that was passed that first week of November board meeting the problem was updated to reflect the change that will direct readers of the policy back to policy 5512 which is dealing with uh procedure for parents or Guardians who feel the determination of the investigation of the board um previously the revisioning correctly discussed that it appeals were in the scope of a different section of student grievances um Sean wanted to um thank Mr Savia for um Consulting resources on the school website and decides them in one place the materials are now easily accessible under harassment and intimidation and bullying parent drop down menu uh making it easier to find for for anyone going on there and it can also be found by the search box um you ask that one minor revision would be requested as a title of a new section in the drop down menu should be harassment and intimidation or bullying rather than end bullying to match the policy um is quickly provided an update that um Miss Justice will look excellent progress on loading the searchable text versions of our policies before docs policy document management system she's already through the first two sections and making progress on the third um so it's a big job and she's making all getting a lot of stress Esme has not yet published alert 229 but has indicated that is coming soon and will policies including the uh abolishment of policy 1648.13 schooled employee vaccine vaccination requirements and Sean also sends both his regrets for missing the meeting and wanted to um thank Steve Obama for his years of service on the board Mrs Carlson for her 15 years of service to Elementary School information any questions comments okay and next we have uh Sarah community relations yes um a longer one this time December is a busy modern museum uh so recently there were some community events they were mentioned tonight there was the Brielle tree lighting and The First Holiday In the Park that was put on by a combination of the Chamber of Commerce and real Recreation uh the Elementary's degree Elementary School the chorus performed at the tree lighting and overall the event success and they are planning on doing it next year with the holiday in the park um also a reminder that Santa on the fire truck is this Saturday the Google form is due by this Friday prior to midnight so I know that that is usually uh well attended or well signed up for as jail was calling yourself appreciate to get that in and then from the PTO they had a very successful breakfast with Santa on December 3rd this was a seventh grade fundraiser um again very successful in 732 needed and doing a great job and then coming up uh there's the 8th grade fundraiser in January January 13th The Snowball Dance and then from the bef they recently held their jingle and the mingle fundraiser on the Boatyard this was very big success over 200 tickets were sold and over 30 000 and then from our BPI group they had their first meeting on the 29th of November uh the assumed we had a strong parent turnout Mr Savia attended there was ample discussion amongst the group and then working into next year at the work will need meeting with Mr Russo to continue to discuss the concerns and any action also their uh is it t-shirts and sweatshirts yeah okay be here it has been interviewed and orders are ready for pickup I we received ours so I think everybody should be getting them and we're they'll be continued to be solved correct um and then the next um epad meeting will be in January as well actually on the 13th also I know you said it would be subject January 13th for right now oh was it 31st oh I imported okay thank you you're welcome um and so yeah that again the subject to changing is a worse than the scheduling last time um and then from the board there are some updates on the superintendent search the Marianne Friedman our njsda rep um and then and the dally met with faculty and staff Administration parents community and community members on November 17 and there were three separate input sessions but everyone should have received that online survey that should have been filled out by the second December for input and the deadline for that superintendent principal application was also on Sunday so now all the information that is being that was received is being compiled and in January will start our um we'll begin to meet with Marianne to discuss criteria and we're non-simenting activities so moving right along uh and then lastly we'll have the Board of Ed uh reorgan meeting on January 4th all right any questions there's a lot going on any questions and uh now for the administrative Administration report yes I'll try to be great it goes up like dinner I had staff members time how long was oh God um I I am just overwhelmed uh uh from the bottom of my heart on the love that and the notes and things that have happened to me in the last especially last month I said no to a retirement dinner and then that night I discovered I was wrong and that was the right thing to do um you know Mary Beth and Jen love and many others you know made that night very special for myself and my husband who was here tonight it's gone well I couldn't have done the job without my husband I didn't say that you know to support me in this role especially a female in this role you know when in the morning when he says what time do you think you're getting home and I said give or take two hours you know 5 30.
the materials are being put together by the Arizona Department of Education and we'll make certain that those materials are available and that the proper training is in the hands of our teachers so that they can carry this out on that important day along with that the 911 aspect of this particular policy is the Sandra Day O'Connor Civic Celebration Day and in a similar fashion we're going to provide materials and support so that our schools can go ahead and add in to that already robust curriculum Civics specific lessons using those materials again supplied through Arizona Department of Education any questions or comments um it doesn't it says for the school day um can do you know or can you clarify will this will it be every class will be doing something or is it dedicated to a government class or a certain content area vice president it's a great question I think it will look different in different places in a secondary environment where you have a dedicated uh course that every student rolls through where they are talking about Civics and the social sciences every day that might be that point of of contact for that lesson but in a self-contained Elementary classroom it might be a portion of that day it also could include school-wide events and those sorts of recognitions and acknowledgments I'm envisioning it'll be a little bit of everything but it will be at least something dedicated to in the case of 9 11 instruction in an age-appropriate fashion for uh events of that date and in the case of the Civics day something that will allow there to be widespread celebration one way or another great thank you for answering that all right um let's move on to uh agenda information item 7.6 this one is amendment to policy i j l Library materials selection and adoption good evening vice president Anderson members of the board next for your consideration are the amended changes to policy ijl Library materials selection and adoption as you'll see that's posted here Arizona law requires a public review period for books and materials purchased after January 1st of 2023.
so you're talking about six to ten years old praising them you know anybody who has interviewed any candidates from Greenwich really should have known whether they're you know a prior client or or something you know somebody we might hire should be aware of what has gone on in Greenwich in the past several years in 2021 Greenwich did a comprehensive review with a group out of Boston called public Consulting Group they're also the Consulting Group that is doing the whole IEP Revision in Connecticut their engagement was thirty thousand dollars it got um increased to ninety eight thousand dollars 168 page report in the midst of that review the special education director for 24 years resigned she didn't retire she resigned essentially because of the results of the review um now we're about to hire somebody who just who's advertising a success story in Greenwich right Greenwich you know just went through a much more thorough review they had several reviews between that the the other reviews or audits very similar to the one scoped parents came back and said it's two Administration friendly they didn't talk to the Paris they didn't talk to the parents the PCG group work they had in-depth focus groups another client they had was Oxford came out after Oxford's review you know after they had great praise for the leadership and particularly the director of special education that the director of special education for CES was her uncle right um after that you know there was no they had some recommendations mostly procedural but it's kind of the book that a parent would learn after a few years of how special education should be run I suggested the district look into that and the board asked questions about the capabilities there because what happened in Oxford was there was more violations the Oxford parents sought out help from a parent support group called seek they reviewed documentation and found multiple violations and then hired the same lawyer that went to darianne and the results of the darianne review by the way was the entire Administration resigned or was fired same they found issues in Oxford and currently that special education director was is in another District because they were forced to resign so with the concerns about the capabilities of CES and the fact that the executive director is the former and super superintendent of Amity at the same time our current superintendent was in Bethany with the appearance of a potential conflict of interest I think it would make no sense to hire CES and but but I do think we should have a comprehensive review like the PCG review where there's in-depth parent focus groups how however the problem we have today are broken programs that got broken overnight with the new hire the board still hasn't addressed the violations that are coming in the lying to the public so was that you're out of time okay so it asks the board is solve the bleeding fix the leadership problem first and if you have the right leaders you may not need to spend a hundred thousand dollars but paying somebody's buddy to cover this up is not going to be at all useful or helpful to anybody thank you thank you okay that's it for public comment thank you all very much appreciate that I am sure those will become part of our discussion when I get to that agenda item um so next up on our agenda is our student representative report hi Caitlin how are you tonight it should be up yeah there you go okay I'm good how are you all um so I have a few updates for us today uh this Saturday December 17th will be the winter Cabaret and charity event hosted by student government there will be many performances such as the dance team uh Brookfield and alumni student bands and multiple singers uh it's free of charge to attend but donations are absolutely welcome National Honor Society held a winter workshop for Center School students today in the school gym complete with snacks crafts stories and little stores for them to buy gifts it was definitely a success I personally ran the craft station and it was so nice seeing the little kids faces light up as they created holiday trees and snowflakes for their families athletic advisory and student government gave a wonderful presentation this past Friday about our athletic programs leadership at Southern Connecticut State University our school continues to set strong precedence for the communities around us the boys basketball team has their first home game this Saturday the 17th we are in the midst of a smooth transition from fall to winter sports last but certainly certainly not least a member of the student government took the time today to lead an announcement honoring the Lost lives of the Sandy Hook shooting he read the list of names and our entire school had a moment of silence dedicated to them these children and staff members will forever remain in our hearts thank you so much and happy holidays thank you Caitlyn questions Tara Carr wrote regarding a WMS research study Andy Korea wrote regarding inaccurate meeting minutes and a request to revise Nick Schmidt wrote the cape committee regarding health curriculum and Communications and Andy and Irene Correa wrote requesting a no vote on the special education review I will move that the board approved the minutes from the regular meeting on November 30th second I might go here we go we're moved and seconded um are there any uh comments or suggestions for changes um yes the correspondence the written correspondence that I just mentioned um a parent requested a revision to the public comment portion of that um where it says that Andy Korea Monique Matthews Aaron scholar and debka case spoke about FERPA they felt that was not comprehensive enough so I would make a motion that we amend it that we they spoke about ferca FERPA violations and the district's response to give a little more clarity to that I don't know if anyone else has another suggestion I know I know his request was to actually put a lot more verbiage but we generally don't put that much detail into the minutes correct but uh what do you guys think about that Amendment I think that's a good summary brief do you need a second on the amendment I will second dip so uh any discussion on the amendment okay all in favor of the amendment please say aye aye aye is there any further discussion on the minutes okay all in favor of approving the minutes as amended okay okay thank you um there was a second request in there about um amending a prior meetings uh minutes similarly so this was on the 30th of the November 30th thing I wasn't at the last meeting and I think you guys all approved the November 14th I mean it was the 14th meeting 16th meeting minutes do you all have an appetite to amend your the minutes or you will let them stand as approved I'm not I'm for one I'm not a in fate generally in favor of going back and revisiting priorly approved minutes personally but I'll leave it up to you guys since you all did the approval agreed okay General consensus is to leave it as it so no motion on that okay um so next up is the superintendent's update thank you Mr Belden um given the um uh nature of the the lengthy items on the agenda night I have a very brief report but I I was hoping it would be okay I wanted to ask you if we could um we lost Mrs plew from Huckleberry Hill uh last week and I was hoping uh the board would be okay if we do a moment of silence in memory of Mrs blue okay all right all right please join me in a moment of silence thank you everybody thank you Mr welcome my children had Mrs plew they loved her so she's with the district from since 1986.
and then the first item is approval of Prior meeting minutes okay I approve okay so you're gonna motion to go through drive a second I'll second that motion okay hi hi trustee battle aye trustee Pope aye Sheriff votesai approved okay now you want to what I said so the motion is to approve the same officers for this as for the um the governing board um do I have a second on this for the oh for the for the financiers for the financing Corporation but the same the same officers that we just selected okay I think we're all in the same page okay um so Mr Mason uh trustee Anderson aye Justin ballen aye trustee Pope aye and chair votes I and Scott you understand that right I definitely do okay other business there is no other business okay if we have any public comments okay then I'm going to adjourn the meeting of the center Joint Unified School District financing Corporation at 6 59 pm re-adjourn um the regular meeting of the center Joint Unified uh governing board at 6 59 pm and at this time I'm going to hand over the gallon we can continue oh no thank you so I think he's done so one other item while we're debating who's taking the gavel I did have one other gavel that we wanted to present to trustee Bruno I'm gonna go back here oh on behalf of your very first on behalf of your year of service as the president and probably tired of me um I want to present to you uh on behalf Center Joint Unified School District Stephen J Bruno board president 2022.
uh Spanish-speaking non-certified staff members about 10 who have an ESL certificate and three of a bilingual by cultural certificate we're exploring ways to attract and recruit and perhaps grow our own teachers in that category there's a literacy project underway at the elementary level focused on improving family literacy and families that is underway there are consultant Works who are working with our school leadership teams and our school data teams on comparing Lincoln results to reading assessment results literacy initiatives Ela and math work in 7 through 12 and school-wide data teams to try to make sense some of the data that is coming in and how to move forward with that in the classroom Mrs Fisher provided updates on professional learning most of our staff members have completed the bank's 10-hour option and it's new this year those who haven't will be doing work in January either I mean professional learning requirements and the scheduling committee work is underway at the high school and middle school and all indications indicate that those conversations have been fruitful and productive uh people kind of open to exploring new ideas Dr Freeman and Mrs Fisher really celebrated the work of the staff members on those committees and kind of looking at all options trying to find some needs of our students so we had a very good meeting uh productive meetings trying to figure out how we as the Lord can support our staff and our administrators in trying to provide the best programming for our kids that's great and I just want to highlight the uh note that you made about the teachers advantage of backing continuing education I think that's something one of the first things that Dr Freeman relaxed when he came back in in the beginning of the year and it's outstanding to see that the community has really taken that opportunity and location clearly it was a good decision questions for Sydney on education all right hearing none Mr Bell for governance it's gonna be a little bit likely um there are quite a few items that we covered in governance uh the first one as you may have noticed in tonight's agenda we talked briefly I think last meeting about lessening the number of roll call votes uh per meeting so you'll see I think it's items six and seven are no longer uh Elementary and then High School we've combined them it is going to be a bit of a task for Edith to take note that that's what if you notice the asterisks uh those are uh really just for you to know what she should be holding and what she should be abstaining on you'll also notice uh the next item I believe it's eight uh we combined what used to be three things into something now called board action resolutions um I don't know that there was financing the special services and I believe there's one more forget that was put in there but anyway we accomplished at least somewhat uh our goal of making you know having us say yes few less times per reading oh I have here it's like policies special services and finance those were the three the next item we as a committee talked about and and are hopeful that you guys uh will agree with us that we would like to go out and try to become a certified board what this means is that we need to get 16 credits of training as a board and the next we would like to achieve an annoy in the next two years Gwen can come in and do quite a few of these um but it would basically demonstrate you know to the or our community here in in the schools the staff and the students as well that um we are committed to continuing our education just as we expect the same you know of our staff so um we would have a plaque and we would be recognized by the state as as a certified board who's done you know done the work to stay up to date on on latest and best so that's something that we are definitely interested in like I said Gwen can do a lot of them I think things like the ethics training that we do count so you know we've done some of them in the past but we can call on her to do some of the things that we have talked about as a board anyway getting getting better at so we can get hours for all of those so as you can you know I think you can all do the math that's eight eight hours per year so we're it's not quite one a month depending on how long each training is I assume that probably about an hour each but maybe there are some that are longer um so we would have to probably do them at least every other month or so to keep up with that maybe even more frequently because that's something that that as a committee we thought we really wanted to but to you guys and hope that you would be with us on that home um we talked about the HR committee which did come up in our retreat at the end of I guess that was last school year um it was obviously in the summer okay um whether or not we're going to keep it right now we're recommending that we do keep it at least for one more year um because we we do have a need for um a small group of people to talk about executive uh items that are executive in nature they can always bring them back to us in the executive session if they need to but at least for a year we're going to hold on to that in addition to that or at least we're recommending to do so in addition to that uh we also and this result Dr Friedman's recommendation we also discussed creating another committee which would be ad hoc for now which would be in athletics we first started talking about an Athletics committee and then thought it might be best to expand that to Athletics slash extracurricular um because really honestly Athletics have not been discussed in operations for quite some time so they they are a valuable part of our our community our district and you know they have a rightful place and should be discussed and you know kept up to date so we are hoping that we can form an ad hoc committee for the time being and we'll see if it's something that we need to continue and make a standing committee but at least for the time being at home okay there's no more we very briefly discussed an update on how we're doing with our board goals um our board our board goals if you don't remember um focus focus this year pretty clearly on being more efficient for in both our meetings here in our committees um with it kind of an overarching goal there of creating more public interest and engagement that was our goal we have tried to adjust our meetings you've seen the changes we've made there we're adjusting our committee structure so we are definitely moving towards those goals um and again the the interest we have in getting certified uh would also help with that we could also get a training of self-evaluation which would help further those goals as well so we are moving we feel any way that we're moving in the right direction goals next we are further another recommendation for the board so uh we should take questions as we go there's so many events we are recommending at this time starting in January that we move to one board meeting per month from two uh Dr Freeman is very much in favor of this because it would help him immensely with his scheduling and his time management he spends a lot of time he and his staff spend a lot of time preparing for these meetings that could be freed up to either be in buildings or work on on other tasks um it would be very much like tonight though they would be a little bit longer you know to be transparent about that of course but uh we would only be here once a month um we could still accomplish all the same things and it would you know kind of take some things off with Dr Freeman's plans uh we have not picked formally a day like we would probably say on Wednesdays but we don't know which Wednesday of the month it would be and we actually asked Dr Friedman and Mr Gorski to you know look at their schedule see how they want to align things to the Committees which we would probably keep the first Monday you see how they want that lined up with those Wednesdays looks like you have something the only observation that I would make is we you know one of the early updates here was we're looking to become a certified board that's going to take roughly eight hours of your time over the course of the next two years I'm sorry 16 over the course of the next few years There's an opportunity for us to consolidate our board meetings to one a month and that could have the effect of freeing up that time so it could be no incremental change to the amount of volunteer time that you need to make but give us an opportunity to both get through all the more business as well as get through all over so two of those things could be symbiotic if we need structure one last thing that we discussed in the last minute or two of our meeting was again ways that we can find new board members to fill our current open position I guess technically it's not open until January because um that's when our new calendar year you know our new board year starts we discussed a few things one thing that we discussed as Quentin is looking at those people who received right now folks seeing if they you know if they submitted their own name as a regular vote they may have interest in reaching out to them and seeing if they want to come and put their name forth once the time comes in January we also talked about possibly a community excuse me a community phone bias um just when we send things out saying and by the way you know more formally than that by the way we have we have an opening on the board and we'd love to see you guys um another thing and this goes to miss Casino reaching out to those Community you know organizations that you are now much more in contact with and just you know not putting it on them but asking them hey you know we have a need um you know do you know of anyone or is there anyone who's in your organization who's interested in this kind of work I mean I'm not saying we want to steal the president themselves you know some organization but what I am saying is that they have a member who who had you know has a desire to be more involved in schools that might be a great place to look as well so that was everything we covered again I apologize I couldn't be more brief any questions it's clearly yes questions for Mike just a couple um I'm not saying we need to answer this question now but maybe at an upcoming meeting should we explore the idea as a board of student services committee that could examine perhaps the services that we're providing um the experiences for students who may have learning disabilities what that programming looks like in District out of districts is that something that we have support should be considering doing and [Music] um we might want to think about the current committee meeting structure does it afford us enough time um to really dive into the work um and do it justice yeah that is definitely something we've talked about uh with Dr Freeman how we want to do that and I think we've at this time said let's I hate to you know kind of kind of make light of it let's see how it goes for a while and we have kind of staggered some things and tried to change it but I agree it does feel like some of our committees still I mean we have a half hour a lot and that's just not enough time for some of them so I I agree that it's something that we should continue to look at and think about for sure I I know we're trying there's a a Renaissance and I know we're trying to streamline and we're trying to make sure that we have a different approach I would just offer that because I'm going on uh said what you were saying um you know I feel like there's a lot that's being crammed in especially with with the Committees in a short amount of time and I know that I mean operations this last one we were good but prior to that we might have gone over it was not the correct you but operations went just about double the time we finished in like 55 minutes [Laughter] is that I I I'm excited that we're doing this but I just want to caution us to say um I you know like when we're doing one meeting then we have other board members coming in because all right now we're going to do it I I I just maybe we need to take a step back from all we're doing phenomenal Administration doing everyone's we're all all the cylinders are on right but I think we need to take a step back with time management from us yeah because I'm feeling rushed and I just I just agree that's all maybe maybe again giving up that extra board meeting affords us another night to break up our committees I don't know just something I'm throwing out there again and this is also going to depend on the administration and how they feel about all these things so there's a lot of people that have to be consulted in all of this and I I think we all agree that right now we don't have enough time I think it might even be temporary because like you said we are working on so many things the way I feel anyway is we're at the beginning of something like we have we're starting all the way over and it's so much and I hope that that will lessen as time goes but I think you might be right for now right something we definitely have to discuss or maybe that's something that we can try and attend to between meetings so before we get to the January can we give me news we don't walk away with that feeling because while you know we haven't gone through a full year of these Cycles we've gone through at least three rounds of committee members and I don't think that the feedback has been unequivocably that in any given meeting we've had exactly the right amount of time so it's that tuning but let's try and see what we can do between meeting so that we don't have that same experience and maybe even though committee chairs reach out to their Liaisons and say you know is there another time that we can we can kind of fit more time for our community in there I think we have to move some more even if we probably moved one or two committees to another night we could have that much more time other questions for Mr Bell all right oh are we good by the way since we recommended are we all to is there any Mr Gorsuch is there any formal vote needed to change on our meeting to one a month is anything have to happen yes I sent Mr Januzzi a draft it will have to be approved by the Board of Education and the organization okay okay all right on to human resources not much we're continuing to monitor um our hires to get our spreadsheets um something came up about advertising at the Bridgewater Mall um the district for hiring um do you guys see that the handout um [Music] basically like the routers um that we were hiring um it came up that you know our robotics team has that space in the hall and like a good way to do to apply um we've updated our employment tab on the website of navigation and partnered with our partnership with RAC rpcc to see if any of their students would be interested in coming into our classroom to get some experience some classroom experiences all right any questions for join all right moving on Roger you're for operations okay operations we had a long meeting apparently apparently it was but I I got a lot of time just so I know there will be questions so Mr gorsky I'm putting you on on notice uh let me begin with our auto update Mr Gorski updated the committee that the annual comprehensive financial report Auditors management report for the year ending uh 6 30 22 is complete the exceptions of 75 host employment benefits which is yet to be released by the state and a few other items he also presented the committee for the draft of a C1 exhibit that indicates fund balance and auditor and management report and shows compliance and recommendations he also indicated that excess Surplus grew to approximately 1.6 million and that there were three order recommendations the administration uh will express some version to the auto recommendations so that we can strive for none for next year uh I just hearing some of his numbers and how the money is stacking up I the operations committee was I think a little bit in shock and in a very positive way than really thankful for the hard work that's been doing with that talking about money we have a budget update um that the committee was updated Dr Freeman discussed discuss the allocated as we had mentioned earlier to instructional programs and that was actually um I have to say we had a kind of a breakout discussion and and I want to thank Dr Friedman uh that you know there's a need and we we have to look at there's a need fill it right and and we're looking at our need um for looking at taking not taking away a hundred percent real reallocating a smart way from facility program and staff and student needs and and that was something that the operations committee really sort of uh that uh part of our Renaissance to to go forward I think needs to happen uh we also have a Democrat demographic report update uh that um the Assa has been initially filed and this is a process Harbor and associates we use the data to perform 10-year projections and that's important because we need to know where our population is going and for future enrollments we also have some construction updates uh Mr divorcement provided the information that there was a uh the HB AC project was moving where was that at was that on a that's on smallie school was uh turning out to go a little slower than meet me but the weather didn't cooperate all the rooftop curbing had been sold almost moved up and in some places Smalling um they have not started any interior work on the annex as they're waiting to make a decision as best as tiles and attend classrooms and there were also some weather conditions in relation to pouring concrete at Lemont um cafeteria also needles are in and almost completed um they're scheduling to break Eric Brown on January weather permitting um we're going to be using a contractor the Pharaohs and he has an excellent uh if he has an excellent is that correct pharaohs yes and he has a good track record we're going to be using him finally the field Turf project which is interesting because I know everyone's going by the field and saying what's going on what's happening with it uh it's slowed a little bit Mr Gorski if you want to update us on that since we had talked last week but I know that it was cold weather rain equipment issues but it's over halfway completed and with any luck with equipment whether it would be able to get back on track field lighting project has not started um we were waiting for permits from the world and it was an additional dental plan options as per the Moa Mr Gorski presented the committee with an additional dental plan is required by the BBA and random agreement and it could be appreciated the options looked at the options that were there so it's a lot but we're going I have to say I've been here a while as you know but I am very excited that we're going in a really positive forward Direction so um I yield back to you Mr President thanks and I would just offer two additional comments the first one being to draw everybody's attention to Rogers comments around the uh audit management observations and note that those have actually been reduced from year to year that's in part due to some of the immediate work that Nick Patel did when he came in on an intro basis and with Dr Mr Gorski have continued on so I think generally our trajectory there is good and we're aiming for completely clean audit when we talk about the next fiscal year to be closed in June 2023.
I I owe him so much but to this board and especially to the board that hired him I want to give story um Ted by Talley was president of the board 15 years ago and my first interview was in the library and when my interview and so you know I was in a district before that for 13 years and I I didn't really have a big interview I was kind of hired because of my past experience I went before the board they said yes but this time on these years I've never gone to an interview so I was a little nervous I hired a lot of people in those 30 years but never had to interview and my first interview with the board um line number board was long well over an hour when I was done um I said thank you very much I started to walk out I Mr Vitality but the president's chair came up to me and said I'd like to walk home to the car and said from the library and we talked and I kept saying you don't have to do this he says no I want I want to do this and when I got home I said to my husband the board president is such a gentleman I mean the people that interviewed me were wonderful budgets this man walked me to my car and he's wow what a gentleman I had one more interview to find when they were over I now knew how to get to the library and after my car he said I will walk you into this night I insist on walking you out to your car and ever since then Ted has been on this board almost every meeting he walks yeah thank you Tim for being a gentleman that you know I came here because I said that president is good he's leader and I think Brielle is the right place and then I found myself here for 15 years uh never expecting it to be that long you know when you're approaching a 70 you're like how much longer you're going to work but I work because of you I've always had wonderful board members that had such great vision and and did the right thing we had uh Elliott Columbus and the night of the dinner we had our ups and downs I'm not going to get into it and the Downs were tough the highs were great but we you know Governors cup to you know not pass my budget and everything in between but in 15 years I have to say without the great teachers that would have in the school without them saying yes we're going to do this without the great staff I have my first Secretary here Rosie camuso when I got here she was my secretary and but she was my best friend you know immediately she was such a a godsend you can't make it in life without a great secretary and I was when I was married Beth was in charge of payroll and everybody of course and I remember going to direct deposit yes oh my gosh correct deposit uh Colin I spoke about him I spoke about the administrative team our teachers I have been very very fortunate but we as a community have been very fortunate I think the mayor said well I think JD said the community worked together when you're a small community like that I tell people that work in larger districts wear an official everybody knows everything everybody talks about everybody so you really can't make too many mistakes because everybody's watching what's going on but most importantly what we were watching as board members and as teachers how our children are doing and no one ever lost focus of that losing that and paying attention to other things that you shouldn't be paying attention to and what about the kids and making sure presentations are about the kids are what we're doing in the classrooms about the kids aboard that person promotes and wants to see professional development for teachers doesn't happen everywhere and so I leave here saying we're in a good spot I feel very good about where the teachers are where the children are I'd love to continue the journey but in life and I said this to the teachers at our faculty meeting in life we do need to start new chapters and that's where I am in my life to start a new chapter so as hard and Bonnie said it I've always talk about beginnings and endings but I said to the staff engines are horny and that's what I'm discovering you know these last few months realize that this is the end I had to like start something new and so I'm scared I'm excited um cautiously saying what really will happen next but I'm like but I'm leaving this in a good place and um I have so many special memories and I'll probably have 15 minutes now I have so many special members um none of which I will forget uh the the people that have influenced me and have have guided me and have listened to my stories as well as my listening to theirs got us to where we are today so to each of the board member zone looking at you saying thank you very much I'll leave you with this the night of the celebration I was hired 45 years ago okay as a high school teacher and uh the superintendent his name is Bob Mahan hired me and he came to my dinner and spoke about hiring for me as a 21 year old excuse me because I've hired 21 year olds and I call her kid and I said to my staff he is somebody that I've always admired he said in a speech that he admired me because he watched my path of 45 years came and spoke at my dinner and I thought that was incredible as well as the county superintendent came home but when a superintendent all these units later I said I'm going to do that too I said to my teachers you'll walk in there that says a lot about someone who hires you because we all love the people that hire us cars and that's why I'm going to talk about Ted was President I don't know if he had a convincible award but I won them over because we're president you have to do something so you never forget the people that give you the opportunity and so to have them come to that dinner event so much and madali the word true spoke and Elliot spoke and Diana the way and everybody that got up was it was overwhelming for that night and everything that has happened since so it's gonna be hard but I leave here feeling very very good and very very proud of what you have accomplished as a board what we have accomplished as a community and I will totally miss this so much but I would be very happy I really will be I will find happiness in whatever I do in chapter two so thank you for giving me this opportunity thank you for doing all the things that I asked and um I love everyone the relationships that I had are very very special to me come and see what I thought he had left I didn't see it I set another faculty meeting Colin save me hasn't been with me for uh 10 years I don't call him my work husband because at school he's sometimes called Mr Carlson and I'm sometimes called Mrs sabious and we go and we just go with him but Colin at this meeting I want to make the public uh you have done so much in your 10 here as vice principal and director of Public Services but also my friend and someone who you know puts up with me you know you're you're a great leader uh I'm gonna miss you come to work every single day like this old lady does and this building is very lucky to have you as a leader here so I'm going to miss you and um and I thank you for everything that you have done that's my report thank you there was an investigation but no uh no problems thank you Chris questions and so before I'll just say something very quickly so I wanted to um take Chris thank you for everything you're welcome thank you for everything but I'd like to take on a moment [Music] all right for his years of service to the sport when making decisions he focused his Focus would aim at our students academic excellence that was always a priority for him next was the well-being of our stem faculty and everyone here in Brielle and of course this will responsibility we have been very fortunate to have the input and expertise of someone with an educational background but it has been a huge benefit for us to have someone who serves as a superintendent in a local District his expertise will be however what I will miss the most is Dr Steve lavalla's dry humor and comic relief jarring and intense speaking [Applause] I'm sure you know um and so now I would like to uh move all agenda items as a consent agenda I was six years [Music] until this woman are you kidding me you always pay the bills though I always made everybody else respond yeah [Music] you're welcome yes Jones yes Dr LaBelle yes this is McDevitt yes Mr melanciewicz yes this is me yes Mr Vitale oh and at this point if there's any comments on visitors business you've got to change the structure of this agenda it's cool so I very quickly but if you don't I this was a sad day for me because Chris is leaving and so on her last meeting but um I when I was reading the agenda I something here brought a smile to my face because uh number seven approval of volunteer uh Miss Christie is this motion that the Board of Education approves Christine Carlson to volunteer to participate and challenge day commencing on January 4th for 2023.
the superintendent shall establish procedures to bake books and materials purchased after this date available to the public for public review we have worked together to provide access from the main District web page with a button that will link to each of the schools so each school will have updated books that have been purchased so if something's purchased at Bridges it will be available on the main page okay so it'll be school specific and District specific so we're asking that you guys support this and it's straight from asba as well vice president Anderson just a quick question Miss Richards um that sounds amazing I'm just I'm sure you guys have already thought about it but having a process to with our ptos our ptos buy a lot of materials for our schools they buy them specifically for you know specific teachers or classrooms they don't always buy for the whole school so I'm just bringing it up I'm sure you guys have already thought about it but that way there's the communication with the ptos that that information has to go out here too so board member Reese thank you for bringing that up we've been working directly through Valerie Thomas and Janie Ramirez with our bookstore managers and our media Specialists to make sure these resources that are going to be housed in the library are available for a review because sometimes we don't know what's in there but now we're going to see that plus as Dr treat referenced you'll be you can go in now and see in Destiny for each site which books are housed at each school so this will be a running you know updated resource for parents and kids thank you okay any other questions vice president Anderson board member Reese was by the policy it is almost like by every almost like almost almost every quarter like it's like a 60-day review similar to textbook adoption although it doesn't go through a textbook adoption legally but what will happen is it's almost going to be like a highlighted feature on there like what's new in the library and anything regardless of the fund would then have to be posted there now which is one of the ways we have to that's why the district's worked really hard to know everything that every uh funding source is used to purchase materials where and how and so that we can make sure it goes to the appropriate review and hosting as we are now legally required to do [Music] one is amendment to policy JF student admissions vice president Anderson members of the board the next Amendment we're going to review is to governing board parallelists policy JF this amendment adds language to the current policy that addresses some recent revisions to through legislation that adds some language that covers the certificate of educational convenience recent legislation has changed the eligibility requirements as well as some of the requirements of the district when we receive an ed certificate of educational convenience so this amendment just adds that language to the actual policy so that it's current no real big changes just updating and adding any other questions any questions or comments thank you all right uh information item 7.8 this one is amendment to policy jlda school counselors and psychologists yeah yes this amendment to this policy um jlda what this does is it also adds language to align with um recent legislation that exempts school psychologists from being required to hold licensure when they're certified by the Department of Education um to perform psychological services within the scope of their current contract in the school district so it just Exempted them from holding that licensure that is required through the board of examiners psychological examiners as school psychologists so what differentiates between the exam and the certification the same education same capabilities I would assume are school counselors inside college or counselors and psychologists that hold licensures are those individuals that are able to perform services with individuals and then build insurance companies for those individual services and scope of practice our individuals do not do that with the certificate that they receive through the Department of Education all right thank you Miss Miller moving on to uh information 97.9 this one is amendment to policy Dia accounting system Mr Moore yes good evening president vice president Anderson members of the board this is just a formality of adding the date um to the requirement that districts can apply to assume accounting responsibility we are already accounting responsibility District so we process our own payroll and expense Awards we've made that change when Mr gadd was in here the district so let me ask again any questions or comments thank you Mr Moore uh information item 7.10 this one is amendment to policy eea bus driver requirements training and responsibilities yes the the district uh this is just another formality to um include the recent statute into our board policy we were already Mr Crosby in the transportation department was already requiring our bus drivers to be bus endorsed by the department of public transportation certified by the Department of Public Safety so again another formality to address the statute that that was changed already in practice just putting the language in the policy thank you questions comments okay moving on to information item 7.11 this one's amendment to policy ee transportation services Anderson members of the board the district does not currently utilize um vehicles to uh in this in this fashion this statute was to help with Charters and other privately operated public institutions to transport students um however we we did feel like we should add it to our policy in the case that we do if there is an instance where we need to utilize a vehicle that carries at least um but not more than 15 to transport students but we do not currently practice as we utilize Transportation vehicles that are buses and or White Fleet so there's no comments moving on to information item 7.12 this one is amendment to policy jicfa hazing foreign vice president Anderson members of the board we're asking you tonight to amend policy jicfa hazing uh asba has recommended uh for us to Define hazing as what's defined through the Arizona State Statute 13-1215 and 1216 so rather than having competing definitions of hazing we're asking to just adopt the definition defined by the state any questions or comments no okay thank you all right moving on to seven uh information item 7.13 uh amendment to policy GCO evaluation of professional staff members vice president Anderson members of the board we are asking that you approve our recommendations to this policy so that it aligns to our new evaluation instrument danielson's framework for teaching um that's the instrument that's being used with our professional staff members as you know this year we've also included the amended regulations that support the updated policy this is all in alignment with ARs 15537.
wow yeah wow had a great conversation with her son yesterday it was very nice she loved Huckleberry Hill and her colleagues and the students and everything about it yeah she was she was a tough cookie too she taught them how to learn she sure did yep thank you for that so for my report um I attached a a nice summary I have to thank the nurses for putting the data together um just at this time of year people are hearing in the media and wondering you know is covet coming back or you know this is the worst flu season we've ever seen and so I wanted to share up through the data from the start of school up through Monday December 12th and so as you can see in the the information here and this will be this is in the board pack it'll be in the board packet published after the meeting covet cases were quite significant in September at all of the schools but have really calmed down as of Monday at Center there there was known these are reported by parents by the way we don't test students so it's what's reported by families six coveted cases at Center five coveted cases at huckleberry one at the middle school and one at the high school as of Monday so clearly the numbers have gone down there since uh since September where they were quite high in in terms of flu at uh Center School there are 19 cases of the flu as far as we know at Huckleberry 11 whiskey near eight and at the high school two so in spite of what you might hear right now so far so good the nurses are watching things closely parents there was a nurse letter a nurse's letter that just went out to parents with the same precautionary tales that we always talk about washing hands staying hydrated staying healthy getting enough rest if you're not feeling well you have symptoms please stay home and uh of course hygiene and and health is Paramount make sure as parents and older students communicate with the nurse's office if you're ill and let us know so we can help out support but also keep an eye on the public health of our buildings so that's the first piece on the agenda are on my report the the next one is just some fun things at holiday time Dr Mann and I are getting scheduled in the Elementary classrooms which has been a ball I was in Mrs Knapp's room today um some winter and seasonal and holidays uh stories are being provided and we're having a great time reading those to the kids and enjoying visiting with the students so we're really excited about that this week and next week um next uh as you know the budget for 2324 I will present the superintendent's proposal this evening the board as part of the process um always has uh public engagement one public engagement was the budget Roundtable at the beginning of the budget season back in November and in January our first meeting when we come back on January 4th prior to the board meeting we will have a budget hearing and so people will be able to offer their input on the proposal that I put forth this evening knowing full well and we'll talk about it uh Mr Bell and I chatted a little bit about it earlier today the process that goes through there's a lot of detail all that happens and a lot of work that goes on all the way up until January 31st when the board's adopted budget is submitted to Mrs Carr and then finally the free lunch update been over a year now we've had free lunch for all of the students across the country those funds are running out as of January 31st the free lunch is done and so we will not Brookfield and other communities across the country will not be availing themselves of those funds or here in Connecticut for sure February 1st students will begin paying for lunch again Mr post office will be sending out a communication early next week as a update for everybody and then a couple of reminders through January we'll be going home to remind everybody to get ready for that that may be one of those that makes the three important things that's a big one for parents I know that um so that's all I have for my report Mr Belden okay any questions for Dr Burrell all right thank you okay thank you all right we're going to uh move on to our subcommittee reports um and given the length of the agenda tonight I just ask each of us to be rather quick on our reviews if we could so first up is policy and Communications Debbie yep we met on November 30th and we Revisited two policies that are in your packet tonight the first one was the gifted and talented policy 6172.1 and the second one was the non-discrimination policy 4118.1 these had been sent to the board for first read back in the summer and then I think other pressing matters took over and we didn't get a chance to Circle back and do the final read so second reading so that's in your packet for tonight we also spent pretty much the rest of the meeting talking about the survey of students policy that's also on the agenda for tonight um so we can go into that in more detail later on in the agenda we had um several other items that we had hoped to discuss at the meeting but the policy discussions took over the time that we had so we tabled all the communications items to our next meeting okay any questions for Debbie I guess we're going to come back and talk to you about the specific policies in a bit yeah all right great um next is finance committee meeting um I can make this very quick this was a special meeting on the 5th of one of our first special finance committee meetings where we started to take a deep dive into the budget although we couldn't go that deep we will after tonight's meeting but we did start talking about organizing um um the sort of assignment of sections of the budget that each of the members will take a deep dive into and send Ken with a lot of questions and the creation of the Google Doc that will document all of our questions and so that was created and we will talk about the rest of the budget later so okay any questions for Rosa okay so next up is a verbal report on the strategic planning committee um if I if you recall at the last meeting that I was at at least that we had a report on the all-day session that we had on the uh on trying to narrow in on the key strategic planning initiatives we had a two-hour session um this uh on the what was the data that the sixth where the team got back together again and fleshed it out and exercised and Debbie and I were both there working on different groups as part of that it's starting to flush out and come come together very nicely I think but we got a lot of work left to do probably two or three more meetings to kind of make sure it has the right substance and meat to it which we will do again after the new year so John anything you'd add to that you know I would say just a timeline for people who are wondering when it might be finalized and ready for review here um or presentation here I would say probably sometime in March we will be looking at a finalized version um at the soonest um if it takes till April to have it ready to go we want to get it right rather than rush it a few weeks and the committee is gosh probably 25 people strong so not at every meeting not everybody is there so that's another piece with a committee that large I want to make sure we have all members there and really engaged in the process and giving their input yep okay thank you any questions guys Debbie anything you want to ask no okay you covered it uh next up is facilities okay okay we reviewed the school district reports so we just see and a mouse issue that's been addressed um one of the capital projects so the HVAC control system there's not much too not too much to report the system has control of almost all the HVAC equipment we have connectivity throughout the building however in the boiler room we found out that the valves are in failure um and they're leaking so we've ordered new valves and we're waiting for them it'll take about a day to install and we're moving forward so hoping to wrap up this by Christmas the boys lock firm project contractor has been in several times we're waiting for the mechanical equipment and materials the current recommendation was to hold off and wait till February when the HVAC was taken care of the original plan was to stage and deliver over winter break and start in January um just so everybody's aware and just to repeat the project is owned by the NBC and tecton is leading the project our specific contact is poll on the NBC and Eddie is our contact person so the contractor will be responsible for sharing this schedule to us and we're requesting a more formal timeline from Paul and Eddie and a more formal plan of action to hopefully start sooner than later the seminar room seating at the middle school unfortunately the company can't do it now so we're looking to get a new contractor to fix the seating in the seminar the whiskey near Jim wall it's nearing completion you'll see the scaffolding has come down we've received a few pictures which is good so there's some concern with the Finish or the stucco but the issue is really with the temperature we need 45 degrees or more for the painting so this may delay the completion they painted it by hand but the expectation was that it was going to be sprayed on so it's moving along quickly so that's good news school security we discussed we reviewed the proposed security projects the and it's important to note that these funds have already been approved by the board Bob made a motion and I seconded the motion to authorize the administration and proceed with the projects using Capital funds previously approved and you'll see that later in the agenda uh we discussed water testing follow-up so we have received three more violation notices from the state but all three of these violations were due to lack of testing caused by the sudden and announced relocation of the testing company and the Water Testing Lab dropping our service so um we do have till December 2023 to rectify we did have a lead and copper violation but again it's not because of not monitoring we did it but it was lost building condition study we got three responses to the RFP for the study one came in at 72 000 one came in at 65 000 and one came in at thirteen thousand we're thinking the last one may have not understood the parameters so the first two firms will be called in to present their plan and then a recommendation will be made we had some new business we discussed the cafeteria at the high school we have over four hundred thousand dollars in excess funds in this account so a lot of extra money so we talked with Woodson's to explore options to improve the serving area alterations to how to allow the students in and out and improve the flow because it's just really not a good layout so we have an opportunity to improve it and what sends it'll walk through with the firm and it was brought up that maybe we can use some of the money to offer maybe more food choices or better food choices the problem is the lack of Staffing in chefs so um one question that we also had that we want to follow up to is have we maximized the funds to move to other accounts and then we just discussed the date and time for our next meeting for miscellaneous discussion that's it okay any questions for joy okay hearing none we'll move on and the security task force is uh is mine again we met on December 8th we did have an executive session on a uh on a specific security matter where it you know which is covered under executive session law and that was about 40 minutes of the hour-long meeting and in the remainder of the meeting we got an update from Mr Conklin about the different technology updates on the digital threat assessment on securely and on the see something say something something app that is due to be implemented in 2023 and then the last discussion we had were was about the all hazards plan and for those of you who don't know there's a required book of uh of all hazards right so it's fire and and uh and uh armed armed entrants or you know different types of Crisis plans and crisis plans we need to do one for the new school right and it's different than any other school so we talked about how to get that kicked off and how we might fund it and different options but it's something we have to get done before we enter that school so that was a piece of discussion and then lastly we just got a status on the update on uh the uh police the resource officers the assos and the security monitors and the good news is the uh security monitor of the high school for the daytime has been hired and starts this week last week I was going to mention that in the consent agenda so okay there we go so it's in the consent agenda assos have proven hard right there are not many candidates coming forward for the asso and that's remember that's the after school program and uh so that one's still active and that's under the watch of the police chief to go get that filled I am told Bob just really quick he is making uh very good progress so please and the resource officers have been working out great in the schools they've been not only provided that level of security that we wanted but more they were engaging with the students and it's been real all the feedback has been good that we've heard so so that's it any questions okay are they in a specific uniform they they have um Brookfield shirts they're wearing black shirts or sweatshirts and they have the insignity and security on it does say Security on it yeah so the kid is very visible yeah okay okay so that's it for subcommittee reports um uh next is the consent agenda I'll move that the board approved the items on the consent agenda which are new hires resignations and the October financials moved and seconded Dr Berlin a comments you'd like to make on the consented yeah so just a couple of quick notes so Mrs Savage is our new security monitor for daytime at the high school she started last week and Mr Ferreira will be our new security monitor at BHS for after school he will be starting next week so we're excited to have those it's taken a while to get our monitors in place so we're looking forward to that and then I did want to mention our special education department secretary Karen Olson had left the district about two years ago and she was serving in a different District as a special education secretary and she has returned to the district to be with us again and we're looking forward to her know-how and her excitement arriving back again with us and so we're excited to have Mrs Olson back then you have a question yes a security monitor for after school at the high school is that to hold the place until we get the asso or that's additional no it's just with the assl that was one of the positions we had planned for we're gonna have the after school um monitor um doing um uh rounds but also working the door okay because remember that's one of the things down by the gym and the auditorium we want to make sure we have that's going to be the evening entrance eventually we're working on Capital Security plans to make sure that's set as a Sally Porter or Man Trap so we'll be working on that and then the asso would be more out in the out on the fields and or doing building tours and being around sorry one more question uh related to that so does that mean come January we should probably see some different protocols in terms of entering the building after hours right like for meetings like this exactly okay so we'll be working on that okay any other questions okay all in favor of approving the consent agenda okay we've got all the basic stuff done and now uh uh we're going to new business and the first uh item on the agenda there's some big items on this agenda tonight um the uh uh the first item is the Candlewood Lake Elementary School occupancy update and it's not emotion it's an action to hear from the municipal building committee on the on the construction schedule do you want to say any opening comments Dr bro okay so I will turn it over to you all I'll start with yeah we just switched tabs right here and I'll go turn the projector great that's great while he's doing that figure we'll start with uh introductions uh thank you for having me tonight my name is Dave kravenzola I'm the project executive from OMG Industries uh overseeing the the on-site team so I'm here tonight to uh to give you an update I want to thank Paul for the updates he's been giving over the course of the project and I wanted to come tonight to give you uh the full update as well as far as where we are so before we get into where we're going I do want to just take a quick minute to just reflect on a couple of key drivers on the schedule so far so you know with the project we've seen really some unprecedented things happen over the course of the last couple years and have really changed the landscape as far as how we're able to deliver projects with the materials that that we have at hand so um you know I know you've heard about the the when we had the roofing issue uh one of the ones that we're working through now is I think Paul you may have mentioned it one of the means the flooring as far as you know there were issues with because of the the freeze in Texas where we couldn't get the materials to make the terrazzo in the country we had to Outsource that so then it became the issue of getting the materials here so those are those are some of the things we're still wrangling with as far as you know getting the finishes into the building so You know despite our best efforts to date we know that you know we're we're not going to be able to deliver the Huckleberry School the um Kendallwood Lake for the end of the 2022-2023 school year so our sites are set on preparing things fully complete for the start of the 23-24 school year and and I want to thank um you know chairman Belden and superintendent uh Brill for the time spent you know talking about the details that we're going to go through tonight so um you know I I also want to preface it by saying that you know despite the fact that we've had some slippages in the schedule work really continues to go in place at a rapid Pace I think we have between 80 and 100 workers on site every day oftentimes six days a week there's a lot of work going in place in this building each and every day and we're getting there we're seeing a lot of progress so hopefully we can illustrate that for you so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through a narrative and I think some of the committee members have this that basically gives it chronologically by by month what are you going to see happen in February what's going to happen in March so um we'll talk about what's going to happen inside the building as well as outside the building and really what's going to get us to that the completion date of getting the students into the school for the start of next school year that's really our main focus here is making sure that the building is complete it's safe it's secure and it's done really to the highest of standard so that's that's our goal here so do bear with me as I read through the narrative the team put together a very detailed list and hopefully I'm not steering Paula stray here as I as I narrate so I I presume you know the layout of the building enough as far as what goes where okay so if we turn our sights on February we have the kindergarten first grade second grade third grade fourth grade and fifth grade all of those rooms are going to be completed so meaning that those rooms were in essence finishes completely done ready to start moving things into them uh that's the end of February also in February we're going to be finishing the second floor staff dining the art rooms that's the end of February going on to March that's when we start completing the second floor administrative and media center rooms that's at the beginning of March then the second floor staff dining and art rooms the corridor Terrazzo flooring and wall finishes will then be completed and that's one of the things that we're waiting for that material to come once that come that triggers a bunch of other finishes that have to happen after it because if we install these other finishes first we run the risk of those finishes being damaged and it's simply not worth doing twice uh the cafeteria multi-purpose music rooms that Terrazzo flooring will also be completed the end of March the first floor administrative art room and media center rooms will be completed the end of March uh sorry Paul I forgot to be switching between the first and second floor but it's uh the second grade fifth grade Wing multi-occupant restrooms in the corridor that'll also be done in March moving on to April we have the cafeterian multi-purpose and music rooms all those wall finish will be will be complete then the Pre-K kindergarten first grade and fourth grade Wings multi-occupant restrooms will be done and then also the gymnasium is slated to be completed the end of April the we're going for our final elevator inspections by the end of April as well as completing the installation of the main hall staircase at that same time moving into May the kindergarten and third grade Wing multi-occupant restrooms and Corridor finishes will be completed that's the beginning of May the first floor administrative gymnasium art room Media Center all that flooring the bathrooms that will be completed by the end of the month so really we're in essence we're working our way from the back of the building to the front um and then the playgrounds will also be completed by the end of May well some of the last areas of Terrazzo will be the the main hall Terrazzo flooring followed by the corridor wall finishes that'll be the beginning of June and then when we turn our sights to August and actually what I'm going to do is I'm now going to do we have the oh wait I'm sorry yeah we do okay so now now turning our sights to the outside of the building in August is when we're going to be completing the entrances the three bridges that cross the brook that's the brook Construction that that is August the south parking lot uh that's the end of August and I do want to say something there part of this plan too is I know initially we had we were going to occupy the building with I think 114 or 115 spaces something like that into the to the credit of the group of people that got together to figure out what is this plan going to be to get this the students into the the building for the start of the year we did find a way to get um up to that the magic number of 225 spaces for the start of the 23-24 school year which I know will ease a lot of the burden of trying to logistically get people to and from the building so they will be temporary and that's outlined in the the gray areas those will be completed for the start of school as well what will end up happening there is um oh sorry so that that happens in in August and then really um things um at that point the green areas that you see here will all be fully occupied by the school we will be concentrating our efforts in the yellow area finishing the takedown of the existing Huckleberry school and then completing the north parking lot the north parking lot and the main entrance will be completed in November so the idea is the temporary lot will be needed up until the point before the winter sets in and then really at that point winter is going to set in and we will we'll be back in the spring just to essentially finish any last Landscaping we did talk the other day some details about how much Landscaping can we get done before occupancy you know taking advantage of the Fall planting schedule but there will be some things of undoing the temporary parking lot replacing that field and doing some final did you show everybody that next slide sure that'll be helpful sure yep there you go all right so this is this is really as we are um you know when we get to the end in November of 23 that green area everything is completed and then the area where the temporary parking lot was uh will be restored in the spring of 2024.
so congratulations [Applause] and Miss Pope are you coming down or oh they're gonna fight so we'll thank you Mr Bruno and board members foreign so as we continue this business meeting we will ask for an approval for business Item B Center High School uniform credit adjustment formula do I have some movies Excuse Me official business official business okay do I have a motion so if if I could just for the board just so the Public's aware so what what we're dealing with here what we're asking for approval is uh Center High School operates on a a block schedule which requires more credits uh some of our students are more transient move into our district and so this process would allow for students who come into our district requiring let's say we had we had a senior enroll this year who was in a uh 220 right Mike was in a school district or school that required 220 because of the period schedule that they're on our schedule requires more credit so we need to come up with a formula to help our students who come to us do it we've informally been doing it but this will formalize a process so our counselors at Center high will ensure that the students like this who have been on track the whole time move their senior year don't have to come back for a fifth year so this is just asking you guys to put that process and that formula in place yeah I just want to make that aware okay so I have a first do I have a second I will second oh no go ahead we'll take Mr balance don't call vote Mr balance gonna have his first official thank you Mrs mate hi this is Mason Mrs Anderson thank you hi hi chair of outside we'll continue with business item C resolution number eight slash 2022-23 authorizing the establishment of uh unrestricted General funding reserves how are we gonna hear so I'll give an update and then we'll see so uh the board a few months back and we've talked about this for a few years now was the idea of increasing our Reserve uh statutory it's required for district our size to have a three percent reserve for uh unforeseen circumstances the what we're requesting based on the board's input was move that to a six percent Reserve which allows us for was very helpful when we have the Reserves when we get into any sort of recession or downturn in education so what we're asking here for is to provide the support for us to have that six percent Reserve did I do okay with that Miss Coronado I'm very happy to see that and I will say just as another note we've been dealing with like s p different rating agencies and this is one question they ask us every single time so this will also help us with our rating as we go out for any sort of bond sales and things of that nature so it it's it's good because we're a district that's that three percent does it wouldn't go as far as you would think it would go so six percent would help it sure saved us when push came to shove and we never had a formal adopted resolution on this before so this is actually the formal acknowledgment for the board to do that before we've been very lucky and had some one-time reserves but this will would actually help us significantly going forward Miss Coronado did you um talk to or do you know if life districts have also the six percent or higher or are they maintaining a three percent do you have any idea it varies but some go up to ten percent with like schools with like school districts um three percent is just two and a half weeks of operating costs so it doesn't get you very far so some have higher so it just varies between three and I think I saw one was 17.
and then the second thing I just want to be mindful when we talk about the budget and reprioritizing where we're allocating our funding I think it's important to know that we collectively want to do that with an eye towards the fact that we still have needs in facilities whether it's maintaining the ones that we do have or growing and acquiring new ones and the question will become how do we prioritize and then how do we become creative about the things that we may or may not be able to solve from so um take care of both the immediate operational needs as well as incorporate our long-term facilities plan into that budgeting process so I just want to make sure everybody walks away with that same understanding any other questions for Roger comments what was the issue with departments I defer to the president I think it actually had to do with the need to file them and the application for them being done in a timely manner as well as just waiting for the processing to happen which does tend to take a bit I'm not sure if we've gotten any updates yeah the Auditors are going to present that the next operations committee meeting so the you know the time consideration is valid we may need a little more time uh they're going to present the audit recommendations for the year end of June 30 20.
so I [Music] was you're not going to sit around you're back in business and you'll be here volunteering um that's a good thing and thank you for this question for discussion and so we just needs yeah is uh Santa with real fire company be patient said it has over 200 stops thank you and so since there isn't any other discussion we'll move on to payment of bills um motion that the board authorizes payment of the following December bills list and at the secretary is authorized to draw Awards of the treasure in a total amount of 1 million 683 120 dollars and 43 cents check it okay yes yes [Music] foreign [Applause] foreign
thank you this one was probably a significant amount of work I would assume thank you any questions or comments okay that concludes our information items and now we're moving on to our action items beginning with agenda item 8.1 um and this is where I moved to approve I assume okay I moved to approve the 2023-2024 course guides for the high school middle school and special education and Higley Virtual Academy second all those in favor I should I have addressed questions or comments before we approved good is it too late in case anybody has any we're good I motion carries three zero we went over it at length previously so thank you we're moving on to agenda or action item 8.2 uh I moved to prove the resolution to adopt a resolution approving the cell execution and delivery of certificates of participation in a lease purchase agreement good uh oh I move on to the whole thing to consider and if deemed advisable to adopt so I pardon this my first time so I need to read the whole issue yeah the whole thing okay A little bit of redundancy it'll continue okay and if deemed advisable to adopt a resolution approving the cell execution delivery of certificates of participation and a lease purchase agreement to provide the necessary financing of the district and adopting certain post issuance continuing disclosure procedures and issuance of post issuance tax compliance procedures second questions or comments Mr Moore nothing changed from when you presented on this I'm assuming actually a board member Reese that the market has moved in our favor over the last couple weeks so what we presented is um actually more advantageous for the district again I do want to knock on wood because we we are not out in the market yet with the approval of this resolution it just gives us the ability to proceed with this resolution and the financing that goes with it but right now we are um looking better than what we presented on um okay I don't want to throw numbers just yet but we will um present to the board when we close this deal uh the net increase in savings from from moving the currently structure to this this lease structure that we're proposing today um it will be advantageous to the district well thank you I'm sorry I didn't ask this before but earlier but um is there any updates in discussions at all the process of that I know you've said the financials but yeah I'll I'll invite um our attorney Mr Jim Gill to um maybe give us a little brief update on the discussions with Jama Figley and I as I know there's I should say progress is there yeah I'll let Mr Jim get elaborate thank you uh Madam president members of the board Jim Gill Gus Rosenfeld and uh yes good question and I do have good news in that regard uh we do actually have a letter agreement between the district and the foundation jmf Higley they have agreed to our terms if you recall we were a little bit concerned about the restrictive timing and the when we could call the old bonds we've gotten some relief on that um and a couple of other points that we were concerned about so we're in good shape thank you for all your work absolutely my pleasure I think we've already seconded correct all those in favor aye aye motion carries 3-0 thank you all right moving on to action item 8.3 I move in accordance with ARs 15-905e Higley unified was notified that the Arizona Department of Education reviewed the district's fiscal year 2023 budgeted expenditures to determine if those expenditures exceed the general budget and or unrestricted capital budget limits the analysis showed Higley unified exceeded the unrestricted capital budget limit by one percent of its General budget limit therefore Higley unified has presented and revised its fiscal year 2023 budget as required within the calculated budget limits and I go on to say that so I moved to approve that the governing or move to the revised expenditure budget number two for the fiscal year 2022 2023 as presented second questions comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three zero the resolution thank you all right agenda item 8.4 I move that the governing board approved the memorandum of understanding between Haley Unified School District governing board and the Higley Education Association outlined in the attached document for the 2022-2023 fiscal year second questions comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries 3-0 agenda item 8.5 this one um I moved to approve that the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and approve policy jlcd medicines administering medicines second questions comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries 3-0 moving on to action item 8.6 I moved the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy ijnc Resource Centers media centers and school libraries second questions comments all those in favor aye I motion carries 3-0 moving on to 8.7 I moved to the governing board wave the second reading of the policy and then approve policy I and B teaching about controversial sensitive issues second questions comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three zero 8.8 I moved the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy Iha uh basic instructional program second questions comments all those in favor I I motion carries 3-0 8.9 I moved to the government board waived the second reading of the policy and then approve policy i j o Library materials selection and adoption second questions comments all those in favor aye I motion carries three to zero let's move on to 8.10 I moved the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy JF student admissions second questions comments all those in favor aye aye I motion carries three zero this is fun I'm just so used to Mrs Wilson's seconding but I forget we have to second question all right 8.11 I moved the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy jlda school counselors and psychologists second questions or comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three zero agenda 8.12 I move that the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy Dia accounting system question uh uh no second anybody second questions or comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three to zero eight point one three I move that the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approve policy e e a e a bus driver requirements training and responsibilities second questions or comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three to zero action item 8.14 I moved to the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approve policy ee transportation services second questions or comments all those in favor aye aye motion carries three to zero uh agenda Ida 8.15 I move that the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved policy j i c f a uh hazing second questions or comments all those in favor I I motion carries three to zero eight point one six we got this I approved that the governing board waived the second reading of the policy and then approved for policy then approved policy GCO evaluation of professional staff members second any questions or comments all those in favor aye I motion carries three to zero well done everyone thank you for sitting here all right moving on to Future agenda items is there anything we need to discuss or bring forward yes I would like um this um sorry um a report on our transportation and where we're at for as far as shortages um getting where we are with getting kids on time and what's going on as far as as that goes um I'd like to see where we are with all of that did I miss in status and enrollment numbers update as far as where we are with virtual and all of that I know we were gonna get a status update I thought it was every quarter and we provided them at the at the beginning of second quarter we will go into the beginning third and connected with the Staffing you'll begin to see what we're recommending as far as uh sections as well okay so that will be coming beginning of of next semester so it's coming okay okay perfect thank you yep we did it in October and you'll get one in January I just didn't know if I it was recently with the end of the semester if I had missed or something but okay January it's connected with all of the timelines we talked about with Staffing and budget this is deeply connected to that okay perfect those recommendations or we'll provide that for you and then maybe making staffing recommendations okay thank you all right thank you for asking any other questions comments recommendations all right um let's move on to adjourning 11.1 I move that we adjourn second hey I don't know however you want to take that all right all those in favor aye motion eye motion carries three to zero thank you so much have a great evening
so that's kind of a quick quick drive uh through the project um you know I I do want to say that you know it's been we faced our share Affair fair share of challenges and we do remain committed to to turning over the building and making sure that what's what's delivered is really something that we can all be proud of are there any questions well let me just start by the obvious one the the supply chain has been the biggest Bugaboo right in terms of first the roofing and then the flooring um the when do you actually get the terrazzo flooring materials in hand right so you know that's not going to be an issue again so we have been given commitments that we will have all the materials in Hand by the end of January so from the end of January until like June when the flooring is done I think is what you said right that's all about installation it's it's about at that point it's just coming up with the most efficient way to get that flooring installed and making sure that all of the finishes whether it's paneling or Graphics or things like that are installed in a sequential order after that so we we have spent quite a bit of time with the terrazzo installer uh coming up with the the best approach as far as we're going to move our way from the second floor to the first floor down and out of the building with the terrazzo and you know really as we get closer to that January date we'll know with absolute certainty that material will show up we're you know we're checking with them weekly to get updates they're feeding us updates as they get them from their suppliers uh and it's you know we're we're staying on top of it and that's one of the last big Milestones but by January we'll know there's no longer an issue on that front correct are there any other supply chain type items that you're concerned about no that that's really the most that's the most profound at this point we're really behind most of them at this point okay yeah and will the staff have access to the building through the summer while you're finishing the parking lot in case they need to do setup and you know get the books on the shelves in the library and get their classrooms set up yes absolutely so the obviously part of this plan too is that we need to commence with demolition of the existing Huckleberry school as soon as possible after the last day of school so we've been in talks with Dr Brill about that that transition of making sure that we have a space where the Huckleberry Administration can can work out of the new building you know we there is a lot of work to be done in front of the building as we said but there the good news is there are enough entrances where we could stage access to the building from the staff while still maintaining construction activities so we'll make sure that there is a a place the offices are done for the staff before we take the existing school down now is the driveway space I you know as we've looked at it there's a you're using a temporary driveway at the beginning of the school year yeah let me go back home is there is there plenty of room in there to Stage the buses and uh and get the uh that's the temporary that's the temporary exactly that's the temporary this is the permanent um and the the way this is set up is one way in One Way Out two ways two point two right I'm sorry two two lanes but one way correct one one way to traffic two lanes in and two lanes out so much and Bob this is the this is an important Point um because we're all concerned you know I deal with Center School traffic every day in the backup but we've done with the backups on Candlewood Lake Road and even in the temporary plan um we have two lanes into the building one for buses buses will come in and buses will proceed up to the front of the school if we're doing parent drop-off they will come in and circulate through the lower loop so we don't want them crossing the two when they exit we will have two lanes coming out one for a left turn and one for a right turn so if that left turn does get backed up it's not impacting the entire traffic flow okay and you're confident that's probably you've looked at the number of buses and that they can stage in there effectively in those first three months well we'll be doing some dry runs over the summer okay that's good um to work out any hiccups uh we have a parking lot um you know we'll have to figure out how we stage them you know we do have five grades in pre-k coming into this building it is going to be the largest single building we're hosting the most number of grades and uh as we get closer to moving that in we'll go through this with All-Star in the district to make sure that the staging of buses and how we align School times you know Works to uh having a safe path for all the kids just out of curious is that red on the thing that's the existing footprint of Huckleberry that's a good portion of it correct well if it comes out and the actually the gym that's where the gym is is down there yep the yeah the the gym ends uh right adjacent to one of the the abutments to one of the the bridges to the building so you have to take the gym down quickly is that the is that the point yes and will that whole construction area be uh fenced off and safe for the kids yep just as it is now eight foot fencing with scrim on it so that keep dust down and minimize the distraction from the activities and then when the when the students return there will still be demolition activity happening on the existing Huckleberry school it will be the furthest point away from the school though we're working from west to east with demolition of the building okay and then after the buildings demolish it's about leveling so you can put a parking lot in there putting drainage structures in and making sure that it's graded correctly and prepared for parking okay and you said the the the bridge is are done like in by by by they're arriving this right they will be installed this summer they'll be doing so yeah because we have to get the building down you have to get to finish the abutments that the bridges sit on and we'll let you also clear out the the stream that goes under them will be restored at that point okay yep the intention is that we're not going back after the summer we're not going back to this part of the site with the exception of if there's a landscaping item or something obviously that there's a tree that has to get replaced or you know making sure that we're establishing grass areas things like that okay I've asked all the questions you guys have any questions somebody asked else ask a question um the uh John what's your reaction to all the students coming in at the same time versus the phase plan is that a better or worse situation for educational purposes to bring the entire student body and faculty together at the same time was was our original vision and during initial construction planning there was discussion about the phased in approach because of these space concerns I'm actually really excited that um necessity being the mother of invention Ong was able to really get a good team together and work through the space to develop a temporary parking lot and so that along with being able to Stage the buses uh we're meeting with All-Star actually the project manager is going to meet with All-Star with me on Friday with Mr post and we're going to take a look at this exact map and keep All-Star a heads up as to what's coming down the pike but we're really excited about I know Dr P is really excited about it bringing everybody together and as a matter of fact we're actually planning for the the PD day on December 22nd to have some stationed opportunities for teachers to start taking some I think limited tours because construction's still going on but get a good look into the school uh next week so we're really we're really fired up about it it's uh bringing everybody together so so if the teacher's not been in there at all they have not been in they haven't been able to get in it's been a full full construction zone with a lot of safety concerns so um we're really excited maybe groups of five or ten but we'll work with the project managers how that works and try to efficiently run them through what we really are excited about that and our Focus over the summer could really be working on that uh transition and uh all the logistics and other planning that come with it sometimes um you know as part of this project we purchased move Management Services so as the teachers are completing their curriculum for the second semester boxing those items up when they're ready to move it's not as if they're moving their items we have professionals who are coming in the zones will get boxed they'll be moved from their old classroom to their new classroom same will happen with the administration everybody will be moved over they'll unpack and set up in your classrooms so it's carefully coordinated with org with arcadis and the NBC and the district it's actually been in the works and been planning for about six to eight months now sure and the The Faculty probably more so at Huckleberry because there was more urgency with their uh impending move for January that we had planned last year the Center School staff as well they've been really working through purging and packing and organizing um and um that goes for our custodial team and our nurses I mean they they all have to move so we're working on all of that and that that'll be coordinated I know that uh things in terms of climate culture like what's the school mascot going to be they're starting to work on those things across the school and um uh other things we're talking about you know is their school colors and so everybody's starting to work together and get really excited this is actually going to be I think uh surprising news for some certainly but exciting news nonetheless and we will get a communication out hopefully by the end of business tomorrow explaining all this sharing the the slideshow from tonight so folks could really see all the information we'll be putting it out there okay Dr P do you mind if I ask you a question come on up there you need a bigger Podium yeah that's fine so so I guess my question it's just an on the ground question you talk to parents all the time what do you think the reaction to the the Huckleberry parents done on the delay is that going to be a disappointment or is it kind of expected I think actually after the first delay it was anticipated after January that April probably wouldn't be likely I think there's just such excitement with parents and kids that you know we this like Dr Burrell said it's actually a lot better we're all going together it's going to be totally done uh terrazzo floor will be down I'm losing my voice here uh so it I think they're gonna be okay we're all gonna be okay and if you know what if that's if that's the worst thing that happens we are very fortunate people that we're moving into a building a little late cool thank you and question for Mr checco um the fifth graders are going into the new school on the same schedule that's always been a concern I always have to make sure we make sure we're clear the current fourth graders will go to the new school they're not going to go to uh whiskey near Middle School Western Middle School becomes a more traditional Middle School right what's the schedule for taking down of the uh the Portables we're working with techton right now for not only taking down the Portables but hopefully somewhere in late winter early spring to have the documents ready for bed for the ball fields back there so the ball field construction is predicated on those Portables coming out and being taken down so we're anticipating right now that this summer it'll happen uh we'll wait and see if the documents what enough the documents are prepared and how they come out barring any other also we have Town approvals to contend with with site planning and we know what we went through with here so we uh you know cautiously optimistic that during the summer at least the Portables will come out um and that the ball fields will get constructed I'll speak for a whole generation of parents can I be the first to swing a sledgehammer if you have the proper Insurance absolutely there will be celebration that those that we we I remember as I've told I told a story the other day I'm my my oldest son was the first class in those Portables in 1991 I think or 1990 he's 40 years old today um and uh and my eldest grandson is a fourth grader who's going to the be the fifth grader the first fifth grade that's going to be at the elementary school so it kind of bookended my family right around around that whole subject so but you're not dating yourself and I'm not dating myself so thank you well and just you know so everybody knows and I know everybody does know this isn't a problem unique to Brookfield it's throughout the construction industry OMG has seen it on other project sites we've certainly seen it on other project sites we have another project with Terrazzo and we're experiencing the same delays so you know I know that's very little consolation but as Dr P said look if this is the worst issue we have we're actually in pretty good shape we're gonna have Dynamite building it's going to be opened it's going to be serving our students our staff our community very well and um you know if it's if the delay is the only thing that happens during this process well I can think of a lot worse well any other questions I really wish I knew how to do animals thank you guys thank you thank you very much Paul thank you very much appreciate it greatly appreciate it we're going to put you on the website so people can see this presentation because I think the families need to you know see that and I'm guessing this is going to be one of the top uh make three main points thanks Eric there's always the NBC meeting there is Tuesday about every every month where if people want to come and ask questions specific to the Project Specific to the financials of the project that information is published every month at the end of that month at the end of that meeting it's always available on the district's website there is a link to it please do come out to the MDC meetings I think Bob and Rose are the only two people we ever see so we invite everybody to come out [Applause] thanks Dave okay next up is the Board of Education subcommittee meeting dates I'll move that the board approved the subcommittee meeting date schedule from January to June 2023.
oh because that is a recommendation since 17. can we bring this back maybe in what no I mean like give it a couple years and maybe increase it if we one of the things we've we've been able to get through with it but I think this really will help us because it it codifies it for lack of a better word for for that process I would want us to do some analysis before we went too much higher because it could it you cannot spend it we'd have to come back with another resolution I'm sorry can you adjust it midstream through a board resolution so this is for uh I can't think of the credit card it's totally it's unexpected what's the title at least it says for the three percent it's basically it's economic uncertainties yeah so it's big things it's not like oh we can't make payroll it's you know a boiler blew out and we want boilers but if you did have a boiler or something like that major new roof on a gym or mostly a recession where the state doesn't give us any funding and so we need to tap into that to keep operating thank you thank you do I have a motion to approve um business item C all motion thank you I'll second thank you so Mr Bruno and Mr ballen um Mr Mason hi hi Mr Bowen aye chair votes I and thank goodness Lisa is still here because we'll just continue with business item being um the first interim report for fiscal year 22-23.
many of those items have been rectified already and um and Dr Freeman and I are very adverse to audit findings we want to impress upon the public that we are very serious about these safeguards and internal controls that are in place and that all of the budgeted funds that the taxpayers are affording us are going to the programs that they're supposed to and now we're in full compliance with all the regulations there so well said the question though is about the permits for the rights in the home field I think I think it's a little difficult to hear that yeah the the permits for the lights in the mafia we had a notification today that the permits were ready and uh they were being picked up today perfect thanks sorry good news yeah no less value all right any other questions for Roger on operations all right Lisa you're welcome for Community engagement okay so we had a great meeting last week uh I I'm finding that our our last like bullet point agendas and they were like really amazing conversations nurse last week we had Agatha Perez who's the leader of our PTO um we had a great time discussing her role all the amazing work that she and PTO have done in the district um sort of a little bit of her history you have she came to be the the leader within the PTO and some of her kind of upcoming desires I know they have a big event planned tomorrow which is the ice skating um which sounds amazing he is a very creative uh thinker and she finds ways to Source these amazing events including this uh I have to check it out it's an iceless ice skating rink where you can put your skates on but there's no ice you're basically on a smooth surface um so things like that we uh we want to engage with her a lot more as the district and and really um tap into how we can work together collaboratively I know uh she normally does not line PTO events at the high school level so we discussed that a little bit of maybe collaborating all the way up through 9 through 12.
second okay it's moved and seconded you all have had a chance to see these dates they seem to be consistent in terms of the scheduling does anybody see any issues with the dates okay hearing none I did want to do a related item on this and it's a special request um um Sharon's approached me and said I mean she's Sharon we put her on equity and inclusion in facilities and as we know equity and inclusion has been on Hiatus uh and and Sharon's asked if she could join the uh either the cape or the policy committee and uh and uh thinks she would be interested in and if any of the members who are on those committees would like to either give up a slot or trade um let me know and we'll see if we can do some swapping so we can give Sharon another meaty a topic to be in on and I know I I always know committees are hard right because we're all busy and we need to do it so I you know if you all have an interest in making that swap we should uh we should go ahead and do it and you just funnel that funnel it through me if you could um and is everybody okay with their assignments Down Below on the representatives to the other organizations okay hearing none all in favor all right next is capital funds I will move that the board requests the board of Selectmen and board of Finance to approve a transfer of capital funds in the amount of thirty five thousand eight hundred forty nine dollars from Project HH 201 the Huckleberry security upgrades and twenty thousand three hundred and sixty six dollars from Project ce201 the center school security upgrades to project Ms 203 the whiskaneer security upgrades second thank you it's moved in a second and let me give a little overview of what this is about because that's a lot of words um we have had uh with the support of the board of finance and the board of Selectmen a series over time of releases of funding uh for for each school and they released it school by school by school um into accounts that then we would pay for security related projects out of and so once it's released through the formal process we're just approving and moving on with individual projects like cameras or door monitor you know door alarms and things like and security film and things like that there is still money left at Center and Huckleberry um but the security task force has a series of projects that are that exceed the amount that's available in the current whiskaneer so what we all we want to do is move the money from Center and Huckleberry into the whiskey near bucket we know what the projects are and they will largely consume you know the amount of money that the that has done it's not like we have a lot of excess money amongst it but we have to go through a formal process with the board of finance and the board of Selectmen in order to do it so off the bat if approved tonight I will send a letter to them which you all will get a copy of that requests the transfer and the reasons why so that's what then we talked about that at the finance committee meeting and in the facilities meeting and in the security meeting so I think just about everybody here is in one of those or another so um so that's what that's about any questions okay all in favor okay I will sign that letter tonight so we can get that out um the next is the special education program review and it's an action it's that receiver proposal from superintendent parole to conduct a special education program review so Dr Brill I'll turn it over to you okay thanks Mr Belden so um the one of the things just to frame this for a second is the uh Board of Education there's an annual review that I receive as and annual goal setting process that we go through and we sometimes uh throughout the year uh periodically revisit those goals one of the the goals that came out of uh discussions uh during that review last spring was transitioning new administrators that might be coming to the building and also um with a bit of a focus on special education making sure we're serving our students to that end um it goes without saying it has been a challenging fall there's no doubt about that and um been listening and talking with some of our parents and I want to be clear that what this proposal is is not necessarily related to the issue that we talked about last month which was FERPA and student records that is separate and actually chatting with Debbie in our policy meeting next week one of the things we'll be talking about um in updating that plan and improving things looking at updating our policy moving forward with that regardless I think the timing is is quite good to examine and review a portion of our special education program this is a non-budgeted item that I'm bringing forward and um you know considering uh programs where we have heard from parents that we've had some concerns this year and they brought those forward um I certainly along with the administrative team and talking with them thought it was a priority to really dig in and uh and take take a look a close look at at the programs that are in there such as ELC our social emotional learning program the life skills program and our preschool and um what we will find what we don't know what we'll find we'll have a review the review is comprehensive it will give us an idea of where we need to improve those would be in the form of recommendations and um there will be areas that are strength for us what also comes out when reviews that and it's not uncommon for districts to have these kinds of reviews um what also comes out in reviews like this is some things that we may not have seen which then could impact where we might look next to improve things so while in this proposal it talks about at the end of maybe a phase two or even a phase three where we'll look at Staffing patterns and academic support and some other areas those may still be on the agenda when when we receive the report but it may not be the case there may be other things we want to look at in more depth because things might come to light with a third party review of our program timeline for the program uh if if the the board is uh comfortable and the board uh approves us to move forward excuse me sometime in mid or late January we would start with a likely report by mid-march or uh toward the end of the month and obviously any recommendations that come forward we would we would really start to move on for this year and add into the plan for next year um and the report is a public document so it would be shared out and presented to the board okay don't let me open it up to questions to any board members this phase one review special programs meet with building leaders special education leaders and key individuals involved so I know a parent had mentioned and it's a good point um does that include do those key individuals include Paras in that part of the fine-tuning of the process is key individuals it could be paraprofessionals obviously teachers case managers public forums are still an open option for that of course a survey we want to hear from parents we want to hear from our teachers we want to hear from our staff so that's all part and parcel of that and this is the the proposal as if we are going to move forward we sit down again with the folks at CES and work through exactly what they're going to do fine tune the plan so their cust it says customize and administer a survey for parent guardians of students placed in these programs so is it just they're just evaluating the ELC social emotional enrichment and the high school life skills in pre-k that's it's a limited scope to start and then the thought process was academic support Staffing levels and so forth would be a phase two that we would do next year and you're putting money in the budget for that we're working through with Ken and Amy on specials in Special Services where we're gonna put the money is that what traditionally did what is the the reasoning behind not looking at the whole entire special ed population well if we're going to move now it's unbudgeted so we're really going to have to dig in and try to find remember we all know our financial status right now there's an over budget issue right now so we're facing that budget deficit but if we want to get moving on this project we we're going to look and I think Ken is really going to scrub some of our grant opportunities as well as the operational budget to see where we might be able to find some Savings in different areas to pay for the 6500 now but a comprehensive study would certainly cost a lot more and would really need a year-long process to budget for and think through now if we're going to go through a very comprehensive plan of fifty to a hundred thousand dollars that would take you know certainly longer than this this initial start to a review if you could get the money to do a more comprehensive plan would you be willing to take that on absolutely okay and if uh if you were to do a more comprehensive plan would you do it with the same group we could do it with the same group absolutely and what level would you have to actually take it to bid um with the rests you don't actually have to go to bed with the rest so at Advance uh CES Cooperative Educational Services um Aces down out of New Haven you don't actually have to go to bed if you do work with another firm we would have to go out to bed useful to know um they're support staff do you know to what extent that is is are those special ed teachers General teacher like special education administrators um they they could be folks who've had experienced a special education teachers speech pathologists bcbas you know it's a variety of backgrounds so we're really just doing phase one and then phase two and three would be a determination after exactly it was really to take the you know knowing we have limited resources to work in bite-sized portions that we could we could plan over the course of the next year year and a half two years but as we get information back we could be putting a plan together and moving forward parents that are getting surveyed is that only for that small portion to for those the people if we're going to have a focus uh in this particular proposal would be parents in this this particular area that's the thought process how did we choose this particular areas just out of curiosity I mean so opposed to some you know using a different grouping sure sure so these are our self-contained programs and we've had some concerns brought forward uh from these programs and specifically to uh preschool um there is we're really looking at pre-k and the number of students coming in our model students our students with special needs the degree of concerns and issues that are being brought forward uh in terms of the uh the assets that the students bring to the table when they're they're with us and how we need to staff that and perhaps fund that going forward in the future because we're seeing the enrollment looking to start to creep up in preschool and I know we've had uh the ELC issues that have been there this year are there issues that the high schools life skills program not just I wouldn't say you know issues you know with the life skills program but we really want to make sure we're looking and if we're going to focus on our more self-contained type programs that was the thought was to start there this year and the SEL program evaluation is that that's our social emotional support that's kind of very Broad so it's students that that have um behavioral concerns and uh the programming for them okay so it's a specific part of the social emotional okay John I don't know if you if you looking at these special programs that would be included in phase one roughly what percentage of all our special ed population would that if I can do a percentage off the top half is it 10 is it yeah probably not I don't even know if it would be 20 of the kids 10.
nope okay so this is the first interim budget report it reports from July 1st through October 31st but does project through the rest of the year and June 30th the last time I was here it was during the 45-day budget update in August and so nothing's really changed significantly since that report but this still is a requirement so here I am we are am I doing that Okay so [Laughter] so again we're at the first interim financial report we finished last year finally in September I was here for the United actuals now we're going to look ahead to this current year um next would be in January would be the governor's budget proposal for the following year and that's when we can maybe adjust some things this year but then also start our multi-year projection looking at Future years so the first thing I always share is how the enrollment's going and yay it's finally going up we haven't seen that in a very long time we have a demographer Who provided a report in March and then just recently came out with a revision to that report so these numbers are based on the March numbers and then when I come back in March for the second interim we'll revise these numbers a little bit um so we have us going up from 400 4085 last year to this year I projected 4218 but we're actually above that now 4300 and then next year I had 4 300 so hopefully we'll just keep going higher in these numbers we'll grow at a more steeper rate so it's really exciting a reminder that each student is about ten thousand dollars so from a financial perspective that excites me the funded average daily attendance I want to remind you that the governor's budget included some relief for us so we didn't fall off that attendance cliff and we have the three year Rolling average that we are being funded on and so the cliff is just kind of um gradually going down and then it pops back up so the actual attendance for um for 223 is 4 000 is sorry 3912 is our current Ada but we're being funded on 4059 so it really is helping us with our um finances and then next year the actual Ada should be about 3990 but we're being funded real close to that at 3992.
she had mentioned a maybe some additional Tris for our students which is a great idea we you know we'll continue to work with her and talk with her about that but really it was more of just a discussion getting to know um her a little bit getting to know what types of events they're doing what kinds of of thoughts she has in her head and then continuing that collaboration um some of the things that we started on the first week when we met with the Alumni Association president uh we're going to continue working and collaborating with them as well so I I kind of feel like uh a lot of what I'm going to bring to the board is more of just a a status on where we're at we won't be hitting targets at every meeting but it's more of like ways that we can connect better and ways that we can reach out um I know there's some next steps on working on the trophy cases with the Alumni Association I have a an agreement to go to the January alumni meeting I reached out to Joe we wish everyone a happy holiday um great guy and uh he'll be ready um in January I believe it's the 9th uh with the upcoming alumni meeting um plan on reaching out with Agatha more often we'll see how we can collaborate what she's kind of got in the pipeline for the PTO um other things following up on some of our initial uh agenda items one was our social media outreach and how we're reaching the community um Dr Freeman Fridays I'm super excited um it's pretty awesome and I believe we have one coming up this Friday so uh I'm excited to see what kind of questions he gets uh he gets his way but things like that I think are huge steps for us to take um using social media and really getting some engagement from the community so um we'll continue to to follow that and add to it as we need to um let's see uh presenting District Board District goals at board meetings so we had a poster design uh I believe Tom is uh working on a larger uh horizontal version I believe it's 93 inches by by 40 inches tall so I know he has the artwork in hand on that so I believe that that he's working um that belt so that should be really impressive and it'll it'll present the district goals as well as the board goals on it um some things that we're talking about you know for 2023 uh maybe some additional social uh events like social media events um using Instagram Tick Tock Facebook um also additional Community leaders coming in and meeting with us I sent a note out to Katelyn's Bishop she's our downtown city manager she's very excited to come and sit with us and meet with us so in January we will set up for our next committee meeting to meet with her in person and kind of get a feel for some of the programs that she's running downtown and how I know we already partner with some of the businesses downtown I know with like the window paintings and things like that but how can we further that connection um so those are just some of the things that we have going on more for 2023 and a lot of it is just kind of making sure that we stay connected to those Community leaders and I will do the best that I can to keep the Outreach up so excellent update so I will just add two comments the first one is I think you will wishful thinking that today was Thursday because the event is going to be on so Friday thank you in the uh [Music] um and then the second thing that I'll just mentioned in our meeting with uh Agatha was really the um the interest that she had in supporting fundraising activities for additional experiences and I think about the conversation you had around making sure that everybody had access to the trip to Washington DC the eighth graders and even just other experiences that could be added on to the existing extracurricular programming that we have up and down all the way from pre-k through 12.
okay um Bob I know we've been um in touch with the board of finance and other um martian on the town side and Doctor really probably have as well um are they I know they're aware of our current financial situation are they aware that this is sort of so we would need to communicate they don't know of this at all no um it has not been one of the items on their radar screen correct and uh and just to recap we're like three quarters of a million dollars over our budget already right because of fuel costs and uh and special ed costs uh various Elks as the biggest single driver so um they've been very forthcoming in terms of trying to help us but they're staring at a very significant uh budget issue ahead of them um and I don't know what kind of money they'll be available right so um it's uh it's a hard discussion so so if we if we wanted to do this or perhaps even more what would be the plan I think we would have to take it out of stuff that that we have in our budget and not bring them a bigger problem right and Ken I think you have found a couple of uh I mean at the size you're talking about here it's the stuff that can squeaked out of different line items I think so he had you told me you had a a most of a solution there if not all of a solution for a more focused for this first this dollar amount that we're talking about and how much more would it be a very comprehensive total special education review We I threw out the number and please don't hold me to this between fifty and a hundred thousand dollars um but but we're a smaller District than some of the the districts that were mentioned earlier so perhaps it would be you know quite a bit less um but we didn't ask for that knowing we're in the budget situation that we're in with limited resources certainly could go and ask for a proposal on a a complete and total study I think we should we I think we I think as a board we should ask for what a full study would be and we should probably ask others you know there's a couple mentioned here today but uh other people who do this to see what they see what and learn what they might offer us I think that's a fair request and before we kind of give the nod to go ahead on this one thing I think gets us a board we have some decisions to make do we want to start small learn something and then go on to a next step or do we want to just launch right and full in and we heard some Advocates today for launching full in there's pros and cons to both of them right I'm I'm I've been a believer of learn what you can and then before you go spend a lot of money right that's tends to be my style of things but I think we ought to know what we're looking at walking in okay a personal one so and Dr Burrell you mentioned um working with risks versus other firms so I think we should look at both kinds of vendors as well right not just yeah in um I didn't mention this earlier I did reach out to two I believe they're both new york-based firms uh certainly larger than CES and they didn't get back to us and granted this is a short turnaround time and since our last conversation of me bringing bringing this forward to you um but we certainly I mean there's firms out there and we could we can continue to reach out now there was some commentary this evening about CEs themselves and I heard this story from one of the parents about that CES had a family relationship that was undisclosed with uh uh with the special ed director in Oxford when they did a review for them let me just ask forthrightly do you have any particular relationships or does our special ed director have any particular relationships with the CES people that we should be aware of um colleague you I don't know about Mrs Dina Cola Hickman she's more have been a lower Fairfield County person I don't know her relationship to CES I couldn't speak for her but I could tell you that the director Dr Demay and I were colleagues together in The Amity District he was a superintendent of Amity I was the superintendent of Bethany he actually was the superintendent when Dr Mann was an assistant principal at Amity High School that is a fact and he hired me as principal at the high school he hired me as principal at the high school at Amity so does that relationship were you at all uh it doesn't worry me at all we were working with Mike McGrath who I have met once in my 29-year career so listen to who's the director is not actually the one who would be doing the review no it would be Miss uh Mr McGrath and his colleagues at CES would come do you have any relationship with Mr McGraw I do not all right nor do you I've only met him through Zoom that the one time we talked to him about this he'll come or maybe at the very least um a part of the phase one maybe being a survey for the whole special ed population or doing two separate ones um if we can propose that to them as part of I'm sorry I'm not understanding what you're saying so the survey as part of phase one is just going to include all the specific groups in the special ed Department Maybe um extending that to parents and all the parents in the special ed Department yeah I mean if we're going to not go forward with this and look to do a more comprehensive plan than perhaps part of that when we end up determining a firm if we want to go in that direction there's a lot of process now that's going to have to happen if I'm understanding where the board appears to be coming from at this point um we certainly if it's going to be a more comprehensive plan then we will certainly survey our 300 and the the parents of our 360 to 380 students in the in the program so I'm thinking about what a uh if we went down there we talked about Billy's getting uh cost estimated sure big picture one would be but even if we were going down a narrow first byte right which is what this is I would want to come out from that saying these are the problem areas right broadly and so I'm kind of going and building on what you just said Joy I would love to have maybe a focused review of a couple of programs process procedures you know all the things he's doing with the staff so we can learn from that but I'd love to have maybe a broader approach you know reach out to parents with some focus groups and surveying of everybody so that it gives us insights to you know when we really go spend some real money here's how you would go it you know focus it right because part of the part of the thing is you you walk out of the first review you don't have a full view of this is the areas we really got to go bang around on right I think that's what I think Joy was suggesting keeping this narrow Focus but broadening parts of it the parent the parenting sure we can we can go talk with Mr McGrath and see what and not just surveying so Focus right sure um you know chance to let parents speak to Mr McGrath directly we can get an estimate on that and I would recommend on that I mean you're not going to be able to have that for all four or three to four hundred parents so you know random selection of parents that we could uh put into that equation um you know and uh and invite them to come speak right and a truly random selection sure um so you can you have you know people who are happy and people who are not so happy right so um but I think we need it gives us more information right you know frankly I'm energized by the conversation and look forward to going back to Mr McGrath on this if that's the direction we want to go to to that piece um I don't know that I can get a follow-up uh for the January 4th meeting given the holidays and the times but uh hopefully by the end of January I can get we can come back to you maybe with an updated proposal let's do it at our second meeting in January would that be okay with everyone yeah because I'd love to get going on this I mean even if it's a narrow review but we get it I mean what you ought to be thinking about is when we finish this review in March right we'll have some actionable items and some scope items that'll give us something real meaty that we can go say these are the areas of attack right that'll be the next wave um I am look I've always been uh trying to be a cognizant of how we spend the town's money right and and I I'm not wanting to go say just go spend a lot of money and go you know you know that's what you have to do I don't agree with that philosophically but I do agree with if you don't walk out of the first wave saying these are the era problem areas you have to go attack then you know we're not going to get anywhere right we'll just keep flailing around right and I think that would be the biggest single deliverable is knowing what the what the problem areas are as if we don't know what they are now but uh we do know I have some problems with some problem areas but getting a I want to have a third person who can actually say these are the seven things that you guys got to go fix that's the point right and if the answer is programmatic it's one thing if it's uh parent engagements is another thing if it's Staffing and individuals and stuffing that's yet another thing and uh and we ought to all know what all those are so um whether it's the amount of Staffing the engagement of the Staffing maybe individuals I mean it's who knows um but I'm not going to prejudge what the answer is like some might we actually have a more a bigger proposal I would love that it's going to be I invited him for tonight he was not available yeah um oh I think I need to assess there may be a reason why it's not a la carte like oh we're gonna survey everybody but we're gonna do comfort you know a really deep dive into just this part there could be a reason why you do something for you know you do everything for very localized programs things like that um my alarm Bells kind of go up when we just start surveying and what does that really mean and does that data corroborate with any other data more objective data so I just would like to understand the process why if why he does sort of these reviews what gets put in together into those reviews and why but absolutely um I did share with the board uh I think last week a we took the the name of the particular District out because it's not my business to share their information but um uh Mr McGrath had shared that uh with me and I shared it with the board so you can see what a report could look like um but really happy to move forward on this I'll be giving Mike a call tomorrow and you'll reach out to other potential providers to see what their process might look like but if it's different so that we can make an objective decision you can make an objective decision on this absolutely in the end I think we all have the same objective which is to improve the state of what we got it's a question of how no I appreciate the conversation I really do in the input I just want to be clear that I I think it's important to look at other firms for both the narrower scope project and the bigger one as well so if we decide regardless of the firm we're not going to spend 50 to 100 000 because we don't have it I'd still like to see another option besides CES for the smaller scope sure and like I said I did reach out to two firms and in the month there's been no return email Oracle that's not a good sign usually there's a labor shortage everywhere unfortunately that's part of what we're dealing with okay so we're going to table this item until you've had a chance to do further research and then we're okay with that all right thank you all for your input okay thank you [Applause] all right um next up is our superintendent's 20 23 24 budget proposal this is another action to review to actually our job just before you start our job tonight is to just receive a presentation right we can ask questions if we want but we'll have we have a couple more meetings where we can go bang around I think I would just urge the board if there's something glaring that we need to him to put on the first week in January it's better to put it out there now right so so Dr Brook can get it organized right and we've used our January meeting you know our January we have two meetings in January and one year we had special meetings on top of that to actually exercise business items in the agenda right um I will just say to everybody we have kicked off the finance committee who does doing the line by line scrubbing to make sure that we do all the detail reviews of the of the budget like we've done the last couple of years um Joy's got some line items I've got some line items and Rosa has some line items um and the uh um and we have a month basically a month and a half but the holidays it takes up the first two weeks of it so it's really the month of January we submit our budget on January 31st the first selectment has to submit take that combine it with the town side and submit their budget on February 15th give or take to whatever the day unless it's on a weekend and on the first weekend March they submitted to the board of Finance so what happens is after we submit the it starts going it starts moving and there's review after review we'll probably have a big group meeting with the two boards in February like we've done the last couple of years Board of Finance then well uh is is going to have to go through a very detailed review of uh the budget and then they have to finalize the numbers that they will carry forward to the town for approval by the first weekend um in March I'm sorry first week in April um and the vote is in May so it's a long process but we have our piece of work is right ahead of us so and uh late I'll tell you just first inputs um it's gonna be a tough budget year because we'll see some numbers that make your eyebrows raise a little bit when we go through this and we're the lowest numbers that are floating around right now when you see them you'll say okay all the other pieces are higher than that you'll know that the board of finance will have their hands full this year they they really will so so that's all I have to say I'll turn it over to you Dr bro do you mind if I go around over here so I can see your character it's easier to come around invite you to do that and um Mr Belden I think you've shortened my presentation with that review of the process so thank you there's a there's a slide in there where we have uh the budget uh process laid out for everybody um but I really do need to thank um uh the the admin team our principals work with their staff and really do a Bottoms Up review of their school budgets and then bring them forth to the assistant superintendent and Ken and we work together Dr Mann this has been her first budget process with us so she's really asked a lot of great questions as someone from the outside I just can't thank Joan and Ken enough for all their work Lisa put your binders together so you've got all that that takes a lot of work to get all these all these not only the numbers the spreadsheets get everything right and tying up but uh and tying out but actually putting things together in a presentable form uh the presentation tonight is about 16 slides it's actually relatively brief I will certainly talk to the slides I'm not going to read over everything on the slides but it does tell a quite a nice story for for everybody in a very brief fashion it's important to note that the great work of our Tech Team Mr Conklin over there they will be posting the contents of the budget binder and this powerpoint online by the weekend by Friday they'll have that up I think Eric really wants to get it done tomorrow but we've got to give everybody time there's a there's a lot of material here so I'm going to get moving on things um the I say it every year the budget is the financial uh statement of our values about how we're going to educate our students here in Brookfield our mission is to inspire Challenge and prepare our students to live meaningful and productive lives one of the things we've talked about is strategic planning and among the admin team for months now is really starting to really Vision Beyond academics Beyond The Wellness that we talk about what do we really want for our kids at the end of the day but beyond the really important and lofty goal of super high achievement it's becoming our best selves as we create tomorrow it really is I mean always improving and looking to do better and set yourself new new vision for yourself and new goals for yourself off one of the things with the composite competencies of the portion of the graduate is it's really being worked on in great detail it will be further defined and certainly implemented throughout our Pre-K 12 experience and that's a big part of the Lion's Share of the work that Mr Belden talked about in a strategic plan report for our students on those four uh particular competencies of critical and creative thinking communicating collaborating and change making and it's important just to mention that the Strategic plan I know it's been mentioned a couple of times we anticipate completion by the spring and really looking at success in life work and learning Beyond School so some of you have seen this graphic before uh probably the first time the board has seen this although we've used it in various settings this year um was when we talked about achievement during the October meeting I'll be very brief there's there's detail here you can go back and look but it's important to talk about brookfield's context and what we've been through over the last couple of years when 2009 the this time of year in 2019 so three years ago we were convening and getting ready to start our strategic plan we had done tremendous work over the past the prior four years in terms of narrowing the achievement Gap really sharing up our facilities uh getting the approval approval for the new school all the great technology infrastructure financial and Regulatory control we all know that story and I certainly won't revisit that um and actually in in results our next Generation report card we had extremely strong results and like I said working on narrowing the achievement gaps we did some really great things and of course we all know what happened in March of 2020 with um that immediate change of schools were closed down we were in remote learning really loss of connection loss of community uh missed Milestones very challenging for everybody and we've really learned a lot about ourselves and as we move through that rising action the kickoff this year in August was really about resetting and relaunching let's learn what you know take stock and where we've been let's get excited about post covet and and where we can go work on a new strategic plan focus on learning recovery and and we're doing all of that and of course building new teams as we like to do and then finally what we're aiming towards obviously is the extraordinary we want to have a world-class school system we are really excited to help our students be ready for the future with tangible outcomes such as the new schools such as high achievement but also those intangible outcomes of believing in themselves resiliency trust Unity of purpose and and all those Pro social and really wonderful things we want for our kids so I'm not going to go over this slide because Mr Belden did a great job reviewing the budget process but real very quickly we start the budget work for the following year in October like I said earlier the admin team connects with the uh with their staff they do a Bottoms Up approach to the to the budgeting and then with central office we work that through and really are back and forth all of October and then in November start to really put that together the finance committee here in Brookfield has been the last few years we've done it this real this way really works as a budget committee to support the superintendent's work in developing the budget and we've already met twice and I really can't thank them enough they really Joy Rose and Bob take on an enormous responsibility with this task the highlighted area tonight you're here at the superintendent's budget proposal and to what Bob already said and I won't go into it you could see the rest of the process that goes through but soon and it will happen quickly we'll be into the holidays and we have one month to work through the budget and then get it over to Mrs Carr by town so I'm going to get right into the actual budget numbers I know I like to start with a little bit of background and then jump right in so people see the budget numbers especially those watching at home or on video or just looking over the PowerPoint presentation it's important to note that we bring forward what's called a status quo budget that's essentially conceptually for people to understand if we want to keep doing business exactly as we're doing this is what it will cost in the context we're in today to do but to to do school next year and so in this particular slide you see here the status quo budget is 51 million three hundred thousand dollars and that is a 5.42 increase over this current Year's budget and that's a lot we all have been hearing about over the last year inflation we've all we're all paying those gas prices the grocery store bills are unbelievable we are really concerned all of us with heating costs not only here in the schools but at our in our homes there is a lot going on in our country and around the world and Brookfield has not shielded from any of it in the status quo budget it includes anticipated increases more than the usual in heating oil you can see that's a large number there of 185 thousand dollars Transportation fuel with the new buses there's some changes to gasoline versus diesel so there is increases but not as significant as we had originally thought there's Transportation increases the transportation contract as well as with the transition to cles where pre-k5 will be going to one school and collapsing to the new school start times from three to two tiers we've got some increase in bus needs there but we also in healthcare have an extreme uh increase we are being told by the folks at the Connecticut partnership plan for the town side and the school side to budget for a 12 up to a 12 increase year to year for health costs and so the 274 000 number you see there that's above and beyond what we typically budget for we typically budget for about a six to seven hundred thousand dollar increase or an eight percent increase in cost we're looking at a million dollars with that 12 increase so Ken put in there uh it's 274 000 over the typical increase that we have what I just went over accounts for 1.43 or one and a half percent of the budget just for status quo again and so the other piece there that I've got another sentence there that we can't forget about negotiated salary and benefits increases in totality account for three percent of that status quo increase so that's your paraprofessionals your teachers uh Administration when you look at uh contracted increases through collective bargaining we're looking at three percent just on our salary increases for next year again for status quo to continue business as we are doing it right now then we've got some key drivers I'll start with the good news on the first one if you look at CLE s the transition to the new school actually fine we find some efficiencies there we're actually reducing an administrative position as we transition we are operating with natural gas which is certainly a cost but compared to the oil and electricity we've been using at Huckleberry and in the Portables and at Center School we've got a a reduction there but the increases do start the community came out in the summer and voted for security enhancements not only in law enforcement but specifically for the school budget five security monitors you can see the cost there of 228 thousand dollars that cost covers probably about 80 percent of the salary for next year of the security monitors the balance will be covered by the ARP Esser the arpa grant excuse me that we work with with the town the other Investments the art bester Federal funding we are into the second year of phasing in positions the instructional coach positions into the operating budget we are not facing a budget Cliff like some districts we really plan thoughtfully going forward with the funds that were provided two years ago and how we were going to roll those into the actual operating budget and you can see we are bringing in for just over 200 thousand dollars the salary of the social worker that we had added the science coach and the technology integration specialist part of this technology integration specialist and then finally to support um Stu our students with board-certified behavior analysts we have some services in the current Year's budget where we are paying for one and a half bcba positions and through some reallocation and some work we really want to bring on rather than spend to to bring in consultant Services we actually could find some efficiencies there and bring in two of our own employees to do that work so we could actually get more services for the the needs that our kids are presenting with a smaller investment by reallocating resources as you can see the investment of fifty thousand dollars there so when you talk through those key drivers plus the status quo we're looking at a proposed budget tonight of 51 million 480 452 or a 5.78 increase that's large the administration knows that I'm not comfortable coming up here talking about that kind of an increase where typically we're in the four percent range at this time during the year maybe just a little bit over four and we do our exercises throughout the year and knowing the history of budgets in Brookfield well aware of our economic conditions so let's talk about the value of educating our students in the good that we are doing and looking forward to do doing they're going to be four strategic Focus areas uh of our planning for next year that help all students implementing the Strategic plan certainly further development integration of the portion of the graduate has already talked about prior prioritizing learning recovery it's an enormous priority of ours supporting student mental health needs and then transitioning to Candlewood Lake Elementary School there are three key pieces in the transition to cles that we need to talk about and be very brief first of all I mentioned earlier the healthy school start times we are transitioning the board voted back in June of 2020 to move forward with the healthy school start times we're moving from three tiers of busing down to two and that is going to be implemented across the entire School District there will be a change from 7 15 to 8 o'clock for the high school start time the students at the high school will be on their own set of buses also starting at eight o'clock it's just a couple of minutes change for the middle school students they'll have their their own buses but at the same time so it's all one tier middle school and high school students will not be mixed for busing and then our elementary school at cles all the students will go to the school be picked up and go to school together for 8.50 so those are our collapse start times the Pre-K to five students are all impacted by the transition to Candlewood Lake obviously they're going to be going to school there and as you heard tonight starting school together as one staff we are really excited about that the other thing I'm really excited about for the middle school and for Mr Renda is Right sizing whiskey near Middle School I know he loves his fifth graders and so you could come visit them Dean there's no doubt about it you can come visit the kids that you're not going to get in the temporary classrooms that were there for 30 years but we're right sizing whisk and air it was never meant for 800 kids the whiskey air was built when you think of its Plumbing capacity and all the other things that go into building a school it was meant for about 600 kids and it's more traditional middle school so all the kids are affected by that transition those are our priorities for the coming year so let me talk a little bit about the budget goals and I'm going to have a separate slide on each one of these goals maintaining class sizes within our board guidelines but also adjusting Staffing patterns to reflect any of our changing needs or find efficiencies is something we always look to do in our uh budget goals the other one we look at is our curriculum instruction assessment that's our backbone that's what we do in school the third goal to maintain and continue our programs enhance our programs but be responsive to organizational needs that might be changing fourth goal is technology whether it's infrastructure digital tools making sure we are up to date and ready to go on that you certainly have gotten many many updates that are integrated into all of our meetings and presentations over the years and then finally providing the necessary resources to meet the needs of all of our students in alignment with state and federal law talk a little bit about goal one this this slide will probably spend the most Time on tonight in terms of these five goal slides just to let you know we need to adjust some staffing patterns so right now we do not have any planned additions to our elementary school sections you know there are years where there's a bubble class where we might need to add a teacher or something like that the way things look at the moment and we look at enrollment and projecting forward we look like we'll reduce a section in kindergarten in grade one but we would add a section to grade 2 and grade four the way the kids are matriculating through the elementary school and so that's one piece there but I mentioned earlier Candlewood Lake we found some efficiencies I'll talk a little bit about uh the the Staffing of Candlewood Lake we are looking at our world language program and with fifth grade being in the elementary school and looking at our needs we are going to find efficiencies in the sense that we will still staff the school the elementary school with two Spanish teachers for the upper and lower house whiskey near World language program will not be effective but we're going to reduce One World Language teacher that would be the fifth grade position what we plan to do in working with the middle school is we'd like to reallocate frankly that position to create a dean of students teacher leader position as part of our success Planning and Building capacity and working with our teacher leaders but really making sure we're ultimately meeting the needs of our students and the management of the school and so a dean of students position and I've shared a little bit about this in some of my goal work with the board at different times is really a student support position a student engagement position we would also have the dean of students working with the counselors and implementing developmental guidance absolutely helping to enhance any connections we can at the middle school and also supporting School operations such as cafeteria busing other student management needs this comes because we're looking to move an administrative position one of the assistant principals from and we've talked about this a little bit in the past from whiskey near to make sure Candlewood Lake is fully and properly staffed we'll get to that in just a second the other piece in terms of efficiencies with the new elementary school is taking a look at the leadership structure of both the cles and whiskey near and so we're looking to assign Administration to establish uh leadership at both schools and so we're moving the AP from the Middle School to the elementary school and I'll talk about that in my my image that I have next but net reduction we will be reducing one administrative position we're still in goal one by the way um so for Candlewood Lake you could see the people and the positions to manage the 1070 students that will be at our largest school Dr P will be the Principal as we talked about before um Dr rudel we talked about she would definitely be at Candlewood Lake in some earlier presentations I think last spring we talked about and she will be serving as the three to five grade three to five Upper School uh assistant principal Mrs ferius will go back from Center School where she is actually thriving doing great job as our Center School principal for this interim year she'll be back to our director of instruction position and house at Candlewood Lake really add a layer of instructional Acumen curriculum development and assessment work to support our students Mrs Gordon will be the assistant principal that will move from whiskin here to Candlewood Lake and she will be the primary K2 assistant principal and of course our special education super supervisor Mrs richardelli will instead of being at three different schools she will be housed at Candlewood Lake Elementary and we're really excited about our team so whiskey near I'll talk a little bit about that Dean's students again so Dean Renda will be our principal and Mr bedner will be our assistant principal and the dean of students would be reallocated as I talked about from that World Language position to support student engagement be there for student management School operations uh and and really be a connector with families in a liaison to support even low-level discipline that they could help Administration in students with so that's what what scanner will look like ultimately what's going to happen with this transition is the Center School principal position is essentially eliminated and not recreated and so Mrs ferius we'll go back to the director of instruction position that has just not been filled this year it's an existing position and so we will not fill the Center School principal position and it goes away that's how we reduce the administrative position so if you had some jotting ideas down or some questions that's fine we can answer them let's go to goal two uh curriculum instruction and assessment and providing that I'm not going to read everything on the slide but just to hit on the key points is obviously continue with uh continue with curriculum enhancement and development aligned to the standards really focusing on our social studies and science curriculum making sure that uh and Dr Mann is charged with this particular assignment is working through the legislation in the State Department of education's implementation of the Pre-K to three reading program uh uh initiative and working through that and how that's going to work and how we're going to fund that and she's already got a team together to work through the waiver process to buy us some more time so we could work together I know that uh Mr Belden and Anna and I attended the legislative breakfast so that was a big topic of discussion with our legislators just last week so we'll be working on that we also need to take a look at our math program k through eight we years ago implemented a new math program and we are looking at seeing if that tool is still relevant for us so we're going to be doing that professional development continues to be a priority actions involved with the Strategic plan and certainly actions if time allows depending on the program review that we just discussed in special education we would certainly Implement any program review actions or recommendations that came forward goal three maintain and continue to enhance programs while remaining responsive to organizational changes changing needs of the organization so we had a presentation at the last meeting about the social emotional assessment so we need to make sure we're staying focused on that talked earlier about the financials of the ARP Esser phase-in of the grant the positions from the grant to the operating budget the bilingual enrollment our MLL needs our multi-language learner needs we've got to keep a close eye on that we will be planning next year to fill our bilingual teaching position just like we tried to do this year but we had to work with those who had certification that weren't dedicated fully to the bilingual position to help us out to make sure we supported our students but we're going to be looking to fill that position fully and pay close attention to that obviously the consolidation of our three schools into Candlewood Lake and really supporting climate culture and community and some of the things that Dr P and I have mentioned and during our presentation tonight and then there's two other bullets here in our um uh budget priorities and assumptions we talked about the need and the facilities committee was really uh working with our custodial um team and the Hillyard group on custodial and maintenance needs one of the things that they recommended was uh a number uh uh I think three or four increase ultimately to our custodial Crews across the district we settled on taking a look at adding one custodian to the entire crew which would be housed at Candlewood Lake given this the the size of the status quo increase and the budget increase well over five percent almost six percent um I honestly didn't think it was responsible to bring that position forward so my recommendation is to actually evaluate the custodial maintenance needs once we're in the new building and come back to you if we need another custodian if we don't and we're doing well it's important for people to know that yes it's a large building but when we consolidate the two elementary schools we will have a total of seven custodians assigned to Candlewood Lake before even thinking about adding a new custodian I think with some swing shifting and some other things we can do I know Mr Caldwell our facilities director and Mr post are our operations director think that we can come up with some really good Solutions but we're going to continue to evaluate that and evaluate that and keep an eye on them and then in addition to that another opportunity for efficiencies at Candlewood Lake I had put in priorities and assumptions a document to take a look at a public information officer that also might be able to help with student registration public information responsing to FERPA requests or foia requests things like that that could get quite voluminous we're taking a look at our Candlewood Lake team and looking at some efficiencies knowing that we added the security monitors and security monitors are really doing a lot of work obviously at the doors that was a big piece monitoring the doors that takes some pressure off the secretaries which might be able to free up some time so we might be able to take a look at doing that so we're going to explore that technology infrastructure that supports digital uh the digital learning environment that all of our kids are in uh we've got to upgrade uh finish upgrading the presentation stations um at whiskaneer we have to continue to invest in Chromebooks to finish out our one-to-one device initiative we need to continue really continuing we just talked about this at our last meeting cyber security protection we need to make sure we're meeting all requirements for cyber security we need to ensure that the district is ready to go with uh annually investing to make sure we have the infrastructure so we could have cyber security Insurance because if we don't keep the infrastructure up we will not get the coverage very important and then of course hardware for storage needs if we're going to add security cameras if we're going to add other digital tools we need more storage capacity that there's a cost to that and then commit to continued usage of all the digital tools where Eric's department and Anna's department and our principals all work together to make sure we have appropriate tools for our students and then finally in goal five providing the necessary resources to meet the needs of all of our students in alignment state and federal law so um I think I've mentioned I've mentioned two of these three already uh really digging in on the pre-k-3 curricular program uh through the state legislation we need to be focused on that the other piece we're going to be working on I'll go to the bottom is the the board certified Behavior analysts and our reallocation from special ed services to bring in two individuals for that will become the fabric of our school rather than someone from the outside coming into support and the other piece is using the grant that we do have to support a IEP compliance teacher on special assignment if you will a teacher leader to support that in service to making sure we are implementing the um quite large State initiative across I think all the two districts in the state are transitioning to the CT saids platform and also making sure we are responsive to families with increases in planning and placement team meetings meetings given coming out of the pandemic and concerns and students presenting needs and all different ways quick enrollment slide here just so you can see the current enrollment it's from October 1.
and then in the 24 25 year 4179 that will be our actual Ada that's projected this graph is going up a little higher than enrollment because of Mr brassie's efforts with attendance I'm projecting that our attendance rate will go up a little bit which makes our Ada grow higher than our enrollment slightly so then I take those figures and the money that we're bringing in and then the money that we have in the budget to expend and I compare them to make sure that we will have a surplus each year so in 20 to 23 we have a big deficit and the reason for that is because of we're spending down our ending fund balance and we are I'm using one-time funds for one-time purchases for example the board committed to million dollars for maintenance repairs so that's in the budget for that we bought a bus and some other one-time Monies so we really want to look at the out years when I don't have those one-time expenditures in the budget and next year in 23 24 we'll have a surplus of just 37 000 the new demographer report has the enrollment going up higher though and that would bring us about a little over a half a million dollars so that number might be more like six hundred thousand dollar Surplus hopefully 24 25 the Surplus is 1.7 million dollars the demographer has us going down that year so again it'll still be positive and then at 25 26 3.4 million dollars again this is projecting that the development's going to keep coming and it's going to be bringing students in and that our Ada I mean our attendance rate keeps going up so our unassigned an appropriate and appropriated ending fund balance we will end 20 to 23 with about four little over four million dollars um the same with next year and then it starts ramping up 6 million and 9 million again that's because the students we are anticipating will come with the developments just to report on fund 20 and where we're at with the trust we have 445 hundred thousand dollars and fund 20 set aside that I could put in the trust and we have in the trust 1.3 million dollars unfortunately it is invested in the stock market and so it has come down a little bit since last time um our somebody asked last time what our liability is our and this is the retirees and how much we'll have to pay for their medical benefits when they retire based on our negotiated contract and it's 5.2 million dollars so we don't just want to get to 5.2 million dollars we want to get higher than that because the goal is to use the money to the interest from the money to pay the obligation the board committed funds through resolution and so I gave you an estimate during that resolution so now I included the actual amounts the carryover was estimated to be 850 000 but it was actually about 530 000.