Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
December 13, 2023 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
All set. Alright. It's 07:01. We'll call the meeting to order at 07:01. Please stand the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And last week, comments from the public. Anne? Lisa? Miss Hopkins? All set. Thanks.
And then the only other people are the board clerk and three board member. Are there any communications? No? I don't I don't have them. We have one. Alright. So number four, the election election of the board of education officers for 2024. First order of business would be chair. Are there any nominations for the chairmanship? A nominator? Any others? You need a second of the. Okay.
Any others? So we have two nominations for board chair. Shannon nominated Jerry. Caitlin nominated Celeste. Any comments or discussion? Since we have two names, it would be a roll call vote when we go around. And so you would just simply state which candidate you are voting for. Is there anybody that would like to have discussion or comment? Okay. I just have I have a question. If I do do I vote even though I've been nominated? Okay. Okay. Yep. Every board member votes. Okay.
Jerry? I would I would just like to say that from my time that I've been a board chair, it has been put my heart and soul into it, and I think that Shannon will accept the fact that it is a very, very strong time commitment. It goes way beyond our meetings at the board event. It goes beyond our budget meeting. I also attend I'll use the word in quotes because I sometimes go and I deal with on YouTube, the videos from the board of finance, board of selectmen, and the planning and zoning. And so adding all those times together, it's a it's a major commitment of time that I'm willing to make and I have made.
There's also a commitment of communication with other sound officials. I have had conversations, meetings, and discussions with all members of the board of finance and the board of selectmen at one time or another. I've also had a time commitment in terms of professional development. I've gone to conferences, seminars, workshops, reading books, participating in games. I I think that people who take this on need to be active in continuing to further your understanding and knowledge of the way the board of education in the town functions. I also think that I've been good at being a good listener. I try to have a calming effect on people, and I I listen to everybody's opinion. I have not turned down anyone from any part of this town who have who have come to me and approached me wanting to discuss any topics or express their opinion. I'm I think I'm gonna calm these people down. I don't do that by swearing, yelling, and ranting. I have been on the opposite end of that, and I have always responded with calmness and kindness. I can't expect everybody to think the way I do, and I can't expect to think the way everybody else does. We're all individuals, and we all have opinions. And I'm willing to listen to any every everyone, anyone, because I think it's important. And I am a very strong proponent of collaboration and consensus with other town boards and the town manager, the town administrator. I've had conversations with Eric Anderson, with Jeff McGuire, Jeff Murray, Adrian, and all the people. And I really think that we have a commitment. I have a commitment to collaborate with other town boards, and I appreciate
your part in that, Caitlin, arranging that for us. I think it's it's important. It's important to me. And I think that I have the experience and commitment and a desire to serve. And I ask for you to consider carefully when you make your decision.
Any other No. Thank you, Jerry. No. I mean, I, you know, I take this nomination very seriously, and I know that that there is a big time commitment. Know, being on this board has been been a big time commitment, and, you know, I wouldn't have run for the board if I didn't think that I could do it. Mhmm. I too have attended meetings either, you know, during real time or have have watched meetings. You know, I made myself available for, you know, furthering my education on the board, attending professional development. I I attended the the Cade seminar in November. So, you know, I've been on the board for several years now. I've been through several budget processes. I've attended the collaboration meeting that Caitlin put together. And, you know, I do understand that being the chairman is you know, the time commitment extends past, you know, past the meetings. And if I'm elected, you know, I'm prepared to to make that commitment and to make sure that what we're trying to do as far as, you know, work together with the town and move that forward is definitely something that will be something that I will do and that I will pursue and that I will encourage other members of this board to participate in. So that's that. Any other members you'd like to speak? Yep.
I think Jerry has done an excellent job and deserves to continue. The two most important things in this job, having done it for many years myself, are knowledge and time, And knowledge of the position and time to do it very well are required. And it is a tremendous, almost daily time commitment in my experience, and I think in Jerry's experience, but I won't speak for him, that I don't think anybody else on this board has the ability to do. I don't say that only a retiree can do it. I just know it is a daily time commitment that's critical to be able to do the job well. And as far as I know, nobody else on this board has the ability to do it. As far as the objective of connecting with the other two boards, I know Jerry to be a very good listener and a kind person who has the respect of the members of the other boards. Not that Celeste is not, but just pointing out what I want to support Jerry at this point. And I think that Jerry would continue to bring about those other board connections.
I think that I said the other members of the other boards, respect Jerry, and see his commitment to connecting the boards. I trust Gary, and I know that if you felt unable to do the job, because I think concerns have been raised in that regard, for whatever reason, he would tell us. I believe that he should have our continued support as our chair. And finally, I believe, just having been on this board for eight years, that our vice chair needs to have a more extensive and involved role. The vice chair should be prepared to become the chair and take over in the chair's absence, and I don't think we've done that very well. So I certainly think that the vice chair needs to start getting more prepared with the knowledge.
And right now, we don't have anybody, other than Jerry who has that knowledge. Thanks.
Any other board members who wish to speak? I just wanna say, Jerry, thank you for your service over these past few years. You have done a great job of bringing this board together, and I value your ideas as a person and your ability to listen to everyone all the time. I I don't that that needs to not go unsaid. Thank you, Caitlin. Thank you, Shannon.
I guess I'll just second that. Either way it goes, I mean, I don't think we have a bad choice in front of us in regards to however it were where we go. Just because we're gonna be catching our boat here in a minute, I'll go ahead and prawn and kind of say, at this point, I think you've done a phenomenal job, and we've talked offline on certain things. Always being there and always listening at this point. I do think it's time to go in a different direction based on what I've seen just with with Celeste's ability to kind of my concern is really when it comes to I'm looking for a leadership, someone who's able to make a decision. And sometimes I know that can seems to be difficult, to when it's not you do you do like consensus a lot, and that I love that we have that. We also, I think, are looking to the chair to be the one when there isn't a consensus when it is a split. I'm looking for the leadership in that role to be able to make a decision and go up and point the board in that direction.
And I know that's something that we struggled in the past there, you know, with the last split what we had, to the point where it actually cost us a very good board member. So
that that's kind of where I'm at right now. Again, this is nothing to Jerry's doing a phenomenal job. And since he's been in there and at the time when he stepped up, you know, considering the temperature, if you will, of the room at the time, I think he did a great job of kind of bringing us back into the fold and getting us where we needed to go. But I just, you know, again, wanted to be upfront before I was done.
Yeah. Yeah. Know, be before I get into a more more personal note as far as talking about my supporter, Jerry, I just I I I think that having somebody who is a very steady hand, having somebody who has been through it before, especially with all that we are dealing with at this point at this time, I think that's a very valuable thing to have in a leadership position. I think I would like to underscore past experience as well. I think experience in an education setting and being someone who's lived the school life as a teacher, I think that is so valuable when you're making decisions that are connected to students and how they function on a daily basis. So experience is is one thing that I feel very strongly about with with Jerry holding that role. On a more personal note, you know, I I I hearken back to when I first joined the board and how welcoming and how kind and how open Jerry was to making sure I had everything I needed as a board member. And that did not stop after my first meeting. It continued. And he was always there and is still always there for a phone call or a text message. If I have concerns or questions, it doesn't matter the time of day. He is open to talking. And my impression is that it is not just me that he does that with. He does that for everybody. That door is always open. I think that ability to feel like you can reach out to everybody on the board, that you can communicate with everybody in the room, is extremely valuable when you're trying to make consensus and get to final decisions.
Thank Brianne, you're the only one. Is there a comment that you'd like to make as a board member? Yes. I would just like to say that I've seen
Celeste in action on the PTA and her commitment to the school and to the to the betterment of the the teachers, the students, and I I don't think that she would be a bad choice. I think she's strong. I think she will lead this board in a new direction that is desperately needed.
Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. So as I said, we take a roll call vote. And when we go around, whoever receives the majority of the votes will be the new chair. Chair? I vote for Jerry.
Kate? I vote for Celeste. Gray? I vote for Celeste. Mike? I vote for Jerry.
Steve. Celeste. Celeste? Celeste. Celeste. No. She just called me Celeste. So with a four to three vote, Celeste becomes the board chair. Thank you. Any help? Thanks, Jared. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Jared. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. You, everyone. So that begins now. Alright. So the, next two orders of business on that same line, Celeste, and then you just go to what's on the agenda. Okay. The next two orders would be in the same fashion that we just did vice chair. Vice chair position occurs. If there's more than one nomination Okay. It'll be a roll call vote with no second if needed. It's just Okay. In between, there would be discussion. Okay. Once the vice chair position is filled, then it moves to secretary. Okay. Should no vice chair position be filled, the board needs to decide if you're going to fill that position. By law, the only two positions that need to be filled are the chair position and the secretary position for the board of education. And then once the secretary position is filled and we have this in place, then just proceed with the rest of the meeting. Okay. Okay. So do we have any nominations for vice chair? Can I make a nomination? Mhmm. I nominate Steve Voss for vice chair. And I'm very sorry about that.
Anybody else? Any discussion? Okay. I guess we'll do a roll call. Jerry? Vote for Shannon. Shannon? I vote for myself. I vote for Steve. Ray? I vote for Steve. Michael? I vote for Shane. Steve? Both of you. K. Four three. So we have a four and three vote, and Steve Bus is our new vice chair. Okay. And do we have any nominations for secretary? I nominate Shannon. I don't want it. Thank you.
Okay. Any other nominations for secretary? I'll nominate mine. What's that? I I I I do not have I do not want. You don't want it. Okay. Caitlin? Sure. K. So since there was no other, it she automatic okay. So you automatically become our secretary. I'm sorry. Okay. We'll call her. Okay. Thank you. Jerry? That's good. Caitlin? I vote for Caitlin. Caitlin. Caitlin? I'm sorry. Mike and Ed. Or you said Caitlin. Caitlin has to vote. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Caitlin. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. So we all we have our officers. Alrighty. Next on the agenda is the approval of our regular minutes from November 8 with the regular meeting. Did everybody have a chance to look at them? Approved. We
alright. No. Can we approve a minute? Mary, I'll I'll the minutes. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Aye. So Brie. She just said she just said. Thanks, Brie. Thank you. No. She's actually not allowed to. She's. Yeah. That's what read. Same. Yep. You're Nope. We'll get we'll get you for December. Thank you. Excuse me. It's Dawn, board clerk. Can you just tell me who made that motion and and the seconded for those minutes? I'm sorry. It was a little cut out. Any fault, motioned for the to approve, and it was seconded by Jerry. Jerry.
Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Dawn. Alright. Does anybody want to add or delete any agenda items? No? No. Okay. Any celebrations? Anybody have any training? Anything I would just like to make a quick comment.
And I've I've both myself and parents in the community, I which I've just been hearing a lot of positive things about the after school events that have been taking place, and there's just a lot of positive talk around that. And, you know, I see the kids coming out of the building after school, and I just I just I think it's so wonderful. I just wanna recognize that again about I just think how how fabulous it is for those kids to have that opportunity. And I just I I've been hearing lot about it, so I just wanna put that out there. And to piggyback a few like, I received a notice today something about, like, they're even focusing it for improving
you know, one of my kids says, you know, would we're gonna focus on some of their learning areas and helping them with doing that throughout their school. So that's Yeah. No. Absolutely.
And I agree. You know, picking up my daughter from the after school, she's jumping. So and I know it's quite an undertaking to fill up every month and every day. So Taylor and Valerie and everyone else who who does it, thank you. I know it's I'm sure it's Here we go. January calendar, we gotta do this. Yeah. But you guys have a, like, a really good system. Yeah. I don't know. It it And it would be better now. But it's And the check off sheet, we get it's it's great. So thank you. Thank you. And, you know, I know, Taylor, you have said that anybody is welcome to do an after school program. So, you know, everybody you know, we all know a bunch of people, so keep that in mind. So thank you, Mike, for bringing that up. Think And I've only forgotten my kids a couple of times. There's
a limit past five. I think I could get Let me get phone calls. Thank
you. Chairperson's oral report, I don't I don't have one. But, Jerry, I don't know if you had one or no? Okay. Okay. Valve, superintendent's report. Take it away. So I have a couple of updates. So solar, we've been waiting for this. Not good. I had a meeting with Titan and GreenSky's. Those are our two people, Elaine and Ryan. Ryan had come to do a presentation for us, and Elaine would be, like, our liaison. I I was concerned because, you know, we did go to. The reason why we didn't get it this time is that they've changed the criteria for applicants. First of they had a 20% increase in project applications in November than they did in February. And, you know, I I did kind of push a little bit to kinda ask, like like, why? Because, you know, I've I've been this route before,
and so I I know it has nothing to do with, like, the size of the district. When they change the criteria for the applicant pool, smaller projects have the same consideration as larger ones. So if a small barn project is put on that list, you know, as an applicant for wanting to be able to have solar, they have just as much chance even if it's a $5,000 project and it's a small little barn and they're only putting a couple So is it a lottery based? It is a lottery. It's it's always been a lottery. So but there's not, like, anything we can't call our representative over and ask them to push it through? So with with Eversource, it's it's a lot. So then I asked them, okay. Fine. Now we petitioned hard with our two opportunities. How do we see this getting better? Because, you know, Elaine did say, you know, don't worry. We're gonna try again. I did ask, could I see when our application was put in, and it was put in thirty minutes after the the opening of the the window. So that wasn't an issue. Currently, this project and quite a few other are on what they call standby.
And at first, I think she tried to make it sound, you know, like a great consolation. No worries. But I said, well, realistically, what are our chances with standby? She said they consider the standbys for this next two week period, And I said, high probability or low? She said, low. Below probability. Because you're on standby buy it is gonna want it. Right. So there's a couple of spots for standbys, but otherwise, the rest, somebody else has to decide that they're not gonna go through with the project. It's like any waitlist from college. So there's also gonna be pushback by both Titan Green Skies because
there are legacy projects that they're trying to kind of fight for next year. So, you know, every year since it's a lottery, you basically kind of have the same chance. So if your agency, your municipality, your school, whatever, put in and got it four years in a row by lottery chance, like, at some point, you should have a lower points and a lower weight so that somebody else has a chance if you're just like the lucky one. So they are looking at that. They said there will be, you know, a meeting for them to look at that and make sure that those legacy projects, you know, potentially points and weight are reduced a little bit. We will put in again. You know, we don't really have a choice. This is the only way to have us embark on a project like this and have it be literally cost free to us. Now where is the next time? February? Yes. Yeah. What about first? So what we approved
and booked. Do we need to reup anything, or the terms all gonna be the same? How does that work? They will send again because you can do it twice with clean paperwork. We filled out paperwork last time. First, last minute had signed off on the paperwork because, remember, the paperwork is not the project. The paperwork is just simply the application. Even now, once let's say we we win the lottery next time in February, that doesn't mean that we just do it. It means that then it goes before we have to take everything that's in our application. It goes before the town Mhmm. And they do their checks and and balances. Interesting. Okay. Like they're gonna send over their people to look and make sure that whatever would potentially be going in, like the fire marshal, for example, would look at the
the
This starts the process. There's no reason for them to look start the process if we're not gonna get there. So I don't see a reason why
When the paperwork comes for that application after the New Year, I don't see a reason why they would put And we know if on that paperwork, the rates that we were locked into, do they are those gonna change? I don't know the answer to that. I mean, I'm assuming they shouldn't have very much. So should the town when the application comes in, should the town say, hey. Wait a minute. We might wanna piggyback on this. I think we should ask them to fill out their own application because it's going to be a lottery. And so, sure, we have a chance of filling out an application on our own for the school, but then potentially if the town says, this sounds like a great deal, we wanna do it too. I I because I asked her this.
I think that we would almost be better off to have them do one or two. Maybe they're doing the senior center application that makes sense. Piggyback out there so they get it? Back together. And if the application goes through, to then try to there's water up there. She needs it. Taylor, can you get that? Or So
do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Because it it doesn't make any sense. To me then, if that to help, I think we need to would be prior to February, maybe have was it GreenSky or Titan present again with what the updated rates would be and possibly talk about doing that combined with the town so they can see that as well Yeah. And maybe ask any questions. The presentation with the town. But as I said, we would really wanna look at applications. Yeah. Application separate, but we do the presentation so they can see the rates. So they decide, hey. This sounds great. Let's put in our own application. Right. He can he's gonna sell with two people at the same time. Right.
Gets them hopefully on board and buy in, and we wanna do that before. Question is if either one of us gets it, can we piggyback on each other? Or does it stay separate? Yeah. But we'll be separate. Put, then it But we need to do that. It's December. And if we're talking about February, we need to have those rates and everything and approved with the next meeting. You wanna Yeah. So so that's where we are with that. It wasn't what I wanted to hear. But, I mean, at least they gave us a valid updates. We know what's going on. We know the changes that occurred. We know what they're trying to do with the legacy projects. And if we, for a chance, let's just say, did get it before the town got it, then we kinda hope that the whole legacy project thing doesn't go away because then
you know? Then they would. Yes. So right. We wouldn't want them to be yeah. So so that's the update on that. That's kind of where we stand. On what's other thing I wrote? Oh, preschool. On preschool. So that could get a celebration, but we wanted to save it Mhmm. You know, for for our updates. Things are going very well. The room was opened. We have students that began in November, and we thank Amy who jumped in as, you know, a new teacher in the building, and she's done a great job with them. Her she was very understanding. I mean, we did get together a lot so that her room looks like the other two. The only thing is that, you know, she does have a wall that needs to be painted. But other than that, things are are moving along nicely there. In terms of what we can expect, potentially, how this affects us, like, financially at the end of the year, The information I'll give you was what I can give you so that we don't obviously reveal anything that is, you know, too personal to the finances of particular classrooms or students, so I put this all together. Right now, we have 11 regular slots, okay, for preschool students. That doesn't necessarily mean everybody pays total preschool. Okay. This doesn't necessarily mean that everybody pays the same amount, but those kids in our spreadsheet, our ledger,
our our regular slots. We have 16 slots that fall under our school readiness, and we have school readiness grant. So and, again, you know, I always say this, understand school readiness doesn't just provide money grant wise for us to run this program and operate it. It does provide guidelines as well. Mhmm. So when we're talking about how much a program costs, and I've said this in the four years that I've been here, there are guidelines. They give us money. We take the money. We don't have to put it in the general fund normally then, but there are things that we need to provide because we are school readiness. Excuse me.
We have 13 slots that are smart starch, which is a different kind of a grant with different guidelines. We have a school readiness meeting once a month. Taylor does that. Thank you. And we have a liaison, you know, that helps us address those issues. We have accreditation that will be coming up. So that's a total right now for the enrolled. We do have a couple students starting after the New Year, and then the rest will be flushing in throughout the spring. So we're in a really good place. And by the end of the year, when you look, it's like, hey. We have three classrooms that are full. This is fantastic. I meet with Northeastern Corner Of Connecticut here, a whole region. One of the things that has been high on our agenda are twofold, preschool and the new changes to kindergarten, you know, with the change of regulation. And I run the small town part time supers agenda. So I purposely asked them at our meeting last week, like, so when you guys are considering kindergarten and whether or not you will allow people policy wise to put in a waiver, can you guys just kinda tell me? Can we go around? There was, I think, 25 of us on the clock. I said, you go around and tell me what is your capacity for kindergarten for preschool?
Almost all of the one school districts like us, they don't have full time preschool. They don't have all day preschool. They if they do, it's a lottery. Drink a lottery. For regular and special education students. And at this point, they don't have spots open because usually it's one room there. So I will say, again, it put about under celebrations. I believe that we have the premier preschool program here in the whole Northeastern Corner. 100%. Because we have three rooms that are very, very high quality rooms. I know that our we see at our liaison from Eastcott is very happy with the program that we have there, with the professional development that's being provided to the teachers. And I have no, you know, doubts, no reservations that those three rooms will stay full regardless. Yeah. And this is, the majority are all Innoble residents? Yes. Okay. As we mentioned, what did occur was we did at first start with, well, if they needed half day, we would give them half day I see. That we could fill, and it's just filling. And we we are so happy. There's a few that have adjusted schedules. Okay. There are a few that are out of towners because their parents work here. But other than that, the majority the students, we have three. We have four out of towners. Yes. Not just the 40. Three out of the total. Yes. Not in that. What
town? Just curious. No. No. No. We can That's fine. That's fine. Nope. That's fine. Some. Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. No. Other towns. Weigh the information. That's fine. Same same with second ed, right, in terms of what percent or how many students are special ed. Right? That's why you just apply grants? Yes. So That's right. Yeah. So what do we anticipate? I know Steve's like, okay. Let's talk about the money. We anticipate bringing in 35 to four I've gone through all the ledgers. So 35 to 40,000 in regular tuition. We anticipate bringing in about 69,000 in other tuition through adjusted Smart Start and school readiness costs to those families.
So that's in addition to what we're currently receiving to get the new students?
No. This is a member of You're pumping it altogether. Right. Yeah. And our school readiness grants every year is about 100, and our smart start grant is about 65. So when we look at, you know What big? The big expenses. Mhmm. You have the three teacher salaries, which that's public information, but the three teacher salaries add up to $1.87. And
then there are the paraprofessionals, and that adds up to about 80. So you're talking about those three Moments. Okay. Without supplies. Yep. Right. Okay. Just for because let's face it. The majority of our regular budget is always salaries and benefits. You know? So when I'm looking at this, you wanna see the big part? Yeah. The big part is that. It's it's who do we need to work here to run it. And it sounds like it's covered by what you just said. It's about $267,000 in expenses. Right? 70 on the other. When I right. So when I look at our other expenses that are mixed in there that aren't salaried, the worst case scenario is probably between 25 and 35,000. And I know that sounds like a big stretch, but that wouldn't be covered. So $2,535,000
for the entire prepay program is what the taxpayer's been. Current no. No. No. Currently, now, would be in this year. However so that's the worst case scenario. I know we opened this room. We were like, what happens at the end of year if we don't have enough? We could wind up, let's say, I'll call it 30. Let's say we could wind up at the end of the year saying we fell short by opening that room at 30,000. Okay. That's the worst case scenario. And I say that because, and and I know you guys will say when we do the budget, like, why are you not putting out 30 eights next year? Because these kids didn't start at the end of August. Mhmm. So the tuition was modified for those kids, August, September, October, November, and then the other one's coming in January, February, and then the other one's March. So because there's more that you know that are coming still stagger. Don't have agreements with them yet, so we don't know what their full tuition's gonna be. Full pay, not full pay. Right. And so when we sit there and do the math that we know, that 30 could be covered, and we could say we actually are still gonna be fully covered between tuition, Smart Start grant, and school readiness grant. So we're not there yet. We have to figure that out, obviously, for the budget for next year. We may come back to the table at budget season and say, nope. We're still anticipating
that preschool is gonna be self sufficient like it always has been even with three rooms. So we're not ready to give you that number. It's gonna depend on who we're looking at that's gonna be enrolled. But We're gonna be doing the budget next year. But for this budget But first k worst case scenario would be 30. And when we say, well, where are we come up with the 30? What just know that there's still the possibility that there will be grants that come in from the State Department of Education between now and the end of the school year that will be preschool grants. They haven't gotten to that yet. They've been so consumed with the science of reading and the read to write grants.
So could be the next batch that that comes out for. There's also the possibility, depending on the number of special education students that are serviced in each of those preschool rooms, that there would be small extra bits not used in the title grants and the IDEA grants that cover special ed. So And there's up to, like, four times in an 80 k? Or No. That's the excess cost. Yeah. What this is is Steve, like, we get an IDEA grant, and every year, we use it for a particular special education stack number. Let's say. It's the same amount. Let's say it's 10,000. I don't have the number in front of me. Let's say it's 10,000.
If for whatever reason that person didn't get put into that grant this year, then special ed services for a paraprofessional could be put in there if they were in the preschool room for the purpose of servicing special education students. So there is a little wiggle room sometimes in that. We just don't know because you have to make sure that if you're taking part of a person's salary and you're put putting into a grant that has to cover special education costs, that they, in fact, in that room, were there to cover special education costs. Right. So we just can't answer that yet, but that would be what I I'll be working on. That's separate from a budget, but that's what I'll be working on is just trying to look and see if there's another place where we could potentially, you know, kind of pick away at that 30 if that's our number. I mean, the bottom line is we've added how many kids by adding the classroom? 14.
14 kids. By the end of the year. Okay. I you can't say anything, but I'm gonna say it's a pretty good chance one of them would be birth to three or might need services, which if we didn't have this program You would be paying for that. To pay for an $80,000 teacher minimum, which is what they're doing in the Marlboro model. Most certainly. We would be spending more than 35 k regardless. Not to mention by doing the early intervention, they show that we can actually reduce our cost, maybe not have to outplace somebody at some point. We can't Yeah. Show that. 35 k seems like a very well spent And and if we get to the end of the year and we don't have that 35 k, we can Yep. And then I'll check if we needed to. Yep. Because it's an unforeseen expense that would have occurred.
Which would have been more had Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So we still are 1000% committed to the fact that this is the best decision for us. And, you know, we are 1000% committed to making sure that those three stay up the business in the best interest of AES. So, and the fact that there are parents that did change their mind then to bring their kids in a little bit earlier, I mean, that only makes them even more prepared when they're getting kindergarten. So, this is a great great thing. So last thing on there is the other grants, the reach right grant. Can we do the one even last time, Gia, or was it afterwards? Okay. So I'll give you a quick update. So the all the buzz for boards of ed and those of you who did go to the November professional development for Cave know that it was a couple of the breakout sessions. You know that science of reading and the five foundational pieces to the foundation to the science of reading, They've been encompassing us for well over a year now. Our district was one of many districts that when they put out their approved list and said these are the approved programs that you can use for k three. We did not have with Fidelity one of those programs. We're not the only one. They were big towns, small towns, east towns, west towns, north towns, south towns. So, we put in a waiver. What the waiver was was you send in the waiver and you say, hey. We believe that we're reaching the same benchmarks,
and we're tackling, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension. And which one did I miss? Vocabulary. Oh, yeah. Vocabulary. That we are hitting those five areas and that what we're doing is just as good as those five programs. And so and there are big towns and small towns that put in these waivers, by the way. So then it took them, oh, six months to read these waivers and to decide from experts whether or not they felt that our program addressed those five areas. So two Fridays ago, 6PM, they released the results of those waivers. And either your waiver was approved, and for the most part, those waivers included already one component of those named programs that were on there on the list. You could get a conditional or transitional waiver, which meant, sure, Three areas, two areas, four areas. You are right in, and those programs that you're using are okay, or they said you're denied. You showed limited, you know, alignments to what we would like to see. It does not mean that a district's scores are failing. Mhmm. It meant that the program
by that criteria checklist didn't meet what they think those other five programs need. So when they came out, ours was conditional. So they said there are three areas that we feel your foundations and your Hegarty and your Geodes and all of these other things that you're using match what we would like to see. They think that we would be better suited to look at one of those five programs for vocabulary and reading comprehension. But understand that's not based on our scores. It's based on when they read what our program looks like in the catalog, they say, we think it could be stronger if you use one of the other ones. And so it's not optional then. You do have to choose one of the other ones. When do you know who? So what do you want me to do? Here we go. Now you have to tell me. They gave some money. Everybody got some money. One district, which I won't name. One district to make sure that they met exactly
they're fairly small district, bigger than us, but not, like, less than their size. They said that for their PD, for their books, for their everything to put in k three was $450,000, and they got 70,000. So Taylor and I have sat. She's gotta stop being on mine. Not a lot. No. We got money. We have $19,000 to spend. You bet. Perfect. But that's the lowest. That was, like, what you could bottom So what we got was 19,000? We do. It's Citibank grant. And the problem is to access that grant, you have to because, you know, grant money is give us the receipt, then we'll pay you back. Yes. So the receipts have to be from the manufacturer. So we have to show them a receipt from HMH that says we purchased something for inter reading. Professional development, you can't call somebody that says, I'm gonna show you how to use Wonders. You have to call somebody from Wonders to come do it. And so that's a problem. So Big problem. It's a big problem. And so when I spoke with all of my regional people, a lot of us are small towns, and we had this conversation, we kinda were like, so what do we do? But here's the thing. I don't really think we're gonna have to do anything yet because there are districts, big ones, very big ones, that they got denied. And so their legal team will probably have conversations with the state because it's gonna cost them a million dollars. Right. And some of those districts scores
are pretty high. So, ultimately, what are we doing? Taylor and I do have to come up with a program. We do have to, and she'll have a team here. They will have to decide which one we're gonna put in to supplement those two areas of vocabulary and reading comprehension. We are gonna have to make every effort to bring them in to our professional development to buy them with that money. We do not believe we need any other money at this point except that to implement it to a satisfactory status. We do not have to get rid of those other ones that passed that can still be a part of it. And if we need foundations and we need geodes, and we need integrity, we that part was approved for those three areas. So we can't buy that with the fund. So what is our plan here? And like I said, if you talk to other board members, that'll be a hot topic for them and board chair check ins and things.
We are gonna do what we are required to do and then just closely follow what the result is for those other very large towns who may or may not have success in making some changes to it. And what I ask What's the yeah. What? What's your timeline? Like, when do you have to show this, and who do you have to go to, and what happens on the grant with what are you doing with the money in a week. In my. However however, I can word that grant where it is for the area vocabulary. She'll have me write what it is, and then I say using an approved program from the rest. So the grant to get approved so that we can start drawing down doesn't have to name the program because when I turn in the receipt to get the money, that's when they're gonna say, this is or isn't an approved one. So the timeline is we're going to act from here moving forward. They're gonna pick the school is gonna pick you know, the the team and tailor are gonna pick what they wanna use, what they think is most effective, and we are gonna pilot that because you can do it in pilot status and put it into effect. We're gonna let the dust settle and figure out what happens. So at the end of this year, Taylor will be able to then come to you guys because the board will have to approve if we adopt a new. She's not adopting right now. She's implementing for the purpose of piloting. Right? And the pilot will be for the rest of the school year? And and probably next year. Yeah. So it Okay. You have to have partial implementation for next year Okay. Is the the language and the legislation.
It says 07/01/2025
for full implementation. So it's a long time to go. So you have something to figure it out. With the PB, if there's all these other districts that are gonna be doing it, you can you combine with the other districts to bring in these expenses? So the rest yeah.
The rest are trying to make affinity groups among districts. The challenge is if you ask Keeper and Marble, nobody knows what they're doing. It's so new and the process to go through
And the affinity group has to include the principal, the superintendent. All of these people have to go. Yeah. Or these people You know, you're curriculum. And then you have to get people to cover all 10 of them, and the superintendent must go. Is this every year that we're gonna have to do this? No. Just so the point is here's the short term. Correct. You guys, when we wanna adopt a curriculum, the board votes to adopt a curriculum. Taylor won't be ready to have the curriculum adopted until probably a year from now. So, you know, should you guys be talking about this with you know, your amongst yourselves or other board members, we have to call ourselves in the implementation process. We are piloting. You can pilot whatever you want for next school year. I don't want you guys to look to do a policy and adopt until the school here says this is what works best for us. So So we got a year on on adopting
the curriculum. But we have to put something in pilot something
Sure. Correct. Today. Yeah. So we'll we'll hope to order that pilot, you know, certainly as a team, January, February, spending those next couple months. And then, you know, when you before you pilot anything, you wanna give teachers enough time, hopefully, before to get to know it before they're Yeah. I'd rather them learn everything they have to do. Right. Is that something that you're able to I know you talked before about the, like, curriculum meeting that you guys were having with Hebron and Marlboro Yep. To do So Marlboro uses one of the approved programs. So in January already. Uh-huh. So they just started it, right, kind of when the waiver started. So they go Their waiver was fully approved. Yep. So in January It was fully Marlboro? Yep. They were fully regained. So we're all in the spectrum for them. Right. So in January, a couple of our teachers will go over to Marlboro to check theirs out. We've already had admin meetings, and then Hebron, same Katie, the principal there, is looking at that program that they're using. That's cool that at least that you can see it. Yeah. They're already using it. Yeah. Kind of Yeah. I have a district pretty much for every one of them that's using. There's a couple that no one's using, and you're like, okay. There's a reason that's not on the list. Yeah. Exactly. On the list. But we've But Not on ours anymore. Not on her view. Of hers. Yeah. So there's probably out of the you know, there was seven, and they just added two as soon as they gave out the waivers because that was their life parting gift. Here's two more if you're gonna do some partial, like, the way we have it. So And what was the in like, what's what are we what what do we have to buy? Like, is it books? Is it software? Program. Okay. So some of these programs are gonna be everything from the kitchen sink. Right? So they're gonna have book libraries, teacher manuals, student books, the whole thing.
Some of them, if we've talked a little bit about the math program we're piloting illustrative, it's called open source, where it's kind of I use the word free loosely because you can buy, you know, materials and things, but where those are published more online, and you might be buying just student books with them. So there's from that, and that's where you get these quotes from 50,000 to 800,000 based on the but some of those programs would replace foundation's integrity. Some would not. So that kind of that's all the questions that the team is looking at and what makes the most sense for our kids. And, you know, as a school, we this is kind of where we felt we would fall based on what we were hearing around the state and which programs they were a fan of and which ones they weren't. So that's good because that was already our mindset. We were already kinda starting the process. So, yeah, we'll we'll figure it out next steps. And Okay.
As far as the rest of the grants, and then I'll finish it up, obviously. Thank you, Mike, for your comments on the after school grant. That's going well. Keep in mind, I just start to see it ramp up after January. We were supposed to get that in, like, September of last year, and we didn't. Remember the first calendar you got was December. So as far as, equally dividing that money on a month to month basis, we kinda have those first three months of money that's kind of in reserve there. So from January until June this year when we finish up the grant, you can expect to see a lot more, family programs, still coming out of that, because those family engaging activities some of you did the pumpkins as a family. Some of you are signed up for the gingerbread houses. And then sneak peek coming up, we'll have a, like, a sniff and eat night that's coming up where we'll have somebody from hot chocolate and on canvases. I saw his eyes. I did. And that would be where a family can have, like, you know, up to three canvases or you know? And and they'll be able to come come do that. So some of those where we normally couldn't afford them, we had some of that reserve money where we didn't do anything to those three months. So you'll see a few of those thrown in there, and I think they'll be fun. Are those are those ones still that kid is only allowed to do it if their parent comes to it? Certain ones.
The reason that one will be, but there'll be two options. There'll be one right after school, and then there's a Bidwell Tavern night that night. So we'll be encouraging people to go buy food there so that the school gets the percentage for the PTA for the PTA. So there'll be a before the Bidwell and the after the Bidwell so that we could take more families because it's gonna be done by Mona Lisa Studios out of Griswold, and she needs to have less families, you know, one sitting, I guess, you could say. So we'll do both. So you could either go have dinner and come afterwards, or you can do it and then go have dinner. And if anybody wants to get their dinner and bring it here, they could do that too. So, you know, she's a little bit more to run a program like that here with the supplies and everything, but we felt it was valuable for parents. And if we did it on that same night, that would be awesome. That's that's cool. So we'll be looking for some of those ideas too to run a few of those. And we are working that for the pre KK. It was popular last year on a Friday night. We have that, like, kinda sensory thing in
the gym where pre k k up to, like, five years old, maybe even six, where they had, like, the ball pit that somebody comes and sets up, and then they have, like, this little roller thing. So students with special needs and our littles, there's, a little house, but it's for the littles. That's what the company does this for. And, normally, to have them come set all that up, we could afford it. But that's would be for them on a Friday Yeah. Three to five. That would only be open to our students. Right? It wouldn't be any other additional pre K students that are in. So in the town that aren't part of the program? If somebody wants to bring them, they could. Yeah. We would never really have to school. Ones that attend school here. But if a parent was bringing another one, they would come to that. Right? So Yeah. So and then everybody knows we talked about what we were already doing with the mental health grants. We'll be starting to meet meet with Tressa right after the New Year with to talk about what the summer program will look like. No no changes to our title grants in our IDEA. And the only other grant right now that I just put out for is called the Mohegan Challenge Grant. And the Mohegan Challenge Grant, I've just applied for it last week. It's a small grant, but it brings in opportunities for either fourth or fifth grade. I've actually applied for fourth grade this year just because I had applied for fifth already.
And they would run programs. They would bring in things. The students would do, like, a unit project. And so if that one gets approved, I'll let you know. But that's the only other one that we have available right now. And that's everything I have. Anybody else have any questions? Thank you, Val. Thank you.
Principal's report. Taylor, take it away. I don't know if I can be quite No. I can sit down tonight, but I'll just say the fun stuff. So, yes, all the things she says about pre K are true. It's it's awesome. It's going well. Our 11 kids currently up and running, and like she said, we have about three more after winter break on the pipe coming down, so that's been great. Pre K registration for next year, believe it or not, is already just it's opened itself. It's certainly not opened officially on our end, but with the kindergarten age change, families are more eager to make sure they get a spot because they know spots are gonna be limited. So if we have six kids that aren't gonna go to kinder, say, that we plan to, that's six plus spots all open. So, certainly, when we come back from break, I will more formally invite the community, but,
it's we've already had families that are like, should I do it now? I'm like, probably. So it's exciting. You know? It is, but it's it's gonna be a busy registration season. And then same for kindergarten. We'll just as we get closer, take a look at what our registration looks like and if that age change is impacting us in a significant way or not, which we won't really know until we see the kids. We had a great intergenerational day for Thanksgiving, right around Thanksgiving time, about 250 people, so that was fantastic that came. These halls get busy, and but it's great to have that
that kind of collaboration with the and I think, you know, it's cool to see so many families who from out of state because we do it that day. Mhmm. And so they, like, plan for it every year. You know? Like, they know when they're coming into town, they get to come to school with their kiddos, so that's cool. And so this year, we also added picture books we ordered, and each family got to take home a book to kind of promote that intergenerational reading on top of the activities that were going on. So that was a cool addition, and I think it was very successful. Gal mentioned the after school programs. Again, just continuing with those family, adding in those family events. We recognize not all families can be available at three, but just another opportunity kind of just varying what we're doing. So I appreciate
our staff. We have several staff members who spend a lot of time in that program, and we're really grateful for the time they put in to make those events happen. Hopefully, we'll see many of you at gingerbread houses on Friday. PD, we just had some PD days. I know as parents, you might have noticed them. We had a half day, PD where we looked at, some writing in our upper grades, four, five, six. They do been doing some really awesome work about looking across grade levels and up and down, especially with our enrichment classes, and we have such a just kind of a different perspective. So that's been neat. And then continuing to look at, of course, our reading and how we're gonna move forward. And then our paraprofessionals are off also in PD, and they did some more work in our sensory rooms. If you haven't seen that space yet, I encourage you to come in. I'll give you a tour. We just added a swing. So they did some work around, using a swing with kiddos and what that sensory experience could be. So it's great. Our occupational therapist has really been providing a lot of that, so that's that's awesome. Just a couple other fun things. We did the hour of code this year for the first time, so maybe some of your kiddos came home talking about it. It was super successful. We used code.org for most of our kiddos one through six. Some a few other different sites, but they've made, like it's like a dance party, so they, like, code music. And it was really the coolest thing too is almost all of our teachers did it alongside the kid. So I was getting videos, like, from rooms of, like, Jamie Weber in sixth grade, like, know, and getting help from kids. Like, you know, they really they all just went, like, all in and and kind of because it's new for teachers too. Like, how many teachers know how to code. Right? Right. Since Fraser's not included. So that
that was a really cool and and tons of kids and even teachers are already since last week, like, doing it in class more and kind of just having that be another option for kids. So and some of our older kids went down and helped. They did it the day before so that they could help first and second and third the next day, which was cool. That's cool. Just giving them that opportunity, and, you know, it's fun to see them as experts. So just something new, but something cool we've done. And then, you know, it's it's getting that time. Spelling bee season, invention convention season. We got a lot of fun things coming up in the January, February, March time frame, so we'll keep you posted on all of those.
Questions
for me? I just have one comment. Yes. When you send out, like, the updates on Csoft or that there is a professional development day or that there is an early release for. Yeah. Do you think that you could say, like, what, like, our professional development is? I thought I did this stuff. Did you think of you every time, Caitlin. Maybe I didn't this Maybe I missed it. I've been trying to do I don't I don't think you did. I missed this one. I'm sorry. But you have been. She did before. Okay. So I I apologize. I've No. You're fine. It's only because I always hear that from other They're like, oh, yeah. Professionally. Yeah. No. I know. No. It actually I know. We don't just hang out. No. I have been trying to be cognizant, so I apologize for December. But, yeah, I think you're right. You know, the more parents' information they have of the work we're doing is is good. More information is great, but we know you're doing your job, and every school has Rebecca. Most upset with it. No. I don't think anyone's upset with it. I just think that people appreciate it. It's important. Yeah. It is. Yeah.
Thank you. Any any questions for Taylor in a moment? I think this is a that's, the highlight. I never do. Well, it's not Yeah. But it's a highlight.
Because we're up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to talk about it. No. It's a fourteen.
Fourteen. Seven year high. Yep. That's right. We are. We haven't seen this many kids in over seven years if you look at that. That's great. I asked Val if she wants to open four or five pre Ks. You know?
We could fill them. I don't Yeah. Yep. Enrollment is looking good. We're pretty stable. Literally, it's we're at a seven year high.
Know. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And they're like, go. And and I and I know Val will be happy because, unfortunately, with obviously, if we're at a seven year high, it means the last seven years, those numbers went down. So we're at two fourteen, but now they're gonna feel the effects. Right? They're for a while. You know? I think they're at a 150. So, you know, I'm so psyched that they have to spend a little bit. Right. Yeah. I mean Feeling very vindicated for having started the program. So It's
Yeah. It's really I mean, like, I joke what we could have been started all day, like, right off the bat Yeah. With how well our all day free care done. Or all day kindergarten.
That this is a question that I've written down. Almost forgot that. What's going on, and when is the NIACH accreditation for kindergarten? I know that was being Oh, yeah. We yep. We're need we're we're soon. We're very close. So February is when we submit
it's like you submit, like, a one box. It's very anticlimactic, but you check a box and say, we're ready. Like, we're good. And you have to do it. We have a date in February. I can't remember it. And then you have a three month window that they give you to, like, do your last minute stuff. You said you were ready, but are you ready? So then there's a three month buffer, and then that's then it opens a six month visit window. So in the past, because February's always been our time for years and years, in the past, they've come right at that end of May or early June.
So that's possible, or it could go into September. Now will they do both at that time? They'll do the accreditation for pre K and the accreditation kindergarten? So they will visit two pre K rooms because they have to go to the majority now that we have three, and they'll visit one K. You don't know which one they're coming for. Mhmm. And then they also spend it'll be a full day. They spend a couple hours going through all of the classroom teachers had to put together very lengthy portfolios, and then we have a program portfolio that I do. And then they meet with me, and it's like and they do hour long observations.
Our kindergarten, being new to the program, they just joined a cohort on increasing play in kindergarten kind of around those NIACC standards. So they met on Monday, and they came back feeling very positive that we were well established and doing in a in a good spot. They they said they're handing out applications to teach in Andover, and I was like, settle it down. But
they they they just they they felt like we were in a really good spot at compared to where other districts that were working on that process. So that's Same. It's a good sign. Kindergarten, is it similar to per k, and that it was, like, 10% of schools or less are Nyaptic residents? Yes. It varies. It varies. It might even be smaller. Yeah. Do you have to change the food for that for kindergarten? Not a lot. The the rules usually are by age. Yeah. Okay. So, like, the grapes and the hot dogs and the outside? Different ages, and they're three and four. So because everyone's like, oh, no. Can they not have grapes? Well, I yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do. Yeah. But kinder should be okay. You know, I even in some of our new pre K families, I'll be honest, some of them are saying, like, so kindergarten, like, if they are out of town, like, can we is it the same as preschool? Can we pay to stay? You know, like, there's just this kind of interest and and new especially with this legislation. Rate. You can go ahead. Right? I'm like, you know, what do you wanna know? So just it's good. You know, we're in a good spot, and I think people are seeing that. Yes. I agree. I agree.
Any questions for Taylor? No. Alright. Thank you. Financial report. Where's where's Karen? Is she okay? She is Okay. Last night, she hurt her foot, woke up this morning, had to go to the emergency room. She thinks she might have broken a couple of balls. She intended on being on Zoom, and I called her this afternoon. And I just said to her, I know you sent out an email to the board. Were there any questions you needed help? Do I need to get anything out of your office for you to get any answers? She was a little loopy, and won't lie. And I was like, are you okay? And she's like, yeah. I don't know that I'm gonna make it tonight. No. No. I don't know if No. No. No. You know? Yep. What is really okay. She said they gave her a boot. So That's probably not really okay. She she did say that she had not received any emails with particular questions from you guys. I hope that that that that was the case. I just wanna give her a break from what's coming up.
So, I mean, if if you had any generic questions about this, hopefully, I certainly will be able to help answer them, the generic questions. Yeah. I mean, unless if there's no major shift from the last month, then the unforeseen expenses. Okay. And if you do have any questions, just obviously email Terry or and and I'm sure that we'll answer them. So thank you. Please tell her that we hope she will She'll be back tomorrow. Yeah. Alright. Hope so. Okay. Liaison reports. We have an update on the VWAP policy. Yeah.
Unfortunately, it didn't pass by the board of finance, so we sent over the policy that we had passed in our last meeting. We sent it over signed by Jerry to try to give the impetus for them to agree to it. I spoke with Robert England last night, and I listened I read through the minutes and started watching the board of finance meeting. The minutes don't reflect the all that happened at the meeting, which was not positive as far as my belief as far as getting to a joint policy. So what I imagine will happen is, Robert and I are gonna meet further to see if there's any way to come at it. I think what's really important to know is even before we put together the policy, I was very clear with him what I thought the board of education would support. He was very clear to me what he thought the board of finance would support, and they didn't.
So Is this That's where we are. The new board? The new board. This is the new board. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Did they send you the revised
copy that the town lawyer made notes on? Because they were they referenced in their meeting Right. Several times this revised
copy of policy. Right. But I I didn't see that posted. I No. Robert sent it to me via email late last night. He sent you the revised one. Well, it's not a revised one. It's what Dennis O'Brien came up with as far as a policy. Yeah. I I don't know if it had notes on it. I haven't looked at it yet. But Or it's a totally separate policy. Yeah. He sent me a policy that Dennis had put together. Because they referenced it as revised in the meeting. So I I don't know what it didn't look like it was revised from what Robert and I had come up with.
So here's what I anticipate happening. Robert and I further trying to see where we can go with this. I planned, based on what I read in the minutes to attend the board of finance meeting, hopefully, on December 27, if in fact they want me to do that, to further try to see if we can come to an agreement, and then I'll report back next month. And as far as the next liaison part, CIP is having a meeting next week Okay. If if in fact there's anything to address. So the next quarter finance meeting is 12/27?
Yes. And you're planning on going? Yes. CIP, do you you believe that if we go forward with the solar I was just curious about this. Do we need to involve CIP if we were to get approved? That was my Will we go through CIP? Not that I'm aware of just and this is the problem that I had just in looking what the board of finance was talking about and what our town administrator was talking about. Mhmm. So we really have to pay attention to that. I'll just say that as a board. Our team gotta do is get approved and then get No. No. Our charter is very clear that we don't we're not under the auspices of CIP. And yet at the board of finance meeting, they were talking about putting in parameters such that any purchase whatsoever or any project whatsoever
under a certain, monetary threshold would have to go through CIP. Only if it affects the property of the shareholder
Yes. Who is in the town. That right. And it's not really the town. It's the school. So if everything affects the property, such as a boiler or anything else, that would policy.
Are they looking at sending us one to then review and then look at the through you? Not yet. Not yet. But that's the goal. Well, Robert and I have talked about said they didn't like what we sent them. Right. So they're gonna you guys work together to give a revision that we would then look at. And then I will hopefully go talk with them on December 27 with a revised policy and see if we can come to an agreement.
SIP, thank you. That account earns significantly more in terms of interest. So instead of establishing a separate bank account, they would want to ledger the money and have it be part of that fund so that it could earn more money, which makes sense. Correct. That makes sense. What was very, very troubling to me was the fact that
there was discussion about the town being able to raid our funds. Now granted, that was in the case of an emergency, but there was even discussion of being able, which is absolutely illegal, of our 2% nonlapsing account. So there was a lot of troubling stuff in the board of finance meeting. I encourage you to watch it. I haven't finished with it yet, but just as far as I got through was was not I mean, when you're talking about, number one, not following the charter, and number two, invading our nonlapsing account, which is by law our money or accounts purposes, it did not seem appropriate.
Alright. And then pay that. The triboard meeting as Oh, the triboard. I'm sorry. Thank you, Kayla. So triboard meeting, the feedback that I've gotten so far is everyone would like to get through budget season, which Okay. Makes sense. Yeah. And then maybe we reconvene about that after the fact. Okay. I think, additionally, just trying to focus on actually carving a policy that could be Did something tangible from our last meeting that we Tangible would be a positive step forward. I agree. And I know in watching the board of finance meeting, I know Bob or or Robert England had said that, you know, he might you know, he thought it he probably should have attended our port of ed meeting when we talked about it, and it would have been helpful if somebody was there. And I know, Shannon, you had said you were gonna try to go. But Well, I offered, And I was told,
basic just very bluntly was told, I said, you know, I really think it would be helpful if I did Right. Because anybody has any questions from the board of education's perspective. And he said, respectfully, I didn't attend yours. And so Okay. Just let me take it to the board of finance for now, and then we'll see what happens. Okay.
So that'll happen next. Okay. Yeah. Because I definitely think it'll be helpful. And and, you know, if hopefully, something happens on the 12/27 meeting, but I would definitely would like to invite Bob or or Robert to our our January 10 meeting to to push this forward to get it moving. So thank you, Shannon. Okay. Thanks. Paving. You have any update on the paving? I don't I don't have anything. Did they correct it? Did they correct what was Your concerns on the possible course? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you're about the Yeah. Big paving. So
as I mentioned, when I talked to Eric, he was kind of big on, like, wear and tear. It's gonna smoke smooth down, so we combed it for a while. As you can imagine, fifth and sixth graders are like, it's fine. Missus Parker, it's fine. It's not. But I was like, no. It's not. But after school, all the thing, it got used. Okay. And I would say it's do I still love it? No. But it's it's worn down a little, Erica said, with plowing. Again, I still don't know that that we're gonna be plowing back there, but that it will continue to wear. So he did not seem to think it was a big concern. The kids are now using it. Like I said, it's come it's certainly worn a little bit with just natural wear Okay.
Where I don't feel that it's like a safety issue necessarily more than the parking lot Right. Kind of patchwork is. But I would hope and advocate to this board that it not remain that way for years and years. Mhmm. Definitely. I hope that that's still a priority. Hopefully, we'll get it paved in the spring. So that's that's our goal. The other just paving thing I would like to mention, Eric, I go to those every two weeks. I sit on that meeting for the community center just update wise, and he mentioned crack sealing our back sidewalks and if the town if that became a town concern or if that was something the board of editor or the board was interested in. So, obviously, I said thanks for the info, but just something I don't know in in your paving adventures to look at. Did you feel that there's an issue back there? Or I think it's one of those things where Where are you like, the the To yep. The back out. Okay. Yep. The back, like,
you know, I think when we think of accessibility, is it in its ideal state? No. Do I am I saying to Val today, like, oh my gosh. It needs fixed tomorrow? No. Okay. But I think he Eric, because he was been back there and because he was doing these, said, you know, looks to me that perhaps that could get on He noticed it. Yes. Noticed it. Okay. So And I'd rather
do it before it goes, oh, we have to do this right So I don't know exactly that process or anything, but I just thought I'd let you guys know. I mean, if they're offering to do it. Right. It was a, you know Okay. Casual conversation. But Maybe.
Well, actually, I was gonna ask you. Can you follow-up with Eric and ask him? Thank you. I appreciate that. Already delegated. Alrighty. Thanks, Okay. Does anybody have anything else? It's falling under the.
Okay. Items up for discussion, the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five AES school calendar. I think we have that in our packet. Yes. So I asked Taylor to what's that? You said no detail. No. So I asked Taylor to do kind of what was done last year, which is if there were any changes that were gonna be made, really take a look at what she needed as the principal for professional development, what made sense to her and the staff, what potentially lines up to other accounts here in our region, and to put together something, and she did a good job, Nikki Taylor, putting together with a few minor changes to it to meet the needs of the school. So,
Taylor, do you wanna explain what minor changes? Yeah. Nothing major so in terms of nothing's changed in PD days or half days, full days, they're all the same, but just a couple of changes on locations. The first, you'll see it's the December eleventh and twelfth for conferences. This year, if you recall, that was between election day and Veterans Day. It's a crazy week. Yep. We are opting to move it back to December a couple reasons. It's going to align better with the report card. It's more traditional time for a trimester conference. When elementary schools used to be quarterly, it was back in November. I also think November, instructionally, we just wanted more full days. December gets a little bit wilder, and we just felt like we lost kind of that a lot of those midsection days. So that's that change. Really, the only other kind of significant one is January, the day after Martin Luther King Day this year is a PD day. But with busing and Ram Hebern and Marlborough, they felt strongly about having that a day in May. And so that I aligned to them because it was not a a hill to die on for us on May 6 to make that a PD day instead of that January day. So it's not changed the amount of days. It's just that one, the location changed. The winter winter break is super warm. Yeah. I know. It's I think there's something about it's in teacher land when Christmas is on a Wednesday. That gives you the Oh, yeah. There's something about that's the long wait here. You get it once every five, six years.
Aren't they lucky? I know. Yep. So nothing else significant that I think No. I'm not bitter at all. I know. Only
one other half day in March for families that have students at RAM that's not quite aligned. They have a mid not midterms. The things high schools have. I can't remember that. And SATs. Yeah. So whatever they have was earlier in the month, and so it's just a little early for us to have conferences when we just had them. So I we did have to move that half day down, that twenty sixth. But in terms of trying, I you know, obviously, we have a lot of families with kids in both schools, so I try to work that More the best I can. Was gonna ask I'm just more
concerned, I guess, with not necessarily families, the busing. Is there anywhere we have to have buses by ourselves? No. Yeah. That's why I moved to the twenty first. It's because it's amazing.
Yeah. The half days is okay. If we have a half and they don't Because they're still We're still busing as soon as we go before them. Yes. So we don't have to pay the extra to have because I know it's pretty expensive to have one day if we're Yes. Yeah. So no. No. No going rogue here. Okay.
We can we can vote on this. Sorry. So alright. So any further discussion on me? I move to accept the calendar as per the Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Bree? Bree, you you good? Yes. Alright. So the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five AES calendar is adopted. Thank you.
Thank you, Taylor, for your work on this. Steve motioned and Caitlin second in case you needed that. Yep.
Okay. Next up, we have the prelim preliminary preliminary discussion of the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget calendar. Sounds like a. Alright.
I get a Val for the works with her. And then I say work with her. She presented some dates and that worked with me. So I I took them. I'll pass these around, see if they work with you guys. Brie, I'll read them out. Just you know, what we're we're looking to doing is our budget workshops this year again. Well, I know I can just picture of it either. Yeah. Or what did we call them? I don't know. Budget workshop. Okay. I'm just talking about that. I I thought we had given them a different name because I kept getting yelled at the times. Budget building. Budget Yeah. Sounds owners. That's more educated sounding. Yeah. Once again, we would do these via Zoom, 07:00. I find it actually more beneficial to be able to sit in front of my computer and actually have it side by side with the budget. As we go through and act not only
this isn't just where Val presents us with the budget and goes, okay. Here's what I want, and then we pick it apart. We go through line by line. I think we've learned how to streamline it a little bit on certain things now that we've done it three years in a row, but we are obviously open to and encourage any public comment questions. I think we need to also look at opening our email address or putting it still open, so we need to publish that and make sure anyone who has questions
If I could just If I could interrupt you. Brie, I texted you a picture of the, the dates we have in front of you. Sorry to speak to No problem. So what
assuming the dates work, I will work with Val, and by work with Val, I mean, ask her what she wants and then should go as far as topics for each one. Well, we I think that has worked out well. Yeah. We started with more, and then we kind of Yeah. And then we we just go, okay. We're gonna go through these sections so everyone knows. Like, these are we're gonna cover it with So what would happen on January 3?
So I'm wondering why that's before our meeting. Because usually, we get a grand presentation of the budget before we start talking about things in detail.
Yeah. We haven't done that in two years. Oh, well. I see. We did each section. Yeah. So she would know. Yeah. Okay. So you So that would be a topic. Topic on the third. Got it. Thank you. And I believe, you know, there are certain ones we push later because, obviously,
you know, towards the end, it's e we're not gonna be perfect on enrollment. Mhmm. But the
further the closer we get to actually when we're at at enrollment, the easier it is to look at staffing. We don't wanna do that three weeks premature, find out five people are moving out of town, and that's gonna dramatically affect our And that's the only thing we had three of them last year? You guys have four listed on here? Have we had four? We had four. I thought we can find stuff. So find stuff to get more. Yeah. Yeah. We had, like, seven people. Yeah. We had, yeah, we had a lot last time. Put it out of my head.
As most people do every year. So the goal would be by the Wednesday, January 31 meeting, that we would have the, basically, outline of a of what would be our budget. We wouldn't be voting on it at that point, but that would be the final numbers by the end of that that we feel comfortable with. Following January 31 and prior to our February 14 meeting where we would vote on the budget, we'll look at having a public forum again to have so public can see the final numbers before we make a decision on it because it doesn't make a lot of sense. We, you know, to to give them final numbers and then then tell them we don't like this or we have questions after we voted on it because we no longer have any control over the budget once we've approved it.
Yeah. Are we looking to have that public forum be in person? I know one year we did that. I think last I don't think we did it last year. Did we do it? I don't think we did. We we've done the our issue so far has been I know what year we did it. Turnout. So Nobody.
But But it's not scheduled at this point. I would say I what I would like to do is table kinda by January 10 and maybe put out there and get some peelers Okay. As to whether we think people want to do it, because I don't wanna we we last time we did it, we took out the gym, and we had two people show up, and they were actually asking about it was parents asking about the combined free core class. No one had any questions. That was two years ago. Last year It was it was two years ago. It was. It was two years ago. It Last year, we did it via Zoom, I thought, last year. We And then And we did have some more people attend. First question I have, is anyone looking at these dates that has a, like, nope. I'm gonna miss a bunch of them or no? Miss the seventeenth. Alright. All of these will be recorded and available and put on the website and easy to, like, fully accessible. What's that? Uh-huh.
Of course, it is. I may be doing the first one from a plane. So But
Well, can you confirm it with him? Maybe I'll just put you on tape. Okay. I don't have any, but I know Caitlin, you said you might have a a conflict with one of them? The the week of the seventeenth. Okay. And then just how about you, Mike? Do you have any conflict? At this point, no. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And the meetings are relatively
The other thing, yeah, we point out that we have we have found these have a hard stop. They do. You know, ninety minutes. Right. You know, the idea we can sit here and you can dig in. We we wanna go after what makes the most sense, and, also, we doing it and going sitting here for three or four hours, and we're doing this many, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. And I think you, you know, diminishing returns sets in at that point. So if we know ninety minutes, let's dig in, get the items. So what assuming we approve the schedule, I would like to have before we break for the Christmas break, the subjects broken down is to and put out to the public along with the email. How we wanna do that, that would really be up to the board if we want to go as far as putting them in the River East again. Or I know we've done that before. Year. We we did that. I
I want input. Absolutely. We wanna get as much input as we can, but what I also don't wanna do is expend funds to advertise something again and again, and no one shows up to it. We don't have to pay to put it in the River East. It's free. If that's the case, then most absolutely do. Yep. Yep.
But I think before we do that, we should say, like, if we're gonna have another one that's specifically for questions, like, that should be Well, that on. That was what I was gonna ask because so you're looking to have a, like, a public forum meeting after the thirty first before Yeah. Basically, I would say that next one's So that's not next Wednesday. Yeah. Okay. So then February 7, they're looking to have a a public forum. Do we wanna do that Zoom? Do we wanna do that in person?
I I personally I I think Zoom is, to be honest, at this point, fine. We've we've done we've we've done the public. We it hasn't turned out or gotten enough people. People wanna use an excuse as to why they're not gonna show up. I I get it. But And all of these are recorded. So if anybody wanted to go back and take Not only are they recorded, but we're gonna also have the email address, which any of the emails can be will be sent to the email address and sent to all the board members so that we can look at it before the prior, which is one of the reasons I want, like, make sure that goes live along with the subject. So people wanna look and go, okay. I know you're talking salary. This subject. Right. Because we're only going that's one of other we're only going to discuss. Know, You if we get a question that's about salaries and we're not we're talking about technology or this on this particular day, that's what we're talking about. On the public forum day, we can talk about everything. But in order to make keep us on track, because otherwise, it it just becomes
because the the timeline, I'm assuming Steve said you made this these suggestions, so these dates are good for you. And what you're asking for is before Christmas break to have the the topics of my meeting. For what we're gonna talk about. Okay. And then the public forum would be via Zoom at at 07:00. Okay.
And that way, it gives us input and the ability to make changes to it, the final prior to Before the And that so in order for that to work, the one thing I've already asked this line, superintendent, make sure we have something to give people to review prior to that public forum so that they can ask the questions on the budget where we're be. So that would need to be on the thirty first? Well, sometime before, I would say, by that thirty first, we should have the final by the say, the Friday or Monday, we should have a document that people can look at with all the final numbers. And how would people get that to look at? We would need to post it on We'll post it online on we have a budget section of the website. Okay. We can ask the town to link to it if we'd like. I know they're already linked to our website. They're linked to our website. And but make sure we inform the people, anyone in the town, like, if you here's
Here's the proposed budget. Well, no. Here's where you would go to get it. Make sure they so if they go if somebody goes over to the town and he wants to, you know, we wanna make it the idea is not is to make this as accessible as possible. We're not
Yeah. We we wanna be as transparent as we can. And I and I think as long as you guys are okay with it in terms of posting outside of the River East, I think it would make sense to ask the town to post it on their Facebook page. We can post it through, like No notification. You'll email. So just okay. So just so we're clear. So we're gonna start doing the budget dates starting Wednesday, January 3. We have our regular board of ed meeting, the tenth, and then the seventeenth, the twenty fourth, and the thirty first. We'll have a proposed budget ready by two four now for people to look at for the public forum meeting on 02/07. Mhmm. And that proposed budget will be on our website. It can be linked to the town so people can look at it and have it before the public forum on 02/07. Okay. Alright.
And the last thing I would point out is that Wednesday, January 10, as it says regular BOE meeting, the reason we're doing these workshops is to be able to focus in on the budget. So that
we're really not gonna be talking about that budget on there. That's so we can get the other board business done Right. And focus our efforts during these meetings. When can we when we run the ad in the River East, is it just is is all the meetings on there? Like Yes. That's what we did last year. So and then will the email address be on there? Yep. Okay. Alright. So I think what what needs to what it and then can we I don't know how they decide. We can do that. It's just an article. Oh, it's an article? Okay. It's like an article on the Andover section. But maybe in the article, you know, we have that a proposed budget to be reviewed is will be ready on 02/04 and can be found at the a know, the website. Yeah. Yeah. Last year, I think what we wrote was just the dates of the meetings and then the email and, like, where to go to find more information if you go to the website. Can you take care of putting that together for okay. Thank you. Alright. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve these meeting dates? I'll make a motion to approve the meeting dates. Thank you, Jerry. Can I get a second? I'll second. Alright.
Any further discussion? Alright. I guess my sorry. Yep. In terms of posting it to places, I feel like we should have the topics prior to when that goes. Right. Absolute yes. Yes. Absolutely. Which do you have what we had last year? You'll look after? Somewhat. It is on the website. That's true. When so what's our timeline? Because January 3 is right around the corner. So when do we need to put this in the River East? So it's gotta be in by Tuesday at noon. Tuesday at noon prior. Which would be the twenty sixth.
When when do you feel comfortable with topic wise breaking it down? Because imagine it'd be similar in last year. Correct? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Last year. Okay. Yeah. Alright. So we should be able to get that by next Tuesday? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So we can get it gotta go in the River East by 12:26. Okay. Then I will follow-up, you know, on Monday.
Okay. If we get it in by next Tuesday at noon, it'll be in that Friday. So it'll be in the Friday right before everyone goes Christmas break? So it'll be twenty second. So that'd be great. Okay. Alright. Okay. So
just so so you'll work so, Steve, you'll work I'll make sure she has the information she needs. She will craft it. So it's fine. We didn't actually need to look We've had a first and a second. No. I know. But I'm just trying to get a game plan here. So I asked about it. Yeah. So Steve's gonna you're gonna work with Caitlin to get her the topics, and then so you have everything for the Mhmm. The copy for what gets put in the River East. Okay. And to the town and to Correct. Correct. PTA. And when when do we wanna put it in the River East? Because if our first meeting is January 3, when do we wanna put it? Just said. We can have it by next Tuesday, which would be the following Friday. Would it be the twenty second? Yes. Have it in okay. Is that too far away, or do we want it the twenty ninth? Honestly, they'll probably put it in there for us. But we can do it both. We can do it both. Yeah. I'm asking, but yeah. Okay. That would be good if we can have it just because it's the twenty second and then Christmas and then everybody forgets. That whole week is just a blur anyway. So okay. I'm sorry. So we did have a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Got
it. Alright. Ingression, that was Carrie and Mike Carrie motion.
Okay. Alright. Thank you. Alright. So that has been passed. Any other action items? I don't think so. Anybody have anything else? Okay. Alright. So our next alright. So our next regular board meeting will be January 10, but the first budget meeting will be January 3. And, again, these meetings will be via Zoom. And like Steve said, I know, Brie, this is gonna be your first first go at it. We do have a hard stop. It's an hour and a half. You know, we do the public is invited, but, you know, it's basically we just run through that particular section of the budget. So and then items for next meeting
is the budget, capital needs, and then policy book updates, which is probably add you would have an update with the board of finance in terms of policy by that point. Right. Yep. So board of finance policy update. Right. Alright.
New junior? Oh, you're taking over the Celestron? I'm okay.
You're right ahead. I I it was so it's you know, we're so lost here now. We don't know what to do. Don't know.
Alright. So I'll move to adjourn. Okay. Can I get a second? All set. Thanks, Shannon. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Bree, you good?
Yes. Alright. Thank you. Feel better, Bree. Alright. You wanna go to sleep? You watched last year's budget where