Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
February 11, 2026 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
February. The order? Legitly goes to the flag of The United States
and to Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Terms of an opening statement, there are a lot, a lot, a lot of people on here tonight. Please keep your public comment short and to the point and to something on the agenda. I will try to get through everyone. I can't hear you. If we miss anyone, then, maybe do, like, the virtual raise your hand thing.
Do you mind if I start? Just because I have two the teachers who couldn't be here that gave me a punished. Is that okay? Oh, one doctor. You want me to stop? Okay. I'll start with
comments from teachers who aren't able to be in present. Yes. I'm not sure if Lisa's here, so she can jump on if you prefer. I'm here.
K. Lisa, you get to go first. I'm sorry to call you out if you'd like to start.
Alright. I just wanna I didn't know if I'd be able to be here tonight, and I'm happy that I'm here. So I did write down my comments that I just like to share quickly. And as always, I wanna I wanna recognize the board of education for their time and effort they constantly put forth to better our school. I've been here at our school for almost twenty years. I've seen small class sizes. I've experienced firsthand the benefits that I can provide to each and every student in my class. Over the years, our class sizes have grown, and that has directly impacted the time I can spend with each student to meet their needs. As a teacher currently teaching a 90 block of ELA to 29 students, I struggle. I can't help but think of the future of our school. How can I divide my time to meet our student needs, when I only have about three minutes per student? How can I effectively look at student work and offer productive feedback in three minutes or less per student? This is my struggle as a teacher. How can I meet the needs of individual students under this time restraint? At this point, we have two options for next year. We can have two classes of 13 students or a class of 26.
With the larger if we continue with larger class sizes and give and give individual attention in mere minutes per student, we can't provide quality education and differentiate to meet their needs. And I could go on. I could go on about math as well. Imagine teaching a ninety minute block of math and dividing my time among 26 students. I'm pretty sure we all understand the direction we need to go, and I'm just asking the board to move forward and choose the smaller class sizes so we can give the quality education that we're all used to. So thank you again, and sorry if I took too much time, but I just wanted to, share my thoughts.
Thank you. Did you wanna read the other one? I'm not sure. Just doctor Sullivan. She also lost her voice today, so I think I'm just gonna read her because she had laryngitis. Hi. I am Maureen Sullivan. I'm a fifth grade teacher at AES. I wanted to first say how much I love teaching in Andover. I thank the board of education so much for all of their support. I also wanted to let you know just how successful having two classes of fifth graders has been this year. These students are really thriving academically, socially, and emotionally, and it's wonderful to see. I am very lucky to be a part of that. With that being said, it is very important for there to be two sections of sixth grade for these students next year so that the momentum and gains that are occurring this year can be maintained. Again, I thank the board of education very much. We're having a fantastic year at fifth grade. K. Carol I'm assuming Carol Leap. Okay. Holly?
I would just like to concur with Lisa. I think that the size of the class is especially critical for special education students to be sure that their needs can be met. And the larger the classes are, the more difficult that is. So I I I fully support moving forward on respecting the class size needs, particularly at sixth grade. K. Thank you. Amber Pritchard? Yeah.
I just appreciate all the hard work that's gone into working on this budget and everyone going through everything. So I'm definitely highly anticipating hearing how tonight goes. So thank you. Scott? Thank you. Just listening. Yeah. Jamie Weber. Hi. Oh, I gotta turn my phone up. Sorry. I
just wanna say thanks to Val and the board for their hard work during this budget season. I teach fifth and sixth grade. This year, there are twenty nine sixth graders in my class. And while they're the best sixth graders in the world, it is challenging. My job as an educator is to make sure that I'm reaching each student at their level and taking into consideration each one of their individual learning styles and personalities to ensure that they are learning and growing while also helping them to feel seen, heard, and valued. Again, I just wanna say thanks to the board for understanding our students' needs and considering those needs when putting together the budget. Hi. Jenny Morell?
Hello, everyone. I'm here to support the proposed budget that our superintendent has created. Val puts our students and teachers first. She understands that our priority is our students. She knows what's required in order to meet their needs. We are not a staff that require requests unnecessary materials and supplies. We know what it's like to cut corners. We've done it before. But how can we expect a school to function without budgetary increases when the operation costs to run a school are increasing? I hate to think of what could happen to our neediest students if there are major cuts to our school budget. Will we be able to continue the same level of instruction that we have given in the past? Will our students feel the belonging and attention that is allowed now with our smaller class sizes and academic and SEL interventions? Will our staff continue to feel the belonging and support from a town that values what we provide our elementary students? I hope so. My position as an early childhood specialist provides reading and math support academically to our very youngest students, as well as support for students who need additional attention with social and emotional learning, SEL. This schedule does not include the many unexpected times throughout the week where I provide SEL support to students who require immediate attention.
The needs are present every day, whether it's math or reading or SEL. A student struggles with attention or behavior or peer interactions or even just because the student is overwhelmed with the demands of learning, these moments still need to be addressed. We cannot ignore this fact. We all know that the demands and needs have drastically changed over the past five years. The emotions of students run high. Peer interactions are difficult. It is sometimes next to impossible to sustain the attention and engagement of our students. I'm sure every educator across our state, our region, even our country feels the demands of trying to juggle it all. Why would anyone say, let's make a decision that will make the jobs of teachers even harder? That is what would happen if our school needs to cut positions. That is what would happen if we move 26 plus students back into one classroom. That is what would happen if we are no longer able to provide the same level of intervention for our neediest students. That is what would happen if there is no one available to rearrange their schedule to meet an unexpected immediate need for a student in crisis. Spending a day in the shoes of an educator would really help one to understand the challenges that arise in classrooms every day and how important it is to make sure our school has the resources necessary to help our students thrive.
I truly believe that is what we all want for our students at Andover Elementary School. Please support our budget, and thank you to the Board of Ed for all the effort they have put into it.
Thank you. Just to note, I really appreciate we all appreciate teacher support so far, but try to keep public comment a little bit shorter, or we're gonna have our entire meeting tonight be a public comment. There are a lot of you on here. Okay? Doris Maldonado.
Hi. Good evening. I'm a parent and a parent ambassador. I just wanted to share that we have a moral obvi obligation to provide what's in the best interest of the children of our children, which is supported by strong families, strong starts, and community thriving communities. Thank you.
Thank you. 200920. And if you could state your name, so that the clerk has it. Okay. Jenna Goldrick.
I'm just here in support of the budget. Thank you. Thank you. Jamie Tilden?
Hi. I'd like to say that I'm a parent in the school as well as I have two children attending the school. I just wanna thank the board of ed for all their time and effort and everything they do for our school. And I would just like to say, please support this budget. Thank you. Scott, Prashant? Thank you. Hi. Charlene Del Mastro?
Hi. How are you? My name is Charlene Del Mastro, and this is my twenty three third year teaching at Andover Elementary School. As a teacher, I see firsthand how our budget decisions directly affect students every single day through class sizes, learning materials, support services, and opportunities that help every child succeed. Approving this budget is an investment in our students, our staff, and the future of our district. I want to give a special thank to the board of Ed for the time and care that you've put into the process. And I especially wanna thank Val for the countless hours and collaboration, dedication that it takes to build a budget that reflects our district's priorities.
Your hard work truly makes a difference in our classrooms, and it is deeply appreciated. Jamie Weber? She went. Alright. Thank you. Katie Dixon?
I just wanted to thank the board for all the time and care that they've put into the budget. We all appreciate your commitment to our students and our staff. Thank you. Joanne Hubert?
Thank you. I'm here on another issue. Well, I'm here to listen to everything, of course, but I just wanna quickly voice my hope that the board tonight, when they discuss the AES bathroom renovation project, consider going back to the original Fuss and O'Neil contract that was signed, and a big part of it was to hold an open RFP process, which I think is just really fair to the town and to the school and to everyone involved that we have these experts, Fuss and O'Neil, you know, honor that part of the contract since we're paying you know, since it's getting paid for. Again, I just think their oversight would be
helpful. It was a big part of the contract that was originally signed. Whether the way they decide to build is different, I just think that would be important since it's such a big, monetary expense that will be coming up. So thank you. Thank you. Melissa Latovka?
Hi. I wanna start by saying thank you to Val, Terry, Jody, and the board of education for the attention and thought they have put into this budget. Speaking as a teacher who has been directly impacted by the large class sizes, I appreciate that the budget is starting to reflect the needs of our smallest residents of Andover whose voices we represent. We have been stretched thin for years, and our oldest students have felt the brunt of that the most at an essential time when we want them prepared for RAM. Thank you again for considering a budget that helps our students become the best that they can be. Thank you. Donna Rose?
Good evening. I wanted to thank Val and the Board of Education for the time and effort that they have put into creating a budget that reflects the needs of Andover Elementary School and meets the needs of all of our students. Thank you. Thank you. Grace? Bulldog check. Bulldog check. Yeah. I don't know how say.
It's bulldog check. So close. So as a first year teacher, I wanna thank the board of education and miss Bruno for your hard work on the budget. It really is appreciated. I feel very grateful for the strong community, which includes, but is not limited to, the board, parents, students, and staff. I've had the most amazing experience this year and hope to have a similar experience next year with the hope of the continuation of a small class size and supportive staff. Thank you. Thank you. Kara Hornsby?
Hi. I am the school psychologist here, and I, echo a lot of what Jenny Morell said that the needs, continue to grow when we're thinking about supporting kids' social, emotional, and behavioral needs, and, am in full support of this budget, to help continue with those services. Thank you. Thank you. Elizabeth Partridge?
You know, I'd just like to say that, unlike all the rest of the people who have spoken up. I think an 11% increase in the budget is unrealistic in an environment where very few citizens are getting this kind of increase. Social security and pension increases were about 2.6%, and many of the employed citizens are getting small similar raises. How do you expect the taxpayers to foot this bill with a 2.6% increase in their income?
K. Thank you. To remember Hang on to the next page. Oh, sorry. That's the job. Everybody outside. Carrie Gilbert.
Hi. I just wanna say thank you to Val and the board for everything that they've been doing. It's no secret our enrollment has been increasing, and so, of course, the needs are going to increase. So thank you for putting together this budget, and I hope that it's supported. Thanks. Thank you. Amanda Bowen? Hi. I guess I am seeing you. Oh, she's on twice somehow. For all her hard work and dedication. Thank you.
Just stay right there. That's all you got. Yeah. Krista Catarino. Right here. Krista Catarino?
Hi. I just wanted to thank you all for the the work you guys have put in, and I just am here to listen and to support the proposed budget. K. Louise?
Hi. I'm here to listen to and in preparation for budget plan the budget planning. Good luck. Thanks.
Yeah. I'll get 200. 200. We're out here. Caitlyn Dobby.
Hi. I'm a third grade teacher here, and thank you all for your hard work. And I'm just here to support the budget. Francois Caravone?
Hi. I also agree with what everyone else has said regarding the benefits of the small class sizes. As the reading specialist, I definitely see the benefits of smaller class sizes on our students' reading success. So I fully support this budget, and I appreciate all the efforts of the board of ed with this budget. Thanks. Tegan Rushmeyer?
Hi. I just wanted to say thank you to the board of ed, Jody, Terry, and Val for your hard work on the budget, and thank you for working to provide the best for our students and our school. Thank you. Kathy Hartnett.
Hi. As both a resident and a teacher in this town, I strongly support the Board of Education budget. I see every day how critical these resources are for maintaining small class sizes, supporting our dedicated staff, and providing students with the academic and social emotional programs they need to succeed. This budget is an investment not only in our children's future, but in the strength and vitality of our entire community. Amy Godwin?
I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for working so hard on the budget as both a resident and a teacher. I I have four kids in the school, and I'm able to see the hard work that everyone puts into the school and how everyone puts the needs of students first. I strongly support this budget so that we can see our school as an asset to our town and continue to invest in our community's future. Thank you. Jody Knight?
Hi. I'm Jody Knight. I'm the speech and language pathologist for Andover. I just wanted to thank Valerie and the board for all their hard work. Thank you. Ken Person? Just listening for now. Thank you. Thank you. Christina, you're here in person and online. Do you have any comments? Murray? K. Heather Vontara? Just listening. Thank you.
Yeah. I'll go back to 200920. And and then Carol? The person might be on a desktop. Okay. Anne.
And Bethany, thank you for the great budget you've been putting together all the work families done. I strongly supported. As a retired teacher, I know the the importance of this. And it might seem like a lot, but you really can't cut back.
Did I miss anyone on Zoom? Okay. Yeah. If you'd like I don't know if we can unmute them. You're unmuted. You're you're unmuted. Go go ahead and speak.
See who you are. Oh, it's Liz. Can you hear me? It's okay. We can hear you. Oh, okay. I I just wanted to, say good luck. There's gonna be a lot to talk about and, lots to learn before our our group meeting. So thank you.
K. Thank you. Anyone else? Is there anyone in the chat there that we missed? We're good? Okay. Okay. We'll move on to communications. So I I do have three things. The date for this town meeting was moved to April 9 so that it doesn't conflict with our board of education meeting. But thank you to the board of Selectmen, board of finance for agreeing to move that. And then we did receive both all members of the board received two letters from two residents. Michael Beckwith sent a letter specifically talking about wanting the board to help help the superintendent more to when when comments are made about potentially hiring young teachers instead of old teachers and positives and negatives of that. And then Doris Maldonado Mendez sent a letter specifically in regards to comments made about special education students, and we will be addressing these letters tonight during our executive session. I don't have any other official communications. Does anyone else have other communications to share? No? Okay.
Do we have any student celebrations for tonight? I do. I put them in my report. Sorry. Okay. So that's fine. Come to that.
So we have approval of minutes. We have the special bathroom committee meeting minutes. There's a modified version of those if you guys look in front of you. At the at the bottom of the second page, there's things that Mercy a summary of things that were wanted to be added. So people start to pay attention that to that part specifically, and then we can decide if we're voting on passing these minutes as amended. So if you look at the bottom after number seven, there's a little asterisk that says amended. We need to still left out Jeff McGuire.
I get left out all the time. Don't worry about it. Yeah. So we need to add Jeff McGuire under a person who was present for the meeting, so he's not up with their And why weren't they in the packet? I'm sorry? Weren't in the packet that I received. The updated was not The updated was not in the packet because the the amendments were not sent until yesterday.
Can you ask the superintendent to include me on all the distribution on everything if they go out, or is it just here? Is this piece of paper just here, or what is it sent out? Yeah. No. This was not sent. I will submit it Yes.
So here, that's reasonable to have a map. Yeah. It'll then be part of the minutes. Please. Great. Yeah. I was I was expecting we would vote on this during a special committee meeting. And I'll That's what I under I thought it's gonna be. That's why it didn't get out. So No. No. So A
special committee for a board, the minutes that are summarized from that would be voted on by the board for which it's for. Last meeting, you said we would put a vote on the minutes. Because you said you had amendments. Wanted to add amendments, so that's why we put it on this month's agenda. K? So we'll add we'll add Jeff's name under people who were present and then the amendments that are listed on the bottom of the second page. Is there any other discussion that people would like to have before we vote to approve or not approve the minutes from that meeting? I'm not gonna. I don't know.
Yes. The board can vote. I think the board, the minute votes to a group of minutes. Okay.
Everyone okay if we move ahead? Yeah? K. All in favor of approving the minutes from the special committee meeting from January 5? Aye. Aye. Aye. Yep.
So 601, Dawn? 01. So that that end of Alicia abstained.
Because she was an important member. Yeah. Right? And then we have the So just so just so I get that, Shannon, you voted yes and you weren't here.
Who else wasn't here and vote? We're voting on the minutes whether or not they accurately reflect. So How do you know? Did you listen to the meeting? Yes. I did. I always thought everyone that was on at the meeting was
supposed to be It's a subcommittee meeting, so it's it's a it's a subcommittee that's comprised of people from multiple boards. Right. And the next time that subcommittee meets, that's when So I would like to not they don't take a half of minutes until then, and that's what subcommittee does. It doesn't take any That's alright. I'm just saying that's what I thought. This board passes it, but people that didn't attend it shouldn't vote to it. Alicia is correct in what she did. I'm not? That's right. You're not. Why is that, Jeff? Because you didn't attend it. Okay. Yeah. I I need to table this discussion because we have a lot on our agenda tonight, and we need to keep going. Yeah. K? What does that mean? It doesn't matter. They're just meeting now. K? Regular meeting from January 14. Does anyone have corrections
on these minutes that they'd like to add? Bottom of page two, superintendent's report. It often happens when you spell out statutes, Don, but it needs to say this line down at the end statutes instead of statutes.
You always pick up on me. I actually I read I thought I read thoroughly. I thought I did too. It always was. I tried really hard.
I just know that one is a common thing. Yeah. I make a motion to approve the Board of Education minutes, from the meeting on Wednesday, 01/14/2026 with that one amendment. Okay.
All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Aye. And then we have minutes from the special budget meeting from January 26.
Make a motion to approve the minutes from the special budget meeting from January 26.
K. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Aye. Okay. In terms of adding or deleting agenda items, I do need to add one item. It would be prior to eight a. Just a very quick discussion about cools use of the building during the summer for for camp. Right? That would go prior to eight a. Does anyone have anything else that they would like to add or delete? K. All in favor of adding an item prior to eight a to discuss the cool summer camp use of the building? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? K. So we'll add that prior to item eight a. In terms of an oral report, I don't really have anything tonight that's not covered either under the bathroom project, which has been the majority of what I've been dealing with or the budget. So I don't have much else to say. The superintendent's report? Somewhat similar.
Let's see. So the budget will be obviously down there, so that's not bravo facilities. The things that were done this month, January 15, we had the fire suppression system annual check by Angkor as well as the sprinkler inspection. This is the visual one of the panels. These are just compliance required by law, and it's safe cleared in Room 220. There is one issue with the door cafeteria door lock. It it we have the keypads here, and the keypad there is not working. There is a part inside there that's been fixed. It could potentially be obsolete. It's pretty old. So, what we would do is we're we're talking to the company now, getting a quote on that. What we would do is if that door so it's a heavily used door. If that door is not able to be, entered using the keypad, we would have to, replace that particular keypad. If we replace the keypad, what happens then is it would be a regular part of our current system of the rest of the doors.
So in other words, somebody's code wouldn't work on that new one. It would have to be recoded. So if that's the case, what we would do is we would move the new one to the gym door and swap the gym door keypad with this one so that the whole rest of the building is on the same system, and a new one then makes more sense down there because, we have outside people that use, that one. And so, you know, that's what we would do. And then only the people that are necessary within the building custodians administration would be key to that path and just for the kids. You know? Or the gym teacher, of course, too. Everybody else would know that they would, you know, have to enter through the other ones. So we're looking at that. And we had our our our regular, pest control, for January 1. Excuse me. Sorry. I lose my voice. Terms of grants, there's no new ones. We are I believe Jody's still waiting for our seed money from the town. Right. We have not received the two tranches of seed money. Not sure what happened, with that, but Jody is following up on that. There are no other new grants right now, for us, so, that's that. And then the only other thing that doesn't pertain to grants or facilities
or budget there has to do with I did attend the Board of Select by Monday night. I apologize to anybody who's on this call. I did not know that my computer was making a noise and and being difficult. People could hear it on the other side. That wasn't towards me. So I apologize for that because I I hear it was, that it was coming from my computer. But, my purpose was pretty simple. My purpose was to speak to the board of selectmen, about taking, and changing a protocol that we have in place now. The protocol for general fund checks right now is that the town administrator and myself sign,
both sets of checks. So they sign ours, and, we sign theirs. And, I did ask for that protocol to cease to exist because it's not being followed with Fidelity, and, it was not something that was answered on Monday night. So I did just go back and pull up the policy that we have on the school side, and the policy on the school side is 3326. And the policy on the school side does say that the superintendent approves the invoices and the payment and that checks will be signed by the chairperson and the superintendent. So moving forward, that's the change of protocol. Next month, I will bring thirty three twenty six on the agenda. I know that we've been doing the 2 thousands and then the 9 thousands. Those are and we're not planning on getting to the 3 thousands next month, but I will bring this one. These policies were from 2009, and I will bring this one policy out of order to the board, next month, just simply because since it's from 2009, it doesn't include that second alternate signer as the, vice chair. And so, it would be nice for us to have two just in case something's wrong with, one of us if we're sick. So I'll bring that policy next month so that I'll present it to you guys to see if we can just add that as the
amended portion there. The
part the the way that it's being done currently, that was something that was recommended by the auditor?
So, I I thought so, but I I think that the timing of it was more that the town administrator position was created in the charter in 1718, and I think that the protocol was put into effect. There's nothing that I can find anywhere in our notes, anything that was left from the former superintendent, or policy or procedure on the town website as to why it was enacted. And, yes, I had in the past spoken with the auditor about the idea of the two just two signers in general. And, they always recommend two signers, of course. And the best that I could come up with was that it was designed that way as a good system of checks and balances because it was two nonelected people. And so it was the assumption then that you would be rolling over those positions, and they're not political because they're not elected people. Mhmm. So that was the protocol. So, but, yes, moving forward then, you know, Kate, Jody will, make sure that if When what was the number of that policy? I'm sorry. Thirty three twenty six.
And, typically, other districts do it that way as well if the super and the chair? Yes. Yes.
There are plenty of districts that only have the town sign the checks. I can list them for you, and it is an auditor request. And you have to realize that the school didn't have its own checking account until we allowed that to happen when we split the systems. So, previously, all of your checks went through the general fund and were processed by the you processed the checks, and the checks went through the town system. So if the auditor is recommending and this was my my okay. My first of all, my disappointment was that it was a request during public speak to add something to our agenda and not discussing it with us. And then my other part about this was Valerie wrote me an email, and she said we were dismissal of it. Yes. The job of the superintendent and for the finance department is to process checks. It's a it's a counterbalance. And and I didn't understand Fidelity because it doesn't work within this concept, but I am just telling you, it's a checks and balance. Why should we change it?
Well, we we didn't have a town treasurer. Right? You have one now? Have one now. We have a town administrator. Working on that. So so I think part of why it maybe fell apart and checks and balances weren't done correctly is because of not having positions filled on the town side. No. Right. Was added Jim was added from his very first day
of work. He was added to our account. There was no lag in
Eric to Jim. And I asked you the same question I asked you on our meeting. Why are you bringing this up? Because I signed two or three checks.
Because there's a process that's supposed to be in place, and it's supposed to happen all the time. Yeah. And, yes, the auditor that does the school's books as well as the town's books is under the assumption that we are following that protocol. And if we're not following that protocol, then at the end of the year, we can't attest to the fact that we have a system of checks and balances. And the other part of that I did mention the other day and in the email to you was that there had been fraudulent checks on the town's side. I wasn't even notified that, hey, Val. Checks that have your name on them as signatory were a part of this. So I I'm not again, I don't want us to be combative. And changing this is going to do what? It it the change is because why would I sign checks on the town side and say that there's a system of checks and balances that I, in fact, see every one of the numbers Mhmm. When I don't?
I'm sorry. Your name is on fraudulent checks, and nobody told you? They did not.
I saw it on their minutes. They're made. Checks were presented to the bank, and they were not cashed.
Anyone can sit there and lift one of your signatures off the check Absolutely. And and create a check. It happens all the time. I would hope I know that. So Yeah. Wouldn't be a surprise if you find out. How'd you find out? I'm sorry. So so I think I think right now, we need to kind of table the discussion on this. Okay. Good. I I personally am not super comfortable being a cosigner of all of the checks for the school all the time. There have been occasions when the board chair needs to do it for whatever reason, but I think I would personally rather us be able to focus on putting the system of checks and balances back in place and having the appropriate people signing the checks to begin with and having a ledger of what the checks are, if a check was voided or not, and not having checks missing or gaps in the numbers of the checks that are being signed. So if we can maybe table it for further discussion next month or at a board of selectmen meeting, I I think it needs further discussion outside of Outside of a board meeting. Yes. Yeah. K. Does anyone else have further questions regarding that topic? Okay. Val, do you have anything else on the report? The rest will fall under budget. Can I ask one question? Sure. The cafeteria door the door lock issue, are you guys working on getting estimates for what the cost would be associated
that? The the company that oversees our locking system, they're the ones, obviously, we came to have it fixed. Yeah. So they would since they oversee that locking system, they would be the ones that we would get any new parts from. Okay. So we'll hear more about that Yes. In a month. Okay. Taylor? Yeah.
Let's see as usual if I can share screen. So let's celebrate. We won our Invention Convention here at the school. Very exciting. Thank you for, Christina Fraser who organized, and then Katie Dixon and Grace Will Darcheck, our fourth grade teachers who, do the bulk of the work with our fourth graders. And then we also open that up. So there are k through six who also participate either in school with missus Fraser or at home on their own. And so thank you, Cherry and Yin as well, for attending. And so it's a little bit different this year. In the past, I brought you our finalists at this point and said congratulations. But as we expand, we are collaborating with the region to have a the fancy word, like a semifinal round. So we actually approved of twelve twelve students, the top 12 from us. They're gonna go to RAM in just a few weeks, the high school, and with Heber and Marlborough. They'll all send 12, and there'll be another round of judging with some some more outside judges. And then we will, at the very least, allot three Andover students to the state finals, but we could have a couple more based on the judging. So we'll wait and see on that. But it was a fantastic event in our biggest. We had 59 inventors, so that was really, really exciting.
And then our other one is our spelling Everyone looks forward to our year of spelling bee. I, like, can't breathe on this day, but we did fantastic. Jen McGoldrick helped in Krista, Kathy Hartnett, and then Val emcees on the actual school bee because, again, I wouldn't be able to breathe. And Everly Lateska won her second year as our finalist, and she will go to the state spelling bee March the first week of March. And so she's excited about that. I think last year, she made it two rounds, I believe, so that's very exciting. So she did a great job there. Where did they do that?
It's in Hartford. Yeah. State's the only thing. Changes every time. And then just a PD update for you. We actually have PD in two days, a half day on the thirteenth, and so that will be led by our school psychologist, missus Ormsby. We I know I've presented we're doing those monthly check ins for our SEL work this year so that we didn't get to the end of the year and be like, why does only 70 per kids feel you know, I'm making up that number, but we really are checking in monthly. And so now that we're at that midyear mark, we're gonna be talking about action strategies based on all of those results. How do we make changes now as opposed to always feeling like you have to wait till next year? You know? How do we address what the kids are reporting? So that's been going really well.
Even on our last survey result, we had kids writing about the surveys, how they like that and being able to get to share. So that was cool to see. So we also had I mentioned in January, I was leading our first regional math PLC. I I shouldn't say first. I think many, many, many years ago that was happening, but we brought it back. And so we had over 20 educators coming here and from Andover, Hebron, Marlborough, and we had one RAM representative as well. That was awesome. We did a lot of work on fractions and teaching strategies and really just thinking about how do we strengthen our curriculums as separate entities, but also more minds working together. So we will remeet next month on that. Any questions? Awesome. So this month, we're gonna focus on math because we didn't do that last month. So I want to kinda give you an overview of what math looks like this year as we know what we're focusing on. So we use illustrative mathematics. That's our base curriculum. And so you know or the word curriculum means a series of lessons and units. So that is our pacing guide. That says we're gonna teach multiplication in January. And then what we use is building thinking classrooms as our set of high quality instructional strategies. So, those work together, and, of course, there's always, the fluency piece. So we're also looking at fluency within, the number system through grade five. Grade six actually changes standards.
They're grouped in the middle school world. And so you kind of get to the end of fifth grade, and you've mastered, in theory, elementary math, and then you start in sixth grade like, woah. There's negative numbers? Like, nobody told me that. So that I'm we use from k through six. And so those lessons are pretty descript. So there's always a warm up. It feels like traditionally people think of a warm up as, like, let's practice a problem from yesterday, but it's not the case. Our warm ups are targeted number sense builder. So it might say, we're gonna count by fourths, and every time we hit a multiple of an eighth, sit down. If you'd like to practice that right now, we're welcome to. But, I mean, it's it's a totally different way of thinking, right, than kind of do this long division problem we did yesterday. So here are just some examples from different grade levels.
A lot of what do you notice, what do you wonder, and it's all oral. So that's together. It's short, five to six minutes, really getting that number sense, and teachers can certainly target that. My class is feeling a little bit weaker on their multiplication, so I'm gonna do some number strings on that. Follows with activities each day, typically about two. And, you know, when we talk about the science of reading, we've been focusing a lot on explicit instruction. Right? Kids are not gonna learn to read just by looking around or just by putting more books in front of them as some once thought years ago. They need to be taught that s says and there's an explicit instruction component.
Math is really that bridge of both because, yes, there's explicit instruction and algorithms as you're aware, but there's also a constructivist model, right, where students are giving word problems and saying, based on what you know, what's your next step? Where can you start? We call those entry points. So getting students to kind of find the entry point they already have, and then we build knowledge onto that. Most of those activities are collaborative. We know we've talked a lot about that accountable path. And then they end with that synthesis, so the teacher has support in knowing what strategy am I bringing forth from all the work you did today in the sixty minutes. Sure. We did work, but we know executive functioning skills in kids is not quite as developed as it is in adults. And so we have to do that work for them. We have to synthesize and say, notice how you did that strategy today. It was way more efficient than the one we did yesterday, and so we bring that together.
And then lastly, couple times a week, there's that cool down where students are practicing independent. So that's on their own. They've done a lot of collaborative work. Can I now complete the skill? That's like the super fast math in a in a slideshow, but kind of the basics. And so you walk in our math rooms, and this is a lot of what you see illustrative. We chose this curriculum mainly because of its collaborative and constructive nature. You know? If you worked that on the board for years, we did pilot other programs. Right? When I got here, they were in a pilot, and we really, really wanted to make sure that language wasn't holding back math building skills. And so there are some very heavy language math programs, and we really wanted one that was heavy math. Makes sense. Alright. So I mentioned building thinking classrooms, and that's the set of instructional strategies. And so people wonder, like, what do you mean curriculum versus strategies? That's teaching practices. So it doesn't matter. This book could go on. We could buy any program in the world. Here's the strategies that we know the research proves help kids learn math. And so missus Fraser would like nothing more than to kind of introduce you to a couple of those strategies.
We're gonna have a little work to We're gonna work today. So Prepare yourself. Working. We're working building classrooms,
what we do is we do randomized groups. Students don't know who their partner is going to be, and we talk about how the real world, that is a lot of times how things work. Sign up for a pop quiz.
No. I'm not there. It makes you too popular. So
randomized groups is part of it. Another part of it is that they'll be provided with one marker per group. The marker is the one who's doing the writing, but the thinking is coming from the other person. Okay. So if you're doing the thinking, you cannot have the marker. So think wisely on who you put the marker. Can you think for me, please? I'll
share all of it for you. Did any of this involve No. You go to the next line, Phil. Why don't people like to do math? It's not that question. Is it all math? Is any of the spelling involved? No. Alright. So spelling does not count during our math time, so you're good with that. Okay.
Our building thinking classrooms are start with vertical surfaces. You'll see in front of you, you have tabletops ones. We have throughout the classrooms vertical surfaces that our students can go to. It might be throughout the room, and you would be assigned a group to go up and go to Board Number 3. Those are used to get the students up and about. It's a great way to get them, working collaboratively, but also being able to not be sitting in front of each other like that. We want them to be able to record the task. As I tell you, they're gonna record a little bit of information at the top. You'll also be just having the one eraser one marker, and you'll have to erase with care. Because when I write something, it might be very important to me, so you are not allowed to write erase what I write, and you need to have permission to erase anything on your board. Also, we look at what we have on our board as learning. If you have it wrong, it's okay. You can put a line through it and show that you learned from that mistake when you went on and discovered a new way to do it. Okay? So our problem today is Milo's ice cream shop has 10 flavors of ice cream. How many different two scoop ice cream cones can you make?
Are there any questions about our challenge today? Alright. Get more to work.
You're listening at fault. We hope you're trying this out.
So then you can What great level is it? You You can hear this guy or raise up your. Like, The same labor, so you know you serve. Mhmm. That's right. I have
Yeah. But it's been. Yeah. It's so funny, the different methods that Right. I'm nice. Thanks a lot. Just. Left more. Yeah.
Right? Yeah. You're saying. Not even I'm not. Was really happy to be sleeping. That's literally another 10. Yeah.
It's damn. Yeah. You know what they say? Yes. Like you and I forget. I mean, because I you know? Now I would I do not understand. Yeah. It goes So if you're at something Two or three.
Three. Have another question. By whose mind was to shop? No. You went to shop to No. Yeah. He did. We already did that. You went next year. Yeah. When you had
For now. Okay. When you have that. The date. The date. Date. The date. Thing. Really? The It's stuffed pie. But that would be a different two scoop ice cream cone. Yeah. Yeah. But they I have a question. Yes. That wouldn't be a different different two scoop ice cream cone. That would be a one two scoop ice cream cone. Different combination. We have two of them, but you could have twice. Oh, oh, yes. A a. You go. That's it. So what if I cross those off? This one would've got the numbers. I still argue that there's a syntax that I'm saying. Oh. That's what makes me It's always one in every group. It's never the math. It's always the language. First matter. It is. So now Oh,
this is finished, but what I'd like to do is challenge you. What if you were to have three scoops, please?
The rest of you keep working. That's what happens when you get two smart kids together. So
now we've been wanting to Alright. Clarifying question. Yes. Rescoop, and they all have to be a different flavor? Or No. And they can they all have to be a different flavor. Today, will be a good thing.
Because I don't know what flavor you It feels like a proximity question.
So kids often ask questions because we're close by. And so we have to use proximity as you've seen kids, you know, doing I know. So that kids don't feel compelled to just, is this right, or should I do this? Because that's often needed.
What grade are you failing in math? K through four. So what is that? That's why I know. I'm struggling in math. So as a teacher, I would have them go over and take a look at somebody else before so that they could get some ideas, then be able to come back and then get on there. Someone Like, well, that knowledge passing.
I'm not so sorry. Okay. I'm not No. No. Yes.
And that happens with kids. It's very like when you first use it, they're like this. Do it. That they're like, don't look my answer. Well,
not done yet. Okay. I didn't like how you do this. So But now I'm Yeah. Mint and mint is fine. Alright. You're getting No. I got two. I can't You guys are those. That's hard. Yeah. You can have yeah. You could have a two. Yeah. Have rates. And then but you couldn't have another or two scoops of chalk. No. I know that was Just the top one's below it. Yeah. He's got a doctor. I'm here. I just hate him.
I just hate him. I also want you to dismiss the screen with the bigger cords. In the corner of your board, you'll see what's called accountable talk. That's one of the initiatives that we've worked on this year, and it's a little card that shows students the language that they can use when talking with their partner.
No. But now we have the usual language. I think so. I think so. You can talk about who you disagree and apply. Because now you need clarification on remembering. That is multiplication.
This is not I was supposed to be talking about Figuring that. Alright. I'm Alright. This one Plus nine. Yeah.
You can feel it's hard for some of you to even stop. Like, you're in it, and that's what we do with kids. Yeah. Like, they're once they're in it, they're standing. They're talking. So they don't wanna stop. Yeah. We have any manipulative. Yeah. So your answer is Sharon and
and Kate, would you like to would you like to enlighten the group about your answer? So the first initial problem.
Oh. If there were 40 if there were that I do, which is that the scoop cannot be the same flavor Yeah. Because it says different, then your answer is 45. K?
If you have clarification from a teacher who said, what if you have chocolate? Then it becomes 55 because it's 10 factorial versus nine factorial. Okay.
K? And so you can imagine what that would look like gathering around that board, sharing out, talking more. You and I know. You're gonna take. Did you multiply? Want the. Some reteaching. Did you multiply?
So this 150. Thank you, missus Ranger. She did. Oh, okay. I don't want our the budget because people are looking kinda tired. And believe it or not, they only last a year. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. So just I know it's like, yes. We could just tell you about it, but there is something about kind of
and there is that doing the free paper. Right? Right?
And so there's just a level of engagement, and there's a lot more. Right? We we just acted out about four pages of the book. Right? But there's a lot of different layers of that work, and so it's been really cool in our first year of implementation to see the engagement first and foremost rise. And that's what's important in math because as many of you know, there's for many kids, there's a mental block of just I don't like math or math is hard. So we need that engagement first even sometimes before we can break that down. So so when is the answer so that I know how long I've had to
You know what? Often, Mrs. Fraser, the teacher will not tell you. So that's gonna be up to her to just do what Do you have some I love the fact that we've got chat going. Oh, are they all Alright.
So I did wanna just quickly, though, and I They're not gonna answer. Yeah. Again, give you we like to keep you torture. Give you just a peek into some data. So, normally, the board really only gets to see and talk about our SBAC data. And listen. The SBAC test is important, but it's a summative assessment, right, that the state collects to measure growth and to measure proficiency in really a comparative way, right, to make sure the state as a whole. And we know while sometimes our percentages aren't exactly where we want, we are very comparative at the state level. But so while that's a great data point to measure a certain condition, we're more interested, as you can imagine, at the school in the nitty gritty every day, what can kids and where do they need help? And so I just wanted to share two data points for us for midyear we talked about. The first is MCLASS, and this is an assessment that's done k through five on the computer. So short, it's twenty to thirty minutes,
and it's measuring all foundational math skills. So aligned to the common core of that grade. So you can see at the beginning of the year, that's what boy means. Beginning of year in September when we gave it, green and blue are proficient. Blue is above grade level. Green is at. Yellow is approaching. Red is below. So you can see our percentage there, and then we gave it again in December. The M class is a tool we use three times a year, but in between, the nice thing is we can do progress monitoring. So if a teacher is teaching about fractions, every two weeks, if she wants to give a short three to five question progress monitoring to make sure that they're making growth on that target area. So we were at 62%, and we're at 73%
now, which is awesome. Of course, we know that our SBAC score was around 53, 54% last year, and so this is great. It's really high at that 73%, but we ask ourselves, why doesn't that match? You know, what what is going differently? Because we feel strongly that this assessment is measuring really good skills. And there's a couple things. One is stamina. We have to remember we're talking about SBAC is seven to eight year olds to 12 year olds. And so this is, like I said, a twenty to thirty minute versus the SBAC, which takes approximately ninety to ninety to two and a half depending on the style of the learning hours. So we also give I Ready, which is a more aligned, more better predictor of SBAC because it is, again, a more benchmark, longer test. It takes kids shorter than SBAC, but typically an hour between one and two hours. We give that three times a year. So we've jumped up 27% to 58%. Our I Ready growth, our I Ready proficiency, the last every year I've been here is either the same or, I should say, our SBAC proficiency is either the same or a little stronger than iReady, if that makes sense. We only had five students in the school perform lower on SBAC than they did on iReady. It's So a very good reliable tool for us at the March score. This is December. But at December, 58% is already higher than where we were in May at SBAC. Does that make sense? We were at 53%. So this is really exciting because
still have mark. We, you know, we still have a lot of months of instruction, of course. And then lastly, just the growth. So iReady says, okay. A kiddo scores right here in fourth grade in September. Based on all the fourth graders, it's a nationally normed test in the country who score right here in September. If they make typical growth, they'll probably go to here, and they set that target for us. They also say, but if they're gonna accelerate, close a gap, or go above, they need to go to here based on where they start. We had 26 a quarter of our students hit their typical growth, the end of the that they iReady said they should make all year in December, from September to December. So that was phenomenal, really. Like, it it was just kids were so excited. I ready our scores. They can see and kind of start to understand various grade levels, of course, how that that goes. And we actually have 3%, so about four or five kids who hit their stretch growth for the end of the year in December, which was amazing. So I know we just talked about math, but I just wanna make sure you saw it in reading just because it's that midyear. It's, even wildly more impressive in reading. And we knew that that was coming because we are in year two of bookworms. Year one of implementation, which is where we are in math with iReady, and it's tricky. Year one is a lot of change. We are now into year two of bookworms,
which we knew we would start to see that growth pay off, and you can see it here. So we were at 34% on that I Ready proficiency, and we are now already at 65%. Our SBAC score, if you recall, was 63% in May. So, I mean, we are shooting. And look at this. Over half of our students hit their typical growth rate in December. Almost a third hit their stretch in December. We didn't test in December last year. I am a huge proponent. I promise I will not over test for kids if I don't have to. We the staff felt strongly we should try a dip in December, and let's just see if it gives us information that's actionable
rather than waiting till March. And so the jury's still out. We really need to ride that gear up to see if it was worth that hour or two of testing. We don't like to overtest, but that's very exciting. The top one, not to skip it, sorry, is our DIBL. So that's our k three. That's when kids can do decoding. That's all phonics and decoding. Those kiddos don't take I Ready, of course, yet. And so you can see smaller growth there, but growth. Typically, in that k one, the most growth you see is from January to June. That's done not until the end of the year. So that is not concerning to us. It's smaller growth, but that's very standard with what we've seen until that June. So I just wanted to give you the picture of the growth. We're really excited about, a lot of that progress and a lot more work to do. We don't wanna sit at in the fifties and sixties with proficiency by any means, but we're starting to see that growth momentum, which means over time, we'll start to see proficiency momentum. Thank you for a lot of time there, but I I thought it was important. Any questions for me? Those are awesome percentages.
Yeah. Really exciting stuff. Teachers are working like crazy. And so we that's really our goal is 70% in both on proficiency in I Ready and SVAD. And we're you know, that's a 20 that's almost a 20% growth in math. So Right. You know, is it Yeah. Are we gonna hit it? I can't promise you we're gonna hit it, but we're we're soaring for it, and I think that's what's important because that's moving us forward. So Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. Awesome.
Always makes us feel humble to do elementary school. Yeah. Thank you for indulging that, but I think it's it's a good you know, it was hard.
K. Do you have anything else, Taylor? Didn't. I'm good. We'll move on to the financial
report. Yeah. Great. So you have your standard information in the packet, your summary customer expenditure report. You could see we are, five 55% expended, so that is, on target. Just so you know, I'm working on projections now, when Terry's going to double check those for me and give me a little a second eye on those. So we're working on that to know to have a better sense of where it'll be at the end of the year this year. Sorry that you have two different pre k reports by accident. Did did you notice that? Or at least, like so just look at the most recent one, and that has the updated numbers on our pre k
tuition intake and our our our grants. And then you also have the monthly summary so that everything's end of January that has our extended year to date encumbered, the balance, and our general fund bank balance, which I already just looked at our bank account today, and we got our next payment. So that was already more with February. And I think I mentioned last time, just one thing to keep in mind, we only get those town payments through April. So in April, it might look like, oh, we've got a lot of money. Oh, we're not it's because we don't get more money and also to keep in mind that most of the teachers are on get balloon payments. So even when I look at the Yep. The 55%, you know, it's some teachers get a balloon payment at the they get 20 you know, five paychecks at one time at the end. So they do have a a big balloon payment for teachers. So I don't know if you have any questions. Do you guys know when the audit will be? Like, do we have an idea on that yet? I know Terry just finished something. Have you been in touch with with them? So
they are in the middle of finishing a few things now, and then they said they'll circle back. So I'm assuming that
it's it would be within the month. Okay. So so we could potentially anticipate that the the unexpended funds from last year will be gone from there next month or maybe two months?
Yes. As soon as the audit is complete and that he has a number, then yes. That would be done.
K. Yeah. That's a good point for new board members. That includes that bank balance includes the money that Yes. In there. Yeah. Jody, on go ahead. You go, Shannon. Thanks.
On the cost and expenditure report and and the details, why have we spent so much on substitutes, or what's the status of that?
Yeah. I mean, teacher subs, so we've had a balance of 9,000. Actually, it's not so bad. No. I'm looking at the oh, excuse me. IA subs. I'm sorry. The instruction. Oh, instruction. Those are the para yeah. Those are the paraprofessional I mean that. Subs there. So, again, flu season, and I have to say, like, this time of year, hopefully now I'm seeing fewer subs there in in December, January, there are more people out with viruses and flus and things. So, hopefully, we'll see the the subline. There's a good chance that that might grow. Yeah.
Well, at ninety five percent, so I'm concerned about that. Yeah. As far as the repair and maintenance at one zero seven, what is the quote, unquote safety expenditure?
Because that that's from the detailed report. Yeah. So safety I printed those out. So safety safety, a lot of that is sprinklers. So let me look. So interior maintenance. Yeah. The sprinkler testing, interior maintenance, interior
safety. Looking at these. So that's safety. That was '8 that one, the 8000, where we started 8000? 8000. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we had a service call, kitchen suppression inspection, emergency exit light inspection, a full functional fire alarm. Oh, so sprinkler's somewhere else. So oh, yeah. Quarterly sprinkler inspection is also in there. That's just that and the RN building operations, the HVAC I expected, but I didn't know what the security was on that. Yeah. So we're watching that. We're obviously rather. And you could see what I did because we have some quotes of work. So we've expended 55, and 24 is encumbered for quotes of work that still has to be done. So on that line item, I'm being really careful to make sure as soon as we know something's going wrong and that I'm encumbering that money right away. Right? So Like the the cafeteria door locks, that would be within this as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's not in here yet. So we will be over on that on that line item. Again, that's the reason why we're doing the projections to see
where it would be under and over. Do we have then down to one zero five on the printing and binding? Do we anticipate much more? Because we're at one zero five on that one. Yeah. So what happened with the so we've moved from we had old Canon machines
for for our copy machines, and we have a new contract. But they were old, and then they weren't able to be serviced because they're so old, not making the correct parts and things. So now this year and I think that was negotiated after the budget was put together this year. So we have it costs us, you know, like, $6.50 to 700 in the copy leasing fees and then another approximately thousand a month on the actual copying fees. And the new curriculum has a lot of some of the curriculum has needs a lot of copies. So we are going to be over in that area. And I've been working with Terry, and we're looking very closely at that contract K. Just to double check everything and make sure they're charging us correctly, and we're analyzing that right now. Thank you. So is a lease. Right? It's it's part. So it's set Yeah. It's a contract. It's for the equipment.
It also covers the service on even the old we have a few of the older printers. For example, like a printer in my office, it covers all the parts and service on some of Correct. The older ones that we did. I remember looking at recently at other town's budgets, and that line item was about the same, but they had the word lease in there. And I was wondering if that was if we could if there would it was a similar type thing. Yeah. The contract and the lease agreement, and it's all around $10,000. Yeah. How many printers you have, basically? Yes. It's it's comparable from what I saw on the
You're going down? So what? IBI on propane? Propane? Yeah. Very bottom of the first page. I'm just looking at where I've highlighted.
The first page of The very first the summary. You're on the summary again. The bottle the bottle gas. Bottle gas. Bottle gas. Oh, sorry. Bottle gas.
When I looked, it was propane in the details. Right? Bottle gas. Yes. Yes. Not confusing at all. No. Yeah.
I mean, propane is It is. I I keep getting Yeah. But I was Sorry. I did look at it and question, like, why are we bottling gas? Yeah. We
are thinking about on the oil and heating. So Oh, no. I'm just Yeah.
I'm just highlighting the ones that were heating. You know, around a 100%, and we're only 55% through the year. So that's why I was asking about those particular study. Yeah.
I I have a follow-up question, though, just with paired maintenance because we did not adopt an increase in the budget, but we are clearly overrunning. Do we think that maintenance is going to
level out that? That was why I had asked last month to look at this specifically because I was worried about it in Okay. The budget.
Yeah. And I I did go to Val because I did say, Val, should we be doing a transfer now? We talked about that that the board last year, at the end of last year, knew that certain be with the budget cuts, that certain line items would be running over. Yes. And we talked about it last month because we did decide because I did say, should you would you wanna try to do transfers now? Make your transfers. Right. But I do think it's we said better to wait as long as the board knows that Right. Where where we are. I I mean, I'm hoping What is that repair and maintenance?
What is I'm sorry. What's it for? Because you did the transfer last year at the end of last year for Do that? Well, I have that too so I actually can show you Uh-huh. So I talked Yeah. Consistent area where there's concern.
Yeah. So just so you know, I did go to the board of finance meetings in the first meeting. Yeah. There was a question about transfers. So I said I'll I said I'm brand new. I'll look into those into that area for you. So what I found Do you have that? I have too many I have too many papers here. I might even look up there. Yeah. So and if you scroll to the bottom a little bit okay. So
this was this is just the HVAC line because that was the line. So the question was the HVAC line. There was there was money transferred at the end of the year, so I said I would look into that. So we looked at so HVAC was over. Also, one thing I just wanna point out, this this five year HVAC inspections. So I know where so it so we were short, but then the and then the board decided, looked at transfers, and said, okay. Where can we transfer? They transferred. The board made the decision to transfer 12 112,000, which would bring that line up to 127,000. However, not all of that was spent.
So So the actual expenditures for that HVAC line item was $84,000, and then the rest of it was part of the money that went into the the surplus and the 2%. And then one thing I investigated and talked about. So as you know, the state has new air quality requirements. Yeah. And schools, I think they have five years to do a school a year. We We only have one school. So so what we did so what I wasn't here, but what you guys did is did the five year HVAC inspection, which was required, I'm assuming, because you knew you you were going to have a little bit of a surplus. So it made sense to to get that done sooner rather than later. So a big chunk of that, that 84, was that 22,000 for the for the HVAC
air quality inspection. And Val can talk more. I'm missing anything about Just that there was a surplus there. For those members who are new to the board, it was that at the time when that new legislation was passed, they had it attached to funding through VAS, and they said, that there would be grant funding for the first serve, for any of the, things that you found in your five year HVAC. So a lot of smaller districts, especially, went out of their way to get it done because, you know, we need the money. And, unfortunately, as soon as a lot of the districts got it done, they had put a freeze. It was budgetary at the state level, but they had put a freeze on that funding for anything that was found. So the good news was we got it done. The bad news is now we have to wait for funding to open up again for any of the small things that they found,
that they would want, to be addressed. So there was nothing major that needed to be addressed. It was a mandatory compliance issue, but that's why a lot of the districts did it then. So and we had voted on them at a meeting.
So I saw the transfer. The transfer was out of salaries. You you guys all got out. It was the first meeting I got here. I can't find the actual documentation, but the question that the board of finance member asked you was they wanted to see the details on that account because it was such a significant transfer. And what you said was you had to come back to the board of education and and show the members. Is this showing the members? This is showing the members. Okay. And then you're gonna provide to the board of finance the details they've received? This. I'm gonna I You're gonna reply to that. The a a board of finance member requested all the invoices.
Am not going to provide all those invoices. I'm gonna be very honest. I Let's just solve the test. Yeah. So this and then then by the end of the last meeting that it seemed to be the consensus of the board of finance that asking for invoices was was not necessarily wasn't necessary, not under the purview of the board of finance because the board of education out of purview of the board of finance? What I'm saying is that level of detail. So they agreed at the board of finance that they wanted a list. And my response was, I would like love to give you that list, but I wanted to bring it to the board of education first, especially since we have new members. And I feel that if there people are gonna come to them and ask questions, that they should be the ones to see the information first. So I don't want I didn't want a a board of finance member to say, hey. Tell me about this and then have a board of ed member say, I I'm sorry. I've never seen that before. So I'm happy to now provide this to the board of finance members this list. This list. This list. Correct.
Why do you question Jeff the need to provide invoices? I really I don't understand. Do you not I I have a problem. Pay invoices? No. No. I know you pay them, Sharon. No. But do you not trust that we only pay the invoices, that we're embezzling money? I I really don't understand. Shannon, I I haven't gone there.
What I I wanna what You are implying what you did what you did as a board. The board of finance doesn't have any authority to tell you what to spend and where to spend. Correct. They're a reactive organization. They determine the amount of money you get to spend. So it's very difficult, and even I when I go to these meetings, if you don't prove if you move a $112,000 from salary line Mhmm. And put it into a repair and maintenance line, you didn't go to the the board of finance and say, we have these repairs or these capital infrastructure issues they have to deal with. So I don't have one problem, and this is where I have a problem with the whole issue of not sharing information. I have a real problem with transparency. Give anybody that wants the information, the information so they can sit there and make an educated decision. And what you're doing what you're doing take that. What you're doing I got I need I need to stop.
Stop. Everyone stop for a minute. K? We need to maintain decorum. We're talking about stuff from a budget a year ago. Those transfer requests were approved on 06/11. Yeah. I have them here. I have them. I'd like to look at them. I have them. So they came not from just salary, but from teacher salary and from benefits. Mhmm. I have them. Yeah. And and then my question for Jody, right, which which let's redirect this conversation back to what matters, which is how is it going to affect the budget line item for repair and maintenance on our budget that we're supposed to look at approving tonight. So can you go back to that Well, can I answer that? Can I answer that Because one
you made a reduction of salaries of a 100 80 I'll give you a 100,000? Let's just call a round number a 100,000. You made a salary reduction with benefits, and you're asking in this budget for 360 $380,000 a week. So it has an impact.
So last year, as you know Yeah. We talked about it at our budget presentation. I know right at where I'm from where things are on the agenda. I apologize. But one example of what we spoke about was when we got the mental health grant last year, which which is gone this year. That actually paid a salary for the psychologist. When the monies are available during the course of the year that we don't know are gonna be available prior to when we do a budget and it can offset a salary, we do. We're responsible with those grants. And so it is very common at the end of a year for a school district, not a municipality because it's different. It's very common at the end of a school year if a grant comes up during the course of the year and they say they're paying for something, that you will have a surplus at the end of the year. A few years ago, there was a right to read grant that only covered curriculum. That right to read grant covered curriculum in districts all across the state of Connecticut that had budgeted for their curriculum, found themselves at the end of the year with large surpluses in curriculum. If we were to get a grant for HVAC, that would give us a surplus in that line. In this case, the grants that were available to us last year gave us a surplus in the line item for salaries.
In the benefit line item, as you know, we plan according to the information that we know at the start of the year. If it changes, we could go over or under. When we go over, maybe a family plan was added for somebody, maybe a baby was born, maybe a spouse, somebody got married, or maybe someone went off of our insurance. If there's a surplus at the end of the year, it would be changes that occurred during the course of that year. That is very common with school budgets because we never know at the start of the year. In my presentation, I mentioned that we knew about IDEA grants for next year. We know about title grants. At this point, there are no other grants available for us, but that could change dramatically in the next six or eight months. And if it does, we put it back into what can be put back into, but they all don't allow that. If it can't be put back into the general fund and it's something else, then we pay for the something else with it.
Have you provided to the board because I haven't seen you. But have you provided to the board a summary of the grants on an annual basis as to here's where I expect my grants to be? Here's where my They get them monthly. That ain't sufficient. Listen. We're all volunteers. And unless we're gonna sit there and go do math on a on a high level, like an accounting forensic accounting, it's very difficult to get that information out of your reports. And I understand. I looked at Jody last month, and I appreciated that you put the grant information in. But that's not from the prior year Because what's happening in my head is you have grants. Yes. Right? Like the psychologist. Mhmm. You had a grant for the psychologist. And what's occurring now within this budget is that grant is gone. Yeah. But the psychologist cost is not. Correct. So that's so so we're asking for more. So you have to explain it in a very easy
way for us volunteers to really get it. Because that's it already, though. I feel like Sam's putting several things. But I like that. Just just a second, though, for for all of us. Right? We're we're off topic right now. We're in the financial section of the report. We're not on the budget for this year. K. The question that's pertinent with the information that's up there right now is what are the expenses that we incurred in that budget year that made that line item go up by $84,000, and are they things that we are going to incur in this coming budget that we need to look at adding into the line item for repair and maintenance.
What I can say now is what I think what I've said before is we need to do a deep analysis of our HVAC system and get people in to evaluate it and get quotes, and we feel we can get through. Spoken to Val about this. We we feel we're fine for another eighteen months, twenty four months. But I I think it's just like your own burner and stuff in your in your home as things keep going wrong. We're fixing it. We're fixing it now. This is a huge building. It's a really big building. So I think we are are looking at saying, okay. We're at the point where we need to really look at all of these repairs and say, okay. What is our plan? I know you have a capital. Now it's working on a capital plan. It it all it all ties together. So I think I think we can all agree that I don't think any of us wanna be spending $75,000 a year on repairs and certainly the HVAC. So And we don't have two budgets. Most districts do.
Most districts have an operational budget, and they have a capital budget. So when you're looking at the operational expenses, you're normally not looking at HVAC. It doesn't exist in their operational Mhmm. For service calls and things of this nature. It exists in their capital. We don't currently have one. We have not had one up until this point.
So You you put on a line. You put a line item on the last budget of $15,000 for repairs and maintenance for HVAC.
That's service contract. That's the service contract, Jeff. Contract providers I think it's 17, actually. For everything in the building.
Alright. We looks like we did good with technology repair and maintenance. We got $50,000 in there, and we haven't needed to use it. Is that
There's a service contract for technology in the building. We contract to Eastcon because we do not have an IT full time person here. So, Eastcon provides, is it two half days a week? Two half days a week of service. That's what this contract that we have with EastCon, which is our best. So when do we have to pay that? Is
it just on the on the summary report? It's there's no there's nothing encumbered under Yeah. $4.32.
I'll take a look at that one to see if those are contracts that we pay. There is one of the contracts, I believe, Terry, have to investigate. We do pay at the end of the year. So that could be that one. I will investigate that line item.
So so I guess from from the repair and maintenance, right, not to just keep harping on it, but I'm I'm still stuck on it. I was stuck on it last month. Yeah. Next year's budget, it sounds like. My question is based on last year, based on where we currently are, which is at a 107% of that area, do we need to increase that line item in the budget for where it currently stands?
I well, I'm gonna be honest. I I I don't know. I mean, we're we're we're being conservative and using rolling over using the same amount. You know, also, these are just my conversations with Terry that if something has been neglected and you've had a lot of years of negatives that things things didn't necessarily get repaired. And I think what you might be seeing now, and it's you know, I'm new, what you might be seeing now is some years of neglect that are catching up, and things haven't been serviced properly.
Well, they they haven't serviced properly. I think what Kate is referring to is should we be worried enough to put extra in for the what ifs? That's that's what I understood. Can't. And what ifs If angles they extra in for the what ifs, it's gotta come from someplace else. That's all you get. And Yeah. And so if you notice up there, you'll see a service call for something.
We had the expansion tank replacement. That's How big was the expansion tank? That's what I'm wondering. What Because to me, that expansion tank repair is
ungodly expensive. To replace a I have four sitting on my desk in my other office, and they are all at 47 or higher. So you have four quotes, you're saying? Correct. And you have another expansion No. I'm saying my other office. So I know that that 4,700 is not exorbitant for a replacement of an expansion tank. I'm 100% sure of that. And what is the 22,000 Boiler quote. That that is your HVAC inspection that was a mandatory, cost. Wow. 22,000.
8,700, 4,800 to service agreement, 3,300 service agreement. So And you're basically telling the board of finance they cannot see any of the details. The board finance will see the expenditures in the building. The board of finance has to determine the next fiscal year's budget. The only way that they can evaluate, the only way to do their job is to look backwards. That's it. What is it that they they have to decide on on line items? They have no determination in line items. That's not the issue. I it's not about the line items. They're not gonna tell you how to spend the money. The only thing they can do do is tell you how much money you have to spend. And if they can't look backwards, if you refuse
to give them the details, they can't really do their job. Do they want the crayon receipts too? I mean, like, well, how deep can we go within the I think they I think need to move on right now. They want this. That is why they're getting the copy of They are getting My bigger question was our our current budget has $75,000 in it for this area. We're a 107% expended on $75,000. Our budget for next year has $78,500 in this area. Is that enough money? Our budget moving forward has no what ifs.
That $4.99 has everything we need. There are no what ifs in there.
So it's what you want? No. It's what we need. There are no that we want. Gotcha. They are what we need. Why don't you give them the receipts? They're just looking for those ones on the services. Right? The like, they're just that line? That They have that list of the maybe they just wanna see the receipts just to make them feel better. Why won't you give them to them? Marcy, what is a receipt gonna do respectfully? Okay. Let's see. Hold on. Just a minute. Can you add your Well, I mean, maybe they look at it and wonder, you know, how do you spend that much money on certain things, and maybe it would just help them to know it.
So let's start let's start with the list Yeah. Of what we all just looked at Right. That we can understand what that money was spent on. Right? We we knew what it was spent on last May when we approved budgetary transfers. So this is just rehashing to try to make sure the budget is correct. Right. I
thought this was rehashing because that's what Julian promised, that she had to come to the board of education before she provided even that level of information Mhmm. To the board of finance.
I believe that's correct. That's correct. I'm asking. That's that's what it was about. Right? Well, also because I specifically asked about this last month that I but
for different reasons other than wanting to see individual receipts of everything that was done. Okay. I Were all those same company? I don't wanna but I was just wondering. Were all those the same company? All those Yeah. All those receipts and Does
anyone have other questions on the finance report of the current year that we're in or concerns with questions for Jody?
I know it's ELA. Is that for English? English language arts. And looks like we haven't spent much for two line items. Just wonder what that why that would be. Most of the spots. Yeah. So we'll we'll order those in the spring or next week.
Okay. That's gonna be true for most of the things that are supplies. They'll they'll end up they'll happen at the end of the year. I noticed. Yeah. Okay. Does anyone have a liaison report? No. No? Okay. K. So we're gonna move on to eight AA or whatever eight a that I had it. So I'd like to make a motion to allow the principal and the superintendent to work with the representative from pool to do as they see fit administratively to allow summer usage of the building for that program. I'll second the motion. K? Discussion. Discussion.
Thank you. I have a question. So if we are going to
They wouldn't use that portion of the building. I know exactly what you meant. That's all we needed to. Yes. Thank you. I was just gonna say this is just something that they make sure every year that the the Board of Education votes for the use of the building, because school is technically, like, an outside agency. It's not part of the Board of Education, so you'd be approving that. In, like, in past years, if there's something going on in another part of the building, they wouldn't use that. So they could use the gym. They could use the cafeteria. They could use other sections. And I do know that pool has some, like, tents that they use outside. As a matter of fact, last year, they or the year before, they did actually do their check-in outside as well. So that's a great question. But, yes, we've already said that they will just be providing ample space, and that's why they need to work with Taylor to schedule that.
Yeah. That that whole section of the building would need to be closed. Okay. But but I'm good. That was my only That's a good question. What section of the building?
If we're doing a bathroom repair project, the whole section of the building where the those bathrooms are would need to be closed. So they wouldn't use it for the summer. Right. That's what you're asking. Yeah. That's that's all clear for me. I I I did not understand that. Thank you. And
just so we're clear on location, when you go in upstairs, like, where the main office is, it's the wing of the school. If you facing the front office, like, walking in, if you turn right, that whole section. So does anyone have other questions about Where's the new cool room, actually? It's not upstairs. We're just right there. Okay. Got it. Thanks. I did know that. That's important. Thank you. And you saw cool. Right. Exactly. But, actually, if you conduct from cool, you're not allowed to walk in here. You have to wait out in the frigidly freezing cold outside for your child to come who maybe comes, like, ten minutes later if you're my child. It's really enjoyable. Anyway Somebody made a motion. Moving along. Yeah. I did make motion. I seconded it. And you seconded it. So So we have a discussion about Or does anyone have further discussion about that? Okay. All in favor of allowing the principal and the superintendent to work with Cool to do summer usage as they see fit? Aye. Aye.
Aye. Anyone opposed? K. So seven zero zero. K. We'll move on to discussion of the budget. Okay. So
give you my ahead of time stuff. I know everybody was there at the, original presentation, so I won't redo the whole presentation. I'll do the highlights. And then, Taylor, I do have that one thing that we can put up here for our spectator. The short version of that snowy Monday night that we had to have this on Zoom, the short version was that the 2627 school year, we k six will have 200 students. In the building, we'll have 270. So this budget reflects 35 school rows of facility and the, students, the student population. We are growing. I did refer back to the new POCP that's in draft form on the town side, that plan of conservation and development for 2026 to 2036, where they spoke about the vision and mission of the town, and the vision mission of the town being that we want to make sure that we provide economic, housing, educational, recreational, and civic opportunities. We did talk about enrollment reports and reference the fact that in recent years, we have had probably the highest, largest classes that we've had. And we went through the enrollment summary to show that of the number of times that we've had 22 or more students, they were all within the past six years. Taylor actually was able to show us tonight some of the positive results of the choice that we made, as a board and myself, my recommendation, to make sure that grade four and grade five were reasonable this year. And we've mentioned it last year that we should have done four, five, and six, but we knew that that was gonna be huge. And so we did four and five, and so we did have a year's notice that we were doing six this year,
and that would keep them, where they needed to be. We had also reviewed the per pupil spending. In our DERG, there are 30 towns in DERG c. We are the only one that's from twenty twenty twenty twenty twenty three actually went down in our spending and that we, are number 17 now in the list of per pupil spending. Then I showed you what you're looking at up there on the left hand side, you guys have in front of you. Everybody here in the room, but it's up there. A fair amount of kind of how we wound up in a year where we're looking at, you know, 11%, we're looking at April. It goes back, to years past. If you look there in the bold, I just bolded 2015 and 2025 because that's a decade right there. And you can see that in that decade, we went 04/1932 to what we have now, which is 04/1956. And that's a decade where you're only looking at a total increase in the budget of $244,000. That's unheard of in 10 for a budget number to only have increased. One of the reasons why, as you can see there, we had a large number of years where it was, huge gouging reductions.
Awesome. Less students coming down too. I'll get to that, Marcy. Thank you.
So if you notice on that chart, you'll see that there was about $418,000 in the course of the that time period there that was reduced. Well, it looks like it's reduced by 10%. Yeah. It was a huge significant number. You take that 4.3 and keep going. Yeah. I mean, it was huge. It was it was definitely now I arrived here in 2020. The budget that had just passed for the year that I arrived here was that negative 4%, that minus a 162,000. And then from there down were the budgets since since I've been here that we've written together.
On the right hand side, you're looking at the same years, and this is student enrollment. And you will see that our current enrollment at 02:60 is fairly equal to about where we were a decade ago. And that includes pre K? That number right there is the whole school. We're gonna get to school good. Pre K? Yeah. Yes. It does. Those numbers have always Yes. Yeah. K. That's fine. So if you look, you'll notice that we've had and this is in the plan of conservation and development. We saw a 26% increase. And you'll notice with these numbers here that our student enrollment has gone up significantly in the past five years. And the thing is is go ahead. You can go in the middle if you want. Thank you. And the thing is is that there's been a lot of misinformation. There are a lot of people that do look at these budgets year after year, and they are under the assumption that in the past decade, our budget has gone up. And that's just misinformation in terms of the percentage of growth over the last decade. The numbers are there. It's $244,000
difference from a decade ago. The other misinformation is that it's only preschool that has grown. These are our preschool numbers, and and you'll notice there's one year there even from 2020 to 2021 where we had a loss of two kids in preschool. So the growth completely of the 20 plus kids then, there was 18 that year in k six, and we lost two in preschool. You'll notice now that it's about a fifty fifty split in terms of the 86, 87 kids that are new to Andover. About half of them are k six, and the other half are as a result of preschool. So it it it's it it just isn't true that they're all preschool. We don't have that many preschoolers, 87. So now the other thing to consider is there are a few people then that say, well, if they lost all the money over those years where it was red on the top, Taylor, those years, that April, then they must not have needed it. And that's just not an accurate depiction. If you look at the bottom because when I got here, I thought, okay. Where where are these cuts coming from?
What did they cut? And when you look back, you see they have cut during the times when they had that huge significant gouge of $418,000, they cut a reading support person as the student count went down. They cut an assistant principal. They cut a classroom teacher. They cut that IT manager. They reduced the business manager from full time to part time. They reduced the speech and language. They reduced the librarian. They reduced the art teacher. They reduced the Spanish teacher. They reduced custodian. So during that time period that that money was cut, they were reducing the human's
capital, the the the amount that we have for staff here in every area. At one point, wasn't there there was no Spanish teacher when my older son was here?
Yes. There was. She had retired. Been. We've been. She had retired. Yeah. Yeah. There were definitely years that he did not have Spanish at all. He might not have especially boot band back then because they did reduce down, I mean, significantly. So so what it equaled to in that time period was a loss of six and a half full time personnel. That's a lot. And it wasn't coming back because even when if you can slide up just a little bit now, Taylor, so people at home can see it. Thank you. Even when some of that money came back in the small doses that we were getting from we didn't get an increase at all in '21, so we were already behind the eight ball then. Staff had been reduced as as low as it could possibly go.
And in 2021, when we were planning the budget for the following year, we were talking about the increases to the tuition I mean, to the the benefits and to the salary line item. And that's really all. That was that was to make sure we could pay the increase to the bills. It wasn't until last year when we were solidly at $2.40 there when we had gone up by quite a bit. We've gone up by over 60 kids that we then brought a budget to you guys and said, in looking at this, we must have we cannot cannot have those class sizes of the 22 to 28 anymore. And thank you because the board did agree, and we had the eight and a half percent budget last year. We knew going into the budget season that that was they weren't wants. They were needs. That last year, when we presented that budget, that we needed the eight and a half percent. We did not get the eight and a half percent. We got 5%. So that meant that we were starting this year off. We had to have those teachers, so we hired those teachers. But we knew that we were starting this year off already in a deficit by three and a half percent. You guys had already decided at the end of last year when we did have a budget that passed at 5% instead of eight and a half that we would have to deplete the nonlapsing account this year to pay for that difference of the three and a half percent. And so in putting a budget together this year
with just the the needed expenditures, as we mentioned before even with HVAC, there's no what ifs. There's no let's put in a contingency in there for something that's not an expected expenditure. Our budget is anticipated expenditures only. That's what's in there. There's there's no fluff in there. It's anticipated expenditures. It's what we know we have to pay for next year, and that's what's in there. And, yes, it does include the sixth grade teacher. And so with that in there, that's the four ninety nine. 11 hurts. I know 11 hurts, but it is because of those areas where we had such a loss all those years in a row. And I know that that's a tough ass. But this town, not only in their plan of conservation and development, but in the six years that I've been here, on countless board of finance meetings and board of selectmen meetings, that dedication to the town has been there. I've heard it. I've heard that once there was a town administrator that started in 2017 that there was a level of commitment that was made to the town, to the roads. I hear that all the time where everybody says the roads are way better now than they were ten years ago. Why? Because there was a dedication that was made and a commitment that was made to the roads. I hear people all the time talk about how much better the trees are. There was a dedication and a commitment to that. We're there's now public works director, and we all know how hard a job it is for public works. There was a there was a dedication to that. There was a dedication to making sure that the trucks were fixed, to the fire department,
to making sure the seniors had a senior center. I know the town understands that there has to be a level of commitment. I'm just here to say that it it's our turn this year. All of that that happened as a result, it's it's now that we're back up there, it's time for us to make sure that we give that level of commitment, that we make sure that what is needed, not what's wanted, what's needed is is taken care of. And you heard the teachers tonight, and they have been great. We have the best teachers everywhere, anywhere. We do. And so we have a budget.
I love teachers. My wife's a teacher, And I have to ask a question now. You're saying next year's number is 200? That's your students in in not pre K. Correct. 200. So you're gonna go up eight students. We anticipate that. Yes. Going up into
Based on the numbers that you're looking at on here, on the top there, you see there were 18 students in '21, five students in twenty two, eight students in '23, 34 students, and 20. So if we look at the k six, yes, we anticipate.
So your increase was one student in 2023, 10 students in 2024, six students in 2025, 11 students this year, and eight next year. What do you I don't I'm just I I have I have the numbers. I went through, and I tried to do this to understand the increase because I don't think everybody on this board understands my problem that I have my biggest issue with in the budget and with with this Valerie, honestly, is the pre k and I I I do focus on the pre k because the pre k is the pre k mandated? It was mandated two years ago, a year ago. Is it mandated right now? Is it mandated that we provide pre k education? Even though I believe in it, I'm asking you mandated. It is mandated Yeah.
That children with needs With with special needs. Correct. Yep. Have to be educated in So, yes, they did it is mandated that we have preschool.
I don't know who is running that, but can you put back up her her this That's the thing we just said? That's yeah.
And can you go down to the bottom of that, Valerie? And just so I get this, can you explain to everybody on the board before I get into pre k minimum budget requirements?
Yes. Please explain. Budget requirement is the state saying that k 12, a town has a minimum budget responsibility. And the state takes ECS formulas because the town receives $2,000,000 to educate k 12 students. They take that and a bunch of other things in a formula, and they come up with with what your town's minimum budget requirement is. So
if you explain management minimum budget requirements, it's basically saying that once a budget line is set, you can't decrease from that based upon certain criteria. Is that accurate? It is accurate. That's a generalization.
So, yes, that's true. Because I went to an m an an MBR seminar at RAM a few years ago when we were I'm I'm sure we were trying to understand MBR requirements. And and, Taylor, where does the school sit in state rankings? Because I know that has What do you mean in state rankings? In state rankings. If you're in the top 10% They don't rank elementary schools. Get ranked. You don't or you don't rank? They did in 2019. No. They don't Okay. Rank elementary schools. Absolutely not. So so m r m m MBR does have an impact on us as a town, as a total town in that the higher we go, the less room we have to decrease. Just asking. I'm just trying to get this all out for everybody.
I I don't think I understand your question. So you're saying right now. You don't wanna give them what they need
because if you do, then next year, you'll have to continue to give them what they need. That's not what exactly I'm asking you I'm asking you a a question that the number cannot be decreased. You know, if you have a decrease in enrollment, that is a decrease in enrollment. You have a qualifying Yeah. Exception. Yes. Qualifying qualifying exception. Yes. A qualifying exception. So if we can go just go back to your your the pre K, and I gotta ask something. Not part of MBR. I
have a question. But not part of MBR. One second.
So the the increases on an annual basis for pre K that you had were five, nine, seventeen, and seven. So we've escalated our pre K. You know, the pre K has escalated significantly. And I've always asked you, and I've asked you this multiple times. You told me that the pre K would not cost the town any money. It was it was cost neutral. Yeah. So now we're changing. No.
No. No. Let me finish. No. I'm not. Can I finish, please? Yeah. What I've said to you is there's no line item in the budget. I wouldn't add a line item in the budget Yeah. That those expenses that are pre K only expenses are expenses that are paid by a grant or ours we have two grants, actually, or tuition. Yeah. That if somebody, a taxpayer Yeah. Hang up. If a taxpayer in this town says, am I paying for people to put their kids in preschool? Mhmm. No. The the families that utilize preschool are paying tuition for their child to come to preschool. Nobody else is paying for them. Unless there's Unless there's special education.
I have no problem. But I'm but are you covering has this board got an analysis that the pre K We have because for years
tuition There wasn't and grants are covering all of the costs of the teachers, the paras, and the benefits that are part of that. You ask me that all of the time. We're not discussing benefits again. You keep putting that in there. There is no line item in this budget for preschool. You get the financial every month report that says there's an anticipated $247,000 that comes in intuition. We also receive a $123,000 in what's now called early start and $65,000 from the Smart Start. All of those combined pay those eight salaries. All of the eight salaries? Yes. 100%
of the eight salaries are covered. It's on the But not the benefits. On there every month. But not the benefits. It is it is disturbing to me that all we ever wanna do is to talk about preschool when it's not a line item. That's right.
Every single month. Okay. Can I ask a question? Yeah. Because this has now been a topic of conversation for several years. Yep. And it's we're literally talking about a budget that this is not in. Right? It's not part of it. So it shouldn't even be part of our budgetary discussion right now because it's not in the budget. Correct. So not all of this information is part of our budget. We want to put preschool into the budget. Right? Put in all of the cost, all of the expenditures, all of the money that we receive for preschool.
I personally feel like couple copies. So Copies of what? Because I've been getting the this question asked of me a lot about the preschool because the taxpayers are concerned that the tax the enrollment for preschool has gone up so much that it's actually one third of the student population.
So It's the I know. Every year. So, Marcy, where where I was going with your on there, and I've and I've asked Val honestly to do this as a an as an actual monetary analysis, the cost for us to provide special education Yes. To the students who qualify for it that are in the preschool, if we only provided their special education costs and we did not have preschool classrooms for them, the cost of those services would exceed Right. I'm not yelling. I'm trying to I'm far away from the microphone so that people online can hear. Would exceed the cost of what we currently don't have in the budget because it's covered by grants. Correct. It's saving us money. It is. Okay. So so so if you go from that, and here we because I'm never gonna get all my information unless I'm benefits, though. If you average the number of staff in this this
whole building and divide it by the number of staff with all of the benefits and add it up, you still are only gonna get, like, $30,000.
That's a great point. So I don't understand why No. No. No. You're I'm not down this. I'm I'm after the concept of you have a you have a pre k that has certain levels of income that can come into it. It's as Valerie says, it's it's grants. It's tuition. Right? And what I'm what I'm asking the board, have you ever seen an analysis that the grants and the tuition equal the the teachers and the paras? And if not, you increase tuition.
It's not a really hard concept. And they have yes. In comparison, I was in one of the classes that did. Thousand and $35 extra Right. Over the cost of those salary. The salaries alone. Just the salaries. Correct. And we just told you So with benefits, you're, like, maybe 30,000. Another 30. Yeah. So you're Insurance and and Insurance might have gone through. I just did the math. I would
just love to see an analysis. Right. So you were part of the school readiness Don't talk to me about it. I never came to one of your meetings. You never invited me to any of those Invited
monthly. You were invited monthly. Yeah. And I did not I did not attend. Right. So taking this time now Yeah. When you had ten years of being invited to meetings
to go to and you didn't. I haven't been I haven't been first in ten years, but that's okay. I I I I should have probably been coming for more of them. But, you know It was a whole You know, listen. We are here because the budget is gonna increase, and you're telling the town you're telling the town you're telling the town that that that the k through six population is gonna increase by eight students. Probably based on the trends. That's what you said. Eight students. And the increase is how much?
The increase of what? The total budget increase is how much? For those eight students? No. Your whole budget. For the everything is $4.99.
$499,000, and we're increasing the student population k through six by eight students.
But That's all I'm asking. But we have grants that are going away that are clear. Then you have to cut the expenses that relate to the grant. That's how They're requesting.
There's no way. You're asking about trying to cut No. It works. You're talking about would you like to get rid of the school psychologist?
Is that what you're Listen. Need that. You're sick of that. Here's You you need to know this. Yes. Go ahead. We have had so many analyses Yeah. Of pre K. Yeah. In large part because of the perseveration of you and a number of members in this community on pre K. It has really gotten out of hand how much you guys have focused in on pre k given that it's not even in our budget. So let me tell you this. We had an analysis done by Holly Mayorano, our head of special education. We had an analysis done. You can look back in the minutes of how much it would cost. What they And this has already been excuse me, Marcy. I just wanna How much it would cost to take care of all of the needs of everyone that we are required to provide for well, statutorily for the special needs. Right? Yeah. Exceeded the amount that we have for our pre k. So if we had to bring in and we also have it within our school to be able to provide it. That would also have to potentially be able to go and provide our special needs students with in home care. So I've I just I'm I'm absolutely flabbergasted that you as an accountant can't look at the numbers
and figure out Cannon. Yes. We had never even presented
those costs to the public. Yes. We have. They've been a judge. They were meeting. They were presented at a board of they were done more than one board of education meeting, which you were not in attendance at. Okay. So you don't know. And so so I And they're in the minutes. Yeah. Is there a recording of that? Yes. Yes. There is there a summary that you can provide What date? To me or the community
just to sit there and explain this in a very simple page? Jodi Ann should be able to do it. No problem. Here are the grants related to this. Here is the real tuition. I asked I came to a meeting. I asked for the tuition. We haven't even gotten to out of town residents and students that are participating in these programs. So out of this number out of this number $9,000
are preschool expenses. Right. None of the increases. Benefits included or what you consider to be the expense. Is related to preschool. Okay. Zero. I will say it again because we are on record. $0 of the 499,000 is an increased cost because of preschool. Okay. Zero. Alright. And I will say can I one more second, please? Because I I don't like to raise my voice. But my my problem, Jeff, is I'd like to consider myself an expert in my field. I have thirty plus years of experience as a teacher, as an administrator, and as the superintendent. Have you ever worked in a school before, Jeff? No. So I mean no disrespect because I'm certain that you are very good at your job. But for six years, all I get is a challenge that I'm not good at mine, and you do it publicly. And this is our board of ed meeting that you are on as an ex officio, and I have no problem with that. But for six years, you've questioned every single time myself as an expert, the board of education,
a teacher, the principal, and it it really is very difficult. It's very difficult. I assure you that I am not asking for $499,000 for preschool. There are no new increases related to preschool. Valerie,
I have just started to attend board of education meetings in October. You can watch the recordings for the last three or four years. No. No. No. Don't talk, Sharon. Don't talk. Woah. No. No. That's okay. We can come on. I'm sorry. We need people. No. But I forget. Guys, so that fine. That was rude. We need to move on. Can I move on to the superintendent increase?
In her salary? Yes, please. Sure. The lowest paid superintendent in the state? Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah.
We're in a budget crunch. Absolutely. Yes. It's a line item. I just wanted to make sure that we all knew where we were, Jeff, because we've gotten so far a few Budget. We're talking about the budget. Yep. So let's look at it. So you guys have put in an increase? That's correct. Correct?
Have you approved her contract? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Have. Was done. Yes. When was it approved?
It was approved when we gave her an increase in salary. When was it approved? They met in October. Yep. So I probably signed that in October.
No. You didn't. The first meeting that I was here was in October. Did you do it in did you do it in executive session? Yes. We did. You did. You voted in executive session? No. We did not tell her in executive session. You're not allowed to. Okay. Please provide me the minutes where that was approved because the contract October meeting. And I understand, Caitlin. I understand that Does everything have to be a fight? Yeah. I don't know. Why does it have to be a fight? Don't get it. Can I tell you can I tell you what I found today? Because because I knew Marcy one second. I knew Marcy sat there and requested the contract.
She wasn't provided the contract. Yeah. I mean, I'm in She wasn't provided the contract. Let me let me say something. I'm a new board member. I'm looking at the budget, and I see that Valerie is getting an 11% increase, and I wanted to know why. So I looked to see if the pub it's a public document. It should be publicly on a website somewhere, and I didn't find it. So I asked for the contract. And I was told that I had to meet Valerie in person and look at it over her shoulder in private. Now I think it's inappropriate for a superintendent to try to meet with people privately. You're a board member, ma'am. I am a board member. So why is it inappropriate? I don't think it's appropriate because, there's a lot of, intimidation going on, and it's and it's going on right now. So let's
I don't So sorry. I wanna say I don't wanna be disrespected, and I think it was it should have been a five minute deal. Ask for the contract. Here you go. Bing bang boom. Done. But instead, it was conversations, emails back and forth, back and forth, telling me I had to come in. I wanted to meet with Valerie Town Hall. She wouldn't do that. So so so
I finally said Why would you want to meet with the superintendent at the town hall? I do not want to meet with her privately. I'm sorry. So that's a problem, which we're gonna talk about in an executive session tonight. So can I You're on the school for me? Go back to my my issue? Yes. So this contract that Marcy was asking was not posted anywhere. And I have another question I have another question for
Valerie. Do you guys have a a fireproof safe in the in the school? What does that have to do with anything? Because there's a statute saying that you have to sit there and put all contracts in the fireproof state. That's why it should be in the town clerk's office. So I just wanted to know if you had a fireproof state.
We okay. Hang on. Yeah? Yes. Okay. Carol is on the call, and and I'm gonna ask. I know it's out of order, but I Carol, can you unmute yourself and say yes so we know you're here?
You're gonna have to unmute her because you had to mute her earlier, so she can't I don't think she can unmute herself. Carol? It it doesn't matter. There's a statute being Carol,
was my contract during the last three years provided to you when you were the town clerk?
Does it matter if it was? Or is there different Yes. Yes. That's in the statute that you're referring. It's the town it's the town's responsibility to post it somewhere if they want to. It's posted on the school board website. It it wasn't. It wasn't.
When was it posted? When did it It was posted recently.
This week? Yes. So that you could sit there and say that it was posted to No.
That's not why. Okay. Because you posted a long contract. Trying to talk. She's trying to talk, so someone muted her on this, and she can't. She's muted again. There's two of Oh, there's two cats. Two cats. Well, there we go. Sorry. I don't
She said it's not letting me unmute herself. But your question about Valerie's contract is about why there's an increase? No. No. No. I got two questions. I have two questions. It's about the increase because it's excessive. But I have a question. When you voted, and you're telling me you voted in executive session because We did not vote in executive three times, Jeff. It is not in your votes. Executive session. It's not in your minutes. Yes. It is. No. It's not. Yes. It is. If the vote's not there, then maybe they didn't vote when they came out. You approved the votes. Definitely did. They did. They came out of executive session. It is it is time. It was October. K. No. I was asked not to participate. Listen. I was asked not to participate in that executive session, and and it was it was my first meeting that I I I chose not to participate.
I chose not to participate. I walked out the door. If you voted, it is not in your minutes. Now what I gotta ask for is you signed this December 10. This was done in October. Right? Why were you doing it in October? Because we had an election in November? Why were we doing it? No. Because
because it was set to expire. It was within six months of my expiration. No. It's not. This is a July 1 document. Correct. That's not six months. Well, close to six months. And
when you are planning a budget, Jeff Yeah. You need to know what number you're planning for. Juno, it would be great if the public could have saw this in a timely fashion.
Jeff. Before the vote. Jeff. Communicating in a meeting open meeting. Jeff. Yeah. At this meeting, we shouldn't even be arguing about this, but not a single one is in the public eye on the town side.
The town administrators is not posted. No. The anybody at town hall is not posted. We will make sure they're all They're not. No. Are you folks pretty busy? Double standard. I need I need to stop. Right? We need to try to move on from this. Okay. Do you have a question in the current budget specifically about her her salary? Give her that much of a raise at point six of a full time employee. To try to get her in line with a majority of the towns that are are relatively close to us. Yeah.
Because the town administrator's salary was $1.00 2. That's reasonable. Right? It was. And you are gonna be hiring a town administrator now. I'm sure it's probably the same thing for four days. Well, that's If you were the superintendent,
Just to give you examples because you guys are asking. If you were the superintendent in Hebron You have the same formula. Rate using the same formula for a percent of time, her salary would be roughly 125,000. K? In Coventry, it'd be 153,000. In Lebanon, it'd be 117,000. And how many buildings and how many students and everything else that you For three days. In Salem. Right? Salem is tiny. Salem's the same as us. Right? In Salem, it'd be a 106,000.
So we did all this cost comparison, Jeff. Yeah. We looked We didn't relative to other places in our area. And you shared send that to me? I beg your pardon? No. Shared it all contract negotiation. It's not an open It's not an open discussion. I know. Just like the town administrator's salary is not a discussion. And who determines that?
The board of select. Correct. And who determines the salary of the superintendent? Board of Education. Okay. Thank you. And and did we do our job? You determine that in open meeting for the town administrator? We have it every year. We put it right in front of our our public party. Discussion. The discussion. Discussion in open meeting in front of the public?
K. We don't vote we don't vote in executive session. Neither did we, and we didn't. Okay. K? I I like the It's not any difference. I'd just like to see him. And if not,
and then we will have to have a vote. If we look at Jeff, they would have to have a vote in public. Okay. The whole point of that contract is not going to be until July. Why did it why did you not so, Marcy, it's a man I asked for. Marcy, hold on. The first request was made. And, again, we did have conversation with one another via email. And I said to you, you actually asked for that and an evaluation. And I said to you, come on in. We'll sit and have a chat. No problem. Because I can explain to you what's ever in the it is appropriate for the board of education members and the superintendents to to meet. You said, no. You didn't think it was worthwhile to meet with me. I didn't say those words, but I said Well, they were close. And you said, I heard it's not worth it. You didn't wanna come in. Those were your words. Whatever. So I then said to you, we are having our meeting the following Monday. On the following Monday, I would be happy to give you a copy. We didn't meet in person. I then said to you that if you came in again the next day to the school to pick it up, and you said, why do I have to come in today? Caitlin, we don't need to waste time with this. But I'm telling you, it's not You can move on. It's not true and accurate for you to say I refuse to give it to you. That wasn't Do you know do know or listen. Do you know two years ago, the only other time I came to a board of education meeting, really, was to
express my discomfort over the bullying that I really considered that was going on at this point. Oh, that's Right? That's Isn't this true? Isn't this true? And I really do think that this board should sit there and look at at some of the emails, and I do believe that some of the the the resignations from this board should be looked at. Just telling you. And I'm I'm talking to you specifically.
I hear you loud and clear. Okay. K? I got it. Because Anything else on the current budget that we're supposed to pass tonight or make amendments to to pass tonight? Do you have more questions regarding line item? I just sit there and tell you for the increase of $500,000
for eight students, an increase of eight students is excessive.
Yep. And I don't I say that with with all that purpose. Any regard as to where those numbers actually come? You that. Telling you that. As So do you do you disagree that we need a new sixth grade teacher?
Do I disagree with no. Because I I never came I have never come to Where where we cut things from? Never coming to your board Mhmm. To tell you how to educate children. That's not why I'm here. I'm here to represent the town. Okay. And the town's interest is a financial interest. So you can And you can Well, how about Caitlyn? Please let me talk.
We also have an obligation to represent the town. Correct? Okay. So when we analyze a budget, we not only have to look out for our priority, which is educating our students, which is a constitutional and a statutory requirement. We also have an obligation to look out for the interest of the town and take that into account. Your way of talking about us and to us has been so disrespectful in front of the board of selectmen and the board of finance that I was going to attend your meeting on Monday and couldn't because I had to go sit with a friend who had lost his mother. So if we wanna talk about bullying Jeff, I'll get into that, but not right now. What I wanna ask you is, as an ex official member on the board of education,
where would you cut the budget? It's a very difficult thing to sit there and cut. I totally get it. I do understand. I know. But So I'm asking you But, right, I sit there. I would tell you what my recommendation would be. Yeah. And I would like all of the information to understand the tuition collected, all of it in a very simple manner, tuition grants. Because, Shannon, if you lost grants if you lost grants Yeah. Yeah. You lost grants, you have to Yeah. You still have to provide the service. Yeah.
You know? That's not our way. So what your so your recommendation then, if I'm understanding you correctly, because you've said it twice now Yeah. Is that we should cut the school psychologist because we lost that grant. If that is one of your things that you need to have happen, that is one of the choices this board would need to make. Do you think that's appropriate choice a child? The line on. Good day. You think that's an appropriate choice on a child? That's what every other board sits there does. Me. No. I mean what every other board doesn't do.
I am not an expert. You know what I am? I'm an economist. I do budgets. I do finding What does the school psychologist do? She's
You tell me. You're the expert. So how do you know You say that louder, Alicia? When she explained her budget I was on the Zoom call. But when she explained the budget, she said that it provides the mandatory testing that the state requires.
It's of things. But but how can you propose a cut to something when you don't even know whether it can be cut or not? Mallory, what is the board of finance are supposed to do? I I I made my analogy when I proposed the budget. I don't pretend to be town administrator material. But to a person who doesn't know, we have 30 streets, and we have five guys that take care of the streets. To a layperson, those numbers are awful. Why do we not only have three people in public works and they each take care of 10 streets? There's a lot I don't know, Jeff.
But it would be remiss if I go to a board of selectmen budget meeting and say, you need to cut down to three guys. I don't know what I'm talking about. So it would be inappropriate of me to go say, what's the board of finance supposed to do, Jeff? You can't have five guys. You have to have three. That would be inappropriate. I'm not educated enough to know what they do. Valerie, in the last two years, right, we've increased 17 students.
You're But have be. Why it focused on students? Because I have to be. What else can I be? No. There are other expenses associated with the building that have nothing to do with whether we go up three kids or Of your entire increase. In your entire increase, as I look at it, it is in your line item related to salaries. Correct. Correct. Because whether there is, you know, 29
children in the class, 26 children in the class, there's a teacher. There's a cost. It is very difficult, and I I get it. Your job is difficult. When my wife served on this board, I know it's difficult. It's not easy. But what you're asking for and what you've asked for is basically, you know, a $500,000 increase in this current year. You got an increase last year of 4%. You know, what was that? 200,000. You know, I I my my number's off a little bit, but you got an increase of last year. Right? That's 5%. 217,610. 2. 600 If you don't get the number right. It's just $700,000 Mhmm. Over two years. No. What that's what's happening. No. Are you doing? $100,000? Yeah. You're asking for a $500,000 increase with this budget.
But but, Jeff, when we look at the increase, you have to also consider everything else that's paid for besides the eight students. You you you wanna go back to a student. I wanna say eight students equals the increase of 500,000. That just isn't the case. Especially not for a small kid. If that was the case, I mean, you you we have a 129 kids that attend Ram from from the town of of Andover. Yeah. So Are you gonna take
and and divide that by the number of kids? That is a difficult thing. It's as silly as me saying we have we have 30 streets. We haven't increased streets. Why do we need more money? We've had 30 streets as long as I've worked. So so hold on. I I just need to ask because I've asked before. You're you're an accountant. Right? Mhmm. You've had all this information. You were able to attend a budget meeting if you chose to Yeah. Where all this was explained. You have all the information in front of you. Where do you believe we can cut from the recommendation of the superintendent to meet the needs of the students and the school for this next budget year, Jeff? Shannon?
Yes, sir. If I sat there and went through it with you and I sat there and said I would make salary reductions. K. Right? Well well, that's Somewhere along the line, because that's where most of your increases are. I know. K? What would happen to you as a board if you said you had to live with the current budget that you currently have? What would happen? What would you do? We couldn't. You would have to. Yep. We can't. That's how it works. Already made a contractual obligation to increase teacher salaries by about 3%.
Which This now excuse me, Marcy. Board does the contracts with the teachers. We already have. Perfect. Heard that. Saying that. Just did it. Is is I've heard that year after year after year. Right. These are contractual obligations. They are. What I just realized is that these are contracts that the board negotiates with the teachers. So And those raises those raises are appropriate. Those raises are appropriate for all of those teachers. Great. It's $60,000 increase
now on your current salaries. And the benefits are increasing by 16%. Okay. Can 60 go percent? $60,000. Everyone So $1.20. They're asking you. 500,000.
I aware of that. That's not what she's asking you. Yeah. You're saying you as a board of education need to make cuts to this budget. Yeah. So where's the cut? Totally. So I'm asking you as an ex officio member, same thing she's asked you three times. Where would you recommend that we make the first cut? I want your opinion. I would like is the real detailed information so I could understand the line items because I've always been asking for that. I would love to see it. But I would sit there and tell you, you have most of your increases in salaries. You have to make choices.
And so it's not easy. It is terror and I I get it. But I am telling you, you are going in a in an inner direction with this budget, with what's happening. You're increasing at such a level and such a rate. It's not going to be a positive result for the community in the end, which is my job. That's what I'm here for. So you would like to cut how many teachers? I I would tell you if I had my way, I would like you to sit there and keep your your increase to 2%. That's what I would like to see. And I would even How many teachers would you like to cut? I would to that in I don't have I don't have don't do anymore. Oh, wow. I don't even have the details of the teacher's information. I'm not provided that. I can't get that. I asked that to to Jodi Ann. She sat there and said, okay. I asked, how do you do a budget? I'd ask you guys how you did your budget because I wasn't participating yet. Did you get a spreadsheet that sat there and showed all the teachers and the steps they're at and where they're they're they're getting their compensation and the 3% raise? I mean, because that's what we do at the town level. We sit there and go through. Here's everybody. Here's what their rates are gonna be. Here's their benefits related to it. I did you see that? Did you, as a board, as a chairperson, see that in your oversight? Why do we need to see that? Because you have to know what the number adds up to. Why do why do we have the numbers that are on the budget? It's helpful to know how many Marci Excuse
me? What would you like to know? No. I'm just asking. What I'm just saying it's helpful to know because when I saw the teacher salary in 2021 Mhmm. We had, I think it was 19 teachers of the '22 we had were making $85,000, and and that was in '21. Mhmm. So now we're going, you know, what, that's five years ago. They're probably at a 100,000 now, and that's most of the teachers. And so how many full time how many full time equivalents do you have? Like, equivalents you have? Instead. 35? I'm saying we don't need to add another center. We've the teachers are very good teachers, and they can handle the sixth graders don't want a lot of parents following them around or or teachers following them around. They probably want the large class.
They probably it's twenty six Two things. Did you listen to the teachers tonight? I did. Well, I want Well, the teachers said the same exact please. Like, they read it from a script. They said the same exact thing. And and you don't believe that they were sincere, that they read it from the script? I you know what? If they're Ours is true. Excuse me. I'm a smart singer. I've I've been a teacher too, Jerry. So just so you know, you're not the only person that's that's been a teacher. I went taught tons of kids. $1.01 $1. And it and At school? It was at a church. So Oh, at a church. Every every Sunday, I taught a bunch of kids. And I'm telling you, you know, when you have a bunch of kids and they're all different Yeah. Right? We It's so what I'm saying is There's a lot of hold on, Just That's funny. I was just saying that when you have a lot of kids, especially when they're older,
they don't want to be babied. They The experts are the teachers, and they know what the kids need, not a Sunday school teacher. Like,
an elementary school teacher, a certified master's level credentialed teacher knows what an elementary school teacher need and what what elementary school children need. So please don't equate being a Sunday school teacher to knowing what an elementary
It's an I just care. Let me respond to what you just said, like, carefully. We have a superintendent who We hire. Works who's our employee. She's our sole employee Right. Who is hired and works with our finance person to come up with a budget every year. Mhmm. Right? Mhmm. And they look at all of the different students who are gonna be in all the different grades. We have a wonderful way to be able to do that because we have such a small school. It's not that sixth graders don't wanna be followed around. It's what do we need to educate our sixth grade students, knowing the needs of those sixth grade students. So specific sixth grade students who have been in separated classes
for the past, what, four, four years? Knowing what's coming after that,
we have been it's been advocated that we hire another student because not only excuse me. Teacher. Thank you. We don't need any more no. We need more students. Anyway, because not only of what this sixth grade needs, but what fifth and fourth grade coming after that need. Because what I know about the superintendent having worked with her during COVID is that we didn't make a mistake that a lot of other schools made and hired a significant number of paraeducators and teachers to address the needs during COVID and then have to look at firing them. So what I know having sat here for ten years is this. We have an incredible faculty. We have an incredible faculty that we have to pay because they continue to wanna work here. It is to our students' benefit that we have teachers who have been here twenty, twenty five years. They wanna be here. We have an incredible questioning that. Saying we don't need to add more.
And We can use That's your opinion based on what, Marcy? Because Okay. So I have an expert here Right. Who tells me that they have looked at all the students going into sixth grade.
And they She's she's for the Oh, well, if I look that She's not hold on one second, Jeff.
I absolutely believe that if Valerie didn't believe that we needed a sixth grade teacher, she wouldn't be advocating for that because Valerie doesn't want to have to ask for an 11% increase nor do I. Had complications.
Well, that's what I'm trying to help us avoid is the is the appetite with the town. And we're asking you, and we're asking Jeff. Okay. I'll go do it. I'll go do You got it. Like, it's just us too. You got K. You got a K. That's it. I just I just can't do data. Can I do data? Do data. Do it. Do data, Jeff. You got you got Okay. Twenty six twenty six students in K, two classes. So what's that? 13 students class? Cannot be considered an I'm sitting
there going through the numbers that are are are they're issue related to the time because it's it is about students. And and, unfortunately and, unfortunately, it's about teachers. Okay. Because my wife my wife many years, when she was not a a a tenured teacher, got a pink slip. Every year for Manchester, she would get a pink slip, and she might be fired at the next year because they have a budget issue that they have to deal with and have to deal with teachers. It's a difficult thing. It's not anything any family wants to do. I don't wanna sit there and do this to any teacher. I am telling this group, right, if these increases continue, continue, you are we are going down a very, very difficult road for this community, and that's what I'm here for. I'm only here for that. I'm only here for the overall community. I respect what you guys do for kids. Taylor, you guys and your staff do a phenomenal job. That's not about you. It is not personal. It has nothing to do with anything related to that. It's about the financial health of this community. Right. And if you keep going, if we there's more. Keep going. On on here. Keep going. Can you look look at your paper that you're reading? Yeah. How many classrooms, how many grades have
two classrooms?
If if I'm am I understanding that your line next to the the totals are teachers?
So k says fourteen and twelve. That's two classes. So there are two classrooms. So each column is a classroom. Mhmm. And then Okay. What's how many grade four mean? What's over on four? Four classes.
Four The number of classes. No. That's the number of teachers? No. I'm asking I'm asking your columns. You have seventeen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen. That's pre K, there's four classes. Four classes. So these are the total these are the two classes. I got it. I got it. Yeah. Yep. And what's what's the what's next to the total? What's that sum? The total number. Total number of students. No. The last one is the total number of students. Yeah. What's number of classes?
Classes. So I was I was equating those I was equating those to teachers. Yep. There's four preschool classrooms. Right? Yep. Two kindergarten classrooms. So I'm just asking you when you're talking about forecast of looking ahead. Yeah. I just want you to to to look at this very carefully. Yeah. We have two classrooms for every single grade, not including pre K, except for which grade? Sixth grade. Sixth grade only has one class. Yeah. So if we add a sixth grade teacher for next year for these kids that are in grade five that have been in two separate classrooms Yeah. The majority of their education Yeah.
Where else are we gonna add more teachers if you're talking about us continuing to expand?
There will be something else. I mean I mean, so so this is you're telling me if the community agrees to fund a $500,000
increase, there'll be no teacher increases. I mean, you're you're the the I'm telling you when I look at this Yeah. And I know what my kid went through because he was in a class of 22, and they were always one class of kids. That if we add another sixth grade teacher, I personally, on this board, having been on the board for a few years, Shannon's been on for way longer than me, I wouldn't anticipate that we need to add another classroom teacher for quite a long time based on the demographics of our town and the kids moving up from kindergarten all the way through. And you and I would look to the people who are Correct. I I I do I do I do understand your logic.
Right? But you're still dealing with a financial impact. And what I've I've mentally sat there and tried to go with, Caitlin, is, you know, I sit there and what are the grants? Like, really, what are the grants? What did we what did we fund with grant money when it was available when when all the ARPA funding was out there and all the COVID funding was out there and we had this money coming in? And, you know, now you you you have to, as a board, it's your responsibility to sit there and make some hard decisions. And if this is this is an easy decision, what you're putting up in front of the town is an easy decision. It's just easy. You're you're you're taking what and Valerie is not doing anything bad for the kids. Get don't get me wrong. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not about that. She's doing a great job. She's trying to educate the kids the best she can. And as I said, Taylor's doing a great job, her teachers are doing a great job. But that's an easy decision.
It is an easy will go out. Yep. And the parents will have that. Yep. And the parents will help us to decide if they would like the tax dollars to go into the classrooms so that where the research shows that those classes should not be over 22, that in fact, we abide by that. And they will vote, hopefully, to make sure that the resources that we've provided for every other area of the town make its way to the school so that, in fact, all of the needs of the special education and regular education students are met and that our staffing levels remain fair.
And so, Kate, I would just say at this point, it's it's your meeting to to call. I would like to move on. I know Jerry's been waiting a really long time to say something. I I don't have to read this to the truth.
It was my experience as a teacher in a classroom one year in West Hartford as a power professional, and seventeen years in South Windsor as a grade four and grade five teacher. I think a lot of the teachers eloquently expressed what what it is to be a teacher and how you appreciate. It's not enough money, Jeff. There's plenty of fields in this world, in this country, where people can make a lot more money than a classroom teacher. 100% agree. And the other thing I wanted to tell you, Jeff, and I don't say this too often to very many people, but I'll tell you. If you represent the residents of Andover I'm a resident of Andover too. I just wanna tell you something. At every budget referendum, I'm gonna make a confession here, I vote yes, whether it's the town side or the school side. And I vote yes because I want my town, our town, to be at the top of the heap. I want them to be the town that everybody in the is envious of. They wanna go to Andover. In '9 in 2008, my taxes on my property on Woodford Way were $9,748 a year. And then in 2024, my taxes were $11,059 a year. Total increase over that span of time was $1,311. That's an average increase of $80 a year. You look at the number in millions, but break it down. I, as a resident, I'm willing to pay. They want a $250,000
loan roll. I bought it yet.
I didn't. I didn't. I now I'll be honest. I'm a fiscal reserve conservative,
but but this budget, I don't even think it's enough. It's not. It's not. No. It's not. Mean, we are doing I moved to this town about ten years ago, and one of the things I was looking at is schools. If we don't fund these teachers, we are gonna lose those parents who are looking for a good school system.
And I don't wanna get into it, but I'm just gonna say I believe the town got a 16% increase one or two years ago, two years ago. And if we're gonna call apples to apples, Jeff, the bottom line, what Valerie says, it's our turn is it's our turn. Mhmm.
So try not to be decisive, though. I'm not And I compare ourselves to each other because we are all party groups. We are.
Shouldn't do that, though. I think it's part of in town. I I agree with you. I don't think you should do that. Hold on. I just wanna finish my statement. So why I was saying that is because of this. Because Jeff has said for a number of years, it's a third, a third, a third. Right? A third for the town, a third for RAM, a third for AES. Well, you got your 16% from the town. And like Jerry said, I voted for it. Why? Because that benefited the town. Now it's time that we need to invest in the school. And why we need to invest in the school is for all of the reasons that have been discussed for the last couple weeks and the last couple months and many, many years. And you just started coming to these meetings. That's fantastic. But I know you have a wife who's a teacher, and I know that you know about the importance of the investment in education. All I wanna know, and we haven't reached it yet and I don't wanna know it tonight, is what in this budget is rough or not necessary or expendable. Because I don't see anything here, Jeff, and I've sat here ten years now. And you like to say that we never cut the superintendent's budget. I never said that. No. No. No. You like to say that we rubber stamp it. Correct?
That that's what's happened in the last few years. Right. So to me, doesn't that mean that we don't cut it? Because rubber stamping is kind of equivalent in not cutting it, I think. So that to me says that we don't do our job in assessing the superintendent's budget, and we do.
Listen. And, Shannon, the idea I I that's okay. I can I I get that? But what I'm driving at is and and it and it all comes I do business. Right? I'm a business person. Right? So it's about numbers, and it's about how they all fit together. Mhmm. Right? And when you fit them together in this manner, yes, you have small class sizes. And when you sit there and put the full number on the plate for the town and the residents, even though Jerry and I are probably in agreement on a lot of what we've done over the past years Mhmm. Right, I'm just telling you, this is not this this one, this 11% Mhmm. Is a significant number. Last year was a significant number in this town, the way the town works. And you know it changed. Way the town didn't approve of it. Right? So we asked for 8.5%.
We got five, which is why we're coming back and saying, okay. We didn't get what we needed last year. We've already talked about tonight Mhmm. How we don't even meet our repair and maintenance service needs,
so we need more. Yeah. I think it should be higher, honestly. Right. I think the best thing we can do is pass this budget onto the people of the town and go to referendum. If they don't like it, they'll let us know. If they agree with it, they'll vote yes. I'm just worried about the, you know, the reaction.
I don't wanna worry about it. I know. I mean, it's bare bones already. If anything, I would vote that we increase line items. It just feels like whenever, you know, when
you ask for 11%, we ask for 11%, they're gonna be angry and feel like, you know, who are these people? And they're, you know, asking for more and more every year. It's, you know, it's hard. It's hard. Five years where it has gone, and he increased so that decreases. You guys are Listen. You have decreased the numbers, and you've increased the point k in a significant manner. That's the most majority.
I think at this point, we're certainly majority of the number. To take a vote. I have here. So there's one thing I took your number. There's one thing I'd like to mention. The the paper that I gave,
Taylor and Valerie had x's on it, and and I wanted to know if the preschool kids have anything to do with those line items. So, like, the first one is speech. Do you have an x next the superintendent? You have an ex next to superintendent. Right.
You have things to do with the preschool kids. Right? If we did not talk about preschool, you would have a lot lot more time on your plate. Right? Shoot. No.
No doubt about that. So you'd still get money. Wait. Take it. You'd still get paid the same amount of money. Correct. I know. But what I'm saying is correct. Let's move on. It doesn't but it doesn't doesn't it doesn't answer the question. Think I would get paid paid a different amount of money if there was no preschool here. I'm just saying you would have less work to do. But then then what are gonna do in the contract? And I'll tell you need to move on because that We need to move on in a year. The people discussion is gonna be null and void, and it won't matter anymore. It's gonna be funded by the state? Matter by the town. We hope so. More funded. And what I'm saying So I would I would like to call for a vote on the budget. We do fine. Can we move the question? I'm I make a motion.
I want I mean, I make a motion and a recommendation that we approve the budget for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven year that was given to us by the superintendent Valerie Bruno.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We need to vote by vote. Yeah. Okay. I second the motion. We got a second motion. Okay. For the minutes, do you want the amount?
$599,000. Her $99.09 91 and 40¢ increase. Increase. That's the increase. So 5,063,651 for the twenty sixth, twenty seventh full year. I'm we're gonna do the vote as a roll call just for the board clerk. So Brie? Yes. Alicia? Yes. Shannon? Yes.
Mary? Yes. I see. Okay. Six four, one against. Okay. K. We're gonna move on to the energy update and next steps. This refers to the energy efficiency upgrades through our resource lighting and energy that was a program with Eversource. There There's a photocopy of the estimated summary of savings. Like, you wanna pass that one down to Jeff. There's one in front of every Oh, except I have He didn't get it. I have that one in the packet. Do know? Yes. Yep.
Yes. Okay. Can you give me K. But I think it anyway. They're
they're So last question. Did anybody talk to Chris Ward, who's the electrician that I guess he changed a bunch of the LEDs.
This reflects the LEDs when they came for the walk through that need to be part of the replacement. Yes. Okay. So it's not all the lights that need Because Ward came last year and only did the ones on the stairs over there. Mhmm. And so it was those were already completed when RLE did the walk through. Okay. And did you ask him for a quote to do the rest of them? We did originally. Before we even looked at this, we did ask him how much it would cost to do the building, and that's how we determined that we couldn't afford to do the building. I don't know. So
I'm confused. Isn't this So Chris from Seaward is not somebody that is working with the incentive program with Eversource.
So if we have someone else do the work, we would not get the incentive? Correct. It has to be a vendor that works with Eversource
because they don't bill us. It goes through Eversource. So to get the Eversource incentive, it you have to go through somebody that does the Eversource incentive. Yes. Okay. So how many vendors are there in the state that could Oh, I I don't know. I I mean, I have no idea how many vendors. Usually, with most of these programs, like, you say, oh, I wanna do the program, and then they assign you to a vendor, and that's who comes in. Or they reach out to you or whatever. But
you have a choice. We have a choice of of calling two vendors. It won't change the Incentive. Incentive at all. Because that's why I change the incentive, but it might change the estimate. Mm-mm. No. It won't at all. Change the quote, and it could change the estimate because this is not a guarantee. Right? The savings, the the the cost that you're
guaranteed. That the Eversource would come and do an audit. And then at that point, they would tell us if this was correct or not.
What was the first part of the what you said? At the at the last month's meeting Mhmm. When they discussed it, they said Eversource,
before we signed a final contract, would come and do an audit and verify that this was accurate, and we would get the
You do know you're not gonna have to go to town meeting on this. It's financed. It's it's paid for by the savings from your electrical.
Correct. So it's just written into our electric like, it's on our Eversource bill. Correct. Is the savings guaranteed? Yes. That was a specific question that I asked with the presentation last month is when after we say yes to them and Eversource comes, just like Bree just stated, and does their, like, other audit, then the savings is guaranteed. Like, it's written into stone the way that it's put into your bill.
Okay. It says annual energy savings, and that's how it's paying for interest. So if that's the case and it's written in stone, we have to get that qualified. It's the same thing as your solar package, am I?
And I might I might be wrong, but I'm just telling you it's kind of a pain program. I don't really see it as that because we're not putting anything on the outside of the building. Like, I think it's stupid to not just vote yes and go forward with this. All we're gonna do is save money. But that's my own 2¢. I thought that last month, and people wanted to think about it more. So Well, we can make sure they're telling us you know, they're not just telling us what we wanna hear. Which is what the Eversource audit would tell us when they If they're guaranteeing it, I mean Yes. I make a motion that we contract with Resource Energy and Lighting for
the incentivization program that they've offered to Annerore Elementary School through Eversource. Second.
Jerry's not here in the bathroom. Oh. She would wait for him. I mean We can we can wait. I'm sorry. I didn't really No. That's okay. I don't I always I would say yes as long as it's guaranteed. But, yeah, that that was the like, to your point, Jeff, that was the question that I specifically asked the last time because I was like, wait. This isn't what it is? And they were like, no. Eversource would come. They would do an audit. Then they give you the actuals, and what you're signing as a contract, like, guarantees that that is what you will get.
Well, what I thought about was you you have a solar the solar panels. Do you understand what the savings is from solar panels yet? No. No. But that's solar. Now it's on top of that. No. It's it's that's our electrical cost. So it's there's a lot of layers to this. And if it's guaranteed, that is a definite do it. I I would vote for this. Yeah. Right? Which I can't, but I would vote for this if it's guaranteed. If it's not guaranteed,
then you're probably gonna have to go to town meeting. Yeah. That was specifically why I asked that question. I was, you have to go to town meeting anyway, wouldn't you? Because it's I I don't know. I don't know. I'd have to see the documents.
I I think that would be determined based off of the actual Eversource audit, but I based on what they said, it doesn't sound like it. I mean, it's a $177,000 program.
Actually, it's more than that. No. It's $1.77. Customer cost. Customer cost, $2.04 2. Financed at $2.90
$2.29 55 a month, and and they're coming down and they're saying that's your financing cost. And they're saying it's financing costs. Yeah. And then they're saying monthly energy savings, and they have an asterisk, but I don't see the other part of the asterisk. Payback calculation does not include O and M savings. Got it.
I move the question, and then we can ask Jerry if he will ask Jerry. Okay. When the time's back. Bye.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. So we're Dip zero. Pending. So, Val, you can reach out to them for next steps. Okay. So bathroom project update. You guys will all see a little packet in front of you. We have quite a few different estimates from a few different companies. So I I just tried to make, like, a spreadsheet on the top with all the different, like, total cost estimates. Most of those companies ask for a contingency anywhere between 35,055, really just based on what their estimate was. So if you're thinking total ballpark cost, it would be the cost estimate plus the contingency. The average of all of those together is about 350,000. And then we did do a walk through this past Tuesday with Downs Construction. Their their estimate was 316 thereabouts. The walk through was informative for me. It's the first time that I've ever actually seen down the scary tunnel where all the pipes are and and really just saw, like, the disrepair of the bathrooms that currently exist in that entire wing of the school. So I personally, I would say my viewpoint is that I'm not really comfortable moving forward with any of these because these are all out of my comfort level and just like, oh, I'm gonna pick the one in the middle because it's in the middle. I'm gonna pick the cheapest one because it's the cheap. Like, I I'm not comfortable
doing that. Well, you look at the detail. You know? You look at the contract and the detail, and, you know, you you put a lot of weight to the person that actually saw the job. You know? And you look at what, you know, what kind of a contractor they are, what, you know, what their history is. There's a lot of variables you look at. You know? Yeah. I I just think
in this case, based on the the wide range of the quotes, But, you know, I do think we we should go back and and get an RFP like we originally
discussed. What'd you say and get an RFP? Go we should actually go through a formal RFP process. Oh, like, put it out to bid? And then yeah. Well, it'd be good to have, you know, the actual design
straightened out. The design is there's no problem with this design set. It's approved. I kind of question because
Buss and O'Neil said that they use the same layout. Correct. So they didn't really do a design because when you
Well, so some things are significantly different if you look at the plans. But they per the things that are different pertain to plumbing specifically because that's the issue that we're correcting. And if I recall, the reason why we use the same layout is so that we wouldn't have significant
cost increases. Correct. Incur more cost to move a wall Yeah. Than work. Yes.
I don't know. I would I would entertain it. You know? Whenever I do a project, I look at the whole thing. And a lot of times, you know, just taking the whole thing apart and making walls, putting things in different places is more cost effective,
and it's a lot better. You know, why would you go forward with something that has doors that hit? I mean, that's just ludicrous. So if you actually go up there and look at them in person because I did the walk through last Tuesday, like, I was there. So two things that were explained to me during that walk through. These bathroom doors, for safety reasons, when kids are in the school and they're using them, they are always propped open. So the main bathroom door is always open. So there would be no interference between that door and the stall door because the bathroom door is propped open. It's not closed. In that specific room, like, the way that the end of the wall is where those two stalls are, where the one door would potentially hit the main door, unless you get rid of a bathroom stall, there's no way to move those stalls so that you
don't have that interference or if you put the door facing the other direction, which I think was, like, an ADA compliant thing for a school. So unless you unless you want to make, at least to me, the renovation costs significantly more money or decrease the amount of bathrooms that are available within the space, like, you're gonna leave that the way it is.
But I don't but regardless of what the plans look like in regards to that, like, is anyone comfortable picking one of these and moving forward with that? I haven't even I just saw this. I haven't had a chance to look at this. You know? It was put on the desk here when I got in, so I haven't even I would look at them more thoroughly and see, you know, if they include everything. And and there's always gonna be a contingency about, you know, what they don't see. Right? Does does anybody have any you know, sometimes they chart they'll tell you how much they'll charge for, like, if they're digging per square foot or linear foot. Yeah. So that that relative range for contingencies wasn't including that? It's just a big number. I'm just saying no. What I'm saying is, you know, if you're digging like, if they have to dig, how much is it per linear foot?
You know, that kind of Listen. Cast iron pipes if they have to dig, we're in deep trouble. They're all encased in concrete. I know. They're all encased in concrete. We we should we should no. That's what we need to know is RFP. And please think about getting the pipes coated. Like, can we do some different
construction method that That's that's not the original pipes from when the school was built? Well, no. You can sit there and take those pipes, and they spray material
inside the cast iron pipes. And but listen. We have other issues that have to be addressed related to this because these go out to this the leach field and are you know, that's where I'm really concerned about it. It gets out the door in the cast iron pipes. They wanna replace all the cast iron pipes. Where does it hit the leach field at what time what what height, what distance? None of that was in the original plans. I would ask you on behalf of of me as a board of select member, first selectman, just go on to an RFP and save your guy save all the aggravation that you guys are gonna deal with if you don't.
Yeah. It could be a can of worms, or it's kinda it's really scary. You know? We we need to address the the infrastructure of it. How long has this been on hold?
So the the walk through that I had was a week ago with one company. The all the other estimates
I mean, how long has it been on hold? That's how long it's been hold? Since Before January 2025. Maybe.
You signed the original document. You had the original work going on with Fuss O'Neil in January 2025. This has been a long project, long time. Then then it came in and you signed the document with Fostenoneo. Then in September, October, you you pivoted on that, and now you were here where I I think the the plans I think the plans were complete in September. September. Perfect. It's been a full year. But, Jerry, don't say that we wanna rush
into something. I'm not saying. You could do the RFP and get this done in the summer. The other the other thing that I did learn at the walk through, just so everyone is aware in terms of a standpoint of time, was that because of the hazmat study that was done and the fact that there's lead paint, none of the, like, demolition can be done during when school is in session. Like, it has to be a summer project, and that wing of the school has to be closed. So, yes, we're in a position right now where, like, we need to make a decision within, I think, the next month or so from experts or so I've been told, in order for this to be completed during the summer.
Katelyn, so Eric Sanderson's on. I just Good. I don't know if I'm free to speak. Thank you. I just want joining us, Eric. So Eric Eric was helping us just quickly Eric. With getting estimates.
Yeah. So so I think we have a really big discrepancy between all the bids. And I don't think that we have a streamlined invitation for people to be able to give us proper bids. Right? So
I think one of the things that we should do, and I don't mind doing this for the town, is creating a traditional RFP, and I can give it a sample and pull it up on the board right now if we want a screen share, but it's making sure that every contractor is bidding to the same exact thing. Right? So in that situation, there'll be an RFP. There'll be a specific date and a time. They have to drop off a sealed envelope to the town. They will have to then go through all the documents that are listed in the RFPs, and this will include everything down from the hazmat report, right of the abatement, to each drawing section, some type of milestone schedule that the the town wants to or the school wants to put into it. Obviously, no parent wants their kids to be sitting there through an abatement. Right? So it's a summer project, and that will honestly decrease costs by stating it's a summer project. So, you know, if if we had to put up temp walls and negative air machines and and all these things because kids are in school, it's gonna increase those costs dramatically. So, you know, I have an example if you guys want me to screen share it, but it's very simple. You you have terms and conditions. You have
order of precedence. So so this document is better than this one. If there's a contract negotiation issue, you know, the drawings will be precedent over the terms and conditions based on what it is. So there's a lot of things that can be done in an RFP, and this is one RFP that I did for a about a 1,700,000,000 project for, electric boat. So it's the same RFP I use for those contractors, And I would suggest, like, you know, we can use the same terms and conditions, but, also, we need to make sure that, you know, in this RFP that we're stating all the rules of the school. Right? So even if it's summer, there's still gonna be some cool programs. I have kids that go there. Right? So we need to make sure we have that included, and the contractors understand that as well. So I don't think it's great to jump into something right now based on the big difference between all these contractors, and I don't think they really have the scope of work down correctly. And the reason being is, is this project prevailing wage? Is this project have to be bonded? Right? So those are questions we need to know so everybody's on the same playing field when they're giving you a bid.
So if if we have to do a payment and performance bond, that's a two and a half percent of the total contract value that needs to be given. And that's gonna make sure that the contractors can't go back and lien your property, and make sure that they can go and do the work, and you guys are not responsible for any thing that comes out of it. You know, in my yep. Opinion Yeah. Go ahead.
Yeah. In my opinion, I I think there should be a payment and performance bond on this just to protect the school and the town, from the contractor, but I don't think it goes and qualifies into prevailing wage. So because that would increase the cost by about 30%. So it it would be you know, you're under a million bucks. We didn't have to do prevailing wage on the, community center, so it it's you shouldn't have to do it. And, Jeff, I see you laughing. What's what what? No. Taylor's Sorry? Taylor's Taylor's making me laugh. I need a face as if I'll send you back. He's selling me prevailing wage. Oh, 30%. I said unions. Yeah. You don't you don't want that. Yeah. We we don't need to do that. But keep the same Like, at the end of the day, are all the contractors bidding this thing the same exact way? Right? That's the point of a specific RFP that includes all the documents. You can hold them contractually to it. So, you know, I I I think that's the way to go. And I think it's in the best interest of literally the school and everybody to make sure we save the right amount of money to get this done. I I I do think Fuss and Neil Neil's drawings are are very good.
I think there's always gonna be issues on a project. And those are gonna come out during the RFP process because we're gonna give a time for the contractors to represent their RFIs. And those kind of costs or change orders that will be done in the future get get weeded out during that process.
Eric, so I guess I have I have one comment and one question. The comment is just for those who are writing things in the chat so that you guys are aware, the RFP process is not part of the original Fosunomial contract. We were not paying them to to write the RFP and administer that. We were paying them for what they've done so far plus the discussion and support. Yeah. So I I believe that because a a couple people have misstated that we were paying Beth and O'Neil for the RF. So I
I I think what at some point you did is is you created a a CS agreement, which is a construction services agreement with Fuss and O'Neil, which means during construction, they will handle RFIs. They'll handle job site issues and all that stuff. So that's usually a CS agreement, and it's typically a small amount of 5% of whatever the contract value is. Question that I have is,
if we were to go through a formal RFP process, as the school, is that something that you would help us with as a volunteer and a taxpayer slash town member?
Yeah. 100%. It it it mainly used to only be my job to do these types of things. So it's very simple. I have you know, we would obviously have to merge town terms and conditions and stuff like that. But I have a very good RFP, like I said, in in the billions, that we use for national security projects and stuff like that. So it's a really tight knit thing that, one, keeps the contractor on the hook for specific things that he doesn't state in it. Right? So you can in mine, I have a qualification exclusion page. Like, they can they have to fill it out at the time of the RFP and qualify and exclude anything that's not included in their price. So if they go and try and change order you later, it's already spelled out. Like, they they can't come and change order you for something if they've already excluded it. So by doing this specific document in this RFP, it saves the town money. It protects the town. It protects the school, and it's just a good way to do it, especially when you have this big of a gap,
between the pricing. Right? Because nobody's gonna go sign up a guy that's 228,000 when you have you have another price for 416. It it just throws out red flags. I I would say a 228 k bid when everybody else is above 300,000 is an unqualified bid. It just doesn't make sense.
Yeah. Does anyone else have questions for Eric or anything about project? Would anyone like to call any kind of questions? I'm gonna screw this out, but
I would like to make a motion to, go to a formal RFP process. And if Eric is willing with it, no.
Yeah. I have a draft already made with the school picture on it. Obviously, we can change things as we do it. I would like to make sure, and maybe I can talk to Jeff and and talk to this to Val to make sure, like, some of the school's conditions are met and put into the RFP. Right? So there might be specific times with cool and deliveries and all those things that you have to keep in account. So maybe kids are being dropped off the cool in the summer at 07:30AM, so we're gonna ask for no deliveries at 07:30AM just for that fact. Right? So on those days, you know, we have to have the deliveries around 08:30 or nine, and that's a typical thing that contractors have to deal with. So it's it's it's not like we're asking for something out of the blue or or more than should be, but, you know, making sure we capture all that stuff in the RFP is important.
RFP process, like, it would it would come through the school, not not through the town. But I I don't I mean, not the semantics thing. So read your motion again. Read. Oh, you want me to repeat it? Yeah. I make a motion to go to a formal RFP process with Eric's help, and RFPs would be And the RFP.
It's collected on the school. Great. Is there a time limitation which we have a deadline?
What do mean to get the Like, when the RFPs would be submitted by? Yes. Be too, but I'm not the expert. If
I can jump in real quick. So, typically, in an RFP, you have your main page. Right? So that's the cover letter explains the project, all that stuff. Then you get into a few different elements of it. So in this case, we would have an RFP. Right? So we would have to do a walk through with all contractors. And I think the best thing to do is make it mandatory. And if they don't come and they're not on the sign in list, we cannot accept their bid. And the reason for this is because they could potentially come back later and say, oh, we didn't know this was the existing condition or something along those lines and try and get you for a change order. So I think making a mandatory walk through is important. The next thing we do is we create a a milestone schedule, along with an instruction to bidders. So the instruction to bidders can be like, hey. You have to have a payment and performance bond to make sure the town building can't get leaned. Although, I don't think you can lean town buildings, but I still think it's important
to pay that two and a half percent over the total project cost to have that. Then we get into a milestone schedule. And this is a simple schedule, but school's out. They need to mobilize the day the school's out, and they need to finish
within a week. Can I ask a question? Yeah. Eric, Brie's question was, how long would it take to execute all this? And what Jerry's asking, how long would it take to get the RFP in place? What would be an appropriate schedule for bidding and for walk throughs and everything you need? How soon can this get accomplished?
Yeah. So the the RFP would take me probably about three days. I have most of the documents. I have the hazmat stuff, everything. I have the format of what we need to do. So three days. Right? So you could say by, let's say, end of week next Friday, we get it out to bid. I think thirty days isn't a reasonable time for contractors to go ahead and bid this. I think after day 15 of those thirty days, they need to have all their requests for information in. So RFIs. Right? So anybody that sees a clash or anything to do with any of the construction of it. Right? So putting it together. So those RFIs would be due on day 15. We would have to talk to Fuss and O'Neil to make sure they could turn around those RFIs within five days, and then the contractors would have an additional ten days to take those and capture the additional costs into their final proposal. I think it should be a sealed bid. Then I think we should take two weeks as a town or committee or whatever we wanna do to review it.
We should take two of the lowest bidders, potentially three, bring them in for interviews. That's another week. So altogether, I think we're looking at six or seven weeks before we could issue a contract, which is plenty of time to start to gear up and and get all of our information to pull our our, hazmat permits and all that stuff because sometimes it hap hazmat permits can take, like, forty five to sixty days. So Okay. You know? So that gets us in a good position to get it started by summer. And, you know, it's yeah. This is not a big project. One thing I will say is I think the project will move faster with a smaller contractor rather than a big contractor. A big contractor, you're gonna get really good professionalism. But when you're trying to get somebody that does the 10 to $20,000,000 projects for every project, This may take a back burner with them, I've noticed.
So a smaller, well defined contractor would would probably get this done over the course of the summer. A bigger one, feel that would probably draw things out because they can, and they have the money to do so. So that's my advice is probably go to a mid level contractors and, you know, maybe Fuss can give a couple more people. We can make this a public bid. Right? So we'll get a lot more bids than we currently have, and, you know, we'll get this thing on track for summer.
All of the reasons said eight to twelve weeks. All of the quotes that she got, all of these say eight to twelve April. Okay. So so the question is if she made a motion and she said an RFP to be completed by April 30 and construction to be completed by what date? I don't think you can put that in a motion. I don't think we put that in motion. That the board is voting on is a motion to go out to the RFP and include Eric Sanderson, to help with that. Agree? Yeah. She made the motion. Someone seconds it. I'll second it. Sherry asked the question.
Sherry asked the question. He did. He he asked about timeline, but that's okay. Just vote on it. Let's go. Okay. He he seconded it. So So so I do I do have a question, though.
Is it gonna get posted? Right? How are you gonna make this a public bid?
Boston O'Neil supposed to assist us in that. That's part of that. I mean, where would you host it? Caitlin, we'll need to reach out. You'll need to reach out. Yeah. Reach out tomorrow. We got that. Yeah. It doesn't need to
From what I see, typically, it gets posted on a town website. So when I bid on things, I bid them on a town website. It doesn't matter if it's for a school or a park or whatever it is. So my question is, Jeff, is is the town gonna be able to to to handle that and and and get that bid out on on on, like, a public forum? Yeah. Just like you did with the bridge and everything else.
Okay. So we we would cross that bridge after we actually vote and we can vote in if it's actually happened. Okay. So Brie made the motion. Jerry seconded. Any further discussion? Marcy, Sharon, Alicia, Janet? K. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Sorry. Raise your hand if you're in favor. Aye. Okay. So four. And you're in favor or you're not? You seconded.
I'm in favor of the motion as it was stated here.
Yep. That's what we're voting. Yeah. That's what we're voting on. Okay? Okay. All opposed? K. K. So motion passes five two. K.
We'll move on to comments from the public. Ask if anyone has a Does anyone does anyone have a comment? Raise your hand. Use the hand. Yeah. That's good. Hand. So raise your hand. I would like to speak. Yeah. Go ahead.
So first of all, Val, I wanna thank you. Taylor, thank you. Board of Ed members who support us all the time, thank you. This time I'm speaking from the heart, not from a script. Some of you know me well. Some of you don't know me. Some of you, I've had your children in my class. Some of you, I've had your children in archery. I had your children back in the day where there were small class sizes. I knew your children. I knew how they learned. I knew their families. I knew their hobbies. I knew what motivated them. I had a connection with them. They had a safe place to learn. They wanted to do well for me. I knew exactly what they needed. I didn't have to look at benchmark testing.
It was personalized instruction. It was the best possible case scenario. Last year, just to put it in perspective, last year, the third trimester, I taught 77 students a day. 77. This year, I see 42 students. I teach sixth grade math in the morning, where I have 14 students. I teach ELA to 29 students, which the room is physically not even big enough for the 29 students. It's a challenge. And then I end my day with thirteen fifth graders for math. They're all wonderful children. I love what I do. It's frustrating to me that I don't have the time to do what I need to do with each and every one of them. I thank all of you for your hard work. This was a hard meeting. It was it was hard to even just sit here and hear everyone's comments, but I appreciate all of you. Thank you. Thank you. That's all that? Yeah.
I just wanted to comment on something I heard here. Jeff mentioned the he he brought up bullying, but his very use of tell well, his his telling Sharon Rock, same rock, that stop talking is an absolute form of bullying on its own and is not appropriate to these meetings. That's it. Jenny, Morale?
I agree with Lisa. My heart goes out to all of you who are working hard hard hard to come to agreement through discussions, and it was some tough discussions, difficult to see the tensions that were rising. But on behalf of our entire staff, that's the certified staff, the noncertified staff, every single person in our school, from the bottom of our heart, thank you for standing your ground. Thank you for discussing the different things, and we appreciate all that you are doing for us. I know that the decisions that are going to be made will continue to be tough. It's not easy for us, you know, or I should say you to to manage these things and to decide what is important over something else.
I know we will make it through regardless of which way it goes, and hopefully, it will go the way that we all want it to. So thank you to all of you.
Thank you. Wanna go to the second page? Although I doubt Yeah. It'll tell you at the top. Is
there anyone else on Zoom that, would like to make a comment
if their hand isn't in? Hey, Caitlin. I can't find it's Joanne Hebert. I K. I can't Joanne. Thank you. I can't find my raise hand thing. I'm desperately try listen. To everybody that spoke tonight, I mean, everybody was speaking heartfelt. Budget season is always going to be difficult in any town. You know, it's really not to be taken personal. I think people that are here are just trying to be involved, trying to listen, trying to be part of it. Obviously, I work in a school. I love schools. Understand that these times and, you know, budget cuts are are tough. But, yeah. So I I don't want anyone to take it personally. I think everybody just has a job to do. I'm not on the board of finance anymore, but I'm still very involved and want to hear all the discussion. So it's just gonna be a tough time, but know that the school and the work that everyone does, everyone is appreciated. One of the only thoughts that came to mind when all that conversation was going on, but you didn't have the number of teachers in any of the classes was, obviously, if you need a new sixth grade teacher, maybe rearranging some of the classes that have smaller sizes. That was one of the thoughts. Other than that, thank you so much for already having pivoted to back to the RFP process. My only thought on that with being on the board of finance was I thought that when we approved that contract
for the forty eight six or whatever it was, forty eight thousand six hundred, you know, and maybe I misunderstood because you said out loud, I thought that Fuss and O'Neil was going you know, one of the services they were providing was the whole RFP, you know, budget process. I loved, the gentleman that spoke tonight. I learned a lot. I always like to learn. He explained the process. It's great that he's involved. So good luck with everything. That's all. Because I don't think you, as the board chair, Caitlin, should be having to you know, I wouldn't be an expert at dealing with the contractors, so I'm glad we're putting it in some experts' hands. Thank you.
Thank you. And for May? Melissa. Sorry. Oh, Melissa. Let's ask you.
Hi. I also just wanted to reiterate what Jenny and Lisa said. Thank you to Val and for our supportive board members. Before Val came in, the staff was not in a very healthy place, but Val has been extremely supportive of us as a staff and has always done everything she can to help us. Taylor showed those scores of how well our and successful our kids are, have been recently. And I think that goes to show how much happier our staff is now and how dedicated they are. So I just wanna say thank you again for the support. K. Anyone else that we missed?
K. I make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of interpersonal BOE communication and BOE self evaluation and to invite the superintendent to join the executive session.
K. It is 10:20. Okay. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. So
is it recording? It is recording. Yeah. Shannon made a motion to come back out of executive session at 11:27PM, and Jerry seconded seconded that motion. We need to amend the previous vote for item eight b, which was the energy update and next steps to be a vote of seven zero zero to include Jerry's vote as a positive. In terms of our next upcoming meetings, our regular board meeting is March 11. And our plan is to finalize the 9,000 series at that meeting. So hopefully, we will get a copy. Well, I so I wanna apologize on the record, and I'm glad you said that. I
have almost all of them done in a matter of me working with Diane to get them to all of you. Yeah. And that's been really, really difficult, so I apologize. I wanted to get it done. I just couldn't get it done by last Wednesday, and it's a matter of when Diana's available to work and when I'm available to work with Diane. So we're gonna have to cross that bridge somehow. Yeah. And I will I will get I will make it happen. Okay? We need it printed, could it be electronic? No. I'm trying to even get it electronic. I mean, But Diane needs to revise it and put it in the format, and so it's a matter of Diane and I working together. Fantastic. And that's been tough to bring about.
So, hopefully, we'll get there for our next meeting. Gonna get there. And then just a reminder, the town town meeting April 9. Is April 9. If everyone could try to be there, we're gonna try to see if we to do. I board of education, like, informational session at least, like, a half hour prior to the actual town meeting. Great. So on the same night. Oh, that's fantastic. That's Yep. That's that's the whole Awesome. Great idea. We've offered it before. Okay. Never one person show up. Never did it on the same night, though. Okay. Listen. That's why it came by because they're yeah. That's not good there. Okay. Russell O'Neil, project. Next meeting.
It will probably next next meeting would be an update of what Eric Sanderson RFP. Has done and where that RFP process is.
I make a motion to adjourn. How about that? Is that okay? Yeah. Second it. Okay. It is 1129. K. Mercy seconded. All in favor? Aye. Thanks. Stop the recording. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah. You done?
Not yet. Hold on. I think did you hear what?