Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
November 13, 2024 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Good evening, everyone. I'd like to welcome everyone to the Andover Elementary School Board of Education. Regular meeting today is 11/13/2024. It is 06:59. And before we begin, I'd just like to read an opening statement. Good evening. As chair of the Andover Elementary School Board of Education, I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present and to our Zoom viewers. The board superintendent and I are pleased that you have joined us as we celebrate achievement, review information, and make policy decisions related to the effective operation of Andover Elementary School. This is a regular meeting and all items that will be discussed or voted on this evening have been posted as required by state law. As the Andover Elementary School Board of Education, we are here to set goals, listen to reports of the superintendent, approve budgets, contracts, and personal appointments, and to make policy for the district. We're not here to make management decisions or solve the problems of individuals. Management is the responsibility of the superintendent. Meetings of the board are open to the public. It is the time when the board conducts its business of governing the school system in a public arena.
The regular meetings are not meetings with the public. Therefore, comments from the public will be confined to the time designated with the public to address the firm. To form a courtesy are important elements in effective public meetings, please silence your cell phones or communication devices and refrain from talking while others are speaking. Since it is legally mandated that proceedings be accurately reported, more chairs cannot ask for order periodically should noise begin to interfere with our recording capabilities. And I would just like to say that we need to speak up a little more because the microphone doesn't pick up everybody. I'm pleased that you've taken the time this evening to join us. We are very proud of the school system, and thank you for your interest in Andover Elementary School. And with that, we can start with the Pledge of Allegiance, and I'll ask the fifth graders to lead us.
United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice I think I like the idea of in person meetings. Hey. So we'll start with we'll start with comments from the public. I'll start with people that are, checking us online. Katie Dixon? I'm all set. Thank you. Alright. We'll we'll move on. Danny Morrell? Nothing for me. Thank you.
Is is that it? Or Liz was, yeah, somewhere. Yep. I'm I'm on it. Thanks, Shannon. Liz Welch. Hold in, please. No. Okay. There's no page two. Right? No. No. Okay. Alright. I'll just go back. Jen McGoldrick? I'm all set. Thank you. Alright. Any communications? Anybody? Okay. Alright. Student celebrations.
Sorry. Just wanna make sure we get Go ahead. Yes. So I'm excited. We talked I believe we talked a little bit last month about how the red, white, and blue school that we were awarded that honor. And one of the biggest reasons we are is because of the work we're doing with our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in civics education, very much due to missus Hopkins. So she so graciously came today to celebrate many of our fifth graders and some of the work that they're doing in civics education. So without further ado, I'll turn it over to missus Hopkins. Alright. So back in 2015,
we started, using the acute gardener program. It's a state program. It's a wonderful program, very comprehensive. I have a list of lessons, and these are just some of them. We start with the three branches of government, election, the role of the governor, history of voting, what makes a leader, the voting process, and creating and analyzing campaign videos. And they worked very hard. Lots of them did lots of research. There's thirteen fifth graders that wanted to run for key down leadership here. Oh. So they worked hard. They researched the community issue that they felt passionate about, and they prepared speeches, which they delivered to their peers. And that was a pretty important day. Right? Okay. So what I'd like to do, I have for each of you a certificate of participation.
So if you could just come up I'll stand up with you. Just come up, and you tell them what you ran on, what your platform was. Okay? So, Gabby, who do own? Air pollution. Okay. Olivia Delaware. Station. Vivian. Plastic pollution? Plastic pollution.
And where's Hudson's Hudson warrant? Climate change. Climate change. Good. And Valentina Mendoza? Yeah. And I saw Jess and Jess. Can you tell them what your platform was? I
don't know if I see any question. Yeah. And Aiden Cagarty?
Answer. So Aiden was actually our nominee. He was voted by his peers to actually be our candidate that we submit to the state. Uh-huh. So what happens is it then becomes a a collaboration of work. Aiden did a lot of work. I'm sure his parents had a lot of help. Aiden did a lot to write. Mhmm. And then what happens is he'd come to school, and I worked as an editor, and then he had a tech person who helped him film his campaign video. And would you like the show, or do you wanna give him a clear speech? Sure. Video loaded.
There we go. I don't know. Let me get rid of that one. The reason I chose this community issue is because my grandpa had cancer, and he sadly did not make it. My family does a fundraiser called Relay for Life. Relay for Life is a nonprofit organization which basically means all proceeds go to the on the funding floor for cancer. Millions of people die from cancer each year. We need to do something now. Did you know cancer impacts millions of people each year? In fact, four hundred thousand of them are children. What exactly is cancer? Can it be prevented? According to the American Cancer Society, cancer is uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that can cause death if left untreated. Many types of cancer can be prevented, and we need to educate everyone to be physically active, mindful of nutrition, and avoid unhealthy behaviors, and make sure you do necessary cancer screenings.
Even skin cancer could be prevented if people understood the importance of protected skin against exposure of the sun. It is my goal to educate people about the causes of cancer and finding the bone pain types of cancer. Also, I would love to get people into bigger organizations bigger organizations like We Like For Life with Jimmy Thumb and Skate two of the lung cancer. Hopefully, they will learn about them so they can donate to promote their research. The second step to my three part plan is to make a blog that includes videos and informational websites about cancer research and prevention in order to teach people. I will also invite doctors that specialize in cancer to participate. The third step for my three plan plan is to create a book into a job so that people with cancer receiving treatments will have something enjoyable to do.
Fifth graders of Connecticut, I believe together we can make a difference and help put an end to cancer. To do this, we must educate people about this terrible illness and help those currently being treated for the cancer. Help me make Connecticut a healthier state and.
So that video, it's filmed over the course of a few days, and it's it's it's quite a lot to put together. And we have we're very lucky to have missus Bourdette, our music teacher, who does most of the filming, and she edits it. And it it every single year, it comes out great, and we're getting better every year. Mhmm. So what happened with the red, white, and blue, once I heard about these distinctions, schools of distinction for red, white, and blue teaching civics, I took the kid governor program, and I I sent it into the state of project that I did with the kids where I took a sixth grade nominee who was actually on the, she was a kid governor cabinet member, Scarlet Bollier. And then I took Vera Pizewski, and I put them together because they had similar community issues. And they worked together last year to help do a trash drive in the school for Earth Day. So I had sent that into the state, and we became known as the Red, White, and Blue School. And now we are a banner proudly outside. Don't know if you've seen it, but we have a nice banner that says we're a Red, White, and Blue School.
Last year, the theme was community issues and connecting people. And this year, the theme is our government, our voices. So now we're trying to figure out how we're going to incorporate that so that we can continue to be a red, white, and blue school.
So thank you, missus Hopkins. Thank you so much. Much. Great. Is the best one to come again?
Well, you mean the rally? That was the first year. Did probably not. Bus. Yeah. No. We only had the rally the first year. Okay. And then we've had a cabinet member. We let's see. One year, we won a photo contest. So we just sent you another photo, so we'll see. Maybe we're gonna see the winners of the photo contest this year. You never know. And when does voting oh, when does that start? So we just voted this week. We voted on Tuesday because that's the day we vote, right? So they have nominated a candidate for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty five kindergarten. So we'll have to wait and see. Next week, I think the results are out. Okay? Mhmm.
Well, we'll watch it live. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. I know you're taking time out of your busy busy evenings to come, Aiden. You did a fantastic job. Just poised and finding sure of yourself and awesome. And to all of you that submitted entries into your platforms, thank you very much. We're very grateful that all of you came here, and thank you, missus Hopkins. You would have been very impressed with every single speech.
Mhmm. And we'll we'll keep you let us know what happened. So thank you. Thank you very much. Good job, you guys. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. You. Thank you. You. I'm going down the basket. Yeah. They're all going that way since the gym. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you for coming.
Thank you, missus Hopkins. Thank you, missus Hopkins. Yeah. Alright.
Well, that puts us in a good mood. So thank you. Thanks for organizing that, Taylor. Appreciate it. Alright. We've got some minutes to approve here. October 9 and then October 22 at seven and October 22 at 07:30. Did I have an opportunity to take a look at them? Yeah. Let's see. Any corrections, deletions, additions? No? No? Okay. Can I get a motion? You need to Or you need one or all three together? I think we could do all all three together if you wanna make a motion.
I I can make a motion to approve the minutes for October 9 and then October 22, the seventh PM, and 07:30PM.
And just for purposes of recording, just when you make a motion, just state your name. So Caitlin Greenhouse is making this motion. K. Okay. Thank you. Can I get a second? I'll second it. Jerry Cremay. Thank you. All in favor? I move. Alright. So moved. All of the, fifteen minutes have been approved. Thank you. Okay. Anybody, wanna add or delete any agenda items? No? Okay. All right. Any other celebrations? Okay. All right. And we'll that brings us to reports. I don't have much. I just wanted to give an update on the playground. It is set to be installed on Monday, November 18. So the playground will be delivered on Friday. The old equipment will be removed on Friday, and the new playground will be installed on Monday. It should take two days. It has to cure for a couple of days, and then I'll work with Val to get it inspected. So yeah. So that's the update that I have. And then just one other update. The there's a food drive that's gonna be going on on Sunday at the fire department for the pantry, for our town pantry. They are in very high need for items for Thanksgiving. So if you have anything, all donations would be accepted, and the fire department will be accepting those donations on Sunday from eleven to one. That is all I have. Val, take it away. Okay.
So let's see. A couple of things. I'll do the, facilities updates first. So the list kind of since last month, we did have Seaward, to do an outlet for a dryer. As you know, we have a washer and dryer. Really love that. Yeah. We have a washer and dryer. That's completed. That's done. And, we do use we do use that regularly. It's in a workroom. So that's completed since the last meeting. We had the FPT sprinkler inspection that was done on the fifth. It's an annual inspection, so we're good to go there. The radon test, they dropped it off Tuesday and picked it up Thursday. So, those results will be in, standard. They leave, in five rooms. They leave, the, test kit. And they come back and pick it up, and then they take it back, and and we get our, results on that. Overhead door inspection was passed. We have to have that there for that emergency, door exit. We also had the FPT kitchen suppression. That's that, over the, the hood of the the you you still thank you. That's a separate that's by law a separate inspection even when the fire inspection occurs. So that's good to go over there.
We did have some piece that needed to be replaced on our FPT display. For whatever reason, it'd been happening for some time where every once in a while, especially if there's, like, a big power outage, I'd get a message on my phone as with the custodian that, the fire alarm had gone off, and then it automatically restored itself. So, there was a replacement piece that needed to be, done there. And this had been a while that it happened even with a former custodian because it wasn't impairing our service. It was that glitch. And we finally figured it's about time as we're getting into the winter. Because if you lose power, as I said, every time that happens and you get that loss of power even it comes back on, we were getting those messages quite frequently. So that's fixed. And then the last thing actually just occurred this week. We did have to have my tech come out because, there was a difficulty with the boys' toilet that turned out to be the doorstop that the basketball players over the weekend decided to flush down the toilet. So yep.
So wasn't anything wrong with the pipes until the doorstop was flushed down the toilet. So we're good to go there, though. We're back to normal there. And so, everything's on track. We're good to go with all of those things. And, again, I I know I say it every month. You know, it's really good to be working with Scott, because he makes sure on his end that, everything comes to our attention. Mhmm. And, you know, it's, we are we're we're so on target with our schedule for repairs and maintenance, and we really appreciate that. He's literally on top of that. So there's that. Grants, I mean, I wish I could tell you that the state is just, giving us a plethora of applications right now. I they're not. I currently only have one out. And I also have one that I'm working on, which is a long shot, but I'm working on with this date. We have until December 31 to complete it. The deadline is, like, the January 2. What that one would be is, like, a regional shared service RFP. So in other words, it's, you know, hey. It's up to a $100,000. You know, go with as many partnering districts as you can, come up with an idea, and pitch it to us. And so I have quite a few of the other smaller districts, obviously, my other one, and a few other ones where
we're we're really trying to design something. All of us had the luxury of having after school programs before, and now they're missed in the districts that are finished with them. So to be continued on that, but that's really the only one that's been released. So we're in a low right now. I keep hoping for a Christmas miracle that they'll release a few new ones because I haven't seen any. We did get, the opportunity to apply for more of the free COVID tests, which, you know, hey. It doesn't sound like a big deal anymore. We used to swim in them and then we stopped them. And then as some of you in the community might know, you don't need one till you need one, and then you buy one. And, I don't want anybody buying them. So, we did, you know, fill out the application for this last round, and I do have, enough. We ordered enough so that anybody in the community that needed them could come to us. And so if there's families that need them, please feel free, to, you know, stop at the school and get them. I've left them for staff members. I did go see Kimmy Dawes over, at, the community center, and I asked her if they had any at the at the community center I'd already given them to. But I asked her if they had any at the fire department. She said no. So they had a meeting tonight or tomorrow, and she said she'd asked them if they wanted to store some there. So, I do have enough, you know, so that if there are any community, you know, local,
Andover agencies want to, take a few, you know, just reach out and let me know, and there shouldn't be a reason why because we we did get enough. And these are, good through the winter, and there's two kits in each box. So, you know, if there's any family that says I would just like to have it because I've got lots of kids, you know, stop by, because we have while we have them. Let's see. As you guys know, Friday and Saturday is the Caps cave convention, which, you know, most of you are signed up for who could go. For those of you who are going the first time, you know, when we get there on Friday morning, there'll be a line for you to check-in. When you check-in, they'll give you tickets for lunch and dinner. Anybody who did sign up, I did put that you wanted the food because it it didn't matter. It was the same price either way. And so if you're there, there'll be a ticket in there. What we generally do is, you know, pick one table where you guys could sit together at lunch because there'll be 500 people there. And so I don't want you to have to get separated if you don't want to. So just look for one another at lunch. And, Celeste, you'll be there Friday. Right? Yes. And I know Jerry,
you'll be there Friday. Shannon, Saturday. So oh, Friday as well, Kate. So you guys will remember if there is a table of the others.
Oh. Go ahead and sit there. Okay. So who can we just who's going on Friday? I don't know. I'm going on Friday. Okay. Yeah. Cool. And then And then Saturday
here, just the two of us? Okay. Okay. Yep. So, but there'll be others. So, and if you haven't already looked at the schedule of the breakout sessions, you don't have to sign up ahead of time, but I would look because the passing time in between them is short. And, so, you know, if you wanna try to figure it out, you might not have time to get in before they start. And we do get those sessions as close to the time as we can. So there's a moderator. I I actually looked it up today. The one I'm moderating is the one that Colin McNamara is doing
at RAM. So but our job is to get you in there when it starts and get you out when it ends. And so save yourself the time, you know, and pick them ahead of time. The distance between them is not far, so don't really worry about where they're located. It's all in a pretty small area of the, hotel and conference room. So, yeah, just pick them, you know, accordingly there. And there's a room there that you'll wanna find when you get there because, it has the vendors and the presenters, and they are geared toward not only boards of ed and superintendents, but finance people as well. And when you go in there, you are free to visit any of the tables. And when you visit the tables, there's lots of freebies and giveaways there, and they're they're usually really good things and good ideas. Feel free if they ask for an email address because you're interested in something. Use your school email address because you're gonna get a lot of those related things, and you don't want them clogging up your personal emails. Mhmm. So
I I would highly recommend using your school email if you're going to to try to get something there. So that's that. And then so I'm there Friday and Saturday. And then next week, our regular administrators are here, obviously, Taylor and Holly, special ed. And next week, I'm not here. So Colin is back up should there be any issue, which there never will be, but, you know, better be prepared. So, Jill, you're here Friday? Mhmm. You're okay. Okay. Yes. Alright. Okay. And,
yeah, and then next week, policy or something. So we're good to go. So and that's it. We're short this time. Alright. Does
anybody have any questions for Valerie? No? Okay. I'm yep. No. Sorry. No. No. No. Keep going. Yep.
Ahead. Two questions. One, for the COVID test for the community, would you be okay if I personally posted that they were available on a community Facebook page should people need them?
I would wait and please until That's fine. Families and people get them because usually when you do that then, there are a lot of people that aren't local to our community that are on there. And I don't mind sharing with them if we have enough, but I don't want us to run short of our families and the rest of the people in the town of Andover. Yeah. So after that, Kate, absolutely, as soon as if you can give us just two weeks Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Then whatever's left, you know, I absolutely I just know that there's people, like, within our community that look at that that don't look at other stuff. Right.
And then two, in terms of facilities, it sounds like he's doing a really good job of keeping track of stuff. Have you guys managed to have any of that written down yet in terms of coming up with, like, a written
plan moving forward? Or Yeah. The the biggest thing to start that written plan is to separate what is regular repairs and maintenance, what occurs Yeah. Weekly, monthly, annually, every three years, every five years. And, you know, that is is is the first step because, obviously, then the unknowns or the things that are long term plans, you know, would come after that. So, yes, we are we are in a good place there. Okay.
And Do you guys need help? Like, do you need one of us to help with that at all? Or
No. So that really what's what slows the progress I wanna say on that, and that's why I say we're still in it, is he's got to kind of run through a cycle where it's if it's something that's every month, for example, he's gotta like, the rate on this was the first time that he has had custodian was here for that. He knows exactly what it is. He knows what they do. Do you know what I mean? And now that's part of it, he's like, got it. Good to go. So it was almost kind of just running through making sure that, everything that's done quarterly, everything that's done every month for the start of the school year.
But, no, he's he's he's got it. He's pretty good. Only asking because I was trying to look back at our goals for this year. Mhmm. And we put, like, coming up with a a plan for that stuff as one of our goals. So, like, what's an appropriate time line for us to think about
or for someone from here to help you guys with getting that call ready? So, obviously, you'd want updates on it, you know, along the way. So I would say that kind of because right now, I'm gonna be pulled a little bit to do the budget. So A little? A little bit? So would say that, you know, after the New Year, there'll be something that we at least hand out to you at a meeting and say, hey. You know, this is this is our repairs. It would be, like, March, April after budget stuff is on. Yep. But in the meantime, I will make sure that, you know, as soon as we can, and it will be for the December meeting, but the January meeting is is feasible for us to say, at least have something to show you what that looks like for repairs and maintenance. Okay. Even if it's just a, like, a sketch of timeline. And that's what we really have is, you know, this is this is what we do when we do it. Okay. Okay?
Does that much of Sorry. I have a question too. Does that include long term maintenance? Like, if we I'm I'm sure we're getting yearly tune ups on, like, boilers, things like that. You know, if if they're coming back and saying, hey. You know, you only got another five, ten years. Are we putting that as part of this so that we know in the future we need to plan in five years for a new boiler, we need to do
So depending on which part of that mechanical, electrical that you're talking about, it would depend. So for example, you guys know that, we have those three big things that needed to be done to be compliant. We needed the one that, we've already approved. We haven't started yet, but we've already approved to use Boston O'Neill for, which is, you know, that HVAC. That one would give us long term, equipment, potential issues with, and not just your regular repair and maintenance. But every month when we get the reports from whomever it is, there will be a note on there. Like, you know, next time we wanna change the filter on this. Next time you wanna and those are things that are on there, and that drives the next time they they come, those sorts of things. But the the big things, I guess, we look to those those other ones.
Like So it's it's really kind of a matter of having it two separate ways then. It is. One that's, like, what you want on a monthly, quarterly, weekly basis, and then one that's Right. Like, a tab for each Right. Individual,
like, maintenance Right. Right. Cycle. Because it's repair and maintenance, and then it's big projects. So the repair and maintenance takes place every month anyways Mhmm. With one thing or another. So that is where I said by January, you'll definitely have. The other thing, there may be things on that list, Brie, that are like, we already know that this is gonna come down the pike in a year or two years or three years. So, yeah, so there's some of that on there, but I don't know in terms of the the the bigger stuff exactly. By the end of the year, we'll have a really good idea on that. Okay. So sounds like he's doing a great job. He is. He's doing a great job. You know, I couldn't couldn't ask him to be any more diligent than he is. You know, he really is. He takes a lot of pride in it. Yes. He does. Yes. He does. Takes a lot of pride in being, you know, the head custodian. So Good. It's good.
Awesome. Anybody have any questions for Val? No? Okay. Thank you, Val. Appreciate it. Alright, Taylor. You're up. Alright.
So last month, we talked about SBAP a little bit, and Mike talked a little bit about our growth scores and maybe spending a bit of time talking about that. So I wanted to start there. So let's just share this again, make sure.
I don't know why it always has to be so in my face, but
alright. So the state has EdSight, right, which is a public website that anybody can access school data on. Right? And so one of the tools that I wanted to start with when we talk about the growth scores, because it's a little bit hard to wrap our heads around. So I'm gonna try my best, but ask me questions as we go if you're a little bit confused. So the first tool I'm gonna show you is a trajectory chart. And so what that does is it looks at a student, and we're gonna write now an ELA grade three. And you're gonna put a scale score. So we talk a lot about ones, twos, threes, and fours. Right? A three being meeting, a two being approaching, one below, a four above. However, students get an actual number score in the thousands like this. Now to a random person, 2311 doesn't mean much to us, but it's assigned to a level. So I this is a score that a third grader received. Right? 2311. So when you look at that in grade three, they scored right here at a level one. That's what this orange is, this level one. So that's below where we want them to score. Right? What the state does is then sets a goal for them in order to eventually, by grade eight, hopefully, get back onto grade level. There's a certain amount of learning and performance they have to do each year. Does that make sense? Mhmm. If they do this amount, we call it a 100%. So if they do a 100% of what the state says, this is going to be their trajectory. And you can see this student, if they're doing a 100%, meaning they're learning everything they need to enforce plus a little bit extra, Right? And then everything they need plus a little bit extra.
It will take them till seventh grade to score in the three zone. Okay? So that's one example. I'm just gonna show you a few on here just so you get a sense. Now if I put in another that was a student who scored low. Yes. I had to write them down. You don't have them memorized. So now if you look at a twenty four fifteen okay. This is a student who scored at a two, so approaching grade level. If they're working at a multiplier of a 100%, you'll see that it actually on a high two, their high two is only gonna take them one year. We anticipate in fourth grade, there'll be a low three if you look at the shadings. Right? That helps. Okay? And then lastly, I'll just show you one more example. So if you look at a student who scored higher, 24, 54.
Okay. This is a a student who scored at the level three in third grade. If they continue on and do a 100%, you can see they're always gonna score right around that level. Now I can change, oh, that multiplier. And let's say they only hit 80% of their growth target. That student is still going to be at a three all the way through eighth grade. Right? So the score, when you think of our overall performance, when I tell you what percentage of our kids have hit a three, this student's going to be a three whether or not they hit a 100% of their growth target or 50% of their growth target. K? I should have done that. I'll just do it one time with you for the number one. If that student doesn't hit their whole they were twenty three eleven,
And they're at 80%, then it looks like high level two by eighth grade. So you can this is a tool that we put in actual student scores, of course. We mess with. We play with. It's a nice interactive tool the state gives us. I will say the state doesn't actually tell you, like, very clearly what a 100% is, because that would be too much, right, in terms of what the learning is. But the understanding is that it's all of the next grade plus a little bit, right, because they need to make up front.
Is the the score that they get Mhmm. It's out of the same total, like, across the grades? So what if you have a kid that got, like, a twenty five fifty in grade, whatever your lowest grade is? Yep. And then their So I could change to grade five. And then their score just stays that or goes up to, like, 26 but never goes higher. Sure. They could still get a twenty three eleven in grade five, but it's a lot lower.
You can see in grade five where that dot was compared to where it was in third. So the scale shifts. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I don't have a fifth grade score in front of me. Let's try 2,600 and see what happens. There you go. That's a higher student. So it does. Then the numbers, what it measures, of course, again, the scientific scoring is a little above us, but it is the same scale. It just shifts depending on your grade level, which is why that's important because it's weighting it. And it's 180. Yes.
Yeah. Based on grade level content. Yep. And it's applying to 80% every year, so you're not gonna go year to year to year. Correct. Yes. They haven't had that tool. That would be nice. So you score a 100% this year and 60% next year. Right? Yeah. So you can see that. So then when we look at so that's just a little kind of to understand what a growth score is. So I'll just make this bigger so we can see. So now they only give graphs for the state, not for each town. So this graph is looking at we're just talking about ELA, the first slide. Okay. Reading. This is the percentage of students across the state who met their growth target. That means they hit a 100% of their growth target. So in the state, 38.5%. You can see us this year dipped a little at 32.8%.
You can kind of see the last five years here. Okay. Okay? Five years. Five years. And that's the whole school?
Yeah. Yes. For us, it's Not just a single grade. Nope. This is third through sixth. Good question. So 32% of kids hit a 100% of that growth score. Then over here is what is the average percentage that kids are hitting of the 100%? Does that make sense? So on average in the state, kids are hitting about 58% of their growth target, their growth, and we're right about there, 56.5. You can see last year, we had a really high year, which is awesome. We've talked about we had a a big ways to go. We needed to really make up a lot of time from two years ago, which is great, and we did that. But, certainly, we want to see those. We want all these numbers at a 100%, right, in a perfect world. However, what's interesting is it doesn't always reflect in your total achievement. Because as we saw, a student can be only hitting 50% of their growth and still at a level three. So our school would still look great even though they're only hitting 50%. Or the opposite way, they could be hitting a 100% and not gonna hit a three till eighth grade. So, unfortunately, we're not gonna see that. So it's a little tricky. Again, we use this at the core student level, but we don't typically analyze it as much as a whole school. Doesn't give us the same. We look up Mike's score and say, okay. What do we need to do to help him? And then math, you'll see. So same thing. The state is up here. 42% of students across the state meeting a 100%. We're right on going higher than that. And our math scores consistently been higher, which is we did go up a little bit in math.
70.2% is the average growth score our kids are hitting of their 100%. So, hopefully, that's clear ish. I know it's a lot to wrap your head. So on an individual student level, you get concerned when that growth score is below a certain amount? Yes and no. Again, yes, because I want them to hit the target, the state. Because that target's not super clear always, it can be there's just so many factors with young children. It can be a little hard to granularly say what it is that is holding them back, but we do analyze it. We certainly look. Again, we can look back. It's not super easy, so it's time consuming, but we have done it with fifth and sixth. Put them back into third grade on here with their score and look at their gross scores Mhmm. Over a span of time. Tells us more a lot of times than, like, a third grader who hasn't taken the test very many times. So we do use it more with our older students because we can look for that chart, especially because you could we don't wanna see a kid do something like this either. That's stranger to us in looking at, like, what's happening here. We might see some curves that are sharper or some curves that are moving slower, but this would be a, you know, as you can imagine, a little bit more of a red flag like what's happening with that student. And then I did follow-up because just we talked about intervention and our support staff, and so I think Caitlin had asked maybe let's talk a little bit about that. So I thought this would be timing just to get an overall glimpse. Happy to answer questions.
So we added we know the early childhood specialist physician, Jenny Morell. And so she supports a 130 students in grades pre k to two, primarily working with our pre k and k, which is that 73 ish students. She does social emotional learning, reading, and math in those two grades. She does support our first grade currently in reading and math as well. And you'll see a little bit why just because we're tight here with our interventionists and our tested grade levels. So then we have a full time reading specialist. That's Krista Caraboni, if you've met her. So she supports a 137 students in grades two through six. So she meets with seven to eight small groups daily, and that's our tier two and tier three students. Meaning students who need some additional support, maybe in a larger group or, three to four days a week, and then a more intensive tier three. Smaller group, one to three students, five days a week. That could be a progression. She does provide some in classroom support. However, it's tight to meet the needs of our tier students. That's not as feasible as it might have been once. And then we have our math and tech support special. So that's Christina Fraser. So she also supports a 127. Look at that. One got a 137, one got a 127. I swear it's the same amount in grades two through six. So I apologize for that one. I can't tell you which one's right.
But in our grades two through six. So she meets with four to five small groups daily, of tier three math. Little bit of the difference, she doesn't support tier two. She doesn't have the time and the schedule. Our classroom teachers do for tier two math support. She also teaches a section of fourth grade math, and she supports STEM integration in our classrooms and provides math enrichment. Big job. One person. So when you look at one of the things we've talked about a lot or, you know, even as we look across other regions that are seeing success particularly in math, and we think about what is leading to this, you know, one of the one of the things that lead to this is I have a person and a half providing
tiered intervention in my tested grades. As we grow in enrollment, that's gonna be something I'm saying to Val, and she'll hopefully say to you is that's an area where I hope we can continue to increase because there are a good number of students who require that support. And we know as a district, we believe, and we don't wanna lose support for our higher students either. Right? It's it's it's really being able to support all students. So that's just a kind of a look, but happy to answer any questions.
I have a question. How do how do the kids get tiered? Is that through an IEP or a learning Nope. Good question. Good question. So we use the SRBI
procedure. So that's a state procedure where every six to eight weeks, we meet as a team or interventionist and the classroom teacher. So meeting like this, we sit at a table, and we go through that student's data. If we determine they're not meeting grade level expectations, we then determine what support they may need. So it could be tier two, which sometimes is with the classroom teacher. That's a reteach. Usually, they need some reteaching of classroom level material. Tier three means we're going below grade level. They need some foundational skills. And then every six to eight weeks, like I said, we meet. How's that going? Does the intervention need changed, shifted,
exited, high or lower? Whereas an IEP, like you said, would be a special education service. Sometimes students, if SRBI isn't working, that team might refer them to special education if we need more evaluations and more answers. Thank you. Sure. What about for a kid that is accelerated or needs enrichment support? Does that team also discuss those kids? Yeah. And and I've been in schools where they don't, where it's only you're looking at your below. We I would say if you ask any of our teachers, they'll support me. We pride ourselves that we go through every student every time. So when you guys sit down for those meetings, you're We're looking at a class list. The whole class. Yeah. Now, certainly, as we get to, like, January, February, we all know them so well. So that process looks a little different. We're not maybe necessarily stopping at each kiddo, but we make sure, and that's that's the only way to do that is to look at kids who are
falling behind or excelling or right on track. And then we always say teachers don't need to wait eight weeks. Right? If you suddenly have a concern, they just call in a SBI meeting, and we meet. And those would include things like speech, OT, PT. All of that as well does fall under SRBI, so it doesn't necessarily need special So when you guys have those meetings for each grade level, who who would attend them? Sure. So I run them and chair them, I guess, you would say, and then the classroom teacher, because all three interventions, Christina, Krista, and Jenny, unless it's a sixth grader. Jenny doesn't come. And then our school psychologist or school counselor because it's the same for a social emotional needs, so they can tier support. And then any relevant so if I know there's going to be a speech concern, then I would invite the speech path. They don't sit through it just because. But those would be the core members.
And sometimes Holly Mirano will come if I think that we need her in terms of the special education movement.
And are parents informed that they're getting, like, tier two, tier three, or even enrichment? Yep. So once
if they're in enrolled, sounds like a weird word, but if they are deemed to need tier two or tier three, they get a letter. Parents teachers usually make first contact because a letter can sometimes feel a little formal, but we do like to document and let them know. The letter just says your student has I mean, I handwrite them tier two, tier three, math, reading, who the provider is. It's missus Caraboni or it's missus Del Mastro or whatnot, and the frequency. Yeah. And then, I mean, our interventions are great, so they also work with parents and keep them updated in addition to the classroom teacher. So often, they'll attend parent teacher conferences as well for students in tiered. So they could come out of those tiers, essentially. And that is always the goal. That's the goal, obviously. Absolutely. So you always say you don't wanna live there. Right. We're happy to have you. Right. Stay a while, and then hopefully it makes sense. Yep. We're back up to
moving in the other direction. How often do you evaluate that?
Every year. So Okay. So if you're in, you're in for the year. Oh, no. Every six to eight weeks. Every six to weeks. I thought you asked me how often I keep track of making sure we're moving kids. But, yes, every six to eight weeks, that student is reevaluated, and we say, here's what the data looks like now. Does he still need tier three? Could we go to tier two? Has he suddenly met benchmark? Or we've made no progress. What do we need to change about our intervention? That's great. Yep. And then yearly, I will look at we had x number of students in intervention. Here's how that shifted through the year. Here's where we're at because we wanna make sure, of course, that we're looking holistically at the building. And certainly, Val would like that information too to make sure we're on track.
Great. Thank you for sharing all this with us. I think that, you know, as a board member, like, this is or even as a community member or a parent, this is not stuff that you think about when you think about kids going to school. You just don't inherently know it. Absolutely.
Awesome. Thank you, Taylor. Does anybody have any questions on that? Thank you.
Was that all that you had you have this one? That's it. Right. Okay. Yeah. We do have our enrollment report in there. I know I'm always used to We're at 142. We do have 242. I'm sorry. 242. Wow. 142. That would be 242, which is exciting. And I just toured a new family today that will start in a few weeks with two new students. So That's great. Yes. Very exciting. Awesome. Mhmm. Does anybody have any questions for two? Okay.
242. Thank you very much. Thank you. Absolutely. You are up.
K. I hope everybody may have found a few minutes to review the financial reports. There was really nothing exceptional about them. We we've already talked about, some of the areas that we we, we are over budget in, and we understand why. Did anybody have any other question tonight on any particular areas?
I just have questions about this, and I don't know if that's from you or that came from the town or
Yeah. I'm a little curious about that too. Those were I mean, I know things have come. But We
we decided to include those in the. That's the the town, the board of ed accounts that are held at the town. Yeah. The Norton School Fund, the 2% nonlosting, and the, AES Capital Fund. And we just thought it'd good to have that as part because we're always kinda I feel like we're always, like, guessing, oh, what's in there? Oh, well, we think it's around this amount, but I think it's good for us to have it every month. So we will be I got it. Though that we have a question on it because the way that they're titled
makes me think the AES expansion fund is the one that was the old one that was supposed to get changed and moved into the capital fund together. Yep. Yes.
That's correct. Okay. So it hasn't been moved. Yeah. The names are are definitely haven't changed from previously. Yeah. They need to be updated. They're also not
in there what is supposed to be. Question that we have that we're waiting for some answers on. Yeah. I so
I can talk about it later. It doesn't matter, but I did have communications with the town treasurer, like, via email
about where said accounts were located and what amount of money was in them, which doesn't seem to match with these. So
I'm more confused now than I was. Yeah. I think I think you should share then. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.
Let me just go back. Let me do it again. Yeah.
So I sent an email. Actually, initially, I tried to go in person to meet with her. She wasn't there. I sent an email to the treasurer, and I cc'd both Mark Brinker and Joanne on it as they're, like, the heads of the board of finance. And then what was written back to begin with was just confirmation that the the AES Capital Fund was not located in the town's stiff account, which I did review footage from board of finance and board of selectmen meetings. And in those meetings, it was stated that that was where said fund was going to be located. So I'm still confused by that. It is not there. The school has two separate bank accounts at M and T, the school improvement reserve fund and the new AES capital fund. None of these is called the AES capital fund. Nope. The school improvement reserve fund is the 2% nonlapsing.
Mhmm. Right. Okay. Wait. Can you say that for me again?
The the the one so she wrote back that there are two bank accounts at M and T that are separate accounts. Yep. Right? We have statements for three here. Uh-huh. One is called, as what she told me, the school improvement reserve fund, which is that just says school improvements. That's the one sixty five. And that's the 2% nonlapsing. Mhmm. Okay. And she said the other one was called the new AES Capital Fund, which is not called that. It says AES expansion fund on this paper Correct. Which is the roughly $8,000 that was left over from a project Years ago. Eons ago. Yes. So then I wrote back again because I wanted to understand, And Joanne Hubert also wrote back. She said, I'm so glad to hear that the capital fund has been created, and the interest that's earned in that is going back into the account directly.
And then I asked her again for clarification about when the new fund was created for the school capital improvement fund. I thought it was supposed to be a line item in the town account. Is it an independent account? So, clearly, it's an independent account, but it still says AES expansion fund and not what it's supposed to say. And what she wrote back to me, which is different than what this does, is that the school's capital improvement fund is its own stand alone fund and has its own bank account located at M And T. The town did fund it for $100,000 for the twenty four-twenty five fiscal year listed within the town budget. The funds have not been transferred yet into the separate bank account. In regards to the funds being deposited into the town's stiff account, that would be a decision by the board of selectmen and the board of finance. She obviously doesn't have the authority to make that decision. She did not answer me as to whether or not the money that we gave and asked the Board of Finance to put into that account was there. It is not according to this statement. So
Okay. Thank you. No. Thank you for doing all that. Okay. That that other one? What's the nor I was just gonna ask you. Can you explain the Norton one? Yeah. That one
for the I'll wait till January for the full explanation of how that account came to be because that'll take twenty minutes. And I have all the history. Thanks to Diane Grineer, is the town person who does all the Norton account histories. So she's she's wonderful, asset on that. We do have questions on this one as well because those accounts, were set up by the Norton Commission. There's, you know, library account. There's school fund account. There's the children's account, and they all have different purposes and, histories. And I believe that they were all, invested at some time. And so the, accounts would vary from the start of a fiscal year to the end of a fiscal year depending on that. So I had gone back, to look ours up to find out, what it was all about. And the way I did that was to go directly to the audits, at the end of every year from 2016 because it tells you at the start of that fiscal year and at the end of that fiscal year what the balance of that fund was. So I thought that was great. We didn't need to see during the year. We just needed to see what it was at the start of the fiscal year and what it was at the end. So at the end of 2016,
the balance was $24,008.83. At the end of '17, 40 one change. 18, was 45 change. At the end of 2019 was 47 change, and then 41, 53, and 52 and 50 in 2023. So that was our question too. I'm certain that it's invested in something, but that's what we would like to see every month and give to you guys Yep. Is not we we're just a little confused on the beginning balance, and I'm sure there's an explanation. We just don't have that yet as to why it goes from 9,316, from the the 50. And so we're hoping that next month, you know, and I didn't mean to give Terry lots more work when I said let's put it in every month. But,
hopefully, we'll have something else that goes with this that's an explanation of where, if it's dividends, where they are so that when you guys look at an audited end of the year town of Andover, which will include us, audit, that number will make more sense to you. And so that's what we're hoping to do there. And so I will say one last thing on this is that school improvements, there's actually one seventy five. It says one sixty five, and the treasurer told us that that's because they're they do from that's sitting there as a journal for 9,000 something. So we wanted more information on that too. Not that we're gonna spend it right now, but we just wanted to be able to give you guys an accurate picture. Mhmm. So So they're waiting for money to be deposited? No. They they have it over there kinda sitting. And so it's an explanation that, we don't understand yet. Okay. We just don't have enough information. Okay. So Terry's gonna have to to to talk to Cheryl on that. So supposed to be $1.75?
That is what is It's supposed to be. Yes. Okay. Great. Thanks. So
for next month, so we'll get some so are we tasking Terry with getting explanations on these accounts? Okay. So for for next month, we'll just have explanation of of accounts. So 2%, the NORN, and the AES. I'll get bank statements every month. Okay. I'll task for bank statements every month. Okay. And if there's question if it if if we still have questions, I will ask the questions, and then we'll have an explanation for you next month. And I think I mean, we listed it later,
the SIP account, so we can talk about that where it is in the agenda. But I guess I would ask that the
AES expansion fund, like, if they actually change the name. Well, they'd have to move that over. If they opened a new account, they have to move that over because that was their vote on the board of So what but what they actually said was that they were going to change the name of that account that already existed. Right. Yes. So So that's why we were looking for the 100 and the 103
to be part of that nine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just for purposes of next meeting, Perry, you're gonna get us an explanation of these accounts as far as the balance of the 2%, the balance of the the AES Capital, and then the Norton. Yep. Okay. And then going forward, you're gonna get bank statements that you're gonna send us every month. Okay? It's gonna be part of, like, one thing that gonna get. But just for purposes of next month, just explanation as to what's going on with these. Sure. Thank you, Terry. Okay. Thank you.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to cut you off. Do you have anything else, or does anybody else have any questions on our current, liquid expenditures?
I wanna follow-up on something you said there. So you said a 100 k, and then there was about 103 k? A 103 was the, residual
surplus from the board from last year. So once the, audit was done, that, 103 from last year, went in. I mean, I'm sorry. It was before the it was at the end of the fiscal year because we had written a check for something that then wasn't utilized. So that did go in. And then they the town voted with their budget for a 100. So for the capital expenses, what's set aside, Eric, is a 100, a 103, and that 9,700, whatever that's there. And they should all be merged together in some account with whatever name it is. We're not sure. But yeah. K. Thank you. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you, Terry. Thank you. Okay. Liaison reports and updates. Brea, did you have a school readiness? Yes. Yes. Go for it.
So they had the first meeting of the year on 10/29. And it was, again, it was just AES this time. It was hosted at the school. I've had to zoom in, but It's okay.
Taylor was there, obviously. They there was discussion on, I guess, revisiting the bylaws or, bringing them back, I guess, from Shared. We had shared laws with Hebron, and so now we have to
re go revert back to what ours were the year before.
Other than that, like, the I think the the real they introduced the new preschool teacher. Mhmm. We have 61 spots filled and we are full. There there was a discussion on tuition collected, which was 6,888. And that the grant that they get for school readiness goes directly to salaries. And then my notes are not great when I go to read them. But and just just kind of an overall discussion of, you know, what goes into, like, monitoring with, like, the o c o e c regulations. And there was a discussion on, like, partnership with the library. And there's, a 100. They're gonna share, like, a 100 books you need to read before kindergarten and, you know, fun stuff like that. When is your next January. I think it's January. Okay.
Will that be so do you wanna give us an update in February,
or or would that be looking at the calendar right now. I'm guessing it's after the meeting. Back. But,
yeah, I think it was, like, late January, so it I would have to do February. Okay. Alright. So we'll just so the next update from you for school readiness will be in February? Yep. Okay.
Okay. Update. Thanks, Brie. Okay. I don't have anything else about the PCA other than the the playground. Shannon, do have any update on the Trifor policy? Nope. The notice didn't consider it last night. I thought they were going to because the prior meeting,
this left wing has been asked to contribute edits or proposed edits to Dennis, the account attorney, but they didn't consider it last night. And my recollection is the board of finance is waiting for the board of selection to consider it. I did go to the board of finance meeting last month and suggested that if we're not gonna get a triboard policy after that a year of trying to do this, that there already does exist a process where we could ask for an additional appropriation from the board of finance and try to operate it like we used to operate the 2% nonlaxing account Okay. Which is ask for an additional appropriation, the board of finance would agree or not, and then ask oh, excuse me. Ask for money into the account, Ask to take money out of the account.
Yeah. We'll see what happens. Yeah. Thank you. And there was not a CIP meeting. Okay. That was my next question. Thank you. And from the like, your when they did talk about it at the board of selection meeting, someone said that this we don't need this policy because this already exists, a way to do this. So why are we even writing this? Right. So Okay. And that's not accurate. So I Understand.
But that is that is what was And then Dennis Dennis' policy completely changed the policy they've been drafting. Yes. Yep.
So what do we wanna do about this then? What's
so I think that leads us to the fact that we are trying to plan for a tribe board meeting again. Okay. And I feel like that's something that needs to be discussed at that. Okay. I think every board member did receive an email from I think her name is Kate Kate. At the town in regards to, like, based off of the new changes to the charter that were passed that were supposed to have that triboard meeting in October, which is obviously not happening. I did email trying to look for setting a date, and Judd Larson has offered to be the moderator for that again. Did a good job for us last year. I think the the date so far that people have said would work for them, most people, was December 3.
So At the? Or I don't know yet. Believe so, but I'm not sure. And that's twelve three at seven? Yeah.
Alright. I know the board of selected mentioned. I know he mentioned it last night. I don't know if they ever talked They either decided. Yeah. They said that that date was okay. Because I haven't received any communication back from any member of the Board of Selectmen. Yeah. So okay. So do you wanna just confirm with with the Board of Selectmen? I will try to. I haven't had any of them. Like, I have not had a response to the emails that have been sent. Okay.
If you wouldn't mind just confirming that and then just letting us know. Yep. I appreciate it, Caitlin. Thank you. Okay. And in the meantime, if everybody could just put twelve three at 07:00 on their on their calendar.
I can if you can make it there. Yeah. If there's some people that can't be there, it's I mean, it's hard to have a meeting with that many people. Right. Yeah. But we definitely need to review the changes to the charter and how they affect other things, which are kind of outlined in the email that she sent. I did forward it to you, Val, because I didn't see you included on the initial email that was sent.
So Okay. So do do we think that well, I'm just gonna I guess, it's not I don't know what to do. The charter revisions Yes. They didn't talk about being retroactive, and I'm very concerned that we didn't have a meeting October 15. Yes. And they're already cutting back if the charter revisions the charter revisions haven't even gone to the secretary of the state yet. So if in fact they're put into place, we're already losing a month to two months in the spring also.
So Correct. If there's, like, some more kids need she sends out, that is that is what it looks like they're trying to adhere to. So it says on here, February 15, Board of Ed submits the budget to the Board of Finance.
I get that. I guess what I'm asking is as a board, I think we have a right to have a say that because the charter wasn't revised to say it's retroactive. So for example, with regard to the town clerk's position, the question said, should it you know, the charter revisions proposed weren't gonna take effect until, I think, 2027. Mhmm. I'm just very concerned about being under literally less than a three month pressure. Right? December, January, and then February And I know that people on other boards which are attending this meeting right now have expressed similar concerns. Yep.
I think in terms of us coming up with an agenda for that tri board meeting Yep. It would be really great to have if you guys have suggestions for things that you think could be included to send those to me, and I'll try to compile from all three boards. I would like to try to avoid what happened when we tried to have a triboard meeting last year. I would like it to be a productive meeting and for us to all come to the table wanting to try to and work together as much as possible. Absolutely.
And when would you like those suggestions sent to you so you can kinda put them together? Is there a deadline?
I mean, I know it's already November 13. Yeah. I think I think within the next week. Okay. Okay.
So if anybody has any questions or anything that they want brought up at this Triboard meeting, if you could just email Caitlin, and if you could get those to her by the end of this week Yeah. That would be helpful. I thought you said a week. Yeah. Like, November 20? That's yeah. Okay. The end of next week, November 20. Okay. Thank you, Caitlin. I appreciate your your time and your effort in doing this. Thank you. And if you can make it, you can make it. If if you can't, you know, it we understand, you know, it's it's trying to, you know, get everybody their their schedule. So that's important if you do have something that you want brought up, all the more reason to get something to Caitlin. So thank you. That brings you to town meetings. You've had quite the the month in October. I feel like we've already summarized a fair amount of it. Do you have anything else that you wanna add?
I don't know. Aside from feeling your frustration with the tribordal policy It's okay. Which seems to just be a cyclical Yes. Thing that doesn't go anywhere. I think from from a town perspective, the only other major thing would be that we still do not have a newly elected member of the board of selectmen. They've been through multiple candidates. They tried to vote, and they couldn't decide. So then they asked for more people to apply. And then that was on the meeting last night, but then they decided they weren't gonna vote last night because they wanna wait until the end of November. So they're gonna vote in December. So there are currently four people on the board of SelectMed, and I think it is that is what it is. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Kathy. Thank you. Curriculum. Any updates? No? Okay. Alright.
Solar. Solar. Do we have an update? I know you were
So the only thing is I know you had asked me to send Eric.
He was interested. That's the roof. Yes. The yeah. So
does that with some information. So just so that you guys know, this is this is when the roof project was done in 2016, and it wasn't a full roof project, but this was when it was done. So, you know, when we have pretty extensive, stuff from that project Forgot. They did a half. So, right. There was a small so that was sent. Yeah. Celeste, knows that was sent over. Thank you. And so what we we did then was to take the information that was in here. There's been partial things done to the roof from 1948 all the way on up. And so I took the information that was in here and sent that over, and they have, the guide to all of the a, c, d, f, g areas of the roof and exactly when, things were done to each area. So for example, in, 2016, when this portion of the roof project was done in 2016,
roof a and a one and a two, which is over by the gym, there there was, there was action that was done there. The next section over, which would be above preschool. The next section over, which is where we are now, and that was it, so up through here. And so oh, and then the let's see. The front area, like, where you enter cool up there. So it was it it was the easiest way to show them. And I know that, you know, there are some members that still have had concerns about that. Year. There's years right now. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. And and and multiple. Yeah. Yeah. And so I know that that, you know, they were still inquiring. I mean, let's face it. We know. You guys have said this before that no solar company is gonna try to install panels, arrays on a roof that and remember, they've already come to investigate once and inspect once. They know that they'll be back, and they're not gonna put them up there if they think there's something wrong with the section. So,
they've been given the blueprints. Those were sent. They have this information, so we just wait for them. But this is what they do for a living. And so if they tell us that something else needs to be done or they need another document, we'll get it for them. Otherwise, we should be on track for, moving forward. If they don't tell us we need to do anything, then Ryan, remember that had come to your meeting, Laneras, Green Skies and Titan, Elaine from Titan. They will tell us, you know, how we move forward with it, and then it will get to the point where, when they create a plan, kind of like with your playground, when they create a plan and say, hey. This is the timeline of what we have for when we would like to install, when this, when that, then, of course, you know, they would have to be in touch with Eric because they get the electrical permit, and they get those other permits. And they would have they do all that for us. They have all that paperwork, then they would go to the town just like anybody would for any project and, you know, show that they met the requirements for the permit, and, then they would go from there. So and I imagine that either somebody from the community center, and or town hall will probably be curious about that process because I know they've both mentioned long term doing other town buildings. So I would invite and welcome anybody to you know, who is gonna be in charge of one of those, you know, along the way to ask questions. And if they, you know, say, hey. I'd like to see how that's done. That would be great because we know that other buildings are interested in doing that moving forward. So, you know, if Eric were to say, hey. I'd like to absolutely,
you know, come on over and take a peek because that would make it easier for them later on. So so that's where we are with that. Okay. And just for just for remind me again, the panels are gonna be they're going they're going up there. Correct? Or no? They're going Yeah. Okay. You guys had that picture from when they were here last time, that aerial view that showed you, which ones, which sections they were going on because it wasn't covering each portion Right. Of that roof. Right. Okay. Yeah. And you remember you have a new PPA as well because from our first application Yeah. That we failed. The second one that we didn't get picked again, we weren't lucky. To the third one, there was that one adjustment, if you remember. I know, Eric, you weren't with us, I think, for the first two, but there's two PPAs floating around, and one says PPA two. So, I if if you don't have it, let me know. I'll get you a copy of it. But the, alternate PPA, once we were awarded it, was because when they did do the inspection, they said, oops. We didn't realize that you guys are all phase one phase, single phase. Yeah. And when you're single phase then, that changes, you know, pretty much how much you're gonna save in the end because of a variety of factors that he nicely explained that night that I won't try to now. And, for example, originally, they had told us that first year we could anticipate $25,000
savings, and they came back at the end and said due to x, y, and z, you're still gonna have a savings once it's installed, but it would be more like 16,000. And they explained very nicely, that it's because we're single phased. So they're well aware of all of our qualifications, and that didn't disqualify us because we asked. The last thing on that I will say, Eric, is, that we also ask them if during the course of the lifetime of us I'll use the word leasing, but, you know, having the arrays up there, if we ever came into money and wound up, changing from single phase, to triple phase, is that allowable? And they said, yes. It wouldn't interfere with whatever it is we were doing if we were to upgrade later on. So so that was the news that at the very least, we could expect roughly a $16,000
once it's all installed and up and running. Mhmm.
I realized I forgot one. Yeah. No. Go ahead, Jan. Just to update, because I know Jeff Murray came to our meeting and talked to us about the fans and the gym. They did approve to go forward with that project. They got two electrical estimates, which were fairly similar to each other. So they did approve that project to move forward to the bands of that. It's I don't know when they're getting installed, but
at some point. Alright. Let you know when we're here. Awesome. Alright.
Okay. Thank you, Caitlin, for taking notes and on the meetings. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Items for discussion and action. Item a, the certified contract agreement approved the noncertified contract agreement. So this is this is it here. Mhmm. So they ratified it. It's all set. It's just a matter. We just okay. Okay. We just have to. Right. Right. Okay. And
and your board members were already on that committee? Right. Right. So in essence, the half of the board has already agreed to it Right. As the committee. Okay. So now it's just the full board that would have to add on. And that is a red line version because if you notice on the last page, it will cite the date and time, meaning this meeting that you guys ratified it before it's a finalized version for Celeste to sign. There's one amendment to it. I think I mentioned this once at the last meeting, and that was because, yes, there was the minimum wage change for next year, and it only affected one box on there. And they chose to do an amendment to the end of it, and because it didn't affect a current employee at all, but it would have affected that one box for the starting salary of the assistant in the kitchen if they were hired at step one. And
this was worked out over multiple meetings. You know, I I was on this committee along with Jerry and and Shannon, and he's had our attorney there and and rep. And so this is definitely a workout agreement between everybody. Does anybody have any questions? No? Okay.
I'll make the motion Mhmm. To approve the noncertified contract agreement. K. I'll second. Thank you, Shannon.
All in favor? I. So moved. So the noncertified contract agreement is approved. So then I'll just get a copy to sign? Okay. Alright. Alright. And Jerry and Shannon and Val, thank you very much for your your hard work on that. Thank you. Okay. Item b, the stiff account. Discussion and possible action. So
we kinda already touched base on it. Just confirming that it was discussed in both board of finance and board of selectmen meetings that our new capital account would be a line item in the town's existing STIP account, but that is supposedly currently not. But I'm it almost makes me wonder if the 103 and the 100,000 are in the town's STIP account, and the treasurer doesn't maybe even realize that, because that was what I initially asked. So I guess I would like clarification on that. And then also clarification as to whether or not if that money is getting transferred to this account, which is currently titled AES expansion fund, could be done as a board consider putting that into its own SCF account. But it doesn't make sense for us to even consider doing that until we get all of that money and clarification in the same place.
Which is what, Terry, hopefully, you're gonna get you're going to get for us. Okay. Yeah. So I think I I agree with you, Caitlin. I think at this point, we just need clarification as to what, you know, the the accounts and where the money is before we can really make any kind of decision on this. Does anybody else have anything to to say or wanna talk about on it? Yeah. I'd like to know where they hinted from that money that we're able to get to us.
Right. That's Or Yeah. Well, we don't even know where the money where it is. Right. Because it's not in Right. The account that the treasurer told me it was in. Right. So
And I guess my only other question there is I thought the real benefit of a stiff account is to have as much money in, like, one account for investment purposes, but keeping our money separate, just
looking at that. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. At being aligned within a larger Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Perfect.
Kayla, one thing I'd like to work with you on or if you already have this, it'd be great. It's like a visual of how all the accounts play together. And I
am not the person to know about it. Okay. But I see multiple members of the Board of Finance on a meeting. Okay.
So, Bree, I'm sorry. Bree, do you have anything to add or any questions, Mike? No. Okay. So why don't we put this on for our December meeting just to get hopefully, Terry, you'll get some better clarification on Yeah. On what where these accounts are, and and then we can kind of have a better a better discussion. I I agree with Caitlin. In a perfect world, if if this money was supposed to go into a stiff account, that makes the most sense as opposed to taking some money from our 2% and putting it into into a stiff. But I think we just need some clarification on these accounts before before we move forward. So alright. And if you get any information back from, you know, your emails, Caitlin, you if wanna, you know, share it with with Terry, if you get some responses I I can send anything in the meeting. Well, I'll send another email to her. And Can you cc you on it? Too. That would be helpful. Because we may be asking the same questions, Caitlin. Because I ask questions, and I'm not getting their answers. Just to let you know. Okay.
Yeah. If you wanna just copy Terry on those, that would be great. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So we'll put that out for December. Alright. Item c, budget for 2025, 2026 initial update. I think, Mike, you were gonna or or Val.
Mike, can you just we we You stuck. Yeah. Well, I'll get a small I'll let her go in-depth. This we had a small initial meeting. And just to summarize, we're trying to assess the budget based on, like, the biggest drivers behind it. So, example, you know, payroll negotiated contracts. Mhmm. And, obviously, enrollment played a big part in that as well. But that was the bulk of the discussion. And then just, like, still trying to continue to gather information to inform the budget decisions that have to take place. But go
So, actually, a couple of things that people have talked about tonight all kind of play together. Caitlin, you asking for information regarding, intervention, for example. You know, Taylor talking about the needs of the staff members in dealing with students with nontraditional needs. So I know we say, well, budget season hasn't quite started yet, as Mike would tell you, because, you know, we did have a three and a half hour conversation, looking at data. It's it's already started, and it starts because that's what we do behind the scenes before we come up with numbers. We have to look at things like, you know, is it the same number of teachers this year moving forward? Is it less? Is it more? And as Mike said, one of the things we looked at was, enrollment. And, you know, obviously, we're happy to say that we've had 70 new kids since I got here. But with 70 new kids, you you know, it's you can't squeeze 70 kids into the same classes all the time. So, we started to take a look at that and for Mike to be able to even better understand that he already does, and moving forward to be able to share with you guys some of those needs, the academic needs, you know, are the same number of classrooms needed, more needed, and then state law, which as a teacher, Mike's very aware of. So that's a good point person there. He knows you can only put so many kids in a class even if you have the desks for them.
So we look at that. We look at contracts. We started to discuss the contracts that are already nonnegotiable, meaning they've already been negotiated. You guys are ratifying one tonight. And so once those contracts, payroll is one of them, but then there's other things as well. We've already locked in oil prices for 2025, '26, and we did so, it was a game that Terry and I play actually daily, little gambling streak that comes out on us, with the lady from, Dime Oil, you know, where in the morning, we're like, you know, hit me. Hit me. And we wind up saying, you know, do we stay? Do we go? Do we no. We'll wait one more day. And, we got a really good price. Our oil will be locked in for next year at $2.59, which is very good. Very good considering the fact that there's a volatility in oil producing nations. And I know the plan for our country is to, drill and produce, but that's not gonna happen by next year. So Is that in conjunction with the town or Scotland or no? So I was gonna say the town has decided that they didn't wanna lock in with us. Yeah.
And so that's fine. They only use 2,000 gallons of of oil. My concern will be that, they lock in diesel and bill us for it, so we will watch that this year. And if in fact because they opted not to, you know, lock in with us, So, we have what our price would have been. And if that goes too high, then at the end of the year, we'll have a conversation with them about moving forward after that, having us do our own and having them do their own just simply because we do get a good rate. Yeah. So to the point of locking in with others, I actually created my own consortium, which is great because Dime lets me do I'm the lock in person for us, and I'm the lock in person for Scotland and the town of Scotland and Hampton, the board of education, and that superintendent also has Parish Hill. So we did very well because the other kinda large consortium goes with a different company. They're North Of Of Scotland over there. It's like Ashford, Eastford, Brooklyn, that area up there. They have quite a large number of towns, so they locked in at $2.72. So we did pretty well in comparison. But and moving forward, we'll continue. We're very happy with them. But with that said then, one of the things Mike and I talked about was looking at the contracts and,
you know, making sure that on the ones that are locked in, you know, will that make a difference in the budget? Will it make sure that there's 0% increase in that line then? And in this case, we're confident it will be in that line. So we just kinda got started with that. You know, it's nice to to be able to look at at at some of those things now, and, we'll meet again, to go over them. But a lot of those drivers are behind the scenes before we ever even can manage to get numbers. And, the biggest one, of course, obviously, we know salaries and benefits. We do not have a number yet. Our consortium with Hebron, Andover, Marlborough, RAM, the town of Hebron, and the town of Marlborough. We had a meeting last week, and we do not have a number yet for increase. That'll be at our next meeting where we come up with one number that we use kind of as a placeholder. It is based on since we're self insured, all of us, we have a very successful self insured consortium, and we've done very well in the past. But last year was a tough year because the driver of that are the claims. What? Claims. Like, the numbers. So yep. So when you're self insured, we did great in 2020 because nobody could go to the doctor. So we banked quite a bit of money that year. We did great in 2021 because they still weren't doing major surgeries then then. So the consortium had, you know, a million plus extra in the bank. And we have good insurances. We have good stop losses. We have good, you know, breaking points.
But then once all of that kicked in the following year, that was difficult. So, when we get that number, that'll give us a place to go there since those are two big drivers. The other thing then that even Taylor plays a role in, when we're doing that is looking at, if Terry and I don't know changes of circumstance for this year or next year with staff, usually, Taylor will know that. You know? And by that, I mean, if somebody's going to be out because they're having a baby. Because then for us, that's, twofold. You pay that person and you pay somebody for twelve weeks if it's if it's, you know, for maternity or paternity, and so that affects the budget. And so we work together to try to look at all those drivers. That's why that conversation was so long because we talked about all of that. And then special education needs. And those are not things that we get to discuss specifics on in public a lot just simply because a small district like ours, it becomes identifiable. So, you know, the number of special education students, the number of students with one to one paras, the those sorts of things. But those are drivers as well, and Holly assists us with that. We sit down and we say, look at the IEPs and tell us how many hours do we need per week or per month per the IEP
for speech services. Then we look at our budget, and we say, okay. Last year, we only needed a thousand hours during the course of the year, and that was what was budgeted for. And now this year, we need fifteen hundred hours. And so now we have to budget for five hundred more hours in the course of the year for speech services, because those are nonnegotiable as well. I know that some people think that these those lines can be cut, but by law, they cannot because an IEP is a legal binding document. And so that in that case, you know, when someone says, we'd like you to, you know, cut shave off of that portion, We we we can't. It it's a nonnegotiable there because by law, we're required. So those are all the things we've been doing. That's why I say Mike's a a great partner to have in that, to explain things, further to people because he sits in the classroom as a teacher. And so he understands, exactly those things. So thank you, Mike, for giving up the time,
for us to do that. Thank you. Can I ask you a question? Yeah. Did you guys discuss, like, in the past how we've done, like, the budget workshop meetings? Like, what what's the plan for this year? I I I came up in conversations enough to brainstorm about you know, I know we've been doing the Zoom meetings through January,
and, like, it's a question for a discussion not just complaining. Not not only now, but in the future for the board to start thinking about, like, you know, do we continue those Zoom meetings throughout January? Are they really as effective as we want them to be? But, also, like, what other things do we try to do to help get out that information and really explain what's happening, what are these drivers to the local community. So, again, I think, like, that's an important conversation the board needs to have at some point as to, you know, how do we make sure we communicate
the budgets in an effective manner with the with the public? Okay. I mean, I feel like we'd have to decide that by next month's meeting because
we're We'll put a few ideas on there in January. Yeah. Right. I was just gonna say, if if you could come up with a couple ideas for December meeting, and then we can talk about them because then it's January. And then yeah. Okay. I also I also think in terms of, like, the Triboard meeting,
like, asking that question, like, how is it best to communicate our budget processes to the community? Like, perhaps that's a good topic for us to ask the other boards. I mean, I know we're not the only people that struggle with that.
Well and I'll only say it just because they're both on here now. So well, three of them are on here. Yeah. One of the strategies that I, you know, as superintendent, had used these past couple of years, to make sure that because I could. I had the ability to do that. And it would be unrealistic for the whole board to do it with me is my point. Was I had reached out a couple of years ago, if you remember, to the members of the board of finance, and I said, hey. Since you guys are the ones that ultimately,
you know, have to look at our our budgets and understand it and help present it at a town meeting, with Mark Brinker, you know, please, by all means, come on over. You know, let's go through toward the school. At that time, I know Mark had already been here, but Robert England, Joanne Hebert, Louise Goodwin, Bill DeRoziers, they had all come. So I did reach out to Liz and to Kim, who are the two newest members, and said, if you're interested, please let me know. At that time, you know, there were some other Adrian from the Boris Lechman had come at that time too. And I said, you know, hey. I mean, this will help you visualize and see when you see something in a line item what we're talking about. And, you know, I thank them for having come over before, and Kim and Liz will be coming. They both have said that they would be glad to come on over. That's great. A peek. So that will make it that that's one strategy that I know has worked in the past. And so they'll be coming over, and that will kinda make it so that all the current members then of the board of finance, they're hit with the document and when, you know, the board chair and and the rest of us help explain it to them, it it's they can visualize it Right. Because they've been here and they've seen it. So so hopefully that one helps too, but Mike will have more ideas, I'm sure, for for next month. Thank you for doing that.
Alright. Okay. Alright. Alright. We are moving right along here. Comments from the public on agenda items. So I will start with Katie Dixon. Dixon. Do you have any comments? I'm all set. Thank you. No. Thanks. I'm good. Thank you. Jenny Morell? Nothing for me. Thank you.
Thank you. Liz Lokich? Nothing. Looking forward to the tour tomorrow, though, Valerie. Thank you, Liz. Kimberly Persson? I'm all set. Thank you. Thank you. Christina Fraser? Mhmm. We'll come back to you. Joanne Bieber.
Hi, everyone. Yeah. I just had a couple quick comments. Glad that I listened in tonight. I, again, wanted to publicly I know a couple of things were brought up that I do have a little knowledge, so I was gonna share. I definitely wanna publicly acknowledge in front of her board all the efforts that Shannon Loudoun put into trying to get the triboard policy, you know, passed or at least brought, you know, before all of us. I know that one of our board members, Rob England and Shannon, based on, I believe, our conversations that had happened at our last tri board meeting had come to and, you know, did various meetings along the way, had really put a lot of time and effort into it, had shown up at so many meetings. So, again, thank you, Shannon. I'm sorry that it was dismissed so unceremoniously. I mean, I'm just gonna call it like I saw it, but you did put a lot of time and effort into it. We'll see where we go from here, but thank you for all of that. The other thing I know that I was copied on the emails that Caitlin brought up about the, you know, the Andover Elementary School capital improvement fund, if whatever we're going to call it eventually, the where $100,000 and the other money was going to be kept. I did also you know, I'll be following along. Of course, I want you to know that we want that to get solved for you as well. I know that I saw the treasurer answer a couple of things, and I did go back and forth. I also brought it up at our last board of finance meeting
since it was very close to that time. So I believe I have to look back and see exactly how I phrased it, but I thought that I asked Eric directly. The treasurer wasn't present, but I knew it was an item that was of concern. And I thought he had said that it had been created as well. So we're all gonna kinda have to follow through, and I hope that gets resolved to your satisfaction that you get the answers that you obviously, we're not the treasurers or anything, but we'll be following along, and I'm hoping that gets resolved for you. And best of luck moving forward. Thank you, everyone.
Thanks, Joanne. And I'll go back to, Christina Fraser. I think she's gone. Think she's gone. Oh, no. There she is. Sorry. Sniffed away and let Milo out. I am all set. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I think that's it. Right? There's no I think that's it. Okay. Alright. Okay. Any other action items? All right, so our next board meeting is December 11. I have items for next meeting. So election of officers, I just want to let everybody know that I'm not going to be seeking reelection as chair. I have enjoyed this opportunity, but I would like to give the opportunity to somebody else on the board. So I just wanna let everybody know that because next month we will be electing new officers. Update discussion on bathroom project, solar project. I have explanation of accounts by Terry, stiff discussion, another budget discussion, and maybe some ideas on budget workshops, town meeting update. Mike, you're up for November. Yep. Mhmm.
Is anybody Repair and maintenance Excel sheet. What's that? Repair and maintenance initial Excel sheet. Okay. Okay. Myself. So repair and maintenance?
Do you want that? You want that for December? I thought you said January. Thought I would give you the repair and maintenance portion, not the capital stuff. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Repair and maintenance spreadsheet. Okay.
Alright. And then just I will send an email. Yes. I'll just try to confirm the Triboard meeting. So Okay. I guess look for communication regarding that. But Yep. Hypothetically, December 3. Okay. And
then if anybody has any questions or anything, just to send them to you. And then if you don't mind, just kind of following up with your your emails and everything and just put Terry on it, that would be helpful. Okay. Does anybody else have anything else? No? Okay. Move to again. Alright. Second. Okay. Jerry. All in favor. Alright. Wow. It's so moving. Alright. Thank you very thank you very much, everyone. 830.