Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting 10.14.26
October 14, 2026 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Machine-generated transcript — check the recording if in doubt.
Yes. You're good to go. Okay.
It is 07:01 on October 14, and we'll call the regular meeting for the Andover Board of Education for the month of October to order. We can all say the part of the.
Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic where a righteous stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.
K. We'll go to comments from the public first. Reishmeier. Hi. Sorry. Just joining tonight. Okay. Jamie, Toby, Bailey? No comment at this time. Thank you.
Amy Knox? Okay. We'll come back. Anne for May?. No? And Jen with Goldrack, do you have any comments for public comment? No. Thanks. I'm all set. Okay.
And one more time, Amy Knox. Okay. So we'll move on to communications. I don't have anything that won't be addressed in other sections. Any other formal communications? Nothing. No. Okay. Student celebrations.
Missus Fraser, would you like to present under celebration? Put your right on. Alright. Hold on one second. Let see
if I can do it alright. What I wanted to do is just bring a couple of different things that have happened and a couple things that will be happening at AES just to let you be aware before I go to next one. Mhmm. Our first one that we're gonna talk about is a math gym is... I think you skipped. Oh, wait. Okay. There we go. There we go. Alright. It's a math gym, and this was held in missus Dixon's room and then in my five six enrichment class. And what it is is it's basically put out by a nonprofit organization where they put questions together that are math related, and we can plan one of these for the next four beds meeting if you'd like. How long does it
They're a forty five minute test, and the kids get to select easiest to hardest set up similar to a Jeopardy game board. They can work independently, which is what I have them doing in the five six or in a group, which is what we did in fourth grade. I had run a couple of these last year with students. And actually this year before they started, they do one a month, I was, contacted by one of the leads in... Who, develops the program. And he asked if he could come in and observe a classroom, so we set it up. And you can see him right here, Kyle Gulai, and he came in and observed our students, and our students were phenomenal. Just listening to the discourse that they were having about their math, you can see this team was our highest placing team. They have all those green are indicating of problems that they solved on their own
throughout the class. And they... Actually, as you can see, missus Dixon's class scored as the top fourth grade class in Connecticut. What was that? End of it. It was very impressive just listening to to what the kids were talking about, and he gained valuable insight into how the program was set up, how the kids interacted with the... With it on Chromebooks because sometimes that's a different interface that they had to deal with. For one of them, you couldn't see where to submit the answer, you know, and then they had to scroll up. So he took back a lot of valuable information from observing our students and interacting with them. And overall, just an excellent program, and missus Dixon's already planning for... To run it next week, which is when their October 1 is happening. So we're encouraging other teachers as well. This is for fourth through sixth grade. So And I don't wanna downplay it, ma'am, but how many participate in the state of Connecticut? Well, there were 2,258 classes overall for fourth graders. So... And from all 50 states. So I don't know how many there were exactly in Connecticut. But That would be 2,000. It was a No. They were a lot. Sorry.
The next one is Future City, and this is... Actually received a grant where the Future City liaison who works with schools. This is through the CT Ready program. And she came in and did a presentation with the students and kind of introducing them to engineering and the different fields of engineering and set them up with a challenge in the library. It was very... We have a celebration over here. They were tasked with trying to get a book to balance on a piece of paper and different ways that the students approached it. It was very interesting. And so she was launching the program called Future City, which is a competition that sixth grade and up can compete in. So we've opened that up for our sixth graders. And after this, she... I put out a request for the students if anybody's interested, and we have 14 students who are interested, we'll be working with them to get it down to a man in size for a team that will compete in January in Enfield. So That's really cool. Yeah. So they used to only have about three, schools in Connecticut that would compete. They put forth this effort to really encourage other schools to participate, and now they have up to 24 signed up. So similar to the, LEGOLEAD FIRST where they would go, there's a component of what they do with the robot. In this case, what they do with building a city. They'll have a model display, there's also components of being able to speak in front of the public. They have to have an essay that they submit beforehand. They'll be questioned by a panel of judges, that type of thing. So a lot of great skills will be involved in that
contest. The next one is something that's coming up. I actually just spoke on a a Zoom meeting with the woman who organized this. It's called bake for good. We did this program two years ago with our fifth and our sixth graders. We'll be again using our fifth and sixth graders. And it's King Arthur Baking Company sends a representative to the school, and she bakes a loaf of bread in front of the kids, goes through the whole process, the whole scientific parts of it. And she has two students who, have volunteered to be the her helpers and presents that to the class. And then the students are all sent home with a bag full of King Arthur flour and all the ingredients that they'll need to make bread on their own with their family and all the directions that they need. And then they're encouraged to bring it home, bake two loaves of bread as the recipe calls for, and bring one back to be shared with community members. So we'll be bringing it over to the community center and offering it to our senior
seniors in the community. Cool. Yeah. That was really neat a few years ago. It was really cool. Yeah. And, actually, the same woman's gonna be coming back, and she was Oh, she was so good. Our school was one of the first that she'd gone to, and we were very impressed with her teaching ability and ability to work with her students. She made a former teacher. She actually teach great baking classes. I've gone with her for a month to Yeah. Where King Arthur functions. They're lot teachers. Yeah. And you could tell she was a teacher. Like, I thought it was very cool. I So don't know when we're gonna be doing it. I have to pair with a a class in Cromwell who will also be doing the program. So when she comes down to Connecticut both. Yep. We'll do both at the same time. So just up on the...
Coming up. So very exciting. And our next thing is our sixth graders will be participating in the innovate and create grant. It's with Scotland, Coventry, Lebanon, and and Andover. And I don't know a whole lot about this because I'm going to the training in two weeks to learn all about it, but it's very exciting. It's going to be working with these towns and getting our sixth graders together and learning about manufacturing in the state of Connecticut and ways that students can broaden their horizons about the... Some of the different fields that are out there and careers and as well as work... Working with students from other schools, which is always an excellent opportunity. EastCon does a really good job with providing that.
It's not for 12. Fifth and sixth, or is it This is for six. It is for some sixth. Yep. And this will... This typically includes field trips. Yes. So that's really nice. That covers that cost, so they'll get that extra, which is great. We've had a similar grant, you may remember, in fourth grade years ago about mindfulness. Mhmm. And so our fourth graders for several years went and did trips with classes in Hartford as well, and they would do this. So the way Eastcott unfortunately didn't get that grant from the state, but we did. They did get the sixth grade one, so we're excited about that. Yep.
And then the next thing I wanted to talk about is a little bit about after school clubs, and I threw up some pictures that were taken just hours ago when our students, boarded the bus and went down to our library. And they were read a story which is all in celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month. And so we have our students listening to a story, read by missus Kurtz, our former Spanish teacher here at Andover. And then they were sent on a scavenger hunt to look through the biographies and find the biographies written about people of the heritage that we're talking about. And then down here, they're working on some coloring pages. And I just left Danny up there pointing out on the mural in the back of the library where we were. Mhmm. So, the kids had a great time. That was for grades, one through fourth. And some of our other programs that we've had, so far for our after school program, we have archery running right now, and we have math games that was held, storytime explorers for our pre k students. We have science with missus Hazen. She comes in and does a program every month. Kids always love that one.
October, so we have bats. Pumpkin carving is our family event for this month. That'll be held next week. We have 52 students signed up for that. We have book publishing club and, like I said, our Hispanic heritage month activity that we just tennis. Tennis. He thinks it's funny. Good. Excellent. Good. These all new clubs?
They need that. Are they sponsored in New York? Yeah. Each month is put out call it a grant. Yeah. With their after school grant.
Yep. So I put out a... We organ... I organize who's going to put on a club for teachers, and then I organize it into a Google form, send it out to the parents. They sign up, and then I let them know which clubs their students are in. And then That's... Yep. Have you guys looked at, like, percent participation in terms of, like, across, like, numbers of families?
We It varies from activity to activity. Because, like, with tennis, we can only take a certain number of kids. So last year as well, we really, generally speaking, when something is offered, it fills up Yeah. Oh, yeah. To the capacity that that particular program can have. So Yeah. Or the allowable,
you know, participants, she gets a 100% most of the time Yeah. With however many she can And I would say we have both. We have kids who sign up all the time for everyone, and then we might have a particular something kind of different. Yeah. And you get this kid, and we're all like, oh my gosh. She's never signed up for a club. This is exciting. We found... Like, it it just must be something that that spoke to that kid. So it's kinda both. But there's definitely kiddos that are more, like, regulars and those that are just gonna be once or or twice a year. Good gosh.
Cool. Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Can I just say really quickly, a few things that have always been important to me were STEAM, enrichment, and hands on keeping learning fun? And with the budget constraints, like, you've managed to keep that. And thank you. Thank you all. It's huge. It's huge. And I was worried that that was gonna be missing. That piece was gonna be missing, and it's not. So thank you. Yeah. I can report that I've already had my first two STEAM classes for k through four. Actually, it's k through six because they also have been meeting before that. And, we actually... The kids have been working with robots. These are actually... I borrowed these from the inter district, low... Library loan system. They've been working with these color sensing robots. And it's just been phenomenal watching them figure it out and trial and error, and they're like, we fixed it. Come and take a video. So
they've been doing that, plus we read, and plus they checked out books. So Nice. We're making it work. So all of five six will take steam. They just do it by trimester so that they can be continuous and really, like, engage in the work, whereas k four will meet with her one to two times a month throughout the year. So it's kinda two different models. Staggered. Yeah. Correct. But five six, the kind of work is easier to do every... You know, to have that time every week and really get deeper into. So, yep, working out well. And then in that five six enrichment block, if they're not in her trimester, they had a choice to do PE, music, art, or passion projects. But that's really exciting. We've never... It's not like we've ever had PE enrichment or... Like, so really giving kids a choice there to what they wanted to study more. The kids who went to music have written a play they're working on. That's really You know? So we're really... Because sometimes it's easy to think of STEAM and enrichment as only math, and those... I love math. I'm a math person. However, we know that, obviously, not all the kids see it that way, which is so strange. To choose Yes. What their passion was. Yeah. And that dive deeper, which is phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah. And they really... They seem really excited about it. And then we'll rotate. Each trimester, they'll get to choose. Certainly, kids can pick the same one, but they they are... They do have to go to STEAM for one of them.
We do we do think that's I will say that one of the passion project that general Goldrick is doing right there, one of the cool things is that those, students broke off into what they're working on, and two of them went down and taught a lesson in kindergarten. Yeah. And then we also have a group of them that are putting on and organizing an after school... Two after school programs next month for the month of November. They are organizing it and
putting That's really cool. Together. So It's been cool. Yep. Lots of new skills then. Yes. Thank you. Missus Fraser. Thank you so much. I'll give you my address for the bread delivery. Two years ago. Yeah. Yours... We're not brushing anything. I'm a teeny person instead of the. Yeah. Might get a happy glow.
So next on our agenda is approval of minutes. I was not here for September because Ram had their parent's night, the same night as our board meeting. So And I moved to accept for minutes. My regular meeting is 09/09/2026. Oh,.
Does anyone have changes? You guys all Jen is doing a terrific job. Yeah. I did read through it, and I... Nothing stuck out at me. Okay.
So you guys wanna go ahead and vote? Sure. Mhmm. K.
All in favor? Aye. Opposed? And then I will abstain. That's it here. And that's just. Yep. Okay.
So next, we have opportunity to add or delete agenda items that are on our current agenda.
I'd like to move to delete the board policies because I didn't finish up, and I didn't get suggestions from you guys because I... Never mind. Let's just delete. Okay. So you'd like to delete eight e, which is the board policies, and we will move to try to do that next month? Sure. Okay. We have three of them now. So... Hopefully. Right? We have the 1,000. Yeah. Okay. Good.
Would anyone like to second that? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Okay. So we're deleting eight b. Anyone else want to add or delete anything else? Okay. We will move on. So chairperson's report. Do have quite a decent amount of stuff. I know I wasn't here last month. We've had some stuff kind of going on outside of the main meeting significantly affecting, you know, the school overall in relations with the town. So the first thing in terms of reporting is going to be on our funding and how the school receives money from the approved budget that was passed by our town. So just to recap everything for you guys, and then I'll kind of say where we stand currently. So as of right now, we have a meeting scheduled for October 22 with the State Board of Education and the town. This meeting has been rescheduled three times, so I'm crossing my fingers that the twenty second actually stays and does not get rescheduled. But to recap in terms of timeline and history, on June 23, our first selectman sent an email to myself and the head of the board of finance suggesting
a new policy for how AES would get our distributions in terms of budgetary money that was already approved. I emailed back and said I would bring this to my board at a meeting, but that we likely weren't interested in changing the policy for many reasons. And then on July 1, he sent... Mister McGuire sent an email notifying the school board that the town was implementing a new policy, which was exactly what he had suggested on June 23. There was no board of finance or board of selectmen or board of education meeting or triboard meeting or meeting between chairs for this policy to be... To take place or be approved. It just was sent as an email on July 1 by the first selectmen. On July 9, the Board of Education did request our July payment, you know, in full as one of the 10 installments, and that was denied by the treasurer. She said that she did not have permission to do so. On September 3, the board of selectmen had a special meeting to formally change the funding policy
that was voted on by all of the selectmen. And the first select selectmen at that meeting stated that it was a board of finance issue, but he was addressing it because the board of finance did not want to address it, which is true. The head of the board of finance did write back to the initial email as well as myself that they weren't really interested in changing the policy currently back in June. So now we're waiting really for... The the board of finance said they would wait for the state meeting at their meeting on the twenty third, and so that's kind of where we are at this point. I do have a printout of the payments that the school has received thus far. We did request an additional 150,000 on October 9, and that request was denied by the town. So... And just to recap in terms of, like, the overall dispute or reasons for why we don't want the changes that were asked for in the policy, you know, the school board already has an approved budget. We don't need to then show proof of why we need money for our approved budget
in order to receive that money. It's actually illegal to ask for. And and asking for that additional... Is additional work on time and behalf of our finance director and our superintendent. Why would we want to spend more money by paying for more hours of work for something that's already being done correctly? And we already have checks and balances and accountability by myself, by our superintendent, by Shannon. So we don't really need a change in the policy per se. And and, really, if they want to change the number of payments or the amount per payment, there's no issue with that. The issue is really with the fact that they're asking for us to send proof of why we need money before we will receive money. And just to confirm, the most recent thing that happened is that we did request additional money, and the request was denied.
So that you guys all understand. So there That's my question. Yeah. Was there a reason given why?
Well, they said no. Well, what were we asking? I would like to back up and ask what was it... What were we asking the extra money for? To meet our expenditures.
Well, if we have a budget and a certain amount approved
Correct. So are we asking for more than the budget? No. We're asking for No. We're asking for an allocation. Right? Like, our total budget was approved. We used to get 10 equal payments from July 1 through April. April. And instead of doing 10 April payments from July through April, the recommendation in change in policy was let's give them only... I think it was a 100,000 to start to start with, which somehow turned into 93... What is it? 93,000. $93,065 per week. And if we want more than that, they are asking us to show financial proof of what our bills are in order to receive that money. I thought it was per month.
93,000 per week would be about 400,000 per month. Right. We're supposed to get 483,000
per month. Is what we used to get per month. Yeah. At the first day of it. There's a listing here of all the transfers that have been done thus far. But they must be at the beginning. Right. I know that. And that's why there's some that were in bulk at the beginning. But We've already been given 259...
By the end of October, it's gonna be 259,000 less
than the Than here... Than what we would have board at that point. Board of Finance already approved. Right. Something like that. Okay. So so we're we're kind of still in a holding pattern waiting for that meeting on October 22, and I... We will let you guys know how that goes. If we get to a point where we can't pay bills, then we get a point where we can't pay bills. So that's one update in terms of the funding. The other update is in terms of the FOI request that the first selectman also submitted. He did sign for the requested information on food service on June 2. The superintendent's evaluation and evaluation material was posted on the school website, I believe, like, two days after he's formally submitted his request. On June 15, he sent an appeal to FOI stating that we had a lack of compliance with his requests. On June 18, I personally emailed him a copy of the superintendent's evaluation and information that went along with that. He's had another packet waiting for pickup here in the front office since June 18, which he has not picked up.
And we have had email back and forth regarding grant and tuition requests, which requires redacted check images. They can only print three checks per page, and then they all have to be redacted. There is a cost of 50¢ per page for that. We asked if he wanted us to proceed with that on August 9 and have not heard back from him whether or not he wanted to proceed with that. So the state... The hearing request was due yesterday. That was filed and received by our lawyers on behalf of the board. So we wait to hear from the state on that. And if he comes and picks up his packet or notifies us that he wants the other stuff prepared, then we will do so. But as far as I'm concerned, like, we're in compliance with what was asked for and and received thus far. Thank you for sharing. And you send it electronically?
You can't send redacted check images electronically because they have to be printed out and then redacted. It's, like, very tedious, time consuming work. Mhmm. Yes. It is. So the things that were available to send electronically were sent electronically, But the bank statements and records, there's so much redaction in those that you can't do it electronically. And
all that is in the packet he hasn't picked up?
Some... No. Things that are in the packet he hasn't picked up are not. I don't believe there's check images in those. You need a request to proceed. That's a lot of work. Right? He said whether he wants you to proceed through. Correct. He never replied to that email once he That's a lot work. How much I prepare that ahead of time before you get... Like, yes. I want it. Then yes. Correct. I'm gonna pay. Yep. And we figured we weren't gonna prepare the next things unless he picked up the packet that's been reading. And that's all been since... Yeah. July. Since... Sorry. Since June. Or June? June. Yeah. Wow. Mhmm. Why are we doing?
I don't know. But it it doesn't... Right? Like, that's neither here nor there. Like, we're... Right now, I'm just reporting the facts and the timeline of what's happened thus far. And all we can do is what we need to do for the kids in our school and keep going. So does anyone have any other questions about either of those behind the scenes issues?
Nope. Thank you for getting everything on them. Yes. Now we'll move on to your report.
Yeah. Alright. So let's see. So, usually, I talk about three things. So at this point, facilities, since the last meeting, the things that we've had just in repair and maintenance, that have been done. Encore did their quarterly, sprinkler inspection, so we're good to go on that. USA did, the last of the hot water pipe repairs in the tunnel, remember, because they're getting wrapped, and so there were some some areas that were, a little bit compromised. We wanted to make sure that it was just prior to, prior to the wrapping. The preschool fenced area with some of those additional funds that we received for preschool this year was done. They do have to reverse the lock on the gate outside. So it's usable now. It's just that the lock on the outside of the gate was, putting them backwards. There was a radiator leak, that was fixed in the art room small leak, but they did that USA did when they came to do the hot water fight. Our tank inspections, our service tank annual tank inspection was complete. Our exhaust fans that needed to be fixed down the tunnel. We had... Before the end of last school year, we had signed up to do that, and they did that at the end of the summer, so the start of September.
And then the only other thing that we had, was that the, drain for the washing machine, did need to be sneaked. But those were the repair and maintenance things for the month. There's no new grants, since our last meeting. You know, we are working now. We're starting to work on some of the things that SOAR needs with that special ed grant that we received. So, again, a reminder that that spending gets done, and then we wait for reimbursement. So, those are some of the expenses that we wind up, incurring as well is waiting for reimbursement on grants,
for that SOAR program. Do you have an example of kind of things that SOAR is doing? I'm assuming.
Alright. I don't know. I'm afraid I can rephrase that. Oh, I'm sorry. Is it in your report? It it can be.
I can I can So we'll wait? We'll let her do it when it's impossible because they're they're doing great things. Thank you. I'd love Taylor to be able to to talk to you about some of the successes that are going on there. Remember last year, we had the seed grant, and that was guaranteed for the two years. We used it for, the, addition last year of one of the paraeducators. And so, again, it's the same amount, and it pays for about half of that additional paraeducator. And then, you know, we still have title and IDEA that we always have that... Those expenses are always put in title and IDEA as opposed to being put in our general fund. But that's really it. Oh, and the snow rail was done. Snow rail that had to go outside the top of the gym so we could stop the ice from pooling this year, so that was done as well. We're hoping that, as the fall approaches now, that we will wind up, actually since it's an election year, and so sometimes that means more grants on the state level. But we're, hoping that there'll be some more grants in the fall for us to apply for. You know, as you can see, we've used them for, quite a large number of activities for kids, that we, you know, haven't been able to provide in the general fund. So I'm hoping that we see a few more of them for us to apply for.
And then, you know, as you know, after Christmas and Yeah. Get back to budget there for January and February. So that's really my Questions? Alright.
Got it, Taylor. I won't rain on your parade. It's
alright. So Yeah. Well, unfortunately, I was really hoping we would have more information in terms of... From the state for our... The accountability index we talked about when we talked about SPAC scores and all of those things. In the meeting I was on yesterday, they're saying late October to early November. Like, they, you know, they just won't. And, you know, they give us a calculator. It's like they spend more time asking us to get a projection than just giving it to us, but they send us a calculator that we can put our scores in, but they're waiting on something still for college projections because I I think I told you when you're in a k 12, there are more indicators.
And so we're waiting on a couple more things. But then... So hopefully, the November meeting, I will be able to share kind of what that looks like for us and any of those honors that we are hoping to achieve there. So sorry that I can't present that today, but we're still we're still waiting for the additional information. We did have professional development on Friday. And I think I mentioned a couple meetings ago that this year, Andover was part of the state scale initiative, and that's really looking deeper at assessment and quality... High quality assessment, both summative and formative. And so Christina and I went to a two day training in Hartford, and then we'd attend monthly trainings by Zoom. And on Friday, we turned around some of that training to staff, specifically around peer and self assessment. And so that was really interesting work about how... All the way from pre k up to six, how are kids working to set personal goals and be able to self assess progress, and how do they work with peers on peer feedback. So that was good work. We also worked... Teachers in four through six worked on science and social studies units. We've been talking about that while math and reading have been our priority and as they should be for many years as we've kind of moved our scores in the right direction. Science and social studies is certainly just as important. So fifth and sixth is working. Missus Weber is working with the sixth grade science teachers in Marlborough and Hebron as they are piloting similar units from Open SciEd that RAM uses as well, so they got to start that work. And then Melissa, who was in sixth grade this year in social studies,
worked on that curriculum. So that was good to see. And then the third thing we worked on Friday was math fluency. So we're really... We know fluencies k through six are really important. When you think of that word, you think of your multiplication facts. And, yes, that is a big fluency that kids need to come away with. But there are actually at least 10 different fluencies. Right? By the end of kindergarten, they need to be able to add and subtract fluently within five, which sounds small. But if that kindergartner at the end the year can't do two plus one very quickly, that compounds right through the years. And so we just... We're looking at what the research says about how to make sure we're teaching those fluencies effectively,
which is sometimes just that old school repetition. Don't get me wrong. So if you're family at home, we always encourage that. And there are other research based strategies that we're going to be implementing to try to help kids to really internalize some of those as they get older and they become more important. So that was the work of our Friday professional development. And then today, actually, in terms of curriculum, you know we are implementing UFLY, and that's the phonics program k three. And so today, we worked with our literacy consultant, Barb Golub, who comes a couple days a year, and she is an expert in that world. And so she was able to coach... To observe and coach k three in fly to give feedback, to jump in, to do a little modeling, to look at all of our pre assessment, our beginning of year scores. So that was really good work for the day
for me and for teachers to get that feedback and make sure we're on the right track there. And then I think I mentioned on the third is our next professional development of November, and we'll be attending the CEA conference in... At Foxwoods. Foxwoods. Yeah. We gotta drive a little bit. Is that all the teachers? All the teachers. Yep. We'll be attending that. I know we ship. Where's our bus? That is excite... Why did I think of that? I need to.
Come on, Caitlin. I need a bus. That's really exciting, so we'll be attending that. And then just last week where the state... Which is something we've been asking for and and really hoping for, the state has announced that they will also host a paraeducator professional development session that day
in... Oh, I'm gonna get it. I think it's in Bristol, but I could I I could So the teachers get Foxwoods and the para Yeah. --.
Right? So They're actually gonna postpone. Yeah. We're really excited about that. Do we wish we had more notice? Our pre k paras are are... Were already committed to go... They're gonna go to Lebanon. There's a training happening there on that day in terms of data collection for pre k. So that's okay. That's exciting work too. But... And then our SOAR, our special education paras were offered the training in for the state, and so many of them are attending that, which which hopefully, fingers crossed, will be a nice experience because the state has not really had kind of bigger trainings where parents come together. So that is the Para World. In terms of SOAR, I can definitely give an update there. Yes. We are up and running. You know, I think I had to count with some first graders today. They were arguing with me. I think we're on day 34 ish of school, and it... It's... We've really come a long way. So couple of things. We're working on the environment, the actual classroom environment, and the grant is helping us to do that. So a couple of kiddos really benefit some of... From really intensive skill practice, and that requires a more focused space. So we do have a couple of dividers coming in to create two kind of focused... You can think of it almost like a cubicle Mhmm. So that when they're really getting that skill practice, whether it's from the teacher, the para, or the BCBA, they have that kind of focus space.
We've also working on environment in terms of setting up for life skills. So our students are doing in that program a lot of baking, life skills, money. You think of shopping, all of those things that come with that. So making sure the play materials, the centers reflect that, and then also making sure they have the materials for the... Because they are actually cooking too. You know? The the real stuff, so to speak. So that's coming along. And then working on... The the goal, as we know of this program, is to increase successful inclusion opportunities, and so working on what that looks like with our classroom teachers. So this month and the next six weeks, classroom teachers sign up to do Learningbox, we call them. And so you can sign up and say, I'm a fourth grade teacher, I would love to see a second grade math lesson on this topic and how that connects to me. And so many of our teachers want to go and... Will go and see the SOAR program. Right? And so connect to their kiddos that may be in their homeroom, but may not be, and how they can better kind of facilitate that connection and communication with that program. So we're excited about those walks coming up. And then the outdoor... We're really... That outdoor learning space for pre k for the fence. And then also, we're gonna be looking at some... Probably seen them before. Like, this giant screen size board, they're magnetic, and they're outside. And so you can put... Think of, like, pipes, like rain gutters. Does that sound familiar? And you can make, like...
I'm probably explaining it terribly. I should've had a picture. Tracks. Mhmm. You know, kind of... Know what I mean when I... When you see it. But some opportunities like that to create more engaging hands on learning that, of course, children in this program benefit from, but as we know, all children benefit from. And so really thinking about what experiences and and things we can do that will will support. And then the BCBA that we are able to utilize more frequently, thanks to the grant, has been coming in and doing a lot of really good training, focusing on increasing our ability to collect good data. That's a really important part of special education is data collection, so we've been working a lot on that and that direct skill instruction. So a lot of things happening in the SOAR world, and it's been great. Dorona, a couple of you have gotten to meet our new special education director. So she's been getting to know, of course, all of our kids and all of our staff, but really getting to know that program as well and making sure she and Kathy Hartnett and Jenny Morell actually went and visited another program a couple of weeks ago to get another sense of how other schools are operating in this way. So they've been doing a lot of work
as well.
Can I ask a financial question about it? Is that grant... It's... Is it a reimbursement? Everything in it is reimbursement, so we pay for all of the stuff upfront, and then we get reimbursed. Correct? Mhmm. Okay.
Of our all of our regular grants are. All of our competitive grants are. The only time is if it is something that's given to the schools through the municipality. Because municipal grants, they're granted the money. Yeah. And then they could spend it. They don't have to... They have to do the reports at the end. Right. So, like, DRIP DRIP was given to the schools through the municipality.
Yeah. So we have access to the DRIP money in real time. It came in. Yeah. No. I just wanted to to mostly to say it out loud for a grant like this, which is huge for special education. It's it's a lot of money, but, like, we have to spend the money. We have to have it. And then you can get the money back. Yes. You need to have money spent to... Yes. Yes. Right.
Actually, that's probably a great segue into you're done. Okay. You're done. You're done. Questions
for me. I'm fine, Jody. How hard do have? I didn't mean to steal your Jump on. Questions for me. Any questions? No. Thank you. No.
So in addition, you have your standard report, your standard finance report. But I did this year's... After the meeting, I also... This is what I give to the board of finance. But I wanted to do a little differently from the past. So in the past, you got all the grants and you got the drawdowns of what we were drawing down. I thought it it would be probably more effective to show you upfront all the the grants that are anticipated revenue. So it's a great question because we do have to lay out the money for most of these and get reimbursed. So I'll continue to draw down whether it's monthly or every other month, but I just thought this made more sense and you could see. So on the top is information you have, but, you know, we'll give that to the board if I ask, but it's basically the year what... How much we have, what have we expended, what's encumbered,
what's our balance, the percent used. It's already changed already. But then you have all the grants, but not just grants, have the revenue except the pre k tuition on here. So I just wanted to see all the anticipated revenue in one shot. If we get more grants, they'll add on here. You could see what the requirements are. So, you know, some things we can offset and we do for the general the general fund. Some things are for... Like Val mentioned, this special... The seed grant had to be for new programming. The one that Val mentioned, the the SOAR program, that's the second to last. It's the high quality special ed grant. That is that 225,000 that was... And, again, I wanted to note with that too. It it has to be for enhancing your programs. It can't be used to certainly offset cost. Right. And, also, we got notified of it late. So I also wanna kinda put it out there that when we know we're getting grants, we deduct that from the general budget. Right? So for example, when you look at
IDEA six eleven and six nineteen, that funds two paraprofessionals. So that money, obviously, is not in the general fund. We're able to kind of account for it, and it doesn't go in the general fund. Some grants, we don't know. But I just want people to know that anything where we know we're getting the money, we'd already use that to keep the general fund
or that I know there's been there's been debate and questions about it from the board of finance as well as general townspeople that they think it would be more accurate if our budget was really the entire cost for everything minus the grants, which makes your total minimum way higher.
Well, the the the reason why that's like... I can tell you, like, my other district,
I lost title one funding this year, and you don't find that out until, like, after the budget. So had I put that in there, you know, an expense and been like, oh, no worries. We paid this normally out of it and so... And left it in there. Now I'd be stuck with that bill. Yeah. And it would it would have to be in the budget no matter what. So, that's the difficulty there. If in fact they said, when you present your budget, we want you to present the known grants for next year, none of these would be on here because we don't always know. We don't actually know. Right. That's kinda not right either. So one thing that we do do is in this district, only one time in the seven years that I've been here, we not gotten title one. Yeah. So it's fair for us to assume that we're going to get title one and plan for that to be in there. It's those unknowns that we're like, I don't know. We haven't gotten it seven years in a row. We cannot put that one in there. Jody, there is one, change to this, and it's only because you have it as a TBD. I actually did do it today. Okay. I knew the day. The title four, it's not for Spanish. It is for the, that point to alert. So because Spanish was cut and we were going to have to cut that point two art and it was not possible
scheduling wise, Taylor still needed to have a certain number of specials for, you know, all grades,
that 10,000, please go to that other two for ART, the other point to two for ART. Great. I'll update that. Sorry. No. No. And I think that's... Well, it's one thing I wanna point out too is some of the... These grants, even though we think we're gonna get them, the applications aren't even final yet. So, like, this title four, you know, the application due date is October 30. By the time you go through the...
They approve it, you're already looking, you know, at no writing it out like this. It's really nice to be able to read it and either require, it's great to to know, like, whether or not you're... It has to be a new thing or you're using it for something existing. Like, that makes a big difference. Yeah. The only people think about it. Yeah. And the and the pre K tuition, I I didn't put what it's used for, but it's basically... It's one Salary. It's the salary of a... The the fourth teacher and all the para And then of all of these, the only one that went through municipality is the DRIP. Is that correct? Or there's there's We know that. Ensign. Yeah. Those are the only two municipal ones. Yeah.
So... And then and then do you have any questions about the regular expenditure reports? I'm here to answer them if you do. Thank you. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yes. And, again, the reason why we'd have the pre K is because we're still waiting for the tuition and everything, so we didn't really have anything to report. Yeah. Does anyone have other financial questions about the rest of
So if we spend more than the town gives us, do we have funds available? You know? We don't. We don't spend more. It's against the law for us to spend. What do you mean? No. I mean, is She means town gives a certain amount per month. Oh, yeah. And even though, like, a lot of stuff, you have to... We have to spend it before you get it back, So there's gonna be a lot of outlay at the beginning. Mhmm. So not pay those bills yet. And we're not late because... Understand, just like with your home budgets, there are certain things that you get every month. So we have the electric bill. We have the gas bill. We have all those things. Mhmm. There are other bills that you have, for example, if you have a tuition payment for a student that attends another facility. We've already gotten that bill. We know what that's going to be. It's not a twelve month or a ten month, I should say. Sorry. Ten month bill. So we get that bill, and they're like, here you go. You gotta pay it. We just haven't paid that debt.
We're
on the hook for it no matter what. So, like, things have been specifically not paid because of what's going on with the town and not... And trying to be very resourceful about the funds that are available currently.
Do we have do we have funds, though? We have a No. We requested
those transfers from the town, and they have been denied.
I just don't know how many... Do we have... How many bank accounts do we have? We have one general fund bank account. And we have a a grant account? We do. But, again, remember, so it's just like, should we have board members know, like, what those accounts... How... What's in those accounts and how much They do. They do the checks. So they do. But the whole board should know.
I mean, I think you're welcome to come in and have a meeting about it if you want to, but that's not information that, as the board of ed, that we've ever shared at a meeting. And there's a lot of private financial information for students that pay tuition and all kinds of other stuff and special education checks for tuition for student. Like, there's a lot of private information that would be on there if you were to show... It's it's not good financial practice to show something like that in a in a meeting in a meeting. Us as board
Not in a meeting. Us as board members. It's As soon as we all act together, that constitutes a meeting. So, like, Sharon came in at one point last month. But if you wanna go... That's what I'm saying. If you wanna go So in so... No. I understand what Marcy's saying. And so, Marcy, absolutely, if you said, I'd like to come in and, like, kinda see that a bit, you're welcome to come in. Sharon did it last month. But for three or more of you to come at the same time, that's a quorum, that's a meeting. And we don't do them at meetings. So you're welcome to do what Sharon did, which Sharon said, you know, I I think I understand what you guys are talking about. I'd just like to take a peek, and she did. Okay.
You know That was very helpful. Thank you. Yeah. You're welcome. And just so you know, after I reconcile the statements, they do get sent over to the treasurer.
So the treasurer does get those reports. It was helpful just for me to understand the process. There's a whole batch of checks. Yeah. And, you know, not only do they sign the checks, and then they look at the batch, and they see... I mean, there's a lot of, you know, checks and balances that kind of go on that made me feel really comfortable because there was a lot of talk, right, about transparency. And, like, I felt really comfortable going in. Was it was a great experience. Mhmm. So Both. I mean, that's our responsibility, really, to know what's going on with the Yeah. Yeah. And I took that seriously. So I went in and found out the information. And so Yeah.
Like, you're doing it. You signed a text. Yeah. And
she hadn't seen them. Yeah. Yeah. So I think in terms of, you know, just you guys all as board members feeling comfortable with the process that's already been in place and that the auditor says you're... You guys are doing everything correctly, like, go have a meeting with Jody. Like, it's... So so that you're comfortable with it. Mhmm. But, yes, in terms of in terms of do we have the money to pay the bills that we need to pay? So, selectively, bills are being paid, but no. Like, we're waiting for this meeting on the twenty second. Yeah. Rob Peter to pay Paul.
Way it is. We don't have Rob and Peter. That's the problem.
Well, we'll wait and see. Does anyone have other financial questions? No? Okay. Liaison reports, do have anything for CIP?
CIP did not leave. Yeah. We have nothing to consider. They do not leave in most. Yeah. Does anyone have other
liaison reports? Did you... Did your We did meet our... The LGP. Yeah. And like all state things, the information shifts quickly. But we used to, as part of our grant, have quality quality enhancement funds. And so we've been waiting that they're, like, a year behind on that. And so that has come. It's a little bit of a new process. So we're working on the pre k team, and Val and I and Jody just working on what we want. Now it's a request process, so it's not, you know, that fun financial stuff. But we were to submit requests for things. Again, it's more in the curriculum world. Like, there's a wind tunnel, like, things that would, you know, enhance our program that we'll be able to hopefully apply through that venue. So that's exciting. We're we're still learning all the details of exactly how and when we'll know of what we're allocated there. It's just different than how it's worked in the past, but we're excited at least there's opportunity again for that quality enhancement. So that was really the main topic that we discussed. And then just thinking about family engaging events across the three towns and what that will look like this year.
Oh, anyone have anything else, liaison, Liz? No? Okay. So we'll move on to bathroom project. It says final update, which is really exciting. The bathrooms are functional and open and being used. Yes. So that's awesome. Exciting. Very exciting. Oh, we did it. Right? So in terms of final, final, final numbers, we don't have final, final, final, but we have, like, mostly final numbers. So in addition to the the initial contract that we had with Fuss and O'Neil for all the architectural work, the additional total above that was about 265... Almost $266,000. And that's broken down into the estimated total for Secondino, which was the contractor, is about 247,000. We had about $5,000 in legal fees, and that was to get an actual very good contract, which should serve the town for future construction projects very well because we didn't have that existing on the town side or the school side. That was sort of like a temp to Yeah. That that actually protects the building owner as opposed to the contractor. So... Yeah. They had always previously signed just the general contractor. Lot of general contractor. Which did... But which protects the contractor, not Right. Right. 300. Yeah. Got it. And then there's about 3,500 of that total that was for the testing clearance after the asbestos and about 6,000, which was oversight by Eric Sanderson for the actual project the summer. And then 11... Sorry. 1,150 that was additional for Frost and O'Neil for change orders during that construction process. I believe it was specifically about the the concrete slab redo in the boys' bathroom because they had to take out a large section, and then they weren't sure if it was, like, structurally sound or not because it's above the tunnel.
So all in all, you know, if we include in the the the original contract with Fuss and O'Neil, total cost for the project is estimated about about at 325,000, including the architecture as well as, like, through everything. So I think that's pretty great for our stool, and it's been really needed for Yeah. What are we going on? Four years now. So kind of a big deal.
So we don't have, like, total final numbers. If anyone wants to see the spreadsheet of all of the checks, Jody's been keeping a really awesome spreadsheet with when they get processed through to the town and when they get paid. The only caveat to everything I just talked through is that the First Selection has denied paying three checks. Two of them were to Foss and O'Neill from the previous contract, the architectural contract that the Board of Finance approved probably two years ago in December. So those two checks were not... They were written. They were signed by our town administrator, and the first selectman refused to sign them. So we did pay those from the school side. We voted on that. Right? Remember. I Yeah. Okay. That's what I'm talking about. Okay. Just making sure. Yeah. And then the third check that was not paid by the town so far was also to Fuss and O'Neil, and that was for the, like, roughly thousand dollars that was the the change order regarding the concrete and structural integrity. So that was also paid by the school. So we'll look... We'll talk to the board of finance in terms of reimbursement for that stuff after the fact. But if anyone wants to see the spreadsheet, I can pass it around if you guys are interested.
So I guess biggest thing would just be once we have the final number, we'll need to ask the board of finance for the remainder of that money from.
And then what we should do is pass the motion to allow you Yes.
Right or right or wrong would be bad. I have to request full payment of the amount for the bathroom, Payment to the board of plan... Payment to board of finance from.
Yes. Would anyone like to second that? Second. K. So just to recap then, Jerry's motion is to allow me to write a letter once we know the final final number to request the end of that to be paid by the Board of Finance. From our From our capital account.
Anyone have questions on that discussion? It's ridiculous that we don't have to do this. Like,
is this actually really happening? Like, we have to write a letter to request to pay our bills. Yes. Because there's
expenditure bill because we're asking for money from our fund. So because we're asking for money from our tech... The capital account, which is the town Yeah. We had only asked for 220. Okay. Got it. So... And we knew the project would be more than that, but now we know how much more. Right? So we're roughly asking for --. Oh, no. No. No. 66. It's Including the addition that hasn't been joined yet. Right? Correct. Included in Yeah. So it's it's roughly 40,000 more if I'm using round numbers. But let me get the final number. We have the money on that account. Yep. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So the total for the project was 295. 25. $5.03 if we're including the the original architectural agreement with Fuss and O'Neil. That's the total cost for the whole project. Okay. What we have listed on that. The dollar Sorry. Yeah. I know. 300,000. Yeah. If you... I'd like a copy of that.
Yeah. I can pass this over to you. Okay. So There's a motion pending. A motion on the table. Are you guys ready to vote on the motion that's pending? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? My second vote.
I said I. Okay. So, actually, I wanted to ask about this from previous contract. How much is on that previous contract? It's paid in full. It's paid in full.
Those two checks that are on there for Fuss and O'Neil, they were $17.25, $28.75, and 4,000. It's exactly 4,000. Okay. 33,000 of it was from the contract that was already approved by the Board of Finance in December 2024 Okay. That the First Selectman refused to sign and send.
So... But I'm adding this up, and it comes out to, like, 250,000 ton. The total is then 70,000.
K for legal Trying to figure out where the extra. 3,500 for asbestos, 1 k for When
I get to $3.25, that's because we're adding in the initial
contract with Boston O'Neil. How much is the initial contract for Boston O'Neil? 44.
44, 45,000. And that contract we're on hook for? No. That's already That was already paid. That was the... All the design and all the Those those four last those two checks, not the last one, but the two prior, those were the last two installments of that contract.
That was all preorder. Okay. So that... But that 44,000 is not on this page yet. Correct? On that page. Okay. Part of the the roughly $3.25, though. 4,000 was the old...
Estimated 4,000 was the old amount that we owed to Fasanova. Correct. Yes. From that contract. Those checks were more than ninety days. Were out of Sorry if I take picture of this? So they have to.
Do wanna email it? Yeah. I can email it to you. Just because there's personal information on there about a person, so I prefer I don't see any person's name, but whatever. It's a... We could... Well, we can talk about it, I'll start. Okay. Does anyone have any other questions about the bathroom project? We can lay it lay it to bed. There we go. Yeah.
Shh. Put it away. It will not be on the inside. It's really definitely done. There's no mismatching tile or something. Stop. They they
Do you like to go up and make a living in fact? I would. In fact. I was thinking about that myself. I do a field trip. I do
the back to school night. I went in there, actually. Yeah. I opened the house. Okay. Used it. Now you can use them. Now they're open. Excellent. Now you can. Yeah.
They're they're open. Alright. I I realized afterwards I probably shouldn't have been walking into the boys' restroom.
I did. You checked them all out. Okay. I just saw the box. Yeah. All of it. Yeah. Okay. Cool. The whole shebang. Yeah. Yeah. She had a lot to take pills during the bathroom. Was an open bath. It was.
There was... To be clear, there's nobody in the bathroom. Thanks for clarifying that, Jennifer. I think we're gonna move on to public comment unless anyone has anything further. Hi. Jamie, Talbot, Bailey. No comment at this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Amy Nath? Okay. And for May? Nothing. It's done. Christina? All set then. Jen, do you have any public comment? No. Thanks. All set.
Okay. Thank you. So does anyone have other action items that we need to address?
Isn't that Veterans Day? It sure is. Is that a problem? No. I'm just... Is it a from school? It is. There
is no school. Awareness, I will not be there. Okay.
I wasn't sure. I just want if we're having it, just so I know, they're custodians. I
figured we would. Do we need to Can can I... Can we just do, like, a rough straw poll then? The November 11 meeting is... So, Brie, you said that you won't Yeah. Won't here. Is anyone else not going to be able to attend that day?.
So then I would just suggest because it is a holiday then, if you're just gonna use it as an update meeting to move your policies to December. Okay. Because then it's a nice quick short meeting. Yeah. You know? And we'll do... We'll put it to December. Is that okay? I think that's fine.
Because it would just be an update. This could be a record to me. Okay. Not a record. Not... We're not That was not a record.
Suggestion, if we're gonna move it off to December, do we wanna add another No.
We already have one. One. We have three. Okay. But the wines are awesome on that. Can I make a request, though? Is it possible I'm gonna send them because I'm sending them. Must have been enough for the Can we give you a deadline for when to set up by? By November. Can I say by November 11? Yes. Yeah. I woke up a lot. Yeah.
Send them for your commenting on. I'm gonna send them for for that. With the red stuff. Right. Yeah. But then you're gonna comment on it. Mhmm. Yep. Yeah. That was what we discussed last time. Yeah. Oh, and you were talking. We're gonna do, like, a We're gonna do a shared Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Uber. We can comment. So everything can comment. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Unfortunately. K.
Okay. So we'll keep the November 11 meeting, but we'll move the policies to December. Yes, ma'am. And Shannon's gonna have them sent to us by November. K.
Otherwise, we can all send her stale moldy bread. Thank you very much.
Anyone have other items for our next meeting? Once we adjourn, we will have cupcakes because
this month was Jerry's birthday and Anne's birthday and Kaitlyn's birthday. Wow. That's so funny. Works. Yes. I Would anyone like to make Both not yours.
Mhmm. K. It is 8 $0.05. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. Good job. $1.80, y'all.
This transcript was generated by Deepgram from the meeting recording. Names, numbers, and other details may be inaccurate; the recording is authoritative.