Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
March 13, 2025 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
All set. Oh, okay. Okay.
Good evening to everyone. We'd like to call to order tonight's meeting for the 03/12/2025 regular board of ed meeting. First thing is we will do the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we'll talk for it.
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.
K. We have a lot of small guests tonight. So we'll start off with public comment, and then just remember to keep it, you know, less than three minutes and something that is on the agenda for tonight. Amanda Beloine?
Hi. I just wanted to say, congratulations to everybody in Invention Convention, and it was a great thing to see. So thank you for the teachers and the students that participated. Yeah. And then we'll go around if you guys
don't have anything to say for public comment and you wanna wait for celebration, that's okay too. But Don needs your names for a minute.
Hi. I'm Ed Smith, and I've I've just handed off to Shannon a three point item. I'm looking to meet with principal and the superintendent about bringing a program here. I helped run the Southern New England Science Bowl for middle schools. I'm also involved with a high school event. And I'm looking to oh, I helped start up the the Ram Middle School team a couple years ago. Elizabeth Wolof is a teacher now who's taking it over. And I'm looking to do a little trial balloon here to introduce it to elementary. Since I live in town, it'll be easy for me to get here and bring buzzers in. It's a Jeffrey style competition. It's probably the nation's elite competition, science school in the nation. The winning teams are flown from 70 regionals, high schools, two nationals. Department of Energy runs it, and we run it out of Yukon for the high school. And when Yukon dropped hosting the middle school lunch, I had some other teachers picked it up. We've been running it in Smith Middle for the last three years very successfully. So I wanna run it in a middle in a elementary school and see if the students that leave here that go to RAMP middle school, how they perform at the middle school level. Kinda curious to see if there's a big change in that. So this is kind of a you know, we have the other elementaries that feed into RAMP that aren't gonna be practicing,
so we're gonna see how that impacts that. Secondly, I'm the president of the Connected Botanical Society, so I'm looking to, we're kind of become a a senescent organization. There used to be I was a teenager when I was involved. There was another teenager back decades ago. And but now we don't have that much representation youth. So and our newsletter needs to be beefed up. We're looking to incorporate a program where we touch bases with elementary and middle and high schools, and we have a wide structure for students and teachers to get engaged in some botanical area of research. The teacher would grade the work and then submit this exemplars
to our organization, and the winnings the winning representations would be getting either monetary awards. That doesn't work. I mean, my private work for elementary. Maybe with a class gets involved, and we have a big pizza party award for the for the class that does, you know, a good set of research with pictures that gets published in our newsletter. I would also like to have a teacher set up a field trip with parents and students on a Saturday, and then the potential society members would show up. We would leave the school with complete inventory of all the species of plants. A lot of citizen science ideas that many of us have been involved with before as teachers or university instructors.
We could leave that with the school, trying to get more science connected into the curriculum. There are standards within that the NGSS standards that we tie in botany with k to five. Mhmm. Hitchhiker seeds and things like that. Mhmm. A lot of schools don't have any teacher that knows what the plants are that are out there. So, you know, I could come here any time and walk a class around. Teachers show the hitchhiker seeds. Contender's nightshade. Burdock is what created Velcro. There's the bigger sticks. I don't if you ever got the two pronged things stuck in your pants when you're walking along. So there's a lot of those things here that, I have some microscopes I can bring, and students could do a really cool project for that. Maybe some drawings. That would be really cool to get into the newsletter and maybe get them connected. Further, I've also just joined up with CODE, the coalition of diversity and equity. And, Shannon, you'll you'll see point number three already passed along, and I I'll get it back and read it. I And I went to Shannon not because I've worked with Shannon before. So,
point three, there's some pictures there. I'm gonna go no further than have you present that to the board, if if you would. Not today. No problem. But I have a a ex student that when I took over a camp down in North Carolina this this summer, he came with me. He's done all my bioblitzes. He's done all my biodiversity camps. And my point about diversity, equity, I like the fact that they reach out with books and things like that. But I want to bring Warren, and I want to get Warren connected with rural suburban schools. And I think that's going to go a long ways towards helping kids be better with race differences and things like that. Mhmm. Makes sense. That's coded. I know.
Thank you very much for coming tonight. We'll we'll definitely take a look at what you wrote out. Thank I will. Yeah.
Can you just say your name for I'll start. Or you got it? Got it. Okay. Judge. Judge. Funny. There you go. Thank you for coming. Jessica's back, buddy. Robert's back. Buddy's there. Erica, Jessica. I believe that. Everybody's gone? Christina Franger? ED Dixon.
I don't think we missed anyone for public speak. No? K. We definitely So next up is communications. Does anyone have anything communications wise, if not otherwise, on the agenda?
I'll just pass it in as soon as I do. Yep. And then student celebration.
Yay. Sure. So we're excited to welcome some of our inventors tonight. So if you're not familiar with Invention Convention, if you weren't with us last year or may have forgotten, this is a process that all of our fourth graders partake in. But in addition, like you'll see Harry here, our youngest inventor in pre K, is open to students in all grades. And so kids start this work all the way back in September, October, and they start grappling with what are problems that you have in your life and how can you solve them. And essentially starting to understand how sometimes we associate inventors as this
far off thing that you can't do or that is just this old man scientist, for lack of a better word. And so we bring that process to them and think, wait a minute. You have a problem. How can you solve it? And so Katie Dixon here is our fourth grade teacher, and she mans this project with all the fourth graders and puts in lots and lots of hours both in school and out of school to help these kiddos develop their ideas, create posters, boards that you'll see, and then the students. And then missus Fraser here supports missus Dixon and then also works with some of our kiddos who are not in fourth grade to make sure that they're getting the support they need.
And then they have to present their invent inventions to a panel of judges. So thank you to Jerry on the board of ed who was a judge for us. And in addition, we have four judges. So we had Jerry. Anne came in judged. We had Tess Krausz over from the community center next door, Robert Laser, who is a mechanical engineer in town, and Eric Latuska here, one of our parents also working in the STEM field. So that was exciting. They have to present. They have to speak to their invention, be able to answer questions. And then we get to send two finalists to the state level at the UConn. So that's in the beginning of May, May 3, I wanna say wrote down. May 3. Yeah. At Gampel, at UConn, where they will go and present their projects. So our two finalists, you will know. You met one of them just now is Buddy Stack over here. And then Winston Greenhouse is our other finalist. So we were very excited. In addition, we had seven honorable mentions for various awards,
such as best presentation orally, visually strong board, creative thinking, our youngest inventor. We had lots of other awards, and so some of them are here. So I'm just gonna have Katie introduce here, missus Dixon and missus Fraser, our three inventors that are here tonight, and they can at least tell you just a blip about what they invented.
So we have Harry. His invention is this one here. Harry, you wanna come over and show them how it works? Can come over? So he made a dribbling force. What was your problem? What did you wanna do? Was a good way of fractions. Right? Mary presented in front of his pre K class, and all of your other friends in your class were in class practice with everything. That was pretty cool. Yep. And you have another one at home. Different versions of it, which is good because we talk about how prototypes when you make them, sometimes you have to redo them and refine them. Right? So
he did a fantastic job. Our youngest inventor that we've had yet was able to present to his class, and the judges were able to see his awesome dribbling course. So congratulations to Harry. Bye. Did you have fun, Harry, when you made that? Yeah. Do you think you'll do some more inventions? You already made another one? Oh my goodness. That's pretty awesome. So I creative. I don't know. So my house is a mess. Yes.
I have a feeling you guys will be seeing Harry many years to come as an inventor, so very exciting. Thank you, Harry. Good job, Harry. Good
job. How are you? So we'll go right down the line. So, Eberly Latesta, this is her yoga suite. Mhmm. I'll let her explain a little bit. Where might you use this invention? School. At school. That's
right. Absolutely. And Everly won an award for visually pleasing board. Is that correct? Mhmm. She has as you can see, her presentation is very, very strong. So thank you so much, Everly. That we have. We have bunny staff. Change out real quick here. Real quick. Some change.
My invention is the TMX, also known as the the male X-ray. My invention is for people who don't wanna take multiple trips to the mailbox because I don't know if it is to go. I'm outside that inside that inside that When the male slides in onto the pressure plate, the solar panel here, notice the energy to go through the wires into the lights where you can see from your home. Awesome. Invention, convention, they can have a working prototype or a non working prototype. So his, was it a working one or a non working? Probably not. Not working, but he's able to explain what it would do. So it's a perfect prototype. Right? And he gets to represent us in May. Now you could. Awesome. Good job,
So we are very excited and proud of all our inventors and are looking forward to continue to grow our program through the year. We What is wind give? The wind is actually up here. So winded us. Yes. He rest,
and his door and his prototype are over here. If anyone wants to I can't speak for him because I I I don't. I can't speak for him. He's actually
at hockey practice right now, which is why he's not here. They have a big tournament this weekend. But he when we go skiing, he always will try to lean forward and try to get his skis to hit the ski rest. And he said, you know, we always tell him to sit back because it's not safe to lean forward. And I said, well, I wish there was a rest that was for me. Mhmm. So he wanted to invent a ski rest for kids that's, like, the normal adult ski rest is I don't know whatever the length is, but he wanted to make one look higher up. So it's like a portable attachment that you could add on to an existing ski lift to make a shorter ski rest. There you go. Do.
You so much to our Inventors. Well, we are so happy to have you at our board of ed meeting. We completely understand if at this point you wish to go do it. But thank you again to our staff and to the board of ed for supporting all of these extracurricular.
And just a quick note, just from a parent perspective, I found it to be extremely easy and very
not painful just because they did so much of it at school. So thank you for that. I mean, I was kept asking Sofia,
when do we have to get the board? When are we making this? Like, I you know, I'm like, no. We're doing it at school. So from a parent point of view, thank you. Agree. Thanks. Thanks.
And I know we recognized last month. I'll just add she's here. We talked about how Everly won our school spelling bee. Mhmm. And she was headed to the state, and she did represent us very well at the state spelling bee last weekend, this past weekend. And while the words at the state spelling bee are those finalists are the ones you see on TV, so those are some strong spellers. So while she didn't place in our spelling bee, we are very proud of her words. So She had quite a and she did good. Congratulations. She's never late.
Even being there is quite an accomplishment, so we were not a first. Yeah. This was not from there too. Yep. I will. Oh, yeah. It was and out of those words, I I I heard. Even don't even know. So Tell us your favorite.
Sparkle berry. And I'm not I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. And then I looked it up because I was obsessed with it, and it's also can be called sparkle berry. So I sent Melissa a phone. So
yeah. But it was it was a great time to go. So good job, Beverly. Good job. Yeah. Absolutely.
Thank you again to all of our visitors tonight. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Don't fall for the government groups. Okay. You very much.
Have a good night. Thank you. That's one of our next year. Uh-huh. Oh my god. Our new kiddos will be here. But you know what? Next year. She said she was. Was it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Better than me.
What I'd like to add to this is the fact that and I'm sure Eric will agree with me. Your
kids did an unbelievable, awesome job. And they're pretty with their ages. Bye, guys. Thank you. Presentations were beyond belief. Their ability to speak about what they created and why Yeah. Just incredible. I was so overwhelmed by the job. Each of these students put it the effort and energy and the thought process. It was incredible. And if you ever get a chance to go, I really recommend if you're on the board of that information, partake of the Take fun of that. With all of the adventures that the kids come up with.
Well, and little Harry, he may not have spoken a lot tonight, but when he presented it to his classmates, it was adorable because the three and four year olds went up to his project, they went, Harry, you're such a great inventor. One child that kind of around the room does their own thing, couldn't be more attuned to his project and was so gentle with it. And and it was really great to watch them at that age just recognize that he had done this. It was great.
And when the other students came in from the school coming through the gym, they were so respectful. They were so kind, And they positive words they were speaking to their classmates. Mhmm. It was really great.
And the the compliment bag. Yeah. Those were great. No. Those were great. Because the last minute I saw
Yeah. That was that was high school did it I went to their play, you know, their production, and they had little bags with all the actors' pictures on them. And so I was like, we could do that with our mentors. And so It was Kids were able to write little notes of compliments. And especially the kiddos who weren't in fourth grade who had like, their peers came in. It was like, you know, they're even more of a celebrity because they might be the only second grader or the only third grader who participated. So it was really It was Winston brought all his home and, like, sorted them by, like, this is my classmate. This is a teacher. Right. Yeah. And what other grades the other kids were in. So Yeah. And I think you're right. We went through them, of course, as a teacher. Like, gotta make sure everyone got one. And we didn't there was no need to write any. Like, There was a kiddo was appreciated by many, so it was really cool. It was great. Thanks, Tammy. Yeah. Absolutely. Great job, guys. Good event for sure. Okay.
Next up, we have approval of minutes from our last meeting. Does anyone have fractions or anything that they noticed you need to change?
I just wanted to say how incredibly thorough they were. I I thought they're very. Well, thanks, Dawn, for a lot of late night reading.
Would anyone like to make a motion to approve the minutes?
I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the regular board of ed meeting on 02/12/2025. Looks like the. All
in favor? Aye. Aye. Seven zero zero. Would anyone like to add or delete agenda items that we have on for tonight?
If possible, I would like to add a motion to allow the principal and superintendent to schedule summer cool camp. They did reach out. I did receive an email that I'm happy to read requesting the use of the building in the summer, so we would like to schedule Okay.
Do you wanna put that under nine, like, as something for discussion and action? Yes. Okay. So we'll just move that above the elevator contract, if that's okay? Yeah. They want to start registration. So Be great. Yeah. And you said cool summer. Yep. Yeah. Thank you.
Does anyone have any other celebrations that we missed earlier? It is board appreciation month already. It's March. So you all have something small in front of you just to say thank you
for everything that you guys do during the course of the year. And I actually just want you to know, I ran into one of our former board members, Dan Warren, and he actually said to me just two days ago, he said, make sure, you know, you say hi to the board. He said and I had been speaking with the board in the town that I now live in. He said and in the middle of a conversation, they said, how do you know all of these things? And he said, because when he was on the board, one of the things you guys did was to attend conference and have received retreats. And that that really had just started under him, and he was grateful for that. So he said, you know, it's board appreciation month. Make sure I pass that along. I'm passing it along from our school here, but you are recognized not only from the schools, but from the outside, so the things that you do. So thank you.
Thank you, Dawn. Thank you. Thank you.
In terms of an oral report, I don't have a ton. We've had some email communication regarding just notification of different town meetings that are upcoming. So thank you for everyone who has attended those. We did Valerie presented a budget to the Board of Finance. That went very well. We did have a Board of Selectmen special meeting to set the date for a town meeting, which is tomorrow night, to go over solar and present that to the town at large. They did send a mailer out that hopefully everyone did receive. It's in the gym. Right? It's in the gym? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It's in the gym. It's at 7PM. Yep. And it is two separate meetings. So the solar meeting is first, and then the second meeting is about a bunch of ordinances and whatnot. Aside from that, I don't have anything else major that that isn't already on the agenda somewhere else. Know that the whole idea of the Stiff account is still in discussion, and we didn't forget about it. But we're gonna try to wait until the end of budget season to try to, like, actually make that happen.
Good.
So I have well, yep. So let's see. I'm going to practice. Okay. So grant updates. We we don't have any new ones. Sorry. And one of the things that we are grappling with not only as not only as superintendents, but districts and also districts in the Northeast Corner here, East Khan Districts. Obviously, right now is the unknown with the potential talk about things that could change at the state and national level. There really isn't any money coming out right now. I assure you that the money that, you know, had already started to come out in allotments, our school readiness funding, that's still solid. And any of the other money that started to come in for this fiscal year, you know, has come in. I want you to be assured of that, and, you know, we could still draw down from the money that's already been allotted in our egrants. So I know those are some questions that the community has had as as a whole as to what's gonna happen with that. It's the new money that is kind of paused. You know, we had talked about doing that HVAC inspection so that we could get the money from DAS. That was paused. So they're not taking applications for that right now, which is why even though we've already approved during the project, we haven't actually moved forward with it yet because we're gonna wait and see what happens with that.
So in terms of, you know, potential grants, it's gonna be even more important as we go into the budget that people are aware that the extra things that have caused us luxury things for the building or extra funding for the kids or, you know, just just simply some of the things that we don't get from the general fund, they are not going to be there. They just aren't gonna be there. I hope that we would have an after school program application come out by now or the summer program. I know pool is equally as disappointed with us for four summers now. We've had a partnership with them where we were able to share some money, that just wasn't there for this summer. So I know that they really did grapple. Taylor just received that notice to say, yes. We're gonna have a program, and here's what it's hopefully gonna look like. Because they didn't know what they would do either. They've been relying on a partnership with us for four years. So so that's why it's gonna be even more important moving forward with the budget that you guys have already adopted, that we, have people understand that, there is no other little funds for us to,
hopefully dip into. It's just not gonna happen. With that said, the other things that we've been doing with the grants right now, as I know, Mary, you, serve on our part of school readiness council, and and so we know that, that's the only area this year that we did receive a small amount of extra funding. And it came at a good time because, as you know, with four preschools now, we don't have the allotted amount of space outside for the kids, that's fenced in. And so that, grant itself allowed us to make a second section that should start the end of March, beginning of April, where they're gonna come and see their they're already hired to do that. So, they did the other section, and so we'll we'll see that in the spring for the kids. That'll be as a result of those additional dollars,
there and the expansion of the, sensory room, because we're taking over the other ones. So those are both positive things, and we're grateful for those. In terms of facility updates, most of the things that have occurred in the last month are simply our regular repair and maintenance. They did finish that door to music room that we talked about within the last two meetings. We still are waiting for the lights outside the parking lot to be done with Seaboard, but that wasn't their fault. That was timing as to when they could come with the weather in the woods. So, when they come, they will also be, transferring over the lighting, to a light with dimmer in the old boys gym locker room, which, unfortunately, we've had to utilize now for space that we need. And so that would be that sensory room for the early childhood program down here instead of the one across the street across the hall rather from the cafeteria. That one needs to be utilized next year as a room as we expand. So the it it'll move down there. So to do so, the lights that are down and need some minor adjustments, the minor adjustments down there to that room will be about 1,100 and paid with the rest of that new increase that we got this year for school readiness. There are a couple of lights at the top of the stairs, like, right outside the office. If you kinda take a left in the hallway there, the ones that are higher up, those bulbs need to be changed as well. And as Scott's mentioned,
they're very high up. We can't do them on our own, so we usually have to have a contractor come in to adjust those lights. And for a $125 apiece, they could be switched to the lights that look like this so that they're the LED bulbs, but they're underneath this. And that's, you know, much better off. So They're more energy efficient. They are. So that's being done as well. We did our regular FPT sprinkler inspection. We did our regular USA mechanical maintenance on the boilers and the hot water heaters. And our regular inspection, the pest inspection was done as well, and the clear water service for the boiler water. So all of those are regular repair and maintenance, and those are the companies that are working with us to do our long term plan on that. As you know, we have three things on our agenda right now currently. I know, Celeste, that was the last meeting that we had, and we talked about our three priorities. And so we're working on those three. Two of them are down here on your call to action there, but then on your agenda. But then the next thing would be for us to do that long term look at the boilers and see where we are with that. Okay? So that's kind of all areas for that. Did I miss anything? Any question?
So what happened with the lights? It was a timing issue with SeaWorld?
So, it was bad weather the day they were supposed to come. Oh, okay. And then getting back on their off of? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Then getting back on the schedule. Okay. It was just about a little bit. Yes. Yep. So we are on their schedule. Okay. And those are the parking lot lights. And, you know, they they that was already done with the chair and cucumber for that. So that was a project that they knew we had to do because they were out. So No. That makes sense. Well, do you have any idea? So
one part of the budget has been $40,000,000 from what I understand for special education Mhmm. From the state budget.
Any idea how that's gonna oh, okay. And I and I I I kinda I don't know. I I'm a little little questionable about the way the newspapers keep reporting that. Like, everybody's getting a little piece of that 40,000,000. That's why I asked. I know. So so the two big driving factors financially when you look at, like, state money here, it's ECS dollars, which is educational cost sharing, and then excess cost. So ECS dollars are the state's share to the municipality to help you to pay for education in general. So it's not, like, earmarked for something. It's not like they say this is, you know, a dollar for every kid you have. There's a formula, and the, formula, gives Andover, you know, a couple million dollars 2,000,000. Toward its 9,000,000, which is us and Ram. And I know that here in town, the choice is that it gets just put into the coffers because every month, they send us our money and they send Ram their money. And so it sits in there. And as long as that money is used for educational costs, it's irrelevant how they break it up. So they just put it in there, and they say, we're gonna use that money till it's gone and then use the rest of our own money. That's the way it works there.
That has nothing to do with special ed. That's just money that's given to towns to offset the cost of education. Excess, cost has to do with special ed. An excess cost is another formula, and it is where a town has to spend 4.5 times the cost of whatever it is they spend per student, whether it's 14,000 or 30,000. You have to spend 4.5 times that cost and then per student. And then anything over and above that, you can say we're gonna apply for a rebate to the state for that excess cost that you've somehow incurred. The problem with that is then there's another formula. You don't get it all. So for us, let's say we spent a $100,000 on a student, and 90,000 is our 4.5 times. We can say that other $10,000, we would like to apply for a rebate on. That formula, depending on the district, can be anywhere between 5070%. So the formula's wavered over the past few years, and some districts have kind of gotten themselves in a pickle because if they've always gotten 68%,
they budget for 68% on those students. And then when that number changes, they have to figure out what to do. And as you know, with costs for special education students, sometimes they go up, Sometimes they go down. So you can have three students this year, hypothetically speaking, were in an outplacement facility, and they were a $100,000 apiece. And then one of them dropped their costs for for speech, let's say, and then they dropped down a little bit. And now you don't meet that $10,000 threshold for the excess cost. Maybe they were $98,000. Do you know what I mean? So it's so hard, and it's so unfair. It's unfair because our budget here is a little over $4,000,000. Mhmm. So if we have a child that costs us a 110 or a $120,000, that's a huge chunk of our budget for that one child. Whereas in where the budget's 29,000,000 or 80,000,000, that's a drop for them. And so a lot of the districts in our Northeastern corner here, both numbers are important to us, of course, but that excess cost is more important to them if, in fact, they have a large number of high, high needs special education students. For us here in Andover, we meet the needs of the majority of our kids here. And, sure,
there are, you know, a lot of expenses, but do we meet the over a $100,000 mark for those individual kids? Remember, you can't add it together. Not usually. So we usually do not reap the benefits of excess cost here at all. In my five years here, we have not received any excess cost, but, for our students. We've missed the mark on on the majority of the students. So for us here in Andover and, again, my other town's different, and every other town's different. For us, I'm kinda hoping that that x I mean, that that, yeah, ECS dollars, that that itself is where we will reap the benefit. Now let me quickly explain with the, the ECS dollars. There's a formula that's put together by an agency that's not the Department of Ed, state or federal. It's, like, a nonprofit. And they punch in demographic numbers, and they punch in it's a formula, where they have determined
within the past three years that a fair number of towns are what they call overfunded, which I can't even say that without getting upset about it. Overfunded. We're not overfunded. But they do believe that the smaller districts are, receiving too much assistance and, because we don't have the numbers. We're small districts. And so if you look at a list in order of the top 25 districts in the state of Connecticut, percentage wise for what they think we are overfunded, almost all of them are Eastern districts here in the Northeast, and we are in the top 20, which means that between now and twenty thirty two, they're anticipating of that $2,000,000 that, you know, we get that we would have a loss of over 300,000 over the course of the time between now and then with year one being 32,000. Now I say year one because for the past couple of years,
they've been speaking about it, and they've done what they've called home hold harmless. They've said, okay. We still believe you're overfunded, and we still anticipate we're gonna take the money away from you, but we won't do it this year. And they've held us harmless for the last couple of years, but we hold our breath every year to see if that's the case. Now does it affect us here at the school? Yes. But does it affect our budget in the sense that if our budget passed tomorrow, would we lose the money the next day? No. Because remember, that money does go to the town. And so that's a revenue source for them. So will it affect us in the long run? Yes. It will. But we won't get a notice that says, you're not getting your money. The town would get the notice that would say, you're not getting this money.
So we're on the same team there, so, absolutely, it does affect us all. But it's not a grant that comes through directly to us. It's a revenue source for the town. So the sad thing is what'll happen in most of those East Come towns then is for them to keep the current services that they have for their schools if they are as affected by ECS dollars as we are is the town side's gonna just have to decide where are we cutting, or do we go into our rainy day funds to cover the the difference on that? Because they will see a loss. So it's gonna affect us. So that's where, Shannon, the 40,000,000 that's in the newspaper, everybody keeps thinking that somehow that 40,000,000 is going to make its way to every single town. It's not going to make its way to every single town. So And it could be in one of those not reap the benefits of that 40,000,000 the way it is right now because we have no excess cost.
So the best that we can keep hoping for is that ECS dollars would be held harmless. So that that's the best case scenario for us. Long winded, but that's ECS and excess cost. Okay. That's thank you. Do you have anything else? Nope.
Not till we know. Okay. Does anyone have other questions for Val? I don't have any.
Okay. Me? My turn? Sure. So a few updates. I just wanted to start by highlighting right now, we are doing, a March reading challenge. And so, it is the Read Across America month traditionally in school where we celebrate reading. And we kinda kicked off the first week with a spirit week, and we're really focused on reading. We partnered with a company that does educational consulting, but a lot of these large companies have budget lines in which they need to give back to schools, which we love. And so they have partnered with us to if you are a parent here, you might have heard to offer Red Sox tickets Yes. For the reading challenge. And I just wanted to highlight it because we have been so impressed that week one week challenge with just the high participation level we've had from kids and the awesome number of minutes that they are recorded reading. And even there's a couple where we've kind of reached out to parents and said, like, are you feeding them? Like, how is this, like, happening? And the parents, like, I swear to god. I'm, like, just telling them they have to put the book down. So it's just been very exciting. We've gotten a lot of momentum, and so that's that's going really well. And then we, as you know, are working with bookworms, for our reading program, and we did have to, cancel our March visit because of, that poor weather day. And so because they fly from Delaware, you kinda gotta make those judgment calls. So they are coming in April, so we still will have them. But teachers are really looking forward to because
if you've ever well, I know Mike works in the school, but when you're working on a new curriculum, you kind of you don't know what you need, and then suddenly you do in March. So that's actually turning out to be good timing as we really can now problem solve any little areas of pain that we've kind of noticed or problem solved. So that's we're looking forward to that. We have an upcoming PD day on the twenty first, and we will spend kind of a a variety of different things. We are continuing to work on using the zones of regulation, which is our, kind of main SEL, social emotional learning curriculum, language that we use with kids. And so, our school school psychologist and our school counselor will work with us on Friday to continue to kind of broaden our language around that and more strategies to teach those in our tier one classrooms. And then partnering with that, we've started a book club of challenging behavior. So most of our staff it's again, it's amazing here. I offer an optional book club, and I think 92% of the staff have joined. I mean, it's just we we have teachers and paras that are just always willing to learn. And so I had ordered a few books. I'm like, Terry, we need more because we just it got such high interest. So we are diving into that and just the premise kind of around relational problem solving, which is really what we believe in here at Andover. And I know the board supports in terms of challenging behaviors and really working with kids to develop
the skills they need, the lagging skills they need to have positive social and emotional interactions here at school. And then exciting in the math world, Christina Fraser that you all know is gonna kind of start to we've been doing a lot of dabbling in the AI world for teachers, and so bringing some more tools to teachers on that day for supporting in math. So how we can use AI to generate more targeted questions, more targeted practice, and things around areas that kids need and kind of making teachers' lives easier. We know it's out there, but it's one it's a it's new learning that sometimes teachers don't have the time and and energy to attack. So Christina's been doing kind of a lot of research around that area, and we're excited to bring more of those tools to our teachers. So that's the March 21 plan. And the last thing I was gonna share, but I can I don't know if you want me to share Just a school readiness update? You want me to share it right now? Yeah. Brie wasn't able to come this week, but just kind of something to think about for the board so you're aware. I think it's a good thing. Currently, have school readiness council, as you know that Brie is a part of, and that supports our school readiness grant and our early childhood program. As o e the OEC continues to morph and change and evolve, we're gonna be moving from a school readiness council to a local governance partnership. And, yes, I have to keep writing it down, make sure I get my acronyms correct. And, really, the the big difference is what you'll hear is that we are gonna go back to we really need to partner with our surrounding communities. So not just other districts,
which, you know, we've partnered with Hebron in the past, but it can also be child care centers, home day cares, anybody who can access those funds. And it won't just be Hebron. They really want to create a little bit of a broader region so that we can support families with events, with education, and then also be supporting staff at all of these various locations with more professional development and things like that. So it's a bigger job than our current school readiness council, which makes sense why they want it to be a larger group of people. As we know in real life, getting that larger group of people can be complicated. So we'll be the state is offering again more incentives to kind of partner with them and to work with Eastcon to start to build that transition. So just wanted to keep you guys aware of that. It's kind of exciting. Area. It's they don't like to tell us too much at once, Caitlin, so it's a it's a mystery. You're it's at your discretion, but the state has only allotted a certain amount of local governance partnerships that can exist. So Okay. You know, it's almost like, sure. We could go in and say we're just gonna stay Andover, but the odds are unlikely they'd approve that because we're so small. So we need to kind of we're gonna be strategic. We have to do a lot of investigating to see even what neighboring towns and programs have school readiness funds.
And so that's already a question programs have asked. Like, are you gonna publish a list for us so that we know our neighbor who to who to call, which day care I mean, you cold call day care. So that's all kind of in the works, but it's it's new. It's starting. And on that same realm, we'll continue to be NIAC accredited. We've moved to the accreditation plus level. We are fancy now, so I can be very proud of that work, which is the tier three because we already have our accreditation. And we don't need to renew for another five years, but what that means being in the plus level is a higher level of accountability, which is great. It just means we're open to more surprise visits, and we'll continue to adjust for our yearly reports. But our team, as you know, is always open and ready for surprise visits. So that just not we're not afraid of that, but we'll see. I guess if that if that were to happen in the next five years, you'd certainly hear about it. So that's kind of the other NIAC update, which often you have to be NIAC accredited for school readiness. So that kind of goes together. I have another question that's probably more on school readiness. Sure. Probably because I had, like, two
community members reach out and ask. When kids are registering for preschool or for kindergarten, are they getting information about school as well, like, as part of that registration packet? Yeah. Typically, school
I mean, I don't wanna misspeak. So do I know that the next school year has already been published and is in that packet? I could I'm not sure. But, yes. Typically, it's in our packet. Or even just that it exists. Yep. Because a couple people have asked questions recently that made it seem like They didn't know. Know it. Yeah. Typically, it's in that packet. It is we had a, as you can we knew we knew it was gonna happen, a wildly early registration that we are actually at 60 already for next year, and it's March, whatever it is. Yeah. So we are already gonna be very quickly moving to wait list. So if cool hasn't given me that updated info, I'll certainly get it out there and make sure it's going be seven. Yeah.
Yes. But it is usually in that new packet. So if it's not yet, I'll I'll double check. And our Kinder registration is going great as well. We're pretty much on track. We're we're over 20 already. That tends to be slower than pre K, so that's a great sign as well. We don't even always hit that by March. Yeah. So that's And cool. Like, cool information would be good in that as well. Same thing. The the packet's very similar. I think when I filled out the query, pre mixed up, what was in there? It was in there? Okay. Okay. It's a lot. So, also, sometimes parents just don't see it because there's It's a line papers. Yeah. But I I'll double check. Yeah. And then we have an orientation in May for pre K and kindergarten, and then we typically, you know, have that information out for families then too.
Yeah. And I think we only, in that 60, had maybe five or six out of towns. Just gonna ask you that again. I knew I as soon as I thought it's which I Yep. Which is awesome too. I mean, an incredible amount of in town registrations. So How many are returning? I I think it's around 40. It's not exactly. Mhmm. It's a little less than that because I think we're over 20 for screeners, but it's so it's in the thirties. Yeah. But I could get that exact number. But our town birth numbers
for the next four years, didn't go lower than 20, and they went up to about 28. So we have strong numbers of Andover residents. Yeah. Andover residents of incoming preschoolers
strong for the next four or five years. Mhmm. Great. Yeah. And then, like, the change in the cutoff Right. Also affects the Different you get some little bubbles. We have had, some kinder waiver requests, so nothing that we've been aware of. And I know there is there's always legislation in about changing that and how that works. But until that changes, it will follow the same process as we have that the board's aware of where they can submit for a waiver. They complete an assessment, and then the administrator makes a a decision Yeah. About whether or not that's approved. So nothing has changed there. We'll follow that process.
Usually, that's in April, May. And you have gotten a couple of those? Mhmm. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We we have. We do.
With that enrollment, such new and over children get added in, Do the non and open ones get bumped out? Good question. So the nonresidents
know that they aren't they aren't secured a spot until May. So I give plenty of time first. Almost I've haven't since I've been here. It's mostly out of towners that try to register in the summer. Almost always all my Andover's are registered by May. So even though out of town is in my 60, if I get 63 and they're Andover, those out of towners know they don't get a definite from us until May. Also with 60, it gives us a little wiggle room. Certainly, birth to three students or a move in that doesn't have a choice, we certainly can put that's 15 in a classroom. We we certainly can put 16 in a classroom. So we'd really have to get an influx of, like, 10, you know, in July of and over students where I would be like, oh, okay. Now we're calling out of towners.
I don't foresee that. We're pretty careful about Yeah. The other great thing about being in a small town is families know family. So I, you know, immediately could get a pretty good list of all the siblings even if they're not enrolled. Right. And I can get a pretty good we have teachers who like, hey. I know that so and so is brother's cousin. So they, you know, so we also keep an informal list even preregistering, and then Rosemary will follow-up on families we think exist that haven't called just in case. We don't pressure them if they're not interested, but that helps us keep our end of our kids first. Certainly, if you know anyone, tell them. Most of time.
Come now. That and real estate turnover is pretty low now. So Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah. So it's exciting. It's it's very exciting.
I think that's all for me. Any questions on Monday? Thanks, Anne. Yes. Absolutely. Terry, finance report. Yep.
Hopefully, y'all had a chance to check over the financial reports as part of your packet. I don't really see anything unusual, and I just wanna open up for questions if anybody has any. Yep. Good. I don't have any screen. Okay. Yay.
And then just so everyone knows, we have been in communication with the town treasurer. There was an agreement previously that they were gonna send us a statement of our accounts for, like, on a monthly basis. Mhmm. Erica's on vacation this week. She something happened, so we did not get that. But, hopefully, on a go forward, we will have it in the future. Yes.
Good. Thanks for following up on that. Thank you. And
then so we already talked about school readiness. Mhmm. PTA?
Yeah. We we have a lot coming up. It's still it's hard to believe, but this is, we're sliding into home plate here with the last couple months of school. We've got two things going on this month, next Thursday. Urban Air. If you go to Urban Air, you mentioned the TTA, and we'll get a portion of those funds back. We have trivia night next Friday. April,
like April, we're doing a candle fundraiser with Wells House Candle. They're a local local company here, two moms whose kids went through AES. And then we are planning the talent show. If you guys have not come to the talent show, I it is so cute. It is such a good time. I gonna say if you haven't been in it. I was like, yeah. Or if it's Or if you wanna admit it, we've got time out. So it's I mean, mark your calendar. You can try out. But it is really Good. Buddy does a comedy act. I I mean, he does he does a stand up, which which he brings the house down. Mhmm. And then we are gonna be planning the ribbon cutting for the new playground. We're gonna do it at the evening of the arts. Oh, okay. Everyone's here. We'll have a captive audience. So just been working with Taylor to try to figure out the logistics on that. But, yeah, it's it's busy, but all good things. We've had a lot of great support this year, so we thank everybody. But yeah. We had a record high meeting. I think we 16 people at our Celeste. Thank you so much, Taylor. We had 16
people at our meeting. Right? It was good. Never been involved in meeting. We had
a couple couple new women, you know, come online. So, yeah, we put a post on Facebook just talking about what the PTA dues do and how it helps, you know, fund grants for the teachers, which I got a lot of good feedback on that. So, yeah, it's good. It's been really good. So yeah.
And I would add, if there are board members who would like to participate in the talent show Please. We would more than help them. Or just come to the talent show. It's really March March 29. No.
No. It's May 29. So the evening of the arts is gonna be the twenty second, and then the the talent show is the twenty ninth. And it it is. We have it in the gym. It's usually at six look at when Ram's concerts and stuff were?
I think we For the talent show? Didn't we? We might have. I I because I don't think I have them in my phone. Okay. It's fine. I think we did talk about that, but we didn't
we didn't We were very limited on date and availability this year. The evening there, it's we, you know, we plan to be with Ram, but I don't I mean, I can look. I have that calendar. I can see if anything's popped up. I I can look at it for you. I think we based it based it off of what we kinda did last year on the day, and there's just that it was after Memorial Day and in the evening of the yards, and then, obviously, who can we get to to help. But we do it in the gym. Last year's theme was Era's theme, like the Taylor Swift. Yeah. Really. It it it really is a really great time, and it showcases some really great talent of our kids. So I really encourage even if your kid's not in it, come. It's fun. And to the board members, please please come. It's a really great time. So that's all I have for the PTA. Thanks.
And then town meetings, we touched on that briefly. Excuse me. The the town solar meeting is tomorrow night at seven. The other thing that I didn't say already is our next month's meeting for the board event. Right. I actually made a town meeting Mhmm. On that night. So we're gonna need to not have our board event meeting because it's really important that all of us are at that town meeting instead. That's the budget meeting for the town meeting. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And that that's the meeting where we vote to send the budget to members. Okay. So we will not have a meeting next month. So we're and and we'll be at that one. And we'll be at that one. Okay. In terms of rescheduling our regular board meeting for next month, the Wednesday before is also a town meeting. Isn't that their last budget? Yes. That's, like, their budget meeting to review everything and for people to ask questions. So I also feel like it shouldn't be at the same time as that. I agree. And then the weekend after is April vacation. Right. So
Well and remember, when you put your calendar out at the beginning of the year, if you cancel a regular meeting, any other makeup meeting is a special meeting anyways. Yeah. So should do you know what I mean? So you can't reschedule a regular meeting to a different night. It's not called a regular meeting. Right? So, you know, we had talked about it. If after April 9, you find a reason that you must have a meeting, you'd be calling a special meeting anyway. Special meeting. Right. So and then you could do that two days ahead of time Okay. If need be. So after the ninth,
before your May meeting Just keep it open. Right. If you guys need one, then you would just schedule one. And it is a long month. Like, there's on Wednesdays, there's five Wednesdays in the month of April. So our next regular meeting after that would be fourteenth. Do we need to make a motion to cancel then? Like, is it does it need to be? Or no. I'm just Yeah. I guess gonna ask you to go Melody, probably do, but we probably need to deep down to
what other action. I I know you don't need to. We don't. Okay. Of the calendar on the town side,
there can they cancel all the times for things. Okay. It's just that you need to give proper notice. Okay. Okay. You can't just, like, cancel it the day of. Right. That's the caveat. Not that you need to vote on it. Can cancel it, but you just can't because remember, if you don't have a quorum, you would have to cancel a meeting anyways. Okay. Do do you follow me? So
yeah. So we'll just cancel the meeting on April 9 and keep it open to if we have to call a special meeting. And you have to say what? Later later on that month. But don't don't cancel it in your calendar. Right? Just change it to say town budget meeting. You're so scared. We just don't You got it? Yep. Yeah. Are we done? Mhmm.
So I think that's all we have in terms of, like, the report and updates. Who's responsible for the town meeting?
And are we still doing that or not still doing that? I listened to it.
No. So I listened I'm sorry. I listened to the special meeting with Caitlin on the solar, so that's the one I was saying. I didn't I didn't actually assign them to anyone since I took over as chair. So I think we I mean, they aren't technically assigned. Okey dokey. I feel like and I and I guess I would say this is my opinion, but I feel like since since we assigned them to people, I feel like all of us have been more engaged with what's going on on the other boards. So I think we should continue to talk about Okay. Updates from the other boards that affect us on a monthly basis. But I don't know. So we need to, like, assign them first. Thank you. On that note, does anyone have anything that wasn't updated from a town meeting that affects the board of ed in some other way that we haven't already discussed? Or that's not.
Or that's, yeah, where that's not on other agenda items. I don't I don't have anything. Not that I will cover again. Okay.
So we'll move on to the elevator contract, which I think What? Did you wanna do a cool pant? Oh, yep. Thank you. You're good. Sorry. I wrote it on here. Yeah. I forgot about it. Don't worry about it.
My goodness. Not tight. I got you. I know. I know. So cool. Yeah. I mean, do you want me to not a long email. If you wanna hear it, but, yes, it will be helpful. I think those inquiring minds wanna know. The program is partnering up with the Andover Recreation Commission this year to host summer camp. We're asking the board of ed permission to use AES for summer camp. We've talked to Taylor and request use of the gym, music room, cafeteria, and the new location of the cool room as well as the playground. Our rental agreement has been $720 to cover toiletries and janitorial services. Camp will run from Monday, June 23 through Friday, August 8. Thanks. The cool board.
And the new space is still up there, or is it a different new space? Will be moving.
They'll be moving into that room right there. They'll use these two spaces. But that room will be theirs
Okay. Because we need That's why I was asking. Yes. Yeah. We need a motion to that effect?
I think you do. I would assume that we do. Yeah. Dates wise, you guys are okay with the dates that they've requested.
Yep. And we work together, obviously, in those details of what this what areas of the facility they can use and that so on. Just two quick questions. So potential solar, bathroom
Yep. So we have projects. They'll be aware of their, like I said, their limitations in terms of, you know, as we know them. Of course, we don't know yet. It's not that I know which days and where, but couple years ago, we've had we had some work. So we they they work around us pretty well. Okay. Mhmm.
If it was something where we couldn't and we had to not have a week, we would. But Mhmm. Right now, it doesn't work. So I make a motion to allow the whole program to use the facilities outlined in their email for this summer dates that they asked for. K. Thank you, sir. K. All in favor? Aye. Aye. I'm upstating. Okay. And anyone opposed? Okay. We'll let them know. Thanks. Mhmm. Okay. Now I'll move on to the elevator. Okay.
So in front of you, you have one of the pages of and that's why I didn't do it on the top. You have one of the pages of what we're building as far as that capital improvement plan book. And so just so that you can see up here. So the three projects that, obviously, we've been doing since last year are the first three we're working on, so they're the first three pages. And then as we go along here, we are creating, sections for these each of the, things that need to be done. Okay? So that's why it says, like, page two on the top, twenty twenty four elevator. So what you're looking at is a page from the the book that we're creating for that. Okay? So that makes more sense for you.
We talked last month. We had shared last month, the fact that we had had the three quotes from Cohen, from TK, and from Aligned. I explained to you the difference between the three of them, and the fact that Cohen said we can't compete with TK on the soft modification. They were more interested in looking at, either us beautifying and replacing the cab itself or replacing the whole thing. So as you can see on here, they could come in with prices that were much higher. With in terms of Aligned, our problem with Aligned was that Aligned came in for this project at $16.08 40 from last month. I I'd given this to you guys, but they, were not interested in replacing it right away. They wanted us to store that motherboard, that circuit board. And, they said in addition to that, they thought there was $5,900 worth of additional work that they thought should be done, even though it wasn't, an emergency. It was work they wanted done. And the reason why I aligned then, was definitely not in our best interest was because the third prong to their, proposal was that, their hourly rates were $3.55 an hour and 670 for overtime. So there was just no way that Align could come in with what TK could come in at. TK is our current provider for repair and maintenance. I had, provided last, meeting, some kind of specs for the past three years. We went from, in '22, an annual, maintenance cost of $2,400 to the next year, $2,500 to the next year, 2,700. So even those rates for the past three years with TK for our regular maintenance has been very reasonable.
So with that, I mentioned to you guys last time, I asked if you could, give me permission then to move forward to ask them to send us a quote. So that's what you're looking at here. So this is now the official updated as to what it would cost us. For the soft mod, the contracted amount would be that 20,689 to provide the new electronic control boards and components to extend the life of our current equipment. And remember, we talked far into the future. There are people that they do wanna sell you a new one. Ours is fine. The body of it is fine. We only go two floors, and we have repaired, all of the smaller things over the years as necessary. So it's just this circuit board for us. And they agreed that they although they can't give you a time span, when we said, so ours is probably good for a decade. Right? They were like, don't see why not, but can't put that right. So the requests were made. And what you're looking at on this next page, I just, you know, got this from them in real time and said, you know, what would it be? It's $22,690.
And as you can see, they would take the tax off. So the the this had the second page of the tax on there. The initial amount they would ask is the half, and due upon completion would be the other half. This was one of the projects that we proposed utilizing the capital money Mhmm. With the board of finance score. Although they haven't voted on this 22,000, that would be something Kate would have to send a letter over on your behalf after this meeting when you vote, the affirmative that would say, hey. Here is our we'd send them this, and we would say this is what we are requesting, that they, vote to approve money coming out of that account for. Because this was one of our three things that we wanted to take money out of that account for. Update on that if you weren't on the presentation the other day for the, board of finance where we presented the, budget. The majority of the board, you know, they all listened graciously, and the majority of the board had all of their questions answered. They were optimistic. Although, sure, it is tough to have a year where we have to add classes. They were able to see that with the information that we presented. They were able to agree. The majority of them said, yeah. You know, sure. Not pretty, but we understand moving forward. I did assure them Kate and I had spoken about that beforehand
just so, you know, we understood. We did assure them that promise kept from two years ago when we first started the conversation with them about, hey. Actually, I began that conversation with Robert. And then after two years ago working on that conversation with Robert, remember he brought the idea of us utilizing excess, surplus over above our 2% for things like this. And now the bathroom and the driveway, those three things. As you guys know, I'm just reiterating the timeline there. They we had told them, like, this is what we really know to be a fact that all of those grants that were two year grants should help us to yield a surplus. And we all know last year, it was a small one, and the driveway wasn't done with it. So that money was put in there, that,
you know, a 113, a 112, and that the town, you know, graciously put into their budget last year a 100, and so that we know that's $2.12. So the audit is complete. That shows it, us and the town combined, our side's done. So it's not official until they finish the town side and say, here you go. But in ours, the money that we did anticipate at the end of the two years is gonna be there, and there will be three fifty. And so, you know, we were able to tell them, listen. No. We're asking for $3.81. If it was so easy as to say, just let us keep the $3.50, we'd be good, but we know you can't do that. And so what we can tell you is the renovations that need to be done to the bathroom, the renovations that need to be done to the elevator, we know that we can do that with that money. And so they were like, thank you so much. We really appreciate you giving this to us now instead of waiting until after budget season to say, by the way, we have all this money. So And then they actually voted to remove the 100,000 from the town budget towards the fund for this upcoming year. Yeah. We said, you know, I asked for money that we know we we aren't gonna spend this year. Right. Because between the $3.50 that we'll have in there and the $2.12 that's in there now, we know between now and the end of, next this next fiscal year, we wouldn't spend it all. So we'll cross that bridge when we get to it for the twenty sixth, twenty seventh budget as to, what we need to complete capital then. And so they were very gracious. It was a great meeting,
you know, and, you know, moving forward, I think that helps them understand that when we ask for money now for these things, we have a plan for the fact that that that money is gonna be put in there as soon as the official issues drive on the audit, then, you know, that check would get sent over to them like it did last year. So so, anyways, so what we're asking for then, if you look through here, is we're asking for you to, approve that contract. And from there then, obviously, we would need it to go, over in a letter asking for that money to come out of our cash.
Well, the last page reflects the taxes included. Correct. It would be just because, we have to just do the, the the form. Thank you. Yeah. So we're not they're not expecting the 12. They're expecting 11. Okay. Yes. I just wanted to know if we're gonna put an amount on it. Nope. So that's why I have the front cover here. Yes. The total cost that I put on here is the cost minus the taxes. Yes, ma'am.
And then just to refresh all of our memories, just correct me if I'm wrong, the the circuit board that needs to be replaced, they're, like, not making any more. It's kind of imperative that we do that now instead of waiting until the elevator actually breaks to fix that. Certain board assembly is discontinued,
and so we want to be able to get that. And, like we had said, we've been saying this, you know, almost the whole year now. The issue isn't normally an emergency for a district because we may have stairs, but we do have someone that utilizes that multiple times a day. So for us, it's different. We can't just wait for it to break. We would have to do that repair sooner than ever.
Does anyone have any other questions about the contract before we Okay. Like to call for a motion?
Yeah. I'll make a motion to approve the to go forward with the contract and quote provided by TK Elevator to provide a new electronic control board and components to extend the life of the current equipment.
Can I add to your motion? Absolutely. We would ask the board of finance that we take that money from our existing cabinet. Yes. Yes. I'll go to center. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed?
Thank you, guys. Thank you for on that too, Val. Nice to see it written out this way as well. Like, think the board of finance will definitely
appreciate it. I will, for them Yeah. Also include those quotes from the other companies because you guys have seen them, and we've discussed them at our meetings, but they haven't seen them. Yeah. You know, ironically,
I think the day or two days after our last meeting, I was on Barn Halls in East Hampton, and I was behind a van that said cone. And I was like, oh, I know what that is.
Well, I'll I'll one up you. I was at Stop and Shop today, and I saw a TK elevator van. No. Sorry, Caitlin. Wow. All these things I never thought of your nose.
Yep. That was yep. Was a sign. I'm following seawoard electric trucks all over. They're they're Yeah. Because they just
There's the parking lot. Yep. I Yeah. Must be doing pretty well. Yeah. They're yeah.
I'm sure they could see. Little place in they're they've outgrown their place in the country. Yeah. Yep.
So moving on to the bathroom project update and or report.
So they received their first check, that 13,000. They've come out of the account over there that we sent over, you know, requesting from the board of finance, and then our first payment was made. They met with us on noon to go over the materials and to kinda talk about Shannon was on that call to kinda talk about what would be best for those particular bathrooms. And we're not changing the I mean, because it's a renovation. I mean, it's not let's just start from scratch scratch and rebuild. But what we're looking at is what suits our needs in terms of what would the fattens look like, what would the appliances look like for a bathroom in elementary school and the floors, you know, those sorts of things. So we've gone through that. They have sent over a a basic diagram of what the actual floor space would look like, and now they are gonna work on the next step, which is to offer us, like, options for what the actual materials would look like so they can put that together in picture form for us. The only, like, physical difference so once those bathrooms are done, if you're somewhere in the school and you walk into them and you're like, wow. This is different apart from the appliances that are in there, of course, would be that
currently in the new proposed plan that they're mocking up for us, I've only seen the draft, we have in the girl's bathroom there. When you first walk in the girl's bathroom, your sinks are in front of you. And then to the right of you, you have two stalls and a mop sink. And we just don't think that that belongs to the girls' bathroom and, you know, they breathe. So, alternatively, we are going to just extend the existing custodian's closet so that that works for the boxing and the faucet that's in there. Because what's in there right now is the sink that's raised. And because the sink is raised, you're not gonna be picking up your mop and your stuff and dumping everything in there. So they need that floor. So so yeah. So that's what they're mocking up for us now, and that will be ready within two weeks. And then and that's something that I've put email and shared for you guys and then also share with you whatever our next date is that we'd be meeting with them to go over that in case anybody would like to.
And then just to be clear on that process, because I have had a couple questions from members of our town. Correct me if I'm wrong. Like, while they're doing the plans after we get to the end of that materials and stuff, then we'll go out to bid. Yeah. And companies will bid on whether or not they're actually doing the work. Yep. And they'll they'll help us with that. And they help us with that process. Yes. That's part of their team. Yep. They help us do that. Yep. Yep. Great. Does anyone have any questions on the bathroom project or where we are with that? No. Sounds like it's moving along the way that I stuck with it too. And then in terms of the solar project update, we have a town meeting tomorrow night. Ryan from these guys will be there. Val has put together kind of, like, a timeline of of when we started looking at solar, when the first started discussing it, and then when we first had it at a board of ed meeting. So I think the first time it was discussed at a board of ed meeting where they gave a presentation was December 2022. So just in terms of timeline of how long this has been going on, it's been for quite a while. Mhmm. So plan would be tomorrow
that they will, you know, start the meeting, choose a moderator, and then we will be allowed to have Ryan give a presentation. Falcon talk just kind of about the project in general, and then people from the town are allowed to ask questions, and then we'll vote after that. Mhmm.
There is some material that Kate asked to be posted. And if you look under the agendas for the Board of Education online, they say Solar one, two, three, four, and five, and the materials are there. Because at that meeting on Monday night, the board selected a meeting. There are some people that, you know, haven't been part of this through the process. So I think there's a little bit of misinformation. I do know that there is, you know, one member of the community
that said that it would null and void our warranty, which is just not true. Which it doesn't. It's absolutely not. What what what null and void? What The the existing roof warranty. Which was a concern, and they've addressed it and looked at it. And so all that's posted on the AES, like, on the board event page. It's also all posted on the town page under where the solar meeting is. It's all as one giant packet. It's, like, 96 pages of stuff. But
everything is there. So And Ryan will be there, and you guys know he's absolutely you know? He's been able to answer, yeah, all the questions. So I actually felt kinda bad. I'm like, I know this is probably the most you've ever had to appear or something. So I'm really sorry. I was there paying you extra buck. He's been great. He really is.
Does anyone have any other questions? I I don't I don't have any.
Okay. Next up is comments from public on agenda items. Amanda Beloyne? I don't have any comments. Thank you. Thank you. Jenny Morell? Nothing for me. Thank you. Ann Kerme? There. Nope. Nothing from me either. Thank you. You're good.
Next up on our agenda is an executive session to talk about midterm review for board and superintendent goals for this year.
Make a motion that we go into executive session at 08:19 for the purpose of midterm review of board and superintendent goals. K. And then we would invite a second and oh, and I was gonna say, do you wanna who do we invite into the meeting? Who wants to? I'll second. Should we do that first? Yeah. Yeah. I'll second that. I just wanna see if we needed to amend the motion. Do you need to be there? Are you going to be there? About the Invite that. Yeah. Okay. We're inviting Val. Okay. You can go home. Okay. Yeah. I'll take some cold medicine.
Are you gonna? I'm sorry. Yeah. I'll go to I I I I Oh, and a third. Is that again? Okay. And then check the It's recording. It's recording. Mhmm. Yep. Okay. K. Nobody's in the waiting room. Yeah. Just look at the participant. Participants.
Okay. There you go. Yep. They have you. Go on there. Oh my gosh. They waited for you. So what what do I do? I Hit admit all. On. There you go. Okay.
Okay? So we are back out of executive session. It's 09:09 right now. And then I don't think that we have any other action items for tonight. So in terms of upcoming meetings, so the the regular board meeting that's scheduled for April 9, just a reminder, that is a town meeting. So it'll be in the gym Okay. Instead of here in this room. And in terms of items for our next meeting, probably updates on all the stuff that we have on there right now, and we'll see where the next budget gets us to. Right. Celeste?
I will make a motion to adjourn. Thanks, Hannah. No, sir. I was gonna let you do that. Alright. Good? Stop recording. Stop recording. Right here. Okay. Yes.