. And I'm gonna email this portion to you guys. I'll put this in the minutes, but this way you're going through. It's a really good report from people like me. What they do is they go through, and they give us a report on every single trap, and there's roughly 75 traps in the building. They tag them, and they cover them. And then using this beautiful survey data sheet,
they tell you all of the information that, like, a Steve would need to know, and they would these numbers would make sense to them. But what makes sense to me is the ones that ultimately in the end say test results, recommendation, comments, the inspection. And what I like about this is it lets you know if they say it needs to be replaced in Raymond's term, it tells you why. It'll say it's leaking. It's bursting. It'll say there's a blow through air, and it'll say plugged. And, ultimately, when we go through this list, which is very long of all of them, there's about 20 that need to be addressed now, and the other ones all say, okay. No change. And so that was good news. Yeah. So getting this done at least let us know kinda where we are with this project. And so then they also include, for any of us that don't know a lot about that is, they include pictures. We love pictures. It's like a menu where you have a picture in the field. You know what it is. They include a picture. Each one, where it is, the tag number, and all the specs on each one of the traps. We got all of this. So this will tell us. And so what we're able to do, for example, is look and say, well, they're recommending that would be replaced, but let's consider its location. And so I spoke with our Steve, the custodian here, and we went through the report and kinda said, okay. We can't afford to do all of them now. Are there any areas that they've pointed out that you feel that we have significant loss,
and we're definitely not efficient? He said, well, considering this time of the year too, he said, I would definitely have us, if we were looking for a company to come replace these, because, by the way, this company doesn't come in and replace them, which to me made them more reliable, a source of information because, sure, they can give us a quote, and they will, for selling us the equipment if we wanted to replace it ourselves. But this data was not because they wanted us to hire them to come in because they can't come in and do it. That's not what they do. So that's why this was perfect. There was less of a bias, I think, there. So How much do draw? I don't remember exactly, but it was spotty. What's going on? So much visit here. 4,500 Oh, it's here. It's between 300 and $400 on average. But depend I knew that answer. But depending, there might be some of the smaller ones that are less than that. Some go for $1.50. So but it's gonna depend on you know, like, one of them says completely plugged. I'm sure that's a board or another one. But the other thing was Steve our Steve here said, I think that we should look first at the ones that are in the crawl space. And that makes sense to me. So we went through the list, and we looked at the ones that were tagged. And by the way, of the 75 or so, there were 20 that were really tagged as new regional placements.
And so of the tagged one, we pulled out eight. They included the one in my office, and I know it leaks water and through the radiator. And now I'm like, oh, I understand why some days it's really hot there and other days it's freezing. But that one needs to be replaced solely because I'm worried about the rug. Not my own comfort. I don't care. But I am worried that underneath that rug, if it keeps three years now that I've been here, it's leaked into a little bump. That's what I'm worried about, buddy. And so that one needs to be replaced. And then the ones in the crawl space. So that'll give us eight that we would be asking for companies to give us a price on. Steve's gonna take care of that. Steve Campbell, he's gonna get a quote on all 20 from a couple of companies, and he's gonna get a quote on just those eight. I was gonna ask whether or you know, there's a cost benefit analysis of doing all 20 that somebody And that I don't know the answer to that, Shannon. Do I. I don't know if the eight in the crawl space that we picked out are the cheapest.
No. You know what I mean? Yeah. And they charge you just for coming out. You know? Well, that's what I said. That's what I said. I said if they're here. Right. Right. So, actually, just so you know, this company is gonna give us a quote on the cost of the valves so that when we get costs to come in and replace the valves, we already kinda know what the valves would cost, but the rest is, like, labor. Labor. Okay. And so to your point then, if they give us a $5,000 price and we know that the actual cost of the valves from this company was 1,000, they're charging us $4,000 to wanna do the job. Okay. So Well, they can separate out labor funding. Yeah. Absolutely. So but we'll know what the Right. Right. So, yeah, so if anybody I'll email this to you because that's why it's Spanish. But I'll send this to you guys, and then this is the basic separate page on each track. There is. So you really want email to really go through one word. No. No. It's 20 pages on this Oh, good. It's one of each side. It's only the failed tracks. Only the failed tracks. Oh, goodness. Okay. So it's right. Failed traps and But
then there's eight pages back here that has all the traps in this Excel spreadsheet. Right. So yeah. So, yeah, so it was very informative. I'm really glad that we did this. It's long overdue. And what I never realized until I was Steve told me, he's like, so you you see out your window when you see in the wintertime that steam that comes out? Like, yeah. He's like, yeah. That should be good. And I was like, oh, so now in the winter it should be. Me too. Like, if you're when it comes out from underneath us, so now it's like, okay. Every time we see that steam, we're like, that's energy releasing. That's not supposed to. So, yeah, so it's actually really interesting, and I'm really glad we got this. And I will keep updating you on this one project there. And the only other things that are going on in terms of the creation of this is that slowly, we're doing some painting. And Taylor had said, it's not just cosmetic as for the reason why. In some of the areas there's been no in internal painting done in four years that I know.
And so four years. Yes. And so what she's doing is doing some of the areas that have been repurposed for use. So for example, we wouldn't normally do that little room where the bathroom is across the hall. That was the second nurse's office, but that's being repurposed this year for the sensory room. So we thought that's a good time to paint it. And so those are gonna be done during the course of the year, kind of slowly but surely rather than, you know, push people out altogether. So that's it on this.
Thank you, Val. Thank you. Thank you. Should we call you, like, steam valve? Like, Val? I like
surprise myself sometimes with these things I know. He's like, that's not that anymore. It's valve. Valve. Valve. Valve. Valve. Yeah. That was good for us. They like We needed that. Everybody.
Hold on. You just hold your horses. I'm gonna put The only liaison report I'll say is that CIP did not meet last month.
We might meet next week, and if so, I will provide a report in September. Okay.
I just say, I guess I can't run. So we we did I did ask Val a question following up a couple years ago that our firewalls protects the school Mhmm. Was was in support. She did confirm to Christina that that it was indeed replaced this spring, so that's done. And, of course, we now have her beautiful Howe.
I haven't named him yet. I think Chris needs to name Yeah. The owl. Shannon, have you noticed? Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. It's a hoot. What what's the name? Hoot. Hoot. I say hoot. There we go. It's in our. Dog, please make sure that winds up in the minutes that I know I was named Hoot. People are gonna take me out of owl. Hoot. Hoot. I'll make sure it's there. Just off the cuff, Donnie. Okay.
Comments from the public building in the item? That'd you, Anne. Anne? No. Anybody? Yep.
K. Moving on. We have an executive session for the purpose of the superintendent's
evaluation. I move that we go into executive second for the purpose of the superintendent's evaluation. 858. And we need a second? It's 48. 848. Excuse me. I'll second.
Okay. I'll second both. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
So I guess the motion should be offended that during that time, you will be inviting me in. She has a I guess. With the superintendent invited. You have an invitation. That's right. I do need an invitation with you.
Okay. Amended. So that's partway through. Yes. Yep. And that's a week to. Right. And I am just going Should I pause now? Yes, please. Yes. Yeah.