Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
January 10, 2024 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Okay. All right. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order the Andover Education, Andover Elementary School Board of Education, regular meeting for 01/10/2024. Let's do the, pledge of allegiance. 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. Okay. Comments from the public? I don't see anyone, other than board members joining us online. Do we have any communications? Does anybody have any communications? Do you have any in Taylor? None? And the
dedicated email, there weren't any. Okay. Oh, good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Approval of minutes. Did everybody have an opportunity to take a look at the minutes from last minutes from last month's meeting? Okay. Motion to approve.
Well, I'm sorry. Thank you, Steve. Alright. We have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of December 13. Seconded. Jerry, thank you. Jerry will second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.
Right. Thank you. I think we heard everybody. Alright. So the regular meeting minutes of December 13 have been approved. And then we also need to approve the meet minutes from the special meeting of January 3, which was the budget seminar.
I move that we approve the NS to the Special Board of Education meeting Wednesday, 01/03/2024,
the budget seminar. Thank you, Jerry. Can I have a second? Alright. Caitlin will second. All in favor?
Since we're talking about this, I would like to talk about the possibility of doing maybe full surveys Okay. For teachers Okay. Because well, actually, interviews are great. Finding out what's going on before they leave is even better. Okay.
So why don't we talk about that when we talk about the the survey so we can we can we can put that onto the the item a b, for the exit interview? Okay. Absolutely. Okay. Any celebrations? Anybody wanna celebrate anything? Happy New Year. New Year.
Getting home safely. Getting where you got home safely. Okay. All right. My oral report. All right. Just a couple of things that I wanted to just kind of bring to just talk about. First of all, how was what is everyone's feeling about our first budget workshop, meeting from January? Caitlin, do you have any comments or anything? I don't really have any comments. I don't think it as well. We can put together. Okay. Jerry, how about you? Well,
this is the this is the third time we've done this. Yes. I don't know about everybody else. I it's kind of getting old for me. I don't know how much how many people in the public access them. I think what's the what's the bottom line? What's the goal? And if the goal is to get out there and present it to people in the community prior to the budget kerfuffle that happened in May, I think that it doing it is just well, made itself for somebody who's new. But I know as far as I'm I'm finding that it it it's nitpicking pretty things, little things, and that, if you wanna do that for the public, that's great, but nobody shows up. And
I know Valerie makes herself available to anyone and everyone. If I had a question, I go to Valerie. Right. And or I go to Terry, and I can get my answer. If I I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but, I mean, one or two meetings went back to present was fine, but I think we got over till. Okay. Okay. Do you can you sorry.
But before if I just wanna go around the room and then we can kinda give you know, we can start talking about it. Well, can I ask a question? Not really having gone through them before.
Out of those meetings, are there actual, historically, changes or clarity that comes out of it or information that is helpful? Right? Or is it really just this is the budget, and that's it? Because if it really is just presenting it, then, yes, it's probably a waste of time. But if there are actually changes or clarifications or information that's being gleaned from it that otherwise wouldn't, then it is value added. But I I mean, I agree if it is if you're just spinning your wheels, it is a waste of time. Okay.
Mike, do you have any any comments regarding the the budget workshop, the first one that we had, and and any comments in in general?
I mean, not not anything particular, but just to kind of piggyback on what Jerry entertained. Like like, I I think the comments have been shared makes sense to me, but I think if we go back to that idea of transparency, you know, even though nobody may attend the meeting, the fact that we can say that we were as transparent as we are, that it's on record that we've talked about this in such detail, I I think that that holds some pretty important meaning with the public. Sure. Steve?
So, just kinda now, I guess, piggyback on all the other comments. The two things I would say is, number one, for those of us on the board, if we wanna rewind three years to the first time we did this, that I think we all we all gained quite a bit of information that we hadn't seen previously. And so the question would be at what point okay. Now we're saying we don't necessarily need it, but how long are we gonna go before all of a sudden we lose that information that we gained last time? The other thing I would say is it's I don't wanna say plan necessarily to be boring to start, but we go through kind of the low hanging fruit for I mean, the entire thing we talked about was a $25,000,
$26,000 lot set of items in a $4,000,000 budget. That that is by design. It's time to start with the introduction because if you look, the first half of meeting was presenting was presenting unless actually drilling down into a lot of the line items. Because, frankly, I don't know if any of us are gonna sit here and argue about whether we need $500 in third grade textbooks. I think that seems like a reasonable figure. The for the meetings coming up will be a little more, I think, debatable. And, realistically, they're what we make it. Right? We when I think, Brian, you were you asked about, do we have the ability we have this is our opportunity to say, no. Wait a minute. That doesn't make sense to me, or I don't that what you're proposing or I don't wanna see this here, that that's what we need to use this as. You know, we can it's how engaged we wanna be with it. We can just sit here and listen and be presented to and not ask any questions and say, okay. Sounds good and move on and then present a budget.
And we really have no leg to stand on when we get if we get questions about the budgets that we didn't ask. So I would just I I get that it's kinda boring. But if you look at what other districts, including RAM, are doing where they have six, seven, eight budget workshops, we have four. I mean, I I it stinks, but in part of it, I had to say, maybe one of the boring parts, but it's part of our job. So that's where I'm at. Thank thank you, Steve. How about you, Shanna?
I think it's very helpful. I and I also echo with what Jerry has said, just an ongoing frustration about how do we get the public involved. So, I think it's very important for us to continue to learn and for Valerie to have, that forum to present the details about a budget before we just, prior to this, we would get presented with a budget all at the same time, that was not productive. So I like that part of it, and we just need to figure out how to engage the public more if at all possible. Thanks.
Thanks, Shannon. And, Caitlin, what were you gonna say? I was just gonna say, I mean, in terms of public engagement, like, if there was notification, like, put it everywhere that there could be notification. So to me, at the end of the day, like, I know several townspeople that have told me from last year that they went back and watched them after they were recorded, but prior to, like, the town budget meeting. So I still think it's important that they exist and that they're out there regardless of whether or not those people are actively involved beforehand. The only the only other consideration that I would maybe have would be for us to have some other meeting closer to when the town meeting is that people could ask, like, ask for feedback. Because what what seems to happen every year is we get to the town meeting, and then someone's there nitpicking about one specific line in the school budget. And at that point I mean, by that point anyway, it wouldn't matter. But, like, would those people show up to a meeting closer to the town meeting when it was in their head that they cared about it to
to to find out more information? I just Right. Right. So my my only other, like, comment or question was, so last time, right, it was really the first time we were seeing that information. So I think for me too, having it in advance to, like, be able to prepare and say, okay. Well, what is this? Let me write down my questions, I think, would have been a little bit more helpful. Okay.
Yeah. Absolutely. Thing I think we need to consider is that, correct me if I'm wrong, 75% of it's budget. So it'd be salaries, payroll, and employees. And that they have contract. Right. I don't know. Do they have enough unlimited number of kids in front of the room? There's a lot of Yeah. And that if I may. No. You were next. So so
I I think the difficulty is and we've tried this a number of ways. No way is ever gonna be the perfect way. Caitlin, to your point about why couldn't we do something closer too. When you look at the town charter and you look at the way the budget operates, so, you know, the school under the superintendent will be presenting the board of education with information, information to make sure you know what's going on, you know, the curriculum, you know, the instruction, you know, the contracts and the reasons why we have these things. And then that superintendent school budget gets voted on on the February 14, and that becomes your budget. And it's no longer a superintendent's budget. It's the board of education's budget. And so to Shannon's point, the purpose and the reason why we did it this way these last couple years is, in an ideal world, you guys should be the ones that are able to speak to that budget from there on in. And what we were finding, actually, Shannon and I had talked about it when she was chair back years ago,
was we get to the town meeting, and they start asking questions that the board then goes, yeah. And so then I was on the spot to do all of that answering anyways. And so over the course of time, it was like, how do we not only put it out there for the public, but make sure that the board can answer to all of the sections of the budget in in a little bit more informative manner? Now the charter says in March that that document that you guys have passed as the board of education's proposed budget for next year goes to the board of finance. And from March on by charter, it's kind of not yours right then either. It's they are then on the board of finance going through that budget. So at that point, it wouldn't I mean, you've given your final draft to them to say this is what we've accepted and voted on. So it wouldn't be appropriate at that point in April and early May to say, now let's go revisit that and hear from the public because even if they said to you, we now actually think that this that's actually for them to take up at the town meeting when that's not your meeting anymore.
That's the board of finance, the board of selectments meeting to present board of finance, actually, but to present their budget then to the people. So I know, ideally, it's like, well, if we could only this, well, if could only that, but it's only ours for a short while. And it's actually not even ours, mine, and then yours. And then the Board of Finance is once it goes to the town. Because when it gets voted on a referendum, if it gets voted down, it's it's up to the board of finance then to take that on. So we don't you know, it's not us. It's not board selected. It's not so I think having something closer, it's their responsibility at that point, the town's responsibility to say, this together makes up our budget. Yeah. And so we really shouldn't then be because it's their town budget then that they're
representing or presenting, I should say, to the townspeople, not just our 4,000,000. So
Absolutely. Yeah. So I guess then, like, the frustration in terms of trying to get people to be aware of it now as opposed to then, it seems like every time we wind up at a town meeting, people ask specific school budget questions. Should we should we, in the future, like, the board, board of ed in general,
not answer any of those? Because at that point drive that meeting when they drive that meeting, they've always been good about kind of looking my way. Yeah. And kind of sometimes Mark will say or Jeff McGuire will say somebody will say that. Like, if if they feel that at that point, it's a valid enough question. But I do feel like if you've done your due diligence, if you've had these workshops and they're posted, if people wanna get ready for the town meeting They could. They can go back and look at them and see what questions were asked. We have an email that they could send a question, and it could get answered. And then if they're not happy with the answer, if they say, no. I I I don't think that should be in the budget, then it's still appropriate for them to say that, but now they're educated on it. They could say, we spoke with the board, and they said that this is in here for this reason, and we're not happy with that. But I feel like over the years, you've you've added all these extra steps, but I think people do have to realize that February 14, when you pass a budget, if you pass it that night and you hand it over with a letter, and Celeste sends a letter to to Mark Brinker and says, here you go, At that point,
you're done till the town meeting. Like,
you know? So I don't I I don't know, like Can I jump in here for a second, Val? So I'm sorry. What? Can I jump in for one second? Yeah. I'm done. Go ahead, Steve. I'm sorry. Just on the community engagement. It's been something that's been very important to me over the past three years, and I've really pushed to try and get more. And there comes a point where those questions are being asked by the same two or three people. They're aware of what we're doing. Absolutely. They wanna choose not to attend or not to go and do that and ask you know what? We're not going to appease everyone. I feel like there comes a point where we can do everything we can do, and then, you know, we'll sit back and kinda hope for the best. But I I don't think that means we cut back on what we're doing or we don't broadcast or do anything. But, you know, short of me walking up to their door and asking if they have any direct questions. I mean, I've gone as far as posting my personal number on Facebook and not gotten any question. No. You actually asked last year a couple of them on one of these Zooms.
You said, you know, if you have a specific question, can you email it to us? And we never got an email. So, you know, to your point, I understand that there are some people that are asking that question for a reason in public. They already have the answer. They already know the answer. So you can't avoid that. But I think the general public, if they have questions ahead of time, these are here. They're posted for them to watch. And I and I really do think that we go line by line and we give plenty of time. Because to your point, Caitlin, they're getting this in January and a budget that's being voted on by you guys in February. So they actually have March and April and May, sometimes into June, to to to do a little bit of research on that. Right. And just for clarification,
the salary and benefits are at 80%. We did a calculation, I think, in the last year. And like, there's not very much wiggle room because it's mostly contractual. Right. Yeah. Okay.
Does anybody have anything else that they would like to add on this kind of discussion? No. Just just a reminder, our next workshop is next Wednesday, the seventeenth at 7PM. It is by Zoom. The topic, for that one will be the special ed and pre k. And then on Wednesday, the twenty fourth is the next one. We will talk about salaries, insurance, benefits. And then on Wednesday, the thirty first, it's facilities and maintenance. On February 7, we'll have a public forum at 7PM. And then as Val stated, we'll have our regular board of ed meeting on February 14 where we will we'll vote on it. So, you know, just real quick, just wrapping it up. You know, I agree, Jerry. I know they're tedious. They're they are. But I think I I agree with, you know, I agree with what Steve said, and I agree with what Shannon said and also with Mike. I think they're important regardless if people attend, regardless if they watch them. We're putting forth an effort to be transparent. We're talking about it. Not only is it educational for the town, but it's educational for us. It's an opportunity for us to ask questions and to go over it as well. So,
you know, I don't I don't know if we can squeeze them in or or, you know, make them any, you know, less, but I think they're necessary. And I think, you know, I think we need to go go through with it and having that dedicated email regardless if anybody emails us. It's there. It's out there. So, you know? Yeah. One more so another thing on my report, I just wanted to talk to you all about, we, we did a walk through last Friday. Really not a walk through, more like a meeting in the hallway of me, Valerie, Eric Anderson, and, Steve, Campbell, our custodian. It's the town's intention, for this year's budget, to put money into our capital fund. And, Eric was looking to get an idea of what it is you know, what concerns we have here at the school, so that he has a number that he can put into this, you know, fund. And when he presents it, you know, to the board of select, and then he can say, well, you know, we did a walk through. So, you know, we identified a couple areas of concern. The top two areas of concern that we identified for this year's, you know, budget would be the plumbing. I know we've talked about that before. You know, we have three nonfunctioning bathrooms in the, like, four, five, and six wing, if you will.
And we've had a a company come out and give us an estimate and to the tune of almost $200,000 to fix that. And then the other, the other area of concern would be the elevator. It's functioning. It's working. It's fine. However, if any part were to break, all of the parts that are in there now are obsolete. So if anything were to break in that, there is no part to replace it because the parts that are in there are obsolete. So Steve had talked to the elevator company, and he's gonna get us a quote, a a nonbinding quote. But rough numbers, he was told by them,
would be anywhere between 50 to 60,000 to kinda bring it up to code, bring it up to modern, you know, to where they would replace all of those parts. And then if something were to break, now we can, you know, we can fix it. Another thing we talked about was getting the back back of the building, the the back the blacktop crack sealed. And after the meeting, I believe Eric and Steve went out there and took took a look at that. And then also we talked about the parking lots, the upper lot being paved. That's on, you know, the town's agenda, if you will, to get that paved this spring. And, obviously, the lower lot, but that's, you know, that's kinda farther down the road. We did talk about doing upgrading to our lighting. It's working. It's fine, but we would like to eventually go all LED to make it much more obviously cost effective and energy efficient. But there are rebates and things that we can work with Eversource. But, again, that's, you know, kind of farther down the road. It's fine. It's working, but that's something on our radar. And we also talked about the roof and the boiler system, you know, the gym, which, at the time, we thought was much older than than what it actually is. Steve found out that it's a lot younger than than it was. So
overall, we're in very, very good shape. You know, Valerie and and Taylor and and Steve do a fantastic job of maintaining everything, having things looked at. But the two things that we're gonna ask for are gonna be the plumbing and the elevator. That is all I have for my oral report.
Valerie, you wanna take it away? Yep. No. I don't have too much more in here. Yep. We we we did talk, though, and we'll bring have to bring it up when we get to that workshop about these projects being capital projects on the town side. Right. And so not to appear in our operational budget. Right. Yeah. So that's definitely something I just wanna make sure when we get to that last topic that we are very clear about because that would be something that they would oversee. In terms of the the budget seminars, as soon as we can. I know some people have asked, like, why can't we get, like, the PowerPoints up the very next day? So I did just wanna clarify that we don't put things on the website ourselves here. We go through our our tech our our tech vendor because we have to be compliant when it's put on there with, like, ADA regulations. And so it has to, like, be maneuvered so that it can go on there so that somebody could access it, like, with the t TDD. Is it TTD or TDD? T t It's only because you're asking me now. So for people who are using devices for people who have the end of the gaps. And so I know sometimes it gets frustrating for people because they're like, why can't you just post it the next day? We don't actually post it. It goes first through them. And so sometimes it takes a few days.
We do have access to the obviously, I have access to the slides, and we have access to the recordings, but it does take a few days. And I just wanted us to say that because I know a couple people, you have said, I don't understand. The meeting was two days ago, and we sometimes just have to wait till they get that on there. So it takes a few days to be to be patient with that. I did let's see. Two other things. We spoke about this ahead of time. We have Taylor will talk about some of the curriculum and instruction professional development. The professional development that I've been working on mostly is safety and security, And so I'll update you in February on that, but that that's what I've been participating in terms of what we can do to make sure that we are up with not only mandates, but suggestions. When you get to board business, there is one policy here tonight. The other thing that I am doing now, and then I'll meet with Shannon or whoever else it is that winds up the policy liaison, but I'm going through the cave and shipment new 2024 legislation to find out what has to be in our book Mhmm. So that we're not just going through the sections and updating our existing ones. For example, there will have to be some acknowledgment of AI in our policy, so might make some of ours obsolete. Or in the case of Shipment, they often will go through and add that to their existing policy. So I won't meet with Shannon until I have all of that from cave or from shipment as to what their recommendation is for, but the next set of policies we'd be going through are the legislative requirements now for 2024.
And the last thing and that was it. Yeah. That was it. And then in terms of grants, we don't have any new ones right now that we're waiting on. So for the most part, what Terry and I have just been working on is making sure that any ones that are closing out at the end of this year, they generally speaking, will close out in June. So now we go back through and we see what's left in each of the particular line item sections and see what the approvable expenditures are and see what we can put in there. So that'll be, like, the next two months with those existing grants. So that's that. Taylor, you're up.
Alright. So, first thing, just to talk a little bit about enrollment, I did reach out to families this week just to get the ball rolling on pre k and k enrollment. We have we do anticipate, as we've kind of talked briefly with the kindergarten age change, that enrollment for preschool and kindergarten may look just a little bit different. And in some ways, we don't can't quite anticipate how and when. But just in this week, already getting kind of enrollment inquiries for even the following year, like the '20 what was that? '25, '26?
Ah. Sounds like it's so far away. And I think that is really just a sign of what's to come of families being really proactive and trying to ensure they have a pre K seat. So we are appreciative of people getting the word out there. So in terms of enrollment right now, just wanted to share we are your report says two thirteen, but we anticipate four students starting this month, one in pre K, one second, one third, one sixth, which is exciting. That will put us to two seventeen, and then I anticipate one more enrolled in the following month. So it puts us to two eighteen. So it's exciting. Right. Yeah. And and not just pre K. It was exciting to see some kind of the upper grades. So only one house, I think, on the market now. Three contingent of. Just saying. So not that we look it up every day, but we do.
One of business is closing on Friday. That's
one of the three. Yeah. So it's exciting. We're we're continuing to grow. So the enrollment is looking good, but we'll keep you posted certainly throughout the spring as we look at pre K and K enrollment and where we're at with that. Professional development, we do have a PD day coming up on Tuesday, so a lot going on that day. One of the events on that day, which I haven't talked about too much this year, is we're working with a reading consultant, Barb Golub, who works with a lot of local schools. She's a published author, and she is a reading consultant that comes into the school and provides kind of that what you need now. So she does some instructional coaching where she's in rooms, some modeling of her own instruction, and then also PD sessions where, like, on Tuesday where she's doing that curriculum work with the teachers. You know, we have so we are participating in the ten day state mandated science of reading PD, which is great, but that's if you pictured kind of the one size fits all. Right? That's every district in Connecticut participating. But what has been really powerful for us with this with having a reading consultant is we can take all that knowledge and what actually fits us here at Andover, our kids, our scenario,
our classrooms, or all of those things. So it's just been going so fantastic. So I did ask Val to continue to increase that amount of professional development we're we're working through her, which is great. We've been working with second and third, and she'll be able to do a little work with kindergarten and first grade now. So we're excited about that. And I'm sorry. What was her name again? Barb Golub. Oh. Yes. Barb Golub. So you can certainly look her up through the website if anyone wants to see. In. Okay. Yep. She's been here. Yeah. I had worked with her prior to here, and so just teachers really like her. She you know, it's kind of it's it's relevant. Like I said, she's in the room. Kids have met her now. It's so it's it's great. And then the other piece of professional development that is the other most pressing piece is our NIAC accreditation. So we are nearing and nearing the day. In just a couple of weeks, we will submit on February 1 to say, hey. We're ready. We're here. And then there's a three month grace period where they say, we won't come for three months just in case you're not ready. So they give us, like, that ninety days to wrap up anything we need to do, which means we anticipate they will arrive between May 1. They have a six month window. So it's May 1 to the end of October. We hope it's this year. It just would be nice to kind of get that all resolved, but pre K and K are will be working
furiously over the next few weeks just again to dot those i's and get everything up to date. So we are ready to go on that. Did I miss anything? I just want to mention just so as you the board is discussing later just because you brought it up just for your information, we do give a staff survey every year. That's anonymous following same time as the parent survey and student survey. So last year, I did share portions of all three of those, so that's helpful for for information there. And the spelling bee and invention convention? Bee and invention convention are just whoo. Take a lot out of me. I know it takes a lot of the kids, but a lot out of me. So we are, this week, conducting all of the classroom first round classroom bees. We'll finish on Friday second and fifth that need to finish. And then January 30 is the spelling bee, the big shebang here. And then we will be excited to send our winner to the state level. And then Invention Convention, the fourth graders are moving along nicely, and then we have about 15 students in our after school program working on their inventions. And that's been kind of fun because we haven't had the younger kids do it yet. We're making some really fun things with five year olds. I really, really enjoy it. It's the highlight that we have a good time with staff who are running it because, you know, you're trying to ask them questions. Yeah. So that's that'll be exciting. That's right at the end of Feb end of Feb, early March, and then we will have four. Our group's a little bit smaller this year as we kind of change our dynamics. So I actually just got the email today that we'll have four inventors move on to the state level. So I'll definitely keep you guys posted because I'm sure some of you might
volunteer to judge with us. So I will give that invitation out shortly. What the selling be on January 30. Can parents come to that? I think you would Yes. So, typically, we invite the families of the 15 spellers. Okay. What time do you know yet? Or Yeah. I do know. I know that. It's on the calendar here. Just asking for a fact.
Let's see. January 30. School's gonna be 10:30. Okay. Cool. Yep. So we'll send that out, and those winners the 15 winners will get their study list, on Friday as well. Great. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for
Taylor or for Val? I'm sorry. Does anybody have any questions with Taylor or for Val? Folks online? Mike, Steve, Shannon, do you have any questions? Nope. No? Okay. Nope. How about you, Steve? Okay. Okay.
Financial report, Terry. How are doing? We're good. We're right on track. Part of your packet about halfway through, you'll see the the financials. This pretty much includes salaries through the end of December. Like I said, we're right on track. We've only had nine pay periods for the salaried people, so we still have 17 more to go. So you're not gonna see 50% use there. You're gonna see about a third, which is what it is. Does anybody have any questions about anything specific specific line items on the budget? I guess I can just ask a format question. Of course.
I guess my question is there are line items in here that are more than a 100% expended. Which one specifically? Like, the summer school, for instance. Summer school, that is well, it's more than a 100%, but we had to move money over from the grant to cover the overage. Yeah. And there's a couple like that. I guess my question is Yes. Why don't we report it as a negative in the balance? Like, why are we why are we showing word, like, whole?
Well, the expenses for summer school, like, we have the $22.60 that is there is for the the ESY program that we run-in July only. Now we did have a summer grant that we were using other things for. That money did not come through until August or September, and so we had to pay for some things out of there. And then when that money finally did come in, it it offset that amount, and that's why it shows a 100%. So, basically, we use the $22.60 for ESY. The additional was for other so summer programs, but that was reimbursed by the grant. Okay. So we're just we're not seeing that money back. You're not seeing all the the drill down is what you're not seeing. You have one question. Sure. Go ahead.
For professional education services for PT and OT. What's the what's the number? Oh, sorry. It's okay. 320. Is it 320. 3. Okay. PT and OT. Those are both at a 100%. Is that because they're, like, contractually, like, those are paid through I encumbered those. I encumbered those because
I was a little concerned at the beginning of the year that we're it was a there was we were spending a lot of money. That's why I'm asking. I just wanted to make sure we have enough for the year, so I encumbered it. Obviously, with our mental health grant, we might be able to offset some of these expenses,
but right now, we're right on track. Okay. And those and those providers are, like, you know what Yes. Their pay is. It doesn't vary. Correct.
Okay. But, you know, even even though they have their they've got contracts at a certain dollar amount and, you know, they are still in the very beginning of the year, it seems like, you know, things are going over a little bit. So I got a little concerned and made sure that we had enough in that budget line. Okay. But now we're on track. Okay.
Mike or Steve or Shannon, do you have any questions for Terry? No. Thank you. Yeah. No questions. I'm all set. Steve? Alright. We'll get back. Okay. Liaison reports.
So I just wanna talk a little bit about liaisons.
I know in the past, we've we've had liaisons, and now this is a good opportunity to to look at them, decide who wants to be certain liaisons. Maybe we have new liaisons. Maybe what we've had before, we don't necessarily need anymore. So I just kinda wanna talk about the ones that we've had in the past, and then if anybody has any suggestions about, you know, any new liaisons, new liaisons going forward. So I know in the past we've had, you know, for example, Shannon, you've you've always been our policy liaison. I know, Jerry, you've done curriculum and instruction. Caitlin, I think you've done, like, communications. I think I was kind of, like, public relations for and then I know Steve was our, like, financial liaison. I think all of those are extremely important. I think we we we could keep those. But does anybody feel like we need maybe another liaison, maybe like a capital improvement or, you know, something like that? So I kinda just wanted to open it up for discussion to see, number one, if what you've done before, if you wanna keep doing that, if you don't want to, or if you wanna change it, and then if there's maybe a different one that we that we'd like to do for for this year. So I'll with you, Caitlin.
Since trying to have the triboard meeting, I would I think that having that position in terms of liaison I can't say that word. Liaison. Liaisoning. Sure. There you go. Between the other boards.
Okay. I think it's important. I would like to continue Okay. Doing that. Alright. So I think it was communications. I think I think that is It falls within that. Okay. Alright. So then, Caitlin, if you wanna be the communications liaison, I think that would be great. Jerry, I know curriculum and instruction. I don't know if that's something that you wanna keep keep doing. Okay. I know, Brie, this is your your first time here. You know, before I kinda had it was was it public relations that was it called, Val? Or what what was Community engagement. Community engagement, community programs. Okay. Okay. Those are kind of things you were doing with PTA and stuff. Alright. I don't know, Brie, if that's something that maybe you would be interested in. Sure. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Shannon, are you still interested in being our policy liaison?
Yes. Thank you. And I also would like to continue as the CIP liaison.
Thank you. Okay. Yep. I have that written down as well. Okay. So Shannon, if you could be the policy and the CIP liaison, that would be great. Mike, I don't know if maybe, I know if you would be interested, I don't know, Jerry, if you would be interested in having Mike help you with curriculum and instruction. I know Mike is a teacher. I think that that would be, Mike, if if you would be interested in in helping Jerry with that.
I would be more than happy to assist Jerry in whatever way he needs me to. Okay. Great. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Welcome, Jerry.
So one of the other ones that we never had somebody that was able to do because it's 11:00, one day. Could be Zoom or in person is we're supposed to have somebody that goes to school readiness. They're supposed to be a board of ed school readiness liaison. Okay. And we haven't really ever filled that position. At 11:00?
Because when I was on that as a parent, the meetings were at, like, 04:30 or something.
No. What so once I got here, they're in the they're during the day so the teachers can attend. They're actually at 10:30 this year. We partnered with Hebron, so we have a combined school readiness council now. How often are they? Once a month. Less than once a month. Now we went to three, four, five a year. Wednesday. Wednesday
is, like, a hard note. I'd have to triple check it. Other days, I'm I'm available. Are they Zoomable at times? Most people Zoom.
Yeah. I mean, I I could probably do that if it's once a month. But
Let's see. What was February 8 is our next one? What day of the week is that? Let's go. Thursday. Thursday. Thursday. So that's close. Thursday. I have a lot. And
you said at 10:30? Yes. So there are four remaining. One in February, three remaining, one in April, one in May. Then they're on Thursday. Always Thursdays? The one in February April 18, I'd have to look it up, and May 9. April 18 is a Thursday. And May 9 is a Thursday. So we must have picked Thursdays. So I can't do Thursday. Okay. I can do Thursday. Okay. Alright. So today, you are Welcome to the school readiness video. You're gonna love every minute.
I mean, well, so I should ask. How long do they typically last? Does that make me Less. Okay. Right. Yes.
Spend time. Okay. Yes. Thank you, Greg. Thank you. And, Steve, are you there? Yes. I'm here. Okay. Okay. So we were talking about liaisons. I know you've been our financial liaison. And if you would like to continue with that, I think that would be great.
Yeah. That that's fine. The two comments I would have just as we're talking about liaisons Yeah. Is I feel like, number one, you mentioned I know Shannon is our liaison to the CIP committee, but I do feel like just from a maintenance at one point we had when I believe it was Adrian was here, and I don't think he ever got filled, like, a maintenance or some kind of projects liaison making sure that kind of stuff happens. So I'd like to see that filled, and that would be something I wouldn't mind being involved with. The other thing is I think as liaisons, the one thing that know, we tried it with onboard board. We tried it with a couple different things. We need to find ways to hold ourselves accountable for deliverables. And I don't know that as a board, we're very good at doing that, where we say we're gonna do this, and, you know, myself included, you know, making sure, hey. We're gonna have a timeline for the budget meetings. And, like, I think we need to come up with a formal way as a board whether that's using
you know, I know we have access to Google. I think there's task list in there where things can be assigned and whether that was overseen by a secretary or the chairperson. I think we need to if we're gonna have these liaison roles, a, define what they are. Because frankly, we're we're we're we are now liaisons, and I don't know that there's anyone here who could completely define what exactly it is we would just agreed to do. So I think we need to look at defining those and then making sure we hold ourselves accountable to whatever it is we say we're gonna do.
Okay. Well, this is Shannon. I think there's a difference, Celeste, between, what we decided to do, and I wouldn't really call it liaisons. So however you wanna define it, liaison is really a liaison between committees or between boards. And what we were really doing is, instead of establishing subcommittees or committees of the board, we were having kind of point people in charge of different, issues or different areas that the board is in charge of. So that's what I saw. Steve is, you know, kind of in charge of the finances. Myself will take on policy and policy related issues or whatnot. But the other thing I was gonna ask is, it would be great to have liaisons to other boards, and I think that's too much of a task to ask of of Caitlin in and of herself. Typically, the liaison attends the other board's meetings. So for Caitlin to have to attend all of the board of finance and board of selectmen wouldn't be fair, but it would be good, I think,
to have liaisons or people who are responsible to those other boards, to be able to come back and report what's going on in those other boards to the board of education, presuming that not everybody gets to attend all those board meetings. So that would be a potential role as as a liaison.
It almost sounds, Shannon, like we might need to come up with another term then because I agree they're an actual liaison's person who's going to serve as a middleman between our board and the other boards are, and what we're talking about is yes. Instead of having where larger boards have the ability to have subcommittees and they have a finance committee, they have a policy committee, we don't have that. We're having a single point person on that. Single point person idea in lieu of the subcommittees is where I was specifically talking about accountability and ensuring that if we say we're gonna do something and getting those things done. So I don't know if for clarification reasons, it would make sense to come up with another term.
Right. Well, I thought we had kinda deemed that, you know, these are and I don't know how Val had termed them before. I know that we had basically said this person is in charge of this, that, and every other thing. But, yes, Valerie, you, I can see you. So do you remember, Shannon?
I think we're we're get we're pushing two things. We've evolved that liaison. When they began, they began because we would have 10 subcommittee meetings a month with everybody in the room here. I mean, if if we we did that, because like you said, we're just much smaller than everybody else. And so we utilized that almost four years ago to have, you know, a board member be able to be a liaison to the school, and you are absolutely right, with the roles and responsibilities of the board of education. So I think if it's expanded, it's expanded to include not just liaisons to the super and the school, but then also to those other boards and community. Like, I see we have a guest on tonight, Joanne Hebert from the board of finance. She usually logs on to our meetings and then brings that information back to the board of finance. And so that would be just in addition to, you know so it was kind of originally when we talked about it a few years ago, it was so that when we get to, like, capital or when we get to policy and things, like, there's been a meeting between the school ahead of time and that person. Policy, you know, you would know ahead of time what policies needed to be worked on because I would be sharing that legislation with you ahead of time so that you could get those things prepared. So,
yeah, so I I guess it kind of means both. Do
do we hold ourselves more accountable just in terms of what Steve was saying if instead of, like, just on this writing liaison reports, if we actually wrote out what the categories are because then when we go through a meeting, like, you see that word and maybe that triggers a memory that
Yeah. There was something to talk about in that category. It could be even smaller when I do my other agenda. It it's smaller. It's italicized, and there's just a list of them. That's that's already been by. Right. Yep. So that it's always That way you're always there. Yep. Right. Okay. Kind of, like, the same as the stuff that we added to the top of the agenda. Yep. Right. And then so then we can go around, and we can say, okay.
You know? Right. Caitlin, this area. Right. How are we doing? Because I would like for every month to be able for the liaisons to report back on on on it. Like, you know, okay, Caitlin. How are we doing with communications while the next you know, we're working on the board meeting. How is the school readiness? You know? So I think it would be helpful if it was put out in the agenda what those liaisons are. And then going forward every month, we have something to report that that To check back. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So so I think that way, Steve, I think that will kinda hold everybody, accountable. But I also think it would be helpful to just know exactly what it is you're liaisoning. You know, like, communications, like, what what what does that mean for you, Caitlin? You know? And, you know, obviously, Breen out with, you know, school readiness and with the kind of public relations. I don't know if we have
Well, I think our February meeting or think your February meeting will probably solidify that for you because we have Nick coming. Okay. And so Nick from Cave coming in February to be able to say, these are very distinctly your roles and responsibilities as a board. And so maybe that's what you guys could be doing is kinda jotting down notes. Like, okay. I'm school readiness. Like, what sorts of things, you know, in my role would I be I would also be looking at curriculum for preschool and kindergarten. I would be looking at the policy changes for preschool and kindergarten. You know, finance, what sorts of things are our responsibility. Like so I I think that, you know, that conversation of what falls under my purview as this liaison would probably be best suited right after Nick tells you. You know? Okay. So should should we
Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. No. Go ahead. Should we, as what we just went through and said, try to write down for ourselves what we think that means? Yes. And then we have that ready for our next meeting. Yep. And
just for Brave, we can if, you know, I We can help her with that. Right. Exactly. Because, you know, obviously, school readiness, but the other one, kind of the public relations, town engagement. Yeah. We can help you with that. So just just so we know what we're writing about, just so I you know, so everyone knows. Caitlin, you're will be the communications. Brie, you'll be, like, public relations town engagement and school readiness. Jerry and Mike, you will be curriculum and instruction. Shannon, policy, and, obviously, you're on the CIP, but you you're also the the the liaison for CIP. And then Steve, financial and, capital improvement slash slash maintenance. Is that what everybody has? Mhmm. Okay. Alright. So then at the next meeting, if you all can just put together a blurb of what you think that means, of what a communications liaison, what, you know, curriculum and instruction. And then at the February meeting, we can kind of solidify what those roles are so then going forward, if we have new members,
they know. Does that make sense? Yeah. Can I ask a question? I did I feel like I did see, like, in prior years, there's one for, like, safety. Okay. Yep.
So that would probably be one of the ones that would fall under two categories. Shannon would be dealing with the policies that are surrounding that. Know, anything professional development that takes place in the school would be a curriculum and instruction kind of category. When we talk about what it would cost us to do that, Steve would be taking care of that. So there's a lot of overlap. We also one time, when Chris was here, we had something because there was a need at the time for technology. We were upgrading our wireless devices. We were upgrading our Internet service, and so he was instrumental at that time. Right now, I think that that would be embedded into a variety that potentially could be a capital project in the future at some point. It potentially could have something to do with curriculum instruction. So
it's fluid in terms of what the needs are at the time. There may be a need to have another liaison if we go through policies, and there's a policy that's huge. And we say, okay. We have to figure out what to do here. You know? So so, yeah, a lot there's gonna be overlap, and that's where Nick will be able to help you guys when he's talking about these are your roles and responsibilities. And you say, hey. That falls under mine. And she says that falls under mine, and that falls under mine. So
But and I also think Shannon brings up a good point about attending meetings. I think it's I think it definitely needs to happen whether we we get on schedule, whether it's you know, everybody takes a month and you're you know you know, January, you attend the board of selectmen and the board of finance meeting in, you know, February or March. I think that that is extremely important. And maybe we can talk about that in the next meeting and kinda come to an agreement on how we're gonna do that because, you know, to Shannon's point, it's not fair to just have one person do it. But I think if we rotate it, then everybody gets an idea of how the board how the meetings are held and how they're run and who the players are. So maybe we can talk about that, or we'll talk about that in the next meeting on maybe putting together a schedule on who's gonna attend the those meetings. Any other discussion on the the liaisons, the reports, and and what what we're gonna do for next month? Does anybody have anything to add?
Just as a CIP liaison, we didn't meet last month, and we only ever meet when there's something to discuss. Right now, there are no capital projects or capital improvements in the town, but that's all I have. So as soon as we have a meeting, I'll report on that. And, it's later on in the agenda, so I'll save that for what happened with the board of finance. Okay. Thank you, Shannon.
Okay. Liaison CR meeting next Wednesday as we continue our budget workshops, and use email if you have questions.
Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Okay. Alright. So items for discussion, we have the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget. Any discussion on what was presented in the workshop? Does anybody have any discussion? Feel like we're even Okay. Well, just wanna go through the agenda. Okay. Anybody online? Mike, Steve, or Shannon, do you have anything to I know we've kinda talked about it, but just to kinda go through the, the agenda. I'm good. Yeah.
I'm good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. And, the next item is the exit survey interviews, the first readings.
Go ahead. So this is one of the mandated, and so, you know, this is one of the ones that Shipman and Kay both kinda came up with the words for, so it'll look similar in almost every district. It is now, the mandate you'll see on the bottom, the public act that, it's called an act concerning teachers and paraeducators. And it is the end of the Board of Education shall develop an exit survey to be completed by certified professional educator who is employed at the board and voluntarily resigns. So those are two keys there to this act. It's certified, meaning it's only teachers that it's required for, and it's not somebody that we let go. Obviously, that would taint possible exit survey or interview, so it's those that voluntarily resign. The survey will include questions related to the reason why they are ceasing employment, whether or not they are leaving the profession, the demographics of the certified educator, and the areas to which the certified educator taught or served. Exit interviews are viewed by the Board of Education as a good way to gain insight into problems, difficulties, and dissatisfaction that otherwise might not come to the school system's attention. Such interviews could also provide information of suspected problems as well as information needed to begin to correct the problems. Therefore, an employee who is separated from employment within the district will receive an exit interview. The attachments,
the appendix to four one one seven point six, this was standard with both of those agencies, and it does include exactly what it is they are looking to have us collect in terms of data. And then if it's in here, it would because it says viewed by the board of education. So it would be mandatory that when these interviews were conducted, first of I would have to let them know that it will be that information will be provided to the board of education, and then they will be viewed. And it says viewed by the board of education. It doesn't necessarily say matter of public record. Of course, anything's FOI able, but somebody would have to ask us for that information. And so I thought that that they were pretty easy and straightforward, and this would go into effect if voted out of the next meeting.
Great. Last question is, What is it what are they asking for demographic information?
Demographic information. So are you male, female, black, white, Hispanic? What age are you? Were they somebody who taught for their career in Connecticut in Townsend County, Wyndham County? That's the demographic information that they would be looking for. A little precursor to this is in March. We are also required at that point, and I'm sure that the two of these are connected. We are required in March to put together and submit to the state, every district, a plan for, how we are going to try to improve, and retain, minority educators. And that will be statewide something that's required in March. And so I do think that kind of hand in hand with that, they're looking to see if it's young people leaving, why are they leaving? If it's, you know, black teachers in suburban Connecticut, why are they leaving?
So I do think that this is one way for them to better gather information because these are people that had existing positions. So in March, one of the things we have to put together is how do we get people into existing positions? And this one says you were there and you left. Why? And I think it's to make sure going forward that, you know, there aren't things that are being kind of washed under the rug in certain districts. So, I don't think it's a bad idea. I I I definitely don't think it's a bad idea. I just wonder, you know, how often will they collect that data from us because that would be important. You know, don't ask us to do this, and then not be interested in it beyond the boards of education.
And so I do think that that is definitely something that I'd like to know more about.
I I just like, how so when somebody says, you know, I'm leaving,
do you you let them know that there's gonna be an exit interview? Yep. And then do you do you give them the form then? Like, how long do they have to, like, work on that? Like They don't it's it's a question and answer. I mean, you don't give it to them and say, fill this out, because that's really not the purpose of it. Okay. Okay. The purpose is for us to sit down and say, you know, I'd like to ask you a few questions. I would actually probably put it in front of them as we were talking so that they're perfectly aware of what it is we're asking. And remember, I mean, I would always tell somebody you have the right privilege to opt not to answer any of these questions, but here is the purpose of it. I would offer them the policy, and I would say this is the policy. This is the public act. This is the reason why. And I let them know that it's not, you know, anything that's fully in in in.
And when they can opt out, they can say, I don't wanna do it? With anything. I mean, with state mandated testing for the kids, if someone says, I'm not doing this, they they can. And I would just fill out what I know information wise, salary position, the demographics based on our information, and I would put in there that they opted out to answer the questions.
Okay. Mike or Steve or Shannon, do you have any questions? Or The only thing that I'll note, this is Shannon.
I found I don't know why it was. Maybe nobody else found it. I found the first sentence very confusing only because it looked as though we were requiring ourselves to complete an exit survey by another professional educator, if that makes any sense to anybody. That's how I read it. So I would just say shall develop an exit survey that shall be completed, by a certified professional educator. If that makes any sense to anybody, I know we're gonna be looking at it the second time. But the very first time I read it, I was like, wow. Do we have to hire somebody to to prepare an exit interview?
That's just my initial comment. Thanks. It also reads like the person doing the exiting is going to
Jog about that. This is sort of completely uncertified. I will just change a to n.
What what what did you say? If you change the word if you change a to any, so to be completed by any certified professional educator who is employed
and voluntarily resigned. I had that change also, Caitlin. Yep. But
they're not developing it. They're completing. If the person who is exiting Yeah. Is they're not developing it. They're No. The board Okay. Right. The board shall develop.
You should say the board shall develop an exit survey that shall be completed by any certified professional educator who is employed by the board and voluntarily resigning.
Yes. That sounds Yeah. But yeah. Did you get that? Okay. Okay.
I'll send it around as I do with the other draft policies if that's okay, if there's anything else. I looked at the public act, and there's a lot of other stuff in the public act. So I don't know if this has yet been codified in the general statutes. I was trying to find that also.
Shannon, it's funny that you asked that because Terry has not seen that public act, and she said, I'm confused why the name of the act was an act concerning teachers and paraeducators, but that this was just for teachers. I noticed. As Shannon said, these acts, they add on and tap things on before they pass. And so that's why it's actually now called teachers and paraeducators because there's things within that act that pertain to each. This is just one of the things that pertain solely to the teachers. Okay. Good.
Mike or, Steve, do you have anything to add or any questions?
Yes. What's our date that this needs to be done by in order to meet the require legal requirements to meet the act? Is that March?
No. This needs to be done now. March is when I have to send in my, sample plan for what we would be doing within the school to, hire and retain minority.
What what do you mean now? Because there's not an action item to vote on it. So when are No. We out of Because,
anytime you have a new policy, the first time it's presented is a read. And Oh, no. I understand. But the state legislature is saying we need one of this policy completed by,
what, as soon as possible? Like, are we in violation of policy? Because they had hoped that people would have a policy already passed in January, but you guys are reading it in January. So, luckily, we have no one leaving in the month of January. So we'll pass that this February too. Correct. So
if anyone has any major changes to this, we need to be ready to pass this in February because this can't go any further than that.
Yes. Yes. Mike, do you have any questions or any comments?
Just to clarify. Val, I just wanna make sure I heard you right. This is just for teachers. It's not applicable to paraeducators? Correct. Okay. Just making sure. Thanks. Reed, do have anything else?
Yeah. No. I so I just yeah. I mean, I I get the the Google at the end of the year. I just think once a year may be too late to kind of, like, institute action plans. Generally, there's a few different companies that do full surveys. Some of them are even geared towards teachers, parents, students, etcetera. They're usually, like, five questions, allow for comments, give you analytics. Would if demographic information would even give you that if it was something that you needed to do for your policy? And then say, okay. Here are your top areas where you need to improve, develop an action plan. And they're generally given orderly, but they can be more often if there's problems or less often if there's not problems. And they kind of allow the school district to get ahead of problems, retain the teachers, and not allow them to exit.
Risa, do you mean a pulse survey on how well the
staff feels the board of ed is doing? It it could be whatever they are customizable, but it could be, like, do you feel supported? Do you feel like it could be, do you feel supported by your principal, by other staff, by the board of ed? So It could be
it it's whatever you make it. Mhmm. But I meant, like, when you when you brought it up, when you said the pulse, what when you say the pulse, because one thing we have to remember with other respect is the board doesn't evaluate Taylor. No. I'm not saying yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so I think sometimes what happens is when those surveys go out and it says, you know, do you feel supported by the administrator, by the principal? I have actually gone back and forth with another board before where they did try it and realized we can't even use this. We can't even look at the results of it because the way the questions then were answered were then evaluative in nature for the principal,
and that's not a role and responsibility of the board. But and I'm not saying that I I don't wanna look at it. I'm saying if we if if we as a community wanna retain teachers, one tool that schools can use is a poll survey. Whether I see it or not,
don't care. Guys have to see it because we are required by law to have a student survey and to have a staff survey and to offer a family survey, and that's what Taylor's talking about. And the board is she is required to give us those results and have us give them to you guys. So you you will see those results, and we're required by law to do that.
And But yeah. And I Yeah. Understood. But I'm just saying taking extra step. And if you are trying to hire and retain, it in my opinion, right, understanding as the year progresses where your pain points are and being able to create an action plan right then and there is better than waiting to the end of the year.
Yeah. And I think that, you know, what you're saying is is important with that retention piece. I I think we would agree right now we don't have a retention issue. Thank goodness. Yeah. And so I think we're in good in a good space for that, but I know what you're saying. I've certainly been in organizations that do more frequent staff surveying. The other tricky part is our size. So we are relatively small with usually one to two people in unique positions. And so it is difficult to have anonymous surveys that provide information that don't I know exactly who wrote it because you're the only one who does that job, those kinds of things. So we've worked hard to try to how do we go about that in a different way? And so we did this year increase a lot of our daily touch points with different staff members because that was a piece that came out of our staff survey last year of How are we communicating across the building?
Which was good. So we did make an action plan for that. We are addressing it. I hear you on the kind of how frequently that happens. And so I think right now, I would assure you that frequently, we're doing that, just not in an anonymous survey fashion because it hasn't always suited us currently, but, you know, certainly something to keep in the back of our mind.
Thank you. Thanks, Ray. Thanks, Dale. Do we have a superintendent's advisory committee or school advisory committee?
So what's that called that? I'm wondering if you're thinking about, like, a leadership team. Is that kind of what you're Well or, like Hey. Just so we know, we're kinda getting off the agenda item. Jerry, go ahead.
In South Windsor, you pick union reps to go and have a monthly meeting with the principal Yes. Talk about problems and things that Absolutely. Yeah. Val and I meet monthly with the have that. Co presidents of the union. Good. Well, good. Good. Thank you. Yes.
Alright. Any other action items? K. Hearing none. I know we have a couple members of the public here now. What's that? You have to ask Shannon about that. See. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped right over. I'm sorry, Shannon. It's okay. I was just gonna chime in. No. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. That's okay. Update. Shannon, take Okay. It
So as I reported to everybody, the board of finance did not hold their meeting, that was scheduled for December 27. So their next meeting is scheduled for January 24, and I'm intending to work again with Robert England and attend that meeting as I was supposed to do at their last meeting in December to talk about hopefully getting to the point of having a joint policy, and I'll report back on that in February. I may therefore have to miss a little bit of our workshop that conflicts on the twenty fourth. Thanks.
Thank you. Thanks, Shannon. I appreciate that. Sorry. I skipped right over it. Sorry, Shannon. Sorry. Alright. No other action items. I didn't hear any. We do have some members of the public here now. Joanne Hubert, do you have any comments?
I was trying to unmute. Thank you. Always a pleasure to join in when I can. I love, whoever advocated for when you can. Again, I understand everyone's busy schedules, but I feel it's really important to join your meeting as well as I always make it a point to go to the board of selectmen meetings when I, you know, I do have the time to do that. I like to hear my information firsthand and make my opinions too. It's just so important, you know, as we're all trying to join together for the benefit of the town and not getting secondhand things or getting something swayed the way the person wants you to hear it. So great. I I I look forward further collaboration down the line and seeing all of you, but always a pleasure listening in. Have a good night. Thanks, Joanne. Mrs. Morell?
Hi there. I'd like to piggyback on what Joanne just commented on. I think it is important to have that connection with other boards. I mean, even within your own board where you're talking about that person that's gonna share back within your own board. I know as our teachers union, we do that coming to your board of ed meetings, and then we share back when we have our monthly meetings. And I think I help. I think it keeps all of us really connected with what's going on within us, but also outside of our own organization. So nice job.
Thanks, Jen. Thank you, missus Brown. Thank you. Okay. So our regular board meeting is February 14. We will have Nick Caruso there from Cave. He's going to assist with a new board of ed member training. So, he'll be here. So if you have any questions or anything, please, that that's the time. And then, also, we'll talk about what those roles for the liaisons will be. That will be a good opportunity for us to talk to him about it, and he can kinda really help us kinda, you know, really nail it down. So So I think items for next meeting, the blurbs about what the the the liaison roles will be. Does anybody have any other items for next meeting that they wanna talk about? We don't have to know right now. We could let so Val now. But Oh, they approve the budget. What's that? And approve the And approve the budget. Yep. And then the joint policy update, Shannon will be able to to give us that and then finalize. Right. And finalize the
write the the exit survey, the policy. Okay. And if there's anything else, you know, just let them know. Alright. I need a motion to adjourn. Hold on. Sure, sure. Caitlin, okay. Second. Can I second? Second.
Thank you, Jerry. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. All right. Bye. Alright. Thank you very much. Night, everybody. Good night, everyone. Thank you.
Take care, everybody. Have a good night. Bye, Mike. Thank you.