Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
January 8, 2025 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Pretty good. Okay.
It is 70 2, and we'll call to order the regular monthly meeting of the Andover Board of Education for the month of January 2025. First order of business, it's a pledge of allegiance. The other one comes down.
I second allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
In terms of an opening statement, I don't have a really long one. It mostly just pertains to public comment. Just Yeah. And precise and to the point. It should pertain or relate to something that's on the agenda tonight. And if you go longer than three minutes, then I will probably ask you to completely stop. First up, I see Sarah's goodness.
Sarah, is there anything you wanna share is what she's saying? Sarah's our new pre k one of our new pre k I don't think I heard first board of ed meeting. They're just saying This is my first board of ed meeting. I'm just here to observe. Thank you. For coming. Krista Caravoni? I'm all set. Thank you. Jen McGoldrick? All good. Thank you. Kimberly Persson? I'm all set. Thank you. Yeah. And then, Liz, go check. Hi. Nothing for now. Thank you. K. Thank you guys all for and sorry. I have a hard time with that.
I would just like to ask for the when there's a board of selectmen meeting, if somebody from the board of Ed can come on as a representative of the board of Ed because there's things like the solar panels and the plumbing situation, and it's good to have somebody for the board of Ed representing you on that. I mean, I get I speak as best I can for the board of Ed, but it'd be great if we could have another person Do you know when the next meeting is? Next Monday. Christina Fraser? All good.
Does anyone have any communications to discuss? Celebrations? So I still haven't formed a celebration yet, but we did start to celebrate this week as our spelling bee kicks off, and we'll finish this week for the classroom bees. So we're starting to celebrate our, I guess, you'd call them semifinalist winners, but at the end of January, we'll have our school bee. So we'll have some celebrations there. K. Now my child has been talking about it. Yes. He's coming up.
And then next up would be approval of minutes from our regular meeting on 12/11/2024. I don't know if everyone had a chance to look at it. I know the email version was sent out a little while ago.
I got this tonight when I came home right before I came here. Does anyone have any concerns or comments?
You wanna move to? Yep. She does. Unless you have concerns or comments. Concerns. I
move that we accept the minutes of the meeting from Endover Elementary School regular board of education, Wednesday, 12/11/2024. Okay. Does anyone want a second?
I second. Just just a reminder, they're already commenting. We have to speak fairly loudly. I second.
Am I loud enough, or I need to talk like this? Yes. She says. Okay. Dawn, Jerry made the motion, and I second it.
Okay. All in favor of approving the minutes from 12/11/2024, Say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Celeste. And Brie. Aye. Okay. So six zero zero. K. Number six, opportunity to add or delete agenda items. Is there anything that anyone would like to add or delete? No. Okay. I do have one thing, and I guess I I need clarification. Are we allowed to add an action to something that just says discussion? That's already on here?
Like, it just says discussion currently versus, like, adding an action, like voting on something. Am I allowed to add that? Thirds. Okay. So under item e, nine e for the stiff account, I would like to add possible action. We did talk about it last month, and we talked about possible action this month. So
Move to amend item e for the stiff account action. Okay. Anyone second? I'll I'll second that. Celeste Willard will second that. All in favor? Aye. Mhmm. Aye. Aye. Okay. All opposed? Are you guys abstaining? Yes? I'm I'm gonna abstain. Okay. Thank you.
So that would pass four zero two? Yep. And then other celebrations? Anyone have anything to report?
I hope everyone had good holidays and a good New Year. Seemed a little bit extended this year comparatively. So right. In terms of next step would be reports. So chairperson's oral report is first. I don't have a lot to add. I did pass around a copy of a letter to all of you that was sent to the board of finance, and we'll talk about it later when we talk about the bathroom project update, but they did approve the money to start the the bathroom plumbing project with. So that's really the only only thing that I have in terms of an oral report. Valerie, superintendent's report.
Alright. So a lot of what I normally would talk about is is in here someplace else. So so we'll start with let's see. I guess, the facilities update, in terms of our regular monthly that Scott and I have been working on to make sure that it's reported out. So from the last meeting on down to today, Lafran Boy did come. That's our water contractor. They did come and do, the last of our water cross connection report summary. There's no cost to us, but that's submitted to the state March of every year. So it's going in now because last year's was not completed. And so this will carry us through for the March 2025. We needed to have a light board replaced on the generator, on Kinsley generator. That was on the December 19 that they came to replace that light board. We are still waiting for an additional, third quote from Aligned Elevator. Remember, we have the original TK, and we, went with Aligned at Otis, and so we're waiting for Aligned.
There was a call in from USA for, a check valve, to the boiler That was a cost of 1,900. There's a couple of valves there that, they've been making sure that they keep an eye on, because they're not emergent right now, but, Scott makes sure that he checks the rack on them regularly. And in this case, one of the valves there did need to be replaced because the leak was occurring. Slowly, but it was occurring. We had had the music door, that needed to be replaced, that outside door to the music room. We had talked about that a few months ago. They did come on the twenty sixth, but they need to come back on the seventeenth to finish that. They did not have all the parts needed to finish that, so that one won't be done until next month. And Green Skies did come and do the joist inspection. There were those two spots, the number seven roof and the number two roof on that charts that we've been looking at, and we will get the results back. There's no cost associated with that for us, but we will get the results back fairly soon. They had said by the end of this week, by early next week, so so that's that. And we do have oh, and Cone. I'm sorry. Cone was the other one that's coming tomorrow to give us a quote for I forgot about Cone for
the elevator. Our regular AA pest monthly was done. Sorry.
For the elevators, that will be three quotes done, or that'll be four? We
that will be four that we called. Okay. That'll be the third one that we have in hand, and then we're gonna wait for the one from aligned. Okay. So, yeah. We did the sprinklers quarterly with FPT. The one thing that I'm going to talk to FPT about, by the way, is that I just found out that the quarterly and the annual inspections from whether it's Impact Fire or FPT or visual inspections of sprinklers, found out the hard way, had a sprinkler incident in Scotland that caused a lot of damage. And they told me there that it is not normal for them, any company, to do more than a visual inspection. And so that wouldn't tell us if we had sprinklers in danger of being more than 20 years old, the sprinkler heads. So I'm gonna talk to FPT,
the next time they come quarterly to, see exactly what's included in the visual inspections so that we can potentially step that up a bit there. And that's it for for those. Did you guys have someone come fix the outside lights? Did they do that yet?
You know what? I didn't even notice. They've done that job. I didn't even notice that that was, like, six. There's six out here. I can tell you. They I do not think that came yet. No. I don't think there's been So I know it's scheduled, but I didn't think it was scheduled for the vacation. So Right. No. That is not done yet. Okay. So that is the first thing on there for the facilities update. We're going to cover the bathroom and the solar below. We're going to cut cover the budget below. The only other thing that I wanted to share, is in front of you guys. I know that oh, I'm sorry. Two things. Number one, on next month, I'm gonna ask for permission for us to begin to, look at I know that one of the things that together, the board and myself should be doing is the policy updates. And, we've had a lot of things going on in the past year and a half to two years, and I feel like that's one area because we focused on particular policies and not the gamut of them. A lot of time was put in, but we didn't get the gamut of them. And so, what I would like the board to consider next month, I'll put it on the agenda, is,
what's called a a policy audit, and it's done through CABE. And I'm currently utilizing them now in my other district. It's comprehensive. They go through all of your policies. They, take our list. So, like, I already have this list that I've done part one of where I know some of these new ones either don't pertain to us because maybe it's high school related or they're new, and, we haven't gotten to that one yet. Maybe we haven't had to. Maybe it's after January 2025. But I do know that we've got some, you know, some gaps. What they do is they do a policy audit. They go through all of yours. They tell you which ones are mandatory that are missing. They tell you which ones are obsolete. They offer templates, and the cost, basis on that is how big your district is. Isn't it about $400 or so? I thought that was one location. More than that. That was years ago. But, it's it's based on the size, the number of students in in in your district. So I believe, in my other district, it was 1,800. Yeah. Okay. But they do it start to finish. Yep. And when you consider the fact that that is, like, a year and a half to two year process for our board, it's sometimes something that's that's well worthwhile. Oh, it's very worthwhile. But we have to get on a list, right, to be able to it. And I actually got lucky because I was third in the queue, but they wait till you pay, and we had already paid in number one and number two, and the queue over there hadn't paid yet. So I got moved up. So, that was a little luck on my part. So they're usually about two districts in in as far as the queue goes.
Because I said, how long is the wait once we send in if we decide? And they said, you usually have two districts on the waiting list and one in process. So it's something for us to put on and talk about in February because I do think that that is definitely a possibility. Can you get an estimate from them? I will. The cost would be. Or can this is Jody you've been communicating with, I think. Yes.
Is it possible to get him or give some thought of bring him in. Gary will give an overview of what that process looks like too.
They have it all written out, so I can put that out for you. Yep. So yep. Yeah. If you have that and the cost, that would be good. Absolutely. And then one other thing that I made sure to provide, it's in front of you guys. It came up at the Triboard meeting, about kind of the discrepancy over and, usually, this is the meeting that at the beginning of the year that we have, Kate come in and talk about roles and responsibilities, which we didn't feel we needed to do this year because we've had them in before and because so many of you guys went to the CABE CAPS convention in November. So that's why we didn't schedule them like we normally would have for January or February. But it did come up at the tribe board meeting about, you know, having our legal advice, not only our blue book, but, kind of you know, I think, mister McGuire had said you know, he liked mister Monee, and he had said, you know, listen to your attorney. So, what I did was I did ask Jess, the one that represents us here, if she would do me a favor and put together, kind of in one memo for you guys, really, what our discrepancy was at that meeting. And I know that I thank thank you. I know I had a chance to speak, and kind of explain it from a superintendent point of view, but I obviously thought that shipment could do it better. So what you're looking at in front of you, and I'll email to our our two people that are that are online,
it's where they really lay out the the re on the top of it. The the the memo says board of education rules and responsibilities regarding school property. And so, you know, Shipman, a good one, really goes through here and talks about, you know, exactly what is the the law behind the role and responsibility to 35 School Road and to the fact that every town through its board of education, you know, maintaining, control of the property and what your responsibilities are to that property. Even at the end of it, it says that, yes. In fact, the responsibility is through the authority of the board of education, but they remind you at the end that, everything that you do is still subject to local zoning regulations. And so, you know, they said the city may or town may have no authority, but you are still responsible for maintaining,
the zoning rights. So so we have that now. She had asked me before Christmas, you know, if she could have a little time to put it together, when I to her after the tribe board meeting, and I said absolutely. So we've just received this. Everybody has this now, and we have that, you know, on file for for when people, have questions or concerns regarding that. So just a little clarification there. So then I will wait for the bathroom and the solar and the budget till we get to the bottom. Any questions? No.
Anyone else have have questions for Val? I just have, Val, when will you send that memo to Brie and and to me? Tonight. Okay. Thank you. Yep.
Thank you for having that done. I was curious if we would have to go back to the Blue Book Man, I'm glad, Jessica. This was basically a compilation or an addition of what she had already done for us Yes. About a year and a half ago. So Yes. Yeah. This is what she just pulled it out of. Right. Because this pertains solely to Property. Right. And and your responsibility
to that property whose responsibility it is and and weeded out all of the other stuff that was brought, up, you two years ago when we were going through the other things. So this was just very laser focused. Thank you for doing it. Mhmm. Should this be shared with any other boards or commissions? Well, I mean, it could be. I mean, we could put in minutes.
I think we should. Planning and zoning sees it. Sure.
Yeah. I agree with Jerry. It should be put in the minutes.
Yep. Yeah. I mean, I I think, honestly, like, all of the handouts that we Yep. Are putting in tonight will all get put into the minutes. Yep. So Okay. Principal's report?
Alright. So I just wanted to start briefly, something not as exciting with curriculum PD, but you may have heard that PowerSchool recently had a breach, or you may have seen that. Because I got an email from Rand. Yes. So I I will also inform parents, but I knew I had a board meeting tonight, so I wanted to inform you first. In terms of the impact to us, so they had a data breach. The demographic tables of our staff and students may have been accessed. PowerSchool, of course, they're working with the FBI and all of those agencies, have fairly confident that any data that was accessed was not shared and has been deleted. They did not access any visuals, any medications. Some districts, like, may put Social Security numbers, say, in their PowerSchool. We don't do that. So the data breach was minimal on our end. And as you can imagine, PowerSchool has done all of their webinars and CEOs and more things and all the safety precautions they're gonna put into place. It's a breach that affected across the country and I think even in other countries as well. So they followed all the necessary steps. They've assured districts that there's no additional work to do on our end and that there should not be any negative consequences. So I will let parents know that as well. It's a very similar message that PowerSchool provided to districts kind of with some little intricacies of what that looks like. So just want to make you aware of that.
In terms of my updates, a few things. Not much has happened in December because we have a lot of time off since I last reported, but just some reminders. We have a half day PD next week where most of our staff will be heading, either heading to Hebron, Elle, or Gilead to do some collaboration on our new bookworms reading, or Marlboro fourth grade is actually coming to us, to missus Dixon, to do some collaboration. So that PD is coming up. We also, in February, have our bookworms consultant. If you remember, she came two days in November Mhmm. October. I think it was October. And so she'll come for two days again in February and follow-up on the work and keep moving us forward. So that's good. In addition for PD, we have qualified for grant hours for curriculum and assessment if in preschool through EASCOM. So we have a trainer that comes out, and this year, we're focusing on executive functioning.
So how we support students in independence, decision making, all the pieces that go into success at school but aren't necessarily math and science and reading. So she comes in periodically throughout each month. She's in. She does observations. They do discussions. They talk about things that are in place. So, for example, one of the things they're working on is play planning. So students plan for their play as much as it sounds. So they before they go into block center, might draw a picture of what they're going to do. They might start writing words and sentences about what they're going to do. And so simply the act of that, of planning, is executive functioning and then following through and then reflecting on that plan. And it's by no means a way to be rigid with kids. It's just to support those skills. So that's an exciting work we're doing
in preschool for PD. And then in terms of curriculum updates, we are still moving forward in bookworms. We've really just I I can't commend our staff enough, have been phenomenal in implementing brand new curriculum this year, and it it's going really, really well. We also started piloting, as I mentioned, in sixth grade. I said we would be. We have started their middle school bookworms. So that's exciting. They're really enjoying that. And then kind of that side piece, as I mentioned before, that spelling bee and invention convention, which supplement both of those things are in full swing as well. And so like last year, in our March board meeting, that will be just prior to that will be our awards for invention convention so that those students can then come at seven and be honored here. So we certainly invite you if you'd like to come a little bit early that meeting to be a part of it. When is that? It's the March board meeting. It's already it I do it on that day. I think it's the fourth of fifth? Okay. Yes.
How could that be the board meeting? I know. That doesn't sound familiar. So what's seven plus five? Twelve.
No. We have the wrong date on that one. I'll I'll double check it. Okay. But we we plan it to be that way too. Like, we have first. Okay. So maybe we're off. Okay. The twelfth and second. So that they can come.
So we'll I'll I'll double check that to you. I
think I know we have a long agenda, so I kept mine short and sweet today, but certainly any questions for me?
Okay. Awesome. Financial report. Okay. The financials for through the end of December are attached to your packet, the expenditures so far. Obviously, we still have bills coming in for December, so we're at about 47% spent, which would be about where we should be. Does anybody have any questions regarding anything specific, in these reports?
I think my only question is for repair and maintenance service. It looks like you have a lot encumbered already. Yeah. And and, obviously, like, Val's talking about what all of those things are. Yes. Is there are there more things that you guys are anticipating
for that? Everything is encumbered up until January 2 on this report. That you that you know of. That I know of. I think there was one more one more that just came in, a bill from for h for for for HVAC for, like, 1,900. Okay. So, yeah, that number, I I'm hoping that's all gonna level out the second half of the year, you know, and how that Right. But in terms of expenditures,
like, that category is probably gonna be the biggest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm keeping an eye on it.
Well, it's it sound I mean, so far, it's all been really important things that needed to It's a blessing and a curse that Scott finds. So Right. I mean right on top of things. Yeah. He's I really feel like he's gonna it's gonna it's gonna flatten out. And then after this year, it will start to level out. I believe that. Yeah. But I think, you know, also for for anyone that's watching, like, we're at you know, it's definitely over. It's at a 161% of what was estimated for that Yeah. Area. So
Yep. The magnet school tuition, is that under the tuition
bucket here, or is that under something else? It's under the tuition bucket. Okay. Yes. But if you look in the detail
for magnet school Yes. It's broken out. Okay. It is under sorry. Under five sixty under.
It does have it broken out by magnet schools and then outplacement.
Okay. I'll take a look at that. Yeah. And 7 so 7,000, is that is that what That's gonna be it for the that's gonna be it for the year.
Okay. Because we got the bill from CREC. I paid it, and that's it. Oh, is that okay? The two students that are at the magnet school. Two. I'll be looking at enrollment before. Yeah. Okay? Alright. Thank you. You're welcome. Anything else?
Alright. Brie or Celeste, do either of you have questions?
Nope. No. I'm all set. I'm all set. Thank you. Okay. I can't help it because I keep forgetting the enrollment report on mine. So, like, just really quickly and we are reported at 02:41. At the end of January, I have two I do anticipate two new students as well. So I anticipate two forty three this month. And what grade? Well, one tried to start today. Poor girl. First day got sick. So fifth grade and three day. Okay. So what's the last do have any questions?
She said no. Oh. Yeah. They they both Sorry. Thanks. Carrie, thank you. You're welcome. Liaison report. Brie, do you have anything for school readiness?
Yeah. We had the school readiness meeting on Tuesday, and I'm not gonna go over everything. Just high level, Taylor had indicated that all of the grant money had been encumbered for salaries. We are anticipating I think it was two additional spot or no. Four to six more spots, but it would be likely students that are already in the program. Preschool registration has started for next year. There
there's also there Paula, I think, in conjunction with Taylor is looking at the o e the OEC grants for next year. She's also planning Paula is planning on doing a site visit on February 13, and there were some community updates, including a new h new program. There's the books to start before kindergarten, and that's about it.
Hi. Who's Paula? She's she's our school readiness liaison, so the state gives you requires you to have a liaison that works between you and the brand. Like, I just didn't know the name. We did complete our school readiness grant application. Normally, that's in the spring, and this year, they've changed some of their early childhood grants. So that was completed prior to the New Year, but they haven't gotten back to districts as always. Okay. Celeste, do you have anything for PTA?
Yes. I do. Sorry. I'm slowly losing my voice here. Just a good news. The playground has been inspected, and it will be, open for play, starting tomorrow. So that's our good news. We did it. We got the playground in. So thank you to, Val and Taylor for getting it inspected, and to the board support and to everyone who supported, this mission of the PTA with this playground. We appreciate it. We had our meeting on Monday, talked about a couple fundraisers, moved some dates around for some upcoming ones, and, that's about it. K.
Does anyone have any questions? No? Okay. CHI board meeting, I think, might have gotten left on our agenda from previous month. I didn't really realize that. I don't have anything else to report from that. I feel like it was well attended. We all did great. And then town meetings. Does anyone have anything?
That was my responsibility. K. It was a big month for the board of ed being discussed by other boards. So at the board of Selectmen, they discussed the AES gym fans, the bids we had had for that. They decided to go with Lenco Electric, and we're looking at hopefully getting that installed, as soon as possible. They also discussed solar panels at length, and we're questioning the age of the roof, which we discussed at our last board of ed meeting, as far as any repairs or replacements that would need to occur. And there was always a also a question of whether or not, that should go to a town meeting vote. Mhmm. So it was interesting, especially given that the memo we got tonight. We'll see what happens with that. Finally, at the BOS meeting, they were mentioning the fact that bus routes are gonna be affected, by the Bunker Hill Ridge replacement, and I wanted people to be aware of that. Board of Finance. I'm glad we have the capital fund policy because it wasn't in the minutes. So I'm glad to see it actually in,
in writing. Yeah. Sorry. And we'll we'll have That's great.
The only thing I I wanna know so it did pass, which is great. They did talk about I know Robert England had asked whether or not there could be a required time frame, for any additions from the board of education into the fund to be after the audit was completed, and that was, voted down. So, but interestingly enough, this is very open ended as far as no requiring a time frame. So it just after our fiscal year is concluded. So we can take it from there. And they also approved, our MEP request that you had presented, Caitlin, so that we have the ability to go forward with Fuss and O'Neil as far as I understand. Finally, we had a CIP meeting. And at that meeting, we discussed a presentation by the fire commission. Wally Barton presented, a long discussion about how they need updated self contained breathing apparatuses, which would be scuba without the
but presented, the packs that they wear, and, we had approved funding for that. He's gonna come back with actual, RFPs, to look at the funding for that. So that's what occurred at CIP, and that's it.
Did I miss anyone with liaison reports from other stuff? You guys have anything for curriculum? No? Eric? Anything? Nope. Okay.
Does anyone have any questions on any of the liaison reports? Okay. So we'll move on to items for discussion. So first up under nine a is the bathroom project update and reports associated with that.
So I know that's that's true. The only thing that they needed after your letter and after the 48,600 was approved by the board of finance Yeah. The only thing that they need then is the authorization to proceed.
We needed an updated quote from them as well, though, didn't we? Because that was only ninety days.
Well, if they if they have this, this will get the ball rolling. Then they'll do it. They they they won't they won't start anything without authorization to proceed. Yeah. So I figured that along the way, whenever there are meetings, since we don't have one subcommittee that deals with we have one liaison, but we don't have a subcommittee. I figured that anytime there are meetings, we'll just send it out that says this is a day that Placinomial is coming for, and anyone on the board that wants to attend would be able to attend. And so I, you know, just made sure for authorization that I've added you. So if you sign this, I can send this favor. I only have a red pen So we can send that over. And then, this will allow them to start the ball rolling, and then, you know, we'll we'll, get that going and and get new paperwork and proceed from there. So I will send this to them tomorrow.
Great. So the ball is moving forward. They're exciting. The big hill for the plumbing project. Does anyone have any questions in regards to Yep. The plumbing stuff?
So this gets the ball rolling, so they'll reach out and start scheduling. Okay? Yep. Elizabeth Landry. Yeah. Is that how soon does this happen? As soon as I send that to her tomorrow.
I'll email that to her tomorrow, once Terry signs it. Oh, Taylor, you need to sign? Terry. You need to sign. Oh, me? Yeah. And then, I'll update you guys Okay. Know what the schedule is from there. Okay. Great. Yep. Wonderful.
Awesome. That's good news. Thank you. Awesome. Very good. Yeah. So that's our that's our first step in our giant project. I mean, I can't Can't start without it. Yeah. Yeah. We got And
just for anyone who didn't watch the board of finance meeting on that or attended, I mean, they did unanimously vote to to approve that, and there was a significant amount of discussion prior to the vote. So I just it goes to show that, like, we are improving our relations, and we're all on the same page of trying to bettering everything. Mhmm. So anything else on the bathroom project that anyone would like to discuss?
I don't I don't have anything to discuss. Thanks, Caitlin. Yep. Moving on to the solar project update.
So I did speak with, Ryan, Lanieris, the one that had come and spoken to you guys a couple times. You know, I I wanted him to clarify a few things. He did tell me that, yes, they had come during the vacation and that the structural engineer had done what they needed to do with number two on the seven roof. And as I said earlier, we're just waiting for the results of that. And, you know, we did have a lengthy conversation. Obviously, their goal is to not do anything if they don't feel that the roof is structural. They won't. I mean, do anything if they don't feel that the roof is structurally sound. We did have a conversation about what happens if, you know, along the way, hypothetically,
you know, something happens. A tree falls down on the roof, not that there's any there, but a tree falls down or there's a leak or something like that. What occurs? He says, of course, you know, just like, you know, with every other, the districts that they deal with, the municipalities that they deal with, they're gonna wanna get that going back up as soon as possible. I said that there was a concern on the town side because I I did, know that this came up at the board of selecting meeting. Even though Celeste and I had gone to the board of finance I mean, to the planning and zoning and got the green light, that the town thought that perhaps this would fall under an eight twenty four. So in front of you guys, the response to the email is there. You know, we had a very lengthy conversation, and this is the vice president. Ryan is the vice president. And so I'll read the response just because two of the members are on there, and they don't have it in front of them. I'll send it to you guys. He said thank you for the call. As it relates to the eight twenty four question,
GreenSky has done behind the meter, which is the BTM, that's us, solar projects in 35% of the municipalities in the state of Connecticut. For all rooftop projects, we need to obtain building, electrical, and fire permits, which is what Celeste and I were told at that meeting with planning and zoning. So that absolutely aligns. The solar panels are viewed as an accessory use. Planning and zoning has never been a part of the permitting process unless our solar installation was on the ground or on a carport structure. We only go through 08/20 fours if we are leasing town land and installing a project in front of the meter so that it is a stand alone unrelated to the primary use of the town property. This tends to be the case when we lease lands that are owned town owned landfills. This would be the first time that I've been requested to go through an eight twenty four for a rooftop BTM project at a school. So he was actually very surprised, and they have their product in 35% of the municipalities in the state of Connecticut. And he went on to explain in here why that's not something that falls under the eight twenty four. So, you know, so I will I will forward this to planning and zoning and let them know it may or may not change their mind at all. So they already met and approved an eight twenty four that was presented by the town.
So So I will forward it to them just so that they have this? It is my understanding
that members of the board of selectmen would like to call a town meeting to vote on the solar project, and I believe that will be brought up at their meeting on Monday. So I think there's still some concern slash disagreement slash confusion between who needs to say this project is okay or not. The town was asked to consult with their attorney. I don't know whether or not that has been done, but I do know that it will be brought up on Monday at their meeting
to bring it to a town meeting. Do you know who they were asked by to consult with their attorney? Who asked them to consult their attorney? By the town manager, Eric Eric Anderson. Anderson.
And I do know also that all of the members of the board of selectmen are like, everyone wants this to happen. Mhmm. I think that the concern was brought from the point of, like, if something did happen to the roof while the stuff was up there and someone decided they wanted to sue like, would they sue the town, or would they sue the school? Like, that they wanted to make sure that everyone was covered. Mhmm. Which I would imagine the paperwork from GreenSky, seeing as it's a leased project and they're responsible for everything that's in place during the length of that lease, that everyone is protected. But I think having that paperwork in full will be helpful.
So I think that's also the response from Shipman and Goodwin in that memo that I gave you earlier
was to kind of remind them that it, it goes through the board of education. So
so, yeah, so those two things are there. And, yes, they've never been asked. So that was that with them. Again, the structural engineer, will submit a report by the end of the week or early next week. And as soon as we have them, we'll know. And that's it?
I mean, in terms of in terms of what we do with this information, yeah, I think it's important for the board of selectmen to have that information for their meeting on Monday. So I don't know. I I can forward it tomorrow. I am gonna ring out. Okay.
Just so that they have all of that knowledge. Yep. I guess, personally, I feel I don't I don't really care if everyone's in agreement for it to happen and people are concerned and want to have a town meeting, I don't see a negative to that occurring in order to say, yay. Let's all have solar. But that's my personal viewpoint. I know that other people on this board don't feel that way. So I don't know if you guys want to discuss it further.
My only concern would be if the town didn't support it.
And then Correct. Where are we? Mhmm. Yeah. That would be a concern. And is there a precedent for town meeting every time the board of education decides it wants to do something when it's within the rights? You're opening up a can of worms. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Does anybody know of anybody who's against it? I do not.
They haven't kind of worked with it. Those people usually show up for town meetings. Exactly. I was gonna say. They'll be there.
Does anyone have anything else on the solar project to talk about? I don't I don't have anything to talk about, Caitlin. I'm good. Thank you. Okay. And then just, I guess the only other update on it, was that we had to Celeste had to resign documentation, to resubmit, because Eversource had a few issues with the the way things were written for the interconnection agreement, but that has been resubmitted. Yep. Yep. I took care of that. Yep. To Anne's
public comments about having somebody at the board of select meeting. So I'm available on Monday. I could go to that. I don't know if others are. So they're not in person, though. Am am I around on that? They're they're still I was on Zoom? They're only on Zoom. So I I'll be there on Monday as well. That'd be great. You
would need to as the only person who's allowed to be the spokesperson Yeah. If you're gonna put any input in.
Okay. So we'll move on to, the budget presentation for twenty twenty five twenty twenty six.
Okay. Alright. So, so you guys have in front of you, and Brie and Celeste, you you have it in front of you there as well too. It was yep. So Val,
quick. For for whatever reason, you keep cutting in and out when you talk. I don't know if it's just the speaker, but just just to be aware you you cut in and out a little bit when
You wanna set you set up that rate. Yeah. Yeah. Same thing. Let's see. Added Oh, you've got more cord. I did. It's very exciting. Yeah. Just dip it dips in and out. Is that better?
Yeah. That's better. Just to get it fluctuates. For whatever reason, it just go you go in and out.
I think he's gonna stare at me the whole time now, though, anyways. So we're good. So okay.
So I did make as we talked about last month, I did make, two short videos. Taylor's got up on the screen now, so anybody wants to see where they are. We moved over all of the other, earlier budgets. If you look Taylor, just scroll down just a bit. If you look at the bottom, see '23, '22, '21 on the bottom and then back up on the top on the left. That way, all you're looking at is anything that we post from here on in related to the 2526, budget. So there's three things on there now. I did the first informational, video, which is the budget drivers that I'll talk about just real quick and not go over the whole twenty minute, version. And then the second one was the areas of need, making sure that we didn't give away too much in that one before tonight. But then then after tonight, we'll post that, proposed budget, knowing that it's just a draft, that the board of education will not be considering it until the February meeting. And on the January 23, we will have an in person meeting here for
mostly families, but anybody's welcome to come. And then I already arranged with Tess for February 10 to talk to the seniors at the senior luncheon, and that'll be two days before. So we should have feedback from, you know, almost every area, of the community then prior to February 12. That's on Monday? Yeah. Okay. She told me that was the next, senior match. I thought they were on Friday. They usually are, but she told me it was the tenth. Okay. Maybe that's because it's a federal holiday need. Could be. Yeah. So, so then the goal here is if there are any questions from the board or from the community
as a result of tonight's draft presentation, I would say reach out, send them. And if there are questions that keep being repetition repetitious, I would be glad to do then a third video to address those between now and next month. So not just to answer the questions, but to make sure that if there's any documentation, any information that people are seeking, that I can put it on there. So if Taylor, if you just go real quick so that I can just give a little bit of background. So this was from the first video we talked about, just that very first slide, the drivers. The drivers themselves are the standard drivers that you're gonna see with any, budget. We look at enrollments. We look at the contracts, both negotiated teacher salary and noncertified, as well as our private contracts that we have with contractors, special ed costs, medical benefit increases, tech and mandated changes to curriculum. These are always the drivers, and as you can imagine, the two most expensive things are benefits and salaries because those go up every year. So that's really what I talked about in that first video. And, you hear Taylor every month talk about our enrollment projections.
They are going in an upward direction. You'll see them every month like this. We made sure to go back fifteen years, and the fifteen years of enrollment summaries are attached on that first supplementary material on the website so that you can see all the way back. And the reason why I put that on there is because I think that sometimes people we forget. Right? We we think, well, what did we do when we had 334 kids here? You know? We must have had enormous class sizes then. And that comes up every year, and it's a valid question. But we put the data together this year because I I really wanted people to understand that that just is not the historic fact. The historic fact is the average class size here is 15 to 17 max. We had very oftentimes, fifteen years ago, three classes of, let's say, 16 or 17 because the town, the people, the parents, and the board of education fifteen years ago did not feel it was conducive to take that third class and merge it in and have huge class sizes. So you rarely saw class sizes of 20 or higher,
and that's historic. The other thing I wanna point out is when we look at the number of classrooms, we are in a very different position now than we were fifteen years ago. If you look at this slide, it says 2010, there were 22 classrooms for 334 kids. I want you to keep in mind that there were two preschools. So there were 20 classes, k six, for those kids. Today, we have four preschools. So when you look at today and we say we have 15 classrooms, we don't have 15 classrooms of k six. We have 11 classrooms of k six, and that's why they're getting very, very crowded. And I will say, and this is the tough thing for us to admit, but it's the truth and we need to, is if you look at the, student scores and achievement in twenty ten, eleven, and twelve versus now and granted, we're post COVID, and we can use excuses, and we can say we're still higher than the state average, but it was better then. And it was because the student needs were better met. And so we have been kicking the can in five years that I've been here. We've been kicking the can and not wanting to add classes because that is an expense, and we've tried not to. And we are at that point, and it's a good point to be at because as everybody in town knows,
I know that there's you know, our our one family, associated with our secretary here can tell you that there are people that are putting ten and eleven bids in on houses here. So they're moving in. They're loving Andover. They're paying the increased taxes to their houses that they're paying a lot more for than they were advertised for. They are happy, and we are moving in the right direction. But with that, this year is going to come more classrooms. We don't have a choice. For the first time in a long time, we have class sizes that are 27, 28, and by March 1 could be 29. And that is not conducive. And so we really do need a four, a five, and a six, but we do have a way through the scheduling that Taylor and the team do to break down in the, what I need portions of the day when they use smaller groups, when they use interventions, and when they're just honestly very creative with their scheduling. We do have a chance to, kind of kick the can a little bit with sixth grade one more year, and we're doing that because we are in need of intervention. We currently have less intervention than most school districts do. For our almost 250 kids, we have one reading specialist interventionist with a full load because we have pre k all the way up to grade six. And so she spends a fair amount of time, with her specialty on just reading and doing other ELA related interventions. Her schedule is full. We have a part time, a point five built into our schedule for math,
and it's just not enough. We absolutely need that to be a one point o. If not, we will not be meeting the math needs that we need to. And remember, yes, we have IEP needs that our special ed teachers, meet for our students that are identified and labeled. We also have students that are five zero four, which is, by law, legal document that requires us to provide intervention to students. And then we have the SRBI process, which is scientifically research based interventions. And once again, that's not an option. That's a requirement. And that runs the gamut of about twenty six weeks for an average student before they're placed back into, a a a nonintervention setting for math. And so we aren't talking about a day or two of intervention. That does require a lot, and we must have that full time next year. So when you look at these numbers, you can see that 2024, we have 11 classrooms plus the four pre k. And remember, those four pre k classrooms are funded outside the general fund. Those teachers are in school readiness, Smart Start, and in tuition. So, that's the 11 classrooms that are funded. We need 17 for next year. We need 13 classrooms and a total total of, four preschool classrooms for an anticipated 250 plus kids. So, that is is gonna bring us to that increase. Okay. So we can hold on to that one, Taylor, or we can move to the other. So what I tried to do to make it easier is I tried to take the good news and the, less good news. It's all good news, but and less good news and highlight it literally in color. I've done this in the past before, as you know, and it's easier to read.
Anything in yellow is gonna remain the same with a 0% increase. And, luckily, as you'll notice as we go down, there's a little yellow on here. So, we we really have worked that out, and made sure that, we're not increasing for the sake of increasing. If we don't anticipate it, it's not in there. There's some orange too. There is. Orange, thank you, Caitlin, for being so optimistic. Orange are the, four areas where we anticipate a reduction. And, yes, I can't believe it, but we're happy to say that the biggest reduction would be to, oil for next year, because we don't anticipate using the same amount of oil. But remember, the past three years, we went from two years ago, $3.10 was the price per gallon to $2.97 this year to $2.59 next year. And so, that's gonna save a little bit of money there. The other area that I wanted to show you, and it's it shows only slightly difference, but when we get to the bottom one where it says psych services, I will just caution you there. Our psych services are still on a grant.
And so we actually increased the services to students. We didn't decrease them last year, but we had a two year grant. And so that increase is paid for with a grant that will expire after next year. So, you know, please know that we are not reducing any of those services to students. It's that they are paid for outside of the general fund.
Can I ask a question on that one? Yes. So next budget, that has to be included in the general fund?
If we have a need to keep those services. And I'm not saying we wouldn't, but, when we plan for psych, social work, special education, OT, PT, speech, when we plan for all of those services, we plan for what's needed based on students' IEPs, based on the mandated documents. So if something happens that year and miraculously, all of the students who receive the, extra services that are provided from our psychologist or nobody has triennial reviews that year and we have no testing that needs to be done, not gonna happen, Eric. And we imagine here. If that were to happen, that number would go down. Okay. Because we wouldn't need to have those extra services. Does it ever happen? No. But, hypothetically, if that were to happen, the increase wouldn't be there. So I can't tell you how big that increase will be in two years because that's a service that's contracted based on our need. Okay. And so OT, PT, speech, psych services, social worker comes with So unless it was additional service hours, all of those could vary slightly. Now the reason why I say it's probably not gonna happen is because, again, we have enrollment that's going up. And so as enrollment goes up, you are bound to have even the everyday services that all of our children require
from a psychologist or from a social worker. And even if you had one or two extra referred students that year for special ed, even if they didn't wind up special ed, there'd be testing for them. So it's highly unlikely that when the number of students and the enrollment is increasing, those services would decrease, but it could happen. And that would be something that we'd sit down, tailor myself, the team, and the special ed director, and look at in two years. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. So so if you look at the top, first of all, again, those numbers, zero zero two starts every single category of our budget. The next three numbers denote that object. You'll look on page one. There's the one hundreds. One zero one, one zero two, one zero three, all the way on down, those are all salaries. So anything in that second little three digit that looks like a Social Security number, if it starts with a one for 100, all of those denote a salary. So you obviously would expect not just in education, but in most fields that salaries pull up every year. And for us, they are negotiated with a contract. We were lucky this year in a way that both the contracts were negotiated. So our planning for the next four years with one and three years with another,
moving forward, we know how to plan. It'll change depending on which teachers are in that line, but the fact is we know what the salary of the teachers will be next year that that are returning. The only difference is we have to factor in the new teachers. And I'm gonna use the number 3.1 just because, when a teacher is full time, they are one point o FTE. That means they work five days. They're full time. Each day is a point two. So a teacher who works one day a week is a point two. A teacher that works two days a week is a point 4.6, point eight, one point o. So I say that because in the past seven or eight years, we have had to reduce some of our areas when our enrollment went down. My predecessor, that was the way that she had to manage to balance certain things, was to reduce. And she reduced down to where there was nothing left to reduce, but it did leave us with some very, very scarce areas. And, we had a part time, Spanish teacher was one day. We had a part time art teacher. We had a part time library media specialist, and we had a lot of part time positions. And so now a couple of those positions, need to be a little bit less part time. Not full time yet. We understand that that would be a wish list, but they do need to increase. Spanish, for example, she's been gracious enough with scheduling. She is 8.2, which is equal to one day. And yet, because it's easier on our schedule, she works two mornings instead of one full day, which I think is a godsend for us. We're very grateful that she's been able to do that.
Next year, because we anticipate two new classrooms, a fourth grade and a fifth grade classroom, there is no way for her humanly possible to get in all of the Spanish. And so, she is extended now with two mornings. And so the point two needs to go to a point four. So that gets added in. Same thing with library media, especially since with library media, when you consider the fact that we've got more littles in the building, the littles, tend to, utilize the all of the things that are in the library even more so than the upper grades who focus on research, who focus on how to integrate tech, and how to use things like that. So it's not even something that we could say, we'll throw it on the back burner. This is where they they learn about the love and freedom. So that one would go up. And the third one is art. This year, if you can imagine and and I can't, and you all know that I love kids, but we've had to merge some preschool classes to get all of the art in. Mhmm. And a lot of three and four year olds in a room when they need help putting things together with art is not conducive. So
that was done this year, and it just can't continue that way. You know, poor Jessica Wayne trying to figure out how to maneuver all those little set one time, and they were very creative with the schedule. They did try to make it so that they used shorter spots of time. They spent a little bit of time in art, and then they would go to gym, and then they would alternate so that it was a little bit easier. But, to get those specials in, that one does have to go up. Just one day, not full time. It would be perfect world if we could do that, but we can't. So what we're asking for totals 3.1 o in terms of the FTEs. We need the half of the math intervention. We need a fourth grade full time teacher, a fifth grade full time teacher, and then the point two for the three specials. Point 2.2, point two. So that adds up to a total increase of a 3.1. Not percentage, 3.1 in terms of staff. Three full time and a point one. Correct. Right. So that's what you're looking at in the green section there. In terms of how that separates out and I know Eric had asked me two questions, and I promised that I would get this answer if I could. So the way that, comes out is we wind up with about 222
about $222,000 for that 3.1 increase, to staff, new staff. We only wind up with just over 15,000 toward in the general fund toward the contract increases for just that teacher line item. But I need to explain that one because people say, how can you have had a teacher's contract that was negotiated at about 3% increase and it'd only be 15,000? Remember, we are very lucky that we have a thriving self sufficient preschool program that pays for itself. So currently, all four preschool teachers are not paid for in this budget. They are paid for in school readiness, smart start, and tuition. Which is not in here at all. Correct. The taxpayer does not pay for that program. So when those four teachers are placed in that, their increases, obviously, it's their salary, are placed there as well. So four preschool teachers are not a part of this, and so their increases are not a part of this either. Okay? So I need to say that just so because I I know some people do the math and say, that doesn't sound right. 15,000, that's it for the increases to all the teaching staff,
and the noncertified staff is in a separate line. So that's that top one o ones. If we move down, you see the increases to instructional, assistance, sped, and subteaching regular. I would like to note for this year because at some point, Terry will have to do a little bit of transferring in those lines. When we run into a situation where we are short of paraprofessional, that's the instructional paraeducators or instructional assistant's spend. That spot may temporarily be filled by a sub. And when that happens, it goes in the subline. And so at some point, you know, it'll it'll look like, wait a minute. Why do we have so many subs in that regular subline or the special ed subline? Just understand that very oftentimes, that's just that temporary title. For excuse me. For example, we did receive a new student this year after the budget, after this new school year started, and that particular, child did require, a highly skilled, paraprofessional, paraeducator. And, while we were hiring for one, which sometimes takes a while depending on the task that they are assigned to, there were substitutes. And so, when that happens, it was filling that subline. And so, when the time comes that Terry does need to make that transfer, it's not a transfer because a lot of the staff was absent. It could be filling that. And I mentioned that because you will also see that, when teachers are out on a leave of any kind or paraeducators, noncertified staff are out on a particular leave. The only one that you don't see it with is the nurse because the sub nurse rate is different. And so the sub for a nurse, should she be out, is all in that one nurse line
because that rate is different. Okay? The substitute like, you're recommended for the regular substitute teacher for this this budget Uh-huh. Does that take into account the people that you know will need to be Yes. On medical leave? Yes. Okay. So we do have that. Because,
also, remember, it could be a situation where somebody is not funded in the general fund too. Okay. So, it's already built into that. Okay. So but thank you for bringing that up. Yes. Because we we that we do factor that in. So then you'll see so those are all of the green and the one hundreds there, those increases. And remember, it's noncertified includes, anybody that's not a teacher. So, when you look down there, you have noncertified. It says sped administrative salaries, which are split. You we have a role of person who is half secretary, to, because they're the the administrative secretary to, special ed, and then they also do,
principal board of education, superintendent. So their salary is split in two locations. So, please keep that in mind. You know? And the average percentage increase, you know, unless it was it already predetermined three year contract for somebody, they are 3%, you know, for the most part there. And then there's step that's included for teachers. So, when you looked out at custodial overtime, that was a savings there. It went down from 4,000 to 1,000. I I feel like it's eons ago when we needed the 3 to 4,000. If you go back, this, chart here starts on the left hand side in 2023. So we were still talking about a time period where we had the excess still of cleaning and post COVID. Post COVID. Yes. Things like that. So the guys are really good. It is it is very rare that we run into a situation where, you know, they're looking for overtime. They work hard. They work their shifts, and it is very rare.
And so, you know, it's in there, based on our trend, but, you know, we definitely have not gone over the thousand. So we're we're we're gonna keep that and and take the 3,000 away. When you go down to the section then in, like, the 02/10, two twenty, two thirty, two forty, two sixty, two eighty, all of those are benefits of some sort. Benefits are not just medical benefits. We have group life insurance here. We have pension in here. We have retirement. And there is a clause in both the cert and the noncert contracts about what they are entitled to when they retire. So, you'll see that that number stays, the 15,000 in there every year because that would be should you have one in each of those categories, and we always have one person that's eligible. So if there's one in the teachers as well as in the non start, that were to take out Sorry. I'm sorry? You just came to grab something. Can
you mute? So if they, do take that, that would be about what it would cost. And so we can never really, I think it's Hebrew. We can never really get rid of that because if we do and someone decides to take the benefit that they're entitled to because it's in their contract, we'd be short $15,000. So the only time that number would increase is if we knew that we were approaching a year where there were multiple and this will happen in five years, where that particular year, there is potentially four or five staff members that could retire in that one year. And that would be where you'd see a significant increase in that line, and we'd have to explain why. Because there'd be five that would be eligible that might be telling us that year they're going. And so, that is based on this right here, the one.
And that's just for the retirement part, right, not for, like, paying out accrued sick leave or anything else? That is part of that package. That is part of that? Okay. Yes. So
that is is where it would come out from in that line. Okay. So how's that one of my questions is as you look at your staff demographic Mhmm. Until about five years in the future, no one's
We don't have a cluster. You don't have a cluster of patients. Least one, but we don't have a cluster. Okay. There will be a cluster about four or five years from now. Is that a long cluster that's gonna ex Nope. Okay. It was just one of those years where they all started at the same time. One year. Oh, okay. They they all started at the same time. So, and that's one thing that we have to look at when we're putting together a budget. Is there a cluster? But we don't have one for this year. So if we keep looking down, we get to, the medical benefits there. And you'll see where it says benefits, 756,529. That's one of the most expensive things that's in our budget, as you can imagine. You'll as opposed to if you see group life insurance there, we currently pay 13,000. We're going up to $13,260. Life insurance is not, a high, high expenditure when it comes to benefits. Medical benefits are. Now I had and you don't have to go back to it, Taylor, but I had in one of the videos that I made, just to give people an idea, the average cost for one singular person for medical benefits is almost $11,000.
And, again, there is a portion that is paid by the employee, and then the board is responsible for the rest. For a family, that goes up to about $32,000. So that is huge. When we are hiring teachers, when we are hiring paraeducators, when we are hiring principals, when we are hiring anybody, That is always a factor, especially if it doesn't take place during budget season, if it's something that happens after. And so, we wanna always get that number right. We wanna try to plan for the things we know, but that number has to make sure that we have considered every possible thing that we know. So Terry works hard to make sure there that we have that conversation. We look at if they're, hypothetically speaking, are people that, are getting married that will be adding a spouse, having children. Do they have, children that are 26 that are coming off of insurance? Those sorts of things. We have taken into consideration everything that we know is going to happen during the 2526 school year. And it's actually, believe it or not, a little bit of a reduction. I know it's an increase on here of $75,000 when it comes to the benefits combined, 61 there and then 75 total. But the the placeholder right now for our insurance consortium is 9%. That is what Hebron board and Town, Andover Board and Town, Marlborough Board and Town, and have
been told to make sure that we plan for. And our number here is below that. Our number is about 8.75, and the benefits increased. So that is because we are taking into consideration the changes that we know are occurring with our staff that we know of, and we believe that, there would have been a little bit of a savings if the price had stayed exactly the same as it was this year, which we know it's not. And that takes into account the new positions that you will need to sell and potentially what those would Yeah. Yes. What you do, Caitlin that's a really good question. What you do when you're planning for a vacancy is you take the low, middle average. Mhmm. So for example, in the teacher's salary, if you have 10 steps, you plan for step five. Because, if you don't, you know, you you you don't wanna plan to bring in somebody that's a top step. What if they're not? You wanna don't plan to bring in somebody a bottom step. What if they're not? But when we package that deal, we also have to take into consideration, if you think about it, a person who comes in at a step one, let's just say. Sure. The salary might be a little bit less than someone that comes in at step five,
but the chances are good then they either potentially are getting married, just got married, could have a child this year, have small children. And so the package, believe it or not, when you hire a new teacher, generally speaking, the package itself is the same. Cost. Yeah. It's just where it is. Because if you take an old person like myself and you bring them in and they may be at top step, chances are good their kids are over 26, and they're coming in as a single person on insurance. So they may be making more in a salary, but their insurance is cheaper. Yeah. And so I don't think people kind of realize that when you're looking at restaffing that the package itself pretty much is the same. It really is. Within a little bit of of money. So when we plan, we are planning for what that middle would be. Okay. Okay? Yep. And that usually,
80 to 90% of the time, works out okay. Maybe it's more in the medical line item than it is in the, salary or vice versa. But for the most part, that package is pretty solid. Okay? So that actually is good news that it's under the 9% that they're telling us to hold in that line. Again, I spoke to the other professional, service providers that we have and why we aren't seeing as big of an increase. We move forward. We have a lot of yellows there under the three forty section for the other professional services in each of the categories. The next increase really is that three forty twenty five eighty, if you see that green. It looks to go up a lot from this year to next from 5,500 to 12,000. However, if you look at the actual expenditure for '24, it was $11.06 $0.05. What's included in that line there, admin, tech, professional services, this is where admin is and the other, administrative software. And remember, admins, you know, came into play. That's the the software that, we use for our financial data systems there. And, that one kind of got implemented a few years ago, and it was used by the town as well as the school. We still have that in play. So the 12,000 is very accurate when you consider admins and then the other administrative software. Slightly further down, it says, the $3.50 $25.70 goes from 7,000 to 8,700. If you're wondering what falls in that line item, that is PrimePay,
and that is our payroll service there. So, our software having to do with that falls under that line. We're okay until we get to the 4 thirties, and that is what we talked about earlier, tonight at the meeting. This would be where, we had gone over, and we don't want that to happen next year. Just a little idea if you wanna know as you go through here. So the twenty six ten there that went from 1,500 to 56, that is La Frambe Boy, our water systems and plumbing. We are contracted La Fram, but, obviously, there are other things that are not part of the contract. And I mentioned the cross connection water and other mandated testing that needs to be done with the water systems. All of that would fall under that line, things of that nature. That's all under the building operations, repair and maintenance. The twenty six ten. Yep.
The next one that went from '15 to '17, that was the, that is things like The USA, mechanical contract that we have. And keep in mind, we have a list of things that they cover. Their contract covers way more than what our old contract covered. And keep in mind, from '23, '24, and now to '25, they, we have increased in the past four years the number of, splitters that we have too in the rooms for ACs, and they service those. So they are servicing more. And there's always an increase, but they are servicing more than they did years ago as well. The 9200 to the 10,000 where it says building ops, interior maintenance, this would include things like Mitek,
that new door that we just talked about, in the music room that would come in there. Elevator maintenance comes into this line, you know, among other things, but those are the big drivers of that 10,000 there. So in in case you guys are interested in in what falls under that line. But, again, we have these contracts. So, when they send us, the contracts for the next year and they let us know what the increases are, that really helps us to plan as well. The seller will stay the same, which is that 7,200 Infoshred Pest Control. They all fall under that 7,200 that's there. Same thing with the twelve five. That will stay the same. What fell under that category of interior, architect, any annual testing that needs to be done for the building, painting, that sort of thing falls under there.
The 5,500 to the 6,000, this was where, TruGreen comes out of in any of the contracts to take care of our tick spray and things on the outside. And then this year, remember, on two occasions, we did have to have a lift when we were doing, like, the signs outside. The lift will be here when we're doing the lights outside. So all of that falls under that category. And then the 7,200 to 8,000 there under safety, those are things like the FPT fire inspections, anything that falls under safety, sprinkler systems, those things. And those are routine for the most part. I told you the only thing that I will be asking FPT to look at is to give us advice on sprinkler system this year
and make sure that we are getting more than just a visual inspection so that we can plan for that in capital moving forward. The next one that goes up only by a thousand there is the $25.80, and that is our bundle with EastCon. And remember, we do have in our bundle with EastCon for our tech, we do have it provided as part of that 40,000 in on-site person multiple mornings a week. So they don't just come to us for our tickets. They also come and provide service for us. So even if we don't put a ticket in, they are readily available. And I will say we are still very happy. They are guided by Christina Fraser, and she is able to reach out to them on a regular basis as well. And so,
we still, you know, very much appreciate having, this this bundle is contracted. Tara, can you go back up for one second? Mhmm. Well, can you just clarify again? Because the only one that seems like giant to me is the the the 15 yeah. That one that was just pointing to the 5,600. Can you explain again? I know you said something about water contract. But what So Lapham Boy has always been our water person, but we had, Lapham,
with more tests. We have our every three year tests. We have our cross connection tests, but they also deal with anything water related. So when we were having the plumbing issues, there were other things outside of our initial contract with Lefram. They would service also, Kate, the the kids water fountains. Okay. So anything to do with the water fountains is that the contract price is increasing by that much, or you're anticipating that we're going to need to use more? So if you look at the column two rows before that, 24 actual expenditures, it was $57.91.
Right. I guess I'm just asking, like, you're anticipating that yearly it's going to be
that much? The 1,500 for just the generic contract Yeah. That doesn't cover what we know will be over and above a generic contract. There is always something that will come up. Like I said, the cross connection. Okay. So in previous years, was that just not
So the funny thing is I will tell you in previous years, when I was, looking back at '21 to '22, we had, more of the water fountains put in. And because it was hygiene, safety, and post COVID related, we used lesser money for any of those things. Like, you got grants for stuff that would have otherwise been in that. And that's why that fifty seven ninety one two columns over is a more accurate. That's our '24 expenditure.
Okay. I just didn't know if that was something specifically related to the plumbing issues that wasn't gonna be a reoccurring cost. No.
So, and that's why looking at all of these sometimes is a little deceiving if you don't know, especially if there was another funding source. Okay. So, okay, so we go down to the next jump. If you go to $5.30, $22.30, this is kind of twofold. This is where PowerSchool is. This is where Seesaw and all of the other ways that, licenses, are utilized within the school for for the communications. So we have, CEN, the Internet, in this line item, our student information systems in this line item. And we do use multiple student information systems as parents know. It isn't just PowerSchool, as Taylor mentioned earlier. We kinda here utilize that in a little bit different way because we're an elementary school. We utilize that for data, but we utilize CSAT for the quick communications and getting messages out to parents. So,
that's what's in that line. And you'll see that the expenditure for the 2324 was 14,778. So, we do know that that expenditure exists. The one under it that went from 86 to 10,000, these are our contracts for the office copier. Mhmm. And, you know, again, it's funny because you think, well, why would you have even even more expenses associated with a copier? Sure. The price goes up on things, you know, contracts from year to year, but with more kids and more classrooms and more things going on. Yes. So, you know, that's not always a bad thing either that we have more of those things happening. But that's that's copy officer, office, copier there, etcetera, those things. Yeah. The staff copiers and the other copiers that are in the building are under in instruction, and that goes under five fifty twenty two thirty, and that's 8,100 down there. I think that you'll see when we get further on down to some of the yellows where we don't seem to be increasing the standard old textbooks and, you know, where we say instructional supplies like, you know, we used to do workbooks and things like that. Where the increases are nowadays in '25 and '26, they are tech related licenses, and you pay by the child. So, you know, you get 30 or 40 new kids, and you need 30 or 40 new licenses, and that is paid, annually. And you license for the year on those. We do not share licenses from child to child, obviously, for safety and security reasons. So we do not buy one license and have five kids log on as little Joey. Little Joey logs on as little Joey. Little Mary logs on as little Mary, and that gives us safety and security as well, when we're looking at that. So we can't skimp there and say, I'm gonna steal Netflix like I may or may not do for my son,
but we don't do that here. We follow the law. So, it's not like stealing Netflix from your brother. Netflix is cracking down on them. I know they are. So I may not have to watch Netflix anymore. So so, yeah, so we've done our very best there to keep those expenditures. And then the magnet schools and outplacement for special ed, you don't. There's nothing you're that you're anticipating changing with those? So I'm looking oh, on the bottom. So keep in mind that one of the things that Terry and I had to do two years ago, and I'll be careful in how I explain this, magnet schools, no. The magnet schools, I I don't anticipate because
the Andover resident students that attend magnet schools are younger. And so we know what grade they are. They're not sixth graders, so we don't lose that expenditure next year. So that we absolutely know is gonna stay the same because those children are still attending the magnet schools. And to be fair, they've never attended Andover Elementary School. So it's not like they left and maybe they'll come back. They've always attended the magnet schools. So we just get a bill for that. Notice that it says outplacement slash special ed. And that is because, as you guys know, we've talked about this before, we always try with students, high need students, that have needs over and above what you would normally place in your special ed bucket here that are unique, that are most of the time found in an outplacement setting, when we I use the word in place them and service them here, it still goes under that line for the small number of students because the things that we utilize to service those students are not things that are used by any other student in the building. Yes. So, you know, it's not like you could say, well, is it a child that needs the nurse? Everybody gets to see the nurse. No. It would be a child that has expenditures solely related to them, and
that is why they're in that line. Like a piece of technology that's only used for that one student. Correct.
You know, a support staff person that is only brought in for that particular child. We wouldn't have it otherwise. So, you know, that's why it's on that line because we're talking about, we've talked about excess cost. We've talked about students that, you know, reach that threshold of four and a half times with the average student. Those are the scenarios that we're referring to there. Because as we know, when a student is out placed, oftentimes, you're talking about between a $102,150,000. Mhmm. And we know that exists. If we are able to meet the needs of those students within the school setting, we do, but it it falls under this line. So years ago, we kind of more to be transparent and more to make sure that the board understood that line became outplacement slash special ed because that includes any in placement expenses that we have as well. Okay? And you'll see that that at one point, we had $270,000
That's the only reason why I bring it up because there's always the chance that it could go back up Yeah. Without knowing that before the school year. Absolutely.
And so, you know, what we know now, are existing expenditures, and that is why we have kept that there. But as Caitlin said, at any given moment in time, post, budget, it could happen. And that's what a 2% nonlapsing account is for Yeah. Is when you have unfortunate expenditures like that. So when we move then to a little further down, you'll see the good news there, the quicker version is it's all yellow. Mhmm. And last year, it was all yellow in the year before because a fair amount of those supplies and things we had gotten through other programs and other grants. It stayed yellow this year mostly because we are we are expanding the classrooms, which means that, sure, there's gonna be more rooms that require supplies, but, we have switched a fair amount to within the curriculum to things that are either photocopied or tech related or available on technological devices. And so
we're fairly confident that we could stay with these numbers this year. Are we, you know, maybe gonna be off by a little bit in the end? We are. But remember, I I I still am confident also within the next year that we will find some other rent sources for these activities. So a lot of yellow there. Good news. When we move down then to electricity, small increases. As we talk about solar, remember that project will not affect next year's budget. We would be talking about decreases in our electrical expenditures for the 2627 budget, not this year. Because as you know, we're not even there yet where the arrays are are up and running. Mhmm. So we we can't put that in here. We're not anticipating a huge increase based on what we know right now, but nonetheless. What sorts of things if you look across? At one point, we were at 64,000 a few years ago, 74,000 this year, 79. Keep in mind that we, we do have more of the splitters, the ACs, the classrooms. Those are electric.
Keep in mind that we run more summer programming here now. Pool is here in the summer. We have run other summer programs. We have pre k boot camp. So we do have a little bit more electrical expenses and electricity during the course of the summer. We already mentioned the decrease in, the heating oil, but if you notice, they should almost even themselves out there. It'll be close, but they'll almost even themselves out there. And then on to the last page.
Can I ask you one question real quick? Only because Eric Anderson brought it up when he asked, in terms of the cost of diesel, that's staying about the same? It is. So you anticipate that we'll have three buses still?
So we are anticipating starting, this full year and with the three buses. Keep in mind that so far and, again, we don't have a crystal ball. But so far, the biggest increase for us has been the littles, and the preschoolers do not ride the bus in Andover. Sometimes we do, but we don't here. And so Unless they're special ed. A few do. When they turn four, they can. When they turn four. Right. But the bulk of of the students. So that, right there didn't increase, which would normally be increased in a town like like you would have anticipated. We do also have, you know, a fair number of parents that it is not the number of students on the bus. It is the proximity of the range, I should say, of the routes where there are families that
were, you know, were somewhat of a big town when you ride that bus from point a to point b start and finish. It's a longer ride than a lot of our kids want, and that has nothing to do with the number of kids on a bus. You still have to go from this house to this house to this house, and there's only a way or two to get there. And so I I've talked to a few parents who who thought that perhaps the length of the bus ride had to do with the number of kids on the bus, and I explained to them it doesn't. And one parent said to me, you know, that's true. I said they have to turn around someplace. And so there are only so many places in town. And this one parent said to me, you know, that's true because my child did tell me that they go almost to Bolton to turn around to come back, and it wouldn't matter how many stops there were. That's where the buses have to turn around. Mhmm. And so it is unfortunate. Eric Anderson has already let us know that there's also going to be some disruption this year as the roads and streets are fixed. And so there may be some parents still that decide I'm gonna continue to drop off and pick up. We also have a fair number of students that attend COOL.
And so with those students attending COOL, they are getting dropped off and picked up at different times. And so I am confident since COOL has maintained its numbers this year Yeah. That in terms of the number of riders, we should be okay. Okay. But built into that, and we've already discussed this, is that we do provide for the van that we lease through the town Yes. For our special ed needs and for our needs up to Ram. And so that is factored in there as well. But that's not under the diesel line. Right? It is because we get billed. Oh, it is. Yes. I didn't realize that on a van. The van is diesel too? We get billed from the town. Yeah. For that. No. I just didn't realize that vehicle was also It all comes in the bill. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. They billed quarterly for that. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. So that was a good question. But like I said, it it wouldn't, in most cases, even reduce the time on the bus, with the number of riders. So the last page there, there's only a couple, in the six fifty section. The small increase to the tech supplies instructional, I said it's $500 there. The increase, I can tell you already in the admin technology supplies, that $6.50, $25.80, that thousand dollar difference, that's these ViewSonics because we're gonna have that's what this is called right here. You know how if if it's in a room in a classroom, the the boards, these boards that we use, we're gonna have two more classrooms.
So we will need to have that ability in those two classrooms. So that's built in there. And then the small $200 increase under, student assessments, we use I Ready math and reading assessments, and, again, we will need those for the increased number of students. The 66 hundreds under tech supplies and special ed, again, it's a bunch of of specialized scoring for the WIAT, but also a couple of things that are needed for, the two iMeet students when it comes strictly to the to the tech supplies there. Mhmm. So, ultimately, in the end, what we have is, and I'll look at the last sheet that you guys have there. And I purposely wrote it down here so that we can kind of, absorb it together. We are looking at that 8.7647. That does, you know, to some people seem high most of the time when you are not adding staff, to either a town or a school. You're looking at, you know, four and five percentage points. And we have been able in the last few years to come in at that four percentage points. We just can't do it this year. How does it break down that 381,000? Again, these are rough estimates. There's a few small things here and there. I just generalized them with even numbers. The contract increases, again, I mentioned, you're looking at about 15,000 for teachers and 41 for everyone else. With the increases, keeping in mind that that's not all of the teachers, it's the ones that are
in the general fund that are reflected in the general fund. The new positions, that'll be about 222,000. Benefits, about 61,000 for solely the medical. When you add in the other, it it it is about $755,000 in that section. The licenses and the tax and anything associated with those line items that we just went over, roughly 21,000, and then about 7,000 with all of the rest. And that's roughly where roughly where that 381,000 comes in. And it's not to the dollar, but this is our first draft look at this. Questions so far?
Melanie, I just wanna say thank you. You put so much work into this, and the videos you made are fantastic. I I really appreciate your energy and effort. I this is no easy task.
Well, thank you, Jerry. And if there's anything else that people want to see addressed, you know, let me know now. I'm more than happy to go back to the drawing board with a third video to address those. I'm sure we will also have more after the twenty third from parents. And so I will utilize their feedback. And if there are, you know, similar questions from them, we will kind of address them and post them for everybody else. So if anybody has, I know Taylor, you can probably yeah. I know there's two other board members on there. So if there's anybody that has specific things that you'd like me to address, let me know. Brie or Celeste, do you guys have specific questions?
I don't I don't have a a specific question. Just remind me again. It's January 23, and it's at 07:00 in the gym for the parents' night, or is it in the library? Yes. Yes, Celeste. We'll use the gym so that way,
if we have a lot of people, we're not moving.
Okay. So it's in the gym. Okay. Okay. No. I don't have a a specific question. I watch the videos, and thank you for the the breakdown, Val. Thank you. You're welcome.
Brie, do you have anything? No. I'm all set. Okay.
Eric? I have a whole host, so patience, please. So, no, I think the videos are great. I really appreciate them. I I listened to them, and I laid it out just as I laid it out here. So I I really appreciate those, and those are good for the community to see as as well. I wanted to touch on just the the enrollment and, what's, coming out of the pre K sector. So I touched base with Val earlier today and wanted to get understand the breakdown of, and this is in the video, 60 kids in pre k. What's the breakdown between the non Andover and Andover residents? So 53 are Andover residents as I understand. So if you split that up between two two years, three and fours.
So it doesn't actually split that way because as Taylor mentioned It's a little bit different. I know it's actually start the beginning of a year with twos, threes, fours, and fives. Yeah. Yep. Some are in there for three years now. Some of them are in there for three years. It is not evenly dispersed. So it it isn't an easy breakdown to say, oh, year one, we're gonna a third move forward. The next year, we're gonna have a third. It doesn't break down that way. So, for example, at the start of this year in October, we had nine that were two years old, 25 that were three, 23 that were four, and three that were already five. So and October 1. So, that just goes to show you that there's no way to actually kinda break them into thirds.
And when we say, nonresident Five year olds? Yes. Because because they weren't September 1. So when we took these numbers in October Oh. They were the end of September, the October 1 with the change and cutoff. Right. So what happens then is we take our handover, and we actually break that down into our nonresidents, and then we have our Andover residents and our Andover family because we've always had our staff members Mhmm. Children as part of that as well before we even took out of towners. But So the one so the the the ones that were part of the non out of town numbers already at the start of the school year were the ones that were here already with their parents working here. Okay.
So there are six staff members whose children go to school. So what is the rising what I'm trying to get at is what is the rising kindergarten number? So we know already
positively that we are over 20, but not 30. So and I say that because there are students that don't go to preschool here Mhmm. That we already know are going to be attending kindergarten here. How many are in our pre K that are rising?
20. Okay. So she knows already that she's got 20 kids. Also, keep in mind, just because there's a lot of variables, is that you some families submit a waiver. So you can be if you don't turn five by September 1, for example, your birthday could be September 3, and so you don't you're not eligible for kindergarten. However, the law allows you to submit a a waiver request to me currently. The law does. I can assess your child, the team get feedback, and the administrator can make a decision to move your child into kindergarten. So that's tricky too. We actually have a lot of we call them burr babies in this upcoming class. So the September, October, November, December babies. So it's hard to those that's what we call them. I'm sorry about that. That's me and my kids. Oh, okay. That was strange. I didn't know that was We don't conduct those waivers For May. Until April and May because, obviously, they need to do those assessments. So At the end. Yeah. I already have families submitted for those, but I can't predict how many of those children will stay in preschool for another year or go to kindergarten. We also average around four to five students who come to kindergarten who are not in my pre K that I don't even know about yet. I wish they would all register January 2, but they do not. Mhmm. So those come in between February and
August. The end of August? Yes. So it's an average. Right? We look at data, so that's good information. However, you know, our data's increasing, so that's great. So that's another variable to kindergarten registration.
So, like, that's why Val says more than 20, less than 30. But because you know that you're gonna need two classrooms. Right. Yes. We we're anticipating mid twenties. Right. Or 29. You know? And and as much as we love the idea of enrollment increases, we don't want more than 30 because then you'd be looking at, you know, challenges and giving them class with that. So so that's the best number that we can give you is it's definitely,
low to mid twenties. And then you think that the next year is gonna be approximately
Because we have so many fur babies. I know it's hard to say. It's the same thing. It does look like a bit more of a not like, bigger districts who might see a in a, like, a very large bubble. I'm not sure we're gonna see that. We're gonna go from 20 to 40 and have this weird year. But I do think, again, depending on the waiver process, we're gonna see more in that following year kindergarten. Like, closer to 30 ish. That's what it looks like. Again That's the COVID babies. Right? Yeah. It is the COVID. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Is for that visual. So grandchildren. Yeah. So I I and and you'll laugh because the pre k team and then Rosemary and I literally from now till June, every week, Rosemary, like, so how many do we have? What are we at? Who who have you heard from this family? It's a it's a very aggressive process because I try to get that kindergarten projection for Val as often and as close as I can just so that you guys are aware. But it's pretty safe, I think, to say even though it's a wide range between twenty and thirty. So that looks at the two sections. Okay. We definitely know we're over 21.
Mhmm. That was the projection that I was given a month ago. So, yeah, we are we are looking at mid twenties.
And the reason I raised these questions is I wanna make sure that if as we right size with the staff Mhmm. That it's not we're not gonna fall off a cliff with enrollment five years down the road and be in a bad position with too many of excess staff, we're gonna grow into this
as well. Right. Which is why I think, and I'm very grateful truly to the staff for their commitment to having us be more, frugal in terms of I mean, I know a year or two ago when we were talking about the decrease at RAM, they were like, we don't wanna get rid of staff because we're gonna have to bring them back in two years. And so they didn't eliminate staff there because they didn't want to have to then hire again in two years. We did not hire when we knew we should have because we were like, is this too good to be true? Is it gonna stay increasing? We really should not have have let these classes get to twenty seven and twenty eight. But what would have happened at that point if we split them and a family moved, two families moved, three families moved, and we were then overstaffed in those classrooms. So, you know, really, I I really thought it would come up when we did contract negotiations this year. They'd say, listen. Our classes are way bigger. We need more money, but it didn't. They said, this is what we have to do. But we are very confident in the numbers. We are watching the sales of homes. We are watching the little brothers and sisters of the the the students come in. Don't you have another little one coming in? Yes. And so
we are very confident that, you know, we are only gonna keep filling. And the advantage to having those four preschools where we know any excess spots are 100% going to be filled with out of towners, should that be the group that reduces? Should all of a sudden we say, oh, we have 12 extra spots next year because who's not sending their kid to preschool for whatever reason? We know those are gonna be filled. You know, we could have filled five classes this year if we had another,
class to fill. Have an out of town wait list. Right. For sure. For sure this year now that the word's out. So There's there's a lot. I mean, people talk about it on the ClassBerry Facebook page. It's like, it's Yes. We will have an out of town waitlist. Yes. Our program, our pre K program,
is is strong, you know, and it is getting notoriety, and that is why people are buying houses here too. They're saying, absolutely, we wanna be part of this. So, you know, it's it's good. Actually, our secretary, whose granddaughter goes to school here, there's two more behind that one. So they just moved into town, and, you know, we aren't just getting her. We know we're getting the next two, and they will remain as residents. So, you know, it's a it's a good thing. It's a good problem to have, and I know that number is difficult for people to to to stomach all in one year, but it's been coming. We waited and waited and waited
to to do that. It feels like a good time to share a quick story. Christina and I, she got a funny voice mail, but twice in the last few months, I've had an out of town elementary resident family call. And and not you know, people don't always understand all the rules of residency in elementary school and wanted just to know how their first grader could come to Andover Elementary School, and they don't live in Andover. And it was like, woah. You know? He said it's a different conversation, but I I do think our that's what our preschool program is doing as well. It's bringing a lot of positive attention to our school, which is great. And more houses more and more houses are turning, which is nice too. For a while, there was, like, one house where now there's, two, maybe three at a time. So We just had a had a family move from a different state here. We won't mention a state to identify the family, but they randomly picked us.
And randomly picked us. And, you know, for other reasons, you know, that they could share if they want to. But, yep, they randomly picked us, and, and they're here. And Your random choice is pretty good. Well, you know, people do. They do their homework. And, you know, we we we offer a lot. We do. We offer a lot. So so that is why we're confident in the number of students. We're confident in the preschool program, being self sufficient next year as it is this year. Remember, those extra spots being filled by out of towners brings in sort of nonspecial education students so that, we have more, of of a of a of a range, that's in a classroom where, you know, we have nondisabled and disabled peers. We also bring in fully funded. There is no sliding scale for out of towners. The flat rate. It is a flat rate. They have to pay the full boat. But our full boat is very competitive compared to other towns. So, you know, that's definitely an advantage advantage, that we know we're always gonna fill those spots. So You went over the slide. I'm sorry, Caitlin. No. You're fine.
And I just wanted to ask. So now that we're talking about enrollment. When we say 3.1 FTE, you talked about the Spanish teacher, the art teacher, and library media specialist. Point two point two point two. Got all that. Yep. So that's point six. Point five So then we intervention. Point five intervention. That's a 1.1 total. Got that. And we need two teachers where? Currently,
a a fourth and a fifth grade is what we'd be adding K. To alleviate those 28 and the 29 numbers for next year. But, again, understand that, you know, it's within the teacher's contract. Yep. There may also be an opportunity for an existing teacher within the building to move a grade level. So we are advertising for the additional fourth and fifth grade, with the budget, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the teachers that are hired will be a fourth and a fifth grade teacher. Right. There there may be movement within the building. Would not like if would teachers for those three grades. Yes. And, like, with your curriculum changes in terms of, like, having different classrooms for different It
How to magically make that all work. But it'll give you more flexibility, especially for the, like, accelerated or whatever. Yep. And not have to utilize our interventionists as much in that way as well.
Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to get clear. Yep. That's the 3.1 shift thing. Right. No. On where the two new teachers Yeah. Anticipating. The classes that are 27 or more right now. Four, five, and six were overloaded.
Okay. And I do know some members of this board have children in those classes. So, you know, they they understand that, you know, it it it is a different scenario.
It's definitely a different scenario. And just to point out, that's mandated that we look at adding teachers to those because I believe our policy is once a classroom reaches 25 or above, we're required as far as our student enrollment
to don't believe don't by law we must No. By policy, we have to look at that to do that. Yes. By our own policy that we put in couple years law, we have third grade right now in two classes, and there's 36 of them. Right. We cannot put 36 kids in a fourth grade. So that 100%, regardless of what our policy practice and procedure is, that's the law. Right. So that one is a must, regardless. And then as I said, we've got 27, 28, and 28 in the other ones. And, you know, it's it's it's up there. Again, we're happy about that.
We're definitely happy about that. But Well, we've talked for years, and so I just wanted to be very clear that when we're in the pre K, which is self sustaining, so let's just go from K to three, we're talking about increased need for teacher intervention, let's just say, or teaching such that in four to six, we can have a class of 27, but we can't continue to sustain, especially what you just said, classrooms of 27 and not add teachers to the program. Or 36. Well, no. 36. Because the 36 is gonna go up. Yeah. And, Shannon, years ago,
there was a brief time period of a few years where, school districts, boards of ed thought, oh, we'll just throw a educator in there. Right. And that was a little trend for a little while, you know, back ten years ago. Mhmm. And I think they quickly realized that it is no, no money savings to do that. Mhmm. It really isn't because the the cost associated with the teacher is starting teacher is the teacher's salary and, obviously, benefits. We talked about that. But the teachers pay their own teacher, their pension. There is no cost to the board of education for teachers', pension. There just isn't. Every bit of it comes out of their salary. We don't match it. We give them nothing. Hate to make it sound terrible. Christina's sitting over there like, great. Thank you. And she's so optimistic. I'm like We don't pay Social Security or Medicare, so that's what goes into their pension. Right. It's clear. You You know, I didn't mean to be negative. But that is a fact. And so it was thought years ago it would be cheaper to put a paraeducator in there. And keep in mind, paraeducators are wonderful. We love them. We love every single one of them in our building, but they also don't have a teaching degree. So the responsibilities and the roles within the classroom are a little bit different, and they, you know, they can't plan, implement, and, score and grade lessons. They assist with that, and they do a great job of it. But years ago, what people found was, wait a minute. You know, when you're hiring paraeducators
too, there is a salary, and it is a significantly different salary agreed upon than teachers, even starting teachers, but there is the benefits as well as the pension, the municipal pension. Yep. And so the cost to the board and they do pay a portion of their own, but the cost to the board has gone up exponentially. It's almost 17%. 17% of that now. And that's no fault of paraeducators. I'm not saying that, but it used to be that that was the cheapest route. Just throw a pair in there. And that isn't the case anymore. So the average cost and they don't see this as a salary, so let me go on record of saying this. But the average cost full fledged when you consider all that is over $50,000 Mhmm. For if they have a family plan, a medical, and their pension, and their salary. Yeah. It's not like 20 half of that is their salary. So I absolutely wanna go on record before any paraeducator says, I don't make that much money. They don't. But that is the package. When we were talking earlier about in hiring, that's a package. So districts have gotten to the point where they realize that that's not the strategy any longer. You need the right amount. Eric talked about rightsizing your staff, the right amount of paraeducators,
the right amount of teachers placed in the right positions for it all to work together in production. And can Go ahead. Thanks. For Taylor and
Valerie. Jerry, I love your opinion as a former educator. Can you for me, as somebody who has explained this to the community, what does in an in an elevator pitch, what does, like, a 27 classroom student feel like? What age? What grade? With the ones that we're talking about now.
Fourth, fifth, and sixth. Four, five, six. Yep. Probably up in that. Well, being a teacher, and I've been in the classroom for many years, it depends on how many needs you have in that room. We try to meet those needs and get a child up to stuff by the time they go to third grade. But if kids need support and you don't give them that support that they need, you put them in a class of 27, it it doesn't work. You're always swimming uphill. So you really need to keep your class sizes manageable. But manageable, I don't know if use a paraeducator or you use Different. Some support of some kind. But, you have to have a doable class where you can when we teach today isn't like I was taught in 1968 or '65 or '63. Go back to '60. I counted in my class picture 50 of us in one class. And we worked in rows, and we had the old assembly line instruction. You don't teach kids that way anymore.
At least when I left education, it had gone way far beyond that. Kids are working in groups. Kids are working on the computer. Kids are they're doing everything. And you as a teacher have to you don't have just 27 kids. You had to feel like you've got one out of 27 when you're working with a kid. I had to do a lot of one on one time to fill in the blanks. Yeah. I know 27 kids. Sometimes I wanted to cover something in reading with a kid. I had to wait over a week to get the time to be able to do it during reading time. And you need an interventionist. Your math interventionist should be a full time because if a kid goes through math with holes in them and his understanding or her knowledge, then you're trying to fill in the holes because if you keep building on that wall and you get those holes in it, that that's not gonna be a strong structure.
And then you're gonna have the kid on the other end of the spectrum Exactly. Who, like, isn't challenged, and they're in the back of the classroom doing the same stuff or not doing it because no one really cares if they do it. We don't They understand it. They only teach kids what they already know. Yeah. So you have to do more differentiation of instruction to that extent.
And I think we in the last few years, you've probably heard we have what's called a most will call it a wind block, an intervention block. So it's about a half an hour a day. Right? And we ask that teacher to go ahead and differentiate each student to get what they need. So if you have a class of 14 and you look at a schedule, how many you can do ten, fifteen minute groups. How many you can see all 14 of those kids various amounts of time. Right? So some students, they need to see you every day for fifteen minutes to work on a specific skill, the short I sound. Some kids need enrichment. Right? They need to meet as a book study and really need deeper comprehension. When you have 28 students and you have those same 10 slots, you I mean, the math is very clear. You cannot meet with every student every week, Certainly not in a way that is highly productive. Right? And so you have to make decisions. And our core curriculum, our tier one, we call it, we do the best job we can to make sure that meets most of our students' needs, right, in that whole group lesson. But that's we just know with kids to fully thrive and reach their full potential. Every student needs a little bit of something, whether they're struggling, whether they're on target, or whether they're advanced. So that's really the class size argument. It's how do I support
every student with their needs and have the time to do that? And so we've built that time. That time exists in the schedule, but, you know, one human can only do so much and and group size. So you can take seven to your back table and hope that all seven have that same need versus being able to take three and really dig into what they need. So I think that's what our four five six that is what our four five six talks most about is meeting our needs, and that's where we're really pushing our interventionists in and doing the most we can. But, you know We're both ends of the spectrum. That's the tricky part of me. Both sides. Yeah. Making decisions about that.
Like I said, you're not gonna teach a kid who already knows something. You're gonna teach them that thing over again. They know it. That's it. What else can I have more, Sarah? So going looking at the k and the the or, excuse me, the,
the rising first grade and the rising second grade. So those blocks that have 22 students or grades have 22, 21 students, is that an opportunity to combine or keep them separate? Like, what's because that's that question I get. Like, oh, there's only 11 kids 11 or so kids in class. That seems low. And, also, I I don't know about you,
Taylor, but I find that it depends on the kids you get. Yep. So that's why It depends on the composition of what you have in your room. Yep. Mhmm. And it's certainly tricky when, like, Val always says with such small classes, can I speak to what the makeup of each class? I can't because I can't identify student needs, but we do feel strongly as Val has spent so much time investigating each group and knows our kids as well as I do that. The group the current you said rising one and two. I'm always current k and one. That's that's what you're talking about. That those groups that exist, we feel very strongly need to exist as they are. In addition to, we've been gaining students
throughout the year. So it happens. Right? You can't predict that that almost every student we've gained this year has been in those three through six right now or pre K. Doesn't mean that in the next half of the school year or the next year that we won't start gaining them in those two grades as well. So you also run that risk. You combine at 22, 25, 23, and then you're quickly to 26, 27 in the in the course of a few months. So they're you know,
Sure. Those are decisions that could be made, but are they in the best interest of our students? I don't believe so. And for some of those grades, those decisions couldn't be made because of the individual needs of the students in the classrooms. And I and I think you know, I'll I'll interrupt I'll here. I think I know Shannon was on the board. Jerry was on the board. I'm not really sure. I don't know that Kate was on the board, but you were here as a parent. When I first got here, I have that history, and I think that, hopefully, I have that trust in the community. My second year here, I fought for three kindergartens. If you remember post COVID with 11 kids in a class, and people were like, well, you don't need three kindergartens. But the needs of those particular kids that had not been in school, we absolutely needed them. And, you know, I did. I fought to separate them so we had every shake in their head. They remember. I fought. I gave them all of my background, not only as an a teacher,
an administrator, a special ed director, but then I was willing with another group of kids the following year to merge a two, three class combination. And it didn't seem to make sense to some people in the community. Here, she wanted ten, eleven kids in a class, but then she's willing to make a class of two, three. It was appropriate for those kids at that time. We didn't need to have the extra small grade two and small grade three. And so for two years, Christina taught that class, one of those years. For two years, with the right teacher and the right students in that room, it was doable. So we did not ask the community for an extra class that was small for those kids. We merged them. We'd have that split two years in a row. So this year, again, I asked teachers to take twenty seven and twenty eight kids because at the beginning, it was 24 kids, and it was appropriate. We will always go with what's appropriate for those kids. And so, you know, I do think that my track record and the board's track record, because you guys supported that, was if it meant three classes of 11 because that was appropriate, that's what we did. If it meant one class of two, three combo, we did it. If it means going this year with the higher classes, we did it. I'm not opposed to it if it's appropriate to have 25 kids in the class. But over 25, that's too many.
And if we look at the makeup of our kids there, we are not serving them best to be over 25. Mhmm. And so it's time. It's time for us to do that. And I think we have that track record. And I think you were chair, Shannon, when we did the three kindergartens, and Jerry, you were chair when we did the two three split, and we needed it. And so that would be when you say I go out to the community, I talk to people, that's a valid question they're gonna ask you. Tell them to look historically, and I think that people will understand that we have always done what's best for the kids, whether it meant small classes or big classes or combinations.
You know? And that when you look on a piece of paper like this with numbers, that that isn't Yep. The story. Right? Those are just the numbers. Yep. But if you look at this and these numbers and you compare it to Hebron and you compare it to Marlboro and you compare it to classrooms at Graham, at the middle school and the high school, it is not any different for the numbers of kids. That's a great point. And then that's And I mean that at the middle school as well. And their number of interventions.
There's a lot to add. The other thing I would say is ask yourself what's it about for your own children as a parent. Yep. And they are his own children. He has children in the middle. That's the bottom line. I would tell parents on the opening day or the day they come in for curriculum night, I would say to them, I'm gonna treat your child as if he or she were my home. And that's the kind of teacher you're you're looking for to take care of your your son or daughter. Somebody who's gonna make sure your child is making progress,
continuing to grow, getting the support he or she needs, that's what you want. That's what I want. And I think if you do that as a district, well, there, all those houses all the all the houses that are turning over, but how many kids in them? Word is out there that this is a this is a district to die for, and people wanna move here. And it's because of that. It's the teachers who care, a school that cares, a principal who cares, a superintendent. People care. And it's it's got a a value to it. Not in dollars, but it's not a value to it. Does
anyone have more questions on on the budget presentation? Just to remind you all, we we do still have two more things to discuss.
I don't have it. I don't have any oh, Eric, go ahead. What's
what's your like, on your wish list that's not in here?
Sixth grade. Yeah. Sixth grade. But, again, everybody else that that knows, you know, five five budgets now, we don't expect wish list items to be budgeted for. Mhmm. I mean, we just don't. And that's always been a hard thing for certain people where they think, you know, maybe we are wishing when we do this budget, and we're not. These you know, the wish list items, they don't appear in the budget. Sure. Would it be nice to have a full time art teacher, a full time librarian, another, intervention person on sixth grade? Would it I mean, the list you wanted on that. It's it's not realistic. We live in a town of under 4,000 people, and it's your tax dollars. And so the wish list, Eric, it's just not in here. And so we don't talk about a wish list during budget season because what what we focus on is what we must have. And that, I think, is what's fairest, and we have a track record of that.
I don't think we've ever gone to a budget season and said, well, we put that in there because
why not ask for it? You know what my wish was would be? To have an interventionist who works with the gifted and talented. Mhmm. He plans for the talents have that. Yeah. We don't have that. No. We don't. And it's a big help to the classroom teacher who has to Yep. Provide for the student who's above and beyond. Yep. We kinda have that. She just didn't get paid for it. She doesn't have the title for it.
Yeah, we don't we we don't ever do wish lists during this time because we, we know that that that that's a lot.
So, Esther, Brie, do you have anything else to add or ask?
No. I'm all set. Just ask that we that we that we move on.
Yes. Okay. So we'll move on to item d, which is the board of finance policy on the capital account. This was sent in email form to everyone by Joanne. The board of finance did pass it. Celeste and Brie, I don't know if you guys have a copy of that in email form. I do not. Print hard copies for people that are here tonight.
Yeah. I don't I didn't I didn't receive that email. I also did not receive a
Okay. I didn't receive an email, but I saw it. I thought she sent it to everyone that was on the Triboard meeting. Maybe, like, I thought she replied all.
It was No. Just to try So you Social is all good.
Okay. Yep. I'm sorry about that. I should have forwarded it to you guys. I thought everyone was on the same note. For right now. Okay. So I can just read it out loud, and then Val's gonna send it to you guys as well. So this was already passed by the board of finance, and they did discuss discuss it, and they discussed how it is not super specific, but it was intentionally not super specific just so that it's established what the fund is for and what it's used for and how it how it works. So it says section one, deposits into the AES Capital Fund. The town of Andover has created an account for the Andover Elementary School that shall be named the AES Capital Fund. The town may choose to deposit money into this capital fund through its budget process. And b, the Andover Board of Education may also choose to deposit money from its budget into the AES Capital Fund. After the end of its fiscal year on June 30 of each year, the BOE may transfer unspent money from the BOE's budget for the prior fiscal year into the AES Capital Fund. And then Section two, Expenditures from the AES Capital Fund.
All money in the AES Capital Fund shall be spent on capital projects for Andover Elementary School.
I make a motion that we pass the AES Capital Fund policy as adopted by the Board of Finance. Okay. I second it. K. Does anyone have discussion?
Seeing none, I would like to call for a vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Aye. So Hallelujah. All opposed? None? K. So six zero zero. Okay. We did it. Yay. And then item e on here is for the stiff account. Last month, we talked about the existence of stiff accounts on the town side and whether or not we might want to ask for our money in the AES capital fund to be included in a CF account or to not be included in a CF account. We also discussed whether or not we would want the 2% nonlapsing or a portion of that to be included in a stiff account. And the whole goal behind that would be for them to earn slightly more money than they're earning sitting in a regular bank account. I believe the interest rate on that is slightly less now than it previously was, but it's still higher than a normal bank account. So we had discussed that we would maybe bring it up again at this meeting and possibly vote on whether or not people wanted to do that. So for the capital fund, it would be to ask the board of finance if they would put it in a SIP account for us and if we could earn the interest that if the money earned in interest could be kept in that fund. That's one. And then two would be whether or not we wanted to consider doing that with the 2% nonlapsing,
which is our board's decision because it is our account. So do people have questions? Do we want to vote on these things?
I don't think I'm ready to vote. I'd like to see how things are working first. I I thought we were gonna get bank bank statements from our accounts.
So the funds the funds that exist on the town side are not in individual bank accounts. They're in the town registrar within a fund, but they exist in several different places. So, no, I don't think you're gonna get a bank statement on it because it's not all in the same place.
Does our 2% nonlapsing account exist outside of the town funds? I thought we had it like a That does. Yes. Yeah. That does. So to me, that's easier to kind of regulate or see and make sure that if we put it into a stiff account, that that money would come back to us as opposed to getting reinvested in the town. That to me is easier, to kind of see what would happen with the stiff account than
than the capital fund. Okay. Just just my general impression. Okay. And I would say to me then, it sounds like it's more an issue of trust or, like, not being able to physically see where the money is on the town side. Right.
Or how it's invested. And, my understanding is that with the Stiff account, everything is returned to the town and,
wasn't divvied out to be returned to the fund from which it came. Currently, that is the way it is. Yeah. So we could propose if we asked our fund to be part of that to ask the board of finance if it could be returned to What
about accessibility? That's the only thing I would worry about, especially with the 2% because that is kind of our emergency fund for the school.
As far as I'm aware, it's just as easily accessible as a regular bank account. But That's my research into it too from what I found on the Connecticut state website. It functions like a money market account. It's easily accessible. It's not tied up like a CD or any other type of investment.
Slow rent. Very, very low risk. Low interest to keep it in there for a certain amount of time. No. It doesn't reach a maturity. Okay.
Alright. So we had talked about last month putting this on for this month to vote on. Jerry, you are you do not want to vote on it this month? I I don't feel ready to. Okay. What would make you feel ready?
I'd like to know how much is in each account, and how much is it earning now? How much would it earn with the SNF account? What would be the difference? Where does the interest go?
Okay. So I can try to get that information for you for next month then if that's I, yeah, I just don't feel Okay. What I'm I apologize for not having that. That wasn't brought up in discussion at all last month.
I think we know approximately how much is in the 2% account. Yeah. Yeah. So to me, that's why I'm saying, to me, that's easier to foresee to just be able to say, hey. This is our account. It already exists as our account. If we put this money and invest it in a stiff account, this is the return we're expecting based on what the town has had. Although my understanding is it's much, lesser return now than it was, unfortunately, at the time when they first started this. Yes. Which was getting, like, a 5% return, and now it's not anywhere near as much. I think it's, three right now. Yeah. Well, that's not terrible. No. It's not better than that. Yeah. It's better than less than 1%.
Yeah. So that was to me more understandable and more, concrete, and also to be able to just say to the board of finance, as you said, can we please make sure that any interest earned on this would go back into that specific account.
So just to be clear, we did it with the 2% nonlapsing. Yeah. We we automatically get that interest back. That's our account. Right. We don't have to ask the board to find it. Wouldn't We are in charge of that account. Well, I understand. But my understanding also okay. Okay. So we're not
commingling, so to speak. Right. No. We would be creating our own account.
Not for the 2%. Right. I could support the 2%. Yeah. Okay. Would someone like to call? Okay. So I
move that we create a stiff account for the nonlapsing 2% account and invest that entire amount
available. I can second that one. Okay. Are you comfortable with that, Terry?
Yeah. I guess I'm just so the town the town it's the town's accounts that have the AES Capital Right. Yeah. In there. Right. We're not talking about that right now. I know. But we know there's 200 and something thousand in there. We know that. Yes. So I guess I'm just wondering why they need permission to invest the money that's already with them.
Because they're being nice to us. Right? This is about trying to build trust. Okay.
Okay. I'm just wondering. Isn't there a motion on the floor for the 2%? Is there a motion? Okay. Can we take a vote?
Yeah. Unless there's any further discussion that people would like to have.
I don't have any I don't have anything to discuss.
Okay. Would we like to vote then on the motion at hand, which is to create a 2% non lapsing stiff account? Motion by Eric, seconded by Jerry. Yes. Call for a vote. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Is that okay. All opposed, zero. 600. K.
In regards to the AES Capital account, do we want to table that until next month? Because people are not comfortable with it. I I just wanna say
one thing, or I guess I don't I understand that part of the hesitancy is where it's going. But, honestly, like, it seems to me, like, almost like it's a little petty to say, hey. We're not going to put it in a stiff account because we think it's gonna go back to, like, the town general fund. At the end of the day, whether it goes back to us or the town general fund, it is benefiting the community as a whole and the taxpayers, and it will help us in the future have budget discussions, get money for capital improvements. So I I don't and if we do nothing, no money is made. So the hesitancy there is frustrating. Would would you like to call for a vote, Brie? I absolutely would. I make a motion that we invest in a stiff for the AES Capital Fund.
We can't we can't make a motion to make the investment.
The the the motion That we ask the board of finance to make the Yep. K. And I'll I'll I'll second that motion.
Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none, then we'll call for a vote. All in favor of asking the board of finance to include the money in the AES Capital Fund in the stiff account so that it can earn interest and to also ask them if the interest earned could be deposited back into that account. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Alright. All opposed? Nay. No. Aye. So four four two against zero abstentions. Okay. We're up to comments from the public on agenda items. Liz, it looks like you're first. Sorry.
You're okay. Yeah. I I don't really have anything at this time. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Sarah? I have nothing. Thank you. Yeah. Jen McGoldrick? All set. Thanks. Kimberly Prasan?
Nothing right now. Thank you. Okay. And Joanne? I'm all set. Thank you. Yep. Anne?
One comment. When I I think that the senior lunches are both on Friday from what I see on the calendar. January 10 and January 23. February. February 1. Oh, February. Right. Sorry. I was looking at changing That's okay. Okay. Do you have anything else? No. Okay. Christina?
I was gonna say it is March 5. The event convention, the board of ed meeting is one week later. We had to move it because of the fact that the video or something is due
two day it would have been two days after, and so we had to have time for us to be able to submit the video to stay relevant. We make smart decisions. Okay. Can't always remember. But you can still invite those kids to come. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's great. Thank you. Thank you, Herb. You definitely said it was the Kent. I just looked. February 10. February?
Yeah. That's definitely which and I will double check with her that she didn't February. It doesn't include it on the current calendar. I will double check with her that she didn't send me the wrong date by mistake, but she definitely sent the '10. No. Great. That would be right. That would be right.
Anyone have anything else for discussion? No? Okay. So our next regular board meeting is February 12. Does anyone have any items for discussion at the next meeting that they'd like to bring forward? Approval of the school calendar.
What'd you say? Approval of the school calendar. Next year. Okay. And then the other thing from tonight that I had written down was the CABE policy audit Yep. Cost and information. Yep. And you will be voting on the budget. And voting on the budget. Yeah.
I like to add midterm board review and superintendent review as well.
Okay. And then my only other question would be, do you think you'll have the other elevator estimates by then? We should. Absolutely. Joanne Hiebert had sent a form to us for, like, major capital projects and estimated cost. I would love if we could just put that like, filling out that form on the agenda so that we could have those other two. K. K. Sorry about that. So
put that for next month again? Yeah. Do you wanna put this on for next month or no? I want.
Again, if you want, it would be part of our facilities and things. Okay. Sounds good. I feel like it's big enough. It can be its own thing. So just put, like, five year capital plan. Yeah.
And I and, Caitlin, if you could just forward that policy to me in in the email because Valerie just sent a a photo of it, the AES cap the just the policy. Yeah. I can Okay. I can send it. She can forward it to you guys. Thank you. And then, Val, if you could just send that memo from Shipment and Goodwin. Thank you.
Okay. I think that concludes everything. Would anyone like to
Celeste? Celeste? I will. I'll make a motion to adjourn.
K. 9 Celeste and Jerry, it's 929. Now it's 930. K. Good night.