Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
April 8, 2026 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Now we're good. Okay.
Good evening. Tonight is April 8, and this is the regular board meeting for the Andover Board of Education. We can all stand and say the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and the Tudor Republic, where it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Hopefully, we'll keep this a relatively short meeting. It's my only opening statement provided that we have the town meeting, which is very important tomorrow night. So I hope to see you all day. Comments from the public. Carrie Gilbert. Nope. All set. Thank you. Amber Pritchard. All set. Thank you. Melissa Latoska. I'm good. Thank you. Kathy Hartnett. I'm good as well. Thank you. Sunny Morrell. Nothing for me. Thank you. Amanda Beloine? No comment. Thank you.
And for May? Christina Fraser? Okay. Thank you. Public comment. In terms of communications, I only have one thing to report since our last meeting, which is we did receive a letter from a community member and parent that was sent to, I believe, the Board of Finance, the Board of Education, and the Board of Selectmen in support of the school budget and in support of the school. That's the only communication we have aside from stuff that's not addressed elsewhere. Does anyone else have other communications?
Nope. Nope. Celebration. We have a celebration in front of you guys, and miss Jenny Morell is on, so this will be wonderful. In front of you, you see this building bridges towards success article. This is in the NIAC magazine, which is a preschool magazine for accreditation. And, it was a story that was yep. A story that was precipitated on the research of Lori Blake who, you know, has served this town in many capacities. She had children that came through here, and are up at RAM. She's an Andover resident. She's doctor Lori Blake. And as part of her research, she had been doing some work in Jenny Morell and Leslie Barone's class, and the three of them have put together this article. Jenny's on here. So, Jenny, if you'd like to say a couple of words about it, we are very proud. I love the fact that this highlights the early childhood program here. Miss Jenny?
Hi, everyone. The timing of this was perfect because I've been anxiously awaiting for the publication of this, and I just got notification this afternoon that they sent it. So, it's very nice to be able to celebrate this with all of you. There was a lot of work that went into this, both in the present moment and then just thinking back on years ago when I was in the kindergarten classroom and Leslie and I collaborated a lot. And it's just very fond days that I look back on those days and how we set things up to make an easy transition for the kindergarten kids. And I felt like at the time, it wasn't, like, the buzzword or in the news quite as much as it is these days. So maybe we're a little ahead of the game. But, amazing the things that we had done together, and it was so nice to have it featured
in an article. Laurie worked really, really hard with this, and it was many hours put in. So I'm glad that it all paid off and has been noticed in such a well known magazine. It's really exciting. That's super awesome to see. Fantastic. Thank you.
So it's hot off the presses for all of you.
Can do my cell I want I'm gonna celebrate JA Day. Do wanna wait? I mean, either way. No. Do it in celebration? Do it Okay. So we had junior achievement. So I'm just gonna share really quick because I have some nice pictures
to remember how every time, I think. I know how to do this.
That's helpful. Alright. All these things out of our way.
So Junior Achievement, if you're not familiar, is a nonprofit organization that comes in and works with schools around the country, but certainly here. Here's I'll tell you a little bit about them. But just so can see, these are a picture of all of our volunteers. So these are community members, parents, city communities, citizens, people who are employed in the world of financial literacy, really anybody who is interested in giving back to kids. So junior achievement has three pillars. So they focus on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness. And it's pretty cool. Again, go away. Why do they make it so hard on Zoom? Alright. I give up. And what happens is the volunteers all come prior to the day, and they receive training with junior achievement on how to implement the curriculum. It's all created for them. And then they come in and spend the whole day. We did it on our actual our half day, our conference day, in k through six. So we had volunteers in every single classroom. They come in, and they teach all of these really engaging engaging lessons and games on all these three pillars. So it's very exciting, and we have some pictures to show you. So in all the way in kindergarten, and so they talk about kind of those initial community helpers, but also that financial literacy, like what job you make, how you get paid when you work, things like that, which is really cool. I walked in one room and they got to you know, they're, like, picking their job for the day. I'm gonna be a veterinarian or I'm going to be, you know, whatever it might be.
And in first grade, this cute little video because you'll see the excitement. Even the delay, the lag, they're like jumping. That's a reaction to what? So
this was a game where they got to roll the dice and decide what career they were going to be in for the day, and it was just like Gambling for a while. Yeah. Then they were just Yes. It's like a game of life the whole day. So it was really cool. And these were volunteers. Actually, these were from the bank. Right? These employees from which bank? Bank, which was really neat, and they come in and spend it. And our our teachers stay in the classrooms, of course, and are helping with the engagement, but that was pretty cool. This is repay then that we had in second grade, mister Latasca, mister Joe Doran, and then third grade. Lots of third grade volunteers. And, of course, so you'll see here, like, a map. It starts to the curriculum grows in sophistication to think about what parts of your community are fourth graders. You can see, like, three d building right here. Fifth grade, and then, of course, sixth graders. So it was a really cool day. And then Doris, if I don't know if you saw, but in this,
she wrote a great editorial about the process and the program and just a really neat connection between. We're often always talking about the connection between parents, which is great. We had a lot of parents, but this isn't just parents. It's really community members, surrounding areas, and companies. So it was really cool to see that. So thank you to Luis Mendoza and Christina Fraser. He had brought the idea to us, and Christina really ran with it and facilitated. So it was very, very successful, and we're looking forward to continuing in future years. And what do their numbers go to the next one? Sure. Please do. Yeah. No. I want for the financial literacy. Yeah. Yeah. You you would be a great fit. It's really fun. Great fit, Shannon. You would love the kid. I know. I spent field day. I know. That it was really cool. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. How do I stop? I know how to do
There we go. So that's my celebration. That's great. Okay. We have approval of minutes from our last regular meeting on March 11 as well as a special meeting from Monday. So if you wanna take a minute to look through this stuff. Monday.
Which I'll take a second just for the people who are watching. We are still we do still have advertised the position for a board clerk. So if there's anybody that's interested, by all means, please reach out to the school. It's one meeting a month, normally, and somebody can do it remotely as our last board chair did. So, little little push there for that.
I make a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of 03/11/2026. Thanks. Second? Alright. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Marcy? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay.
Next, we're up to opportunity to add or delete agenda items. I don't think we're adding or deleting this tonight, but I do have a question regarding
the policies that we were working on in terms of the whole series and kind of where our status is. Where our status is is working with continuing to work with Diane. I'm going through the ones that only required minor changes. Now we have to bring back that was gonna get me a couple policies from Cade. Okay. That's where we lost. So I think we need to go through and maybe do the easy ones and get them to you on time. That's where the rub comes in. Okay. So
do you think for next month, we can put it back on? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Back in the Yeah. She had it.
Yeah. So yeah. So so during the financial report, we need to add that there may be a motion for actions. 70. So under 70 possible action. For for transferring money to be able to pay bills. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All in favor of adding that to 70 as a possible admin? Aye. Aye. Okay. K. K.
Anything else for adding or deleting? Terms of an oral report, I don't really have much to say aside from really just I hope that everyone's been able to keep keep tabs on what's going on with the board of finance and the town side of things as well as what's been going on with RAM. There's a lot of moving parts, and there's a lot more information going around this year, especially in regards to the RAM budget than what there has been in years past. So if you haven't read up on that stuff, I would recommend just getting informed about it.
They've been really good about getting the videos uploaded to the YouTube channel pretty quickly, which is nice. So if you don't go to the meeting, it's oftentimes up, like, the next day. Yeah. Has been Easy to has been faster. Really fast. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that.
You're make sure. Yeah. I mean, I'll say it again. Oh. Said at the beginning. And then just that we do have the town budget meeting tomorrow night. That early is what I'm saying. At 7PM. So we are not doing the board of education information session at 06:30, which there's been a little bit of confusion regarding that. So just the regular meeting at 7PM.
Well, okay. A couple of things. So alright. Which way? Direction. Alright. So under grants, nothing new to tell you. We still are waiting to hear about the DRIP grant, when that will be transferred over for us to take care of some of our smaller repair and maintenance things during the course of the year. No news yet on that. We are still waiting for the town to transfer over the second payment of the seed money. Remember, we had received one. The third payment will be coming soon, the end of this month. So we're waiting for number two. Is that we know that the town already received it in October? Yes. Okay. Is there do we need to do something regarding already Jody's already taken care of sending a couple of emails, and we're kind of reminding them that they have it and we need it. So I'm certain that Lisa will get that organized and figured out. It's just a matter of her not really didn't know where it is right now over there. Is there a transition? That's that's, like, 4,300. There's four appointments, about 4,000 each. Yep.
So that's that one. After school grant, as you know, will come to an end at the end of this year, but then we've already qualified for next year's. We do have the people from the after grant, the after school grant program, coming to observe tomorrow to make sure that we've met all of the qualifications, and that a lot of the paperwork that, I wish I could say we did, but Christina did for us. Thank you. And Jen helping with, you know, is all in order. And then, we get our bill out check, and then they say, okay. Fine. You're all set for next year. And then here will be the same amount of stuff in the. So and we did a really good job together. We're all kinda working together, figuring out, like, it was such a lot less than what we were used to that we were so frugal because we were like, we don't wanna run out of money for this or that. So, you know, we always had the pulse, but now next year, we're a little bit smoother in that sense because we're like, okay. This worked out fine. This worked out fine. It's already almost, you know, the end of April, and we're good. So, you know, that that proper planning really, really helped and paid off. And, again, I I I thank the whole team for that.
And those activities have still been filling up, but you do have enough kind of interest in that it's Absolutely. Worthwhile
Yep. Investment. Yep. So and we were also able to offer some of the things that we didn't wanna let go. Like, I know last year, we offered in, you know, Christina was a big advocate for it this year too, having us make sure that we do the babysitting program again, you know, to benefit our kids. And that one's not inexpensive. Yeah. And so we were like, I don't know. So we did it in the spring here, signed up in the spring here so that we were like, okay. Make sure that we have enough money in that budget for it. So it worked out well. You know, we're still not gonna kick a gift horse in the mouth Mhmm. For that amount of money. So then there's a couple of other small things. So we did this one. I know we have the budget tomorrow, but in terms of looking on here and talking about budget, There are a couple things that we had in my original presentation to you guys, that have been kinda challenged in the town of Hebron. Remember I had those two slides that I utilized and said, hey. By the way, these were Hebron slides. We made these. At the time, obviously, that was the most, valid information, accurate information. But a couple of weeks ago, they had new information come out. So they did ask, doctor Beard, Tom Beard, superintendent in Hebron, if he could, offer them new information.
So I thought in my quick time here, I've got about six slides that I wanna run through just to make sure that our information then reflects what they showed this week. They had their meeting last night. Then what's the most on it? Correct. And their budget, I think they had 9%, is going to referendum, you know, as is. But for those people who do pay attention to both towns, I wanna make sure that our numbers still accurately reflect there. So I just put together a couple. Go back. Just a reminder tomorrow that when you get a copy of our budget, our budget is 35 School Road. And I know I point that out every year because I want people to understand that we do not have both an operational and a capital budget. So everything in that budget is 35 School Road, operational and capital, all mixed into one. So, again, this is what we've been using to show that
we do have a need for sixth grade. And, again, I am purposely making sure that I touch on these tonight because I am paying attention to some of the comments that are made, out about in town by taxpayers. And one of the questions is, do we really need to add another class? Because you've got some classes that are 24. Can we just remember, we only have one option, and that option is either 26, for example, in grade five or thirteen and thirteen. And that's where we are going to be as bored as myself as a school looking to the taxpayer and saying, we understand that it's sometimes hard for people to say thirteen and thirteen, but we only have two choices. Mhmm. And that is either 26, which is huge, or thirteen and thirteen. We do not have the privilege of being able to do it any other way. We have two choices. And then you've got 37 coming up the Well, that's not even an option. Yeah. So that's that's what have. Don't we we don't add one. Yes. But but so so that is the point, Shannon, there is collapsing. When we talk about having to collapse a grade, you can see no matter what grade we were potentially to have to collapse, you are talking about 22, 26, 24, 29. I mean, there isn't an option. It's not like collapsing a grade is gonna bring us lower than 22 again. It is not. Yeah. The the only one that's that that would be close is first grade, which would be second graders next year, and then you don't want that. And that's if nobody new comes in. Yeah. Right? So
that that's a difficulty. Right. So, you know, we we do need to stress that for anybody who doesn't realize that we do only have two options. Next one. This one I put in because I do know I don't if you could yeah. There you go. Okay. I put this in there because I do know that, historically, as you guys know in a lot of meetings, the topic of preschool comes up as being a larger percentage now than ever before. Forget about the numbers, a larger percentage. So I created this slide, and I know that it did come up in the town of Hebron as well. And I really, really wanted to show that I went back all the way to 2018. And regardless of how many children were in this school, we have always been looking at roughly that 20%. 21% of the population in this school in 2018 was preschool. Regardless of how many kids were here, they made up 21% of the school. In 2019, they made up 22% of the school. So the percentage of preschool students in this school, those three years, 21%, 22, twenty one percent pre COVID, was always twenty percent or more. That has not changed. We didn't miraculously, all of a sudden, this year wind up with a twenty five percent of the school. Until COVID when it went straight The problem with COVID with preschool, that is an anomaly there. Preschoolers are the only ones in the school that have to have their vaccinations for,
the flu, and that sometimes has people hold those kids out anyways. During COVID, when they were then told your three year old's gonna have to be vaccinated for COVID to come to school, a lot of them said forget it. I'm not sending you back. And by nature, preschool, it was very difficult to keep six feet of web. And so as soon as some of the children wound up getting COVID the first time or getting symptoms or parents just didn't wanna take the chance that their little ones in every school, not just in Andover, where you lost your population was preschool. And a lot of people were working remotely. So they left them home and didn't pay. Yeah. Correct. Because they didn't have to pay then because it's tuition. So that's a great point. So those are the only two years there where we fell below that 20% mark. '22, '23 with only a 175 other kids in the building, we still had 20%. '24, we had 24, and then now we have 25.
But it's also important to see that. Right? Like, the growth from January to January
when you're removing preschool. Mhmm. That's why I made that slide because I I do know that there are people that have said the only growth you've made, which is not a fact, is in preschool. Sure. You can see that. We went from, you know, years ago, 41 kids to 67 gradually, though. But forty one and forty six kids was when we still had just two rooms down there in 2018 and 2019. And then we dropped during COVID, and then after COVID, we went back up. So Yep. And I was gonna say the other thing with the last two years of increases, there was also the age change. Correct. Mhmm. Yeah. So they had to stay in preschool because very good point, Brie, because they're not they can't go to kindergarten till they turn five on September. So this is for us good trend information. And the misconception out there is that our growth has only been preschool, so what do you guys need these teachers for? That's not the case. You can see we have gone up well over 40 kids in k
six. Okay? So this number, this was kind of where I was mentioning, some of the information for, the Hebron presentation had come from. We do keep saying that our per pupil expenditures have gone down, and and I know a lot of people say that can't be possible. It is possible. You can see these charts there from 2020 on through 2425. We have dropped, all the way down to nineteen two zero five when the average in the Durgin Estate is well above that. I'll show you the comparison. This particular slide shows you the food six schools in our region, in Region 8 here. So you can see Andover Elementary School, and then this is separated out, all of the other schools. So it says such as Hebron. It's Hebron l and Gilead. It's Ram Middle and Ram High School. And you can see if you look at the per pupil expenditures, which you guys know I don't love this number, but a lot of people do because it's consistent. They can look it up on the website, and year after year, it has the same criteria. So I get that. So I I don't love it, but I'll use it because it's what people are gonna find on the website for the state. You can see the twenty nine five fifty seven is the middle school Yep. Followed by the high school, followed by Gilead Hill, followed by Hebron Elementary, followed by Marlboro, and then us. And Gilead is the the smaller kids? Gilead's the little one. Yeah. Pre k two. So we are definitely lower than everybody else in the region. Why?
I've been saying this. I do hope that people recognize that this is why. From 2015 till now, over ten years, we've had $244,000 increase. Why? Because five years from 2015 to 2020, we took a hit, a big hit every year. 0% increase. No cost of living adjustment. No money in there for the increase to salaries, which meant that if there was no money in there to pay the increase to the daily living expenses, something else was cut. And then the next year, 45,000, 120,000, 90,000. During the course of five years, there, they took a hit of $418,000 and 6.5 staff members. Now I will say I was not here prior to 2020, and it is perhaps a fact that the town said we need to rightsize the budget because times are tough, and we've gotta put money into other things. And since your enrollment is going down, we're gonna rightsize it. So I'm not here to argue that point. Maybe that is what was best. I wasn't here, but it's possible that it was.
But following that same philosophy then, we have to say that it's time to rightsize it back up and say, if our enrollment now is up 80 kids, 40 in the k six, then it is time for us to right size it back up. Because if you don't, what happens is that loss of staff, if that doesn't come back, you start to see the direct impact on the children, those larger class sizes that we saw, the fact that you're without resources. If you look, the drivers for our increase this year, maintenance of special education. Special education is a mandate. We all know this. So that has to come first. And so if you are putting money into the special education resources that are required, you're taking it from someplace else if there's no increase. Anybody who follows the state legislation, this month, they had their legislative actions. And, unfortunately, we had hoped for increases to ECS dollars. The town of Andover gets 2,000,000. There was no increase. They did not redo that formula. So the town of Andover does get 2,000,000 to pay, for our budget in Rams, but we had hoped that that formula would be redone, and and they kept it flat. Likewise, towns get excess cost. Once you spend four and a half times the cost of per pupil
for one particular child, you could put in for a reimbursement percentage, 60 to 70% depending on the town of that one Of the tuition. Correct. So in other words, somebody has to spend, let's say, a $100,000, and then the 100 to a 125,000 that it costs, they could put in for the 25, a little bit of reimbursement. There are a lot of towns that hoped that that number would go up as well. It didn't. And small districts, all of us, the problem is is oftentimes our per pupil expenditure is higher than a city city that has 17,000. So we have to spend more before we ever even get to put in for it, and a lot of times, we don't hit that number. We have talked about this before, the 21% increase to the insurance consortium. We do not get to shot around
because we are all part of this self insured seven entity member, insurance consortium or nonmember. Go to 21%. This year, it's 16%.
We were at 16%, and then, they came in a little over a month ago with Ed. Had we added it to our budget, we'd be at 12%. Jody and I knew we couldn't add it. So we have to eat that difference. Our budget as is is for next year as presented includes 15%, does not include 21%, which is why we cannot afford to get cut. Because if we get cut, we're already eating that 6% difference. So but we had to make that decision not to come back and and say, let's make it 12 because we know we're already struggling with 11. So, and as I said, the class sizes. I mean, it is obvious that if we have to collapse a class, somebody is getting a class of 24 to 26. Now we also have to when we talk about rightsizing the budget again, we have to be fair. Last year, myself to you guys and then you guys to the town said we need 8.8%, and that included the fourth and fifth grade teacher. It was cut by a 160,000. It did not mean that we were not going to hire the fourth and fifth grade teacher. We had to hire a fourth, fifth grade teacher. So that meant that we're already starting this year on the whole.
And as you'll see with Jody's request tonight, on behalf of school that we are $97,500, in the whole, and we will have to take that out of our 2% nonlapsing account. So, that is the other reason why that can't's been kicked and the budget's not right sized yet, and we're this year gonna have that that eleventh year. Does that exactly correlate?
What do you mean? The 160 that we needed and the 2% deficit that excuse me. The deficit that we're facing.
So, yes, we were able to adjust so far this year about the 60,000, which makes sense because it is normal at the end of the year for us to have a little bit that we put in that account. We just want this year. Yeah. Just a 100,000.
We're absolutely. Yeah. And that ARPA money really helped. Yes. That funding that help is is helping fund the school psychologist back. Okay. Yeah. So
negotiated contract increases. And, again, the advantage for us is we do know that if the Band Aid gets ripped off this year and the budget goes through and we get what we need, we already know because the teacher's contract was negotiated for four years as was three years for the non serve. So we already can project honestly and sincerely next year that we should not see another staff member, and we already know what the increases are to staff for next year. We're not gonna be in a negotiation stage for anybody's contract. And based on increasing that one classroom, like, you won't need more teachers even if we gain more kids. Even if we get 20. Right. So I don't see It'll be a couple of years before we ever even have to look at expanding those classes to three. Transportation, regular, and special education, and then the loss of grants. So these are all of our drivers.
I'm gonna ask you one question. Go back. Just when you talked about special education mandated services, just to review if there's a kid that is older than three, like, in preschool that's getting special ed services, even if we didn't have a preschool, we are still responsible for those. Absolutely.
100%. Can you go back? And, you know, Caitlin, there were times that we were able to not put those special education services in the budget because they were covered with pre k money. And by law, they should be in our general fund, but they if they weren't. You know? So it saved us money because But, really, by law, they should be in the They should.
They absolutely should be in there, and they're not. Yeah. Okay. So as somebody who's been on the board ten years, my recollection of when we were in those years that are reflected in the red is that we were asking for a 0% increase. So did those in fact result in a decrease, or did we ask for a decrease in our budget?
No. Those would be the years that the Board of Finance at the time was making strong suggestions and cutting prior to going to the town meeting.
Okay. So I don't recall our our passing a budget that reflected that. That's what I'm trying to say. I mean, Doctor. Gordon would come in and make her recommendation to us, and the recommendation almost always because we had a decreasing student population was a 0% increase.
So, again, we know that it wasn't done the way it was supposed to be done back then. However, when I arrived even the first year Mhmm. We did not ask for a zero. We asked for money, Shannon, in the 2122. I presented to you guys. You guys approved it. The Board of Finance cut it. It went to town meeting, and the end result was a zero. Okay. So So you're the end results. Those are the end results. Correct. I just wanted to make sure because Yeah. I you know, it's ten years ago. I might have not recalled correctly. And, again, I'm not here to argue that point. No. No. No. I'm just I was curious. I I do believe that oftentimes, you know, when enrollment is down, the town does have to make that decision. Can you either live with that much,
with less, or with zero? And there are times it's appropriate. So those might absolutely have been entirely appropriate to do for those five years. I'm not saying that those red years were inappropriate at all. I'm just saying if if they were right sized then, we have to right size them back now. Okay. Yep. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. And then this was just a reminder for anybody who missed any of our other meetings that, again and I stressed it at the beginning. Our budget is both operational and capital, and it is for all of 35 School Road, which includes everything from, you know, the use of our gym for the town, transportation. We do pay for the town vehicle. All of our special education obligations, all of our supplies, technology, everything is in our budget. And that does make it difficult. And I say that because as we move to looking at some other ones, you'll see that some of the other towns that have multiple budgets, they tend to come in less because they have two places, not only to add to, but also to cut from. We do we we do have to look at the potential depending on what happens with this budget about cutting staff. But more importantly, we definitely will, that's why it's high there, have to merge classes if that goes through, at a less than, what we're asking for. Which may
like, if you have to do that based on what tier students are in, it might mean needing to have additional staff. It would. And that's why Taylor and I have already started to have some conversations,
about what that would look like. Would would there need to be a reallocation of resources in terms of staff, you know, in terms of cutting programming for kids so that staff could do other things? Because the there are certain grades, and those of you who have been on the board long enough know me. There are certain grades that I absolutely believe you could easily have 22 kids in when those kids are all regular education. When 29 like you have in spring this year. You know that I had two years of a two three combo, and missus Fraser taught Wadham and so did missus McAuldrin. I did not those years fight for a teacher because I knew it could be done, and that's what you do in the best interest of the taxpayer during those years. But when you look at the children themselves and you say it's not appropriate for those children, it would be harmful for us to do it. That's when we have to keep fighting like we are this year to say it is not appropriate.
Hypothetically speaking, if you have five kids in one class that are labeled autistic, you put five of them in one classroom five in one grade rather, you put them in one classroom, now we're looking at needing more adult assistance. So it's not even a money saver, and it's not in the best interest of those children or the other children in the class. So we're experts in the field, all of us combined. We've got our special education experts. We've got our principal. We've got, you know, the teachers, and we know when that's not gonna work. And that's why we're saying it isn't going to work for some of these grades. It just isn't. So go ahead. Keep going. Okay. So this was the slide that I really, really wanted to show you. This was the one last time in my presentation that was the 23, 24 slide. Remember? The first slide, we were number key friends. Yes. Presentation. We were number 11 in '22, 23. Mhmm. And then 23, 24, I told you we had dropped to 17. This is the newest number that just came out. We are dead last. Look at us down there. Dead last. We are not spending less per student than Heber and Andover, Marlborough, and Ram. We are spending less than all 30 districts in this DERG. All over the state, you can see them.
That's not a badge of honor. That isn't where someone could say, well, that's where we should be. We should be spending the least amount. This is saying that we are absolutely not keeping up with the expenditures that we need for our kids.
That's sad. I have a question. Is that including the, pre k?
That is reported for all of the enrolled students in every district. So it's reported apples to apples, district to district, Marcy. Okay. So what you see then, and that's why I like this slide. Oh, and, Marcy, this one tells you that DERG c, some of those districts go up to grade eight and some of them go up to grade six. So they do tell you that. These are what they're asking for this year according to self reporting, you know, from the districts themselves for their budgets. And you can see Bethany School District Yeah. Is very similar to ours. I know that superintendent well. They too had had fluctuations in their enrollment, and they're trying to catch up as well. 11.7.
So they're third from the bottom. Correct. Yeah. Even the middle of the bottom. That's nice. Yep. Yep. Mhmm. You can see 8.98
from Hebron, 10.69 from Barhamstead. And if you look on the left side, there are a couple that are seven and above, but the majority of them at the top end of the DERG that have not let that spending go, they're reasonable. And that and and to be honest with you, I want us when we look at this particular slide next year, I want us at at at a very low number. I I want us to to to be looking at the threes and fours just like the other districts. Yeah. You know, that's absolutely where we wanna be, we can't right now because we are dead last in the dirg for spending on our kids. And and this is not an exaggeration. I warn. When you are dead last in the dirg for your spending, you can't be shocked, Orved, if the scores scores are dead. Yep. Exactly. I'm sorry. Didn't hear anything about that. That's exactly where my mind's going. That's I mean, it correlates. Right? So you're gonna see it. And and the staff here is fantastic, and the kids are working hard. And we all know we're making as much progress as we can. But when we look and they say a Marlboro, for example, with a 4.77,
they're second to the bottom. Their enrollment's been stable. They had a couple of principals this year. When their scores come back, if they are better than ours, we can't say to Taylor, well, Taylor, what's going on? Well, Val, if I had this
so we have to be fair. We do have to be fair. But but if you're like that, right, in the bottom for a couple years, that also starts to affect, like, how much our homes are worth and how much we pay in taxes and Yeah. And, like, whether or not people wanna move here.
Yes. We definitely did not wanna be dead last there. We don't. So think the new generation I get emails from families shopping for houses. It's very interesting. Like, they wanna know. The people are looking at all those things. What programs do you have? I get a lot of questions about enrichment, about, you know, those kinds of things, which obviously cost money. Yeah. People are looking.
I think that's it. Yep. Okay. Thanks. So I wanted to show you that because I did see a lot of those things posted about the fact that the data that Hebron had used was older. It was what they had available when they put it together. Let's be honest. This only came out a couple weeks ago. But I did want us to make sure because Hebron showed it this past week, and they said, Andover's dead last. We are. We absolutely are. That is a fact. It is a fact, and that's just not one of those things that we wanna be dead lasting. So so that's my spiel. I'll fall off my horse now, and Don't fall off. You know? Keep on. But I don't care. That one was that one was disappointing for us. Yeah. That was. Because I do know that the town has a level of commitment that it shows progressing a lot of other things in town, and people love that. And they're doing well. And you you hear a lot of people in town say, well, roads are better. Their streets are better. But these other things are better. We have to make sure this is better too. Alright. We're good. Anything on facilities?
Well, we're gonna talk about the bathroom. Yep. So we can get to that. I also told you that we've got a few of those little projects lined up for when I know the drip money's coming in. Yep. And we also did get a phone call that they are ready to purchase materials for that RLE Eversource program that we're doing. We actually had to tell them, I gotta go on hold for a couple of weeks because a couple of those little pipes that they've got a little drip to them. We wanna make sure that those are fixed and that's part of the the projects that we're doing. The drip money. With pipes. Ironically. Ironically. So that way we wrap the pipes, there's no condensation inside of So, you know, we have to make sure everything's perfect if when they are gonna put those put those things in. So that's it.
I just was curious how the solar is going. So
tomorrow is it tomorrow that Jody that Scott said this morning, they were coming to put the things in? Oh, no. You weren't here. Not here. Office this morning. Terry was there. Yes. Scott said that they are coming to do one adjustment to the box that's in the back, the electrical box, and then they, believe that they would be out after that to kinda make approvals. So, hoping that we'll have that one up and running I think with all the bad snow this week Good. Now that there's no snow. I know. Yeah. Many people start actually. I know. Kind of took them a little bit longer than even they anticipated getting that up and running with the 16 inches of snow. Yeah. And yesterday's was that yesterday? Yeah. Oh, that wasn't real spoof. It was. Reeling up in April. So that's it for K.
Yeah. I I don't have a lot tonight. I am on Caitlin's wavelength. We're getting out of here in a good amount of time. But just an update, I will send out an updated calendar to families at April break, but, you know, the board approves a hundred and eighty days. We had some snow days. We don't have to make Yeah. Speaking of snow, some adjustments, so we'll move our last day. We had four to June 17, which is a Wednesday. So I know some districts have had to kind of manage what they're gonna do with holidays and 180, 200 we don't have that. So because we are a hundred and eighty day calendar. So that brings us to June 17. We had a fantastic professional development day on March 20. I believe it was the twentieth. We talked about doing a lot of reading work, and we had Barb Golub, a reading consultant, come in and do looking at UFLY, which is a new phonics program we are utilizing as well as our small group instruction in that tier one, those classrooms. And so just this week, in all of our data teams, teachers were sharing kind of the strategies they've been using since, so that's really exciting.
So that was good. And then we do have a half day tomorrow, just a reminder for any parents, but also that professional development was our last Friday. Oh, got it. Oh, Brie. Brie was like, ah.
Good job, Garrett. Good work, Brie. It is Friday. Well, today is Wednesday. I'll get there. It's a long week. On Friday, and then we'll head into April break. And then, really, the other the last kind of curriculum update will be we're, you know, heading into that fun testing season. So we will be beginning our SBAC testing with three grades three through six. Grade three, we're trying this year. A couple of districts I had spoken to were shortening and doing only about thirty minute sessions with their third graders and just kind of a so we're starting them a little bit early to try that. Sometimes people worry that, you know, we over test kids or if this is a huge burden. The average test taker in SBAC is really only about two hours. It's it's we it almost makes it seem like it's this three month process, and that's just logistically because we're testing a 109 kids, and we want this to be developmentally appropriate. So I just like to I think it's good information to people to realize that it's not a seven hour test by any means. Now certainly some kiddos take a little move, some move a little quicker, but we strategically do spread it out over a few weeks so that it doesn't feel overwhelming to kids. So It's a total of two hours? Yes. Exactly. You know, again, approximate. Some kids do take get longer. No. But thank you for clarifying that because I Always feels a sense of It's Yes. And and I think SBAC will average, if you look at the manual, between sixty and ninety minutes per test. And so they take math and reading. Except our fifth graders, I will add they do take science. So they have three. Right.
In fifth and eighth grade, we don't have an eighth graders, but they'll do that as well. So so, again, just something interesting to think about even though I I and I fear I do the same. I make it sound like it's all month, and that's just in in how we administer. And then we'll end the year. We will do our DIBELS testing, which is that state required reading assessment. It's required in k three. We do k six because we find it valuable to, of course, make sure our four, five, and six. So we will finish with that. But that's, you know, what we start believe it or not, you believe it, we're really in starting the thick of it for planning for next year. That's what the teachers kind of work start centering around, looking at pacing, reflecting on how the year has gone, end of year data, goal setting, class,
all all those kinds of things. So it's an exciting time, but we're looking forward to warmer weather. One more date question for you. Sorry. Just to confirm, sixth grade step up is 06:12. Twelve. Yep. At ten. So if anyone on the
Coming. Yep. So we kept it the week before because we do know it's so hard with snow days. I know families sometimes do plan vacations that are right kind of at that end of school time, so we don't want any sixth graders certainly to not miss their step up ceremony. So we did keep it the week before in hopes that nobody's plan was to leave the day of our projected last day. So, yes, that will be at 10AM. Anyone is welcome to come. And field day, do I get a lot of questions. I know, you know, and board members, may also wanna be field day. We'll be the Friday before the ban. We're keeping that as well just in case that's something you want on your calendar. That's all I have today. Most of them ask questions. Yeah. Jody? Okay. So finance,
you see I put a little memo in there. I wanted you to know I'm encumbering the money. So we did projections. Yeah. I'm just thank you for doing that. Yeah. So I tried to encumber as much as possible the large expenses, but I did want it to be cleared. Like, I have not encumbered every penny. So even though, you know, the final shows, you know, a $76,000 balance, that doesn't mean we're gonna end with the $76,000 balance. And as you can see, the projected deficit is, 97,000. Oh, I have an extra zero in there, 500. So what I'd like, the board tonight, I gave Kate Kate the motion is to make a motion to allocate 97,500 from the 2% nonlapsing fund into the general fund operating budget, the 2526 operating budget. Right now, I'm not allocating these specific line items because, as you know, at the end of the year, it's very common. You we will be moving things around. That is then the town level, school levels, that is what always happens. Or so
we'll be it'll primary primarily be used for salaries, and then a little bit to help with, transportation primarily. But so and I don't know. Entertain any question you have any questions about the the anything?
How much is currently in the nonlapsing? Is what currently in? Currently in the nonlab I think the $2.50, 250,000. So we have about a 150 left.
I'll I'll be honest. I'm very I will be watching in June the bank account very, very closely because this is we will have a cash flow issue as well. And I am harping on the town because that $16,000 in seed money, and we have 4,000 of it, I'm going to need that money to pay somebody's salary. So June is gonna be, you know, June, July watching our account. And we're also gonna have to say to the town, we absolutely need our next year's allocation early in July or else in the past because you had surpluses, you were able to use that cash. Right. But this year, there's not gonna be cash to to use in July. So we will also talk to Lisa about making sure we get that allocation early.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for encumbering what you were able to because it makes it much more real, like, looking at this for where things
actually are. Remember where they will be. Right. Yeah. We don't do 12 payments. We get 10 payments. So they take our budget. They divide it by 10, and we do July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April. And so there is no May and June payments. We do it that way so that it's all in there so that she can encumber because we have those huge payroll at the end of the year for our staff that gets paid for the summer. They call it a balloon check for teachers. And so that money has to be in there Yeah. When we do that. And just, you know, on the grant front too that we are,
you know, getting Reimbursed. Usually, you were reimbursed, but by the end of the year, we can give them our encumbrances, and we can't obviously, can't wait till June 30 to get the money from the state. So that process of drawing down the grants, you know, we're
working on that as well now. They're mostly drawn down. Does anyone have financial specific questions, like, at the summary? One question. I remember
some of the the spots we took from because the budget was reduced last year with salaries, transportation. Was benefits one of those two? Because that's I lost it, but they're under they're negative 20,000 or something. Yeah. I think that must 29,000?
Yeah. I think that must have been an area without cut that. Yeah. That would explain that. Yeah.
Yeah. Which one? Under 30 k. Medical and dental benefits. What's the number? Oh, yes. But But that 29,000,
like, that would be one person who was in the family on an insurance. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not really. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. It did you didn't expect. Remember when we cut, we cut things that we we we knew we're gonna have to take out the 2%. And so we knew that the biggest driver of that a 160,000 was those two teachers. Yeah. So
the other thing was we wouldn't have known at the start of the year if we had somebody retiring. And remember that 15 k is in there for the retirement buyout for $2.40. Yep. That is a benefit. So that can be moved over easily within the same line item. Yeah. So I know it's a year ago we were talking about this, but when we decided which ones to reduce, they were the easier ones. Those ones. Salvage transportation.
The same. Didn't wanna assume. I don't remember talking about that. Right. Okay. That makes sense. Yep. Does
anyone else have financial questions? No. Marcy, you're good on financial stuff? Yes. I'm all set. Thanks. Okay.
Then I would like to make a motion that the Board of Education approve the use of $97,500 from the 2% non lapsing account to authorize the transfer of these funds into the twenty five-twenty six operating budget. Allocation of specific line items will be made by the superintendent and the finance director in accordance with our board policy and state statute 10 dash two forty eight a. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Thank you. Thank you. Us a 150 in there. Is that what you Yes. Right now. Yep. Do we have anything we need on reports?
Yes. Why don't you say no? The CIP met, and we approved a recommendation for the scuba compressors actually in case. For the fire? For the fire department. Okay. Yep.
What was the what was the first time on that? I think it's about 98,000.
Yeah. Is that is that about? It's, like, 65. Because and they got the three Oh, yes. We got We another had another quote. Yeah. Sorry about that. Thank you, Anne. Actually, it was over 100, but it came down about 65. And the other thing we learned that I thought was really helpful, Robert is also on CIP as liaison from Board of Finance Mhmm. Is that as of right now, and things change, obviously, they do not expect to have a significant amount of capital needs in the next couple years. So that's when we talked about, and Board of Finance ended up kind of reducing a little bit the amount that's gonna be put into their Per prior their their fund account that is funded every year, from our budget. So that was information to learn.
Sorry. I missed who you're talking about. You said scuba? For firefighters.
It's air tanks. It's air tanks, but it's scuba like scuba gear. They're air tanks for For air tanks. For the fire prices. Yep. Fire. For the firefighters. And what does that have to do with us?
I'm the liaison from the board of education to the capital improvement planning committee, So I was giving a liaison report for CIP. Oh, okay. Alright. I missed that first part.
Okay. And then, Brie, do you have anything for PTA or There's a meeting? And I had no There's a meeting that you were not at. It was great. We PTA'd.
There's a new office. They actually get officers. Yeah. They didn't let the new officers.
But you're gonna test me? Okay. You know? No. I know. I I I still have it in right now. We'll get I Not for much longer. We did spend a lot of time planning the talent show. Yeah. It's very exciting. New president starting July will be Biyada. Oh, great. Jamie will remain vice president. Katie will remain treasurer. Ashley Fern will be the membership secretary, and Kylene Mike, the secretary. July. All of the new terms start in July. Oh. And anything from the new
Yes. We just had I can't remember the name. You got it. You're so really close. LGP, early roots. My Can you guys remember that? Me. I have. I didn't forget that. Early roots. Well, how I don't. I hear it. We did just have our meeting, and, actually, so they created a subcommittee that Doris and I are on that is the state has in their stately way and their timing, asked that we essentially conduct our needs assessment by the end of early June. Cool. So it's fine. We're doing it. So it's a lot of work, but we have been provided by the state all of, like, just a massive amount of straight data, right, of just census data, you know, just all kinds of spreadsheets of data. So we were in this lovely I know that probably sounds fun to some people, but I'm I see you shared space like data. Wow. That's It's it's a lot of spreadsheets, but I'm very thankful. Doris is on the committee. I joined there with her, and so we'll spend the next month or so just, like, combing through and trying to figure out based on the data what Andover shows. And then we have developed surveys that will go out to families, and they'll be posted in several places, library, all those kinds of things to really assess what are the needs of our families who have children zero to five. So Great. We're really like, this is the thick work of it. And then, hopefully, by that early June, we'll be able to submit to the state. Here's what we've noticed about Andover. Here's what we're gathering. Here's what the feedback is so that next year's work is really to develop what do we do about it. So that's kind of where we're at.
Cool. Mhmm. And
The bathroom project. The bathroom project. Okay. So most of my energy has been spent on this as well as a lot of other people's. So we did get a bunch of stuff submitted. It was emailed out to you guys from Val. I don't know if everyone received that. So we had about 10 people come for the walk through, 10 different companies, and then we had five bids that actually got submitted. There are some notations next to them. One didn't include a schedule, and then one wasn't at the walk through. Mhmm. In terms of what those cost estimates are relative to the prices that we got before, they're all substantially lower than
where we were prior. Great. A question on one. Wasn't Richards Corporation Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. And that is significantly lower than
So I've I've made a phone call Okay. To actually, to a couple of people to say Eric Sanderson was one of them as well as to Joshua Drove Mhmm. On behalf of everybody so that I'd have this answer. Okay. And I said first to Eric Sanderson, I said, hey. I said, you know, it went well. We opened the bids, blah blah blah. I I just have to know because this is I'm not an expert in this field. A lot of them were lower than the ones we had before. Like, what's going on? What am I missing? I said, because even your bid originally was $4.00 2. I said, do you stand by your $4.00 2 price that you gave back then? And he said, yes. I do. He said, what's happening now is, especially with national politics, things that are going on in the world right now, He said there are a lot of construction companies, and he's a construction company owner. A lot of construction companies right now with less projects. They are not only sharpening their pencils, but they're doing things at cost because they have to pay their employees. And to pay their employees, it's it's better right now to get a job and get it done and pay your employees But than children's money and have nothing to pay your employees with. So I said, ah, okay. I get it. And from there then, I did confirm. I figured I would speak to two people before I said something to you guys. I did call Josh Boudreaux, and I let him know that, in fact, from Boston O'Neil, in fact, that, you know, we did have these people. I forwarded the list of people and the prices, and it said the same thing. And I said, hey. You know, have a question for you.
You know, one did come in at exactly the same price, but the and one came in a little bit higher than they had quoted us before. Yeah. But what's what's the deal with this? And he said the same thing. He said right now, people are seeing a change. If they're getting it done in sixty to ninety days, which is what the goal for you guys is Yep. Save the next sixty to ninety days so that they can keep people working. Employed. Yeah. And that is what's going on right now with some of these companies is they're doing it at cost so that they can, in fact. So I did then ask. I said, hey. I believe Eric Sanderson because he's been wonderful to us. I said, but, you know, my question would be, how do we determine you know, we had got the one cost from you guys that included a recommendation, you know, from the Richards Corporation. How do we kind of kind of justify or go back to that, like, $140,000 difference? And he said, sure. If we were to oversee a project now at this point, we would probably have to sharpen our pencil a little bit as well. But I said, so just in case someone asks, because I would ask if I were you guys, what were we getting for that additional cost? The difference between whatever Richard's get because I'm sure Richard's was coming in higher before with them too. So the whole 140 is not what fuss was right. The price they had from Richards, I'm sure, was highest too.
So let's pretend it was even 40,000. What was it we were getting if we went with you? And he did say that, and I should've brought the paper I wrote down. He said, what you were getting with us is the complete oversight. You do have to know that whomever they choose, you will have to have a work person, that will have to be your point person, that will have to take your internal liability to be that point person to go with whomever you go with. Basically, your committee will then be that go between, because that liability is what they would have taken on to be the complete oversight so that we could say, tell us when it's done kind of thing. And so I did ask. I was a little bold, and I did ask. And I said, if the board decided
that they wanted to contract a service to have you do that because nobody on this board because at first, he said, well, isn't Derek Sanders on your board? And I said, no. No. So I said, if the board wanted to have that conversation and Caitlin, as the board chair, reached out to you, would you be willing to have that conversation after they decide who they're going with? And he said, yes. He would have that conversation with you. So that is an option for you to call and say, if none of us were going to do that, what service could you offer to just do that for us, and and what would the cost be? Because it it it it will be a lot. You know? It definitely will be a lot, and that was what was covered, there. So I will just leave you with that.
And in terms of looking at these vids and the information that was submitted with all of them, that was also sent out to the other people that were on the construction committee. I have reached out to Eric Sanderson CIP. Build and CIP. Eric Sanderson, Bill DeRoziers, and Jeff Murray today just to see if they any of them had had a chance to look at any of these, and all of them have not had a chance to look at them yet. They were very honest. Like, there's a lot of other stuff going on, obviously. And thought that they might get a chance to look at it by Monday. Now we are on a deadline that we have to select and notify who we're selecting by the fifteenth. So I don't know what further discussion we wanna have tonight if we wanna take action on this without the input of those people that know more about this than any of us or what everyone's first impression was looking through what was submitted. Is
that everything printed on? No. Okay. These are the old ones. Go go ahead, Marcy.
Do the do any of the bids include, like, the the problem? Like, the, you know, the digging and, you know, the unknown stuff that we don't know about? You know what I mean? Isn't there the main problem is
It's all written out, like, within their schedule. And then there's, if you look at each one individually, there's there's, like, per per quantity pricing for additional Change orders. Change orders. Awesome. Yeah. And you can compare those, like, each one to each one, which if you all the links that Val emailed, like, it's each one is for each individual company. My only question was the one that came from Richard's didn't have a lot of information in it. Like and, right, like, as a business owner, I I looked the most at the two that were the lowest prices just to see, and that was Secundo. Thank you. Yeah. That's awesome. It was, like, $2.00 7, and then Richard was actually the second lowest at $2.32. Yeah. So I just didn't know. Did Richards not resubmit that information because we had it from before and I just can't find it? Or What is it that you're looking for in theirs? The the bid form for the unit prices as well as a schedule. Like, I didn't see that in there. The unit price is like the change orders? Yeah. I have that. And then was there a schedule on ours? Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. They
didn't have all the extra pages with the reference. With Sarazen. Maybe I missed someone. Yeah. Sarazen is the one that didn't have the schedule because I wrote the no on there Yeah. And asked her You're fine. To sign in to say that she was without the schedule. So I think you were looking at Sarazen's. There's there's just this there is a schedule I know because I read it. There is a schedule because it's it only is two months. Is this Richard's right here? It's right here.
Right here. Identical one. Schedule for the proposal is June 26 through August. Oh, so theirs just doesn't lay it out Same week. Like Yeah. The way the other so Right. I guess that I guess that was in my head, like, when I was comparing those two, the I'm gonna butcher their name again. So Yeah. I was gonna make it different. Yeah. Go ahead. I can be a break in Not Italian. There's, like, laid it out, like, exact thing by exact template. Yeah. Everyone did it. Yeah. Different.
What I was fascinated by is the difference in the pricing
for the units. For the unit. Right. The Yeah. It's a huge difference.
That. Yeah. Is Mhmm. Richard's, like, just even at the first one was, like, lead abatement. Right? Lead paint abatement. A third of 15. Yeah. Some were 45 and. Was a 180. Oh. And I was like, well, wait a minute. Is that a you know, they saw a unit price. Right? It was that was really interesting. And this was 45. Yeah. As far as.
So they were all it was very difficult to compare apples and apples. You know? Yeah. I'm telling down to here. Some of them, I'll tell you. If I didn't know the company, I looked to see how big the company was. And some of the smaller companies, certain things, like their labor might have been a little lower. Lower. Yeah. But their availability of getting the materials seem to be, like, more expensive. More. Right. Yeah. So I think That makes sense if you're buying things in bulk. Right.
Because I saw that too. Because those sheets are are form sheets. You know? Yeah. And it it just seems to I was like, is that really the unit price? Because For the evidence. This is this is what is that? I'm trying to do the math here. 100%? Mhmm. Yeah. More than a 100%, Lauren. Thousand percent more. Yes. More than a thousand percent more. Yeah. Or just like
the ones where they laid out the schedule, like Like, those. Yeah. Specifically instead of just it's in this time frame. Yes. I don't know. For some reason, not not being in this line of work, that gave me more comfort with, like, okay. You actually thought about how long, like, each session is gonna take. And then and then, like, break the thing that really mattered for us Right. With it being done during the summer in terms of abatement and having to wait after demolition based on
And then they would get it done Yeah. In that time frame, you know, and and leave some leeway for themselves.
Bree, do you have any feedback? I'm sure you I do like Gantt charts for sure, and I see a couple.
There I think there were two that had that. Yeah. And then I tried to look for it, and the other ones. Yeah. No. I mean,
what what's interesting when you look at Gantt charts is you can see, like, the interdependencies. And so when they just the ones that just lay out, like, we're gonna start here and start here, what you can't see is if there's something that has a dependency. On something. Right. Right. I wish I could get this to to turn. But Yeah. Let's see. Oh, do you want this?
No. I'm looking at a Gantt chart. I'm gonna let you have a Gantt chart. Which chart? The Gantt chart, it's the project in, like Secadino? For which of all? Yeah. This would be Secadino. I was I was not going to
print all this on my printout. I did not either. I didn't, but I looked at it. Doesn't
I think if I separate enough for you when I sent them. Did. Look at them separate and not be like, oh my gosh. She sent me 500 pages.
But yeah. So what what what what's good about this is what you can see can be done in parallel on what is, like, a dependency. So, you know, obviously, you can't start anything till a permanent application. Right? Dependency. But then you can see, like, there are things that are overlapping, like, full demolition, but then they're also starting some of, like, the new framing and wall. Like so you get an idea of what like, if something happened during permits. Right? You have to know about cold starts. But, like, there's I'm trying to see, like, what well, obviously, like, wiring would have to be finished before, like, drywall installation. So you just it it is helpful to see where See it laid out that way. But because the the other ones, like, you just have a schedule, but you don't know if something went wrong
where the delay Like, how or how that affects the right side of your mind. Exactly.
And that was a concern for me with Secondino only because of the small size of their company just based on what I saw, and they're being located in Brantford. I was just gonna say they're not local either. Right? So that was just that was the only thing that stuck out to me there. I mean I like that they put comps in there from projects
that are actually fairly similar Very much so. Size wise as opposed to, like, we do these giant things. I I don't know. Well, the and the first one, I I grew up in Stratford. I'm like, oh, Stratford Fire Station.
Well, it's not unusual for contractors to go all over the state. Right. Yeah.
So you see that the these people, You know, they've turned town to Vernon, Bloomfield, Norwich, you know, town of Willamantic even.
Yeah. So I guess does anyone else have, like, specific feedback or or questions or thoughts?
I guess my thought is, are we are we feeling like we wanna reach out to Fuss to see if they're gonna help us out, and does that make a difference with who we go with?
I I guess, personally, I don't know if that matters. I think what would matter gonna matter if we choose. I don't I don't think it matters because,
you know, I mean, like I said, they answered the phone the other day for me, so I they're not going anywhere. And I think that if you did opt to if Kate called and said, we would like assistance with this, I don't think that's gonna matter. I mean, you knew who their recommendation was, but that doesn't mean they're gonna go anywhere if you don't use their recommendation,
which, you know, was one of these. Yeah. And the same thing with Eric Sanderson? I mean, Eric Sanderson said you'd be lucky to have that company in his letter, but I don't think he's gonna not help you if you haven't had a report either. So I just I've heard a lot of good things about Richard's Corporation, so that's where my gut is like, I think that's great, and it looks great on paper. And but, you know, I don't have experience or even, you know, knowledge, secondhand of any of the others. And so Just that it was who Fuss and O'Neil originally recommended and then to me who speaks Yeah. And Eric. And that's that's right. And so to me, like, that's where my gut tells me to go where not knowing anything about the any of the other Right. Yeah. But, know, I mean, also, right, from just if you're looking the the lowest bid. Financial perspective. And it makes sense for that. Between them
and Second. Second. You know? Mhmm. So then what would make you More comfortable is the known as opposed to the unknown. Yeah. I But but I also don't know, like, from Sanderson or someone that's in that works in this realm, like, would they think better? Would they say, like, no. Go with the one that's less money, Even though it's a smaller company, like, you'll get more I don't know.
You'll get more attention to detail. Right, ma'am. I I don't know. Responsible.
I haven't had a chance to look at them, but, you know, it was nice. The one that I did look at had the other projects that they've done, and you could easily reach out to those other towns and see how it went and how much needed to be done as far as us. You know? Yeah. Because I think they're they have their own oversight. Obviously, we have to oversight them see them too, but how much work is it?
Yeah. I don't know. So so I guess then I have a couple of questions for all of you. One is, is there anyone on this board who would like to oversee the project and is available to do that during the summer? That seems like a really big commitment. Crickets. Yeah. I know. I think it is a big commitment, but I figured I'd throw it out there and ask. So are it I am not. No. Like, I work full time. You're a no. No. I'm assuming, Alicia, that you also have a full time. Yeah. Yes. You're pretty busy. Jerry, it's very much not really in your wheelhouse of things. Really, it's not. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's worthwhile to reach out to us and see what they can do for us And, with I mean, I think it's a great idea to go with the company that they suggested. You know? Yeah. That's that's my feeling. Okay. Is it is anyone comfortable with able to do it.
Sorry. Say again? I'm I may be able to. I mean, I'm I'm around, and it's it's, you know, what I do. So Great.
Okay. I think what you need to figure out, though, because next week's vacation and you have to award by Wednesday That's that's Do you have enough of a consensus now to vote on one, or do you need to have another meeting? Yeah. That would be where That's where that's where I was going next. And I leave on Friday at 11:30 at night for Ireland, and I am gone until the following Saturday.
It's only five hour time. It's being available remotely if we need to have another meeting. But I guess I'm wondering, like, where everyone's head is in terms of
Yeah. I'm out of town tonight, so and I can't promise I'll be available
because I'm out of town too. K. So Gary says he can vote on it tonight. And I can vote tonight. Can vote tonight.
Don't Don't we have a I'm sorry. Don't we have a committee like Bill DeRoziers and Jeff Murray? Yeah. It'd be a good idea to consult with them to see how where they're at too?
I think it would. That's what I tried to do today, and none of them had had a chance to look at stuff yet, which is that's kind of where we are right now. I just we need to award it to someone by the fifteenth. So I don't know. Like, our board is who needs to vote on who we're choosing. Right. I would like to have their input. I've got an idea.
Uh-oh. Why don't we take a vote Mhmm. Subject to their input to see if they agree with with our decision. Not agree with it, but if they're supportive of our decision because it would be very different changes. Can't do a conditional. No. No. No. I'm just saying if we would do it, and then we need decide if they wanna help guide it, like, you know, or no? If they say absolutely don't ping that company, you're making the wrong decision.
Oh, and then what? Can we just Can I make a suggestion? Go on. Go ahead, Rosie.
When you have a bunch of contracts like this, you know, you you have a firm number, but a lot of times there's some things in within the contract that might be negotiable. So it would be wise to hold off on a vote right now because you don't wanna tip your hand.
The only thing with that and like I said, I I contacted Eric Sanderson, and I contacted Josh Boudreaux. They're they're pretty solidly saying, and you can see the prices. That's a good ones that were double. Yeah. Prior to this, they're saying that these companies all have sharpened their pencils. We didn't have anybody close to this prior. No. No. So I'm not sure that that's gonna necessarily happen.
I'm not saying negotiating price. I'm just saying that, you know, there's there's a lot of things in the contract.
With their firm price. That was what the RMS Yes. And then and then understand that in addition to the the the price that's on here, there also will need to be two and a half percent additional for bonds. Oh, for bond. Okay. And then most of them ask for contingency, although I don't see that listed. I don't see it listed in our contingency.
Marcy, on our RFP, it was on page eight, the one that was written for us, and it did say under pricing that it had to be their firm fixed price. And I think the reason why in the RFPs that's in there is so that once someone is awarded, there is no, well, they came back and changed their price negotiation. Yeah. No. We're actually not allowed to. I know. So there is no I know what you're saying in terms of if you guys were to hire a company to help out oversight. Absolutely. That didn't go to RFP. If they But the actual RFP itself for this job says it's the firm fixed price.
Yeah. No. I wasn't talking about the price. Sometimes there's things within the contract that you may be missed. I'm just trying to use an example. You know, when you look at contracts, all of a sudden you think, oh, wait a minute. We forgot this. Can you include that in there? That it's just little things sometimes.
So that I know that Eric Eric worked on an example contract for us that is not the contractor's contract. Like, he wrote it in in preparation in more support of the school than support of the contractor. All of the contracts that have been signed in our town for projects in the past have all signed the general contractor's contract and not had their own. So I do know that he he has already worked on that pretty at length with a friend of his that does these contracts for a living.
I I'm also gonna say based on these schedules, like, we can't we cannot go in and say we want something else because we I know we cannot. Afford the timeline. But we're not allowed to based on our I'm just saying, like You're getting the bathroom. You're getting the in there because we don't have time to waste. Yeah. These there's no of one. Built into these schedules. There's no It's tight. This is There's not. In fact, if something goes wrong, we will not make it in time for the school to be open. It's either. Pretty tough. Looking at all of these. And there's Yeah. Not a single
They will all be flow Yep. Yeah. In these schedules. Yeah. Not a single It'll be the day that you're using. So can we all can we all agree? Does anyone want to look at the four others that we haven't talked about tonight? The four others. The higher bids. The higher bids. Oh, I mean, I think I So we've talked about Richards, and we've talked about Secondino. Secondino. Can we
I'd like to look at Saracen too. He's pretty close. Sorry. What was that, Ricky? The first one, Saracen, was pretty close. It's
really not that far away from Richard's. 40. And that's the one that didn't include The schedule. The schedule. Okay. Yeah. I I I was worried about the PEX piping thing that they had in here. They wrote,
Aldrin's prefer call for a deduct alternate to utilize PEX piping in lieu of copper. And I remember that coming up in a conversation. They were using the PEX piping. Right? I don't know. I spent last night researching. Can you use PEX piping in commercial buildings because I knew nothing about it? But I think that's what we had said we were gonna use. Right? I remember, Jerry, you asking questions about how long does copper last in the commercial buildings? And so what's their I'm really worried about, like, what's their concern with using it. And I just I don't know if Marcy wanted to chime in if you have any anything to add to that. But why are they concerned about it seem like it's a it's a common thing now with the newer PEX piping as opposed to stuff that was fifteen, twenty years old. It's not good for commercial use.
Go ahead, Marcy. Didn't look at the bid, so I don't can't really say. But I do know that copper is, you know, a lot more superior product, and there's a lot of different packs. But I I'm not completely familiar with it. I know that a lot of people don't like to use it. It is less expensive than copper.
Okay. So can I can we just take a straw poll of how many people on this board would be available even for a meeting next week prior to the fifteenth when we have to I'm available?
Don't I don't understand. Not to be available. Yeah. K. And then do we think that we have a consensus right now of who we think we would lean towards using? Let's just do that as, like, an informal thing. Can we can we
to make it somewhat easier, can we take ones off the table? That's I was trying to do before. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like so I I personally would like to take
Leading Edge, Generations, and Sarazen. I I would take those off of the table. I'm already with you.
Hold on. Sorry. I gotta go. Sarazen. Yeah. Okay. Well and I don't but Yeah. I mean, that's the generations. Right? That's the one that we're we that didn't even do the walk. Correct. And they have it's also way higher. Right. It's, like, higher. Got it. $5,000. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we've got left second, Dino and Richards? Yep. Yes. I'll
make a motion that we accept the bid of the Richards Corporation. Seconds. Third. Yep. Third. Oh my gosh.
Do you have a second? That's just Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And was there any more discussion?
My only discussion is I I really would like to know the opinion of the three people who have expertise in this field, generally speaking, that that we haven't heard back from you. Yeah. Specifically, Derogers, Eric Sanderson. Eric Sanderson's letter gave a letter of recommendation to sign. I mean, to Okay. To send it to No. No. To to renters. Okay.
Good. Alright. So, I mean, if we look at that, because he's not here. But, yeah, let's see. If we look back at the letter from Eric Sanderson where he gives our four zero two, he says, it is my understanding that the proposed general contractor would be performing with the Richards Group. In my career, I have worked on numerous projects with the Richards Corporation, and I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with the firm. They have a large team, most of their projects are $10,000,000 and up. So for them, this would be an easy project. You would have all the resources and professionalism that comes with the large
It's far too good. Yeah. Yeah. So So we've got two choices. Were discussing things right now. We were discussing. We've got two choices. No. But I'm just saying, I think we have two choices. There's a motion pending. Right? Yeah. And the only other thing we could do is because you two are gonna be unavailable, if the other five of us could have a special meeting with the input and have a vote next Monday or Tuesday and award the bid by Wednesday? Wednesday. After the week. No. I'm just I'm just trying to remember what the fifteenth is. So Yeah. What do we wanna do? Because there's a motion pending. But I'll take it off the table if there's a need to get input. Well, I guess I'm I'm comfortable
going forward. Great. So I I don't know that I'm comfortable. And then it's not and that I think one of the things that yes. Eric said said that gave that recommendation. But I also think he said afterwards, like, sometimes going with the smaller company, you're going to get it done on time, where a large company who's used to doing $10,000,000 projects, we may not be the first priority. Okay. They may be paying a pay paycheck today, but if somebody comes in with a $10,000,000 project, who knows that we're we're gonna be second fiddle? So I guess how do you make sure that we're and I don't know I don't know enough about Secondina to say that they're a large or small company. They're small. They are small. Okay. I I guess I just I don't I don't, physically, I actually don't like going with the cheaper one, but I don't I also don't want to be I wanna be somebody's first priority to get this done because of the tight timeline. Yes. How do Sharon and Clint feel in not being involved in the
I don't mind not being involved in the boat? Boat because I really honestly would like the input from Murray and Sanderson and the Roziers. How do you feel?
I would probably try really hard to zoom in. And I I feel like really yeah. I feel like I would do I definitely
yeah. I feel like We can do it earlier because it's a five hour time difference where you are. So just have a pint and But that's fine. So we could like, if we did six, that would be eleven your time. Sorry to make sure we're you know? But we could do it. Make any split.
Yeah. I mean, I did reach out to some of the the building committee today too because I wanted some input to help inform my decision. So, I mean, I reached out personally as well. So I I I would love that info. I just hate putting it off. Feel good about that. That's why I'm finding it. Just and and I feel comfortable. I feel I've researched the Richards, you know, company previously when we were thinking about going with them. So I know I feel comfortable with them. Would I feel comfortable with another one? Probably. But I don't know that. So I have a question for you guys. Yes.
Is there a consensus that you are down to two? Yes. Because Because Yeah. And that's my concern. Make sure is that if you are looking for feedback from everyone else and they come back and say, we want this one or this one I think we're down to those two. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if the if the board were to decide tonight on your top two, then at least you have direction to choose other folks to say Yeah. It's a good question. Want you guys to look at these two, please, and give us your pros and cons and your professional opinions. So can we motion for that? Yeah. Because then I would be comfortable not That would be alright. But try your question, dude. Okay. I would be comfortable with that. Okay. And we have that motion. So the What Val said? So the motion would be that this board is comfortable So I'll make a motion. Forward with I'll make a motion that we
ask our committee for their opinion and recommendation recommendation? Between our using Secundino and Sons and our using Richards Corporation, And that we have a meeting on Monday, April 13 at 6PM, via Zoom to receive their recommendations and to have our final vote.
Okay. So I think I think it has to be
Do do it without the meeting. Well, because here's the thing.
What if none of them are available? No. They don't have to be out of the meeting. You're in the motion that you're going to As for their recommendation. So could the Just the motion could the motion be that you guys are deciding that your two finalists are? Right. Yeah. They are. That's a motion. You vote yes or no on that. Okay? Okay. And then you don't need a motion to just say, we're going to have a meeting next week. Okay. And we're gonna make a decision then. Does that make sense? Simplify that. No. I don't like that. Yeah.
Yeah. I was halfway through that. Are we gonna say that we asked for the recommendation with regard to Secondino and Richards Corporation?
So the motion on the table is that your two your vote You're both finalists are second Dino and the Richards Corporation. Okay. I'll second. Okay.
And when are we gonna meet him? Hold on. Hold Hold on. Let's let's do this first.
So that's the motion on the floor. Yep. How do you vote? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Marcy? I'm gonna abstain because I haven't looked at the bids. Okay. Okay? So $6.00 1.
I make a motion that we have a special meeting on think,
are people available on Monday, the thirteenth? He said that somebody wasn't gonna look till Monday. Somebody was gonna look at the But she can reach out tonight. No. He said he thinks he can look by Monday. Okay. So Maybe Tuesday. Tuesday? Prefer Tuesday. It's not gonna make a difference. I really care what they say. Right? What they're asking.
We have to take a vote. Marcy said Tuesday. Marcy
said Tuesday. Is there anything on the town I'm good on Tuesday. I'm good. Is there anything on the town calendar anywhere that would conflict? I can even do it earlier. Two piece. Sylvia Sylvia. Yep. Yeah. Because it's it's really gonna be sharing them. Finally, it's more of a sort. So Tuesday is probably better, though. Who is there?
What time? Tuesday, what time? Going once, going twice? Usual time, seven. Is it seven? I mean or whatever. Nope. That's too late for I
I I'm probably if you guys have it at night, I probably just won't be there. That's okay. I've already stated. Right? Like, I'm comfortable with either of those, and I would like the input from those people. So we're gonna get their input, and then you guys are gonna vote, and we'll be good. But you can do it during the day too, you said. I can do it. Yeah. That on Tuesday, I can do it during the day. Marcy, can you do Tuesday during the day? Or if you want it in? I can do it as long as it's after four. 04:00?
Yes. I can do it on my phone. I can do it on my phone. Yeah. I don't know. Okay. At what time what time can you do it, though? Well, not when I'm gonna be at work the other way. So Or I could do it early in the morning. Let's do 6AM. Hey.
Can you do it? Yeah. Course. Of course. Fine. Can you do a quick one at four? That's 9PM your time. Yeah. That might be ten for me. Yeah. Okay. It'd be quick. Alright. Yeah. Yeah. I I'll I'll do my best on a Tuesday on Tuesday. Yeah. Actually Tuesday would be fine. Okay. Yeah. So so so can,
I'm still working. So if you want, you guys will be out of the country. So if you want, have them send any remarks, Kate, to that email or to my email, and then I can forward it out to you guys. Yeah. So, you know, that either that dedicated one or my email is okay, but I have to check. So you have to tell me if you send it. Yeah. Yeah. I I keep checking it. Okay. That way, any feedback that they have, you don't have to worry about phone calls because you're out of the country, we'll get that to everybody so that you have that by the 04:00 meeting.
Alright. Does that make sense? Okay. Yeah. I'm with the motion that we have a special meeting of the board of education on on Tuesday, April 14 at 04:00PM for consideration of who to award the bathroom renovation project two. Okay. Okay? Second. Jerry seconds. All in favor? I. Okay. Okay. Mhmm. Then we have your second Yep. Second reading to
So you It was the policy, the 3326 policy. As you know, we need to have a second read. It doesn't get voted on the first time. The only change that was made to the policy, from the last meeting was to, change the second signer, from first elect when in the old 2009 policy to the, vice chair.
Would have a pending motion? Somebody would have to make a motion. Yeah. I make a motion that we change the policy as presented at last one's legal. Three three two six.
Policy three three. Policy three two two two six. K. Anyone want a second? I'll second it. Okay. All in favor of the changes as presented? Aye. Aye.
Aye. You wanna post? I didn't hear Marcy. I said aye. Thank you. We're up to public comment. Anne? Hi. Jenny Morell? Carrie Gilbert? No comment. Thank you. Amber Pritchard. Amanda Beloyne? No comment. Thank you.
Go ahead. Sorry. Couldn't find the button. I'm all set too. Jen McAllen. All set. Thank you.
Yeah. Great. So does anyone have other action items that we missed? Okay. That's fine. Upcoming meeting. Again, so we're not having the the budget information session prior to the town meeting. You guys can cross that off. We will present information at the town meeting with the Board of Finance, which is tomorrow night. Right? Everyone will be there at 7PM. And
then we'll have our our next regular board meeting on May 13 at 7PM. And then items for our next meeting, the 9,000 series. Spam.
Can I have them all beforehand? Yeah. It is the
Oh, yes. The teacher. Oh, Next board meeting, 06:30, it came with your packet. Yep. That is when the teachers will present at that board meeting a teacher's social. Do it annually. For those of you who are new, they do it the half an hour before the May meeting. They bring snacks, and they get a chance to interact with you guys.
K. Does anyone have anything else that they want to put on the agenda for next month? Thank you, Val, for bringing that up. You're welcome, Jenny. Okay. Motion again. Chris Ray, come home. K. 08:40. Hi. Shannon and Sharon.
Just good because And all in favor. Bye. Bye. Might be a record.