Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
June 12, 2024 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Basically. All set? Alright. Alright. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order the, hand of the Board of Education regular meeting. Today is, June 12, and it is 07:02. Like to stand for the pledge of allegiance. Everyone. Oh. There we go. There you 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 Comments from the public. Jen. I'm all set. Thank you. Jenny. Nothing for me. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay. Any, communications? Does anybody have any communications? Taylor, do you have anything? Do you want me to go with student celebration? Or I don't have anything. And if Val has anything, I'll ask her. But we can if nobody has any communications, let's go to student celebration. So
as much as I would have loved to gather the children here on this eve of the last day of school. Should they all be here? Yes. I'm sure they, you know, they probably would have. We had quite some tears today from some of our sixth graders who might be skipping out on tomorrow, but it's been an excellent last week. So into as I was thinking what we could celebrate, I thought sharing some of our survey data from the students, but as well as families and staff could be some a nice way for us for you guys to close the school year even though we keep going. So I'm just going to remember how to share screen.
And somebody will chime in over here. They can't see, I'm assuming. Well, we are seeing. Okay. Make that part go. Alright.
So we start we survey students grades three through six, and we that's part of the law to to look at climate and culture in your building. And you survey students, we survey families, and then we also survey staff. So we'll start to look at students. Now one thing you'll notice in the student survey that's different than when we survey families or staff is there's an I don't know option, and people always ask about that one. When you think about kids, remembering we're surveying kids as young as eight years old, through about 11 or 12. When there's a a not an opt out or a way for them to say, I don't either understand what you're asking or I don't know how to respond, then they just feel like they have to go strong one way or the other. So we did add the I don't know, last year and in other places I've been, and it really kind of helps tease out, I think, the really strong positives and the really strong areas to grow.
So you'll see that. So we have four, five questions for students we ask, and they're pretty, we keep them as kind of kid friendly as we can to make them as understandable as they can. And so we start with adults in my school care about me. So in these these version, you'll see Google has done green and yellow as the agree and strongly agree throughout this series and purple as the I don't know. Red is disagree. So we're here at 82.7% agree, which is awesome. I wish I could have made this up. There we go. I feel safe at school. 88.5 is our agree and strongly agree. That 8% of I don't know. Do you know of
of the total number of kids in those grades? Like, what percent
responses we've got? A 100% of our students in grades three through six That's a 100%. Took the survey. Okay. I think we had one student absent, and they took it later. Okay. Yes. So we have 87. That's wrong. Because I have 92 students who take SBAC. So there you go. We're short five, actually. Pretty close. Yes. Pretty close. Teachers help me when I need it. So this is a nice one to take a look at. That's the 80.4% with 12%. I don't know. And so you always kind of wonder. You kinda dig into that. What does that mean? I don't know if they help me. But, again, when you put your mind into an eight year old, nine year old, 10 year old, there's a lot of different scenarios that that could happen in. The trusted adult, I can go to when I need help. So that one, you're looking at the 77%. 13, I don't know. So this is a question we've already started to look at. We wanna make sure this increases,
and we've, started to kind of explore some sort of mentoring program next year. There's different ways. We don't have all the details yet, but different ways you can do that with staff throughout the building so that they not only have their teacher. Because when we do talk about trusted adults, we often tell kids, it's not just your teacher. Are there other adults in the building? So kind of thinking about ways we can increase those. Before you go on, can you go back to that one? Yes. Absolutely. I it's first time I've seen strongly disagree.
Mhmm. And I I don't I'm curious. I haven't done the calculations for percentage. Yes. I can tell you. Whether it's one, two, or and then disagree is another maybe four or 5%. That's problem, I guess. Not not outrageous,
I guess. But I'm just wondering Sure. It's two students. Two students. Strongly disagree. And
how many disagree? Six. Six. Okay. And you So eight out of 87.
And and you didn't You 10%. Bundled them up. So you don't know if it's, like, directed towards one grade or what? You do. Okay. We can delineate. I won't delineate here. Certainly, publicly. But yes. So that is the nice thing about our student survey
is that it is delineated so we can dive deeper into grade level and student because of the Google accounts. Right. There are some places that do an anonymous student survey. We feel pretty strongly that we wanna know who those two students are, and we have we don't have a problem in terms of kids saying, well, I don't wanna do it if you know who I am. Like so we are able to address especially outliers like that we see, which is nice. Thank you. Yeah. Absolutely.
And, Taylor, just backing up, when when did this survey go out? Like It's been about three or four weeks probably for kids, they do it on their Yep. Okay. Got it. Yep. Yep.
This one's one of our favorites. We always ask how schoolwork feels to kids. So too easy, just write, too hard. And you see, I don't know tends to tick up for this one because, again, for kids, it's hard sometimes to generalize. Maybe the thing they just did ten minutes ago felt one way of this, but to really especially our younger third and fourth generalized. But overall, you can see kind of a a a spread that you'd expect in terms of what kids how kids value and work. You also have kiddos who want things to feel hard and have kiddos who don't, right, who who would so so you there's just a lot of factors when you kind of look through this and teachers,
analyze that. This one's super important to us. We like to add kind of, I like coming to school. We have to add this little note as you can imagine for kids. Sometimes there is hard work, but overall, how do you feel at school, right, is what we're getting to. You might not enjoy every math problem you do, but how do you feel at school? And so that's one sitting at that 66.9. It's a higher 17.2% of I don't know, which was interesting as we kind of looked through that. So we then survey families. Many of you probably got that received that survey from us this year. Sometimes you get more right after school ends, but I didn't wanna wait. So we certainly could get gather a few more, but about 96 responses. So I don't say 96 families. That could be a mom and a dad both taking the survey. Right? Or it could be 96 separate families. We don't in family survey, I do not get any identifying information, so I don't know what grade level or who takes it, which, of course Do you know how many responses you would have if you had every parent take it?
I certainly could figure that out, but I I don't know that number off the top of my head. I'm just curious. Percent of the total, like Yeah. We have 220,
219 students. So if you went with one adult per kiddo, that's where we're at now. So we do four questions for families that are the multiple I guess multiple choice is the right answer, and then there's an open ended. So the first one is about being connected to what's happening at Andover and feeling welcome. 88.6%. So that is fantastic to us of feeling connected. This time oh, I should have pointed out. So now we're going to green and purple. For some reason, Google picks colors differently for every survey you give. And now it's not I don't know. Just so you know, it's just the neutral. If you took the survey, it was a one to five scale. It's no longer an I don't know. I just want to keep that in mind. So that was great, 88.6.
Andover meets the need the academic needs of my child, that's 86.4. In the agree or strongly agree are the two numbers I'm adding for you, just so you know. Decimates get me at night. I had to do that before. Regularly informed of my child's progress at school. This was our goal this year, 80.2, so we did go up, from last year. And then 13.5, you'll see as the neutral. And then when I get to I'm gonna talk about some of the comments and takeaways. That was really we implemented Seesaw and kind of some more communication directly through the classroom and teacher. And last one, this one is always interesting compared to what I just showed you. So the parents' perspective that their child feels safe at school and has a trusted adult to talk to was 93.7%. So that's kind of interesting compared to the kiddo's perspective. Right? So the parents are what they're seeing and hearing from their child. And so one of the things we've talked about too is, again, kiddos might have that trusted adult, but do they know they like, have they really done that metacognition to say, if I do have a problem, oh, I could go to missus Zito because I I really feel connected to her, you know, and so kind of bringing that awareness. So this was great to see, and, especially none of those strongly disagrees here.
Really strong results. Just some takeaways. It's hard to, I can't share comments directly. A lot of them are identifying in terms of a teacher or a kiddo's name, so I didn't wanna do that, but I did kind of put some things to share. Positive takeaways. Seesaw got a lot of positive about increasing communication with classroom happenings. They liked to see pictures. They liked to see curriculum info, things like that. Our after school program had a ton of positive feedback, which we are really excited about. Of course, we're sad to see that end, but it was great to see that families really enjoyed that. We do intend next year to keep some of those family activities monthly to keep that kind of momentum of getting kids in those enrichment activities. And then there were some comments on student growth, of course, just how much their kiddo has grown specific to the positive teacher appreciation and things that they've seen in the staff. Areas to grow, kind of a lot of the seesaw comments were both. They love it, but they are looking it was, more complicated sometimes to follow dates and events because it's more narrative like, and, you know, if you're a parent, you kind of scroll
it. It doesn't, like, stay. So I can show you if you haven't already. We did add a calendar right to the home page of the Andover website just a couple weeks ago to and we played with it in June. We put all the dates on it so that can be not the school calendar you're used with days off, but a Editable.
Thank you. So that's great. We're gonna do that for next year so that those parts don't get lost. And parents who are just looking for, like, when's that spirit day or, like, when it was field day, that all stays put. So that was a great and that was a suggestion someone types directly, and I'm like, yeah. Genius. So that was great. And then more enrichment opportunities. We've done a lot of that work at the upper grade levels, and so I can't tell necessarily if the those parents asking for more of that are at lower grade levels. I'm making some assumptions there, but I do think as we continue, to move that work of enrichment across the school, there were some feedback there. Questions on I know I'm kinda going fast. I won't take too much time, but alright. And then staff. So we do a staff survey as well. Same thing. We wanna check-in on climate and culture, but as well as some other details. Now the staff survey is interesting because just so you're aware, the staff survey goes to all employees here. So it is representative of teachers, but it is also representative of the custodian who could have taken the survey.
Paraprofessionals.
So 29 is how many out of all employees? 48. Thank you. Yep. So we're
again, it's people might do it a few more, you know, next week, but that's just where we are tonight, and I didn't wanna wait to give you some feedback. Staff survey is a little bit longer, so I didn't do charts and graphs. I did. You'll see just questions and they agree and strongly agree just because there's three slides of these, so it's a little bit longer. But just so you can get a gist of the kinds of same scale, strongly agree to strongly disagree. And there was a couple. Let's see. So I this one, I think, stands out to me when I reflected right away. When face I a challenge at work. Have someone I can go to for good advice. I mean, that's that's pretty tough notch. I thought that was and it speaks to the colleague relationship, right, across groups of employees, which I thought was really great.
Right.
This one, I thought the board would be interested in as it is one of the board goals around professional development and making sure all staff have access to that. So this was really strong when I seek out professional development opportunities. I feel supported to go and, you know, do those things. Most of the percentage that you're not seeing here was at the level three. There was never more than one or two responses in a disagree. But, again, to put all that out here is a lot. So you're gonna see an area. The next one, the time to collaborate with team in this piece, team time being productive and valuable. So that's an area that we've already, as a staff, decided we wanna look at and work on next year. How do we structure that time that we have? We know as as teachers, we can't embed time of the day, but we can look at the time that we have and see how we're using it, how are we some what I imagine again, it's anonymous as employees, so I don't know who they are, but I imagine this were some teacher voices about cross grade level planning. So how do we use that time to look at what's happening maybe if I teach third and fourth and then second? So that was some good feedback around planning time.
This one, I just think this is a great question. Recommend working at our school to a close friend. I think that speaks to whether or not you feel good in the place that you work and spend so much time in. And then so in this one, there's also open ended questions for staff. They talk the first question is what professional development would you like to see and work on? It was overwhelming bookworms, our new curriculum, because that is, obviously where a lot of our focus. And then there was some responses on working with challenging behaviors. We know, kiddos come to us with a lot of different needs and support, so we'll continue that work. There's There a question about what do you think is have been our biggest area of growth. Almost a 100% of the responses were positive school climate. Just that our climate has continued to increase, be very positive, have gotten much stronger. There was a few on communication being stronger than in last year or in prior years. And then the last one is what are some other things that you think we can continue to focus on? And that's kind of where I talked about that collaborative planning piece.
Right. Yeah.
Any on that? Yeah. Any questions? Any comments for Taylor?
I just have one question, maybe more of a comment.
On CSAT Mhmm. There are many different ways for people to post things or make it,
like, a text that gets sent out with a link versus, like, a note or a pinned post. Mhmm. Are you guys gonna streamline how teachers communicate that stuff? I that, I would say, has been the most difficult.
Yeah. Yeah. That's good feedback. We it is such a dynamic program. And in one of some ways, you're like, it can do so many things. And then in other words, you're like, it can do so many things. Right? Like, it it has that both sides of the coin. And so especially in our first year, there was some feedback on. There were some teachers who might have done it all seven ways, and there might have been a sibling and a teacher who only did it one way. Right? Yeah. Part of that is comfort with the program in the pilot year, and part of that is just figuring out what works best. So those are definitely seesaw conversations. We also talked this week about teachers won't, but do I schedule more anytime I send a seesaw, it's always at 04:30 or, you know, I'm I'm making that time up. But just to kind of, like, maybe establish more routine, there was a couple of, like in some ways, again, the flip side of that, it's great because Caitlin and I can just send a quick seesaw in the moment. But in other ways, you're like, should I be checking it all day? You know? So so And that's what I'm because the teachers who use the version where you can pin a post Mhmm. It does not send an email or an alert that that was done. But if you send it as a text, it sends it to you. Email that says, like, look at this. Right. Right. Yeah. And so we often we have some, you know, staff members who are also parents. So we're always I'm always like, Melissa, let me what does this look like on your phone if I do this? You know? And so we've been playing with that. So that's good feedback to know for sure.
Yeah. And kind of it is streamlining a lot of good and how do we make it more effective. Because we Fine. Otherwise, you lose, yeah, the value. Yep. Good. Any other comments or questions?
I just I have a question. So for the student survey, if if you kinda know who those kiddos are that Mhmm. Had, you know, those responses Yeah. How how how would you how do you address that? Yeah. It kind of depends, right, on the kiddo. Some kiddos might already have individual plans that are addressing those pieces. Some, you may want to develop an an individual plan, and others were looking at groups more of that when I talked about maybe do we do some mentoring around this grade level? Or, I've reached out to the high school principal. We're gonna talk. She, had some ideas too. I said, can we bring in even some high school students that, would do some mentoring, some different options like that? So some kiddos, it is an individual like, hey. These answers are startling, and it doesn't make sense. You know? And so we wanna have a meeting and kind of attack
it's the wrong word. Really focus on that soon. Others are like, this might make sense. This follows what we've been tracking. Here are the things. Do we need to tweak anything? Okay. Okay. Got it. Alright. Good. Thank you. Thank you for putting that together and for presenting it.
Just kinda going back, Val, do you have any communications from We had talked I had asked if anybody had any communications. That aren't related to that. So I just need to Sorry. Okay. Alright. Alright. Before we go any further, I just if you could just take one pass down. That's the copy of the MEP and the the and over the tentative agreements that we're gonna talk about for the teachers.
I think there's enough there. If not, I don't if you could
I have to go on here. Alright. Approval of minutes for the meeting on May 8. Did everybody have an opportunity to take a look at the minutes? Mhmm. I did. Alright. Anybody have any corrections?
Or Just a question. I think on page three, the the second, just according to my notes, was made by on the new IED policy, was made by Michael instead of by Gary.
The was seconded by Michael, not Was seconded by Mike Okay. Gary. Okay.
Okay. Anybody Caitlin, did you say you got on or no? It's the same one. Oh, the same one? Okay. Anybody else? Okay. That's okay. I
approve the have lotion regular board minutes on the Wednesday, May 8 meeting.
It's a zero zero. Alright. Thank you. Opportunity to add or delete any agenda items. I want to make a motion to add an agenda item, and I think we can put it well, now since you're back, I was I was gonna put it at the very end. Do you have any I was gonna put it at nine e, but if you wanna you tell me. If you wanna do it earlier. Or It's up to you, bud. 90 sounds good. Okay. Yeah. Ninety sounds good. Okay. So I'll just make a motion to add to the agenda for nine e to discuss and vote on the teacher contract. Thank you. All in favor?
Okay. That's me. Alrighty. So for my report, I attended the step up ceremony yesterday. Shannon and Jerry were there, and it was just it was great. It was just a very, very nice ceremony. That was interesting. And, yeah, I'm sorry. I do I was gonna say you were there. She's looking at you, Well, you were there too because you were a parent. Sorry. Caitlin was there. Sorry. But it was great. I think I speak for Jerry and Shannon and for Caitlin that it just kinda reinforces what what we're doing. And I thought it was it was just wonderful, very sweet, and a very, very nice ceremony for the kids. I had reached out. I know at our last meeting, we talked about doing kind of like a meet and greet with the other boards of education for Hebron and Marlboro. I reached out to the chairs, and I just think right now with between summer and vacations, it's just unfortunately not gonna be a good time to do it, hopefully, as as I was kinda hoping to do it over the summer. So we're gonna kinda revisit it in the fall, and, hopefully, we'll put something together. The RAM board wants to. The RAM does. Okay. I was sat next to the head of their board at the spring concert. Okay. And she said, I have an email from your board. Yeah. I know. So there was some there was some back there is some interest. It's just the timing of it. So I'll kinda pick back up where I left off, but but hopefully, maybe we'll do something in the fall. So
the surplus check went to the town, signed, sealed, and delivered. So I attended the board of finance meeting on May 22. They approved the the surplus to go to the AES Capital Fund. So that was sent over. Terry, thank you for sending that over. So that's done. And all of you have in front of you the MEP update, and I'll talk about that when we get to it on the agenda. That is all I have. Valerie, you're up. Oh, I don't have too much more because
you guys will cover it in yours. Obviously, it's the end of the year, and so we're crazy time, not just with the end of the year activities. But, as you know, the thirtieth ends this fiscal year and moves us into the next. So, you know, it's it's not just a matter of closing out our normal bills. It was a matter of making sure that our grants were closed out so that we could draw down, the rest of the money on any of the grants that were expiring, and there were a lot of grants expiring. And Terry knows, but I drive her crazy. I don't waste a penny. So it was a matter of figuring out where can we put this that will benefit. You know? Do I how much do we have left to buy in a book? How much so, we are just about done with that. Right. And that's quite a project. So that actually has literally encompassed most of our time for the past couple of weeks. Mhmm. Then new grants will come up over the summer. With the new custodian, well, he's not a new custodian, but the new head custodian, who will be, Scott, who's our knight, custodian. So he's currently number two. He'll become number one in charge on the first. We have a lot of projects, obviously, small repairs and maintenance things, but those are things that get done over the summer. Right. You know, the moving of classroom from place to place because we're relocating. Any little things that need to be fixed, we noticed during the course of the summer. So we're also, you know, full fledged getting that done as well if there were, any things that, needed to be,
ascertained so that he could do that. Things like, the head custodian who was here, some of the tools that he was using were his. So we had to figure out what do we need to get that job done because that's that's going in his car with him when he leaves on June 30. So a lot of little things there to get stuff done. It's probably gonna take us another two to three weeks to make sure all of that's done and finalized. And That's what you've got? That's that's that's what we have to do. It's right. Another couple of weeks. Right? And then, obviously, renewing some of our our relationships with making sure that Taylor will work with the bus company over the summer to make sure that that that's up and running. The office will make sure that any new students are enrolled and that they have what they need. So those are just the things that we are working on is, you know, closing down one year and moving into the next year. Those IAQs that I worked on, that indoor air quality, those six, I will work on the other four. We had two finished and posted. I'll work on the other four with Scott this summer, and make sure that we get those done and posted.
And there were tweaks on the state level. About 70% of people that turned in their, diversity plans, they were conditionally approved, but there were other things that they wanted added. So I to work on that, tweaking this summer again. So that's that. Any other questions?
I don't have any. Does anybody have anything for that? No. That's fine. Taylor, you're up again. Thank you. Yeah.
So as she's mentioned, lots of end of the year events. Thank you so much to Celeste for giving a speech at our sixth grade step up and for all the board members that attended. It was a great ceremony, well attended. Caitlin was there. Caitlin was there in multiple capacities. We had our fourth and fifth graders also who were able to attend, and that's always kind of cool to get to see, like, you know, what they're gonna be doing next year and get to see that journey. So that was great. We had a successful field day. I'm only mildly slash severely bruised from our sixth grade kickball game. I know the, results. They had a ringer. We definitely won, but I definitely paid for it. Or you can who was the ringer? Nick. Well, Nick, from EastCon, please. Our tech guy. Our tech guy. So we we bring in, you know, when we need to. What
was this for? Three to one. Oh, wow. Low story. Oh, you know, this is like Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember who did our three, but, so that was great, Shannon. Thank you for attending our field day. That was great to see you there as well. We had our kinder and then that same night, we had our sixth grade celebration, which was cool. They voted to go out, so we went to spare time in Vernon. It was so great. The kids had a blast. They did got to do an hour of bowling, then we did laser tag for two rounds. So that wasn't sore from the earlier in the day. We were certainly after. So thank you to missus Weber and missus Hopkins and missus Fraser who attended that as well. And then we had our kindergarten and preschool orientation,
for next year, so that was, very successful. So we did move that to the spring this year instead of you sometimes it's mid August. But, with our program growing so rapidly, we wanted to kind of make sure all the information and everybody kind of they were eager everyone was eager to get there. All the kids came that evening as well, so they we were able to do some more screenings. We have been hovering between fifty nine and sixty two preschoolers, and so I'm keeping it. I I've been keeping it a little over 60 because if we preschool, if they're on a wait list somewhere or things like that, some of the out of towners. So we are at 59 today, but every day, that's, again, kind of been up and down. So we are we do have a wait list. Very exciting. We have just high interest. And and even the any out of town students that have come have already heard about us, which is cool to hear. You know? It's not just like you're the only one. I I you know, that it's not like that at all. We just actually had a family call that's moving from Maine to Mansfield, and they're like, someone told me about Andover Elementary. And you're like, what? So, I mean, that's just cool to hear. Maine. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Cool. I yeah. So it it's We're seeing this. Yeah. It's exciting. So
those our pre K team is gearing up. And then in that same pre K K vibe, we did receive our NAEYC accreditation score. Are happy with the Absolutely with flying colors. So thank you to our pre K and K team and Jenny, who did that. Actually, our kindergarten observation was rated above average at 99%, which is exceptional and not, you know, uncommon. So we were very excited and proud of that. Yeah. So that brings us to five more years. That's how long your accreditation is, and then we'll, you know, of course, go from there. The only other thing I had a couple things just to add on, as we like to make lots of plans for the state. The other one that I'm working on is through the PDAC, which is that professional development and teacher evaluation committee. So we are updating that plan. There's been some shifts in the requirements at the state levels, which are, positive shifts, really allowing teachers to do a little bit more, we would say, goal setting. So we're excited about that. Our team has been meeting throughout the year to work on that plan, and that will be submitted to the state in August,
and we'll get approval on that. And before you know it, we'll be sitting here for August professional development. It's wild how fast it goes. I mean And I feel like I'm on repeat, but I've been saying that's when we'll really start to explore that new literacy curriculum, continuing moving our illustrative math up into the upper grades. So a lot of exciting things happening then.
Awesome. K. I feel like I've You're good. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or anything for Taylor? No? Alright. You. Mary, take it away. Okay.
Halfway through your packet, we have the expenditure reports, the summaries first, and then it breaks it down a little further. This report, reflects through May 31, does not reflect the final two payrolls. So that bottom line still looks pretty inflated, but that's because we have a $400,000 payroll that is not included in here. Okay? Was there any other questions on, on anything on those report?
Carrie, so, online four, for example, where it says IA sub salaries. Mhmm. If my math is correct, we haven't used all of that that was budgeted. So how did it end up at a 100%
or percentage used? Those can be moved between objects. Okay. So anywhere within that one hundred sec the second number on the factor o o two, those can be moved around. I believe I moved those to, teacher subs because as you can see, the teacher subs were a little bit higher this year, so I had to move the IA sub salaries around a little bit.
K? And a similar question well, not a similar question. So down and I think it's probably gonna be the same answer. In April, technology repair and maintenance Yep. That should be over a 100% or, like, the April below it? So, similarly,
did you move money around, or how did that happen? That happens because we got some money from our insurance company for some water damage last summer, and that was put back into the repair and maintenance line. K.
Yeah. To Jim's point, it is interesting, like, how some actually go into the red Mhmm. And some, the math doesn't really Right. Go that way. Is that the software? I'm wondering what drives the fact that some Which one particular? Well, to to her example, ELA supplies goes negative. Right? And it shows that it's $4.96 spent, but then you have other line items, even, like, the, teacher substitutes as you were saying you moved Right. IA subs to there. So it's saying adopted budget 28, expended 29. You have $7.50, but you've expended more than you've used and it's only showing 98%. So why why are we not seeing the disconnect?
You're you're not think because the the general practices and I think we talked about this a couple of board meetings ago. The finance director can move I can move things between salary lines. Like I said, that second number is your object code. Ones are salaries, threes are in service, fours are repair and maintenance, and so on. And six hundreds are all supplied. So anything that goes over can be in those within the 600 supply line can be moved between.
Yeah. Understood. I guess what my question is, how is someday, like, if the general public is looking at the meeting packet, how are they able to tell that?
They wouldn't be able to tell that unless they looked at the detail. They'd have to look into the detail. But I did look at the detail.
Right. And it doesn't show in the detail, like, where the money comes from. The only other thing I can do for you going forward. Yeah. There is a way to to, resolve that, and we can start doing this next year. It's up to you. We can show a, column that says transfer. That will be great, I think. And then you'll see it. Right. Yeah. Then you can see where it's going. Because that's how long it look. That's right. That's something. So remember, this report has been provided to you for many years, and that's a very good question. Yeah. But and transfers can be shown if that's what you decided. I think that would helpful. Yeah. Thanks, Lynn. You're welcome.
So, again, you noted at the beginning, we're at 79%.
Yeah. And we still got a month of We have a month of payroll and a month of bills being paid, and there'll still be bills being paid in July. So we're not gonna have a good number
for a bit. Oh, yeah. But it wasn't Okay. I just was referring to 79%.
It's not a 100% because we're not the end of the fiscal year. And have payments more than our 2% left. Okay. It's 80,000. Okay. But right now, it's too soon to tell. Great. Thank you. Can I ask another question? Sure. Under tuition for magnet school and outplacement, it looks like those are really low for. I'm sorry. Where? What?
Yeah. It is. Magnet schools? Yeah. Yeah. For magnet and outplacement for special. But I'm just wondering, like, why are those still so low? Like, do you guys not get bills until For tuition? We need a change of services for students.
Magnet schools. Yes. We we had one less student out placed since the budget was developed last year. Okay. And we also had a significant reduction in tuition for for our one out placed student. Right. So, yes, that is that is a huge savings, and I've already paid everything in that line. Okay. That was my question. It's, like, we're waiting for Nope. Not waiting for any more bills on that. So did we have a significant reduction in the number of kids in magnet schools? One. We only have one student in magnet school. One became not our responsibility to pay any longer.
Okay. I guess I would I have the same question as Caitlin then. Why are we only using up 35%?
Fifty three thirty is the cost of one student. So There you go. Right. So that $53.30 that we have left is as a result of one student that we budgeted for that no longer became our responsibility to pay for. Great. Thank you. And I should add to that. BREC billed me
once this year for that magnet school student. And I am just checking with them because they sent me an email last week that said they were running a little bit behind on any final bills. I sent them an email the other day to say, listen, are we paid in full? Because I just need to know. Yeah. I need to know if we need to uncover more money or whatever. So so there may or may not be any more money coming out of there. Okay.
Good question. Caitlin, the reason, when we, put together the budget for next year, do you remember we took Yeah. No. I remember.
I was sure if it was, like, because the billing was delayed on it. Or Nope. Nope. Right.
Yeah. We're saving it there. Any other question? Also, huge savings in student transportation because we went from Eastcon. Who was charging us quite a bit for the, bed transportation to we have this, we're using the van next door to the town, and that is saving the district. Would you have anything to add, Mm-mm. Okay.
Thank you, Terry. You're welcome. Have any other questions or anything, comments? No. Thank you. Mhmm. Alright. Liaison reports.
Is there school readiness? I didn't have school readiness in April. And my big takeaway is we are supposed to have a parent representative on School of Readiness.
So I'm going to pull double duty. Thank you. We do have another parent. Oh, we Yes. Okay. The other parent that's on School of Readiness is ours. So we were actually after, she said, I just want you to know meeting their Okay. Not that I'm throwing Hebron under the bus. Just an update on school readiness. We were partnering with Hebron. We have decided for next year to return back to just Andover. I was our school readiness council. We've grown. We we have a lot of preschoolers, and I think we can, we've enjoyed partnering with them, and we will still, you know, certainly communicate and partner. But as we kind of build our,
program and then want to involve more families, that could be easier to do when it's just us. So that is a small shift for us. Great. Awesome.
Do you do you have anything else to add to that, Brie? Or No. Was that that
was not part of that meeting. Right? I threw that one in. Yeah. After the the meeting, we we did talk about I think then it won't be the larger
group? Okay. Yeah. I think it just serves us better as our school community. We we run the way Endover likes to run, and
Yep. Runs the way they like to run. That's good. Marie, thank you for doing that. I know it's a added added, thing that we need to do, so thank you. Shannon, do you have any CIP? Nothing from me. Okay. Mike or Jerry, anything out of curriculum?
Nothing. Alright. Oh. I do have just an update on the the meeting attendance
for I was gonna I was gonna get to that. Okay. You wanna just hold off? Thank you. Yep. I was gonna get to that. Yep. But anything regarding curriculum or instruction? No? Okay. And you can regarding communication. Alright. I have something about the MEP, so I'll kinda take care of that with the capital improvements. And also for the PTA, we we are the recipient of a $10,000 grant for the Hartford. We received it from the Hartford Foundation, so we are we're there. I think we have enough money for the playground. Oh, difference though. So exciting. So thank you to everyone who bought a ticket, who did anything. But we got that news last week, so we're just gotta get another quote. But but, yeah, we're in really good shape. So thank you for everybody for your support. So yes. Items for discussion and action, the capital policy second reading. I know, Bree, you had sent out an email. Yes. Well, I wanted to respond
to Bree's email. So does everybody have a copy from the last month, or do I need to get copies of the policy? You have a I have a copy.
If you have one to to share, I would or, Brie, I I don't if you have any. No. I did make Okay.
Thank you. That's blank. Yep. Need one more thing? Thank you.
Caitlin, do you need one? I don't have it. Okay. So, three, in response to section one b, it's similar to one a. So, yes, it's a permanent policy, but I wanted to reflect what's going on this year. So just as I I highlighted the 100,000 because I wanted to be clear, that's why I put in the 01/2003.
Could it be an addendum? Does it have to be part of the permanent policy?
It doesn't. Can take it out if it's done. I just want when I was drafting this a long time ago. So, yeah, that hold on. Let's look at that.
But I see what you're saying, Brake. If it's a permanent policy, then that's what it's Right. You're reflecting that for all Right. Of time until you revise it. Yeah. Okay. Right.
So we could just take out those all of that? Just the oh. We'll just take out from upon to the comma Oh, I was more thinking b
in the the last line of section. But we need to inflect it in a two. Okay.
Well, the Right. The a, I was I was reading that as
Oh, right. Because it's the same thing as the Right. Yep. Yes. Agree. So just take that out, and then so we'll take out half of line two, all of line three, up to the common line four Yep. And the and, and then we'll just put the counter thereafter choose to deposit. Additional money. Yep. Perfect.
And then I'll do this, and then we'll just take out the last line of b. Yeah? Yep. Yeah. Okay. Great. Can you just go over it one more time?
Not a Bando has created an account for 35 School School Road. It shall be named 35 School Road Capital Funds. We'll have to get them to change that. Then it goes down to the town may thereafter choose to deposit additional money into this capital fund towards budget process. Okay. Got it. Cool. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. B is just take out the last line, I think. Yes. Yes. Okay. And then we had already changed to b. So I think that should satisfy your concern, Brie. We it changed to the second sentence is all capital projects at 35 School Road shall be managed by the tribal work committee. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. I was trying to make sure that we were No. Sure. Do you see some redundancies? Yep. Then in c, just so we're all on the same page literally Yep. We had added by a majority vote of the BOE at a BOE meeting. Mhmm. And then the only thing that I have, that we hadn't really finalized is what do we do and, if there's a tie. How do we propose that we address a tie? I clearly have proposed it coming from the board of ed because I'm a member of the board of ed, but we can either leave it. So it's a three it's a six person board. We can either leave it and hope there's not a tie, but I would prefer to the policy
if we can reflect that we break a tie.
Ideas. I think the only other option, if it's not gonna be just a vote of the board of Ed, I would say a vote of all three boards.
Yeah. Like, a vote of every member of all three boards.
That's a good idea. Okay. Oh, yeah. That way it's, like, equal. Well, right. And I think, you know, the part of the intent of this is to make everybody feel included. Included. Absolutely. Okay.
And how how would it be if there's a tie in the
So I'm just figuring it out now. If there's a tie, second vote should be taken. If there's a tie in the second vote, the votes of the members of all three boards shall be shall be used to break the tide. How about that? Or you have to spell out to say the names of the boards.
Oh, sure. Yeah. So now it's not the board committee. Board finance Board of Finance, board of all of the members of the
So then what? That would have to, like, go on their agenda, and they would have to Yep. Yep. Okay. The only DOF.
I think DOF. And the number of people on the board of finance, that's that?
Yes. By charter. So that's seven four seven in the board of health I just wanna make sure.
No. No. But it doesn't Oh, that's good. It's 19. Three boards. Yeah. No. I just wanted to make sure that Two of the three boards would vote either in favor or against it. Oh, I was thinking she say all.
Meaning, like, you're meeting all over people. Yeah. I think yeah. I whether there's a vacancy number one. 19. Uh-huh. That's what I was saying.
Out of 19, I'm thinking. Yeah. I was just doing the calculations by head. So we have 14 plus five is 19, so we have an odd number. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure. But how long would that take to get them both? And what if there are vacancies like tonight? You guys wouldn't have seven votes on your board. And you'd have to wait four months. You have three months for you know what I mean? Yeah. Have three boards. So two of the three boards would have to vote in favor of it, and there you go. Can you just say buy something special meeting within a two week time period or, you know Yeah. Of the request? Like, we can specify that. Wait.
You know? But we can specify that it would have to be It could be a special meeting. Meeting within
Yeah. Otherwise Three weeks after that, I'm just gonna get hung up. Well and you know what's interesting? We could say that I would add a phrase that if if of all the votes that are that are cast within that two week period of time or whatever we deem it, because then thereafter Yes. It's just done. You know what I mean? So if somebody doesn't vote, they don't vote. Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. You wanna give them a month? No. Okay. Just Ruth. On this evening. Okay.
So I'll take the next. Hold on. But wait a minute. This but now you're gonna have to ask every board to do a special meeting. Which could be a fifteen minute Zoom meeting. It's not, like, three weeks. That's five minutes. But then but what if but then if what if they're not available? You know? I mean, it it's it's just one more meeting to ask of all of these boards on top of every other thing that they have to do to to break a tie. So I just feel like there's there's another way that that that that this can we can do this Give it. Other than having then to ask a special meeting. Each board would cast a a A special or something like Each board. Each board. Board. Three boards. Two boards. So Oh, yeah. Right. So you're always Great. It's either an o or a yeah. And however they choose to Do that. To calculate their vote is up to them. Right. They could do it via email or however. Yep. Okay. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Better. Yep. Sounds wonderful. That's more simple. Yeah.
We stick with within a two week period of time? Yes. I would say yeah. Because you don't wanna drag this stuff out. Well, you're gonna tie up Yeah. I mean Right. Right. Right. Okay.
Great. Just a clarifying question. So is it we tally up
all of the votes from each board, or is it Each board gets to decide how we do that. Each board gets to decide how well, each board so we have seven members. Board of finance, seven. Board of select, room five. So, hopefully, all seven of our members would And put in a if and then we would say the Board of Education's vote is x. Yeah. And By the majority. Right. By the majority. So it's the majority of of the board. Okay. And guess what? I don't have the language for that yet, but I would get you the language. I would do it like that. Boards. Like, there's that It's always gonna be two. Yep. There's only gonna be three votes. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Right. Okay. Gonna be the majority of okay.
And I will promise I would lose from that. So here's the bottom line. That's what we would be voting on tonight. Okay. The board of finance is waiting for us to vote to see what we come up with. Okay. Board of Selectmen, I hadn't contacted because board of finance raised their issues last month at their meeting. Yeah. So I wanted to see what we did tonight, then I'll contact Board of Finance if that's okay with you, Celeste. That's fine. Yep. And pass along our policy. And then I was gonna answer their questions from their last meeting in my email to the board. Right. Well, they they had some They had they had some questions. So and we'll see what they do. Okay. And the bottom line is this, and I don't mean to be reductive or whatever. But if they don't pass a policy, we don't have a policy.
You know? Or or they come back with amendments to a proposed policy, and then we'd have to reconsider it. On that on another nine months. So on that note, though, you've gotten some initial feedback. Is it something that we could talk about now so that if it's something that we can address and get it done That we could fix it down. Another
Well, I think that they said was nothing that they said changes what we just did. Oh, they didn't like this. They didn't like the thirty five naming it thirty five School Road Capital Fund. I know that they had I know some Isn't it just called AES Capital? I know. Some of the members at that May meeting was like, they didn't like that. They didn't like naming it thirty five School Road Capital Fund. But but they didn't have any not they didn't, like,
have a big issues with it like our last one. You know what I mean? Like So the issues real quickly Yeah. Were they wanted me to define capital, which is why this has taken nine rides. Okay. Because there just isn't one. And Mark Brinker, thank goodness, recognized that that's an amorphous thing. Yeah. And, therefore, it'd be up to the tribe board committee as to how they're gonna define it. Right? So For each the definition for each project. Right. And the other question I know Kimber Sun had was how did we come to this policy? What was the prior policy? Right. And Robert England said, it it's so different. Right. That looking at the prior policy is not gonna help, but I'm gonna respond to that. Like, it emanated out of the three board meeting to the first policy to this policy. Mhmm. Good. Right. She wanted to compare it, and they were like, it's She didn't compare. Yeah. They didn't I changed the whole philosophy. Yep. Right. It doesn't look anything like the old go ahead. There was also comments
about the tri board committee Yep. And feeling like adding a layer Yeah. An extra committee Mhmm. To do this. Some members of the Board of Finance Board's concerns over having You hear that part of meeting. I was at the Charter Revision Committee. Which I consider a pretty big sticking point. I mean, not issue, not sticking point, but, like, some of them were concerned about that. And if you kind of start adjusting that, I think that really changes the the Like,
the whole creation for that in the first place was because every time we've gone to board finance, they're like, but we wanna know what the board of selectmen think. Right. But it seems like it's also only that meeting is only needed in the event that this comes up. So I I understand that people don't wanna take on more. However, how many times realistically are you actually gonna have to meet? So I don't think When you would like to pay the parking lot? Or Right. Right. In school. Well, I know right now, it's a lot. Caitlin granted. Every But keep going, please. But
So I think the interesting thing is that this all emanated from the board of finance wanting to have a joint policy. And when it got down to it exactly what you said, Caitlin, which is the board of finance then defers to the board of selectmen or not defers, but wants their input. So I figured, let's make it tribal work. That's just the easiest way to get us all working together, hopefully.
Yeah. And and I guess maybe to address their concern about taking on two months is maybe we can clarify that meeting only upon capital.
Well, that's only the reason that this would be. I think it's understood. Okay. Yeah. I'm just trying to Right. Don't fight overhease it too much. No. But thank you for bringing that up, Mike. I was
on that part of the I also do. Like, there there was you know, listen to that conversation, you know, and something that to me was concerning that was set in that conversation. And I pulled on my phone because I wrote down. I wanna make sure I mess up the words. But, chairman, Mark Brinker Mhmm. Made a statement during the conversation where he was referring to the policy and said, this is not a binding agreement. Any of the three boards could decide not to follow it at any given time.
Well, not if they sign on to the policy. So I'm just like, I heard that. Yeah. And, again, trying to
digest that. But when you say something like that, it catches your attention. Yeah. And then when we talk about intent, we talk about wanting to work together. We talk about wanting to make sure that people's voices are being heard. Like, I can't can't just overlook the statement.
Like, do absent. Well, I will relook. I there I missed that. So I came in from the Charter Revision Commission and caught the obviously, not the whole thing. Right. So I have to look back at the tape now or the recorded session, and I will address all of that in my email today. I don't know if it was a misstatement. I don't know if, you know, if I misheard it. Went back and listened to it. I doubt it. Just to make sure I have the words right.
And like I said, I I that highly concerns that during a conversation where Sure. You know, the Board of Education is trying to develop a policy to work together that that that was it. Yeah.
Okay. I'll address it in my email. Thank you, Mike. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. Okay. So what do we need to do next, Shannon, on that? So Well, if you can trust me with the wordsmitting, somebody would make a motion to accept this as our policy, and then we would vote on it. And then I would get it over to the board of finance if that's okay with everybody. And I'm just talking about the final thing that we just described about all three points. Right. The the time breaker. Right. Mhmm. And then taking that the those lines out. Yep. Okay.
I can I'll make a motion to approve policy with the action to make the changes. Okay. Thank you, Thank you, David? Aye. So I moved to vote again. Are you done?
Did you vote? No. I didn't I didn't I didn't say yeah. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. So did you have the against? Or Yep. Or I'm saying. Five zero one.
Okay. Thank you, Shannon. And if you could just send out a copy to all of us, you know, when you get it all Awesome. That would be helpful. Do it tonight if I can. Awesome. Thank you. Okay.
MEP. Okay. You guys have in front of you now the ad tech engineer, MEP that Eric got. And this was about the plumbing issue in the, the bathrooms upstairs. Alright. So, I talked with Eric this afternoon about it because I've had some questions about it and just what what exactly what are what are the next steps? What what are Aztec engineers? What's their role in all of this? So I talked with him today about it. And, basically, Aztec engineers are going to be the, like, project manager for this for this project. They would kind of be in charge with they they came in. They did a kind of shallow end kind of walk through and look at what's going on with those bathrooms. And they put together this, proposal. And if when the when the board of selectmen votes on this to kind of hire them, then they would then come in and really do, like, drawings and really do a much more kind of in-depth full scope of work of what needs to be done. They would work with an architect to design and kind of refine the scope of work, and they would also make sure that the architect is compliant with ADA regulations with, you know, certain school regulations that, you know, maybe they're not familiar with. So then once that once they kind of really get a more definitive kind of scope of work needs to be done, then it would go out for bid, for RFP, and then hopefully get the get the project rolling. There is kind of one
so the Board of Selectmen is going to look at this at their next Board of Selectmen meeting, which would be on July 8, and then they would vote on to hire this hire Aztec to kinda move the project forward. So this won't happen until next summer? Correct. By the time it goes out for bid and all of that, and I asked Eric, and I said, you know, him signing off on anything, I said, just ballpark, how long do you think that a project like this would take? And he's, you know, he's, like, probably about a month, you know, start to finish. So but at least we're getting the ball rolling. We're we're we're getting a plan in place. Because the the cost of what Aztec is charging is over, like, the the 15,000 kind of benchmark that the the Board of Finance has. Because because it's over 15,000, technically, this would have to go out for bid to get another kind of engineer to look at it. Eric is gonna talk is going to go to the board of finance meeting or have the treasurer go because he's gonna be on vacation to ask if the board of finance could make an exception and, not have this go out for bid to hire another you know, to have another engineer to kinda take a look at it. So that's basically what this is. At this point, I would like for us to I I would like to go to the board of selectmen and say that we've looked at this and, that, you know, we're recommending, the board of selectmen to hire as tech engineer as the MVP to get this project moving.
So what's the board of education's involvement in the project? So once once it gets rolling, they would work with Taylor. The you know, these engineers, whoever's hired to do the plumbing and everything, would work with Valerie, would would work with Taylor to, you know, work together on the project and, you know, to make sure that whatever, ADA compliance or any kind of school compliance needs to be met, that that's where kinda Taylor and Val come in because they're the subject matter matter experts when it comes to the school. If they don't know it, they at least know where they can look to find those answers.
I was just concerned because every I haven't had a chance to read it, but everything I'm reading just refers to Eric in the town of Andover.
And that's just what we talked about with the the trifor committee. Right. But it would work with the town and work with the and I made that clear with Eric. Said, I I know it said the town of Andover, but, obviously, it has to do with the school. So I think it would be working with the school as well to make sure, you know, that her work gets done. Under under where it says work not included on the second page, I think there's a couple bullet points that don't quite make sense. Okay.
Issuing, submitting, to the state of Connecticut for funding approval? I wasn't he I asked him about that. I I he wasn't sure.
I don't think it's necessarily for the state of Connecticut for for funding approval. I think it's
I just don't understand the wording. There are laws. There are laws Yeah. On school funding projects. And Right. So, yep, that's something that the town doesn't know about. And those are things that we're responsible for, because the, state would need to make sure that we are not using ECS dollars to fund those sorts of things, that they are not using dollars that are supposed to go toward kids. There are documents. And and that that you know, Celeste, you and I did speak about this. It's not a matter of just the town keeping us abreast of this project. It's a matter of design decisions, materials, who decides those things because it cannot be something that is just a town project. This is a school, and there are things that are different, like those guidelines, papers that need to be filled out to prove that the funding sources are not grant funded without us going through the process and those things. And so it it as you mentioned, I mean, it's not that the town can just sign an agreement with somebody without the board of education because you guys are on the hook for that. That's in your blue book of responsibilities. And so there are guidelines that are different from municipality. So that has to be something Right. On potentially any agreement that is issued entered into, perhaps there's two signatures. There's the board chair,
and there's somebody from the town then because it's your liability. Right. And so I don't believe they can even enter into a decision I mean, into an agreement for a board of education project without a board of education signature.
Yeah. I mean, the next line down on there, it says a proposal based on their interface for the project being yourself, the school principal, and the school superintendent.
Right. Right. So, I mean, that doesn't sound like it would be that difficult for all of the contracts to reply to signature. Yeah.
Right. But it would kinda make sense to maybe ask for that so that it is protected. Right. No. Absolutely. Absolutely. Any
Any I know you guys are just getting this, but any other any other question? I guess I have a question for Taylor and Mel. Have you guys read through this already?
Just now. Just I I did read through it, and and I do, and I've said all along, I do have concerns about oversight of schools, projects being done by municipality. And so, you know, I think that there's a way for you guys to make sure that they're they're kept abreast and that they're very involved. But where this is different from the senior center project was the senior center project was their project that just skirted onto your property. But, you know, we had other things that we had to obviously work with them on to make sure that that didn't interfere with us, but the project itself was not a school project. So there was absolutely nothing we had to worry about in terms of those things. This is being done here in the school.
And so that is my concern is that something's gonna get overlooked. Mhmm. And, you know, unless literally, you can't just be informed of what's going on. You have to be in the project itself. Right. And and that that's gotta be something. You know? I mean, these projects, you know, these projects are big. Right. The day to day Are there people, like, within a company like this that are specific school liaisons? Well, this particular company, he met with us when, they came to do that walk through, and he's was great. He was a very nice guy. But he said from the get go, I don't know the different regulations for schools, so we're gonna have to go find those because So there's no one with their company that No. Does that? No. And he was very upfront about that. He said, even when they were talking about kind of designing a bathroom, we were in the boys' bathroom, and he was a really great guy, but he's like, I I don't know what the rule is on that 1st Floor. So, you know, that is the only reservation, and and I think they know that. That's why they have it listed in here. Like Yeah. What the scope of our work isn't. Yeah.
So that's gonna be a challenge. It is that they they don't have that background. And then, like I said, I mean, to make sure that in looking at design decisions and materials and things, that's gonna have to be something that the the school works We can't do what they would normally do any town. I don't just need Andover. With a building where they say, oh, if we run out of money, we just won't do this, or let's change this material to that, or let's not do this design because our regulations are are different. Right. And so I do think that there has to be somebody involved in project management that has done schools before. Do you have contacts for anyone
that would that I mean, obviously, we would have to do what any of us would do would and that would be to to find something. Yeah.
You know, for us to go out and find something. When we when we were looking at renovating the 34 Wing, I know we had a specific architectural firm or consulting firm that was involved and knew about school regulations, I think. I don't think Sally would have involved them. Right. Which is what Astec engineer would find. Right. They That's what I'm saying. Okay. Yeah. So you're saying find them, and I'm just we already used some of these in here, though. Right.
I guess that's my Right. Okay. But in my conversation with Eric, he said that they would one I guess, basically, like, once this gets rolling, like, they would work with an architect that to make sure that the school regs are are compliant. They would kinda sub that out to find an architect that is familiar with working doing doing schoolwork.
Right. That's how I read this. The 20,000 for them Right. On the last page is for them to oversee, but then there has to be other Right. Companies brought in to do what he said. Structural engineering benign analysis Right. Contract specs Yep. HVAC and fire protection and electrical upgrades.
Like Right. Exactly. They're the they're the bona friends. Right. Right. They're not doing any of the work. Exactly. They're finding the people to right. Exactly.
I just a couple questions. Yeah. One, under so the the cost here from them is literally just for design and then to to to bid out for RFP. Right. K. So I guess the other question I have is, why wouldn't we want another engineering quote? Because and I and I also find it hard that there's no state regulation about getting other quotes. And then the like, I deal with contracts all day, and I I I I don't that there's some state law that says you need more than one bid. And then the other Yep. Yeah. And then my other question is is there is probably an engineer someplace that specializes
in schools? That's That was my Yeah. Cool question. This
was the town's recommendation. Right? So, you know, I know that Steve had said once before that, you know, he does look to the town Mhmm. As experts in fields. And there are certain things that I was in agreement with that they are highly they are more trained in certain things. I mean, obviously, they cut down trees for the town. They do those sorts of things for the town. I I don't think that the companies that necessarily that work within municipalities are going to be the companies, as you said, Greg, that are the experts in the field of renovating within the school. You're right. We need we need to make sure that it is somebody that can say, nope. Can't do that in a school. Nope. It has to be this wide. Nope. You have to this. Remember, the urinals have to be short because it's an elementary school. Nope. You can't use that material because it doesn't qualify with their green.
We do need that.
But I think that this company wouldn't would find those people. You pay this company, and then you pay that other company.
And you're gonna pay a project manager, and you're gonna I don't I just think there's no harm in getting another bid. And they may have the expertise, and it may cut down on some of the the bid and design because So then who For for a simple bathroom, I'm gonna be honest that Is that See, well, I know that simple bath. No. I got I understand that. But for four bathrooms. Four bathrooms, that seems like a lot for a design that they're still gonna have to farm out to an architect.
Okay. So then where do we go? Who's I have no idea who what other engineers, what other MEPs are out there to to do that. I I have you know, Eric did this. We did the walk through. I I don't I don't know who else to go to or to ask him. Find that way. I don't know. I I don't know. I have no idea.
Well We we can. Maybe we can get similar and compare.
We we can, I mean, obviously, look through and find out who's worked here before, but also who's worked in other area towns, schools? You know, that's between the two of us, we have two different networks to say, hey. You know, give us the name of of these people. I think that would be helpful because that way So why did we do that to begin then? Why It wasn't an option. The option that we got from the town was that they were not going to move forward with anything with us without an MEP being done. The option wasn't why don't you guys get an MEP?
The option from them was we are getting an MEP. So now we're gonna get an MEP. But then then we have something to compare to.
Okay. And and really I mean Right. What the cost of it is versus like, these are the guidelines that have to be followed for a stool, which just clearly states they don't They don't do. Do. Right. Or, like, isn't included in that. Alright. So, like, if we could find one where that was included in it and you're still paying 20,000, isn't that more I don't know. Makes you not worry as much? And I and I
I I have recommendations. Yeah. I'm part of the CASBO group, which is the Connecticut Association of Business Officials. And they're constantly putting out listservs regarding who do you use for this, who do you use for that. I'm sure there's there's a district out there that has had a plumbing project and an engineering firm overseer overseeing a plumbing project that I can get some names and etcetera for you. That's what we say. We have three networks. Yeah. There are principles that oversee advantage of that. Yes. But we could get an idea what it costs too. Well, it moves a comparison. Yeah.
Once you interview them and you find out what their experiences are, you know, the work they've taken on.
It makes sense. I mean, you would do that if we were on diploma, probably. But I think Brie is right too. And the other district would have to go out to bid for the type of project for the school.
And I I I have a suspicion, although I have not read the Blue Book cover to cover yet. It's a bit Not yet. Yet. It's a little bit. I
I had a similar book when I worked in work comp that I did have memorized. Oh, yes. But not this one. But yeah. I I suspect that there's probably regulations on on Construction. Not well, not the construction, but even, like, how many bids you have to get and things like that.
So what's our so what's our next move then? So I'll just tell Erica we're not in favor of this, and that the board's board of selection should not vote on it. I would I would not say that I would not I
would not say that we're not in favor. I would say that we agree with the board of finance and that we should be getting a second. That would be Yeah. Okay.
Okay. More more quotes from Right. More engineering firms. And I would tell them why. That would like, for another quote from a different engineering firm that perhaps has experience doing large plumbing projects inside elementary school, specifically.
Right. I was gonna say I would tell him why, Celeste, because when we look at the work that's not included here That's very clearly, that's a large percentage of a school project. We have more about Davidson County. So a firm that has done
school plumbing work in an elementary school. Yeah. Or large plumbing.
Object. You you guys are gonna do that? You'll look We'll reach out to all three networks. Okay. And you'll have an update on our next meeting? Sure. Yep. Okay.
And I just, you know, just put it up. I think, you know, this conversation, going back to Val's first concern that she shared right off the bat, oversight of school projects by municipalities, this is a perfect example of that situation. Okay.
Alright. I will let Eric know. And then okay. And then you'll just have an update for us at the next meeting. Okay. Alright. Pre k expenditures.
I'm happy to report that we we are break we have reached the breakeven point with tuition expenditures for the pre k program. So, basically, everything that we've brought in is covering all the expenditures, and
I think that's good news for everybody. It's actually great. Thank you. Remember, you guys had asked a while back, yeah, when we opened the third one. And we thought that potentially 10 to 13,000 would wind up over, and that has has been covered. Terrific. Yeah. Great job. Thank you. Alright.
Summer BOE meeting. Alright. So I know we talked about it quickly at our last meeting, but July 10 is our next BOE meeting. Oh, okay. You're you're not here. I'm not here. Steve's not here.
Yeah. So I would like to move We just agreed we were gonna report back on that in the next July meeting.
So I'd like to move the the BOE meeting in July just because three of us won't be here. What is everyone's schedule in July? Is is the next is the seventeenth work? Or are people out, or is that we moved it away with that? For fifteen. So seventeen. You're good? Okay. And then Are you good? Yeah. I'm yeah. No. I I'm I'm good with the seventeenth. Yep. Yeah. You're good. You're good? Okay. And then August, I know you're Bree's not here. Oh, I'm not here. You're not here. And that's The fourteenth. The fourteenth. So if we're meeting on the does any can anybody do the twenty first? Would that be good? Or I will I will be gone for, like, two whole weeks. Yeah. Okay. I I'll be back. You'll be back? I could do the twenty first. Can we do the twenty first okay? Alright. Okay. We'll miss you brave? And I will not. You will not be We'll not be calling in too busy. Sorry. So
We could offer a Zoom. Yeah. 8820 the mouse behind me. Please. Yeah. Leave it behind. Okay. So we're doing
717 Yes. And eight whatever that was. Okay. 21. Thank you. Alright. So can I get a motion
to change I move to that our July Board of Education meeting be changed from the tenth to the July 17 and that our August meeting be changed from the fourteenth to the twenty first? I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. Thank you.
Six zero zero. Alright. Celeste, I I know that the minutes won't be ready tomorrow, but, since you guys have approved it, we will make sure on the town I gotta give you the town. That it's changed Okay. So that Yep. It reflects the two meetings. Yeah. I was just gonna ask for the house special meeting. I don't believe it has to be because it's thirty days. Far enough, though. I will out from Carol Lane. Just because The calendar when I'm getting started the year. Beginning of the year, we reflect our regular meetings. I think it might be a special I will ask Carol Okay. If it has to say special now. And then our agenda can't be changed, so we have to be real particular about put the agenda together. Yep. I
will ask Carol. Oh, so, like, especially when you can't add it or you don't know what she said. Okay. Once the agenda is established so that week ahead of time when we establish it, you can't change it after So it's important that Okay. Okay. But I'll ask Carol. Okay. Thank you. Because that's important
It's continuing at our meeting as part of this also. Oh, the professional development or Okay. And, like, evaluation and goals. Yeah. That's at the July. That's the, yeah, the July 1.
Previously, we've done it as, like, a separate meeting, not part of the
The evaluation? We're supposed to talk about it when we're gonna do it after the meeting. Right? Meeting, there was, like, a Well, because we had right. Because we had, like, the lord retreat. Retreat. Right? That's a word retreat. Yeah. Can we do that for the July 1? Sure. If you guys want to. Make the make the '7 make that meeting a retreat or no? Or Or do a retreat in July. We need to schedule a retreat. We just
Do you want a different day, or do you wanna do the seventeenth? Last time, we did it Did a different day. Oh, that's really good. Did it earlier. Like, we came in we did, like, course. Right. We came in early. And we mentioned doing it at a different location like we always have before too. Yeah. Which is fine because we can put that on an agenda that just says Right.
Okay. Here's where we'll be meeting. So do we wanna do that for the July meeting then? Just won't be in Does that give everybody enough time if we if we had to meet earlier?
So with vacations, because we're gonna need to do your evaluation, our board evaluation, all that stuff. Do people have time to do that by July 17?
I can send the stuff out. It's do you want it to be the seventeenth, and do you want it to be at a different location? Because we've done them at different locations before. I know. Right. And we just Steve and I are
to it, so we should do it tonight. I mean, I can arrange it. That's not a problem. Right. But we but we're meeting earlier on that day. That's what I'm saying. Like, we do the retreat before the meeting. But we can do it whatever time you want. Right. I but what Shannon was saying, so you're gonna give us the information. You give us the stuff before, and then we talk about it on the seventeenth? Well, I would send it to you. Right. We can have it summarized with them. We have a whole Google
Yeah. Send out survey thing that Steve had made that was not Right.
I mean, I think I think to have stuff done by that date Yeah. No. I think that's use. Yeah. No. I think that's Yeah. Just tell me. Do you want that here? Sure. Or do you wanna go something? If you
tell them you want it someplace, that's not a problem. I'll call and arrange that.
I think, personally, I would like to see if we're gonna start doing your evaluation, our evaluation, setting goals, that should be a focus of one. If you put it with the other board meeting,
then it gets filtered in with everything else, and I don't think it'll get you full attention. Then just cancel the July regular board meeting and have a special board meeting because that's all your executive sessions got anyways.
To me, I But I wanna talk about the MEP, though. You're gonna have a a you know what I mean? If you're gonna have that on the July meeting, that's our next meeting. So what we've done before
was we had, like, a special meeting that was, like, the retreat, and we did that from, like, four to six, I don't know, six, Harvey, and we had our regular meeting at They were separated Right. On the same
And can do that. I would like That conclude us going somewhere else. No. You can still do it fast. We can do it fast. As long as we have Zoom ability.
Yeah. Because if we did that last time. Would like to go someplace right. Right. You would like I go would like to go someplace different, but if it if it's more convenient to be here, I you know, I'm not
Alright. Let me call because we have well, I will call tomorrow. Okay. And Okay. Look at places.
So then just for everyone to kinda just keep on the radar then, that that July 17 meeting, we're not meeting at seven. We'll meet at, like, 04:00 in the afternoon. So if everyone can be available at, like Yep. That's fine. I need to Absolutely. Yep. That's what I'm saying. So the so it would be at, like, 4PM either here or to be determined. Okay. Okay. What if you'd like that cake? How many hours do we need for each? Well,
I think if we if we need it for, that gives us three hours. Yes.
It's the last day of school. I think it it was. Yeah. Okay. Who was the guy that we had two years ago?
Yeah. He's really good. Yes. He is. He really is.
And whoever the guy was that we had last year,
not as good. Right. I just don't remember names. Ryan? Christian. Yeah. Conrad. Conrad. You're welcome.
Have you ever chatted crazy online? No. I'm a little upset right here. We've had Patrice before. I like Patrice. Patrice. Do. We've had Definitely. There's there's quite a few. So let me see who's available. Alright. Good point, Tina.
Okay. So just everybody keep July 17, 04:00, and then we'll figure out if we're gonna be here. You. Thank you everyone for being agreeable to move in those dates. I appreciate it. Alright. Comments from the public. Nope.
Oh, nope. Sorry. The t oh, yes. That's right. The the Andover tenor Like, Thank you. Thank you. I'm moving right along here.
Go ahead, Dal. Okay. So we'll do this in a nutshell. Yeah. Even though Celeste was the the person who who who facilitated this, we did arrange just to recap, we did arrange to renegotiate the teacher's contract early because their person was retiring. And so, we mutually agreed that even though we didn't need to do this for another six or seven months, for the end of the twenty five year, we were gonna do that now. We, the procedure obviously, there's four members of this board of education, that were on the team. The procedure is we sent in our, board proposals, and they sent in their board pro their proposals to the board. And, it was very quick. It was very amicable. And, you know, in the end, you know, Select did a good job facilitating that so that this was nice and quick and easy. What you're looking at in front of you are the TAs. That's the tentative agreements. But last week on the sixth, the teachers union did, meet and ratify it on their end. So the only changes, would be to this contract that instead of a term of, $50,000 in life insurance, they would have 75,000, which is a pretty small, increase for the board's cost there. That's probably one of the cheaper, aspects of of the negotiation. The second thing with the dental, is actually kind of somewhat of a fix rather than a permanent, difference. We've always paid for the employee, 95% of their dental, and they got 2%. And so just moving forward, they will continue to pay 5%, but in every category, whether it's two or family. The insurance was where we had a lot of collaborations with the insurance, since you know ours went up, it's not quite a bit, like, 2.5%
for next year. The teachers union, starting in 2526 school year, their premiums, they've agreed to go up 2.25% to assist the board, per year for those four years. And since that will get them closer to, our surrounding towns that are also, part of the consortium and that they graciously agreed that they would do that, then we, in turn, did agree to the, 3.25% increase from 25 on, for the four year life of that contract. So that is their, salary. General age increase would be 3.25, and their increase is 2.25 for their benefits. Most of the other stuff in here is just, cleanup, things that were practiced, but for procedure or not specified by the contract. So most of the rest of this was simply that, and that was really what they brought to the table was to say, hey. We know that the hours are 07:50 to 03:20, but I don't know if you never realized that it doesn't actually say that in the contract. So the things that were added in there were, pretty much just that. We did have a practice of prorating,
part time teachers, and no one had ever, questioned that on our side or their side, but now it specifies in here what that proration would look like. And so same thing with the, part time teacher schedules. They've always sat down with the principal, and they've said if this is the days you'd work, let's see what that looks like. It's now spelled out in there. So so there really weren't, many changes at all. We were lucky that in the end, since they appreciated the fact that we were meeting them at three point two five for their increase and they were meeting us at two point two five in insurance, most of the other asks were dropped because they understood that that the board's money being put into that was really all that was there. So I give that team a lot of credit. You know, it it couldn't have gone better, and so it was it was done very quickly. So they've ratified it. So you guys would need that, even though four of you were on that committee, would need to make sure that that was
motioned pass that tonight.
I make a motion to approve the tentative agreements and ratified by the teachers union to be ratified by our board of education. I certainly will. All in favor? I.
And, Celeste, what will happen then is because there's no changes to what you guys are agreeing to and what they've agreed to, once the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, then you will just get a final version, and you'll just sign that. Okay. And there's no changes. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
Now comment. I'm. Jen McAllister, do you have anything? I am all set. Thank you for your support. Jen, you were all I touched Nothing for me. Thank you.
Okay. Alright. So don't touch it. Any other action items?
See you all bright and early, 6AM, the last day of school. Oh,
just for the for our next meeting, just to kinda work on the agenda. So we'll get a a quote for the new MVP. And then, Mike, for meetings. I know Steve isn't here tonight. I know you did May, and I know you have June. So I thought that for July, we could talk about those meetings. We could hopefully, Steve will be there. You could talk about May, and then you could talk about June. What one Does that work?
Sorry. Sorry. Do you wanna talk about it at the July meeting instead of talking about it tonight? Or do you wanna talk about it tonight?
No. I mean, we we we hit the issue. I was just gonna talk about the MEP and capital policy. Those are only two things. But, I mean, I don't think there's a reason for us to go back and have the others report. Okay. Because, I mean, it's kind of Okay. I mean, it's not really useful information anymore. Think if we're gonna do this Will do. If it's gonna be an actual, like, task we assign to people, I think we should actually include it in the agenda and make sure it's done because I think people will spend their time, you know, taking it as a responsibility.
If we're gonna do it, let's do it. If not, let's drop. Okay. Thanks, Mike. Alright. Alright. So then on the agenda, we'll have June or July. Okay. Great. And tomorrow is the last day of school. The children will have
the ice cream truck here. So if there's any Board member that could be picking up their kids, that will We're not picking up kids.
At what time my kids if you want. They'll be here till dismissal. Yep. They'll be here. They'll be here until dismissal. So What time will they arrive? Well, eleven. 11:15. So where will they be? You can't miss them. They'll Down here. Down. Oh, they'll be down here. We pick up.
Okay. So yes, the kids will have gotten it during this. Oh, they're gonna, like, walk with their classes. Yes. Yeah. The pre K students will get it with families, but if, you know, bus students and everything, we wanna make sure they get Right. We we do bus first in case we run out of time. And what time is dismissal? 12:45.
So it's tight. Well, I wasn't gonna be picking it up. But
that was Blue chip cream, or is it gonna be How many can I put in between eleven and 12:45? Alright.
So just Magic. So we'll have it for July. During that time. We'll have June your bleeding. Bleeding updates
from Brie and MEP. The MEP. Number two, question. Yep. Number two. Okay. And then policy. Right. You wanna provide a policy update on the capital if you're gonna be talking with you know what I mean? Like, if you're gonna send out to the board? Yeah. Yeah. I'll absolutely do that. Okay. We'll see if board of finance takes it up. I think they do it two weeks from now. So a capital policy update? Yep. Okay. Thanks, Shanna. Absolutely. Alright. Any anything else for? Or the regular meeting. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Negative motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Thank
you, Jerry. At what time? It is 08:37. 08:38. Thirty eight. Yeah. 08:30. All in favor. Yeah. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Thanks, everyone. No. We're busy.